Books

A study says that people who read several books each year have a tendency to live two years longer than people who don't.  Now, I definitely don't want to live forever, but there for a while, I was reading a book a day; I've currently slowed down to one every two or three days.  How much more will that extend my life, I wonder?  - Not much, I'm sure.
  Today is my sister's 68th birthday....  Kathy Jo was born at the Chincoteague Naval Air Station today, with the help of forceps, as she was a breech presentation.  Mom had so much internal damage they told her she'd never conceive again - but here I am!  (Our family likes to confound the medical profession.)  For her birthday, I gave her a copy of Killers of the Flower Moon - The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI.  I'm on the reserve waiting list for a copy from the library.
   I've been re-reading some favorites, and found a three-in-one Andre Norton hardcover.  Apparently I read two of the novels when I was in 7th grade, but I don't remember the third one, which I'm about two-thirds through...  I have a copy of the new C. J. Cherryh Foreigner series book, Emergence, to read; and I'm awaiting the arrival of my autographed copy of City on the Edge of Darkness by Preston and Child.
  I just received my new Bas Bleu catalog, and I've spotted another 10 books that look intriguing - I'll have to order them from the library - and I still need to sitdown at my PC and read May Day Over Wichita, which my cousin Sarah highly recommends.
 
    After several nights of single digit temperatures, the Chinook winds arrived early this morning, and it was 47 degrees when I left to care for Pip and Squeak; 49 when I returned.  It's supposed to reach the mid-60s again this afternoon (it was 68 yesterday), before getting chilly again tomorrow.  Then snow is forecast for Sunday, with a high of 30....  We'll see!

Chilly, Books, Vikings

It was a grey, chilly day here.  After temperatures around 90 degrees (F) over the weekend, having a high of 55 seems a bit cool.  Not to mention the 100% humidity level we've had all day.  It's almost 6 in the evening, and I can finally see the mountains, even though they are very hazy.  And it looks odd to see the pockets of cloud tucked into the shoulders of the various peaks and arroyos.  It's also the first time I've actually seen that the leaves on the trees a block away are green in color.  It's typical during snow, but odd during the fall.
   I've been catching up on this season's Vikings - saw two hours over the weekend, and three hours today.  I'm still in love with Floki, even if he did kill Athelstan.  And I was shocked when Aslaug handed Ivar the Boneless over to Floki as his instructor in the gods and the old ways - but it makes perfect sense, in retrospect.  Linus Roache is amazing as always in his portrayal of King Ecbert; and I have truly enjoyed every minute that Ivan Kaye has been on screen as King Aelle.  Rollo is certainly making waves with Gisla, and I'm rather enjoying the actor taking the part of Count Odo.  Bjorn Ironsides is maturing quite nicely...  And Lagertha  certainly gave her husband an unexpected wedding gift...
   I am re-reading Visitor to capture the nuances I missed, and have already found several items that I did not register in my first, hurried reading.  I'm about to order the new Pendergast novel by Preston and Child, The Obsidian Room, that will ship out next month.  In the meantime, I'm awaiting my own copies of The Rain Wild Chronicles (volumes 1 to 4) for enjoying a leisurely perusal.  After that, I'll start the new Robin Hobb series, The Fitz and The Fool.  I know there are two components already published, so maybe I'll be just in time for the third of the series...  And then it should be time for a new Sigma Force  novel by James Rollins, and then a new CJ Cherryh Foreigner book.   Looking forward to good reads over the next several months!

