Category: Blog

Today! — Well.  Last night, SFWA released its Gigormous Space Opera bundle through StoryBundle.  There’s a bunch of good reading here, and, boy! what a bargain!

Here’s your link.

You’re welcome.

In other news, we here at the Cat Farm and Confusion Factory still away the arrival of the pantry, which is rumored to be on course for delivery next Thursday.  Or maybe Friday.  Anyway, it should be installed by the end of the month and we will be fully accoutred.

We still are not entirely moved out of the Old Digs, which needs to happen soon, so we can get it cleaned, and painted, and the rug in what used to be my office replaced, and on the market, as paying two mortgages is, well.  Tiresome.

Tomorrow sees the grand return of the War Engineer, who will reinstall the now-repaired screens and frames, and also help me install a bulletin board where we can post upcoming deadlines and other business and personal news of note, and I can feel organized again.

I also anticipate the arrival of an installer of UV film tomorrow, who will give us a quote on installing, err, UV film in the clerestory windows in my office, and also in the large windows in the living room.

For those following the saga — the pool is gone, leaving a circle of packed sand and a stray volleyball behind.  The team that removed the pool also kindly took away all the paraphernalia of the pool (with the possible omission of the beach ball; I seem to have lost track of the beach ball), so we don’t have a shed full of toxic chemicals down back, only a shed full, as I am given to understand, wasps.

All the cats continue to roam the house and intermingle; there has been no bloodshed, nor scarcely a harsh word uttered.

And, now, having taken these brief moments to update y’all on our doin’s, I’m going to return to the Comfy Chair and the page proofs for The Gathering Edge.

This morning, I’m still feeling like somebody hit me in the head with a 2×4. I will therefore today pilot my desk, catching up the banking and accounting, proofing The Gathering Edge, and pursuing the laundry.

As hard as it was getting (almost) everything shifted from the old house to the new, I’m very aware that that was the Easy Part. Wouldn’t do to run out of energy now.

In other news, and on the subject that what is old is new again. . .one of the things that I brought to the household when Steve and I decided to combine our resources was a Lane cedar chest. I can’t imagine that I actually bought my own cedar chest when I was in high school (there was a Big Promotional Push aimed at high school girls from the furniture store in town — all the girls of course had to start their Hope Chest in eleventh grade), so I’m going out on a limb and saying that I had the chest from my grandmother. It is, in any case, rather old, and scratched, from long and close association with cats.

For the last many years, the chest lived in our bedroom, holding blankets and comforters and the occasional wool sweater. However, the new bedroom is smaller than the old, and there’s no room for the cedar chest, which then fell back into my honor.

I put it under the side windows in my office, to the Vast Delight of Belle, promised to buy it a cushion, and that was the last I thought about it — until yesterday.

You see, for all of its many charms, my new office has no closet.  And while a lot of what used to be in my old office’s closet have been usefully redistributed to other parts of the house (notably, the closet in the Tech Room), I still have some things with me that could benefit from being put in a closet.  I was dithering over these things yesterday, and sat down on the cedar chest to mull over the situation, when it hit me.  I slowly stood up and stared down at the cedar chest, realizing that what this was?

This was A Big, Empty Box.  In fact, it is a place to put things that could benefit by being somewhere which is neither the floor nor the bookshelves.

Here’s a picture of my new closet:

Everybody stay dry.

So, we’ve unpacked everything that can be unpacked at the moment.  Some of the boxes must await final disposition until the pantry arrives, realsoonnow.  My office has been unboxed and everything is someplace.  Perhaps not in the right place, but rearranging can be done in fifteen and twenty minute increments, in between other things.

The living room comes in two parts.  Part one, nearest the front door, is still a staging area, though there is considerably less staging going on.  Part two, the conversation and viewing area, still needs a couple things shifted out, and a rug laid.  We may actually get the rug down this weekend, whereupon there will be two rooms in the house which are designated Oases of Order, the second being our bedroom.

In terms of Real Work getting done, Steve is going through the page proofs for the thirtieth anniversary edition of Agent of Change (by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, while I’m proofing the pages for the mass market edition of The Gathering Edge (also by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller).

Steve and I went out to Lowe’s this morning (18 minutes from our house to Augusta! Good Ghod.  That used to be a 35 minute drive.) to shop for Those Silly Things that are required for town living.  A recycling bin; an outdoor trash can with a lid and wheels; room darkening shades for the bedroom; trashcans for the bathrooms — you know the drill.  I ran out of steam a couple hours in, so we came home and I had a two-hour nap before lunch.  Recruiting my strength now to get up and go tackle the laundry monster via the new machines.  Pray for me.

For the Fans of the Cats, I am pleased to report that Scrabble continues to frequent All the Rooms and has overseen much of the action, often in company with Belle.  Trooper and Sprite have regained their Coon Cat Sang-froid, and the cat castle in the corner of the living room, Part One, is enjoying good custom.

And that’s the news from the Evolving Cat Farm and Confusion Factory.

What’re y’all doing this weekend?

When last we saw the intrepid crew of the Cat Farm and Confusion Factory, Warrior Princess Jasmine Sprite had indicated a need for fortifications against goblin incursions; having specifically identified a breach in the basement, behind the chimney and the water heater.

