Posts from — March 2015

3/14 is Albert’s birthday and

Π Day.

I assume you have all shopped for the perfect gift.

To start: Π ≅ 3.141592653589793238462643383279502884197169399
3751058209749445923078164062862089986280348253421170679….

Possessed?

Go away!

[Editor: Froggy was the only cat about on a dismal day that required flash.]

The Friday Ark for lots of animal pictures.

Aaron was first in to Huslia, but he needs to take both the 8 and 24 hour stops. It looks like Aliy is taking her 24-hour and will save the 8-hour for later. Jeff King is the only musher in the top 10 who has taken both.

As usual the Berington twins are running together. Anna had to hustle to catch Kristy and will take a decent lead over her at the 24-hour because of the start differential.

At Huslia
1 Aaron Burmeister (63)
2 Dallas Seavey (46)
3 Thomas Waerner (8)^R
4 Ken Anderson (36)
5 Martin Buser (4)
6 Hugh Neff (24)
7 Curt Perano (21)
8 DeeDee Jonrowe (29)
9 Jodi Bailey (22)
Beyond Galena
10 Jeff King (59)
11 Mitch Seavey (18)
12 Aliy Zirkle (32)
13 Wade Marrs (65)
14 John Baker (78)
15 Jessie Royer (3)
16 Peter Kaiser (54)
17 Jason Campeau (70)^Q
18 Nathan Schroeder (26)
19 Kelly Maixner (9)
20 Joar Leifseth Ulsom (16)
21 Michelle Phillips (6)
22 Lance Mackey (30)
23 Jason Mackey (72)
[Read more →]

As we endure our third day of dense fog advisories, the the Blackhawk incident has been officially changed to a recovery operation. The main section of the aircraft has been located 25 feet down, and the divers reported that it hit with significant force. They will try to locate the flight data recorder tomorrow.

In addition to the high humidity, the pollen has stayed at 9 out of 12 which is making my life miserable. I can’t read or drive until the allergy meds kick in for a few hours in the afternoon. We are supposed to get rain which will scrub the air, but we have gotten fog instead.

Sir Terence David John Pratchett has passed away after a lengthy battle with Alzheimer’s. The BBC has a decent obituary.

To say that Terry Pratchett’s novels were my favorite reads, and re-reads, would be an understatement.

Zoya DeNure and her team of rescues, rejects, and runts have scratched at Tanana. None of the dogs had been dropped, and they had a solid run into Tanana, so I’ll make a wild guess that Zoya may have been injured moving through the trees. [They finally said ‘personal reasons’.]

Lance Mackey, Jason Mackey, and Rick Cosillo took the 24-hour break at Tanana, which dropped them to the back, but will move up as everyone else takes theirs. Lance is having issues due the poor circulation in his hands and the cold temperatures.

Aaron has his eye on the half-way money at Huslia, and blew through Galena.

Gwenn Bogart scratched at Tanana for ‘personal reasons’.

Beyond Galena
1 Aaron Burmeister (63)
2 Dallas Seavey (46)
3 Martin Buser (4)
4 Thomas Waerner (8)^R
5 Hugh Neff (24)
6 Curt Perano (21)
7 Ken Anderson (36)
At Galena
8 Jeff King (59)
9 Aliy Zirkle (32)
10 Jessie Royer (3)
11 Wade Marrs (65)
12 Michelle Phillips (6)
13 Joar Leifseth Ulsom (16)
14 Nathan Schroeder (26)
15 Peter Kaiser (54)
[Read more →]

A UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter assigned to the Louisiana National Guard at Hammond, Louisiana crashed during a training mission at an Eglin AFB range about 10 miles from my house last night. In addition to the 4 National Guard crewmembers, there were 7 Marines from Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.

At the time we had dense fog, the visibility wasn’t better than a block at most, and it would have been worse over Choctawhatchee Bay. They took off from the Destin airport and headed North to the Eglin Range on the other side of an arm of the Bay.

They were probably using nightvision goggles which eliminate depth perception, and the fog would have distorted things. Debris and remains have been found on a beach.

The BBC reported on the crash, but they made it sound like it occurred near Pensacola, rather than almost 50 miles away.

It is unlikely any one survived, but they are still calling it a search and rescue mission. It couldn’t really get started until this morning when the fog began to lift.

Brent Sass got smacked between the eyes with an Apple! Actually he had an Apple IPod Touch which has WiFi capabilities, that makes it a ‘two-way communications device’ and a violation of the rules of the Iditarod, so he has been disqualified.

