Cleaning Up

Yesterday was a good day.  The weather was very, very nice.  The temp went up into the mid 70's (F).  Warm temps mean the back door stands wide open; the dogs go in and out at their own whimsy.  I cleaned up along the side of the house and started clearing away the winter debris from the back corner of the fence, filling 2 big 30 gallon bags.  I took pictures.  Here's one.

That's my hill behind the fence.  It's very steep.  My land extends another 25 feet back from the top of the hill.  One of these years I'll have someone come in and clear away the scruff, run a pathway up, and extend the fence.  My yard is large, it's a good selling point, the hill, unfortunately, is not.
And I saw where Joe Biden is having what they're calling an 'Al Franken moment.'  An assemblywoman from Nevada is claiming he kissed the back of her head.  She claims she was mortified.  When you look at the horror stories which have surfaced as a result of the #metoo movement, when you look at what Al Franken was accused of... groping a lot of buttocks (he's evidently an ass man) these accusations are enough to make you wonder.  Biden's accuser talks about getting justice... and I'm thinking, wait a minute, she did not have a Brett Kavanaugh moment.  He did not throw her down on the bed and drunkenly try and rape her.  For those who don't know, Joe Biden is a touchy-feely kind of guy.  He touches everybody, and not just women, he touches men too, lays his hands on their arms or shoulders, and even knees.  Google it.  There are literally thousands and thousands of pictures of Joe Biden touching people.  Instead of writing about how 'mortified' she felt, she should have searched for pictures of 'Joe Biden kissing women on the tops of their heads.'  Is a touchy-feely Joe Biden a problem?  Well, for some I'd say that answer is probably yes.  Is his being touchy-feely a reason vilify him?  No.  If he gets the Democratic nomination for president they're going to have to decide?  Vote for Joe, or possibly endure another 4 years of the morally degenerate Idiot Jerk in the White House.  Think about it.  Oh, and I just saw that Lucy Flores, the woman behind the accusations, is a Bernie Sanders supporter.

Grazing

Well, it's Saturday and my first of 3 days off in a row.  I'm stoked.  Yard work gets done today: the raking of the leaves, the pulling of the early weeds, and the cutting up of the branches.  The Temp is supposed to hit the mid 70's so there's a good possibility I will also start 'the wearing of the shorts.'  If my year were to be categorized by my clothing selections it would fall into 2 seasons:  Sweatpants Season, and Shorts Season.  Comfort is essential, everything is loose and baggy.
I stepped on the scale this morning.   Holy Shit!  I am up 5 lbs.  Not that I'm really surprised since last week we had our Success Sharing party at work - food all weekend... and into the middle of the week.  This past Wednesday our Northern Divisional President walked the store and... as you might expect, they brought in more food.  Unfortunately, I have been cursed with the ability to graze.  That's right!  The dirty, little truth is that I am a grazer.  Never take me to a buffet.  My definition of smorgasbord is more goes in... my mouth.  For a grazer, I've had a really great 3 weeks.  Now I must face the ugly truth... calories count.  Shit.  To make things even worse, when I graze I also turn into a sloth... 

The grazing zone

Of course, I'm not alone, everyone else at the store has been munching away.  Unlike most of them, I will do something about it.  Cardio is fun!!

And isn't Brexit turning into a big cluster fuck?  Blame those damn conservatives, the ones who said "this is going to be easy" (wrong).  You know?  The ones who promised the UK would leave the EU "on our own terms" (wrong).  Boy, did those conservatives sell the British people a bundle of shit.  The Idiot Jerk in the White House is anxiously waiting for Brexit to happen.  His administration is already looking forward to the 'great, trade deals.'  Yo!  Britons!  In case you didn't know, the Idiot Jerk's definition of a fair trade deal is to "take you to the cleaners."  When he and his minions say 'fair deal,' what they're really saying is "what's in it for me."  They don't care about setting up an equitable trade accord with the UK.  If you give him the chance, he will bankrupt you.

  

Mine's red

Once again Friday happens to be the last day of my work week.  Starting tomorrow I have three days off and I'm hoping to get a number of yard work chores scratched off the list.  The temp is predicted to hit the mid 70's... of course, then it's going to drop back down to a more seasonal upper 40's to mid 50's.  That's fine.  Nights are not supposed to be dropping below freezing.  This is a good thing.
I have a Nikon Coolpix B500 camera.

I have a red one because... well... I like red

  It's nice.  Nikon wants me to store my pictures in the 'cloud.'  Of course, I don't use their 'cloud," mine are stored on my tablet.  I don't want to have my 40,000 dog pictures floating around in their 'cloud.'  I don't want to have to sign into their 'cloud' to look at them.  Anyway, Nikon decided this camera was not going to rely on my USB cables, not a very smart decision. You see, there's a firmware update...  To do this update, I need to download the files on one of my laptops, take the memory card out of the camera and put it into the laptop, transfer the files to the memory card, reinsert the memory card into the camera and turn it on.  After the update is complete, I will need to take the memory card out of the camera, reinsert it into the laptop and delete the update file before inserting the memory card back into the camera. Son of a bitch!
I saw that the Idiot Jerk in the White House had a rally in Michigan last night.  Believe it or not, I watched about 2 minutes of a replay this morning, volume turned down of course, it's better that way.  His screechy voice makes my skin crawl.  The visual was enough.  This is a man who is seething with rage.  His white base loves and shares his hatred.  Oh, and white is the correct adjective.  I saw one black person, and he was with security.  In 2020 1/3 of the voters in America will be a minority.  Their skin will be brown, or black.  Some will have high cheekbones.  Some will wear hijabs.  We need to insure that not only are minorities registered to vote (they need to start registering now), we need to insure they go to the polls.  This is how evolution happens.  You know, survival of the fittest.
Since the temps are supposed to remain above freezing, this is the weekend I'm going to start my planting.  I've got cantaloupe and squash seeds ready to go in the ground.  And poppies.  And black sunflowers... for something new.  Leaves are budding on my nectarine and peach trees.  I don't know whether I'll get fruit this year or not.  Time will tell.

Intimate Moments

It's Thursday.  After tomorrow I'll have 3 days off in a row, back to work for 2 and then another 2 days off.  The Jury Duty thing really screwed up my schedule: I worked 5 days, had one day off to go sit in Carlisle to see if I was going to get selected, and then I had to work for another 5 days... in a row.  Crappy, ain't it?
I thought I'd talk a little about intimacy.  Many see no further than the euphemistic definition.  For them it is all about the sex and nothing more.  If it were only about sex, then you could say the Idiot Jerk in the White House shared an intimate moment with Stormy Daniels.  Now, isn't that quaint?However, that personal viewpoint does not quite jive with the actual definition which defines intimacy as a "close, personal relationship," and "belonging together."  Intimacy fosters "warmth, closeness, and trust."  When something happens to your spouse, or your husband, or your partner, or your wife, you don't think about those moments of hot sex.  Rather it's those non-sexual moments that flood your mind, those times when a simple gesture, or look, or laugh binds your hearts together.  This is why I don't write about sex.  My characters are in relationships that don't depend upon getting laid to survive.  I bring this up because yesterday at work I was asked if Eli and Max will ever have sex.  My response was "oh, they have it all the time, I'm just not writing about it."  If they were real people, thirty years from now, what do you think they'd remember?  The hot sex, or that time when Max stitched up a gash in Eli's knee and asked "do you want the scar hanging to the left, or to the right?"
Anyway, it seems as though about half of the voting public realizes that William Barr did exactly what the Idiot Jerk in the White House and the crooked Republican Senate wanted him to do:  muzzle the Mueller report.  Perhaps we should take a page from their playbook and start shouting "lock 'em up!"  I'm sure everybody would be waiting breathlessly for McConnell to write about his intimate moments in Cell Block 3... Wait a minute.  We're talking about McConnell here, there wouldn't be any intimate moments... And the idea of him writing about hot sex in the shower is... Don't even go there.
 Back when I was in the Navy, I worked with surface radar.  I tracked boats, and ships that came within 25 miles in the Combat Information Center.  We called it CIC.  Air radar tracked planes and helicopters.  A friend mine posted a picture from CIC of the air tracking stations.  This is what it looked like.

