First camping/fishing trip of the season! and dogs' melodramatic play

Elise and Sophie on West Branch on our way to fish this morning


click on the video post above to see a melodramatic video of Jack and Yeti in play, set to the Tragically Hip's "Cordelia"

Lazy Husky Ranch Goes To School!

Sophie demonstrated for her third grade class how to harness a sleddog. Foxy was a willing participant: she loves kids, and afterward, everyone got a piece of dog treat to give to Foxy

While walking the other night with Sasha, the smell of lilacs and magnolias unmistakably permeated the air. And yesterday, it could be avoided no longer: I had to break down and mow the lawn - the first of what will be weekly occurrences from now until October. Spring is officially here. Sigh. I can hope for snow no longer.
It's hard to believe just six weeks ago, we were buried in 18 inches of the stuff.

It's also hard to believe that in just three and a half weeks, Sophie will be nine. I remember driving home from St. John's hospital in Jackson Hole with tiny Sophie over the mountain pass. It snowed as we drove over the border into Idaho. It was May 21, 1999.

Now she gets e-mails and phone calls from school friends about boys. And she read Charlotte's Web and gave up eating bacon.

In three and a half weeks, Elise will be four.

And in nine weeks, I will leave healthcare once again, having finished up my contract at Summa Barberton Hospital.

And in just a matter of months, I will be 36. And what have I done?

What will you do? How will you leave your mark?

AKC Alaskan Malamute found a forever home!

Sasha was abandoned by her original family because they decided on a whim they no longer wanted her but wanted a Bichon instead! She is up-to-date on shots, spayed and extremely lovable. She knows basic commands and walks well on a leash. She is very friendly and well socialized.


Lovable and sweet 6 year old Alaskan Malamute abandoned by her family. Who could drop this beautiful girl?


She is large and a fenced yard is a MUST for this girl! Her first night with us, she jumped our five-foot fence with no problem. Luckily, we were there. She is very loyal and came right to us.


If you are interested or know someone who might be, please contact me!

UPDATE: as of 4/21 Sasha found a wonderful new home with the sweetest gentleman and his 100# male malamute, Buddy. I love happy endings :-)

Spring means puppies, weddings and ... ear wax removal?

Chris with an ear candle, being melodramatic as usual


Leaving for my niece's wedding


Boogie Nights Sophie at the reception


Yeti, 5 months, with his right ear folded back. Originally his ears were folded forward like a hound. Now they're upright, but his right ear has overcompensated and folded BACKWARD instead! He's such an odd dog, and has made us all very happy.

Theodore Roethke must have had days like this

I dream of journeys repeatedly:
Of flying like a bat deep into a narrowing tunnel
Of driving alone, without luggage, out a long peninsula,
The road lined with snow-laden second growth,
A fine dry snow ticking the windshield,
Alternate snow and sleet, no on-coming traffic,
And no lights behind, in the blurred side-mirror,
The road changing from glazed tarface to a rubble of stone,
Ending at last in a hopeless sand-rut,
Where the car stalls,
Churning in a snowdrift
Until the headlights darken.

first stanza of "The Far Field" by Theodore Roethke

I cannot help but dream of journeys, out in the snow-laden wood. Sadly, I watched the weather forecast tonight and learned it will soon be in the 70’s. Sigh. The smell of spring was in the air tonight as a steady rain began to fall, and Easter lillies are finally emerging, poking through the earth like the beaks of tiny ducklings, green and bright, reaching for the sky. And like e.e. cummings said, everything is "puddle wonderful" right now, which doesn’t make for such wonderful land at the ranch, or such wonderful paws on the Lazy Huskies.

Don’t get me wrong: I love the whole spring-is-rebirth thing. And, lacking in vitamin D, sitting in the sun certainly does feel good and makes my freckles pop. Digging in the dirt feels good.

But my head is always thinking of snow, of white, and miles and miles of trail.

Ivermectin and debris

All the dogs are peeved at me because they all started their monthly doses of Ivermectin today and on top of that, I spent many hours out in the yard today cleaning up all the debris they've spent many hours chewing up over the winter: pieces of plastic toys, shoelaces, a hairbrush, and many many unidentified objects. Between poop revealed from snow melt, dead leaves, sticks and various other debris, I came away with two trash bags full and a nice pile of leaves and brush for a small fire tonight. Yeti took his first dose of Ivermectin like a champ.

Spring is definitely here now that the Ivermectin is out.