Listening to Hang on Sloopy. This makes me much happier but my hair still looks funnier and now the space between my front teeth shows.

At least I finished the abridged audio books and looked at all 732 new records we've added to the data base in the past week. And boy, have we added some zingers, myself included.

Now it's time for me to start on the book order. I'm way behind on that one. Oh, stop grinning like a fool. You look stoopid. Just because it's Friday afternoon.

Trying to figure out why someone in a member library would make a CD of folksongs an [electronic resource] instead of a [sound recording]. Do we really need to make things more complicated than they really are?

I look like my mother. My hair looks funny.

Daily photo
This is what I see as I near the end of my journey home. The trees are turning the reddish purple that comes with early, early spring. That's Whiteface, the ghostly specter in the distance. It's still got plenty of snow on it, but there are some bare spots as well. That's Douglas in the foreground, with Catamount off to the left. Jenica has climbed Catamount, much to the horror of the Rogers family. Dan Webster's sister died falling off that mountain when she was a child, so family lore dictates that no one in our family should ever climb that mountain. My brother, of course saw that as a dare and took his daughter up the mountain. She did not fall to her death and neither did he. I learned later that Dan Webster and his sister were bushwhacking, not on the trail and needless to say had gotten very careless.

In answer to Molly's post, they don't mind if we put pictures on our computers here at work, they're very tolerant. I don't have much to post: dogs, mountains, mud, ice. I do need to buy a computer for home, though, but my Internet connection at home will be dial access and thus too slow to do me much good. I'll delete pictures when I'm through with them, they won't live on the computer: that would be abuse of privileges. I'll have prints made of the ones I want (if there are any--that is doubtful so far).

Peaceful day facing me. Director off visiting libraries, staff due to head to Chazy at noon to barcode the collection. The library there is too small for all of us to fit in all at once so I'm staying behind (ostensibly to catch up on work that piled up while I was in Boston). Let's hear it for peace and quiet! Temp to reach 70 today. Can this really happen? Perhaps I'll actually go outside, walk to the bank instead of drive there on my way home. I'm looking forward to the weekend (now there's an understatement that's painfully obvious). My time then is my own, except for the 3 hours on Sunday that I donate to the Laundry family.

I wanted to buy an answering machine because the cost of voice mail was raised to $5 a month. Can you just buy an answering machine without a telephone attached to it? Not in this town. I looked in the two most likely places and ended up buying a new phone last night for $30, with an answering system. I liked my old phone, but changing the message on this is painfully easy. As I was making up the message Chances started to bark so it sounds as if I burped just before I started to speak. Cute or gross? You be the judge. I can at least give my old phone to my mother so perhaps my sister and I can have a conversation with her that won't be full of static and beeps.

And on to abridged audio books for Peru. They seem to have an endless supply. Mack Bolan abridged? The Exterminator series is bad enough in print, but abridged audio? My god will the horror of library collections never cease.

Oh yeah, snail is dead, algae eater is dead. Bad mojo from my "community tank," I fear. No tolerance for those who are different.

A Picture A Day
I can now load images from my camera onto my computer. So here are some pictures. I'm looking forward to taking pictures of my daffodils. That will mean I will have daffodils to photograph. I could take pictures of mud right now, but that doesn't seem too interesting. Thank you for your comments on the snail. I'm not sure it's alive anymore, but it was when I put it in the tank. What killed it?

I pass this house on my way to and from work every day. I like the little trim along the top of the porch. It's a sweet little house, probably all the house I would really need, but I like my big, cluttered and over-filled house. This house really appeals to me, though. It looks very Midwestern.

She should be named Garbo

Tess does not like flashbulbs. She takes her (my) glove and goes under the couch, where she hides until I take the flashing silver box away.

Late March, Hawkeye

The Boat House ice on the left is the site of the Dog Dunkings. This is Silver Lake Mountain as it looked yesterday. That's shade on the left, not to be confused with dark ice, which signals thawing.

