The weather changed with a rush in Manitoba a few days ago -- a southerly wind began to blow and daytime temperatures soared. Rivulets of melt-water started to flow everywhere, and for a few days it was pretty messy. The wind just kept ramping up, though, and dried things out nicely. It rained just a bit for one evening, but today was sunny and brisk. The snow isn't ALL gone yet, but the bulk of it has just disappeared in three days or so. All that remains is what's left of the big wind drifts.
So yesterday and this afternoon were spent in re-seating the T-posts of the puppy pen that was thrown up hastily in mid-winter, adding more wire ties at the bottom, and assembling a "SOME assembly required" chainlink pen kit that we bought in the late winter, thinking it was modular. NOT -- bunch of pipes, clamps, and a big heavy roll of chainlink. Only the door was pre-assembled. We could never have erected it in the cold! Well, it's erected now. But instead of the Chinook litter occupying it, as I had hoped, the big daft friendly stud dog who came down from the barn in early winter and has been driving up nuts in the house is now OUTSIDE so we can have peace and quiet in the mornings.
And Jeffrey started building doghouses this afternoon. I'll probably be building doghouses all spring and all summer, too. For starters, though, I just want to get two houses done so we can stake out Turov and Tsarko, who are all of five and a half months old. Amazing we've been able to go so long without staking them, actually. But they are giving each other a hard time now, not to mention their smaller brother and sister, so it's TIME. Tikhon and Tatka can probably stay in the pen a few more weeks.
It was a hell of a winter. And it's going to be one hell of a busy summer.
I've been aware of Facebook for quite some time, but was totally unable to do anything about it. I couldn't even SEE it, as it presented only as a blank page in Internet Explorer for Mac 5.1, which was the main browser for my antiquated PowerMac G3. Now that the Mac Pro is up and running -- like a spirited racehorse, if I may make such a simile -- I really do have a lot of web catchup stuff to do!
I visited Facebook, couldn't see or tell much from outside. Googled it, and read a lot of scuttlebutt and pros and cons. Then I started searching for names on it -- and when I found the name of my good friend Jean-Marie Belanger, somehow that decided things for me. JM is a trained, skilled marketer; he knows what is worth spending time on and what is not.
So I took the plunge. Eighteen hours later, I've established a pretty full Facebook presence, except for not having a lot of friends there yet! That part takes time, particularly since it seems that most of the people I know aren't on Facebook. But I can see that it is a place that will be of more than a little assistance in making the Seppala Siberian Sleddog better known in the outer world -- yes, even right here in Canada. Especially right here in Canada, I think. I'm starting out with three Facebook contacts only. Let's see how far I can get in the next month or so. The one thing I know about the Web: it's okay to start small and tentative! It builds . . . it builds.
I don't know whether Facebook's security walls against the outside world will even let people look at my profile without joining FB first, but FWIW, here's a link:
Jeffrey's Facebook Profile Page
ON SLEDDOG CENTRAL, the perennial gasworks, where armchair mushers expound endlessly on what they have never done nor ever will do, a thread titled "Seppala Siberian Sled Dogs" has dragged wearily on its way since last September. It's far from the first such thread, either. Invariably everybody gets into the act, the Idaho puppy-mill, The Great One, the AKC redhead, the bumsteads, the clueless, the also-rans, the wannabees, the never-ran-at-alls. What's hard to take is that these discussions are hard put to feature one or two hard facts per page. It's all about their OPINIONS. As one novice driver put it, earnestly trying to glean some glimmer of knowledge from it all, "There are all kinds of opinions" about Seppalas!
In the course of trying to dispel some of the fog of opinion and discuss some of the FACTS about Seppalas, I posted a capsule summary of the history of "Seppalas" and the sources of the confusion, on the SSSD Yahoo email list. It seemed to help a bit, so I've taken the time and trouble to polish it, format it for the web, and add it as a page on the SSSD Project website:
www.seppalasleddogs.com/confused-about-seppalas.htm
It won't stop all the mindless blather, but at least those who are interested in sorting out fact from fiction can now find some FACTS about Seppalas in summary form.
The last musher finally made it into Nome today. Jeff Darling won the Red Lantern with a time of 169 hours 56 minutes 11 seconds. Here is the final and official complete list of AAS finishers with team sizes and times, as shown on the AAS website:
1. Mitch Seavey - 61 hours 29 minutes 45 seconds (10 dogs)
2. Jeff King - 61 hours 39 minutes 5 seconds (13 dogs)
3. Lance Mackey - 63 hours 59 minutes (13 dogs)
4. Sonny Lindner - 67 hours 19 minutes 8 seconds (13 dogs)
5. Ed Iten - 72 hours 37 minutes (12 dogs)
6. Jim Lanier - 72 hours 52 minutes (13 dogs)
7. Cim Smyth - 75 hours 12 minutes (11 dogs)
8. Ramy Brooks - 77 hours 9 minutes (12 dogs)
9. Aaron Burmeister - 81 hours 19 minutes (11 dogs)
10. Fred Moe Nopoka - 109 hours 58 minutes 23 seconds (10 dogs)
11. Conner Thomas - 123 hours 36 minutes 11 seconds (11 dogs)
12. Cari Miller - 124 hours 10 minutes 58 seconds (12 dogs)
13. Kristen Bey - 125 hours 42 minutes 15 seconds (11 dogs)
14. Jeff Darling - 169 hours 56 minutes 11 seconds (12 dogs)
The last five mushers were apparently caught by stormy weather on the trail, considerably delaying their finishes. All fourteen mushers are to be congratulated for finishing with all their dogs. (It should be noted that they had every incentive to do so, though: AAS participants are required to sign a bill of sale conveying their team to Nome Kennel Club and, in the event of a disqualification (which includes not finishing with all one's dogs) the entire team is forfeited. Well -- supposedly; that's what the rules said, anyway.
Additional AAS mushers that have now completed the 408-mile race (since the last full listing given here) are:
Fred Moe Nopoka - 97 hours 58 minutes 23 seconds
Conner Thomas - 123 hours 36 minutes 11 seconds
Cari Miller - 124 hours 10 minutes
Kristen Bey - 125 hours 42 minutes
That leaves Jeff Darling the only musher now left on the return trail to Nome.
The latest word on Lance Mackey's dog Zorro is that the dog was examined in Seattle, where MRI scans indicated that despite significant chest and spine trauma the dog would probably achieve full recovery over time without any need for surgery.