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.

Screwed For Life

Our afternoon high is supposed to be in the 90s (F).  Yesterday we almost hit that number, and then the rains came.  We had an hour of what you could call soaking rain.  Of course, they did little to alleviate the humidity.  Our dewpoint is at 70 and I do not doubt that number will go higher.

Yesterday was different.  My morning workout went well.  Everything was find until... they shut down my street in order to dig up a sewer line 5 house down on the left.  Because there are a number of houses between the dig site and the closure sign, a man with a green fluorescent vest was stationed out front.  Because Howie couldn't decide if he was a future friend, or a brightly colored threat, he was constantly going in and out.  About every 10 minutes he'd bark out "Friend or Foe."  As a result, nothing really got done. I did go to the supermarket, but unfortunately bought a frozen pizza which insure there was an hour of silence when he and I took a nap.

I work this afternoon, though not at the flooring desk.  I'll be in the paint department.  That's fine with me, in fact my hours might be increasing because one of the associates applied for promotion into lower management.  If she gets it, then someone is going to have to fill her hours.

Just in case I forgot, The Body in 4/4 Time is now available at Barnes & Noble.

When I hear someone like John Cornyn saying things like "there's nothing we can do to rein in the president," I get worried.  When I see the Senate confirming Orangie's personal attack attorney as the Attorney General for the United States, I get worried.  But then I see that a judge has paused construction on Orangie's ballroom and I feel a little relieved.  When I see that his approval rating is in the low 30s, I'm okay with that, states like Mississippi and Tennessee giving him approval ratings of 59% will always screw up the numbers.  These are states where white people are fighting a losing battle in when it comes to remaining the majority.  Time doesn't heal all wounds, but it is changing the color of American Voters.

Did Bill Cassidy vote for Todd Blanche under duress?  Watch the videos and decide for yourself.  If he did, then he put himself into that position.  That's the problem with crime families, all you have to do is accept their terms once and you're screwed for life.

On Book Publishing and Book Reviews

The fog we had earlier this morning is beginning to burn away.  A little sunshine might peek through this morning, but that's iffy.  The forecast is giving us an 88% chance of rain and thunderstorms.  This is a replay of yesterday, though yesterday, while our temps rose, they didn't climb as high as our dew point, that reached 73.  The high dew point made our "real feel" temp a toasty 103 (F).

And yesterday, with that dew point, I was out back cutting up branches and running them through my wood chipper.  Believe me when I tell you that sweating was easy.  I could have wrung out my T-shirt.  But branches were cut, chopped, and chipped, and that's what's important.  Rehydration was prioritized since dehydration can be life threatening.

And here's a warning for all of you writers out there:  beware of phony publishers and reviewers.  I work with a gentleman whose wife wrote a book and instead of going through the process of self-publishing, went with a "publisher." She sends the publisher money and in return gets suggestions for edits.  This will continue until she stops sending them money.  As for reviewers, every few weeks I'll get an email or a message on  Instagram from some one, or some group offering to "promote my books."  This promotion includes reviews posted on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Goodreads.  The first time I was contacted I said "Wow!" and then I did my research.  Paying someone or some group to post a review on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Goodreads will get your book banned, and they have some serious algorithms that can detect fake reviews.  The last off I got was from some scammer calling themselves Booknbones.  There is a legitimate Books and Bones publisher, who publishes medical books, there is, however no Booknbones.  And if you do get contacted, research, research, research.  When I typed Booknbones into my search I got Scam, Scam, Scam.

And my mini-chainsaw arrived yesterday.

Andy Ogles lost his primary yesterday and will not be returning to Congress.  For those who don't know, Andy's a hate monger.  He's a white supremacist from Tennessee.  He has shrieked his anger against, Muslims, gays, and others on a daily basis.  In spite of Orangie claiming that he was a great American, voters said "no way."

With Stevie Miller standing behind him, Orangie signed 2 more Executive Orders yesterday in an attempt to limit birthright citizenship.  This was after the Supreme Court told him to shut up and sit down on this subject.  This has become a standard Republican tactic.  If one attempt fails, try a subtle variation on the same theme.  They will do this over and over again because they simply are untrainable.

