My book store

Lello book store Porto Portugal, open since 1906.

My book store is obviously NOT going to look like this. For one thing I barely have 3000 books, so they will have to be artfully scattered around what ever space I rent.

I have given some thought to possible names for my book store;

Bookity Books.   Has already been taken, dammit! That name is advertised as the largest used book store in Detroit? I think.
Shoot! Spit! Dirty socks!

Alden Books.  Um, isn't that a mall type book store and didn't they go into chapter something or other bankruptcy?  Oh, wait that's Walden Books.  Same rant.

Book Nook. This is a universal name and seems to have been taken by many, many, MANY book stores.  I want something original.

Jubilee Books.  A little explanation.  All book stores should have a cat being friendly or aloof or at least shedding some....fur. And since we have a friendly fur sheding cat named Jubilee.......

Furnishings:   I don't have enough shelves for my books. I have about 10 to 15 of those 39 dollar sold at Freddys fold open book shelves that really need to sit on top of a low (2 foot high) credenza thing.   It has been proven that customers will not look at stuff on lower shelves unless they are less than 3 feet tall (The customers) so that height puts most books at eye level. 

I also want at least two very comfortable chairs with foot rest, good lighting and warm blankie.  Uh,and a washer dryer to wash throws to get rid of cat hair. Also need a fancy feather duster. 

I think my brother's suggestion for a pot belly stove sans poker table is a good idea. However I am leaning more toward a pellet stove.  Don't have to worry much about air conditioning as the weather here is rarely hottish.  One or two hot days a year are all we are allowed. 

Game table.  I want to break out my antique Scrabble board for  a nice spirited and/or lazy game or two.

Plants.  I have a killer green thumb. Emphasis on KILLER.  But we have a nice collection of cacti that would look nice on my library table.  I am pretty sure the hubs can man the watering can.

I also want to have a largish table in the middle of the store where people can also read but where actually meetings for various smallish groups can be conducted. 

Lastly I was trolling blogs and found one entitled, "Twenty five things I learned about owning a book store. I won't post the entire thing here but:

If you put cookbooks outside in the free box they will always get taken.

Kids will always find the sex books no matter where you hide them.

Location:  There are some empty store fronts in downtown, however none on second street.  There is very little parking on second but good foot traffic between the pharmacy, Fraziers and other junk/antique type places.   Some of these places have a small selection of books. I would be willing to take their stock off of their hands for a small fee.

Diversifying plans: I have always wanted to play with making paper and I love the smell of turpentine and oil paint. Can a master piece be too far off?  Um, yeah.

Garden tour

Disclaimer statement:  The opinions exressed on this blog do not necessarily reflect that of CVH and again a reminder that this is  hud PROJECT. Ehd of Disclaimer.

The picture above a nice shot of the inner courtyard at CVH, it is actually part of the former parking lot and has morphed into a very nice little landscape.  The old grounds were covered with rhododendron bushes mostly pink, when in bloom resumbled a whole bush full of very fancy Easter Parade type hats.  I like the maple, Canandian type I think.  There are benches to sit on and so far the deer have not been by to nibble on the shrubbery.

Another nice maple close to the old front entrance.

Some nice shrubs near the new upper entrance.

Unfortunately this rhodie did not make the transplant.  It is a pretty good size and perhaps some artist who specials in woodcarving (Hey Ray! I got a project for you!) and make it into some CVH memorial key chains.

Another rose bud!

Got a surprise rosebud for excellent cooking.  Um, dressing I think, amazing what old dried bread, an egg, chopped onions, red pepper flakes, salt, pepper, turkey broth and garlic will do for ya. Thank you, Darling Man.

The little gold bag holds my 5 year service pin.  I started January 2000 after leaving Barrow, Alaska because of  Y2K, remember that?  I didn't qualify for the 10 year pin because I took sabbatical one year to work in Dillingham, AK and had to start over seniority wise.   Also received a lovely gift certificate at my favorite Italian eatery in Coos Bay. Hot diggity! I loves me some veal piccatta. Thank you, CVH!!

Conversation with loved one

Husband is rediscovering 50's television.  He recently sent me a clip from the Jack Benny show.  Jack was interviewing a young Jayne Mansfield and there was a bit about the purse she was carrying.  She asked him if he got all of his guests by returning their purse.   He said, No, once he tried that with Martha Raye and he lost the purse and an usher.  Got a laugh.

Then the conversation took an odd turn.  He commented that Martha Raye was a famous old time chef, wasn't she?

Uh, no she was a 40's and 50's comedien known for her comedy act and large exaggerated-with-lipstick mouth.

Oh....

I asked him if he meant Rachel Ray whose mouth is generous or

Martha Stewart?  Well, maybe,he does love to combine two words to make up a new one, so this tends to spill over a bit.
Meet Martha Raye the famous comedien chef who is muscular and wears red lipstick.

