Monday 9th February 9am pick up for Seb and Stefi (SS) and 11am for me and Daz. Daz needs to drive the bus and pick up clients because Erkki and Boss Satu are off to Ivalo to buy more stuff for the cabin because from Tuesday we’re going to be using it. Whilst the SS mob are busy putting the dog teams together, we go to pick up the two clients from hotel Inari, they are from Taiwan. Inari…
Thursday 5th February 2015 A day off. Seb and Stef go off to the farm and we stay home, do our washing, post our blog and catch up on the internet. That’s it! However, we end up in PaPaNas at 4pm. Our lame excuse – internet. But of course we have to have a pint and then discover cookery programmes on the TV – Top Chef America and Master chef USA interspersed with Frasier and some shit about American…
Feb 5th 2015 HOW TO SETUP YOUR DOG TEAM So it’s a long old process for getting the dogs ready for the sledding… here’s how it goes: Collect equipment – leashes, harnesses, snow anchors, sled cleaning kit, and reindeer skins. Take equipment to kennel area. Find out which teams are running and which dog you need to fetch. Take leash and approach your dog of choice who by this stage is very excited and will jump all over you and…
Wednesday 4th February 2015 Bizarre day today. Started with a vague plan to go up north in horse Satu’s car and see the reindeer round-up. However Horse Satu, who was driving 8 clients to the roundup, spoke to Boss Satu and she said it was a working day for everyone and Seb and Stef were going to the farm and me and Daz would be given chores by Erkki at 10am. So Horse Satu left the apartment and then…
Monday 2nd February. Early start today because there are 2 clients for the long tour at 0920. And because Daz has been waking up every hour worrying about oversleeping we get to the farm even earlier than expected! Chores done and dog team ready BUT no clients. So we go out sledding. Just me, Daz, Lukas and ‘Team Kazakhstan’. First I drive whilst Lukas drives the skidoo with Daz on the back. Then Daz and I swap and finally Daz…
February is here, well January 31st then February 31st January. OMG – Double surprise today. Firstly it’s the first time in over 22 years I woke as a “Civvi”, my disgust was so great I had to shower for over an hour. But fortunately soon realised nothing had changed when we made a timed schedule for our day off, with ETAs and ETDs and NMB timings and started with bed blocks!!! See – nothing’s changed. Secondly it’s our consecutive day…
Monday 26th January. A day off today, and the temperature is a very mild -3 degrees with some snow and a little wind. We wake late, a luxury and decide what to do with our off day… But first there is no food! The larder is empty so Daz has to go cap in hand to Ola at the Villa Lanca to see what he can scrounge. Fortunately, Ola has the petty cash and gives him some cash so he…
January 25, 2015 Fire, Fire, Fire Thursday 22nd January Today our farm cabin burnt down. Everything in that block of buildings razed to the ground: our cabin, the equipment room, the wood shed and the tool cupboard gone! It’s our day off today and we’ve decided to walk to the Sami Wilderness Church – it’s the destination of one of our horse sled tours. When we leave we’ve heard from Erkki that he can’t pick up Maria for day farming…
January 22, 2015 Sat 17 to Wed 21 Jan. Saturday 17th January. The last couple of days have been really warm. Yesterday was only -3 and today is -5. Apparently it’s a big day today, we’re sled training and for this Daz has to sacrifice his day off. Erkki is supposed to pick us up at 0950hrs but he’s late. This is unusual, it turns out a lorry driver took out a power cable at the hotel Inari and he…
January 17, 2015 Sunday 11th January After our day off the temperature remains extremely low. -35. It’s too cold for clients and too cold for the dogs to run the sleds. The dogs shouldn’t run if it’s colder than -30, it’s bad for their lungs and for the pads of their feet. So after the usual chores Lukas suggests we put the 7 older puppies into the kindergarten, a seperate cage that isn’t being used at present. These pups…