Heat Wave

The title pretty much says it all.  Here in southeast Alaska we put up with a whole lot of really awful weather, even in the summer.  There is rain and snow and more rain, and a little more rain.  Last summer, it rained so much that a lot of die-hard Alaskans I know were moping and talking of moving down south.  But then, we had the past two weeks.  Such a stretch of warm, sunny weather that people start getting a little crazy with it.  And really, when your life looks like this, there isn't any other place on God's green earth I would rather be.

The past few days have even gotten above 80 degrees, which I swear feels closer to 100 here.  Yesterday we spent 10 hours at the beach, and I even swam in the ocean, head underwater and all.  But after days and days of boating, bonfires, swimming, playing, and sitting on the beach, I am officially sun burnt and out of clean laundry and groceries.  My kids have gone to bed at 10pm for so many nights in a row, it's starting to seem normal.  And we haven't really had a meal that wasn't hot dogs over the fire or a bag of grapes in eons.  And so today, even though it is another scorcher, we are laying low.  Cleaning the house.  Nursing our sunburns.  Eating real food.  And getting ready for tomorrow.

Also today: dealing with the giant pot half filled with leftover crab cooking water and crab detritus that sat on the deck sweltering all day yesterday and became home to five thousand flies.  Seriously, I'm not sure anything else smells quite like it.  But still loving Alaska.