Yesterday we went to the Discovery Museum to get our training, no pun intended, for what we'll be doing for RailFair. The fences were almost up, and there were people shovelling ballast into some of the railpieces that are there for some of the standing trains. In twelve hours, so much had been done! The "Jupiter" is in front of the Railroad museum. This is the train (well, a replica) that was at Promontory Point.

The volunteer coordinator told us there were 80 volunteers who haven't gotten their packets and shirts and badges. He was working on a bit of an ulcer.

Training didn't take long. The idea is mostly to give the people something to do and get them out of there. Rich now knows how to demonstrate gold panning, and there are enough flakes in the sand, and no rocks, to make it worthwhile for the kids (they don't get to keep the gold, just find it). I know how to make fabric dolls (using rubber bands and pre-cut material.) It's simple. You fold the rectangle lengthwise into 6ths, and fold it over and put a rubber band on it for the head. Then you roll up a square and put rubber bands on each end for the arms. You shove this up next to the head, and either hold it down with a pre-cut apron or, for boy dolls, another rubber band for the waist. You fluff the "skirt" for the girl dolls and put rubber bands on the feet for the boys. Simple.

I found out the woman didn't have enough of the material pieces. Hooray! I have all this material my mother had had, and time to cut swatches, so I took a body rectangle and arms square for patterns.

Again we walked through Old Sacramento looking at the setup. They've dug out the rails that go over the R Street bridge over the freeway. Since this rail line no longer goes anywhere, we figure it's for juggling the trains into position. I'm reminded of the Hammurabi's Tower puzzle. There was a cat apparently living on the wreck of the San Diego, a ferry they want to fix up.

On the way home we had a typical conversation:

Me, seeing the Memorial Auditorium: "Ah. That commencement is this morning. Look at the dressed up people. It's for the University of Phoenix, which I think is one of the night schools."

Him: "Who's having a commencement?"

"The University of Phoenix."

"Who the heck is the University of Phoenix?"

"I think it's a night school!"

For some reason, I often wind up yelling when these conversations go on. Either that, or I completely clam up and refuse to talk at all. To think, one of the things that appealed to me when I first met Rich was that he paid attention.

Rich took the dog walking "to get him out of my hair" (the question being how the dog knew I wanted Rich out of my hair!) and found 2 softballs, 8 golf balls (he wasn't even looking), 1 baseball-size whiffle ball and a Lego roof piece! Meanwhile, I was sorting material and cutting. I got 28 rectangles and 42 squares, plus two bags for the rummage sale, after all, of the kind of scraps that wouldn't do for this. I was reminded of my summer at the Indian Reservation. People sent charity bags, and one of the volunteer couples had a huge bonfire of most of them. This made me, the child of a child of the Depression, really cringe. The priest, when he got back to the mission, wasn't thrilled, either. The following year he had the women making rag rugs with these charity clothes. Anyway, if these scraps are going to be burned, I'm not going to know about it.

One set of swatches came from a really psychedelic orange-and-blue maternity dress I had back in the '60s. I'd already cut stuff from it, I think for a baby dress. Such nifty memories!

Looks like we might be having company in three weeks, before we go off to look at the Tall Ships sailing into San Francisco. Panic time! I cleaned the kitchen counters. Hello, there ARE kitchen counters!

At the Port Friday, we saw cormorants and a great blue heron. Here at home, I spotted two mourning doves, on the dead tree, facing different directions, making them look a bit like a Distelfink (the two-headed Amish bird, for luck.)

Also, I noted the sailors had safety belts and gloves, which is probably not exactly 18th-century accuracy. A couple of the crew were dancing Friday night, too.

Bernadette did actually check her mail. She's not set up to take the Dexen yet.

Nick was on his way to Alaska today, where he'll be packing fish, what fun (?!) He had a 12-hour layover in Seattle, so he and Vince spent some time together today.

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1 pound less, 13 pounds 9 weeks. This seems to be a plateau, but I know I was at the goal point for my silver anniversary 9 years ago, so it's physically possible and not unhealthy for me. Grumble. With the walking around Old Sac we've done the last two days, it's about 7.5 miles. Two magazines. I did send off stuff I was supposed to, to the sick child, and Bernadette, and Roni. I was in the back room twice, and this fabric thing is working out well.