Canadian Challenge Sled Dog Race

February 20th - 25th found my husband and I involved with the Canadian Challenge Sled Dog Race.

• The Canadian Challenge sled dog race for the Cameco Cup is a 12 dog continuous mid distance race held in Saskatchewan. The race follows a route similar to that of the old sled dog trail used for years by trappers, the North West Mounted Police and the First Nations community to travel between Prince Albert and La Ronge. The total distance of the race is approx. 600 kilometers.
• Over the years, the Canadian Challenge has obtained the recognition of being a world class-sporting event and is the nation's longest sled dog, which starts, runs and finishes in Canada. The race has attracted teams from across Canada, the United States, Australia, Germany, Serbia and Belgium. An added highlight is the 8 dog race from Prince Albert to La Ronge. This race runs in conjunction with the 12 dog sled race on it's way up to La Ronge'.
• In 2007 the Junior Canadian Challenge ran for the first time. The Canadian Challenge is sponsored by the Gateway North Sled Dog Race Association, which is a non-profit organization formed in 1994 to promote traditional sled dog racing in Saskatchewan.

My hubby and I were in charge of manning one of the check points after the start of the race, but there much more to do before then.   

Day 1:  Vet Check - take photos of some of the teams as they were having their dogs checked over by our team of volunteer vets consisting of Dr Ruth - Super Vet and two other Vets...then after a quick Pizza Lunch it was off to set up the Banquet room with the banners from the Sponsor, the musher/handler race bibs, the Silent Auction Table and the merchandise table.  My hubby and two daughters helped out with task...we did a great job everything was set up in record time and the banquet room looked amazing.  Quickly did a quick change, did my hair and make up and I was ready for the evening.  This evening was big event for me as I was MC'ing the evening, now I am not afraid to speak in public....my biggest fear of the evening was that I would mess up the protocol for introducing the Leitenant Governor of Saskachewan, representative of the Queen.  Once I got him introduced and seated everything went well.  My youngest daughter took on the task of taking photos of the evening for me.  That night is over and done, once I get home it is time to make a Crock Pot of Chilli and BBQ Farmers Sausage for our check point.   

Day 2 & 3: So bright and early we are out to the Start Line for the Canadian Challenge Sled Dog Race.  WOW what a turn out from the public to see the teams as they start preparing for the race.  In just over 1 hour 20 teams pass through the start line on the quest to compete in this years Canadian Challenge Sled Dog Race.  From there I headed home to pack up everything for the rest of the week.  When hubby arrived shortly after I did we loaded up the truck and headed North to the McLennan River Check Point.  Around 10:30pm Handlers started arriving with their dog trucks awaiting the arrival of the mushers....shortly after midnight mushers started arriving, some stayed for a bit, while others pushed on through right after checking in and out.  Arrivals and departures continued on through the night with the last musher out at 1pm on Wednesday afternoon.  

So as were awaiting the last mushers departure I set out to capture pictures of the Whiskey Jacks and Woodpeckers.  Those Whiskey Jacks were scavenging any bits of food they could find. 

So after a couple of long days I didn't even want to turn my computer on let alone pull my pictures off my camera...by this time I had around 6 photos from the last 3 days.  My husband was reading the Canadian Challenge Blog and giving me the highlights...well this got me pumped back up and I set to moving my pictures off my SD card to my laptop.  This is when everything might as well have gone black for me......what my card cannot be read....nothing I could do could retrieve my photos.  I tried different software programs even took it into Don's photo a week later only to find out that there was nothing they could do.  Good thing there were others that took pictures at the start of the race.

Day 4:  My hubby headed on up to Lynx Lake Check Point and I stayed behind working with some of our other volunteers trying to read my SD Card.  NOTHING........so with a new SD Card in the camera I set off for taking more photos.  A quick trip to Stanley Mission......this is where I learned about the art of Birch Bark Biting from Rosie....she was kind enough to let me try it out.  So after listening and watching I tried this dying art myself.  WOW was I impressed with what I ended up with.  While the birch bark was folded I had no idea of what it would even look like.  I must of impressed my mentor as she showed it to her mother when she came to the hall for a visit.  So this June when the Birch Bark is just right I am going to try peeling some myself so I can try a few more pieces of this art. 

Day 5:  The winner of the 12-dog team crossed the finish line around 1:25 am on Day 5 of the Canadian Challenge Sled Dog Race.  We stayed around town at the LaRonge check point watching teams arrive at the finish line.  Got photos of the vehicles that different sponsor donated for duration of the week with the Gerry Walker the winner of the 12-dog Race and Gillian Taylor the winner of the 8-dog race.   We got photos of the vehicle from Carlton Honda, Mann Motors, LakeLand Ford, Flaman Trailers for the use of one of their trailers, Eagle Point for the use of a Polaris Snowmobile and Pines Power Sport Marine for the use of 2 Ski-doo Snowmobiles not just for the week of the race but for a couple of weekend prior so that the trail crew could have the trail it top notch shape.  The winner of the Red Lantern for the 12-dog race crossed the finish line before 7pm that evening....an early night for all.  First time that I know of that 20 teams started the race and 20 teams finished the race....WAY TO GO MUSHERS!!

