Trump's Bloody Nose

Good Morning, People!  Here in the outer fringes our current temp is 40 (F).  Fringes, you ask?  Why yes, we are on the almost extreme fringe of the possible, and even probably Nor'easter that will be blanketing the easter seaboard with slushy snow. While accumulations down around Philly(Philadelphia for those of you who don't know Pennsylvania) are predicted to be anywhere between 8 and 15 inches, here in central PA there's a 28% chance we'll get 2-4 inches.  There's also a 22% chance we'll get between 1 and 2 inches, and a 19% chance we'll get barely an inch.  Our temps are fairly warm here, so how ever much we get will be slushy.

And yesterday was kind of crap.  I had an appointment yesterday morning to have my furnace checked out by a tech from Bowman HVAC.  Back when I was doing my kitchen redo, a different tech from Bowman came in to give me a plumbing estimate.  That quote was through the roof and I ended up going with Wilbur Plumbing and Heating.   My furnace is over almost 13.5 years old, my basement is damp (120 year old stone foundation) and the tech gave me a doom and gloom report.  He also told me their new heating/cooling systems run between$13,000 and $17,000.  They're sales person asked if I was in a rush and I said "no," so he's going to email me quotes.  I also have 3 other HVAC people coming in next week, one of whom is from Wilbur.  I'm thinking maybe in August or September I'll have the new equipment installed.  

And of course yesterday the Supreme Court ruled against the Orange Anus on his tariffs.  The Guardian said it gave him a bloody nose, so to speak.  Gorsuch implied that the Court treated Orangie different then Biden.  If you saw any of the clips on TV you know how pissed off the bitter, old man was and still is.

He gave the world, besides the 10% Global Duties he now wants the US to charge on every import, so many soundbites, from "I don't have to work with Congress," to "I can destroy any country," that can be used against him.  And if you thought he was bad yesterday, you ain't seen nothin' yet!  His State of the Union speech is coming up on Sunday evening.  Let me tell you, his training wheels are off.  The scab has been ripped off.  Prepare for the most unhinged hour and a half that has ever been televised from the Halls of Congress, unless he's medicated from here to Hell and back.  Oh, and lies.  Get ready for a constant stream of lies.  One funny thing is that Fox Entertainment has worked very hard to make the Cultists glorious as normal as possible.  Now, he's  going to take them down as fast as he takes down the Republican party.  What a joyous moment that will be. 

Snow Dog... Not

We did get snow.  Out totals are close to the final prediction of between 9 and 12 inches.  I'd say we got about 10 inches.  Snowplows have cleared a single lane down the middle of the street.  Our temps will be staying in the middle teens (F) for the next week, with our average daily high around 19 (F).  While being cold, we will have full sunshine on most of those days and that will have a melting effect.  Next week our temps will climb into the mid to upper 20s (F).  My hopes for this being a moderate winter are fading. 

And for those of you who were expecting me to tell you that Howie finds the snow a rousing delight, I'm going to disappoint you.  My character Eli, in my books, has a favorite word.  He says it frequently.  "Shit."  Well, that seems to be Howie's view of the snow.  Every time I open the door, he sits there staring out and by his look I can tell you he's thinking the doggy version of "shit."  You see, the snow has done that dastardly thing of covering up his sticks and stones.  I suspect he will despise it even more once the surface gets a crust.

Some of my neighbors shoveled themselves out yesterday.  I waited for this morning.  The temps have actually stayed the same, hovering at 16 (F), so it's not like it got colder overnight.

Most of yesterday I played a video game.  I also made salmon patties, similar to hamburgers but with salmon.  Big mistake.  Now the house smells of fried fish.  

And I do work today.  Right now I'm planning on going into the store.  This will be 6 hours of me getting paid to sit at the flooring desk.

Here's a pic of a snow covered Howie with a little stick he found.

I understand that the Orange Anus is revisiting the murder of Alex Pretti because...  half the nation believes Puppy Killer Noem and munchkin General Bovino are simply lying.  We've already seen the TACO effect in regards to his vile comments about Europeans fighting in Afghanistan.  That took a day before someone using his name put out a statement that NATO troops were honorable fighters in the war that wasn't a war.  Rumors are flying that Noem is going to be thrown under the bus, but not the munchkin general.  The rising anger in America is quite palpable.  While Orangie may shriek that he has the highest approval ratings ever, there are those in his administration who know the truth.  Republican Senators and Congressmen are beginning to know the truth.  So, there's a good chance they will sacrifice Noem in the hopes of stanching the flow of Republican voters.  These are amateur fascists at best and they simply do not know what in hell they're doing.

And for those who didn't hear, evidently Orangie is suing the NYT because they posted about his approval ratings being in the gutter.  

 

The Republican Achilles Tendon

Blogger is not allowing me to reply to comments, so something is apparently wrong: a glitch seems to have occurred.

