April Slide Show

 Hi all. Here are some pictures I've taken over the last couple days, just so you have some context with all the information that's being thrown at you.

Here's all of our expectant mothers, with one of our guardians, Zaire, in the middle.

This is the first stall of Pyrenees, the friendlier group. Originally there were five, but two were sent to homes and the puppy, Ivy, is out with our ewes. These two have a home lined up. 

Here's the second stall of Pyrenees. You can see that they're not as comfortable with me being in the stall with them yet (there's one hiding in the manger). Two of these dogs have a home, and three will probably be staying with us.  

Our three guardian dogs in the barn: Ivy, Dolly, and Zaire in front. Oh, and there's Wrinkles, who's always nosing his way into things. 

 Yesterday, Morgan and I went up the mountain to do some repair work on our snow cat, which broke down on the trail. Because of where the Bombie ended up, the only viable way we could get to it was by dog sled. We thought it was pretty fitting, and exciting, to have a true working team for the day, so I took some pictures.

Havok got to sit in the back seat of Morgan's truck for the drive up. 

Here's our setup for the excursion. 

Enrique and Rayon in lead - we hooked the team up to the Bombie while we worked. 

Finally, puppy picture. Morgan had trouble holding on to them because they were squirming so much. You can see a concerned Kinky in the background. 

      Hope you enjoyed the slide show!

           - Peter

Back to Blogging

Hi all! First, allow me to explain my hiatus.

            After working hard this winter, Morgan and I were able to take a week off and head to Salt Lake City to be with our friends. It was a fun week filled with concerts and movies and electrical heating and a lot of civilization.

Once we got back, it was time to say goodbye to Craig. Craig came here in October to work through our busiest time, and now that spring is upon us, he’s left to explore other things. Specifically, he’ll be exploring the entire west coast of the United States, as he’ll be hiking 2000+ miles from Mexico to Canada along the Pacific Crest Trail. This is yet another leg on Craig’s Great Adventure, having spent two years teaching for the Peace Corps in Ghana before coming to work here on the ranch (you should know that Craig had never seen snow before mastering the art of mushing).  

Craig taught me more than I’ve been able to retain since I’ve gotten here, not least of which was our first meeting in which he showed me the intricacies of running a snow blower. We’ll miss his uncanny knack for solving our everyday ranch puzzles, his tendency to giggle at cat videos, his undeniable charisma whilst performing karaoke, and of course his constant sense of humor. Happy trails Craig.

Once we’d tearfully sent Craig on his way, it was time to host our first ever Learn to Mush Experience. Stacie, Drew, and Caryn came out for five days along with Stacie’s malamute, Jasmine, who was a working dog here once upon a time. We couldn’t have asked for a better trio to be our guinea pigs. Over the course of the week, they were involved with feeding and taking care of the dogs, one on one training, driving the team on quads and on sleds, and even helped out around the barn for a spell.  Through it all, they were good natured and enthusiastic, and I’d imagine all of us would be more than happy to host them for a repeat visit.

At the same time that Stacie, Drew, and Caryn were staying, we also had a different group of guests. Twila and her friend Luana Reed teamed up to rescue 30 Great Pyrenees from a farm that were at risk of being put down. Altogether we had 11 staying in our barn for a few nights, and now that 3 have been given to homes, we have eight left. One, a puppy, has already graduated to guardian dog status, and she’s been learning quickly from veterans Zaire and Dolly. I picked the name Ivy for her, since she stuck to the wall her first few days here. Now she runs up to us every morning, tail wagging. We’re hoping for similar results from the other Pyrs: they all came to us deathly afraid of strangers and certainly confused with their sudden change in environment.  

As an extra bonus, Kinky had her litter of puppies while our guests were here! Ever gifted with her timing, Kinky went into labor on Friday evening, and by late Saturday night we had three big boys and three big girls. They’re now two days old, and as soon as I’m done writing I’ll be helping Twila assign their names (pictures are sure to follow). Mom is doing great, and her pups are all strong and wiggly.

So, with all that explained, I hope you’ll forgive me for my break from blogging. Until next time! (Which should be much sooner.)

-          Peter 

Malapaloosa 2012!!

