In Context

 Oh, my, yesterday's entry went nowhere.  It wasn't that I didn't start writing one, I experienced a moment of indecisiveness and the words I had written scuttled themselves off onto into the wasteland of the backburner where their lack of importance slowly boiled away to nothing.  Translation:  I couldn't decide if I wanted to take  off work so I could take Lily to the pet emergency room or wait and make an appointment with my vet.  In the end, I decided the vet option was the best.  The boobly cyst on her wrist has not effected her appetite, nor does it hinder her bodily functions in any way.  She just doesn't want to put weight on that leg for long periods of time.  Besides, I have familiarity with this veterinary group, they were very good with Biggie and his multiple problems.  So, this morning, after they open, I'll call and make an appointment.

This means I'm going to take a personal day from work.  Believe me, I've no problem doing that.  I worked yesterday and basically hit the trifecta for specialists:  sales over $11,000, 3 measures, one window decor lead, and a credit card application.  

Weather wise, our high temps today will be in the mid 40s (F) and according to the forecasters, we should be expecting the same tomorrow.  No rain.  Remember, we're still officially in Winter for another day or two.  

Over the weekend, ex-vice president Mikey Pence came out slapping saying there was no way he was going to endorse the Orange Anus, nor was he going to vote for him.  His suddenly aggressive stance made people wonder if Pence had finally realized that on January 6, 2020, Trump would have gleefully watched while rioters hung his terribly disloyal vice president.  Or, perhaps mother finally said, "Mikey, stomp your foot!"

Then, of course, there was the Moral Degenerate's "bloodbath" comments.  His ego would be quite mollified if there was a bloodbath in November, after he loses the election.  Knowing that his cultists would be willing to kill, and die for him would give him unbelievable pleasure.  This is what he lives for.  Of course, cultists said these comments were taken out of context.  That, however, is not the case.  Trump is priming the pump, so to speak, prepping his cultists for an uprising that will forever end not only the Republican party, but the Federalists as well.  With Trump, nothing can be taken out of context; everything is in play.

54

 Well, the weather outside is soon to be drizzly.  The skies are overcast without so much as a hint of sunrise.  With the rain, which is supposed to be on and off showers that will sometimes be mini-soakers, comes a drop in the temps.  This coming week is made for sweatshirts and sweatpants, which will be the house fashion for the next five months or so.

I did work yesterday and it was slow.  Pre-Covid, we used to say that people were waiting for the deals of Black Friday.  The massive orange retailer I work for, however, has pretty much obliterated Black Friday in its search for sales revenue.  They will advertise some super duper sales on Black Friday, but most of our big sales are already on display, and those sales?  They are not going to be the bargains most people are expecting.

On Matthew Perry's death?  I feel bad.  I'm not a sitcom kind of guy, so I rarely watched Friends and didn't build up the attachment so many did to his character.  I can remember friends saying they simply had to be home in order to watch the latest episode.  In many people's minds, no matter what was happening in his personal life, he was and still is Chandler Bing.  54 is such a terribly young age to die.

Here's a pic of my algae eater cleaning of the thermometer in the smaller tank.

And, stunning as it may seem to some, Mike Pence has ended his campaign for president.  Stop laughing!  Perhaps if he had demonstrated ethics, and values, and been toady to the most corrupt president in American history he might have had a chance.... Nah.  Mikey's campaign was cooked before he even threw his hat into the ring.  He was a non-entity before he became Vice President, and is back doing what he does best: disappearing into the woodwork.

Court Time

 Thursday... and I have to work.  There's a 40% chance of rain and we are, for all intents and purposes, mid-week, so I'm expecting our customer count to be really low.  Traditionally, this is also vacation season.  Families are supposed to be spending time together at the shore, or in the mountains, most of them wasting their hard earned dollars on things that are touristy in nature.

The angelfish that was sick, died yesterday, so now I'm down to two.  He lived a long times (3 years), and got to be quite large, 5.5 inches from the tip of his top fin to the tip of his bottom fin.  I'd say he probably had a fairly good life as far as fish go; they don't remember much.  By now, all the other fish in the tank have forgotten him.

Lily, too, is getting old.  She sleeps a lot. She'll be 10 years old in 2 weeks.  My aim is to spoil her for the rest of her years.  

