The Bad and the Ugly

S1's car was found. Stripped and totaled. Now he waits for the insurance company to decide.

South Riding by Winifred Holtby - British Authors Book Challenge #2

This book appeared to be overwhelming at first. A long, long list of characters; everyone with their own story. But as the story went along all of the individual stories became intertwined which was appropriate as the setting was in a small village. Small villages are like that. Everyone knows everyone else - for better or worse.

The story is about Sarah Burton, a new headmistress of the local girls school and Robert Carne, a landowner who's luck is going downhill. As neither of them are an island the book also tells the stories of the people/friends that the two have dealings with.

Written in 1935, South Riding is ahead of it's time. Communism, sex (alluded to), scandal, it is all between the covers and written with a frankness that most of the characters themselves never allow themselves in their conversations. But then that also was 1935 when people tended to keep their private lives private - even from the ones that they loved the most.

Mommmmm

When said like that by one of my sons it never comes attached to any good news.

And sure enough. "My car has been stolen." S1 had last seen his car Sunday night when he went out to the grocery store. Today he went to go somewhere and it was gone. I could tell that he was in shock and his mind did not comprehend what he was seeing. We discussed what he needed to do and he was off to his next class.

Tonight he called again as I was heading out the door to a string ensemble practice. The car has been found. It was in an accident on Tuesday and the man who stole it ran away from the scene. S1 is trying to get to the wrecker's lot to see the extent of the damage.

Carpentery was the

trade of one of my grandfathers. He made furniture and built houses. During our last visit with him, my youngest and I walked with him around the halls of the hospital nursing home where he was living with Alzheimer's. He needed a walker and moved slowly, all the while telling me stories. But all the words came out as numbers. And I had to tell him that I did not understand.
(The cabinet was our wedding present from him.)

You see that she is in my chair don't you?

It is still warm here

(50's plus during the day) but snow is forecast for tonight. I have been creating - slowly. I like painting lampshades. A different kind of canvas.

A Season for Murder by Ann Granger - British Authors #1

This is the second book in the Mitchell and Markby mystery series and it is a gem.

The main threads of the book center around fox hunting and delinquent teenagers - subjects where there seems to be no middle ground. Ms. Granger weaves a tale around the two and sets it in the perfect setting, the English countryside.

Meredith Mitchell moves to Pook's Common after years abroad in the foreign service. Pook's Common is a place where few people live and nothing seems to happen, that is until an accident occurs. But was it murder? And what is the relationship between Markby and Mitchell?

The main threads of the book center around fox hunting and delinquent teenagers - subjects where there seems to be no middle ground. Ms. Granger weaves a tale around the two and sets it in the perfect setting, the English countryside.

I have the first book on order and look forward to reading the entire series.

Happy Valentines Day!

Pea Planting

I am a couple of weeks early with planting peas but the weather looks promising for the next week or so. I decided to chance it. Ran out of seeds though and will have to get more.

The bed is far from attractive. Martha Stewart will not be envious. The trash cans are up to keep the dogs from running through the fencing. Both tried to get in there with me while I was working. Snoopy, just because and Bella, to eat the seeds. She didn't get any.

The Verdict Snoopy Part 2

The dogs were both in their kennels when the trainer arrived. She knew Bella from the daycare that Bella goes to on the average of once a week. Snoopy behaved admirably. Some of the things that we were told to do was
1. Put the flags back up on the electric fence line so that the dogs could make a visual with that and the sound/shock. Otherwise they will associate the sound/shock with whatever is going by the house.
2. Make dinner time more interesting by feeding in kongs or kong type toys instead of the regular food bowl.
3. I've signed Snoopy up for a nosework class. This will get him among other dogs in a positive atmosphere.
4. Walk Snoopy twice a day with the objective of being once a day. We have almost got the once a day done. I have not been taking the dogs out for walks as I have not wanted them to figure out that they can escape from the yard. But guess what, they have anyway. So I have come up with the idea to put them in the car, drive out of my yard up to the corner or next street and go for a short walk. 15 minutes will do. Twice a day would be better. I can get each dog out once. I just have to figure out the timing for the other walk. Generally I have tried not to have them outside when new neighbor takes her son to the busstop or picks him up from there as the dogs bark and there is no reason to make them walk past barking dogs. (I have been doing that for a couple of months now.)

So all in all it is good news. And life goes on.

Animals - theme of the week

or at least it seemed to be.

The dogs got out of the electric fence. Ran to the neighbors woodpile. Neighbor sent his 3rd grade boy over to let us know. Husband called dogs home and they came home when called. Meanwhile new neighbor left his front door open when sanding to let the dust out. His puppy (about 6 months to a year old and luckily over 20 lbs) got outside and followed Little 3rd Grader to our house. Snoopy got upset to see another dog on his turf and got the puppy by the neck and shook him.

(Luckily the puppy was heavy and Snoopy is generally very gentle with his teeth. So no teeth marks and puppy seems to be fine. New Family elected not to take him to the vet at our expense though I offered to pay.) Puppy ran under the car while husband called the dogs into the house. The puppy eventually came up from under the car and let me wrap him in a towel. The 3rd grader was in shock as he has been a frequent playmate with Snoopy. After what seemed like eternity the two dads came and after apologies from everyone the dads took their charges home.

The dog trainer came on Tuesday. I will tell you what she said in the next post. It is all good.

Pulled out a pencils and paper

before work this morning to sketch out an idea for a pillow inspired by Hawaii.

Spring is coming

according to the groundhogs. Today our class was filled with learning about those little animals plus making shadows.

On the home front, last night I finished new pillowcases for S2. While I was in Hawaii he mentioned that he loved the pillowcases that he received for Christmas but as they were made of a flannel type material they never cooled down during the night. The fabric always remained warm. So while in Hawaii I bought fabric. Manly flowered fabric in blue, brown and white. Perfect for an early spring. They will go out in the mail in time with his valentines box.