I have always thought that when we are born, we are given a word allotment. This differs from person to person. When we have reached this allotment (and it may be large or small), then it’s time to go. If everyone believed this, listening would take precedence over talking, a good thing, I think.

I also used to go to meetings thinking that if I kept my mouth shut, that the meeting would end sooner. The problem was, I always had a great deal to say.

Dehydrated food for trip

Tonight, I am lacking in words, not because I am attempting to preserve the word status quo, but because I’m tired. I had presumed that today would be a day off, but this was not the case.

I worked some at the hotel this morning, then Pete and Robert and I went kayaking on Finger Lake. It is the water playground of the Mat-Su Valley. I remain mystified. I don’t know what the attraction of this small lake is to large, noisy boats. This makes no sense to me at all. I feel for the birds – the mallards, the loons, and the mergansers. They hugged the shoreline, in groups, bobbing up and down in the waves.

I saw one loon with one offspring. It, I thought, was probably the lone survivor. She was out a ways from the shore. Meanwhile, this large boat with a hefty motor on the back (I think they’re called air boats) went screaming past. This is all very sad.

We humans are failing to see the importance of nature. This is going to be what is going to bring about our demise. We’ll die off, then perhaps 500 years from now, another species will discover our bones and speculate as to what happened to us.

I wish those of us who do respect nature would live on – but I don’t think we are going to be spared. Maybe someday someone will crack the code and find this dispatch and then realize that I was one of those who had a kinship with nature.

Maybe the hard part is watching the planet and all its animal inhabitants die. This, rather than death itself. Death is no picnic, and we don’t know about the afterlife. This might not be a picnic either. We might miss friends and our material possessions when we go. Last night I held my metal cup, and the thought occurred to me that I won’t be able to take it with me. I guess I’ll have to leave it behind for someone who will value and appreciate it.

I heard on the radio that someone was advocating that people be given an energy rebate for air conditioning, like they get for heat. What concerned me is that there was no talk about how we might change our lives, in order to reverse the effects of climate change.

I am now driving more than I ever have before – in part because I have a job and in part because I have a decent vehicle. In writing this, I think that I’ll be more judicious about this in the future.

Next: 211. 8/3/23: The Woman who Had Everything