Amundsen Race 2013

The Amundsen Race 300 (200 miles) starts this Saturday, February 23, 2013 at 11:00 AM in our home town of Stromsund, Sweden!

Unfortunately, we had to withdraw from this race we´ve been looking forward to the whole year, and training hard for the entire fall and part of winter season. It literally runs over our training trails and would have been fun to see the dogs race on their home ground. 

But I couldn´t stay away from the race, with teams crossing close by our house and kennel, so I decided to volunteer and give a hand with various task during the entire race. It is a nice way to give back to the mushing community when I have a chance and time. It isn´t very often that I could spare time in the middle of training and racing season. So it´s a payback time now :)

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Europe's Tough Sled Dog Race Femundlopet Starts Today

Today starts one of Europe´s toughest long distance sled dog races - FEMUNDLOPET.

52 teams will hit the trail at 4:00pm today to embrace on a 600km journey across some of the toughest Norwegian mountain terrain, while 105 teams in the eight dog class will be starting tomorrow at 11:00 am, to run 400km.

The official race website is available in Norwegian and English and offers many interesting articles and race coverage, including webcams in checkpoints and live tracking.

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Good Luck To Aud-Kristin And Striker In Their Big Race

Fifteen years old Aud Kristin Bjorgum from Norway starts her very first distance race today. 

It is called Femundlopet Junior and covers 200km (125 miles) of tough Norwegian terrain, including mountains, lakes and deep fresh fallen snow.

Aud Kristin is not just a Norwegian girl with a mushing dream and good feeling for dogs, she is daughter of Haagen Bjorgum, our dear friend, a hardy, hearty man with years of mushing experience himself.

I know how proud Haagen is today, handling for his beloved daughter, switching roles of musher and handler after a few years of watching Aud Kristin grow up, learn to take care of the dogs, helping her dad as often the only handler at long distance races.

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Time to Thank You

It´s time to thank our sponsors, supporters and partners for helping us during the 2011/12 season and for being part of the team, allowing us follow and live our dreams! Without the kind support of each and every one of them we wouldn´t be able to do what we love.

To be able to do what we do, to be able to provide the best care we can to our four legged athletes, and to commit to improving their health, wellness and happiness, we also need a good handler crew and thus we want to thank to our 2011/12 Crew - San, Reb and Steve, Kristyna and Flores. You guys rock!

Please take a minute of your time to view all our 2011/12 sponsors, partners and supporters - from corporate sponsors to individual folks who stepped in and sponsor one or more of the furry kids, or who bought my ceramics and handcrafts, to friends and family who donated their time, sent luxurious musher trail snacks, sent in motivational messages and words of encouragement.

We are forever thankful to our family, with our parents Ivana, Vlady and Eva on top of the list. You are the best parents one could ever wish for!

Without companies like Troll Hundefor (manufacturers of Troll dog food, which our huskies are powerd by, represented by their CEO Roar Wolden, a great guy who supports the sport of mushing passionately for years), Vom og Hundemat (and the representatives of this excellent meat for working dogs, Jörgen and Patrick Lövgren), Zero DC and it´s dynamic owners Dagmar and Jiri Nesnera, whose revolutionary harnesses are a step forward in providing better care and equipment for sled dogs, Marie Ericsson and Tore Martinsson from the ERMA-Grann Garden farmers shop in Stromsund, service minded folks who don´t know the word "no", or the Holistic Shop, who provides healthy and natural supplements, nutrition and health care products for animals and their owners. 

The sport of dog mushing is more and more popular, but still in comparison with other sports, medially known and covered, it is tiny. And as that, every company who is willing to cooperate and support us in this sport, should know how very much they are appreciated.

It would be a great help if you would look up their services and products, tell them we sent you, if you purchase anything, or send them a short message, letting them know you appreciate their support of our team and the sport of dog mushing. Thank you! ♥

Running With a New Focus

 

Things are, as the old saying is: "Same, same, but different".

Since we have re-focused from Finnmarkslopet to Pasvik Trail, which starts on March 29, there are a few changes and going back to running an open-class team.

First of all, the focus is steadily building up the dogs´ condition back up, and doing a few longer runs.

The trail conditions are quite challenging at the moment, with temperatures above zero and occasional freezing over night, the trails are polished and icey and the warm temperatures force us to stop frequently and let the dogs roll in the snow and cool off.