Yeah, those are the terminals we worked at, though this pic is more recent.  I can tell you, surface was a lot darker.

The long list

Okay, so today is Wednesday and for a change it is my hump day.  With that being said, I have to ask "just what the hell is going on with the Jussie Smollet shit storm?"  From what I can tell, the dismissal of the charges against him and the expunging of them from his record seem revolve totally around 'technicalities.'  Something like: he wasn't going to get a fair trial because of all the information the Chicago police department released to the public.  Let me think about this.  Evidence was presented to a Grand Jury.  They decided he should be indicted because of this evidence.  Now the District Attorney's office & Jussie's attorney's have put their heads together and come to the conclusion a fair trial was no longer possible so they are... wiping the slate clean.  Excuse me, but this is the same defense the Idiot Jerk in the White House is going to use once he finally gets indicted.  So, will he get his slate wiped clean?  If I were a producer, I would not hire Jussie Smollet.  This kind of shit show is going to follow him for the rest of his life, from job, to job, to job.
So, let's move from that shit show to another shit show, the one revolving around the Idiot Jerk in the White House.  You see he wanted a conservative Attorney General who was going to wipe the slate clean when Mueller released his report.  The Republican Senate wanted this, too.  This is exactly what William Barr did with the Obstruction of Justice charges.  Feeling vindicated, the crazies on the right are going to attack everything they can in order to feed their base.  They are going to try and kick the shit out of every dead horse they see.  What they totally fail to realize is in the court of public opinion, nothing has changed.  The only people who like him are... Republicans, and who are Republicans?  Older white people, Crazy Christians, and white supremacists.
One thing they totally don't get is that they are a... minority group.  There are more Democrats than Republicans, more open minded white people than narrow minded crazies.  Keep in mind, however, that minority group will attempt to disenfranchise as many sane Americans as possible.  If your skin is a little too dark... you're on their list.  If you're a single mother... you're on their list.  If you prefer a same sex relationship... you're on their list.  If you believe freedom of religion is important... you're on their list.  If you believe a woman has the right to choose... you're on their list.  Believe me, their list is long.  Do they care about human beings?  Absolutely not.  As I've said before, it's time we Americans teach them a lesson.

High Hate Mode

Well, my Jury Duty is over.  One day, that was it.  The same thing happened the last time I received a Jury summons.  There were 40 cases in the docket yesterday morning.  By 4 PM (EST) there were 0.  And it turned out that it wasn't Civil Court, it was Criminal Court - that's right, these crimes were about warrants and arrests.
A brief interruption in my exposition for Karma.  I was sitting in the Jury Selection room, minding my own business, when I suddenly recognized a woman walking across from me.  I worked with her for 5 years at the Carlisle store.  She sat down and we talked.  We were both selected for the same jury.  She no longer works in retail and now turns old pieces of furniture into Martini Bars.  Her husband's a retired postal worker.  There was a purpose that connection needed to be reestablished so I'm going to say it was Karma.
Anyway, along with 33 other people, we were both chosen to sit through the jury selection process, but there were delays.  After standing outside Courtroom 5 for about 10 minutes, they move our group into Courtroom 2, where we waited for about an hour.  All they told us was that something blew up in the Pre-Trial arguments.  In they end, they moved us back to the selection room where we were told the defendant had decided to 'cop a plea,' (my words, they were more diplomatic).  We were told this happens quite often, in fact in 25 of those 40 cases defendants chose to plead guilty rather than let a jury decide.  Ten of the cases got a 'continuance' and will go to trial later.  Two decided to skip the jury and let the Judge decide guilt or innocence.  Out of the 40 cases on the docket, on 3 actually went to trial.  There are no other trials scheduled for this week, so I get to go back to work today.  Shit.
In regard to the Mueller disappointment, I do believe this decision will work against the Idiot Jerk in the White House.  He, and the Republican Party, and the White Evangelicals have already transitioned into "High Hate Mode."  Remember Bill Clinton?  He beat George H and they went into "High Hate Mode" and as a result he easily won a 2nd term.  They are going to take their dicey little knives after everybody.  They are going to be out for revenge, and America is going to watch them attack, and attack, and attack.  They will try and disenfranchise as many as possible... and fail, they same way they did with Bill Clinton.  They are a minority group who are more comfortable in "High Hate Mode."  This is what makes them ugly.  This is what people will vote against.

Blue

It's Monday.  My stint on Jury Duty begins this morning.  Will it be a long week... or short.  The last time I was there for only one day.  Everything depends upon the number of Civil Court cases pending for this week.  I have a funny feeling I will be going back tomorrow to sit and wait in the 'jury selection room.'  The last time all I had was my phone and I'm not one of those who enjoys reading articles on a tiny screen.  Today "The Body in the Tower" is going with me... and a highlighter.
And, of course, Mueller dropped the other shoe and the Attorney General appointed by the Idiot Jerk in the White House chose not to tie up the laces.  Now, I know there are many who believe collusion was a foregone conclusion.  The report apparently states the Idiot Jerk did not actively seek assistance of the Russians even though they were apparently offering help.  This does not mean there wasn't an 'unofficial' agreement in place, sort of an 'I'll scrub your back, you scrub mine' sort of acknowledgment going on between the Idiot Jerk and Moscow.  He's a business man, remember, and as such has no problem with things being handled 'under the table,' so to speak.  He handles everything the way he handles his taxes, from a crooked corner of his life.
The minute Barr released his summary the Idiot Jerk's minions and spawn popped on their little, red hats and started doing the MAGA Dance, as though this is going to change anything.  No way.  His approval rating isn't going to start climbing the charts.  Halfway through his presidency, everybody knows just where the Moral Degenerate, the Idiot Jerk in the White House stands when it comes to racism and white supremacy.  People see an ego seething with anger when ever someone else gets the respect he, himself is denied.  He is an ugly, fat man deserving nothing, representing his MAGA Party, a group that also deserves nothing... and expects everything.  The American voters need to deflate this pompous bag of wind.  We need to defeat the Crazy Conservatives who seek to destroy everything normal.  Our only option is to vote Blue.  Stand up.  Be Counted.  Let's drive these beasties back under the rocks from which they crawled.

