How Can This Be

 Well, its 8 in the morning and the outside temps is 49 (F), and we have drizzles.  Showers, if wish to call them that.  Steady and persistent is the weather pattern in store for us today as temperatures continue to fall.  By Wednesday, our overnight low is predicted to be in the upper 20s (F).

I worked yesterday, so not much was accomplished around the house.  No workouts were finished.  No chores accomplished.  I don't know if it was because I realized I had to work, or if it was the weather, which was damp and drizzly all day.  This is, unfortunately what Spring is like, a transitional period filled with occasional partial sunshine, and mostly overcast rainy days.  These are the days, however, that do make the garden grow.

There is something wrong with the keyboard I'm using, which is not the one on the laptop.  The keyboard I use is in the top desk draw and pulls out when I'm writing.  It keeps dropping ds, so I might have to switch it out.  I have several alternative wireless keyboards; I'll have to pick through them and change the bad one out.

I worked yesterday.  It was slow.  Not that I didn't talk to customers, it's just that no one was buying.  I suspect that this is a bad trend that's going to continue.

Of course, this happened yesterday.  This is Hands Off in Harrisburg, PA.

The rough estimate, prior to the rallies held in the western states, was that over 5 million people were protesting.  That's a big bunch of angry people.  This is the type of movement that Conservatives have always avoided thinking about, it's a condition that happens when you're born with out a spine.  You see, for Project 2025 to work the masses need to be complacent.  Disagreement leads to a disruption of their agenda.  They are going to get very angry when things don't go their way.  They will run around shrieking "How Can this Be?!"  In their delusional minds the masses should bow their heads ready for subjugation, except that ain't happenin'.  Prepare yourselves, for they will become distraught and will ramble and rant, gagging out the bitter pieces of the incomprehensible word salad they spit up and all because their simple brains never took anything other than their own desire for power into consideration.  

Or course, the Orange Anus is helping them any.  Word leaking out from his administration is that he's a bitter, angry man who no longer gives a fuck what happens.  The world is not kissing his ass, and for that he's going to make the world pay.

Repeating 1929

 Today started off as cloudy with the temps in the mid 50s (F) with the possibility of rain on an off throughout the day.  Temps are not supposed to vary much.  This is downer weather in my opinion. Sadly, we will be dealing with this soup for the next 2 days.

My lower back is a bit achy this morning, the result, no doubt, of my dragging the treadmill down the staircase in bits and pieces, some of which were on the heavy side.  This is how it always works for me, the aches and pains show up about 2 days later.  The same thing happens with muscle soreness after I workout out too much.

As for computer/workout/music room, one of the old area rugs was rolled up yesterday.  There was quite a bit of sand underneath from the backing breaking down, an the rug itself had become foldable.  It's now rolled and folded and sitting on the back porch.  After garbage day on Tuesday, I'll dump in in the bin with the rest of the treadmill.  Now all I need to do is figure out what to do with the floor, which was never sanded down or refinished.  Here's what it looks like now.  For those interested, the wall is cover with Romeo and Juliet to give the room a little Shakespearean class.

Everybody seems to be talking about the stock market as if its crash over the past 2 days was unexpected. I mean, I don't know about you, but I was expecting it, just not this soon.  I'd figured that steady downhill slide that began when he mentioned tariffs would continue for a few weeks, but then China retaliated.  Something I'd read about the crash of 1929 was that it took about 3 years until it finally stopped, but by then we were heading into the great depression, and the only thing that stopped that was the start of World War II.  Are we going to be repeating ourselves because Republicans never paid attention in history class?  Or is that the believe that if they don't think about the problem they're creating it will just go away?  I'm suspecting the latter.

And, since Trump seems to be spending most of his time golfing, people are beginning to wonder just who is running the country.  Many are beginning to suspect that it's Stevie Miller, another idiot of the first degree.  Oh, and with some input from wingnut Laura Loomer.  This means that the shit is only going to get a lot deeper.

We Are Smaller Than The World

 Good Morning world!  Our outside temp here in Central PA is 58 (F).  That's mild.  I've been outside wearing just my shorts and T-shirt, my way of transitioning to summer.  Storms did blow through the area last night, lots of loud thunder and lightening, and heavy rain.  The forecast for the next 3 days is pretty much the same, and then we're going to cool off.  Some of our lows next week are predicted to be in the high 20s (F), which downright cold.

I did work yesterday and it was slow.  We are not hitting our forecast plan so far this week... by a lot, and with the weather forecast calling for showers and colder temps, I'm not expecting sales to pick up.  I did get my monthly review yesterday, yes, that's right, we now get them monthly.  Once again my focus is supposed to be on signing people up for credit cards.  That discussion led to a conversation about interest rates and how the rate on our cards was so high.  Not surprising, my supervisor was fairly clueless on the subject, once again telling me it was not my responsibility.  That's one of the big problems in not only America, but the world.  No one wants to accept responsibility.  It's always someone else's fault.  

And in a comment, Treaders asked me if I didn't have a recycling place nearby.  No, not really.  There used to be a landfill about 5 miles down Wertzville Road, but that shut down years ago.  Hershey, Dauphin, and Cumberland county have drop-off spots for yard waste.  I did check, there is a scrap yard on the other side of Harrisburg, but their rates for dropping of scrap metal are what I consider exorbitant.  To make up for this, Waste Management has given us all supersized garbage containers, so bit, it usually takes me a month to fill both the garbage and the recycling bins.  I will have to go online and make an appointment for them to pick up the treadmill base.  This is a hassle.  We used to be able to just set one piece out, but now their garbage trucks have robotic arms that pick up your cans and dump them into the top of the truck.  No more garbagemen.  This is what our cans look like.  You can see the metal bar the robotic arms hook onto.

And, of course, the stock market sell-off continues.  As soon as I saw that China announced retaliatory tariffs of 34%, I knew Wall Street was going to crash even farther.  With zero tariffs for Russia and high tariffs for every other country in the world, many think the Orange Anus is following orders from his blow bro Vlad.  You all know who Vlad is, the dictator who has already sacrificed almost a million Russians in a war that only supposed to last 3 days?  That man has totally over estimated Russia's strength by a very large margin.  In his mind, having the United States as a vassal state would give him Supreme Power.  He simply does not understand that we are smaller than the world.  The world is not going to cower before Trump and his blow bro Vlad.  Nope.  Trading alliances are circumventing us.  Orangie is going to crush the world's economy.  This is how the Republican party dies, and don't be surprised if it takes Evangelical Christianity with it.

Open Day on Billionaires

 Yesterday was nice and breezy, today is not going to be a carbon copy.  Temps are expected to rise into the 70s (F), but occasional showers will persist, and then overnight temps are predicted to drop.  The next 3 days look like on and off showers, lots of drizzles.  This is a good time to plant some grass seed in those bare patches.

