The House in the Pines by Ana Reyes

I recently read this book for a book group. It was a new library book group for me. I liked the librarian and the group. 

What did I think of the book? For me, it was fair to middling. It was an okay book.

There was lots of discussion. Some people caught on right away, others did not. We agreed it was a unique premise. 

Three of us had listened to audio versions. Somehow the time jumps were more obvious for those of us on audio. 

My pet peeve? In the title the word “house” is used. In the book it is referred to as a “cabin”, 100% of the time. I found that very irritating. Was there a point? Was it an editing error? Why use house in the title and cabin in the book, discussing it at our meeting, we had no idea. 

Here is the list of book’s from Reece’s book club -

https://reesesbookclub.com/article/4eRlfCOXueqPrm6ZnQpzwl

I read thru Reece’s whole book club list (link above). The only other books, on the Reece list, I have read are the Ann Patchett titles. I have read all of Ann’s books and love them. 

Reece’s list does not look at all like Oprah’s list. Reece’s looks like it might be safe. Oprah’s is full of land mines.

Time change strategies

 Yes, it is that time again! 

My calendar (below) automatically has an entry for Daylight Savings.

I add a note (below) that says “change clocks”. I get an alert on this note at 3 PM the day before the clocks change. 

We run around the house and change all the clocks on Saturday afternoon (today), almost 12 hours in advance of the actual time change. 

Then, quite frankly, I do not notice the time change, at all, it is invisible to me. I do not notice anything amiss the next morning. I do not walk around for a week complaining about the time change. 

 

If we had some type of event that same Saturday night, this might cause problems. Luckily we rarely have Saturday night plans.

Note - if we had no extra clocks, if the only clocks I had were my phone and my car, which both change automatically, I would not notice the daylight savings change at all. 

But I am a clock person. We have clocks all over the house. Changing clocks is an event. 

For years, most of Indiana did not follow Daylight Savings. We liked that. We liked not changing our clocks. 

Indiana has followed Daylight Savings since 2006. Most of the state stays on Eastern, the western corners remain on Central. 

Would I like to go back to NO time change in my part of Indiana? Yes. Yes, I would. 

The only inconvenience not changing used to have was live network TV (and radio). Since my area did not change, and national TV did, prime time was 7-10pm half the year and 8-11pm the other half. 

Now I watch no live network TV. I also do not listen to the radio. So not following Daylight Savings would have no impact on me. 

Indiana had corner counties that followed their surrounding state’s time zones and were on Daylight Savings.  The northwest corner followed Chicago on central. The southwest corner stayed on central too. The southeast corner stayed on eastern to follow Cincinnati. 

The corners followed their greater metropolitan surrounding areas to stay in sync with the workplace, radio, TV, events. All of this falls under “the convenience of commerce” phrase.

Now, all of Indiana is on eastern and follows daylight savings, except the two western corners.

The history of Daylight Savings in Indiana is complex:  

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_in_Indiana#:~:text=As%20a%20result%20of%20a,%2C%20effective%20April%202%2C%202006.

https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2006/01/20/06-563/standard-time-zone-boundary-in-the-state-of-indiana#:~:text=In%201918%2C%20when%20the%20Federal,move%20more%20of%20the%20State.

Did-not-finish: The Good Lord Bird by James McBride and The Three Body Problem by Liu Cixin

The Good Lord Bird by James McBride was a book group assignment. 

I started it. 

I thought “this is awful” and looked it up on SuperSummary. 

Two magic words explained it all - Mark Twain. 

The only place I can remotely stand Samuel Clemons is on Star Trek Next Generations with Whoopi Goldberg. 

I stopped trying to listen to The Good Lord Bird. 

I bailed 100% and returned it to the library. Absolutely no one was waiting for it, no holds, but I returned it early anyway. 

The Three Body Problem by Liu Cixin

Oldest read this book and recommended it to youngest. It was in our shared Libby account, but she was not yet reading it. When I bailed on The Good Bird Book, I started The Three Body Problem. I also bailed on it. 

It was very well written and a great science fiction book. My problem? The characters names were too similar and I absolutely could not keep anyone straight. 

I gave it a good try. I listened to almost four hours and then realized even with a character list, this was not going to work. 

I listed my start dates and added both books to my Did-Not-Finish shelf on Good Reads. 

Desensitizing the vet building and Trick AKC skills

I have a new entry on my phone each Monday - desensitize pup to vet parking lot and building. 

One of the pups starts visibly shaking the minute we pull into the vet’s parking lot. 

By going each week, with NO appointment/procedures/shots, I am hoping to stop this negative reaction. 

We sit in the waiting room and chat with other pet owners, awaiting their appointment. We walk up and down the hall. We stop and chat at the desk. 

This was suggested by the vet staff. 

It wasn’t until I actually put it on the calendar that it started happening regularly. 

I try for Monday. If Monday is busy, we go Tuesday. 

Is it helping? Yes. Each week the shaking subsides a little quicker and she is less frantic. 

