There have been major fires on the East Coast, near Ottawa and Quebec. The smoke has been drifting southward for a few days. It’s really bad – this got me to thinking about the fact that livestock and horses are being affected.

There are a number of horse farms in upstate New York, and as well, a handful of racetracks, including Saratoga. There are also numerous riding stables, like the one where I did an internship at outside of Schenectady, New York. Not good at all for the animals.

Alys with Tinni and Ranger

Knock on wood, we haven’t had fire-related smoke problems here. A few years back the sky got hazy, but this was it. I always worried that smoke or volcanic ash eruptions would have an adverse effect on Tinni, who had heaves. He’s gone, so this is no longer an issue. However, Raudi, 20, would feel the effects, at least more so than Hrimfara, age 11 and Tyra, age 10. Now that we have just three horses, and a three horse trailer, we would not have to decide which horse to leave behind.

I still think that Tinni is with us. I think that the mares think so, too. I hope that he’s in no pain and in a good frame of mind. I do continue to miss him. In my estimation he died too young. And had I been more attentive to his overall condition, he might have made it through another winter.

I was told a story today about a mare who died giving birth to her foal. The foal died too. For me, this was just a reminder of a statement that a teacher once made, which is that having foals puts the mares at risk. So nope, there will be no more foals born here.

Tomorrow the sun is supposed to shine. Right now, it does seem like we are (as they used to say back east) socked in. The air smells good, but it feels heavy.

Today was a good day for doing indoor stuff. I went to the senior center and took the equivalent of a box of books and left them in the library recycle bin.

I spent the rest of the afternoon at the Meeting House, cleaning, stamping, and categorizing books. I was joined by Rebekah, who did the same. Rebekah is tall, has black hair with purple streaks. She’s (I think) in her mid-thirties. She was the one who lined up moving assistance; she got elders from her church to give us an assist. And this evening, I sent her an email message asking if she might get the same to assist in cleaning books.

I was rummy by the afternoon’s end, both yesterday and today. I have since been thinking that enlisting Rebekah to find others to help out will be most timely.

Tonight I finished my article for the People’s Paper and sent it on its way. It’s about the move.

Next: 158. 6/9/23: No Words Left