No salmon..?

Well it looks like there are no salmon to feed the dogs this winter. It is a record low for the salmon and they put a limit on how many are allowed to be caught.
This is a REALLY hard blow to us. Being that we have to build a place and everything else that is happening, I was really counting on the salmon. We even went and bought a boat to do salmon with...a boat that is no good this year, and would have caried us through the winter for dog food, if we didnt buy it.
We were going to share a fishwheel with another musher, but he vaery rudly informed us that we are not welcomed to use it now, since he has to catch as many as he can. . I will be calling around Whitehorse for the best deals on ANY kind of meats and fat. If any one has some good suggestions please let me know.
This is devestating, I almost feel like I might have to sell off some dogs and in my mind I cant, I have a great group of young dogs, and some older breeding dogs but thats it, no extras really, especially when thinking about having enough in 4 years to run the Yukon Quest.
So right now I have a head full of crap that is bouncing off the sides but not really prosessing very much. Not sure what is going to happen to the race plans. I know we will be in the Percy Dewolfe race , but other than that not sure what we will do.

whats all new

Well I cant load pictures where we are due to too slow of internet, and I dont have internet at home.
So just an update.
we got salmon,caribou and moose in the winter food storage. We are still cutting the moose up.
We got married, very beautiful day, up at tombstone mountains. Pretty fall colors and it was a bit chilly, brrrrr... but it went really well and was a great day.
We are cleaning up the property and cleaning up where we are going to be building a home. We are getting things on the go starting on Sunday for the winter home.
We are also starting salmon fishing for the dogs starting Monday, so we are building smoke sheds for the meat and we will hang the salmon to cure for the dogs. We figure we will need about 600 hundred or more of dog salmon for the winter.
Then fire wood has to be gotten...
We will be very busy here for the next while getting every thing done. When I can get some slow time I will track down fast internet and get lots of pictures up and a few good stories too.
Hope every one is having a good fall season, hope those who are out braving the cold, fill their freezers, and yards full of meat and fire wood. All the mushers out there some wishing you some great runs!
happy trails :)

salmon fishing

some pics of salmon fishing. We went for salmon so we could have salmon for the wedding!

new dog yard

We got onto our acerage, 9 years it took us! no house, so we are living in a wall tent for now, and have been using the wood stove since we moved in due to frost, hard frosts too....brrrrr. I LOVE IT

pictures of the new dog yard. We had to bang out a bunch of dog houses in a really short time. Being summer we went with slabs (not cheap here... OUCH) and we spaced the boards, in hopes of a breeze getting through, since it has been a warm summer, they are sitting on the ground and the dogs have dug out in them a bit for cooler ground. These are just summer/ fall houses. More work will be done soon to them. They acomadate 2 dogs each, and all the dogs are able to socialize with 2 dogs one in/on the house and the other at the next year. We needed fast tie outs and used, used brake drums which is working great, they are heavy enough the dogs dont move then , but we can if we need to.
I love this set up so far. the males and females are spaced far enough to not breed. The dogs all love this set up to it seems, they love playing and running all around.
It is a temp. yard, maybe for the winter, and next year we will put in a nice dog yard in a different area, once we get it cleaned up.

all work and no play

Well no pics right now. I will try to add some later, just a quick note to fill in on some of the time here. Our landloard had the phones diconected, so not net at home any more.
We went salmon fishing and have 7 salmon for the wedding (sweet!) It was my first time out salmon fishing and we used nets. Really fun and learned alot. Hayden and his cousin did most of it as I was only able to get out on one run with them.
Work is awesome. I love counting salmon. We have a sonar in the water and we review all the file s and count the salmon as the go up or down stream. We are averaging over 300 a day in the klondike river for the past week almost. Very good! Where we are set up we have an amazing view. Clear shallow water to watch fish go by, eagles and gulls all over and we have a very handsome loon who fishes the grayling there, we watch him for hours swimming and diving. The water is so clear we watch him chase the fish under water, very neat. He has even had the nerves to chase some salmon.
We are up and down and all around with getting our acerage. We have been waiting more than 4 months to get papers signed and have to wait till Monday, hopefully everything can be done, and finnished soon. It is 3 acers and all open. Has dog trails right off the property and is prety private. We got a good deal, since there is a big mess to clean, but we have started and are doing good. Because of being so far behind and now knowing when thisgs would work out, we will be living in a wall tent for a little while.
Picked up the marriage license today. One month to go.....
All the dogs are VERY happy to have the salmon back in the dishes everyday. Right now its the ymmy heads and guts for them, next month it will be the whole salmons for them. Spit was tangling her chain and no matter what I did we she was always tangeling up , so I moved her with Aho, and went to get a different chain to put Aho somewhere eles and he decided it was his time to be a dad and caught Qween. Not happy it happened but so far Aho has been the best male out of the litter, so I am excited to see what we get. I did not plan to breed Qween again till next spring, but....dogs will be dogs, and I will have to take a full time job to support my sweet dogs and pups. I am undecided as to what we will do and how many we will keep. probly all of them, will stay with us. She is due this month so will update when they come along.
I am very excited to be planning the new yard, and house! the house should be next year, small cabin this year. New dog yard and houses. I cant wait. I have been waiting 9 years for our acerage!
Well gotta run we are off to do more work. Hope everyones summer is going good, we have had a few frosts all really :)

KENO a Klondike paddle wheeler

around town