I put my the flat of my hand on the window in the mornings; this way I get a sense of how cold it is outside. I’ve been doing this for a long time. I can even guess the temperature. Today, I thought, it is 1˚ F. I got it right.

Now 1˚ F does not seem as cold as it did, say, two weeks ago. I can remove my glove to open gates and feel a bit uncomfortable. But it’s not the searing pain that accompanies lower temperatures. So the temperature is going up.

With warmer temperatures come wind. Just now, as I wrote the above paragraphs, I hear that all too familiar sound of the roar of the wind. We are supposed to get snow over the weekend, so the wind should die down. Snow and wind equals blizzard conditions.

Pete and I started the day disagreeing. He did not want to go to Anchorage and pick up the 11 boxes of books that were backhauled from Fairbanks by Carlile Trucking. I needed those boxes. I went outside to pick up manure, and this gave us both time to think about this. I went back inside thinking he was right. But he during the time I was outside decided that I was right.

Pete had a faculty meeting and ended up listening on his cell phone as he was heading to Anchorage. I have to give him a lot of credit, changing his mind and his day’s plans. Not many people can do this. I told him so, I don’t know if he heard me.

We get to the hotel and there were three guys there, which surprised me. They were going through boxes. One was Colton, the boy genius who puts books on eBay. The other two were his debate buddies. I had a good time talking with them. I realized that I very much enjoy talking with intelligent people. I don’t enjoy talking with less intelligent people. I need to get over this.

Evan, who was the most vocal of the three, went into performance mode and talked quite a bit about Anchorage, saying, “I was born here and I am going to die here.” I talked a bit with them about the time in between. He kept my attention with very sweeping hand movements.

I was sorry to see the three go, and I hope they all come back.

Next, I met with my writing group cohorts, Becky and Pam. Pam surprised me by having a piece of writing on hand. I called her piece “Unraveled,” – it was about knitting. A subtext is that knitting is stressful – drop a stitch (whatever this means) and you have to pull what you have apart.

I did not fully understand what the two were talking about because I do not knit. And I now know that I never will.

As we were talking, Glenn, an old friend from Meeting House days, dropped in and said he liked my radio interview, which was aired earlier that morning.

Pete returned with the 11 boxes. We now have enough books on hand for at least a week. A woman emailed me and said that she had three more boxes of books. She dropped them off in my absence – Pete and I had to go to the Mat-Su Health Foundation post-holiday party. I guess I’m getting used to being a public figure. And I am very used to talking about the project. I made the rounds and then some.

Tomorrow, board meeting. 10:30 a.m. Yee haw.

Next: 10. 1/10/26: Circumstance