It’s finally bottling day for that giant batch of mead I talked about last week. I just spent about an hour and a half washing and sanitizing the bottles. I figured I could take a moment of two to sit down before doing the actual bottling and get started on this week’s post.
Among the wine bottles left by the previous owners of The New House™ are two of the five flip top bottles I picked up today for five bucks. The Mrs found them on FB Marketplace. She’s always finding stuff on there, usually free wood, and I give her tons of grief for it. Now she’s pulled me in. Ugh. I feel so dirty.
I’ve also been working on getting ready for our upcoming vacation which will see us travel to somewhere in Quebec. So far I’ve tried on both set of hiking boots/shoes, located my passport, found the battery charger for the good camera and charged all of the batteries, and numerous other things which may come in handy. I don’t know where we are going, except for one really cool place, and I’m just fine. I don’t need to know the plans. I’m not at all bothered. I don’t need to be in control. Surprises are just fine.
Excuse me. I have to see if I can get my eye to stop twitching.
Listening To: Infinite Archive by Mur Lafferty. This is the third in the Midsolar Murders series which follows one of the few humans aboard an alien space station. If you haven’t already read Station Eternity and Chaos Terminal, stop reading this and go get them. They’re amazing. Really, go now. I’ll wait.
Currently Reading: I’m finishing up A Scary Little Christmas: A History of Yuletide Horror Films, 1972 - 2020. This one has been my bedside read for a while (I’m pretty sure I mentioned it back when I picked it up). I’ve gone through all of the chapters and I’m now reading the well researched index of all of the holiday horror movies a little at a time, right before I go to sleep.
Current Obsession: Worrying about whether or not they will let me back over the border into the US.
Dragon’s Roost Press News
We are putting the finishing touches on Here There Be Horrors. Look for publication information in the near future.
The hardcovers for the Nightmerica Kickstarter are due to arrive next week. With any luck we will be able to ship them out before we leave the country.
Work continues apace on It’s Dark In Here and we are on schedule for an October release.
We are a week and a half away from our next appearance, Wicked Bizzare on 6 September. The show is at the Wayne County Fair Grounds in Belleville, MI. Ticket sales support Children With Hair Loss and the Humane Society of Huron Valley.
This Week’s Rambling: No, Really. It’s Fine.
Apologies to those who know how the vacations usually work in our house. I know that I have discussed them before, but I can’t remember if I have discussed them here.
I’m a firm believer in the opposites attract theory of romantic matching. I’m fairly introverted, The Mrs is…not. She likes surprises, me not so much. I like to plan things out (you should see the series of To Do Lists I have at my elbow), she likes to “wing it.”
Entirely by accident, we hit upon the perfect way to schedule a vacation. I plan things out and keep them a secret from her until we leave, or sometimes until we get there. This allows her to have the benefit of a complete surprise AND the opportunity to try and trick me into letting something slip. She doesn’t really want to figure out our destination, but like a kid shaking their present the week before Christmas, she can’t help herself.
This also allows me to completely obsess about every little detail of a trip while not driving her crazy because I’m doing it confidentially.
We have had a number of vacations this way, everything from staying in a lighthouse in the U.P. to a cabana in Costa Rica. It has also lead to some very amusing bits of confusion like the time she couldn’t figure out why we were getting on a big fuckin’ airplane to go to London, Ontario instead of just driving the 2 1/2 hours (we were actually going to London England for a Jack the Ripper Conference).
My job is to let her know what type of clothing to pack, how long we will be gone, and if there are any special requirements like passports that will be needed.
Well, she flipped the script this year. We are going to spend a week in Canada next month. I do know that we will be spending the night in Parc Omega, a wildlife sanctuary. Beyond that…
I do know that she has things planned. I know that she has places to stay booked. I think she might even be driving. My fate is in her hands. For all I know this is an elaborate ruse to get me someplace where my body can be disposed of easily.
You laugh, but as we drove off to our honeymoon she asked me “If you were going to kill someone, how would you do it?”
I went into one of my usual long ass discussions of forensic countermeasures and the pros and cons of various techniques. I was about five minutes into the discussion when I thought to ask why she asked.
“No reason.”
More than three decades later and I’m still sleeping with one eye open.
Post Script: All of the bottling is done and the bottles are in my new Bottle Bunker.