And supposedly, we are getting snow.  There's a good chance we will be getting between 10 and 15 inches.  The white stuff is predicted to begin falling tomorrow night and continue until Monday morning.  Our temps are supposed to be brutally cold.  This means I will have to manage Howie carefully.  As an 18 month old Labrador, he is smart as a whip when it comes to fetching toys and knowing where his snacks are, but when it comes to cold he's as dumb as a 2 year-old child.  He doesn't understand that cold is bad.

Anyway, I'm all prepped for the storm.  I bought another gallon of milk yesterday, though I am running low on chunky peanut butter.  Since today's Friday and every media outlet is shrieking snowstorm, snowstorm, snowstorm, I'm betting my local supermarkets are going to be quite busy.  Tomorrow they will be worse as people stock up.

I'm scheduled to work this weekend, but... while I'm betting Saturday's going to be a sure thing, I'm also betting Sunday will be a snow day.  If the forecasts are wrong, and we only get around 6 inches, I'll go in late, and we all know forecasts are wrong all of the time.  I did check out the European weather models since they tend to be a little more accurate than the NOAA models, and their charts indicate snow should be falling at a rate of 1.5 inches an hour for about 8 hours with the heaviest starting around noon.

Here's what the WaPo is predicting.

And while I no longer subscribe to the Washington Post, I do check their headlines daily, they still tend to be more conservative than cultists, but not by much.  So, I was surprised to see several negative headlines regarding Orangie.  The one I found most intriguing has to do with his cratering popularity.  This was not a "how to fix it" headline, but rather a "why is he pissing so many people off," blurb.  Since I don't subscribe, I couldn't read the article, but let's be frank here, the reasons for his cratering are fairly obvious.  He's a pathological liar, a used car dealer who has sold American voters the worst lemon on the lot, and now blames them for not being happy with that lemon.  Except for the cultists that worship him, a vast majority of Americans now see him as a conman, a grifter, and thief.  Americans now understand that he's accumulating great wealth at our own expense.  His approval rating sits at 35% and there is nothing he and his party can do to change that fact.  Nor can they change the fact his unpopularity is continuing to grow as his approval rating sinks.  His presidency will flatline, probably before the midterms.  The Republican party gambled that Americans en masse would accept the dark side of authoritarianism, and they're losing badly.  They simply don't understand that most people are good.  That is one of their Achilles tendons.

Winter Wonderland

We have a bit of a winter wonderland outside.  About 2 inches of snow fell overnight.  Our temps are sitting just around freezing, so I don't think the stuff will be hanging around too long.  Our afternoon temps are supposed to climb into the mid 30s (F) and that's in the melting zone. The streets have already melted clear. 

People ask how Howie is in the snow expecting me to tell them he becomes Mr. Excitement.  He does not.  After answering the call of nature in 2 or 3 spots, he spends most of his time looking for sticks buried under the snow.  He doesn't dash around exuberantly.  

Knowing how foreign languages exercise the brain, I've also started a thing on Duolingo for Norwegian.  Supposedly this is one of the easiest languages to learn, mostly because there are so many ties to English.  It doesn't hurt to give it a shot.

Work was relatively slow yesterday.  I did get a measure.   That will make management happy.  And I do work this afternoon.  This is a short Sunday for me.  Noon until 6 PM.  And I'm back on the schedule for tomorrow.

Here's a pic of our winter wonderland.

And for those not paying attention, the tariffs continue.  Well, not only are they continuing, they're growing.  The Orange Asshole just increased them to the 8 European countries who are sending troops to Greenland.  There are times when I need to just clasp my head in my hands just to make sure the old gourd doesn't explode.  We have a 79 year-old man with dementia running this country who has surrounded himself with kiss ass enablers who are never, ever going to stop him.  Doing so would put an end to their own personal grift.  And these enablers are so stupid, I don't doubt many of them think they will be able to hold onto their ill gotten gains after he is gone.

Also, for those who haven't heard, the Supreme Court has yet to weigh in on Orangie's ability to set tariffs.  If they rule against him, these tariffs will turn into a maelstrom of shit.  And, if they rule for him?  Well, either way there is a good possibility our economy is doomed.  That, in itself, is going to doom the Republican party.

 

Trump is the World's Village Idiot

We have snow!  Free cardio has finally arrived in Central PA... well, kind of...  Actually, we got a dusting.  That's it.  Nothing more.  And while our temp is at 30 (F), this afternoon's highs are predicted to be in the upper 30s (F) to low 40s (F), so the little snow that we have will disappear.  

Yesterday was meh... again.  Perhaps I'm going through the winter blues.  One thing that is for certain is that without the morning notification from Trainwell, and a text from my trainer, I have all too easily found reasons to not workout.  Other, unimportant things suddenly become more important.  Don't think I don't do things, I do, but the things I do tend to not be beneficial.  There's truth in the saying that time wasted is not time well spent.  If there isn't a saying like that, then I suppose I just made one up.

