There's no fixing stupid

 Can we say hello to a cool, crisp morning sun?  The outside temp is 34 (F).  I could see my breath this morning when I took Howie out for his morning "potty outsides."  Our high temps today are going to be in the upper 50s (F), and that's nice.  The warmer the days, the less money I have to pay to UGI (the gas company).  Less $$$ is good.

I bought the new puppy a harness so I could strap him in whenever he was riding with me in the car, whether to his vet, or to Adams-Ricci.  Well, it arrived yesterday and, as I should have expected, it was too small.  I followed the directions on the website to ensure I had the right size and... well, Hell, there was simply no way he was going to fit into it, so I'm returning it.  I'm not ordering the next size up, either.  Because he's still growing, I knew it wasn't going to fit him forever, but I really did want it to fit him for at least a few months.

A Real Pain is the story about to middle-aged cousins who travel to Poland to see their Grandma's house after she's died.  The trailer presents the story as a comedy with drama.  The movie's been getting very good reviews.  I liked it a lot, though it's much more of a drama with comedy.  Kieran Culkin is outstanding as a bi-polar man who is...you guessed it, A Real Pain.  How good is he?  Oscar caliber.

And I did work yesterday, and, as we've all heard that saying before "there's no fixing stupid," well, I got to experience stupid as it sat at the flooring desk.  There was this older couple who were pricing out vinyl plank flooring, and he asked if it was made in China.  I was honest.  Our planks are assembled in the United States, but all the products needed to assemble them come from China.  He turned to his wife and reminded her about the upcoming tariffs and her comment to him was, "well, prices are going to go up, but they'll come down, Trump's good at that."  Of course, I sat there silently.  Inside, I was laughing.  These are the people who voted for Trump because of, what people are saying, "the price of eggs."  They actually believe he has enough beneficence to force corporations to drop prices.  The truth may actually break their bank account.  The truth will break their bank accounts and I will not be sorry for their suffering.

In the Kraken's Grotto

 A new begins.  The front page of Accuweather had a notice that the rain will be ending in a few hours, the sun is rising on a cloudless sky.  Also, the forecast there is 0% precipitation for the next 3 days.  It has now been changed to "no rain for the next 60 minutes."  They need to get their act together for us early birds. 

Either way, temps are predicted to be cooler today, even if it is sunny, not that it makes much of a difference since I'm scheduled to work for 8 hours.  This is the last Monday that I work an 8 hour shift.  I fixed my availability problem.  There may be more fixing ahead.  I can remember when I worried if 20 hours a week would give me enough spending money.  That was so long ago, before Biggie and his expensive meds.  No problem. 

And yesterday was a boring 8 hours.  I began doing laps again.  One of my friends asked where I'd be traveling to next, so I reminded him that I was getting a puppy.  I didn't tell him I'd already talked to my movie buddy Patty about that, nor did I tell him she said (very sarcastically, since she has 4 dogs) that it would kill her to take care of another pup while I traveled.  So, I guess he asked a valid question.

And, as most of you know, I like to listen to music when I write, so, if I heard an interesting song while I was in Greece, I'd pull out my phone and do a "song search."  This is why in a number of pics taken at dinner, I'm looking down at the table rather than smiling for the camera.  One of the songs that caught my ear was called Shik, Shak, Shok, which was a remix of an Egyptian song from 1974, a remix that had a strong Grecian twist.  I listened to this song a lot while working on a chapter called In the Kraken's Grotto (catchy, eh?)

I suppose quite a few people know that the Orange Anus is going to lose the election.  I also suppose that quite a few understand that he's going to attempt to start something.  There will be some rocky times between November 5 and certification of the next president.  His cult will result to mob mentality, however, this minority crowd simply cannot comprehend they will be dealing with a vast majority of Americans, and the patience of that vast majority has run out.  Over 2/3 of the nation is going to put the hammer down on what used to be the Republican Party.  And then Evangelical Christianity is going to be put under the microscope.  I would not be surprised if, because of their push into the political arena, churches lose their tax exempt status.  It's about time.  

Make Them Riot. Do It.

The clouds are clearing!  We do have a decent amount of fog rolling around the hills, but that's expected to burn off by around 10 AM and then we'll have some sunshine.  Daily temps are predicted to hang around in the mid 70s (F) until Tuesday, then they are supposed to drop back into the 60s (F).  I can deal with that.

Yesterday was one of those days when I felt the need to nap... on and off all day.  I honestly believe it was because we had what?  7 days of rain?  I did get a nice rowing session in.  I'm rowing more and more meters.  Today I want to go for a bike ride before I head off to work.  

I called about getting a puppy yesterday morning and got no return call.  That's not a good thing.  Customer Service is everything.  If someone can't do the courteous thing and call back, even if it's to tell me that there are no longer puppies available, well, that's simply unprofessional as hell.  

And, of course, the chair I ordered was delivered yesterday.  It had been drizzling, then it stopped when the truck arrived, and right after the chair was ensconced (that's your word of the day... ensconced) in my writing room, it began to rain again.  So, I sat in the chair for a bit, and decided I wanted to take a little nap.  Anyway, here's the new chair.

