Parting With Books

Monday July 21. The day began with daunting task at hand. We cancelled other appointments and set our hearts toward doing the necessary. Jack, packing up his shop equipment and Julie, sorting and defining and packing and throwing away books. Michelle was on her way. We sat in silence.... drama. Actually, we cancelled some home showings and called our accountant for his thoughts on our situation, finances and new opportunities ahead of us. He spoke long and with "strong encouragement"...more about that in another blog. A call to our local library let us know they could not accept any of my beloved books.

Michelle arrived. Some brief cordials and down to the basement. A box for the flea market, a box for Barnes and Noble used books, a small pile for Michelle, a box for Ben, and a box for Julie. As Michelle helped me decide..."keep?"..."Barnes and Noble?".... "trash?".... other....being very strict about what and who and when "other" would be taken care of. Jack was dutifully and equally as sadly dismantling his shop and acetylene torch equipment he uses with his Band Instrument Repair. An acetylene torch to repair instruments you may ask!?!?.. having just previewed the above pictures! SUDDENLY, the carbon monoxide detector alarms! "warning, warning carbon monoxide" beep beep beep...rather BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP...WARNING...You get the idea... seems some of the gases had leaked out in sufficient amounts to set off the CO detector. Michelle headed for the stairs...."shouldn't we get out of here if the alarm is going off?", she implored us to leave immediately, Jack and I were used to our alarms going off, which when one goes off all the others in our condo go off, blaring in unison that something is amiss. (usually because of cooking something a bit too crisp or long)Jack calls the Haun store where he bought the torch, could acetylene set off the CO alarm, or is it something else? Julie called the fire department non emergency number to ask the on duty guy to come over with his CO detector to get some readings "I can't smell anything..." she says, to which the very patient guy at the fire department tells me - "call 911 it is the right thing to do" - " I don't want to disturb anyone, can't you just come over with your meter?" - "if you don't call 911 I will," says the guy at the fire department. OK OK....I called 911 and as I did, I saw that the Fire Chief himself was across the street visiting with his mother! How opportune! As I was talking to the 911 operator, I walked across the street and asked our Fire Chief to just come and check it out. Long story short. The CO readings were higher than allowable for us to continue working. 70ppm...30 sets off the alarms 100 is not good at all... We were never in any danger, thank God for the alarm. And it took a long time of venting the house and the basement to get the basement back to normal. That is one of the reasons we are moving is to get a safer workshop area for Jack. Of course it had to rain like crazy, so we were all standing out in the rain...Our Fire Chief and Lieutenant checked everything out to make sure there was no hidden cause somewhere else. We had to wait anther 2 hours before returning to the basement with windows open and fans going. So off to Zachary's for lunch, at 3 in the afternoon. As you can see by the nearly empty book shelves we were able to accomplish much. The two firemen that came and were very professional and helpful. I was soundly scolded by my sons and next time any alarm goes off I will promptly call 911 and not try to smell anything. Now to get the books to the proper places and the ones I am keeping into storage. The last picture is of Don Turner, our Fire Chief manning the big fan (didn't get into the picture) at our back door. He is very patient and kind as was Steve Burke our lieutenant who came with truck and meter and fan. So there you have it. Drama in the parting with the books saga...provided by a little corner occupied by Jack and his shop. Thank God we are moving to provide a safer shop area for Jack.