It’s inevitable that here in southcentral Alaska the wind will put in an appearance at this time of year, and nearly blow all the leaves off of the trees. This happens every year, like clockwork. Come tomorrow, or the day after, or the day after that, it will be pre-eternally calm. However, the tree limbs will be bare until mid-May next year. That’s eight months from now. No wonder that any more I’m no longer enthused about fall. Winter follows fall, and winters here are lengthy.

It’s downhill and therefore sheltered down at the horse shelter. And so, the horses don’t get the full brunt of the wind. The goats and chickens, uphill, in their shelters, adjacent to the cabin, this is another story. Used to be

Steaming compost

that the wind turbine would make this terrible shrieking sound when the wind blew hard. I’m sure that the upper quadrant animals were terrified. It sounded like someone was being beheaded. It blew off its post a few years back, and Pete has not replaced it. I think he thought that it could not be reattached. So be it, I am of course relieved to have it permanently out of commission.

One good thing about days with strong winds – I have no regrets about heading to town on blustery days. This of course is not so on good weather days.

I pretty much adhered to my Tuesday/Thursday routine. I went to the Palmer Senior Center and set out books, then to the Koslosky building and stacked the shelves, and then to the Meeting House where I sorted books. Variations on a routine – today I had visitors at the Meeting House. First Nan came and picked up a tent – she’s going to do a glacier/crevasse class this weekend. Then Milena stopped by and dropped off garlic and cases of hand sanitizer and disinfectant, then a fellow named Keenan put in an appearance and dropped off a big box full of books for further distribution. He works in the Koslosky building – I could swear that I’ve seen some of these books before. . .

I then deviated from my usual routine and went and got my hairs cut. I go to Roots Salon because Barb, who cuts my hair, is a horse person so the conversation is more interesting than it might be otherwise. Sad to say, the horse that she’s owned for just three months came down with colic and had to be euthanized. Barb looked really, really tired.

I was of course empathetic because I am a horse owner. I’d most likely be empathetic even if I were not a horse owner. Susan Dent, a local horse owner once remarked that a horse death is harder to deal with than a dog death. Some would differ. I guess it just depends on how the horse dies.

I ventured out of Roots and back into the blustery, wet world. I felt high energy tonight, as did little Sassy, who followed me around as I battened the hatches.

If this goes on for a few days I will take care of indoor stuff, in order to keep myself from going stir crazy.

Next: 264. 9/24/21: A Conversation with Chinook Winds Sastrugi