We are back to the 3 day on and 1 day off, but would like to do a bit longer miles on each run, which is difficult with as warm temps as +5°C.

The kids are much, much better now, and I start to see the spark in them, I like to see.

And that, of course makes me smile :) 

As a friend says: "happy tails make happy trails" and the same counts for mushers :)

We are back to running two teams - one of 10 and one of 8 dogs for the moment, due to icy trails.

What is truly fascinating and what I totally love about this time of the year is the LIGHT!
These pictures were taken during our March 8 run, sometime after 6:00pm. Just look at all that light!!! :)

 A definite treat after the dark months of winter :)

What you might like to know: The kids back in training for the Pasvik Trail 300 are:

Tazlina, Rapid, Galena, Snowy, Magpie, Ziggi, Krtek, Skittles, Rizey, Star, Comet, Runner, Hawky, Frostie, Goosak, Grayling, Magneto and Misa.

As you can see, the core from the Tobacco Trail is still there, just without two great dogs: Chilli and Nugget, who we decided need more rest and time to gain proper weight. It is sad to leave these guys behind when we head out for a run, they are two amazing dogs and of course two of the absolute best in our kennel. But there is always a next year!

And that´s it for the "new and old" stuff going on the trails of Vedjeön! Happy Trails!

Difficult Decision - But It´s Not Over Yet...!

It took a LOT of thinking, sleepless nights and many inner fights. The decision was one of the most difficult ones we ever had to make. We will not be running the Finnmarkslopet 500 this year. 

As much as you may imagine we are disappointed, please know that we are absolutely positive it was the right decision to take.

The kids have not recovered all from the Tobacco Trail (and our 11 hour run over the mountains in the storm) as much as we would have liked them to. Or I should say not as fast as we would like.

Tazlina was on antibiotics for over a week as a precaution measure as the chief vet of Tobacco Trail Anette Johansson was worried she might be developing pneumonia after her epic performance and trail breaking in single lead for 11 hours, leading three teams in the storm. She is absolutely fine (thank to our quick judgement and treatment) and never developed any illness, but she was out of the team and missed a number of runs that were to keep the kids in shape between the two races.

Chilli was quite skinny after the race. Upon arriving to Övre Soppero II where we ended the race, he had a swollen wrist and limped slightly. The wrist healed within two days of intense massage with Emu Oil, warmth of wrist wraps and Reiki therapy. So did Grayling, who recovered from the swollen wrist within a day. 

The problem we had was that majority of the girls in the kennel were in heat prior to the race and we even had two in heat during the race. Once back home, the boys were fully love sick all over again and more "depressed" that they weren´t in a team together 24/7.

It was hard to "feed them up" although we tried with all sorts of soups, cooked meat and snacks - they still did gain weight quite slowly due to their lack of appetite.

During one of the training runs it became obvious that Chilli is out of the Finnmarkslopet team as he was simply too skinny. I hate the thought of not being able to get the kids all in a nice, preferably "chubby" state, it is generally very hard for me to accept that some things simply cannot be achieved on that matter and only so much can be done.

Deep down I knew I can´t run the dogs the way we should before the tough race, more running = lower chances of gaining weight. They needed more rest to get to the shape I would like to see them in, and willing to take them on a 500km journey in the arctic.

We took them on shorter runs where they were doing fine. Grayling, Goosak and Runner put weight back on. I kept saying to myself that I will decide during the next run. Until this past Sunday, when Nugget didn´t pull much at all and seemed tired. He too, just like Chilli, got skinny and never gained anything back and it became obvious to me that he would have to stay home.

The other main string dogs were not trained for a longer period of time, after we left for Tobacco Trail and it simply led from one thing to another until we had to decide.

In Kipp d´Amundsen Kennels, we strongly depend on sponsorship and support of our family, friends and fans and a few of our great corporate partners. This year we received an overwhelming amount of support, for which we will always be endlessly thankful. We know that all these folks support us in following and living of our dream, and because they believe in us and our philosophy. 

We feel very fortunate to have such wonderful people around us, and it makes this decision easier to make, knowing that our family, friends, supporters and fans trust our judgement and the fact that we would never put the health and happiness of our dogs in jeopardy and on second place after our own ambitions.

