It's called Yucca

Kitchen Fini !

Last summer I finished painting the kitchen and yesterday I finished painting the hallway where the washer/dryer are, so now it's FINI !

Happy Father's Day

Oyate

I just returned from a trip to Billings to visit family and attend a conference hosted by our Montana Office of Public Instruction and OYATE. The Office of Public Instruction has finally received funding to implement the Constitutional mandate to educate every student in Montana about the history and culture of its first residents, the Native Americans. Hopefully we can educate a generation of children away from the prejudice and ignorance that many residents have about Native Americans.

The conference I attended was for school librarians and was directed towards criteria for selecting quality children's literature that will accurately portray the past and present lives of Native Americans. In the process, we learned of many things we ourselves were ignorant of and at times it was intense as our favorite books were exposed as frauds and the actions of our country against the Native Nations was exposed. As an example, use Google to find out about the Osage Reign of Terror.

http://www.aspalta.cbc.ca/deaddog_asp/aininfo.asp One of the things we were cautioned against was any use of make believe Indian names or Indians getting names in phony ways. This website is so blatantly random and goofy that everyone was laughing and having more fun with each name. I think the winner of bad "Indian Names" was Evangeline Exotic Biscuit. Mine's Eileen Crinkly Aracnid.

You can link to the title of this post to see their website if you're interested in more info. If you look on the left hand side, click on RESOURCES and read about the Myth of Thanksgiving.

After the Rain

Soggy Drought

The forecast called for rain yesterday so Bill went out early and mowed the yard. It hasn't mowed for several weeks now but it has been too wet out to mow until yesterday. So about an hour or so after he finished it started raining. If he hadn't mowed yesterday it would be another couple of weeks before he could because it rain 3 inches in less than 12 hours. A few weeks ago, when it was warm and dry, we took the storm door off leaving just the

screen. That way when we leave the door open we get a beautiful breeze and lots of fresh air. But because the storm door is not there, the rain beats against closed door and leaks under the door puddles and soaks the carpet. So I stick heavey towels under the door to prevent flooding the entire hallway. I've had to replace the towels and dry them out to reuse.

The sun is starting to come out now, but the forecast is for more rain. We may be in a drought, but it is the muddiest, soggiest, puddliest drought I can remember. This field below our house is flooded this morning, after the rain stopped. The two pictures were taken less than 2 hours apart and it still hasn't started raining again. This is just water that is flowing down from the surrounding hills.


PS I've looked over my previous posts and realize how many times I've posted about weather. I need to get a good hobby.

High School Graduates

When I got Larry's graduation picture, I remembered a project I had planned. I was going to try the "Scrapblog" program I had seen a few months ago and create a scrapbook of all the graduation pictures I've recieved from nephews and nieces. After several frustrating hours I gave up and went back to Picassa. So here they all are, with plenty of room for future graduates.

I realize that it doesn't seem like a big deal that we have all graduated from high school, but I work in a school where it is a big deal. Some of the graduates are first generation graduates and some have taken a lot of trouble to make it to graduation when it would have been easier to just quit, so I know that it is a big deal. Parents who get you to school and encourage you are the most important thing of all, so thanks to all you parents, including mine, for "making" us go to school.

SCHOOL'S OUT!

. . . but not forever.

I checked out and picked up my final check for the year. Our union is still in negotiations for next year's contract and I hope they settle soon. There's no reason not to settle soon, no big issues or anything.

Addictionary

In case you haven't seen this website yet I thought I'd post the link here. It's called the Addictionary, for people who are addicted to words. Here's a couple of examples. Just click on the title of this post to find more of the same.

Carcophony
the din of arguing or playing children in the back of the car
Flapjackulous
Of or related to the sensual deliciosity of the pancake eating experience

bAnAnAs Anyone?

So a few of us staff members were sitting around the teachers'
"lounge" this afternoon. I had a rare break from my library since the library was full of juniors having a "skip day." They were in there playing video games or watching movies. I called it the official skip day, sanctioned and in the library, since most days they just hang out in the hall when skipping class. "It's a tradition," they told me when they asked if they could use the library. I was wary about it since I didn't want to clean up after them, but I thought I'd better give them a chance so I could refuse next year's juniors when this year's left a mess. But they surprised me. When they left, it looked exactly like it had when I walked in the door this morning, so I guess it's a go for next year too.

Anyway, we were sitting around yakking about what went wrong this year and who was coming back next year and the little 7th grade girl who sneaked into the office of the suspended jr. high principal and used a phone to call her mother in South Dakota to come and get her and "take her home because she hated it here with her dad and step sisters, and the principal who was suspended and the new superintendent who was already demanding more in benefits than the CEO of Microsoft; when the cook walked into the lounge and left a small bunch of bananas on the table and said, "Help yourselves." A little while later the counselor walked into the room and asked, " Whose bananas?" I couldn't help myself, it's been a long, rough year. So I said, " Who's NOT?"

We all chuckled and went back to work.

