DeeDee is out....bummer

 so it's her last year.  she is 64 and has run like 36 iditarod races. she has completed 32 of those 36 which is outstanding.  many years in the top 15.  never won a race but she has been a beloved musher for years.  there is always a crowd around her.  she cited health reasons.  she has had her share of health issues, cancer as well.  a few years ago her home burned down.  for a woman in  her 60's, they showed her in a tank top and shorts...that woman is ripped! saw she was in last place. had hoped she was just going to enjoy the ride and shoot for the red lantern award for the last team in to Nome.  my concern now is that there is a health concern that was the cause of her retiring and she was hoping to get one more run in before getting more ill. we will have to see...hope the best for her and thank her for being an example of what it means to be a bad arse female in this world. 

 a few of the annual, sort of, pyramid.  we almost forgot

 i took photos.  it's what i do.  i am not always the most comfortable in a crowd, the camera helps me to be in the mix but also gives me some place to go.  life as an introvert in an extrovert world.  i tend to be an acquired taste...takes time to get to know me, but i think when people do take the time they generally find me likable.

 not sure that is the case with all my family members.  i know I'm a challenge for them.  i know how they see the world and i think they forget that...i was once like they are.  i left, i experienced life in a different way and my views were dramatically altered by what i learned and what i experienced. I'm happy with all that i was able to learn in this life so far and that i was willing to listen to other ways of seeing the world and learn.  there were some heated discussions along the way, but my thinking evolved.  even when i seem to be battling you i am taking it in, having internal debates.  best to be open to new ideas, new ways of thinking.  best to not assume that what you knew at one time is true always.

 in this day of the iitoo that makes for some difficulty.  i have never felt so isolated from my family as i do with this man in office.  it's just so hard to imagine that they have any respect for him and what he is doing to our nation for me. so hard to know that we are so vastly different in how we see this world we live in.  how we wish to interact with others. basic values....

 these are all from the ceremonial start on Saturday.  i wandered a bit but mostly we hung out by Bradley Farquhar's team. they were right up front so it was a perfect spot as we watched every team pass by. so great place for photo ops all around. 

 above is another favorite female...she has come close to winning several times.  every year we hope it's her year.  so far she hasn't been able to beat the Seaveys.  one year she and Jeff King got caught in a storm and ended up holed up in Safety.  King had to drop out so close to Nome, it was the wildest Iditarod finish I've ever seen.  while she took a break, Dallas pulled through. he didn't even realize he was in first place.  when he saw her light behind him he assumed it was his dad coming up on him...he assumed Aily was ahead of him. 

 he is out this year as there was some drama with his dogs testing positive for tramadol.  he denies it and he really has no reason to drug his dogs.  the tests were taken in Nome and who knows what happened.  there is a great deal of politics and drama this year between the mushers and those who run this race.  many have been calling for the iditarod board to step down and for things to be revamped.  PETA has tried for years to get the race shut down...there is some theories that PETA infiltrated the handlers and doped the dogs in order to cause havoc...so nothing is free of politics in this world we live in.

 there was some other issue at the restart, a vet pulled another racer aside and according to the musher he was being threatened or harassed or something.  not sure what happened there.  it was also about testing i think. 

 my friends cousin, had contacted this Nova Scotia musher before the race as she is also from Nova Scotia. he had invited her to come over and meet and he'd give her handler passes.  he did that with another family from Nova Scotia as well.  my friend was working so i got to be the honorary Nova Scotian for the day.  it was great fun.  this is our handler passes

 Bradley Farquhar is super nice.  very genuine i found.  he is pretty excited about this adventure. he's done several different adventures i guess, so this is just another on his list.  he seems to have prepared well and so hopefully, he gets to Nome without much issue.  depends on weather, trails and the dog team.  he is using a few different mushers dogs, Anderson for sure and his lead dog, Jerry, he actually purchased and will take back home.  you can tell there is a mutual love dog/human bond there.  Jerry and Bradley both seem pretty laid back.  super nice that he let us play inside the fence. 

 now i am following his run through his mom's new group, "Go, Brad, Go".  i have shared many of these pictures. 

