An annual tradition

Here's the way I like to start school - by showing off the hidden talents of my redoubtable colleagues, Ms. Kovacs and Mr. Rayburn.

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You can view last year's treats here. Such good sports, aren't they?

(I think) we are ready to go

Shhh, it's Sunday and I've snuck into school. People are out in the hall doing things to walls and lockers, but the floor looks good to go. So... a couple more days of summer hours and then Wednesday, bang, school. Will someone tell my why - if we've been closed so much - my desk is such a mess?

Guess what?

Yep, you're right. We're closed again. Tile goes in Thursday and Friday, August 14th and 15th. But that will be IT. Monday and Tuesday we'll be back on summer hours (8:00 a.m.-noon) and Wednesday is the first day of school. Did I really just say that?

Open... again

I'm realizing that the content of the blog this summer is getting to be a bit predictable. Closed - no, open - wait, closed again - yay, open again. This time, the stinky toxic paint is dry and we'll be open (8:00 a.m. to noon, Monday-Friday) until they lay the new tile in the hallway outside the library. Still walking on cardboard out there. When we close again, I'll make the announcement - again.

In the meantime, using the excuse of updating my tech skills, I'm finally trying the microblogging service Twitter. I've blogged about it before, but hadn't actually taken the plunge. Since I got the new iPhone last month, though, Twitter seemed like the next logical step since you can get updates as text messages. I'm "following" four people right now. Anyone want to join me? My Twitter user name is franceyharris.

Stinky toxic paint time

It's time. The whole school building will be closed the week of July 28th while globby paint is applied to the lockers. We hope. Things are moving verrrrry slowly. Cardboard still covers the floors. And only a few short weeks until school starts. Fortunately, I'm not in charge :-) .

Again, stay tuned for updates.

Back in business

Sort of, but sort of is good enough for now. We are once again open our regular summer hours, from 8:00 a.m. to noon, Monday through Friday. Tiling will be happening in the classrooms first, so we might as well be open until they get to the hallways. In the meantime, there's some lovely cardboard covering the now-bare hall floors.

Then there's the stinky toxic paint they'll be using to cover the lockers with during the last week of July...

Stay posted!

A little perspective

The class of 1998 will be having its tenth reunion this coming weekend. Organizer Rebecca Bartlett is now a librarian, working as the Adult Services Coordinator at the Cedar Rapids Public Library in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Cedar Rapids was hit hard by last month's floods. Unfortunately, the library was all but obliterated. Here's a bit of first-hand reporting from Rebecca's e-mail to me:

It was exactly 6 months to the day I started work at the public library when the flood waters rose (Wednesday, June 11) and we had to evacuate. We sandbagged the building and I even drove my brand-new SUV through standing water that day to get home. The water survey people said the Cedar River would crest at 22 feet. Well, they didn't figure it would rain 5 more inches Thursday. By Thursday afternoon, the entire downtown was under water, including the museum, the public library and city hall. On Friday morning the river crested at 31 feet. Since there was flooding all through the eastern edge of the state, this was the worst natural disaster in the history of Iowa. In Cedar Rapids, a town of 120,000 people, 24,000 people were displaced and 1,300 square city blocks were underwater. Our library had 5 feet of water in the first floor, and damage throughout from moisture. We are now in new quarters at Westdale Mall and the workmen are building shelving to put the books back up :). The majority of the books in the downtown library are gone, but most of the books people checked out are saved - about 1/3 of the collection!

One third of the collection checked out! What a testament. Here's a photo from the eastern Iowa Gazette Online:



To say the least, the Cedar Rapids Library situation has stopped my whining about our construction woes. After a full month of being locked out of our library, we are at last back in to do behind-the-scenes work. Still not open to the public. But, it could be so much worse. I will keep you posted.