fladogfan aka Gretchen

I'll bring about 4-5 chairs..  HEY GWEN!  the magic bands came today.

OKgirlie,  just read your post.  Good for you being able to read your kids so well. 
Loved your last line.
 
"My youngest called me Mama for the first time."

Did we tell you we like you being here too?

That was my thought too.  Looking forward to the explanation in Kelly's TR.
 
FREEZE!!!!!!  :D

That was my thought too.  Looking forward to the explanation in Kelly's TR.
 
FREEZE!!!!!!  :D

Just stopping by to let you know I'm not dead, but just following My MARCH MADNESS.  Here is a utube video from one of the pilots of the Iditarod Air Force.  aka volunteers
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmjPQKAIiKY     it's about 15 minutes long.

The 2015 Yukon Quest race ended yesterday when Robb Cooke crossed the finish line with 10 Siberian huskys!  An all Siberian team will probably never win the Quest but they are very close to the original type of dog that worked along the trails with their mushers, running trap lines, hunting walrus and seals, etc.  They are the 'pretty dogs' of film, heavy, dense coats just made for living and working in cold climates.
 
http://yukonquest.com/news/cooke-claims-2015-yukon-quest-red-lantern

Well I got a 2 hour nap until about 2am when my friend in Maine phoned me at the encouragement of our friend in Virginia.
Was awake in time to 'see' the winner come in the chute.  Brent Sass!!!!  Allen Moore was second.  We had 15 in the Iditabuds chat room from Germany, Norway, England, a lot of east coasters from Maine to Florida, the Midwest, Arizona, Texas, California and a couple other of the lower 48.  With us in Alaska was Frozen Chozen who went to the finish line in Fairbanks to report back with words and pictures.  He texted a couple of 'buds and they posted photos in our chat and in the forum.  Some are on the next 3 pages here.
 
http://iditabuds.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=2910&start=60
 
I stayed up till Allen Moore came across the line, got back to sleep by 4:30.
 
The race is not over yet, there are still 14 mushers and teams on the trail.
The last team in wins the red lantern and even though it says last place it's an honor to win it, because it means you have completed the race.  Might be last, but you finished!

Long distance sled dog racing that is!!
 
The Yukon Quest started a few hours ago, here is the official site;
 
http://www.yukonquest.com/
 
One of the things I love about the Quest is their tracking system.  To start with it's FREE   and easy to follow.
 
http://yukonquest.com/race-central/current-standings/live-tracking

Thank you Kelly and Jason, that was fun.  The ham smelled so good while cooking in the little green egg and tasted even better.  Very nice to put faces and names together.  And very happy to visit with Rita and Ed again.  Even the rain co-operated and waited till we finished eating. 
 
Z is a delightful child, when I mentioned the corn bread on his plate looked good he went to the food table and brought a slice back to me.  His chalk art was really cool, the braid for Rapunzil (sp) was many feet long. 
 
Hope your trip home today is uneventful Kelly and thanks again.

Just don't get lucky with your selfie stick.  

Great news. I agree, ban the iPad cameras during parades

I wish they would ban them and iPads during parades and fireworks.

Thanks for enlightening me and the subject of larry and the history behind him and his relationship with the fiends and he sounds like not so nice of a guy who is self absorbed in his own perfection and probably wouldn't fit in well here among us cupcakes especially DIT or should we call him a cinnamon roll since goes on and on about cinnamon rolls and speaking of DIT I think I remember him going by his site and taking a pic of his set up in assuming that was the same larry or is there another party we should be made aware of but I'm site there's only one and I think I remember some of the OF refer to him as Lars is Lars the same person or is that a different person and by the way for those of you that don't know what OF means its Original Fiend if you were into gangsta rap you would know what OG stands for and that's why I made up the OF reference and if you don't know what OG stands for you can google it or ask your kids ok I'll tell you it stands for original gangster and thanks again Carol for explaining all this larry and or Lars thing for me and others.

An old curmudgeon who called us all idiots for claiming to know anything about campers, towing, and the Fort in general.
 
His mods were perfect, and somebody asked about ropes on trees, and he went on a diatribe about damaging the trees, and called somebody a cupcake
 
and he talks in runon sentences but doesn't argue with anyone because his opinion is the best but thinks talking about anything but the conversation at hand is against forum rules and oh look at my mods and oh i am not responding because im ignoring you but my opinion is correct and this conversation is useless im going to call you a cupcake for being mean to me then delete half of this post and cry fowl to the board moderators and oh look at my trailer mods you know you need to engage your dinglehopper and have 10000 lbs of tow capacity to tow a popup and weigh each axle individually for to be safe

Where do I sign??
 
 
If we had a nickel for every time this had been said (or something related to existing rules being enforced), we'd be having this discussion in Fiendlandia while snacking on ooey gooey cinnamon rolls.

High School Emmy... love it!  She must be trilled, congrats! :)
 
 
 
18" above the rim?  Mercy that boy is huge... and good
 
 
 
Yvonne... that. is. AWESOME!

by elsietee » Mon Mar 16, 2015 1:24 am
This is pretty interesting - aerial footage of one team trying to pass another shortly after the restart in FBX:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfzlrDcRAf8

all the dogs want to do is play   Copied from the iditabuds.com forum.  elsietee posted it yesterday. **************************************************************************************************************** Really cool video from the air of two teams passing.  As you see by the vid the teams get in a little tangle, the passing musher run forward to straighten out the teams.  Then the team being passed, pulls forward and stops to let the passing team go on by.   

