When you hit middle age you really only have two choices: you can get fat and lazy until you roll over and die, or you can can get off your ass and do something, like maybe ride a bike.
Bluntness
I've also been told I have little tact, so if this offends you simply ride on.
Showing posts with label The Body Under Ice. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Body Under Ice. Show all posts
Yesterday was odd. Many chores on the "to do" list were accomplished. Even a trek on the treadmill. Yet this morning when I checked out my blog I saw that I failed to respond to the comments. That's something I believe I've only done twice before in all the years I've been writing Riding On, so my apologies for being so lax.
We did have nice weather. We're supposed to get the same thing today, with the temps hanging around in the low 80s (F) with little to no humidity. Nice stuff for the end of August and early September. This Summer has been good for us here in Central PA. Perhaps it's because we're located in a valley between ranges of the Appalachian mountains.
I received an update yesterday from Findaway Books. The Body Under Ice is now available at the following audiobook retailers. This is probably going to stick out the side of the blog, but that happens sometimes. I am going to prep the first book in the series for audiobook since I should have started out with number 1, rather than number 6. That should be happening while The Body in Motion is being edited.
Idalia has landed in northern Florida with bands of heavy rain and wind. I'm sure Ronnie DeSantis is not happy, mostly because he's already being peppered with questions about the unbelievable prices of home owner's insurance. For those who don't know, 4 major insurers have pulled out of the state because they lose money. Those that are still in the state have upped their premium rates to a point where many people simply can't afford them. Ronnie D has a problem because of this, which would mean getting the state legislature to work for Floridians rather than focus only on the conservative base.
Yesterday was almost a day without rain... almost. We did get sprinkles around 7 last evening, though they didn't last long. The sidewalks were dry this morning when I left Lily out. I do see another mowing of the lawn ahead though, possibly on Friday. Today, supposedly, there is a 0% chance for precipitation... we shall see.
Both tanks were cleaned yesterday. Each one now has an algae eater, but only one tank has snails, too. The smaller tank in the living room is the home for several species of Barb (Golden, Cherry, and Tiger) and they, unfortunately eat snails, in fact they will eat just about anything they see as being weaker. They were very nosey about the algae eater at first, until he tried sucking algae from their bodies; they didn't like that so now they leave him alone.
I do get to work tomorrow for a full eight hours, so dinner tonight is going to be Swedish Meatballs, enough so I can use the leftovers for lunch tomorrow.
The process has been initiated for The Body Under Ice audiobook to be distributed on Audible. It will take about 45 days, and, being that they're cheap scuds, will only pay a royalty of 25% of every sale. Findaway, the publisher will get a 10% cut of that so in the end, I should get about $1.35. Other distributors pay 70% to 80%, to give you an idea of how chintzy they are.
If anyone is interested, I am on Instagram: drsnyderwriter. You get to see pictures of what I cook, the dogs, and the current work in progress.
There's a new video on my YouTube channel. Actually, it's posted in a number of places. Here's the blog version.
And after all of the excitement of the indictments, I can only wonder what will bring joy into my heart today. Trump is evidently in panic mode, that doesn't mean he's scared. I don't think that man knows what it's like to be scared. He is terribly angry, in case any of you were wondering. For the first time in quite some time he not in control. He surrounded himself with spineless sycophants who agreed with him and told him he could do no wrong. Now we're watching and waiting for those same individuals to try and throw him under the bus in order to save their own thin skins.
There will be televised coverage in the courtroom on August 25 when Trump pleads innocent again for the umpteenth time. Everyone will be watching. It's a Friday, so I will probably be watching on either the PC or the laptop.
Yesterday was nice, sunny, not so humid and an enjoyable day. That didn't mean we didn't get our daily dose of rain, that happened overnight... and it's going to happen again today. Weather patterns are so difficult to predict, especially since we're in the beginning stages of Global Warming. We have no idea how fast or how extreme things will change. One thing that does seem to be certain is that here in the United States our southern states are going to get very hot.
My visit to That Fish / Pet Place yielded some blue mollies and plants, the main reason for my trek to Landisville. Later today I'm going to be ordering the last of the naked Greek statues for the big tank. They're made of marble and safe for the tank. Some of the plants I put in the living room tank and the fish rooted them up over night, so they'll go in the bigger tank where the fish are not so aggressive.
