Posts from — March 2013

The Old Man

Kids these day have no manners!

[Editor: Toes is looking pretty bad these days. The life of the alpha tom is filled with fights to take the position away, and he has had multiple injuries this year. It is bad during the cold spells, because he isn’t welcomed into the clusters of cats that share their warmth.]

Friday Ark

Just over half of the teams still in the race have finished at Nome.

Cindy Abbott (60) has scratched at Kaltag. She pulled a muscle [probably slinging hay bales or food bags, and didn’t feel she could take care of her puppies. Update: Cindy’s problem might have been related to an earlier injury to her leg in the Burn.

Speaking of puppies, Luan Ramos Marques (47) and Mikhail Telpin (63) still have have not had to drop a dog. Mikhail only uses 12 dogs, as he did on the Quest, but Luan is caring for 16.

Finished At Nome
11 Aaron Burmeister (24)
12 Ken Anderson (6)
13 Peter Kaiser (10)
14 Josh Cadzow (55)^Q
15 Cim Smyth (51)
16 Paul Gebhardt (11)
17 Martin Buser (2)
18 Jessie Royer (30)
19 Lance Mackey (5)
20 Ramey Smyth (38)
21 John Baker (13)
22 Brent Sass (62)
23 Michael Williams Jr (46)
24 Michelle Phillips (7)
25 Jessica Hendricks (54)
26 Kelley Griffin (9)
27 Curt Perano (45)
28 Matt Failor (61)
29 Linwood Fiedler (42)
30 Mike Ellis (50)
31 Kelly Maixner (25)
32 Wade Marrs (57)
33 Allen Moore (48)
34 Paige Drobny (14)^Q
35 Jim Lanier (59)
36 Richie Diehl (65)^R
37 Travis Beals (22)^R
38 Justin Savidis (34)
39 Matt Giblin (64)
40 Karin Hendrickson (29)
41 Aaron Peck (58) [Read more →]

3/14 is Albert’s birthday and

Π Day.

I assume you have all shopped for the perfect gift.

To get you started: Π ≅ 3.14159265358979323846264338327950288419
716939937510582097494459230781640628620899862803482534211 70679…..

Another Florida public official has resigned to spend more time with their lawyers.

The Miami Herald reports:

Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll abruptly resigned Tuesday after law enforcement officials questioned her about ties to a purported veterans charity organization at the center of a $300 million multi-state racketeering investigation.

Ms Carroll was the female version of Allen West – retired military officer and a Tea Party conservative, who was ‘poised for great things’ in the Republican Party.

Elections and laws keep preventing people like this from achieving their full potential.

Mitch Seavey is the oldest musher to win the Iditarod as he crossed the finish 24 minutes ahead of Aliy. Mitch’s son, Dallas, is the youngest musher to win the Iditarod. Dallas also finished just ahead of Aliy. This is the second time Mitch has won the race.

Mitch kept a consistent pace, but Aliy just couldn’t make up the time. She made up a minute between Safety and Nome, but lost 12 minutes between White Mountain and Safety.

Update: Charley Bejna (15) scratched on the trail to Shaktoolik. He only had 7 puppies left, and wasn’t sure they could make it in.

One of the most annoying things about the Iditarod Trail Committee is that they stop reporting on the back of the back after the leaders reach Nome. Cindy Abbott (60) left Eagle Island more than 24 hours ago for the trail into Kaltag, and seemingly disappeared. She has been running decent times, so she should have arrived in 12 or 13 hours, but there is no indication that she has. Maybe her GPS is working and showing progress, but they haven’t bothered to update their standings for those in the back all day. This is not a very professional way of operating a long distance race.

Finished At Nome
1 Mitch Seavey (36)
2 Aliy Zirkle (27)
3 Jeff King (18)
4 Dallas Seavey (19)
5 Ray Redington Jr (52)
6 Nicolas Petit (16)
7 Joar Leifseth Ulson (32)^R
8 Jake Berkowitz (44)
9 Sonny Lindner (67)
10 DeeDee Jonrowe (28) [Read more →]

Aliy lost the Yukon Quest 300 by 8 seconds this year, I don’t think she’s in the mood for another second place. She picked up over a half hour on Mitch in the run to White Mountain so her puppies are ready for the final run.

There is an 8-hour mandatory stop so they can’t leave until after 1PM local, and then about 75 miles to Nome, around 12 hours at a minimum. The winner will cross the line early tomorrow morning AKDT.

Update: Jason Mackey (12) and Rudy Demonski Sr (39) both scratched at Unalakleet. Jason wasn’t feeling at all well, and Rudy had the same thought about the 9 puppies still in harness. Warm wet weather isn’t good for man or dog.

I see that Jan Steves (26) is currently in last place. I really doubt she wants another Red Lantern. Update: She scratched at Eagle Island. Her team lost its will to race; they weren’t happy puppies anymore.

Update: Robert Bundtzen (23) scratched at Shaktoolik. He didn’t think his puppies were having fun on the trail as they weren’t acting normally.

