Monday, April 30th - Creamers Field Revisited

It's hard to believe that today is the last day of April. The first four months of this year have just flown by, and for that I am thankful. Summer is just around the corner, but first we have to reach "green up".

Steve and I were up early Sunday morning. I was craving a "Moons Over My Hammy" from Denny's, and so we decided to start our day with a nice big breakfast. Surprisingly, service was fast (not a usual thing at our local Denny's) and we were in and out in about an hour.

We had Sedona with us and she waited in the car. I convinced Steve that morning, that it would be nice for us to take a walk on the Boreal Forest Trail at Creamers after breakfast. My rationale was that he would have a chance to burn off the meat lovers breakfast I knew he was going to order (and I was right).

The sun was shining, but it was chilly at 35F. Nevertheless, we leashed up Sedona, and took off walking on the 2-mile trail. I took a few more photos as we walked, enjoying the peacefulness of the early afternoon.

There's a lot of lichen growing on the sides of some of the birch trees. It's delicate and lacey in pattern and quite pretty. It's quite enjoyable to see new growth - even if it's fungal in nature.

Reflections in the bog

BUDS! This is GREAT!

Controlled Burn

Creamers Barn

The most exciting thing of the day was seeing tiny buds on the trees and bushes lining the path. This is a sure sign that 'green-up' is on its way!

In the Lower 48 states, spring is a season that begins with a few buds on the trees, continues with hardy early flowers and stretches from March into May. Not so in Alaska, where summer's too short to slip into casually. Instead of spring, we have what we call 'green-up'. Green up is a relatively quick process that usually occurs during the first part of May. It's the greening of the leaves on the willows and the birch and the sedges that totally transforms the very brown landscape into a very green landscape by June. Seeing buds is an exciting thing!

Unfortunately, the time between snow melt and green up is also the prime time for wildfires. Dead grasses from last season are dry and very combustible. As a preventative measure, controlled burns are usually prescribed. On Friday, a crew from the Alaska Division of Forestry, conducted a prescribed burn at Creamer’s Field. The approximately 25-acre burn was held primarily to improve habitat conditions, but it will also provide a layer of protection against wildfire in the heavily used area. The photo above shows some of the fields that were scorched in this burn.

This morning, I walked with Karen again. Later on this evening, I walked with Steve. I feel so much better getting out and getting some exercise, but I've got a long way to go before I feel as fit as I did last summer when Rachael and I were doing 6-mile walks every day. As the weather continues to improve, and the yard becomes ready for planting, I'll get a lot more exercise.

Tomorrow, I'm picking up my friend Abby and we're going off to visit some of the local nurseries. I don't know if there are any flowers/plants available yet, but if so I'm going to take some photos. I might even come home with a few seedlings to nurture until they can go in the hanging pots I bought for the front porch.

GO TO APRIL