Failing Badly

We're on the slightly humid side this morning and I'm blaming the torrential rains we had last night.  Torrential rains, you ask?  Wowza!  From around 9:30 PM till nearly 11 PM, here in Central PA, mother nature put on a dazzlingly spectacular light show accompanied by window rattling booms and crashes. We've been getting one of these thunderboomers so frequently, I'm beginning to believe this is a part of climate change.

As planned, I got my haircut yesterday.  I usually got Great Clips, a barber/styling salon that was cheap and quick.  You might want to blame it on the Navy, but I truly hate getting my haircut.  That being said, a senior haircut now costs $18.  I consider that rather expensive for 7 minutes of snip, snip, snip... oh, and having to deal with the babbling chit chat from a 50+ year old stylist with purple hair.  I did not need to hear that her boyfriend, who works in Montana and who lost 250 pounds, was coming home and that they were going to play disc golf.  Still, the haircut was decent, so I endured.

Later on this morning I'm going to be renewing my driver's license.  This will entail showing an employee from the Department of Motor vehicles my passport (to get my real ID) and then having my picture taken.  If you've been reading me long enough, you might remember that the last time I had my license renewed there was a woman who kept having her picture taken, over, and over, and over again because she wasn't satisfied with the way she looked.  Can't you just hear the police officer saying, "ma'am, I'm going to ticket you for driving 85 mph in a 35 mph zone, but that is a stunning picture of you."

After 286 days at sea, the USS Abraham Lincoln is now docked at Laem Chabang Port, Pattaya, Thailand.  This is embarrassing. I cannot imagine what this ship is like on the inside.  Hegseth is failing badly.

And in their attempt to stay in power, Republicans in Texas have shut down 30% of the polling stations in Tarrant county.  This is a prime example of utter stupidity.  These fools think that making Democrats drive farther to vote will keep them from the polls.  Their tiny brains also believe that Republican voters are different, and will have no problem driving any distance, no matter how far, to keep the Republican party in power.  If obtuse is a point, these Republicans are making it.  They don't understand that most seniors, those people in their 70s and 80s, those people most likely to vote Republican, will stay home rather than drive for 45 minutes in order to stand in line for 3 hours to vote.  Because the party of selfishness and greed is unable to change, they will punish their most loyal base out of sheer stupidity.  This party deserves to fail... badly.

Mandatory Retirement

The temp outside is a nice, almost toasty 74 (F).  This afternoon we should be hitting the low 90s (F).  Originally, the forecast had them hanging around for a few days.  That's changed.  Tomorrow our high will be in the upper 80s (F) and Thursday it will be a few degrees cooler as more seasonable weather moves back into the picture.

I paused my Trainwell subscription yesterday.  I was going to cancel, but chose to pause it for the time being.  I did take screen shots of the routines and print them off, so I'll still have the structure for the next few weeks.  At some point I'll have to decide if the expense balances out with the daily contact I get through texts and the occasional videos.  

The husband of the woman who returned that tiny bit of carpet was in yesterday to buy padding.  I nodded to him, he didn't nod back, but then he didn't glare at me either.  As I mentioned to Treaders, one of the big reasons we have problems with returns is that our corporate office has an algorithm that predicts if a customer is likely to shop with us again.  Refusing a return drops that likelihood a small %, and every teeny, tiny bit is a step towards failing to make our projected growth.  

Today's going to be fairly busy.  One of the things on the to do list is to get a haircut.  Tomorrow, I'm getting my picture taken for my driver's license and that means looking civilized.

And I have this pretty, white flowery thing growing along the top of my fence.  Last year Howie chewed most of it away.  This year he's left it alone.  I guess it doesn't taste good anymore.

 

I saw where Steve Scalise, a big supporter of the Orange Anus, was talking about the Supreme Court and how the Republicans like the fact that there are  only 9 justices, and that this are lifetime positions.  In fact, Republicans are so enrapture with the way things are set up, he's going to initiate a constitutional amendment to keep the Democrats from changing anything.  There are a bunch of MAGA yokels out there who have no idea how difficult the job is to amend the constitution.  His statements are aimed at those louts.  Also keep in mind that there is also serious concerns among Republicans that should Democrats get enough votes in November, they might just add a judge or two.  This is most likely the reason Alito, who had said he was going to retire, has put off his retirement.  Though, if the Democrats do get in power, they don't need an amendment to the constitution to set a mandatory retirement age for Supreme Court Justices.  Retiring Alito and Thomas would change the makeup of the court until more judges could be approved, and a majority of Democrats in the Senate would keep the Orange Anus from putting in a real loser. 

Victims

Today is going to be super duper humid.  Our morning temp of 70 (F) will climb into the upper 80s (F) and there will be a chance of thunderstorms this afternoon.  Those last 3 words seem to be something we have been saying a lot here lately.  The next 3 days are predicted to be warmer. Yeah, we're going to be tapping into those 90 degree days again.  After that we will hopefully begin heading into cooler Autumn temps.

I worked yesterday, and there was a bit of an incident.  A couple came into the department looking for a specific color of carpet.  As she said, "we slept in and their dog had torn up the carpet at the door trying to get out of the bedroom."  I told them there was no way they were going to find the color they needed, we have a limited color selection, and since carpet was in an apartment, there was no way to know where it had been purchased.  I suggested covering the spot with an area rug.  The husband told me his wife was the one who wanted to replace the carpet.  She didn't listen, chose a color, we cut her a section.  Four hours later she brought the carpet back because it was the wrong color.   Our Service Desk returned it.  We don't do returns on cut carpet because they're an instant loss.  When I told her this, she got angry and said I was being disrespectful to her in front of her kids.  Sadly, I got the impression she'd played this game before, playing the victim.  We cut her another section of carpet, which was still going to be the wrong color, and she went to the Service Desk where I'm sure they gave it to her for free.  After she'd left, the other flooring specialist looked at me and said, "you weren't being disrespectful."  I do get tired of this.

Oh, and I get to work again this afternoon.

I found this funny.  Evidently the members of Orangie's cabinet are very upset.

With the midterms approaching, these people are out in states the Republicans need to win speaking about Orangie's plan for America... and they're getting feedback.  Well, they're actually getting more than feedback.  They're being asked questons they don't like.  Brook Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture was asked where the imported beef was coming from and her response was, ""I'm not privy to that information."  Rubio has walked away from questions, rather deal with America's angry curiosity.  You see, these people see themselves as victims.  They believe their positions lift them above accountability.  Rather than be responsible to America, they're responsibility is to one man, the Orange Anus.  The chaos in this administration is getting worse.  Unfortunately for them, this is what they signed on for.

   

It's Still Lake Ontario

 Were at 62 (F) outside.  We're beginning a mini-heat wave today with out high temp predicted to be in the mid to upper 80s (F).  We'll be at our hottest on Tuesday, when the afternoon high is supposed to be in the mid to upper 90s (F).  Tuesday is the first of September and we still have 3 weeks of summer left, so I suppose this should be considered normal.

