I was without power for most of last week and the beginning of this week. Last Tuesday we had a snow storm that deposited over a foot of snow over night. Wednesday a tree fell over a power line and since we have an electric pump that meant our water was out as well as the electricity. Then to make matters worse on top of the snow we had an ice storm that took out even more trees and branches. After the ice we had a wind storm that cleared out the branches that didn't quite fall all of the way out of the trees. During all of this we were one of around 300,000 people without power so you can imagine there was plenty of work to be done to restore everyone. They had to bring in extra crews to help out with all of the clean up, restring power lines, repairing the main towers and fixing substations. On the news today there were still a few people that didn't have power but that should be fixed fairly soon if not already. Not having much else to do and just before my kindle's battery ran down I did finish reading another book by Ilona Andrews. This one is called 'Magic Mourns' and is only available in e-book form. The book fits inbetween 'Magic Burns' and 'Magic Strikes' but is not part of the regular series. In the book Kate is recovering from the mid-night games so her best friend Andrea is filling in for her at the order. A call comes in for Kate concerning one of the shapeshifters. Andrea takes the case and soon finds herself in over her head. It turns out the shapeshifter in trouble is Raphael, who's advances Andrea has been trying to avoid, and he is being chased by a big, three-headed dog. It turns out the dog is Cerberus, the hell hound, and has the power to regenerate. Andrea reluctantly joins forces with Raphael and the two of them set out to find why the dog isn't guarding the underworld. As in all of the other books put out by Ilona Andrews this one is full of mystery, romance and mythology. It goes rather quick once you start reading.

Earlier in the week I wrote about the latest book by Ilona Andrews in her Kate Daniels series. Today I am going to give some background and go through what happened in the first five books. In the world that Kate lives in there has been a wave that has brought the worlds of technology, magic and myth into the same plane of exist. One day the technology world might rule and all the cars, phones and everything else that is mechanically based works and the next day the magic takes over and nothing mechanical works. That is when when witches, wizards, and other odd assorted magical beings shine. In the first book, Magic Bites, Kate works for the mercenary guild, a group of bounty hunter that chase down rogue magic users, disarm spells that have gone a wry or anything else that the authorities don't want to be bothered to handle. On one of here jobs Kate finds out that her godfather has been killed under some mysterious circumstances. Kate feels that it is her duty to find out just what happened but to do so she need the resources of the 'order of knights of merciful aid'. She goes to the 'order' and takes her godfathers old office where she becomes a special liaison between the guild and the order. In her investigations she finds that the shapeshifters (pack) are also being attacked but joining forces with them means meeting the beast lord (Curran). She meets up with him and after some minor incidents gains favor in the eyes of Curran and the pack. Together they track down the what is behind the attacks and wage battle. Both Curran and Kate are nearly killed but manage to pull through. In the second book 'magic burns' Kate takes on a case for the Pack to retrieve their maps that were stolen from the keep(the packs fortress). She gets the maps and returns them only to have them stolen again. She discovers there is much more going on and once again she must join forces with Curran. They soon find themselves battling against demi-gods and demons. In the third book 'magic strikes' she helps out a few of the pack by fighting in the midnight games, a magic battle royal to the death. In this book we also find out part of the secret that Kate hiding her entire life. In the forth book 'magic bleeds' we find out more about Kate's family. Her and Curran, with the help of the rest of the pack and Kate's best friend Andrea, fight Kate's aunt, who is out to destroy the pack.

Magic Slays by Ilona Andrews

Anyone that enjoys fiction, fantasy, mythology and mystery with a little romance sprinkled in the mix will enjoy the latest book by Ilona Andrews. It is called 'Magic Slays' and is the fifth book in her, actually I should say their since her husband co-writes the books, Kate Daniel series. In this book Kate is now mated to the beast lord, a shapeshifter named Curran, and has opened her own supernatural bounty hunting agency. At the start of the book her business isn't going to well but soon picks up when an old acquaintance stops by to hire her to rescue the person she was guard and also recover a machine he was building for an unnamed group of investors. Kate and her best friend Andrea, a former Knight in the order, accept the case but soon find out that there is much more to this than they have been told. After Kate gathers more information, she and Andrea soon enlist the help of Curran. Kate, Andrea, Curran and some of the other shapeshifters set off to track down the invention before the group that has it can wipe out magic and anyone that uses magic. They manage to find what they are looking for but not before it has been used cleanse an entire village of magic along with all of the people. They capture the group that stole the device and find out that they have another more powerful device that can wipe out magic and magical beings in a five mile radius. Know that their problems have escalated Curran sends word to gather the rest of the clan, 1500 shapeshifters; the people, necromancers; witches and all the other groups of magical beings. Soon every magical being is search Atlanta for the second device and the group that is set on purging the city of magic. Once they track down the device they have precious little time to get to it and disarm it.

