A series of strange coincidences

[altivo]

Most libraries in the US no longer have card catalogs. We use computer databases instead, and mine is no exception. We do, however, still maintain what is called a shelf list, a series of catalog drawers that contain one 3x5 card for each book we own, arranged in the same order in which the books would be on the shelf if they were all here. Various incidental bits of information may be recorded on those cards, such as the date a book was sent to be rebound (yes, we still do that occasionally) or the name of a donor, etc. We no longer type those cards up manually, but instead have them generated by our computerized cataloging system as we catalog each new book. The cards are actually printed in Dublin, Ohio on a specialized printer that does only catalog cards, and are mailed to us daily.

I do check to make sure all of them arrive. As it happens, the shipments for December 21 and December 23 have been missing, and I'm on the point of ordering them to be reprinted. I figured they got lost somewhere in the holiday mail, because they are just small envelopes. Today the December 23 packet arrived. We didn't notice the cancellation on the envelope (they are mailed using a postage meter, so typically have no cancellation.)

When I took the cards from the envelope, a small handwritten note fell out:

1/8/06
Hello, Harvard Diggins Library,
Just thought you would like to know that these cards arrived in Juneau, Alaska on Jan. 7, in a package of gifts from Norway. The Norway package had been damaged & repaired, & somehow your envelope ended up included--imagine our puzzlement when opening our Norwegian treasures!
Best Wishes for 2006;
Your friends in Juneau

On re-examining the envelope, sure enough, it was cancelled on the back in Juneau, Alaska, on January 8. I wonder where the other packet from December 21 got to...

Comments

[songcoyote.livejournal.com]

That must have been a bizarre series of events! I'd love to see the story as an animated short: the damaged package gets tossed onto a pile of mail, a loose box flap scoops up your small envelope, the package gets sorted to Juneau, the recipient opens it and looks puzzled, a larger envelope is addressed, and your surprised eyes greet the note.

I can just see it, with that classic music from cartoons that always seems to indicate "work is happening". Doot doot doo, doo dooty-doo doo doo; doo doo dooty-doodle-doooo do! (...or something ;) What fun!

Light and laughter,
SongCoyote
Ludo ergo sum!

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Yes, and it makes me wonder how many other pieces of mail have similar stories to tell. It actually arrived in its own original envelope, rather than inside a larger one. The envelopes are Tyvek and quite sturdy, with those self-stick flaps that can be restuck after peeling them open. The surprised recipients had opened it added their note, and resealed it, adding a piece of tape over the flap, and dropped it back into the mail or handed it to their letter carrier. The US postage on it was still valid from Juneau back to Illinois, so here it is.

I have had mail go astray because someone mistyped the barcode that represents the zip before, but this is the first time it went so far and still managed to get back.

Actually, I think of H. C. Hollings' award-winning children's book of lo these many years ago, Paddle-to-the-Sea. It tells the story of a little carved and painted canoe with an Indian in it, set in a snowbank in Canada to slide into Lake Superior when the snow melts. The inscription on the bottom said "Please put me back into the water. I am Paddle-to-the-Sea." After many years and many experiences, the little carving arrived on the coast of France, and the path was reconstructed when the story hit the news media, telling how many people had handled the figure and finally set it back on its way. Hollings turned it into an educational tale of all the things the carving passed on its way, but the underlying story was apparently a true one.

[songcoyote.livejournal.com]

Nifty-kins! I like stories like that, especially ones that have some form of corroboration so as not to be relegated to the annals of urban legend.

The world is full of little miracles, right down to the fact that flowers just keep on popping their little heads up every Spring :)

Light and laughter,
SongCoyote

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Yep, and coyotes who turn into squirrels? o.O

[songcoyote.livejournal.com]

Hee!

Well, I've always enjoyed being on either end of eating, so why not be prey and predator? (And no, not vore! ;)

Actually I have a squirrel fascination because my coven is named Ratatosk. We're not your average Gardnerians ;D

Light and laughter,
SongCoyote

[altivo.livejournal.com]

And no, not vore!

Thank goodness for that. Few things really squick me but that one still does.

Having always been a solitary, I suppose I should some time find out exactly what distinguishes Gardnerians beyond having a label. ;)

[songcoyote.livejournal.com]

Heh... I only specifically denied it because you wondered if I was referring to it some time ago in one of our early exchanges, so I didn't want you to jump to consumptive conclusions (plus it was funny!).

