Friday, December 27, 2013

Hike in Southaven County Park



Today we went for a semi-long hike in Southaven County Park, the park we normally take the dogs for a walk in.  We walked about 4.7 miles in 3 hours, and by the end of it we were all ready to nap.  The red line on this map indicates the path we took:


The dogs were loving it, lots of new smells and places to pee on.  It was a beautiful crisp day with the temps in the upper 30s, though between the walking and bright sun were kept pretty warm.  I still dressed in layers to keep from getting too cold, I can always take a layer off but it would be hard to add on a layer I didn't bring.  The dogs spotted some deer, but sadly they ran off before I could take a picture of them. 

Over all it was a very nice hike, a great way to test out our new hiking GPS, and a fun way to enjoy the outdoors.  Here are some more pictures I took during the hike, enjoy!







Thursday, December 26, 2013

Titan Bikejor: Round 5



This time around is definitely one of the best ones so far with Titan, even with the few mishaps we had (which you'll get to see in the video) I'm still so very proud of him.  He maintained a pretty consistent speed throughout the run and basically stayed on the trail.  It seems that during each run, he tries to run off at the same spots so these actions are easy to predict and I can redirect him before he acts (so long as I'm paying attention).

There was a point near the end where he took a sharp turn to chase something, initially I was redirecting him  but had stopped when I heard a few cars coming.  And then once we start going again, he had to slip on some leaves on his way back to the road, poor boy was lucky that we were nearly done.



Something I notice after watching the video is my vocabulary, I seem to be using the same words to different actions.  I need to train myself to communicate better with Titan and start using the proper words for each type of action.  Overall, I am making less noise than when I started but that could be because there is less of a need for it.


As you can see in the image, and video, I've made a slight upgrade to the bikejor equipment.  An important item to have on the bike is something to keep the line away from the front tire.  If the line is not kept off of the tire, you run the risk of running over the line and hitting the dog.  Initially I had Alpine Outfitters Bikejor Noodle, but it's short length and soft body wasn't doing much to protect the line when it goes slack.

Shortly before today's run, I picked up a few supplies from Home Depot and built a new antenna.  I basically followed the instructions given by a local musher in his video, and modified it to my needs.  Check out the video is you want to try to make your own:



As you can see, he uses duck tape to decorate, which I couldn't help but also do:
"Dill With It!"  I think that's going to be my bikejor catchphrase


 So proud of this boy, can't wait to take him back out.


Saturday, December 21, 2013

Bikejoring: Round 4



Tikaani:  Fourth time out wasn't that great, and I found myself getting frustrated which is not a state of mind one should have while training dogs.  Tikaani must have not been in the mood to run as he didn't go any faster than a slow trot and kept stopping to sniff or mark.  I'm thinking that I will for now I will take a few steps back with him and do some more training on foot.  Sadly, this means that there will be jogging in my future, which I'm not well coordinated for.  I will have to find something for Tikaani to drag while I try to encourage his speed and control his direction.  At the very least he's good with listening to turning commands so I won't have that issue to deal with. 

Titan:  He was a ball of excitement, saw me put my coat on and grab the harness, and he just wouldn't shut up until we were on the trail.  We started off good, he was running like a mad man and listened pretty well.  But halfway through, he started to see the puddles of melting snow and wanted nothing more than to drink from them.  With the water spigots dry for the season, and the puddles being unsafe to drink from, there wasn't anything for him to drink.  I really don't want him drinking when he still has to run afterwords, but may bring enough next time to wet his palate and keep his mind in the game.

Here's a video of Titan's run, with a little musical flair:


Overall, I think what really killed their desire to run was how warm these past 2 days were.  For the most part the day temperature has been in the mid 30s, but the last few days were in the mid 50s.  I was sweating at the end of each run, so I'm sure both dogs were feeling the same.  Will see if there is any improvement once the temperatures drop back down.  I also need to get a new bike or have this one fixed, the chain fell off of the pedal several times during Tikaani's run, which can be quite scary.

Thursday, December 12, 2013

Bikejor Training Log: First 3 Rounds

At this point, I have taken Tikaani and Titan out three times each.  Being that we are all still new at this, I have opted to practice them individually until they both get the hang of it. This allows for me to have better control should something happen, like an edible critter kicking in their prey drive.