Lame Deer/Ashland Divide

If you live in Ashland you call it the Lame Deer Divide. If you live in Lame Deer you call it the Ashland Divide, but where ever you live, there was snow this morning, May 23, 2007, the latest I've ever personally seen snow without being in the mountains.

Do I Hear $4.00 ?

This is what we're paying for gas on May 23, 2007. I'm betting the price will go up this weekend as it always goes up on Memorial Day. Anyway I'd thought I'd post it so you all could say, "At least we don't have to pay what she pays." Consider it a public service. If anyone is paying more, let me know so I can say, "At least I don't have to pay THAT much!" . . . yet.

Graduation Time

Well we've got one graduation down and one to go when the 8th graders graduate next week. 8th grade graduation used to be quite a big event in Lame Deer before a public high school was built. It was the last time the kids would be in a Lame Deer school since they would have to be bussed to a nearby high school. Now that they have their own high school, the 8th grade graduation has been scaled back a bit, but I think it serves a useful purpose to mark the end of childhood and the beginning of "young" adulthood.

The high school ceremony had just started when the thunderstorm that had been building outside finally broke loose. We were in the gym, which was quite full, when all the lights went out. The emergency lights went on immediatly and we watched the seniors get their scholarships in the soft glow of what could have been candle light. The main lights came on again eventully and the rest of the ceremony went off just fine, except for the valedictorian's speech. The valedictorian was the shyest girl in the school. We were all waiting to see if she would be able to give her speech, actually we were wondering if she would be able to make it to the stage to recieve her diploma. She did get her diploma, but the crowd just overwhelmed her and they just skipped over her speech. Really, she is so shy that it was painful to watch her answer the roll call when attendance was taken. She was a library assistant 1st semester and it would have taken me another couple of months to reorganize the library without her.

The ceremony began and ended with a short prayer in Cheyenne, offered to the creator. I think I've mentioned it before, but it bears repeating. Cheyenne prayers are so quiet that only the Creator can hear them. They are not the loud prayers spoken so loudly that the person in last row can hear. As long as the Creator can hear them, what does it matter who else does? And they are offered in Cheyenne, a language that few Cheyenne speak anymore, but what does that matter if the Creator can speak Cheyenne?

New Blog

Well we finally got our Internet back just in time for me to get an email from Andrew and the address for his new blog. I've added the link to my family blog list. He's in the same blogsphere as Russ, so if you signed up to read Russ's blog you can just use the same signin for Andrew's.

Internet Upset

Our internet connection has been very unreliable lately. I'm trying to read all the emails, blogs, etc, but if I don't respond right away, it's not you . . . really. Just the Internet Upset.

Happy Mother's Day

According to the back of the photo, this was taken in 1964, back when the world was analog B&W.

Win/Lose?

Well, my opponent got 4 more votes than I did ! So I don't have to sit on the school board this year. Maybe next time!

Montana Monsoon?

It's been a gray, dreary weekend. It started raining yesterday around noon and today, around noon, it's finally stopped. The wind is gusting now and will help dry things out, so hopefully, going to work tomorrow won't be like jet-skiing down the road. The yard is looking as green as I've ever seen it and I'm not sure, but I think I saw some moss growing in some spots. I guess a dreary weekend is the price we pay for a green spring.

This has been one of the longest school years I can remember. I was thinking about last fall when I was reorganizing the library and it seems like it happened a decade ago instead of a year ago. All the crisises at work, big and little have just sort of blurred together and we just get through one day at a time. We do have a new superintendent and probably 2 new principals next year and I know that it will make a difference; I just hope it is for the better, because if it's not better, I may be looking for a new job next spring.

Rereading this makes me think the dreary weather is getting me more morose than I thought, so I checked the weather forecast for tomorrow: Sunny. Now would be the time for everyone to break out into a rousing chourus of "Tomorrow." I know that you all know the words, don't be shy. "The sun'll come out tomorrow...."

Campaign Ad

This ad appeared in yesterday's Powder River Examiner, a weekly paper. According to dad, it's a loose / loose situation, so by Wednesday morning I should know how badly I lost.

Grackels in the grass, alas!

We came home the other day and there was a horrendous sound coming from the trees around our house, a truly awful sound and the trees were full of birds that looked like this, we got out the binocs and looked. I didn't take this picture, though, I found it on the web. Anyway, we got out the trusty field guide and looked it up. As soon as we saw the name we knew what it was, it sounds just like the name GRACKEL!

Springtime in the rockies

Hopefully in a few weeks that dead tree will be gone. It looks picturesque and all, but mostly it looks like a matchstick to me.

Candidate for School Board

I decided a while ago that I should put my name on the ballot for the next school board election at Ashland Public School. We live in the district and for the first time in a while neither one of us is employed there. Since the election is coming up soon, on May 8th, I put a few flyers up around town announcing that I was in the running, and I just finished sending off some emails to the local newspapers to place an ad in the two newspapers that serve the two counties that make up our elementary school district. I think that there is someone else running for the one open seat, so I'll let you know on May 9th how things turned out.

