12/20, 6:31 PM

When I woke up, the temperature was in the low 30s (F) and has been steadily increasing.  We'll hit a high in the mid 40s (F) today.  Except for a few dips down into the upper 30s (F), our daily highs have, I suspect, reached their winter plateau.  

In just a few hours, just before I head into work, we will as close to the sun as we're going to get this year.  That's right, the Winter Solstice is at 10:03 AM EST.  From then on, our days will begin to grow longer, at first by a few seconds each day, and then by a few minutes each day as our small blue planet moves farther and farther away from the sun.  And yes, that's right for all of you astronomically uninclined. Even though we are at the closest point our orbit around the sun takes us to that fiery inferno, our axis has the northern hemisphere tilted away, and so we are cold.  

I did work yesterday.  I'm not going to make sales for this week.  I'm not going to hit my measure goal.  I will be having a sale go through on next Saturday.  That sale is large enough to cover my sales goal for next week.  Just in  case you were wondering, sales for the store are down.  They always drop in the winter, though usually after the beginning of the new year when, because of the season, most people do not chose to do home improvements.  Yesterday, a Saturday night just 5 days from Christmas, this is what our main aisle looked like.  For reference, the Paint Desk is just past aisle 4, and Checkout is to the left.  And, again, we are only 5 days from Christmas.

And, again, a few more of the Epstein files were released by the Department of Justice yesterday.  The few references to the Orange Anus that were released on Friday and not redacted were deleted.  According to the AP, 16 separate files, including the printed picture of Orangie known as 468 and found in Epstein's desk drawer was disappeared.  There were more pictures of Bill Clinton, as well as some other celebrities, non of which intimated anything bad was happening.  The DOJ also included several pics, one of Clinton, Michael Jackson and Diana Ross that were part of the public domain and not, per se, pictures that were not in the files.  This is against the law, but when has breaking the law ever stopped Orangie, and the Republican Party. 

Simple Truths

 Overnight our low dropped down into the low 20s (F).  Right now our temp is between 21 (F) and 24 (F).  Forecasters are say we're going to get around 15 degrees (F) warmer today, and tomorrow our temps are predicted to be up in the 40s (F).  That's fine with me.

I spent some time yesterday repotting several plants, a rubber tree among them.  When I was in Athens I saw one that was what I suppose might be fully grown and was well over thirty feet tall and more like a tree/bush than a tree.  Mine's about 2 feet tall.  It will never get as tall as the one I saw in Greece.

And I did a full body workout yesterday with the new piece of equipment.  Things well well, though I now know that changes will be happening as far as the equipment is concerned.  I work today, and I'm going to see if I can pick up 2 non-locking carabiners.  Changing from the triceps pull down bar to the biceps lift bar requires moving the bar and they provided locking carabiners, and they take time.  I'm also going to look into getting a smaller bar, the one they provided is almost 4 feet wide and can be cumbersome.  Even no workout is scheduled for today, I'll probably do something.  

And I do work this afternoon.  While the traffic on the roads might be heavy, the flooring department will most likely be slow.  Appliances might be somewhat busy, you know there's nothing like getting a new refrigerator, or a washer/dryer combo for Christmas.  Most of our business will be in our hardware department, after all, nothing says "I love you," like getting your Mom or Dad a tool.

I stole this pic from Adam Kinzinger.  I think this is a rather simple truth.

And, as expected, the Epstein Files were not fully released yesterday.  Only 2.5 gigs of the 300 gigs that comprise the files were made public. While there were a number of pics of Bill Clinton, and a few others, not one picture of the Orange Anus was included.  Searches with just his name came up empty.  There was not a single reference to the Orange Anus included.  The simple truth here is that the Department of Justice is hiding more than mere volumes of deeply incriminating evidence.  Whole documents have been redacted, even though that was not permitted without some form of justification.  There was no justification.  This leads one to believe another simple truth. that Orangie's face, and ass, and other unmentionable parts of his anatomy are spoken of, and pictured throughout the files. 

Another simple truth is that yesterday Elise Stefanik jumped ship.  She's completely withdrawing from politics.  She sold her soul to Orangie thinking he would make her a Republican superstar.  Well, that didn't happen.

  

Breaking the Law

Holey Moley!  Our outside temp is 57 (F).  Of course, we are also having some serious rain. We all know what serious rain means, don't we?  Mud puddles.  We also know that there's a Red Fox Labrador living in the house who simply loves to dig and splash in mud puddles.  For the present, Howie's time outside is being limited.  He doesn't really mind.  He got a bone this morning and had a lot of juicy beef fat melted over his breakfast.  Now he's quite content to just mellow out on the living room sofa. 

Yesterday was quiet.  Cleaning was done.  Writing was done.  A went for a ride in France.  I was busy, and yet I wasn't.  Today there will be more cleaning.  Some plants need to be repotted.  

I have a list of things to be done.  This is essential.  I also have a long workout planned.  The new piece of workout equipment has been added to my routine.  My workout schedule has also been changed to strength training Monday, Wednesday, and Friday with cardio on Tuesday and Thursday.  I will be working the weekends.  The total weight that I'm pulling, and pushing, and lifting is still in flux.  My trainer loves squats, so I always seem to be doing variations with either 30 pounds to 40 pounds.  My friend Jon, the physical therapist, tells me squats are the king of all exercises; they work your largest muscle group (legs) core, and back.  As I've said before, I hate squats.

This is the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

Yesterday the Orang Anus had his hand-picked in charge of the Kennedy Center tacked his name onto the front because he's an asshole.  Actually, Congress has to change the name since this is a National Memorial for John F. Kennedy.  This is also one of the many distractions Orangie's administration is throwing at the wall hoping to keep people from paying to much attention to the Epstein Files which are due to be released today.  Word is that they have been heavily redacted, even though the legislation passed by both the House and the Senate forbids any such alterations.  If these changes have been done, Pami Jo Bondi may have criminal charges brought against her, not that they will not be ignored.  But then all of this is dependent on whether or not the Orange Anus allows the files to be released.  Remember, this loser has no problem breaking the law.

