Funeral For a Friend

Our outside temps are a balmy 27 (F) 🤣😂🤣 And even though the day is supposed to be overcast, the brightness will happen when our afternoon high reaches the mid 40s (F).  There is the possibility of showers, both today and tomorrow, when our thermometers will be ascending into the stratospheric upper 40s (F) and possibly low, low 50s (F).  This is almost like Spring arising, and we're still a week away from Winter.  Oh, joy!

Yesterday was busy in an odd sort of way.  I went to BJ's and exchanged the twin-sized sheets for a set of queen-sized that would fit my bed.  Not surprisingly, there were full-sized sets as well as other twin-sized sets on the shelf labeled queen-sized..  This is the handiwork of uncaring customers who will pick up a product and then change their minds about making the purchase.  Aisle associates should be fixing this problem, but I suspect BJs doesn't really have aisle associates, per se.

The aquariums were cleaned.  The new desk chair was assembled; I left the arms off since I don't know if I'll need them.  I got in a small ride along the shores of Sardinia, the scenery wasn't that impressive.

And then I puttered around with the electric piano a bit; yes I used to play and still do... sort of.  The keyboard was moved downstairs in order to make room for the new piece of workout equipment.  I was pleased to see I still remembered the opening bars of Elton John's Funeral for a Friend.  That was my audition piece when I joined Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia back when I was a sophomore in college.  The song at the heart of The Body in 4:4 Time is one I wrote a number of years ago.  A friend of mine told me that it's very Broadwayish, I told him screaming guitars help a lot.  If I have an email address for you, you may receive a copy.

And now a bit about the Susie Wiles interviews (there were 11 separate sessions) with Vanity Fair.  Orangie's administration is saying this was a hit piece.  Remember, they lie.  As someone else pointed out, the timing is interesting because the Epstein Files are supposed to be released on Friday.  They are going to be throwing as much shit on the wall as possible to change the subject.  Was she being true?  Yes, I think so.  Susie Wiles is a survivor, and while she's claiming what she said is being taken out of context, I suspect she wants to be on one of the lifeboats watching Orangie's ship sink.  Someone else said that she appears to be consolidating her power, and that's true, too.  These little truths were warning shots across Bondi's bow, and Vought's bow, and Rubio's bow, and Musk's bow.  She has no problem in letting everyone in this administration go down with the ship.  In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if she's hoping that's what happens.

   

Hoax

We're going to be having a bit of a warmup this afternoon when temps reach the mid 40s (F) here in Central Pa, but fear not, they will drop overnight as a cold front rushes over the state.  We're also supposed to be getting a coating of snow.  After tomorrow, forecasters are predicting more seasonal temps will return.  Daily highs are expected to be in the mid to upper 40s (F).  Right now, however, the sun his hidden behind a thick blanket of clouds and temps are in the low 20s (F)

I did some shopping yesterday morning, hitting both BJ's and my neighborhood Giant supermarket.  I will have to return one of my purchases to BJ's.  I bought a set of sheets, however, someone must have inadvertently put a set of Twin Size sheets in the box labeled Queen Sized sheets and I purchased the wrong size.  I work in retail, so I should have known better.  I know how often a customer will pick up a product and then return  it to the wrong place on the shelf.

Yesterday, I was supposed to ride the bike, but instead I spent that time finishing up the assembly of my new gym equipment.  I have one more thing to screw in place today and then I'm finished.  I thought the pulley system was going to be tricky, and was pleasantly surprised at how easily the wheels, sprockets, and wires went into place.  Why... they practically strung themselves.  I rescheduled the ride until next Thursday, rather than canceling it.  

Of course, yesterday I had to laugh at this:

 

Orangie, and everyone else in that meeting was wearing cowboy hats.  His hat was the only one with white strings.  Cowboy hats don't normally come with strings.  They are on little kid's cowboy hats, though, so they can be tied to keep them from falling off of their little heads.  

More Epstein pics were released and as usual, Orangie's administration said they were a Democratic Hoax.

Maria Barti (something or other) went on Fox Entertainment and said that affordability was a Democratic Hoax.

In fact, hoax now appears to be the word of the day, week, and month.  Every Republican out there is now calling every bit of bad news out there a hoax.  I suppose that will keep the cultists happy for the time being.

Penalties Will Be Paid

 Well, here we are, another late post.  I had breakfast with my brother this morning, so it's an excusable delay.  Right now our outside temps are 63 (F).  At the crack of dawn we were a bit chillier with our low being at an even 50 (F).  The big question will be if our temp hit the big 80 (F), which is where our forecast has it's sights set on.

Yesterday was somewhat busy.  The Wednesday laundry was done.  I got a 9 mile ride in on Corsica.  I also drove to BJs for a small bottle of wine.  I should set up a spread sheet to calculate just how much money I'm saving simply by purchasing them there.  The membership cost me $15 and so far my savings has been around $21.  An annual membership costs $60 and if I simply buy a bottle of wine every 2 weeks I'll be saving about $130, so that would indicate paying the renewal fee would be in my financial best interests.

Since I had a Denver Omelet for breakfast, today's going to be a salad day.  The omelet itself?  Red peppers were used instead of green, there was some ham, but not enough to provide any real flavor, and the cheese?  I'm thinking they used Velveeta.  It definitely didn't taste like cheddar.  There were hash brown potatoes, too, but you can really screw up frozen hash browns when all you have to do is throw them on the grill for a few minutes.  The one nice thing was that there wasn't an extra charge for the eggs.