The Eggplant, The Rug, and The BBC

Our outside weather is a bit stinky winky.  We're looking at a temp of 75 (F) with very high humidity that's so thick your finest cottons stick to your skin.  Our high will be in the upper 80s (F).  There is the constant threat of storms, but nothing at all like what we had when the temps were in the upper 90s (F) and low 100s (F).  We are almost halfway through summer and, except for those 2 weeks of torrid temps and tornado like storms, the season has been relatively normal... at least  here in Central PA.

I got a decent upper body workout in yesterday morning.  We've added a few new exercises that I like and started doing leg extensions again.  No squats.  That's fine.

A lot of words were written yesterday, mostly because the threat of rain was to great for me to want to get my extension cords out.  All of my tools are either electric or battery powered.  I learned a long time ago, water and electric simply don't mix.

Tomato sauce is going to be made this afternoon.  This is a good thing.  Mine includes tomatoes, onions, spices, and a touch of wine.  

My schedule for the last week in August was posted yesterday.  I'm scheduled for 13.5 hours.  I had already scheduled the last of my vacation for that week, so I'll end up with 20 + hours.  That's fine.

And I know everyone wanted to see a picture of my eggplant, so here it is!  Impressive, isn't it?  Can you tell I'm very proud?

The only thing more impressive is the picture of Orangie's new rug.

I understand the color is Spun Gold.  And yes, he did wear this yesterday in Las Vegas, and no, this is not AI slop.

Even funnier than that thing on his head, is Orangie's lawsuit against the BBC.  He sued them, claiming their coverage of the January 6 riots led to his financial ruin.  The BBC. who know a shit bird when they see one, said "prove it!  Show us your financial records!"  He has until tomorrow to release the information and instead of doing that, he's running around shrieking and yelling as if that rug on his head was on fire, crying "no, no, no, you need to take my word for it."  And the BBC is having none of his shit.  I'm betting they're going to countersue because he actually did disparage and slander them.  Grab your popcorn.

Abdul El-Sayed

We have 71 (F) outside and the skies are seriously overcast.  Rain is on the way.  The drizzles are supposed to start shortly.  Humidity is not expected to fall... much.  The same forecast is on tap for the next 2 days.  After that we should be getting some sunshine.  Temperatures will also climb a bit, but not much.  Temp wise, we'll probably not crack the 90 (F) mark.

My plans yesterday had been to do some chores in the morning and to then go in and spend a couple of hours getting paid to sit at the flooring desk.  That didn't happen.  The sun was shining.  My yard cleanup was calling, So I made an executive decision and stayed home and played with my chainsaw.  The number of branches on the hill outside my fence is shrinking.  This is a good thing.

For dinner I made tuna noodle casserole.  I haven't made this in years.  I consider this one of my comfort foods, though I really didn't need any comforting.  Of course, I ate way too much.  In fact, a large helping was my breakfast this morning.

And Howie got a brand new toy.  He carried that piece of wood everywhere, even to bed.  This morning, however, I saw his new toy lying abandoned outside.

We had a few primaries yesterday.  Progressive Democrats did well.  Of course, usually anytime a Democrat wins the American people win as well.  Abdul El-Sayed won in Michigan.  A doctor, he is the son of Egyptians and (drumroll please), a Muslim.  You can bet the Christian Nationalists are flipping out this morning.  I'm waiting for them to start gouging out their eyes in protest.

Almost $60 million dollars was spent trying to keep El-Sayed from wining.  A lot of that money came from AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.  The problem with AIPAC is that they are not pro Israel but pro Netanyahu. Old Nettie's genocidal attacks on Gaza are making him very unpopular.  The fact that the Orange Anus and Netanyahu have practically become blood brothers makes accepting AIPAC campaign donations a big fail.  There are those who claim that being anti-AIPAC is the same thing as being an antisemite.  This is a deceit. People who are anti-AIPAC are simply anti-Nettie.

And Republican Senator John Cornyn said on camera that "there is no way to reign in this president."  Translation:  Republicans are so desperate to be in charge that if they have to grovel before the Orange Anus, they will willingly grovel.  They are destroying America and they don't care.  The only thing making their hearts sing is being in charge.

