Education
June through August 2017
As the saying goes, “one man's
trash is another man's treasure,” but sometimes one person's treasure becomes
another person's treasure.
I needed a new desk. The one I
had, an outdated computer desk, was not filling the bill for me anymore. It had
features no longer useful, not enough drawers, and one shelf that was sagging
under the weight of my growing collection of nature reference books. It felt
cramped. There was never enough space.
To do the work I need to do –
research my nature observations, or research for a piece of writing, or for a
program – I needed real space and plenty of handy drawers.
I would need to have room to
spread out my notebooks, sketchbooks , real books, and samples (such as dead bugs, pond water, bits of moss, etc.,) and to set up my
laptop or microscope, or both. I needed to feel that my ideas, imagination and
rambling thoughts would have room to grow. And I would need my most useful,
needed books within easy reach.
In other words, to expand my
knowledge and work for the kind of education I wanted to accomplish, I needed the
right desk.
I kept an eye out for used
desks, which were what I preferred, but also for new ones, in case one of those
happened to be the right one at an affordable price. I had not started looking
diligently yet but, as with many things, I knew I'd recognize the right one
when I saw it.
The absolute ideal desk, I
felt, would be one of those big old wooden teacher's desks - the desks with lots of surface area on top
and lots of drawers of various sizes, including that one narrow drawer at the
top center where teachers tucked away squirt guns, big rubber bands and other
items confiscated from troublesome children. They also have that pull-out
square of wood where teachers often taped a class roster or seating chart. And
they are as sturdy as all get-out because they were made during times when
things were meant to last and be hard-working.
I wanted to avoid a metal
desk, if possible. They are dark, cold and impersonal, their drawers opening
and closing with the same squeal-bang of metal lockers echoing in an old school
hallway. They have no real give, or acceptance, as old wood has.
I found my one-and-only in
early June.
Garden views out of the screened porch on June 3.
Pester enjoys the screened porch quite often.
It was that time of year when
summer was felt but not yet oppressive, when porch time was at its most
pleasant.
One way I was enjoying June, and the rest of the summer: all of the Jane Austen novels (with tea, of course.) "Persuasion" was the first one.
A local friend on Facebook who
knew I was looking for a desk (barely anyone did) sent me information about a
sale at one of the local elementary schools – the next school in line for total
remodeling. They were getting rid of a lot of old stuff – out with the old, in
with the new. This was wonderful luck – not just the sale itself, but that
someone told me, because it seemed to be barely advertised at all.
And so I went to be there one
Saturday morning, right when it started at 8:00 am, in great anticipation, but
not allowing myself to think I would find my “dream desk.” I walked into a
hallway lined and stacked with stuff. Then I turned into the school gym where
there were several rows of items, spanning the length of the gym. As if that
wasn't great enough, I was told to walk about the whole building, because
everything in every room and hallway was for sale.
Starting in the gym, I went up
and down the rows of classroom furniture, white boards, various shelving units
and magazine display racks, old A/V equipment and much more. There were piles of
variously colored child-sized desk chairs taped off, reserved for a charter
school that bought them during a special sale the day before.
I found a couple of old metal
teacher's desks and, though they were not what I preferred, I kept them in the
back of my mind, just in case.
Then … there it was, with
racks and a pile of old headphones on top of it … the Desk of my Dreams. That
big old sturdy wooden teacher's desk – and in great shape, to boot. I spoke to
the friendly people in charge there to say I wanted to buy that desk, but I was
going to look around the school at other things before paying. Two men took all
the stuff off the top and moved it over to the side of the room. It was mine.
I wandered the building. In
different places I found two of those sturdy old wooden school chairs (adult
size) and snatched those up, bringing them down to “my” desk in the gym. Then I
noticed there were chairs piled on the stage. One was a wheeled, adjustable,
padded office chair. I inspected it, it passed, and it was mine.
I went to the nice people to
pay for my choices. This is what it turned out to be:
–
sturdy wooden
teacher's desk: $5.00
–
3 chairs
$1.00 each
Yes, that's correct – my Dream
Desk cost me a five dollar bill. I had to have them repeat that to me.
The two nice men then carried
the desk and chairs to my truck and loaded them in. Off I went, driving
carefully home, letting my great good fortune gradually sink into my mind.
I explored each drawer,
discovering the desk had last belonged to a Reading teacher. My explorations revealed remnants of the life in
her classroom.
The pully-out thingie - there's one on both sides!!
I also found a strip engraved
with the teacher's name as well as print-outs of the last class rosters
used in her classroom.
The next day I scrubbed the
desk inside and out and then spruced it up with lemon oil.
Nice, yes?
Mireille immediately took to
it.
Her Highness, Queen Mireille, always seeking places where she can look down on the other pets.
