I got my wallet back today, but I don’t think the story about the stolen wallet is done. Robert, whose client took the wallet, returned it to me this afternoon. It had slowly dawned on me that I needed the contents of this wallet.

I have lost my wallet, around the house, several times, and left home without it. Always, I have inconvenienced myself. This time, someone else inconvenienced me. I got to thinking further about this and realized that this individual inconvenienced the Bright Lights Book Project.

I am not an administrator, not by a long shot. And I am definitely not a bean counter, which is an inflexible administrator who will not allow any exceptions to any rule. But I am running a nonprofit organization (imagine that!) and have to at least give a nod to the more administrative end of things.

And to this end, I realized today that volunteers are our life blood. It’s more work for me any time a volunteer bows out. And conversely, it’s less work for me any time a volunteer signs on.

I have already told the client’s caregivers that Tuesdays are not the best day in which to have this individual clean books. There are too many other volunteers, and the former banquet room of the historic Eagle Hotel is ripe for picking. So we lose the assistance of the one who took the wallet and his keeper. This translates to five boxes (at least) of fiction and nonfiction that someone else has to screen, clean, and stamp. This someone else is often me.

I used to say whoa is me, I must be a racehorse. I said it again today. I am going to have to pick up the pace.

I was inconvenienced in that I had to spend time thinking about the above. I would much rather have been thinking about what I’m now reading, Heather Lende’s book entitled Bears and Ballots. She writes about being on the Haines assembly. My living in Haines all came back to me as I read this book. I want to tell her about this – and I might just write her a letter, since she does not have an online email address.

I guess I did give some thinking time to other things. After I got my wallet back, my thoughts at least momentarily turned to horses. Josh, our farrier, came today and removed all the horses’ shoes. It didn’t take him long, and as always, the conversation was good. After, Pete and I went for a ride, he rode Hrimmi and I rode Raudi. Raudi’s feet were tender, and she stumbled a bit, but the grazing is now sucky, so she and Hrimmi moved right along on what are now our trashed out trails.

Once again, someone removed the Tin Can on the Tin Can Trail. And an ATV was parked alongside the trail leading this trail.

The high brush cranberries are now plentiful and easy to reach while riding. The horses like it; that their humans also like to graze.

Next: 257. 9/21/24: The September Equinox