Abusive Maxi Miller

Today is going to be nice, with a high in the low to mid 80s.  The sun is shining brightly and there is nary a cloud in the sky.  Weather like this needs to be taken advantage of, so I'll be out back with my chainsaw and chipper.

I got a nice upper body workout done yesterday morning before I went to work.  This was good.  Even though work was slow, I did manage to get 2 measures, one for a blind installation, and one for carpeting in a bedroom.  Two measures are good at this time of the year.  

Corporate made a rather foolish decision.  Someone thought that sending every specialist to an 8 hour training session in Baltimore was a great idea... everyone except the part-timers.  Knowing that over 100 specialty departments were going to be unstaffed, one would like to believe that part-timers would be used for coverage.  Nope.  Nobody is scheduled except the aisle associates.  I told our scheduler that I was thinking of punching in for a few hours this afternoon, and was rather nonchalantly told, "sure, if you want to."  And I actually did think I'd go in for 4 or 5 hours, until I realized today's weather was going to be great.  I got 2 measures yesterday, and I am not responsible for coverage.  I've also decided that I like 4 days off in a row.

I'm supposed to have a cardio session this afternoon.  Looks like that will be replaced with the lifting and the cutting of limbs and branches.  One of the interesting things is that Deutsche Bank new way back when that Orangie was involved in questionable banking practices, and evidently he bribed some members of the board to keep his accounts open.

Another thing I find interesting is the way the Max Miller abusive, child beater, restraining order story is playing out.  

To be honest, if all of these allegations had surfaced under a different president, I don't think this story would have gotten too much coverage, knowing how Republicans liked to sweep their dirt under the carpet.  But we've got Orangie in the White House, and he has endorsed Maxi Miller.  With both his ex-wife complaints and Stephani Grisham's restraining order, he looks like he's on his way to being labeled a serial abuser.  And all of this is happening, not only across the front pages of main stream media, but in deeply red, Central Ohia as well.  Ouch!  Maxi says he's not going to resign because... I suppose... because physical abuse is part of the Republican playbook?  I'm betting Maxi has some serious anger management issues when it comes to women, of course, that shouldn't be surprising.  He is a Republican, after all.

The Trump Crime Family

Wowza!  Did we get rain yesterday?  Drizzles and showers turned into torrential downpours.  We had ponding, laking, and a little flash flooding.  There was thunder and lightning, but no wind,  Believe  me, I've had enough 60 mile an hour winds to last me and my trees a lifetime.  Things are expected to dry out today, but then tomorrow we're going to have more rain.  The forecast do not bode well for yard cleanup this coming week since my big tools are all electric.

Yesterday was a very slow day, again, at the orange home improvement retailer I work for.  We do tend to be slow right now because August is vacation month.  Vacations are expensive this year; 3 days at the shore is going to cost more than a flooring installation.  When I sat down at the Flooring computer, I discovered all of my old quotes were gone.  This is a good thing.  There is a certain point in time, usually 4 weeks, when you know the customer is not going to purchase.  I've been told by our measurement services that time is actually 3 months.  I stop calling customers after a month.  At a certain point customer service ends and customer harassment begins.

Tomorrow, every specialist in my store, except for the part-timers, will be going to an 8 hour seminar down in Baltimore.  As far as I know, only 2 specialists said they were going to need a room, both are flooring associates.  Both thought this was great, they were each going to spend the night in a single room.  😂🤣😂 Yesterday I told the one I was working with that he was going to be in a double, possibly with someone he didn't know.  He did a little research and discovered I was right.  Both of these guys are... naive. 

And then this bit of news started breaking yesterday.

Whispers are saying that Jeanine Pirro dropped the reflecting pool vandalism charges because she wants to be fired, that she knows something bad is coming down and she and her box of wine will be much safer out of Orangie's orbit.

And the money laundering bit?  My understanding is that Orangie and his kin were selling excessively over-priced condos for cash... mostly Russian cash.  And  this is not the first time.  We're not just talking about Capital One.  Deutsche Bank also severed ties with Orangie's crime family in 2021.  They all know he's a crook.  Now we know why he wants he wants immunity from audits for not only himself, but his family, and his businesses.  He truly is a scourge upon America, a con man extraordinaire.  

