The Birthday Girl

 We didn't have any rain yesterday... or last night.  We've had enough for a while.  Lawns have stayed green all summer, and mowing has been constant.  Supposedly, according to the forecast at least, we're supposed to be rain free for the next couple of days.  However, there's a little rain event happening out in southern California that will eventually move east and when it gets here, there is a distinct possibility it will travel up the east coast (prevailing winds coming in off the Atlantic make that happen). so we might get more rain next Friday, or Saturday.

I got a little present this morning from my electric company.  My budget plan charge has dropped by $20 per month thanks to this mild summer we've been having.

And, of course, today is Lily's Big Day.  She's 10 years old.  She started this morning off with her normal morning snacks... and then a big pig ear.  She also had some banana, she loves bananas, and right now she's taking a nap on the bed.  Later, she'll be getting cake and ice cream.  For her entire life, it's always been white cake and vanilla ice cream.  This year, because she's 10 years old, she's getting chocolate fudge cake and vanilla ice cream.  She had a sample last evening and thought it was the cat's meow... I'd give her one of those but all my neighbor's cats have seemed to disappear.

Of course there are other presents abounding:  Trump refusing to sign the RNC's loyalty pledge, for one.  That's right, if he doesn't get the Republican nomination, he's going to refuse to support the candidate that does.  Stupid Ronna McDaniel is screwed.  She backed the fake electors scheme because she thought he'd be triumphant in overturning the election... well, I don't know what she thought Trump was going to do, but obviously not the 4 times indicted criminal he has turned out to be.

And, he's skipping the debate.  I think I told you he would.  Gutless, he is.  A coward to the nth degree.  Being called a scumbag to his face by Chris Christie on live TV is more than he can bear.

On a brighter note, let's just all sit back and wish Lily a Happy 10th.  She's going for a walk now.  She loves going for walks!

The Salt of my Brow

 Well, Sunday has finally arrived.  The weather is supposed to be warm and humid with the possibility of a deluge.  I find that amusing: we used to just have severe storms or thunderstorms, now we have to contend with the regular deluge.  I don't know if the storms have truly changed that much, or if the weather forecasters have discovered an new word of the day.  Let's be honest here, deluge sounds more terrible than storm.  We do know how much they love to exemplify disasters in order to trend on social media.

I did get a measure yesterday.  That means I've met my measure goal for the week, however my sales are sitting $629.  Yep, that's it.  But then you have to remember that sales are down all over the place.  You can only take advantage of customers for so long, and they they simply stop buying.  Believe me, corporate can run as many gimmicks as they want, in the end most people are smart enough to know it's a gimmick.  Not all people, but most.

Normally, I don't wear caps, though I'll tug a knit hat down over my head in the winter to keep my ears warm.  However, and you should there's always a however, I do wear caps when I'm either on the bike or on the treadmill since I sweat a lot.  This is the salt of my brow on the treadmill cap.

George Will has an interesting opinion in the Washington Post this morning claiming neither Trump nor DeSantis will get the nomination.  Keep in mind, his wife is part of Tim Scott's campaign, one that will flail and then disappear.  I do, however, (there's however again), think his statement is correct.  Just who will get the Republican nomination?  I wouldn't be surprised if it isn't Chris Christie, mostly because he's doing the one thing no other GOP candidate is doing: attacking Trump.  There are a lot of Centrist and Left Leaning Republicans out there who are gleefully enjoying every barb Christie jams into the thin skinned Orange Anus.  I don't doubt that soon he'll start putting feathers on those barbs so they stand out even more.  And if you think he sharp now, wait until more indictments drop.  This is going to get so entertaining!

Waiting for the Big Guns

 Finally, my 3 day work weekend is over.  Not that I find that time at the store stressful, mostly the passing minutes are slow and tedious because customers in the flooring department are few and far between.  I did design an $8,000 order of blinds yesterday.  Yeah, read that dollar figure correctly.  Honestly, I'd need to have far more disposable income than I could ever dream of to spend that kind of money on blinds.

Since I did work, I didn't get to enjoy the beautiful day, sunny with a bit of a breeze.  Today there is the possibility of rain (read that rare showers).  I'm pretty much going to ignore that forecast.  When it comes to precipitation our local forecaster's accuracy has be rather unpredictable.

