Saturday Night

It is Saturday night, day 12 of 14.  I can almost consider myself to be a short-timer for this tour of duty. 

I'm afraid my little pocket camera can't do the night justice.  There is a huge, full moon hanging in the sky, and just enough little clouds to add some relief to the scene.  The stars are dancing about in the heavens, and at zero degrees (-17 C) it is just cold enough to remind one that it truly is mid-winter here in the Interior of Alaska. 

A few days ago I wrote of the days becoming noticeably longer and brighter.  Here is a photograph I captured of the scenery just south of my workplace.  The picture was taken about half an hour before the sun set, at about 3:30 in the afternoon.   It's not a bad shot considering that it was captured through a window of our living quarters.

 

Sunset at an industrial site near the White Mountains

There is just a bit of a lull in the sled dog racing action this weekend.  Down in Willow the Don Bowers 200 is in progress.  One of my neighbors from Two Rivers, Judy Currier, is currently shown leading the race, followed by Wayne Curtis and Joe Holod.  Karen Ramstead has a team in the race, but at the last update they were well down on the leaderboard.  You can see the current standings by clicking HERE.

Down in Wyoming, Stacy Teasley holds the lead position in the International Pedigree Stage Stop  Sled Dog Race.  Minnesota's John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon is scheduled to start tomorrow.    

In the news, it appears that the so-called "Bush vet", veterinarian Eric Jayne, as quit his practice and renounced his license.  Dr. Jayne was one of very veterinarians who took his practice to remote villages in the bush, providing a wide range of services to animals that otherwise would have no access at all to veterinary health care. 

It's a rather complicated story, and of course there are at least two sides to every issue.  The most common opinion seems to be that other veterinarians filed spurious complaints to drive him out of practice - in order to limit competition and of course line their own pockets.  I'm not sure of the facts, so can't really provide an educated comment.  All I can say with certainty is that veterinary care is sorely lacking outside of the road system, and it is going to be lacking even more now.  Here is the link to the news story, "Besieged Bush veterinarian Eric Jayne quits his practice".