August already

So glad I mentioned the heat in my last post - it's been a little on the chilly side ever since, and we're afraid we've missed summer completely. I'm holding out for a warmer August.

Just when you think it will be a dull, ordinary day things happen. This morning we had a man with a dog wanting to come in the library. Service dogs are perfectly fine, but this one had no paperwork or tag to verify the owner's claim. I'm afraid some staff may have over-reacted: for some reason police were called. As the ADA coordinator for the building, I checked on regulations and found that service animals (and their owners) aren't required to have documentation with them. I visited with the patron and police officer, who suggested it might be a good idea to have that available in the future. Two more officers arrived - we had to suspect it was a slow day for law enforcement, especially since the first officer had already reported everything was fine!

Not long after we saw a long (really long!) black limo parked outside the Library, with a red carpet extended. This turned out to be a 65th birthday celebration for a woman, who had planned a day with friends (10 of them, who all showed up for pictures). They had champagne and looked like it was going to be a fun time.

My feel-good moment of the week: a young British tourist asked why the iPhone doesn't work in Montana? He was traveling the US, had just come from Idaho, and needed to call the person in town he planned to stay with. He asked about a pay phone, and I directed him to the one in the lobby. He returned a little later saying he couldn't hear on that one, and that's when I realized he was watching my lips carefully and had hearing aids; he did have the speech associated with deaf people who learn to talk but I thought it was just his British accent. The cell phone number he had for his local contact was a long distance number. It seemed like he was out of options, so I called the local person - we don't usually make calls for people, and long distance requires a special code. But the person on the other end was happy to hear he was in town, and came right over. He was very pleasant to visit with, and we had a discussion about how the At&T network isn't everywhere like you think! Every so often we have stranded travelers, and it feels good to help.

MLA board retreat this weekend - guess that will count as my summer vacation this year.