Chores are planned for today, as they are for everyday.  As well as a trip to my local Giant supermarket.  And, of course, Lily gets her walk.  That's something she loves.  We didn't get a lot of walks in when Biggie was still alive because it was a chore for him to just get around the block.  Don't get me wrong, he loved those short walks, but once we were home he'd just lay done and pant for a while.  Now, Lily and I go daily.  She will be 10 in August and she's still bouncy as hell.

Here's an update on my peaches.  If I've counted correctly there are 4 on the tree, a big difference from the 100s I used to get. Here's a pic of one.

And the GOP presidential race is beginning to really heat up.  Mikey Pence announced.  Today Chris Christie is announcing.  Both of them are going after Trump.  Nikki H is also lobbing small hand grenades towards the Orange Anus, none really strong enough to actually make it explode.  Supposedly there is open warfare between Ronnie D and Donnie T, though to my mind it's only small arms fire.  I'm waiting until they both decide to bring in the Big Guns.  I suspect that will happen once Donnie T gets indicted for espionage... or some other crime against Democracy.  When that happens they're going to try and verbally nuke each other.  Who loses in this approaching shit show?  Why the GOP.  Every aspect of their political machine is going to be damaged.  All the "anti legislation" is going to take a back seat at the back of the bus because no one is going to care except their petty base.  You know, those rarified individuals who live in Magadonia.

 

News

 Well hello and good morning!  This is my 2nd day off in what one person at work called a mini-staycation.  I have been relaxing.  Taking the occasional ibuprofen for my back.  I switched from naproxen,  For some reason, the naproxen didn't seem to be able to knock out the inflammation.  Mornings do make me feel like a creaky old man.

I'm going to need to mow the lawn either today or tomorrow.  The weather's forecast to be nice both days, of course the forecasters have only been accurate about the heat.  Yesterday there was a 70% chance of rain and?  Nothing.  Not a single drop.  Which is good.  We've had way too much rain while other places have nothing but drought.  In time, people living in those stricken areas will begin to migrate.  This is how things have worked since the beginning.  Now, however, we are a much more mobile society so they'll drive to their new homes in places where the temps aren't so hot and dry.

I wore a pair of my new socks yesterday.  They're climbing socks, however, I didn't climb.  I only needed 4.5 miles to reach my goal for the week, so I rode 10.5 miles.  When I'm riding, time goes by fast.  My brain works.  Things just click, especially in the creative regions.  A friend says it's because I'm oxygenating the hell out of it.  What ever the reason, new ideas pop open like unseen vistas waiting to be explored.  Here are my climbing socks, in case you were wondering, and no, I didn't buy them from the giant orange home improvement retailer I work for.

I saw where Chris Christie was mumbling gibberish about the unvaccinated, saying they don't want to be indoctrinated.  Now, isn't that ripe.  These very conservatives are trying desperately to indoctrinate Americans into believing The Big Lie.  The article is rather amusing.  He laments how our political leaders haven't done a good enough job explaining vaccines.  Notice, how he tries to incorporate all political leaders.  Anyone with half a brain, that automatically excludes Republicans, knows that the only political leaders who have been running a constant tirade against vaccination are... Republicans.  To do otherwise would insinuate their Liar in Chief was... well... a liar.  No news there.

Wiped Clean

 Monday, Monday, and I got a dental appointment this  morning.  The old choppers are getting cleaned.  I'm sure the experience will be almost new and not too exciting.  I have to call when I arrive and wait until they tell me to enter the building, at which point I will have my temperature checked.  Believe me, I cannot wait until the vaccine arrives... probably sometime in March.  When I said this to a customer, she replied, "not me.  I don't want it, but since I'm in the military I'm going to have to get it."  This is how our government works to help keep us safe.

And now for something pretty look at while I take a Dental Break.  I took this yesterday.

The store was very busy yesterday.  Not so much in flooring, Our wide aisles are filled with Black Friday merchandise because this year, because of Covid we're doing it differently.  While most customers wear masks, there is relatively little social distancing going on.  And lot of touching.  People pick things up and put things down.  Pardon my euphemism, but they pick up a lot of shit and then change their mind which is why we find things scattered all over the store.  Yesterday I found a nice cushy Christmas pillow tucked in among the grout.  Nice.

