Warriors (Not)

And the cool days of Autumn begin.  Our daily highs will only break into the 70s (F) on Friday, if we're lucky.  Skies are going to be overcast, with drizzles expected this afternoon.  In a 2 week time period we've gone from temps in the mid 80s (F) to temps in the mid to upper 60s (F).  Very shortly the leaves are going to start changing into their fall colors.  We've had a lot of rain this summer so they might be rather brilliant this year.

And not only did I work yesterday, I made my sales goal for the week!  I didn't get any measures last week or any leads, but the money I put into the store's bank account will make someone happy.

There was a bit of a downside though.  Because of my cold, I called off on Thursday.  I actually had a voice conversation with the Operations Assistant Manager.  He put nothing into the system, however, and this morning when I checked last week's hours I was listed as having a "no call, no show."  I also put in the paperwork to be paid for those 6 hours, talking to the same assistant manager, who told me to put the paperwork next to his computer.  Surprise!  The paperwork wasn't processed either.  This means this afternoon I'm going to have to have a talk with management.

As for the cold?  Except for the occasional cough and sniffle, I'm back to normal.  

This past week was another bad week for our Department of Defense because of the unprofessional, incompetent leadership of Kegs Breath Hegseth.  America should be truly frightened by the way this low level moron's brain if functioning.  This idiot had Logan and Jake Paul speak at a meeting in the Pentagon on how to be warriors.  He is the joke of the world.

He believes that these two men, who have never been in the military, who have emotional problems, whose activities are known to be ethically and controversially questionable, are authorities on warriorism.  I do not doubt that when he hit 14 years of age his brain stopped maturing.   This would explain his alcoholism and his being partial to spousal abuse.

The Orange Anus is in New York City today.  He's supposed to  meet with the Mayor, and also speak at the United Nations.  Prepare for him to go off topic.  It's my understanding that he's quite... angry.  I've heard that those surrounding him have begun to tell him that his ego is wrong, and that a vast majority of are former allies despise him... probably not in those words.  This means his lies will be unleashed this afternoon.  His ego will bluster his words with hatred.

Bots loving Bots

Today... we will have rain.  Lots of rain, will fall.  The drizzling began shortly after midnight.  Right now we have steady rain.  This will continue for most of the day.  Our high temp is predicted to be in the low 70s (F).  By Wednesday, our high temp should be in the low 60s (F).  I don't mind those temps when we have sunny days, but that isn't going to happen.  In fact, we might have to wait until Friday for our first hit of sunshine.

I did work yesterday.  Customers in the flooring department were sparse. Business was slow.  With today's rain, I doubt if things will be better.  This means they're going to be paying me to sit there for 7+ hours.  I will just have to figure out ways to keep myself busy.  

Big changes happened in our backsplash tile aisle (say that real fast five times).  Twenty styles are now available online only.  This is not a good thing.  We always recommend that when considering tile for a new backsplash, that you buy at least one and see what it looks like in your kitchen's lighting, under your cabinets.  Styles purchased online can not be purchased individually, but need to be bought by the case.  Most people don't want to plunk down $180 for a case of tiles they may have to return to the store because they hate them.  Also, online sales slow down the process of a kitchen renovation.  

So, I used to do Twitter when it was Twitter, canceled out when it became Zitter.  Now I do Threads, which is usually fine.  Over the past few days, however, I've notice that the platform has developed a propensity for pushing pro Trump bots.  Over the past 2 days I've seen at least 4 postings by Bots claiming that their rights have improved under the Orange Anus. 

How do I know they're Bots?  I click on their name.  If you do this, you'll find out that Charlene For Jesus has 17 followers.  That's a red flag.  The odds of Charlene being a Bot are infinitesimally high.  I also look at the number of "likes" each post gets.  Bots seem to like round numbers: 1200 and 1400 seem to be very popular numbers.  When checking on the comments I usually discover that none of the commentators approve of Charlene's message, meaning they are humans responding to a Bot.  I suspect that this is because, while Bots may love Bots, they are too overwhelmed by their love to put their emotions into words.  Of course, these Bots are pure propaganda.  They are not intended to convert you into a cultist.  They are meant to instill conviction into those already cultivated.  When one of these Bots makes it into my stream, I block them rather than commenting.  Blocking breaks the algorithm.

Digging Holes

So, we'll be seeing the sun for a bit today, but then for the next week that golden globe will vanish, hiding behind a cloud.  Forecasters are saying that there are also going to be torrential rains hiding in that same cover.  Temps will barely make it into the 70s (F).  This means that Autumn has arrived.  

Yesterday was another feeling under the weather cold day.  I was taking Sudafed until I got to wondering just how long the med stayed in my system.  Well, Sudafed cause the tiny blood vessels in your nose to tighten, which why your drainage stops.  Unfortunately, it causes other blood vessels around your body to tighten, too, and is not recommended for people with hypertension (high blood pressure.)  Just as I'm  borderline glaucomic, and borderline diabetic, I'm also borderline hypertensive, so I stopped taking the Sudafed.   Lucky for me I've had this silly rhinitis for a week, they symptoms have pretty much run their course.  All I have right now is the occasional dry cough, which is good since I work this afternoon.

So most of yesterday I was napping on and off throughout the day.  Though I've been getting a lot of sleep, I don't feeling rested, so when I finish this, I'm going to go upstairs and take another nape before I go to work.

Here's another thing that Petey Hegseth needs to work on in the Accountability chapter in his skill book.

