Finished reading: Remnant Population by Elizabeth Moon 📚

I wasn’t so sure on this book when I started it, but it turned around quick. I didn’t want to put it down, a fantastic read.

Finished reading: The Daughter of Doctor Moreau by Silvia Moreno-Garcia 📚

Not quite what I was expecting, but a solid read.

Gromit was a really good boy at the pet store today and came home with a new ball. He loves it.

Finished reading: Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett 📚

This was even more exciting that the first book. I look forward to book 3!

Finished reading: The House on the Borderland by William Hope Hodgson 📚

It’s always strange reading books from the 1900s, but this was a good sci-fi/horror story.

This weather is bullshit. I’d like to spend some time outside, and have it be nice out.

Finished reading: Ogre, Ogre by Piers Anthony 📚

Oh, the puns in these books.

How could you not love this squishy face! Gromit is settling in very well, we are all enjoying having a dog in the house again. Well except maybe one of the cats, Pearl isn’t a fan.

Finished reading: Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett 📚

This was a wonderful story, plenty of old folklore tales strewn throughout. I look forward to the sequel.

Finished reading: The Steerswoman by Rosemary Kirstein 📚

This was much better than I was expecting. I didn’t want to put it down. Sad that my library doesn’t have anymore of the series though.

Found an obnoxious flaw with forward parking sensors on our Telluride. We got a heavy snow squall, and the wet snow was building up on the front bumper. The car kept beeping and saying I was going to crash, and it’d turn the system back on every time I slowed down.

Finished reading: A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers 📚

Another fantastic Monk & Robot story. This was a wonderful whimsical story. I hope there will be more.

Finished reading: Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune 📚

I’m not sure what to say about this book. I enjoyed it, but it wouldn’t be something I’d want to read again. It was a roller coaster, it was hilarious then got sad. The ending was very sweet.

I did a speedtest. Spectrum doesn’t provide me with broadband anymore.

Gromit is settling in pretty well.

Finished reading: A Day of Fallen Night by Samantha Shannon 📚

Another fantastic epic story. A lovely prequel to Priory of an Orange Tree.

“I know you want to give me some of that delicious smelling food on your plate, look how cute I am!”

New addition to the family today. We adopted a 14 month old Saint Bernard/Golden Retriever. After an adoption attempt 2 weeks ago went south, we found this guy yesterday and brought him home this afternoon. He’s very sweet, but needs some leash training.

The most noticeable difference between the Telluride and the Outback, other than size, is the driving distance. The Outback we could easily do 450-500 miles on the highway. The Telluride is more like 350-400. Both have a 18.x gallon gas tank, but MPGs on the Outback are considerably better.

Finished reading: Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree 📚

A wonderful prequel to Legends and Lattes.

It feels good when you completely destroy the EPA’s highway mileage rates. Our new Telluride is rated for 24 highway, but I managed 27.6MPG through the mountains of Virginia and Pennsylvania to the NY border. And no, I wasn’t trying to hypermile.

New car day! Time to upsize the family vehicle.

We’ve been a single car family for almost 10 years now, and for the last 7 we’ve had a Subaru Outback. It’s a wonderful car, but we are hitting space limitations on weekend trips with two young children. Plus I’m traveling to the office 2 hours away once in a while. We’ve finally decided on a car, and after tomorrow, we’ll have 2 cars in the driveway again.

Do we need something with 3 rows with only 2 children? No, but there aren’t any 2 row vehicles with more cargo space than an Outback. The extra space will be very welcome on road trips, and when we get another dog, it’ll fit in the car also.

The one feature we are most looking forward to though is the memory seat so we can just press a button to move the seat. A feature that will be used often, since there is a 16in height difference between the two of us.

Finished reading: Artificial Condition by Martha Wells 📚

I love Murderbot. These are fantastic stories.

We have had our new Wink Bed mattress for almost 3 weeks. It’s awful. We aren’t waking up from debilitating pain from a dead memory foam mattress, but we are still waking up hurt and uncomfortable. I can feel the transition between extra lumbar support and regular support in the middle of my back.