Zombie Obsession

Pipestone County Star 10-25-12

A few years ago, I purchased a copy of Max Brooks A Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection from the Living Dead as a lark – it’s got to be a funny read, right?  Oh my word, it was hysterical.  And it came out right at the beginning of a brand new phase of American Zombie Obsession.   I’m sure you won’t be surprised when I say I went along with the flow.  I even have a garden zombie sculpture in my back yard and green vinyl zombies on the back of my van.  I know I’m weird, I’ve already been told.

Despite that, there is some brilliant zombie fiction out there, both on the big screen and on the pages of a book.

I kissed a Zombie and I Liked It is a young adult novel by Adam Selzer with a vastly different romantic hero than most love stories.  When a high school music critic meets up with a singer, she finds him kind of cute, if very quiet, and begins to fall in love.  She overlooks the flaws that others see, such as his lack of clothing changes, the odd angle of his head, and his lack of speech, and it takes someone else to point out his zombie nature.  She breaks up with him, but the spark is already there.  What’s a girl to do?

Patient Zero tells the story of a detective that has to stop terrorists from turning the world population into zombies with the release of a new bio-weapon.  Written by Jonathan Maberry, this is the first of a series of books centering around Detective Joe Ledger and they promise to be doozies.  The thought of a biologically weaponized zombie plague gives me the heebie-jeebies.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is for all our classic literature lovers out there.  Seth Grahame-Smith and Roberto Parada didn’t change all that much of Jane Austin’s original work.  In fact, Miss Austen is still listed as one of the authors, since the characters are entirely hers.  Nouns and verbs were changed within the story to make it a tale of destroying the undead and some interesting illustrations were added to make it more captivating, but you’d be surprised how much of the story remains intact.  I recommend it, especially for those of you who need a little zest to make Austen palatable.

The Walking Dead, which is in its third season on AMC, is possibly one of the best (and possibly only) television series centered around zombies.  I watch it with my shirt pulled partway over my face and always have to watch something funny afterwards in order to go to sleep, and yet I keep watching.  Why?  Because the acting and the character development is astounding.  The television show is based on a series of excellent graphic novels which are worth the read for anyone who is a fan of the genre.

World War Z, also by Max Brooks, is currently being made into a movie starring Brad Pitt in the leading role of a man traveling the world to record survivor memories of the zombie apocalypse during which at least ¾ of the planet was completely wiped out.  The book is fantastic and I have high hopes for the movie.  If you like zombies, this book is a must read.

There are also several tongue in cheek guides to fighting the undead available on the internet.  Remember, if the zombies come, I don’t have to run all that fast.  I just have to run faster than you.  Happy Halloween, everybody.

PAFL Update:  Pipestone Area Friends of the Library is looking for members – anyone who is a friend to Meinders Library is welcome to join!  The Friends group works hard to promote the library, raise money for projects, and organize their yearly book sale, in addition to the HUGE amount of support they provide throughout the year.  For more information, please contact the library!  PAFL will be having a fundraiser on November 5^th at Pizza Ranch.  Come have some great pizza and support your local library!!

Book Club Reminder:  Book Club will be meeting November 29^th at 7:00 PM in the Meinders Library Conference room.  Please contact the library for a copy of the next book and feel free to join up with our readers!  Everyone is welcome!

If you have questions or have a book you’d like to reserve or renew, please don’t hesitate to give us a call at (507) 825-6714.  The hours for Meinders Library are Monday through Thursday from 10 AM – 8 PM, and Friday and Saturday from 10 AM – 5 PM.  Meinders Community Library is located at 1401 7^th Street SW, on the south side of the high school.

Changing Leaves

Pipestone County Star, 09-27-12

I love fall.  It’s my favorite time of year.  The crisp air, the fact that I can wear my favorite yellow jacket, and the pumpkin flavoring that gets put in everything all combine to make me one very happy librarian.  I’ve always loved to look at leaves, but I’ve never given much thought to how they change color.  This year, I thought I would check into it.

Plants use sunlight to make oxygen and sugar from water and carbon dioxide.  They use a chemical called chlorophyll to accomplish this process.  Chlorophyll happens to be green, which is why leaves are green throughout the spring and summer.  In the fall, when the leaves begin to turn, the chlorophyll is going away and the trees are no longer making food.  As trees go dormant, their leaves change colors.

