Momentum

Well, after 4 days, I have a day off.  Many things are planned, mostly household recreational activities.  Doesn't that sound nice?  Household Recreational Activities.  Rather then say that I've a lot of chores needing to be accomplished, I just say I'm going to be spending a few hours with that good, old-fashioned HRA.  As long as I don't provide details, no one is ever going to know, will they?

Every year around this time Strava usually hosts a Trek Challenge: ride at least 100 miles in 30 days.  Not this year.  I suspect Trek bowed out.  This year you can create your own challenge, cycling, running, climbing... you name it.  You can design a group challenge, or an individual one specifically for yourself.  The only goal I have is to ride, stacking up both hours and miles on the bike.

There's also a Zoom call scheduled for this afternoon with some of my Navy buddies.  I'm participating downstairs this time.  On the last call, I had to keep letting the dogs out and then back in multiple times.  If that happens today, I hopefully won't spend as much time at the back door.  Of course, it's supposed to be stanky hot so they might just sleep through the afternoon.

When your town makes it into Joemygod, it isn't always a good thing.  Mechanicsburg was in one of the headlines.  Some stupid MAGA named Sandy Pomeroy Weyer got her ass arrested for participating in the attempted coup on January 6.  She's kind of skaggy looking, don't you think.  Here's the link if you want to read about it.  This is the face of selfishness, and the look of hatred.  She bragged about not being afraid of the police, and then her Facebook posts began disappearing meaning in the real world she's a spineless sack of shit.

In an interview published by the Atlantic, Billy Barr said the claims of voter fraud are nothing but Bullshit.  Those with half a brain, or more, have known this from the beginning.  The only reason grasping The Big Lie is that without it, they are lost.  They see it as a life preserver.  In reality, it's a rock that will drag them down.  Thank you gravity for giving that rock momentum.

Tit for Tattying

Tuesday, Vacation Day Number 2

Yesterday I didn't do much of anything, besides buy stuff on Amazon: new case for the new phone (red), a wireless charging station, a pre-order of Cyber Punk 2077 (video game).  I drove to Target because I wanted a pair of sandals / flip flops... the smallest size they had was 13.  I have tiny feet, men's size 8 1/2.  A size 13 would fall off when I walked.

UPS dropped off the wrong package.  I had ordered a Lenovo tablet.  The box I opened contained large plastic syringes and plastic tubing.  About 2 minutes after I opened it, there was a loud pounding at the door.  It was the UPS Driver with the correct package.  Ooops.

I want to swing by the store this morning and get another jalapeno pepper plant.  Something, most likely the curious nose of a dog, snapped the one I had in two.   That sucker's a gonner.  And I do want to grow peppers.  My one tomato plant has flowers already.

I also want to mow the lawn this morning... before it gets too hot.  The temp is supposed to soar into the 90's (F) today.  Tomorrow we have the same forecast.  From then on it's kind of iffy because of Cristobal.  That storm front is supposed to join up with another, larger front moving east creating a much larger storm.  We're going to get wet.

Strava sent my my May stats yesterday.  I rode 284 miles last month.  I'm happy with that.  

For those of you with a hankering to play the Stock Market right now... hold off.  It's going to drop.  Let the super rich take the hit when it comes, because it is going to come.  The vast majority of Mom and Pop investors don't have the necessary financial cushion to survive the serious drops when they come.

And again, yesterday seemed a rather quiet one for the Idiot Jerk in the White House.  That does not mean it was politically quiet.  Billy Barr said that it was the Secret Service who told Bunker Boy he needed to go into hiding.  Ouch.  He and the Idiot Jerk seem to be in some sort of little blame game, tit for tattying each other.  Of course, they're both gutless Republicans so this is normal.  Someone else is always to blame.

Finally, I snapped a picture of one of my red roses yesterday. This has color and perfume.

Making fudge

Yesterday turned out to be one of those odd days.  Usually, I sleep in on my first day off - yesterday I didn't thinking I could get so much accomplished.  I was speeding along my 'to do' list until it started to rain... earlier than I had been expecting.  Suddenly everything slowed down and I felt like I ought to take a nap.  The dogs love it when I take naps, though doing so scratches things off my list.  I did get to my local Giant supermarket, still no cleaners or disinfectants so I guess MAGA heads must still juicin' up with Mr. Clean in the back bedroom.  Lots of paper products.  I bought meat (chicken... and that other white meat) since they say it's going to get pricey as hell.  Something you can count on, every time there's a pandemic someone feels they need to make a buck. I sliced 2 heads of cabbage real thing and tarted my sauerkraut (yes, I make homemade sauerkraut).

