May in Juneau 4th driest and 7th warmest on record
May's weather in Juneau ended up being significant for how warm and dry it was.
Meteorologist Nikki Becker is in the Juneau Forecast Office says it was the fourth driest May on record with a total rainfall of 1 point 25 inches which is 2 point 23 inches below normal.
The wettest day of the month was the 15th with zero point 5 inches which was a record for rainfall that day.
A trace of precipitation in the form of hail fell on the first.
Last month was also the seventh warmest May on record in Juneau.
The average temperature was 50 point 8 degrees, 2 point 9 degrees warmer than normal.
The high for the month was 80 on the 27th and the low was 29 degrees on the third.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Adventures in Word Coining: The state of being hectic
Hecticity? Hecticness? Hectictude?
Prior to starting this post, I was sold on "hecticity", but I think "hectictude" just won me over. See if you don't agree. Let me use it in a sentence for you: "Our weekend was wrought with Mommy's hectictude."
So true.
It all started innocently enough..... (cue the dreamy music....)
Several weeks ago, I was bestowed with what seemed to be, at the time, quite an honor. A volunteer with the Alaska High School State Soccer Championship committee emailed me to ask if I would help select the player of the game for each of the matches. Since the tournament was held in Juneau this year (for the first time ever!), I was thrilled to help roll out the red carpet for the rest of the schools, parents, and tournament organizers.
On paper, this sounds like a fine way to pitch in, right?
Uh huh. In reality, it entailed me being at every single game (ten of them!) at one particular field and two games at another location over the course of three days. While I really enjoyed it, we are all paying the price this week as I play catch-up on all my normal chores. Each game is 90 minutes long, plus a halftime and overtime if warranted.
I ended up also working in concessions (I may need to get a cheese machine), setting up, taking down, running errands, helping the announcers, filling out the player certificates with my calligraphy skills (huh?!), and otherwise generally being a stellar Gal Friday. I really thought I'd be called on to sing the National Anthem at one point, but the scheduled teen finally showed up, so I was cast aside (whew!). There are times when I'm so happy that it's "all about the kids", as they say.
In a side note, congrats to the Juneau Douglas High School Crimson Bears boys varsity team for their newly acquired state champion status! Congrats also to the JDHS girls team who came in third, I believe.
Throughout my duties at the fields, I thought of Greg and the girls who were having adventures of their own.... (cue more dreamy music).... On Friday, they had a field trip with Gwen's class, out to the beach as part of the festivities for Beach Week. Greg had a few moments of dismay and panic when the kids decided they wanted to play in someone's sewer outfall and none of the other adults seemed to mind. He quickly herded the kinders down the beach a ways, so as to circumvent any pesky HepB situations. Great weather and a small class size + lots of adults and a WONDERFUL teacher = fun day!
Hectictude alert: Friday was also the day we found out that our landlord is moving, the house (a duplex) is being sold, and we need to let a realtor in here to assess the place.
[Incidentally, that remark I made about chores? Seven loads of laundry, one dishwasher load, and three hand-washed loads of dishes have happened in the background while typing this post. So far.]
On Saturday, Greg and the girls went out in the boat. Now that Greg's got this slick (self-engineered) pot-puller, he can pull pots all day with nary a muscle strain. They soaked both the shrimp and crab pots while they trolled for Kings. And guess who ended up with the big fish? Amelia! She got her very first Chinook salmon, dime-bright and weighing in at a little under 30 pounds. Not bad for a three-year-old.
Once they pulled up the pots, Greg tossed a lot of the crabs back since we are not big crab fans. He ended up keeping about 15 large dungeness. The big, juicy (four-inch tails!) spot prawns totalled about 135, and they were so yummy! We had a kingly feast Sunday night in the back yard, and I'm still cleaning up that mess. We have to be extra careful when cooking outside at this time of the year. Boiling shrimp and crabs and sizzling salmon fillets attract lots of hungry things, including bears.
Yesterday, instead of moping around here doing even more chores, we as a family went for a wee hike. Gwen defines "hike" and "walk" thusly: "A hike is not done in a city on a sidewalk, but a walk is. A hike is in the woods with bears and animals and way more fun things than you'd ever find in a city."
Indeed.
As Juneau has many, many incredible hiking trails of various distances, difficulties, and locations, wepulled a trail name out of the air studied the trail info diligently and finally selected the Windfall Lake Trail. If you click the link, you'll see that the trail length was a mere 3.5 miles. One way.
The girls did fantastically! Amelia was a trooper, even without having a nap. She hiked just over half the total distance, but Gwen did the whole thing! We were so proud of them both for their attitude and ability.
