Hi Robert and Mary,
Haven't forgotten about you, it's just that Summer in Alaska is one busy time - mostly used in preparing for winter. The "preparing" gets harder all the time - partially as I am more resistant in tackling major jobs and winters are changing so much it is hard to know what to prepare for.
Normally, what we call "Break-up" (when the river's ice start to break up) is in April but this late April we had 80's and blue skies. Our river, anyway, never really looked frozen until very late January and, in fact, never did freeze enough that folks would walk on it. Lots of local trappers rely, and some who live out in the bush, rely on the rivers as mini-highways to get to trap lines or other villages.
Weather stayed nice through July but so dry that over 5 million acres burned. Mostly so rural that no one live there but a few that threatened housing. Still, since all of us down in this area live in forest, it was a worrisome time. August was rainy as usual but due to the early heat, we had a bumper crop of tomatoes, cukes, string beans and zucchini - so we are munching well on food that tastes like food......
.....This last winter was a big change - a couple more feet of snow than usual and this stuff is the wet, heavy stuff. Temps were much milder with only a couple of 40's whereas there are usually quite a few of those. And, it really didn't start until we got back so much earlier than expected at the end of Dec.......
.......We had a lousy fishing year though plenty of folks still came. For whatever reason, the salmon for centuries would swim up the sides of the very fast and powerful rivers. Only the very big King Salmon at 35-60 lbs. were strong enough to swim up in the middle. This year we had more salmon than usual but much fewer caught as they all went up the center for a very odd change.
It's been odd to figure this kind of stuff out as the oceans themselves are changing so rapidly. We have a large 'dead zone' between us and Russia which the salmon usually have to cross to return and just this summer alone have seen a large 'die-off'' of fully grown whales in the Gulf of Alaska. The 'why's' of this stuff are, as yet, unknown but the salmon we did get were a pound or so smaller.....
.........
Love,
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