It's windy. It's raining. The water in my crawlspace is about one inch from overflowing into my basement. Welcome to spring in Alaska, or as we call it, breakup. Thankfully, Breakup, like summer and fall, is one of Alaska's shorter seasons.

Slat Rat describes the scene better than I ever could:

From The Slat Rat Chronicles: "By the way, it's raining snow as I type. Just another sign of the season Alaskans refer to as Breakup. Breakup is our Spring. But instead of flowers blooming, we have a winter's accumulation of surfacing doggie effluence. Breakup is not Alaska at its best. "

So, breakout those breakup boots and think about us poor Alaskans when you're admiring all the new spring flora and fauna. Don't worry, I'm not bitter--I'm just shoveling a winters worth of soggy dog poo from my yard.  10:58:05 PM     Add a comment   

Today's my 28th birthday. No big parties, though, I'm keeping it pretty low-key this year. The original plan was to fly down to washington and hang with my family for a couple of days, but that ended up being postponed until early may. Plan B involves taking my dog for a walk, and then going out to dinner with Jen, which is just as nice.

I'll fill you in on the gift situation later.  5:23:38 PM     Add a comment   

Anchorage Daily News | Giant Squid: "More than 2,000 people viewed the carcass of the giant squid Wednesday as it lay on the deck of Kambak's boat. At one point, the weight of the crowd started to sink the floating dock.  5:15:50 PM     Add a comment