A white dog rolls in the last remaining snow in an Anchorage yard on April 21ist.

YES.

It supports add-by link

I do not hate Pocket Casts.

wait wait hear me out what if there were an audit?

like the one that happens literally every year, that would solve the $90 million problem right

right?

Teachers and schools have been eating these cuts for a decade and stretching themselves past what is reasonable. Congrats, folks did it, now it’s broken, and families are going to feel it more than they have in the past.

Either your kid’s ELA teacher who has 200 students now isn’t going to assign real writing next year- it was already increasingly painful with AI stuff- or they’re not going to give the kind of timely feedback that will help your kid develop skills.

This. No, I am sorry, we had to displace our Spanish teacher and you don’t get to take a language at the middle school. Yeah: this school no longer has band. Your kid’s science teacher cannot do labs if she has a class of 40- hope you enjoy traveling back in time to the Zoom days.

Two cream-colored dogs on a patch of snow overlooking Cook Inlet.

A view over Turnagain Arm. There are snow-capped mountains across the water.

Oh, hey, Alaska (a reminder from last week that things can be nice, because today is grosssss). My elderly pal and his favorite friend. 🤩🏔️🐕☀️

also you need a security camera there to catch all the very good boys experiencing true existential crises at the choices

A large plastic box full of squeaky balls for dogs. The sign on the box reads Toby stole these balls from you!!! (He’s not sorry.) Now you can steal them from him (serves him right.).

I love this. Thank you for your service. 🫡 You have been added to the canine hero pantheon with the guy who comes by the South Anchorage Dog Park occasionally with this box.

Green northern lights in a suburban park.

Green aurora above a snowy suburban parkscape.

ANC, lights are out. 🤩 #AlaskaSky

Crispy Halloumi With Tomatoes and White Beans

Here is one of my favorite halloumi things (gift link). For posterity, and for all halloumi lovers.

cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1026...

Halloumi can solve, essentially, all of life’s problems. I too need to know more about the fries.

I feel like the moon and focus-stacked slime molds are a pretty wide range!

This week’s lunar eclipse from an Alaskan deck.

My husband took pictures of the eclipse at intervals from our deck and 🤩. It was negative double digits at the house so he took the camera battery in with him each time, bless. 😂 #AlaskaSky No BlueSky but he does neat, tiny slime mold and mushroom photos at his Instagram @mushroomsofAlaska

The Alaska Range, including Denali, over a frozen river

A carved ice tiki in the sun

A partially melted carved ice boy with robot pal

Oh, hey, Alaska. #AlaskaSky 🏔️☀️🥶

I’m the orchestra teacher. Thank you for this. The choir sounded lovely, and the 6th gradeiness of it all makes that concert my favorite all year. ❤️

Going to a 6 period day next year is going to be devastating for music, and is probably going to destroy the high school programs within 5 years.

At the moment I cannot imagine staying one second beyond what is required to collect said pension/health insurance, even though I used to love my job and figure I’m pretty good at it, at least some of the time.

If I were not grandfathered into a better pension plan I would absolutely be considering the same choices as Ben, my down-the-hall science pal of the last 20 years, who deserves much better and who I will miss.

If you’re a young teacher considering a career in Alaska, make better choices.

YES so disappointing, always, and I keep trying, because they’re so pretty. Persimmons a close second, sorry, I just cannot get over the smell.

Oh, hey, Alaska. 🤩❄️🚴‍♀️☀️ #AlaskaSky

Oh, hey, Alaska. #AlaskaSky 🤩❄️☀️

When she was the superintendent of ASD, I was occasionally in a position where I had to write scripts for events for which she would serve as the emcee. I would dumb it down for her (vs. a script for the average school board member or principal) so she wouldn’t embarrass herself on hard words.

I mean….yes? Nothing could make me look cool to a middle schooler, my dude. This strategy provides light amusement in the hellscape of my day-to-day life. We all gotta get our jollies somehow.

I teach middle school and can testify that this is truly the way.

Legitimately just read a book in which The Big One hits Portland and bridge impassibility is, obviously and realistically, an important plot point! Maybe he should, too.

I have spent 22 years building a robust specialized music program at my Anchorage middle school that will be destroyed when we move to a 6 period day. I’m devastated and demoralized.

Lots of overlap but…yeah. It was a little jarring at first! In the end I loved it, though, almost as much as the book. They’re both gorgeous and amazing works of art despite the divergent plots.

Buddy. Meet the moment, here. No one wants this.

A moose lying in a snowy front yard. The window behind it reveals a taxidermied alligator (and also a big black bear + giant moose head, not seen at this angle).

Text reads Person A: The Whoa Every Dead Thing Ever AK neighbor is medium common; I have one my self. Person B: Having a brain fairly. What dead thing do you have. Person C: I think she has a dead neighbor Person A: 😂 no I have a neighbor Person A: who is alive Person A: you guys Person A: the gazelle in his living room is dead tho

Checked in on a vacationing friend’s house and texted the sibling/spouse chat a pic of a moose in her new neighbor’s yard that, upon zoom, revealed some more things about said neighbor. The ensuing discussion may have revealed a few things about my family, as well.