Crazy for a loon

We went to the 2009 Kachemak Bay Shorebird Festival in Homer recently. On our first full day in Homer we went on the festival’s Seabird Sidetrip, a birding cruise around upper Kachemak Bay with Karl of Bay Excursions. The weather was perfect, sunny and cool but not cold, and the water was calm.

Yellow-billed Loon, still in basic plumage

It was an awesome boat trip and we saw awesome birds (and lots of them), sea otters, and even harbor seals and harbor porpoises. The highlight for me was a Yellow-billed Loon. This was a life bird, and I would have been happy to see just one. Instead we saw THREE Yellow-billed Loons on this single trip.

Now I’m not a serious or competitive lister, but it’s always exciting to see a new species. And these loons are so cool for many reasons, including that they’re the largest of the loons. Yellow-billed Loon is also a species of conservation concern and on the National Audubon Society’s WatchList. I’m glad I got to see a Yellow-billed Loon before they’re all gone (but I hope that never happens).

Signs o’ spring at the Swingley ‘stead

There are many signs of spring around Fairbanks, but here are a few more specific to us:

• The truck is naked. We took the dog boxes off for the summer.
• There are muddy paw prints on the glass door between the living room and the deck/dog yard.
• We saw a butterfly today and a mosquito yesterday.
• Chris is roasting coffee outside instead of in the workshop.
• We traded in our mukluks for break-up boots.
• Our yard list for the year changes practically every day as birds return from their wintering grounds.
• Sunday afternoons often revolve around listening to Sunday Night Baseball on the radio.
• Kiva changed from being a sled dog to a retriever. She expects us to play fetch almost every day. Hooray for the Chuckit!
• The creek is rapidly rising.

Toothbrush dog

Bad me. I haven’t posted in several months again. I should be posting more often now that mushing season is over and running/Team in Training is gearing up. In the meantime…

Today was the 12th annual Mush for Kids, hosted by the Alaska Children’s Trust. It’s a good event for raising awareness about sled dogs and mushing, dog etiquette, and an organization that works to prevent child abuse and neglect in Alaska. I’ve participated in this fun community event for the past several years. Usually I help with the free dog sled rides by handling dogs while sleds are being loaded or unloaded with passengers. I don’t actually give the rides; my dogs can’t deal with stopping and starting and going around this little trail. As one might expect, there’s always a HUGE line of people waiting to get rides. I also usually bring Piper and Koidern to walk along the line getting pets from kids to help pass their time in line. Piper and Koidern love getting pets and are really good around the kids. It’s also a good opportunity to encourage kids to respect the dogs and use good manners around them. For example, if a kid comes up and asks if they may pet the dog instead of just barging up to it, I try to reward that behavior by thanking the kid for asking first.

As part of the event, some local dentists provide toothbrushes to give out to kids. There’s been a dog who walks around wearing a backpack full of toothbrushes. This year, the dog’s owner decided he was too old to do this job and asked some other mushers if they wanted to use a rescue dog for this task. It’s a bit much of a task to ask just any shelter (or former shelter) dog, because the dog needs to be very tolerant of children and crowds of people. I offered Piper for the job; she was adopted from the animal shelter and a veteran of this event.

Piper the Toothbrush Dog

Today Piper became “Piper the Toothbrush Dog.” She was a bit worried about it at first. She’s never worn a backpack before. And she didn’t walk around with me. There was another volunteer recruited to walk the toothbrush dog. Sarah loves dogs and learned quickly. Shortly after I left them on their own, Piper rebelled and didn’t want to walk around. It didn’t help that the backpack was a little big on her.

I readjusted the pack, gave Sarah a bag of bribes (a.k.a. Yummy Chummies dog treats), and suggested they try again. This time Piper got the hang of things.

Piper the Toothbrush Dog at work with Sarah

Piper and Sarah walked around the event for a few hours until they ran out of toothbrushes. Piper got lots of pets and attention, and I hear she may have gotten a treat or two.

