2008 Season Dog Yard Clean-Up

What season is it, anyway?

Dog yard cleaned up

Barrels on top of axles

Flooded dog sled trail

A chance encounter on the Gunflint Trail

Well, the lawn chairs are out on the patio at Gunflint Lodge beckoning summer, however winter isn't cooperating. There is still a good 12-18 inches of ice in the middle of Gunflint Lake. The shore ice is slowly melting and the trees that were sunk in the lake ice to tie down our sled dog teams prior to our lake adventures with clients, are now beginning to tip.

After trees were planted for the Gunflint Green Up weekend, I took the opportunity to do some final dog yard clean-up. The chains needed to be removed from the axles so as not to rust, the straw needed to be cleaned out of the dog houses and the houses were then tipped over on top of the axles to keep moisture from sitting in them over the next few seasons.

The trail out of the dog yard now completely flooded from the thaw, is only affecting two dog circles which is a nice thing to know in case we find ourselves up north during the thaw at some point. The musher shack, on the other hand, would not be functional during the spring thaw as it has a moat surrounding it that is filled with water.

The weekend was a productive one. It felt good to feel the sun on my face all day long again. Since arriving back to Oake Lake, many days are spent working on the computer inside. Although confining and undesirable, this is a necessary "evil" to support the sled dogs and the passion. The trade off is worth it.

Gunflint White Out?

Seagull Lake landing; tree planting station #4

May 3rd, 8AM

May 3rd, 3PM

Group #4 gathering for information

At our planting destination

Off to plant

Our instructions were to plant 60% red pine and 40% white pine

This past weekend was the much anticipated Gunflint Green Up. Over 450 people came to show their love of the north woods and to support this community by planting a total of 50,000 trees in one day!

The weekend began with a 6 1/2 hour drive up, in the rain for me. It was cold and wet that evening for the dinner in the big top tent but propane heaters helped keep everyone warm. It continued to rain throughout the night until roughly 4AM when it turned into snow, on May 3rd! I awoke to 3 inches of the white stuff on the hood of my car. I must say it was beautiful and if it had to be precipitation then I much prefer snow to rain.

The wet ground didn't seem to dampen the moods of the volunteers. We all arrived at our planting stations at 9:30AM to get our instructions, tools and trees then off we went. The day quickly from dark, wet and white to bright, dry and sunny.

Meeting new people was one of the highlights of this trip back up north. In my planting group were numerous people who live seasonally on a lake northwest of Gunflint Lake called Seagull Lake. One couple lost their home in the Ham Lake fire last summer and were all smiles when announcing that their new home would be completed in 2 weeks. One women retired from teaching and moved to the north woods. Amazingly, she handmade her very own timber frame home!

I was so happy to have been a part of this event and to have met so many wonderful people that have the same love for this place. Only 7 1/2 mos before the sled dogs and I head back up Gunflint Trail!

Lone Pelican

Lone Pelican

The flock of Pelicans that chose Oake Lake as a lay over stop has made the bigger portion of the lake their congregation area. This morning, this lone Pelican found himself in our small bay.

A few years ago, I watched as a small group of pelicans formed a perfect circle and swam around the shore of our tiny bay. Every few feet, in synchronicity and while maintaining this perfect circle, they would duck into the water with only their tails sticking up. Tails would wiggle and wiggle then up would pop all of the Pelican heads, turned in the same direction of travel and off they would go until they plunged under the surface again.

I am not the only one fascinated with all of the activity on the lake. I've watched the sled dogs spend hours intently scanning the lake for action while lounging on the top of their dogs houses in the warm sun.

Back to Winter?

April 24th, 2008; Spring has arrived!

April 26th, 2008; What?! Winter again?

I awoke this morning to snow! Now in November I would consider this a welcome sight; a blanket of fresh snow to brighten up the landscape and clean away the many shades of brown that can be seen from my picture window. I would be anxiously preparing the dog sleds for their first winter travels and the dogs would be restless in anticipation. But it's April 26th. The forsythia are in bloom. The mini iris' are poking the tips of their tiny leaves out of the ground to greet the warmer spring sun. Many waterfowl have arrived to make Oake Lake their summer home. And most of all, MUD season was over!

Although beautiful, the snow can melt and I won't feel cheated. This past winter was indeed a true winter. I could have done with a little more snow but it was as close to perfect as it could have been.

My records from last year indicate that winter announced itself again, after the arrival of spring, on April 9th. Now here we are, 17 days later than last year, wiping snow off our windshields. The brass clips on each kennel gate that keep the dogs from deciding to flip the latch to explore were even frozen this morning, making feeding a frustrating task. Does all of this mean we could be getting closer to having "normal" winters again? Let's see what next year holds. Until then, back to mud season!

