That it’s now August 2, 2025? This did make itself apparent, as today, for the first time in a long time, I rode all three horses. Why not? I thought – it was overcast, but the rain held off. I first rode Raudi, then Hrimmi, then Tyra. On these rides I made note of the seasonal changes.

The watermelon berries are out. The fireweed is now in full bloom. The white clover blankets the roadside. Chamomile now covers the lawn in what appears to be a plushy blanket. There is more Monk’s Hood on the trail than previously. The green grass, mostly timothy, is growing on the trails where the horses pooped. And the plantain is flowering, sending up its long, spiky stem.

Next: 208. 8/3/25: Procrastination

I did work on Shelf Life – I made the transition from my illness account to the section in which I talk about getting help on the project front. This section does seem to me to be rather weak, but I will later shore it up.

Alys and MaryAnn in Fireweed

I need to write about getting books ready and going to villages and also about the Lisa Murkowski visit. And oh yes, about the Palmer Senior Center and project involvement. After I get these sections done, I’ll revise my table of contents, then go through the document page-by page. Then I will print it up and go through it again. I had hoped that my biographer would edit this document, but this is starting to seem very unlikely.

I finished reading The Last Brother by Joe McGuiness. I did binge reading, maybe because I did not want to do other things. It’s a very sad and very depressing book. Why I read this book will always be a mystery to me. I’ve told a few people that I have done this, and no one had any thoughts or insights, perhaps because the Kennedys are passe. It did fill in the gaps in my Kennedy based knowledge, but just like everyone else, I already knew the story.

The last few pages, in which McGuiness writes about his biographical stance, were worth the read. I am going to read these final few pages again.

The question is, is this book a keeper or am I going to get it out on the shelf? This is always the question that I have after I read the book. Yes, the epilogue is of interest to me, so I suspect that I’ll hang onto it.

Josh the farrier came over and removed the horses’ shoes and trimmed their feet. No new shoes right now. We’ll wait until the next appointment. We did have a really good chat, about many things. Gosh, he’s been tending to our horses’ feet now for at least 15 years.

Today Bill Schmidtkunz came over and we chatted for a bit about this and that. He’s grown a beard, and it does not look good. It looks weedy. I was polite and didn’t say anything to him.

Staying home is a good thing. We’ll see about tomorrow. I think it will be much like today.