Being somewhat discouraged about lhumans here at the last of winter, I've turned to robots for insight. I'm waiting for the next book in the Murderbot Diaries to come in. This NPR review of the series says exactly what I would say about it.

Projects: the storage shed is ready and the car chargers have arrived. Now we wait for the snow to melt. For the AARP grant, the estimate is high, but we will submit it and see what we get.

Markers: Doris Kearns Goodwin, no less, compared Biden's train ride into Kiev to support Zelensky to meetings between FDR and Churchill before everyone else was on board with fighting Nazis.
PineGap, all that delicious tech; movie in which people say interesting things: Vengence.

We beat the Valentine's reservation game by sitting at the bar at Front & Main and having a lovely time starting with a perfect mule and finishing with this pear bread pudding and a cappuccino. Downtown Waterville is a little miracle of urban renewal powered by Colby money. New shops and cafe springing up. I look forward to whatever will happen with Ellen's bookstore. I'm thinking total rearrangement and decluttering and expansion and maybe a coffee bar.

Wrote the grant narrative last week for the AARP grant to connect the library parking lot to Leisure Homes parking lot with a 150 feet tiled walkway with landscaping, lighting, and benches. Met with the landscaper on Wednesday and the LH manager this morning. As soon as I get the estimate, I'll submit the application. With that and the storage building & car chargers, we are transforming the back of the property. I wish I could write a grant for UBR to start a thrift shop. Unity needs one and UBR needs some new purpose and people contact.

The Ben Jealous book is full of stories about his biracial family and anecdotes about famous people in the civil rights movement delivered in short chapters. The Jimisen book is a charming tale of people becoming avatars for the boroughs of New York. I don't read enough.

Half your wood, and half your hay should remain on Candlemas Day.
Half the winter has passed away, we’ll eat our supper by the light of day.

Local media is very hyped about the temp going to 20 below tomorrow with high wind. But in 2017 on December 30 it was 20 below here the whole time we were in Quebec. And I remember it was not unusual to leave the house for work when it was well below zero. I could tell because I would breathe in and my nostrils would freeze shut. I don't mean to be posting about walking uphill ten miles through the snow to school, but c'mon, it's not that unusual. Except that it has been unusual for the last 5 years.

I read every post on the Maine Library list-serv; it teaches me a lot. For the second time, this week there was a thread where a few librarians dump on volunteers. This one from Pamela Dunning in Wiscasset:

NO. this questions comes up fairly regularly and it is very strongly “NO.” Library staff are highly trained and educated in the field. It is not only inappropriate to give away hours that paid staff might need for their livelihood, it is also insulting to your staff to act in a way that says, “anyone can walk in and do this job.” I will also agree with them privacy issue.