Donuts!

 We broke past the freezing barrier!  Or at least, if not through, that rubbed ourselves up and down its ice encrusted sides.  Yepper!  We dropped down to 32 (F) over night.  I knew it was cold because I could hear furnace fan purring away deep down in the basement.  Our temps are expected to climb 27 (F) degrees this afternoon.  Tonight, our temps are not predicted to get that cold.  

I did work yesterday.  The flooring department was very slow.  This doesn't mean we didn't talk to customers, we did, but none of them were biting.  On a whole, both the store and the department made plan last week.  I made both my measure and sales goals.  Management is happy.  I did, however, not sit at the Lead Generation Table, even though I'd been scheduled for an hour.  My supervisor is in charge, and she comes up with games we're supposed to entice customers to play, all the time trying to get them to sign up for a window installation lead, or a door installation lead.  This week it's a ring toss game.  Well, I walked in and saw the cones and the rings and quietly said to myself, "toss this."

On November 7 I'll be down in Lebanon getting my Covid vaccine.  I grew in Lebanon.  There's a woman named Alicia who I went to school with, who I chat with occasionally who still lives there.  This morning I sent her an invite for coffee after I get my inoculation.  She was in my graduating class.  If she accepts, this will be the first time I've seen anyone from the class of 1970 since I left for the Navy in 1971.

Towards the end of my shift yesterday I was heading down to the Service Desk to pickup returns, when Cori from paint asked me if I wanted a donut.  There were 2 left, and while she almost always takes the one with maple icing, she decided to opt for the glazed donut instead.  Of course, there was no way I could ever turn down a donut.  The only thing bad about this pic is that it's difficult to see how much weight I've lost in my bulky orange apron.

So, the Orange Anus burbled something out yesterday about having an MRI when he went to the hospital for his 2nd annual physical a few weeks back.  MRI, eh?  I've had an MRI done on my lungs for years because at one point in time, a long, long time ago, I used to be a smoker.  The MRIs were done to see if any nasty nodes had developed.  Enough time has passed so they're no longer necessary.  I don't think Orangie was ever a smoker, however, MRIs are also used for examining joints, and to check on tumors to see if they're growing, and to check out stroke damage.  Orangie isn't saying what his MRI was for, but with the way the left side of his face has been sagging, I'm suspecting they were looking for stroke damage.  

He also mentioned something about running for a third term.  Neither he, nor the MAGA Cultists understand how quickly the American people would stomp the shit of them if they tried such a thing.  No one ever said they were smart. 

Senior Moment? Or Not?

The outside temps are a nice 60 (F); those adverse to heat need to prep themselves because if the forecast holds we're going to top off around 90 (F).  I find this amusing since my neighbors have been running their window A/C units none stop for the past month, even on those days when the temps dropped down into the 40s (F) over night.  They are going to melt if we get an extended stretch with our temps in the upper 90s (F).  We have another 2 weeks until we legitimately hit summer.

For a Tuesday, I think much was accomplished including 2 loads of laundry which were dried outside.  

I did have my bloodwork yesterday morning, they took 5 vials, rather than the normal 4, as well as a urine sample.  Amusingly enough, I had a senior moment, or maybe I didn't.  My blood gets drawn at the Rossmoyne Clinic.  I used that clinic regularly for years.  Then, 6 years ago my PCP retired and he was replaced by an Asian woman who was a Physician's Assistant.  A few months into Covid, I did something to my shoulder and couldn't move it without having severe pain.  So, I called to make an appointment and... she refused to see me.  She wanted me to leave a voicemail detailing pain, inability to move my shoulder and arm in order for her to decide if I should have x-rays taken.  When I reminded her assistant that I worked for the Great Orange Retailer and was considered an essential employee and was dealing with hundreds of people daily, her assistant told me, "it doesn't make a difference, she's not going to see you."  In my opinion this physician's assistant failed totally; it's why I go to the Lebanon Clinic.  So yesterday, after filling my pee cup, I stepped out of the restroom and saw her assistant sitting next to where I'd sat to have my blood draw, scrolling away on her phone, and that memory flashed through my head and... I walked by the tray where I was supposed to put my specimen.  Was it a senior moment?  Possibly... and possibly not.

Howie's 10 months old today.  He told me he's ready for his closeup.

Orangie's steel tariffs take effect today.  Can a steel TACO be far away?

Because his superior army was only in his head, estimates are that after 3 years of war Orangie's blow bro Vlad has sent one million young Russians to an early grave; if you need to see an actual number, this is it:  1,000,000.  I do think that in his addled brain Orangie was going to be the Ace in the Hole for him to play.  Vlad's problem is that Orangie has done so much damage to America's rep the world is going around us.  

