Let the Sun Shine!

So it is still cold enough in the shade to freeze a dog bowl full of water and two days ago when I woke up, it was -33 degrees, but you better believe it, it looks like the worst of winter is over here at Miortuk Kennels. Probably because I just wrote that, we will have a blizzard tomorrow, given the fact Mother Nature has been quite an ornery brat during the past few months, but for now and for the past couple afternoons, our thermometer sits at a blessed PLUS FIFTEEN (yes, it is mounted on a beam that gets direct sunlight all day, but hey, temperature is all in your head).

Being an Arizona kid, I can’t help but sing the praises of a sun that actually gives off some warmth as opposed to the useless orb that has been hanging around up there, teasing us and doing very little to cut through the negative 20s, negative 30s, and negative thoughts that rage in your head when your fingers feel like they are going to freeze right off. Before coming to Quebec, weather was much simpler for me: if the sun was out, it was hot. If it wasn’t out, it was probably night time.

Don’t get me wrong, I have enjoyed the challenge of my first winter, but it sure is nice to go outside and just BE, instead of feeling like you need to be actively surviving. According to most of the weathered Canadians I have spoken to, I really am not just being a desert baby either. When you hear a Canadian say “coldest winter in 20 years,” you know it has been friggin cold. And when the Canadians are sick of winter, everyone is allowed to be sick of winter.

But now that the sun is doing more than just getting my hopes up, I can’t get enough of being outside. I knew I was an outdoorsy person (you don’t move to the forest to train sled dogs if you aren’t….), but sunshine that has been prescribed for my cabin fever has really turned into a gateway drug for a much more severe nature addiction. (Did you follow that Dr. House diagnosis there? (lupus! he has lupus! it is always lupus!)) After we finish morning chores in the kennel, with 30 dogs hanging about, I don’t have to search to hard to find ways to stay outside for hours. Walk a dog, mush a dog (haha), pet a dog, brush a dog,  (Actually, the dogs might be getting annoyed with how often I brush them; they probably see me put on the brushing mitt we have and think: “There’s the crazy brush girl again. Give it a rest before you turn us into naked mole rats.”) to name just a few activities. I also have taken up some cross-country skiing, a real challenge for someone who grew up around mostly cactuses and has difficulties getting all four limbs to move and cooperate in tandem; today I even managed to pick up a great rhythm between the poles and the skis (when in doubt, ski to the tune of “22” by T Swift) and to fall only twice (it is a flat lake, so this still needs some work…). After skiing today though, I still hadn’t quite gotten my fix yet, so I picked a puppy (Nicky, who is not actually a puppy, rather full grown booger who has never picked up the knack for running with the team) and we went for a walk/run/climb around the lake and through the forest. Nicky played his old game of pretending he doesn’t know what a leash is or how to walk, let alone pull, but all of the sudden, he was ready to go and only turned around to look back at me if I wasn’t running as if to say “Ok, lardy, let’s go already.”

After all this moving and breathing and wandering and living though, sometimes the only activity left is to take a nap on a dog house. Some dogs are perplexed by this behavior (“First you want to take all our fur, now you want our houses too??”), but most of them enjoy the addition of a permanent dog-petter to their homes, and take the opportunity to take a nap on the napping human.

So yes, I have survived winter. I have embraced the cold, the snow, the wind, the nose that never stops running (literally, when it is cold, everything just seems to turn to liquid in your face. Snot, tears, etc, you really have no control), the frozen fingers and toes, the strategizing of clothing, all of it. And boy have we had a blast!

But now, here comes the sun* and I have just a few more weeks here to live and breath and love its warm rays. With 30 dogs, 2 feet, and an endless forest, I don’t intend to waste a minute!

*(the real sun. Not quite Arizona status yet, but we are getting there =D)

Thanks to fellow handler Cecile for all of the great photos! Check out her blog here for more!

Foreground: Hokee.

Midground: Lila

Background: Julia, Hinto, Max

                                           

        

For the honor and glory.