ROUND 1: Mid November

Tikaani: First time out and he did better than I thought he would, not great but I was expected worse.  We took some back trails at Southaven County Park, which in hindsight was a bad idea since the ground in several areas was very soft sand.  This made it hard to get the bike moving, and there were times I had to get off of the bike and walk since pedaling was useless.  Besides those patches of soft sand, Tikaani had managed to keep some speed though it was broken up with his desire to mark and sniff.  If I tell him to leave it before he stops, he does listen and will continue to move.  He would slow to a walk if he felt the full weight of myself and the bike, so I did some pedaling to alleviate some of that weight so he can maintain some speed.

Titan: Same location as Tikaani, took a shorter loop so as not to over exert him.  He did some sniffing, but not nearly as much as Tikaani.  Titan definitely has a desire to run, he didn't want to stop even when I had to slow down to get around the soft sand.  Pedaled the whole time so as not to strain his joints, Made for a good reminder that I should exercise more so I can better keep up with these guys.  After the run, Titan was still a ball of energy and proceeded to play with the other dogs when we got home.

Round 2: Early December

I have opted to run them mostly on a short loop at Cathedral Pines from now on.  I chose this path for several reasons, the biggest one being that this was a new an unfamiliar place.  Being that this is not where we walk them, the hope is that since they haven't associated that path with walks they will be less inclined to sniff and mark, and more inclined to associate it with running and pull.

Tikaani: Boy was that an adventure, will have to remember to leave earlier. Took him to the same trail as I did with Titan's 2nd run, giving him a few minutes to sniff and mark at the trail head before starting. Once we got going, Tikaani wanted to head into the woods at the same spot as Titan did but was easier to redirect.  After that point, Tikaani took off down the trail. This time around he didn't mind the weight of the bike, allowing me to not have to pedal most of the run. I really wasn't expecting this kind of speed from him, it was kind of scary at times especially when he decided to go even faster every time he spotted a squirrel.

I swear, with a little more recall work Tikaani would probably make a great squirrel hunting dog, he just has such a drive for those little buggers. Good thing I was able to notice his signals when he caught sight of one (head lifted, ears tightened), and manage to hit the brakes before he was able to drag me too far. Luckily, I spotted the deer before we were close enough to excite his prey drive and waited for them to scamper off before continuing. By that point, Tikaani was still in the mood to run just not at the speed he started with.  Overall, he did a lot better than I thought he would. Was expecting it to be all sniffing and marking, and not nearly as much running as he actually did.

Titan:  Rocky start as this was a new trail and Titan caught wind of something (probably deer) that made him want to go off trail. Grabbed his harness and walked him down the trail a bit before hopping back on the bike.  Then it was like a switch went off in his head, he realized that he gets to run, and off he went. Kept on a fat trail with plenty of room, just in case we happen to come by anyone else, which we didn't. A few times Titan had wanted to go down side trails, but quickly ignored them when asked. Made it back to the car in one piece, to which Titan tried to pass by and head back into the trail. Silly boy did not want to stop.

Round 3: Mid December

Tikaani: More running than usual, though he still had a desire to stop and sniff a few times.  Did less pedaling this time and he maintained speed even with the full weight.  Purchased a cheapy camera and accessories so better chronicle each run.  Here is a snippet of Tikaani's run with camera attached to the handle bars:

Titan:  The minute he saw me pack the bike in the car, he would howl nonstop and pace at the front door.  He still needs to learn his directions better, but he was just all about running once we hit the trail.  There was one moment where he went to go chase a squirrel, but he redirected well and continued going.  Towards the end, we were going along a road and had to stop to let some cars by.  There were some cyclists that stopped to give him some loving, both were very impressed with what I was doing with him and kept complimenting on how gorgeous he is.  Here's a video taken with the camera hooked to my helmet:

Bikejoring: And so it Begins!!

For the longest time I have been wanting to do mushing and had thought that mushing was only done with a sled on snow.  Living in an area where we don't really get much snow, mostly a lot of cold, I was excited to find out that there was such a thing as dryland mushing. 

