Episode Transcript
[0:00:02 – 0:00:06] Adam Snowlog: Suddenly, all the squirrels were in an uproar.
[0:00:06 – 0:00:10] Adam Snowlog: There was such a hubbub that I went out but didn’t see anything unusual.
[0:00:10 – 0:00:14] Adam Snowlog: Then a squirrel leaped from an observation post on top of a snow mound.
[0:00:14 – 0:00:17] Adam Snowlog: I hit a stump and rushed after what seemed to be a white flash.
[0:00:19 – 0:00:25] Adam Snowlog: The white flash kept an easy distance ahead of the squirrel, circled widely, and stopped almost at my feet to look up at me.
[0:00:26 – 0:00:32] Adam Snowlog: This was an ermine, exquisitely graceful, fluffy as whipped cream and as creamy as white too.
[0:00:33 – 0:00:40] Adam Snowlog: with black-tipped tail and ear touches, eyes like polished jet, a pink nose and rounded ears, pink-lined.
[0:00:41 – 0:00:47] Adam Snowlog: He sat up, all eight inches high, lifting dainty forepaws and twitching a fine spray of long whiskers.
[0:00:49 – 0:00:55] Adam Snowlog: At this point, birds began to circle and swoop, blue jays, whiskey jacks, chickadees, each screaming in his own way.
[0:00:56 – 0:01:07] Adam Snowlog: The airmen considered this onslaught for a moment, dropped flat to avoid the beak of a dive-bombing jay, then shot between my feet and plumped into a snowbank where he no doubt had his own secret passageways.
[0:01:08 – 0:01:16] Adam Snowlog: The birds scattered, and I went inside to hear a frantic squeaking and scurrying in the double ceiling where some deer mice had found shelter for the winter.
[0:01:18 – 0:01:25] Adam Snowlog: A few minutes later, I again heard the blue jay’s sharp alarm call and the ratchety sounds of disturbed whiskey jacks.
[0:01:27 – 0:01:32] Adam Snowlog: I looked out to see the ermine bounding away, a large mouse dangling from his jaws.
[0:01:32 – 0:01:39] Adam Snowlog: He stopped once and sat up to scan the snow surface, holding his head proudly as if to show everyone his fine dinner.
[0:01:40 – 0:01:44] Adam Snowlog: That’s the handsomest little animal I’ve ever seen, Aid said from behind me.
[0:01:45 – 0:01:46] Adam Snowlog: I hope he sticks around.
[0:01:47 – 0:01:49] Adam Snowlog: The mice will keep him for a while.
[0:01:49 – 0:01:52] Adam Snowlog: Unless I mistook the sounds overhead, he caught one in our ceiling.
[0:01:54 – 0:01:55] Adam Snowlog: Aid thought a minute.
[0:01:56 – 0:01:57] Adam Snowlog: We’ve some bacon rind.
[0:01:57 – 0:01:58] Adam Snowlog: He might like that.
[0:01:59 – 0:02:01] Adam Snowlog: The birds will, whether he does or not.
[0:02:01 – 0:02:04] Adam Snowlog: You could tack it down somewhere so he doesn’t carry it off.
[0:02:06 – 0:02:06] Adam Snowlog: Aid nodded.
[0:02:07 – 0:02:11] Adam Snowlog: Aide nodded, and we ought to put it where we can see who comes for it.
[0:02:12 – 0:02:13] Adam Snowlog: There’s that bench outside.
[0:02:14 – 0:02:19] Adam Snowlog: It was in the shape of a bench, but was too high, too narrow, and too wiggly for anyone to sit on.
[0:02:19 – 0:02:25] Adam Snowlog: However, it made a fine, small feeding bench, and Aide placed it outside the south window at dusk.
[0:02:25 – 0:02:34] Adam Snowlog: The cabin protected it from the prevailing northwest wind, and the big eaves would keep it free of snow, while we could stand inside and watch in comfort.
[0:02:35 – 0:02:42] Adam Snowlog: We didn’t expect visitors until the next day, but in the middle of the night I was waken by a heavy sound, something striking the cabin wall.
[0:02:44 – 0:02:47] Adam Snowlog: I couldn’t see anything from the window, but the noise stopped when I looked out.
[0:02:48 – 0:02:49] Adam Snowlog: Some creature had seen me.
[0:02:51 – 0:03:05] Adam Snowlog: We were conserving the weakening flashlight batteries for emergencies, so I went cautiously into the outside darkness, remembering that the noise had been rather loud and wondering what kind of animal might be out there.
[0:03:06 – 0:03:08] Adam Snowlog: As my eyes grew accustomed to the starlight
[0:03:09 – 0:03:15] Adam Snowlog: I saw the bench tilted toward the wall and the ermine standing over a strip of rind, braced as though ready to defend it against me.
[0:03:17 – 0:03:18] Adam Snowlog: I stood without moving.
[0:03:19 – 0:03:28] Adam Snowlog: At last the little animal, not half as large around as my wrist and only a foot long, tail and all, jerked at the rind with such strength that the whole bench moved and struck against the wall.
[0:03:30 – 0:03:32] Adam Snowlog: I walked slowly towards him, but he didn’t run.
[0:03:33 – 0:03:37] Adam Snowlog: When I was almost within touching distance, he retreated to the ground and…
[0:03:37 – 0:03:41] Adam Snowlog: partially protected by one of the bench legs, squeaked angrily.
[0:03:43 – 0:03:45] Adam Snowlog: I was filled with admiration for him and his courage.
[0:03:46 – 0:03:48] Adam Snowlog: He should have his bacon, if I could arrange it.
[0:03:49 – 0:03:56] Adam Snowlog: I pulled out the nail that held the strip, took the rind in my fingers, leaned down slowly, and held the tidbit out to the airman.
[0:03:57 – 0:04:01] Adam Snowlog: He drew back, making a melodious, warbling sound that might have been a warning.
[0:04:02 – 0:04:05] Adam Snowlog: I stayed as I was and after a long wait he inched forward nervously.
[0:04:06 – 0:04:10] Adam Snowlog: I was a bit nervous myself because his teeth were needle sharp and he was lightning fast.
[0:04:12 – 0:04:15] Adam Snowlog: Then he leaped further and pulled it from my hand and streaked away.
[0:05:35 – 0:05:38] Adam Snowlog: Bonjour.
[0:05:38 – 0:05:40] Adam Snowlog: My name is Francois Le Castor.
[0:05:41 – 0:05:43] Adam Snowlog: Coming to you live in the snow globe.
[0:05:45 – 0:05:49] Adam Snowlog: You are listening to chapter six of the 2024 snow log.
[0:05:49 – 0:05:50] Adam Snowlog: Thank you for being here tonight.
[0:05:51 – 0:05:52] Adam Snowlog: Thank you for listening.
[0:05:54 – 0:05:59] Adam Snowlog: Really enjoyed the cold open, the ermine cold open from
[0:06:00 – 0:06:04] Adam Snowlog: A Place in the Woods, Helen Hoover, 1978.
[0:06:05 – 0:06:10] Adam Snowlog: Just about done with that book, and I’ve been slowly reading that one through this winter.
[0:06:11 – 0:06:18] Adam Snowlog: And pretty nice to read a good snowy scene with a little weasel named Walter.
[0:06:18 – 0:06:19] Adam Snowlog: It’s quite the book.
[0:06:19 – 0:06:21] Adam Snowlog: I highly recommend it.
[0:06:23 – 0:06:34] Adam Snowlog: I also opened the show there with a little journey from the Avalanches off of Since I Left You in 2001, making our way into the D side of the LP.
[0:06:36 – 0:06:40] Adam Snowlog: And we’ll start the show off, of course, with the snow hog update.
[0:06:41 – 0:06:48] Adam Snowlog: And honest truth, honest truth, Tumwummies, I saw it snow today.
[0:06:49 – 0:06:53] Adam Snowlog: I did see the flurries, and at one point it was snowing kind of hard there.
[0:06:54 – 0:07:00] Adam Snowlog: But it was also pretty warm and there was quite a northwest wind, much like the story of the ermine.
[0:07:01 – 0:07:06] Adam Snowlog: Brisk northwest wind was a-blowing all day today and none of the snow really stuck.
[0:07:07 – 0:07:14] Adam Snowlog: So we’re calling it a flurry today and our current total is zero inches of snow on the ground here.
