Criminal...just Criminal

I received a call today, actually an email on my blackberry, that my husband was a CRIMINAL in the Kotzebue court docket. A criminal!

The emailer stated that she saw his name on the Trial Court Website and that it stated, "Animals At Large..." HAHAHAHA...Animals at large? Seriously? Wow. If this is all the Kotzebue Police can find than I'm REALLY glad to be living in Kotzebue.

But since this town is a "damp community" and you can not sell or purchase alcohol...there are many-a-criminal out there selling a 750ml bottle of Weak Whiskey for $70. (Yes, I'm serious.)

I posted a while back that Dean was ticketed for our dogs being loose. I mean, if the Dog Catcher actually caught anything, besides his own loose dog, and ticketed people, other than us, I'd understand. But to put it in a COURT DOCKET? WTF? Seriously, Kotzebue has much worse crimes and we're wasting our money on ticketing loose dogs...which were never caught, and only "allegedly seen" by another dog owner. They just assumed that because our dogs "fit the description" that they were ours. (And they probably were, but this is MY blog and I can be catty if I want.)

"Uh yeah, I'd like to report that there is a drunk person wandering around town. He's wearing a black jacket, and goes by the name of Son-son, he's about five foot ten and looks a little bit Eskimo...." That describes about 80 perscent of the male population here. I wonder if they'll ticket every Tom, Dick and Son Son they come across. It would seem so, as there are about fifteen black labs in town impregnating the other mutts around. But it seems that the two times our dogs have been "at-large" around town, they were found! Sorry, ONCE...the other time, I whistled and they came-a-runnin! Not only black labs, but many MANY huskies are wandering.

Whoa Nellie...hold on to your seatbelts. On the way to pick up my daughter from my mom's house, which is about half a city block from my house, I ran into FIVE loose dogs. FIVE. I was told by KPD, when I called to report them, that it was after five pm, and no one's there after five. So, if you're in the Kotzebue area, and you have animals, make sure they're chained up on two foot chains at least until after five! Cause after five you're home free!

I guess, you just can't live in Kotzebue without being a criminal. I wonder if he'll go for me being "warden" tonight???

Oh...pictures. Ugh...here's me on my way back home. I flew to Anchorage today, just for the day. Left Kotz. at 8:00 am and just arrived back at 7:15 pm. Got some important business done...and some much needed grocery shopping. My family was darn near giddy for the KFC I brought home too. So easy to please.



Good ole Chester and I...

Jail Dogs...

Upon driving home after work Tuesday, my husband came out of the house yelling, "Go to ___ ____'s house, to get the dogs! Koy's gone with the 4-wheeler already!!!"

Apparently, our dogs, got loose and were cavorting around town in their own little gang. Everyone who knows our dogs, KNOWS they are the nicest dogs in town, they've never been aggressive with anyone, except the one person who came into our house drunk in the middle of the night asking for crackers (but that's another story!), and even THEN all Nugent did was bow his head and growl. Shockie ran upstairs and jumped on the bed to wake Dean up...and barked, I'd hardly say that was aggressive.

Yesterday, they were accused of being "agressive" and we were cited for "Black Lab running at-large" and "Yellow Lab running at-large." So, these damn dogs cost me $40 bucks on tax day.



We all know the dogs weren't aggressive, but the owner of the dog yard where Nugent and Shockie ended up was probably worried, and I don't blame him. I told him if he ever sees our dogs around there again, to open the back of his truck and hit it and tell them to get in...they'll happily oblige. OR...he could always chamber a shotgun, casue our dogs would immediately stand at heel on either side of him waiting for the ducks/geese!

Oh well. Better my dogs, than my kids!

Although... I needed all the money I could get to pay our stupid taxes.

Unhappy Tax Day. Ugh!

A fox and his Friends...

Sorry no photos, but I have a story for you... Its a, 'where else but Alaska could you..." story.

Its about a Fox. Lets call him, "Foxy." He is the cousin to the cross fox that Dean and Koy killed next to our airplane. a while back.
Anyway, Foxy decided that he would avenge his cousins death, so he put on his Saturday best and walked to Kotzebue. While in Kotzebue, he wandered around to various dog yards and bit a few dogs here and there. He wanted to make sure they understood that he meant business.
After a few bites throughout the day, an especially good day, considering most humans were watching the snow machine and dog races on the ice in front of town, he decided he'd find Dean and Koy.
Yelping some random chants here and there, he eventally meandered into the Lukin's property. There, he found Nugent and Shockie, the Labs who live with both Dean and Koy and their family.
Foxy decided he'd play a game, since he was feeling somewhat brave. He knew the dogs chains only allowed them to run for 15 feet in either direction, so he danced circles around both dogs, yelping in a sing song voice.
Both dogs were furious, and let their owners know. As soon as Dean looked out the window, and Nugent was preoccupied, Foxy jumped at his chance to bite him. And bite him he did, right on the back of the head. He thought to himself, "that's what you get for shooting my cousin."
Nugent the Lab was pissed. He darted back and forth at Foxy as did Shockie. No sooner than Foxy bit Nugent, did Dean come out with a rifle. Without a clear and easy shot, Dean could not take the chance of harming anything but Foxy. So Foxy ran.
He ran and ran until he found another dog to toy with. Foxy danced circles around the white German Shepard on a five foot chain biting him in the leg, darting in and out of his circle of chains.
Foxy grew tired of this game, and eventually decided to leave that house, and go back to the Lukin's for more. He came back with a vengance, but Nugent would have nothing of it. Nugent charged Foxy and bit the end of his tail off. He was surprised at the speed and vengence of the Lab, as well as the fact that he now had three police vehicles, Dean, and the Dog Catcher after him. In all, that was three 44 mag's, a 17 mach-2, and a .22 all armed and ready to fire.
Foxy grew restless and disoriented, he wound up backtracking, but managed to keep the humans at bay. He ran back home in hopes of never seeing them again...
The End.

