Or every day we get closer to the ideal. I am hearing birds. I am waiting for the geese to appear. I did see two in a pond, in Anchorage. Pretty soon the swallows and the robins will also be back. I’ll be riding on the trails and taking in the smell of the cotton woods. Spring around here is indeed around the corner.

The light. There is now enough light. I got out at 7:00 p.m. and had time to walk all three horses. I ended up walking Raudi and Hrimmi. Tomorrow, and in the days following, I am going to leave the hotel early, meaning 6:00 p.m., and come home and ride. I also need to clean up the winter hay detritus. And I need to start cleaning tack.

Magpie in the horse pen

We are going to be gone for a month. The BLBP board and volunteers will keep the project going. I am not worried about what might happen in my absence. A month is not a long period of time.

I am not worried because there is so much to be done beforehand. Today I talked on the phone with Milena Sevigny, who used to be the BLBP board president. She’s going to store her remaining books in the shared U-Haul unit, and we are going to pack up nine totes of books for Kids’ Kupboard. She’s also going to lend us a shelter for Reading Rendezvous. (I wish that they’d called it something beside Rendezvous because that’s a tough word to spell.) Anyhow, talking with Milena was like getting the wayback machine out, and going back in time, to our book schlepping days since we have not done this in quite a while. And dang it, we were good at it.

Lots of foot traffic at the hotel today. Louis was there, categorizing books when I walked in the door. We talked some about the Palmer City Council meeting. She had a different take on the first part of the meeting, in which 20 or so teenagers going to Japan each spoke about the upcoming event, and about the proclamations that were doled out. She said this was a celebration of community.

As for the future library – I wasn’t sure, even after talking to Lois, what the outcome was. I do know this – if they were to build a library, they’d need to get going on this now. It’s going to be at least a year before they start building, if indeed they are going to build, and two years before they’re done.

And Meridith, who took books to Belize over the winter, returned and gave us back our banner.

And Pam Meekin, who for 40 years was the vendor coordinator at the Alaska State Fair, came and cleaned books.

And the woman who is now in charge of MAAST (this is the organization that pays Pam) dropped by to say hello. Nice woman.

Too much going on for me. And I just want to be outside.

Next: 114. 4/25/24: Rocking Out