Feelin' Good Today

I got a GREAT night of sleep last night.  Fell asleep pretty early, woke up once to turn off the television, and was up and ready to start the day well before 6 am.  The dogs have been fed and loved up, and I've been watching the best snowfall of the year through the window while doing some stuff on line.

I may have a line on a used four-wheeler to replace the one that died last fall.  This machine is the same make and model, but several years newer.  My mechanic friend has it in his shop to check out and maintain for sale, so I won't have to worry about 'undeclared issues'.  I told my friend that if it proves to be in the condition he's expecting that I want to buy it, and if so to please mount hand grip and thumb warmers on it.  Cold hands and thumbs have been a nagging issue for years with the old machine.

In spite of the falling snow, I decided it is time to put away my heavy mid-winter clothing.  I stuffed my parka, insulated bibs, fur caps, neck warmers, mittens and such into a large storage bag which is now stuffed under my bed.  It's easy enough to drag it back out if needed, but I doubt I'll need a Wiggy's parka for the next several months.  I needed to make room on the coat-rack for the lighter jackets, ball caps, rain gear and such that will be needed over the next few months.  It sure takes a lot of clothing to live comfortably in this part of Alaska.

Now I plan to spend a few hours bringing some semblance of order to this house.  Switching from one suitcase to another to yet another has resulted in a large pile of "miscellaneous" papers on the kitchen table that I need to sort through.  It's time consuming drudgery, but won't be any less time consuming nor any more exciting if I continue to put it off.  I have a fair amount of laundry to wash and later I'll go out and just play with dogs for the sake of playing together.

The Kobuk 440, probably the last major sled dog race of the Alaska season, is scheduled to start today.  In the Kobuk, teams race from Kotzebue to the village of Kobuk and return. 

The lineup looks like we will see some exciting racing, and includes several well known I'rod mushers.  John Baker and Hugh Neff both had teams that performed exceptionally well in the Iditarod.  Ray Reddington and Jodi Bailey are signed up to race, along with several local favorites. 

Locally here, there isn't a lot going on.  I've been told that both the Frosty Dog Stage Race and the Two Rivers 200 and Two Rivers 100 races went off well.  Now those same trails have turned into slush, gunk and not much else.  I would imagine a few mushers are still out and about on wheels, and we will probably all be on wheels pretty much until next November or later.