Misadventures of the Monster Librarian

A patron walked into our Library Tuesday and announced, "there's a dead cat in your front yard. Just thought you should know." PrairieDawn and I walked out front, me wearing gloves and carrying a garbage bag, PrairieDawn with the shovel. We finally found the poor animal, laying seemingly asleep, under our front hedges. I thought I could be tough and just scoop the thing into a garbage bag and be done with it, but I started to cry, thinking of my own sweet cat probably asleep on my couch...These are the moments when I wish we had a maintenance man, or anyone else more capable than me, on staff. We went back inside and thought about who we could call. I was for calling the local vet, when PD suggested we call one of our patrons who's a vet in the next city over,  but who lives in Sticks. He wasn't able to come by, but sent someone else to retrieve the poor animal later that afternoon. I've been thinking about that exchange all week, our patron's kindne...

This past weekend Sticks had its yearly fall festival: a parade, booths run by local businesses and organizations, and lots of fair food. Because I had to help set-up the FRIENDS of the Library's booth--selling used books and membership--I was able to be up to see the sunrise and enjoy the quiet, blocked off downtown streets; to walk around and nod at the other early birds, setting up their booths, drinking coffee; to see as Main Street slowly fill with people, followed by a parade, followed by even more people; to see the town bustling. As I walked around and looked at booths and chatted with friends and neighbors I realized that I actually know people in town now. I actually could look out into the sea of faces and recognize patrons and kiddos who frequent the library, I even got hugs from some of the kids I used to read to when I did school visits, pre-Prairie Dawn. I've been here for nearly a year and I'm not such a stranger anymore. And maybe I've finally come to...

Looks like this: Haircut, asked for 3 inches off, I think she took off 5; my hair is naturally curly so, tomorrow it's going to look Shirley Temple short. Oh Lord. The upswing is that in Sticks it only cost $14 for a haircut, blow dry, and hair straightening. Love living in the middle of nowhere! Went through EVERY file and document saved on my desktop...HOURS of my life gone... Touched base with community members who wanted outreach programs set up. Spoke with Mom who put in a challenge/review of book. Nice conversation and she told me I should come to the schools Homecoming game this weekend. Love that small town camaraderie! Emails back and forth to board members regarding various things Worked on storytimes; there haven't been storytimes in over a month, since the Children's Librarian resigned and I am going to be doing 3/week until we hire a new Children's Librarian.  Posted my first announcement (announcing upcoming storytimes) on our library's Faceboo...