Official Last Day. :-(

Today was my official last day at the depot as an intern.  Fortunately, we're not leaving Laramie after I graduate in May (pending any unforeseeable circumstances) so I'll be around to volunteer at the depot for a while. 

Today I finished up two more boxes, so we're up to box number 91.  I updated the catalog with those two, emailed Larry, and will run up to the depot and update the catalog on that computer as well.  I also helped Larry clean off one of the waiting benches and get some pictures of it to try to sell a couple of them.  Once two of those are cleared away, we can really get moving on setting up the museum.  Jeff also delivered our second order of shirts, so we can get those to the few of our visitors that ordered them during the Open House.  I also picked up another one for Christmas.  :-D 

There was a small family that stopped by today.  They picked a good time, Larry and I were in the middle of getting one of the smaller train layouts out of the caboose and into his truck to take to Centennial.  So the family got to go inside the caboose and heard a little mini history.  It was nice. 

Unfortunately however, we also discovered more plumbing problems in the bathrooms today.  No water is coming out of the faucets in the men's room and there's water slowly running down the wall in the women's.  We think it's because of the arctic temperatures we got earlier this week.  Eagle Plumbing is coming tomorrow to see what they can do.  Hopefully it's not TOO bad, as we've got people who rented the depot for parties this weekend. 

So even though I'm officially done, work at a museum is never done.  ;-)

Thursday...

I updated the catalog, took our display back to the depot after a month at the library, and sent out some emails desperately trying to find an intern for the spring semester.  I'll try again at the start of the semester to see if anyone becomes available.

Delayed.

Woke up this morning with a low-grade fever.  So I stayed home today and spoke with Larry via email. Since I still owe him a Wednesday, I'll go in next week for my last day. 
This afternoon if I'm feeling better, I need to run to the library and take down the depot display.

The beginning of the end.....

This is the last official Monday, and despite a raging sinus infection, we (because Lindsey came by too) got a lot done.  A lot moved.  We cleaned out most of the On-Hand room and moved allllllllllll the boxes that we finished into that room.  It's hard to believe that we're already up to 90 boxes.  Crazy.

Bad news, however.  Our intern who was all set up for the spring fell through.  I sent some emails this weekend to some students, hopefully I'll get a bite.  Larry wants the museum open by July 1st.  I'm nervous that won't happen without an intern in the spring.  ANd I don't know if I'm going to be able to spend a lot of time there in the spring, with getting ready to graduate and everything.  But I will be able to stop by for a bit. 

Anyway, we are going to place another order for more shirts and we are going to schedule a "hanging" day over Christmas break to hang some of the larger pieces like the old chalkboard time schedule sign and the train windows.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

To all!  Enjoy your turkey, stuffing, and pie!!! 

The morning after...

The Open House!  It was a success!  We got over $100 in donations and we got over $500 from our "gift table"!  Very exciting.  Larry said it looks like we got over 800 people over the two days.  That's really good!

This morning I recounted our stock and came up with the profit numbers.  Lindsey stopped by as well, and she's going to help me tackle the storage room next week, see if we can't make the place a little more organized for when Scott comes in in the spring.  If we are able to do that on Monday, then hopefully on Wednesday I can at least finish the boxes in the corridor so that area is all clear.  Then Thursday I'll spend updating the catalog so it's ready to go for Scott.  That's the plan, anyway!  Then that will be it for me.  Officially.  :-(

But I'll be sticking around to help.  Maybe I can continue to push Larry into creating a state-wide association.  I really think we need one.  It would help all the depots and railroad towns around the state.  I also had an idea in which I would need to contact Tray Sherwood at Mainstreet about "renting" a unoccupied downtown building's window to put a train layout for Christmas.  We could also advertise Santa Claus.  I think he should be coming to the depot again this year.  I'm going to check, anyway.  Also, Tray said she'd sell our t-shirts down there, too.  So if someone wasn't able to get on at the Open House, they will be available still for Christmas!  We're putting in another order for Christmas too. :-D

Open House!

So this weekend is the depot's annual Open House.  Lego land is all set up (and wonderful!) and we've got train layouts in the other half.  Laramoo the cow is out as well.  
It was quite a good turn out today.  Lindsey and I were there from 1-5 and once people were done with lunch it got pretty crowded.  A few people we talked to said that they'd lived here for a while and had never visited.  The donation box was getting full too, and we sold 14 t-shirts (have an order for 3 more), 8 mugs, and a few hats, among other things.  I'll do a full recount of our gift inventory on Monday to determine what was popular and if we need to order more shirts.  We sold out of the XXL, so we definitely will need some more of those.  Also, Tray Sherwood from Mainstreet said she'd sell some of our shirts for us as well.  So that's good, until we get our own gift shop up and running (there are still indecisions on that, so unfortunately it won't be this year) and when we have the museum and regular hours as well.
Apparently, the date for the dedication of the train at Heritage Railroad Park is going to be July 1st.  Larry said he would love the back half of the museum open by then.  It can be done.  It won't be easy, but it can be done.  We have first GOT to get rid of a couple of those benches!  They're taking up so much space that we can't do anything back there right now.  We have 2 to get rid of.  They're 16 feet long, 4 feet tall, and 5 feet deep. 

I also can't believe that my time is just about officially over.  I have Monday, then the next week until Dec. 2.