Troll 2

The sun is shining.  Brahms is playing on the stereo, Symphony number 1 in C minor, in case you're wondering.  This one of my favorite pieces of music.  Our outside temp is a cool 31 (F), though forecasters are predicting we'll hit the low 40s (F).  That'll be so nice.

We received approximately 3 inches of snow yesterday.  Howie did not run around like your average dog delighting in the snow.  Nope.  He spent most of his time digging for blades of grass.  He then came back into the house and threw them up for me to see.  Lovely.  

And apparently I'm back to my old, well, it's Tuesday so I might as well be meh, though I suspect the fact that it was cloudy was partly to blame.  I also managed to get in a bike ride in Italy, Amalfi to be precise.  The scenery is awesome, though I suspect it would cost an arm and a leg to simply visit.

Other than shoveling snow and the bike ride, I didn't do much except laze around.  Like I said, it was a pretty meh day.  

I did watch Troll 2 last night.  Loved it.  I've always loved monster movies.  Hollywood turned out some real gems, very smart with social commentary, like Them.  Then, unfortunately, we started importing Japanese monster movies, which were nothing more than an actor in a rubber suit stomping through one model city after another.  That pretty much killed the business.  Troll brought the business back in a big way.  The first film was Netflix's number one around the world for almost 2 weeks.  That's an immense feat for a foreign film, let alone a monster movie.  Troll 2 is doing the same thing.  This time there are 2 trolls.  There's a bit about how Christianity was to blame for the near extinction of trolls.  There are trips into catacombs, and bits about Holy Water, and... well, it's simply tremendous.

And the Tennessee election is over.  The Republican Van Epps won.  This was expected.  What was not expected was that the Democratic challenger came within single digits of Van Epps.  This happened in a district which is extremely Republican and where the Orange Anus won by 22% back in 2024.  Over the years, the Republicans have constantly won this district by 22% or higher.  To have Van Epps only win by roughly 9% is a major blow to the GOP.  That's a 13% drop in a very Red district.  This morning, all of those Republicans in districts across the country where they've only won by 7% or 8% are now changing their diapers.  Orangie's base is vanishing.  His approval rating is down to 36% and at this point the idea of him becoming more popular is almost laughable.  Even the Washington Post had a headline on how big of a problem this was for Republicans.  This is all very good.

Even better, Rolling Stone has named Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 as the game of the year!  Wowza!  I loved this game!  

The Polls in Tennessee are Open

Well, of course we have snow.  How much we'll get is up in the air? (That's a joke).  Originally the forecasters said our blanket of fluffy white stuff would fall from 0100 to 1 PM.  That has now changed.  This precipitation event started around 6 hours late, and is now expected to end around 7 PM this evening.   Right now we're experiencing a heavy snowfall event.  

Howie is almost 16 months old, so this might as well be considered his first snow.  So far, he's not been too excited.  He's ran around a little bit, but mostly he's been busy grabbing those few weeds he finds sticking up, and ripping them out by the roots.  He's very good at that.  Once they're out of the frozen ground, he gives them a shake and then drops them.  He's having a good time doing this.

And retail at the flooring desk was slow yesterday.  We were  going to make plan, but mostly through contractors, and installs sold through our dot.com end of the business.  Because of today's snow, our garden department will easily make plant.  For some reason we have yet to understand, there is an almost unnatural number of people who wait until snow begins falling to go out and buy snow shovels, ice scrapers and ice melt.  This has always been the case.  I often wonder how these people make it through life without a single thought to preparedness.  I own 2 snow shovels, one is kept at the front door and the other at the back door, and half of a 50 lb bag of ice melt I bought 3 years ago.  

Here's a nice picture of my neighbor's untrimmed hedge in the snow.  He bought himself an electric hedge trimmer and then discovered their house has no outside outlets, and they're not going to pay to have one installed.

Like every other day since Orangie was re-elected, yesterday was another shit show.  Petey Kegbreath's comment "kill them all," has pissed off a lot of people, both Republicans and Democrats, and it now appears that the administration is looking for a scapegoat.  Everybody who is anybody in every branch of the government should have realized a long time ago that this is Orangie's SOP.  He's spent his entire life blaming someone else.  So, if you're in the military and you follow an illegal order coming down from the top, you can rest assured if something about that order goes south, it'll be your ass on the line.

