Sodden

Perfect weather for a Monday yesterday that has literally leaked into Tuesday; it’s been so long since we’ve had any sustained rain that I’d forgotten how annoying it can be. Especially with a fairly exuberant black lab and a freshly cleaned house; the cleanliness part has certainly taken a hit. I started a newly acquired puzzle, thanks to the generosity of the Maine Musquetera in sympathy for my far wandering wife.

Gramma's Girl

A quiet day on most fronts although I did get to spend extended FaceTime talking with the fabulous three ladies out in California. My granddaughter was actually showing off a bit. She’s mastered the flip over from stomach to back and vice versa. I’m amazed at the daily progress. It’s been so long that I’ve been around a baby that I forgot how fast the process is at this point. She’s increased mobility each day which will certainly upset the cat’s world. The cat’s been a long sought target for her and she’s finally acquiring the ability to pursue it. She moved on to applesauce yesterday after the abject failure of the whole avocado experiment. She tolerated the apple much better but still didn’t seem to crave it. The transition from momma’s milk to solid food looks to be a drawn out campaign. Both of the adult ladies involved in the process are worried she inherited her taste buds from yours truly. While I can understand their concern I can’t wait to tell her about popcorn and chocolate cake.

Trying the Apple

Crawling Mode

Puzzle Start

I interrupted my race through the Joe Pickett novels by CJ Box when John Sandford published Extreme Prey and it popped up on my kindle since I’d bought it when it was first announced. This was a real treat as it featured Lucas Davenport one of the, if not THE, first member of my pantheon of literary heroes. My mother first put me onto Davenport and although Sandford has created a whole crew of Minnesota based heroes in separate series of books, Davenport remains my first love. At the end of his last book, fed up with the bureaucratic strings his high level job demanded, Lucas retired.

Extreme Prey finds Lucas working on his lake cabin’s remodeling when the governor calls him back to pursue some psychotic aging radical assassins during the Iowa caucuses. This involved a welcome return to Davenport’s real strength which is as an investigator instead of a supervisor. He has to do it without a badge this time and this leads to an interesting relationship with the Iowa cops who’d heard of Davenport’s well deserved notoriety. Sandford also brings in the satellite characters from all his series but just momentarily, like a nod to old friends. The best part though was getting to hang with Lucas Davenport again, one of my oldest literary friends.

Here are some of Sandford’s words as Lucas and a partner are ambushed by the assassins: “A split second later he heard the blast from the shot and Robertson cried out and went down. Lucas leaped backward, trying to get behind the truck, when a second shot knocked the wing mirror off the passenger side of the truck, glass flying everywhere, and he felt a stinging in his cheek, then he fell on his ass behind the truck, rolled back to his feet, crouching. He was behind the hood, his gun already coming up, his eyes fixed on the spot where he’d seen the muzzle flash. He unloaded the .45 as quickly as he could with rough accuracy: he had no illusions about hitting anything at fifty yards, but it kept the shooter occupied. The gun locked open and he slammed another magazine in. As he did it, he either saw or imagined he saw a ripple moving through the cornfield and fired four more shots at it, then stopped, crouched, and stepped sideways across the nose of the truck, saw Robertson facedown in the driveway gravel. He was alive, pushing up with his hands, getting nowhere. Lucas took the chance, jumped into the open, grabbed Robertson by his shirt collar, and dragged him behind the truck, and then heard another bang! coming from behind him, jerked around and nearly shot the woman who’d just let the screen door slam shut.”