The wind died down midmorning, but the cold remained. The dull roar ceased – it was sort of like living next to and listening to freeway traffic. We are lucky here in that the main source of traffic noise – the Glenn Highway, is far enough away, so that we don’t hear it.

It can be heard across the river, over at Lazy Mountain. The Crawfords, who lived over there (they were Raudi’s original owners) had a place close to the river bluff and the sound was a dull roar.

I badly wanted to live there – I still do. When I walk back home along Oceanview Drive I look over and see the Chugach Range, which was also visible from their house. I remember that Ben Crawford, who was not practical but was very creative, renamed the peaks after Greek Gods.

I enjoyed the morning quietude as I cleaned the enclosure. I, most likely, like many, had a bit of PTSD, thinking that perhaps the quietude was like the eye of a hurricane and that it would again pick up.

I went to Sutton this morning, mailed a package to my sister and scrounged some library books. It was breezy there. The librarian talked at me for quite a while, going into great detail about her wind woes. This is what Pete called it this morning, wind woes.

I scrounged more books at Family Treasurers thrift store, then after arriving back at the hotel I went over to the Palmer Visitor’s Center to first check on our newspaper box. Now tell me how it is that the wind moved the hotel dumpster across the parking lot but did not move the newspaper box? This has to be karma. I next went inside and asked Linda, who works at the museum, about the history of the Eagle Hotel. She’s going to put me in touch with Richard, the historian, who knows about such things. This is a good time of year to get this information because there aren’t many tourists or locals right now doing any research.

Back at the hotel – Pete and Robert scored seven boxes of children’s books at Black Birch Bookstore – and then a woman came in with four more boxes. This was enough to keep four volunteers busy.

I did the things no one else does – which is stock Bill’s boxes and stock the Palmer Senior Center Boxes.

I try to get on the road home before it’s dark. Right now this is around 4:00 p.m. I am, of course, looking forward to the days again getting longer. The wind had, by the time I left, died down completely.

With what remains of the day, I am going to work on Shelf Life. I must get over my erroneous belief that writing this book or any book is not within the realm of possibility. This attitude has kept me from being prolific. But well, one really good book – this one, will maybe give me the confidence needed to write others. And there are others screaming at me to be written.

Next: 331. 12/10/25: Up and at ‘Em