They use sand here to give traction to cars on the roads so that they don’t slide off when the roads get really greasy from the snow and icy rain etc. They also have a bucket of sand just outside our front door so that we can scoop up the sand and throw it on the icy walkway to prevent us falling on the ice underneath the snow. A few nights ago, it was particularly slippery and no one had thrown sand on the ice and it was very tricky to keep ones feet under that condition. A young man who lives with his wife and young son in the apartment underneath us, came out just as we were walking in (make that gingerly walking on the ice and snow) and he said, stop, It is wicked slippery here and I shall get some sand to put out for you. It was a blessing to be sure and we were able to walk safely into the house.
The sand migrates from outside into the house. It ‘walks’ up the stairs and into the apartment. The manager of the apartment vacuums it up once a week, but it should be more often than that because our entry way and that of our neighbors across the hall, is the main one used by all 12 apartments in this building. There is a floor above us and one below us and they all seem to use this front door to access and or leave the building. The sand sticks to the soles of our shoes and migrates secretly into the building. Perhaps the sand is cold too and wants to be warm? I wonder if the sand comes from the coast because it is grey. When we went to Bar Harbor, I collected some sand and it is grey. I thought that was rather different because the beaches in Australia are white and the beaches in Hawaii are white (except for Kalapana Black sand beach which is volcanic sand). If every municipality uses sand from the beaches of Maine to give traction during the snow months, pretty soon they may not have any beaches left? It is a question that needs to be answered because I find it difficult to imagine a coastline without sand. Well, we did note that the beach at Nice, France is pebbles and not sand. Perhaps they used up all the sand there and pebbles are all that is left? Don’t know, but it is a question worth asking. I asked the question at lunch time and was told that the sand is not ‘sand’ but rather pulverized granite from the days when this area was covered by a glacier. Guess the whole of Maine is a Murrain? There are lots of boulders around to suggest that such is the case. At Acadia Park, there is a huge boulder balanced on top of a mountain that they say came from somewhere else moved here by the glacier that long since melted away – Yep! That was well before Al Gore took up the hue and cry “Global Warming”.
I received a note from the Arizona Museum in Tucson regarding the quilt show. Apparently the Secretary of State, Ken Bennett, is going to do the honors at the ribbon cutting for the opening on February 18th. I called the Museum and asked if someone could stand in for me since I am here in Maine. I hope that it is ok with them.
We became quite excited this morning when Anne came in with a big package from FecEx. We thought it might be our shuttle but no, it was a box of 4 external hard drives for Records Preservationist Jeff Brown. We do not have the latest shuttle that we sent in last week Friday – they say it has been sent to us but if it gets lost we really are up a creek without a paddle for next week’s work.
It is interesting to note the English that is used in these early books. This series began in 1816 and it is noteworthy that most of the names of the men are definitely Biblical which shows the deep religious roots of the population in those days. I noted that some men’s names are followed by the designation “Gentleman” which means that he is quite well off. Another designation is ‘Yeoman’ which means farmer or tradesman. One more is ‘esquire’ which denotes that this person is a lawyer. Other older English is quite different to read. They use the word “saith” when someone is speaking but use the word “said” to denote a place, person or object. I am not up on legalese but it is fun to work with these books. These books are from the Penobscott Court of Common Pleas.
The forecast for today was supposed to be for icy rain. It never came but there was a fog caused by a warm front that came through and so we had Hoar Frost on the trees. I hope that we have another day when we will have Hoar Frost. I saw it once at Johnstown and it was the most beautiful thing I have seen. It is ice crystals that form on the back side of the twigs and branches and they build up as the wind gently blows the very moist fog over the twigs and the ice crystals form as the wind blows over. It made the higher elevation trees look like the trees on the Christmas cards.
I had success with a program on the computer at the archives today. Manny Sanhueza wanted a copy of the work outline that is on our computer and I was able to figure out how to do the screen shot program that he loaded on it back in October and capture the work order and even manage to send it to him as an attachment to the email. Woooohoooo! Am I getting good or what? I really had no idea of how it worked but played with it and got it working. Every little computer function that I can do is very hard won – I was not born in the computer age, it just came upon me while I was not looking and attacked me with a vengeance…..but I am curious enough to keep pushing buttons until I make it work for me.
Pushing buttons is good for your computer – similar to eating chocolate (my favorite food group).
