The Price of Eggs

 It rained last night, or, more precisely, it stormed with both rain and wind.  Many leaves fell from the trees.  Howie's frisbee, which was bottom side up, was filled with water this morning when he went outside for his morning business.  Oh, and the temp was a cool 38 (F).  Today's high is only a few degrees above that, and tonight they're predicting snow flurries.  A bit of a cool down is on the way.  If this winter is similar to the past few, temps will continue to decline until about the first week in February, at which time they will begin to warm up.

I got a lot done around the house yesterday.  Howie and I also walked around the block and were barked at by a large dog.  He doesn't like large dogs, even though he's going to be one.  How's that for irony.  The living room tank was cleaned, I got a ride in on the bike, and made a nice salmon dish for lunch/dinner.

A few weeks back, I bought myself a 13 lb turkey for Thanksgiving, just in case I didn't get an invite.  Well, we're a week away and still no invite.  My sister and her daughter aren't doing anything, in fact they've already pre-ordered their meal.  They're paying a lot more for their dinner, than I am, and honestly, I'd rather roast the bird since there will be leftovers!

Yesterday, I contacted Amazon to return that 2nd watch I ended up getting.  The person I chatted with seemed surprised.  I suppose a lot of people would take advantage of that situation.  This is one of the things that is wrong with America.  We do tend to have a problem with ethics.

Here's a sunrise pic I took outside this morning.

While I no longer subscribe to the Washington Post, I still scan the headlines.  They also send me a list of the top 7 stories and this morning I had to laugh as I looked at that list because number 7 dealt with the price of eggs.  That's right, the price of eggs is going up because of... bird flu, at least that's the excuse they're using.  You know, that's going to piss off a lot of those voters who thought Trump was going to drop the price of eggs.  And don't worry, they're not going to come down.  That would be like asking those egg distributors to take a cut in pay; we know that ain't going to happen any time soon.  By the way, one of the items I purchased for my larder is a large can of dried eggs.  

Another thing that's funny is that all those duffers who voted for Trump because he says he's going to cut down on the size of government.  That means the government's payroll expense will go down, but it also means unemployment will go up.  It would be nice for a change if simply minded Americans actually thought things through.

Howie's Vet Visit

 It did rain again last night.  Every drop helps.  The outside temp is in the upper 40s (F) and is only expected to climb a few degrees higher.  According to the forecast, at least some amount of rain should be falling over the next three days.  I hope they're right.

Yesterday was... sort of fun, sort of meh, sort of maybe I should just take a nap.  This is how most Tuesday's are turning out after I work the weekend and Monday.  It's not that I'm tired, it's just that everything seems to be a chore.  Adding to that is the fact that I didn't sleep that well Monday night.  My Garmin watch, which tracks my sleep indicated that I had slept poorly, and that my body battery hadn't replenished nearly enough, and that it was going to be a ho-hum kind of day.

I got my water bill yesterday.  That little leak I had in the bathroom wasted around 700 gallons.  That will give you an idea as to how bad it was.

Howie did have his first Vet visit yesterday and it went well.  He has a slight entropy on his right eye, that means the eyelashes on his bottom eye are sort of turning in and scratching his eye.  It's not serious.  In fact, his new vet said that it's quite probably the issue will fix itself as he gets older and his head grows   Stat wise, he weighs 30 pounds, or 13.5 kg.  His final weight will be around 80 pounds, or 36 kg.  She recommended that he go from puppy chow to large adult dog food, so a bag has been ordered from Chewy.  Here's a blurry pic from the Vet.

And if you haven't been paying attention, Social Conservatives are furious over Trump's choice to have Kennedy run the Department of Health.  He's pro abortion.  I suppose he feels that he's not going to need anymore Evangelical votes.  And Dr. Oz to handle Medicare and Medicaid?  Seniors prepare to pay more for your health care.  And for those who don't understand, those tax dollars which should be going to benefit Americans, will be used to offset another big tax break for billionaires.

There are joyous things happening if you look for him.  Yesterday the Orange Anus and Elonia were down in Texas to watch one of Elonia's rockets launch and... it exploded.  This is what's called symbolism, or, possibly foreshadowing.  Maybe it's a combination of both.  

Elonia slashed the workforce at Zitter, the dying social media platform, because he needed those dollars to help pay off that $40 billion dollar loan he took out to buy it.  Stupidly, he's going to try and do the same thing with the American economy.  He and Orangie have about the same IQ, a little below average, and that shared stupidity will come back to haunt them.

The pantry

 Tuesday.  My day off.  The outside temp was a balmy 45 (F) when I got up this morning.  It will not get out of the 50s (F) today.  Tomorrow temps are supposed to be a little warmer, but it's supposed to be showery.  I think most of us here in Central PA would rather it was rainy instead of showery.  That's what happened the last time forecasters predicted showery weather.  

I worked yesterday.  It was mostly boring, so I worked on The Body in History.  I am approaching the moment of the denouement.  For those who've read my books, my books have one of two endings.  There's either a cozy mystery ending, though my cozy endings usually involve large crowds of people, as in the ending of The Body in Motion, which takes place in a Broadway theater filled will people with cameras, or action endings, as in The Body in Repose, which had a smash down chase across roofs of the French Quarter in the rain.  The Body in History will have either a cozy, or an action ending.

There are 2 old area rugs in the the weight/music/computer room that have been here for literally decades.  My previous 3 dogs, each in their own way, did a job on them.  As a result, there are pulls all over the place.  Howie is exacerbating the damage.  This morning I looked around and realized there I am going to have to move some furniture to remove them.  I'm probably going to replace them with other area rugs, the alternative would mean far more work than I want to spend.  Here is Howie on one of the rugs I'm talking about.

Trump continues to nominate people who are unqualified to cabinet level positions because he knows they will be "yes" men (no women) and far easier to control.  Evangelicals are not happy with his choice of pro-abortion Robert Kennedy.  I wonder how long it will take them to realize he was simply playing the Jesus thing in order to get their votes.  Too late, for certain.  