While Piper did her job, I helped hold dogs while sleds were emptied of their passengers at the dog sled rides until Carol came to relieve me. Then Koidern and I walked along the line allowing people to meet and pet a real sled dog. After a while I gave Koidern a break and took her sister, Kluane, out to give Carol a break.

It was a perfect day for this event: sunny and just warm enough for the people while staying cool enough for the dogs and trail. As thing in the dog lot wound down, Carol and I took our two matching dogs out and chatted with one of the organizers. Kluane and Koidern both belonged to our training partner, Bonnie, until she decided that they didn’t fit with her kennel. Kluane fit with Carol, Koidern fit with me, and they both keep coming back to train at Bonnie’s. Besides loving attention and pets, they both love to give hugs.

Carol getting hugs from Kluane and Koidern

ANOTHER holiday miracle

Yeah, yeah. I know I haven’t posted anything in quite a while. I even had things to post about. How the Equinox Marathon and Relay went. Running the Philadelphia Half Marathon. Somehow the time and motivation to do so escaped me.

But now we have another holiday miracle. It’s related to last year’s holiday miracle.

It has been a little more than a year since Deuce laid down in the house for the first time. He had to retire from being a sled dog this winter. His shoulder wouldn’t let him keep training. Deuce has been handling his retirement quite nicely, and much better than I’m dealing with it. Each time I run the team of “not-so-grumpy old men” I think about how Deuce was supposed to be in that team and it makes me sad. Deuce, on the other hand, spends lots of time in the house and seems to really enjoy being with us more than ever. His favorite snoozing spots have been on the rug by the glass doors, on a rug in front of the heater, and on the rug in front of the sofa.

Then tonight he did this:

Deuce on a dog bed

Was this a fluke? A one time deal? I don’t think so.

Deuce on a bed again

Coincidence that it’s the second night of Hanukkah? Could be. He’s on a bed again as I type. Sorry Kiva. The beds just got a little more crowded.

Crowded dog beds

Still not friends, but …

I’ve never been good at going up any kind of hill using my own power. Biking, hiking, walking … it doesn’t matter. I get winded going up hill. Doesn’t even have to be much of an incline either. So I’ve always dreaded going up hills.

Maybe it’s because I spent the first 17 years of my life in southern New Jersey, which is flat as a pancake? Or maybe that’s just me trying to rationalize away the fact that I’m not exactly at my ideal body weight or fitness and it’s harder to lug the extra weight up a hill? Add to that the fact that I’ve never been particularly athletic or physically fit …

When I signed up for Team in Training, it wasn’t the fundraising that worried me most; it was the running. (Did I mention that I’ve never been athletic?) Even more, it was the running up Ester Dome.

The first time the team planned to go up Ester Dome during our group run, I was really nervous. But I made it to the top, enjoyed the view, savored my accomplishment for a few seconds, and headed back down. Down has never been a problem. Given that hills and I have never gotten along, I expected to have this sinking feeling every time we went near a hill. And I did. Or so I thought. Until last week.

Our coach, Kevin, e-mailed the team with encouragement and our plans for the team run just as he does every week. The plan was to meet at UAF’s Patty Center, run on the Equinox trail until we got to Ballaine and Yankovich, then run west along Yankovich until meeting the Equinox trail across from the muskox farm to head back into the woods. From there the team would follow the Equinox trail to Ann’s Greenhouse and up Ester Dome. We’d skip the out-and-back and head down the chute to follow the rest of the Equinox trail back to the Patty Center. Total mileage to be around 18 miles.

But, since I’m only doing the relay and not the entire marathon, I’m not doing as many miles as the rest of the team and instead focusing on increasing the percentage of my runs that I’m actually running as opposed to walking. So I e-mailed Kevin and asked what the plan was for us doing fewer miles. He responded that we’d do the same route as everyone else until Ann’s Greenhouse, then skip Ester Dome and run back to the Patty Center along the Sheep Creek bike path.

I read Kevin’s e-mail and was disappointed that I wouldn’t be running up Ester Dome. Not relieved. Not even indifferent. Disappointed. That’s when I realized that, although they’re still difficult and physically exhausting for me, I don’t hate hills any more. I wouldn’t call us friends yet, but no longer enemies.