 I'm still looking at photo's from the restart.  it was foggy here in Anchorage but cleared up and was beautiful out there.  the fog left behind some beautiful hoar frost to start our day. 

 above is another Rookie.  he lives up north and has for some time. so he isn't new to mushing but new to running the Iditarod.

 one other musher has also scratched.  Zoya.  she seems to have a reputation among those in the know of never completing the race.  of course, all her dropped bags along the rest of the race can then be used by others so that is money she loses each year i guess. she'd finished 2 of the 8 races she's run. 

 there were already dropped dogs out at the hotel here.  my friends cousin went to visit them and put photo's up.  always a fun thing to do. perhaps I'll try to stop by Saturday after my work stretch.

 yes, work.  i have to head back to work. enjoyed my lazy week off to relax and take in the winter festivities here.

 Aily with her pups.

 fun rondy and the restart overlap...these are weeks to wear your wildest furs outside.  so they are all over the place.  wolf above and below is wolverine.  more rare.  of course, i heard today that our iitoo has altered the elephant ban so that now ivory can be brought in on a "case by case" basis.  suspect his sons will be given a pass and perhaps another grotesque elephant hunt is soon coming.  pretty tough target, huge animals.  at some point in the not so near future they will be only found in sanctuaries and zoos. 

 one of the dropped dogs i read is Seavey's lead dog, Pilot.  Pilot was given the Golden harness award last year for Seavey's win.  how will it impact his run without this lead dog in place. 

 age range for this year, one 18 year old and one 77 year old.  the oldest to compete was Norman Vaughan at 86!!  imagine running dogs to Nome at that age, impressive. of course, in those early days of the race, things moved much slower. they would take up to 3 weeks to finish.  now the finishers tend to come in 9 days.  there is talk of slowing the race down, forcing more breaks.  I'm for that.  there was an article about changes.  the one I'd like to see is no sleeping on sleds.  that is dangerous for the dogs and I'd feel better if it wasn't tolerated, now this is tough to monitor as they are out in the middle of nowhere but i guess I'd say if they get caught they should be required a mandatory 8 hour rest...that could really screw up their race.

 things can happen to a dog and if you are asleep a dog could feasably be dragged along injured or dying...even dead.  that is not acceptable.  i feel you need to stay awake as you are responsible for the team.  King suggested that if you have a dog die, you are out.  he said he'd be fine with that.  he lost a dog to a snowmachine so that was totally not his fault but he said he would have had no issues with having to scratch.  he and Aily both had a run in with the same drunk man on a snow machine.  he was buzzing their teams and them and got closer and closer..in Kings case he ran over the team.  he was arrested.  scary.  i know Aily was very rattled. you are out there on the trail on your own with the team. crap can happen. 

 on this sled is the Jr Iditarod champ for this year. Bailey Schaeffer.  she was raised mostly out of Kotzebue and is Inupiaq.

 fun to watch all the handlers get the dogs to the line.  it was kind of deep snow so tough to keep upright for some of them i think. 

 there are loads of hugs, high fights and fish pumps through out the day. 

 the main road out of Anchorage to Willow shut down Saturday after the teams started heading towards Willow post ceremonial start.  the snow was really coming down.  a few teams got caught in accidents that happened. thankfully, nobody was hurt and no dogs were hurt.  i do think a few vehicles were trashed.  Kristy Berington and her husband Pohl and their 24 dogs got in a wreck...they are both running the race along with her twin sister.  they got no sleep that night before the race....she was quoted as saying she will be happy to only drive a dog team for awhile.  another musher purposely jack knifed his truck and trailer to avoid the accidents ahead of him.  his dogs were fine but his truck got damaged.

 our pit crew at the ceremonial start below.  i was more observer though.  i opted to take photo's for the crew while they helped get the team to the line. it was a short trip and i could tell they were concerned how to get pictures of this amazing opportunity.  i volunteered.  they were all up from Nova Scotia. fun family Scott, Jenn and two boys were along as well.  we met them that day.  they had been the same, contacted Bradley to say they were coming up and would watch the Iditarod...he even invited them up for some time to dog mush...so that must have been fun.

 super nice..i have nothing but good to say about this guy.  just very kind and welcoming to all he met out there.  very excited about his run, easy to talk to....and he loves his dogs. 