Believe me, nothing should surprise you/us by now.  Two meritorious bronze stars does not mean competence.  Petey's also shrieking that reports of a higher number of casualties for Orangie's war with Iran are much higher than either he or Orangie will admit.  He's shrieking "fake new, fake news."  Tell, me where have we heard those words before?  Except for the cultists, by now most Americans know that when they hear those words, they're lies.  

And more Main Stream Media members have been banned from the Oval Office because they're nothing but "fake news."  Banning them is not going to stop questions from being asked.  In fact, banning them will make people believe things are even worse than they already are.  These people don't understand that they're digging a hole for themselves, and the deeper they dig, the deeper they're going to be buried.

The Cold, the Chili, and the Midterms.

The temp on my inside thermostat is 76 (F), outside the temp is 71 (F), go figure.  One forecast for this afternoon has our temp in the low 80s (F), while another has our high in mid 70s (F).  That's another go figure.  Next Wednesday, if the forecasters happen to be correct, our afternoon high will be 58 (F).  That'll be a chilly day.

And I did take off yesterday because of "the cold."  The plan was to sleep away the afternoon.  Well, that sort of happened.  I have a dog who thinks that whenever I'm home, it's play time.  You have no idea how many times we played fetch with his pink pig.  I am surprised that my sides are sore from coughing, or maybe they're sore from sneezing.  Anyway, the Sudafed is good at keeping my passage clear and the coughing/sneezing to a minimum.  After I finish this, I'm going to take one and then take a nap.

I'm scheduled to have lunch today with one of my editors.  Wish me luck.

My neighbors were arguing loudly about their car this morning.  They had 2, but 1 went into the shop about a month ago, so for her to have a car she needs to drive him almost an hour to work, and then pick him up when his shift is done.   Neither is happy about this.  Making the situation worse, occasionally someone will park a small, Chevy in front of their house.  She hates  this.  I don't think she understands that she doesn't own the street.  Several times she's parked so close to the Chevy it looked like their bumpers were touching, she's going to be a bitch about this.

And I made chili with vegetables from my garden!   Tasty!!

I understand Orangie's mad at the South Koreans because they're refusing to send troop to help us in Middle East.  This happens when you shit on allies.  Honestly, we always knew he wasn't the brightest bulb in the box, but saying he is dim doesn't quite drive home the point.  He is politically inept. 

So, a judge said the administration needs to provide him with a notice in writing at least 30 days before Orangie starts demolishing the Kennedy Center.  The problem with that is our loser in Chief is just going to ignore that, because that's what he always does.

Finally, I have to chuckle every time I hear Mikey Johnson, or someone else of his ilk, saying that if the Democrats get in power Impeachment will be the word of the day for the next 2 years.  He simply doesn't understand that at this point in time, 3/4 of the American people want more than impeachments.

The Piggy Hat

Our morning temp was 69 (F) and we have rain in the form of thunderstorms on the way for this afternoon.  We're supposed to be in the mid 80s (F) today and the low 80s (F) tomorrow.  This time next week our daily highs should be in the low 70s (F).  We will officially be in Autumn, so that's about normal.

My cold is proceeding as normal.  Sometime last evening I entered the "coughing, sneezing, running nose," stage.  If this cold moves along the same trajectory as previous colds, the CSR should begin to disappear sometime this evening.  When it comes to colds, my immune system's rather good; they usually run their course in 3-4 days.  That doesn't, however, mean that those 3 days are any less unpleasant.  According to my Garmin watch (it tracks my sleep), I got about 4 hours of snooze time in last night.  

I'm supposed to work  this afternoon, but since I have the cold and we're going to have a rainy day (it's already started), I'm going to use personal time and laze away the day.  That doesn't mean I'm not going to  do anything.  I've been doing a bit of research on fingerprints.  Did you know you can do that at home?  They recommend that you use a very fine white powder, like cornstarch, for dark surfaces and a dark powder, such as cocoa, on light surfaces.  Now, I know some of you are wondering why I would be interested in doing fingerprints at home.  Well, maybe I'm doing the research for someone else.  And I might not be dusting for them in my house.  Someone else might be dusting for them... in a cottage in Ireland.

Howie turned his pig toy into a pig hat.

And a lot of people are concerned that the Orange Anus might tear down the Kennedy Center, and I don't doubt that some believe he'd understand that would be the straw breaking the camel's back, so to speak.  Well, I news for you, he doesn't give a shit what the American people think.  He never has.  He never will.  When things don't go his way, he is spiteful has hell.  So, I'd say there's a good possibility he's going to rip that memorial down.

And Congress has  been adjourned until after the mid-terms because Mikey Johnson doesn't want to deal with the impeachment of Kegs-breath Hegseth.  He knows he doesn't have the votes to save that drunkard's ass. 

I find it fascinating that for a party who has control of the House, the Senate, and the presidency, Republicans have worked very little this year.  The House has been in session just 72 days and Mikey J. keeps sending them home because there's so much legislation he doesn't want to deal with.  The Senate has spent more time in session, but then they are nothing without the House of Representatives.  As for the Orange Anus, no president has ever spent more time golfing, and signing Executive Orders, and talking about himself every time he manages to get in front of a camera.

Kraft This

We're supposed to hit 86 (F) this afternoon.  That's possible since we're already at 66 (F).  Then, the downhill temp slide begins.  Tomorrow temps are supposed to hit 84 (F) and on Friday they'll barely make it into the 80s (F).  After that our daily highs will be hovering in the mid 70s (F) with overnight lows in the low to mid 50s (F). 

