The Wannabe Gods

 The cold front that is slowly moving through Central PA is still slowly moving through Central PA.  Our current temp is 31 (F) and we're going to climb a full 1 degree to 32 (F) to reach our high for the day.  According to Accuweather, our temps will not return to the 40s (F) until sometime around December 20.  After that, our daily highs will be considered seasonably warm.

Yesterday was kind of a mixed day.  I did get my workout done in the morning, though I will admit to not being at my best.  Part of the problems was not sleeping well Tuesday night.  And then yesterday afternoon I had lunch with friends.  That was fun.  We get together every 3 months.  This works out well.  Since we're all retired, I think if we met more often our conversations would soon tend to veer into repetitiveness, or worse, the dreaded ailment of the month category.

One thing that did make me laugh was the suggestion that I might want to build a dumbbell stand.  Right now they are lined up along the wall on the floor.  That would entail using a drill, and measuring, and building and... well, let me be perfectly honest.  I am not a constructo type person.  Not in the least.  As such, the dumbbells will stay where they are.

And the new piece of workout equipment is arriving today.  This means I'll be taking a personal day away from the flooring desk since I don't want the boxes sitting out on my front porch until I get home this evening.  This also means I'll start putting the thing together.  Notice, I can assemble, I simply can't build.

And here's a pic of my Christmas cactus which is blooming again.

And evidently we've become a pirate nation now, mostly because of big Oil.  If anybody had any doubts why Orangie's administration was so interested in Venezuela, the truth came out yesterday.  For those of you among the uninformed, Venezuela is sitting on approximately 18% of the world's oil reserves.  Wowza!  This has nothing to do about drugs, or sinking drug boats and everything to do with simply, unadulterated greed.  Big Oil can never, ever be rich enough.  And those billionaires at top?  They truly do believe themselves to be gods.  These people simply refuse to understand the way of the world.  They do not look at history, which constantly reminds us that those on top always fall, because, being mere mortals and not gods, they over extend themselves in so many, many ways.  They will never learn because they always believe themselves to be smarter than those failures who came before them.  They are not.  The only difference between our current crop of wannabe gods and those of the past is that when this group fails, those failures will be spectacular.  

The Problems with Billionaires

 The outside temp was a cool 48 (F) when I woke up this morning.  I had the heat set at 69 (F) was not surprised to hear it turn on while I was cooking up my barley breakfast.  There are freeze warnings out for tonight, however, according to Accuweather, the lowest our temperature will get is 39 (F).  That's 7 degrees above freezing.  Maybe they're just being cautious.

And yesterday was one of those odd days.  Some things were done, like laundry, but not enough for me to say the day was a total success.  I did my Wednesday morning workout in, paid some bills.  Dinner was a beef stewy thing I threw together in the crock pot.  But looking back on it, I'm wondering where the hours went.

Today feels like it should be Saturday, but it's Thursday and I have to work this afternoon.  My new schedule was posted yesterday and it does appear as though I'm back to working 22 hours a week.  That's fine.

I did get some words written, but not as many as I'd have liked.  If it weren't for the shit show going on the country, I'd say I might have a mild case of writer's block.  Unfortunately, there is the shit show and like many Americans, I'm watching it anxiously.  

Anyway this popped up in my Facebook feed yesterday, my only ride in a helicopter.  I'm flying back to my ship.  I truly disliked it.  For those of you who have never ridden in a Navy helicopter, they are extremely loud, even with the sound proofing headphones.  To this day, hearing a helicopter simply grates me.

And one of the main reasons we have this shit show is billionaires.  Believe me, billionaires are only conservative because of the tax breaks they are addicted to, they are hooked on the heroin of lower percentage rates.  In their private lives they do whatever the hell they want, most of which is neither conservative nor Christian.  Because Democrats want to tax them, billionaires are backing Republicans. They do not understand that everything has a tipping point.  That is an idea that doesn't enter their thinking process... at all.  And the MAGA cultists?  They are soooo needy.  They also believe that billionaires are like fairy godmothers and fairy godfathers, that they'll wave the little billionaire magic wand and everything will be fine and dandy.  Cultists don't understand that billionaires view them as an expendable resource, or that billionaires will put them through Hell just so that they don't have to deal with pronouns they don't like.  Cultists will always be the ultimate victims, used and then thrown away once they no longer have any value.  Will the cultists ever reach their own tipping point?  I don't know, but the billionaires had better watch out if they ever do.

Dancing Around on Wall Street

 Our outside temp is a cool 62 (F).  That's a bit cool for this time of year, but fear not, things are going to get a bit toasty over the next few days.  Our high today is predicted to be 88 (F) and from there it's up into the 90s (F).  While it's true we're going to be dealing with some warm days ahead, none of them are going to be warm enough to put us in the red zone.

