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Still Waiting for the Vet One of Angie's Dogs Waiting   The vets check the dogs at each and every checkpoint. Sometimes it is very late at night and everyone is very tired, so the vets have a quick way to remember what to check for. They call it the "HAW and L" principal. It works like this: H = heart and hydration - check the heartbeat, are they hydrated A = appetite and attitude W = weight L= legs and lungs   Giving a dog a shoulder to get out of their box!   Reading the microchip  Next stop.... Martin Buser's Kennel!!! |
Thursday, March 1, 2012
More From the Vet Checks
Headquarters!
We made it to the Iditarod Headquarters in Wasillia today!
We went in to the headquarters to look at the little museum that was there..... here are some of the highlights:
Jake Berkowitz Signs in for his Second Race
Isn't that soooo cool?
It was a pretty busy day at the Headquarters. Mushers were coming in to turn in paperwork and have their vet checks.
We went in to the headquarters to look at the little museum that was there..... here are some of the highlights:
Official Trophies - the winners get a smaller version of each. These large ones stay at headquarters and are engraved with each winner's name.
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| The Old Trophy |
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The New Trophy - adopted to honor Joe Reddington after his death  While we were checking out the exhibits, the mushers were filling out paperwork in the back room. Look who we ran into:  With Ken Anderson It was so neat to meet the musher we had talked to online in person! I think we caught him a little off guard, but he was very friendly and more than willing to talk to us for a few minutes!  |
Outside the headquarters things were hopping as the mushers brought their dogs in for vet checks. The Vets were checking temperatures, drawing blood, sampling urine, checking paws and legs, teeth and ears.... everything from tip of their nose to the tip of their tales. One musher, Pat Moon, learned that one of his dogs was pregnant so that dog will not be allowed to run.
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| Waiting for the Vet |
Later I asked Angie about how that works. What happens if you get a dog to vet check and then the dog can't run, are you out of luck? She says that you usually bring more dogs to the vet check than you actually plan to take on the race. You then have some extra dogs in case something happens between now and the start of the race. You don't actually have to make the final decision to the restart. Whichever dogs you leave Willow with are your dogs for the race!
The Vet Trailer
More Snapshots from Outside:
Ken Anderson's Truck
Ken Anderson (left) has a dog checked by the vet
Sigrid Ekran's Dog Truck
Sigrid Ekran is from Norway. She lived in Alaska for awhile and ran the Iditarod while she lived here. She now has returned to live in Norway and has been running races there. This year she is back to run her third race.
Here's the coolest thing.... this is her dog box. The sides close down and the whole thing loads onto the airplane to bring her dogs to the race. Then she just has to rent a truck to drive them around on!
Sigrid and a pup
Here is a picture of it all closed up:
Isn't that soooo cool?
Zoya DeNure's Truck
This might be Mrs. Rizzuto's new favorite musher. Her name is Zoya DeNure. She has a kennel where she rescues and rehabilitates sled dogs. She used to be a fashion model!
Zoya With Her Lead Dogs - they are girls too!
I'm going to stop here for now... I'll have more from the vet checks in the next post!
What if Your Teacher Ran the Race?
That would be much cooler than just visiting like Mrs. Rizzuto and I are doing wouldn't it?
Well, we have met and have been spending a lot of time with Angie Taggart, a teacher, who did just that! Last year she realized a dream and goal she has had for ten years, and she ran the race! She took a year off of school to train and compete and she made it successfully to Nome! And she has the first time finisher's belt buckle to prove it!
She is back in the classroom this year, but her dogs are running! Nine of her twelve dogs will be take to Nome by her good friend Jan Steves.
I tell you all about Angie now, because we have been pumping her for information for you lately, so you'll be hearing her name come up again and again!
Here's something we asked her about yesterday - about the moose. Yes, it seems to be all about the moose this year!
CNN did a video on Angie and her first race. You can see the clips here:
http://www.cnn.com/2011/TRAVEL/05/03/iditarod.angie.taggart/index.html?iref=allsearch
Well, we have met and have been spending a lot of time with Angie Taggart, a teacher, who did just that! Last year she realized a dream and goal she has had for ten years, and she ran the race! She took a year off of school to train and compete and she made it successfully to Nome! And she has the first time finisher's belt buckle to prove it!
