Hello, My Name Is...

Duncan & Dave are sporting some new bling...

and no, they're not smeared...that's my intentional blur across my phone number in the photo so I don't have random people calling me :)

they told me they wanted their new tags to match their collars...such picky dogs...purchased from this fun shop on Etsy...she has many different colors, patterns and fonts from which you can choose...

Their new name tags came in handy this weekend as they were introduced to a new friend... :)  this is Murphy...

 a cute little furball

 he's constantly in motion, so it was a challenge getting a non-blurry photo of him

 a typical playful puppy...Duncan was a little snarly with him (I think he's becoming a crotchety middle-aged 'puppy' now that he's 5 years old), but by the end of the weekend they were buddies

 he likes to nap on the lower part of the coffee table

 such a cutie, he's just a LITTLE smaller than D&D at this point, but not for long!

Siri...ously?

When I was in Denver in December, I upgraded my cell phone and finally joined the land of iphone owners...one of the features of the newest model is "Siri", the virtual assistant that allows you to dictate texts, emails, reminders or ask for directions or restaurant locations or pretty much anything you want.  I've only just begun exploring what it has to offer, but I'm convinced the name "Siri" is short for 'Seriously'....as in did you SERIOUSLY just ask me to look that up?  I'm sure at some point there will be a site or blog dedicated to strange questions and requests asked of Siri...

My most recent request?  "What does moose poop look like?"  It's been awhile since I've seen any moose...as I'd mentioned before, with all of the snow we've received this season, the moose have been forced to search for food further down into the city....on my way home from work one morning last week, I finally saw one walking along the road...only the second one I've seen since December....but then, a couple of nights later, as I left the house and made my way down the hill, I saw what looked like large piles of rabbit (BIG rabbit) pellets in three separate places...which led to my inquiry...

and here's an interesting (admittedly that may be debatable to some people) fact...moose poop looks different in the spring/summer than it does in the fall/winter because their diet changes...more grass in the spring/summer, and more bark/leaves/fiber in the fall/winter...so you get 'cow patty' piles in the summer and 'rabbit pellet' poops in the winter.  :)

My point of all this?  It's a sign to me that spring is S-L-O-W-L-Y coming...the moose say so...

and yes, I just blogged about moose poop...another first for me! :)

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We had some visitors on Friday...Duncan has not forgotten how to alert me...

Welcome back! :)

Well Update

Some great news to share...remember the clean water well project?  Enough $$ for the well was collected and the people in the Busoga village now have a new water well and access to clean water.  They've gone from having this as their water source for drinking, cooking and cleaning...

 source

to this...

source

It's so cool to see something like this come together with the help of people all over the world.

Ice Sculptures & Dog Sledding

More fun from my mom's visit...a drive downtown to view some ice sculptures...

 peacock

 Happy Feet

 Giraffes

 playful seals

 ice skaters

 race car

 the winning sculpture...dancers

 semi truck

 train

 dinosaurs

and a birthday surprise for her...going on a dog sled ride...

 a balmy -6* (yes, that's NEGATIVE six degrees)

 13 dogs pulling us

 what's that saying??...if you're not the lead dog, the view never changes??

very true...

 The dog ride took place near Alyeska, at a place called Moose Meadows...it was a beautiful area...

 there were many cross country skiers...and even some campers?!?

 Dario, the musher...he's participated in the Iditarod 9 times

the dog musher informed us the -6* temps were still a little warm for the dogs liking...he said their ideal temp to run is -20*...when we stopped the dogs were 'biting' at the snow, eating it / helping them cool off...
he also shared some of the history of dog mushing, and explained how it's evolved over time from using dogs for transportation back in the day, and needing huskier dogs, to now primarily being used for racing, so speed over strength is a more desirable trait in the huskies used...the average weight of the dog is only about 45 pounds, which surprised me

 This is where the dogs live...the black dog is standing on top of his igloo house

 the dogs who were chained were howling back and forth with the dogs who were pulling our sled

 waiting for their turn to go sledding

 my mom and me (in the background, NOT the foreground) :)

We switched seats at this point and my mom warned me to hang on sitting on the back bench because she almost fell off a couple of times...not even 5 minutes later, we came around a curve and hit a bump, and guess who went flying out of the sled??  :)  Thankfully the snow provided a soft pillow landing for me.

Overall, we had a fun day, however, I don't think I would go on another ride...there are people who see animals as utilitarian and others who see animals as part of the family...I definitely fall in to the latter category...I felt sorry for the dogs!  When we stopped, I saw that some of them had small cuts on their paws from the snow and were licking their wounds...and I swear I saw the ones that were chained up shivering :)  I wanted to bring them all home w/ me and keep them inside.  It was a cool experience, but not one I wish to repeat.