Captain’s Log -- Abandon Ship (but only because it's really hot in here)

No. To answer the many of you who have inquired throughout the week, no, the air-conditioner is not working yet. I feel like it’s kind of a long story. More of an Epic at this point.

Let’s just say that today, Thursday, printing day, the day we fire up Becky and run the “presses,” that the girls have gotten creative and solved our problem. Temporarily. I hope a more permanent solution is just over the horizon.

I’m telling you, these girls have been very, very good sports about this whole thing for the past two weeks now. I did sense a certain amount of hostility late this morning, however. It’s never a good idea for five women to be in close quarters when the ambient temperature is approaching 100 degrees.

And then Vic came by for a visit and turned right around and left.

So, here’s what happened. Our little Ginny got super feisty when we got back from staff lunch. Her saucy, Chicago face tightened around the mouth and you could hear the accent as she stormed out of the office – something like, “I’m gonna fix this,” belted none to quite under her breath.

And then here she is not too much longer, coming back, lugging in big bags of ice and Styrofoam coolers. And a big fan. There are already several fans running throughout the office, mind you.

Then she had a plastic picnic knife aggressively in hand, and I got worried. She began cutting holes in the coolers (yep, super messy), adding ice, and then salt. I couldn’t help but take pictures to document this girl-scout-deck-hand phenomenon, as I watched in awe.

Sure enough, these little homemade contraptions had the office cooled off considerably, in short order. (See below)

This whole thing reminds me of short-Anne Pershing. It makes me think she is looking down, laughing, shaking her head like she always used to. It was the anniversary of her death this week. Tall-Anne McMillin, Steve Ranson, and I all met for lunch at Jerry’s in her favorite booth where over the years we all watched her navigate the politics of a small-town newspaperwoman.

There is nothing like work friends who become family. There is nothing like a small-town paper. There is nothing like air-conditioning.

In spite of our current state of affairs, we will be here…

…Keeping you posted,

Rachel