Rusty | The Thundering Herd

Blake Freking and Iditarod Update

Written on March 20, 2010 by D.K. Wall in Mushing, Rusty

Hi, all. Rusty the Super Sleek Sled Dog here.

A friend stopped by our hu-dad’s office Thursday and asked him what he was going to do now that the Iditarod was over. Over, our dad asked. Our dad pointed out that the friend ran marathons on a regular basis. Is the marathon over just because the first person crosses the finish line? Nope. So the Iditarod is not over yet either.

Congratulations to Blake Freking who completed the race yesterday in 11 days, 20 hours, 39 minutes and 11 seconds. While Blake came in 42nd overall, he posted the fastest time in the history of the race for a team of pure bred Siberian Huskies. What an awesome accomplishment.

Don't I look super sleek with my ears pinned back?

As of the time of this writing, a number of mushers were still on the trail. One of the great honors of the race is the Red Lantern – the award given to the team that is the last to finish the race. In our hyper-competitive world, many sports would label this the loser (or even everyone other than #1 the losers). But the Red Lantern is an honor given to the last WINNER of the race. Yes, an award in perseverance and we will celebrate the winner this year. We look forward to finding out who that person is.

See, if I squint my eyes then everyone will think I am a super-cool mushing machine.

Class and Clowns

Written on March 16, 2010 by D.K. Wall in Cheoah, Kiska, Kodiak, Rusty

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Kiska with her long flowing fur in the snow and wind.

Close up showing that wooly fur.

Always important to look good.

Hey, no pictures. A girl has to shake the snow off.

She is just thankful she is not hanging out with these clowns. How often is Rusty the normal one in this crew?

Walking with the Cousins

Written on March 10, 2010 by D.K. Wall in Natasha, Ruby, Rusty, Tartok

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Rusty - Do you see who I see?

Cousin Tartok staring back

Nothing like walking with Cousin Ruby and Cousin Tartok

Friday Foto

Written on February 26, 2010 by D.K. Wall in Rusty

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Friday! Friday! Friday!

Tracking the Wild Beasts

Written on February 24, 2010 by D.K. Wall in Rusty

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Our good friend, KB, has always shared on her blog the amazing wild animals in her world and she has asked if we spot tracks in the snow. Admittedly, KB is far more skilled than our hu-dad in identifying tracks and describing the behaviors of these creatures. Plus she can show actual pictures of piles of scat and turn it into a good story. We are very impressed with that skill since most of our stories turn into piles of scat, if you know what we mean. But we digress.

Recently, we were out in the snow and spotted some most interesting tracks and were able to follow the tracks and get actual pictures of the wild beast. We are not sure if this is quite as good as videos of mountain lions or pictures of hibernating bears. Actually, we are quite sure it is not that good. But we will still make the attempt. Come with us now as we go deep into the wilds.

The first tracks we saw were in melting snow, thus it was hard to make out the finer features.

But in this close shot, you are able to see the distinct pads of the paw. Its size is impressive and we knew we were close to the beast.

And then, in the distance, we spotted the animal fleeing across the open spaces.

We were able to take a side trail and get in front of it. See its majesty, those sparkling eyes. And then . . .

It rose to its full height and struck its stunning pose. Yes, we had captured a photograph of the elusive Rusty the Rooster.

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Grins - with all due respect to KB - May the Year of the Bobcat rule!

Walking Rusty the Rooster

Written on February 18, 2010 by D.K. Wall in Rusty

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Rusty the Rooster has always been a very unique member of The Herd. He does everything in his own style and on his own time. Many of you have seen his behind the human’s legs walk. Today, the human decides to play back on The Rooster. Hope you enjoy:

Max’s World Tour Comes to Maggie Valley

Written on February 14, 2010 by D.K. Wall in Cheoah, Kiska, Kodiak, Natasha, Qannik, Ruby, Rusty, Tartok, The Thundering Herd

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Most of you already know our friend, Max of South Africa. Max has taken many of us dog bloggers on educational tours of his beautiful country. Knowing Max is ailing, we have invited him to share some of The Herd’s adventures today.

Max and Kiska enjoying a snowy walk

Max waiting with Cheoah for her rescue from the babygate trap.

Max spending time with Ruby at The Thundering Herd Annex

Max, Tartok and Ruby hanging out on the picket line in front of the Jeep

Max waiting on the picket line to go sled training with Rusty, Qannik and Natasha

Max and Rusty playing with balloons

Most of all, Max, we wanted you and your family to know that The Herd is thinking of you every day and wishing you the best. We would like to invite you to be an honorary member of The Herd:

Want to see where all Max has been in the last 24 hours? Here is the list (as we know it). If we left you out, please leave a comment and we will add your blog (we are updating as find them):

Alasandra, The Cats and a Dog

Asta’s World

Chronicles of Woo

Clive – Assistance Dog for Autism

Duffy’s New York Diary

Romping and Rolling in the Rockies

Sierra Rose

Southernmost Moose Lodge

P.S. – Happy Valentines, everyone!

Friday Evening Snow Walk

Written on February 13, 2010 by D.K. Wall in Cheoah, Kiska, Kodiak, Natasha, Rusty, Snow

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Pups, we have to tell you how hard things have been this week. Can you believe that we went 30 hours STRAIGHT without any winter weather warnings? Whatever is a Siberian supposed to do? But at least some more snow moved in Friday afternoon and we had a great walk Friday night. All was right with the world because it was snowing and, very importantly, we beat the snow plow. Here are some pictures from the walk:

Red Team - in a blur

Black and White Team

Kiska covered in the falling snow

Kiska telling everyone to hurry it up.

Qannik practicing his winter camouflage

Queen Natasha setting the pace

Kodiak and Cheoah waiting on Rusty to catch up

Rusty - Why does everyone want me to stay in step?

Because I like to march to my own drummer

Slushy Snow Day

Written on February 6, 2010 by D.K. Wall in Cheoah, Kiska, Kodiak, Natasha, Rusty, Snow

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We seem to be having a lot of this in the past couple of weeks, but it was another slushy, icy, snowy, rainy day here. We had a couple of inches of snow, mixed with some ice and sleet, and finally about 2 inches of rain during the course of the day – with a high temp of 35 F (1 C).

We were curious what those 2 inches of rain would have meant if it had been just a little colder. A “rule of thumb” (now why isn’t that called a “rule of paw”?) is that an inch of rain equals 10 inches of snow. But the reality is that that depends on the density of the snow (are we getting scientific or what?). According to the National Weather Service, an inch of rain could equal as little as 3 inches of wet, heavy snow or as much as 100 inches of dry powder. We think we lost out on 15 feet of snow today. Ok, probably not, but we sure wish we had had more snow than this steady cold rain.

But you know The Herd. We never miss our walk. That is the deal with the humans. Walk us everyday and we will not destroy the house. Maybe The Herd is good at the extortion racket, what do you think? Anyway, hope you enjoy our soggy, cold walk.

Red Team starting out on our walk. Do you think Rusty is happy?

Kiska fluffing her tail against the wind and rain.

Queen Natasha - Ever alert for critters underneath the snow's surface.

Coming back down our drive at the end of the walk, Kodiak executes a perfect "Cheoah slide" to maximize snow coverage.

Today’s forecast is for a few inches of fluffy snow. Let’s hope.

UPDATE – 7:34 a.m. – We just read Max’s of South Africa update. We know most of you are already checking in, but please go there right now and wish Max and his family the best. They have just received the news that none of us ever want to hear.