We're about to climb the mountain to get Nami to Doctorine. I think my favorite memory of that trip is the giant snow-bunnies that try to eat Sanji and Luffy. I've seen these episodes already, with the boys, but I'm not gonna skip anything.
I've run out of books. The Golden Compass was pretty good; the bit that bugs me most, though, is that in that universe, John Calvin becomes the Pope. Feh. And moved the center of the Catholic Church to Geneva. I'm not likin' it. What is kinda funny is that America seems to be called New Denmark, and Texas is an autonomous country (not so strange). A Texan is still a Texan. And Lyra and Pantalaimon are fun. I keep wondering whether Lyra will ever mature, and Pan's shape will become fixed--and she'll lose the ability to read the alethiometer. Mmm.

Peter and Owen are both sick, and I'm gettin' there. Bah.

Watching ep 65 now. Zoro is fighting Baroque Works' bounty hunters. Love this ep. Very funny. Zoro's smile when they see him pretending to look for himself with them after he vanished from the rooftop is great. I don't think Carue, Miss Wednesday's duck-thingy, likes working for Baroque Works. He messes up a lot.

baroque, adjective: Irregularly shaped, whimsical, grotesque, odd. From the Oxford English Dictionary.

Finished all the Teys and both Johnny Maxwells, nothing left but The Golden Compass and Lemony Snicket. Reading Golden Compass now.

I expect it's loaded by now.

Just back from Grandma's

Spent the day at Grandma B's. She and Darrel (step-grandda, more or less) got here to pick us up around one, we got there a bit before two, I think. I spent the day moving between the barn and the basement, which is where the big TV and the computer are. There weren't any good shows on, and the Internet was slow, so I only got to watch about one point three episodes. I had to refresh and start over twice during ep 46. Peter is campaigning to limit turns according to time instead of single episodes, which Doug and I say isn't fair, and so would he if he were watching something. Anyway, I got two turns on the computer and spent a couple of hours outside. It rained last night, so all the horses were muddy. I only worked on my two favorites, Snip and Hoshi. Hoshi's name is actually Chessie, but she exactly fits the description of the mare Sir Raoul gave Kel in Squire, so Hoshi it is.
Mom came at almost six: B and Darrel were giving her dinner and cake for her birthday, so she got two birthday dinners. Mom didn't cook this one, though.

Back from the library

So I finally found Sorcery and Cecilia, which I've been looking for for ages, ever since I read The Grand Tour, which is the sequel. It's lots of fun, and is written in letter form: Kate and Cecilia, in Town and Essex, respectively, are writing back and forth, in detail, about everything that happens to them. The book is dedicated to Jane Austen, Georgette Heyer, J.R.R. Tolkien, and Ellen Kushner, in that order. Ellen Kushner seems to have invented the Letter Game, which is how this book came about. Two people write fictional letters back and forth, so one of the two authors writes Cecy's side of it, and the other does Kate. It wasn't a novel, originally. Anyway, I really like it, and am kicking myself for not getting The Grand Tour, it having been a long time since I read it, and it was bit by bit, never checking it out. Stupid of me. In addition to The Enchanted Chocolate Pot (the subtitle for Sorcery and Cecilia, and rather more accurate, I think), I got The Golden Compass (never tried Philip Pullman before), Only You Can Save Mankind and Johnny and the Dead (Terry Pratchett's Johnny Maxwell trilogy), Cowboy Bebop volumes one and two, A Series of Unfortunate Events eight through thirteen, and several Teys (A Shilling for Candles, Daughter of Time, and I think The Man in the Queue). I think that's all. Presently I'm reading Daughter of Time, having finished, in addition to Sorcery and Cecilia, both Cowboy Bebops. And I was hoping this haul would last me.
At the library, I used one of the filtered computers. Never before have I used a library computer for anything beyond the online catalog. It was a good cause, though: our computers have been having trouble with ep 38, and I watched 38 and 39. Luffy is stuck underwater now, and his friends are fighting Arlong's mermen without him. It becomes incredibly irritating listening to mermen constantly talk about how humans are inferior to mermen, humans can never beat them, mermen are a superior race. Bah. Racism is boring. Sentience equals equality, except that I'm not certain mermen are sentient. Damn, the breed is: I'd forgotten that mermaid. Phooey. Okay, they're sentient. No more racism. I wonder whether drow are sentient? If I really wanted to know, I'd read a book that has 'em. I don't and I won't.
'M gonna go see how well ep 40 loads.

