Planning a Trip South

30 April 2012
7:23 PM

Sunrise at	5:19 AM	in direction	50°	Northeast
Sunset at	10:20 PM	in direction	310°	Northwest

Duration of day: 17 hours (6 minutes, 59 seconds longer than yesterday)

We are planning a "driveabout", to fracture an indigenous Austrialian people's phrase.  Dad and I will drive south Sunday via the old route along Highway 1, Saturday morning, early.  We will pass through Delta, Glennallen and then head west to Palmer and finally Anchorage.  We will stay in Anchorage and I will pick up Gary later that night from the airport.  He has an obligation in town until 5:30 or so.  

The next day, we will drive to Seward and Vera has been so kind as to get us passes into the Sea Life Museum for both in the regular visitor area and the "behind the scenes" areas where they care for the sea life part of the display.  I just got an email today that the Sea Life Center is fully heated with sea-water over winter and a presentation will be in Anchorage about the time we go down, but we won't be back in Anchorage quite that soon.  I will prod folks to show us while we are there.  We will stay in Seward that night, although I would much rather drive to Homer and stay there because we have a truly, truly fine place to stay in Homer and Seward lodging is over-priced, but there it is.  Seward is beautiful and it is worth taking the extra evening and morning before the drive down.

We will stay in Homer two days and then drive back to Anchorage very late Thursday night.  Gary takes a flight out early Friday morning for another obligation at Davis Hall, but Dad and I will stay in Anchorage.  It will give me three days I can see Mom; I am looking forward to that.   We can walk Delaney Park, walk along the Inlet and I can do a bit of necessary shopping as I have run out of a few things since our last visit.

On Saturday we will drive north to Talkeetna and be with Lorien Saturday evening and Sunday morning.  I might get to see his house this trip, but no matter what, it will be fun and entertaining.  Early Sunday afternoon, we will head home for Fairbanks.  It is lots of driving, but a wonderful trip.  I am very much looking forward to our excursion.

I need to buy a camera before we go.  

An Early Spring Walk

29 April 2012
6:31 PM

Sunrise at	5:23 AM	in direction	51°	Northeast
Sunset at	10:16 PM	in direction	310°	Northwest

Duration of day: 16 hours, 53 minutes (6 minutes, 59 seconds longer than yesterday)


Sun in south at 1:48 PM at altitude 40° above horizon

Solar noon in Fairbanks is approximately an hour and three-quarters later than AKDT noon here.  So, when it posts the sunrise as 5:23 AM, I think of it as 3:45 AM and I think of the sun setting at 8:30 PM.  Weird that it would be so different, isn't it?  I'd expect the dawn to dusk to be more evenly balanced between day and night.  But it isn't and solar noon is almost an hour later than what I'd expect it to be for daylight savings time.

No matter how I think about it, though, I am loving the increase in light.  Today, as I returned from services, I saw a stand of aspen that had leafed out.  The birch have not yet.  The casing for leaf clusters that form at the top of the trees, which look very similar to its seed cluster, are starting to split at the top, but they have not yet fully broken through.  Aspen don't have that type of unfurl strategy and a particularly wonderful family of aspen turned today from grey to leaf.  Several other families near by were near turning by the time I went by a second time with my dad so he could see it.

I took Dad down to the park by the river downtown.  The park has monuments to Alaska-Siberian forces, a representation of the first native family in Alaska, the office of the Yukon Quest, and a marquee showing distances to various places in the world and other cities of Alaska.  Although the Siberian Pea shrub stems are greening, only a trace of buds had formed along the stems.  None of the flowers and shrubs which grace the park were greening up, but the grass is definitely considering it.

We walked across the bridge that spans the river from the city side of the park to the parking lot by Immaculate Conception and Doyon, Ltd. on the other.  As we looked down in the sediment-filled, deep, reddish-brown water, Dad asked if it was every clear.  No, it is a river fed from snow run off in the mountains to the east and it brings some degree of soil with it all through it's flow season.  But it usually isn't as thickly filled with soil, to the point where it looked like a chocolate fountain at a brunch.  The river moved fast and we already saw several boats and a two kayakers and one canoe on it, even though it is still cool and very early in the season.

I suggested we eat at Pike's Landing because the day was warm and I thought it might be warm enough out on the deck by the river.  By the time we got there, the predicted rain front had moved in and it was breezy and chilly.  We ate inside the porch and watched the river through the distortion of plastic.  Still, it was lovely to be there so early in the season.

