Kinda Spring

  Today is May 19, my daughter Jennifer's birthday. I won't bother telling you how old she is- those that know her well already know how old she is and for anyone else it doesn't really matter. In any event, it's mid- May. Even in Alaska the weather usually starts to warm up by now, but  not this year. The calendar says it's spring, but nature says its only kinda spring. So far most of the leaves are still being fairly reluctant to make a full appearance, sort of like when you're standing on the side of the swimming pool dipping your foot into the water to see how cold it really is. There are a few herring showing up and the birds are in full swing  doing whatever they do- hopefully eating bugs, but it's still pretty cold. Of course that doesn't keep the dandelions from sprouting. Just about every yard  is displaying a sea of yellow blossoms. It looks like Dandelionville around here - a gardeners nightmare. We've had several cruise ships already and I've experienced my annual high blood pressure overload brought on by tourists walking in the middle of the street, God love 'em. As you can see from the pictures the sun made a rare appearance today, but don't be fooled by that, there was almost no heat in it. It didn't really stay out long enough to be considered a sunny day. Several times today it hailed, then rained, then the wind blew, a cold, damp, winter-like wind, then when the day is just about done and everyone has finished with all of their outdoor  projects the sun made an appearance. I think it's supposed to be sunny tomorrow, which I find really odd. Almost without fail, the bad weather will strike on the weekends when most folks have a day or two off, but as soon as cruise ship day rolls around the sun's out and everything looks rosy. No doubt folks are under the impression that it's always nice here. Little do they know. There are still a large number of boats tied up in the harbor this year. There hasn't been any reports of good fishing anywhere that I've heard of. Years ago May was the premier month to go to Homeshore and catch King Salmon, but it hasn't been like that for a few years. The water has been cold for the past few years and this morning when we got up there was fresh snow on the mountains. I wish Al Gore would make an appearance here so I could pelt him with some snow balls. Mr Global Warming  could probably sleep under a blanket of dollar bills that he earned from selling foolish people on his manufactured science and wouldn't feel the real climate that we're experiencing. Oh well, I always like to get a jab in on that pompous buffoon. The bottom two pictures show the mast where it belongs- on the boat. I still don't have the trolling poles put back on yet, but first things first. I had several people come by to admire the mast. Ol' John Murray did a great job. I wouldn't have gotten it on the boat at all though if I hadn't had a lot of help from Chris Budke, Brian Bitz, Arlen Skafelstad and my grandson Kristian Geise. I feel especially blessed to know so many good and caring people. Maybe they just all feel sorry for me, but that's ok, I'll take help wherever I can get it.