Montana Malapaloosa Information and Registration 


Malapaloosa is a 7 day recreational dry land mushing event focused on Alaskan Malamutes and other large breed purebred teams such as Canadian Inuit Dogs.  This is a camping trip so you need to bring everything you would need to have to camp with your dogs. It is very important to note that this event is for fun and is NOT a competitive event.   This is a “dry land” training event so you will need a cart or quad.  Some loaners may be available.  
We have fantastic well water available, as well as tent sites and a dry cabin for sharing.  There is an outhouse and we will rent a porta-potty, but shower facilities are not provided. Showers are available nearby.

Malamute Teams Working Side By Side

Team size is not important.  Anything from a 2–dog team to an 18-dog team has enjoyed Malapaloosa.    This year we will begin on Monday 5/7 through Sunday 5/13. You can come for any part of this week, but I expect the majority will show up mid-week through the weekend. 

Some teams from Malapaloosa 2011

We will provide one big celebratory barbecue on Saturday, May 12th, featuring our home raised lamb stew & slow roasted pork, as well as assorted side dishes. The rest of the meals will be either pot-luck or on your own. 


This is also a fund raising event for the Run For The Red Lantern 2014 Iditarod Team. As such we are asking for a donation towards the team fund, on top of the mandatory registration fee of $100 to cover the costs associated with hosting this event. Donating (beyond the registration fee) is TOTALLY optional and will not be mentioned again!!


Payment must be submitted with registration:

• Registration cost $100 per team .   You are 1 team if you are a pair of people/family attending together & you share a group of dogs that usually run together and sometimes run on separate teams.  You are 2 or more teams if you are 2 or more people attending together and each person drives their own dog team.  
• Bring a little cash to pitch in for food and supplies. This should be minimal as we are doing meals “pot luck”.  Food costs will be decided between camp participants.
• Depending on the size of the teams and the size of vehicles, participation may need to be limited.
• Please make sure your dogs are current on vaccinations, and do not bring any sick dogs (or humans:-)
• Please use paypal under account run4theredlantern@gmail.com You do not need a paypal account-you can use your credit or debit card without signing up for paypal.
• You will receive a confirmation email, directions and list of supplies upon registration. I will also hook everyone up via an email chat group so you can talk amongst yourselves regarding the pot luck and food prep, carpooling, loaner carts, etc.

Don’t delay!  The deadline for registration and payment is 4/15/12. Registration is subject to approval by camp host.


Please register via email to run4theredlanter@gmail.com and include the following information:


Name(s) of participants, Email, Phone (home & cell), Number of adults & children over age 12 , Number of children under age 12, Number of teams, Breed of dogs, Total number of dogs you are bringing, Any dog aggression issues that you may have with your team (please, this camp is not appropriate for dogs that are aggressive to humans), Type & size of vehicle, What are your camping arrangements?   Tent   camper   share dry cabin    other

Where We Live-a Photoblog

Powell Mountain

We live in a beautiful place. This view is what made us build on the side of a mountain-probably not the easiest place to live but.....

Our Mountain Home

Here is a picture of the cabin we live in. We have an odd style; part shed, part industrial, part modern, part rustic. There are so many log homes in Montana that we wanted something a little different.

1 bedroom/1 bath, all of 600 square feet. Tiny but it fits us for now. Eventually it will be our guest house, when we are able to build our main home just to the east of this site. To see drawings of our upcoming home, click the link below:
http://smilebox.com/playBlog/4d7a41314e6a63794f54673d0d0a&blogview=true

Standing on the deck of the cabin above-below are the views that you see each season. I could look at it forever, in fact, I plan to:-)

Winter

Spring

Summer

Fall

Below are some pictures of our dogyard-always a work in progress. Last year we added some shade shelters-even though our weather in summer averages 70 degrees, the sun is so intense that we have to put sunscreen on the dogs!! Our plan for this summer is to put in even more shade.

Our dogyard in summer-from the top of Baldy Mountain

Top tier of our 3 tiered dogyard

The poultry have it made too, a secure winter pen of about 1/2 acre, free-range on unlimited acreage in the spring through fall, 2 full time guardian dogs to protect them from our many predators.

Our poultry coop-from the back of our cabin

Sights you may see on the way up to our house. Our road is not for the faint of heart-especially in the winter:-)

It sometimes takes us over an hour to get the 9 miles down our road to the highway.  The up-side? We know our "true" friends, they are the ones that have actually made it out here to visit us....and then chose to come back even after driving our road. :-)

TB

SPRING-TIME FOR A BREAK??

Awww-spring is upon us, time for rest and relaxation after a long winter on the trails? Um, NOPE!

