Pig in Shit

 The weather today is supposed to be superb.  Our high should be in the mid 70s (F) with partially cloudy skies.  We have the same forecast for tomorrow.  I always have off Tuesdays and Wednesdays.  Sadly, we have the same forecast for Thursday and unfortunately I have to work.  I'm thinking that maybe I should take some sort of Spring sabbatical or something so I don't have to go to work.

I did work yesterday.  Someone purchased a big ticket window install, otherwise we would not have made plan.  Unless I was exceedingly comfortable financially, there is no way I would make any large purchase right now.  I had a conversation with my supervisor in which I told her that sales are going to continue to slow down as prices go up, and more and more people become concerned.  Her response:  "well, that means you're just going to have to work harder."  Did you hear me laughing?  They have me scheduled to work at the Lead Generating table on Sunday.  Yippee.  Out of curiosity, I did go in to check to see if any of the leads they'd been generating with the table were actually selling.  Nope.

Howie has decided he's not going to eat his Beneful dog food.  That's a problem since I just had another large bag delivered by Chewy.  He eats everything else, treats, snacks, bananas, blueberries, but not his dog food.  I'm going to need to start monitoring him when he's outside to insure he isn't supplementing his diet with sticks, and grass, and plants.  I have a friend whose daughter's dogs like to chow down on fireplace kindling.

And you never know when a bolt of lightening might save your life.

I saw this morning that Thailand has put tariff negotiations with Orange Anus on hold until certain issues have been resolved.  Vietnam has already told the administration they want zero for zero tariffs, that means no tariffs at all, and I believe Switzerland has made the same decision.  Let's be honest here, the Orange Anus has managed to, trade wise at least, united the world against us.  Everyone knows he has put himself in the unenviable position of aggressor, and everyone knows how easily he will cave.  They're just holding out until he accepts the offers they're going to make.

After causing the Pope to have a stroke, I see that J.D. Vance has moved onto India.  His wife is Indian, so he might get a better reception there than he's been getting from the other countries he's visited.  Of course, he has converted to Catholicism, so they might tolerate his wife, and ignore him.  I don't think anyone sees him as a serious negotiator for... well, anything, except for chaise lounges and loveseats. Wait until he finds out the Indian mascara he uses comes from China.

And Orangie's approval rating has dropped to 42%.  Frankly, my dears, I don't think he gives a damn about his approval rating.  As long as he has his toadies and sycophants surrounding him, he's happy as a pig in shit... which is pretty much the truth.

The Cone of Silence

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Political Hell

 Well, Thursday has arrived.  I slept in until past 7.  Even at that late hour, the temp was 13 (F) when I finally tossed back the sheets and got out of bed.  We're supposed to get above freezing today, but just by a little.  According to the Accuweather forecasters, more snow should start falling Friday night, though how much seems to be rather elusive.  On my phone, the prediction is for between 1 and 4 inches, yet on the email weather update I received from Accuweather, the total was between 2 and 6 inches.  So, to be on the safe side, I'm betting we're going to be getting between 1 and 6 inches of snow.  

I cancelled the auto-ship from Chew.com for Lily's Beneful dry food.  She's been turning up her nose at it, the same way she does treats she doesn't like.  She has always been picky about what she eats, but as she gets older, she's becoming even more so.  Though she has no problem making her way to the kitchen when I'm cutting up vegetables and chicken; tomatoes are one of her favs.  And at 10.5 years of age, she's decided she's going to spend most of her day sleeping on the bed.  That's right, no more sofas for her.  Of course, the windows in the bedroom give her a much better vantage on the world.  

The bill for my homeowner's insurance arrived yesterday.  It went up $60, and the first thing I thought of was that I used it to help pay for the repairs in my ceiling.  I mean, isn't that how insurance work?  You pay a certain amount in, and when you use it, they charge you more to help compensate the insurer?  I could rationalize it by telling myself they paid around $1500 in damages, but then there is the fact that I've been paying the same insurer for 30 years.  For those who don't remember, here a pic of the hole in my ceiling, so... maybe it's worth the increase.

And I saw that rumors are flying that Elise Stefanik is in the running Trump's vice president.  This is what she's been dreaming of for quite some time.  She's dumb as a brick.  She's put no consideration what so ever into what hoops Trump will make her jump through should he give her the nod.  Nope.  She's just thinking of the title, and the power her dark, little heart beats for.  You do have to admit that for Trump World, she is more than qualified, being the one member of Congress to endorse George Santos.  You all remember George, don't you?  The 6th member of Congress to be expelled because of corruption.  Elise and Donny would truly be a match made in political Hell.

Better Bits and PIeces

Key happy dance music!  It's Friday!  and I get to go back to work!  For 3 days!
Whew!  Glad I got that excitable bit out of my system I can move on to bigger and better bits and pieces!
For those of you interested my my Trek Cycling Challenge... I hit 40 miles yesterday.  I rode in Follonica, which is in Italy.  My route takes me past this port:

You can almost see me behind the railing, eh?

The only problem is whomever recorded the video did a pretty crappy job.

My new pedals arrived yesterday... and they're still in the box.

Last evening Eli and Max checked into the Lodge at Rattler's Den.

My local Weis Market has the 31.1 lb bags of Beneful, so yesterday I bought my dog food there.  Their Chobani yogurt and Folger's coffee is also less expensive than my neighborhood Giant... and Weis is less than a 1/4 mile from Giant.  Yesterday I save close to $4... This is how life is.

I've also decided I'm going to give Greek a try.  The language... I'm talking about the language.  I signed up for a 2 year course with Rosetta Stone.  We'll have to see how it goes.