The beautiful red that is my favorite is caused by the leftover glucose turning color in the sunlight.  The brown of oak leaves is the result of waste products left behind from photosynthesis (turning sunlight into food) in the leaves.  Purples and yellows are caused by other chemicals and pigments left behind in the leaves as the chlorophyll fades away.

Weather also has an effect on leaf color.  If the weather is cool, more colors will form, but freezing will dull them.  This would be why we have brilliant colors for only a short period around here – it doesn’t take long to go from cool to freezing in Minnesota.  The best time to enjoy leaves is late September to early October, when the weather is clear and cool, but we haven’t (hopefully) had any frost yet.

As the leaves change color, the trees also get ready to lose them.  Small groups of cells form at the base of each leaf and gradually separate them from the tree, sealing the bark behind them.  When the leaf gets blown away or falls because it’s too heavy, it leaves behind a tiny leaf scar, already healed by the tree.

Go out and enjoy the leaves this year – hopefully they will be beautiful!  Happy fall, everyone!!

Ebooks!! Ebooks have now gone live and you can check out a book to your Nook, Kindle, or other Ereading device.  If you have trouble accessing Overdrive through the Meinders Library catalogue, please call the library and let us know!!

PAFL Update:  Pipestone Area Friends of the Library is looking for members – anyone who is a friend to Meinders Library is welcome to join!  The Friends group works hard to promote the library, raise money for projects, and organize their yearly book sale, in addition to the HUGE amount of support they provide throughout the year.  For more information, please contact the library!

Book Club Reminder:  Book Club will be meeting September 27^th at 7:00 PM in the Meinders Library Conference room.  The book this month is Devil in the White City by Erik Larson.  Please contact the library for a copy and feel free to join up with our readers!  Everyone is welcome!

If you have questions or have a book you’d like to reserve or renew, please don’t hesitate to give us a call at (507) 825-6714.  The hours for Meinders Library are Monday through Thursday from 10 AM – 8 PM, and Friday and Saturday from 10 AM – 5 PM.  (The Saturday of Labor Day Weekend, the library is only open from 10 until Noon).  Meinders Community Library is located at 1401 7^th Street SW, on the south side of the high school.

El Nino versus La Nina

As I write this article, South Dakota has dozens of schools closing early because, once again, our temperatures are getting awfully close to 100 degrees.  It has been a HOT, dry summer and I think we’re all eager for it to be over.  But WHY has it been so hot and dry?

I’ve heard the words El Nino (‘The Boy’ in Spanish) and La Nina (‘The Girl’) tossed around a lot over the years and I always knew it had something to do with the water in the Pacific Ocean, but I never really paid attention to the specifics or why it would have any effect on us up here in the Midwest.  So here’s a very simple crash course.  And I say simple because half of the things I researched, I don’t think anyone could understand without an oceanography degree.

El Nino is the one that is responsible for hotter, drier summers around these parts.  El Nino begins when the trade winds weaken and a series of Kelvin waves (shallow, but very wide) travel across the Pacific and create a large pool of warm water near South America.  Normally, the water along South America is cold from upwelling, bringing the nutrients up from the seafloor and leading to great fishing.  During El Nino, that water warms up and creates all sorts of problems.  The Pacific Ocean is a heat sink, meaning its water is warmer than the Atlantic and since it covers so much of the surface of the earth, when its temperature changes, the weather all over the world changes with it.

La Nina is the opposite of El Nino.  More cold water is in evidence off the coast of South America and the trade winds blow more strongly than normal.  During La Nina times, more precipitation is recorded in the Midwestern states – heavier winters and more rainfall. 

Pipestone County Star

The cycle for these events averages to about every five years.  When El Nino or La Nina last for less than nine months, they are referred to as “conditions.”  If they last for more than nine months, they are referred to as “periods.”  Our last La Nina was 2011, which was probably part of the reason we had a very wet year.  This year, not so much… During the summer, meteorologists stated there’s a 50% chance of El Nino taking hold.

Please keep in mind, this was a very simple explanation.  There are many more factors to take into account for both El Nino and La Nina.  If you are interested, I encourage you to go online and read more about these weather patterns – then come and explain it more to me!

