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.

Native American Week

It's been a very eventful week, partly because of Native American Week and partly because things are still unsettled at school. I took this picture this morning after it had been raining. They set the tipi up yesterday and explained a few things about how it used to be done by the women. The opening is facing east as is customary for the most part.

The corn on the hillside is was planted by the FFA club and is quite good eating.

Indian Summer

It seems that the warm afternoons of Indian Summer are over and the cool days of autumn are here. It has been cold and drizzling all day. I think a few snowflakes sneaked in among the raindrops. It got so cold that I had to bake some cookies to warm up the kitchen;)

Things at work have settled down to a routine. Not very many patrons dropping into the library, but then the computers have been down with a virus, and most of the patrons are digitally oriented, makes me wonder why I'm spending so much time trying to get the books in order. My new bookshelves are supposed to be shipped this week. Since it's also Native American Week, if they do come on schedule, they probably won't get set up for another week or two. There's talk in the lounge that we're going to switch from a 7 period day to an 8 period day. Seems to me that decision should have been made before school even started, not 5 weeks into the 1st quarter. The longer I work here, the more amazed I am at our students. They have learned everything we've shown them about school. Teachers dropping out, no long term plans, talking back to supervisors, they've seen it all, and copied it.

As I said, Native American Week is coming up and I intend to enjoy it. It used to make me stress a lot to think of the interuptions and kids all wound up. But now that I know it will all settled down again, I enjoy learning what I can about the heritage of my students. Some of them get a little hostile towards school and "white" teachers when they spend a week hearing about the way their ancestors were treated. I can't say as I blame them.

Bird Soup

A few moments before this picture was taken, there was a small flock of birds waiting to take their turns at the birdbath. Guess who took cuts? He seems to want to drink out of anything but his water dish. I'm guessing it had the delicate flavor of feathers and bird droppings.

Project Organize

Here's what the top of my dresser looks like. I know it looks messy, but if I hide (store) my jewelry in a box I never wear it. I've got to have it out so I can see it every morning when I get dressed. Also, a lot of it was given to me by either mom or Bill, or by Dad after mom died. So when I see it, I have to smile. Sometimes I pretend it's my armor, like in a video game I play. I have a bracelet of good health +25 or a ring of invicibility +47, somedays, I wish it really worked that way.

Anyway, I saw this cool earring holder that Natalie had and I finally found one like hers, just where she said, Claire's. It makes it a lot easier to pick out a pair of earrings for the day. The rings fit nicely on the red, glass hand that Andrew gave me a long time ago, but I've got nothing for all the bangly bracelets. Any one got any ideas? The just sort of sit in a heap on the dresser.

This & That

This
In spite of the fact that our school's computer network broke down this week due to a massive virus infection, I had a pretty good week at work. We got all of the books on the shelves sorted and weeded, the noxious weeds at least. Weeding is what librarians call pulling outdated, tattered or unneeded books from the collection. I've had the books placed on tables so that people can take them if they want. After all, one man's weed is another's flower, right? After two weeks, I still have quite a few books on the tables. A staff member asked me what I was going to do with the books that no one wanted. I said that I would start taking them to the dumpster on Tuesday, after the long weekend. She got a pained look on her face. I mean, in my eyes it proves I made a good choice to pull the books. No one even wanted to take them for free. Chances are really good that no one would check them out of the library, right? I keep explaining that we can't get new books if there is no place to put them. I do believe that our students deserve to have at least a few books in their library that were written in this century, and now we'll have some place to put them.

That
After a few weeks of brutal heat, the weather has turned mild, downright chilly at times. What a relief. It's starting to feel like fall weather, cool mornings and warm afternoons. I've even seen a few trees that are starting to turn yellow and birds that are starting to gather in large groups. Fall is probably my favorite time of the year.

...and 38 to Go!

