Tycho the frequent flyer aka Tycho the earless cat

Frequent Flyer

On Monday I am shipping off my little kitty cat to new adventures. He's an avid flyer by now since I always bring him wherever I go during christmas, mostly Bozeman, but he's been to Madison before too. Madison is where he will be flying, cargo. Later in May W is flying up here and we are then driving all the way to Madison...fingers crossed. 

På Måndag kommer Tycho att flyga mot nya äventyr, han ska nämligen till Madison. Jag brukar alltid ta med honom då jag åker och firar jul (oftast till Bozeman) så han har flygit mycket i sitt liv :) . I Maj kommer W flyga upp hit och sedan ska vi bila ända till Madison, om allt går som det ska!

I am pretty sure Tycho will miss Alaska, but I am also sure he will settle in Madison too :)

Tycho kommer säkerligen att sakna Alaska, men jag tror att han även kommer att trivas i Madison :)

To outrun a Bear?

Springtime

    Spring in Alaska not only mean green-up or bud-burst, but this is the time when bears are starting to wake up. Carrying a bear spray is something I always do when I go for a short hike or so. That being said, there have been times when I have forgotten to bring it...luckily I have not seen any bears during those times.  When we are out in the field we see bear tracks almost all the time, but no bears. Well, I did see the butt of a black bear running away once, and last year I warned a girl who was going to one of my field sites about the bears there. 

    My field site is really remote and brushy and it's extremely important to make lots of noise, and I did feel uncomfortable about her going there by herself.

Bear Encounters

    I was thinking about her that morning after we left her and I just couldn't stop thinking about it while riding the ATV, and after about 2 hrs we ran into her on the other side of the larger watershed (my site is just a sub-catchment of the larger one). She saw us coming behind her so she stopped and I was like heey, you finished early. And she told me that she ran into a bear. Every time I take a bear safety class they always talk about the fact that you might think that you are loud, but you should actually really really be louder, so louder than what you think. The worst thing you can do is to surprise a mama bear with cubs. 

Signs of Spring, Green-Up in Alaska

Spring

Green-up

Yesterday green-up happened in Fairbanks. Green-up day is defined as the day that bud-burst happens and leaf-out slowly begin. This date varies from year to year of course, but this year it set the record. Last year for instance this did not happen until May 3rd so this clearly is a lot earlier compared to then. Of course, I have already been killing mosquitos...

Igår så  var det den officiella dagen för vår här i Fairbanks. Den dagen definieras av att knopparna brister och löven börjar komma ut. Datumet för detta är förstås väldigt olika från år till år, men detta år var rekord tidigt, ungefär en vecka innan det brukar hända. Förra året till exempel så hände inte detta förrän 3e Maj. Med den officiella våren kommer även myggorna...

Green-up is always so cool, you can literally see the change in color from the morning to the evening. In 2013 this didn't happen until May 26th for instance. 

Here is a video from a few years back I found on youtube to show you how fast this happens. 

Våren här är alltid spektakulär, eftersom den kommer över så kort tid, träden kan verkligen ändra färg från morgonen till kvällen. 2013 så hände inte detta förrän den 26e Maj. 

Nedan är en video från det året som jag hittade på youtube, den visar verkligen hur fort det går.