I might be pushing it a little, but I declare winter OVER! We've had such beautiful weather the past week you can't help but get a touch of spring fever. A bright yellow sun, intense blue skies, puffy white clouds floating by...the only color we are missing is green! That's right - it's April 29th and not a green blade of grass or leaf on a tree to be found.
People like to joke that if you blink spring is gone, but up here, that's actually true. Our cold days drag on til about mid April, and the cold nights even longer which delays that last color indicator of spring. But one day you will wake up (probably the second week of May) and ta-da! Buds on trees everywhere! Grass blades poking out of the still slightly frozen ground! Then. you wake up 3 days later and every tree is in full foliage and you better make sure your lawn mower has gas.
The speed with which spring arrives here as amazed since we moved up. You spend so long waiting for it to arrive, and then all of a sudden you're behind in yard work. The lawn mower is running twice a week to catch up, the weeds are 5 feet tall, and whenever you go outside you swear that plant was half the size it was yesterday! Welcome to almost never ending daylight. I hope you aren't worried about a well manicured yard.
The other thing that arrives as quickly as spring and puts you in a time crunch is your summer to do list! With such a short time to get outdoor activities (fun or otherwise) done, my level of panic seems to increase in direct correlation with the snow decrease. We have a finite amount of time to get things done around the exterior of the house, have friends come visit, get out camping, go fishing, and cram in the numerous volunteer events we attend as well.
So welcome to official Alaska spring - where all we can do is grab our list of plans and wait for the snow to melt!
Last year's spring season!
Comments