I did my morning workout yesterday, now a mix of strength and mobility.  My account with Trainwell is supposed to renew on Tuesday (when our afternoon high is.... well, high).  I've been thinking of pausing it, though the more thought I put into it, the more I'm thinking I'm just going to cancel the subscription.  When you pause, you're setting yourself up for an automatic rebill, and I don't want that.  Three month from now I may be doing some completely totally different exercise routine.

Work yesterday was tolerable.  Except for the aisle maintenance associate, I was the only one in the department.  I did talk to some people, but mostly I was bored.  Boredom means I get in steps, lots of steps.  Today the department is fully staffed, and no one is going to no what to do with themselves, so I'll get in more steps.

I spent some time shutting down notifications in Facebook this morning.  I scan down Facebook every morning for about 5 minutes and that's about it.  I'm just not that nosy.  Yet more and more I'm getting notifications like: your friend commented on a picture someone else posted, and, your friend liked an event that someone else posted about.  While I like the people I'm friends with on Facebook, I'm not that personally invested in their lives to know every single thing they like, or comment on.  Sadly, there are people who live for that sort of crap.

And Google maps has changed Lake Ontario to Lake America.  This image is not from Google maps.

In fact, if you go to Google maps and do a search for Lake Ontario it will take you to Lake America.  Yes, those people in charge at Google maps have stooped so very low.  Imagine the stupidity of someone who believes that a simple stroke with a Sharpie is enough to change the cartography of the world.  There are so many reason why people hate the loser in the White House, but a big one is the way people who should know better bend their knee to the Orange Anus.  I see things like this and wonder if Google did this because they believe he's going to give them another tax break?  You would think they would understand that if the midterms roll the way many think they will, things are going to be terrible for this administration.  And people will remember the stupidity of Google.  And they will become the joke they deserve to be.

 

Expunging Trump

We dropped down into the mid 50s (F) overnight.  Today's supposed to be bright and sunny with a high in the low to mid 80s (F).  Those people in the weather office, however, say that this coming week temps are going to soar in the mid to upper 90s (F) again for a day or two.  Even though we're not even close to being far enough into September and are still officially summer, there are those who are going to be running around crying Indian Summer.  Interesting fact, other countries experience the same phenomenon, however they use names like Old Woman's Summer, or Saint Martin's Summer, and simply call it Second Summer.

Even though I didn't do my morning workout yesterday, I was busy.  Plants were repotted.  I also hung that gift I received from the Lebanese associate who worked in the flooring department for about a year.  Twice a year he and his wife would spend a month in Marrakesh, she owned an apartment there.  One time before they left, I jokingly said he should bring me back a souvenir, and he did.  I've posted a picture on earlier blog, but here's one with it hanging on the wall.  

And the Orange Anus is going ahead with his plan to cut down all 138 cherry trees in Washington.  He's going to expand a golf course because he wants to be the most authoritarian president this country has every seen.  For those who don't know, his terrible business practices nearly destroyed the Trump brand.  The only thing that kept it from dying in obscurity was an idiotic reality TV show that was based totally on lies.  Well, his terrible business practices are now doing the same thing to America.  One of his many problems is that he believes that cheap, tawdry, and tacky are definitive adjectives of greatness.  This means he will tawdrify, and cheapify, and tackify everything he can get his tiny little hands on.  He has no appreciation for beauty.  Only the gliterization with fools gold and rhinestones catches his eye.  He actually believes that this destruction will glorify his name for centuries to come. He has no idea that the expunging of his name will be a monumentally joyous task for so many millions of not only Americans, but people around the world.  And his supporters?  They have no clue that they will be held accountable for all of his wanton destruction.

Fasten Your Seatbelts

Boy, did we have a loud thunderstorm last evening.   The lightning was dazzling, not blinding.  This was the first storm that Howie took notice of, he slept through the others.  Last evening he sat up looking startled.  From what I could see, most of the lightning strikes were happening over in Harrisburg, and there were quite a few.  Today's high is supposed to be in the low 80s (F), but then for the rest of the week daily highs will be in the mid to upper 80s (F). 

Yesterday was sort of a meh day here.  I don't like having 5 days off in a row and though I do have things planned, yesterday I just frittered away the time.  To be honest, mostly I spent the time trying to make sense of Ad-sense.  One thing I learned is that if I'm approved adds will only show up on my current entries, the over 7000 posts that I've already made will be unaffected.  Maddie said a friend of hers signed up and thought the whole thing was a bust.  If that's the case, the ads will be gone fast.  

My neighbor's son works at the local AMC.  Unlike his mom, he's chatty and I've talked to him on several occasions.  For the past 2 years he's gone to Temple University in Philly.  When I went to see "The End of Oak Street," he told that this year he was going to be doing the "local college" thing.  I didn't ask if he meant Harrisburg Area Community College, or the Penn State Campus in Harrisburg, quite a lot of students attend that one.

After my workout this morning, I'm going to be pausing my Trainwell for 3 months.  We will have to see if I renew my subscription at the beginning of December.  I just feel as though I need a break right now.

We had a little bit of rain early yesterday afternoon and a friend of mine (Karen S.) took this picture of Harrisburg.  For those of you who don't know, the Susquehanna River is over a mile wide.

Franklin & Marshall a nearby liberal arts college that does lean somewhat Left released their latest political poll yesterday.  Their tabulations are not good for the Orange Anus, with him getting a very low 27% approval rating.  Accuracy is always questionable with polls, however a number of polls have now come out with his approval rating at less than 30%.  Keep in mind that these low numbers, even if sort of questionable, do demoralize his base.  This is a good thing.

In an interview Hillary had with Kara Swisher yesterday, she said one thing everybody truly needs to take to heart.  If the midterms go the way people are now suspecting they will go, the Orange Anus is going to rip off that last of what remains of his human mask and we will see the face of a Spawn of Satan.  Well, she didn't exactly say that, but I think most of you are getting the gist of her comments.  He will try and destroy as much of America as he can through Executive Orders.  Everything bad that he does now will be amplified by 1000%.  In doing so, he will obliterate the Republican Party, as well as the Evangelical Christian movement that helped to put him in power.  We may have some very serious protests.  So, fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy flight. 

Howie's New Toy

When I got up this morning, our outside temp was 71 (F), so we didn't get to cool off last night, and there supposed to climb into the low 80s (F) by this afternoon.  Also, thunderstorms are again on the menu.  A look at the weather map shows storms already beginning to pop up out near Pittsburgh.  And, since the earth spins on an axis, they will be moving east.  The guys who make a living predicting the weather say they should be arriving early this afternoon.  

A lot of cleaning was done yesterday.  Focus on the kitchen floor.  I installed vinyl plank flooring in my kitchen.  Because 80 + pound dogs don't get a lot of traction on vinyl planks, I have area rugs.  Some get vacuumed, some get washed, and yesterday, one of them became Howie's most favorite new toy.  Believe me, he was not going to let that thing go without a decent sized treat.

