Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah. Out goes March. A few differences than the way it came in. There is far less snow on the ground and the roadside berms are a dirty brown. And the days are a LOT longer. There’s also heat in that sun at midday.

Last night it was raining and snowing. I worried that if there should be a major temperature drop that the ice would freeze on the horses. It did not. Besides, they somehow got into Tinni’s enclosure and so they had the shelter area to hunker down in.

Books to Eek 3-31-23

Today I did get all three out for rides. I am now convinced that time off in the winter, perhaps after the New Year, is a good thing. It provides them with time needed to build themselves up. All three seem full of energy and are far more forward than they have been in the past. They all also alert on moose and spruce hens, a good thing.

I can supple them on these short rides, and work on basic instructions, such as go sideways and back.

Soon, I will start increasing the distance, while staying at the trot. No dilly dallying here.

Pete had decided to stay home rather than go to Anchorage and drop off and pick up books. In the afternoon he decided that we should go to Anchorage and drop off and pick up books. I was glad to hear this because had we not dropped off the books, I would have had to have to move them so that the front room was ready for the church goers. And I had no place to put them, even temporarily. Pete would also have to pick up the salvaged books on Monday, meaning that I’d have to sort them later in the week.

The problem with this job is that if I fall behind (and I never have), I’d never be able to catch up. Those used bookstores, in which boxes of books and books in general are piled up all willy nilly all over the place are indicative of the fact that their attendees fell behind in the sorting and cataloguing process.

So we did go to Anchorage, first to Northern Air Cargo where we put the books on a pallet. The warehouse worker weighed the pallet and determined that the total weight, pallet and books, was 984 pounds. The total weight, pallet and books, when we sent our last load to Barrow was 986 pounds. Bethel is going to be the drop off site. Grant Aviation will take the pallet to Eek, Alaska. Both NAC and Grant Aviation donated cargo space. I don’t think that I’ll be able to convince them to take many more boxes of books for a while. We remain waiting on a grant specifically for shipping books to villages.

After, we went to Title Wave Books and picked up six boxes of books (a private donation) in the front, and then a Title Wave donation in the back.

Yes, it was a balanced day, but my plate was a bit too full.

Next: 90. 3/1/23: April Fools’ Day