Even though I was busy yesterday, most of my time was spent on disassembling my treadmill.  What seems like hundreds of screws and bolts were removed.  Many pieces were carried downstairs, some were thrown into the trash.  No matter how much you might want to, I can tell you with all honesty that the pieces of one treadmill are too many to fit in the oversized garbage can that I have.  Rather than pay an extra charge for them to pick it up, I get rid of it over 3 consecutive garbage pickup days.  As I type, the only thing left upstairs is the base.  What surprised me the most in the disassembly was that you're actually running on a piece of HDF or High Density Fiberboard.  In case any of you were wondering, I did have help.  This also gives you an idea how big Howie is at 8 months.

As expected, the Orange Anus revealed his tariff plan yesterday.  The Wall Street Journal said it was "buy another yacht day for the swamp."  For those who aren't aware, Rupert Murdoch, the same Rupert who owns Fox Entertainment, owns the Wall Street Journal.  I don't think Rupie's too happy.  Rolling Stone talked about Orangie's disassociation with the American people, focusing on his persistent use of the groceries, something he's probably never bought in his life.  More than one Economist has suggested that he seems to be attempting to turn the clock back to before the great depression of 1929, back to an era when greed ruled the world.

Notifications are flying in as Wall Street and the world reel.  I understand that even the penguins on the Heard and McDonald Islands are stamping their feet.  I do suspect that in the demented mind of the Orange Anus the world will bow down and cave.  That's not going to happen.  In truth, they will reciprocate even as they seek other trading partners to compensate.  Better deals will be struck between China and the world.  I wouldn't be surprised if the masses in America rise up, and, as someone else has said, we might have open day on billionaires.

Would You Care for a Little Whine with that Cheese

 The temp was 36 (F) when I got up this morning.  The forecasters are saying we should climb another 20 degrees, but clouds are going to move in bringing showers with them.  Tomorrow, of course, temps are supposed to climb up into the 70s (F), but only for a day.  Then they are going to come crashing down.  We have a cold front moving through, and by next Wednesday our overnight low will be in the high 20s (F).

Tuesdays are usually meh days for me, a time for me to relax after working the weekend.  Not yesterday.  Much was accomplished.  Besides cleaning the big aquarium, I began dismantling the treadmill.  A friend asked why I didn't try and sell it.  The answer is simple.  No one wants to buy a used treadmill, and because they're heavy, they are quite difficult to move.  It's easier to just take it apart and throw it out into the trash.  And while everything is getting moved around, I'm going to replace the area rugs in that room.  They're both old, one of them went through Gertie's puppyhood, that was15 years ago.

My Amazon music was also cancelled.  I'm now using Spotify.  This is all part of my shift away from everything Bezos has a finger in, including changing the credit card which gave me points for shopping on Amazon.  The new card has a lower interest rate, not that I ever have to pay interest, so I guess the higher interest on the old Amazon card was actually paying for those Amazon points I thought I was earning.

And, of course, last evening this happened.

Can you imagine how mortifying it must be to spend over $20+ million on an election to lose by 11 points?  And this was after Cory Booker's record breaking 24+ hour speech.  And in Florida, even though the Republican candidates won, neither came close to the 30 point victory claimed by the Orange anus.  In Illinois, a MAGA cultist lost to her Democratic opponent in a mayoral contest.  In fact, it was a good day for Democrats.  The Republicans?  Not good at all.  

On top of all that was going down, Mikey Johnson dismissed the House of Representatives for the rest of the week because he lost on proxy voting by mothers who'd just given birth.  I wonder what they're going to be doing on this mini-vacation.  

And today Orangie's tariffs are supposed to kick in.  Will he cave... again?  If he does, I don't think it will be by much.  His caving would cause people to think he did so because of the elections yesterday.  That would make him look weak.  It would tell the world that he really hasn't mastered the art of the deal.

Catering for Clicks

Hello Tuesday!  We have a seasonably Spring day in store for us here in  Central PA.  Temps will be in the mid 50s (F), which means somethings can be done outside. A full day is planned.

Because yesterday was another calorie intensive day at work (leftovers galore), I didn't count my calories.  Today's a new day, and the counting begins. 

A full day is planned.  Chores are listed.  Now, all I need to do is see how many I can complete.

Howie brought another rock into the house this morning.  He got a swat and was told that rocks are a no, no.  Should he accidentally swallow one, expensive surgery would be require to remove it.  I know someone who's dog did the same thing.  $$$$ followed.  Someday he'll learn that stones are out.  The sticks he brings in?  Those are easily bribed away from him with a puppy peanut butter cookie.  Also, for those interested, he's a little over 40 inches (102 centimeters) long, and 70+ pounds *32+ kg) in weight, and he's still growing.

This is how the Greek oregano is coming along.  The last 2 glasses aren't doing to well, so I may plant dill in them.

A writer named Michal Savage was lamenting in The Guardian this morning on people not turning off the news.  The article is interesting, however he fails to touch on what I believe to be the most prominent reason people are leaving the Main Stream Media and turning to other sources:  their favoritism for the sensational over the real news.  The Orange Anus stated something about a 3rd term and MSM is beating that deceptive ploy the same way Republicans beat a dead horse.  Not one of them, at least as far as I know, pointed out that he said this in order to get people talking about something, anything other than the Signal chat scandal.  In my mind, this is the main reason people are seeking and finding better reporting in things like substacks.  People will return to the MSM if they stop catering for clicks.

There are elections today in both Florida and Wisconsin.  The returns will be a good indicator of how pissed off Americans are with Orangie's authoritarian administration.  I'm interested in finding out if Elonia's money can buy another 2 elections.

Act of God

 Well, the temps didn't climb to 77 (F) yesterday.  Drizzles did abound, though.  We have the same forecast for today before the temperature drops down into the mid 50s (F) tomorrow.  The extended forecast is calling for cool temps for the next week or so before cooling off a little more.  Two weeks from now our overnight lows are predicted to be in the low 30s (F).  

Yesterday was still chow down day at the store.  There were more personal pan pizzas, and pulled pork, and thousands of cookies, and snicky snacky things to satiate the robust grazer.  In a short while I'll be stepping on the scale to see how much damage was done, even though I realize that when go to work this afternoon there are still going to be leftovers.

And sales wise, the store was busy yesterday.  The Flooring / Decor department probably broke a record in sales last week.  My sales were fine.  Corporate, while enjoying these min salad days, understands sales are going to to go into decline.  How do I know?  We've staffed a lead table.  Customers play a little game and win either a snack, or a beverage, or a coupon, all the while an associate talks to them about the home services we offer.  Leads are good any time of the year, but quite often they help us reach plan during the slow months of winter.  Pushing leads this time of year is an indicator of what corporate thinks is indicative of sales in the coming months.  

Elonia held a rally in Wisconsin for a very select crowd:  employees and carefully vetted supporters.