As most of us realize, prices are going to be going up.  In order to help offset these unwanted costs increases, I've begun buy certain food stuff in bulk, so, in an odd way, you could say that I've become somewhat of a survivalist.  Nothing extreme, mind you, but eggs when up in price, so I've purchased a container of powdered eggs.  Rice, beans, and canned vegetables.  Actually, what I'm doing is creating a sort of pantry.  For years and years people had pantries.  Since the advent of your local supermarket, pantries have for the most part disappeared.  You might want to give it a try.  Think of it as your own, private, food bank.

Republicans: Party over Country

 And... a new week begins.  We can only wonder what kinds of bitter joys and frivolities will be visited upon us in the coming days, so enjoy the nice ones while you can.

The temp outside is a mild 44 (F).  Today's high is supposed to be somewhere in the upper 60s (F), that will be nice, too.  Unfortunately, I do work.

Speaking of work, yesterday, for most of my 8 hours at the flooring desk, I was busy.  I sold 4 measure, which gave me a total of 6 for the week.  Management should be very happy.  Almost everybody asked about a Black Friday Sale.  There will be discounts in Blinds and Decor, but not on flooring, of course, there's always a sale in Blinds and Decor.  Whether it's actually a sale or not, I have no idea.  No one ever pays the Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price... ever, and in case some of you don't know, a single cellular, light filtering shade for a 30 inch x 60 inch window is going to set you back at least $160, and that's your basic model.  The bigger the window, the more expensive the shade.

And I baked an apple thingy in my air fryer.  No recipe involved.  I just popped a little pie crust into one of my Corning Ware dishes, sliced up 2 apples, added a 2 tablespoons of butter and 4 tablespoons of brown sugar and popped it into the friar.

And here's an irony for you, it may be Mitch McConnell, a traditionalist Republican, who save Democracy from Trump.  Stop Laughing!  After decades of using his power in the Senate to try and force the country down a conservative path, he has, so late in his political career, discovered that he has all the time been helping construct the fascist movement now led by Trump.  If Trump takes complete control, all of McConnell's political endeavors will have been in vain.  Can you hear me laughing.  At 83, McConnell has decided he doesn't want his career to be seen as the foundation for extremism the Republican party has become.  Will McConnell be successful?  Will he end his career as the hero who saved Democracy?  I'm betting he more regrets not voting to impeach Trump the first time, since it was his decision to put party over country that led to this shit show.

Here Comes the Future

 Well, a happy Sunday morning to all of you in the world!  Outside, our morning temp here in Central PA is 35 (F), that's very close to 0 in Celsius.  Predictions are for our temps to be up in the mid 60s (F) tomorrow, but then dropping back down into the 50s (F) on Tuesday.  That's fine.  Wednesday, hopefully, we're supposed to be getting more rain.

Yesterday, up until around 6 PM, we were relatively busy in the store.  We hit our forecast plan, which should keep corporate happy.  I've been telling people that if you're going to make a big purchase, they need to do so now, rather than wait, as prices are going to be going up.  Maybe that's part of it; I don't know.  No one seems happy.  I've also been seeing things on social media about buyer's remorse regarding the election.  Sorry, there are no returns on this one.

And I do work today.  It's going to be my last 8 hour shift.  As I've said before, I've changed my availability: no more 8 hour days.  The most time I'll be spending at the Orange Retailer is 6 hours, though for most of my upcoming schedules I'm only going to be there 5 hours.  I remember back when Covid hit I was concerned about getting only 20 hours a week, now I know it presents no problem.

While I cancelled my subscriptions to every Main Stream Media news outlet, I still have their front pages bookmarked, and I do read their headlines.  Besides the major headlines, there are smaller headlines and department headlines, like movie reviews and cooking.  With the recipes, they always post a picture.  This morning, in the Washington Post, they had a picture of sweet potato filled orange cups.  The photo is nice, but I can't think of a single family hosting Thanksgiving who is going to spend the time to make one of these for everyone who's going to be seated at their table.  Perhaps if you were wealthy enough to afford a cook this might happen, but otherwise this is just a pretty picture that ain't gonna happen.

Do not fear, the Trump Klown Kar will continue to fill this week, I mean, if he's not nominating mega-idiots, he naming billionaires whose only expertise is making themselves richer.  Cultists don't understand this.  They have this skewed belief that billionaires are going to enrich their world.  Ain't gonna happen.

Another not so surprising turn of events is that Ronnie DeSantis is getting a lot of push to replace Marco Rubio with Lara Trump.  Dumb little Ronnie should have seen this coming a mile away, but didn't, most likely because he was picturing his own little feet climbing the ladder of success in a Trump administration.  For someone who graduated from Yale (?), Ronnie seems to be lacking in the smarts department.  As for Little Marco, if he gets confirmed, I'm betting he'll be out in a year, maybe less.  The goal was not to give him a promotion.  Nope.  The plan was to get Lara into the Senate to help Trump consolidate power.

Also, rumor has it that Big Pharma is working hard to stop Kennedy's nomination cold, since he wants to stop research on an entire host of projects, including cancer research.

One final also.  If you have a 401k, keep you eyes pealed on Wall Street.  They prefer stability over chaos, and if those billionaires who own the majority of stocks begin slowly dumping their portfolios and the market begins to erode (as it seems to be doing now), then you may want to consider transferring your savings into something more stable.

The Wall Street Effect

 So, we've finally arrived at the weekend.  It's warm outside, mid 50s (F), and supposedly there are showers moving through the area.  Temperatures are predicted to climb up into the 60s (F) for the next few days, and then drop back down into what are considered normal temps.  Of course, nothing is normal these days.  I can understand why some people find things unsettling.  We live in different times.

