Leaving Things Hanging

It's never a good idea to leave things hanging is it?

Well, I've really left things hanging here!

I am getting ready to re-roof the house but before I could start I had to repair some water damage that had happened over the porch. It should have been quick and easy but as with everything, it blossomed into a much bigger job than I anticipated!

I'm going tomorrow to get the lumber to build a new beam but until then, I guess I'm letting it all hang out there! :)

Hopefully by the end of the weekend this section will be all done and re-roofed! But then I'll have the rest of the roof to do!

To Be Continued.....

The Vicious Vet - M. C. Beaton

The Vicious Vet
By: M. C. Beaton
Published: 1993
Audiobook Read by: Donada Peters
My rating: Great








After listening to The Quiche Of Death, the first of the Agatha Raisin mysteries, I just couldn't resist getting more! Agatha is just too much fun!

Well, it all came about because Agatha was so desperate to get friendly with that handsome neighbor of her's, James Lacey! She would have never gone so far with her inquiries if she hadn't found it to be such a good excuse to spend a fun afternoon with James, running down suspects, searching for clues, and getting into loads of trouble! But how was she to know it really would turn out to be murder? Furthermore, how could she have guessed that the killer wouldn't stop with just one? Oh well, it was all worth it just to hear James pretending that they were married! How could a girl resist a heartthrob like James anyway, Agatha would gladly walk through fire just to be near him!

Agatha is such a fun and quirky detective! I have so much fun following her derailed trains of thought. She chases after the craziest ideas but ends up landing the right fish in spite of herself! The addition of James Lacey to her investigations was great! James is a bit more level headed but still tends to follow some wild ideas. Poor Bill Wong has his hands full trying to keep the two of them out of trouble!

I listened to the audiobook read by Donada Peters and just as before, her performance was absolutely wonderful!

Overall, this is pretty light reading but is a lot of fun and will keep you chuckling as you follow Agatha's antics! :)

The Beekeeper's Apprentice - Laurie R. King

The Beekeeper's Apprentice
By: Laurie R. King
Published: 1994
Audiobook Read by: Jenny Sterlin
My rating: Great









I have always been a huge Sherlock Holmes fan but when I listened to the Italian Secretary by Caleb Carr, I was a little disappointed. However, my friend Nancy suggested this series and I am so glad she did!

When young Mary Russell bumps into an old man sitting on the ground watching bees, she never guessed that she would end up being the apprentice of the world famous Sherlock Holmes!

When Sherlock Holmes, sitting quietly watching some bees at their work, is nearly trampled by a young girl, (a part American girl at that) he would have never guessed that he had found a mind very nearly equal to his own!

The unlikely pair forms a bond of friendship that runs deeper than either of them expected. As Holmes begins to refine Mary's already keen intellect, he finds that she has as sharp an eye and as brilliant a mind as he has ever seen. They spend many happy hours playing mind games with each other, honing their skills together in unwitting preparation for the case that will quite probably cost one of them their lives!

I really enjoyed this book! Laurie has successfully captured the feel of a real Sherlock Holmes mystery. She gives all the clues up front and allows the reader to decipher them to see if they can match up with what Holmes deduces. Beyond that she has introduced a very likeable character, in Mary Russell, that can match wits with the great detective and keep him on his toes. The mysteries themselves are well plotted and kept me guessing for quite some time. I loved the way the primary case stretched out over time instead of being presented as a neat little affair that was tied up in a couple of days. Mary Russell is very much a good match for Holmes and I'm glad there are more books in the series!

I listed to the audiobook read by Jenny Sterlin and loved every minute of it! Jenny did a wonderful job and really brought Mary to life.

Overall, if you like Sherlock Holmes mysteries, you should really check this one out! I don't think you'll be disappointed!

The Restaurant At The End Of The Universe - Douglas Adams

The Restaurant At The End Of The Universe
By: Douglas Adams
Published: 1980
Audiobook Read by: Martin Freeman
My rating: Great









OK, so I listened to The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy and absolutely loved it! Therefore, I just couldn't wait any longer to move on to this next book in the saga!

