Sunday at Fur Rondy!

Sunday dawned once again bright, clear, cold and after our grocery run, we were off to Rondy. Events for the day were dog sled sprints (finals), shopping and reindeer races.

We arrived downtown about 11:30 and once again went and watched the sleds take off. The dogs appear to absolutely love to run and are ready to go. We lucked out later in the day and actually walked up to the winning sled dogs not knowing it. They were getting ready to drive off and the musher stopped to talk to us for a while. Very interesting. Then it was off to shop as some of the stores were having Fur Rondy sales and you can never have enough winter gear.

We stopped and purchased a couple of items at the Outfitter store (50% discount on everything) and then headed back to the fur shops. Yep – I did it – I ordered Mukluks. They are going to be custom made of dark brown beaver and will be ready in 3 weeks. Just in time for spring. While we were there, something odd actually happened. A beautiful, copper color, sheared beaver jacket jumped off of the rack into my arms and begged to be taken home. It was 70% off and I couldn’t disappoint it. (As I used to say to my Dad – “Just look at the money we saved.” That would drive him nuts. I sure miss him!) It should match the mukluks rather well and this will complete my Alaska clothing ensemble I have been working toward. I just have to remember not to wear it downtown for the Fur Rondy grand parade as last year PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) showed up and caused a stir. It will be interesting to see if they show up again this year. (As a side note – PETA means something different in Alaska. But that’s another blog.)

We wanted to cap the day off watching the reindeer races. This is where someone hooks up a sled (plastic type kids sled) to a reindeer and the kids jump onto the sled and hang on for dear life. Unfortunately, the reindeer were late plus we had mis-leading information from one of the sled dog race workers and we missed it. The local newspaper article has a couple of pictures though.

This week is the Native Crafts show and if it is anything like the one we attended a couple months ago, we will be buying family Christmas presents already!

I am counting down to the Iditarod start. Saturday morning we will be up and out early to get good viewing positions and to go see the dogs prior to the start. Start time is 10:00 am local.

Saturday at Fur Rondy

What a wonderful two days! We were up and out bright and early (9:30am) Saturday morning for bagels and then festivities. We dressed in layers as it was -15 when we left the house. After finishing breakfast and arriving downtown, we found a perfect parking spot. Not too far from the festivities for minimal cost. We grabbed the Gators and camera and off we went!

We arrived about 10:30 but the Fur/Pelt Auction didn’t start until 11:00am and we had time to kill. Let’s see, what could be better during Fur Rendezvous than…shopping the fur galleries in search of Mukluks.

The first furrier did not sell them at that particular location but they did have a beautiful black cherry sheared beaver jacket on sale. I looked great in it. It is still at the store. The next shop had Mukluks, just not in my size. They were willing to custom make them for me. I still had to think about it…and go to a couple other stores.

But back to the festival. By this time (11:30) we decided to step into the chowder house to warm up and have some hot chocolate. The countdown had started to the dog sled sprints at noon. Once again, all of downtown Anchorage was a-howl. It is so fun to watch the dogs. Weather was perfect for them (6 degrees) and they were ready to go!

This is where the dogs are being held back in the staging area by sno machines with the brakes on
Here we have the dogs moving up to the starting line

This is after the sprint has started and they have run about 2 blocks.

After watching the dogs take off for about ½ hour, we decided to head over to the dog weight pull. This is similar to a tractor pull in the Midwest only with dogs instead.

There are 4 weight classes of dogs and the dog that pulls the most weight in the shortest amount of time is the winner. The first pull is the empty, 200lb sled. The sled sits on an ice pad while the dog is hooked up to it. Once the dog is released, they have to pull the weight about 20 ft to have a successful pull and go to the next round. Weight is added via 30lb cement cylinders, normally 90lbs at a time. A dog can pass a specific pull anytime but he has to be successful during the next pull.

These dogs were incredible. We watched a 33lb dog pull 920lbs. He was so small up against the sled. I am still amazed he did it. We also saw a 10 year old 141lb dog who has been competing for 9 years. He knew exactly where to stop to be hooked up and how far he had to pull it to be successful. He attempted to break the world record weight pull for his weight class. The picture below is an action shot of Dude pulling 3020lbs. (Yes – three thousand and twenty pounds.) The record is 3000lbs. Unfortunately, he was about 2 feet short of having a good pull. It was still amazing.

The only "bad" part about the Dog pull was it was still cold (6 degrees) and we were sitting on metal benches. Brrrr. The final weight class ended about 4:30pm and I was ready to go home. Five hours in the sun but bone chilling cold was enough. I don't think I warmed up until Sunday - and then it was time to go back for more!

Fur Rondy is Here!

