What I'm Listening To Now

Larry McMurtry, Lonesome Dove

This is better to listen to than to read. (I read it when it was first published, back in the 1990s.) A really slow start which is easier to put up with when you're listening while cooking or driving or waiting to fall asleep, which is when I listen to audiobooks. There are some great scenes, but honestly this doesn't really have a plot. Instead of "the queen died and then the king died of grief," it's "the queen died and then the king died and then the prince fought a bear and then..." 

The overall spine of the book is Call and Gus drive a cattle herd from Texas to Montana in about 1870, I'd say. Maybe a little earlier. The Civil War has been over for some time and the railroads aren't around yet.  Since we had railroads in the West at around 1869, this doesn't really add up. I guess it's once-upon-a-time time? Anyway.

There's also a scene with a woman giving birth that gets some details wrong. I know McMurtry had at least one kid, since James McMurtry is his son. Maybe he just wasn't paying attention?

I don't really like the ending, but overall I did enjoy listening to this one.

I tried to listen to the sequel -- Streets of Laredo -- and do not recommend.

Connie Willis, Bellweather

This is light science fiction with a romance subplot. This research institute employs researchers, while behaving more like a corporation than a research institute. The young researcher is researching fads. Another young researcher is researching chaos theory. An annoying 20 year old office assistant annoys them both. It's good to listen to while falling asleep if you know the entire plot (as I do) and so it doesn't matter if you sleep through bits of it.

Natasha Pulley,  The Salt King

I loved Pulley, and this was as much fun to listen to as it was to read. (I read it for a review in Asimov's.)

A young Jesuit-in-training is sent to investigate a possible miracle in a strange land that is in England but its own sovereign nation. Demons, angels, miracles and wonders, along with some great characters. Listening to it, you get the different dialects, which I love a lot. There's a m/m romance at the center, and a f/m one at the edges. Very much G-rated romances, as is usual with Pulley.

Also, lots of snow. I love books with snow in them.

Rainbow in Arkansas

This was the late evening sky last night:

The rainbow was pretty extreme, though it doesn't show up as well in the photo.

Microwave

I need to buy a microwave. Our present one is dead. We bought it when we moved in here, which means it's less than two years old. Ugh.

So I priced some new microwaves and holy hell. Didn't microwaves used to cost like $50? Now the cheapest I'm finding are over $100.

There are also ones that cost more than $500, but since they too will probably break in under two years, I really don't want to spend that much.

Anyone have any reccs? What microwave do you suggest?

Vaccinations Achieved

Yesterday Dr. Skull and I got our COVID-19 booster, our flu shots, and our pneumonia shots. I also got the Tdap and he got the shingles vax. (I hadn't had a tetanus shot in awhile, and I am out in the woods all the time with the dog.)

Today I feel a little achy near the site, but that's all so far.

 

Weather Report

It's going to rain here for the next week. 

Since I found a way to walk the dog in the rain*, I'm looking forward to this. Also, cooler weather on the other side: highs in the 70s, lows in the 50s. Yes, please.

*I wear a hat with a brim, which keeps my glasses dry. Everything else gets wet, but I have three pairs of shoes now, which I rotate. I cannot take him for walks if it is thundering, but luckily thunderstorms here generally only last an hour or two.

J.D. Vance

J.D. Vance sent me an email. He wants my support.

Dude.

Yay Fall!

First morning I had to wear a jacket to the dog park. It was 59 degrees and lovely.

The dog chased squirrels and ran in circles.

I came home and opened all the windows. 

Good News?

Besides the weather turning cooler, I've seen two pieces of good news lately.

(1) Congress is considering moving from a 40 hour to a 32 hour workweek, with benefits at 32 hours and overtime starting after 32 weeks.

(2) News organizations are banding together in protest of Trump's kicking certain networks out of press conferences -- Politico, CNN, and MSN. Majors news networks -- ABC, NBC, CBS, and Fox News have all joined the boycott. They will not film or broadcast Trump's press conferences. Meanwhile, Politico, CNN, and MSN are suing Trump.

