What went before ONE: So lunch was food truck chicken nuggets and French fries. I have enough leftover for days, if I wish to play it that way.
Haircut achieved. I decided to let it stay long(ish) this pass. Stopped at the grocery for Trooper wet foods and tomatoes. Stopped at food truck. Came home, ate lunch. I think I have time to finish the book I’m reading before I need to leave for the chiropractor’s office.
It’s a pretty day, for those keeping score.
What went before TWO: Well, that’s a boring bunch of mail. Two letters from people who want me to donate money; one scolding me for daring to have filed a complaint against it (I can file complaints against any entity that it does business with, but not against itself, which is very convenient for itself); and another that was supposed to correct a previous error, which, um, didn’t.
OTOH, it remains a lovely, sunny, and cool day out of doors.
What went before THREE: Rook’s baby picture, May 30, 2024 (from FB Memories). Notation on original posting: So, this is Rook. He will be ready to leave his littermates in mid-June. However, because of Schedules, I will not be able to receive him at the Cat Farm and Confusion Factory until July.
It’s funny, when I picked out his name, I thought to myself how unfair it was that black cats are often named for their color, and I decided that I didn’t want to do that. And while I was mulling names, (Steve) suggested Rook, a powerful and flexible chess piece. I liked it, too, because it comes with Rookie as a nickname, and he certainly will be that.
It wasn’t until I was talking to the breeder today, and she said, “Oh! I know what a rook is — it’s an English crow!” that I realized I’d been foiled.
What went before FOUR: So, the Jigsaw Draft has been put together. I need to Bring Up some stuff, but I’m feeling much happier about what I have, now.
Everybody stay safe; I’ll see you tomorrow.
Saturday. Glary and cool.
Disturbed night, what with Sekrit Cat Business — which is fine, as long as Sekrit means Quiet — unsettling dreams and various whatnot. Slept in slightly, and am slow to get moving. I may have a cup of coffee.
Breakfast was rice crackers with cream cheese and a side of cherries. Lunch is TBD.
I should find out if the local homeless shelter takes pillows. Steve had stockpiled pillows, and after more than a year, I’ve determined that they’re In The Way, and I’m not going to use them.
Today will be mostly devoted to writing. Shan has written two letters, and I see that we must read them over the shoulders of the recipients, so that will be fun. Shan writes great letters.
Speaking of letters — I got an email from SSA yesterday, and thank you to everyone who made it possible for me to experience a Stress Spike whenever anything having to do with SSA hits my mailbox, or it’s coming round time for the monthly deposit. In the case, it turned out to be only the usual annual statement, but it was a thrilling few minutes that I could have done without.
The lady cats were having a bout of fisticuffs (fistipaws?) earlier. Not sure what it was about. They’re now sharing opposite ends of a window, overlooking the path between the house and the garage.
I know there’s a lot of Business of Democracy taking place this weekend. If you’re involved, have a care; I see there’s unsettled weather predicted here and there.
What is the weather where you are?
PS: After telling myself four times since getting up this morning to check Steve’s Tilley hat to see if it has a stampede string, I have finally accomplished this, and — yes. Yes, it does.
