That is correct. Today is the second anniversary of Warrior Princess Jasmine Sprite’s triumphant arrival at the Cat Farm and Confusion Factory. She immediately took to the basement, to begin her conquest of the denizens thereof, before ascending to the Administrative Level to take up the merciful and orderly governance of Her People, to whom she is known, fondly, and probably ‘way too often, as Boopsie the Wise.
Here is one of the first photographs of Princess Sprite, after she had ascended to the light:
In addition to the Royal Anniversary, this is a bread-baking day; in which I shall make my second attempt at Pullman Bread. It is also a writing day, and the goal for the day is to break 50G on The Gathering Edge.
Tomorrow, work may or may not happen. We expect the Propane Guys (finally!) to arrive at 8 a.m., ditch-witch in hand, to install the propane tanks for the generator, lay the lines (hence the ditch-witch) and hook them up. In theory, this should not disrupt the schedule here at the Confusion Factory at all. Note operative phrase, “in theory.”
Once the propane hookup is done, we will call the electrician back in. He will make the final adjustments on the electrical side, and! Bob’s your uncle (or possibly not, but bear with me) — we will have a whole house generator installed and ready to rumba before Thanksgiving Day.
Steve and I are very grateful to everyone who has made this project possible. We’re convinced it will make our continued residence in the country house much more comfortable. Especially as Murphy’s Law clearly states: Install a generator and you will never lose power again.
Which leads me, not as tangentially as you might at first suppose, to the topic of Patreon. We are funding the pay-off of the (ahem) Rather Substantial Costs associated with generator installation through donations made through the Lee and Miller Patreon account. We hope to have the whole thing paid off in about 18 months.
Now! Patreon is on a Quest to make their service More Useful and More Transparent, and in pursuit of this they have adjusted the way they’re showing total donations and patrons on the left side of the main creator page. Those numbers used to reflect the total number of patrons, whether or not their credit cards were in denial, and also the Total Amount pledged.
What Patreon is trying out, on select creator pages — and ours is one of those chosen as a test site — is displaying the total number of patrons whose credit cards have not been declined, and! the amount of money the creator will actually receive at the end of the month — which is Total Amount LESS fees and declined pledges.
I’d like to know what people think about this change from the patron side: Is this confusing? Enlightening? Disturbing? Something else?
Thanks.
And that? Is what’s been happening around the Cat Farm and Confusion Factory. More or less bidness as usual as we settle into winter.
We are not planning to travel until mid-February, when we will be attending Boskone 53 — February 19-21, 2016. Writer Guest of Honor is Garth Nix; Artist GOH, Richard Anderson; Special Guests Arnie and Cathy Fenner; Featured Filkers Vixy & Tony; and NESFA Guest Bob Eggleton. Looks like fun, and we’re looking forward to seeing you there!
Here is a photograph of Princess Sprite among a few of her favorite objects, this morning:
I am charmed to realize that she arrived on my birthday. Yo! Princess! We are joined. Sort of.
Happy birthday!
While I rejoice in the anniversary of Princess Sprite I also mourn the loss of my boycat Stat from a devastating stroke last weekend.
Huzzah and many happy returns to the Princess and to Kali.
Excuse the typo – Star was his name.
I’m so very sorry for your loss. It’s never easy when they leave us.
I was curious about the Patreon thing, so I went over there to discover…I didn’t know my password. Oddly, when I finally got to your page, it showed that pledges totaled just over $2,000 which is what I remembered from the last time I checked. Then, when I used your link above and was logged in, I discovered that the total was now just over $1,800. So, I prefer to know what the artist is receiving. I feel like the pledged number, including denied credit card amounts, is misleading and not very useful, and could even lose the artist some potential pledge amounts.
I’m happy to know you will be warm this winter. I’m finding that I get less pleasure (or is that more pain?) each year when the heat goes out.
I’m not really sure who’s tinking with what how, at this point, over at Patreon. I do know that it’s on the order of a shakedown run, and that the PTB are monitoring the test sites.
I never did really enjoy having the power go out. We do have a woodstove as a backup heat source, though it’s not to be invoked at whim. Losing electricity for an extended period, though — that means losing the food in the fridge (we’ve talked for years about getting a freezer, but never dared do it; maybe now, we can), and the always-too-short work time.
Well, yes, I never got actual pleasure from the power going out although there was Snowtober a few years back where the kids and I found all kinds of creative ways to entertain ourselves and keep warm, well warmish, well not actually in the hypothermia range.
Power loss living in Western Mass is way different from how it was growing up in Texas. That usually involved taking off clothes, rather than piling them on!
Oh! and if I’m logged into Patreon it shows the $1800 amount; if I’m not logged in, I see the $2000 amount.
Long may Sprite rule! (Unless Belle orchestrates a palace coup.)
You think maybe one of the members of the Cat Farm might want to come and visit Illinois some time? Girlcat Diva would happily host authors two and any of the Fabulous Farm Members. ;-)) ::feelin’ a bit lonely::
Thanks for the sympathies, btw.