Almost 2015

"I'm hot-blooded, check it and see,
I've got a fever of a hundred and three . . ."

Obviously I decided to end 2014 in a very warm manner.  Too wiped out to do more than sleep through the Harry Potter marathon.

Before this hit, we did do a couple of days of volunteering at them museum in the cage-cleaning-and-food-prep area.  This little screech owl did not appreciate our good deeds.  Possibly because  I did not use the zoom to get this picture; I did indeed, like an annoying paparazzi, shove the camera in his face.

 

 

Off to find another hot toddy . . .

I'm Baaaaaack!

Whew!

Been sort of CrazyTown here.  To elaborate on my last post, I found out in a random bathroom conversation that I wasn't going to have a spring appointment as I had though (the dept. chair and I were washing hands at the same time, and I mentioned that a student wanted to work with me in the Spring--so that's how I found out I wasn't working).  This was on top of "forgetting" to appoint me in the fall (I had check with three people to make sure I was getting an appointment because it had been forgotten before).  The forgetting just seems bizarre.  I've been there 10 years, and there are only about 7 people to be appointed, so you'd thing they'd notice that they forgot someone.  So that gave me a month to get stuff cleaned up in the collection that I'd planned on doing over the next four.

And, of course, if you're going to retire, you're supposed to have your paperwork in a couple of months in advance--and you have to send for a retirement packet.  So I called, had a nice chat, they let me know that because of Thanksgiving it might take three weeks instead of the usual two.  Five weeks later Bob calls for me (because I was doing crazy at work trying to get stuff finished) and they . . un . . forgot to send it.

What's with all the forgetting??  I find myself singing a tune from "Chicago"

"Cellophane, Mister Cellophane

Could have been my name, Mister Cellophane

'Cause you can look right through me

Walk right past me

And never know I'm there"

 

Anyway,  Bob being more memorable than I, the packet arrived a few days later.  At this point, we're close to the Christmas shut down, and I didn't want to wait to apply for retirement in mid-January.  I call the nice person in HR (who had helped Bob with his paperwork, and remembered him, of course) and upon finding out that my separation from FSU was already in the past rather than a couple of months in the future, managed to fit me in and get me on track.

 

We did manage to fit in our trip (more on that later) but when we were pulling out of the drive, we saw that the brake light was on--Bob checked the fluid--low--and saw the brake fluid coming out of the rear tire.  Fortunately, we have another car.  Oh--and when I was trying to download some stuff for our trip (NPR's news show--Wait Wait Don't Tell Me) I also got some malware that shut down the computer.

 

So--in the last two weeks:

 

The Trip!    check

Collection room cleaned up, report made, and, and office cleaned out--check.

Retirement paperwork done--check

Social Security paperwork done--check

Car repaired--check

Computer repaired--check

Fruitcakes baked--check

Meat pies made for the annual "meat pie, sherry, and watch Hogfather" solstice tradition--check  (tried out new puff pastry recipe, which was excellent, but I think we ended up eating about a stick of butter each)

Christmas shopping done--check

Christmas gifts made . . . well . . . three knitted gifts, a fourth almost done, and another gift sort of getting there, and another one to be finished.  It's only Monday . . .

Helping out the animal department at the museum with cage cleaning and food prep (they don't have their usual student interns over the holiday) --check

 

So--back into the fray!

 

 



December already??

No, I haven't disappeared off the face of the earth.  November got busy.  Bob retired.  I found out that I was retiring myself (at least from FSU) earlier than I thought--Dec. 12 rather than May 1.  Trying to take care of stuff for Social Security and Retirement, cleaning the house for Thanksgiving, having Thanksgiving, re-cleaning the house so friend Jeff could housesit while we took my birthday trip, and taking my birthday trip.

TO HARRY POTTER WORLD!!!

Which was amazing.  But I can't report on it yet because I got some nasty malware on my computer that prevents me from doing anything.  Doing this quick post from work--but I won't have access to the work computer any more because, well, Dec. 12 is tomorrow and I won't be working.

So--stay turned.  In the words of the Arnold--I'll be back.

Halloween Howl 2014

Halloween Howl 2014 has come to a close.  We spent most of yesterday doing the last of the cleanup (well--almost the last.  But there are younger stronger people who can clean up the last bits).

