Jan. 12 With 8 inches of snow, most of the day was devoted to snow removal. So far the powder snow over the glare ice in the parking lots makes for treachery, but the rest of the week is supposed to go over freezing, an event devoutly to be wished for.
Jan. 13 The old saying is "be careful what you wish for..." With the thaw and rain brought back the chance of flooding. Although it would take a Noah type flood to inundate us, situated 100 feet above the lake, the people who built our cabin's garage built it on fill in a gully, and with the fill it is still several inches below the road in front which wants to drain several blocks worth of water into our garage. So the renters and I dug through up to 3 feet of snow berm to create a less harmful direction for the water to drain.Books read and other media of note |
Stalking the Dragon by Mike Reznick Although
stocking this series with similar fantasy beasts to the Discworld
series, these Stalking books, set in an alternate New York City, are a
far cry from the wit and warmth of Terry Pratchett. I wouldn't
even compare the two if I hadn't just read the book below...
That said, there's still a bit of fun to be had, albeit mixed in with a
lot of increasingly stale humor about the hungrily
avaricious habits of his pet cat girl. I Shall Wear Midnight by Terry Pratchett There aren't a whole lot of knighted authors, judging by my Googling of the same, but Sir Terry Pratchett is one, a bit ironic since the fantasy Discworld he created lacks knights, but has lots of dragons... The subseries of (The Wee Free Men, A Hat Full of Sky, Wintersmith and I Shall Wear Midnight) is tentatively aimed at a young female adult audience, but his compassion and insight and humor wreak a marvelous tale out of such unlikely fodder as drunken child abuse and rejected love. Although I have read and like nearly all of the 30 or more Discworld books, this subseries seems to contain the Discworld's heart. Blackcollar by Timothy Zahn. Although it could easily have been written with no SF as a Ninja novel, this story of martial arts trained commandos fighting an alien domination of humans was compelling reading, due to Zahn's clarity as a story teller. The Highly Effective Detective by Richard Yancey Sort of a zen detective, antihero type, seems a failure but works things out in the end... I'll mature when I'm Dead by Dave Barry A fine collection of humorous short works by the master of unexpected overstatement. Across the Universe (film) Enjoyable for the fun versions of Beatles classics, apparently this was the alternative universe out of which the Beatles songs emerged, with parallel Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Joe Cocker, and others. Very quirky plot... I'm not sure those of us who went through the 60's really want another rehash, but the music was cleverly intertwined with the plot, like the musical version of Forbidden Planet. The Highly Effective Detective Plays the Fool by Richard Yancey Although the cartoonish cover on the desk jacket might put one off, this is a well crafted, clever detective novel, fairly funny like Janet Evanovich, nicely tied together at the end... This is the third in a series--I'm looking forward to the rest. Mr. Mysterious and Company by Sid Fleishman I picked up this novel from the discards at the library, with fond memories of reading it to my kids years ago. It's the story of a family entertaining troupe in the 1880's, traveling to California, and a fine juvenile novel, that reads well out loud. Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson. The complexity of this novel (start of a fantasy series) is both its strength and bane, in that I couldn't follow half of the references, characters, etc, but I stuck with it and it generally came together in the end. This is basically Terry Pratchett's Discworld without a sense of humor. I prefer Pratchett. Painted Ladies by Robert B. Parker I'm guessing this is his last novel, since he died last January and this was released later in 2010. It had all the elements to make for a successful Spenser detective novel-- snappy, terse smart aleck dialog and dauntless pursuit of doing good. I think the denouement was a bit weak, but it was a good ride. As a swan song, it touched on many of his previous characters, but curiously lacked Hawk, always a drawback... |
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