[0:07:14 – 0:07:37] Adam Snowlog: on the north shore there ain’t no snow in the woods and there’s a little bit here and there but we can’t count that anymore friends we cannot count it walk down to the river out back of the tumble shed with the with the dog arrow and i went down there earlier today in the the cadence river it’s a flowing so
[0:07:39 – 0:08:01] Adam Snowlog: we’re not giving up hope though i’m not putting away the skis you know i know 99 of the people living up here have given up and said you know that’s it the anti-winter is fully in the books and we’ll we shall never see any snow um i won’t be surprised at all if we get two feet of snow in april i’m not closing the snow log not even close
[0:08:03 – 0:08:04] Adam Snowlog: We’re going to continue on.
[0:08:07 – 0:08:09] Adam Snowlog: We’re on a quest here, right?
[0:08:10 – 0:08:17] Adam Snowlog: And we have many chances we could turn back on this winter or whatever this has been, but we’re going to keep going on.
[0:08:18 – 0:08:21] Adam Snowlog: Someone recently told me that.
[0:08:21 – 0:08:29] Adam Snowlog: That’s a familiar refrain, but you’ve got to keep trying, and you’ve got to keep moving forward one foot after the other.
[0:08:31 – 0:08:35] Adam Snowlog: The Red Lantern reached Nome today, this morning.
[0:08:36 – 0:08:49] Adam Snowlog: Rookie Jeff Reed trotted in with his team down Front Street into Nome under the Burled Arch and then extinguished the Red Lantern, thus ending the running of the Iditarod.
[0:08:54 – 0:09:01] Adam Snowlog: And trust me, friends, we’re going to get to an update on the Fantasy at Deadrod here in a little bit.
[0:09:02 – 0:09:03] Adam Snowlog: A few notes on the race.
[0:09:04 – 0:09:12] Adam Snowlog: I think everybody up here, we had 22 teams in the Tumulun pack for Fantasy Mushing this year, and I’m pretty sure…
[0:09:12 – 0:09:15] Adam Snowlog: Almost all of those teams had Aaron Altomus on them.
[0:09:17 – 0:09:20] Adam Snowlog: Seemed like great value at 3,000 gold, and it was.
[0:09:20 – 0:09:28] Adam Snowlog: I’m still very, I’m proud of our neighbor and their family and everybody up here is cheering for Aaron.
[0:09:29 – 0:09:39] Adam Snowlog: And unfortunately, had some tough times out there on the trail between Cripple and Ruby and ended up having to scratch on the banks of the Yukon River.
[0:09:42 – 0:09:47] Adam Snowlog: and uh and you know 500 miles in you know that’s uh quite the accomplishment and uh
[0:09:50 – 0:10:05] Adam Snowlog: If anybody’s on the insider, you know, and if you somehow haven’t watched the interview that Aaron gave in Unalakleet after her race ended, go ahead and check it out.
[0:10:05 – 0:10:09] Adam Snowlog: It’s had me teared up a little bit.
[0:10:11 – 0:10:18] Adam Snowlog: You know, it’s like such an endeavor for somebody from Minnesota to, like,
[0:10:20 – 0:10:23] Adam Snowlog: put it all together to get all the way up to the starting line and Willow.
[0:10:26 – 0:10:35] Adam Snowlog: And you’re at an extreme disadvantage as a team from the lower 48, trying to drive up to Alaska with your dogs and compete, you know.
[0:10:36 – 0:10:42] Adam Snowlog: And, you know, I think we all know, you know, just trying to make it to the finish line would have been the goal there.
[0:10:43 – 0:10:45] Adam Snowlog: And it’s always tough when you don’t make your goals.
[0:10:46 – 0:10:48] Adam Snowlog: But it’s still got to be a success.
[0:10:48 – 0:10:49] Adam Snowlog: You’ve got to view it as one.
[0:10:52 – 0:10:54] Adam Snowlog: You know, sometimes things just don’t go your way.
[0:10:55 – 0:10:56] Adam Snowlog: So anyways, go check it out.
[0:10:56 – 0:10:58] Adam Snowlog: She had a real rough time, lost a sleeping bag.
[0:10:59 – 0:10:59] Adam Snowlog: I don’t know.
[0:11:00 – 0:11:00] Adam Snowlog: I’ve been there.
[0:11:00 – 0:11:01] Adam Snowlog: I can understand that one.
[0:11:02 – 0:11:08] Adam Snowlog: Got the sleeping bag back, crashed a few times into a ravine, had some ales crash into her.
[0:11:09 – 0:11:12] Adam Snowlog: I had a bunch of injuries, sore shoulders.
[0:11:15 – 0:11:16] Adam Snowlog: But I made the most of it.
[0:11:16 – 0:11:23] Adam Snowlog: It seemed like Erin from The Interviewed was grateful for the experience, even though it hadn’t gone the way it was envisioned.
[0:11:24 – 0:11:37] Adam Snowlog: Bib 23, Erin Altomus didn’t make it to the finish line, but I was proud to have her on my team for Fantasy Mushing and proud to have her as a neighbor, her and Matt and their family and all them dogs up there on the hill.
[0:11:39 – 0:11:46] Adam Snowlog: A big shout out to Paige Drobny and the Squids at the ceremonial start in Anchorage.
[0:11:47 – 0:11:51] Adam Snowlog: Had the mirror balled helmet like an old school racing helmet.
[0:11:53 – 0:11:57] Adam Snowlog: And then all the dogs had their little space capes on, like aluminum.
[0:11:58 – 0:11:58] Adam Snowlog: I don’t know.
[0:11:59 – 0:12:05] Adam Snowlog: They looked like Roswell metal, desert metal space capes for all the dogs.
[0:12:06 – 0:12:08] Adam Snowlog: Our derelict attorney and dear friend Josh was…
[0:12:09 – 0:12:25] Adam Snowlog: there at the trail gate and sent me video which i did post to the discord from the trail gate of that team bib 38 coming in uh stopping appeared to grab a paps blue ribbon and some sort of
[0:12:26 – 0:12:28] Adam Snowlog: Um, perhaps a jello shot?
[0:12:29 – 0:12:34] Adam Snowlog: And, uh, the crowd was going wild, and the team looked great, and, uh, I had Paige Drobny on my team.
[0:12:35 – 0:12:35] Adam Snowlog: Drobny?
[0:12:36 – 0:12:42] Adam Snowlog: I had Paige on my fantasy team before I even saw that video, so then I was, like, extra amped.
[0:12:43 – 0:12:45] Adam Snowlog: And they were cruising.
[0:12:45 – 0:12:46] Adam Snowlog: Really good speed the whole way.
[0:12:47 – 0:12:48] Adam Snowlog: Good attitude.
[0:12:48 – 0:12:49] Adam Snowlog: A bunch of young dogs.
[0:12:49 – 0:12:54] Adam Snowlog: And a new personal best finish for Paige in fifth place.
[0:12:55 – 0:12:56] Adam Snowlog: So that was really awesome to see.
[0:12:58 – 0:13:00] Adam Snowlog: Shout out to… Let’s pull up the standings.
[0:13:01 – 0:13:03] Adam Snowlog: I’m not even looking at the standings right now.
[0:13:03 – 0:13:03] Adam Snowlog: Alright.
[0:13:04 – 0:13:04] Adam Snowlog: I’m pulling them up.
[0:13:04 – 0:13:06] Adam Snowlog: I’m pulling up the Woo Tracker.
[0:13:06 – 0:13:08] Adam Snowlog: Otherwise known as the Adidaflow.
[0:13:08 – 0:13:10] Adam Snowlog: If you don’t know…
[0:13:11 – 0:13:11] Adam Snowlog: I’ll shoot you the link.
[0:13:12 – 0:13:15] Adam Snowlog: Hit me up in the Discord or on the DMs in the Instagram picture app.
[0:13:16 – 0:13:17] Adam Snowlog: I’ll shoot you the link for the Woo Tracker.
[0:13:18 – 0:13:19] Adam Snowlog: It’s great every year.
[0:13:19 – 0:13:22] Adam Snowlog: If you don’t have the Insider, it’s the way to watch.
[0:13:22 – 0:13:26] Adam Snowlog: And I personally like it almost better than watching the regular GPS map.
[0:13:27 – 0:13:28] Adam Snowlog: Anyways, we’re pulling it up here.
[0:13:28 – 0:13:31] Adam Snowlog: Yeah, we had Page and 5th.
[0:13:33 – 0:13:36] Adam Snowlog: With nine dogs on the line coming in.
[0:13:37 – 0:13:39] Adam Snowlog: Amanda Otto with a personal best in 8th place.
[0:13:40 – 0:13:42] Adam Snowlog: Dear friend of the show Pete Kaiser in 9th.
