Living Within The Howling Winds

"At night they would go walking til the breaking of the day..." -Coldplay

Some folks may believe our kennel name comes from all of those people who have enjoyed watching my 'huge messes' over the years. Let's throw this arrogant cityslicker out in the northern wilds and see what happens. Lord knows there's been plenty to chuckle about. When we moved here even our neighbors thought we were a bit odd in choosing to live off of the electrical grid with no running water.(thankfully we have installed both now) Folks were laughing because we chose to live in the wind. Annie lake stretches a mile west towards the ocean thus we rarely see mellow weather. Tough on humans, Perfect for dogs.

This has been the funnest summer we've had in quite some time. Guess why? We rarely leave the dogyard. Every day we're shifting the poopers around, giving them plenty of playtime in the pens. As always, there are usually half a dozen rummaging around the house sniffing about for tasty treats. Around here we truly live in Dawg world, except for the ocassional griz or wolf wandering thru the 'hood. We have placed chimes around our perimeter to ward off any nosy intruders, most critters being wary of man-made noise. Of the dozens of possible superstars this year half are 3 years or younger thus the level of excitement each day is rather extravagant. Let the good times roll...

Living in the mountains has been a blessing. Lots of wind = few bugs. Pleasant temps. for the pooches not only in the summer but winter too. Sometimes we'll receive enough wind that our wind generator shuts down from too much overload. One storm was strong enough to snap a 100 ft.spruce tree in half lopping off the top of it. Guess that's why our closest human neighbor lives nearly a mile away. Dealing with the wind allows us the chance to enjoy a natural privacy so many yearn to have. It also reminds us that there will always be more mountains to climb and storms to survive on this unending journey thru life. As we seek to create dreams anew on a yearly basis not just for me but for You. Enjoy the view, Hugh

We are finalizing fall school tour dates, if interested please send us a note: laughingeyeskennel@hotmail.com
Tentative schedual: Montana, september 12th-14th, Denver, Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Louis, Amarillo, Austin, Seattle and Spokane the remainder of the month. Schools are schedualed in order of requests received. Some cities are filling up quickly.

Dawgs just wanna play...

"Is it just me or a message from up above?" --?

I play everyday, learning how to dance this life away. My summer sport of choice is typically b- ball. Hoops to me is like yoga- stretch! Not too many humans around here so I usually end up going against Mr. Spencer. Spence only stands about 3 feet tall-but his spirit soars. He's one of our main swing dogs, who run just behind the leaders- all heart! Doesn't have much of an outside shot yet he can chase the ball down quicker than most. Amazing to watch his abilities on display though I'd prefer a bit less trash talking- Save the barking for the race boy.

Just finished watching the ESPY awards: Don't whine, Don't complain- No Excuses. Amazing story of a coach in south dakota who was hit head on by a truck last year. Not only lost a leg but found out he had cancer at the same time. And ya know what? He never even wasted a day- and has kept on coaching all the way. Not for love of victory or pursuit of wealth, For Love of the game. For living to his fullest capabilities. Not to score just to please himself but to help others win along the way as well. You dig?

Life here at the kennel is as lively as ever. How such a goof like me has been so blessed is a gift from above. We, at laughing eyes can assure you of this- each day is a treasure to be harvested. Up here on Annie lake our garden is not filled with just seeds and sprouts but endless balls of fur. The house is a rockin' - time to see who's out in our Magic garden, the dogyard- playing w/out me! Peace, HHN #23

SCHOOL TOUR: mid-september= Montana, Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Louis, Denver, Austin, Amarillo, Seattle and Spokane. Interested, please send us a line: laughingeyeskennel@hotmail.com

Enjoying a Higher Quality of Life

"We need to look up at the moon... and we need to SMILE." -B. Shields
Greetings everyone,
Hope all is well in your worlds. Quite the trip to fairbanks area this past weekend. Took a look at a few properties in the Tok area to do some training around in the upcoming training season. Lots of fires in the interior. Went canoeing on Chatanika on the 4th w/ Dan Kaduce, a fellow Quest musher. Had fun hanging at his place w/ Jodi and other friend's as well. We learned that the area of Alaska they reside in receives 30 percent of all the lightning hits in the Greatland. Enjoyed visiting Lance and Tonga as well. Too smoky for too long a stay however.

Nice to be back at the lake, gorgeous outside yet hard to write today. Too busy losing water. Not thru sweat but tears. It's only appropriate that Michael is being buried under a full moon, as he would have wanted. Time to go howl! HHN