Yesterday, as I was driving back from Lancaster, I had an odd feeling right after I turned on to 283 West. It wasn't good, or bad, just that something had changed. Anyway, when I got home I put the bag of fish in the big tank to adapt to the new water temperature and went upstairs to check my email and found I'd gotten a response from Findaway Book distributors. The Body Under Ice is now available for purchase at any one of these distributors. Now, isn't this nice? I set up promotions on Spotify and Barnes & Noble, though I don't know when they will kick in. It's also available on Google Books, as well, but not on Audible. Audible requires you only sell through Audible and royalties are only 30% of the selling price.
And, of course, there were a lot more indictments revealed last night... 13 more for the Orange Anus, though I may be wrong on that count. In fact, 18 people were indicted, included Giuliani. The big question right now is how many of them are going to try and strike a plea deal to avoid any jail time. I can see Mark Meadows doing that. Jenna Ellis? Nah, she's too stupid. She has continued to push the election lie. Because cameras are allowed in the courtroom, on August 25, if he shows up, the world will get to see Donald Trump scowl, and perhaps bark out an obscenity or two. And while his cult will slurp his anger up with a spoon, the rest of America will say they've had enough.
Funny note: The GOP is terrified that if he doesn't get their nomination for president, the Republican party will be dead. They still don't understand that if the Orange Anus does get the nomination, the Republican party will be dead. Now how's that for good news!
Well, we got more rain. The temp outside on this cool Thursday morning is hovering around the 59 (F) mark. A little reminder for those who missed it, we are in summer now. While weather forecasters are saying our temps will climb up into the 80s (F), at present there are no predictions about us hitting the sweltering 90s (F). Of course, I don't think I need to remind any of you that we are still young in the season. Give it a few weeks.
Since today is supposed to be drizzly, showery and overcast, there will be no yardwork today. Instead, the time will be dedicated to fun, inside activities, like the continuing saga of painting trim.
I'm nearing the 30,000 word mark on the next book. My guys have ordered their bikes for the early morning chase through the alleys of New York City... oh... dear... I may have given something away.
And last evening I received this email. I'm excited! My royalties get paid to Findaway, which takes a %, so there's no way I'm going to break the bank on this little endeavor. However, I suspect I will spend a little more time promoting the audiobook than I do with the ebooks. Promotion on Kindle can be very expensive and usually the only one satisfied with the returns is Amazon.
In politics, the House of Representatives censured Adam Schiff in retaliation for his honesty regarding the Orange Anus and his attempted coup. What sorry gang of snotty nosed brats the Republicans have become in their attempt to deify Trump. Evidently Kev McCarthy had to bang his gavel in an attempt to quell the chorus of Shame, Shame, Shame that members of the house were chanting.
And many news organizations that there was a big cat fight between White Trash Boebert and Fascist Bimbo Green over Boebert's attempted Impeachment Grand Stand. Evidently Green called Bobo a bitch loud enough for quite a number of people to hear and repeat. This part is on the verge of coming apart at the seams, and watch out when it rips open completely. What Joy!
Today is Tuesday and my four day weekly break has begun. I will be heading down to Lebanon shortly. Happily, most of the traffic will be heading into Harrisburg, rather than away from it. That's fine with me.
Yesterday we had rain. Lots of rain. Almost one full inch fell over the region so things are going to start greening up. I'm excited. I didn't hear one person complaining.
And while business at the store was slow, I did manage to get 3 measures. Management was happy. I didn't sell anything else, however, which meant for a long, boring day. I couldn't wait to leave.
Of course, when I did get home, it wasn't as though I had enough time to sit and play a video game. All of the audio chapters for The Body Under Ice have been uploaded. I've been taking lots of notes on things that need to be changed. Like how long the break for a comma, or for a period. Words that get pronounced oddly, or skipped. Chapters are not recorded in one sitting, but are actually recorded in bits and pieces which are then stitched together to make a whole. About 3 times that stitching is a bit rough and will need to be smoothed out. All of the song lyrics that I included in the book are being removed. They just don't work in an audiobook. In fact, this has been a great learning experience. I now know how much prep work needs to go into a manuscript before it gets recorded. Here are some of my notes.
