This really happened: or the joys of tracking down poorly documented archaeological collections

This is yesterday's phone conversation with the long-time collections manager/curator of a museum for bird and mammal remains collected by professors in the 1940s and before:

Me: "I'm looking for archaeological materials sent to you in the 1930s."
Curator: "I don't work with archaeological materials.  We just have birds and mammals."
Me: "That's exactly why I'm contacting you.  According to our records, 4 boxes of faunal materials from the dig, such as bird and mammal bones, were sent to you for analyses, and we'd like to know if you still have them."
Curator: "We don't have archaeological materials."
Me: "Our records say they were sent to Dr. ____ at this institution in 1935.  There's no record that they were returned to us.  You have his collection in your holdings.  How do I find out whether or not they're in that collection?"
Curator: "That was a long time ago.  I wouldn't even know who you should ask."

NO WAY TO FIND OUT WHAT'S IN THE COLLECTION!?!  Collections is usually one of the first places to be hit by budget cuts, and archaeology is notorious for backlogged collection processing, but no catalog/finding aid/knowledge of how to find a prominent professor's collection when you're the person in charge of collections at a museum you've worked at for AT LEAST 10 years?  It's 4 boxes, not a random bone!  Also, no archaeological collections in a biology museum begun in the early 1900s by professors constantly receiving and analyzing archaeological materials?  Unlikely.

Guess which museum will be getting a personal visit from me this winter!

History Mystery

The ladies with whom I work decided to participate in the local museum's annual fundraiser/scavenger hunt around our fair town.  This year's theme was bacon.  All of the delicious food served before the hunt had bacon - even the cupcakes for dessert.  It was scrumptious!  The object of the evening was to collect as many correct answers to riddles about places in town as possible.  We ran/walked for 90 minutes trying to figure them out.  It was a workout for the mind and body.

We met with modest success, but we didn't win.  The winners bought all of the answers.  We are poor.  We had to use our minds.  They were not always up to the task.  Haha!  It was fun to observe the faces of people in Old Town for dinner who didn't know what was happening and why so many people were racing around town with booklets, dodging traffic.  However, I won Cromie (see below) as a door prize.  He didn't turn into a prince when I kissed him.  Oh well.  He will now serve as office mascot.

Our red schwag bags contained squirt guns.  Please note I'm not a slob; I was squirted by random passers-by during the event.  It was really hilarious to be in a giant water fight with a bunch of adults I'd never met.  Of course, the winners got the wettest and some mostly-good-natured booes.

August 13-20

Friday we packed a load of stuff into our car.  I went to work.  Mr. Wonderful unloaded the car at our new place.  In the afternoon we hopped into our car and drove to Iowa because there was a party to attend.

 Saturday we saw some good friends.  We played some cards and ate some food and danced.  Well, the girls danced.

We drove home on Sunday, stopping to visit a good friend and her parents.  It was wonderful to share a meal and see their new home!  My parents and brother and sister caravanned down I-80 with us from York, NE to our new place!

Monday was moving day.  All day.  The boys carried; the girls cleaned.  Thank you family!

Tuesday we went to Garden of the Gods.  I got a sunburn.  No one else did.  I forgot to take pictures.  My brother did, but I didn't get those pictures from him before he left my house.  We also went to Pikes Peak!  It was a beautiful sunny day!

 Then it began to hail/snow.  They made us stay indoors - as in the EMTs stood by the doors and refused to let people go outside because there was a lot of lightning.  So to pass the time, we ate doughnuts. Thanks to Dad and Mom for the demonstration of said activity.

When we emerged a few hours later, this was the scene.  They had to plow the road so we could get down. It was definitely an adventure.

 We forgot to shut the windows and the snow blew in to the van.  Notice the pellets, not flakes of snow filling my sunglasses, which, it would seem, I also forgot in the van.

 On the way down we stopped at Crystal Creek Dam and Reservoir.  It was raining and windy, but I had to have my picture taken to prove that I'd visited a place I also deal with at work in the archives.  This is due to a monstrous amount of nerdiness on my part, of course.

