A Curious Statistical Anomaly

Today, we spent most of our day outside doing yard work. We’ll it seemed like all day but was only about 3 hours. We’d done housework first. But anyway we managed to do:

• finished weeding the strawberry patch
• planted 22 new strawberry plants
• pulled all the creeping jenny in the yard (before it goes to seed and explodes all over the place.
• pulled all the sprouting tees from the yard and garden area.
• planted a rhubarb plant in a container (we lost the last one to moles/voles so this should keep it alive.
• planted a tub of potato plants (one of those new cloth containers for potatoes from Gardener’s Supply
• Moved 2 wooden pallets, a wooden table top, and a glass door from next to the house to the shed area out of sight.
• Cleaned up all the bits of plastic plant identifiers from previous years, old bits of lawn decorations, and just plain crap and put it in the trash for pick up.
• Put up the Spring flag near the driveway entrance– Home is where the heart is.
• Hyperion here:  She forgot the most important part:  Paying attention to the cat.  Emnot was all over us the entire time, rubbing our ankles, flopping on her back and waving her paws in the air, and generally begging for pettings … which we liberally supplied.  She may be an attention hog, but she does make working in the garden more fun.

Yesterday we went to the Home & Garden Show in Upper Marlboro, MD at the Equestrian Center. We set up appointments to have people come and give us estimates on replacing our windows in the living room (all single pane uninsulated glass– talk about your money going out the windows … we lose heat in winter and the cool in summer), fixing the leak in the skylight in the bedroom, and finishing our basement (office area and guest room/mother-in-law area), and finishing the cleaning/staining on the rest of the outside of the house (we already did the front half that we could reach.).

So, this has been a good, productive weekend even though I’m behind in my reading. Hopefully I’ll catch up over the coming week. I’ve had three really pretty good days except for the migraine on Friday so I’ve been pushing things to get some of the physical stuff done. Now, it’s back to work on the rest of my To Do list.

Hope your weekend was productive and fun too.

Well, not really cabbages and kings, but close enough.  First a whine: today is day 2 of a migraine — I’m done now, but my head seems not to care.  Anyway, it has been awhile since I posted and I thought I should catch up a bit.  First, we’ve been pushing back on the leaf raking or rather…gaining ground.  Here’s a photo of the garden area now that the leaves have been off for a week or so.

You can see there’s more green on the ground. The Hostas are pushing up on the upper level nearer the house. The herbs are greening up in the circle. We’ve still got to pull up the old square foot gardens and replace with the new ones that are of plastic wood-look boards that won’t rot after a couple of years like the current one. We getting ready to put in the potatoes and strawberry plants. I’ve still got to start seeds or if not soon, we’ll need to buy vegetable plants.

I’ve complained about how far the house is from the mailboxes (about 1/4 mile) so here’s a photo of the house (you can see it through the trees. This is from about slightly less than 1/4 of the way back to the house.

Spring is definitely here in spite of the temperatures being between the low 40s and the high 80s at a day’s notice. Here’s two photos of our Peony Trees — one has pink flowers and the other white. Yesterday morning they had buds just starting to look like they were thinking about opening. Last evening they were partially open. Today this is what I saw.

Meanwhile, we have four azalea bushes. One has bloomed and is nearly all gone. One is in bud and about ready to open up. The other two are way behind and I hope will bloom later.

One of the joys of getting all the leaves raked up is the wild flowers that show up. This is a closeup of a violet looking flower that is now covering a lot of the lawn area of the yard. Makes for some smiles when you look down at the ground.

We’ve recently been adopted by a cat. I’m highly allergic to cats so Emmy is going to be an outdoor cat though it is obvious that Emmy feels that indoors would be much better. We’ve build a “feral cat house” for her/him (we don’t know what gender Emmy is yet — but from now on I’ll default to her). She’s actually sleeping in the house so it is being used.

Emmy showed up during the last snow storm in Maryland back in March. She was one of several cats that got dumped out on the main road. At first there were two cats that came to beg food at our house — Emmy and another cat with similar marking but smaller. Emmy stuck around but the other one seems to have made other arrangements. Emmy is affectionate, quiet (she occasionally squeaks, not meows, but she can purr). We can’t help but give her the appropriate scritches and pats when she strops herself about our legs. She’s comes trotting out when I go out to rake and watches from under a bush or by laying nearby. Of course after I get a big pile she needs to attack it to see that it is animal free.

