Nature's Kennel Sled Dog Racing & Adventures

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Friday, September 10th, 2010

Nature's Kennel

PO Box 5
McMillan, MI 49853
Tel: 1-906-748-0513
Email: info@natureskennel.com

Journals

Adventure Journals

Welcome to our life of adventure! Check out the latest kennel news, stories of your favorite sled dogs, and more!!
For more journal photos, click on the racing photo gallery.

Friday, October 31st, 2008 Happy Halloween from Millie (see photo below!) "This is Halloween costume that her dog Grandma bought for her. Ugh! Her expression completely sums up what all Nature's Kennels dogs would think if you put them in costume no matter how cute you think they look" -- Laura Zimmerman We had a nice visit last week from my sister and her three little gremlins, Ellen (age 3), David (1 1/2) and baby Rachel. The kids loved the dogs and helping Aunt Tasha around the yard and visiting all the dogs. I'm sure they would have liked to dress them up as Halloween critters as well. Ellen was intrigued by the fact that Whistle's puppies were due any day, and was disappointed to find out they were born the day after she left! Posted by Tasha




Thursday, October 30th, 2008 “Can't find God in the usual places ... churches, books or preachers' faces? Keep on searching and don't give up, You may just find Him in the eyes of a pup.” --Richard C. Call, Save a Homeless Puppy, Rescue an Older Dog The next “Ask Ed” question: “Are there dogs in heaven?” Darlene from Wisconsin According to my research Darlene, it appears that the answer for most people depends upon which religious book they follow and their interpretation of that text. For me, the question is easy, YES! My answer is based on faith not fact so take it for what it is worth. A much easier “religion” to discuss and understand is The Church of the Dog. It appears that the congregation does not give much thought to the afterlife. (Although I do wonder what their answer would be to the question, “Are there humans in heaven?”. In my opinion, it might be even harder to justify a yes answer than the dog question that you asked Darlene.) In the C.O.D., to the best of my knowledge, there are not even any criteria set on how to lead one’s life in order to get into heaven. Most followers seem to live in the present without damaging tomorrow, do what is right by the pack, play a lot, and wag their tails as often as possible. And probably the most exciting thing about the C.O.D. is that if they want to own some property they just lift a leg. They don’t send in hundreds of thousands of troops, spend billions of dollars, kill thousands of innocent people and oust the dictator. Has a lesson been learned? Posted by Ed


Monday, October 27th, 2008 Ok, I hate to sass Tim Riley and his belief that dogs should not be dressed up in little designer outfits but I found these adorable Halloween costumes today (while doing my office work of course), and who could not RESIST Momo (the witch), Tasha Canine (the little stinker skunk), and Trapper (dogzilla) dressed as cutsie cuddly critters!!! Anyone got a favorite costume?? (for those of you who feel the need to make a last minute holiday purchase, these were found on muttmart.com) An Ask Tasha Question (by Tasha): What do you get when a friend's Siberian breaks his chain and romances an adorable Alaskan Husky?? In 63 days you get adorable puppies!! Whistle had four puppies yesterday and mom and pups are all doing great. She must have known the weather was changing and snow was in the forecast. Since this was an unplanned litter, we will be selling the puppies and offering free gift wrapping for Christmas! Whistle is the daughter Ladybird (who has produced great, social sled dogs) and Ero who is one of the younger superstars on Ed's team. The father of the puppies, Martini, is one of Tim and Michelle Riley's best CKC Siberians. And yes, they are good luck, as there was snow falling when I peeked in the puppy house this morning. The cooler weather has made for happy sled dogs and mushers. Ed and Tim are doing most of the training right now with the Iditarod teams, and Michelle has been training her Siberian crew and our really young dogs. I've resumed my post as "logistics coordinator" this year. That means I do all the town errands, order materials, book tours, answer the phone, update the website, attempt to keep our financial books in order, advertise for tours, make meals, and usually a few miscellaneous kennel chores and all the puppy walks. I guess it's a good thing that our business has grown enough to need a person to "keep track" of everything, but there's a few things that are less desirable than others. I'd much rather walk puppies all day than pull my hair out trying to organize Quickbooks. I'm also good at procrastinating, for example, updating the website and taking puppy photos rather than paying bills. On the positive side, I do get to set my own schedule and I don't have to ask for vacation time. So, I took advantage of those perks and decided to book my trip to Nome for the Iditarod finish in March. Since Michele Seng charges all her purchases with her Alaskan Airlines credit card, she was able to book my ticket using her airmiles. Yeah...thanks Michele!! Posted by Tasha



Sunday, October 26th, 2008 “Let’s just win it and go home.” --Barry Sanders The next “Ask Ed” question: “Tigers, Pistons, Lions, or Redwings?” --Paul from Indiana All of the above Paul, but first and foremost, the Lions. The main reason for this is that I love football! It has been a rough year so far for us Lion fans but I refuse to give up on them. I went down with a group of great friends to catch a Tiger’s game last month and had a blast. The Tiger’s are an easy team to cheer for and have a beautiful ballpark. The Pistons and Redwings, everybody loves teams that win. We are planning on bringing the Joe Sr.Redington Trophy (mushing's Stanley Cup) back to Michigan in the coming years to make it easier for Michigan to cheer for us. Posted by Ed


Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008 “When one gets in bed with government, one must expect the diseases it spreads.” --Ron Paul The next “Ask Ed” question: “In a world where there are so many crummy dog owners should we require potential dog owners to pass a test to be able to own a dog? It is not just the cruel dog owners who host basement fighting that I am concerned with. I also feel for the little fu fu dogs that their "mommy" dresses them up in little designer outfits and carries them around in a little handbag talking cutsie cuddly all day to them. I mean come on. All this dog ever wanted to do was be a Labrador retriever living on a lake in Minnesota where his only concern was whether to chase the neighbor’s tame ducks or swim across the lake. So bottom line do we owe it to the dogs of this world to protect them from these owners through licensing or just continue as we currently do and keep allowing everyone to own a dog? --Tim (but if you attach my name can you call me Jacque? I have always wanted to be named that.) Tim, Tim, Tim, Tim, (or should I say Jacque?) I believe it was my favorite Governor of all time, Jesse Ventura, who mentioned that we can not make laws to protect stupid people. Or in this case, to protect dogs from stupid people. The more we try to govern a minority the more the majority loses its freedoms. If we require dog owners to pass a test, should we also make people pass a test before they own a human baby? OK, forget I said that, after seeing certain parenting skills, or lack there of, that almost seems like a good idea. Note from Editor: Inappropriate reply. It is questionable that Ed would pass the qualifications for owning a human baby. Here are the top ten reasons: #1. Feeding times would be erratic. Yes, the baby would get fed, but that could be from 5 am to 9 am to 10 pm to midnight. Ed feeds his dogs anytime of the day so that they don’t get set on a schedule, but I’m not sure babies would like that. #2. The child would be dressed inappropriately for the weather. Ed thinks it’s ok to wear fleece jackets in the rain. A baby would get wet. #3. Ed has never held nor cared for a baby for an extended period of time. He doesn’t realize that you can not put a baby in the puppy pen if it fusses. #4. Nutrition would be inappropriate. He could host the first study of “child raised on chocolate and pop-tarts.” #5. Ed thinks you can train a baby not to cry. #6. Ed wouldn’t go looking for the baby if it wandered away. He would figure if it ran away it didn’t like it here anyway. #7. Ed is bothered by the smell of baby poop. He can’t scoop it up in a pooper scooper with a long handle. #8. Babies need car seats, not dog boxes for travel. #9. Babies can’t be sold if they don’t work out with the team. #10. Babies don’t respond well to comments like “toughen up”. Conclusion: Ed (and many others) should really stick with pets. Posted by Ed


Friday, October 17th, 2008 "The theory of Communism may be summed up in one sentence: Abolish all private property." Karl Marx "By abolishing private property one takes away the human love of aggression" Sigmund Freud "We stand for the maintenance of private property." Adolf Hitler "So keep your hands off, private property. Hands off." Judas Priest, Private Property The next "Ask Ed" question: "Why are people so inconsiderate that they think it is okay to not only pick, but butcher the tree with a pocket knife, while picking apples off of trees that are obviously on private property and then when approached about it insist on arguing with you?" --Brandee Brandee thanks for the question but I have to admit that situations like this are my Kryptonite. Even though I know better, I constantly fall into the trap of trying to rationalize irrational behavior. I believe that it even got me fired from a job once. So how about this for your conundrum.......... Private property disagreements bring out emotion. Emotions are like farts. Some are powerful, some make you feel better, some really stink, but the only major decision that should be made in either case is whether or not to leave the room. Posted by Ed

Sunday, October 12th, 2008 It was SO MUSH FUN!! See the photo 2008 photo album here!! Thanks to everyone for such a great weekend of fun, dog running, puppy loving, and relaxing! Posted by Tasha


Wednesday, October 8th, 2008 Fall home improvement projects have begun. I know most people probably do spring cleaning and summer projects, but since my summer was spent with the dogs, I had to delay my big home improvement project this year. Thanks to a huge help from Michele Seng and Lynne Witte (and interim help from Michelle Riley), I laid down the hardwood flooring in our house this weekend. Ed and I had debated about what to do for the finished floor, finally settled on tile, but then changed our minds to bamboo flooring while shopping at Menards. It looks amazing and really brightens up the house. Once the project got underway, I put all else aside (hence the delay in a website update) to get the project completed and house put back together. So, be sure to bring some slippers when visiting...at least for the first week or so until the dogs scratch it all up! I've also been spending some quality time on the four wheeler with Tim Riley, our new guide and Iditarod puppy musher. Tim has all yearling or two year old males on his team so I've been riding along on the first few runs of the season to be sure everyone gets along and follows directions. Gee, feels like I'm back in school during the first few weeks of first grade! Ok, Tim is easier to train; he does know how to tie his shoes and can read his own name. We also have a few additions to the neighborhood. Jim Haibach purchased several acres adjoining our property. He's been working like crazy this week excavating his new dog yard and making sure I have dinner ready for him each night. It will be great to have him nearby to share trails. We also have new mushers training out of Al Hardmans' cabin next door. Kim Darst and Debbie and Bill Glenn have been great to get to know and to share Iditarod stories with. The trails will be busy this winter! Posted by Tasha

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