The perfect shoe
The search never ends, but if I ever found the perfect shoe, then I'd have to stop buying shoes, and that would be tragic. As it is now, I bought 2 new pairs of shoes (I hear the collective groan) on sale from Lands End overstocks, both to replace shoes chewed by the Perfect Tess. Both are improvements over their predecessors. I have also ordered a new winter boot, on sale from Sierra Trading Post, religious tho they are, they have good stock. This is a lower boot than I'll need in the heart of winter, but it will be nice for a break. I also ordered flannel-lined jeans, which Ken swears I'll really, really like. He wears his for weeks on end (yuck). This money is from my accident settlement and I can't spend any more of it because the last of it has to go for firewood and lumber. And no, I don't need any of these items, I just wanted them. Footwear, I always want footwear. Yes, I can stare down at my sea of shoes and still feel that I don't have the right shoe to wear. With my jeans. And the shoes came in the Perfect Box. Since I'm a box hoarder, this really pleased me, but I won't take the box home, I'm forcing myself to leave it here at work. I have no more room at home for empty boxes.

Difficult work situation going on. Clerk #1 wanted two of her job duties reassigned to Clerk #2. No particular reason, she just felt it would be appropriate if these jobs were no longer done by her--they are not appropriate to her title, are beneath her, etc. Clerk #2 does not have time to take on extra duties. Clerk #1 has been here for 20 years, feels she should (for that reason) get what she asks for. I refused her request yesterday when the three of us sat down to discuss this. When I asked if we all agreed that the three of us are equally overburdened in our jobs Clerk #1 said no, she didn't agree, she felt she had more work than the other 2 of us. This is patently untrue and really fries me. She has more flexibility and really, less work, than the other clerk and I do. She also said that we NEVER offer to help her. Again, so not true. At the end of the day she came to me and said she felt I had not treated her with respect, that she had been here for 20 years, Clerk #2 only here for 1.5 years got whatever she asked for (she didn't ask for anything, I reminded her), and that now she guessed her work would just back up (ON PURPOSE?? I asked, incredulous--"Oh no," she replied innocently). Since she's not getting any additional work there's really no rationale for that. This is a woman who is really angry because, though she's only turning 50 in November, she feels she needs to retire as soon as possible. I agree with her feelings more and more every day. She'll have enough years in with the retirement system so that, if the state offers and early retirement incentive one of these years, she'll be able to take it and run. She's just pissed because they didn't do it this year. Tough shit. I was eligible for early retirement about 3 years ago but couldn't afford to do it. Probably wouldn't have anyway--what would I have done?

So now I'm dealing with the wrath of a bitter employee (aren't we all). But the sun is shining and it's autumn. You might call it Indian summer, but Ken would correct you. Indian summer, according to him, only comes after the first frost. We haven't had that yet, in fact we haven't even come close. Only 36, I think. There's a really nice article in this month's Adirondack Life magazine, written by Bill Hord's son-in-law (who's studying creative writing), about the relationship between Bill and Ken. It's very touching and captures their relationship very nicely. Ken's pleased with it.

And I'm driving a Magnesium, 2004 Honda Civic. It's very nice. Clean, smells good, drives like a dream, nice tight transmission. I like it a lot and am very happy with it. Have had plenty of compliments on the color, was feeling very special because surely it must be relatively uncommon, since it took so long to get one, when suddenly, there at the stop sign this morning was...a Magnesium Honda Civic. Can you believe it? I couldn't. Get that car off the road!

Spent yesterday cataloging theses and dissertations on the Mohawks and their various cultural situations, gambling arrangments, educational stuff, etc. for the library that's on the reservation. That was dry enough. This morning I weeded our Sidney Sheldon collection. That was boring enough. I had to shelve books in order to clear a book truck to use for weeding. That's work that a page should be doing, not a Librarian III like me. That was the point that Clerk #1 kept making--she's doing the work of a Clerk and a Page, not just work of a Principal Clerk. woo-hoo. It'll be a cold day in hell before she ever shelves another book to help with the backlog, that's for sure. I can see that. I told her we'll never fill the vacant position in our dept. so we'll all have to do the work of the non-existent page and clerk, like shelving, etc. That did NOT appease her. Well, I said, you like your free health insurance, and your benefits and your job, don't you? That's what has to happen in order for us to keep those things. There's just not enough money right now. Sour, sour face.

The dogs seem relatively peaceful these days. It's really nice at night so I leave the door open and the come and go at will. Tess and Chances run out, disappear for half an hour or so, then come running in, breathless. so cute. Then back out to repeat the whole exercise. I think they're eating apples at the foot of the driveway. Part of my new eating pattern involves eating cooked apples in the evening for my snack. What the hell--we have tons of orchards here with some of the best apples ever, I might as well eat them, huh. The Macouns are in season, and I love them. They're great for applesauce. I may sleep in the boat house tonight, if I can get my shit together enough to get down there. How complicated is it, really? Grab a few things, get in the car and GO.