Sunday- our first snow as residents of the UP!!!

Drove into town for church last nite and had several snow flurries along the way but were surprised to see snow on the ground this morning!!!  We did go over to Frank and Regina Caldwell's to follow them thru the winter wonderland while they were training their mid-distance team 12.5 miles -(so we can familiarize ourselves with the trails across the hiway)  The rest of the day I have been putting insulation over the windows because it looks like it might be winter from now on!!!

 Wayyyyyyyy big waves!!!!!

Celebrating Halloween at the DeKuiper trailer in Deer Park, Michigan!!

It was indeed a terrible storm!!!!  We could feel it rocking the trailer all nite long!!!

So of course we needed to go see just how angry the Lake Superior shore was!!!  I about blew away taking a video of the beach (which I can’t seem to get posted for some reason….)  There were whole trees being tossed around like toothpicks in the waves – no way to know for sure but it seemed like there were waves 10 or more feet tall breaking out in the lake as far as we could see!!!!  Easy to imagine why there are over 5,000 ship wrecks on the Great Lakes – especially Superior!!!!

The training is going pretty good – we trained everybody Monday, then took storm day Tues off, then converted from 3 8 dog teams to 2 12 dog teams for Wednesday and Thursday – spent some time Friday widening the 2 track trails so the dogs had more room to go around the hug lake-like puddles in them from all the rain we have had!!!!  Trained the 2 12 dog teams today in a light sprinkle but plenty cold at 38 degrees!!!!!  Went on a new trail and farther – Randy says we only went 5+ miles but it seemed longer to me!!  We also are started today running Noah in lead for the first time and he did great!!!  We have 4 solid leaders but it is good to have some spares!!!

Last nite went out to dinner with Jan Shaw and some of her friends to Wolf Inn – had whitefish – delicious!!!!!  Then stopped over to the Halloween party at Pine Stump Junction (wearing our orange jack o’ lantern shirts) and did a bit of dancing to a DJ!!!  The costume winners were a family all dressed up like the Adams family!!!  The best of them was Uncle Fester and Wednesday!!!!

This afternoon stopped over to Caldwells to see if they were interested in a dog we have that seems to only want to trot instead of loping -  they do more mid-distance so we thought he might work good for them but they weren’t interested right now – on to Newberry for church tonite!!!

This week I signed up for HULU and have gotten to see lots of Halloween movies…….maybe too many for Randy’s taste!!!  Just think about all the Christmas movies I will be able to see!!!!

Sunday thru Tuesday

Saturday because it was too warm all of the people here for the training session only ended up doing about a 2 mile run – quite disappointing, but what can you do?!

We spent some time visiting around the fire pit and then came back home to feed our dogs and then went back over to Magnusson’s for the 6p dinner – what a potluck!!!!  Way good stuff to eat!!!  We did the easy and goes-like-hotcakes thing again, shrimp cocktail.  I didn’t even have room for meat, there were so many delicious salads and treats!!!!!  After dinner we had 2 people speak; Lloyd Gilbertson (about his start as a dog racer and more….) and JR or Jarod Armstrong form Ely, MN about using essential oils for dog behavior modification and treatment of injuries.  It was a very pleasant nite!

Sunday morning was too warm again and it was supposed to cool down after an early afternoon rain – so we helped clean up Magnusson’s “party clutter” and when they said they were going out to take down the trail markers from the trails they were supposed to run had it not been too warm.  So we got our 4 wheeler and followed them around a 5 and 8 mile trail system until……………it started raining, then harder and then harder till we were soaked and cold to the bone!!!!  Needless to say our trail looking was done for the day – cam home and dried out and didn’t see anyone for the rest of the day.  Jim had left Sunday morning so we were back to “status quo”.

Monday was cool enough to train and with rain predicted much of the week coming, we trained all 25 dogs – took us till 11am to do it but it was good we did because there certainly won’t be any training today!!!!  It’s pouring and 47 degrees with wind gusts up to 55 mph and flood warnings for the lakeshore!!!!  Think we will take another little ride to see some of those big waves!!!  Just hope it doesn’t blow the awning off the trailer!!!!!

Friday nite

went over to visit the dog drivers at Bruce Magnussen's - not as many there as I imagined - maybe because it is going to be so warm this weekend.  Only about 8 kennels there - perhaps more tomorrow!

We had grilled hamburgs with Jim and then we had a surprise visitor!!  Al Hardman stopped by and spent a good couple of hours with 3 guys that had all completed the Iditarod  -  lots of good stories!!!!!  very fun to listen to!!!

Today was too warm to train again so we slept in and stopped over to Magnusson's again thinking the vet would be here to give the rabies shots - it's a good deal for us - we have 15 dogs that need them and they are only $8.50 as compared to $20 in the office!