Not so surprising, the Coronavirus Task Force is still on because (hold on to your hats people) the Idiot Jerk in the White House said he had no idea it was so popular.  This is the same individual who 2 weeks ago was bragging about his ratings.  Oh, wait, let me palm myself in the forehead, he actually thought all those people were watching because of... sorry, I can't even say it.  That idea is simply so ludicrous.

And rumors are beginning to abound that the Idiot Jerk will make some attempt at deligitimatizing death tolls.  He looks bad, you know?  At first he said we were only going to lose about 60,000, but then it became 100,000 by June, and then maybe as many as 135,000.  The only high numbers he likes are those related to the stock market.  Body counts? Damn, they make him look really bad.  Frankly, he may try, but he will not succeed.  Inquiring minds want to know.  Fudging the statistics will hurt his approval ratings even more.  Just like Covid - 19's changing timeline hurts his accusation that it came from a lab in Wuhan.  It's seems as though this virus has been floating around for quite some time.  In late December, a Parisian was already infected, and individual who had not left the country, proving there was Community Spread that early in the pandemic.  Don't worry, the Idiot Jerk will try and cook up some sort of fudgy lie to cover that truth.

Finally, what are my plans for today, now that the sun is shining?  some outdoor work.  If the grass is dry enough, I may try and mow it.  While I, myself, would love to make some fudge... the calorie count would mean a four hundred mile bike ride... tomorrow.  In case you're wondering, this is what my training calendar looked like in April.  Not bad, eh?  Shit, it see these new Blogger changes don't let the whole thing fit.  Well, you get the idea.  I rode 255 miles in April.  If you click on the date it should take you to my Strava account for more detailed information.

Training Calendar

2020 Previous Month Apr Next Month

30 DAYS

• 17
  Hours
 
• 255
  miles
 
• 27
  Personal Records
 
• 21
  Activities

MONDAY	TUESDAY	WEDNESDAY	THURSDAY	FRIDAY	SATURDAY	SUNDAY
30	31	1	2 California, Yosemite 1 - National Park - Yosemite Easy	3 Ghent w/ Tacx	4 Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Stage 2 - La Redoute - 47.8% - 86.9%	5 England, Lake District - Wasdale Tour - Stage 1 - Part 2 - Bowerhouse Bank
6	7	8 Bavaria, Forggensee - Part 1	9 Lago di Garda, Torbole - Part 1	10 Bavaria, Forggensee - Part 2	11	12 Sanremo cycleway - Cycle Tour - Part 2 Ospedaletti - SanLorenzo
13	14	15 Corsica - Cap Corse - Cycle Tour - 0.0% - 25.5%	16 Sanremo cycleway - Cycle Tour - Part 2 Ospedaletti - SanLorenzo	17 Sanremo cycleway - Cycle Tour - Part 1 SanLorenzo - Ospedaletti	18 Burgundy - Route des Grand Crus - Part 1	19 Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Stage 2 - La Redoute - Part 2 - Côte de la Redoute
20	21 Catalonia, Girona Pyrenees - Camprodon to Beget	22 Amsterdam City Trip - Part 1 - Ronde Hoep	23 Lombardy, Lago d'Iseo - Stage 2 - Part 2	24 Corsica - Cap Corse - Cycle Tour - 0.0% - 27.4%	25 Gorges du Tarn - Cycle Tour - Gorges du Tarn - Part 1	26
27 Andalusia - Caminito del Rey Ardales - Part 1	28	29 Lombardy, Lago d'Iseo - Stage 2 - Part 1	30 Raid Pyrenees Stage 18 - Hendaye - Part 3 - Coast

Number 7

It's Thursday, and another day at work.  The temp is supposed to only go up to 80 (F).  This weekend is supposed to be warm, up to 91 (F) on Saturday, but then after that temps begin to drop.  I have this funny feeling they'll drop fast.  One day we'll have Summer, the next day we'll be in the middle of Fall.
Yesterday was... interesting.  I'm not the only one who's calling the Idiot Jerk in the White House an extortionist.  Things to think about:  The White House released 5 pages of notes they say detailed the conversation between the Idiot Jerk and the Ukrainian president.  They did not release the actual transcript... which I suspect is far more incriminating.  The Ukrainians are claiming the White House had certain conditions which needed to be met before that call could take place, the topic of Biden and his son being an extremely important one.  Oh, and the Idiot Jerk suggested Hillary's deleted emails are in the Ukraine. 
Republicans are distressed.  I work with several of the Idiot Jerk's supporters and yesterday they looked very solemn.  What they desperately want to say is "but this is how he is, he does things like this, ignore them."  The truth is they will accept any evil as long as they're are in charge.
For sometime I've said he's going to make Richard Nixon look like an alter boy.  For those not old enough.  Richard Nixon also had an election scandal, a little thing called Watergate because he was worried  he wasn't going to be re-elected.  Grab your popcorn folks, this is going to be very entertaining for Democrats.
I did a new ride yesterday, in Greece, from Agios Georgios to Chalikounas Corfu.  This is a short ride, just 7.64 miles.  The funny thing is while I was checking out my stats I got an email from Rouvy.  They were updating the top 10 cyclists for that ride.  Holy Crap.  Out of everyone who has ridden that route, I'm number 7.

