Thursday, April 04, 2013

Tiles

Tiles

Decorative tiles in lower level.  I forgot to put a ruler up for scale.  The tiles are from Motawi Tileworks. Wood frames will be put up around the tile boundary.


2013 Renovation


2013 Renovation


2013 Renovation


2013 Renovation


2013 Renovation


2013 Renovation

Wednesday, April 03, 2013

Renovation Photos Plus Special Guest Appearance

Renovation

Tile in new toilet room.
2013 Renovation

Decorative tiles on columns.
2013 Renovation

Close-up of tiles.
2013 Renovation

Ephemera From a Junk Drawer

VHS tape with instructions for our 20 year old alarm system.
2013 Renovation

No idea what this small thing is.
2013 Renovation

Head of a file drawer rod.
2013 Renovation

I found a full bag of these things.
2013 Renovation

Old accession and de-accession list.
2013 Renovation

Directions to library staff.
2013 Renovation


Guest Appearance

There were five Lee Goldberg books on the New Shelf.

Lee Goldberg Takeover

Monday, April 01, 2013

One of Those Knitting Books With Nice Photos

NonFiction

French Girl Accessories: modern designs for a beautiful life edited by Ann Budd.  That subtitle is ambitious.

How to Be Interesting (In 10 Simple Steps) by Jessica Hagy.  "Combining fresh and pithy life lessons, often just a sentence or two, with deceptively simple diagrams and graphs, this inspiring guide shows you how to lead a richer life."

Fiction

Ratlines by Stuart Neville.  I read some gushing reviews.  Irish cop in 1963 investigates murder of a German and finds that many Nazis were granted asylum after the war. 

Mr. Monk Gets Even by Lee Goldberg.  Monk is still nuts but now has a girlfriend.

Corpse on the Court by Simon Brett.  English mystery.

Proof of Guilt by Charles Todd.  English mystery. 

The Colony by A.J. Colucci.  Horror novel with ants taking over Manhattan using their "razor-sharp claws that pierce skin like paper and stinging venom that liquefies their prey."

Last Shepherd by Martin Etchart.  Arizona kid wants to go to college.  His dad wants him to run the sheep ranch.  Dad dies and kid travels to Basque country of France to settle the ranch interitance.

Thursday, March 28, 2013

Fiction Stack With Two NonFic

Made-Up Stories

Cherry Cola Book Club by Ashton Lee.  I read something about this on some blog and figured people would read it.  The public library in small town Cherico, MS is threatened with closure.  Unless the library can increase it's circulation the City will spend the library's money on a business park.

Child's Child by Barbara Vine (Ruth Rendell).  I've read a lot of nice reviews about Rendell's novels but have not yet read one.  Rendell has short hair in her author photo.

Fifth Assassin by Brad Meltzer.  Shoot-em up. Meltzer has no hair.  He shaved his head bald. Meltzer still has eyebrows but they are slim.

Tin Horse by Janice Steinberg.  Steinberg is originally from Wisconsin and has curly hair.

A Cold Lonely Place by Sarah J. Henry.  Henry's first book, Learning to Swim, won an Anthony Award.  I tried reading Learning but either I couldn't get into it or had a stack of stuff to read and had to bail because Learning was overdue.  Henry's hair is not curly but does look kinda wavy.  She went to school in Ontario.

A Deniable Death by Gerald Seymour.  I always like Seymour's thrillers.  I recently read some disparaging comment Seymour's work is run-of-the-mill.  I disagree.  I think Seymour does a good job mixing current politics and events with interesting characters.  Seymour must be in his eighties now.  Let me check.  Nope, he's only 71.

Little Elvises by Tomothy Hallinan.  Los Angeles burglar Junior Bender has become a private investigator for crooks. Hallinan has hair on both the top and front of his head.  The photo is too grainy to see what time his wristwatch says.  He was nominated for Edgar and Macavity Awards.

Death in the Floating City by Tasha Alexander.  Alexander's work circs here in Lake Mills.  Alexander spoke to me once and did not tell me to take a hike so you know she is a tolerant person.  Her author photo is new and credited to her husband, That English Guy.