A Watched Leaf Never Unfurls

28 April 2012
9:39 PM

Sunrise at	5:26 AM	in direction	52°	Northeast
Sunset at	10:13 PM	in direction	309°	Northwest

Duration of day: 16 hours, 46 minutes (6 minutes, 58 seconds longer than yesterday)

The consensus among my family is that leaf out will occur within the next two days.  My daughter, who is leaving for a conference in Washington, DC,  tomorrow will return Thursday to green trees.  That is the consensus and we all know that we are never, ever wrong about these things.

However, since yesterday, I have watched the unfurling of the leaves in my yard at regular 5 minute intervals and I confess I see nothing different.  Well, that is not entirely true, I did notice today that there was a green shoot of shrub erupting near the base of one of the trees in circular drive.  And when I looked at the pussy willows, I saw green replacing the fuzz.  And I noticed some green plants beginning to germinate along the warm sections of soil where there are no leaves keeping it moist and cool.  And the grass is already starting to grow and green around the garden by the front steps .. the one that had shoveled snow piled nearly to the bottom of the deck (photo posted March 11).  And the piles of snow that were bladed off our road and driveway (photo posted April 6) are entirely and completely gone and have been for nearly a week.

I remember posting just a few days ago that I wondered when the tripod for the Nenana Ice Classic would go out.  It already had last Monday, April 23 at 7:39 PM (The 4th earliest posting since the event started).  The above link is nearly live and you can see that the trees and shrubs are on the verge, but not quite there.  So, things are changing, but not the Big Change ... the big display we are all waiting for when the trees signal that it's time photosynthesize like mad for the next five months.

I need a camera.

A Look See From Murphy Dome

27 April 2012
8:49 PM

Sunrise at	5:30 AM	in direction	53°	Northeast
Sunset at	10:09 PM	in direction	308°	Northwest

Duration of day: 16 hours, 39 minutes (6 minutes, 58 seconds longer than yesterday)


Today was mostly sunny with a few flat bottomed clouds drifting across the sky now and then.  So after we picked up Dad's rental car, I suggested we drive out to Murphy Dome.  It is one of the highest points near town and it can be driven to from town.  I wanted Dad to have a look.  Actually, I wanted to have a look myself.

Since yesterday, the stands of aspen and the birch tree tops have changed from fluff to fleece.  Looking at the hillsides from afar, I felt like I could stretch out upon the pillow tops of the fleece covered hills and take a nap.  Although the trees in our yard revealed green only at the tips of selected buds at day's end yesterday, today each bud's spring green leaves are prominent.  It was wonderful driving through the hills knowing that very soon it would be green.

We drove up to the top of the dome and pulled in to the parking area with the car facing north and northwest.  On the northern horizon was a range with a prominent peak in the distance.  My daughter told me those are the Ray Mountains, the most isolated range in the state because there are only a few lakes large enough for landing and no place for an airstrip.  What I love about Murphy Dome as well as some other select views north, is you are looking upon the vast wilderness of Alaska every where you turn north and west.

To visualize it better to myself today, I imagined a 150 mile swathe from just above the Chatanika River north with the Elliott Highway as is south east corner.  If you ran the swathe to just short of Prudhoe Bay I wondered if you would find even 2000 permanent residents.  I did some checking of villages north and west of Fairbanks, meeting that criteria, but still south of the Brooks Range. The Brooks Range, marking the Divide between drainage into the Bering Sea and the Arctic Ocean and do not contain permanent villages, only hunting camps.

• Bettles : 36
• Allakaket : 105
• New Allakaket : 36 
• Alatna : 36 
• Evansville : 28 
• Minto : 258

Once you reach the southern tip of the Brooks Range driving north on the Dalton Highway, there are no services for 240 miles until travelers reach Deadhorse at Prudhoe Bay.

A small range of peaks jutting up from the Tolvana Flats and northwest of Minto flattened out near the tops, reminding me of buttes and mesas in the south West.  I think that may be Elephant and Sawtooth Mountains.  Sawtooth certainly would be an appropriate name from my impression of patterns created by lines of remaining snow alternating between melted areas on the mountain.

Although Dad said the flat bottomed clouds indicated a front had already moved through the Interior, the view to the south of Alaska Range was a misty haze. None of the peaks were visible and I could just make out clouds along the top of the haze layer.  Evapotranspiration is happening rapidly as Alaska's growing season rushes toward us.  I wonder when ice will break up causing the tripod trigger to time its drop into the waters of the Tanana River at Nenana.

Leaf Out?

26 April 2012
9:55 PM

Sunrise at	5:33 AM	in direction	54°	Northeast
Sunset at	10:06 PM	in direction	307°	Northwest

Duration of day: 16 hours, 32 minutes (6 minutes, 58 seconds longer than yesterday)

As I drove into work today, I noticed a perceptible change in the top story of the trees.  Have you seen that some fabrics, when they shed particles create fine, light fluff balls?  The tops of the trees looked that way this morning.  All around the tops, it appeared soft and fuzzy.