Back From a Trip Through Time and Space

Sorry, folks; between pet- and house-sitting and getting deeply involved in three new books, I just didn't get around to my blog.   I'm embarrassed by my back-sliding (not really).  I have been extremely busy in my critter-sitter business, and won't be sleeping at home again until the 26th of May.
   I was up at 4 o'clock this morning, showered dressed, walked the dog, fed the critters, watered the garden and the flowers, and was standing at the end of the driveway at 5 o'clock to travel with clients to Denver National Airport.  When they picked me up, dawn was breaking, the robins and smaller birds had begun singing, and a few of the neighbor's ducks were wakening and quacking.  As we drove out of the neighborhood, there was an oddly-moving eye-shine reflected back in the headlights.  The driver asked what it was, and I was able to answer it was a raccoon - although it was moving sideways, more like a crab than a raccoon.  I didn't give it anymore thought, as we were soon on the Expressway, where the speed limit is posted as 75 miles per hour - the family had decided to sleep in a little later and then rush to the airport.  As we passed one automated signal, it said we were traveling at 98 mph.  Oh, boy....   I drove back to Boulder at the rather sedate 65 mph posted for the Interstate, instead of racing back on the Expressway.
   First, I fed and walked Roxie and Finnie, the two Brittany Spaniels.  Then I went to the house behind Roxie and Finnie's and I walked Cooper and Lola, then fed those two, as well as the two cats, Pounce and Tipsi.  I had already fed and walked Tess and the cats, but I stopped by to allow Tess time to go outside again.  Then I went to my apartment, fed my kits and cleaned the litter boxes, and took a 50 minute nap.  After that, it was off to walk Rosie.
   Rosie and I had decided to visit my sister and brother-in-law's yard this morning.  (She's visited Tess the past three days.)  So we ambled toward my sister's house.  As we approached, I saw a raccoon (this was at 10:25) sidling sideways across the road from Olivier's house.  Rosie also saw it, and wanted to run and grab it.  The raccoon was having great difficulty moving.   It crossed the street, and had a seizure.  Then it licked it's hind legs, which were completely hairless and looked like raw meat.  It started sidling sideways, again, like a crab into the back yard at my sister's.  The (d'uhh!) realization came that this was the same raccoon I'd seen about 400 yards away at 5 this morning.   It had another seizure before it hid inside an airplane wing beside the shed.  I told my brother-in-law and sister what I had seen, and they agreed to call the Animal Control officer....   Rosie and I came over to Tess's house instead.
    After walking Rosie, I have bounced back and forth between the three houses of dogs and cats.  I have walked dogs, watered flowers and gardens, and gathered mail and newspapers.  Tonight is the penultimate presentation of Peter and the Starcatcher at the Boulder Dinner Theater, and Max is back in town to see his Dad on stage.  So I'll be headed over to Rosie's soon to keep her company while her family is out for the evening....   I do have to go feed Roxie and Finnie and the ABCs before I go to Rosie's.
    I just finished three new books, as well as re-reading another trilogy set of C J Cherryh's Foreigner series.  I find myself thinking in the alien language, Ragi, occasionally - and I sometimes throw an atevi into a conversation, because the alien word is a better fit than the English one.  Sometimes I feel that I'd rather exist in Ms. Cherryh's universe!

A Great Book and Longmont

I finished reading Tracker late last night; it's the latest installment of C. J. Cherryh's atevi world Foreigner series.  I found the first book intriguing, but I found one of the main characters, Bren Cameron, to be an extremely anal-retentive and over-written character.  In the second book, I actually began to appreciate Ben's insights and started picking up on the nuances I had missed in the first book.  Tracker is the sixteenth book in the series, and I own a copy (or two) of all of them.  C. J. Cherryh has created a wonderfully nuanced alien world and culture with the atevi people, and, a few books ago, introduced another alien race, the kyo.  Then there are the humans that are tossed into the mix, with age-old politics, mistrusts, and prejudices.  It makes extremely satisfying reading - and, if, occasionally, there is some new "parallel" technology that is mentioned, that causes problems with all sections of the populace - well, that's even better.  I highly recommend the entire series to anyone who wants a good, lengthy escape from our reality!
  Beatrice and I looked at six different apartment complexes yesterday, in four different cities.  We drove to each complex, parked the car, and got out and wandered around, looking at the grounds, the apartments themselves, and speaking with any tenants we ran across.  We looked at one place here in Boulder, three in Longmont, one in Lafayette, and one in Louisville.  All have rents that we can afford, and all but one had two bathrooms - it had a shared shower and tub, with two separate toilet and sink spaces.  We liked the Victoria Inn Apartments best - but they are located in Longmont, which would mean an extra 45 minutes of RTD bus travel on the Bolt, from Longmont to Boulder.  The bus stops are across a street in either direction.  There is a large grocery store a block away; and, directly behind the apartments is a veterinarian's office, several restaurants, a small convenience store, and a place called "Daylight Doughnuts" that opens at five every morning and serves fresh pastries and coffee.  The grounds have lots of grass, large trees and shrubs, a lot of birds and squirrels, and friendly tenants.  It was very nice.
   My biggest question at the moment is when does my apartment manager want me moved out.  I left them a typed notice, saying I was preparing to move, but that I needed a definite move out date.  I asked whether they wanted me out on the 18th of June, 30 days after they notified me of the non-renewal of my lease; or if I could pay (and stay) through the last day of June.  I am still waiting for a written answer from them.  So - things are up in the sir for me and my cats.  We know we have to move, but not when.  We don't yet know where we'll move.  I dislike the feeling of "hanging in the air" but that's how I feel at the moment.  -  Oh, well... I'll know soon enough.

