ceremonial iditarod start 2012, part 1

even when i'm not trying i take loads of photo's. met my friend sandra downtown to take in the sights and sounds of the ceremonial start! i'd actually never gone downtown for this before. seems i've always been working the night before and i usually wake up early, turn on tv to see where they are downtown and then go to the area around university lake to watch whatever teams are left pass by. it was fun to experience the downtown mayhem of it all.
just thought this pup looked awful cute! what a sweet face! the main streets and several side streets are closed off and the teams all set up on the side roads and in the area before the "start". we wandered around to see who we could see before the race started and continued wandering during the starts. i was chill with this. allowed me to see all the various angles of places to be and what to see. sandra has gone several years so she gave me the tour. it was fun checking all out. there are tons of volunteers and family and press and stuff inside the gated areas. we decided a new rule should be initiated deeming all within the fenced zone must be 5'5" or less. those tall people really obstruct the view. makes photo ops difficult. then it seems many in the area are not really volunteers so much as just lucky enough to take pictures from the other side of the fence.i wasn't in some major photography mode. hopefully, will have a settled spot tomorrow to watch the teams go by and try and get decent photo's. these are all from my little cheap camera. will post more tomorrow from the zoom. no doubt it will be like last year and i'll have so many pictures i will slowly post them through the week with some updates on the race. not that i am any sort of iditarod expert, but i can read and pick up the stuff i think is cool.
okay. the above picture makes me giggle every time i look at it. loved that scooby do showed up. alaskans take every opportunity, especially in the long winters, to dress up. so yes, i'm a goof as i think this dude cruising around as scoobydo is hilarious!!we cruised around the side streets then wandered up the road, crossed over, crossed back and then went up to the third floor of the parking structure. a good place for watching. some cool pictures as it's a fun vantage point. for me, i wouldn't want to stay up there the whole time, picture taking wise, but if you are just watching the teams...great spot! the ceremonial start doesn't have any bearing on the actual race which starts tomorrow out of willow. it was a more festive feeling as the teams prepared for todays 12 mile run. tomorrow they will be more focused as they get the sled packed for anything and everything that can happen on a nearly 1000 mile run. not actually 1000 miles. funny as i think the yukon quest is longer. hugh neff i believe won that one this year, by 26 seconds!!! big smiles. always like him. his dogs will be dressed in cat n the hat attire today! so cute. he promotes literacy. the fur rondy is still going on for a few more days. pretty cool seeing streets that are usually full of cars full of dog teams. i believe this is mitch seavey. his son, dallas, and his father, dan are also in this years iditarod. pretty amazing to have 3 generations involved. dan seavey ran in the very first iditarod in 1973. he is 74. quite an undertaking for anyone, but my body aches just walking all over the place today. of course, they took the switchbacks out that every year cause such grief. kinda liked that they were there. a big challenge for all. lots of spills and falls. the dogs seem to have a blast with it though and the video's were awesome!!the race will follow the northern route and the total mileage is 975...just looked. as with the fur rondy events, the iditarod is the time for all in alaska to bring out their furs. i know many are against anything with real fur. i do not own any fur hats/gloves or coats. they tend to be pretty spendy and if i spent that much i'd fear wearing it and getting it ruined. of course, the natives live in furs and have for years as they are very efficient at warming you up. i did look at a very cute, but spendy hat today. it's always tempting, but if i buy anything i think i'd go through the natives. i just feel they are most likely to use everything they can from the killed animal. the hat i looked at today was the result of trapping and i really can't support the whole trapping thing. i know people gotta make thier living and trappings been around along time. it just doesn't seem like a pleasant death though. bullet is more kind overall. everytime i post one of the pictures like above, i usually get some comment on facebook about fur's and all. that is why i just put that out there. it's part of the culture up here and at these events you will see all sorts of furs and will find even more available for purchase.there are many volunteer opportunities at the iditarod. many people fly up here just for this and love volunteering each year. it's a spendy sport so they do appreciate the volunteers. i've had friends be dog handlers and they all had a great time of it. they help the teams get ready, assist them at the starts and then let the dogs go. the dogs are incredibly strong and love to run! there are over 1000 dogs that run. i always say a little prayer for the safety of all. many are against the sport...like those who don't like fur coats. again this is part of the culture up here. i've watched the dogs and they do love to run. there are bad elements out there and there are individuals that can be horrible and cruel and they are what people focus on when it comes to the sport. i hate in any aspect of life when people punish all for the bad behaviour of one. the people who put on the race are always trying to make the best decisions based on the dogs. i think they do a dang good job. there are veterinarians at the various checkpoints. dogs that seem weak or tired are dropped and the good musher will be watchful of his/her dogs and make sound decisions based on what they see. they spend hours with their dogs and know them well. i enjoy the race and don't want to get into any battles over it. have had those battles on dogster.com in the past and the people who are against dog mushing and the iditarod are ferocious in thier attacks and mostly unreasonable. i remember there was this young teenage musher out of talkeetna that was on dogster and every year those woman would just go after this young 13 year old. when the girl and her team were run over by a snowmachine in an accident and injured, these crazy women actual went on the site and said she deserved it because she ran dogs. it was annoying as i think it was just one or two people but since on dogster you speak as your dog and these people owned like 20 dogs it came off looking like there were hoards of people battling against this girl when it really was just one or two cowardly women. i realize that there are cases of abuse and neglect, but going after a 13 year old seems a bit nuts. many kids and families participate in mushing events in and around this state and it promotes self reliance and independence and confidence.thought the little kid above was cute. much easier solution that trying to drag a stroller through this snow. felt bad for the parents who were trying that. i always love the various dog transport kennels that are seen at these events. can't see the bib on this girl, but i think it may be the musher from norway. she went to uaf and started mushing back in school. she's back for this.