Last week she brought me a dead something — mouse or vole. I gave praises and such but she hasn’t brought another one to me yet. We’re hoping she’ll help with the mole/vole problem we have in our yard. The ground is all spongy from their burrows.

Anyway, she’s a lovely cat. Calm. Loving. Sweet tempered. How anyone could dump such a lovely thing is beyond me. I’d heard stories of people dumping their animals out in rural area but this is my first run in with that. It’s as if they think the animals they have as pets are just disposable items not worth thinking about. Get tired of them and dump them off to fend or themselves or die. If the animal is really lucky they might get taken in by someone but there are only so many animals that rural areas can take in. Dumping animals is wrong no matter how you look at it — but then I wouldn’t wish Emmy to have to live with the sort of people who would dump an animal out on a country road.

Of course, our next problem is that Emmy, for all her good characteristics, is very leary of getting too close to us and skitters away if we move too fast or startle her. At some point we need to trap and neuter — guess that’s when we’ll learn the actual gender of this lovely cat. Meanwhile, we try to socialize her to having people around.

Raining off and on all day.  Rain always seems to create the perfect day for reading, especially mysteries — maybe it’s the grey sky, overcast cloudiness, and feeling of oppression — or is that just the headache .

Anyway, I spent a good part of the day reading Holly Blues by Susan Wittig Albert. It’s a China Bayles mystery and the review will be in the May issue of Gumshoe Review — got the book too late to make the April issue. So far, it’s exactly what I expected — lots of interesting characters, lots of surprises, and new interactions between people, and the mystery keeps you reading. Check out the full review next month.

Meanwhile, tea, aspirin, and a good book makes a dreary day go by much better.

The Darcy Cousins: Scandal, Mischief, and Mayhem arrive at Pemberley… by Monica Fairview, Sourcebooks, ISBN: 978-1-4022-3700-3, pages 432.

The rift between Darcy and his aunt Lady Catherine de Bourgh has been somewhat mended since Elizabeth has given birth to an heir. Of course that doesn’t mean that Lady Catherine actually recognizes Elizabeth’s presence. But the entire family is gathering at Rosings once more for Easter. Joining the family are Robert Darcy (see The Other Mr. Darcy) and his wife and two relatives from America, Frederick Darcy and his sister Clarissa Darcy.

Georgiana is hoping that she and Clarissa will become close friends. Georgiana has been feeling that she’s in the way or not really wanted. Darcy marrying Elizabeth was definitely a good thing but where Georgiana always had her brother for company now he seems always involved with Elizabeth and their son — they don’t purposely exclude her they just don’t seem to notice.

Once Frederick and Clarissa arrive, they seem to get off on the wrong foot with Lady Catherine. While Frederick can be accepted, after all he is American, a business man, and rich. Clarissa must learn to become a lady — of course that’s the type of lady that Lady Catherine approves of, and that’s where all the trouble begins. Clarissa is neither tractable or docile.

Georgiana and Clarissa do become friends. Georgiana learns that one can be a lady and still have strong opinions and interests of her own. When Clarissa is appalled by the way everyone ignores Anne de Bourgh and has Georgiana join her in her campaign to become friends with Anne, Georgiana begins to realize that she’s always just accepted things and never looked at them from the outside. She’s also surprised by what they learn. Her eyes opened, she begins to look at other behaviors she’s always accepted.

As is usual, one things leads to another and before long Lady Catherine is convinced that Clarissa is practically the devil personified, and there to ruin the family. Once again the family finds itself rent by Lady Catherine’s insistence on her point of view. Everyone decamps for London and the season.

Georgiana struggles to find her own way in society with her new insights. She learns that Clarissa is in England for more than this visit and that there are depths to her American cousin. In fact, soon Clarissa and Georgiana find themselves interested in the same man. But is he the right man for either of them? Will their friendship last through the season?