10/19 throught 10/20/17

 Some Lake Superior property we looked at - $231,000 for 13 acres and 167' of frontage - about a 250 ft. drop off to the water!!!

 The fallen tree we both had to lay down on the 4 wheeler to drive under with the 8 dog team!!

Managed to get2 teams ran before it got too warm.  You can see from the picture above that we ran into a little obstacle when we went out with the first team!  I didn’t know the first time we went under the fallen tree if we would make it or be rubbed off onto the ground – it’s not like you stop and measure ……..  we did make it but I was glad I have lost a couple of pounds over the last year!!!  Went back later in the day and cut it out of the trail so I have some nice pieces of pine to do “something” with……..  The rest of the day we rode around on the trails looking to see if anything else had blown down and new trails we could use – late last nite Jim (the owner of the place we are staying at rolled in and so we visited a bit with him.  He is up for the big training session and shot clinic they are having across the street at Bruce Magnusson ‘s  (it has always been at the Shaws house but with the passing of Bob, Bruce offered to have it at his place)  Don’t know for sure how many dog people will show up but as I write this there are already 6 dog kennels here with more they know are coming – so that already equates to about 2-300 dogs in the neighborhood!!!!

Didn’t train this morning but probably should have even though it was already 48 degrees at 7:30am.

Today we visited with Jim and then went over to offer our help setting up to Bruce but he and his wife Monica had it all done.   Looks like tonite is burgers with Jim and don’t know if it will be cool enough (supposed to be a low of 58 degrees according the the weather app) to train at the training session tomorrow – even if they only go 3 miles (which they are planning on) it may be too much for our dogs – just because they would get so excited before they even went out on the trail!!!

More tomorrow!

Monday Tuesday and Wed

 Crisp Point Lighthouse

 Areas ravaged by the fire by Rainbow Lodge and the Two Hearted River

 view from the top of the light house

 me picking rocks

 the neighbor's Halloween decor

 an angry Lake Superior

Sunday nite was windy and dark so we did go down the road 2 miles to the easiest access to the Lake Superior beach (right across the street from the Muskellonge Lake campground).  You can see the pictures above!!

Monday we trained only one team cause it was warm (up to 50) too fast.  Because Randy forgot where he packed the rice for the dogs’ carbohydrate supplement (he since remembered he packed it under the floor in the dog part of the trailer) we decided to go to Sault Ste. Marie to the store to buy rice (we normally buy it in 25 pound bags from Sam’s Club – because we thought we forgot it we ended up buying 4 2 pound bags at the grocery store in Newberry – at 4 times the price we would usually pay – and we use 2 pounds a day for the dogs!).  It’s about an hour and half ride and it was a nice day to see more color in the trees (I would say they are close to peaking….)  Found the Walmart and of course I found more stuff to buy – still wish I had been able to talk Randy into clothes shopping at Goodwill for some stuff I forgot, but no such luck!  That trip took up most of the day so it was feed us and dogs time by the time we got back. tCrisp Point Lighthouse – it’s on the Lake Superior shore east of where we are – we took all back dirt roads on the way there and paved on the way home.  Took us about two hours to get there – the last 12 miles took an hour!!!!! They are doing lots of logging and with the recent downpours, the road was really muddy and torn up!!!  We passed 2 logging trucks head on and had to pull off of the road into the woods to let them pass!!!!  We also drove through a lot of the ground that was leveled by the forest fires up here a few years ago- amazing how that changes the terrain!!!  The light house was a delightful destination and very secluded compared to all the other tourist spots (could have something to do with the horrific road you have to go on to get there…..)  There was a couple our age camping in a tent there as volunteer hosts for the week – they are from Duluth MN – the light house has been preserved and renovated over the last 20 years – we even went the 64 steps up into the top!!!  And of course, since we were at the beach, I had to collect more rocks!!!!  Still haven’t found anything exciting like an agate or amethyst, but I will keep looking!!!!!

Wednesday morning we were able to get 2 teams run- though it was right on the bubble for temperature -  it’s a good thing almost all of the trail is in pine forest and shaded so it stays cooler even with the sun coming out!  Now we’re off on another 4 wheeler ride to scout out trails!!!!!