I do get to go to work this afternoon.  We have a new assistant manager and I have yet to meet her.  The last one was not too special.  She tended to avoid being on the floor.  That was a big complaint, you could never find her when she was needed.  I remember 2 distinct times when I needed her to help deal with difficult customers and she chose to stay back in the office.  Telling someone how you want things to be done over the phone does not solve the problem.

Four chapters left to finish in The Body in 4:4 Time.

Here's a pic of Howie in the dusting.

In spite of everything the Republicans are saying about Orangie's state of dementia, like he doesn't have alzheimers, etc, every time he poses for the camera his dysfunctional brain distinctly expresses itself.  And the world is quite aware of his disability, and they are commenting.  Not that we don't have commenters here in the USA, but when some wonderful person in France writes "Nous savon ou vit l'idiot du village du monde entier," I have to laugh.  And these voices are not just French.  Every country in the world knows that Orangie is nothing more than the village idiot with too much power, and they are treading us accordingly.

Did you see how the Canadians went around the US and set up some really good deals with China.  They're just going to ignore the village idiot.

And Greenland?  The Village Idiot has become an international embarrassment.  And believe me, he's only going to get worse as the midterms approach, and the truth of how much he is despised by so many Americans becomes more and more apparent.  And there will be midterms, don't fret you minds about that.

Root of all Evil

 Well, we got snow.  Not much. An inch, possibly an inch and a quarter of the stuff fell overnight.  Unlike most dogs, Howie was much more interested in finding a stick, or a stone, to bring in the house to trade for a treat.  Our temp is hanging around 25 (F).  We will not be warming up today.  That's our high.  After tomorrow, our temps will be moderate up into the mid 40s (F).  That will be fine.  December has been an expensive month for heating.

I did my morning workout yesterday, and that went well.  Because of the new piece of gym equipment, I've moved the weight bench and the dumbbells into another room where there is more space.  Who'd have thought that my second floor would become a gym? By the way, for those of you who haven't been to Greece, the root word for gym means naked, so a gymnasium is a naked training area.  Unlike those Greeks of long ago, I do wear clothing when I'm working out.  I'd rather be safe than sorry.

Being that yesterday was Saturday, I also worked.  Retail was slow.  While the store did hit our sales plan yesterday, the flooring department didn't.  For the week we are quite a bit below plan.  During a chat with our store manager, he implied that our district was doing much better than most. j This problem is not going away anytime soon.

And, as I said, Howie was more interested in finding a stick, or stone than playing in the snow.  That doesn't mean he didn't get a snow nose.

Orangie was chosen to do the coin toss at yesterday's Army/Navy game.  The idea is to get the coin to flip end on end and he chose to use some sort of floofy launch toss.  There were a lot of comments on social media because he truly did not look as though he knew what he was supposed to do.  This is abnormal.

And there were more shootings, but in Rhode Island and and Australia.  Hate is a seed that needs to be planted before it can grow.  Both religion and politics plant a lot of seeds.  Does this mean they are the root of all evil?  That is something I do not doubt, especially when it comes to religion, and religion is not going to fix itself.  That will need to be done by others.

Troll 2

The sun is shining.  Brahms is playing on the stereo, Symphony number 1 in C minor, in case you're wondering.  This one of my favorite pieces of music.  Our outside temp is a cool 31 (F), though forecasters are predicting we'll hit the low 40s (F).  That'll be so nice.

We received approximately 3 inches of snow yesterday.  Howie did not run around like your average dog delighting in the snow.  Nope.  He spent most of his time digging for blades of grass.  He then came back into the house and threw them up for me to see.  Lovely.  

And apparently I'm back to my old, well, it's Tuesday so I might as well be meh, though I suspect the fact that it was cloudy was partly to blame.  I also managed to get in a bike ride in Italy, Amalfi to be precise.  The scenery is awesome, though I suspect it would cost an arm and a leg to simply visit.

Other than shoveling snow and the bike ride, I didn't do much except laze around.  Like I said, it was a pretty meh day.  

I did watch Troll 2 last night.  Loved it.  I've always loved monster movies.  Hollywood turned out some real gems, very smart with social commentary, like Them.  Then, unfortunately, we started importing Japanese monster movies, which were nothing more than an actor in a rubber suit stomping through one model city after another.  That pretty much killed the business.  Troll brought the business back in a big way.  The first film was Netflix's number one around the world for almost 2 weeks.  That's an immense feat for a foreign film, let alone a monster movie.  Troll 2 is doing the same thing.  This time there are 2 trolls.  There's a bit about how Christianity was to blame for the near extinction of trolls.  There are trips into catacombs, and bits about Holy Water, and... well, it's simply tremendous.

