How to Negotiate the Non-technical parts of Life

In years past, Shop and Home Economics were part of normal school life.  Now that those classes have become rarer, people are finding themselves in the real world without some of the basic life skills that those classes used to teach.

Here to fill in some of those gaps is The Useful Book by Sharon and David Bowers.  It is divided into two sections, color coded red for Home Ec and blue for Shop.

The first section covers the Home Ec part - Cooking, Sewing, Laundry & Clothing, Domestic Arts, and Life Skills.

• Cooking : Everything from the basic kitchen tools to identifying and handling lettuce as well as how to cook rice is covered.  
• Sewing : Begins with the basic skill of threading a needle and goes onto instruct readers on how to hem, repair holes in clothing, and even make a pillow.
• Laundry and Clothing : Instructs readers how to read and understand laundry labels, how to iron a shirt, and ends with learning how to fold a t-shirt the way you see them on retail shelves.
• Domestic Arts : Skills such as hand-washing dishes, mopping, removing gum from a rug, and Spring Cleaning.
• Life Skills : This chapter covers a variety of topics.  For example : making a household budget, setting a table for a formal dinner and stocking a first aid kit.

The second section is Shop - Domestic Repair, Woodworking & Metalworking, Plumbing, Electrical, and Mechanical.

• Domestic Repair : Contains topics such as hanging pictures, patching holes in a wall, and caulking a bathtub.
• Woodworking & Metalworking : This chapter suggests tools for around the home, how to determine board feet, building a bookcase, and even how to make earrings. 
• Plumbing : Suggests tools and shows how to deal with clogs, leaks, and basic troubleshooting of plumbing problems.
• Electrical : Shows a basic electrical repair tool kit and also details how to winterize your home, steps to take to cut your electric bill, and how to install a light fixture or ceiling fan.
• Mechanical : Suggests basic garage tools as well as what you should carry in your trunk.  Topics covered includes a variety of basic maintenance steps for both cars and motorcycles such as washing a vehicle, detailing, oil changes, repairing a minor dent, and changing out windshield wiper blades.

The Useful Book is well named and contains topics useful to anyone.

The Windows 10 Computer

     Thinking of buying a new computer for yourself or a loved one sometime soon? If you buy a PC (as opposed to a Mac) your new computer will probably run Windows 10 software. Want to know how to navigate this new operating system without pulling out your hair or crashing your machine? We can help with four new manuals specifically written to help you get to know and navigate Windows 10.

     Windows 10 Tips and Tricks by Guy Hart-Davis and Windows 10: Step by Step by Joan Lambert and Steve Lambert are both quick start guides for your new desktop, laptop, tablet, or convertible Windows 10 device. Both feature step-by-step instructions for working with your new programs and comprehensive indexes to help you find what you are looking for. They also offer full color photographs to make learning to navigate your device easier.

     If you would like more comprehensive instruction manuals for your Windows 10 device, then why not check out Windows 10 All-In-One for Dummies by Woody Leonhard or Windows 10: the Missing Manual by David Pogue. Neither of these have color photographs, but the information contained within them is more comprehensive so that you can really get to know your new device. From what features are new and different with Windows 10 to enhancing and personalizing Windows to meet your specific needs, you will find all of that and more in these two manuals.

New Books on the Newest Software and Internet Trends

We have added six new books from the For Dummies series to our collection thanks to a grant from the International Paper Foundation : Computers for Seniors, eBay, PC, Power Point 2016, Word 2016, and YouTube Channels.

As with all of the For Dummies series, the books lead the users step by step from the most basic interactions to the more advanced.  There are also videos and more step by step examples available by visiting Dummies.com.

New Cozy Mysteries You May Enjoy...

     I've read two new cozy mysteries in the past couple of weeks. Each one is part of an on-going series, but I think that both can be read out-of-order and the reader will be able to follow along with what is going on in the story.

 

   First, we have Books of a Feather: a Bibliophile Mystery by Kate Carlisle. This is the first book I've read from this series, but I did enjoy it and I've thought about going back and reading some of the other titles. Our protagonist, Brooklyn is a bookbinder by trade. She and her hunky and all-too-perfect security specialist fiance have just returned to their recently renovated San Francisco loft. When Brooklyn's friend and director of the Covington Library, Ian, invites her to a gala celebrating an exhibit of a copy of Birds of North America by John James Audubon, she has no idea the world of problems that are about to fall in her lap. The president of the local chapter of the National Birdwatcher's Society, Jared Mulrooney, approaches Brooklyn with a problem. It seems that Jared has spilled wine on a beautiful book of bird illustrations thought to also be an Audubon title. He wants her to clean it up and restore it the best she can before anyone at the birdwatcher's society can find out. Unfortunately, Jared turns up dead in a back room of the Covington shortly after handing Brooklyn the book. It's Brooklyn who finds the body. There is also the matter of the thief who keeps steeling rare and expensive books from her best friend's bookshop and the divorce proceedings in which Brooklyn must give expert testimony on an old book owned by a feuding couple. To top it all off, a homeless man thought to be her parents' friend gets murdered in Brooklyn's loft while the couple is out getting breakfast. What is a bibliophile to do? How about try to stay alive!

     The second book I've read lately is Survivors Will Be Shot Again: a Sheriff Dan Rhodes mystery by Bill Crider. I've read several books in this series and I've enjoyed each one. Crider populates this small Texas town with a number of characters that could be your own friends and neighbors. The book begins with Sheriff Rhodes contemplating whether or not to buy a Dr. Pepper on his afternoon off. He has boycotted the company ever since they decided to discontinue his beloved Dublin Dr. Pepper made with "real sugar." Just as he has decided not to break his boycott, a masked gunman enters the convenience store and demands money from the clerk. Rhodes has his Kal-Tec in his ankle holster, but opts to toss a loaf of bread at the would-be robber; distracting the man long enough to get him to the ground. So much for a break from police work! He then gets a call from the ornery dispatcher telling him that a local man has found a body in his barn. Rhodes goes out to investigate and thinks the man's death may be linked to a series of thefts in that part of Blacklin County. During the course of his investigations, Rhodes also finds several patches of marijuana, an alligator,another body, an alligator snapping turtle, and the usual line-up of suspicious characters. If her can just keep local professor Seepy Benton and Jennifer Loam, journalist and founder of the local news blog, out of the way long enough for him to do some proper investigation. I did happen to figure out who done it a little faster than usual, but, if you enjoy cozies, this is a definite must read series.