Breakup

A strange season appears in Fairbanks, Alaska once a year and has come to us once again- an in between season- Not really Spring yet, but no longer true Winter. The season of Breakup.

We've had temperatures above 0 and a light snow fall. In fact, all the way up to 35 yesterday!! Snow has been melting! This lasts for about a month, sometimes more, and makes all of our hearts leap within us. Oh, to see the snow melt and drip off the roof!

Ice starts breaking up, we start seeing parts of the concrete on the roads, and everything starts looking dirty. All the pretty white snow of the winter starts subsuming and allowing the trash that has accumulated beneath it since fall to appear. The gravel we use to make the roads safe starts flinging around and cracking the windows more than ever. (by the way, if you use salt or some other chemical concoction to make the ice melt, it actually makes it worse, 'cuz then you get a light puddle of water on top of the ice...)

And all this dirt and trash and gravel make us happy! Our hearts are light and we smile. Unless it lasts too long... Then we start gnashing our teeth and gnawing our nails...