Sit on this

Sunday morning.  This is the last day of my work week.  Tomorrow I start my Jury Duty.  I'm so excited... well, that may not be precisely the exact work.  I've never actually sat on a jury though I have endured the selection process.  A very tedious time was had by all.  Evidently there are classes for attorneys which help them profile potential jurors.  I learned last time that frowning at the prosecuting attorney pretty much sets your course towards rejection, of course, the opposite is also true.  As cynical as I am, I will no doubt grimace several times.  This is what happens when you work in retail and constantly deal with customers who just out and out lie.
And I do know about customers.  Yesterday I rather robust woman stopped by the flooring desk.  She was looking for a specific Dyson, a $700 Dyson, and while we carry that particular vacuum online, it is not in the store.  That was not what she wanted to hear.  She gave me a salty little sneer and said "Well, I guess I'm going to have to go to Lowes."  She thought she was jamming a nasty little barb into my retail heart, having to go to a competitor.  She failed.  Customers regularly use this threat when they we don't carry what they're looking for... like a purple toilet seat.  We usually smile and say "go right ahead."

Not in our store

Now I'm sure the Idiot Jerk in the White House has something like this... though probably in gold.  Can't you just picture something all sparkling under his ass?

We may get an inkling or two from the Mueller investigation today.  I know some were a little peeved that there were no more forthcoming indictments.  Let's be honest here, you can't indict someone for being a dumb fuck, which is the perfect description of not only the Idiot Jerk, but of his spawn as well.  They're loud, and they're vulgar, and all of them have an IQ on par with being a cretin.  As either Donnie Jr, or Eric a question and their first response is a vacant stare.

The first reader is going to get "The Body in the Tower" today.  She will also get a highlighter and an ink pen.  Her job is to look for things that don't quite jive in the continuity of the story line, to ensure I haven't strayed into some strange little literary tangent having nothing to do with subject, or where the exposition becomes overtly flowery.

The many facets of 'duh'

Well, it's Saturday morning and I had the alarm set for 5 AM... and the dogs got me up a little after 4...  this is how it goes sometimes.  They don't realize that when I leave the house for work I'm not going to some cushy place to take a nap, which is precisely what they will do.
One of my fellow flooring associates had a family emergency in San Diego.  That means today it's just going to be... me, on a Saturday, our busiest day of the week.  Don't that make my day?  Tomorrow I'll have a part-timer helping.
The Mueller investigation is complete, for those who have been living under a rock.  The big news?  No new indictments, but then you can't indict a sitting president.  He needs to be out of office for that to happen.  Interestingly enough, Kellyanne's husband says this is the real reason the Idiot Jerk is running for re-election.  The second our new Democratic president is sworn in the Idiot Jerk's head is on the chopping block, as are the heads of his spawn.  Prepare now for a massive exodus.
And, of course, everyone is laughing at Devin Nunes... that asswipe.  This guy needs to be exiled to the "Forest of No Return."
A couple of writers at the LA Times have started wondering if both the Republican Party and Faux News are beginning to realize they have entered a morally degenerate place.  Believing their thesis depends upon whether you accept the Senate's rebuke on the Idiot Jerk's national emergency and the suspension of that racist Pirro by Faux News as events of substance.  They might be... on the right track.  I suspect both the GOP and Faux News are beginning to understand something is wrong, unfortunately at this point they still think their problems are superficial.  They are really good at swallowing their own lies... they've been doing it for years... and years.
Today they're going to be bringing lots of food in to the store as part of our Success Sharing.  They started handing out our checks out yesterday.  I have Direct Deposit so mine will go right in the bank.   However, there were four who desperately needed to get their hands on their check.  Not surprisingly, they also voted for the Idiot Jerk in the White House.  Greed, you know?  One of them complained about the taxes.  Because I am who I am, I responded by saying, "if you know what you're doing, you will get that tax back in the spring."  He sat there, a clueless look on his face, the look of someone who voted for the Idiot Jerk in the White House.  More and more we seem to be seeing that look so easy to summarize in one word:  "duh"

So, how long is that thing?

Well, it's Friday.  For me, this is the hump day of my week.  Next week I have Jury Duty.  Who knows how that's going to go.  The last time I went through the selection process twice, and failed to get selected.  This is for Civil Court, not Criminal.  As I've said before, my belief is that most of these civil cases arise from individuals who feel they are "owed."  Now I'm not saying that there are times when there are legitimate claims involved, but too many times I feel the emphasis is less on restitution and more on greed.
For those who are interested, here's the First Draft of "The Body in the Tower, A novel of mystery and suspense."

At present the word count is around 81,000 and it prints off at 172 pages. Now is when I start stroking my creativity.  A rub here and a squeeze there and it will grow... bigger.  If you're into size comparisons, right now this book is almost 10,000 words longer than the first.  This is the fun part, you know?  Playing around with it until it explodes!  You know?  At the climax?  (That is a literary term for those who might think otherwise.)

And yesterday the Idiot Jerk in the White House decided, since he believes himself to be the supreme ruler of the United States, to recognize the Golan Heights as part of Israel.  Isn't it interesting how the Conservatives jumped all over comments by Rashida Tlaib and then do exactly what she said they were doing, putting loyalty to Israel above everything else.  And just to make sure the world understood this, Mike Pompeo basically used Upper Case letters to say God had sent the Idiot Jerk in the White House to save Israel.  Holy Shit!  These people have taken their selfish little beliefs and wrapped them so tightly around their heads rationality has disappeared.  The fact that their actions may lead to wars doesn't even occur to them.  In their minds, they can do what ever they want because they're special... they've been chosen, and it is all about that last word: chosen.

They are going to get very ugly when they realize they have not been... chosen.  We can see that already in their desperate actions.  They will fight evolution tooth and nail... and will, as always... fail.  Hold on tight.  Their judgment is coming.

Words

Okay, so it's Thursday morning and I'm sitting here eating my oatmeal.  We're going to be getting some rain today... maybe a lot.  That's fine, as long as it doesn't turn to ice.  The dogs hate ice.
It's that time of year when my massive retail home improvement chain hands out bonus checks to every associate.  Our store was number one for the last 6 months of the fiscal year.  To help celebrate, my store is throwing a Back Yard Barbecue this weekend, both Saturday and Sunday.  Free food is always well appreciated.
New Zealand passed a superior piece of gun control legislation.  They are banning nearly all semi-automatic weapons.  To do so was relatively easy because New Zealand doesn't have a bunch of crazies who have sanctified guns.  In New Zealand the lives of human beings are much more important than the ability to own any, and every, lethal weapon you want.  Will we, in this country, ever learn... someday... after the Conservatives are ousted from power.
 And what about the Idiot Jerk and his followers whining about how he never got a Thank You after John McCain's funeral?  Yes sirree, he has fans who are shrieking almost as loud as he is about this, believing it's a sign of disrespect.  Holy Shit!  They are talking about the Idiot Jerk in the White House here, a man who show absolutely no respect to anybody.  Even when he's pumping phony praise towards someone you can tell he's lying through his teeth... or maybe I should say dentures.  In fact, the more he rants about McCain, the more George Conway appears to have nailed the perfect diagnosis on his mental state.  What's funny is that there are a number of medical professionals out there who have come to the same conclusion:  The Idiot Jerk in the White House is nuttier than a rabid squirrel.
Okay, and we have the associate at work who is a very nice individual.  Commons sense, however, sometimes flees when this person starts to talk.  Yesterday, while a number of us were in the lunchroom, this person was watch the weather channel on the big screen TV and suddenly turned to everybody and said, "you know?  we'd all be a lot safer if we lived behind a dike."  This, of course, is the image which flashed through all of our heads.

