Happy days of May

Last Sunday I and the dog were babysitting these two guys, Oliver (left) and Tobias, two of my cousin's sons. The boys spent pretty much the whole day with us, and the weather was fabulous, so we decided to go for a long forest walk. Both the boys, the dog and I had a great time. We took a few stops here and there to let the boys rest and play a little, and they did a lot of exploring. And, of course, lots of photos...

When arriving at the water tower we sat down in the little birch forest there is and had a picnic break. I had baked a chocolate cake the day before (for another purpose) and we had taken the leftovers with us. Very popular, though the dog was a bit miffed that he didn't get any of it...

17 May is Norway's Constitution Day. It's a national/public holiday and everyone get the day off. There are children's parades all over the country, and in my little town they paraded in front of our house, pretty much. It was, and is always, a great sight, though this year I did not join the parade as is custom. Instead I took the dog out for a loooong forest walk. He seemed content with that.

I've taken up a new hobby: recreational orienteering. It means having a map (and, if need be, a compass) and walking different routes and paths in the forest to find posts that I then mark off on a score card. There are some 40 posts in the forests around where I live, and I've taken six of them so far. Each post gives a number of points on the score cards, and the score accumulated through the season (until September some time) and provide the foundation for the allocation of rewards of some sort. It is a great incitement to finding new paths and chosing unknown routes when out walking, and of course the dog loves accompanying me.

There are times when I wonder why I ever lived anywhere else!

Spring by the sea is great

Lately we've had fabulous spring weather, warm and quite lovely all through the day. It does not get dark at night anymore, so it's possible to be out and about 24/7 if one wants to. When I walk the dog in the morning before going to work (around 5.30 a.m.) it's sunny even when I wake up. I love it, and I love how I can walk outside at that hour wearing just trainers, a t-shirt and tights. Very, very easy! I have stopped counting the hours I've spent in the outdoors the past two weeks...

Both these images show my dog earlier today. I took him walking down to the seaside, where there's an area where he can run freely about. His best friend Mia (dog!) is in heat, so they're off playdates for a little while. He enjoyed chasing birds instead!

My mother visited yesterday, and she brought with her something that pleased me immensely. My aunt (her sister) is moving, and in the process she is ridding herself of some things from her flat. So I get to 'inherit' a set of porcelain plates, serving trays etc in various sizes from a set of porcelain that my grandparents got for their wedding day in 1948! When they died my mum and her sister split the china among them; now I have my aunt's part and will soon get my mother's part too. So I will end up having a full set of oooold china. I am so excited.

Have a great weekend - I plan to, too :-)

Post-Easter blues

Easter is over and life has returned to normal again. During Easter my Swedish friend Suzanna was visiting, and we had rented a car in order to be able to drive around and see as much as possible. We spent a few days with my parents at the cabin (further north), but also took time out for one-day expeditions in my neighbourhood. It was fabulous, and fortunately the weather was nice most of the time, so we could spend hours and hours in the outdoors. Oh joy.

Suzanna and my dog Emre resting at a beach rock about 30 mins south of where I live. We spent the day outside and at the hiking club's cabin, which is situated literally on the shore. Suzanna enjoyed the place so much that virtually one of the first things she did was to find a nice spot on a rock and curl up to nap a little... And Emre decided to keep watch :) Later on we explored the shores and made dinner at the cabin, together with two other friends and their dog. Some times life is so good that there's nothing more to say. This was one of those days, I think.

Suzanna at a beach in Lødingen, near our cabin. This beach is next to the road, however, there were hardly any people and so we could let the dogs run freely around for a while. (My friend Annelin and her dog Mia were there too, they're just not on the photo.) There were three reindeer on the one side of the beach when we got there, but fortunately they ran off before the dogs could detect them. Emre had chased one reindeer just a few days earlier, with both himself and the reindeer falling through the fjord ice, so I was nervous to let him loose. But it worked out relly well, thank God! And Suzanna had a great time watching the two furry ones chase each other around, both on the beach and in the sea!