Just stopping by to let you know I'm not dead, but just following My MARCH MADNESS.  Here is a utube video from one of the pilots of the Iditarod Air Force.  aka volunteers
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmjPQKAIiKY     it's about 15 minutes long.

Well, when we lived in Atlanta we found the mountains of western North Carolina and decided that would be our retirement home.  So, we found 3 acres with 450' on a native trout stream and built a home for our trailer.  This photo was taken during construction.  Now, 8 years later the grass is nice and green and I have added concrete walkways around the building and driveway in front.
 

 
 
The door is 15 feet wide and 14 feet tall with full clearance for the trailer the entire length of the barn.  I went ahead and built it 50 feed deep in case we decided to move up to a coach.  The road out front is two lane paved, but there is a ditch across the street - so it took a little practice backing the big trailer in.  Now, after a few times doing it it's easy peazy.  Last time I did it at 1AM with no spotter.  i just had to get out a couple of times to convince myself it was going in OK.
 
To the left of the door is an efficiency apartment with kitchen, shower and laundry facilities.
 
I have even added two campsites down by the creek with water and electric (20/30/50 amp).  My own little campground

Anyone else think they are rude to charge for extra pots of tea?   At those prices it should be unlimited pots.

I love that the love of the Fort spawned Fort Fiends!!!
(great thread Kelly)

I pulled the story below from Eric Rogers face book page.  It's by Jen Seavey wife of Dallas Seavey.  Makes me shiver.....
.BTW when Brent Sass reached Dawson yesterday it was still -50F. 
 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 
 
The Cold by Jen
It's cold in Alaska. Temperatures here at the kennel have been reaching -25 each night for the last week or so. The training trails through the frozen swamps are colder. So far we've recorded -37. This is normal and expected for this time of year, and training continues. Mushers on the Yukon Quest are experiencing -40 and colder. What is it like to mush hundreds of miles in extreme cold? My first race was 200 miles long, and the temps dropped to -55 F.
The snow squeaks under my boots with each step. Warm snow "crunches". The colder it gets, the higher it's pitch. I instinctively tuck my nose down into my fleece neck gator to keep from getting singed by the frigid air. Row upon row of sleeping dog teams sprawl across the moonlit lake.
My team is curled up under their jackets on deep straw. 12 boulders crusted with frost. Boots “screaking” up and down the line as I prepare to leave. Food and Heet in the sled. Straw on top. The next run is 110 miles. We’ll camp. On my knees in the straw fishing around under each dog for paws to bootie. I quickly bootie each foot before it’s snatched back to the warmth of the nest. My hands are freezing. The flesh of my pinky finger has turned to slush. I warm them against furry dog bellies, but they freeze again as soon as I start to bootie the next foot.
Dogs barking and lunging to go. I pull the hook and the leaders surge towards the exit trail. A clear night. Gliding through the snow crusted distance. My feet are cold. They are ok as long as I can feel them. An hour later they start to feel better. Not good. I lean forward and dig through my handlebar bag and pull out the sole shaped foot warmers. My gloved hands cannot open the orange wrapper. I wrest my Leatherman out of a parka pocket and almost drop it from the moving sled.
Check the dogs every half hour. Check and re-check through the endless night to make sure that their gear has not shifted, exposing them to the wind chill caused by running. Make sure nothing is rubbing, and keep every foot in a dry bootie. Batteries are dead and my fingers cannot be trusted to change them on the go. I run in the dark. Getting light headed but cannot fit any food through my frozen neck gator and have lost the will to try. Temperature still dropping. The snow’s screech is so absurdly high pitched now that it is nearly silent.
We make camp up against the riverbank. An icy haze hovers above my sleeping team. Dogs are restless as the ice underneath us pops and groans in the cold. Every movement seems to hang suspended in time as I make camp. I try to dry the frozen pee off of my male wraps. The fire has no heat. A flame only slightly warmer than the air. Zipper is frozen on the sled bag and I almost pull my gloves off to get a better hold. I catch myself. Contact frostbite at this temperature. I remind myself, “Do not take them off. For any reason.” I pull harder and the metal zipper pull shatters into pieces. Reaching into the stiff frozen nylon bag the back of my wrist brushes against the fabric. Burning frostbitten skin.
We are moving. Sun is up, but shares no warmth. Large itchy welts swell across my face, and waxen fingers clutch the handlebar. Frozen male wraps peek through the gaping zipper of my sled bag. My extra clothing is wrapped around my boys. Fleece socks, shirts and pants tied around their flanks to protect their hairless under parts. The sled is reluctant and the runners squall in protest. Erie sounds that make me glance back at what must be coming up behind us. The dogs just lean in and pull harder. They act immune to the oppressive cold. It is unnatural to be moving at this temperature. No wild thing is moving. The moose, the ravens…all absent. The only thing that moves in this cold is a dog team.

Long distance sled dog racing that is!!
 
The Yukon Quest started a few hours ago, here is the official site;
 
http://www.yukonquest.com/
 
One of the things I love about the Quest is their tracking system.  To start with it's FREE   and easy to follow.
 
http://yukonquest.com/race-central/current-standings/live-tracking

Gretchen needs to do the same thing Mo. 
I want to be in the living room and start the fire in the fireplace, seldom do we have weather to justify a nice wood fire and tonight is a good rainy cool one.  BUT here I sit with the Quest spot tracker page on one screen and the other jumping between fortfiends, the dog sled forum, and even facebook tonight.  And I was just heading to LR when I thought, let me check FF.  LOL