We had a little snow squall about 10 minutes ago. Knowing it would melt, it looked quite beautiful.
I went outside to be in the snow, then went to look at the chives, which are always the first things to come up. If I move the protective straw of last years chives, I can see their little noses poking out of the ground, though the ground is still frozen!
Almost all of the driveway is clear now. Every year the snow melts higher on the hill and runs over the frozen ground until it hits the last 30 feet of the driveway. There it emerges and the super cooled water freezes into a glacier, up to 6 inches and occasionally more. The water truck came by, since the glacier was there last time he was here and it was too slick to walk on safely, and he delivered water. We get about 800 gallons every 3 weeks, though our tank holds 1500 gallons.
The door to the greenhouse has unfrozen too, so we started pulling last years growth. I'll be bringing the water from the rain barrel in there later today, so I can get the beds ready for herbs, fresh greens.
Winter hung on late this year, then suddenly the weather warmed in the last
2 weeks. The snow suddenly rotted. The glacier lasted a shorter period of time than usual this year. Warm days, but still freezing at night of course. The pussy willows have come and gone. Soon the buds on the trees will color the bare branches and I'll know from the color of the branches what kind of trees are in that stand of trees. The leaves won't be out for a month probably. First the birch.But Spring is also the time of year for fires. A week ago, a friend got burned out. And the house was in progress, so it was uninsured. I brought her some work clothes (she's the legal advocate at the women's shelter), and am donating jewelry for an auction for her. The community will probably rally behind her. They sure ought to!
Days keep lengthening too. We won't have many more days we can see the stars, as the night sky lightens.
And I just got a letter from Blue Heeler's sister. She lives here in Fairbanks and wants help with using some beads.
Life is good.
Tina