Procrastination and other diversions

Well, I am not reading enough books this month to keep on pace for my 100 books goal. But I did just finish a book today and am ready to start a new one, but I am here instead, hence the procrastination in the title of this post. I do, however, have seven books checked out from two different libraries, so have plenty of reading material sitting on my bookcase. One will get started shortly. I do love reading a good book!

And on the note of good books, I also love listening to a good book when it's read well. And a book that is only available as an audio book? Well that thought was intriguing, and what made it even more intriguing to me was that it is the story of Macbeth. Yes, Shakespeare's Macbeth. Now, I love Shakespeare. Love. Him. Usually I don't want anyone messing with his stuff. But after I listened to a snippet of this book on Audible.com, I was hooked. It is read by Alan Cumming, and let me tell you, that Scottish brogue just makes me melt. The story is now nearly 10 hours long, rather than the just about 3 hours of the play. So much really awesome backstory and great detail you don't get when all you are reading is dialogue. Think of it as all the stuff you might see on a set or stage, but in finely wrought detail.

We've also had other diversions that have kept me from getting quite as much reading time in. Like a tornado. Yes, it was way too close for comfort. Like a half-mile away from my house. Luckily all we have to show for it is a (nearly dry) partially flooded basement after a few hours of no power and therefore no sump pump.

Here is the track the tornado took on Saturday, April 14. The link will take you to an interactive map of the tornado that the Wichita office of the National Weather Service posted on its site. Amazing really. And even more amazing is that no one was killed or seriously hurt in that tornado. There sure was some significant damage around the area though.

Here's just an example (photo from Kansas.com gallery of aerial photos of damage):

I tell you, it makes me feel like a little flooding is nothing, and it really is.

On the yarn front, nothing new is happening now. I really do need to get the toes on my socks finished so I can put a picture of them here. And that shawl I started what feels like ages ago. And probably at least a couple of those other projects that are sitting in my basket unfinished. As soon as I get anything finished, I promise to put photos of it here.

I guess I don't have any more photos to share today. That kind of makes me sad. Unless I can see if there is something I took a picture of and don't remember and can share it with you just for fun. Let's see . . .

OK! This is a good one. Typical thunderhead building in the Kansas sky.

And while scrolling through those photos, I did find one more recent diversion. I still occasionally pick up a shift at the newspaper where I worked as a copy editor. One day recently (a couple of weeks ago) I had just gotten into the newsroom, sat down and logged in, when we were told there was a fire in the building and we had to get out. Well, there were no fire alarms going off in the building, so how could that be? Come to find out, they were going off — in the basement and the first floor press room, but not the second or third floors. Oops. We got out and what with the fire danger of a newspaper building on fire with all that paper and ink and all kinds of flammable materials (you should see those reporters' desks!) there were a whole lot of fire engines that reported to the scene. At least 12 I believe, and at least 25 firefighters. Here are the two we saw in the back of the building:

I guess that's enough excitement for the month of April. Can I hope it ends on a quieter note?