The dogs are the true athletes and heroes and the reason why we do all this.  For us, it always has been, always is and always will be about them. Having doubts regarding their condition and health prior start of a 500km race is not about a challenge and adventure, but about being responsible. And that is why we, all packed and ready, have followed our inner feeling and withdrew from the race we dreamed of for so long, just few days before start.

We are grateful to those who support us no matter what and who second our decision and respect our difficult choice. 

And on that note, let us present to you our "plan B" :-):

www.pasviktrail.com

And you bet we´ll enjoy ourselves immensely and bring you loads of race info, pics and updates from the far arctic! Excited? We are!!

Tobacco Trail 2012 - Part IV - "The First Leg to Övre Soppero"

JUKKASJAARVI - ÖVRE SOPPERO

The start by Jukkasjaarvi Ice Hotel went smooth and the kids launch forward with a greatly coordinated speed and energy. 

With my excitement and adrenalin, I miss a race marker that commands us to turn right on the lake and we follow the trail for the tourist teams. I notice that almost immediately, seeing friend and competitor Jonny Näas ahead of us, following the left tracks. I command the leaders to go right, but they get confused and still full of adrenalin, so I ask them to turn around, we reach the spot where we took the wrong side, and I call them to go right. Now they really don´t understand what I want from them. The team that starts after us is catching up by now and is headed the wrong way as well, so I wave at the musher to go left.

Back on the right track, we finally settle to a nice and smooth lope over the Torne river and I can enjoy the beauty of the setting sun. 

I ride the drag brake and tell the kids to go "easy" the entire first leg. I feel the temperature is sinking, the trails are hard packed and fast, not only on the river, but also on the marshes and woodland we run through.

As the dusk falls upon us, two yellow glowing large balls appear above the trees to our right. It gives a feeling of being watched by some alien settlement. Later on I learned they are the towers of Esrange Space Center. We are passing their A-Zone - the impact area of their sounding rockets. We were lucky that their attempt for the most recent rocket launch had been successful, just few days prior the start of the race, so there will be no re-routing or other changes of plans for the Tobacco Trail and I am sure the organizers must feel a great relief.

For a while, we run within sight of Jonny Naas and Bernhard Klammer, but we steadily get into our own pace and eventually it is just my twelve best friends and I on the quiet arctic trail. 

It takes a while before another team catches up and passes us smoothly. By now it´s dark and hard to tell who is who, bib numbers and faces are unrecognizable.

This is a fast and very smooth, uneventful run. After two hours I stop to snack the kids, couple of the boys don´t want to eat, but I am sure their appetite will settle and improve as the race progresses and their focus from girls in heat will change into the race mode.

Birgitta, running also siberian huskies, catches up with me right after the kids finished their snacks, but when I ask her if she wants to pass, she says she´ll follow. 

From time to time, I check back to see how far she is behind us, she drives about a kilometer behind, sometimes I see her and sometimes I don´t. 

A group of teams appears behind and we get once again ready for passing. The first is fastest, and smooth. The second takes a while before they reach us, then their lead dogs start sniffing my sled instead of passing. I stop the team and pull the other team´s leaders by their neckline forward. They stop. The musher tries to get them passed my sled a few times, but his dogs perhaps smell my girls and lose focus. I offer help, anchor my team, help him untangle his guys and lead them pass my team. The musher politely thanks us and off they are. It makes no sense now to get going again, I decide to wait for the last teams of that group to pass us. We are in no hurry, we want to have a steady, controlled and stress free run on this first leg.

As one of the teams passes us, I  notice one of the swing dogs being quite caught up in the lines and shout at the musher "you´ve got a tangled dog there". She probably doesn´t understand me and soon enough I hear the dog scream and whine, she stops and needs help of the other team to untangle him and sort it out. Now my guys are finally getting impatient. 

Finally moving again, Birgitta catches up with us once again and this time passes us. We follow her all the way to the checkpoint.

Village lights appear on the horizon and we drop onto another river ice, where we drive for couple of miles before reaching the first checkpoint. The first leg took us 4 hours and 35 minutes.

ÖVRE SOPPERO

The checkpoint is set up directly on the river. Two lit up torches mark the "entrance" to the staging area and I can see the busy buzz of mushers taking care of their teams, steam from trail cookers, and all the typical checkpoint atmosphere. Many dogs are hyper and bark, not being tired at all, after this fast and easy run, including my guys. As soon as we get navigated to our post and a checker helps me by putting my anchor around the birch pole in the ice, the dogs start to whine and bark - they want to keep going. That sure makes me smile.