 the article about possible changes to the race and mushing in general also suggested, fewer dogs on the team. Mackey suggested only one sled, and 12 dogs...only being allowed to drop 3 dogs...figures this would mean teams would have to be more cautious on the trail, slow down. currently they tend to start with 16 dogs and end with as little as 5, that is the least you can have in harness as you enter Nome.

 equal rest/run times...that would limit the sleeping on the sled issue i guess. they also are looking for alternatives to how dogs are kept in yards.  it works fine and isn't really cruel but it doesn't look good to those on the outside and so one of the Seavey boys is putting in time trying to find a better way to store these dogs that would be more appealing to the dogs, the tourists and less controversial to those on the outside.

 below the real pit crew...the guys actually doing the dog care on this team....were setting up the sled for the iditarider.

 twin Anna, gets her team to the line.

 we saw a sled with a Canada flag on it but the name on the sheet didn't say the musher was from Canada...that mystery is solved in the paper i just read.  a local Radiation Oncologist took over a team for a Canadian that was injured 10 days before the race.  he's run the race a few times before. he took over Jason Campeau's team.  Campeau suffered a bad concussion on the Yukon quest this year and had hit his help button before passing out, thankfully. he did not feel well enough to attempt this run.

Campeau's dad drove with the team and sled from Canada to Daugherty's place in Eagle River...guess everything was very organized and ready to go for this trip...obviously Campeau was very upset to have to pass.  Daugherty said it was an emotional call....dogs did great on the run in the quest. Daugherty wore a red cap with a maple leaf and a helmet with a sign that said, "for Jason".  he carried a Canadian flag on the ceremonial start...so sweet. in addition to the concussion, he injured his hand.

 love those fun iditarod stories...

 need to fill up the recycling bin in the morning before i head out for a walk. 

 walk today with lots of iditarod talk.  two friends that volunteer for the Iditarod.  one is up from Ketchikan so i had suggested she join for a walk.  i think she was really happy that she got outside and walked a bit.  relaxing.  they will both be headed north to Nome to help out. one does the urine drug testing on dogs the other will be stationed at Safety working communications. hoping them both loads of fun and safe travels.

 was just reading about this rookie below.  Shaynee Trashka.  she's from Michigan.  she was smiling every time i saw her.  she is 28 and started out begging her folks to let her get dogs and learn to mush.  she read everything about dog teams she could find and eventually made her way to Alaska with the dogs she had collected in Michigan.  she worked the dog teams on the glacier in Juneau and i guess continues to do this but in the winters she moves north and so finally she is making her run to Nome. 

 pretty excited.

 ski bum turned musher, Petit, is a strong contender.  he's out of Girdwood, but he's been doing well in these races.  not sure he'll be able to really stay in Girdwood if he continues this mushing life style..most of the serious ones move where they can buy more land to exist with all those dogs.  i guess he lives between Girdwood and Willow....he fell into mushing but he seems to have a natural relationship with the dogs he's around.  they love him.  he's finished top 10 nearly every time he's attempted the iditarod.

 liked all the ropes keeping these dogs from running

 the eyeliner look on this dog is pretty amazing.

 Tusker is happily stretched out in the office dog bed by me.  not sure where Ivy is.....thought i better take a peek. she's happily sleeping on the couch. comfy cozy, both pups

 so we really were in a great spot to watch all the teams. don't expect this to happen again anytime soon.  i never get the inside pass.  Maureen keeps trying to recruit me for the pee team, but i kind of just like being an observer and taking photo's. on the pee team I'd be working and not able to just play.

 not sure what team this is - i think Rick Casillo.  that is probably it.  seems like he is the one who works with vets and military. he must be veteran?  he seems to always have a crew of active military. looks pretty cool all of them being dog handlers.

 I'm sure it's pretty fun for them as well.  great way to represent.

 i had better get off this computer, though i suspect i will check on the iditarod stats before i crash. had a hell of a time getting into my iditarod insider account the past 24 hours.  ended up calling the iditarod for help. 

 i am finally back in...so i may want to catch up on video's and stuff before i crash. 

 i think a few of these are the Canadian military we met that morning.  they are stationed up here.

thankful for:  A.  friends who understand me and who think more like me.  B.  family who accept me despite our differences.  C.  fun days at the Iditarod.