Saturday in the Garden - Gigantic Bunnies and Murderous Dogs

December 20, 2015

OUTSIDE

At home, I got my bird feeders up this week.  It finally got cold enough to feel a bit like winter so I figured the critters could use some supplemental food.  There hasn't been a ton of activity yet except from the monster squirrels that inhabit the yard.  I wish my dogs could keep the squirrels at bay though I suppose squirrels have to eat too.  I just wish they weren't so greedy or so competent at putting away pounds of seed in a very short time.

One critter my dogs are good at controlling is rabbits.  They killed a third rabbit in the back yard this week.  Whenever an incident like this occurs, I always look at the dogs anew, surprised to be sharing my home, and snuggles, with a couple of ruthless predators.  Silly me.  Lately, I have been yearning to get a pet rabbit.  I want one of the giant ones like a French Lop who would live both inside (free range) and outside (in an elaborate hutch).  I've not pulled the trigger because a) I need another animal to take care of like I need another hole in the head, b) I don't yet know enough about rabbits and their care and c) my dogs like to kill rabbits without remorse.  I've been telling myself that when Rudy joined the household I was able to train him quite quickly to ignore the kitty instead of staring hungrily at her but a part of me worries that cats and rabbits are just enough different.... The other piece of logic I've been using is that French Lops are huge (10-15 lbs) and could give the dogs enough of a whopping to put them in their place. 

Look at those back feet! Source

LIFE

It was a busy and sort of crappy week involving an upsetting dust up at work, becoming a board member for a non-profit organization, my sister's birthday, my birthday and then trying to wrap up all the Christmas shopping.  Yesterday, I got a new radio put in my car (Happy Birthday to me! Now I can listen to digital audio books:) and finished my Christmas shopping in the morning, met for lunch with one friend, then happy hour with another and then went to dinner at a thirds.  I was home for all of three hours yesterday which is why this 'Saturday' post is a 'Sunday' post this week.  This is NOT normal in my life, so my introvert self is feeling pretty ragged today.  Only three more days of work, in which I hope to accomplish about a week's worth of tasks, and then I'm taking a nice stretch of time off.

WATCHING, READING and BLOGGING

Watching 
I've been watching some Poirot (Agatha Christie, BBC Mysteries) in a lackluster sort of way.  Otherwise, nothing.  I did receive a BBC Sherlock adult coloring book for my birthday from someone who knows me quite well:). 

Reading

Finished Last Week: 

• Cast in Shadow by Michelle Sagara: I'm pretty conflicted on this one.  Ended up enjoying the story well enough but being extremely annoyed by the main character.  
• The Partly Cloudy Patriot by Sarah Vowell:  This is a short and funny collection of essays more or less about being a geeky history and politics buff in the United States. 

Currently Reading:

• Heartless by Gail Carriger:  I'm was listening to this 4th book in the Parasol Protectorate series.  Carriger was having way too much fun with an 8 months pregnant Alexia.   ON HOLD because I was forced to return it to the library. Grr....
• Into the Wilderness by Sarah Donati:  Historical fiction/romance (different actually then just a historical romance) I had to wait behind 6 other patrons on the hold list to get this from the library despite the fact it was published in 1998.  Not sure why - maybe because it gets compared to Outlander and that's big right now?  Even though I did not like Outlander, I am liking this so far.  Set in the American frontier just pre or post revolution period (somewhere between 1750 and 1800:).
• Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater:  The third in the Raven Cycle books.
• Girl Waits with Gun by Amy Stewart:  This is a mystery set in the early part of the 20th century and it is so good.  It is apparently the fictional account of some actual events. 
• Romancing the Duke by Tessa Dare:  Every time I mention that I love Sarah MacLean, folks tell me I must read Tessa Dare.  So I'm reading Tessa Dare!   It's the first in the Castles Ever After series and involves the impoverished daughter of a well-beloved author and a blind Duke.

Added to the TBR:

This is a list of books that I have added to my Goodreads TBR list this week.  It helps to burn the books I want to read a little more firmly into my mind, maybe get them on some other folks TBRs and gives me a chance to recognize a lot of the awesome bloggers that add stuff to my TBR!

• The Nightingale by Kristen Hannah:  This is a historical fiction novel that has been a bestseller and been on a number of best of... lists.   It deals with the Nazi occupation of France and has a 4.53 out of 5 star rating on Goodreads with over 90,000 ratings.  Wow.

It's odd that only one book made it onto my TBR considering it was TTT's Best Books of 2015 week but I blame it on being busy and distracted.  

Blogging 

On the BLOG LAST WEEK:

• SUNDAY:   Re-Read of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. 
• TUESDAY: Top Ten Tuesday:  My Favorite Books Read in 2015 My favorite list to make each year.

On the BLOG NEXT WEEK:

I'm not sure what this week will bring but hopefully some reviews.  I have a couple of other reading year reflection posts percolating but I may actually save them for next week.  The Top Ten Tuesday post this week (hosted by The Broke and the Bookish) is books we'd like Santa to bring which is not a list I feel very inspired by so I'll be happy if I get couple reviews posted!

Unless you're a Rabbit.