Inktrails from Alaska

Speaking of Hard Pack Removal

The dogs have been busy digging away at the now-softened snow. It's been WARM at least by Alaska standards and the snow is actually melting. Yippee! Today in the sun it was 60° and I got hot working outside and was comfortable in just a t-shirt and regular pants, instead of all those pesky layers. What a relief!

The front-end loader did most of the hard pack removal out front on the driveway, but the dog yard is nearly two feet of packed snow. The dogs have been working at it diligently, almost obsessively.

Sofia worked her way all the way through the snow to the dirt. She was going like sixty, as you can see. Then she hit dirt and at first looked very satisfied, only to get very frustrated. The ground is 100% frozen, and digging was impossible. She turned to me with such a frustrated look on her face, it was priceless. "Fix it, Mom! Gosh darn I did all that work! And what does it get me? Frozen stuff AGAIN!"

Gorgeous New Photos of Redoubt Volcano

These are from the Alaska Volcano Observatory. Click on them for very large images.

No, I cannot see the volcano from Fairbanks. But we can get an ashfall if the winds go wrong for us.

Photograph of Redoubt, as seen from near Homer on April 11, 2009. Photograph courtesy of Turea "Midge" Grice.

Picture Date: April 11, 2009 07:48:00 AKDT
Image Creator: Grice, Turea "Midge";

Image courtesy of Turea "Midge" Grice.
Please cite Turea "Midge" Grice when using this image.

Photograph of Redoubt, as seen from near Homer on April 11, 2009. Photograph courtesy of Dennis Anderson.

Picture Date: April 11, 2009 09:10:00 AKDT
Image Creator: Anderson, Dennis;

Image courtesy of Dennis Anderson.
Please cite Dennis Anderson when using this image.

There are some Big Things in our yard

And for once they aren't moose!

On the eve of Easter and this appears.

What the heck? Where did this giant snowball come from?

Wait a minute, could this scary thing have anything to do with it?

Today marked one of the true rituals of Spring in Alaska: removing the hard pack off the driveway! The snowball came from a bucket-load of snow that rolled through the trees as it was dumped onto the big snow pile. When I looked outside and saw that giant snowball in my yard I just had to laugh!

It took many cookies and hanging out inside the front-end loader bucket to get Ole to pose for his picture. I squatted down in the bucket and talked to him and that helped, and of course cookies helped. We could have fit at least two more of each of us easily in that bucket! 

Tax Time

I've got to catch up on a couple years of taxes and get that stuff together TODAY.

Suddenly, strangely enough, picking up the frozen poop in the dog yard now seems critical, as does burning the paper trash, not to mention doing the dishes, taking the garbage to the dump and going to the laundromat.

Funny how that happens, isn't it?

New Webcam of Redoubt Volcano

From the Alaska Volcano Observatory, a new webcam HERE.

It's got a great picture on it right now. Can't vouch for it having a great picture all the time. Alaska is 4 hours behind East Coast time. But we have over 12 hours of daylight now, so you have a good chance to see it most of the day. Enjoy!

Great Current Picture of Redoubt Volcano

Ash and steam cloud from Redoubt volcano as seen from Cannery Road in Kenai. Picture Date: March 31, 2009 19:15:00
Photographer: Sutton, Neil

Redoubt is at least 400 miles away from my area. Ash may still make its way up here, however. But I'm no no danger from lava flows or mud slides.