Calling It

No, there are no pictures of the dog-sled ride posted yet. No, we can't post any.

The great ride through the tundra was called on account of... rain. It was almost 40 degrees for a high temperature here in Dillingham today. I see that presently the temp is 10 degrees in Muscatine.

Not that I would rub it in or anything. Nope. Uh uh. Not me. No sirree, Bob! Negatory. Nein.

So the great ride has tentatively been rescheduled to Monday. That is :

IF the temperature takes a nose-dive, and

IF we get more snow, and

IF the rain stops melting the snow we have.

Now I know how disappointing it must be to play for the Chicago Cubs. ;-)

Kicking and Streaming

So...

My mission for the coming New Year is to drag the Queen kicking and streaming (no, that's not misspelled, it's called a P-U-N ;-) into the 21st Century. To that end, and many thanks to certain elves in Muscatine, I gifted the Queen one of these :

That, gentle reader, is a 21st Century miracle. Not only does it play good, ol' fashioned Vinyl discs, it plays CDs to boot! Replete with AM/FM radio and an input jack for playing your Apple iPod, it's a regular sonic Tour de Force. Did any of that impress the Queen? Not a chance. What did jingle her bells? Well, if you gander down the right side of the case, right next to the remote control, you will see a slot. A slot that plays something from the ancient past we used to call "cassette tapes".

Bingo! The Queen approved. Here I was throwing the Queen a lifeline to the 20th century (insert chorus from Handel's Messiah here)! Saints be praised!

(insert sound of record needle being dragged across the record here - if you are under 40, go ask your parents what that sounded like)

I know, gentle reader. You are sitting there having a conniption that all of that is 20th Century technology. Yes, you are right. But now is where I spring the trap, oh impatient one.

See, on the front are two slots that aren't 20th Century-mindset kosher. One belongs to a memory card, the other is a USB slot. What are they for, pray thee tell? Well, they are for taking the analog and converting to digital.

SNAP!

Trap sprung.

I have now removed all barriers stopping the Queen moving forward into the 21st Century. She can now convert ALL - and I mean ALL - her big, bulky ANALOG cassette tapes (ha!) to teeny-tiny, itsy-bitsy DIGITAL ones and zeroes and cram them all in the Queen's iPod Nano. Now she is forced to relate to 21st Century technology, and we can reclaim a dump truck load a lot of space.

Sometimes the Lord takes pity on fools and technical geniuses named Buster. ;-)

Mush!

Well, I done gone and did it.

This is either going to be one of my better ideas, or a frostbitten lousy one. For the Queen's Christmas present I bought her a two-hour dog sled ride.

Two Hours.

In the frozen Alaska tundra.

In the middle of Winter.

Where even if the wind isn't blowing the phrase "wind chill" is still going to be in play.

That if we don't watch what we are doing, we are going to freeze our assets off.

Pulled by hyperactive canines that have running as their idea of a good time.

In my defense, it sounded like a really, really good idea while sipping hot chocolate in a 70 degree (with wind chill) apartment. Now? Not so much.

We have been warned that if we dress warmly enough, we will have a blast. If we don't we are going to be miserable. Ok, fair enough. I already have boots and a winter coat that are both rated to -40 F., so I think I am good to go. Donna also has a coat and boots rated to -40 F., so she should be set.

The plan is to take along two smartphones with video capability so we should have some awesome pictures and video that will let you know what it's like to drag your carcass across the frozen wastes of Alaska at up to 20 MPH. We will suffer, so you don't have to.

Lord, Toto... we're not in Kansas anymore. ;-)

There's No Place Like Nome

Due to popular demand, here are the pictures of the homestead :

Winter Wonderland

Well, it has finally started snowing in Dillingham. This makes an already pretty area just breathtaking :

That was taken at 5:51 p.m. in front of our apartment.

The back yard to our apartment

We have been going out and caroling while handing out home-made goodies to the families we visit. Donna helped make them, so you know they were good :

So, as you can see, the Christmas spirit is in full swing here in Dillingham. ;-)