So, is Mitch McConnell going to suddenly catch pneumonia and die tomorrow?

Trump's Golden Jesus

Outside we have 76 (F), humidity thick as a sponge, and a seriously cloudy sky.  Drizzles and showers are on tap for both today and tomorrow.  Tuesday?  We're supposed to have sunshine, though that's supposed to be followed by more drizzles and showers.  The past few days have been breezy, so we could use the rain.  

I did a half-assed workout yesterday because I simply didn't feel like putting a lot of effort into picking things up and putting things down.  I'm not going to renew my Trainwell subscription.  With all of the branches and limbs I have to cut up, I will have natural cardio and strength training for probably the next 2 months.  I'm thinking possibly of reactivating my Planet Fitness membership.  $45 for 3 months is a lot less expensive than $552, and with my hours being cut I'm starting to look thriftiness again.

Yesterday afternoon I worked at the Paint desk.  I enjoy mixing pain for people, or I should say most people.  A painter I remembered for my days managing the desk showed up for one of his special orders.  This means that the paint he buys must have 20% less tint because that makes his colors special.  He's short, about 5'5" so I suspect his aggressively demanding nature is cause by a Napoleonic Complex.

The Orange Anus was doing some unhinged shit posting last evening, and one of the pics he posted on his Truth Social account was him kissing a golden Jesus.

We've always known that he worships gold, so I don't doubt he'd kiss any religious icon if it were made of gold.  The important thing here is not that Jesus is involved, but that He's made of gold, like the golden calf.

And Capital One just came out and said they'd closed Orangie's accounts in 2021 because they suspected he was using them to launder money.  Why is this coming out now?  Because Orangie claimed the closings were politically motivated and sued Capital One.  He has always found that attacking with a lawsuit has worked in his favor, that tactic isn't working anymore and losing so many court cases.  This is a good thing.  He's never been too smart and now his attempts at strongarming are proving that not only is he dumb, he's weak, too.

I'm wondering how many Republicans, after the midterms, will never, ever vote again.

Trump Lies, Again

Well, we've got 72 (F) and it's going to get warmer.  We have another super sunny day on tap here in Central PA, however, I do have to go to work this afternoon.  I'm scheduled to work for the next 2 days and the weather forecasters, perhaps because I am working, are calling for showers tomorrow and Monday.  Tuesday things are supposed to be fine again.

Today we are halfway through summer.  I think July went by very fast.  Since energy costs are constantly rising, I've been monitoring my usage.  Even though Pennsylvania Power and Light Co. says we have been 1 degree cooler this summer than last summer, I've used more electricity this summer.  However, you can't use a single degree for estimating usage.  We've had perhaps 7 days in July where the daytime highs were 100 (F) or higher and on those days the Central Air never turned off.  That's why I've used more electricity than last year.  The same thing is true with heating.  It cost a lot more to heat my house during those 2.5 weeks in January when the temps never got above 18 F) than for the rest of the winter.

Of course, the big headline yesterday was about the reflecting pool.

This means that not only did that wino Jeanine Pirro lie, so did our Secretary of the Interior, Doug Burgum, as well as the Orange Anus.  My take on this?  The Orange Anus lied first, and the other 2 bumble brains, knowing they couldn't contradict him, went a long with him.  There was no 300 foot gash cut in the lining with a razor knife, of course, most of us knew this.  Orangie's ego simply could not deal with the fact that he had made another terrible decision.  For him, paying $14 million to a man who donated heavily to his campaign made perfect sense, the thought that this man might be incompetent never came into the picture.  Instead of trying to get that $14 million back, Orangie's just going to pay more money to someone else to fix his mistake.

And for a bit of good news, Whiteney Lynn, the wack-job Christian who calls herself a Sky Evangelist was kicked off a flight in Florida and is now being put on no-fly lists.  This is because Whitney is witless.  She likes preaching her version of the gospels at 30,000 feet, to passengers who cannot walk away.  If Whitney is anything, she's one of the reasons for the Great De-Churching.