Night Ranger by Alex Berenson.  The tree on the cover photo suggests the African plains.  Yep.  Some guy is tasked to find kidnapped Americans in East Africa.  Hey, Berenson has curly hair, too.

Cold City by F. Paul Wilson.  Wilson is a physician in New Jersey (I think it's New Jersey) and no author photo.  The Repairman Jack series (this is an entry) was touted by gun-nerds.  Gun-nerds are famed for writing to authors and complaining about errors regarding gun models, calibers, capacity, technical details, metal finishes, anachronisms, and pretty much any dang thing you can think of.

Things People Did Not Make Up

Ubuntu Unleashed: 2013 by Matthew Helmke.  My brother sent an old laptop to Boy #1 with Ubuntu loaded onto it.  Boy #1 wants to learn how to do stuff but I'm pretty certain he just wants to do games.  I need to find him a good programming tutorial and will likely take this home to try out.

The First Muslim: the story of Muhammed by Lesley Hazleton.  Hazleton's author photo is tightly cropped.

Audiobook on CD

Heart of Texas: volume 1: Lonesome Cowboy: Texas Two-Step by Debbie Macomber.  10 CD at 12.1666 hours.

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Because You Love the Reno Photos

Renovation

New balustrades have been added to the stairs to fill the overwide gaps between the original balustrades.
2013 renovation

Old stairway has been re-carpeted.
2013 renovation

New chairs.
2013 renovation

Boxes for new chairs were delivered earlier today.
2013 renovation

New kid oak chairs.
2013 renovation

New adult oak chairs.  These are a darker stain.
2013 renovation

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

More Renovation Progress

Renovation

The main floor is looking very nice now that most ofthe new carpet is installed and all the paint is finished.

2013 Renovation

New balustrades to add to stairs.
2013 Renovation


The balustrades on top are the new charcoal color.
2013 Renovation

Monday, March 25, 2013

World Atlas of Roman Carpet

Carpet

New carpeting being installed today on the main floor.
2013 Renovation


2013 Renovation


NonFiction

World Atlas of Musical Instruments by Bozhidar Abrashev and Vladimir Gadjev.  We had an older, similar book that was kinda dingy with black and white photos.  This one is new with great color photos.

Fiction (Release date for tomorrow, March 26th)

Leaving Everything Most Loved by Jacqueline Winspear.maisie Dobbs investigates the death of an Indian woman in 1933 London.

Killer Honeymoon by G.A. McKevett.  Now that plus-sized P.I. Savannah Reid has finally walked down the aisle, she's ready for aromantic island getaway with new husband Dirk Coulter...but finding a dead body on the beach can be a real killjoy.

Burgess Boys by Elizabeth Strout. I read some references to this recently, maybe in the Sunday newspaper.  Speaking of the newspaper, the delivery person for the Madison paper seems incapable of getting the paper onto the porch.  The paper usually lands in the snowy yard or on the snow and up against the far side of the porch.

Death of Yesterday by M.C. Beaton.  Cover painting has a bicycle on the side of a rural road.  Maybe the newspaper carrier in this novel ditched his bike to go fishing on the background stream.

Let the Dead Sleep by Heather Graham.  Some sort of mystery or something.  Maybe I would know what the novel is about because maybe a review was in the Sunday paper.  But, since I did not want to traipse across the snow for the paper before church yesterday morning, and was busy the rest of the day, I did not find out. 

Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger.  A brilliantly moving account of a boy standing at the door of his young manhood, trying to understand a world [or newspaper delivery] that seems to be falling apart around him.

DVD

Roman Holiday starring Gregory OPeck and Audrey Hepburn.  Peck and Hepburn tool around Rome on a scooter stopping to drink espresso and complain about newspaper delivery back home.

A New Kind of Love starring Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward.  Romantic comedy.

Thursday, March 21, 2013

Is Laukkanen A Finnish Name?

It Looks Finnish With All the K's and N's and a U

Criminal Enterprise by Owen Laukkanen.  The cover stinks.  I usually ignore all cover jacket blurbs except this has one by KirkusKirkus is stingy about giving good reviews but had this, "Fans of crime thrillers shouldn’t miss this one or anything else with Laukkanen’s name on the cover. The writing is so crisp, the pages almost want to turn themselves. He’s a terrific storyteller."

