Beginning to look like winter

You can always tell when someone is not used to winter conditions because they are always wearing more clothes than the folks that live in the area. Unfortunetely, each year when the temperature drops below freezing for the first time, everyone looks like these people. The temperature is 20 degrees outside right now, but it feels as though it is zero or below. It always takes a few weeks to adjust, and eventually all of us will be dreaming of a day when it will once again get up to 20 degrees above. The cold temperatures, which finally came at the beginning of the week, are a welcome change to the rainy, above-normal temperatures we had been experiencing the rest of the month. It even is beginning to look like winter outside: lakes and ponds are frozen over, and there is a thin blanket of snow covering the ground. It's like eating one chocolate chip when you know the whole bag is coming later; this little bit of snow only makes all of us crazy dog mushers want more of it.
My pups and I have been moving along in training quite well. This past weekend was a monumental one for the pups. They experienced many firsts, including their first time riding in the dog trailer (Jeff converted a large snowmobile trailer into a trailer full of dog pens to be able to transport the dogs), their first time camping out, and their longest run of their lives yet. Nicole (another helper for the winter at the kennel) and I took 22 yearlings out to the winter training camp located near the Susitna River on the Denali Highway. We ran them 27 miles on Saturday and 19 miles on Sunday. They looked great on both runs, and they hardly let out a peep the whole night camping out. I was very excited to get them out, and I am looking forward to getting them out there soon again!
The improvement the dogs have shown in the past month has blown me away. The difference between these dogs now and when I arrived a month ago is astounding. One month ago I would not dare run a team of 8 of these dogs by myself; now, I am running teams of 12 with little problems by myself. I already feel like they are my best friends; I know which ones get along, which ones don't, what they look like when they are happy, what they look like when they are unhappy with me, and most of all, I always know I can go to any one of them when I need a little lovin. I truely am living my dream here, and I love coming to the kennel every day.
As always, feel free to leave any comments or email me personally with questions, thoughts, etc. Thank you, and until next time, happy trails!