The Big News from Cat Farm and Confusion Factory Management on this January Saturday is the fact that the power went out at 5:01 am, waking Management from a sound sleep.  The house makes several Complaining Noises when the power goes, which are quite plaintive in the Overall Unnatural Silence, thus, Management was awakened.

At 5:02 am, the generator rumbled to life, and moments after, the house came back on-line.

What an incredible feeling of relief.

Management would like to thank everyone who participated in the Great Generator Caper of 2015.  Without your encouragement and active support, we would not have taken on the expense of installation.  You made us believe that it was not only possible, but that we would be able to pay off the debt.

So, yes — thank you! For that feeling of relief, for the warmth and the food that wasn’t lost, and for those extra three hours of sleep, after the house cried out in its distress.

 

. . .In other news, I own a skirt — an ankle-length black skirt that I’ve had for a while now, and which I on several occasions wished to wear, except that?  I couldn’t find a slip.  It’s been. . .Rather a While since I’ve owned a skirt, or a dress, and the slips that went with them were long-ago donated to Goodwill.

Do you know how hard it is to find slips, anymore?  I finally bought one at Amazon, having exhausted all my other, usual vendors.  I mean, c’mon, KMart used to sell slips!  But not anymore.  Or, at least, not anymore in my part of Maine.

So, that mission accomplished, and I also bought a couple books, while I was there and all.  Note to self:  stop buying books.  No, really. 

Yeah, that’s gonna work.

But!  What’s notable about these expenditures is that, having purchased, let it be clear, an ankle-length slip, and two books — a biography of Andy Griffith and Don Knotts, and a graphic novel entitled The Sculptor — I received in my inbox, a Special! One! Time! Offer! of a Free Gift! from Amazon, which was —

A digital copy of Kung Fu Panda.

Seriously, Amazon?

I mean, my deeply negative feelings for Jack Black aside, what, exactly, in that purchase persuaded your algorithms that I would in any way be receptive to receiving a copy of Kung Fu Panda?

I respectfully submit that you need to do a little work behind the nose.

And don’t you dare send a copy of Kung Fu Panda to any of my devices.  Things will get Very Ugly if you try.  Thank you.

And, now, having washed the dishes and doodled around on the web, it’s time to deploy the Cat Eating Machine.  Poor cats; they were being so comfy together in the living room.

Well.

Needs must.

Hope your Saturday is both comfortable and productive.

Here, have a picture of the Lights in early evening at the Maine Botanical Gardens:

I’m doodling around, here, as one does on the first day of the year.  Closing out old accounts, setting up new accounts, changing out the old, wrinkled mileage books in the cars for brand-new books, rarin’ to get on the road.  I updated the front page of sharonleewriter.com with a photo which was not only taken in this decade, but within the last 45 days!  Also updated the delivery/pub dates and the con schedule.  We’ll be going to a couple of bookstores to talk about Alliance of Equals, in early July.  Guess I ought to get that up, too.

In the course of updating the front page, I came across news of a sort.  Amazon is selling the Kindle editions of the Carousel books, bundled, for $24.97.  It’s like a little electronic boxed set.  Here’s the link, for those interested.

There’s a large orange cat asleep in the manuscript basket on my desk, and new calendars in play.  On the desk is a month-at-a-glance.  January looks pretty empty so far — Wednesday morning tai chi, and the volunteer orientation at the hospital.

The new wall calendar features photos from Dancers Among Us — a departure from the carousel horse theme of the last few years.  If you haven’t…read…Dancers Among Us (the photo-book) I recommend it.

And I think that’s all I’ve got.

How’s your New Year’s Day shaping up?

For the FB peeps:  Belle and Trooper.

Well. . .nuts.  I thought I had plenty of manila folders, but it turns out that I have. . .three.  Not quite enough to make the 2016 files, and we’d been — aggressive in getting rid of empty, old folders, back earlier in the year when we thought we’d be shifting house.

I zapped over to Staples to order a box (or two) of folders, only to find that Staples was being Entirely Bitchy about shipping “add on” items (manila folders are “add on” items, because apparently no one ever wants them for themselves.  Who knew?), which meant, in order to get the damned things shipped to me, I had to add on other “add on” items, notably an envelope sealing stick — which was OK, the cats helped with the Yule card mailing by eating the rubber tip off of the stick we had — and also some #10 envelopes, to make weight.

Not Best Pleased, Staples.

Ah, well.  Package to be delivered tomorrow, so I’ll change out the working files then, moving the 2015 files to a banker’s box which will reside in a corner of my office until the taxes are done, and then move downstairs, to join all the rest of the banker’s boxes full of previous years’ taxes.

I’ve already made the 2016 expense spreadsheets and whatnot — go, me.

Moving on to Other Matters, look what came in the mail today!

Our authors’ copies of Conflict of Honors!  Or Eine Frage der Ehre.  Cover art by Timo Kümmel.

Also!  Remember to Watch the Skies, or, more precisely — Watch Welcome to Liad, where Steve and I will be posting a end-of-year goody for y’all on December 24.

. . .and that, I think, is all the news that’s fit to print.

Oh!  Speaking of office supplies, revenge and all:  Watch the Sticky Note Experiments. Brought to you by Eepybird, based in our own Buckfield, Maine.  Thanks, guys!