Now it's really looking alot like Christmas!!!

From 0 inches to 6 in 24 hours!!!!

What a difference 4 hours can make – we started yesterday (Wednesday) with a trace of snow on the ground and it was 40 degrees and this morning we are at 6+ inches of snow and more on the way with a weather advisory!!!!  And it feels like 17 degrees – not only is this Michigan weather but even more fickle, northern Michigan next to Lake Superior weather!!!

Monday it rained and rained and rained till we had big puddles extending all across the trail in numerous places so that the dogs had to go into the woods a bit to avoid them when we trained on Tuesday.  It had been kind of warm the last week (when they have gotten used to 32 degree weather and we train at 40 it seems warm to them!) and so we had dropped back on the mileage to about 7 miles and because it was back in the 20’s on Tuesday we did the 13.7 miles we had been doing – everybody looked good when we got back and didn’t seem winded at all – the really big key thing we think is helping is the water additive we found out about from Frank and Regina Caldwell across the street!  Every single one of them drinks all the water we give them at the end of the run!!!  Something unheard of with our dogs in the past!!!  Not only are they re-hydrating, but it also replaces the glycogen they have used running.

Tuesday we also took the jeep over to Caldwell’s (Frank is a mechanic at the Ford garage in Newberry) because (even though we had replaced them last spring) the brakes were smoking!  Sure enough a caliper was hanging up and needed to be replaced!

Randy ran around the trail with the 4 wheeler and the drag to get the trail packed and added a couple more miles to the trail.

Today he just fed the dogs breakfast and is out on the trail again packing the new snow to train today.  It’s going to be a bit brisk out there – fortunately, we just bought some dogsledding clothes from Jan Shaw (the kind you wear when you distance racing with the down liner and anorak with a fur ruff – and in Randy’s favorite color…..purple!!)  So I should be able to stay warm as toast riding around on the 4 wheeler for 16 miles!!!  I also bought some new goggles while we were in Grand Rapids last week – I am trying to prevent my cheeks from getting frostbitten again – you know once you have frostbitten the skin it is way more vulnerable and takes even less to happen again – so now I get red and peely when it’s not even that cold so with the goggles I cover just about everything up except my nose!!!

This Saturday John and Carol Waltman are having a neighborhood Christmas potluck – it’s the only weekend that everybody will be in town and not visiting relatives – I think I will bring the little green bean casserolettes again!  Then Sunday there is a community Christmas sing along at the Methodist church – we are planning on that as well!