Whee! Luffy is about to seriously thrash the personification of Nami's past problems, otherwise known as the pirate Arlong. Luffy, by the way, is the only one of his crew who does not know the story of Nami's past; he simply knows that Arlong is the reason that Nami is crying (and screaming and attacking the tattoo she got when she joined Arlong's crew). So what does he do? He walks up to Arlong's base, punches the gates down, and asks for Arlong. I was listening to "Gotta Knock a Little Harder" while I was doing my math today, and it occurred to me that Luffy is very good at "breaking down the door". Often this involves the blood of the trapped person's enemies. "Often"? What am I saying? Always. Inevitably, invariably, invincibly. And now, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go see whether ep 38 has loaded yet.

ETA: Forgot to mention. The Snark has quit blogging. I would be in more agony if I was anywhere near the end of the archives.

Squeee!

We went to the library on Saturday, and I got Wintersmith, and I tripped over Tamora Pierce's latest: Terrier, first in the Beka Cooper series! I thought that wasn't coming out until sometime this year! Turns out that was the paperback version, but the feeling of idiocy was worth it for that lovely tight feeling in my chest when I found out I was wrong. If I'd been anywhere but in the library, I would have squealed, and I nearly did anyway. Apart from Wintersmith and Terrier, I got The Corinthian and The Masqueraders, both by Georgette Heyer, and which I haven't read in months. We also got A Series of Unfortunate Events four through seven, the first three having been checked out earlier. Lemony Snicket is quite a success: all three boys are reading his books. I am too, just not yet at the rate they are yet.
The Beka Cooper series is written in journal form. This is Tammy's first time for the first-person point of view, and I think she's managing fairly well. I think she's been reading and rereading Terry Pratchett's Night Watch for some of her research, because there are some echoes. Beka is on the Evening Watch, but all the useless misfits are Night Watch. That fits. Anyway, this story takes place two hundred years before Song of the Lioness, before slavery and lady knights vanished from Tortall. The immortals were banished two hundred years before Beka, though. Oh, yes: Alanna's purple-eyed cat, Faithful, did not come down from the stars for the first time to help her. Oh no. The Cat constellation is missing from the sky, and for four years Beka has been feeding a black cat with purple eyes who is decidedly uncat-like at times and can make himself understood when he wishes. She calls him Pounce. Also among Beka's friends are pigeons, dust spinners, lady knight Sabine of Macayhill, and members of the Court of the Rogue. I'm praying that she doesn't get romantically involved with Rosto, but there isn't much hope. Go read it before I give it all away.
The next books on my waiting list are Terry's Making Money and Robin McKinley's Dragonhaven. Alas, I have no idea when the former comes out, and there's no hope of Dragonhaven debuting before September, which means I'll be lucky to read it by Christmas if I depend on the library. If I'm really lucky I'll find it at the bookstore and have money and an aquiescent parent by me.

On June fifteenth, next month, I'll be fourteen. It is an odd feeling, since I haven't been thinking about it much. I have been thinking about the ages of Tammy's heroines. Alanna is nine or ten in the first book, Daine is thirteen in Wild Magic, Kel is ten in the first Protector of the Small, Aly is fifteen in her first, and Beka is sixteen in Terrier. I was eleven or twelve when I read Wild Magic and Wolf Speaker, a couple of months and one birthday older when I read Song of the Lioness (except for In the Hand of the Goddess), and twelve when I read Protector of the Small. It was around then that I read my first Pratchett, Feet of Clay, as well.

Note: Most of this post was written on Tuesday or Wednesday, only Blogger was having problems so I couldn't post it.

Yeah! We finished shearing yesterday! That's a relief. No more shearing until next spring (not counting crutching), and then we'll even have fewer victims, because Val will be gone and Tag, his replacement, is a hair sheep. Shedding, not shearing. Sweet.

