First Fries VA Mush -prior to Polar Bear Club Initiation

16º and I am walking the girls while trying to take a vid of Rich -Tala, ever the diva, manages to get her ass in the shot. About four miles later, Quinn fell through the ice followed by Rich and Mukki! BRRRRR! Most awesome long johns in the world? Under Armour Cold Gear Base 3.0!!! Rich had been wearing it more for late night gaming at the computer but now I am glad he wore it!

January 3rd 2010 Fries, Virginia first mush & swim!

OMG! Well, Rich finally told me the full story of the freezing cold river swim today! He took Mukki and Quinn down a cliff to the river bank for a drink of water. He chose a spot with the only ice in sight. He said it was about 1 inch thick. While still attached to the scooter, Quinn ran out onto the ice and fell through, Rich managed to reach down and pull Quinn out but then Mukki fell in and Rich lost his footing and slid into the water! Air temp was 16º with 28mph gusts of wind! Rich fell in up to his waist (he is 6'3") and he said the cold took his breath away. He managed to pull Mukki out and got back on the scooter and ran back to the truck -4 miles! He had on UnderArmor Cold Gear Base 3.0 long underwear and very thick wool socks (Mt Wash tested) from LLBean. He said he wasn't as much cold as uncomfortable... He said the scooter was pinned behind a tree so provided a good tie down...

Moral of Today: Do not go near deep water in a rapidly moving river with two dogs in frigid weather! Jeese (common friggin sense? LOL!)

Happy Birthday Tala

I would wish you get all you wish for... but that might not bode well for me! LOL

Tala looking for her birthday present under the bed!

We met Santa today!

Pictures with Santa at the Vets.. Tala thought Santa sounded a lot like Dr Strauss... Tala acted like the manatee she aspires to be, Mukki acted like he has a chicken brain, Lulu acted like everyone was gonna abuse her and Quinn acted like he had ants in his pants.... pictures soon!

Happy Thanksgiving SIbes

with a special thanks to Mount Airy Meat Center!

Mukki spent three days guarding, nibbling and finally allowing a feast! During deer season, our butcher graciously gives us deer bones leftover from dressing hunter's deers. We usually use an axe or saw to break them into more manageable pieces but this year, we just wanted a little peace & quiet, so we gave them an entire ribcage with neck and backbone attached. Mukki, being alpha took charge of it, Quinn being second in command made sure Mukki didn't need any help, Lulu just fell asleep so proud of her men.... Tala? she took a smaller bone, ate it and hung out with us LOL. After all, she's not a husky, she's a hairy manatee :-)

How to Deal with Your Dogs on Halloween! by MyMukki

So, do you have dogs that bark when strangers come to the door? For security, that's a good thing but what about Halloween? What do you do then?
 You don't want to frighten the kiddies!

Last year, it was our first Halloween in our new home. We didn't know our neighbors but we were sure they knew our dogs!

We decided the easiest approach was to incorporate the beasts into part of the fun! Here's how you can bring barking dogs into the festivities without scaring the kids!



MAKE A SIGN


Have a sign pointing to where your dogs will be hanging out. --> TO THE WEREWOLVES!!! 

Make sure your dogs are unable to get outside. Keep the lights out inside the room or porch, but, have lights on outside, so the kids have lots of visibility.



INVITE THE CHILDREN


When children approach your house, ask them if they would like to see the werewolves first or after the candy. All the children at my house screamed "Werewolves first!"

POINT THE WAY


I did not lead the children to the dogs, I simply pointed with my very cool skeleton glove to the end of the deck, where the screened porch was located. The children all ran down to see the werewolves!

 A few children came back and told me that those were really "Snow Dogs!"

MAKE IT FUN


Of course, the dogs barked and howled, but after expecting to see werewolves, this only made the children laugh and giggle! 

One of our dogs was only 3 weeks old and my husband was inside to show the children the baby werewolf! Of course, the children had a million questions and we did our best to answer them all.

The parents seemed to enjoy this also. One mother told me that her son was usually terrified of dogs and thanked me for a positive experience.



KEEP IT SILLY


Most of the children wanted to pat the dogs, which was a terrifying prospect for us! We solemnly told them that the dogs were only allowed to eat one Trick or Treater every year -this made the children laugh and giggle more! 

Halloween ended with low stress for us and lots of fun for all. If only the water delivery guy was as brave as the children!

Tips & Warnings:
-- 
Decorate the werewolves den with lots of scary spiders and bats
-- 
If you don't have a screened porch use the front window, you know your dog will jump and go crazy -just like a werewolf.
-- 
Don't force any kids who refuse to see the werewolves, agree with him or her and offer an extra piece of candy!
-- 
It's best to have someone with the dogs, just in case! We had a

How to Avoid Falling in Love with a Siberian Husky

Reasons Why you Might Want to Avoid Falling in Love with a Siberian Husky

[under editing process]