I am glad to be home. I keep saying this and I mean it. Coming back to this place, this time around was like going to stay for a few days at a Forest Service cabin. In my absence there were two major snowstorms, both of which left a substantial amount of snow.

Before I left, the ground was frozen, hard, and visible. Upon my return it became a winter wonderland. The snow clung to the bows, giving the area a fairyland like appearance. The sky was blue, and it was just a bit breezy.

Last hay load 2023

I got out and went for a ride at 10 a.m. and Pete came with me. I rode Raudi and Pete rode Tyra. It was like a winter wonderland out there – the white snow on the distant mountains dazzling.

We took the dogs with us – Shadow repeatedly leapt through the drifts, and both she and Ryder had a great time.

Tyra and Raudi are so bomber. They seem to take joy in doing what they do so well. Tomorrow I will ride in the afternoon. I will go to town and get my distributing done, then return home, saddle up, and head for the trail.

I did not have the time to get Hrimmi out, which pained me. Had to go to work. Work not bad except for the fact that it looked like a good day for a third horseback ride.

The drive to the hotel was okay – the roads had been plowed and they were not at all icy.

Had two volunteers clean and categorize kids’ books.

I do not understand why the place was in such a state of disarray, but it was. I kept myself occupied until 7:00 p.m. when a dozen volunteers showed up. They cleaned kids and Christmas books and put them away. It was interesting watching them organize themselves – there was plenty to do, and they all figured out how to go about this. It was an even mix of teenagers and adults. They were from one of the local Latter Day Saints churches. These churches are heavily into service, and I think they found this sort of work to be great fun.

A few said that they’d be back to help out really soon. The trick is going to have enough books on hand for everyone to clean.

The Christmas books are ready to take to the Anchorage Performing Arts Center next Friday. The crafts books are ready to put on the shelves.

I figured out that all total, having 14 volunteers (who worked two hours each) saved me 28 hours of work. This is really substantial.

We really have come a long ways with this project. Now we have actual volunteers. There was a time when I had no idea at all what I was going to do with all those books. I just knew that they needed to be saved.

Fortunately, a lot of people agreed with me. 28 hours of work. That’s amazing.

Next: 314. 11/15/23: More Snow