March is Women's History Month, and we can't think of a better way to celebrate than to continue our push to get the word "lumberjill" recognized! As some of you may know, we have been working hard to get the word "lumberjill" recognized, and to have its place in the dictionary where it belongs...

Have you ever attempted to look up the definition of the word lumberjill? You won't find it in a printed dictionary. You can do online searches through several different dictionaries. Type lumberjill into the Collins Online Dictionary search bar and it will tell you that there are no results found, then offer several variations of the word lumbermill instead. The Cambridge Dictionary offers up the words lumbering, lumberjack and lumberjacks as the words it believes you are trying to find. Macmillan Dictionary will ask if you meant lumbering, lumberjack or lumberyard. And... No, Dictionary.com, I was not looking for the word "lambkill"!!!
 
Lumberjills played a huge role in history! Just as the cultural icon Rosie the Riveter worked in factories and shipyards during WWII, the Women's Timber Corps, also known as lumberjills, worked in the forests. These women, and girls (several still in their teens) worked tirelessly cutting trees, hauling logs, milling timbers, and keeping factories supplied with lumber while the men were away at war.
Without the women filling these jobs there would have been no way to keep up with the wartime demands for ships and docks, airplane propellers, ammunition cases and boxes, buildings, or bridges... just to name a few!
If you ever get the chance, read the book They Sawed Up a Storm, written by Sarah Shea Smith. It's a short, but incredibly interesting read about the women who successfully ran the sawmill at Turkey Pond, New Hampshire in the 1940's. As the book states, "By 1942, the use of women as a source of labor was not unusual. More than six million women joined the workforce during World War II, many in jobs previously held by men. Women worked in shipyards, including the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, as welders, riveters, painters, and machine operators. Women drove trucks and buses, flew planes, manufactured guns, worked on the railroads, and served in many (at the time) nontraditional jobs."
 
New words are added to dictionaries all the time. Just last year Merriam-Webster added 455 new words to their dictionary! Lumberjill was not one of them. But "dad-bod" and "faux-hawk" were.... as well as "fluffernutter"... which, as someone who has been enjoying the deliciousness of fluffernutters for 40 years, I was quite surprised wasn't already in there!
I would also be willing to bet money that somewhere, at some time, during WWII lumberjills ate fluffernutters.
 
We've done plenty of research to find out how one would go about getting a new word added to the dictionary. It comes down to that word’s usage. When Merriam-Webster begins to consider a new word, they want to see that it is commonly used and well known. And they will do research to find this out. So, we've been asking everyone... and we will continue to ask them... to use the word "lumberjill" often. Write about it, post on social media about it, tag it on Instagram!! Maybe write a blog about lumberjills... or just share this one! Consider contacting your local newspapers, magazines, or news reporters... they might agree that it's an interesting story... especially during Women's History Month.
We have also contacted Merriam-Webster. We reached out early on in our campaign, and we will give it some time and reach out again. We definitely don't want to be a nuisance... we just want to get an important part of history recognized! As Rosie the Riveter would say, "We can do it!"

​With the holiday season already here, we wanted to share a few of our favorite gift ideas with you! I don't know about you, but I always end up doing my gift shopping very much last minute.... so here are a few ideas that we think you all might enjoy as much as we do! 

Hilltop Boilers Maple Syrup 
www.hilltopboilersmaplesyrup.com
Maple syrup, maple candies, maple whoopie pies & maple fudge.... whatever your maple needs are, Hilltop Boilers has it!! Including all grades of Pure Maine Maple Syrup! Located in Newfield, Maine, you can swing by their sugarhouse and gift shop, or order online! We can't get enough of their syrup! Here at our house, we use it on waffles & pancakes, french toast.... in our coffee and in our baking! You absolutely cannot go wrong giving the gift of Maine Maple Syrup! 
  
Spandits
www.spandits.com
Do you have a runner on your list to buy for? From leggings, to shorts, to hats & headbands...​Spandits is our favorite athletic apparel company! With their variety of super fun prints, you'll be able to find something for everyone... men, women & kids! Even if you're not shopping for a runner... Spandits hats are absolutely amazing for anyone who spends anytime outdoors! They are perfect for hiking, biking or snowshoeing!! If you are a first time Spandits buyer, you can use the discount code "ALISSA10" for 10% off your order!!
  
AxeWomen Gear
www.axewomen.com 
The obvious gift suggestion... AxeWomen shirts, stickers & tote bags!! These make great gift ideas for your favorite lumberjack or lumberjill! We have shirts for men, women & kids! Bandanas for your furry family member! A variety of sticker options to put on your car or truck, tool boxes, notebook, computer.... or anywhere you can think of!! And... one of our best sellers of 2021... AxeWomen tote bags!! Order your AxeWomen gear online, from our Wood Shed Gift Shop! 
 
AxeWomen Axe-Kickin’ Hot Sauces 
www.axewomen.com 
New this year... our line of Axe-Kickin’ Hot Sauces! Perfect for the foodie on your shopping list! We have a huge selection... from mild to wild! Tons of different flavors and heat levels! Perfect on tacos, burritos, omelets... in chili... anywhere that you might like a little kick of flavor or spice!! Also available in the Wood Shed Gift Shop . 
 
Precision Axes 
www.precisionaxes.com
Are you looking for an axe for your favorite lumberjack or lumberjill? We love Precision Axes! Made right here in the USA, their high quality, beautiful handcrafted competition throwing or chopping axes are the perfect gift idea! They also make amazing kindling hatchets, as well as custom products! 
 
Lurettie Jewelry 
If you are looking for unique, handmade jewelry, made right here in Maine... look no further than Lurettie Jewelry! These are custom powder coated genuine fishing lures, made into absolutely beautiful pieces of jewelry!! The earrings are all made with hypoallergenic surgical stainless steel wire. Personally, I own several pair of these... and love them!!!
 
Trademarks Flower Farm
https://trademarksflowers.com/
Here's a great gift idea for our New York friends! Check out Trademarks Flower Farm, a small, sustainable flower farm in Clifton Springs, NY.  You can purchase flower subscriptions now, for your friends and family to enjoy during the growing months! 
 
And finally... the holidays are not just for buying gifts and giving material objects. Please keep in mind your local animal shelters and rescue organizations! One of my personal favorites is:
 
New England Lab Rescue 
www.newenglandlabrescue.com
Since 2010, New England Lab Rescue has been rescuing, transporting, saving and helping dogs find their forever homes. And... not just Labs! Our Peter PlottHound was rescued by New England Lab Rescue off the streets of Atlanta, and transported to Maine, where he found his home! We love to donate to this very deserving non-profit organization whenever we can! 
 
Please consider your local shelters as well. If you can't donate money, please think about donating food, bedding, cleaning supplies, toys... or your time. Give your favorite local shelter a call and ask them what they need this holiday season! 

If you head just a little bit north (and inland) from the coastline you can find some amazing hidden gems! Maine is actually well known for its logging history... and there are several unique places you can visit to learn a little more about that! And maybe even escape some of the crowds that tend to stick to the coastal towns! 
 
According to an article from The Maine Highlands, "Logging in Maine began in the early 1600’s when English explorers first cut trees on Monhegan Island. In 1634, the first sawmill powered by water, was built in South Berwick. By 1832, Bangor had become the largest shipping port for lumber in the world. At times, as many as 3,000 ships were anchored there and one could almost walk across ship decks to Brewer. 8,737,628,202 board feet of lumber were shipped from Bangor between 1832 and 1888."

Bangor is just one hour (or maybe closer to two with summertime traffic) from Bar Harbor. It is definitely worth spending at least a day exploring the city and its surrounding areas. 
One of my favorite photo ops in Bangor is the giant Paul Bunyan statue! He stands 31 feet tall, holding a double bit axe over his shoulder with one hand and a peavey in his other hand. He was built in 1959 for Bangor's 125th birthday... and said to mark the birthplace of everyone's favorite lumberjack! Some other states may try to argue and claim that he was actually born elsewhere.... but I've heard that his birth certificate is still located, and even on display, within Bangor's city limits. 
It's said that he could quite possibly be the world's tallest Paul Bunyan statue... and... he was built to withstand hurricane force winds! Definitely worth a stop!! You can find him standing in Bass Park.
If you're already in Bangor visiting Paul, you should really take a drive just a few miles into the town of Bradley and check out the Maine Forest & Logging Museum . You can also read about it here in my last blog !

If you're up for some adventure, and really want to leave the crowded tourist destinations behind you, then pack up your canoe, tent and bug spray and drive just a few hours north of Bangor into the North Maine Woods and the Allagash Wilderness Waterway. You'll have to check in at one of their check points and pay a fee. Make sure you have a high clearance vehicle with 4-wheel-drive and plenty of extra fuel, food, and water! We spent a week camping up there last summer. Amazing!! Aside from the one really nice family from New Jersey that we managed to run into twice, we never saw another human until we checked out! The wildlife was incredible, and the night sky was unbelievable. 
The North Maine Woods region covers more than 3.5 million acres of forest! Most of this land is currently owned by timber corporations and is actively being worked. A few words of caution - It is up to you to watch out for logging trucks! They have the right of way. If you meet one, or notice one coming up behind you - pull completely over and let them by! Also... watch out for moose!!!
While you're still up in that area of Northern Maine I want to make two more suggestions of places that you should look into and try to see before you leave. If you can, you should get out to the Ambajejus Boom House, located on an island in Ambajejus Lake. It was used right up until 1971 to house booming crews! You'll need to take a boat to get there! 
And finally, you should take the hike through the woods to find the abandoned Allagash trains... ghost trains some people call them. Sitting between Eagle Lake and Chamberlain Lake are two abandoned steam locomotives. They were used to haul logs during the 1920's... but sadly, just left there in the 1930's.