I have wondered what causes that impression, because when I look at the trees closely, all seems crisp and distinct.  The buds are still formed tightly in their bud casing, although some green may be releasing every so slightly.  The edge of the new leaves are hard, pale green, not even unfurfled, but slightfly visible.  While the willows and others shrubs may have soft fuss preceding the formation of buds and leaves, birch and aspen don't.  The buds form cleanly as do many deciduous trees.

I remember one year watching the trees move toward leaf out in Denver.  It took well over a month.  The bud formed, but on the High Plains right up next to the Rocky Mountains, it may be light and warm early and the sap is flowing, but snow storms can come in at any time over the spring.  Snow can fall in between warm intervals through June.  The trees there will take their time.  Here in Alaska, there seems to be a clear demarcation between the last of winter spring and true spring.  The trees know it and this year, if my observations are correct, will be the earliest leaf out since I have been here, even earlier than 2007.

I wish I had a camera.

Guest from Outside

25 April 2012
9:27 PM

Sunrise at	5:37 AM	in direction	55°	Northeast
Sunset at	10:03 PM	in direction	306°	Northwest

Duration of day: 16 hours, 25 minutes (6 minutes, 57 seconds longer than yesterday)

The last few days have been busy, busy as we completed final touches for my Dad's visit.  One of the reasons I didn't blog was I was devoting just about every free moment clearing things out of the apartment downstairs and the garage so he would be comfortable.  Mom and Dad have not lived together since I was 16 - a long, long time ago.  I wanted the room to be as neutral as possible so he could make it his own while here.

This is his first visit to Alaska.  Mike drove him from San Andreas in the Mother Lode of California to Sacramento and then he flew from there to Seattle, Seattle to Anchorage, and would have left Anchorage for Fairbanks 3 hours later, but we managed to get him on an earlier flight.

He is downstairs, sleeping.  He still pays clear attention to where he is.  I had left an Alaska state map downstairs on the table for him.  I was pleased I'd anticipated he'd want that when he mentioned he would pick up a map at AAA. He traced the route from the airport as far as my state map would take him and I went upstairs to find a Fairbanks map so he could complete fitting things into place.  I do it in exactly the same way, although I usually use Google when at home.

Dad is still interested in things outside his own life, but he still needed to create his own space quickly downstairs. He unpacked, drank some decaf, ate a light dinner I had waiting in the refrigerator, and watched some TV.  Later I heard the TV turn off.  It is still light and it will be light very early tomorrow.  I wonder how long he will be able to sleep.

Dad will be here for a month and we will travel around a bit.  I am excited.  Mom did not have an interest in traveling because by the time she got here, she was fairly advanced in her dementia.  Her world had already started to narrow.  I think, at my age, I am lucky to have a parent to share Alaska with.

Where Have I Been?

24 April 2012 ... oops 25 April 2012
9:11

Sunrise at	5:41 AM	in direction	56°	Northeast
Sunset at	9:59 PM	in direction	305°	Northwest

Duration of day: 16 hours, 18 minutes (6 minutes, 56 seconds longer than yesterday)

It's Spring!!! Lots of things suddenly need doing that were not especially attractive to do earlier this month.  In the time since I last took a photo of snow, all that remains are some stubbornly large snow piles from shoveling snow out of roadways.  As the sun light increases, so does our energy and we get busy, busy, busy.

We have not been sitting on our laurels over the last several days, but instead very busily getting things done and, of course, since it is now light until 11:00, forgetting to go to bed at a reasonable time.  So, over the weekend, it was solid activity through the day light activities and then I would suddenly realize I needed rest and would go straight to bed.

We have cleaned out most of the garage, delivering the last of Mom's things that we will donate to Fairbanks Resource Agency to them and moving the rest upstairs for my safe keeping.  There will be a lot of yarn in this year's yard sale!  I also found her spoon collection and thimble collection.  Now I have all of her collections: spoon, thimble, and bell.  I am not a collector, but these are very dear to me because she was.  I also found antiques from my grandmother, depression glass and a very old Japanese Tea set - a little battered, but still very lovely.

Then I completed cleaning out the apartment because my Dad is flying in tomorrow and will stay down there.  I have nearly completed spring clean up of the back yard and spent Sunday sewing covers around dog beds that JayJay had thought were fun teething toys when younger.  I rescued five!

After the long winter, when it melts, I am naturally pulled outside more.  I have Aria and JayJay for walks and started biking with my JayJay daily.  I have started a four day work week schedule, so I am going in at 7:00 and returning home after 18:00, but I will garner an additional day off over the summer months .. YES!

