Sping in Alaska (sort of)

Karin and I are down in Homer now, in our home on the 1000' hill above town, enjoying some down time before the summer season at the lodge gets in gear. We left about a week ago, stopping overnight in Anchorage to visit our friends Tom and Elaine. Since the drive is about 9 hours from EarthSong to Homer, Anchorage is about half-way and a good spot to split the trip in half. Beautiful weather going down, and for the start of our Homer stay. And that's where it about ended! The ridge above Homer is known locally as the snow-belt, compared to the banana-belt down in town. We currently have about 3-4' of snow in the front yard, with burms above 6'. In fact, we had to have our roof shoveled/snow-blowered a month ago when the snow level up there was exceeding 9'. I am currently looking out the office window at a big drift of snow and lots of snow coming down, most of it diagonally. At this pace, we will still have snow through May. A big contrast to the lodge, where we just went through one of the lowest snow years on record (even with the additional 10" we got a few days ago). Alaska is a big state, lots of different environments, and when we go through a strong El Nino year, everywhere gets askew. Climate Change Deniers either don't live in Alaska or live up here with their eyes and ears shut!

We'll be heading back to the lodge in about a week. Karin and I will try and take the ferry overnight to Seldovia, a nice town down Katchemak Bay. Although I did a few hours of sea kayaking around the Homer Spit yesterday, I would love a bit more, and Seldovia is a nice place for that. If you are visiting Alaska in the summer, don't miss Homer, and don't leave out sea kayaking if you are a bit adventurous.

When we leave here, we will be going back to the lodge with plenty of projects to start and finish up before the summer guests come. We will be working on our employee housing...we have hired our three employees, and expect to have an excellent crew on board this summer. We also purchased a yurt from a local Homer company, and Karin can't decide if she wants it as another summer guest lodging option or for herself...I am guessing all you out there will NOT have the lodging option, unless we get another yurt! She got a yurt book, and already is creatively planning the yurt interior. We will also be finishing up our new and expanded septic system, a very large project that will replace some of the permafrost problems we had in the past (note to people unfamilar with Alaska: large tanks in the permafrost ground usually results in some upward movement, not good with gravity-flow systems!). There are some dog yard projects, two new sleds to build for next season, walkway and fencing upgrades, and the never-ending list of "honey-do" items Karin has compiled for me and the cabins.

The dogs are doing fine, JJ is keeping an eye on all of them, and giving the pups lots of walk-time. He has his own pup/pet from our guide Mike, so he takes our pups, his pup, Bart-the-lab, and Boomer on long walks.

So from wintery Homer Alaska, the Halibut Fishing Capitol of the World and known far and wide by fans of Tom Bodett as The End Of The Road, happy trails, and more to come soon...maybe some new puppy photos.

Jon