Blame it on Biden

Our temps climbed into the mid 40s (F) yesterday.  The warming trend will continue for another day, with temps tomorrow predicted to crack open the middle 50s (F).  55 (F) is the projected high.  I have not problem with that.  Not having to pay for heating my house is nice.  Temps will drop down on Saturday, but then they begin to rebound on Sunday.

The new queen sized sheets I bought at BJs are on the bed and they're a bit baggy, but they'll do.  

Yesterday was my first full workout with the new piece of equipment.  Honestly, I should have done a trial run.  While most of the exercises went well, I'm too big for two of them to be done they way that they should be done, so I had to make some adjustments.  I need to sit facing the back of the machine for the lat pulldown, and for the leg raise, I need to be sitting on a small cushion for the leg raise.  There are always ways to make it work, which is why I now know I should have played around with different exercises before my first workout.

Otherwise, yesterday was fairly normal.  

So, my work schedule is out for the first week in January and I'm down to 13 and a half hours.  I'll probably wait and see how this paycheck looks before deciding on whether or not to start using up my vacation time in bits and pieces.  Hours always get cut this time of year, but because of my tenure I'm usually the last to get cut, so this is not looking good for the other part-timers.

Rather than pay any attention to Orangie's speech last night, I had a couple of glasses of wine and watched Alex Strangelove on Netflix.  It's cute.

And Orangie did speak to the nation last night... well, most comments I've seen have said that he yelled at America.  Many think that he was hopped up on Adderall. As is always the case, he lied.  He blamed Biden for the economy.  He said affordability was a hoax.  He blamed Biden.  He said that eggs had dropped 83% in price.  He blamed Biden.

So, why does Orangie hate Biden so much?  This is an easy one.  Biden won the election in 2020 and proved to the world that Orangie is a loser.  Orangie tried to stage a coup and failed.  So, he also a failure, and in his screwed up mind, Biden's to blame for all of that.  That was the hugest blow his ego has ever had to deal with, and his ego lost it.  

Inflation numbers are out this morning and to quote Justin Wolfers, "they're unexpectedly good."  Would Orangie fudge those numbers?  You can bet your bippy he would.  Inflation did increase, just not as much as economists had been expecting.  One thing I know to be certain, we are raising our prices and this administration will never report that... and if they do, don't worry, it will be Biden's fault.

Funeral For a Friend

Our outside temps are a balmy 27 (F) 🤣😂🤣 And even though the day is supposed to be overcast, the brightness will happen when our afternoon high reaches the mid 40s (F).  There is the possibility of showers, both today and tomorrow, when our thermometers will be ascending into the stratospheric upper 40s (F) and possibly low, low 50s (F).  This is almost like Spring arising, and we're still a week away from Winter.  Oh, joy!

Yesterday was busy in an odd sort of way.  I went to BJ's and exchanged the twin-sized sheets for a set of queen-sized that would fit my bed.  Not surprisingly, there were full-sized sets as well as other twin-sized sets on the shelf labeled queen-sized..  This is the handiwork of uncaring customers who will pick up a product and then change their minds about making the purchase.  Aisle associates should be fixing this problem, but I suspect BJs doesn't really have aisle associates, per se.

The aquariums were cleaned.  The new desk chair was assembled; I left the arms off since I don't know if I'll need them.  I got in a small ride along the shores of Sardinia, the scenery wasn't that impressive.

And then I puttered around with the electric piano a bit; yes I used to play and still do... sort of.  The keyboard was moved downstairs in order to make room for the new piece of workout equipment.  I was pleased to see I still remembered the opening bars of Elton John's Funeral for a Friend.  That was my audition piece when I joined Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia back when I was a sophomore in college.  The song at the heart of The Body in 4:4 Time is one I wrote a number of years ago.  A friend of mine told me that it's very Broadwayish, I told him screaming guitars help a lot.  If I have an email address for you, you may receive a copy.

And now a bit about the Susie Wiles interviews (there were 11 separate sessions) with Vanity Fair.  Orangie's administration is saying this was a hit piece.  Remember, they lie.  As someone else pointed out, the timing is interesting because the Epstein Files are supposed to be released on Friday.  They are going to be throwing as much shit on the wall as possible to change the subject.  Was she being true?  Yes, I think so.  Susie Wiles is a survivor, and while she's claiming what she said is being taken out of context, I suspect she wants to be on one of the lifeboats watching Orangie's ship sink.  Someone else said that she appears to be consolidating her power, and that's true, too.  These little truths were warning shots across Bondi's bow, and Vought's bow, and Rubio's bow, and Musk's bow.  She has no problem in letting everyone in this administration go down with the ship.  In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if she's hoping that's what happens.

   

The Face of Evil

Our morning low was 12 (F).  We are now up to 13 (F).  This is cold.  Today's high is expected to reach freezing.  This cold snap will end overnight and tomorrow's high is expected to be in the mid 40s (F).  Thursday, our temps are predicted to be in the upper 40s (F), maybe even reaching 50 (F).  We are heading into a warm spell.  After that our temps appear to be leveling off with daily highs in the low to mid 40s (F).

Work was very slow yesterday.  Flooring hit sales plan, but many of the other departments did not.  With the economy growing weaker, do not expect people to suddenly start spending money.  

The desk chair upstairs in the computer/workout room is being replaced with a newer, smaller model.  Several years ago, I had wanted a chair that was softer and cushier and bought one that was advertised as being oversized and leather.  Well, 3 years ago the chair basically broke, and two years ago the thin film of leather began peeling off.  The new one arrived this morning.  So, now I've got to bring the old one downstairs and put it in the trash bin.  That will be a chore for this afternoon. 