And, of course, the Orange Anus is going to be officially indicted today. Miami is prepping for 50,000 protestors. If it gets ugly, and that is a very distinct possibility, and if it looks at all like a reenactment of January 6 the Republicans are going to look bad. No matter how much they want to portray Trump as the victim, they will fail. Today is probably not a good day to be in Miami. This is quite likely going to be a shit show that Ronnie D is going to have to deal with... that should be funny. Does anyone know if he's even in Florida.
Well, it's Sunday, a day of rest for some, but not for me. I work. But then that's become standard. My schedule never seems to change. That's fine. I remember when I was full time associates would almost kill to have a fixed schedule.
Weather wise? Today is supposed to be warm and sunny. Of course, I work. Tomorrow? We have a 99% chance of rain. I haven't look to see if that's spotty showers or possible a soaker. We could use the latter.
All of the chapters of The Body Under Ice have been uploaded. I am over halfway done listening to them and making notes for corrections. While I've always written Bobby Tussel and his reliance on variations of the word "fuck" to be humorous, when you actually get to hear him, he's laugh out loud funny.
Above is a pictures of Paul McCartney that I took while he was in concert at Hershey. The song playing? Live and Let Die. With the approaching court appearance of the Orange Anus, I do think we should keep this song in mind because this may be how we end up dealing with the far Right branch of the Republican part, or at least certain members. One thing noticeable is that it's the House, the far Right Freedom Caucus that is up in arms, not the Senate. Mitch McConnell and his crew have remained very, very silent. I suspect he's trying to get them to keep their hands clean since someone is going to have to try and carry on the Republican Party after this shit show is over.
So, yesterday was nice. We actually got some rain; enough so that I didn't feel the need to go out and water the flowers. I'm going to spend some time outside today weeding, but probably not much since we are under an Air Quality Alert. The Canadian wildfire smoke is upon us. If the NYT is correct it should be what they term medium thickness. I have no idea how they judge or grade the thickness. Are they referring to it's density, or to the particulates that make up the cloud?
A number of audio files for The Body Under Ice were uploaded last evening. The narrator sent me and email telling me to take notes and that corrections would be done after I've listened to the entire book. So, thanks to the Air Quality Alert, my inside hours should be well occupied. I can't wait to hear them cutting through the ice to retrieve the body.
Looking out the window, things do look a bit hazy. When I take Lily for her morning walk, I will sniff around to see if I can smell.
:"We Don't Talk About Bruno" from the movie Encanto was a big hit for Disney. One thing that has always bother me was my inability to hear all the lyrics at the end; there are so many different voices singing. Last night I solved that problem. I watched the lyric video. Had Disney made the right choice and nominated this song it would have walked away with the Oscar for Best Song of the Year.
And, of course, the Internet was abuzz yesterday because Mark Meadows has testified before two (2) Grand Juries in regard to the Trump investigations. There were a lot of cute little videos of pancakes being turned over. So far, I haven't seen and all caps commentary by the Orange Anus. Don't worry, it will happen.
Ronnie D may be in some legal trouble for flying a 2nd flight of immigrants to California. His campaign is hurting, hence the flights. He wants voters to think he's doing the right thing. His 2 hot button issues are evidently the illegal transport of legal aliens and wokeness, something he cannot describe. And just think, the real Republican shit show hasn't even truly begun yet.
I work. Nothing new there. I've gained 3.3 pounds so far and more ounces might be added today because food will be available at work. Today, barbecue chicken is the main course, until they run out. Then they will switch to hamburgers and hot dogs. I'll eat either. Honestly, I'm not one of those people who sees grilled chicken as being better than burgers and dogs. It's all food and while each might taste different, my stomach is not that refined to really care.
One thing that is missing is the baked goods. Usually there were trays of cookies, a large assortment which truly pleased the grazer in me. Cookies don't seem to be on the menu. They had small bags of Famous Amos chocolate chip cookies yesterday. They were not what I was looking for.
Sales wise: except for our Garden Department, we're tanking.
An update on the audiobook. My narrator has the holiday off, but will return to the studio tomorrow. He's up to chapter 24 and expects to have the book completely recorded by the end of Wednesday, at which point he will begin editing.
My honeysuckle is beginning to bloom. I love the scent of honeysuckle.
And, being that it is a holiday, very little news is being generated for public consumption, so sit back and enjoy the quiet for a while.
