We’re easing into the off-season here at the Spitfire homestead. Temperatures have been steadily creeping above the “safe to run” mark, and with all the forecasted rain, we’re staying off the muddy trails.
We also had a few setbacks after “The Crappening” (see last post), which kept us from attending the last dryland event I had been considering.
Denali had another very brief bout of loose poops, which set me into panic mode, but no one else got sick and it went away almost immediately. Not long after that, Laika and Sagan got into a nasty brawl. They’re both OK, but Laika ended up with a sore leg. Her limp came and went multiple times and our vet diagnosed it as soft tissue damage that just needed extended rest to heal. As a final bit of stress, Hopper started vomiting his kibble last week. My vet gave us some anti-barf pills, which worked right away. She also ran bloodwork, which came back showing elevated liver values (ALT, specifically). After the GI upset and antibiotics, this doesn’t really surprise me, but we’re keeping a close eye on it. He’s behaving normally now, but we’ll redo his bloodwork at the pack’s annual exams later this month and go from there.
But anyway, the point of this post is to talk about what went well this season. Aside from all the medical stuff, we also had to cope with an underwhelming amount of winter this season. However! Given the challenges, I’m still really happy with what we were able to accomplish.
We raced in Canada! I’ve wanted to run the team outside of the country for years and obviously Canada is the easiest way to accomplish this. Since the US was devoid of snow and almost every race was canceled down here, to Canada we went! We ran at the Kearney Sled Dog Races and had a blast.
Not only did we race in Canada, we also got to participate in the Seguin Mail Run and mushed over a frozen lake. I’m choosing to highlight that memory, in particular, because it was definitely something I’ll never forget and can’t wait to do again.
I didn’t harness break any new pups this season, but Sheridan joined the team, which is just as exciting! He got to experience his first mushing event with Seguin, and was a magnificent handler for me and the dogs. I cannot wait until next season—he’ll be living here and a lot more ingrained in our adventures.
We’ve got a lot of big plans for this off-season. As mentioned, Sheridan is moving in, so we’ll be renovating the barn workshop into a cozy, livable space to (temporarily) house his two kitties. I’ve already had a window installed, so they’ll get some natural light and, eventually, access to a catio space. Our long-term goal is to build a guest cabin where they’ll live in the future, but for now, having an extra spot for cats/workout equipment/an art studio will do.
Along with the usual work of the veggie garden, I’m hoping to incubate some eggs and raise chicks this spring. This will ultimately result in needing a bigger chicken coop, which I’m hoping to have built this summer. The driveway is also a pot-hole disaster, so regrading that is on the To Do list.
Aside from the projects, I expect to go on many hikes and swims in the reservoir and enjoy the “reset” between our mushing seasons.