Remember when Orangie told Zelensky he didn't have any cards?  The Guardian is reporting that in fact he's is holding several more cards and is just waiting to play them.  

And, finally, is Orangie's Big Beautiful Tax grab failing?  The truth is that there is so much bad shit in that way too salty piece of legislation that more than a few Republicans are sounding the alarm.  One of the many problems with this hit bit of party authoritarianism is the fact that so many Republican ilk simply rubber stamped it instead of taking the time to read over 1200 pages of horseshit.   Even that horse's ass Scott Perry is complaining, though in his case I think he's more worried about getting re-elected than that fact that this is a piece of donkey trip legislation.

DeepSeek

 Wonder of wonders!  The temp outside was 37 (F) this morning when I let Howie out for his morning pee.  They had called for flurries, but if the fell, they flew by too fast to see.  Even better, according to the forecasters temps are supposed to stay this warm until Sunday when they're expected to dip down into the mid 30s (F).  I can handle this.  

Yesterday was a boring day at work.  I spent the 5 hours getting in steps.  This is the slow time of year.  As far as I can tell the only ones  spending money are the Conservatives who don't understand the economy is going to take a deep dive because of fiscal policies.  They are also going to be the first to complain when things go south.

On a really bright note this morning, my Income Tax Refund hit my bank account this morning.  I wasn't expecting those dollars to be available until next Friday at the earliest.  The refund will be used to pay off my windows, but not until after I've used it to earn some interest.  That means it going to be working for me in my savings account.  

As I've said, I'm thinking of downsizing my aquariums.  When I cleaned the big one last week, I started by removing one of the Greek statues.  There was a lot of algae growing on it, and at first I thought that I'd bleach it clean, making it nice and white again.  However, I discovered that in the drying process the algae created a rather interesting patina on the statue.  Now I don't think I'll bleach and of them.  I mean tell me, doesn't this look freaking awesome?

And for those who didn't hear about it, Wall Street went through a correction yesterday, if that's what you want to call it.  Something called DeepSeek, a Chinese AI program put American AI programs to shame.  It's less expensive and does a better job, but then American Greed has bloated our AI programs because our developers are focused on making money, not producing a good product.

This doesn't mean that I've suddenly gone overboard on AI.  While there are certain aspects I find interesting, it does truly need to be carefully managed.  

The Orange Anus also signed an Executive Order reinstating everyone of those members of the military who were discharged because they refused to be vaccinated for Covid... with 4 years of back pay.  This is how you start to build a private army.  This is not going over well with those hundreds of thousands who got the vaccine.  This grows loyalty in a small and most likely insignificant group of people.  Remember, anti-vaxers will always end up dying first.

Funny Things

 So, what all happened yesterday?  Well, it rained.  All day it rained.  Over an inch of rain fell as a cold front moved into the area.  Today it is going to be cold, with out high temperatures only climbing into the mid 30s (F).  That same thing is going to be true for tomorrow, and Sunday.  On Monday we're supposed to be warming up again.

Where as Biggie and Lily hated the rain, Howie has no problem with it.  He has no problem with puddles either, and, if the puddle is located in the right place, he soon turns it into a mud puddle.  He thinks digging in a puddle of water is a really fun game.  And when he comes in we play "Let's try and dry off the wet puppy!"  I did end up laughing because the game is fun.

I finished dehydrating the bag of potatoes yesterday.  Tomorrow, I'm going to do tomatoes and possibly onions at the same time.  I'm sure the house will smell wonderful.  Otherwise, I did nothing yesterday except work on The Body in History.  I had no desire to really do anything, no doubt the result of the cloudy skies and constant rain.  I do like sunny days.  We need more of them.  Wouldn't it be nice if it only rained at night, while we are sleeping?

And now for a bit of dark humor:

The funny thing about that was if there were a lethal strain of Covid killing off Americans, soooo many of those anti-vaxers would suddenly start whistling a different tune.  I honestly believe that the biggest problem we had with the last strain of Covid was that Trump got it and lived.  Had he died, so many things would have been different.  Christians want to believe God kept him alive to give them what they want.  They evidently don't know that Evil works the same way, unfortunately so many of them are presumptuous enough to believe they know the will of God.  Can you hear me laughing?

As if Orangey's packing Guilfoyle off to Greece wasn't amusing enough, he's going to put Kari Lake in charge of Voice of America.  According to their website, they claim to reach 354 million people around the world.  To put that into perspective, there are over 8 Billion people in the world, so Voice of America is reaching .00000004% of the world's population.  I'm hoping that she realizes how big this insult is after spending so much time in Mar a Lago, probably doing abhorrent sexual things with the Orange Anus.  