The Role of Public Radio in Alaska

19 April 2012
7:24 PM

Sunrise at	5:59 AM	in direction	60°	East-northeast
Sunset at	9:43 PM	in direction	300°	West-northwest

Duration of day: 15 hours, 44 minutes (6 minutes, 54 seconds longer than yesterday)


There may be parts of the country where public radio is not so very important, where the national coverage and programming of NPR is not desirable.  That is not true for Alaska.  Alaskans rely on the services of Public Radio Broadcasting for national news, for local coverage of villages, for information about local events, and even to leave messages for those without phone service in rural areas.  


My son has chosen his career in Public Radio Broadcasting and currently is news Director for KTNA, Talkeetna.  Topics covered in the audio broadcasts are posted on the main website.  Recent topics are the struggle to keep the Senior Center open, the impact of new USGS mapping, and the kick off for distance cycling in Talkeetna for the summer season.


KUAC in Fairbanks are the call letters for both Alaska One TV and Public Radio broadcasting.  Top headlines for our area are the return of the Strykers to Ft. Wainwright and continuing efforts to bring a gas pipeline into Fairbanks to eliminate over $4.00 a gallon for heating fuel for local residents.  Fairbanks is uniquely situated as the largest commercial center and government center closest to many villages, university and government research projects, and mining and oil production centers.  Being both a university town and military town, many of the stories of interest revolve around these two anchors to the city's population and economy.


Each city's public radio station has a slightly different online format.  KNOM, for example, has announcements on its front page, features, and then a news tab that notes local and state headlines as well as links to regular shows.  One show is called "Profiles" Influential voices and experts in our region, current events, and cultural topics affecting Western Alaska" and another "Elder Voices:  One of our most popular shows: the memories, stories, and reflections of a respected member of our community."  


Alaska Public Radio carries features from local member stations on its show, Alaska News Nightly, provides daily summaries of events around the state.  Several of my son's audio broadcasts have been picked up by APRN.  All of these stations are supported in part through funds from the Federal government, much to the dismay of some congressmen.  I am not sure why - possibly because public radio news is not as easily influenced as those of regular media broadcasters who are owned and run by people with definite biases.  In any case, the bulk of funds come from the local communities that desire and rely on the service.


In Alaska, many communities would not have any broadcast service without public radio.  It is our link to the outside world and to each other.  We are a state that is expected to keep up with the rest of the country with little infrastructure to support it.  Our public radio is one way we have a chance to be a part of the larger national and world community.

The Texture (and Abundance) of Birch Seeds

18 April 2012
9:25 PM

Sunrise at	6:03 AM	in direction	61°	East-northeast
Sunset at	9:40 PM	in direction	300°	West-northwest

Duration of day: 15 hours, 37 minutes (6 minutes, 53 seconds longer than yesterday)

I am not a biologist, but simply observe the birch like I do all plants because plants are always of interest to me.  Anything I say is based on impression, rather than study. I am not attempting to quantify or categorize birch, but rather describe one aspect of my life - and in particular my life among birch trees.

Birch seeds resemble the chafe tossed away from wheat.  Paper thin, they grow in clusters, packed between catkin bracts on the tree as shown in the photo from Healthy Home Gardening, White Paper Birch.

The seeds dry in extremely small flowers.  The photo below is not true to size.  I held up a birch seed pod next to the photo and it was less than 1/5 the size shown.  When clusters release in winter, the ground below can be completely blanketed with them.  They give the appearance of a layer of saw dust in color and texture.

Yet, they can be so thick on the deck that I have swept enough of them to fill a shopping bag.  I consider them among the most generous of plants because they provide food for seed eating birds throughout winter.  Although feather light and giving a dry appearance, they are able to stick to each other, dog paws, and shoes easily.  When I sweep them up, they softly cling to each other, yet settle more densely than you'd expect.

There is very little wind in the subarctic interior of Alaska, so paper birch do not rely on that to disperse seeds.  Gravity pulls at the seeds clusters, like it pulls at all things on the surface of the earth, so as the seed pods age, there is a point at which they outweigh the tensile strength of the seed cluster stems and they cascade to the ground.  The slightest breeze may encourage the release of seeds, but not necessarily.  I have seen twigs strewn about the yard, having snapped from being brittle in a slight wind at subzero temperatures, but not found many seeds on the snow.  I am guessing the deep, dry cold of hoarfrost and hot dry sun hasten conditions for their release the most.

Raised in the mid-latitudes of Western United States, my observations of the native species and cultivated species of the region are that they dispersed seasonly.  But the birch seed clusters form in autumn and continue to disperse all through the winter, spring, and summer.  It's possible for them to disperse seeds even while forming new pods in the fall.  There is no time we don't have birch seeds falling in our yard and on our deck.  There is no time when birch seeds are not being tracked into the house.

