RBOC--A Quick Overview of My Week

• Wind is unreal, and it's scattering yellow pollen from our white pine blossoms all over everything. We had a puddle on the driveway this morning from overnight rain. By this afternoon, it looks like someone smeared yellow chalk on the blacktop. I thought about running some errands, but I just got the car washed, and I don't want to turn it orange.                              
• I've been working on plans for another big give-away over on the Kindle website, starting next week. The second electronic edition of "A Scratch with the Rebels" will be free, and on my own website, the last copies of the paperback first edition are reduced to $5.00.                            
• I've also been writing--working on the third volume of the Grenville Sagas, "Yankee Sisters: If Wishes Were Horses." It takes place at the beginning of the 20th century, where my historical background is not particularly strong. But you never know where information will turn up. I found a great explanation of the causes of WWI in my lecture notes for a Search course I taught at Rhodes College back in the 1990s.                                                                                    
• A little later, I needed a description of an ultra-fancy hotel/restaurant on Pittsburgh in 1912, so I sent out a Facebook post, hoping some of my Pittsburgh friends would come to my rescue. Now I know at least six people on Facebook who live in Pittsburgh, but did they respond? No, the answers came from a Tennessee Lion, a Connecticut Lion, a Texas medievalist, a former student from Memphis, and a cousin from northeast Ohio. And the last two came up with the same "perfect" solution.

• I got a Prevnar 13 shot two weeks ago (You know--the ""get this one done" ad?). No problem until this morning when I stepped out of the shower and discovered a large red blotch at the injection site. The website says that is normal, but I didn't realize my reactions were so slow these days!                                                                                                                                        
• I tend to get seasonal reactions, both sneezing from allergies and food cravings related to specific dates. Starting on the first of March I set out to buy Girl Scout cookies, but despite checking their new website telling everyone where they will be, I've  only managed to locate two boxes, and those were not the varieties I wanted. Now it's almost Easter, and I'm on the hunt for hot cross buns. My usual sources have come up empty, but I plan to give it one more shot tomorrow. Luck's got to change soon!                                                                                      
• Have a lovely holiday weekend, everyone!