I dimly recalled reading somewhere about the technical term. Note to self: In the future, exercise prudence when using "mushing fan hook-up" in a Google search. The correct phrase is "fan hitch."
And it's a two-fur-one this week, as the season is rapidly ending for all things mushing-related. This next one was so much fun on account of the relatively obscure pun: I admit to feeling a wee bit childish + immature to drive personal satisfaction knowing full well how much of a head-scratcher some panels will be. Though there was some slight capitulation when an early reader that previewed the piece while at work had the excellent suggestion to include the periodic table symbol for lead on the dog-tag. Afterwards I was really quite impressed at just exactly how many folks keyed in on that hint - probably just as many science nerds as literary geeks out there.
Waaa ha ha ha ha! "Slead" dog. Weirdly, I learned about different sled dog hitches as a very young child in the lower 48, because my father had enjoyed his time in the Arctic as a young Coast Guard officer, and shared his observations with his offspring. He wintered over on Baffin Island after building the LORAN station there and serving as the commanding officer until that first crew was relieved the following summer. Prior to that he was a deck officer on the icebreaker Eastwind, escorting convoys bringing supplies and equipment to build Thule Air Base. The Arctic made a big impression on him.
ReplyDeleteThat's super cool trivia + a family connection to the Arctic. Closest & only one I have is a grandfather serving on a Navy destroyer (USS Henderson, picking up President Harding) that docked in Juneau.
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