what did you do with your extra light out there today?

 i took advantage by picking up dog poop in the yard, tomorrow is trash day and it's looking to snow tonight.  :-).  life is not all flowers and sunshine.  to every world, at least those with pets, a little poop must be picked up. all to avoid poop soup in the spring.  should have put that on my new years resolution list. above is me...taking the required selfie shot. 

 we were positioned in the perfect spot to watch all the teams roll past us.  thanks again Brad and Karen for sharing the back stage passes!

 Karen heads back tonight so i joined her and SH for a movie and meal at the Bear Tooth.  dinner/theater.  so fun.  we saw, "I, Tanya".  it was really quite good...i did warm my brother in a message that it may not be one for him.  the f word was used very generously...as i use the f word fairly generously, i have no qualms with it.  there was also some violence and sex tossed at you. 

 it was about the Ice Skating drama involving Tanya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan.  sounds like Tanya Harding had a bit of a rough life...the poorer end of town i guess. her on/off again boyfriend/husband and his friends and their friends...not the brightest.  of course, at some point it dawned on me that these are folks who would quite possibly vote for our current potus.

 the GOP has really taken a nose dive into the gutter.  if you are one of the old time GOP members, this is not your party anymore.  it has the element of folks like this in addition to the White Supremies and the radicalized Christian element...not fully radicalized yet, but heading that way. 

 always think of how much, myself included, would comment that the normal followers of Islam really needed to speak out and do more to keep the more extreme element at bay...now that we are living it, i see that probably many of them were speaking out, trying to pull the radical element back in...but once that wave is crashing there is nothing you can do.  i see many of my Christian friends who see the same happening.  these extreme "Christians" that pick and choose doctrine that isn't really at all related to the teachings of Jesus.  most of those probably haven't actually read the works, and like many extreme members of Islam are fine just abdicating that to their "preachers" and political leaders i guess.

 at some point it became this sort of idea that if you were really Christian you somehow were required therefore to be Republicans.  not sure how that gets repaired.  suppose it has a lot to do with the abortion issue...somehow that morphed into the whole of Christianity.  quite honestly, the current GOP has very little to do with Jesus messages on earth which is quite ironic.  doubt that Jesus would be a big supporter of the rich, seem to recall him tossing tables in front of the temple as he was angered.  i also recall his message being one of "love they neighbor" "do unto others..." seems hardly the message of the GOP, lazy people are poor, not "entitled" to health care or food or shelter and whatever else...education.  nations have an obligation to help care for their people.  it's so often the GOP convinces it's members that we do not have the money to help people, when the truth is we do,they would just rather give it to the wealthy or use it for walls and military.  so when you really assess the core values of the GOP they do not really fit in with the values taught in the bible...and yet, the GOP has a grip on Christianity that i do not believe will be released...

 above is one of our Senators...i would never post the other Senator or our Representative....he's a raving lunatic at times...at many times actually.

 near the end of the movie tonight there was yelling. there was yelling on screen but then i realized there was also yelling in the back of the theater, i turned to see someone yell and then leave the room...found myself hoping they did not return with a gun.  took me a few minutes to feel as though that wasn't going to happen..sad that this is where we go and then we find ourselves seeking out our exit plan. 

 somehow the GOP must see Jesus as a racist, gun toting guy...when in reality he was probably more hippy 

 Nic Petit remains in the lead last i checked though Joar was pretty close and Seavey close behind Joar.  it's still too soon to call it for Nic.  so much can still happen...i mean King scratched in Safety that one year.  weather or dogs can really change what happens out there.  King has loads of experience too.  we were sure he was going to be the winner that year...behind him was Aliy, so then when we heard Jeff was out we were sure she would get it, but while she was in Safety recovering a bit from her time out in the same storm that King was dealing with...Dallas came through Safety without stopping really.  he was afraid his dad would catch him and he assumed that King and Aliy were way ahead.  he was actually blown away when he got to Nome and they informed him he had won.  Aliy came in close behind him.  so..you never know really.

 paying the bills tonight.  always fun...so dog poop and bills.  pretty fun, right?

 liked all the kids in the sled below.  look pretty chill in the sled...probably in it quite a lot.

 this is Buser.  he's just enjoying his ride i think.

 it was pretty cloudy in town all day.  i was just going to hit North Biv or something, but when i got on Tudor Rd i saw that there was sun and blue skies off in the distance so i headed to Kincaid. 

 the pups and I hit the beach there for a bit.  no moose spotted. we did get to the beach though.  always so odd to me when i can't see the local mountains because of snow and cloud cover, but at the beach i could clearly see the big mountain, Denali. 

 i just have a few last photo's to look through from the restart.  those are from the wide angle lens, which i had on another camera body. 

