I am not sure that I can, in a dispatch, do this day justice. My excuse very well might be that I was living for the moment. This may end up being akin to tossing a baseball with my right hand. (I’m left handed.) But I will give it a go.

Woke to it being an unmistakable fall day – a decided nip in the air, with the trees having a now decided orange tinge. I wore two mis-matched gloves, which I found in the textile bin, when I went out to take care of the animals.

Pete and I met Milena Sevigny in the Career Vocational and Technical College parking lot, then headed into the building where in short order we were introduced to Randy Wolfe, the shop teacher. We introduced ourselves – then Milena and I followed Randy and Pete down a long, narrow corridor, one that led to a large combination classroom/shop area. There was a building on a trailer, one that the students built. Randy said it was a tiny house. Inside, there was a pull out bed on the upper portion of the wall, with the words The Last Frontier burnt into the woods. We four were able to stand in it comfortably and talk specs.

Talk specs, this is what Randy does best. We didn’t even have to pitch our idea about his students building us a portable building – Randy was that gung ho about taking on this particular project. So was Pete. Milena contributed to the conversation by saying that we’d need to have an opening, perhaps French doors, on the side so that entire pallets could be unloaded into the building. Me, all I could think was yeah, build it and they will come. I did say that the “they” might be college students and high school students, and proposed they work together.

I took in as many particulars about Randy, i.e., his high-pitched enthusiastic voice, his large hands, and the fact that he was dressed as we were – he too was wearing fleece. We finally got down to the ball park figure stuff; the building will cost (he thinks) between $25,000 and $30,000 to completely build and put in place. Milena wasn’t there to hear this – she had to leave in order to take a phone call in the parking lot. When we did mention this to her, she said that we could ask a funder to provide us with a grant for $20,000. I thought, I’m not letting myself think that this is something that I can’t do.

The timeframe ended up being quite reasonable. Essentially, as soon as I get the funding, Randy and the students will start building.

Yikes. And then in the late afternoon we dropped the Christmas books off at the Salvation Army warehouse in Anchorage. Jenny, who is in charge of the program, said that the kids books will go into backpacks, along with other holiday items, and then be distributed to kids in the villages of Chevak and Buckley. Mission accomplished there.

I am of course feeling overwhelmed by all that needs to be done. Perhaps my motto should be one day at a time.

Next: 254. 9/14/21: A Long Pause