you may have noticed there are people in the sleds. i haven't ever really looked into the who iditarider thing so i will wing it a bit from what i've come to understand. people can bid for a spot. i believe that the more popular a musher is the more money that will cost to ride with them. it can cost maybe $2000-5000? it's a spendy thing, but does looke like alot of fun. you get to meet your favorite musher, spend time and probably get some cool trinkets. if you are interested you'd have to hit the iditarod official site. i'm probably due to pay my annual fee. if you pay extra you get the insider stuff, video's and stuff. otherwise you can just go there get the basics and follow the race. anchorage daily news site is also always a good place for race information....or you can come here and get my take on it all. my friend, sandra, takes her chances with the local bear population.i will plead ignorant as to what the dogs are supposed to do with haw and gee. they are as common with mushing dogs and sit and stay are with your family dog. i think it's a left/right thing. i'm sure i will get help with that. i do love all the cool personalized plates. more cool dog kennelsas you can see it was snowing pretty much all day. not sure how many inches that brought. we are getting closer and closer to the record for snowfall. at this point one almost wishes for it to happen. i spent some time when i got back home outside moving snow around. there arne't too many places to put it. my mastiff is getting lazier and lazier and keeps peeing on the deck so i did some work on cleaning the yellow snow off the deck and relocating it to my yard. then i worked on the front. really i'm buried in so deep i have mostly given up. will have to wait for spring. you have to step up onto the deck and there are no longer any steps down, they are covered and packed. it's just a ramp now. i suspect this is why i feel sore right now. we did walk alot today. we parked at tenth and then walked down to 4th and then all over the place and then back up to 10th and then i took the dogs to the bog as they'd been shut in all day.feel bad leaving them but they do fine and the iditarod is no place for dogs..hehe...pun intended. there were a few people who brought their dogs down there, but it's really not a good idea. mostly, it got the iditarod dogs worked up and barking. they have a long ways to travel too so the medical side of me thinks it would be wise to limit thier exposure to local dogs for fear of them getting some bug and getting ill out there. empty sleds.i think these kids were hanging at the steers truck. they own/run sheep mountain lodge. her husband has usually been the one running the iditarod, but this year the wife is going for it. hopefully she has a good run.like the little muscle shirts they put on the dogs sometimes. pretty warm out there today.lots of mushers work together. kristy berington has trained with gebhardts dogs these past years. now her twin sister will also make a run. not sure that a pair of twins has ever run the iditarod, but she was called malibu musher and i think she pushed through because it was felt that a pretty girl was no match for the iditarod. so will have to watch the twins and see how it goes for them. i do love that this is a race that puts men/women/old and young against each other. it's how you manage your dogs and your time that counts. not many sports where all are equal really. aliy zirkle is always a favorite. her husband runs as well. not sure if he's running this year. some couples take turns running the teams. he was the one that hugh neff beat out by 26 seconds this year at the quest. we had fun watching the before race action. we chilled by jeff king for a bit. gotta love him. he's been doing this for years. sat out last year, was retiring i think. he's back. always inovative and i remember when i volunteered with the dropped dog crew, his dogs were all super sweet. they wore cute muscle shirts and i was told her rotates them inside all the time for bonding. he is always making alterations to his sleds. this is lance mackey, he has several wins under his belt. he was zipping around saying hi to his fellow musher buddies. fun to watch him. got some fun pictures of him with one of his dogs that i'll try and post tomorrow.these are hugh neffs cat in the hat dressed canines. is that cute or what. i don't remember him having the dogs in these coats before...nice touch!! perhaps he used his quest wins to dress up the team!!not sure why this chick is dressed up or why she is inside the fenceline! hmm...me and jeff king and his dogs and handlers. check out all the activity downtown!kings dog kennel boxes. more boxesmushers will often use the ceremonial start to promote thier causes/sponsers. i always love the fashion booties.kids collect booties that fall off when the pups are running.not too many purple kennels out there. lots of colour on these guys.another fun plate. we shall see how early we can get there and if there is parking in willow. always an adventure with all this snow we've had this year. some friends are meeting out at long lake. a few will come here in the morning to ride share. i'll have to check with karen, i think she may want to jump on that one.cute dogs. hopefully i get loads of cute dog pictures. we'll see what the weather brings for us.this musher below was ex air force. retired here and started mushing. before he ran the iditarod he volunteered for it.baker is here getting interviewed. he