[0:13:43 – 0:13:49] Adam Snowlog: And Jesse Royer always has a nice looking team in 10th.
[0:13:51 – 0:13:52] Adam Snowlog: Why are we going in this direction?
[0:13:52 – 0:13:54] Adam Snowlog: Ryan Reddington, all the way down 14th.
[0:13:56 – 0:14:02] Adam Snowlog: Seeing him at Pronto, seeing him here on the Bear Grease, always like Ryan Reddington and the green man.
[0:14:04 – 0:14:06] Adam Snowlog: Wasn’t his year, trying to defend.
[0:14:07 – 0:14:12] Adam Snowlog: It’s always a tough task trying to defend, and I did a red title.
[0:14:14 – 0:14:16] Adam Snowlog: But he got to the finish line with a positive attitude.
[0:14:16 – 0:14:27] Adam Snowlog: I think he was carrying the ashes of somebody very dear to the Iditarod community that Burmeister had started carrying them.
[0:14:27 – 0:14:31] Adam Snowlog: Burmeister’s from Nome and said this was like his last race and he ended up scratching.
[0:14:32 – 0:14:34] Adam Snowlog: Ryan took on the urn.
[0:14:38 – 0:14:43] Adam Snowlog: He took them all the way to unknown, so we like to see that.
[0:14:44 – 0:14:49] Adam Snowlog: 15th place, Josie Teer, Rookie of the Year.
[0:14:50 – 0:14:55] Adam Snowlog: And Josh, our derelict attorney, had called it.
[0:14:55 – 0:14:56] Adam Snowlog: He called that.
[0:14:56 – 0:14:57] Adam Snowlog: And I mean, it’s easy to see.
[0:14:58 – 0:15:00] Adam Snowlog: Really impressive racing.
[0:15:00 – 0:15:02] Adam Snowlog: The Yukon Quest and Copper Basin.
[0:15:04 – 0:15:05] Adam Snowlog: Really good looking team.
[0:15:06 – 0:15:09] Adam Snowlog: And also a Bear Grease veteran, Josie.
[0:15:09 – 0:15:11] Adam Snowlog: So love to see that.
[0:15:11 – 0:15:20] Adam Snowlog: And the points currently are not calculated, I don’t think, for all the awards like Rookie of the Year and Red Lantern and the Sportsmanship Award.
[0:15:21 – 0:15:25] Adam Snowlog: and there’s a couple others you get bonus points for, but Rookie of the Year is a really good one.
[0:15:25 – 0:15:29] Adam Snowlog: If you’re going to win in Fantasy Mushing, you’ve got to pick the Rookie of the Year.
[0:15:30 – 0:15:43] Adam Snowlog: So, I mean, I’d been watching the mid-distance racing and knew that Josie had a pretty good team, but when Josh said, you know, he called it, you know, it’s like, okay, well, I’m going to make sure I got that team on my team.
[0:15:44 – 0:15:46] Adam Snowlog: So 15th place is really something else.
[0:15:46 – 0:15:48] Adam Snowlog: Give her the belt buckle.
[0:15:48 – 0:15:50] Adam Snowlog: Now you’re a veteran, no longer a rookie.
[0:15:52 – 0:15:54] Adam Snowlog: Pretty awesome.
[0:15:55 – 0:15:57] Adam Snowlog: Jeff Dieter, new personal best and fourth.
[0:15:58 – 0:16:03] Adam Snowlog: Katie Jo was working the Insider crew and doing a great job on Insider.
[0:16:03 – 0:16:04] Adam Snowlog: She is a delight.
[0:16:05 – 0:16:09] Adam Snowlog: And Jeff took that team and took them to a whole new level.
[0:16:09 – 0:16:14] Adam Snowlog: And didn’t have the really fast start, but really came on strong on the coast.
[0:16:14 – 0:16:16] Adam Snowlog: And fourth place for Jeff Dieter.
[0:16:17 – 0:16:20] Adam Snowlog: I love Jesse Holmes, and I was hoping for…
[0:16:20 – 0:16:25] Adam Snowlog: I had Jesse Holmes on my team, and I thought maybe this was the year Jesse finally wins the whole thing.
[0:16:27 – 0:16:29] Adam Snowlog: He’s going up to the Kobuk 440 next.
[0:16:29 – 0:16:32] Adam Snowlog: There’s another big race, and he won that thing last year.
[0:16:32 – 0:16:38] Adam Snowlog: He’s been top five a few times now, and he’s third place this year.
[0:16:39 – 0:16:48] Adam Snowlog: And then Matt Hall, who is still a young guy too, but he’s won the Yukon Quest, and that was the original 1,000-mile Yukon Quest back in the day.
[0:16:49 – 0:16:51] Adam Snowlog: And that was a new personal best for Matt Hall in second.
[0:16:52 – 0:16:54] Adam Snowlog: And then, of course, Dallas Seavey.
[0:16:56 – 0:16:59] Adam Snowlog: Dallas Seavey winning now a record sixth.
[0:17:00 – 0:17:03] Adam Snowlog: I did a rad championship and he won by like four and a half hours.
[0:17:04 – 0:17:16] Adam Snowlog: And that was after getting a two hour penalty for improperly gutting a moose that attacked his team in the night, like outside of Finger Lake.
[0:17:17 – 0:17:23] Adam Snowlog: They had to like snow up your eyeballs, mushing down like a luge run, toboggan run kind of setup and
[0:17:25 – 0:17:34] Adam Snowlog: Jesse Holmes encountered the, well, we’ll back all the way up, the Iditarod Trail Invitational crew, apparently this moose like chased a person on foot.
[0:17:35 – 0:17:41] Adam Snowlog: You can either fat tire bike it, ski it, or just hike or run it, I guess, with like pulling a sled.
[0:17:43 – 0:17:51] Adam Snowlog: And this moose like chased one of the runners on the Iditarod Trail Invitational that starts a week ahead of the dog sledding race.
[0:17:51 – 0:17:54] Adam Snowlog: So you got people out there on foot, on ski, and mostly on fat tire bike.
[0:17:55 – 0:18:01] Adam Snowlog: And then during the race, Jesse Holmes came through that section first and chased his team and he said he punched it in the face.
[0:18:03 – 0:18:07] Adam Snowlog: and got away, luckily, is menacing his team.
[0:18:07 – 0:18:17] Adam Snowlog: And then Dallas Seavey came through and tried to stomp his team and did injure pretty badly one of his dogs who was okay eventually after getting to the vet.
[0:18:18 – 0:18:39] Adam Snowlog: um he had to he had to shoot the moose it was he was armed this is part of the race go read the gary paulson book um there’s the rules in there for a reason that if you do have to kill a moose on the trail um because they don’t want to get out of when it’s deep snow like that they don’t want to get off the trail you’re going to have issues
[0:18:41 – 0:18:42] Adam Snowlog: So they don’t want the meat going to waste.
[0:18:43 – 0:18:44] Adam Snowlog: So it’s in the rule book.
[0:18:44 – 0:18:47] Adam Snowlog: You have to properly gut the moose and get it off the trail.
[0:18:47 – 0:18:54] Adam Snowlog: And he couldn’t even get it off the trail by himself because it was down in this, like, like I said, like a bobsled run of snow.
[0:18:54 – 0:18:58] Adam Snowlog: And he, he didn’t, he didn’t, he said he was in shock.
[0:18:58 – 0:19:02] Adam Snowlog: He had a dog that was hurt and middle of the night, I think it was two in the morning or something.
[0:19:06 – 0:19:16] Adam Snowlog: And a two-hour penalty was assessed for improper gutting of a moose, which, I mean, just, you know, what a story.
[0:19:18 – 0:19:26] Adam Snowlog: They were able to salvage the meat, and so that was enjoyed by whoever’s living around there, I guess.
[0:19:27 – 0:19:31] Adam Snowlog: And overcame that and still won by four and a half hours.
[0:19:31 – 0:19:32] Adam Snowlog: It’s just ridiculous.
[0:19:32 – 0:19:36] Adam Snowlog: Dude just trains year-round just for the Iditarod.
[0:19:36 – 0:19:39] Adam Snowlog: Doesn’t really race a ton of other races, if at all.
[0:19:40 – 0:19:45] Adam Snowlog: Basically, him and his dad got two mega kennels, and they’re just cranking out victories.
[0:19:45 – 0:19:48] Adam Snowlog: They’re kind of like the New York Yankees of the Iditarod at this point.
[0:19:49 – 0:19:55] Adam Snowlog: And if they don’t win, it’s almost ridiculous somehow if they don’t win, even when everything’s stacked against them.
