Friday's update - first day of the Raven Electric 10 dog race

Randy went out 8th with 4 dogs that had raced before and 6 yearlings in their first race! He ended up last but was not disappointed because he knew he was doing it to give the young dogs experience - he did have one (Jackson) pull back going thru the culvert tube, but the rest did fine. The weather was heavy snow and wind all day long - I guess we got at least 12 inches in one day! Every time Randy came in from a run his beard was all snow/ice packed!! We then trained 2 more teams and helped our new friends from the Northwest Territory (the ones that had pulled us out her in the parking log from being stuck and not able to get the chains on-) she took off with a 14 dog team to train and he was supposed to follow immediately- I had helped hook up and all of a sudden Charlie yells that the line's not connected to his sled!!!!! with 14 dogs hooked up!!!!!!!! I ran back to the sled to help him and we had to try to pull the 14 dogs backwards to be able to hook the carabiner to the sled!!!! we tried 3 times and almost made it but didn't -so he called the young guy holding out the leaders to come back and help him pull (I suppose he thought he might be stronger than me.......) and they couldn't do it - so while I am holding the leaders out Randy comes back from training with 9 dogs and they get tangled in with Charlie's team - and then Randy realizes he is having a problem and comes to help - 3 times he told him he thought he should un-snap the tug lines and he kept saying he thought they could pull them back- and all the while the only thing holding the dogs back is that the snow hook is hooked on the sled and the sled is snubbed off on a pole!! So then Ken and Laurie Chezik come to help also and finally (after unhooking the tug lines) they got the lines hooked to the sled and he took off! When they got back together Marie was upset because she kept stopping and waiting for him several times until he finally caught up to her - Marie told me that she usually sets up all the lines and sleds but that Charlie wanted to do his today - she is good natured but I am imagining that this incident will be discussed more than once!!! So we were able to return a favor getting Marie and Charlie out of a jam!

Pam Schamber (a friend we made last year here - she is a pediatrician and her husband is a FedEx pilot and does trips from her to Asia) stopped by after having helped on the race trail and offered to take us to her house to pick up the car she is going to let us use while we are here - but neither of us wanted to be driving a Toyota Corrolla in a blizzard!! So we asked if we could get it on a calmer day. Instead she took us to 5 stores looking for a GPS (like the one I apparently left at home in my hasty departure.......) and we never found one that measures in MPH - they were all more for runners that gives them the minute-miles they are running.

By the time she dropped us off it was time to feed and both of us physically exhausted - from all the dog handling and trudging through 12 inches of new snow! We watched a movie and read and zonked out!

This morning is colder (15 degrees) but sunny and not snowing - it snowed so much yesterday that we lost 6 brand new dog dishes into a snow bank when they plowed the parking lot behind us!! I didn't even see them when I moved stuff out of the way!

Randy went out 13th (his favorite number because that's his birthday) and arrived 13th still..... He had to stop and change leaders because Rocky was more interested in Blance coming into heat than he was racing! Jackson went through the tubes better also. So Randy finishes and just before he came in I was talking to John who does alot of the handyman stuff around here (originally from Trufant MI - came back to visit last May after 35 years) and he pointed out to me that the sponsor for the race had just pulled in and got to see Randy finish -so we are watering dogs and the sponser guy comes up and says he wants to give Randy a last place "award" - he gives Randy $200!!!!!!! Then Randy tells him how helpful that will be since we had all the troubles with the wheels and tires and he gives him another $100!! He says he does this frequently but never tells anyone when it will happen so people won't purposely come in last!!!

Right now we are waiting for the kids races to be over so we can train 2 more teams - I don't always have the chance to be on line - for some reason it will work one day and not the next so I wanted to be sure and give you this update!! will write again tomorrow!