33 The Wings upon Her Back, Samantha Mills (e)
32 Death on the Green (Dublin Driver #2), Catie Murphy (e)
31 The Elusive Earl (Bad Heir Days #3), Grace Burrowes (e)
30 The Mysterious Marquess (Bad Heir Days #2), Grace Burrowes (e)
29 Who Will Remember (Sebastian St. Cyr #20), C.S. Harris (e)
28 The Teller of Small Fortunes, Julie Leong (e)
27 Check and Mate, Ali Hazelwood (e)
26 The Dangerous Duke (Bad Heir Days #1), Grace Burrowes (e)
25 Night’s Master (Flat Earth #1) (re-read), Tanith Lee (e)
24 The Honey Pot Plot (Rocky Start #3), Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer (e)
23 Very Nice Funerals (Rocky Start #2), Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer (e)
22 The Orb of Cairado, Katherine Addison (e)
21 The Tomb of Dragons, (The Cemeteries of Amalo Trilogy, Book 3), Katherine Addison (e)
20 A Gentleman of Sinister Schemes (Lord Julian #8), Grace Burrowes (e)
19 The Thirteen Clocks (re-re-re-&c read), James Thurber (e)
18 A Gentleman Under the Mistletoe (Lord Julian #7), Grace Burrowes (e)
17 All Conditions Red (Murderbot Diaries #1) (re-re-re-&c read) (audio 1st time)
16 Destiny’s Way (Doomed Earth #2), Jack Campbell (e)
15 The Sign of the Dragon, Mary Soon Lee
14 A Gentleman of Unreliable Honor (Lord Julian #6), Grace Burrowes (e)
13 Market Forces in Gretna Green (#7 Midlife Recorder), Linzi Day (e)
12 Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent, Judi Dench with Brendan O’Hea (e)
11 Code Yellow in Gretna Green (#6 Midlife Recorder), Linzi Day (e)
10 Seeing Red in Gretna Green (#5 Midlife Recorder), Linzi Day (e)
9 House Party in Gretna Green (#4 Midlife Recorder), Linzi Day (e)*
8 Ties that Bond in Gretna Green (#3 Midlife Recorder), Linzi Day (e)
7 Painting the Blues in Gretna Green (#2 Midlife Recorder), Linzi Day (e)
6 Midlife in Gretna Green (#1 Midlife Recorder), Linzi Day (e)
5 The Goblin Emperor, Katherine Addison (Author), Kyle McCarley (Narrator) re-re-re&c-read (audio)
4 The House in the Cerulean Sea, TJ Klune (e)
3 A Gentleman in Search of a Wife (Lord Julian #5) Grace Burrowes (e)
2 A Gentleman in Pursuit of the Truth (Lord Julian #4) Grace Burrowes (e)
1 A Gentleman in Challenging Circumstances (Lord Julian #3) Grace Burrowes (e)
_____
*Note: The list has been corrected. I did not realize that the Gretna Green novella was part of the main path, rather than a pleasant discursion, and my numbering was off. All fixed now.
Business first! This just in from Tantor Audiobooks!
To celebrate Barnburner‘s fifth year as an audiobook, Tantor is knocking 75% off of cover price, which means you can get this fine cozy mystery set in Maine, written by Sharon Lee, narrated by Traci Odom for only $4.00.
I strung my lights. I couldn’t make Plan A, over the bookshelves, work, so we’ve gone with Plan B. Of course. Plan B being over the windows. It will be fine.
Paid the bills and accounted them, and getting ready to pour a glass of wine and sit down with my headset and my tablet and see if I can’t reconcile their sudden differences.
Everybody have a good evening. Stay safe. Stay strong.
I’ll see you tomorrow.
#
Friday. Sunny and cooler. Friday the Thirteenth.
Breakfast was half a blueberry muffin, with a side of cottage cheese; tea. The idea that I had no idea what I was going to eat for lunch woke me up, which seems unfair, though, really, it was almost 8.
Went to sleep listening to Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day — the chapter where she Speaks with Tony at the cocktail party, which is — so much fun.
I have a haircut scheduled for 11, so I have to decide if I want to keep my hair at what passes for “long” nowadays, or if I want to chop it all off until it stands up in terror. I will before that time of reckoning refresh the cat’s on-demand bar and perform my other duty to their felineships.
I have a chiropractor’s appointment at 3, and in-between I shall be continuing my solo game of chapter jigsaw, which is necessary because I find Good Solid Blocks of Narrative Here, and then There, and then Over Here, and Then — is boring, flat, and annoying. I’m aware of the complaint of our books that there are too many characters in too many places, doing too much, but — nobody wants a bored author. At least, I don’t want a bored author, so here we are. Chapter jigsaw to mix things up and keep them interesting.
Okay, so this stuff about architects is just irresistible:
Tennalhin Halkana arrived at the party fashionably late, which might have meant something if he’d been invited in the first place. Tennal often set out to make trouble, it was true, but this evening, he was genuinely here for a drink and a good tie.
That was a lie. He also wanted an architect, and this party would be filled with architects.
I thought that opening was brilliant the first time I read it and I still think so. Would a guy like Tennal appeal to me without the architects? No, he wouldn’t. Or, I mean, he might, if the next paragraphs appealed to me for some other reason, but a protagonist who is basically out to make trouble, and for that matter a protagonist who is focused on having a drink and a good time, usually doesn’t engage my interest.
But that line about architects sure did. It’s surprising, it’s clever, it’s interesting, I love it –
– and then the story turns out to turn around mind control and mind reading, and the forced subjugation of a reader (meaning is obvious) to an architect (and here we get an idiosyncratic definition: an architect can “write” a person, meaning compel them to do something.) And suddenly I love this barely-begun story a lot less.
