Photo courtesy: Hagerstown Fire Department

The mornings are cold. Afternoons warm.

The winter preparations have begun. Most of the plants have been brought in. Parts of the house are filled with pots and fronds.

On my way down the mountain yesterday, I stopped halfway down the steep slope and loaded the logs left by tree trimmers last January. I had driven past them all these months but avoided the task. They were about ten feet off the drive and down a rocky slope. There’s a low wall of stones along the drive as well. To get to the logs, I had to clamber over the wall and pick a path to the pile. Then the logs were tossed over the wall onto the gravel edge of the drive. I had to be careful not to let a log or two start rolling down the steep drive. The truck was pointed downhill, which made loading it easier. When I got home Sunday night, the truck was backed to the barn door, and the logs tossed onto the rubble floor. That pile has grown and should be split soon so I can access the fully seasoned firewood stacked in the 6-by-8-foot bins along the east wall.

When will the first fire be?

I brought the first cartload to the porch. That was mostly cleanup branches and twigs from outside the barn entrance.

It is 64 degrees inside this Monday morning. There’s no need for a fire or, horrors, switching on the furnace.

Yet.

Pippin was returned from the sitter last evening. It is a miracle. In early September, he was really on his last legs. He’s seen 7 or 8 vets at two different practices over three years. There have been too many medications used to remember all the names.

What happened?

He is still mostly blind. (He’s underfoot so much I worry he will kill me!) But his chronic cough has almost completely subsided. He is perky and looks fit. He can sleep in the bed again and even climb the dog steps to get on it. He’s happy!

What happened?!

The sun is still rising in my window on the world. In a couple of weeks, it will move south and be obscured by the forest. Then it will be about 6 months before it returns on its journey north.

This morning, it was up at 7:25. Right on time.

When it gets above the horizon, the morning light makes everything in my bedroom golden. The walls, the highboy, the bed, the dogs…

Our viral Instagram post just blew past 500,000 views. Does that make us “influencers”?

My arms and hands are still sore from the weekend work. Another two full days of bookwork.

The big project moved to the next phase. Will we move a million books? What a challenge.

That would be close to twenty miles of books.

Trevor is driving us down to Gaithersburg. It is windy and partly cloudy. That makes it feel colder than the 57 degrees the phone says it is outside our big van barreling down I-70 at 68 mph.

The trees along the roadside are just beginning to color. Various shades of red, orange, yellow. But everything is still predominantly green.

I’m tired. The weekend wore me out. It wasn’t just the physical work of handling thousands of books and making instant decisions on most of them but also the stress of having my mind turned “ON” constantly.

Plus, I went to the Caps game on Friday with my older son. It was fun. Ovechkin scored #898. Unfortunately, the drive home took 3 hours due to construction on the Virginia Beltway.

I slept well last night. At least I think I did.

Our renovations in the Gaithersburg store have reached a plateau. The contractors are too busy for us.

I used to build and erect bookcases all by myself. While I still work with my hands quite a bit, my current function is mostly as a pair of eyes and a brain. The brain is filled with millions of impressions from looking at books for my whole life. In most cases, it can instantaneously “know”:

1. This is common junk.
2. This is good and popular.
3. I don’t think I’ve ever seen this before.
4. This has better-than-average value.
5. “Wow!”

…and levels in between.

The “Wow” factor makes all the drudgery worthwhile. It is a kind of reward—like a monkey given a peanut for performing a trick.

Tuesday morning. It is a prismatic dawn. The Morning Star, Venus, is rising midway between the horizon and the upper sky. She will have risen out of sight by the time the sun comes.

Pippin’s miraculous recovery continues. He can climb a few steps. His cough has all but disappeared. 3 years of vets and meds. I had the feeling he had two paws in the grave in early September. And now he is on the bed next to me, quietly sleeping.

Monday flew by.

The second big load went out. But it was not as many books as I thought it would be. The pallets are heavier because the books are so neatly and fully packed. A trailer can take about 40,000 pounds before being “overloaded.” Average books weigh just over a pound. Mass markets less. Trade paperbacks more. Novel- and biography-type hardcovers about a pound and a quarter. Textbooks can be 2-3 pounds—mostly because they usually use heavier “glossy” paper.

I went to the Gaithersburg store because I thought I should. It looks great. The staff is upbeat and positive. I just wish we could finish the final rows and have the layout completed.

We’ve branched out into candy, snacks and unusual bottled sodas. I started that decades ago but often didn’t have time to keep up reorders. It’s designed to give customers other reasons to visit or stay longer.

We have 8-10 flavors of Moon Pie. That’s a good reason to visit Wonder.

Back at the warehouse, I checked in with Annika. We’re doing the Rare Book Collecting Festival and Fair, Washington DC this weekend. Well, she’s doing most of the work. She showed me this find I’d sent to her a while back.

It can be yours for $5000.

Among the couple hundred of books I sent her this weekend was this old The Hobbit.

Who doesn’t like old hobbits? Unfortunately, it’s not old enough to be worth much, but still, any vintage Tolkien gets a rise out of me.

The day was grinding work. For diversion, I grabbed a box of 45-RPM records. I used to walk to Kresge’s 5 & 10 on Main St in Amherst, New York when I was a kid and buy the latest hits I was hearing on WKBW. I’d spend my allowance on 45s. Then I’d take them home and play them over and over on the old “suitcase” record player I appropriated from my older brothers.

Most went to the stores at 5 for $5. But some will be bagged and hung for display.

Frazzled.

What happened this week?

Arson.