Home again home again

It's been a while, but here I am. Went to Boston, had a good conference. Lots of programs, mostly good ones. Lots of walking. Our apartment ended up being a grotto, a full story underground. Only had 3 small windows, 10 feet above the floor. Julie's and my first reaction was to hyperventilate--"How will we stand not having windows?" We adjusted. I gave her the bedroom, I slept in an alcove where the head of my bed was tucked under a beam that barely allowed me to sit up. Julie called it my coffin. In spite of it all (or because of it all) we laughed a lot and had a great time together, as we always do at conferences. Our apartment was on Beacon Street, less than a block from the Common. We had to walk a mile to the conference--no T stop anywhere near us. Very bad for my knee, which is now an issue again, but it was fun to walk in a safe city and enjoy being outside. We ate delicious clam chowder for lunch twice and had an expensive dinner at Legal Sea Foods (OK, my drinks cost nearly as much as my dinner did). The first time I ate at Legal Sea Foods was with my sister in the mid-70's. LSF has come a long way.

At one point I was walking into a session, late, and there was a gray-haired woman walking out alone--no one else around. It was my friend Mary Frances, whom I've known for 28 years and see every few years or so. She's now at New York Public, fresh from Louisville. It was great to see her and we spent 1 1/2 hours doing the exhibits together and visiting. We can pick up where we left off no matter how many years go between our visits. She's in great shape, doing better than she has in a while. This is the job she was meant to have--Deputy Director for Public Services. She said all she does is have meetings and administer. She has nothing to do with public service.

I also saw a woman who used to be director of one of our libraries here, who moved to Houston and got her masters degree, inspired by us librarians at the System. She is now working at a public library system in central Mass. and says she loves system work and it's the best kind of work to do. I love system work too, but there's nothing like working with the public, either. Anyway, she glommed on to me and wouldn't let go. Twice.

I went to a great session on Google Book, something I didn't know much about. Turns out there's tons of stuff that's been digitized and loaded onto Google already, but, by their estimate only 25% of the books printed have been done so far. They've done all the books in the public domain (pub. prior to 1923) in 5 research libs. and nearly all the books currently available for sale by major online booksellers (you can't get full text of these, only 3 pages surrounding your search terms). The other 75% of what's published in English needs to be dealt with. Some people have interesting dreams, don't they?

I boarded the dogs while I was gone--got them into the best kennel, my friend Joan's. She said Tess is a wonderful dog. I took them the night before I left, and was struck by a deep sense of melancholy when I got home. I think it was more about Henry than missing my dogs, but I felt very, very sad. I got home Friday night and couldn't pick them up until Saturday morning, so was prepared to feel sad and alone, but surprise! It was incredibly peaceful and quiet and I loved having the house to myself. They were thrilled to be home, but as Cesar the Dog Whisperer (on Natl. Geographic Channel) says, dogs live in the Now, they have no past or future (he also says they don't worry about how they're going to die). When they got home it was as if they'd just been for a short ride in the car.

Yesterday I went to camp to check out the buildings and the ice. No trees on any buildings, but no open water, either. I was hoping the dogs could go for a swim, but instead they both fell through the ice. That was totally terrifying for me. It was in front of the boat house and not over my head, so I probably could have gone in to get them, but luckily they were able to pull themselves out ok. First Chances went in, dragged herself out slowly, then Tess went in and scrambled out. I freaked out, have heard too many stories of dogs drowning and not being found until spring. I wanted to check on the last cabin, and while I was doing that Tess went BACK out on the ice--she just wanted to run on the ice, she loves to do that, but I screamed at her enough so that she went back on shore about 50' later. I hustled them on home. Scary business. I hate going through the ice things, it's one way I really fear dying.

I bought myself a digital camera and am having fun learning how to use it. Unfortunately, in order to load pictures on this computer I have to load software and the office nerd has blocked everyone but her from loading anything on our computers. She's out of the office today so it will have to wait until this afternoon or tomorrow. I have pictures of the dogs (of course) and the ice.
It's mud season now. I drove down to the Holt's the other night--Rush called to say they were going to tear down the cabin that sits where they're building their house and I wanted to check out the progress. Cabin is now a big pile of rubble. I almost got stuck in the mud. VERY nearly did. That is more humiliating than getting stuck in the snow. Any fool should know not to drive in mud. The road past my house is now completely torn up and impassable. I can only take some credit, but boy did I do a number on it. Deep ruts. My driveway is getting messy and I should stop driving on it for a while.