I was going to take a picture of breakfast, but forgot, which is probably a good way of describing the meal.  So, instead, here's another failed attempt at a selfie with Howie.  

I saw where Chief Justice Roberts burbled out some sort of nonsense about fearing that Orangie was taking the immunity the Court gave him and using it to destroy Democracy.  Now, isn't that rich?  I'm betting that Johnny boy realizes there is a serious crisis approaching and blame might get smeared all over his name, and his Court.  Fingers will be pointed in many directions when this shit show is over and penalties will need to be paid.  Johnny's court now has a big target on its back.  Why did they give Orangie all of this immunity?  Did they think he might surround himself with people who might manage his corruption?  Or did they just delude themselves into believing he simply couldn't be this bad?

And Orangie's approval rating is still spinning downward in a death spiral.  Only 37% of Americans approve of him.  YO!  All of you authoritarians out there, the big secret of having a successful authoritarian government is having a popular authoritarian running the country.  This is essential.  Putin did it.  Orangie?  All of his bluster and bullshit is continuing to drive his ratings lower.  The only thing he will be successful at is failure.

 

Guard This

 According to the weather app we are experiencing light rain.  Nope.  Not happening around my house.  The skies are for the most part clear and we have bountiful sun.  Yesterday, our temps did get up into the low 90s (F), though I'm sure the "real feel" was in the low 100s (F) because you wrap the humidity around you like a soggy duvet.  The threat of thunderstorms is high for both today and tomorrow.  We could use the rain; my lawn has gone brown.

Yesterday was a fairly decent day.  Several loads of laundry were done.  In the afternoon I completed an 11 mile ride in Bavaria.  Words were written and re-written.  I'd started a chapter called The Sounds of Silence (an old Simon and Garfunkel song but with a different relevancy here), however, looking at it again realized it was crap and rewrote it.

I also went to BJs and picked up my membership card.  Of course, they wanted me to not only upgrade but get a second card for a member of my family.  I amusingly told the kid that Howie was not going to be shopping at BJs.  He didn't find it amusing.  I also told him I didn't need to open a BJs credit card, remember, retail wants you to drown in credit.  Then, with my new card in my wallet, I wandered through the store.  Generally, prices were about the same as I paid at my local Giant supermarket.  Fresh produce was more expensive.  I bought 96 ounces of Pompeiian olive oil because it had a nice discount.  And then... I strolled through their wine and beer section.  Holy Crap!  One bottle of the Josh Cellars wine I prefer was a full $6.00 cheaper than what I normally pay.  Three bottles will pay cover the $15 I paid for the membership, and a measly 10 bottles will pay for the yearly subscription, and I do believe I drink more than 10 bottles of wine in a year.

And the National Guard arrived in Washington, DC.  Some of them stood around with tourists to get their pictures took.

While I'm sure Fox Entertainment will dredge up old videos of the Watts Riots to show Orangie's cultists how badly these troops are needed, everyone else in the world is seeing images like this.  Now I'm not saying there isn't crime in DC, it just isn't on the Mall, or around the national monuments.  All these imbecilic photo op moments do is prove how totally unnecessary this deployment is.  

And this E.J. Antoni who Orangie put in charge of Labor and Statistics is going to shut that bureau down, or at least stop releasing reports that show how badly the economy is failing.  He's a conservative, a Heritage Foundation guy, and we all know how much they lie through their teeth.  Having the largest economy in the world, everyone relies on the trustworthiness of our numbers.  When that fails, they will look elsewhere.  I find it interesting that in their own need for greed billionaires may actually be turning themselves into sacrificial lambs.  More power to them.

  

The Truth about Compliments

 Good morning.  Our outside temps are a not so cool 70 (F).  The forecast has changed.  Over the past few days those guys who predict the weather told us that tomorrow was going to be the hottest day of the week.  Now they've decided that today is going to be hotter than tomorrow.  So, instead of topping off in the mid 90s (F) tomorrow, out high today will barely crack the low 90s (F).  The odds for rain tomorrow have stayed the same, 55%.  We could use a sprinkle or two, but I doubt if that will be happening any time soon.  While we don't have the heat of August, we do have the lack of precipitation.

I got a decent upper body work out in yesterday.  A bunch of writing was done.  And then I went in to work and meh happened.  Nothing.  As I expected, our store didn't make plan last week.  We missed by over $100,000. This is how it goes.  Believe it or not, they should be setting up our Halloween display and I'm interested to see how extensive it will be.  This may surprise some people, but us, Halloween is just as big, if not bigger than Christmas.  All of our Halloween and Christmas decorations come from China, however, I did see yesterday that the Orange Anus pulled another TACO with the Chinese tariffs.

I did sign up for one of the $15 BJs memberships, so this morning I'll be heading over to pick up my card and check out the savings.

I've been listening to a lot of Matt Maeson lately.  Here's his latest.  He has a great range.

As expected, the Orange Anus had the Federal Government take over (sort of) Washington DC yesterday.  I watched so many snips and clips of his speech while at work yesterday (I told you it was boring) it was quite easy to see he's not in charge.  Nope.  Not at all.  He rambles incoherently.  He said he's going to Russia several times, he's not, he's going to Alaska, which  used to be owned by Russia.  So, I don't really think he's running the show, which makes that meeting he's having with his blo bro Vlad bad.  Every world leader knows that a simple compliment and he'll give you whatever you want.