Some good, some bad is what's going on with me. The good parts are these: so far, no letter from the director re: the "incident" of '03. Would she have given it to me by now, more than a week after the board meeting? Perhaps, but we have to remember that she's only been at work a couple of those days. I speculate, however, that she had the letter written long before the board met and was just waiting for them to give her their blessings. I'm hoping for the best. Sign that I'm in the clear: she called my colleague and friend Julie into her office the other day with a list of things to discuss. They were all criticisms of ways Julie had behaved and ways she had (or had not) done her job. This is the behavior we see when M is not allowed to take measures against one or the other of us. So for me this is a good sign. We congratulated me and I consoled Julie. Other good part: I have the closing on my refinance scheduled for Friday night at 6:00 at my house. This is a truly bizarre time and place, but since they have no office and have to send someone here from 3 hours away, this is what's up. They wanted to do it at 5 but I'd like to go grocery shopping after work and have a little breathing room so I asked for 6. I can't believe this is happening, but so far it looks real.
Bad things: my stovepipe is malfunctioning. I figured it was the elbow outside clogged with creosote (after spending a horrible night in a smoke-filled house with no fire) so last night I took it apart and discovered that it was, in fact, the outside elbow filled with creosote flakes (big ones) that had fallen down the 25' of chimney. I shoveled it out (shop vac not working right, either) and lit a fire. It smoked a bit but finally caught a good flame and then functioned admirably. The whole thing makes me nervous but the house doesn't get warmer than 65 without a fire in the stove. I called two chimney cleaners, neither was home. Left a message but had to go to a meeting last night. One had left a return message, one had not. Adk Chimney people, who left the message, said they'd call me today. So far not. I want to get it cleaned as soon as possible but scheduling will be a problem unless they'll do it on the weekend. I'm booked here at work, between meetings and road trips, pretty much through next week. I've never cleaned the outside stovepipe, sort of thought I didn't have to because it's triple-walled and smooth and I thought you didn't have to. WRONG was I. At least now I'll be able to pay for it.

Other bad: snow. Some this morning, making the roads awful all the way to work. They didn't plow or sand at all. Other drivers thought this was catastrophic and drove 25 mph. That was overeacting, the roads sure weren't that bad. It rained all day here in Platts., let's hope the same was true at home (but often it snows there while raining here--yikes).

So no bad is very bad, but the good is really pretty good. I tidied my desk today, in prep for the tour we'll be having on Monday as part of showing off community resources. It may not look good to other people, but the piles are much smaller (three garbage cans worth) and their tidy piles now. I found some good stuff, but mostly found lots of stuff that was old and worthless. Lots of professional journals I never read that are now too old to be relevant. Computers in Libraries from 2003.

And tonight I cook for Ken. He has asked that I only bring one dog, rather than the 2 brown girls I've been bringing. "Would you do a favor for me? Would you?" Won't tell me why until I get there. I dread whatever it is he's going to show/tell me. I just hope Tess didn't chew something precious of his. Usually it's the wastebasket in the upstairs bathroom and I can clean up the mess before he finds it. Guess not this time. So Chances will go because he likes her the best. Poor Tess will spend the evening in the cage, after being there all day. But what can I do. Last night she was in her cage from 6:15 to 9:15 while I was at the library in the Forks at a meeting. If she didn't chew seat belts she could come along!