This was not a surprise at all. The publisher makes no attempt to disguise this aspect of the plot:
Conscripted into the military under dubious circumstances, Tennal is placed into the care of Lieutenant Surit Yeni, a duty-bound soldier, principled leader, and the son of a notorious traitor general. Whereas Tennal can read minds, Surit can influence them. Like all other neuromodified architects, he can impose his will onto others, and he’s under orders to control Tennal …
Extreme ugh, which I grant is kinda hilarious coming from me, but possibly one difference that matters is that in the Tuyo world, sorcerers are terrifying because they’re always evil (fine, almost always), but at least there aren’t a lot of them; while in this world, you trip over architects everywhere and they can all do this mind control stuff, some a lot more powerfully than others. But don’t worry! Actual long-term compulsions aren’t THAT common, and after all, you can tell when someone is forcing you to act against your will, so it’s not THAT disturbing! Really!
This is obviously very disturbing, especially since another difference between the Tuyo world and Everina Maxwell’s world is that here, in this book, the Legislator (planetary ruler) is an awful person and the military is also filled with a huge number of awful people. I don’t think a single person in a position of authority is non-awful in the entire story, and by awful … this is a minor spoiler, so heads up, here comes a mild spoiler …
*
***
*
… by awful, I mean that it’s not nice to set up soldiers under your command to be murdered in order to straighten out a political inconvenience, for example, and it’s also not nice to go along with commanding officers who think that’s fine. The reason this is a minor spoiler is that it’s totally obvious that this is happening. I mean obvious to the reader. It makes sense the protagonists don’t catch on because it’s not easy to suspect something this bad is going on, plus they’re distracted.
But my response to this plot element was: Don’t you think someone in the chain of command might say ick, no, when a superior orders them to force a mind-meld between two non-consenting participants and then murder the junior officer forced into this? Did the Legislator really think everyone involved would say Yes, sir, onward with this obviously illegal and also appalling abuse of power when faced with this kind of plot? There’s no hint that she went out of her way to pick especially corrupt officers; instead, there are various hints that this is just how everyone in the military is – I mean everyone remotely senior. Even the medical officers were participating in this plot. It’s frankly astounding.
Luckily for Tennal, Surit Yeni is approximately the least awful person in the entire universe.
And then Everina Maxwell is good at writing snappy dialogue and neat relationships. Tennal is an extreme, and I mean extreme, extrovert who is thoroughly screwed up; Surit Yeni is an extreme introvert crossed with Simon Ilyan, and Maxwell really shines with this kind of dialogue and these types of characters, which is perhaps why they’re broadly similar to the protagonists in Winter’s Orbit. The major difference is that in the latter, the extreme extrovert is also really competent and not nearly as self-destructive as Tennal, while the introvert is the one in a horrible situation. Plus his situation has improved immeasurably; it’s just not totally clear to him that this has happened for a long time. But the personal dynamics are similar. Which is fine, because as I say, Maxwell is good at this kind of relationship.
Here’s another minor spoiler. Here it comes …
*
***
*
Interestingly, not only the dynamic between the main protagonists is similar in this book as in the first, the plot is also very similar in one important respect. Quick tip! If everyone knows the Tau field / true brainwashing is impossible, I bet it turns out that actually it’s very possible and lo! this will be an important component of the climactic scenes. If I were Maxwell, in my next book, I would set the reader up to expect something just like this to happen yet again, and then whoops, no! The climax would hinge on something else and no, really, in a surprise twist, the Tau field or brainwashing (or whatever) actually is impossible. Or at least, not the big problem the protagonist’s face at the end.
I don’t honestly think anything above this paragraph constitutes a real true spoiler because both the plot to kill Surit and the looming threat of brainwashing are obvious to any reasonably astute reader.
Let me see. All right, compared to Winter’s Orbit, Ocean’s Echo has:
— A very similar m/m romance involving a forced relationship between an extreme extrovert and an extreme introvert, though this time they realize they’re on the same side a lot faster and the romantic angle is a less dominant plot element;
— A mind-bending telepathic merger that has a significant downside, so you can see why the romantic angle takes a back seat, because whoa, there’s a lot to handle already;
— Dialogue that is just as fun and witty;
— And, in this case, a possibly over-ornate plot. I’m tempted to outline this book just so I can better evaluate whether I think the plot is in fact over-ornate, because I’m honestly not sure. I was distracted by the telepathic merger with the significant downside. But I sort of felt that some plot elements were cobbled together in ways that didn’t entirely make sense.
