Sunday, January 6, 2008

Photo: A dog team crossing the frozen Yukon River
The Iditarod


Well, that’s Christmas and New Year out of the way. I did manage to have a pretty good time, despite coming down with a severe cold on Christmas Eve, which lasted all through New Year, and still has not yet released its hold on me. That’s one of the reasons I haven’t been around here for a while, that and all the usual craziness at this time of year. Anyway, it’s 2008 and time to get back to work, but not before I wish everyone a Happy and Peaceful New Year.

Earlier in December Mick and I helped Santa’s Old Broads at their wrapping party. We, and several other volunteers, wrapped Christmas presents for 120 disadvantaged kids. Judging by all the gifts, those kids must have had a great Christmas. And all that practice made wrapping our own presents a cinch this year.

We are still clearing up the devastation in our garden from the ice storms, and will be for a long time yet. Temperatures right now are all over the place. On January 2, we had a high of 32º F and a low of 12º F. Yesterday, we had a high of 71º F and a low of 52º F. But that’s Oklahoma for you, if you don’t like the weather, wait a minute.

I’ve just completed another assignment for Oklahoma Living Magazine. This one was about our local veterinarian, who has volunteered his services on four occasions, to care for the sled dogs on the Iditarod. For anyone who hasn’t heard of the Iditarod, it’s the Wimbledon of dog sled racing, and takes place in Alaska every year, starting on the first Saturday in March. The Iditarod Trail covers 1150 miles between Anchorage and Nome. For more information on the race visit:

http://www.iditarod.com/


For anyone interested in finding out more about the role of veterinarians on the Iditarod, I’ll post a link to my article on this page, after it’s published in February.


Ta ta for now.