Fur Rendezvous has finally arrived bringing crystal clear cold weather. Squirt had to do his business this morning in -15 degrees. Luck for him, I took time to put on his boots. Btw – I think the Fur Rondy clock is off on the web page due to the cold….it’s batteries are slow. :)

Robert and I took the afternoon off and went to the starting line to watch the World Champion Dog Sledding Sprint races. WOW – that was fantastic. All of downtown Anchorage was a howl with about 250 dogs and they were ready to run.

Due to the warmer temperatures we had in late January, most of the snow was off of the streets downtown and the event coordinators had to set up a special track with snow trucked in from parking lots. (They didn’t have to make any.) As noted in the title, this race is a sprint race. Each of the 17 teams team leave the starting line on a separate clock timer so the dogs aren’t on the trail close to each other. Each team is separated by about three minutes at the start. As the teams come to the starting line, they have to be held back because the dogs are anxious to go. Most sprint dogs look different than dogs that run the Iditarod as they tend to be spaniel type dogs. Huskys and Malamutes are apparently for long distance running at a slower pace. This race trail is approximately 25 miles long and the teams will finish in approximately an hour.

Getting the teams to the starting line and stopped waiting for the “go” signal is a challenge. Each team had at least 7 handlers plus the musher holding the dogs back. There were normally 3 people along the dogs keeping the leads from getting crossed and holding the dogs, 4 people holding the sled itself, the musher finishing last minute preps getting ready to start. The really amazing thing was each sled was attached via rope to a snow machine (snow mobile) and the snow machine driver kept the breaks on to hold them back. Even with all of the extra restraint, some teams still managed to pull them forward before they should have.

Each sled had between 13 and 20 dogs harnessed for the run. As one team was heading for the starting line without all of the handlers, snow machine in tow, something must have smelled good as the lead dogs did a right turn toward the sidewalk which brought everything to a halt. Human intervention was required to readjust their attention. None of the dogs had booties on today. I guess even at below 0 if you are running at 25 mph, you don’t need booties. I don’t think Squirt will ever have that chance. He is more of a ‘sit in the sled and direct kind’ of dog. Too bad I didn’t take the camera. Luckily, they run two more times this weekend. The town was so quiet after the dogs left!

Tonight is the celebration of the inaugural class to the Alaska Sports Hall of Fame. We will be attending the get together and the watching the fireworks. (Note – we don’t get fireworks over July 4th as it is light most of the night….)

Tomorrow is the Dog Weight Pull, Snow Sculptures, more races and the first fur auction (the whole point of the festival). Sunday we are going to go to the reindeer races and maybe more sled races. Check back for pictures!

I see tracks...where's the moose?

Sunday was a spectacular moose viewing day (and Monday wasn’t too bad either). After the snow fall on Friday, running errands and doing chores around the house Saturday, Sunday was a day to play. We chose skiing. It was beautiful. The sun was out part of the time, no wind and temperatures in the low 20’s. As a bonus, we went at 9:00am and there was no crowd at all. They did have the Special Olympics downhill race starting at 10:00am which we watched a few races. I believe all of the participants finished the course and some of them flew down the mountain.

Back to skiing – I successfully stayed upright the entire 3 hours we were there. This is a new breakthrough for me. Of course, they took down the wires, poles, signs, etc. that kept tripping me up when I would exit from the chair lift. With the recent warm weather, downhill was very fast this weekend. I really enjoyed the speed as long as I didn’t have to turn or stop and there weren’t any obstacles such as moguls or other skiers in the way.

The unique thing about this trip besides the Special Olympics event was on the third time up the mountain on the lift, there were fresh tracks going perpendicular to the run from one side to the other. Sure enough as we swung over them we could tell they were moose tracks. The problem was we couldn’t tell which way they were going and because he/she was on a tougher hill, I wasn’t going to get to look at them up close. But don’t worry; I spent the next two runs going down the mountain looking for moose in the brush. (Probably not the smartest thing to do when traveling down a mountain at BLAZINGLY FAST speeds with boards strapped to my feet.)

Of course, all of this potential moose watching inspired me to keep going up the mountain to practice. Sure enough, on the very next ride to the top, there was the moose about one half way up near the edge of the ski run. Of course, I was on the wrong side of the lift and had to scrunch down and over to get a good view for part of the time (luckily I didn’t fall out or drop anything). By the time we got to where the moose was snacking, it had moved into the brush. We still got a great look at it from the lift, practically going right over the top of it. The moose was young enough we fully expected to see Momma near by but finally decided she was probably on her own run with a snowboard. One of the fun things to watch in situations like this is people and what they do. Many had no clue the moose was just off in the brush. Some are lucky they didn’t crash into its rump. Unfortunately after that sighting, the lift broke and we had to go home.

