Sweet December

Whoa, where does the time go? The past month FLEW by. Probably because November is the busiest month for my job. Add a new puppy to the mix and you can bet my nights lacked sleep.

Let's try and catch up on the important stuff. I named the new pup Knoxville, "Knox" for short. His first two weeks were the hardest. Unlike my other dogs, he didn't pick up on our sleep schedule after the first few nights. I was up two, three, four times a night with him. The explosive diarrhea didn't help. Luckily, he gave me fair warning and I got him outside in time.

He has yet to sleep past 7 AM. If I'm lucky, I can get all the animals fed and all the poop scooped before 7:30. Then the dogs occupy each other while I get to sleep a few extra minutes.

"Black Friday" and "Cyber Monday" came and went, along with about a week and a half of working 10 or 12 hours every day. Exhausting when you're up all night with a crying puppy, but I made it through.

We celebrated Thanksgiving Eve, our potluck tradition, and then regular Thanksgiving. I could eat turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, and biscuits every day. As much as I love Turkey-Day, I'm excited to have it out of the way, and for the real "holiday season" to begin.

I was so eager, I hung Christmas lights outside the house the day after Thanksgiving. We put up our tree and interior decorations the following week. I still may add some more here and there, but for now I'm content with the hall deckings.


I do have some exciting dog mushing news to share! The Dick Dalakian Memorial Race on November 26th was our first race and the Pine Barrens Dryland Race on December 3rd was our second. We participated in the bikejor class -- and I'm proud to say, we took first place at both events! These were both "fun" races and not extremely competitive. However, I'm still very proud of my dogs. Dexter has come a long way from being, well, not a sled dog at all. And Denali continues to impress me every day.

Our next race is the Fair Hill Challenge this weekend in Elkton, Maryland. We'll be competing in the two-dog sportsman bikejor class. This will be our first time at this race site and our first two-day race, so I'm a little nervous. I'm confident in the dogs' ability, just hoping we don't run into any problems. I've heard quite a few horror stories about this trail's difficulties. I guess we'll have to wait and see! I'm also looking forward to a mini get-away in Maryland. You can bet your ass I'll be treating myself to some crab, even if we lose.

After Fair Hill, I think our racing season will be pretty much over. I'll be picking up our sled at the event, so the next challenge will be learning how to use it (assuming we get some stinkin' snow). I may attend some snow races, but I doubt I'll be confident enough to participate just yet. Of course, we'll still be training on the bike (and I'll probably reintroduce the rig) while the cold lasts. Long live winter!