Beyond Safety
1 Mitch Seavey (36)
2 Aliy Zirkle (27) +00:25:00
Beyond White Mountain
3 Jeff King (18) +01:41:00
4 Dallas Seavey (19) +02:59:00
5 Ray Redington Jr (52) +03:02:00
6 Joar Leifseth Ulson (32)^R +04:06:00
7 Nicolas Petit (16)
8 Jake Berkowitz (44)
9 Aaron Burmeister (24)
10 Sonny Lindner (67)
11 DeeDee Jonrowe (28) [Read more →]

Gerry Willomitzer (21) has been withdrawn because it would take at least a day for the team to go back to Iditarod from Shageluk to take custody of the AWOL Montego, and then continue towards Nome. In addition to the time involved, two travel days, Gerry probably doesn’t have the supplies available for the additional trip.

Montego escaped on the trail after Iditarod. While Gerry was looking, he was told that Montego was in custody and would be taken to the next checkpoint. What Gerry didn’t know is that the person who found Montego was traveling South, and took the puppy back to Iditarod. Gerry continued to Shageluk expecting to find Montego there.

For everyone else, things are getting better as the temperature has finally remembered that Spring hasn’t sprung and things are still supposed to be frozen in Alaska. The original Iditarod run was because it was too cold to transport needed vaccine to Nome using anything but dog sleds.

At Elim
1 Mitch Seavey (36)
Beyond Koyuk
2 Jeff King (18)
3 Aliy Zirkle (27)
4 Ray Redington Jr (52)
5 Aaron Burmeister (24)
6 Joar Leifseth Ulson (32)^R
7 Jake Berkowitz (44)
8 Dallas Seavey (19)
9 Sonny Lindner (67)
10 DeeDee Jonrowe (28)
11 Ken Anderson (6) [Read more →]

Aliy has a lead of just under 2 hours over Aaron, and Martin is a half hour behind them.

The Yukon was not a fun place for puppies. Jessie Royer had to leave 3 of her 12 dogs behind when she left Kaltag, but they have a lot of new dogs to meet at the dog clinic.

You don’t normally have to deal with the wet-dog-odor during the winter in Alaska because the sled dog coat is water repellant and the cold air provides freeze drying. If a dog happens to fall into a river and gets out fairly quickly, a roll in the snow to speed the freezing, and one good shake dries them out in the low humidity of extreme cold. The problem is that when a sled dog gets really soaked, it takes forever for their undercoats to dry out.

The other big problem is cut paws caused by the pads softening in the wet. The booties help to prevent a lot of cuts, but they can’t stop them all.

Mitch Seavey was First to the Coast by passing three other teams to get there. Aliy and Martin are keeping to their schedules, so I expect them both to be back and blow through Unalakleet.

Beyond Unalakleet
1 Mitch Seavey (36)
2 Aaron Burmeister (24)
3 Jeff King (18)
4 Aliy Zirkle (27)
5 Joar Leifseth Ulson (32)^R
6 Ray Redington Jr (52)
At Unalakleet
7 Jake Berkowitz (44)
8 DeeDee Jonrowe (28)
9 Sonny Lindner (67)
10 Martin Buser (2)
11 Dallas Seavey (19)
12 Nicolas Petit (16)
13 John Baker (13)
14 Peter Kaiser (10) [Read more →]

Don’t forget to “Spring Ahead” as they steal an hour from your life by eliminating 2AM Sunday morning.

This really screws up the time keeping on the Iditarod, and makes the cats less than happy.

Warm weather and rain are not good for sled dogs. They have over-heating from the high temperature, and foot problems from wet paws. That is what is happening on the trail along the Yukon River. In addition there are concerns about the delivery of supplies to Eagle Island, that have led teams to load up with extra food at Anvik. The weather system that brought the warm temperatures and rain has also been preventing flights into the remote region.

The Yukon River is the transportation system for the region. When it’s liquid, things move by boat; when it’s frozen things move by sled; when it is in transition, things don’t move.

Update: Michael Suprenant (33) has scratched at Iditarod. He turned around and came back because the 12 puppies still in harness weren’t having fun anymore. It is a long way to Shageluk from Iditarod and the puppies weren’t into Singing in the Rain.

Beyond Kaltag
1 Aliy Zirkle (27)
At Kaltag
2 Martin Buser (2)
3 Mitch Seavey (36)
4 Aaron Burmeister (24)
5 Jake Berkowitz (44)
6 Jessie Royer (30)
7 Joar Leifseth Ulson (32)^R
8 Sonny Lindner (67)
9 Ray Redington Jr (52)
Beyond Eagle Island
10 Nicolas Petit (16)
11 Lance Mackey (5)
12 Dallas Seavey (19)
13 DeeDee Jonrowe (28)
14 Jeff King (18)
15 Ken Anderson (6)
16 Paul Gebhardt (11)
17 John Baker (13)
18 Peter Kaiser (10)
19 Brent Sass (62)
20 Michelle Phillips (7) [Read more →]

It is 6AM on the trail between McGrath and the Yukon River and the temperatures are above freezing. This is not good news if you are on a dog sled.