AWASH IN SPARROWS

I glanced out the kitchen window yesterday and saw perhaps two dozen sparrows perched on the dead blackberry brambles.  They were all very busy hunting berries and/or sourcing product to build a nest.  Although spring is over those nests may actually need a little reinforcing.  Very cheery bunch. Today as I pulled into the drive way I saw them assembled on the neighbors fence and roof line.   Hmph

Work continues unrelentingly.   New transcriptionist starts Monday, vacationing transcriptionist returns Monday, injured transcriptionist taking VACA in Calie. 

So...this afternoon am resting up the ankles and fingers.

Don't work too hard.

visitors

This is the famous Mercedes motor home and attached toy carrier.  Rich and Cathy drove to visit Phil and Jody in Elkton for a couple days and then braved 38 to come visit here.  The motor home comes with all the bells and whistles and then a little bit extra.  Their goal is to put a million miles on the thing.   I think they could possibly wear out one of the fancy driving seats.

We drove to Coos Bay for dinner at Bennetti's.  They were brave and tried the montebello mushroom appetizers.   Three of us had New York Steak with Gorgonzola sauce and one had Fettuccine Alfredo with shrimp.  (burp)

It was nice to have a quiet evening out. Work has been a bit strained with our department down to half a transcriptionist.  Good news is we have panel interviews Monday for two candidates interested in the manager position. The temp transcriptionist starts Monday 25 and boy will she have some job security for a while.  I look forward to actually having a day off in a couple of weeks.  Will have to work my way up to taking vacation in a couple of months, I hope. Yay!!!

Finishing touches

As you can see, the powers that be decided that the itty bitty very pretty railings would not stand up well to a run-a-way automobile, so the big guys were called in.  Dims the ambiance a little but safety wise gets us right up there. Should prevent anyone from oh say, sitting in the passenger seat with the engine running in park to use the cigarette lighter, accidentally knocking it out of park and jumping the curb and taking a 40 foot vertical drop.  Yeah, those kind of safety issues.

I am being sung to by a murder of crows this morning, they are busy establishing territorial boundaries.  The don't have guard rails..at all.

Ain't technolog wunnerful?

We have been getting by with a set of cordless phones that had been cheerfully donated to husband. They worked swell, except the little screen thingies were all faded and you could not see anything, kind of like those lighted bank signs that tell the time and temp only most of the lights don't work? 

So along came the opportunity to order a set of Panasonic cordless phones.  The base and one cordless sit in the front hall way. The remaining four are at my desk, at the living room, at husbands office and a bed room.  They are black and sleek and came in a very small box packed inside another much larger box wrapped in much packaging.  It took me about an hour to unpacked, insert batteries, assemble all the plug ins. The only thing I didn't use were the belt holders.  Belt holders?  Hmph, useful if working outside but really I don't need to be that connected.  Got them all plugged in and charging (takes 7 hours on the rechargeable). 

It took me FOREVER to find Menu.  I poked and poked at the base unit and put in the #302 for message, nothing!  Then I looked at one of the handheld. Ah HAH there is menu right on the screen.  Jeez will I have to enter stuff on all five phones? NOPE, it is a shared network, oh goody.  I entered the names and numbers (I will be contacting loved ones to confirm phone numbers) using the kind of funky old fashioned way, Carla is doot A, doot B,doot C, wait a few seconds cursor moves; repeat doot A, cursor moves doot P, doot Q, doot R, cursor moves, doot A, then put in the number. 

I figured out the answer message; it goes like this "You have reached....please be aware that we screen all calls. If you are friends, family or the hospital. PLEASE leave a message".

I don't have a smart phone, mainly because I don't want to pay 90 bucks a month for something I do not hardly use.  Also one of my friends at work tells me that since she got her smart phone, she doesn't hardly use her computer. 

I must reminisce about some of the phones I have used and abused.

My first telephone experience was a very young child.  I was at Grandma Horn's house out on the bench and I remember my Aunt Ollie holding me on her lap and coaching me what to say to the central operator, I must have known my numbers because I kept reading the number off the phone.  Duh.

About the time Ma Bell's monopoly got broken up, phone companies started selling phones to their customers rather then providing them.  Then the phone companies got out of the business of selling them and other businesses jumped into the business opportunity to sell phone. 

Next major phone happening was while living with a roomie many many years ago, I had met a young airman and one of his jobs was something to do with telephones. He called me once and we spent EIGHT hours on the phone.  My roomies mother finally had the operator break in to ask to speak to her.  If I spent eight hours on a phone call today, I would more than likely fall asleep.

Next infamous phone was the iconic Princess Phone.  It was a gorgeous little thing and pink and pretty but had a nasty habit of not seating properly every once in while on a hang up.  I got lots of automatic alarm type calls.  And it finally got retired. I think the dumb thing is still in the attic somewhere.

And most basic of all was the kids telephone made of two tin cans with a long piece of string between them. As near as I remember they didn't actually work that well, sure you could detect the string vibrating but it was drowned out by all the kids yelling.  An suitably empty water hose worked much better and no batteries required.

What have been you memorable phone memories?