A lot of my titles are understatements, and this one is no exception. I do what needs to be done and sometimes more. Nevertheless. The darkness is of course problematic for me, but it’s less so right now because there have been no snowstorms. In fact, we have just a dusting, if dusting is the right word, on the ground. It’s more of a coating.

It's hard to know if this is climate change related. All I know is that it’s easier to get around. Now in Washington State they are experiencing major flooding, which they are calling atmospheric rivers. Just a lot of rain.

Animals take second priority in such instances. There is a photo tonight in the Alaska Daily News of a fellow paddling a kayak. In front of his paddle is a chicken. The caption simply says that he was rescuing chickens that were in a coop.

There is another photo of cows walking through water – I thought when I saw this, what do the animals think when they see this? And I can only hope that amidst the concern about humans and the related rescue efforts, that the animals in peril are also rescued. This isn’t their fault.

Shadow seems like she was not at all adversely affected by her consuming mass quantities of Vitamin D. Dr. Kaiser said that if she had consumed the contents of a Costco bottle that she would have consumed a lethal dose.

The words lethal dose scared me and I couldn’t help but think for a while that Shadow was going to be a goner. She seemed fine yesterday – I took her into the former banquet room of the historic Eagle Hotel and she was running around – I realized then that she’s a high energy dog.

I guess I usually don’t see her as being high energy because I equate high energy with Rainbow, who was far faster and more rambunctious.

I wish that I could bring back the beloved animals, the dogs, Bootleg, Rainbow, and Jenna; the horses, Tinni, Signy, and Siggi; the goats, Ranger, Rover, Peaches, and Stormy; and the chickens, let’s see this is going to be a challenge – Stubbi, Chicken Catchitori, Red Hen, Nimby, Henny Penny Pailin, Henrietta, Snooky, Bader, Ginsberg, and any others I may have left out.

Now that I think of it, the losses have not been that significant in terms of numbers. They have been significant in terms of the animals’ presence in our lives. They were all loved, and in fact, are still loved. But what fun it would be if I woke up and they were all here.

Raudi, the longest lived, is the matriarch. And she has many years left.

I just hope that my non-paying job in the former banquet room of the historic Eagle Hotel is such that others will take on various aspects of it.

Today, I walked into the hotel and there was Shirley from Glennallen, and her husband and son. She brought 20 boxes of books. A good thing except for the fact that I wasn’t expecting this many books. But I was glad to have them. The lull is over.

Next: 334. 12/13/25: Attention to Detail