Break Up is Here

For all my readers from the lower 48 states, “break up” is the Alaskan word for SPRING. We hit double digits in temperatures this week, and the high pressure over northern Alaska has brought us much needed and appreciated sunshine.

It was great to take Kaia for a walk and not be constantly worried about frostbite. We still have to bundle up, but not nearly as much as we have been. I’m not quite ready to retire my winter coat yet, but I think that warmer weather is here to stay. Surprisingly everything is melting at 16 degrees. I thought that we had to get above 32 before the thaw process would begin, but not so. The snowpacked streets are officially mud channels and I am beginning to feel more nervous about crossing the lagoon on the snowmobile.

Other signs of spring include my hubby hacking 1-foot-thick ice off our walkway (a job that preventative maintenance for our complex should have taken care of months ago, but didn’t) and I am ecstatic about the fact that the song birds have returned. There IS life on the tundra!

I think that it will still be a few weeks before the ocean breaks up and I expect it will be July before we are up into temperatures above 32, but I am happy that the light is here to stay 24-7. I think that I am solar powered, and it makes me happy to see a bright an cheery everything.