Living in Alaska: April 2011

Saturday, April 30, 2011

End of April Update

Well, tomorrow is May 1st. It is amazing how April has flown by so quickly. The snow is SLOWLY melting. We have had highs in the 50's the last couple of weeks. This has helped melt the snow (just not as fast as I would like).

Mike and I have been tending to our little seedlings for our summer garden. The plants are growing and looking very healthy. In fact, we took the time this afternoon to replant them into bigger pots. I can't wait to put them in the ground the first of June!

I have three more weeks of school. The year has gone so fast and it seems impossible that we are at the end of the year. My summer will be busy, as I have three graduate classes I will be taking. It will be a busy summer with homework and papers.

Mike and I do have trip planned for Memorial Day. We are going camping at Denali National Park for 5 days. We also want to take a short trip in June to Chicken, Alaska. There is a bluegrass festival there called Chickenstock that looks to be rather interesting. Finally, we want to end the summer with dipnetting for salmon on the Kenai River and then driving the Glen Allen Highway over to the Richardson and back to Fairbanks (camping along the way).

I hope you are doing well and enjoy the pictures below!

Mike and Kristie

The snow is slowly melting:

The Calvin's Summer Seedlings:

Arugula

Broccoli

Cucumbers

Green Beans

Lettuce

Tomatoes

Saturday, April 9, 2011

April 2011 Update

Since getting back from Hawaii, Mike and I have been so busy. April has brought warmer temperatures and lots of sunshine and even some snow! We have had highs up to 50, but we seem to be averaging in the 30's. On Friday morning, we awoke to almost an inch and a half of new snow with a thin layer of ice hiding underneath. I didn't find out about the ice until my drive to work.

Last week, Mike and I started thinking about our summer garden. With lots of energy, we went to the garden center at our local store and bought seed cups and seeds. The "fruits" of our labor are show below in the pictures.

Kitties are doing great! Abigail recently had a full checkup from the vet and checked out a-okay. Francie is doing well, as is Zoee. Zoee has brought lots of new energy to our house!

While we are still getting some measurable snow, it is melting. Our deck is completely clear, as are the main roads. It's hard to see just how much has melted, but we can hear the drip, drip during the day. It is very encouraging and I am hoping we will see grass by the first of May.

Mike and I are gearing up for candle season. The Farmer's Market starts May 8th. It seems like we just finished all the Holiday Bazaar's. So, we better get busy and make some candles! Other than praying for the snow to melt, not much else is going on. We hope you are doing well!

Arugula