Looking at the calendar, I admit that seeing we're almost halfway through August is surprising.  Days seem to be suddenly disappearing n the rear view mirror.  I don't know who's driving this car, but I wouldn't mind slowing down just a bit.  Supposedly time speeds up the busier your are, however, they also say your age plays a large part in this acceleration; all of those seconds and minutes you have accumulated over the years evidently put you on the fast track. This make me wonder how fast they'll be going when I hit 100.

Because I always work a full shift on Sunday I did relatively nothing yesterday except sit at the flooring desk.  Well, that's not quite true.  I did get in over 13,000 steps.  That's a lot of laps around the store.  Oh, and I dealt with a customer who is going to be a nightmare.  He had set up his measure while there were promotions running, but since he couldn't get measured before they ran out, they extended them for him.  This meant over $500 in mark-downs.  That's way above my pay grade.  Also, this was just the beginning.  He didn't know why he was being charged for this... and that, and why was an $800 underlayment necessary?  Unfortunately for him it was a Sunday.  Our installers are closed.  Our Customer Order Specialists, who could answer some of his questions don't work weekends.  I spent an hour with this customer.  He was not an angry individual, but he was insistent.  He also came into the store last week to get this taken care of and was told and was told by the individual at the flooring desk that he needed to come in and talk to the associate who had sold him the measure.

Howie and I were playing with Sven, his hard rubber hedgehog for about twenty minutes and then this happened.

A lot of people are upset that the Orange Anus is deploying National Guard troops to Washington DC.  On every post that I see, I repeat the same response:  This is a distraction in order to change the subject to something other than the Epstein files.  This administration is throwing everything they can come up with at the wall in order to change the conversation.  They have a serious problem though because their tiny dingy of lies is constantly being swamped with so many bad truths.  The Epstein files are a horrific problem for Orangie, but so, too, are the increasingly high prices Americans are paying for the necessities.  He keeps shrieking about how good Wall Street is doing because that's all he cares about.  Wall Street represents that satisfaction of billionaires, it does not represent the satisfaction of Americans, or the fact that food prices are rapidly climbing.  Corporations make more money when Americans pay higher prices and that makes both corporations and billionaires happy.  Do they care that Americans are not happy?  No, they're too busy looking at their bottom line and dancing around singing "yeah, yeah, yeah."  Seven out of ten Americans are very unhappy that the cost of living is continually going up.  Does Orangie care?  Nope, he's dancing around with all of those other billionaires, except when he dances it looks like he's jerking somebody off.

Celebrating our first No Kings Day

 The weather for today is supposed to be very nice, temps in the mid 80s (F), no clouds, the perfect day for a holiday.  Hhmm.

I never work on Fridays, though the store is open today.  I will get holiday pay, which is nice.  I am going to zip over to Giant after I post this because I need juice, and a couple of other things.

As far as plans go, well, for me today is just like any other day.  I'll get a upper body workout in.

The Tour de France starts today, though I got rid of my Peacock.  So, I might have to sign up for another month.  Maybe I'll get a trial month free, that would be nice.

For those who don't know, July 4 celebrates are Independence, the day we broke away from the British Empire.  It is the original No Kings Day.  Unfortunately for us in America, we now have a moral degenerate in the White House who is trying to be a king, or worse, a dictator.  Many conservatives have no problem with either of those two.  They believe that's the only way they can force their will upon the people.  They will find out they are wrong.

This was the largest transfer of wealth from the lower and middle classes to the upper class in America's history.  Billionaires are neither benevolent or beneficent, but the really do want you to be beholding to them.

The Guardian said that this piece of legislation might give America a brief sugar high, but there was no stopping the down days.  The great orange retailer I work for said they were not going to raise prices because of the tariffs; that was a lie.  You should see the prices on our carpet and our mosaic tile.  Where prices haven't gone up, holes are appearing.  This is happening all across the country, and those billionaires?  They don't give a shit.

 

The Bishop

 It was 1 (F) degree when I left Howie out this morning.  He was long enough to do his business before scooting back in super fast for a peanut butter puppy cookie.  Today's high is expected to be in the upper teens, though by tomorrow it should be in the upper 20s (F).  Now, won't that be nice.  And they will continue to rise.

The cold temps are a bit bothersome because my thermostat is on the "fritz," as they used to say.  The furnace turns on and works well, however, once the set temperature has been reached, it switches to Air Condition and the fan simply circulates air, so instead of the temp being a constant 72 (F), it's around 69 (F).  I find this frustrating, so I drove to the store yesterday and bought a new one with the thought of installing it myself.  I looked at the instructions and said, "nope, I'm calling someone."  Sometime this morning I will call Jordan and make an appointment.  For those who don't know, Joe, the electrician I used previously, was killed in a traffic accident and his assistant, Jordan, is now running the business.  

