Winter events

Okaaaaaay....well, winter has been interesting. We still have a good amount of snow but have hardly had any fresh since December. We have been waiting for a good snow to cover the icy, crusty snow- to improve snowboarding and skiing conditions, but here we are in March- still waiting! We sure are enjoying the return of daylight hours...we finally have direct sunlight to our house again! I think we are up to about 11 hours of daylight now! yippee!! Here are a few things we have been up to in our bright, snow-less winter!

We bought lobster for Valentines Day.... Tundra was very curious! Oddly enough, lobster is cheaper than crab here!

The result of our feast.... it was a massacre! :) yum yum

I was on my way to the grocery store when I came across this..... those are ravens on the sign but the tree had 6 eagles in it (one flew away and there is also a raven in the tree) Perhaps why we are called "Eagle River"! tehe

The beauts!

just perty

When I took a sick day from work... Angel is a cuddle bug!

Ah yes... and so is Tundra. Now if only I could get Adam to cuddle with me!

Tundra with his favorite toy, Foxie.

Tundra and his buddy Sarge (a 6 month old lab). They played and played until they both just zonked out!

Our hansome lil boy!

So stinken cute... he never gets in trouble! :)

This is Tundra totally out after a day at the Iditarod start and a visit to Pet Smart.

A little peak at Tundra's day. We went to the ceremonial start of the Iditarod. (the actual start is now in Willow, due to lack of snow.) We figured it would be a good socialization event for him. Boy oh boy.... we should have charged people for pets, pictures, and kisses-- we would've been rich at the end of the day! I did not expect SO MANY people to stop and pet him, nor did I expect so many people TO TAKE PICTURES OF HIM!!! It was crazy! They were in love with him and he was just eating it up! He love, love, loves kids and is sooooo good with them! There were people everywhere, the sled dogs running by, noises, trash on the ground, etc. Also- it was during the Fur Rondevous Festival, so there were furs galore! Wolves, bears, lynx, fox, seal, bear, etc on people's heads, bodies, hands, feet! He did better than I had hoped for. Other people brought their dogs to the event as well, so he got to meet some other dogs. Unfortunately, one of his own breed attacked him. Yes- a gorgeous, adult, golden retreiver latched on to Tundra's ear and I was shocked when he came out of it without any blood. He made horrible sounds and it was awful, but he is okay. In a way, we are glad it happened because he hasn't had a "bad" encounter with a dog yet and any warning nips or barks he's had has sent him back for more. So he got put in his place. (just to look on the positive side)

Here is Tundra watching some sled dogs running by.

In front of a mural downtown. Ha- we put his booties on because his paws got cold-- there were numerous comments on how he is a sled dog in training!

We are watching Chena during our spring break, Shawn and Erin are in Belize!! The pups are LOVING it! Here they are laying together and chewing on some bones!

Tundra went up his first mountain (well part way up- we didn't take him all the way yet). He was loving it!

He's so proud!

I need to see if Adam has any pictures/videos from his camera, but we went snowboarding last weekend at Alyeska for Shawn's birthday. We rented a cabin and stayed the whole weekend. The pups had a great time together, as did the humans! The snowboarding... well... sucked because of the lack of snow, but we all made the best of it. In fact-- Adam hurt himself trying some jumps in the terrain park. He landed on his shoulder and face... scraped his chin and possibly dislocated and popped back in his shoulder. The doctor told him to come back in if it doesn't start feeling better.... well, it's not any better. He doesn't think it will affect his snagging skills next week. He is going down to Missouri to his aunt and uncle's house to meet the rest of his family and cousins for some spoonbill/paddlefish snagging on TableRock Lake. He has been looking forward to it for like a year and has been preparing (casting weighted treble-hooks in our garage).... I don't think he'll let his shoulder slow him down. I don't get to go because of work. The Alaska and Iowa spring breaks did not match up :(

We did not draw any tags for hunting next year :( So we may tag along with our friends who drew something and we'll do the low-key, low success hunts like last year. Who knows... we may get a black bear rug or a moose rack hung up! :)

Oh- Tundra weighs 40lbs now! :) :) :) :)

This is one of our favorite things to do.... hike up and sled down the mountain.... carefully sled down! We usually just go on our butts because the plastic sleds go too fast and therefore are too dangerous, but Adam found these great, thin, flexible sleds that we roll up like a yoga mat and pack in our backpack! Tundra enjoys it too!

This is Lance Mackey... who has won the past 4 years in a row. I like his dog's hot pink booties, the kids like them too! You may notice a person wearing a seal skin hat (spotted). There were a lot of interesting fur accessories! Also, you can't hear them, but the closer you get to the start, the louder the dogs get. The sled dogs are SO excited... yipping, barking, jumping, etc and they love doing their job. It is so cool to see and hear. I posted a video of this last year if you want to go back and see/hear it!

This is the fur auction. Last year we saw the Alaska Fish and Game auction....they auction off skins and antlers of animals that were poached or hit on the road to raise money to put back towards Alaska recreation. This year, they had the actual trapper's auction. We saw a wolf, wolverine, fox, and ermine(?--like weasels, the smallest animal they keep for furs). It was very interesting. I think if I hadn't been there, Adam may have come home with a wolf fur. eeek