After a long day of hiking, we get sleepy puppies. Sunday evenings pictures:
Kiska in her chair
Mar 312009
Mar 302009
We were right around the corner from the house after a day of hiking, when we had to stop because of something in the road. Think Natasha sees them?
Good thing she is wearing her seat belt, or she would have been chasing these:
Anyone have some good turkey recipes to share with The Herd?
Mar 292009
Because of the forecast on Saturday for lots of rain, we completed some chores around the house, walked the dogs, and drove into town with Natasha and Kiska rather than the whole Herd to run some errands. On the way back home, I was trying to think about what I would post since nothing really happened. Random thoughts went through my mind and that’s when I decided – I would just post random events:
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We drove the Jeep, the vehicle used to transport the Herd, into town Friday night to meet my parents for dinner. A couple pulled up beside us, looked over, and expressed disappointment that The Herd was not with us. Er, We are doing great. Thanks for asking. Hmmmmm.
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On a related front, we stopped at a store. A couple pulled up beside me in the parking lot and asked me where all the others were (since only Kiska and Natasha were in the car). That also happened several times as we walked in downtown Waynesville and inside the Mast General Store. Amazing how many people know The Herd.
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Speaking of the Mast General Store, we love that place. The dogs are welcome and the clerks scramble to see who gets to feed the dog treats to them (needless to say, the dogs LOVE the store and know where the treats are stored). Plus they have a great selection of outdoor clothes and gear.
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We were sitting in another parking lot and heard Siberian speak. The dogs and I scanned the parking lot and saw this guy sitting in a car:
Hey buddy. You had a great voice!
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The weather forecast for Saturday was 1-2 inches of rain and heavy thunderstorms. We got 0.3 inches of rain and never harder than a drizzle. Guess that was close. Good thing we changed our plans based on the weather forecast. Sigh.
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Walking down the street with Natasha and Kiska, a group of ladies approached all oohing and aahing over the dogs. One of the ladies exclaimed, “How gorgeous!” Then she looked right at me and said, “We don’t mean you. We mean the dogs.” Gee, thanks. The clarity was very helpful.
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Which reminds me of a couple of summers ago when a couple approached us on the Parkway and said, “We remember you. Well, not you, but the dogs.” Again, gee, thanks.
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Rusty has a simple question:
Why didn’t I get to go?
Mar 282009
One of the Frequently Asked Questions we get all of the time about The Herd is how much they eat. Well, here is the answer:
Yes, that would be 200 lbs (90 kg) of Flint River Ranch delivered right to our door by our friendly UPS driver (the most popular delivery vehicle for The Herd, for some reason). There are a number of good foods out there that we like, but we love the home delivery part of this.
So is it good? Let’s let Kiska and Qannik answer that question:
Mar 262009
We are so slack. We have received many questions and comments on the blog and have not been timely in replying. So today’s post is dedicated to our readers:
Team Husky - We would like to know if The Thundering Herd’s KODIAK would like to have the little pupper named after him? We would also like to know how Cheoah and Qannik are pronounced as we’re not too sure.
Kodiak is honored the little guy is named after him. And since Kodiak was named Champ by the rescue that brought him to us, he sort of borrowed the Kodiak name himself. Kodiak has never told us what his original name might have been.
Cheoah is pronounced “Cheese Whiz” in this house (snicker). Unfortunately for her, that nickname has stuck from day one. But the word Cheoah is pronounced “chee-OH-uh” and is the Cherokee word for Otter. The original English spelling was Tsiyohi or Tsiya (depending on the historian you read). Regardless, Cherokee words do not use our letters. Would love one day to get someone from the reservation to script it out for us (we live beside the Eastern Band reservation).
The back story on how she got her name is on her personal page.
Qannik means Snow Flake (as Bricey knows) in Inuit and is pronounced Ka-nik. We found him in a shelter as an owner surrender and his name by that previous owner was Snow Flake. We just changed languages but kept his name the same.
