There's No Such Thing As A Sure Thing

I've heard that spring is here...or it's supposed to be anyways. The 2 ft of snow that's still on the ground at home kind of confuses me. lol

I haven't been home in almost 3 weeks. My oldest sister was expecting a baby girl on the 20th of March but the little munchkin decided to come earlier than planned. (She was full term and everything is fine...we just thought we'd have at least another week to bite our nails!). 

A healthy baby girl was born on March 11th at 6:27am, weighed 5lbs 8oz, and measured 18 or so inches long. Her name is Emma Claire and she has two proud older sisters.

I've been at my sister's house helping her out with the baby and her two older girls, ages 5 and 1.  

So that means I haven't seen my dogs in almost 3 WEEKS! I miss them something fierce...

I should be going home after Easter weekend though. 

Although I've had a great time with my family, I will be SO GLAD to see my dogs again and to get back into my "dog routine". I'm sure some or most of the snow will be gone by the time I get back so I'll have to put my sleds away. :(

There's always next year though. If...

They say that you can "never trust a sure thing" and I have found that to be more and more true the longer I walk this earth. I'm at that point in my life where I have to figure out what I'm going to do with the rest of it. 

And at this point,

I'm not entirely sure what I want. 

A while back, my long-term life goal was to run either the Iditarod or the Fur Rondy. I wanted a large kennel in either Alaska or Minnesota, I wanted to train and race competitively, run a tour kennel with the retired/slower/rescue dogs and live the rest of my life as a musher. 

My plans and dreams changed though, as they often do in my seemingly fickle life. I scrapped the Iditarod plans and traded them for dreams of being a professional photographer with a family and a big house on a hill.

Alas, I still haven't made a decision.

I did make a decision a while ago, though, that Jetta would be the last addition to the kennel for a long time. As long as Salsa is still up to it next year, I may have a 5 dog team for the 6 dog class. If she wants to retire though, I will still have a 4 dog team...as long as I can get some focus in to Char and some commands in to Sydney. lol

Yes, I have enough fur balls for now.
Besides, whenever I go into "buy every puppy in sight" mode, my wallet reminds to me to calm the heck down. ;)

Ah well, spring is (supposedly) here so that means there will be a ton of yard/kennel work for me when I finally get home. I will be so distracted by the endless raking, digging, and lifting that I will barely have any time to think about all the decisions I have to make and all the puppies I want to buy... ;)
Plus, IT'S ALMOST TIME TO RIDE! Nothing clears my mind better than taking a horse out into a field and cantering all of my thoughts into the ground.

Me riding Buddy on a moody, end-of-summer day last year. About 1/2 and hour later my friend and I were running back to the barn in a hail storm...

Happy Spring!

"Annnd That's A Wrap!"

Wow, what a season! Short though it may have been, it was a good one still. The snow came late (better late than never, I suppose) and it's already showing signs of leaving for good.
We didn't get to an out-of-state race like we had planned but, there's always next year!

The Kinross Classic ended up being a go so we hauled ourselves up there to race some dogs and hang with sled dog people. We ran the 4 dog sport (as always) and came in 3rd place on Saturday in a class of 11 (starting from 10th place). On Sunday, the dogs got themselves into tangle after tangle coming out the starting chute which dropped us back to 6th place over all.
Things didn't go as I had planned (when does anything in life go as you planned it?? lol) but we had fun anyways, learned a lot, and armed with the knowledge we gained this season, we'll be ready to tackle 2014!

Sydney is doing excellent as a first time leader this year. I think she will enjoy the break over the summer, however, as the lead position is a tough one, especially for a young whipper snapper like her. ;) I have no doubts that she will be more than ready to get back into it next fall!

Jetta is doing AWESOME! She's been on 4 runs since she came to live with us and is taking to it like a duck takes to water. When I run her next to her sister, Char, I can hardly tell the difference in performance between the two - she does so well! Harness breaking her was a breeze...the hard part is going to be hanging onto her when it's time to hook up; that girl is WILD!

Well, the van has been stripped of all of my equipment and the temps are going to be quite warm all week...the sled dog season is wrapping up. I'm always sad to see it go but I know that the horse season is right around the corner...and I'm excited to get it started! I've been out of the saddle for too long...

I'd like to thank anyone and everyone that had ANYTHING to do with this years racing season, all of the people who gave up many hours of their lives so I could have fun and race my dogs... THANK YOU! I cannot tell you how much you are appreciated. :)

Look out for us next winter...we might be ready to kick butt in the 6 dog class! ;D