thirteen feet 6 inches of court record - A RECORD

 this long string of papers measures thirteen feet 6 inches in length and consists of many pieces of paper attached to form one long record of a court case.  So far this is the longest of the court case collections that I have seen.  I do not think that this will be one of the records we can just throw on the table and digitize to make up to the 400 per hour that our supervisor wants us to do.

 This drawing of the two hands is on another record that is one court case in a pile of papers.  It is about a bankruptcy and I wonder if this is the court reporter drawing an arm wrestling situation as a form of settling out the differences?

 After the papers are humidified and flattened out between the pieces of tractor feed paper, we put big boxes on them to weight them down.  This pile represents 2 terms of court papers and they are ready to be written up.

these are two of the boxes we use to flatten out the papers.

As a sign of the changing season, each morning we have a fog enveloping our area.  Not far from our apartment is the Kennebec River and when we go to work, at the intersection of Rte 3 and Rte 201 we can see a thick fog over the river.  The sun burns off the fog, but it can be a hazard in places because it is like pea soup and hard to see where you are going.  I have decided not to walk in the morning because of the fog.   During the Summer I used to walk about 4.45am but it is still rather dark at 5.30am and that added to the fog makes it dangerous to walk on the road.   The drivers on Riverside Drive are going way too fast to even notice someone walking to the side of the road and I do not want to become a statistic.

Yesterday Jason and I got into a conversation over spread sheets and goal setting and we both agreed that the heads of organizations set lofty goals and then expect the workers under them to meet those goals.  He talked in particular about a job he had with a local business that has its headquarters in a warmer climate, and they called about the store meeting its goals for the day by asking how many customers have come through the door and how many have newly signed up for a credit card with the store.  When headquarters were informed that only one customer had come through the door and that that customer had come to return an expensive coffee maker because it was defective, headquarters was aghast that business was so poor and what was the store going to do about it.  It was explained that a  nor’ Easter had hit and the snow was really deep and the town had pretty much shut down.  Headquarters still insisted that people would be out to shop and that the staff had to do their best to reach the daily quota of credit cards and sales.  Is no one listening?  We have the same situation here in the Archives.  Our supervisor expects us to meet his goal but conditions are such that such lofty goals are just pipe dreams and he will have to be satisfied with what we can produce under the conditions with which we work.  When Bill worked for Thrift Drugs in Johnstown, he had a similar situation arise.  There had been a really heavy snow storm and the Mall management closed the mall and the heads in Pittsburgh were livid that the store was not open.   Well, open it could be if anyone could make it up to the Mall and get the management to open the mall but with the whole town shut down, who would try to go to the store to shop?  Especially so if the whole mall is closed for the day.

All day long Jeff kept bringing me court papers to unroll and flatten out.  One case was 13feet 6 inches long.  Another case was as thick as the bundles that he brought to me that represented myriad cases for one court session.  It seems that this big case was a bankruptcy case and there were many creditors all asking for their money.  This will probably fill one folder alone but I feel sorry for the one who is going to digitize this massive case – some of the pages are stitched together, others are glued with sealing wax and yet other papers are tied in the middle spine area with pretty blue ribbon.  This one will certainly not be a picnic to digitize.  He said that he would be bringing at least 5 more thick bundles of papers to me on Friday to flatten out ready for me to write them up.  I really doubt if I can get through all these papers next week while he is gone on vacation,and perhaps not even get them all written up before we leave.

We were invited out to a friend’s home for dinner and while there met someone who is staying for a few days.  We got into a really in depth conversation about the origins of the ancient inhabitants of the America’s and I told her about the Book of Mormon and how it is a record of God’s dealings with the people who lived here anciently.  How they kept a record of those dealings and that Joseph Smith translated these writings through the gift and power of God.  We talked about the temples in South America, the temples in Hawaii, the travels of Thor Heyerdal and on and on and on.  It was a most interesting conversation but she is only interested in the academics of it and not the spiritual side.

When we came home, our landlord was using a blower to blow the spider webs off the building.  Now that will really give the spiders something else to think about!  He told us that he was going to completely remodel our apartment after we leave.  He said that there was a hardwood floor under the indoor/outdoor carpet that is in here and that he would be re-doing the floor and put in a new kitchen cabinet combination and making this apartment a one bedroom apartment.  I like it the way it is and so I am glad that we got to stay here in this situation.

We ate lunch out on the park area today and it was really nice weather to be outside.  School is not yet in session, but there are groups of young people being shepherded around the area to see the State House, the Library and the Museum.  They don’t come into the Archives.

Talked to David today and he said that his experience with the TSA was “interesting”.  Talked to Sara last night and she said they are not looking at houses any more but will stay put for a while.  There is a chance Jacob might get to go to a doctor in Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.  I sure hope so.  I am so excited that we get to see the grandchildren in person in a few weeks.