A tiny bit of trivia: During non-El Nino conditions, the trade winds move from the east to the west, pushing the warm water towards the South Pacific islands.  This aids in the upwelling I mentioned earlier along South America and actually means that the Pacific Ocean is 60 centimeters higher on the west side. 

Ebooks!! Ebooks have now gone live and you can check out a book to your Nook, Kindle, or other Ereading device.  If you have trouble accessing Overdrive through the Meinders Library catalogue, please call the library and let us know!!

PAFL Update:  Pipestone Area Friends of the Library is looking for members – anyone who is a friend to Meinders Library is welcome to join!  The Friends group works hard to promote the library, raise money for projects, and organize their yearly book sale, in addition to the HUGE amount of support they provide throughout the year.  For more information, please contact the library!

Book Club Reminder:  Book Club will be meeting September 27^th at 7:00 PM in the Meinders Library Conference room.  The book this month is Devil in the White City by Erik Larson.  Please contact the library for a copy and feel free to join up with our readers!  Everyone is welcome!

If you have questions or have a book you’d like to reserve or renew, please don’t hesitate to give us a call at (507) 825-6714.  The hours for Meinders Library are Monday through Thursday from 10 AM – 8 PM, and Friday and Saturday from 10 AM – 5 PM.   Meinders Community Library is located at 1401 7^th Street SW, on the south side of the high school.

Books To Look Forward To!

Sometimes, there are books that you wait for.  It might be the next book in a series, something new from a favorite author, or something that someone has told you about time and time again.  We’ve got some good ones coming in the next few months, books that I KNOW people are waiting for.  If you’re like me, some of these might even be noted on your calendar, so you can be the FIRST to read it. 

If you want to place a hold on any of these now, please call me at the library so I know you’re waiting.  We can place the hold as soon as the books are in the system!

Bones Are Forever, Kathy Reiches (August 28, 2012)

Temperance Brennan is one of my favorite forensic anthropologists and these books are ones I wait for eagerly.  A woman shows up in an ER with uncontrollable bleeding, but before the doctor can determine if her recent pregnancy was the cause, she disappears.  A follow up on the address leads to a pile of bloody towels and Brennan is called in to investigate.  The trail leads to an apartment in which decomposing bodies are found, leading the investigators on an even longer chase which will land them somewhere they never expected.  Reiches’ best Brennan novel yet!

Delusion in Death, J.D. Robb (September 11, 2012)

Airborne hallucinogenic pathogens are the latest crime Eve Dallas has to deal with.  A normal night at a bar has turned into a bloodbath, with eighty people dead once the smoke clears.  Survivors have nightmarish tales of monsters, swarms of bees, and no story is the same.  Tox screens show they were contaminated with …something…and Dallas has to work fast.  Like I said, it’s airborne.  It could strike anytime, anywhere, and only speedy detective work is going to save lives.

A Wanted Man, Lee Child (September 11, 2012)

Jack Reacher only wanted to hitch a ride to Virginia.  The four others in the car are odd, but he has no idea how odd until he’s already involved.  Three men and one woman may have fled a crime scene that left another man stabbed to death one hour behind them at a pumping station.  Has Reacher gotten himself in over his head?  In typical Child fashion, this book will keep you at the edge of your seat!

Low Pressure, Sandra Brown (September 18, 2012)

During a dark and stormy day, Susan Lyston was murdered.  Her sister, Bellamy, knows what has happened, but many of the memories are locked up tight, swirling around with a fear of the tornadoes that wiped the crime scene clean all those years ago.  Bellamy writes a fiction novel, based on the remaining memories, but it isn’t long before a reporter finds out it’s based on facts and it all goes downhill for poor Bellamy.  Someone is stalking her – does that person want to make sure the truth never comes out, or is there some unfinished business they need to attend to…

Mad River, John Sandford (October 2, 2012)

Who can resist Virgil Flowers?  Sandford’s coming novel follows a teenage murder spree with three suspects and cell phones.  The teens are capturing footage of their crimes and sending it to local news stations, but no one can guess what they’ll do next!  A perfect read for an autumn thrill.