After all of the hoopla of having The Body Under Ice getting turned into an audiobook, the bold email about it being available for distribution, I can't find it anywhere.  I've emailed Findaway Books since this is not what they advertised.  Their response was to start an internal inquiry.  If I don't hear back from them soon, I'll see if I can make it available on Audible.

And, of course, this is going to be a very popular place this afternoon.

Donnie J Trumpbag will be making an appearance here this afternoon.  He'll be getting fingerprinted and a mug shot will be taken.  He's desperately going to try and get a copy of that picture for his adorning fans.  In case you haven't noticed, his messaging has begun to change, he's now saying telling his cult that he's being persecuted for them.  His cultists love this shit.  They will send him more money which he will used for his defense fund.  He will use them to full extent of their stupidity.

And Mikey, I'm a rather spineless individual, Pence spoke out yesterday against Trump... for the first time.  A lot of people were commenting about that on social media, as if he'd actually grown a set of cojones.  Is this going to help him in his run for Republican nomination?  Not one bit.  He's spent 4 years kissing Trump's ass and then after Jan 6 demurely rejected any form of mild criticism.  Did this dunce truly believe Trump was going to let him ever be president?  Still, we need to remember that ever attack on Trump by a Republican, no matter how small the arrow, is still damaging.  The hard core cult will remain, but others will slowly peel themselves away.  Does this mean they're going to vote for Biden?  Nope, they're going to sit on their vote this elections cycle.

Waiting for the Big Guns

 Finally, my 3 day work weekend is over.  Not that I find that time at the store stressful, mostly the passing minutes are slow and tedious because customers in the flooring department are few and far between.  I did design an $8,000 order of blinds yesterday.  Yeah, read that dollar figure correctly.  Honestly, I'd need to have far more disposable income than I could ever dream of to spend that kind of money on blinds.

Since I did work, I didn't get to enjoy the beautiful day, sunny with a bit of a breeze.  Today there is the possibility of rain (read that rare showers).  I'm pretty much going to ignore that forecast.  When it comes to precipitation our local forecaster's accuracy has be rather unpredictable.

Chores are planned for today, as they are for everyday.  As well as a trip to my local Giant supermarket.  And, of course, Lily gets her walk.  That's something she loves.  We didn't get a lot of walks in when Biggie was still alive because it was a chore for him to just get around the block.  Don't get me wrong, he loved those short walks, but once we were home he'd just lay done and pant for a while.  Now, Lily and I go daily.  She will be 10 in August and she's still bouncy as hell.

Here's an update on my peaches.  If I've counted correctly there are 4 on the tree, a big difference from the 100s I used to get. Here's a pic of one.

And the GOP presidential race is beginning to really heat up.  Mikey Pence announced.  Today Chris Christie is announcing.  Both of them are going after Trump.  Nikki H is also lobbing small hand grenades towards the Orange Anus, none really strong enough to actually make it explode.  Supposedly there is open warfare between Ronnie D and Donnie T, though to my mind it's only small arms fire.  I'm waiting until they both decide to bring in the Big Guns.  I suspect that will happen once Donnie T gets indicted for espionage... or some other crime against Democracy.  When that happens they're going to try and verbally nuke each other.  Who loses in this approaching shit show?  Why the GOP.  Every aspect of their political machine is going to be damaged.  All the "anti legislation" is going to take a back seat at the back of the bus because no one is going to care except their petty base.  You know, those rarified individuals who live in Magadonia.

 

Cover This

 The weekend has arrived, well, almost, and only for some people.  I don't really worry about the weekends, especially since the big orange retailer I work for tends to be scheduling me off most of the work week.  Not that I mind.  I'm getting so much done in the yard and around the house.

Weatherwise, they're calling for on and off showers for the next three days, so the showers are starting in April and will continue up into the start of May.  Forecasters are calling for the occasional shower next week and temperatures to remain in the mid 50s (F).  The following week we're supposed to pop back up into more seasonally warm temperatures.

Issues with Kindle Direct Publishing have been resolved, at least that's what the email says.  Beginning tomorrow I should be able to order author's copies of The Body Under Ice.  For some of you, this means you can start to feel excited.

Yesterday I signed up for Adobe, the regular version, not that Pro because I don't need that.  The idea is that I'm going to figure out how to convert a JPEG to a PDF cover I can size in order to publish paperbacks through Barnes & Noble.  So far the royalties I've been getting from them have been better than the ones I've been getting from Kindle.

