Happy New Year! It's Bloody Freezing!!!

Whoa! After a balmy, warmer than usual winter so far, coming home from a lovely xmas holidays to -40C was a huge shock to the system!! What's even crazier, is that around xmas day it was +10 up here, and spring like. Or so everyone tells me. I don't even want to imagine what it looked like around my place. But, soon enough, mother nature straightened things out, and those puddles promptly froze. A nice dump of snow came shortly after. So did the wicked cold temps. I arrived home to -35, and the next few nights were -45 and -40. Wayyyy to cold to run the dogs or ski. For us anyways. Actually, most people put these things off when it's this cold. It's not good for the dogs, and there's more chance of injury. Also, if you're out on the trail and something happens at -40 (ie: losing your team, breaking a leg), you're screwed. At -10 or even -20, you have a better chance.

So - because of the cold, and the fact that I picked up a COLD down south, the dogs and I have been hibernating at home for a few days - hmmmm.... that must be why they were so happy and screechy when they saw me! "we get to go inside! Woohoo!" Plus they were relieved to be off their chains after a week of being tied up. George and Gracie even managed to demolish a bale of straw EACH that I put beside all the dogs houses. I have no idea how they did that, because those things are wrapped so tight, you need to cut the rope to tear a bale apart. But, I came home to 2 gigantic piles of loose straw around their houses. Actually, it looked pretty cozy, so maybe that was their motivation?

All the dogs have joined me in the 16x16 cabin the last few nights. Those old guys especially, really feel the cold. And heck, if it helps them to keep warmer inside, and prolongs their running years, then why not?!? They do appreciate it, you can see it on their goofy faces when the warmth hits them inside. I was only a bit apprehensive about Ripper, who had never spent a night inside. He adjusted well, after bouncing into walls and other dogs for the first 20 mins, he calmed down and figured out the deal: Stay Calm, Stay Inside! They were super quiet all night, and none of us really wanted to get up and go out in that -40C in the morning. I'm sure they would have even given up breakfast to stay inside instead, but... we had to get out sometime.

And Kuna was right back to his old tricks before I knew it. Later that day I was out chopping wood and a few dogs were running loose. Kuna was one of them, and he soon made a slippery exit and disappeared on me. A few minutes later, he came bounding through the bushes with a HUGE (2ft high!) stuffed teddy bear in his mouth. He could barely see with this massive thing in front of his face, but was prancing around like he was king of the world. The neighborhood theif had struck again! That is, until mean Stacie took it away! "That is one toy someone was going to miss", I thought (and I sure wasn't going to have to buy a new one!). After calling around, I found out it was Isabelle's horse's toy... (Apparently, *tough* Yukon horses have stuffed animals...haha!).

I then got to thinking, about all the things Kuna has come home with, and made a list in my head (ok, so maybe boredom and cabin fever were setting in...but anyway...). He has so far brought home: one pair of earmuffs (?!); numerous bones; a ratty moose-hide mitten (wish he found the other to make a pair); more stuffed animals than I thought existed in my neighborhood; a fresh caribou hide (which I thought was a stuffed animal in the dark - imagine my surprise when I grabbed this heavy, bloody, gooey mess!!); a fresh caribou skull with antlers attached (which he got stuck in the trees while attempting to drag it home - ha! Thwarted!!), and a giant stuffed squeaky bone (his favourite!!). At least he's got *some* kind of talent!