Finally, no one should be surprised that there are hitlists springing up online and posters being spread with the names and pictures of Healthcare CEOs.  As I said, the shooting of the United Healthcare CEO was just the tip of the iceberg and no one is going to fix the problem with the American health care system.

Howie

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

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

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

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

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

The Ticket

Yesterday was hot, but not as stinkin' hot as it has been.  We did get passing storms, lots of rain for about 5 minutes.  No thunder and lightening.   The temperatures did drop afterwards.  That was nice.  Of course, when I got up this morning around 0515 the low was 73 (F).  This means the day is probably going to be warmer than the forecast.

Work was meh yesterday.  I sold some carpet to a senior woman.  She's putting it in her large bedroom which isn't finished yet.  I said they should probably wait to purchase until the contractor was finished  and that got shot down fast.  She wanted to take advantage of 10% markdown which ended yesterday.  This means the installer is going to have to warehouse her carpet until she's ready for the install.  Of course, for that great, orange home improvement retailer I work for, it's all about making the sale, impositioning the installer should have no bearing on the sale.

Emmy award nominations were announced yesterday.  Shogun got quite a few.  I enjoyed that show, however, all of the acting nominations went to Asians.  While there's nothing wrong with that, I feel bad for Cosmo Jarvis, if it weren't for his British navigator there would be no story.

For those who haven't been paying attention, the RNC is still going on.  Last night JD Vance spoke, tonight will belong to the Moral Degenerate.  The big question will he show up with another tea bag taped to his ear?  That would be par for the course since this entire charade is just another chance for the Republicans to teabag America.

Can we speak about ironies?  Yesterday, while scanning through my phone to waste time at work, I came across an article with the headline "Biden might consider dropping out of race if a medical condition deemed it necessary," or something to that effect.  And then news comes out that he has been diagnosed with a mild case of Covid, a disease that is still a killer.  Then this morning I read that he is apparently more amenable to dropping out of the race... after a chat with Schumer and Jeffries. I feel bad for him.  No one wants to be a one term president, even if he did help the economy and the country begin to heal from the trauma caused by Trump.  In spite of what he wants, I do suspect that he will soon remove his hat from the race.  That would pretty much make Kamala the nominee.  I do believe that a Harris / Buttigieg ticket would be unstoppable. 

Day Light Savings Time

 Can we all say hello to Saturday?  Right now it's dark outside, but tomorrow this time the sun will be popping his head above the horizon because Daylight Savings Time comes to an end this evening.  For morning people this is great.  For night people, not so much so.  There was actually an article in the NYT advising people what to do with their evenings now that they're going to be darker earlier.  I find that amusing since right now the sun is setting at 6:02 PM.  That means it's dark by 6:30 PM, so if your evening activities depend upon sunlight they've already been curtailed.

Lily's been favoring her back left paw.  That might be the onset of arthritis in her back hip, or possibly one her her boo boo paws.  She gets them now and then and usually they're here one day and gone the next.  I can tell you it doesn't stop her from bouncing around in the living room when she knows she's going for a walk.

Yesterday was rather odd.  It was the second day in a row in which I had plans in the morning.  Thursday it was breakfast with my brother, and yesterday I went and got vaccinated; flu and Covid.  I can't recall ever having the flu, and don't want it.  The same goes for Covid.  My brother told me he had it for the 3rd time last month.  One of these times he's going to get it and it's going to be serious.  Needless to say, both of my shoulders are sore this morning.

And I saw where Robert F. Kennedy Jr gave some sort speech yesterday as part of his campaign as an Independent candidate for president.  One of the things I find amusing is that Republicans thought he would syphon votes away from Biden.  Well, that's not happening.  In fact what we're seeing is the reverse, that it's Trump voters that are turning to Bobby Jr.  Anyway, as part of his speech he said that as president he would end the research of infectious diseases, like measles, and focus mainly on diabetes and cancer.  That's right, he said measles.  Perhaps he doesn't know that measles was one of the number causes of childhood mortality, of course we don't see a lot of it these days thanks to vaccinations.  But don't worry, it'll come roaring back if Bobby Jr gets elected. 

Paint Job

 Hello, Monday.  What's on tap today?  For me?  An 8 hour shift at work.

Outside the skies are overcast.  There's a 90% chance of thunderstorms, though there doesn't seem to be a solid band of rain heading towards the region.  The air is humid, so I guess storms are just going to start popping up here and there this afternoon.