won last year. musher sebastian schnuelle wrote a little article in the adn today. just noticed it. interesting. he was saying how at first when he ran the iditarod he saw the ceremonial start as a bit of a bother or "necessary evil" as he called it. he later came to see that it was a way to celebrate mushing and to bring family in. he said mushers are gone alot and thier families sacrifice for the sport, but this day brings all together and it's just fun for all. he wrote a very nice article. he's not running the race this year, but will cover it for adn. very cool! i hadn't noticed that yet. i am winding down and getting ready for another day of fun. was thinking of making cookies, but have slacked off on all baking of late. perhaps tomorrow i'll get something made for the monday walk. the mushing mortician. have seen his truck around town alot. he's from anchorage. kinda a catchy name, right?if you like mushing and following the iditarod i'll try and take some fun photo's and find cool facts. off to bed...long day tomorrow.

old photo's, native crafts and my daily walk

this is one of my favorite old photo's from the family bunch. i'm sure there are still tons of photo's in boxes somewhere as yet unopened. not sure that all the stuff my mom had in storage has been gone through. my mother and i spent quite a bit of time looking at these old photo's. they were not stored or kept very safely in my family home. i know i set aside favorites for fear they would be lost or destroyed. it's just possible many of those are. i was just always fascinated by the old photo's. my mom would tell me what she knew and bemoan the fact that she didn't have time to write some sort of explanation on the backs. luckily, due to my constant need of attention several did get notations on them. i scanned a few and plan to scan more. great that everyone can now easily get copies of the pictures. some have just faded over time. above is my great grandmother harriet binch hunter. not sure who the kid is in front of her, but behind her is my mom and her two brothers. she looks like she is alot of fun. she is also the one i fear my nose came from. i was away with the dogs much of the day and ms breezy chatterbug was thrilled to see her bcff (best canine friend forever). not sure blossom is as enthralled with the cat, but this cat adores blossom. i had my big camera out with the macro to take pictures of my purchases today. the native craft fair at the dimond mall is probably my favorite event of the fur rondy. i love native artwork and at this fair you can visit with the actual artists. people come in from villages all over alaska and sit at tables. they meet up with family and friends they haven't seen and in general are more chatty than usual. they are proud of thier art, as they should be, and ever so happy to tell you about what they are doing. what i also love is that many of them sit at thier tables actually making things. great to see the whole process. they are also often willing to barter a bit. i purchased this scrimshawed tusk i believe from a mother/son. the mom was actually the one who did the scrimshaw on this. i loved the puffins. so cute. it shows the puffin on the water to full flight. very cool. there was loads of stuff i could have loved to have purchased over there, but it can be spendy. payday though so i gave myself a budge and this was one of my gifts to me!i also love the art of southeast alaska. since i lived in ketchikan for 6 years it is great to have art from southeast alaska in my home. it's very distinctive the art. you can figure out what part of alaska the artist lives in. the necklace was fairly inexpensive and i liked it so i bought one for me and one for a gift. this is the table where i purchased my scrimshawed walrus tusk. thier stuff was laid out on a seal hide. the walrus skull with tusks is pretty amazing. they are asking $5000.00 or best offer for it. it was pretty, but a bit steep for me. various tables and artists. thought this baleen looked cook laid out on the table. too long for my car. i have a smallish baleen that was scrimshawed with a dog sled team. unfortunately, while i was almost crashing in an airplane, it fell off the wall and the dog chewed it up a bit. these are just left natural at this time. the baleen is used often in art and of course, my favorite, the baleen baskets. in case you don't know what baleen is. this is what filter feeder whales use to filter out krill and such, it's thier baleen. various carved soapstone, ivory and the long thing is an oosik. that is the os penis of a walrus. also some eskimo yo-yo's in front made from seal.this sweet older lady was telling me about these dolls that she and her daughter had made. her mother has passed away but was the one who taught her. she was saying the netting used is from her mothers supplies. must be hard to part with. i just love chatting with all the artists.basket making. there are many types of baskets which can distinquish again where in alaska a person is from. this is probably more coastalwhere as i believe these delicate baskets are more from aleutians. not sure. you can see the beginings of the next basket. looks like a brittle star. these are tiny baskets with big purchase prices . they were amazing. again. at $350-750 a bit steep for this girl. i tried on this seal and otter hat. can't justify this purchase either. with natives though they use all parts of the animal they kill, so i can respect that. even the walrus