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.  

Lancing Elon

Surprise!  Yesterday's high did not climb into the low 80s (F) as the forecast had been predicting.  While the temp scooted around 79 (F) for most of the afternoon, there was a wind.  Now, I'm not talking about the occasional breeze.  Nope.  We had winds from the west that did a good job of keeping the gnats at bay;  I only got 2 bites.

And I did spend a bit of time outside cutting up branches yesterday afternoon.  My neighbor across the street is letting me borrow a teeny, tiny Ceepuy chainsaw that's about 6 inches long.  Let me tell you, that sucker is great for cutting up cleaning the branches so I can shove them into my wood chipper.  Looking out the window from my writing desk, I can say with certainty that a dent was made in cleaning up my... well, cleanup.  I have some chores to run this morning, but I'll be out again this afternoon.  

I did postpone the ride I had scheduled for yesterday afternoon; too many other jobs are taking precedence.  I'm only planning on doing the short upper-body workout this morning.  I want to get this clean-up complete as soon as possible, and that means spending more time out back this afternoon.  I texted this to my trainer, who replied that I'm probably getting more exercise doing this than if I were doing my full routines.  I'm going to agree with him on this.

Everyday I'm harvesting more tomatoes.  Today I'm going to make a pasta tomato salad which, hopefully will cover meals for today, tomorrow, and Sunday.  Oh, and I'm also going to be making bread pudding.  Yum.  Yesterday's harvest.

I was not surprised when I read that Elonia  Musk is going to be trying to buy Republican wins during the midterms.  Like the Orange Anus, he has his fan boys who believe he's a genius.  Like so many other billionaires, he suffers from a god complex.  He believes he's wealthy enough to make people do whatever he wants.  In fact, he is really nothing more than a large, puss filled boil ready to burst.  Tesla stock is dropping because, after all of the promises he made, the company is still not profitable.  His Space X stock?  Buyers beware, that stock is crashing faster than one of his rockets.  Making things worse for him is that both Japan and China now have reusable rocket engines, something he had a monopoly on.  I suspect one of the driving forces behind his throwing so much money into the midterms is that he realizes that, when Democrats take back power, many of his government contracts are going to be canceled.  I don't doubt that some time soon, Elonia will lanced, and amazingly enough, the world will survive.

Corruption

Outside temps are 68 (F) and, so far, if the forecast hods, we're going to have a nice day in Central PA.  Sunny skies, with a few scattered clouds are on tap.  The temperature is going to climb a little, with our afternoon high being satisfied to reach the low 80s (F).  However, as with all weather, the temps are always in flux.  Saturday's high is supposed to be in the low 90s (F).  After that we'll be seeing afternoon highs back in the mid 80s (F).  Fine with me.

After my morning workout yesterday, which is done mostly on the piece of equipment, I grabbed my trusty chainsaw and cut up the rest of the limb in my backyard.  I still need to deal with the treetop on the other side of the fence, but the main goal was to start getting my yard to look like a yard.  Because the weather is going to be so cooperative today, I'm going to start chipping away at all of the smaller branches I tossed onto the hill.  This should make for a nice pile of mulch.

An interesting bit about my raised bed garden:  3 of the tomato plants have fruit, one doesn't.  I have poblano peppers but no green peppers.  There are eggplant (s), but only one cucumber, and that cucumber vine is all over the place.  There is a problem with the tomatoes in that they are all growing together creating a veritable tomato jungle.  Next year, I'm going to place the containers around the yard to give them some room.

Here's the new cover of Rolling Stone.  This is going to piss off a lot of Republicans.  

Neither Republicans nor Conservatives have any problem with the Orange Anus being corrupt; the only thing they care about is being in charge.  So what if the $13 billion from the sale of Venezuelan oil has disappeared?  And what about Orangie's Peace Council?  Didn't the US donate (?) a billion + dollars to that?  And then there are the bribes he gets, and his selling of pardons.  Remember, the Republican party has always been the party of selfishness and greed.

And yesterday they went after Dr. Fauci because their beginning to lose their MAGA base.  Affordability is a major concern but don't expect the GOP to talk about that anytime soon.  If they did that more cultists might begin wondering about the missing moolah, moolah that Orangie has been pocketing.  For him, it has always been about the art of the steal.  He and his party have driven over the cliff and still don't realize that there is no bottom in sight.

Napping at the Funeral

We had storms yesterday afternoon.  I'm not talking about the windy, blow down trees type, but rather the thunder, and lightening, and torrential rain storms that cause flash flooding.  Starting around 2 PM, this storm last at least 2 hours and the rain fell in buckets.  Depending upon where in Central PA you live, you got between 1 and 4 inches of rain.  The temps dropped as well. We might get more shower this afternoon.  I hope not.  I want things to dry out.

