Arviat!

I've been back from Nunavut for a few months now and I guess it's about time I put something up here about the adventure. I spent 7 weeks, from early November through to late December, training for a new career up there. It was nothing short of incredible!

The one thing that I still can't get over is the people. I don't think I met one person up north that I didn't like! The Inuit people are far friendlier and more interesting than almost anyone I have met in southern Ontario. I found them to be very accepting of newcomers to their community, and very helpful in making you feel like you fit in. The elders especially were quick with a story to help explain why certain things are the way they are and all in all it was a very educational experience. I would advise anyone to try to experience the Arctic at least once, it's a trip you would never regret!

Now, anyone who knows me at all already knows the story couldn't possibly end that easily! There has to be some kind of twist or stupid event included in this post. Enter Arviat!

I was out for a little walk one Sunday in Arviat and I stopped to talk with a man I had met a few days earlier. As we were talking I noticed a small pup curled up under his front steps. I asked if it was his dog and he told me that he was just about to call the bylaw office to have him picked up and shot. Unfortunately strays are such a big problem in the north, and shelters all but non existent, that shooting them is the only way to keep the stray population in check. I bent over and picked up the shivering little fluff ball . I was immediately shocked t the size of him. He was tiny, and couldn't have been much more than about 5 weeks old at the time. I put him in my pocket to warm him up a little and started back to the hotel.

The hotel manager wasn't too excited about having a pup stay in my room, but with the help of a few of the other guests we managed to sway her and he stayed the night. One of the guests that helped out more than I ever could have asked for was Peggy. She worked for Canada Post and she was my primary puppysitter during the day while I was working. Arviat! stayed in the back room at the post office while I was working. This arrangement sounded like it was going to work out great... then I got a call Monday afternoon that I was being moved to Rankin Inlet for the duration of my contract. Now that threw a wrench into the works!! I had less than 24 hours to figure out what I was going to do.

Smuggling him onto the plane turned out the be the winning idea. I never said it was a great idea, just the one that I happened to choose. Arviat! was carried onto the plane in a knapsack, and as soon as the flight leveled off I moved him back into my coat pocket. The flight attendant caught me with him sticking his nose out of my coat about half way to Rankin, but she didn't have any problem with him being there, but she did request that I keep things quiet.

The time spent in Rankin Inlet was relatively uneventful.. except for that first night which was a huge adventure. It was -35C outside, windy as hell, and there was no heat at all in the apartment! Arviat! and I spent the whole night under 3 huge blankets as well as my parka.

Due to airline restrictions in place when I was due to leave for home I had to leave Arviat! in Rankin with friends. It was almost a month later when I finally had him flown down, but I had to go to Ottawa to get him.. there were no flights into Toronto. At least he's here now and growing like a bad weed! And I thought I was going to end up with a nice little sled dog!!

Rookie of The Year

OK, the results have been looked over and the error has been corrected. Awesome Dawson has been named top rookie of PNP '08! WOOHOO!!!! I couldn't be any prouder of my dogs!! And now I"ve got bookend rookie awards to prove it!!

Way to go Dawson.... great job!!

PNP 08... We May Have Gotten Robbed This Year

With another excellent weekend at Pak N Pull in the books it's time to let everyone know what happened. Lucy was her usual awesome self and is still in basking in the limelight of another silver medal in the weight pull. She was in tough this year and in the end was no competition for Aurora. Lucy's top pull was an incredible 810 lbs!! That's 810 LBS!!!!! That's pretty impressive considering she weighted in at a mere 78 lbs.

She worked her butt off to go past her previous personal best and I couldn't be prouder of her. Just wait until next year when we show up with a proper weight pulling harness. She'll be over the 1000 lb. mark for sure!

Dawson also made his first appearance in the weight pull chute. I wasn't at all sure what to expect from him. I have seen his lazy side while out sledding and I was hoping it wouldn't show too much during his debut.

Well I got lucky. For a rookie he performed as well as I could have hoped. When all was said and done his last full pull was 490 lbs, good enough to take 4th place in his weight class. This is where I think we got robbed.

The dog that took top rookie honors finished 5th in the same weight class. I don't know how that happened... a lower finisher taking a higher honor, but I hope it was just a correctable oversight by whoever was checking the finishing order. I have asked someone to look into this and I can only hope the decision is corrected.

Here's some more pics from the weekend:

A YEAR AGO.. this is going to be a long post!

I know there are going to be people reading this post who have little if any knowledge of my personal history. They will know all about my dogs and the stuff we do together, all the little accomplishments we pull off together, and all the mistakes we have made along the way. These readers are in for what might be a bit of a surprise.

There are also friends and family who I know check in on this blog, usually only when they've had enough of me begging them to read it. They already know exactly what it is they're about to hear about yet again!

If you're hear looking for another funny dog post I'm sorry, but not today. The dog posts will return very shortly but this one is mine. I'm going to be selfish.. because today I'm allowed to be.

Now that I've said all that I already know that most readers of this post aren't here by accident. I have sent out reminders and requests to pretty much everyone I know hoping to generate enough curiosity that people would stop in. Glad you could make it!

August 11

This date didn't mean anything to me up until last year. It was a Saturday, and it fairly hot day. There wasn't much on the agenda other than attending a memorial service for a former coworker. I felt the need to pay my respects to someone who died far too young. I was looking forward to seeing some of the other people I used to work with as well. It had been over a year since I had seen most of them. A very somber situation made for a nice reunion with a lot of people.

