Vote, Vote, Vote!

 We have a nice, chilly 52 (F) outside and, thanks to a minor cold front that went through last evening, we ain't going to get much warmer.  This is what we should all be expecting for another 3 or 4 weeks.  Cool and rainy doesn't mean you can't plant your garden, it just means that you might be a little uncomfortable while you're transplanting your seedling, or sowing your seeds.

Yesterday was nice.  I got a lot done, including a ride in Germany.  

One thing that was fairly high on the "to do" list, was upgrade my VPN.  I have Panda anti-virus, and it works well, however the VPN that comes with it was.. bad.  Many times it wouldn't connect and occasionally it would block certain websites, like Blogger, or Joe, My God.  Some might ask, "why use a VPN?" well, mostly because I don't want someone decided that I should be tracked.  At present, we have some serious wack-a-doodles in the world, and not all of them are in our government.  Panda has a lot of servers, however some of them are in China, I don't see that as being an advantage.  Even worse, they also have servers in Russia.  So I dropped their VPN and signed up with NordVPN.  Nord has an outstanding reputation.

There's no workout scheduled today.  I like the fact that now all of my workouts are scheduled during the week and that I have the weekends off.

And this came in the mail yesterday.  It will be filled out and mailed this morning!

I went shopping yesterday and was shocked to see that Roma tomatoes went from $1.99 a pound to $2.99 a pound.  Damn!  That's a bit of price hike, isn't it.  Smucker's jelly is now $4.59 for their standard, 17 oz jar.  Prices are only going to go higher.  And, in case you're wondering, Orangie flew down to Mar a Lago this weekend to go golfing... again.  This is his standard modus operandi; shit posting during the week and golfing on the weekend.  In case some of you haven't figured it out yet, he doesn't like America, but then it seems as if he doesn't like any country with the exception of Russia.  Since he doesn't like America, he's not going to do anything to really solve the problems inflation is causing.  Being part of the 1%, inflation doesn't effect him and if it did, he would simply find some what to write it off on his taxes.  

With approval ratings as low as they are, you'd think the Republican party would at least make the attempt to appease the growing anger against them.  Nah.  Rather than attempt at mollifying the general public, they're going to throw as much conservative shit against the wall and hope some of it survives the midterms.  They are totally clueless.  They're fairly certain they're going to lose the House of Representatives, and quite probably the Senate, too.  The likelihood of Orangie being impeached on day one are fairly high, they're hoping that there aren't enough votes in the Senate to remove him from office.  Since they don't learn lessons, I do suspect they're going to be punished so severely by the American people the midterms might be an extermination even for the Republican party.

Extraction

Depending upon where I looked this morning, the temp was just below, right at, or just above freezing.  Either way you look at it, the temps outside are chilly.  Sunshine is supposed to be abundant today.  These are seasonal temps, just in case you're thinking this is a little cool for Spring.  My furnace is still running, though not nearly as often as in February when the temps were truly cold.

Yesterday I got my workout in.  I'm upping the weight on the Romanian Deadlifts.  For those of you who don't know, in this exercise you bend over at the waist and then stand up.  I'll be doing it with 20 lbs in each hand.  This is a good exercise for the lower back.  That puppy needs to be kept strong to avoid back issues down the road.

Retail was terribly slow yesterday.  One of my fellow specialists called off, so it was just me.  I found out this morning that his older brother died, so I sent him a sympathy note.  Still, yesterday was terribly boring.  I did get a measure for a carpet install.  And I did have to sit for over fifteen minutes listening to a gentleman complain about his daughter-in-law.  His son died 6 years ago, and her money was beginning to run low, so she told him and his wife that she was going to move in with them.  As he talked, I sat and nodded, providing him with the obligatory nods and shakes of the head.  He gave me way too much information.  I have no problem being a friendly ear, however a friendly ear is not going to solve his problems.  That's something he will need to do himself.

I'm getting a molar pulled later this morning.  Woo! Hoo!  It's the one in the back.  The wisdom teeth went long ago.

So, the Supreme Court heard arguments yesterday about voting by mail.  Even though he votes by mail, the Orange Anus hates it.  I vote by mail.  I love it.  The GOP doesn't want ballots received after election day to be counted.  This will disenfranchise many citizens and military personnel living overseas.  This is odd because a large number of the men and women serving in our military tend to voted Republican.  The Republican party doesn't care.  Here in the states, 36.8% of voters over 65 vote by mail.  Again, older voters tend to either be Republican or vote conservatively.  People over a certain age prefer voting by mail, they'd rather drop a ballot into a mailbox than stand for an hour or longer at a polling station.  Taking away that choice or limiting that ability will result in lower conservative and or Republican votes.  The Republican party doesn't care.  They feel it will effect Democrats worse than it will Republicans.  They are terribly wrong.

Do you regret Your lies?

 Friday.  I ripped most of the border off yesterday, all that's left is a little steaming and scraping which I figure will take about an hour... if that.  The only problem so far has been the little chandelier at the top of the staircase.  It's going to be going away, replaced by some track lighting.  My hallway is 22 feet (6.7 m) long and there has only ever been 1 light... at the top of the stairs.  The new lighting is arriving today.  Hopefully all the trim will be painted and all I'll have to do is pick out a color for the walls.