I watched Walk the Line on Sunday. What a great movie. I really enjoyed it and found the music to be very moving. I love Johnny Cash, it turns out, and would have preferred hearing him sing, but Joaquin Phoenix did a great job. Too bad it was Phillip Seymour Hoffman's year too. Now I have Brokeback Mountain to watch. It's supposed to rain on Saturday so I guess that's what I'll do after a dump run. The weather now is spectacular and I'd love to be home cleaning up my yard. No sign of my crocuses yet but my primroses are just poking up.

I had to buy an algae-eater for my fish tank. YUCK I can't stand them. I had my choice of 3 kinds. One grew to be 5" long. NO WAY. I got a little one, about 1 1/2". He's not bad but I can't stand things with sucking mouths on the bottom. I finally figured out that the brown stuff that keeps appearing in my tank is algae, growing because the tank sits in the sun part of the day (when I'm not there, of course). I also bought a snail (Ken couldn't believe I paid money for a snail). I'm not sure the snail is still alive: how can you tell if a snail is dead?

No dumb question, just dumb people

These remind me of Molly's students' gaffes. Right now the public library listserv is playing silly reference questions. My contributions were 2 questions I got when I was in at the Providence Public Library--people wanted 1) a photograph of Jesus, and 2) photographs, not drawings but real photographs of dinosaurs. Since I've been here I've been asked (by the inmates, of course) for 1) information on UFO sex missions (don't know if he wanted to go on one or thought he had been on one already) and 2) true stories of werewolves.

Here are some from today, following a thread that included a request for books by Hemingstein, books on the Ottawa causes (Iowa caucuses) and large print audio books:

* The guy who put his library card into the floppy drive and told me that he couldn't get on to the internet.
* I am looking for a book called, 'dummies for beginners'.
* I had one once of someone looking for info on the hemlock maneuver - you kind of get a different outcome from what he wanted which was the Heimlich maneuver
* Your Hemingstein reminded me of the kid who asked me for a copy of Ivanhood. (I wonder if that is the sequel to Robinhoe??)
* I always tell everyone about the lady who asked me if I had music for "Cats". She really should have laughed when I asked her what instrument her cat played...

Well, sometimes you feel bad for making fun of the patrons, but then you realize that you have to laugh because otherwise you'd end up getting really frustrated by your job, and we don't want to look at our jobs with great frustration, we want to enjoy them.

and more:

*I also had someone ask me if Martin Luther King, Jr freed the slaves.

*A guy I know had these two from the same woman - he was working @ Barnes and Noble:
-"Is there a sequel to The Diary of Anne Frank?"
-"Who is that Jew who invented the atom?" (She meant, of course, ALBERT EINSTEIN)

*My favorite remains the high school student who asked me if we had a copy of "How to Kill a Mockingbird."

I think this discussion is going to go on for a long time: these people seem a little obsessed with the way people ask where the bathrooms are.

Pumped up knee

I went to the orthopedist this morning. He was pissed that the PA at my doctor's office scheduled an MRI rather than an x-ray (his receptionist had tipped me off to this already). He is a really cool doctor, pretty cute and very straightforward. He sent me down the hall from his office for an x-ray right away--apparently there are a few orthopede's right there and they share the equipment and staff, so it can be done right away. Way cool. I walked the x-rays back to him and he looked at them with me. There are my bones! (no tumor) There's my patella! No bone rubbing on bone. He thinks there may be some worn out cartiledge, but nothing very serious. His suggestion was a shot of cortisone into the knee as a first step, wait 3 weeks to see if that does the trick, then maybe surgery but he thought surgery was not the next step (no pun intended). He carries vials of cortisone around in his pocket, which I thought was pretty funny. "Pretty common technique, huh." Oh yes, I do this a lot. So first he gave me a shot to numb the knee, which felt as if someone was trying to make my reflexes react, very strange. Then he took this really, really long but very thin needle and stuck it halfway into my knee, behind my kneecap. It really didn't hurt, which surprised me. I told him I'd always heard that cortisone shots were very painful. "Depends on where they are and how they're done," he said. " I always numb the joints first, and large joints are easier to do." So I like him and go back in 3 weeks for a follow-up. Meanwhile the place is crawling (again, no pun intended) with people with walkers, crutches, in wheelchairs--a really depressing place to go. And an incredibly busy place as well.

So that's the knee, pumped up on steroids.