While his rally did get national media attention, as far as I can tell on Fox Entertainment broadcast any of it.  The fact that he was too terrified to have open attendance is not a good indicator, he was worried about protesters managing to make it into the auditorium and creating a disturbance.  This means he failed... terribly.  The idea was to generate votes for the Republican nominee for the Wisconsin Supreme Court, but speaking to a selected audience is not going to grow the Republican voting base.  Also, given the fact that his attempt at bribing people to vote Republican has gotten terrible press proves this was more of an act of desperation than anything else.  The Orange Anus has an approval rating of 41%, and Musk's is in the negative digits.  Someone said it's below the floorboards.  Ouch!  The Republican party has believed that it's always about the money, well, only if you've sold your soul to selfishness and greed.  What might be the stake through President Elonia's heart, might in fact be the stock market.  I haven't looked at figures yet, but from what I've heard it's looking red in anticipation of Orangie's tariff announcements.  Tariffs that are, supposedly, going to be aimed at every country in the world.  Would the markets crashing on election day be considered an Act of God? 

Toy Time

 Well, the temps did climb into the low 80s (F) yesterday and it was... nice.  What a shame that I had to work.  Temps are supposed to be warm again both today and tomorrow, however storms are predicted to spoil everything in the late afternoon of both days.  Tuesday, my day off, the forecast is for us to return to season temps which are... a tad cooler.

And the warmer temps brought out the shoppers yesterday.  The last time I had checked the flooring department had sales totaling over $36 thousand.  I began working at 2, however by 3 foot traffic was in an obvious decline.  We did have a customer who's attempts to wheedle us with various coupons and discounts on his phone that we were forced to put a stop to his sale.  At one point he wanted to apply for a pro-contractor credit card in order to get the pro discount.  He had difficulty in understand that having a business was not the same thing as a person who's sole income come from remodeling a bathroom, or a kitchen.  Luckily we had an assistant manager working with him and she politely educated him on the difference.

This is also a Success Sharing weekend.  They bring in food.  I've been counting calories, but decided to stop yesterday and today since I happen to be a grazer.  Yesterday we all got a personal pan pizza with the toppings of our choice.  I chose a white pan pizza with mushrooms and artichoke hearts.  Scrumptious.  Today is ice cream sundae Sunday.

And my new heart rate monitor arrived yesterday.  It has a much needed upgrade: you can easily replace the battery.  With older models you needed to removed 4 teeny weeny screws with a tiny screwdriver,  That's no longer the case.

For those who don't know, it's always toy time here.

In case you haven't been able to read the signs, the Orange Anus is lava level angry, that's about ten grades above and beyond his being furious.  Remember, in his world he never makes mistakes, he is never wrong.  This Signal Chat screw up has exposed his total incompetence.  He put in unqualified idiots into his cabinet, idiots who would always say "yes," and now the world is laughing at him, and he's doing what he does best:  making things worse by doubling down.  How can I (we) tell?  He said that he's absolutely not going to replace any of the people on that chat, that would mean he screwed up by picking those idiots.  an even better example is his saying, "we are taking Greenland."  I can't even imagine the protest that will happen if he follows through on that.  The worst example was him saying in an interview that he "doesn't care if auto prices go up."  That's right, he doesn't care if American's suffer.  Shit!  But than Orangie has never cared for the American people, he's never cared for America.  In his mind we are just another product he can barter with.

Babies, Babies, Babies

 Well, if the forecasters are correct, we're going to be cooking records today, that is the temps do indeed climb to 84 (F).  That's short sleeved shirt weather, and I'm going to wear one to work.  We had rain last evening, steady and soaking.

The forsythia on the hill is in bloom.  I didn't plant it, which means that some bird at a seed and pooped it there, and it grew.  I didn't realize that I had planted so many bulbs, but I must have since they're springing up all all over the place.  I don't even know what half of them are.  One thing I am certain of is that none of my dahlias survived the winter.  It was very cold and the ground froze days, if not weeks, at a time.  I did save some seeds from the flowers, so rather than plant tubers, this year I'm just going to throw out some seeds and see if they take.

Howie has gotten very picky when it comes to eating.  For a while, it seemed as if he preferred the more expensive kibbles, then he seemed to go for the less expensive brand, then yesterday afternoon he began snubbing both.  I put out some canned food and, after giving it a sniff, walked away.  What does he like to eat?  Fruit.  I loves blueberries and bananas.  So, I'm going to have to get experimental and try different combinations. 

My new heart rate monitor is out for delivery.  Good.

And here's a pic of my daffodils.  The ones out front are in full bloom.

And wasn't yesterday a fun day on Wall Street.  Inflation is heading our way much faster than Republicans expected and the stock market reacted as expected.  Wowz!  And prepare yourselves, Orangie's tariff retaliations come on Tuesday and they're bringing with them another ouchy ouchy drop on Wall Street.  Larry Kudlow started his show on Fox Entertainment last evening with a whine about the stock market, and the tariffs, and the taxes the Republicans want to raise on the average American.  See... even billionaires are beginning to worry.  I'm thinking a good stock market crash would do them all a bit of good, why, we might even see one or two jumping out of windows.

And Elonia was on Fox Entertainment again last evening.  Doesn't he seem to be having as many "on air" interviews as his toy president?  Anyway, one of Elonia's complaints was on the slowly declining world population.  In case you're wondering, his worries are not about the future of mankind, but rather the future profitability of corporations.  You see, if there are fewer people to buy products revenue will fall.  That's the big worry. His concern is about continuing that annual 5% growth.  To maintain that, he wants people worldwide to become breeders, making babies, babies, babies.

The Cone of Silence

 It's the weekend for some people, not me.  There was a time decades ago when I, too, worked a Monday thru Friday job, but, as I've said, that was decades ago.  So many people plan their lives around a 5 day, 40 hour work week, in fact, our economy depends upon it; that's when people spend most of their money.  Not me.  I can spend my hard earned pennies whenever I want to, the day of the week matters not to me.

We're supposed to have showers this afternoon.  That's fine.  We've been going through fire watches because the showers we're getting simply aren't soakers, they're basically a superficial wetting.  If Accuweather is right, we should be getting rain next week.

I did work yesterday.  One of my fellow specialists was fuming, he'd been called on the carpet about his frequent call-offs.  He's one of those individuals who desperately believes he should get his weekends off, so when his schedule says otherwise, he call out.  He was so angry, he began the process of transferring to another store.  That's fine.  Back when I was in HR I told many people that "if you don't like your job, get another," basically hoping they're go some where else and make people miserable.

When Howie was a puppy, the Vet recommend Purina Pro Plan for big dogs, and though a bit pricy, I took her advice.  Well, now that he's almost 8 months old, I decided to move him to Beneful, the dog food all of my other dogs ate.  Well, he does eat it, but it has to be on a plate instead of his food dish.  I think he's a bit spoiled.

I understand that Waltz wasn't the only one on that super secret Houthi text with an open Venmo account, there were three others.  Can we talk about amateurs?  Since Conservatives are trying to turn back the clock, I recommend begin holding their super secret talks the Smart way.  Orangie needs to force them all to utilize The Cone of Silence!