American Water also added a courtesy credit on my water bill, almost $40.  Evidently they'd been reading my meter wrong and been charging me for extra gallons.  Since they didn't break down the credit to gallon cost, I have no idea if what they've given me is right.  

Of course, the internet was screaming about Orangie's attack on Rob Reiner.  For those of you who didn't get a chance to see what the Spawn of Satan wrote, here it is.

Reiner's son, Nick, a man struggling with mental instability most of his life, has been taken into custody.  Reiner's daughter was the one who discovered her parent's bodies.  This is an American tragedy.  And the Orange Anus used these murders to incite open anger and hostility towards those who don't like him, and stooped so low as to make these terrible deaths about himself.  We all knew he was petty, but this post of his almost makes pettiness look honorable.

This will make his approval rating drop another notch, or three.  Many Republicans will stick with like dog shit on your shoe because without him, they are just shit.  I told my friend Patty that when he is gone, there will be no Republican Party and she, being a Republican, was surprised.  These people simply do not understand the hatred that is growing against them.  They live in this delusional world.  To actually live in reality would break them to pieces.

Wake Up Dead Man

 Howie and I woke up to an outside temp of 16 (F) this morning.  When I opened the back door for him to go do his morning business, I warned him, "it's cold out, so pee fast and don't wait for the icicle to form."  That dog is smart.  He listened, though took enough time to pick up a fallen stick in the yard to traded for a peanut butter puppy cookie when he came back inside.  Luckily for him, temps are about to warm up.  Our cold December is about to end.  Tomorrow's temp will be in the mid 40s (F).  Wednesday and Thursday our daily temps are predicted to climb into the upper 40s (F) nearing 50 (F).  For those keeping records, this is what's been happening over the past years, at least here in Central PA.

I did work yesterday.  Our store did make plan, not because over all sales were good, but because two large sales went through in Millwork, either doors or windows.  That's odd, because this is not the time of year when people have either of those two installed.  Cold temps, you know?  Even with moderately cold temps, replacing doors and windows means letting outside air into your house.  This is also why flooring installs slow down.  No one wants their doors standing open while the product is brought inside.

My trainer sent me a text, apparently I will be utilizing my new piece of workout equipment starting this Wednesday.  Also, my new work schedule goes into effect starting today, so my workouts and cardio will be happening Monday thru Friday with my weekends off.  That's fine with me.

And I watched Wake Up Dead Man, a Knives Out Mystery last evening.  This one is so much better than the last one, though still suffers somewhat from the same problem:  not enough clues are given to justify the denouement.  In a mystery, clues and red herrings should be scattered throughout because much of the fun is in trying to deduce who the killer is, and while there are more of them in Wake Up Dead Man than in Rian Johnson's previous endeavor, the denouement still plays like a separate film.  Josh O'Connor is great as a troubled priest trying to make good, and the rest of the cast is also for the most part, superb, though I didn't for an instant believe the young, black man was a Republican for an instant.  The movie is a fun watch, just don't waste too much time trying to decided what is a clue and what isn't.

And the turmoil in America continued yesterday.  Orangie gave some sort of Christmas speech at the White House rambled on about sea snakes.  He's also talking about taking over the golf courses surrounding Washington DC.  More and more you are beginning to see Main Stream Media publishing articles regarding his weaknesses.  Even the Washington Post had an article this morning about his MAGA base beginning to crack.  This is because Conservatives always lie.  While the economy under Biden was improving from the hell hole left by Orangie's first administration, Republicans demonized it, promising to make everything better.  And they lied.  What they were truly saying was that they were going to make the economy better for billionaires.  And MAGA cultists who believed the lies, are beginning to understand how badly they've been played by groups such as the Heritage Foundation.  This doesn't mean they're growing wiser, they will always believe the lies, because growing wiser means dealing with change and that will never happen.  So they will grow angry, and not vote in the upcoming elections, and when they do vote again it will be for another Republican because they will once again believe the lies.

Root of all Evil

 Well, we got snow.  Not much. An inch, possibly an inch and a quarter of the stuff fell overnight.  Unlike most dogs, Howie was much more interested in finding a stick, or a stone, to bring in the house to trade for a treat.  Our temp is hanging around 25 (F).  We will not be warming up today.  That's our high.  After tomorrow, our temps will be moderate up into the mid 40s (F).  That will be fine.  December has been an expensive month for heating.

I did my morning workout yesterday, and that went well.  Because of the new piece of gym equipment, I've moved the weight bench and the dumbbells into another room where there is more space.  Who'd have thought that my second floor would become a gym? By the way, for those of you who haven't been to Greece, the root word for gym means naked, so a gymnasium is a naked training area.  Unlike those Greeks of long ago, I do wear clothing when I'm working out.  I'd rather be safe than sorry.

Being that yesterday was Saturday, I also worked.  Retail was slow.  While the store did hit our sales plan yesterday, the flooring department didn't.  For the week we are quite a bit below plan.  During a chat with our store manager, he implied that our district was doing much better than most. j This problem is not going away anytime soon.

And, as I said, Howie was more interested in finding a stick, or stone than playing in the snow.  That doesn't mean he didn't get a snow nose.

Orangie was chosen to do the coin toss at yesterday's Army/Navy game.  The idea is to get the coin to flip end on end and he chose to use some sort of floofy launch toss.  There were a lot of comments on social media because he truly did not look as though he knew what he was supposed to do.  This is abnormal.

And there were more shootings, but in Rhode Island and and Australia.  Hate is a seed that needs to be planted before it can grow.  Both religion and politics plant a lot of seeds.  Does this mean they are the root of all evil?  That is something I do not doubt, especially when it comes to religion, and religion is not going to fix itself.  That will need to be done by others.