While birch will not grow in regions of permafrost and are not competitors with black spruce, they are not the final species in plant succession.  Despite the abundance of birch seeds, white spruce seedlings like the shady understory provided by birch and aspen and since they grow very fast, soon can outstrip the birch trees in moist soil.  But birch do better in some terrains than some species of spruce and it can take a good while for spruce get a hold against the prolific birch trees.

Our yard is one of the moist regions near permafrost, so we have strong stands of spruce in the south east.  We cut the spruce away from the house (defensible perimeter) and when necessary, keep it to a minimum in the south and west for winter light.   So far, the birch are holding their own in that region and as long as I live here, the succession of species will be somewhat slower on our lot.

It's a Dog's Life

17 April 2012
8:25 PM

Sunrise at	6:06 AM	in direction	62°	East-northeast
Sunset at	9:36 PM	in direction	299°	West-northwest

Duration of day: 15 hours, 30 minutes (6 minutes, 53 seconds longer than yesterday)

 It's a doberman's life, actually. 

I don't know what it would be like for dogs not nearly as fussy.  The back yard faces northwest.  The sun does not shine upon the section just off the deck and steps down into the fenced yard until late afternoon.  While snow is melting everywhere else, the extra snow piled up off the deck and steps is not.  But it is soft and the dogs can sink down into it, and the many layers of dog poop that accumulated over the winter.

Sadly, between November and February a whole lot of dog "leavings", as my mother would say, accumulates in the back yard - and especially right near the steps when the snow is shoveled.  This yearly sedimentary activity is precipitated by several circumstances.  First, we work all day and by the time we get home, it is usually too dark, and often not especially comfortable to go out and try to gather what poop we can see.  Then if it snows regularly, even if not deeply, the previous layer is covered by snow and is not visible during the daylight hours of the weekend, so only the visible feces gets scooped.  Finally, we shovel as much of the snow as we can off the sides of the deck and away from the back where the dogs go, but inevitably, it is not possible to do that totally.  What isn't covered by new snow, can be covered by what we shovel off the deck in certain places.

The dogs, being practical creatures, do not care to stray far into the yard when it is 40F below.  They stay within 20 feet or so of the back deck where it is easy to see in the light of the back porch.  That is especially the case for our oldest who is completely blind in one eye and is developing cataracts in the other.  If it snows before we scoop a layer of dog feces out of the yard, they are more than content to use the same spot.  The result is layers frozen dog poop stratify in the back yard.  I think of it as the sedimentary layers of earth deposited along alluvial plains, or successive layers of lava flow. 

Every other day or so, this time of year, a new fecal layer will be exposed.  Every other day or so, you will find me out in the back yard attempting to gather up months of poop before it becomes granular.  This is not always a successful venture, but I keep at it - know a new layer will be exposed within a day or so.  Then the bags of doggy do are carried out in front by the garage where I add them to a garbage bag that will be hauled to the transfer station and from there to the land fill.  I keep wondering if I should be digging deep holes in summer where I can deposit poop through the year instead of adding mounds of it to our city's waste, but for now, that is what happens to it.

Also about this time of year, as I am trying my best to clean up the yard before it gets too soggy and hard to clean, the dogs become loathe to walk back there.  They sink in, as I mentioned before.  The melt water frequently accumulates along the frozen surface of the ground, pooling beneath the snow surface.  As it pools, it mixes with any dog poo I haven't yet found, fetid leaves, dead grass, and urine. 

The dogs don't want to walk in it.  It's a fact.  There is a day each break up where all three stand on the back steps looking out across the yard, bladders aching and bowels full, without their making a move to relieve themselves.  Fortunately for us, this coincides with it being nearly dry in the driveway so we start to take them out in front to relieve themselves.  They enjoy it and I enjoy the fact they are going into the trees in the open yard around our house and I don't need to clean up after them. 

For our oldest girl, however, this spring venture is becoming harder.  Her left rear leg is stiffening and she swings her hip in a limp because of that crippling leg.  As she climbed up the stairs yesterday, which are like most outdoor deck stairs, open in back, she slipped through.  She almost fell back down the stairs but Gary was watching and raced down to catch her and support her before she was hurt even more.  Today she could not move anywhere without yelping.  If she were on her bed, she couldn't raise or lower or head.  If we tried to help her get up, she'd yelp the minute we touched her back or stomach. 

Our vet gave her a cortisone shot and some heavy duty pain killers.  They are working because she is moving without crying in pain, but she is not going to be going up and down those stairs easily.  I think I will probably have clean up detail on the deck a few times until she is better. 

It's a dog owner's life.

