Nushagak Spring

Day time temps have been in the high 30's/low 40's, snow is melting, and it's spring time on the Nushagak River.

Jake turned 3 at the end of March. He had a couple different small parties and got some nice presents. He was very pleased to have a party and enjoyed all the attention. Jake's a very cute little guy and very much a Momma's boy. Because he's alergic to everything under the sun, we stuck a candle in a piece of watermelon. Never a happier boy did you see than Jake singing, "Happy Birthday To Me!" with his watermelon cake.

Johanna looks every bit the pregnant lady. I'll try getting a picture of her and her belly on the blog. A friend of ours just had a baby and Johanna's sister is pregnant so it's nothing but babies everywhere we look. She'll be heading to Anchorage to give birth. We have a hospital in Dillingham and many children are born there every year. However, in my short life in this coastal outpost I've seen too many cases when something wasn't going right and momma with baby inside are rushed to Anchorage for better care. This is Jo's third baby and we pretty much know what to expect so she would probably be fine delivering here. One of the reasons Johanna has always given birth in Anchorage is because her sister, brother in law, and our niece live there. They've got a nice house with extra rooms. They love having Jo and the kids there and it turns a potentially stressful time into a bit of a vacation. Jo and her sister are very close. Her brother in law appreciates Jo's cooking above all. Johanna knows her way around a kitchen.

Besides all that, I've got to build a house this summer and it will be easier on everyone if Johanna is waiting out the end of her pregnancy in Anchorage. We bought our land last summer, put in a driveway, and built a 16x40 pole shed. The lion's share of building materials have been nice and dry in the pole shed all winter. So besides working, I'll be taking time off and trying to build a house. Won't be home much. I was there for Jake and Alethia's births and am planning to be there for this one as well. We'll have to time it just right though.

The mushing season is over for all intensive purposes. Alaska final sled dog races are wrapping up. The dogs are just hanging out mostly. Snow is getting very soft and mushy. A team could run early in the morning when it's still cool, but that's about it. We may still get a little cold snap, but it would be a short one. This was an intense mushing season for me. Entering the Kusko 300 forced me to learn more and become a better musher. The dogs and I grew together. My efforts to promote mushing as a healthy lifestyle also seem to be paying off. Hagar, Chester, and Felix have moved out the road to Aleknagik becoming a small recreational team for a lady I met this winter. Once Hagar is fully healed, I can't think of a better (or even prettier) three dog team. Keenan and Libby Herrmann are pretty gung ho about building their dog team. A musher in Bethel is giving them two great dogs free of charge to help build their team. Just two days ago a lady told me she began ski-joring this winter with her lab and loved it. She may be looking at getting another dog just for that purpose in the future. I had hoped a side affect of running the Kusko would be to locally build some excitement about mushing. Maybe it's working. Next year will be a puppy/training year. I'll have a rock solid 7 dog team and a bunch of pups to train. Seven good dogs is enough to haul wood and peform what ever duties I must ask of them. Puppies will be both sprint and working dogs. They'll be trained differently to perform their duties correctly. Training young dogs is a lot of fun requiring an ounce of knowledge and a ton of patience.

Before long the geese and ducks will return, Herring fisherman will head West to Togiak, and our sleepy little town will come alive with fisherman from all over the world in search of the Silver Hord. Eventually they will leave us again and families will fill their freezers with berries and moose. Then snow and cold return and we are back where we began. Such are the simple rythms of our simple lives. We do the best we can with what we have. Wars may wage on foreign shores, the country prepares for the most important election of a generation, and American families suffer the cost of a failed economy yet our lives change little. We continue to plan for our busy boutiful summer months and enjoy the long spring days here on the shores of the Nushagak River.