It's good to see our networks FINALLY showing some backbone.

MAGAts are sqeaking about Biden banning journalists from the network, but this is a lie, like most of what they say. While Biden did require the renewal of press credentials, he did not ban anyone. Now, Obama did attempt to ban FOX News, who claim -- after all -- that they are entertainment, not a news network. But he backed down when other networks objected.

WhiteHouse.gov is currently claiming that access to White House press conferences is "a privilege, not a right." 

First Amendment? What's that?

Weather Report

We had a big storm last night (poor Shamus was terrified; he hates thunder) and it looks like fall came in with it.

A high of 87 today, and then after that highs in the low 80s/high 70s. Lows in the 60s/50s. 

Yes, please.

Inflation in Arkansas

The crackers I used to buy for $2.50 a box are now $5.79 a box.

Eggs at my local store range from $6.50 to $10.99 a dozen.

Gas is $4.09 at the cheapest gas station in town.

Chicken thighs are $12.99 a pound. (I do buy the good kind, not Tyson chicken thighs, which have the texture of rubber bands and taste like hog pens smell.)

Four pounds of dry cat food is $9.95. (I buy Iams, since that is all my cat will eat.)

Apples are a three-pound bag for $3.27.

I almost bought an Asian pear at Harps, but those are $2.99 each.

But Trump says the economy is booming and prices are the lowest they have ever been, so I guess I should quit whining. 

(He also says the economy is the fault of Joe Biden, though to be fair that was a different speech.)

Stealing from UnFogged and Daniel Lavery

What's the worst and best thing your mother ever said to you?

I'll go first: My mother actually never said anything really awful to me. She was more a neglectful than a mean parent.

She did call me a bitch, frequently, when I was in my early teens, which I felt keenly at the time. And when I was about eleven and having a melt-down (I'm high-functioning autistic, I think), she took a Polaroid picture of me so I would "see how ugly I looked." I'm still mad about that.

But she came out to Idaho (from New Orleans) when the kid was born to stay with me a week, and take care of the colicky kid. I'll always be grateful for that. And when I started writing novels, she always read my work, even the horrible early novels, and she told me that she knew I would get published, because I was too good not to. 

My father (also a high-function autistic) was the mean one, though to be fair I don't know if he knew he was being mean. He constantly told me as an adolescent that I needed to lose weight; and when I got cancer, he told me that when life gave me lemons I should make lemonade. None of that was as bad as his own melt-downs, though, which manifested as screaming at all of us and beating us children frequently.

Oddly, after he got dementia, he became a really nice guy. 

I suppose the best thing he ever said to me was that he didn't worry about me because I knew how to plan ahead and work toward a goal. Honestly, that made up for a lot.

What about y'all? Best and worst?

My mother at 80

Migraine

This is the first migraine I have had in awhile. It's pretty bad.

I blame this heat, but then I would.

I used to go to the ER and they would give me a shot, but the ER here is always so crowded, I think I will stay home and suffer.

Updates

(1) My knee is better. I walked nearly 10,000 steps yesterday and it only gave be brief twinges. I'm considering stopping the Meloxicam.

(2) I am getting better at playing the piano with two hands, though I am still not good at it.

(3) It is still hot.

(4) I'm having a lot of anxiety again, though I don't know why. What is there to be anxious about? (Trump, the skyrocketing costs of gas and groceries, global climate change....)

(5) I'm having so many nightmares. Probably due to the anxiety mentioned in #4. I keep dreaming that we have to move, and I have to pack, and I can't find a mover. Last night there was also a flood. The house was flooding and we had to move and I couldn't find a mover. I keep waking up and knowing it was a dream and then going back to sleep and the house was flooding again.

Argh.

Weather Report

It is still hot.

One more week of summer.

Please.

Noooooo!

Shanah Tovah!

 Here's the challah I made for the holiday:

The kid and I are going to throw bread in the water after dinner tonight.