Puppies, puppies and more puppies!

The Rock Band Litter is growing so fast, they are already 7 wks old, and are such a joy to teach things to. They new sit at 5 wks of age, and now they do it consistently! We have taken them on adventure walks, where they have to go over and under blown down trees, through water, and tall grass, nothing phases this litter one bit. Cree and Watt should be proud parents for sure. Here are some photos of them at 7 wks old!

Sable

Hinder

Shiner

Shiner

Sable

Hinder

We also have more exciting news, Kyat who we leased from our good friends Blake and Jennifer Freking from MN, was bred to Roland, and now we have 8 happy healthy puppies! They are all piebalds, and there was 5 females and 3 males. Kyat went into labor early Thursday morning, she would not let me leave her side. Around noon her water broke, and than we waited and waited for pups to start coming out. Finally about 5 hrs after her water broke it was time to start worrying...we went to the emergency clinic, and sure enough on the xrays show two pups stuck, one in front and the other was T Boning the stuck one. Not good! While looking at the xray I was counting heads, and was shocked to see 8 pups in there! WOW! The Vet strongly suggested a C section, which kind of bummed me out, but at that point what needed to be done had to be done! So that is what we did, and the best part was I got to watch all of this happen and learn, and help revive the pups! WAY COOL! I am pretty sure I am hooked and ready to be a Vet Tech for sure! All 8 pups survived and are growing like crazy, and momma is doing great as well! Here is a photo to enjoy!


That's about all the news for now!

~Fort Illio~

A picture is worth a thousand words...

Johnny Jump Ups

Ryder & Tippin's Grave

Puppies...

Coming and going....

About a month ago Blazer headed out to be with his buddy Storm. Blazer went to live with our new friends Mark and Katina, (the same people that have Storm) They loved Storm so much, they wanted his partner in crime (Blazer). Blazer hasn't been on the race team much the past two years, due to him having issues running anything over a 20 mile run. So we decided that Blazer would be best off in his new home, where he can set the pace of the team, and be spoiled, which we have no doubt that is what he is getting! Thank you again Mark and Katina for giving our loved boy a wonderful new home!

Now the more exciting news is we now have puppies!! Cree gave birth to three healthy puppies early Sunday morning. 2 males and 1 female. They are just the cutest little things, and are already keeping me on my toes. I have a feeling this litter is going to be a handful. :)The litter theme is names of Rock Bands. So introducing....

Fort Illio's Saving Able "Sable"

Fort Illio's Hinder

Fort Illio's Shinedown "Shiner"

Cree and her babies


Thats all the news for now!

~Fort Illio~

Wild Wild West...Yet Again!!! :)

You think I would just move out there already! LOL! But responsibilities always seem to get in the way of dreams...SIGH

So yes I yet again made another trip out to MN. This time Mom and I went along with Jaye and Shane, it was a great trip, just long! It's funny how I forget all the time how long of a drive it is out there and back.

So of course we had a great and too short of a visit with Blake, Jen and their beautiful daughter Ellie, and of course all the furry creatures they have! It was a great time, but as usual way too short. And as I am sure you are all wondering, where you know I don't go to MN and not bring anything back to Maine. So there are two females here, one of which is visiting and the other is staying permanently. More about them later.

That's about all the news here, just been catching up on summer projects, getting the puppy building ready, its all wired, now we just have to insulate and put the walls up, and than get the whelping area set up. It's going to be nice. Cree is pregnant so she will be the first to use it. She is due at the end of the month. We have been busy building dog houses as well, replacing some old ones, and just building some news ones, for the new babies being born! It's never ending...

Dogs have just been lounging and playing hard during play time. We have been still running them on ATV, and plan to until it's gets to warm. The dogs seem to love it! Below are some photo's of the dogs running, and playing. Enjoy!

Well that's all for now until puppy time!

~Fort Illio~


Marocca and Dixie playing

Early morning run

The new girls, Kyat and Rosa

Water break

Stormy moves on...

At the Greenville Race this year we met a really nice couple, that had Siberians, and they just fell right in love with Storm! I was thinking about placing Storm in a smaller kennel, where he would get more attention, and to help teach Mark and Katina's younger dogs what sledding is all about. Turns out it was a match made in heaven, and we couldn't be happier that Stormy is in a great home, and being spoiled like he deserves!! Thanks a lot Mark and Katina for sharing your life with Storm, and we hope he is what you wanted!

