The Waiting Game

 So them temp outside is a balmy 52 (F).  Temps are predicted to climb up into the 80s (F) today with a lot of sunshine.  Being that is Halloween, that means there are going to be a lot of Trick or Treaters out this evening.  I'm not excited.  My drapes will be drawn and my front porched light turned off.  I did the candy thing once, about 28 years ago.  Once was enough.  I think I had 12 trick or treaters.  I ate most of the candy, and ended up shutting the door, grabbing a beer, and turning on the television.  I am not a big one for playing dress-up.

I did work yesterday.  Five hours.  My new availability has not been activated.  I no longer work mornings, only afternoons, four days a week.  I cannot be scheduled for more than 24 hours, so far it looks like I'm getting around 20.  That's fine with me.  

And last evening I had to deal with a bit of an issue with Amazon.  I ordered the new Dragon Age game from Amazon, it's released worldwide today.  I was expecting the game to arrive today.  When I got home from work I checked the delivery status.  At 4:26 PM yesterday, the game had arrived at the shipper, in Kent, Washington.  I immediately realized there was going to be a problem.  Not surprisingly, a few minutes later I got an email from Amazon apologizing, and letting me know the delivery was going to be delayed and should be arriving by Monday.  Of course, I was on the computer to Amazon who again apologized and changed the delivery status to 24 hours, meaning the game should be arriving today.  Adding insult to this issue, I get a promotional set of armor for purchasing the game early, however, the game needs to be loaded into my Series X and I can't do that until the game arrives.

Here's a bit of a palate cleanser.

Counting today, there are only 6 more days until the election. I don't know anyone who wants it to be longer, everyone I've talked to is that they want it to be over today.  The media coverage has been relentless.  Just about every group with a vowel in their name is publishing a poll and those polls represent nothing but their own interests.  The media wants you to click on their websites, so they publish clickbait headlines that deal in assumption rather than fact, assumptions rather than details.  The media wants a horserace, and so Biden says something and Harris is held accountable.  The observant American will notice that JD Vance seems to have been muted since his presence was an obvious liability.  On the other hand, Elon Musk's dipshit energy is spewing out negative vibes; his mental immaturity is growing more apparent as the seconds tip by.

The only thing we do know is that in early voting and mail in ballots, turn-out is Democrat heavy.  There is an indicator that the turn-out among women is higher than average, the turn-out of younger voters, the Gen-Z ers, is higher than normal.  We're in a waiting game, and Tuesday can't come fast enough.

At the Ellipse

 Day two of the current heat wave.  Yes, that's what I'm going to call it.  Today our temps are predicted to climb into the mid to upper 70s (F).  That warm for this close to November.  Tomorrow, our thermometers are supposed to top off well into the 80s (F).  Tomorrow is also Trick or Trich night in my neck of the woods.  That means I'll have the porch light turned off and the curtains closed at a very early hour.  I don't work tomorrow, so there should be no problem with that.

So, I had my plumbing issue fixed yesterday.  It was pricey, but that's how things are these days.  The plumbing group I use is less expensive than Pronto, who I used to use.  The plumber was a bit on the creepy side, very soft spoken, think of a white Michael Jackson.  He was only here for an hour, but I was glad when he drove his truck away from my curb.  Because it was nice and sunny, Howie and I spent most of that time out working in the yard.  As a result, he was a very sleepy puppy last evening.  

As soon as the leak was finished, I began doing laundry.  

I had a bit of a cranky belly last night, so I suspect that fluey thing is still not completely out of my body.  What a pain this has been.

And Kamala had a rally on the Ellipse last evening.  Wowza!

Here's a pic of the overflow crowd at the Washington Monument.

I'm betting MAGA world is worried.  Over 75,000 for a closing rally!  So, do you think they're worried?  Yeah.  Laura Loomer, who was no doubt much happier being Orangie Anus's side piece, was shrieking that people were bussed in.  Duh.  Any even in DC that draws that many people will rely on buses to a certain extent.  What terrifies MAGA world is that these people were bussed in from Maryland, and Virginia, and Pennsylvania.  Over 75,000 voters is a lot of voters, and that's just the tip of the iceberg, so to speak.  This makes me happy.  You can bet your bottom bazooka that Donnie's team is worried, too, and that makes me smile. 

It would not surprise me in the least is when the polls start coming in on November 5, if Donnie J tried to make a beeline towards an awaiting plane.  If that happens, I'm hoping the Feds are waiting for him.  In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if he has several waiting in different locations.  He'll be in Mar a Lago, however, and that does limit his access to air travel somewhat.  

On a side note, as of yesterday afternoon over 350,000 subscribers had cancelled their subscriptions to the Washington Post.  Jeff Bezos condescending letter evidently failed miserably.  The time has come to make billionaires accountable.

Bones to Pick

 So, it's Tuesday and we've got a week to go before the national election.  Temps outside are in the mid 40s.  The sun is shining brightly.  The forecast is for temps to climb into the upper 60s (F).  Oh, as the days pass, we're going to warm up.  By Thursday, our temp should be around 80 (F).  Is that going to be a trick or a treat?

The plumber is scheduled for 11 this morning.  It's the same plumber I used with my kitchen.  He's fast, and fairly inexpensive.  This should be a simple fix, so I'm expecting him to be gone by 11:30.  Then it's shower time and the beginning of laundry day.  I have many stacks of laundry to do, since the water's been on the ooofff since last Tuesday.  There's also lots of cleaning today.  I now have a puppy and they create dust.

I gave Howie a slice of banana this morning.  Lily loved banana.  Howie?  Well, it was the tater tot all over again.  He may eat it later.  Right now he has a beef bone that I cooked up.  A friend of mine is going to pick up an antler for him the farmer's market this weekend.  He might chew it, might now.  Beef bones are great because the hard enough to deal with his sharp, puppy teeth.  I used to give them to Biggie and Lilly, and they would gnaw on them for hours.

These stones mark where they light the torch for the Olympic games.  It's not much, but it's very important.

The fallout from the Madison Square Garden hatefest is still crashing down around the GOP.  One of the funniest things I've seen about the comedian, was that he was paid to be so racist by the Harris campaign, and those rubes are stupid enough to believe anything.  The fact that his routine was approved by the campaign, and his jokes loaded into the teleprompter?  Those things mean nothing.  Even funnier are those Republican voices whining that the party isn't racist at all.  Sadly, cultists don't see themselves as being racist.  Don't even try to wrap your heads around that one.

And Steve the Grease Trap Bannon was released from prison this morning.  I saw one article that said he was gong to be the October surprise.  Can you hear me laughing now?  He is out on parole, and if he breaks that parole they're going to net his greasy ass and ooze it back behind bars.  I don't doubt that he will be shown Trump's internal polling figures and because he has another trial coming up in a few weeks I'm suspecting that he will be loud, but will temper his message to keep it safely withing the rules so as not to violate his parole.

The Shit we Scrap off our Boots

 It was 35 (F)F when I let Howie out this morning at around 0500 and there was frost on my windshield.  However, this morning was the coldest in the forecast for the next few days.  This coming week our high is again expected to be in the mid 70s (F); that will be very warm for November.

