I did not go to work today. Instead, I did work at home. I am told there are advantages to working what some call “remote.” One of course is that there is no commute. Another is that you get to choose what tasks you do, when.

I am here, pretending like I’m a real bona-fide, paid, BLBP employee. I am not. I am a volunteer, and as such, I work for free. I do a good job of pretending that my situation is otherwise. But it is pretend.

Today was actually a good day. It began with my working on Shelf Life. I am not allowing myself to think that it’s a subpar memoir. (This rhymes, what do you know?) The writing/revising went easily. I still have some problem solving ahead to do, but my having put a working timeline at the beginning is very helpful. A lot happened in the past five years, and in writing and in going about my day, these things surface. For example, this morning I wrote about our being told by the Mat-Su Health Foundation that we needed to become a nonprofit before we applied for any grants.

Book sculpture at science of reading

I write this down – now tomorrow, I will need to elaborate upon it, saying that I didn’t know what a nonprofit was but, Pete thought it was a better move than, say, opening an independent bookstore. Then, later on, I will talk more about how our being a nonprofit, that is with a mission statement and vision statement – widened our horizons, making our work more all encompassing than, say, that of an independent bookstore. This latter realization will come in the third part of the book, this being the section in which the setting is the former banquet room of the historic Eagle Hotel.

There are a lot of little things like this rising to the forefront of my consciousness. I’m now 134 pages into it. I will have a very credible first draft done by September 1.

I worked on this and that and finally threw up my hands and went outside and spent time with my horses. I first rode Tyra, then rode Raudi, then rode Hrimmi. This didn’t require much incentive. Although overcast, spring was in the air. My favorite smell, which right now predominates, is the smell of the cottonwoods.

I have this new theory about my horses and riding. They are all slow on the trails. Might it be that they are being protective of me, and are concerned for my well being? I think so. And I’m going to continue to think so.

Next: 135. 5/17/25: Reading Rendevouz