Tap

My Son and Daughter-in-law have been enjoying Tap, the dog they got from Diamond J's Maltese. Here are a couple of pictures of him working over a Nike+ box.

My Teacher's Malamutes

As we moved farther north I was given a second dog. We lived at Good Hope Lake near Cassiar, in northern British Columbia. I attended a one room school there and our teacher was Mr. Robinson. He had two Malamutes that he had brought up from Vancouver. I always played with them at recess. The mother dog was more shy than her grown up pup, but they were friendly. When the school year ended he was going back to Vancouver, and gave me the younger dog. There was also a puppy picture of her that he had saved. She was small and sitting on a tanned hide to have her picture taken. This dog was a very nice dog all around.

The next place we moved to was Haines Junction in the Yukon Territory. A small town about a hundred miles from White Horse. From there you could take the Haines Highway down to Haines Alaska.
For a couple of winters we lived right on that road in a mobile home. We were the check point. There was a barricade set up and everyone wanting to go down that road had to check in first. Dad would call or radio ahead,to let them know that the vehicles were coming through. There was a record book where the model of car, license plate, number of people in the car, destination, etc. was written. This road went through areas where the blizzards were "white outs". The road was closed after a certain time at night. Sometimes the road was closed altogether. The people that traveled it and lived down there, called back when they got home. Those that were traveling on through, went through the check point at the end.
If you stayed on the Alaska Highway you would go on to Tok Alaska. At night sometimes we could hear the wolves howling not too far away. It is more eerie sounding than dogs or coyotes. I walked to school and it was about a mile from where we lived. If the temperature got near 50 below zero or lower Mom let me stay home.
My new dog Chena stayed outside and little King stayed inside. King died at Haines Junction. He was four or five when we got him and now he was old.
Another dog came and spent a lot of time at our place. He was from Bun's Cafe just up the road. Mom sometimes made pies at the cafe. It was a busy place and Bun's wife was always working. One of her sayings was "Bun tells me to run!"
Now back to the dog. He was a big white dog with a broad face. He was quiet, calm, and gentle.
One night these dogs went to the experimental farm on the Alaska Highway. The next day we got a call that these two dogs had been shot for killing chickens there. This was very sad.
For a while we had a pug mix dog. It went down by the road one day and got killed.
Dogs need a fenced area, or to be tied for their own protection. Dogs that are out on their own don't know the dangers of cars, guns, or being stolen. There is also some danger of wild predators, and even other dogs.

Dad found someone who had Chihuahua puppies and we had a dog again. Taffy was so tiny she could fit in the palm of my hand. She grew up to be a sourdough!

The Official Iditarod Site

Just a thought for future reference to go to the Official Iditarod site. iditarod.com

Check the Iditarod!

Something interesting to check out is the Anchorage Daily News to connect you to the 2009 Iditarod!! Great photos of hard working dogs with their mushers. http://www.adn.com

Dad in the Yukon/Salmon Fishing

At Dawson Dad had a commercial fishing licence. The Yukon River was flowing at about 12 knots and was silty from glacier water, coming from the White River. He would net King Salmon. Down river (north) was Moose Hide and there was an Indian that had a fish wheel set up in the river. We went to see it. It turned with the current. It had troughs fastened to the wheel and as it turned fish would be scooped out of the water. Very interesting! It was a great invention.

Dogs and Berry Picking

Ah, berries!  We all love them.  Picking them makes great childhood memories.

When we went floating down the river in a canoe, there were baby raccoons picking berries with their mother.  So cute to watch as we glided by.

I remember the endless high bush blueberries in Ontario.  It seemed like miles of them.  When we lived at Matachewan, Mom, Dad, and I picked so many we had every container in the kitchen full.  Then we feasted on berries, pies, muffins, and pancakes for a long time.

In the Yukon, up in the tundra there were abundant low bush blueberries to walk through and turn our shoes blue.  They were especially good.

We always had to be on the lookout for bears.  Black, brown or grizzly, depending on where we were.  It was a good idea to have a pan to bang on, a dog to bark, a gun, and a rig fairly close by to jump into.  The latter was not always possible.  Black bears in the Yukon range from pure black through various shades of brown.  They can weigh about 180 lbs.  They are mostly around the forest.  Grizzly bears range from dark brown, to rust ,to almost blonde.  The grizzly weighs about 300 lbs. or more.  They move around between the riverside and up into the alpine and tundra. 

One time we were visiting the Bootileer sisters near Dawson.  It was a warm sunny day and there were raspberries growing by the road.  We were picking some and King our little Pomeranian, was picking his own, one at a time, and eating them.

Another of our dogs liked to pick rosehips and eat them.  The Cairn Terrier we have now stands patiently while we pick her blackberries.

Dogwise.com

I found this site that has a lot of interesting things. They sell books, calendars,toys and products.

King and I