Later on Sunday, we went for a drive since the sun was out and saw three more moose in and around Anchorage by the streets and Highways. Not a record but definitely a high sighting day.

Monday’s moose event started when I decided to go get another cup of coffee. I happened to look out my office window and there was a moose across the street in downtown Anchorage munching on a tree. Over the next two hours or so, each time I looked out the window, she had moved. I saw her in several different places over a two block radius. Interestingly enough, after two hours had passed, she was right back where she started from coming full circle. Must have been the tastiest tree!

I love living in this state!

Squirt's Limo is set for repair

We have an estimate, parts on order and a repair start date of March 5th. If Karma is with us, we will have our car back by mid March! Hooray!

Today is my Friday off. Working a schedule with every other Friday off is really nice. There are big, fluffy snowflakes falling right now with about 1/2 inch of new snow on the ground. If all goes well, we will get about 6 inches and it will be perfect skiing this weekend.

Squirt gets so confused and tired when there are extra days off in the week. We have already gone to the grocery store, had company ring the doorbell two times and I tend to move around a lot as I have things to do. Watching him, you can tell he is SO VERY SLEEPY because he drags along from room to room following me. All of this activity interferes with his daily naps.

This week I discovered tracks leading under our back deck. Squirt is pretty sure what ever it is has spent time on the side deck next to the house. I can't tell if they are dog or fox tracks. If you look at pictures of fox tracks - they look like dog tracks. On this same site I found a great moose video from a hospital security camera. Goofy Moose. The bear cub video is pretty cute also. For any of you planning to visit Alaska, this is a pretty good site to find activities and get a good idea what you want to do.

Oh yeah....if your coming - give us a call!!!

Breaking News.....

I forgot to mention....Monday we drove home from work at 5:00pm and had to have sunglasses. Obviously summer is almost here!

In Search of Mukluks

I need a pair of Mukluks. (Note: the verb "need" was accurately employed.) I have needed a pair for several years - since our first vacation to Alaska. They are not only gorgeous but functional. I would wear a pair of mukluks to work or on the weekend. I can't justify buying a fur coat as I don't see me donning a sheared beaver garment on a daily basis. Although, sheared beaver is tough to pass up. Some people would argue but I don't think there is a softer fur.

We went downtown this last Sunday to walk around and go to some of the artisan shops specializing in wood and stone carvings and bronzes. (You can never have too many.) It was also a ploy to go look in the fur shops for goodies. Sad to say many of the shops were closed (not yet tourist season) but we still saw some spectacular items. (If only I could win a lottery.) I think we will have to take vacation one of these days to check out the shops when they are open.

I was eyeballing a coat with leather on the outside and fur on the inside. That would be functional. I still want to look around to make sure it is the perfect one before purchasing. There were some rather nice ear muffs and mittens made out of beaver. No luck on the mukluks though. I think I will have them custom made when I finally do get ready to pick them out. That way I have the fur I want and not what is on the shelf.

We also checked out the store with several of the Regat bonzes on display. I love the Regat studio work - especially the Otters, Totems, Seals/Sea Loins and Wales/Dolphins. Some of the fish bonzes are fantastic also. I could decorate an entire house in these art works - the only thing holding me back is that lottery thing…

Fur Rondy will be starting a week from Friday. This festival started back in 1930 or so to celebrate the trappers coming to town to sell their furs. I believe Fur Rondy continues until after the start of the Iditarod Race on March 3rd. I so look forward to experiencing these two events. If you watch on the Iditarod race on TV, I am sure you will see us in the crowds at the starting line because there is no way I am missing it. (Which means there is very little chance Robert will miss it unless he schedules something out of town.) Of course, you won't be able to recognize us as we will be bundled up against the cold weather. I actually tried to volunteer for the race this year but was too late getting an application in. Look out next year! I still have to decide whether to take Squirt downtown with us for the start. It might be good for him to be there and see that some dogs actually have to work and that snow booties are an integral part of their job! However, I wouldn't want him to distract the working dogs there already. :)

Speaking of Squirt, insurance has accepted responsibility and will be covering the restoration of Squirt's limo! Hooray! Now where is that claims adjuster…..Oh well - one step closer!

Miscellaneous Wanderings

I just realized it has been a week since I said anything. (As many of you know) that’s a long time for me to be quiet. Of course, last weekend was the Superbowl extravaganza and the rest of the week I have been working late. Hopefully it will be back to normal now. This is part of the view from the porch at sunset. Too bad those houses are in the way...

