Everyone should have two, three, four heroes. Me, I have one and he is now downstairs cleaning up the kitchen.

In this respect, no one, absolutely no one, is as lucky as I am. When we met, one of the things that attracted me to him was that he was so competent. One of the first things he did was fix the clutch on my Toyota. I had not driven it for some time because of this problem.

And he was both very obliging and cheerful. I thought, even if we don’t end up being a couple, I am going to keep tabs on this guy.

Today was just another day around here, but one in which he gained further hero status.

Breakfast consisted of fresh fruit, almond milk (made here) and toasted bagels.

I headed to town, and he came later; pulled into Bugge Park towing the horse trailer. He brought Hrimmi to town. We unloaded her – he put the pack saddle on her and walked her to where the books and packs were.

We had nearly a no-show; just two children showed up. I called them free range feral children. They were not interested in story time, and they had just a passing interest in the horse who was intent on eating the Bugge Park grass.

It was windy and spitting. This may have been the reason for the low turnout. Mike, Kora, and I were bummed by this and the low turnout. I gave Pete an assist in putting Hrimmi back in the trailer – she wasn’t thrilled about getting in – and I then told Pete how bummed I was. Pete said that we did just fine, that we had two children present, which was way better than a no show.

Pete went home and I returned with the others to the hotel. We worked on the curriculum document, which Pete had reformatted yesterday. (Do you detect a trend here?)

We finished up. I did some distributing and returned home. Pete made dinner – China Messala – and after, I checked my backpack for my hearing aids. I’d slipped them in the pack earlier because they weren’t working.

I couldn’t find them and thus assumed that they’d fallen out. Ever resourceful, Pete took my cell phone and turned on the locater app. He got a signal of sorts and then began tracking the one that was giving off a signal, the left one. He walked around, chortling and clearly enjoying the process of attempting to find that which I figured had dropped on the ground either at the hotel or in the driveway.

The app indicated that the aids were in the vicinity of my backpack. He held the phone near, and I again checked every pocket. I found the left and right hearing aid in the one pocket I had not opened.

I was relieved because it is impossible for me to hear anyone or anything of importance in the former banquet room of the historic Eagle Hotel without them. I’d envisioned having to go back to Anchorage and get a new pair.

So Pete saved the day again. He does so much that I cannot, and do not, take him for granted.

Next: 209. 8/4/26: Keep on Keeping On