Quite a few people found the Orange Anus's decision to withdraw Elise Stefanik's nomination as ambassador to the United Nations telling.  Actually, that announcement made quite a number of us smile:  he's scared.  Republicans have a razor think majority in the House and it seems they believe that in a special election to replace her, the Democrats would win.  Stefanik's district is very red, in fact Orangie won it by 24%.  So, it looks like Elise sold her soul and got a Mar a Lago face for nothing.

Elonia gave some sort of interview and, as most egocentric narcissists frequently do, he doesn't understand why he is so... hated disliked by so many people.  He doesn't understand the protests.  He only wants as much as he can steal from America to make America great.  He's only thinking about his bank account Americans, and all of the different ways he can steal from help them.  And to prove this, he's giving 2 $1million prizes to 2 lucky individuals who vote Republican in Wisconsin next week.  For those of you who don't remember, he pulled this same shit in the National election, only it turned out that the drawings were rigged, and the winners weren't really winners, but people who worked on Orangie's campaign.  He's going to be sorely angry when he learns that the only ones who can be bought are losers. 

Trump and Murdoch: Deal or No Deal

 Baby, it's cold outside!  The temp is 30 (F).  Plants don't do well when the temp is below freezing.  And we're heading into a really big contrast since the temp, if the weather forecasters are correct, will be a scorching 81 (F) on Saturday. That is really a little too hot for this time of year.

On a whole, yesterday was really productive.  I'm pleased, not only did the small aquarium get cleaned, I also got a 10+ mile ride in on the bike.  During that 10+ ride I discovered something.  For the past several months I've been listening to audio books, mostly about Greek history.  Yesterday, rather than listen to a podcast, I played one of my old playlists and got in a decent ride.  Since a decent ride with music is preferable to a so so ride with a podcast, it seems as if the playlists are back on.  

I also cut up some beets and boiled them, the first step in making pickled eggs, or as we here in Central PA call them red beet eggs.  And, speaking of eggs, they cost only $4.99 at my local Giant supermarket, that's $3 less than they cost 2 weeks ago, so I'm wondering if they're buying local, or if these eggs were imported from Turkey.

The cushion on the futon in the living room, after three dogs, has finally begun to wear down.  The seam tore open so I temporarily fixed it with duct tape (and it is duct tape, not duck tape).  This is how it started:

Of course, when I got back from my visit to the supermarket, I discovered that the duct tape had been no match a 7.5 month old puppy.  There was now a hole, and about 2 pounds of stuffing were all over the floor.  So, this is how it ended:

Lily did the same thing when she was about the same age, which is why I ended up with an inexpensive futon in the living room.

Of course Signalgate continues.  While the anger and outrage being expressed by Americans and these dodo brains the Orange Anus installed in his cabinet, I'd relatively certain there is also a lot of smug satisfaction being enjoyed by a vast majority of the country:  Orangie deserves every terrible thing that comes his way.

As someone said, this is what happens when you staff your cabinet with TV personalities, rather than qualified individuals.  Hegseth, Homan, Waltz, and Gabbard all come from Fox.  As someone who's old enough to remember, Rupert Murdoch tried to become very influential in British politics a long time ago with several prominent members of Parliament in his pocket, so to speak.  Now, it seems, he's done the same thing with Orangie's administration and it makes one wonder if perhaps some deal was struck between the 2 billionaires, something like: you put my people in your cabinet and my entertainment channel will drown you with praise.  Such a deal would slack the appetite their egos have for attention and power.  It does make one wonder, doesn't it?

Approval Ratings

 Supposedly, we were in the middle of a rain shower this morning when I got up, but you could have fooled me.  Outside everything was dry, without even the hint of a drizzle.  Temps today are only predicted to climb into the high 40s (F).  That's fine with me.  I did see on the long range forecast that on Saturday temps are predicted to climb into the high 70s (F).  If that happens, people will be showing up at the store looking for window air conditioning units and they will end up getting turned away.  The few unites we do have are palletized in the overhead.  We're gearing up for spring sales, not summer sales.

Yesterday was a good day for getting things done.  I got in a decent rowing session and then completed and upper body workout.  The big aquarium was cleaned.  Laundry was done.  Cleaning.  I ended it with playing a few hours of Avowed.  I like the game.  Whether it will be one of my most favorite games of all time has yet to be decided, though it is fun to play.

I applied for a credit card from the credit union I deal with, I'm ditching the Amazon Visa.  I always pay off the charges with each statement, so I never have to pay interest, so I'm sure Morgan Chase and Amazon can survive without me.

Benson Boone's been getting a lot of airplay, Rolling Stone even did a big article on him.  His music's okay, good but not great.  Between you and me, I'm getting some serious Freddie Mercury vibes from Benny.

And, of course the shit and Shinola show from Orangie's administration continues.  Mike Waltz has taken responsibility, though his confession needs to be taken with a side dish of clown car humor, especially when he says that Elonia and his techies are going to get to the bottom of how Jeff Goldberg was invited into his secret chat group.  I guess this is geared for the Cutltists.  One thing I did find out, Signal is preferred by Orangie's group because, unlike the secure service they're supposed to use, it doesn't keep an official government record, so they can say what ever the want.

Someone asked if Orangie's blow bro Vlad was having buyer's remorse?  Nah, I don't think so, he's know Orangie for years.  He knows the depths of his ineptitude.

And I see the Vance's have changed their itinerary for Greenland.  They're no going to be staying on a military base far away from the angry Greenlanders.  Doesn't it seem like everywhere JD goes he's met by angry protesters.  

Finally, where would Orangie be with out his Executive Orders.  A day doesn't pass when he doesn't break out his Sharpie to sign one, you'd think he believed they were decrees.  And every one he signs is getting challenged in the courts.  There is no fixing stupid.  Hegseth will not resign, not will Waltz, because would mean Orangie made a mistake.  You'd think that with 6 bankruptcies he'd have learned at least one lesson.  Nope. Without guardrails his approval rating will continue to fail.

Idiots Abound!

 Temps are in the mid 40s (F).  They're predicted to get a little warmer today.  We should be up in the mid 50s (F) by this afternoon.  I don't work, so I might get a little yardwork done. There are many piles of autumn leaves nestled around my fence that need to be mulched with my mower.  This is not something that will take a long time.

Yesterday was pretty much a non-work day, literally.  I did nothing.  Well, I downloaded Avowed.  And I made spanakorizo, which is a spinach and rice dish.  I did a little cleaning.  Mostly, however, I spent time on social media reading about the security crash by top officials in the administration.  I found it fascinating that one of them, Mike Waltz, likes to communicate in emojis... a lot.

Anyway, I was forced to take the stuffing out of Howie's blue whale after he chewed the eye off.  The squeaker is gone as well.  It's in the trashcan by my desk.  Here's a pic of Howie and his whale.