Work was slow yesterday.  I'm expecting the same thing today.  Business is down all across the region.  They finally, at last night's store meeting, said something to the effect that we're suffering through the retail version of the downside of Covid.  Honestly, I don't believe anyone in corporate America gave it a thought, that would be their greed blinding them to the truth.

They painted my neighbor's house yesterday a light gray.  They sort of left the white trim (there's overspray which they're not cleaning off).  Everything is gray, even the porch floor, and it's all tracked up with dirt already.  They painted over aluminum siding that's close to 40 years old.  Aluminum siding lasts between 20 - 40 years.  That coat of paint is not going to keep it from breaking down.  Even the porch light got painted.

As for the rest of the world?  No one quite knows what to think about the Russian nearly, almost a coup.  There are so many theories out there.  I'm suspecting Moscow is happy about that, but everything else?  Well, the Orange Anus' blow bro did not come out of this unscathed.  One of the ideas being floated is that Putin's going to tell the world that they've achieved what they wanted in the Ukraine and go home.  Sadly, I think that's not going to happen.

And it seems as though the Moral Degenerate can't open his mouth without mentioning Jesus.  Like the little Christian robots they want to be, Evangelicals are bowing to him.  The idea that any deity who'd use Trump would be on the same par as George Santos doesn't even occur to them.

Negative

 Well lets say a happy hello to the new work week.  Of course, I perhaps should leave out the 'work' since not everyone is working today, or has a full work week.  I do work today.  4.5 hours.  I have an odd shift: 0930 - 1400.

One of our flooring associates climbed up onto the shelving, a serious violation of safety protocol, to push a rolled up area rug into place and fell, hitting his head on the concrete floor, and knocking himself unconscious.  Big gash on his forehead.  He was out for 10 minutes (concussion), and didn't start to come around the EMTs had him on the gurney and were wheeling him out.  This man was very nice.  I enjoyed talking to him.  The odds of him coming back to work are slim to none.  Major safety violation.  We have rolling staircases we call ladders.  Instead of using one he chose to climb up onto a piece of shelving that was over 3 feet above the concrete floor, using another shelf for support.  OSHA came into investigate.  They looked at the CCTV feeds and watched him fall.  The Orange Home Improvement retailer I work for will use this clip in future safety videos to illustrate what not to do.  The last I had heard, this associate could not remember being at work the day he fell.  As I said, he will not be coming back.

On a brighter note, I had my first cup of coffee since the arrival of the stomach bug.  Interestingly enough, I had no nausea or diarrhea.  My symptoms were:  pain in my upper abdomen and headache.  For a while, I had thought it might be the onset of an ulcer, but ulcers don't give you headaches.  So, I Googled my symptoms and for some individuals, those are symptoms of Covid, so I did one of these:

And it came back negative.  

Now, if you will all excuse me, I have to leave for work.

Fetterman Rocks!

 Yesterday was nice and quiet.  The dogs and I had cake and ice cream.  Dinner was chicken marsala, (I've been eating that a lot here lately), and desert was a homemade pecan pie.  I told my Dr. this and he replied, "that's fine, it's your birthday, but you really need to lose 13 pounds before you next visit."  That's in 6 months.  That's right, I'm at that age where I visit my Primary Care Physician every 6 months.  Do not worry, you, too, will hit that age.

While at the VA, I also got my Covid booster and my flu shot.  Chatting with the nurse as I waited for my injection, I asked if the Covid boosters would ever go away.  She told me no, they and flu shots are here to stay.  I have no problem with that.  I don't know about you, but I would rather have microchips swirling around in my blood stream then spend time in a hospital. (That's a bit of a joke for those who don't know my sense of humor).  This morning, my Covid shoulder is sore, my flu shoulder is not.

And here's a not too subtle reminder of what happened yesterday.

He won by 3% of the vote, not bad. and Ozzie's loss is an embarrassment for the Orange Anus.  I mean, how many times was that moral degenerate in PA to promote his bad decision?  3 or 4?  I believe it was 4.  And this projection was made without all of the mail-in ballots being counted.  There's a huge possibility that 3% might actually hit 4%.  That's a big defeat for the Quack from NJ.

Even though Vance did win in Ohio, last night was a serious smack in the face for the Republican party.  They kept repeating constantly how it was traditional for the party which wins the presidency to lose badly in the midterms.  Those dumbasses were counting on the Red Wave.  I don't doubt for a second that the ultra conservative Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade because of they anticipated Republicans taking control of the House and Senate.  Yesterday's results mean they pretty much shit in their pants.

