Spring is in the Air

Day before yesterday, it was about 65 degrees. A bit chilly, but warm enough most of us were running about without jackets or hoodies for the first time since I arrived. Spring, it looked like, finally - belatedly - was going to bloom.

Yesterday it started to snow. We went through a couple times when the generator shut down for whatever reason. It was... foreboding, but it stopped around seven oclock (dinner time, here). All in all it had snowed around 4 to 5 inches, but in most places only 1 to 3 inches stuck. Very few areas had all four or five inches stacked up to bear testament to the days work.

This morning, I woke up cold. The generator had gone out again. When I got up to make breakfast, Jeff (the only other guy here at the time as Nate lives in Eagle and everyone else was in Tok) said the generator had just run out of fuel. Not such a huge deal. Well, it took Nate and Jeff a good 15 minutes longer than they thought it would, but we got power back, regardless. It has already gone out on us once again today. On the up side - it hasn't be falling. No snow, no rain, nothing. It has also warmed up four degrees since breakfast (breakfast at 8:30 our time).

It's now 30 degrees.

We woke up to a 26 degree morning. Not cool, man. Does not bode so well for a spring. Everyone is now grumbling that it is a cold late spring beyond what they've seen in simply years. No one is pleased. All the running water we had  yesterday has frozen, so we're back to buckets from the creek. The creek itself is starting to re-freeze. Ruby is going home - she can't do any real cleaning with ice-cold creek water. Can, technically, but wont. I came in from the trailer. Can, technically, clean with ice-cold creek water, to sanitize. Wont. And beside - I can't clean the dirty dishes with ice-cold water! That would do nothing to cut grease. I'm going to mend and clean and so forth in side. Basically take the day off from the trailer and just cook the crew meals. Ruby said she's noticed all the guys (Thor and Shane returned - Shane brought his girlfriend who will be working out at camp as the camp cook) looked like they were feeling as we are. It's just a miserable discouraging day. Too cold to want to do anything. To cold to efficiently do much. Just not worth it.

So that's the beginning of my spring so far. The ground is still mostly thawed - the roads all muddy. It's the pipes and fingers and tools that are all frozen. (We're worried that a pipe may crack from the frozen water. Could be issues when the thaw finally arrives.)

Speculation and hope is that it will warm back up within the week. Two to three days, they keep saying. I keep looking at the horizon the clouds keep coming in from and seeing nothing but a thick grey layer.

So much for spring.