whiskers were made into cute little earrings i saw this time. i was tempted, but i knew the dogs were in the car and probably ready for walking. these look like soapstone and whalebone to me. before i hit the mall i took the dogs on a loop in baxter bog. there were a few moose, but they were pretty far off. after the mall we went to petsmart and then to look for owls and walk on the coastal trail. there were small patches of blue sky here and there but mostly it was cloudy and snow flakes fell at times.we parked at point worzonof after driving the road to look for owls and then we walked from point worzonoff 2 miles towards kincaid park. you have to pass the water treatment plant, which smells of sewage, but otherwise it was a nice stretch. so total walk with dogs today was 5 1/3 miles. not bad. rio is wiped out.this is good as tomorrow may be a minimal walk day for the dogs. i have to get downtown early if i want to see any of the ceremonial start stuff. parking will be hell. just figure i should go downtown for all that once. it starts at 10am. the running of the reindeer isn't until 4pm so i doubt i'll hang for that. i'll probably head home and walk the pups. there were a few folks out there, all friendly. this girl was impressive to me. she was skate skiing with one arm in a cast or sling. so one arm skate skiing. i can't hardly do 20 feet with both arms. was thinking of trying to hit a movie tonight or meet up with a friend for dinner, in the end i was tired and just came home and chilled with the critters at home. hermiting is always good. not much of a view from the coastal trail. no owls, no moose, no eagles. blossom and rio didn't seem to mind. i thought it would be good to just walk them on a leash. blossom seems quite happy that i'm carrying some treats around again. she's cool with being on a leash, it's not seen as a punishment. she just likes to be out. she got to chase her frisbee on the bog walk. the netflix movie is called, "the big year". i had wanted to see it when it came out so hopefully it's fun. great cast. not sure how they will make the yukon territory look like the aleutians, but we shall see. tried to get rio to pose with blossom. this is as good as it got. the planes take off from the airport and fly pretty low right over this spot. from point worzonof. the kids in this are my mom, being held, and her brothers lloyd and richard. the five men are my grandpa ej hunter and his 4 brothers. in order left to right, carl, walt, ej, bob and earl. there was supposedly a younger sister at one time. from what i recall my mother telling me, she was killed by fire accidently. i think they brothers may have been with her at the time. from the story my mom told me several times, thier mom, harriet was off at yet another church meeting and they were left alone. my mother claims several of the brothers forever blamed the church for this unfortunate accident and stopped attending. not sure i've ever seen any photo's of this sibling.this is my mother in laguna beach. i'm guessing it's before she had 7 kids.below is my great grandma, harriet binch hunter. this is the one who i always fear has given me her nose. i believe she lived from 1880- 1945. she had passed before i was born as had all other great grandparents and my paternal grandparents. my maternal grandmother passed when i was 3-4 i believe. i have no memory of her though i have heard stories that feel like memories at this point. my mom used to tell be that at her funeral i looked in the casket and exclaimed that we weren't going to be having ice cream with grandma anymore. obviously a child prodigy! i have a vague memory of sitting in the car with several siblings while my mom was in a hospital visiting her mother. below is my mother milking a cow. my brother jeff gave some story about a cow we owned at some point before i was born, but i believe his tale is hooey and i have no idea why my mother was milking a cow on this occasion. jeff is often telling stories that are humorous, but not necessary exact replica's of the truth. below is my great grandfather on my mothers side, frederick baker (boger). i believe this is taken soon after they had arrived from Ireland. with him is my grandma, dorothy (dot), and her siblings, marie and john. below are pictures of my great grandfather. would be my mom's dad's dad, ellis hunter senior. that would mean he married harriet. in the first he is a child, 1878. and as an adult. don't recall hearing any tales of he or harriet,i only have pictures to go by. not sure why he is surrounded by chickens. this is another favorite. my gramps and grandma courting way back when. so cute. i have sent my grandfathers diary on to my brother tom to have him type it out...that was several years ago and he hasn't gotten to that yet. it was pretty funny though. he obviously liked this girl dot and dot's dad wasn't as keen on him. he played the saxaphone in a band and was seen as a questionable match for her. they did okay though as far as i could see. they looked pretty happy in this picture.here is the object of my grandfathers affections. dorothy baker...and later hunter.lastly is another picture of my gramps with his siblings. the date on the back said, 1928 and listed them as carl, bob, ellis, walt and earl.will scan more pictures perhaps as i watch the movie. it is fun to have the ability to share them more readily with family. better get this movie started, tomorrow will be an early day. hopefully, i get my butt up and moving.

