Yarohna & Yena 12 years
October 20 2019. Today it's Yarohna's and Yena's 12 years birthday. Congratulations from all of us :-)
Vitus 10 years
June 28 2019. Today it's Vitus' 10 years birthday. Congratulations from all of us :-)
Indiana & Amy 1 year
May 16 2019. Today it's Indiana's and Amy's 1 year birthday. Congratulations from all of us :-)
Tikaani 5 years
March 22 2019. Today it's Tikaani's 5 years birthday. Congratulations from all of us :-)
Vitus 9 years
June 28 2018. Today it's Vitus' 9 years birthday. Congratulations from all of us :-)
Tikaani's and Vitus's puppies are born
May 16 2018. Today Tikaani gave birth to 5 puppies - 2 bitches and 3 males.
The pedigrees of Tikaani (Snötrollens Eira Tikaani) and Vitus (Bilaikas High Arctic Explorer) can be found at the Swedish Kennel Club's website (SKK/HUNDDATA). The birth went very well, almost like clockwork, and the 5 puppies were born within 3 hours. For more information on the puppies or dog-talk :-) in general please contact me.
For more information on the puppies please contact me. You will also soon be able to follow us on facebook under Team Takotnas Samoyeds.
Tikaani 4 years
March 22 2018. Today it's Tikaani's 4 years birthday. Congratulations from all of us :-)
Yena and Yarohna 10 years
October 20 2017. Today it's Yena's and Yarohna's 10 years birthday. Congratulations from all of us :-)
Pushkin 13 years
July 2 2017. Today it's Pushkin's 13 years birthday. Congratulations from all of us :-)
Vitus 8 years
June 28 2017. Today it's Vitus's 8 years birthday. Congratulations from all of us :-)
Tikaani 3 years
March 22 2017. Today it's Tikaani's 3 years birthday. Congratulations from all of us :-)
Yena and Yarohna 9 years
October 20 2016. Today it's Yena's and Yarohna's 9 years birthday. Congratulations from all of us :-)
Pushkin 12 years
June 28 2016. Today it's Pushkin's 12 years birthday. Congratulations from all of us :-)
Vitus 7 years
June 28 2016. Today it's Vitus's 7 years birthday. Congratulations from all of us :-)
Balthazar 15 years
April 9 2016. Today it's Balthazar's 15 years birthday. Hurray dear Balthazar! Congratulations from all of us :-)
Tikaani 2 years
March 22 2016. Today it's Tikaani's 2 years birthday. Congratulations from all of us :-)
Yena & Yarohna 8 years
October 20 2015. Today it's Yena's and Yarohna's 8 years birthday.
Congratulations from all of us :-)
Pushkin 11 years
July 2 2015. Today it's Pushkin's 11 years birthday. Congratulations from all of us :-)
Vitus 6 years
June 28 2015. Today it's Vitus's 6 years birthday. Congratulations from all of us :-)
The party is on
Balthazar 14 years
April 9 2015. Today it's Balthazar's 14 years birthday. Congratulations from all of us :-)
Tikaani 1 year
March 22 2015. Today it's Tikaani's 1 year birthday. Congratulations from all of us :-)
Vitus 5 years
June 28 2014. Today it's Vitus's 5 years birthday. Congratulations from all of us :-)
Balthazar 13 years
April 9 2014. Today it's Balthazar's 13 years birthday. Congratulations from all of us :-)
Yena & Yarohna
6 years
October 20 2013. Today it's Yena's and Yarohna's 6 years birthday.
Congratulations from all of us :-)
Chasing
Who is gonna get it? Yena and Yarohna with mum on the Gammplatsen
Pushkin 9 years
July 2 2013. Today it's Pushkin's 9 years birthday. Congratulations from all of us :-)
Vitus 4 years
June 28 2013. Today it's Vitus's 4 years birthday. Congratulations from all of us :-)
Balthazar 12 years
April 9 2013. Today it's Balthazar's 12 years birthday. Congratulations from all of us :-)
Yena & Yarohna
5 years
October 20 2012. Today it's Yena's and Yarohna´s 5 years birthday.
