General Discussion, Friday, March 11, 2022

Posted on March 11, 2022 by Stella

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32 Responses to General Discussion, Friday, March 11, 2022

  1. deaconmike51907 says:
    March 11, 2022 at 6:33 am

    Good morning all! Happy Friday!

    Liked by 4 people

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  2. WeeWeed says:
    March 11, 2022 at 8:37 am

    Mornin’ y’all.

    Liked by 7 people

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  3. auscitizenmom says:
    March 11, 2022 at 8:41 am

    Mornin’ Wee, Deacon, everybody. 72*, humid and warm here. They installed a new heat pump yesterday. She started at 8:30 AM and then 3 guys came in to help, the Supervisor and lead included. They worked until about 5:30. They needed to come back today to fix a couple of things and clean the carpet, what a mess, where they had worked. It ws at the top of the stairs on the landing into the bedrooms and bath. I put them off until Monday because I didn’t get any packing done and have to do it all today. The good news is that the unit seems to be working fine. Oh, no. I just saw the weather and more snow is coming up North.

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  4. deaconmike51907 says:
    March 11, 2022 at 9:55 am

    Getting some wintry wear this weekend. Maybe even a little snow. Can’t wait for Spring.

    Liked by 3 people

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  5. czarina33 says:
    March 11, 2022 at 3:31 pm

    Got hit in the face with a vine while clearing brush yesterday. Went under my hat and behind my glasses. Didn’t particularly hurt till midnight, when my dry eyes got significantly worse on that eye. Went to the eye doctor this morning and found out I have a corneal abrasion. Now I have to put eye drops in that eye every hour till bedtime today, then an ointment overnight, then drops every 5 hours tomorrow, ointment overnight, repeat on Sunday. Return to Dr. on Monday for update. He doesn’t think it is deep, but the scrape is right in the middle of my vision.

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  6. The Tundra PA says:
    March 11, 2022 at 5:30 pm

    IDITAROD UPDATE
    Afternoon, friends! The race is moving into high gear now, as it always does in the second half. All but 2 teams have finished their mandatory 24 hour rest: Jeff King in 25th position and Jeff Deeter in 27th. They have chosen to go past Cripple, the official halfway checkpoint, to Ruby on the Yukon River before resting; this is considered a radical move for a team that is pushing for a top ten finish, but neither of these two teams is in striking distance of that hope.

    King is a 4-time Iditarod champ who last won the race in 2006. He is 66 years old and retired from racing dogs a few years ago. He had no intention of running this year’s race, but got a call at the last minute from Nic Petit (a top ten finisher last year) who had just tested positive for COVID and had to withdraw. Nic asked Jeff to run his team for him and Jeff agreed to jump on the sled in his place. Jeff is running Iditarod as tour this year, enjoying the scenery and the beautiful team Nic handed him. He is doing it for the dogs to learn the trail more than anything else. Numerous old-time mushers at the end of their careers do a tour like this to simply enjoy the experience rather than to be competitive, where it all becomes a blur. When you are in the front of the pack, it is all business and much less fun.

    The good news (for me) is that Dallas Seavey does not have the lead. Brent Sass has been the race leader for a while now, and has about a 3 hour lead over Dallas in second position, which is a comfortable–but not insurmountable–margin. Brent has reached and departed the second checkpoint on the Yukon at Galena; Dallas is 24 miles behind him. But Dallas is consistently travelling about 1 mile per hour faster than Brent (10.1 mph for Dallas vs 9.2 for Brent). With over 400 miles to go, Dallas has time to eat up that margin if he can maintain that pace, and if Brent does not have enough “gas in the tank” to pull off a better surge in the last 100 miles. If he manages to overtake Brent and win the race, he will become the only 6-time Iditarod champion in history.

    The biggest challenge for all the mushers in this year’s race has been the very warm weather. Temperatures have consistently been around or just above freezing. While it is nice for the mushers not to have to wear all their heaviest gear and to be able to work bare-handed with the dogs, it is terrible for the dogs. The ideal range for sled dogs is 10 below to 10 above; dogs overheat quickly when the thermometer rises into the 20s and above. Then the runs must be shorter and the rests longer. They may stop eating and drinking altogether, which is disasterous. Their energy and desire to run can become lethargic and they just want to sleep. And the snow gets soft and mushy, which is a lot more work for the dogs to pull the sled through. There may even be standing water to plough through on rivers, creeks, and swampy areas. Fortunately the temps are predicted to get down to single digits by tonight and through the next several days. That will energize the dogs and harden up the trail.

    I do so wish I could show you more of the photos and some of the video clips available to me as an Iditarod Insider, but most are behind a paywall. It costs me $40/year to have access, and I’m happy to pay it. It is the next best thing to being there, and I do so love this sport, and this race. I wish I had come to Alaska and gotten into mushing as a 20something instead of a late-40something. But I am glad to have had the few years running dogs as a recreational musher that I did. It is truly an amazing experience to own, and care for, and drive, and trust a team of Alaskan husky sled dogs. There is just nothing like it.

    GO DOGS, GO!

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  7. The Tundra PA says:
    March 11, 2022 at 5:55 pm

    Oh yay! I managed to post the photo correctly. Then forgot to mention it. In the photo the team in front belongs to Lisbet Norris, a young woman from an old-time Alaskan mushing family. Their entire kennel is composed of purebred Siberian huskies, and Lisbet is running the only Siberian team in this year’s race. In the old days, before snowmachines and airplanes, Siberians and Malamutes did all the freight hauling in remote rural Alaska. Now that mushing has become a recreational and competitive sport, there are far fewer of either breed. Siberians are gorgeous dogs, but they don’t have the speed of the modern Alaskan husky (which is not a recognized breed by the American Kennel Club). Because of that, many mushers refer to them as “Slo-berians”. It is a rare and lovely thing to see an entire team of Siberians working in harness. They are strong, beautiful dogs with great temperment (Malamutes, not so much!) and a great history. Lisbet and her team are currently bringing up the rear in next-to-last position.

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  8. auscitizenmom says:
    March 11, 2022 at 7:12 pm

    I have been watching Into the Wild Frontier. I can see it on the INSP channel. I don’t know if it can be found somewhere else. But, it is so interesting. I just watched the reenactment of Lewis and Clark. They went into more detail than I have ever heard before. Some of the other shows have been about mountain men and black men in the west. The next one coming on is about Kit Carson. These shows are really well done.

    Liked by 2 people

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  9. stella says:
    March 11, 2022 at 11:46 pm

    The Deseret News is reporting that Mitt Romney may run for President in 2024. Surprised?

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