Bone Bed, Patricia Cornwell (October 16, 2012)

Kay Scarpetta is a favorite investigator for many readers and Cornwell rarely disappoints.  In this latest installment,  a paleontologist vanishes while digging in a remote area of Canada.  The evidence makes its way to Scarpetta and seems to possibly be connected to some crimes closer to home.  But Scarpetta’s plate is overflowing with other problems while she works on the case – her partner and her husband both have secrets, her niece is being cryptic, and Scarpetta feels alone enough to possibly do something drastic…will she?

Ebooks!! Ebooks have now gone live and you can check out a book to your Nook, Kindle, or other Ereading device.  If you have trouble accessing Overdrive through the Meinders Library catalogue, please call the library and let us know!!

PAFL Update:  Pipestone Area Friends of the Library is looking for members – anyone who is a friend to Meinders Library is welcome to join!  The Friends group works hard to promote the library, raise money for projects, and organize their yearly book sale, in addition to the HUGE amount of support they provide throughout the year.  For more information, please contact the library!

Book Club Reminder:  Book Club will be taking its summer break until September.  The date of the meeting will be included in future articles.  If you are interested in becoming a member of the book club, give us a call and we can sign you up!  Everyone is welcome and they have a great time!

If you have questions or have a book you’d like to reserve or renew, please don’t hesitate to give us a call at (507) 825-6714.  The hours for Meinders Library are Monday through Thursday from 10 AM – 8 PM, and Friday and Saturday from 10 AM – 5 PM.  (The Saturday of Labor Day Weekend, the library is only open from 10 until Noon).  Meinders Community Library is located at 1401 7^th Street SW, on the south side of the high school.

The Olympics

On August 3^rd, as I was walking on the treadmill at Anytime Fitness, I had the privilege of watching the qualifying rounds for the women’s 100 meter sprint.  For the first time, a young woman from Qatar raced for her country.  Though she was injured in the race and was heartbroken, her appearance at the games is a victory.

Three countries sent women to the Olympics for the very first time this year: Saudi Arabia, Brunei, and Qatar.  For the first time, every country at the Olympics has at least one woman on their team.  During the qualifiers this morning, I saw a woman race from Libya and one from Afghanistan, in long pants, long sleeves, and a headscarf colored like the Afghani flag to protect her modesty.  I was humbled and amazed by the courage of these women, competing in an area that is traditionally reserved for the men of their country.  Even if they don’t win any medals, they are pioneers and represent the true spirit of the Olympic Games.

By the time I turn this article in to the paper to be published, the Olympics will still be going.  I’ve tried to keep track of the athletes and coaches that went to compete in the games from the state of Minnesota.  The following is a list of our representatives and the medals that have been won so far:

·         Seimone Augustus, 28, women’s basketball  (Gold Medal Game 8/11)

·         Lindsey Berg, 32, women’s volleyball  (Gold Medal Match 8/11)

·         Ali Bernard, 26, women’s wrestling – 72-kg freestyle (Did not qualify)

·         Chas Betts, 26, men’s wrestling – 84-kg Greco-Roman (Did not compete in finals)

·         Rachel Bootsma, 18, women’s swimming – 100-meter backstroke GOLD

·         Kelci Bryant, 23, women’s diving – 3-meter synchronized SILVER

·         Kara Goucher, 34, women’s track and field – marathon (11^th place)

·         Megan Kalmoe, 28, women’s rowing – quadruple sculls BRONZE

·         Kevin Love, 23, men’s basketball (Semi-final 8/10)

·         Hugh McCutcheon, 42, women’s volleyball head coach

·         Maya Moore, 23, women’s basketball (Gold Medal Game 8/11)

·         Susie Scanlan, 21, women’s fencing – individual epee BRONZE

·         Alise Post, 21, women’s cycling – BMX (Semi-finals 8/10)

·         Amanda Smock, 29, women’s track and field – triple jump (Did not compete in finals)

·         Roberto Sobalvarro, 54, women’s fencing – head coach

·         Brittany Viola, 25, women’s diving – 10-meter platform (Ranked 15 in Preliminary)

·         Lindsay Whalen, 30, women’s basketball  (Gold Medal Game 8/11)

Ebooks!! Ebooks have now gone live and you can check out a book to your Nook, Kindle, or other Ereading device.  If you have trouble accessing Overdrive through the Meinders Library catalogue, please call the library and let us know!!

