Hi Pumpkin,
If you're in Northern Wisconsin and have been around for that long, surely you must have known Carolyn Ritter and my dear friends the Serbouseks!? Carolyn used to live in Mercer, Deb and Steve still live in Iron River (Windigo Outfitters). Lost touch with Carolyn after 1993 to my regret; I think having to get out of sleddogs was just too painful for her and she doesn't want to stir old memories.
I am STILL using the incredible H-back harnesses I bought from Deb in 1991, they just never seem to wear out! Once I had tried out those harnesses I never put another X-back on a dog; they are so great for my kind of back-country dog driving.
"Bug" is a doll, what an aloof, self-contained, contemplative expression she has! Know what you mean about those once-in-a-lifetime leaders. I have one myself in Tonya of Seppala who'll be ten on the first day of November. Fortunately, her young niece Lizaveta ("Little Lizzy Lineout") bids fair to become an even better leader than Tonner. Guess I'm just plain blessed in the dogs I chose as lifetime associates. Seppalas are SOOO cooperative and well-behaved, they spoil a person for anything else.
Jeffrey