A Book Discussion

I am currently reading the Janet Evanovich "number" series. "One for the Money", "Two for the Dough", etc. I'm actually on "Ten Big Ones" so I am closer to being finished. I enjoy the books. They are a quick read and don't take a lot of energy or leave me emotionally drained. Great Summer reading.

I had a question about what was going to happen "next" (a few books ago). So I got on the Internet and googled the answer. This took me to a site that had some reader comments. I have to laugh at the comments. One person couldn't stand how bad the main character was at her job. She said it was a stupid book and that if it were real life, the main character would never make it...well Duh. That is at least part of the reason why it's a funny read.

So the main character, Stephanie Plum, blackmails her Uncle into giving her a job as a Bond Enforcement Agent, or Bounty Hunter. She is given a few easy cases and isn't expected to last very long. Well, miraculously, she is able to bring in the people she is suppose to be bringing in. It isn't always pretty (most of the time it's down right ugly), but she always manages to get the job done. Her skills do not increase much over the books, but through luck or divine intervention, she continues with the job.

If she actually got a lot better during the series and became a hard core bounty hunter that everyone took seriously, the book wouldn't be funny anymore. So she has to bumble, stumble, and mud wrestle her way through! She is COMIC RELIEF...so get over it and enjoy the fun.

One other comment from that website was about Stephanie's love interests. She is Seeing/Dating/On again off again with this cop named Joe. She grew up with Joe and they have a history. But they drive each other crazy, so their love life does not go smoothly. This not so smooth love life leaves room for Ranger. Ranger is another Bounty Hunter that works for Stephanie's cousin. But Ranger is good...really good. He goes after the serial killers and other guys who would eat Stephanie for lunch. So she is attracted to Ranger, and over several books Ranger shows his interest in her...helped on by some "Off again" time with Joe.

The person who made the comment (same person who thought Stephanie was an idiot who should have been killed in the line of duty long ago) complains about Stephanie's "Ho-ness". She wonders how Stephanie can keep going back and forth from one guy to the other. How can she have feelings for both guys, and why would either of these men like this idiot?

All I have to say is...show me one high school or college girl who hasn't had feelings for two men and the same time! It's not that hard to be attracted to more than one person at once. And from the descriptions of these two leading men, I would be right there in Stephanie's emotional shoes...And how can both of those guys like Stephanie "the idiot"? Guys are not always known for there best judgement when it comes to women...that's all I've got to say about that!

Love the books, will be sad when I read the most recently published one and have to wait for the next one. I hate waiting.

Business Trips

Michael's job takes him out of town quite a bit. Most of the time he is only gone two or three days a week. Every once in a while he has to be gone for an entire week.

The week starts out with me enjoying our king size bed...all to myself. I also enjoy our garage...all to myself (unless he rents a car, then there is no extra room...like this week). I make myself a list of things to do. I keep the bed made all week, keep the sink empty and dishes cleaned all week. I vacuum and make sure the bathroom gets a good cleaning. I start off the week thoroughly enjoying my house to myself...

And then, after about 2 seconds, I remember that I am not alone. I have two dogs that need exercise...there is no Michael to take them out. I have to come home from work at lunch every day to let them out. He's not there to feed them dinner or to put them to bed at night. I also have a tiny little loud-mouth kitty yelling at me all week because there is no Michael to pay attention to her.

I start getting tired of eating dinner for one. I also start to realize that I talk to the dogs way more than normal. By about Wednesday I am tired of being the only human in the house. I need a break from the demands of the "fur kids". Michael is my break...but he is not here.

By the time he gets home on Friday, not only am I very glad to see him, but I make sure he knows that he is "Never to do that again".

Today is Tuesday, tomorrow I will hit the pet demand wall, Thursday I will be exhausted...

Summer Storms

Yesterday I got home from work and went outside to do a little yard work. First I picked up dog doo (I have to do this frequently because Nora eats a lot). Then I moved a pile of tree branches and sticks from the patio (unsightly) to a spot next to the shed. These pieces of wood are being saved to use in our little fire pit...unfortunately we only start a fire a few times a year, and the sticks are never used up. I am re-claiming my patio for use as a patio. I shall sit on a chair on the patio and read a book, or suntan, or both.

As I was cleaning, the skies began to darken. I knew storms were suppose to come later in the evening, so the clouds did not surprise me. I played ball with the dogs to get the energy out before we were cooped up in the house due to storms. When we were finished, we came back in for dinner. I sat down and turned on the TV. The local channels were all on "Continuous Weather Coverage" because there were many storms traveling across the state. We even had a few tornado warning already in place.

While I was watching, a storm spotter in El Dorado (20 minutes North East of us) called in with a tornado sighting. Apparently the storm spotters were having to call in because the Radar system was down at the news station. We were having to use Topeka and Dodge City Radars to see all the weather. Over the next 5 minutes 2 funnel clouds were spotted in El Dorado. I called Michael to make sure that he was watching the weather. He was not watching the weather (he is out of town on business this week).

The next weather highlight was a set of storms moving in from the west toward the general Wichita area. When they were about an hour out of town, we started getting reports of 80+ mile an hour wind gusts in Hutch with blinding rain and golf ball sized hail. So I went out to the deck and gathered all of my tomato plants and brought them inside. I didn't want them to blow off of the deck. I also went around to make sure all of the tools were out of the yard and that everything was anchored down as much as possible.

So this was a lot of build up for these storms. I think I watched that "Continual Coverage" for about 3 hours preparing for the storms. Apparently I didn't really need to worry about it. The big winds storm went north of us by about 20 miles. The heavy rain and hail came up through Wichita from the South and headed out of town without giving us more than a nice little rain shower. Most people would say that we were lucky everything completely missed us. I think it was a lot of build up for nothing. I didn't even get a cool storm out of it. What a let down! Plus I had to move my tomatoes back out this morning and water them.

First Blog Post Ever

Ok, so we just got back from River City Brewery and I was "Bunk"...somewhere between buzzed and drunk. So I decided to do my first Post ever, bunk. I know I know...I learned long ago that you should never do anything drunk that other people will EVER see or hear (or remind you about later), like texting, Instant Messaging, dialing, etc. So here's the funny part...I am no longer "bunk". I am barely buzzed, because it took me SO LONG to figure out how to work this darn thing.

This all started when I googled my own name. In addition to the things that I knew would come up, my name showed up on my cousin's Beth's Neipert Narrative. I thought it was way cool and I decided I wanted to have one too. So I signed up for "The Cutest Blog on the Block". That was at least 2 months ago. I have spent 5 minutes here, 5 minutes there, trying to figure out how to use the blog. I would follow the directions under "get started" and I would pick out a back ground. That's all the farther I could get because it had a set of instructions that came with the background. It said "log into blogger" and "that will take you to your dashboard". I was logged in (to the Cutest Blog on the Block), so I thought i was logged into blogger. No where...no where anywhere...could I find ANYTHING that said dashboard. I couldn't find anything that said I even had a blog. What that lovely sight failed to tell me was that "blogger" is A WHOLE OTHER WEBSITE...SHEESH.

So now, after 2 whole months of feeling like an inadequate idiot, I have finally figured out at least how to post on my blog. And I no long have a buzz...

Just a note on the River City Brewery, it was a nice place...decent food and a few good beers. I don't understand why it is called River City Brewery. The river in Wichita leaves much to be desired as rivers go.