Deaths, BC3 Thoroughbreds, Protector

Over the past few days, the acting world has lost Joan Fontaine, Peter O'Toole, and Tom Laughlin.  Joan Fontaine was the older sister of actress Olivia de Havilland, and probably is best remembered in the movies Rebecca , Suspicion and Ivanhoe.  She was 96 years old.  Peter O'Toole is probably best remembered for his portrayal of Lawrence of Arabia.  He died aged 81.  Tom Laughlin passed away at age 82, and was best known for his series of Billy Jack movies.
  In Australian horse racing, BC3 Thoroughbreds are now under court administration.  Chief executive Craig Cameron stated that he hopes the company will be resurrected.  Horses owned by BC3 Thoughbreds that were already entered in races will run them, under the care of their usual trainers.  The group has collapsed since Bill Vlahos resigned from his management post last week, after affirming that he "doesn't know" where a private betting club's account of over $194 million has disappeared.  Most horses purchased by BC3 Thoroughbreds in the last 6 months have not been paid for - and breeders, owners, and bloodstock agencies are getting nervous. And it seems that in October and November, Cameron was here in the US, looking to purchase at least one horse farm and a group of broodmares...  We'll have to see what happens.
  The wind has been blowing quite a bit here in Boulder, since Saturday...   It's a Chinook wind, and if you look outside, one can see why the Native Americans call this wind the "snow eater."  Except in shady areas, all of the snow that fell last week, and stayed with us, thanks to below-freezing temperatures, has melted. It's 58 degrees outside right now, and it looks gorgeous outside.  I walked the dogs in jeans, a T-shirt and a sweater (and a heavy headband to keep the wind out of my ears), and am sitting in the apartment in shorts and a T...
   I spent yesterday indulging myself.  I somehow missed the publication of C J Cherryh's Protector, and spent the day totally engrossed in the world of the atevi.  Now, of course, I'm immediately ready to read the next installment, which is due out on 1 April 2014.  That title will be Peacemaker, and will be the 15th of the Foreigner series.  I don't want to wait!

Native American Blood?

I spent yesterday evening cuddling with Nedi and Lovey, looking at a wide variety of catalogs that had arrived in the mail, and finishing the tenth book in the Foreigner series by C J Cherryh. After Jeopardy! ended, I just turned the TV off and curled up with the kits. It was a nice, relaxed evening. Tonight I'll watch NCIS and Vegas. I'm pretty sure that I identified Randy Quaid as one of the stars of Vegas in a previous blog. Wrong. I was dead wrong. It's Dennis Quaid, not Randy. My apologies if I offended or confused anyone. In any event , I watch these shows because I like to look at David McCallum, Mark Harmon and Brian Dietzen, who plays Jimmy Palmer. (Brian is a little young for me, but his family is local - in Niwot - and he's a very nice young man.) And for some unknown reason, I also like to watch Dennis Quaid and Michael Chiklis. I think it's Dennis Quaid's voice that I like the most. Of course, I could listen to Sam Elliott 24/7 and never hear enough of his voice...

  In regards to yesterday's blog and the possibility of having Native Americans on Dad's paternal side of the family - well, that just might be true... but it's something that cannot be proven beyond a shadow of a doubt. First, in 1676, my 13th-great grandfather was hung by the neck until dead at the order of Governor Berkeley in Jamestown, Virginia. Captain James Crewes (aka Crews) had helped incite what is now known as Bacon's Rebellion. Crews left his property and monies to his son-in-law, but did not mention his daughter Hannah directly in his will. That has been the cause of a lot of speculation. Crews married twice to English women, but he also had a female Native American, whom he was licensed by the government "to keep." There is no real documentation on who was Hannah's mother - either Crews' Indian squaw , reputed to be related to King Powhatan and Pocahontas, or his white wives. Crews could have designated his daughter Hannah as his heir, but he chose to name his son-in-law. This has made some people think that Hannah was half Native American, which would have made unable to legally inherit anything; as there was a law on the books that Englishmen could not consort with, or marry, Natives. As I said, there is a lot of debate as to whether this is true or not... There is no hard proof.

  Second, my great grandmother might have been half Cherokee. James Loren Nocks, my great grandfather, married Nancy Elizabeth Busey, the daughter of Singleton Wilson Busey. Singleton led quite a life, and during the Civil War, was a bigamist. He lived in three places in two adjoining states, had three wives (and children with each wife), and served in the Civil War under three names, with each term of service going for a pension for each of his wives. One of his wives was a woman on the Cherokee reservation, and Singleton served in the Kansas Indian Home Guard. We have the story that Nancy was the daughter of Singleton and Nancy Goodwin. But we have no proof which of the wives was actually Nancy's mother - she is not mentioned in any Census until she pops up at the age of 16 in her father's household. So... who was her mother? 'Tis a mystery.