Today's entry started late because for the past 2 days I've been going through a head cold, sore throaty type thing.  I don't feel bad enough to throw my hands up in the air, shrieking "I'm sick," but the stuffy head and the post nasaly drip thing can get quite frustrating.  My sister had given me some Benadryl  about a year ago and while it's not supposed to act like a diuretic, I found myself peeing every  40 minutes, so even though it did stop the nasaly crap from running down the back of my throat, I only took it twice.  In case you haven't figured it out, this whole paragraph is my way of telling you I slept poorly last night.

I don't really have too much planned today because of the stuffy, sneezy, head coldy thing.

Howie's trip to the Vet was canceled.  Here's a thing I learned recently:  Labrador retriever ears are more  susceptible to ear infections than other dogs.  The solution:  instead of cleaning his ears every few months they need to be cleaned every week.

As most of you know, I heat my house with natural gas.  I think it's expensive.  Well, as things turn out, it's not going to be as expensive as home heating oil.  Here's a thing I learned:  home heating oil comes from the same crude oil as diesel fuel.  This means that the price of diesel fuel is going to correlate directly with the price of heating oil, or vice-versa, depending upon how you want to phrase it.  Today's cost is $5.28 a gallon, or about $1200 to fill up your heating oil tank.  Wowza!!  This is just another price Americans are going to have to pay on top of the $50 of $60 it takes to fill up your car's gas tank.

And there's no evidence that Orangie's war with Iran is going to end anytime soon.  While that's important to we home owners, keep in mind that these expenses mean nothing to the  billionaire sycophants surrounding the Orange Anus.  They simply don't care because their universes revolve solely around their own selfishness and greed.  To them, we are nothing.  

And what about the Ed Shereen major faux pas?  He thought he could cater to the billionaire Robert Kraft by staying on the fence.  Ed kicked Macklemore off the tour because of a pro-Palestine speech.  So, all of Ed's opening acts quit.  This morning, Ed's sound engineers quit.  This is not only Ed's problem, it's Bobby Kraft's, another one of those wannabe demi-gods.

Mitch Rolls In

The temp was 68 (F) when I left work last evening.  When I woke up this morning, the outside temp was 49 (F).  We are definitely experiencing a cooling off.  We're about a week away from Autumn, and I'm ready.  By next week our daily highs should be in the upper 60s (F) to low 70s (F), that's sweater weather; time for the cozy comfort of sweatpants and sweatshirts.

So, my flooring sale went through yesterday, that should keep management happy.  The only thing that will make them glum is the fact that I haven't gotten a measure so far this week.  This is the time year when people start to consider new flooring for the holidays; they want to impress during the holiday get togethers.  However, the price of diesel fuel has a direct influence on how much we charge for products, as well as the amount that people are willing to pay.  So, we may be hitting a very dry season.

I did get a morning workout in yesterday.  I'm taking the bits and pieces of my Trainwell workouts and repurposing them into something new and exciting.  I haven't actually canceled my subscription, but that will happen shortly.

I'm also considering buying a grain grinder and milling my own flour.  I'm seeing a lot of good things about spelt, which is an ancient wheat.

After 3 months, a rather slack jawed Mitch McConnel returned to work yesterday.

He is non-mobile, meaning he needs to be rolled to where ever he needs to go.  There are no pics of him voting, but supposedly he did.  He can't seem to keep his mouth open for very long.  As someone said, he is becoming the poster child for elder abuse.  

One of the suspected reasons we have so many tech billionaires saying we need to slow down AI is that it's generating no income.  Expenses are going through the roof, but there are apparently very few buyers for the services it provides.  This is not good for Orangie's son, Donny Jr.  He is heavily invested in an AI company, which is the main reason Orangie's shrieking that we need to go full speed with AI.    As is always the case with Orangie, it's always about the greed.

Not the Case

We have 69 (F) outside.  There is a bit of a cool weather front moving though the area, so  temps will only  climb few degrees today.  Yesterday, they got warmer than the forecasters had been predicting.  The outside temp was 86 (F) when I left the store at 6 PM.  How long will this cooling trend last?  A few days. Temps are supposed to warm up again on Thursday, but then most of next week is going to be rainy.

And I did work yesterday, and it was boring.  The sale that was supposed to come in, didn't.  I discovered a $40 charge against my sales goal without any backup.  I suspect things are going to get worse.

As I'd said in an earlier blog, I'd put some thought in to monetizing Riding On, well, that ain't happening.  They have too many problems with the blog, one being, as they say, consistency.  I'm too much of a generalist.  There were other reasons, like possible bestiality....  I suppose that means I post too many pictures of Howie in compromising positions.  And here I thought all they'd be looking at is the number of hits my blog gets daily.  That is not the case.  I suppose if I were more ambitious, but again, that's not the case.  Maybe if I were younger and didn't mind putting the time and effort into giving them what they want, but again....  

And for those who missed this, the Orange Anus actually took 3 planes to Ireland, this number does not include the 5 transport planes which carried his Secret Service and quite a few specialized vehicles because, like any other emperor, he needs a massive motorcade.

Why 3 planes?  He's afraid someone's going to try and shoot him out of the sky, and 3 planes means there are 3 separate targets.  This is him trying to be a sly old fox.  This is, of course, not the case.  No one is going to waste a single missile, let alone 3, to shoot him down.  Nope.  Those who would like him dead, are going to wait and watch the American people stomp the shit out of the Republican party.

And when he was in Dublin, quite a few people were talking about him walking around with a broken shoe.  Believe me, his shoe was not broken.  His problem is that his cankles were so huge, he couldn't put his foot into his shoe, and was walking around with the back of his foot on the heel of his shoe.  I don't mean to insult anybody, but that is so white trash.

