More Books

 The other day, Kris said that she was interested in the children's books and mysteries I was reading in addition to Horse. So here are some of them.

In no particular order:

 Operation Do Over by Gordon Korman (a middle-grade fiction book)

(Note: I listened to this book, and the narrator was excellent.)

Ty and Mason have been best friends forever. They are 12-year-old, straight-A students and science geeks. Their favorite topic is time travel. All goes well until a new girl, Ava, comes to town, and they both have a crush on her. Their relationship is severed over Ava. I won't give any more away, but the book has a time-travel element to it. As with Korman's other books, the characters are well-thought-out and relatable. The time-travel element adds an extra dimension to the story.

Korman's stories are told with humor and heart. I have not read all of his books (he's written over 100 middle-grade books), but my favorite is The Unteachables, about a classroom of misfits and a teacher who is just biding his time until he can retire. 

The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler (an elementary school fiction book)

The first version of this book was published in 1924. Another version was published in 1942, and that version is still being published today. It's been on several lists for the best children's books of all time. 

I first heard the story of the Alden children in second grade. Every day after our noon recess, Mrs. Murry, my teacher, read us a chapter. I loved the book and liked how the 4 orphaned children made a cozy home for themselves in a boxcar. In the end, they go live with their grandfather. I read this recently when I needed a feel-good read with a bit of nostalgia.

Down Cut Shin Creek by Kathi Appelt and Jeanne Cannella Schmitzer (a children's nonfiction book)

This book is about the packhorse librarians in Kentucky. I picked it up at the library after reading The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek, an adult fiction book, to learn a little more about them. This book agrees with the descriptions of things I read in the Troublesome Creek book.

Across So Many Seas by Ruth Behar (a middle-grade fiction book)

From the publisher: Spanning over 500 years, Pura Belpré Award winner Ruth Behar’s epic novel tells the stories of four girls from different generations of a Jewish family, many of them forced to leave their country and start a new life.

This book is fairly typical of many kids' books today that deal with serious subject matter. It was a well-written, good book, and I predict it will be an award-winner.

House Love by Patic Richardson

This is the same person, also known as the Laundry Guy, who wrote Laundry Love. Both books are told in a folksy way, including stories about people from his life who inspired him. Unlike Laundry Love, which is full of all kinds of laundry advice, House Love is more general with fewer specifics. This is one of my nighttime reads when I want a non-emotional book before I go to sleep. I actually asked for a copy of Laundry Love last Christmas after reading a copy from the library because of the wealth of info in it. I am going to be perfectly happy reading House Love and returning it to the library.

I think that's enough for now. I'll add a few more to the list tomorrow (or whenever I get around to it.)

Until next time...

House Aggrevation

It seems that there has been a lot going on with our house recently. Two weeks ago, we got a new fence. The fence was 35 years old and was rotten enough that it was getting to be a fruitless job to repair various pieces. This is something we have talked about for a few years, and we finally made it happen. We have a split rail fence and used black locust for the posts and hickory for the rails. Hopefully, these will be maintenance-free. They cost a little more than the pressure-treated option, but there are black locust posts still in use that are over 200 years old. 

And by a scheduling chance, the next day after the new fence, we got all new locks and door knobs for our outside doors installed because the original locks were getting difficult to operate. Also, we wanted more deadbolts and everything keyed alike. This is also something that we've been meaning to do for a while, and we finally made it happen.

When those were completed, we were looking forward to focusing on non-house things. However, the next day, we started noticing an off smell that we couldn't seem to locate. Then Ward was in the basement looking for something and discovered the carpet was wet. It took a while to figure out, but we found a small leak from a water filter in the next room. It must have been leaking for a while because the carpet was sopping. And it really stunk like a litter box that needed to be cleaned. With all of the cats over the years, there had been peeing on the carpet. We got the carpet cleaned pretty well, but we never made it all the way to the pad. I think the dried pee in the carpet was reconstituted when it got wet. 

Wally and Theo came over and helped cut out the wet, stinking carpet and pad, and luckily, the smell quickly dissipated once the rug and pad were removed. We were bummed about this. We liked the carpet. It was of good quality and in good shape. We will have to eventually have to put a new floor in. Thankfully, we have time to figure that out.

Yesterday, the plumber installed a new filter and replaced some other corroding pipes. Hopefully, we will be done with leaks for a while. As a side note, we have a drain on the floor about two feet away from the leaking filter. However, the water did not run to it; it chose the expensive carpet instead.

Moving on to last night, we saw another mouse in the house. I didn't get quite so excited this time, but I'm not happy. We are used to a few coming in when the weather gets cold, but not in the summer. A little reading said that just as the mice will seek a warmer spot in the winter, they will look for a cooler spot in the summer. I hope that these are just random occurrences and that we don't have a nest of them in the attic. It's a whole issue we don't want to deal with but will have to.