And the Tennessee election is over.  The Republican Van Epps won.  This was expected.  What was not expected was that the Democratic challenger came within single digits of Van Epps.  This happened in a district which is extremely Republican and where the Orange Anus won by 22% back in 2024.  Over the years, the Republicans have constantly won this district by 22% or higher.  To have Van Epps only win by roughly 9% is a major blow to the GOP.  That's a 13% drop in a very Red district.  This morning, all of those Republicans in districts across the country where they've only won by 7% or 8% are now changing their diapers.  Orangie's base is vanishing.  His approval rating is down to 36% and at this point the idea of him becoming more popular is almost laughable.  Even the Washington Post had a headline on how big of a problem this was for Republicans.  This is all very good.

Even better, Rolling Stone has named Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 as the game of the year!  Wowza!  I loved this game!  

The Polls in Tennessee are Open

Well, of course we have snow.  How much we'll get is up in the air? (That's a joke).  Originally the forecasters said our blanket of fluffy white stuff would fall from 0100 to 1 PM.  That has now changed.  This precipitation event started around 6 hours late, and is now expected to end around 7 PM this evening.   Right now we're experiencing a heavy snowfall event.  

Howie is almost 16 months old, so this might as well be considered his first snow.  So far, he's not been too excited.  He's ran around a little bit, but mostly he's been busy grabbing those few weeds he finds sticking up, and ripping them out by the roots.  He's very good at that.  Once they're out of the frozen ground, he gives them a shake and then drops them.  He's having a good time doing this.

And retail at the flooring desk was slow yesterday.  We were  going to make plan, but mostly through contractors, and installs sold through our dot.com end of the business.  Because of today's snow, our garden department will easily make plant.  For some reason we have yet to understand, there is an almost unnatural number of people who wait until snow begins falling to go out and buy snow shovels, ice scrapers and ice melt.  This has always been the case.  I often wonder how these people make it through life without a single thought to preparedness.  I own 2 snow shovels, one is kept at the front door and the other at the back door, and half of a 50 lb bag of ice melt I bought 3 years ago.  

Here's a nice picture of my neighbor's untrimmed hedge in the snow.  He bought himself an electric hedge trimmer and then discovered their house has no outside outlets, and they're not going to pay to have one installed.

Like every other day since Orangie was re-elected, yesterday was another shit show.  Petey Kegbreath's comment "kill them all," has pissed off a lot of people, both Republicans and Democrats, and it now appears that the administration is looking for a scapegoat.  Everybody who is anybody in every branch of the government should have realized a long time ago that this is Orangie's SOP.  He's spent his entire life blaming someone else.  So, if you're in the military and you follow an illegal order coming down from the top, you can rest assured if something about that order goes south, it'll be your ass on the line.

And there's an election down in Tennessee today.  According to polls, the Democrat Aftyn Behn is within 2 points of the Republican.  In bloody red Tennessee, that's unbelievably close.  Orangie won her district by 22%.  Republicans are in a terrible panic.  The MAGA cultists are flipping out!  The true black hearts among them simply cannot believe that their wanna be king is so despised that Republicans would vote for a Democrat.  I wouldn't be surprised if many Republicans simply stay home, rather than vote for a racist pedophile supporter.  Keep in mind that Behn doesn't need to win this special election, all she has to do is come within a few % points to cause the Republican chaos to Rupture.  This is how Karma works.

Trump's Approval set to Sink

 So, here it is Sunday and the outside temp is 25 (F) and we're headed up to the low 40s (F) today.  I can live that.  I don't mind snow, but after the first day or so it's no longer pretty to look at and thanks to the cold temps we've been having, this white stuff has been hanging around longer than needed.  Our future forecast has our daily highs all in the upper 30s (F) to mid 40s (F).  I'm fine with that, too.

After a bit of a difficult start, I did go to work yesterday.  I managed to hit my goal in measures, 3, even though foot traffic is the store was down.  That should keep management happy.  Our inventory is a week from Thursday, and so they want us to be busy working in the aisles, pulling product down from the overhead and restocking our shelves.  Because I'm a specialist and need to be free to work with customers, I can pretty much slough that off.  I'm fine with that.  There are playoff football games on TV today, so things should be slower than usual.

And the difficult thing I had to deal with yesterday before going to work was a dead battery in my car.  That heated my temper up slightly.  There are very few things that get me angry at my age, and a dead battery is not one of them.  Mostly, it was a terrible inconvenience.  What was most irritating was that it's only a little over a year old.  My neighbor across the street gave me a jump and I drove it to the dealership.  They gave me a loaner to use until Monday.  Even with the cold temps we've been having, that battery shouldn't have held a charge.  Anyway, here's pic of the loaner.  It's white.  I really do hate white cars.  

