Hank Debruin & Tanya McCready have been married for 17 years and started their husky family before starting their child family.

They now have four children, Logan, 12, Dustyn, 10, Michaela, 6, and Jessica, 4 years old. They live in Haliburton, Ontario, Canada, in a stunning wilderness area full of lakes and ridges and hills which sits on the doorstep of Algonquin Park and their life revolves around dogs!

We first profiled them in Dec. 2010, just before Hank ran the Yukon Quest race, in Canada in early 2011. Right now, as this interview is republished, Hank is out on the trail running the Iditarod! You can follow the race and his progress at the official race site.

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Tink…tink…tink…It’s peaceful here in the forest, the sun on my face, the wind sighing through the bare branches, full buckets in both hands; listening to the delightful  tink…tink…tink of the sap hitting the bottom of newly emptied metal buckets. It’s been a good year, a longer and more productive season than we’ve ever had. But I guess I’m getting a little ahead of myself.

Let’s back up to mid-February. (more…)

Image credit: Tony Miller

Winter has come to New England. It isn’t even Christmas yet and we’ve got more snow that we had all year last year.

As I sit to write this article the scene is peaceful: snow is still falling, Gabriel is reading on the couch by the light of the Christmas tree and quiet music is adding to the atmosphere, but it hasn’t been this idyllic all day. Not by far.

We’ve had at least twenty inches so far today, of the fluffy white stuff. The snow on the roof of the barn is easily a meter deep by now. Gabe will be raking the roof in the morning. The beautiful snow can also be the destructive snow: this afternoon it tore my gutter, soffeting and facia board off of the side of my house; with a huge crash, it all landed on the deck.

This was the straw that broke the Mama’s back. I had a good cry before I called our neighbor to help me (of course my husband is out of town). I’d like to say I’d stopped with the crying by the time he arrived, but I’d be lying.

Thank God for good men in the community who will bail out a Mama in need AND snow blow the entire driveway, shovel the deck, rake the house roof and trade the whole three hours work for a plate of spaghetti.

With peace restored to the house, I’ve had the chance to think about all of the things I love about winter and contemplate some of our favorite winter activities that don’t cost a dime.  On the off chance that you’re getting even HALF as much snow as we are, I’d like to share them with you: (more…)