| The
Journey Continues
May 30, 2006
It has been an interesting month. Marti and I talked a lot about
finances and the 2007 race. We have a history there. I worked for
Shell Oil in Houston Texas from 1980 until 1991. I rode out the
industry downturn that started in 1983 for 8 years. When the job
finally went away I had two choices. The smart choice would be to
find another good paying technical job, probably going back to physics.
These jobs are pretty much on the east or west coast. However the
dream of living in Alaska was strong and we decided to turn the
situation upside down, move to Anchorage and see what it took to
make a living there. After 18 months, and going through all our
savings and retirement funds, I found work and we have been living
the Alaskan Dream for 14 years.
Last year, one week after signing up for the 2006 race, I was laid
off again. Conventional logic said to withdraw from the race, get
another job and protect our investments. Instead I became a full
time musher and we have been living off our savings, sponsors (thank
you so much!), and Marti’s income. Now that I’ve done
the race once, conventional wisdom says I should thin the kennel
and get a job. But the dream is to continue to run Iditarod, become
good at it, and tell the stories. Marti supports that dream, even
if it means we have to cash in the 401k, and it probably will. So
I’m committed to signing up for the 2007 race at the Picnic
in June.
Rosemary is the
latest member of the
R Northbound Dogs team. Rosemary
looks almost identical to her sister Thyme.
Zack is not ready to sell Parsley and Sage
yet (the two sisters that I haven’t purchased). Doesn’t
she look like a character?
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To field a 16 dog Iditarod team most
mushers will train 20 to 24 dogs. The logic is that somebody will
not make the team, somebody will get injured and need to recover,
somebody will come into heat at the start of the race, and somebody
will get up the morning of the race, look you straight in the eye
and say “Dad, would you really mind if I didn’t go to
Nome today?” Of the 14 dogs that I ran in 2006, Belle has retired
to Bonnie and Jim’s couch. Of the dogs that didn’t make
last years team, Dijon will step up and fill that slot. So I have
14 dogs and need 6 more to round out the kennel. Last month I reported
that Thyme and Throttle joined the kennel. May 12th I bought Mocha’s
and Thyme’s sister, Rosemary, from Bob Bundtzen and Zack Steer.
That brings me up to 17 dogs for the 2007 team. I’m still looking
for 3 more dogs. I’m getting pretty excited about this team.
Stay tuned to see what God has in store.
I have a cute story about Rosemary. This litter is an accidental breeding
in Jeff King’s kennel. The mother is Basil’s sister (Nutmeg)
and the father is Platinum’s brother (Tin), so I’m keeping
it in the family. None of this litter are very good eaters. For a
distance team this is a bad trait. During the race there will be lots
of distractions and the dogs will get tired. If they are not real
motivated to eat it is easy for them to say they will just skip a
meal. Then they get behind the power curve, can’t make up the
lost calories, and have to be dropped. So training them to eat whenever
food is put in front of them is important. Martin says that if a dog
doesn’t finish a meal, that they shouldn’t be fed the
next one. The idea is that if the dog isn’t hungry enough when
food is offered that you should be sure they are hungry the next time
you feed them so that this doesn’t become a habit. If you do
it right vigorous eating can become the habit instead.
Keiko is in full standing heat, flirting with all the neutered boys
in the kennel, and causing quite a stir. Sure enough one morning Rosemary
got distracted by Keiko and Picard and didn’t finish her meal.
The next morning she gave me the funniest look as I fed everyone else,
but not her. The second morning I put breakfast down and she dove
into the dish. I told her what a good dog she was and continued through
the kennel. When I came back to pick up the dishes I couldn’t
find hers. Mocha and Lycos, the dogs on each side, didn’t have
it. It wasn’t under her house. I couldn’t find pieces
where she chewed it. No fresh holes where she buried it. Very puzzled
I finally looked inside the dog house and there it was. The next morning
I watched as she picked up her dish and carried it into the house
where she ate at her leisure. I guess she didn’t want me walking
off with it before she was done. Silly girl! Marti and I laughed so
hard we almost hurt ourselves. Rosemary is a full fledged character!
The other news is that I am serious about writing a book based on
my adventures and how I got to be this way. Mary Curtis has been helping
me identify contacts at potential publishers and the critical path
to publication. For narrative nonfiction the process is to write a
proposal explaining exactly what you want to do, why you want to do
it, who you are, why you are the right person to write this book,
and who the potential buyers are. Then you attach an annotated table
of contents and a sample chapter to demonstrate your writing ability
and voice. I’ve been working on that proposal for the last week
and should have it done in the couple of weeks. A good strong proposal
that anticipates and responds to all the acquiring editor’s
questions is likely to succeed. The key is a very strong proposal.
This is from the guy that almost took English as a second language
(mathematics being my first one). There is nothing quite like growing
and learning new skills.
Keep ‘em Northbound
Eric
© 2006 All rights reserved
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