I also started going through my kitchen cabinets.  I had two full shelves of coffee mugs.  Some of them had been gifts, some I'd purchased as souvenirs, but most of them hadn't been used in years.  So, this morning a number of them went out into the trash.  I'd thought of trying to give them away, but experience has taught me most people have no interest unless they believe there might be some value.  These mugs were all mass produced and have zippo value, so now they're waiting for the trash collector.  They will also be quickly forgotten since they have little to no importance.

Shall we go back to the security breach for just a bit?  I found it fascinating that Hegseth spit out some rage blaming the journalist and calling him a liar after the administration had already admitted the breach had truly happened.  That man is vile.  Evidently Tommy Tuberville stayed mum about the incident, most likely because it was his vote that confirmed Hegseth.  Pete Buttigieg signaled one horrific problem with this breach and that was someone... Waltz? or Hegseth? had to copy this top secret information from a secure source in order for them to discuss it on Signal.  Of course, both of these people were confirmed because of their loyalty, not their competence.  I, myself, am wondering how many other times these blundering idiots have used Signal before.  Waltz didn't suddenly say "oh, let's try something new with this chat, how about we use Signal?" and in response, did Hegseth say "Wow! sounds great!  I'll copy the secure data!"  This is concrete proof that in Orangie's administration, Idiots Abound!

 

Appearances

 Today's starting out a little on the cool side, as long as you definition of cool is in the mid 40s (F).  There are drizzles hanging around, but if the forecasters are correct they will pass leaving this afternoon sunny.  Temp wise, it looks as though we'll be hanging around in the mid 50s (F) to low 60s (F) for the next few days.  I can live with those temps.

Yesterday, because it was the last Sunday I worked an 8 hour shift was a day of none accomplishment.  That's right, except for writing my daily entry in Riding On, I did virtually nothing... literally.  Well, I did go to work.  I did have a nice carpet sale to an ex-employee, a little over $5000.  Her husband signed up for a store credit card.  His credit must not be that good, since his limit was low.  Customers with decent credit usually have a limit of $8000, he maxed out his limit and she put the balance on another card.  She also told me they were going on a cruise in June:  Italy, Greece, and Turkey.  I'm betting they're deep in debt.

I've been listening to Lady Gaga's latest.  If you like her music some of it's pretty good.  However, the videos are rather odd, none of them likeable enough to watch more than one time.

And I think I'm about played out with Skyrim.  There are a number of endings and depending upon the choices you make during the game, you can have a good one, or a bad.   I had a happy ending this time, one a previous playthrough I had to deal with a terrible war.  Now I'm debating whether I want to download Avowed, another RPG from Obsidian, a studio that is owned by Bethesda.  Here's the trailer.

I understand that the Orange Anus is caving on some of his tariffs again, this time in the form of waivers to certain groups, one of which, I believe is the auto industry.  This means that his April 2 deadline is off again, sort of, while still being on.  Pharmaceuticals are still included... possibly... at least for now.

Also, we're evidently going to be importing eggs from Turkey, among other countries.  I'm wondering if the Federal government is going to be paying the import fees, if not, the price of eggs will still be high.

Elonia is trying to buy a Supreme Court seat in Wisconsin.  He's offering voters $100 each if they sign a petition against activist judges, and he's doing this in order to put an activist judge that will give him what he wants on the bench in Wisconsin.  I'm hoping the voters there force him to pound sand.

In Virginia, Governor Youngkin had to deal with boos, hisses, and catcalls.  

In Philly, at the NCAA wrestling championship both Orangie and Elonia were booed mercilessly.  You'd think this moron would learn a lesson and avoid making public appearances.

The Unblessing

 Here it is Sunday morning and outside the temperature is a brisk 32 (F).  Today's supposed to be cool (for Spring), with a high around 50 (F).  I work, so it really doesn't bother me.

And, since I have to be at work early, this entry will be brief.  I did change my schedule.  While I still will be working Sundays, I've put my start time later in the morning.  

Yesterday was quiet next door.  That was nice.  When I did go to work, the first think I did was set up a meeting for indoor shutters.  Only 2 windows, but the customer has already had 2 sets installed previously, so unless she has a drastic change of mind, this will be a sale.

Other wise, business was slow.  The store is probably not going to hit its goal this week.  That's life.  We should be getting our bonus checks next week.  Since I've been part-time mine hasn't been that big, I'm suspecting this check might be a bit smaller.

Steve Schmidt, a conservative anti-Trumper posed this on his substack.  This is 91 year old Chuck Grassley not answering the question of one of his constituents.  Chuckie should have been retired a long time ago.  Why did Iowans continue to elect hi?  Nostalgia, possibly.

And I'm pleased to say that the Cumberland Country Tesla dealership had to deal with protesters.  It is some what out in the boondocks, so the fact that they got so many people was really a pleasant surprise.  Even more surprising, was that the protest made it on a number of the local news channels.  I'm certain that made other Republican representatives in the area cringe.  Representatives like Greg Rothman, who has held a townhall.  Rexy sent out a brochure telling his constituents that he felt "blessed" to serve them.  I don't think Rexy understands that voters elected him, not God, and right now he's siding with the Orange Anus, and unless he changes his tune quickly those same voters are going to fire him.  I guess he'd have to call that an unblessing... or possibly a curse.

The Fire Grows

 Because we're not in the park, and it certainly isn't the 4th of July, I'd have to say that this is just another Saturday, a day when I'm always scheduled to work.  Outside temps are in the upper 30s (F) with the probability of climbing into the low 50s (F).  Buds are popping out all over the place.  

Much was done yesterday!  The big aquarium was cleaned.  The cleanings are happening frequently in order to eliminate the black algae.  Salads were made for lunch and dinner today: a Greek cucumber salad for lunch and a bean salad for dinner.  This means today is going to be meatless.  I do them every now and then.  There are two boneless ribs in the little crockpot on their way to becoming pulled pork for tomorrow.

I also managed to get in 2 workouts, a 15 minute row in the morning and a good upper body dumbbell workout in the afternoon. 

Of course, there was more to the day than that.  I had to listen to my neighbors having a argument... that sounds better than saying they were fighting again,  If they go an entire week without screaming at each other at least once, I count it as a good week.  This has not been a good week.  He sorts mail for the post office in Lancaster, probably not one of the most secure jobs right now.

This is happening.

The image is old.  It was very popular a number of years back, and its popularity is surging.  AOC and Bernie Sanders held a rally in Denver, CO, and 34,000 people showed up.  The terrible truth for Conservatives is that it take more than being in charge, for them, that belief has been set in stone for decades.  "Shut up, we're in charge," was their creed.  Except for that to happen a large swath of the population needs to say, "okay."  That ain't happening.  Not at all.  And Republicans simply don't understand.  Harriet Hageman doesn't realize her constituent's are going to tar and feather her, and then run her out of town on a rail.  

