The one where we apologize for not posting more...

Hello Blog Cabin Village friends!

So sorry for the lapse between blog posts! We could come up with any number of flimsy excuses for you to explain our absence (i.e. the cabins have been restless, the cats locked us out of our computers, a terrible wave of pioneer flu). The truth is that we've just been busy! It's a good busy, however.

Here are a few of the things percolating right now at Log Cabin Village:

• School tours and walk-in visitation are back in full swing! The Village may be beautiful when it's quiet, but we eagerly anticipate the days when the pitter-pattering of feet fill our halls...
  


• We've been making new friends! We love partnering with other like-minded entities, both local AND far away. We currently have students from the Tarrant County College-Trinity River campus doing some service learning projects for us. These projects range from site and cabin maintenance to shooting video and taking photographs. We also recently hosted Kiddin Around USA, and look forward to a potential upcoming partnership with Performing Arts Fort Worth, Inc. We participated in a great survey administered by Reach Advisors.
  


• We've been enjoying our existing partnerships! The Greater Fort Worth Herb Society has started "waking" the garden up for spring. The Lone Star Leather Crafters will be here next Saturday. The Prairie Dogs (Lone Star Dutch Oven Society), Woodturners of North Texas, and cooper Dan "Five Buckets" Tatum have all signed on for May.
  


• We've been getting great press! We were recently featured in a great article in MomsOutLoud. Some of our winter photos were featured on NBC Channel 5. And we have another project "in the works." We'll fill you in on that one later. :)
  


• We've been making improvements! A new sign is about to be installed for the Howard cabin. The Parker cabin has been re-stabilized. Our tool shed has been rebuilt. And we have new items in our gift shop, including the recently released Fort Worth Parks book and the much sought-after limberjacks!
  


• We've been planning special events! We've got Timber Tales Storytime and Tooling Around next week. More information on those and other upcoming events can be found on our calendar!
  


• We've been using social media! We've been learning about making videos. We've made friends from Dallas to Ireland using Twitter. And we've been continuing great conversations with our fans on Facebook.

There's a lot more, but you probably get the idea by now.

Most importantly, we are ALWAYS striving to provide exciting and meaningful opportunities for our visitors, friends, fans, and Tweeps to "escape the present, and experience the past." We hope you'll continue to support and help us on this journey. We appreciate you!

Sophie the snow pioneer: a tribute

We'd like to pause and take a moment to remember a very special historical interpreter who was with us for only a short time period. Her life and spirit were as unique as the record-breaking snowfall that brought her to us.

And, without further adieu, we present Sophie the snow pioneer: a life well lived

Sophie the snow pioneer: a life well lived from logcabinvillage on Vimeo.

Plunging into despair...

Those of you who have visited the Village within the past 2 years know that we have a wonderful hands-on cabin. You also know that this wonderful hands-on cabin has wonderful hands-on activities inside and wonderful hands-on activities outside.

You might call it a hands-on wonder (or blessed miracle for those with children needing edutained for a few moments whilst the parents catch a breather).

The most popular outdoor hands-on activity is our recirculating water pump. Children love this pump. Adults love this pump. We love this pump. The pump housing was lovingly built by our skilled tradesman, Steve. The pump itself was ordered online.

And a beautiful pump it is. Or rather, was.

You see, since this activity is loved like no other, it gets used like no other. And with frequent loving (violent) use comes the inevitable breakage. And tears...but that's a whole DIFFERENT story.

The last time we repaired the pump, all it took was replacing the leathers. Do you know what pump leathers are? Neither did I until I had to call the lovely pump experts at Lehman's and order the parts. I know now, though.

Unfortunately, the problem this time was not the leathers. It was the plunger assembly. Do you know what a plunger assembly is? Neither did I until we had to research and research and research to try and find something on the internet that vaguely resembled the broken pieces that Steve pulled out of the now-defunct beloved pump.

Plunger assembly.

Did you know it's really difficult to try and find what you need by Googling "plunger assembly?" We have a pump that's literally named "Our Good Cistern Pump." It has a "Kant Freeze" enclosed top. These are not the most unique of descriptors when one is combing the bowels of the internet.

I found myself at Lehman's again. I again called their pump experts, and they directed me to the part number I would need to order. And it was only $20.00! I ordered three, so as never to be caught in this predicament again.

These parts don't fit our pump. At all.

I don't blame Lehman's. I'm not sure I adequately conveyed the information needed to discern which pump parts we actually needed. Be that as it may, we have worthless broken pump parts and worthless good pump parts sitting here in the office.

