December 2008...It's a girl!

We are so excited about the newest member of our family...Masha! She is an Alaskan husky mix of some sort or another, and just as smart as she is cute. She's 2 1/2 months old now, and growing fast. These photos were taken the day after we brought her home. Tonka's pretty happy to have a new friend (even though he thinks she's kind of a pain), but the cats are still reserving judgment!

Summer 2008

To be filled

April 2008 - One Last Snowfall

Who would have thought of snowstorms on April 26th?!? We'd already gone through "spring break-up," where the roads melt enough that we can see things like parking lot lines. The weatherman called for 2-3 inches of snow, but we think he misspoke....it was 2-3 feet!



We slowly lost Tonka in the backyard...

Going...

...going......

...gone!

April 13, 2008: Farewell to a Friend

Ribeye Elliott (October 1997 - April 2008)


I loved my friend,
He went away from me,
There's nothing more to say.
This poem ends, soft as it began,
I loved my friend.

March 1, 2008 - Iditarod!

Today was the ceremonial start for Iditarod 36 in downtown Anchorage. I braved the crowds to see the pups, but it was the cold that quickly got the better of me! It's been warm for the past week or so (low 30's), but this morning it was twelve degrees and I had to give up after about the first six teams passed by. You can click the photos to see more on our Picasa site, but here are a few pics from the starting line.

Only twelve degrees...Fahrenheit!

February 16, 2008 - Skijorring

These are some photos from our last skijoring trip. We took the dogs down to Mt. Alyeska where they have a large open field groomed for cross-country skiing. It was absolutely FREEZING, but we had a good time. The last time we were there, it was pouring down snow, so it was nice to have a view of the mountains this time around. Ribeye refuses to wear his booties, so he was especially ready to go home at the end, but in the meantime he's a great sport about pulling me around in that harness!

January 3, 2008

Happy New Year! We enjoyed a white Christmas in Anchorage, despite a very late start to the winter season. For a while, I was afraid the "white" in our Christmas would be composed entirely of hoarfrost, but the snow finally came to stay and is building up slowly. We can finally use our new X-Country skis at the local parks, although it's not quite deep enough yet for the trails to be well-groomed. I blame it on global warming.......

The fruit tree in our front yard is apparently a great Moose-Magnet, and we had a furry visitor again today. This time, we were able to grab the good camera and get some better shots of him -- a young bull this time. The photo here links to our web album which has some additional shots of the little cutie!