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Month: August 2018

Slumgullion

According to my research many moons ago, “slumgullion” is a stew kept on the back of the stove in a military kitchen. All the leftovers are tossed in, and someone who misses a meal because they are out on patrol or whatever can always be sure of a hot, if somewhat mysterious, filling meal. At least, that’s what I remember. I’m not looking it up. My point would be, oh look, KD is late posting again. Also, KD couldn’t think of anything to write about. So you get a slumgullion of hopefully tasty pictures from my phone to show you some of what I’ve been up to lately. (Except none of the work pics, because honestly, you don’t want to see the dripping ceiling or the broken door or the window or the wall or the–) So. I found this book at the library! It’s an Obama-Biden buddy mystery! The acknowledgement page said, “Thanks, Obama.” Heres a baby swallow who was hanging out at my work. He just decided he didn’t really care for this flying business, he was going to hang out in the shade on the ground, thank you very much. Eventually his parents did persuade him to try again. We can’t have a catch-all post without cat antics! Cat in a bag on the sin bin. Cat in the sun, like the glorious creature she is. Cat awaiting the Opening of the Door. It’s so cruel–she was locked out for perhaps two minutes while her human got…

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Adventures in Camping

It’s been awhile since I talked about camping. Hubby and I bought a pop-up camper about four years ago as an anniversary gift to ourselves. We’d gotten tired of tenting it, and after a grueling nearly 100-degree week up north, we decided that things needed to change. We’ve camped every year since, and it’s been amazing. We usually go at least once a month through summer and we usually go for one big one-week trip at some point. We got back from one such trip yesterday. It was a new campground to me, Sleeper State Park in Caseville, Michigan, about 2-3 hours away from where we live. Hubby had been there previously. It’s a beautiful place. One funny thing is that there was the Cheeseburger Festival going on that weekend, and guess what? The entire campground had filled up fast. Everyone had flamingos on their sites, and pictures of cheeseburgers and drinks. I guess this was a thing. So we ended up snagging the very last open site, which was very far from the bathroom. Regretfully. I know this sounds utterly ridiculous, but I have issues. So sometimes I need to get to the bathroom quickly. So hubby always tries to get us close. Doesn’t need to be steps away…but it’s helpful if it’s not a hike and a half. Last year, we had the same situation. The map on the website made it look like our site was next to the bathroom, but lo and behold, when we got…

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A Surplus of Books

It’s moving week around here. My mother, my mother-in-law, my grandmother, the neighbors across the street, someone the next street over… It’s madness. But it’s somewhat removed madness, because I am not moving, and my mother does not want help, and no one else expects any help from my direction. The biggest thing has been my grandmother moving. My grandparents bought the house forty years ago (brand new) and have lived there since (well, my grandfather died some time ago, so Grandma has), so that’s a long time to accumulate stuff. My grandmother is in her late ’90s and has decided to move into assisted living (she’s perfectly lucid, so it was entirely her decision), so she’s also shoving off almost everything. Forty years of everything. My grandmother has five children (including my mother) and apparently there is a feel that everything must be fair about the shoving off of everything, so there’s a long list of things that Grandma is not taking with her, and everyone has to go through it and see what they like, and put in a claim on their preferences. People with children have to do it for both them and their children, so having children actually puts them at a disadvantage because every one of the five siblings gets an equal share. It has turned into a madhouse. I mean, it’s truly remarkable. I won’t go into that, but Good Lord. Last week I went up to visit (my mother also currently lives in the same…

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Fits and Starts

Did you know that writers are not just brains-in-a-jar? We actually have bodies. I know, I’m shocked too. It turns out that bodies have needs. I’m fairly good at remembering to feed, water, and rest mine (mostly because I turn into a giant grump if I don’t). Moving is harder (see this Awkward Yeti comic). I’m currently trying to establish a daily yoga habit…again. Here’s how it has been going: Last fall/winter: Okay, I can’t stand inaction anymore. It’s too painful (literally). I have to make a lifestyle change. January: Did a “30 Days of Yoga” challenge. It took me slightly longer than 30 days because I missed one here and there, but I was pretty consistent and finished within an extra week or so. It felt great! I was less creaky and sore! More flexible! Yay! February: 30 days is over and I feel much better. Now to keep it up! But I don’t have the challenge to guide me anymore. I have to make up my own yoga practices (or at least make decisions about which online yoga video to follow). This is hard. March: Down to once or twice a week…maybe. But I still feel a lot more limber. Now I don’t have to do yoga ever again! … June: I’m getting kinda creaky. Better pick it up again. Once or twice a week will be enough, right? July: No it will not. Ow. August: 30-day challenge, here I come again! OOPS, I got too enthusiastic. Ow.…

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Fireborn

Reaper Girl Chronicles, Episode 2   Buy Fireborn: Kobo | iTunes | Nook Former Grim Reaper Leliel and her new husband Rick have settled into a routine of normalcy after their life-changing trip to the Underworld. They can finally relax and be married and deal with mundane problems, like money and learning to use all the modern-day technologies that are new to Leliel. But they’re up for the challenge. Until Leliel starts having frightening visions of people on fire. The fires appear to be suicides—young adults—but something isn’t right. She senses that they were forced to act against their will. This isn’t their time to die. Even though she’s no longer a Reaper, she needs to fix it. Somehow. When she and Rick investigate, they encounter resistance from not only the police but also the families and friends of the dead. Complicating factors are the Tarot cards left at the scenes, the mysterious happenings at the college that all of the dead turn out to have attended, and the disturbing new abilities that Rick is developing. And then Leliel’s own Tarot deck turns up the Death card–twice–and she realizes that she’s gotten the attention of something evil…something she must face without Rick by her side. Meanwhile, the deaths are mounting…

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