There are dogs, and then there are dogs.

In Alaska this morning, Brent Sass won the 1,000 mile Yukon Quest dogsled race, finishing in 9 days, 12 hours and 49 minutes, coming in just ahead of Allen Moore, who briefly overtook him yesterday when Sass overslept at a checkpoint and blew a ten-hour lead. He finished with 12 dogs, having started with sixteen. Four were dropped during the race for various issues. Racers can drop dogs, but they cannot add new ones, and have to finish with at least eight. And running the race means taking care of all those dogs, feeding them, massaging their feet, changing their booties, and keeping them from fighting, going off-trail or quitting. And those dogs are some serious athletes to go that far for that long in those cold temperatures.

Meanwhile, back at the Lair...

"Hey, man...it's cold outside here, too."

What a night!

Drove home through blowing snow that was so heavy that the highway came to a complete stop for over five minutes at one point as no one could see to move. Winds gusting fiercely now, expected to blow 50-60mph tonight. Sure am glad my plane's inside a nice hangar. As for temps, it's going to get down to -1 by morning, and with these winds and all the trees here, it's not a matter of "will the power go out?" but "WHEN will the power go out?" It's almost a given that we'll lose power sooner or later tonight, and when that occurs with these temps, I'm predicting a lot of frozen pipes across this area. As for me, I'm charging my phone and rechargeable lights, setting out lanterns, filling extra containers with water for me and the dogs, running the pellet stove at it's top settings to get the house as warm as I can, and bringing in firewood for the basement wood stove, which won't heat the rest of the house, but if need be, the dogs and I can sleep down there. And that stove WILL keep my pipes from freezing.

As for all of the aforementioned trees...just gotta hope that God keeps them off my house tonight, because that would be bad indeed in these wicked temperatures, which aren't expected to get above freezing again for days.

Of course, while some of us worry about such conditions here, the Yukon Quest is currently running across western Canada and eastern Alaska, and 17 mushers and their dogs are trekking a thousand miles in worse conditions, even sleeping outside as they run this race, which could take as long as two weeks from start to finish.

(As of this writing, Brent Sass has taken the lead from Allen Moore, and Lance Mackey needs to get it in gear if he ever wants to move up out of 13th place. Ain't no money for 13th, Lance!) Dave Dalton's in 9th, and my dogs are looking at me like I'm insane for saying that we should try this next year. "Not even in a heated car," they say.

Looks like most of the mushers are still bunched up in Dawson City for the mandatory 36-hour rest, but a few are already about as far as Eagle. Should be a good finish. Current weather in Dawson, Yukon, Canada, is 19f, or, warmer than here, and with no indicated wind. Hell, the Yukon dog-sled teams actually have better weather than I do right now!

If you're under this storm system, take care. It's no joke out there. And if when the power goes, it won't be very funny inside a lot of homes, either.