It is never too early to plan your garden

Even though it is getting close to winter and the ground will soon be too hard to work you can be making plans for your garden. Planning out a successful garden can be a long process so you should get started on it soon. The first thing you need to figure out is where you want your garden and how big. Unless you previously had a garden the location can be long and drawn out process. You will probably want to locate it somewhere near and outdoor spigot depending on how much hose you have. You don't want it in a high traffic area where your vegetables and flowers can get trampled or parked on. Once you find the spot then it is a matter of the size. The size will obviously be limited by the area you have picked out but you always have the option of going vertical. Once you have decided on the size you want comes the tedious job of digging up the sod. A good tip on digging the sod out of your garden area is too only focus on a smaller section at a time. For example, if you are planning on a 8'x 8' garden then you should divide it into four equal grids and focus on that 2' x 2' square. Now that you have your sod all dug out you are ready to decide what you are going to plant and the arrangement of the plants. On what you will plant depends on a couple of things: 1. What do you want? Flowers (annuals, perennials, or biannual), vegetables, or a combination. 2. The climate of the area. What is the climate zone? Will my garden get morning sun? Are there areas in my garden that will get more shade than other areas? 3. Temperature. How long is the growing season where you live? Do the temperatures where you live agree with the plants you want to grow? When you decide what you will grow comes the task of arranging the garden. When you buy the plants they will usually have some guidelines on spacing. Of course spacing is only part of laying out the arrangement. You will need to figure in the height of the plant, how long it will last, and how the garden will look when everything is planted. The best way to figure out how everything will look when it is plant is to arrange the plants in the garden while they are still in their containers so you can move them if you need to before the final planting.

A day in the life of a bellringer: Types of donors

Over the years that I have been a bell-ringer one of the fascinating observation I have made the various rituals some of the people go through when they donate money. 1. The hidden donation. These are people that put money in the kettle but do their best to keep from being seen. They will either walk past me as they reach back to slip the money into the kettle or wait until I look over at someone else and slip money into the kettle. 2. The wait until recognized. These are people that will only donate if looked directly at and say something acknowledging that you see them. 3. The pay-for-play. These are the people that have their money ready to donate but they want the bell-ringer to do something in return. The favors they ask might to let their child ring the bell, have you sing all or part of a carol, or just say a phrase like "Merry Christmas" or "Happy New Year". 4. The teacher. These are the ones that hand their children the money to put in the kettle. These are usually some of the most amusing for us to watch. Some of the children will put one coin in at a time and wait for you to say "Thank you" or "Merry Christmas" in between each coin or some will just dump most of the coins in and hold back a few. 5. The story teller. These are the people that have some quick story usually to do with the Salvation Army or sometimes something amuse that happened during a holiday season. 6. The busy beaver. These are the people that just rush out of the store and you don't realize they donate until you see the money on top of the kettle and then the bell-ringer has to poke the money into the kettle without touching it with his(her) hands. Whichever one of these types a person is that donate it is joyous to see.

A book for anyone that loves animals

Back in 2006 I read a back about a fascinating person and his love for horses. The book is called "The man who listened to horses". At the time that I read the book it was already 10 years old and been made into a series that appeared on PBS. Monty Roberts grew up during the depression on a farm in California where his parents raised and trained horses. As a young boy Monty observed the horse out in the wild around and paid close attention to how they would structure their ranks. As much as he tried explaining to his father that instead of using the old methods of training, which he thought were cruel, and using the gestures that he learned from watching the wild horses the time and stress would be cut way down. Monty's father never listened too him and and stuck with the old practices. Eventually Monty did get his chance to prove his observations worked During Monty's career as a trainer, rider, teacher and performer he lead quite an adventurous life. He was a stunt double in "National Velvet", trained race horses, and even meet the queen and talked about horses over high tea. In the 15 years since that time Monty still gives talks, lessons, and sells horse carvings. Even though the book is most about Monty and remarkable career with horses it shows us just how much we can learn about animals by simple observing how they interact with each other.

A day in the life of a bellringer

I am sure all of you have seen the bell-ringers that stand outside of the stores this time of the year. I have been one of those bell-ringers for the past 19 years (except for a few year I took off for school). In all the years that I have done this job, which I enjoy doing, there have been some observations I have made that I would like to talk about. We all know that listening to the bell can get on your nerves but you only hear it for a few minutes and we have to listen to it 5 to 10 hours a days. We get just as tired of hearing it as you but it is part of our job. While I can't speak for all bell-ringers I try to keep it toned down to the point that I get more complaints from people that tell me to ring louder. I have had many people go all the way to the other side of a store and many other things to avoid us. I am not really sure of some of the reasoning. If it because you can't or don't want to donate we don't expect everyone to put money in the kettle. In fact we know most of you won't and for various reasons, such as, you already sent a check, you are broke, you only use plastic, and several other reasons. One example of something unnecessary that I witnessed someone do to avoid me was they loaded up their arms with their groceries, which there was too many for one trip, and walk out on to an ice covered parking lot. Just to have an excuse to not have a free hand this person risked their own safety when they should have just wheeled the shopping cart at a safe speed. We love hearing people tell us there stories about their experience with the salvation army but if it is something negative please don't take it out on us.