I have written about this phrase before. I am writing about it again because it is, sad to say, again so apt. Woke up this morning to the sound of rain on the roof. Looked out the window at the low-lying cloud cover and saw there was really no reason to get up. After all, I could not rise and shine. I could only rise.

What finally motivated me to get up (at 9 a.m.) is what always motivates me to get up, the thought of hungry animals, all waiting anxiously for breakfast. I fumbled around, getting my gear together, then headed outside. I first let the goats out of their respective sheds. They saw that it was raining – goats don’t like rain – I had to push on their butts to get them out the door.

Alys varnishes the new drop box

We four went down to check on the horses. The mares milled around their shelter. Tinni pawed impatiently on his metal gate. I fed them. Ranger hung out under the eaves of the tack room, Sassy hung out under the shelter roof with Tinni, and Swampy, she went someplace dry to hang out – I lost sight of her.

After breakfast, our friend Bill appeared with a drop box in hand. I am going to varnish it, and Nan is going to paint the northern lights on it. It will serve as a repository for returned books in the Vagabond Blues distribution area.

It was still raining. I milked Swampy (in her milking parlor) and then cleaned the goat and chicken pens. None hide the fact that they hate the rain. This, I thought, would make the day bearable.

My plan had been to stay put and ride all four horses. This is not how it went. I had to go elsewhere. As luck would have it, I ended up waiting for 45 minutes for the asphalt crew to do what they supposedly do so well. Grr, grr, grr. And the flag person’s saying that if I’d gotten there five minutes earlier . . . . grr grr grr. The rain just further dampened my spirits. I finally was given permission to move on, and I headed to Sutton where I mailed kids’ books to Barrow and Nancy Drew books to the Midwest. Then I next went to the Sutton library and made arrangements to assist in moving two of the newspaper boxes on Friday. One is going to the Sutton Post office, and another to the Sutton General Store. We have a third box, I do not know where it’s going. Maybe I’ll call Sutton Elementary School tomorrow.

I then went to town, to the Meeting House, where I’d gotten word that a group of parishioners would be meeting this afternoon. There I tore up dozens of boxes that I’d left scattered about and tossed the rest into the book room.

And the rain continued to come down. So no riding, much to the dismay of the very pissy horses.

All I can hope for is better weather tomorrow.

Next: 277. 10/7/21: Bad Palmer Senior Center Ju Ju