Of course, this is what she was really talking about.

Rate this

Today is the first day of Spring!  Right now, the Temp outside is 29 (F).  That's a chilly -1.6 (C)  Of course, let's be honest, 29 (F) is still a bit too cool to be running around in a T-Shirt and shorts.
I got a really good cardio in yesterday.

You might have to touch it with your mouse to make it grow

Having some free time yesterday, I did a little digging into the declining approval ratings of the Idiot Jerk in the White House - I was spurred on by his claim that he was at 52%...   Sean Hannity must be feeding him numbers again from the bullshit grading scale.

Gallup has him sitting at a solid 39%.  That's not as low as he's been, that was an approval rating of 37%.  Yet he says his approval ratings are high... I mean, can we talk about fake numbers here?  The funny thing is that back in January even Faux News was ringing the alarm bell.  Of course, in his world of superfluous bullshit those numbers can't be right.  In his mind, people love him.  Keep in mind, he is mentally ill.  He has some sort of narcissistic specialty disease which cause him to constantly lie about how important he is even in the face of the truth,

An interesting statistic these polls point out, even the one from Faux News, is that his base is eroding.  His approval rating from Evangelical Christians has dropped from 78% to 69%, and they are the highest group of religious supporters.  Only 30% of Catholics approve.  This might be one of the reasons he went to church this past weekend.  However, I suspect sitting in a pew and being scolded by a minister on 'hate speech' must have burned his ass.  He no doubt thought his ears were going to ring with praise.  Oh, dear me, was he disappointed.

As for me, I have to go to work today.  Five days in a row.  Shit.  And then I have Jury Duty for at least one day. 

Oh, and I saw where USC is not letting those students who bribed their way in register for classes.  Boy, that must really piss off the Loughlin clan.  They didn't spend half a million in bribes to be treated like everybody else.

Okay, who cut the cheese.

Happy Tuesday morning people!  Now that yesterday's sleepfest is over, I'm raring to go!  Lots of shit planned for for today.
My appointment is set up for my 'consultation' regarding the mole.  June 4, is the soonest I can get in.  They are not too concerned about it, so neither am I.  As time goes on it looks less angry.  Still, I will have them remove it just to be on the safe side.
The gent doing my editing is giving me back pages which need correcting.  Holy Shit!  He is finding so many little... flaws.  He doesn't like my use of the word 'and.'  I, like it.  So, we had a bit of a discussion about my 'style,' and how 'and' helps define my 'style,' and how I like how those three letters join subjects, or phrases, or statements together.  Hence, the 'ands' are staying.
And I understand from AM and Bob that the Idiot Jerk put in an appearance at church this past Sunday.  That's what?  Three times since he's been president?  And I'm not counting that time he sat like a grumpy toad at the Bush funeral.  You know, when everyone looked at him as though he'd just cut the cheese?

Perhaps he went to church because he needed to take a break from his hate-filled Twitter storm.  I found the fact that he brought up the 'dossier' again rather telling.  My guess is that something in it must have been verified.  Even more telling was Megan McCain calling him pathetic.  Maybe she doesn't know that in regards to the Idiot Jerk, 'pathetic' is a minor compliment.
Since they're not going to be doing the 'mole' thing until June, I will be doing my Jury Duty on Monday.  The last time I didn't get picked and was only there for one day.  Hopefully the same thing will happen again this time.  This is Civil, not Criminal.  This means someone is suing someone else because they feel they are owed.  At least, that's what I think. 

Shaving it off

I slept late this morning.
And then I went downstairs and did... nothing.  This is one of those do nothing days.  Later this afternoon I will turn my brisket into something delectable.  No, I don't use cabbage with my corned beef.
The report is back on my little mole.  They call it a papule.  They don't think it's anything I need to worry about, but they want to biopsy it anyway.  That's right.  They're shaving it off.  That's how they put it.  When I called to make an appointment to have it shaved off I was told that the request is still pending and they will most likely give me a call tomorrow.  I have no doubt that they're going to want to shave it off next week, when I'm supposed to have Jury Duty.  Prepping for such an event, I've already sent the Jury Duty contact an email.
Boy, didn't the Idiot Jerk in the White House flip out yesterday over Jeanine Pirro's suspension?  He loves his racists, you know?  He desperately wants the world to know how much he hates Muslims... unless they happen to be Royal and are very, very wealthy.  The New Zealand shooter likes the Idiot Jerk's view of Muslims... though said he's a terrible leader.  Isn't it funny how the White House is trying to put as much distance as possible between the Idiot Jerk's comments and what happened in New Zealand, while at the same time defending Pirro's anti-Muslim rant.... 
My cardio yesterday was super.  How good?  They look at your average heart rate and give you a recovery time.  My recovery time was 22 hours.  The stronger your heart gets, the lower your recovery time.  That's why it's called Cardio.

Celebrating your brisket

Sunday morning, and I slept in... even the dogs slept in... until 0600.  I do feel rested.  Yesterday was hectic at work... lots of customers.  My sales were good.  One of my customers bought over $8600 in carpet.  My numbers are going to be fine for next week.  On the way home I stopped off and picked up a ham Stromboli... and ate it... and felt like a bloated cow afterwards.
This morning I'm going to drive to Carlisle to find the parking garage for my jury duty.  The last time I got there late and had to park on the street.  They don't compensate you for that.  This time I'll get there earlier.  I'll also be taking the first draft with me and editing that throughout the boring, boring day... unless I get selected.
Quite a few Democrats want to be contenders in the race to evict the Idiot Jerk from the White House...  many of them are finding little or no traction, like Amy Klobuchar and Kirsten Gillibrand and Cory Booker.  This is Democracy at work.  Anybody can run for president.  Anyone of them can win the nomination, many will be cut from the venture by public opinion.  The only candidate, the one who's still not running, the Republicans fear is Joe Biden.  While Joe embodies "Family Values," they will stick with their Moral Degenerate.  Think about that.  "Family Values."  Those 2 words were always burbling out of their lips and now you never hear them.  Now it seems all they talk about is immigration, and keeping immigrants out of the country, and bans on Muslims entering the country.  They follow a Moral Degenerate who only vaguely denounces white supremacy.  By 2045 white people in the United States will only make up 49.7% of the population.  The changes in diversity will become much more apparent much, much sooner.  This evolutionary process terrifies them.  Everything they have been telling themselves about how special they are is... wrong.  There's no truth there.  And like the truth, they are turning away from their claims of family values in a losing bid to maintain control.  Their failure is a guarantee.  Now, ain't that tough shit.
And, finally, today is St. Patrick's day.  For those who don't know, I am part Irish.  That's right.  On my mother's side of the family.  The Grangers came from Ireland.  This means there is some ginger in my jeans... I mean genes.  That's right, I like corned beef.  You could say that I'm a bit of brisket eater.  In fact, I have one soaking right now... brisket that is.  Later today I will turn my brisket into something joyous.  For those who don't know how, you should really learn how to celebrate your brisket.  Let me tell you, it is a wondrous thing!