Wednesday we took a tour of Redstone Meadery and Celestial Seasonings in Boulder.  

Thursday I went back to work.  :(  We ate "Isaiah's Fancy Casserole" for dinner.  It was tasty, and it will most likely impair the health of our livers and hearts.  I got stung by a wasp while minding my business taking out the trash.  My arm swelled up into a 3" diameter welt which the picture below shows poorly.  It gives off heat like a sunburn.  It itches.  

Friday = last day of family at my house/time for a big food party.  My family brought my grill to me!  It needed some repairs, but after restoring it to stability, it was ready for my brother the master griller to work his magic.  Steak, grilled corn, tomatoes, zucchini, onions, red peppers, asparagus, and green beans fried in butter comprised our fabulous meal.  Yum!  

My sister is turning 25 next week, so we celebrated with buttermilk chocolate cake with cinnamon chocolate filling and Joy of Cooking butter cream frosting (and candles, of course).  I topped it all with a sprinkle of cinnamon for good measure.  

It was the first real attempt to bake in my new oven.  I would give said appliance a mediocre grade.  I can tell we're going to need to get used to each other.  

Today I slept through most of the morning after my family headed back to Iowa.  What a full but blessed week!

We went hiking

A friend came to visit.  We decided to go hiking.  Please note the trail mix.  My friend referred to it as "the real reason for hiking."  I was pretty excited about it.

There's still a lot of water up in those mountains!  The streams were full.

Mr. Wonderful was happy I was hugging him.  Disregard his expression of disgust.

I Passed my Written Comps!

Hooray!  Now I just need to finish my thesis and defend it (and turn in a bunch of paperwork), and I will be done and have my MA.  Finally.  One more month.

Post-Apocalyptic Musings

Do any of you remember that DC Talk cover of the Larry Norman song "I wish we'd all been ready"?  I've been thinking about it all week, of course, because of the furor surrounding the group who's been spreading the word that the rapture will happen May 21, 2011.  "And there's no time to change your mind.  The Son has come and you've been left behind."  Wow, that song used to scare me!  Not only did it all seem like some crazy sci-fi horror movie, but I've never been one of those people convinced that I would be one of those chosen few.  Yeah, chronic feelings of inadequacy left little Christian me unsure that I wouldn't be left behind.  Looking back on it all, that seems like a pretty heavy burden for an eight-year-old to carry around.  I was a scared little kid.
I do wonder what it would be like to believe that I knew the exact date and time of the rapture.  I'm not even sure I really get the rapture, but that aside, wouldn't it be crazy and exciting and terrifying to be sure that you knew when it would all go down?  Wow.  Still, I think the Bible is pretty clear we'll never know this mysterious date.  No one can calculate it.
So why the obsession with trying to figure it out?  I mean, this has been going on for two thousand years.  Why do people keep trying to pinpoint the date and time?  They keep failing and looking really, really foolish.  Maybe some people feel more safe and secure because the 'know'?  But they were following this man who had been wrong before.  Didn't any of them feel even a twinge of doubt knowing this?  How do you pick yourself up after being disappointed on that level?  As misguided as I think those people were/are, I feel bad for them knowing they have to put their lives back together starting today.

And on my end, it looks like I still have to take my rescheduled comps on Monday, since I didn't get raptured.  Bummer.

Spike: an update

Exhibit A: Spike this summer (possibly July?)  Not looking so good/barely hanging onto life after being moved and not watered adequately during my research trip to Philly.

Exhibit B: Spike today at 9:45 PM.  Lookin' good!  Please note my giant, flowering geranium next to it.  The other greenery is from a gladiolus. 

Exhibit C: After approximately 9 years together, Spike is growing in new directions.  I believe my words when I saw this were, "Jimmy, Spike is having a baby!"  I don't understand plant biology, so I am not really sure what's going on here.