iditarod 2012, bibs 35-43

loved this shot! really digging the black and whites i did. is that bad? not that i have some ego about it, but they really look cool to me! i have a simple, happy life and it's little things like a nice black and white picture that keep me smiling. still coughing but i am getting more able to sing a bit again. not anything i'd force upon the general public too much, but it's nice to not be so creaky and croaky. my buddy got sick this weekend and tried to blame me. i reminded her that i got sick february 2nd...no way in hell she got my bug from that long ago! i'm hoping to drag myself out to look for northern lights. guess they were out again last night and i was just here, chilling. i'm feeling sleepy and it's cold out there. so easy to get lazy. watching northern lights is amazing, but in general it's not the most comfortable thing. it's dropping down to single digits. because of the sun the day is warm and pleasant but as soon as that sun drops down....brr. bib #43...karin hendrickson. she's back for a fourth try. she has scratched twice and finished once in 40th place. there were no scratches thus far today. yesterday was rough though. still bummed for jeff king. always a favorite of mine. his dogs just stopped in the wind out of unalakleet. he tried to settle them in the brush for a rest, but they were just done. you can't make those teams run. it's always a risk.hendrickson is currently in 39th position so not much of an improvement from her last finish. above is bib #42. that is colleen robertia, out of kasilof. she works with kids, used to be a zoo keeper. gets awards for dog care so gotta like that about a musher. she is currently in 24th position on her 2nd iditarod and has 10 dogs. she is into shaktoolik. love saying shaktoolik!
i still haven't seen "big miracle" which was filmed up here. i've heard people in the lower 48 may misunderstand the natives in the movie. they aren't in a hurry to speak and can be difficult to understand due to the way they speak. i'll have to see what i think when i finally watch it. it's a different culture and from what i heard their culture and ways were actually emulated well in the movie. kinda like fargo for me, just didn't think anyone spoke like that. i hadn't remembered hearing that accent living in south dakota for a few years. but then i met someone and i saw the light. dallas seavey is currently in lead and seems to be booking it to white mountain. he's left elim as has aliy. all looks good for him to finish first unless his dogs decide they have had enough. they don't necessarily know they are almost to nome. they can still stall anytime. once he gets to white mountain he has a mandatory 8 hour stop to rest his dogs. then it's only 77 more miles to nome. the winner should be decided soon. bib #41 is another favorite. martin buser. his son rohn is also running. last i looked they were pretty close to each other. looking to be kinda just running together....father and son. nothing wrong with that. would be awesome to have that kind of relationship with your father that you would want to do that. rohn is in 18th, martin in 20th coming into shaktoolik...they were only 8 minutes apart with anjanette steer in between. pretty tight pack out there. aliy stopped in elim to rest her team whereas dallas cruised through.dallas wants to win. he seems very detail focused and analytical about it all. just so many different personalities out there and with lack of sleep, you can't hide who you are. any long distance race like this with the lack of sleep can mean the racers start to see crazy stuff. bib #40 is jan steves. she lives in washington, but has gone back and forth between willow and washington in prep for this rookie race. she is currently in last place, chilling with chlupack. they were within 10 minutes of each other so we shall see who gets the red lantern. that is awarded to whoever is last. it closes down the race. if you go too slow though they will withdraw you. so far it really doesn't seem like anyone is going that slow. the 74 year old seavey patriarch has about 5 hours on them both.bib #39 ken anderson out of fairbanks. he's done 11 iditarods and in this one he is 9th position with sigrid in 10th. just had fun snapping away pictures here.what great faces!these dogs weigh less than 50 pounds. i know aliy's dogs are mostly in the 30-40 pound range. they are much smaller than you would expect for this long run, but smaller has proven to be better for the long haul. of course, if my mastiff rio is any indication...the gas from a team of mastiff's would keep you awake, but i suspect it would be toxic to spend hours behind a team of mastiffs. her blindness would probably make her a bad sled dog as well. blossom would do okay if i could keep a tennis ball out there for her to perpetually chase. everyone ditched me for the monday walk today. lucky for me a new traveler arrived in peds and she is enthusiastic to get out and about. i think she enjoyed her day out there. we did some different loops cause i could. we did gasline to powerline to tank and then off to the side trails there and out to the big open area and then back to parking area. still a 2 hour walk. hopefully she comes again. not sure where i'll wander tomorrow. it gets this time of year when you have longer days and i start to actually take more drives away from my comfort zone. the teams start out with 16 dogs and many are down to 10-13 dogs now. there are a few with 14-15 dogs still. deedee still has 14 and swenson is running with 15. wow. dallas has 9 dogs and aliy has 10. just peeked, not seeing anything from my place, but that doesn't mean they aren't just being obscurred by the city lights. bib #38 is justin savidis. he's done a couple iditarods now. in 41st place, a few hours back from the anchorage mushing mortician. sandra watches the action of the dog teams.more fun black and white. i am a total slacker of late, must kick myself into overdrive and get some crap done on my to do list and also get more regular on the pool time. i enjoy the pool, just have to get there and get it done. enjoying some longer walks and afternoon naps though. today i baked cupcakes, but then started getting text after text from folks saying they weren't coming. great series of photo's at the anchorage daily news. a guy got on his roof to clear off snow. this left a huge pile of snow of course, apparently a young moose ran across it and used it to get on his roof and catch some fresh grub. the moose wasn't as keen to come down the way he went up though. the guy and his wife grabbed shovels to try and make the exit ramp more appealing to the moose. i'm guessing it worked and the moose is no longer on thier roof. funny pictures though. silly moose!!bib #37 is the mushing mortician. scott janssensandra checks out the guide to the bibs, which is what is pinned to my office wall as a reference. everyone carries those around at the ceremonial and restarts. bib #36 bruce linton, another kasilof musher. he's in 31st place at last look.kings dogs should be warm and happy about now. he's never had to scratch in all his runs to nome. side shots came out nice as well. was looking at tips to taking northern lights shots. it sounds too complicated for my weary head. still want to try and get my arse out there tonight, if just for a few minutes. they are a pretty amazing site if you are patient and tolerant of the cold night air. well below 10 degrees out there. just stepped out. will have to put on more than what i'm currently wearing. shoes would be a good idea. did think i saw some faint signs of activity so guess at 1am i will head out to take a better peek. dallas is into white mountain. right after midnight so that means he's got 8 hours rest so will be back on the trail after 8 am. the iditarod will be won tomorrow. bib #35 is his dad mitch seavey. i imagine he'll be tickled to hear the news of dallas...i'm guessing from the comments lance mackey made, he won't be so tickled. his dad isn't doing too bad either and is in elim in 6th place. we shall see how far back aily is when she hits white mountain. it does look like it's dallas's race though. mitch seavey was withdrawn last year after he nearly slashed off a finger getting the hay bale wire off. dallas said that he's using a dull knife for his chores but does have a sharp one in his sled in case he needs it. it's easy to injure yourself with that lack of sleep and the cold temperatures. so the seavey's have put together a few good teams. father and son in top 10. that will be a nice year for the seaveys.okay...i'm off to brave the frigid alaskan temperatures in hopes of seeing some northern lights. suspect the dogs may sit this one out. at least rio. she is snoring, farting and happy!!til tomorrow, which will actually probably be today since i'm such a slug. by my next post...a winner will be crowned. i still have more dog pictures so go though. are you sick of dog pictures yet???