Yesterday was sort of a meh day.  I had done legs on Thursday, so my quads were a bit stiff, at least that was my excuse for not riding the bike.  I did rake around the topsoil in my back yard.  I work  in the flooring department today, so I'm working under a time restriction today and, joy of joys, I'm really happy about that.

I also spent some time attempting to hem up the cuffs on those new pants I bought.  Wow, sometimes patience is definitely one of my virtues at times.  It wasn't difficult, but I no longer have the temerity to sit and stitch away.  I sewed for about... oh... maybe fifteen minutes and had completed about 5 inches of one cuff when I decided it was time to put the needle and thread away.  Iron on hem tape is arriving today.  I have no problem opting for the easy way out.  

For dinner, I made, as the British might say, a lovely shrimp salad.  It was tasty.  The remainder will be my lunch before I go to work.  I also made pickled eggs using vinegar, sugar, and red beets.  Here in Central PA, we call them red beet eggs, but just about everyone else says they're pickled.  They are tasty, too.

An interesting side effect of Trump's picks for filling his cabinet is the reaction of Wall Street to his selections..  This isn't getting a lot of press because the Main Stream Media is still trying to sane wash everything he does.  They don't talk about how Evangelicals are upset about his choice of Kennedy to run Health and Human Services because Kennedy is Pro Abortion.  Wall Street, on the other other hand, does not like Chaos, and the Orange Anus is trying to destroy the institutions which provide stability.  Wall Street knows that no country in the world will talk to Tulsi Gabbard about intelligence, except those who are already cozying up to Putin.  Wall Street does not want a House of Representatives that is focused solely on retaliation and retribution.  Wall Street understands that Matt Gaetz hates America as much as Donald Trump, and disapproves.  As a result, Wall Street has been in decline.  Wall Street understands that people living in a chaotic America are not going to spend their hard earned dollars the way Wall Street wants them to, and this will be a shocking surprise to the cultists.  Trump doesn't care, he loves Russia, not America.

Raw Milk

 We had rain overnight.  It was good, especially since there was only supposed to be a 60% chance of rain yesterday.  Any and every rain drop is welcome.  Today, our temps are expected to climb up into the mid 50s (F).  While that's not unusual for this time of year, what is unusual is that we've only had one day in which temps have dropped below freezing.  Over the past few years, we've been heading into the end of November with a really nice cold snap.  Thanks to Climate Change, that may not happen this year.

Much was accomplished yesterday.  I am pleased.  Hopefully, today will be just as good.  There are only 2 mandatory chores that need to be done.

Things that were done yesterday included a trip to the Orange retailer to pick up 6 more bags of topsoil and some bricks.  Howie seems like digging at one area of the fence, the bricks will put an end to it.  I had him out leash training, that went well.  I picked up 2 new pair of work pants from Community Aid.  The cuffs will need to be hemmed because, as I've said before, I have little legs.  Some weight training was done.  Some cleaning.  I have about 12,000 pages left in the first draft to finish; I'm pleased with that.

The leaves on my gingko are still in the process of turning yellow.  This morning, as I went to take a picture of it through the bedroom window, I noticed that high up in the branches was a bird's nest.  Can you see it?

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As expected, the Orange Anus continued to shock the world yesterday with his continuing nomination of completely unqualified people for cabinet positions.  Hopefully, some of the Republican Senators who handle the confirmation process will grow a pair and keep people like Gaetz, and Kennedy out of the administration.  One of Kennedy's pet projects is to bring back raw milk.  For those who don't know, milk is pasteurized to kill all those nasty little microbes in it that will make you sick with silly little things like dysentery.  Just because it doesn't make cows sick, doesn't mean your belly is going to handle those bacteria.  He will also be in charge of Medicare and Medicaid, unlike in Europe and most of the rest of the world where Health Care is free, Americans should expect their costs to go up and benefits to go down.  Oh, and he is an anti-vaxer.  This means there will probably be a rather entertaining war between him and Big Pharma.

As for Gaetz?  Well, I guess we'll all get to see if Trump gets to put a pedophile in his cabinet.  

Expensive

 Well, I woke up to a chilly 34 (F) this morning.  There is supposedly the threat of rain this afternoon, but evidently only the threat.  Our high temp is only supposed reach 50, and that's cool.  Tomorrow temps are supposed to warm up.  I saw that, according to the national weather service, we shouldn't be expecting much snow this winter.  Hopefully, that doesn't mean we're not going to get rain.  Drought conditions create fire hazards.  Of course, who know what we're going to be getting thanks to Climate Change.

Yesterday was boring at work.  I did get a measure, but no sales.  It was a long 5 hours, so I did laps and got my steps in.  One of the things I did take notice to was price increases.  We sell transition strips that go in doorways between different types of flooring, say vinyl plank to carpet.  When I worked on Sunday, they were $32.97, yesterday they cost $39.97, that's a $7 increase.  For all of you foolish people out there, this is not inflation.  This is corporate greed.  It's going to be everywhere and no one is going to do anything to slow it down or stop it.

The new watch is working well. The other new watch is arriving later today.  On Tuesday, I'll be returning it to Amazon and notifying them so they don't give me a credit.  The last thing I want out of their driver's incompetence is a free watch.  I went with charcoal gray rather than black because it was cheaper.

Yesterday, while talking to a fellow associate, I mention that it wasn't just going to be our prices that were going to be rising, but food prices as well, once the Orange Anus begins deporting all those migrant workers who've picked fruit and vegetables for years.  His response?  "Oh, no, no, no, it's only going to be the violent gangs, everybody else is going to be safe."  Rather than argue, I let my disagreement lie on the floor and walked away.  This means that when food prices start going up, I'll be able to walk over and have a "told you so" conversation with him.  These people believe his every lie, and they will only learn after he burns the Hell out of them, and the rest of the country.

And, of course, everybody was talking about the Matt Gaetz and Tulsi Gabbard nominations.  Let us pray that Gaetz never makes it to Attorney General.  I was reading that the main reason Trump chose him is because he has promised to cut off "fucking heads."