Here's an encapsulation of the stereotypical Gardnerian: how many Gardnerians does it take to change a light bulb?
Shhh! That's a 3rd degree secret.

Now granted, our little group is still tight-lipped about those portions of the tradition that are foci of the mysteries, but we also giggle during ritual, call on other deities than the primary Gard ones, use other traditions' methods sometimes, and basically enjoy gathering. All of these have at one time or another been described as things Gards don't generally do. In fact, I suspect some hard-core trad-whore Gards (who I hope for their sake never see this) wouldn't consider us "worthy" Gardnerians at all... and they can kiss my furry brush-tailed behind!

Light and laughter,
SongCoyote

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the elucidation, which makes excellent sense, even the joke.

Oh, and I'm not surprised to hear that you are a bit unorthodox. In fact, I'd expect it. :)

[songcoyote.livejournal.com]

Unorthodox? Nah. I'm an orthodox Coyote through and through.

And I just can't help thinking how luscious that icon is, every time I see it! In spite of the fact that generally horse-types haven't been my "thing" in furry-types, it makes me want smooches :)

Life = Change!

Light and laughter,
SongCoyote

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Orthodox coyote perhaps. Orthodox pagan, I doubt.

I give smooches pretty freely and you've earned a few.

xxoxxoxx

I don't even have mud all over my mouth, the way my mare often does. ;)

[songcoyote.livejournal.com]

Hee! "Orthodox Coyote" is something of an oxymoron, anyway :)

And in a way it is unfortunate that there are, indeed, orthodox Pagans. In the words of the Hierophant from the first few Oracles From the Living Tarot shows we did:

"You look at me, and you see... orthodoxy.
That which you resist. That which you rebel against.
Brave pagan rebels: look more closely
For as you create lineage, and doctrine, and heretics
You don my robes, and your face becomes my own."

I love that show - and now I'm directing it!

Light and laughter,
SongCoyote

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Hmm. LJ is once again spitting out long-delayed notifications.

Yes, that's a good description of the Hierophant, but I'm not sure "orthodox coyote" is oxymoronic. It's just that when you try to define coyote in dogmatic terms, you fail. Coyote himself is being orthodox when he remains the unpredictable trickster, if you get my drift.

[songcoyote.livejournal.com]

Ah well - what can one do about notifications? Exercise patience.

I understand that "unpredictable trickster" is "orthodox" for Coyote in a way... and yes, defining "dog"ma for Coyote is rather ridiculous :)

Fun is good. Teaching is good. Fire good, tree pretty!

Light and laughter,
SongCoyote

[songcoyote.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, and mudless smooches are, I must admit, preferable :)

Glad to know at least something of what I have in store! 'Cause I certainly intend to collect :)

Light and laughter,
SongCoyote

[ducktapeddonkey.livejournal.com]

It's so funny you mentioned Paddle-to-the-Sea. I fondly remember watching a film adaptation of that book.

With camera technology so miniaturized at this point, it's probably almost possible to send a piece of mail and have it film its entire trip.

Hmmmmm....I wonder if I can get any grant money for that?

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I dunno about grant money, but if you can make it work it sure would be interesting.

I didn't know there was a film version of Paddle-to-the-Sea, I'll have to look for it. Hollings' illustrations for the original book were lush and fabulous, in fact I own a copy myself just for that reason.

[ducktapeddonkey.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure this is the guy that did the film.

http://www.redcanoes.ca/bill/popularfilms.html

I'll have to see if I can track a copy down.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Made in 1966. I found a copy at a nearby library on VHS, and have ordered it in so I can have a look. 30 minutes long, not a full length feature.

Loop mail

[vakkotaur.livejournal.com]

Loop Mail is the descriptive internal name for things like that. A wrong barcode gets put on something, it gets sorted by barcode and a carrier catches it or such (some places have some parts automated to carrier route sort, so the carrier just gets a bundle for you and only has to sort the truly manual stuff) and it gets sent back... hopefully with the barcode struck out to force manual treatment. If the barcode is left, the cycle can repeat, hence the name loop mail. Should you get something that isn't really for you and you can determine that before opening it, don't just return it to system, strike out the barcode under the address, ideally with a black marker. I used to work at a post office and yes, I feel much better now.

