Not much going on today, aside from another pre-spring day. Sunny, 40--cool enough to remind you that it's only pre-spring. The appearance of mud at home seems premature--there's plenty of time until mud season (one can hope) but the driveway is getting mushy. Although mud season offers a chance to appreciate the departure of winter, it's a big nuisance for me. I have to park at the end of the driveway (again) and slog through boot-sucking mud to the house. oh whine, whine, whine. Mud season comes pretty much before other definitive signs of spring: nothing in bloom, though it's true there's a lot less snow. Right now the ground gives off a big chill because our snow is steadily melting, but the warm air misinforms you of the true state of things. It's a great feeling, though, to have a difference in temperatures like that. Feels nifty.

For some reason I'm more enthusiastic about interlibrary loan than I used to be. I'm doing it now, since the (grumpy) clerk retired. Maybe I just got tired of it, after doing it for a decade or so, and now it's a change of pace. After seeing how dedicated the clerks have been to find requested stuff--dogged determination is a good term, I feel the same sense of mission. FIND THAT BOOK! There are too many places to look before giving up, lots of little "collections" in the building. Plus the huge backlog of shelving that's happened since g.c. retired. No time for things like that, we have services to provide.

One of the goldfish is getting biiiiig. I'm expecting to find him withered up in my chair one morning. Apparently it's true that, when they feel too crowded in their tanks, they jump out. Maybe I should call the big one Lem(ming).

I cataloged a great book today about the wild ponies of Assateague Island in Virginia. When we were kids, my sister and I were incredibly enamored by books by Marguerite Henry. The first was Misty of Chincoteague, about a pony with a patch in the shape of the United States on her side. awwwww. Anyway, there are wild ponies on Assateague, and once a year the Fire Dept. has Pony Penning Day. They swim the ponies across the water to Chincoteague, where some are auctioned off and (I just found out) the mares and/or stallions are neutered to control the population. I always thought the swimming thing was cruel, but now I see that it's a good way to keep the population at a level the island can support. Their bellies are swollen because of the beach grass they eat, and the amount of water they have to drink because of saltiness of the grass. Oh, aren't books wonderful things? Anyway, looking at the pictures and reading the book made me want wicked bad to make a pilgrimage to the area. I was there once, many years ago, and saw a few wild ponies, but not nearly enough to satisfy the obsession of my youth. Plus I've always wanted to go to the Eastern shore of Md. Ahhh, maybe someday. I can't decide if I'm brave enough to travel there alone, or if I need a companion. or if this is even realistic. I've also wanted to go to Cape May, NJ, where the birding is great and the shore is beautiful. Oh I want, I want.

Back to less inspiring things. Children's books in Mohawk. Annual report of the Ontario Power Co. zzzzzzz.