I dealt with a really nice Indian couple yesterday.  Probably in their mid 30s, they're buying their first house. They told me something I didn't know:  that in India you are always barefoot because wearing shoes inside is considered very bad.  They carry that over here in the states, except they permit themselves to wear slippers, that they keep just inside the front door.  I don't know about you, but usually I only wear socks inside.  The only time I put on my shoes is when I'm going outside.

The Plumber is coming tomorrow morning.  Finally, I'll be able to turn on the water and do laundry.  I know some of you were probably expecting me to say shower, but I do turn it on briefly for that, but then I turn it off again.  Showering takes a few minutes, laundry?  The washing part takes at least a half hour, that means a half hour of drip, drip, drip.  Sometime this afternoon I'm going to try and remove some of that bad fix I put around the connect so he as free access

Yesterday I gave Howie a Tator Tot to see what he'd do with it.

And last night, in case any of you in America were hiding under a rock, the Orange Anus held his rally in Madison Square Garden.  Maybe I should correct that statement, even if you were hiding under a rock, I fairly certain that you've heard the fallout.  Wait, fallout is not a strong enough word.  Neither is backlash.  The alarms have finally begun to go off in the Main Stream Media.  Vile and vulgar are just two of the many words I've seen in my morning scans of the headlines, and these are big, front page, bold faced headlines, not those little things they used when they were sanewashing him.  I don't know if any of the main media outlets carried Trump's rage storm, but if they did, the average American got and eye and ear full of hatred, of unadulterated white supremacy, of racism, of bigotry.  I have this bad feeling that Trump and his allies believe that are terribly in tune with those of America.  Boy are they wrong.  They are worse than the shit we scrap off our boots.  I've said this before, and I'm going to repeat myself again, his Karma / Judgement is coming, and it's going to be bad because the gates of Hell are figuratively going to open for Donald J. Trump.

Persevere

 So, while my water problem has not been fixed, is has been remedied by what some may consider a strongarmed, turned the water off to the entire house. I did pick up popular water control products before I left the store yesterday, and they failed to work.  Rather than constantly empty buckets of water, I went down into the basement and turned the water access.  It took a while, I have a lot of pipeage, but the leak went from a steady drip, to a slow dribble, and finally stopped.  Now everything will stay dry until I get a plumber here.

My lower bowel turbulence seems to have subsided.  Yesterday, while working, I had developed a craving for tater tots, so on my way home from work, I picked up a bag.  I also picked up a small Italian sub, which became my first solid meal since the onset of the turbulence.  The tots are waiting for today.

And work was not so much boring as it was tedious.  There were a number of customers asked questions, but didn't set up a measure, or buy any product.  We had a woman, wearing a sport coat and black blouse and slacks, and her husband, wearing a red polo shirt, with black slacks and a braided black belt, come in with their contractor.  We were supposed to be impressed by their apparel.  We weren't.  Financially successful people don't dress for success to shop for tile and the great, orange,  home improvement retailer I work for, they just show up.  And they never rely on some guy wearing a T-shirt and jeans to tell them what's stylish.  There is a difference between a designer and a contractor.

And, simply because you might find this interesting.  Here's a pic of me in the T-Shirt I bought when I went to see Paul McCartney.  That was such a good show.

If you don't count today, there's 9 days left until the election (I think that's right).  Since I don't watch cable, I'm not being pummeled with political ads.  I do feel sorry for those of you who do and watch television.  Please... watch something on Neflix instead, or Disney, or Hulu, but only if you've paid not to have commercials.  People tell me they are almost constant.  Having the little patience I do have for advertising, I could not deal with this.  Persevere.  It will all be over soon.

Republican Voter Fraud

We under a freeze warning of Monday.  So far, we haven't had a legitimate frost.  We shall have to see if it happens. They tend to forecast both colder and warmer temps then we actually get, I guess that's just the weather people playing it safe.  The last thing they want is to be accused of being wrong, as if that doesn't happen regularly.  

Some people were excited because yesterday was the end of their work week.  Not me.  I don't work Fridays.

It appears as though the intestinal problem I've had is finally over.  I tried the Imodium.  Didn't work.  Yesterday, I bought the age-old favorite:  Kaopectate.  Fingers crossed... that's seems to be working.  I slept through the night, a first.  There does, however, still feel as though there's a little savage jabbing his spear into the sides of my stomach, and the though of eating is not very appetizing.   I ate 2 pieces of plain toast and 2 scrambled eggs for dinner last night and they do seem to have worked their way through my digestive tract safely.

On Thursday morning I discovered that I had a leak in the bathroom.  Not being in the best of spirits, I thought I'd do a quick fix.  That failed.  The water drained down along the water pipe, dropping onto the kitchen ceiling, and creating a mess.  Had I been thinking correctly, I would have approached the problem differently, however at that time all I wanted to do was sleep.  I actually did sleep quite a lot.  The end result is that later this morning I'm going to be calling the plumber and making an appointment for Monday.  Usually I'm scheduled to work on Monday.  This Monday, however, I'm scheduled off for the entire day.  How lucky is that.

Here's a pic of Howie out on what I fondly call the veranda.  He's not quite 10 weeks old.

And how about that voter fraud in Lancaster county, Central PA?  Around 2500 voter applications were discovered trying to register phony people as Republican.  There is evidence that 2 other counties are also involved, and those counties have been notified.  And which group of people was targeted?  The Amish, that's pronounce ah-mish.  The registration applications were handwritten and dropped into a drop box.  For those who don't know, Monday is the last day in Pennsylvania to register to vote for this year's election.  Whispers are saying the incident is related to Musk's get paid to vote agenda.  That guy is such a dipshit.

Finally, like a number of other people, I cancelled my subscription to the Washington Post yesterday.  Some are saying this decision by Bezos hurts Harris.  At this point, I honestly don't think it makes much of a difference.  People's minds have been made up for some time.  And the print media?  They've been losing relevance for quite some period of time.  This decision will only help hasten their demise.

Waiting to Die

 Well, it's Friday!  For some of you it's the end of the work week.  I've changed my availability so I don't have to work on Fridays.  Was it because I hate working on Black Friday?  Somewhat, though the retail Black Friday for the large, orange, home improvement retailer is not what it used to be.  They discovered that they make more money have pre-Black Friday sales for several reasons.  One is that you have to pay attention, either go to their website, or actually stop in at the store to see what the special is, so they may do a deal on a very inexpensive shop-vac, but you've got to go to the store to take advantage of the sale.  I truly hated that crazy circus atmosphere because I, for one, would never, ever go out shopping on Black Friday.

Today is the first day that my lower intestinal tract issues seem to be gone.  Since the entire episode took around 3 days, I'm betting that I was suffering through a case of Food Poisoning.  I say this because I took Imodium, it's supposed to be the best, and only worked for a few hours.  Years and years ago I had something similar and that med cleared it up fast, this time it took 3 days.  Of course, with Food Poisoning, you immediately start thinking about what made you sick.  Well, surprise, surprise, it usually takes a few days for the bacteria to multiply enough to make you sick; it's not something you eat and four hour later you're sick.  In fact, for some cases of Food Poisoning it can take up to a week before symptoms show up.

Howie doesn't want me to carry him up the stairs.  Since at his age, that's the only way he gets up to the 2nd floor, it looks like he'll be spending a lot of time down on the first floor.

I took this pic yesterday when Howie and I were outside.