Maine has so much to offer! So much history here in our woods and rivers! When you come to visit, please take the time to research all the regions of Maine... and give things off the beaten path a chance! You might be surprised by what you'll find!

We are so excited to announce that our first real, in person.... with crowds even.... event of 2021 will be happening this week!!! That's right! Our last show was over six months ago. And we are so ready to be back out there on the road, entertaining families, traveling, and making new friends! 
 
Our summer season is looking busy already, with shows scheduled throughout the US. Come see us in Iowa, Nebraska, Mississippi, West Virginia, or Vermont this year!! (Just to name a few states you'll be able to find us in!)
 
But, back to this week's event...

We will be at the Maine Forest & Logging Museum in Bradley, Maine! By far, one of our favorite venues! We've performed and provided demos and lessons here several times over the past few years... and Mike and I are both on the museum's board of directors!
It's a beautiful "outdoor" museum that was incorporated in 1960 to help preserve and teach some of Maine's unique forestry and logging history.
On the museum grounds you can find a covered bridge, a water powered sawmill, a blacksmith shop, a variety of Lombards and antique chainsaws, as well as a machine shop, barns, cabins, gardens, trails, and interesting artifacts... all surrounded by beautiful, wooded property with ponds and streams!
Since we will be performing in June this year the alewives will still be running! By running I mean swimming and leaping up their fish ladder... something everyone should witness at some point in their lives! Don't know what an Alewife is?? They are a fish... a species of herring to be more specific. They can be found along the East Coast, in the Atlantic Ocean, in ponds, lakes, rivers and streams. They can actually be found all the way into the Great Lakes!
They usually spawn from March to June... making their way from the ocean, up streams, and rivers, to breed and lay their eggs in lakes and ponds.
It's amazing to see! Clear streams will literally turn black with the amount of alewives swimming upstream, fighting the current! 
 
Throughout a normal year the Maine Forest & Logging Museum hosts several events and tours, besides being a beautiful backdrop for weddings and photo shoots! 
For decades now, the museum has prided itself with helping people find "their place in the woods." As you can imagine, it was incredibly hard on the museum and its staff and volunteers to cancel all last year's events. We are all looking forward to opening back up and sharing this amazing location with everyone again! 
 
Needless to say, we are thrilled to make this week's event at the museum our kick-off to 2021! 
We will be providing axe throwing demos to an elementary school tour on Thursday! On Friday we will have a few special guests trying their hand at axe throwing. And Saturday, June 5th will be the big day at the museum! The Lombard log-hauler will be out and running, the blacksmith shop will be fired up, the gift shop will be open and the AxeWomen will be chopping, sawing, axe throwing and log rolling all day for the public!! 
 
If you are in Maine this weekend you should definitely make the trip to the museum to see it for yourself! If you are planning a trip to Maine sometime this summer or fall, please make the Maine Forest & Logging Museum a destination! It is a must-see here in the Maine woods! 

It was so interesting and enjoyable researching and writing a blog about the Women's Timber Corps that I thought I'd dive a little deeper into the history of Land Girls and Lumberjills! And... several of you seemed to enjoy reading it! (If you haven't read it already, you can read that blog here!) It's such an important part of history...

​For those of you who haven't heard of the Women's Timber Corps, this is where the term "lumberjill" came from back in WWII. 
While the USA had Rosie the Riveter, other countries had Land Girls (the Women's Land Army working on farms and such) and Lumberjills (the Women's Timber Corps) who cut trees and harvested timber for telegraph poles and railroad ties... who milled lumber for manufacturing ships and aircraft... and opened land to create pastures and fields for farming and growing crops! 
 
In a story about the Women's Timber Corps, published by Forestry and Land Scotland I came across an interesting quote: 
"In the spring of 1941, Ernest Bevin, Minister for Labour and National Service, declared that ""One million wives were wanted for war work; inconvenience would have to be suffered and younger women would have to go where their services were required. It would be better to suffer temporarily than to be in perpetual slavery to the nazis." "
 
Here are a few interesting statistics about the Women's Timber Corps: 
- Pay ranged from 35 to 46 shillings per week for tree-fellers. Measurers (who assessed the amount of timber in the trees and surveyed new woodlands to cut) earned up to 50 shillings per week. 
Keep in mind that by 1944 a quart of milk cost nearly an entire shilling!
- Women were recruited to the Women's Land Army and the Women's Timber Corps from the age of 17... but some records suggest that some might have been as young as 14!
- At the end of WWII several of the Lumberjills who were considered skilled enough were posted to Germany to help salvage the sawmills there. 
- Unfortunately, at the end of the war there was no official recognition for these women. They were even required to hand their uniforms back in! But in 2007 a life-sized bronze statue of a Lumberjill was unveiled at The Lodge Forest Visitor Centre in Aberfoyle, Scotland. 
 
I am very much looking forward to international travel again. This memorial is definitely on my "bucket list" to visit someday!

I know I have not been keeping up on my blogging this month... I apologize... we've been juggling several different projects here! 
 
Our crazy busy time actually began back in November... that's when we went to New Gloucester, Maine and spent a day with VAST (Veteran's Adaptive Sports and Training) to provide some axe throwing demos. 
It was just about that time that we knew we were onto a pretty good idea...

​We own lots of really fun equipment... like axes and axe throwing targets and log rolling logs... and being that a lot of winter events still aren't happening due to the pandemic, most of our really fun equipment has been sitting, unused. We figured... why not offer our equipment and lessons to veterans’ groups? 
Right after that day we started planning for our next event! We planned out and hosted a Women Veterans Axe Throwing Event in Conway, New Hampshire in January. That day was also a great success and made us realize that we wanted to be able to offer these lessons and events all over the country as we start to travel for shows again this summer! 
So, we put a real plan in place... we officially launched a new division of our company! We proudly, officially, announced "Woods & Warriors" just last week! We are already planning axe throwing and log rolling mini camps for May! 
 
While being super excited and completely consumed with Woods & Warriors, we have also been booking several AxeWomen shows for the upcoming season! It's really looking like things are turning around and venues are opening back up for the 2021 season! We are remaining extremely optimistic! We already have performances scheduled in Iowa, Nebraska, Mississippi, Vermont, New Hampshire, and West Virginia... just to name a few!! (You can always find our full schedule on our Events page!)
 
And... since we are filling up our summer and fall schedule so quickly with shows we realized that we needed to get a good head start on our firewood at our house. There's a good chance we could be on the road right up until Thanksgiving, or even a little longer! That would leave us with no time to prepare our firewood...
So, we've been cutting, splitting, stacking, and storing enough wood to keep us warm throughout next winter as well! It feels good to be so far ahead!
 
Another exciting project we've been working on has been designing, planning, and ordering a new trailer for our show! It's being built, right now, as I write this, in a factory down in Georgia! We are so excited to go pick it up next month! Then the real work begins, of outfitting the inside with customized storage areas for axes, chainsaws, pools, and log rolling logs!! There will be a place for everything, and everything will have its place! 
 
So... that's just a little bit of what we've been up to. We are definitely keeping busy! What's that saying? "The rabbit always runs fastest with the fox on his heels..."??? Well... we did have snowshoe hare tracks hopping down our driveway last week! 

Axe throwing targets. As you can imagine... the bigger, the better! (It's easier to hit something the size of a barn door than something the size of a postage stamp!)
That being said... axe throwing targets are not the most convenient thing to travel with - trust me, I know!! They are literally just big, heavy, tree stumps. I've cut and dragged countless targets from deep in the woods! I've driven hundreds of them coast to coast over the years... 

I've flown with one once... I've wrestled them in and out of elevators and rental cars... rolled them through fairs and festivals, conventions and tradeshows... brought one to Hollywood for Queen Latifah, and hauled another one through downtown New York City for Harry Connick Jr.!
 
Axe throwing targets seem to be the one thing I overlook until just before we're heading out on the road to a show or demo. Then, once I realize we need one, it's a scramble to find just the right one! 
Sometimes we're lucky and a nearby log yard will have a few big stumps we can cut targets out of. But usually we're not that lucky! 
Sometimes our targets decide to take their final throws in the middle of shows. That happened once halfway through the month long LA County Fair in California a few years back! Our target split right in half... no amount of ratchet straps could hold it together... it was done. Where were we supposed to find an axe throwing target overnight in LA?? We ended up finding a scrap pile in the back of a city maintenance yard that had a few dead palm trees in it! So, we cut a slice of palm tree stump, painted rings on it, bolted it to our stand... and the show went on without a hitch the next day! Who knew... palm trees make ok axe throwing targets! 
 
Another time, in the Ozark Mountains, our target did the same thing. Split right in half during a show! This time I was able to put a ratchet strap around it and hold it together for the rest of the day... But we knew it wouldn't last for long. Thankfully during the final show of the day we had a family of loggers in the audience! They noticed right away that our target was struggling! After the show they asked if we wanted to come out to their property and cut a new one the next morning. Of course we did! 
The next morning Andrea and I loaded up a chainsaw in the back of the truck, called the loggers and told them we were on our way. We asked for their address to put into our GPS. But they told us that GPS couldn't find them. They gave us the name of a grocery store in a neighboring town and told us to look for their truck. Once we pulled up beside them in the parking lot, we were told to follow them. We drove out of town... eventually the pavement ended... we drove on unmarked dirt roads (needing 4-wheel-drive at times) through the mountains for miles! Our GPS unit didn't even show the roads! It was just a black screen with our truck in the middle! And... we had no cell phone signal! The other AxeWomen back at the hotel couldn't get ahold of us... and they had no idea where we were going! 
Eventually the trees cleared, and we drove out into a field and a log yard in the beautiful Ozark Mountains! We cut new targets, got a tour of their logging operation, and had a nice visit with their entire family.
After thanking them and saying goodbye, and thankfully remembering our way out of the maze of unmarked dirt roads, we had a good laugh at our morning's adventure... but also realized that things could have taken a very different turn if they hadn't been such good people! 
 