The checker asks in Slovak (Slovakia and Czech Republic have been united in the country of Czechoslovakia for many years, our languages are very similar and we can talk to each other and perfectly understand) how our trip was. That is a very neat and uplifting surprise, to meet someone from almost my home land this far above the arctic circle. I learn that Pavel lives in Kiruna and is a boyfriend of Rebecca, who is in charge of the race office and updates of the race´s trail blog.

We have a brief chat as he hands me a paper with the time we can earliest sign out. There is an obligatory rest of 2 hours here plus for my team another 30 minutes of time differential leveling. My race plan is to rest the kids here for 3 hours, give them a light soup and take it easy on the second leg to Saivomuotka as well.

Galena and Rapid - the girls in lead, are curiously watching me as I work with the straw bale. They know the campout routine well. 

 As soon as we get into our "parking position" and the kids get a proper rub, I remove their booties and go grab my shiny, beautiful new and easy to recognize blue dogbooties.com drop bags from the depot area. Jachym is here to give me a quick welcome hug and he takes a few pics of the dogs as he hangs out in the staging area. What a difference this is comparing to the Polardistance race. Although the handlers are not allowed to help us in any way at all, it is so much friendlier, letting them take pictures of the teams and chatting with the mushers, and nobody is sending them away, threatening with the musher´s disqualification.

The kids get their arrival fat snack that Rebecca and I made to try out, and they really like it. 

I then move on to my checkpoint routine - spreading straw and cooking water for their light soup. 

The temperature at the checkpoint is -25°C, so while the water cooks, I decide to throw a blanket over each dog who doesn´t have a coat on. They fuss quite a lot and it isn´t easy to keep the blankets on them :)

This is an excellent and super efficient trail cooker.

While I take care of the team, the dogs are curious about our neighbors who were just fed and bedded for a rest. It´s interesting to see how other mushers work with their dogs, what kind of equipment they use, what are their routines.

Thankfully everybody ate the light meal I made of Vom og Hundemat meat, Troll Ekstra Energi canned food and a bit of kibble.

After the kids had their dinner, they finally settled down a bit, still not really tired. Because Magpie and Snowy were in heat and the dogs weren´t tired, I put cable resting necklines on them all before climbing up the river bank to get some food myself, change my clothes and rest a bit before we head out again.

The checkpoint building is a home of Per-Nils and Britt-Marie Päiviö, a Sámi couple who with their family operate Min Eallin outdoor adventure company, offering experiences of the Sámi culture and every day life. They have reindeers, horses and sled dogs and work hard to make their living.

They opened their home to all the mushers, handlers and race staff, offering reindeer stew and traditional home baked bread with butter and cheese and coffee. The large dining area, decorated in the traditional Sámi way, is full of people eating, chatting, someone is warming up by the open fire place and couple mushers are stretched out on a bench by the window, taking a nap.

There´s a fantastic homey and friendly atmosphere in here. Jachym told me they let him plug in the headlamp battery charger, which is much faster than the 12V one we have in the truck. 

After I have devoured two bowls of the soup and drank some tea, we head out to the truck, where I need to change most of my layers of clothes - the change between twenty five below, then taking care of the kids, going indoors and outdoors again, make everything damp and not suitable for the 77km run ahead of us.

Within minutes we are ready, Jachym made me new set of warm drinks for the way and we head back down to the river and to the resting team. They curiously watching all happening around them and they are all rising up, happy to see their musher and excited to see what´s next. All signs of them being fresh, in good shape and not tired at all. A good thing to see! 

It takes me just a few minutes to put booties on those who need them, take the blankets off and re-hook the team into their tugs. Just to stuff all up back into the drop bags, quick good bye to Jachym and off we are, into the night. It´s 23:40 pm and we have stayed exactly 3 hours and 5 minutes. As the team passes a few other resting teams, I notice our siberian husky competitor Birgitta is just getting her team ready as well. We might get a company on the night run over the mountains.

Tobacco Trail 2012 - Part III - "The Start"

LOVELY MORNING OF THE RACE DAY

The kids are getting dropped and fed several times, being checked by chief vet Annette Johansson, who advises us to use booties as much as possible due to recent fresh snow dump and cold.  

