first a thought for mae who ran off from jamaican newton marshall. he scratched. you are not allowed to come to a checkpoint without the entire team you left the last checkpoint with. he is still out there looking for mae as are many other volunteers. mae was spotted last i heard so that is a good sign.
i do love the happy faces of all these dogs running. the official iditarod site has lots of cool video's. i paid like $ 30 for the insider which gives you access to them. other great places to check out trail news and photos from the check points are anchorage daily news, alaska dispatch or kttu alaska. you can come here too. i try to keep up as best i can between my own dogs care and that thing i like to call work.
it's looking more and more like buser's surprise strategy may be paying off. most of the mushers have now completed their required 24 hour layover and the top ones have also finished their required 8 hour along the river. at this time martins team is nearly 4 hours ahead. not that is the finish, but he's in the good position he hoped for.
weather has continued to be warmish. cool shots of the teams having to wade through 2 feet of water where it had flooded over. buser was smart as it sounds like he just took off his boots and socks and crossed bare legged. i bet it was cold as hell and he probably lost all feeling to those legs for a bit, but legs dry faster than clothes do. the elder seavey, mitch, was able to stay on his sled through that i read. most of them got off and led their teams across.
this is mitch seavey's son, dallas. he won last year. he was the youngest to ever win. mushers must be 18 at the time of the start i think it is. was reading over the rules the other day. many about dog care.
another family affair are the berrington twins...this one below is kristy. her sister anna has bib 31 i think.
there have been a few scratches, not too many though. bib #60 who couldn't get her brake out of the snow at the restart is still in. she is in last place last i checked though. she seemed to be a few hours behind the next musher. if you go too slow you will be asked to withdraw or be withdrawn. the iditarod depends on hundreds and hundreds of volunteers, many people come to alaska every year just to volunteer for this. they can't maintain the support for days and days extra.
the first races lasted probably twice as long as it does currently. mackey was talking about it on one of the clips. in a way it's kinda sad as i'm sure he has heard many of his fathers tales from the early iditarod "races". the mushers would stop at nights and chill around a campfire laughing and talking. times have changed. the dogs prefer to run in the cool hours of nights. this year is warm. that definitely gives the advantage to the dogs trained in parts of alaska south of fairbanks and such.
the rookie from norway is doing well. seems to be keeping up with the leaders, having a great time. they did show him in pictures with plastic bags on his boots to keep dry.
always love the rear view of the teams.
lots of action over at the other party on the lake sunday.
good week at work. oriented to pcu, cviu and then to the emergency room. pcu and cviu were a comfort in that it's the same charting and just basic patient care. emergency was fun. it's crazy as the turn over of patients is insane. the house supervisor calls the emergency room schizophrenic. it seems apt. you discharge a patient and next time you turn around the room is filled with another patient. put in an iv, give zofran and fentanyl, give a liter of fluids, tests, exams...gone. there were 2 ice patients which i ended up transferring both upstairs.
i think the one nurse was pretty happy that i was chill with the icu level patients. the charting is very different and just as chaotic as the patient care. i was able to jump in and get some cares done. i'll have to get better at documenting crap. the mayhem is further made chaotic when more critical paitents arrive or a psych patient decides to flip out. not to mention all these doctors and their scribes running around. that job looks horrible to me. these people are on a computer for the entire 12 hours documenting for the doctors. each doc seems to have their own.
it was funny, the first patients room i walked into was the relative of a patient i had taken care of on one of my other nights. another patient awhile later was one i was familiar with from the icu. it never stopped all night that is for sure. not sure i'd want to do that every night, but then again, it was nice to just slam it all in and say goodbye.
a few reference books i'd ordered arrived today. figure i need to get more on my game for this peat thing i'll be doing. i'm a bit nervous as nothing happened the three nights i oriented so i'm not really sure how things roll out there in the world of peat. i'll be flying by the seat of my pants. i tend to step up though when i see that people have that deer in the headlamp look about them...so hopefully i'll be okay.
was slow moving today, but i did finally get the dogs out to the coastal refuge for the afternoon. turned out to be a beautiful day. will catch up on those walks of daily life after the iditarod ends. for now it's fun for me to follow along and share the many pictures i've taken.
this is another rookie, travis beals.
while i was out there today i spied several people out kite boarding. they were in the distance so i didn't get great pictures. fun to watch though. i walked over that direction,but it's all a bit slushy out there. it has for sure felt like spring all week.