PAFL Update:  Pipestone Area Friends of the Library is looking for members – anyone who is a friend to Meinders Library is welcome to join!  The Friends group works hard to promote the library, raise money for projects, and organize their yearly book sale, in addition to the HUGE amount of support they provide throughout the year.  For more information, please contact the library!

Book Club Reminder:  Book Club will be taking its summer break until September.  The date of the meeting will be included in future articles.  If you are interested in becoming a member of the book club, give us a call and we can sign you up!  Everyone is welcome and they have a great time!

If you have questions or have a book you’d like to reserve or renew, please don’t hesitate to give us a call at (507) 825-6714.  The summer hours for Meinders Library are Monday through Thursday from 10 AM – 8 PM, Friday from 10 AM – 5 PM, and Saturday from 10AM to Noon.  Meinders Community Library is located at 1401 7^th Street SW, on the south side of the high school.

Have Your Cake and Eat it, Too!

Lots of parents, myself included, want to make awesome themed birthday cakes for their kids’ parties.  All right, maybe not lots, but there are definitely some of us.  I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but buying a cakepan that’s JUST RIGHT in the hobby or grocery store can be very expensive, not to mention having to buy the decorations and the cake mix, the frosting and the candles.

Meinders Library can help!  Did you know that we check out cake pans?  That’s right, there are more than 200 cake pans in the Plum Creek system, ranging from Alf to Yogi Bear with all sorts of things in between.  We have Mermaids, rabbits, Batman, Hockey Players, Dora, and more.  Stop in and see what we have on site – we’ve also got a list of the pans held at other libraries!

It takes about a week for a pan to come in if we don’t have it and you can check it out for a week; depending on when you need it, we can extend the date a little.  Some of the pans come with decorating suggestions and instructions.  All we ask is that they come back clean, or with enough cake that the staff can have some (just kidding!).

The cake pans rotate every three months, with new pans coming in from other libraries.  We do have some pans that do not rotate, those that were donated specifically to us and are not part of the joint collection.  If you have any pans at home that you no longer need or want, please consider donating them to the library – there are people out there who need exactly that design!

Hope you’re having a great summer and just remember, libraries have more than just books!  If you have questions about anything we might offer, please give us a call.

Ebooks!! Ebooks have now gone live and you can check out a book to your Nook, Kindle, or other Ereading device.  If you have trouble accessing Overdrive through the Meinders Library catalogue, please call the library and let us know!!

PAFL Update:  Pipestone Area Friends of the Library is looking for members – anyone who is a friend to Meinders Library is welcome to join!  The Friends group works hard to promote the library, raise money for projects, and organize their yearly book sale, in addition to the HUGE amount of support they provide throughout the year.  For more information, please contact the library!

Book Club Reminder:  Book Club will be taking its summer break until September.  The date of the meeting will be included in future articles.  If you are interested in becoming a member of the book club, give us a call and we can sign you up!  Everyone is welcome and they have a great time!

If you have questions or have a book you’d like to reserve or renew, please don’t hesitate to give us a call at (507) 825-6714.  The summer hours for Meinders Library are Monday through Thursday from 10 AM – 8 PM, Friday from 10 AM – 5 PM, and Saturday from 10AM to Noon.  Meinders Community Library is located at 1401 7^th Street SW, on the south side of the high school.

It's the End of the World As We Know It

Pipestone County Star  - 07-19-12

They disproved the end of the world, you know.  A few days ago, a Mayan expert came out and said that the world was not ending this year and everyone was confused.  So just in case you were worried, you can stop.  Of course, according to someone else, the world should have ended a few months ago if we were paying attention to the Mayans, since their calendar never accounted for Leap Years. 

It has always amazed me how some people are bent of knowing exactly when the world will end.  Do we really want to know?  Wouldn’t it be better to just live our lives and enjoy ourselves without worrying about a date at which everything we know will come to an abrupt and screeching halt? 

Then, of course, there are some people that love a certain genre called Apocalyptic fiction, the stories about what happens to those that are left after the end.  Whether the end is caused by zombies, religious revelation, nuclear war, or global warming, if you enjoy stories of the end of the world, then these might be for you.  All of these stories are also movies or being made into movies – must be something about this particular form of fiction that catches the public attention!

