It doesn’t feel like spring yet in that the snow is still on the ground. And snow radiates cold. However, intimations of spring are here and there. This morning, I noticed that the ground in the horse enclosure didn’t freeze last night. So I spent little time chipping what I call poopsicles out of the ice. This is even harder to do when it’s cold, and it was not, as it has been, hand numbing.

I made it through the winter with one pair of matching gloves. I have a few others that match, but Shadow chewed the fingers of some of these gloves out. What does one do about such instances?

The first BLBP vehicle

Make sure you don’t leave your gloves out. It’s said that dogs feel no remorse and fail to equate the given action with owner dismay. I don’t know if I believe this, but I don’t want to do irreparable damage to Shadow’s already frail psyche, so I am just going to attribute her binge chewing on my carelessness.

It was a good sprinter day. I first went to the Palmer Senior Center and retrieved a few boxes of pulp fiction from their bin in their library. I later put these books with others, which are going to inmates at the Goose Creek Prison on Saturday. I also went through the fiction stash at the Meeting House and boxed up what I thought they might enjoy reading. And I set aside the contemporary fiction for local distribution.

I also purchased a second Kuspuk from the Senior Center gift shop. I figure that I’ll have four days on site at the Science of Reading Symposium in Anchorage, so I can’t wear the same outfit two days in a row. Once again, if anyone had told me that this is what salvaging a handful of books would lead to, I would not have believed them.

It seemed like people were in and out of the Meeting House, picking up books, giving a hand, and just talking. I hope that when we get our permanent home, that this will be a given. Sarah Welton, the Church of the Covenant pasto,r had wanted for this to happen, that is for the Meeting House to be a place where people congregate – and it is, although the focus is on books, and book ownership and book distribution.

The very good news is that we got two grants today. Saltchuk donated $25,000 and The Rasmuson Foundation donated $18,000. The latter is considered to be a Tier 1 grant – you have to get one of these so that you can qualify to apply for a Tier II grant. We may seek funding for the purchase or the construction of a more permanent BLBP home, and we would need a Tier II grant to do this.

The Rasmuson funding has been earmarked (what an odd word) for the purchase of a company vehicle. We’ll use Saltchuk funds to make up the cost difference. It’s going to be fun, car shopping.

This is my account of my, day and I’m sticking to it.

Next: 115. 4/27/23: Momentary Indecision