The wife of one of my Navy buddies posted this long, whiny complaint in Facebook on how she thought Trump was going to win, and how she couldn't understand how Americans could be so stupid and unsympathetic.  I was going to respond, and didn't.  When her husband retired, I asked if he was going to get a part-time job and he told me, "absolutely not, I've work my whole life, I'm not going to work anymore."  So, I don't doubt for a second the two of them are sitting home, watching cable news, to do anything else would be too much work.  Today, he posted a picture of a back brace and said "I'm getting old."  He's 71, though he has gained a lot of weight.  I was going to tell him to get off his fat ass and start walking, but he'd simply ignore me.  He's worked his entire life, and now he's going to sit back, gain weight, and wait to die.

The Super Nova of all Meltdowns

 The cold is upon us.  Well, maybe not cold, but chillier than it had been.  Our high today is supposed to reach way up into the 60s (F).  In fact, this will be the normal high for the next few days.  It is Autumn, after all.  These temps are to be expected.  I'm fine with them.

Yesterday did not go as planned.  During the morning, I realized that a nasty little bacteria had taken up residence in my lower gastro intestinal track, so I ended up calling off work.  That damn little bug made my life miserable through out the afternoon and over night.  There were times when I will admit to thinking I might have been infected with a Xenomorph. I am pleased to say, however, that damn nuisance has now been eliminated.  

As it was, I did do some laundry yesterday, but mostly what I did was nap.  I am napped out.  What will I do today?  Well, Howie no longer needs to be constantly watched to make sure he doesn't chew on something rather expensive, so I'm thinking I might get a short bike ride in.  

I have to drive to my neighborhood Giant supermarket to pick up a jar of non-chunky peanut butter.  Howie's getting a Kong today.  For those who don't know, a Kong is a hard rubber toy that you can fill with peanut butter.  It keeps puppies busy for hours.

And no matter how often I tell people there were lots of cats in Greece, they simply don't believe me.  When our group leader posted a picture of cats on Facebook, I thought, wow, this is perfect.  I can finally show people.  Now, this picture was taken on one of the islands, but it is not unusual to see cats every where.  At Delphi, our tour guide paused to take a bag of cat food out of her satchel and pour it into a feeding bowl as we walked to the front entrance.

Last night on CNN, Harris said she believed Trump was a fascist.  Of course, he flipped out.  That's fine.  When he melts down he says the most ludicrous things.  The words coming out of his mouth don't even justify being called a word salad.  When he melts down, he talks about Arnold Palmer's dick.  Or he dances.  His closing argument heading into the final days of the campaign is not about policy.  Nope, he's in pure attack mode.  He will be as racist as he can possibly be.  His vulgarities will embarrass swing voters.  Centrist and left leaning Republicans will either stay home, or vote for Harris just to punish him.  The references to Hitler?  You know it's bad when Republicans are trying to defend the most evil man the world has ever know.  And if he loses super bad?  Prepare for the super nova of all melt downs.

It's all Greek to Me

 Here in Central PA, the temp hit 82 (F) yesterday.  I turned on the ceiling fan in the bedroom.  This toastiness is quite unusual for this time of the year.  We're going to have a repeat today.  Then, sometime tonight, the temps are going to drop like rocks and tomorrow's high is predicted to be around 62 (F).  For mid October, that's considered seasonal.

Because it was so warm outside yesterday, Howie was out quite a bit.  Having the yard fenced in is simply marvelous.  All I need to do is open the back door and out he goes.  The only problem I've been having so far is that sometimes he doesn't want to come back into the house.  That is quickly remedied with a shake of the treat bag.

And I did get some things done yesterday, like the big tank in the living room got a good cleaning.  I also started working on my Greek again, this time with Rosetta Stone.  I'm not that fond of their language learning software, but it does get the best overall ratings.  What I'm going to need to do is start writing down the words so I can learn the alphabet.

I had breakfast with my brother yesterday and it was devoid of politics, except for the goodbyes said in the parking log.  He told me that who ever wins in November he'll pray for that person.  My comment was, "well, we already know one of them's going to Hell."  He thought that was funny.  I don't doubt that he'll vote for Trump.  Voting for a woman, especially one that is black, completely goes against his devotion to the patriarchy.  

With less than 2 weeks until the election, we voters for freedom need to prepare ourselves for an onslaught or Republican propaganda and lies.  It will be everywhere.  It will have many shapes.  There will be polls that lie.  There will be reports of early voting trends.  Do not believe them.  Do not click on any report on a news website, not matter how appealing.  It's only purpose is to get you to click.  If you are worried, pick up a good book and read it slowly for the next 2 weeks.  One thing you may want to do is pay attention to where the candidates are campaigning.  The campaigns have internal polls which are far more accurate than what you see on Main Stream Media.  If Harris is campaigning in Huston, you can surmise that her internals are very good.  If the Orange Anus is campaigning in North Carolina, a red state, you can surmise that his internals are not the best for that state.  Also look at who's campaigning for both Harris and Trump.  Harris has some heavy hitters out on the campaign trail, Trump has Arnie's dick.

Howie on the Bed

 Holy Schmoly, our high today is predicted to be in the low 80s (F).  That's very warm weather for October.  Tomorrow will be just a sunny and warm.  I'm off today!  Work tomorrow.  My next day off after today will be Thursday, and weathermen are forecasting the temps to drop dramatically, with the high being in the low 60s (F)

I did work yesterday.  It was so boring.  I talked to 2 customers about getting their rooms measured for carpet installations, but they were just beginning their flooring adventure.  I cut some blinds for customers.  Just as I was about to leave, a woman showed up at the flooring desk and wanted to change the carpet for her install.  She picked a carpet that was very inexpensive and I did all the changes, but she decided to hold off on the purchase.  My policy has always been to not push.  Spending money is always a personal decision.  What can I say?  My sales are very good even though I don't hit all the requisite sales buttons my bosses would like me to hit.

Resolution has been reached on the Squarespace mystery charge.  I bought the domain name Ridingon.bike some years ago from Google.  Sometime during the summer, they began selling ownership of the domains to Squarespace.  They did notify me and I mentally filed it in the unimportant category.  Three weeks ago, without notification, Squarespace charged me a renewal fee.  Google always let me know about the renewal, giving me the option to opt out and migrate my blog back to Blogger.  Squarespace didn't.  So, I migrated the blog myself.  Had they notified me in advance, I'd have paid the charge, now they've lost my business.

Since it's Tuesday, I thought I post a picture of Howie on the bed.

With 2 weeks until election day, I need to warn everybody that the Cultists are going to be doing their most deceitful work.  On Zitter and Threads, their bots are going to be posting fake poll numbers.  Jake Silver over on 534 is going to be pushing bongo bongo bullshit.  Stay steadfast.  Don't let your mind falter or worry.  We have this.  Boy do we have this.  Main Street Media wants a horse race.  This isn't it.  But you do need to prepare yourselves because the Republican party is going to throw so much shit into the fan it will be difficult to avoid being splattered.  Just remember, that's all they have... shit.

Fry This

 We are in the middle of an October heat wave.  For the next 3 days temps are supposed to top off at 80 (F), and we're supposed to have full sunshine.  That's so nice.  I don't mind saving money on my heating bill.  Of course, beginning Thursday, our temps will only be climbing into the mid 60s (F), and I don't know if I'd actually call that climbing.

