Being home alone seems to intensify things. Last year, I was okay with the cold until it dropped into the single digits. This year, I am okay with the cold until it drops to 15˚F and below. Either that, or I just need to get acclimated to it.

As I have said many times before, when Pete goes away, I have to do the work of three people. There’s my work and there’s the work he does, which is the work of two people.

I would have felt more discouraged today if the sun had not been shining brightly. And so, I did my tasks in a list-like fashion, inside and out. Add to the regular list of tending to the horses, heating the water for the horses and the goats, and putting it in their buckets, getting wood for the wood stove, making my own meals, and cleaning up after myself, milking the goat and lowering the milk into the root cellar, and cleaning the milk machine.

I did get out on Hrimmi, did Siggi’s trail with the dogs. All were glad to get out – I just wish that I’d had the time to get Tyra and Raudi out. I am concerned - -I do wonder if and when I’m going to again have the time to ride on a regular basis. And I hope we can do a trek next summer.

I also visited my friend Dorothy, who did get the Governor’s EMS teacher of the year award. I dropped off books and put them in the bookcase that Bill Schmidtkunz built for her. The books, lined up, look – I pause, in order to come up with the right word – proud, that is if books can be personified. And I thought, oh, most of these books came close to being shredded. I mean, who needs out of date American Red Cross manuals?

And I made BLBP phone calls. It appears as though we’ll have two of the Palmer Community Foundation grant/Voc Tech high school bookcases in Palmer High School. I have discovered that the role of the bookcase guardians should not be underestimated. They are the link between readers and the project itself.

Rusty, the librarian, was very enthused about participating in this project, which is why when he intimated that he’d like two bookcases, I said that this can be arranged.

I also called a few Native schools – it is hard to get a hold of people in these far flung places. Made one connection, with a school in Noorvik –they would like two boxes. This is good.

So in some ways it was a routine day. In others, not so routine. I realized today that while some people, like my sister Eleanor, do quite well living alone, that I would not. I am way too introverted. My thoughts go around in circles. I’m also not very domestic. I figure that those with clean environs must spend one third of their day cleaning up after themselves. Not me. So the kitchen floor is going to remain un-mopped.

297. 10/29/22: Chilly Scenes of Winter