The constant hunt for axe throwing targets is always an adventure... just like traveling the world with a team of AxeWomen and a goofy PlottHound! Something we wouldn't trade for the world!!

​Something that means a lot to me has always been not being wasteful. I hate throwing away food. I hate throwing away clothes that don't fit, or that I don't wear. And I really hate wasting wood. 
Most of these are avoidable... a compost bin took care of bits and scraps of food, so I didn't feel wasteful there, since I was recycling things to go back into our gardens... (that was, until the bear dragged our compost bin away...! )
Clothing can be donated and end up with someone who will wear and enjoy it. 

Wood. As you can imagine, we use a lot of it in our profession! The idea of cutting down a tree, only to chop it up for demonstrations or competitions, has never been ok with me. 
We make sure we get all the possible use out of each log we put in our shows. 
We make sure that after a log gets chopped in half, we use it for chainsaw or crosscut saw events, cutting it into disks (or cookies.) Then those cookies usually end up as fun souvenirs for kids to bring home. Any part of our logs that don't get used at a show usually end up going to someone for firewood, or a kids camp for bonfires, or one time we even had a zoo ask for a few chunks of our logs for their hippopotamus couple to play with in their pool!! That was an interesting request! 
We also end up with a few used practice logs in our yard throughout the year. Usually, they become kindling. But, recently, I have taken up a new hobby! I've been learning how to carve spoons! 
It's something I have always wanted to learn, but never had time. 2020 definitely gave us a little free time! 
I've learned a lot so far... but I have so much more to learn!!
There was a great story in Popular Woodworking Magazine recently, written by Peter Follansbee about carving spoons. "A wooden spoon – you can get one for a dollar in many places. It’s just a stick with a hollow shaped at one end. Why go to any bother over such a thing? Use them to stir sauces, dole out rice and beans, then forget about them. But like much in woodworking, the hand-carved spoon is in another sphere than its mass-produced substitute."
 
I thought this was a great quote! It's true... I could buy dozens of mass-produced wooden spoons for inexpensive prices. 
Honestly, I have a kitchen full of store-bought wooden spoons and spatulas that I use daily and absolutely love! 
But the idea of hand carving spoons has always interested me! It's something that you don't necessarily need a wood shop to work on... you can do it almost anywhere, and with minimal tools. This winter I've really enjoyed sitting inside, in front of our wood stove, carving. 

​It's fun to come up with a shape that I want to aim for, and then watching how it actually turns out! Its fun seeing the grain in the wood and working with it to carve away the shape of a spoon out of a block of wood! And it's really cool to have these new spoons end up in our kitchen, stirring or serving our meals! 
I'm looking forward to learning more and becoming more advanced in this new skill! 
Who knows... maybe everyone in our family will be getting a hand carved wooden spoon next Christmas!!

Back in the late spring / early summer when I shared the blog about taking up jogging (you can read it here) I promised to let you all know how it progressed. My goals were to get a little healthier and hopefully run a 5K by fall. 
I hadn't run since back when I was on my high school track & field team (and I ran as little as possible then! ).... I turned 40 this year... so, you can safely say it's been a while!!
Mike had been suggesting that I start jogging with him for a few years now... but since I hadn't done it for over twenty years, I didn't believe I could...

​We started slowly, in the spring... jogging maybe a half a mile each morning. I was so proud when I reached my mini goal of making it to an entire mile! 
It was fun to watch my fitness level progress! It wasn't long before my breathing was getting better (I've struggled with asthma my whole life... and get winded super easy!) and I was waking up each morning really looking forward to our new morning routine... wake up, run, come home, make a healthy protein shake, and get to work! I noticed my energy level increasing... and just felt overall "good!!!" I was motivated to get up and going earlier than ever before! 
As the summer went on, our runs continued to get a little bit longer. Peter PlottHound even started jogging with us most mornings! We were able to see a change in his fitness level right away... and he really seems to enjoy running with us! It only took him about two mornings to figure out that jogging was jogging and not his usual sniff everything along the way walk. And he was just fine waiting until our cool down walk to start his sniffing! 
My big goal that I had set pretty early on was to attempt a 5K... and be able to run the entire way. 
Unfortunately, being 2020 and all, every 5K that I knew of was canceled! But... several races switched things up and went "virtual!" Which was great for us! 
New England Lab Rescue, who originally rescued Pete from down south, hosted their very first 5K fundraising race this year! It was such a great idea! Several family members and friends sponsored Team AxeWomen and we quickly reached our fundraising goal! It was perfect... we got to donate and raise money to save pups in need and they provided exactly what I needed to reach my goal of running a 5K!
Since it was a virtual race, we could run it anywhere we wanted. We could track our times and distance on our FitBits, and then simply submit our info and photos to the race website. 
We found the perfect place to run our 5K... a one mile long, private, dirt road. A 5K is 3.1 miles. So, just slightly more than three times back and forth on this road was all we needed! Unfortunately, the day of our 5K Peter PlottHound couldn't join us as planned... he had needed five teeth pulled just two days before (3 molars and 2 front teeth!) and wasn't feeling up to it. So, he waited at the end with his Grandpa (my Dad) for us. 
We double checked the distance, put on our FitBits, I put on my favorite Spandits (my most favorite running pants ever!!), laced up our sneakers and went for it!! 
I am proud to say that I successfully ran the entire 5K!! And really enjoyed it! Mike made it fun and encouraged me the whole time. 
Pete got to join us for the cool down walk and photos afterwards! 
I actually feel like a real jogger now! Definitely looking forward to our next 5K!

​Axe throwing lessons during a pandemic?? Who knew?!
When our 2020 touring schedule suddenly went from 20 events to 4, we knew we were in for a hugely different year!
We were so thankful that we still had shows and events on our calendar... unfortunately, we saw too many of our friends be nearly unemployed for most of 2020. 
We fit in a few events in the spring right before things started to close down. Then we were lucky enough to still get to go to Iowa in August and then Nebraska in October!! 
We all love performing for crowds! We can all still chop logs and throw axes in our own backyards! Those of us who live near the water can still log roll. But...

...the one thing we all knew we would miss the most this year was going to be giving lessons! Over the years the AxeWomen have taught hundreds of kids (and adults... but mostly kids) how to log roll and how to axe throw. Keeping everyone's safety in mind, we just couldn't come up with a safe way to give log rolling lessons in our small pool... if we had access to a large beach at a lake or pond that could have been different... but traveling with a 20ft x 20ft pool makes social distancing a struggle! 
We put a ton of time and effort into figuring out and planning how to travel and safely perform AxeWomen shows this year. Honestly, the fact that we haul a 30-foot trailer was probably the one thing that helped us the most this year! We were able to pick up the ladies on the team as we drove across the country, after we had quarantined for two weeks. We could all bring our own sleeping bags, sheets, pillows and coolers of food, and pack them in the trailer. We researched ahead of time and rented state park cabins to stay in while in Iowa and Nebraska. The cabins had full kitchens... so we never had to go out to eat. And the huge diesel tank in our truck lets us drive nearly all day before we need to fill up... really limiting our exposure to others along the way! 
It was nice to learn that with some research ahead of time to find out what all the state travel rules and guidelines were, we could definitely travel safely and responsibly in 2020!

​We were recently asked if axe throwing demos and lessons could be done safely... at first the thought of sharing axes really scared me! 
But... the more we thought about it we realized that axe throwing lessons could totally be done safely in a pandemic! Whenever we teach people to axe throw, we are always out in a big open area... perfect for social distancing!! And... a few bottles of disinfectant spray and some disinfectant wipes made the axes perfectly safe! 
Who would have thought that we would be spending 2020 axe throwing with masks and sanitizing axes??? But here we are... doing just that! And feeling thankful that we are!!

​Logging Sports. The definition of logging sports is: "A sport that incorporates old-time as well as modern day logging activities and techniques in a competitive setting. Events can include log chopping, log sawing, tree climbing, axe throwing, log rolling and more."
Logging sports requires the use of trees in most of our events. Over the years we have had more than a few people make unkind comments to us (and about us) because of this. Some of them seem to think that we are just running through the woods with our chainsaws, cutting down every tree in sight for the fun of it! 
I assure you... we are not! 
I would go so far as to even consider myself one of the biggest "tree huggers" around! 

I grew up playing in the woods. I could spend all day, every day exploring the woods surrounding my parents’ house when I was little. I remember one time, my dad giving me a hatchet... I brought it out behind their house when I was maybe 8 years old or so. There was a small, leaning yellow birch over the stream I always played in. I started chopping it... got half way through the base of it... then, felt so bad that I was killing it that I immediately stopped, grabbed a handful of wet moss, packed it into the notch I had made, then tied some strands of tall grass around it to try to save it. Well... 30 years later... that tree is still there... still leaning over that stream. 
We are huge believers in sustainable forestry! What exactly is sustainable forestry?  According to the Rainforest Alliance: For many, the term “sustainable forestry” may seem like an oxymoron. How can logging ever be sustainable when, by definition, it requires that trees be cut down? The complete answer is complex, but if we had to reduce it to one word, it would be “balance.” The hallmark of sustainable forestry, from a purely ecological perspective, is the extent to which forestry practices mimics natural patterns of disturbance and regeneration. Sustainable forestry balances the needs of the environment, wildlife, and forest communities—supporting decent incomes while conserving our forests for future generations. There are many practical steps that a community or business can take to protect the health and longevity of a forest while still profiting from the production and sale of timber and other forest products, such as nuts, fruits, oils, and plants.