And, of course, the Idiot Jerk caved on the Census question.  Billy Barr was standing behind him, scowling to beat the band as he made the announcement...  This was after the Idiot held some sort of Conspiracy Theory Summit.  He sure does love surrounding himself with liars.

There are more flower pictures coming.  More things are just beginning to bloom.

There are sunflowers coming and some sort of purply pointy things...

The Firework Treatment

Well, the drawing of the blood went okay.  I didn't pass out, of course I didn't look so that was fine.  However, when I went to pee in their little cup I discovered my tinkleator was dry.  So, I stood there thinking wet thoughts as I turned on the faucet and let water trickle down over my fingers until it started... drip... drip...drip.  They did not get a full cup.  Nope, my bladder gave them just enough to run their little tests.
The FDA came out with a list of dog foods which may lead to cardiac disease in dogs.  Evidently at some point in the past couple of years, certain people without any scientific background decided whole grains were bad for dogs.  Nope, they decide things like lentils and chickpeas were going to be better.  Oops, it seems as though they're not.  Here's the list.  As I've said before, my dogs like Beneful.  There's an influential website which grades dog foods, letting you know which are healthier for you dog.  Beneful is barely acceptable because... it contains grains.
And, if you remember not too long ago, I wrote that if someone gives one of my books a good review I will publicly thank them.  Well my sincerest thanks to Anne Marie of Philly!

The only other things I did yesterday was nap, and eat ice cream and hot dogs.  It was one of those days.  As I stepped on the scale this morning, I could only wonder why wieners have so many calories. 

Trickle Down Failure

The challenge starts today.  My goal is to ride at least 100 miles, albeit inside on my Cyclops trainer, i the next 30 days.  For a while I was getting up early in order to get my rides in before I went to work.  Well, that didn't work.  While I'm a morning person and get a lot accomplished before I head to the store, riding a bike or cardio are 2 things I find myself putting off.  They fit in better later in the afternoon, after the work day is finished.
I find it amazing how China and the US agree to begin trade talks again and the Stock Market goes up.  Your average MAGA head dances around singing Yippee Skippy... while quietly, in the background, prices continue to rise because in America corporations can never make enough money.  Saturday I had customers come up to me, they wanted to buy 3 cases of vinyl planks but wanted to pay the store price, not the online prices.  No problem.  That happens now and then, the Internet price is a bit more.  That wasn't the case.  Our store price was wrong... by 20 cents a square foot.  And these prices increases are National... and the product is manufactured in... China.  Not every price went up, but a number of them did so we had to pull price stickers off our displays.  Even if a deal is struck, those prices are never going to go back down.
And it's not just flooring, and it's not just the retail corporation I work for, it's everywhere.  My dogs are fed both dry and moist dog foods purchased at my local Giant Food Store.  For a dry food, they like Beneful and I buy big bags of it.  The price has always been $29.77.  Four weeks ago I noticed the price had dropped a dollar a bag and I thought, my, isn't that nice...  Until I checked into it.  The price had dropped, but so did the poundage per bag.  $29.77 used to get me 31.1 pounds.  Now, $28.77 gets me 28 pounds.  It used to cost 96 cents a pound, now it costs $1.02 a pound.  Oh, and it appears as though the 31.1 lb bag is out of stock... even at chewy.com , so I'd say this is probably a Purina decision.  And it's not just dog food, it's everything.  For those who are naive enough to believe in Trickle Down Economics, this is how it really works.  And don't forget, these are the same corporations that got a really nice tax break, thanks to the Republican Party.  So on this Fourth of July, while the Idiot Jerk is giving his shitty little rally speech, and all those little MAGA heads are dancing around his feet, remember, this is what he truly given us: higher prices so corporations can make more money.  It's why we have these tariff wars, not so our prices can go down, rather it's so corporations can make more money which is never, ever going to Trickle Down.

Crank this

Well, here it is Tuesday.  I called off today.  Said I had the stomach virus that seems to be going around.  I did have a bit of a cranky belly when I woke up... kind of... if you know what I mean.  As I lay in bed I thought to myself, gee... I wonder if I'm getting that bug?  Then I got up and ate breakfast and most of the crankiness went away.
I was cranky yesterday, however.  I went to my neighborhood Giant specifically to pick up a big (29 pound +) bag of Beneful... and they were out.  The girl at their Service Desk informed me that if there was none on the shelf then... they were out of stock.  So I told her that this was the 2nd time in 6 weeks that I'd made a specific trip for dog food only to discover that they were... out of stock.  For the same customer to have the same problem twice is terrible customer service.  When I got home I used the receipt info to give them a bad review.  I also went to their corporate website and filed a complaint.  This is what you do when you have a legitimate complaint.  No entitlement here.  I just expect outstanding customer service - that means the products I want 'in stock' and on the shelf.  I work for a major home retailer and that is one of our most important customer service goals.
Evidently the Idiot Jerk in the White House wants to send home lots and lots of Salvadoreans.  My money says he wants to use their lives as a bargaining chip in effort to get his wall built.  While most people with an IQ understand how this shits on humanity, he and his supporters view these people only as numbers.  Do these self-centered haters care that a majority of Americans don't want a wall?  Absolutely not.  Do they care that lives are in the balance?  Absolutely not.  Will these losers even notice they are making more and more Americans cranky?  Hell no.

Finally, I did a short ride on the trainer yesterday... up a hill.  You see, this trainer I have increases pressure on the tire to simulate going up hills and when I hit 6.6% incline it was like Holy Shit!  I need to work on strengthening my legs, which means like weighted squats and lunges, and that means they're going to get real Cranky!!  I'll just have to keep reminding myself that having great looking glutes is not necessarily a bad thing.