A house is born

OK, at long last you’ll be able to see the house in Yelm arriving and being installed on its foundation. I have still photos of some points in the process, but mainly the video (which is only 8:40 – not bad for two days worth of footage!) will tell the story.

The house is a triple-wide modular home bought by my mom to add on her 5-acre property near Yelm, WA. She’s 72 and can’t take care of the acreage herself, plus would like to have some sense of “community” and family on the place – she has no real close neighbors now. We (Mel, me, Katie and CJ) have been living in a 1,000-sq.ft. house with four dogs as well and not much yard. We came to the conclusion about 6 months or so ago that the perfect solution to both dilemmas would be to have a second house on her 5 acres (can’t be subdivided, but you can move in a close relative) and have all of us living there.

It has been a long process to come to the point where a house was actually found, decisions made on who lives where, etc., but we’re anxious to put the plan into action. The first step is putting the house on the property. I’ve never been part of a project like this and as I talked to many folks about it, they wanted to see how such a house was installed. So I chronicled the process and have put together a little video production.

I'll take some more photos of the more-or-less-finished house and post later today.

Book Repair ROCKS!

OK it’s official: I love books, not just reading them, but the physical books themselves. They call that a bibliophile but you can just call me a book lover.

I took one of the most interesting classes this summer quarter – Book Repair – and I had the best time. We met all Saturday for 8 weeks at the campus, which is about an hour’s drive from my house. There were 10 students, so we got to know each other pretty well. We learned about the structure and function of books as well as how different damage happens. We took in our own books (or in the case of several librarians in the class, books from their library) with different damage to repair. We learned so much cool stuff and it felt like arts & crafts each week. We repaired torn pages, loose pages, torn bindings, damaged spines, and we even turned a paperback book into a hardcover book!

Since I’m a bibliophile and take great care of my books, it was sometimes hard to find damaged books to take in for class. So I put out the call to several people to find books needing repairs. I got some real beat up books that unfortunately were beyond my skills. I would love to learn how to repair books that are literally falling apart, but this class was centered on fixing damage before it needed a complete overhaul.

The pictures here are of spine repairs and corner repairs that I did for class. I completely replaced the spine on two books (The Magic of Xanth and The Circle of Braves) and repaired the cover corners as well as the internal spine of Zane Grey’s The Lost Wagon Train. Don’t they look cool!?

All the corners are recovered even though only one was really beaten up. The damaged spine is replaced and everything looks great.

In addition I took Collection Development, where we learned about the decision-making process behind what books a library should add to (or subtract from) its collection. We talked about censorship, finding appropriate materials, policies, and other library-geek details. It was really interesting and something I had never really learned about. I also had Pacific Northwest History, which as an intense bunch of reading and writing, but I learned a lot of interesting stuff about the region.

Added later Sunday: Here are a couple of photos of the book by Brenda that I turned from paperback to hardcover. Pretty special, if I do say so myself...

Coming next (I think): An update on the move to Yelm, including video of the house being installed.

Kudos to the gang

I have to take a moment today to acknowledge the love and support of my friends and family. Going back to school has been a big step for me – bigger than I had envisioned. I get swept up in projects, assignments and other school-related stuff and I have to step back into the shadows of family life and other activities. Through it all, I have the support, encouragement and help of family and friends. I want everyone to know that it does not go unnoticed. All the kind words of encouragement, all the “atta-girls” and most especially the times when everyone gives me the space and time to do what I need to do for my education, are very much appreciated. I can sometimes become quite intense about school and my laser focus makes me distracted from things outside of school work and what I’m learning – I readily acknowledge that about myself. I have come to the conclusion that it is because my new avocation is not only important to my future, but also terribly exciting for me. I yearn to soak up every bit of information I can about Library & Information Services; I throw myself headlong into my studies because they mean so much to me. Not to mention that odd little way I have of not settling for mediocre grades – I just can’t help myself there.