Arthur, Ford, Zaphod, and Trillian find themselves having a nice dinner while watching the universe come to an end all around them. (Yes, that's right, it comes to an end.) Dinner was very nice despite Arthur's aversion to eating the steak put before him since the cow it came from was so friendly and talkative. Anyway, it was fun. Now lets steal an all black robot ship and take a ride straight into the center of a sun located two million years in the past. ("Wait, does it have to be black? black is so depressing." "Yes Marvin, it doesn't come in any other colors. Besides, you're already depressed anyway!" "I know, it's just...see...well...I'm trying to limit my depression to something less than total and complete. I can handle dying in a fireball at the center of that sun but doing it in an all black ship is just too much.") Of course we all know that a teleport with no guidance system is a bad idea but hey, let's give it a whirl and see what happens. It'll be fun!

We leave Arthur and Ford to the task of teaching cavemen how to play Scrabble. ("I keep telling you, they aren't cavemen! They live in huts!" "Yes I know they live in huts, but calling them hutmen just sounds ridiculous!") Could the question to life, the universe and everything be buried in the minds of these primitive creatures? Can Arthur teach the cavemen how to total up a triple word score? Will there ever be anymore hot water for the captain's bath? Is Marvin still depressed? So many questions, so few answers! Oh well, Ford and Arthur have two million years to figure it all out before the Vogon Constructor Fleet destroys Earth all over again. Plenty of time, so let's go for a nice cup of tea while we think about it!

This wasn't quite as good as the first one but I still very much enjoyed it! I think, considering the magnificent heights of hilarity and imagination the first book attained, it would have been very hard to do any better! However, it was a lot of fun and Douglas' wild imagination was once again in full swing in this book. I absolutely love the crazy off the wall things that are constantly happening to our heroes as they continue their adventures. I will be hard put to wait very long to listen to the next book in this six volume trilogy!

I listened to the audiobook read by Martin Freeman. Martin did a great job and kept me entertained throughout. However, I felt he didn't give Marvin quite the depressed sound that he deserved but it was still a lot of fun!

Overall, you can't go wrong with these books! They are so much fun and I love the totally bent sense of humor they are written with!

I'm officially a published author!!

OK, I confess I cheated a little bit.

I used Kindle Direct Publishing.

But it's still publishing! So I'm counting it! :)

*   *   *   *   *

So here it is! It's just a short story but it's a start!

If you want to check it out, here it is in the US Kindle store, here is the UK store, and here is the DE store.

You don't have to have a Kindle to read it, you can download the Kindle for PC software for free!

So anyway, I was excited so I thought I'd share my excitement with the people I knew would be most likely to share it! :)

I am working on doing a re-write on Just A Piece Of Trash and then I'll have to get the formatting done so I can submit it as well. Who knows where I'll go from there! I have all kinds of ideas floating around in my head, so I'll just have to grab one and go for it!


 I would also like to say thank you to all of you who have encouraged me so much in my writing and gave me the incentive to keep at it and give this a try!

You Guys Are GREAT!!!

The Hostile Hospital - Lemony Snicket

The Hostile Hospital
By: Lemony Snicket
Published: 2001
Audiobook Read by: Tim Curry
My rating: Delightful








Wanted for crimes they didn't commit, (we know who did commit them) the children are on their own. Not even Mr. Poe can be counted on to help them (not that has ever been much help in the past) so they must stick together and take care of themselves!

Finding very little chance of escape, the children fall in with The Volunteers Fighting Disease. The odd group is heading to Heimlich Hospital to sing to the patients and pass out heart shaped balloons. The Baudelaires are excepted readily as the newest volunteers and transported away from their pursuers. Unfortunately, as has been true so often, Count Olaf finds them and concocts yet another nefarious plan. (A phrase which here means, trying to remove Violet's head completely without her written permission!) Fortunately for the youngsters, they have learned a thing or two about how Count Olaf's mind works and are able to turn the tables on him using some of his own tricks. But how were they to know that all of their efforts would still land them closed up in the trunk of his car heading who knows where?