Days of Leisure

Oken at almost 7 months old

Sweet Pea in perfect form

Zala at almost 7 months

McKenzie has been with us for over 2 weeks and is fitting in nicely

Tukisi

Icoa

Klaus

Icoa and son, Ilu

Ilu

Journey at almost 11 months

Melanie with the Huskies

Klaus

Isis

In action

Tuloon and Zulu

Fun times!

Zodiak at almost 7 months

Phoenix

Ball game

The dogs have been enjoying their days of leisure now that sledding season is over. Yes, it is still cool enough that we could run on our 4-wheeled cart, however the dogs really worked hard this winter and we all need a break.

Instead of looking forward to a day of running on the trail, the dogs get to anticipate that time of day when they all get to run free and play together. As you will notice in the photos, the blue "Jolly Ball" is the favorite toy.

Spring Clean Up in the Kennel

View of the old railroad bridge from the dog yard that is now a recreational trail.

East end of the dog yard

McKenzie and Oken are kennels buddies this week

The grass is just beginning to turn green to brighten up the dog yard

Tuloon and Zulu look on as others play

The west end of the dog yard

Klaus, Journey, Zala and Sweet Pea's kennel abut McKenzie and Oken's kennel

Today began the yearly ritual of spring cleaning in the dog yard. Even though we were gone over the winter, there was still straw left in houses from the fall and early winter. Leaves had fallen late from the big oak tree that shades the dog yard and accumulated in some kennels.

This time of year isn't very appealing to the eye in the kennel. Everything is brown and dirty. There are buds, however beginning to sprout on the trees and the grass is beginning to turn green. I can see the beginnings of some tiny perennials poking their heads out of the cold ground.

After the straw was taken out of the houses they were all hosed down to remove any remaining dirt. Then the kennels were raked free of straw and leaves.

Once the temps begin to rise, the shade cloth will need to be put in place, however, right now with temps in the 50s-60s, having more shade for the dogs in not a big concern and the breeze that sweeps over the lake keeps them nice and cool.

Sixteen Dogs to the Vet..... at Once!

Copper and Blue will only go in style; in the cab with the musher

Yep, there are fourteen sled dogs in there

We were lucky over the winter to have had no serious injuries with all of the miles the dogs ran. Towards the end of the season, Ilu had a bloody pad after running on a crusty layer of ice over the snow. The very next day it had healed well enough for him to be raring to go. Sweet Pea was put on antibiotics late in the season when she developed some infected scabs on her nose after digging around in a tree stump. This didn't affect her ability to work. That's it!

Now that we're home, I wanted to get the dogs to the vet for a routine exam, have blood drawn on each to test for heart worm, other parasites and Lyme Disease(called a 4DX test) and to weigh everyone. I hadn't weighed the Tuloon/Bazil puppies since they were eight weeks old and when we returned home they were already six months old! Tukisi and Isis needed to have additional blood drawn to test their thyroid function. Tukisi has been on meds for his hypothyrodism for months and it was time for a recheck and I am speculating that Isis has developed the diseased based upon her appearance and behavior. Rabies shots for the pups, Copper and Isis were also needed. Since Phoenix was having a difficult time keeping weight on this winter, I wanted to have additional blood drawn to test for any issues.

I was happy to hear that all blood tests came back negative except for Zulu who has had Lyme disease since I got him seven years ago. He has continued to test positive for the disease which is typical and we did decide to treat him with a 30 day round of antibiotics based upon some joint soreness he has been displaying. The thyroid results for Tuki and Isis will take a couple of weeks. Phoenix's blood tests were all normal and his difficulty keeping weight on seems to have more to do with his genetics and was something I was told I shouldn't be too concerned about unless he begins to lose his work ethic.

It seems that since we returned two weeks ago, many of my dogs have plumped up a bit too much from less exercise and the fact that I didn't cut their food back as much as I should have. Ilu was the heaviest at 84lbs and maybe 5 over optimum weight. Zala is 6 1/2 mos old and was the tiniest at 42lbs and she could actually put on a few pounds. Her littermates, Oken and Zodiak weighed in at 60lbs each! Phoenix at that age was 52lbs and he is know 68lbs at 2 years old and is underweight by about 5lbs. Based upon the comparison with Phoenix, it looks like my 6 1/2 month old boys are going to big! Zala, on the other hand, may be a tiny peanut like her mom. Peanut or not, she is filled with drive and personality and will be an excellent sled dog, just like her mom, Tuloon, that weighed in at 52lbs.

Even the two little mascots came along to the vet. Copper has been pretty constant with his weight at 12lbs and Blueberry actually lost a few and is now down to 20lbs. However neither one of these two had to do much work this winter and enjoyed three walks a day with extra time to play in the snow.