You can still find snow in Anchorage if you look hard enough. Once little mountains of it, pushed to the corners of parking lots have now dwindled to dirt covered mounds smaller than my car.

The trees bud here in the spring just as quickly as they turn and drop-off in fall. Two days ago? Stick-trees of winter with the start of budding. Yesterday, a hint of green to them. Today I see a fine 'green mist' everywhere.

These are all signs; true. But what really hits home that it is summer? The first of the out-of-town family vacationers arrive today! Because as you all know, summer in AK means re-discovering all the beauty that we take for granted. Seeing it anew through the eyes of our visiting friends and relatives. Oh, and it also means more people competing for bathroom time!

Summer is here folks. Don't blink.

Springtime has come to Anchorage... mostly.

A couple of weeks ago I changed the wheels on my car. Studded snow tires off - summer ones on. I also spent a charming afternoon sitting on a chair in the back yard, pulling studs from our 'beater car's' tires, one at a time.

The last of the snow had melted by that time. The yard is raked. The 10' of city road gravel has been hosed back onto the street to await the street-sweeper (an anual tradition).

So now we come to the present day... May 8th. I open the curtains, and what greets my eyes?

Spring lawn-watering ... Anchorage style:



It's May 8th people!! SNOW??? Grrrrrrrrrr.