Iditarod VIP's

There I was just petting Martin Buser's dogs..minding my own business and over walks some men is black suits and a women in sunglasses looking very glam for such a cold day.

Sarah Palin, our very famous Governor who was the vice-president elect, came over with her husband, her baby and one young daughter to chat with Martin Buser.

She digged my accent and got her assistant to take a pic of us, she said 'we love English people!'








I even managed to tape their convo...






Martin is my fav dude musher as he just seems like a cool legit guy. He is a four-time champion, and holds the record in 8 days, 22 hours, 46 minutes. He's been a top 10 finisher 18 times. Wow. The work that goes into this is just amazing.

He's pretty hardcore with such fancy gear...

Here's one of his beautiful dogs.

Here's me and DeeDee Jonrowe, she is an awesome lady who wears makeup during her whole trip! She is quite the crowd fav and super friendly. She came second in 1993 and 1998 and is pretty much a complete badass representing the ladies (I think most Alaskans are more impressed with my DeeDee pic than with Sarah Palin). She is a breast cancer survivor and started the 2003 race 3 weeks after finishing chemotherapy. What a women!

Last Great Race in the World (Part 1)

OK seriously. Have you ever been so high off life it can't get any better? I had the most fantastic time as a dog handler for the start of the 37th Iditarod Trail Dog Sled Race.

'It’s unlike any other event in the world. A race over 1,150 miles of the most extreme and beautiful terrain known to man: across mountain ranges, frozen rivers, dense forests, desolate tundra and windswept coastline ...'

From Anchorage, in south central Alaska, to Nome on the western Bering Sea coast, each team of 12 to 16 dogs and their musher cover over 1150 miles in 10 to 17 days.

On Friday I had my training to get certified, you basically have to take turns practising running around with these dog musher models...

So I got my Dog handler card and I was up early Saturday morning and headed to downtown Anchorage.

It's a crazy fun scene, all the mushers have tons of helpers getting themselves and the dogs all organized.

Most of the dogs get these cute little booties to help protect their feet from getting packed with snow..

I just love the beautiful eyes of the huskies..

Taking a rest before the big trip.

Dog handlers in action!

Start line on 4th Ave..

This here is Lance Mackey, a cancer survivor and history-smashing musher who has won the last 2 races.

Here's a clip of how crazy the sled dogs get; they are sooo excited to get going!

Goldielocks

This week at Bird TLC we got a new juvenile bald eagle in from Dutch Harbor. He is weak, has labored breathing even though his lungs and heart sound fine, but he shows all the signs of being toxic-he probably ate something really nasty he shouldn't have. We actually get quite a few eagles through the clinic like this.

Here's my friend and work collegue Jen holding him while Cindy tubes him some ground up fish and vitamin juice, he vomited it right back up.

We gave him an IV of fluids the next day as he was very dehydrated. He is not eating on his own so its not looking like the best outcome. I have named him goldielocks as he has the most beautiful coloured feathers on the top of his head.

On the way back to Ina's this guy was in a neighbours yard happily diggin away ..

Eyes thats burn like cigarettes..

I started a tradition called 'midweek debauchery' while I was an intern at the Sealife Center back in the day; basically in the cold, boring winter months we would go out to the bar and drink a pint of Guinness with a shot of tia maria in it. Its tastes luurvly and takes the bitter taste out of the Guinness. Its also gets you quite drunk hence the name midweek debauchery.

Well, we decided to go meet up with our friends at the Yukon bar on Wednesday Karaoke night and after one MB I was rather full. So I decided to be designated driver and watched Craig get a lil tipsy.

Well Craig actually sang Karaoke. I couldn't quite believe it..he even serenaded me and did some great hand gestures to lyrics like 'I want a girl with a mind like a diamond' and 'Shes playing with her jewelry, shes putting up her hair', Then he was getting molested by an old drunk lady who was grabbing him arse. It was pretty amusing stuff really.


Ok..aerogarden update!

Day 4 Italian Basil.

Day 6

Day 7

Its realy quite magical..it seems to grow before your eyes.

Today I had a little rehab center of my own; a little pine siskin flew into my window, I heard it hit and went to check. I saw this dude upside down in the snow below the window breathing very hard.

I brought him inside and put him in a box with some food and water. He just bumped his head really good and a few hours later he was good to go again.

Tyhacker Stroll

I finally convince Craig to get off the couch this week and get some exercise. We hiked up Mount Tyhacker which is right on our doorstep. Its mega steep getting through the tree line, as Craig put it you gain about 1000ft in 1000ft.

Craig was sweatin like a lard ass while I merrily strolled up the hill in front..he reminisced his Dad sweating like that and remembering how gross he thought it was and now he is that old geezer :)

We were planning on going all the way but I totally pansied out after looking over the scary cornice and visualizing plummeting to my death.
Instead we sat up on a smaller ledge and ate some lunch, throwing pieces down to Saebo as he gallivanted below us.

It was a beautiful, beautiful day, no wind and the sun had some heat in it too..we likee.

A new couch and garden at our new house!!

Finally after lots of logistical problems we had this big beautiful sectional delivered to our house.

initially we had way to much furnature in the living room at one time so we moved the old classic couch upstairs.

One piece at a time

There was a little sitation with the static cling, but we worked through it with some dryer sheets.

Then we tried a couple different configurations.

Then we found the perfect position for the new sectional..

Later I got my dream aero garden to grow cilantro right on the kitchen counter. I am looking for the cilantro seed kit here.. I made another trip to the store to buy the seed kit that had cilantro with it... but ended up making my own plugs with our own cilantro seeds.. hopefully they work out.

Now I just stare at it daily and wait for the sprouts to come out.

Craig's coming home!

Craig gets back tomorrow from the slope..and I'm really really excited. This hitch has seriously dragged on and I just can't wait to see my man!

I've worked out he only has 7 weeks left up there..so that doesn't seem too bad to deal with. He'll be back doing what he loves before we know it.

I'm also looking forward to handing over our child Saebo for abit..Saebo has far too much energy and sometimes I just don't feel like walking miles everyday.

Our new couch gets delivered on Saturday! So we will probably be spending much of next week on our asses..I'll be sure to take some pictures of our laziness.