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Of Skijor Races Past

Here's a fun video of Abby at the start of the LNAC races in Fairbanks following the World Championship Skijor races in Salcha, Alaska . Abby ready to race, LNAC 2013 My original plan had been to compete with Tikko, my Alaskan husky, as my race dog. Abby was a back-up if I needed her, but I didn't consider her trained up quite yet to race. When Tikko told me he was ready to retire, Abby stepped up and more than took over his race dog role. After the racing in Salcha in the nordic combined, I wasn't quite ready to go home, so we signed up for the three-day LNAC races. It was very warm especially for Fairbanks, reaching above freezing and into the 40s, which was not ideal for thick-coated Abby, but was fun for me. I raced in a t-shirt! Abby was eager to go and ran well, even through the heat. I was so proud of her, and look forward to racing with her, and her son, this coming season. In the meantime, enjoy the video of my girl, Abby. The commentary is funny, she...
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Malinois Power! Kiersten Lippmann's new ride!

Wow- Kiersten Lippmann has not posted on this blog in a long time! Tikko, my Alaskan husky has retired as my main skijor dog, with Abby, my malinois, Sirius, Abby's son and new upstart pup Pemi taking over the racing duties. Abby has proven to be a very solid, driven, race dog. She responds instantly and precisely to directional commands from her owner, Kiersten Lippmann, and has even learned to pull a pulk. Here is Abby, as first substitute for the now retired Tikko, racing at the skijor World Championships in Salcha, Alaska. She did very well, for her first time pulling a pulka! Video of Abby at World Championships . I've also very much enjoyed training Sirius, Abby's son to skijor race this winter. We had a solid snow winter up north, and have lots of access to cross country ski trails, and snowmobile trails that are dog friendly. Here is Sirius on just his second skijor. Video of Kiersten Lippmann's dog Sirius Skijoring . Pemi is the newest addition to the...
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New season, new race

We had the first skijor event of the season, a Fun Run in Girdwood yesterday. There was a great turn-out and lots of interested locals came by to watch or participate. Girdwood is a very dog-friendly town and area, and everyone there skis and owns a dog, so it's a nice venue for skijoring. Here's a video of Abby trying to pull a pulk for the first time and Tikko skijoring. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNcNkEQxIlQ&feature=g-crec-u Abby wasn't so sure about the pulk, and she's still living up to her "mali-gator" nickname, but we'll work on that. Tikko ran one good lap. My shoulder popped out of joint mid-skijor with Abby. Ouch! I need to get it looked at or there will be no world championships for me!
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Wolverine the animal

We run up Mt. Wolverine frequently. This is the first time I've ever actually seen a wolverine in the flesh. Running on an undisclosed trail, Tikko started barking. I could see a medium sized, black animal in the trail in front of him. I whistled him back with the emergency whistle, thinking it was that bane of our existence, the porcupine. But once I got over my reactiveness I realized the animal had moved much too fast, been darker and squater than a wolverine, and had the characteristic light blond ring of fur around it's back. We were fairly certain it was a wolverine, but kept the dogs close as we headed up to an undisclosed pass. On the way up, we saw the wolverine again, heading straight up the side of this mountain, trucking it up to some bouldery area where it may have had a den. Like the tracks we saw this spring, it just headed straight up the steep mountain, no fear, agile and strong. Wolverines are one of my favorite animals. They are shy, people don't know muc...
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Enjoying the sunlit tundra on our way down from Eklutna Peak
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Pemi Loop

Andrew and I hiked the 31.5 miles, 20,000 foot elevation gain/loss on Friday. I am still tired. Tessa was very sore afterwards, but she seems OK now, except I think she' s coming down with another round of erhlichia. I am afraid it is going into the chronic stage and am going to treat her aggressively with doxycycline for the next 8 weeks per my internet information. The day was nice, the dogs were happy, and the trails weren't crowded. The stars blazed overhead once the sun set. Great day.
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It's been hot here. Got me thinking about the months (all hot) I served in Southern Illinois. But when I thought about it a little more, I realized that Massachusetts has So. Ill. thouroughly beaten. Here are just a few of the reasons: Why So Ill is Soo Ill. 1. Chiggers 2. Seed ticks 3. Copperheads 4. Water Moccasins 5. Rattlesnakes 6. Huge biting flies 7. Pitbulls 8. Animal abuse 9. Rednecks 10. 100% humidity and 100 degrees for days at a time Why Mass is not So Ill 1. Chiggers were the bane of my existence. I wrote my entire thesis draft with frequent breaks to itch and otherwise attend to my numerous chigger bites. I found these techniques alleviate, but do not eliminate the burning itch associated with chigger 'bites' (they form tubes from your skin cells and suck out your juices, then die inside of you) a. nail polish- yes, it feels nice and cool for about 30 minutes. Then it's back to itching, only this time you have to chip away the nail polish before you start s...
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