The other pup is just along for the ride, does not care.

We took the Tricks class at our local dog club last session and all really loved it. 

The dogs both passed the first three levels (Novice, Intermediate, Advanced) of the AKC tricks category during the six weeks of class. 

https://www.akc.org/sports/trick-dog/

There are two additional/advanced levels of the AKC Tricks program - Performer and Elite Performer. 

This session we are working independently. We use an empty ring at the dog club and bring our own props. 

We are working, on our own, on the Performer level.

This is the tricks list we are working on so far -

Jump up and down with excitement - who’s excited?

Pull or drag bag of toys 5 body lengths

Run 3x around handler 

Sit pretty and cross paws 

Heels backwards

Heels sideways 

Retrieves ball from 10’ runs back and places ball in cone

Rides on cart

Five black stands - walk and turn 

Jump thru tissue hoop

Carry stuffed animal on back for 15’

Freezer prep for crock pot

Middle mentioned this concept to me and then something similar popped up in my Facebook Feed.

Here is a Facebook photo of one gallon zip lock freezer bags that go in the freezer and then are put in the crock pot -

Here is the link - 

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/gggyj7eMisLEsWan/?mibextid=K35XfP

I think the instructions are to put them in the refrigerator to thaw the night before, but I would still freeze them in a crock pot like shape (not flat).

I can see that this would work well for bulk buying/prepping.

The Wide Circumference of Love by Marita Golden

Note - The difference between this book and Viola Davis’ book from yesterday’s post were pronounced. These were two separate/unique books.  The educational level of the two families and financial circumstances of the two families were different between Davis’ real life family and Golden’s fictional family in these two stories of black families in America.

The Wide Circumference of Love by Marita Golden was a book club assignment. It was a new to me book group at a branch of our county library system in a town near me. 

I like to start a fresh book each Monday. I like to go to at least one book discussion group each week. There are lots of book groups thru my library. I look at the calendar, I look at the groups, I look at the books assigned. I pick a group each week.

This was an excellent novel. Really well written. Tough topic - Alzheimer’s. 

The fact that this novel was centered on a black family actually had little impact on the book. This universal society/family topic was covered in such a way that it could have been many families.

This was my first book by Marita Golden. Yes, I would read more of her books. 

Non Fiction - 

Finding Me by Viola Davis

Note - two books, by black female authors, just happened to be assigned for two different book groups. I read them one right after the other. They could not have been more different. One posts today, the other posts tomorrow.

Note - I remembered Viola Davis from The Help and How to Get Away with Murder.  A review of her film and TV lists (some were mentioned in the book) shows a large body of work. I realized I had seen her in many other things, before I knew who she was.

Finding Me by Viola Davis is on Oprah’s book club list. 

https://www.oprahdaily.com/entertainment/books/g23067476/oprah-book-club-list/

The review (link below) described book as traumatic, that is a good description. I think this book, like most Oprah books, would be triggering for many people.

Normally I avoid Oprah’s books, they are too upsetting for me. 

This one was a book club assignment for one of my groups. I was forewarned, because it was on Oprah’s list. I knew going in that it was going to be sad and absolutely not a book for me. I still read it.

Most people in my book group said it was a tough read. Not everyone finished. Many had to pace themselves. Even the librarian said she could only stand a little at a time.

The book was very well written. I am not sure if Ms Davis is an exceptional (first book!) writer, had a fabulous editor, or what. But it is a well constructed book. (She is a well educated person, it is entirely possible she is a very good writer.)

I listened to the audio version, read by Davis.  I like authors reading their own non-fiction work. She did an outstanding job. 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/books/2022/04/26/viola-davis-memoir-finding-me-revelations/7446179001/

https://readingladies.com/2023/01/09/finding-me-book-review-nonfiction-memoir/

Storing all the hoses for winter

Note - extra posts ran this week, look backwards if you usually only check on Friday.

We have four 100 foot hoses at our house. 

We have three spigots at our house. Each spigot has a Y splitter (photo below) connected to it. One side of each Y splitter has a 100’ hose attached with a sprinkler. I can get anywhere in the yard with one of those sprinkler hoses. The other side of each Y at the spigot is empty to have easy assess to water right at the spigot.

The back spigot has a 25’ hose hooked to the spigot. This 25’ hose, runs to the corner of the house and then has another splitter connected to it.  Two 100’ hoses are attached. One has the sprinkler. The other has a light weight 100’ hose (photo below) and wand attached. I use this light weight hose/wand to water all my pots and flower boxes and hanging baskets. I can get to all of them, front and back yard, with this one very light weight hose. It reaches all the way to the end of the driveway and around to the front window box. 

The metal splits and extenders (above) that attach to the outside spigots, and all the hoses, need disconnected and cleaned with WD40 before they are stored each winter.

Middle has hose cases -

We simply wind our hoses inside old garbage cans that we already had. 

