The most difficult part about writing dispatches is figuring out who my readership might consist of, and what they are interested in reading about. I’d be happy to oblige if I knew what their interests might be. It’s like writing in the dark with a pencil stub, on a black sheet of paper.

But I persist because someday these readers are going to turn on the light and say, “we like this, this, and this.” In the meantime I am going to continue to work at striking a balance between my home/off the grid/horse life and my work/book project life. I enjoy both, although pulling myself away from one or the other can be like ripping a piece of tape off a painted wall.

The home life, today – no time today to even take a horse for a walk. I did get up early and tend to all the animals. The chickens – yesterday I let them out of the coop for the first time, Red Head ventured out first and Speckles and Black Tail followed. They hung out, outside while I cleaned the goat pen. Swampy and Sassy hung out in the yard. Sassy now has this habit of going up on the porch and pushing the door open and walking into the kitchen addition. The door closes behind her – she jumps up and looks out the window, well knowing that going into the cabin wasn’t the best idea. The dogs think similarly. I put the goats and the chickens away then took the dogs for a walk.

I am now teaching Shadow to play dead and roll over. She has got “chair” down, and she sits patiently in the mornings, waiting for her toast crust. Last night, as I was sorting socks, she hopped onto the bed and lay quietly in the pile. Ryder is the perfect older dog – still likes getting out, but also really enjoys sleeping.

The horses – I need a horsey friend, someone like Vicki, who moved a number of years ago. Someone nearby who is interested in agility and trail riding, and maybe even jumping.

I let the horses out in the mornings, and they race around the yard. Then they come into their enclosures (Tyra eats by herself) for breakfast.

I vowed today to leave the former banquet room of the historic Eagle Hotel at 4:00 p.m., but this didn’t happen. I am going to have to train the volunteers to look around before they leave and give me an assist inn cleaning up. I need help putting boxes of books on shelves and making sure cleaning supplies are put away. I have gotten too used to doing all this by myself.

I now have a volunteer coordinator, Lawrence, whose main strength is that he is adept at interacting with people. I had him work with the volunteers today, and he did very well. What I realized is that he is now going up the learning curve. So much of this project is in my head – I had no idea until today.

So readers, whoever, and wherever you may be, this was my day.

Next: 285. 10/22/25: What I can do. What I cannot do