And what’s the owner to do? Just change the sheets and leave the dog alone. The dog is old. The dog has the brains of a flea. If a flea pees, you don’t even know it.

We must get Ryder out morning and night now because she is no longer showing the initiative needed to get up and out. I hate seeing her get old and wish I could turn the clock backwards.

There are many, many galaxies out there, and so there must be one in which time is moving backwards. I do hope when I die that I finally know what is on the other side. I will feel cheated if, say, I am not given any answers. I am wanting the big ah ha moment.

Volunteer reads at the AK State Fair

I picture my mother, wearing the red socks that I put on her feet, having all the answers but feeling no need to pass on this essential bit of information to her daughters. Her attitude most likely is, “Let them figure this out.” Thanks Mom.

A long, tough day mostly on the book front. I can’t keep it all straight. Well, I will try. Got books ready for fair distribution, then went swimming. Had a lane to myself. Returned to hotel. Had a heated discussion with our board president who said that I am working too hard and need to do a better job of delegating BLBP duties. Blah blah blah.

Then Cathy, the artist in residence, shows up and one of the Historic Eagle Hotel tenants starts to harass her. She comes into the literacy center and tells me about this. We look out the window, and the owner and the manager are out there having a heated discussion with this guy. Nothing seemed to register. There was no remorse.

So Cathy calls the Palmer police who come right over and tell us both that they can do nothing about this. This is not good. Today there was a school shooting – it happened during mass, in a church. An 8 and a 10 year old were killed, and many others were injured. Now I think that in a lot of these instances, the police simply said that they could not do anything. So I hope that nothing bad happens.

This guy later was staring in the window at the Alaska Junior Theatre board members – I was giving them a tour. Not good. I attended three quarters of their meeting and Pete called and I used this as an excuse to head home.

I told Pete about my day, and he told me about his last two days. He had a better time than I had, this is for sure.

Now tomorrow I resume being on the Alaska State Fair grounds. It is raining now. It is supposed to rain tomorrow and Friday. I am okay with this. Pete and I went there this evening, and I got all the books that I had in order, for the duration of the fair. So I feel like there is a light at the end of the tunnel even though I cannot yet see it.

Next: 232. 8/28/25: Scattered Thoughts