From Peter -
Mission for the last few days: groom out a big chunk of our trail system. Altogether we now have about 50 miles of trail that we can run on without repeating ourselves, which I have to think is pretty rare for most mushers in the lower 48.
Me doing some serious trail work
If you’re wondering what we use to groom our trails, we’re driving a little snow cat dubbed “The Bombi”. If you’ve seen the 1980’s campy horror flick “The Thing”, it’s those yellow tank-like things they drive around while they do their darndest to run away from the…thing. It’s our new favorite vehicle, and so far it’s done everything we’ve asked it to, from scaling steep slopes covered in feet of snow to busting through drifts to climbing icy berms.
Proof that the Bombie is awesome
We also did some good running today. I got my second go with a four dog team (working my way up to six). It was also my first all Malamute team, which meant that I had more power to control but not quite as much speed.
Mother/daughter Eve & Enya. Enya is distracted by the puppies up top.
In
other ranch news, we’re expecting a true spring this year – that means lots and
lots of babies. We have three goats that are due any minute now, a cow that’s
looked ready to calve for months, and a pasture full of pregnant ewes. Maybe
most exciting, Kinky is due with a litter of Havok’s pups in a little over two weeks. If you haven’t heard, this litter was conceived during The
Eagle Cap Extreme Race; Morgan had to wait 30 minutes on the trail while they attended to
business. This will be my first batch of newborn puppies, and I’m looking
forward to all the cuteness (and work) that’s coming our way. March is gonna be
a lively month!
Well I guess that’s all the news that’s fit to print. With the loggers off the roads for the weekend we’ll be able to run even further up the mountain. Hopefully we can get close to 100 miles in between Saturday and Sunday, so I’ll have some good reports coming in.
Way to go Peter....I am glad you got to go out with two of my favorite girls, Eve and Enya. Don't let Twila drive Bombi, or at least don't ride with her if she does. She does that tip 1/2 over thing when she drives, damn near dumped me out when I came up for the Mushing Boot Camp. Oh, and tell her I think you re pretty damn cute for ballast:-) Take good care of my furry babies so I can show them this summer. Michele
ReplyDeletei like The Thing reference. I have a copy of the original with Kurt Russel, we should watch it when youre down here, dogs play a pretty big role.
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