Why, you ask did I write this story? BECAUSE ITS HAPPENING right now outside my house. Nugent has to be quarantined, for I don't know how long. Right now, as I type, the police force, the Dog Catcher AND Dean are outside. The officers got on their loud speaker and told everyone in our neighborhood to stay inside and bring your animals inside. Which is hard to do for the family who has the sled dog yard. The owner is outside standing vigilantly beside his beloved sled dogs with a 22 rifle and has said he will continue to stand outside until its shot. Dean, I guarantee, because Nugent was bit, will not rest tonight until he kills that fox, and the skin is hanging in our garage on a stretch board. Guarantee.

Like I said...Where else, but Alaska could your husband be outside wielding a rifle to shoot a rabid fox next to your own house?! :) (Almost like the Polar Bear story eh?!)

Don't let your kids play out without a gun (or at least a knife!)! :) My kids would love it.

*Correction: Dean came home. He was carrying an AR-15, gussied up in homemade white "winter camo" to shoot that fox, rather than a .17 mach-2.

Dogs, Dogs, and more DOGS

We're seeing Dogs, Dogs, Dogs,

At the start of the 440,

We hear em bark, bark, bark...

As we yell, "GO Dogs, oh Lordy!"

(Sing to the tune of, "ring of fire!")

Lead Dogs

Kotzebue saw plenty of Dog action yesterday (Thursday) at the start of the Kobuk 440 sled dog race. The race consists of (you guessed it!) four hundred and forty miles of tundra wilderness and quaint Inupiat Eskimo villages scattered throughout the Northwest Arctic Region of Alaska.

Every dog gets a good rubdown before the race.

The 440 (as its commonly called here) is the second longest race in probably the toughest terrain in Alaska. The mushers start on the Chukchi Sea Ice in front of Kotzebue. Off the road system, many mushers arrive by 747 -combi jet and their dogs come in the warm igloo's up front, or by Lynden Herc. Because of the volcano eruptions and the ash in the air, many of our most famous mushers did not make it this year, as flights in and out of Anchorage were cancelled. Lance Mackey, DeeDee Jonrowe, Jeff King, and others were not able to make it to the drawing on Wednesday. Previously, we have seen 20 or 30 mushers brave the Arctic for a chance to win a marten hat in Kobuk! This year, we have 12, and many of those teams are local.


Mass Start

Every year, on a Thursday, at 4:40 p.m., mushers and handlers line up their dogs for a mass start. If you've never seen a mass start, its "MASSIVE!" Everyone starts at the same time. There are sometimes dog fights, and confusion for the rookie teams who've never started like that before, but for the crowd, its amazing. Its a lot of excitement for just a few minutes of pleasure, watching the dogs run...


Mass start, again!

The race takes about 4 to 5 days depending on how nice mother nature is, and what the trail conditions are. In order to qualify for prize money, you must finish within 24 hours of the first musher into Kotzebue. Since there are only 12 mushers and 12 place winners, everyone who doesn't scratch will get prize money.


Ready for a nice ride to Kiana

Let's hope all the mushers (a list of names and standings can be found here http://www.kobuk440.com) and their dogs stay on the trail and their dogs stay healthy and happy. Don't forget, these dogs are bred to run, love to run, and are well taken care of. I know ours were when we ran dogs...


Here they come...the wrong way!


Just a little detour...

As for MY dogs. I'm not a fan of either of them right now. All this dog sledding forced unremembered memories through my head of when we owned dog teams. I was really young, but we had dog teams for racing and for working. We used them to check nets, go hunting, and go back and forth to camp from my aana's house on front street. They loved to run. They loved to be harnessed up. They listened to me.

Not my dogs. They don't listen to me unless Dean is behind me reinforcing what I say. I got the wild hair to go ski-joring with my dog Nugent...he was all keen to the idea that we were going for a walk/run/drag! I hooked him up to a harness and hooked up my belt to him. Kaisa got wind of this action and wanted in on it. So, she hooked herself up to the jet sled and put a qaatchaiq (dried caribou skin, very warm) on the bottom of the sled. She then tied a rope onto the pull rope and said, "here mom, put this on your belt too..." So, I did.

Normally, our other dogs, Pooh included, would have LOVED to go pulling us for miles, but Nugent, nah, he wanted to sniff here and there and cause trouble with my skis. So, barely a mile into this venture, I cussed up a storm, unhooked my skis and walked the rest of the way home.


Don't use a bird dog to do what sled dogs do!

What did I come home to you wonder? A half eaten fish, and some saqpik (unmatched) socks laying on the floor. My number one "bad" dog, Shockie was at it again. Darnit, these were my favorite socks too...unfortunately, anything left on the floor is fair game for this one. If you've seen the movie, "Marley and Me." This would explain EXACTLY how Shockie is. Besides my socks, other things that have been chewed up include: TV Remote, Mukluks, Slippers, toothbrush, power cords, rug, kennel, memory foam mattress corner, 75 year old quilt corner, rings of the wedding variety, bullets, gun straps, dresser corners, tie out cables, dog beds, pipe insulation, and of course, my favorite, victoria's secret apex bras. This dog, if she weren't so cute, we'd sell her to the gypsys!


Don't be mad at me. :)