It is now dark at 8:00 p.m. Pretty soon, I will have to keep an eye on the situation and leave the former banquet room of the hotel earlier. Today I went in earlier, but I did not leave earlier. I need to take the time off the other end.

Hunting season ends before this weekend. There was some traffic this past weekend, but I think everyone has cleared out. The hunters need to return to work in order to make the payments on their machines. Gosh, how they do love to tear up the trails. It’s like they want to leave their signatures.

A good number of them have jobs in the resource extraction industry, and I am not talking about pulling teeth. Alaska is and remains a huge resource warehouse. The higher ups of these companies say that they “mine responsibly,” but this is an oxymoron.

The hardest part related to my taking time off the other end is getting home earlier. I might just make a concerted effort to do this. The literacy annex is now in pretty good order. I’m done with macro organizing. I now need to focus on micro organizing. The holiday books and the books for the upcoming animal shelter reading are boxed and ready to be taken to upcoming events. I now need to get the word out about the Mat-Su Borough Animal Shelter story time dog reading and get the word out. I have until October 11. I’m now an old pro at doing this sort of thing.

I do wonder – if I was younger and had started this project, would I now be more employable? Say, for example, would I find it easier to get a job writing features for a reputable magazine? And I am wondering if after all this, if I am going to find it easier to get Shelf Life published. I will soon resume work on it. The fair was a setback.

Pete went to an acupuncturist today. Never thought I’d see the day. It’s been one sort or another pain-wise for him for a year. To add to his discomfort, he now has a cold. I very well may end up with it although I am feeling strong and healthy. I am thinking that my gum issue may be a result of not drinking enough water, so I am going to focus on this. I may start to carry around a water container and make sure that I drink the entire contents. Also, I am going to work at cutting out sugar. However, not chocolate. Chocolate is my weakness, and I can’t seem to give it up.

I pause. What else is there? I think of Maurice Sendack’s book Heggelty Peggely Pop, a book (with his pen and ink drawings of a Westie), in which the dog runs away from home and repeatedly says, “Well there must be more to life than this."

Next: 256. 9/23/25: Tomorrow Never Comes