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| Angie |
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| Jan Steves with some of Angie's dogs |
Here's something we asked her about yesterday - about the moose. Yes, it seems to be all about the moose this year!
As you know, the moose are potentially a big problem on the trail this year. Many mushers carry a gun in their sled dog in case a moose attacks their dog team - which moose do pretty frequently. They view the dogs as their natural enemy - wolves, so they are known to tramp through dog teams.
If a musher has to kill a moose on the trail in order defend themselves or the dogs, what happens next?
Well.... the musher cannot just leave the moose on the trail. They need to move it off the trail the best they can (which must be hard since they are soooooo heavy) and then they must gut the moose. Yep. Gut it. That will apparently preserve the meat and they report it at the next checkpoint where someone else comes back and picks it up. Apparently this is always the rule in Alaska. If you kill an animal (accidentally or intentionally), you have to gut it. There is then a list of people who will come and get the animal and use it as a food source to help people who need the help.
Here's the interesting Iditarod twist to the law.... no other musher can pass the musher while he or she is taking care of the moose. They all need to stop and let that musher finish and then have their "spot back."
The moose were an issue at the Junior Iditarod. They actually had one snow machine lead the way and one bring up the rear just in case.
CNN did a video on Angie and her first race. You can see the clips here:
http://www.cnn.com/2011/TRAVEL/05/03/iditarod.angie.taggart/index.html?iref=allsearch
Moose Update
I know that many of you have become very concerned about the moose, just as Mrs. Rizzuto and I have. Here's some new information from today's Anchorage Daily News:
They have now approved a plan to relocate moose away from urban areas. The moose will be tranquilized, fitted with tracking collars, loaded into trailers and driven to sites around Southcentral Alaska. Their new homes must be five miles from a major roadway with no more than 30 inches of snow on the round and no open moose hunting season for at least 45 days.
We are keeping our fingers crossed that every one's hard work on behalf of the moose will help keep them safer!
Also on the front page of today's newspaper:
There is a new requirement for Iditarod mushers - all dogs must now be vaccinated for kennel cough. Apparently any time there are a large number of dogs together in one area (like a show or race) there is a high potential for the cough to spread quickly. Up until now, mushers have been able to decide if they wanted to vaccinate or not, and many did. But now it is mandatory for everyone to so!
We'll need to add this to our Musher Mall Math assignment! I hope you have enough money left from your sponsor. It will cost $25-$30 per dog to be vaccinated!
They have now approved a plan to relocate moose away from urban areas. The moose will be tranquilized, fitted with tracking collars, loaded into trailers and driven to sites around Southcentral Alaska. Their new homes must be five miles from a major roadway with no more than 30 inches of snow on the round and no open moose hunting season for at least 45 days.
We are keeping our fingers crossed that every one's hard work on behalf of the moose will help keep them safer!
Also on the front page of today's newspaper:
There is a new requirement for Iditarod mushers - all dogs must now be vaccinated for kennel cough. Apparently any time there are a large number of dogs together in one area (like a show or race) there is a high potential for the cough to spread quickly. Up until now, mushers have been able to decide if they wanted to vaccinate or not, and many did. But now it is mandatory for everyone to so!
We'll need to add this to our Musher Mall Math assignment! I hope you have enough money left from your sponsor. It will cost $25-$30 per dog to be vaccinated!
Iditarod Artist
On Tuesday afternoon we had the chance to travel to Eagle River visit the studio and kennel of Jona and Jon Van Zyle. Jon has finished the Iditarod two times and has served as its official artist since 1979. He has also illustrated many picture books, some of which are in our classroom if you look carefully! His wife Jona is an artist as well.
You can visit their website at: http://www.jonvanzyle.com/
In their kennel they have twelve of the most beautiful dogs! The dogs are so happy and love to be shown lovin'! Once all of the teachers were in the pen, the took all of the dogs off their leads and let them run around which was just WILD for a few minutes until they all calmed down. Then... get this... all Jona said was "let's go to work" in a very quiet voice, and all the dogs went back to their houses and waited to be hooked up again!