And yesterday, the cover of The Body Under Ice took its place with the rest of my book covers on the wall.  The latest frame is a little more decorative than the others, but I think it looks just fine.

And, of course, Mikey Pence testified for the DOJ's January 6 investigation for at least 7 hours yesterday.  Supposedly a religious man, I'm sure Mikey has realized that in spite of all of his protestations his testimony was approved by God.  At least, one would think so.  This is always a problem for the publicly devout, the conflict between their ego and desire, and what the Lord wants them to do.  For the longest time Pence was refusing to go before the Grand Jury, was that because he wanted to protect Trump, or was his main goal safeguarding his own ego, and desire, and craving for power?  I'm sure he doesn't understand this at all, but Pence is one of the main reasons our forefathers wanted a separation of church and state.

The Branch

 We have rain.  The temps are supposed to hover in the lower to mid 70s (F) today.  That will be nice after the early spring heat wave we've been going through.  If the forecasters are correct, however, Tuesday our temps should only climb into the mid 50s (F).  That's a little too cool, if you get my drift.  

Yesterday was filled accomplishments.  The yardwork I completed was par excellence.   The only thing I didn't get done was some work on the fish tanks.  Being that for most of this morning we're going to have rain, I'm not worried. 

And, speaking of yardwork, I did cut down a big branch from one of the maple trees on the hill behind the house.  It 8 inches in diameter.  That thickness is bigger than my sword on a stick is supposed to tackle, still, I didn't see why I couldn't give it a go since gravity was hanging heavily on the branch.  Five minutes after I began sawing, the branch came down.  It has now been cut into many smaller pieces.  And stacked halfway up the hill.  Tuesday, once things dry out from today's rain, I be moving it to the top of the hill where it can slow recycle back into the ground from which it came.

And the NRA is having a convention in Indiana.  Donald, the Orange Anus, spoke, outlining his fascist agenda and the crowd loved him.  They cheered.  They like to call themselves Conservatives, but they're not, baby fascists is more like it.

Mike, is my slip showing, Pence also spoke... and was booed.  Does anyone think he learned anything?  Probably not.  That would mean he was able to learn, something he is incapable of doing.  He no doubt gathered with his advisors afterward for one of those Holy Shit discussions.  

Finally, Mike Pompeo told the nation he was not going to be running for president.  He actually muttered some inanity about hating to disappoint certain people...  You'll notice, he didn't say what country those people lived in.

The Wall

 Yesterday we were supposed to have rain... well, that didn't happen so more lawn work was done.  The temps were nice, upper 70s (F).  We did get some rain overnight and more is predicted for this afternoon.  Again, temps are predicted to fall, but we'll have to wait and see on that one.

Much yardwork was completed yesterday.  A lot of work we put into the aquarium as well.  The ruins are gone and can now be found sitting in the trash.  The more I think about it, the more inclined I am to just go with plants.  While it was nice watching my big angels swimming in and out of Doric (?) columns, it's also rather relaxing just watching them traverse the full length of the tank.

I do get to work today.  Can you see the excitement in my words?  

As I rip away the ivy and clean up the fallen sticks and branches on the hill behind my house, the stone wall is once again showing his rugged face.  The wall was, in fact, one of the selling points for me.  How many people have a stone wall in their backyard.  My property extends another 30 feet beyond the wall.  Who knows, I may end up putting a garden at the top of the hill.

And after the flush of the indictment, yesterday seem rather calm with relatively few surprises.  I don't doubt that the reason Ms. Pence changed his mind about testifying before the Fed Grand Jury looking into the Jan 6 insurrection is directly related to the indictment.  Maybe he's finally seen the writing on the wall.  Or perhaps Mother told him to get into the lifeboat because the ship's going down by the bow fast.

In Wisconsin gerrymandered Wisconsin voters rejected Dan Kelly, the Conservative candidate, for the state supreme court and voted in a Liberal Janet Protasiewicz.  Kelly bitterly accepted his loss, but would not concede the election to someone he called unworthy.  I find it amusing that conservatives are being sent the same message over and over again and they refuse to listen.  Of course, that would mean they're wrong, that Americans don't want a restrictive authoritarian government.  They will never learn no matter how many lessons they lose.