Re: Loop mail

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, I've had that experience, though I didn't know the term for it. I used to get mail at a P.O. Box in Chicago. I received a piece for my box number, but in East St. Louis. I handed it back to the clerk at the window, pointing out the error, and three days later it came back again. Same piece. I did the same, and three days later it came back again. Evidently she didn't understand that the barcode needed to be obliterated. The third time I blacked out the barcode myself and dropped it in the slot. That did the trick, or at least made sure I wasn't the one who got it next time around. The zip code in E. St. Louis was either two digits transposed or one digit different from mine, I've forgotten which.

[hgryphon.livejournal.com]

I remember Paddle-to-the-Sea as a movie! *bounces*

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Maybe the movie was good, but there's no substitute for the real thing. Holling's illustrations were superb.

[fandt4.livejournal.com]

Now that is a modern marvel. One would think that after going that far it would be past any point of return. Well, I guess you can chalk that one up to "unbelievable events of January post". hehe

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Actually we chalk it up to honesty and helpfulness on the part of the anonymous Juneau residents.

Like another incident years ago. A book that had been long missing was returned to the library I worked in at the time. It was one of those "Europe on a dollar a day" things. A note was included in German, which when translated turned out to be from a Swiss motorist who had picked up an American student hitchhiker. The book was left in his car, and he mailed it back to us at his expense (postage was more than the value of the paperback book, probably.)

[quickcasey.livejournal.com]

I wonder what excursion Dec 21st went on.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Well, as a result of this experience I'll wait a few more days before ordering a rerun of those cards. We'll see.

[equos.livejournal.com]

Hmm, thats interesting for sure :) They make daily life a bit more colorful.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I think these things happen more often than we realize. Usually there is no little note explaining it.

[lobowolf.livejournal.com]

Wow, that's definitely bizarre. It makes you wonder what the exact series of events were. It sounds like perhaps the box of Norwegian gifts perhaps got caught on a machine inside the post office, and maybe the person who repaired that parcel just figured it had fallen out of the bigger box. I guess we'll never know.

That's like getting home from Chicago and finding your luggage has been to Hawaii.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Precisely like that. I'm guessing that the Norway parcel was wrapped in brown paper that got frayed at the corners and the little flat envelope just slipped in under the paper, arriving in Juneau that way.

[vakkotaur.livejournal.com]

That does seem the most likely situation. Or it was assumed that the broken open parcel had had that envelope in it when it was re-assembled. IT sounds like carelessness, but it'd be more likely to be a speed error than real cluelessness or illiteracy. Things can get quite hectic at a post office during primary processing hours.

[hgryphon.livejournal.com]

Amazing, but not the most amazing... I've heard of mail being delivered 100 years after the intended recipient's death...

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Yes, but when that happens it is usually with a great deal of fuss and fanfare. Mail sack found slipped down behind a cabinet or in a wall of the post office, for instance. I believe the rule in that case is that every single piece in the batch must be treated as registered mail, which forces an attempt to track down the addressee in every way possible. (A case like that made the news a few years ago, mail that had been delayed by accidentally hiding a mail sack from 1959 until some time in the 90s. They were able to still deliver about a fourth of it, 40 years late.

[deffox]

My parents actually got a long delayed letter once in the 80's. It was for a deceased great uncle. The postmark was 18 years old. Not sure why my parents got it, since they weren't next of kin.

My parents gave it to an aunt. From what was in it she was able to figure out 1/16 of my generation's ancestry.

I still have about 1/8 that is unknown.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Completely unknown? Was someone an orphan or adoptee? Genealogy is one of my interests.

My paternal grandfather ran away from home when he was in his early teens, and was never on good terms with his birth family. My father said I'd never be able to track that line down, but after about 22 years, I found it. I instantly acquired dozens of cousins and a chunk of ancestry that runs all the way back to colonial times. Unfortunately, my Dad passed away just months before I made the discovery (or more properly, I was discovered by a fourth cousin living in Minnesota.)

[deffox]

My grandfather was ashamed of his heritage. He took the details to his grave.

My aunt tried to hunt it down for the longest time, but it was impossible to completely figure out. I did no better using the internet.