Martin is managing to take full advantage of his early strategy and has arrived for the meal and cash given to the first musher to reach the Yukon, but he had to wade in water to do it. This is not the March in Alaska that I experienced, when I went through Arctic survival school near Fairbanks in temperatures down to -45°F.

Aliy has taken the lead and it looks like Martin is going to take the 8-hour mandatory stop on the Yukon in Anvik. Aliy has an hour lead on Aaron and two hours on Jake, which is not much at this point in the race. Everyone has to take an 8-hour on the Yukon, so the lead will change.

Martin is back in front having finished his 8-hour in Anvik, while Aliy et al. wait theirs out in Grayling. Martin has 5 hours on Aliy, so it will come down to the race to rest ratio the teams use. Jake still has all 16 puppies, and is posting good speeds, but if he starts reducing the rest periods, the speed won’t last. Martin has a plan that has proven to work this year, so he won’t alter it.

Joar Ulson of Norway has been having an impressive race for a veteran, and this is his first time on the Iditarod. He is the latest of a long string of Norwegians to take on the Iditarod, and he obviously has done his homework.

Beyond Grayling
1 Martin Buser (2)
2 Aliy Zirkle (27)
3 Joar Leifseth Ulson (32)^R
4 Nicolas Petit (16)
5 Jessie Royer (30)
6 Mitch Seavey (36)
7 Jeff King (18)
At Grayling
8 Aaron Burmeister (24)
9 Jake Berkowitz (44)
10 Sonny Lindner (67)
11 DeeDee Jonrowe (28)
12 Paul Gebhardt (11)
13 Ray Redington Jr (52)
14 Peter Kaiser (10)
15 Dallas Seavey (19) [Read more →]

On Hold

The service lately has been terrible!

[Editor: Property has to do an encore, because none of the cats is happy with the circular saw I’ve been using to finish up the rehab.]

Friday Ark

Lance picked up the Halfway gold pulling into Iditarod first, but he is going to be stopped when Martin comes through. Aaron is his closest challenger more than 5 hours behind. The Joker in the deck is where everyone is when the warm front moves in – that will change everything.

Update: David Sawatzky (56) scratched at McGrath. He finished his 24-hour stop at Nikolai but his puppies didn’t seem happy making the run to McGrath. Actually, the ‘tell’ is how well the dogs eat on the trail. If their eating patterns change, there is something wrong.

Update: Newton Marshall (8) of the Jamaican Dog Sled Team has had to scratch at Nikolai. One of the puppies, May, got loose, and hasn’t been found in more than a day. All dogs have to be accounted for to continue a race, and the effort has shifted to locating May, rather than running a race. Newton seriously loves dogs and works with them in Jamaica, so he would be looking for May even if it wasn’t part of the rules.

Note: at 7:30PM local time it was 42°F in McGrath and 49°F here on the Gulf Coast!

Beyond Iditarod
1 Martin Buser (2)
2 Aliy Zirkle (27)
3 Aaron Burmeister (24)
4 Mitch Seavey (36)
At Iditarod
5 Lance Mackey (5)
6 Sonny Lindner (67)
7 Jeff King (18)
8 Jason Mackey (12)
9 Jake Berkowitz (44)
10 Jim Lanier (59)
11 Nicolas Petit (16)
12 Joar Leifseth Ulson (32)^R
13 Ray Redington Jr (52)
14 Paul Gebhardt (11)
15 Jessie Royer (30)
16 DeeDee Jonrowe (28)
17 Dallas Seavey (19)
18 John Baker (13) [Read more →]

I’m out of time every day. I noticed the death of the head of my favorite gas brand, Hugo Chavez, but he became what he hated in the end, a dictator, which means no one is really in control of Venezuela. Most commentators mention his anti-US attitude without noting that the 2003 attempt to overthrow his government was obviously tied to the White House. Coup d’état attempts generally sour relations between governments, so I wouldn’t hold that against him. My gripe is that he decided that everyone who hated the US was a friend, forgetting that the enemy of your enemy may not be your friend.

Of import to me personally is the death of a great blues/rock guitarist, Alvin Lee. The man could definitely play the instrument.

In addition to checking on the Iditarod during the day, and updating when I can, I am still fixing things at that house. The latest problem is a result of a code change for gas water heaters. It is a major PITA, but I figured out how to do it, while still getting access to the equipment when necessary.

Because I’m ‘retired’ a neighbor called me at 11:30PM for a ride home from a hospital emergency room about 15 miles away. He couldn’t drive and didn’t have enough cash for a taxi. I went and got him, but Walton County certainly doesn’t ‘waste’ any money on large reflectorized signs, and the hospital doesn’t waste money on a lighted sign or street lights. I’m getting too old for this stuff.