Martin, Hugh, DeeDee, and Kelly Maixner took their 8-hour mandatory stop at Tanana, so Aliy’s lead is not as big as it appears.

At Ruby
1 Mitch Seavey (18)
2 Dallas Seavey (46)
3 Aaron Burmeister (63)
4 Martin Buser (4)
5 Aliy Zirkle (32)
Beyond Tanana
6 Joar Leifseth Ulsom (16)
7 Hugh Neff (24)
8 Peter Kaiser (54)
9 Jessie Royer (3)
10 Ken Anderson (36)
[Read more →]

The leaders are in Manley Hot Springs this morning while everyone else is on the river.

The trail is off the river to the old mail route between Manley and Tanana because of open water. Manley does have a hot spring and a temperature of -29°F, so the leaders will probably take a break.

Martin’s team is moving at almost 11mph, while Aliy’s and Lance’s teams are over 10mph. It is a very fast trail for these teams.

At Tanana
1 Martin Buser (4)
2 Hugh Neff (24)
3 Aliy Zirkle (32)
4 Aaron Burmeister (63)
5 Brent Sass (71)
6 DeeDee Jonrowe (29)
7 Nicolas Petit (12)

Beyond Manley Hot Springs
8 Peter Kaiser (54)
9 Mitch Seavey (18)
10 Jessie Royer (3)
[Read more →]

At 1PM CDT [10AM AKDT] The Red Lantern of this year’s Yukon Quest, Rob Cooke, left the start line in Fairbanks. It was 1°F with light snow when the Siberians headed towards Nenana on the Tanana River. The rest of the field is leaving in 2 minute intervals.

A bit of sad news. Stuart, a young black husky mix that was with the Lachlan Clarke team has died after being hit by a car in Anchorage Saturday night. Stuart slipped his lead while being fed after the parade and ran off. The driver who hit Stuart didn’t stop. Stuart wasn’t one of the 16 dogs on the starting team, and the team has decided to compete.

This post will be updated during the day.

At 3:34PM CDT the last team left Fairbanks. It was Zoya DeNure with her team of ‘rescues, rejects, and runts’.
[Read more →]

This can be a very fast trail, or a pure terror depending on the condition of the ice on the rivers and the Norton Sound. With the Sound, the wind speed can also be a major factor, because if the ice is smooth, the dogs can’t get a grip and the entire team can get blown for miles.

The two numbers reflect the approximate number of miles from the last checkpoint, and the total miles for the race. The 11 miles for Fairbanks represents the ‘parade’ and are not actual racing miles.

As forecast the temperatures are dropping along the route and some snow has been added in the past week, so the lead teams should have a fast trail.

Tanana River
Fairbanks 11 11
Nenana 60 71
Manley Hot Springs 90 161
Tanana 66 227
Yukon River
Ruby 119 346
Galena 50 396
Over Land
Huslia 82 478
Koyukuk 86 564
Yukon River
Nulato 22 586
Kaltag 47 633
Over Land
Unalakleet 85 718
Norton Sound
Shaktoolik 40 758
Koyuk 50 808
Elim 48 856
Golovin 28 884
White Mountain 18 902
Safety 55 957
Nome 22 979

This is to inform you that the Congress of the United States stole an hour of your life this morning, specifically the 2AM hour. They have said they will return it in October or November, but you can’t trust them.

I agree with Sandy Denny: Who Knows Where the Time Goes?

It’s the first Saturday in March, so it’s Susan Butcher Day in Alaska and time for the Iditarod Parade in Anchorage.

This year they need pontoons on the sleds because they have temperatures in the mid to high 30s and light rain this morning. The rain looks like it will be gone by the start of the parade at 1PM CST. After the parade the teams will have to pack up and head up to Fairbanks for the start of the actual racing on Monday.

The route of the actual race is over most of the 1925 Diphtheria Serum Run to Nome. The actual run was from the train station at Nenana to Nome on the Tanana River to the Yukon River at Tanana, then on the Yukon River to Kaltag. On the Iditarod nothern route from Ruby to Nome is the same trail as the Serum Run. This year’s Iditarod starts in Fairbanks which is the first of two changes to the Serum Run Trail. The second change is the detour North to Huslia from Galena before returning to the Yukon at Koyukuk. These changes add about 230 miles to the Serum Run trail making it close to 1000 miles.

Below the fold is the starting order for the race:
[Read more →]

Happy Dance

Dinner, dinner, dinner…

[Editor: Froggy does figure 8s around my feet as I dispense wet food. She is the only cat I have seen outside all day.]

The Friday Ark for lots of animal pictures.