Changing Quickly Now

16 April 2012
7:49 PM

Sunrise at	6:10 AM	in direction	63°	East-northeast
Sunset at	9:33 PM	in direction	298°	West-northwest

Duration of day: 15 hours, 23 minutes (6 minutes, 52 seconds longer than yesterday)


Life is good.  Break up is an absolutely miraculous process to me.  Last week I was talking about how things seem to be melting, but there was still over a foot of snow everywhere on the yard.  Last night I noticed that a sizable area under the Birch tree by our side deck was snow free.  Around each of the tree trunks in the yard, a circle of bare ground was widening day by day.  Today, I realized it was the first day I could see ground at the back of the yard toward the property line.  On campus, there is no snow on any of the grass or sidewalk areas.


I wish I had a camera, but anyone who has gone through snow to melt and bare ground knows what I am talking about as far as how it looks.  One day there is snow, the next day there are bare patches of sodden leaves and fledging grass shoots, but the wonderful thing is how truly fast it happens.  We have over 15 hours of daylight now and the temperature is not dropping below freezing at night, so the snow continues to run off or evaporate during the evening hours.  Areas of the driveway that I thought could flood due to the snow berm are clear.  A channel in the ice formed and slipped under the berm, and the excess water melted into the lower south east corner.  


Buds are clearly evident on the birch trees and every willow along Farmer's Loop shows sign of fuzz.  And the winter's trash is appearing day by day.  Fairbanks has a city clean up where volunteers get out and clean up all the winter debris.  Amazing that the community does it, but until that day, we will see odd things appear along highways and neighborhood streets.  But you know what?  I don't care about that.  I am happy to see spring come, brown and dirty, trash lying about.  It doesn't matter, we have not burned a fire for several days and the hot water heat has not come on to compensate.

Life is good.

A poem to Alaskan Break-Up

15 April 2012
6:33 PM

Sunrise at	6:14 AM	in direction	64°	East-northeast
Sunset at	9:30 PM	in direction	297°	West-northwest

Duration of day: 15 hours, 16 minutes (6 minutes, 52 seconds longer than yesterday)


By a true Alaskan ...


Season of breakup, bathe me in your pothole water.
Scent my world with the moldy perfume of a car that's been frozen every day for six months
and is finally thawed.
Scatter gravel in my running shoes.
Uncover for me a flower bed full of brown nubs and I will declare it beautiful.

Anchorage Daily News, 15 April 2012

Read more here: http://www.adn.com/#storylink=cpy

They Will Be Out Soon - Yep, Mosquitoes

14 April 2012
2:33 PM

Sunrise at	6:17 AM	in direction	65°	East-northeast
Sunset at	9:27 PM	in direction	296°	West-northwest

Duration of day: 15 hours, 9 minutes (6 minutes, 51 seconds longer than yesterday)

It looks as though we will not have a rapid deluge for the Interior's Break Up.  Each day, more ground is totally snow free - not so much in our yard yet, but the driveway does have dry patches.  And each day more ground is visible around trees in the yard as the living flora draw water to their roots.  Campus is almost entirely snow free and many hillsides and streets about town are bare.

I am seeing green, green grass shoots.  It is not much, but it's a start.

And, I saw my first insect this morning.  The early snow mosquito will be coming out of hibernation soon.  They are an almost comical member of their species.  Spawned as the last generation in the fall, they are far larger and slower than their late spring and mid-summer off-spring.  They fly slowly, like a lumbering World War II cargo plane, making them easy pickings for all interested in shortening their life span.  Insect eating birds who made it through the winter are rewarded by these winged giants while humans feel a sense of triumph at eliminating as many potential parents of summer pests as possible.

I say "almost comical" because despite these apparent deficiencies, every year, enough survive to produce a fine crop of early spring mosquito tormenters who are ravenous and determined.  They survive from spring to spring.  They are not necessarily the parents of the mid-summer strikers that drive us all crazy.  By July the voracious forays of that critter are diminishing around our lot, but May and June - whew!  It can be very rough outside.

Ned Rozell, of the Geophysical Institute here on the University of Alaska, Fairbanks campus, provides more details of this harbinger of summer days on the Alaska Dispatch website:  Alaska's Hibernating 'Snow Mosquitoes' Awaken to Chomp Soon.  We did have some serious cold this year, but the snow pack was high enough that possible temperatures stayed above -25F near the ground regions where insects snooze over winter.  I have no predictions for the numbers we will have this year, but I accept we will have mosquitoes soon and we will endure them, albeit unwillingly, as we do every year.

