Moroccan Chicken

 I'm, looking out the window of my cycling, running, weight room at a very red sky this morning.  Old sailors say it's a warning.  Me?  I think it means that our temps are going to pop up into the mid 30s (F) today.  Skies will be partially cloudy, but we are heading into a warming in trend, with temps expected to be in the low 50s (F) by the end of the week.  Bye, bye snow.

I did work yesterday and, as expected, business was slow.  Management is blaming the cold, but traditionally this time of year has always been slow for us.  The fact that in the northern tier states, no one renovates in the winter was made in the movie The Holdovers.  When one of the young men left behind says he's not going home for Christmas because his parents are renovating and his bedroom is torn up, our young hero responds by saying, "It's winter.  No one renovates in the winter."

I cooked up a bone this morning for Lily to gnaw on while I'm at work.  I will mix some of the broth in with her dry food for her dinner.  She loves that.  

And I did make the Moroccan chicken yesterday before work.  Oh, my, it's quite tasty... and spicy.  The recipe called for cayenne pepper, however, since I didn't have any in my larder and wasn't about to run out to the store just so I could add the teaspoon it called for, so I substituted with pepper flakes.  Here's what it looks like.

Rumor has it that the bruises we saw on Trump's hand are not the result of his shaking hands with the devil, but were caused by a rather serious fall.  Neither cause would surprise me.  Falling is a serious problem for senior citizens, and at 77 years of age, Trump is in that senior category.  Just wait, any day now those who go to his rallies will be seeing Grab Bars on the sides of his podium just in case his balance gets a little wavery.  I'm betting he's either going to fall down in public, not like Biden's little trippy fall, but more like a Bob Dole Ooompha fall, probably not off the stage, but flat on his face in front of one of those massive, unbelievably large crowds of maybe 1000 people.  

Not surprising, Tim Scott endorsed him because... well, I guess Republicans are trying to unify their party.  Believe me, this going to get hilarious.

That's Fine With Me

Temperature wise, we have another cool one out there, with the high only supposed to hit 62 (F).  That's fine with me.  Seasons change.  Temps are going to warm up again, don't worry.  Starting tomorrow forecasters around here are expecting highs to be in the mid-70's again.  This means that on my day off there will a mowing of the lawn... and a movie tomorrow night.  Wednesday's a work day, but then Thursday and Friday are scheduled off.  That's fine with me.

Everything seemed fine yesterday when I got home from work, until I went upstairs to change out of my work clothes.  I found the remnants of a can of fish food (fish chips) lying on the bed.  Most of it had been consumed by one or two boxers who will remain nameless to protect the innocent.  The fish didn't like the food and often let it just sink to the bottom of the tank, so I was glad someone enjoyed it.

I had been going to use the lyrics from this song in the new book, a chapter in which Bobby Tussel hangs out at the PF on Pomfrete, but chose something else.  This is a really great Halloweeny update by Broken Peach.  Usually the guys stay silent, but not on this one and that's fine with me.  (oh, shit, I just saw Fearsome posted the same vid.  Hope you all love it!)

This is the week in which they vote to arrest Steve Bannon.  That smarmy assed sack of shit needs to be held accountable.  Of course, during that 4 year period when that disgraced degenerate, the Orange Anus, was in the White House, subpoenas were routinely ignored.  The Republicans in power were always singing a sour chorus of 'that's fine with me.'  Now floating around in a boat riddled with lies and holes and will have to pay the price.  I'm hoping Bannon gets taken into custody.  Honestly, he will shriek out more lies, but I don't care.  Having his ass behind bars is fine with me.
 

Pensive Lily

 Well, you might say that we are officially in the sweat pants / sweat shirt season.  Outside temps this morning were in the mid 50's (F).  There was a time when these temps signaled  it was time to put away our shorts and T-shirts.  Not any more.  I work with people who wear shorts all year round.  Believe it or not, the same thing used to be true with sneakers.  Odd how things change as we adapt.  

As I'd said, I'm looking at my subscriptions since my income is going to be halved in a few weeks.  One of them is the NYT - I pay $17 a month for the digital edition.  That's $4.25 per week.  That's not much in the scheme of things, so that one is going to stay on the books.  A subscription to the Dallas Morning News costs $5.00 per week.  I am not subscribed because I think that's way too expensive for a regional paper.  While the articles provide more gist, those details are far too focused on localized happenings for someone who is not a resident of the state.

I took this pic of Lily yesterday.  She looks so pensive, doesn't she?  Actually, Seig had one of 'her' toys in the living room.  In case you didn't know, every toy is 'her' toy.

So, I just got a schedule update from work.  I'm now working in Paint from 10:30 - 3:00.  That's interesting since with my back issues I can't lift 5 gallon buckets of paint.  