55!

I finally got to open my birthday presents from my husband when we got back from a visit in Billings. Dad cooked us a great birthday dinner and we had Birthday Blackberry Pie and sang "Happy Birthday to Me!" Anyway, when I opened my presents, I knew immediatly why he picked them out for me. This is one of a pair of shiny aluminium bookends with my name all over it, my initials at any rate. I just was wondering though, how many people are there with my initials?

Spring Spruce Up

We wandered into Miles City yesterday to get some information about what we can do to "upgrade" our house. First we stopped by the local heating place to find out if we can put in a new heater and central air conditioner. The guy who does the work was out on call yesterday, so he's going to call this morning to get some information from us so he can make an estimate. Then we went to a couple of lumber stores to price new windows, no point in getting a new heater/cooler if we're going to loose all the inside air to the great outdoors, right? Then if we can afford it, we might improve the roof, maybe just an inspection and repairs if needed.
Retirement is closer with every year, so we're thinking to get the house in shape while we still have paychecks coming in.

Speaking of retirement, we're taking off for Billings today to visit and to celebrate my 55th birthday tomorrow. What does that have to do with retirement? Well, now that I am getting closer to retirement, the next time things at work get too stressed out. . . I may be able to relax and tell myself, "I don't have to do this! I could retire!"

D'oh a deer

This is the same deer pictured in an earlier post. She was attracted to the grass in the paths that had been shoveled. She's been grazing here most of the afternoon.

Weekend Update

30 March 2007

It snowed heavily this morning, but when it stopped, the sun came out and the temperature climbed and snow melted. Bill got out the shovel and cleared some of it away so the sun would dry out the ground. We decided to try to bring my car in from town where it had spent the night. Late yesterday afternoon, a neighbor had plowed our road, so it might work. Of course it snowed all night and half the day. Since we wouldn't know until we tried we took the Jeep into town to retrive my car. My little Honda is a great road car as long as the road is paved and plowed. I figured that if we didn't bring it home soon, we'd be churning up mud instead of snow. I asked Bill if he wanted to tow me out of the mud or out of the snow. My car got stuck and the first turn, but I was pointed downhill, having missed the turn, so Bill gave me a push and I drove around to try it again. Again I got stuck, so this time after a push downhill I kept going back to town.
We've done it before and we'll do it again. We leave my car in town and Bill drives me down in the morning and I drive to work. After work he comes back to get me. This continues until the ground dries up.
Sometimes it's good to have two cars; a road car and an off-road car.

The March Wind Doth Blow. . .

. . . and we shall have snow, and what will the robin do then? Poor thing.

The winter storm warning was out (why they don't call it a spring storm warning is beyond me) so all morning at work people were quoting weather reports from the radio, news programs and www.weather.com . But mostly I ignored them. These are the people who are routinely absent and look for any excuse to miss work.

I was pleasantly surprised when the announcement came from the lady in the ceiling at 1:30 that the busses were waiting and we should dismiss our students. I shut down my computers, stacked my chairs, took one last visit to the restroom and headed out the door. Every one who saw me told me to drive carefully. They always do that, one flake of snow and it's, "Drive careful Ms. Taylor. Take it slow and careful." "It'll be fine," I said. "I'll be right behind the bus."

So I drove out of town thinking that the roads in town are always worse than the highway. They weren't. It wasn't that the roads were particularly icy. It was the combination of wind and snow that made it hard to see where the road was, come to think of it, maybe it was icy. I couldn't really see it. I made it to the top of the divide that separates where I live and where I work. Just at the top was the bus!!! It was turning around and heading back to Lame Deer and and the highway patrol guys told me I would have to do the same. The road was closed. So I turned and drove back on the nasty roads. At the intersection in Lame Deer they were turning traffic back BEFORE they made it to the top. Since they couldn't go east everyone was turning north on Hwy 39 towards Colstrip so I followed the crowd.

I ended up staying the night in Colstrip until the road opened agian this morning. I got to Ashland around 11:oo and stopped for mail. The post office lady said that our neighbor had stopped in and said that he "had no road to his house." I had suspected as much and had already called Bill. (I never used my cell phone except to call home, so glad I have one) He drove his Jeep to town and told me that he thought my car would be stuck if I tried to drive my car up the hill. So we just put all my stuff in his car and came home. It's been snowing off and on all day, but who cares? I'm home.

What Me Worry?

You Are 74% Non Conformist

You are a pretty serious non conformist. You live a life hardly anyone understands. And while some may call you a freak, you're happy with who you are.

Are You a Nonconformist?

Poetry Month

April is National Poetry Month ! Celebrate poetry by clicking on the title of the post above and find the Magnetic Poetry page. Select one of the magnet sets and play around with the words a little and write your poem as a comment to this post.Here's mine.

I used the Shakespeare set. Can you tell?

