Chet The Dog

Archive for January, 2014

Friend of the Month Reminder

“Thirty days hath – uh-oh,” says Admin. “Time for the friend of the month reminder.”

“What’s with ‘hath’ anyway,” says Spence.

“Who knowest? The point is – check the right of the screen. See Hilton? Equine, yes, but also Chet’s January Friend of the Month. His human companion sent in a photo to the Friends of Chet gallery. The random number generator – “

“Which has been replaced, by the way, due to complaints about our old one, East German Army surplus, circa 1956 – “

” – did the rest. Winner stays over there for the month and the winner’s human companion gets a signed and paw-printed copy of the latest Chet and Bernie novel, in this case The Sound and the Furry. Just send in a photo!”

Our new random number generator, made in a hipster garage in Seattle, circa 2019:

Coming August 5!

“But I hear there’s such a thing as pre-order,” Admin says. “What a country!”

Welcome Ava.

Balto

Gene Baumwoll sent the following to Chet’s Facebook page. Very apt, considering our relationship with Snowhook Kennel. (Many thanks, Gene.)

All this cold and snow reminds us of the heroic tale of Balto.

In New York’s Central Park stands a magnificent sculpture of Balto the heroic sled dog leader who delivered the diphtheria serum to snow bounds Nome, Alaska.

In January 1925 doctors realized that a potentially deadly diphtheria epidemic was poised to sweep through Nome’s young people. The only serum that could stop the outbreak was in Seattle, Washington, two thousand eight hundred miles (4,480 km) away. The engine of the only aircraft that could quickly deliver the medicine was frozen and would not start. After considering all of the alternatives, officials decided to move the medicine via multiple dog sled teams.
On February 2, 1925, the Norwegian Gunnar Kaasen drove his team, led by Balto, into Nome.
Balto proved himself on the Iditarod trail, saving his team in the Topkok River. Balto was also able to stay on the trail in near whiteout conditions; Kaasen stated he could barely see his hand in front of his face. Balto’s team did their leg of the run almost entirely in the dark. The final team and its sledder was asleep when Balto and Kaasen made it to the final stop, so Kaasen decided to continue on. At Nome, everybody wanted to thank Kaasen at first, but he suggested giving fame to Balto as well.

The bronze shines where heroic Balto patiently carries New York’s Children on his back as they wander to the park’s children’s zoo.

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