Most of the chopping and sawing logs we use in our shows come from log yards... they had already been cut for one reason or another. Maybe a forester was making more room for other trees to succeed... maybe they had blown down in a storm... 

When we aren't traveling to compete or put on shows, Mike and I both work in the woods quite often. We have taken on a few habitat restoration projects... we cut some firewood (mostly from already dead, dying, or diseased trees) and we really love the trail clearing jobs we've been chosen for. 
We own a few acres of land in the Maine woods... with our cute little house plopped right in the middle of all the trees! We have actually planted more trees than we have cut here. I am such a tree hugger and animal lover that I have refused to cut down a few dead spruces that "possibly" have squirrel nests in them. So, there they stand... precariously, over our roof... Mike always points them out to me before each storm. And I always beg to take them down "sometime... but not quite yet..." 
The next time you get the chance to watch one of our shows please take a minute to think about where our logs might have come from... and where they might end up. We "recycle" all of our logs. Most of our chopping logs end up being sawing logs. Most of the disks (or cookies) from the sawing logs are signed and given away as souvenirs. Any wood that gets left behind turns into firewood for someone else. 
We truly love trees, forests & nature! And hope that you enjoy it as much as we do! 

​Today is October 1st... for the past several years October has usually been the month that things start to slow down for us. We usually have one or two shows or competitions... but it's normally the month that we eventually make our way back home after several months on the road... in the truck... in hotels... performing... competing... and enjoying all the adventures along the way! 
We would normally be opening our home back up, mowing a very tall lawn, starting to split and stack firewood for the winter and unpacking the AxeWomen trailer in order to store it and move back home! 
But not this year. Things are slightly reversed. We've been home for most of the summer... our lawn has been beautifully mowed all season, all of our firewood is already cut, split and stacked in the woodshed... and we are actually in the middle of packing up the trailer to travel for a few upcoming shows later this month! 
Having competed in logging sports for twenty years now... and traveling with the AxeWomen show for the past ten years... as you can imagine, it's been a while since I've actually been able to fully enjoy an entire Maine summer at home! 
It has been a fun and interesting learning experience! Here are just a few of the things that have kind of surprised me...

​-- We had to install an air conditioner! Being on the road for the hottest months of the year, I never knew how hot it actually got inside our house! Surprisingly, we had several days of over ninety degrees... outside... as well as inside! 
-- Even during a pandemic, Maine's tourism industry was insanely booming! We went to Bar Harbor one time this summer... I was happy for the local businesses that rely on the tourism... but, personally, I'll wait until things slow down a little before wanting to go back! (I can't believe that I actually used to fight that traffic on a daily basis all through my teenage years to work in Bar Harbor each night!! And then... go back on my days off to rollerblade around town with my friends!!)
-- Gardens need A LOT of watering during a hot summer with a drought!! This is where we spent a lot of our time this summer... landscaping, home improvements and (one of my favorite things) gardening!!
There were so many nights that, after working around the yard or on the house all day, Mike and I would say "Let's just take a few minutes to water the lawn and the gardens... then we'll make dinner..." Most nights it would be nearly dark before we finished watering everything!!
But, it's been well worth the time we spent! We are still picking tomatoes, beans, and jalapenos! Our refrigerator is loaded with pickles from our cucumbers and cowboy candy (recipe can be found at the bottom of this blog! ) from our jalapenos!  Our pumpkins are just starting to turn orange! And our flowers are still full of honeybees! 
We've had two nights that the temperature dropped below freezing... we scrambled around just before dark both nights... (well... actually, the first night was well after dark)  making sure everything was covered! We used every tarp, drop cloth and extra blanket we could find! We packed all the hanging flower baskets and potted plants into the woodshed! The giant pot of jalapenos on the deck came into our kitchen! 
Again... definitely worth the work! Since those two cold nights the temperature has been back up in the 70s most days! Tons of tomatoes still getting ripe on their vines! 
 
We are definitely excited that we have fall shows coming up soon! We have missed traveling and seeing all our friends and fans around the country! And chopping logs in our driveway just isn't quite the same as chopping them in front of excited crowds! 
But I am thankful for this summer at home and the new things I've learned because of it! 

​Here's my Cowboy Candy recipe (also known as “candied jalapenos”!):

• 1/2-pound Jalapeno peppers, sliced (about 10-12 average sized jalapenos)
• 1 cup sugar
• ½ cup apple cider vinegar

Stir together the sugar and vinegar in a pan.
Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a low simmer until the sugar dissolves into a syrup.
Add the jalapeno pepper slices and mix to evenly coat them with the syrup.
Simmer them about 4 minutes. They will darken a bit as they cook and absorb some of the sugars.
Transfer the candied jalapeno peppers to cleaned jars, then fill the jars with the remaining syrup. Just pour the boiling syrup right in. You can cool it slightly first if you’d like.
Wipe the rim of the jar then cover and store in the refrigerator for up to 3 months.
 
These are a great side... we love them with mac and cheese! They are amazing on burgers or sandwiches! They are also a great snack right from the jar!!
Hope you enjoy!!

Throughout my past 20 years of traveling to fairs and festivals across North America to compete in and demonstrate logging sports, I've seen some pretty cool competitions outside of my lumberjill world...
I've always enjoyed watching the herding dog competitions, the dairy goat shows, the logging truck games at the Fryeburg Fair (where part of the competition is to pick up a pail of water by its handle with the truck's grapple!)... but a few years ago, I stumbled across a new favorite... The Skillet Toss!! Yep... a competition to see how far you can throw a cast iron frying pan!! This contest is usually only available to the ladies. (Some fairs will offer an anvil toss for the men! ) The rules seem to differ just slightly from fair to fair... but stay generally the same...here are a couple of examples... 

...Each lady gets either 2 or 3 attempts to throw it. The furthest distance is the one that counts. The pan is always supplied by the fair. It's either cast iron or steel. About 8-9 inches across. You must throw it underhand and by the handle. There's a line that you cannot step  across without a disqualification. You want to throw the skillet as straight as possible because your distance is measured down the center and any amount from center will be subtracted. 
I've tried researching the history of skillet tossing without much luck. Some stories refer to it as being an old British country fair contest... others say the pioneer women traveling west across the United States started competitions to pass the time. 
Regardless of its history, the skillet toss is an incredibly fun event to watch and / or compete in! Not to brag... but I do have a pretty impressive collection of skillet tossing trophies from the past few years!! 
When I began my skillet tossing career I had no idea that just a few years later I would find myself rescuing old, rusty cast iron pans from antique stores, flea markets and yard sales to take them home, restore them and use them nightly! 
It all began one night by the wood stove... I was flipping through a Southern Living magazine and found a recipe for a cast iron pecan pie. Knowing that Mike loves pecan pie, I was super excited to try this recipe! But, at that time, I didn't own a cast iron pan... So, the next day we went to our favorite antique store in town and dug through the pile of miscellaneous cast iron pots, pans, and skillets until we found the perfect one. A 10-inch Lodge skillet that needed a new home and lots of work! 
Researching how to bring old cast iron back to life was so interesting! There are so many differing opinions out there! But after a few days of scrubbing, cleaning, oiling, and heating we had a beautiful black, shining, re-seasoned skillet ready for cooking!!
I made Southern Living's "Utterly Deadly Pecan Pie" in it and was instantly hooked on cast iron cooking!!! We soon went back to the antique store and picked out an 8 inch Wagner skillet that was in even worse shape than the Lodge... then went back for the cornbread pan, then added a Griswold griddle to the collection... then Mike found me a pair of beautiful square ones for steak filets... then, of course, we needed to add the muffin pan! As our cast iron collection grew, our kitchen storage space shrank... So now our cast iron pans also serve as kitchen decor! They are all hung and displayed on our kitchen walls! 
They always make me happy to cook with. I love thinking about the history that might be attached to each one. A hundred years ago was someone's grandmother baking cornbread in her wood fired kitchen stove with the same pan I'm baking in tonight? How many generations did this pan get passed down through before it ended up sitting on an antique store's back shelf? I love giving these pans new life! I like to think that they are happy in their new kitchen with their new family, preparing meals every night. 
So that's my cast iron story... sometimes I throw it at fairs and win trophies, but usually you can find me in the kitchen baking with it, or digging through piles of it to find just the right one to bring home from the antique store! 

Hello everyone! 
Peter PlottHound here again!
Some of you may remember my very first attempt at writing a blog back a few months ago (you can check it out here! )
I asked Mom if I could try my paw at blogging again. I bet a lot of you have been pretty curious as to how I've spent my summer. 
Well... it was definitely different, not being in the public eye and not getting to see my adoring fans at every AxeWomen show... I have definitely been missing you all! 
Ever since Mom and Dad adopted me, we have traveled all over the country, coast to coast, every single summer! So, as I'm sure you can imagine, I didn't know what to think when this summer started, and we weren't packing up to hit the road...

​...Instead of loading up the AxeWomen trailer with saws, axes and logs, and packing our bags (and my favorite squeaky toys) for a summer of fairs, expos, competitions and festivals, I was watching Mom and Dad prepare for a summer at home... they cut a few trees down and made my backyard a lot bigger! They planted a ton of gardens! And (this is my favorite part) Mom was able to spend a lot more time trying out new recipes in the kitchen! Sometimes she needs me to be the official taste-tester or pan cleaner! (I'm really, really good at both! )
Usually when I'm on tour with the AxeWomen my days consist of waking up in a plush hotel bed, enjoying the hotel's Continental Breakfast (while still in bed) of scrambled eggs and bacon, then often times a trip to visit the local dog park... then an afternoon and evening of watching Mom and her friends chop logs, throw axes and log roll. Then I get to hand out tons of "pawtographs" to my fans! 
But this summer those things have only happened a few times... Mom and Dad told me there's a pretty scary virus going around... and until humans can come up with a way to stop it lots and lots of events had to cancel... I sure am glad that they take me to the vet and keep me up to date on all my shots!! I wouldn't want to have to worry about something crazy like that!!
This summer I've gotten to sleep late most mornings... we haven't been to a dog park for a long time... but that's ok - my own backyard is pretty cool! Mom and Dad take me for tons of walks... I've even started jogging with them!  (Mom says she wants me to run a 5K with them this fall... we'll keep you posted! )
I've also become the official guard dog for all the gardens on our property! My days are filled with chasing squirrels and chipmunks out of the tomato plants and cucumbers. And my nights are busy in the window barking at raccoons, deer and bears that try to steal our corn and pumpkins!! 
So just because I'm not out on tour this summer doesn't mean that I'm not busy! I never realized everything that goes on here all summer while I'm away!! 

