March 21, 2009

• I didn’t see it coming.

  I love it when a punch line sneaks up on me.  A joke that could be a groaner if I anticipated the denouement can have me chuckling off and on all day if it catches me by surprise.

  Do you follow Doonesbury?  This week, I have been getting to know Toggle, a young veteran of Iraq with TBI (traumatic brain injury, but I suppose everyone knows that by now, unfortunately).  A couple of days ago his overbearing and overprotective mother made a disparaging remark about the physical appearance of Toggle’s “girlfriend” whom he has met on Facebook, but not IRL.  Mom compared the girl to an animal.  I recalled this when I saw todays strip where the girl’s identity was revealed, but I couldn’t recall what animal it was, so I went into the archives and found that strip.  A terrier… I might have said she looks like a cockatoo.

  But wait, there’s more!

  Hunt and Peck split up at the back of the pack.

  

  For most of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, Tim Hunt, DVM, and Alan Peck, both rookie mushers this year, have traveled with a loose pack of rookies at the back of the race.  Since the checkpoint of Shageluk on the fifteenth, they had been entering and leaving every checkpoint within ten or fifteen minutes of each other, as the rest of that rookie pack moved ahead, gaining one, then two checkpoints on Hunt and Peck.

  At Kaltag on March 19, they entered at the same minute, rested an identical length of time, and left together.   I speculated yesterday that they might end up tossing a coin in Safety to determine which one of them would get the Red Lantern.  But then last night before I got off the computer I refreshed the standings one last time and saw that Dr. Tim had already checked into Unalakleet a couple of hours earlier, and Alan Peck was still shown out on the trail from Kaltag.  I told Greyfox when he called that I was concerned about Peck and his team.

  As of 9:24 this morning, Dr. Tim Hunt was shown in Shaktoolik for almost an hour, and Alan Peck apparently still had not reached Unalakleet.  The next time I refreshed, on an update time-stamped at 9:38, it showed that Hunt and Peck had jumped up one position in the standings, even though their geographical locations hadn’t changed.  That was because the other Peck, Aaron, whose team was down to six dogs when he checked into Elim yesterday, had scratched.  I still haven’t a clue where Alan Peck is.  I reiterate:  next year I will find a way to pay for the GPS Tracker subscription.

  [UPDATE:  Alan Peck checked into Unalakleet at 12:25, about eleven hours after Dr. Tim had checked out of there, and four hours after Tim Hunt checked into Shaktoolik.  Three and a quarter hours after checking in, Peck was still in Unalakleet.]

  Out in Nome, it is official:  Chad Lindner of Fairbanks finished in 30th place Friday, after 12 days, 4 hours, 22 minutes, to earn Rookie of the Year honors.

  There have been two more dog deaths.  A five year old male named Maynard in the team of Warren Palfrey died on the trail between Safety and Nome late Thursday.  An eight year old male named Omen in the team of Rick Larson died between Elim and White Mountain Friday.

  To end on a happier note, when Jessie Royer, the leading woman in this year’s Iditarod, finished 8th at 5:07 AM the 19th, eleven minutes behind Aaron Burmeister, for her second top-ten finish (she was 8th in ’05, too), observers noted that the tails on all 13 of her dogs were wagging.  That means something.  It’s notable, and it had also been noted that Lance Mackey’s dogs were wagging their tails as they won the championship.

  I am eagerly anticipating tomorrow’s announcements of the awards, particularly the Golden Harness for the lead dog of the year, and the Leonhard Seppala Humanitarian Award for exemplary dog care.

  I’m going to go stand by the wood stove for a while now, to warm my hands before I do some more reading on Xanga.  I have not plugged in the electric heater under the computer desk — on principle — it is the Equinox, fercrissakes.  This morning when I got up it was nine below zero outside.  As I made coffee (no mishaps this time) and had breakfast, I watched as the temperature dropped a few degrees.  Last time I looked it had turned around and was up to minus 6.  Spring is here!  Now — when, dammit, is breakup gonna come?
  

  • 2:15 pm
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