Ryder is barking. Ryder wants out. She has a distinctive inside voice; single barks, one that follows another. If there is something outside, she blends the barks together.

I’m glad Ryder is still with us although she is showing signs of age – mostly she has lost muscle. She likes to sleep on our bed. And she likes to go out on the trail although she is now content to follow behind the horse in the rear.

She’s forgotten about being kicked in the head by Hrimmi. It happened so fast that most likely she does not remember it. She fractured her occipital lobe -- sometimes her eye waters. I do not know if this hurts her.

It was a not so great day of my own making. Sometimes I forget.

Josh came and put ice shoes on all the horses. He brought along Harlan, 16, who is shadowing him. I hope that Harlan continues to work with Josh, he seems like a nice fellow.

We got up late and Josh was at the gate before we were done eating breakfast. This happens very rarely. I rushed out, with tea in hand. Pete held Raudi while I cleaned up the poop. Tyra does seem better.

I have my fingers crossed (this is a substitute for the word hope; I can’t seem to get away from it) that it’s a warm winter so I don’t have to worry about her not retaining enough heat.

I have been going around with my maroon vest on – it wasn’t warm enough today, so I got my winter coats out of the closet. Both have broken zippers. Both zippers will have to be replaced. And I should get a new coat, that is if it gets and stays cold.

I went to town, to the former banquet room of the historic Eagle hotel, in the afternoon. There were a few volunteers present. They stamped and cleaned books and left a mess. I cleaned up after them.

Eventually, Pete arrived with the Christmas tree that we cut after lunch. It was located in the area that I call the spruce grove. I thought – well, this tree, once it’s decorated, is going to bring those who look at it great joy. It’s a spindly spruce, so the bookmarks are going to show up nicely.

Pete went across the way to the thrift store and got a string of lights for fifty cents. He put the lights on it but did not have an extension cord. Tomorrow we’ll plug in the cord and hang up the bookmarks on the tree.

I went to a Foraker Group zoom meeting and got overly upset when the subject of evaluating the executive director came up. The problem is, the person leading this discussion is talking about the ideal, a high powered board, and we are light years from this.

My attitude has once again become like soured milk – p-tooey. I must work at making it better. Pete’s good, he never falters in his belief about this project. I should do the same.