​The summer of 2020 is quickly coming to an end...the nights are becoming cooler, we are splitting and storing firewood for the winter and there are some schools that are back in session... while others are moving to online classes and virtual lessons...
This has always been the time of year that I try to squeeze in a few Woodsman's Day competitions. Unfortunately, this year, all of our favorite competitions have been canceled... there will be no Woodsman's Days at the Fryeburg Fair, the Windsor Fair, or the Oxford Fair... as well as many others. It's sad... but we also appreciate why so many fairs and festivals made the hard decision to cancel, postpone or try a virtual fair. They made the call to keep everyone safe so that we can all get back to competing, having fun, and eating fair food by next summer! 
I've personally enjoyed seeing the events that are attempting to go virtual! Great job of making the best of a tough situation!! 

​For those of you who follow us here, or on Facebook or Instagram, you may have seen that I sent in an entry and competed in the Mid-West Log Rolling Championships a few months back. They hosted a virtual log rolling contest in which contestants had to be filmed log rolling while performing a trick of their choice! Such a fun idea!! Contestants of all ages entered super fun videos! Some of them were playing musical instruments, some were using a hula hoop, some were dancing... I chose to juggle while log rolling! Once competitors had sent in the entry videos, they could be voted on to pick the winners! I ended up taking 4th place! I was happy finishing 4th out of the nearly 30 competitors! After all, it was my very first virtual log rolling competition!!!

One of our favorite Maine fairs, the Fryeburg Fair is offering several virtual fair contests this fall. I have competed in Fryeburg's Woodsman's Day nearly every single year for the past 20 years! I've taken first place there in the axe throwing, log rolling and chopping events quite a few times over the years. Since we can't bring our axes and saws there to compete this fall... I thought "why not try my hand at a few of their virtual contests!?"
They have categories for artwork, photography, animals...
The contests that caught my eye were one for the best garden basket and one for pie baking! Two things that we've really enjoyed staying busy with this summer! 
Since our yard is being overrun by our tomato and jalapeno plants... (which you can read all about in our recent blog post of our Victory Garden!) ...I grabbed a basket, ran outside, picked all the ripe cherry tomatoes and jalapenos, as well as a handful of green beans... I chose to leave all the cucumbers on their vines, since I'm planning to attempt making pickles with them next week - that is, if our adorable little chipmunk friends leave them alone! Then I brought everything inside, washed it, arranged it in the basket and snapped some pretty cute pictures for my entry! 
I had just made a Peach Custard Pie, from a recipe straight from the pages of the latest edition of Southern Living magazine, a few days earlier. It had looked so good when I pulled it from the oven that I had taken out my phone and grabbed a few photos right then! It was perfect for my pie baking contest entry!!
Winners won't be announced until October... but I'll be sure to keep you all posted! 
Another virtual event that I'm really looking forward to is competing in my first 5K race this fall! Mike has been helping me with my jogging all summer... you can read about it in my past blog about running! 
So, while I completely understand that virtual events, races, competitions, and contests may not sound ideal... I really think it's a fun way to make lemonade out of the lemons that 2020 has given us. I will definitely continue to show support to events and fairs by entering and participating in their virtual contests! 
Check back to find out how my pie and veggies placed! And I will definitely be posting updates about our 5K racing adventures! ​

Back in the time of log drives (when lumberjacks had to use the waterways to get their logs to town) nearly every logging company had river drivers. These were men hired to run out onto the floating logs in rivers and other waterways to prevent or breakup log jams. This was one of the most dangerous jobs a lumberjack could have! One slip could mean death from either freezing cold springtime water or being crushed by moving logs! Log drivers quickly learned, by necessity, how to run, jump and balance on top of spinning, slippery, moving logs! They used spikes on the soles of their boots to help them run across the logs, as well as pike poles to push or pry logs with to get them moving again. 
Key Log Rolling has a great read about the history of log rolling from the days of lumberjacks and river drivers all the way up to modern day log rolling competitions using their synthetic log, just like we use now as well!!
Over the years these log drivers began to challenge each other... who could stay on the log the longest? Eventually more and more contests and competitions took place. 1898 saw the first unofficial log rolling world championships in Omaha, Nebraska! 
The sport of log rolling looks a lot different now! We are wearing running shoes instead of spikes and using synthetic logs or carpeted cedar logs. We are giving log rolling lessons in YMCA pools and at fairs! 
What once was a life-threatening job is now a summer camp activity, safe for kids!! How cool is that history??

Speed climbing: To me, this is the most terrifying logging sports event! Give me a razor-sharp racing axe, inches from my toes any day rather than climbing a 90-foot pole with just a rope around my waist! 
Speed climbing grew from the technique lumberjacks used to use to top trees. They would use a rope and a harness to climb up, then saw off the top part of the tree. 
Today speed climbing is still done wearing the belt around their waist, attached to a rope around the tree or pole. They wear specialized climbing cleats... a spike like a lineman might use on his boots. Also, sometimes similar to what an ice climber might wear. 
In Hayward, Wisconsin at the Lumberjack World Championships they offer either a 60 foot or a 90-foot speed climb! The competitors basically run vertically up the pole, must cross a painted line near the top, then as fast as they can, drop to the ground! They use the rope as a slight brake by squeezing it around the tree... and according to the rules must touch the pole at least a certain number of times on the way down to prevent a free fall... although that is exactly what it looks like!! 
 
I hope you are finding the history behind some of these logging sports as interesting as I do! Thanks for taking the time to read my blog posts! ​

​Throughout all my years of competing, training, teaching, and performing in the world of logging sports.... 21 years so far... I always find that our audiences and fans tend to be just as interested in hearing a little about the history of each event (and why we do them) as they are in watching us compete in each event. 
During each of our AxeWomen shows Mike always gives a little history about axes, saws, and lumberjacks. And we always hear back from at least a few audience members about how interesting they found it! 
Over a few upcoming blog posts I want to share with you the history of each event we compete in.
 
Today I want to start with axe throwing and underhand chopping...

​Axe throwing: Our modern-day axe throwing competitions follow some pretty simple rules, and, for the most part wherever you travel around the world to compete in axe throwing the rules are going to be the same. 
We throw double-bitted axes (which means a blade on both sides of the head of the axe.)  The handles are about 24 inches long and each blade (or face) of the axe is 6 inches. We throw at a target from 20 feet away and the center of the bullseye is 5 feet off the ground. There can be several variations... sometimes the bullseye is a shaken-up can of beer or soda that "explodes" if you hit it... sometimes the bullseye is a balloon that pops... sometimes you get to throw 3 times... sometimes 5 times... But you are always throwing from 20 feet away and the center of the bullseye is always 5 feet high. 
Sometimes when we have tons of extra room at a show (like on a football field or inside a baseball stadium)  we like to add our own variation... "dizzy bat axe throwing!!" Always a crowd favorite! Not to brag... but I have been known to hit 3 bullseyes in a row during "dizzy bat axe throw!!"
Axes have been around since humans began making tools. You can find histories of axes throughout nearly every culture... Axes, tomahawks, hatchets... tons of history!!
But we're talking about throwing axes right now! 
We've heard and read several different stories about how axe throwing competitions actually began. The most common theory is that they started in logging camps as a way to relieve boredom of the lumberjacks on their days off. It sounds like what could have started as a simple way to pass the time soon grew into competitions within the logging camps to see who was the "champion of the forest!" Who could chop the fastest, who could log roll the longest, who could throw their axe with the most accuracy???
Obviously, the sport of axe throwing has lasted through the years and grown in popularity! It's almost always an event at any Woodsman's Day contest now! You can find axe throwing clubs, leagues, and competitions around the world! 
There are several hatchet and tomahawk throwing venues opening up around the world as well. This is similar to axe throwing... but definitely not the same thing! They are usually throwing a much smaller, single bladed hatchet and throwing from a shorter distance. Still a fun event to try... but not to be confused with axe throwing! 
 
Underhand chopping: It makes sense that the history of chopping competitions probably began much the same way as axe throwing competitions... a few lumberjacks sitting around on their day off... one says to the other "Hey, how fast can you chop that log in half? I bet I can do it in 60 seconds..." The other lumberjack, feeling competitive, says "I can chop it in half in 30 seconds!" 
Underhand chopping was actually a technique that lumberjacks and loggers used in the woods to cut the trees into manageable lengths after they had gotten the tree to the ground. They would stand on top of the fallen tree and use their axe to chop it in half... usually chopping halfway through on one side, turning around, and finishing the cut on the other side. 
Once the fallen trees were cut to manageable lengths they could then be loaded onto sleds, skids, rail cars... or pushed into the waterways... however they could get them to a town or mill to be processed into lumber. 
 