Men on Bikes

Yesterday the temperature reached 76 (F).  Of course, I was working.  The skies were clear and blue and I was sitting at the Flooring Desk.  Don't that suck?  When I got home I opened the back door and left the dogs out.  When the temperature is that warm I usually leave the back door open.  The dogs love it.  So do flies.  A little after 6 (PM) a very large fly flew in.  Dogs do not know the difference between a big fly and a little bird.  Excitement was in the air.  You have no idea what funny is until you've seen Big Seig snapping at a fly zooming past his face.
Yesterday, the Idiot Jerk in the White House vetoed the bill aimed at shutting down his Emergency Declaration.  His Idiotic white base loved it.  They see him standing for white supremacy values.  If you tell them their white values are racist they'll stomp their feet and shriek "no they're not!"  They are a desperate group of people who hate the truth science reveals.  If Evolution is happening, then their core beliefs are broken.  Unfortunately for them, this late in the game, it is far too late for those core beliefs to... evolve.  They do not understand the life preserver they are clinging to is waterlogged and will only drag them down.  Nothing is going to change that fact.
In "The Body in the Tower" I talk about the peloton.  For those who do not know, the peloton is the main body of cyclists in a race.  Breakaways happen when a few cyclists ride ahead of that main group.  Since they are pedaling at speeds of around 25 to 30 miles per hour, helicopters are used to film the peloton.  Here's a shot of the peloton taken this past Monday during the Paris : Nice race.

The peloton in the Tour de France is much larger, usually starting out with 125 -145 riders.  That's a lot of men on bikes.  By the time the Tour gets to Paris and those men are riding down the Av. des Champs-Élysées that number has been whittled down to around 110.  That's still a lot of men on bikes.  Just think of that.  It's almost enough to give one the vapors.

Soulless Mike

Friday, my first of 2 days in a row.  Today I'm going to find out who my new boss is, my old boss transferred to Oregon.  He's a 48 year old man who divorced his wife and found himself a chubby 26 year old woman.  He's running as fast as possible from the worst mid-life crisis I've ever seen.  I suspect he will be in denial for many years to come.
I saw my Dr. yesterday about a small mole, it looks a bit odd.  He poked around for a couple of seconds and decided they should take pictures.  This is how it works these days.  They take pictures and email them to a dermatologist in Pittsburgh.  Mr Dr. told me that if they think it looks suspicious, they'll have it shaved off.  No big deal.  Both of my parents had to have moles removed.  It's called genetics.
The Prime Minister of Ireland, Leo Varadkar and his partner had breakfast with the Crazy Christian Mike Pence.  You know?  The the small man who thinks his beliefs give him the authority to hate?  Now, when I say small, I mean in stature and not his tiny, dirty little soul.  Don't believe me?  Take a look at this picture.

Oh, wait, it seems that Leo is 6' 4", so maybe I am talking about his dirty, little soul.  You'll notice everybody else seems to have eyes, except for Mike.  He only seems to have eye holes, which makes him look rather soulless. Like that's any surprise.
And something terrible happened down in New Zealand.  A lot of human beings were murdered.  The police have the shooter in custody.  He's described as a 'white male' with blond hair.  Should have expected that.  He published some sort of manifesto in which he ranted his terroristic, anti-immigration views.   Oh, and he's not from New Zealand, he's from Australia.  This is a tragedy for so many Muslim families.  I suspect this is the kind of hatred soulless Mike Pence might tolerate.  He needs to lose his job and be exiled.

Dirt

I chipped a nail at work.  I keep them cut short because... well, I'm not a long nail kind of guy.  Also, I work in a retail environment which is quite similar to a warehouse environment: lots of dirt.  Since I deal with customers on a one to one basis, I try and keep from looking like I've been rolling around int the dirt.  While I'm not always 'the professional,' there's nothing wrong with looking like one.  Dirty fingernails can send the wrong signal, clipped and clean is better.
There was a picture of Lori Loughlin and her 2 stupid daughters in the LA Times.  They have vacuformed smiles... all of them, phony smiles and vacant stares.  I can understand now why she and her husband had to pay $500,000 in bribes to get them into USC.  For them a deep, philosophical conversation is about 'rose blush' or 'peach blush.'

Rose Blush, for those who didn't know

I saw Lori was released on $1M bail.  My money says the first thing she did was wash the prison dirt from beneath her nails.

I saw where the Republicans in the Senate sent a tiny rebuke to the Idiot Jerk in the White House yesterday.  They gave him a teeny weeny smack back.  There are at least 2 more coming his way.  The first is on his ability to call his racist wall necessary because of his phony National Security lie.  The 2nd will be to limit his ability to issue and revoke National Security Clearances.  The legislation is getting bipartisan support.  This not only has to do with his forcing them to give a TS clearance to Jared, but limit the Idiot Jerks ability to take away clearances from those who are smarter than he is... which is just about everybody.  If the Republicans keep this up, their nails might actually get a little dirty... nah.

Finally, I saw Beto is running for president.  I like Beto.  This is not his election to win.  2020 belongs to Biden.

Barking like a dog

Wednesday... and my sort of hump day... but not quite.  I have off tomorrow, then 2 more days of work followed by 3 days off.  That's fine with me.
I had to sit down with the new scheduler yesterday and rework my 'jury duty' schedule.  She had me working.  Can't do that.  You get scheduled off for the entire week.  If I'm only there for 1 or 2 days, then she gets to put me back on the schedule.  She's new, and as someone who did her job, it's very, very complicated.  Right now she's prepping for Spring hiring.  For those of you who don't know, Spring hiring is when someone flips a rock over and the bottom dwellers come out and apply for jobs.  Back, when I was doing her job at the Carlisle store, we hired a young man with a moderately low IQ for a loader / lot attendant position.  Little did we know he had a bad habit of barking like a dog.  That's right... woof, woof... bark, bark.  He didn't go over well with customers.  He was a nice kid, otherwise.  I felt bad when he got fired, but you can't bark at customers while you're loading their mulch.
I think it's funny how advertisers are either pausing or stopping their ads on both Tucker's and Jeanine's racist, right wingnut shows.  Faux News says they will not let these two outspoken voices be censored.  Faux News needs to learn this is not censorship.  Advertisers don't just whimsically drop their advertising, a lot of their decisions are based on their 'target' audience.  If that 'audience' complains, or even worse, begins to turn off shows where the talking heads bark every time the Idiot Jerk snaps his fingers, advertisers are going to spend their money elsewhere.  There was a time when such controversy drew an audience, not any more.  Those viewers who stay loyal will be those who are best described as white, racist, misogynistic, supporters of the Idiot Jerk in the White House.  They will always bark when he snaps his fingers...
And what about those celebrities, and sports figures who were paying for their kids to cheat their way into what might be considered an 'elite' college.  It wasn't just celebrities and sports figures who were forking over the cash, anyone who could afford the buckos was cheating their way in.  Tells you a lot about their kids, doesn't it?  Not too smart, or lazy as hell, or most likely both.  Just because you managed to buy your kid a degree from an 'elite' school doesn't mean he's going to stop barking like a dog.
For those who aren't aware, I know a little bit about barking dogs.  I have 2.  They bark to scare the evil bunnies from the yard.  They bark at the stranger who walks down the street.  They will have to go outside.  Sometimes Big Seig will stand in the middle of the back yard and bark.  He is telling the world "I am here, and I am Big Seig."  However, my dogs never bark when I snap my fingers.  They are much too intelligent to do that.