Timing is everything.  I say this because this morning I took Howie out for his morning doodle and deedle and he did a long deedle, but I was in a rush, so I swooped him up and brought in back in the house... where he promptly had another small deedle and dropped a doodly present for me to clean up.  Patience is a virtue.  On occasion I am lacking.  

Howie also got to meet the neighbors yesterday.  They have a labradoodle, a cross between and Labrador and a poodle, not a poopy Labrador.  Their dog will soon be a year old, and she said he's still chewing.  They bought their dog the same way they bought their house, without thinking.  

I do get to work today.  I'm not too excited.  You see, one of my fellow associates sold a vinyl sheet installation and told the customer that if she took pictures she could upload them to our installer in order for them to determine how much floor leveling they were going to need to do (she has some damage).  We don't do that.  The measure tech makes that assessment when he's at the house.  Now she's going to have to wait until the installers get to her house, and, if they need to do heavy leveling there will be a much larger charge.  

And the Orange Anus worked at a closed McDonald's yesterday and everybody laughed at him.  Who, in their right mind, thought this was a good idea?  A big thanks to the Times of India for the pic!

I think the real problem with Trump staging a photo op at a McDonald's is that it shows how easily this feeble minded man can be played.  Because he has derided the fact so frequently of Harris' own work there when she was in high school, I'm led to believe that he sees this as a point in her favor among middle and lower class Americans, many of whom have also worked in fast food during those very same years in their lives.  And so this 78 year old man stood by and watch a McDonald's employee cook up a batch of fries so he could fake being a McDonald's employee.  The entire stunt was just like Donald, fake.  The store was closed.  The customers were fake.  It was stagey and unrealistic.  Someone in his campaign must have thought this was a good way to get people talking about something other than his comments about Arnold Palmer's genitalia.

Speaking of the genitalia issue.  One of the most amusing things on the Sunday morning news shows was seeing Mike Johnson (a genitalia pun there) asking Jake Tapper to stop talking about Arnie's Junk.

Good Riddance

 Sunday is looking to be another nice day.  The temps are expected to be in the upper 70s (F) and wonderful sunshine is on the way.  Tomorrow, our temps might hit 80 (F).  Wowza!  I can live with this.  Of course, there's always a flip side to every coin and starting Tuesday our temps will begin sinking to more normal temps for this time of year.  I don't mind things being cool.  Heh, I don't even mind the cold.  

Yesterday was boring at work.  I did manage to get 2 measures for carpet installation, that gives me 3 for the week.  That will keep management happy.  I don't think I'm going to meet my sales goal, but since I'm so far above my goal for the year I'm not worried.  

One of my old store managers died suddenly yesterday morning.  He was in his upper 50s, so we think it was probably a heart attack.  He and I never got along, in fact, he's the only store manager I ever raised my voice to, and so I almost feel bad that I'm not more sympathetic.  Unfortunately, my opinions of him are shared by so many others who worked with him and that's a shame.  I would like to think that if I were to die suddenly, people who think of me kindly, rather than say, "do you remember when he did this?"

I got an email from SquareSpace regarding the chargeback I did to my credit card.  It turns out that Google sold my domain name to SquareSpace, and that $30 charge on my card was the renewal fee.  Google used to send out emails letting me know when it was going to renew.  SquareSpace didn't do that.  Now I have to call my credit card company and cancel the chargeback.  See what happens when you don't send an simple notification.

And, yesterday in Latrobe, PA, Trump talked about Arnold Palmer's dick.

I watched a clip, but turned it off.  I simply can't stand the sound of his whiny voice.  Still, the fact that the New York Times, which has been doing a lot of sane-washing of Trump, would publish an article about his decent into vulgarity is important.  While they reported that his supporters loved it, they were quick to point out that his "dick" talk was most likely going to turn swing voters away.  I didn't check, but I wondered how they reported his telling his supporters that Harvey Weinstein got schlonged.   I know a lot of people are saying this proves he's sinking into dementia, honestly, I think this 78 year-old man is finally showing the public his private side.  He's always been morally and ethically decrepit,  now, he's showing people his true colors.  I suspect this is the final test for all of those Christians who believe he was sent by God to realize the truth.  I don't think they understand the Gates of Hell await.  Well, good riddance.

Silence is Orange

 Another sunny day is on tap for us here in Central PA.  We were under another frost warning last evening but that didn't happen.  When I got out of bed this morning, the temp was sitting at 41 (F).  Our high temp to day is predicted to be in the low 70s (F).  Sadly, I do have to go to work and sit and the flooring desk.

My new schedule starts on Monday.  The only full, 8 hour day I'm available is going to be Sunday.  They tend to be the slowest day of the week.  I have one more schedule change to make.  I've got to remove my availability for Fridays, that will keep me from having to go in and work on Black Friday.  

My car inspection went well yesterday.  Sometime before next year I'm going to need to buy new tires, but that was expected.  My car is 5 years old, and so far I haven't had any real expense.  There's also a problem with the rear break shoes, but again, the front brakes are fine, so right now it isn't something that needs to be worried about.

Howie's 10 weeks old today.  I am still a chew toy, though the number of toys he's gotten have cut back on the number of lacerations I'm getting from his sharp, little teeth.  He slept through the entire night without having to go outside for a pee break.  He likes going outside, and we've reached the point where I can open the back door and simply let him out to do his business.  I still have to keep an eye on him out of the windows to make sure he doesn't chew on any sticks.  Here's a pic I took of his yesterday.  He's getting bigger by the day.

And can we talk about bad Karma?  Last evening the Orange Anus had a rally in Detroit, remember he just said Detroit was a terrible, horrible place, and his mic cut out.  That's right, for almost twenty minutes he wove back and forth across the stage in the award winning roll as Donnie the Silent.  I watched some of it since it's always nice to see Karma in action.  From what I've read, he was seething.  How humiliating for him!  to have to stand in front of a half filled arena unable to say anything!  Someone tried giving him a mic and that, too, wasn't working.  Was the sound company retaliating because Orangie had said Detroit was a shit hole?  I mean, I suppose they could always write off the expense as a campaign donation.

Accountable

 Hello Friday.  Hello Sunshine.  Hello temps in the 70s (F).  The good news is that this weather is supposed to hang with us for the next week.  The bad news is that all this sunshine will make my grass grow.  Without a good shot of cold air the leaves on the trees are staying green, for the most part.  They are beginning to fall, but there are no brilliant yellows or reds around my neck of the woods.

Yesterday was a somewhat busy day.  I wanted to get the front room tank cleaned.  Well, that was a bust.  I did get in a short ride on the bike.  It wasn't nearly as long as usual because Howie left the room and I got worried he might leave a deedle or drop a doodle  in the house.  That's a big priority right now in getting him house trained.  It is lucky for both of us that the temps are going to be nice, and my hours fairly short at work, to teach him that his business needs to be done outside.

This morning my car gets inspected.  They've changed the way things are done: the work you have done is basically a la carte.  You pick and chose what needs to be done, like an oil change (necessary) or air filters changed (unnecessary).  I'm putting the purchase of new tires off until next year.  I don't drive that much, and the tread is still fairly good.  Everything is so expensive.  Hopefully, this will only take about an hour.  I'm doing what I normally do, taking along a hard copy of my latest book, The Body in History, and working on a rewrite of the first draft.