And did anybody catch our morally degenerated felon of a president rambling in California?  The man is a blithering idiot.  Who's in charge?  I have no freaking idea.  He's putting the Project 2025 plans in to play, but I suspect someone is telling what he needs to do, one of his sycophants no doubt; the same one who hands him Executive Orders and a Sharpie.

Many conservatives have this fascination with Putin and how he runs Russia.  To them, he is a great role model for running an authoritarian government.  Like I've said before, mostly what they want to do is shriek "Shut up!  We're in charge!"  What they don't understand is that Putin spent years playing the part of "Nice Vlad" to put himself in the position he is; his PR was constant.  Xi of China did the same thing.  Each one of those authoritarians had a majority of the population supporting them.  This is not the case with the Orange Anus.  He started this term with only a 49% approval rating.  For him to have even a moderately successful authoritarian presidency he needs to improve that bigly, however instead of concentrating raising his ratings he's doing what that minority group of conservatives want him to do, and that's shriek "Shut up!  I'm in Charge!"  Conservatives, instead of taking the time to make their hardline agenda more palatable are simply using Orangie to shove it down the throats of a majority of Americans.  No one every said they were smart.

Resistance

 Well, we did get snow yesterday, about 5 inches... maybe a teensy bit more.  Several times I looked out the window and saw we were having gray outs, which is close to a white out except I could still see the outlines of the houses across the street.  And, of course, the Polar Vortex has descended upon us.  Bitterly cold temps are in store for the next 3 days.  One thing I have noticed is that on Wednesday we were supposed to be deep into the negative numbers, now they're only predicting it to go down to 4 (F).

For those who are interested, Howie doesn't like the snow.  Every time he goes out, he comes back in with one of those "what the Hell is this white shit" looks on his face.  His problem?  The snow has buried all of his precious sticks and leaves.  There is nothing he can bring back into the house except snowflakes and ice crystals.

I did take a personal day yesterday and am glad I did.  The snow was falling heavily until roughly around 7 PM.  While my car is made to get around easily in snow, the last thing I wanted to be doing was dealing with blowing snow on my drive home... after dark.

What I did do is bake a delicious loaf of bread and cook up some rice pudding.  Yummy.

And in spite of what some of you might want to think, this is not a picture of the taverna outside The Kraken's Grotto.  Honestly.  Seriously.  You must believe me.

And something truly terrible is happening in Washington today, on this National Day of Mourning.  Conservatives are wresting control of the country away from a majority of Democracy loving Americans.  They do not care about your rights.  The only thing they care about is shrieking "shut up, we're in charge," at the top of their lungs.  If you look at the other authoritarian governments around the world, many of them have had some form or authoritarianism for centuries.  We have not.  Those other governments?  They have all toppled at one time or another.  Putin is not the first dictator in Russia.  Xi is not the first dictator in China.  Many have come before them and all of them have failed.  The Oligarchs gathering in Washington?  They are not prepared for the resistance they will face.  The minute Americans begin killing Americans chaos will erupt and Wall Street will collapse.  They simply do not understand their greed is also their Achilles tendon.  Musk has said Americans need to suffer through 2 hard years, and we will soldier through them, and in the end he will be gone.

Social Conservative

 Well, as of 0400 we went into a snow warning and here it is 3.5 hours later and nary a flake is in sight.  A quick look at the weather radar map indicates that most of the precipitation is falling south of us and possibly, by 0930 we will have flurries.  The longer it takes for this to arrive, the less snow we're likely to get.  Crap.  And here I was thinking I'd wake up to a winter wonderland and right now all I'm wondering about is when the snow is finally going to land.  Supposedly, our heaviest snowfall will happen between 2 and 6 PM, when I'm at work... or was supposed to be at work.  

Yesterday was one of those meh days.  I had a zoom call scheduled for 3 in the afternoon with my Navy buddies.  Oddly enough, scheduling calls, or for that matter scheduling anything can easily throw off my day, mostly because it gives me a reason to procrastinate.  My reasoning is that I don't want to start something and then have to interrupt what I'm doing and thus I have a reason to do nothing but wait.

The call went well.  However, they're talking about getting together for a reunion somewhere in the middle of the country.  During that part of the conversation I was mostly quiet.  I enjoy the Zoom calls, it's nice to chat for an hour with men I've known for over 50 years, but spending one or two days with them?  We have all changed so much.

In spite of my procrastination yesterday, Howie had a busy a day.

So, I had an interesting text session with my brother yesterday.  He's 61, had been laid off from his job about 6 months ago.  About a month ago he was hired by New York Life.  Oh, and he works in IT, usually as part of a Help Desk team.  I asked him if he was concerned about the Orange Anus' flip on H-1B visas and... I kid you not, he didn't really know what I was talking about.  Being a social conservative he voted for Orangey, and like so many social conservatives can simply not comprehend that Orangey played his Evangelical base like a 2 bit whore.  I asked him about staffing at New York Life and he told me that about 70% were Indian and 15 % were Mexican.  I told him that he really needs to start paying attention to what's going on.  He simply does not understand, but I'm sure he does pray daily, probably more than once.