Stretch this way

So, I got up this morning to discover an escort service had left a comment on my blog, you know what I'm talking about, call girls.  From India, of all places, with about 10 links to different websites.  Don't look for it, I deleted it... permanently.  What's funny is that we all know there are dumb shits out there who would click on those links...  These are the same dumb shits who 'like' things on Facebook without knowing, or caring, that those 'likes' are sent to everyone of their 'friends.'  This means that if my friend Brandon 'likes' stretchy jockey shorts that wick away perspiration (he does), everyone is going to know that, because if Brandon 'likes' them, you should 'like' them too.

They're only talking about the underwear

Anyway, I paid my taxes yesterday... that was fun... well, maybe not.  I don't rally mind paying them, they're not that high because East Pennsboro has a lot of large businesses which supplement our tax base.  I keep telling people to move here.  My suburb has the lowest taxes, the lowest crime rate, and one of the best school districts in the area.  For years no one listened.  Now, new housing is Expensive, because people want to move here... except there's only so much land in the district.

The Idiot Jerk in the White House dropped his phony budget yesterday.  No one is taking it seriously. Domestic spending is cut in order to provide money for his racist WALL.

And I saw that Jeanine Pirro shit in her pants with her Anti-Muslim rant.  One can only wonder if she wears the 'stretchy' underwear.  She got a 'rebuke' from Faux News.  I don't think Jeanine understands that Evangelical Christians really don't like Catholics... at all.  They see them as phony Christians and if they ever do take control of the country she will be persecuted beyond belief.

More Tucker Carlson audio recordings have emerged...  Not good.  His problem is that he settled for Tommy John underwear, they only stretch one way and have a serious problem of climbing up your ass... well, his ass at least.
Finally, I do like Nancy's comments on the possible impeachment of the Idiot Jerk in the White House.  She has a really good point.  While impeaching him would create much needed relief, weaponizing him against the Republican Party would do so much more.  I'll be honest here, they create a lot of perspiration in my 'nether' regions and right now I'm looking for something stretchy, which will fit my needs, and will wick that sweat away.

As far as Super Heroes Go

It's Monday.  Someone from UGI is going to come check out my gas line, not because there's a leak, rather this has more to do with making sure no leaks occur which is why it happens every 4 or 5 years.  I've already told them I have big dogs.  Not everybody likes 180 lbs of dogs.  Some might feel threatened.  I do not doubt that, if someone behaved aggressively towards me, Lily would bite.  Seig?  He'd just punch them out.  He's a Boxer, remember?  A really... big... Boxer.
I went to see "Captain Marvel" last night.  It was good.  Not great.  Different from the other super hero movies the Marvel Studios put out in that, like "Captain America," there were fewer big, action set pieces.   Another thing which made it different was the time period - early 90's - well before Chris Evans, as Steve Rogers, unfurled his naked torso to the world to become my most favoritest super hero of all time.  "Captain Marvel" should have been the lead off film rather than "Iron Man."  Instead, they waited until just before "Endgame," the final film in the 'Infinity War Trilogy.'  Don't get me wrong, I liked it, but you don't wait until this late in the game to bring in the game changer.  Oh, and if you're a Jude Law fan, you do get to see him with his shirt unbuttoned.  Brie keeps her clothes on.

And the Idiot Jerk is handing over his budget to congress today.  Ooohhh.  In addition to the monies he wants for his racist Wall, I understand his administration is also asking for a 5% cut in domestic spending.  I didn't see any details concerning which programs the Republicans want to slash, but they, themselves don't mean that much.  What really needs to shock people is that 5%.  That's a very high percentage.  Oh, I did see, they are going to increase spending for military health benefits... that's to give the Army, Navy & Marines a vested interest in keeping him in power.  I suspect these figures are merely a smokescreen to keep people from talking about the fact that North Korea is preparing to launch a rocket.  Ooops.   Wonder how that's going to effect the stock market.

Flash

Well, it's Sunday.  I'm off.  We're an hour later.  I didn't change any of my clocks.  Most of them change by themselves - we're in the digital age.  Those I have to change?  Well, that will happen sometime today.
I bought wine last evening to celebrate finishing the first draft...  no, not yet.  Next week, probably.  Then the editing begins.  Things will be added and other things will be removed.  I have a reader who will go through the first draft highlighting lapses in logic I, myself, don't see.  Several of the characters, like Mathieu Serault, will need to be introduced earlier.  No problem.  Right now it's as long as the first book.  "The Body on the Lawn" gained around 4000 words between drafts.  We will have to see.  Completion of the first draft is when work begins on the cover art.  I've been talking to Cori about bullet holes.  They're not so flashy when their in flesh.  Of course, the idea is for people to see the cover and say WOW!, not wow.  The back cover is all mine.  In case you're wondering, there will not be a bloody knife this time.
We had our inventory this past Thursday.  In the past we were swarmed by RGIS counters.  This time?  Not so many.  Over the past two days we've discovered they missed things and had a number of the counts wrong.  I'm getting the distinct impression that our inventory is now being managed by logarithms down in Atlanta.  There doesn't really seem to be a need for humans to do a physical count.  What proof do I have?  Stores with low shrink are now only being inventoried every 2 years.
I guess the Idiot Jerk in the White House is going to be dropping his budget for the upcoming year on Tuesday.  No one is excited.  Someone on Bloomberg was saying it will land with a "resounding thud."  It will entail the country borrowing more  money to pay for nonessential shit.  You know?  The racist crap that gives his bases big boners.  This is how the Idiot Jerk strikes deals.  "You vote for me and I'll fluff up your white, racist hearts."  You all know what a Fluffer is, don't you?

More Flash

Above is some of the preliminary art work for the cover.

Planting the seeds

Today is Saturday and it is the last day of my work week.  I have 2 days off, but then my 'fluffy' schedule starts again.  I work 2 days and have a day off, work 2 more, and have another non-weekend weekend.
I saw that the Idiot Jerk in the White House went down to Alabama to view the tornado damage.  These are always somber moments.  Head bowed, he went to a make-shift memorial, said a few words without mentioning 'fake news' or Mueller, and then signed autographs.  He autographed bibles.  That's right, he signed bibles, as though he were mentioned in them... or, possibly in his mind, the source for their holy inspiration.  Of course, you know the Crazy Christians are flipping for joy because they feel he is 'heaven sent.'  Holy Shit!  He signed other things as well, as did his pinched faced spouse.  He is giving those fools everything they want and, in return, they are handing over their souls, which he will roast like chestnuts for a quick snack between his Big Macs and his diet Cokes.
I saw Jan Michael Vincent died... back in February.  He was 74.  He was big for a while, and then he got small... really small.  He was dead for almost a month before the information made it into the press.  The obit was small.  There was no mention of surviving family members.  Isn't it sad how small he got?
The Temperature is predicted to go up to 45 (F) today, with showers over night.  That's fine with me.  We have snow which needs to go away... soon.  One of the bad things about snow is how difficult it makes the process of cleaning up dog poop from the lawn.  I have big dogs.  If not tomorrow, then hopefully Monday I'll be able to get the Pooper Scooper out.
I eat a lot of fruit and vegetable... some of which have seeds.  I also have a habit of drying some of those seeds and planting them.  Usually they grow, which is nice.  Last evening, while doing the dishes, I looked over at my plants and saw that one of those seeds I had planted was blossoming.

Now, isn't that nice?