So to everyone who understands when I have a big project due or some other “crunch week” crisis and you don’t call or worry why you haven’t heard from me: THANK YOU. I know you’re all out there caring about me but giving me the space to grow and learn in my own way. And I appreciate it so much.

Coming soon (as soon as Finals are over!): I’ll share photos of a couple of my way cool Book Repair projects. And I still haven't gotten to the video and photos of the house project, have I? :(

Really, I'm doing OK

Just in case you've been checking on me, I rally am fine. So fine that I haven't had time to post in a few weeks. There has been school -- which includes a 5-credit Pacific Northwest History class that is INTENSE and a book repair class that meets all day on Saturdays -- and there has been the "moving to Yelm" project. Plus, last weekend I got the pleasure of teaching a seminar for new agility people on Saturday then spent Sunday judging a mock trial for a local agility club that's getting its feet wet. It was an exhausting weekend, but we had a lot of fun (Katie was along for all the fun) and helped introduce a lot of new people to agility. Plus it gave me a good introduction to the world of judging. Incidentally, that may just mean I put that on hold for quite a while. I realize now how much work it takes for one weekend.
Later, probably next week, I'll be posting about the fascinating project going on in Yelm. The new house is on site, just not on the foundation yet. Monday will be the big day for that. We're taking pics AND video, so stay tuned!

Speaking of projects

I’m getting started today on the project to learn (er, re-learn) Spanish. I’ve checked out an audiobook from the library and put it on my iPod. For those who don’t know the story here: I learned quite a bit of Spanish when we lived in Buenos Aires, Argentina for about a year when I was 8 or so. I don’t think I really kept up on it in elementary school and then when I went to Jr. High, I took 3 years of French. I followed that up with a year of Latin in High School. (At that point I wanted to be a vet, so it was good for learning all those Latin names for things, right?) Result: Three languages jumbled up in my head and not one will come out at once. I can understand a lot of spoken Spanish and French; unfortunately they come out garbled together if I try to speak one or the other. Grrr.
So I’ve decided that I need to learn Spanish once again. Katie has taken Spanish in high school so we can practice together and Mel has decided it sounds like fun, too. I have an inkling that when CJ signs up for language he’ll be taking Spanish as well. (High school graduation requirements include two years of foreign language.)There you have it, a new subject to learn that will help me greatly in my journey to work in Library Land PLUS something I’ve been meaning to do for some time. Now I’ve got to see how this whole audiobook learning process goes….

A special holiday

Today, while most of the country is celebrating our nation's independence and patriotism, the JDC tribe will be honoring La Doctora. Her birthday is WAY more important than any national holiday could be.
So everyone take time off work so you can say "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!" to her in style. We love you and look forward to another 60 (or so) years sharing our lives with you.

Strawberry update

OK, so after the lack of strawberry pie was duly noted, it was off to Spooner's for more berries. This time a half-flat should suffice, right??
Safely back home, I grabbed the trusty Strawberry Pie a la JDC recipe and commenced to workin' my magic.
The pie was assembled and taken to the Yelm property to share with Mums and in honor of Rosie's 8th birthday. (We had a doggie pool party!)
The pie was so delicious that it was tough to save a piece to take home to Katie. (Good thing she made me promise her one!) With the pie polished off Thursday night, but with berries remaining, the cry went up for "More Pie!"
Friday morning, when I went to make more pie, alas there weren't enough berries left. I told Mel if he wanted more pie, he'd have to go get more berries -- but a pint would do.
Not one to let the opportunity slip by to get even more pie made, he returned home with not a pint, but another half-flat (6 pints)!
So there's another pie made, plenty of fresh berries to be eaten plain, and the hopes that I will be makin' more pie later.
As my FB status says, we're trying to see if there is such a thing as Strawberry Overload, but haven't reached it yet!
Nothing like the fine summer weather we're having and fresh strawberries for a Fourth of July weekend!