I started to watch Telemacas (sp) on Netflix last evening.   Elizabeth McGovern is one of the stars, but only in the first episode, after that she disappears.  The show is based on an Anne Rice novel (?)  While I liked the book Interview With the Vampire (I hated the movie), I'm not a big Rice fan.  About 2/3 of the way through the 2nd episode I realized the show was missing something, like interesting characters.  So, I'll not be watching the remaining 3 1/3 episodes.

I see where Rick Scott, the Senator from Florida, is blaming Ronnie DeSantis for the state's serious decline in tourism.  As a reminder, Ronnie's the one who said Florida is where Woke goes to die.  Now we know he misspoke.  He actually mean to say "Florida, where Tourism goes to die."

Last evening on Fox Entertainment, Laura Ingraham was shrieking about how the midterms were going to be devastating for Republicans.  Republican pollsters shouldn't be predicting doom and gloom.  Basically, she was telling them to lie like she does.  Laura doesn't understand she gets paid very well to lie, while those pollsters and their families are dealing with the higher gas prices, and higher food prices.  And they definitely can't afford to fly down to Florida to watch turism woke die.

 

Desperate Measures

Another night of decent sleeping weather.  At 0730, our outside temp is 59 (F).  If the weather forecasters are correct, our high this afternoon should be around 80 (F).  That's warm, but not hot.  Believe me, things would feel a lot hotter if this were the middle of July.  Of course, that might only be how I perceive things.  I think this has to do with the angle with which the sun's race hit the earth, but my science is not good enough to define this as fact.

Yesterday was somewhat busy.  I mowed the grass and wacked the weeds.  Howie found a branch that's too heavy for him to bring into the house.  This is fine.  He's learning his limitations.  I was supposed to ride my bike, but used the mowing and the wacking as my cardio.   My trainer had no problem with this.  I'm of the belief that pushing around my mower and waving around my wacker provides better exercise than riding around in a cart playing 9 holes of golf.  There might be some health benefits in walking those 9 holes, but the cart?  Absolutely not.

This week is odd because I have 5 days off in a row.  While there are plenty of things to do with the house, I'm finding that I'm mostly uncomfortably whiling away the hours.  I am not used to sitting around.

I'm still waiting to see if the blog gets approved by Ad-Sense.  I've read that the process can take between 2 and 4 weeks.  If I get approved I might be able to buy an even better bottle of wine, if not?  Well, that's how life is.

When I saw the news of Dolly's death I had to cry for a bit.  

And then there's this turd: John Ratcliffe flew to Russia yesterday.  

He flew there on the quiet, dignitaries don't usually fly on military transports.  No one knew he was a passenger on a plane that flew from Washington, DC, to Latvia, and then Moscow.  People didn't putting things together until there were photos of an automobile with dignitary license plates speeding to the Kremlin.  So, why the big mystery?  Is Orangie getting new marching orders?  The internet is rife with suspicions that I will not repeat here.  My take is that things are not going according to plan.  Every attempt Orangie has made to help his blo bro Vlad have failed.  Orangie, himself, initiated another unjust war that is failing.  And here in the states, the anger against this administration is growing almost exponentially.  The people who thought they would be winning are losing mostly because their plans were based on assumptions.  The target audience for these people is not even close to being as large as they thought it was.  I suspect there is the likelihood of desperate measures that will fail. 

The Ice Cream Cake

Another overnight low in the upper 50s (F).  Nice.  We were supposed to have a 0% chance of rain today, that has changed.  We're now up to a 25% chance of rain, with a 0% likelihood of having rain tomorrow.  the way things change.  I don't doubt that one of the pre-requisites of weather forecasters is that their predictions need to be more flexible than a double-jointed contortionist's acrobatics.  If these overnight lows continue, I'm going to have to get the red blankey out of storage.

Yesterday started off fine, but then became almost chaotic.  My morning workouts have changed.  I'm still doing strength training, though I rarely get my heart rate up to 120 BPM, but we added mobility exercises.  They work well.  That part of the day went super fine.

Then things sort of jumped the rails.  I've been thinking for some time about signing up for Ad-Sense and decided that yesterday was the day things were going to happen.  This is not an easy process.  You can't simply click a button or check a box.  Code needs to be copied and pasted.  I am not a coder.  I survived one programming course around 30 years ago, which was of no use.  We shall see, won't we.

After that experience, I went to work.  Wrong.  For the first time in almost 2 years, I wasn't scheduled to work on Monday, but, like most humans, I run on routines.  So, I punched in, checked out my numbers, insured vacation time was being applied, and punched out.  On the way home, I picked up an ice cream cake.  After Howie and I each had a slice, he looked at me and said, "you know, I think it's time for a nap."  That dog is so smart.

As expected, Hakeem Jeffries put out a statement saying that he and Kushner's meeting had to do with affordability.  Here's a message to Hakeem.  "No one believes you."  I watched the video.  Hakeem is not a very sophisticated liar.  Kushner is now, and has always been as corrupt as his father-in-law, so is his wife, Ivanka Banka.   Like everyone of Orangie's spawn, she didn't fall too far from the tree.

And the Iranian government has put a price on Barron's head.  The first thought that went through my head when I saw that was, "is this some so tightly veiled threat from the Kremlin?"  One of the best ways there is to insure their tool Orangie performs, is to threaten the life of one of his spawn.  Even the one who has some sort of weird crush on the Tate brothers has value to the Orange Anus.  That may seem harsh, but let's be honest, the only thing this loser president loves more than himself is money in the bank, and Barron's been making some truly great trades here lately.

Spiderman

Well, we have 61 (F) and light rain here in Central PA.  According to the forecast, we were only supposed to have a 3% chance of rain today.  That means we should have 42.5 minutes of rain... and it's happening now.  The sun is supposed to come out later this afternoon, and our high temp is supposed to be in the mid to upper 70s (F).  Tomorrow is predicted to be even nicer.  That's a good thing because I don't have to work and having decent weather on a day off is always nice.

And I did work yesterday.  All day.  And I didn't have to.  I should have checked my schedule because for the first time in a long time my start time was changed.  Normally, I'm punching in at 1000, however yesterday I was supposed to punch in at 1200. That unpredictable change caught me by surprise and, being a creature of habit, I punched in 2 hours early.  One of my fellow associates suggested that I punch out and go home for all of 30 minutes.  My mental urge was to ask "are you nuts?"  What I actually said was, "no, I'll take advantage of the extra 2 hours on my paycheck."

Even though I did get a measure, retail was slow.  I missed my sales goal for the week, but I sort of semi-crushed my measure goal by getting 3.  I did spend about 20 minutes with a senior Asian woman, helping her with mini-blinds.  Even though her English was only slightly better than my Chinese, I will tell you those 20 minutes were simply delightful.  Patience is a wonderful thing.

This past weekend Jake Lang, a Nazi Christo-fascist took his hatred to Minneapolis and got punched in the face by Karma.   Actually, that's incorrect.  Karma was involved, but it was Spiderman who punched him in the face.  Literally.  