Think

Today is not the end of my work week.
The above statement is aimed at all those people who feel the need to post some sort of dancing gif to celebrate the end of their work week totally clueless about the millions and millions of others who will be working this weekend.  If you're off this weekend and you go to a restaurant, think about your host and server and your busboy who don't work a standard five day week, or you go the mall.  Or you get sick and have to go the Emergency Room, or your house catches fire, or a tornado blows your house to pieces... think about all those people who are there to help you, who are working on the weekend, and maybe reconsider posting your little dancing gif.
The House passed an Anti-Hate bill yesterday because... a freshman senator spoke without thinking.  Her words gave the Crazy Christians ammunition.  I don't care how strongly you might feel she was in the right, this early in her political career she needs to censor what she says in public.  She is a Muslim, and as such needs to understand there is a large swath of Americans, those Crazy Christians who bow to the Idiot Jerk in the White House, who see her as the enemy.  This entire administration is virally anti-Muslim.  The meek shall inherit the Earth, not the loud mouths.
There's a lot of shrieking going on out there over the fact that another strongly anti -LGBT judge.  For everyone who is complaining, you had better be able to say with a clear conscience that you voted in 2016 for Hillary.  A vote for Bernie hurt her at the polls.  If you were one of those who stayed home and didn't vote because you thought she had it in the bag... well, think about what your choice to stay home has cost America.  In fact, you should be thinking about that daily.  Your regret should be constantly sticking you in the back.  In case you didn't know, McConnell and the other members of the Republican hate group have changes the rules so they can confirm even more Crazy Christian judges.  For those of you who didn't vote?  Think about all the damage that is being done to America.
Finally, there's a new exhibit opening at the Museum of Natural History in New York about raptors.  Among them is the updated version of the world's most favorite dino killer... the T-Rex.  Thanks to science, we now have a much better pictures of what this 18,000 lb killing and eating machine looked like, and like us, he had 3D vision.  He could virtually smell the blood pumping through your veins, and if he was hungry... you... were lunch.  Oh, and to make him even more terrifying... they now know he had feathers.

Think about that chasing your ass through the jungle.

In the catacombs

Okay, so it's Thursday.  The temperature is supposed to go up to 35 (F) today.  That's almost balmy. 
This is also our inventory day.  Normally they bring in food for everyone, I was told this year they're only bringing it in for those helping with the inventory so I'm going to be taking some fried chicken just in case my lunch is not going to be provided.
Also, my new schedule was posted yesterday and the new scheduler made some mistakes.  She used my 'days off' to cover my Jury Duty.  We do not do that.  I will need to have a sit down with her tomorrow to revise my schedule. 
And I see that the Trade Deficit, one of those 'major problems' the Idiot Jerk in the White House was going to fix is... getting worse.  He said he would bring that deficit down, which is why we have those silly little tariffs, and actually it's going up.  The idea was for foreign products to go up in price, therefore making American products more competitive.  Well, 'made in America' is still 'made more expensive.'  Giving people a bit of a tax break in the paychecks is no incentive to buy the more expensive 'made in America,' which is something Republicans just don't get.
And little Stevie Mnuchin has asked Congress to increase the debt limit ASAP because we need to be able to pay off our creditors.  You see that great tax break the Republican congress gave to corporations and the very wealthy is costing the United States buckets of buckos.  Yeah, they had to borrow money to pay for it.  You see, in the Republican drone state of mind corporations will use those to tax breaks to pop up employee pay rates and those employees will compensate for the tax breaks.  That's right, your average American is going to foot the bill.  Republicans have always been stupid about economics.
And finally, I thought I'd write a little about the catacombs of Paris.  They're big, and some of them are deep and only a small section is open to Tourists.  Of particular interest to us are those around the Arc de Triomphe which are not open to the General Public.

When bones were being moved from cemeteries they were put in a number of locations, depending upon the arrondissement where the cemetery was located.  Over the years cataphiles have done much with graffiti.. and the bones... and the little alters they built for their ancestors.  Oh, and except for certain areas, there is on lighting.  What illumination you have is that which you carry, be it a headlamp... or flashlight.  Without either of those you are walking in pitch black darkness.  If you ever venture down into the catacombs make sure you have a reliable guide.

Crazy is....

Well, here it is Wednesday, my 2nd day in a 5 day stretch.  Tomorrow is my hump day, it's also Inventory day for our store.  Tomorrow there will be food for all, so I won't have to take my lunch - unfortunately it's not the 'good' food, but rather the high sugar, high sodium, high fat foods which are better at filling you up rather than providing nutrition.  Still... they're free, so I will force myself to indulge and eat a donut or two... sometimes they bring tacos in... Yippee.
I saw where that the Customs and Border Protection Agency released a stat: over 76,000 illegal immigrants tried to to cross the border in February...   Now that sounds terrible until you read the article.  On the face, it seems as though they were all trying to sneak in, however, that number includes those who presented themselves at the border without the correct documentation.  This is the sort of tactic the Idiot Jerk in the White House uses to inflate his assets... except at tax time.
And, what about that kid testifying in Congress that his mom got her anti-vaxing info from Facebook?  Being able to have a baby doesn't make you intelligence, there are a lot of breeders in the world.  The only thing capable of challenging these crazier than hell beliefs is an outbreak of measles and there children start dying.  You see, thanks to vaccinations we haven't had serious outbreak in decades and as such, these morons don't know measles kills.  They will only learn from experience.
They're a lot like Republicans, aren't they?  Stupid to the bitter end.  Is it any wonder that viewpoints by the Liberals on the Left are now moving closer and closer to acceptably Centrist positions.  Don't believe me? Look what Brookings has discovered.  Since the midterms, the country has continued its leftward movement.  Conservatives, especially those loyal to the Idiot Jerk in the White House, are becoming more and more extreme.  Success for them is not an option.

Finally, more and more states are enacting laws which eliminate the Electoral College.  Since that seems to be the only way Conservatives can get a Moral Degenerate in the White House they will fight like hell to keep that from happening.  This is what happens when a party begins to die.

Bread for thought

Tuesday - and I get to go back to work for 5 (count 'em) 5 days.  Ain't that enough to make you groan?
I did get a lot accomplished yesterday:  6 loads of laundry, 45 minutes of cardio, a trip to the UPS store, and I baked a loaf of bread.

New recipe from King Arthur... it called for the yeast to be mixed with a tablespoon of warm water (?) which didn't really work, which is why (I think) it didn't rise as much as normal.
For those who don't know, I have this maxim, this philosophy, this belief which states that "a popular president can move the country in either direction, liberal or conservative.  An unpopular president will always move it in the opposite direction."  This explains why Reagan, who was popular, could edge the country towards the conservative side.  The Idiot Jerk in the White House, however, is vastly unpopular, except among those crazies on the right who hate everything.  Polls are coming out to back me and my little maxim up.  This kind of information just burns those crazies up.  They reject it because the 'Mainstream' can't be right!  That would mean most people believe the narrow little viewpoint they propose is wrong, that it is 'out of touch' with what is considered acceptable and normal.  Holy Shit!  But then what would you expect from a group that doesn't care about the constitution or America.
A little on Luke Perry:  I never watched "90210," nor did I watch "Riverdale," still, I felt bad.  52 is too young to die from a stroke and that's a shame.
And finally, for those who don't know, I was in the Navy... a long time ago.  I was on an aircraft carrier cruising up and down the Tonkin Gulf off the coast of Vietnam.  I am member of a Facebook Group called The Tonkin Gulf Yacht Club, which is made up of other sailors who spent time cruising up and down... the Tonkin Gulf.  Well, there's this discussion going on among us right now about just where 'Yankee Station' was located.  'Yankee Station' is an invisible point on the map around which the carrier group sails while launching aircraft on bombing raids.  These guys don't seem to realize that Yankee Station was not a fixed point, but rather a variable, its location dependent upon a decision made by the Admiral.  'Yankee Station' moved.

