Sorry I haven't posted lately. There have been all kinds of complications, not the least of which is that it is extremely hard to type a blog entry when you have an excited 7 month old chocolate lab puppy trying to get onto your lap!!

The Canine Client returned home to her family, who were thrilled to see her, on Sunday. We returned home to a much quieter house and a tired mastiff....but as the day went on we all became depressed. Winston took to wandering around as if looking for her....guess he didn't mind all that ear chewing much after all.

But, to bring you up to date on what has been going on with me....

Thursday I mainly battled out carpet stains at the home of Professional Couple. I think their baby may be the reincarnation of Wyatt "Urp" - you know "Urp!": up comes a little of whatever the poor thing ate last!! I reall do feel sorry for this little baby. Can you imagine only being a year old and having to be on Zantac? I mean that's a medicine for 45 year old stock brokers with more confidence than money. Poor kid.

Anyway, I was finally able to claim victory on that job & meet The Hub for supper at The Forest Diner. Unfortunately, they were having a Neil Diamond impersonator singing in the back room that night. I am far from ever having been a fan of Neil Diamond, but this guy was so bad that I couldn't wait to get home to the keening sound of the yapping puppy! It wasn't just bad, it was HORRID!

On Friday I immersed myself in the paperwork surrounding getting the proper tags on my car, cleaned the bathroom of The Bathroom Lady, and picked up approximately 40 pounds of laundry from Mrs. Retriever to do at my house, since her dryer was broken. I weighed the laundry - that's how I charge for it if I do it in my home.

Now, how difficult could this be? Well, it shouldn't have been too tough. I went to Dollar General and bought some cheap laundry baskets ( careful to save the receipt for taxes) and came back home to get started. I opened the basement door and Canine Client shot down the stairs into the lair of Vio-kitty.

I shouldn't have been surprised. There was no barrier to keep Canine Client from going down there. It's just that Winston doesn't go down there....and he doesn't because Patrick, the greyhound we had when we first got Winston, was nervous of steep, uncarpeted stairs and never went into the basement of any house we ever had. Winston, I guess, watched Patrick and figured, "Dogs don't do that" and has never. We've even tried to coax Winston into the basement....but nothing doing. So that's been Vio-kitty's "safe place" when she got tired of having her tail sniffed or being goobed.

She was NOT happy to see Canine Client! What a mess!

I finally got all the laundry done, folded, kept it from being drooled on or haired....fell asleep, got up and went to the T.D.'s on Saturday where I fought with more carpet stains, waxed furniture and made Mr. T.D. a BLT for lunch.

That was the day I officially turned into an "Ididiot" since the 33rd running of the Ididarod Sled Dog Race kicked off with its ceremonial start this year, a race that will take the southern route, which is my favorite, because I think the race is always more interesting on that route.

For anybody just tuning in The Iditarod is my single only sports obsession. Indeed, sled dog racing is the only sport I know anything about and the only sport that I "get into".

It's a rule in my life to try to limit my "vicarious living". I already read a great deal, so I feel that adding even a seasonal sports craze would be too much living in my head/ through others.....though, that having been said, if given the opportunity to run behind a team of sled dogs ever in life I would jump at it.

But The Last Great Race has EVERYTHING going for it. A highly competative race in which commemorates the truly heroic delivery of medecine to save the children of Nome Alaska from an outbreak of diptheria in the 1920's, it's a level playing field. The biggest, meanest, toughest guy never wins....but neither does the smartest guy, or the biggest risk taker. A race of such magnitude can only be won through a combination of guts, luck, tenacity, intuition, and love. Using steroids is not gonna help you form the connection, the trust, and the magic a musher needs to have with his or her team. Just finishing the race is a worthy accomplishment. Mushers must rely on each other in the field, between the check points....this isn't a sport where if somebody gets hurt, a stretcher bearer comes out on the field and hussles the injured player off while everybody cheers. This is a race where, if you get hurt, the person who comes along behind you is gonna take care of your dogs, load you up on their sled, and get help before they even think of anything else.

The mushers themselves are always colorful, deep, real people and the human interest factor is intense. It's this aspect of the race that keeps me engaged on line for hours reading commentary. This years race promises real drama. How is Martin Busser going to manage out there on the trail seeing as how he managed to pretty much cut off part of his right middle finger in a table saw accident just prior to the race? Doug Swingly is back this year after having to scratch last year because he froze his corneas out on the trail! Will rookie Kelly Griffin be able to save face after her team crashed into a crowd of specators at the restart because they smelled hot dogs and were hoping to get some? And, will one of the most controversial mushers, 20 year old Rachel Scdors be able to complete the race? If she does it will be a first. Women complete the race all the time, indeed, my personal hero Susan Butcher is the only individual to ever win the race three years in a row. But if Scdors completes it she will be the first legally blind musher ever to do so. Even now, she has made race history in even being allowed to compete. The hurdles this young woman has already overcome are tremendous.

One day, I'm going to go to Alaska and see the places where the race is run. Maybe I'll even join the army of volunteers who come from all over the world to make all of the logistical details surrounding the race go smoothly. Until then, I'll follow along, day by day with on line coverage from Anchorage Daily News and I invite you to do the same....just don't click on the want ad banners too much, least you find yourself dreaming all day of a whole different life.