Congratulations from all of us :-)
Pushkin 8 years
July 2 2012. Today it's Pushkin's 8 years birthday. Congratulations from all of us :-)
Vitus 3 years
June 28 2012. Today it's Vitus's 3 years birthday. Congratulations from all of us :-)
Yarohna Swedish Show Champion
June 17 2012. Today at the national dogshow in Vännäs Yarohna got her third CAC and becomes new Swedish Show Champion :-) Judge was Jahn Stääv, Sweden. How about that! Two champs within practically a month :-D
Vitus Swedish Show Champion
May 12 2012. Today at the dogshow in Bjurholm Vitus got his third CAC and becomes new Swedish Show Champion :-) Judge was Tina Permo, Sweden. Yarohna was also at the show and she got the result very good.
Balthazar 11 years
April 9 2012. Today it's Balthazar's 11 years birthday. Congratulations from all of us :-)
Furudal 2012
February 8 2012. Photo-news by JYSfoto.
Vitus and Freyia tête à tête
Playtime
Balthazar plays to Freyia
Handsome
February 5 2012.
Yesterday evening we arrived at Furudal after driving all day. The temperature in Lycksele was -26C and -10 in Furudal. Plans ahead - a lot of dog-driving, good eating and lots of fun amongst friends and family.
On the way south.
After the morning walk and resting all over the place before driving later today.
Greetings by the Team Bilaika - we will take a tour on the lake later.
First run in drifting snow - the trail partly blown away.
That was one team home and happy.
Pausing before heading for the snack-tray.
Second team home and happy - it was the first time Freyia (right) was leading the 4-dog team.
Vitus 2 years :-)
June 28 2011. Today it's Vitus's 2 years birthday. Congratulations from all of us :-)
Yarohna BIS1
May 14 2011. Today I have been on a Swedish Nordic Breed Club specialty with Yarohna and Vitus. And what day it turned out to be. Despite a shaky start Yarohna won it all :-o :-D She became BIS1 and BIS1 working class. I'm over the Moon with happyness. Vitus also did very well. He got an excellent and won the working and competion classes. He didn't get a ck, so how he could go on to win the competition class I have no idea (it's clearly stated that he's placed No 1 in the competition class). But that doesn't spoil my day :-D
Balthazar 10 years :-)
April 9 2011. Today it's Balthazar's 10 years birthday. Congratulations from all of us :-)
While Balthazar enjoyes himself barking at a pedestrian ;-) the others are busy running about.
Yena and Yarohna 3 years :-)
October 20 2010. Today it's Yena's and Yarohna's 3 years birthday. Congratulations! We wish you a fabulous day and lots of fun, Balthazar, Pushkin, Vitus and Birger.
Pushkin 6 Years :-)
July 2 2010. Today it's Pushkin's 6 years birthday. Congratulations! We wish you an absolutely wonderfull day, Balthazar, Yena, Yarohna, Vitus and Birger.
Vitus 1 Year! :-)
June 28 2010. Today it's Vitus' 1 year birthday. Congratulations! We wish you an absolutely wonderfull day, Balthazar, Pushkin, Yena, Yarohna and Birger.
Present
April 27 2010. Yesterday we received this nice present from our friends at Samojeden of White Nordic Storm. Thanks Niels, Lea, Andrea, Aslan, Chenoa and Anouk. I really love the name of that vodka.
First flight
April 21 2010. First flight of the season. All though it was just a very short flight, it was really nice to be airborne again. Sorry, no pictures from the flight itself. Just this post-flight snapshot of me showing off in my "new" used semi-replica of a B-3 bomber jacket in front of an Ikarus C-42 B.
Happy birthday "old" chap :-)
April 9 2010. Today it's Balthazars 9 years birthday. Congratulations "old" chap :-)
Upcomming
March 9 2010. We have been away on vacation to Furudal and Särna in February. I'm working on the gallery and a bit of text from that occasion.
Lone from Team Nordvestgaarden is entered on the Polardistans 160 km, which startes today. You can follow the race and her progress on this link.
