Thelma

 Good Morning!  The outside temps are very comfortable 68 (F), though the forecast has them climbing into the mid 90s (F).  there's also the threat of thunderstorms this afternoon, however, since I work, I don't really care.  The rest of the week is supposed to be cooler, low to mid 80s (F).  I can live with that.

The temp for the Central Air is set at 74 (F) and it turns on every now and then, but it doesn't run constantly.  Last week, when it was so warm, it didn't happen, either.  I should probably have a 2nd thermostat installed on the second floor for the summer weather.  

And I got so much accomplished yesterday.  I'm signing up for a zero interest loan to pay for the windows, rather than pull that money out of my savings account.  I did that for the trip to Greece, and then had to fill it back up.  I like having that financial cushion.  I can use my social security checks to pay off this loan in a few months, while still depositing coin of the realm in my account.  Remember, I'm saving up for a puppy!

I went to see Thelma last night.  For those who don't know, Thelma is a movie (based on a person) about a 94 year-old woman who gets scammed out of $10,000.  While that sounds terribly dramatic, it's very funny.  That doesn't mean it isn't touching at times.  Richard Roundtree has a line where he says, "we're older, we're diminished."  Thelma is a comparison between those who accept that, and those who fight against it.

For those who didn't see it, Lauren won her primary from a crowded field.  The most important thing in that statement is that she was part of a Crowded Field. Definition:  all of those other candidates sucked away votes, that kept anyone else from winning.  She switched districts to one that his hardline Republican, so the Democrat whom she is running against is not expected to win in November.  You know, it would be nice if the country didn't have to live with publicly displaying her white trash ways daily.

And Nikki Haley, as expected, got over 30 % of the votes in every state.  This will be a big problem for the Orange Anus in November.  Those Haley voters will just sit this one out.  Believe me, they have no problem doing that.

And, of course, the debate is tomorrow night.  I'll probably get a bottle of wine and watch the last 2 episodes of Shogun.

The booboo paw

 Lily has a booboo paw.  She was fine when I left her out this morning, however when I opened the storm door to let her back in she was sitting there with her left paw raised.  She probably stepped on a pebble.  From time to time, all of my dogs have had booboo paws.  The paw will be favored for a few hours, until something exciting happens, like a FedEx truck or a UPS truck stops out front and they need to run, then the booboo disappears.

I read the reports on the tests I had earlier in the week: I'm ducky dandy.  Well, that's not entirely correct, the CAT scan of my lungs pointed out the arthritis in my spine, though noted there was 'no abnormal deformity.'  Wow, now ain't that a relief.

And the temps today are supposed to crack a high in the mid-90's (F).  Central Air is on, so are the ceiling fans.  Also the drapes in the front bedroom are pulled tight.  I get south eastern exposure, full sun, which turns the windows into very large heat pumps.

And for those of you who think my Pixel phone is now a useless piece of technology, think again.  The only thing I can't do with it is make phone calls.  Thanks to Wi-Fi, it's still connected to the Internet.  Instead of becoming junk, it has become a mini-tablet, so to speak.  Here's a pic I took a few minutes ago of one of my budding dahlias, the ones that survived the freezing winter.

And here's a bit of a funny, ha-ha moment from Vlad the Puty Boy regarding the insurrection of January 6.  He's saying we have a double standard, that the arrest and punishment of those rioters is no different then his... well, military build up on the border of the Ukraine, and, I suppose, the poisoning of those who oppose him, and the arrest of opposition leaders.  Of course, you know he's got a soft spot in his heart for his old blow bro,  Loser #45.  He's really whiny, isn't he?  Perhaps he's got a booboo paw of his own.

Garlic, and other things of interest

 Okay, so I caved and turned on the Central A/C.  This morning when I got up the temps were 75 (F) downstairs, and 78 (F) upstairs.  And it will only be on for today, then the temps drop back to what is considered normal for this time of year.  I do have a bit of concern about this summer.  Last year the months of May, June, and July were hot.  Will this year be a repeat. I have this weird suspicion Global Warming is going to turn Central PA into a tropical rain forest.