Methinks perchance
Bawdy discontent shall
Wanton art speak. .


PS. Just write your favorite poem, whether you wrote it or not.

Read Across America

Our school library recently recieved a very generous gift of books from a school in New Jersey that was participating in the program called READ ACROSS AMERICA. The kids in New Jersey did a lot of fund raising and bought books for their library and then shared some with kids "Across America." The books were chosen with jr. high kids in mind and they were perfect choices for our students.

PS. I picked up the paperwork to declare as a candidate for the Ashland Public School Board. I just need 5 signatures. I can probably do that on a quick run to town for mail and groceries.

I AM A DUCK

I like to hang out in libraries and when I get a little "peckish" I like to nibble on some shamrocks.

Guess???

I recieved this in the mail as a gift from one of my brothers. A friend of his wife's makes them herself. Can you guess what it is? You might try clicking on the picture to get a larger image, but it's not the best picture so that might not help a lot.

In other news, I've been working on a federal grant at work. So far it adds up to $190,000.00. I'm not holding my breath or any thing, federal grants have a lot of federalise I don't speak, so I'm sure to forget to cross all the Ts and dot all the Is, but if I do get it , it will be almost as good as winning the lottery, and I'll get to spend it all in MY LIBRARY!

Pony Express?

I just realized that the email I sent to everyone to tell them about my new email program didn't get sent!! I get an error message that says something about needing authentication. I had to get a new email program because the Microsoft Outlook trial subscription ran out. I got one cheap called Eudora. I'll call the Eudora helpline and see what's up. But for now just know that I seem to be recieving email, I just don't seem to be able to send it, and I did try to keep in touch this weekend, mostly to tell you all what a pain it was to get the new email program.

I titled this post Pony Express because I was thinking that sometimes the convience of email and all things computer seems very frustrating. But now that I think of it, it would be a great name for an email program, wouldn't it? So I looked it up . . . and it is!

Bill's Deer

This deer has been a frequent visitor to our yard this winter. In fact it has been here so often that Bill says, "My deer is back." It does come closer to the house, but not today. This week has been colder than it has been, almost like a real winter. But the snow has stayed to a minimum so I've made it to work every day this week.

OFFLINE

Finally, we're back online. We lost our DSL connection about 5:00 Friday afternoon and we didn't get it back until midafternoon today. I talked to the support line off and on for at least an hour before they said that they couldn't help us. We were snowed/iced in and I didn't go to work again on Friday because of the forecast. I was listening on the radio for cancelled school or bus routes and never heard any, but I still made the call to stay home because of the dangerous weather that was forecast. I found out today that the out of town school buses weren't running and attendance was way down. The announcement wasn't made on the radios until almost time for school to start. Not a good thing. Anyway, I don't feel guilty about staying home anymore.

Needless to say, I was starting to get some cabin fever, especially with no Internet or email. I started to get carpal tunnel pains from playing my Playstation and I finished one or two books. I'd run out of flour last week and never got a chance to buy any, so there was no baking of any kind. I did listen to our basketball games on the radio. Our girls lost their second game and were out of the tournement but our boys won all of theirs and are district champs again. GO STARS ! Anyway, it's great to get back ONLINE.

Ultimate Bible Quiz

I got an 87% , which isn't bad consdering its been a long time since I've read the Bible. Click on the words Ultimate Bible Quiz if you want to best my score.

Snow Day

I tried to go to work today, honest I did. I got up and showered, dressed for work, started the car and got all the way to town and a little beyond before turning back. I made it OK through the drifts on our road down to the highway and stopped at the highway to call Bill and tell him that I'd made it that far when I realized I had forgotten my glasses. I couldn't see the phone display very well. But I kept going. I drove through Ashland and it didn't seem too bad. Then I got past Ashland and the highway itself was drifted badly on the shoulder and somewhat drifted on the driving lane itself. Then I saw the hill leading out of town and lost my nerve. I probably could have made it to work, but the forecast was for continued snow and blow and I wasn't so sure about the way home. Our road was already pretty bad and another day of snow would not make it better, so I turned around and drove home, only the second time in my life that I've ever done that.

I'd already scheduled to take tomorrow off. I had delusions of taking a trip to Miles City or even Billings and just shopping around for a new spring outfit or something. So I guess tomorrow is as good a time as any to fire up Turbo Tax and get started on the taxes.

ps. It is a pretty view from inside at least.

DareDevils of Niagra Falls

October 24th 1901
Annie Taylor was the first person to conquer the falls in a barrel. After climbing inside her airtight wooden barrel, the air pressure was compressed to 30 p.s.i. with a bicycle pump.


ps for more on the story and pictures, click on the title.

T.G.I.N.F.

