Dancing Around the Four Sides

Finished Ben Aaronovitch's The Hanging Tree last night. I liked it a lot, but ... I have some quibbles with it. I'm going to put the rest under a cut because I may give away some plot points, and I know I'd be pissed if I were spoiled for something I hadn't read yet. *g*

( Yes, Peter Grant is still terrific ...  )

ANYWAY. Do I recommend? Yes, I do. Despite my (few) quibbles, I would give The Hanging Tree two thumbs up. Great series, strong rec. :D

Bleak and drizzly here today. There were at least a dozen finches at the feeders earlier, along with doves, juncos, and a pair of beautiful cardinals. Also there was a blue jay being a dick, making hawk calls to scare off the smaller birds so he and his blue jay pals could have the feeders all to themselves. Brazen little bastards. LOL

Low of 35 degrees tonight (1.7 degrees Celsius); 20 degrees (-6.7 C) tomorrow night. Hard freezes at night through Tuesday. SPRING PLZ COME SOON.

Seriously. It was almost 80 degrees here today (26.7 degrees Celsius). I went in the backyard and refilled all the bird feeders, including the thistle socks. I also switched out the small-seed feeder (which holds mostly millet, as opposed to sunflower seeds) from a BIG feeder to a smaller one, because really, most of the birds are way more interested in the black-oil sunflower seeds than they are in the millet. I also put out more dried corn on the cob for the squirrels. While I was doing all this, Layla helped by barking enthusiastically at a hawk circling overhead, and then at a group of four or five huge crows who flew by, cawing loudly and apparently curious to see what we were doing outside.

Finished Finn Murphy's The Long Haul: A Trucker's Tales of Life on the Road, and, although I liked the beginning, I did not like the book by the end. He may have been saying the right things about race and class in America, but that didn't make him any less of a jerk in my eyes, and I simply could not believe that at least one of his road stories had really happened. After that I read Robert Olen Butler's Tabloid Dreams: Stories, which I liked A LOT. Anyway, I am currently reading Covered Wagon Women: Diaries and Letters from the Western Trails, 1840-1849, edited by Kenneth L. Holmes, and omg it is FASCINATING. I mean, I worry about stuff like "Oh, should I go to the grocery store today or not," and the women writing these letters and diaries are like, "BORE MY EIGHTH CHILD BY THE RIVER AND THEN WENT BY FLATBOAT DOWN THE COLUMBIA AFTER MY HUSBAND DIED OF FEVER," and it is just holy shit these women were PILLARS OF STRENGTH. This volume is the first in a series published by the University of Nebraska, and I am looking forward to more.

Bought Bowlaway, Elizabeth McCracken's new novel, and Ben Aaronovitch's Lies Sleeping, both because I felt the need of some Retail Therapy after President Goat-boy's most recent idiotic shenanigans. National emergency my ass. What a dumpster fire. It will take generations to recover from the damage this shitbag and his enablers have done.

I don't even know sometimes, chiclets.

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.