General Discussion, Friday, March 17, 2023

Posted on March 17, 2023 by Stella

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23 Responses to General Discussion, Friday, March 17, 2023

  1. Lucille says:
    March 17, 2023 at 12:29 am

    Have a blessed Friday, Stellars….

    IRELAND | Cinematic Travel Video

    By Nicolo Trunfio, 2018
    MUSIC ► “Goodbye” by Nico Maximilian

    IRELAND LOCATIONS:
    • County Kilkenny: Kilkenny Castle, Kilkenny
    • County Tipperary: Rock of Cashel, Cashel
    • County Cork: Kinsale ; Cobh
    • County Kerry: Derrynane; Ballinskelligs Castle, Ballinskelligs; Ballinskelligs Priory, Ballinskelligs; Ballycarbery Castle, Caherciveen; various places along the Ring of Kerry
    • County Clare: Cliffs of Moher; Corcomroe Abbey, Bellharbour; Poulnabrone Dolmen
    • County Galway: Galway; Dunguaire Castle, Kinvara; Connemara region
    • County Sligo: Classiebawn Castle, Mullaghmore
    • County Dublin: Baily Lighthouse, Howth Head

    NORTHERN IRELAND LOCATIONS:
    • County Antrim: Dunluce Castle, Bushmills; Bushmills; Giant’s Causeway, Bushmills; Dark Hedges, Ballymoney; Ballintoy
    • County Londonderry: Mussenden Temple, Castlerock

    Liked by 3 people

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    • weather257 says:
      March 17, 2023 at 10:54 am

      Oh the days of the Kerry dancing (Julie Andrews):

      Liked by 4 people

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      • The Tundra PA says:
        March 18, 2023 at 4:51 pm

        Weather, I love this! She was sooo young then. Must have been in her early 20s, after she was on Broadway in The Boyfriend. I have never seen this photo or known of this album, and I have been madly in love with Dame Julie since I was 13 years old and first saw The Sound of Music. I followed her career as closely as possible after that, and thought I knew everything about her early years. So thank you for this! I love filling in holes I’ve missed.

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  2. The Tundra PA says:
    March 17, 2023 at 12:41 am

    IDITAROD WRAP-UP, Day 11

    Hello Stellar friends, and a happy St. Paddy’s Day to ye all! The Last Great Race on Earth is close to being done. 23 teams have now passed under the Burled Arch, most recently Mike Williams, Jr. just a few minutes ago. I was able to tune into the live broadcast to see his finish. He looked more tired than I’ve ever seen him. The 7 dogs he had in harness looked thin and tired also. He had problems on the trail with dogs getting sick, he said.

    Going back to the top of the list, the Rookie of the Year was Eddie Burke, Jr. in 7th place. The first woman to finish was Mille Porcild in 9th place. Jessie Royer finished in 14th place, and Mike Jr. in 23rd place.

    Six teams are still out on the trail; 4 of them, including Bridgett Watkins, are resting the mandatory 8 hours at White Mountain. The other 2 are about 20 miles out, between Elim and White Mountain. Four teams have scratched. Bridgett is on track to finish in 27th place.

    Shortly after leaving White Mountain, about 2:30 tomorrow morning, she will face the spot that defeated her and placed her and the team in a life-threatening situation last year: the Blow Hole, a sometimes fierce wind tunnel. It would be hard to imagine that she is not having some butterflies-in-the-stomach about going through there this year. She may wait until sun up to try it again. I think I would, especially since waiting a few extra hours won’t mean being passed by one of the two teams behind her. She is about 4 hours ahead of them now.

    GO BRIDGETT!
    GO DOGS!

    Liked by 6 people

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  3. Lucille says:
    March 17, 2023 at 1:13 am

    Zelenskyy is the spawn of satan!


    “If Someone Wants to Come Here and Beat Us and Draw Us Through Our Legs and Our Hands We Are Ready” – Ukrainian Monks Call Out to International Christian Community After Persecution by Zelensky Regime (VIDEO)
    By Jim Hoft Mar. 16, 2023 8:00 pm

    In December, after banning all TV platforms in Ukraine into one state broadcast, jailing political rivals, and restricting political parties, Zelensky then banned the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/03/if-someone-wants-to-come-here-and-beat-us-and-draw-us-through-our-legs-and-our-hands-we-are-ready-ukrainian-monks-call-out-to-international-christian-community-after-persecution-by-zelensky-regi/

    Liked by 5 people

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  4. WeeWeed says:
    March 17, 2023 at 6:57 am

    Mornin’ kids!

    Liked by 4 people

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  5. Stella says:
    March 17, 2023 at 10:52 am

    Good morning everybody! It’s a gray day here, but warmer – 49°! Snow is all melted. I’m watching my forsythia for buds; it won’t be long now!

    Liked by 4 people

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  6. auscitizenmom says:
    March 17, 2023 at 11:31 am

    Mornin’ All. Got up a little earlier this morning. It is 20* and very sunny out. I heard the weatherman say no snow expected until the end of next week, We’ll see. But it looks like a beautiful day today.

    Have to get another shot in my eye today. Can’t wait. 🙄

    Have a nice day wherever you are.

    Liked by 4 people

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  7. WeeWeed says:
    March 17, 2023 at 3:15 pm

    Today, March 17, which is famous the world over as Saint Patrick’s Day, is also Saint Gertrude’s Day — the feast day of Saint Gertrude of Nivelles (AD 626 – AD 659) on the Western Christian liturgical calendar. Saint Gertrude was a Seventh-Century abbess who, along with her mother Itta, founded the Abbey of Nivelles located in present-day Belgium.