Well as I figure it, that's one week down and 38 to go. We just finished our first week of school and it wasn't all that bad. I had a few classes come in for the first time and a few of the students even checked out a book or two. I'm reorganizing the library: consolidating the old jr. high collection with the high school collection and moving the whole thing to another wall while at the same time weeding out library books that are old enough to have been on the shelves of my school library when I was in grade school. It doesn't make any sense that a library that's less than 10 years old should have so many old books, but someone (probably a penny penching principal) collected old books from other libraries that threw them out. Don't know why anyone would want to start a brand new library of the 21st Century with a lot of old books, but it happened.

Anyway, all that moving of books has really inflamed my bursitic shoulder. It's a good thing I have some student assitant librarians. Now that I've got a pattern going I can get them to help me move the books and spare my shoulder and wrist. Did I mention that my wrist is starting to fall apart? Did I mention that my library assistants are amazing? I watched one of them check out books while entering new patron names at the same time. She was as smooth as I am and I've had 5 years of practice and she's had 5 minutes. Just proves to me that kids are as comfortable if not more comfortable with computer stored iformation than old-fasioned print materials. Gives me a lot to think about when planning the future of our library.

Busy Week

I just finished my first week back to work and I'm really tired, but righteously tired. I worked hard! I was attempting to learn where things are and get what the teacher's needed to start teaching next week when the students arrive. Also we had numerous meetings with staff and administrators, but I barely remember those, thinking too much about other things. Jimmy was never far from my mind and as long as I kept my hands busy I could keep my memories of him from becoming overwhelmingly sad. I can't say that the library is ready for the students yet, far from it, but I'm hoping to enlist their help to get it ready.

I suspect our cat has fleas. He's never had them before that I know of, but we're getting some mysterious looking bug bites. So today, I go to town to get some flea stuff for the cat and then spend the rest of the day vacuuming and washing bedding. Better get busy.

Playmate, come out and play

I've lost my childhood playmate. He never forgot how to play like a child. I need to remember.

God Bless

We just got some sad news about our brother. He has returned to the hospital to fight another round with the cancer. He has been fighting the cancer with valor and with love for his family. We are all in his corner for this fight and are here when he needs us. Just let us know what to do.

Library MEss

This is the state of my libary as of today. I just found out that the new shelves won't be coming until the end of Septmeber. So probably, this will be the state of the library until Halloween. I'll post some new pix then.

Family Ties

I've had a very good week. Andrew came to Ashland for an over night visit and brought his girlfriend. She must have good luck because the sky was clear and she got her first taste of the night sky through a telescope. She said she would never look at the sky in quite the same way again.

It was good to see Andrew as we'd lost touch for a few weeks, which tends to make me worry, especially when I've not got much else to think about, summer being a slow time for me. Then on MOnday, I went into Billings to visit family. Brother Ken was down from Helena and brother Pete is off on Monday nights so Monday dad took us out for a nice family dinner. Then Pete and I sat up too late watching a movie that Andrew had recommended to me when he was here. There's a six degree separation going on here somewhere if I could figure it out.

Tuesday I just hung out, ran a few errands and made a salad for dad and me for dinner and then came home. Very relaxing and enjoyable company.

Today, Wednesday, I got a letter from my school district with the agenda for our first days of school which start on 16 August!
There are 3 laws I would lobby to get passed. 1. No Daylight Savings Time 2. Elect the President by popular vote instead of the Electoral College 3. No School starting before Labor Day. (and maybe a 4th - No politician may mention their opponent by name or inference in any campaigning)

Look! No Cavities

I went to Colstrip to see the dentist today and had lunch with one my friends from Lame Deer Jr. High. Those were some of the best years of my teaching career, good friends and the feeling that we were personally making a difference in the education of the students. It's not that I don't like the people I work with now, but its just not the same. Anyway, NO Cavities! and I won't say I liked it, but it was air conditioned and even the canned Muzak wasn't too bad.