Here's a link to Jason Barron's website. Jason Barron is a mid and long distance musher. From time to time he put short videos of mushing and dog related issues on the website. The vidoes might be of interest, so you could drop by and see for yourself.
Snow run
Dec. 22 2009. Saturday we had the first training run on snow of the season. It was also Vitus's first training run ever. He was a bit surprised while I was hooking the other dogs to the mainline. But once we got going he settled into to the spirit of the others and mostly pulled along. Temperarily Balthazar has made a come back from retirement to assist the team with enthusiasm and to get some light excercise. Pushkin and Yena was in lead, Yarohna was in team/swing position and Balthazar and Vitus was in wheel position.
Today Vitus measures 55 cm and weighs 17.1 kg.
Vitus 5 month and a few days
Dec. 1 2009. Vitus is growing and putting on weight. Today he measures 53 cm over the shoulder and weighs 16.2 kg.
By the way he likes to sleep in the window :-o
Airborne
Nov. 22 2009. Today I passed my final flight test for ultralight pilote license. It was just in the nick of time. The weather has been unsuitable for VFR flying for almost three weeks and the prospects aren't looking bright for the rest of the month either. This weekend we had a lucky break in the bad weather.The insurance of the aircraft is about to expire by the end of November as well. The flight test took place in Vilhelmina (ESNV). Mikael Karlsson had flown me to to Vilhelmina for the flight test. As we headed back to Lycksele (ESNL) we litterally escaped the oncomming ocklusion front with rain, snow and zero visibility with minutes to spare. For the first half of the stretch to Lycksele we flew parallel to the front which looked like a solid wall of bad news. Everything behind the front was totally obscured from view from the ground up. Afterwords we were told that the rain and snow fell of the runway in Vilhelmina the moment we took off. And that wasn't all. Daylight minutes (visual flight rules, VFR, require daylight) were also running in seriously short supply. As we landed in Lycksele we only had 3 minutes to sunset. Talk about cutting it close. That is not recommendable!
Anyway the education is finally completed. I began the education at Arvidsjaurs Flygsällskap/Ulf Levander last winter together with my good friends Mikael Karlsson and Per Lindmark, who are the owners of the plane. The plane is an Ikarus C42 B. This is an outstanding aircraft with really good performance, very stable and easy to fly, excellent view and very comfortable.
Yena & Yarohna 2 years
Oct. 20 2009. Today it's Yena's and Yarohna's 2 years birthday :-) Congratulation girls. We wish you a very happy and enjoyable day, Balthazar, Pushkin, Vitus and Birger.
The right stuff
Oct. 10 2009. This tuesday night and wednesday morning Vitus had his first paws-on experience with the white/right stuff. During the night a few inches of wet snow fell. That was a hit! During thursday and friday we were away to Arvidsjaur where they have gotten 8 in of real snow, that was even more of a hit.
Say Hello to Vitus
Sept. 8 2009. We have been on a short trip to Denmark to pick up our newest pack member Vitus. We have had the perfect introduction of Vitus into the pack as we stayed a few days by Jytte. Millions of thanks Jytte. Shortly after we arrived Vitus was introduced to my dogs and he took to them almost as a fish to water. That's one lucky puppy having two families for a few days :-D Over the next few days they build on their relations. So when it came to the time of going back home he had no hesitation to follow his new family. On our long drive back home (1500+ km) Vitus acted as if he was born with a "travel-for-long"-gene - no yelling or unhappiness what so ever. He was as calm and easy-going as I could ever hope for.
Vitus a.k.a. Bilaikas High Arctic Explorer is after a combination of Bilaikas Penny Lane and Snötrollens Oppas Kerak. Penny and Kerak are two very dedicated sled dogs. They are both very well build and proportioned and have good quality coats and fantastic temperaments. There is no doubt that Vitus has inherited his parents temperaments, as he is calm yet alert, self confident, intelligent and currious. He just as easilly joins in when Pushkin, Yena and Yarohna plays as he goes his own ways or he follow Balthazar's lead. Maybe Balthazar doesn't not know it yet - or maybe he does ;-) - but he has gained a spiritual companion. Vitus has already shown so many similarities to Balthazar's behavior that I'm overjoyed by the prospect of having another Balthazar-like dog.