When the downspout was fixed, we replanted the edge of the bed

The down spout problem meant we had ice on the sidewalk and ice on the front edge of our flower bed. The ice killed perennials. I tried planting annuals several summers, the bunnies ate them within a couple hours.  Adding the drainage tile meant we could replant the flower bed with perennials.

I purchased 6 dark red coral bells (Lowe’s) for this bed. I wanted the strong contrast. 

I also utilized hosta from our backyard.  

My husband put down two bags of mulch, leftover from another project.

The cage protects clematis from the bunnies. Two years in a row (2022 and 2023) they waited for it to bloom and then chomped every stem off at the ground.

The tall plants right in front of the Boxwood hedge are Solomon’s Seal.

This bed is now heavily planted. 

The goal - no room for weeds.

The drainage tile project

Note - this was a big goal for 2024, I had been trying to fix this for a couple years, very important to solve the ice problem. 

When the house was originally built, we had under ground tiles, hooked to all our downspouts, that ran out to the front of our house, back probably 20’ from the curb.

Eventually all of these failed, probably due to tree roots, and we went back to regular downspouts that run out to the yard. 

We only had one place that this above ground water was a problem. The downspout, on the way to our front door, caused a small patch of terrible ice on our front sidewalk. 

We needed a drainage tile under the sidewalk so the water from that specific downspout goes through the tile, under the sidewalk, out into the yard.

As I said, small area, Big Job, that require expertise in drainage tiles. And it required hand digging, not enough room to get a machine in the area. 

For the last two summers, 2022 and 2023, I have talked to 5-6 contractors about this tile. No one wanted to take the time to do it. 

 

One day one of the contractors, working on the white house across the street, stopped to visit with the dogs just as we were headed out for a walk. I mentioned the tile. Within the month he sent two of his guys over to take care of it for me. 

Crew from across the street started at 8:15am on Thursday August 15, 2024. They finished at 11:15am that same day.

The tile hooks directly on to the downspout behind the bushes by the house.

It runs under the sidewalk.

It terminates into underground gravel in the big front bed. 

The tile has slits in it, so no standing water will accumulate. 

The cap at the end has holes, so the water will disperse into the gravel. 

The rock (below) in the big front bed signifies where the tile ends. 

They replaced the grass. It looks like it will survive. 

The white lines are me, marking the work area to have the utilities marked. The yellow flags and paint mark the gas line. The tile goes over the gas line. The gas line is deep. The tile is shallow.

This (red dotted line) is approximately where the tile runs -

We can get to both ends of the tile in the future, if necessary. We can detach it from the downspout. We can dig up the buried end. It is accessible if needed. 

TV - Claim to Fame

Spring 2024, I watched Traitors. Really enjoyed several variations/seasons - US, British, NZ, Australia.

I found another game series that I really enjoyed - three seasons. 

The review (below) mentions that it does not translate for a younger viewer. This is true, middle at age 30 did not know most of the famous relatives. She watched the latest season (3) with me over Labor Day weekend. 

I must be in the perfect age demographic, because I knew almost all the famous relatives. 

We thought the games clever, the clues creative, the filming location beautiful. 

Things I Wish I Had Told My Mother by Patterson, DiLallo, Patterson

This was a book club assignment. 

My club members all enjoyed it, all described it as a “light, beach read”. 

We talked a lot about mother/daughter relationships. 

Most people thought the title should have been Things I Wish I had Asked My Mother. Maybe that was already taken.

I did not know one thing about the book when I started reading. And that might have been a problem. 

I was not at all sure where it was going or what it was doing. For some reason when I started, I thought it might be a who none it/mystery.  It was not. 

I might have been better off knowing, it was just a story about a daughter and her mother. There is a twist to the story.

My girls read James Patterson’s Maximum Ride series years ago. I know my mother read lots of Patterson’s early works. I do not think (previous to this book) I ever read anything by James Patterson.  I searched his name, he came up on book recommendations lists by the girls, but not under the books I have read. 

In recent years, he appears to collaborate on most books. I have heard from people who used to love him, that his collaborations are not a good thing. 

His book list is very long - 

https://www.jamespatterson.com/landing-page/james-patterson-books/

Dark Matter by Blake Crouch

Dark Matter by Blake Crouch was a book group assignment for me. My group loved it. Most my group’s members had no previous experience with science fiction, and really devoured it. People seemed to have spent a lot of time discussing Dark Matter with  friends and family in addition to our group meeting. 

By pure coincidence, Dark Matter was also a book club assignment that youngest suggested for her group and then lead the discussion (2023). Her group liked it also. 

Note - youngest has read a lot of Blake Crouch. I have only read Dark Matter. We both have the same opinion. The beginning of his books need tighter editing. Youngest thinks an average of two chapters need reduced to a couple sentences. The last half of his books are most excellent. (I call this the Jane Eyer syndrome. The last 1/3 of Jane Eyer is perfect. The first 2/3’s needs edited/reduced.)

It is also a TV show -

Blake Crouch book list -