Nothing's Better than an Indian Summer Day

The windows are open, the sun is shining, the breeze is blowing.  What a gift!  People that live in a Northern climate totally understand what I am talking about.  After a couple of weeks of damp, chilly days and cold nights today the temperatures have reached into the 80's.  I can hear children playing on the school playground and mowers getting their last minute mowing done.  Everyone wants to take advantage of possibly the last nice weather stretch before the cold fall days come back.  I love living in an area that has such clearly defined seasons and fall is my favorite.  Going to the Cider Mill, eating donuts, corn mazes, leaf piles are all part of the season that can create so many memories.  I am going to head outside myself and soak some of it in!

Abrahm Lincoln Vampire Hunter

Seth Grahame-Smith has done it again.  Taking a cue from the current Vampire craze he has spun a fascinating tale weaving a plague of vampires into the book Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.

At an early age, Abraham Lincoln watched his mother die from the dreaded "milk sickness" but it wasn't until later into his teens that he learns the truth.  She was killed by vampires to keep Abe's father under the vampire's control.  He makes a pledge to pursue vampires, no matter the cost.  His legendary height and strength are advantages that Abe is able to use in his quest to rid the United States of vampires.  He finds himself partnering with some unlikely partners and they are able to make a dent in the vampire population but the vampires have had years to create political strongholds in the country's info structure.

Abe narrowly makes it into the Presidential office in spite of the vampires attempt to assassinate him to prevent it.  He is not able to personally hunt vampires while in the White House and he is tormented by nightmares about the vampires pursuit of him and his loved ones.  Through his political power granted him by his position, Abe is able to weaken the vampire's power.  Part of the war against the vampires is waged on the battle  fields of the Civil War.  Abe is finally assassinated by Booth to stop the damages the vampires are taking from the power that Lincoln held.

This book is well written and I came away with a feeling of plausibility.  This is one story that i think would translate well to the big screen.

Fresh Laundry

Like so many people I have been looking for ways to trim our budget.  This summer I have been using our clothes line for drying our laundry.  I am a very systematic person and love coming up with a system that maximizes what I want to get done.  I have done this with my laundry.  First I wash the heavy clothes and get them on the line so they have a chance to get dry during the course of the day.  Then I do the lighter clothes.  I refuse to put out socks, underwear and towels so those loads will be done last.  When the afternoon rolls around, I will check the clothes that have been hanging out and take them off the line and put them into the dryer for 15-20 minutes.  I do this for several reasons.  It makes our clothes softer, smooths the wrinkles, removes any lint that needs to be gotten off the cloth, removes pollen that may have collected on the clothes as well as kills any spiders that might have found refuge in the folds of the laundry.  Those last two details are from experience.  I do have to admit I haven't tracked our electricity usage to see how much I am saving but I am getting a huge sense of accomplishment by doing my laundry this way.  I am going to miss it when they days become too cold to continue.