Prepare yourselves, life is going to get very expensive.

Surprise

 Well, we started off the day with a rightly cool November morning with the temp sitting down at a frosty 31 (F).  For those of you on the Celsius gauge, that 0.  Our high today will be in the mid 50s (F).

Most of the leaves are still on the trees, and in my neck of the woods, so to speak, they didn't really change color.  Some of those on the maple trees turned yellow, but mostly they just stayed green, except for the Gingko.  They are still in the process of turning yellow, though they have started to fall.

Yesterday was one of those meh days.  I spread out the 5 bags of top soil I bought.  More is needed, so I'll leave early for work and pick up another 5.  I have a lot of pea gravel that needs to be covered and Howie has developed the bad habit of trying to chew them.  Once his puppy teething stage has passed, I doubt if that will be a problem.  This means I've got another 3 months to make sure he doesn't accidently swallow any.

A long time ago, I worked for Marriott, and last night had dinner with some of the people who were working there when I was there.  It was... interesting.  This was the second time I've gotten together with them.  Most of them are nice, however there's a reason I didn't stay in contact with a large majority of them, they simply that interesting.  They spent a lot of time reminiscing about people I didn't work with and didn't know.  There was little talk of what they are doing now.  I find it sad that for many of them, that was the high point of their lives.

I ordered a new Garmin watch because the one I have is 4 years old, and prices are going to go up, probably a lot.  Well, it was kind of not delivered yesterday.  I came home from dinner to find a box on my porch, but it was my neighbor's green food supplemental vitamins.  Since she goes to bed at 5 PM to get up for work at 3 AM, I didn't know if she had my watch or not.  I sent her a text, and this morning the watch that should have been delivered to me was sitting on my porch.  Because this was a serious delivery issue, I filed a complaint and a 2nd watch will be delivered tomorrow.  I will return that one.  

Here's a Gingko sunrise.

And wasn't yesterday filled with surprises.  Trump wanted to fill his cabinet without any confirmation hearings, thankfully, the Senate was smart enough to shoot that down, otherwise our Secretary of Defense would be a Fox Entertainment Anchor.  Hopefully, this will not change, and the Republicans holding the majority in the Senate will not cave to his will.  If they do, then I'm betting we have officially entered the Dark Ages.  For those who haven't realized it yet, he is going to give Putin his every wish, and every one of those wishes will be at our expense.  Fasten your seatbelts, these turbulents are going to be rough as hell.

Musk: The First Lady

 Tuesday.  The outside temp is around 48 (F), the skies are clear, and it is quite breezy.  We are almost halfway through Autumn and weatherwise we are anything but seasonal.  According to the long range forecast, predictions are that we should be getting more rain.  That would be a very good thing.  

So, I went to work yesterday and discovered that I didn't have to work.  Damn!  I always work Mondays.  For the most part, I have a fixed schedule, except yesterday, for some reason I was scheduled off.  I ended up being on the clock for around 10 minutes, long enough for them to give me presents for being in the military.  It was a nice gesture, a cup, a combo flashlight pen, and a Memorial Coin celebrating the Orange Retailer's association with Veterans.  I will never use the cup, it's too small, but the combo flashlight and pen will get used.  As for the coin?  The Orange Retailer wants to create what they call "orange blood loyalty."  I'm sorry.  My blood runs red.

As I've said, I started playing the new Dragon Age game, and it's fun.  Initial reviews were very good, but then a few not so nice comments started getting made, one being that it was too "woke" for some of the people playing it.  Well, it's a role playing game, and that means there are a world of possibilities for your character.  I will admit to being a little surprised when I opened a dialogue box and discovered that my ginger bearded character was "happy to be Trans."  It didn't really phase me.  Bioware, the game's developer, rocked the boat back in their Mass Effect series when the main character could have same sex relationships.  I actually find it funny that there are gamers out there who, choosing to build a female main  character, and, if they select the same dialogue box I did, discover that at one time their chick had a... penis.  In case you've forgotten, this is my main character, named Rook, as in the chess piece.

I canceled my Twitter account a long time ago, soon after it was purchased by Musk, and moved to Threads.  Since the election, I've been spending less time scrolling through the comments.  While, like many, I believe Main Stream Media played a big part in Harris' lost, I'm not going to dwell on it.  We have a difficult road ahead of us.  Still, I do go to threads, because there are certain people I follow who aren't political.  Yesterday, however, I did enjoy a moment of political delightness.  Evidently Stephen King has been permanently banned from Twitter because he called Elon Musk The First Lady.  In fact, quite a few people found that hysterically funny.  The fact that Musky Dew is sitting in on most of the policy decision and Cabinet choices shows us that he has done what Rupert Murdoch only dreamed of doing.  He has bought himself a president.  This means he is more than The First Lady.  So, now we have the bullseye of our target.  Shall we start firing away?

No One Voluntarily Takes a Cut in Pay

 It was 49 (F) this morning when I got up to let Howie out, that was a little after 0500.  We did have rain yesterday, almost half of an inch.  It was so necessary.  Things are so dry here.  They're predicting more on Thursday, though not as much.  Temps are supposed to climb into the 60s (F), though highs for the rest of the week are only supposed to be in the 50s (F).  That's fine with me, as long as we get more rain.

And, knocking on wood, Howie has been good about his potty-outsides.  There have been a few accidents, but he'll continue to improve.  He's a good puppy, now, if only he didn't view me as a chew toy.  I ordered him some more toys.  I also bought 5 bags of top-soil yesterday.  Lily and Seig (mostly Lily) killed off most of the grass in my back yard, so I bought a truckload of pea gravel to spread around.  It looked fine and kept the dust down.  Howie likes to chew on the pea gravel.  He doesn't eat it, just munches on it.  Since I don't want to have to go through the expense of having stones surgically removed from his belly, I'm going to be covering the gravel.  

