North Pole Weather 7/15/13

We have two sunsets today! The sun set at 12:01 this morning, rose again at 3:54 and will set after 20 hours 3 minutes and 48 seconds at 11:57 this evening. Last weekend was hot and clear – in the 80’s and sunny, with some smoke. Some increase in clouds is forecast for today, but still warm.

I am happy to report that the first round of chemo went well, aside from transportation problems and spending the entire lovely day indoors hooked up to medication. They did insist on steroids to protect me from possible allergic reactions, and I was predictably a mess Saturday on blood sugar. Steroids are notorious for that. I was up to 200% of my normal basal Saturday crashed Sunday morning, and bounced up again Sunday night.  But the nausea and vomiting did not appear, though my appetite was pretty well gone by Sunday night. Other side effects (such as hair loss) take longer, but I read Saturday evening at the Alaska Writers’ group Saturday reading, and attended Community Writers’ Group Sunday.Unfortunately I think that was overdoing it — by evening Sunday the aches and pains started and I’d lost all appetite.

I also felt well enough to tackle the garden a little Saturday. We got the herb bed finished and the perennials tied up Thursday, and Saturday I did a little cleaning up between the raised beds and took some photos. The tall columbine is blooming, the delphiniums are just starting and so is the salmon lynchis. I was afraid I got started too late watering the area that was garden (not raised) and has now been seeded to lawn, but by Thursday a good crop of grass had appeared. I hope once mowing starts it will discourage the chickweed!

North Pole Weather 7/23/12

The sun rose at 4:22 this morning, and will set at 11:30 tonight for 19 hours 8 minutes of daylight. At solar noon, at 1:57 pm today, the sun will be just halfway up the sky, at 45°. It still don’t quite get as dark as civil twilight, though that’s only going to be true for about 4 more days. As cloudy as it’s been lately, it actually gets fairly dark.

Yesterday it cleared off and actually got fairly warm – my sister in Sierra Vista, Arizona said it was warmer here than in Sierra Vista! They must have been having a cold wave. I still don’t think we made it to 80 yesterday or in fact on any day in July. At least the garden is getting watered! Today is supposed to be cloudy again.

My tall delphiniums. The two salmon heads are lynchis, and the lattice is 7′ high.

What with the creative writing classes and the rain the garden has been pretty much left to itself, but I did get the beans and the zucchini picked yesterday. I think I’ll take the excess to class today, and if any is left over take it to the food bank.

I swear the delphiniums grow taller every year. This year the base of the flower stalks are mostly above my head and the tips, not yet open, are a good foot above the 7 foot lattice. It wouldn’t surprise me if some reached 9 feet. The lilies are well budded, and the lynchis is blooming. I’m pretty sure the lighter shade is a hybrid with the salmon lynchis, though the flower heads look quite different.