[0:19:55 – 0:19:55] Adam Snowlog: So…
[0:19:57 – 0:19:58] Adam Snowlog: Really impressive, though.
[0:19:58 – 0:20:04] Adam Snowlog: I’m getting pretty salty because it’s like watching Tom Brady just win and win and win, and you’re like, come on, let somebody else win.
[0:20:04 – 0:20:07] Adam Snowlog: I want a little variety.
[0:20:07 – 0:20:11] Adam Snowlog: It’s not really all that much fun watching the same team just dominate year after year, right?
[0:20:13 – 0:20:14] Adam Snowlog: But you’ve got to hand it to him.
[0:20:14 – 0:20:15] Adam Snowlog: The guys are a hell of a dog, man.
[0:20:17 – 0:20:20] Adam Snowlog: He’s just on a whole other level right now.
[0:20:22 – 0:20:23] Adam Snowlog: Pretty impressive.
[0:20:23 – 0:20:38] Adam Snowlog: Launched his main attack where he took the lead out of the old woman cabin on the Caltag portage, which I someday envision us setting up on and running a pronto lodge out of there and handing out corndogs and just like camped out and
[0:20:39 – 0:20:54] Adam Snowlog: watch the show because it’s kind of the pivotal point in the race every year is when you leave the Yukon River at Caltech and you go over land on the Caltech Portage to the coast to Unalakleet and it’s a long run across.
[0:20:54 – 0:20:56] Adam Snowlog: Most teams do not do that in one run.
[0:20:56 – 0:20:57] Adam Snowlog: It’s 85 miles.
[0:20:59 – 0:21:13] Adam Snowlog: Overland with a pretty good climb up off the river and then eventually making your way back down to sea level and Yeah, you’re going from like usually at least on the northern route this year is from like mile 629 to 714 and
[0:21:16 – 0:21:22] Adam Snowlog: But about halfway, there’s Old Woman Creek joins the Umalakleet River.
[0:21:22 – 0:21:26] Adam Snowlog: And there’s a little like, it’s just a shelter cabin there.
[0:21:26 – 0:21:28] Adam Snowlog: It’s called the Old Woman Cabin.
[0:21:28 – 0:21:29] Adam Snowlog: It’s about halfway.
[0:21:29 – 0:21:31] Adam Snowlog: It’s a really good spot for a rest.
[0:21:32 – 0:21:40] Adam Snowlog: This year, the top five or six teams were all resting there together, and that was the last time they were all together.
[0:21:41 – 0:21:44] Adam Snowlog: Actually, I think Jesse went out ahead of them.
[0:21:44 – 0:21:45] Adam Snowlog: Yes, he did.
[0:21:46 – 0:21:50] Adam Snowlog: Jesse left first, and Dallas followed him out of there.
[0:21:50 – 0:21:54] Adam Snowlog: And then Jesse stopped in Unalakleet, which a lot of people, most teams do stop there.
[0:21:54 – 0:22:03] Adam Snowlog: There’s a pizza parlor and a really good airport, and you can usually get some of your crew in there to get a little camaraderie.
[0:22:05 – 0:22:11] Adam Snowlog: But what Dallas did was he just went beyond there to the Blueberry Hills, which is…
[0:22:14 – 0:22:18] Adam Snowlog: And, you know, that’s a move that a lot of people have made.
[0:22:19 – 0:22:24] Adam Snowlog: And, you know, from the Old Woman Cabin to Unalakoolied isn’t that far.
[0:22:24 – 0:22:37] Adam Snowlog: So if you’re on kind of a schedule of running 60 miles, 65 miles, and then you don’t want to stop right away, you want to keep going, stop in the Blueberry Hills, and then that sets you up to go beyond Shaktoolik.
[0:22:38 – 0:22:46] Adam Snowlog: to the shelter cabin out on the little mountain point, or Nick’s cabin is where he got shut down when you’re out there.
[0:22:46 – 0:22:54] Adam Snowlog: A lot of races hinge on that point north of Shaktoolik before you cross the Norton Sound sea ice.
[0:22:55 – 0:22:56] Adam Snowlog: Have I lost anybody?
[0:22:56 – 0:22:57] Adam Snowlog: Is anybody still listening?
[0:22:58 – 0:23:01] Adam Snowlog: I’ve probably gone too in-depth here, but…
[0:23:03 – 0:23:13] Adam Snowlog: Anyways, um, from there, then Dallas was just ahead by like a half a rest and, uh, that lead just kept growing all the way to white mountain and that was the race.
[0:23:14 – 0:23:23] Adam Snowlog: So, um, but you know, a lot of good teams finished and, uh, overall no crazy conditions.
[0:23:23 – 0:23:24] Adam Snowlog: They had some soft trail.
[0:23:25 – 0:23:26] Adam Snowlog: There’s a crazy moose attack.
[0:23:26 – 0:23:27] Adam Snowlog: Um,
[0:23:29 – 0:23:36] Adam Snowlog: I don’t know, overall it’s a super weird year for mushing, but, uh, I want to pull up the fantasy Iditarod and just give a shout out to a couple of folks.
[0:23:36 – 0:23:43] Adam Snowlog: And then we can, uh, I think, I think close it out on the Iditarod talk and probably mushing talk for the season.
[0:23:46 – 0:23:46] Adam Snowlog: Uh, right.
[0:23:46 – 0:23:47] Adam Snowlog: Fantasy Iditarod.
[0:23:48 – 0:23:48] Adam Snowlog: Let’s see.
[0:23:48 – 0:23:51] Adam Snowlog: We had 22 teams in the tumble home pack.
[0:23:53 – 0:24:00] Adam Snowlog: And there was 2,541 teams overall nationwide.
[0:24:02 – 0:24:07] Adam Snowlog: And I’m pretty sure we can call it for the tumble home pack, even though
[0:24:08 – 0:24:10] Adam Snowlog: The awards have not been given out yet.
[0:24:12 – 0:24:18] Adam Snowlog: The Red Lantern came in today, so there’s no more teams still racing, but they have to have the banquet yet.
[0:24:19 – 0:24:26] Adam Snowlog: And so I’ll be tuning in and watching the banquet as part of my insider package, and that’s where they give out the awards.
[0:24:26 – 0:24:34] Adam Snowlog: And those do carry some pretty heavy bonus points, but I think that we can call it because there’s no way that anybody’s catching packet counter
[0:24:35 – 0:24:45] Adam Snowlog: I’m gonna have a drink of the homemade rhubarb mango wine for packet counter.
[0:24:45 – 0:24:46] Adam Snowlog: Congratulations.
[0:24:47 – 0:24:47] Adam Snowlog: Sips to you.
[0:24:50 – 0:24:52] Adam Snowlog: Yeah, I started this wine in December.
[0:24:52 – 0:24:55] Adam Snowlog: Rhubarb, mostly rhubarb, a little bit of mango.
[0:24:57 – 0:25:01] Adam Snowlog: It’s about 13 pounds of rhubarb and two pounds of mango.
[0:25:03 – 0:25:20] Adam Snowlog: That’s the ratio, seven pounds of sugar and a bunch of clean North shore water from the, from the pure well packet counter is up to 12,108 points as of recording here.
[0:25:20 – 0:25:24] Adam Snowlog: Uh, I don’t know if I said it, it’s the 16th of March, 2024.
[0:25:25 – 0:25:25] Adam Snowlog: It’s a Saturday night.
[0:25:25 – 0:25:28] Adam Snowlog: We’re letting loose here in the tumble shed.
[0:25:30 – 0:25:34] Adam Snowlog: Packet counter is currently in first and in 174th place overall.
[0:25:34 – 0:25:38] Adam Snowlog: Uh, so that’s really impressive.
[0:25:39 – 0:25:40] Adam Snowlog: Uh, let’s pull up the team.
[0:25:42 – 0:25:47] Adam Snowlog: You got Jeff Dieter here, of course, 4,000 gold and Jeff Dieter in a top five position.
[0:25:47 – 0:25:49] Adam Snowlog: That’s incredible value.
[0:25:49 – 0:25:51] Adam Snowlog: Also had Amanda Otto at 4,000 gold.
[0:25:52 – 0:25:53] Adam Snowlog: Ridiculous.
[0:25:54 – 0:25:59] Adam Snowlog: Wally Robinson was top 10, running out of the Robinson Racing Kennel.
[0:25:59 – 0:26:06] Adam Snowlog: And like three time in a row, junior, I did run champions there for Laura Robinson.
