Monthly Archives: May 2016

We Set a World Record!

For pollen. From the article:

“Allergy doctor Jeff Demain said Monday’s count shattered the old world record that was set in Sweden several years ago.

“A level of 175 is considered high,” Demain said. “Fairbanks had a birch pollen level of over 4000.””

It’s not just birch, either. Over the course of two days I saw clouds of pollen coming off the white spruce with every puff of a breeze. The deck was yellow with it. We finally got some rain overnight, so things are looking more normal today.

Record levels of tree pollen dust the truck.

Record levels of tree pollen dust the truck.

Kicking the Boombah’s Tires: The Borough Sets Land Values

The Fairbanks North Star Borough runs on property tax. It’s the only regular tax that we pay in-state (though we expect that will change soon given the huge state deficit). Every year the borough sends out a notice telling you what they think your property is worth. We’ve never had a problem with them before, but this year when the notices came with a 20% rise in land values, we were surprised.
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