June Cometh in Alaska

Summer is here in Alaska come June. Time to plant the hardier flowers and hope that it doesn't snow any more, although we occasionally have snow as late as mid June. Not frequently, but it does happen; we also hope the last frost will be past in the next week or so, as the more fragile plants are waiting for that time to be planted, to come to their full glory in about 6 weeks or so.

It's daylight 24 hours a day. That's a refreshing change from winter, when it goes from dark to a sort of twilight, then back to dark again.

Winter games and hunting are over and the time is right for midnight ball games and of course, everyone's favorite, drinking and carousing at the Saloon. That never changes, regardless of season. It seems odd at first to step outside and see it's just as light at 2 AM, our closing time, as it was at 10:00 PM when you came in. At least to newcomers who are not used to the daylight. For some it makes sleeping difficult too, although we do "hear by the grapevine" that after a rather full evening of food and drink, some have no trouble sleeping at all. 'nuff said about that!

Note: State Liquor Law allows service from 8 AM to 5 AM but we close service at 2 AM because we can't stay awake any longer. We'd rather be honest why we close the bar, than tell you any law requires it. We can't sell alcohol on election days until the polls close. That's funny as we're the only ones here who vote, so there's nobody to bribe with a whiskey, which was the original reason for the service establishments closing on election days. We tried to vote by mail, but the cost to ship me to Fairbanks to vote was so expensive that we decided it just wasn't worth it. Plus, have you ever been shipped anywhere by UPS? Man, do they know how to drop kick a package all over. Now I know why our stuff looks like it was dropped from 10,000 feet when it arrives! (We do know about vote by mail. Now I just get in the mail truck and ride to Fairbanks like everyone else to vote, thank you!)

I do miss the Northern Lights, which, of course, are not visible in the summer. When I lived in the northeast part of the lower 48, I once chased what I thought would be the Northern Lights for miles, only to find it was a shopping center. Talk about disappointment! Of course, everyone talked about going to the Northern Lights and it was only natural...but that's another story altogether. Just leave it that I still find disappointment to this day when I realized how I was duped into traveling to find nothing spectacular at the end of that drive!

Of course, as previously mentioned, the mosquitoes are back, and yesterday I saw one that looked like a DeHavilland Twin Otter coming in for a landing. Huge and winging low with a growl instead of a buzz. We've installed some of the blue light type mosquito traps that electrocute the mosquitoes around the porch, and when one hits the grid they don't make the usual "zzit" sound. It sounds like a lightning strike and a thud! I swear the lights flicker from the juice it takes to kill one of those things, but the guests do seem to appreciate our efforts to create a bug free zone. Laura did have to remind one guest that it was not our evening barbecue they were smelling, as the glassy eyed guest had a plate in his hand and was looking hungrily at the trap. Good grief!