On Easter Sunday I just had to try the water. Did not have a swimsuit with me so could not swim properly, but wading along the shore was just fine. The water wasn't ... well, let's say this: it was a very refreshing experience! But I didn't catch a cold or anything afterwards, not as much as a caugh or a sneeze. Though it would totally have been worth it if I did.

Spring on the shore

Yup. It's definitely spring here now, and has been for just over a week. One day I took the dog down to the shore of the sea, to an area where there are no houses and hardly ever any people. There I can let him roam freely about, and he loves it. We often go there if we are with someone else so that the dogs can play together in a large area. Not a bad way to spend the afternoon when coming home from work, as you see above!

This is Emre, 10.5 months old. He is a relatively calm, confident and very happy puppy who is about to turn into a youngster rather than a 'puppy'. I enjoy his company a lot, obviously, and I don't think he minds mine either... His great-grandfather won the Iditarod a couple of years ago, together with the rest of the dog team and a guy behind on a sled, and Emre loves running too. He is slowly about to learn the art of pulling too. What a joy!

Emre looking out for birds after having inspected the shore. He loves chasing birds, especially when they sit by the sea and he can run towards them just to scare them off. He does not need to bark in order to do that, so he doesn't. Most of the time, anyway. And just like when he was a little puppy still living at his (home/original) kennel, he continues to enjoy taking a break to stop and get an overview over what goes on in the surroundings. Just in case, I guess.

My new best friend - 10 months later

I realise I've been ignoring and forgetting about this blog. I shouldn't have. So I'll try and update it more frequently from now on. Maybe. This is my dog - the puppy from the previous post is now 10 months old. His name is Emre, he is a very loveable dog and measures about 70cm on top of his shoulders. Big for his age and for the race, in other words, and he still has muscles to grow. I love it.

The winter is about to leave, spring is approaching and I look very much forward to being able to wander about in the nature here with Emre without having to ski or worry about where there's a hard track to walk on... Perhaps I'll update more here when we start roaming?

My new best friend!

This little four-legget creature was only 48 hrs old when these photos were made a week and a half ago. He is one out of ten puppies in a litter; five males and five females. I fell for one of the ten puppies when I saw the first picture of them all, although they were of course all utterly adorable. And Thank God! my favourite was a male! I had decided on getting a male dog. And the breeder agreed to let me have this one. Late July little Emre will move in with me in my new flat, and I can hardly wait...

Emre's genalogy is quite distinguished for an Alaskan Husky, and his ancestors have won all the major long distance sled races in Norway/Europe as well as the Iditarod in Alaska. The breeder is a musher just outside the city where I live, and over the past year or so I've made friends with him and his wife. They are lovely people; not only because they agreed to let me have this particular puppy but just because...well, in general. They ARE great people. And they love winter and dogs and the outdoors as much as I do, if not even more :)

Now I'm just waiting for Emre to open his eyes for the first time and find out what colour they have! The father of the puppies has brown eyes, but the mother's eyes are crystal blue so Emre could have either - or even one of each. I should know by the end of the week or so, and as soon as I capture it on a photo I will make sure I share it.

February: The Femund Race @ Røros, Norway

This is Røros, Norway. The town is on the UNESCO World Heritage List due to its having large parts of the town preserved in its original form from back when Røros was a bustling mining industry town. It is particularly famous for its old wooden houses, which the entire town is full of including the town centre and the houses along the two main streets.

In the winter the temperature in Røros drops to 20 and even 30 below zero (centigrades) for long periods of time, and there is always lots of snow. No wonder, perhaps, that it's the home of the start and finish line of the Femund Race? The FR is a sleddog race that takes place every year in February, and this year about 150 mushers and nearly 2,000 dogs were signed up to participate! Unfortunately quite a few had to withdraw before even starting as they caught the kennel caugh (sick/caughing dogs, very contagious) so the numbers were a bit lower in the end. But nevertheless; it's an absolutely amazing experience to be able to follow the race here!

