Canadian Challenge Happenings......

Thursday a bitterly cold day for the most part of the Canadian Challenge.  With the wind chill it felt like -37 Celsius.....bitterly cold.  The wind was taking its toll on the dog teams that were out on the Lac La Ronge Lake today until late afternoon early evening when the wind finally died down. 

I spent the day at the finish line with my friend Michelle.  Some good opportunities for photos....with Mandatory vet checks and rest stops happening in La Ronge.  Michelle helped with one of the vet checks....one of the teams from Churchill that scratched from the race had a dog that took sick and wasn't seeming to improve, headed to PA to see the vets there. The dog got a clean bill of health...better safe than sorry....and with limited resources the race vets felt it would be the best for the dog to seen at a clinic...all ended well.

Beautiful Siberian Huskies

 

For an entire year I have been looking forward to returning to La Ronge for the best tasting bannock in Saskatchewan and Tom was there to please.  Yes it was worth the year long wait. 

 

Everyone enjoyed Tom's bannock.

Corinne~

Canadian Challenge Sled Dog Race

Tuesday February 22, 2010 marked the start of the 14th Annul Canadian Challenge Sled Dog Race.  19 teams left from the starting line on Central Avenue and 11th Street in downtown Prince Albert.  The Junior team and 3 open class teams finished the race at Elk Ridge Resort in the wee hours of Wednesday morning....think the last team checked  in at around 3:35 am.  The 8 dog teams are still racing from Prince Albert to La Ronge and the 12 dog teams are racing from Prince Albert to La Ronge to Grandmother's Bay and back to La Ronge. 

At 10:40pm Wednesday night the first 12 dog team was heading across Lac La Ronge Lake...the current temperature is -23 Celsius but with the Windchill it feels like -35 Celsius...it is bitterly cold coming across that lake.  The mushers are coming straight into the wind.  I tell ya I sure appreciate my job as photographer....I get to sleep in a warm hotel room tonight.

Here are few pictures from Tuesday and Wednesday.

His Honor Lieutenant Governor Gordon Barnhart our official race starter.  He also lite the ceremonial red lantern that burns for the duration of the race and is ceremonially blown out by the last musher to cross the finish line.

 One of the many dogs resting up for the race.  Isn't she beautiful?

Lieutenant Governor Barnhart with the Munro Family....father and son both raced this year.

Team #5 Luke Nabor waiting to leave the starting line....his team of dogs were itching to get out and run.

The last three teams arriving at the White Star Road crossing.

The first team to arrive at Elk Ridge Check Point

Even Aaron's dogs were wanting to keep on racing!

Here are a few photos of teams on the trail Wednesday morning.

Waiting at the Weyakwin Check Point for teams to arrive.

Corinne~

Musher's Banquet

Monday evening's events was the Musher's Banquet held at the Prince Albert Inn.  Many people were in attendance, the mushers, their handlers, the board of directors, many of the volunteers, friends and family of the mushers and some special dignitaries including the Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan, Gordon Barnhart.  Lieutenant Governor Barnhart will be lighting the ceremonial Red Lantern tomorrow at the start line as well as will be the official race starter and wave the red flag for each team as they leave the start line.

The evening started with the Lieutenant Governor, his aid, the Vice-Mayor of Prince Albert, Club President and Club Vice President were led into the banquet by being piped in with a local piper.

Here are a few photos from the evening.

 Corinne~

Pre-Race Manditory Vet Check

Here are a few pictures that I took at the Pre-Race Manditory Vet Check held on Monday February 21, 2011.  
 

 

 Green for GO and Red for STOP 

 

 This dog is getting the green strip on his head showing that he has been found fit to race.  This green strip is a soft waxy substance.  When a dog is dropped from the race either by the choice of the musher or if the vet finds they are unfit to continue to race the get a red strip.  

Corinne~

Canadian Challenge Day 1

Well today finds me at the Vet Check for all teams.  Lots of dogs will be coming through the doors to see the vets to get the all clear to race this week.  The only thing that I am not looking forward to for today is when I see the Munro Family.  I will be telling them that Milo the Alaskan Husky we got from them last year was run over at the end of September.

This evening will find us at the "Musher's Banquet".  There will many people in attendance.  Lots of items to bid on in the silent auction.  Lots of photo opportunities.

One of the highlights of the evening will be when they play the slide show presentation that Al and I put together for the 2010 race.  They will be offering copies of the slide show for sale as a fundraiser at the end of the evening and we will be taking orders for the presentation we will be making for the 2011 race.

Will post some photos later from the vet check and the banquet.


Corinne~

Canadian Challenge Sled Dog Race

2 Days till the start of the Canadian Challenge International Sled Dog Race start on Central Avenue.  There are a great number of teams registered in all events; 12 Dog, 8 Dog, Jr Musher and Open Class.

If you are interested in checking out the happenings of the race head on over the Canadian Challenge site....click HERE.  You will find links to the Challenge Blog, Mushers information, Photo Gallery (not sure how often pictures from 2011 will be posted throughout the week) and the Race where you will be able to follow along and see where the mushers are at.

I will try to post a couple of photos each night if I am in an area that has WI-FI.  If you check out the Gallery on the Challenge site you will see many of the photos that I took in 2010.  I am looking forward to taking pictures with my new Tamron 18mm - 270mm Zoom Lens. 

Corinne~

Baby Brendan

Here are a few pictures of the cutest little man around these days!