I also ordered myself a Garmin Venu 3S to replace my Fenix 6.  The Fenix is 4 years old.  They normally last about 5, but it has connectivity issues with my phone and my HRM, and it has stopped tracking my sleep.  I was going to wait a bit, but most of it is made in China, and in case you didn't know prices are going to be going up.  It would cost over $1000 to replace the Fenix (ouchy), and the Venu does everything I did for $375, after my discounts.

And, on my birthday, I went to see Conclave, which is, and I know this sounds odd, a religious thriller.  One pope dies, and needs to be replaced and there is much intrigue.  The cast is very good.  John Lithgow is manipulative.  Ralph Fiennes has hidden ambitions.  And Isabella Rossellini is a quiet force to be reckoned with.  I didn't know if I was going to like it, since it is about Catholicism, but I was pleasantly surprised.  There were a number of what I assume were older Catholics in the audience and I wonder what they thought of the story as it developed.  There is a really stunning surprise at the end.

And, as I said, I ordered a new smartwatch.  Prices are going to be going up.  I think that everybody realizes this except Trumpsters.  Deporting immigrants, even those in this country legally, is going to reduce the workforce in certain sectors which will effect a majority of Americans.  Think produce.  The tomatoes, the lettuce, the cucumbers, the melons you like to eat?  They are picked by hand and mostly by immigrant hands because no white person would stoop to such labor for minimum wage.  This means that in order for that asparagus to be picked, those growers will need to pay higher wages and that increase is going to get passed onto the consumer.  Remember, no one ever voluntarily takes a cut in pay, and that applies not only to people, but to businesses, farmers, and corporations.  This is what we will be dealing with.

Sunrise

 So this morning the temp was 38 (F) when I got up.  Supposedly, we're supposed to get some sort of rain today.  If we do get any, it's not going to be much, barely 1/4 of an inch.  What we need is a long soaker, and that simply isn't in the forecast.  Next week, the forecasters are calling for almost half an inch.  I'll believe it when I see it.

I did work yesterday.  It was very slow.  As a result, I sat at the Flooring desk and caught up on my training.  There was a long recertification class on security and equality, that includes what to do if there is an active shooter in the building.  I don't see the problem of mass shootings ending anytime soon.  The only bright spot was that both Saturday and Sunday are Sundae days.  They give us these little perks if we go so many days with out a reportable accident.  Right now we're at 95 days accident free.  Unfortunately, the perks do not change the mindset that allows people to make stupid mistakes, and, not surprisingly, it tends to be the same group demonstrating their stupidity over and over again.  

Howie's house training is going well.  He still has accidents, but he's also doing a lot of his dirty work outside.  The less I have to clean up, the better things are.  I'm going to order him a number of toys for Christmas.  This is because he's a puppy, and puppies chew.  They also get bored with whatever they're chewing on and move on to something else.  The more they have to chew, the less you have to worry about damaged furniture.  

I took this from the exercise room this morning.

There's a lot of finger pointing going around after the Democrat's devasting loss in this past election.  People need someone to blame.  Someone other than themselves.  Many are asking why didn't more Republicans vote for Harris?  Surprise!  They are never going to vote for the other guy.  A lot of voters thought Republicans would stay home from the polls, when it was millions of Democrats that stayed home instead.  This past election was Hillary 2016 2.0.  We got stuck with Trump back then because of voter apathy, and now we're stuck with the Orange Anus again.  This time it's going to be worse.

The only dimly shining light is that in 2 years there will be midterm elections, and even though it is going to be dim, let's hope that sunrise is brighter than the one we have today. 

The Innocence of Howie

 In Central PA, the temps are a cool 43 (F).  The sun is shining so brightly in through the windows I had to adjust the curtains.  They're predicting rain tomorrow and we need it.  Right now we're under a fire watch, with an "elevated chance" that wild fires will spread.  This is not a good thing.

Yesterday I celebrated my birthday by doing practically nothing.  Oh, I did clean the aquarium in the front room.  I spent a lot of time outside with Howie since the weather was nice.  No, I didn't eat either cake or ice cream, in fact, I didn't think about it until I was talking to my sister on the phone.  By that time, I had no desire to run out to my local Giant supermarket to buy some.  I'll wait until Howie's bigger and and he can appreciate the treat.

Today is another work day.  It doesn't really bother me, it's only 5 hours, and they pay me well enough that I can now keep Howie in toys.  They are necessary to keep him entertained.  Toys and chew sticks.  

A long time ago, Seig and Lily destroyed most of my lawn in the backyard, dog urine can be so devastating, so I covered a lot of it with pea gravel.  It looks nice and is better than dirt.  Now, however, Howie likes to chew on the small stones.  That's not a good thing.  So, I'm going to go to work a little early today and pick up a couple of bags of top soil.  While Howie still squats, it won't be long before he starts shooting.  Here's a pic where he looks so innocent... just before he attacks.

I find it interesting how Biden could go from the greatest American hero, to the villain in this past election.  Originally, he said he was going to be a one term president, and then he decided to try for a second term.  That was probably a big mistake.  I know a number of people who feel the Democrats would have faired much better had they gone through a series of primaries, a selection process rather than just having Harris thrust upon the party.  Don't get me wrong, I liked Harris and felt that she would have made a great president, however, there were quite a number who felt the administration sort of... well, thwarted Democracy.  Either way, it's too late now.  As the Harris campaign said, "we're not going back."

One thing I did find concerning yesterday was that Musk sat in on Trump's call with Zelensky. Musk donated millions, in one way or another, to the Trump campaign.  It also came out that he and Putin had numerous phone calls.  If it's true, as some suspect, that Putin had dirt of Trump, than I'm positive that dirt has been passed on to Musk, which leads me to wonder if, perhaps, Musk has bought himself a president.  If that's the case, the one year of hardship Musk was warning us about is going to be very hard indeed.  The richest man in the world likes to buy companies (countries?) that are successful, unfortunately he likes to interfere and then things go downhill.  Tesla was good, but now not so successful, and Musk's interference with Zitter has turned the social media website into money losing venture.

