Wheelin' out art.

Today Kelly, the registrar, needed a bit of help packaging up a ship “wheel cover” from the mid 19^th century. It was headed off to another museum on loan and as you can imagine, something this old (are apparently rare) needs quite a bit of care for transport. I suppose I can now add “preparing historic material and artifacts for transport” to my resume now. Its one thing to wrap a cup up in newspaper and put it in a box but this thing was HUGE. I would guesstimate it to be 6 ft by 6 ft, only completely round. Maintenance helped make a crude shipping box but it worked like a dream. Nice and snug in there.

It was headed off to an art gallery I believe and some “art handlers” came to get it in a big box. I love art museums but I hope I can say this without offending anyone… A large majority of the people I have encountered in the past (and in this instance) are relatively smug and arrogant. They act as if they have a certain entitlement to them and it just kind of rubs me the wrong way. Did we have a run in with these individuals? No. They were just people of few words and the words they did mutter got under my skin. That is all, I will no longer rant. Note to self: If museum work is my calling, stick to the historical ones and not those who house large amounts of “art.”

Another realization I had today… If you didn’t already know, I’m in the Air National Guard and am a C-130 Loadmaster, which essentially means I am an enlisted aircrewman on a large cargo airplane. I have been in the military for 10 years and am quite familiar with airplane/airframe terminology, etc. Obviously, nautical terms came well before aviation ones and going through these plans, listening to lectures, or just speaking with individuals that are well educated on things of the sea, I am blown away by how many terms aviators have borrowed from seaman. I suppose it makes sense though. Those who put airplanes in the air and continued to develop them probably worked with mariners and naval engineers to some degree and utilized some of these terms. Simply an observation.