Getting ready for lot’s of happenings here over the next few weeks. First of all, and very exciting for us, Kinky is expecting her 2nd ever litter at the end of this month. For those of you that have followed our race stories, this is the litter that was conceived via ravishment of poor Havok on the Eagle Cap Extreme Race, so for-after it is to be known as the Extreme Litter!!  

Kinky's Baby Bump 3/14/12

I you want to get in on the fun, we are having a “Pick Of The Litter” lottery on our website:

http://run4theredlantern.com/PickTheLitterLotto.html Guess the whelping day, number of pups and how many of each sex. Closest guess wins one of our great t-shirts!

Secondly; lambing season is upon us. Pretty soon we will have between 20 and 30 baby baa-baas here-which means we will be plenty busy taking care of these tasty, oops, I mean cute, little guys!

It also means a new supply of sheep milk!! Sounds icky, you say? Nonsense..ewes milk tastes a little like half-n-half (it is 8% fat after all) and makes the most wonderful brined feta, gouda and bleu cheeses.  

Home Made White Stilton with Blueberries

Oh, and Shirley (aka-the best cow in the universe!) is expecting a calf in a couple months too.....so fresh cows milk, butter and cream coming too. Yummmmm-life is good, literally!

On top of all this we are hosting our annual Montana Malapaloosa here the 7th through the 13th of May. So far there are about a dozen malamute teams signed up, and it looks like the mallie count is around 100. Yep, 100 WORKING malamutes....it will be a sight to see (and hear!). Thank goodness our nearest neighbor is 9 miles away:-) 

Some of the teams at last year's Malapaloosa

If you are interested in joining us for this event, check out the details here: 

https://www.facebook.com/events/171349252982999/ 

I bet you guys that thought everything would slow down with spring??

And So Begins Mud Season

                It’s been almost a week – time for another update. The first is a sad one: it seems that our litter of four baby goats arrived too early – of the three premature kids that survived the first night, we now have only one. It was hard to watch such cute animals struggle to survive and fail, but at least we know that we did everything we could. The good news is that our kid, Jelly, is thriving. He’s finally learned to nurse on his own, and he seems to be handling the milder temperatures outside well. I've realized that, with so many births on our ranch, death will also play its part.  

                I had a couple more firsts this week – a few nights ago we took two teams out just as the sun was setting, and did 20 miles by star and moon light. I ran six dogs for the first time, and also ran my own team at dark for the first time. It was a little unnerving not being able to see everything that was going on with my team, and I had several moments where I was sure I saw a limp or a hitch that wasn’t actually there. Even with the added stress of the dark, it was still extremely enjoyable – I could have never pictured that experience a few months ago.  

                We also ran on quads for the first time this season. The weather has been warm and sunny, which has taken away much of the snow on our roads, so today found us sloshing through the mud with two 12 dog teams. Since we were on four wheelers, we were able to have much more control stopping and correcting any mistakes or undesirable behavior. After 3+ hours, our mileage wasn’t nearly what it would have been with sleds, but we got lots of valuable training in, practicing passing, stopping, turning around, and geeing over among other things. We also got plenty of pull training in: I was amazed to see 12 dogs pull 1000 pounds five miles up the mountain; it gave me a new respect for their strength.  

                Right now it’s at least fifty degrees outside, the sun is shining across the Sapphire Mountains to the west, and I can think of nothing better to do with my evening than to sit on my porch and enjoy the view - I trust you'll forgive me for stepping away from the computer. I hope the warm weather and sunshine is finding you too – I’m off to enjoy them. Until next time! 

First Birth of the Spring

     The news for today is babies! One of our dairy goats, Jeri, had four -- that's right, four kids this afternoon. Unfortunately, one was stillborn, but we still have two boys and a girl down in the barn getting used to goat life. For the time being, Jeri isn't producing much milk, nor is she letting her kids suckle, so we're going to be bottle feeding them three times a day. We got to teach them to suckle, and give them some instant energy, by giving them honey off of our fingers, and since they're all so small and it's still pretty chilly up here, we cut up some socks and made pretty stylish cardigans. Here's some pictures -- I got excited.

Drying off the babies

Checking out her new arrivals

Me and a kid

Getting fitted for his sweater

I think he looks like an ivy league rugby player

 
  This is the first birth of any kind that I've gotten to be around, and I already feel protective of all three of them. Maybe when they get older and less innocent I won't feel like such a parent, or maybe when there's 20 other babies running around this place I won't dote on them so much, but for today they're pretty special.