Iditabuddy message from Mith and Spirit

[Luna]

Think I leave this to The Xpress from Suldal.

Ahhh, so the Suldal Express. I got it! Haha, that was easy enough. Thanks Luna!

np heidi... thought you ment how to pronounce Eskil. And that I will leave for him. After all he's the moderator

[Heidi]

np heidi... thought you ment how to pronounce Eskil. And that I will leave for him. After all he's the moderator

Oh I thought Eskil was pronounced the way it sounds... ess-kill. But no? Oh well, maybe he can answer later. He must be busy teaching. Besides, I think we've hijacked Mith's thread! LOL

See y'all later. Keep your eyes on the trail...

[SuldalsXpressen]

Hmmm, I've been teaching alright!!

I spent one summer in mid-Sweden working on a bear project. When we were driving back to Oslo in seperate cars, I must have been driving a bit fast - because he always called me the xpress from Suldal (SuldalsXpressen) after that.

Now, my name is pronounced just as Heidi suggested: ess-kill or S-kill, in whatever way you want to write it. Many of my american friends kall me ess-keal, but that is wrong.

Nuff said!!

Eskil

[tinkerbel]

HAHAHAHA Eskil I have a brother, my partner in crime, nicknamed the Flying Dutchman who thinks German highways are for low altitude flying

*Waves at Mith & Spirit* .... or is it Spirit & Mith Looking at those watching the start pics I think Spirit may come in the door first

Sorry I'm dropping back in on a lot more new pages with many names I'm not familiar with ..... yet, so to whomever it may concern .... Thank you! Discrimination against differently abled is all over, but hardly ever out right. I've only once ever been told to my face they didn't want my "kind" there. It's 99% hidden in "smart" comments. Actually they think themselves they are smart hihi but they aren't fooling anyone. As soon as turn their heels they are gossip fodder for everybody who saw it and they are written off as human. While the think they are hurting me they are only proving they put the human(e) part in human being to shame. I only bother to educate humane beings who just haven't come in contact with differently abled people before. Simply because you can't teach an with a solid rock for a heart anything because they are too stupid to know the true value of health. LIFE is the best lesson of all for them and if I had a nickle for every who has later come back to tell me they now understand what it means being differently abled I'd be a multi millionair. With so many ugly diseases and drunk drivers out there it's often only a matter of time until they themselves or through a loved relative learn a harsh lesson
I read the posts on ITC seriously I peed my pants laughing. Some people can't possibly read their own posts and think they aren't mentally disabled ..... but they would be an insult to people with mental disability so I apologize for that.

Another misconception is that being in a wheelchair equals stupid. Like Mith I know my limits very well and we don't need to be told what they are. That in itself is already discriminating because it shows we're not being treated as a differently abled human beings. I don't take too kindly to people who feel they have to rescue me from making my own decisions. We have the common sense not to show up in places that we feel we can't handle. The mind can overcome incredible obstacles and differently abled often are the strongest people I know because they have gone through much in life and can overcome just about anything. There's this mountaineer, I forgot his name, who lost both legs while things went wrong climbing a mountain. Many years later he went back to the mountain and climbed it! You won't catch me on a mountain, but we all have our goals. I for one have been back on a horse last summer after nearly 15 years. That's like climbing the Everest for me and what the Iditarod is for Mith.
Putting up a platform for the Iditarod sounds okay but you would never see me on it if I came for a couple of reasons. First I wouldn't feel part of the fans. Second security measures can become overkill and I think in this case there are perfectly suitable other options. There has to be some safe area which can be targeted as suitable for wheelchairs, without limiting the view.
I've fallen several times too and they were funny incidents. One fond memory is from many years ago when my chow was a pup. She panicked and kneeled to put her chest and head on my chest pinning me down to the ground. "Oh mommy what are you doing?" My cockatoo quickly landed near me and rushed in to see what happened. I could shoo the bird away telling that I'm alright but my chow wasn't convinced it was safe to let me go. It was getting harder to convince her as I started laughing harder about the whole situation. I won't even discuss how hysterical things got when a friend almost "parked" me in Bryce Canyon .... something like the Grand Canyon for those who don't know.

