Quite a difference than a month ago when it was 60 degrees colder. The snow is now getting slushier.

Pete wisely suggested that we have Josh the farrier reset the ice shoes, because it could get icy out. My thinking was that there would be no ice. But if the temperature drops after a thaw like this, this is what you get.

So the ice shoes remain.

A full day doing book project stuff. Pete, Bill, and I went to the Sutton Library and got the 750 books that were on tables. I am kicking myself now because I should have taken a few photos. The books were on tables, between bookends. They were carefully organized, children, young adult, nonfiction, and fiction with fiction predominating.

Pete, Robert, and Pam

There were no duplicates as there were at the Mat-Su School District warehouse, just good middle of the road books. We three are so proficient at packing up books that we had the entire room full of books boxed up in less than an hour.

We then took the books to the former banquet room of the historic Eagle Hotel. Robert arrived and he gave an assist, with us all putting the kids’ books by the kids’ sorting table, the fiction in the back area, and the nonfiction (after sorting) on the shelves.

Then the volunteers arrived. The lineup included Sebastian, Natalie, Pat, Bea, and Robert. It was a really good time, with everyone working companionably. Bea, who designed the chickadee costumes and heads for the arctic games, brought in one of the heads. I do realize that this was a lot of work on her part, but the head ware did make me think of Star War’s Darth Vader.

Not only did we all have a good time, but we got a LOT of books cleaned, stamped, and categorized. And out the door went 12 boxes of books. By the time everyone left, it was near impossible to tell that we’d brought so many books in with us.

I fret about our having too many books on hand, but they do go, given time. We have just the right amount of space for the incoming books, but it is close.

We are now working on acquiring land and constructing a building. We did get a draft of our strategic plan done and sent it on, so now the ball is in someone else’s court. We are waiting on a grant from the First National Bank of Alaska, and Saltchuk. I’d like to think that when it rains it pours and that we’ll hear about all of these things on the same day.

I have to begin working on what I’m calling my small potatoes grant, the one for the tricycle bicycle. I have been taking Pete’s grant writing class, so this has not been far from my mind. I’d much rather write poetry than grants – poetry comes more easily to me.

43. 2/14/24: With Good Weather