Well, let's say hello to Monday morning. It's supposed to be warm and sunny today, and, of course, I am scheduled to work. According to the forecast, the weather's supposed to be nice for most of the week. That's nice. There's always yardwork to be done. There's a bush growing in front of the porch I need to cut back and possibly remove completely because, little did I know when I planted it, that it's considered invasive.
In spite of it being slow yesterday, I did manage to sell 2 floor measures. That should keep management happy. I made my goal for the week. Yippee. Otherwise it was slow, which meant for a long, boring day at the Flooring desk.
I do have some big news, something that will delight a number of you. My latest book, The Body Under Ice is being turned into an Audiobook. That's right. For those of you who would rather listen to Eli and Max as they drink their wine, this should be very good news. I'm working with a talented narrator named David Magadan (link to his website). A number of narrators auditioned, he nailed it on his first try. I suspect that's pretty rare after hearing so many different voices.
Otherwise, this past weekend was rather uneventful. Besides the hours I spent at the store, I spent most of my time taking Lily for walks and playing Jedi Survivor.
I do believe Tim Scott announced his candidacy and was endorsed by John Thune. And Ronnie D. I supposed to make his announcement this Thursday. I expecting the GOP primaries to make the blood sport games in the Colosseum look rather tame.
And here it is Tuesday and the weather outside is cloudy. Showers are in the forecast until early afternoon. Temps are supposed to hover in the upper 60s (F) to lower 70s (S). Tomorrow, however forecasters are expecting the day to be good, lots of sunshine, lots of warm mid 70s (F) temps, and quite possibly the start of Spring as we expect it to be.
Yesterday was slow. I spent 8 hours at the flooring desk, well, that's not quite true, at a certain point in time I began walking laps of the building. I got in over 20,000 steps. Believe me, that's a lot of laps. I did manage to get a measure. That means I'm now an active participant in their measure contest. Woohoo!
There are noises from the house next door. I have no idea what they're doing. Perhaps mudding the walls, or possibly laying the vinyl plank flooring. For once they are not cutting or hammering anything.
When I did get home from work yesterday there was a box waiting for me on my porch. My author's copies of The Body Under Ice. There was a problem in getting them; software issues on Amazon's end kept the order for going through. The delivery was a surprise since I was not expecting them until Saturday.
A gag order was put on Trump in regard to his rape trial to keep him, or one of his attorneys from posting things about witnesses or evidence. Will he follow it? I'm thinking not. That would me doing something adverse to what for him is normal attack mode. He will blab and if there are fines he will go to court to keep from paying them, and he'll lose.
Two Republican Representatives in Texas rattled the roof by joining a group of Democrats to push a bill raising the age to 21 for purchasing certain guns. That was brave of them, but the legislation will fail. For it to pass, it would mean that Texans Republicans would understand how their total abandonment of gun control is having tragic consequences, it was also mean that Democrats were correct, and they will never let that happen.
The Body Under Ice is now available to be purchased at both Barnes & Nobel and Amazon. I've been told that this one sucks you in, which is nice to hear.
The Synopsis:
Winter bike races are rare, so Eli and Max were excited to
watch the Pee Paw, a fat tire bike race across the ice and through the snow
surrounding Mackinac Island.The
discovery of four fingers poking through the ice of frozen Lake Huron abruptly
ended their plans.Assembling their
team, they were not prepared for the web of gossip, lies, and deceit hindering
their investigation.Finding out that
everything they are told needs to be questioned, they wonder just who among the
townspeople can they trust as they work to solve the mystery of The Body Under
Ice.
Temps are beginning to rise again. We'll hit the upper 60s (F) today, lower 70s (F) tomorrow, and by Friday we'll be toasting in the upper 80s (F). Nice, eh?
They've been pulling down all of the window air conditioning units at work, prepping for the demand those warmer temps is going to bring. April is still too soon to turn on the Central Air, so I'll be relying on the ceiling fan in the bedroom if it gets too warm. This is also the time of the year that I take the woolie blankets from the bed, wash them, and pack them away until the fall. I always look forward to this time of year!
Yesterday I spent the day in the paint department. Time went fast. I mixed paint and down-stocked product. The last hour I spent back in the flooring department checking the numbers I should have checked yesterday morning. I did the get a measure, which was nice.