Back from Rhode Island last night at 6. Got there on Saturday around 4, left home at 9. Stopped at the outlet stores in Lake George in search of a small, covered casserole for Liza's present. Guess what? They don't make them smaller than 1.5 qts. No, really, they don't. Except, as Mark discovered, at Williams Sonoma, for $58. So I got her one anyway, just to give her a covered casserole. I went to Pfalzgraf, Corning and the Gap (no casseroles there, just a good sale on camisoles). Stopped at Target in New London. NOTHING.

Sunday we spent hanging around, visiting with each other, a nice day. Mark and I went grocery shopping in the morning to get food for the dinner we were to cook. Lamb chops (I hate lamb but Liza likes it and never gets to have it), asparagus, baked potatoes, petite peas, ice cream with chocolate sauce. She picked it all. Mark's sister and her new boyfriend (the catalyst for leaving her husband) came so that Lance (who would ever be attracted to a man named Lance, but he seems pretty nice and is a contractor) could take measurements to fix the basement stairs and look at the two windows that need to be replaced. Marilyn was pretty hyper and talked a lot, even (or maybe especially) with 2 glasses of wine in her. They finally left and we cooked and ate dinner.

Monday I got up really early to take Mark's car to the garage, then came home and fell asleep on the couch for hours while Liza watched her old sitcoms. Companionable, but worth driving 350 miles for? Well, when I nap, I really nap. Molly called, which Liza really liked; Anna called, which Liza really liked. She had already talked to Jenica. I kept expecting to hear from Henry. Will we ever get used to this? It seemed very sad. Anyway, we had a bottle of champagne and Liza opened her presents. Then we got all gussied up and went to the Shelter Harbor Inn for a $200 dinner. It was great and we love that restaurant.

Yesterday I slept pretty late (geez, I must have been tired), spent the morning visiting with Liza. Had a good time with her. Left at noon, my usual time. Trip home was fine, not much traffic. Started snowing (of course) as I got near Silver Lake. Almost all of the snow had melted, and the ice had gone out of the AuSable River. Wowie jet! That's actually right on time, it's usually out by St. Patrick's Day, it just seems early. Anyway, the house was 52 in the living room and the fish were fine but wondered where I'd been. I built a fire, turned up the heat, turned on the pump and discovered there was water in my well (flush away!). My sump pump ran last night--the frost is going out of the ground, creating ground water. Not much, I think, but some. I will conserve but I have water.

Bare ground didn't last long: by this morning we had 4" of powder on the ground (as if it would be somewhere else). It might melt later this week, if the sun comes out, but it's not supposed to be very warm.

And I was supposed to go to AuSable Forks to weed this afternoon but I cancelled the trip because my knee feels very tender and when you weed you crawl all over the floor, squat, stand up, squat, etc., and I just didn't feel like doing that today. I felt like a real wimp, but I rescheduled for Monday. She was very understanding. She's recovering from surgery--had her lymph nodes removed as a preventive measure because she had a vulvar melanoma. Awful. The lymphnodes were clean so at least the cancer hadn't spread.

And I just ran off 6 plastic canvas patterns of Easter-themed projects for a bookmobile patron. I have the strangest feeling that I did this last year for this woman. If I were better organized I would keep a file of plastic canvas patterns for each major holiday, but they're always available, thanks to Google and places like Mary's Crafts Page. This patron lives in senior citizen housing, and if I ever got organized she'd probably die and I'd never need the patterns again. That's been my experience with vertical files in the past.

Our automated system is down due to server errors so I may actually have to work on the weeding policy I'm writing for our member libraries. Ack, ack.

High and dry

It's so interesting to me how people react to bad news. I came to work today and announced that my well had run dry. One clerk said "Oh no! That's terrible, what are you going to do?" The other one said "Are you sure it's not your pump? It's probably your pump. I bet your pump is broken and you'll have to buy a new one. I used to hear about this all the time, you know." Her ex-husband sells pumps. A dry well, believe it or not, is definitely the lesser of two evils.

