Backyard is under a foot of snow. One corner of the fabric greenhouse is groaning under a lump of snow I’m too short to dislodge. I’m shocked the fabric made it thru the winter, fifth or sixth season? There are micro tears where it crosses the support structure. I’ll be replacing the fabric or building a roof for it this year. The backyard apple saplings are barren sticks with sad brown leaves clinging drunkenly to sagging limbs.
Front yard is enduring “break up” and the sins of winter are emerging. Front walk is the childhood game of lava – skipping from stone to stone to avoid the shoe sucking mud (gleefully created by three no no bad dogs and their ring leader my daughter). Getting the dogs out and back in involves a LOT of towels to wipe down their muddy paws and undercarriages.
The only glimmer of hope lays beneath the front overhang, shielded from doggy predation by a garden fence. Intrepid tulips, daffodil, crocus and snowdrops are emerging. Green whisps of optimism pushing up thru frigid ground. The bleeding heart and other perennials are dormant for another 4-6 weeks. The evergreens are taking on a subtly greener vibrant hue as they wake.
Alaska spring is not for the faint of heart. It can be a singularly miserable experience as the snow rots, melts, and smells. You have to work hard to find the budding pushy willows and bulbs and actively ignore the mud, poop, blackened snow and cavernous pot holes.