Hoax

We're going to be having a bit of a warmup this afternoon when temps reach the mid 40s (F) here in Central Pa, but fear not, they will drop overnight as a cold front rushes over the state.  We're also supposed to be getting a coating of snow.  After tomorrow, forecasters are predicting more seasonal temps will return.  Daily highs are expected to be in the mid to upper 40s (F).  Right now, however, the sun his hidden behind a thick blanket of clouds and temps are in the low 20s (F)

I did some shopping yesterday morning, hitting both BJ's and my neighborhood Giant supermarket.  I will have to return one of my purchases to BJ's.  I bought a set of sheets, however, someone must have inadvertently put a set of Twin Size sheets in the box labeled Queen Sized sheets and I purchased the wrong size.  I work in retail, so I should have known better.  I know how often a customer will pick up a product and then return  it to the wrong place on the shelf.

Yesterday, I was supposed to ride the bike, but instead I spent that time finishing up the assembly of my new gym equipment.  I have one more thing to screw in place today and then I'm finished.  I thought the pulley system was going to be tricky, and was pleasantly surprised at how easily the wheels, sprockets, and wires went into place.  Why... they practically strung themselves.  I rescheduled the ride until next Thursday, rather than canceling it.  

Of course, yesterday I had to laugh at this:

 

Orangie, and everyone else in that meeting was wearing cowboy hats.  His hat was the only one with white strings.  Cowboy hats don't normally come with strings.  They are on little kid's cowboy hats, though, so they can be tied to keep them from falling off of their little heads.  

More Epstein pics were released and as usual, Orangie's administration said they were a Democratic Hoax.

Maria Barti (something or other) went on Fox Entertainment and said that affordability was a Democratic Hoax.

In fact, hoax now appears to be the word of the day, week, and month.  Every Republican out there is now calling every bit of bad news out there a hoax.  I suppose that will keep the cultists happy for the time being.

Good News

 Well, we've got 28 (F) for a temp and partly cloudy skies.  Occasionally the sun pops through, so if the snow is ever heavy enough we might to see a snowbow.  Temps are on the rise, though, with a high this afternoon expected to be in the upper 30s (F) and tomorrow's high in the mid 40s (F).  Sunday?   According to forecasters, that will be another cold one.  I suspect this will be an interesting winter.

My new piece of equipment arrived and I spent most of yesterday putting all the parts together.  I'm almost finished.  One of the things I found amusing was that when I purchased it, some of the complaints were that assembly took a few hours.  Gimme a break, people.  But then these complaints usually come from people who have never assembled anything.  The only mistake I made was in moving my desk.  I thought this would give me more space, well, I was proven wrong, so once assembly is complete, I'll be moving the it back.  Here's a pic of what it looked like unpacked.

The game of the year awards were held last evening.  Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 ran away with the awards winning more than any game ever.  I love this game, (spoiler) about a mother trying to keep her dead son alive in a painting during the Belle Epoque, and a father who wants to destroy the painting to let their son die.  Sandfall Entertainment, which produced the game is an independent studio.  Many of the people who worked on it have never worked on a video game before.  The classical style music is original.  The artwork is amazing.

And yesterday, the Republicans in Indiana told the Orange Anus to shut up.  They voted against redistricting.  His party knows that if they lose the midterms, he will be impeached a again, and this time America will get rid of not only him, but many of his minions.  That's if he's still alive, rumors abound that he's going downhill fast.

For laughs, Kristi Noem walked out of Congressional hearing, exorcised perhaps by a priest and protestors chanting, "the power of Christ compels you!"  I wonder if she has any sort of an inkling of what's in store for her, or is she just that stupid.  Inkling might be too weak of a word.  Just think, she may have spent all that time and money on plastic surgery just to have her face wrinkle to hell in a prison cell.

The Wannabe Gods

 The cold front that is slowly moving through Central PA is still slowly moving through Central PA.  Our current temp is 31 (F) and we're going to climb a full 1 degree to 32 (F) to reach our high for the day.  According to Accuweather, our temps will not return to the 40s (F) until sometime around December 20.  After that, our daily highs will be considered seasonably warm.

Yesterday was kind of a mixed day.  I did get my workout done in the morning, though I will admit to not being at my best.  Part of the problems was not sleeping well Tuesday night.  And then yesterday afternoon I had lunch with friends.  That was fun.  We get together every 3 months.  This works out well.  Since we're all retired, I think if we met more often our conversations would soon tend to veer into repetitiveness, or worse, the dreaded ailment of the month category.

One thing that did make me laugh was the suggestion that I might want to build a dumbbell stand.  Right now they are lined up along the wall on the floor.  That would entail using a drill, and measuring, and building and... well, let me be perfectly honest.  I am not a constructo type person.  Not in the least.  As such, the dumbbells will stay where they are.

And the new piece of workout equipment is arriving today.  This means I'll be taking a personal day away from the flooring desk since I don't want the boxes sitting out on my front porch until I get home this evening.  This also means I'll start putting the thing together.  Notice, I can assemble, I simply can't build.

And here's a pic of my Christmas cactus which is blooming again.

And evidently we've become a pirate nation now, mostly because of big Oil.  If anybody had any doubts why Orangie's administration was so interested in Venezuela, the truth came out yesterday.  For those of you among the uninformed, Venezuela is sitting on approximately 18% of the world's oil reserves.  Wowza!  This has nothing to do about drugs, or sinking drug boats and everything to do with simply, unadulterated greed.  Big Oil can never, ever be rich enough.  And those billionaires at top?  They truly do believe themselves to be gods.  These people simply refuse to understand the way of the world.  They do not look at history, which constantly reminds us that those on top always fall, because, being mere mortals and not gods, they over extend themselves in so many, many ways.  They will never learn because they always believe themselves to be smarter than those failures who came before them.  They are not.  The only difference between our current crop of wannabe gods and those of the past is that when this group fails, those failures will be spectacular.  