I Saw The Movie

The Looking Glass War by Jon Le Carre.  8 CDs at 9 hours.  1965 and a novice spy is sent into the Eastern Bloc to find missiles.  The flick was released in 1969 and was pretty decent.  I cannot recall if I watched the flick on video or TV.  There is a scene in the film where the lackadaisical spy is being pushed by Anthony Hopkins's character to take things seriously.  Hopkins starts a fistfight with the spy get the guy to defend himself and escape.

Three in One

Eclipse Bay Collection: Eclipse Bay, Dawn in Eclipse Bay, Summer in Eclipse Bay by Jayne Ann Krentz. 15 CDs at 18 hours. This will check out.

Fiction

Six Years by Harlan Coben.  Looks like Harlan Coben made sure to shave his head the morning of his author photo.

Family Pictures by Jane Green.  Stay on your digital camera forever and never seem to get uploaded.

You & I, Me & You by Mary Janice Davidson.  I did not want to use those ampersands in the title but I did anyway.  I am very adventurous.

Photos

Renovation



Lights are being shifted

DSC00296


New door frame for door to conceal the bookdrop and tool supply area. The new door will have an etched glass window to let in light.  I think.  The door window will be something translucent.

DSC00307


Railings by front door were sanded down and glue applied for new tops.

Renovation.  Railings getting new tops.


New tops getting installed on railings.

Renovation.  Railings getting new tops.


Tops are on, joined, and sanded smooth.

Renovation.  Railings getting new tops.


The painters have continued down the stairwell and into the lower level.

DSC00299


DSC00306

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Renovation: New Carpeting

New Carpeting

We are getting carpet squares for easy replacement of spills and stains.
New carpeting for renovation, carpet tiles for easy replacement.

Old stairway.
New carpeting for renovation, old stairway

Boxes of carpet squares.
New carpeting for renovation. Boxes of carpet tiles.

Old stairway.
New carpeting for renovation, old stairway

Installation in Library Hall.
New carpeting getting installed.

Rolled carpet is for the stairs and landings.
New carpeting for renovation.  Roll carpet for stairs and landings.

Regular stairway.
New carpeting for renovation

Stuff. Nonsense. No Relation.


Ugh.  More Large Print.  Let's get through this quickly.

BridegroomWore Plaid by Grace Burrowes. Agenda 21 by Glenn Beck with Harriet Parke. A Time For War by Michael Savage.  Summerset Abbey by T.J. Brown.  Finding Home by Lois Greiman.  Out of Warranty by Haywood Smith.  The Importance of Being Wicked by Victoria Alexander.  Aviator's Wife by Melanie Benjamin. Love Is A Canoe by Ben Schrank.  Truth In Advertising by John Kenney.

Audiobooks on CD

Vatican Diaries by John Thavis.  10 CDs at 13 hours.  Journalist who worked 25 years in Vatican writes book about the Vatican and Vatican daily life, Vatican scandals, Vatican history and tradition, Vatican personalities, and various Vaticaneers.  Vatican Vatican Vatican.

Triumph of Caesar by Steven Saylor (no relation).  7 CDs at 8 hours.  Saylor's (no relation) mystery novels set in Ancient Rome are always very good.  Saylor's (no relation) main character, Gordianus, is a hired troubleshooter, an ancient P.I.  Gordianus works for the snobby and wealthy patrician families and Saylor (no relation) often has Gordianus travel to different part so Italy and the Roman Empire while including real-life Roman figures into the plot.  (no relation).

Alone on the Ice: the greatest survival story in the history of exploration by David Roberts.  10 CDs at 111.5 hours.  In 1913 the greatest Douglas Mawson in history was a member of an Antarctic Exploration team.  Mawson's greatest dog team in history fell into a crevasse and left Mawson dangling by the greatest sledge harness in history.  On his crawl back to camp Mawson realized the greatest soles in the history of feet had "detached from the flesh beneath.

Cesar Milan's Short Guide to a Happy Dog by Ceasr Milan. 5 CDs at 5.5 hours.  98 short and happy lessons.  I don't know if this audio title is narrated at a whisper.


