(no subject)

 This morning I watched a green leaf branch "swim" across the pond and then dip down under the water and disappear.  Muskrat?

Last year we had an algae bloom that killed off all our fish, which was distressing.  This year we have an abundance of frogs, especially northern leopard frogs.  The blue heron still comes, surprisingly, though not as often as it once did.  We never see the wood ducks that much at this time of year.  They come to the pond often in the spring but have disappeared by late summer.

We see a deer through the yard every now and then, especially during hunting season.  They seem to understand that our yard is safe.  We hear the coywolves often at night (regionally they're called coydogs).  We can hear turkeys often in the corn fields next to our property (and we saw one walking along our yard a month back). We have raccoons (my husband caught them on a trail camera recently), tons of rabbits, a number of fat groundhogs, garter snakes, and turtles.  And of course an assortment of birds, including a smallish hawk that swoops around our yard.  Every year a pair of warbers gets into our garage and makes a nest on something that we consequently can't use all season.  The woolly-bears are out in force now.

At this time of year the box elder beetles start swarming around our front door and sneak into the house.  They're followed by a smaller wave of ladybugs.

Some More Concerning Things from Work

First a hiring freeze is being put into effect.  I had a librarian position open.  We interviewed and selected a candidate only to have someone from administration contact me and tell me not to offer the job, they were about to announce a hiring freeze and it will include the non-filling of this position. I was, I admit, slightly surprised they had given me the go-ahead to search and fill this position (which replaces a librarian that left) but I'm pretty upset about it all the same.  Especially after we took all that time to search and interview.

Second, I'm on an ad hoc diversity committee (as part of the campus' new strategic plan).  The first meeting went pretty well.  The first meeting did not have all members present.  The second meeting went rather differently.  The HR director actually defended the nepotism problem we have in hiring on the campus.  She literally said she saw no problem with it and thought it was good that we hired from the nearby community.  Then a faculty member (who was gay and proudly out) felt that we should do a survey on campus and where people attach their names and say if they belong to a minority group and they we should approach those people and give them the job of raising awareness/being a model for said groups.

Because there's nothing alarming about asking people to out themselves as say, Jewish or Trans or Gay or whatever and making that published information or anything.  I mean, we've already discussed that this campus isn't comfortable for all employees that are part of said groups.  Asking them to out themselves will surely improve that, right?

Anyway, still looking for jobs.

What I want to do when I grow up

So.

I've been giving a lot of thought to what to do next, as you all know.  I haven't come to any conclusions yet, but here are some ideas:

1. Get a job in a different library. My husband points out how miserable he was in the library he was working in and that he was really starting to doubt he even wanted to be a librarian.  He recently got a job at another library though, and he's much happier.  It's made a big difference for him and since my own questioning about staying in the profession started as things started to go blah here, maybe that will be the case for me too.  I can also always look into public libraries as an alternative where I'm doing something different but still kind of the same.
2. Become a market gardener/small scale farmer.  I signed up for an online class through the Cornell Cooperative Extension about starting a farm.  It has a huge risk associated with it, but we're actually in a financial situation where we might be able to make that risk, thanks to my husband's new job.  I've approached a couple local vendors to see what they might want to purchase from me to sell and I'm planning on talking to a few nearby restaurants.  I've also did a little research into high value crops.
3. Get a degree in interior design.  I can take free classes where I work and they offer a BA in interior design (with two faculty member with an interest in libraries).  In theory, since I already have a BA, I'm thinking I could probably get, at the very least, the GE credits waved, maybe.  That would me I continue to work here, take free classes, get the degree and go into consulting for libraries.  It would me traveling a lot, but I wouldn't be doing it until after the degree when the kids are bigger.  And, especially if I stick to bigger institutions, I could probably make a decent amount per job.  There aren't many interior designers (or for that matter architects) who have worked in libraries (and trust me, often is shows).

I'm still brainstorming, but that's what I got so far.