Spring is Here (Not for Long!)

Spring in Fort Yukon is an unusual thing. Last week we were in Fairbanks for our annual A/G District Council. When we left Ft. Yukon on Sunday, April 24th, we had lots of snow on the ground, and everyone was still driving snow machines. During our week in Fairbanks, the temperatures soared to 70 degrees. The weather was beautiful, though being used to colder, snowy weather, it was quite a shock to our systems! When we arrived back to Ft. Yukon on Friday night, the snow was completely gone except where there had been large piles of snow. The mud was mostly dried up, and cars driving by were leaving long trails of dust behind them. We left in winter and returned in summer. Unfortunately, we missed Spring! We were talking to a Fort Yukon man at the Fairbanks airport who told us that he drove his snow machine to the airport when he left the week before. Whoops! We were glad that we had taken our four-wheelers.

On Sunday, the River started breaking-up. By Monday night, the river was full of broken ice and rising. Some of the elders were predicting a flood, and many believed them, so people were getting prepared. Fort Yukon has flooded many times, and the village was actually moved to higher ground one year. The story we've been told is that the Assembly of God owned much of the land that the village is located on now. It was given to the village so they could move to where they wouldn't get flooded every year. There are still many homes next to the river and in what is refered to as "downtown."

Now that Spring/Summer is here, so are the mosquitos. These first mosquitos are huge and numerous. Yesterday we were out in the yard cleaning up trash and the dog yard. The mosquitos were swarming around us. At one point I looked at Bryan and he had probably 20 mosquitos on his ball cap and circling around his head. Audrey kept yelling, "There's a bug! There's a bug!" I've only seen one mosquito in the house so far. We haven't put our nets on our beds yet, and since we will be gone in June, we may not have to put them up this year.

School will be out in two weeks! After we get out, our family is headed to Texas to see Bryan's family and then to California to see my family. We haven't seen most of our family in a year, so we are all very excited.

I'd better get ready for school! We are making bread pretzels in preschool today. It is always interesting to cook with a group of 3 and 4-year-olds.