And this afternoon, when I came home, Ward told me the washing machine was not working. After a lot of fiddling and a couple of false starts, we have observed that it fills with water, and then the cycle stops, not to be restarted again. More investigation is needed, but for now, we have a bunch of wet soapy clothes. I think a visit to Wally and Theo's to use their machine is in the near future.

But first, something good. Ward smoked a turkey today, and Wally and Theo are coming over for dinner. Add new potatoes, a tomato pie, and some broccoli, and all will be happy. Actually, I'm not sure the Carnivores will notice anything but the smoked turkey. After dinner, maybe Theo and Wally will take our laundry home and do it for us. 

Nothing is horrible happening here, but I sure am aggravated with it all.

Until next time...

A Book Review - Sort of

 About a month ago, I read Horse by Geraldine Brooks. The book was a detailed, thought-provoking, historical fiction story. I wanted to mention it here on my blog; however, I haven't been able to do that. Why? I would say perfectionism was rearing its ugly head. I wanted to do the book justice, but it is complex, and that was going to require more effort than I was able wanted to make when I thought about writing a post. So instead of writing a simple, "Horse is a good book. You might give it a try." I played games of Quordle, worked online jigsaw puzzles, and checked my email.

So here is the compromise that I made with myself. I will reprint a previously published summary. Below is from the Geraldine Brooks website.

KENTUCKY, 1850

An enslaved groom named Jarret and a bay foal forge a bond of understanding that will carry the horse to record-setting victories across the South. When the nation erupts in civil war, an itinerant young artist who has made his name on paintings of the racehorse takes up arms for the Union.

On a perilous night, he reunites with the stallion and his groom, very far from the glamor of any racetrack.

NEW YORK CITY, 1954

Martha Jackson, a gallery owner celebrated for taking risks on edgy contemporary painters, becomes obsessed with a nineteenth-century equestrian oil painting of mysterious provenance.

WASHINGTON, DC, 2019

Jess, a Smithsonian scientist from Australia, and Theo, a Nigerian-American art historian, find themselves unexpectedly connected through their shared interest in the horse—one studying the stallion's bones for clues to his power and endurance, the other uncovering the lost history of the unsung Black horsemen who were critical to his racing success. Based on the remarkable true story of the record-breaking thoroughbred, Lexington, who became America's greatest stud sire, Horse is a gripping, multi-layered reckoning with the legacy of enslavement and racism in America.

The book has been well-received by both readers and critics. I was amazed by the detail with which the book was written. I wondered how any one person could do enough research to write expertly about the diverse subjects the book covers. Sometimes, I am not in the mood to deal with heavy material, and this book had its fair share of that. However, the story between the horse and Jarret transcended those.

 So much more could be said, but I'll just say, "I recommend Horse to you as an interesting, well-written book."

Note: My sister-in-law recommended this book to me along with this story. When she was growing up, there was a neighbor girl who galloped everywhere. Literally, galloped everywhere on a horse. The neighbor eventually went into art but still had a passion for horses. She is listed in the credits as one of the experts who helped the author with research for the book.

After the 4th of July

Well, I guess before I get to After the 4th of July, I'll mention the 4th. We had a few people over for a cookout with a nice combination of family, friends, and neighbors for 18 people. This was supposed to be an outdoor event, but the temperatures climbed into the high 90s, so we had indoor options available. I decided to keep all of the food inside and set up a big table in the living room (our makeshift dining room when we need one). Some stayed outside on the porch under the fans, and some stayed inside out of the heat. I think everyone had a good time. 

Later that evening, we watched fireworks from the surrounding neighborhoods on our back porch. We could see five different displays from there. Not all of them made it above the tree line, but we got a good show. I love not fighting traffic to see fireworks.

Our Summer Reading mascot is a butterfly, so we wore butterfly wings in the parade.

The following weekend, our area celebrated community days, beginning with a parade on Friday night. As I have previously, I marched in the parade with other library staff. It was fun when people I knew called out to me during the parade, and I especially enjoyed the hugs I got from some of my storytime kids. This year, it was a special treat to have an overcast day that kept the temperatures down. About halfway through, it started to rain, and by the end, I was soaked. But I didn't care. It sure beat the heat from other years.

The candy John brought me.

A few days later, one of the little boys, John, who comes to storytime, came into the library and was excited to tell me that he had seen me in the parade. I asked John if he had fun, and he replied that he did and he got a lot of candy. I told him I had fun, too, but I didn't get any candy.

The next day, John came to storytime and brought me a bag of candy from what he had gotten at the parade. He wanted to make sure that I had some. John had carefully selected each piece and wanted me to know he had put a special green one in. It was such a sweet gesture that I smiled all day after that. 