Here's the link if you want to see my stats.  And yes, if you want to follow me on Strava you can, they list me as the 3rd fastest worldwide.  What this really means is that not that many cyclists have ridden this ride.  Still, these little things are what makes this fun.  Oh, and yes, in case you didn't know... I am Paridave.

Ride This

Okay, so it's Thursday and I have to go back to work... for an entire week.  That's right, 40 hours.
Lily still has a runny nose and sneezing, Seig is fine.  Just like human colds, dog colds run their course in the about the same amount of time.
When I checked my bank account yesterday I saw that Social Security decided to give me a little blessing.  They do this from time to time.  They look at what I'm earning and what they're giving me and give me an additional check and an increase.  It always happens in July since I officially retired in June... 4 years ago.  I think it's because I'm still working full-time and still pumping money into my Social Security account.  I always tell people, you don't have to stop working because you retire.
For those who don't know... and I know there are some of you out there, I ride bike.  I'm also a member of Strava, if you want you can join for free and follow me here.  Yesterday they emailed me my stats for July.

As you can see, I easily beat that 100 mile challenge.  Yesterday I rode for 11.5 miles up near Reykjavik on a ride that was supposed to take me to the Blue Lagoon.  It's actually not a lagoon, it's a lake, and I was a bit disappointed.
Though, I have to admit, I was not nearly as disappointed as the Idiot Jerk in the White House when he got to Dayton, Ohio.  They didn't kiss his ass and he was really upset.  He lied.  Called people dishonest because they were truthful.  And he whined.  Instead of understanding their grief and anger at the violence which has struck their communities, he selfishly Tweeted out his vehemence.  Like most Conservatives, this shoddy example of a failed human being, this loser hates the truth.  A long time ago corrupt politicians were dipped in tar, rolled in feathers, and ridden out of town on a rail.  It's time we get the rail.  It's time we said "ride this."

Mike and Barbara?

Something is eating my nectarines!  I have no idea what... some sort of buggy things.  It's actually not that upsetting.  I hadn't planned on being able to harvest any this year.  I'm off tomorrow and that's one of my yard work chores.
In my Trek Riding Challenge I am 98,983 in the rankings.  That sounds bad, right?  Well, there are actually 41, 208 cyclists who are doing worse than I am.  Oh, and I hit 50 miles yesterday.  Also, I can tell you that some of the few ahead of me have over 1000 miles in so far this month.  Think of that, the month is not even half over and they've already traveled more than 1000 miles on their bikes.
One of the things I did to aid myself in learning Greek was to print off a copy of the alphabet.  For me, learning a language has always depended upon specific sounds with specific letters.  Showing me a word with letters I've completely unfamiliar with is not the way to teach me, especially when at some point I'm going to have to write Greek... and that depends on spelling.  I also write down the new words I'm given.  You need to be familiar with the Eta, Beta, Theta... if you know what I mean.
On Jeff Epstein: there are a lot of words being written about how he, as a sex offender, a jailbird, managed to get so many of the rich and powerful to turn their heads.  He lent his jet to the rich and famous.  Here is a very small list of those many who flew Little Lolita down to Florida:

The names include well-known performers, including Ralph Fiennes, Alec Baldwin, David Blaine, Jimmy Buffett and Courtney Love; media figures including Charlie Rose, Mike Wallace and Barbara Walters; former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak, former British prime minister Tony Blair, industrialist David Koch and the late Salomon Brothers Chief Executive Officer John Gutfreund and his wife, Susan.

