3/22/2007

Leave of Absense

My grandma has passed away, so I will be away for a bit - maybe a week or so.  This was not completely unexpected, but that never means it doesn’t hurt, does it?  Maybe when I’m back, I will tell you about her.  She was a remarkable lady.

sparta at 12:00 pm

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3/15/2007

Like Bebop?

I have found a wonderful place to listen to Bebop jazz on-line (via iTunes).  It’s called Bebop24×7.com.  Go.  Listen.  Enjoy.

See you later, Space Cowboy.

sparta at 9:14 pm

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3/13/2007

@!#$% Blogger

Okay - so several of the blogs I read are Blogger blogs. Fine. I sign up for an account (this was a while ago), and even joined Bruce on his cooking blog (not that I post there much - ahem - sorry, I have some new recipes to add there, though). THEN - Google comes around. Now in order to get this and that, blah blah blah. Fine. I sign up for the new Google account-Blogger-thing. Not because I need to keep a blog there…I have several…but so I can easily post comments on other people’s blogs.

Then one day, I can no longer comment. WTF?  Well, the reason I can’t comment is because I can’t verify with the captcha - and the reason I can’t verify?  Firefox isn’t displaying the image!  GRRRR!

I am on a quest to fix this because - well - I have several Blogger blogs I read that I like to post comments on.

If anyone has any solutions this problem using Firefox on Macs - please let me know.

sparta at 3:55 pm

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3/9/2007

Because I love to crack my friends up

80s Wierd Al in Japan

sparta at 11:10 am

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3/8/2007

Iditarod 2007

So one of the things we’ve been doing as part of our homeschooling is following the Iditarod (the great dogsled race in Alaska).  We even attended a workshop at the home study center - and met some sled dogs (retired).  Cool stuff.

Two of the mushers we’re following have a blog - The SP Kennel Dog Log.   You can find out more information about the Iditarod at the main website.  There is all kinds of information there about the mushers and what the Iditarod is.  I love the interactive maps.

The huskies used for the sleds are the sweetest dogs - and something that is interesting about their breeding is that they are born to run.  Seriously, a huskie is happiest when it’s just running.  And they really prefer to run forward - turning around isn’t a lot of fun in their eyes.  We got to see them in action at the workshop.  They hooked three of the dogs up to a sled with wheels - and the dogs were so happy running running running, but then when she stopped them and made them turn around…not so happy, but then, when they realized they would get to run again - HAPPY DOGS!  :-)   There are programs that allow for the adoption of retired sled dogs.  These dogs are very good with kids and easily trainable.  Several sites concerning Sled Dog Adoption:  1, 2, 3, and 4.
Anyway - each team has a musher and 12 to 16 dogs.  They go from Anchorage to Nome and will cover over 1150 miles in 10 to 17 days…in some pretty icky conditions - snow, blizzards, winds (one evening they were around 80 mph!), OR lack of snow … this leaves rocks and sticks poking up making the trails dangerous for the dogs and the sled.

We’re cheering for:  Aliy Zirkle (she’s currently in 12th) and Paul Gebhardt (who’s in 2nd).  Okay, Lance Mackey seems kind of cool - and he’s in 1st place and all right now - but we’ll see.

Lance has reached the halfway mark - but there’s still 5 days to go!

sparta at 2:36 pm

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