Ok. This is part two. Please don't be bothered with spelling, it is late and my fingers are not behaving
Oh, and the italic isn't all that well put, but
I don't care. You'll figure it out!!
Lives in an old, worn hunting cabinFirst she has to buy dog food. What cuts most into Sigrid's tight budget is just that; dog food. 500 dollars keeps the dogs well fed for fourteen days. Sigrid puts the "not-feeling-too-well" dogs into the car and once again takes off down the road.
-The distances in Alaska are long, but you get used to it. When I'm in this district I always buy the food at Underdog feed, she says. After an hour or so she drives off the highway and parks at a large store by the road. It is now late and pitch dark.
-Dear me, I know that face, the shop owner Karin Skogen says in a clear norwegian dialect (Vågå).She was bitten by the dog musher bug about 20 years ago. Now she sells dog food and sparkstøttinger (a norwegian sled-like thingy you can use as a means of transportation - you stand on it and kick/run to move forward. Will find pic later
) in the small city of Wasilla.
-You wouldn't happen to have some chicken skin?
-No, sorry. All out, Skogen answers. The conversation flows easily between the two norwegian ladies. Sigrid buys meat and dry food, before driving on through the forest. Rapture is the first dog to see the vet in Nancy Lake. Unwilling he is dragged into the white painted office where three "retired" dogs lie in their own personal sofa covered in dog hair. They take a glance at the intruders but not being interested in the young dog with a bad leg, they return to whatever they were doing.
The vet, Susan Whiton, examines the hips and legs, and Rapture quickly whines to say that it hurts. Whiton beleives the dog has twisted his spine, or that he has a pulled a muscle. He is put on muscle relaxing pills for seven days. If he doesn't get better he'll need an x-ray.
-Good. If the pills help he'll be set for Iditarod, Sigrid says with relief in her voice.
The girls Islay and Puppi also get news. Rest is all it takes for the muscles to loosen up.Sigrid lives in a worn down hunting cabin in Eureka, about 300km north of Fairbanks. She has not got any tap water, electricity or sewer system. An outhouse with three walls, a brook close by and a tiny shelter is just swell for the child of nature that Sigrid is. Her handlers, Kristine and Mark, live in the cabin too.
-This place is just so beautiful. I just love it there, and the dogs do too. At christmas we had close to 40 degrees Celcius.We get water from the brook, but we need to make a hole with an axe first. Heat comes from firewood, and it really doesn't take much to heat up the small room where we eat, sleep and live, she says.
She lives without internet and telephone. The nearest village, Manley Hot Springs, is 20 miles away. The 40 people that live there enjoy a small store.
Bears are frequent guestsSigrid often is paid visits from bears, wolves and other wild creatures.
-I've seen bears many times, but have no scary experiences with them. They come to the cabin looking for dog food, but normally takes off as soon as they are spotted. I'm not afraid of bears, but do have a lot of respect for them. And I keep a gun, just in case, she says.The cabin in Eureka belonged to the best know musher in the States, Susan Butcher, who has won the Iditarod four times. Sigrid worked as a handler for Butcher, whom died of cancer in 2006.
-She is a legend in Alaska, and was a fantastic musher. I worked for her the fall of 2005 and learnt alot, Sigrid says.Born and raised in Sparbu, NorwaySigrid is born on a small farm in Sparbu, and has been in love with animals for as long as she can remember.
-We had a cat, dogs, a horse, rabbits, lambs and a couple of geese. And I was probably the reason we still had animals on the farm, she says and smiles.The 27 year old has taken a degree in forestry and outdoors biology at a college in Hedmark, Norway.
-We had an awesome college environment. I lived together with two students that took the same courses I did. If possible, we went to school by dog sled. We only had six dogs, hence it was mainly a hobby.In 2003 she had a chance of a year abroad, and decided to go to the University of Fairbanks to study wildlife biology. Since that time she has been a resident of Alaska.
-I finished a master in polar science and anthropology last fall. But I'm more interested in mushing. It has become a lifestyle for me. I get to combine the two things that means the most for me; being outside and being with the dogs, she says.The first year Sigrid lived in Alaska, she helped Team Norway and Kjetil Backen with packing dog food for the checkpoints of the Iditarod. The following year she helped Robert Sørlie.
-That's when it all started. Robert wondered if I wanted to build a team of my own. Boy did I want to!! For helping him she was given four dogs, Sabene and Helene (female) and Sesar and Otello (male), she says.Part three is coming up!
Eskil
Mmmmmm...... Unalakleet... DO'H!!!