Otherwise, yesterday was like most of my Tuesdays, spent not doing much of anything.  This behavior pattern repeats regularly, and always on Tuesdays.  I don't know why.  Even when I was off for a week, Tuesday was spent doing practically nothing.  

Howie is getting some new toys.  Chewy had a sale, 4 for the price of 3.  None of them have plush.  All of them are made by Kong, a company that knows how to make durable dog toys.

And then yesterday this happened:

And last night on Truth Social the Orange Anus called her a nasty bitch.  So much for thinking that might be any tiny bit of Christian compassion in the Orangie's administration.  Do not doubt that so called Christians have problem with her calling out their wannabe morally degenerate savior.  

Evidently every mention of LGBTQ individuals was expunged from every government website yesterday, I'm sure that must please the Log Cabin Republicans to no end, emphasis on the No end.

At this point, I'm just wondering when the protests are going to begin.  Every day I see reminders of the 1960s, when there were protests all over the country against... well, just about everything.  This time, if there's a Kent State, those shooting the guns will find people defending themselves and shooting back.  Chaos will ensue, and Wall Street will take a Hell of a hit, and the billionaires will run for their lives.  I understand Zuck has some sort of underground compound in Hawaii - that doesn't seem very smart since the Hawaiian Island chain is volcanic.

The Late Entry

 Yes, it is late because Howie had a Vet appointment for some booster shots, shots that he's no longer going to be getting.  The total cost was $108, and way too much. One of the boosters was for Lyme disease.  I could make a joke and say we don't grow limes here in Central PA, which is, in a way true, but I won't.  Lyme disease in dogs is the same as Lyme disease in humans, though it is easily cured (in spite of what some Vets want you to believe).  Pet owners should consider it if they live in a rural area where there are deer.  I live in a suburb, and while I have seen deer a mile away from my house, they are not considered local, and with all the new construction going up they will disappear completely.

Anyway, that's why this entry is late.  That and the fact that we stopped off at the great orange retailer I work for as I try to get Howie socialized.  At 5 months old, this is a good time, though he's still very jumpy and wants to sniff every one.  He still has a problem of jumping up on people.  That's something I'm working on, because as he gets bigger the more likely it will be he knocks someone over.

My neighbors sound like they're moving furniture around.  Perhaps because last night I watched a movie with Howie.  I didn't use the soundbar, but the volume was at a decent level.  With my TV, sitting on the other side of the room is almost like sitting in a movie theater.  I'm thinking of buying Wicked and then Defy Gravity with the soundbar on.  Wowza!

And does anyone else see the irony in this?  

Now, I know the ad for a casino was not specifically chosen for this headline, but tell me, wouldn't it be nifty if it was?  Someone has suggest that the perfect cure for Trump and his cult would be another pandemic since everybody knows how much they hate wearing masks.  Is there a deworming med for birds?  If so, they can always begin eating that.

And the Orange Anus was certified yesterday.  What a terrible shame.  All of those voters who cast their ballots for him are already beginning to discover that he no longer has any use for them.  He will be loyal to Elonia and the other billionaires who celebrate his presidency and no one else.  He will give them what they want, the rest of us will suffer.  There is the belief among dumb people that billionaires are smart.  They're not.  They are shrewd.  They are calculating.  They are often down right cutthroat.  But smart?  That's why they leave so many dead bodies behind as they grow their bank accounts.

Yellow Snow

 Good Morning World!  We had snow most of the day yesterday!  Most of it melted because the temps were just not cold enough.  It was a dreary day, so it was a good thing that I worked.

Yesterday was a little more productive than the past 2.  I got 30 minutes in on the treadmill and, thanks to laps at work, I managed to get in over 15,000 steps!  Wowza.  

We had our store holiday party last evening.  There were about 40 people there.  For the amount of time I was there, it was enjoyable, but then I only go for the food.  They had  a DJ who did a fine job, he was a store employee with somewhat eclectic tastes in music, which turned out to be fine.  The main reason I had for not staying any longer was the fact that I have a 4 and a half month old puppy who desperately needed to go potty outside.  I was so proud of him!  He left no presents waiting for me when I got home, and that was after leaving him alone for over 7 hours!

Here he is tinting first yellow snow.  Here's picture of that momentous occasion!  And this morning?  He made some more!