For those interested, it's looking like I will begin the publishing process of The Body Under Ice next Thursday. As such, I will begin to drop hints of the book cover. What can I say but that I think it's one of the most striking covers so far, possibly almost visceral. I like it. Here's a backwards shot of it. 😎😎😎
And didn't it seem as though this past weekend was politically very quiet? Perhaps because last week was filled with the Clarence Thomas bombs bursting in air all over the place, and the Tennessee Republicans kicking out 2 black Democrats, and the Trump judge in Texas trying to ban mifepristone. Is it me, or does it seem that every time a Republican turns around he's getting smacked up the side of his head by a 2 X 4 of reality? And the Cracker Jack Crazies are having the same problem. Frankie Graham telling his base that he believes all buildings should be adorned with a Cross is... well, shall we say his comment smacks of religious authoritarianism. He believes his beliefs are being attacked and that's simply wrong; their inability to evolve is simply making them less and less important to daily life. Relevance relies on change, something he is incapable of doing.
Well, we did have thunderstorms yesterday, for about 15 minutes. Mostly the rain was nothing more than the occasional shower. A high wind warning went into effect at 0800... and there was no wind. We did have some 40 mile an hour gusts during that short-lived thunderstorm. This doesn't mean we didn't get wind, we did, but it started last night around 9 PM when the actual cold front went through and this morning it's gone. Forecasters are predicting today's temps to be in the mid 50s (F). That's fine.
Tuesday the weather's supposed to be nice, so the yard work will commence. My bulbs are coming up. There are a lot of them. Bazoom, bazoom.
The threat of storms yesterday kept business down in the store. As far as I know, no one in my department got either a measure or a lead. I had some sales go through which put me over my goal, but all of my other numbers are zeros. This is how it goes.
There might be hope for my selling paperbacks through Barnes & Noble. Since my covers are commissioned, hand painted mini-works of art, I need to convert the scanned JPEGs into PDFs, resize the size through the 'in flight' tab, and then import that file into Word to ensure colors are accurate. Well, now there's a tab in Word that lets you convert and imported file to a PDF, which means I might be able to skip the Adobe step. I will have to play around with it.
Back covers need art too, so, if you buy the paperback version of The Body Under Ice from Amazon, it's quite likely this is what you'll see. It's a shame we didn't have any snow this winter to give it a better background. That's a Home Depot hat I'm wearing, and, of course, those ugly, yellow lensed glasses.
\
I have to tell you that every time I read Tucker Carlson's over the top rants I cannot stop myself from smiling. There isn't a single doubt in my mind that Tuck is scared. If Dominion triumphs over Fox, Tuck's career will be over, unless he wants to join Newsmax and much lower salary level. Every time Trump gets indicted (and more are on the way), his career is going to take a body blow. The man's ego has always put him on the wrong side of reality. It's almost as if someone gave him a long skein of rope and asked him to make something, and in his infinite stupidity he decided to make a noose. The idea that his career choices might hang him has never occurred to him, which, knowing how his ego works, is not surprising. Is Tuck terrified that his career might soon be swinging in the wind? I don't doubt it.
If, unlike me, you're not working today in Central PA, you're going to be dealing with weather, thunderstorms and high wind. If the forecasters are correct, especially the high wind. We're under a high wind warning that begins at 0800 this morning and ends at 0800 tomorrow morning. That means things are going to blowing all over my neighborhood. Usually this means a stray garbage can will blow into my backyard.
I went to my local Giant supermarket yesterday, and when I got I home I gave my lawn a really big look at and realized I'm going to need to get my little mower out. This is what spring means, growing grass that needs to be mowed, and I don't mind. I don't mind being outside.
And I painted more of my trim yesterday. I only put in about an hour at time. I should have much finished on Tuesday, the first day of my weekend. And Wednesday I'm planning on finishing off my kitchen ceiling.
Each day, publication for The Body Under Ice gets closer. I'm excited. Yesterday afternoon I finished the last of the corrections from editor #4. Today the manuscript will go out to the fifth and final editor.
I made shrimp Lo mein for dinner last night. The noodles ended up getting overcooked because of printer issues. Even though they're too soft, they're still edible. Half was dinner and the other half is going to be lunch today.