As a reflection of his pedigree name Vitus is named after the great Danish explorer Vitus Bering (1681-1741). Vitus Bering was employed by zar Peter the Great and during two expeditions to the easternmost Siberia he recognized that there was an end to the eastern continuation of Siberia and mapped the Bering Strait between Alaska and Asia.
Pushkin 5 years
2. July 2009. Today it's Pushkin's 5 years birthday :-) Congratulations old chap. We wish you a very happy and enjoyable day, Balthazar, Yena, Yarohna, Birger.
Breaking news
31. May 2009. Pushkin has very recently been to the vet to get his eyes checked for hereditary diseases. No signs of any were found :-) Therefore we now can reveal that he has been chosen as breeding partner for Tussi Polar. Tussi lives at Kennel Polarjuvelen in Norway. More information will follow.
Visitors
16 May 2009. We have had visitors from Denmark. Our friends Annette Larsen and Jens Post and their huskies came to stay overnight and catch some rest. They have driven all the long way from Denmark to pick up their new puppy from Kennel Indian Tribe Husky’s. It was really nice to see them all again and catch up on the latest news.
Balthazar 8 years
9. April 2009. Today it is Balthazar's birthday :-D Balthazar has now retired from active duty. Here are some pictures from his last run. He is now enjoying life as a pensioner. He keeps track of the furry and winged visitors to the garden and occasionally holds a little concert - here together with Pushkin.
Lance Mackey wins the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race 2009!
18. March 2009
Iditarod 2009 champions
Lance Mackey, Larry and Maple. Photo by Jeff Schultz.
For the third year in a row Lance Mackey and his astonishing team of sled dogs crossed under the burled arch on Front Street in Nome as winners of Iditarod XXXVII. They spend 9 days 21 hours 38 minutes and 46 seconds on the journey.
One of the key points in setting the team up for a win this year was their awesome run from Takotna through Ophir to Iditarod, a 115 mile stretch, in 12 hours 34 minutes and opening a gap of several hours on the closest competitors.
The Yukon River lived up to its reputation and proved to be a cold and windy experience. The mushers got at little slack weather-wise from Kaltag to Unalakleet. Once they got to the coast nature really had something lined up for them. Strong head winds of 30-35 mph and minus 20°F or more, effectively giving a wind chill temperature of minus 50°F, were hammering the coast. Lance Mackey, Sebastian Schnuelle and John Baker managed to cross the Norton Sound obey loosing the trail countless times as it was blown away and obscured by up to 2 ft deep drifts of snow.
The winds picked up and judging the conditions on the sea ice to becoming too severe and out of concern for their dogs the rest of the closest pursuers got pinned down at the Unalakleet and Shaktoolik checkpoints for several hours. This effectively left the battle for Nome to the three frontrunners.
Lance Mackey and his dogs crossed under the burled arch Wednesday the 18th at 11:38:46 AM ADT. He had 15 happy and strong looking dogs in string lead onto Front Street by the renowned Larry and an impressive young long distance rookie female named Maple.
Sebastian Schnuelle, the Yukon Quest 2009 champion, came in 2nd place after 10 days 5 hours 5 minutes and 4 seconds on the trail. Finishing the top three John Baker crossed underneath the arch in 10 days 6 hours 18 minutes and 51 seconds.
There is still at lot of racing going on for the next positions and the race isn’t over till the Red Lantern gets to Nome.
Update - about time! :-)
1. March 2009
Well, I suppose it’s about time to bring a little update.
Training has continued during December at an easy pace of 2-3 runs a week. Training conditions have improved with a better snow cover. I decided to only make training runs on the road along the Örån River to avoid any negative side effects of changing training ground. Training on the Ume River is always tougher because the trail isn’t as compact as the ploughed road.