    ☞Note: Saint Gertrude of Nivelles is not to be confused with German Benedictine, mystic, & theologian Saint Gertrude the Great (1256-1302).

    ☞Saint Gertrude is the patron saint of cats. She is also a patron saint of the Netherlands, & of travelers & gardeners, & her name is invoked as protection against both mice & mental illness.

    Liked by 4 people

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  8. The Tundra PA says:
    March 17, 2023 at 9:18 pm

    IDITAROD FINAL WRAP, Day 12

    Bridgett finished the race a few minutes past noon today, and had 11 dogs in harness. She was 27th as predicted. I am really proud of her for coming right back and running the race again after her first rookie experience last year. Congratulations, Bridgett! Job well done. I suspect we will see her again next year.

    All teams are off the trail now except the Red Lantern. Jason Mackey is the final musher and he and his team are about 3 miles out from the Burled Arch. He only has 5 dogs on the gangline now (the minimum required to finish) but they are traveling at 8.2 mph. That’s pretty fast for the end of a thousand mile race, even on ice. Jason’s time will be 12 days 2 hours and a few minutes. That time would have beaten every Iditarod Champion from the race’s inception in 1973 up to Susan Butcher’s first win in 1986. The race used to take nearly 3 weeks to run! Ryan’s time this year was 8d 21h 12m 58s, and it did not set a new record.

    At the Musher’s Banquet on Sunday, all mushers will be presented with their winnings, in reverse order of finishing place. So starting with the Red Lantern–and Jason will receive an actual red lantern–and finishing with the Champion, Ryan Redington. All must be present, or forfeit their winnings. It is a rollicking good time, as each musher goes up to the microphone and tells a story or two about their experience of the race, the dogs, the other mushers, whatever stands out to them after a few days of rest, warm food and sleeping inside again. All the “First to Whatever” awards will be given, as well as the Humanitarian Award, chosen by the team of vets and given to the musher who (in their opinion) took the best care of their team, considering their level of experience. And I think there is an award chosen by all the mushers for something like friendliest musher or best sport.

    Just checked the stats page again and Jason has made it to Nome! Congratulations, Red Lantern! The race is officially over for 2023. Thanks to all my Stellar friends for sharing it with me.

    Liked by 3 people

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    • Reflection says:
      March 17, 2023 at 10:28 pm

      Thank you Tundra for the race updates. You’ve described the demands of the race well. It is an extraordinary event.

      What has made the great difference in the time it takes to finish the race nowadays compared to previously? It’s such an enormous difference.

      Liked by 1 person

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      • The Tundra PA says:
        March 18, 2023 at 1:42 am

        It truly is an extraordinary event, traveling a thousand miles across some of the toughest parts of this amazing, raw wilderness that is Alaska by dog team. There are many reasons why the race is so different from the way it was in the 1970s and 80s. In the early 70s, snowmachines had almost completely replaced sled dog teams as the way to travel and transport goods across the vast wilderness of Alaska. They are a lot faster and require less care and maintenance. Sled dogs were on the verge of becoming a part of Alaska’s history. Joe Redington Sr. and a small group of friends wanted to save the sled dog by creating a showcase event for them that would keep people involved in breeding and training sled dogs. Thus was Iditarod born.

        In the 70s, most good mushers were Alaska Native men. There were just not that many gussocks (that’s us white folks) involved. And most of the Native men were into sprint racing, not long distance traveling. The first few Iditarods were basically extended camping trips. On one of them, a Native man showed up for the race dressed completely in furs and running a sled laden only with the carcasses of 4 caribou to feed his dogs with. There were no requirements about gear, and all the mushers helped each other out and tended to camp together in groups. Winning was kind of an afterthought. The mushers’ mental orientation toward the event was very different from now.

        Another big difference was in the gear. Sleds tended to be much heavier, made of wood by the musher, lashed together with rawhide strips. Mushers wore blue jeans over woolen long johns, bunny boots and fur parkas and hats. Dogs were much bigger and heavier–the result of years of breeding for strong, heavy dogs that could haul freight long distances, not run fast. They had thick, furry paws that never saw or needed a bootie. It took a lot more food to keep them going. Cooking that food required making camp, gathering and splitting wood, building a fire to cook it on, sometimes even hunting while camping or on the trail. There were not even checkpoints on the earliest races. Those intrepid mushers were out there with their teams in the middle of nowhere with no emergency help available, other than each other.

        Because of Iditarod, the very idea of long-distance travel by dog team was preserved in Alaska. The race, and the mushers, and the gear, and the dogs themselves have come a long way since those early years. From it’s humble beginning of a few friends who just wanted to prove that you actually could travel from Anchorage to Nome by dog team (which the 1925 Serum Run did not; it was a relay by multiple teams from Fairbanks to Nome, mostly on the Yukon River and crossed no big mountain ranges), Iditarod has become an internationally known and loved event that is recognized as the Olympics of dog mushing.

        Thanks for your question, Reflection. My long-winded answer may have been more than you wanted to know.

        Liked by 2 people

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        • czarina33 says:
          March 18, 2023 at 9:14 am

          No, it was great history, easily read and very much appreciated! I love that the first ones were so casual “4 caribou carcasses to feed the team” and “winning was kind of an after thought”. Camaraderie and keeping the tradition were a reason to do it. Kinda sad those were lost, or do some people still go out the old ways, just for the tradition?

          Liked by 1 person

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        • Reflection says:
          March 19, 2023 at 12:56 pm

          I agree Cxarina,

          It’s a good history of the race, with details we are unlikely to see anywhere else.

          It has taken a lot of dedication and skill to preserve the art and skill of dog sledding and racing.

          Thank you, Tundra

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