Official greenup!

Apparently ten days later than average! But here it is. Yay! Green buds!

And that Alaskan summer sky!

Here is a Cricket selfie.

And here is a Thistle selfie.

Guess what I have?

I have an APPLE!!!

Mmmmm APPLE!!

Spring arrives at its own pace

A gradual spring is nice, especially one after a winter of high snow levels. Then the snow melts gradually, and the risk of flooding and damage to our dirt roads is minimized. However, hail is a bit of a setback.

Wowee! Look at these!

However, now that enough snowpack has melted so that the meese can access browse, they have quit being hangry, and we can walk at least this one trail system again. Our favorite trail system, behind our cabin, is, alas, inaccessible now due to another reason: a thawed and flowing creek.

This trail is melting out little by little. There are streams of water cutting through at places.

The water is clear and very pretty.

Oh no! COMB!! The other downside of spring.

Winter almost always has one last hurrah. It's like it comes back into the room after it's left, shouting, "And another thing!"

But underneath the earth, the world awakens. A few days after I spotted the rhubarb, I saw the first columbine plants appear.

Here is a Cricket selfie!

And here is a Thistle selfie!

An Unusually Wet and Muddy Spring

Due to our record snow last winter, and the layer of ice that's under that snow damming the meltwater, we are having a weird and muddy spring. The Minor News says that "City public work crews have quickly become inundated with clearing out flooded streets caused by warming weather and a near-record snowfall from this summer."

Look! There are streams of water going down our roads!

Water accumulated behind our cabin and rather than draining through the snowpack, as usual, it got trapped by that ice layer and accumulated water behind it. DL cut channels through that dam thing. (Please note my dam fine pun.)

These buds will burst soon!

And look! My first rhubarb from my new patch appeared!

Here is a zoomed-out photo for context. The snow had only just receded, and the rhubarb was all, "HERE I AM, YOUR FAITHFUL RHUBARB."

Here is a photo of Queen Thistle eating an apple.

And here is a photo of Princess Cricket eating a bok choy stem.

Here is a photo of me squeezing HRH, who tolerates me pretty well now.

And here is a photo of the Princess, incapacited since Daddy got up from their snuggle and left her All Alone.

More Signs of Spring

This morning, I did my first morning run in shoes without studs. And look what I saw outside just now!

A green thing!

This is the comfy spot on the couch

Some endearing photos of sweet beasts

Miss Thistle in a sunbeam.

Miss Cricket being snuggly.

The sweet elderly gent, Mr. Pepper. He likes bellyrubs.

One of my vet's office cats, Mr. Binx. Binx is the chillest cat I have ever met. My vet has two office cats, and the other, Mr. Tony, an orange marmalade, is equally sweet, but even he has his limits. He'll walk away when he is annoyed. Binx is never annoyed. I just learned that he is 19ish (adopted as a stray so real age unknown). Dear Binx, it is sad to think of him as an old man.

Some real signs of spring now

A few days ago, the first swans arrived at Creamer's Field (photo by Melanie Graeff):

And apparently, the first geese arrived yesterday (photo by Friends of Creamer's Field):

Our roads got very aggressively graded in perparation for spring. They try to scrape up as much old ice and hardpack as they can, so when it melts, it won't turn the roads into muddy lakes. Look how much there was this record-breaking year!

I took a berm selfie. It is taller than I am!

And here is a Cricket hug selfie, just because.

But look at this! She can look very dignified and photogenic!

And so can Queen Thistle!