Ellen Higgins

 Well, our outside temp is above freezing.  That's nice.  This afternoon we might actually hit the upper 30 (F).  I can live with that.  There were a few moments yesterday when I thought the house was too cold and I was tempted to turn the heat up to 70 (F), but didn't.  Over the next few days we will be hitting daily highs in the 40s (F) and the house will warm up.  The bones of the house get cold when we have more than a few days of really cold temps.

I cook up beef bones for Howie to gnaw on' they are special treats given on rare occasions.  He got one this morning and was so delighted.  Fifteen minutes after he'd been chewing, he wanted to go out and, unbeknownst to me, took his newest bone with him.  Five minutes later when I checked to see if he was ready to come back inside, he was patiently waiting on the porch, bone in mouth.  They are very special to him for about 3 hours, then, once their beefy flavor is gone, he casts them aside.

I've been doing much research on NDAs for the new book because... well, NDAs might play a part in the mystery, or then again, they might be another red herring I'm throwing out for the reader to ponder.  Did you now they need to be very specific about forms of communication?  For example singing.  Singing is not spoken.  The same holds true with American Sign Language, or British Sign Language (there is a difference).  And NDAs need to be quite specific since even blinking a yes or now answer is a form of communication.  This is so interesting.

And the voters in Miami and a new Mayor, and she's a Democrat!  The first in 30 years! And it wasn't even close.  Ellen Higgins beat Orangie's guy by 18%.  Believe me, that ain't peanuts.

Latino voters are realizing that Orangie and his regime see them, and I mean all of them, as brown skinned immigrants who should be sent back to where ever they came from.

And, as if Higgins' win was not bad enough for Republicans, Eric Gisler. a Democrat had an upset victory in a House Seat in Georgia.  Let me repeat that, the Democrat beat the Republican in Georgia, in a district that's been Red since the earth was formed.  Wowza!

To celebrate his continued destruction of the Republican Party, Orangie started his Affordability Tour, a campaign type rally, the first of which was held in Pennsylvania.  As anyone with half a brain might have expected, he continued whining about his losses.  He also repeated his claims that kids don't need 37 pencils, they only need 2, and that 7 dolls is way too many for a little girl to own.  That's right.  He told his audience that they need to just get used to the fact that they're going to be paying those basically tax exempt billionaires even more of their hard earned wages.  Even the cultists with half brains were not impressed.

And So It Begins

 They said that the temps were going to drop over night and they were right.  Our temp is sitting at a very cold 10 (F).  That is cold  Everything outside is frozen.  We are going to stay below 32 (F) or 0 (C) until sometime after midnight.  There's another front coming through which should be warming things up... a bit.  And a reminder, we're still in autumn.  Winter doesn't start for another 2 weeks or so.  One bright thing to keep in mind, once we hit the winter solstice, days will begin getting longer again.  Just a few seconds at first, but by the time we get into February we will have an extra minute or two of sunlight every day.

I worked yesterday.  The first thing I do every Monday is check my sales figures.  I made hit both sales and measure goals, however there was a change between Sunday and Monday.  On Sunday I needed one measure to hit my goal, I got 3 last week.  Yesterday, that goal had some how miraculously increased to 2.  I still hit my goal, however no one else in the department did.  We also received a communication letting us know that carpet prices were being "standardized."  Prices were changed to reflect the density of carpet pile.  According to the communication, 40% of our carpets went down in price.  The other 60%?  Well, their prices increased.  The communications regarding price increases are all worded in such a way as to make it sound as though customers will be getting a better deal.  They are not.

On top of that, I eat dried blueberries with breakfast, either in my oatmeal or my cooked barley.  I get them from a company called Nuts.com.  I got an email from them telling me that the one pound bags I buy are now going to be 13 ounce bags.  But rest assured, the prices have been adjust accordingly.  This means that the price per ounce has gone up by 2 cents.  And so it begins.

This doesn't mean that prices haven't been going up for some time now, just that the increases are going to be coming at us faster with more ferocity.  Fasten your seat belts, for I suspect the crash that's coming is going to rock and roll them billionaires who have no idea how thin the ice is they're standing on.

And, in case you missed it, Orangie signed some sort of Executive Order to bail out the farmers his tariffs have been killing.  How much of our tax dollars are going to be spent to salvage their lives?  Between $11 and $12 billion.  As expected, Orangie lied and said that these monies are going to be coming from the tariffs Americans foreign companies have been paying.  In some sort of odd way this is almost like being taxed twice, isn't it?  Not that the billionaires care.  Nope.  I don't doubt that Orangie views billionaires as gods of business and commerce, and since he's fascinated by gods, and dictators, and authoritarians, he's going to give them everything their dirty little hearts desire.  Billionaires really do need to start studying the French Revolution, and just what it was that led up to all of that bloodshed.

The Price Dam is About to Break

Apparently our outside temp of 28 (F) is very close to being our daily high.  Overnight, our low is expected to be in the upper teens.  This means it's wooly blanket time.  And maybe a cup of hot tea while I'm killing aliens and scrappers in Outer Worlds 2.  Things will be warming up.  After this pinch of cold, temps are expected to begin warming up.  That's fine with me.  I don't mind the cold.  But moderate temps are better for my heating bill.

Being that yesterday was Sunday, no workout or rides were planned.  I did work however, and surprisingly managed to sell 2 installs.  That should keep management happy.  I also had to deal with a customer who wanted to pay for a carpet measure and wanted us to give him the measurements.  That's a no.  Room dimensions and square footage are considered proprietary until the customer actually purchases the measure.  I am being paid to sell installations, not the measurements.  There are people, if given the measure documents, who will seek out a cheaper contractor for the installation.  This customer was one of those people and, as a result, he was sorely disappointed.

