Game of Thrones

"M'lord."

"M'lday."

"Are you wearing smallclothes?"

Silence.

And that's how it is in our house right now. The next selection in the Uncle Mike* Book Club has overtaken our entire family. Both White Grandparents, The Good Doctor, and I am reading "Game of Thrones" simultaneously on multiple electronic devices. 

We don't talk anymore. We just read. All I hear right now as I write this post is the sound of The Good Doctor's mouth breathing. He's using the iPad "we didn't need."

In case you're not familiar, "Game of Thrones" is a series of books that is also now a series on HBO. Written by George R.R. Martin, it's a little Lord of the Rings meets medieval times with a sprinkling of supernatural. None of those are particularly genres that I'm in love with, but I read a great piece in Time about the HBO series and when it premiered, I casually turned to The Good Doctor and was like, "I'm about to rock your world right now," and I OnDemanded his ass into the first episode.

HOOKED.

HBO is just on season one with 2 more episodes to go. I'm currently on Book 3, the 5th book comes out next month, and the final book in a few more years.

I am going to be very sad when I finish the series but I will continue getting medieval on my husband.  

*Emmy's uncle, not mine. I have to clarify because some readers were asking me about my Uncle Mike. People, I came here on a boat. I don't have any Uncle "Mikes." Uncle Dung, yes. Uncle Hai, yes. Uncle Peter, Paul and Mary, no.

Ooh Ooh Ooh, A Bear, A Bear, A Bear

So we're all enjoying a fine morning in Tahoe when we hear a bird? A squirrel? Some small animal shrieking in the trees loudly.

SHRIEEEEEEK!

A few seconds...

SHRIEEEEEEK!

...

SHRIEEEEEEK!

...

SHRIEEEEEEK!

I'm still rubbing the sleep from my eyes because everyone else is so WIDE AWAKE in The Good Doctor's family at the crack of dawn. I like my ZZZZZZ's.

At that random moment, White Grandma decides to peek out and see what little critter is making that SHRIEEEEEEKing noise.

Suddenly she whips around to the rest of us, points out the window and whispers excitedly, "Ooh ooh ooh, a bear, a bear, a bear!"

God Bless America, The Good Doctor happened to be fumbling around with my camera, when does he EVER have my camera, so we're locked and loaded as we run over to the window. He snapped this shot through the screen.

And then of course I gently snatched the camera from his slender fingers and we followed the bear to the next window and I shot this video.

That voice you hear in the background saying, "It's not THAT big. I could totally wrestle that bear" is Emmy's Uncle Mike. Who, by the way, is usually quite mentally sound and an excellent recommender of books. ("The Passage." OMG READ IT NOW. So. Good.) Sure he could wrestle that 500 pound bear. Meanwhile, we've stopped making fun of White Grandpa for carrying bear pepper spray that comes in a cute mini fire extinguisher bottle, perfect for accessorizing with on long hikes!

Good job Panasonic Lumix! HD video with a wicked zoom lens got the job done. My first bear sighting in the wild! And he walked right by my Prius. To think, had that bear ambled along in that area just an hour before, he would've come upon three bite sized dogs and a small Asian woman who would've just crapped her pajama pants.

Next time we hear SHRIEEEEEEK! we're running to the windows. It's Squirrelese for "There's motherf***ing bears in the motherf***ing yard!"

Uncle Mike

Emmy is so funny around her Uncle Mike. She always gives him this little bashful smile and then buries her head in my shoulder or looks away. As if she can't bear to keep looking at this bearded man or else she will actually laugh or enjoy herself too much.