The Wonder Dog

On a weekend of record-setting cold, with snow coming down, what better to do than to take a trip to Central Park to find the iconic statue of Balto. Long before his animation fame, and even before his name was a punch line for Johnny Carson, Balto was part of the team that helped save the city of Nome in the run that led to the annual Iditarod race.




The island of Manhattan has been changed so much that it's hard to envision it in its original state, a land of hills and valleys. But one of the things New Yorkers walk by every day, are the huge granite rocks peeking out from beneath the soil in Central Park.

These rocks were deposited by glaciers that once covered not only North America but the entire northern hemisphere, and created the landscape we know today, including most of the geography of the US. What is interesting, is that in these rocks we see evidence of a recurring pattern of warming and cooling cycles throughout the history of our planet, occurring long before mankind made an impact and likely continuing long after we are gone. And here, in the middle of Gotham, the city that more than most others has embraced Environmentalism as Religion, we see proof that there are processes at work that dwarf humanity.

Michael Crichton (RIP) made such a good point, because to many on the "Warming" bandwagon, to even suggest some healthy skepticism is akin to heresy and treated as such.

But here in the midst of the coldest winter on record, perhaps Balto's bloodline (well, not Balto's, since he was actually neutered and didn't have offspring) has been diluted a bit, since I came home to find Cody the Codependant Husky carefully positioned between not one but TWO space heaters!

I think Defective Dog is likely hoping for at least just a little Global Warming ...