Monday, March 11, 2013

Food, Firearms, Fiction

NonFiction

Gun Guys: a road trip by Dan Baum.
  • Flyleaf version:  Dan Baum is both a lifelong gun guy and a Jewish Democrat who grew up in suburban New Jersey feeling like a "child of a bitter divorce with allegiance to both parents."  In Gun Guys he grabs his licensed concealed-carry handgun and hits the road to meet some of the 40 percent of Americans who own guns.
  • Short version:  Gun nerd takes a drive.
  • Gerard version: Who the heck writes a nonfiction book and doesn't include any photos?  He makes up for that absence with good notes, bib., and index.
Audiobooks on CD

Fresh Off the Boat by Eddie Huang.  7 CDs at 8 hours.  Immigrant kid in Florida "obsessed over football, fought all-American boys who called him a chink, partied like a gremlin, and sold drugs with his crew" then opened a restaurant in New York City and wrote a book called Fresh Off the Boat.

The Heavy by Dara-Lynn Weiss.  7 CDs at 7.816 hours.  Weiss's seven-year-old daughter is obese.  Weiss has "her own food and body issues."  Weiss and daughter work to improve.  Weiss has to constantly spell out her hyphenated first name to everyone.

Slim For Life by Jillian Michaels.  7 CDs at 7.8 hours.  TV woman writes book.  TV Woman reads book out loud into microphone.  Fancy computer gadgets encode that recording onto thin plastic discs.  Those discs are packaged and sold.  LD Fargo Public Library buys a package of those discs.  LD Fargo Library advertises the availability of those discs.

A Week in Winter by Maeve Binchy. 9 CDs at 10.966 hours.  I've been reading a 1982 James Bond novel by John Gardner, IcebreakerIcebreaker is set in Northern Finland during winter.  I was in Finland in the summer of 1989.

Robert B. Parker's Ironhorse by Robert Knott.  6 CDs at 7.366 hours.  Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch are hired to guard a train with Mexican prisoners.  Robbers arrive.

Thursday, March 07, 2013

Four Books

Fiction

Children of Kings by Marion Zimmer Bradley and Deborah J. Ross.  Science fiction.

House Girl by Tara Conklin.  I think I once tied reading House Gun by Nadine Gordimer.  That novel has a group of guys living together in South Africa.  The protagonist's of the novel are dismayed when their son is accused of murder by using the "house gun" (kept for home defense) on someone.  Dang, that came out in 1998.

House Girl is a dual story of 1852 slavery and a 2004 lawyer who tries to find a descendant. 

Gotcha! by Fern Michaels.  What a lousy cover.  A photo of red autumn leaves and what seems to be a porch out-of-focus in the background.  Heck, the title is small print and stuck in the lower right corner.

The Striker by Clive Cussler and Justin Scott.  This is a typical Cussler cover with A BIG FIERY EXPLOSION.  The co-author's name is printed in much, much smaller type.

Tuesday, March 05, 2013

Xtreme Berlin Training Thrones

DVD

Berlin 36 starring [Germans].  Fosbury flop free Jewish high jumper is harassed and harried by dirty, rotten, stinking, filfthy nazis to try and get her off the German Olympic team.



Game of Thrones: the complete second season starring The Great and Mighty Peter Dinklage and naked women (or so I've heard).  Sneakiness and secrecy seal sword swinging associates.



Personal Training with Jackie: power circuit training starring [someone named Jackie].  Five different workouts.



Personal Training with Jackie: crunch-free xtreme abs starring [that same Jackie lady].  Standing and floor routines.


Renovation Photos

Renovation Photos

Some updates.

Framing, HVAC, water line, electrical, and sewer line in new lower level toilet room. Doorway  is to the right.
HVAC, electrical and plumbing mostly done.

Water and sewer for new sink.
Wiring, HVAC, and plumbing for toilet room.

Drywall torn out for new camera wiring in lower level.
Ceiling of kids room, opened for camera wiring.

Bathroom drywall is done.
Lower Level Toilet Room

Some of the pendant lights in the reading room are being moved.
Some pendant lights from reading room are being moved by entryway

Paint is here and ready.
Paint is here and waiting