Thank Goodness It's Not Friday. . . it's Saturday and the sun is shinning for the first time all week. Friday started out to be a good day. I'd gotten up early enough to play my video game for a little while and time to throw some leftovers in the bag for lunch. My car started without any trouble and then I looked at the gag gauge and remembered that I was supposed to get gas before going to work. I'd been avoiding stopping for gas because the weather had been so nasty. I decided that I'd better get gas in Ashland rather than wait until I got to Lame Deer even though the price is $.12 more. So I pull into the gas station and pull the lever to open the door to the gas cap. It didn't open. I got out to examine it and it was frozen over and sealed shut. I called work and told the secretary that I would be late and went home to get my hair dryer and melt the ice. It didn't take to long, but I haven't used my hair dryer to dry my hair yet, I hope it still works. I filled up with gas and made it to work only 45 minutes late. Then I was getting ready to leave at the end of an otherwise uneventful day and I was called into an administrative meeting where a colleague was getting suspended for a week. I was just a witness, but it wasn't a good way to start the weekend. But the sun is shining today and maybe we'll just get out and enjoy it a little bit.

Shhhh!

This little action figure sits on my workdesk just above my keyboard. She's Nancy Pearl a famous librarian. She's the one who said that after you turn 50 you're no longer obligated to finish a book you don't like, even if some one you do like gave it to you.

PS Click on the title to learn more about Ms. Pearl

Condiment? or Veg?

I'm referring of course to ketchup. I used to have one day at the end of the quarter that I called condiment day, to give the students a day to "catchup." I doubt that any of them understood the weak pun, but I enjoyed it. It has been a while since I've blogged, mostly because there's nothing very much to say. The big news from my library is the "genrefication" of the fiction section. My student assistants and I separated the fiction into general fiction, mystery, sci/fi-fantasy, and horror-suspense. I decided to give it a try since that's how most students ask for books. "Where are all of your scary books?" is what they ask. Usually by the time I would dig out a few from the stacks, the students were saying, "Never mind." I hope it makes it easier for the patrons to find what they want. I'll let you know.

We had a nice visit with David, Ken, Pete and of course Dad. David was in town for a family visit and Ken came down from Helena and Bill and I drove in on Saturday. Of course I forgot my camera, but the guys had theirs, so I'm counting on them for pictures. It was the end of the coldest week all winter, so I wasn't sure of the travel conditions, but they turned out to be really good, for any season. One day this week it was down to -22 and today it was +43.

The begining of February brings fresh memories of Jimmy, since it is his birthday Saturday. I remember his boundless energy at family gatherings and how he always made time to play with the kids when they were little. I miss him.

Ouch!

So some juniors came into the library the other day looking for materials for their history class. "What do you need I asked?" "Stuff about the 60s they replied." Ouch! My childhood is now history. Does that mean I have to grow up now?

A Rose by any other name?

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: Countess-Palatine Ann the Essential of Helions Bumpstead Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

Farmer's Almanac? or Catomac

A lot of people supposedly depend on the Farmer's Almanac to tell what the weather will be like. I don't. I have a cat. A cat will tell you what the weather is like if you just know how to "read" it. If the cat is curled up on the bed with his entire face hidden in his paws and tail - turn up the thermostat. If the cat is stretched out on the bed with his feet in the air and his tail stretched out - turn up the air conditioner. If the cat waits patiently by the door for it to open and then runs down the hall to his litter box instead - plug in the car. If the cat mopes around the house because it's too cold to go out - either bundle up twice or go back to bed with a good book. It's Saturday - I'm going back to bed.

RSS

Does anyone use an RSS feed? If so, which one and do you recommend it?

Final Fantasy XII

WARNING!!! THIS POSTING CONTAINS A RANT!

I was reading the paper yesterday and someone was badmouthing video games and said that they were mindless and stupid and kids were better off not playing them at all. I agree that kids need balance of social play, physical play with lots of work thrown in, but really I couldn't help but think that the person making the comment had never played a video game, or had played and lost badly! I've been playing video games off and on for about 7 or 8 years and I really enjoy it. Right now I'm playing FF XII and it is anything but mindless. It has a very complicated battle system that takes a lot of strategy and you really need patience and perseverence to win even one battle. I've joined an online forum of other people who play the game to ask for advice and even given some advice if I could. It is a social community, based on only one thing, but it does use my communication skills. I've seen people be very kind to others they don't even know and to offer advice on writing skills if the question wasn't clearly stated. It is a moderated forum and very civil in content.

I'm not saying that all video games are created equal or that all games are for kids. I am going to say that people who are writing laws and giving opinions should specify which game they find stupid and mindless and they should speak with some personal experience if they are going to offer opinions. {end of rant}

Froggy Doo?

Raise your hand if you remember Froggy Doo. Did you know that someone is making a movie about the summer that Froggy Doo was "kidnapped?" The movie is called A Plumm Summer. This post isn't a review for the movie, but if you look at the picture you can see why I think of Froggy Doo every time I switch glasses. Yes, I've reached the stage in life where I need more than one pair of glasses. The little glasses on the table are the my new bifocals. I can read OK when wearing them as long as I am sitting at a table or desk. Who sits at a table or desk to read the latest thriller? Not me. I kick back in my recliner near the window and read until I fall asleep. With the bifocals I have so much trouble reading that I usually give in and play my DS. So I've given in and switch to the big, ugly pair of "reading glasses when I want to finish a few chapters. Whose going to complain? Froggy Doo? Hah! Fooled him, he can't see at all without my glasses.

