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Raegan

Raegan playing in the spring snow [video]

March 21, 2011 by robertforto Leave a Comment

Filed Under: Daily Post, The Future Home of Iditarod Dreams Tagged With: Raegan, robert forto, sleddogs, Team Ineka

Raegan: Birdwatcher

March 17, 2011 by robertforto Leave a Comment

Raegan watching the Magpies as the dance in they warm, late winter weather at our home in Willow, Alaska.

Filed Under: Daily Post, The Future Home of Iditarod Dreams Tagged With: postaday2011, Raegan, robert forto, Willow Alaska

The Future Home of Iditarod Dreams: 31 Days of Horror

October 1, 2010 by robertforto Leave a Comment

The Future Home of Iditarod Dreams: 31 Days of Horror

Every family has some sort of tradition. That is what makes us unique from the rest of middle-class suburbia in the middle of Americana with hot apple pie and the mini van in the driveway. Some of us go all out decorating our houses like Clark Wilhelm “Sparky” Griswold, Jr. and others have a spread on Thanksgiving that could feed a small country in Africa.

But at the Forto household we do something a little bit different. Every October we have what we call the 31 Days of Horror! it is a virtual fright fest every night of the month. Every night we watch a horror movie on the ole’ idiot box. Sure we could be doing other things like chores and homework and nightly sit-in’s around the old Emerson Radio listening to Little Orphan Annie.. but nooooooo we watch HORROR!

This all started when I was a kid and my dad (my parents were divorced at the time, I wonder why…) would take my brother and I to all the scary movies of the day: Nightmare on Elm Street, Evil Dead, Friday the 13th Part 1 to 1000! and when we would stay over we would watch Creature Feature on the tube. Oh I used to love those sleep-overs!

Some of the classics we watch every year like…

Dracula

Frankenstein

The Creature From the Black Lagoon

Halloween of course (both John Carpenter and Rob Zombie’s version). I will say that I think that Zombie’s version of the tale is some of the best the horror genre has to offer.

I watch my all time favorite The Exorcist and even named our new pup after the main character (Reagan)

We watch our share of Stephen King: Cujo and The Shinning

and we always end the month with one of the greatest horror flicks of all time…

I encourage you to start this tradition in your house. If you like to be scared and enjoy a good flick this is it!

Follow me on Facebook and Twitter and each night I will post the movie of the evening and you share yours as well.

Day 1 Movie: Trick ‘r Treat

Day 2 Movie: The Exorcist

Day 3 Movie: Nosferatu

Day 4 Movie: White Zombie

Day 5 Movie: The Serpent and the Rainbow

Day 6 Movie: Creepshow 2

Day 7 Movie: The House of 1000 Corpses

Day 8 Movie: The Blob

Day 9 Movie: The Devils Rejects

Day 10 Movie: The Shinning

Day 11 Movie: The Omen

Day 12 Movie: The Thing

Day 13 Movie: Embrace of the Vampire

Day 14 Movie: (Stephen King’s) Desperation

Day 15 Movie: Dracula (1931)

Day 16 Movie: The Wolfman (1941)

Day 17 Movie: The Amityville Horror

Day 18 Movie: Frankenstein (1931)

Day 19 Movie:  Night of the Living Dead (1968)

Day 20 Movie: Halloween (1978)

Day 21 Movie: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

Day 22 Movie: The Creature from the Black Lagoon

Day 23 Movie: ‘Salem’s Lot

Day 24: Rob Zombie’s Halloween (2007)

Day 25 Movie: Dracula (1992)

Day 26 Movie: Stephen King’s Needful Things

Day 27 Movie: Invasion of the Body Snatchers

Day 28 Movie: Rob Zombie’s Halloween II

Day 29 Movie: Wes Craven’s A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

Day 30 Movie: Friday the 13th

 

I welcome your comments and suggestions. Please comment below.

Robert Forto | Team Ineka | Alaska Dog Works | Mushing Radio |

___________________

Robert Forto is the host of The Dog Works Radio Show and is the training director of Alaska Dog Works. Robert Forto can be reached through his website at www.alaskadogworks.com

Filed Under: Robert Forto, The Future Home of Iditarod Dreams Tagged With: 31 Days of Horror, alaska dog works, canine training, Denver Dog Works, dog doctor radio, dog training alaska, dog training denver, Dreamchaser Leadership, Halloween, Iditarod, Michele Forto, Raegan, robert forto, Team Ineka

The Future Home of Iditarod Dreams: We’re Not in Kansas Anymore…

September 30, 2010 by robertforto Leave a Comment

The Future Home of Iditarod Dreams: We’re Not in Kansas Anymore…

This past weekend I attended a symposium put on by the Willow (Alaska) Dog Mushers Association and lets just say I got schooled! I have called myself a musher for the better part of two decades and after hearing these guys talk I soon realized that everything I have done up to this point was mere child’s play.

In the morning we had short breakout sessions and I learned how to use a GPS in the woods where life just might matter in the case of an emergency. While I was in the Boy Scouts (and earned the Second Class badge, I might add), I must have skipped the map reading and compass orientation session at camp. I soon learned that a compass does not point to the same North as on a map and must be calibrated to do so.