Nothing was done in lawn cleanup because of yesterday's rain.  Today I'm hoping to get out the chainsaw and finish off the remains of the big branch that's in my backyard.  I'd also want to start chipping away the hundreds of little branches I tossed up onto the hill.

Otherwise, yesterday was pretty much a meh day.  I did go for an 8 mile bike ride in Bavaria.  Words were written.  And I also played some Balder's Gate 3.

And Amazon made a $2.07 deposit to my bank account yesterday and I have no idea what it's for.  Kindle deposits are identified, but this came from Amazon Services which, from what I've been able to discern, deals with 3rd party charges and credits.  Amazon did lose a class action lawsuit and is being forced to pay back $2+ billion to customers, so maybe that's my share.

So they had Lindsey Graham's funeral yesterday.  I was surprised that in all of the pictures of the mourners, there was not a single escort.  Nope, they were all middle-aged and older men wearing black suits.  Orangie was there.  He gave a rally speech eulogy, and then he took a nap.  The internet went viral with this pic.

There is no hypocrisy greater than that of a Republican.

And Orangie's administration is eliminating Medicare Supplemental Plan D in 2027.  While this doesn't effect me, there are about 25 million other seniors who will see an increase in the cost of their medications.  Also, those with this plan will see their deductible climb to $700.  We are seeing this because conservatives are more concerned about their own selfishness and greed than anything else.  Their actions are now defining them as being soulless.  2027 was chosen because the GOP estimated that they were going to lose either the House or the Senate during the midterms, which would put the Democrats in charge when these higher costs hit.  Of course, they were not counting on the possibility of a blue wave.  These greedy sacks of shit are so unprepared.

Tom Tomato

 The forecast was for rain overnight, I think we might have had a shower or two.  Our outside temp is 70 (F).  Again, the forecast is for us to get a few degrees warmer.  There's evidently a small coldish front moving through.  Rain is on the menu for today.  Showers with the occasional thunderstorm are going to limit my yard cleanup.  Originally, they were calling for sunny skies this morning, and while the cloud cover seems a bit thin, the rain is moving in at a fast clip from the west.  The drizzles should be starting in about an hour.

Why is the rain not good?  You may find it shocking, but both my chainsaw and my new wood chipper are electric.  Safety first.

In researching for The Body in the Words, I've learned that the Spanish do not say, "mi casa es su casa."  That's a Mexican phrase.

When I got to work yesterday, I stopped off to talk to Human Resources about my vacation.  I have some scheduled, but I need to take 7 more hours before my anniversary date on September 4.  If you don't use your vacation time, you lose your vacation time.  Mid-conversation, an associate from our service desk interrupted us.  Her hours have been cut and she wanted to see if there was some way she could make up that lost time by working as a cashier.  She got a smile and an, "I'll see what I can do."  After the associate left, I asked if this was happening a lot, part-timers coming in because they're now being scheduled shorter hours.  I was told, "all the time."  Most people work a part-time job, or a 2nd job because they need the money.  I feel bad for these people.  And like the cloud cover overhead, this economy is going to get worse before it gets better.

And here's my first tomato, freshly picked 2 minutes ago.

So I saw a clip of Rosie O'Donnell talking about who was actually to blame for the Orangie presidency.  I don't always agree with her, but sometimes Rosie does hit the nail on the head; this time I agree.  The cult of Orangie can be traced directly back to his stupid reality TV show, produced by Mark Burnett.  He is the one who created The Apprentice.  Burnett is the one put a failed businessman with 8 bankruptcies into American homes, selling Orangie to the American people as a the ultimate entrepreneur.  Of course, everything was a lie.  Reality TV is like the internet.  Remember?  Don't believe everything you see on the internet.  Yet millions of Americans believed the lie, and so the cult was born.  In return for creating this monster, Burnett was rewarded with an ambassadorship, so I guess he understands the art of the deal.

 

Zeus's Law

 The current temp is 71 (F).  If you're in Central PA, you can plan for an afternoon high in the mid to upper 80s (F).  There are storms in the forecast, too, but I'm thinking they'll not be nearly as severe as those that most recently swept through the area.  The day time highs have not been scorching us with 3 digits of Fahrenheit, and so we're not sitting on a hotplate waiting for a cold front to smash to pieces.  Once the cooler air passes through, we will still have daily highs in the low to mid 80s (F).  Most of the summer might not turn out to be so bad after all, at least not  in Central PA.

I spent a full shift in the flooring department yesterday and business was exceedingly slow.  Other departments were busy, but mine was not.  Traditionally, installations slow down during this time of year.  For me the most exciting thing was sending a rather heated email to our measurement services.  I set up a measure for a hardwood installation back in late May and the customer was measured in early June.  The quote came in at a cost much higher than the customer was expecting, so the quote was canceled.  On June 27, someone named Michelle noted that the sale was "lost because of price."  On July 25, someone named Judith from our measurement services reopened the quote. In addition to leaving a voice mail for the customer, she sent 2 texts and an email to this customer.  So, I emailed measurement services and asked at what point does customer service end and customer harassment begin?

