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Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Notes from the FAR side

Another roundup…

The Boy got out today! The paperwork was apparently sitting on the D.A.’s desk: he called the public defender, that worthy soul put a call into the D.A., and the latter sent it on. He now gets two months of house arrest, with the ankle bracelet thing, but he has two weeks to get it. The roar of a guitar is emanating from the garage as I type.

Mrs. Fetched’s mom also got out (of the hospital) last night. She was more than ready to leave; the retarded howler monkeys who run their billing department may have taken over the rest of the place from the sound of it.

One reason I haven’t been around much: what little time hasn’t been absorbed by other matters, I’ve been spending finishing up reading the Dark Tower series. I’m on the last book now. I still kick myself from time to time for not grabbing a copy of On Writing when it was on the shelves… I enjoy King’s stories, but I enjoy his “liner notes” just as much, and a book of nothing but liner notes would be killer. Next time I’m in Humpus Bumpus, to pick up WinterMaejic (ordered it for Daughter Dearest), I’ll see if they have a copy.

DD’s boyfriend is still in Indiana. He said he’ll probably come back next month, once his car is running right.

We’ve started the long-awaited (again, by Daughter Dearest) replacement of her white carpet with wood flooring. We’ve pulled up the carpet and padding… to find a couple of humps that need to be sanded down and some spots of blood on the plywood. FAR Manor wasn’t even finished yet, and it was causing pain. It seems to have mellowed in its old age; instead of drawing blood it just squeezes my wallet dry. I’ll have pictures of the proceedings soon.

During the really cold nights we had a couple of weeks ago, we tossed blankets over the rhododendron bush (shot from last month) out front. It either worked, or the bush didn’t care. It started opening up last weekend, when I took this shot; it’s in full-zoot bloom now. We’re waiting for it to stop blooming so we can trim it back some, but it never stops.

Rhododendron

The pansies certainly didn’t care about a cold snap — I think the impatiens got nailed worst, with the butterfly bushes a close second (they look dead, and it’s nearly impossible to kill those dang things). The cherry tree was OK — the wind knocked most of the blooms off and the others weren’t affected. The dogwoods are a little frostbit, but the Flowering Whatever Tree on the garage side of the manor house looks like it got whacked a good one.


I took that strange “film” stuff that Clickzilla uses in for processing. I have a couple of portrait shots I took of some friends of ours, plus that hyacinth I posted a while back, so I’m interested in seeing how they turned out. (I tell you what, I’d pay $1000 for a 4–6MP digital back for that camera. The only thing I’d have to think about is how to get the money together.) I had them order me a couple rolls each of color & B&W film while I was there… I can put one of each in the two film backs I have. If I hadn’t been in a hurry, I would have checked out the lighting equipment they have on display… I have to go back anyway to pick up the prints. A roll of 35mm was laying on Mrs. Fetched’s night stand, and she doesn’t know what it is, so I guess I should take that in too. It would be a good excuse to have an early look at the lighting and other gadgetry, and they could do the 35mm while I was looking at Shiny Things.

Speaking of Shiny Things, I’m way overdue for a podcast. If I can get caught up on everything going on right now, I’ll do one. I recorded me reading a short story (that I haven’t posted here), which I was planning to use for the feature this time.

5 comments:

  1. I'm so happy that The Boy is home!! It seems like it's been forever. I hope things go smoothly through this next phase.

    I love Stephen King's "voice", his introductions & postscripts and got On Writing for that very reason myself (I'm totally envious of my friend who's off at The Mystery Writer's Symposium & Banquet where Stephen King is the Guest of Honor).

    I just looked up On Writing and they've got cheap copies available on eBay & pretty cheap copies at Amazon (in case you don't want to wait)

    I have to go back and read the rest of your post. I got so excited about The Boy & Stephen King that I just had to dash off this note. But I don't want to ignore your news about Daughter Dearest or the house or yard or anything else for that matter....

    ReplyDelete
  2. HI FARfetched.

    Congrats on The Boy and the flowers are beautiful.

    I haven't read Kind in years. I've got to pull out some of my old books and re-read them.

    Hope you have a slackerly weekend.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi guys!

    KB, your friend is lucky for sure. I don't know what King's like in person, but I figure if he can disparage himself like he does in the last two books, he can't be too bad. …And now, I have to get over to E4T and catch up. It's been one of those kinds of weeks.

    FM, thanks for the kind words. Looks like I might have to cart some kids down to Six Flags, but it beats being at the chicken houses...

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  4. Hi FM, sadly she didn't win the Edgar for best novel -- but other than that she is pretty lucky. At least she was nominated!

    It's been a pretty quite week at E4T. I don't think you missed much. I'll keep an eye out for you.

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  5. Wow! I'm happy to hear that The Boy is home, and like katieb and FM, I hope things go well!

    Beautiful flowers!

    I've got On Writing, and considered it a good read. He really knows how to tell a story - be it fiction or fact. I do like his wife's writing more though ... Tabitha King, that is. Her Nodd's Ridge series is one of my favourite group of books.

    ReplyDelete

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