Friday bullets - Jan. 29, 2021

Finally, the end of January is in sight! January always feels long to me, and this year is no exception. 

• I started The Game of Kings by Dorothy Dunnett yesterday. It is the first book of the Chronicles of Lymond series, set in the mid-1500's. I loved her House of Niccolo series, and though we own the books, I had never begun this series. It seemed like a commitment. Well, after having read 13 books this month, only a small fraction of which did I think were even moderately good despite all the wonderful reviews, I decided I needed to spend some time reading something worthwhile. This will be my reading project for the year, though I'll probably intersperse them with other books in between. And I always have a non-fiction book going. Anyway, I am currently off most modern fiction and have no desire to read it.
• Adding to the feeling, I checked out the book, 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die by James Mustich. You know, because I needed more books to read. A while back there was a really wonderful book catalog called The Common Reader. In it were seemingly endless amounts of interesting sounding books, and I would read it cover to cover every time it arrived. When possible I ordered books from it as well since they did some publishing of more obscure titles. Well, James Mustich was the owner and editor of that catalog, so I knew I had to pick up the book. Some of the titles I remember from the catalog and it feels sort of cozy and homey to read about them again. Others are books I've already read, but then there are those that I haven't heard of and want to read. It's a fun book to open at random when I have a few minutes.
• Many of my children have loved the Redwall series, with L. being the latest. For her birthday last year we gave her The Redwall Cookbook. (If you are familiar with the books, you know that food and feasts play a large part in the stories.) Last week, L. found a recipe for rock cakes which she decided to make. They are sort of a scone/biscuit thing with a large dollop of jam in the center. The batter then bakes up and around the jam a bit. They are quite good. L. discovered that my dandelion jelly from last spring works particularly well for them. My supply of dandelion jelly is nearly depleted if not entirely gone since the discovery of rock cakes. The good news is that I now have willing hands to help me make more in the spring.
• J. took R. to another oral surgeon appointment this past week. She did extremely well, aided by the fact that the appointment took a couple of minute. She still has the wire on, but the tooth is still alive. The wire should be able to come off next week and then I hope we can just put this whole little episode behind us.
• One of my best purchases last year was to invest in some very heavy winter breeches for riding. Every time I put them on I am glad I bit the bullet and did so. It makes riding in the upper 20's bearable.
• We are due for more snow this weekend. For a winter that started out very dry and brown, we have had a lot of snow this month.
• Apollo is all healed and was able to have his cone removed. He was an extremely happy kitten.
• The word 'retard' is not a word that should ever be used. Not by any regular person and especially not a member of congress. Ever. If you live in this person's constituency, I certainly hope you are doing all you can to see that she faces consequences for her thoughtless and disgusting speech. 
• I still really want sheep.
• When the door to the chicken pen accidentally shuts while the birds are out so the chickens cannot get in the second the sun starts to go down, they will try to roost on your back porch. When you realize this, open the door, and try to shoo the birds into their proper home, they will be unable to function well enough to comply, so you are stuck carrying unhappy hens (and a rooster) back to their house. I know chickens don't function well in the dark, but it wasn't dark and it was as if their brains had completely shut off. The ducks and geese do not have this same probably and like to stay out late.
• I bought a visual horse off a garage sale list. That is one of those clear plastic models where you can see the bones and organs. It was never used and they aren't made any longer. I was pretty excited since it will be great for my horse classes when they start again. The downside is that it is a model, so at some point I'm going to have to figure out how to assemble it.
• All the snow makes me wish I had a sleigh. I love sleighs! Have I ever actually ridden in a sleigh much less driven one? No. Do any of my horses drive? No. Do I still want a sleigh? Yes.
• It has not been a terribly eventful week. We've done school, taken care of animals, read books, cooked food, and gone to bed. Of course, there have been no crises, either, so I'm not complaining. It just doesn't provide a lot to write about. 

Have a good weekend!