Happy Tax Day (a day late)

If you are reading this and still waiting to submit your taxes, congratulations, you are officially late.

Already finished your taxes? Congratulations! There, now you have something to be happy about.

The last week has been concentrated almost completely on editing/formatting and house cleaning (we’re hosting the family dinner this weekend). The good news is that I’ve been able to sit in front of roaring fires most of the recent days. The bad news is that it has been cold enough outside to justify me having fires lit most of the recent days. It looks like the optimistic flowers which have decided to go by the calendar instead of the weather seem to be holding their own. This includes a few that have popped up in odd spots, probably the result of squirrels moving the bulbs.

With the holiday coming up this weekend I have decided to revisit an old friend for this week’s podcast. Tune in to Dead on Movie Reviews Thursday 17 April at 8pm EDT for my review of Rottentail.

Listening To: When the Moon Hits Your Eye by John Scalzi. Only Scalzi would take the question “what would happen if the moon actually was made out of cheese?” and turn it into a book. Naturally it mixes great writing, humor, and science in a spectacular way. It also shines a light on some of the crap going on in the world right now, making it more palatable by making fun of it. Very needed right now.

Currently Reading: Embers of the Hands: Hidden Histories of the Viking Age by Eleanor Barraclough. This was one that I bought solely upon the description and I’m glad I did. The author uses everyday items found from all over to illustrate the lives of everyday Norse-people living during the Viking age. An example from last night’s reading showed how runic literacy spread over time from something used by a few to something so prevalent that it was used in bawdy graffiti and notes demanding that a wayward husband come home from the bar.

Current Obsession: We’ve still got one of the folding tables usually described as “con gear” to hold up our puzzles. We recently started watching Mobland and are enjoying it, but how can one not with the amazing cast that it has?

As noted above, lots of formatting and proofreading. We are going through the physical proof of Dark Workings of Wild Women and will be posting the cover art soon. If we stick to our schedule, we should finish up with this one just in time for the proof of Some People I Have Killed to arrive.

There were some hoops which had to be jumped through to set up our account for the audiobook version of The Pleasure in Pain (businessy business stuff). This has all be uploaded and approved so the release is imminent.

While we had a fairly substantial lot in our previous location, the New Home™ sits on a lot which is much bigger. There were also some very large trees in Ferndale which prevented us from planting some of the things we wanted to. The Mrs has plans for our front yard, one of which includes the addition of some new trees — specifically apple trees. She purchased a set of three as a present for me. We are currently waiting for their arrival.

The trees in question include a Honey Crisp, a Pristine, and one that is a combo tree with four different varieties grafted together (which I will be calling Frankentree and nobody can stop me). If we have done our research correctly, and there was a lot of research, these three should be able to pollinate each other. I don’t know if we will actually have any apples this year, but hopefully next fall we will have our first crops.

The Mrs decided on dwarf trees, primarily (she says) so it will be easier for us to pick the eventual fruit. I suspect that she is hoping to lure the deer in to our front yard with the promise of the delectable deciduousness.

Aside: Wow. “Deciduousness” was not flagged as a spelling error. I really thought that I made that up.

Throughout my life I have preferred apples over all other fruits. I have an intense dislike for most citrus fruits. Also, some of my medications are contraindicated with them (specifically grapefruit). While I have branched out a little (pun intended) in recent years, I still prefer an apple to most other grab and go plant based snacks.

I’m actually really looking forward to being able to start doing things like making pies and canning apples and such. There is also the distinct possibility that I will have to start looking into the making of cysers (mead made with apples) and ciders. Who am I kidding? I already have.

In addition to the research we have had to do regarding how apple trees pollinate and how far apart they should be planted, there is the big question of where we should plant them in our yard. The back of our property is fairly wooded already. The pool takes up a lot of real estate, as does the septic field (which I assume would be a bad place to plant things with large root structures). This leaves the front, which has quite a bit of open area and gets sun for most of the day. As mentioned, these are considerably smaller than regular apple trees, so as long as the soil is good we should have plenty of room to choose from.

The big question after that will be how will the addition of new foliage affect the Halloween display? Tune in this October to find out.