it's funny to meander all over the hospital confusing people and it's also fun to meet new people everywhere. it seems everywhere i go at least one person knows me or worked with me before. in the emergency room last night the off going charge was a girl i worked with in ketchikan (i lived there from 1993-2001). another of the rn's on duty that night is a nurse i worked with in the peds units. that helps put everyone at ease as you come pre-approved. happily everyone has said nice things about me as they introduce me. always good to hear!
a chocolate shake is sounding really good right now. i had breakfast and then after i walked i stopped by china lights for the buffet. eating out alone on a friday night. i suppose that is pathetic. it was pretty early for dinner, but crowded. i was hungry and i guess i've reached a point where eating alone is not the end of the world to me. i am single. that means you do things alone from time to time. better than just not doing things at all.
loved this very dedicated trail volunteer. after each team he made sure this path was good for the next team.
a trial is over. a kid was shot when police were trying to apprehend his felon father. the question has been and will probably remain...did his father shoot him as he had threatened to or had the police accidently done it? the mother was trying to sue the city of homer for $23 million in claims it was the police's fault. in the end the jury sided with the city of homer. the kid is permanently disabled. it's all pretty sad. the father was killed ultimately in the shoot out/ambush.
stopped by petco after our walk. the dogs always enjoy a good sniff around a pet store. the guy in line in front of me apparently had a new cat. he'd brought it with him. can't say as i've seen many cats brought into petco. it popped it's head up as the guy left. the guy had just gotten the cat 30 minutes before and was stocking up on all the stuff one needs for a new pet. he laid out over $200 and was looking pretty happy.
of course, i noticed the guy left his new kitty's litter box in the parking lot. i took it back inside for him. he won't want to be without that.
more rear view shots
kelly maximer
more dogs...so happy to be running, love their sweet faces
talking to my friend natalie. she is packing for ecuador. a trip working with vets in spay and neuter clinics. sounds like fun!
just got off the phone. we talked for a long time!! my phone will have to be charged. i still enjoy a live conversation though over a texting one. i'm old i guess. i'm learning to adapt though and have many extended text chats with younger friends. i see some of the perks that people like about texting. you can turn off from the conversation and do other things and just pop in and out. is that part of our multi tasking age though?
it's one of the things i love about getting out in nature. it's simple....there is far too little simple left in our lives. even living a simple life requires a magazine full of ideas on how to simplify your life. there is too much stimulation. i see it from the time the little ones are born. there is always background noise and often not appropriate to age background noise. there is no quiet, there is no down time.
the fact is many of the younger generation are losing the ability to sit in total silence, to just be and not have to be doing. seems a very stressful way to live...but then they also seem to be more involved in each others lives since they communicate in these little blips off and on all day and night. who's to say we weren't the ones who had it all wrong. i was raised in the era of not getting involved in others lives and such. maybe we should have been more involved. more supportive. the world changes, eventually you grow to old to adapt anymore and then it's your time to leave and another generations time to live.
rio was just sleeping and she was dreaming and wagging in her sleep. i love when they do that!! it's so cute. it makes me feel like she has a good and happy life and i've done something right. everyone loves having happy dogs!!
these guys all look happy enough to me!!
was laughing as this girl at work saw one of my dog feet photo's and wants one to put on her wall. cropping...when i have a picture were the dogs don't turn out well, i sometimes just crop it down to their feet. i did this once and i really liked how it turned out...but in truth it was a picture that otherwise would have been a throw a way. i will have to remember to make a dvd for her with some dog pictures on there so she can blow them up if desired.
some people work in soup kitchens. i give people pictures to make them smile!
aily zirkle...always hoping she wins the race, but i'm happy if martin buser wins. they both take great care of their teams.
they are a great looking bunch
yesterday, i took a break from walking. did get a few of those house things done that we all have to do from time to time, like pick up large mastiff poops from the yard. anytime there is threat of snow, i try to get out there. spring will be hell otherwise
the day before we hit the bog. did get decent sleep over these days. i should be starting my regular schedule 3 on, 2 off, 3 on, then 6 days off. so i should be on my 6 days off.
the pink tells u deedee jonrowe is coming.
shes a breast cancer survivor, so pink is her thing
the pink is pretty...of course, we all know if i was running out there it would be all green!! i'd have to find just the right shade of green though. gotta stand out!!
off to make that chocolate shake. chinese food is tasty, but it never lasts that long. then i will study these new reference books for a bit...probably like 2 pages before i crash for the night. i'm sleepy!!
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