And, speaking of the weather.  If this is correct, temps will remain warm here again this winter.  This will be the 3rd winter in a row.  For those who don't know.  This is what Global Warming looks like.  If it stays this warm this winter, imagine what the summer is going to be like for those southern states.

And all the details about Trump's involvement leading up to, and including what he did, on January 6 are going to be released for public consumption.  His appeals have been denied.  This is a good thing.  Some are saying that this is the October surprise, though we have to be honest here, there have already been so many ugly surprised for the Republican party this October.  He's tried to get people dancing.  His Univision town hall was a complete failure, as was his town hall with women.  He's cancelling appearances, one of which was with the NRA.  And today details are going to be released to the press of how truly malevolent he was on January 6 when his cultists attempted a coup.  He has been angling for this moment his entire life, and don't, for a second, think he will have any regrets.  It will be his out and out rage at being finally held accountable that will pop his brain.

The Ocotpus

 Hello Thursday.  This is my day off!  I'm excited.  The outside temps are a bit cool, the high is only going to climb into the low 60s (F).  Tomorrow, however, we'll be hitting the 70s (F) with warm, sunny days in our forecast.  I know it will eventually cool off since it's the season for cooling off.  

Yesterday work was... as expected, slow.  I did sell a carpet installation.  The Flooring department is doing exceedingly well.  By the time I'd left last evening we'd racked up over $22,000 in sales for the day.  Believe me when I tell you management is very happy.  Sadly, all of these sales will increase our sales plan for next year because American capitalism demands at least a 4% increase in sales every year and, as every one knows, that means increased pricing.  Greed's hunger is never satisfied.

Because Howie's bladder is still puppy sized, I usually get up in the wee hours of the morning to take him outside.  This morning, as his puppy legs trotted him over to what's becoming his favorite pee spot, I heard a noise from outside of the fence.  Looking up, I saw a large possum, or as some would like to say, opossum, going into an old groundhog hole on the hill behind the house.  However, instead of going down the hole completely, he sat in the entrance and watched Howie, and then turned in looked at me.  Possums are good!  They eat small rodents.

And Howie got an octopus.  He loves it.

Here's an interesting bit:  Remember Kristen Sinema?  Well, she's not running for reelection, however she does have a bit of a campaign nest egg, so she's spending it on herself with trips to Paris and other places.  After her performance in the Senate, where she seemed much more Republican than Democrat, this should not be a surprise.

And the Orange Anus had a women's meet and greet yesterday that was arranged by Fox, filled with an audience of female cultists.  They laughed when a joke was made about Amber Thurman.  Social media was not happy.  As one woman said, "I'd crawl across broken glass to vote against Trump and for Harris."  For those who don't know, Amber Thurman died of an infection after she was refused a life-saving, medically required abortion.  This meet and greet was the GOP's idea of fixing the problem Trump has with women.

And Harris did an interview on Fox yesterday.  She hit a homerun.  This was not what Fox was expecting, so they cut the interview short after 25 minutes.  Harris was verbally pummeling the hell out of Brett Bair.  And the ending was abrupt, one of those "oh, look, they're telling me our time is up," and it was over.  Ouch.

Saturday Night

 Well, it's cold out.  Not freezing cold, but cold enough for me to see my breath as I'm standing outside waiting for Howie to do his morning business.  Today is the last day for the chilliness, tomorrow starts a warm up which will again take up up into the 70s (F).  If the winter stays as warm as this autumn has been, it will be another cheap year as far as my heating bills.  I have no problem with that.

I didn't work yesterday.  Sadly, it turned out to be one of those... slow days.  I wrote.  I did some cleaning.  But mostly, I sat and scrolled through my phone looking for juicy bits that I found entertaining.

I do have to work this afternoon.  I'm not excited.  I changed my availability so I can only work Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday in the afternoon, and then 8 hours on Sunday.  I'm going to have to lose one of those afternoons. I now have a puppy that needs to be taken care of, and it's difficult to house train when I'm out of the house for 6 hours at a stretch.

Last night I went to see Saturday Night, a movie about the first night of Saturday Night Live, a TV show of skits, and musical acts that started 50 years ago.  I remember those shows.  I, along with millions of other people my age, glued ourselves to the TV every Saturday night for years laughing at the sometimes very absurd, usually adult humor.  I liked the movie a lot.  NBC did expect it to fail and was surprised when it became a big hit.  How original... live television every Saturday night.  The casting is good, most of the actors bear a resemblance to the original cast members.  The bits and pieces of the sketches they do in rehearsal are still very funny.  While it was nostalgic, most importantly, the movie gives the audience how complicated live television can be, and how talented those young people were in order to make it work so successfully.

And yesterday the Orange Anus had another really bad day.  He was in Chicago to interviewed about his economic policies and... failed in a very public manner.  There are so many snippets of his bad interview to watch.  I do believe he thought this was going to be nothing more than softball questions he could avoid and just bloviate about whatever he wanted.  That was not the case.  My favorite was when he was corrected after calling Governor Newsome,  new scum.  His reaction was to say, "you're the first person to correct me."  Now how big of an Ouch is that.  He was then scolded on air with, "Any CEO of a Fortune 500 company saying that would be terminated immediately."  I'm surprised none of you could hear me laughing.  

Later yesterday evening he had a rally in... Wisconsin, I think, and it went poorly because his brain was still seething.  This is a man who, like the a large number of Republicans, is used to saying "Shut up, I'm in charge."  That is not happening.  His concepts of unformulated plans are being mocked by so many people.  As a result, last evening is standard word salad was run through a meat grinder in front of a live audience.  Does anyone know if that meltdown was televised?

Trump's Dance-a-Thon

 Well, we've got a chilly Tuesday outside.  The temp this morning when I took Howie out to do his duty the temp was 40 (F).  He didn't seem to mind the cold.  There's a frost warning in effect for this evening.  That may start the leaves to turn colors.  As I've said, and as Maddie has also pointed out, so far their still green when they fall.

I did work yesterday.  It was boring.  I got in my laps.  Chatted with a few customers as they pass through by the flooring desk, but that's about it.  While we're slow, our Garden department is doing gang busters.  Artificial trees are practically flying out the door.  And, halfway through October, our Halloween decorations are beginning to be marked down to clearance prices.  One thing that's different for both holidays this year, is that there are not a lot of smaller decorations.  Everything is big or inflatable.  There was a time when we sold snow globes, I've bought a few over the years.  We don't do that anymore.  We're not carrying a lot of Christmas wreaths either, just trees, and lights, and animated Santas that are far more frightening than entertaining.

Later this morning, I'm going to be heading out to PetSmart to buy some more chew toys for Howie.  There's an purple octopus coming in the mail, and two bouncing balls due to arrive from Amazon, but they are not going to hold his interest for too long.  He gets bored fast.  He's still in the process of learning the word "no," but he knows what "outside" means.  All I have to do is say "outside," and he's heading towards the back door.

Last night this happened near Philadelphia.