Sourpuss Trump

And  we have rain.  Serious drizzling is occurring. Today's afternoon high might reach the mid 70s (F). Just a remind, the start of Autumn is less than 2 weeks away.  For those who love the heat of summer and who live in Central Pa, fear not.  California is going through a heat thing right now and since the Earth spins on an axis, that thing will move east.  However, whether that thing edges a bit north on its eastward journey, or moves parallel, staying mostly to the south is anybody's guess.

Work yesterday was boring.  Today, because of the overcast skies, and on and off drizzle, things will slower.  While being bored is not fun, getting paid to be bored isn't bad.  Besides, that sale I thought I lost looks like it might go through this afternoon.  Unfortunately, that sale will not be large enough for me to hit my sale's goal for this week, but then my goal is rather high for a part-time associate.

I just got a weather update, the rain is supposed to end in a few hours.  This would be really good sleeping weather.

And Orangie is in Ireland, and the Irish people are having none of his bullshit.  He left a 3 minute meeting with Prime Minister looking cranky as hell.  She didn't fawn like a sycophant.  We need more world leaders treating him like the moldering dung heap he is.  This is what you call a sourpuss. 

Of course, we suddenly have all those wannabe big brains now telling us we need to begin slowing down the development of AI.  One of the researches said that it might kill the human race in 10 years, however, he didn't say how.  There are 2 schools of thought, one is that AI will do something insidious to destroy us, the other is that the AI bubble is going to burst causing the world's economy to come crashing down.  Such an event would not wipe out humanity, however, it would decimate the billionaire class.  I'm thinking the researcher was talking about the latter, especially with the likes of Sam Altman, and Elonia Musk; without their bank accounts, these people are nothing.  

The Saudis find Karma

We've got 62 (F) outside and once again, the temps are predicted to hit the low 80s (F).  We did manage to hit that 80(F).  We're going to be repeating yesterday's forecast today.  If those people who predict the weather are correct, our daily highs from now on should be sailing through the upper 70s (F).  That is until we get to Indian Summer.

Yesterday was quite the solemn day.

Berkheimer's came to service my furnace around 0800.  The tech was training a new person.  He said he was supposed to do both the furnace and the central air.  I told him to just do the furnace, I'll have him back in the spring for the central air.  My brain thinks that the furnaced should be serviced prior to the heating season, and the central air prior to the cooling season.  I guess it doesn't really matter.  I shall have to work on being more flexible since have both units serviced at the same time will cost me less money.

The pain of 9/11 seemed stronger on this anniversary, perhaps because so much of what's happening today in the world seems to stem from that moment in our history.  

I did go to my local Giant supermarket for fresh fruit and bones for Howie.  While I was there, I bought him a new toy.  A pink pig.  He loves it.

I understand the Orange Anus gave a... "fiery," speech at the Pentagon yesterday, after he woke up from his nap.  I don't know if it was fiery or not, since I didn't see a single clip on social media other than those of him snoozing away.  By now most people know, except for his cultists, that every time he opens his mouth, the only thing that comes out is yada, yada, yada.  He is not now, nor will he ever, be considered a wise man.  One of the things not included in his yada, yada, yada was that the Saudis asked him to attack Yemen.  To be honest, I don't doubt they expected him to do what they wanted, after all, isn't that why they paid him $5+ billions of dollars?  Unfortunately for the Saudis, America has wasted so many bombs and missiles on Iran we don't have them to spare.  And the Houthis, from Yemen, have taken over a major Saudi pipeline. If the Saudis want the Houthis stopped, they're going to have to use their own army, and Orangie's war will expand.  Expect gas to get more expensive soon.  And what is Orangie planning on doing?  Play golf in Ireland.  So, what we're seeing might possibly be the beginning of Karma for the Saudi Royal Family, since they were the ones who funded 9/11.

Where Were You on 9/11?

Today's weather looks to be a repeat of what we had yesterday, though the forecasters were wrong, thunderstorms did not strike.  Around 10:15 PM, I left Howie out for his final pee and there did seem to be a slight drizzle falling... possibly.  The very light rain, if that what was falling, was evaporating before hitting the ground.  Anyway, today's going to be much of the same thing.

Work was really slow yesterday.  Customers were buying, but not in the flooring department.  I'm fairly certain that I lost a sale because our installers took too long to get back to us on a simple question.  To be honest, the installers weren't the only ones to blame.  My customers wanted to put our top of the line vinyl plank flooring over a ceramic tile floor.  The flooring they chose has no problem with this, however, when the quote was built an expensive charge was added to rip up and haul away the tile.  This is not what the customer wanted.  Instead of getting back to us in a timely manner, waited... and waited, until finally sending us an email officially telling us there was no need to rip up that tile.

Today, is the anniversary of 9/11, 2001.  Hundreds of millions of Americans can pinpoint the exact moment when the tragic news broke.  I was working in the accounting department for International Paper, and I found out when my mom called me at the office.  The first thing she said when I answered the phone was "David, a plane just flew into the World Trade Center."  International Paper had a distribution center directly across the river from the World Trade Center and many of the associates working there were out on the loading dock watching the tragedy unfold.  Since we were the accounting hub, someone was always on the phone with us.  Shortly after the 2nd plane hit, our trucks were told to return to the distribution center.  Drivers were stuck in traffic.  People on the phone to us were crying.  Someone had a small black and white TV in their car and brought it in, and over 50 associates stood silently watching the horror unfold.  That's where I was on 9/11.