Water This

So is everybody planning on having a wonderful Wednesday?  or, perhaps I should say, something that's a lot more than simply tolerable.  That's actually a sad thing to say, isn't it?  That you might just have a tolerable day.  I work with an individual who's like that, he always manages to find a problem to complain about.  If I had a nickel every time I told him that if he doesn't like his job he should find another, I could buy a decent bottle of wine.  His problem is that no job will ever suit him, he will always have issues.  I have never had that problem, and I can tell you, I'm planning on having a very good time today.

So, Milky Chance, one of my favorite groups is touring and they're coming to Harrisburg, of all places.  Unfortunately, the venue where they're playing, XL Live, is not geared for aging fans.  It's general admission, meaning there are no seats because the space is still used as a parking lot during the days.  While I don't doubt that I could stand for 3 hours, it's not something I would find particularly enjoyable.  

My water bill arrived in the mail yesterday and boy has my water usage dropped.  I don't doubt the new washer has quite a lot to do with it.  I bought in November, during our great Black Friday sale and my bills have been in decline ever since, and believe me, I still take as many showers as I used to (sometimes 2 a day when I work out).

For those who didn't hear, Mike, mother may I, Pence is trying to get out of his subpoena to testify before the DOJ.  Why, you might ask?  Because his pea brain still believes he has a shot at getting the nomination for president in 2024.  I don't know who's advising this knucklehead, but that opportunity has never, ever existed for him.  And I don't doubt for a second that Nikki Haley's advisers are telling her the same thing.  

In an odd way, I find this rather pleasing.  The larger the number of candidates, the uglier their quest for the nomination will be; in no time they'll be trying to rip each other apart with verbal chainsaws.  This is going to hit the GOP hard in the House since it will be their job, using investigations, to attempt to keep America's eyes on them, rather than their backstabbing leaders.  Under McCarthy's failed leadership, the House of Representatives will get louder and crazier in order to create a distraction.  This could all be rather enjoyable.

Just Leave It

Well, a new workweek begins, and since it is Monday, I have to work.  I'll be racking in 8 hours at the Flooring Desk.  Yesterday business was steady for the 3 hours when the 'after church' crowd showed up, but from 2 in the afternoon things slowed down.  That's fine.  The associate who fell off the roof returns to work today, that will help.

One of the things I've begun to dislike about working till 7 PM is that when I get home, I don't really feel like doing anything.  It's almost as if I'm entering a veggie zone.  So, I'm thinking of doing a change to my availability, maybe only work till 5 PM on the days they can schedule me to work.

As I've told you, while on the treadmill I watch YouTube videos.  One is of the Acropolis.  During the walk it's mentioned that back in the early 1800s, the Brits chopped some marble horses from their pedestals and took them home.  This has evidently created a big controversy because the agreement they made appears to be somewhat surreptitious, and the Greeks want them back.  Personally, I think the Brits are in the wrong here.

I've always been a big fan of the group Yes, having seen them multiple times in concert.  Back in 1984 they came out with a smash album titled 90125, which had two of their big hits: Owner of a Lonely Heart and Leave It.  What is truly interesting about Leave It is that the band made 18 individual videos to go with the song, 15 of which aired on MTV.  While they have notes and very short clips of some of the videos, on Version 11 is complete and is considered the official version.  If anybody out there has any of the other videos, let someone of importance know, they're trying to locate them.  Here is Version 11.

 I saw an interesting piece in the New York Times titled Mike Pence is Spineless.   I wondered how many Americans came to this conclusion a long time ago.  Any aspirations he has in running for the presidency are simply delusional.  No MAGA worth his weight in shit will ever vote for him and the line of Democrats queuing up to vote for him is still empty.

And, of course, the big news yesterday is that Democracy in now the number one concern among Americans as we prepare to head towards the midterms.  Republicans gambled that it would be inflation, but then Republicans have never really had their finger on the pulse of what Americans want.  Rather than ask, they have always preferred to simply say "shut up, we're in charge."  As for the investigation into Trump?  40% of Americans wish the DOJ would Leave It alone.  I suspect this is because the more scabs that get pulled off, the more people realize how badly Republicans have wounded Democracy.  Of course, we're going to keep pulling off the scabs, and while the video is interesting, the GOP is just going to be left hanging upside down, which surprisingly enough is Version 1, the one version MTV viewers turned off the most.

