You've seen my latest pictures. While you in the Lower 48 have had your crocuses come and go, your daffodils and even some of you have lilacs bloom, we Alaskans in the Interior and farther north are still dealing with the idea of Spring. Not the reality so much, but the idea that Spring might be here, might be happening, but then again, we don't want to get our hopes up.
Last year it was pretty darn dreary, as we didn't get all that much snow, but the damn stuff just wouldn't go away. This year we got lots and lots of snow, the most in years, and here we are again, and it just won't go away yet.
It hasn't been -20 in quite some time. We seem to be past that. But you never know. Folks who have lived here a long time know that you don't plant outside until after June 1. That's right. June 1. Some people plant mid-May, but have been fooled some years and lost their plants to a late overnight freeze.
When you live for extended periods of time at -20, and then it goes up to 0, you suddenly feel warm! It's a question of giant leaps in temperature. A twenty or forty degree temperature jump, say from -20 to 20 above, makes you feel that you can forgo the extra sweater under the down jacket for that quick run out to the truck and back. However, those extra-cold days are past, and we are now used to 20 being cold. Which it is, for heaven sakes! Everything is frozen every night! I have to put my Yak Trax on to take the dogs out in the morning so I don't slip and kill myself on the ice. In the afternoon it's not necessary because it has warmed up to above freezing and things are squishier.
The point here is that it's COLD, dammit. It's 20° when I get up in the morning and that's cold! We Alaskans aren't impervious to cold. We just deal with it. However there is a time when we get tired of dealing with it and now we are all ready for warm temperatures. But it's tricky figuring out when it's okay to say it's Spring. Would you call this a picture of Spring? Unlikely. It takes a strong mental and emotional capacity to withstand the long, dark, very cold winter. If you get too excited that it is Spring, you could then be plunged into depression when Mother Nature clouds up the sky and dumps another six inches of snow on you. Or the temperatures drop to -20. Or a cold wind comes in. Then you have to get your head around winter again. It's safer to be very, very cautious about whether it is Spring or not. Safer mentally and emotionally.
There are some things that happen around this time of year that indicate the coming of Spring (or Break Up):
The snowplows go out and really scrape the roads and push the snow far off the shoulders. All over people have been using front-end loaders and other large equipment to remove the foot or so of hard pack that covers everyone's parking lots and driveways.
I almost ran out of fuel and had to have a little more delivered, so I know winter must be close to ending.
The squirrels are awake, the arctic hares are turning polka-dotty, and it is mating season for the birds, even though the only insects I've seen so far have been tiny moths, and only three so far in the last week. Bugs coming back does mean things are getting warmer.
We do have lots more light now. Over 15 hours per day, last time I checked. This is a wonderful thing.
This time of year I scoop up all the frozen poop and yellow snow from the dog yard and take it to the dump. It's not just me, this is a yearly chore for thousands of Alaskans.
At some point the snow will slide off the roof. We aren't there yet.
It could rain and coat everything with black ice. It could snow again. It probably will snow again. I can live with a little more snow, but dear God please no black ice.
A few years ago I was playing music with some friends at a benefit outside, and a wind came in that was literally freezing, dropping the temperature to zero. They guys were in kilts, and their knees were turning blue, our fingers went numb and mine turned blue. This was mid-MAY.
Spring. We need it, we want it, we know it's going to happen but sometimes it feels like any wrong word or deed could jinx the whole thing. So don't tell me about your 85°. I don't want to hear it.
