Last Sunday I began writing a list for the upcoming week. I realized then that the problem is, you can’t plan for the unforeseen. And there is a lot of unforeseen these days, both on the home front and on the BLBP front.

The Monday morning book drop off at U-Haul. This was a foreseen event. The Anchorage school district donated five, count ‘em, five pallets of books to the BLBP. Dan, driving the huge box truck, was on time. He unloaded the pallets, one by one, and using an electric pallet jack, wheeled them into the U-Haul unit. The unforeseen was this – Justin, a reporter for Channel Two news (Alaska’s New Source) called a few hours after the pallets were unloaded, and said he’d like to do a story. I said sure, but I was surprised when he appeared that afternoon. I took him over to U-Haul, and he spent over an hour conducting an interview. He said it would air that evening. He was true to his word – there I am, very tired, deadpan, showing viewers the latest BLBP book stash.

Pete’s carpal tunnel surgery. This was a foreseen appointment. His surgery was scheduled for the late afternoon last Tuesday. A simple enough matter. Robert took Pete to town, and Pam brought him home. In between, Robert and Pete went to Carlile transport and picked up two pallets of books that were donated to us by the Alaska Native Language Center in Fairbanks. I went to the Palmer Lion’s Club meeting. The BLBP was given a check for $1,000.00.

The BLBP board meeting was foreseen. I’d forgotten my computer, so I didn’t have access to a Zoom link. Pete walked in the door on time – his left hand had a white bandage on it. He was not in pain, but dazed. The pain would come later. He took care of the Zoom link problem. We had our elections. Robert remains President, Terry Roth is now Vice President, Bea is treasurer, and Pete is secretary.

It was as we left the hotel that the enormity of what lay ahead hit me like a load of bricks. Pete would be a passenger in my car for the next few days because he could not drive. And on this particular evening and for the next three weeks, morning and night, I’d have to do all the chores. This included opening the metal driveway gate, an onerous task when the driveway was icy. Pete headed up to the house and I gave the very hungry horses a few flakes of hay.

My father once remarked (and this was twenty years ago) that people were becoming less tactile. It was not intentional that our lifestyle is very hands-on; however, it suits us well when have four hands. I grumbled some, then did what needed to be done. I fed the very hungry dogs, got a fire going, heated up lentil stew that I’d made after breakfast, loaded up the woodstove, brought in another load of wood, and then took care of the animals. I tended first to the goats and chickens, and then horses. Tending to means watering and feeding. I filled the three water containers, hauled them in a sled down to the horse enclosure, and filled their buckets. I picked up horse poop, hauled it in the manure sled up behind the hoop house, and gave the horses a second helping of hay.

It was by now 10 p.m. We watched the Channel Two news. There I am, on the screen, tired and seemingly deadpan. And behind me are cardboard boxes full of books. Pete turned off his computer. But the day wasn’t over yet. I stayed up until midnight. I sent out some fundraising letters, then took care of email correspondences, thanking the handful of donors who’d made modest and substantial contributions.

Wednesday morning – The foreseen. I got up early and did the morning chores. Pete made breakfast because it’s hard to keep a good man down. We were to meet Robert and Anthony (also a volunteer) at U-Haul at 10:30 a.m. in order to unload the two ANLC pallets. The two were close to done when Pete and I arrived on site. Robert went to work and Pete, Anthony, and I went to the hotel. Pete did some administrative work. This included meeting via Zoom with a woman who is going to assist us with grant writing. I did my distribution route; this now includes the Palmer High School Pool. All the shelves were low – I filled them with nine bins of books total.

The unforeseen. Publicity has its ups and down sides. The upside is that newspaper articles and radio and television spots increase public awareness. The downside is that we end up getting more donations that I had not, in this instance, prepared for this. Whoa – all total, that day, people dropped off twenty plus boxes and bags of books.

I took a break and went to the Chamber of Commerce luncheon and upon returning, began, single handedly, to sort, clean and categorize the fiction and nonfiction, and to rebox the young adult duplicate books, books that originally were shipped by barge and stored at TOTE freight.

I worked late because I knew that the following day there would be more books. More included our weekly Title Wave distribution. Sure enough, Bill had picked them up, and so there they were, sixteen boxes on the table on Thursday, when I walked in the door.

Foreseen: The BLBP artist in residence, Cathy Stone, came by on Thursday afternoon. Our art session was interrupted by people dropping off books and by others who came by to inquire if they could drop off books. I at one point ventured out into the hotel lobby and discovered another two boxes of books.

By Friday the foreseen took precedence. Pete was in less pain and feeling a bit more chipper. And we now had a routine, which also included my following behind him and telling him that he ought not do certain things, like pick up dog poop and fling it over the fence with a shovel. We left early for the hotel because I needed to meet with Susan and Terry, who as it turned out, were eager to talk about their fundraising efforts. In between cleaning books, these two very crafty individuals are now collaborating on putting together silent auction baskets, for both the upcoming Chamber of Commerce silent auction fundraiser and for the June 14 Quilts of Valor/BLBP silent auction.

Things now being foreseen; I had a chance to think about the following week. The foreseen: this week I’ll call Nome schools and set up visiting times and take book orders. I’ll also call other rural village school and get their book orders. We have $900.00 left on our grant for shipping books, so I’ll pack up thirty-or-so boxes of books. Next Saturday, Pete and Robert’s will get these boxes out into the mail. Distribution and book intake activities will also be a given. As for next week’s unforeseen, at this point in time, I have no idea.

Next: 76. 3/17/25: Riversong