Goodbye Season 2023!!

 

Well it looks like the Dekuiper blog adventures are over for another year………….

There is another race here in Quebec but we have decided to take our friends’ word for it and think that it may be very short, very scary, and very dangerous for a 75 year old dog racer…………..plus we are getting 10 to 20 cm of new snow so that , Randy says, would make the trail even worse by being soft- I am certainly not opposed to going home once more to my real house (because I have 3- the trailer, dog camp in the UP and our real house in Hesperia!!) and being able to see all our family and friends and sit in the hot tub!!!!!!!  I know they were having an ice storm yesterday so I am not sure what the weather will be like driving – the snow we are getting today is supposed to be over in the middle of the nite.  As long as we have a clear path to get in the driveway we are good!!  I don’t think west Michigan has much snow on the ground – you might know, now that all the races have been cancelled we will get a load of snow!!!!!!

We saw friends last nite – Mario and his daughter Myriam came over to bring us 2  8 month old pups – we had given them some dogs in the past and they had promised to give us some pups when they had a litter.  We accidentally got a pup from them when a guy (I will say guy cause I don’t know his name) traded us a big dog for a little girl last year – the little girl turned out to be a daughter of the dog leader we gave Mario, Greg!!!!  So these pups are out of her brother and a dog Myriam brought back from when she lived in British columbia and was a Jeff King dog – these guys (Blue and Cookie – because he looks like and oreo cookie) are adorable and sweet but  Cookie (Biscuits in French)is doing a bit of complaining about being in the trailer…………….he will love to get home and enjoy our yard!  We are also getting  few dogs from the Bellerive’s – don’t know for sure how many- so we will have a “booked hotel” on the way home!!!

Today is Thursday and even though it is snowing right now we are going to “make a break for it” and head home!

We had delightful dinner with just Renelle and Claude last nite (the first time we have ever been with just the 2 of them – it’s taken 15 years of coming here at least once a year for to feel comfortable talking to us without extra translation help – it went perfect!) at an Italian restaurant and we got a tour of the improvements they have made over the last couple of years to their entertainment center in Shawinigan (it’s a complex with a restaurant, bowling alley, arcade and cinema and a party room for 100 called Place Bierman’s if you want to look it up on the internet) I was amazed at the games they have now!!!  Especially the one they had that was 4 wheeler racing where you sit on the 4 wheeler and actually steer it and  lean to make the corners!!!!! Another one was giant tarantulas attacking you and shooting them!!!  How realistic!!!!  Lots different from the old pinball games!!!  They even have bumper cars in it!!!

So a sad good bye and a request for Blessings on our travel over the next 2 days -  it’s been a short dogsledding season but a long time traveling (since Jan 5) so we are ready to go home – Melanie asked me the first thing I wanted to do at home and I told her “fill the hot tub”!!!!  The travel has been good – seeing lots of new and old acquaintences and giving us time to do a lot of “holy moments”, reaching out to show people we care even if it’s only opening a door for them or giving them a smile…………

Already planning for next season – I am sure we are not going to try Wyoming again – pretty hard going for us “old folks” ===  we are getting 4 dogs from Claude, and just traded one of our dogs for a smaller faster dog with a guy – so it’s fun to imagine the changes our kennel will have with 2 new puppies, 6 puppies at Dee’s and 4 new dogs and a new traded one, Molly!!!!  I guess that’s what keeps us going- always imagining and even better next year!!!  God Bless you all!

Well it looks like the Dekuiper blog adventures are over for another year………….

There is another race here in Quebec but we have decided to take our friends’ word for it and think that it may be very short, very scary, and very dangerous for a 75 year old dog racer…………..plus we are getting 10 to 20 cm of new snow so that , Randy says, would make the trail even worse by being soft- I am certainly not opposed to going home once more to my real house (because I have 3- the trailer, dog camp in the UP and our real house in Hesperia!!) and being able to see all our family and friends and sit in the hot tub!!!!!!!  I know they were having an ice storm yesterday so I am not sure what the weather will be like driving – the snow we are getting today is supposed to be over in the middle of the nite.  As long as we have a clear path to get in the driveway we are good!!  I don’t think west Michigan has much snow on the ground – you might know, now that all the races have been cancelled we will get a load of snow!!!!!!

We saw friends last nite – Mario and his daughter Myriam came over to bring us 2  8 month old pups – we had given them some dogs in the past and they had promised to give us some pups when they had a litter.  We accidentally got a pup from them when a guy (I will say guy cause I don’t know his name) traded us a big dog for a little girl last year – the little girl turned out to be a daughter of the dog leader we gave Mario, Greg!!!!  So these pups are out of her brother and a dog Myriam brought back from when she lived in British columbia and was a Jeff King dog – these guys (Blue and Cookie – because he looks like and oreo cookie) are adorable and sweet but  Cookie (Biscuits in French)is doing a bit of complaining about being in the trailer…………….he will love to get home and enjoy our yard!  We are also getting  few dogs from the Bellerive’s – don’t know for sure how many- so we will have a “booked hotel” on the way home!!!

Today is Thursday and even though it is snowing right now we are going to “make a break for it” and head home!

We had delightful dinner with just Renelle and Claude last nite (the first time we have ever been with just the 2 of them – it’s taken 15 years of coming here at least once a year for to feel comfortable talking to us without extra translation help – it went perfect!) at an Italian restaurant and we got a tour of the improvements they have made over the last couple of years to their entertainment center in Shawinigan (it’s a complex with a restaurant, bowling alley, arcade and cinema and a party room for 100 called Place Bierman’s if you want to look it up on the internet) I was amazed at the games they have now!!!  Especially the one they had that was 4 wheeler racing where you sit on the 4 wheeler and actually steer it and  lean to make the corners!!!!! Another one was giant tarantulas attacking you and shooting them!!!  How realistic!!!!  Lots different from the old pinball games!!!  They even have bumper cars in it!!!

So a sad good bye and a request for Blessings on our travel over the next 2 days -  it’s been a short dogsledding season but a long time traveling (since Jan 5) so we are ready to go home – Melanie asked me the first thing I wanted to do at home and I told her “fill the hot tub”!!!!  The travel has been good – seeing lots of new and old acquaintences and giving us time to do a lot of “holy moments”, reaching out to show people we care even if it’s only opening a door for them or giving them a smile…………

Already planning for next season – I am sure we are not going to try Wyoming again – pretty hard going for us “old folks” ===  we are getting 4 dogs from Claude, and just traded one of our dogs for a smaller faster dog with a guy – so it’s fun to imagine the changes our kennel will have with 2 new puppies, 6 puppies at Dee’s and 4 new dogs and a new traded one, Molly!!!!  I guess that’s what keeps us going- always imagining and even better next year!!!  God Bless you all!