And Trumpaloozza's over.  While a vast majority of Americans are remembering 9/11, the Washington Post's headline was not about that horrific moment, rather their lead story was about JD Vance taking over the mantle of the GOP.  This should come as no surprise.  Bezo's propaganda rag will always bend in the direction of another possible tax cut.  How badly did Trumpaloozza fail?  Only the super, hardcore cultists showed up and many of them were surprised at how empty arena was.  Their lack of numbers is a message they will never understand.

Hasan Piker's Hotter than UGI

Today's probably going to be a hot one.  Our outside temp is already at 73 (F).  We have a 55% + chance of a thunderstorm this afternoon, and then the temps begin to fall.  We are, after all, less than 2 weeks from the start of Autumn.  

Cooler temps will help with the utility bills... somewhat, but not much.  I heat with natural gas, and was always under the impression that they were lower than the national average because of the extensive fracking in Pennsylvania.  Well, I did some research yesterday.  I was terribly mistaken.  Heating by natural gas is actually higher here than the average cost.  Some states, like Wyoming and Nebraska, where you'd think natural gas bills would be higher, are more than a bit lower.  Why do we pay so much more here in PA?  Because the distributors, like UGI, tack on so many extraneous charges onto your bill.   For August, I'm paying $3.45 for the commodity, that's the natural gas, I'm also paying $3.61 for them to distribute the gas.  Those 2 charges aren't bad.  However, I'm also paying a $16.31 Customer Charge.  That's right, I'm paying to be a customer.  And that $16.31 is not a fixed rate.  The more gas I use, the higher my Customer Charge is, which is why, while being on the budget program, my average bill is $103 per month. The real problem is corporate greed.

I'll be working this afternoon.  I'm betting the store will be slow.  

And the GOP is having a midterm convention in Da Las.   Don't believe me?  All you have to do is look at their podium.

That's right, one of the Ls fell off, so the midterm election is no loner taking place in Dallas, it's been moved to Da Las.

And boy is that arena empty.  When Orangie talks about it being packed, he's talking about the first 27 rows on the floor.  Anyone who got a free ticket was moved to the floor.  I find it amusing that none of the "official" cameras are moving back past that 27th row.  There are thousands of empty seats.  So many loyal Republicans are staying home, just like they will in the midterms.

You know they're getting desperate when the put a picture of Hasan Piker wearing only a Speedo on the Jumbotron, though they didn't want too much definition, so they pixilated the Speedo.

And Orangie's going to send us all a $5000 check if Republicans win in November.  That's called bribery, and election interference, and I'm sure we'll get that check right after we get the Doge check for $5000.

Star Wars Zero Company

Crap, our overnight temp failed to drop below 70 (F) and that means we're going to be in for a hot day.  Will we hit 90 (F)?  Possibly.  Our afternoon will be skimming along in the upper 80s (F).  That's pretty much a given.  After today, temps are predicted to drop, though I don't know if this is something you can bet on.

Yesterday was sort of a meh day.  This doesn't mean I didn't get things done.  That is not the case.  Two loads of laundry, dishes cleaned, made the Vet appointment for Howie's ear.  the soonest they can fit me into their busy schedule is next Tuesday. That appointment might actually get canceled.  When I cleaned his ear this morning, it was obviously less inflamed than yesterday, so if Monday rolls around and it's looking normal I will cancel that appointment and save myself some money.

Patty MacNeil, a detective from Belfast, along with 2 day sergeants, Holmes and McAlister, have entered The Body in the Words.  Bally Seamus is too small a town to have it's own Detective so Patty's going to be making the commute.  She finds the binoculars on the table... curious.  Gee, I think I forgot to mention the binoculars.  Well, they're truly irrelevant to the plotline.  You should forget I mentioned them right this minute.

I've had my fill of Balder's Gate 3 for the time being, so I started a new game last evening.  Star Wars Zero Company is a tactical, turn based game that should keep me busy for 30 - 40 hours.  This was a needed change.  I'm back to shooting guns and throwing hand grenades, and there's no need to memorize 20 - 30 different spells and cantrips.  An interesting thing about the new Star Wars game is that no Jedi are involved, so there's no using the Force to fly through the air, or bend metal with your mind.

So, the Orange Anus spread his old lie about being at the Towers on 9/11 yesterday.  He was never at Ground Zero.  He spent those terrible hours watching the TV in his office, and later in the afternoon, after the towers had collapsed, bragged to a radio station that he now owned the tallest building in New York City.  He might be the best and most ultimate weapon the Democrats have against his evil regime.

And the tariff war with Canada is heating up.  Orangie's supporters need to chalk this up as another loss.  I don't doubt that behind the scenes his administration is frantic.  That this should happen so close to the midterms, and the GOP is going to stick with him.  They will be prosecuted.  

If trade war isn't enough, his war with Iran is heating up again.  Ships are being attacked.  The price of Brent Crude is over $100 a barrel.  Gasoline will soon be up to $4.50 a gallon.  Diesel will hit $6.00 a gallon.  Everything is going to get so expensive.  As the mood in America turns against the Republican party, their liars will keep on lying, but then all they've ever had are lies.

b

The Ultimate Disloyalty

Our temp dropped down to 51 (F) overnight.  Good sleeping weather.  Today's high is supposed to, once again, be in either the high70s (F) or low 80s (F).  No rain is in the forecast.  Looking ahead, the only change is expected to be a slow decline in temperatures.