Yes, when I got up this morning my pump was running solid. Not good. When I flushed the toilet the tank did not fill up. When I turned on the faucet nothing came out. I know what that usually means. And it makes sense, too--I was down in the cellar hole last week to shut off the heater and the hole where the sump pump lives was dry. It's never dry. That means there's not much ground water. This is really strange, since my sump pump has been running all winter, but then there's seldom an explanation for what goes on in nature (in my opinion, anyway). So I'm dry. I always have about 7 gallons of water available in various containers, so I could get ready for work, but I neglected to fill the dogs water bowl last night. I did clean the fish tank, partly emptying it & refilling it, so they have a sparkling clean house. When I run out of water like this I have to laugh because the dogs drink nearly a gallon a day and I begrudge them that.

Anyway I'm going away for 4 days, and if it really is the well it should replenish itself during that time, enough for me to flush and shower often enough to live an ok life. I've been through this lots of times, almost every year for a stretch. I'll go to the laundromat, which is a drag but can be done easily after work (I still have an impressive stash of quarters, as if I knew this was coming). My laundromat has a TV and is clean and comfortable.

Today it's still spring. I went to the dump on my way to work, got rid of 1 bag of trash and 1 bag of garbage (yes, there's a difference). I like to compliment the dump lady on her truck, it makes her smile a big, wide smile. It's a beautiful Ford F150 Super Cab, dark silver like my car. Really nice truck.

It's rainy today (now I'll monitor every drop of rain). We didn't get enough snow this year to help the groundwater so I can only hope for a rainy spring. I'll set up my rain barrels now--I can use that water for flushing. Ah, life in the wilderness.

Today I'm devoting time to member library discards because we're running a file for the regional data base next week. This is utterly mindless work. I'm actually doing the nonfiction that I weeded from the AuSable Forks library. Too queer. I've been informed that use of the word "queer" in this way is a totally Midwestern thing, never done in the East.

Dating Strengths	Dating Weaknesses
1. Sense of Humor - 85.7% 2. Confidence - 72.2% 3. Flirtiness - 62.5% 4. Independence - 57.1% 5. Friendliness - 50%	1. Temper - 87.5% 2. Appearance - 77.8% 3. Financial Issues - 54.5%

Dating Strengths Explained
Sense of Humor - Men are attracted to people with a good sense of humor. Be sure to put yours on display! Confidence - You are sure of yourself and confident of your abilities. Displays of confidence go a long way when attracting a date. Flirtiness - Flirting is a good way to break the ice, and you are a pro at it. Being flirtatious will open up many dating opportunities. Independence - Your strong sense of independence comes in handy while dating. You are not held back or tied down; you are free to pursue your interests. Friendliness - Your friendliness makes you approachable and fun to be around. A wide circle of friends also works to your advantage on the dating scene.
Dating Weaknesses Explained
Temper - You need to work on controlling your temper. Don't let your anger get the best of you. A calm and rational persona is important when dating. Appearance - Devoting a greater effort at making good first impressions is a must. Try to be fit and develop a style if you want to catch a man's attention. Financial Issues - Your financial situation is not in good shape, and this does not bode well for you on the dating scene. Try to get on top of your financial difficulties.
Dating Strengths and Weaknesses Quiz by Dating Diversions

Yeah, we all know I'm funny and don't know how to manage my finances, and everyone knows about my temper.

Your dating personality profile: Liberal - Politics matters to you, and you aren't afraid to share your left-leaning views. You would never be caught voting for a conservative candidate. Stylish - You do not lack for fashion sense. Style matters. You wouldn't want to be seen with someone who doesn't care about his appearance. Big-Hearted - You are a kind and caring person. Your warmth is inviting, and your heart is a wellspring of love.

Your date match profile: Practical - You are drawn to people who are sensible and smart. Flashy, materialistic people turn you off. You appreciate the simpler side of living. Adventurous - You are looking for someone who is willing to try new things and experience life to its fullest. You need a companion who encourages you to take risks and do exciting things. Intellectual - You seek out intelligence. Idle chit-chat is not what you are after. You prefer your date who can stimulate your mind.

