Iditarod 2024 – Day 4
The temperature is forecast to be in the mid 10s to high 20s °F with snow which is borderline for running sled dogs. Many teams will rest during the day and run at night.
People are beginning to take their mandatory 24-hour layovers while Dallas is probably going for the Halfway Money at Cripple. He wants a big lead for his attempt at his sixth win.
Standings at 10:30PM CST (7:30PM AKST)
Beyond Ophir
1 Dallas Seavey (7)
2 Nicolas Petit (17)
At Ophir
3 Jessie Holmes (9)
4 Matthew Failor (31)
5 Jeff Deeter (18)
6 Anna Berington (2)
7 Deke Naaktgeboren (34)
8 Sean Williams (27)R
At Takotna
9 Travis Beals (14)
10 Ryan Redington (21)
11 Peter Kaiser (26)
12 Matt Hall (16)
13 Hunter Keefe (10)
14 Paige Drobny (38)
15 Jessie Royer (20)
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March 6, 2024 No Comments
Trail Weather – 2024
Anchorage & Campbell Airstrip
Willow
Skwentna & Yentna, Finger Lake, Rainy Pass, Rohn
McGrath & Nikolai, Takotna, Ophir
Ruby
Galena
Nulato
Kaltag
Unalakleet
Shaktoolik
Koyuk
Elim
Golovin
White Mountain
Nome & Safety
March 5, 2024 No Comments
Iditarod 2024 – Day 3
The temperature is forecast to be in the mid 10s to high 20s °F with snow which is borderline for running sled dogs. Many teams will rest during the day and run at night.
On early Monday morning outside of Skwenta, Dallas Seavey encountered a moose which ended with a dead moose and one injured dog. Having lived in Alaska, trust me – moose are mental. They are the reason you go armed outside of town. Bears and wolves are not a real threat to humans most of the time, but moose are the biggest threat to people, dogs, and VW Beetles.
Standings at 11:00PM CST (8:00PM AKST)
Beyond Nikolai
1 Jessie Holmes (9)
2 Matt Hall (16)
3 Travis Beals (14)
4 Ryan Redington (21)
5 Dallas Seavey (7)
6 Hunter Keefe (10)
7 Mille Porsild (12)
8 Peter Kaiser (26)
9 Paige Drobny (38)
10 Matthew Failor (31)
11 Mats Pettersson (5)
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March 5, 2024 No Comments
Iditarod 2024 – Day 2
And they’re off. The temperature is forecast to be in the mid 10s to mid 20s F which which borderline for sled dogs. Many teams will rest during the day and run at night.
Standings at 11:00PM CST (8:00PM AKST)
At Rohn
1 Dallas Seavey (7)
Beyond Rainy Pass
2 Jessie Holmes (9)
3 Peter Kaiser (26)
4 Matt Hall (16)
5 Wally Robinson (39)
6 Mille Porsild (12)
7 Matthew Failor (31)
8 Travis Beals (14)
9 Ryan Redington (21)
10 Hunter Keefe (10)
11 Aaron Burmeister (29)
12 Paige Drobny (38)
13 Mats Pettersson (5)
14 Jason Mackey (19)
15 Jessie Royer (20)
16 Jeff Deeter (18)
17 Nicolas Petit (17)
18 Anna Berington (2)
19 Gabe Dunham (24)R
20 Jessica Klejka (8)
21 Bailey Vitello (32)
22 Josi Thyr (22)R
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March 4, 2024 No Comments
Iditarod 2024 – Day 1
And they’re off. The temperature is forecast to be in the low to mid 10s F which which is good for sled dogs. There’s about 5 hours of sunlight left at the starting time and teams leave at two minute intervals, so the last team out about an hour and a half after the first team.