Just like axe throwing, underhand chopping is an extremely popular event in Woodsman's Day contests. Unlike the old-time lumberjacks who were balancing on a bark covered, round log... we now peel our chopping logs ahead of time (to get rid of any dirt or rocks that may be lodged in the bark.) We then mount our logs in specially made chopping stands, or cradles, to prevent them from rolling around. We get to prepare our logs before competitions by chopping flat spots for our feet and by measuring and marking our logs. By measuring the diameter of your log and using that measurement to cut through it, you are ensuring the fastest way through your log. 
After all that, it's just a simple contest of speed. Who can swing their axe the fastest and chop their log in half first? 
 
There is definitely some really interesting history when you look at how the timber and logging industries have evolved over the years... and how lumberjacks cutting trees with crosscut saws and axes have evolved into logging sports! 
A few of our upcoming blogs will look at the histories of log rolling, speed climbing, crosscut sawing and standing block chop! 

​Our 2020 season had started in March... and ended in March…or so we had thought. Nearly all our scheduled shows, events and competitions had all been postponed and rescheduled for 2021. Nearly all....
We had a show that had originally been scheduled for July in Iowa. We always try to work closely with all our event organizers at each venue we go to. As was the case here. 
We all realized that July was not possible (with closures, quarantines and spikes in COVID 19 cases) ... so we discussed rescheduling this show until later in the summer and, of course, it would all depend on the ability to keep our team and fans safe during these crazy times… 

Originally the show was going to be at The Sawmill Museum in Clinton, Iowa. They have a large yard and outdoor seating area. But with social distancing guidelines and safety in mind they soon decided that they needed a larger area to spread out. 
Clinton, Iowa also has a minor league baseball team: The Clinton LumberKings! 
AxeWomen... Lumberjills... LumberKings... sounds like a good match!! 
With minor league baseball being canceled for the season, the stadium was looking to bring in other events... like concerts... so, why not an AxeWomen show???
The museum and the stadium got together and worked out some details... asked us if our team would be comfortable and feel safe with this... and we all got to planning!!
Having an event inside a baseball stadium meant that we could safely be down on the field and that our fans could safely spread out throughout the seating areas. There would be plenty of room for everyone! 
While the museum and the stadium worked out their final details,  Mike and I were figuring out the safest way possible to get our team and equipment to Iowa and back during a pandemic... Definitely something we've never had to think about before 2020!
Everything that we've ever planned for the team's travel arrangements had to be rethought... I was not going to ask any of the ladies to get on a flight! We didn't want to stop part way and spend the night in a hotel... and we weren't feeling comfortable with eating inside of restaurants.
So, how do we drive 30 hours to do a show and back??
It took some planning... and lots of understanding and flexibility!
We decided that we would drive straight from Maine to Iowa (26 hours normally... 30 hours hauling a trailer) without stopping in a hotel. By switching drivers this wouldn't be too bad...
We didn't want to eat inside restaurants... so we packed coolers and totes with enough food to last us the entire trip. 
We also did tons of research on a place to stay once we reached Iowa. We weren't thrilled with the idea of staying in a random hotel once we arrived. So, we found a rental cabin in a county park that was big enough for all of us and had a kitchen so we could cook all our own meals. The cabin was furnished, but without sheets and towels... which we liked the idea of bringing our own stuff! 
This trip was not something we took lightly. We needed to keep our team safe... our fans safe... and be safe, responsible, and considerate to each state and town we passed through.
We looked up, read, and called about different state's guidelines and rules regarding COVID  19 and travel restrictions. 
We stocked up on sanitizers and disinfectants.
And we made sure that we would not be breaking any laws or putting anyone in danger. 
NorthEast STIHL supplied us with some fun STIHL masks... we could be safe and stylish!!
Our trip started last Thursday morning at 2am!
Mike, Peter PlottHound, and I piled into the AxeWomen truck, hooked onto the trailer, and hit the road. We picked up McKayla and Andrea along the way. We only stopped for fuel and to stretch our legs occasionally... 6 times between Maine and Iowa! We made sure we had snacks, coffee drinks and water! We took turns driving and keeping each other awake and alert! Which wasn't too difficult since we hadn't seen each other for months and had tons of catching up, gossiping, and laughing to catch up on!
We arrived in Clinton, Iowa on Friday. We brought the trailer to the LumberKing's stadium and unhooked it.
We spent Friday afternoon cutting trees... so we would have chopping and sawing logs for the show. Not the original plan... but, sometimes things happen, and we need to improvise... 
Finally, Friday night we checked into our cabin! Cooked dinner, enjoyed hot showers and fell asleep! 
Saturday was the big day! We set up the entire show that morning... chopping stands, sawing stands, axe throwing target, log rolling pool... as the pool was filling with it's 7000 gallons of water we prepared all of our chopping and sawing logs, gassed up the chainsaws and practiced a few events.
The crowd started filing in around 5 that night. We were happily surprised to see that everyone was wearing a mask! Picnic tables were spaced at least 6 feet apart where the fans would be sitting. This was a safe venue!!
The show was fun!! We even threw in a few extra events that we don't always get a chance to do... like peavey log rolling races around an obstacle course... and some fun relay races that combined several events... "dizzy bat axe throwing" even made a surprise comeback!! (We rarely have the space to safely do it! But when we can, it's definitely a crowd favorite!!)
After the show we chatted with a few fans and got to talk with some friends who were able to attend (all from a safe distance, of course! )
Then it was time to tear down and load up! We pumped the 7000 gallons of water back out of the log rolling pool, using it to water the grass in the outfield! We loaded up all the chopping and sawing stands, axes, crosscut saws, chainsaws and axe throwing target. By 1 a.m. Sunday morning we were heading back to our cabin to catch a few hours of sleep! 
8 hours later we were on the road again, heading back to Maine! Just like on the way out... minimal stops for fuel... no close contact with anyone... masks on every time we were out of the truck... and sanitize, sanitize, sanitize each time we got back in the truck!!!
We safely made our way east, dropping off Andrea and McKayla at their front doors. By 6pm Monday evening Mike, Pete and I were unhooking the trailer and unloading the truck! 
4 1/2 days... 2900 miles... 16 hours of sleep... lots of masks, coffee, and snacks... 1 super fun and successful AxeWomen show!! All done safely!!
Now that we are back home in Maine, our state's travel guidelines require us to quarantine for 14 days. Which we are more than happy to do! We have saws to sharpen, new axe throwing targets to paint, and our gardens definitely need some attention!!

Apparently, we are growing a "Victory Garden" this summer...
What is a Victory Garden??
According to Wikipedia: "Victory gardens, also called war gardens or food gardens for defense, were vegetable, fruit, and herb gardens planted at private residences and public parks in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia…during World War I and World War II. "

Back during WWI and WWII the "Victory Garden Movement" urged people to start growing their own food wherever and however they could... backyards, side yards, fire escapes, empty lots, balconies and even on roof tops to help promote self-sufficiency!
 
According to a story published by the New York Times in March of this year, written by Tejal Rao, "...at one point (During WWII) it's estimated that home, school and community gardens produced close to 40 percent of the country's fresh vegetables, from about 20 million gardens."  Southern Living also published a helpful story by Steve Bender in March, titled "Plant a Victory Garden". It states, "Now we're engaged in a very different war. We can't see the enemy, but it's affecting us all." This story gives some useful tips and ideas about what, when and where to plant!
 Countries around the world seem to be seeing somewhat of a return of these gardens this year with the outbreak of COVID 19. That is definitely the case in our yard as well...

​Back in March, right after we were notified of our first AxeWomen show cancellation, we came home, and I started a few seeds in our kitchen window.... The usual things we plant most years... Jalapeno peppers, spinach, and a few herbs... All things that can easily be grown in pots and raised beds and are pretty hardy for when we are gone, traveling to shows and competitions all summer.

As we watched the pandemic spread across the country and watched more and more of our shows and events get postponed to 2021, Mike and I decided to start a few more seeds. It was looking like we would be home for at least most of the summer to water, weed and enjoy some of our fruits and veggies! 

So, since our windowsill was already full, we started a mini greenhouse beside our kitchen table in which we had tomato seedlings, cucumber seedlings and cilantro! The more time we spent at home, the more seeds I planted... Eventually we had pots lining the kitchen wall, in the sun from our doorway with more tomato seedlings, pumpkins, chives, onions, basil and celery!
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Most spring mornings at our house consisted of shuffling several pots and flats of seedlings outside to the porch, patio, and picnic table... And most evenings consisted of moving them all back into our kitchen! 
As the days got warmer and spring started turning into summer, we started transplanting all of our not-so-little-anymore seedlings into large outdoor pots on our deck and into our raised beds in the yard. We quickly realized that I had started way more seeds than we had room to actually grow!! Mike ordered more lumber and put together more raised beds... which were very quickly filled up with tomato plants, beans, onions, corn, and radishes! 

Still... not everything had been put in the ground!! We still had flats of pumpkin seedlings on our deck! So, we grabbed the pole-saw and chainsaw... cut enough branches to let some afternoon sunlight in, and dug a pumpkin patch on what, at one time, had been an old driveway looping around the backside of our property! 
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Now, here we are in mid-July... Our tomato plants are nearly 5 feet tall and covered in green tomatoes! Our pepper plants are loaded with little jalapenos! Our cucumber and pumpkin vines are creeping everywhere! Our radishes... well... they are very tall and leafy... It turns out I planted way too many radish seeds, and way too close together. Once I realized what I had done and researched how to fix it (by pulling out at least every other one - if not more), I just couldn't bring myself to pull them up... So, I let them all live and grow. Not sure we'll have any radishes... But the leaves are green and beautiful!! And probably the occasional passing-through wood chuck, rabbit or deer will get to enjoy a few tasty mouthfuls before they get barked at by Peter PlottHound and disappear back into the woods...

We've been eating from our garden most days already!! Spinach, arugula and cilantro on pizzas, burgers, and sandwiches! I cut and dried enough thyme to last us all year! I even made pesto with our basil and garlic!! 