Storm with his new family (Mark & Katina)

Storm counter surfing

~Fort Illio~

Can Am 60

Team coming into the finish!

This is the race we just love to go to and anxiously wait for all season! This race is a bit of a drive for us but so worth it. We left Thursday morning earlier than we normally leave, but the joy of going to school, I had to stop at my college and take a test that "could not be made up!" Those professors they sure are tough! Of course my mind was not in "school mode" where I was way too excited for the weekend to come! But I did the tests, and was in and out of there fast. Turns out I did better than I thought on it.

Anyhow the drive up was uneventful, stopped on the way and took pictures of Mt. Katahdin, where you can see it next to the road, and it was a clear day, so it was really pretty! We arrived right on schedule and arrived at our place to stay. Got settled in for the night, fed the dogs and got them all tugged in. Next day was vet checks. Woke up to a wonderful breakfasts being made by George and Maggie who was racing the 30 miler that weekend!

Vet checks went great! All passed with flying colors! Only one split on Aryans pad was the only issue! NICE! I have to say to have only one split all season with the miles we put on, pretty remarkable, thanks to mom for her bootie expertise!

Saturday morning finally came and it was snowing...I was hoping to do the race in 7 to 7 1/2 hrs, but the snow obviously was going to set us back a bit. Before we knew it dogs were harnessed bootied, and sled was ready, we were headed for main street. We were number 6 out of the shoot. The team was Wat and Roland in lead (the jokers) followed by them was Kaleeta and Cree, than Wallace and Yoda, And Lumos and Aryan in wheel. We flew out of the shoot under the bridge back up and we are supposed to cross the road...right boys! Well the boys hence why they are call the jokers, decided it would be fun to head down the road, towards a black cadillac, after some situating we were back on trail with the road crew laughing! We were underway again, team was clipping right along and I was jamming to my Ipod and running up hills! Passed a few teams and came into the checkpoint...hmmm joker boys again! They obviously know what a checkpoint is so when we arrived they were ready to pick out their spot! And almost took out a couple of volunteers that were in "their" way! I signed in and out and we were back on trail again. I pulled over shortly after the checkpoint and gave them some salmon, let them roll in the snow for few seconds and we were on trail again. Ipod back on, me running up more hills and paddling, passed another team. Still snowing we finally hit the 10 mile marker. The last 10 miles were uneventful and finally came to the finish line, with the team loping in! I got a lot of comments on the team with how they didn't even look tired after 8 hrs and 17 minutes of running! I came in 15th place out of 23 teams, our best placement yet at this race, where it is a highly competitive race! And we also qualified for the 250!!!!!!! I was very happy with the teams performance and just couldn't stop smiling the whole way! At one point shortly after the checkpoint, a chickadee flew over my team very slowly, it was very neat to see. But I couldn't help but think it had something to do with my grandmother who helped raise me when I was younger, she LOVED chickadees, so seeing this really made me smile and be thankful for her! Back at the truck we gave the dogs their well deserved warm soup, checked them all out, and found only 2 sore wrists. Not bad! The trail was very punchy with how warm it was, so only two sore wrists wasn't that bad. It was Wallace and Kaleeta and I know when it happened it was within the last 3 miles coming in where this section of downhills are, the trail was pretty blown out and the dogs were just swimming down the hill.

That's the Can Am recap. Now we are just trying to have a few more fun runs before the snow is gone and its a mud pit, and doing some spring projects. We need to finish the dog/puppy building. Need to wire it, insulate it, and put the walls up, and than organize it! Always busy doing something! Happy Spring!

~Fort Illio~

Sandwich 45 Miler

Feb 19th we went to NH and competed in the Sandwich Sled dog race, doing a hard fast 45 mile run. The team was Kaleeta, Cree, Watt, Roland, Wallace, Bones, Rimbey and Lumos. I was amazed at how technical this trail was, everyone warned me that it was a technical trail, but I didn't think it was going to be a trail where you were kept on your toes 24/7. It was a fast hard trail, and I can honestly say I did more sled driving in that 45 miles than I did all season! We came in 8th place out of 14th place with a time of 4 hours and 26 minutes. I was holding the team back a lot where I didn't want any injuries, and save the team for the Can Am race!

Stay tuned for the Can Am race update!

~Fort Illio~