Holy Shit!  Barbara Walters!  Mike Wallace!  It wasn't just Prince Andrew and Bill Clinton, there were a whole slew of people.  So, were all these people being flown down to one of his parties?  No. Before we blindly brand everybody with Epstien's evil we need to get to the truth.  He is not some dolt, like the Idiot Jerk in the White House, rather he is exceptional when it comes to muddying up the waters.  The truth he doesn't want you to see is there, all you need to do is filter the water first.  His purpose has always been to do what he wants by covering his ass.  Tell me, do you really thing Mike Wallace and Barbara Walters got massages from 14 year old girls?

Of course, you never can tell.  Maybe they made a sandwich with Tony Blair...

Oh, my, did I really write that?

Court This

When I got off work yesterday the temperature was 97 (F).  They finally came out with some sort of heat warning... and a thunderstorm watch.  We got the heat but not the storms.  It's not supposed to be as hot tomorrow.  Nice, I have off.  There's lawn work.  For me, it seems as though there's always something that needs to be cut back, trimmed, mowed, or whacked.  As long as it's not stinkin' hot I don't mind.
Strava is an app for runners and cyclists.  Of course, I have a subscription.  Here is my page if you have an interest.  I've signed up for a challenge to ride either 100, 500, or 1000 miles in the next month.  I'm aiming for the lower end.  Succeeding should be easy.  500 miles would be tough to do - I work full time.  I'd have to average 17 miles a day... every day.  Doubt if that's going to happen.  What will I get out of the challenge?  Maybe a T-shirt.  That would be nice.  The competition is fierce, however.  When last I checked, over 70,000 people had signed up.  You didn't know there were that many runners and cyclists in the world, did you?

And, what about that Supreme Court?  Now, I know there are Liberals out there who are expecting every case to go their way.  I hate to tell you, but that's never going to happen, so take it in stride.  You may be upset, but let me tell you, Conservatives are screaming mad.  You see, they believed that by loading the court with Conservatives they'd get to do the Happy Dance with every decision.  Holy Shit, that ain't happening.  Look at the Citizenship question... The Idiot Jerk in the White House called Chief Justice Roberts a 'turncoat.'  Think about that word.

On the gerrymandering issue?  They have never, ever... ever taken a stand on gerrymandering.  They are never going to take a stand.  If your state has been gerrymandered to hell by the Republicans, get out the Blue vote and kick the suckers out.
They kicked back when Alabama appealed a lower court's decision that parts of their Anti-abortion law were unconstitutional.  Evangelicals are pissed.  This Court was supposed to approve these strict laws.
In fact, rather than swinging horribly to the right, their decisions have more or less been Left Leaning, mostly because our Constitution is not a rigidly Conservative document, which is a serious problem for the Republican Party... and the Idiot Jerk in the White House.

The Kiss

Well, it snowed yesterday.  I got 10 inches.  Most of my neighbors went out and shoveled before it had stopped falling... not me.  My sidewalk and driveway were cleared off this morning.  Today's free weight day and shoveling snow is a great way to get some free cardio as well as a nice warm-up.  This means I'm typing this in between sets of hammer curls.
Yesterday I also rode the Concord route again.  The Rouvy app I have is linked to my Strava account.  Strava is an app that tracks both runners and cyclists.  To my surprise, I got a "thumbs up."  No one has ever acknowledge a ride before, so I checked out the individual.  It was this chick.  I looked up her profile.  So far she's run a little over 33 miles this year.  In her most recent photo (there was only one) the camera was pointed directly at her ass.... and all she was wearing was some sort of leather harness.  She probably just saw the Concord ride and thought she might drum up some business.  Now, why couldn't that have been a Chris Hemsworth look alike?
And, of course, now we know that the Austin bomber was a seriously conflicted young man.  He was a conflicted young man who was home schooled by a family that "prayed a lot."  Raising children is a complicated process.  His conflict did not just start four weeks ago, he's been suffering for a long time.  Perhaps if his parents had spent less time praying and more time parenting two people would not be dead.  I have no doubts that when it comes to pointing the finger of responsibility his parents will direct it at Satan.  Isn't that always their answer.  They will never understand those deaths now hang on their shoulders.  In their minds they did the right things.  They turned to Jesus.  They expected Him to be a better parent than they were.
And yesterday, with the snow falling, the dogs would go out... then they'd come in... and then they'd go out again.  Every time they came in I dried them off with a big, fluffy, green towel.  They loved it.  Any way, I got to thinking that I'd never taken a selfie with them and thought yesterday would be good time.  What a disaster.  They're both hams.  They'll be perfectly quiet... until the camera comes out, then they never stop moving.  I finally got Seig on the sofa, and finally got him to kind of stay still, and just as I snapped the picture, he gave me  big kiss.

One rule to keep in mind, if you ever get that close to Biggie.... keep your mouth closed.