In fact, Trump, himself, is pretty much in the shitter.  He had planned on riding that anticipated red wave into a presidential nomination.  Ouch.  While some of his endorsements did win (Vance), many big name endorsements did not (Oz).  Amusingly, I saw where Lara Trump Tweeted some sort of shit that now was the perfect time for Trump to return without understanding he is one of the main reasons the red wave spluttered.  

The base the Republican party counted on to come through for them failed.  This creates a big problem for the party.  If they do take control of the House and fritter away their wins by focusing on phony horseshit like Hunter Biden's laptop simply to satisfy that tiny base, they'll be shooting themselves in the foot.  Will they?  Watch out for the blood splatters.

The Return of Covid

 Don't you just love the beginning of a new work week?  I do, but then I'm only scheduled to work for 5 hours today, and then I'm off until Saturday.  I like schedules where I'm off for 4 or 5 days in a row.

Pronto Plumbing is coming back out tomorrow morning because... there's a Leak in the drain.  And not a tiny one.  Water drips through my kitchen ceiling.  And not just the occasional drip.  It's fairly constant when I turn on the bathroom faucet.  I'm suspecting that when the original drain pipe was cut, damage was done to the piping under the bathroom floor.  We shall see.  For the time being, I'm not using the bathroom sink.

Yesterday work was slow up until football started, then the store died.  I did end up getting 2 measures, which means I met my goal.  One of the measures that the 'new' guy has set up was given to me, probably because he's new.  

And Covid has reared it's ugly head in the store again.  One of the hardware associates is out with it, as is one of our assistant managers and a flooring aisle associate.  The aisle associated is a 58 year old, unvaccinated Trumpie.  He actually felt that his immune system was special because... well, he thinks he's special.  It's a MAGA thing.  I don't want him to die, but I do hope he gets very ill just so I can chide him when he comes back to work.

Here's another angle of my dahlias.  Love that orange color!

With basically 3 weeks until the elections, there is a Republican media blitz.  I don't know if the Democrats are killing the air space, too, but the GOP seems to be everywhere.  One of the biggest deceits the pushing is that they can fix the economy.  Anybody who's paying any attention to what's going on in the world realizes that's a lie.  Some of the reporting that I'm seeing indicates women, who were so stridently anti-abortion, are leaning Republican simply because of their lies.  They don't realized that the price of gas has been weaponized by both the Saudis and Putin.  They don't realize that even though the American mid-west is called the breadbasket of the world, it is precisely that.  Most of the grain we harvest is exported (just like the oil we pump from the ground) because the growers (and pumpers) make more money doing that then selling it to Americans.  We import many of the grains we use from other countries (that's right).  Countries like the Ukraine.  Republicans are all for this.  For them it's really all about the rich getting richer.

The Torment of Trump

 This morning I awoke to a drizzle.  This means that forecast with a 98% chance of rain is wrong.  Now, isn't it a good thing I wasn't planning yardwork?

Two days ago, I cut down most of my peach tree in an attempt to get it to grow vertically rather than at an angle.  I used one or two muscles which haven't been used for a while and now my pecs are a little sore.  Damn.  I might need to start going to Planet Fitness again. Here's a picture of what's left.  Looks promising, doesn't it?

The estimate for the electrical hook-up for the dryer should be arriving by email today.  One thing that will play a part in whether I go with Raddle Electric is that fact that I know the gentleman's aunt.  I work with her, in fact, I may have actually mentioned her before.  She and Biggie are on the same medication.  She and I had an interesting conversation regarding dosages.  Connections like this are important.  While they don't guarantee reliability, they do provide a bit of a testament.

The January 6 committee meets this afternoon, probably for the last time.  Since I'm home, I anticipate on watching it for several reasons:  it will effect Independent voters when the cast their midterm votes, it will make Republican congressmen squirm, and it will once again send Trump over the edge of reality.  Honestly, I always enjoy that, knowing he's hurling bottles of ketchup, and shrieking loudly.  One of the joys of my life is not that man is being tormented.  His Karma demands it.  His lies are wounds on his soul and every truth rubs salt into them.  I cannot think of anything more joyous then to know he is in an almost constant state of rage.  And the fact that his party has tied their fate to his?  Now don't that bring a smile to your face?  

As a final footnote for today, it turns out that more Republicans died from Covid than Democrats, and many of the lived in Red States.  

Candor

 My first weekend of the week begins today.  I'm pleased.  The sun is shining.  The temps are predicted to climb into the upper 70's with low humidity, so I'll be spending some time outside.  Thanks to the rain we've had my lawn needs a mowing which will happen either today or tomorrow.