In dryland or urban mushing, instead of using a sled that requires snow, mushers will have the dogs pull a wheeled vehicle such as a bike, scooter, or rig.  Being on wheels allows for a greater range of terrain to run the dogs on, allowing for more training to be done  during the year.  When I first saw videos of dryland mushing, I knew that this was something I wanted to do. 

However, I was restricted due to the limitations of the dogs we kept.  Tetsu, being a mere 21lbs, was too small even though he does have a great desire to run and pull.  Tikaani has LP, and though the vet did give the okay to do some mushing, I would have to take it easy and wouldn't be able to run him as much as I wanted to.  I was hoping to do some mushing with Miyu when I brought her home, but her bad hips meant that this was not the sport for her.

And then came Titan, a husky born to mush.  Coming from racing/working lines, has been built both physically and mentally for this sport that I have been dieing to get into.  Bringing him home renewed and invigorated my desire to mush.  I began to research and join online groups to learn from those more experienced than me. 

Sadly, there hasn't been much local interest, have found barely a handful of people who mush in my area.  I did manage to find mushing groups in neighboring states and though they aren't close enough to visit regularly, they're still close enough for me to attend events once in a while and pick mushers' brains in person.

One such event was the Betty Carhart Memorial Sweepstakes Race hosted by the Jersey Sands Sled Dog Racing Association (JSSDRA).  That was an incredible experience and even though it was really cold, I still had loads of fun. It was just me and Titan, Tom stayed home with the rest of the pups as he wanted to spend his day off relaxing instead of freezing.

There was a lot of energy, so many dogs barking out of excitement and desire to run.  I talked to a lot of great mushers, got to see so many different type of equipment and drool over some of the rigs. Though the real fun and action, if not racing, was being part of the trail help. Helped make sure the dogs didn't go the wrong way, and was rewarded with being able to see up close the teams in action.  Hoping to race at this event some day.  Check out the images I took, you don't need a Facebook account to see them:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151817629506379.1073741831.681261378&type=1&l=a24d3aeb25


Anyways, I've been bitten by the bug and have started training Tikaani and Titan.  Will try to keep a log of each endeavor.  Stay tuned to see what adventures we have during these practice runs.

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Introducing Titan!!

Titan at 5 months old
This is Titan, his registered name is Fort Illio's Clash of the Titans.  He is a Siberian Husky of racing lines and the newest addition to the family.  Born June 26th, Titan is an amazing pup with a stable personality and loads of energy.  He is such a smoosh, loves to cuddle and attention, often going out of his way to get some. 

Miyu and Titan got along immediately, the second he came into the house Miyu just wanted to play with him.  It took Tikaani a few days to warm up, and Tetsu a few months.  Overall they are all getting along fairly well. 

My big plans for Titan is to do dryland mushing, mainly hooking him up to a bike  either on his own or with Tikaani.  Would be awesome to have a small team of huskies someday, pulling a rig or sled, but for now I'm happy with the pups I have.  Anyways, here are some pics of Titan so far:








Sunday, November 24, 2013

Updates November 25th, 2013

It has been quite a bit since I last posted, so here is a summary of what has happened since. 

-With the rabbits, the first litter has come and gone.  Working on another litter and found out that Paprika turned out to be a boy, so he has been renamed Parsley.  The first litter was between Chives and Nutmeg, the next one will be sired by Basil and hopefully there is a nice looking girl worth keeping.

-A couple of months ago we've added a new 4 legged member to the family, for those of you who don't know me on Facebook I will post an official (belated) intro on him later.   For now here is a little hint:



-Also going to post about a recent trip and my future plans related to it.

Anyways, that is it for now.  Here's a picture of Tikaani being silly.


Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Backyard Ramblings: Future and Current Plans

Wow, so I'm not really the greatest at posting here, and I do apologize for that.  Anyways, for the longest time we (the Fiance and I) have been wanting to become more and more self sufficient when it comes to our food and well being.  With all of the terrible things being pumped and done to commercial foods, we want to try to do what we can to rely less and less on it.  This would involve growing and preserving our own plant foods, as well as raising our own meats.  Sadly, living in pretty crowded suburban area will limit our options of what we can do.