They use sand here to give traction to cars on the roads so that they don’t slide off when the roads get really greasy from the snow and icy rain etc. They also have a bucket of sand just outside our front door so that we can scoop up the sand and throw it on the icy walkway to prevent us falling on the ice underneath the snow. A few nights ago, it was particularly slippery and no one had thrown sand on the ice and it was very tricky to keep ones feet under that condition. A young man who lives with his wife and young son in the apartment underneath us, came out just as we were walking in (make that gingerly walking on the ice and snow) and he said, stop, It is wicked slippery here and I shall get some sand to put out for you. It was a blessing to be sure and we were able to walk safely into the house.
The sand migrates from outside into the house. It ‘walks’ up the stairs and into the apartment. The manager of the apartment vacuums it up once a week, but it should be more often than that because our entry way and that of our neighbors across the hall, is the main one used by all 12 apartments in this building. There is a floor above us and one below us and they all seem to use this front door to access and or leave the building. The sand sticks to the soles of our shoes and migrates secretly into the building. Perhaps the sand is cold too and wants to be warm? I wonder if the sand comes from the coast because it is grey. When we went to Bar Harbor, I collected some sand and it is grey. I thought that was rather different because the beaches in Australia are white and the beaches in Hawaii are white (except for Kalapana Black sand beach which is volcanic sand). If every municipality uses sand from the beaches of Maine to give traction during the snow months, pretty soon they may not have any beaches left? It is a question that needs to be answered because I find it difficult to imagine a coastline without sand. Well, we did note that the beach at Nice, France is pebbles and not sand. Perhaps they used up all the sand there and pebbles are all that is left? Don’t know, but it is a question worth asking. I asked the question at lunch time and was told that the sand is not ‘sand’ but rather pulverized granite from the days when this area was covered by a glacier. Guess the whole of Maine is a Murrain? There are lots of boulders around to suggest that such is the case. At Acadia Park, there is a huge boulder balanced on top of a mountain that they say came from somewhere else moved here by the glacier that long since melted away – Yep! That was well before Al Gore took up the hue and cry “Global Warming”.
I received a note from the Arizona Museum in Tucson regarding the quilt show. Apparently the Secretary of State, Ken Bennett, is going to do the honors at the ribbon cutting for the opening on February 18th. I called the Museum and asked if someone could stand in for me since I am here in Maine. I hope that it is ok with them.
We became quite excited this morning when Anne came in with a big package from FecEx. We thought it might be our shuttle but no, it was a box of 4 external hard drives for Records Preservationist Jeff Brown. We do not have the latest shuttle that we sent in last week Friday – they say it has been sent to us but if it gets lost we really are up a creek without a paddle for next week’s work.
It is interesting to note the English that is used in these early books. This series began in 1816 and it is noteworthy that most of the names of the men are definitely Biblical which shows the deep religious roots of the population in those days. I noted that some men’s names are followed by the designation “Gentleman” which means that he is quite well off. Another designation is ‘Yeoman’ which means farmer or tradesman. One more is ‘esquire’ which denotes that this person is a lawyer. Other older English is quite different to read. They use the word “saith” when someone is speaking but use the word “said” to denote a place, person or object. I am not up on legalese but it is fun to work with these books. These books are from the Penobscott Court of Common Pleas.
The forecast for today was supposed to be for icy rain. It never came but there was a fog caused by a warm front that came through and so we had Hoar Frost on the trees. I hope that we have another day when we will have Hoar Frost. I saw it once at Johnstown and it was the most beautiful thing I have seen. It is ice crystals that form on the back side of the twigs and branches and they build up as the wind gently blows the very moist fog over the twigs and the ice crystals form as the wind blows over. It made the higher elevation trees look like the trees on the Christmas cards.
I had success with a program on the computer at the archives today. Manny Sanhueza wanted a copy of the work outline that is on our computer and I was able to figure out how to do the screen shot program that he loaded on it back in October and capture the work order and even manage to send it to him as an attachment to the email. Woooohoooo! Am I getting good or what? I really had no idea of how it worked but played with it and got it working. Every little computer function that I can do is very hard won – I was not born in the computer age, it just came upon me while I was not looking and attacked me with a vengeance…..but I am curious enough to keep pushing buttons until I make it work for me.
Pushing buttons is good for your computer – similar to eating chocolate (my favorite food group).
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