Funny Things

 So, what all happened yesterday?  Well, it rained.  All day it rained.  Over an inch of rain fell as a cold front moved into the area.  Today it is going to be cold, with out high temperatures only climbing into the mid 30s (F).  That same thing is going to be true for tomorrow, and Sunday.  On Monday we're supposed to be warming up again.

Where as Biggie and Lily hated the rain, Howie has no problem with it.  He has no problem with puddles either, and, if the puddle is located in the right place, he soon turns it into a mud puddle.  He thinks digging in a puddle of water is a really fun game.  And when he comes in we play "Let's try and dry off the wet puppy!"  I did end up laughing because the game is fun.

I finished dehydrating the bag of potatoes yesterday.  Tomorrow, I'm going to do tomatoes and possibly onions at the same time.  I'm sure the house will smell wonderful.  Otherwise, I did nothing yesterday except work on The Body in History.  I had no desire to really do anything, no doubt the result of the cloudy skies and constant rain.  I do like sunny days.  We need more of them.  Wouldn't it be nice if it only rained at night, while we are sleeping?

And now for a bit of dark humor:

The funny thing about that was if there were a lethal strain of Covid killing off Americans, soooo many of those anti-vaxers would suddenly start whistling a different tune.  I honestly believe that the biggest problem we had with the last strain of Covid was that Trump got it and lived.  Had he died, so many things would have been different.  Christians want to believe God kept him alive to give them what they want.  They evidently don't know that Evil works the same way, unfortunately so many of them are presumptuous enough to believe they know the will of God.  Can you hear me laughing?

As if Orangey's packing Guilfoyle off to Greece wasn't amusing enough, he's going to put Kari Lake in charge of Voice of America.  According to their website, they claim to reach 354 million people around the world.  To put that into perspective, there are over 8 Billion people in the world, so Voice of America is reaching .00000004% of the world's population.  I'm hoping that she realizes how big this insult is after spending so much time in Mar a Lago, probably doing abhorrent sexual things with the Orange Anus.  

Finally, no one should be surprised that there are hitlists springing up online and posters being spread with the names and pictures of Healthcare CEOs.  As I said, the shooting of the United Healthcare CEO was just the tip of the iceberg and no one is going to fix the problem with the American health care system.

Consequences

 Fog.  Yes, we have fog here in Central PA.  The temps are in the mid 40s (F), however, we do have fog... and warnings about the fog.  And drizzle.  We have drizzle as well.  The day is not supposed to clear, and tomorrow our forecasters are calling for rain.

Yesterday was slow at work.  I did sell a small job to a customer for a runner on a staircase.  Still, our department was close to making our daily plan.  The store, however?  Well, customers were lacking.  That meant that I got in over 10,000 steps.  

Other wise, the day was meh.  I didn't get a ride in.  I didn't do free weights.  I did work on the final chapter of The Body in History.  I already know there are going to be some changes, but my main goal is to get the first draft done.  The first draft is never the final draft.  Changes happen.  Trying to perfect it as though it were the final draft is a waste of time simply because you'll see all these things that you thought were perfection when you put them on the page suddenly need fixing.

Howie has a vet appointment at 0930 to get some booster shots.  Since his vet is half a mile from the store, he and I will visit.  Many people take their dogs into our store.  It's a great way to socialize them, in fact, a lot of the departments have biscuits to give as treats.  

I posted this on Facebook this morning.  I usually don't get a lot of likes when I post these.  I don't really care.

This will piss off conservatives.  They do hate the truth.  American has always relied on immigrants to get the work done, you know, those menial tasks no one really wants to do.  When you get rid of the immigrants, prices go up because no one wants to pick grapes for minimum wage.  You see, conservatives denigrate types of people to generate anger and hate, and then they use that anger and hate to win elections, unfortunately, their are always consequences, and they never think that far ahead.

Another example relates to the very soon to be folk hero who shot the CEO of United Healthcare.  Instead of realizing how angry America is with the pay for treatment healthcare system they have pushed upon the country, Conservatives are ignoring that problem completely and vilifying the young man, but then Conservatives have always been stupid, they have never considered consequences.  For example, in order to get gun owners to vote for them, they constantly pushed the rights of the 2nd Amendment.  Thanks to that constancy, America is basically armed to the teeth.  Authoritarian governments really don't want their citizens armed to the teeth.  Guns mean trouble if someone disagrees.  Conservatives are about to learn that it is going to take much more than just saying "shut up, we're in charge," and oh, so many of them are as spineless as the Orange Anus they just put into the presidency.

