SpringQuest – Day 7
It’s been a full week since our daily photographic quest for Spring began, and we’ve made progress. Like with anything, it can sometimes feel like one step forward, two steps back. But overall, our trend is good. (Feels area above neck) And it seems I made it without my head exploding, so there’s that.
The backward steps generally seem to happen at night. So, at least Old Man Winter is too ashamed to show his face during the daylight hours.
Lake Whatthehell in the driveway is almost gone now, and has been replaced on the map by the Areyoukiddingme River at the other end.
The river is the result of a culvert running underneath the driveway that becomes completely filled with ice. And the meltwater runs over the top of the driveway, which is what the culvert is there to prevent. Basically, it becomes a giant push-pop, only its full of ice and there’s no way to push it out. So, we wait.
The river has its own charms, I suppose, considering some of the other things around whose aesthetic value is nonexistent.
Generally, in the morning after a good hard freeze at night, there will be ice crystals trying desperately to cover the driveway, but having to give up the ghost as the sun rises on them after only partially conquering their former kingdom.
A further sign that Winter is losing the battle to liquid water is that I noticed further downstream from me, the creek has opened up and the sound of rushing water can be heard! The snow is really punchy and deep down there, so hiking down to explore is not an option, but I’ve got it on my list of things for us to do as soon as I can make it.
There is another classic, telltale sign of spring around here. I present Exhibit A:
ABANDON HOPE
ALL WHO ENTER THE CARWASH!
Non-Alaskans may cringe at this sight, particularly if they are one of those people who lovingly buffs and waxes, and vacuums, and runs your baby through a carwash regularly and all that. You’d never last through a Breakup here. There is nothing you can do during Breakup. Nothing. If you wash the car, it will end up looking like this before the end of the day, and it must be regarded as a good sign.
I’m wondering when the swallows will return. I used to keep track on a little piece of paper somewhere. I remember one year it was the 19th, and another year it was the 14th, and another year it was the 25th. Just like they return every year to Capistrano, a miniature version of that plays out in my yard. I’ll keep you posted on that as well.
54 and sunny in Eagle River late afternoon Wednesday.
The birch trees in my front yard are nudging each other and whispering, “You go first!”
I expect leafout to begin Thursday.
The geese are starting to show here in the interior. Always a good sign.
Hooray- that means they’ve left here 😉
Subaru is the japanese name for the star cluster Pleiades or seven sisters,which was,if memory serves,one of the late Jack Horkheimer’s favorite stars to talk about on the PBS show where he always ended by telling everyone to “keep looking up.” What a Subaru with a dirty rear window means is anybodies guess.
That car isn’t dirty.
When you can’t read the license plate anymore . . . that’s dirty.
AKM,
If it’s any “constellation” (Russell’s old boss used to say that all the time, thinking it was right – drove us nuts), anyway, if it’s any CONSOLATION, spring has been very late appearing in Central PA, as well. We are having the weather NOW that we normally have in mid-April. In mid-April, we were having February snows and temperatures. (This is why Punxsutawney Phil, the local groundhog celebrity, was nearly made into a casserole this ” faux spring”).
My allergies are saying that, given a couple more weeks of sneezing, we should soon be on track for summer.
Hang in there!
I long to spend time in Alaska (since I was informed in no uncertain terms that the 20 minutes I spent at an airport in Juneau in the 1970s “doesn’t count, I’ve technically only visited 49 states). However, breakup is not the season I have in mind, at least not for my first visit. Hang in there, AK.
Wickersham’s Conscience is pleased to report he found very strong signs of Spring lurking in the old Delta Barley Project southeast of Delta Junction. Photos were taken. Admittedly, WC defines “signs of Spring” as birds in spring migration. Yes, they’re 2-3 weeks late, but they have arrived.
Besides, if a sign of spring isn’t the cacophony of a couple thousand geese and ducks put up by a Peregrine Falcon, what is?
Wait. Don’t answer that.
/WC
Alaska Peregrines run hostels for migrating waterfowl? Who knew? I kinda get the part where killing migratory waterfowl is a federal offense,but I did not know falcons were benevolent towards them. What an educational site this is.
If WC would like to send me one or more of said photos, I will gladly post!
Send back the falcon, if he’s the one that usually roosts our neighbor’s eaves. You can keep the geese…