Evidently 2 people fainted and needed medical assistance... maybe.  Everything needs to be suspect when it happens around Trump.  When he told "Justin" to play the songs they'd talked about, seems even more suspect.  He swayed to the music for around 39 minutes.  Kristi Noem, who was supposed to sort of be his Master of Ceremonies, or possibly the question lady, did, at times, seem to try and get things back on track.  Her fake smile says a lot.  At one point, she puts her hand on his back as if to guide him.  If that was supposed to help, it failed.  The New York Times is trying to sane wash the whole episode, but that doesn't keep people from talking.  It's all over social media.  Remember, this comes one day after his campaign abandoned a large number of his cultists at a farm near Coachella.  Personally, I'm hoping he keeps up these personal appearances, they make him look so terribly bad.

It wasn't Coachella

 Well, it's Monday and the new week has begun.  It was 50 (F) when I had Howie out this morning, but the temps are not expected to get much higher.  We're in the beginning of a cool down that's supposed to continue for a few days before we warm up again.  While some of the leaves from the trees around my house have started to fall, they've not yet begun to turn colors.  Even my gingko out front has few leaves that are yellow, of course, being a gingko, it will turn golden one day and the next day all the leaves will fall off.

Work was boring yesterday.  I talked to some people.  That's about it.  Oh, and they paid me to sit at the flooring desk for 8 hours.  Our Christmas decorations are flying out the front door, and believe it or not, several of the trees have been returned because the lights don't work.  Okay, can someone please tell me why you'd be putting up your Christmas tree in October.  I cannot understand why someone would want to clutter up their house for two and a half months before the holiday.  Someone asked me if I decorate and was surprised when I told her "no, I don't decorate for any holidays."  Decorating has never given me a warm fuzzy feeling, besides, I can think of quite a few other things to waste my money on besides decorations.

I made an appointment to have my car inspected on Friday.  Estimated cost: $200.  One of the reasons it so high is because the country I live in requires an emissions test.

And for those who missed it, Trump had a rally a Coachella.  For those who don't know, Coachella has a large music festival that last for several days during the summer.  However, even though his rally stated it was at Coachella, it wasn't on the festival grounds, it was on a nearby farm.  A farm where there was no parking.

All of those people, several thousand, needed to be bused in from the actual parking lot.  20 buses were hired to shuttle them for the 5 mile ride.  It took them quite some time to get those several thousand people to this farm.  Rumor has it that by busing them in, they could begin to leave like so many other people do at his rallies.  And when he was finished bloviating, Donald Trump left, and all of those people who had been bussed in discovered his campaign had only paid for one bus to transport them back to the parking lot.  And there was chaos.  Those cultists failed to believe one of the only truths to come out of Trump's mouth:  he only wants their vote.  He doesn't care about them. They are the people he would fire if they worked for him and got overtime.  I understand quite a few were angry, and as a result, they may not vote for him.  That would be good.  It's about time he learned there is a price for everything.

Side Show Don

 Okay, the weather today is supposed to be spectacular, temps in the low 80s (F), no humidity, and plentiful sunshine.  Sadly, Sunday's are my 8 hour day, so 1030 this morning, I will ensconced behind the flooring desk.  Sometime tonight the floor is going to drop out, taking the temps with it.  The next few days will be chilly willy.

The 8 hours I spent at the store yesterday were uneventful.  I did learn that the registers up front now take tap payments.  I do believe they even take Apple pay.  I found this out by selling flooring to a customer who had her phone rather than a card.  This is very innovative for us.  While everyone else in the world lets you tap your credit card, the great orange retailer I work for still made you shove your card into the card reader.  You have no idea how oddly people would look at me when I told them "sorry, we don't have tap."  I was truly impressed with Greece, where establishment, be it store or restaurant, let you tap your card.  

Howie has learned how to play fetch with a green wiffle ball.  I'm impressed, he's only 9 weeks old.  He also loves the yard.  He has no problem going down the 3 steps from the back door, but can also climb up them.  Here he surveying his new realm.

And I don't know about you, but it seems to me as though the Main Stream Media is finally realizing that a Trump presidency, while rewarding them with millions of clicks daily, would not be in their best interest.  Tax breaks are useless if your business has been shut down.  In an authoritarian government there is only one state TV, and while Trump would love to have every network constantly praising him, he would choose one, and only one, to telecast his greatness.  Take for example the election interference happening between Zitter and the Trump campaign reported by the New York Times.  More and more we're seeing pushback from reporters on quite a number of networks, fact-checking Trump people who are unaccustomed to be called liars on air.  

Finally, I have my on little theory as to why Trump's crowds start leaving so early during his rally.  I'm thinking these aren't really Trumpers.  Nope.  These people are a variation on the rubbernecks to slow down when driving by and accident, or those people who gather around a house fire to watch someone's life burn to the ground.  I suspect so many of them are going for the Side Show because it's free. Once there, they realize that the Freak is only entertaining for a short period of time, say 10 minutes.  After that his clown show gets boring and they start to leave.  This is why his circus tent is only going to be half full at best.  Maybe we ought to start calling him Side Show Don.

Honey

 Today is supposed to be nice and sunny with temps climbing up into the mid 70s (F).  I work this afternoon, so I'll miss out.  Tomorrow our temps are predicted to top out in the mid 80s (F).  Yes, that's right, but sometime during the day payment will be charged and the rain will come in as a cold front passes through.  On Monday, our temps will be stuck in the 50s (F).  I may have to buy more sweat pants.

While working yesterday, I had a woman call to see if we still had a certain type of vinyl plank flooring for sale.  However, there was a slight problem.  She didn't know the name.  She said it was pale in color, but didn't know if it was wood plank or not. In fact, she wasn't certain it was our store.  She did take a picture that didn't give the name, but did include appliances standing in the background.  Yes, we do get calls like this.  She said it was on clearance, and we do have an area for clearance flooring, however nothing in the size (12" x 24") she wanted.  Dealing with uninformed customers can be so difficult at times.

So, the first word Howie is learning is "no."  For him, everything is a chew toy, including my arms, fingers, nose, and chin.  He's especial fond of my toes.  Certain things, especially my body parts, are off limits, other things include my sneakers and the new chair, which is covered with the same drop cloth I used on Biggie and Lily's sofa.  He is allowed to play around with my slippers; I ordered them a size to big so they're now a chew toy.

When our tour was over in Greece, we were all given a can of Grecian honey.  I eat a lot of honey.  It's quite healthy.  Since I had a large jar open already, I chose to finish that first.  I emptied the bottle yesterday.  I can't wait to taste deliciousness.

This presidential election is not the horserace so many media outlets want it to be, but than they're in it for the money, not Democracy.  I'm of the thought that many of them believe Trump is going to lose, so they might as well make their money while he's still campaigning.  Their choosing to not report his insanity has more to do with the idea that they might has well make their hay while the sun shines.  They are using him to line their bank accounts.  He is still going to remain profitable for them after he loses, but the amount of gold dropping into their tight little fists will go down.  Don't think this is unusual for them, profitability has always come before truth, though it's never been this obvious before.

As for the election:  Trump knows he's going to lose.  That's part of the plan... Putin's plan.  The fact that he's had at least 7 unofficial talks with Russia's dictator indicates there is a coordinated plan.  Trump's denial of giving Vlad those Covid testing machines and Moscow's admitting he did is part of the plan.  Trump's goal right now is to create as much chaos as possible.  He is going to create as much inner turmoil in the United States so that Americans focus totally on our own problems, leaving Putin to do as he wants.  Trump doesn't understand that when his usefulness is done, Putin will flush him away like an old turd that's been floating around in the toilet bowl for way too long.  Our job is to make Trump lose so badly his attempted chaos will fail.

