A few times last night, I looked out the window and noticed it was snowing heavily. The edges of buildings and the trees were soft; there were no clouds, it was like looking into a fish aquarium at a guppy hatch – it was that sort of cloudy.

If snow made noise when it fell, the din would send me packing. I have actually been thinking that I would like to find distribution sites for books in warm places – there I would go with my three suitcases in hand. I’d take my co-worker Pam and together we’d take six suitcases. Belize, Chile, Maui – I can be ready to go in an hour.

Blowing snow

This morning, when I stepped off the porch, the snow was thigh deep. I figure we got 10 inches although my friend Becky said it was more like 14. Or maybe they got four inches more over in Sutton, the next town over.

There wasn’t much horse poop to pick up – most of it was buried under snow. I was able to get into the hay shed, although the gate was blocked by snow.

After breakfast, Pete set to shoveling off roofs. We did not confer about what I might do. I have learned in shlepping books in our new space that working in specific spaces and not moving far from them is time and energy efficient. So I mainly worked shoveling snow in the upper quadrant this morning. I cleared the pathways to the goat shed, generator shack, and chicken coop. I also cleared off the stairs to the black hole.

I took a break, went inside – our friend Natalie was going to come up and go for a ski with us, but she got stuck on Murphy Road. A neighbor, who gave her an assist shoveling out, left a message. I felt bad, I should have known that Murphy Road, which is plowed by the borough , would not be plowed by 11:00 a.m.

I next cleared out the gate area by the horse pen. Pete fell through the plexiglass on the roof as I was shoveling the entrance. Indeed, shoveling roofs is dangerous work.

And what did I think about as I engaged in this tedious task? Two things. I’m attempting to eat better, which is going to be a difficult proposition. And I will soon get a gym membership and start working out inside. I’d like to find a personal trainer rather than figure out everything on my own.

And most importantly – well both of these things are important: I need to resume writing. I got an email message this morning from my dear friend, Judy Owens Manley, who I met at the conclusion of my Fairbanks to Valdez bicycle ride. She’s got a lot going on, and yet she’s writing. The same is true of my friend Bill Schmidtkunz, and my friend Michele Hemling. And there are a few others. Heck, I didn’t even have a book on the author’s table yesterday. What gives?

I have my Shelf Life manuscript. I can see it from where I am standing. I am going to resume working on it – today.

Next: 346. 12/18/23: The Writing Life: The Introduction