Furnace - Round 2

Well, the inevitable happened and the furnace broke down again. Luckily we had the new part and after a few hours of fussing with it, it looks like Bill's got it going again.

A Christmas Image

Irony or . . . . poetic justice?

So my husband's birthday was on Wednesday and as it turned out I had to be at work really late on Wednesday. So as a kind of birthday present I took a personal day off on Thursday to do something special. We hadn't decided what to do yet. Maybe go Christmas shopping on a weekday and avoid the holiday crowds, maybe work on a project that keeps getting put off. Or if the unexpected happened we'd be setting up a new computer.

About 4:00 pm on Wednesday, while still at work we found out about a couple of semi trucks that had jacknifed on the road between work and home and the road was closed. No problem, I just took the back road and got home a little later than expected. No problem, I had the next day off, right? Well, about an hour before going to bed on Wedesday night, we turned the heat down. At bedtime, however the furnace was still blowing away and turning it down even more made no difference., it was still uncomfortably warm. It turned out that the only way to turn the furnace off was to turn off the breaker.

So, the special day turned into a day where my husband spent the day testing various things and doing internet research to figure out what was wrong with the furnace. Thankfully, we've had an unusually warm spell and could leave the furnace off most of the day. I spent the day reading, playing my video game and baking some "birthday brownies."

Irony or . . . . .poetic justice?

Midland??

According the the quiz (click on the title) I have a midland accent. The first time I took it I had a Boston accent. That didn't seem right to me so I took it again and changed one answer and voila, it's midland. What's yours?

Celestial Journeys

Click on the title above to visit a new family blog about ???????

DSL

I've joined the DSL generation. The phone company dropped off the DSL connector or whatever it is and I've got my laptop plugged in to do this. It is a very much faster connection, but I'm not used to the flat keyboard and I keep hitting the wrong keys, so I won't write any more. I've been able to see the video on Nathan's blog and pictures load much faster so I may use more pix from now on. I've got the laptop on the same comptuter table as the old comptuer is on and I keep reaching for the mouse and moving it around only the cursor stays in the same place. . . on the laptop that is. I'll have to take a picture tomorrow to show you what I mean.

TTF"N

Cranberries on the side.. .once the turkey's gone.

I made a large batch of cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving dinner. I only took a small jar to Billings to eat with the turkey though, so now I have a large jar to myself. I had some of it the other day with french toast. It was surprisingly good with the maple surple mingling with the cranberries. Tonight we had a bowl of soup and a gorilla cheese sandwich and the cranberries made a tasty dipping sauce for the buttery toasted bread and the gooey melted cheese. Anybody have any other tasty ideas for cranberries on the side after the turkey's gone?

ThanksGiving Thoughts

I had the strangest feelings all during ThanksgivingDay this year, and that was before I ate any turkey. I keep feeling that eveything that happened had happened before. Sometimes I was sitting at the kids' table and sometimes I was the mom wondering what my kid was talking about at the kids' table. Sometimes I'd just catch myself from calling one of the nephews by the name of one of my brothers. It was comforting because I now suspect that Thanksgiving DAy dinner will always be a joyous celebration as long as their is family around to celelbrate it. Even those who were eating dinner with other families were present as their stories were told and their names invoked in long standing jokes, or someone would say something and sound just like some other family member.

I was apprehensive that the day would become sad because recent ThanksgivingDays have brought pain and loss. Just last year our mother was in the hospital, in good spirits, surrounded by family and anticipating what the diagnosis of leukemia would mean to her. She knew her faith would be tested and her faith carried her until the end. Just a year ago our brother was still alive and anticipating the coming spring and the graduation of his son. His faith allowed him to enjoy every day of his life that was left to him. It is comforting to know that even in death, we are still a part of the family. Just like thay say, you can pick your friends , but you are part of a family for eternity, like it or not. I like it.

"Tryp" tophan

This is your brain on turkey!

*click on the title for more info on trypto

Soggy Bottoms

Too late I get the information about how to prevent soggy pie crust bottoms. . . . I slept in a little bit this morning and then got up to start my Thanksgiving Day baking. I cooked up some cranberry sauce since I've had cranberries in my freezer for quite a while and frankly, I can eat the whole pot myself between now and the first of Dec., then I cooked up a pumkin pie and since the oven was already hot, I threw in a chocolate pecan pie. I had been planning to take a little break and bake the other pie this afternoon, since I had to run to the bank. (N0ne of that fancy direct deposit for me, thank you very much.) Anyway, the pies are done, I'm on my way back from the bank, listening to NPR. (It's kinda odd that I can listen to NPR in my car but not in my house???) They're talking football on NPR and I'm not really listening when I hear the subject change to pies. I perk up my ears to listen and the guest chef says, ". . . for example pumpkin and pecan pies, since they're both custard pies, you have to precook the crust before you add the filling. Just add a cooked filling to a cooked crust and you won't get that soggy bottom. GREAT! Now he tells me. So if y'all leave your crust on the plate, my feeling won't be hurt. Just remind me next year.