What's a museum educator to do? The children...think of the children with their tear-stained faces. They just want to pump water. But our pump has been incapacitated.

I turned to the Lehman's pump experts again. This time via live chat. Surely I couldn't mess things up via live chat! Chatted with a lovely woman named Beth who told me she'd need to doublecheck that the parts they carry would indeed fit our "Good" pump. I asked about instead getting a pump to fit our good parts, and she suggested that we keep the pump we have because it's better than the pump we would order.

Confused?

We are too. But soon we'll know whether we'll have a new pump, new parts, both, or neither.

And you thought working at a museum was a quiet, low-stress job!

*note: I, in no way, am officially endorsing Lehman's, nor are they aware that I am mentioning them here. I will, however, say that they have some of the BEST customer service in the business.

Blogger's remorse (& some Howard pics)...

...also known as, "I really should have posted these pictures yesterday...and blogged about XYZ the day before that...and I hope everyone is still finding this content relevant...did I just do too many Twitter tweets...is this thing on?"

Sigh. When did social media become so much like dating?

I suppose the dynamics of "making contact" and "keeping someone interested" don't vary that much in personal versus professional relationships. Anyone who's attended a networking event IRL (in real life--see how web savvy I am?) knows that it's just as much of a "dance" as going to the movies with a new friend (or significant other).

Here at the Village, we are trying to forge (no blacksmith pun intended) new relationships every day. When a recent poll indicated that very few museum visitors feel like museum staff actually care about them, we were stunned. Perhaps we've been living in an idealistic bubble, but we feel fortunate to have historical interpreters (our front-line staff) who TRULY love their jobs and truly love engaging our visitors. And our visitors seem to sense this contagious enthusiasm for both frontier life AND those who want to come experience it. We'd be crushed if our visitors thought we didn't care about them.

As the Log Cabin Village museum educator, my job is to help connect people of the present to our shared past. Recently this job has taken the form of social media ("Wondertwin powers...activate! Shape of...Facebook! Form of...Twitter!" By the way...if you don't get that last reference, you're too young. Google "Hall of Justice." :) :) :) ) It's easy to get mired down in one activity or the other. If you ignore your online presence, then you're doing a disservice to those relationships (which range from as close as one block away to as far as the United Kingdom). If you hang out on Twitter all day, then you may not be serving the people right outside your office door.

So how do you strike a balance? Is balance even possible?

All I know is that our visitors (our friends)--both on-site and online--are not just numbers to us. They represent the desire to do more, to teach more, and to reach more. And if we can do that successfully, then I guess it doesn't matter so much whether we've done it through a hands-on cabin or a Facebook update.

By the way, here are some photos of the Howard cabin progress--part of the reason for my remorse (because they should have been posted yesterday!!! :) :) :) ) The rest of the remorse stems from blog posts still churning in my brain, having yet been brought to life. In due time, in due time...

About a Village...

Have any of you ever noticed how much pressure blog writing places on a person/institution?

As the primary author of Log Cabin Village's blog...I strive to provide interesting and relevant content on a somewhat frequent basis. Yet sometimes, although our time period AND museum are fascinating, I draw a blank. What is it that our readers want to read about?

I could tell you about our day-to-day happenings--how the chill in the air has brought in scores of visitors seeking respite from the mania of the holiday season. I could tell you how we're anxiously preparing for the holidays ourselves, hanging garlands and popcorn and wreaths. I could even tell you about how I'm researching tamale-making, so that we can approximate an authentic experience for our holiday event on December 13th (by the way...if anyone out there is an expert tamale-maker...you've got my number--give me a call).

I could tell you how the Village cats are ticked off because they don't like the cold. Or how the curator and I have been feverishly huddled around computers trying to secure photos to go on the new web site (which will launch soon, by the way). Or even how the crackling of the potbelly stove in the one-room school makes me yearn to grab a cup of hot cocoa, move my desk outside, and finish this post fireside (which would make it awkward for the school group currently holding "Pioneer School" in there...but that's beside the point).

I could even tell you that I currently hear the anachronistic hum of a cordless drill as a City of Fort Worth employee fixes that nagging porch board that's been catching the back door lately.

All of these activities, sounds, thoughts, and feelings make up the daily rhythm of Log Cabin Village.

"Blog worthy?" Who knows.

All I know is that it's another beautiful day at the Village...and we look forward to seeing our staff and visitors--our family.

Happy holidays...