Spring Time

Spring is definitely in the air but, it is not like any Spring I have ever experienced before. The weather is and has been absolutely gorgeous. Other than the dump of snow we got while I was in Ohio it has been sunny and clear virtually every day. The highs have been in the 40s and today is forecast to be in the 50s. We still have a few feet of snow on the ground but it is disappearing every day. There are bare spots on just about every South facing slope and where ever we have shoveled it is down to the ground. These areas get very soupy in the afternoon as you might guess. Nights have still been in the Teens and low Twenties so everything is hard as a rock every morning but by early afternoon the snow is very punchy and can be hard to walk threw.
I have began putting away winter items like the roof rack and shovels and putting fuel stabilizer in the snowmachines etc. I thought about digging out the four wheelers but Mother Nature is doing a nice job of that and we can't ride them for about a month yet anyhow, so they can set for a while longer. Myra and I went for our last mail run of the season last Friday. We delivered our Tax stuff to the post office, picked up every bodies mail and then went to the Skwentna Roadhouse for lunch before returning home. I took some pictures of the river conditions on the trip home to try to share a little of the trip.

Myra is setting on an Ice Bridge that still goes over the open water. Last week there was no signs of open water here.

The river opens up in narrow channels first, where the fastest water flows and erodes the ice away.

Notice how clear the water is. This is the same river/water that is grey and full of silt in the summer. The Glacier is not yet melting enough to "muddy" the water for the summer.

When the Glacier starts to melt is when the violent breakup of the river will take place. The water level will raise and lift all of this ice and crumble it. Then it will flush it and the ice rubble will move and plug and move and plug cause violent water fluctuations and is a spectacle to see (so I am told). We obviously have not witnessed this before but we are looking forward to it. The river breakup happens May 2nd on average.

Usually about a week after that all of our snow will be gone on the trails and everything will turn to mush for about two weeks. It gets so soupy that the four wheelers can't even travel because the frost is just under the mud and you can't get any traction. I am told that the four wheeler often gets stuck setting on flat land, don't even try it until the frost is melted deep enough for the water to run away and the mud starts to stiffen.We already have Flies and Mosquitoes and little White and Brown Moths flying around.


Then we have these other little bugs that remind me of termites coming right up out of the snow. You should be able to see them in the video. we don't have termites in Alaska so I don't know what these are. There are not many mosquitoes yet and I have not been bitten by one so far. I think these are just the scouts going back to the nest with the recon info for the big clan. Yippee! It is the strangest thing to see all of these little insects and have so much snow on the ground. This does not happen in the Midwest I come from.

We also had another visitor during the week I was in Ohio. It was a Monster! Mazie Monster to be exact. Mazie Monster Jakcsy is traveling around the country for her three year old master, Addison Jakcsy. Addi and her Mommy knitted Mazie and created a Blog and a Facebook page for her. Mazie had another engagement she had to get to so she did not stay here very long at all. Hopefully she will come back later this year so I can visit with her and we take her fishing and four wheeling and sight seeing.

See Mazie Monsters adventures on Facebook at Mazie Monster Jakcsy. she can also be watched at Maziethemonster.blogspot.com

The dogs have been very content the last couple of days. Our neighbors finally cleaned their Moose and disposed of the bones and carcass down by Fish Creek. Each dog chose the same type of bone and brought them home. They each have a front lower leg and hoof to chew on. They have been extremely happy with their feast and spend most all of their time outside now. Yesterday, Hans was in the front yard near his when a Huge Bald Eagle came swooping in to take a look at the bone. It came in closer and tighter for a look and I believe it thought about taking his bone. Hans just sat on his haunches and watched the Eagle in amazement, just like I did (watch the eagle that is). The Eagle was really big with about a 4' wing span and very bright white head and tail. It was awesome to see the display. It stayed around close for about a minute then left for a while. It came back for one more pass about ten minutes later but Hans was still near his bone. I have not seen the Eagle any more yesterday or this morning. It was a huge gift to have one of these magnificent birds fly twenty to thirty feet away, for several passes. When ever God can give us a visitor like this one it makes me stand up and take notice of his creation in full appreciation.
Thank You for being with us,
What an Amazing Adventure
See Ya,
Roger