I brought Red, Storm, and Decker as backup dogs for the kiddie run. I brought Chester, well because I always bring Chester in the the when there’s an opportunity to. I was walking around Pleasant Valley Center with Chester saying hi to folks. Chester was getting his usual remarks of what a beautiful dog he is. One of Chester’s admirers was checking him out and said to me, “Nice dog. I used to have a dog like that.” For some reason I asked, “Where do you live?” The guy responded, “13 mile.” I said, “This is your dog.”

Turns out it was Chester’s original owner. We shared stories of what happened, of how I came to be his owner (see Mysterious Dog in our Yard & Shit Happens), and of how he and his family were away for 10 months and his housesitter’s robbed him and told him that Chester was dead*. It was a really awkward situation, especially when he mentioned that he wouldn’t mind having Chester back. I told him he could visit and that I’d think about it, that I wanted to introduce him to Greg. We parted and said we’d see each other later.

I found Greg and told him the news. I told him that it was a messed up situation, that Chester remembered the guy, that the guy’s kids were sad, and that I didn’t think I could give Chester up.

Later on, I saw the guy again and introduced him to Greg. Greg stood there and basically told the guy that we would give him back. I stood in utter shock and didn’t understand why Greg would say such a thing when 10 minutes before I told him how I didn’t want to give Chester up and when he knows how a feel about Chester. Greg gave the guy our phone number. The guy already found out where we lived because he is friends with a mutual acquaintance of ours– and the acquaintance told him where we lived.

I left the Funale. I brought Storm, Red, Decker, and Chester home (they didn’t get to run with the kiddies).

Later that night I needed to go for a mush– even if I was sick. I had left with the “B” team (and Chester), and Greg was saddling up the “A” team when the dude stopped by. I don’t really know what happened, but Greg said he told the guy that I wasn’t interested in parting with Chester.

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*Note: The guy’s wife said they were told that Chester was hit by a car, adopted, taken to the pound, etc.

One of our neighbors plowed part of the road down to the dirt. grrrrrrrr.

Ran the 10 dog/20 miles Valley Funale on March 31st. We were super slow. I left first (bib #1) and came in 15th (out of 16). The line up was:

• Nikki and Roo (in Lead. Originally they were in point but Frankie and Decker didn’t want to lead)
• Decker and Simba (in Point. Frankie was in Point but ended up riding in the sled for half of the way because of an injured and painful paw)
• Rattles and Monkey (in Team. Originally it was Rattles and Simba. Monkey and Pumpkin, but Pumpkin didn’t pull at all)
• Asa and Higgs (in Wheel. Asa ended up with Monkey at some point in time)
• Pumpkin (in Wheel. She started in Team and didn’t pull at all)
• Frankie (in Sled. He started in lead, then was in point, then in team, and then rode in the sled.)

Last weekend (March 23-26) we mushed in Denali on the Park Corridor Trail. Mushed into igloo Creek. Broke trail for the first day. The dogs were tired, working hard, and were pulling heavy sleds. Teams were: Frankie and Storm, Simba and Rattles, Red (by himself), Pumpkin and Chester (Chester ran free most of the time), Ilana (as Musher); Decker and Nikki, Roo (by herself), Peetie and Monkey, Asa and Higgs, Greg (as Musher). Pics are on Flickr. Next year I need to bring more dog food and dog snackies; the dogs were pretty hungry and lost weight. It was a GREAT trip!