We are having another 'snow day' today. We got 3 to 4 inches! That is a big deal here apparently because they sent out a weather warning and closed the schools. When the schools close, the library closes. This is only the 2nd real snow storm we have had (we got 2 inches then), so we can't complain about the weather, at least not yet. It's been pretty mild for February. Maybe it's being saved up for March.
We have a shuttle service where we live which is a great convenience. It takes us to about a block from the library. But they have had mechanical problems lately, so we had to find another way to get to work for a while. That means the bus.
We are seniors, so we are eligible for a free pass. We had to go to the SEPTA office to get them which is in the middle of town. Actually it is about half way between home and the library, so we walked the 1/2 mile (resting often for my hips and knees to recoup), got our passes, ate brunch, then walked the other 1/2 mile to the library. It was good weather and nice to see some different streets in the city. I was impressed with a couple of buildings.
This church reminds me a lot of the churches in England.
I like the style of this building.
Especially the fire escape.
Now that's fancy!
Riding the bus is not as convenient as the shuttle. Coming home we walk 3 blocks to the bus stop, then after riding it. we have 3 more blocks to walk home. But it is nice to have an alternative. It's better than walking a mile each way.
Now a little more fun stuff from the library.
We see all kinds of images on coats of arms, etc. But this is the one that most matches the name.
I didn't write down the name of the book this came from, but this is some impressive hair!
THE BEAST
Of all the books we have done, this one was the most challenging. When we started, I thought, "Oh this is just a few hundred pages and won't take too long." Was I wrong!
This is The English Emersons printed in 1889
This is The English Emersons printed in 1889
It had multiple fold outs (seemed like every 4th page) of fragile tissue like pages.
Some fold out pedigree charts were two pages wide, most were 3 or 4 which makes them tricky to scan. They have to be done in sections and some were torn and had to be matched and held together with little pieces of a sticky note. (It takes creativity to come with ideas to make things work sometimes.) It was a little tedious with some of the torn ones. It was hard to get them matched and keep them straight. This was the longest chart in the book.
As it turned out, with all the extras, there were 346 pages and took us almost 2 1/2 hours to scan.
And when I did the audit, I found 2 pages I had missed and had to add them in. I was glad to be done with the BEAST!
But is really is a great book with wonderful information in it and I'm excited that
someone will love getting access to it!
There was a longer fold-out waiting for us in
The Evengers 1967
Keep going . . .
And that wasn't the only challenge waiting in this one. It was printed on 'see through' paper and I had to put a piece of paper behind each page to make it more readable when scanned.
Did you notice that it was mimeographed?
There were no page numbers. I like page numbers so I can make sure I don't miss pages. (I count in my sleep now.) But having to put a paper under each, I was pretty sure I didn't miss any. It was a pretty long book for doing that, but it went smoothly.
We scanned a book written in 1862 with some unusual information in it. We read about 3 murders! The first was drunken man who shot his wife. The second was a young boy who was killed around the time of the Civil War. The third was a man who was working in a store and was shot by a robber. We didn't read the whole book, so don't know if that was all, they just caught our eye.
Milestone book
This is the book that contains the 100,000th page that we have scanned for Family Search!
There it is, page 117
There it is on the computer! (You can see how we scan two pages at a time.)
We celebrated by going out for lunch instead of our usual lunch from home.
We have scanned more pages than that. We scanned 4 books of cemetery records for the library as a courtesy. We didn't count those, only the ones that are sent to Orem.
In some ways the count isn't really representative of our work. Many books we do are like the mimeographed one above that are printed on just one side. We are turning and scanning as much as with a regular two sided book, but only get half the number. We 'disable' one side on the scanner. (We joke about not getting full credit, but we know that it isn't really about the numbers.) We have a quota from Family History that they would like us to do each week, and when we mentioned this to them, they were a little surprised and understanding. They are taking it into consideration. We do keep up and are ahead in our numbers though.
Once a month we get together with the other senior missionaries. This being February, we had a Valentines Party.
There is always good food (yummy soups this time) and good company.
We played a game where we had to put a paper plate on our head and draw a picture as instructed. The one most accurate won the prize.
And the winner was . . . Sister Anderson, the mission president's wife!
There are two couples going home soon before our next get-together. They bore their testimonies and said their good-byes. The Jones' live in St. George and so we are planning on seeing them when we get home. It is amazing how much you can love people even though you only have known them a short time.
Our next activity is the 6th and 7th of March. We are going to Gettysburg and the Hershey factory.
We are so blessed. We enjoy our work, we enjoy are association with the missionaries and we belong to a ward with wonderful people we are growing to love more and more.
My testimony is growing and my love for the Savior is deepening.
I am so thankful for His spirit and support and the love I feel from Him every day.
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