I had already decided on a picture to post in today's blog and then this popped up in my Facebook feed.  A long time ago, in a land oh... about 30 miles away, I spent some time involved in theater.  Yes, at one point in my life I was a song and dance man.  Thinking about those days makes me laugh, they were a lot of fun.  Anyway, here I am center stage in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.

Being that we did have a weekend, political news was a bit lite.  Rumors are circulating that a number of Republicans from safe are not going to be running for re-election.  While this might seem to imply something, keep in mind that these are so-called Safe Districts, meaning no matter which Republican runs, he or she is most like going to be elected.  Now, if the districts were considered Purple, where a swing either way could happen, then I'd say this is big news.

A rumor also went through social media the John Fetterman was going to be quitting.  Again, this is just a rumor.  Evidently big John wrote a book in which, in one sentence, he said something to the effect that if he'd known what the stroke was going to to do his brain he'd have quit.  Of course, desperate people will always take things out of context.  This is something that the Republicans count on.

And finally, the WaPo had a headline this morning about how Orangie was heading into Biden territory when it came public dissatisfaction with the economy.  Adding to that was another one of their headlines telling people that tariff price increases were about to come home to roost.  This is because leading up to Orangie's tariff war, many retailers bought extra thinking that by this time our trading partners would be ready to throw in the towel.  Well, that isn't happening.  I suspect that a number of them want to break us in two.  Others, like China, have only seen their trade improve greatly.  Get ready for the price dam to break.

Squirrel

Well, we've had a warmer start today than we did over the past few days.  Our temp was in 36 (F) when I got up this morning.  Sadly, only a few degrees are going to be added to that before cold moves into the area.  Tomorrow's low is supposed to tie our all time low for December 8.  My house temp is still set at 69 (F), so I will have to see if the chill effects my aging bones.  Every degree higher on the thermostat will raise my natural gas bill a smidgen and I can think of far funner things to spend my money on, especially when sweatpants and sweatshirts are in season.

I did get my morning workout in yesterday, and then I went to work.  Boring.  Really.  I talked to 2 customers.  For the first 2.5 hours one of my fellow associates and one of our aisle associates talked football.  Very boring.  So, I ended up doing laps of the building in order to get my steps completed.  Saturdays are usually our busiest day of the week, yesterday was not busy.  I suspect this is the case in many places.  When I left work, I was surprised at how little traffic there was on the roads. We are 18 days from Christmas, and all I could do was wonder where are all of the shoppers.

My computer/workout room is going to be going through a change.  I did buy another piece of exercise equipment that is supposed to arrive next Friday.  Assembly is supposed to take several hours.  I'll post pics after that happens, until that happens, here's a pic of a squirrel in my gingko.

Besides the laughable FIFA peace award created to make Orangie happy dappy, evidently he hosted the Kennedy Center Honors.  Wait, is the building still called the Kennedy Center?  Didn't he change the name to the Trump Disposium.  You do know what a disposium is, don't you?  That's a fancy name for a gathering of trash made up entirely of actors and musicians whose careers are way past their expiration date.  Being old and dementiated, Orangie still believes these individuals are still in the prime of their careers.  Nothing else matters to him.  The Kennedy Ceneter Honors used to go to individuals who achieved greatness during their careers, whose lives stood for something.  Orangie only wants "has beens," probably because they're the only ones who want him.

FIFA Fool

So, here we are on Saturday and our temperature hasn't changed that much.   We never got out of the 20s (F) yesterday, though that's supposed to changed this afternoon.  Forecasters say will top off in the mid 30s (F).  Warmer temps will melt the ice in my yard and that's good.  Howie like chewing on ice and will bring chunks, and everything frozen inside them, into the house.  He's learned the definition of bartering.  He brings in a stone, a twig, or a chunk of ice and sits waiting for me to offer him a tasty treat in exchange.

I did manage to get in a 13+ mile ride in yesterday in Thailand, of all places.  Described as an "easy ride along scenic beaches," those miles were anything but.  I should have realized this when I got to the "small hill" with the 10% grade at the beginning.  My average heart rate was 121 BPM and I rode for over 55 minutes.  That's some damn good cardio.  My trainer was impressed.  

I also finished a chapter in the book called EGBDF.  Those of you who have sang in a choir or learned to play an instrument know those letters stand for Every Good Boy Does Find... well, maybe.  Evil laugh.

And Spottify sent me my yearend wrap up.  My listening age is 28.  I posted this info on social media saying "nothing new here."  I also sent a copy to my trainer, who likes listening to Classic Rock and is 28 years old.  He sent his to me.  His listening age is 73.  My friend Jon (the physical therapist) is 26 and his listening age is also 73.  What in hell is wrong with young people?

And yesterday this happened.

I know people in foreign countries.  We are the laughing stock of the world.  FIFA gave him a phony peace medal because the Nobel Peace Prize is not given to pedophiles and dictator wannabes.  For those who didn't see any of the clips from this award ceremony, I can tell you Orangie's face lit up like a kid in a candy shop.  You see he doesn't need an legitimate award, a piece of fluff and deceit will work every time.  

He then went on to have his name put on another building because he seriously thinks that makes him important.  This old fool does not realize that the minute he's out of office every building bearing his name is going to be scrubbed clean, decontaminated, sanitized, and renamed.  That day can't come soon enough.  

Matthias & Maxime

We got a cold one outside, folks with our current temp at 20 (F).  If the forecast holds, we're not going to climb above the 30 (F) temp today, which will make this the coldest day so far this winter.  I don't know how cold we actually got overnight, but according to WGAL-TV we might be breaking a 99 year old record.  Over the past few years, we've always had cold beginnings to December and this year looks to be fitting right in with that trend.  We'll have to wait to see if we warm up, as in previous years.

