If the winter months were twice as long as they are, the suicide rate in cold climate countries would be much higher. Of this I am sure. February is the shortest month of the year for good reason – it’s psychological. No one equates March with extreme cold snaps. This is the domain of the months that precede it. March, in like a lion, out like a lamb. Something to look forward to rather than dread.

The pessimistic thermometer down at the horse barn indicates that it’s -30˚ F. The mercury has condensed considerably, most likely in order to protect itself from the cold. I have had enough. So is February going to be a sunny month, with temperatures in the teens? I hope so because I have had enough of this.

Sasha and Audry teach colony middle school students about books restoration

At least the sun was shining brightly this morning. And there were no strong winds.

Right now I’m depending on Pete to give me a hand with the animals. I’ve been doing the morning shift and he’s been doing the evening shift and one or the other of us has been doing the midday shift.

I again want to be an individual who embraces winter sports, i.e., cross-country skiing and bicycling. I have become a wimp, just out of habit. It’s far easier to hop in my car, go to town, hop out of my car, enter a warm room, and shlep books around. This is what I did today. There was no steady stream of people coming in and out – I was content to work alone.

I unpacked the boxes of children’s books that the guys brought over yesterday from the warehouse, and I got them ready to be cleaned and stamped. I cleaned up the back room. I put stuff away. I did not foresee that I would be doing all this and more when I left home at midday. The work was there, so I did it.

I thought that when I moved the books out of the Meeting House into the former banquet room of the Eagle Hotel, that I would have less work to do. This has not been so. There is just as much work to do, although I am no longer moving books from room to room.

Late this afternoon, affirmation – Sacha Pettit who is the librarian and teacher at Colony Middle School, came by with a box of books that her students had cleaned and stamped. They did a beautiful job. I would have given Sacha a hug, but since two of our board members have Covid, I refrained from doing this. This was affirmation of the best kind. And her taking the literary bull by the horns indicated to me that, yes, we do have momentum.

And in such moments, I remember how this project started – back then, I had no idea at all that community members would become involved in this project.

And it will continue. And we will get a building. All this, coming out of left field. Build it and they will come.

Next: 34. 2/4/24: No Computer