happy spring

an alaskan update.
the sunset is now at 8:20 pm. i am seeing a sneak preview of summer and putting a 4 year old to bed- under the midnight sun. thankfully the blackout shade in his room works well.

iditarod news: the red lantern award was won by ellen halverson early this morning as her team was the last to pull into nome wrapping up the great race 13 days after it began. 58 out of 82 teams finished. as pointed out by a colorado friend, there has been a recent account of alleged canine abuse by one musher who has been disqualified. i wont go into detail because i do not know them. officials at iditarod arent commenting or writing about it. there is plenty of speculation out there on the web if you are interested. during the race i read about one lost team (dogs only) and havent found any info on whether the team was found.. also know of one dog who died ):

lance mackeys finish was pretty amazing. lance is a cancer conquerer and his race was on the heels of another huge race called the yukon quest which was run 2 weeks prior to the iditarod- an unheard of feat. lance was also the 3rd mackey to have won the race, his father dick won in 1978 and his brother rick won in 1983... all wearing number 13 and all on their 6th attempt.....the link over there to the right will take you to pics and details.

in slightly more depressing state news today, it seems state game managers here in alaska are have put a bounty on wolves in an effort to boost the "predator-control program".
goveror palin (remember her?) announced yesterday that hunters will be paid $150 cash for turning in legs of "freshly killed wolves". this is on top of the $200-$300 wolf pelts usually fetch.
the state defends the practice by saying the program promotes increases in moose population which many people living in rural alaska depend on for sustenance hunting.
did i mention that the state will be resorting to using state employees and airplanes and helicopters (as a last resort) to reach quota? now thats what i call sport! heavy sigh.

the first day of spring here brings us snow and slippery roads. after nearly 6 dry, cold weeks it seems people have forgotten how to drive on the stuff. i hear there are flowers blooming in my colorado back yard.

we headed up hatcher pass and went snowshoeing on the ridge line across the bowl from snowy independence mine on sunday and monday i headed up went skiing. the picture doesnt do it justice. here are my artic explorers.