Saturday – 2/21/15

Up at 8am, fed dogs and then us.  I had gotten 8 sausage links at the grocery store and so I fried them and the eggs – they were OK but not $5 worth!

I really got a lot accomplished yesterday while I was on the internet – got 2 loads of laundry washed and dried, applied to the Muskegon Art Fair and Newaygo Memorial Day for kettle korn and I finally got my nursing license renewed!!!  I had tried for 5 hours at home and it wouldn’t go through so I called the state and she told me to get rid of all my “cookies” so I did and it still didn’t  work – so I called her again and she told me to go to a library to do it!!!!!  There’s are Michigan State tax dollars at work – renewing on line is the only option and she wants me to have to go to the library!  Well it must have been my dial up connection at home that was the problem because it went through the first time yesterday and I am even in a different country!!!!!!

It was training day again so after breakfast we dropped all the dogs and put ½ back in and got them ready to run – oil on their feet, boots on some with sore feet, harnesses, hook them in to the line and then be ready to take off on the 4 wheeler with the tracks again to the road crossing so I can tell Randy if it is safe to cross because he can’t  see from his position.  Cross the road and you guessed it….jump off and turn the leaders the right way!  Several more times of doing that, especially at one corner that they consistently miss and then get so far into the wrong turn that I either have to turn the team back on itself or waller thru the deep snow to get them going in the right direction.  The second ½ of the trail is better with less choices for turns, therefore, less mistakes and less of me jumping off this huge 4 wheeler.  The second team we had Snapper and the new dog, Sterling, in lead – Sterling thought he knew which way to go but Snapper dragged him the wrong way – so jump off again.  Snapper made most of the turns correctly and Sterling made him go really fast the first 5 or 6 miles, until we got to the big hills.  About 3 miles out Randy stopped in the middle of the trail for a tangle and when I started to follow him, I couldn’t go forward – the right rear track was spinning in the snow digging a hole!  So I put it in reverse then tried going forward, then I put it in low, then I put it in 4 wheel drive (they told me at lunch yesterday it is much easier to steer in 2 wheel drive) then I finally went forward.  When I had gone ahead a few yards, I put it back into 2 wheel and high and it wouldn’t go again………….so I don’t know what I did or didn’t do but I finally got up the hill and …………..no Randy.  You have to remember this training trail is 6 big loops in over 120 acres of farm land and at any given time, I am lost!!!!  So I keep going the way I think Randy went and still can’t find him and I see the trail that goes home – thinking I better beat him to the road crossing or he won’t have anyone to look for traffic – so I get to the road and no Randy – so I don’t know if he is behind me or already back at the barn and I can’t see the barn from the road!!!!  I am almost ready to try and race to the barn and see if he is there and here he comes up behind me!  He was in one of those loops and I couldn’t see him – so it ends well all in all…….

After training we are pretty much exhausted, so movie time until time to feed!!!  We had a nice dinner of fried pork chops, baked potato, cranberry sauce and apple sauce!!

Sunday – 2/22

It snowed quite a bit overnite – probably 5 inches so the front end loader was here already just as we were putting the dogs back in from breakfast – they do a good job of keeping the streets clear here!

Up a little earlier that normal so we had them all back in their boxes by 8:15 – just in time to be able to go to the only mass they have here in town at 9am!  I thought we could walk the mile to church but Randy wanted to drive (and it was a good thing because my knee started bothering me more this afternoon), so we drove the whole rig up there and took up all of the post office parking lot.  Mass was all in French and I could recognize only 1 in 20 words, mostly because they either sound like an English or Spanish word!   Like in French church is “eglise” (may not have that spelled right….) and in Spanish “iglesia”.  We enjoyed the service even though we didn’t recognize any of the songs and most of the prayers – and they didn’t do any “sign of peace” to each other which we thought was interesting.  There were maybe 30 people there and it was held in a little chapel at the back of the church – we are imagining that the parish cannot afford to heat the church in the winter, especially with so few coming to Mass.  The church itself is beautiful old French Quebec with tall spires and steeples– Bellerives had the interior restored to its original condition.

In the afternoon Randy wanted to try out some dogs that had been having shoulder problems so we hooked up a leader we got from Claude (Willy) and Kyle, a team dog from Claude, our Spot and Teddy.  I suggested we use the snowmobile instead of the sled in case one of them needed to be carried because they couldn’t keep up……..what a good idea that was!!!!  Randy thought that Willy would single lead……..after 6 attempts and getting balled up numerous times, Randy decided that it wasn’t going to work.  So I held the team out while he walked back the 50 yards to get Dee to help Willy lead – finally we left and things were going OK (still stopping to turn them when they didn’t turn the right way) and then Randy decides to try Teddy in lead – that didn’t work worth a bean!  He stopped and started and wanted to push Willy into the snow bank, so we put Spot up with Willy…………the highlight of the run!!!  He drove really hard and looks like he is feeling good!

The rest of the day was uneventful – I cooked my brussel sprouts for my dinner and Randy had mac and cheese.  Then he went to the barn and helped Claude and Hermel feed their dogs.

It was probably the warmest day we have had since we left Michigan – warm enough for the snow to melt on the pavement.

Monday 2/23

The temperature feels like it dropped 20 degrees and it’s windy again, (Randy says the thermometer inside the dog box on the truck says -10 degrees and that is without the wind chill) though sunny.  Randy said they would not train today (don’t know if that’s because the trail needs to be groomed before they train again what with all the snow we got Saturday nite) – so maybe groom today and train tomorrow?  I know that Wednesday Bellerives are having a get together with 35 of their roofing business clients – they have been doing this same thing for a number of years – they all meet near here and then drive an hour …..on snowmobiles!  They go to a remote lodge where they have ice fishing, skating with hockey and other outdoor activities (Melaniae said she would bring me a trout home!) and then have a big dinner at the end of the day.  Sounds like fun – I will be able to tell you more after Wednesday.

Tonite we are invited to Melanie’s for lasagna –more on that later!!

In our quest today to fill the propane tanks that are in an insulated dog box on the truck with a heater to thaw the buckets of dog food (and thereby making it not necessary to have 2 buckets thawing at the end of our table in front of the furnace smelling up the trailer like spoiled meat….) we first went to the place we always filled up about 5 miles from here.  Well they don’t fill tanks any more….they told us to go to the Esso gas station 5 more miles…………Randy stopped at an Eko gas station and they told us to go to the Canadian Tire store in Shewanigan – another 3 miles and we see the Esso station; the 2 people that fill the tanks are not back for 2 hours – we decide to see whether the Canadian Tire store can do it – they won’t fill it because it’s too cold out!  We go shopping there and do find some new boots for me (good to -58 degrees) and some lined gloves to use on dog work since Randy left his only other pair on a gas pump in NY state-  we decide to go back to the Esso and wait and on the way leaving Shewanigan to a grocery store, we see that Rona, has propane.  So I grocery shop and the Rona guy tells Randy he will fill it and it’s even cheaper than any other price we have gotten.  So with all of our assignments completed, we stop at McDonalds – a bit of lack of communication where I ended up with a hamburg with nothing on it…I mean nothing!!! No catsup, mustard, pickle, nada! And for the mere price of $12.54!!! (Randy had a combo burger, with drink and fries)  Things are a bit pricier up here!!!

I happened to notice on our trip as we passed a cemetery – many of the gravestones were set up back to back – so you would theoretically have people lying “head to head” – space saving measure???!!