Each year since we bought the house, I've been maintaining an organic vegetable garden, and slowly building a separate area in the yard just for that.  Right now I have two 10x10 raised planter beds built, with one still in need of dirt.  In the other I've planted some tomatoes, bell peppers, eggplant, and snow peas. 

The plans for this year is to get my greenhouse and berry patch started.  The house came with some hoop type greenhouse structures, of which the previous owners were using to store random junk in.  It took a lot of work to clean them out and take them down, but now that a good deal of the yard is cleaned up, we can resurrect part of one to be used for my veggies.  The greenhouse will be great for growing seedlings during times when the outside weather would still be too cold for them to plant.  The berry patch will be it's own raised bed of raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, and gooseberries.  With these I can make some jams and preserves, using the gooseberries as a natural source of pectin.

Plans have been going slowly with all of the rain we've been having lately, the plants are loving it so I don't mind too much.  Though with all this rain comes lack of mowing, and a yard that looks more like a meadow.
Love the yellow flowers



I've never been one of those grass purists, and actually love seeing other plants intermingled with the blades of grass.  There's just something beautiful with the broken up texture of various leaf shapes and added colors of low growing flowers.  The only fertilizer our yard gets is whatever the chickens leave behind.

With all this extra growth comes food for our new additions.  As I mentioned earlier, it wasn't just commercial edible plants that we wanted to rely less on.  With the way our town codes work, we were very limited when it comes to raising our own meat.  With a chicken limit of 6 with no roosters, and the only "big" livestock allowed are 2 goats (if I can get the permits), I had very limited options.  However, there is one animal that is not only very healthy to eat but also not considered livestock.  Enter the rabbit.

Sure these guys are cute, but their meat is also some of the most nutritious meat you can eat.  Lower in cholesterol, calories, and fat than other meats, as well as being higher in protein and more sanitary due to the way they are kept.  They are all white meat, and can be used as a substitute to chicken and pork.  Rabbits also provide other, non-edible benefits with poop that plants love and pelts to sell or make things with. 

After spending a great amount of time researching and learning as much as I can about meat rabbit production, it was time to take the plunge.  The biggest problem was finding available meat rabbits, as the breeders near me focused on pet and dwarf breeds.  An opportunity arose with a trip to Ohio for a dog show that I had planned to go to.  I managed to find a breeder who had (and was able to locate) available rabbits that I could take with me on the return trip home.  It really was an interesting 10 hour drive with 3 dogs and 4 rabbits.

The two meat breeds I had chosen are the New Zealand Red (NZR) and the Californian, both very popular breeds for meat production.  Rabbits of these breeds tend to have a good meat to bone ratio and grow to a good meat size fairly quickly.  They should reach an eatable weight of 4-5lbs at around 8weeks of age. 

 

With home built hutches mostly finished, I brought home a pair from each breed.  Their hutches are being kept under an old tarp covered canopy next to the chicken run.  This area will provide ample shade to help keep the rabbits cool during the warm summer months.  We used heavy duty wire fencing to help keep them protected, and we hope to expand the chicken run to encompass this rabbit area as another security layer. 

Basil
Basil, is my NZR male and only 4 months old.  He has the added bonus of a pedigree and comes from some very strong lines of big litters that grow fast.  His ear is tattooed to reflect that pedigree.  He is the friendliest out of the four of them, often coming to his hutch door when he sees me approaching.  He's also the first to escape due to me forgetting to lock the door, he was easy to catch as he didn't feel the need to actually run from us.


Paprika is Basil's counterpart, she is what they call a broken red as she is not a solid color.  She is somewhat skittish but doesn't mind taking food from me when given.  At 4 months old, she has a few more months before it would be safe to breed her.  I won't be pairing her with Basil until the heat of summer has passed.


Chives is a Californian male that is about a year old.  He really loves his grasses and will take any I toss in for him.  He has such a big rump, hopefully his kits will inherit his booty.


And finally Nutmeg, Chives' counterpart.  She also is a year old and ready to breed.  She doesn't care for being handled, but will tolerate it.  She prefers grasses and hay over the pellets, often grabbing a bite of hay before I can put it down while her there's still plenty of pellets left in her bowl.


