Oh, it's a Dog's Life

Pics from taking my girl out on my day off.



Where we goin', Mom?

Yay, we're going on a walk!!

I love the pagoda at the Iditapark

Every day thing, how we hang how we hang...



I'm not posing; I'm watchin' the guy play hacky-sack at the skate park.

I still wanted to find the time to get inside my hoop...




And eat some caribou dog in my kong.

 


Iditarod- The Last Great Race on Earth

This past Sunday, Bill and I went out to Willow to see the restart of the Iditarod.  Every year during Fur Rondy, the ceremonial start of the Iditarod takes place.  I had to work on Saturday so I missed it, but I was glad I got to go up to Willow.  I am going to tell you a little about the Iditarod, some misconceptions, and share some pics and vids that I took at the race.  Note the dogs' reactions when pulling up to the start line, during the count down, and mushing away.

It all started in 1925 when the bush village of Nome was stricken with an epidemic of Diphtheria.  With Nome being accessible only by plane and trail, it was up to the relentless dog mushers to carry the serum.  Part of that same trail the original musher took is still a part of the Iditarod trail today.  During the ceremonial start in Anchorage, the number one bib musher still symbolizes that fearless dog sled team who saved Nome.



Jamaican Newton Marshall showing his lead dog some love.  Something that I saw every musher do- run up and down their lines at the start, giving love to their team.



Now, the race takes place every year with mushers who still have that same fearlessness.  Teams from all over the world (Alaska, some states down in the lower 48, and seven international teams- Jamaica, New Zealand, Norway, and Canada) compete in the 1150 mile race across western Alaska.  The race is a long adventure lasting over a week, with the fastest race time being 8 days 22 hours held by Martin Buser in 2002.  These sled dog teams cross over some of the toughest terrain in the world; through deep forests, frozen rivers, freezing tundra, and over wicked mountains.  There are checkpoints along the way that mushers check-in with and take breaks.  There are also required layovers, one for 8 hours and one for 24 hours.

Musher handlers help keep the dogs from pulling so hard at the start.

Lance Mackey, four time consecutive winner of the Iditarod.

Woman have and still do race in this amazing feat:  Mary Shields being the first woman to finish in 1974, Libby Riddles the first woman to win in 1985, and Susan Butcher winning the race four times (the record in 5 wins and 4 consecutive wins).  This year 13 women are racing.  Now that is awesome. 



More sled dog love.



A lot has been in debate over sled dogs and mushing over the last few decades.  Abuse, neglect, horrible living conditions, and belief of "making the dogs" pull sleds are a few very misunderstood associations with dog mushing.  Yes, you have your, excuse the word, jackasses, who do not understand how to run a kennel in the correct way like this idiot (as a side note here, for those that do not know, there is a LONG list of requirements, permits, and regulations that go with running a kennel.  Here in Alaska they are trying to enforce these rules, sometimes not always as strict as they would like due to limited resources and man power.  I do not agree with how the borough handles some situations like with that musher a few years ago.  I do not stand by their decision to not only allow him to maintain his kennel, but to help him "down-size" is pretty much outrageous.  This is just one of the very few extreme circumstances where people with little to no experience are building kennels for the wrong reason- for money and not for love).  But, people who are truly into mushing for the right reasons take better care of their sled dogs than most people take of their pet dogs.  For a dog team to be fit and able to run any distance, whether that be for racing, sport, or for fun, they must be in the best condition and health that they can be.  It is very expensive to not only start a kennel, but to maintain one.  The initial cost of even building a kennel can cost around $35,000 with monthly estimates being as high as $10,000.  Now, for someone to spend that kind of money on dogs really have to love mushing and sled dogs.

Dallas Seavey giving his team some last minute pets.

