To wrap up my coverage and comments on the Last Great Race, the final three contestants to complete the Iditarod actually got into Nome today. Sure, they may have been bringing up the rear, but they finished and that is pretty awesome. I don't think there are any losers, no matter where they finished!! There was also a sad bit of news about a dog that perished at a check point after having been dropped. I am sure a lot will be made of this by PETA et al but I do want to put it in perspective.
Yes, it is very sad and a tragic loss and I feel deeply pained for this gallant animal but the fact is that huskies regularly burrow in the snow and sleep!. In Colorado we had a half-husky, half- Lab dog who had a nice insulated house but frequently lay atop a snowbank as happy as if he was in the finest accommodation. Somehow the wind and the texture of the snow that particular morning was such that the dog suffocated in it which is not normal. Perhaps it was tired and did not stir as much as normal to maintain an air space.
I saw comments on yahoo that there should be shelters and a lot of other 'stuff'. I can only say that most of the checkpoints are tiny villages where the people who live there--mostly natives of Inuit or other tribal affiliation--barely have adequate shelter. themselves! These dogs are bred for snow and cold. To build huts or shelters for up to 100 or more dogs that may be resting at a checkpoint at any one time would be hard if not actually impossible. They are watched and cared for very conscientiously.. No one would intentionally neglect or put in hazard a dog. Not only are they loved and admired but each one has thousands of dollars of care and training invested in it. I am sure the musher is heart broken but all I can say is tragic accidents do happen despite all care..
One dog escaped from perhaps an inexperienced musher--the man from Jamaica --and was found several days later. She is okay. One more fact, consider that 65 teams started the race and I believe 57 finished. All begin with sixteen dogs--that means 1,040 dogs took part in the race. One fatality occurred and it was the first in several years. I believe the last was in 2009. And a correction to prior posts--it is Deedee Jonrowe, no h in her name; my bad. I apologize.
Enough of that! Yes, I did wear green today--a favorite old t-shirt that I shortened the sleeves on back on this date in 2009, just before I moved to Colorado. I was visiting my old home area in Cochise County, AZ from Hurley. NM near Silver City and found myself 'greenless' except for a long sleeved shirt that was too warm for the day so I lopped off the sleeves and rolled them up, later hand-hemmed them so they would not ravel. I still wear it now and then and did so today.
Will I have corned beef and cabbage for dinner? No, I will not. I neglected to grab a corned beef when I went shopping the other day and really wasn't in the mood to cook anyway. The day started mild and nice but turned windy by midday and several bands of clouds passed over us. There were showers in the area but nothing right here. Dusty too, of course. So half a good day and half not-so-good. I guess that is not a real loss, eh? At any rate, I have some Irish tunes playing on my CD changer--old favorites by the Chieftains, Clanned and a few other artists from the Isle of Green that I favor. No green beer, either, although I expect I will brew a cup of green tea after I have some soup and a grilled cheese sandwich for supper! Progresso's chicken cheese enchilada soup, I think. Not exactly Irish but it may have a bit of potato in it!
In a day or two I will post some Welsh recipes. I do know that along with the Irish ancestry I do have some welsh on both sides. My maternal grandmother was a Wilcox and the name, we were told, was originally Wilcockson and the family was affiliated with the laird of Powys Castle in Wales. My paternal grandpa was Morgan and that is definitely a Welsh name. His father is the only great grandparent I have not been able to trace as he just suddenly appeared in Missouri as if born full grown but we suspect he may have come from Pennsylvania or West Virginia. In time we may unravel that mystery.
So again, Erin go braugh and all of that. Everyone is getting ready for March Madness which I will follow with much less interest and enthusiasm than I did the Iditarod although I am mildly pleased that the New Mexico Lobos won the MWC conference title last night in Las Vegas and the NMSU gang from Las Cruces won their conference title (WAC?) as well. So perhaps they will be moving on up and even get to the NCAA so-called Sweet Sixteen. Who knows. I'm sure I'll hear all I want to know and then some on the TV news the next few days!May ye be half an hour in heaven ere the devil knows you're dead! ;-)
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