Monday Rambles

Well, I'm free this week, mostly.  Still got night classes a couple of nights, but the days are free.  Good thing too.  Did you know Thanksgiving is this week??  Even though it's just going to be me and Keith for dinner, there's a lot to do.  We're big guys.  We like to eat.

It's going to be hellasciously busy around here this week, so I might lapse into low content (video) mode for a day or two.  Don't worry.  I'm still alive--just have too many irons in the fire.  I'll throw in a "real" post if I can and then update you on all the goings-on next Monday.  Deal?

Junk picking didn't last too long last week.  It started raining Monday night and rained all day Tuesday.  That pretty much killed the set outs.  You don't want it after it's gotten wet.  (Although, I have violated that rule from time to time.)  But there'll be another set-out week in May 2012!  Start counting the days now!

There's nothing sadder in my mind than coming across a box of totally soaked books sitting in the rain. 

At least it was a warm rain.  I hate to be cold and wet.  It's bad enough to ride the bike in the rain without freezing too.  I had too many commitments on Tuesday that were time sensitive enough that I couldn't use the bus.  Thankfully, it wasn't pouring.

And then on Wednesday, the rain turned cold, then stopped, but left the cold behind.  Feels like winter's on the way now.  Makes me long for some hot chocolate and a fire place.

I did find a couple of kid-sized plastic chairs in a pile on Wednesday, that were salvageable, despite the rain.  Let's hear it for plastic!

Okay, maybe let's not go that far, but I do love kid-sized furniture and will grab it to sell every chance I get and all I had to do to save the chairs was wipe them off, so it was a kind of win for me.

We hit Half-Price Books last week during their coupon days.  Since it was a part of my rather extended birthday celebrations, I actually bought a few things for myself, which is unusual these days.  I'm so much more focused on stock for the booth and on downsizing what is in the house.

I also got a lot of stock there too.  I love their clearance shelves.  I sell lots of comics and graphic novels at the booth and Half-Price Books is a good source of good, cheap, sell-able material.  It helps that my mall is way across town from either HPB, so they're not competing with me.  I can almost always find something hiding in their boxes of dime and quarter comics.  And I've pulled quite a few books, games, and other items over to the booth and sold them as well.  Business or pleasure, it's a great place to shop!

One of the things I got for myself (with a fifty percent off coupon, of course) was the all-in-one edition of Jeff Smith's Bone, one of my favorite comic series of all times.  I'd been telling myself for years that I was going to complete my set of the Bone hardcovers, but as time goes by, I seem to become less and less likely to do that.  Plus, this puppy takes up a lot less space on my bookshelf.  I sold my single issues a long time ago.  Now, I can sell the hc volumes I've got as well.  I just need to find a free weekend to shut out the world and read this sucker.

 Here's some musical food for thought about woman in country music.  Normally any mention of Taylor Swift gives me the hives, but I thought this was a good piece.  It's also nice to see something about the history of women in country that looks beyond the "usual suspects"--i.e. Tammy, Loretta, Dolly.  I love them all, but there was and is so much more out there.

And here's a good article on Gram Parsons' classic Grievous Angel that's pretty good, even if it doesn't include the obligatory Emmylou reference.  I didn't think that was allowed!

And, finally, here's a thought for a Monday:

BIG CAT HAIRBALLS!