Posts from — February 2017

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.
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Matt left Two Rivers at 3:30AM CST and barring anything unforeseen, his team will win this year’s Quest.

Matt Hall crossed the finish at 3:04PM CST (12:04PM AKST).

The Current Standings at 10:00PM CST ( 7:00PM AKST):

Fairbanks Finish
1 Matt Hall (20)
2 Hugh Neff (9)
Beyond Two Rivers
3 Allen Moore (8)
4 Paige Drobny (7)
5 Ed Hopkins (18)
At Two Rivers
6 Torsten Kohnert (21)
7 Katherine Keith (19)^R
Beyond Mile 101
8 Jessie Royer (1)^R
At Mile 101
9 Ryne Olson (15)
At Central
10 Dave Dalton (13)
11 Rob Cooke (4)
12 Brian Wilmshurst (16)
Beyond Circle
13 Ben Good (3)^R
14 Gaetan Pierrard (10)
15 Sébastien Dos Santos Borges (5)^R
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There have been bookend scratches on the trail. Brent Sass (14) called for assistance for two dogs on his team while he was 16 miles out of Central at 10:02PM CST last night, and decided to scratch even though the dogs are now stable and under vet care. This morning at 6:50AM CST, Hank DeBruin made the decision to scratch at Eagle. He felt it was best best for his team to stop. Brent was in second place and Hank had the Red Lantern.

Between the mountains and the super cold temperatures affecting the batteries, the trackers are failing and the live tracking isn’t as reliable as it had been earlier in the race.

The Current Standings at 9:00PM CST ( 6:00PM AKST):

At Two Rivers
1 Matt Hall (20)
Beyond Mile 101
2 Hugh Neff (9)
3 Allen Moore (8)
Beyond Central
4 Ed Hopkins (18)
5 Paige Drobny (7)
At Central
6 Torsten Kohnert (21)
7 Katherine Keith (19)^R
Beyond Circle
8 Ryne Olson (15)
9 Jessie Royer (1)^R
At Circle
10 Rob Cooke (4)
11 Brian Wilmshurst (16)
12 Dave Dalton (13)
Beyond Eagle
13 Ben Good (3)^R
14 Gaetan Pierrard (10)
15 Sébastien Dos Santos Borges (5)^R
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Matt made his lead official at Circle, but it’s only a half hour. Hugh is 4 hours behind them. Even 4 hours isn’t a comfortable lead with the Eagle & Rosebud climbs coming up.

At 11:30AM CST Hank made it to Alaska and beyond 500 miles.

At 11:30AM AKST it’s -51°F at Circle & Central. OK, that’s cold even for Alaska.

The Current Standings at 9:00PM CST ( 6:00PM AKST):

At Central
1 Matt Hall (20)
2 Brent Sass (14)
Beyond Circle
3 Hugh Neff (9)
4 Ed Hopkins (18)
5 Allen Moore (8)
At Circle
6 Paige Drobny (7)
Beyond Eagle
7 Katherine Keith (19)^R
8 Torsten Kohnert (21)
9 Ryne Olson (15)
10 Jessie Royer (1)^R
11 Brian Wilmshurst (16)
12 Dave Dalton (13)
13 Rob Cooke (4)
14 Ben Good (3)^R
15 Gaetan Pierrard (10)
16 Sébastien Dos Santos Borges (5)^R
Beyond Dawson
17 Hank DeBruin (17)
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This morning Brent and Matt are at Slaven’s Roadhouse, while Hank is alone at Dawson and can’t leave until early this afternoon.

At 11AM CST (8AM AKST) everyone except Hank is in Alaska.

At 4PM CST Matt is about an hour ahead of Brent out of Slaven’s and Hank & the Sibs are headed for Alaska.

It looks like it is going to be Matt & Brent battling it out to the end. If they wear each other out, Hugh will pounce.

The Current Standings at 9:00PM CST ( 6:00PM AKST):

Beyond Eagle
1 Brent Sass (14)
2 Hugh Neff (9)
3 Matt Hall (20)
4 Allen Moore (8)
5 Ed Hopkins (18)
6 Paige Drobny (7)
7 Katherine Keith (19)^R
8 Torsten Kohnert (21)
9 Ryne Olson (15)
At Eagle
10 Jessie Royer (1)^R
11 Brian Wilmshurst (16)
12 Dave Dalton (13)
13 Rob Cooke (4)
Beyond Dawson
14 Gaetan Pierrard (10)
15 Sébastien Dos Santos Borges (5)^R
16 Ben Good (3)^R
17 Hank DeBruin (17)
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Hank DeBruin and his 8 Siberians made it to Dawson just before midnight local time, and Brent made it to Eagle at 5AM AKST [8AM CST]

The Finish line in Fairbanks has been moved off the river because the ice may not be thick enough for the teams and spectators.

Yuka Honda scratched at Dawson for ‘well-being of her dogs’. The loss of Firefly was too big a burden.