My wood chipper arrived yesterday and will be assembled after this morning's workout.

I have an eggplant!  And there's more than one!!  I can see a pan of moussaka in my future.  

So, ticket sales for The Odyssey have grossed over $639.  This is unprecedented.  This is in 2 weeks.  In the US the film has an R rating and films rated R never, ever generate ticket sales of this magnitude.  Why?  I suspect Elonia Musk's Nazi tirade about a black Helen of Troy may have started things off.  Another factor is probably a fascination with ancient Greece.  So many of the words we use, no matter what language you speak, have Greek origins.  Democracy originated in Greece and all citizens, as Bob likes to say, "went out and cast a damn vote!"  The Odyssey is an anti-war movie and I do believe now, more than ever, many, many people around the world are simply fed up with war.  And I can't forget to mention that the film is, as many conservatives shriek, Woke.  Anne Hathaway claiming, "I've been sitting on an empty throne for 20 years!" hits the audience like a sucker punch.  And, of course, the movie is about Zeus's Law, where all strangers are welcome.  What happens when you break Zeus's Law?  Maybe you should ask Polyphemus. Is this why Zeus stayed Poseidon's hand?

Ticket This

 Today is going to be a repeat of yesterday with our high temp in the mid 80s (F).  We may get an isolated thunderstorm, however nothing like what we've dealt with over the past 2 weeks.  On the long range forecast our daytime highs are staying in the mid 80s (F).  Take warning, though, there is another heat dome moving across the country.  Right now that sucker looks to be skimming past us to the south, so though of you in the southern states prepare yourselves.  This summer is only halfway over.

And I worked yesterday.  I didn't get a measure, a lead or a credit card.  My sales for this week are dismal.  That's okay.  I'm part-time.  My value comes in that I can work in at least one other department:  paint.  For the next 2 Saturdays that's where I'll be spending my time.  Honestly, there are times when I prefer working in paint.  For one thing, the paint department is almost always steady.  When it comes to redecorating you home, paint a room a new color is a lot less expensive than installing new flooring.  As the economy continues to slide in the wrong direction, the paint department is going to become very important.

Someone commented on another blog that I was reading that they'd heard Universal Studios was buying tickets to The Odyssey to make sales look good.  Being the straightforward, no nonsense person I am, I called this falsehood a... well, a lie.  Unfortunately, a lot of MAGA cultists are repeating this same deceit.  These people simply refuse to believe that film with a black Helen of Troy and transgender man can make money.  They don't understand that a movie that is "woke," can be a box office hit.  They said the same thing for "The Hail Mary Project." This is a minority group of people terrified that they are losing the culture wars.  So, this is me sticking them in the eye.  Here's The Odyssey's ticket sales from Box Office Mojo.  That 47% increase for  Friday's sales means that not only are people going to see this movie, they're chatting it up among their friends.

To Chip or Not?

This morning wasn't as cool as yesterday.  Our overnight low stayed in the lower 60s (F).  This is summer, after all.  For the next week, at least, daily highs will be hovering in the low to mid 80s (F).  That's fine with me.  We might get a little rain on Monday, but the odds are 50-50.

Yesterday was a somewhat busy day.  There was yard cleanup.  My fence is now cleared of branches and luckily the damage could have been worse.  The top supporting bar has a new angle, but is still standing.  I still have a ten foot limb in my backyard, though that should be gone by sometime on Tuesday.  I also began tackling the limb on the other side of the fence.  Limb is the wrong word, to be more precise, I have a tree top lying there.  That sucker's going to be a challenge.  Also, I've been thinking of buying a wood chipper.  The thought of renting one had also occurred to me, until I saw the cost:  $200 for 4 hours, almost $600 for a day.  I can buy one that chops branches up to 2 inches in diameter for $194.  I'll have to go out and measure the diameter of the branches.

Beside the yard cleanup and getting my lawn mowed, yesterday was sort of a meh day.  Because I was outside so much, I moved my upper body workout to this morning.  

My Roma tomatoes are beginning to turn red.  I have 2 Big Boy plants, one has tomatoes, the other has zilch, and my eggplant has.... eggplants.

The rescheduled White House Correspondents Association (or whatever you want to call this group) was last evening.  Here's a pic from Al Jazeera.

I was too busy playing Balder's Gate 3 to pay any attention as to what was happening on social media.  Not that I missed anything.  Orangie, who likes to think of himself as the ultimate showman held a small rally that, without his paid cultists, left the room embarrassingly silent.  While cabinet members and their staff laughed because this is what sycophants do, the rest of the correspondents showed Orange how little he is appreciated.  Even the Washington post's leading headline was about his insult laden speech, and that it drew stunned silence.  As a result, he will lie today.  Are the bells beginning to toll for the Orange Anus?  Stay tuned.