Your Top Ten Traits 1. Liberal 2. Stylish 3. Big-Hearted 4. Adventurous 5. Intellectual 6. Wealthy/Ambitious 7. Sensual 8. Practical 9. Funny 10. Shy

Your Top Ten Match Traits 1. Practical 2. Adventurous 3. Intellectual 4. Big-Hearted 5. Conservative 6. Outgoing 7. Athletic 8. Stylish 9. Traditional 10. Funny

Take the Online Dating Profile Quiz at Dating Diversions

Stylish? Well, I do like the Eddie Bauer, L.L. Bean look

A geisha and an ermine

I finished listening to Memoirs of a geisha on the way to work this morning. Whew! 14 CD's. I love the way I'm always years behind in getting to the books everyone else is raving about. Anyway, it's quite a thing, that book. Long, detailed, not exactly action-packed, but interesting. I'm not sure I understand why there was such a fuss made over it--I can't imagine reading it, page after page, without doing something else at the same time. Although maybe it would have been better that way, since my mind kept wandering while I was listening to it, and if I'd been focusing on the printed page it might have made me concentrate more. Anyway, I'm glad I listened to it and I did enjoy it. Geisha Shmeisha. I'm mildly interested in seeing the film now.

Dinner with Ken last night. I made an effort to get there early, since I got home at a decent hour (5:10) and got my fire going, the dogs and fish fed, firewood in for the night, etc. When I pulled in there was an ermine in his wood pile. They are really weasels, ermine is just a fancy name for them. They turn white in the winter, with just the tip of their tails being black. There are two kinds, the large one and the small one. This was the large one. It was beautiful. Tess saw it and watched it really intently from the car as it bounded across the space between the wood pile and the cabin behind Ken's house. Pretty thing but they really give me the willies. We had a weasel/ermine that killed some of our chickens, years ago. Made two holes in the necks and sucked blood. YUCK. I had one at this house that used to come up on my deck, stand on its hind legs and look into my living room. It was the small kind and it was really cute. It would bound along my stone wall as I walked down my driveway, clutching my neck.

When I walked into Ken's, he had the table set and I could smell dinner cooking. "I'm cooking tonight," he announced with great pride. "It's your night off." That was great, but he runs dinner like a military operation. I just sat down to enjoy my drink and have a little visit when he announced that dinner was ready. Nothing like sipping your cocktail while you eat your potatoes. He cooked roast beef, which he does not know how to cook, but he sure tries, time after time. He cooks it way past done for roast beef and way under done for pot roast, so it's just tough. This had good flavor, though, and he was really pleased. We had potatoes and gravy (canned), which were good. The vegetable stumped him, though, so he decided on canned tomatoes. This is something my grandfather used to have too. Cold canned tomatoes. If you haven't had this, don't. He likes this so we have it from time to time. Just whole canned tomatoes in a little dish, floating there in their sauce. yummmm. I can do it, but when he finished off the gravy with a spoon, slurping it and sucking it down I had to turn away. ugh. All in all it was a wonderful meal and he was incredibly and rightfully proud. He kept joking "Now don't get used to this!" He even did the dishes while I read the paper. What a sweetheart.

It was Ken's birthday (92nd) on Sunday and I cooked a duck for Sunday dinner. This meant I spent a few hours making parts of my house presentable. I knew Bill would want to see my bedroom, since I had told him about moving the bed downstairs. It wasn't bad but I haven't finished moving the tchachkes out of there yet, or dusting where the tv was. Anyway, the duck was good but I've concluded that I'm not that crazy about duck. I made delicious fried radishes, which I really like (you have to cook them until they start to carmelize to get the really good flavor). You slice them into little rounds and fry them in butter & olive oil. They're really good, like any root vegetable. Anyway, Ann, our friend from Baltimore had flown up for the weekend so it was pretty festive. We had a good time and I took lots of drugs so my knee didn't bother me much. Saturday I felt sort of lousy and spent the day lying down, doing only a little cleaning. I spent 5 hours Sunday morning cleaning and cooking, but at a nice even pace, taking breaks now and then. It worked out well. It was a beautiful sunny day, the sort of day that makes it wonderful to be in my living room, looking out through those huge windows, watching the mountains and the birds. Lots of birds.

Monday we went to Upper Jay to barcode their books using dumb barcodes, taking laptops with us so we could do data entry for each books. It was great, mindless work and I loved it. There were four of us and we had these older women being the runners for us, bringing stacks of books to us and taking them away when we were done. We sat at a big table in the middle of the non-fiction and typed away. I love doing that sort of thing. They fed us a nice vegetarian lunch--a really good lentil salad, spinach salad and a corn casserole. It was a good day.