One of the myths about America I wish we could change is that this is the land of opportunity.  While true 100 years ago when the country was still expanding, this is no longer the case.  Poor immigrants coming to this country end up trading one desolation for another.  They don't understand there are white politicians in many states who see them as a scourge needing to be supported, and it's not only white politicians.  Immigrants are the backbone of America.  Yet there does need to be some sort of reality check for those seeking to come into this country.  We are not always the answer they think we are.  We are not that shining city on the hill.

Gravely Disappointed

 Evidently Fall arrived during the night.  The temp this morning is a cool 52 (F).  How happy I am not to be disappointed.  I've checked several temperature readings, both online and in my house, and I'm pleased to say there is no evidence of temperature fraud.  That 52 (F) is accurate.

My schedule has been posted for my first week of part-time employment.  I work 3 eight hour days, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday.  Thursday and Saturday I start at 0900, so I may be the opener.  Total hours?  24.  I don't find that disappointing in the least.  That was my goal.  Timely hours that allow me to have more 'me' time at home.

We did receive another couple of inches of rain yesterday.  Some found its way into my basement, not much.  In some places, maybe 1/4 of an inch, while other areas stayed bone dry.  I'm not disappointed by that at all.  Hopefully, I will be wrong and Climate Change will not turn us into a Tropical Rain Forest.  Personally, I think that would be a winning situation.

Oh, and remember that Arizona Audit, the one in Maricopa County?  The results are going to be published today.  A draft of the report has been circulating.  Fasten your seatbelts people, the results are going to be devastating...

for Republicans.  You see, the truth is the Orange Anus lost by even more votes than previously recorded. That squishy sound you hear in the background?  That's what 130+ congressmen in the House squirming around as they shit in their shorts.  One of the articles I ready said "Republicans are going to be Gravely Disappointed."  That's an understatement.  But don't worry, they will try to obfuscate The Big Lie.  They will start to shriek that 'inconsistencies' found mean they need to overhaul the voting laws.  Nope.  The time has come to hold this liars accountable for their actions.  Take the power of their lie away from them.  Vote them out of offices.

Your Little Swimmers

Yesterday was ho-hum at work, slow for the most part.  I had to locate matching trim for a customer who's having a hardwood installation.  The original choice had been for primed white, so the only thing needing to be done was to have it painted.  However, there are 440 linear feet, and that's a bit of painting.  Rather than do that, the customer has opted (at an additional expense) to have trim which matches the hardwood.  Personally, I think matching quarter round makes it look like your floor is beginning to creep up your wall, but then I'm not the one who doesn't want to paint the trim.

The temp is forecast to hit 88 (F) today, the rest of the week is predicted to be cooler.  We are in September.  Fall is approaching.  Justin's going to come and mow my lawn on Sunday.  This will be a first for me.  I will have to find out what my pin is so I can take money out of the bank.

Since there are a number of bingo brains out their believing ivermectin will help if they catch Covid, like Joe Rogan, I am pleased to say that the worming med has an adverse effect of male sperm counts.  In other words, it reduces the number of your little swimmers if you take it.  This is all part of the natural selection process.

In other Covid contemplatables:  

As was the case last year, there was another large surge of infections after Sturgis.  This means all of those motorcycle men are going to be gulping down their ivermectin.

Idaho activated health care rationing last week in northern parts of the state.  Why quietly, you ask?  Well, Republicans know how much panic would ensue if their MAGA base realized Covid was much, much worse than the flu.

And last evening I got a flash from The Dallas Morning News, in their Coronavirus update, noting that Pediatric Covid-19 hospitalizations were at an all time high.  I find it interesting that those Conservative legislators will pass restrictive abortion and voting legislation while not doing a damn thing about their children.  

 

Size matters

Thursday.  My new schedule was posted yesterday.  Three weeks out I get to work a 32 week.  Yippee!  That takes us into the 1st week of November.  The 2nd week is special to me.  I celebrate my birthday.  In honor of that great event I'm taking short respite from work.  For 4 days I will be able to do what I want.  Some of that time is going to be yard work.  Bulbs need to be planted.  Dahlias need to be dug up and stored.  Leaves need to be mowed.  Yep, that's right.  I prefer mowing and mulching my leaves.  Sure, it doesn't make my yard look pretty, pretty, pretty, but all those nutrients in the leaves will go back into the soil.  No one seems to think about that.  Nope, almost everybody wants a clean and leafless yard.
I saw where the Benghazi Bo Bo has joined the Idiot Jerk's legal team.  That's right, Trey Gowdy is now going to try and help the moral degenerate survive.  I have no doubt every morning Trey prays for guidance and... strength.  Don't you find that amusing?  I do.  That a god capable of creating the entire universe, stars, planets, blackholes, quasars, neutron stars, molecules, and muscles is going to give him strength in his fight against goodness.  You see, Trey has a problem with size.  His beliefs make him think he's much bigger than he actually is, more important, more special.  In truth, he is very, very small.  In truth, he will always be small.  In the scheme of things, Trey Gowdy isn't even the briefest of sparks.  This is something he will never learn.  While here on earth he may splutter around a while, in the universe he is smaller than an atom on the tip of his thumb.  He will never understand how size matters.
And, as I said earlier, Christmas arrived at the store on Monday.

