This is the time of year when anything can happen

JIM CRAIG

April 18, 2008 at 12:18PM AKST

For The Seward Phoenix-Log

This is the time of year when we all start to get our offices and equipment ready for the season. The boats, the fishing gear, the planes and the lame answers to all the lame questions we hear every year: Can you take my picture next to some polar bears? Are you a native? Do moose sleep standing up? Is it going to rain on July 22?

This is the fragrant time of year when the huskies bloom. Or rather the snow and ice melt down enough to reveal the leftover dog plops from last November.

This is the time of year when the highway crews line up their trucks and begin to seriously ignore the potholes all through town. Better to patiently wait for the tourist rush later in May.

This is the time of year when the humpbacks are halfway from Hawaii to Baja. They’re heading north toward Seward sick and tired of shrimp teriyaki and hankering for some Alaskan cheap beer and lousy krill. Or maybe that’s me.

This is the time of year when the glaciers start melting. Al Gore thinks they’re about to melt away for good. Can you imagine Exit Glacier melted? What would we call the place? Exit ditch? Exit pile of dirt and rocks?

This is the time of year when the bears are waking up and crawling out of their caves. I don’t know about you but when I’ve overslept for something important, like spring, I wake up grumpy. I can understand wanting to walk into town to "get me a human bean." They call it a Meet and Eat.

This is the time of year when you have to start thinking about where to store those studded tires. Wouldn’t it be more fun to loosen up those little darts, floor the accelerator and watch them pepper the jerk tailgating you?

This is the time of year when you can put away your ice cleats and look for the waterproof foot gear instead. Lookee there! Pa’s left boot is starting to show through the snow in the back yard. He’s going to need that when he steps in one of those rain-filled potholes.

This is the time of year when we start to remember what the blue lupine will look like when it pokes up along the highway followed soon by the fireweed. That colorful time’s still around the next corner, but the first dandelions and buds in the alders promise it’ll be here soon.

And that’s the time when the hillsides will be green with waterfalls everywhere releasing the pressure from a long night’s slumber. And snowcapped Mount Alice will stare down at us to watch tourists in bright T-shirts and shorts asking, "Where’s the Wal-Mart?"

Jim Craig flies air taxi and scenic flights from the Seward airport for Scenic Mountain Air between April and October. His new novel, "North To Disaster," is available locally or at www.bushakpress.com.