I lost my temper at work yesterday with an associate.  Most of the time I can hold my tongue, but there are instances...  Me and another associate were discussing the million lives lost to Covid, when another part-time associate spoke up saying "well, they didn't need to die.  Doctors had all these modifications, vitamins and treatments that would have saved lives and the government wouldn't let them."  Is that statement enough to let you know she's a Fauci hating MAGA?  And, of course, I'm at the point where I've had it up to my earlobes with shit like this, so I let loose... sort of.  I said, "shut up you stupid, old bitch."  She didn't take that lightly and retorted.  "You probably voted for Biden."  She also said Covid wasn't that bad because she didn't get it.  Rather than resort to fisticuffs, we ended the conversation.  

Later, knowing I shouldn't have lost my temper, I approached her and said, "I apologize for my candor," knowing full well she had no idea of the definition.

Today is primary day in Pennsylvania.  Tra-la-la-la-la.  The Republican bloodletting is about to begin... or, since it is nearly 0800, has already begun.  Doug Mastriano, a state senator who marched in Washington on Jan 6, will probably be the Republican nominee for Governor.  There is a horse race for the Republican nominee to replace that loser, Pat Twomey.  Too Close to Call.  Barrnett has said that if she doesn't get it, she will not support the candidate that does.  Now, how is that for being a team player.  Both she and Mastriano are considered unelectable.  The GOP is beside themselves. Perhaps if their candidates had more candor, instead they proffer the public nothing more than lies and deceit.

That's fine with me

 Well, a happy Sunday morning to everybody out there.  I am starting 6 consecutive days away from work today.  If I were working fulltime, I'd call this a Staycation since I'm not going anywhere, however, since I'm a part-timer now, I'll just call it a a non-scheduled work week.  I'm scheduled again next Saturday, the same the Kid's Workshops restart.  Can you tell how excited I am?

The temps today are forecasted to reach the high 70s (F) to low 80s (F), so I'm betting I'll be turning on the window A/C units upstairs.  We might get a late afternoon thunderstorm, again, that's fine with me.  My outdoor plans as limited.  Tomorrow the temps are supposed to drop back into the mid 60s (F) for the rest of the week.  I can deal with that, too.

I'm thinking of extending the veranda by the side of the house.  That would be laborious, which means it's a good way to burn calories.  Burning calories is always good.

One of the things that I realized as I was moving files to the new computer was the number of pictures I have of Lily.  While I talk a lot about Biggie, the shots I have of her vastly outnumber the pics I have of him.  He was not happy, so I took this one as he shot me the stink eye while he brooded away on the futon. 

The French election is today.  Le Pen is close enough that she could swing an upset.  People will vote for her because they hate Macron and his mask and vaccine mandates.  The fact that Le Pen has some serious ties to Russia, and Trump's blow bro Vlad doesn't even cross their minds.  They aren't even considering that if she were to win, they might end up with some 'friendly' Russian troops stationed in France to 'help keep the peace.'  For them, the bright side is not having to worry about mask or vaccine mandates, and they are far worse than Russians in Paris.

We have the same problem in America; people not wanting to wear masks or get vaccinated.  That's fine with me.  We now know that unlike chicken pox or mumps, Covid has no lasting immunity.  Like the common cold, you will get it again, and again, and again.  I know of 3 people in my store who've had it twice, and for 2 of them the second time was worse than the first time they had it.  The one person who had milder symptoms the 2nd time had chosen to get vaccinated.  I'm getting my 2nd booster on Thursday, which is fine with me.  

I got mine

 Well, today's going to be a slow Sunday.  I work for almost 8 hours.  I get to work for another 7 hours tomorrow, and then I have off for my mid-week weekend.

Oh, and it's cold here in Central PA - 18 (F).  Winter is not over yet... though the temps will be in the low to mid 60's for the next 3 days.  That's right, on Tuesday and Wednesday the weather will have spring like temps, however there will be... rain.  The dogs mind the rain, I don't.  Hopefully it will just be showers.

My test kits were waiting for me in my mailbox when I got home last evening.  Unlike some who desperately worry that every sniffle is the onset of Covid and will use these tests at the drop of a hat, I'll wait until I run a steady fever... or find myself breathless.  For all I know, I've already had it and exhibited very minor symptoms, something I could very easily overlook.  I take my temp every day I work and it's always sitting at 97.6 (F), never higher, never lower.  So, they may end up sitting in a drawer until way past their expiration date, but at least I have them, which is a nice thing.

