We're melting away

Alaska is a difficult place to live in for most of the year and during the winter especially, but the in between seasons are my least favorite times of the year. Fall and Spring. In the fall, the rains turn everything into mud, which gets tracked everywhere. On top of that, when it dries, it turns into dust, especially in carpeted areas. Our whole school has carpet, except for the gym, so that level of dust during the fall in early winter gets pretty high in the school adding to sinus and respiratory problems.

The winter starts out by just getting cold. Tundra freezes solid as well as the rivers and coastal water. Then it starts snowing occasionally. There are a couple of warm spells here and there that melt some of the snow and bring back the mud temporarily. As the winter goes on, the snow levels increase and the storms begin rolling in bring strong wind storms and blowing snow.

In the spring, all that snow starts to melt. This year, the temperatures seemed to shift rapidly and the snow got soft very quickly and started melting away. The days become absolutely beautiful with blue bird skies and warm temperatures. As the snow gets soft, getting around becomes very difficult. Watching the 4-wheelers spin and slide around is quite entertaining. As there is more and more snow turning to water, the snow machines can be seen skimming across the water at full throttle, like jet skis. Walking however, is the most frustrating mode of transportation. At first, you can stay on top of the snow, but as the days go on, particularly later in the day, you start post holing. Post holing is when you break through the upper crust of packed snow and sink down to your knees or upper thigh. With all of the snow turning to water, most of the time you post hole, you sink down to your thigh and your foot ends up in an ice bath.

To combat this, I’ve decided to create some channels to let the melting snow, so the water could easily drain off the land. There is still too much snow for the water to drain completely, so there is a lot of standing water. But, I figure it’s better walk through water know what you are stepping into, as opposed to post holing unexpectedly. It’s a lot of work, but it makes life a little easier. The kids don’t let the multiple ice baths get them down. Eventually the snow will be gone and the mud will return. I hate mud. I really do.