The Tip of the Iceberg

 Well, is everybody having a happy Saturday morning?  Right now our skies are overcast here in Central PA, and the temp is either 30, 31, or 32 (all F) depending upon which weather app you're using.  Nice consistency, eh?  If you can't be specific, provide a range from which to choose.

Yesterday was a good day.  Much was accomplished.  Half a bag of potatoes was dried.  I cooked up a cup of barley, and while that doesn't sound like much, barley expands when you simmer it for 25 minutes, so that one cup easily turns into 2.5 cups.  That's easily enough for 4 breakfasts.  The aquarium in the living room had a thorough cleaning; filters need to be ordered since I'm on my last. I got a nice ride in a nice ride on the bike.  And I've started the last chapter of The Body in History, except for that teeny, little wrap up chapter I always end my books with.  It's the 45th chapter in the book, and it's called The Song of Apollo.  Now, ain't that nice.

Otherwise, the only notable thing to happen yesterday was Howie ripping off the small tail of his Crackle Chicken toy.  For some reason, that delighted him to no end, and he ran around the house with that little bit of fabric hanging out the corner of his mouth as if it was the greatest toy on earth.

And wasn't it interesting to find out how obtuse the health insurers are when it comes to how poorly the common man in the United States thinks of them.  If it isn't already there, this books is probably going to hit the #1 best seller list.

The police recovered 3 bullet casings after the United Healthcare CEO was shot to death, and written on each was a single word:  Delay.  Defend.  Depose.  The fact that so many people sent his family Republican Thoughts and Prayers says a lot, much more than the health insurance industry wanted to hear.  You see, for them, this is just a job.  Human pain and suffering do not enter the equation.  To get a good review in this industry, I'd be willing to bet that these Executives need to proved a total of $$$ they have saved the company by denying claims.  They do not go to the funerals for those who believe their insurance was going to help them survive.  And evidently United Healthcare was using a AI algorithm they knew was seriously flawed, that it was denying 90% of all claims.  I do not doubt their Executives were not concerned one wit about all the pain and suffering they were causing, rather I'm sure they were bantering among each as to how much money they were saving the company, and that the stockholders were going to be overjoyed.  Someone said that this shooting might well be the tip of the iceberg.  That may well be. 

Deny. Defend. Depose.

 It's snowing!  Sort of...    I guess I should say that snow is falling, however the temps are in the mid 30s (F) so it's melting on sidewalks, and streets, and all of those pavers in my backyard that I call my veranda.  Basically, we have a dusting.  That's it.  We're also under a high wind warning because there's a front moving through; today and tomorrow will be cold, but then temps will be warming up with highs in the high 40s (F) and low 50s (F).  

Yesterday turned out to be pretty meh.  I don't know if it was because the skies were overcast all day or not.  I finished off this weeks laundry and sliced up a bag of green peppers and put them in the dehydrator.  My house smelt greeny for most of the day.  I'm off tomorrow and I have a bag of potatoes, so I will probably slice those up and dry them for future use.  When the potatoes are done, I'm thinking of buying chicken and drying that.  Also, the 25 pound bag of barley arrived.  I work today, so while at the store, I'm going to pick up a 5 gallon food safe bucket and lid for storing it.  I suppose, in a way, you could say that I'm becoming a prepper of sorts.  Better safer than sorry.

And I went to see Wicked last night.  It is, as everybody is saying, very good, probably better than the stage show since the camera gives the audience close-ups.  There are some very touching moments in it.  Some people live for reviews, I don't, and knowing this was probably going to be a BIG movie purposely avoided anything and everything about it.  It was very good, and so apropos for our current times.  One of the few things I did see, was a comment by someone who said that it took him over 28 years after first seeing the Wizard of Oz to realize who the real villain was in the story.

And the United Healthcare CEO was shot to death yesterday in New York City.  The gun casings found at the scene had three words written on them:  Deny.  Defend.  Depose.  So, the shooter planned on shooting 3 times, a Holy number.  The CEO was shot in the back, which many may see as being symbolic of the way Healthcare in this country treats a majority of patients; their denial of a claim or procedure is just like shooting the patient in the back.  Shortly afterwards, the United Healthcare website removed the names of every one of its board members.  Right now, United Healthcare denies about 1/3 of all claims (32 %).  They are not going to change their policies because the company is focused on its own greed.  Conservatives are not going to do anything to try and change the way healthcare works in America, they, too, are totally focused on greed.  One can only wonder if Americans are waking up to the fact that billionaires are not now, nor have they every been, beneficent.  They have only been interested in making more money, not matter what the cost in human suffering.