 as i was driving last night i noted several homeless wandering about...i probably know some of them  as a nurse in the ER, you get to know the homeless.  so i know medical folks in Anchorage and the homeless. 

 the dogs were just barking like crazy...lots of snow falling and a dog wandering around out there...did someone just open their door so the dog could do it's thing or is it lost?  it has since wandered on further down the street. there is quite a bit of snow coming down now...perhaps i will get to use my snowshoes on this weeks Monday walk.

 it is funny that Obama got shredded for every little thing...holding his coffee and not saluting as well as members of the GOP demanded, putting his feet up on the desk in the oval office...he was chastised for asking for "fancy" mustard...now the GOP just looks away at all the rude, offensive things this iitoo pulls off. nothing to see...he can be a horrible person, it's all fine, it's really the agenda that matters...it's pretty disgusting really. 

 Aliy is in the 14th position at this time.  she said her team is fine, just has no "zip" so she's just enjoying the journey.  just peeked and Joar left Unalakleet about an hour and a half after Petit so perhaps he's in a better position than  i was thinking. of the top 10 the first five have left Unalakleet and the rest are in at Unalakleet.  no women in the top ten at this time. king is way down in 33 spot followed by Bradley who is in 34th spot. Brad is quite a ways behind King though, time wise. must be a long run to Kaltag.  Brad seems to be near his friend Emily much of the run...easier with a buddy i'm sure. 

 looks like a second Redington has scratched. not sure why.  generally you only hear, for the health of the dogs or the human...don't always get details. so only 5 scratches so far.  doesn't seem to be much of a big scraggler pack. looks like there are 3 teams in last place in Shageluk at this time. 

 one dog had gone missing during the ceremonial start, but he has been found and well.

 look at this pretty team. 

 nice of Aliy and her pup.

 there were 3 PETA protesters at the ceremonial start, i never saw them.  i guess there was a guy with a fur wolf hat that stood in front of them handing out flyers for fur sales....

 love the little muscle shirts on the pups.  they are pretty cute

 had to grab a snack.  it's after midnight. peanuts and cadbury eggs...yum

 a few guys are missing out at the Mendenhall Ice Field in Juneau.  a storm blew in...they found their gear to ski out with but not the men.  haven't heard anything else about that.  could fall in a crevasse and not be found for decades...in Europe a couple had been missing for years and years..i mean like 50+ years...they had a bunch of kids and finally decided to head out for a date type walk one day...never returned.  fell in a crevasse. 

 one musher encountered a bison out there.  she chased it off carrying her required ax. the bison were released by fish and game back in the 60's and have done well. 

 security cameras have been installed and utilized at checkpoints this year to mixed reviews..it was a result of the positive drug test on Dallas team last year and thought that perhaps someone such as PETA had infiltrated and given the dogs drugs so they would test positive. 

 PETA doesn't like dog mushing

 things have changed, i can see it but in truth i find it sad...it was before a race where you really had to be prepared for anything, physically and mentally.  there was not much chance of help.  then they added gps to the race.  then they added a panic button.  one issue with this is it makes it more feasible for folks who maybe are not really as prepared or capable as they should be to do this race now since in their minds they have an out button if it get rough. just kind of changes some of the spirit of the race. 

 Brad and crew booty up the team...

 not sure who this little gal is..but she is sure bundled up.  i believe she was the iditarider for DeeDee maybe..must be, that is a DeeDee pink sled. all bundled like that though, my first thought was that they had picked up a little old lady from a nursing home and brought her out there.

 they also added zip ties to the mushers bags that were sent ahead to the check  points.

 they may have found Amelia Earharts remains on a pacific island. of course, there are still theories out there that she and Noonan, her navigator were captured by the Japanese at the time and tortured to death as they were thought to be spies or something.

 Nova Scotia flags adorned the area.

 getting to the end of my reading and writing.  seems like Sundays have become catch up day with the paper. i read more on line i guess now than i used to.  still nice to catch up and read more obscure articles and local stuff on a paper. i feel the need to support the local paper.

 one article about erosion in the north, flooding, things that have changed over the years...you know global warming.  even the oil companies can see it's true...they don't like to admit it, but they know it.  a giant slab of ice/earth has been slowly sliding down a mountain towards the Dalton Highway. it moves like a glacier advancing towards the road about 15 feet/year..currently it's about 100 feet away...so they will need to adjust to this..it's like a mile in width.

 climate change related spending is increasing more and more...those who refuse to believe can refuse to see the facts and the truth but up here, it's all over.  it's not just some theory it's easy to see.

 another team moves past us.

 well, i guess i shall settle in for the night.  do need to check off a few things from my to do list tomorrow...should do the taxes...get that done for both me and the non-profit...emphasis on the non part. 

thankful for: a.  finding the patch of blue skies b.  lovely fresh snow.  so pretty  c.  cadbury eggs..it's the season!!