Dog Sledding

Here are some pictures from the weekend of dog sledding.


It was a very cold weekend. The outfit I'm wearing in this picture is the outfit that I slept in. I woke up several times in the night because my hands and feet were numb. Luckily, my face managed to stay relatively warm.

This is me meeting some of the dogs for the first time. They were much friendlier than I had expected. I thought they'd be work-focused, but they loved a good petting session!

These are three of the dogs that were on my sled. (l-r) Kopka, Blackie, Stella. Stella was the noisiest of them all, and Blackie and Kopka were the calmest. (Most of the time, anyway...)

These two dogs are Abel and Kopka. Both were extremely friendly, and both loved getting attention.

Buster and Pinhead, the lead dogs on my sled. (Her name is Pinhead because she was born with a very small head. As you can tell, she grew into it.)

We stopped for lunch on the trail. The dogs weren't too pleased about this. They wanted to keep running and hated having to stay in one place. Abel is giving us "the look" in this picture, and the others were barking up a storm.

Me (second from left) with the whole crew of dog sledders. Eight people, 26 dogs. It was an awesome weekend.

I could use a good snooze

I can't figure out why I'm so tired lately. I suppose it could be the extra exercise I've been getting (dance twice a week, and boot camp once a week), but I don't think it's enough to cause this feeling of fatigue all the time.

Maybe it's the fact that my students are like hummingbirds on a sugar high these days, and my energy is spent dealing with behaviour issues, problems students are having at home, disagreements between friends, and (when there's time) teaching the curriculum.

Maybe it's the weather. It's been so up and down lately that my body can't get used to it. It got pretty warm a few days ago (temperatures above zero, if you can believe that!) and then got really cold again (minus 20 today). I guess all that change can be draining.

Maybe it's just that I have so many things on the go these days.
1. I've started volunteering again, which takes up every Saturday. I love it, despite having less free time on the weekends.
2. I went dog sledding a couple of weekends ago. I camped in a tent in -33 degree weather, something I'd never done before, and don't know if I'll ever do again, but it certainly was an experience! The dogs were amazing - I wanted to take them home with me, but that was strongly discouraged by the instructors.
3. I'm going to Ottawa in a couple of weeks to visit Chris's family. They're awesome people and I'm really looking forward to it.
4. I have to convince my principal to let me teach grade five next year or she's going to give me a split grade and put me in a pod, neither of which I'd be too crazy about.

Things aren't bad, just a bit exhausting these days. I'm sure everything will have settled down by March Break. If not, it won't really matter because I'll be relaxing on the beach in Florida and won't care quite so much!

Boot Camp

Have just returned from first session of teacher boot camp. Am in a great deal of pain and craving giant sandwich. Will make one shortly.

Results:

Able to do three sets of suicides, along with the squats, push-ups and sit-ups that accompanied them.
Able to do 50 crunches in one minute.
Able to successfully jog around gym for seven minutes without getting (too) winded.
Able to "walk off" the feeling that fainting is imminent.

Unable to eat Snickers bar while working out. (Frowned on by instructors.)
Unable to sit down unless diabetic.
Unable to pretend to be diabetic. (Snickers bar gave me away.)

11 more weeks to go. Am now off to the kitchen to raid fridge.

We all go a little mad sometimes

I've been thinking lately about the amount of craziness that I see among people. This includes people I know well. I used to think that if someone was my friend, that pretty much meant they were sane. (After all, nobody who was nuts would choose me as a friend, right?) As I've gotten older, I've grown to realize that many of the people I consider (or considered) friends are a couple of grapes short of a fruit salad.

What sane person decides to pick July as a wedding date because her best friend is getting married in August, and then changes the date to June when her friend moves hers up to July?

What sane person unbuckles your seatbelt and hits the brakes on the car simultaneously just to see what will happen to you?

What sane person doesn't call you back or return your e-mails, but then gets angry with you when you stop calling and e-mailing them because "you aren't doing your part in the friendship?"

What sane person complains about being fat and then wears the tightest shirts in the world to show you that they're skinnier than you?

What sane person eats ketchup on eggs?

These are all real people. Some of them are from the past, and some are still in the picture. My question is: am I crazy for enjoying the company of them all?

Maybe I'm a bit off, myself.

Going back

I've always wanted an extra week off for winter holidays. Now, some may argue that I already HAVE an extra week off, since I'm a teacher and have two weeks vacation as opposed to the one week that most people have. That being said, I still want that extra week away from the students. I think three weeks would give me just enough time to miss them so that I'm looking forward to going back, rather than looking at it with dread, as I am right now.

Get ready grade fives. We're ba-a-ck!