Being perfectly honest, when I saw the first vide of this confrontation my heart leapt with joy!  Jake Lang, one of the January 6 rioters pardoned by the Orange Anus, getting beaten down by Spiderman was definitely not on my bingo card.

There's a lot of shit being kicked up about the meetings between Hakeem Jeffries and Orangie's son-in-law (the family relationship does need to be highlighted here).  Kushner might be crooked as hell, but he's not stupid.  I don't doubt that he, as well as a number of others in the administration, see the writing on the wall.  Trying to arrange a deal where he and the rest of Orangie's spawn can slink away with as much of their ill-gotten gains as possible might be their only choice.  Perhaps they're offering a resignation rather than an impeachment.  Jeffries has a problem, though.  Most Americans don't want to use namby-pamby, 1950s inter-party diplomacy to deal with this Administration.  The loser in the White House has done irreparable damage to this country.  Restitution needs to be made for his crimes against humanity.  Jeffries is not the strong arm people want as Speaker of the House.  I don't think he understands that right now Americans want Spiderman.  So these conversations he's having with Kushner are probably a simple waste of breath.

Oh, Canada!

We have 64 (F) outside and high humidity.  There was a threat of thunderstorms throughout yesterday with dark clouds rushing overhead and a constant breeze from the west.  We got nothing, until last night, or I guess I should say early this morning.  Then we had a thunder boomer loud enough to wake me up.  And then we had over 15 minutes of sirens.  Today?  They're calling for more sunshine with a high in the upper 70s (F).  I work all day, so the weather isn't going to effect me that much,

Saturdays and Sundays are none workout days, but some nice words were written yesterday before I went to work.  Are the Cassadas, Mary and Carlos, in over their heads?  Or is there something else going on?  She wrote a bestselling fitness book, "Some Do, Most Don't," and he owns a string of gyms in Barcelona and Madrid called "Todo o Nada."  One might wander why they set up a wellness clinic in Bally-Seamus, Ireland.

I got 2 measures yesterday, which will keep management happy.  Evidently there are some changes coming down the pike in regard to attendance that are not going to make people happy.  They want people to conform with policies that haven't been enforced in years.  I'm part-time, so these really don't effect me that much, though some full time associates will have problems.  I don't doubt that this is a means to speed up the move from full time associates to part-timers.

And what about that Mark Carney?  Believe me, every country in the world is watching Canada.  Their Prime Minister has drawn a line in the sand, and let's be honest here, the loser in the White House is spineless.  He does not deal with confrontation well.  He gets mad and stomps his little feet, and shakes his little fists, then backs down repeating the lie about how he wins so much.  

From what I'm hearing, the US was demanding more than trade concessions, there were demands on language concessions and cultural concessions.  This is because those pea brains running this country do desperately want Canada to be a 51st state.  The conservatives running this country are concerned about 3 things:  selfishness, greed, and expansionism.  That's right, expansionism.  Their brains are living in the past.  They want to return to the time when there was an Ottoman Empire, and a British Empire.  They want to rule people, and dominate people.  The fact that the human species has been down that road before, and that path led to miserable failure.  There is a reason there are no longer any empires.  But these pea brained conservatives never think.  They will never learn from the past.  They don't understand that unless they change, they're running straight towards the guillotine. 

Wild Horses

Showers are in the forecast for today.  Temps are supposed to be in the mid to upper 70s (F), which isn't bad for this time of year.  I have to work this afternoon, so the forecast doesn't really effect me that much, as long as we don't have we don't have storms with wind shears that rip off the tops of trees.  Right now our outside temp is 57 (F).  That's good sleeping weather.  Soon I'll have to pull the first of several blankets out of storage.  

Yesterday was an interesting day.  My morning workout is evolving.  We're putting more mobility exercises into the mix because I am getting older.  The strength exercises keep my muscles from slowly fading away, and the mobility exercises will hopefully still keep me functional when I get to be old.  

Grocery shopping was completed after the workout.  Pasta and Spam were picked up at BJs Discount Store (the Spam's for Howie).  Then there was a stop at my Giant supermarket where I used coupons to buy red grapes and asparagus.  I had planned on buying ground been, but there's no way in hell I'm spending $7 a pound.  

An appointment was made to have my furnace prepped for winter.  I also renewed my driver's license.  This should last until 2030.  I had to laugh when I saw that I'd gotten my first license in 1968.  

And tariff negotiations fell apart with Canada; they're just tired of the tariff bullshit, as is just about every other country on this planet.  Things are going to get more expensive.  But don't worry, the loser with 6 bankruptcies running this country is going to start importing ground beef, from 2 mystery countries,, at a 23% discount.  As expected, the beef industry is upset.  Thanks to the guy they voted for, they're now having to deal with so many problems, including screw worm.  There's a saying, "you get what you pay for."

Though I did see this morning that the importing cheap ground beef has been put on hold.  If that's true, I'm wondering if it's because of the beef industry's complaints, or because many Americans are worried that they might actually be buying ground horse.  You seen, unbeknownst to some, the administration has been rounding up wild horses.

These horses are being sold to a mysterious country at $25 a pop so they can be slaughtered... for food, possibly ground horse.  

And this should come as no surprise, but because of the details included, many believe the leaks about Natalie Harp are coming from a high ranking official in the administration, someone who feels that she is usurping their power.  I suspect that this is also a person whose loyalty has been broken, and who now feels they need to punish the Orange Anus.  Possibly someone left on the decoy plane?

The End of Oak Street

We have 59 (F) outside and last night was great sleeping weather!  Sunshine is on the menu for today, with temps in the 70s (F).  That's another plus.  Tomorrow, however, skies are supposed to be overcast and there's supposed to be rain.  That's okay.  I work.  Our daily highs in the long range forecast might hit the low 80s (F).  That's fine, too.  I'm looking forward to autumn.  Looking back, except for those 3 weeks during which our temps were simply scorching, this hasn't been a bad summer.  But we did have severe storms.  We had another yesterday afternoon.  While there were some serious gusts of wind, the torrential rains were what caused all of the flash flood warnings.

No yard work was done yesterday because the threat of rain was constant.  So, I puttered around the house, and worked on the book.  The Cassadas, Carlos and Mary, have entered the plotline.  I'd sent the first chapter to a reader for an opinion and received the comment, "at least no one's name ends in S."  Some people have a problem with names ending in S when you make them possessive.  Should the name be Cassadas' or Cassadas's.  There are a lot of rule books, and depending upon which you follow, either example can be correct.  So, I promptly informed the reader that he hadn't met the Cassadas yet.

I went to see The End of Oak Street last night.  Set in the early 1980s, a family wakes up to discover that a 2 mile diameter section of their suburb has been transported back several million years.  That's right, there are dinosaurs in the neighborhood.  This movie rocks!  For a long time scientists thought dinosaurs were large reptiles, then, as discovery and discovery was unearthed, they realized they were not related to lizards but to birds.  Believe me, a T-Rex with feathers is far more terrifying than one without.  Put simply, this is the story of the Platts trying to survive as their neighbors become dinosaur food.