The Road, by Cormac McCarthy (Also a movie)

This book is an amazing story of a father and a son who struggle to stay alive in post-apocalyptic America.  Desperately trying to make their way to the coast with only some scavenged food, a pistol, and each other, they must defend themselves against roving bands of other survivors as well as keep their hope in a world gone gray and cold.  The book centers around the relationship of the two, showing that love can be the greatest survival tool of all.  Beautifully written and highly recommended.

The Stand, by Stephen King (also a movie)

The flu is responsible for the apocalypse in this novel, bringing it far closer to home than many of the others, far more believable.  99% of humanity is wiped out in two weeks and the survivors find themselves wandering, lost, and in need of leadership.  Two emerge – Mother Abigail, 108 years old, and Randall Flagg, charismatic but who seems to delight in violence.   Mother Abigail appears in dreams to people, encouraging them to move towards Boulder, CO, where a new society can be constructed.  Flagg just wants everything destroyed, attracting the dregs of what is left to his cause.  A classic fight between good and evil with religious overtones, this book will have you at the edge of your chair.

World War Z, by Max Brooks (being made into a movie)

This is an Ebook in the Plum Creek Library digital catalogue and I’d heard a few things about it, so I decided to check it out – not only to get a feel for the way Ebooks worked, but also to have a good read.  I am so incredibly surprised by this book.  A zombie apocalypse has taken place and a good majority of the Earth’s population has been wiped out.  A scientist takes it upon himself to get first-hand, oral accounts from the survivors and this book is a compilation of those reports.   The book is amazingly detailed and very engrossing, an oral history of something that never happened.  I recommend it to anyone who enjoys this sort of thing!

I Am Legend, by Richard Matheson (Also a movie)

I’ve read both the short story and seen the movies (yes, there’s more than one) and I must say the story is much better.  Robert Neville is possibly the only man left on the face of the planet.  Or perhaps I should say only human.  Some sort of plague has transmuted every other man, woman, and child into ravenous blood-thirsty creatures that only roam at night.  During the day, Robert hunts them down and destroys any he can find.  At night, he barricades himself in his house, with his dog, and prays for the sun to come back quickly.  This story is haunting and intense, and the ending will shock you.

2012, starring John Cusack (2012) DVD

Perhaps a bit on the overdone side, this movie is classic big action, end of the world, storytelling.  Solar flares, earthquakes, and other strange weather phenomena tip off a scientist that the end of the world is imminent.  Not enough people listen, of course, and what we get are fantastic special effects of the coast of California breaking away, the destruction of the Vatican and other major cities, and all sorts of environmental mayhem.  The cast of actors is very watchable and the special effects are great, so if you like this kind of movie, you’ll probably really enjoy it!

Ebooks!! Ebooks have now gone live and you can check out a book to your Nook, Kindle, or other Ereading device.  If you have trouble accessing Overdrive through the Meinders Library catalogue, please call the library and let us know!!

Event Update:  We are considering having a pet storytime, a time where pets and kids can hang out and listen to stories.  If you have a pet you think might fit the bill (well-mannered, easygoing, friendly to children), please give us a call and let us know if you are interested!  All pets welcome – we are equal opportunity pet lovers.

PAFL Update:  Pipestone Area Friends of the Library is looking for members – anyone who is a friend to Meinders Library is welcome to join!  The Friends group works hard to promote the library, raise money for projects, and organize their yearly book sale, in addition to the HUGE amount of support they provide throughout the year.  For more information, please contact the library!

Book Club Reminder:  Book Club will be taking its summer break until September.  The date of the meeting will be included in future articles.  If you are interested in becoming a member of the book club, give us a call and we can sign you up!  Everyone is welcome and they have a great time!

If you have questions or have a book you’d like to reserve or renew, please don’t hesitate to give us a call at (507) 825-6714.  The summer hours for Meinders Library are Monday through Thursday from 10 AM – 8 PM, Friday from 10 AM – 5 PM, and Saturday from 10AM to Noon.  Meinders Community Library is located at 1401 7^th Street SW, on the south side of the high school.