We are definitely not the only ones getting a little more gardening time in this year! We tried to pick up a sprinkler in town to water two of our raised beds with. There were no sprinklers to be found!! The hardware store had completely sold out of hoses and sprinklers! 
After seeing photos (I may have been bragging on Facebook...) of our new raised beds, Mike was asked to build them for friends - and friends of friends! And even some in our city garden!!
 
With all of the sadness, frustration and craziness happening in the world right now this is something pretty cool to see. I love seeing the new gardens popping up around our town! I love seeing the proud smiles in social media posts of friends picking their own vegetables for the first time!
 
It's incredibly sad that all of this is mostly due to a pandemic and job losses and insecurities... But I hope that once this passes people will have learned that it's important to spend a little more time at home, learn how to grow some of their own food and realize that it's not a bad thing to be self-sufficient.
I've already decided that if anything like this happens again and we are unable to travel for shows, events and competitions that I want to adopt a bunch of goats... make goat cheeses with my herbs and peppers... and have a farmyard of baby goats running everywhere!! Maybe we somehow combine logging sports, log rolling, goat cheese manufacturing and goat yoga...!!! Who knows?! (Don’t tell Mike!!)

​What is a Lumberjill??
Where did this name originate?
Common definitions of a lumberjill are a female lumberjack or a woman who works in the logging industry... felling trees, cutting timber, hauling logs, manufacturing firewood...
There is actually a super cool history behind the term "Lumberjill"... A really amazing history that, unfortunately, not nearly enough people know about. Let's change that!
Lumberjill was the name used during World War II for members of the Women's Timber Corps. While we had Rosie the Riveter here in America, the British Army had these wartime icons keeping them supplied with lumber...

...the Women's Timber Corps was a part of the Women's Land Army (also known as the “Land Girls”), a British civilian organization formed during WWI and then again during WWII. While the majority of men were away at war the Women's Land Army was recruited to help boost food production on farms... They were planting and harvesting crops, haying fields, working on the dairy farms, and raising poultry.... Meanwhile the Women's Timber Corps were harvesting timber for telegraph poles, clearing land for future farming areas, manufacturing lumber for ships, airplanes, fences, and buildings... "It was grueling, backbreaking work - often carried out in harsh conditions - but more than 8000 young women, some only in their mid-teens, tackled it without a peep of protest," according to a 2014 story by Jennifer Newton, published by the Daily Mail. These ladies came from all different backgrounds. Some had grown up on farms while others had come from cities. They learned how to swing an axe, drive a tractor, and use a crosscut saw! They dragged logs, sorted timber, and cut literally tons of wood! 
By 1944 there were more than 80,000 "Land Girls" working on farms, in factories and in the forests keeping their countries supplied with necessary products! 
These women were an amazing part of history!
Once the war ended and life slowly moved back towards normal the Women's Timber Corps and the Women's Land Army were disbanded. Unfortunately, they received no pensions and hardly any recognition for their years of hard work and sacrifice. Some articles state that several of the ladies simply asked to keep their uniforms as keepsakes but were not even permitted to do that.
Official recognition did finally come for these ladies on October 10, 2006. A plaque and a statue were placed in Queen Elizabeth Forest Park in Aberfoyle, Scotland. Eight years later a memorial was finally erected in the http://www.thenma.org.uk/. 
I have started to see more and more articles written about these ladies throughout the past few years...Just last year the New York Times published a really great story called Women With Axes: Looking Back At World War II Lumberjills. They even referred to lumberjills as "Rosie the Riveter's British cousins!" I've seen some books and television shows as well... BBC has a television series called Land Girls! I am very much looking forward to the day I can visit their statue and memorial. But I think it's up to all of us to keep this history alive. 
I would love to see more people sharing this history! Whose mother, grandmother or great-grandmother was a Land Girl or a LumberJill??
As a woman who continues to work in the woods today, as well as compete as a professional logging sports athlete, I am so proud each time I pick up a saw or an axe and think about these trailblazing women in history and how they did their part to help their families and their country... but also how they paved the way of the future for all of us today. 
Let's not forget about the real Lumberjills!

​Over the years tons of people have asked me how we go about booking our shows throughout the year and filling up the AxeWomen show schedule... "Do people just call out of the blue and hire you?" ... "Do festivals email you and ask you to come?" ... "How do people find you? Do they Google you?"
The answer to all these questions is... yes! We get phone calls, emails and "contact-us" submissions through our website. 
But we also get to travel to super fun trade shows throughout the year where we book a lot of shows. If you are not too familiar with our type of industry... the best way to describe these trade shows is… 

...a convention of clowns, magicians, acrobats, jugglers and ... well... AxeWomen!! Sounds fun, doesn't it!!? The IAFE (the International Association of Fairs & Expositions) hosts several of these trade shows and conventions around the country each year. Fair managers, festival organizers and others looking to book entertainment, or hire security for their event, or learn about the latest safety and health protocols attend these events. Entertainers, like us, will have trade show booths set up with videos, brochures, and sometimes small demos of what they offer.... Believe it or not, we are one of the few trade show booths with axe throwing targets, chainsaws and chopping logs!!!
The very first one of these conventions I ever went to was in Las Vegas, about 10 years ago. I had no idea what to expect... I just knew that everyone said I had to go! I figured "go big or go home"... So I paid for two side-by-side booths, invited Kat to meet me there, and loaded up the truck with chopping stands, logs, axes, cross-cut saws, chainsaws... a few Christmas trees... and left Maine for a crazy adventure out to Las Vegas one November morning!
Scheduling worked out perfectly that I would be driving through Colorado on Thanksgiving Day on my way across the country! My best high school friend was living there at the time. So, I stopped, enjoyed a delicious meal with her family and then convinced her to join me on the rest of the road trip to Vegas!! We crammed a lot into those few days! We hiked in western Colorado and Utah, went sightseeing through the desert and spent a day and a night in a ghost town in Nevada... actually sleeping in a renovated miner’s cabin!!
We left the ghost town early the next morning, drove through the desert and mountains during sunrise and made it to the Las Vegas airport just in time for her to catch her flight back to Colorado and for me to pick up Kat and head to the convention center... which was located on the Vegas Strip! 
Kat and I set up our booth, checked into our hotel (overlooking the Strip) and did a little exploring before the convention opened the following morning.
There were roughly 300 booth spaces filled with any type of entertainment you could imagine! There were monster trucks, monkeys, frisbee dogs and racing lawn mowers throughout the convention center! Just in our aisle alone we had a John Wayne impersonator, a martial arts speed painter, a juggling family, and a sword swallower! You could spend days walking up and down aisles looking at everything.... But we were there to work! We set up our chopping logs and did just that! We took turns chopping logs, sawing logs, chatting with people about what we do and... signing lots & lots of contracts over the next few days!!! We signed up music festivals in Canada, state fairs in California & Georgia, a rodeo in Wyoming and dozens of things in between!!! It was a huge success!!! 
​We continue to go to these conventions and trade shows a few times throughout each year. Sometimes in Texas... sometimes in Pennsylvania... They really are a good way to fill our schedule - but more than that they are a great way to reconnect with old friends we've made over the years and to meet new friends! Because, really, can you ever have enough tightrope walkers, dock dogs or stunt drivers as friends???

​Being a logging sports competitor has given me so many exciting opportunities over the years! I get to travel, have amazing adventures, make new friends, try new things... all while earning a living doing something I love!
Once in a while things pop up that you'd really never expect... Like the chance to go to New York City to chop logs with Harry Connick Jr, or fly to Los Angeles to throw axes with Queen Latifah... or... film a Carhartt commercial in Detroit!!

​A few years back I was home in Maine, cutting trees and getting ready to hit the road for a show in Sparta, Georgia the following week. Out of the blue I received a phone call from a photography company who wanted me to come to Detroit, Michigan to film a commercial for Carhartt! As excited as I was at this offer, I just couldn't see how it could possibly work... I had to get the truck, trailer, and equipment to Georgia in just a few days... So, I sadly said "No, I can't... but thank you..."
That was not the answer they were hoping for I guess... They explained that they could fly me right out, film the commercial the day after I arrived, and have me on a flight back to the AxeWomen truck and trailer the same night of the filming!!
Why not?? Sounds like an adventure to me!!
I finished loading up everything we would be needing for the AxeWomen shows and headed to the airport the next day! I stepped off the plane in Detroit, climbed into the photography crew's SUV, got a whirlwind tour of the city while on the way to dinner and our hotels! (Previously I had only been in Detroit for super long layovers in their airport... which was always ok with me because they have really cool terminals and a funky underground glass tunnel...!)
Before it got too dark to see that night, I was able to take in some beautiful buildings and amazing architecture. I was definitely happy to finally be able to see some of this city! 
We stopped for dinner and discussed how things would go the next day... apparently, I would be chopping against a model... great... no need to be self-conscious now... 
After dinner I was dropped off at my hotel, where I got a little sleep, a quick shower and became increasingly nervous... I had never filmed a commercial before! And I was filming this one with a professional model!
Morning came quickly. I was picked up and brought to the filming studio. I was given Carhartt jeans and a Carhartt shirt to wear for the day. I had my hair and make-up professionally done... which somehow managed to make me look even more pale and nervous than I was - if that's possible!
Show time! 
 The entire crew was so friendly and welcoming, and sincerely interested in logging sports and AxeWomen! They all asked tons of questions, checked out our website and followed our social media pages!
The model that I would be working with side-by-side was super nice and helpful!
We walked into the filming area... two chopping logs and two axes... me, in my old steel toed sneakers... the model in her black, shiny high heels and cute size 2 jeans... me in my slightly larger jeans...
The storyline for the commercial was pretty funny! The two of us girls were going to be racing to chop our logs in half... As I'm chopping mine just fine, she gets her axe stuck and must call her boyfriend to come help her... her boyfriend comes, but can't get the axe freed from her chopping log... I finish my log, then I have to shove him off the second log, free the axe and finish chopping that log! 
It was so fun to film!!
After the initial filming they also wanted footage and close-up shots of the axe sinking into the model's log... with her high heels in view! Not being a logging sports competitor, she was, rightfully, nervous to film these shots! 
That left it up to me! Luckily, we had similar sized feet! I slipped on the high heels (that I promise you, I could not walk in) and balanced up on the log! I managed to get a few good driving blows of the axe into the log! But more importantly, a memory that will last a lifetime and a super funny story to tell!!
After all that, it was back to the airport, back to Maine and hopping back into the AxeWomen truck for a drive to Georgia to meet up with Andrea and Jenny! 
Everything worked out exactly like the photography crew promised! We made a fun commercial... all flights were exactly on time... and we all made it to the AxeWomen show with time to spare!!
Please check out our commercial! It was really a blast to be part of!!!

