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WEEK 30 2021
Last Week- Sun- Mon- Tue- Wed- Thur- Fri- Sat- Next Week
Saturday - Hot.
I bought an up-duct for the west office, but now I can't find it. I know it's in the garage...somewhere. Time to clean that up I guess.
Well, I called, and I have to show up for jury selection duty this Monday. Ugh.
You know, with one thing and another, I haven't been keeping my blog and the reading list up. But I can list a few:
Book #32 would be The Element of Fire (Ile-Rien #1), by Martha Wells. Enjoyable.
Book #33 would be The Wizard Hunters (Fall of Ile-Rien #1), by Martha Wells.
Book #34 would be The Ships of Air (Fall of Ile-Rien #2), by Martha Wells.
Book #35 would be The Gate of the Gods (Fall of Ile-Rien #3), by Martha Wells.
These three make a trilogy, and were all enjoyable sword and sorcery novels, though the 'sword' part was really World War I era technology, except for the romantic interest, who is a barbarian from another world. I actually could have done without that near-bodice-ripper stuff, but it was done in a journeyman like fashion, so whatever.
Book #36 would be City of Bones, by Martha Wells. Again, a decent S&S novel.
I guess you could say I was on a Martha Wells kick for a while. She has other stuff, but I was kind of burnt out after all of these.
Book #37 was Midshipman Henry Gallant in Space (The Henry Gallant Saga Book #1), by H. Peter Alesso. This wasn't all that good, but after working in the heat you need something mindless to relax to.
Book #38 was Lieutenant Henry Gallant (HG #2), by H. Peter Alesso. It's so hard to stop at 1, but two was plenty. Looking on Amazon, there are 8 in total, ending with him as a Rear Admiral.
And, in another in a long long series, we have
Book #39, Strike The Blood Vol. 18 (Kingdom of the Valkyries), by Gakuto Mikumo.
And, NOT in a series:
Book #40, Good Guys, by Stephen Brust. Brust has a couple of long running series, but this is a stand alone, and not bad. A library book, btw.
And then we're back to long long series:
Book #41 is The Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier: Leviathan, by Jack Campbell. This is something like the 10th or 11th book in the series.
Book #42 would be The Lost Fleet: Outlands: Boundless, by Jack Campbell. Again, entertaining space opera. Picks up where #41 left off. The books are nearly indistinguishable, it's a bit like reading L.E. Modesitt.
Truthfully, I re-read all of The Lost Fleet novels, because I'd forgotten most of the plot, such as it is. But I won't count them, except for Leviathan, the last before the current novel.
Week 30, Books so far, 2021:
Friday - Hot.
I went out for a few minutes of observation, but between the haze and clouds and smoke and full moon it was pretty pointless.
I suspect I need cataract surgery.
Thursday - Hot.
I kept one of the large paper envelopes the aspen pads came in, and left it on the floor in the front room. The cats are absolutely enthralled with it. Big, crinkly, smells like wilderness!
I ordered some gear to align the big dobsonian scope. It looks pretty straight forward. I haven't used it much, because it's big and heavy and you need to know ahead of time to put it outside.
But as I told Bob, "It's windy, cloudy, and a little smoky, I have to
get my astronomical jollies somehow!"
Wednesday - Hot. 106F on the porch.
The swamp cooler is keeping it a pleasant 76F inside, much better than 81F of last week. Good pads make a difference!
Jeff Bezos and Blue Origin had their first flight. Virgin Galactic beat them, by a few days, but once again, next to SpaceX, they seem kind of pathetic. But launch is hard, congratulations to them and the team.
Tuesday - Hot.
I put the darn aspen pads in - they were too big because it's an older swamp cooler and the nominal dimensions that one can find at the store (and Home Depot is already dropping them from stock!) are off. OTOH the quality control was so bad that several pads fit without being cut down.
I think it's running much cooler, but it's a bit humid out and hard to say. But I didn't need to turn on the mechanical units, so that's good.
Bob mentioned that he has built filters around his, because of all the smoke in the air. Virginia had to do that last year in the SF Bay area.
The tree's are hanging in there, the Mulberry's especially, though the Ash doesn't seem very happy about things. I go out and sprinkle it every few hours...
Monday - Hot.
I'd picked up a couple of smaller lattice panels, 1'x8', and put them on the ends of the porch. I had to move the others a bit, and the entire arrangement is now about 2" too long (once again the builders complete lack of attention to actual/nominal dimensions has bit me on the butt), and I think it looks better, but it made it clear to me that the front porch posts were NOT in a straight line.
Not sure what to do about that.
I asked around, and most people seem to prefer the native redwood color over a proposed coat of white paint. It would probably be too much white for that little porch, but I'll need some sort of sealer, Thompson's or something, to keep the wood from fading.
Sunday - Hot.
I went shopping with S in the morning, and went next door to Lowe's and picked up swamp cooler pads - 6 of them so that I can double pad.
It was overcast and rather humid, with squalls to the west of town.