The skies are overcast

 Saturday: the skies are overcast, and we've got a 65% chance of rain.  woohoo.  The Accuweather map doesn't show a single drizzle in the area, though rain is coming east from Pittsburgh.  Showers will probably arrive locally about the time I'm ready to head off to work.

And, how busy will work be?  The busy side of the season is past.  Not that people won't be stopping by the flooring department, though for the most part all we probably see will be a Lookie Lou every now and then.  

I didn't get as much done yesterday as I had planned, and still, my accomplishments were not few.  The only thing that wasn't completed was a fast walk on the treadmill.  I did start, but the quads in my right leg got very achy.  Perhaps I should have started at a slower speed.  Or maybe it was my route.  For some reason I thought Saint Tropez was going to be different.

Am I like the only who's suspecting the Donald, or one of his spawn, had something to do with Ivanka's fall down the stairs?  There are a number of other investigations going on.  

I saw where a federal judge has rule against Mark Meadows.  He'd been fighting the January 6 subpoena and had countersued Pelosi.  Of course, many are whispering that he's just going to be another sacrifice, or, to put it more colloquially, Meadow's is going to get thrown under the bus.  

And someone pointed out that with the discovery of the Secret Service's missing texts from January 5 and 6, perhaps Mike Pence was being very smart when he refused to get in their car and take him for a ride.

Hello Summer

 So, when I got home from work last evening, I found the butter dish lying on the living room floor.  Licked clean.  Both suspects were happily wagging their little tails when I walked in the door, no compunction there.  This is what happens when you have big dogs who have no problem standing up at the kitchen counter.  Mostly it tends to be Lily.  Biggie is too big to stand on his hind legs for long.

I stepped on the scale this morning to see what my Summer Weight was and saw the price I'm paying for all of those damn sugar cookies.  And when I got to work yesterday, I discovered several more boxes were waiting for my addiction.  And I'm not talking about the teeny-weeny sugar cookies you buy at your supermarket; I'm talking about PA Dutch sugar cookies.  They're a lot like little cakes.  

Outside, the skies are overcast.  We've got a 50% chance of rain today.  That goes up to 80% tomorrow.  Last year we had a fairly wet summer.  Predicting the weather has always been iffy, though if we get another wet summer next year, I'd have to say rainy summers are trending.

I was watching to see if Republicans would condemn Eric Greiten's decision to sell MAGA licenses to hunt RINOs in a political ad and did not see many congressional representatives speaking out.  This party keeps veering sharply to the extreme right.  Look at Texas wanting to secede from the United States.  This is what happens when you have a bunch of fools trying to put their single cell brains together.

Evidently Trump is whining about Kevin McCarthy's decision to pull Republican representation from the January 6 committee.  I'm fairly certain he thought it a smart move back when the committee was being set up, when he thought his stupid attempt at a coup was well hidden.  There is a reason why this man takes so many to court, he makes a lot of terrible decisions and then tries to blame someone else.

And finally, I saw where Mike Pence has said he has never known anyone to lie as much as Joe Biden.  Stop laughing!  Seriously, should we put any credence in what's being said by a man who looks like he's still auditioning for Stranger Things?

Quayle vs Cheney

 Well, let's all say hello to a sleepy Sunday morning.  I don't know about you, but I turned off the alarm and rolled over to catch an addition hour of shuteye.

Yesterday the weather was cool and windy, today it's going to be nice, with the temp possibly hitting 78 (F).  Sadly, I do have to work an 8-hour shift.  There is the good possibility the store will be slow.  I am hoping for as much.  It is Father's Day after all, another Hallmark Holiday, and a lot of fathers, especially the conservative ones, are expecting to be treated royally.  If you're a MAGA, it's just another day to suck down beer without thinking about the hangover you'll be dealing with tomorrow morning as you head into work.

I drove down to York yesterday to have lunch with my friend Betsy.  We talked politics.  It was a good time.  The only problem was with the diner, (diner food is great).  She only ate half of a very thick BLT, and half of her sweet potato fries, and so she asked for a box.  We continued our conversation as we walked to the car, when she suddenly said, "oh, I left my box on the table."  By the time she got back to the table, they'd thrown the rest of her meal away.  Bad customer service.  For all that clean-up person knew, Betsy might have left her container on the table while she went to the restroom.  It should have been taken to the cashier, not thrown into the garbage.

