Toro Blower/Vacuum/Mulcher
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Jim: Ladies and gentlemen, I’m here today with the Snake Lady Librarian. Snake Lady, can you tell us what’s happened?
SLL: Well, Jim, it’s something of a miracle. I’m not really sure how to explain it. Jim: Please try, Snake Lady. This is important. |
| SLL: Well, all right, Jim. It all started when I found myself staring into the bushes in the front of my house after Hubby and I had finished raking. Actually, ALL AROUND the bushes in the front of my house. See, the bushes are surrounded by rocks, not grass.Jim: Uh-huh, go on.
SLL: Well, we have both maple and honey locust leaves. And I got to thinking what they were going to look like in the spring after sitting there all winter, what the whole front of the house was going to look like, and I began to think that perhaps I should do something about it. Jim: Tell us, Snake Lady. What did you decide? SLL: Well, Jim, the decision felt like it almost made itself. I was aware of mechanical devices that sucked up leaves and I thought, “I could own one of those.” Y’know, that I could incorporate owning a leaf vacuum into my perception of who I am as a unique individual. Jim: Wow. That is really exciting, Snake Lady. SLL: Thanks, Jim. I didn’t think about the good folks who mow our grass at all, a call I was really contemplating making when the leaves first started falling and we were raking. I went to Lowe’s, compared brands, handled the floor models for weight, and purchased a Toro. Next, Hubby and I put it together, sorting out the various blowing and vacuuming components. Then I sucked up the leaves in and around my bushes, mulched them, and emptied them into yard waste bags. It was simple! and tomorrow I plan to do the back yard! Jim: Snake Lady Librarian, what makes this different than the lawn mower fiasco earlier this year? SLL: Well, Jim, somehow sucking up leaves doesn’t feel as hateful as mowing the grass. Jim: Are you sorry you sold the lawn mower and weed whacker? SLL: Oh no, Jim. I definitely heart my lawn service in the summer months. Jim: Tell us, Snake Lady, what have you learned from this experience? SLL: Well, Jim, I’ve learned so much. First, I’ve learned that vacuuming is no substitution for raking on regular grass. Next I’ve learned that you shouldn’t let the bag get too full or it will hurt your back lugging all that yard waste around. And last I’ve learned that I am constitutionally capable of doing some forms of yard work, a question that was seriously in doubt just 5 short months ago. Jim: Just one last question Snake Lady. Gas or electric? SLL: Electric, Jim. And allow me to say, Toro rocks. Jim: Congratulations on this fine accomplishment, Snake Lady. You heard it all here, ladies and gentlemen. This is Jim, signing off. |
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Gone Digital
Until recently I have avoided spending money on a digital camera. I take really lousy pictures and I have absolutely no desire to further explore the depths of my lousy picture taking abilities.
Finally, though, I decided to bow down to the blog’s need for imagery. (The pictures to date were taken with Hubby’s phone and they were a real hassle to get off. Plus, it’s like, ah, his phone and asking to use it was reminiscent of walking to the principal’s office to ask for a pass to leave school early).
I was feeling like the camera was no more than an adventuresome business expense until I was sitting at Thanksgiving dinner with my cousin I shall call Amaretta. Amaretta makes fabulous napkin animals and shapes of all varieties. She claimed that she was simply folding the napkin with no idea of the outcome but this is akin to Picasso saying he was just fooling around with the brush. She was brilliant. And I didn’t have a camera to capture the moment and share it with the world. A brilliant blogging moment – albeit one that required a visual aid – was lost. And all that could have been avoided had I simply acted like a normal blogger and become physically attached to a camera.
Soon, fair reader, soon. The camera arrives Christmas morning.
Recommended RSS feed of the Day: Library Cartoon Unshelved
Yes! Librarians have their own cartoon and it will remind you always that “What happens in the library, stays in the library”
Check it out at:
Cataloging
In his workshop, hubby keeps the tape and the sandpaper on the same shelf. The SAME shelf. He keeps Mason jars of screws one shelf down.
