Clips and Fids, or what to do on the last day of the year

Two of the dogs live inside full-time.

Guy (in front) because he's an oldster: I've had him for ten years, and he was about one when I adopted him from the animal shelter.  And Scout because she's Scout, and she is the apple of my husband's eye.  The other four dogs live outside all together in a pen, but come in at night when it's colder than -25.

Scout is visiting her family here.

When Scout and Guy go O-U-T, they get clipped to either the truck or the pen, so we had two leashes with snaps at both ends for this purpose.  Guy has never been a chewer of forbidden items, but Scout occasionally has lapses in judgment that result in a hole in my blanket or little pieces of tissue all over the floor.  A few weeks ago, Scout got impatient about being clipped to the truck and chewed through her leash, so I decided to make a new one.

I pulled out my line-making and harness-repair box:

I took one poly rope end:

and turned it into this:

like this:

The pencil-like metal thing is hollow and called a fid, and helps feed the rope end through the poly rope.

I put a handle in addition to a clip on the other end:

And I was done!

Then I made another one:

They work great, but it's too cold and dark now to take a picture of them in action, so I shall post one later.  In the meantime, it is New Year's Eve, so in honor of new beginnings, here are some pictures of the first time I ever stepped onto a dog sled:

This was about 14 years ago down in Paxson, Alaska.  It was great fun, and a few years later, I started handling for a distance-racing kennel and learned about working with sled dogs, wrestling with sleds and straw and bags of dog food, making lines, and having a sense of humor.

Happy New Year from all of us at Sally's Home for Wayward Huskies, and best wishes for a happy and productive 2012.

明けましておめでとうございます。