So, someone in the White House is leaking the dirt on Natalie Harp.  Rumor has it that the leaker is none other than Karoline Leavitt.  Supposedly she's royally pissed that Orangie left her on the decoy plane to be blown to smithereens.  I also understand that the cultists are all fluttery (key feathered raptor image) in a good/bad way.  To them, he is a celebrity president who is now embroiled in a scandal they find most titillating.  And the administration is so flummoxed they paid Melanoma an untold sum of $$$ to put in a personal appearance with Orangie yesterday.  Can you hear me laughing?  No one is going to believe that expensive charade.  Truthfully, they may have done more damage than good.  Obsessives like Natalie, while knowing secrecy is imperative, desperately want the world to know that she is Orangie's personal binky.  In fact, some are pondering if there's a boiled bunny in her future.

For those who are intersted, here is one of her letters to Orangie.

 

Tax the Rich

So, we've got 69 (F) outside and an overcast sky.  Rain is in the forecast.  Temps will hover in the mid 70s (F) and the showers will be on again, off again.  Right now they're off again.  Oh, and the humidity is back.  The threat of rain pretty much pretty much eliminates the possibility of my doing any yardwork.  That's disappointing.  Now I'm going to have to go for a ride on my bike to get my daily cardio.

I did get yardwork done yesterday  Bit by bit the branches are disappearing and my piles of mulch keep growing.  I got 2 bags of mulch yesterday.  While mulch isn't expensive, mine is free, and I'm going to end up with the equivalent of a truck load.

The new schedule is out and starting the week after Labor Day, I'm back to working Thursdays.  This is a good thing.  I want to pay my car off and those 18 hours weeks were slowing down the process.  

Otherwise, yesterday was pretty meh.  Some laundry was done.  Some cleaning was done.  An hour and a half of lawn cleanup was completed.  

Two new characters have entered the story in The Body in the Words, Heath and Mrs. Porridge.  I don't know if I've mention this or not, but there no one name Porridge lives in Ireland.  I've checked.  So this makes Mrs. P quite an original character.  She, herself, is aware of this and loves the fact that she is so distinct from everyone else.

And yesterday this happened.

Republicans knew were going to hit this number, however they thought we get this deep debt at some point later down the road.  And why were they wrong?  Total incompetence for one.  As I've said before, Republicans will always kill the economy.  One of the big reasons for this horrific amount of debt is the completely unnecessary war with Iran.  Hegseth is spending money faster than our mint can print the stuff.  Another big reason is that big tax break Orangie gave the 1%.  There are other reasons, but those 2 are at the top of the list.  Because Republicans bend over backwards for the 1%, that tax burden is placed directly on the backs of the average American.  Someone's got to pay the bill, and it sure as hell isn't going to be Bezos, or Zuckerberg, or any other member of the billionaire club.  The only way we will ever get rid of this debt is by taxing them... a lot.  They are the reason most Americans suffer.  We have a political party that would rather give them everything they want, which gets them large campaign donations, rather than think about the common man. And the billionaires want Republicans in power.  They know reliable Republicans only comment will be, "where's the lube?" 

 

Butler County

Temps dropped overnight and I woke up this morning to a cool 61 (F).  Today's high is supposed to be in the mid to upper 80s (F).  I don't know if that will happen or not.  For the rest of the week our daily highs are supposed to be in the mid 70s (F).  Autumn approacheth!

Yesterday I went down to York to have lunch with my friend Betsy.  Usually we get together on a Sunday, so having lunch on a Tuesday was a first.  Our routine rarely changes, we start off at start off with Chinese Buffet and then move on to Dairy Queen.  Well, the buffet just happens to be closed on Tuesdays, so we lunched at the Linden Diner. and instead of Lo Mein and General Tso's Chicken, I had a Philly Cheesesteak.  The change was good.  I only half at the restaurant, then last night Howie and I finished off the sandwich.  This was a first for him and he loved it.

And that was what I did yesterday.  Not much more.  

Today is going to be busier.  I have an upper body workout scheduled for this morning, but there are other things needing to be done.  

Right now I'm listening to that misogynistic musical My Fair Lady and right now Henry Higgins is singing "why couldn't a woman be more like a man."  Makes you wonder if that the reason Hank was such an old bachelor doesn't it?  Makes you wonder how the show would play if Eliza was actually Eli.

And there were elections yesterday... for the midterms.  And The Guardian asked why Progressives are so popular.  A big hint?  Wealth inequity.  Billionaires have a problem, a vast majority of the American population despises them and their insufferable attitudes.

Democrats are celebrating here in Pennsylvania because Brandon Dukes beat Scott Timko in Butler County.

The Orange Anus won District 12 by 18.4% and the district has been deeply red since the 1990s.  Even though Dukes' win wasn't a landslide, the flip is what's so super important.  

Republicans seem to be having quite a number of closed door meetings.  They see problems all over the country.  In Ohio, where they've buddied up to the billionaires in an attempt to fill the state with data centers, they're finding millions of voters are shouting "not in my state."  And all those buckos the billionaires are spending are having no effect.

In Michigan, Republicans are shrieking Muslim and only their base is paying attention.  This is what happens when you isolate you message in order to appeal to one specific group.

The exodus of aides from the White House has also started.  These are the people wise enough to try and get to higher ground before the tsunami hits.

Natalie Harp

We have a very comfortable 71 (F) outside, the humidity is down, and the day is supposed to be nice.  No rain.  Yesterday?  We didn't have rain, however the high temp which supposed to be in the mid 80s (F) climbed into the low 90s (F) and the dew point was high.  We have a little over a month until Autumn arrives and I'm wondering when the days are going to begin cooling off.

I worked yesterday and foot traffic was light.  The other flooring specialist said, "damn, this is worse than Sunday."  I did have a $1200 sale go through, so that'll keep management happy.  Neither of us got a measure, though.  Last week our department was 9th out of 10 departments.  Sales are not good. In fact, sales for the store were not good.  Corporate is happy if you miss your plan by a little; sales plans are always budgeted higher than the actual forecast.  My store missed plan by more than a little.  Halloween sales will give us a boost, we just have to wait and see if the boost is slight, or substantial.

We've updated my workouts, adding in a few mobility exercises since I'm beginning to get a bit creaky; that comes with age.  In about 10 days I'm going to be putting Trainwell on pause for 3 months.  I did this before and things worked out well, though this time I'm thinking of ending the subscription sometime during the pause.  I'd cancel now, but I'm still sitting on the iffy fence.

For those who don't follow me on other social media platforms, Howie's birthday chicken came to an untimely demise.

Thanks to John Ossoff, America now knows about Natalie Harp and, thanks to social media, we now know that Natalie is Orangie's human binky.  For those who don't know, this is a binky.

And Ossoff hit a very tender nerve with his comment because Republican, after Republican, after Republican both attacked him and protected Ms. Harp.  So much so, many are now thinking that he tapped into a much bigger scandal than Orangie flying around with his diaper changer.  Does Harpy do more than just clean Orangie's 80 year-old anus?  Sorry, those thoughts are simply disgusting.  