This book was a little bit different from the others because the children are completely on their own, no Mr. Poe, no guardian, and nobody to help them out of a tight spot. I liked the change of pace and am curious to see how the series progresses from here. They are very resourceful children and each new situation seems to push them to more and more inventive solutions. It's really quite thrilling, in a totally preposterous sort of way. Which is what makes it so much fun! :)

Once again, we were well entertained by Tim Curry's performance! I think it would be most difficult to find anyone better suited to read these books!

Overall, this was a great book in the series, changing up the normal pattern. If you have followed the series this far, don't stop now!

Winesburg, Ohio - Sherwood Anderson

Winesburg, Ohio
By: Sherwood Anderson
Published: 1919
Audiobook Read by: George Guidall
My rating: Interesting








I decided to listen to this book for two reasons. First, when I listened to The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury, Ray gave credit to this book as being part of his inspiration. Second, I live just fifteen minutes from the real town of Winesburg, Ohio in the heart of Amish Country. I was slightly disappointed to discover it was not about our Winesburg but was about a fictitious town that Sherwood just happened to call Winesburg. Oh well. :(

It seems that George Willard is destined to learn the strangest things about the people in his little town. As a journalist for the local newspaper, people seem eager to tell him their stories. We learn all kinds of things about the townsfolk, some of it quite interesting, some of it rather odd or even bizarre! We also learn quite a lot about George himself and get to see snapshots of him as he grows up, matures, and finally becomes a man, ready to face the wide, wide world.

This was kind of an odd book for me. I liked some of the stories but others were kind of out there. The quality of the writing is very good and I followed along quite well but now and then I found myself wondering what the point was! The picture of life in the late 1800s - early 1900s was quite interesting and as always when I listen to a book from this era I found myself wishing to live back then!

I listened to the audiobook read by George Guidall. It was a complete coincidence that he was also the one to do the last book I listened to but I was far from crestfallen! Like I said then, he has become my favorite narrator! He has a wonderful voice and is so expressive that I feel like I'm right there in the story itself!

Overall, this is an interesting book but not one I would rush out to get. If you like little "slice of life" stories, this collection might be of interest.

The Cat Who Turned On And Off - Lillian Jackson Braun

The Cat Who Turned On And Off
By: Lillian Jackson Braun
Published: 1968
Audiobook Read by: George Guidall
My rating: Wonderful









OK, I'm hooked on Koko, Yum-yum, and Qwill! I have listened to several of the books in this series and have been enjoying them more and more!

In this third book of the series, Qwill is still getting himself established and is finding it difficult to find an affordable place to live. When he finds out about a substantial prize being offered to the staff of the Daily Fluxion for the best story for the Christmas season, he decides to win it with a series on the antiquing scene in the run down part of the city known as Junktown. Well, of course we all know that Qwill can't write a nice feel good story with heart! As always, murder calls to him and he ends up trying to solve the mystery surrounding the death of one of Junktown's most loved and sometimes most hated dealers! The problem is, it wasn't a murder at all, it was just a tragic accident....or was it? Only Koko seems to know!

Once again, Lillian has created a unique mystery here that kept me on the edge of my seat right up to the very end. I have been impressed so far with the variety of mysteries she presents. Each one has been significantly different from the others and presents new possibilities and new characters every time. The one wonderful constant in all the books, though, is the wonderful descriptions of the two cats and their antics. I have never found an author better at conveying the unique nature of cats than Lillian! Her descriptions give me a vivid picture of what Koko and Yum-yum are doing and I often laugh a little as I recognize the very things I see my own cat do!

I listened to the audiobook read by George Guidall and as always, I loved his performance! I think he is probably my favorite narrator of all the ones I have heard so far!

Overall, this is a lot of fun and if you are looking for some light, entertaining reading, you can't go wrong with these books!