New Look, New Links

Hi, I finally figured out how to add links to my blog. I guess I went overboard, but in case I missed one let me know about it, the missing link I mean. I'm sure the missing link is in our family somewhere

Veteran's Day

Flags, wave 'em if you got 'em.

127 - 50 = 77

127
You scored 127 on Tickle's IQ test.
Your mind's strengths allow you to think ahead of the game — to imagine or anticipate what should come next in just about any situation. Because you're equally skilled in the numerical and verbal universes of the brain, you can draw from multiple sources of information to come up with great ideas. The timelessness of your vision and the balance between your various skills are what make you a Visionary Philosopher. In addition to your strengths in math and linguistics, you have a knack for matching and anticipating patterns. These skills and your uncanny ability to detect the underlying blueprint of most of life's situations add to your Visionary Philosopher mind.

Of course I loose 50 points for spending the better part of an hour in front of the computer taking the test in the first place when I could have been 1. reading a book 2. playing my video game and looking for the 2 missing canine warriors 3. having a bowl of ice cream or 4. getting to bed on time.

PS Did I mention that our school is being visited by OPI as part of an evaluation since our school has failed to meet AYP (No Schools Left Standing) criteria for success? It's showtime!

Do You Want Fries With That?

This is what my cirulation desk looks like in my newly reorganized library. The windows behind the desk open onto the hallway. If you look closely you can see an opening in the side of the counter where the books are returned and a scanner on the top where the books are scanned for check out or check in. Under the black hood is a computer monitor that is recessed into the counter so it is not taking up space on the countertop. Unfortunalty I haven't been checking out too many books yet. I'm working on getting some new books now that the shelves are cleaned up and there is room for them. Hopfully there will be something there to tempt the high school readers.

Storm in a Bucket

Honestly! We give him fresh water every day!

PS The bucket is one we keep on the porch during the day to collect the frost, snow or dew that runs off the roof onto the porch. We don't use the water for anything, we just don't want it to freeze on the porch.

Tempest in a Teacup

. . . or Storm in a glass. Remember this cat? In an earlier post we saw him drinking from a birdbath. Now here he is trying to drink out of my glass. The irony is that I used this glass because my preferred glass, a squat, wide-mouthed glass is also his favorite. So I chose this glass with its narrow stem to discourage him from drinking from my glass. I missed the picture of him with his face stuck all the way in the glass and got this one where his is trying to fish some water out.

Sourdough Cure All

Friday, 20 October 2006
The day started out perfectly. I was in Billings for the teacher conference in Billings. I drove into Billings Wednesday night after supper so I wouldn't have to get up before dawn on Thursday to drive in. So I was rested and was able to enjoy the sessions I attended. I got a lot of great ideas for books to purchase for our students. Friday, I didn't have a session I wanted to attend until 10:00, so dad made some sourdough pancakes. Pete must have known, or smelled them cooking so he got up early and we enjoyed a terrific breakfast, sourdough pancakes, orange juice and good company. I left for Skyview High School at 9:00, because I hate being late or feeling rushed. I got to Skyview around 9:20 and spent 20-25 minutes looking for parking. I almost decided to "ditch" classes and go back when I spotted a reasonable space on the street and I got to the classroom 10 minutes early, not rushed at all. It was worth it too, because I won a free book and got a great new publisher. By then the sky was looking very threatening and rain was in the forecast. The wind had picked up and the bite of cold air had memories of snow in it. When I ran into some colleagues from Colstrip, they said they were heading out because the weather was looking bad. Well, I decided that since I didn't have another session until 1:00, I might as well head out too. I went back to the house and told dad and Pete that I'd decided to head out after lunch instead of waiting until 4:00 or so. We saw the weather report on the noon news and it said snow was coming, then we went to ARBYS for some lunch, came back to the house, not forgeting to load up on lettuce and green tomatoes. So far, so good????

I had one more errand to run before heading out of town. Get the oil in my car changed. I headed out on 24th to the MasterLube on King Ave. On the way down 24th I spotted a store I'd never noticed before, Coldwater Creek. I've purchased some things from their catalog and they had 70% off signs on the windows, so I stopped. I swear it was only for 20 min. Then I drove to Master Lube and got in line. After waiting for 10 min. One of the service men came out and asked me to move to the other line. I obliged. I waited for another 10 minutes and another serviceman came out and asked me to backup and let the car in the other line move ahead of me since she had been waiting longer than I was. The reasoning was the the car in the bay at that line was getting a service that took 30 min. instead of the 10 it takes to get an oil change. I backed up and left altogether. I go to Master Lube for the convience; this was not so convient. I spotted WalMart across the street and decided to go over there for the oil change. At least I could pick up a few things on my list while I waited. It took 30 min to find the things on my list and 2 hours to get the oil changed. I was not a happy person at all.

