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January 12, 2025: Surf’s Up

Here in Southcentral Alaska, we are not going to make the front page of the New York Times, that is for having record low snow and record high ice precipitation. If we have an earthquake, and it is 7.0 magnitude or higher, well, we’ll get a mention. Don’t get me wrong – I do not want to have to deal with having to evacuate the area because of fire danger. But the change in the weather, from snowy winters to ice and snow winters, does have me concerned. What this signals is that even here, we are having to deal with climate change. And furthermore, we have a president elect who does not believe in climate change, and in fact, his motto (taken from another imbecile) is “drill, baby, drill.”

Yes, I am concerned. The horses also seemed worried. We put blankets on them. Hrimmi went over to the fence and rubbed on it and both her snaps snapped. We put new ones on, and now all three are weather impervious.


So far, not this winter


Walking on the ice was treacherous. Now we are walking through slush. I prefer walking in slush to walking on ice, but am aware that we most likely will have a another drop in temperature, which is going to mean that we’ll be even worse off than before.

I am really glad that Pete had the foresight to put metal roofing on the cabin last summer. This activity messed up his knees, which makes what he did even more admirable.

I thought that I’d get to go for a horseback ride today. I thought wrong. Neither they nor I would enjoy being out for any length of time in this weather.

And so, both Pete and I stayed inside. He worked on getting ready for classes, which begin this week. I worked on making a list of villages to call. I will confirm with those I am visiting about travel arrangements and at the same time begin contacting other villages and seeing if they want books and a visit. This and one more trip and I will be done.

Pete also took care of inside chores, this included stocking the wood box. He has not said, but I think that he’s glad that he has not had to be plowing this winter. It’s odd, but there’s always time, it seems to get done what has to be done. Time is like water; it is fluid and moves to all areas. It always amazes me that when I swim, that in less than a second, every square inch of my exposed body is wet.

Today I also worked on the BLBP Executive Director’s report. It’s a nifty report; I have a list of things that I’ve done and a list of things that I am going to have to get done. I am dreading the meeting because I fear that Herr Consultant is going to flail me for not delegating the majority of the tasks to BLBP board members.

We’ll see. The future still remains fictive.

Next: 13. 1/13/25: Ready to go Sleddy

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