River ice,

 I drove home from work today and as i crossed the bridge i saw lots of ice floating down the river. Not that I had my camera on me, so when i got home crabbed my camera and came back.

its 75 degrees today. it was nice and cool inside my house.
 I did take a video but i still lack some technical skills in posting video.  ( might have to look at u tube0
 It was hot today, horribly hot.( No laughing) the snow is all gone form my yard, so went out the back and played  at trimming all the branches from trees that will just grow again.

 Over the weekend I had conversation with people about my garden and some one suggested I get a soil analysis.  so got that lined up for Friday.   The local soil and water people will do it for $25.00 per sample. I am thinking of getting 2 . one for the greenhouse and one the the garden, see if I can get some better sized tomatoes that last year.

 my cucumber are 2 inches tall I have tomatoes germinated, beets and arctic chard I may have planted too early for  the beets. time will tell.

anzac Weekend

 i drove to anchorage this weekend, mostly sunny with the few compulsory snow flurries south of cantwell. But with the sunshine on them the mountains still look pretty cool. the Nenana river is still fairly solid. Well it was on Friday, The  Tanana at Nenana still has a tripod standing , for another week.


 the Wasilla mountains I caught just at dusk  when they had started to turn pink. got in at respectable of 11 pm.

Saturday morning i had to go investigate the new stores in anchorage , Target and Kohl's,.

 now target is supposed to be similar to wall mart and k mart. and like them i can take or leave them.  Now  Kohl's , I can spend money in,  ( I bought some more clothes) they can move to Fairbanks any time they want.  In fact I know a  department store that is going out of business.
 then  I spent a very pleasant afternoon eating sausage rolls lamingtons Pavlova.  and wine. some of the guys enjoyed some not so common  Aussie beer.   i don't think i have ever seen it out of Australia. spent some time talking with Brian, whose good value. and Tom our host  had conversation about my Garden. He suggested I get a soil analysis to make the best of the summer, to help get better sized tomatoes.   looking out my back window today  i can now see my way to the greenhouse.
 My grass is brown but all the snow has  just nearly gone. cause we had 63 degrees today. I also bought some more dandelion killer. we are supposed to have warm weather all week.  All  summer would be better.

ANZAC day Alaska style

 some of you may know that  Saturday is Anzac day, that's    Australia and New Zealand Army Corp.  or Veterans day and memorial day rolled into one. - a public holiday.  One of  the things i like to do once in while is drive to Anchorage  where a bunch of kiwi's and Aussies  celebrate  ANZAC. day.  ( last year we  had a minutes silence)  then we get to have the first of the season BBQ hang out and have some good  Lamingtons and Pavlova and sausage rolls.   its wonderful. and alcohol of course.

( lamingtons  is soft white sponge  cake,  rolled in nearly set jello, then rolled in schreded cocconut. cut 2 inch square.)

So tomorrow night I am off to Anchorage, 350 miles each way just for a party. ( and maybe some shopping)

 and like last year there is snow in the forecast. you can imagine the face I am pulling right now.

 i got  the oil changed last week.  but i left my blizacks tires  on.

 photos when I get back.

Crashing ice

On Saturday i noticed the river had broken open without me noticing sometime Friday. so on Sunday I went out with the camera in hand. Some part of the river are still iced over. ( not that anyone is walking on it.)
 Walking up past the the chief tribal hall. under the Steese road bridge. The ice was just moving fast.      ( the pussy- willows are out)
 this small piece of ice  just moves with the flow of the river till it meets a solid object.  - another piece of ice. one of them goes under, with a crash
 then they move on till they find another piece of ice and come to a stop -  for the moment. 
 the crash , just sounded like it had lots of force behind it.
 and the water finds another way around.

Sunshine and snow

Today it was sunny enough and warm enough for me to get the table out. I have 6 feet of snow melted, and it was just a lovely day . I had lunch in the sun. as long as you don't mind the last of the snow.
There were a few leaves blowing around from last year that kinda sink in the snow. the snow is grainy now and full of ice crystals rather than snow.

The this evening we had our annual award banquet. and Matt from Visitors services and I were sitting in the sun so we just put on the sunglasses, inside no less and Yuki decided to take our photos, it was s a fun evening.

and its still light at 10 30,  roll on summer!

Easter sunday

Saturday , i spent some time having fun the the water melting i thought i had fixed the leak form last year in changing the slope of the side yard.  but no i just moved further down.  i think i fixed it by digging the small drain.  but it just went around the corner to the back , so i fixed that on Monday. today Wednesday the snow on the roof is nearly gone. and the basement is dry.

 I haven't been to church in a while, well to a service anyway , but Amy and Matt  had Mitchell Baptised on Sunday and since i am the god mother. i thought i better go.  do i went out to North Pole to a catholic church. so that makes 2 catholic services i have been to in 2 years. Charlotte's baptism was the other of course.   Then went back to Matt and Amy's for some really great Lamb kerbabs

 

Cracks in the river

Friday 10th I went for a errand at work and took my camera,  blocked drains in spring fun, fun,  i needed a car wash anyway. notice the pikes of dirty snow.
  and the car park at work is going to get worse before it gets better.  but i wore my sandals to work  Friday.
 now the river  is starting to crack, there is  a thin sheen of  ice over the top of this hole.

 and the back side of the building where I work , showing the cracks  and all then old snow machine trails. further down the river past the power plant the river is open
 you can see the rotten snow if you look closely. (No this was taken from the bridge)
 and my street , we can nearly drive on the pavement again, taken this  morning Saturday  April 11.

Spring

This was taken march 26 , since then  the city has doe some snow removal, but there is still a large pile of snow around. spring is late this year, we usually get temp above freezing sometime in march. March 31 has come and gone, fortunately  last Friday things started to drip.

 now the reason you get to hear about this is that Mother has requested another saga for spring and  breakup. ( and i always do what mother says)
 My front yard. a good 18 inches of snow, that needs to disappear really fast.   the calender say that Fairbanks will be green by  May 10  if it s late, and it will be this year, is 36 days away. Let me see what mother nature can do in 36 days.
 On Friday after a day of warming  the snow starts to turn black. i heard on the radio the other day that" spring is when the snow turns black,  the pot holes get really large, and your car is filthy." all three conditions have been met.
 daylight progresses at the rate of 7 minutes a day we now  have 14 hours of daylight. The moon is out, if I could only hold the camera still. And the northern light's become hidden. It needs to be dark before you can see them.  so now for a fast melt -- there will be flooding somewhere. it supposed to be 40 tomorrow( 5 c)