Anyway there are those who believe that Orangie is following his blow bro Vlad's orders as he slowly destroys America.  I don't know if that's quite true.  I'm inclined to believe that Vlad simply said to Orangie  "You have a history of being a great businessman, so just be yourself."  Why do I think this?  Because Vlad has not only been giving Iran the coordinates for our military bases, he's also been shipping them weapons.  He doesn't need to give the Orange Anus any orders, since Orangie epitomizes failure and destruction.

North Korea is the Enemy

Well, here it is, Monday morning and we have humidity.  While the forecast doesn't call for a repeat of yesterday's weather, the 85% chance of rain means we're going to get close.  We had long periods of soaking rain yesterday.  Thunderstorms were supposed to arrive later in the evening.  They never showed up, however the soaking rains continued through the night.  My prediction for today is that it's going to be drab... very drab.

Because I had some ham hocks that needed to be used, I made bean soup yesterday.  I threw in some rice as a thickener, so I ended up with something more akin to bean stew.  On cool, rainy days, stews are good.  

Mostly what I did yesterday was work on The Body in the Words.  I've been doing a lot of research on wellness clinics and the courses they offer for public consumption.  There are those which teach the more traditional aspects of wellness, such as hearth health, and mobility, and nutrition.  Than there are those which focus on more trendy subjects like vaginal wellness, sperm maxing, and parasite cleansing.  As for those instructing these classes?  Some of them are certified in other fields and then discover that talking about... oh, say vaginal wellness, will earn them a bigger paycheck.  And then there are those with no credentials, who con you into thinking your an expert.  These people say a lot of words that, if they're not careful, could get someone killed.

Then I played some Balder's Gate 3.  This 2nd playthrough is so much better because I'm now much more familiar with the game's mechanics.  While casting spells can be great, sometimes you also need simple brute force.

When I'm playing a video game, I never pay attention  to social media because I'm having too much fun, so I do a quick catchup before I go to bed.  Of course, this humdinger was the first thing to catch my eye.

Is there anyone reading this who doesn't know that Kim Jung Bung is a Communist dictator fascist?  A day doesn't happen when I don't wonder what the Orange Anus is going to do that is worse than what he's already done.  Have we hit the bottom of the barrel yet?  Just a little reminder, he's always been fascinated by authoritarian dictators.  I don't doubt that in his mind dictators are the ultimate in CEOs.  He sees them as have absolutely no accountability.  And a communist dictator would own every company in the country.  This is what Orangie has been dreaming about for years.  And Republicans, instead of saying "enough is enough," are staying silent.  Their dream has always been to have total control over the country.  They have no idea what that dream is going to cost them, but then they have always been non-thinkers.

Numb Nuts Hegseth

We have 72 (F) outside with rain on the way... possibly lots of rain.  Inches, maybe.  Our temps are only predicted to rise about 1 or 2 degrees.  If I'm correct, we're getting the rain that inundated Indianapolis.  Let's hope we don't get as much rain as they got.  Tomorrow, things will get warmer, but we're still supposed to get more rain.  Later on in the week our temps should cool down, with daily highs in the mid 70s (F).  

I worked yesterday and it was slow.  I had 2 small sales, so I should have reached my sales goal for the week, but I'm not going to hit my measure goal.  That's life.  The flooring department is seriously underwater when it comes to sales.  We are normally slow this time of year, but this year things are worse.  Affordability is important.  Our carpet installation charge just went up 20 cents per square foot.  In today's economy, every penny counts.

My friend Betsy called yesterday to tell me she had some sort of water issues in her apartment and asked if we could move our plans for today to Tuesday.  No problem.  This is a vacation day for me, so I'm still getting paid, and I never work on Tuesday.  So things are hunky dory.

For the first time in decades the United States does not have a carrier group in the Western Pacific.  Two of our aircraft carriers are in port, San Diego and Long Beach, undergoing repairs.  The USS George Washington is enroute to the Mediterranean to replace the USS Abraham Lincoln.  No carrier group is expected to be in the Pacific for the next few weeks.  This is just another example of numb nuts planning by the weekend Fox host with 2 meritorious bronze stars running our military.

And, just in case you were wondering, this is not top secret information.  All I did was simply Google the question "are there any US carriers in the Western Pacific.  As I look at everything that's going on, I beginning to think that calling Hegseth 'numb nuts" might be too much of a compliment.  And another bit of information that Mainstream Media has failed to report on is the reason the Abraham Lincoln has not been getting supplies is because Iran destroyed our supply bases in the region.  Now Numb Nuts is sending the USS George Washington to suffer the same fate as the Abraham Lincoln.  One of the big problems with Numb Nuts is that he is too stupid to know that he's dumb.  He doesn't know the difference between a strategy and a cover-up.  Should the military rebel against his leadership, I would not be surprised.

Those 42 Days

Our outside temp is sitting at a comfortable 67 (F).  Yesterday, our afternoon high got up to 89 (F), which I consider warm.  Today's high should be a single degree cooler, though knowing the inaccuracies of weather forecasting, I'm suspecting we'll be topping off in the low 90s (F).  Tomorrow we're supposed to have rain, of course I have plans for tomorrow.

Yesterday bordered on being one of those meh days.  Rather than do my morning workout, I spent an hour out chipping away at the branches.  I am pleased to say I am quite possibly 1/3 of the way down with my sawing and chipping.  That may not seem like much, but when you think about what I was dealing with it is rather amazing.

I was chatting yesterday with my trainer.  He thinks I should work through the end of the August before putting my Trainwell subscription on pause.  We are of 2 different minds.  I'm going to do a short upper body workout this morning, and then I'm going to start a 90 day pause.  I will resume the workouts in the middle of November, that will give me 2 weeks to decided if I want to continue working with Trainwell.  I'll be 74 by then and I may find something more interesting than Trainwell.  Tai Chi might be interesting.  Lower body strength is important in keeping us older people from falling down.

Today's going to be somewhat busy since I'm scheduled to sit at the flooring desk for 6 hours this afternoon.  I'm interested in seeing if any of the measures I set up have sold.

With all of the chatter about the Abraham Lincoln, I thought I'd post pic of the little boat I was on.

I spent a small portion of yesterday chatting with some of my old Navy buddies and the longest time we ever spent at see was for 42 days back in 1973.  Most of that time was spent doing air operations in the Tonkin Gulf.  Our normal schedule was to be "on station" for ten days and then 14 days spent off, with most of our off time being spent in Subic Bay.  We spent those 42 days at sea because our relief, the USS Ranger, developed elevator problem and couldn't move aircraft from the hanger bay to the flight deck.  What do I remember most about those 42 days?  The UnRepS, or Underway Replenishment Services, when helicopters lowered hundreds of pallets of food onto our flight deck.  A well fed sailor is a happy sailror.

The understatement of the day goes to the Washington Post which this morning printed that the Orange Anus is "very unpopular in swing states."  

