Missive #75 Published 19 May 2023
I went to the VA Audiology Clinic on Wednesday to get my replacement hearing aids. I had my doubts that there would be much improvement but have been proved wrong. They are much better; I have been hearing things that were making a noise before that I didn't hear. With only limited conversation I think hearing and understanding human speech is also improved although still not great.
Missive #74 Published 16 May 2023
I have now finished the two books and have also finished the coding. There may be some more cosmetic coding to be done but it is WORKING. It has taken me a long time to accomplish this. But, considering the fact that I do not know what I'm doing and it has all been done using the "Try again. Fail again. Fail better." coding method, I'm rather proud of what I have done.
Missive #73 Published 14 May 2023
Herman Melville's classic novel Moby-Dick immortalized the idea of a mammoth sperm whale roaming the seas, wreaking havoc on all that crossed its path. But could such a creature actually exist, then or now? To find out, the acclaimed adventure writer and explorer Tim Severin set off to the islands of the South Pacific in search of one of our most iconic modern myths.This is a good read but not as adventurous as Severin's earlier books.
Missive #72 Published 12 May 2023
This book uses a lot more geography than just the 'bootheel' of New Mexico for the story setting. It covers an area from Reserve, New Mexico in the north to near Durango, Mexico is the south. From east to west; all the border crossings from Palomas, Chihuahua to Naco, Sonora, Mexico. What made it very enjoyable for me was the mention of the many places in that overall area where I have been. The story line is very similar to the first book in the Border Trilogy. There is also considerable character conversation in Spanish so be prepared to do translations if you do not speak the language. There is also more philosophical musing in this second book that there was in the first; that made it a more difficult read for me.
Missive #71 Published 9 May 2023
This book did not get the number of stars that I thought it deserved. Most of the poor reviews were looking for a continuation of Flashman books. Those were comedic historical fiction and very entertaining. This book was serious historical fiction and a much better book than any of the Flashman tales. Flashman did make a cameo appearance in this one but he played it reasonably straight.
Missive #70 Published 7 May 2023
The Conquerors is a difficult book. The book deals with a very specific time in history — in the chaos of pre-civil war China, just after the death of Sun Yat-sen, and just after the Shameen Incident of June 23, 1925, during the Canton-Hong Kong strike. If all of that is familiar to you, then most, if not all, of the difficulty involved in reading this book will disappear. — Edited customer review
Missive #69 Published 5 May 2023
This is another good sailing-based thriller by Cornwell; retitled in the United States as Killer’s Wake. The only character in this book that was also in the first one was the policeman. I'm going to consider these books to be a series and will show this as being the second one in the series of five books.
Missive #68 Published 2 May 2023
I have to agree with the Customer Review; a very good travel book. Also the best Huxley book that I have read so far, much better than his early novels. A recommended book.
Missive #67 Published 30 April 2023
I have all my month end household chores completed including the holding tank dumps and adding water. So after staying in Benson much longer than I wanted to I left this morning for a new camp. The only reason that I stayed in Benson was to reduce the distance that I had to drive getting to my VA appointments for the retina surgery followups and for the cataract surgeries. With any luck I'll not need to go to VA in Tucson again anytime soon and have no plans to stay in Benson again. If I'm not lucky then I may stay in Benson again but it will not be at the Red Barn RV Park. The reason for leaving a day early was I lost electric power at the pedestal yesterday afternoon around 4:30. I'll write more about this in my next posting.
Missive #66 Published 28 April 2023
This is a good book that provides a lot of background that explains the opioid epidemic in the United States. There was a eight episodes TV series based on the book that was shown in 2021 which probably got more attention than the book since people in the United States get most of the information/entertainment from TV rather than books. Recommended! I plan on reading more of Macy books.