Wordless (almost) Wednesday

Moody Monday- Outdoorsy

Noatak River. Northwest Arctic Alaska. If your this far up the Noatak your outdoorsy.

Doggone Good Time

Today was the ladies turn to race. Not sure the name of the race or the distance, but I assume it was around 16 miles, the 2nd day of a 2 day event. There were only three mushers. It was a beautiful sunny day. The temperature was about -15F with a northwest wind at 9mph.


Here's Joanne giving her lead dogs some love while waiting for the start.



This is Uyaana's Ahna (grandmother) Lena. She said she was wishing she was out there running dogs too.



Joanne and Cyrus discuss last minute race strategy.



And there she goes.



Here's Auntie Allie getting ready for her start.



Her dogs are bouncing and ready to go.


Bye bye Auntie Allie.



Kaija watches the race while Uyaana climbs a mountain.



Margaret's son hangs on to her lead dogs while the official counts down.



They took off like a shot. Hang on Margaret!

Photo Friday- Art

Handmade eskimo dolls made by my friend, Alaska native artist, Kathleen Westlake.



Photo Friday Website

Friday Feast

Appetizer
Have you ever played a practical joke on anyone? If so, what did you do and who was your victim? In high school I was part of the tech crew that did the behind the scenes stuff for the theatre productions. We had just gotten in a shipment of brand new lighting equipment packed in big boxes of styrofoam peanuts.....lots and lots of styrofoam peanuts. So thinking myself quite the practical joker I thought I would take those peanuts and pour them into the car of one of the cast members. It was a windy day and when the guy went out and opened the door to his car zillions of little white peanuts got picked up by the wind and blew all over like a raging non-biodegradeable blizzard. Well he wasn't very happy about that and went inside and told what had happeded. The Tech crew director was about two stages beyond mad and found out it was me. I heard all about the enviornmental ramifications of zillions of styrofoam peanuts let loose upon our forests and streams. I was given a trash bag and told to start collecting them....easier said than done. I spent several hours chasing peanuts around the parking lot and picking them out of the stream.


Soup
What do your salt and pepper shakers look like? I have two salt and pepper shakers. One set is from Tupperware. They are tall and have reddish pink tops. The other set are little glass ones with silver tops.



Salad
Where is the next place you plan to visit (on vacation or business)? The next trip I'm taking will be for business. I'm leaving for Juneau on monday for three nights. Juneau is in southeast Alaska at the base of a big mountain and under several huge avalance shutes. Very disconcerting. Thankfully it's VERY beautiful there and that helps to distract you from the possibility of being buried alive beneath 9,000 tons of snow.



Main Course
What kind of lotion or cream do you use to keep your hands from getting too dry?My hands are so terrible that I have given up putting lotion on them. No amount of lotion makes them any better. If I do put something on my hands I prefer it be not too greasy and not too stinky.


Dessert
Make up a dessert, tell us its ingredients, and give it a name.
Huh? Ummm.....I'm not one for fancy desserts...I prefer ice cream.


Friday Feast Website

oops

Wordless (almost) Wednesday- Frosted

Dog Days

Today was day 2 (of 2) of the Doc Harris Memorial Sled Dog Races. It was balmy at around 9F with light wind and light snow.


Most people haul their dogs to the start with snowmachines and dog boxes.



These are Buddu's dogs.



This one is keeping a close eye on everything.


That's Eric Seih and John Baker. John is an Iditarod musher. Eric has been running one of his teams this winter. Look for Eric this year in the Kobuk 440.



This is Darin Nelson's team entering the chute. Darin will also be racing in this year's Iditarod as a rookie. I should mention that the Doc Harris Memorial is a 16 mile sprint race. Eric and Darin run distance dogs but entered this race to give their dogs some racing experience and exercise. They came in a good half hour behind the sprint dogs...which is to be expected.



The dogs get real excited when they are waiting to take off.



They like to jump around.....



...a lot.



This is Eric's team comin in at the finish.



Here is Cyrus at the finish.

Next weekend is the women's race.

Mush

These are photos that I took today at a Kotzebue Dog Mushers Association race. It was nice out. The temp was 5F with slight breeze and light snow.

Ravens

I saw these fellas in Anchorage. They hang out at at the McDonalds near the Dimond Mall. Ravens are my favorite bird so I just had to take their picture. They were more than happy to oblige expecially after I started throwing them peices of my burger.



The Common Raven is one of the most widespread species of bird in the world. You can find them in North America, Central America, Europe, Asia, and northern Africa.



They live in the harshest of conditions. When it is -40F you can see them sitting on a snowbank all fluffed up covered with frost. They have such personality. You can see them flipping and diving and dound somersaults in the air like they are playing. They have also been known to fly upside down.

In the Inupiaq eskimo language the Raven is called "tulugaq" (pronounced TOO-loo-guk). Ravens have a featured role in many native Alaskan legends and are revered by many cultures.



Polly wanna french fry???

Photohunt Saturday- Free

This is Denali, the Great One. At 20,320 feet it is the highest mountain in North America. In 1896 the mountain was officially named Mount McKinley, after future U.S. President William McKinley......why, I have no idea. I couldn't think of one thing of significance that President Mckinley did....so I looked him up.

The first person who can remember any lasting legacy of McKinley's political career (there are a couple besides the travesty of changing this mountain's name) I will send you a FREE box of Sailor Boy Pilot Bread crackers!! No cheating and looking at wikipedia!


Official PhotoHunt Site

*USA and Canada only...I'm too poor to send crackers overseas.

Not So Wordless Wednesday Thursday

I'm in Anchorage this week for work. I'll be back in Kotzebue friday evening. I usually post my wordless wednesday on tuesday night 8pm Alaska Time because with the time difference I feel like I'm left behind.....somehow I lost a day here and missed wednesday! Must be all that Walmart overload I had today. So anyway....here is my photo...my Not So Wordless Wednesday Thursday.

Playing Out

Today was a beautiful day. The temp was -18F, the wind was 3-6mph from the north and the windchill about -28F.


Uyaana decided that he wanted to play out. He hasn't played out for weeks because it has been so cold out.



There are lots of snow drifts to climb on.



That snow drift reaches halfway up our neighbor's house......good for sliding.









Kaija was having fun outside too.



Maybe she smells little mouse trails under the snow.



She didn't find any.






You getting cold yet?



Just a little longer.



Time to warm up.