Beyond Willow
1 Anna Berington (2)
2 Connor McMahon (3)R
3 Will Rhodes (4)R
4 Mats Pettersson (5)
5 Bryce Mumford (6)R
6 Dallas Seavey (7)
7 Jessica Klejka (8)
8 Jessie Holmes (9)
9 Hunter Keefe (10)
10 Joshua Robbins (11)R
11 Mille Porsild (12)
12 Lauro Eklund (13)R
13 Travis Beals (14)
14 Isaac Teaford (15)R
15 Matt Hall (16)
[Read more →]
March 3, 2024 No Comments
Susan Butcher Day
It is the first Saturday in March which is Susan Butcher Day in Alaska and marks the Iditarod ‘parade’ from Anchorage to the airport. The actual race is set to start on Sunday in Willow.
March 2, 2024 No Comments
Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Sant
It’s Saint David’s Day, and, as he is their patron saint, it is a national holiday in Wales. The Welsh wear leeks or daffodils [called Peter’s leek in Welsh] on this day.
March 1, 2024 No Comments
VD
Why are you being hustled by street vendors to buy sad and drooping former roses, vegetative matter that missed the cut for bouquets, or were too late to the hospital?
Blame Esther A. Howland (1828 – 1904) of Worcester, Massachusetts. Her guilt is writ large by the Greeting Card Association’s Esther Howland Award for a Greeting Card Visionary. She imported the concept to the US from Britain to bolster her father’s stationery store in 1847.
Of course, it wasn’t long before the stationers had infiltrated school boards and imposed the now mandatory exchange in the classroom to push the low end product of Asian children and prisoners.
[Read more →]
February 14, 2024 Comments Off on VD
Shrove Tuesday
The last day before the beginning of Lent on the Gulf Coast that once belonged to France, it is Mardi Gras, “Fat Tuesday”: Laissez les bon temps rouler!
It was first celebrated in Mobile, Alabama, but the big show these days is in New Orleans, and it is a holiday in the state of Louisiana, because people wouldn’t show up for work anyway, so why fight it.
A tradition is to serve King cake, which is a circle of cinnamon bun dough with a white frosting on top sprinkled with sugar colored purple, gold, and green. If that weren’t bad enough, they put the figurine of a baby in the dough, and whoever finds it in their piece is supposed to be lucky. Actually if you find it and don’t choke on it, I guess you are lucky. You should use a small ceramic figurine, as some of the cheap plastic versions melt in the oven [yummy].
In Britain, Ireland, and many of the Commonwealth countries Shrove Tuesday is celebrated as Pancake Day. Apparently people are using up everything they give up for Lent.
February 13, 2024 Comments Off on Shrove Tuesday
Darwin Day
Today is Darwin Day celebrating the birth and works of one of the greatest scientists the world has ever known. He shares his birthdate, 12 February 1809, with another great man, Abraham Lincoln.
Darwin’s book, On the Origin of Species is a founding document of evolutionary biology.
February 12, 2024 2 Comments
Superb Owl Sunday
February 11, 2024 2 Comments
Happy New Year, 4721
Year of the Wood Dragon
Chinese New Year
[Spring Festival]
[Note: The Lunar New Year is tied to the Second New Moon after the Winter Solstice, which is on February 9th in my time zone and February 10th in China.]
February 9, 2024 2 Comments
Groundhog Day
It’s Groundhog Day and some of the militant marmots object to being disturbed.
FYI: this is approximately the midpoint between the Winter Solstice and the Vernal Equinox. It is called Imbolc among the Celts, which is why people are interested.
On average groundhogs are right 40% of the time. Flipping a coin has a better average for accuracy.
Update: The North American groundhogs agree that winter is over, but Lucy the Lobster disagrees.
February 2, 2024 Comments Off on Groundhog Day
Columbia
Commander:
Rick Douglas Husband, Colonel, USAF
Pilot:
William C. McCool, Commander, USN
Payload Commander:
Michael P. Anderson, Lieutenant Colonel, USAF
Mission Specialist:
Kalpana Chawla, PhD
David M. Brown, MD, Captain, USN
Laurel Blair Salton Clark, MD, Captain, USN
Payload Specialist:
Ilan Ramon, Colonel, Israel Air Force
NASA now has a Memorial Page honoring those who have been lost in the space program.
February 1, 2024 Comments Off on Columbia