I’m trying to decide if I should lay this out because this wouldn’t be limited to minor spoilers. But okay, I’m going to, and seriously, this time, big spoilers coming up …
***
*****
***
In order from least to most important:
A) I really don’t understand Governor Oma’s early line about if the Legislator gives her another order to stand down her troops she’s going to resign. In the moment, this is funny and gives the reader an idea about Oma’s character, but nothing about that line makes sense given how the plot unrolls or how the polity appears to be organized. Maybe I missed something huge and crucial about the worldbuilding that causes this to make sense? Because Governor Oma is not remotely under the Legislator’s control, given how she treated the Cavalry unit as enemy troops, right? So if something explains how this made sense, I sure missed it.
B) I get that Tennal is extremely self-destructive, but nothing about the opening scene in the party makes sense to me, because this doesn’t seem to be consistent with how he reacts to all sorts of other things in the plot.
C) I was surprised that the crew of Retriever Two were are not only this competent but also this willing to go out on an increasingly thin limb. I mean, I understand this is handy for the plot, but I’m not totally sure I bought it.
D) I felt the author, not merely the Legislator, was working on the presupposition that naturally all senior military personnel are perfectly fine with murdering junior officers because a politician told them to, because there’s no pushback against the assumption that everyone involved would just offer a snappy salute and carry on with this obviously insane and thoroughly illegal plot. Everyone goes along with this nefarious plan! Even though it’s insanely stupid!
And the reason this is insanely stupid as well as evil is that nobody seems to realize that this secret plot is certain to get out given that the plot isn’t even secret.
I mean, three can keep a secret if two of them are dead, right? And in this case a whole bunch of people seem to have been involved, so how was that even supposed to work? Worse, the author apparently thinks that a whole crowd is going to keep this secret, because ALL the characters apparently think this could work, even though it obviously could not work!
So, for me, this whole thing constituted a pretty serious problem with suspension of disbelief.
E) It’s all very well to explain that you can force a link between a reader and an architect, and then killing the architect will allow the reader to walk away with architect abilities. This doesn’t remotely justify the Legislator’s actions, and I don’t mean morally, I mean I don’t see the point. If her nephew is this impossible to control, why not, say, frame him for some sort of crime … or come to think of it, arrest him for a crime he has actually committed, if that’s more convenient … and drop him in the sort of prison that is surely already available, the sort of place you put rich people’s sons when they’re annoying, but too well connected to drop a bigger hammer on them. What is the point of all this stuff with military conscription and setting him up with a disposable lieutenant you plan to have murdered? Do you think he will be easier to control after all this? Why would anybody think that? So to me this ALSO involved a fairly huge suspension of disbelief.
F) Why are mind readers also able to sense the structure of space? I don’t get why these two wildly different abilities should be linked. I understand why this was necessary to make the plot work, but I’m not sure it was justified in a way that worked for me in worldbuilding terms. I’m not sure the author saying “alien remnants” and waving her hands really fast worked well enough for me in this story.
This is what I mean by saying the plot seemed overly ornate and I found myself wanting to outline the story to see whether it actually makes more sense than it seemed to while I was reading it. Maybe it did and I just missed things that justified the above.
Overall:
I liked the story – truly! Witty dialogue is really important! I loved Surit Yeri, who is just my kind of super-responsible, highly competent, totally honorable introvert. I even liked Tennal, though self-destructive extroverts are a (much) harder sell for me. The relationship between them worked for me, pretty much, though it would have worked better for me personally without the romance, which I honestly did not feel was necessary or even particularly useful in this story.
But that’s fine. I enjoyed the story, and I’d pick up another book by Maxwell when and if she writes another one. Meanwhile, I’m re-reading Winter’s Orbit, which imo is a more successful novel. I did honestly like Ocean’s Echo, but I didn’t love it or want to immediately re-read it.
What went before ONE: So, Monday will a Full Writer’s Day Off, with watercoloring in the morning and lighthouse touring in the mid-afternoon.
Adventures R Me
What went before TWO: My sister-in-law successfully defended her dissertation. Thanks for all the good energy on Scholar Net!