AOC and Bernie Sanders are doing a 30 city townhall tour against the Oligarchs, NBC reported Friday's event in Las Vegas, The Guardian reported on yesterday's event in Denver.  CNN reported on the march 20 townhall in Las Vegas as well, but nothing about Denver.  There's a saying, "a day late, and a dollar short."  Is it any wonder more and more Americans are tuning out the MSM and turning to Social Media for their news?  Choose your news sources wisely.

And finally, Harold Lutnick, the billionaire Secretary of Commerce only fraudsters would complain if they didn't receive their Social Security check.  The blowback on Social Media was instantaneous.  These billionaires have no idea what kind of fire they are playing with.  People talk about the Orange Anus getting lava angry, this anger would make lava look like a popsicle.

The Uneducated

 We have a blustery day in store for us here in Central PA.  Temps should (are predicted) to climb up into the mid 50s (F); typical Spring weather.  We should have intermittent sunshine.  Historically, March has always been a windy month, I suppose it has something to do with the warmup into summer.  I'm sure there some thermally dynamic answer waiting for me to look for it.  

Because it is windy, several old branches have come down.  One of them is thick, about 2 inches in diameter.  It broke into pieces when it hit the ground and, of course, Howie's been trying to bring each individual piece into the house.  What is it with dogs and their love of sticks and branches?

Being that it's Friday, I'm not scheduled to work.  I did, however, work yesterday.  I did sell a measure to rather hirsute man, who's putting cheap carpet in the bedrooms of a house he just bought.  There's nothing wrong with this since most of the flooring in bedrooms is covered by furniture.

I did try for a ride around Corsica yesterday, however my HRM wasn't connecting to my Trax.  I can use my watch, but since it doesn't sync with the Trax, it only provides me with my heart rate, not a good thing.  After 10 minutes I stopped.  

Remember the Valentine's octopus?

Well, this is how it ends.  So it goes in the life of a dog toy.

Of course, yesterday the Orange Anus signed an Executive Order ending the Department of Education for the purpose of getting his angry, old mug on National TV.  Elonia posted a meme in which the word Department was misspelled because Elonia has the maturity level of a 12 year-old.  I find it's disappointing that there are people, notice I didn't classify them as adults, who believe the Department of Education sets the curriculum for schools in the United States.  They clamor "send it back to the states," without knowing that the states are, to some degree, already in charge.  These people don't understand that school districts are responsible for their own curriculum. Of course, these are the same people who believe that by dismantling the Department of Education their taxes are going to go down.  They don't understand this is so the 1% get a tax break.  In order to cover the loss of revenue from the Federal government, state taxes will have to go up.  They have put the entire country in a losing situation simply because they are uneducated.

Getting to the Root of the Problem

 The Vernal Equinox has arrived!  Sadly, this doesn't mean balmy days, rather we have now begun our transition to summer.  Temps will fluctuate.  Hopefully we'll get rain, though if this year's the same as the past few, most of our seasonal precipitation will not fall until the months of May and June.  No longer is the phrase, "April showers bring May flowers."  Nope.  Still, this past winter was colder than what we've been having so there's a chance that old adage might still be relevant.

Yesterday was a good day.  Howie and I went to the park and walked over a mile.  That's a lot for him, remember, no matter how big he seems, he's still a puppy.  He's got another 2 weeks before he hits 8 months, and he is big.

I also got an upper body workout in.  Nice.

Last evening I "beat" Skyrim, as gamers like to say.  That means I successfully finished the last "boss" fight.  I killed the dragon Alduin, and am now a Dragonslayer.  There are still other quests needing to be completed, so I'll probably continue playing the game for a bit, especially since I can now speak dragon.

Did a little yard work.  Howie tried to get to the root of the problem, though I don't know what exactly the problem was other than his having a root in the house.

There was a townhall for our local Republican ass Scottie Perry, not that Scottie had any plans to show up.  You see, Scottie is one of those spineless Republicans who believes that he can tell Americans how to live their lives without have to answer any of his constituent's questions.  Scottie is also one those Republicans who asked the Orange Anus for a pardon at the end of Orangie's first term.  Sounds like someone's more a bit culpable.

In Wyoming, Harriet Hageman, a Republican Congress woman who wallows in the MAGA lunacy, was booed, and jeered, and in return mocked her constituents, dyed in the wool Republicans who voted for her.  She will never learn.  They will vote her out of office.

Democrat Sean Casten, from the Chicago area, had a confrontational townhall, in which the police escorted one of his constituents out of the building.

Let's be honest.  A moral degenerate, catering to the a number of different voting blocs, the 2nd amendmenters, the Evangelicals, the anti-vaxers, groups that were happy as pigs in shit he was spouting their lingo to the world, won the election.  While dancing around in glee, they would have better spent their time paying closer attention to what the Orange Anus was doing, who he was contacting, and bargaining with, rather than just flippantly ignore him with  a "well, that's just the way he is." comment.  Now people are up in arms because this isn't what they voted for... sorry, this is what you voted for.  So many Americans are to blame for this and not one of them will admit to it.  Instead they will point fingers.  There are many roots to this problem, but accountability is a big one.  No one wants to admit that they are responsible.  

The Fart of the Deal

 Our outside temp is 41 (F).  The forecasters are saying we're going that temp will climb into the low 70s (F), that's fine with me since I don't work today.  When I go to work tomorrow, it's going to be in the low 60s (F), that's fine with me, too, since I'll be working.  Looking ahead, our temps are going to be seesawing for the next week or so, up one day, down the next.  There's not a lot of rain in the forecast, but then April and May tend to be our wettest months.

Yesterday was more productive than your normal Tuesdays, the first day off after 3 days when I kind of zone on and off.  Everything but a workout.  I was pleased.

The finger's still sore, but it looks so much better today.  Normally I heal very fast, but this little nick was on the knuckle, and we all know how often we bend our fingers, especially if we are using a keyboard, or throwing tennis balls, or anyone of Howie's other toys.  He has a lot of energy, but than he also takes long naps.  

My neighbors are having had another loud disagreement this morning.  He's louder than she.  If I'm in the kitchen they're voices are clear and I can hear what the argument is about.  I give them their privacy.  There's nothing wrong with being 50 something first time home buyers, their problem is they bought the staging and not the house an are sorely disappointed.  He works, she doesn't, so all of the expenses are on his shoulders. 

I bought myself a new kitchen scale with a chargeable battery.  It coordinates with my countertop.  That wasn't planned.

So, the Orange Anus and his blow bro Vlad came up with some sort of phony ceasefire for the Ukraine, one in which  the country was shut off from all military and intelligence aid, and then the blow bro broke the ceasefire.  Orangie made a big announcement and then Vlad shot that to hell.  Nothing new here.

And word is that Orangie is planning trillions in tariffs against soooo many different countries, not just our main trading partners because... he's desperately trying to prove he's more skilled in bargaining than anyone else.  I think he should rename his book The Fart of the Deal.