Not only are sled dogs health closely monitored during the year, but at every check point dogs are looked over by highly skilled volunteer veterinarians who makes sure that all dogs stay in the highest of health.  There has been dogs die during the race in it's history, but none of these to my knowledge were from neglect.  I have a book by the famous musher Jeff King, who writes in his bibliography the devastation and sadness that came over him when he lost one of his dogs on the trail (if you are interested in reading a fascinating story about dog mushing and the Iditarod, check out his book:  Cold Hands, Warm Heart).  It does happen as in any sport that sometimes the athletes get hurt.  Yes, sled dogs do die on the trail yearly, with the exclusion of last year's race where no dogs died.  This, of course, is a field day for animal rights groups who, from the lower 48 mind you, want to pitch a fit about the race being full of abuse, neglect, and such.  They obviously have never seen the race, nor stepped foot in a kennel (which I have been in numerous).  These dogs are breed to live in the conditions they do, to run as far and as fast as they can, and to love every second of it.  However, many mushers quit the race each year when they know that their dogs' health is in danger.  Most likely causes for these deaths are the musher inexperience or freak accidents (as with what happened to King).  The Iditarod committee has made the entries more intense, helping reduce the number of inexperienced mushers. 

To make it very clear, sled dogs LOVE to run.  These dogs were bread to run and have racing in their genes.  If it wasn't for these great races such as the Iditarod and the Yukon Quest, these bloodlines would have been lost.  If it isn't a dead giveaway watching these videos of the dogs lining up at the start line that running is their passion, I don't know how to break it down any simpler.  My boss has three sled dogs and I am in an immediate position to tell you, there is nothing more that these dogs love doing than running (ok, well, they may love getting petted and a good belly scratch).  And if it isn't evident how much these racers love their dogs, then I guess you haven't look deep enough at the photos.  My words are words, but the emotion and pure energy that these photos display speak more words than I could ever write in this post.



If you would like more information on the Iditarod, check out the webpage.  Also, if you would like to follow along with the standings, meet the mushers, and see history and other great information, do some browsing on the site.  Peace out.

Random picture of me in the parking lot in front of a snow wall.  The snow was piled up like this around the whole perimeter of the parking lot and also down the middle.

Off the Grid

Over the weekend we went out to our friend's cabin for a few day get-away.  I had been up there before, but this was the first time I was to actually stay at the cabin.  Ahh... it was GREAT.

It is pretty much as "middle-of-nowhere" as you can get without driving a long way, north two hours by car and west an hour by snowmachine.  I LOVE riding on the snowmachine and haven't been able to go out much this winter.  We haven't had a good amount of snowfall around here until recently.  Up north, they have quite a few feet of snow, though a lot of it has been compacted from the warmer temps and wind.

We left early on Friday to go out, gathering all of our stuff to load into the snowmachine sled, and off we went.  It is a beautiful drive, normally, but grey skies filled our driving view.  Clear skies were in the forecast, so it was only slightly disappointing that we didn't get a good view of the mountain.

Halfway down the off-road, the sky became crystal clear.  It was amazing how within just a few miles, the sky could go from the dreary "ruin my good weekend" to "hello blue skies."  We, then, even got a small peak of the top of Denali (Mt. McKinley).

The ride in was not bad, as we both had on enough gear to probably sustain us at about 30 below.  Even with temps in the positive, if we happen to run into wind, with the wind chill it could drop the temps to 5 or 10 below, which is cold riding on the back of a snowmachine!!

Our friend's cabin sits on a nice lake about 50 miles off the main highway that runs north to south here in AK.  It is a nice little two room cabin about 40x40 with a loft, kitchen, and a nice large hoopable living room (look for the cabin hooping clip in my up-and-coming 1 year Hoopiversary vid).  Being so far off from the main highway, the cabin is completely off the grid and self sustainable, no running water or electricity.  And yes, that means so toilet or shower.  Hell-o outhouse :).  When you go out there to stay, you tote enough water in jugs that will last for the length of stay.  The cabin is heated with a wood stove that keeps the place nice and toasty; way warmer than even our heating system at home (and cheaper!!).  It is, however, furnished with a generator for if you want to watch the TV and propane for the stove and non-powered lights.

