February 2011

• iPhone
• 1 February - Cyclone Yasi
• 5-19 - Yukon Quest
• February 6 - Uno Declared a Go for 20MT
• February 10 - Shedding Season Commences
• February 10 - Uno is Officially Resized for Boots
• February 12 - 48 Bales Richer
• February 13 - Athletic Tape under Gloves
• February 20 - Uno's Last Training Ride
• February 22 - Christchurch Earthquake
• February 26 - 20MT 100

Back to January • Forward to March

iPhone

Verizon (our cell phone company by necessity because they're the only one which works out in the boonies) teamed up with Mac and came out with an iPhone. pft told me he thought I needed one. I figured I didn't need the extra expense... but when the deadline to get one arrived, I succumbed.

I'm embarrassed to admit how much I love my new iPhone. It's like having a mini-computer at my fingertips wherever I go. I can look up stuff (you know, when you suddenly have a burning desire to know what "ganache" means in a restaurant, or the correct meaning of "emancipation", or need to look up the latest weather radar loop).

1 February
Cyclone Yasi

Dominic and Lisa came >this< close to being bullseyed by Category 5 Cyclone Yasi. Luckily in the last few hours it turned slightly to the south, meaning that the worst of the winds and storm surge missed them, so no harm done - just a lot of debris and branches down. 

Having just read an article a couple of days prior about a couple who rode out Hurricane Katrina in Mississippi: The Ride of a Lifetime, it was scary stuff.

5-19 February
Yukon Quest

Sled dog racing season is upon us and it turns out my iPhone showed up just in time for me to be able to follow the Yukon Quest 24 hours a day without interruption. Big fun. 

This year's race was quite the event - it started off innocuously enough, but the second half degenerated into -60°F temperatures; bad storms; big name musher Hans Gatt nearly perishing on a mountain-top and being rescued by Brent Sass' uber-lead dog, Silver; Hans then having to be rescued again by Seb Schnuelle when he went into some overflow and got badly frozen; Ken Anderson had to pull Dallas Seavey out of a similar situation; and the leader by nearly half a day, Hugh Neff, having to scratch when he couldn't get over Eagle Summit. He was accompanied by Dan Kaduce in a tense 12 hour window of time where we watched mushers's progress on the GPS trackers with a dread feeling as the situation unravelled.

The race was finally won by Dallas Seavey using the "softly, softly, catchee monkee" method. Dallas is quite the guy as I discovered from listening to this in-depth interview. Fascinating insight - and food for thought as much of what he talks about can be translated to endurance riding.

Sunday 6th February
Uno Declared a "Go" for 20 Mule Team 100

Interesting times with Uno for the start of the year. After his idiocy at Joshua Tree, I had to take him out a few times and get his head put back on straight. 

Sunday's ride was to be our "Go/No Go" decision-making ride for 20MT 100. We rode 20 miles and he was still an idiot some of the time, but did good work. We leap-frogged with some mtn bikers for a while, only having a couple of small melt-downs in the process (one involving bolting out of his left-rear boot), but by the end was coping admirably. He didn't eat and drink as well as I'd've liked for a shaggy horse on a 70 degree day, which meant that we had to stop to graze at the top of the big hill, but he seemed no worse for wear and managed a couple more unnecessary spooks in the last couple of miles making the decision for me. Uno shall do the 20MT 100.

Gave Provo a scritchie and half his fur came off in my hand. Ack! Shedding season is upon us! Get ready for the abundance of fluff, birds.

Uno's Official 2011 Boot Sizing Ceremony

February 12 48 Bales Richer

Took the truck n' trailer to Echo Valley in Auburn and filled them with an abundance of hay - in the truck, 22 bales of "overripe-was-left-in-the-field-so-it-got-sun-bleached-orchard" @ $10.11 a bale (96 lb bales)(figure this will be good for the fatties who are very fat indeed).  And in the trailer I have 26 bales of a nice-looking "80/20" grass/alf which they tell me probably has about 5% alf in it @ $15.25 a bale (<ouch>, but at least they are bona fide 120 lb bales) which is what the worker bees will get fed.

Why Athletic Tape Under Gloves is Worth the Extra Effort

February 14

Thought for the evening - do not put five fresh eggs in your jacket pocket 
and then use your hip to bump a heavy hay bag into position.

February 20
Uno's Last Training Ride

Wow - does that horse *need* a 100. He may not be shape for it, but it would help give him an attitude adjustment. Talk about a PITB - he was either dragging the sea anchor or acting like an stupid idiot :)

The river was running really high today from the snow we got yesterday (now all melted away).

Poor Southern Hemisphere - first awful flooding in the Brisbane, QLD vicinity; then Cyclone Yasi; now a vicious earthquake in Christchurch which levelled much of the central business district. :(

Woo-hoo! Uno completes 20MT 100 in fine form. Such a great adventure - one of the best weekends in a long while:

20MT 100 Story

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And Kaity's Extra Photos on FB