Fraud.

Bears.

Messes.

Gaylord #78.

I’m driving back from Gaithersburg on Thursday. The week started just being frenetic. (More so than usual.) Before that, the weekend was a constant flow of books—seemingly never-ending. I worked hard and fast and never saw the end of carts being generated with my name on them. That’s never-ending, isn’t it?

Monday, I think I covered that above, didn’t I? It is so long ago.

I awoke on Tuesday and checked my phone. There was a “Burglar Alarm” around 11 p.m. at the Hagerstown store? These are almost always an employee re-entering because they forgot something. I sent out a text as these are a pain and may trigger an expensive false alarm visit from the police. My son replied that an arsonist had set the outdoor display tables on fire.

“Send pics.”

Crazy. We’ve never had anything like that.

Let’s see… there will be cleanup. Insurance. Landlord dealings…

I got in, and that added to the day’s insane amount of work.

The first highlight was the delivery of 75 Gaylords and 75 pallets needed for the big project. That’s too many to fit in the building currently, so I strategized on getting them outside in the dockyard under the overhang the building has. First, we’d have to get them inside. There’s no way to get them directly from the truck to the ground. The Gaylords fill the truck from side to side and can’t be turned.

“We need to make enough space around Dock 7 to get them inside.”

I put on my “ringmaster” hat. And directed several warehouse guys where things could be shoehorned elsewhere in the building.

The truck arrived. Clif got the stuff inside. He went out into the dockyard with the forklift. I pushed the stacks to the edge of the dock. He lifted each off and drove them to shelter.

When I got in Wednesday morning, I stepped into the office to greet the team. Before I could say, “How’s it going?”, I was told a check had been forged. “I’m in touch with the bank. I’ll reach out to the insurance people and the police.” I checked and had an email to contact an 800 number with the bank.

I spent the next two hours speaking with people overseas. South Asia, I think. They needed to confirm my identity but had outdated contact info. I got transferred. Disconnected. Called back. Repeat. Explain. Explain. Explain.

We think the check was stolen at the Baltimore post office. The check was “washed”, and the payee name changed. Twice. It was cashed (why?) in Arlington, Texas.

I’m beginning to feel like the tail of the dog. I get wagged for things constantly. Not happy wags either.

My friend Joe Phillips arrived from Newport, Rhode Island. He has bookstores in Boston and Newport (both Commonwealth Books) as well as in New Orleans (Crescent Books) and Sarasota, Florida (A. Parker.) He’s in town for the Rare Book Collecting Festival and Fair at the University Club in DC. It is being put on by Eve and Edward Lemon’s Fine Book Fairs. They do a great job.

Wonder Book is also exhibiting. I’ll be speaking and answering questions on Sunday at 11.

Joe likes to shop the stores and warehouse for things he can use at his stores. He usually finds a LOT.

When I was finally freed up from check fraud calls and emails, my frazzled self was able to get into the regular frenzy of bookselling. I wanted to get the third truckload sent out for the BD this week and pushed for ways to get more books pulled and packed.

Joe spent the day shopping the warehouse’s rare book rooms and the Frederick store’s glass cases.

He brought some things for me to look at.

I love Durer.

I love big books.

This has to be the best Zorba around.

When it was quitting time, we stopped at Cucino Forno and picked up a couple of Neapolitan pizzas and salads.

He’d brought some fancy wines.

We sat and ate and drank in Barbara’s old chairs and watched the sunset out in the valley.

It was a great evening after a couple of terrible days.

Around 2 a.m., I was awakened. Merry was whining. He’d made a huge stinky mess in the bathroom off my bedroom.

“Great. It has been a sh*** week.”

He got led to the door in case he had any more problems. When the door opened, he bolted out into the dark. I couldn’t see what he was chasing. Then I saw that the big blue recycling container was knocked over and some of its contents spread onto the driveway. There’s no food put in it, but something must have smelled nice enough to attract some scavenger.

This almost never happens. I only recall a couple of times in 15 years. (Same with the dogs. They never make messes inside.)

Merry eventually returned. In a couple of hours when it was light enough, I cleaned up the two messes.

The heavy-duty lid on the recycling container was bent, so maybe it was a bear. I’m glad Merry didn’t catch it. I don’t need another pet.

I’d broken the coffee press the night before and had no way to make us coffee.

“Did you sleep ok?” I asked.

He did.

Did I?

“Not so great…”

We bumped down the mountain and stopped at 7-11 for caffeine.

I led him down to shop the Gaithersburg store. Books by the Foot has an order for 125 lines feet of computer and California books. I pulled 6 tubs of those for diversion.

Then it was back into the maelstrom.

The books flowing in are great. I’ve been processing large collections of technology.

A rule of thumb is that if I can’t understand the title, it is probably good. (I do have a decent science background.)

We got some bookseller’s Hollywood resell stock.

12 copies of CAVETT? They’re not going anywhere.

But there were maybe 25 Marx Brothers titles. Do people still care?

Some very interesting cooking. Signed African-American titles.

What else? Well, a lot. A LOT!

Friday.

I’m going to Baltimore to see Little Feat tonight. I wish I wasn’t. It will be exhausting. Maybe I’ll be glad I did when I get home.

Saturday, I will face the book tsunami.

Sunday, I’ll need to try to know what I’m talking about at the rare book fair. Here’s what I’m supposed to cover:

• How have tastes changed over the past few years?
• What areas of collecting have become more popular and what areas have declined?
• Where do you see collecting habits developing from here?
• Are you optimistic about the future of book collecting?