Management quickly summoned a War Engineer, who, upon studying the problem, suggested that the best approach was to cede the area to the goblins, building a strong wall with a goblin-proof door between the water heater, the furnace, the chimney and the rest of the basement.

This was done yesterday, and we are now the first on our block to have a Goblin Room in the basement.

Today, the War Engineer returns to rehang the crooked french doors in Steve’s office, and also to help us figure out how many screens we need to replace — and how.  In addition to six children, the previous owners had (according to the neighbors on the left) two Very Large and Somewhat Alarming Dogs (left-hand neighbors own a Shepard-mix, themselves, so clearly not simply anti-dog) and the dogs had a taste for window- and door-screens.  With summer, as we call it here in Maine, fast approaching, fixing screens is at the top of the list.

On Monday, we had word from Carpet Guy Two:  The Installer, who called at 7:45 am (!) to say that he would come by on Tuesday (yesterday) to install the carpets in the bedroom and my office.  As the last word had been May 17, we leaped at the opportunity of an early install, even though it meant moving a bunch of boxes (again).  Monday, I transferred all the files from the banker’s boxes back into the file cabinets, which cleared a lot of floor space, and also shelved books in the living room, clearing even more floor space.

Yesterday, Steve and I cleared the bedroom against the promised arrival of CG2 at 3 pm, and were just sitting down to lunch when the phone rang and it was?  Yes, CG2, reporting that he couldn’t make it today, but would definitely do the install on Wednesday (today).

We were disappointed, naturally, but we really can’t finish unpacking and getting back to work until those carpets are down — and, honestly, what choice did we have — so we said OK, and resigned ourselves to carpets on Wednesday.

Two hours later, the phone rang again. So very sorry, said CG2, but I won’t be able to make it to you until Thursday, but you will be my Very First Install, I Swear!

So, anyway.

Today, I await both the War Engineer and the guy from PoolTech, who I hope will take away the pool).  At the moment, I’m sitting in the Sole Comfy Chair free of Stuff (which happens to be in my office, where the windows are open to the morning breeze and the sunshine is pouring through the windows as thick and as sweet as honey), typing this blog post on Seventh Son the Chromebook.  As soon as I’m done here, I will continue reading the page proofs for the mass market edition of The Gathering Edge. . .

. . .which will be a pleasant return to the ordinary.

I have to keep reminding myself that we only just moved last Friday; haven’t even been a week in this new place.  There’s still a lot to learn, and to discover.  so far, I’ve had tutorials with the microwave, the refrigerator, the washer and the dryer.  Still need to do the basic coursework for the stove and the dishwasher.  I suppose this is what comes of living in a Time Bubble for the last 30 years. . .

Everybody stay safe.

So, the modem at this house needs to be switched out for a new modem so that the old modem can be taken to the New Digs EarlyOhSoVeryEarly tomorrow so the cable guy can install it, and, after we move, the new modem can be returned to the cable company.  Yes, this seems Entirely Silly, not to say bass-ackward, but I’m assured it has to work this way, or Bad Things Will Happen.

In any case, we may or may not have full connectivity from now until the weekend.

In other news, curtains have been ordered, and are expected to arrive tomorrow; the rug that was predicted to arrive on Wednesday arrived this morning via the Happiest FedEx Driver (who doesn’t “make deliveries;” he “visits people.”); and I’m going back over to the New Digs this afternoon with a Forester full of boxes.

It is a gorgeous day in Central Maine, sunny and warm and just a little breezy.  People can be seen working in their gardens and on their lawns, and just sitting in lawn chairs and grinning.  Hard winter ending.  That’s worth celebrating, isn’t it?

So, that’s the news at this point in the day and week.  Everybody stay safe.

 

 

So, the painters finished up late yesterday afternoon, having done themselves proud.  The New Digs are splendid with their freshly painted walls.  Here, take a look:

I went over today to deal with the inevitable remains of the painting process, and to put in some shelf paper.  Came home for lunch, after which Steve and I went out to Home Depot to acquire more shelf paper, a water filter for the fridge, and  a non-slip rug pad for the new living room rug.

Dropped everything off, met the right-hand neighbors, very briefly, and came home to sort out my desk, which has gotten — surprise! — Rather Chaotic in the last week.  Now that’s straightened around, I can look forward to next week with. . .serenity.  Yeah, that’s the ticket.

Tomorrow and Monday, Steve and I will move some few things to the New Digs, and possibly go to Best Buy to acquire a Phone System.  Tuesday, at 8 am, the Cable Guy is supposed to show up to do his thing.  Wednesday, at 8:30 am, Mike the Electrician will come by to solve the various electrical puzzles that came with the New Digs.  And Friday, the cats will have a Spa Day at the vet’s.  Around all of that, packing will continue until everything is in a box, or the arrival of the movers, whichever comes first.

So, we’re in motion, and looking forward to the imminent completion of Shifting the House, Phase One.  After which we will seamlessly — seamlessly, I say — into Phase Two: Getting the former location of the Lee-Miller Cat Farm and Confusion Factory ready to sell.

Hope y’all are moving along, as well, in roughly the right direction and with as little muss and fuss as it’s possible to have.

Oh, and here?  An emergency meeting of the Coon Oversight Committee has been called to order.