[0:26:07 – 0:26:15] Adam Snowlog: So Wally Robinson, not a rookie by any means, a real vet, but really had an impressive race for 3,000 gold.
[0:26:15 – 0:26:16] Adam Snowlog: That’s just insane.
[0:26:18 – 0:26:23] Adam Snowlog: Had Ryan Reddington and had Josie Thier, Rookie of the Year at 3,000 gold.
[0:26:24 – 0:26:28] Adam Snowlog: Swede, I think Swedish musher, Severin Cathery.
[0:26:29 – 0:26:33] Adam Snowlog: And did have Hunter Keith, who scratched in Unalakleet.
[0:26:35 – 0:26:50] Adam Snowlog: with an unfortunate, uh, dog death, um, which I haven’t heard anything as to what happened there, but, uh, Hunter Keith is, uh, I mentioned previously on Snowlog and, uh,
[0:26:52 – 0:27:06] Adam Snowlog: real gem and made it a long way so still a lot of points there packet counter that’s a heck of a team I don’t see any way you’re gonna get caught at this point especially with the rookie of the year on there so you’re still gonna get bonus points for rookie of the year
[0:27:08 – 0:27:13] Adam Snowlog: You might get Most Improved Musher from Jeff Dieter, I think, or Amanda Otto.
[0:27:14 – 0:27:14] Adam Snowlog: I don’t know.
[0:27:14 – 0:27:16] Adam Snowlog: That’s going to be hard to overcome.
[0:27:17 – 0:27:28] Adam Snowlog: I was talking about a dear friend of the show and derelict attorney, Josh, who was actually at the start helping out Aaron Altomus and Matt Schmidt there at the starting line in Willow.
[0:27:29 – 0:27:32] Adam Snowlog: I saw him on the Insider looking handsome as a devil and, uh,
[0:27:33 – 0:27:57] Adam Snowlog: his orange parka and a beautiful beard and uh he looks to have second place lockdown for the tumble unpack with buguege team buguege is always a force to be reckoned with in fantasy mushing uh we’ll look at his team here he’s got dallas jesse holmes and hunter keith how did you afford this team and josie tier
[0:27:58 – 0:28:02] Adam Snowlog: Oh my, and Wally Robinson, so yeah, okay, this is ridiculous.
[0:28:03 – 0:28:12] Adam Snowlog: It’s like he knows something about mushing, being a musher himself, and was actually up there in Alaska for the race this year, so that’s some pretty good intel.
[0:28:13 – 0:28:15] Adam Snowlog: And who’s in third here?
[0:28:16 – 0:28:18] Adam Snowlog: Somebody named Francois Lacastor.
[0:28:20 – 0:28:21] Adam Snowlog: Never heard of him.
[0:28:23 – 0:28:25] Adam Snowlog: Looks like he likes Pete Kaiser a lot.
[0:28:25 – 0:28:28] Adam Snowlog: And shout-out to Laura Kittleson.
[0:28:30 – 0:28:33] Adam Snowlog: Came into the shoot, rookie finisher.
[0:28:34 – 0:28:42] Adam Snowlog: And she, like, grabbed the microphone from the clipboard lady and just, like, gave an extreme shout-out and, like, pep talk for the entire team.
[0:28:43 – 0:28:45] Adam Snowlog: I love it when mushers talk about their lead dogs.
[0:28:46 – 0:28:48] Adam Snowlog: And you get the golden harness.
[0:28:48 – 0:28:50] Adam Snowlog: And you get a lot of, like…
[0:28:51 – 0:28:52] Adam Snowlog: A lot of people talking about their lead dogs.
[0:28:52 – 0:28:56] Adam Snowlog: You may hear a little snippet about a special dog here and there.
[0:28:56 – 0:28:59] Adam Snowlog: Like Chicken on Aaron Altimus’ team.
[0:28:59 – 0:29:00] Adam Snowlog: Shout out to Chicken.
[0:29:01 – 0:29:03] Adam Snowlog: Great team dog.
[0:29:03 – 0:29:05] Adam Snowlog: Great overall dog and great dog name.
[0:29:09 – 0:29:09] Adam Snowlog: Yeah.
[0:29:10 – 0:29:19] Adam Snowlog: But Laura Kittleson just came into the shoot and literally just gave a little mini heartfelt speech about each dog that she’d basically raised since they were puppies.
[0:29:21 – 0:29:29] Adam Snowlog: And somebody on the chat on the Discord was like, this is not our Discord, this is a separate dog mushing Discord I was in.
[0:29:30 – 0:29:32] Adam Snowlog: Yeah, they were like, wow, she’s got a future.
[0:29:32 – 0:29:34] Adam Snowlog: It’s like a night dinner at Insider.
[0:29:34 – 0:29:40] Adam Snowlog: She’s got a natural knack and a talent for talking about the dogs, which is what it is all about.
[0:29:43 – 0:29:49] Adam Snowlog: Anybody following this race or covering this race or talking about this race, you ever listen to a musher interview?
[0:29:50 – 0:29:52] Adam Snowlog: It’s literally, it’s all about the dogs.
[0:29:54 – 0:29:56] Adam Snowlog: And I mean, it’s a cliche, but it is.
[0:29:56 – 0:29:57] Adam Snowlog: It’s all about the dogs.
[0:29:57 – 0:29:59] Adam Snowlog: Like, why do I even, why do we even care about it?
[0:29:59 – 0:30:11] Adam Snowlog: Like, the mushers are cute in their own right, but they got cool outfits and the sleds are neat and the sense of adventure is really compelling, but…
[0:30:12 – 0:30:22] Adam Snowlog: What really interests me most in these races and ski-joring with Arrow myself is not really the racing so much as the dogs.
[0:30:22 – 0:30:25] Adam Snowlog: It’s all about the dogs, and it’s a lot of fun watching them.
[0:30:25 – 0:30:28] Adam Snowlog: You get that insider live video going from one of the checkpoints.
[0:30:29 – 0:30:40] Adam Snowlog: And you sort of just watch these dogs, you know, and it reminds you of being out at the sawbill checkpoint for the Bear Grease, getting to be so close to those teams.
[0:30:40 – 0:30:45] Adam Snowlog: And it’s really just impressive and a wonderful thing to see.
[0:30:45 – 0:30:47] Adam Snowlog: Like, these dogs love to run.
[0:30:49 – 0:30:54] Adam Snowlog: They love to run more than, you know, anything you or I could love in this mortal life.
[0:30:55 – 0:30:56] Adam Snowlog: So…
[0:30:57 – 0:30:59] Adam Snowlog: I think that’s a good place to leave that dead rod.
[0:30:59 – 0:31:03] Adam Snowlog: Thanks to everybody who played Fantasy Mushing and joined the Tumblewum Pack.
[0:31:03 – 0:31:08] Adam Snowlog: I believe 22 mushers in the Tumblewum Pack is certainly a record.
[0:31:10 – 0:31:19] Adam Snowlog: I’m going to have one more sip of the Rhubarb Mango Homemade Wine and have a little bit of a regroup, and then we’re going to come back at you with the finale of The Two Towers.
[0:31:20 – 0:31:20] Adam Snowlog: Oh, my.
[0:31:20 – 0:31:20] Adam Snowlog: Okay.
[0:31:25 – 0:31:31] Adam Snowlog: But now something is about to happen that has not happened for an age.
[0:31:33 – 0:31:33] Adam Snowlog: Antmoot.
[0:31:34 – 0:31:35] Adam Snowlog: Good, good, good.
[0:31:36 – 0:31:40] Adam Snowlog: Yes, we’re arming the children and we’re hiding the women in a cave.
[0:31:40 – 0:31:44] Adam Snowlog: We’re here in Helm’s Deep reporting Lyme from the siege.
[0:31:45 – 0:31:46] Adam Snowlog: It’s not looking good, Clark.
[0:31:47 – 0:31:48] Adam Snowlog: Oh, it’s not looking good.
[0:31:49 – 0:31:57] Adam Snowlog: Uh, the two towers finale, um, both bringing lots of sense of dread and then a little bit of hope at the end, maybe.
[0:31:57 – 0:32:07] Adam Snowlog: Uh, but then it ends with like a shot of the horrible volcano and you’re like, well, I don’t know about that, but we got the Entmoot going for us, which is nice.
[0:32:08 – 0:32:22] Adam Snowlog: Uh, the Ent’s heavily featured here in the final chapter of the, the two towers and, uh, at least one of the towers, uh, I guess both of the towers are heavily involved as well.
