Winter fun. Video

[Frosty]

This is a recent video but a good one. I dedicate this to those of you who can't think of something to do because it's cold. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74msCaRN3Qg&feature=youtu.be

Frosty The Lucky.

 

 

[Chris C]

I swear, Frosty, I spent my youth in the wrong part of our country.

[Frosty]

It's not too late Chris, The Iditarod is still running. We'll drive you up the road a little ways, lots of mushers offer sled rides. Heck Iditarod Headquarters is about 6 miles from here, you could be in a walker or wheelchair and get a taste of dog sledding.  

Frosty The Lucky.

[Chris C]

I'd love to, Frosty.   Maybe in a different life.  Love to watch those dogs.  I swear, they love every stride.

[Frosty]

They do, dogs in general live to run but team huskies are born and bred to it. You should attend the start in Anchorage sometime. You can stand within a few feet, their excitement and desire to GO is palpable, volunteer "handlers" have to help hold the teams or they'd just hit the trail and RUN.

The top running teams start singing when the starter gets ready to start them.  They're all yipping and howling, huskies don't REALLY bark but sort of close, and their excitement grows from taking from the truck "dog boxes" and really starts building as they hitch them up. Then things get louder and more excited as the handlers help lead them onto the course. If you've heard a dog whining in excitement about dinner or his people getting home, multiply that by a dozen unbashful athletes who train year round for strength and endurance about to be told to DO THEIR THING!!!  Talk about 12, 14 or more bundles of wired dynamite ready for the go. 

It's exhilarating to watch. Spectators cheer them at the start and along the trail leading out of town, it's less voluntary than you might imagine. 

Frosty The Lucky.

 

[Chris C]

I've always been interested in the Iditarod, Frosty.  It's amazing what those dogs and mushers go through in that race.  I've watched several specials on television about it and, over the years, have read as many articles as I can find about it.  Talk about an amazing race.  And the bond between mushers and their dogs is absolutely incredible.

[Glenn]

Gives a whole new meaning to "Walking the dog"

[Frosty]

 Ayup, nothing says Alaskan like a 1,000 mile walk in the dead of winter. Actually the dogs walk YOU! if you have a broad enough definition of the word "walk," of course.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Ohio]

Frosty, why is the grass white?

Heh.

One of my besties drives horses in competitions. When it's time for them to work, you can feel they're excitement. She has Freisians now but way back, she had an old Percheron who would flex his muscles when he entered the ring. Of course, he'd pose until he went around the ring three times and then he was done and ready for his treats. He was hilarious and way too smart. His best trick was if you were giving him a bath, he'd step on the hose to stop the water. He wouldn't move his foot until you bent down to tap his hoof and then he'd raise his foot and knee you in the forehead.

Sounds kinda mean but it was pretty funny. He got my friend just once. After that, you'd see him try the trick again but he never pulled it off. He'd lift his foot an then set it back down on the edge of his hoof as if he was just shifting positions. He was sort of like a cat. A cat that literally weighed just under a ton.

I miss that horse.

[Chris C]

I always loved watching the Pulling competitions at the Fair.  Those horses were a real treat to behold.

[JHCC]

FYI, this is hanging on the wall in my bedroom:

[Frosty]

Togo? I can't read the artist's name. Pen and ink and contemporary to the race. It deserves a place on the wall alright. 

The men and dogs running the Iditarod right now are doing it in honor of Togo and the men who ran with him. Balto got the bulk of recognition as he was leader when they entered Nome but Togo lead much farther, a couple days I think. Towards the end of the serum run where villages were more sparse teams had to run farther and the last couple days were run by just a couple teams. 

The Diphtheria serum run to Nome is a heck of a story.

Frosty The Lucky.

[JHCC]

Yes, it's Togo, Leonhard Seppala's lead dog. Seppala and Togo traveled 264 miles (compared with Gunaar Kassen and Balto's 55), crossing Norton Sound twice (going out to the relay point and back, the latter in a blizzard).

The inscription on the right is "To Mr. and Mrs. Henry Chapman / -- T.R. Lambert, / Anvik, July 26, 1936".

Henry and Susan Chapman were my mother's parents. Henry was born in Anvik in 1895 and took over ministry of the Episcopalian mission founded there in 1887 by his father John when the latter retired in 1933.

Theodore Roosevelt "Ted" Lambert was a premier Alaskan painter in his day, having worked as a dog musher in the interior in the twenties and thirties. Interestingly, he studied painting with Eustace Ziegler, who had given my great-grandfather one of his own Alaska paintings ("An Old Sourdough") some twenty years before:

[Frosty]

You have so much  more history in Alaska than I do, I moved in country in '72. I got to spend time in the villages and remote on jobs but it's not the same as living there. 

Too cool. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[JHCC]

Family history, perhaps, but I’ve only been there myself once, in 1987. A short visit, but wonderful memories. 

[Glenn]

Norwegian musher wins the 2020 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race completing the iconic 1,000 mile trail in just nine days and 10 hours.  He took a commanding lead in the late stages of the race and held a five-hour advantage over the next closest musher.

[Frosty]

While it's been won the Iditarod won't be over till the last musher claims the red lantern. It might be another week yet, these are the tough mushers or maybe just to stubborn to  know when to stop. 

