long days with snow still on the ground

I was talking to Mom yesterday and told her that the intellectual side of my brain is fighting with the experience side of my brain.

I understand that yes, it is April, and yes, we are having long days already because we live this far North, and yes, that living far North is why we still have so much snow on the ground.  Intellectually I get that.

However, for 37 years, experience has told me that when the days are this long, we're headed to see 4th of July fireworks and wishing the air conditioning in the car was colder and seeing the grass turn brown from the heat of the day.  And that is why my brain is trying to implode.

So, today, April 19, we are to have 15 hours 13 minutes 4 seconds of "day".  But it also says that it won't get darker than Astrological Twilight.  Goodness....

So with a day as long as that, you would think it would be all daisies and flip flops.

Not so.

Exhibit A:

4-17-15 8:42 AM

This is Lake Hartwig.  It used to be Hartwig Mote, but it's less wet between the house and the garage now.  Can you tell that it's frozen over?  Most mornings the standing water has frozen over again.

Exhibit B:

4-17-15 8:43 AM

This is the "yard."  While the edges of the snow had added snow shoveled onto it, that's not the case of the whole yard!  There was just so. much. snow. that it's still feet thick and is taking a long time to melt, especially with the re-freeze overnight.  You can see remnants of Hartwig Mote (frozen over) in the foreground.

Exhibit C:

4-17-15 8:42 AM

This is the road we live on, facing East.  The sun rises in the East!  Back in the day it was barely rising at 11 AM and staying in the southern sky...  Look how high the sun is for so early in the day!

Exhibit D:

4-17-15 8:48 AM

This is where the Rich and the Old Rich meet.  I include this to show how much difference there is between here and where we live.  It's a very short distance away, but this intersection gets a lot more sun, and is a higher elevation.  Not much snow left!  That, or what snow there is is covered in the gravel they spread on the road for traction...

Exhibit E:

4-17-15 9:29 PM

You can see that even at nearly 9:30 at night, there is still light in the sky.  This is after sunset, but still plenty light out to see without any lights.  That photo had no flash and is straight off the camera, no editing, so you can see how the lighting is.

I just hope that next year my intellectual knowledge won't fight so hard with my experience knowledge.  I've had a headache every day for the last 3 days!

My husband is famous

The other day Jeff was recognized by his picture in the phone book.

Huh?

So he came home and took a look to find out what that person meant...

The local phone book.

We don't know why he was in the phone book, other than the fact that he's new.  The story wasn't about him or the other people pictured.  So random...

Finally! Facebook has a purpose.

I am a staunch Facebook Hold-out.  I do not want an account.  Ever.

Jeff & Rhyanne complain about Facebook and then ask why I don't have an account. (Well, not Rhyanne so much anymore cause the kids don't use it nearly as much anymore.)

O_o

But it has now been proven that perhaps Facebook can do some good in this world.

Jeff has kept in touch with old classmates, Army buddies, and coworkers via Facebook.  One of those old classmates just happens to run an ice cream company...

And this showed up on our doorstep the other day:

A big ol' Styrofoam container with ice cream and dry ice!

We got 6 quarts total of Schoep's Badger Tracks ice cream!  And it stayed frozen all the way from Wisconsin to Alaska!

Well, if being on Facebook will result in ice cream care packages, then I guess Jeff can keep his account!

She thinks we're like BFF or something

This is Sophie.

She lives across the street, but she owns the neighborhood.

I had lived here for 6 months before I found out where she lives because she is always all over the place.

She comes to the house and was never happy that I wouldn't give her a treat.

I'm just not a dog person.  I've gotten to the point where I will give her a couple of pets or ear scratches, but then I'm done.

And Jeff opened the flood gates by giving her a treat one day.

looking at the treat in my hand

And since then we have given her treats about 1/3 of the times she has stopped by.

looking at my, wondering when she gets her treat

Now she shows up when I'm leaving or returning from work.  And she runs over to me like she is so darned excited to see me!  She goes into the garage when I'm moving the car.  She finds a dry path to get to the porch.  She has even tried to come inside.

licking her chops, just wanting that treat!

But, sorry Sophie, I'm still not a dog person.  You will probably still get treats every now and again, though...

You know you're old when you spend a lot of time talking about the weather...

Huh*, three and a half weeks since I wrote a blog post.

Not much has been going on around here.  While it's Spring down in the Lower 48, it's Breakup Season here in Alaska.  (Breakup meaning when the ice breaks up on the rivers)
Side note:  When I asked a neighbor if she thought my Subaru Legacy would be okay around here (it's a car that sits low), she said, "sure, except for maybe during Breakup."

It never got so darn cold here for the Copper River to truly freeze completely over, and there is a good amount already open.

What's really been bad (in my MidWest opinion), is the melting of all the snow.  We got more than normal snowfall for this area this year (as far as I've been told, anyway - how would I know?).  For a while we had a mote between the house and the garage which made me happy to be wearing my Keens.  It's dried up a bit now, but there is still standing water (that freezes at night when it dips into the 20s).  Temps have been getting into the 40s most days, which feels nice.  In fact, when Jeff came home yesterday, there was only 20 degrees difference between the outdoor temp and the indoor temp.  That's a huge change from a few months ago when there was 100 degrees difference!  And I am so ready to take the plastic off of the windows, but knowing it's only April in Alaska, I'm not going to be trying to do that too early...

And as anyone who lives where there is snow will tell you, when it's melting, it's pretty ugly.  There's a lot of ugly ditches around here, either filled with water, or ugly dirty snow, or just filled with the gravel the put down on the roads for traction.  Not pretty.  Hence, few photos.

Luckily, where there are no roads, you might be able to find a pretty sight.

After church on Easter we picked our way across the slush and frozen snow to see the Copper River.  There are still large ice shelves, but quite a wide open channel in the middle.

And maybe I won't devote my next blog post to the weather, k?  And let me know if you like the new look of the blog...  thx!

*Hey Mom, what's this spell?  "H-U-H?"
Huh?
Mom, what's this spell?  "H-U-H?"
Huh?
Mom! what's! this! spell!?  "H!-U!-H!?"
Huh?
*funniest van conversation ever!*