Bad Time to Break My Camera

12 April 2012
7:00 PM

Sunrise at	6:25 AM	in direction	67°	East-northeast
Sunset at	9:20 PM	in direction	294°	West-northwest

Duration of day: 14 hours, 55 minutes (6 minutes, 50 seconds longer than yesterday)

Is there a good time?  I'd been thinking that I wanted a better camera with more options, now that I am taking photographs several times a week, but wasn't really intending to replace it immediately.  As I mentioned on Sunday, I left the camera at SP Kennel, but what I have not confessed to is that after picking it up, I did not actually zip it into its case.  I thought I did, though, so as I was carrying things from the car upstairs, I was careless about my things.  The camera case opening was downward and - well, you can guess the rest.

I found the camera, have not found the lens protector, and the latch to the battery reservoir was split in two.  The only reason I was able to get the photos I'd already taken into my computer was because I used the Alaskan remedy to everything, duct tape, and taped it tightly shut - just so - and the battery metal connectors fit as intended.  However, it soon loosened and that was the end of its usefulness - no more photos.

Today I took the camera to the local repair shop and he was thinking he could do something with it until he noticed that one of the latch pieces from the main body of the camera had broken off.  It wasn't just that the latch piece was split; even if repaired there was no anchor on the main body of the camera.  He handed it back to me and told me to call Fuji directly.  First thing I should ask, he recommended, was whether they were still repairing Fuji FinePix S1200 cameras!  That did not sound good.  If the answer was positive, then I needed to ask what their flat rate repair price.  That did sound good, smart in fact.  Then when I was quoted a price, I could consider what I wanted to do.  He told me that most likely with the repair and shipping (from Alaska and back, remember?), it probably would be near the price of a new one.  I was shocked.

He told me the click and point model we had (as the digital photographic enthusiasts disparagingly refer to my type of camera) could now be bought for much less with more power.  I did not believe him, until I got on line, found a FinePix at Amazon and had to face the fact he was right on.  I am grumpy.  It is a good little camera, especially for what I am doing.  It takes great photos and I was just expanding my understanding of how to get the most out of it .. do I simply buy another model like it or take the next step up?

Well, whatever I decide, this blog will be bereft of photos until I get it repaired or replaced.   Oh, rats!  I really am relying on my word pictures now.

Going "Outside" .. That Would Be Okay

11 April 2012
12:15 PM

Sunrise at	6:28 AM	in direction	67°	East-northeast
Sunset at	9:17 PM	in direction	293°	West-northwest

Duration of day: 14 hours, 49 minutes (6 minutes, 49 seconds longer than yesterday)

My daughter posted a comment on her facebook page from Portland, OR:

Green? What is this color of which you speak???? — at Hotel Lucia

I have been overwhelmed with such a longing for green things growing ever since.  I looked out upon our yard again today to see how "Break Up" was coming along, silently willing it to move fast enough for leaf out by Mother's Day.  Today, I admit, I saw a difference in the snow in the yard.  It had the glistening quality of snow rotting all across the lawn area, even at depths of two feet.  Birch leaves that had fallen here and there on top of the snow from the over the winter were dark enough to be magnets for the sun's warming rays and they had sunk several inches into the snow surface.  Depressions occurred here and there for no explicable reason other than the snow was melting faster in that region.

Across the driveway, abundant bare patches appear, although there is an unusually large puddle of standing water in one section of the circular drive nearest the drop off near to the southeast.  I don't recall ever seeing water accumulate in quite that way there; it seemed to run off somewhere before this season.  The driveway was graded upon fill dirt, probably removed from where the basement was built into side of the hill along with fill brought in from elsewhere.  There are mounds of snow between it and where it drops off into birch, spruce, and the horsetail (Equisetum) understory.   Well, it will be horsetail - later.

The snow has finished melting off the section of roof just outside the atrium door that we use exclusively in winter to exit onto the deck, but lingers toward the back of the house.  Still it is nice to look out on a deck that had melting snow dripping over the gutters early this morning and see it completely dry now.  The temperature reached 50F on our deck, the first time this spring.  The dogs have spent more time outside then in.

Buds continue to gradually thicken in the birch trees and more of the willows are fuzzy on random stems.  The sun is definitely and clearly rising well to the north east setting well to the north west.  Spring is here in terms of temperature and sun position.  But there is nothing green growing.  Do you know that the human eye can detect more shades of green than other mammals?  I crave it, long for it, and would not mind a trip to the Outside to actually see greenery, smell it, and smell the richness of earth not bound by snow and frost.

Ah me.

Break Up is Always Newsworthy, Along with Other Intriguing Events

10 April 2012
5:24 PM

Sunrise at	6:32 AM	in direction	68°	East-northeast
Sunset at	9:14 PM	in direction	292°	West-northwest

Duration of day: 14 hours, 42 minutes (6 minutes, 49 seconds longer than yesterday)

I was perusing headlines, looking for items of interest .. I did find some interesting tidbits, for me at least; I am not sure readers outside of Alaska would be as curious about those topics.  Alaskan headlines online are never comprised solely of the most sordid details of crime, passion, and loss.  I appreciate that!