It was great to go out and not have to worry about anything, just the two of us.  There is only two other cabins out on the lake, so we weren't expecting any company.  The guy who has a house across the lake is also a friend, but he wasn't there.  He actually lives out there in a real house and not a cabin.  He is also completely sustained on a wind turbine that generates his electricity and charges up these huge batteries that turn on the generator if he is using more power than the wind turbine is creating.  His place is AMAZING.  He has a complete view of the Alaska Range out of his living room window.  Since this lake is out in the middle of nowhere and only accessible by snowmachine or four-wheeler, he owns a plane in which he flies back and forth into town when he wants.  He invented this thing called Mr. Funnel which extracts water from gas in air crafts and has become a multi-millionaire off of it, hence how you has all of this stuff.

We came back pretty early because the temperatures were supposed to be in the negatives and we wanted to make sure our old truck was going to start up.  Anytime a temp is in the negatives, it takes a lot more energy to start anything, including the snowmachine, and with my hoop jam going on today, we didn't want to get stuck being there is no cell service out there.

With this new job I just got, I thought this may have been the last weekend we could do anything if they started putting me on the weekend.  My BF might be having some out-of-town jobs which would keep him away during the week and only home on the weekends.  Hey, at least the new job is closed on Sundays, so I will always have that day I can spend with him.  He enjoys working in remote locations, so as long as he is happy, I am happy.

The days are starting to get longer (it is actually light when I get up and when I get off work!!) and I can just taste the spring coming.  I. cannot. wait.  There is much to do this summer and I can't wait to get started.

So the Hoop jam is today and I am so excited.  Hopefully I will have a good turn-out.  I also have pics from the Iron Dog I am going to post.  Next weekend is the start of the Iditorod and I will definitely have some pics and good information on dog mushing.  Have a great week everyone!!

Three-Legged Mule Makes My Day

The boys (mine and a visiting friend) went up north to work for the week, so an impromptu hoop sesh was brewing after they left.  This evening I was feeling a little frisky, probably from all the lazying that made up most of the morning, so I decided to go all Alaskan gypsy on  ya.  Video quality is not good because it was recorded off my phone.  But, I had fun just twirling and acting crazy and it made me smile, so maybe it will for you, too. 





More vids to come soon.  Haven't been dedicating as much time as I would like because things have been crazy, but I am itching to dance everyday so hopefully it will stop being ridiculous outside and decide on what kind of weather we are going to have- haha.

Anyways, off to go veg out and watch the first season of Medium.  I am starting my mourning process of the ending of the finale season by going back and watching all seven seasons.  I didn't have cable and never got the channel that it was on, but I did watch the final show that was played Friday night online.  (**side note**- I have major mixed feelings on the final episode and am still trying to mentally process it all.  I don't have the time to really go into that.  THAT in itself may be a post of it's own...)  Man, TV is already pretty much reality shows, gore, and sex; might as well cancel the shows that don't have that the "good stuff"....

Let's Make This Interesting...

Right now, my life is somewhat boring (very busy for me, but as a reader I'm sure it's lacking much excitement).  So I thought I would do the 30 Day Blog Challenge that Bhakti is doing on her blog.  I figured it would jump start some interesting posts and you all would learn a little about me.

Day 1- Introduction, 15 interesting facts, and a recent picture

Hello!!  I'm Kelly.  I go mostly by Spin Gypy in online communities.  I live in Wasilla, Alaska- no I don't know Sarah Palin, nor did I get invited to Bristol's wedding (yes, people ask us that).  I work at The Better Companion as a Certified Pet Care Technician, which is a pretty awesome sounding term for doggie daycare sitter.  I am house sitting with my boyfriend for a wonderful couple who winters down in the lower forty eight in their beautiful house with a huge backyard.  I'm an avid hooper, yogini, environmentalist, painter, crafter, reader, and writer.

