Living in Alaska - Life in the Last Frontier

We now have 24 hours of visible light. The official length of day is about 19 hours, but it doesn’t get completely dark any longer.  I’ve woken as early as 3am, and the view outside my window looks like dawn - or dusk - with enough light to be able to see my yard clearly. With Summer Solstice only about a month away, our days will continue to lengthen (approximately 7 minuter per day) until the sun never goes below the horizon.

The longer days have brought intermittent sunshine. We’ve had several days of constant sunshine, and several days with heavy clouds overhead. But even on the cloudy days, the sun has managed to find its way through and warm us - if only for a few moments at a time.  As for real warmth, however, it’s been fairly nonexistent.

When I wake in the morning, the thermometer reads mid-30s or low 40s. We turned our heat down to 57 about two weeks ago, and on cold mornings I quickly make my way downstairs, dance across the cold wood floors, switch on the space heater, start a pot of coffee brewing, and then burrow under an afghan on the sofa.  The cat usually joins me there, as she is not a fan of the cold either.

As the morning hours pass, the house warms up, the sun shoots light beams through the trees in our yard, and I go through the morning ritual of throwing open all the curtains and blinds to invite the light in. This is my favorite part of the day: bright sunshine, a mug of hot coffee, my cat at my hip, and my dog at my feet.

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A couple of days ago, I took Sedona with me to run errands and our travels took us to the other side of town, to a park on the Tanana River. I don’t visit that park very often, but when I do, I’m always drawn to this home which is perched on the edge of a cliff overlooking the river.  I do believe I’ve photographed this scene in every season. I’ve often thought about leaving a note in their mailbox, asking them if I can see the view from their house. I imagine it must be stunning.

This particular day, the clouds were thick and dark at times. But despite the clouds, there were moments of blue sky showing through. Periodically, the sunshine found a way to split the thick clouds and bring some light to an otherwise dismal day.

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Steve and I finally transplanted my flowers and his tomato plants into bigger pots. We put them outside when it gets warmer than 45F, but bring them in at night. I’ll be glad when we can put them out all the time. I ended up with six hanging baskets full of flowers, and look forward to watching the flowers spread out and fill the pots with color (I’m keeping my fingers crossed that they do well).

We’re still getting quite a few visitors to the feeders, but the woodpeckers are seen most frequently. The squirrel has also been hanging around out there, and he’s back to his old antics of climbing the pole and actually standing on the largest feeder as he stuffs his cheeks with seeds. Airborne watches him from the window and chatters at him. I think it’s adorable and just had to take a photo of her standing up and looking out the window.

I also started some smaller pots with sunflower seeds to see if I can get any to grow. I didn’t use anything special - just the seeds I buy for the birds. I figure if they can grow them in my yard, I’ll give it a shot too. If they germinate, I’ll nurture them until they’re big enough to plant outside. At least I’ll be the one making the decision on placement, and not the birds and squirrels.

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A couple of days ago, I took Sedona for a walk down at Chena Lakes Rec Area.  I was hesitant at first because the skies were even more ominous than the day I went to the river. In fact, the weather report was even calling for a chance of snow. Thank goodness that didn’t happen!

The clouds were even darker, and stretched like thick ropes of cotton across the sky. This time, the glimpses of blue and sunshine were few and far between.  I didn’t expect much in the way of photographs, but went anyway.  I’m so glad I did.

The lighting was perfect. The yellow-brown wild grasses growing in the flood plain seemed to glow in the subtle light finding it’s way between the thick, dark clouds above.  I took quite a few photographs, as the scene changed constantly. Here is one of my favorites:

	The ducks above are Goldeneye Ducks. I’ve seen them before but never had a chance to photograph them. It’s not the best quality, but I wanted to get a photo so I could look them up.

We’re fortunate in that the dam hasn’t had to be closed to prevent flooding here in Fairbanks and North Pole. This dam, and the flood plain, was constructed to (hopefully) prevent massive flooding in this area, after a 1967 flood put almost the entire city under water. There are photos from that flood at this website.

Unfortunately, only a week ago, the village of Eagle was destroyed by an ice jam that occurred in the Yukon River there. The ice blocked the river from flowing downstream and caused it to back up and overflow its banks. It’s a very sad situation, and many folks living there have lost everything. You can read more about this disaster by clicking here. Additional small towns and villages may face the same scenario if ice gets stuck further downstream.  “Break-up” in Alaska is welcome, yet it can also be very dangerous.

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We finally got the front door painted - or rather I finally got the front door painted. It’s now sporting a brand new coat of red paint called “Spanish Tile”.  I love it! I had to open the storm door in this photo so you could see the paint color more clearly. The glass in the storm door was causing reflections. I’ll take another photo of the house after our hanging baskets are lush and full, and in place hanging over the porch.

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On Friday, Steve and I took Sedona up to the top of Murphy Dome for some hiking. We expected the four-wheeler path to be clear of snow, but we were wrong. Because we couldn’t walk the designated trail, we had to make our own path to the Tors rocks by crossing over muskeg and boulders and rocks. Walking on muskeg is like walking on a sponge. Talk about a workout!

We figured we walked about 2.5 miles in total. The second half of the hike was a steady uphill climb, and by the time we got back to the car, we were both out of breath and quite warm. Even Sedona was exhausted, and her feet must have been hurting her too, because she’d sometimes stop and stand in a pile of snow as if to cool them off.

We didn’t see any blooming wildflowers, but the woolly lousewort has buds on it, and the many different types of mosses and lichens are awakening and regaining their beautiful spring and summer colors.

The skies had puffy clouds in it, but it was mostly sunny. The only wildlife we saw were ravens, although we did come across quite a few groupings of thick hare fur or grouse feathers. Either a larger animal/raptor had killed them, or human hunters did.

And two final photos from Murphy Dome:

This one is one of my favorites, because it really shows the peacefulness and solitude that hiking up on Murphy Dome fills us with:

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Today looks like it’s shaping up to be another beautiful day, and the weatherman is even calling for temps in the 70s! The sun is streaming in the back door and I can’t wait to get out in it. Steve’s working today, and I think I’m going to go walking with Lisa and her Bella. I’ll take Sedona along too. I hope she’s ready to walk again after our long hike at Murphy Dome.  I’m not sure where we’re going yet - either Creamers Field or Chena Lakes.

I hope that the weather is nice in your corner of the world.

Until next time…