My librarian soul cries with pitying wails.
Thanksgiving Bathroom Decorations
Sometimes, maybe its just when I’m having a bad day, I get the feeling that I’m one of the few sources that my readers consult for bathroom-related news. This saddens me. So, I wanted to share a cover article (Lansing State Journal Sunday Home Source Section for Nov. 19, 2006) on decorating your bathroom for Thanksgiving:
“While many homeowners will soon be preparing their dining rooms in time for the big Thanksgiving dinner, they often overlook the one room holiday guests frequentmost – the powder room.
‘Thanksgiving is one of the only holidays that is universally celebrated, and the home is the center of the celebration,’ said tim Bitterman, senior produt manager, Inspirations by Moen, a leading designer and manufacturer of bath accessories. ‘We all go to great lengths to fgive our homes a fresh look for our dinner guests, but the one room that gets the most trafic typically receives least attention.’
“Bringing the spirit of thanksgiving into your powder room is simple, and it doeesn’t require cutouts of pilgrims and turkeys on the vanity. Instead follow a few of these suggestiosn and make your powder room as appealing as the food on the table:
- Look to nature to inspire your decor. Leaves, for example
- Forget a paint job, add coloreful towels (thank god they gave me permission not to paint my bathroom in orange and brown! I almost had the paint brush out)
- Replace bath accessories
So make the most of this special time and extend your holiday decorating beyond the dining room and into your powder room. With just a few simple decorations, and a few new accessories, it may becoem the room your guests remember most.
Fashionable Window Treatments
Remember that time Hubby and I bought a lawn mower and I gave up after three tries and insist we sell it? Yeah, that time. Well, we just got our check. We have spent the money on MUCH NICER His and Her House Things. For Him, an extension ladder. For Me, new curtains for the master bedroom.
Honest-to-god “Window Treatments” And I picked it out all by myself !
This is a true accomplishment for the Snake Lady Librarian. Not so much because I pushed a debit card across the counter at Linens and Things, but because I picked out curtains that look good. Curtains that have two parts plus a rod that didn’t come together in the same package and look good together!
For those of you who don’t know this about me, allow me to share: I am fashion-handicapped. I do not even buy clothes unless someone else vets them first. As in, I hold up a blouse and vest and say, “Does this go together?” to the crowd of women usually found in the exterior of any women’s dressing room. Women are remarkably forthright on this topic, and I’ve found that pretty much any woman other than me is capable of telling whether two items of clothing go together.
I was 32 before I realized that there are certain styles of pants that were always going to look bad on me, and that only because the sales woman was watching me go in and out of the dressing room and came up to me to say, “Why you keep trying on pants like that? They ain’t never going to look good on you. Here-” hands me three pairs of pants, “These will look good on you.” And she was right!
Ta-da! Fashionable window treatments!
Me & Bill (Gates)
I credit library school with turning me into a public speaker. One of the program requirements was a presentation in every class. For two and a half years I gave one or two presentations every semester and finally mastered the art of public speaking.
At first, I was scared half to death. To compensate, I would write my presentations carefully and then print the slides and take them to the gym, climb onto a treadmill, and memorize the presentation word for word. Going no where for an hour is great practice for memorization. Gradually, I improved.
By the last year I had even developed some style. I knew I had succeeded by the grace of a young gentleman classmate we shall call Abner.
The assignment was a Website where the programming language ColdFusion powered various and sundry operations. I walked to the front of the room when it was my turn to present and pulled up my Website, reading off the URL to the class so they could follow along on their own computers.
Before I could begin the presentation Abner spoke up forcefully, joy tinging his vowels, “Is this FireFox compatible?”
I stopped. I did not need to bring up FireFox to know that something was off – probably my style sheets.
I stood and looked at Abner across the heads of my 40 classmates and the professor. “No,” I replied, slowly, clearly and with deadly seriousness, “I’m one of Bill’s whores.”