What went before THREE: So a nice young man with an arm full of glossy 8×10 books rang the doorbell. He was part of a “group of young people who were looking to make a difference,” he told me. His name was perhaps Jarrett — my ears weren’t fast enough and he was soft-voiced.
He handed me two books — one about “health” and one about “weathering storms.” I flipped open the one about storms, and got a page dripping with meticulously notated bible verses. The young man told me that this particular volume had helped him through depression a couple years ago.
I handed the books back.
Oh, he said, you’re not interested in the books. But maybe you’ll come to our Health Expo in Fairfield in a couple weeks, and he handed me a half-sheet flyer. I took the flyer, because easier than not, smiled, and wished him a good day.
He asked if we could pray together.
I told him no, smiled, and closed the door.
So! The flyer!
A New Start to your health, it says; HEALTH AND WELLNESS EXPO. There are watermark crosses on the paper — medical/Red Cross looking crosses. And over by itself on the right: Promoting physical, mental, emotional, & spiritual wellbeing.
The flyer lists the free activities on offer at the Expo, and states that its being sponsored by Maine Health & Wellness (tagline: Serving your needs. Right where you are.)
Instead of a website, there’s an email address: healthandwellness.maine@gmail.com
. . . and my goodness aren’t we being sneaky, seeking-to-do-good-young-people! It sounds just like it’s some sort of Actual State Agency, even to the DOTmaine in the email address.
Maybe I should have offered to trade books.
What went before FOUR: Knocking off for the day. Yeah, yeah — I’m late. The coon cats had happy hour, and I should get something to eat.
The WIP, still lacking a title, currently weighs in at +/-40,277 words, which is to say, we didn’t lose many words after all.
Ashley’s due in tomorrow, but will be arriving later than usual, so I don’t have to get up early, which, given that I’m only now seeking my supper and a glass of wine, a good thing.
Everybody stay safe; I’ll see you tomorrow.
Um. Thursday. Sunny, warm.
Slept late with intermittent assistance from Trooper, Firefly, and Rook.
Breakfast was strawberry-and-lingonberry skyr; finishing up my tea now. Lunch will be this afternoon.
After I finish my tea, I’ll pick up the house for Ashley’s arrival, then perform my duty to the cats (and the dehumidifier), then start shifting chapters around.
Yes, yes. Too exciting by half.
For excitement — I got a catalog in the mail from Artful Home. In it were some pretty stemless wine glasses, so I went onto the website to find out how big they were. Sigh. I gotta tell y’all some folks out there are serious about their wine. Nobody needs a 10 ounce wine glass. Well, OK. I don’t need a 10 ounce wine glass. So! I already saved money this morning.
The windows are open in my office, and I? should really gather up the cat blankets and give them a nice wash.
Very nice and punctual but they've basically learned nothing in the year they've worked at the theatre. Not where to stand, not which row is which, or the general location of a given seat. The last two really matter during reserved seating shows. Whatever side that usher is on is going to have lines, and people may end up in the wrong seats.
So I was discussing the situation with my boss and I said my current approach was that each shift would be to pick one thing that usher does not know, and do my best to ensure they know it by the end of the shift. Last shift was "where to stand", for example. My reward is, I think, that usher is now _my_ special project who I will be working with whenever I HM.
I did assure my boss I do remember a previous HM who grilled ushers on seat location and would ding them a quarter hour for minor uniform infractions and that I wasn't going to use them as a model. Well, I do, but only in the sense of asking myself if the way I want to handle something is how that person would, and if it is, I do something else.
(For Germans: This is Torfrock. Brings back memories. I got there via Platt folk songs: Dat Du meen Leevsten büst -> Nakich bün ick gor nich mehr so schmuck (from recommendations - c'mon, I had to listen to that [*]) -> other Torfrock songs -> WTF???)
[*] There's an English language folk song, 'I just don't look good naked anymore' of which this is riffing off. And in typical Torfrock manner, it's a lot more direct. ('schmuck' is an adjective used for attractive people, so... yeah. I still understand a fair bit of it. Not all, though, which is annoying.).
Turning and turning in the widening gyre The falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere The ceremony of innocence is drowned; The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity.
Surely some revelation is at hand; Surely the Second Coming is at hand. The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert A shape with lion body and the head of a man, A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun, Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds. The darkness drops again; but now I know That twenty centuries of stony sleep Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle, And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
***
Did you know Yeats was born in June? Turns out he was born June 13th in 1865. I have featured Yeats before, and on top of that I realize the above is as far from obscure as you can possibly get. Everyone has seen this poem. It may be the very first poem I ever memorized, and I think I might still be able to recite the whole thing, though I admit I have not tried. Unlike various other extremely famous poems, I have not gotten bored with this one. Offhand, I’d say that’s one possible mark of a real masterpiece.