And yesterday was a sad day for Fox News.... so get out your party hats. A judge has ruled that Dominion has produced enough evidence to send their lawsuit against the tabloid network to trial. Old Rupert is going to court... again. That old fool has been sued before and has usually settled out of court. Not this time. Rupert's luck with juries is bad. The prime example is the lawsuit brought against News of the World, a now defunct newspaper owned by Murdoch. A brief synopsis: reporters for that paper hacked into the phone of girl who had been kidnapped and murdered, and wrote articles saying she was alive, and Rupert knew they were doing this. Things went down badly for Rupert. From the information that has so far been released, Rupert knew his on-air personalities were lying about election fraud in 2020 and did nothing to stop them. News of the World was shut down. Let's hope the same thing happens to Fox.
It's nice and sunny outside and the temps are supposed to climb into the mid 50s (F). Overnight, temps did drop down to freezing, but those days will soon be coming to an end. Spring is edging closer and closer. I'm fine with that, even if it does mean getting out the lawn mower and trimming the verge.
I do get to work today. Short shift. 1 PM to 7 PM. No lunch, though I'll take a break. I'm glad it's the afternoon. Sometimes Monday mornings are busy; contractors come to pick up supplies for the coming week's jobs. By the time the afternoon rolls around, they've made their purchases. One thing I've noticed in Flooring is that since our remodel, we get less contractors coming in to buy the cheap carpet we carried on rolls. We also don't get the sheet vinyl customers we used to get. This is fine. Nobody in the department likes to cut sheet vinyl.
Yesterday afternoon was terribly slow in the retail department. As I said to one of my fellow associates, I don't really mind those days. I usually spend that down time doing research on the the Flooring computer. In the next book, I was thinking of having my guys wander down through Central Park, possibly stopping by the Delacorte Theater to take in some Shakespeare in the Park, or maybe listening to some music at the Soundstage. So many possibilities.
One thing that plays a part in The Body Under Ice is the ice bridge. The only way to get to Mackinac Island is by ferry. During the winter, when Lake Huron is frozen, people drive snowmobiles across the frozen lake using what they call the ice bridge. On a sunny day it takes about 12 minutes, however on a moonless night it can take much longer. Here's a video I watched about people driving across the ice bridge and taking a tour of the island. It looks very cold.
Here's a funny thing: Newt Gingrich is concerned about some of the legislature the Republican of Florida are proposing under Ronnie D. In particular, he's upset with the bill which would have bloggers register if they were going to talk about the state government, and Ronnie D. Why is this funny? Because Gingerich was the instigator that started the Republican move towards authoritarianism. The Tea Party, remember? He was the one who initiated the "shut up, we're in charge" doctrine, as well as the constant, unswerving attacks on Democracy. Now, he's having an "oh, shit," moment. I suspect Newtie is now realizing that the extremism he was pushing has now grown cancerous. Keep in mind, it was Newtie who had no problem with Trump and his leprotic government. However, now that the chips are falling, his concern is growing apparent. Keep in mind, it was Newtie who joined Trump and his group of insurrectionists on a rainy golf outing last summer so they could freely speak far from microphones. Believe me, Newtie is going to get everything he deserves.
I got a lot done yesterday. I'm always pleased when most of the chores on my list get accomplished. I see this as proof that I don't turn into a slug in between books. This doesn't mean I'm not making notes. They are a constant. It even has a working title: The Body in Motion. Now, ain't that snappy?
I had an offer from Xbox for 3 free months of Apple TV +. Anybody who knows me knows that I am not an Apple Head, one of those sad individuals who lives and breathes Apply. Once I did buy an rather large iMac at the recommendation of a friend; 3 weeks after the warranty ran out the hard drive devoured itself. That's what I was told by Apple IT as one of their techs remotely tried to save it. He failed. Anyway, I thought 3 months free isn't bad and I've always wanted to watch Foundation, so I went through the process of reactivating my Apple account. I found Foundation in the menu, however when I selected the program I got an error message: This browser does not support the playing of Foundation. I can, however, play it on an android tablet or phone. What fresh horseshit it this? If I ever get the chance to watch Foundation, I want to watch it on my big screen TV, not a tablet, or computer desk. Needless to say, I promptly cancelled my subscription to Apple TV +.
Here's a little video about what happens to my notes after I finish a book. Posterity? Ain't that a kicker.