Chuckie Schumer's been running the talk show circuit in his attempt to prove he didn't cave to the Orange Anus.  He's not winning many over to his argument.  Chuckie is past his expiration date.  He actually said that once the Republican's "dump that turd Trump, they can go back to being the Republican party of old."  Crap!  He's just like those brain dead Republicans who are trying to turn the country back to the 1950s.  He doesn't understand "that" Republican party is long gone, which is why he can't stop playing with those old time rules.

 

Shake, Rattle, and Roll

 Well, good morning to you all.  The outside temps are cool, in the mid 30s, (F) though they're predicted to climb up into the mid 60s (F) this afternoon.

And first off, I need to apologize to Chris Platt for confusing him with that other Chris.  He does not work in film, but with The Harmony Project, a group that puts sustainability and nature at the heart of learning.

Chris Platt

About a week ago, I nicked my knuckle at work, of course being  the knuckle of the forefinger of my right hand, there was an immediate challenge to healing.  As a result, it's a little infected.  So, this morning, while I'm not licensed to practice in Central PA, I played doctor.  

And I did work yesterday.  Retail is slow.  Without giving away the bank, I can say that we are well below our sales plan for the year.  There was some excitement, however!  While one of our fork lift operators was pulling a pallet of water softner salt from a top rack, the weight shifted and around 800 lbs. came crashing down into the Paint Department smashing the display.  No one was injured, but it was very loud.  There was lots of expensive damage.

And one of the headlines I found so uplifting this morning concerns Chucky Schumer, who is "in the worst fight for his political career."  Good.  One of the Democrats biggest problems is Michelle Obamas comment about taking the "high road."  Taking the "high road" does not mean you cannot be aggressive, yet Schumer and other high ranking Democrats seemed to have redefined "the high road," as being complacent.  Complacency is not an option.  When I read his comment that he was voting for the CR because the Orange anus was going to do shit anyway, I thought: this is like being diagnosed with cancer and deciding not to go through chemo because you'll probably die anyway.  I don't think he understands that he crapped on his own legacy, perhaps that thought never crossed his mind, perhaps he was more interested in getting on with his book tour.  

Rolling Stone asks if Democrats are tired of surrendering?  Damn right.  There are way more Democrats in this country than there are Republicans.  There are far more people in America that hate the Orange Anus than like him.  We need to do more than just put our foot down.  The time has come for us to Shake, Rattle, and Roll!

Selfishness

 So, we're at the start of a new work week.  Outside the temps are in the low 50s (F).  They are not expected to climb.  This afternoon we'll have a little sunshine.  Tomorrow, however, old Sol will be blasting down, evaporating so much of the rain we had last evening, and we did have rain.  Seriously, the skies literally gushed.  Accuweather was sending me constant notifications:  Lighting strikes are hitting the the ground in your area.  You could hear thunder, but the lightening?  It definitely wasn't localized.  And while they had high winds and tornadoes down south, let us suffice to say we may have had the occasional gust.  The rain, however, was torrential for a short time.

Retail simply was not selling yesterday.  The store did have a lot of foot traffic early in the day, but, as usual, slowed down during the afternoon.  When I punched out at 6PM, there may have been 20 people in the store.  When I get to work, I'll find out just how badly they were off last week.  The week before a large window purchased save our butts, that didn't happen last week.  I'm not expecting it to get any better any time soon.  

Last night I watched The Electric State with Chris Platt so you won't have to,,, believe me, don't waste your time.  First really big problem?  There was a robot war in the 1990s.  That's right, they rewrote history, most likely so they could use 90s music in a Chris Platt movie, and, as I'm sure many of you have already realized, Chris Platt plays Chris Platt.  There are also lots of cutesy robots the producers evidently stole from Disney.  The trailer looks okay, but the movie isn't.  

Being that it is Monday, we should begin prepping ourselves for an new atrocity by they Orange Anus, though they appear to be happening daily, rather than weekly.  The fact that his cultists have no problem with his evil, says a lot about their own lack of compassion.  I don't doubt for a second this is the result of the Me Generation never really getting enough Me.  And it's not just the Me Generation.  For years the Republican party has courted many different alternative groups, people of all ages, pushing the possessive pronoun "my."  They welcomed into their shallow fold those who could on profess "my guns," or "my money,"  and especially "my religion."  How sad that this party wants to make selfishness the law of the land.  As long as Orangie's atrocities don't impact his cultists own selfish, little worlds they will let him rule the land, without understanding they will rue his actions afterwards.  They don't seem to understand that selfishness is a two bladed sword.  They don't realize that the selfish on top will steal away their Social Security in order to benefit themselves, and then the cultists will scream, "no, that's My social Security!"  They will shriek and moan when Orangie brings this atrocity home to roost under their roofs, without ever understand that they, themselves, and their own selfishness, are to blame.

Nothing Spells Irrational like MAGA

 When I got up this morning, the outside temp was 54 (F), and the forecast is calling for showers and thunderstorms this afternoon,  After they pass through, temps are predicted to drop a bit, with the high tomorrow in the low to mid 50s (F), the same as we had yesterday.  These are the same storms that passed through Mississippi yesterday.  Will we get tornadoes, too?  So far they're not in the forecast, but then forecasts are not for their accuracy.

I worked yesterday.  Business was middlin,' meaning we had customers in the store until around 3 PM and then things slowed down.  The weather forecast for today hints that business is going to be slow, of course, you never know.  There are always certain individuals whose minds fall to comprehend that during severe weather there a better, and safer, things to do than go to a home improvement store.  Yet they will show up when the scent of ozone is high, with bolts of lightning slamming into the ground a hundred yards away, and expect to have 5 bags of mulch loaded into the back of their SUV.  Sometimes, they will even be wearing a little, red cap because nothing spells irrational like MAGA.

For those interested, Howie's hip measures 21.5 inches off the floor, that's over 54 centimeters.  I tried to measure him at his shoulder but he thought the measuring tape was some sort of new fangled toy.

There was a protest in Harrisburg yesterday, unfortunately, I worked.  As far as I know, there's been nothing at the Tesla dealership, though that's located on a stretch of road heading towards Carlisle, PA, and there's nothing around it except other car dealerships.  Protests do their best when they draw attention.  Standing in front of the Capitol building  will get people on the local news.  Standing along a highway isn't going to get the same amount of attention.

And Chuck Schumer has a book tour starting tomorrow.  Protests are planned.  Personally, I think Congressmen and Senators should not be allowed to have a book published while their in office.  They are in Washington to serve their constituents, not stroke their ego, or grow their bank accounts hawking some sort of political book they've written.  It takes time to write a book, I know, time they should be spending dealing with the Orange Anus, figuring out ways to control him.  There are about 16 cities on Schumer's book tour.  Protests are planned for each and every city.  Good.  He needs to do his damn job and leave the irrational behavior to the Cultists.

