Want some cheese with that whine?

Oh how I wanted to sleep in the boat house last night. It was 60 degrees and wonderful. I had to meet contractors to talk about whether or not camp was going to collapse in a heap during the winter (it truly is not going to), plus I had to make cheesecake for the mo-mos I work with, as we are having our monthly "we so love working together" luncheon today. Plus I had to stay a little late after work working on collecting specs for the new car we're buying for the system, then get the supplies for the cheesecake, then try to get to camp by 5:15 to meet the contractors. But the contractors weren't at camp at 5:15, so I stayed until 5:45, then went home, where they had been waiting for me because Stevie thought I meant my house was falling down (although I KNOW I told him to meet me at camp). This meant the contractor/quote thing took a lot longer and I didn't get home until 7, too late to make a cheesecake and get to the boat house in a reasonable time. So yes, whine whine whine. But: cheesecake turned out well and if that's all I have to complain about what is wrong with me?

I left the door to the outside world from the bedroom propped open but pretendedly blocked off last night so of course Tess escaped. Pushed open the screen door, then blammed! the whole screen insert apart to get back in (door opens out). This dog reminds me of my yellow Lab Emma, 2 dogs ago, who was the most determined dog I've ever known. She used to jump up on the stove to get to the top of the refrigerator, where Jamie stored the bread (so typical of him: at 6'3", only he could reach the bread). Once I came home to a glowing red burner that she had turned on to high in her efforts at pyrootin'. Anyway, Tess is a much, much nicer dog and her hyjinx (what an awful word) are more endearing. But that's what I faced this morning.

And when I got to work I had plenty of time to research, like a real reference librarian, the 3 models of vehicles we're considering purchasing. I collected (too much) information and have passed it along to Julie, who, it turns out, has already made up her mind because we can get the Chevy Equinox locally right away. Well screw me.

Mouse death toll now up to 13 but there are more, as bait continues to be licked clean night after night. I may take the drastic step of getting a cat. Julie, with 9 cats, has one to spare. She's picked one out for me, a good mouser with a nice personality. She's named Dot because she's black with a white spot on her chest, but I've already re-named her Spot. If I decide to go through with this I'll pick her up maybe Friday or this weekend. I have high hopes for this cat--get those mousies, Spot! And grab a few red squirrels while you're at it. Fred says it's really stupid to get a cat in order to have a mouser, but this one comes with a guarantee. Anyway, we'll see.

A friend is doing some work with his backhoe down the road from me and is sick of having to back down my driveway because there's no room to turn around, so today he's starting to move my stone wall over to the edge of the forest. Should be an interesting project. He's been over at least 3 times to talk to me about it, and we went over which bushes I would like to have him leave alone, if possible. I told him to work on it only as long as he's having fun, but no longer. Men like to play with their big noisy toys, which is why he's really doing this. He might also remove some of the inconvenient rocks in my driveway, depends on what he feels like doing. People are funny when they get started on projects, even when they're working at someone else's house. Right now the backhoe is parked at my house.

Next weekend is Columbus Day--I have this weekend to prepare myself for the onslaught. Fred and I shared the last dockside drink of the year at his place earlier this week and we talked about how intense and hectic Col. Day is. Way too many people, way too much activity. Holts, Linda, Bill's place full of people, others you never know will show up until they get here. This weekend two batches of people are coming. The color (of leaves) isn't great this year but so far there are still leaves on most of the trees, so at least visitors won't be disappointed. At this point I don't think I really care.

Tasks for today? Run the last of the reports identifying collection strengths of our member libraries in prep. for work on cooperative collection development project with them. Have to set up program/policy by next year. As if. Continue exploring work from fantastic workshop I went to on Monday. Cool stuff to play with--wow! get to play with stuff online in the name of work! hot damn.

Must get through staff luncheon, however.