Day 6:  Awards Breakfast.....after the awards breakfast it was take down and time to head home.  Another race in the books and a very successful one too.  Now the board will start preparing for 2013's race.  I finished up the week with some really good photos but unfortunately was never able to recover any photos of the damaged SD Card.

Corinne~

Away for a while

I have been away from my blog for a while.....it all started back in early December when my hubby dropped my laptop...that's right he DROPPED my laptop.  Needless to say they don't like to be dropped and it caused my hard drive to crash and loop through the start up.  Then while I was without a computer my Yahoo email gets hacked, I find this out just a few days after my new laptop arrives at my house and hasn't even been fired up yet....how did I find out....my work email received a couple of emails so it was time to go in and change passwords once again....without having my computer was unable to change the passwords...  Once I got my new laptop all set up online I proceeded to get passwords changed.  Then I had the wonderful task of trying to recover everything from the old hard drive...was able to use cables and connect it to read as a slave drive so that I could access my files and transfer them over to the new laptop and from there they are going onto a portable external hard-drive.  Transferring the files was a very long task....because of sectors of the hard-drive being damaged when it was dropped if a file failed it could take hours to let me know it was unable to be moved or even accessed.  I was lucky to get all my Genealogy back.....whew....my fingers were crossed for that one first and foremost and the it was time to cross my fingers for my photos....well on that front not so lucky....I probably got about 2/3's of them back which is better than nothing.  My genealogy and photos were my biggest concerns about getting back as for everything else that I was able to retrieve back was a bonus.  So I started moving files early January and didn't finish up until the end of February....this tested my patience that is for sure. 









Corinne~

Vegan Pot Pie

Pie Dough

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1/2 cup ice water (approx.)

Filling

• 3 tablespoons canola oil
• 1 unit onion, diced
• 2 small Yukon Gold potatoes (about 320 g), peeled and diced
• 2 unit carrots, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh sage
• 2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 cups plain soy beverage
• 4 unit meatless chicken breast portions (about 450 g), chopped
• 1 cup frozen peas

Pie Dough

1. Place flour, baking powder and salt in food processor; process until combined. Add oil; pulse on and off until combined. Pulsing on and off, gradually add ice water through feed tube until soft dough forms. Form into a ball. Flatten into disc. Wrap in plastic wrap. Chill at least 30 minutes.

Filling

1. Preheat oven to 375F (190C).
2. In saucepan, heat oil over medium heat; cook onion until softened, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Stir in potatoes, carrots, garlic, sage, thyme, salt and pepper; cook for 2 minutes longer. Stir in flour; cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Gradually stir in soy beverage and ½ cup (125 mL) water, stirring constantly. Add meatless chicken breasts and peas; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer; cook for 2 minutes. Transfer mixture to 11 x 7-inch (2 L) glass baking dish. Cool slightly.
3. Meanwhile, on lightly floured surface, roll out pie dough to scant 13 x 8 inch (33 x 20 cm) rectangle. Place over filling, pinching to form decorative border around edge. Cut out 1 inch (2.5 cm) circular vent in centre. Bake in centre of oven until golden brown on top, about 40 minutes. Cool 10 minutes before serving.

Corinne~

Grilled Chicken Grenades

• 4 teaspoons paprika
• 1 tablespoon onion powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
• 1 1/2 teaspoons chipotle chili pepper powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dried thyme leaves
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 2 unit boneless skinless chicken breasts, about 500 g
• 1 package sliced Havarti cheese 170 g
• 1 package sodium-reduced bacon 500 g
• 1/2 cup drained pickled jalapeño slices
• 2 tablespoons apple jelly
• 2 tablespoons hot pepper jelly

1. In small bowl, stir together paprika, onion powder, salt, pepper, cayenne, chipotle powder, oregano, thyme and garlic powder. Measure out ¼ cup (50 mL) to use in grenades. Store remaining in tightly covered jar.
2. Preheat oven to 375F (190C). Line a baking sheet with nonstick foil.
3. Cut chicken breasts lengthwise into thin slices, about 1/4 inch (5 mm) thick. Set aside. Cut cheese slices into strips the same width as bacon slices. Lightly dust another baking sheet with 2 tbsp (25 mL) of the spice rub. Place half of bacon slices on baking sheet, side by side. Top each bacon slice with a chicken strip and a cheese strip. Place one jalapeño ring at one end of each; roll into pinwheels. Secure each with a toothpick. Redust baking sheet with another 2 tbsp (25 mL) spice rub and repeat with remaining bacon, chicken, cheese and jalapeño rings.
4. Stand grenades up on foil-lined baking sheet (not on their sides). Bake in centre of oven for 20 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, in 1 cup (250 mL) glass measuring cup, combine two jellies; microwave on HIGH for 20 to 30 seconds or until melted. Remove grenades from oven and brush with jelly mixture. Either return to oven for 10 minutes longer or transfer to barbecue preheated to medium heat to crisp for 2 to 3 minutes.
6. Serve warm.

