Summer Days

This is my new, “Fishing Pole Antenna”. I use it to listen to the radio and fish at 60mph. I guess you could call that speed fishing… Click on the picture to get a closer look.

….And like a bad habit - I’m back. It seems that sometime while I was sleeping, the snow melted, the sun came out, and the grass turned green. I think they call it Summer, or something like that. All I know is that construction is going on at a fever pitch. My favorite dirt lot was paved, and there are rumors that they are going to turn it into a restaurant. I will now have to look for rocks elsewhere. The ravens that circled my sleeping body during winter have now been replaced by seagulls. They screech and dive at me, daring me to feed them McDonalds® fries - They will not get my fries.

I am having a hard time sleeping. We are getting somewhere on the order of just over 21 hours of daylight, and it is getting longer. It will climax on June 21st when the sun decides that it will not set, but just kind of does loops in the sky. Around that time we will have about 24 hours of usable daylight. This is great if you happen to be a potted plant, but can cause some problems if you happen to be a mammal that tends to enjoy sleeping. Lately I have been getting up at 8am. To most people, that would sound great, but the problem is that I have been going to bed at about 4am. Yea….4 hours sleep. The past few days (I say days because there really aren’t any nights right now…) I have seen the sun set and rise within about 3 hours. The moon is in the same sky as the sun most of the time and the rivers are going to start flowing red again. No, not with blood, with salmon. They get so thick in some areas that you could walk from one side to the other and never get wet. Although, if you are trying to catch them, they will ignore you completely. This time of year is lots of fun.

Dianne and I have been contemplating moving out of Anchorage, and back to Alaska. We took a drive over to Palmer the other day, and really like the area. I noticed that they had at least 2 bars and a library, so I was good with it. Dianne saw a Fred Myers® and tried to move in on the spot. So we will see. The people are friendly and they seem to drive better than in Anchorage.

Other than that, not much is new. I have been trying to convince Dianne that we need a new truck. Every time I bring that subject up she says, “Ok, go buy the truck, but just remember that it is going to cost $370,987.89”. When she brings the price up, I usually agree that buying a new truck is not such a good idea and quickly change the subject. I figure that the van will be able to last at least another 3-5 years - hopefully…

So summer is here and in full swing. Soon it will be in the 80’s and I will be trying to crawl into the refrigerator. The salmon are coming and I have to get my fishing license. Hopefully home prices in Palmer will be slightly less than those in Anchorage, and I need to get the oil changed in the van. I think I may be keeping it a little while longer.