I guess I've lurked long enough; time to come out from behind that bush and
try to procure a perch on the edge of the Porch (okay, far end from the
keg).  I've bought my Galoot hat, made my first purchase from the Merchant
of Ashby, read Mike Dunbar, and got my Silicon Carbide shopping list ready
for the auto refinishing store, so here I am.

Neanderthalism has appealed to me for years, but the cost and patience
required to get started right put me off for a while.  I live in a c.1855
home in the hamlet of Quaker Street, NY (it's actually on the Rand-McNally,
just WSW of Schenectady).  It's a Greek Revival/Italiante Victorian hybrid,
with a minimum of fussy detail, in keeping with the Quaker spirit.  We've
been in it almost 4 years now.  It was cobbed up less than most affordable
antique houses, but our house still had some *ugly* stuff in it.  The poster
child was a downstairs bath with grey paneling, lime green carpet, and an
orange vanity.  That bath now has its original plank floor, and cabinets I
built with spalted elm panels.  (The wood for the panels came from a dead
tree in our yard, the neighbor swears it was an elm, not a maple).

I'm a serials and reference librarian.  Journals and woodworking tools have
something in common.  The electronic way has the appearance of being far
more efficient than doing it the old fashioned way.  But there are valuable
experiences lost when the hands aren't doing the work, and the serendipities
of tactile experience are electrotomized.  I hope to manage our journal
collection so the Information Galoots of the world can still do their thing.

My next project is to turn a back room off our kitchen into an old-fashioned
pantry.  My goal is to do the whole job with hand tools, but we'll see.  I
also garden and have some outdoor stone work to do, so time crunches, our
6-month old, and my impatience may get the best of me.

I've got a gazillion questions, but I'll tap the archives and lurk some more
to avoid looking like too much of a newbie.  But I do have a burning
question.  My dictionary defines a galoot as "an awkward, eccentric, or
foolish person".  I'm frequently awkward and foolish, but I'm no where near
wealthy enough to be regarded as eccentric (just strange, which has no
income qualifications).  Is two out of three good enough to be elegible for
entrance into Galootdom?  Can I cling to the promise of the "or" in the
definition, hide the fact that I own only one block plane, and wear my
Galoot cap with head held high, in the knowledge that I still have all ten
fingers?

Steve Black
Reference, Instruction, and Serials Librarian
Neil Hellman Library
The College of Saint Rose
392 Western Ave.
Albany, NY 12203
(518) 458-5494
blacks@r...