In which Monday was a holiday

. . .so the pleasure of setting the trash out is deferred until tomorrow.

Yesterday, I did a little more yard work -- bagging leaves, raking mats out of the rosebush, sweeping the dirt and dead leaves off of the statue in the Cat Garden.  The ground's thawing, but you hit the frozen stuff about four inches down.

In cat news, Scrabble appears to have decided that Socks has gone on to another of his fan clubs.  Mozart, however, is spending a worrisome amount of time in the cat circle with two of the stuffies Socks favored.  I don't think he's sick, just. . .sad.  Anybody know how to do grief therapy with an aging Coon cat?

In this morning's inbox is notification from BN that You're All Just Jealous of My Jetpack, by Tom Gauld is shipping.  I think this is splendid, but. . .

I pre-ordered this book many, many months ago.  Three months ago, I got a note from BN that the book had been delayed, did I still want it?  I assured them that I did.  Two months ago, they again wrote to tell me that the book was delayed, did I still want it?  Yep, I did.  One month ago, they wrote in all sorrow to tell me that the book was never going to be available -- and canceled my preorder.

Two days ago, I ordered it directly from the BN website, and today it's shipping.

This wouldn't worry me quite so much if I hadn't also gotten a note from BN telling me that there were canceling my order for The Abandoned because they had not received, and had no expectation of receiving, the book from the publisher.  I received that note the day after the book arrived here at the Confusion Factory.

In other news. . .the news is horrifying.  I see that the explosion in West, Texas last night registered as a 2.1 seismic event.  That's. . .quite an explosion.  I've been staying away from any place that offers me pictures of what's left of the town -- the narrative is quite enough.

Added to the attack on the Boston Marathon, and the rupturing of the crude oil lines in Arkansas. . .

Everybody stay as safe as you can, OK?

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