The boy are not really into eating, because Magpie and Snowy are in heat. It worries me a bit, but we´ll have to take it step by step and in the worst case drop the girls in heat.

Frostie, whom I´ve jokingly nicknamed "the old man" as he´s going to be turning 10 years this coming April. Still strong and in a great shape. Funny, when I sometimes hear some mushers calling their eight year olds "old". I know many good distance mushers and teams, whose most accomplished and treasured team members are in what they call the "golden age" - between 7 and 9 years old. 

He´s calm, experienced, good eater with a positive attitude and has never been injured nor had even a tiny cut on his paws. Very good, tough dog. 

Here are some of the boys - right to left. Goosak, then Chilli, who is a bit skinny and it´s been a challenge to put and keep weight on him the whole season. He will wear a coat the entire race, unless it gets really warm, which is not predicted. Then Runner - it´s his first big race, he´s only 3 years old. And last Nugget, Goosak´s brother. 

Thought we´d have more pics of all the kids before the race, but we don´t. 

MUSHER MEETING AND ALL THE PRE-START NECESSITIES

The first half of the day is filled with registrations, weighing of mandatory dog food rations, vet checks and finally the musher meeting.

We got bib nr.3 and start at 16:04 from the Ice Hotel in Jukkasjaarvi, some 40km outside Kiruna.

Taisto Thorneus, the "father of the race" informs us about tricky parts of the trail and shows different types of trail markers used.

The trails are supposed to be very good, hard packed and fast all the way to the first checkpoint Övre Soppero, then looser and a bit "sandy-like" over the low mountain area on the way from Soppero to checkpoint nr.2 Saivomuotka, on the Finnish border. It is the same way back from there to Övre Soppero, before the last leg to Kiruna.

The total length of the race is measured to be 308km (after the race one of the competitors measured it with GPS and found it a bit longer, actually).

Distances between checkpoints:

Jukkasjaarvi Ice Hotel (start) - Övre Soppero = 61km,

Övre Soppero 1 - Saivomuotka = 77km

Saivomuotka - Övre Soppero 2 = 77km

Övre Soppero 2 - Kiruna, Arena Arctica (finishline) = 93km

Mandatory layovers: 

2hours plus time differential leveling in Övre Soppero 1

6 hours in Saivomuotka

6 hours in Övre Soppero 2

FINALLY - THE START

We have to be at the race start 1,5hours in advance, and checks of mandatory equipment will be performed there.

After the meeting, a feeling of panic got me - we needed to feed the dogs a light soup one more time, pack all neatly into the sled, I had to change into racing clothes, grab something to eat and drink, and Jachym cook tea and prepare drinks for my camel bag and thermos, then get to the Ice Hotel on time. 

Luckily, we had most things on place, and thank to making a list in advance, I had the sled packed and ready within 20 minutes.

We got to the starting area right on time, I managed to take a bite in the car on the way there and we had enough time to prepare the sled, lines, snow hooks and all for a start from the truck. I got a compliment from the race marshal who checked the mandatory gear personally, about my nicely organized sled and we joked about the "woman´s touch".  It felt nice to not be called a "freak" for once, but rather get praised :)

We watched the teams of tour operators pass by on the Torne river, big teams with huge sleds, carrying several excited tourists each. These huskies sure work hard and earn their and their musher´ living.

The temperatures dropped quite low and I realized it´s getting seriously cold when I touched a metal part  of my sled and got skin on my hands "freeze burned". 

The sun was setting down and visitors of the ice hotel and many others started to fill up the starting area on the river ice. Many volunteers from the Kiruna sled dog club members have come to give a hand and help the teams safely to the starting chute, which was greatly appreciated.

Waiting. Still relatively patiently...

Grayling is starting to loose his nerves and graps the neckline. Magneto gets all hyped up as well.

Now, knowing all is done, prepared and ready, I was finally calm. Walking up and down the line, calming the kids and having a talk with each one.

Soon, guys, very soon.

Nugget and Goosak getting mad.

Yeah, really beautiful, guys! People will think I run a team of ware-wolves.

The boys were not the only ones getting mad. Snowy looks like no fun to mess with, Tazlina behind her as if she´s just about to take off and get air-borne, while good-ole Magpie belongs to the group of calm, relaxed dogs under any circumstances.