My dahlias are preparing to burst into bloom!

I saw where Trump was at the Faux Faith and Freedom to Lie conference.  That Cracker Jack Crazies were in their version of heaven (no caps).  Once again, he criticized Mike Pence for not breaking the law and creating a constitutional crisis.  And as if cue, Steve Bannon called Pence a Judas.  Guess who wasn't at that phony festival of fools.  Mike Pence.  He avoided it for the first time in 5 years.  Can you guess why?  Well, besides being a coward, he wants to run for president.  More power to him, since there are 2 groups of Christian voters:  the Evangelicals who believe God sent Trump, and the rest of the believers who quietly shake their heads at this blasphemy.  We might end up with a knockdown, drag out war, Christian against Christian war.  Honestly, I don't think Pence has the fortitude for such a fight.  Remember, when his little, faux Christian world was spinning terribly out of control in 2020, the person he turned to for advice was the namby-pamby Dan Quayle, not the aggressive Dick Cheney, who'd been Vice President for 2 terms.

 

Duh

Hello, Saturday.  Another work day, but only for 6 hours.  I can handle that.  Of course, there's not telling what kind of customers we'll be getting.  Temps are supposed to be cold, but the skies clear.  Income Tax refunds are already dropping into bank accounts even though the IRS has warned Americans that this year they might be late.  I know they're dropping, mine went in last week.  But then, I'm not like so many who chose to procrastinate.

Pork chops were made in the air-fryer last evening.  They were delicious.  The dogs, of course, had the fat drizzled over their dinner.  I was surprised by how much fat cooked off.  Biggie and Lily were extra-specially happy.

Yesterday was busy.  I bought and set up a new tank in the living room.  37 gallons.  The plan is to move all of the fish from the big tank into the smaller one, dose the big one to get rid of all of the algae once and for all, and them move some of the fish, like the angelfish, back.  The new tank is high, so I may end up turning it into a schooling fish tank.

Spotify has begun removing Rogan podcasts.  I thought it interesting they were (in their words) taking down some of the comedians more racist podcasts.  That's right, he's a comedian.  Now, isn't that a surprise.  Personally, I think he's more of a joke than a comedian.  There is absolutely no wit in that man.

And Mikey Pence told the world Trump was wrong, that he couldn't have overturned the election.  "No one man should have that much power," he said.  duh.  This man still has presidential ambitions.  duh.  Can we talk about his lack of brain density here?  He really needs to go to the January 6 committee and 'fess up.  The presidency is not in his future.  If he wants to be remembered into the foreseeable future he needs to show his mantle and bring down his former boss.  Will he?  duh.

 

Piss Off

 I just checked the temps!  We're a cold 17 (F) here in Enola.  The heat is running and, not surprisingly, the dogs are still in bed.  And they're wearing fur coats, too.  Tomorrow, temps are supposed to reach 40 (F).  That's fine.  We are in winter, though the previous 2 were relatively warm.  

The aquarium is still a work in progress.  The fish are swimming around the new decorations.  Many of the live plants are gone because of the algae problem, it grew every where.  Oh, and it isn't really algae, it's cyanobacteria which is... a bacteria.  There are several reasons cyano can flourish in a tank, my problem is direct sunlight.  I have a lot of it during the day.  My house has a southern exposure with large windows.  To help alleviate the problem, a light filtering shade has been installed on the large dining room / writing room window.  This helps.  A blackout shade would be better, but I don't want to turn the room into a cave.  And, rather than use erythromycin (that's right, an antibiotic) I've chosen to used a product which slightly elevates the PH of the water to keep the bacteria from growing.  So far, that seems to be working fine.  Next up will be the addition of live plants which will eat up some of the nutrients the cyano feeds on.  If things work out well, there should be pictures in a few weeks.

I'm going to bake bread today.  Italian.  Delicious.

Remember when Mike Pence tried to pray away the Covid?  Well, that didn't work, did it?  

Well, some Cracker Jack Crazy is now advocating urine therapy to fight the disease.  He wants you to start swigging your own pee to fight the disease.  Well, you know what they say, desperate times call for desperate measure.  Personally, I think this is just his way of legitimizing 'water sports' in order to make Trump's golden shower video more acceptable to the MAGA brain.

