NWOutdoorGrrl

August and September were a bust for hiking, thanks to a sprained ankle. Looking at my stats for October, though, I’m definitely making up for lost time:

A month or so ago, Nick and I noticed that a few boards on our deck were disintegrating. Dry rot. Uh-ho. A quick investigation showed that it only affected six boards, so we did our best to keep people from falling through the increasingly large hole in our deck until we had the time to replace the wood.

Getting them out wasn’t all that hard – a jig saw and hammer did the trick. We had a circus-style near miss, however, when Keith … oh, whoops! I promised not to tell.

The next step was cutting the boards to length and banging the tongue into the groove.

Getting the first board in was quite a trick. It didn’t want to seat properly, so I grabbed a block of wood and hammer to convince the board to go where I wanted it to. The most convincing thing I did, though, was hammer the knuckle on my left index finger. Yeow!

I covered up my rapidly forming bruise with a band aid right away, so I really don’t know how bad it is. Bending it feels bad; ice feels good. If it’s particularly gruesome, I’ll post a picture later.

In the mean time, we had a hole to cover. Measure twice; cut once!

A few screws to hold everything in place and a bit of oil to keep the rain away, and ta-da!

With any luck, the boards will get that weathered grey color sooner rather than later.

In May, I documented all the books I’d read in the first semester of 2011. Now that it’s the beginning of August, I thought I’d do the same thing for my “summer semester.” Total for the summer is 4,391 pages, which is probably a bit higher than normal, considering I made two trips Europe.

• Pickets & Dead Men by Bree Loewen (189 pages)
• My Mother She Killed Me My Father He Ate Me, edited by Kate Bernheimer (479 pages, but only read about 200 pages)
• Just Kids by Patti Smith (320 pages)
• Sharpe’s Tiger  by Bernard Cornwell (385 pages)
• The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein (249 pages)
• The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (264 pages)
• Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins (273 pages)
• Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins (288 pages)
• In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin by Erik Larson (462 pages)
• The Paris Wife by Paula McLain (324 pages)
• Sharpe’s Triumph by Bernard Cronwell (291 pages)
• The Hypnotist by Lars Kepler (478 pages)
• Sister by Rosamund Lupton (274 pages)
• Doc by Mary Doria Russell (394 pages)

Out of all the books on the list, I’d have to put The Art of Racing in the Rain and Sister at the top of the list. Both had a unique narrative perspective that added to already great stories. You should also consider reading The Hunger Games before the movie comes out next year. It is written at a teenage level, so adults will most likely find it a pretty easy-breezy, end-of-summer read.

The Hypnotist was probably the most overly hyped book on the list. Yes, it’s written by a Swede. And yes, it’s a fast paced thriller. I found the multiple story lines a bit disjointed, though.

Here’s what’s next on my reading list:

• Little Bee by Chris Cleave (232 pages)
• Caleb’s Crossing by Geraldine Brooks (311 pages)
• A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin (785 pages)
• State of Wonder by Ann Patchett (276 pages)

I think Nick and I live in a fairly small house, but nothing compared to this guy. His apartment is very inspiring – right down to the bed which is stored under the balcony. There are some great ideas here. The only place his design falls down is in the “sports equipment storage” department. I need to store more than a tennis racquet and roller blades.

In law school, I read something like 3500-4000 pages every semester. That included assigned homework in textbooks printed with 8 pt fonts, hornbooks and other study aids, and miscellaneous cases and materials turned up in the course of researching a topic for various classes.

Since this week marked the anniversary of my last law school class, I thought I’d tally the number of pages of fiction I’ve read since January – sort of the equivalent time period.

Turns out, I’m pretty much reading the same amount of pages. Who’d a thunk?! Here’s what I’ve read:

The Help by Kathryn Stockett (544 pages)
Under the Dome by Stephen King (1088 pages)
squirrel seeks chipmunk by David Sedaris (91 of the 159 pages)
Dune by Frank Herbert (544 pages)
Blue at the Mizzen by Patrick O’Brien (272 pages)
Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand (496 pages)
Fall of Giants by Ken Follett (985 pages)

Adding it all up, I’ve read 4,020 pages! Looking at the list, it’s clear that I’m fond of historical fiction. Although you might think that I really like science fiction too, it’s actually quite rare for me to pick one up. Dune just happened to be one of those “life list” books I hadn’t read yet, so I thought what the heck. And even though Under the Dome could be considered sci fi, I’d classify it more as a brainless beach read than sci fi.

What’s next? I’ve got a copy of Pickets and Dead Men (189 pages) sitting on my shelf on loan from one of my climbing students. I also think I’ll check out an ebook from the library.  My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me (608 pages)  is at the top of my library wish list right now.

What about you? What have you read lately? Anything you’d like to recommend?