Update on the weather:  It is now snowing heavily, so I'm going to stay home and bake a loaf of bread.

Sven

 Here it is, Monday morning and we have snow.  So far about an inch and a half has fallen.  How much will we get?  That's anybody's guess.  The range is 2 to 4...or 6... or 8 inches.  The forecasters also say that the snow will continue until mid-afternoon.  If this happens, my guess is that we're going to end up with around 5 inches.  That's fine.

I am going to use a personal day, rather than drive the 12 miles to work.  I bought a Subaru because they last a long time, not because they're great in snow.  Were I a bit younger I would make that trek, however, I am old enough and wise enough to know that my reaction time has slowed down.  I also know that the tread on my tires is not what it used to be; they need to be replace for my car to pass inspection next fall.  At my age, I do not want to go slip-sliding across the Interstate.

And I did work yesterday.  It was slow.  Not only was it Sunday, but there was a football game on TV.  Today, most of the customers will be shopping for snow shovels and salt for their sidewalks and driveways.  There will be a few who will come in and buy a snowblower.  Notice I said snowblower.  There are those few out there who believe using the word blower is somewhat offensive, they prefer you call those machines that blow snow out of your way throwers.  That's right, they want you to say snow throwers.  These are the same people who are so easily offended when I say I have a weed wacker instead of calling it a string trimmer. 

I turned on my sound bar last evening when I got home from work.  Even at the low volume of 10 it had a nice deep hum.

Meet Sven.  He is Howie's most favoritist of all toys (for the next few days at least.)

And the Moral Degenerate is being certified today.  This shit show begins.

There was an update on his tariffs.  He is not going to issue a blanket tariff on every product, now it's only going to be on priority products, those essentials needed by Americans.  Remember, Musk and he do not care if Americans suffer.  In fact, the only thing they ever wanted from Americans was their vote and now that the Orange Anus is president, they no longer need that.  I also expect this alliance from Hell wiill go heavy on the H-1B visas.  They will push the greed index to the highest point it has ever been.  Because of this, they will try and force every corporation that uses techies to bring in immigrants at lower wages.  The layoffs will probably begin slowly, since Wall Street would hate for the unemployment rate to explode.  I would not be surprised if they begin with the senior workers, those who have both years and those with a long-tenure; they are the most expensive.  This will lead to unrest as those conservative voters in that group enter the Find Out stage.

The Dark Ages, Part II

 A storm is approaching.  Snow.  How much is up for debate.  One weather app gives one total, another puts the total accumulation as being deeper.  Right now the guess is 2-6 inches, and that is only a guess.  The deepest snows will be falling to our south, over the Washington D.C. area.  Of course, this will be while Congress is certifying the Moral Degenerate as president.  Mother Nature is unhappy.

I did work yesterday.  There were customers with questions.  Despite the fact that there were very few customers, the flooring department was number 2 in the building, number 1 in the district, and number 1 in the region.  Hopefully these great sales will help me get a nice pay increase in February.

Evidently there was a big football game on TV last night because I got to hear the play-by-play through the wall.  As a result, I'll be plugging my sound bar back in this morning.

I also had a weird dream last night.  I was diagnosed with a strange disease and the only cure was to have my head surgically removed and then reattached.  Perhaps my subconscious was telling me what is happening to the United States, or what will need to happen.  Since I woke up before I had the surgery, I suspect that this is what will need to be done.  

And, since a lot of you do not get the same social media feeds as I do, I thought I'd let you know that Elonia is trying to get into the God game.

If you've been paying close attention, Elonia has been pushing a very far right, white supremacist, agenda, but then you need to remember that he grew up in an apartheid era and his father had serious leanings towards the Nazis.  For those of you who don't understand, Nazis are not Christians.  And suspect that Elonia is not asking this question as a Christian, but as someone who'd like to take a pickax to Christianity.  He wants to be the one voice that rules them all.  And, in case you missed it, he told King Charles he needs to disband Parliament.  

Over here in America the billionaire boys club is planning on running the country their way, to the detriment of everyone else.  How long will it last?  I don't know.  Will selfishness and greed be the downfall of humanity?  I don't know that either, though I suspect that a thousand years from now this era will be seen as ""The Dark Ages, Part II."

Negotiation

 It's a sunny Saturday morning and it's cold outside.  Over the next week, the temps are only predicted to go above freezing twice... though that will probably change as the Arctic Blast moves north and east.  As far as the temps go, the forecast has already been moderated upward several times.  We are still supposed to get snow on Sunday night, so I brought the snow shovels up out of the basement.