Since I have off today, I did stay last evening and watch more of Star Trek Discovery.  I'm now into season 3.  Season one was meh.  Two was a lot better; we got to meet a younger Spock and Christopher Pike, and also go to Talos IV.  So far, season 3 is very interesting.

There were no odd incidents at work yesterday.  No strange people showed up at the Flooring Desk.  No phone calls relating to products that were just seen advertised on TV.  In fact, the last 2 hours were rather torturous since I knew my weekend was going to begin shortly.

Surprisingly, some of my dahlias appear to have survived the winter.  The cold usually kills them off, but out front I have 3 that are sprouting.  This morning, I want to get cantaloupes and cucumbers planted.  That garlic I planted has begun to grow fast... faster then I was expecting.  I'll probably be harvesting sometime in June.

My garlic

Uncle Joe gave a speech last evening.  I didn't watch it since I knew everything he was going to say was going to be repeated today, by everybody.  Evidently, Tim Scott, the only black Republican senator gave the rebuttal.  This was planned.  The GOP, which is so out of touch with so many facets of reality, believes that putting their token African American in front of a camera is going to strike a cord with other people of color.  Evidently it didn't.  For that to happen, the Republican would need to alter their philosophy and become more inclusive.  That will never happen.  They refuse to understand America is changing.

An Uncompromising Friday

Well, it's Friday and it's a crappy day.  You would have thought that by May 2 it would be warmer, that April's cloudy, showery days would be over, but they aren't.  They're still hanging around.  I took a vacation day today for several reasons, one being to get some yard work finished.  How many of those chores will be completed?  Probably not as many as I had hoped.  This was also the day when Zimmerman's came for the annual service on my Central Air unit, which required the heat be turned off and the A/C turned on.  At 0800 my house was a chilly 55 degrees.  I have two Boxers which are big and bouncy, and since not everybody is comfortable with big and bouncy I usually herd them outside when the service technician is inside and bring them in when he works outside unit.  And the temperature in my house was a chilly 55 degrees, and it took him an hour and a half to do what the other technicians have done in an hour.  Of course, upon completion there was the stand 15 minute discourse on all the 'upgrades' I should consider.  He even went so far as to check my dryer vent to see if I needed to schedule a 'Vent Cleaning' which, because I'm on the service plan, would only cost me $75.  After I declined I had to initial a small box to indicate I'd been made aware of the service and chose against it.  My Vet does the same thing when I choose not to buy my Frontline from them.  It's a subtle form on intimidation since it puts the blame on you in case anything goes wrong.  I told you, it's a crappy Friday.

Some place in the village

The temptation is there to pick up the controller and spend some time on a game.  Right now I'm killing my way through Crysis 3, a FPS which takes place in a post-apocalyptic, domed Manhattan.  Fun stuff.  I'm not that bad at 'first person shooters,' a lot better then you might think for someone in my age group.  It's all part of my plan for aging.  The results are not in completely, but some studies indicate that there is a correlation between video games and 'hand/eye coordination', something you don't want to lose as you get older.  

Of course, if the sun chose to come out I'd feel more like working outside, well, not really.  I'm a morning person.  I get as much done in the morning as possible because I know that by the time the afternoon rolls around I'm going to want to do anything but work.  I was up at 0530 and got pretty much done, but then the clouds began moving in, and the service tech, who was schedule for between 0730 and 0830 showed at at 0820 and didn't leave until 1030.  Since then the day has been in a slow downward spiral.  

I'm ready for summer, and I have this feeling it might end up being cool and rainy, a bad bookend for the bad winter we just had.  On days like this all I want to do is snooze, eat ice cream, and play video games... is that such a bad life?  No.  But I did really want it to be sunny today.  I need to get the weed wacker out and start ripping the hell out of the fence line, otherwise the verge will overwhelm it.