I worked yesterday.  Business was booming during the morning hours, however, the instant I punched in we began losing customers.  This meant that I got my steps in early.  Staffing was low, almost all part-timers; this is normal.  Some full timers worked 40 hours and got  8 holiday hours, most worked 32 hours with their holiday pay.  You want to give your full time associates a holiday off.  This helps with your payroll expense.  Food was also provided: pulled pork or chicken, and mac & cheese.  No beverages, no salty snacks like chips.  There were leftovers, so I brought home some pulled pork and mac & cheese.  Howie got most of the pork.

Speaking of Howie, he has an ear infection so I'm going to have to take him to the Vet.  I truly dislike taking him to the Vet because like any other retailer, they like to fill your shopping cart to the brim.  They will pump your pet full of what they have decided are now "standard" medications that in reality are completely unnecessary.  They get angry when you refuse "standard" meds since that takes revenue out of their bank account.

And I learned yesterday that these pretty white flowers growing along my fence Sweet Autumn Clematis and they are an aggressively invasive plant.  So this means trimming and pruning every fall.

And they're giving away free tickets to Orangie's midterm convention.  The MAGA brand has become so toxic no one wants to attend.  If you do decide to go and you want to stay on the cheap side rather than splurge, you can have your picture taken with JD Vance and it will only set your bank account back $25,000.  Since this is JD we're talking about, you might get a bit of a discount if you bring along a loveseat.

Evidently the official White House Labor Day video, one that wasn't AI slop celebrating the Orange Anus's fantasies, was of a pen being put together on an assembly line.  Not a single human being was in  the video.  Basically, they celebrated Labor Day by showing that machines do things better than people.

Rumors are swirling that Kegsbreath Hegseth's head may be on the chopping block.  This is not because he's doing a horrific job, rather the horrific job he's doing is making the Orange Anus look bad, and that is the ultimate form of disloyalty.

Anniversary

Our outside temp was 55 (F) when I woke up this morning.  That meant we had good sleeping weather last night.  Today's high will be either in the high 70s (F) or the low 80s (F).  I don't really care because I'm going to be working on this Labor Day.  The forecast for this week has been revised down.  We will no longer be having highs in the low 90s (F).  Instead, they will be cresting in the upper 80s (F), which is a step in the right direction for Autumn.

And I did work yesterday.  Things were slow.  We're in a holiday weekend and the only shoppers we're going to be getting are those looking for a sale.  Our appliance section did well.  That's where the deals are.  As a result, I got my steps in fast.  And, of course, today is the actual holiday.  As usual, I work.  They're bringing in food.  Someone said mini-tacos.  I guess that means we're going to be eating teeny, weeny, tiny tacos.

And then this happened as well.  

Overnight the Orange Anus has been pumping out all sorts of AI slop on his Truth Social account and bragging about all of the billions of dollars he's made while president.  This is against the law, but why would he care about that.  In his addle-paddled brain he is above the law.  Rules and Regulations have no meaning to him because he's special.  His idea of helping Republicans get out the votes for the midterms is to throw a mini-Republican convention in order to celebrate himself.  Two nights long, he will be speaking on the first night... and in case that isn't enough for his cultists, he's going to be repeating his performance on the 2nd night as well.  I understand Republicans are coming up with excuses to avoid his ego extravaganza.  Sorry guys, it ain't gonna help.  Perhaps you should have thought about your future in politics before selling your soul to the Orange Anus.

Sometmes

So we got down to 61 (F) overnight.  I did get out the red blanket.  Sleeping was fine.  According to those in charge of predicting the weather, today's temps will not be climbing out of the 70s (F).  That's fine.  I do enjoy the changing of the seasons.  Except for about 2.5 weeks of blistering heat, this summer hasn't been that bad here in Central PA temperature wise, however, we did get those storms.  As a customer said to me at work yesterday, "we've had some very unusual storms."  They've been large, for one thing, covering 3-4 counties with thunder and lightning at the same time.

I worked in the Paint department yesterday.  I like mixing paint.  I get to chat with a lot people about a host of different subjects.  I once had a young man hand me one of Jesus's business cards.  I told him he could keep it, that solicitation was not allowed in the store.  While he didn't raise his voice, he did tell me that I was "damned and would burn in hell for all eternity."  These people are rare.  Mostly, people chat about their paint projects.  Some of them are fascinating.  Yesterday I talked with 2 different customers who were paint brick, one was a fireplace, the other a cinderblock wall in her basement.; different types of brick, different types of applications.  It's fun to help people.

My front porch is large, around 7 feet by 10 feet.  Sometimes things walk on my front porch, sometimes birds, sometimes squirrels.  Sometimes Howie sees them and finds them fascinating.

And yesterday Orangie did the unimaginable.  He went from Orange to Brown.  Someone said that Natalie Harp told him he'd look younger as a brunette.  People are laughing, and sometimes they're just at a loss of words.

And the comedy team of Witkoff and Kushner met with Brownie's blow bro Vlad.  There's a clip of them showering him with praise.  One of the things Witkoff said was "years from now we'll look back on this and your story will be the greatest."  Yepper, an American said that to a war criminal.  Sometimes stupid people say stupid things.  Sometimes history looks back and says, "yep, that was the greatest piece of ass kissing ever recorded."

Testosterone

We had no rain yesterday.  None last night either.  Right now, the sun's shining and we have a temp of around 71 (F).  According to some forecasts, our high this afternoon will be in the low 80s (F), according to others we'll be in the the high 70s (F).  I don't really care about this afternoon's weather since I'm working.

Yesterday was rather meh.  I did a little cleaning, baked a blueberry thingy by dashing a number of ingredients into a bowl, stirring briskly, and than baking the batter in the oven.  I ended up with something like a cakie cookie that will be going with me to work this afternoon as a snack.  

