Good Ole Hank

Hank doesn't care that June has been getting all the social media attention lately.  He's happier just doing his job. 

"You're a good dog, Hank.  You're doing a good job."

I started telling Hank that when he first got here and the sheep were hassling him and nobody loved him except Keebler and Graham.  I still tell him that and I know he knows exactly what I'm saying.

Those pictures would make nice St. Patrick's Day puzzles, don't you think?  Enjoy! :-)

The Final Miles

While 20 and Carbear are cleaning up the last of the sourdough pancakes I'm packing the sled for the last few miles into "Nome".  We should finish tomorrow!

I couldn't pick a favorite picture, so I'm posting all three.  My beloved Red Lantern, mushing along with me since the Keebler shawl five years ago (thanks, Alice! :-) is still going strong.  The first place musher reached Nome early this morning, but there are many Iditarod mushers and Iknitarod knitters still out on the trail.  

We'll keep the light on for you!

Camping Away From A Checkpoint

After a warm, sunny afternoon yesterday, we had our biggest snow of the season last night.  It was beautiful!  Huge, dropping flakes that piled up quickly.

It looks like June is running the Iknitarod Barn Checkpoint by herself, but Hank is just down the hill 😉. This only makes sense if you’ve been glued to the Iditarod Live Feed half the day 😆. The big mound is muck I’ve been scraping away from the gate and water tank for the last few weeks 😵. #iditarod #iknitarod2018 #crazyweather #livestockguardiandogs

A post shared by Sara Dunham (@thecrazysheeplady) on Mar 11, 2018 at 8:17pm PDT

I hung out in the barn and barn lot for, well, I don't even know how long.  It was late.  I'd been knitting in the Wool House with 20, Carbear, Kate and Tilly, trying to catch back up from my wrong turn during the afternoon.

Kate and Tilly are working the Wool House Checkpoint 😀. Made up my lost ground this evening. Whew! #iknitarod2018 #iditarod #crazybigsnowflakes

A post shared by Sara Dunham (@thecrazysheeplady) on Mar 11, 2018 at 8:21pm PDT

Sometimes mushers will come through a checkpoint and then continue on down the trail to camp for awhile away from the noise and crowds.  20 and Carbear thought that sounded like a great idea and found the perfect spot to set up camp under a favorite pine tree.

I think Carbear was a bit confused about the whole Carbeth/Iknitarod event to begin with, but he's enjoyed hanging out with 20, listening to tales of previous years and is quickly becoming a veteran musher.

"How's it going out here, 20?"

"It's good!  This snow is amazing!  Just a beautiful morning for sure and the company's good, too!"

"This tree is a perfect camping spot, even with the big globs of snow falling off it, onto us.  Wool's good that way."

Mushing on!

Keep Your Eyes On Your Own Race

Because if you pay too much attention to other (real) mushers, you may not catch that you've made a mistake and lost the trail and have to rip back eight. long. rows.

Back to mushing.  And I probably didn't learn any lessons ;-D.

Keeping An Eye On The [Sheep] Trail

Once again we woke to a decent snow cover this morning.  It lasted a couple hours, but as soon as the sun came out, poof!  

Andy

Spud, Murphy and Woody 

Chocula 

Daniel looks like he can smell spring coming :-).

Baaxter

The Long Suffering Border Collie

"Knitting is SO boring!"

Keeping An Eye On The Trail

We woke to snow this morning. Of course we did. Once the sheep are shorn, I no longer wish for snow.  Sigh...  Luckily it was still pretty warm and it didn't last long.  Barely long enough to get some Iknitarod team pictures.  

June looks like she's lost the trail ;-).

Iris made this trail from the house to the barn years ago and Tilly still uses it.  

The Tilly Trail.

Kate may not use Iris Lane very often, but she does keep an eye on the traffic.

The snow melted so fast you could watch it happening.

I have both sleeves re-knit and I've started the body.  I was hoping to reach the 4" mark this evening, but I'm running out of gas and my "paws" are a little sore, so I may "take an eight".

Hank and June are happy about the cooler weather.  The sheep...are actually doing okay.  This weather is not ideal, but the barn is closed up to block the wind and they have plenty to eat to help stay warm.  Glad we didn't do the oldies!