Puppy in a Box

 Friday morning and it's 39 (F) outside, that's getting close to 0 in Celsius.  Don't worry, we're going to be warming up over the next few days.  Then another cool down will hit us, though are low temps are not supposed to go below 40 (F), which is still close to 0 in Celsius.  I think that there are times when the temperature looks better in Fahrenheit than in Celsius. 

Yesterday turned out to be a blah day, not much accomplished.  I think it's because there's a puppy in the house.  Howie goes outside quite frequently.  We're in the house training stage of puppydom.  This morning we were up at 0500 in order for him to do his business outside.  Mission accomplished.  He's actually younger than I thought.  I looked through his papers and he'll be 2 months on on October 12.  He was evidently crate trained, too.  The big box I brought him home in is set up to the new chair with a blanket inside.  When he gets tired, he goes and lays in the box.  When I'm upstairs and he's downstairs, he goes and lays in the box.  As long as he's happy. 

I had a problem with one of the LED lights in my range hood and clicked on the "Contact Seller" button on Amazon.  I filled out the form, and clicked the submit button.  However, instead of going to Vesta, the form went to Squarespace, which forwarded that form to Vesta and charged me $30 plus tax.  I complained to both my credit card company, and to Amazon, and now there are 2 fraud active fraud investigations as to how this happened.  Vesta claims ignorance, but I'm fairly positive that their page was set up to go through Squarespace right from the beginning.

And as the election gets closer, Trump is becoming more extreme.  I liked the bit about how he's going to let people deduct the interest on their car payments from their income tax.  His cultists believe he's capable of doing this.  He's not.  But then a number of them think he was sent by God.  They don't understand that he's taking a blunt ax to Christianity in order to save his ass.  Believe me, if Christians thought the Great Dechurching was a problem before Trump, wait until they see what happens to their religion after he's gone.

Howie

 Can I get a big hello for Thursday morning?  The outside temp is 50 (F), but we're in a bit of a cool-off so it's only going to climb around 12 degrees.  According to the forecast, we're going to warm up as we head into next week.  No rain.  Just sunny days.  That's fine.

I did get my lawn mowed yesterday.  It looks good.  I wish my neighbors would do the same to theirs.  I'm talking about the new neighbors.  He works long days, and she doesn't like to be outside.  She told me once that she felt as though everyone in the neighborhood was watching her.  Bit of a paranoia issue.  She is the one who likes to smoke her marijuana, so it shouldn't really surprise me.

And yesterday afternoon I drove to Bethel, PA to pick up a puppy.  That's right.  Howie has now moved into the house.  He's 9 weeks old, has very sharp little teeth, and is beginning to be housetrained.  That means he still has accidents.  I expected this.  He is what they call a Red Fox Labrador (Vizslas were way too expensive), so he's sort of ginger colored.  I met his grandmother and she's more yellow than she is red.  Here he is with one of Lily's old toys.  What a good thing it was I saved some.

And I don't think I mentioned it, but those Covid tests that Trump gave Putin were not the little cardboard ones the vast majority of us got.  Nope.  He gave Putin little computers that diagnosed on a molecular level and were the size of a big toaster.  Very expensive.  So, instead of making sure they were available to hospitals, he gave them to his Blo Bro.

So. why is Trump going to hold a rally in Madison Square Garden?  Some think it's because the GOP wants chaos to ensue, others think that it's a desperate attempt to influence the down ballot voters.  There are 3 House seats from that region which need to be filled and the Republican party wants to be competitive.  The Republicans need those 3 seats if they hope to maintain a majority, and a majority is needed if they want to the House of Representatives to object to the election results.  They way to stop this is for Democrats to decimate the Republicans at the polls and take back the majority.  It shouldn't be that difficult, all we need to do is make sure Democrats vote en masse.

My Aunt is going to be 90

 Wednesday has arrived.  Sunshine is again in store.  Highs are also predicted to be in the upper 60s (F).  I will have no problem handling today.  They're predicting full-on sunshine for tomorrow.  Temps will be lower, but that's okay.  This is Autumn, after all.  In the coming week temps are supposed to climb back up into the 70s (F).  Days are supposed to be sunny, and all the rain will be staying to the south of us.

I had lunch with my cousin and her husband yesterday.  I was surprised to see they had 2 Trump signs in their yard when I arrived at their house.  I shouldn't  have been.  They're both religious; they had planned to go to Israel but the Hamas attack of October 7 put an end to those plans.  Politics stayed out of the conversation.  She and her husband are both older than me, so any earthly attempt at discussion would have been doomed to failure.

We went to see my aunt Lois, who will be turning 90 on October 19.  She has an apartment in a senior living facility and it's very nice: 4 rooms, including a bathroom with a walk-in shower.  She has a full kitchen with a large serving counter opening into the living room.  We paid $2700 a month for a studio apartment for my mom, so she must be paying at least $6000.  She has some mobility issues, but her mind is still strong.  It's so much fun talking to her, hearing about the past.  We called my great grandmother on my grandmother's side of the family Grandma Lee.  Lois told us that when she and my dad were young, they called her Grandma New York, not only because she lived in New York City, but because her last name kept changing; she seemed to have a habit of marrying and divorcing men.  Whatever wild streak we have running in our family must have come from her.

And yes, my dahlias are still blooming.

And as must be expected, more dirt came out yesterday regarding the Orange Anus.  No one should be surprised if he took top secret British Naval intelligence with him to Mar a Lago, he has never had a problem screwing people, or countries over.  The fact that America was desperate for Covid testing and he secretly sent them to his blow bro Vlad?  No surprise there.  He will try and tear the country apart to please Putin.  He will fail.  Our job is to make sure he doesn't get the chance to run away, he is spinless, after all, and will run.  I don't doubt plans have already been set in place.  I suspect he already knows he's going to lose.  His job is not to win, but to create chaos.  Putin will reward him for the disruption he's going to cause.  This is why he can't run away.  He needs to pay the consequences.

Milton

 And it looks as though we are going to have another sunny day in store for us here in Central PA.  It's cool, with the temps in the high 40s (F), though today and tomorrow forecasters are predicting that we're going to top off in the 70s (F).  I can live with that.

Two things from work yesterday:  

1)  I had an older woman who set up a blind measure for one window.  She used her brother's email address because she doesn't have email and the system defaulted to his phone number.  he lives in New Jersey.  I've dealt with her before.  She need to uncomplicate her life.

2)  I had a Distance Learning class on Selling, where they tried to turn me into a Used Car Salesperson.  I wasted the hour and a half by scanning through the social media apps on my phone.  One of the low points was when I was told that to overcome objections I should tell the customer, "You may never have the opportunity to get these prices ever again."  I could never saying anything like this to a customer and still have a clear conscience. 

And what about Milton?  Wowza!  He went from a tropical storm to a Category 5 hurricane in a few hours.  Now, I understand he's been downgraded to a Cat 4.  Personally, that's 4 and probably 5 good reasons not to move to Florida.  Honestly, you have to admit that it does seem as if God is punishing that anti-woke state.  Ronnie DeSantis is getting shorter and shorter by the minute.  He deserves everything he gets.