I went for a nice little ride in the Pyrenees yesterday which had a 1.5 mile (2.4 km) hill, 6% grade.  I found the climb... invigorating.  

Yesterday I received an email from the PA State Department regarding my mail in ballot.  I'm set up, nothing to worry about, I should be receiving it in the mail between September and October.  I soon as I get that sucker I'm filling it out and dropping it in the mail.  The Postmaster of PA has also issued a statement that if you apply for a mail in ballet close to the election you may not get it in time.  Translation:  if you want to mail in your vote don't dawdle.  If you haven't applied for it yet, then do so today, don't wait.  Any wishy washy indecisiveness may very well cost you your vote.  One good thing, the US Supreme Court has ruled that in Rhode Island, as long as your ballot is postmarked November 3, it has to be counted.  That pissed off the GOP.  Good.  Oh, and I also saw where a Federal Judge has asked to be given concrete proof that there is any kind of voter fraud in voting by mail.  

Finally, from the Hindustani Times, what they are calling the 'uncomfortable question.'

It took him a second before he moved on.  I don't think the Idiot Jerk understands that a major majority of people in this country see him as a liar.  

Twitter strikes back

First off, a BIG apology to everyone who left a comment yesterday morning, I went to publish and hit 'Delete' instead and those comments disappeared... forever.  Your voices are all very important, so a big apology.

Yesterday the lawn was mowed and the weeds were wacked.  I'm clearing out the area on the far side of the fence.  Originally there had been grass there, but I left it grow wide.  The grass is coming back.

I also went to my neighborhood Giant to pick up dry dog food.  I always buy the big bags since the 10 lb bags only last about 5 days and they're more expensive.  And they were sold out.  Every other facing with large bags of dog food was filled, but not the Beneful.  Now, I understand everything is contracted (I work in retail, remember); Purina gets only a certain number of facings for each of their brands.  Beneful is allowed space for two 28 lb bags and when they're gone, they're gone until the next delivery.  This is a regular occurrence.  Well, not anymore.  I went home and ordered from Chewey.com.  The dog food arrives today.

For those who didn't see (and I'ms sure there are one or 2 of you out there) Twitter has calling the Idiot Jerk on his lies.  Now, they didn't come right out and say he's a lying sack of shit, what they did do is note something is false and provide a link to the truth.  His lie was about mail in voting and they called him on it.  He does not like to be called a liar, and that's happening more and more and more.  Americans are fed up with him.  I would not be surprised if he and Melanoma have already made a list of what to steal take  when they get kicked out of the White House.  

This afternoon Space X is launching Americans into space.  It is about time.  We belong there.

Finally, some more of my roses.  I've Dahlias coming up all over the place.  And zinnias.  But here is a pic of the white and pink rose bush.

 

The Expendable Group

Another Friday and another weekend approaches!  And not only is it Friday! it's May Day!  And we, up here in Central Pennsylvania had hellacious rains all day yesterday and through most of the night.  We are under a flood warning until Saturday.  But then, this is what happens in the spring... every spring.  You would think we'd know by now.
The grass I cut 2 days ago has grown fully back and is very green. 
I filled out my application for a mail in ballot yesterday.  One questions asks how long I've lived here.  Crap.  Years and years and years was not an answer they were looking for, they wanted something more precise.  I had to go into my archives to pull out the paperwork.  Son of a bitch.  It's been 26 years.  My actual closing date had been delayed early January to mid February because of snow.  I drove a red truck back then and after closing my Dad and loaded it up nightly to ease up the pressures of moving day.  I had asked a number of other friends (with trucks) to help move the big stuff.  The night before the final move we had another large snow storm (between 14 and 20 inches) and instead of having 5 trucks we ended up with 2... and made multiple trips.  Fun.
I saw where the government quietly ordered another 100,000 body bags. They're also expecting a serous uptick in the body count from Georgia...  loyal Republicans have no problem with human sacrifice.
In case you didn't know it, we have a new minority group in the United States: Angry, Fat, White Guys with Red Hats and Guns.  They showed up in Lansing, Michigan yesterday to protest.  I was trying to figure some sort of an acronym to describe them and all I could come up with was Dumb Shits... and that's not an acronym.  These guys want no rules what-so-ever.  They want a post-apocalyptic lawlessness in which they rule the land.  Demonstrations like this to far more to hurt their cause then help so... well, more power to them.  You see, in spite of what the Tucker Carlsons, and the Rush Limbaughs say, most Americans are comfortable with the Stay at Home orders.  This doesn't mean they're happy with the regulations, just that they understand the reasoning behind them.  The new minority group?  They do not.  Their actions make them an expendable group.  The Evolutionary Tree is filled with branches that died off because of either stupidity or genetic inferiority.
And finally.  Customers do come into the store with out any type of face-coverings.  They, too, are part of this expendable group.  Maybe they want Granny to die, I don't know, or maybe their missing the DNA code required for reasoning.  Anyway, Marc posted this and I'm reposting it here in the rare chance that one of them might read this blog.