Growler

The widow's lamp is still lit.  The Iditarod is still running.  Half the field has finished.  Lance Mackey and his dream dog team won again.  The Seaveys, Mitch and his son Dallas, finished strong in the top ten together.  Dee Dee Jonrowe smoked in her pink outfit (the dogs had pink booties) and took 22nd.  She dedicated the race to her Mom who has cancer, and whom I'm sure is so dang proud.  Newton Marshall, from Jamaica, looks like he'll finish, but is rumored to be a bit miffed at the -40 deg temps Alaska provided.  Pat Moon is recovering from the conk in the head he got from running into a tree.  Celeste Davis also blacked both her eyes on a tree, but she's still running for the red lantern.  Trent Herbst, the fourth grade teacher from Idaho who summers in Homer, has made it into Safety and looks sure to finish.  His students, who helped build his sled and sewed booties for his dogs, are probably glued to their monitors, cheering.  Wattie McDonald, running Siberians he raised in Scotland, looks to finish his first run.  The lost dog, Whitey, was found, and flew in his owner's arms back to Anchorage.  The convicts in Eagle River correctional center took care of the dropped dogs until they could be returned to their home kennels, and I'm guessing some serious bonds formed in the week they had together. 
Vik stopped at the Moose Tooth for a growler of Raspberry Wheat for yours truly, and I'm sitting next to a comfortable fire, raising a frosted mug to the athletes, man and dog, gutsy enough to run the Iditarod, the last great race.