John Adams - David McCullough

John Adams
By: David McCullough
Published: 2001
Audiobook Read by: Nelson Runger
My rating: Wonderful








After listening to Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow, I decided to set out to go through biographies of all or our presidents in chronological order. It is going to be a long process considering the vast number of other books I love to listen to but I think it will be very rewarding as well as greatly educational!

John Adams as president did not seem to be the most popular since he was voted down for a second term. However, his intense love for our country and undying zeal for freedom are a testament of where his heart was.

Adams spent much of his adult life in the service of our country, enduring hardships that would have brought a lesser man to his knees. As a diplomat to foreign countries such as France and Holland, he had to fight not only the view of America as a backwater upstart country with little chance of succeeding, but personal struggles with his health, loneliness, and the feeling of being cut off due to the length of time it took to communicate with home. Despite all the obstacles, he never gave up and was able to produce results wherever he was posted.

Never to be one that let opposition hold him down, he moved into the presidential office prepared for his opponents and ready to deal with the mountains of criticism his decisions would bring. In everything he did, he acted according to his own values and with a clear conscience that what he did was done for his country and not out of any hope for personal gain.

This has been an interesting experience for me. I must admit that I was never much interested in history and therefore did not pay attention in school. I have learned a lot about the founding of our country from these biographies that I should have already known! What has interested me most was seeing the same time period from different perspectives as I have with Washington's biography and now this one. It's the same time with the same activities going on but it looks vastly different through each man's eyes! I am starting to see that I will be getting a very well rounded view of our nation's history as I travel through the stories of each president!

I listened to the audiobook read by Nelson Runger. Nelson did a great job with this and I loved his choice of voice for John Adams. I got a sense of the good natured attitude that John had and could hear the good humor in the voice that Nelson gave him.

Overall, this was a well done biography of John Adams that kept me interested without sacrificing the historical accuracy. If you are looking for an Adams biography, don't hesitate to give this one a try!

The King Size Sandbox

I built a sandbox for my kids a few years ago.

A BIG SANDBOX!!!

When I was a kid we had a nice size sandbox and all of the neighborhood kids loved playing in it with us! My dad built it for us out of sandstone and it even had a little roof over it and everything. We spent many very happy hours playing in it.

So I wanted my kids to have that as well. But as in everything it seems, I had to make it BIG!! :)

Yep, I said big. 10' long, 5' wide and 16" deep.
Oh yeah, it holds 2 tons of sand!

So anyway, I built it several years back and got it filled up with sand but guess what? When kids play in a sandbox the sand seems to slowly disappear! So this year it needed a fresh filling, so Tammy and the kids shoveled what was left of the old sand out and got it cleaned up and ready for the first load.

It's hard to see but there is a little bank that makes
it interesting to get the truck up to the end this way!

Oh yeah, I have a really cool gadget called a LoadHandler! :)

So the first load is unloaded it's off to the gravel yard for load #2!

So while I'm off getting the second load, let me tell you about my back yard. From the back of the house there is about 40' and then a drop off into some woods. (That's the trees you see in the left hand side of the pictures. The small bank in these first pictures cuts across from the back corner of my garage back to the woods. At the other end of the house is another bank that does the same thing but is about 8' high and quite steep. (It's a bear to mow!)

Being the perfectionist that I am, (despite there being no room to move in the back yard on a bicycle let alone in a full size pickup) I had to attempt to get the second load of sand into the empty end of the sandbox so this is what I ended up doing to achieve that:

It took about 20 minutes of maneuvering to do this during which time,
Tammy was cringing every time I came within 3" of hitting the house!
(Which was quite often!)

Well, we got all the sand in the box where it belonged, got the truck out of the back yard and with the exception of a few tire tracks in the grass, there was no harm done!

And now we have a very happy little boy!

OK, make that two happy little boys!

I love tunnels! :)

So there you have it! One big sandbox, 2 tons of sand, some beat up trucks, cars, and other toys, and a whole summer of fun!! What could be better? Well, maybe the GIANT slip-n-slide I'm going to put up but I'll save that for another post! :)