And there's an election down in Tennessee today.  According to polls, the Democrat Aftyn Behn is within 2 points of the Republican.  In bloody red Tennessee, that's unbelievably close.  Orangie won her district by 22%.  Republicans are in a terrible panic.  The MAGA cultists are flipping out!  The true black hearts among them simply cannot believe that their wanna be king is so despised that Republicans would vote for a Democrat.  I wouldn't be surprised if many Republicans simply stay home, rather than vote for a racist pedophile supporter.  Keep in mind that Behn doesn't need to win this special election, all she has to do is come within a few % points to cause the Republican chaos to Rupture.  This is how Karma works.

Apollo

 And the weekend, Holy for some, begins with cold temps.  There is a freeze warning in Central PA for tonight, though the temps are only supposed to drop into the mid 30s (F), nothing that's going to doom any of the blooms in my garden.  

I saw where Instagram now wants to charge a $15 monthly verification charge.  Supposedly this is so that your followers know it's the real you and not some bozo masquerading as you.  In reality, this is nothing more than dippy doo Mark Zuckerberg trying to suck the money out of your bank account.  Pure greed manifests itself in so many different ways, for more and more social media accounts it shows its ugly head in the form of verification services.  Musk's doing the same thing, or at least trying to do the same thing at Twitter.  Will Zuckerberg be successful?  Well, not with me, though I know there are those out there who will pay the charge in order to boast that they have been verified by Instagram as... well, I guess that will prove your not a deep fake.

A number of hours were spent yesterday afternoon on the big tank, cleaning it out, vacuuming the gravel, scrubbing down the sides.  Right now it's empty of decorations and plants.  I can't tell if having all of that swim space pleases the fish or not.  New decorations have been order.  I'm going smaller this time, though still sticking with the Greek / Roman imagery.  There will be statuary.  And a clam shell that will open up.  I ordered the first statue yesterday.  It's Apollo, naked of course.  I don't know for certain, but I'm thinking there is some unwritten law which states Greek and Roman statuary needs to be naked.  It's shipped this morning and to my super duper surprise it's not coming from China.  Nope.  My statue is coming from Greece.  Now, ain't that nice.

And down in Tennessee the Republicans kicked two black Democrats out of the legislature because they attended an anti-gun rally.  Three Democrats actually attended the gun-control event, but they Republicans let the white Democrat stay.  Those two men have now stepped onto the National stage.  Those stupid Republicans?  Well, they since they don't make mistakes they're going to be eating shit sandwiches until they get voted out of office.

And the Clarence Thomas shit?  He's now saying those 20 years for free vacations to expensive places were a personal gift, that they had nothing to do with the fact they were given to him by a white, ultra-conservative billionaire.  I'm thinking Thomas is going to end up eating more shit sandwiches than those Tennessee lawmakers.

Fallout

 Accuweather has forecast rain for today.  The temps are only supposed to climb into the mid 40s (F) and that sounds cold.  We are, however, only in the early days of March.  If the temp hits 34 (F), that's spring weather.  People get confused.  They want to define spring as temps in the 60s and 70s.  Of course, since this winter has been so warm, those temps might be what we're going to be getting.

I've been having problems with my Fenix 6 Pro.  For the past 2 days, the only time I could get it to sync to the app was by rebooting.  Pain in the Ass.  So this morning I reinstalled it into the app.  So far it seems to be working fine.  

Since "The Last of Us," a series based on a video game, has become such a hit, anticipation is beginning to build for the next series with roots in the gaming industry.  If things continue to go as plan, that will be Fallout which will air on Amazon Prime.  The shooting for the first season has wrapped, meaning it's in post-production now.  No one knows how much CGI is going to be added to this post-apocalyptic action / thriller.  We do know it's going to be taking place on the west coast because that's where Vaults 32 and 33 were located.  A number of images have been leaked, including the Red Rocket gas station and interior of one of the vaults.  I'm excited.

And Republicans keep racing to the far right.  In Tennessee they passed a bill making it illegal to have Drag shows.  Of course, it will be challenged and quite probably make it to the Supreme Court.  I think it will die there since Drag, whether the Cracker Jack Crazies like it or not, is Freedom of Speech.

In Florida, one dingle headed loon introduced a bill to eliminate the Democratic Party.  Evidently this moron doesn't realized that Independents are already the largest voting bloc in the country.  So, why not just make that bloc larger.

Down in Texas, another dip-shit introduced a bill which would eliminate property taxes for those parents who had 10 children.  Now tell me, isn't that a great incentive to turn your wife into a breeder?  I doubt very much if that savings is going to be enough to cover the cost of raising 10 kids.

And then there's Marjorie Taylor Greene.  Joe Biden has thanked her for simply being herself knowing how many Centrist Republicans she's driving away from the party.  It's not that she doesn't have a brain, she just doesn't use it.  

