Thankful

Wow, this past week has been simply amazing! After being so close to loosing my mind over my crazy schedule, having to go to the ER from a bad case of heat stroke and with so many projects on my plate its been tough to stay sane.


But this week Ive seen so many wonderful things... my schedule has been so much more manageable through great help from our volunteers. At the show Johnny, and now our new volunteer Leah, have been a godsend. They watch the dogs while I continue to get things done behind the scenes and they are both getting better at talking with our visitors. I am looking forward to having them out at the kennel soon to continue their mushing education as far as they desire. It is our hope that they will continue with us on the trail to work with the same dogs they have put so much time into gaining their trust and love over the summer at our Yukon Quest show.


James Langston continues to be a real asset to us as well. Last week I was surprised to come home to a very generous donation that he put towards our kennel building fund. Not only did he donate funds but a considerable amount of his time as well. We both are hitting the dog yard hard and getting so much cleaned up and prepared for winter. I am very excited to see all these things fall into place. Its making all the hard work we have been putting ourselves through so worth it!


My James (Cooper) and his friend Mike have been amazing. James picked up ridge logs and posts for our new kennel entrance as part of our big plans to put a new face on the kennel and get things looking top notch. He and Mike dropped off most of our building materials yesterday for the new kennel 'school house'. We will be breaking ground next weekend to start the building. I'm not sure what this new place will be called since it will be serving as a school house, a gift shop, and a changing station for those who need to suit up in winter gear for their dog mushing adventures.


We are also working on another tiny little cabin just for Spock who is buried right at the front of the dog yard. I was originally going to have his grave covered in stones but hes right in way of the other dogs when they play in the yard. Its a little disturbing having them race over him during their free time. Our solution is to build a log dog house right over his grave site where he will always be remembered and always admired. We just about have all the logs cut for that part of the project, just need to do some sanding and put a roof on it. Not too much to do there but its high priority before the snow flys. I cant have my big boy be left out in the cold this winter...


The extra logs we are cutting will be for one or two more log dog houses in the front. Its my hope that Mercury and Griffin will take a liking to them when they spend their days out in the dog yard running loose and enjoying their retirement years. They will also double as great photo op places for our visitors. Who wouldnt want to get their photo taken in front of a log dog house with a fluffy husky on top? Chronos most likely will be our official poser for that job! Hes been so awesome as our kennel mascot and those floppy ears make him oh so lovable!

But the most pleasing aspect of this week has been seeing our projects finally take shape and form. Our hard work is paying off, we are starting to see progress in leaps and bounds and little things like finally having a kennel secretary and someone donating their website services to the Sled Dog Sanctuary has been awesome!! We are finally able to be in so many places at once thanks to all these wonderful helpful people with such HUGE hearts! Thank you so much to all!!


Oh, and the other big thing this week was the release of the 2011 Yukon Quest t-shirt that featured my fine art. The guys at Trademark did an AMAZING job with the layout and I was very pleased with all their color choices. Getting this work ready in time for the release was very tough but in three weeks, with a TON of help from all the people around me, I managed to pull it off and was very pleased with the result.


There is actually a bit more to the design that will be finished later when things slow down a bit. When finished it will be my biggest art piece to date. I will work on getting prints available once the full design is complete but as for when that will be I really don't know. Ive got a lot to catch up on and another big project to work on for the month of October, then it will be time to train dogs and be on the trail full time again. Everything will be finished in good time but for now you all can enjoy the t-shirts for this year and be on the look out for the full finished art piece in 2012! :)