And sometime yesterday I realized that Friday was the beginning of a holiday weekend.  Some people will have a 3 day holiday, others 4 days.  Being my age and semi-retired I'm on a holiday most of the time, so all this holiday means to me is an extra 4 hours holiday on my check.

I'm also celebrating (not the right word) 18 years with the orange retailer I work for.  That means as of midnight last night, I have 80 hours of paid vacation on the books just waiting to be taken.  Yes, I earn vacation pay.  I'm also still accruing personal time.  I told management I should get a cake for my anniversary.  That ain't gonna happen.  

 Here's a picture of the blueberry thingy.

I see that Kegsbreath Hegseth's mandatory testosterone testing for all military personnel over 30 has been changed to voluntary testing.  Testosterone therapy is also on a voluntary basis.  I'm sure this must aggravate Kegsbreath to no end, since he believes masculinity is defined by screaming testosterone levels.

Keggie's also having senior military personnel take polygraph tests in an attempt to find out who's leaking all the bad news about him.  Leaks like the letter detailing his incompetence signed by a number of high ranking members of our military.  Maybe, instead of a testosterone test, Keggie should just take a competency test.  Of course, you have to remember he was put into his position, not because of his experience as a 2 Bronze Star officer, but because he and the Orange Anus are driving down the same lingo lane in the land of delusion.  Both seem to believe that a loud voice and a good coat of face paint will cover up their ineptitude.

Solving a Problem Like Maria

This afternoon's high is supposed to be in the low 80s (F).  We have 71 (F) right now.  The sun is shining.  Though, as we should all expect by now, there is a threat of thunderstorms this afternoon.  In fact, for the next week our afternoons are going to be threatened by thunderstorms.  Highs are expected to be in the mid to upper 80s (F), though there does seem to be a cooling trend on the horizon.  This is a good thing.  Everyone I know is ready for Autumn.  Though what late Autumn and Winter are going to be like is anybody's guess since El Nino seems to be supersizing out in the Pacific.  If I'm remembering correctly, the last time we had a serious El Nino, out winter was extremely mild.  

Yesterday was quiet here.  I'm in the process of taking all of my Trainwell workouts and and modifying them, keeping certain exercises and routines and throwing others out, like squats.  Squats are out.  There are quite a few other quad and glute focused exercises in which you don't need to squat.  I did one of the preliminary routines yesterday and was rather pleased.  Other exercises will be added until I end up with a routine that runs around 50 minutes, or so.

I also broke the 3 pounds of angus ground beef I'd bought at Karn's in 8 oz servings, that's 6 servings at about 380 calories each.  Those servings should last for a while since I tend to eat more chicken and pork than I do beef.

And, of course, the breaking news was about Maria Bartiromo getting fired by Fox.

So, Fox Entertainment is no longer asking "how do we solve a problem like Maria."  I'm hearing that she has already hired a "high profile attorney."  This means that Fox is once again going to be going into court because of the Orange Anus.  They last time this happened they settled out of court with Dominion Voting, paying Dominion $787 million.  Can you hear me laughing?  Things are going to get real interesting if this makes it to the Discovery stage of the trial.

People are wondering if this means Fox Entertainment might be trying to cut the umbilical cord of propaganda between themselves and the White House.  Have they, so to speak, seen the writing on the wall?  Possibly... somewhat.  More likely I think they're trying to butter both sides of a slice of bread, cover their asses, so to speak, if the midterm elections go horribly wrong for the Republicans.  How would something like that effect their viewership?  The only time Fox will take the side of the loser is if they find that by doing so viewership is going to increase.  At this point, with Orangie's approval rating on the economy at 29% I'm suspecting they're not seeing a good return on an investment by claiming he is now one of the downtrodden.

Oh, and the government just released the jobs report for August.  Don't believe them.  ADP reported that only 38,000 jobs had been created.  Orangie's team, on the other hand, pulled the number 162,000 out of their ass.  

 

Coyote vs Acme

We have 69 (F) outside and supposedly we're going to be adding another 21 degrees onto to that for our afternoon high of 90 (F).  And as is now usually the case, we have storms on store for this afternoon.  We had them yesterday with torrential rains.  We had them again last night.  In the past few days we have had a lot of rain.  In fact, yesterday they were pounding down so hard my green pepper plant was split in two and is now, colloquially speaking, a goner.

Yesterday was a busy day.  I did all of the paperwork online to renew my driver's license, so all I had to do was check in and then wait to have my picture taken.  After that I went to Karn's supermarket.  Karn's sells fresh meats from local farms.  They also sell fresh seafood.  Nothing is shipped in frozen.  Nothing comes from a mystery country.  I bought 3 pounds of ground beef and the price was comparable to what I'd have paid at my local Giant Supermarket.

The first thunderstorm of the day hit as I was leaving Karn's.  Driving is difficult when buckets of water are hitting your windshield, and the wipers simply could not keep up.  And there were many bolts of lightning.  And the thunder was crashing.  When I got to the BJs parking lot, I sat for a minute or two in my car checking the weather map.  The storm was massive.  WTF went through my head, I can't wait until this thing passes, so I ended walking through the parking lot with lightning stitching brightly through the clouds overhead.  Shit.

I went to see Coyote vs Acme last evening.  I have not laughed so hard in a very long time.  An animated coyote sues Acme in a live action courtroom.  So many of the  laughs caught me by surprise.  Warner Brothers was not going to release the film because they thought it unmarketable: being smart and absurdist, the animation was not geared for the kiddies, yet in their minds animation meant kiddies.  They still are rather clueless.  Every trailer was for an animated kids movie and there were children in the audience last evening.  Anyway, this is a good, laugh out loud movie.

