List.

If I am going to be gone for awhile, I should

• change all the sheets for all the people who will be in and out of this house taking care of things and cats and dogs.
• clean the bathrooms.
• clean the kitchen.
• consider how much cleaning could go on on a more regular basis at my house.
• water everything.
• make lots and lots and lots of lists of things to bring with.
• go to the library to find that the new Elmore Leonard I requested is there for me. Score!
• contemplate which poets will be the best advisors for my manuscript revision. Donne? Frank O'Hara? Alice Notley? the Psalmist?
• bring all the cameras.
• take my own oatmeal, oat bran, sugar, tea, oat flour, regular flour, salt.
• contemplate if I need all my computer accoutrements, or just some of my computer accoutrements.
• upload relevant files to my cloud.
• mail off stuff (done!). Manuscripts, Little Debbie Swiss Cake Rolls (to Singapore), birthday gifts.
• don't forget my external hard drive.
• add more necessary songs to the iPod.
• collect dvds to watch: The Wire, In Treatment, first season of Weeds, Deadwood. Oh yes! we will watch dvds!
• try not to hyperventilate.
• try not to freak out about forgetting something.

In short, the people, I will be in Idaho, working on my manuscript, chilling out with the historian, watching dvds, taking naps, and in general trying to cultivate a mind like a river. Wish me luck on the manuscript. There will be updates. Oh yes! there will be updates.