As for Mike Pence, I understand he's being told he should cooperate with the January 6 Committee since his certification of Biden's victory pissed all over his political ambitions.  Honestly, though, I don't know if he understands that it's better to be pissed off than pissed on.

 

Where I Stand

So, I slept in because I stayed up to watch the last 4 episodes of The Stand, hence a post a little later than usual.  What did I think for this version?  If you're like me and read the original book oh, so many years ago, you can skip the last episode since that a new, more prolonged ending of an earlier revised ending.  It's totally unnecessary.  I did not like that the main characters had their stories told in flashback, many, many things were left out.  The idea of an extended miniseries is to pack in as much of the original story as possible.  Flashbacks weakened the dramatic threads binding the characters together.  The only character who ends up having any substance is Harold Lauder who appears in 7 of the 8 episodes which tell the story, his storyline is that important.  The rest are given short shrift and so there is no heartache at the end when some don't survive and that's a shame.

My new desk arrived yesterday, and will be assembled later this morning.  I'm also using my Instant Pot to make a turkey meatball soup.  Also, because the temps are supposed to get up into the mid 50's (F) a walk is planned for the dogs.  I do believe we are turning the corner and heading into spring.

Oh, and I saw where Mike Pence declined an invitation to speak at CPAC.  The Cult of Trump is continuing to tear apart the party.  Yeah!!

Now, it's time to cook some breakfast.

The abandonment

 Well, it's not quite the weekend before Christmas.  The dogs are sleeping at my feet, Biggie using an orange squeaky toy as a pillow.  If there was a cracking fireplace behind me, we could be  Normal Rockwell painting.

Quaint, huh?

Driving to work yesterday was fine, except for the old guy in the blue Lincoln SUV whose overly cautious driving slowed traffic down to 15 mph.  Business was slow at the store, expected, though we did get a number of customers who decided to wait until after a fairly large snowfall to buy a snow blower.  There are, no doubt, the same ones who cast votes for the Idiot Jerk in the White House.

And I don't know anybody's seen it, but the Supreme Court kicked back complaint by religious schools in Kentucky that they were being singled out in an order to keep them closed until the New Year.  Social Conservatives are going to have a real problem if the Court doesn't give them everything they want, which is why the Republicans stacked the court.  My bet is that they will be doing the dirty diaper walk for some time to come.

Oh, and the country has been hacked by Russia.  Badly.  And the Idiot Jerk has been silent.  Even though his blow bro Vlad had started tossing flirty kisses to Biden, our failed president still can not believe their 4 year bromance is over.  Not only has he been fired by America, he's being cheated on and spurned by Vlad.  How despicable.  Rumors are flying that he doesn't actually understand he's going to have to vacate the premises on January 20, that he's hunkering down in his Oval Office mancave.  He doesn't seem to understand the job of President is going to belong to someone else. Ouch.

And I understand Pence, the android, is going to be leaving the country right after the election is certified by the Senate on January 6.  Will this be an extended trip abroad while someone else packs up his belongings and moves him out of the Vice-Presidential residence?  I wonder if Mother's going along?  Is this how the abandonment begins?

The Tinfoil Dictator

Holy Crap! Sunday snuck up on me... and turned into my Friday!  That's right! My weekend starts the minute I leave work this evening.  Now, ain't that just jolly!  Of course, after that I enter into scheduling hell where I work 5 days, have a day off, and then get to work another 5 days.  Son of a bitch!!

Our Halloween merchandise is on super duper clearance right now.  Even the ugly stuff is selling cause it's cheap. I am always amazed at how people will spend their hard earned dollars on something crappy simply because there's a yellow 'clearance' tag stuck on the box.  Sometimes life is not about buying 'clearance.'  There is a reason that tag is on merchandise... to clear inventory.  A day doesn't go by when someone doesn't come up to the flooring desk and ask "what's on sale."  One of these days I'm going to honestly say "the crappy shit."

And ain't this sweet?

Jared and Ivanka Danka have threatened to sue.  Keep in mind that because they're considered advisors, both of them are being paid with your tax dollars.  I wonder how good Jared's Russian is since I can see a relocation to somewhere south of Moscow in the near future.

And there are now Covid diagnosis's in the Pence Party.  Fool. He no doubt thought he was in a restaurant and waved his flimsy, little hand in the air a few times saying "I'll have three infections over here."