I am a Hottie

 Today's my birthday, and I'm pleased to say it's going to be sunny here in Central PA.  I'm 72.  There was a time, when I was younger, that I thought people in there 70s were old.  I talk about this with my friends because I feel bad because quite often I didn't give them the respect they deserved.  But then those were different times.  Back then people were forced to retire when they hit 65, and they weren't allowed to work a part-time job, so, unless they were financially fine, they just sat around waiting to die.  Things have changed a lot since then.  Today older people do things.  They get part-time jobs.  They travel.  They enjoy life, I know, I do.

Yesterday was busy.  I mowed my leaves, went for a bike ride (6 miles), played with Howie (he goes outside a lot since the weather is still so fine), wrote (I'm up 60,000 words in the new book), and played my new video game Dragon Age:  Veilguard.  It's a role playing game, and as with most, it has extensive character creation.  That mean you design how you look.  As always, I play as a male (you can play as either male or female).  And, as usual I made myself into a hottie.  And yes, I am a ginger with a beard.

And as the reality of the 2024 election sets in, I, like a lot of people wonder how in the Hell so many Democrats could choose not to vote.  There are many explanations, but one that occurred to me last night was how important social media shaped opinions.  Take the way each candidate's rallies were portrayed.  Harris had big ones, filled with dancing, and singing, and great speeches.  Trump's, on the other hand, were poorly attended and people walked out.  I can't tell you how many pictures and videos were posted of his rallies, but they were a constant.  I don't doubt that many out there seeing these pictures and videos assumed that on election day, his performance among voters would match his rallies.  They made a bad assumption that his cultists would stay home.  Well, they were wrong.  As one of my main protagonists says frequently in my books, "assume nothing."  They jumped to the very bad conclusion that he was going to lose badly, based solely on those pictures and videos, and chose to stay home; he was going to lose badly.  The thought never entered their minds that Republicans would vote for Trump simply because they hated Harris, and now we're screwed.

A Tumultuous Time is Upon Us

 Good Morning World!  The temp outside here in Central PA is 63 (F), our skies are partly cloudy, and it's supposed to remain dry.  That's the big word right now.  No rain.  I've been pouring a gallon of water on the grape vine I planted in the spring.  I want to insure that it's root system is primed for the winter.

The leaves on the maple trees surrounding my house are falling like large, yellow snowflakes and Howie is amazed.  He likes leaves.  Every time he goes out, he comes back into the house with his favorite leaf, which he drops on the kitchen floor.  Lots of sweeping going on here.

This morning, for the first time in a long time, it seems as though regularity is beginning to return, not that the regular that was is much different than the regular of now.  I installed the new Dragon Age game last night and created my character.  The game itself is linear, meaning you have to follow a pre-set path.  Many people reviewing the game are disappointed because they were hoping it would be an expanded open world.  So far, it's fun, and that's the only thing that's really important.

I am off this afternoon, so one of the things I want to get done is mow the leaves in my back yard.  I like to mow and mulch my leaves, rather than rake them to the curb so the street sweeper can vacuum them up.  Most people don't understand that last years leaves are fertilizer +.

And as some of you know, I like to use a different color ink when I start to do my editing.  For The Body in History, the color is teal.

And for those who haven't yet realized it yet, we now live in tumultuous times.  Everyone is trying to explain how and why Harris lost, and there are so many reasons.  The blame falls completely on Democrats who stayed home.  2024 was an extreme version of 2016.  Democrats outnumber Republicans in this country, yet only 68 million voted.  Trump's numbers are roughly 2 million less than they were in 2020.  Tragically, about 17 million Democrats stayed on on November 5.  Why?  I remember Maddie saying some of her friends were on the fence for various reasons, if they stayed home?  Well, now we have an administration that's going to side with all those Evangelical Christians who voted for Trump, and, in case you've forgotten, Evangelicals hate Drag.  Remember how they went after Drag Queen Story Hour?  For all we know, Trump may use an Executive Order to outlaw Drag.  Or, if you know anyone who is Trans?  Their lives may get very difficult, because the Republicans will control the House, and the Senate, and it's quite likely they will pass laws to make it illegal for Trans people to get the meds they need.  For whatever reason these people used to stay home on November 5, we are not going to have to suffer through tumultuous times for at least 2 years.  Then, in 2026, we might actually have the blue wave we've been expecting for the past decade, that's if the fence sitters have finally had enough shit being rubbed in their faces.

Well, Shit!

 Well, shit.  And everything had been looking so good.

When I finally got up this morning, the temp outside was already in the 60s (F).  There were other times I got up to check for updates, but the final one, where I threw back the bed linens around 0730 was the "well, shit," one.  Our temps today are predicted to go up into the low 80s (F).  That's very warm for November.  Next week, if the forecasters are correct, we'll barely make it out of the 50s (F).  That's more normal.  

I get to work this afternoon.  That will be interesting.  My recommendation is that if you're planning on any home improvements, get them done now before the pricing goes through the roof.  It will.  Billionaire corporations will be unchallenged.  If you think your grocery bill is expensive now, just wait, you, too will be saying "well, shit," not that a lot of you aren't saying it right now.

So, what went so horribly wrong?  I thought women were going to save the day, and women voted for the Orange Anus in large numbers.  Oh, and as for me calling him the Orange Anus?  I thought I'd soon be able to stop all of that nonsense.  Well, shit.

Of course, many, many people are trying to figure out just what went wrong?  How could a convicted felon be elected president of the United States?  Personally, I think gender had a very major role in who people voted for, not so much race, but rather the fact the Harris is a woman.  I've worked with women for years, had bosses that were women, and when they want to, women can be very catty.  It takes time for them to build up their trust.