Please Stand By

Wednesday!!  My weekend begins!!  And the weather is supposed to be shitty!!  High humidity!!  Storms quite possible!!
Ah, well, this is how it goes.  I checked the calendar this morning and saw that legally we are still in spring.  Spring is a transitional season from winter cold to summer hot... and usually dry.  We will have to wait and see on that one.
I saw where some bimbolina politician from Tennessee has said pornography causes school shootings.  Now true, she was speaking to a group of pastors, but give me a break.  Everything they have chosen to pass judgment on causes school shootings... except the availability of guns.  The fact that any nearly brain dead supporter of the Idiot Jerk in the White House... or, to be perfectly transparent, the fact that any brain dead numb nuts who wants a gun, can get a gun, which absolutely nothing to do with school shootings.  No, blame pornography.  Porn must be popular in Tennessee since she says you can buy it in super markets.  Wonder if it's located in the Deli section.  You know?  "Hey, I'd like an order of T&A to go."
And yesterday Bethesda started their reveal of their new game.  Teaser trailer to arrive today.  How did they do this?   With a livecast of a Bobble head standing in front of a test pattern.  These things are indicators of a new Fallout game.

During the livecast several people wandered through the scene.  They had balloons, drank what might have been booze, did  brief little skits. Eventually, someone put the Bobble head to sleep, laying him on his side and setting his alarm for 0945 this AM.  At one point Forbes noted that over 140,000 people were watching (which beats the number at the Idiot Jerk's inauguration).
Now I know there are those out there who are saying... "oh, it's just a video game," without realizing that this game, coming from Bethesda Studios, Maryland, the United States, will make more money then "The Avengers, Infinity War."  How important is this game?  Forbes is continuing to broadcast the livestream.

And for those who don't know who or what Forbes is, here's the link.
At this point, all I can say is

PLEASE STAND BY

Big Seig and Lilly weigh in on the ridiculous

Well, here it is Wednesday and I'm supposed to be at work however I'm not because my schedule was changed.  Someone decided that I needed to close the store today in order to insure that all of the "Spring Black Friday" signage was set.  What that actually did was give me 24 hours off between shifts, which isn't bad.  Of course, it's cold outside - daily temperatures are only supposed to warm into the mid-forties.  On Saturday, which is supposed to be the biggest day of this event, and the day of my paint sale, they're forecasting cold with snow and rain showers all day.
Anyway, I cooked up a couple of bones for the dogs (Big Seig and Lilly) so their quietly gnawing away.

Lilly's on the left and weighs in at a petite 56 lbs, Big Seig (there's a reason he's called that) will be 16 months old on the 24th and tops the scale at a hefty 110 lbs (big for a Boxer).  They could care less about what's going on outside.  When I ask them what they think about the idiots down in Mississippi they look quite confused, as if to say "what in hell is Missisppi."  And when I explain that it has the highest drop out rate, and the highest poverty level, they turn away and look for their bones.  And mentioning Tennessee legislating to have the Bible made the official state book doesn't even get me a sideways glance.  Big Seig and Lilly know what's important and what's bitterly ridiculous.

Elon Musk and Richard Branson rise while Chuck and Dave Koch dive

The other day I read that some how the Koch brothers, Chuck and Dave, through one of they back (Citizens United?) has managed to give a smack back to the governor of Tennessee,  Evidently the Guv wanted to expand Medicare coverage or increase it and Chuck and Dave hate Medicare - the word Obamacare gives them such a sour stomach they need to reach for the Rolaids.  Anyway, as I read the article, which noted the hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of millions Chuck and Dave were contributing in order to foist their agenda upon America, I sat back and wondered if they didn't realize 25 years from now they'll both be dead from old age (one of them is 74 and the other is 80).  That's not a long time.  In fact, in spite of the supreme medical care their extreme wealth allows them to enjoy, even 15 years might be pushing it.  Don't they realize nothing they do will be long lasting.  They will be forgotten, only remembered by those studying those arts used by the wealthy in an attempt to control the world around them.  Who will be remembered?  Elon Musk, for one.

Richard Branson will also be notably obvious in history books.  And there will be other names; those leading us into the future.  While Space X will be helping to colonize the moon and eventually leading us on to Mars, the remains of the Chuck and Dave Koch will be enshrined somewhere.  While Virgin Galactic will be taking passengers on excursions to the dark side of the moon, dust will be gathering on tombs of Chuck and Dave.  This is how the world turns.  Those who take us into the future will be immortalized.  One hundred years we name things after them while Chuck and Dave will most like be nothing more then footnotes.