The day before 4th July, 2012

Today is the day before THE DAY – 4^th of July, 2012.  The air at the Archives was cold, crisp and festive as folks talked about what they were going to do on the 4^th.  Some were going to do something as exciting as mowing their grass while others planned to stay home and off the streets.  I think that we fall into the latter category.

We changed things around at the archives by moving the cradle to another table and using the static table that the family history society provided for previous missionaries.  We taped up a template and put the military cards directly on it, inside the tape template and digitized all day, except for lunch.

One of the problems we were having with the cradle was that it was not high enough and caused us to bend over the table to put the cards down and to retrieve them.  The static table(Meaning that it does not move but is flat and without a moving glass like the cradle) can be made higher than the archives cradle and it is less difficult to operate with a higher table.  So Bill stood and put the cards down, I clicked and handed him the new cards and so we went on all day like that.  When it was time to select a new pack of cards, I got up from my chair and marched around the room to stop my feet from going to sleep or something as well as to get the kinks out. 

We discovered a major error in the rework assignment.  The folders are arranged by starting with a certain name and then 1700 names later ending with a certain name.  So we were working away and we noticed that in the “S” listings, names beginning with S, all of a sudden there were “F” listings, names beginning with F.  Now that is a head scratcher.  How did they make such a mistake?  Who knows.  So we called Salt Lake and found out that we could just digitize the boxes as is and put a note in to tell them that there was an error in the original work order. 

After work, Bill went to the YMCA and I walked from the Archives over to Sumner Street to photograph number 12 Sumner Street.  This is the house where the escaping slaves could come and be safe from the authorities.  There were a number of safe houses for them, but this one still stands in Augusta.  I spoke to the man on the front porch and he confirmed that this was indeed a safe house on the Underground Railroad, but that in 1929 it underwent major renovations and so it is no longer the same way it was during the underground railroad days.  It is a rather nondescript brick house these days and it certainly does not belie its colorful past.

I headed back across town to the YMCA and on the way I walked into the Library on  Winthrop street.  It is a charming old building that has been added upon and added upon to where it is now quite a stately building and houses loads of books as well as a bank of computers.  I did not ask, but I assume that they have wi-fi in the building…….most libraries have that offering.

Further along State street, I was passing the Kennebec Bank and their gardeners have put in red begonias and dusty miller to last for the summer.  It looks really pretty.

Arrived at the YMCA and Bill was not ready to leave so I sat and looked at a National Geographic that said they had found the missing link – a Neanderthal person buried in a cave.  They even made a life like sculpture  of the Neanderthal. …..or what they thought a Neanderthal should look like.  Obviously they have not spent much time at the mall observing people, now have they?

We came home after the YMCA and ate dinner then we went over to Mary’s house to see Puffalump and Tilly.  Both kitties are now 8 weeks old and are too cute for words.  Puffalump has been knighted and is now known as Sir Puffalump.  He has grown a lot since I first saw him when his eyes were not yet opened.  He is the prettiest long hair kitten I have seen in a long while.

On the way home we stopped at Hannafords and bought the rest of the food we need for the house – now we can function really really well.  The Landlord’s helper had also been in our apartment and dropped off a second front door key and a key to the mail box.  Our regular mail will still be delivered to 592 Riverside drive but our church mail will come to this apartment.  We will share our old address box with the new tenant for the next 10 weeks.

I have been going walking every morning around 5.30am and it is really nice early in the morning here.  Later on in the day, the humidity rises and life gets sticky and hard to live with.  I have a listing of towns where I have lived and I have the satellite provide me with current temperatures.  What fun that is?  If we ever get rid of these IPhones, I will really really miss them.

The sale of fireworks is now legal here in Maine and people have been buying them like crazy.  It is now not unusual to hear firecrackers going off here and there.  One man let off a big firecracker and it veered off a nearby structure and hit him in the head and they thought he was going to lose his eye.