This is 'my guy' in the race, Per Mjærum of Jeppedalen Husky Trail. He started as #17 and finished #12. The race was also this year's Norwegian Championship in long distance sleddog racing, and due to two foreigners being above him on the list, he and the team made top 10 in the NC! Great job, Per! The race starts on a Thursday at noon and the winner - Sigrid Ekran - arrived at the finishing line Sunday afternoon. Per arrived late that night, three hours after midnight. I was there to greet him then, as were many of his friends and some other people. He was tired, of course, but also immensely proud of the dogs and their performance!

This is Tom Waes from Belgium. He is a TV star there, both as an actor and as his own show host. He had only two weeks of experience with mushing before starting the shorter Femund Race (there's one long race of 600 km and a shorter one of 400 km) and hardly anyone thought he'd actually be able to finish it - but he did! Tom did this as part of a challenge that is the foundation for his Belgian TV series 'Tomtesterom', where he takes on physical/mental challenges to test whether he can complete them or not. Makes me wish I could be in Belgium to see the show on TV! His 2nd season starts on the 6th of April and I believe the F400 Race was the second challenge (and programme?) of the series...but we'll see.

After the race I spend two days at a friend's nearby, just to chill and enjoy time with the dogs after the race. One of the days I took a dog for a walk, as my friend's house is located literally next door to one of Norway's largest national parks, the Femundsmarka wildlife area. There is also the Femund Lake, Norway's third largest lake I think. I and the dog ran into a Saami man (native Norwegian) who told us there were a few reindeer nearby, so we went to have a look up close. This one is being kept apart from the herd as it is to be tamed. Quite an impressive sight.

New Year's: Snow, sun and LOTS of dogs

I spent New Year's in the mountains of Valdres in southern Norway, together with some old and many new friends who are into sleddog racing (a.k.a. 'mushing'). The picture above is Marit Kasin of Kennel Vinterdans, who is out training her team. We were some 20+ people and about ten times as many dogs, I think. I took hundreds of photos. A friend also brought along a sled I got to borrow so I could try sleddog riding for the first time in life. Great fun! I definitely need more experience to be able to do it better, but I had fun going along a fairly easy trail. And fortunately my 'guide' was very patient with rookies! I had 6 dogs in front of the sled. Some people had 18 when they went out training - THAT was an impressive sight, I tell you. No wonder the lady on the sled was the reigning Norwegian champion...

One of my favourite huskies in the world, if not THE favourite at present: Amigo. He comes from Ketil Reitan, but is now owned and trained by Jeppedalen Husky Trail. He is an excellent lead dog and amazingly beautiful, I think, with one blue and one brown eye. I've met Amigo a couple of times before and we got on well enough. But this time he was off training for a few days due to an injury, and I took him for a walk twice. That was as if cracking a code - we totally connected and all of a sudden he was a different dog; very cosy and loving and ... I completely melted!

Old flatcoat retrievers look cute in 25 below zero degrees... Whiskers and eye brows turn white, just like my hair did, because of humidity freezing. I love his looks! He is one out of two flats who live with Jeppedalen Husky Trail and their 20+ Alaskan Huskies. And the flats are the only ones who formally live inside the house rather than out in the dog yard... ;-)

Cuba and Sunniva. The latter is a six-year-old girl who is crazy about dogs and dog sports. She had borrowed a kid's sled from one person, and Cuba + another dog from another, and got to race her own two-dog team around the kid's trail in the snow. Great fun! Here she's thanking Cuba for the ride. Later Sunniva got to be co-pilot on a 14-dog-team. No need to say she was high on adrenalin after that :-D Great girl, who will one day make a fine musher methinks.

Early afternoon in the mountains. The colours were absolutely amazing regardless of what time of the day it was, and with lots of clear sky we got to experience all kinds of colours both on the sky and in the landscape around us. No wonder we spent the larger part of the day outside...

Sunniva and BentO share a sled behind 14 dogs, all of which belong to the latter! It was an amazing sight, both for the joy in her face, for the beauty of a long team winding its way through the snow - and for the sun and the shade effects caused by snow clouds and near-sunset. Magic!

Winter magic! This is what a regular birch looks like around midnight when it's more than 20 below zero degrees... It's not a black-and-white photo; just a regular colour photo taken in the dark using standard flash. No wonder, perhaps, that I had to go out at night for a walk and for taking photos :)