The Howl is a museum-wide event, with kid's games, live music, costume contest and--our side of it--the haunted trail.  This year was a record-breaking success.  In the two nights that it ran, over 4,000 people attended the museum, and 1900 went through our trail (that number includes the repeats--those people who stand in the hour (or two hour) line, go through the trail, then get back in line again,  We're always proud of our trail--it's of a professional quality, truly scary (many people can't make it all the way through, and we get a share of people who scream, fall, or wet themselves) without resorting to the shock of blood and guts.

It's mostly done by our core group of four--Rob, Jeff, Bob, and myself.  We were lucky enough to get a few more hard-working volunteers for the build (shout outs to Donny, Joel, Phil, Gill, and Jim).  All told, there are at least 1,000 person hours involved to build, run, and then clean up the trail.  And for those two nights, it's worth it.

Problem is--I forget to bring the camera, or don't have time to go take pictures.  I will have to twist some arms to get people to send some to me.  But in the meantime, here are some preliminaries.


First, a couple of masks.  Jeff wanted some creepy scarecrow masks, and also some that looked like ritualistic skull masks.  Here's a sample of what I made (the oddness at the mouth of the scarecrow mask is that I built them on Jason-style hockey masks to keep the burlap off the actor's faces)

















All of the scenes start off by digging in a forest of 2x4s.  They would later be covered in walls to form mini-mazes (usually made by sheets, so we can take them down and use them year after year, unlike black plastic which has to go to the landfill).  We ended up planting almost 200 of them in the first weekend.  One just has to have faith that with some walls, decorations, and proper lighting that we can turn this into something so unnerving that people will forgo the hour or more that they stood in line, and turn back rather than enter it.   On this one, Bob has started adding the pallets to make walls (we can scrounge the pallets for free.  He also made use of wood that had been cut down the on the nature trail prior to a planned control burn.  He would later add more fencing, then the final touch of about 150 dolls and an equal number of candles to light them.  For some reason, many people find this scene to be disturbing.







I did get a quick shot of the volunteer tent where almost 30 actors get into costume and makeup.  No matter how good the sets, you have to have actors to make it come alive.

 

I did get one shot of an almost-finished scene.  This is Jeff's "Circus of Tate's Hell" (a local area of infamous reputation).  This was our final scene--our philosophy is that if you have a strong beginning scene, and a stronger final scene, that's what people will remember.

 

Keep your fingers crossed that I find pictures of the finished trail.

 

Jim Fowler video

Here's the finished video with Jim Fowler and the Museum's hawk.  It was filmed green screen with the pretty background added in.  What you can't see is me, the nervous stage mother, about 5 feet away hoping the hawk would behave herself (she did).  In the video, there is one closeup of the hawk--I'm holding her in that shot (invisibly, of course).

What I didn't think about until my office mate made the comment is what a nice video it is.  Most political ads are pure mudslinging--we're all happy when Nov. 4 comes around and we don't have to listen to all that negativity.  Voting seems to be choosing the lesser of evils.  So yes--I'm glad I had even a small part in this one.

Childhood Dreams

When I was a kid, one of the shows I loved was Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom, with Marlon ("I'll stay in the tent") Perkins and Jim ("while I go wrestle the alligators") Fowler.  It was what I wanted to be when I grew up.

 

 

Of course, the reality is that most of us don't grow up to travel the world around to wrestle anacondas and get kicked by kangaroos.  But animal have always been a part of my life, from having too many cats to doing animal education at the museum and raising wee squirrels.

 

But sometimes things come full circle.  Marlon Perkins is long gone, but Jim Fowler is still around and kickin'.  He was in town yesterday to film some promotional spots for Amendment One (Land and Water Conservation).  I'm not usually one to vote for amendments, because I think constitutions should be clean and uncluttered.  But this will protect funds already in place--which at the moment can be siphoned off depending on the interpretations used ("isn't 'development' the same as 'conservaton'?)   But to hop off the soapbox--Fowler wanted to be holding a hawk for the filming.  The museum has a hawk (the one I helped train)--so we loaned her for the shoot.  And--of course, one of her handlers (ME!) had to go with her.

 

Have to admit--I really behaved like a 10-year-old.  And enjoyed it.

A Few Minutes of Fame

The new issue of Handwoven magazine is out--and I have an article it in!  It's about the shoulder panels I wove for the Knights of NI! in Spamalot last year.  Such fun to see one's name in print.

And a touch more fame--for now, at least, one of the banners for the website of the College of Human Sciences has my dress display.  Check it out at http://chs.fsu.edu/

And here's the promised picture of Schrodinger Squirrel.  Now a lively 3/4 ounce.