  Baby Brendan - 10 Days Old

 

  

 

Even Mojo closed his eyes for this photo.

 Brendan 16 Days Old....sound a sleep on Mommy!

 Waiting for the festivities of the Baby Shower to start!

Corinne~

Big Brother's Rocks

Big Brother's Rock is the theme for my latest card for my cousin's 10 yr old son.  He recently became a big brother and is having a bit of a hard time. It has been him and his mom since his dad passed away 8.5 years ago.  Don't get me wrong he is happy to be a big brother but is scared to hold the little one as he doesn't want to drop him and he is scared he is going to be forgot about.  So Saturday was the day of the Baby Shower for Baby Brendan and I wanted to make sure that Wesley knew he hadn't been forgot about in all the joy of the new baby and with so many people coming and bringing presents for the baby.

So I set to going through my stamped images and found one that I had colored a while back from hAnglar &  sTanglar.

The image is stamped on Cryogen White and colored with Copics.  I colored this image about 1 year ago so I don't have a listing of colors used.  DP & ribbon are from my stash.  The splash is a fun foam sticker that I had, I covered it in MS burnt orange glitter. 

For the inside I printed the poem out, then distressed the edges with Marigold Distress Ink. 

Corinne~

Baby Shopping

With my cousin's baby shower on this Saturday, I headed out to pick up a few things for the precious little guy.  I forgot how much fun it is to shop for a baby.  So many cool outfits......little jean jackets, overalls, t-shirts oh I could go on and on about the nice clothes they have out for babies.....I didn't stop to look at what they have for girls but for little boys is amazing.  Oh and the little shoes that they have now for the little ones.  It was hard to stop at one outfit and a couple extra t-shirts.

Good thing I don't have any grandchildren yet......they would be so spoiled.

Will have some pictures to share from the baby shower later.


Corinne~

Love Blog

Caroline from Angel4031 has tagged me with the 

LOVE BLOG Award.

 There are a couple of conditions for the award – explanation and instructions follow:

You have been TAGGED and want to participate? Then create a post where you post the 'LOVE BLOG' image. You should also blog the persons link that gave you the award and inform her/him that you accept the award. You can then choose 3 - 5 favorite blogs which you also link in your post, then each blogger will inform you that they have been tagged....

Dear bloggers: 

The aim of this action is that we bring unknown, good blogs to light, so I would ask you not to blog fellow bloggers that already have 3,000 followers. As always, the hardest part is to pick who to pass this on to, there are so many bloggers I could give it to, so . . .the blogs I have chosen are......

Angelwood's Crafting Corner

Angela is a very talented lady whose work inspires me.  I try to visit her blog daily to see what she has to share with everyone.  Her work is beautifully crafted. A blogging day isn't complete with out a quick visit Angelwood's Crafting Corner.

Paper Papillon 

I try to visit Marlene's blog daily.  Marlene's card are beautiful and inspiring.  She is a very talented

She also some tutorials posted. You won't be disappointed when you stop by Paper Papillon.

Crafts2do4fun

Trina is very talented.  I enjoy looking at her amazing cards.  Trina also has some amazing blog candy that she offers to her followers.  Her coloring of her images is wonderful.  A blog worth visiting daily if you can.

Please be sure to pop over to these blogs - you wont be disapointed!  You'll not only find gorgeous work but some really lovely people!

Corinne~

Tina`s Blog Candy for Followers

Tina over at Crafts2do4fun is celebrating the Valentines Day with some Valentine themed blog candy being drawn on Feb 14, 2011. 

Anyone who is a Follower of Tina`s Blog will get their name placed in for the draw.  So head over to Crafts2do4Fun, become a follower of her lovely blog and your name will be in the draw for a chance to win. 

Here is a pic of what you could win.  Tina`s blog candy is awesome.....how do I know that you may wonder.....well easy I was a lucky winner of her candy not so long ago. 

 Corinne~

Sherwood Edwin

I have always admired the look of distressed inks on stamped images.  So I took the plunge and ordered some distress inks.  Here is my first attempt at coloring with Distress Inks. I used some Twinkling H20's on the feathers...these are another nice medium to work with that I plan to explore more in the future.

Sherwood Edwin is from the Magnolia Fairy Tale Collection.  I purchased him from Diana over at Magnolia-licious....I see that Sherwood Edwin is in stock too.

 I have decided that I am going to sign up to take Angie's Distress Inks Class over at Color Me Creative Classroom.  I am just waiting for my paper to arrive and a few more inks to arrive first.

Corinne~

Independence

The last couple of months I have made great strides in dealing with the grief of loosing my father in June 2008....yes nearly 3 years ago and I am finally able to let go.  It has been a huge struggle to get to where I am.  I was easier to pretend that it hadn't happened and not deal with things than to deal with them.  I miss my dad very much but also can now say that he has passed away and believe it.  I went to an amazing councilor who helped me see things in a much different light.  When I now talk about my dad I am not fighting to suppress the emotions and can do so without crying.  It is a good feeling to let go of something that has been so difficult...now I think of the wonderful memories and smile.  I don't have any regrets....I know my dad loved me and I also know that he knew how much I loved him. 

Today at the end of my session, I was able to pick another card...and once again I couldn't have picked a more appropriate one. 

INDEPENDENCE

Decide for yourself

Exercise your right to choose

I made the decision to choose to remember the good times and not dwell on the what ifs and to see the good that comes from something bad. 

Life Is Good

Corinne~