PS...the hygenist had to spend 30 minutes just cleaning my teeth and she wouldn't lecture me, but I need to FLOSS!

Kitchen Design

I'm slowly putting my kitchen design together. I started with the curtains which are a pale golden color with a red/green trim. Since a rooster is featured in the curtains, I got some other rooster stuff to try to make it look designed instead of thrown together. I've tried to find a small plant to put in the rooster planter, but so far nothing. I'm afraid I'll have to leave it empty or go with fake plants and so far I don't have any fake plants in my house. (A few very unhealthy live plants though) I found some rub on decals to trim the cupboard doors a little, but not much; I have a tendancy to go overboard, so I'm trying to be "understated." I also bought silver trimed salt/pepper and also a dish drainer that is silver. Anyway, it's not finished, but it is not quite so bland. 

Blow winds, crack your trees!

ON the right is a picture of a tree that got topped in last night's wind storm. On the left is a picture of another tree that was uprooted in the wind storm. We didn't spot it until later this afternoon. It had very shallow roots just sittng on a square foot of soil in a rock outcropping. I suppose you could call it an ill wind that brought no good. It didn't bring any rain, which we really need, and it fanned the flames of fires that were burning in the Billings area. Our house still has that smoky smell that you always take away with you after sitting around the campfire. Only this smell brings with it the knowledge that the campfire could have been someone's home. The sky is clear this morning though and promises to be a very hot day again. (see yesterday's post)

PS. I'm adding to this post the next day and we are now surrounded by smoke from local fires. When I drove back from Lame Deer this afternoon, I saw a house in flames and dozens of people in their cars watching the flames. They had no where else to go, they'd been evacuated. Hope there are enough firefighters to go around; this side of the state seems to be on fire.

To Quote Cole Porter

It's too darn hot!

PS. Happy Birthday little BRO!

Finished for Now

Well, I decided to call it finished for now. There's still paint in the seams on the glue, but I don't want to try to get all the paint for fear of losening the glue and making it fall apart. Can anyone tell me what kind of wood it is? I'm guessing walnut or maple, the lids are veneer and the sides are solid. The brass on the feet polished up real well, maybe too well. I'll keep my eyes open for a finishg that will make it a little darker.

I think that if you click on the picture, you get a larger view. 

Happy 4th

We woke up to blue skies and a light, cool breeze, perfect flag flying weather. Hope you all have a good day with your family and friends. 

Sewing Box

Ken was gathering some things from the garage to take home with him when I saw this "workbox." I immediatly recognized it as a sewing box that mom had when I was little, or as my students would say, "Don't you mean littler, Ms. Taylor?" Anyway, I remember playing with it a lot. When I brought it home, it was painted with a faux finish of brown streaks over a coat of dark yellow. I stripped the paint off and am now down to the bare wood in places. It's in pretty fragile condition, some cracks, some repaired , some not. Any way I have had some good memories and sad memories of mom as I've worked on it and am anxious to finish taking off the old "finish" to put on a new finish. I'm thinking of hand rubbed tung oil.

I had noticed right away the brand on the bottom and thought that there should be a way to trace the patent and find out more about it. It is a tribute to summer vacation laziness, that I, a librarian took 2 weeks to realize that I just had to look on the US Patent Office website to find it. http://patft.uspto.gov/netahtml/PTO/search-bool.html If you use this link and the number 1707806, you can find a picture of the patent papers. It was given a patent on April 4, 1927. (on the search page, change the date box to 1790 to present) It was patented because of the unique nature of the now missing hinge feature that automatically closed one lid when you opened the other lid. I remember playing with the lids quite a bit, that's probably why. And come to think of it, that's probably why the hinge is missing now.

I haven't been able to decipher the chalk marks on the bottom though. I'll post a picture of the finished product. Don't wait up for it though, I'm working on the legs right now and it could take a while longer than I think. Lots of turns with lots of paint stuck in them.