March 9, 2008

• Happy

  I understand that happiness is a choice, that it comes from within and consists more of appreciating what one has than of getting what one wants.  That said, I find that sometimes it is easier to be happy than at other times.  In certain circumstances being happy requires a wrenching effort.  Right now, for me, contentment is effortless and happiness just happens.

  Doug was up all night, so I got lots of uninterrupted sleep, without the necessity for getting up to tend the wood stove.  We do still need a fire, but generally warmer weather has taken much of the stress out of life here.  I can even get out of bed in my pajamas, slip into house shoes and move over to the computer to blog without having to add extra layers of sweaters, pants, socks and boots.  The cats and Koji appreciate the warmer days, too, I know.  Koji even lay down on the floor yesterday to gnaw on a rawhide strip, instead of jumping up on the bed out of the drafts.  When I woke today, I only had to crawl out from under my covers, and not from under a suffocating pile of heat seeking felines.

  When I got out of bed, Doug was out splitting firewood.  Then he was in my bed before my warm spot had cooled.  That’s comforting to both of us.  He gave up sleeping in his room months ago, both because it was cold and uncomfortable and because at the time I was needing his help a lot so he wanted to be out here where he can hear when I call.  The sofa we had set up to accommodate play on the Xbox and PS2, and named Couch Potato Heaven, is very comfortable for gaming, but painful verging on crippling for sleeping.  Taking shifts in the bed works best, so I’m extra happy that our sleep schedules are back around again to opposing hours of the day.

  Food in my stomach is pleasant, and free food has extra appeal.  Greyfox salvaged several sacks of canned soups and such from the dumpster at Felony Flats recently.  It was during the big subzero cold snap, so they had all been frozen.  Freezing tends to alter the texture of canned foods, but the can of vegie soup I just ate didn’t seem to have suffered too much from the change.

  I’m also finding it enjoyable to have several interesting things to do, none of which is particularly demanding.  From time to time, I leave Xanga and take a look at what’s going on on Front Street in Nome, through the Nomecam.  The Burled Arch is up, and I have watched some heavy equipment moving snow around and smoothing it out down the middle of the street, but the fences that will hold back the crowds at the finish of the Iditarod have not been set up, and there are no TV lights or camera crews there yet.

  Through the morning, I have been monitoring the GPS Tracker on the trail, as Jeff King and Lance Mackey pass through the Nulato Hills, moving closer to Unalakleet and the coast of Norton Sound.  They have been nine, ten, eleven miles apart all day so far, and except for a brief time when Lance apparently stopped, their speeds have been close to the same, with Lance’s occasionally up to 2 MPH faster.  OOooo, Jeff King just put on a burst of speed, up from 7 MPH to 12, about 11 miles short of Unalakleet, and despite Jeff’s acceleration and Lance’s maintaining his steady 8 MPH, Lance is reportedly now a mile closer to Jeff.   The tracker still has bugs, I guess.  Either that, or Lance found a short cut.

  Did you know that there is another race going on out there now?  I keep forgetting to mention the Iditarod Trail Invitational bicycle race.  They started before the dog teams did, and are now being overtaken and passed by the mushers.

  Another little bit of Alaska news I’ve neglected to mention:  the governor is pregnant — seven months along and either nobody noticed or they just thought she was getting fat and were too considerate to say anything.

  Aha!  Now some fences are going up along Front Street.  I guess I picked the right day to open up the Nomecam.

  Well, Jeff King is about 8 miles from Unalakleet, Lance Mackey is still trailing about ten miles behind Jeff, with Kjetil Backen still almost 40 miles back behind Lance, and ten more teams strung out in the ten miles or so behind him.

  I think I’ll disconnect from the web and call Greyfox.  Today is cheap cell minutes all day.  Happy happy, joy joy!

  • 5:54 pm
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