In big brown boxes wrapped in cellophane.  And you thought Santa brought it...

It's a little dark

So, I stopped off at T-Mobile and bought myself a new USB cable for my phone.  Now it charges.  I'm happy.  I don't need to buy a new one.  Though, I checked out Google Pixels while I was there.  Mine is 2.5 years old.  I usually hold on to them for about 4 years.

"So, this is Me" was lamenting about the approach month of October.  This might make him cringe horrifically.  On October 7, our store is getting it's Christmas set.  For 2-3 days little orange elves will putting up Christmas trees, filling shelves with decorations and lights, and setting up hideous, inflatable lawn ornaments.  

I've been playing around with the GoPro making little videos of this and that.  I have to experiment with light to see what looks good, what you can see, and what doesn't work... at all.  Here's a dark shot of me walking the dogs early in the morning.  You can hear me telling the GoPro to stop recording at the end.  We are approaching an apartment building lit by a streetlight.

Isn't this fun!!!

There are a number of things I find amusing about this whole Impeachment process, things that are being said.  One of them is that the Idiot Jerk was blindsided, that he and his sycophants and henchies have no plan on dealing with proceedings.  This makes sense because all he's done is lie to himself (and them) about how popular.  He watches Fox News, which only recently has begun to run stories about his falling behind in the polls.  And he gets mad, that's not what he wants to hear.  He wants praise and glory.  He's a Reality Entertainer with his own Star on the sidewalk in Hollywood.  At least he had a star, I think someone took a jack-hammer to it.  He's been living in a crazy, little world of his own making in which he can do and say whatever he wants.  He goes to rallies which have been finally tuned to appeal to his addled, minority group of white voters.  He's a liar who's been living a lie almost his entire life and everything not catering to those lies is "fake news."  And so he was blindsided, and that's funny.  This man is dumb as a brick.  He's survived this long thanks to his attorneys, all of whom are much smarter  and crooked than he is.  I've said this numerous times, the Idiot Jerk is going to make Richard Nixon look like an alter boy.

Wickedly

When I got up this morning the temp was 49 (F).  Time to break out the sweat pants & shirts!  While I do truly love wearing just shorts and T-shirts, I do have to admit to also loving my sweats.  There's nothing like bundling up in them when the air is crisp against the skin.
I completed the return cycle of my fault Go-Pro yesterday after work by dropping it off at my nearest UPS Store.  The credit has been issued.  That will help wash out the charge for the Go-Pro 7 Silver which, as I type, is on it's way from Louisville, Kentucky.  I find the idea amusing that a small camera used for the making of mini-action videos should be shipped from the same state as slow moving Moscow Mitch.  As time goes on we will learn more and more the only thing he and his wife were speedy at was in the padding of their bank accounts.  How Republican of him.
In the UK, their Supreme Court is going to decided if Boris lied to the Queen... Well, of course he did.  Do you think he cares?  Of course not.  This whole Brexit thing is about power and the ability to wield it.  As in the US, the Brits have a block of voters who don't want to be part of anything.  Nope.  They need to be in charge.  Over there they call them Brexiteers.  Here in the US we call them Republicans.  They're a loudly vocal group who constantly aspire to be powerful.  Their favorite pronoun is "my."  Their favorite command is "shut up!  we're in charge!"  I may be mistaken, but I do believe it was the Idiot Reagan who labeled them the "silent majority."  Well, true to form, he had it wrong.  They are the "loud minority," and that grates wickedly their last nerve... the minority bit.
And I have to apologize, there are no magic pictures today, but I will give you a bit of an update on The Body in the Well.  Almost 46,000 words have been written, and this is just the first draft.  There are some really funny parts, and some very suspenseful parts, and some are very dramatic.  And, of course, there are the snaky parts.  Three of them to be precise.  You know, 3 is a special number in universal as well as religious thought: wholeness, completeness, and perfection?  While I have no idea what will be going through your average reader's mind when they hit the final snaky part, I would not be surprised if the first two words out of their mouth are "Holy Shit!"  That is the reaction I got from Cori, my cover artist, when I told here what was going to happen.  Of course, I laughed wickedly.