A few years back I received an email from a producer working on the Queen Latifah Show! She had come across our website and wanted to invite us out to Los Angeles, California to be on the show!! Of course, I called the producer right up and said, "Yes!!"
We went back and forth throughout the following days with emails and phone calls trying to plan everything out and figure out all the logistics. They didn't want to wait for me to pack the truck up and drive out... they wanted to film this the following week! And they wanted us to demonstrate several logging sports events... which meant lots of equipment! They wanted chopping, crosscut sawing and axe throwing...

​All our chopping and sawing stands have been custom made for us by LogRite Tools... not something that they could easily throw together once we arrived in LA to film! The producer said, "No problem! I've already contacted a shipping store in your town. Just bring all your stands and saws there. They will package and overnight everything out to us!"
Super easy!! I tossed the chopping and sawing stands in the back of the truck, as well as the axe throwing target and crosscut saws, and headed to the shipping store. All these pieces of equipment are large, heavy, steel stands! As I unloaded each piece on the sidewalk and carried it towards the front of the building, I was definitely feeling bad for the owner... I'm not sure she knew exactly what she was agreeing to when the producer had called her earlier! But she cheerfully helped me squeeze each item through her front door and told me how much she loves a challenge! She promised that everything would make it there on-time and in perfect condition... I was super nervous shipping our Tuatahi crosscut saws that we had just purchased from New Zealand! They are 6 1/2 feet long, lined with razor-blade-sharp teeth!! And very expensive!! Not something that could be easily replaced if they were ever to get lost or damaged while shipping! 
After dropping everything off, it was time to get my nails done, pack my axes (which are surprisingly easy to fly with!) and catch a flight from Maine to LA!
Two of the other AxeWomen would be meeting me out there! Tracie was flying from New York and Kat was flying down from Canada. Our flights all arrived within a few hours of one another and we each had our own car and driver waiting at the airport to pick us up! Very fancy!! We were each met by a driver wearing a nice suit and holding a sign with our names! Big, shiny black SUVs took us each to our hotel... where we all had our own corner suites with Jacuzzis... overlooking Rodeo Drive!!!
The next morning, we were all picked up early from our hotel and brought to the studio. Our saws and equipment were all there waiting for us... the crew was unpacking everything and setting it all up for us! 
They had even ordered chopping logs to be delivered that morning! They arrived, wrapped in plastic wrap with a shipping label stuck to them! The delivery driver was laughing... he said he definitely had delivered some weird stuff over the years... but this was his first load of fresh cut, plastic wrapped logs!!
The crew there was so fun to work with! They set up our chopping and sawing stands, figured out the safest spot on the stage for the axe throwing target, made sure our hair and make-up was done for us, fed us lunch and made sure we were having fun! 
Once everything was set up, we did a few dry runs... then got to meet Queen Latifah!! She was just as friendly, outgoing, and fun as she seems on tv!!! (She was an absolute blast to work with!!) Then... it was show time!!
The live studio audience filed in; we were brought backstage to wait for a little bit... then we were brought out in front of the audience! Tracie and Kat showed Queen Latifah how quickly they could cut together with a crosscut saw, Tracie demonstrated the underhand chop and then it was my turn... I was going to teach Queen Latifah how to throw an axe!! I demonstrated... while talking her through each step of how to do it... I threw the first axe... and was super relieved when it successfully stuck in the target!!! (It was slightly more nerve-wracking than when I usually throw!)
I retrieved my axe from the target and handed her one to throw... and... she nailed it on her first try!!! So awesome!! Things could not have gone more perfectly!
We all took some fun photos together... she joked with us about joining the AxeWomen team (we're still holding a spot for her!) and we couldn't thank her enough for inviting us onto her show!! Such a great experience!!
A few days later, back home in Maine, I was unpacking all of the stands and saws that had safely made their way back from California and packing them all back into the AxeWomen trailer to head off to the next show. When I opened the crosscut saw box there was a nice note, warning us that the saws were "really, really sharp!!"  (That's always a good thing in logging sports!!) No... no one had gotten cut... it had just turned into a joke with the crew how often we had told them that the saws were sharp while we were out there filming - every time they unpacked one, or moved it, or stepped over it - Tracie, Kat or I would always be spinning around warning, "Watch out!! Those are really, really sharp!!"
 
Thanks for taking the time to read some of these stories! It's really been fun getting into the world of blogging! Ok... back to chopping, axe throwing and log rolling again!! 

​Friday is "Take Your Dog to Work Day."
We are lucky enough that our best friend gets to work with us every day! That's right... Peter PlottHound hops in the AxeWomen truck every morning and does everything with us... whether it's going to the log yard or the woods to cut trees for the next show, heading out to practice logrolling on the lake or ocean, or driving across the country to perform or compete! He's with us every step of the way...

Back when Mike & I were first considering adding to our family we thought we had decided on a Beta fish...( I still think a fishbowl would be more difficult to travel with than Pete)... We went to pet stores and looked at fish... Tried to decide on the best location to set up a fish tank at home... And we decided that we would definitely adopt a dog once our traveling schedule slowed down in a few years. 
We hadn't quite made the final decision on the fish yet, when I was scrolling through Facebook one day and up popped a picture of the cutest little black and brown striped, brindle Plott hound I had ever seen! And... he was looking for a forever home!! I immediately texted the picture to Mike, and that night we decided we had to meet this little dog!
We knew that traveling with a dog would add new challenges to an already challenging schedule. We knew that our life on the road might not be the best fit for just any dog. Yet, off to New Hampshire we went to go meet him!
The initial meeting went fine, and we all decided that we should do a "trial weekend" before any decisions were made. 
We spent the next days "puppy-proofing" the house... Making sure everything was safe and secure, and making sure Pete would feel safe and welcome the following weekend. Dog beds, dog toys and dog dishes all moved into the house that week...
Pete came on a Friday night. The three of us ate dinner together, played with some of his new toys, snuggled for a movie and tried to figure out how we would make it work. He needed a home... and we had a home to share. Everything else would fall into place. Which it had to... quickly... because we had an AxeWomen show scheduled in Naples, Florida in just two weeks! Welcome to life on the road, Pete!
 
That first trip, as a family of three, was pretty near perfect! Mike, Pete, and I all drove to Florida together. Andrea and Hannah flew down and met us there. The shows were a success and we still had lots of time for fun and exploring! We all went hiking together, found amazing dog beaches (where dozens of dogs could run free and play together on the white sand and swim in the warm water!) and Mike even took us all out in a boat for a day to see dolphins and manatees, explore around the Ten Thousand Islands National Wildlife Refuge, and check out the Dome House off Cape Romano island! Pete was a perfect little traveler the whole time! Well... except for stealing a jalapeno pizza, accidentally ripping the headliner out of  our Chevy truck, and jumping out of the window to take a closer look at a tortoise... all things we still laugh about! I roll my eyes and smile most days when I get in the truck and see Pete's customizations!
Since that first trip Pete has traveled with us for nearly 200,000 miles in the AxeWomen truck! He's seen sunsets and sunrises in Death Valley, California, explored ghost towns, climbed mountains in the Rockies and Appalachians, driven the entire Titus Canyon Road (known as the most rugged road in America!), enjoyed staying in boutique hotels and taking private limo rides in big cities like Las Vegas & New York City, and dined on the River Walk in San Antonio where he was serenaded by a Mariachi band! (He especially liked the ducks that welcomed him with good ol’ Texas hospitality!)
 
 
Traveling with a four-legged friend sometimes takes slightly more planning... (we figured out pretty fast which hotel chains are dog friendly!) But anything is possible with a little effort, planning and research! We wouldn't trade it for anything! 
So, even though Friday is the one designated "Take Your Dog to Work Day" I would recommend taking your furry family member to work as often as you can! I am so thankful that we get to do it each day!!
 
Pete asked if I would share his favorite cookie recipe with you all! He especially likes making these around the holidays and delivering them to his furry friends in the neighborhood!
 
Peter PlottHound Approved Puppy Cookies
Ingredients

•   One 4oz jar of baby food (we suggest pumpkin, sweet potato, or banana! Nothing  with onion or onion powder!!)
•   1 cup whole wheat flour
•    1 or 2 tablespoons water

Directions

1. In mixing bowl combine flour & baby food
2. As needed add 1 or 2 tablespoons of water
3. Form a dough ball
4. Roll dough out on floured surface until it's roughly 1/4 inch thick
5. Use cookie cutters for fun shapes!
6. Place on baking sheet
7. Bake 20-25 minutes at 350°
8. CAUTION: Let the cookies completely cool before serving!!

As always, be aware of your pet’s allergies and dietary restrictions! And remember, Pete highly recommends consumption within a few days (as these contain no preservatives!!) and with responsible nutritional serving limits!