I got some stuff yesterday, however the planned workout failed to materialize.  Was it the cold cloudiness of winter?  Well, temps were rather moderate, so nice that I took Howie for a walk.  He loved it.  The neighbors down the street have a German Short Haired pointer and he and his owner were out, so we stopped and chatted with them for a few minutes.  The dog was never socialized so he's very jumpy bouncy, more so than Howie, who wanted to say hi.  We didn't.  We were told that jumpy bouncy was difficult to control.  

I do get to go and work today.  I'm not excited.

The neighbors were loud again last night.  If they're loud again, I'll plug in my soundbar and give them a taste of their own medicine.

Howie's 5 months old today.  For the most part, he is housetrained doing most of his business outside.  Every now and then he slips up.  Interesting bit:  all I need to do is look at him and lower my voice when I discover the done deed and he knows he's been bad.  If this were a Dune movie, I guess I'd have the power of the voice.

I understand that Orangey is a little upset that he's still going to be sentenced for his election interference.  No jail time, but probably community service of some sort.  Picking up garbage along the roadside would be nice.  Don't doubt for a second that he will try and get out of it.  

So here's a funny thing.  Mikey Johnson was re-elected as Speaker of the House yesterday.  The far right hates him because they feel he's been compromised by negotiating with Democrats to get legislation passed.  For years these negotiations were quite common, until Newt Gingrich decided to form the Just Say No party.  Yesterday Newtie advised the hard liners that they needed to vote for Mikey which basically told them that it was okay to negotiate.  This doesn't mean that they are going to change how they operate.  What it does mean is that nothing on the Republican agenda will be accomplished because they have such a very slim majority, they are going to need Democratic votes to get bills passed, and that means negotiation.  These next few years are going to be Hell for Republicans.

For a Good Time

 So, here it is January 3 and forecasters are calling for some snow this afternoon, about an inch.  I don't mind.  Unless it's a wet snow, that will blow away in the slightest of breezes.  Sunday in to Monday, however, we might get as much as 4 inches.  If we get that much I'll probably take the day off at work.  I'm smart enough to realize that as I get older, my reflexes are slowing down.  I'd rather be safe and warm at home than stuck in a ditch alongside the road.  As for the snow?  That'll be nice.  Free cardio, but barely.  You need a good 8 or 9 inches of snow to really get the old ticker going as you shovel.

Yesterday was an odd day at work.  Customers streamed by the flooring desk regularly.  Sales, however, were scant.  I did manage to get a backsplash measure, and sold some flooring to customer.  That should keep management happy.  

The neighbors had another fight last evening.  This past summer she had complained to me how when he yells he can be "so hurtful."  You can call me cold if you like, but I had a problem with that.  Since I'd already heard them arguing loudly, I knew she could be just as hurtful as he was, so her playing the victim just wasn't going to work.  At some point, I don't doubt that they will move.  I think they will find that easier than doing any of the work the house needs done.

I would rather poke my eyes out than watch one of the far right news services, but last evening Matt Gaetz, who has his own show on OAN, premiered his new face.

I suppose he's trying to make himself more desirable to prepubescent girls, or maybe he's trying to make himself look like the 14 year-old boy he never was, since older pictures of him show he was on the homely side.

This afternoon the House of Representatives will be voting for their next leader.  Will Mike Johnson, the phony Christian who bows to the Orange Anus be re-elected?  Probably, but not on the first vote, maybe not on the second either.  Orangey needs a Speaker of the House in order to be certified, though most of us already know he is certifiable.  

Isn't it interesting that a growing number of Cultist are beginning to complain about Orangey?  No matter how often they were stupid and gullible to believe the Orange Anus, they did anyway.  Their Find Out stage, while it will be bad for all of us, is going to be horrific for them.  They will be wounded terribly bad, and what they deserve more than anything else is for us to rub salt into that wound, and we should try to have a good time while doing so.

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.

Here comes the Sun

 Well, more free cardio arrived over night.  Not much.  It's not like the snow we had last week, which was wet and heavy, this stuff is light and fluffy and... well it's not really going to provide much cardio.  Because the temps are at freezing, it's already beginning to melt.  

Yesterday was somewhat more productive than the day before, but not much.  I did get a short bike ride in at San Remo.  However, other things kept cropping and up and interfering.  

I have a conference call on Tuesday with the VA regarding my blood pressure.  Neither I, nor they, are overly concerned that there's been a slight rise.  These things happen as we get older.  If I weren't so active, I might be concerned.  Sedentary lifestyles tend to the bane of every senior's existence.

Wow!  the sun has just burst brightly into the room.  That poor snow ain't gonna last too long.

There are only 2 more editor / readers / reviewers to go before The Body in Motion gets published.  And, as always, many, many notes have been taken on the next book, The Body in History.  Pictures have been printed off, character names have been decided on, and even some bits of chapter 1 have been written.  Here's a smashing pic of a Greek windmill.  I'll bet you can't guess how this plays into the next book.

