The above title sounds oxymoronic, but it’s not. This is what’s going on here. The snow is melting – in town the roads are very slushy. But it’s still snowing, and the snow berms by the side of the road here are at least seven feet high. Walking Tinni this morning, it seemed like I was walking down a long, white tunnel.

I would like to take the horses on the white highway, but getting to the trails would be a stretch since the snow is waist deep. So I keep walking them.

Alys's cabin and driveway

The BLBP continues to take up most of my time. I don’t have any free time anymore. I know that when, finally, we get a building that I will again have more time. This is not so, what with my working out of the Meeting House and the U-Haul storage unit near simultaneously.

And today, Pete, who still is feeling the effects of his hoop house fall and also has a cold, spent the better part of the day working on a Palmer Community Foundation Grant. We put in funding for 12 bookcases, which we’ll get into area schools. It’s a simple request. Last year’s request was far more complicated.

In the scope of things, this is a very small grant. But the small grants will give us credibility when we go to apply for bigger grants.

Pete, Bill, Milena, I are all working very hard on this project, all putting our heart and souls into this. But today, I realized that, yes, we are having a favorable impact on the Palmer community.

I came to this realization as I was stocking the bookcases at Turkey Red, Vagabond Blues, and The Valley Hotel. First of all, all the bookcases needed more books – and I think that Bill stocked them this morning. The Vee-Ho bookcase – it appeared as though a tornado ripped through the bookcase.

At Vagabond Blues – I talked to several people, one an older woman who I met a few weeks ago at the Senior Center. Joyce remarked that “books are everywhere,” then told me a story about a little girl whose eyes lit up when she found a book that she wanted to read.

I also talked for a while with the fellow who likes to read true crime stories – he says that Bill always puts them out for him. And upstairs, in the waiting area for the physical therapy center – I saw a little girl and her mother reading a book. I didn’t ask, but it’s more than likely that this was one of our books.

We are making a difference because we are all working hard at it. Bill built and stocked three of the bookcases. Bea assists us in writing grants. Milena sorts, categorizes, and now picks up books. Tomorrow we are going to Anchorage to get more books, then setting up a staging area for Wasilla books at the Kid’s Kupboard.

It's easier to be optimistic about the entire project now that we are on the near side of spring and the flip side of winter.

Next: 69. 3/12/22: A Conversation with Tinni