Of course, Dominion, the company suing Fox News, published quite a few disturbing emails on Thursday and the repercussions are still bouncing off the walls. Here's the gist: Fox knew Trump lost the election and that his minions were spinning unbelievable lies, its broadcasters (Hannity, Ingraham, et al) knew this too, yet the network endorsed these lies to keep from losing viewers to Newsmax. Here's a bit from the Washington Post if you want a more detailed explanation. Will Dominion win its lawsuit? It is difficult to say. Fox is saying their First Amendment rights give them the permission to say whatever they want. What will come into play is their insistence of calling themselves a news channel. From what I've read, this is a true nightmare for the network. They jumped into a real shithole when they chose to ignore the truth in order to satisfy their loyal viewers. They may survive, but a name change to Fox Conspiracy Channel might be required.
Yesterday was nice and sunny, and by that I mean the temps topped 70 (F). There was a bit of a breeze in the air, but nothing to complain about. Temps are supposed to coast back down into the more seasonal range. I can deal with that. We've basically got a month and a couple of days until we are officially in spring. Then we'll be able to say "what a strangely warm winter we've had."
I had lunch with my cousin Robin and her husband yesterday. I'm the baby of the bunch by 3 months. Being the baby can be good when you're as old as we are. Afterwards, I stopped in to see my Aunt Lois. She reminded me she's 88. The Snyder side of the family has always been long lived. We laughed at our old memories... and they are old. Both of my sets of grandparents were from a small town named Pine Grove and, unlike the rest of my cousins, I spent much of my summer off from school with them. It was a good visit.
Editor number 2 has The Body Under Ice. Later this morning, after my treadmill time, I want to do another little video for YouTube. They're fun, too,.
The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute released an 86 minute video of the Titanic. There is no narration, but there music, just the footage that was shot the first time they sent a camera down in 1986. The ship is continually falling apart, and will not be a long term memorial for those who died. I think that's what people though was going to happen. There are frequent trips down to see the wreckage and apparently souvenirs are being taken. Honestly, I have no problem with that.
Today is Release Day. In other words, some of the Grand Jury report on Trump's Atlanta interference is going to be released to the public, i.e. the prologue and the conclusion. Oh, and there's a bit about the liars. You know? Those people who swore to tell the truth and then lied. I do believe the reason the judge decided to have Release Day was an incentive for Fani to speed up the action, another way to tell her it's time to either indict or get off the pot, so to speak.
And evidently a 3rd Trump attorney has been forced to testify in Jack Smith's investigation. These attorney's are basically being treated as hostile witnesses. If they get caught lying, they can be prosecuted. We all know that by working for Trump, lying is second nature to them.
Well, hello Saturday. We are 38 days from Spring. If the long range forecasts (meaning next week) are accurate, we will be hitting that season early. Weather can be so fickle, though. Still, if they're correct, we should be in the mid 60s (F) by Wednesday. While the good temps have been good for the heating bills, one does hope they don't portend a stinkin' hot summer. Of course, I have a new electric provider, so we'll have to see how that works out.
I haven't baked anything for a while, mostly because I've been busy with other things. I also need to get back on the treadmill. Instead of everyday, it's been every other day.
Biggie no sleeps up on the bed, well at night he doesn't. The minute I turn off the light he's heading down to the couch. Interestingly enough, if I lay down to take a nap during the day he is on that bed faster than you can say "nap." Also, since he's sleeping downstairs, he's no long getting up 2 - 3 times a night to go potty outside. That was one of the reasons they thought he had Cushing's. I'd say that was pretty much a missed diagnosis.
And I popped another little video onto my channel about the upcoming The Body Under Ice. They're fun to do, and while I have an idea of what I'm going to say, mostly their ad-libbed. I did have to re-record one because I said the title of the book wrong and that was followed by a stream of profanity that could have come straight from Bobby Tussel's mouth.
Our military shot down a UFO yesterday. No, not one of those saucery shaped things the people from Alteres Nebulon fly to Earth. Nope, this one was probably a surveillance drone of some sort. Of course, they didn't say it was a surveillance drone, just that it was an unidentified flying object about the size of a small car. It was reported on Twitter that it took Fox news 5 minutes to deride the shooting down. They were slow on the trigger with that one.
I did see some posts that musky Elon was a little perturbed because his Tweets were just hanging there, not a lot of re-Tweets, and his usual number of bots hitting the like button. I find it amusing that one of the richest people in the world's ego is being burned and it turns out he's a cranky as a 12 year old.