Saturday

Saturday was a good day to be in the UP!!  Up at 8 and ran two teams with it about 45 degrees.  Ran Coal (new) and Oslo together with 8 and Spark and Greg (new) with 9 – it was the first time we didn’t have to have me in front to lead them on the trail with the other 4 wheeler, since they have gotten used to the turns.  So I actually got to ride behind and see how they were running!!  The amazing dog is Chase, a one year old out of Oslo and Doe, who not only ran very hard the whole trail, but got himself out of a a tangle on the fly!!!!  After training a 2 hour nap (us old people need those you know……….) and then we went for another ride in the jeep around the neighbor hood.  We looked at four different camp grounds within a couple miles of here (Pretty Lake, Perch Lake, High Bridge, etc.) and found out the trail the Caldwells across the street are using to train.  By then it was time to go to town for more groceries and church.  The little church is one of three the priest is responsible for (the other 2 in Naubinway and Grand Marais) – the regular pastor had kidney stones so we will have to wait another time to meet him.  We went out to dinner on the way home to the “Wolf’s Den” – a place we had eaten at before and is only open on weekends.  I had whitefish and it was delicious – I think that might be the 4^th time in 2 weeks!!!  Of course it’s abundant here!!!

Over nite had a horrible rain and wind storm!!!!! Thought it was going to blow the awining off from the side of the trailer!!!  They said there would be 30+ mph winds and it sounded like it!!!  Had to wake Randy up shortly after we went to bed because I could hear something was wrong in the dogyard……sure enough, one of Jim’s dogs had broken another chain and was dragging it around ands was in Muggs’ circle and had her tangled up in it!!

Still raining this morning and windy so we slept in and now I am making a pot of ham and pea soup which Randy is not-so-patiently waiting to have done.  The wind has died down a lot but it is supposed stop raining in a while – maybe we will drive over to Lake Superior (only about 2 miles away) to see how big the waves are!!

Since it was too warm to train at 50 degrees this morning- we played tourists!!

Upper Taquamenon Falls

 Picture of the bell from the Edmund Fitzgeral in the Shipwreck museum

 Freighter going thru the straits

Last nite we ended the day of telephone frustration with Randy taking a long 4 wheel drive looking at what trails to train on next to go farther with the dogs while I was on the phone with the Apple advisor trying to unlock my phone.  After dinner we wathched 5 episodes of Wyatt Earp from 1955 – they were pretty good shows back then!!!!

When we got up at 8 it looked pretty cloudy and gloomy out plus was too warm for the dogs to run so we decided to see some of the local sights we had not visited yet.  After a breakfast of ham and pancakes with Bellerive Canadian maple syrup  we set out for Whitefish point and the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum – it took about an hour to get there and the landscape was beautiful wherever there were maples – I would say we are about 75% color right now.  It was $13 each for admission and that included a movie about the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald, the museum, the rescue boat house and the lightkeeper’s home.  We were there about 2 hours and there were walkways out to 2 beaches.  You can see the picture of me walking and one of a tanker like the E. Fitzgerald out in the narrows off Whitefish Point.  The other pictures are of places around the museum grounds and of Taquamenon Falls, both the upper and lower.  Beautiful with the trees in color. Lots of people with the same idea as us!!!  The parking lots were almost full like it was summer!  Didn’t start raining until we headed for home about 5.  Randy fed dogs and then we took Ashley (the dog handler for Jim Oehlschlaeger- the guy who owns the place we are renting space at) out for dinner to Stump Junction (her boyfriend is a cook there at nite) and we had a “surprise pizza” made just for by Steve.   Tomorrow will barely be cool enough when we get up so we will see how training goes then!

halleluiah!!!!!!! I have a phone!!!!

Talk about stress!  one hour coversation with the apple advisor on the phone yesterday adn 2 hours today adn finally have the phone working again!!!  I can't believe how difficult.......did chat online with 4 people, telephone with 3 and then finally with a senior advisor from Apple that fixed the problem by taking over my computer!!!

Trained 2 teams today adn Chase the yearling did the best of the 3 so far!  and I even made all of the turns!  hopefully it will not be raining in the morning and we can do 2 more teams!

Tues Wed

When they tell you that they have a new update for your phone..........beware!!!!!!  Monday nite I updated both the phone and the computer and still have been locked out of the phone even with 4 chat sessions and a hour phone call with apple today!!!  I thought it would be fun to have my fingerprint as a security feature and then decided not - and thaTt was the beginning of my trouble - it is supposed to be restoring from icloud as we speak, but I don't really have much faith.....

Got the part for the fridge on Monday and it is still not working right - running about 60 degrees -so I don't know what the next step is....

Finally cold enough to train 2 teams of 8 today and it went very well!  I even made all the turns both times!!!!!  I think it is supposed to be cool the rest of the week till rain on Saturday so we should get several good runs in.  The 3 yearlings ran again today since they were started a month or so ago - they forgot most of what they are supposed to do but did OK

Tomorrow more training and maybe figure out the phone and the fridge!!!!!

