Last time we met we were happily ushering January out. February came waltzing in the next day without much fanfare, and little change. The days are a little longer, the temperatures a few degrees warmer, and still no real snow, but thankfully not much rain either. Altogether, a pretty blah winter from what we expect, and for the most part enjoy. (Of course, I’ll say that and tomorrow we’ll have the March blizzard). The Iron Dog was successful and sled dog races got off pretty well on the northern trails but they had to change the restart of the Iditarod from Anchorage to Fairbanks but it’s looking good so far. Even the Frozen RiverFest in Soldotna celebrated an ice-free winter and some snow and ice carving competitions have gone on as usual and the Fur Rondy in Anchorage is winding down.

But admidst all the fun and games, don’t forget we also slid into tax season. Another inevitable for the months of February and March. I remember when it wasn’t a “season.” An hour after dinner some evening with some scratch paper and a pen and all was good. No waiting for W2s; they came with the January check. No computer, no calculator, just check your math, sign the form and mail it. Maybe a refund, most often not. Then computers came into the picture and we had to find deductions and maybe have credits of some kind or a penalty for something we didn’t know about til reading the tax pamphlet. Wait for documents in the mail, be sure to use the correct form and maybe find a tax man. Tax season became an inevitable, like February.

And this year, another inevitably is the price of eggs: still ridiculous. I didn’t realize we used so many eggs until I had to replace them this winter. I grew up on a farm, and mom kept chickens, as I’m sure I’ve mentioned at least once before, so eggs were a given. I didn’t ever think about eggs, because they were always there, sorta like snow in February.

Even after we established our own home, whenever mom came to visit she brought a dozen eggs, and when we visited there, we came home with eggs. If I didn’t want to fix lunch, we had a fried eggs sandwich. Quick breakfast, poached egg and toast. Invitation to a party, take deviled eggs. I even made hubby an Angel Food cake, FROM SCRATCH for his birthday one year. (Turned out perfect, but I only did it once) I just never questioned the versatility and ubiquitous nature of eggs. Until this past year. All at once, they are a precious commodity.

I have some recipes from a World War II recipe book put together by a church or neighborhood club passed to me by my Mom. Two recipes I remember are for cakes, with no eggs. Wacky Cake, a really good chocolate cake, and Cheap John cake, a spicy raisin thing. I used them both when we spent summers at the fish site and hadn’t gone to town for a week or so. The kids gobbled them up as fast as any conventional recipe and didn’t know the difference. Those women back then learned to improvise and substitute because of shortages, rationing and unavailability.

The modern take on that is to buy a pie filling and a cake mix, stir them together and bake, and you have a very good, easy, no-egg dessert. You can even do it with a cake mix and can of pop (soda). Haven’t tried that one, but I guess that counts in the make-do in a pinch situation.

I remember stories about the old days in the Klondike. Miners might pay a dollar for an egg. It’s almost there now: $8 a dozen last week at one grocery store and empty shelves where eggs should be in others. And we can’t even blame inflation, or any political party. Not even a good conspiracy theory. We’ll have to wait out the bird flu epidemic and hope it ends soon.

So we are through February and into March tomorrow. The Iditarod restart will be Monday. We’ll spring ahead the next Sunday, March 9, then toward the middle of the month, the tripod will go up at Nenana for the Ice Classic.

When next we meet here it will be nearly April. Let’s hope there is green grass, your taxes are done and you get a big refund. In past years, I’ve written about giant icicles and errant snow storms in March but never taxes or eggs. Let’s hope this is the only time.