Dancing Around the Four Sides

Dark, cold, damp and raw outside, with a strong wind blasting out of the north. Just ugly weather, and of course Layla thinks it's BEAUTIFUL. :D

We've gone ahead and put covers on the outside faucets (with tomato-cage fencing around the one in the backyard so Layla won't STEAL IT) because we're supposed to have a hard freeze tonight and tomorrow night. I also covered up the few deck plants we're leaving out -- the flowers I planted the other day are VERY hardy and will be fine as long as they're covered. We use old bath towels for this, and if you were thinking "Oh, Layla will try and take one," YOU'D BE RIGHT. It's always an adventure here at Chez Nightdog.

Almost halfway through Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet and realized last night that the word I've been stumbling over every time I encounter it -- genetweak -- is actually a mash-up of gene tweak, not genet weak. Thanks, brain. Thanks a lot. Glad you FINALLY cleared that up. Sheesh.

Grey, damp, and very dreary and depressing outside. Did get out and hang a couple of suet packs in the backyard, and cleaned out both bird feeders ... but now can't get one back together and it really doesn't seem to be fixable (it's the kind that slides down to cover the feeding ports when a squirrel grabs onto it, and the feeder tube suddenly won't fit back into the bottom because a long plastic rod that runs through the center has completely retreated back into the top and can't be pushed back out or retrieved). Which ... I mean, I can just get a new one, but it's profoundly annoying. At least every time I go out in the backyard Layla runs to help. :D

Also got out the other day and bought some beautiful little Viola cornutas. I've always called these Johnny-jump-ups, but apparently those are actually Viola tricolors? IDK; I just love to see them so bright and happy during these dark winter months.

Currently reading Annie Proulx's Barkskins, a multi-generational saga about the logging/forestry industry. It's not bad, and I'm interested in what happens next (not necessarily interested in what happens to the characters), but it feels a little bit like another one of those books where the author felt compelled to share Every Piece of Research, no matter how tiny.

Grey, drizzly, dreary, chilly, all the y-words. We turned on the heat for the first time this season yesterday and were treated to that wonderfully autumnal scent of burning dust (ugh). The good thing is the rain and chill seems to have tamped down the mosquito population somewhat. Also I put fleece sheets on the guest bed and flannel sheets on the master, and they are both so nice and cozy (both beds have electric blankets too). (Don't @ me; I get cold at the drop of a hat.)

This is a very cool and amazing article from the Guardian -- Peter Jackson's movie project for the centenary of the end of WWI. He took original film footage and newsreels and basically DID MAGICAL THINGS with them. The trailer for the finished product is included in the article and has to be seen to be believed. They Shall Not Grow Old, article and film trailer.

Off and on rain all day today, very dark and damp. We are supposed to have a super-soaker weekend too.

Started reading Rebekah Frumkin's The Comedown, about the intertwined lives of two families in Cleveland, but it wasn't really sparking, so I switched to Neal Stephenson's Seveneves and I am enjoying it much more. :D

Also, I was browsing coins the other night when I ran across something that made me smile. Seriously, doesn't everyone need a tiny sterling silver potato? The P.E.I. stands for Prince Edward Island (Canada), which is indeed famous for the potatoes grown there. They even have a potato museum! (I've been there! It's awesome.) :D

Could've used this during the last deluge, but oh well. Mister Nightdog bought an inexpensive (cheap) rain gauge and we secured it to the fence yesterday, in a position where we can see it without having to step outside in the wet.

( Layla helped ...  )

It may well be. It has been raining off and on, sometimes heavily, since about 5 this morning. Everything is absolutely sodden. And it's been doing this since Saturday. Did hear a screech owl very late last night -- sounded like a tiny horse whinnying in the trees. *g*

Pic from a few days ago. Layla was very interested in the peach upside-down cake we'd just taken out of the oven. :D

I'm not sorry to see you go. Too hot, too soon.

How is it not August yet?

Finished Ben Aaronovitch's Broken Homes and loved it, although ... I noticed a few glitches. There was one bit of dialogue that I had to read two or three times (and it still didn't make sense). I'm not going to go looking for it again, but there was also this:

Despite the best efforts of the Spring Court it snowed that weekend, although it didn't settle inside London's urban heat island.

~ page 137

It had actually snowed a couple of days after the Spring Court and, despite one sunny day, the weather had stayed unseasonably cold.

~ page 158

:D

Thank you, Peter, but you didn't really need to tell me twice. *g* Also there was a stray comma instead of a period at the end of a sentence (much later in the book). These are super-minor quibbles, and I thought it was another great read in the Rivers of London series. I didn't see the Shocking Twist at the end coming at all, and I've already ordered the next volume, Foxglove Summer. :D

Now reading Thomas Pierce's The Afterlives and really enjoying it.

Temperatures are still above the seasonal average here, but the really hot streak has passed. Cloud cover today is helping A LOT.

Still too warm and way too humid. A lot of places around us have gotten good rain, but we got only about three thundershowers.

I am ALMOST finished with Victorians Undone, and chiclets, it has been a great read.

On that note, here is a very good (fairly short) read from the San Francisco Chronicle, on a good man who wishes he'd just kept going -- regret haunts Wine Country hero.

Ready for summer to be over, but we still have August to get through (not to even mention the rest of July). :-P

We actually got some thundershowers early this evening, which was a pleasant surprise at this time of year. Before that, I FINALLY got out and went to Calloway's, where I picked up two hibiscus plants (orange and yellow) and three little moss rose. I'll have to get new pots for the hibiscus, but the moss rose can live in a clay pot recently vacated by some johnny-jump-ups.

Here is an absolutely bananapants story out of Canada -- British Columbia child custody case involves a stuffed lion toy as lawyer. And that's not even the bananapants part!

The unusual child custody trial featured the couple speaking in tongues to a stuffed animal they said transmitted the word of God directly to them and refusing legal assistance because Jesus Christ — through the stuffed lion — was their lawyer, witness and judge.

Okay then! The article makes it clear there was a lot going on with this family, none of it good. :-(