Yesterday the beginning of the October Surprise began falling into place.  In filings released by Judge Chutkin, we now know that on January 6, as an angry mob stormed the Capital, Trump said, "Make them riot.  Do it."  A quick reminder, this is only the beginning of the October Surprise.  Another reminder, we're only hearing about this in October because the Orange Anus and his legal team threw up so many roadblocks in their attempts to shut this down, it wasn't released earlier.  This also means that his meltdowns will accelerate.  Also remember, that he is not so much scared as he is enraged.  I honestly don't think he knows what fear is, just anger, and hatred.

Another also, all of the negativity surrounding Trump is having a positive effect.  Two supporters that I know personally, who have voted straight Republican every day of their lives, have told me they don't think they're going to vote this year.  Both said, in these exact words, "neither one is fit."  Rather than be bold and vote for Harris, they're going to sit home.  And they are not alone.  Many, many Republicans, as the evil of Trump becomes more readily know, will choose to just sit home this election cycle.  They will wait until 2028 before casting another vote.  This is how it was meant to be.  It's why Trump was elected in the first place.

Cobbler

 And is this a happy Thursday morning, or isn't it?  The temps are comfortably cool outside, (68 F) and the sky is clear.  However, to day is the last of the 'moderate high' days, starting tomorrow the thermometer is going to begin to climb.  Heat is moving in from the west.  I'm so glad for my Central Air.

I did bake a fresh peach cobbler yesterday, and believe me, it is delicious.

There are still quite a few left over, so I'm going to freeze them for later.  If I were my grandma, I'd can them, but I'm not.  She also wore an apron when she cooked.  Do people still wear aprons?

Some friends stopped by last evening, they have a new puppy, a chocolate Labrador who was supposed to be a service dog.  The individual who was supposed to get her, was too elderly, so they ended up with her.  Named her Seneca.  I told them that's her official name, they will end up calling her something else, like Siegfried became Biggie.

Americans didn't make a lot of babies last year.  In fact, the count is the lowest in over a century.  Some of the blame is on Covid, some of it has to do with women just not wanting to have babies till they're older, but mostly, at least this is what I think, is the cost of raising a child is exorbitant.  American Capitalism, you know.  It's all about the bucks. Prices keep going up because everybody 'needs' to increase revenue by 5% yearly.  That 5% is not balanced by wage increases.  Nope.  And everything goes up, even your utility expenses, you see, they need to grow by that 5%, too.  As a result, people aren't making babies.  I can remember when a single income was enough, now it doesn't come close.  Maybe corporations shouldn't be so greedy.

Li'l Sig

My brother stopped by this morning so he and I could go to the store and stock up on dry dog food.   I got two 30 lb bags figuring that should take care of the dogs until I'm able to be more self-reliant.  Anyway, while he was here, I had him sign my Advance Health Care Directive.  He asked me if there were any specifics and I told him to "remember, if something does go wrong with my surgery, I don't want to spend the rest of my life as a hot house tomato."  It's a bit of a hassle having to fill out these forms but they are necessary, not that I think anything is going to go wrong, I just want to have all of my bases covered.

Anyway, every time he comes over he has to pick up Li'l Sig, who ain't too little anymore.  I suspect he does this more so to prove he can still pick up this 4 month old puppy.  And, as usual, he always has me take a picture with his phone.  Today I had him send me a copy.  Below is my brother holding Li'l Sig, my 4 month old Boxer puppy.

As you can see, he is not a wee little doggie.

First Vet visitc

Off today, but back to work tomorrow, and a busy day it has been.  To the store first thing this morning, and then off to Good Hope Animal Hospital - Sig's first visit.  First of all, I have to say I like the Vet, her name is Sara and she's very personable.  He got dewormed for a 2nd time, and a vaccination.  He goes back in 4 weeks for his first rabies shot - there are 2 of them.  Probably around the same time as he's getting his rabies booster, his little nuts will go.  That's right, he's being neutered.  The AKC doesn't like this, it reduces the breeding stock, but I've never planned on using him for stud service.  Oh, and at 11 weeks of age he weighs in at 22.1 pounds.  He's gonna be a big one.

In other news, our inventory was on Tuesday.  It's been a long 3 weeks of prep.  As a whole, the store didn't do too well.  My paint department, however, kicked ass!  My shrink was .0551 on inventory sales of 3.4 million, I was budgeted for .086.  My inventory sales would have been higher, but they moved the date up from last year.  So yesterday, while everybody was walking around wearing a 'woe-is-me grimace,' I was perky and bouncy, but not overly so, at least not on the outside.

The very good thing.

I'm off today, which is good, there is so much I need to get done.

On Tuesday I picked up Gertie's ashes from the crematorium.  I had purchased a nice Egyptian urn for them, however I will probably not use it.  The pet cemetery had provided an urn which is a really nice cedar chest, so I'll probably use that.

About 2 hours later I picked up the new puppy.

After spending some time thinking of a name, I ended up not going with a family name after all, well I did, sort of.  I sent a text to my brother asking for the original spelling of our last name.  On my father's side, my heritage is pure German, however, once they emigrated to the United States back in the 1800's they began Americanizing.  One of the first things that got changed was the last name.  So, for the AKC registry, the puppy now has our original spelling.  Say "hello" to Siegfried von Schneider.

You can see Lilly's head in the foreground.  I can tell you, they are always playing.  This was a very good thing.