So what lesson did I learn?
1. Don't ditch your classes?
2. Be patient and stay in line if you've already invested 20 minutes in waiting?
3. Don't be distracted by 70% off?
4. None of it matters because at the end of the day is the memory of having sourdough pancakes with my dad and little bro?

Beta Blues

Hi everyone. I switched to the BETA version of blogger and so far I wish I hadn't. I haven't been able to make too many customized changes and when I tried to leave a comment on someone else's blog, I got an error message that said the beta version logon couldn't leave comments on non-beta accounts. So, don't go getting any wild ideas about switching to the BETA version of Blogger. Just be happy with what you got.


PS. I'll keep trying to leave comments, The error message said it was "in the works."

Productive Week

I had a very productive week at work. We got all the shelves, old and new into postion, shelved all the ficiton , magazines , reference and half the Dewey section. All that's left is to finish the Dewey section and take a few weeks off to rest before the next project "Genrefication!" Did I mention that we've been doing an inventory as we moved the books? Anyway, I better start thinking about what to do when all the reorganizing is done; I need some way of getting the students into the library to use all that's availible. Since I've declared that the comptuters can't be used for music and games, I haven't had too many students coming to the library. I'm afraid that if I can't make the staff and students see how a library can be used, all our work will have been to turn a perfectly good library into a "set" complete with books for props.

New Shelves - Day 2

Miracles really do happen. The new shelves are assembled and ready for books. They were shipped without assembly instructions, but since they are exactly like the shelves we already have it wasn't too hard to figure out how to assemble them. It would have been nice to know the order in which they went together easiest and which hardware went where. I started calling the company to ask them for instructions, but no one answered the phone until 9:30 by which time we had already put together the first section. Our head maintenence man stayed with it until it was all finished and he even hung the pictures that had come down in the reorganization. We just have one more major move before we're finished and we'll have a brand new library, for all intents and purposes. I hope to be finished before the end of the week, a few weeks before my goal of Nov. 2, the night of our parent/teacher conference.

New Shelves - Day 1

Shelfless . . . in Lame Deer

So a week ago the salesman from Montana School Equipment called and told me that my new library shelves were going to be shipped from Missoula on Thursday. He reckoned that they would arrive in Lame Deer late on Friday afternoon, how long does it take after all? So we start moving things around to be ready for their arrival. We've already been putting things in order, cataloging the backlog of new books and weeding like a Martha Stewart gardener in preparation for our new shelves. The assistant librarians have been reading the shelves and we've been able to use the books even though they aren't in apple pie order. Well the shelves didn't arrive on Friday or Monday. Tuesday I get a message from the Voc/Ag teacher that the trucker had called to tell her that he was in Miles City and would be arriving the next day. He thought that with a load as heavy as a 1/2 ton of library shelves must be heavy equipment for the shop. The salesman called on Tuesday to see if the shelves arrived OK and not damaged at all. He called and said, "Hi this is D.... from Montana School Equipment." I said, " Hi, this is shelfless in Lame Deer." He chuckled and said he would try to track them down. Finally, just before leaving work today,Thursday, a week later, the custodian told me that my shelves were on the loading dock, so we are shelfless no more. The answer to the question, "How long does it take to get from Missoula to Lame Deer?" is 1 week.

Now the question is how long will it take to assemble the shelves and get the books moved to their new homes? Then how long to get the pictures hung and the "assesories" in place? Let's hope it doesn't take too long, we have Open House on the 24th.

Autumn Commute

Two times of the year I don't mind commuting the 26 miles to my school in Lame Deer, the early spring when the new leaves are a soft green and make green haloes on the trees and autum when they turn new colors before dropping off the trees altogether. I suppose it's because there are so few "non-evergreen" trees that it's quite a novelty for me to see the leafy
trees foretelling the change of seasons. BTW, FYI, I hate commuting in the winter. 2 iffy.

I've just gotten back from a visit to Billings to see my dad and youngest brother. Dad got home from the hospital on Wednesday after a visit that ended up with the placement of two stents. I guess it's not as major a deal as I thought. All I could remember was the by-pass surgeries and the long recovery. He was ready to go home the day after the procedure, but they made him wait another day . . . just because. It was good to visit with him and ascertain for myself that he really seems no worse for the ordeal.

I'm looking forward to getting to work tomorrow to see if my new library shelves were delivered as promised. It will be a miracle if they ended up at the high school as Friday was an early out due to a town parade. If they are anywhere in the district it will be good news. If they are actually at the high school, it will be a miracle.

I'm also looking forward to having some of my brother's tomatoes and my dad's bread for dinner. So I'll write more later. Hopefully, I'll be busy this week rearranging the books on the new shelves.