First spring rain; emptying nest

So, first of all, here are the pictures of the Bear, the one that is now Bear All Done: first a picture of the mama bear and baby bear and Sonja and Martin, and next, the lovely picture of Martin picking the poor bear's nose.














Today was the first day that it reained since, I forget when - october? november? We didn't have the horrible rains in the middle of winter like a few years ago, so the road conditions were never extremely bad.

Our house is slowly emptying. Our friend Sandy borrowed the dogs, Mica and Saphira, to go do a trip in the Brooks Range. She picked them up yesterday, and will be gone for a week or two. Sonja seems to be taking it in stride, which is good to see. It helped that Sandy borrowed the dogs overnight earlier in the week, and then we explained to Sonja that "Sandy Mica Saphira walk" and that they will be back. And the next day they were. Now it just will be longer than overnight.

In addition, Martin leaves on Saturday, for ten days of fieldwork. When that happens, it will be Sonja and myself left in the very quiet house.