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| Swans migrating through Delta |
Although my last entry spoke of the spring break up starting—it
quickly became an inaccurate statement . The weatherman actually showed a
posting stating, “Spring is Cancelled” shortly after my entry. Winter continued to last up until the last
couple of weeks. In any typical
year, break up would’ve happened when I posted that entry, but this was not a
typical year. Everyone in the
interior was getting quite cranky and lamenting the fact that May is supposed
to be a summer month and so far, it was far from it. The Fairbanks’s newspaper was calling it Mayvember, due to
the lack of above freezing temperatures. It was snowing on graduation day at
the high school on May 17th. Long
time residents recalled at the library that they had never seen such a persistent
winter (lucky us!).
There was a positive side, though, to spring/summer being
delayed and that was the birds
that typically migrate to northern Alaska paused in the farm fields of Delta
Junction for a couple of weeks to wait out the cold weather. We saw literally hundreds of tundra and
trumpeter swans, thousands of cranes and geese, and so many species of finches,
warblers, sparrows, and hawks. The
birding was out of control! Our
landlord, who is an avid birder, said she had never seen birds in such
abundance here.
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| Hundreds of swans on a layover in the agricultural fields |
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| Chena and her boyfriend, Toklat |
On Saturday May 18th, winter delivered its closing
assault to snow 3 inches and once again cover the ground that had literally
just started to be revealed. Our toilet then proceeded to freeze once more,
just as a final insult from our dear friend Winter.
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Ben, Chena and Toklat going for a walk on May 18th
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| Chena and Ben soaking up the sunshine |
But yesterday, summer arrived with a bang. It was in the mid-60s and sunny! It truly felt HOT. Poor Chena was sweltering and on our
mid-day walk, took the opportunity to wade through every mud puddle and snowmelt
puddle along the way to cool off.
I saw my first giant mosquito, so summer must officially be here. I also saw my first bear of the year—from my deck! I was excitedly hanging clothes up to
dry, taking advantage of the heat, when I heard the thrashing of tree limbs coming
my direction from the forest behind our cabin. I fully expected to see a moose emerge, and was quite startled
when a bear popped out 25 feet from me. Coming out of hibernation late, though,
it was in a hurry to make up for lost time. It didn’t even pause at my presence and just kept trotting
through the woods in its search for sustenance (which thankfully it did not
associate with me).
Now that summer is finally here, I guess it’s time for us to
say our goodbyes. Ben and I will
be leaving Delta Junction to move back to Sitka! Ben was hired to be a freshman English/Social Studies
teacher at Sitka High, and I was fortunate to secure a job teaching Health at
Sitka High for the fall semester, filling in for a teacher on maternity
leave. Planning our move back to Sitka
really seems like a homecoming for us.
We have received so many phone calls and letters from Sitkans excited to
hear about our return. The
Interior has blessed us in many ways and we will definitely be back to visit,
but Sitka still has our heart! It
is time to don our xtra-tuffs and pull our rain jackets out of storage! We cannot WAIT to see our wonderful
fellow Sitkans again!
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| Chena is ready for her roadtrip to SITKA! |