In other sled dog news, Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race restart to move to Fairbanks. I assume they will use the 2015 route, but they moved the finish of the Quest because of questionable ice on the Tanana, so the Iditarod may have to get creative.

The Current Standings at 8:30PM CST ( 6:30PM PST):

Beyond Eagle
1 Brent Sass (14)
2 Hugh Neff (9)
3 Matt Hall (20)
4 Allen Moore (8)
5 Ed Hopkins (18)
Beyond Dawson
6 Katherine Keith (19)^R
7 Paige Drobny (7)
8 Torsten Kohnert (21)
9 Ryne Olson (15)
10 Brian Wilmshurst (16)
11 Rob Cooke (4)
12 Jessie Royer (1)^R
13 Dave Dalton (13)
14 Gaetan Pierrard (10)
15 Sébastien Dos Santos Borges (5)^R
16 Ben Good (3)^R
At Dawson
17 Hank DeBruin (17)
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Court refuses to reinstate Trump travel ban:

“The government has pointed to no evidence that any alien from any of the countries named in the Order has perpetrated a terrorist attack in the United States,” the ruling said.

It also rejected the argument that the president had sole discretion to set immigration policy.

“Rather than present evidence to explain the need for the executive order, the government has taken the position that we must not review its decision at all,” said the ruling. “We disagree, as explained above.”

Start with Marbury v. Madison, 5 U.S. 137 (1803) and read some judicial history. Telling an Appeals Court that it can’t review the actions of the Executive branch is a loser. Even Drumpf’s Supreme Court nominee is unhappy with Fraudulency’s attacks on the Federal courts.

Sally Yates was right – DoJ has no way to defend this turkey. Telling the Ninth Circuit that the President can do whatever he wants without any ‘checks or balances’ was never going to fly.

Hank DeBruin and his Siberian Huskies are the last team not at or beyond Dawson as Brent hits the trail for the climb up American Summit and the US border.

Yuka Honda lost one of her dogs on the trail to Dawson. The cause of death awaits a necropsy. The odd-year Quest has never been easy for Yuka.

Update:

Head Veterinarian Cristina (Nina) Hansen, DVM, PhD reports that preliminary necropsy results for Yuka Honda’s expired dog, Firefly, showed an enlarged heart and that he ingested several booties.

Firefly was a six-year-old intact male in good body condition.

At 5PM CST Brent is in Alaska about to ascend the American Summit.

The Current Standings at 8:00PM CST ( 6:00PM PST):

Beyond Dawson
1 Brent Sass (14)
2 Hugh Neff (9)
3 Matt Hall (20)
4 Allen Moore (8)
5 Ed Hopkins (18)
6 Katherine Keith (19)^R
7 Paige Drobny (7)
At Dawson
8 Torsten Kohnert (21)
9 Ryne Olson (15)
10 Brian Wilmshurst (16)
11 Rob Cooke (4)
12 Jessie Royer (1)^R
13 Dave Dalton (13)
14 Gaetan Pierrard (10)
15 Sébastien Dos Santos Borges (5)^R
16 Ben Good (3)^R
17 Yuka Honda (2)
Beyond Pelly Crossing
18 Hank DeBruin (17)
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A Canadian citizen and her son were refused entry to the US after being questioned about her religion and her attitude about Drumpf. She was told that she had anti-US videos on her cellphone. As the videos were in Arabic, it is not clear how the CBP personnel knew that the videos were anti-US.

Iran thanks Donald Trump for showing the ‘real face of America’s political and social corruption’. That’s right, Iran’s Supreme Leader has thanked Drumpf for clearly demonstrating what schmucks Americans really are.

We are the kind of schmucks who who use the murder of a young woman to justify hate, contrary to the wishes of the woman’s mother.

Both the CBC and the BBC looked at Drumpf’s claim that the media doesn’t cover acts of terrorism. They both discovered that a few of the 78 events were in the “Bowling Green Massacre” space-time continuum, and therefore couldn’t be covered in this one. The CBC wrote that the University of Maryland data base had 320 incidents in 2015 alone and wondered why Drumpf didn’t want to talk about the overwhelming majority of the terrorist attacks that didn’t involve purported Muslim perpetrators, like the Mosque attack in Canada.

Perhaps if Drumpf tried reading foreign news sources rather than FOX and Breitbart he would discover 24-hour coverage on events like the Lindt Cafe in Sydney, Australia. If he had taken the effort to learn a few foreign languages he would have a much broader view of the world. Going to bed in the early evening so you can get up in the middle of the night to insult and annoy people is not an adult habit. [Proverbs 27:14 KJV He that blesseth his friend with a loud voice, rising early in the morning, it shall be counted a curse to him.]

Thomas Verin (65) hasn’t had a working tracker for a day. The tracker says he is in Dawson, when he should be around Pelly Crossing. His position is a guess on my part.