For those who missed it, Frankie Graham got dinged by Facebook last week by posting a lie about Hillary Clinton.  When a faux Christian of his stature stoops to dropping falsehoods, he must truly be desperate.  Anyway, that got me to thinking:  what other mistakes has Frankie purposely made.  Lo, and behold, according to the Baptist News Franklin Graham not only dropped a whopper, he was downright blasphemous.  You see, Frankie compared those ten Republicans who voted to impeach Donald Trump to Judas Iscariot, implying something akin to 30 pieces of silver passed hands.  One suspects that Frankie, like the Orange Anus, is clinging to the power he so desperately feels he deserves, and as such is just as big a loser.

 

The Surprising Truth

 Well, hello to a quiet Sunday morning.  The temps here in Central PA are a chilly 13 (F), for all of you Celsius people, that is really cold.

I did order an air fryer using my Amazon points so the cost was mere pennies.  It should be arriving sometime this afternoon, hopefully before I go to work.  Yep, I do have to work today.  A full 4 hours.  Sunday afternoons are usually slow, so I don't care.  And... surprise, surprise, I'm working tomorrow, but only because the asked politely.  And I'm going to be in Paint because one of the paint associates is out with Covid, or at least her husband has it, she was still waiting for her test to come back.  She had the single shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine and that was about 6 months ago, so everybody is waiting to see how things turn out.

While I'm cautiously waiting on an opinion from my first editor on The Body in Repose, I've begun taking notes on The Body Under Ice.  The dogs had to go out last night around 0100.  Since I couldn't get back to sleep right away, I grabbed the tablet by my bed.  Now I have a list of things I need to verify, such as is there such a thing as the Great Lakes Oceanographic Institute? (Just checked, there isn't).  I've already checked to see if there bicycle races on ice (there are), which is a plus, because my 2 guys love to ride bicycles.

And here's a funny thing, in a recent poll (supposedly) 83%  of Republicans said they would not vote for a Republican candidate who said Biden won the election.  This means they will only vote for an individual who reinforces The Big Lie.  Of course, we all know the reliability of polls is... questionable.  Honestly, I have difficulty believing there are that many stupid people in America.  But then again, every day over 2000 unvaxed Americans, mostly Republicans, die of Covid so that poll may be more accurate than I think.

Bomb This

 Guten Morgen.  That's right, I'm working on my German again.  Every day.  This is my 2nd attempt, so I'm interested in seeing how I'm going to fare.  

I did order a new desk chair.  I couldn't get the pipe clamps to fit tightly to keep the seat from deflating, and deflating is the correct word.  Looking back at the reviews of this chair, this issue appears to become quite common as it gets older.  For what I initially paid, I did think it would last longer than 3 years.

So, what's in store for today?  Possibly and load or two of laundry.  Maybe some blueberry muffins.  Now, doesn't that sound tasty?  Freshly baked, and with more than a smidgen of butter, on a cold wintery day?

And, of course, later a ride on the bike.  Tacx has popped in a number of new rides.  Nothing with too many hills, though, Max Sullivan is the only one I know who has legs of steel for climbing and he's fictional.  Will there be a demonstration of his prowess in The Body in Repose?  Hhhhmmm, that's possible, even in the French Quarter.

And I saw that a cyclonic bomb is suppose to roar up the eastern seaboard later this week or this weekend.  Here in Central PA we're going to miss out on the snow.

Here's an interesting little stat:  currently in the US around 2300 people are dying of Covid everyday, the vast majority being unvaccinated.  This means that by the time the election arrives in November, the Republican party will have lost about 490,000 votes, give or take a few thousand.  Hey!  More power to them!

And what about DeSantis in Florida?  All these new laws he pushing for?  He desperately wants to make himself a dictator governor.  There are quite a number of aging Republicans living in The Villages, enough voters to swing the vote.  He's appealing to them, to their need to look at those around them and say "shut up!  we're in charge!"  He's gambling that, come election time, there are still enough of them left alive to still swing the vote.  He is going to go down in history as the worst governor the state has ever had.  

Crush This

 So, this is hump day for some of you.  Wednesday is always one of my days off, meaning this will never, ever again be a hump day for me.  I'm okay with that.

Tomorrow is my aunt's funeral.  There's a viewing at 1000 I had planned on attending but...  There is Omicron.  One of our associates died from Covid last week and quite a number are out sick.  Should I or shouldn't I?  I don't mind going into work because the store is huge.  Tomorrow, however, will be in a funeral parlor where the ceilings are not high, and there will be a long line of people waiting to give my four cousins condolences.  And since my aunt was elderly, mostly there will be a lot of old people there, old Republicans, to be precise.  As I type, I'm rapidly talking myself out of attending.