Conniving Coward

Good Morning from Central PA.  Our outside temp is 71(F) and our afternoon high is expected to be in the low 80s (F).  We only have a 1% chance of rain today, which is nice because things need to be done.  Our next rainy day is not supposed to be until Sunday.  I have plans for Sunday, so that figures.

So, what did I do yesterday?  Not a lot.  Well, that's not completely true.  I did about half an hour of lawn cleanup pulling together branches that need to be run through the wood chipper.  I tried that little handheld chainsaw and it works well.  I'm going to try and get them chipped this afternoon.

My excitement for later this morning will be paying off my school tax.  After that I'll be paying off the credit card I used to purchase the lawn cleanup tools, chainsaws, wood chipper, etc.  I haven't paid interest in years, except for the car loan, and do not intend to start now.  

I'm also going to be pausing my trainer.  There are too many other things going on right now for me to focus properly, yard cleanup for one.  I don't want to pay for something that I'm not using, and I have been looking for reason to skip my training sessions.  I find my thoughts wandering, not absent mindedly, but usually towards one extremely sore subject.  

The chicken toy Howie got for his birthday?  Its lost a leg... er... drumstick.

The Washington Post has a 2+ minute clip on this morning's front page detailing how the Orange Anus swapped planes.  This is a good thing.  For the Washington Post, owned by Orangie supporter Jeff Bezos, to post this video is important because we are probably seeing the beginning of divorce proceedings.  The Wall Street Journal, owned by another Orangie supporter, Rupert Murdoch, yesterday said that Orangie is in a very "precarious position."  Other media outlets are calling him a Conniving Coward.  I don't doubt for a second that these betrayals of their tax break benefactor are one of the reasons Orangie decided all aircraft carriers need to go back to steam based catapults.  I don't doubt that this is also the reason he is once again attempting to put his name on the Kennedy Center.  As Mark Kelly said yesterday, Orangie should have stuck "to what he does best, ballrooms, bullshit, and bankruptcy."  

Speaking of aircraft carriers, the Abraham Lincoln is finally heading back to the states.  I feel so sorry for those sailors.  I was on an aircraft carrier in a warzone, and the longest we were on station was 15 days.  Believe me, that was stressful.  The sailors on the Abraham Lincoln have been at sea for over 250 days.  This shit is Hegseth's fault.  He will be tried for war crimes and I do not doubt he will cry like a little girl.

The Expendables.

 Today's supposed to be nice.  Our outside temp is in the mid 70s (F), humidity is low, and there's only a 1% chance of rain.  The long range forecast is extending this forecast for the next 15 days.  That's fine with me, by then we'll be at the end of August, with only 3 weeks left until Autumn arrives.  

Of course, I'll have another birthday in the fall and I'm fine with that.  Honestly, I don't mind the aging bit, I just hope I don't simply fall to pieces when I hit my upper 90s.  There are times when I will sit and look around the house and realize that everything I have will be gone, that does bring on occasional moments of melancholy.  And then I'll wonder where I'll be; in a senior facility?  My mom was in a very nice senior facility.  She wanted them to cater to her more than they did, and so was not happy, of course, my mom desperately wanted to be a matriarch and that never happened.

Yesterday I once again added my phone number to the state "no spam calls" registry.  I get at least one scam call daily, on some days I'll get 3 or 4.  This should eliminate most of those calls.  In France they're passing a law to make scam calls illegal and Morocco, of all places, is complaining.  Evidently over 50,000 Moroccans work in call centers.  Damn!  I'm sorry, but having a job where you're required to harass millions and millions of people is not what I'd call an acceptable career.

And yesterday was Howie's birthday.  As always, we had cake and ice cream (vanilla cake and vanilla ice cream).  He ate the ice cream (French Vanilla) but totally ignored the cake.  Perhaps the butter creme frosting did not meet with his approval.

He also got a toy, a stuffed chicken.  He loves that!!!

And of course, the big news story was lying Karoline Leavitt is quitting.,.. in 2 weeks.  While many want to think this is because she  came to her senses, they are wrong.  Lying Leavitt would eat flaming shit balls if she thought such a feat would make her important.  What's more likely is that when Orangie abandoned his by sneaking away in a catering truck, he not only left her behind, but he took his most favorite of assistants Natalie Harp.  Don't know who Nat is?  She's the blonde bimbette who is constantly by his side.  Nat's known for carrying a portable printer so she can print of newspaper headlines and articles.  She's also unofficially known to be Orangie's diaper girl.  When he shits in his pants, she wipes his ass and puts him in a fresh diaper.  Basically, he chose an ass wiper rather than an ass kisser to save when he fled Turkey.

And, because his administration is like a sieve unable to keep leakers in line, the threat that sent him cowering among the pre-cooked meatloaf and lasagna, was reported to him by the Israelis who wanted to insure America continues to war with Iran.  The CIA is now confirming that this was a low level threat.

I'm betting Orangie's decision to only save Harp and Hegseth is rattling around like a rabid rat in a rusty cage among those he chose to sacrifice.  Now Stevie Miller, Scottie Bessent, and Marco Rubio know just how expendable they are.

Primary This

Today is supposed to be nice.  Humidity is supposed to be low.  Temps should only climb into the low 80s (F), and forecasters are calling plenty of sunshine.   Tomorrow's supposed to be, probably, not so nice.  For those who are paying attention to such things, we have only a little over a month left of summer.  Then it will be onto autumn.  We here in Central PA know that the first few weeks of autumn can be just as bad as the dog days of late July.

Yesterday was a meh Tuesday.  I did get a nice bicycle ride in along a canal in France.  Very nice scenery.  But other than that nothing really happened.  No yard cleanup was done because we had a lot of rain on Sunday night and all those branches and limbs still waiting to be cut and chipped needed to dry off.  

I did talk to my dentists office about the insurance not covering the upcoming procedure and was told not to worry, I have no more out-of-pocket charges coming up.  I don't understand how this all works, because in America dental and health care are so terribly complicated.  Your dentist will charge you $500 for a procedure and bill that amount to the insurance company knowing they're going to have to adjust that cost down.  They do this because the insurance company needs to see a higher charge in order to compensate.  

I started a replay of Balder's Gate 3, not because I enjoyed beating the game.  Nope, I made bad choices, like having 2 wizards on my first play through which doomed any chance of winning the 2nd last Boss fight.  Now I'm a Paladin and I can melee with the best.  Good Stuff.  I'm sure Sixpence would love this game because, if you play your cards right there some hot M/M sex.

So, several states had primaries yesterday.  Mike Lindell lost badly and is refusing to concede because in his mind losing by 54,000 votes can only mean voter fraud, or as he is saying voter anomalies.  Francesca Hong lost a tight race in Wisconsin and unlike Mike Lindell gracefully conceded.  She will work with Crowley to insure Wisconsin gets a Democratic governor.  This is a good thing.  In Connecticut,  Democrats saw a generational shift with Luke Bronin beating long time incumbent John Larson.  

Did I mention that Mike Lindell lost?  Truthfully, that man needs to be institutionalized.