Yesterday was a rest day, so there was no workout and no bike ride.  That will come to an end on 12/18.  December 11 is the last Thursday I'll be earning money by sitting at the flooring desk.  This is fine.  I don't think I'll be missing those hours.  I'm a talker, but after 7 years of talking about flooring to people, I think that subject has just about worn itself out.  However, there was a standout moment yesterday.  There was a customer who looked very familiar and he and I began chatting.  I asked him his name and as soon as he told me everything popped into place.  It turns out we worked together 48 years ago when I was an auditor at Marriott.  He used to be a hottie back then, that has changed.  I've also talked to him several times since I've been working the great orange home improvement retailer; those times he doesn't remember.  This is how it is.

I watched Matthias & Maxime on Mubi last evening.  It's about 2 long time friends in their very late 20s who are short film that changes their lives.  No spoilers here, but they struggle to define what friendship is, and what it isn't.  The movie was nominated for best picture at Cannes, so this is no lite weight film.  It's in French Canadian (different than French) and English.  I liked this a lot.

Wouldn't it be nice if we had just one day in which the shit show in Washington was quiet?  That will never happen as long as the Orange Anus is in the White House.  He needs to expose his dementia on a daily basis, and when he does so, he gets praised by those sycophants around him.  I hear what comes out of their mouths and... sometimes I feel like I'm lost in a play by Ionesco.  This is not the way it is supposed to be.  We are supposed to be a species that is both intelligent and civilized, yet so many of us seem to love wallowing in the stupid.  I do not doubt for a second that a century from now this time period will be known as the Modern Dark Ages.  Conspiracy theories will no doubt lead to a great die off, and only those retaining some smidgen of intelligence will survive.  Too many conservatives want people to be kept stupid since that makes it easier to lead them around by the nose.  These conservatives simply don't understand that the human species needs intelligent people to survive, not sheep.  

Wicked For Good

Well, we a definitely below freezing here in Central Pa.  The outside temp when I woke up this morning was 28 (F) and that does fall into the temp category called cold. Brrr.  The high this afternoon is predicted to be in the mid 30s (F), so things will begin to melt.  Believe me when I tell you that is a good thing.  Howie thinks chunks of ice make great toys, and so brings them into the house, where they always make their way into the sink.  He likes to chew on ice, like some people I know.

Yesterday became one of the meh Wednesdays.  I did get some things done around the house, including a morning workout.  Mostly, it was with bands, no dumbbells.  I've been playing around with bands for a number of years now and, to be honest, my interest in them has stretched pretty thin.  And so, I've begun looking at a small piece of weight equipment.  Dick's has something that looks interesting for around $400.  Size, as always, is important.  If I do buy something, it will need to fit in the room.  They have one on display at the local store, so tomorrow I'll drive over and take a look at it since I have to go their to pick up another container of whey.

I went to see Wicked For Good last evening.  I liked it.  I did have an issue with the fact that they tried to take a 50 minute, 2nd act of a Broadway musical and stretch it out to 2 hours and 15 minutes.  Two new songs were written that didn't really move the story along.  They should have added more onto Alphaba's sister's story to explain why, without powers, she became known as the Wicked Witch of the East.  This was a good movie, but with a few cuts here and there, and a bit more information, it could have a very good movie.  Or, perhaps if they'd taken a little of the focus off the two main characters and put it elsewhere I wouldn't have had any issues.

As usual the Orange shit show continued yesterday.  The party of Selfishness and Greed is running full throttle and will do so until it gets stopped.  It simply boggles my mind that we can't go 24 hours without some ibt of breaking news that is more than jaw dropping.  The whole Kegsbreath problem is truly immense.  I don't think this idiot understands that he's going to go to jail for a very long time.  That happening will be one of many celebrations.  Noem, the puppy killer, thanking the Orange Anus for keeping hurricanes from hitting the American mainland?  Yes, she actually said that to him at his cabinet meeting, though he may not have been sleeping at the time.  She's going to jail, too.  Both she and Kegsbreath may end up being tried at The Hague for Human Rights Violations.  That would be really jolly.  And Orangie saying the affordability was a Democratic Hoax?  Baby, that sucker's priceless.   And what I find totally amazing is that with all of this shit swirling around them, the GOP, by all indications is moving farther to the Right.  They will continue to do so until America stomps the shit out of them.

Troll 2

The sun is shining.  Brahms is playing on the stereo, Symphony number 1 in C minor, in case you're wondering.  This one of my favorite pieces of music.  Our outside temp is a cool 31 (F), though forecasters are predicting we'll hit the low 40s (F).  That'll be so nice.

We received approximately 3 inches of snow yesterday.  Howie did not run around like your average dog delighting in the snow.  Nope.  He spent most of his time digging for blades of grass.  He then came back into the house and threw them up for me to see.  Lovely.  

And apparently I'm back to my old, well, it's Tuesday so I might as well be meh, though I suspect the fact that it was cloudy was partly to blame.  I also managed to get in a bike ride in Italy, Amalfi to be precise.  The scenery is awesome, though I suspect it would cost an arm and a leg to simply visit.

Other than shoveling snow and the bike ride, I didn't do much except laze around.  Like I said, it was a pretty meh day.  

I did watch Troll 2 last night.  Loved it.  I've always loved monster movies.  Hollywood turned out some real gems, very smart with social commentary, like Them.  Then, unfortunately, we started importing Japanese monster movies, which were nothing more than an actor in a rubber suit stomping through one model city after another.  That pretty much killed the business.  Troll brought the business back in a big way.  The first film was Netflix's number one around the world for almost 2 weeks.  That's an immense feat for a foreign film, let alone a monster movie.  Troll 2 is doing the same thing.  This time there are 2 trolls.  There's a bit about how Christianity was to blame for the near extinction of trolls.  There are trips into catacombs, and bits about Holy Water, and... well, it's simply tremendous.