They have this HUGE doggy wheel in the pen. The dogs can hop in and out of the wheel as they like to go for a run! It was like a giant hamster wheel for dogs!
Jon's studio is AMAZING! I could have spent all day looking at all of his "stuff." In addition to his own artwork and memorabilia, he had lots and lots of native artwork. It was such a neat space - I wonder if we could decorate the classroom like this? :)
On the way back to the hotel, the weather cleared up a bit and we were able to see the Chugach Mountains that surround Anchorage a lot clearer. It was really cool because sometimes the clouds were actually in the middle of the mountain, so it looked like the tip of the mountain was floating above in the sky! (For my mythology fans - it's what I would picture Mount Olympus to look like! Or maybe even Asgard up in the sky!)
For dinner we went to a restaurant called Humpy's (like the humpback whale) where it was Trivia Night! I am sorry to report that we were not able to win a t-shirt.... but we did ace the quiz on Disney Villains!!!
This Year's Official Poster
You can visit their website at: http://www.jonvanzyle.com/
Mrs. Rizzuto Getting Our Posters Autographed
In their kennel they have twelve of the most beautiful dogs! The dogs are so happy and love to be shown lovin'! Once all of the teachers were in the pen, the took all of the dogs off their leads and let them run around which was just WILD for a few minutes until they all calmed down. Then... get this... all Jona said was "let's go to work" in a very quiet voice, and all the dogs went back to their houses and waited to be hooked up again!
Everyone Say "AWWWWW!"
They have this HUGE doggy wheel in the pen. The dogs can hop in and out of the wheel as they like to go for a run! It was like a giant hamster wheel for dogs!
Doggy/Hamster Wheel
Jon's Studio
On the way back to the hotel, the weather cleared up a bit and we were able to see the Chugach Mountains that surround Anchorage a lot clearer. It was really cool because sometimes the clouds were actually in the middle of the mountain, so it looked like the tip of the mountain was floating above in the sky! (For my mythology fans - it's what I would picture Mount Olympus to look like! Or maybe even Asgard up in the sky!)
For dinner we went to a restaurant called Humpy's (like the humpback whale) where it was Trivia Night! I am sorry to report that we were not able to win a t-shirt.... but we did ace the quiz on Disney Villains!!!
Wildlife Count: Several Moose, tons of ravens, and LOTS OF SNOW (does that count? it should!)
Daylight!
A few people have asked about hours of daylight here in Alaska. I think we all assume that it is dark all day long during the winter in Alaska, and that's not quite true at this time of year. The amount of sunlight is increasing at this time of the year.
Today, the sun rose at 8:00:34 am and set at 6:24:48pm so there were 10 hours, 24 minutes, and 14 seconds of sunlight.
Tomorrow, the sun will rise at 7:57:29am and set at 6:27:28pm so there will be 10 hours, 29 minutes, and 59 seconds of daylight.
At this point in the year they are actually gaining about 5 minutes of sunlight a day!
As you know, we are also hoping to see the aurora - and they actually do a forecast for the likely hood of the lights being out. The forecast is a number from 1 to 9 - 9 being the most likely to see the lights. At the start of our trip we were at a 3, which is apparently actually a pretty good chance. Of course, it has been to cloudy to see anything. Yesterday and today we have been at a two. They predict the likely hood of the aurora based on sunspot patterns on the sun! It's pretty amazing!
Mrs. Reiter
Today, the sun rose at 8:00:34 am and set at 6:24:48pm so there were 10 hours, 24 minutes, and 14 seconds of sunlight.
Tomorrow, the sun will rise at 7:57:29am and set at 6:27:28pm so there will be 10 hours, 29 minutes, and 59 seconds of daylight.
At this point in the year they are actually gaining about 5 minutes of sunlight a day!
As you know, we are also hoping to see the aurora - and they actually do a forecast for the likely hood of the lights being out. The forecast is a number from 1 to 9 - 9 being the most likely to see the lights. At the start of our trip we were at a 3, which is apparently actually a pretty good chance. Of course, it has been to cloudy to see anything. Yesterday and today we have been at a two. They predict the likely hood of the aurora based on sunspot patterns on the sun! It's pretty amazing!
Mrs. Reiter
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