One of the nice things about Alaska is live sporting events start earlier. Back in Texas, we would have settled down for the Superbowl about 5pm with the conclusion after 9 or 10pm. Weekend’s over – no more time to do anything. If we had friends over, it would have meant stay up late or come home from work on Monday to a mess to clean up. Here, kickoff was at 2:25pm. Perfect! We had a couple of friends over, lots of snacks and junk food (Robert and I are still eating leftovers) and the game was done by 7:30pm. Not too late - plenty of time to clean up – no continued mess the next day. Bonus points for being able to keep all drinks on the back porch without the requirement to purchase ice to keep it cool. Over the course of the afternoon the water actually froze in the bottles.

Over the last two weeks, we have been experiencing a little mini “break-up”. We had ice jams south of here on the river causing serious flooding, lots of snow melting, working on the driveway to get rid of ice, etc. In fact, some of Squirt’s groomed trails in the yard actually had grass showing. I found out this also means every car in the city is the same color. Dirt black. I had to clean the headlights no less than three times this week for any hope of illumination. Of course, when did I remember I had to clean them? When I was driving and it was dark on the road and my lights were on. Because everything is so gritty I would just pull into the filling station and use the windshield wipers they provide. I felt bad the second and third times though as I really didn’t need gas (and didn’t buy any). I did it late at night and early in the morning when no attendants were there. Please - bring back white snow to cover up the muck because even though P. Phil didn’t see his shadow, winter isn’t over yet.

Speaking of break up – building codes here allow for 40 pounds per square foot (or something like that) of weight (snow) on roofs. Prior to mini break up, people were having problems with ice dams and leaking roofs. There are businesses specializing in roof shoveling and they are busy. Well, we had to have our propane tanks for the grill filled (yes – we still grill out even when it is below freezing). The gentleman who filled the tank was very talkative. As with all strangers, talk turned to weather, snow and problems generated by having lots of snow on area roofs. One of his enterprising and creative neighbors took his snow thrower up on the roof and was removing snow. Just like snow on the mountains, when it finally breaks free (avalanche) all of it goes at once. Unfortunately, it happened with this gentleman and he fell breaking both legs. (I think I will use this as a safety tip in a staff meeting!)

Something else the warm temperatures brought out were the bears at the zoo. One of the local stations had some great videos of them sitting outside of their den and boy were they groggy. It looked like they had some whopping hangovers. People watching them were talking and pointing and trying to get their attention and they basically rolled over and totally ignored the interruptions. They definitely aren’t ready to get up. It has cooled off and it is snowing again. I hope they go back for a second winter nap. I haven’t checked how wild bears compare to zoo bears….are they out and about now or is it still too early?

Squirt’s limo still isn’t in the shop. Everything moves so slowly. I just hope we have the car back before the real breakup starts!

Spring is Here! Spring Is HERE!!

OK – not really but what a beautiful week! The pineapple express (fronts from Hawaii) has been wonderful. We have had sun for the last 5 days in a row. The days are getting longer and the temperatures have been above freezing capping it off with 48 degrees today. I didn’t use a jacket, earmuffs or gloves while running errands. It was nice being able to ignore the 30 minute prep time needed to go out in the cold. I was tempted to put on shorts but instead opened the windows to let fresh air in. Sunrises and sunsets have been perfect. The mountains glow orange during both.

Of course, Robert was out of town this week. He has probably missed the one nice week for the winter as it is supposed to get cold and snowy tonight. Temperatures are headed back to normal which means all of the melted snow will turn back to ice and be very dangerous.

Squirt and I had a small celebration Wednesday as Squirt turned 10 years old. He got to go on a long walk, have a couple of white chocolate covered dog biscuits and a rawhide chew. Our family will celebrate in style tomorrow night after Daddy gets home with t-bone steaks. (Squirt gets the bones.) Robert has searched high and low in Houston for the perfect squeak toy. Yes – this year, Squirt’s birthday present will be imported. I will have to wrap it tonight after Squirt goes to bed so he doesn’t know what it is. He has very good hearing and this is very hard to get away with.

We have also spent several hours over these warm days working on the driveway trying to get some of the packed ice removed. This morning, while I was breaking ice and toting it off, Squirt was sitting regally surveying his property and neighborhood. Sometimes he likes to sit on the front porch where no pesky snow banks block his view. Today for some reason, the best spot was in the middle of the driveway on an ice floe with puddles of water around him. Don’t you wonder what makes dogs tick? He was perfectly happy just a little wet. I on the other hand was tired and potentially cranky for a few minutes but managed to clear about a third of the ice.

Once again, I have the late shift for the airport run. As I have commented before, in the winter the only planes into and out of Anchorage occur in the middle of the night. Tonight is no exception and the plane is already late and I am already yawning. One of these days, I will fall asleep and be awakened by a ringing phone and the words “where are you”. That won’t make for a good pick up run. :)

I can’t wait for spring to get here!

(PS – no update on Squirt’s Limo as our past favorite neighbor affectionately nicknamed the 4-runner. What a long drawn out process.)