These Boots Were Made For Sweden Pt II the Explanation

The last couple days in Ljubljana were quite hectic wrapping up work and saying goodbye to new friends, and it was with a certain amount of sadness that I left Slovenia on Thursday. It took a whole day to travel 2000km, most of that time being spent sitting in airports. When the plane finally entered Swedish airspace I looked down to see what looked like nothing but trees and more trees and water, and very few houses. Hmmm I thought, now this feels a bit more like home! I have come to visit friends Katerina and Jachym http://kippsiberians.kokeshnet.com/ who live in Vedjeon, which is quite far north (coordinates:64 deg N, 15 deg E) and 6900 km from Maple Ridge BC and at the beginning of November it is dawn at 7 am and dark at 4:30. Jachym tells me that by the time December comes they will have muted daylight for only 4 hours. Curently the temperatures hover around –2 C in the daytime, which feel a little chilly to me after being in warmer Ljubljana for 2 months. But my boots, gloves and wool sox arrived safely a month ago (see blog –entry dated Aug 4th),, and yes, it took 2 months for them to come from Canada!! Falling into bed after midnight I was instantly asleep, and slept soundly in this peaceful place, something I have not done much of in the last couple of months. I'm here to run dogs and to have a good look at the Siberian Huskies here in Scandenavia, with the possibility of importing to Canada at a later date.



Friday dawned late, cold and crisp, and as we stepped outside to meet the dogs and to do morning dog chores I was sure I could smell snow in the air. There are 34 Siberian Huskies and 1 Alaskan Malamute, 2 cats and 1 bunny that live here, and I am in heaven!
On Friday we took the main string out, as Kat is training hard as this year she plans to run the Polardistanse 400 (km), http://polardistans.com/english/defaulteng.html which is the biggest long distance event for registered polar breeds here in Scandenavia.

Jachym also intended to take out the yearlings but we had an equipment failure, so they had an extra long break. Kat has 3 dogs in her kennel imported from North Wapiti kennels in Perryvale Alberta. http://www.northwapiti.com/ Some of you will recognize the name, as North Wapiti dogs make up over half of the dogs in my yard. It was nice to see the two NW girls Magpie and Tazlina running strongly in lead.
A side note, a huge congratulations to Karen Ramstead and North Wapiti’s Crunchie. (brother to my KitKat) who this weekend won the open class and the sled dog classes at the Siberian Husky Club of America’s National Specialty in California. http://www.northwapiti.com/homepage/crunchie.html
Overnight the weather cooperated and Saturday morning I woke to 10 cm of fresh white stuff on the ground. WOO HOO! Winter has arrived!


Saturday we took out both the mainstring and the yearling teams, and I was able to help talk Katerina through some little issues she has been having.
Jachym's unique approach to hooking up!!
Along the way we saw fresh bear tracks! Canuck (my Ellie’s brother) runs on the yearling team and watching him was like being transported 6900 km and watching Ellie! A solid day of training with two great runs, and much talking dogs I was quite ready for bed by the end of the day!
Successfully putting young Music in lead for the first time, beside solid dependable North Wapiti's Magpie.