But the main reason we now have Trump's Orange Ass in the White House again is that 10 million fewer people voted for Harris than Biden.  So, this is on all of you who stayed home.  And Trump rewards those who vote for him, and he now has almost complete immunity, so if he uses his Executive powers to make Drag illegal nationwide, then it will be an enforceable crime.  Same sex marriage will be gone in the wink of an eye.  Oh, and you'd better get used to losing some of those pronouns that indicate you're diversity.    You will be he or she, and nothing else. Bible studies in all classrooms?  That's a definite.  Oh, and don't think prices are going to go down, he's already promised billionaires and corporations he's going to try and push through another tax cut for them and guess who's going to pay for that?

On a brighter note, my gingko has finally started to turn golden.

We Are Not Going Back

 Okay, so it's November 5, Election Day, and this morning when I took Howie out for his morning pee and doodle, the temp was 46 (F).  That's warm.  Temps are supposed to climb up into the mid 70s (F) today, and right now there's not a cloud in the sky.  Tomorrow our high temp is predicted to be in the upper 70s (F), that's practically a heat wave.

I worked yesterday and managed to get a measure.  I vaguely remember the customer, I've set him up before and he never went through with the installation.  I got to know him as an acquaintance a long time ago, when I work with his sister at Marriott, she was a sales manager.  A few years back she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and, as is the case with too many cancer patients, she died.  So, I told him I remembered him, and that I worked with her over 40 years ago.  He was surprised and happy, and talked a bit about his sister.  I don't think he'll go through with the carpet installation.  

Harris had a rally on the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art last evening.  The crowd was large.  I find this picture very impressive.

Today is the big day.  One of the things everybody needs to remember is that is some states, the early returns might go in Trump's favor, this is because small, rural communities, where the population is rather small, will get their votes counted first.  These rural towns tend to go conservative.  This happened in Pennsylvania in 2020, and the Orange Anus was in the lead... until precincts in Allentown, and Pittsburgh, and Philadelphia began posting their numbers and the bottom dropped out of Trump's lead.  This is also where his lie of 40,000 stolen votes came from, a lie that was easily disproved in court.

And, once again, do not believe the polls.  No matter how much they try and fine tune the algorithms, there's no way pollsters can account for how angry women are about Roe v Wade being overturned.  It's also extremely difficult for them to calculate how many Republican voters are putting country over party.  Right now they think it is between 10% and 15%, however, there are a lot of angry Reagan Republicans out there.  The end is coming for Donald Trump.  His Karma is horrific.  He is going to lose to a Black Woman.  We are not going back.

America's Sleeping Giant

 So, how do we start this new week?  With 38 (F) temps and a clear, sunny sky.  While I do like the fact that the sun now peeks its smiling face above the clouds earlier, I hate the fact that if I have to work until 7 PM I'm going to be driving home in the dark.  Last night, I realized just how black the night sky can be without a moon in the sky.  Sometimes I try and imagine what life must have been light 2000 years ago, when there were no streetlights, torches only burn for so long.  Oil lamps only provide so much light, and the smell of burning oil would have been everywhere.  I think we need to think about things like this more often.  

Yesterday was very boring at work.  I did get in over 10,000 steps.  That was nice.  When I opened the door, Howie galloped to me as fast as his little legs could carry him.  He surprised me.  I was gone for over 8 hours and he only left me 2 presents.  Not bad for an almost 11 week old puppy.  He no longer needs a very early morning potty break.  He also, less and less often, sees me as a walking chew toy, that is so nice.

I do get to work his afternoon, but only for 5 hours.  That makes me happy.  I only have one more 8 hour shift, a Sunday, to work through.  From then on my mornings will be free.  That makes me happy, too.  

One of the characters in The Body in History was named Fred.  His middle name is Chopin because his mother likes composers.  I never really gave him a last name until this morning.  His last name is now Fragkiada (a nice Greek name), and he will be called Frag instead of Fred.  As soon as I did the change, I knew it was a good one.

And in Philly:

Preparations are underway for another large Harris rally.  For those who don't know, it was up that staircase that Sylvester Stallone ran in a pivotal scene from the movie Rocky.  I've been there. I've climbed those stairs.  Do they lead to victory?  Many think so.  Will there be a massive crowd gathered there to listen to Kamala Harris?  Damn right.  Will most of Main Stream Media be carrying that speech?  I'd be willing to bet Bob's ass on it (thank for the use of your ass, Bob 😎😎😎).  Why?  Because in less than 100 days the Harris campaign has grown to be the Harris movement.  While the Orange Anus struggles to pull in a few thousand supporters, Harris draws 10s of thousands.  Will the rally in Philly top the 75,000 she drew in Washington?  Possibly.  As you can see from the picture, that area is massive.

There is a silent majority in America, and it's not conservatives.  America's sleeping giant has awakened.

Tuesday

 We gained an extra hour of sleep this morning, for those of you desperately feeling the need for an extra hour.  It really is just a transitory hour, since we will lose it in the spring.  The temp was 38 (F) when Howie went out for his morning pee.  The day's supposed to be cool, with a high in the low 60s (F).  It will be warming up. No rain is in the forecast.  That's not a good thing.  We're very dry here, and I don't doubt there will soon be daily warnings about starting fires outside.

I bought a child gate yesterday to keep Howie from going upstairs while I was at work because he could up the steps but couldn't come down the stairs.  As I should have expected, no sooner did I have the gate set up, when he climbed the stairs, and then promptly came down... without falling.  No problem.  I can use it to keep his inquiring nose away from so many other places in the house.  For him, everything is a chew toy.  

Yesterday work was slow.  The next two months are going to be chaotic for our closing specialist.  The aisle associate who works that shift, who covers his lunch, and has a lift equipment license to bring down pallets of flooring, is having one of his knees replaced.  There is no temporary associate assigned to replace him.  And, when he does return in about 2 months, kneeling is not going to be much of an option.