Further good news: the library finally has Wintersmith, the third book by Terry Pratchett about Tiffany Aching and the Nac Mac Feegles (see The Wee Free Men and A Hat Full of Sky). Peter is reading the second one presently, and Mom should bring the third home tonight. With any luck I'll have finished it before we get to the library tomorrow. I'm thinking more Josephine Tey (I reread The Singing Sands last night) and possibly some Dorothy Gilman (as in Mrs. Pollifax).

I'm on One Piece Episode 27. There's some lovely trash talking in here.Luffy's very good at that, and he does it in such a way that sometimes we're not sure whether he means to make 'em mad or not. Anyway, 28 should have loaded by now, so I'm off.

Look for news stories about homicidal rampages in Nebraska, starting sometime next month. Sometime next month mon pere is canceling our Internet service. This is an addicted family. I can cope by getting more books from the library, and (unprecedented) using the Internet there. If I get on every week, or even once a month at Grandma's, I can keep my email account from deleting itself. My elder brother, Doug, will also cope. The little brothers will not. They have been spending inordinate amounts of time online for too long.
Eh. I'm gonna miss daily email, and Homesteading Today forums, and webcomics, and A Novel Idea, and Jane Austen fanfiction, and author websites, and Miss Snark, and One Piece, Radioblogclub music, and all the trouble I get into on the Net. I wonder how Dad will punish us when we can't be kicked off the comp (actually, I'm presently kicked off for a week, as of yesterday, but Dad's at work and Mom's not enforcing it). Eh. I'm going back to Episode 8 now.

The random questions for the profiles are driving me nuts. The first one I got was, "Why does the tast of pennies remind you of losing a tooth?" None of the siblings queried said that it reminds them of losing a tooth. But if that's the case, do you suppose it's because blood tastes metallic? And there's blood in you mouth when you lose a tooth... As good an answer as any.

So now I'm watching One Piece on Dailymotion.com, where queenoftea has uploaded a couple hundred episodes. Our computer, being a clunky ancient commonly referred to as Battleaxe, is taking an excruciatingly long time to load. I keep having to start all over again with episode four: I get half-way through, or further, and then it freezes or something. Episodes five and six are waiting in the tabs, fully loaded, but I have to struggle through four first. Gah. Nothing like waiting for vids to load for making progress in the Snarchives.

Outside, Doug and I managed to get two of the ewes sheared. Honey is a real pain to hold, but, once you catch her, Rip is fairly easy. She resigns herself. They both look crazy, since last year was our first time and Doug only did one, because the College Brother was home for a bit and helped out (translation: sheared three large sheep while we held them down). Our shearing methods are pathetic. It takes two people half an hour, at least, to get one sheep half done, and the victim is very patchy. Pathetic.

Anyway. Ep Four is nearly halfway loaded. I'm more than three-fourths of the way through, so it's gonna be awhile. Feh.

Out of books

I finished The Franchise Affair at about one-thirty this morning, or last night, or whatever. So now I'm completely out of new material. Watching One Piece is fun, but I can't do it after I've gone to bed. Books are easy to hide and require less equipment, no speakers, and no electricity. Urgh. And I was going to get The Clairvoyant Countess form the library, but I forgot.

I'm considering having a crush on Luffy's brother, Fire Fist Ace. Ace is, appropriately enough, extremely hot, and he's every bit as strong as Luffy. And a bit more mature. If he joined the Straw Hat Pirates (which there is no chance of his doing, because he's Commander of the Second Division of Whitebeard Pirates), he would join Zoro as the only adults on board. Well, the girls are mature and sensible and all that, so they're the only adult males on board. Sanji is always completely idiotic where girls are concerned, Usopp is a cowardly liar (he has a heart of gold, I suppose, since he isn't the bastard that implies), and Luffy is irresponsible, slow (he doesn't notice how cold he is until a second or so after someone says, "Aren't you cold?"), incredibly cheerful, and rather naive. In other words, he's a delight, but not what you'd call an adult. The main similarities between Ace and Luffy are the black hair, the eating habits, the view on opponents (boring, unless it's a boss fight, like Arlong or Crocodile), and the general unbeatability. When they arm-wrestled, the barrel they did it on burst. Neither won. Eh. Here's a page with pics of them: it seems to be in Spanish, but the two big ones of Ace are from the episode we meet him in. And there's one of Ace and Luffy together. Anyway, Ace appears is Episode 94. And he ROCKS! But I don't think I have a crush on him. Yet. anyway. Probably won't. Oh, well. Somehow I just don't.