[0:32:22 – 0:32:23] Adam Snowlog: Uh, properly named.
[0:32:23 – 0:32:26] Adam Snowlog: Very, very nicely done, Peter Jackson.
[0:32:26 – 0:32:30] Adam Snowlog: I’m going to give a shout out and another sip of the rhubarb mango wine for you, Peter.
[0:32:34 – 0:33:01] Adam Snowlog: uh helms deep yeah they’re like the elves thankfully show up because they’re i think they’re screwed probably huh they’re like bar them up they’re by nightfall we’re in for it it’s coming and they uh they reinforce the doors they send the women and the children down to the into the caves uh to whimper and then but then they start arming some of the children they’re like hey
[0:33:02 – 0:33:08] Adam Snowlog: hey rascal you’re looking strong enough put on a helmet and uh here’s a shovel
[0:33:09 – 0:33:10] Adam Snowlog: You know, go kill a couple orcs.
[0:33:11 – 0:33:12] Adam Snowlog: You got this, no problem.
[0:33:13 – 0:33:15] Adam Snowlog: So they’re arming everybody.
[0:33:15 – 0:33:17] Adam Snowlog: The elves show up at the last second from Rivendell.
[0:33:18 – 0:33:25] Adam Snowlog: And then as soon as they get inside the gate and they button everything up, it just starts lightning, thunder, and pouring damn rain, buckets of rain.
[0:33:26 – 0:33:27] Adam Snowlog: And what a scene.
[0:33:27 – 0:33:29] Adam Snowlog: I had immediately, like, got goosebumps going here.
[0:33:29 – 0:33:31] Adam Snowlog: Um…
[0:33:32 – 0:33:59] Adam Snowlog: you know i’m on the edge of my seat the uric high are coming they’re just marching in under the lightning um is this how it is in the books because it sets up pretty well for film and i can’t imagine tolkien understood that what hd 4k video was going to look like in the future if he wrote this scene with lightning thunder and rain like that just shows what a visionary wow you know
[0:34:00 – 0:34:02] Adam Snowlog: A siege of a major castle at night.
[0:34:03 – 0:34:04] Adam Snowlog: Where have I heard this before?
[0:34:05 – 0:34:06] Adam Snowlog: It’s incredible.
[0:34:06 – 0:34:08] Adam Snowlog: The Uruk-hai are very scary.
[0:34:09 – 0:34:10] Adam Snowlog: And in my notes, they’re pretty scary.
[0:34:10 – 0:34:11] Adam Snowlog: No, they’re really scary.
[0:34:12 – 0:34:14] Adam Snowlog: The White Hand is coming for them.
[0:34:15 – 0:34:17] Adam Snowlog: And it looks like a never-ending stream.
[0:34:18 – 0:34:22] Adam Snowlog: Just a wave of orc gremlins.
[0:34:22 – 0:34:23] Adam Snowlog: I don’t know what these guys are.
[0:34:24 – 0:34:24] Adam Snowlog: They’re freaky.
[0:34:26 – 0:34:29] Adam Snowlog: They just try to shoot as many of them in the neck as they can.
[0:34:30 – 0:34:31] Adam Snowlog: Repel the horde.
[0:34:32 – 0:34:35] Adam Snowlog: And they stack a couple things in here.
[0:34:35 – 0:34:46] Adam Snowlog: This is like a Petersburg Civil War kind of tactic where they just stack a hole full of explosives and send a guy in there with a sparkler.
[0:34:47 – 0:34:49] Adam Snowlog: and blow that whole wall to smithereens.
[0:34:50 – 0:34:53] Adam Snowlog: And that’s how you finally, you know, turn the tide of the battle.
[0:34:54 – 0:34:55] Adam Snowlog: Blast a hole in the wall.
[0:34:56 – 0:34:58] Adam Snowlog: There’s some chunk of rock coming off that thing.
[0:34:58 – 0:34:59] Adam Snowlog: I don’t know if it’s rock.
[0:35:02 – 0:35:04] Adam Snowlog: It’s a chunk of wall, either way.
[0:35:04 – 0:35:07] Adam Snowlog: Like the size of a bus flying off that thing.
[0:35:08 – 0:35:11] Adam Snowlog: Makes pretty quick work of the defenses there, so…
[0:35:12 – 0:35:26] Adam Snowlog: There’s several layers of Helm’s Deep, like a stone onion boiling in a pot, and they really got through that first level pretty good due to the sneak attack with the bombs.
[0:35:27 – 0:35:29] Adam Snowlog: Those are some pretty impressive-looking bombs, too.
[0:35:29 – 0:35:30] Adam Snowlog: I was pretty impressed.
[0:35:30 – 0:35:32] Adam Snowlog: I was impressed with the bombs.
[0:35:32 – 0:35:34] Adam Snowlog: I’m really impressed with the ladder game.
[0:35:34 – 0:35:38] Adam Snowlog: The Zurich High came in with some high-quality ladder games,
[0:35:39 – 0:35:40] Adam Snowlog: I don’t like being on a ladder, I’ll tell you what.
[0:35:40 – 0:35:42] Adam Snowlog: But those looked like pretty sturdy ladder.
[0:35:43 – 0:35:51] Adam Snowlog: And they were sneaking them in because you didn’t see, like, the ladder brigade must have been hiding in the back of the lines at first.
[0:35:51 – 0:35:53] Adam Snowlog: And they just brought those ladders right up and, like, whipped them over.
[0:35:54 – 0:35:56] Adam Snowlog: And perfectly built.
[0:35:56 – 0:36:01] Adam Snowlog: Like, somehow they had the schematics to the entire castle or something.
[0:36:03 – 0:36:04] Adam Snowlog: Who could have done that?
[0:36:04 – 0:36:06] Adam Snowlog: They were perfectly built, though.
[0:36:06 – 0:36:07] Adam Snowlog: Nice ladders.
[0:36:09 – 0:36:13] Adam Snowlog: Uh, you know, they start ramming the gate on the causeway.
[0:36:14 – 0:36:16] Adam Snowlog: And, uh, they ram that thing to bits.
[0:36:17 – 0:36:18] Adam Snowlog: It is not looking good, boys.
[0:36:18 – 0:36:21] Adam Snowlog: It is not looking good at all.
[0:36:22 – 0:36:23] Adam Snowlog: Um, the…
[0:36:27 – 0:36:32] Adam Snowlog: Treebeard and the Ents are having a council, but we’ll get to that in just a second.
[0:36:33 – 0:36:34] Adam Snowlog: Oh, boy.
[0:36:34 – 0:36:36] Adam Snowlog: Oh, boy, ladies and gentlemen.
[0:36:36 – 0:36:37] Adam Snowlog: Little man’s chuffed.
[0:36:38 – 0:36:39] Adam Snowlog: It’s a Saturday night.
[0:36:39 – 0:36:39] Adam Snowlog: He’s out.
[0:36:41 – 0:36:42] Adam Snowlog: But now he’s back to bed.
[0:36:43 – 0:36:44] Adam Snowlog: But he did come out to say hi.
[0:36:44 – 0:36:45] Adam Snowlog: Pike says hi.
[0:36:47 – 0:36:50] Adam Snowlog: Your part in this tale is over, Master Mary.
[0:36:50 – 0:36:51] Adam Snowlog: Go back home.
[0:36:52 – 0:36:55] Adam Snowlog: But they’re like, there won’t be a Shire, Mr. Pippin.
[0:36:56 – 0:36:59] Adam Snowlog: Uh, yeah, the trees do not want to go.
[0:36:59 – 0:37:00] Adam Snowlog: They do not want to be hasty.
[0:37:00 – 0:37:03] Adam Snowlog: They’re like, we don’t want anything to do with this war.
[0:37:04 – 0:37:06] Adam Snowlog: But, um, I don’t know.
[0:37:06 – 0:37:08] Adam Snowlog: The hobbits like doing a trick on them.
[0:37:08 – 0:37:09] Adam Snowlog: Cause they’re like, just fine.
[0:37:09 – 0:37:10] Adam Snowlog: Take us north.
[0:37:10 – 0:37:11] Adam Snowlog: But then they’re like, no, take us south.
[0:37:13 – 0:37:15] TV: I always liked going south.
[0:37:15 – 0:37:17] TV: It feels like going downhill.
[0:37:18 – 0:37:21] Adam Snowlog: I like the Ents, friends.
[0:37:22 – 0:37:27] Adam Snowlog: Anybody listening to these things, I hope you can understand how much I love the Ents.
[0:37:28 – 0:37:30] Adam Snowlog: It’s my favorite part so far of the whole story.
