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Arrgh! Here we go again! Our White Christmas has arrived with a serious attitude problem. After a beautiful clear day yesterday, during which I flew all day at Hudson's taking people up to see the mountain, the wind started blowing about 4 this morning, followed by heavy snow within half an hour. It hasn't quit since then and we've picked up another foot of fresh Alaska sunshine. We're under a winter storm warning at least through tomorrow, and the long-range forecast talks cheerily of a "parade of storms" in the North Pacific set to smash into southcentral Alaska. I wonder what would cause them to say something gloomy?

The only good thing so far is that the temperature has stayed down around ten above and this new stuff is light and fluffy. It will settle nicely as it piles up and will make a perfect covering for the cement pavement from earlier this week. South of here the outlook isn't so nice. The Kenai Peninsula has had a lot of snow as well, but it's supposed to turn to heavy rain tonight and tomorrow before it cools off again. Anchorage and even Wasilla aren't much better, with freezing rain in the forecast. We're north of the projected liquid precipitation line and we're supposed to stay that way. I hope so, because I can't take any more slush until breakup. We are, however, in line to pick up another foot or more of snow, which is almost too much. Not much we can do about it except hunker down and see it through.

Needless to say, my training has been at a complete standstill since last Sunday and will probably not resume until Monday or Tuesday at the earliest. This isn't good but there's nothing I can do about it. I'm getting way behind the power curve for the Iditarod. For the moment it's all Barrie and I can do to keep the dogs fed and the driveway open and the important stuff halfway dug out of the snow. I've got half a dozen doghouses buried so far down I almost have to dig tunnels to them. My two snowblowers--one of which I was going to sell but am now glad I didn't--are just barely hanging in there. They both need new drive belts, but we're nursing them along as best we can until this storm is over. It means we've got to go after the snow more often, since we can't move much more than six or eight inches without bogging down. My new (used) truck has turned out to be one of my best investments in a long time--it's got four-wheel drive, and it hasn't been out of the 4WD position for a week now.

John Barron, who lives just south of me, says he's been running, but not as far as he'd like because the trails just aren't in. We're hoping all of the weekend snowmachiners from Anchorage will come out in force and smash everything flat for us. Normally we'd cringe when these guys head north from the Big City with their screaming monster machines intending to shred some powder, but for the time being all help is gratefully appreciated. John is trying to keep his incredibly strong team in shape for the Copper Basin, which he has an excellent chance of winning. Then he's packing up and going down to Minnesota for the Beargrease on the first weekend in February, where he fully intends to repeat as champion. When he heads out on the Iditarod, he will definitely not be back in the pack for very long. I fully expect him to be in the top five this year--I've seen his dogs (and bought more than a few of them for my 2001 team) and trained with him off and on for two years, and he's got a truly fearsome mushing machine. John is unquestionably going to surprise some Big Names this year.

Tomorrow Barrie and I are going to dig out the Yellow Peril and see how badly we can get it stuck on our outbound trail. We've got to do something to put in our trails now or we'll be down to snowshoes. I'm also contacting some of our neighbors who have shown up with new snowmachines this year and suggesting they can have a lot of fun even while they're helping us. The trailmaster for the Montana Creek Dog Mushers is going to come up with a friend and put in the club trail in a couple of days even though the club has canceled its entire season. It's a public service they do every year and a lot of mushers in this area count on having the track to use for training all the way through April. So, in a week we'll have trails to kill for, but for now it looks more like the start of the next ice age.

Once again I have to apologize for no pictures of the snow. I get so busy shoveling and snowblowing and pulling up doghouses I seem to forget my camera. So, here are some more shots from previous Iditarods.

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