I've progressed to The Franchise Affair, which is the Tey whose title I forgot. The title is somewhat misleading. I'm trying to remember whether I've started it before, or simply read an Agatha Christie with a similar beginning. Dunno.
Mom's made milkshakes. Milk ice cubes, frozen bananas, chocolate milk powder, sugar, vanilla, milk.

Went to town today after all. It was the downtown, Bennett Martin, which I'm nearly always happy about. It's one of the oldest libraries in town, and has one of the best collections. So I got Tamora Pierce's Immortals and Three by Tey, which contains Miss Pym Disposes, Brat Farrar (yes, I know, got it already), and one I can't recall the title of. I've already finished rereading the latter two Daine books, which is frankly ridiculous. Pierce says that JK Rowling taught her that kids will read longer books, which is one thing we can sincerely thank Rowling for. I can, anyway. I've been thinking about the series (what the heck is the plural??!) of series about Tortallan girls. Alanna, in Song of the Lioness, was fighting Roger of Conte; his defeat was what all four books were leading up to. Ditto for Daine and Emperor Ozorne: she doesn't kick his shiny tail feathers until the end of the last book. But Kel, in Protector of the Small, doesn't acquire her goal until the end of the third book. I don't mind, it's just not so consistent. And the tradition of battles, or ordeals, or whatever, at the end of each book, hasn't been ignored in First Test and Squire; it's just that those books have no mention whatsoever of Blayce the Gallan. And then Aly, in Daughter of the Lioness, doesn't really have a single, permanent foe. Objectives and enemies change between the two books. In Trickster's Choice, she's trying to get the Balitang children through the summer, win her wager, and go home. In Trickster's Queen, she's trying to get the Twice-Royal onto the throne. Different.

Tag, The Sheep Who Can't Drink From a Bucket, still isn't, but he's learned something. Yesterday I got him to drink from the trough through a nipple, like a straw, okay? Well, today, we learned that I can let go of the nipple, and he's figured out that he has to point it down and have the base of the nipple in the water, or he doesn't get any water. Progress, don't you think?

Eh. I should probably go up to bed soon. Wouldn't it be cool if I had a computer in my room?

This is ridiculous.

I have a ram lamb. He's nearly two months old, he weighs more than thirty pounds, by all common sense I should be able to wean him from the bottle. Can I? No. Why? Because he doesn't know how to drink from a bucket. He's been out there in the pasture with multiple animals whose example he could learn from. He's been on two feedings a day as long as he's been out there. He should have learned. He hasn't. Is this lamb stupid? It doesn't usually seem like it. Grrr.

On a much happier note, tomorrow is Friday. I live for Fridays. Friday is my favorite day of the week. On Friday Mom, at least one brother, and I go to town. We go to the library. I get new, unread books to read instead of what I got last week and probably finished by Sunday night, if I had a lot. If I don't have a lot I'm rereading on Saturday. I'm planning to get some more Josephine Tey, and if we go to the downtown library I'll get the Immortals quartet. I'm still not sure about Redwall, though.

Yesterday, plowing through Miss Snark's archives, I found a post about TIME magazine's Hundred Best Novels Since 1923. My score? Five. Not counting Gone with the Wind, because I skipped over a lot in the last third or so. Eh.

Okay, I need to go do my schoolwork or I won't be able to go to the library after all.

Starting Out

Okay. I have to say that if I could have a Blogger account without writing a blog, I would. I started this mainly so I could post to other blogs, like that of Miss Snark, the queen of literary agents and an absolute laugh riot. But, having started it, I will try to keep it going, probably with news about my animals and what I'm reading. Presently I'm rereading Tamora Pierce's Daughter of the Lioness duet. I was going to get the Immortals quartet, but the library didn't have the third one, so I got these two instead. Mom convinced me to check out Redwall as well; I liked it, but I'm not certain about reading the rest of the series. If I was ten instead of thirteen, there would be no question whatever. Mom also got Josephine Tey's Brat Farrar for me. I was doubtful, but only until I opened the book. Very good. Oops, gotta go.