The hour following the service was like nothing I've ever experienced before. I wasn't feeling great and asked a friend to follow me home just to be safe. Good thing I did as it turned out I was going to end up feeling even worse. I stopped on the highway once to throw up... all along thinking that I was having really bad indigestion. After that pit stop and once back on the highway something told me that to continue heading home was a bad idea. That was the second good decision in a row... and at a perfect time as I was less than 2 minutes from one of the best hospitals I know of. When I got to the hospital I had my friend carry on home and asked him to let my wife know where I was. I walked into the emergency room only to find out that the long waiting times don't apply to you when you could be dying! I was ushered straight into a room and had the undivided attention of 2 nurses and a doctor.

It took less than 5 minutes from the time I walked into emergency to get hooked up to a ton of monitors and have multiple needles just for the doctor to inform me that I was having a heart attack. I didn't see that coming at all. I thought I was just suffering through some very bad indigestion. I guess getting plugged into the heart monitor as soon as I hit the bed should have been a tip off, but apparently my brain wasn't working right then.

I must have gotten to the hospital at just he right time because within 15 minutes of being wheeled into the room and getting wired to all the monitors I was as good as new. They have some really amazing new drugs available now and when they can be used they work like magic.

I ended up having to have angioplasty a couple of days later and had a stent inserted. I'm stuck with that little piece of stainless in my chest forever now.

Now, this post isn't about me looking for sympathy from anyone. I'm over that.. life goes on. I wouldn't be upset if there were a few " glad you're still hanging around" comments left though!

Was this event life changing? Kinda. Was I scared while it was all happening? Oddly enough no, for whatever reason I wasn't worried about checking out at all. I knew it wasn't my time. I've had lots of time to think about it since... and I've had way more than my share of worries about what the outcome could have been.. about how things will turn out if there's a next time... about why I feel like crap so often and how I can get in better shape so I can try to ensure there isn't a "next time".

I don't know that this has been a life altering experience. If it was I sure haven't noticed yet. I'm still waiting on the "Live Like You Were Dying" mindset to kick in. I can't see that I'm ever going to go skydiving, but the rest of it sounds like it could be a lot of fun. There is no "Bucket List" yet either. There is a lot of stuff that I would like to do while I'm still able, but I plan on being able to for quite a while yet.

It hasn't been a picture perfect year either. There have been some setbacks. Getting all the various medications working in the proper doses has been quite an adventure. There have also been some other unrelated medical problems that have really thrown a wrench into the works, but they're starting to come around as well.

Tonight I'm celebrating my official "Beat The Reaper" anniversary. I've been looking after my diet fairly well over the past year. I haven't had a cigarette since I walked into the hospital a year ago either. I must be learning a little something along the way too... dinner is chicken and ribs. Not perfect, but healthier than the steak and shrimp I was initially planning on.

Thanks for taking the time to read through this post. I hope my thoughts were coherent enough to follow. If you have left a comment I will be in touch very shortly.

Take Care

Dawson at 180 MPH

Finally I get to see what Dawson looks like from the front while he's running. The view I usually get is the south end of dogs running north!

Here he is at approx. 180 mph or so.. looks pretty cool eh?




They were loving the leaf blower!

It's been so damn hot here lately the dogs are hibernating. It seems they're sleeping about 22 hours a day. I can't blame them.. I'd like to be doing the same.

And here's Lucy getting in for her cool off as well.

The Stuff Left Behind

How many of us are going to leave an indelible mark on the world when all is said and done? Who among us has the lasting power of a John Kennedy, Nelson Mandela, or even Elvis? Not many. That is a very elite group of personalities who will be remembered throughout history.

But what becomes of all the regular Joe's who don't have that star power? Are they any less important? I don't think so. They are every bit as important but just to a smaller audience. Their passing is mourned with as heavy a heart as is that of a more globally famous person.

How shall they be remembered? The memory of everyday events will soon fade away, only to occasionally returned in a blurred vision of the past. There is the potential for some form of monetary inheritance from those lucky enough to have something left to give, but that is more often than not squandered away on frivolity and half baked ideas. The only lasting thing will be those little items that will mean absolutely nothing to anyone else other than the holder of the memory.

The treasures will vary from something as simple as a tiny trinket to a favorite piece of furniture, from items worth mere pennies to expensive jewelery. But to the recipient it is priceless. It is a lasting connection to the past.

Handcrafted heirlooms hold the highest emotional value. They came from the heart and hands of the craftsman solely for the owner. Those are the things remind us that the builder thought as much of us as we thought of them.

Hold on to the stuff left behind. Whatever it is it's priceless in ways only the keeper of the memories will ever know.

How Do They Always Know

They know. They always know. I'm not sure how, but they do. I do my very best not to give them the slightest hint, but they figure it out just the same.

I'm back to talking about my dogs. Somehow they have me completely figured out before I even open the kennel door. Good, bad, or indifferent they have the situation all sorted and know exactly how to act and what to do in the 10 steps it takes me to get to the gate.

For those of you who don't know, I've been laid up for the past 3 months with a blown out knee. Since it happened neither dog has come anywhere close my injured leg. They do everything else that they always do, but have avoided any parts of me that were hurting.

This isn't the first time I've seen this. Any time that I've been under the weather at all they act completely different. If I'm not really into going for a walk they sense it. During those walks they never misbehave. It's just a casual walk with no excitement.. regardless of what else is going on around us.

I'm not sure if it's a case of rescue dogs being more in tune with the people who give them their forever home, or if it's just me being way too into my dogs, but either way it's a really amazing thing to witness. Even when sledding they can tell when it's going to be a boring old training run or when we've got company coming along. They get all hopped up when there's someone new along for a ride.

Mood dogs.. you've gotta check them out!