Cutting up 1000 lbs of Animal

Yesterday Megan and I cut up 1000 lbs of meat. There was beef, tripe, turkey and chicken skins, and fish. We have an old meat cutter from the 1950s that we use. It took us about 7 1/2 hours nonstop to get it all done. We were cutting the meat into small finger-like pieces, that will be used to feed the dogs when Ken is running the Iditarod. There are checkpoints along the Iditarod, where Ken's drop bags will be sent. Then, along the way he will pick up the bags which will have the meat for the dogs, food for himself, clothes and other things he needs replenished during the race. We took advantage of having whole fish around to take a picture for our friend Austin. It was his birthday, and since he is in New Zealand the note makes sense......

Things we’ve learned in Alaska…..some useful, some absurd

1. using a chainsaw and hauling our own wood
2. learning how to stay warm on a 4 wheeler when out colleting wood in -50 degree weather.
3. stuffing pills down dogs throats
4. driving a huge, manual, diesel truck with no heat to haul water from Fairbanks to our house
5. using a skip, jump, slide technique to get down the stairs of our cabin in icy conditions
6. learning to have the strength to drag through the snow and trees behind a 10-dog team hanging onto the sled through huge snow drifts….because if you let go you could lose the team and dogs could get injured
7. splitting wood and starting fires to heat our cabin….
8. Carrying our house dogs down the loft stairs in the morning, because otherwise they just jump…..retired sled dogs aren’t quite like normal pet dogs
9. Learning to pass off frost bite as “a trip to Florida”
10. Finding the usefulness of allergy medicine….so I can still kiss dogs even though when I arrived here I found out that I was allergic
11. Starting the generator, filling diesel tanks, lighting the oil heater….and other odd things to keep up with living “off the grid”
12. Being appreciative of living in a dry cabin, so when you have to go outside to pee in the middle of the night you see northern lights
13. Getting really excited to talk to strangers when we go into town, because dogs are only so chatty