Update: after more searching, I discovered a post on Thomas’s Facebook page that he had scratched at McCabe Creek, feeling that his team were too tired to finish.

These are the 8PM CST standings on the YQ 300 based on the Live Tracker [not totally confident about positions] . Lynne & Brian arrived together to finish the YQ300.

Finished
1 Michelle Phillips (58)
2 Aliy Zirkle (56)
3 Nathaniel Hamlyn (66)
4 Claudia Wickert (62)
5 Magnus Kaltenborn (64)
6 Gerry Willomitzer (71)
7 Jacob Heigers (60)
8 Fabien Cayer-Barrioz (55)
9 Roger Lee (53)
10 Marcelle Fressineau (52)
11 Jason Biasetti (54)
12 Jean-Marc Champeval (73)
13 Brian Kandler (72)
14 Lynne Witte (70)Φ

These are the official standings. That means they are official, not that they are correct. Things jump around a lot as people decide to update the standings. This problem is especially bad in the back of the pack, as no one bothers to update those standings when the lead is changing.

All posts on the Yukon Quest can be seen by clicking on the sled dog or selecting “Yukon Quest” from the Category box on the right sidebar.

A slow day ahead consisting of people pulling into Dawson to sleep and repair equipment.

Speaking of equipment, Torsten Kohnert showed up at Dawson without his ax, and had to get one before he could be logged in. To add weight to the meaning of ‘mandatory’, he was fined $500.

The Current Standings at 8:00PM CST ( 6:00PM PST): [with adjustment from Live Tracking]
At Dawson
1 Brent Sass (14)
2 Hugh Neff (9)
3 Matt Hall (20)
4 Allen Moore (8)
5 Ed Hopkins (18)
6 Katherine Keith (19)^R
7 Paige Drobny (7)
8 Torsten Kohnert (21)
9 Ryne Olson (15)
10 Brian Wilmshurst (16)
Beyond Pelly Crossing
11 Rob Cooke (4)
12 Dave Dalton (13)
13 Jessie Royer (1)^R
14 Gaetan Pierrard (10)
15 Sébastien Dos Santos Borges (5)^R
16 Yuka Honda (2)
17 Ben Good (3)^R
18 Hank DeBruin (17)
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The 300 goes out to the Stepping Stone hospitality stop and then returns to Pelly Crossing for the finish. The trail between Pelly and Stepping Stone can get a bit crowded with the two-way traffic.

Craig Houghton (67) decided to scratch at McCabe’s Creek. Claudia’s tracker died last night and she stayed in 4th place despite what was reported.

These are the 9:00PM CST standings on the YQ 300 based on the Live Tracker [not totally confident about positions] .
Finished
1 Michelle Phillips (58)
2 Aliy Zirkle (56)
3 Nathaniel Hamlyn (66)
4 Claudia Wickert (62)
5 Magnus Kaltenborn (64)
6 Gerry Willomitzer (71)
7 Jacob Heigers (60)
8 Fabien Cayer-Barrioz (55)
9 Roger Lee (53)
10 Marcelle Fressineau (52)
11 Jason Biasetti (54)
Beyond Pelly Crossing
12 Jean-Marc Champeval (73)
13 Thomas Verin (65)
At Pelly Crossing
14 Lynne Witte (70)
15 Brian Kandler (72)

These are the official standings. That means they are official, not that they are correct. Things jump around a lot as people decide to update the standings. This problem is especially bad in the back of the pack, as no one bothers to update those standings when the lead is changing.

All posts on the Yukon Quest can be seen by clicking on the sled dog or selecting “Yukon Quest” from the Category box on the right sidebar.

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Live Tracking shows Brent with about a 5 mile lead over Hugh, But there is still a ways to go before Dawson. There is money involved in being first into Dawson.

Jason Campeau (6) decided to scratch at Pelly Crossing for the good of his yearling team. Laura Neese (11) & Ed Stielstra (12)^R scratched at Pelly Crossing

The Current Standings at 10:30PM CST ( 8:30PM PST):
At Dawson
1 Brent Sass (14)
2 Hugh Neff (9)
Beyond Pelly Crossing
3 Matt Hall (20)
4 Allen Moore (8)
5 Ed Hopkins (18)
6 Katherine Keith (19)^R
7 Paige Drobny (7)
8 Torsten Kohnert (21)
9 Yuka Honda (2)
10 Ryne Olson (15)
11 Brian Wilmshurst (16)
12 Rob Cooke (4)
13 Dave Dalton (13)
14 Gaetan Pierrard (10)
15 Ben Good (3)^R
16 Sébastien Dos Santos Borges (5)^R
17 Jessie Royer (1)^R
18 Hank DeBruin (17)

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And check out the best political cartoon about the current White House.

I’m staying with the puppies because the latest ‘alternate facts’ from Agitprop Kommissar Konway are boring.