Corinne~

Recipe To Riches

The Food Network has a new show called Recipe to Riches. This show gives one Canadian a chance to win $250,000.  Each week there is a different food category and one winner is chosen from that episode and that winner takes home $25,000.  After all the finalists are chosen it is up to Canada to vote for the Grand Prize Winner of $250,000.  Not only do they win the $25,000 their recipe is featured as a new product for Loblaw Grocery stores across Canada.  If first heard of this show two weeks ago when my daughter and her boyfriend were talking about Chicken Grenades on facebook.  My first thought was shooting dead chickens out of a potato gun, so I figured I best ask what Chicken Grenades were.  My daughter and her boyfriend told me about these tasty morsels and how good they were, which made me want to try them.  They were also confident that they could re-create them as they made notes as they watched the show. 

So the next time I was in SuperStore I picked up a box of Chicken Grenades and all I can say is YUMMY!! If you like spicy you'll enjoy these.

Earlier in the day I was reading the latest copy of President's Choice Insider Report that is packed with lots of ideas for entertaining and noticed that there was a website for a recipe in the report.  So after checking out the Presidents Choice website I found the recipes from the show Recipe To Riches. 

Week 1 winner is Luscious Lemon Pudding Cake created by Glo McNeill --- her recipe can be found HERE

Week 2 winner is Peach Bliss created by Jacqui Keseluk --- here recipe can be found HERE

Week 3 winner is Chicken Grendes created by John Grass --- his recipe can be found HERE

Week 4 winner is Hazelnut Stew With Sweet Potato Bannock created by Melaney Gleeson-Lyall --- her recipe can be found HERE

I have my PVR set to record all new episodes of the show so I don't miss any more of the episodes.  There are only 4 more left.


Corinne~

Up Close with a Coyote

 On our trip back home from Meadow Lake we came across what I believe is the same Coyote that we seen a couple of days earlier.  He was in the same area and the markings were very close to being the same.  Once again I was provided the opportunity to get some really nice close shots of this beautiful guy.

 I love how this photo below catches him in the start of a what looks like a pounce.

 Was so lucky to catch this beautiful close up of him.  He was not afraid of me that is for sure, more curious than anything.  Especially with every noise he heard from the camera focusing.

Corinne~

Flying G Alpacas

A friend of mine raises Alpacas.  On my recent trip to Meadow Lake, she invited me out for supper and a visit.  I was thrilled as I really wanted to see her place and her Alpacas.  So with camera in tow I was off for a visit.

Their hair is so soft and warm when you put your hands inside their coats.  The colors are beautiful.  The sun was setting fast so I was limited on light.  Definitely want to go for another visit with better light and get some more pictures.  They sure move around fast but beautiful animals. 

So upon my departure I left with 6 skeins of Lopi yarn - 70% Alpaca 30% Merino in different colors to make myself and my two girls a pair of mittens for the winter. 

For more information on Flying G Aplacas click HERE  

Corinne~

Meadow Lake Pulp Mill

On our recent trip as we got closer to Meadow Lake the sky was darker and darker with rain, the sun was setting and it provided for a great opportunity to get some shots of the mill as we were coming into town.

I love the darkness of the trees in the foreground and the contrast of the exhaust against the sky with setting sun on the horizon. 

Corinne~

Coyote

We ran across this beautiful Coyote between Green Lake and Meadow Lake.  So glad that we stopped so I could get some photos.

Checking both ways for traffic before crossing the highway!

Safe to cross!

 I really like his coloring with the black and white on his back.  Enjoyed watching him watch us.


Corinne~

White Tail Deer

Last week I had the opportunity to travel up to Meadow Lake for work for 3 days.  The timing was both good and bad....the bad was I was fighting off a bad cold and probably should have stayed at home and the good is that it was a few days after the photography workshop I took the weekend before going to Meadow Lake.  I was excited about the drive up as there is usually a variety of wildlife along the way.  As it turned out we did see some wildlife which provided opportunities for me to get some good photographs.

Was very lucky to get some great shots of some White Tail Deer that didn't run off to the bush as soon as we stopped along the edge of the road.

When I captured this photo of the 2 yearlings grazing I didn't realize I had the front deer in the frame until after I snapped this photo.  I do like the perspective it gives.

This one of the two deer is one of my favorite shots of the trip.  I like how the light is soft and lightly blurred in the foreground and how I caught the back deer as he was grazing just inside the tree line.



Corinne~