March 8, 2009
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Home Again
Wasilla was warm and sunny yesterday. Driving down the Valley, all my side windows and the window in the hatch were frosty, as they have been since the weather turned cold last fall. The heater in Blur is anemic. It will keep the windshield defrosted, but I dress as warmly to drive as I would to walk, and I keep a lap robe in the car so my legs won’t freeze. Actually my lap robe is an afghan knitted by Greyfox’s grandmother, very classy black and white zig-zaggy stripes, but I digress.
I was parked in front of Greyfox’s cabin long enough for the rear window and those on the right side to melt clear of frost. Next time I parked, I put the car with the other side in the sun, and for the rest of the day, for the first time in months, I had clear visibility in all directions. That was the first sign of changing seasons. The next one came when I got all my shopping done, loaded up the stuff that Greyfox had at his place for me, and got home before dark. Longer days mean a lot to me.
The drive home was not entirely uneventful. Approaching Houston, a riderless horse ran by in the ditch, saddled, bridled, with stirrups flapping as it went. A mile or so farther on, a young woman on another horse was headed in the same direction, not going quite as fast as the first one, but crossing through traffic in a way that made her horse shy and rear up briefly before she got it under control and, once on the same side with the runaway, sped after it.
Willow was showing some of the preparations for today’s Idiatrod Re-Start. Mostly, it was traffic-related — barricades in places, orange cones, snow berms removed to provide parking and shuttle bus turnarounds. On the highway, a big flashing sign directed mushers toward their overnight parking area. At the elementary school, a sandwich board advertised this morning’s PTA breakfast buffet.
As Doug unloaded the car and I put away groceries, he buried my bed under all the bags of clothing from the dumpsters and books and videos from the library’s bag sale. Sorting and stowing that stuff kept me busy into the night, and as usual my fatigue from the day had me sleeping in one- or two-hour increments. After five or six hours of that, I gave up and got up. I’ll be able to sleep better tonight.
I certainly have plenty to eat, plenty to wear, and plenty to read now. Since Doug and I did a water run a few days ago, there’s plenty to drink, too. I probably won’t need to go anywhere for weeks. Yay!
Comments (8)
Wow, you remind me of ants.
Hahahaha store store store goodies for the rainy days. But hey, I thought winter’s ending?? (I have no idea coz I live in the Philippines)
I’m enjoying the warmer weather as well… almost 60 here today… shoulda had shorts on
Things are moving forward in a spring like fashion here as well. I’m very, very happy about that.
Nice that you’re all provisioned up. How many arrivals of spring have I been through with you? Now I think this might be the third…
i’ll vouch for the ‘spring is forcing its way’ based on a couple of things.
1) i saw a robin on thursday. i didn’t mention to my brother that a few of the tough ones overwinter to get earliest claim on the best breeding sites.
2) i had a look at a stand of japanese knotweed (polygonum cuspidatum=looks like asparagus, cook like rhubarb) in the neighbourhood and there are a couple of early buds just peeking out of the ground, waiting for the growing season the begin.
3) can’t count on the first flowers i’ve seen as indicators because the wife has snowdrops (galanthus ?nivalis) which will melt the snow from below and be flowering before the snow is gone…but the crocus in the front garden are just waiting for a sunny day.
@purplepixiepoo -
@TommyCrowwithWhiteFeathers -
@warweasel -
@butshebites -
@the_nthian -
I hope I didn’t give anyone the idea that there are any signs of “spring” whatever that is. We’re not even close to breakup. It is still subzero (Fahrenheit) most nights (except when some warm moist air moves in and dumps more snow), sub-freezing all day. Wasilla is 50 miles down the valley, lower elevation, closer to the equator (a little bit), and close to Cook Inlet (which connects through the Gulf of Alaska to the Pacific Ocean), so it is much warmer there than here. Even so, there is still snow on the ground down there. I just hit town on a sunny day and the solar energy defrosted my car windows. They are all icy again now, and it is snowing.
sorry, i forgot that spring has a different agenda ‘up there’.
i’m at about 45°N so spring comes earlier here.
today i heard a cardinal singing spring songs and got carried away.
62 degrees N., here. No migratory birds are back yet. My son saw a bald eagle today, perched in a tree along the road.