Dream Catcher

I made a dream catcher out of Popsicle sticks, string, beads and some feathers. Boiling wood or streaming it makes it flexible, so I boiled some Popsicle sticks for 10-15 minuets until I could bend them easily with my hands. (I burnt my fingers a couple times while I experimented with boil time.) After pulling them out of the water, letting them cool for moment and bending them by hand until they fit into a largish sized can. To prevent warping I tried to stack them on top of each other to keep them straightly bent as they dried. Then I waited a day or two letting them dry in the can.

When the sticks were done I had to come up with a way for them to form a circle. They bent more than I had expected, so I made a 5 pointed star circle. I hot glued it together. I didn't make enough sticks (I broke a couple), so I had to boil some more. They dried faster this time underneath our tortoise light.

Luckily I was able to do this throughout the week in 15 minuets increments. Doing crafts like this helps to reduce stress and helps distract me a little giving my brain a break while I was studying for midterms.
I bought some string, feathers, beads and a gun for Gordon. And I started to weave the "web" of the dream catcher.

Then I added the feathers and dangles. (BTW I'm 'crafting' on Gordon's first target from his own first gun.)

This is the final result.

The two dream catchers I've made this past year.

Iditorod 2015

This year the Iditorod came to Fairbanks. traditionally it starts in anchorage and then restarts in willow. This year due to low snow fall, the restart is happening in Fairbanks. The race runs nearly 1,000 miles to Nome, Alaska. I got to go to the start! As a kid I read book after book about dog sled stories, and this morning I got to see the race itself. So COOL!

The dogs are really hyper and wanting to start. Each pair of dogs on the sled team has thier own handler. Mainly the handler hold the dogs back. They want to start so badly! They've been warming up all morning and now they want to race. The teams take off one at a time in 1 minute intervals. So they don't have a bottle neck as they leave the city. All the dogs were barking and jumping about in the harnesses ready to start.
After they go the musher has the brakes down all the way to keep the dogs from sprinting. Those dogs want to go, go, go!

The dogs are excited to start

'patiently' waiting to start

dogs with handlers before start