The training have went fairly well, although it was as if the girls had become a little intimidated/bewildered by Balthazar’s and Pushkin’s barking and lunging into the harness as we were about to start. That’s a minor set back from the last update. Once we got going they ran quite well. However, sometimes they became a little unfocused and were more interested in inspecting moose tracks along the road than they were in running. The boys were doing fine although Balthazar has more enthusiasm than stamina and perseverance, so before long he had a tendency to drop back and partly get dragged by the neck line. As the boys ran lead and girls wheel that of cause wasn’t a good signal to give the rookies. I have kept the training runs short at about 4 km to ensure that the girls didn’t loose any spirit by going on for too long.
Over Christmas, New Year and a few days more we went on holiday in Denmark. We set up basecamp at our friends Susan and Bo where we stayed most of the time. This was about as perfect, cosy and enjoyable as it could be. My dogs settled in as if they had always lived there. Neither my dogs nor Susan’s and Bo’s huskies took any notice of each other. They were just a tad curious in the beginning, and that was it. My dogs loved being in the house with us all and in the dog yard that Susan and Bo has right next to the living room. This was also very convenient for me, should the dogs need to go out during the night.
The Christmas was celebrated together with my mom and grandma. New Year was celebrated together with Susan, Bo and our mutual friends Gabrielle and Erik. We had good eating, wine, dog talk, geology talk and lots of laughs.
A few nights we stayed at my mother’s apartment. For Balthazar and Pushkin this was just like yesterday that they had been there although it was almost a year and a half since last.
During our time in Denmark the dogs and I also visited Jette & Freddy and Gitte & Klaus. So even though we had our basecamp at Susan and Bo there was a lot of moving about and staying at new places (new places for the girls that is). And I must say that I very impressed the way they adapted to all this commotion. They took it calmly and with no fuss. During this holiday they have matured enormously.
This is also evident from our 3.5 km training runs at our old training ground – the forest of Hvalsø. Now it seems that the girls really have gotten a nose of what dog driving is all about. Probably by hanging around Susan and Bo’s huskies and by watching all the other teams drive off. Totally great! We managed to get three training runs that all went very well indeed. Thanks to Tina Langstrup and to Bjørn for lending me their training carts.
We only missed out on one thing during our holiday, and that was visiting our friends Natasha and Jørgen some days. Natasha and Jørgen were in Särna and it was not possible to get the planning to add up. I hope we can make up for that in the near future.
Home again the training continued as did the very good trend started in Hvalsø. The lengths of the runs were extended a bit to ca. 6 km.
In less than a month we were off again. This time we went on our annual winter vacation in Furudal, which we take as part of the annual gathering of samoyeds, dog show and Nordic Championships. This is one of our favourite times of the year and a chance to hang out with a lot of our 2- and 4-legged friends.
Yena and Pushkin were entered at the dog show. Pushkin came away with the best result of 4.th. best male with ck.
I had no team entered at the championships because the girls are too young to participate. That suited me fine as the dogs and I could focus on continuing our trend of very good training runs. Which we did! J
Owe who owns the camp made sure a trail was made on the Ore Lake. This was a good opportunity to introduce the girls to run in an almost featureless environment. Our first run was on the tails of Jytte Strandberg’s team. Her team was quite fast so we really had to put some legs into it to keep up. It was fun to drive in a “convoy” for once instead of all the lonesome runs we had at home. Not that we are bored with those, but it’s nice to have company on the trail once in a while.
Two training runs were taken through the forest, mostly following the competition trail for respectively 4 and 6 km. More training runs on the Ore Lake followed.
This year we had visitors. Helena Björk, which had the girls father Tashow, came to stay with us for some days. She had her four bitches Toya, Nadja, Senta and Volga with her. It was really nice to meet all and to hear about Tashow and what Helena thought about Yena and Yarohna.
So as usual it was a joy to be in Furudal, hang out with friends and run dogs and it’s a pity the vacation didn’t continue for two month instead of the 10 days we were there.
I have taken a lot of photographs and some of them will eventually be thrown in a gallery once I have gone through them. But, don't keep your breath ;-)