Summer time!!

Wow! It's been a while since I last blogged...sorry bout that. The last month of school is always just Cuh-Raaaazy! Still, I've survived yet another year of teaching high school. I thought for a while there, that I wouldn't continue, as I had a pretty rough year. But, then I watched the movie "Freedom Writers" and it reminded me "Why" I became a teacher. So, I'll be there again in the fall, this time taking on a student teacher as well. :o) If you haven't had the opportunity to watch "Freedom Writers", I highly recommend it.

In other news, Otto has come back to the kennel. For those of you who don't know him, Otto is a long-haired, red dachsund who we gave to Manny's brother, Michael when we had Kaiser. Kaiser (our 1st Great Dane) used to pounce on Otto, almost crushing him. We were afraid that Kaiser would hurt Otto. Sadly, Kaiser ended up having heart problems and was put to sleep not long after. Otto stayed with Michael, but we really missed him. So, Michael gave Otto back to us today. We are all happy...we have the cuteness back and Otto is LOVING being back in the house on our laps. I have to get him in to Lynn at Petco soon...he is in SERIOUS need of a good grooming and it's more than I want to take on!

In the interim, we have had a new dog come to the kennel from Lance Mackey. Hilty is a 2 1/2 yr old black male husky. I'll add him to our Noatak site once I've gotten his bloodlines from Lance. Hilty is a sweet guy who was a contender for Lance's Iditarod team. So, we are really looking forward to seeing this guy in action this winter! Another addition coming to the kennel soon is Chevy. Chevy is a 3 yr old male husky from Gerry Willomitzer. Chevy's sire is Gerry's main stud/leader, BlackJack, who we wanted to breed to. However, now that we were able to get Chevy (who is a great gee/haw leader), we will have the bloodlines that we want in our kennel. Too awesome!

Jenny will be heading to Kantishna on Friday. We have adopted Jenny through SCL; however, we really feel that a summer doing tours down in Kantishna will do wonders for her shyness. I don't expect her to ever get over it, but I think that she will benefit from the daily influx of tourists. Then, she'll come back to the kennel in the fall, just in time to start training. I plan on racing Jenny this upcoming season. She is a very nice running dog and I feel she'll be a good race dog.

I am off for the summer, so I plan on getting lots of work done around the house and kennel. I will try to get more pictures up as the summer goes by, as well. Devlyn is officially a 3rd grader now...man, they grow so fast, eh?! Conor is a 2 year old and is definitely living up to the monicker "The Terrible Twos"....though in reality, it could be worse. ;o) Conor is really looking forward to this winter, as he keeps telling his Daddy and I that it's his turn "to run doggies!" Devlyn has been helping around the house, doing chores to earn his allowance. He's really proud that he's big enough to help out now. What a great kid he is!

Well, that's enough for now. I'm the secretary for TRDMA again, so it's time to get to work on the monthly newsletter. Check back for pictures later.

-Tammi