More Summer Updates (publ. 2025-06-19)

This last week — today is 2025-06-19 — weather has been very warm (for Fairbanks) with temps reaching 85 ℉ at the hottest part of the day. The weather has been mostly sunny except for short thunderstorms in the evenings, which started a forest fire about 25 miles east of Fairbanks. I heard that one was put out quickly.

As far as the local flora, the vetch is still out but the flowers are rapidly deteriorating. I think the dandelion is all or mostly gone, but it has been replaced by a similar looking false dandelion — I think it is called sow thistle. I've also seen wild rose, and white yarrow is out here and there.

Some notes from today:

2025-06-19

12:40am

Near one of the dike trails by the Tanana, I am exploring a half-dried pond bed. I mean that half the pond is still there, and the other half of the pond has very recently dried up. The mud is still moist but is firm enough to stand on and not get messy, and is cracked all over. Some parts of the dried bed are still covered in a tall plant make of thick green blades, similar to iris, but with brown on type. I'm pretty sure this is the same thing as Alaska Wild Plants (Schofield) calls cattail.

There are many small white snail shells laying about in the mud, each about two or three centimeters long, that are either long pointy spirals, or round spirals. I pick up a few for souvenirs.

Many spots and cracks in the ground are also covered in a mysterious, white, foam-like substance, which glitters in the sunlight. I poked at it some of with a stick, but I am still not sure what it is.

6:24pm

I am at a park with the family, next to the baseball field. We don't have money for tickets, so we are just having a picnic in the park. A small hill next to the park is growing many three-leaf clover plants. The flowers are shaped like a strawberry. The forward petals are white, and the bottom or side petals are whitish-pink. The flowers and leaves come up only a few inches above the ground. The thinner part of the stems are green but the thicker parts are a blend of red and green, giving a purple appearance.

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