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Normally, I write these newsletters on Sunday and schedule them to go out on Monday. I had a two-day event over the weekend, though, so I’m actually writing this Monday morning. As I’m still tired and recovering, I’m uncertain how long or involved this newsletter will be.
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Luckily, it’s gorgeous outside. Sunny but not too hot. I have two feeding stations for the birds, with various feeders hanging from both of them. The squirrels attacked one of the feeders and managed to disassemble part of it. This feeder isn’t “squirrel proof” (none of them are) but it generally is difficult for the squirrels to get seed from it. I had to put it back together this morning. Then I coated the outside of it with concentrated hot sauce—the stuff that I add to the bird seed that will supposedly make it less tasty for the squirrels. We’ll see if that manages to keep them away, at least for a while.
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I have three hanging baskets that decorate the porch of TH2. Let me tell you—I was thrilled when I first moved in here (back in 2021) and realized that I could have hanging baskets! I hadn’t lived in a place where I could do that since my childhood home.
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Given that, you’d possibly expect me to have the most beautiful baskets in the world. Uhm, no. Where I live, baskets cost $35 apiece. That’s far, FAR too much money for me to spend on something I’m going to have to replace every year!
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I did buy baskets the first couple of years, so that I’d have the hardware. Since then, I’ve been filling them with flowers myself.
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I bought a pot full of fuchsias once in those early years. I splurged and got myself a HUGE basket, with long vines of flowers that trailed over the sides. Absolutely gorgeous. However, that was when I learned that the deer love fuchsias. All that lovely length vanished within a week of my hanging up the basket. I also learned that fuchsias need partial sun, and I have full sun. Those flowers struggled all year.
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Because I’m cheap, I generally have to wait to put up my baskets. The local Fred Meyer store has a large garden section. I don’t fill my baskets until the petunias and other flowers start getting marked down, and generally pick them up at half price. This year, I filled three baskets for $18. (Plus I may have also spent some money on some snapdragons this year as well.)
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The plants that go onto the half-off shelves are generally just fine. Frequently, they’re flowers that have already bloomed. So they’re all green with no flowers. I can tell from the card what they’ll look like, which is good enough for me. Sometimes the poor things need some TLC—they haven’t been watered enough frequently. I’ve got one plant that I’m still trying to nurse back to health at this point.
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But here are my baskets! Mostly filled with petunias and they’re already starting to have their next blossoms. I will deadhead them hard all summer and they’ll keep blooming.
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But I think that’s it for me today. Still too tired.
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Next week—I’m going to talk about one of my books. And some of the things I’m looking forward to this year.
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They say history doesn't repeat itself, but it will frequently rhyme.
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However, what about crimes that get repeated? How are they similar to the original? How are they different? And why?
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The devil is in the details, after all.
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Come see what the syndicate members of MCM have done with crimes that riff off of events from the past.
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MCM. So Criminal, It's Good.
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Horray! It's May! And there's a new book on sale only on the KRP store.
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This month? Night Strike--a historic aviation thriller written by Blaze Ward--is on sale for just $0.99. It's in part to celebrate the release of the fifth book in the series, Sea Wolves.
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The Red Branch—a top secret Soviet operation to hunt Nazis following WWII.
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In South America, they discover a conspiracy to attack New York City.
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Do they save their enemy?
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The Red Branch, a new military aviation action-thriller series, set in the aftermath of the Great Patriotic War (what westerners call the Second World War), when heroes must rise up, regardless of their politics, to save the world.
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