[0:37:30 – 0:37:35] Adam Snowlog: I hope that we get to see more Ent, because they did end up calling it the last March of the Ent.
[0:37:36 – 0:37:41] Adam Snowlog: And they kind of went into like a flood zone attack scenario.
[0:37:42 – 0:37:44] Adam Snowlog: And they’re starting a bunch of them on fire.
[0:37:45 – 0:37:46] Adam Snowlog: Trees are easily starting on fire.
[0:37:47 – 0:37:49] Adam Snowlog: They don’t really have a defense against fire.
[0:37:50 – 0:37:53] Adam Snowlog: And they’re attacking a volcano society wizard, so…
[0:37:55 – 0:38:02] Adam Snowlog: I can see why they call it the last March of the Ents, and they’re probably not going to come out of this very well, but it seemed like they sort of did.
[0:38:03 – 0:38:04] Adam Snowlog: Maybe we’ll see more of the Ents.
[0:38:04 – 0:38:13] Adam Snowlog: I sure hope so, but I got a lot of Ent quotes in here from Treebeard, and I hope this is not the end because we still haven’t seen the Lady Ents, right?
[0:38:14 – 0:38:14] Adam Snowlog: So I’m hoping…
[0:38:16 – 0:38:25] Adam Snowlog: I’m hoping there might be some women in this story at some point that actually matter, other than a couple elves who seem to be able to see the future.
[0:38:26 – 0:38:29] Adam Snowlog: There hasn’t been a whole lot in the mention of the Lady Ents.
[0:38:30 – 0:38:32] Adam Snowlog: Yeah, I don’t know what’s going on in this world.
[0:38:32 – 0:38:36] Adam Snowlog: Middle-earth is like just the patriarchy, huh?
[0:38:37 – 0:38:38] Adam Snowlog: Maybe they need to…
[0:38:38 – 0:38:43] Adam Snowlog: Watch the Barbie movie and, you know, get in touch with their feelings a little bit more.
[0:38:43 – 0:38:49] Adam Snowlog: Tolkien, for all he’s worth, doesn’t seem to have written any powerful female leads or any characters at all.
[0:38:50 – 0:38:53] Adam Snowlog: So I don’t know what’s going on here.
[0:38:53 – 0:38:56] Adam Snowlog: Maybe that’ll change in the third movie, in the third act here.
[0:38:59 – 0:39:17] Adam Snowlog: They get out to the south end of the forest, I guess, and there’s a bunch of trees, as we noted, that got bobbied and wrecked pretty hard by Saruman and his horrible orc army, mine pit slurry orc, came and got them, so…
[0:39:18 – 0:39:21] Adam Snowlog: He said he had known these trees since they were nuts and acorns.
[0:39:21 – 0:39:23] Adam Snowlog: A wizard should know better.
[0:39:24 – 0:39:27] Adam Snowlog: And basically that’s what turns them because they’re like, we’re not getting in on this thing.
[0:39:28 – 0:39:34] Adam Snowlog: After a deep deliberation, we don’t want to go to war as a tree army.
[0:39:35 – 0:39:35] Adam Snowlog: No, thank you.
[0:39:36 – 0:39:38] Adam Snowlog: We’re going to stay in the forest and leave it be.
[0:39:38 – 0:39:39] Adam Snowlog: But they see what they’ve done.
[0:39:41 – 0:39:43] Adam Snowlog: And they’re like, Bobby and Rex cannot get away with this.
[0:39:44 – 0:39:46] Adam Snowlog: They will not get away with this.
[0:39:46 – 0:39:57] Adam Snowlog: We’re getting some retribution, some sick revenge on Isancard for this uncle wrecked treachery, this wicked treachery against the tree.
[0:39:58 – 0:40:00] Adam Snowlog: And so begins the last march of the Ents.
[0:40:00 – 0:40:10] Adam Snowlog: They got the boulder attack, which anybody who’s read or watched a lot of videos on Sasquatches know people say that Sasquatches throw boulders.
[0:40:12 – 0:40:15] Adam Snowlog: to warn off campers or people trespassing on their turf.
[0:40:17 – 0:40:21] Adam Snowlog: But man, those trees are really chucking some heavy boulders.
[0:40:21 – 0:40:25] Adam Snowlog: So maybe it’s the trees that are chucking them.
[0:40:25 – 0:40:26] Adam Snowlog: Has anybody considered that?
[0:40:27 – 0:40:28] Adam Snowlog: Maybe there’s Ents.
[0:40:28 – 0:40:33] Adam Snowlog: I’ve never really heard of anybody claiming to see an Ent in the Boundary Waters.
[0:40:35 – 0:40:36] Adam Snowlog: I’ve never seen an Ent that I…
[0:40:38 – 0:40:46] Adam Snowlog: I mean, it’s possible I’ve hooked a hammock up to an ent, and it just let me sleep there.
[0:40:48 – 0:40:58] Adam Snowlog: I’ve always thought that there’s a good chance I’ve been in the Boundary Waters, like I’ve been within 10 meters of a mountain lion up in a tree or something, and I just never sensed its presence or saw it.
[0:40:59 – 0:41:02] Adam Snowlog: And it just sort of quietly let me go by on the portage.
[0:41:04 – 0:41:15] Adam Snowlog: with a canoe on top wearing it like a funny hat and I also now get the sense that there’s a probably a good chance that I’ve actually like slept a night in hammock like attached to an ant.
[0:41:16 – 0:41:17] Adam Snowlog: Does anybody else feel this way?
[0:41:20 – 0:41:31] Adam Snowlog: Having just now watched these movies at age 42, I’m a little worried, like, is that disrespectful to the Ents and the Ent culture to hang a hammock on them?
[0:41:31 – 0:41:32] Adam Snowlog: Is there any way I’m supposed to know?
[0:41:33 – 0:41:36] Adam Snowlog: I always do tend to go for the biggest tree available.
[0:41:36 – 0:41:48] Adam Snowlog: Not because I feel like you need it for security, it’s just majestic, and it feels amazing to hang in a big tree, just as good as, like, hugging a big tree or simply just gazing up into the crown of a beautiful, massive…
[0:41:49 – 0:42:02] Adam Snowlog: ancient tree um it seems like all the ends are pretty big uh so i don’t know um i’m gonna probably think a little bit differently next time i hang in a hammock now knowing about the ent
[0:42:06 – 0:42:06] Adam Snowlog: I also…
[0:42:07 – 0:42:11] Adam Snowlog: They throw boulders, which is cool, but I also love that they busted the dam.
[0:42:11 – 0:42:17] Adam Snowlog: This is like a real monkey-wrenching scenario here where they just bust the dam and let the river run free.
[0:42:18 – 0:42:21] Adam Snowlog: So, I mean, Edward Abbey would be thrilled, I’m sure, with the Ents.
[0:42:22 – 0:42:22] Adam Snowlog: And…
[0:42:24 – 0:42:25] Adam Snowlog: I don’t know.
[0:42:25 – 0:42:37] Adam Snowlog: I assume everybody listening to this is a friend of destroying dams and government property in order to flood Isengard and flood the mines and the weaponry forge.
[0:42:39 – 0:42:40] Adam Snowlog: Knock that stuff to bits.
[0:42:40 – 0:42:41] Adam Snowlog: I’d love to see that.
[0:42:42 – 0:42:44] Adam Snowlog: We did get some dragon Nazguls.
[0:42:45 – 0:42:45] Adam Snowlog: Hold on.
[0:42:46 – 0:42:47] Adam Snowlog: We got some more Nazguls here?
[0:42:47 – 0:42:47] Adam Snowlog: Hold on.
[0:42:47 – 0:42:49] Adam Snowlog: Do we have a Nazgul alarm?
[0:42:59 – 0:43:00] Adam Snowlog: That’s the best Nazgul drop we had?
[0:43:02 – 0:43:03] Adam Snowlog: There’s nobody at the board.
[0:43:03 – 0:43:06] Adam Snowlog: I’m just sitting out here in the shed by myself.
[0:43:06 – 0:43:07] Adam Snowlog: I don’t even know where that drop came from.
[0:43:10 – 0:43:12] Adam Snowlog: Dragon Nazgul has come to Gondor.
[0:43:14 – 0:43:23] Adam Snowlog: Of course, Mr. Frodo tries to almost sacrifice himself to one of the Nazgul, and Mr. Sam saves him once again.
[0:43:25 – 0:43:25] TV: It’s me.
[0:43:26 – 0:43:27] Adam Snowlog: It’s your Sam.