My sister called yesterday laughing uncontrollably about Trump's $350 million dollar fine.  You do have to admit, it is more than a little amusing.  He shrieked that he's going to appeal, but that would mean putting about 15% o that amount into an account, and everybody suspects that Trump's wealth is as fictitious as his tax filings.  As some have pointed out, right now, he owes over half a billion in fines.  That makes me laugh.  The only thing the Orange Anus has ever been good at is getting people to believe his lies.  

Something interesting to think about:  what will the Republican party do when Trump is gone?  They have invested so much into his deceit, have walked across his bridge of falsehoods to find themselves stranded on the other side.  I suspect that many of them will languish there, waiting for their own demise lost in confusion.  Many will never admit they were wrong.  Instead, I don't doubt some will dream of the coming of a second Donald Trump, they way they dreamed and waited for a second Ronald Reagan.

What's a Republican to do?

 It's Friday, which means that this truly is my Friday and I get to go to work tomorrow... possibly... maybe.  They're calling for snow to start this evening and end tomorrow morning with a possible accumulation of 3 - 6 inches.  Right now the sun is blazing in through my window.  Last night we had wind.  Lots of wind.  So loud I could hear it rattling the old windows on the 2nd floor (ground floor windows have all been replaced).

Yesterday was one of semi-accomplishment.  I did go for a row around Lake Como in Italy.  The video was clear, but the camera operator hugged a shore line covered with bushes.  Not much to see, which is a shame since Lake Como is beautiful.

And I watched the first 3 episode of Halo last night.  I enjoy the show, probably because it's a lot less like the video game and more like a Sci-Fi epic.  I find it interesting that the evil alien race, the one attempting to exterminate humanity, is called the Covenant.  Here's the trailer for season 2.

And did everybody hear the hoo, hoo, ha, has racing across... well the internet, and social media platforms, and media outlet's yesterday?  Well, to be honest, there were Republicans grimacing terribly when the news broke that Jimmy Comey's star witness in the Hunter Biden uncrime saga had been arrest for lying.  Yep!  A Trump appointee by the name of Weiss arrested Alexander Smirnov for lying to the FBI.  For those who aren't familiar, it was Al's original statement to the FBI that old Republican duffer Chuck Grassley wanted released to the public because it was so explosive.  What's a Republican to do?  They so desperately want to push the fiction of the Biden Crime family and yet every one of their witnesses turns out to be a liar.  Instead of working on legislation America could appreciate, this Republican Congress has spent far to much time suckling on the Trump's retaliation teat.  They evidently have never learned that everything Trump touches dies.

Snow

 We have snow!  Not the light and fluffy kind, however, thick and heavy.  Very moisture laden, might be a good way of describing it, and beneath the white is a layer of slush, weighty stuff.  This cardio will be a workout.  Temps are barely below freezing, and as the day goes on, the warmer they're going to be getting.  Some forecasters predicted 1 - 3 inches, other 4 - 8 inches.  I'm guessing we got on the low end of the 4 - 8 inches, and while flurries are still flying, I'm not expecting much more of an accumulation. 

An apology to Sixpence for not responding to his comment yesterday.  Blogger did something odd and the reply button was not working.  In fact, the same thing happened to Maddie's reply button after I responded to her comment.  

Retail was slow yesterday.  Once again, I'm going to repeat myself.  We're in the middle of February, here in the mid-state, the number of people choosing to wait on home improvements is enormous.  The installation measures I have been getting are for blinds, not flooring.  There's no need for doors to be open for extended periods of time while product and tools are carried into the house.  There's also a lot less mess.  Cleanup is virtually non-existent. 

Quick snowy weather update, the sun has just broken through the clouds!  According to Accuweather radar, the storm has passed.  So, I guess we're looking forward to partly cloudy skies with temps in the mid 40s (F).  Meaning the snow is already going bye bye.  Here's a pic from my backyard.

And, if anyone hasn't been paying attention, the social conservatives are flipping out over those pro-Christian ads that played during the Super Bowl.  Holy Crap!  Literally.  They're calling them Satanic, and pure evil.  One of the said that they promoted a Woke Jesus (I found that funny), since social conservatives hate the idea of being woke.  Remember woke?  That thing Americans rejected Ronnie DeSantis, and his campaign, because he couldn't stop shoving it down everyone's throat?

Another bit of bright news is that the last chapter of Moms for Liberty in Pennsylvania has officially disbanded because of... lack of interest.  The thing they didn't understand is that parents really don't want someone telling them how to raise their children.  Nope.  Perhaps if they had provided a list of books that parents might want to consider to be either appropriate or inappropriate for their children they might have had a better success rate, but nope, they charged into schools ripping books from library shelves.  That, and the fact that they heartily approved of a White Supremacy.  

Finally, looking out of my window, I think it's about time I got my ass into gear and went out and shoveled some snow.