Christmas in pictures

Deb's cabin was an awesome place to spend our Christmas holidays.
No running water, a wood stove for heat, a generator for a bit of power...



We got comfy pretty quickly!  



Although we were taking care of the cabin and 22 sled dogs, there was still lots of time for crafts



And relaxing! Thanks for the brilliant gift, Jennifer!



It was not long after we arrived that we made a visit to Tina and her new family. They live in a separate pen from the main one, with a toasty living room (covered with the sleeping bag) and an open space for playing. The puppies don't go out into the snow yet. 



The puppies were a bit nervous of us at first, but since they were so cute, we perservered

They are just discovering their tongues, and lick like crazy!

Deb is going to name them after the 8 reindeer! This one could be Blitzen?

There were another 21 other amazing dogs to hang out with, so we didn't spend all of our time with Tina and her puppies



Smiley and Cookie had  a great time staying at their former stomping grounds



It wasn't hard at all to remember all 22 dogs' names- we had them down by the first day. Although Deb did help us out by writing them on the boxes :)

Indy

Forrest

Earthling (she was a really fun one!)

200 square feet of cozy!

Colin went over to the community centre to make new ice on Boxing Day, since we heard that it's many families' tradition to go for a skate

Then we came right back for some quality time with the puppies

None of them are coming home with us, but we sure are going to visit them at Deb's often

The sun didn't ever get overhead, since the black spruce blocked the horizon

A boxful of puppies! Heaven!

They are even softer than you can imagine

Awww

Ohhh awww...

The food-stealing ravens kept the dogs entertained, but there were no bird fatalities

The puppies and the sledding were tied for being the best parts of the holiday. It was so fun to hook up Smiley and Cookie with teams and see what they could do! This time, Smiley was a lead dog, with Cookie as a wheel

Off to the trails- through the forest and out into meadows overlooking the Gray Mountains!

As you can see, we had a great time There were lots of great conversations with family, good meals cooked on the propane stove/oven, and time together to reflect on our incredible luck to find ourselves here. We hope you all had great holdiays too, and thanks for all the cards! Your thoughtfullness touches us all the time.

Love Lauren and Colin

Videos from the cabin Christmas

Here they are... the puppies! Turn up the sound to hear their squeaking

Their mom Tina does not want to share her meal. Turn up the sound to her her growling!

The (awkward) end of a snuggle

Stoney's horizontal dancing

Getting ready to leave for a sled

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday. We are working on posting some photos and stories from our long weekend at the cabin. Check back soon!

Love Lauren and Colin

Happy Solstice!

Here are the official numbers for today, the winter solstice:
Sunrise: 10:09am
Sunset: 3:47pm

But Colin spent the day in the Fireweed Market Store, with a south-facing view, and watched the sun set over Mt McIntyre at 2:45pm! It was beautiful and very warm out, and an all-around great day to live in the Yukon.

Our next (confirmed) visitors will be joining us for summer solstice- Mom and Dad Barrett will be in Whitehorse from June 10 to 24, and we will hopefully be celebrating it somewhere near the Arctic Circle!

Our next adventure will be spending the Christmas holidays (Saturday to Tuesday) at Deb's cabin, with her 22 sled dogs, Smiley and Cookie, plus her 8 brand new husky puppies! They are actually a bit less than brand new, and were born when we were back in Toronto, but they are at an age where they can start being socialized, and one of us is planning on having a puppy snuggling inside her coat the entire time we're there. Warning: the next blog post will be extremely heavy on puppy photos! And exclamation marks.

Love Lauren and Colin

Skijoring Saturday

Starting out on the trails 

The old section of the White Pass railroad between Carcross and Whitehorse

Cookie in her element!

An inevitable tangle

The frosty beard makes it look colder than it was- only -10 yesterday!

A beautiful day with human and dog friends

Skijoring buddies

Cookie cooling off

The 1:48pm sun

Pictures worth thousands of words

Our friend Kim's dog walked over to our place for a visit yesterday, while Kim was away in town

Smokey wasn't too impressed that we wanted her to stay inside instead of letting her continue on her rounds. To get back to Kim's, Smokey would have to cross the Carcross Rd, which she did safely once, but we drove her home, just to be sure 

Heather Gillies' beloved gingerbread cookies travelled all the way from Toronto, and taste as delicious as always. Thanks for a fantastic surprise, Heather! Love you! 

Hope we can pick this up, Jenn! Can't wait to find out what kind of ID is required ... :)

Thanks for the nice holiday messages, everyone!

Happy Saturday,
Love Lauren and Colin

A couple of videos from the hood

Hello all,

It is still a mild and dry winter so far. The ski trails need more snow before we can groom them properly, but there is enough snow in the fields that we will be able to take the dogs skijoring either tomorrow night or during the day on Saturday.

Oh yes, we have not told you all about our first ever skijor trip on Sunday. Well, as a combination of birthday gifts and Christmas gifts from each other, as well as from generous family members, we we able to buy a pair of cross country skis for both of us. We took the skis out last week with a dear friend, then last Sunday we loaded the dogs, their harnesses and the skis into the truck and drove over to the community centre. We parked in the back where all the dog mushers park and we hooked ourselves up to the dogs, and as if they could read our minds, we were successfully one-dog skijoring down the trail and towards the golf course. I can't explain in words how it felt to have the dogs work so hard for us, and they didn't want to stop for anything. We traveled through the golf course and north on a dogsled trail for about 5 kms at which point and to the dogs confusion we decided to turn around and go back the way we came. Now I know you can picture a dogs tail wagging when it is excited, but have you ever seen a dog's tongue flopping around out of excitement.

To help with the visual, here some photos from last years Carbon Hill Races which Lorne Mountain Community Association (my/Colin's work) helps to put on. Slide number 11 is what skijoring looks like.

http://www.yukon-news.com/multimedia/slideshow/16338/

While we have you looking at the Yukon news, here is something that was added this week to their website. http://www.yukon-news.com/multimedia/video/26277/ The video is a series of still photos taken by a local photographer on Annie Lake which is before Poul and Shiela's farm (about 15 kms from our place). We can't say that we got to see the this display of Northern lights but it is a good reminder to go out side for a gander towards the heavens before we retire for the night.

One last video for the hockey players/ice lovers out there. This video was posted on Monday and was filmed on Tagish lake which is about an hour south of us headed towards Skagway. If the skijoring doesn't work out for Saturday you will find us on the Windy Arms.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwvfYmpYdaM

Happy Thursday everyone.

Colin and Lauren

Ta da, a Christmas tree from our backyard! It's a perfect fit in our tall yet small home

Decorations courtesy of Mom (felt Christmas shapes), last tenants here (lights) and LK and JP (chocolate presents)

Saturday Morning with the Dogs

I couldn't help but take all these photos of Cookie and Smiley. Note: this post may not be interesting if you don't want to look at lots of dog photos.