I got scolded by my boss for the first time yesterday. I was supposed to have written a thank you note for a bunch of crappy poetry books that were sent to us by a local publisher, and I hadn't done it because I didn't have any cards to use. She got tired of asking if I'd done it so she called me into her office: "You'd better close the door." uh-oh. She reamed me out pretty mildly, I went to the fancy store and spent $15 on a box of nice cards, gave her half of them so she can write notes to people too, got her an expensive piece of chocolate, wrote the note, posted what she wanted me to post on the listserv and now she's proud of me again. Not a big deal, inevitable because I don't do things she asks me to do when she asks me to do them. Old Director used to forget what she asked us to do so I could get away with it. oops, not any more.

And now there's spring in the air, definitely. You can smell it, you can feel it. The snow is melting in that special pattern that spring sun makes. It's been sunny all week, and the spring sun is totally different from the winter sun. We gain 3 minutes of daylight each day--in 5 days that's 15 minutes! Pretty cool. Supposed to RAIN today. Let's hear it for rain. Into the 40's, close to 50 this weekend. I'm off to Rhode Island to celebrate my mother's 80th birthday. She does not want to be 80. She really does not want to be 80. She wants no party. Mark and I will take her out to dinner, to this wonderful restaurant that is our collective favorite (Shelter Harbor Inn). It's a fantastic restaurant but not on the water. It's in a big old house. Mark and I are paying. We've only been there twice before in all these years. Can you tell I'm looking forward to this? Anyway Mark called me at work the other day, which scared the shit out of me (he knew it did, the first thing he said was that everything was all right) to give me the list of things she wants for her birthday. That was great, since I didn't really have much in mind, just a new purse to replace the one my dog ruined at Christmas. She wants a back brush to wash her back with in the shower. A small covered casserole. A Foley food mill. A white azalea. A couple of other things like that. A woman of simple needs. I got the purse and a new tablecloth at TJ Maxx the other day.

So life is good, spring is coming. I think it will be early this year, but I'm a fool. At any rate, we won't have a long string of subzero days again, and even if it snows it won't stay on the ground for eons. May is 6 weeks away. Can this really be true? I feel that way every March. Did I really survive another winter?

A charming story

from Heather Armstrongs reknowned blog Dooce--she has the greatest dog named Chuck:

Yesterday we took Chuck to the vet to have him microchipped and updated on all his vaccinations and all those people did was shove treats the size of apples down his face. He can sense that we’re going to the vet because instead of moping or hiding in corners he brings us the leash so we won’t be late.
By the end of our appointment yesterday they had fed him probably a dozen treats and before we even left the parking lot he was bombing the car with Vet Farts, farts different in strength from other farts in that they can melt steel and permanently alter the anatomy of unborn children.
He continued Vet Farting every couple of minutes for the remainder of the day, and when Jon and I climbed into bed to watch a little television before going to sleep he showed up at the bedroom door. Chuck always, ALWAYS, spends his evenings alone in the basement so that he can write poetry, but last night OF ALL NIGHTS he wanted to be with us. Before calling him up on the bed I asked him, “You want to be with us tonight?”
And I promise you if he could have put words to what he was feeling he would have said, “But I have farts to give.”
File under: Chuck , Nubbin

Send in the clowns

This is what I look like with the people I work with, taken an hour ago. There are 2 missing: one of my clerks and the woman we sometimes call The Little Nazi, who many years ago was the board's mole and helped get the director fired. She's management confidential and is the director's secretary. Anyway, which one am I? Give up? Second from the left. Looks as if Rich, the van driver is afraid of me. That's the director standing next to me. Funny how the rest of the staff is all cuddled together. Two portly men standing on the end, Bob at the very end--he's the bookmobile driver who right now is causing some real problems. He's 71 and wants everything done his way. Second man is in charge of our finances and he wants everything done his way. My friend Julie is between Betsy (in stripes) and D. (in pink). D. is the bookmobile clerk who is dumber than a box of hair and is our "goodwill ambassador" to the world on the bookmobile. She and Bob have been complaining nonstop about the new $300,000 bookmobile. It doesn't hold enough books, the shelves are too high, there's too much room for the children's area, it's too dusty, the picture we're standing in front of is too dark and ohmygod there are too many other things wrong with it to list.

These are the people I spend most of my life with.

