I’m another year older. Yeah, I feel it. This morning I took Ryder and Shadow for a walk. It was a beautiful fall day, what with the sun shining and just a tad bit of snow on the distant peaks.

Ryder felt good, she was moving right along until the final 200 uphill yards back to the cabin. But she knew that she was nearly back at home, so she did not waver.

Me, I could empathize with how Ryder feels. I’m worn out from working so hard. The walk, as it did with Ryder, did bolster my sagging spirits. I did not want to go to work today.

I knew that I had a lot to do, and I did it. I got help. The first person I met, a woman named Michelle, she thanked me for helping her find a job. She will be working at Lekker Bakery starting in a few days. She said she’d like to volunteer with us. My thought was that she can be a bookcase guardian.

I remember talking with her and wondering if she’d have any luck in this town. She did.

I like being helpful to people. It’s a way of power tripping. I also like thanking people.

And so, it was my birthday. I did not mention this to many. Leslie knew and made me some of her artistic cookies.

Lots of books came in yesterday, a few of us spent considerable time cleaning and stamping them. Then the Veteran’s Pioneer Home came by with about seven boxes of books – they were advance copies from Fireside books; they’d ended up in the nursing home activities area. This was paydirt. At first I was hesitant to take them on, then I realized that I could store them in the wayback room, which is what we did.

Oh my goodness, getting the boxes of books into the lobby was a challenge because furniture was being moved out of the hotel. We just worked around them. I’m glad that I thought to take the books on today – I was slow to come to this realization, which is where they should go because I was tired.

And so, my birthday was much like any other day. I think that in January I will get a calendar and make note of other’s birthdays – this way, I won’t feel bad about my not acknowledging other’s birthdays when I have failed to acknowledge theirs.

Back to the dog – we are going to put her on Prednisone starting tomorrow. This is a strange drug – it won’t wipe out the lymphoma, but it may increase her appetite. And if her appetite is increased, she’ll put on more weight and have more energy.

I am going to make it a point to take her for morning walks.

I do hope soon to reconnect with my horses. They are content but at the same time they are bored. The dogs, they don’t get bored.

Walking, a good thing.

Next: 248. 9/18/26: A Dreary Day