Research, Time and Laziness?

I had email notices from the Library yesterday that two of my interlibrary loan books had arrived so dropped by there on my way home from work last night. They actually had FOUR of my books there for me. I only get them until the 16th of September and they can't be renewed, but that just means that I'll be working on research when I have my coffee in the morning instead of just reading. But I'm SO HAPPY! Now I can get the chronology down pat, the geography nailed, and other things. I also looked at the three books that a friend had lent to me and one of the books is absolutely PERFECT! The other two offer some information, but the one not only has small synopses of each town I needed, but also included a topo map of the county that I am focusing on. When dealing with a mountainous topography, it helps - actually it is mandatory - that you know where the passes are and which valleys can actually be settled.

This picturesque mining shack is outside of Crystal, Colorado.

I downloaded Scrivner last night and got it installed on my main computer. I'll add it to my laptop at some point, but right now I'll take my notes and just save them onto Dropbox so that I can pull them over to Scrivner each night. I skipped my workout this morning in favor of an extra ten minutes of sleep and to watch the interactive tutorial for Scrivner to begin getting used to using it. A tool just takes up space if you don't know how to use it to its best advantage. With the books due back at the Library and my time even more constricted than usual because of Labor Day, the State Fair and Renaissance Festival, and Sharon's visit, I need to maximize my research time and results. I'm not expecting that I'll have the history 100% nailed, and I can always request the books again after NaNo is complete, but I refuse to consciously write the foundation geography and history incorrectly if I can help it.

Water provided power for the mines and the town of Crede, Colorado.

On another positive note, Renaissance Festival starts tomorrow and will go on every weekend through the end of September. We'll be there on Sundays - it's our opportunity to be outside for at least one day a week. This weekend is Italian Carnivale weekend with a Bocce Ball Tournament, Spaghetti eating contest (not for me at all - too messy) and an Arabian Horse Show. Next weekend is one of my favorites - Royal Ale Fest with the annual BBQ Competition and Vendors. We save our money for this one - the BBQ is always exceptional! Oh, and there's a tattoo competition that day also. I might consider entering my one tattoo, but the other one....no. The only person who gets to see that one is my DH - LOL. Happy Friday...I'm off to study some more...