Lost and found

I think most states have them..."lost money" departments for unclaimed property, usually the state treasurer's office. I've seen ads in the paper and on TV for them. Never really thought much about it.

Awhile back, my brother let me know I was on the "lost money" list for Illinois (thanks, Clint). I printed their forms, filled them out, and submitted my proofs of identity. The identity thing can be a bit tricky. The lost money was in my maiden name at an address where I lived 21 years ago, but I had to prove that I was that person at that place at that time.

While I waited for a response (about three months), I checked the sites for every other state I've lived in and any other family members I could think of - no other hits at this time.

Finally, today, my lost money has been found. I received a check for $30.25. Yeehaw!! Not like it's the pot o' gold at the end of the rainbow or anything, but thirty bucks is thirty bucks!

Thing is, I still have absolutely no idea what this money is from. The check came with no explanation. I guess lost money can also be mystery money.

Y'all better go and check out those sites....

What I Do - Part 1

So...I work in a library. I know, you probably have a mental picture of me now...conservative dress, hair up in a bun. Well, my clothes are pretty plain and functional, but there's no way you're getting my hair in a bun. I work behind the scenes. Not with people but with a machine. And books. Of course books. Some days lots and lots of books. Oh...videos, cassette tapes, CDs, and DVDs, too.

My principal job is operating a book sort machine. You, the patron, drop your book in the book drop, and it makes its way back to me using a series of conveyor belts. Once in the processing room, the book is sent into the book sort machine, sized, scanned, resensitized, rough-sorted to a specific cart, removed from the cart, and finally fine-sorted and ready to shelve. All this to get the books back to their spots, ready to be checked out once again. So, you, the patron can start this process all over again.

Just to keep the days interesting, a myriad of hitches can occur. Because those conveyor belts take 90-degree turns, things can get stuck along the way. Sometimes in the ceiling. We have lots of ladders. Don't worry, I've had the official ladder training. Because the system is 10 years old now, some things just plain wear out. Because the whole kit-and-kaboodle is computer driven, well....we all know about computers and their moods. Because some people don't like to follow directions, bad things can happen. Gertrude (as we've named her) is always thinking of new ways to keep things interesting.

It's my job to keep Gertrude happy--or pull my hair out trying (now you know why it won't go up in a bun). I write procedures for operation and train new folks how to handle those operations. I troubleshoot the issues, fix what I can, and I have learned who to call when I need help. I've become the jack-of-all-trades in library processing. Never in a million years would I have guessed I'd be a book sort machine operator, but it's all good. I actually like my job. Seven years and counting....

Running dog

On Black Friday, instead of us running around town and in the stores, we let the dog do the running. We took her to the local bark park. This was her second visit, the first one being a bit overwhelming and strange for her. On this outing she was willing to venture a little farther from her people, though not too far. We, her humans, congregated on benches in a corner. It was interesting how she started to guard that piece of the park as her own territory. Every dog that ventured toward us was thoroughly sniffed and screened. It was a good outing for us, too. Walking to the park, getting fresh air, and sitting in the afternoon sun. Much better than fighting the shopping crowds. I think we'll be taking her there again.

First "snow"

Yesterday we had snow! The first of the season for us. It was enough that the schools had a 2-hour delayed start.

We have lived here for nine years and this is still hilarious to me. We had barely enough snow to cover the grass. I don't remember ever having a delayed school start when I was young. You either went to school or you had a snow day. And it certainly took more than a dusting to make that happen. Snow in the south is handled much different than what I'm used to. When it snows here, everyone stays in their house and everything closes down. Just the mere mention of the "S" word sends everyone running to the store for bread and milk. ??

The first winter we lived here, it snowed a lot. By any standard it was a fair amount of snow. The first storm dropped four to six inches. Our reaction - get out the snow shovels and start clearing it off. It wasn't until I had been out shoveling for awhile that I realized something - no one else was out in the neighborhood. Turns out nobody here had snow shovels (I did hear later that one neighbor was using a spatula to clean off her front porch). The procedure for snow management - wait until it melts.

Here's a few pictures from early yesterday morning. I apologize for the darkness. I had to take the photos early as the snow disappeared here as soon as the sun came up.

Extinct instinct

I wrote earlier about my four-legged personal trainer. She's still trying to do her job and get me out walking, but the colder weather has made me more stubborn. Forseeing that this was coming, I joined the local Y about a month ago. My thinking was that I could do weight training there as well as walking on the track in cold weather. I am still doing Zumba once a week and I still walk with the dog on moderate-weather days. It's actually been working out well. I enjoy having a variety of activities. However, it has made me wonder....

Why do we have to work so hard to stay healthy? It takes a lot of planning and effort to pull this off. Sometimes we're successful and sometimes we're not. What happened to our ability to instinctively do what's best for us? It's gone. We don't always eat real food, we aren't always as active as we should be, and yet it can feel so natural. Is this an early step on the path to our own extinction? Survival of the fittest is taking on new meaning.

Fallish camping

Gosh, I didn't realize it had been so long since I posted here. Sometimes time just disappears. Last weekend we did some camping. We had been wanting to do some fall weather camping. It was fall, even if the camping wasn't exactly what we had pictured. The campground wasn't all bad, there just wasn't the piles of leaves around we had imagined.


The homestead.

The view from our front door.

Regardless, I was happy that we were all able to get together and spend some time just hanging out together. It was a welcome lazy weekend. They say that home is where you hang your hat, and it doesn't much matter where that is.

Dude. Cool...

appliances, that is. We have had a deep freeze and beverage fridge in the basement for eons. We're not sure of their ages, but they have to be each at least 25 years old. They have certainly been faithful and put in their service. In the interest of hopefully more efficient energy use and updating things before they die, we did freezer/fridge shopping about a month ago. Gathered prices, looked at models, decided what we wanted...then did nothing.

Today I suggested that we go to the store and actually purchase the new stuff and set up delivery. Quick, easy trip. We already knew what we wanted, so this should be a no-brainer. We finally get the attention of the sales guy (he was much busier trying to sell some higher-end stuff). We tell him what we want and that we'd like it delivered. Well...we don't normally deliver these 'cause they're sitting in our storeroom in back (and you're not spending nearly enough). Delivery will be around $110 and we might be able to get there about Tuesday. Hmmm... OR, he says, you can rent our flat bed truck for $20 and take them home yourself right now. Well, THAT certainly sounds like the better deal. We only live 10 minutes from the store and the rental is for 75 minutes. No problem!

We dash home and start the moving process. We very soon find out that old fridge is MUCH heavier than we though. Luckily, our neighbor Phil was out working in his driveway. He had offered to help if needed (wonder if he'll do that again) so we sent Amy screaming over there. We need help! After much finaggling and rearranging, rope use, and grunting, we (all four of us but mostly Wayne and Phil) got the old stuff out of the basement and the new stuff in.


Hmmm...rectangular peg through a square hole. How did they (the poor movers) get this down here, anyway?


Take off the doors, take out the shelves, take out anything that's not glued down. Take off the handrail. Clear off the stairs. Take off the hallway door.


Fridge is out. Hopefully the freezer will be easier...


Fridge inerds (and some well-hidden mouse-stored acorns) strewn about the lawn.

Our new yard art. Some would say we now fit the NC stereotype.

The new ones in place, looking all shiny and sleek. I sure hope they live up to our expectations. We all know...they don't make things like they used to. Wonder if these will last 25+ years.

Mega thanks to Wayne and Phil for orchestrating the moves and to Amy for reassembling/putting things back in place afterward.

P.S. We went over our 75 minutes and had to pay for an extra hour.

:-)