To say any more would spoil the fun of learning all the secrets, intrigues, and adventures to be had in The Darcy Cousins. The book’s advanced press implies that the book is all about Clarissa and her problems but this is really Georgiana’s story. Clarissa is the spur that goads Georgiana to action and change. Georgiana is firmly front and center. She’s always been in the background and this time Monica Fairview gives the reader a chance to get to know her a bit better. Shy? Yes, but also she has the same strong Darcy stubbornness and loyalty. It’s a turbulent story as Georgiana becomes a person most of us would like to know better and have stand at our side in adversity.

Another excellent follow on to Pride and Prejudice that maintains the integrity of the original characters while moving the story of their lives forward.

The subject line has been our short cut for saying that the day was one where you just seem to work and never really get anything done that shows.  It’s a line from Real Genius, a film that’s funny in a geeky way before so many studios began to make movies for the geek crowd and really trying too hard.

Anyway, it’s been a madhouse here.  We’re still trying to get the gardening area cleared.  I’m trying to make a dent in the piles in my office (dining room but honest no one could eat in here anymore).  It seems like the books just pile up as we run up to the issues going live.  Then I have to pull the older books in order to get shelf space for the new ones as I  wait for the reviewers to send in requests.

Meanwhile, the potted plant we got for the deck is just beautiful.  Maybe tomorrow I’ll manage to remember to get a photo before it’s too dark.  It’s been beautiful the last few days — in the 90’s.  In our part of the world there’s also a bit of a breeze so going outside to rake and clear isn’t too bad.  I’ve been only doing about a 1/2 hour per day so that I don’t have a full-blown fibro flare.  So far, it’s working.

Today though I had to wash the kitchen floor.  Of course that was after sweeping the entire living room, dining room, kitchen, hall and bathroom.  I hate brooms and mops.  I’d really like to find a way to do these activities without having to spend an hour or two with ice packs on and off afterwards.

Had a bit more energy today until I did the floors.  Then I felt like a wrung out dishrag — limp and flat.  Couldn’t seem to get my head in gear the rest of the day so read some and cleared off old email and things that just don’t take rocket science to do.

Well tomorrow is another day and I’m hoping to be more “awake” and caffeinated then.  Hope springing eternal and all that.

Today was one of those days where you go as fast as you can all day but never get anywhere. I sent out the notices on the reviews on SFRevu and Gumshoe Review. Moved books forward for another month for the reviewers. Entered some news items. All while doing the wash, folding clothes, and other household tasks.

Of course some of the slow down is due to the fact that from Friday evening (the WSFA Meeting) through to Sunday night. I was out straight doing one thing or another. We ran all our errands on Saturday. Raked another big section of the yard. And on Easter Sunday went over to a friends for Lunch and a walk along the Potomac — followed by dessert and some good talk and camaraderie.

It was all great but the fibro kicked in today and I feel like I’m walking through molasses — not, you understand, that I’ve ever spilled enough molasses to walk through so that I could compare the experiences. Nevertheless, today it just seems that if there is a speed between dead stop and slow I’ve found it or maybe even the setting between that one and stop.

But, I did make a dent in the small chores that have to be done before gearing up for the next issue. But now I think I’ll call it an early night and see if more sleep makes any difference.

It’s spring and thoughts do turn to new beginnings. Sometimes those new beginning are new relationships.

Here’s a video that shows that love, ingenuity, and some teamwork can conquer just about anything.

Do you think I should have given a spew warning first?

It took until nearly  1 a.m. on April 1st but SFRevu and Gumshoe Review both were up and live before I went to bed last night.

Gumshoe Review has an original short story Critic’s Choice by Rekha Ambardar as well as our usual collection of reviews. The US Books column lists the books coming out this month that we know about along with a cover image and a short blurb.

SFRevu has a review of Bitter Seeds by Ian Tregillis along with an interview with the author. We’ve also got book reviews, magazine reviews, some DVD/Blu-Ray reviews. We also managed to review a graphic novel and a children’s fantasy book. Not to mention the non-fiction review this month, The Secret Feminist Cabal: A Cultural History of Science Fiction Feminisms by Helen Merrick. Then there’s the UK Books Column and the US Books Column.

I hope you’ll take the time to check them out and perhaps make visits to SFRevu and Gumshoe Review sites that you regularly check out online.