can you guess where i've been???

met up with friends to attend the Alyeska Jones and the Viking Crypt melodrama. i'm not really a fan of melodrama and i can't say that this show changed my opinion of them, but the audience was quite fun to watch. so i was entertained less from the show and more by the audience. everyone buys bags of popcorn and then the whole show becomes one long popcorn fight. the above picture is the remnants of the popcorn madness. actually, that was taken pretty early on in the show so i'm sure it was much more coated with popcorn by the end. liked the picture though.just me and my dogs on the walk today, which is always lovely. blossom happily chased her frisbee and then tennis ball over and over. her tail was wagging and she was one happy dog.
the campbell creek looks different each time i stop by. the water was running over the ice. thought it looked pretty cool!not many folks out there. i took a few minutes to try and get a few shots of rio. she is tough to take pictures of. she wants to be right with me so when i try to back away to take a photo she is immediately on the move towards me. captured a couple that weren't too bad. she has a cyst on her shoulder so last night i emptied that out . was trying to think of how i could just remove it. not sure she'd sit still for a minor surgery. she did okay with me popping her cyst though. i suspect it will grow back quickly again. met up with lesley before the show for dinner. the show was at the theater at the snow goose. you can eat there or chill in the bar so that made it easy. nothing special, but was good to get there early and beat the crowd. parking was a bit nuts..and will be all weekend downtown. as i headed home there was a dude on 4th avenue downtown down on the side of the road. hopefully someone called for assistance. several homeless/drunks hang out downtown. alaska seems a poor choice for a place to live if one is homeless. the temps tonight were low 20's and will not doubt hit the teens tonight. that guy looked passed out. i wasn't in a place to pull over to check on him, but the streets were full of people so i do hope someone called to get him moved. blossom waits at the trail signage. was relaxing walking with just the girls today. i really don't want blossom to start thinking that a walk means she wrestles. i'd rather her just walk peacefully or chase her toys. not sure it's good for dogs to see all walks as wrestle fests. that could eventually mean that all dogs they meet on the trails are then potential wrestle partners. passing other dogs on the trail easily isn't always the easiest trick. as it is blossom wants to say hello, but often it's best to just wait on the side of the trail and let the other owner/dogs pass by. blossom likes that i have brought some treats these last few days. i really should continue that. training really should never be over. it's good to challenge her still, but so easy to get into "my dog is already trained" mode. both dogs are happy and sleepy tonight.liked this tapestry at the theater. i won't ruin the viking tale for those who still plan to attend this fur rondy event. like i said, for me the real entertainment was the audience. we were in the last rows at this one. this was during intermission, one of the cast members was signing a program. i did not get any memorabilia except for my ticket stub and a few pictures. i did purchase a fur rondy pin though. some people have collected them for years. i only have 2 pins. intermission saw my friends getting a wee bit silly...entertaining all as usual. got my taxes done. didn't take too long and i will get a small bit of cash back which is always good. also dropped stuff off for donation and got ink for my printer! nice to get a few things accomplished. tomorrow i want to hit the native craft fair out at the dimond mall. always some cool stuff there. will need to get the dogs up and moving. we'll see what i get accomplished. should get used to waking early as i will need to the next few days after that. the pictures are pretty crap at the melodrama as it was a no flash rule. they had this chorus of singers. i swear the lady in the middle with the outstanding nose is the reincarnation of my great grandma hunter, harriet. i'll have to scan her picture in for comparison. we must be related somehow. i did enjoy thier viking version of a micheal jackson song. again i will try not to ruin the show for others. i will say at one point one of the main cast members was singing a bit too high and i turned to jennifer to say i thought i could hear her dog burt howling. it may be with that all the iditarod dogs have already taken off towards nome. it's all just fun and i did have fun so i can check melodrama off my fur rondy list i guess.
have needed my cough medicine these past 2 days again. bummer. not bad in the mornings but by the end of the day i get to hacking away.