And the Tennessee election is over.  The Republican Van Epps won.  This was expected.  What was not expected was that the Democratic challenger came within single digits of Van Epps.  This happened in a district which is extremely Republican and where the Orange Anus won by 22% back in 2024.  Over the years, the Republicans have constantly won this district by 22% or higher.  To have Van Epps only win by roughly 9% is a major blow to the GOP.  That's a 13% drop in a very Red district.  This morning, all of those Republicans in districts across the country where they've only won by 7% or 8% are now changing their diapers.  Orangie's base is vanishing.  His approval rating is down to 36% and at this point the idea of him becoming more popular is almost laughable.  Even the Washington Post had a headline on how big of a problem this was for Republicans.  This is all very good.

Even better, Rolling Stone has named Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 as the game of the year!  Wowza!  I loved this game!  

The Polls in Tennessee are Open

Well, of course we have snow.  How much we'll get is up in the air? (That's a joke).  Originally the forecasters said our blanket of fluffy white stuff would fall from 0100 to 1 PM.  That has now changed.  This precipitation event started around 6 hours late, and is now expected to end around 7 PM this evening.   Right now we're experiencing a heavy snowfall event.  

Howie is almost 16 months old, so this might as well be considered his first snow.  So far, he's not been too excited.  He's ran around a little bit, but mostly he's been busy grabbing those few weeds he finds sticking up, and ripping them out by the roots.  He's very good at that.  Once they're out of the frozen ground, he gives them a shake and then drops them.  He's having a good time doing this.

And retail at the flooring desk was slow yesterday.  We were  going to make plan, but mostly through contractors, and installs sold through our dot.com end of the business.  Because of today's snow, our garden department will easily make plant.  For some reason we have yet to understand, there is an almost unnatural number of people who wait until snow begins falling to go out and buy snow shovels, ice scrapers and ice melt.  This has always been the case.  I often wonder how these people make it through life without a single thought to preparedness.  I own 2 snow shovels, one is kept at the front door and the other at the back door, and half of a 50 lb bag of ice melt I bought 3 years ago.  

Here's a nice picture of my neighbor's untrimmed hedge in the snow.  He bought himself an electric hedge trimmer and then discovered their house has no outside outlets, and they're not going to pay to have one installed.

Like every other day since Orangie was re-elected, yesterday was another shit show.  Petey Kegbreath's comment "kill them all," has pissed off a lot of people, both Republicans and Democrats, and it now appears that the administration is looking for a scapegoat.  Everybody who is anybody in every branch of the government should have realized a long time ago that this is Orangie's SOP.  He's spent his entire life blaming someone else.  So, if you're in the military and you follow an illegal order coming down from the top, you can rest assured if something about that order goes south, it'll be your ass on the line.

And there's an election down in Tennessee today.  According to polls, the Democrat Aftyn Behn is within 2 points of the Republican.  In bloody red Tennessee, that's unbelievably close.  Orangie won her district by 22%.  Republicans are in a terrible panic.  The MAGA cultists are flipping out!  The true black hearts among them simply cannot believe that their wanna be king is so despised that Republicans would vote for a Democrat.  I wouldn't be surprised if many Republicans simply stay home, rather than vote for a racist pedophile supporter.  Keep in mind that Behn doesn't need to win this special election, all she has to do is come within a few % points to cause the Republican chaos to Rupture.  This is how Karma works.

Yesterday

Yesterday the temps did not get out of the 30s (F).  In fact, they will be hanging around the mid thirty mark until sometime tonight, at which point a Polar Vortex will moved through the area bringing snow.  Right now the projections are for between 1 and 4 inches.  Odds are the total snowfall will be on the lower end.  I'm looking forward to the snow, hoping we do get closer to the 3 or 4 inches.  Howie's now old enough, 16 months, to have fun.  We got a little last year, but a 5 and 6 month old puppy really gets no excitement from the little bit of snow that we had.

And I did work yesterday.  Surprise of surprises, a customer walked up to me and asked to sign up for a credit card.  That will make management happy.  That is the only way I sign people up.  I do not do as they want and ask every person I deal with to sign up.  I also got a lead, and a measure.  I didn't hit my sales goal, but I'm way ahead for the year so that's no problem.

Yesterday was also the last day I'll be working with one of my fellow specialists.  He's actually retiring.  He's already heard my spiel about not fully retiring.  He says he's planning on doing some volunteer work with the local theater company.  Unless he's doing something like set construction between shows, those hours will be limited.  He did leave the door open to returning and working part-time, so I think in a couple of months he'll be punching the clock again for a few hours a week.  While I don't mind sitting around for a day or so, after a week I'd be going bonkers with cabin fever.  Only time will tell.  Besides, he's one of my editors, so it's very unlikely he will disappear into the cracks.

Yesterday, being Sunday, there were a slew of talk shows with A list guests.  As might be expected, Orangie's administration was on the defensive because... well, what else is new?  One fact that wasn't seen was Kegbreath Hegseth.  After his "kill them all," comment surfaced, Orangie's group of sycophants is doing major damage control.  Tell me, do you think Hegseth really considered that the killing of wounded men struggling to survive in the Caribbean Sea might be an International War Crime?  Or course not, he's a drunken fratboy.  In an attempt to change the subject to something else, Kristi the puppy killer, Noem said she ignored rulings by an judge because he was "an activist judge."  I watched that clip and then asked a friend if she was really that stupid.  His response?  Yes.  And yesterday, once again, Orangie was answering questions on Air Force One and... well, once again he was angry, and confused, and lashed out at the reporter's questions.  He had an MRI but doesn't know if it was of his brain, or his heart, but he did Ace it with flying colors.  I've had an MRI and unless you're unconscious, you know what they're doing.  Don't worry, though, he said he's going to release it.  Don't hold your breath.