Reclining at the movies.

That brings me to today when I did something I haven't done in years: Ward and I went to the movies. Things have changed since I was last in a movie theater. There were cushy reclining chairs, a grill, and a beer wall, along with the standard movie snacks. We got discounted matinee prices; however, the small popcorn and drink we shared cost more than the tickets. But I will say the popcorn was fresh and very good. I don't think you'll find us every week at the movies, but maybe we'll go more than once every decade. You know, you gotta live it up sometimes. :)

Tomorrow, I'm back to the grind with work, but with promises of temperatures 10 degrees cooler than they've been recently. And even if I have to work, that is reason enough to celebrate. Maybe our neighbors will set off some fireworks for us. :)

Until next time...

Mouse in the House

We don't have cats anymore to take care of the critters that get into the house. Here, Annie and Leo are tracking a mouse.

 This afternoon, Ward and I were sitting in the family room, where he was showing me how a complicated puzzle box he was making worked. Then he said, "I just saw a floater or a mouse ran under that chair." I said I hoped it was a floater! He lifted the chair, and a little field mouse ran out and under the couch.

I hate to admit it, but I'm a stereotypical female who does not like mice running around her house. I didn't quite scream, "EEK!" but I did put my feet up in the chair when I saw the mouse scurry for cover. However, I got down to help Ward find where we had put the mouse traps. It took a bit, but we found the traps, and Ward baited one with sunflower seeds and peanut butter. I'm dreading hearing the trap snap, but even more, I'm dreading the thought of a mouse scurrying over me in bed tonight. 

I wish we could just open the door and shoo it out, but it's much too scared for that to happen easily. Of course, outside, it could be victim to the many hawks we see riding air drafts, but that's more in line with the circle of life. 

Anyway, there's a mouse in the house, and I feel silly worrying about it. But at least I'm not freaking out like the time we found a snake taped to our wall.

A Walk Around the Yard

I feel like I'm living along the Gulf Coast again with the weather these days. Day after day, with temperatures in the 90s and high humidity. However, there are a couple of differences. Here, it cools off at night into the 70s. There, it rarely got below 80 at night, and no nighttime cooling made the days even worse. However, when we lived in New Orleans and Houston, we often had afternoon thunderstorms, unlike the rainless days that have been all too common here. 

We have been watering using water from the basement dehumidifier and water from the rain barrel, which is getting low again. Most things are surviving, even if they aren't thriving. Here are some things I saw during a walk around the yard last night.

Hosta. This hosta looks great. Others close by are brown and stunted.

The mum has had another flush of blooms. It seems not to mind the hot, dry weather.

Butterfly bush. The bush itself is messy, but the blooms are pretty.

The fig tree is growing out instead of up this year.

The hydrangea blooms are fading, and Oh, No! I saw my first Japanese beetle.

Day lily.

Sunpatiens. A newer variety of impatiens that does well in sun or shade. So far, these are doing well, although they droop during the heat of the day. 

I moved the coneflowers from another bed to see if they would do better here. Whatever eats the petals as soon as they bloom followed them here.

I moved the Black-eyed Susan to the same bed. We'll see if the same thing eats its blooms.

Above is the native Black-eyed Susan and these are cultivars of the native. 

The first tomatoes are starting to turn. Yay!

Most of the grass looks like this. However, in the shady spots, it needs to be cut. 

Well, that's it for this walk.

Until next time...

Summer Public Service Announcements

 With summer in full swing, I have a couple of reminders about safety. These are not new messages but ones that resonate with me because of personal experiences.

Be careful of thunderstorms. Remember, lightning can strike ten miles away from where you hear thunder. I witnessed this one afternoon after a brief thunderstorm that moved quickly through the area. When we thought it was gone, lightning struck a tree beside our house. You can read about the details here. We were very happy that no one was hurt, although Theo felt a tingling go through his arm, and many things in our house got fried. 

Wear Sunscreen and have regular dermatologist visits. A close friend was recently diagnosed with melanoma. Luckily, it was in situ (hadn't spread into her body), but from under the one little red spot that was visible on her cheek, it had spread from ear to nose and up to her eyelids. Removing the cancerous cells was a painful, involved ordeal, but luckily, she's going to be okay. She had regular checks with the dermatologist, so the melanoma was caught just in the nick of time. If she hadn't been vigilant about keeping appointments, hers would be an entirely different story. And if sunscreen had been around when we were kids, she might not have had this problem at all. (BTW, there's a lot of misinformation going around about the safety of sunscreen. Talk to your doctor to get the real facts.)

There are many more ways that we need to be careful with summer activities, but those are my warnings for today.

Now, go have fun - Safely!

Until next time...