Early break up here in parts of Alaska. Seems strange and wrong to have it melting down so soon. The creek out back is wide open water and there is puddles of muddy water on the roads. It is never a pretty sight in the towns, out of town it is invigorating after all the darkness, cold, and the usual its winter. The sun at last with some good in it.
Spent a pleasant afternoon shooting the breeze with a fellow Arctic worker and looking at the great pictures he had from various jobs. Way different world up there. I don't miss being there. The oil exploration and the wildlife there are not in the kind of conflict environmentalists depict. Yes it is kind of odd to see caribou and polar bears moving across a well site. The animals are on the move doing their thing. The migratory birds come in by the millions and nest just fine, they are far more harassed by the predators that operate methodically nonstop. The owls, the foxes, and so on feeding on them till they get tired then doing it some more. The old razzamatazz about the wolves just taking the sick and weak caribou is more bs. The caribou are like innocent four legged chickens with about as much sense. In fact a chicken is smarter. It is nature like an explosion of activity crammed into a few short months and then it frozen bleak and windblown snow again.