This is Not Normal

 Okay, so our outside temp is 43 (F) and the forecast is for partly sunny skies this afternoon.  Yesterday's weather was pretty spot on to what had been predicted, so I'm guessing today's going to be a repeat, though only a bit warmer.

Sor some reason, yesterday was almost a meh kind of day.  I didn't seem to have much of a desire to do anything, though things were accomplished.  No workout, but the aquarium in the living room was cleaned, and I hung to old shutters on the front fence to protect the grape vine I planted last year.  This necessary since Howie loves to chew on both sticks, and vines, and even roots.  The shutters do not help with the curb appeal, but they do the job.  I'm more interested in functionality rather than impressing those few who walk by with their dogs.

One thing I did yesterday was thin out my oregano seedlings.  I had quite a few old glass candle holders sitting on a shelf down in the basement and decided to repurpose them as planters.  I'm hoping to keep one or two plants per glass.  They should look quite nice on the window sill once they're fully grown, and harvesting fresh oregano will be so easy.

And, for those of you who haven't been paying attention, Chuck Schumer and 8 other Democrats caved yesterday, voting to legitimize the Orange Anus's budget.  Chuck's excuse was that Orangie was already doing dirty deeds to as many Federal agencies as possible, and shutting down the government would not stop him.  So, instead of putting up roadblocks, Chuck legitimized Orangie's destruction.  Obviously, Chuck thinks he's dealing with "business, as usual," even though absolutely nothing is usual about what Orangie is doing.  Chuck in in his 70s, and has just made term limitations more relevant.  I get this feeling that Chuck doesn't want to upset the apple cart, when history has shown that Orangie is weak, and tends to fall apart when he has to deal with pushback.  Someone needs to pull Chuck aside and tell him to resign, the same way he did with Biden.  Chuck simply doesn't understand that this is not normal.

Chaos is Coming

 It's Friday.  It's going to be overcast most of the day, and temps may climb up into the mid 50s (F).  We have started a warming trend that should see our daily temps in the mid to upper 60s (F) by Monday, though thunderstorms are also in the forecast.  I honestly don't mind Spring weather.

For the record, I also like Daylight Savings Time.  Even though I'm a morning person, there are not a lot of things other than reading through the news, paying bills, and writing this blog done in the morning, so there's no need for an early sunrise.  However, there are things that are done in either the afternoon or evening, like dog walks, or working outside, when evening sunshine is appreciated.  If I had my druthers, we would stay in permanent Daylight Savings Time.

I got a nice upper body workout in before heading into to work to discover retail was very slow yesterday.  The store was barely making plan, however when I left last evening at 7 were were still around $60 thousand under, so there was no way were going to hit that goal. I did talk to an older woman (60 ish) about having vinyl sheet installed in the family bathroom.  She told me this long story of how she and her husband had installed a new medicine cabinet that came with "terrible" installation instructions, and even though they followed them thoroughly, the cabinet fell out of the wall and damaged their flooring. (sigh)  She wasn't happy that there's a charge to replace an existing toilet with a new one, and complained that one of our competitors didn't charge.  I politely told her that was nice, but we charge.  Then!  a customer walked by with a golden retriever on a leash and she complained.  I nodded, and smiled, and pointed out that we have dog treats at our desk, as does every other department; PetSmart is at the end of our parking lot and a lot of people will bring their dogs into the store.  She frowned and said, "I can see this flooring job isn't going to work with your store," as she stood up.  I apologized to her back as she walked away.  She evidently doesn't understand that the customer isn't always right.

As I go through the edits of The Body in History, I'm trying to decide just what should go on the back cover.  I'm leaning a lot towards this one of me in Greece.

There is a lot of tension right now on whether the Democrats should help fund the government for another 6 months.  Anger is high among Democrats and this seems to be the perfect time to punch the Orange Anus squarely in the face.  Chuck Schumer is getting horrific flack because he wants to pass the funding measure, saying shutting it down would give Orangie the option of deciding which departments stayed open and which ones were closed.  First of all, I think people need to understand that we are not dealing with Orangie at all.  Any sane person who listens to him speak for more than 2 minutes realizes much of his brain is missing spatial connection.  So, who is in charge?  Elonia?  He bought the presidency, so that's a very good possibility.  Putin?  He definitely has a lot of leverage.  Both of them, probably.  All Orangie wants to do is play golf and stay out of jail... oh, and continue his reality TV show:  Live... From the White House."  To be honest, I don't think it matters if the government is shut down or not; both Elonia and Putin want to set the stage for calling Martial Law.  Whether it's shut down on not, serious protests are on the horizon.  Giving the Republicans the opportunity to shut down Medicare would work against them, and though the GOP believes it's prepared for protests, they are totally in over their heads and have no idea what an angry America is going to do to their party.  In spite of all the anger at Schumer, it doesn't really make a difference, chaos is coming.

The Boxed Set

 Temps really warmed up yesterday here in Central PA.  Even though the forecast was for a high in the low to mid 50s (F), by 3 in the afternoon we were hovering at 63 (F).  That was nice.  The sun was so bright overhead.  Today is going to be a different story.  Today we're going to be getting the temps the forecasters said we were going to be getting yesterday.

I did have a long lunch with friends I haven't seen in decades... well, that's not quite correct.  We had lunch together for the first time in decades 3 months ago, and chose to repeat every 3 months.   Some routines are very good.  I've been friends with Tammy for around 45 years; we used to go out to the bars together.  In fact, I fell down the steps at an old lesbian bar that no longer exists and she drove me to the hospital because we thought I had broken my ankle.  Yes, there was a time when I was a bit... wild.

Anyway, she and Ann gifted me with an essay by Nate White, "an articulate and witty writer from England," concerning the Orange Anus.  There were so many funny bits, but the one that stands out was his comment that "If being a twat was a TV show, Trump would be the boxed set."

Otherwise, yesterday was close to being meh.  I did bake a nice corn pudding, and cleaned the big aquarium, and was proud that I got through the day without taking a nap.

I did see this in Reuters and decided that this means it will now be honky dory to not where a suit in the Oval Office, in fact Russian camo might now be the preferred fashion.

Speaking of routines, the stock market did continue its downward slide yesterday.  As expected, Orangie and his team are blaming Biden, even though the Dow Jones was not falling while Biden was in office, it was actually climbing.  That horse's ass Lutnick was again muttering things like "recession is not that bad," especially when you're a billionaire... I added the last part, but you can tell that's what these losers believe.  You do know that if the Dow crashed by 20% we'd never have to worry about him again.  In fact, I don't doubt there would be quite a few billionaires who'd chose to splatter themselves onto the pavement rather than deal with their own horrific fallibility. 

It looks like some fool took a bullet for Elonia and bought some Tesla stock.  I'd read somewhere that he's quite the emotional baby when things don't go his way, perhaps in Raw Story.  It seems that rather than break into a screaming rage the way Orangie does, Elonia breaks down in tears.  This is, no doubt, why Orangie turned the front lawn into a car dealership, to keep the tear stains from the Resolute Desk.