I might say that this poem is topical, but frankly, I think it’s always topical, which may be a big reason it’s so famous.
The brawling of a sparrow in the eaves, The brilliant moon and all the milky sky, And all that famous harmony of leaves, Had blotted out man’s image and his cry.
A girl arose that had red mournful lips And seemed the greatness of the world in tears, Doomed like Odysseus and the labouring ships And proud as Priam murdered with his peers;
Arose, and on the instant clamorous eaves, A climbing moon upon an empty sky, And all that lamentation of the leaves, Could but compose man’s image and his cry.
Time drops in decay Like a candle burnt out; The mountains and woods Have their day, have their day; But, kindly old rout Of the fire-born moods You pass not away.
—:The Moods (1899) :—
Time drops in decay, Like a candle burnt out, And the mountains and woods Have their day, have their day; What one in the rout Of the fire-born moods, Has fallen away?
***
Do you have a preference? I prefer the later version.
Many splendid poems by Yeats! I should get an ebook such as, oh, this one, and add it to the books I open briefly, at bedtime, when I just want to read something very short for five to fifteen minutes before turning off the lights. Poetry is great for that.
What went before: Sewing was fun; more people continue to find the group. The conversation turned at one point to bats, which was lively and enjoyable.
I hear that I should expect the Martin’s Point Nurse Visit tomorrow between 8 and 10 am, so I guess I’d better get my pill bottles in one place; not that I have that many pills, but I do take vitamins. Will also remember to ask about a referral to an audiologist. I don’t know that the traveling nurse can do that, but — maybeso.
The cats have been fed, to Trooper’s vast satisfaction, and I have poured myself a glass of wine. After I gather up my pills, I’ll be having the evening meal, and, yes, another early night, being as I will have to be up early tomorrow, JIC.
Everybody stay safe.
G’night.
Wednesday. Sunny and already warm.
Waiting on the Visiting Nurse.
Breakfast was half a blueberry muffin with a side of cottage cheese. Drinking my first cup of tea.
First Official Act of the Day was filing a complaint against the spoofed profile. FB reminds me that it will only remove things that are against its community standards, and it appears that, actually, pretending to be someone else is not against community standards.
Which actually tells us everything we need to know about FB, and yet here we all still are.
My sister-in-law is defending her doctoral thesis this afternoon, so if you can spare a good vibe or two on Scholar Net, that would be awesome.
Aside the Visiting Nurse — who just called and says he’ll be here right around 8 o’clock — I need to take bottles to the redemption center, and stop at Agway for rose spray.
And, in view of the Imminent Arrival of the Visiting Nurse, signing off for now.
Later that same morning: So, that was a reasonable and informative visit. I remain Disgustingly Healthy. Speaking of double-edged blades.
I think I talked the Visiting Nurse into taking his wife to Corning to make glass. And I may have a lead on a doctor who is accepting “transfer patients.” Apparently that’s the magic phrase, right there — not “new.”
The lawn guy’s here to mow, and his equipment, naturally enough, is in the driveway, so I’ll be taking the bottles out after he’s done his thing. Which, given that it’s only 9 o’clock — mornings go on forever when you get up at 6:30 — will be about the time the redemption center opens.
Rook was Not At All Certain that he had cleared Vets in the House (double entendre alert: the nurse is, as so many medical folks are up here, ex-military), and hid in Steve’s room. The other three cats stayed in my office: Firefly and Trooper at the desk, and Tali behind a curtain.
Second cup of tea in hand.
The larger part of the day will be working on the WIP. I hope to get the correx entered today, so I can do the Grand Rearranging of Scenes tomorrow, and be set up to write new words, assuming I haven’t forgotten how, by the weekend.
I did a Coon Cat Weigh-In the other day. Everybody is staying stable — Firefly almost 12 lbs; Rook almost 13; Tali at 11 — except Trooper, who lost 2 lbs. He’s now on the mid-morning Elder Snack schedule. Good thoughts for Trooper, please.
How’s everybody doing today?
Rookie’s box arrived yesterday afternoon, and was put to use immediately I cleared out that pesky rope of lights:
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