Steve - What about finding sea shells (on our recent beach trip)?
Natasha found the shells fascinating and seemed to be hunting for what was inside.
Dave of the A04 - Rusty? How can I talk my mom or dad into letting me be a lap dog? Any pointers?
Rusty answers – Be very persistent and beat everyone else to the lap. When my hu-dad is sitting down on his end of the couch (which reclines), I am climbing into his lap before he even gets the footrest up. And if he pushes me down, I climb right back up. Sooner or later, he gives up.
Of course, then you have to fluff the lap just right which requires lots of claws and digging. For some reason, he tells me to settle down and then I have been invited to lay down in his lap. It is that easy.
P.S. – All pickle noses should be lap dogs.
Zim (also of the A04) - Do you guys get any kick-backs or royalties or anything off people taking your pix?
Our humans have threatened many times to post a sign on the jeep saying “Get your pictures with the wolves for $5.” We live in a tourist area and we think we might actually raise money doing that.
Princess Eva - I haven’t forgotten about posting the video that is going to humiliate the boy. I just have to get Momma to edit it because of size.
“Snow Flake” is waiting.
The Op Pack - when do we get to see the trek back down? (in reference to all of our walking videos are either on flat ground or uphill).
Well, our humans say our pulling is very helpful up the hill, but pulling downhill is not as helpful. They require all of their concentration to keep from creating blooper videos on the downhill trek, so we do not film going down hill.
So that’s it for now. If you have a question you would like us to answer, put it in the comments section.
Mar 252009
If you have problems with the video, click here to see the YouTube version
Mar 242009
After yesterday’s efforts to get some good pictures (and, no, Huffle, we only showed you 5 shots – we had many more to choose from), we thought we would just share some pictures sitting on a hillside Sunday afternoon.
Cheoah, who would never look at the camera
Qannik who was far more interested in sticks
Natasha watching Qannik
Kiska showing off those wooly coat ears
Rusty, doing an over the shoulder shot for his fans
A Rusty bonus shot
Mar 232009
A simple task. All I want to do is get a picture of the three red-heads (Rusty, Kodiak, and Cheoah) as they are coming down the trail. So all I have to do is get down the trail in front of them, turn, keep the other three dogs from tripping me with their leashes while I aim the camera and snap the picture. Simple, right? Sigh. Stormy of the A04 will be proud.
Take 1 - Where did that tree come from?
Take 2 - Where did Rusty go?
Take 3 - Side angle will be easier, right?
Take 4 - At least all 3 are in the shot, but what are they doing?
Take 5 - Finally ! ! !
Mar 212009
After our buddy Bricey questioned Qannik’s masculinity and pointed out the dreaded Attack of the Dog Food Bag, Qannik has been looking for a video to redeem himself. This is NOT it. Sigh.
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If you have problems with the video, click here to see the YouTube version
Mar 202009
Last weekend’s S-RV adventure was a lot of fun and we enjoyed sharing pictures and videos this week on the blog. But, it was a long weekend and the ride home was pretty quiet, as shown by Cheoah and Kodiak:
We wish everyone a Happy Spring Day! While we are saddened to see winter slip away from us here (we are still counting on a couple of snows left in Mother Nature), we are sure excited about a beautiful spring weekend here at Chez Herd. Here is hoping the Park Service gets some of the seasonal roads open for this weekend so we can do some more back country hiking.
But the first day of Spring is also known as the Vernal Equinox, which means it is the Siberian Husky Memorial time for those who have gone before us and are waiting North of the Rainbow Bridge (and, of course, the non-Siberians who wait at the Rainbow Bridge) Please light a candle at 8 pm (your time) and think of those the Siberian community has lost in the last few months. If you do a search on the page of the previous ceremonies for Nikita, you will find The Herd’s own dear sweet Nikita who we lost in 2006. The one you trained, Queen Natasha, runs the pack well, but we miss you. May you wear your Silver Harness with pride!