Saturday Sunday and Monday

Couldn't add in the descriptor for the pictures after I had downloaded them to the blog sooooo....the pictures are of our camper and site, the restaurant in Grand Marais, an angry Lake Michigan on Saturday by Manistique, a beautiful Lake Superio r on the way to Grand Marais with lots of beautiful stones on the beach, and the stones that I picked up, blueberries that I picked and put in pancakes, the funny little museum ma

We got back from getting the computer board for the fridge in Escanaba and had time to stop at one of the 2 grocery stores in Newberry to pick up something to bring to Jan Shaw’s get together (it was like a neighborhood wake for her having lost her husband, Bob, 2 weeks ago).

It was a lovely get together with lots of neighbors for us to meet –ie. The previous owner of the Deer Park Lodge and store who is now 93 and is named Randy, the Caldwells, the lady named Betsie that used to own a horse farm near Detroit with jumpers and then fjords and then bought Rhinehart’s place up here, Ambush and his wife Donetta, Carol and her husband John that live year round on Perch Lake, the owners of Rainbow Lodge that are re-building after the fire that burned them out, any many others I didn't get to talk to.

Today, Monday we went to Kinross to get another part for the fridge and right now it looks like it is working.  I was too warm to train so we figure we should see some of the sights!!!

Friday/Saturday

Didn't train today - the "me" part of the training team was feeling wimpy so instead we went into Newberry and tried to go to a museum that was supposed to be open but wasn't.....and did stop and buy a pumpkin! They are a little more expensive up here!!!  you don't see any pumpkin patches on the roadside!  The trees are maybe 25% color and really starting to be beautiful.  The prettiest was the nite before when we took a ride on the dirt road going past Muskellunge Lake on the way to Grand Marais on shore of Lake Superior, darn if I didn't forget to bring something to take pictures with!

We also moved the trailer about 50 feet in preparation of the big rainstorm we got last nite - the last time we had the awning and the carpet and all the outdoor stuff in a 5 inch deep puddle!!!!  so we will see how this location works. 

Randy is still sleeping and the store for the refrigerator part is open only from 9-4 today so I had better get him up and going - it's a 2.5 hour trip there and need to back to go to an "open house" that Jan Shaw is having for the neighbors at her house tonite at 6. 

October 5

Was also too warm to train on Wednesday so we ate breakfast and drove to the east side of Escanaba to Bark River where Greg Janders has made dog food for us (since we would not be at our house and able to pick up venison scraps and grind our own dogfood for the winter)  We got one ton of special made-for-racing-dogs food and put it right into the freezer that Jesse helped us put into the horse trailer so it is mobile.  It was about 2.5 hours over and on the way we stopped at an RV place in Escanaba to ask some questions about our failing refrigerator--- it has been getting warmer and warmer every day since we left home anoluster Alert!!!!  Why did I think it would be just a normal training day?????   The first team of 7 did not want to folllow me on the 4 wheeler ahead of them and then the leaders got in a fight and then Muggs got loose from the team and had to be caught - we ended up haveing me with a rope to the leaders in my hand for the first 1/4 mile so they would follow me and then I let go of the rope and they went fine after that.  Second team cluster:  as we were leaving the point dogs got in a fight and as I was turning around to see what was happening I turned the steering on the 4 wheeler and flew off into the soft  pine needle ground - Randy said I looked like a scarecrow flying through the air--no injuries, just like normal when I fall!  Got these leaders following us much better than the first two and while I was looking back to see how close Randy was following, I missed the ribbon in the tree where to turn.........when I got to a great big mud puddle that I had not seen before I knew I had missed the turn---  soosoooooooo we had to turn the 7 dogs around in trail in the big mud puddle and we just went straight back home =  probably the same distance as if I had made the turn.  

Spent the afternoon trying to trouble shoot the refrigerator computer and it looks like it's the computer board ($150) versus replacing the refrigerator ($2000)  so we will go to Escanaba again on  Saturday to get a replacement computer board ( it is supposed to rain Sat so we won't train anyhoo)

training another team or 2 tomorrow - hope it goes better than today - part of the reason it was quite different for the dogs to start out is that we are starting from right inside the kennel with all other dogs barking at them and being excited - so they will have to get used to it and it will be smooth as silk!!!!!!

the beginning of 2018 racing season!!

I said on messaging that I would start the blog today so I will!!!!
Sunday afternnoon we  loaded    25 dogs and thought that it would be cooler for them to ride up to the UP  if we left later.  Got to the bridge at 10:30 and dropped them in the St. Ignace park lot and spent the nite. 

got up at 6 and drove all the way to the house in the eary morning.    Went out to look at trails on Monday and ate at Pine Stump Junction for pizza.

Tuesday too warm to train and took a color tour  to Paradisen=== not too many colors yet

































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