Signs of summer.

Today, it became very apparent to us that spring is officially here.  Love winter, but really elated to welcome the summer months!  Exciting times, so much so that it is hard to sleep.  Like this walk on the beach at 9:30PM the other night.  Working outdoors late into the evening, with no worries about coming in for the night.  Staying up until midnight just because you are too charged to sleep, as has been the norm of late, and the list of events goes on.   There is so much to do and just enjoy so much daylight that it seems almost pointless to sleep.  You actually have an amazing amount of zap from so much daylight!  Currently the sun is rising at 5:37AM and setting at 10:26PM.

Today the ice on the lake completely turned!  It actually happened so fast I could not keep track as shown in  the pics below.

 In the spirit of the failed 'snow cam' during a plow run over winter, I got this cool shot on the lake yesterday with the patented 'ice cam' ....in real time!

With a thin layer of ice lingering yesterday and this pic showing the ice rapidly receding this morning,

by tonight during post, the lake is 96% ice free!  We actually sat out on the deck when the westerly sea breeze kicked in this afternoon, and watched as the breeze blow the current under the ice.  It's westward movement disintegrated the ice that remained before our eyes.  We love the snowy, icy meadow that replaces the lake in the long winter months, but the movement of the water, the life within it's bounds during the summer  months in by far the event of the season.  A ripple in still water! 

This rock tossed on the morning ice, was sunken history a couple of hours later.

With a scream from an eagle on the fly, this lone feather found it's winters home embedded within the ice.   

Seska is seriously debating upon retrieving that rock mentioned above.  For the record, she decided 

 better of it!

Notice the rigidity of the tail and the forward appearance of momentum in Cherokee's butt....  The thought going through his mind here is, "I walked on it without getting wet 2 months ago...?"  Yes, he thought he had it figured out until his ass end broke though the thin ice and his instinct to bolt kicked in!

Not sure here, but I believe her tongue is stuck to the ice....

 There's that whole rigidity/rear momentum thing going on again!  Another one breaks the ice!  These guys seriously had their intelect tested with this whole thawing issue!

Mind you, within hours these dogs would have been swimming rather than walking....er, ah...falling through ice!  The current arrivals are as follows:  We started seeing Terns on the far side of the lake the day before yesterday.  There was only a small section for them to feed in.  This morning a family of ducks arrived and swam north shore most of the day.  Tonight a loon was spotted diving in the shallows.  it is just too exciting!

We got to enjoy Maryann's new patio pit Saturday night.  Reduced from a granite lined fire ring that entertained 8 foot high bon fires in the Sierra's, we are old, empty nesters now with this hot little portable fire pit!  Smores not included.  It is going to be a very nice way to enjoy the cool summer nights.

Publish Post

Moose droppings!  Unbelievable how such  an immensely stoic animal  can have such a proportionately small discharge!  The moose love the trails which I cut on the property last summer....alot.  This is visibly apparent by the many piles of petite poops found throughout the trail system.

This ice shelve hanging off the bluff on our beach walk the other night appears to be small.  However, it was actually about the size of a small house roof....thank goodness for zoom!  All in all the arrival of summer is now in full swing.  With the days getting longer and the energy of life around us becoming so much more apparent, we are like giddy little kids these days.  A good portion of this weekend was spent on yard chores here at home.

 At first impression, it looks as though a piece of a satellite fell out of the sky and landed in our yard.  However, it is the toppled remains of an era.  The old analog antenna that we never used yet was a fixture on our roof came down today!  Believe it or not, since we here on the peninsula are still getting most channels through translators, while most of the country find these old antennas obsolete, many Alaskans still are able to use them!  Had some Alaskans seen this, I would have been chastised for not taking this to Goodwill...by some.....

We also celebrated the anticipated arrival of all of the friendly little bats that invade the compound every single summer since we landed!  You can recollect that segment of our lives on this link.
Kenai Alaska or Bust: Eviction, conviction and.....taxes?

Again, we bolstered our defenses to fend off the cute little bastards by sealing more potential holes, and running a reinforced venting grate down the entire front eve vents which have become increasingly compromised each summer.  PETA would insist they are good little creatures....and any other time I may be convinced of this.  However, PETA is not the ones living with these things pooping up our attic, creeping around our house at night, rendering themselves 'play toys' for the dogs during their misguided daytime blindness as they fall out of the sky onto the lawn.  Yes, we are really trying to keep their eviction in process here.  Maryann said it best today; ever since we got together it seems our destiny and fate is to have to deal with bats every spring and summer.  First the cabin in Arnold, then the cabin in Dorrington, and now in Alaska.  Oye!  Summer's here and the time is right....!