Finally, I saw where one of Trump's attorneys turned in another classified document to the DOJ... and also a laptop that had a copy of the document. At least, I think it was the same document. People were quite skittish about that. A document on a laptop can be emailed. There was also mention of a thumbdrive, too. That would make the document so very much more portable. People travel with thumbdrives all the time. They carry them in their pockets. This is not good.
Well, it's Thursday and the temps here in Central PA are predicted to climb up into the low 60s (F). Yeah, you read that correctly. Of course, showers are going to be hanging around. Honestly, I wasn't planning on doing any yardwork anyway. The forecast is for them to drop back into the mid to upper 40s (F), which is still nice.
I over-carbed it yesterday... again with home made French fries cooked in my deep fryer. Oh, and I had a balance left on my Dairy Queen gift card which I used on a large Turtle Blizzard. Yum. In about an hour, I'm going to step on the scale. If you live close enough, you'll probably hear me scream.
My first reader has finished going through her copy of The Body Under Ice. I'll be picking up her copy later this morning. She has already texted her 'this doesn't make sense' list. There was nothing on it that was not... terrible. Not like when she read through The Body in the Tower. Holy Crap! Her first comment with that one was "all that bicycle shit in the beginning is boring as hell." Gladly, she didn't find anything 'boring as hell' in The Body Under Ice.
I've a friend who's going to design school up in New York. His main focus is sneakers, though occasionally he'll do a handbag. He and some friends went to the Guggenheim. He was not impressed.
The miniscule minority of Republicans controlling the House is desperately trying to kick that dead horse known as the Hunter Biden laptop for as much publicity as they can get. To do this, they went after Twitter yesterday because in their tiny minds, Twitter permitted all types of liberal messaging while censoring conservative comment. It turns out that both parties requested the removal of content. The White House, itself, was making frequent requests. I enjoyed the exchange where the committee learned how Trump had wanted a comment by Chrissy Teagan removed. He didn't like the fact that she had called him a ''pussy assed bitch," I least I think it was "pussy assed bitch." This has long been a problem for Republicans, jumping to conclusions that will never be concluded.
Another funny bit was these Twitter execs released the names of the 2 individuals who had requested the most censoring and, as you might expect, they were Republicans. In case you're interested, they were Elise Stefanik and Kevin McCarthy. In case you're forgotten, it was Elise who endorsed George Santos.
Good Morning! The weather outside my window here in Central PA is nice, almost reaching the balmy stage. That will happen later this afternoon when the temps reach their high in the mid 50s (F). The same forecast is in store for tomorrow. This winter has been moderate. I've no problem with that. We've also been rainier than usual, with more on the way.
I'm going to try and burn tons of calories today since I ate so many yesterday. My caloric intake always goes through the roof when I go out for breakfast. We ate at Denny's. Even the water has calories at Denny's. Starting off the day with a 1200 calorie omelet always triggers the carb monster I usually manage to control. The only good thing about the carb monster is that when he is finally back under control, my refrigerator and cupboards are clear of high calorie carbs.
They drywaller packed up his gear and left yesterday morning, so I'm fairly certain most of the heavy construction is finished in the house next door. Well, except for the bathrooms. I suspect that's going to be noisy. And, of course, they're going to have to put new siding on the outside. They haven't done anything with the roofs, either. It is all rather interesting.
I made a little video yesterday about the character creation in The Body Under Ice. It's now posted on my Instagram account, as well as my YouTube channel.
The State of the Union was last night. As usual, I didn't watch. While on certain occasions I will watch speeches, mostly I don't. The State of the Union is one I rarely watch. Notice, I'm writing out the name, State of the Union rather than using the acronym. I've never been one of those people whose secret desire is to be trendy.
State of the Union speeches have two purposes, to show how well the president has done, and to allow him to present his plans, a menu of high caloric dishes, if you will, for the next year or so. With the miniscule Republican majority in the House, very little will get accomplished, especially when you realize so many of them are complete brainless. How brainless? Well, they only get exercise when their pet balloons decide to take them for a walk.
Sarah Sanders (Huckabee) gave the Republican rebuttal. I'm certain there are MAGA voters who cheered at the sight of a fat, white woman wearing white, no doubt an attempt to imply she's pure of heart, telling America that with Executive orders she banished CRT and racism from schools. Honestly, when I saw her picture I thought a Chinese weather balloon was floating over Arkansas.