One of the things people need to keep in mind is that for a $1 million for a billionaire is "chump change," so when these billionaire give the Orange Anus $1 million, they're not bending the knee, that's just a token to him for letting them participate in turning America into an Oligarchy.  A good crash on Wall Street will send them all reeling.  The last time we had a good crash, millionaires jumped out of windows when they realized they were now worthless individuals.  The American economy depends totally on American's buying power, reducing or stopping Social Security reduces that buying power of senior citizens.  Privatizing Medicare and raising rates for health care will limit that buying power.  Of course, conservates have always been stupid.  There's an old adage that says "give them enough rope, and they'll hang themselves."  Because they believe their stupidity makes them smarter than everyone else, they feel that adages no longer apply.  They will ignore the sage advice "do not eat yellow snow."  I don't think Zuck, or Elonia, or Bezos will jump out of a window when they find themselves broke, but they will eat the yellow snow.

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.

Windows

 We're in for another warm one today. Temps in the mid 90s (F).  No rain, in fact, we're supposed to have a fairly cloudless sky.  I can deal with that. Afternoon thunderstorms are expected tomorrow and Sunday, and then temps are predicted to drop.

My grass isn't growing, but the weeds are.  I should mow them.  Maybe I'll wait until next week.  Mostly, the grass is brownish, but it's not the crispy brownish of July yet.  Of course, we're only a little over a week away.

I's going to spend some time looking at electric providers.  I changed from PP&L (Pennsylvania Power and Light) a little over a year ago, the new provider has had constant price increases, to the point where I'm now paying as much as I was with PP&L.  This is all corporate greed and the only way we can hope to control it is by changing providers.

I have one last quote coming in today for the the windows.  It's from the Orange Retailer I work for.  I'm not going to go with them, even though every sales person who's been here has told me I can get the best deal with them.  Sometimes it's not about going cheap.  I had the sales rep from Aspen Home Improvements here yesterday, they sell Okna windows, which are manufactured in Bristol, PA.  The reviews are not too shabby, putting them on the same plane as Andersen windows but much less expensive.  There is also the fact tried to guilt me into setting up the measure, not because we sell a great product, but because he wanted the sale.  

Evidently the Orange Anus has had an increase in campaign donations since he was convicted, mostly, it seems, from billionaires, the 1%, because they want another tax break.  Honestly, life would be so much easier for the lower and middle classes of this country if the rich just paid their fair share of taxes.  Of course, the cultists are always going to be waiting for the just rewards, never understand there is absolutely nothing just in giving tax breaks to rich.  This is the stupidity that Republicans rely upon.

And I saw where Ronnie DeSantis, the crazy down in Florida, has been blaming high insurance rates in the state on inflation. Hogwash.  Insurance rates are high because so hurricanes cause so much damage, and if it isn't hurricanes, it torrential downpours that drop 17 inches of rain in a 24 hours.  How like a Republican to always lie.  His aversion to the truth will end up killing many, many people.

Puppies, Users, and Losers

 Yesterday we had spotty thunderstorms, if you blinked you missed them.  We topped off around 90 (F)and the same forecast is scheduled for today and tomorrow as well.  We're not quite at summer, but who's going to gripe about a week or so when the temps are so warmly holding steady?  Without the A/C, I'm sure I'd be pissing and moaning, until I adapted.  You wonder how people survived before A/C?  Well, they relied on fans and sweated a lot.  We, here in America, are spoiled.  Window A/C units are flying out of the store.  Some will be returned at the end of the summer.  Some of us here in America are Users, actually, it's only here in America, it's all over the world.  Nothing will ever change them. 

And, what about the billionaires club not paying taxes?  Thank you Republicans for creating so many tax loopholes.  If you're upset that Bezos pays no taxes, or Musk, or any of the 1%, blame the political party that is more interested in their campaign donations.  Blame the senior members of that party for foisting the lie of Trickle Down Economics on America.  It should be no surprise to anyone that the 1% are really nothing more than Users.  Oh, and a lot of them are Conservative, too.

On a lighter note, I checked to see when Windows was first activated in my PD.  The answer surprised me.  2013.  Wow. I had no idea the thing was that old.  That means the laptop I use for cycling is even older.  Ouch.  I figure, as long as they work it's fine.  Both are getting updated constantly.  In fact, I understand there's a new Windows update around the corner.  Yippee. I'm not wild about them.  They want me to sign in with a password and pin... I guess they don't want the dogs looking at porn when I'm at work.  I was going to post a video of doggy porn thinking it might be funny... it wasn't what I was expecting and might actually be considered offensive by some.  So, instead, here's a cute video with puppies playing.

There are 2 Governor's races in November, Virginia and New Jersey.  In New Jersey, the Trump loyalists got their butts whipped.   I'm sure this bites the ass of the Orange Anus.  Maybe, if we're lucky, he and his sexual predator cohort Bill O'Reilly will hold a superspreader event in the state.