Last ski

 

Yesterday I went for my last ski of the season on Pyramid, and while I was up there it was snowing. I don't think my final ski has ever coincided with snow squalls. In a normal year Pyramid is still skiable until at least the Summer Solstice, but this year, sadly enough, we did not make it even to June. The next few days we are supposed to get inches of rain and then I am off on another survey - so for Pyramid this is it. 

There is still a lot of snow on the higher mountains further from the coast like on Sharatin or Center mountains - so perhaps I might catch another ski or two before the summer heat. But not on Pyramid until next ski season.   The doggies and I will miss our daily ski/walks.

Patrick

Early Wildflowers and Garden

 

Dwarf Buttercup

Yesterday on my dog ski/walk I took some pictures of the first alpine wildflowers of the year. The wildflowers are popping up and blooming in the wet places that were covered with snow a month ago. Nothing is blooming on the dry tundra yet.

At my house my garden is pretty far behind. My lettuce is tiny and just yesterday I noticed a few carrot sprouts. So few that I am a little worried I'll need to plant the carrots again. The peas just sprouted too. I also noticed the beach lovage is the perfect size to harvest for salads. While it is not technically a part of my garden it is conveniently growing near the house. And Lovage is a better salad green than anything I can get at Safeway.

Yesterday I also mowed part of my lawn - ughhhhh. And so it begins.

Patrick

Snow bed Marigold

Stream Violet

Sitka Alder

beach lovage in my yard

Garlic

lettuce

cottonwood starting to leaf out

Chasing Bode

 

Bode on the go throwing up a rooster tail of corn snow

The skiing on Pyramid is all but done. At this point, I probably would not even bother with the skiing if it did not make the dogs so happy. That said, the skiing is still better than it was back in November when I did climb to ski. Back in the Fall I was just happy to be on snow and did not mind the thin snow conditions. 

These days I am skiing thin tongues of snow with the dogs chasing me. On the flatter sections Bode loves to race ahead. He runs so fast that he throws up a rooster tail of corn snow up behind him. And then there are the short sections of grass to cross. The trick to crossing grass is to go straight and not turn. Also one needs to check the grass crossings on the way up for rocks to avoid on the way down.

Yesterday I noticed that the wildflowers are starting to bloom. I saw some yellow violets and snow bed marigolds blooming. It is wildflower season!

Patrick

North bowl all but done

doggies doing the rolling snow slide

some other skiers

Pack on the prowl

Cold Spring

 

It's been a cold spring. This morning there was a hard frost in my yard, the salmonberries have still not bloomed, and the cottonwoods have not leafed out yet either. They barely have buds. And yet we got so little snow the ski season on Pyramid is still ending a few weeks earlier than usual. 

Out of interest I decided to check out just how the Kodiak temperatures this spring compare to that of past years. And I found the table seen above (weather spark - click here for link). The table confirms what I have observed - it has been a colder spring than usual. We also had a very warm February followed by an extremely cold March. 

But what I find amazing is that it is almost June and the warmest temperature so far this year was recorded in late February. It almost hit 60 back in February and has struggled to top 50 degrees ever since. And looking at the weather forecast it is not supposed to get into the high 50's for the foreseeable future either. I love it!

Patrick

Some walks

 

Nora is back from college and brought a friend with her for a visit. During the last few days we went on a few hikes. 

The first day at Buskin Beach the tide was too high for a Long Beach walk. So we went to the bunker and the 'beach glass' beach instead. I had not been into the old bunker behind Boyscout Lake in ages, and I had forgotten how scary it is inside. We did not bring a flashlight and just had Nora and her friend's phones to illuminate the way.  Much of the graffiti is the same as it has always been. All three dogs came inside with us too. I remember that in the old days Tank and Brewster did not like going inside.

These days it is starting to get green, and I finally finished planting my garden. It looks like I might even have to mow the lawn in the next few days!

Patrick

Buskin beach at high tide

Scary bunker graffiti

Nora and friend by an old 'ready' ammunition bunker

Scary grafitti!

On Pyramid it actually flurried a bit!

Cool Clouds

 

The last few days the weather has been a bit weird. It's been cool and still dropping below freezing at night  and yet every afternoon it looks like we are going to get a thunderstorm. There are frequent showers and even graupel and snow. Bright sunshine and then all of a sudden it gets dark and rains. In the distance you can often see the rain/snow falling from the clouds. I do not know what it all means but the clouds are certainly dramatic!

Patrick

Bad year for Blueberries

 

Every spring I can not resist taking lots and lots of photos of the blueberry blossoms under the trees in Abercrombie State Park, and this year is no exception. That said, this year most of the bushes do not have blossoms, and even those with blossoms have a lot less than usual. I'm hoping that maybe the bushes without blossoms are just late to bud out. But by this point I think it is just too late. It looks like this year will be a poor year for blueberries.

Patrick

red alder flowers in my yard