And Kamala Harris was on 60 Minutes.  I didn't see it.  In fact, they may have recorded it for this Sunday since, if my memory serves me correctly, the show aired every Sunday evening.  Evidently they also included a segment on the Orange Anus, and how he refused to participate, and, when that information was released, demanded an apology from them for releasing the information.  He is such an ass.

And while the floodgates haven't collapsed, it is far more than a trickle, every day more and more Republicans are endorsing Harris.  As I've said, a solid majority will vote against him.  Those Republicans who do not vote for Harris will sit on their hands believing that they will have a better chance in 2028 to win the presidency.  That is not going to be enough time for the party to recover from all of the damage he is doing to it.  They will be so diminished.  This is a very good thing.  And those that do not learn, will either die off, or move to Russia.

In the Kraken's Grotto

 A new begins.  The front page of Accuweather had a notice that the rain will be ending in a few hours, the sun is rising on a cloudless sky.  Also, the forecast there is 0% precipitation for the next 3 days.  It has now been changed to "no rain for the next 60 minutes."  They need to get their act together for us early birds. 

Either way, temps are predicted to be cooler today, even if it is sunny, not that it makes much of a difference since I'm scheduled to work for 8 hours.  This is the last Monday that I work an 8 hour shift.  I fixed my availability problem.  There may be more fixing ahead.  I can remember when I worried if 20 hours a week would give me enough spending money.  That was so long ago, before Biggie and his expensive meds.  No problem. 

And yesterday was a boring 8 hours.  I began doing laps again.  One of my friends asked where I'd be traveling to next, so I reminded him that I was getting a puppy.  I didn't tell him I'd already talked to my movie buddy Patty about that, nor did I tell him she said (very sarcastically, since she has 4 dogs) that it would kill her to take care of another pup while I traveled.  So, I guess he asked a valid question.

And, as most of you know, I like to listen to music when I write, so, if I heard an interesting song while I was in Greece, I'd pull out my phone and do a "song search."  This is why in a number of pics taken at dinner, I'm looking down at the table rather than smiling for the camera.  One of the songs that caught my ear was called Shik, Shak, Shok, which was a remix of an Egyptian song from 1974, a remix that had a strong Grecian twist.  I listened to this song a lot while working on a chapter called In the Kraken's Grotto (catchy, eh?)

I suppose quite a few people know that the Orange Anus is going to lose the election.  I also suppose that quite a few understand that he's going to attempt to start something.  There will be some rocky times between November 5 and certification of the next president.  His cult will result to mob mentality, however, this minority crowd simply cannot comprehend they will be dealing with a vast majority of Americans, and the patience of that vast majority has run out.  Over 2/3 of the nation is going to put the hammer down on what used to be the Republican Party.  And then Evangelical Christianity is going to be put under the microscope.  I would not be surprised if, because of their push into the political arena, churches lose their tax exempt status.  It's about time.  

Christmas in October

 Well, it's Sunday.  I got up around 0515 because I was awake.  It was cool enough in the bedroom that I realized the time had come for me to pull out the rest of the blankets.  Outside, the temp was 49 (F) or almost 9.5 (C).  That's chilly.  Temps are predicted to get warmer, however, things have changed in the forecast.  Originally, it was supposed to stay warm for a few days.  Now, we appear to to be moving back into more seasonable, fall-like weather.  It is autumn, after all, and some people need a reason to drink their pumpkin spice lattes.

I worked yesterday, it was boring.  I did manage to get 2 measures for flooring installations.  That will keep management happy.  My goal was 2 for the week, I've sold 4.  I will probably sell less in the future because I've changed my availability.  There was time when you could be available for 28 hours a week and you'd only be scheduled for 20.  Not any more.  Now they schedule for every hour possible, and the only way to change that is to reduce the number of hours a week that you can work.  A further reduction is in my future.

And Christmas has arrived at the store... the first week of October.  Truthfully, they began the display all the way back in September.  Every year people ask me why, we have 3 months until Christmas?  Well, the ugly answer is the consumer, those people who desperately need Christmas.  Here's an example from last week.  We had a woman and her husband come into the store looking for a specific artificial Christmas tree.  That model was sold out online, however, we had several in the store.  They were, unfortunately, still stored on pallets in the overhead.  Even more unfortunate for us was her demand we get one down so she could buy one, so that's what we did.  We blocked off aisles, got a fork-lift and pulled down the pallet so she could satisfy her selfishness.  As for this display, it was difficult for me to take this picture because of customers buying trees, and wreathes, and... well you name it.  And yes, I take it on October 4, 2024.

The Orange Anus had a rally yesterday in Butler, PA, where supposedly and assassination attempt was made on his life.  Many people are beginning to wonder if it was an elaborate campaign event that cost the deaths of 2 Republicans.  Honestly, I don't think Republicans have a problem sacrificing one of  their own if they feel their new religion calls for it.  Elon Mus was there, too.  At one time I thought he might be intelligent, now I realize he's like Trump, a self-centered rich man who inherited most of his fortune.  His Karma is almost as bad as Trump's.  This is something his ego refuses to let him understand.  He and the woman who needed a specific tree have a lot of things in common.

The Icing on the Cake

 Let's see... it's Saturday, the sun is shining brightly through the window and there isn't a cloud in the sky... and, as is the case on all Saturdays, I have to work.  Yesterday the sun didn't come out to play until after 6 PM and the temperatures hung around in the mid 60s (F), meaning the weather forecast was way off.

The ground here was wet, the grass had dew drops hanging on the blades most of the day, and so it didn't get mowed.  And, even though I felt I should be napping constantly, I did manage to get things done.  The tank in the living room was cleaned, the bathroom cleaned, and I cut down the rest of my peach tree.  I didn't plant the tree to feed the squirrels, and that's precisely what happened.  My neighbor across the street had the same problem, no peaches because of the squirrels.  With the tree gone, my yard suddenly got much larger and I realized how much I like it that way.  

When I remodeled my kitchen, I had a range hood put in over the stove, LED lights, really nice.  Well, yesterday one of the lights died and needs to be replaced.  So, what did I discover?  They sent me the wrong hood.  When it arrived, I never really looked at it, I just gave it to the contractor.  Big mistake.  Checking, it looks as though they sent me a more expensive model, which isn't a bad thing.  However, changing the lightbulbs is going to present problems, as it seems as though I actually have to replace the entire fixture.  Not a good thing.

And I received an email from Cumberland County notifying me that my mail-in ballot was on the way.  Yippee!  It will be filled out and mailed the day it arrives.  The only probably with mail in ballots in Pennsylvania is that the Republican party and decreed that they can not be counted until November 5.  You see, it's all about delaying the process, making it take as much time as possible to find out the results.  It's my understanding that there were around 199,000 ballots requested for Bucks County (Philadelphia).  I tried to get an accurate figure for my country, Cumberland, and found it extremely difficult.  Needless to say, not of them will be counted until November 5.  The alternative would be to stand in line and vote, and believe me, lines might be long.  Long lines are a discouragement for seniors and people who might have disabilities, and even though senior citizens tend to vote Republican, the GOP doesn't care.  I suspect that in the end, Harris will have enough of a lead in Pennsylvania, the mail-in ballots will just be the icing on the cake.