15 Interesting Facts About Me:

1. I went to school to be a Biology major and ended up graduating with an Interior Design degree with a focus on LEED and green design.
2. I  moved almost 5000 miles to Alaska after visiting on vacation for nine days.
3. Baking is my catch 22- I used to not like sweets very much, until I met an oven :).  I do try to make all the recipes either healthier, organic, or vegan most of the time.
4. My all-time yogi idol is KK Ledford.  I love her energy so much.  Her style, charisma, and quirkiness is amazing.  She is, in a way, an inner part of me that I have not released.  The blending of yoga, herbalism, and astrology is almost dejavu like to me.  My goal of combining yoga, green design, and herbalism hits really close to that.  I now want to add hoopdance to that line-up!!
5. I am a huge recycler.  When I go places or do catering jobs, I always save everything that can be recycled and take home with me.  Sometimes I feel like people think it's a bit extreme, but, oh well.  I also have started a recycling program at my last three jobs (mostly this entailed making a designated recycling spot and then me taking it home to recycle haha).
6. Electronic dance music is my life.  When I was 9 I started listening to The Prodigy and at 14 I heard my first "real" techno song which was Sandstorm by Darude.  Thus began the days of raving.  Ever since that time I have fallen madly in love with all genres of edm including, but not limited to:  psytrance, drum n bass, liquid, trance, breaks, and dubstep.  I have seen The Prodigy, The Crystal Method, Infected Mushroom, Dieselboy, DJ Icey, Jon B, Tiesto, DJ Rap, Baby Anne, AK1200, Dara, Rabbit In The Moon, MIA, Subfocus, Evol Intent, Bassnectar, Jen Lasher, and Paul Oakenfold live, just to name a few.  I also had the privledge to attend the last six closing parties of the Uber-warehouse club Nation in DC, largest night club on the East Coast.  RIP Nation- we all miss you!!
7. I have been to all 50 states except Hawaii.  I hope to change that this spring when we go there on vacation.  I want to see the volcanoes and waterfalls so bad.  Screw the beach; I want to go hiking!!
8. I went to Christian school for eight years of my life.
9. Everyone usually has a big extended family.  It's pretty much my parents, grandparents, and myself.  Other people such as my dad's brother and my grand mothers' siblings live around VA where I grew up, but they did some awful things and therefore I don't consider them family.  (Like, how can you steal an 11 year olds dog?  I mean, come on.  Can you say scarred for life?)
10. One of my biggest dreams is to backpack across Europe and Asia, hitting all of the ancient holy places such as Stonehenge, Mt Olympus, Easter Island, Bodh Gaya (aka where the Buddha became enlightened) and Sarnath, numerous Buddhist temples in Thailand, and Elephanta Caves and Vrindavan along with numerous others.  I want to hit some fun places like Amsterdam and real tea houses, too.
11. I used to be deathly afraid of spiders.  Eventually, to get over this fear, I started befriending the "corner spiders," talking to them and allowing them to stay.  Then, I started to save them instead of kill the bigger ones when they were inside my house, picking them up with whatever happened to be available at the moment and putting them outside.
12. I am one of those people that read multiple books at one time.  The going record for multi-books at one time:  four.
13. I used to read the Twilight books when they first came out.  I totally boycotted them and the movies once all the teeny boppers got into them.  No, really, I was mad that Edward wasn't up to my standard and that's the real reason I refuse to have any part of it.  That and I think things like "Team Edward" are a bit much.
14. I got my eyebrow pierced as a rebellion against an ex-boyfriend when I was out of town visiting my friend's sister in Nags Head at 18.  I came home and my parents were livid, commanding me to take it out.  I faked that I couldn't and had it up until April of last year.  I took it out for a front desk job at the resort I worked at even though you weren't "allowed" to have facial piercings but everyone did.  There isn't a day that goes by that I don't miss it.
15. I am secretly, desperately in love with Johnny Depp.  I am totally not an "into celebrity everything" type person.  I don't watch E!, read People or US Weekly, and for damn sure don't go on all those celebrity dish websites (I don't even know the name of one, but I do know they're out there).  But I LOVE me some Johnny Depp.  He is so mysterious and awesome.  **Melt**  Favorite movies (in order of likeness):  Cry Baby, Edward Scissorhands, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (I strongly recommend the book!!), Blow, Chocolat, and the Corpse Bride.  I of course love every movie he's been in (with the exception of the Astronaut's Wife- he is hott, but not that hott), but these are my favorites.  

Here is a picture of me that was taken today during my Etsy photoshoot for new, cooler pics:

So I am going to try to post these challenges everyday, but, knowing me, I will miss some.  So I will just post when I get a chance and post two in one if I miss.  I'm excited about this because not only will you learn something about me, I will learn somethings about myself, too!!  Happy weekend.  Peace.