Travelin' Man

So he's off again!  Now he didn't leave in a tropical storm like his last big trip, but the trip has been fraught with problems.  He left last night and went to his biker buddy's house which is north of us and the direction they are going.  That part of the trip was smooth.  Then this morning when they left for the biggest part of their trip, it started with a dead bike.  No, it wasn't the Harley!  It was the Honda! It had to be jumped off at the house before they left and then again at McDonalds after breakfast.  Well, OK now maybe it'll be fine.  The battery will charge up from driving.  Sure until the bike runs out of gas.  Apparently the battery problems messed with the fuel light.  A friend brought them gas and they're off again.  Should be smooth sailing from here on out.  What else could possibly happen?  Oh yeah!  A bee can fly in the back of your shirt while you're driving.  That's what happened to Steve and stung him three times before he got pulled over to get it out.  At that point the flagman for road construction stopped them and they got a unexpected 30 minute break.  Nice!  Thanks ADOT!  Things seem to go uphill from here.  Lunch break, water stops and rest stops.  Life is good.  Just the bike and the road...and a dead battery 30 miles from the daily destination. What the what! (And yes it was the Harley this time)  Push starting 600 pounds when you've been riding all day is not a good thing.  A cold beer would have been much more appropriate.  They did finally make it though.  They are alive and well enough in Eldon, MO tonight.  A trip that should have taken 9 hours by car and maybe 10 by motorcycle turned into around 12 1/2.  That's part of the adventure though.  Next stop  Maryville, MO.  Let's see what tomorrow will bring.  

Revival?

Is it crazy to try to revive a blog in the middle of your busiest time of year?  Maybe. It's amazing what a little coffee along with a requirement to blog for your job can do.  As I typed in the info from yesterday's program onto our system's blog, I asked myself why I haven't done this for myself in about four years.  Anyone who knows me knows I have a lot to say.  Let's see if I actually start saying some of it.  I wonder if there's an app for this....

Summer

Summer means many things to many people. Right now for me it means that it is almost too hot to ride my motorcycle. Notice I said almost. Last Saturday when the thermometer said 101 as we rode through town, my husband and I put 150 miles on our bikes. I liken it to riding into a giant blow dryer. There is enough wind to dry the sweat but not to cool you off enough to keep from sweating. It's a unique experience. Even my husband who is what I would call one step below hard core considering his years of experience and the two tropical storms he has rode through, said "I'm not doing this again." I called him a wuss under my breath. Of course I didn't do it out loud because I'm not even on the bottom rung of the hard core ladder. I would do it again though. The main reason being that if I don't I may not get to ride again until next September. That is unacceptable. There are too many stessors in life to not be able to enjoy my main stress reliever.

Which brings me to the next thing summer means for librarians everywhere. Summer reading programs! Yes, they are stressful. Especially when you are in a single person branch and you have to deal with about 20 or more people wanting to check out at the same time. And you have to remember that most of these people can't see over the desk and are used to my undivided attention when they come into the library. They can't possibly understand that there are other library children in my life. Sometimes the preschool ones look at me like I'm cheating on them when I use my silly, fun voice on another child. It is very interesting. But for all the stress there is so much joy. Every library should be filled with children at least a few times a year if not every time it is open. It breathes life into it. And with that breath of life, it leaves behind a whirlwind of unshelved and misshelved books. Oh well! At least they are using the books. That's what will keep our doors open for years to come.

I leave you with a video from our program this week. We had a bagpiper. In an effort to stay with the artsy theme "Be Creative" this summer I invited local musicians to do a couple of programs. I tried to find instruments they may not have heard played live before. I definitely succeeded this time. Our piper was Zoe Brumfield from Forest. She did a beautiful job explaining the instrument and her garb and what it all means and how it works. The children and adults were all fascinated. It was a big hit. And that my friends is what it's all about.