Behold, the Gulf of Tonkin

Everything depended upon what cities they were preparing to bomb.  Yep, we bombed cities.

More

Okay, so here it is... Monday, my one day off.  I get to work 5 more days before I have another.  Shit.  I've got a busy day:  laundry, cardio, shoveling snow (oh, right, they're the same thing).
We did get more snow yesterday.  Even though it started falling in early afternoon, the temps were too warm for it to lay.  That didn't happen till around 5 (PM), so all we ended up with was around 3 more inches of the fluffy stuff that hung heavy on the branches.

A woman I've known for about 40 years posted a similar picture on Facebook praising the "Master's artistic handy work," and of course I had to respond.  Knowing she was never a Dr. Who fan, I didn't make a glib comment about him and his most major adversary... The Master.  Rather than that, I reminded her this was the same storm system which killed at least 23 in Alabama.  One of the biggest problems with two of the major religions is their need to make believers personalize their Faith.  Everything is about 'you' which is why their most favorite word has become "my."  She saw the snow on her trees and thought of how beautiful it was on 'her' trees, without even attempting to reconcile that beauty with shattered lives and dead people in Alabama.  To do so would have been more questions about the big picture.  The don't like the big picture, they want the small, personalized picture.
And, what about the Idiot Jerk hugging the flag at CPAC?  Have your every seen a more over-the-top performance.  The only thing this moron is any good at is manipulation, at that he's a Master, especially in the eyes of his followers.  The more overboard he goes, the happier they are.  He is touching their own personalized beliefs.  They hate the big picture since it presents more questions then they can answer.  Their political beliefs are small and personal, like their religious beliefs.  They are about the 'me' and the 'my;' 'you' are more than then can comprehend. 
 

The Ticket

Well, we are now under a

  WINTER STORM WARNING.

That's right.  According to the forecasters the "storm" is supposed to started about 1 PM.  I'm scheduled to work today.  There's a good possibility I will leave once the "storm" begins... just in case, you know?  Not that I'm really concerned much about the snow.  I have a new 'all wheel drive' vehicle which does very well in the snow.  The problem is I've been scheduled to work 5 days, have 1 day off, and then work for another 5 days.  This "storm" will give me a day and a half off.  I did take a picture of Lily while I was outside shoveling yesterday morning.

That's my Snow Lily

I have 3 chapters to go in the 'first draft,' over 68,000 words so far.  This evening (or this afternoon if the snow arrives on time) the story moves deep underground into the catacombs beneath Paris.  Possible chapter titles are 'Catacombs' (the most obvious), but I also like 'Truth among the bones.'
The Idiot Jerk in the White House was ranting at CPAC yesterday.  Holy Shit!  I can remember when the Crazy Christian Crowd used that podium to preach about 'family values.'  Well, those days are gone.  One of those Crazies claimed the Idiot Jerk was sent by God, the fact that he was speaking about almost pure evil should scare the shit out of you.  These people are extreme in their beliefs and extremists to bad things to people.  Terrorists are extremists.  The Nazis were extremists.  The regime of Kim Dumb Chunk is extremist.
Here are 2 things that were apparent.  Those people hate everything they cannot control, and if they can't control it they will destroy it without so much as batting an eye.  However, they are scared shitless of Joe Biden.  They know Joe's family values and his ethics will squash the moral degeneracy in the White House.  He shines a light on their ugliness and hatred.  And the 2020 ticket they fear the most, the one that has them gnashing their teeth and pounding their fists into their heads is... Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.  They are terrified decency will prevail... and, of course, it will.

More snow

Well, it's Saturday, March 2.  Some of you will not have to work today... I do.  But first, I'm going to have to go out and clean off my car because we got.... More Snow!

At least another four inches fell last night and there is more on the way.  Tomorrow night we may get a real dumping, and I'm not talking about the dictator wannabe in the White House.
And speaking of that moron, how about his defense of Kim Dumb Chunk in regards to Otto Warmbrier death?  Now the Idiot Jerk is shrieking "no, no, no, my words were misinterpreted..."  You hear bullshit, you call it bullshit.  Every time his loyalists jump in to salvage his addle patted nonsense they look imbecilic at best.  They will defend, almost to the death... or their own re-election, his every utterance.  Dumb fucks, is what they are.
And what about his stupid daughter... Ivankadanka?  Did she actually say "people don't want a minimum wage?"  This is a woman who pays a couple grand (lotsa $$$) for hair maintenance.  A week of minimum wage wouldn't even be a deposit on one of her pedicures.  She is the poster child for the stupid rich.  Remember Marie Antoinette?  This is the kind of thing she would have said.  Evidently Ivankadanka doesn't know that if she keeps this shit up her castle will get stormed by angry, older women in MAGA hats waving pitchforks.
Before the Idiot Jerk got himself elected on a technicality, the super rich kept their incompetence shuttered behind doors.  Now, it's on full public display, like that other Idiot Schultz from Starbucks.  Shit, every they open their mouths they make it quite apparent to everyone that their IQ's are dropping faster then the snow in Central Pennsylvania.

Shoveling Out

First they said a dusting, then they said 1-3 inches and... well, this morning I checked and we had a 44% chance of getting 1-3 and a 43% chance of getting 3-6 inches of snow.  Guess what we got?

That's almost 5 inches of snow.  The dogs have been having a blast.  No ice or freezing rain this time, just snow.  When I finish this, I'm going to go shovel out my car... shouldn't take long, around 15 minutes.  Easy Peasy.
I designed some blinds yesterday for a customer... very nice blinds... almost $7000 in blinds.  She's going to bring her husband in today to approve of the colors:  white and pale grey.  They're building a new house and she's being very specific about what she wants.  I would never spend that much on blinds, in case you were wondering.
A while back I slowly began giving away my old vinyl.   I'm talking old here.  Most are going to my brother-in-law, he's a vinyl audiophile.  Usually what I do is grab 20 - 30 albums and give them to my sister when we have breakfast (I have a lot of vinyl).  I don't really look to see which groups I'm giving him.  So, last night I'm working on the manuscript and I get a voice mail from my sister:  "Just wanted to let you know we're having a very enjoyable evening sitting here listening to the Carpenters."  She was being facetious, of course, and I had to laugh.  At some point in my life I must have bought a Carpenters album... I think I must have been really drunk at the time.
In case you're wondering, he's not getting the Broadway albums... he might like them and that would way too surrealistic for me to handle.
So, I guess Mike Cohen talked about Russia yesterday... behind closed doors.  Very interesting.  Adam Schiff made a statement and that's about it.  Cohen's testimony must have been quite compelling, otherwise we'd have heard from some snotty nosed Republican whining about how it was nothing but 'lies.'  They said nothing.  Sadly for them, back when they controlled both the House and the Senate, they set a number of precedents while attacking Hillary Clinton.  Oh... shit.  They now suspect it's too deep to ever shovel themselves out.