The next session was about outdoor survival. While it was all great information about Cabela’s boots and Smart Wool socks the thing that coming up over and over from the ladies in the groups was how they had such a difficult time when nature called. I had never really thought about that but hey, even at 50 below zero I might think twice about Free Willy.

In the afternoon, Mary Shields, the first woman to ever finish the Iditarod spoke. What inspiration! Ms. Sheilds told stories about the beginning of the Iditarod and how things have changed over the years.

The sessions continued with a segment on how to stretch your kennel dollar–did you know that most mushers spend about a dollar a day per dog on food. Some mushers have a hundred dogs that is 3000 bucks a month!

Later in the afternoon there was great panel discussion on training lead dogs. The panel was a virtual who’s who of some of the greatest mushing names in the sport: Redington, Jonrowe, and Seavey among others.

The evening concluded with an honest to goodness home cooked ham dinner with the local 5th graders acting as servers. It was cute but I bet I got asked if I wanted a refill on water at least a thousand times. We then watched a film on Mary Shields and her run of the Yukon Quest. It was called Season of the Sled Dog.

I have been to a lot of conferences, seminars and talks but I will have to say this is one of the best ones I have ever been to. Who would have thought in a town of just a couple thousand people they could put on such an event. I guess thats why I love this place!

I welcome your comments and suggestions. Please comment below.

Robert Forto | Team Ineka | Alaska Dog Works | Mushing Radio |

___________________

Robert Forto is the host of The Dog Works Radio Show and is the training director of Alaska Dog Works. Robert Forto can be reached through his website at www.alaskadogworks.com

Filed Under: Robert Forto, The Future Home of Iditarod Dreams Tagged With: alaska dog works, canine training, Denver Dog Works, dog doctor radio, dog training alaska, dog training denver, Dreamchaser Leadership, Iditarod, Michele Forto, mush you huskies, Raegan, robert forto, Team Ineka

The Future Home of Iditarod Dreams: Pandemonium and Home Depot

September 9, 2010 by robertforto Leave a Comment

 

Going to college in the Pacific Northwest and practically cutting my teeth in the music world in Seattle in the height of the Grunge Movement I have had my share of great coffee. I have been to the original Starbucks coffee cafe and every mom and pop joint from Beaverton to Key West. I am always looking for just that great cup of Joe that will keep me coming back for more.

I will admit that there is some comfort in knowing that a mega-coffee chain is in your “backyard” sort of like many kids (and parents alike) want to know what fast food places are in the new town that they are moving too. I for one cant stand Mickey D’s and paraphrasing from comedian and Radio God Adam Carolla: we are a nation of fat people and are making our kids weak because kids can no longer pick on the fat kid. For God’s sake they have apples in McDonalds. If I went into a McDonalds when I was a kid I would have had a meltdown kicking and screaming.

Yesterday as I was heading to Home Depot to price out roofing materials for the house I found the Holy Grail of coffee (at least in my opinion) it is called Pandemonium Bookstore and Cafe. They even have Sockeye salmon in the outdoor seating area and I think it has a saddle on it! I ordered a Turtle Latte and was expecting the typical white coffee cup with one of those sissy cardboard sleeves on it. I just have to ask: do places actually make the coffee so hot that someone sued someplace because of it?

The barista gave me one of those little number thingy’s that you set on your table while they prepare your coffee and I headed to a table to wait. When the waitress arrived my drink was in one of those coffee cups like you used to see on the TV show Friend’s (think HUGE fishbowl size), I took one sip and could not believe what my taste buds were experiencing. It was chocolate decadence with a hint of vanilla and a splash of carmel. It was the best D*mn cup of coffee I have had in my life and I almost experienced a moment like on that Meg Ryan movie: When Harry met Sally, well not quite but it was close to those Herbal Essences shampoo commercials anyway.

What do they say on those Folger’s commercials: Good to the Last Drop? With this cup of Joe I could practically lick the cup like little kids do the spoon when mommy is making brownies.

After my caffeine bliss started to set in I headed over across the parking lot to the Home Depot and took Raegan in with me. It was her first trip to the Mega-Lo-Mart that you can practically get lost in. By the way do you remember the old school Bevis and Butthead shows with Mr. Anderson (that soon got his own show as Hank Hill in King of the Hill), the episode I am thinking had something to do with toilet tissue. What a riot!

We priced out steel roofing panels. Way expensive and they no longer make red, and picked up a couple of things including some green paint to paint my dog houses and then headed home.

In the evening it was another night running dogs in the cool night air on some of the best trails I have ever seen and of course I was still zooming from the caffeine kick from hours before. What a treat!

I welcome your comments and suggestions. Please comment below.

Robert Forto | Team Ineka | Alaska Dog Works | Mushing Radio

___________________

Robert Forto is the host of The Dog Works Radio Show and is the training director of Alaska Dog Works. Robert Forto can be reached through his website at www.alaskadogworks.com

Filed Under: Robert Forto, The Future Home of Iditarod Dreams Tagged With: alaska dog works, canine training, Denver Dog Works, dog doctor radio, dog training alaska, dog training denver, Iditarod, Pandemonium Bookstore and Cafe, Raegan, robert forto, sled dogs, Team Ineka

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