All-Time Favorite

Here is what I guess is turning into my monthly post. Most of you know that one of my favorite past times is reading to children. I love story time, but I also go and read to kindergartners at the school at least once a week and I read to other groups whenever a teacher asks. Sometimes it's difficult coming up with books that you enjoy reading and that the kids enjoy listening to as well. I always try to find new books to share with them, but in the end everyone who reads to kids has the old favorites they fall back on. This is mine. Once Upon a Cool Motorcycle Dude by Kevin O'Malley. I started reading this book when it came in my library five years ago when my son was in kindergarten. It was an immediate hit. (Back then I was still on the back of a bike, by the way.) I had to read the book more than once that year to my son's class. Since then it has always been a hit with whatever age group to whom I read it. The premise is a boy and a girl telling a story together for a class project. Of course it goes wildly different directions according to which one is telling it. At the end I always ask who liked the girl's or boy's story better. Inevitably, there are girls (like me) who prefer the boy's story to the girl's (blech!), but every once in a while there will be a shy little boy who raises his hand because he likes the girl's story better. I respect that in a man. I got a surprise this winter though when I subbed for my son's class for a couple of days. Of course, I brought books to read to them when we had time. What surprised me is that several of them asked for the motorcycle book. They were shocked that I didn't bring it. I thought for sure these grown up fourth graders were way too mature for a book that I had read to them in kindergarten. They were genuinely disappointed though, so of course I went to the library and brought it the next day. They were so happy. It also felt good to have my 30 seconds of being the cool mom. Who knows? Maybe someday I'll be reading this book to them as seniors. A librarian can dream, right?

Right place at the right time

We recently went to Florida for my son's spring break. It was time for a vacation and there is nothing that relieves stress more than screaming at the top of your lungs on a roller coaster. I mean there are many times I've felt like doing that, but nowhere else is it considered acceptable. Try that in Wal-Mart some time and see what happens. Anyway, while we were there we got to see an awesome sight. There was a space shuttle launch. I have been to Florida on numerous occasions and never had it coincide with this event. What makes it even more significant is the fact that there are very few of these left to take place. We knew the launch was around 7:30. We were at Universal's theme parks which closed at 7. We then made our way to the roof of the parking garage and waited. It was well worth the wait. Even though it was a good hour's drive away, we had no trouble seeing it and enjoying it. We ran into some other people there for the same thing. One couple we were talking to was from Canada and they said that the top of this parking garage was where they were told to go for the best view. And to think my Steve thought of that all on his own. I knew there was a reason I married him.

This was definitely one of the highlights of our trip. For us, it was a once in a lifetime memory. We got to see it, enjoy it, photograph it and we didn't even have to sit in the three and a half hour traffic back from coast where it launched from. (Deep satisfied sigh...)

Staff Development gone awry.

Now I know there are a lot of cute pictures out there from our staff development in November. I have a post of one of them on this blog and there are more on my fellow CMRLSers' blogs. I just wanted to take a moment and share one of my favorite pictures from the day. Now I have not been able to identify who or what this is exactly. Perhaps you could help me. I have some theories. Whenever a lot of us women get together, health problems usually come up, so perhaps this was an attempt at a close up of someone's melanoma. There is also the possibility that it is some part of the decorations. Maybe a broken branch. An ant in a ten gallon cowboy hat and all we can see is the hat. It doesn't appear to be anything obscene. I'm positive about that since we have not added an open bar to the catering at our staff development yet. (Notice I said yet because I add that to the bottom of my suggestion sheet every year.) Maybe it is a black-eyed pea from lunch although I don't think that was on the menu that day. It could just be a scab, but don't ask me how I got a picture of that. All I know is that these accidental shots are usually a lot more fun than the planned ones. Let's see what you guys can come up with. Don't let me down!

Yelp!

I don't know how to begin this tale of woe. It starts out simple with such good intentions and ends miserably. I keep a bucket of water with Mr. Clean or something similar in it under my desk for cleaning the unmentionable books that often arrive at the desk. Today, I reached for the Handi Wipe in the bucket to wring it out and thought I felt something. Then, as I was cleaning the book, I moved the rag and there was a huge, albeit dead, cockroach (hear the Psycho music that is playing in my head right now for dramatic effect) stuck to the rag. I didn't really scream like a girl because I'm really a tomboy. I'd call it more of a yelp. After several seconds of doing the creeped - out shake, I retrieved it and placed it in the trash. Now the moral to this is not don't clean the books. Although I have to admit, that was my first inclination. Just check the bucket before you put your hand in. My question is why do roaches like the library so much? Should I call MLC reference and ask them? It doesn't seem to matter if the building is old or new, they still seem to show up. I even found one in the paper tray of my printer one day. (That definitely earned a yelp because it was alive.) I mean it's a library, not a grocery store. I know they can live like a year off the glue of a stamp or something crazy like that, but what are they living on here. I guess Mr. Clean when I'm not looking. The only food here is in the refrigerator or sealed containers. What's an entomophobic librarian to do?