The letter allowed her to figure out one of my grandfather's grandparents, and back a few generations of germans.

Some parts of that line are unclear. They were non-germans living in what became Germany at the wrong time of history. The records were lost, and to our knowledge no relatives made it through the wars. My surname is unknown.

My grandfather's mother is also uncertain. There are records for four people with the same name, and we don't know which is the right one. They vary from full indian to half indian half polish. The only clue was a funeral in Stuart Neb, which is a Sioux area.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Sounds much like the situation I was in for 20 years. If you or your living relatives are interested, don't give up the hunt. What solved the riddle for me was a query I had posted. It was spotted by a fourth cousin who had been working downward from our common ancestors. She said, essentially, "We've been trying for almost 30 years to figure out what happened to James." And indeed, by matching my father's shaky memories from his own early childhood to the information she had, it was clinched without any remaining doubt.

Of course, when one "wall" is removed, you always find another. James son of Abraham, son of Nicholas... Nicholas was born in New York in 1783 or thereabouts, and ended up in Canada among the Loyalists. He was married twice and had numerous descendants, so a lot of people have worked on his ancestry for a long time. We're now pretty sure he was son of Nicholas Jr. who was son of Nicholas Sr. (Yes, 3 Nicholai) both of whom fought with the Loyalist Butler's Rangers in the Revolutionary War. But the ancestry of Nicholas Sr. has never been established to anyone's satisfaction. He was apparently of German descent, but how many generations had been in America is not clear. Records are poor and conflicting, mostly depending on wills and land sale records which are never really specific.

[marzolan.livejournal.com]

This would be why my holiday mailing are eitehr a month early or a month late, because I have bad luck with them going around the world when sent during the holidays...


We've had a few do it, but one of the wierdest was a post card bound for a house of a friend about 50 miled from here... We got a call from a post office in Denver, Colorado, appologizing for the delay, stating they just received the card with a shipment from Germany and were going to put it in with the overnight shipment they were sending to where the friend lived anyway... yay for reliability in the postal industry.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Well, that's better than receiving only the front of an envelope, scorched around the edges, in a plastic bag with a letter explaining that it was found in the remains of a truckload of mail that got involved in a highway wreck somewhere in Missouri. My first concern was for the people who may have been injured or killed. But after that I was left with the unanswered question. What was in the envelope? The address was typewritten, but not a pre-printed label. There was no return address (it may have been on the back flap) and it had first class postage but the cancellation was unreadable. I never found out who it was from or what it was.

[pioneer11.livejournal.com]

You realize that you've just doomed the local librarians here?

*drums his fingers as the system slows way down. With a grin he
leaves the round stand up table with all the terminals and
wanders over to the guy at the desk*

"Hey man."

The librarian looks up, he's about mid 40s, crew cut, articulate,
a decent sort.

"Can I help you?"

I shrug and point over my shoulder at the other smoldering
patrons waiting for the system to unstick.

"Hey, the 'puters are down, can I use the shelf list?"

The librarians eyes get wide.

"Y-your not supposed to know..."

Suddenly large anthro wolves rush out of a back room
and drag him away.

"WAIT! I...I...."

XD

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Wait, do I get the anthro-wolves for letting you use the shelf list or for not letting you?

It is indeed possible to use a shelf list as a catalog, but requires considerable skill. In essence, it is a sort of classified catalog, a concept familiar in Europe but rarely seen over here. To use it that way, you have to already know the Dewey Decimal System (or whatever other system is in use) fairly well. And in fact, if you know that, you probably don't need the catalog much anyway, except to find out if a book should be on the shelf or is checked out (something the shelf list will not tell you.)

The main use of a shelf list is inventory. You can carry a drawer to the actual shelf and match books to cards individually, finding out what is missing and requires further investigation. In theory the computer could provide a similar feature but in practice it never does. The complexities of actual shelf arrangements seem to flummox the programmers too badly.

[pioneer11.livejournal.com]

*the anthro wolves are wearing black suits and shades, one of them
holds a paw to his ear and the piece, he nods and they get into
an unmarked van and drive to your house*

XD

Well, I know enough of the Dewey system but not /that/ much.

Still, I'll have to let slip the Words Of Power in the library
now. XD