State Bird is Coming

56 degrees here at 12:21 pm on April 26th. Snow is melting like crazy, still got a bunch on the ground though. With the snow melt comes the puddles, or small lakes that form along the side of roads, in the woods, geeze just about any where it can go to a low area.

These stick around for some time and become the number one breeding area of our state bird, the mosquitoes. The puddles stay for some time mainly because the ground can not absorb the water because it is still frozen. Remember we don't plant till about June 1 when the temperature of the soil is above 60 degrees. The mosquitoes come in waves, first come the big ones, my wife calls them B-52s. After these big guys come the smaller version. Usually by middle of June they are not to big of a menace.

One good thing about the mosquitoes, the birds won't come to the feeders, because they are busy eating and feeding to their young, the higher protien mosquitoes. Birds like this flying pig.

The picture to the right is of my front yard where it will remain boggy for most of May. The front consists of White Spruce, and low bush cranberries for cover.

The picture on the left, is where I have parked the snow machines for the summer. You can see the river is getting kind of sloppy. Still think break up won't occur till first week of May. I'll try and get video of the break up when it occurs.

I talked several weeks ago about how surprised I was on the first spring I experienced here on all the trash that was exposed. Below are some pictures we took on the Richardson Highway between Badger Rd and Fairbanks. ThereI was a stuffed chair on the side of the road several weeks ago, but when I came back this week to take pictures someone must have took it home.

Anyway, I will take a after picture in a couple of weeks and these areas will be spotless. Clean up day is organized by the Greater Fairbanks Chamber of Commerce. The population of the borough turns out and picks up the trash. It is an amazing community effort.





We're making plans to take the Alaska Maine Highway from Haines, to Washington state. Hopefully we can get across the border regardless of the Homeland Secretaries remarks about the Canadian border guards. The last time we took the Marine Highway we met some Canadian's who taught me to speak Canadian.

"EH"

My wife has started packing, Chucky, our cat, was helping and got tired.

Cabin Fever

This is the worst time of the year for, me any way, here in Interior Alaska. This is when I get cabin fever. Cabin fever is defined as "Boredom, restlessness, or irritability that results from a lack of environmental stimulation, as from a prolonged stay in a remote, sparsely populated region or a confined indoor area" Well I am not in a remote region but I would say I am confined indoors.

Why, because you can't do anything. snow melts during the day and then the melt freezes at night, only to melt during the day. The river is still frozen, but slushy and to dangerous to go on. So you really cant do anything. Weather for today is snow/rain showers. High today should be 41. One good thing is we can go out without coats, even though the high is only 41.

My wife Arlene took this picture on the left at the start of Badger Road the other day. If you click on it, you can see it is a new parking lot. Only problem is, you would need a boat to get to your car. But after break up, it should dry up and allow for parking . The owner is being proactive, there is a sign on the fence asking for filler dirt.

I sent this to the News Miner to see if they would print it.

I lived in Omaha, Nebraska, and this time of year their roads, including the highways would have numerous pot holes. Pot holes so large you could lose your car in them. But a good thing about living here is I don't see any pot holes on the major roads. I do get my teeth rattled when I drive down South Cushman in the vette.

But the highways do have a problem with permafrost. You place a highway on permafrost, it will cause the permafrost to melt. This will result in the highway buckling. It really doesn't crack, it just drops a few inches. Makes for exciting driving in the vette

Speaking of the vette, I had to order tires for it last week. 2000 dollars for four!! For the British reader that's 2,958.62 pounds and those in Europe that is 2605.4 Euros. What was funny is the clerk wanted to know if I wanted them FedEx ed here, heck I cant get it out of the garage till May.

My bet on break up is May 1, 12:05 PM!!


This is the wife Arlene,