And the cornucopia of Republican continues to overflod

Republicans introduced an amendment into the House of Representatives yesterday thaRpt would limit the Supreme Court to just 9 judges.  They needed a 2/3 majority for it to continue.  They knew they weren't going to get the votes, but they introduced the measure for a base they are terrified might not show up at the polls in November.

Many Republicans are now worried that the Orange Anus, who has accumulated a massive war chest will not divvy any of those funds out to help Republican campaigns.  You'd have thought they would have realized by now that he views those funds as his own personal money.  The fact that they thought he was going to share is downright ridiculous.

One thing Republicans can be sure of, though, is that he will go out on the road and campaign for them.  He doesn't care if he helps their campaigns or not, he just wants to be on stage, and the center of attention, for a small audience for as long as possible.  

Failing Badly

We're on the slightly humid side this morning and I'm blaming the torrential rains we had last night.  Torrential rains, you ask?  Wowza!  From around 9:30 PM till nearly 11 PM, here in Central PA, mother nature put on a dazzlingly spectacular light show accompanied by window rattling booms and crashes. We've been getting one of these thunderboomers so frequently, I'm beginning to believe this is a part of climate change.

As planned, I got my haircut yesterday.  I usually got Great Clips, a barber/styling salon that was cheap and quick.  You might want to blame it on the Navy, but I truly hate getting my haircut.  That being said, a senior haircut now costs $18.  I consider that rather expensive for 7 minutes of snip, snip, snip... oh, and having to deal with the babbling chit chat from a 50+ year old stylist with purple hair.  I did not need to hear that her boyfriend, who works in Montana and who lost 250 pounds, was coming home and that they were going to play disc golf.  Still, the haircut was decent, so I endured.

Later on this morning I'm going to be renewing my driver's license.  This will entail showing an employee from the Department of Motor vehicles my passport (to get my real ID) and then having my picture taken.  If you've been reading me long enough, you might remember that the last time I had my license renewed there was a woman who kept having her picture taken, over, and over, and over again because she wasn't satisfied with the way she looked.  Can't you just hear the police officer saying, "ma'am, I'm going to ticket you for driving 85 mph in a 35 mph zone, but that is a stunning picture of you."

After 286 days at sea, the USS Abraham Lincoln is now docked at Laem Chabang Port, Pattaya, Thailand.  This is embarrassing. I cannot imagine what this ship is like on the inside.  Hegseth is failing badly.

And in their attempt to stay in power, Republicans in Texas have shut down 30% of the polling stations in Tarrant county.  This is a prime example of utter stupidity.  These fools think that making Democrats drive farther to vote will keep them from the polls.  Their tiny brains also believe that Republican voters are different, and will have no problem driving any distance, no matter how far, to keep the Republican party in power.  If obtuse is a point, these Republicans are making it.  They don't understand that most seniors, those people in their 70s and 80s, those people most likely to vote Republican, will stay home rather than drive for 45 minutes in order to stand in line for 3 hours to vote.  Because the party of selfishness and greed is unable to change, they will punish their most loyal base out of sheer stupidity.  This party deserves to fail... badly.

Mandatory Retirement

The temp outside is a nice, almost toasty 74 (F).  This afternoon we should be hitting the low 90s (F).  Originally, the forecast had them hanging around for a few days.  That's changed.  Tomorrow our high will be in the upper 80s (F) and Thursday it will be a few degrees cooler as more seasonable weather moves back into the picture.

I paused my Trainwell subscription yesterday.  I was going to cancel, but chose to pause it for the time being.  I did take screen shots of the routines and print them off, so I'll still have the structure for the next few weeks.  At some point I'll have to decide if the expense balances out with the daily contact I get through texts and the occasional videos.  

The husband of the woman who returned that tiny bit of carpet was in yesterday to buy padding.  I nodded to him, he didn't nod back, but then he didn't glare at me either.  As I mentioned to Treaders, one of the big reasons we have problems with returns is that our corporate office has an algorithm that predicts if a customer is likely to shop with us again.  Refusing a return drops that likelihood a small %, and every teeny, tiny bit is a step towards failing to make our projected growth.  

Today's going to be fairly busy.  One of the things on the to do list is to get a haircut.  Tomorrow, I'm getting my picture taken for my driver's license and that means looking civilized.

And I have this pretty, white flowery thing growing along the top of my fence.  Last year Howie chewed most of it away.  This year he's left it alone.  I guess it doesn't taste good anymore.

 

I saw where Steve Scalise, a big supporter of the Orange Anus, was talking about the Supreme Court and how the Republicans like the fact that there are  only 9 justices, and that this are lifetime positions.  In fact, Republicans are so enrapture with the way things are set up, he's going to initiate a constitutional amendment to keep the Democrats from changing anything.  There are a bunch of MAGA yokels out there who have no idea how difficult the job is to amend the constitution.  His statements are aimed at those louts.  Also keep in mind that there is also serious concerns among Republicans that should Democrats get enough votes in November, they might just add a judge or two.  This is most likely the reason Alito, who had said he was going to retire, has put off his retirement.  Though, if the Democrats do get in power, they don't need an amendment to the constitution to set a mandatory retirement age for Supreme Court Justices.  Retiring Alito and Thomas would change the makeup of the court until more judges could be approved, and a majority of Democrats in the Senate would keep the Orange Anus from putting in a real loser.