And on Tuesday, we will be electing a new president.  Everyone is on edge.  They know about 70 million people have already voted, but they don't know who they've voted for, and so there is so much speculation about gender, and age.  Polls are constantly being adjusted.  Main Stream Media is desperately trying to create a horse race.  And everybody is throwing their opinion around like it actually has some sort of merit.  Well, last evening all our questions were answered.  Here, for you purveyors of polls, is the most accurate one I could find.

And, even though there are hints of positivity regarding the Harris campaign, and they might be true, now is not the time for us to take our foot off the gas.  The last time we did that we ended up with a moral degenerate as president.  And after he lost to Biden, we had to deal with another four years of unadulterated bullshit.  Out job is not to simply win the presidency.  Nope.  Our job is to annihilate the Republican party.  The only way they will learn is to put through the meat grinder of reality.  A slap on their hands will never been enough.  They've been slapped before, and it has never worked.  They need a severe kick to the nuts, and then when they're down they need to be stomped until every little Jim Jordan, and Scott Perry, and Rick Scott are nothing more than smears of the pavement of a bad memory.  Trump needs to be humiliated so badly he becomes not only an embarrassment to the GOP, he needs to become the laughing stock of the world.  His Karma approaches.

A History of Hunting Accidents

 Okay, so we've started the weekend so many people work for and I'm still wondering what all the fuss is for, especially if you're one of those who end up wasting all of Sunday sleeping off a hangover.  Please tell me you work for something other than that.

The weather is supposed to be a bit cooler today, but not cold.  Temps are supposed to be in the 60s (F).  By Tuesday, election day, they will be up in the mid to upper 70s (F), so those of you who want to stand in line to vote should have nice weather to do so (at least here in Central PA).  At my age, I don't really want to have to stand in line for 2 hours, and believe me, lines will be long.  The last time I stood in a long line to vote was the Gore/Bush election.  We still had paper ballots here in Enola.  That's right, you filled in the circle, secreted your ballot in a plastic case to insure confidentiality, and then let it slide into a ballot box.  It took forever.  

I got a lot done yesterday.  The fish tank in the writing room was cleaned.  Somehow, I managed to lose a black angelfish.  I thought perhaps it might have died, but there was no little corpse, so I'm thinking maybe he just jumped out of the tank.  They do that at times.

I do get to work today.  Six hours.  Sadly, I do have to work tomorrow as well, that'll be a full 8 hour day.  I have 2 more 8 hour Sundays left.  Having a Howie, means I come home during my lunch break in order to let him out.  Being that he's still so young, it doesn't mean that he's going to hold his business until my lunch, but it does help set up a schedule.

And of course most of yesterday's social media was taken up with the Orange Anus, and his talk about Liz Cheney and firing squads.  So, at this point, I'd like to remind everybody that her dad, Dick Cheney, has a history of hunting accidents.

And yes, there was a lot of backlash yesterday regarding Orangie's firing squad comment.  He repeated the statement several times, albeit with variations, in one he had her holding a rifle.  What was even more interesting was watching and reading Republicans bend over backwards in their attempt to qualify his statements.  Defending him makes them all look bad in the eyes of a majority of voters, yet what else can they do?  So many of them are like him, spineless and cowardly.  Standing up to him would take far more courage than they could ever hope to muster, and so his downfall will be their downfall.  

I also thought it was amusing to see Liz Cheney tell George W. Bush he needs to support Harris.  I would be truly shocked if that were to happen, since W has been a coward all of his life.  Seen as one of the weakest, worst presidents in American history, Bush has never done the right thing.  There is zero hope in him changing now.

Scorpio!

 Well, hello November!  For those unfamiliar with the Zodiac, Scorpios are in full swing.  I am, as you should have guessed, a Scorpio.  The sign is considered to be the most powerful, followed by Leo.  Scorpios are a member of the water sign group, along with Cancer the Crab and Pisces the Fish.  And, while we are emotional and sentimental at times, we also have a stinger, and believe me, we do know how to sting.

Yesterday was one of those "I should have done more but didn't" sort of days.  Howie and I did some lawn work, but not nearly as much as could have been done.  I did some cleaning, but just some.  I wrote, but only around 300 words.  I took a few naps, but none of them were nearly long enough.  I don't know.  Perhaps it was because yesterday was Halloween and I knew that Trick or Treaters would be prowling the neighborhood.  Howie and I were outside when a few went by, and they were all young.

My new neighbors took their daughter down to Lancaster so she could do her Tricker or Treating there.  She's probably 13 or so, and is a little too old to hang with the little kids that hit my neighborhood.  They've been living in the house for a little over a year.  The last time I talked to her, she said they were waiting to see how well their son does in college, implying they might be moving back to Lancaster.  She did tell me that they know the house needs a new roof and they can't afford to put one on, so who knows what they're going to do.  They may try to sell.  They've built up a tiny bit of equity, but not much.

Howie can climb halfway up the stair case.  In another 2 weeks they will no longer be an obstacle for him.

Just in case you missed it, the Orange Anus is suing CBS for a lot of money.  None of the Main Stream Media groups that I scanned this morning were mentioning it, which is not good for Orangie.  In the past, this sort of gimmicky law suit were garner him headlines, no longer.  The bold print headline on NBC is Orangie telling Tucker Carlson that Liz Cheney might think differently if she were standing in front of a firing squad.  The CBS lawsuit would have been a much better headline for him.  Five days before the election and he's making news by threatening people with firing squads.  And his campaign believes this is smart?  

Early voting is going well.  While no one knows who's voted for who, we do know that women are outvoting men by a decent percentage.  This is not a good sign.  We know that a lot of people who have never voted before in their lives are voting this year.  A heavy turnout does not favor Republicans.

And finally, we have Elon Musk, who so desperately wants to be president of the United States, who wants to be a petty dictator.  Walz said it best.  He's a dipshit.  The nerd from Hell who's always had to buy his way into the popularity club he so terribly wants to run.  His incompetence becomes more and more apparent as the days go by.