First Snow - Week Five!

---

Girl scouts, First snow, and only 2 months left!

How time flys! I can't believe I have already been out here a month! Well it began snowing in the very early hours of yesterday meaning when I had my VERY early wake-up call (4:30am!! so that we arrived for our girl scouts event on time) there was a great expanse of snow outside my window! Admittidly you couldnt see it very well being pitch black! But it was there 😊

We had collared up the dogs the night before so at 5am we quickly loaded and departed the house while worrying that we wouldnt be able to get home! The weather forecast predicted 5-9 inches and the latter end of the scale would mean travelling would be a little tricky. As we were on the road so early the ploughs hadnt started work yet so Linda carefully had us moving at a sensible 30mph which is whats required when 1) you want to live! and 2) there are precious sled dogs in the back. Now 30mph might seem ridiculous for an 1 1/2 trip but we saw TWELVE cars in the ditches along the roadside in the journey out and back combined! 12!! What morons...! And that didnt include the countless skid marks leading off the road without cars still there. People nowadays need to chillout when driving! We then arrived at camp Gray Koch home of little creatures known as Girl scouts *shudder*. Small children truely frighten me! Esspecially when they are in packs of 100! They ran around screaming with excitement at the snow outside and kept asking me 'Where are you from?!' England I replied smiling, after the fiftieth time however...ENGLAND!!! godammit...! We arrived witth a good hour to spare but oh my how that hour flew! Linda set up her projector and computer in the main room to give a talk on the dogs while Chris (one of Lindas friends) and I chained the dogs up, fed them, and got the cart out (all in about 6 inches of snow!) which was not an easy feat! Linda then did her talk with the help of Chris (who was holding Wimzi and Tuloon) while I stood out in the snow and watched the mutts. After 5 minutes of standing still I lost the feeling in my hands...this was going to be a good day for lesson learning! Over the 5 hours we were at Camp Gray Koch I went through FIVE pairs of gloves- not including the giant polar expedition worthy mittens that Chris leant me! One pair of inner gloves- and four pairs of fleece! The main problem with snow at this time of year is that it simply isnt cold enough. Yes its below feeezing but the snow melts on clothing and skin and it melts fast! So my snowy gloves after 5 minutes where damp and then freezing cold, so glove change, then another! At the end of the day when I went inside my hands swelled really quickly as the blood began to enter them again! They were so cold that when I whacked my hand against a tree (I was running...!) I didnt even realise I had cut myself until I saw the blood pouring out! Not good! Well I definatly learned to bring waterproof stuff thats for sure!

After the talk we had a group of about 25 girls come out and see the dogs. Now out of the 13 Huskies we have 2 are very shy and get 'spooked' around newbies. (these two are Journey and Oken) So I had to stand next to them while the girls went around petting the fluffy things. Now journery stood trembling against me and Oken full on was choking himself trying to get as far away as possible! Linda then came over and told me to step away from the dogs on the other side of the line and try and coax them out! I felt bad watching the poor mutts shaking so did so...and it worked! With me next to the girls both dogs would come to me when I called giving the scouts time to pet them! Linda sure knows good dog psychology 😊 Linda then gave a quick demonstration with the cart but in the still rapidly falling snow it wasnt easy for the dogs to pull it! (its not deep enough for a sled though.) We then led the girls inside with 3 dogs and taught them how to harness. Now a dogs leg is a simple mechanism. Pull the paw STRAIGHT up and the leg bends easily. Pull the leg up by the 'thigh' its not going to move, pull the dogs leg out sideways your going to break it. Simple. Now WHY cant 8/9 years olds get this! I had two girls to teach, one was brilliant and learnt immediatly. The other obviously has never been around a real dog before and treated Topa like a bloody rag doll! She was yanking her leg up by the thigh, I then told her how to do it properly for the second time. She did it wrong again, so for third time 'by the paw and up' SHE DID IT WRONG AGAIN! As she is a mini-human I let her off but my god the fourth time I did it for her with a stepford wives smile while thinking 'grrrrr.....!' I guess I willl never have the patience to be a teacher! Its not not my calling 😊

We then drove home after having two groups of girls and luckily the plough man had been out enabling a smooth drive!
The dogs love the snow and its so cute watching them run around in it! Wimzi was born in January this year and so hasnt really seen proper snow (she wasnt allowed out in it as a puppy) so its great seeing her bound around like a nutter!

---

Photos

The New Dog House!
Neil built this while he was over here!! Its amazingly made and fitted together like a puzzle