What a cute nose.
The day after that I had the
great pleasure of clearing out and cleaning up the mess that was the old
computer desk. It was still in very good shape. I took it to the St. Vincent de
Paul store in town, where they were very pleased to get it.
Now ya see it ...
... now ya don't!
A few days after that I had
the pleasure of seeing the “new” desk put in its new position, with Richard's
help.
I had remembered (and had
designs on) a shelving unit that Richard made years ago, which had been left in
the barn (a.k.a. “graveyard”) after we weren't using it anymore. I had checked on
it a few times to see that it was still in good shape (it was.) This was the
perfect time to resurrect and use it.
I backed my pickup truck down near the barn one day,
then turned the shelving unit end-over-end out the barn opening, across the old
sheep lot, up a little slope, and across some lawn to the truck, and lifted it
into the bed. I then drove it up in
front of the screened porch. After Richard got home he helped me move it over
to the porch door, then into the porch.
As anyone can imagine, it was
filthy after years in the barn, and when I again found some time I scrubbed it
all down.
There were constant
interruptions to the desk project after that, and time dragged on.
Garden views from the screened porch on June 24
The corn was knee high before the Fourth of July, and just about as high as an elephant's eye.
But eventually Richard was
able to take the old backing off the shelves and put on a nice new, sturdy pegboard
backing.
In process: new back for bookshelf
Next he deftly, creatively
repaired a corner of the shelf that had been broken (or chewed?) by something
while in the barn. I painted the whole unit with paint left over from
Richard's own recent bookshelf project.
We had another spat of delays,
including Independence Day/weekend festivities, and then we got back to it.
On July 5, Richard and I
carried the shelving unit into the office room and stood it up on the desk
while he inserted some screws to anchor it to the wall. It looked just as I had
hoped it would.
The desk and shelves were
IN!!! What a great relief, as well as
very exciting for me.
I wasted no time lining the
shelves with field guides and other reference books.
And with room to spare!
Gradually I went through bags
of stuff that I had removed from the old desk and started to determine what
should go in which drawers and what should go on the desk top. I knew I wanted
very little on the desktop, and only the essentials for quick-grabbing, because
I wanted plenty of work space. And I knew that (ideally) I wanted the stereoscope
on the desk, as I use if often.
Drawers ... it's just a start ...
Top left: mostly some things related to microscope use.
The top center drawer - some quick-grab items.
Top right: for quick notes, staples, etc.
The deep bottom right drawer will be for "current and ongoing projects" so I won't have to waste time hunting them down (label not related to my work - old VU library folder being reused.)
I'm still working on other drawers.
My drawers were already very
different from the Reading teacher's drawers. I did leave her name plate and the
class roster in a drawer as a respectful nod to her work.
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Time has dragged on through
this work-in-progress and I am anxious to have it all ready and useable. I want
so much to work on and accomplish things here. I want essentials at my
fingertips. I also want to make the whole room a pleasant place to hang out
and work, so I will be changing curtains, decluttering the whole room, washing
floors and walls, improving the lighting, carefully placing wall hangings, etc.
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Before I could finish organizing the desk and filling drawers, I would have
to completely shift books in the floor-to-ceiling shelves nearby so that I
could make spaces for books and other nature study/education materials near the
desk, move some books completely out, and completely reorganize it all.
Existing floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, section near desk: nature education books (for leaders and children,) other nature-related books, binders for citizen science and other projects, natural area information, and a bunch of history books that need to be gone through and re-shelved elsewhere.
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It has been frustrating trying
to find time for this large project, despite its importance. There has been one
delay after another (various kinds,) and summer is busy with gardens and
food preservation. But, I WILL get to it, and it will be done.
When it does all come together
it will be a wonderful situation that I feel will propel my work along on a
smoother continuum. Who knows what great things I may be able to accomplish?
There was a time when the
Reading teacher was new, when she first sat at this very desk in a classroom,
her first class roster at hand as her first batch of students filed in toward their desks. It was a fresh start for that teacher.
When this project is finally
completed, when I am sitting at that same desk in the “extra room” of our
house, my books, notebooks, and microscopes at hand, it will be a fresh start
for me, too. It will be a different kind of education, but it will be effective
and far-reaching, just as the previous teacher's practice must have been.
In my case, I'll be spending a
lot of time “out there” in nature, then bringing it “in here” so that it can go
back “out there” to other people, in various ways.
Almost total chaos during the book-shifting project.
One side of the room, with Indiana Dunes-related wall hangings that will stay (one especially inspiring one is about one of my heroes, Henry Chandler Cowles.) That couch is for studying and unfolds as a guest bed - obviously it can't be used as either for the time being.
As I always say: “It always gets
worse before it gets better.”
