birds, flowers, governors

This is the third time I've tried updating - maybe it'll be the charm. Some computer glitch would allow me to get partway done, then shut down my IE. Hopefully I've been able to fix that.

It's been a busy month and summer has been flying by. I can't belive the fair starts in less than two weeks!

I've caught a number of weekend baseball games (weeknight games keep me up too late) and enjoyed watching my favorite game. It's so nice to sit in the seats with friends nearby and enjoy the sun and breeze, a hot dog and a good game of baseball. I did miss the games Friday and Saturday because of the smoke that drifted in from wildfires. That's taken some of the enjoyment out of a lot of outdoor activities. It smells nasty, puts a haze on the city and is bad for my asthma.

I don't let it destroy my pleasure in summer though. I've made some drives through the city to my favorite places. One Saturday morning I took the long way home from the grocery store. The sky was a bright, cloudless blue; the temperature was a lovely 60 degrees with a small breeze. I reveled in the cool air blowing in the open windows, the blue sky and the vivid reds, yellows, oranges and blues of flowers planted all over town. Set against the emerald green of the trees and grass it was a perfect drive.

Last week one evening my friend Mae and I stopped at a local drive-in for foot-long hot dogs, then went to Creamer's Field to watch the sandhill cranes. There were two groups - one in a dirt clearing in the field, the other in the tall grass. Soon after we arrived the group in the grass started moving as one to the clearing. Mae and I wondered if they sensed a predator in the grass, but they didn't appear to be alarmed. It was a slow stroll out of the grass. The two groups merged into one, with some occasional posturing by the younger cranes.

After we left Creamer's we stopped off at Wedgewood Resort, a popular lodging for summer visitors. For our money, Wedgewood has the nicest flowers of any other Fairbanks business. It rivals the Georgeson Botanical Garden for gorgeous blooms and we ensure we visit it at least once every summer.

Whoever does their landscaping and planting is certainly a flower genius. These are a couple of my favorites this year.

We'll be heading out today to watch our friend Dan in the barbecue competition, and will probably stay to watch the zoo at the swearing-in of our new governor, Sean Parnell. I'm still not convinced I want to do that, but my friends do, so there I'll be. I'm not looking forward to the crowd and I am not a fan of national media representatives. Having worked with some of them, I find them rude and egotistical with very little exception. I enjoy working with our local reporters and editors, but those national guys are a bit too cutthroat for my liking. However, since I won't be working with them today, I'll sit back and watch the show.

Happy Sunday. Hopefully the smoke will drift off and give us a few days of nice clear days.

July 4th, summer

I'm up earlier than usual this morning, and thought I'd do a quick update.

On July 4th I went to the big celebration at Alaskaland - Army band concert, a few speeches and salute to the union with a rifle team firing a shot after the announcers read off the name and nickname of each state in (mostly) the order it entered the union. (Alaska and Hawaii are reversed because they "save the best for last.") There were several thousand people attending, as usual and it was great fun to sit and watch everyone.



This little cutie danced to one of the band's Souza marches and earned a big round of applause.



The 50 state flags on the upper deck of the Riverboat Nenana, drydocked in the park. When I arrived at the park, it was a gorgeous sunny day with clear blue skies. The haze creeping in behind the boat is smoke from wildfires. By the time the ceremony ended I headed home instead of the baseball game. The smoke was hanging low in town and it was HOT. So I made a strawberry smoothie and sat in front of the fan reading a good book.







The smoke has continued to hang around, but it's not as bad as it was a couple of years ago. The hot temperatures (in the 80s) continue. I'm very grateful it's not humid here!



I normally drive to work early (I start at 6:30 a.m.), and it's been a beautiful summer. As I drive down a road with little traffic at that hour, I marvel at the bright green of the grass and trees. I love that there are at least three different shades, and it's all bright from the dew. On a good clear day, the white snow-covered peaks of Mts. Hayes, Hess and Deborah in the Alaska Range stand starkly against the blue sky. The mountain views are one of my favorite things about Alaska. Even from here - several hundred miles away - they look huge, and are spectacular. The fireweed is starting to bloom and its blast of fuscia really stands out against the green. (Fireweed is my favorite plant here - I love seeing a big patch of it from a distance. I also love looking at it up close.)







All of this makes me very glad to live here. The colors are so vibrant in the summer, and very welcome after several months of living in what seems a monochrome world.

Still to come this summer: the Georgeson Botanical Garden at the university, a visit to Wedgewood Resort (they have some of the prettiest hanging baskets and small flower plots in town), weekly trips to the farmers' market - and a trip to Anchorage on the Alaska Railroad.

Though Solstice usually leaves me a bit sad that we're now losing daylight, there's plenty of time left to enjoy the colors of summer.

Take care and enjoy...

Summer is here - baseball & birds

Our summer is definitely here, and I've been trying to enjoy every spare minute, so have neglected this website pretty badly.

It's been sunny and warm (on occasion too warm - I don't like anything over 75, and we've been hitting 80+ for a few days), with enough rain to keep my flowers and zucchinis growing. I harvested my first 8-ball zucchini yesterday. I'm really looking forward to trying it to see if the taste is any different from the regular ones.

We've passed the summer solstice, and as usual I enjoyed the annual Midnight Sun Baseball game at the ballpark. The Alaska Goldpanners beat the Lake Erie Monarchs 6-3 on a cool night (I wore my jacket through the entire game). The game starts at 10:30 p.m. and is played entirely without artificial lights.

The shot below was taken at midnight. The X pattern on the photo is the safety net in front of my seat.

"Anthem Annie" has sung the National Anthem at every major-league ballpark. Here she prepares to sing the Alaska Flag Song at the inning break closest to midnight. It was a little after 12:00. Estimated attendance was about 4,000 spectators.

My bird feeders are very busy this summer. I've got the ever-present black-capped chickadees, dark-eyed juncos and white-crowned sparrows. This year, the redpolls stuck around. I usually see them in the winter, then they go somewhere else to spend the summer. I guess they really like the nyjer seed. I've also got some pine siskins. When I'm watching the birds enjoy the feast, I wish I lived in a more rural area (or at least a place with more trees). My yard is pleasant with a spruce tree and several birches, but I live in town and don't get the variety of birds that some of my friends see in less urban parts of the Fairbanks area. A few days ago, I had redpolls and pine siskins on the feeders and a squirrel on the ground in front of the door picking up the seeds the birds dropped. I have a small pile of wood there for use in the fireplace in the event the power (and furnace) goes out in the winter. The seeds fall onto and between the wood pieces and looked like a buffet for the squirrel. After I got the dog calmed down (the squirrel looked like a possible playmate and Buddy was pretty excited), I was able to stand in the entry and take several photos. They're a little soft because I was shooting through the screendoor.

The redpolls are so pretty with their bright red caps. They are voracious eaters and love the nyjer seed and flax seed. Every now and then they would stop eating to look down at the squirrel. They're accustomed to seeing Buddy in the doorway looking out the window, so he doesn't scare them away. They will come in if I'm in the doorway, but leave quickly if I move fast or open the door.

Today I'm off to the annual July 4th celebration in town, then maybe the ballpark (if it isn't too hot). Happy 4th everyone.