How a book can get me to read it in 19 seconds

I don’t spend a lot of time picking out a book to read but its got to grab me in some way because there are so many books to choose from.  Like the bumper sticker that laments "so many books, so little time..."

Some times its just the cover that makes me want to read it.  But usually I read the inside cover flap as well as the back cover to get a “read” on the book.  

There's not a lot going on on the front cover of Michael Faber's "The Courage Consort" so I took a look at the back cover which stated “Faber’s writing is chaste, dryly humourous and resolutely moral.”   Sounds like something I could use right about now.

On page one, we meet Catherine:

“....she actually opened the window and sat on the sill, wondering if four stories was enough to make death certain.  She didn’t fancy the prospect of quadriplegia, as she hated hospitals, with their peculiar synthesis of fuss and boredom.  Straight to the grave was best..”


I dove right in.  So far so good.

duct tape love

It started at a pretty young age - the boy's love of duct tape.  To this day he has a rainbow of duct tape - all the colours of duct tape ever made.  Including camouflage.


This is some of his collection.

I remember when he was just little......I had asked him what he was up to and he replied "Looking for something to duct tape."   Another time when a friend came over, I heard him ask if he wanted to go and duct tape something.  


Hey, what can I say, he's a smart & creative kid.  He even makes the odd bit of money here & there by making wallets out of duct tape.  Yes, he takes orders. 

an attempt at outsmarting the birds

This tale contains a little bit of irony.

Sparrows have taken a liking to roosting right above our front door and above our driveway to sit, look around and poop.

Their droppings land not only on our front door step but also on top of our cars.

Not pleasant.

In an effort to keep the birds from roosting we fashioned little spike belts out of tin flashing and roofing nails poking at all angles up from the flashing. The spiky flashing is affixed to the top of a drain pipe where the little beggars would roost.

This seemed to ward them off....we had outsmarted them!

Not so fast.

A few weeks later we noticed white droppings at our front door step again. They must have figured out a safe place to land beside one of the spikes.  Bummer.  Back to stepping around the droppings while we come up with another plan.

This morning, though, we got a good laugh when we spotted the little beggars building a nest at the end of the flashing. The spikes must have created an opportune place to grasp onto the nest structure for them. Rather ironic.

Back to the drawing board to find a way to keep these guys from roosting above our front door!

a filter work-around

We have a wonderful aeropress coffee making gadget.

If you are a coffee drinker and haven't heard of one you must check it out as it makes some nice, smooth coffee one cup at a time.

Recently we went on a little mini vacation to a deserted island.

Well, ok, it wasn't deserted but we knew there wasn't going to be a grocery store so we'd have to pack as many supplies we could think of for the trip.

Have you ever gone on a trip and not forgotten something?

Neither have I.

Hubby was so good about remembering all the little details and even remembered to bring coffee, tea and our little aeropress maker. We were set!

Until we went to make the coffee. Missing those cute little round aeropress filters.

What to do?

Well, Hubby had a little brainwave. The tea bags we brought happened to be round. How about taking apart a tea bag and using one side as a filter?

First he gingerly separated the two sides (we did not have scissors but real men don't leave home without their Swiss army knife).

Unfortunately I didn't take a picture of him putting the tea bag filter in the aeropress but I did get a picture of him plunging the coffee.

I took his picture to show that the tea bag filter worked quite well and did not leave any grinds behind (I cannot figure out how to spin this picture left 90 degrees, sorry).

Great coffee maker - you should try one out! But don't forget the aeropress filters to save you some hassle.

OCD or too much time

Is it just me or does the produce guy at 

The Market have too much time on his hands?  

Either that, or a little OCD.

allergies that shall remain undisclosed?

 

At first I laughed out loud at the boy's honesty. But a moment later, it struck me. Could I go to jail if I let my son turn this into his school?!

Its a little difficult to read, so here's what my son wrote on a permission slip when he was asked to disclose any allergies: "champagne, I get all red in the face and look like a lobster".

Props to him for spelling champagne correctly...but I know someone's going to ask "just how does this minor know the effects of alcohol on his body?" It was on New Year's eve, that he learned this, after consuming a small, tiny, swig of champagne (under the supervision of both his parents).

Should I really be posting this to a blog? I know people have been hunted down & fired over an anonymous blog posting. Do I dare take the chance of social services coming after me? If this blog goes for a long, extended absence, you won't know if I was taken away or just got lazy again.

what's all that honking about???

While I'm on my hike in these pics, I am noticing there seems to be a bunch of random car honking going on. I'm at the edge of town in what seems like the wilderness, however, once you get to the top of the mountain you realize you're not far from civilization.

I didn't want this annoying honking to ruin the quiet time I was spending in the woods. As I disappear deeper and higher into the woods the honking finally started to fade. This allowed me to fool myself into thinking I was far away from civilization, deep within nature.

Once I start decending the mountain I start to hear the honking again. Sometimes I notice a pattern. Its usually a little car horn honking a few times followed by a big 1/2 ton truck horn. I can't tell if they're ticked off with each other or if its just friendly country hello's as they pass each other on the road.

Sometimes, though, I only here one horn honking and no return honk. hmmm. I knew the park bordered the old Victoria watershed. I thought may be the honking could have been a horn that went off to signal damns or channels opening or closing. I dunno!

At one point I even started to think it was some sort of an underground signal. Something to do with drugs? I don't know! I know I was really stretching here. lol

Finally as I approached the road crossing I got to wondering if there was a narrow, unsafe patch of road in the direction opposite from my arrival, where cars would honk to signal their approach.

So I decided to check it out once I got back into my car. I drove down the wooded, narrow country road and as I was cresting the one hill on the corner a car suddenly appeared in front of me. You could tell he was surprised as he jerked his car over to his side (I was already prepared for such an event by driving slowly and as far right as possible). Once we passed each other I glanced back in his direction and sure enough, there was a sign on his side saying "Honk when approaching corner". I forget the exact words and I didn't take a pic. I did not see a sign warning travellers coming from my direction. But there you have it, the mysterious honking solved....

I do wonder how many accidents they have around there and think the problem could easily be solved by removing one or two trees and widening the corner at that curve. but, maybe there's a reason they've lived with the road like this all these years....

expletive warning - sorry but this is damn good

I would have preferred a version without the F word but I could only find this version.

Well done:

missed it by -that- much

Isn't that a radiotype, mom?

Ummm, do you mean Stereotype, son?

how very considerate....

This was at a hostel in Pt.Townsend. How very considerate of them! I left a couple of CDN quarters.....but not for one of those.