The Thundering Herd

Kodiak is an Art Critic

D.K. Wall — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 05:00:56 +0000

We did not build this snow man, but think it is a somewhat modernistic design

Kodiak considers himself quite the refined art critic. Let's see what he thinks.

Enough said.

Snowy Walking Wednesday

D.K. Wall — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 05:00:50 +0000

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Congratulations to Lance Mackey for his Fourth Consecutive Iditarod win – and for recording the second fastest time ever in the history of the race. Always great to see how much he cares for his dogs. A very classy guy and a great representative of the sport!

Class and Clowns

D.K. Wall — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 05:00:48 +0000

Kiska with her long flowing fur in the snow and wind.

Close up showing that wooly fur.

Always important to look good.

Hey, no pictures. A girl has to shake the snow off.

She is just thankful she is not hanging out with these clowns. How often is Rusty the normal one in this crew?

Daylight Savings Time Means Spring, Right?

D.K. Wall — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 05:00:04 +0000

We Sibes heard you humans believe that Daylight Savings Time means Spring has arrived

Well, look down there where the Red Team is going.

Does that look like Spring to you?

Yes, The Herd is rejoicing in even more fresh powder. We have seen so many blogs with blooms and buds and green. We are still very much seeing white. At least we are getting sunlight later in the day. Plus, we had the annual joy of waking the Herd up an hour “early” Sunday morning. They grumble every minute of it and the humans really enjoy that one day of the year.

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Stella asked yesterday, “I was looking for an article about Karen Ramstead leaving the race but couldn’t find anything. Do you have something?”

Karen’s blog does have a short note explaining that the injury to her hand in a pre-race training run was the reason that she scratched. If you would like Karen’s version of the “hand incident”, go to this blog post. If you want the far more entertaining version as told by Kara, go here. If you are one of those people who sit in horror movies, know that some dreadful, bloody event is about to occur, and yet still watch it knowing that it will make you horka, you can see an actual picture of the injury here. We should really take a poll of our readers to find out exactly how many actually clicked on the link despite the warning.

Kiska, Princess of the Jungle

D.K. Wall — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 06:00:08 +0000

Out hiking a fire road yesterday and Kiska decided that she really liked balancing on this log.

Waking up to Saturday

D.K. Wall — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 06:00:06 +0000

Oh. Hey. Napping here. Is it Saturday already?

Hiking time?

Waiting here in the Jeep. Let's go!

Yes, it is Saturday and The Herd is ready for a weekend of the outdoors. The weather here is a little iffy with rain, but much warmer temperatures, so we will be outside virtually the whole time. We can smell spring approaching!

For those of you who are not on The Thundering Herd Fan Page on Facebook (because, amazingly, you apparently do not need to have up to the minute news on The Herd), you may have missed a great news article about the Iditarod that we linked to. We will quote a section:

Karen Ramstead’s . . . Siberian Huskies are some of the most beautiful dogs at McGrath and anywhere along the Iditarod Trail. As villagers stopped by the checkpoint, they all gravitated toward her team to admire her handsome team. Handsome is as handsome does is a proverb meaning character and behavior are more important than appearance. It seems though with Karen’s dogs, they have it all – good looks, strong character and stellar behavior.

What a spectacular tribute to a very special lady. Karen and and the Siberian Huskies of North Wapiti, we are very sorry that you had to make the decision to drop out of the Iditarod. But, as always, we salute the tremendous effort and look forward to seeing you and the Pretty Sled Dogs again. You are one heck of an inspiration!

Silent Ruby

D.K. Wall — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 06:00:47 +0000

Sometimes, Tartok believes Ruby will never run out of things to say.

No compliment is greater than a parody (right, KB?), so we wanted to make sure that everyone saw these posts from Tales and Tails and Norwood. They have received the Cheesewhiz Seal of Approval, for whatever that is worth.

Tight Napping

D.K. Wall — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 06:00:48 +0000

With so many siblings, sometimes you really have to work to find a place to nap.

Walking with the Cousins

D.K. Wall — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 06:00:35 +0000

Rusty - Do you see who I see?

Cousin Tartok staring back

Nothing like walking with Cousin Ruby and Cousin Tartok

Ruby Tuesday’s Attention to Kitchen Detail

D.K. Wall — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 06:00:06 +0000

Shocking - Last week I was accused of being a predator in the kitchen.

Sheesh, kid, no telling where that reputation came from.

Totally undeserved.

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In one of our comments yesterday, Mogley G. Retriever asked about some of the best sources of news on the Iditarod. Here are a couple to get you started:

The official website – http://www.iditarod.com/

The current standings – http://www.iditarod.com/race/race/currentstandings.html – This can take a little while to get used to reading.

The Alaska Daily News is a great source for stories on the race – http://www.adn.com/

The North Wapiti Blog is updated regularly and gives you a great view into our favorite team – http://www.northwapiti.blogspot.com/

Mike Criss has some excellent photography on his blog that I highly recommend – http://www.akphotograph.com/Alaska%20Blog/

Hope that helps!