Finally at the starting line. Look how professionally calm Galena and Rapid are. What great lead dogs.

READY?!! LET´S GO!

And off we are. Thirteen excited happy campers, on our way for the arctic adventure!

To be continued...

Tobacco Trail 2012 - Part II - "The Trip to Kiruna"

After spending what seems like thousands of hours, or more likely an eternity of packing, The Crew (who did a super job) managed to get all the dog food, snacks and gear (read my previous post Tobacco Trail 2012 - Part I - "Pre Race Madness") to see an example of what needs to be done and made for one 300km race) loaded into the dog truck and finally it was time to bring in the twelve chosen athletes. 

We let the boys run around the dog yard, to stretch out their muscles and do their "toilet business" freely. The problem was three girls on the team were in heat with Ziggi being in standing heat, trying desperately all options to get bred. After a short fight within myself, my inner feeling won, and on the very last minute, we loaded the "old man" Frostie on the truck instead of Ziggi. A hard decision to make such quick switch of plans, but as it turned out, a wise one.

These are the twelve athletes and the line up in which they will run:

Four hours later than our original planned departure time, we are heading out of the yard and up north.

As the bright sunny day turned into dusk, a pale distant northern light appeared on the horizon. It grew on intensity and eventually turned into the most impressive display I have ever experienced in my entire life. An arch similar to rainbow ran across the sky from left to right, and since the sky touches the ground in the land around the arctic cicle, it was an impressive and breathtaking phenomena. The deep green supplemented with pink shades and the lights changed form from a bow into a "smoke" tail, then danced from left to right, before settling back to the overwhelming arch.

We made a quick stop at fellow musher and Tobacco Trail competitor Birgitta Sandin and her husband Mikael, who gave us a very warm invitation and treated us to an excellent moose stew and coffee. Birgitta and Mikael operate the Nymanen Siberian Husky Kennels and Tours and Birgitta has an art studio where she produces some of the most fantastic glass art work. Before continuing up north, we met with their daughter Emilia, who will be Birgitta´s handler in the upcoming race. What a nice girl - Jachym will have a good "checkpoint buddy" :)

We pushed a bit further up and when we reached the arctic circle, we stopped for the night. Now the wind picked up and it started blowing. We fed the kids, then ourselves (we made a century-discovery of canned ravioli which can be easily heated on our interior car heater pipe, an excellent and quick solution for "dining" on the go), and dropped the kids for the last time before crawling into our sleeping bags.

the interior of our dog truck cabin is small (the dogs have majority of the place), but very cozy and thank to our wonderful friends Jörgen and Maria Pålson, it has a bench and a foldable table/bed for two. We have also put in a number of hangers and storage baskets .  It is a tiny, but great "home on wheels" and most importantly allows us being with the dogs all the time and being able to stop and overnight just about anywhere

The next day was very windy and Jachym did a great job driving on the arcic roads, full of reindeers, scattered all around - some laying by the road, some walking or just hanging out at the road. It was like a safari.

Nine km before the town of Gallivare, many control lights went off on the display in the truck and it stopped. We ran out of gas. Great. But even that obsticle was solved and thank to kindness of poeple, Jachym managed to get a ride to town to get some gas and then back to the truck, and all that took a bit over an hour. It wasn´t a pleasant feeling standing in the middle of the road, wind blowing, and having the kids in the back of the truck, I worried what if a car did not see us in time and hit us from the back.

Fortunately, all went well afterwords (and here is time to say a very, very special thank you to Jachym´s mom for helping us out and sponsoring the fuel needs of this trip! - we are so deeply grateful!), and we made the final push to Kiruna.

Dropping the kids for their evening pee, stretching out and dinner.

We stayed by the club house owned and operated by Kiruna Sled Dog Club, who also hosted and helped organize Tobacco Trail. What wonderful group of people, who made us feel so welcome!

View of the city of Kiruna, from the KSHK club house and sprint trail system.

Kiruna´s Arena Arctica.

We went to get more gas for Jachym´s travel between checkpoints, and buy a few more things and walked by this beautifully lit up laavoo and treas in a small park downtown Kiruna.

Few last things needed to be organized and sorted out before we could call it a day, and get a last long rest before day D.

To be continued... Look for Part III :)