Well that's enough rambling for now, hopefully I can keep up with updates of the random happenings. 

Saturday, January 19, 2013

Surprises in Prosser Pines

Prosser Pines County Park, a small 50 acre white pine forest, was the target of today's walk.  Just like most any other parks around here, the entrance to this one was on a busy road.  Just across the road was Cathedral Pines County Park, a significantly bigger park (320 acres) that is popular with campers and picnickers, and we hope to hike there some time in the future.


We all went on this walk: Tom, me, and the 3 pups (Tetsu, Tikaani, and Miyu)  Stepping into Prosser Pines always has this kind of mystical feel to it.  The ground is covered with nothing but pine needles, there's little to no undergrowth, and the pines create a thick canopy overhead.  Even with the busy street close by, the pines mute the sounds of rushing cars and all you can really hear is the wind rustling the pine needles.

What's really great about this park is that even though there are marked trails, there really isn't anything that can prevent you from making your own trail.   So we started off on the trail, casually enjoying the serene beauty of these trees.  There were various fallen trees across the trails, victims of Hurricane Sandy most likely, but they were easy to step over or walk around.  We eventually started meandering off the trails, mainly so as not to bump into others walking the parks.

As we wondered around the trees, something caught my eye.  There was a strange collection of branches, I didn't know what they were but I had to go check them out.  We headed towards it, curious to see what it is.  As we got close to it, we could hear the creaking of the branches, as the tree the leaned on swayed back and forth. 
We never expected to find a tipi (or what I later found was called a tree-pi) in the middle of this forest.  Numerous branches and small logs carefully placed against this tree, a seemingly artistic expression to emphasize nature.  I was ecstatic to find this, and quite glad that I remembered to have brought my camera.

We continued our walk, talking about the tree-pi and wondering who could have built it.  We found a trail and followed it to the edge of the forest.  This edge of the forest bordered what looked to be a sod farm, fields of grass and watering equipment, everything maintained for the winter cold.  We watch a few geese chewing on the grass until the trail took us back among the trees.  As we walked, Tom saw what may be another tree-pi in the distance.  We headed towards it to check it out.  What we found may have been a tree-pi at one point, but it looks like it might have fallen over.

I was a bit disappointed, and hoped that this collapse was an act of nature and not some person being mean.  As we walked around it, we noticed a small plastic box hidden under it.
Inside was a small,spiral bound notebook with a pen and random trinkets.  Inside the notebook were messages left by various people who had also found this box.  Some of them were just signatures or doodles, others were thank you's for the box.  The message on the first page was dated back in November 2011. On the back cover, there was a small message written by the people who originally left the box in the part.  They named themselves Nature Buddies.

I left my own message in the book, before placing all the contents back in the box and leaving the box where I found it.  We continued to wander the forest for a another half hour before heading back to the entrance.  As we headed to the car, I saw a few more people heading into the park.  I wondered if they too would find these little surprises, and leave a message in the book for future hikers to see. 



Starting up Again...

So it has been some time since I last wrote on here, yeah I've been slacking but sometimes life just seems to keep a person busy.  Not to mention the fact that it is so much more convenient to just post a picture or two on Facebook with a one sentence blurb.  But you know, I don't want to keep doing that.  I want to write stories and share experiences, I want to give people a feel of almost being there.  So with this new year, I hope to have experiences and fulfill some goals, and share them here.  

One goal I am hoping to accomplish is to get Tikaani his Working Pack Dog (WPD) title.  Now, the title itself is not that important, it is basically just a guide to help accomplish another goal, which is just to exercise more.  In order to get Tikaani his WPD, we would basically have to hike around the woods while Tikaani carries a pack filled with provisions.  Focusing on getting this title will not only get me to exercise more, but I'll get to enjoy the beauty of nature and gain some memorable experiences.  Heck, I'm already experiencing many fascinating things while trying to condition our bodies to handle these pack hikes.  Seeing the various wildlife that cross our path, meeting new and interesting people, and finding hidden secrets is just amazing to experience. 

Stay tuned, the next entry will start us off with some beautiful surprises found during our walk through Prosser Pines County Park.  Some surprises can be quite unexpected.

For now, here's a pic of Miyu being a brat...Enjoy!