Mith I hope you're as loopy as I am in making life a party and finishing this adventure on that note. Here's a photo of my own Iditadog invention I build long before the doggie carts were even sold here. The story behind it is that bike carts for kids were starting to sell and I figured why not build something so my small doggies could take long rides with me behind my electric wheelchair. Of course I couldn't let the chow be the only one to walk, especially since she hates rain, so why not build a doggie cart. I'll leave it up to your imagination the huge smiles I got, some people almost fell of their bike laughing, when they realized I wasn't transporting kids with 2 legs but with 4 legs.

[tanglefoot]

excellent nice one!

i used to run a blind mountian biking group years ago, awesome fun off roading on tandem mountain bikes with the sighted person up front, the non sighted guy on the back!

we used to train helpers by taking them off road with blind folds on...scared the hell out of them.. ..scared them even more when we put the non sighted guy up front and them on the back! some of the guys were amazing riders and increidble ballance for some one who cant see where they are going off road! it taught the sighted riders a huge amount of respect for the non sighted riders!! we used to pull stunts in front of arsehole bikers by putting the blind guy up front if he was a good rider and then a sighted rider pretending to be blind on the back and off they';d go, shouting out where the **** are we going...whos on the back...whos on the front more like ..hey i cant see the breaks ...tough luck im blind so i cant see where we are going hahahha it was so funny to see these guys get shown up on a trail by some non sighted bikers! heehee

[Deerskin and Anja]

omg, you guys are my kind of folk-nuts! <G> in the SD group i run, we talk about the kind of jokes we pull on 'normal' people all the time....two of the best are

* if you have a dobe, or other docked tailed breed ,for an SD, and you are going into an elevator or something of the sort, you talk to your dog, telling them to be careful to avoid putting their long nose in the door, so they don't lose it like the time they left their tail in the door. really freaks out the people around you, till they get the joke!

* when idiots come up to you, and ask to pet the pretty doggie, despite the 'no pet' patch you have on her, and you tell them no, usually they ask, 'does he bite?" most people i know answer, 'no, she doesn't but i do, and i haven't had my rabies shot yet this year''. or another comeback is 'yes, she does, but she doesn't like the flavour of (fill in whatever the pest is wearing).'

i love the pup trailer! we're planning to buy one of those for dual use-for our kids to use to get water from the shop, with a bike, and i want to adapt it so that our dogs can be hitched into it instead of the bike, to help with that chore, and give them a work out as well. four of our five dogs have had SD training, and are either working or retired. (the fifth,flicka, is a minpin, who prolly could pull the trailer, but would kevetch because she would consider it beneath her dignity! ^_^)

[tinkerbel]

ROFL the dog biting reminded me of something. For years I've had a plate on my front door. On it a grave and the words: if the dog comes lay flat on the floor, pray and may God be with you! I had 2 small maltese then. One women who came was terrified. She didn't even get the joke when the doggies showed themselves. She was convinced she was going to die. That she was an official with more papers to fill in for my handicap helped in me having the time of my life that day

[undertaker]

I've only read a couple of these pages but, that's enough. My several months in Ak verrifies the way outsiders tend to be treated....like outsiders!!! I met some great people that are stll friends but most will never let you in the circle. As far as the police are concerned and the way they treated my friend.....I officially offer my embalming services to Mith.....no charge for all those who treated her with no respect...................

UNDERTAKER

[Biggie]

Undertaker you are truely a friend to Mith and Spirit. I don't know if you are serious or not but my feeling is you are from your past good deeds. As an individual who works with and for individuals who are differently able and has been to Alaska, I know of what you say to be true not only there but in many places even locally where individuals are treated as outsiders due to their differences. It takes incidents where individuals with differing abilities have to interact for attitudes to change and as such common sense to kick in. I have too read a few pages of the Mith and Spirit saga and am glad that I can truely belong to a group of individuals that is accepting of anyone that has a love of dogs, mushing and specifically the Iditarod race. You and people like you make me come back year after year and not sleep a lot. I really could use some more coffee.
Biggie

[Di*]

Welcome to the forum Biggie
Our online "caterer" has gone MIA(Dilli) but on her behalf, here's a fresh brewed pot and a nice brownie to go with it!