Rabbit rabbit rabbit

Yesterday was the 1st of March, the day you're supposed to say "rabbit rabbit rabbit" as your first words of the day, for good luck to last you a year (until next March 1st). Those weren't my 1st words (my first words were "Good morning," spoken to the dogs), but I did say RABBITRABBITRABBIT while I was in the shower. Almost counts, but not quite.

Today I'm having an eat everything in sight morning. Devouring anything that I come across. I didn't finish the 2-day old chocolate donut from the staff room, though--it didn't taste good fresh, and now tastes worse stale. I bought chocolate milk when I got my coffee, to have something in my stomach when I took my 600 mg of ibuprofen on the way in. I've switched back to that for my knee--the narcotics didn't seem to help as much as good old Motrin. Nothing really seems to help, but ibuprofen numbs it a little bit. Tomorrow is my MRI. Can't wait to get this resolved. Every time I get firewood I have to climb over the first two rows buried in the snow in front of the currently-being-used rank, and it's very tipsy and my knee is very weak and it hurts. I'm afraid of falling, of having my knee lock, blahblahblah. Anyway, I have to go to RI next weekend for my mother's 80th birthday, then I go to Boston for the Public Library Association conference on the 22nd so I need some sort of resolution fitted into my schedule. Meanwhile I just look as if I'm trying to garner sympathy, limping around and groaning involuntarily.

It's been cold this week, -13 on Monday, -8 on Tuesday, 0 yesterday, but warmer today. I think it's supposed to be 30 today. Makes me realize it hasn't been above freezing in a long, long time. Of course it snowed last week, I had my car washed the day before. It looked so nice and shiny for a whole day. I found out last night that it was NOT my plow man who plowed my driveway on Saturday, but my friend Peter, who did it to surprise me. I have some really nice friends. I have to get some wine and take it to Peter's house this weekend. I met Dennis, who stays in one of the camps at the end of my road from time to time during the winter. He's the caretaker and uses his snowmobile to get to and from the camp, parking near my driveway. I saw him last night (he's a friend of Peter's) and he said "So your driveway is nicely plowed," then told me that Peter had done it while I was at Sunday dinner, knowing I was at Sunday dinner. Dennis also told me that the ice on the lake is really thick, but along the shore it has heaved up and is not so thick: he went through up to his knees last weekend. Guess I won't be going out on the lake this year. The mere thought of going through the ice totally freaks me out.

We've had the most spectacular sunset the last two nights. You know, Red sky at night, logger's delight. Sailer's delight. Farmer's delight. Fill in the blank. Anyway, I've said "WOW!" out loud, alone in my car, both nights as I've driven home, when I've seen the mountains lit up with

Alpenglow (German: Alpenglühen) is an optical phenomenon. When the Sun sets in the west, a horizontal red glowing band can sometimes be observed in the east. In mountainous areas such as the Alps, this can be caused by snow, moisture, and ice on mountain sides which receive the scattered red light from the setting Sun.
In the absence of mountains, the aerosols in the eastern part of the sky themselves can still be illuminated in the same way by the remaining red scattered light straddling the border of the Earth's own shadow (the terminator). This back-scattered light produces a red band above the darkness rising in the east. The difference with gegenschein, which is also found in the east, is that alpenglow is caused inside the Earth's atmosphere.


The mountains are really spectacular when this happens, and we only get to see it a couple of times a year. It's been a while since I've seen it so I was really pleased to come across it unexpectedly the other night. Jamie and I used to see it in Lake Placid on the High Peaks, spread out across the mountains--really stunning there. It was nice to see it on my own mountains, Silver Lake Mountain, Douglas, Catamount.

We're having a group photo taken of the whole staff in front of our new bookmobile this morning. Bob is busy washing the bus so it will have it's best smile on. I'm short so I never really get to stand behind someone in these shots to hid my chubby little body, but sometimes I can manage to tuck myself in somewhere.

Last night I changed the water in the fish tank. It was really dirty and there was brown stuff growing on the sides of the tank. How did the fishes reward me? They died. 4 of them did, so far. Floating belly up this morning. Well, I had to clean the tank. I don't know what was wrong with the water but obviously something was. So now it's back to new danios again, and I'm down one rasbora. The orange platy is hanging on by a slender thread. Don't tell PETA about me, please.