Once at the lake, Greg caught two little fish who were not keepers at all but were fun to show the girls. It was the first time either of them had seen a trout. One was a brookie and the other was a cutthroat. Amelia spent most of the time at the lake hunting for leaches. Gwen seemed to just enjoy sitting and watching everything. It was a really beautiful setting and we are glad we pushed ourselves through the clouds of ravenous "maquitos" and blasted gnats to get to the end of the trail. We are happy to have two tough Alaskan girls who we can already take on these marvelous forays into God's country.
Until next time when you'll hear Jenni say, "Let's talk about the weather."
Prior to starting this post, I was sold on "hecticity", but I think "hectictude" just won me over. See if you don't agree. Let me use it in a sentence for you: "Our weekend was wrought with Mommy's hectictude."
So true.
It all started innocently enough..... (cue the dreamy music....)
Several weeks ago, I was bestowed with what seemed to be, at the time, quite an honor. A volunteer with the Alaska High School State Soccer Championship committee emailed me to ask if I would help select the player of the game for each of the matches. Since the tournament was held in Juneau this year (for the first time ever!), I was thrilled to help roll out the red carpet for the rest of the schools, parents, and tournament organizers.
On paper, this sounds like a fine way to pitch in, right?
Uh huh. In reality, it entailed me being at every single game (ten of them!) at one particular field and two games at another location over the course of three days. While I really enjoyed it, we are all paying the price this week as I play catch-up on all my normal chores. Each game is 90 minutes long, plus a halftime and overtime if warranted.
I ended up also working in concessions (I may need to get a cheese machine), setting up, taking down, running errands, helping the announcers, filling out the player certificates with my calligraphy skills (huh?!), and otherwise generally being a stellar Gal Friday. I really thought I'd be called on to sing the National Anthem at one point, but the scheduled teen finally showed up, so I was cast aside (whew!). There are times when I'm so happy that it's "all about the kids", as they say.
In a side note, congrats to the Juneau Douglas High School Crimson Bears boys varsity team for their newly acquired state champion status! Congrats also to the JDHS girls team who came in third, I believe.
Throughout my duties at the fields, I thought of Greg and the girls who were having adventures of their own.... (cue more dreamy music).... On Friday, they had a field trip with Gwen's class, out to the beach as part of the festivities for Beach Week. Greg had a few moments of dismay and panic when the kids decided they wanted to play in someone's sewer outfall and none of the other adults seemed to mind. He quickly herded the kinders down the beach a ways, so as to circumvent any pesky HepB situations. Great weather and a small class size + lots of adults and a WONDERFUL teacher = fun day!
Hectictude alert: Friday was also the day we found out that our landlord is moving, the house (a duplex) is being sold, and we need to let a realtor in here to assess the place.
[Incidentally, that remark I made about chores? Seven loads of laundry, one dishwasher load, and three hand-washed loads of dishes have happened in the background while typing this post. So far.]
On Saturday, Greg and the girls went out in the boat. Now that Greg's got this slick (self-engineered) pot-puller, he can pull pots all day with nary a muscle strain. They soaked both the shrimp and crab pots while they trolled for Kings. And guess who ended up with the big fish? Amelia! She got her very first Chinook salmon, dime-bright and weighing in at a little under 30 pounds. Not bad for a three-year-old.
Once they pulled up the pots, Greg tossed a lot of the crabs back since we are not big crab fans. He ended up keeping about 15 large dungeness. The big, juicy (four-inch tails!) spot prawns totalled about 135, and they were so yummy! We had a kingly feast Sunday night in the back yard, and I'm still cleaning up that mess. We have to be extra careful when cooking outside at this time of the year. Boiling shrimp and crabs and sizzling salmon fillets attract lots of hungry things, including bears.
Yesterday, instead of moping around here doing even more chores, we as a family went for a wee hike. Gwen defines "hike" and "walk" thusly: "A hike is not done in a city on a sidewalk, but a walk is. A hike is in the woods with bears and animals and way more fun things than you'd ever find in a city."
Indeed.
As Juneau has many, many incredible hiking trails of various distances, difficulties, and locations, we
The girls did fantastically! Amelia was a trooper, even without having a nap. She hiked just over half the total distance, but Gwen did the whole thing! We were so proud of them both for their attitude and ability.
Once at the lake, Greg caught two little fish who were not keepers at all but were fun to show the girls. It was the first time either of them had seen a trout. One was a brookie and the other was a cutthroat. Amelia spent most of the time at the lake hunting for leaches. Gwen seemed to just enjoy sitting and watching everything. It was a really beautiful setting and we are glad we pushed ourselves through the clouds of ravenous "maquitos" and blasted gnats to get to the end of the trail. We are happy to have two tough Alaskan girls who we can already take on these marvelous forays into God's country.
Until next time when you'll hear Jenni say, "Let's talk about the weather."
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