Finally, one of those left onboard the decoy Air Force One was our Secretary of State, Marco Rubio.  I wonder what he thinks knowing that the asshole he works for sees him as expendable.  Orangie took several close allies along with him into the catering truck.  No word yet if they celebrated his thinking they were important enough by enjoying a smorgasbord.

Cater This

Well, we have a drizzler in store for us today here in Central PA.  Showers on an off with maybe a quick splash of sunlight.  Temps should only climb into the low 80s (F).  Since there is rain water involved, this means there will be no yard cleanup done today.  As I've said before, electric tools and rain simply don't go together.  Tomorrow we're supposed to have brilliant sunshine, so I'm beginning to anticipate.

I worked yesterday.  Even though business was slow, I did manage to make a decent little sale and sign up a measure.  This should keep management happy.  One thing that did happen yesterday was someone decided to get our little Halloween Homer buckets out of the overhead.  Customers have been asking when we were going to put them on sale for the past 3 weeks.  We have 2000 in stock.  Believe me when I tell you that they will be gone by sometime next week.

About a month and a half ago I went to my dentist to have my teeth cleaned.  The assistant cleaned the right side of my mouth, but told me I was going to have a 2nd appointment for the left side.  She said there were 2 tiny spots that they would clean on my next appointment.  The receptionist wasn't happy.  My dentist wanted both sides done at the same time.  They charged me $43, with my insurance covering the rest of the treatment. Yesterday I got a letter from Capital Blue Cross letting me know they weren't covering any of the expense, and the total due, after the cleaning would be $413.  My dental insurance is through MetLife, not Capital Blue Cross.  Later this morning I'm going to give my dentist a call.

And many on social media are talking about Orangie's escape from Turkey in a catering truck.

Evidently when Orangie left the NATO conference in Turkey he climbed aboard old Air Force One because the new grift plane from Qatar had zippo when it comes to security.  Well, the spineless wonder was terrified that Iran might still shoot his old plane out of the air, so after boarding, Orangie secretly made his way down to the catering deck where he climbed into a food cart and was lowered down to a waiting catering truck.  You simply cannot make this shit up.  Everyone else stayed on Air Force One: his staff, the reporters who travel with him, and the flight crew.  They were going to be sacrificed to the Iranians should a missile be fired.  He is a coward from Hell.

Also, the Freedom Games ended yesterday.  I know a lot of people are not going to know what I'm talking about, but Orangie, and his sycophants, came up with the idea of having high school athletes compete against each other for a $250,000 prize.  There was hardly any press regarding the games, probably because the candidate selection was... murky.  A huge majority of the students were white.  Quite a few were either homeschooled, or came from Christian schools.  Maine's representative student goes to school in California.  Oh, and everyone of them needed to be super MAGA.  Organizing and having these games cost the tax payers $13 million.  This is another example of how this administration is stealing from America.

Pilloried

So, we're having another serious thunderstorm as I type.  We've had some seriously gusty winds and now we have torrential rains.  While the gusts were strong, no more branches (or limbs) were torn from the maple trees behind my house.  Oh, and we also have a lot of thunder and lightning.  The forecast for the coming week is pretty much same old, same old.  Everyday there's the 50% + of having a thunderstorm.  Lucky us.

Of course, fearless Howie wants to go outside.  That ain't happening.

My poblano pepper plant has at lest 8 peppers on it, so now I have to find a pepper recipe.  If I can, I can always dry them.  That's one of the good reasons to have a dehydrator.  

Retail was slow yesterday, in fact retail was slow all of last week.  August is always a slow month because it's family vacation month.  I did manage to get another measure.  That's 3 for the past week.  Someone, somewhere should be happy.  However, that's not going to stop them from beginning Halloween.  We've already gotten a number of questions regarding our orange Halloween buckets.  They are very popular.  I can tell you that we have over 2000 in stock, but they're all in the overhead.  The Halloween setup will probably take place next week, at least for the big stuff.  Yesterday, on one of my laps, I discovered that we already have our not so distinguishable pillows out.

Rumors are swirling that the Orange Anus is going to declare victory in Iran because he's a low IQ president who's in way over his head.  This is because he's an idiot.  One of his many, and I do mean many, problems is that his tiny brain believes he can con his way out of situation, that he can win by lying.  He has always believed he can force capitulation by merely threatening.  He's done this with Iran and they have constantly punched back.  He has spent his entire life lying to himself, and has surrounded himself with liars who constantly feed him false praise.  Now, his incompetency has caught up with him and he's flailing.  They're saying that if the Democrats take both the House and the Senate during the midterms he will be impeached.  Many think he should be jailed.  Personally, I'd like to see him pilloried... literally.  That way the American people can walk by and shout obscenities at him and throw shit at him.  Oh, I'm sure one or two would throw a rotten egg or tomato, but I suspect manny would simply throw shit.

 

The Threads of Power

 The rains have past and, unfortunately, we didn't get much of a cooldown. The humidity has dropped, so I no longer feel as though I'm wearing a 2nd skin of sweat.  The heat, with daily highs in the low 90s (F) is supposed to stick with us for the next few days.  I work for the next 2 days.  This is fine since I work and wasn't planning on any yard cleanup.  

Speaking of yard cleanup, when I see how many of the tree limbs and branches have been cut down to size and chipped, I'm rather proud of myself.  There are a lot of people my age who would have looked at that job and deciding the work was too daunting.  They would have acted like my brother wanted me to act, and not pick up a chainsaw.  Life is full of challenges.  This doesn't mean there aren't things to difficult and tasks you shouldn't take on.  You need to use wise discretion.  Once you reach the level where you start repeating "that's too much," you have reached the highest point you will ever go.  From the moment you plateau there is just a short period of time before you begin taking the downhill path.

I got to meet our new store manager yesterday working in the tile aisle.  There a large effort underway to make the aisle look both presentable and shoppable.  Customers are a part of the problem.  They pick tiles or mosaics up, and instead of putting them back where they belong, they shove them onto any shelf or into any box.  A bigger part of the problem is that we have aisle associates who don't really want to work in the tile aisle.  One provides good customer service, but usually in other departments, and then we have one who's just a lazy slug, a conspiracy theorist who spends more time on his phone than anything else.

Time for the after breakfasts nap.

So, Iran says that the Strait of Hormuz will not open until the US corrects some bad behavior.  That won't happen until conservatives and Republicans are out of government.  That will be sooner than they think because they are constantly dismissing the anger that is growing in America.  They have been living in a delusional world ever since Reagan's landslide re-election.  Their mantra has become "all we have to do is get ourselves in power and we can remake the country."  The idea that being the party of selfishness and greed doesn't even occur to them, well, most of them.  They ignore the evil of this administration because the power they believes this president holds is the realization of their grand delusion.  They don't understand that they are grasping at the last threads of power, that the ropes binding their dreams of power are unraveling.  Well, maybe Bill Cassidy does.  Perhaps that's why his lips were trembling as he refused to look at the camera and tell the world he was voting for Todd Blanche.