This is all over the news, now:  The Idiot jerk was at a 'private donor' event down in Nashville and told those who had paid up to $250,000 to be in the same room as him that the Republicans were most likely going to lose their senate seats.  Imagine what those donors must have felt like, paying those kind of bucks to be told by the Idiot Jerk "yeah, we're probably going to lose the Senate."  I wonder how many of them asked for a refund.  I would have.  I mean... shit!  These are not the words they expected to hear from a tinfoil dictator.

Flies Land on Shit

 For some reason or other, I keep thinking today is Friday.  I was corrected yesterday several times because I made several comments about today being Friday.  I woke this morning and had to remind myself today is only Thursday.  Mostly I think this is because I'm working 2 days and then off a day, working 2 days and then off a day.  Split days off, you know.  This is why I like my days off to be consecutive.

Here's an interesting bit:  before I hung the storm door, Big Seig would scratch the door to let me know he was ready to come back in, with the storm door in place, however, all he does is stand on the back steps and wait.

I did some designs on cellular shades for a very nice woman who had some very expensive rings on her fingers and wanted new shades for 12 windows.  The least expensive was for $122 per blind, the most expensive $535 per blind, and the middle blind cost $355.  She pointed to the one for $355 and told me she liked that style and said, "after all, it's nothing more than disposable income."  I don't know about you, but for me, almost $4000 is not 'disposable income.'

Oh, and there was a debate last evening. Against my better judgment, I started watching it, however I turned it off when Pence began speaking.  The moment he began shaking his head as Kamala was speaking, a visual way of tut, tut, tuting her like a pretentious authoritarian slovenly drunk on his own beliefs, I knew I was going to end up clicking away to something truer and wiser.  He is as unclean as his boss.  How do I know?   The fly.  Pictures and videos are everywhere.  What a striking image, a fly landing on the head of Pence as he was lying.  

I have big dogs so I have seen the truth many times over.  Flies land on shit.  We all know this.  It's why we don't want them landing on our food.  We don't want them walking up and down are skin.  They eat and then they vomit, and then they eat the vomit.  Can you think of a more visual sign as to where this administration is headed?

Last Night's RNC Convention

I had a lot of words written, but when I tried to insert this video Blogger deleted them.  Mostly they were about the fact checkers and the RNC Convention, how the the same falsehoods have been used so many times, there really isn't any work for them anymore.  Here's a link to a WaPo article.  One of the most strident lies is the one where he says the Idiot Jerk shut down travel from China before the first Covid Case was diagnosed.  And this guy calls himself a Christian.  Liar.

As for the video below, either Halloween has come to my store, or this is what the last night's RNC Convention really looks like.

Standard Operating Procedure

 SOP for me is always the same, on the first day of Vaca I sleep late.  It's the only day, usually.  And, since this is Monday, I won't ride the bike.  Mondays are always my rest days.  That doesn't mean I'm going to laze around all day, just that I'm not going to  climb onto the bike saddle.

I sold a flooring job yesterday to a woman wearing an Idiot Jerk mask.  She said, "since I have to wear one I might as well wear one I believe in."  I said nothing.  I did nothing.  It's against company policy to smack sense into customers.  We are there to take their money, nothing else.  I suspect my silence said volumes.

On the way home from work yesterday I stopped at my neighborhood Giant and picked up a bottle of Oyster Bay, Sauvignon Blanc, it was on sale for $13.99.  It's from New Zealand, a country which has gotten a really good handle on this pandemic.  I also watched the last episodes of The Umbrella Academy.  I had seen somewhere that the show was cancelled, but then I've also seen it's one the most popular series on Netflix.  

I was thinking about the approaching conventions, both Democratic and Republican, and the size of audience they will attract.  Biden has the Poll power.  He's going to have a running mate, a female, most likely black.  Everybody's going to want to hear what they have to say.  The Idiot Jerk?  Everybody knows exactly what he is.  The only ones watching him will be his base.  Can we talk about dismal ratings here?  

And what about Pence?  He's been snapping back little verbal attacks against liberals, as one would expect from the the toad playing the Idiot Jerk's mini-me.  He has to do this because if the Idiot Jerk loses badly, it will interpreted as a sign that he did something very, very wrong.  Can we talk about SOP here?