And yesterday Microsoft dropped some big news!  They're buying Activision / Blizzard for $67.8 billion and paying in Cash.  Now, I know some will shrug this off with a "I have no interesting in gaming," however this is bigger than gaming.  This involves the Metaverse: AI, Cloud Services, Virtual Services, as well as gaming.  This company owns one of the most popular mobile games in the world.  People waste their lunch time at the store playing this game, and I'm sure everybody out there knows its name:  Candy Crush.  By the way, I hate this mindless, little game.

Finally, yesterday court papers were filed by the New York AG claiming there was 'significant' evidence that Ivanka Danka and Donny Jr lied about their property, inflating and then deflating values to either get a better loan or to pay less taxes, thereby defrauding banks, and investors, and the Federal Government.  Why doesn't this surprise me?  This is what we should expect from a crime family.  

State's Witness?

 Hello Friday!  I'm almost always happy on Friday.  I'm unavailable to work any Fridays, so this will always be one of my days off.  I am scheduled to work tomorrow, and Sunday, and Monday, but... there's a snowstorm expected to roll into town sometime late Sunday afternoon.  People at work were pissing and moaning about it yesterday, not that we're supposed to get snow, rather they were all 'het' up because 'total accumulations' were changing.  We were 4 days out and they wanted to know how much snow we were going to be getting.  Damn!

My cover artist and her husband have Covid, just sent her a text to check in on them.  At work, we now have 3 people on their 2nd go round because getting it once doesn't mean your done.   Sly little virus, ain't it?  One of the associates who was in the ICU came back yesterday, quite a few pounds lighter and no longer on oxygen.  He was one of those who kept claiming it was no worse than the flu.

I took this pic of the dogs on their sofa (operative words being 'their sofa') last evening while I was working on the rewrite.  You can see the ugly shade I bought to keep direct sunlight from hitting the aquarium.  Biggie had a bit of a fall on the kitchen floor a little earlier.  In case you didn't know, bounding big dogs don't bounce, their feet slide out from under them.  Even though he was fine, he still felt he needed to be medicated with a few biscuits.

As you all know, the Supreme Court shot down the vaccine / mask mandate yesterday.  No one should have been surprised.  The Conservatives got their way.  I have no problem with that,  On a good day about 1200 unvaxed conservative voters die from Covid, on a bad day for them even more die.  This doesn't mean you can get out your party hats and noisemakers, but make sure you know where they are.

Oh, and eleven Oath Keepers were arrested for sedition yesterday.  One of those taken into custody was Stewart Rhodes, their big gonzo.  Against his lawyer's advice, he had been talking to the January 6 committee.  Some sort of plea deal wouldn't surprise me.  I just wondering how many will agree to turn state's witness and offer to testify against sitting members of congress.

Was it McConnell or Trump?

 Holy Moly, guacamole!  I have to work today!  In the words of one of my intrepid sleuths... Shit.

Yesterday I received a text from a fellow associate informing me that we lost an associate to Covid.  An older man who was vaccinated, he had underlying health issues.  I know the anti-vaxxers are going to point to as an example of how vaccines don't work.  They will keep believing their lies until they, too, are welcomed home by Covid.  One of them had a serious bout with the virus about 4 months ago, meaning his natural immunity has just about run it's course.  I don't doubt that in another 3 months he'll get sick again, we've had 3 associates so far who have gotten it twice.

I rode over 14 miles yesterday on the bike.  It took me a while, my legs are a bit out of shape, but it felt good.  I was pleased... except for the fact that it took so long for my workout to upload.  By long time, I mean over 2 hours.  I don't know what the problem was, but let me tell you, I was starting to get froufrou frantic thinking there might be a problem with the old laptop I use... it is old, and slow.

Helpful Household Hint:  if your honey starts to sugar in the jar, pop that baby in the microwave for a few seconds.  If the bottle does this, you had it in for too long.

I know a lot of foolish Evangelicals believe God sent Trump to give them a conservative Supreme Court in order to overturn Roe v Wade.  In case you didn't know it, they are desperately blind.  Trump gave them nothing, it was Mitch McConnell who put the last 3 Cracker Jack Crazies on the Court... and it took him how many years?  Five?  Obama was president when he (McConnell) started this process.  Wow!  And he (McConnell) had to adjust the filibuster rules to give them their 3 judges.  To hear Republicans talk today, changing those rules is the same as cheating.  Well, (as Eli Zinneman-Myers would say) Shit! I find it odd that the Deity they claim created the Universe (go look at it some night, it's really, really big) in 6 days, took 5 years and needed to cheat in order to give Evangelicals what they want.  Of course... they could be wrong.