Heading Toward the Finished Look

The transformation is exciting! The waiting room has fresh paint and looks great, thanks to the diligent work crew that put in another long weekend. The goal was to get as much painting done as possible before Jesse Glassman (pictured above with his sander) of Country Hardwoods came in to sand and finish the floors. Talk about transformation. The sanding is turning up the actual color of the wood under those 100-plus years of grime and foot traffic. Jesse will be working his magic all week as the floors get the redo.

On a separate note, Barb got back from Boise yesterday after delivering a PowerPoint presentation on the depot restoration to the Idaho Association of Museums annual conference, held at Nampa this year. With about 40 museums represented from around the state, it was clear that preserving depots is a hit with the museum crowd. The focal point for the walking tour was the beautifully restored Nampa depot (red brick depot above). As if that wasn't enough depot immersion, Boise staged its second annual Depot Day, featuring the capital city's attractive depot (white mission style depot above). One of the displays outside the depot was an ATV with rail wheels on it, making the ATV into a high-railer (I can imagine Jim West's mind is moving on this novel idea). The wheel package, called the Bandit, is the brainstorm of Jeff Shiverick (pictured with the ATV) and Steve Davisson of Boise. Jeff promises to get us more info as the product is patented. He says he and Steve came up with the idea when neither of them had the cash to buy a speeder.

Speaking of speeders, the Idaho Association of Museums loves our speeder event and people at the conference enthusiastically cleaned out every handout I brought! Museum director Ginny Woodward of the Boundary County Museum in Bonners Ferry stopped by on her way back from the museum conference to tour the depot with Jack. With that kind of interest, we hope to see Ginny back for a speeder ride July 10 (Ginny, if you're reading the blog, I'll buy your ticket!).