[0:43:28 – 0:43:30] Adam Snowlog: Don’t you know you’re Sam?
[0:43:31 – 0:43:36] Adam Snowlog: There’s good in this world, damn it, Mr. Frodo, and it’s worth fighting for.
[0:43:36 – 0:43:53] Adam Snowlog: So many cheesy, just horribly cheesy, cheesy lines in this entire story, but, I mean, they’re good lines, and there is good in this world, and, yes, friends, it is worth fighting for.
[0:43:55 – 0:43:57] Adam Snowlog: Helms Deep makes it to sunrise.
[0:43:57 – 0:44:03] Adam Snowlog: Somehow they retreat to the keep and hold them off just enough.
[0:44:05 – 0:44:07] Adam Snowlog: How many layers of that onion is there?
[0:44:07 – 0:44:08] Adam Snowlog: They just keep retreating again.
[0:44:08 – 0:44:12] Adam Snowlog: All right, we’re going back to the real, the inner keep now.
[0:44:13 – 0:44:17] Adam Snowlog: We’re barely, we’re almost with the women and the children in the cave at this point.
[0:44:18 – 0:44:19] Adam Snowlog: And then the sun comes up.
[0:44:20 – 0:44:24] Adam Snowlog: And they’re like, yeah, remember, at dawn on the fifth day, look to the east.
[0:44:25 – 0:44:27] Adam Snowlog: And they blast the big old horn.
[0:44:27 – 0:44:28] Adam Snowlog: They’re like, fuck, fuck.
[0:44:30 – 0:44:33] Adam Snowlog: Oh, heck.
[0:44:35 – 0:44:36] Adam Snowlog: I don’t have a loon call button.
[0:44:37 – 0:44:38] Adam Snowlog: Blast the horn.
[0:44:38 – 0:44:39] Adam Snowlog: Let’s just ride this thing out.
[0:44:39 – 0:44:41] Adam Snowlog: Let’s counterattack these guys.
[0:44:42 – 0:44:43] Adam Snowlog: We got the Sunrise coming.
[0:44:43 – 0:44:44] Adam Snowlog: We’re going to get them.
[0:44:45 – 0:44:50] Adam Snowlog: And they go on the Rohan counteroffensive.
[0:44:50 – 0:44:51] Adam Snowlog: And then, of course, there’s Gandalf.
[0:44:52 – 0:45:00] Adam Snowlog: In the east, he arrives with the Roharim’s horse squad, and Aragorn jumps on his cousin’s horse.
[0:45:00 – 0:45:02] Adam Snowlog: It’s just my cousin’s horse.
[0:45:02 – 0:45:06] Adam Snowlog: It’s just my cousin’s horse.
[0:45:06 – 0:45:08] Adam Snowlog: It’s just my cousin’s horse.
[0:45:17 – 0:45:19] Adam Snowlog: The battle for Helm’s Deep is over.
[0:45:19 – 0:45:22] Adam Snowlog: But the battle for Middle-earth has begun.
[0:45:23 – 0:45:24] Adam Snowlog: They wipe them.
[0:45:24 – 0:45:26] Adam Snowlog: And then they run, too.
[0:45:26 – 0:45:26] Adam Snowlog: I can’t believe…
[0:45:27 – 0:45:29] Adam Snowlog: I’m pretty sure they’re instructed to, like, murder them all, right?
[0:45:30 – 0:45:30] Adam Snowlog: And they, like…
[0:45:31 – 0:45:38] Adam Snowlog: The scene of those, like, Arakais or whatever, like, running off, scared, and then they get swept up by the Ents at the end, too.
[0:45:38 – 0:45:40] Adam Snowlog: Like, they’re just decimated.
[0:45:41 – 0:45:42] Adam Snowlog: I can’t believe they actually turn and run, though, but…
[0:45:44 – 0:45:49] Adam Snowlog: So the Rohirrims came down massive horse victory.
[0:45:49 – 0:45:57] Adam Snowlog: They’re going in the record books and into the horse rankers for the, what do you call it?
[0:46:00 – 0:46:00] Adam Snowlog: They flanked them.
[0:46:01 – 0:46:04] Adam Snowlog: Oh, the Rohirrims flanking maneuver at dawn.
[0:46:04 – 0:46:07] Adam Snowlog: That’s going into the horse ranker for sure with Gandalf.
[0:46:09 – 0:46:10] Adam Snowlog: Gandalf just is always there.
[0:46:12 – 0:46:13] Adam Snowlog: And he always gets the good lines.
[0:46:14 – 0:46:18] Adam Snowlog: All our hopes lie with two little hobbits alone in the wilderness.
[0:46:21 – 0:46:23] Adam Snowlog: Yeah, but there still hasn’t been any blood somehow.
[0:46:24 – 0:46:27] Adam Snowlog: Two full, like, nine-hour movies, no blood.
[0:46:28 – 0:46:31] Adam Snowlog: And still all the women are just hiding in the caves, apparently.
[0:46:31 – 0:46:36] Adam Snowlog: There’s no important women written into this story by Tolkien or Peter Jackson.
[0:46:37 – 0:46:41] Adam Snowlog: other than some telepathic elves so far.
[0:46:41 – 0:46:48] Adam Snowlog: So hopefully we see some more representation for those powerful, strong women in our lives.
[0:46:50 – 0:46:52] Adam Snowlog: Middle-earth, it’s really lacking of our
[0:46:54 – 0:46:57] Adam Snowlog: You know, let them fight and see what they can do.
[0:46:58 – 0:47:00] Adam Snowlog: They might have some better ideas than even fighting.
[0:47:00 – 0:47:02] Adam Snowlog: You know, maybe there’s diplomacy.
[0:47:02 – 0:47:04] Adam Snowlog: Anybody ever thought of that?
[0:47:05 – 0:47:14] Adam Snowlog: But I don’t really think you’re going to have any diplomacy with Saruman repping Sauron and his garbage, toxic attitude.
[0:47:16 – 0:47:23] Adam Snowlog: So we’re left waiting and fretting and worrying about what’s to come.
[0:47:24 – 0:47:36] Adam Snowlog: Gollum seems to be getting the better of the combo duo there and he’s basically like
[0:47:36 – 0:47:39] Adam Snowlog: You got to kill these hobbitses and take the ring for yourself.
[0:47:40 – 0:47:46] Adam Snowlog: And their column is referencing, let her kill the Trixie hobbitses.
[0:47:47 – 0:47:48] Adam Snowlog: Who is her?
[0:47:49 – 0:47:50] Adam Snowlog: And will she do it?
[0:47:51 – 0:47:54] Adam Snowlog: I doubt it, but I’m a little bit worried.
[0:47:56 – 0:47:59] Adam Snowlog: And that is the end of the two towers.
[0:47:59 – 0:48:02] Adam Snowlog: And we’ve got our final sip of the rhubarb mango wine here.
[0:48:05 – 0:48:20] Adam Snowlog: and uh i don’t know this uh seems to be a good place to leave it so who knows what’s gonna happen next who knows if we’ll get any more snow but we’re gonna stick with it we got three chapters left to go in the snow log whether it snows or not at this point i don’t even care
[0:48:21 – 0:48:29] Adam Snowlog: I tried to stick to my principles, but it is March 16th, and you’ve got to be realistic about these things.
[0:48:29 – 0:48:36] Adam Snowlog: I still do think there’s a really good chance we do get dumped on and just get in a massive amount of snow.
[0:48:37 – 0:48:39] Adam Snowlog: But it’s been pretty nice, I’ll say that.
[0:48:40 – 0:48:44] Adam Snowlog: The anti-winter was irksome, but now that we’re past the daylight savings time,
[0:48:44 – 0:48:52] Adam Snowlog: So it’s pretty nice that you can just work on firewise activities or general yard projects unimpeded.
[0:48:53 – 0:49:02] Adam Snowlog: And aside from a little bit of mud here and there, it’s looking pretty nice to just hang out and enjoy this early spring, I guess, at this point.
[0:49:03 – 0:49:06] Adam Snowlog: Who knows what’s around the corner.
[0:49:06 – 0:49:07] Adam Snowlog: It might snow again tomorrow.
[0:49:08 – 0:49:10] Adam Snowlog: It might snow next week.
[0:49:10 – 0:49:14] Adam Snowlog: And we always have to remember, friends, that snow takes many forms.
[0:49:14 – 0:49:16] Adam Snowlog: Thanks for being here tonight, friends.
[0:49:16 – 0:49:18] Adam Snowlog: Good, good, good, good, good.
