Today is the last day of September. I wish I could slow down time. Better yet, I wish that I could go back in time, to yesterday and the day before, two days of beautiful weather. Today was a kick in the pants. It was cold and overcast in the morning, and then about midday it started raining. Then this afternoon it started to rain and snow.

It wasn’t snowing. It was rain disguising itself as snow. Shit, the leaves are still on the trees, it’s not yet time for this to be happening. I looked up the weather forecast for the next few days – it’s supposed to rain/snow tomorrow and then it’s supposed to be sunny on Friday. I’ll take it.

We are going to order Ryder a winter coat because we want her to be outside when we are away and she now is very, very thin. I will do this after I finish this dispatch. I hope we can find her one that’s plaid – this will be befitting for Ryder who is a border collie.

She’s still getting around okay. And she is eating quite a bit. We are attuned to her habits, and so most of the time we get her out of the house before she pees inside the house. Makes me realize that this would be the wrong time for me to get a puppy. Having to clean up after two dogs would be unfair to Pete, who routinely does this. I should ask him to show me how it’s done and then do my share.

Bill with bookcases he made for Valley Hotel

This morning, my subconscious suddenly (and it was suddenly) told my conscious to look up the Arctic Entries form and put in an application. This is what I did. I’d been asked by someone on the committee when I was at the Alaska State Fair to submit an application. This was over a month ago. I was so busy during fair season that I forgot about this. This is pretty damn busy.

I thought about it some after the fair, but I still had too much going on to check this out. I actually had a lot going on this morning, but I decided to do it anyways. There is now in my life always a distraction, and this time it was Bill coming to pick up the manure. Pete, who had the time, went out and talked to him and assisted him in loading up.

I wrote what I still think was a splendid paragraph, one that fit in with their formula – I described the project, and noted how it began, the impetus being a single book, then talked about how it grew. I concluded by saying that this, for me, was life changing.

I am near certain that this will fly, this is what Wilbur told Orville. It is also how I feel. This, of course, is on the heels of last week’s successful fund-raising venture at Women who Care. It’s taken a lifetime, but I am now able to use writing in order to get my ideas across. I do think previously that I was 1) Not always knowledgeable about my subject matter, and 2) Unsure of my audience and their expectations.

Now is the time. I need to finish Shelf Life.

Next: 261. 10/1/26: Good Bye September