Two subjects stand out, well three - okay four, as worth noting:  Ongoing discussion about spring's approach, the derelict sea vessel sunk by the Coast Guard (and then other derelicts in Alaskan history), a grizzly bear loose around Portage, between Anchorage and Seward, and a young reporter's encounter with the Arizona mob - trying to get his first big scoop.

Four articles discussed break up, a headline is all three sites I visit regularly.  The first is my kind of reporting - lots of photos - showing the progress of break up in Anchorage.  As in Fairbanks, no deluge from the deep snow fall has yet occurred.  I quote from  For Anchorage, breaking up isn't hard to do -- so far -  "The reason: sunshine and warming during the day with freezing nights, said John Papineau, a meterologist with the National Weather Service in Anchorage" -- Photos.  But not everyone is convinced we've seen the last of it.  I am not laying bets, but there still is a lot of snow out there and all it takes is a few warm days and above freezing nights to release more than can be managed by the drainage systems.  One audio article provides a discussion panel advising residents what to expect if water flow exceed capacity:  Spring Break Up.  One of the more unusual stories of this year's break up was that unusually dangerous ice accumulations were falling along the Seward Highway earlier this week:  DOT Warns of Ice Falling ...  But my favorite is another audio article posted by Emily Schwing, of KUAC here in Fairbanks.  The snow bunting has returned to the north:  Harbingers of spring.

Read more here: http://www.adn.com/2012/04/09/2414807/record-snow-warmer-weather-equals.html#storylink=cpy

Grizzly on the Run was fun because of the comments made by readers, and the realization that one very solitary bear will have to make some smart decision soon in order to avoid being shot during bear season. I loved the story earlier this week about a USCG Cutter sinking a Japanese ship that had been set for salvage, but broke moorings during the Tsunami.  But a this article describes a ghost ship that sailed Arctic waters for four decades:  Alaska's ghostly maritime past.

Cocktails with the Mob - who would have thought I would be reading about the hilarious encounter of an ambitious and brash Alaskan newspaperman trying to further his career by tailing rumored mobsters?  Well, Alaskans are always full of surprises and I hope you enjoy the read as much as I did.

Alaskan Spring "Break Up" Continues

9 April 2012
8:46 PM

Sunrise at	6:36 AM	in direction	69°	East-northeast
Sunset at	9:11 PM	in direction	291°	West-northwest

Duration of day: 14 hours, 35 minutes (6 minutes, 48 seconds longer than yesterday)

When I lived in Colorado around summer solstice, it was always a kick to have twilight linger to 9 PM.  Here in Fairbanks, the sun is just setting @ 9:00 and we will have another hour of twilight.  As I looked at those times I thought to myself that the actual solar time would have been sunrise at 4:36 AM and sunset at 7:11 PM.  I thought that couldn't be that much different than Colorado now.  I went and checked.  Sunrise in Denver was at 6:36 AM and sunset at 7:33 PM.  We already have 1.5 hours more light than mid latitudes.  The sun is well to the west when setting now too.  Sun streamed into the northwest side of house where the bedroom is this afternoon - very nice.

Break up is happening along the road to our house and in the driveway.  Early morning, after the temperatures have cooled over night, ice slicks are visible next to the huge piles of packed snow chunks I photographed and posted 6 April.  And the thin film of ice extends all the way down the road next to the piles of snow debris.  In our driveway, which was not bladed, the snow pack is rotting and the car would not have made it back into the driveway without All-wheel drive.  The snow pack was crushing under the weight of the car and since the snow is still deep, a smaller car without benefit of extra traction could easily get stuck.

It's the time of year that rubber boots can become very useful.  I would have benefited from having some type of waterproofed foot gear yesterday.  As we walked the loop at Chena Hot Springs with our dogs, temperatures continued to rise.  The loop leads back into the resort along service roads and parking lots.  By the time we returned, these were very slushy.  Getting my feet wet was unavoidable and water soaked into my wool Lobens.  True, I didn't feel the cold once my body temperature heated up the water thanks to the wool, but I didn't want to use those boots when I put on dry socks and wore my ski boots instead.

Looking out across our yard, you could still delude yourself into thinking there was no difference from the day before, but along the road into campus, the snow was beginning to get that pouffy marshmallow look to it.  Melting occurs in some sections faster than others and as the level of snow drops in those sections, snow patches develop rounded edges.  It is very appealing.

This year appears to be a steady melt, no deluges yet.  We have our fingers crossed.