Well, that's okay John you have family stories. Our family stories don't come within a couple thousand miles of here. Other than a couple nieces born here I'm the Alaskanest one in the whole fam damly. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[Chris C]

I like guys too stubborn to know when to stop.  Fortitude is a good trait...........unless it kills you.  I guess it could do that running in the Iditarod.

[Frosty]

It can be dangerous alright but in the last couple years they've eased the rules about some things. You still can't bring a cell phone or any kind of GPS device but they carry ELTs now. In the last day or so 3 mushers got caught by overflow on a river and called for evac. Helicopters took them out, one to a hospital for exposure and frostbite. Other mushers were flown in and brought their teams to the nearest village or checkpoint I don't recall which. 

I don't believe a musher has died on the trail but a bunch have gotten lost and spent extra days. In the last few years the biggest risk to mushers is losing a dog, it can get you suspended or even banned from racing. There are vets at every check point and teams are checked closely. Everybody is all over keeping the dogs safe and healthy. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[Steve Sells]

I am just lol imagining Frosty setting up a team with his wifes dachshunds

[Frosty]

If you're NOT imagining Deb beating me to death for trying you've moved too far into fantasy. 

How many Dachshunds do you envision in the team? We have two but could get more in a good cause. If we're talking a modern racing sled it'd probably take 35-40 dog team. 

My shop colors are green and gold so the team in green parkas and gold booties is poised to start and is stretched a good 40-50' out front like a two lane ant trail.  The crowd stands mouths agape at their magnificence and shear splendor. The starter drops his/er hand, the starting pistol fires and Frosty's doxy team literally blasts off the line. For home.

Let us in on what you're imagining Steve, I'm having too much fun here. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[Shabumi]

2 hours ago, Frosty said:

it'd probably take 35-40 dog team. 

Lol, I got a bit of a preview of the kind of team your taking about. We had 3 ft of snow this week. Or more accurately, 3 inches of slush, then 3 ft of snow, then a tenth of an inch of rain. Anyhoo, it was enough to collapse the roof and walls on one of our kennel buildings, so we had 25 mini Dachshunds bounding like deer though the great white mess. All in line following the leader who was doing a kind of burrowing leap through the snow. If there wasn't the stress of getting them all caught and re kenneled it would have been very entertaining to watch.

It also busted our water line somewhere between the house and the head of the spring, 3 miles UP the mountain. There's still enough water coming through to survive, but the pressure is nil. Have to wait till the 6 ft of sierra cement up there melts enough to walk the line.

Edited March 21, 2020 by Shabumi
*Disclaimer* no animals were hurt in the making of this memory.

[Frosty]

You shot video yes? You want us to believe you don't you?  Actually I've seen it from our two running in deep grass, deep for dachshunds that is, 6" or so. One will break trail and the second drafts. Looks like someone pulling a couple linked sausages over an  obstacle course but FAST. I can picture 25 in full tilt boogy, doxy chain run.

We're joking around with dachshunds pulling dog sleds but it's not a new idea. People everywhere are weird. 

    

 

There's a cool video out there with a girl on a skateboard being pulled by three dachshunds in a park. They're all having a ball.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Shabumi]

I can take a picture of the damage now that's is done, but no video of the incident exists so you'll have to take my word that at 3am I was sinking into the snow to my hips in some parts and my navel in others, in boxers, a robe and snow boots. It probably would have been a hoot if someone was filming me trying to get 25 Dachshunds in 3 ft of slushy powder. Luckily once they saw me most made a bee line for me and I could break the trail to our other yard, but there's always the jokester in the group who stays just outside of grabbing distance. *grumble*grumble*

Your right, people are weird. They have the wrong type of Dachshunds in those pictures. I would use the wire haired doxies for mushing instead of the smooth coats. They can handle the weather better. The long haired ones would be good too, but they don't have the drive of the other 2 coat styles.

[Frosty]

Naw, damage we've seen, especially things collapsed by snow. We want to see video of a snake train of doxies running in the snow. You need to start carrying your phone everywhere. Maybe wake up the missus so she can get video of you chasing through the snow inappropriately clad. That's be worth watching if it didn't get moderated before we saw it.

I don't chase animals, all our dogs know what "Want a cookie?" means, come to me and get a treat. Doesn't take long and they learn. Of course there is the joker who's more interested in sniffing the unsniffed. A friend and I were on a side road up in a pass about 100 miles from here and let our dogs go for a run. Duke, my friend's Dalmatian was a trouble maker and my dog Bolo wasn't but Duke and he were in cahoots. John and I yelled and he started to follow them. No WAY am I going to chase a dog in the wilds so I told John, "Get in the truck," and we drove off. I drove fast enough they couldn't catch up but not so fast they gave up. Ran those two about 3 miles, almost to the highway before I stopped and they jumped in the bed. slept all the way home. Bolo never ignored a call again.

Dad taught me how to catch horses. Horses run, it's been the key to the species survival for I don't k now how long. Going into a paddock or pasture and trying to catch a horse is playing a game they love. Chase. The way to catch horses is to pull a tuft of grass, unhook your belt, hold the grass up and cluck to them. They'll trot right up to accept the offering and as you're scratching their cheeks and neck you slip your belt off and around their neck. Then you can put the halter on without trouble. 

Dogs, cats, horses, goats, sheep, whatever. Offer them a goody and they'll come right to you. . . Usually.

Frosty The Lucky.