And I guess the Idiot Jerk is looking for a corrupt judge who will agree to throw out 6.8 million votes in Pennsylvania.  In case you didn't know, this is how evil works.  His team also released a statement saying Sydney Powell was not longer a part of his legal team, that she's now acting on her own.  She was too much of a wack-job, though you can believe the Idiot Jerk no doubt hangs on her every word.  I mean even Chris Christie is beginning to criticize this tinfoil dictator.  They're beginning to suspect the reason he's refusing to permit the transition to begin has more to do with covering up the shit.  My suspicion is that when Biden's crew finally get access they're going to find a lot of hard drives that have been wiped clean... if they haven't been destroyed.

I Got the Polling Blues

I was sitting here at the computer looking at the results of the Republican polls, and I realized that the later in 2015 we get, the more important they are since primary season is just a few months away.  Yes sir, primary polling is right around the corner.  This is the time when candidates are supposed to begin to slowly surge ahead of the wannabe front-runners, like Trump.  When I hear and read what he's been saying I'm reminded of a Tea Party candidate on steroids or Sarah Palin dealing with uninhibited PMS.  Carson is surging as well... well, he's going to go no where.  What he really needs to do is spend an afternoon reading all of those racist tweets the GOP base fired off when Obama won his second term. He needs to understand that no matter how popular his message is, in the end they're going to vote for the white guy.  And then there's Ted Cruz, who's turned into Donald Trumps number booklicker... need I say more.  If Jeb Bush really wants to win the nomination he's got to do more then just sit there like a baked potato waiting to be dolloped with sour cream and butter.

And then there's Huckabee who's gotten older and fatter since the first time he ran for president.  If you check out the Real Clear Politics polling website above you'll see he started off as an almost front runner but has been on the slow slide ever since.  I suspect he thought his involvement with Kim Davis would give him a boost in the ratings.  Haha, his numbers indicate his moment of grandstanding actually hurt him, except for all of the Krazy Kristians out there, you know who I'm talking about, the minority group who don't understand just how big a minority group they really are?  A while back someone foolish dubbed them the 'silent majority.'  Well, in actuality, they're anything but silent.  Perhaps if he pulled out his banjo and played a few bars of "I Got the Polling Blues," it might help.

On one of the polls I looked at I saw that Chris Christie polled 1% which was lower the the 2% None of the Above received.  Boy, that must be disheartening.

Chris Christie - Unelectable

I do have to say a couple of words about the Chris Christie bridge scandal.  I think it's funny.  That' right, funny to the point of almost being hilarious.  This is a man who has strategically been working at changing public opinion, the rumor has it, so he can make a run for the White House in 2016.  All of that hard work fell apart when the news broke that two of his top aides nearly shut down a bridge completely out of petty vindictiveness.  Christie claims to have been unaware, however this is a guy who is about control.  Anyway, it doesn't make much difference.  You can bet that during the Republican Primaries for the 2016 presidential election, if Christie does run, will use this lead pipe scandal in an attempt to beat him senseless.  If he does run, and he does win the nomination, can you just imagine what the negative campaigning will focus on?  He may want their vote, but his image of being able to work both sides of the aisle is beginning to tarnish with Independents.  If they were to vote today, would New Jersey voters re-elect him? 

Vote for me or I'll shut down your bridge!

This whole thing goes back to what a number of people have been talking about since the 2012 election, you know, the one in which Romney lost big time.  The Republicans have an image problem.  This kind of behavior doesn't help their case at all.  People believe Republicans are petty and vindictive, and small minded, and closed minded, that they don't really care about your average American.  On the day they closed down that bridge, they shit on Emergency Responders.  They shit on your every day commuter trying to get either to work or home from work in a timely manner.  Hell, they even shit on Republicans, because you know not everyone crossing that bridge was a Democrat.  These fools who shut down that bridge?  They're not stupid.  They simply believe when they are in charge they can do what they want.  Surprise!  They can't.  Now, because two of his aides did nothing more then be Republican, Christie's political future is in jeopardy, not that he's going to give up on politics, he may just have to come to terms that as a presidential candidate he may now be unelectable.

Chris Christie - flowers to his enemies

I've been reading a lot of stuff today about the GOP's failed shutdown and a lot of what's being said is interesting and then there's the funny stuff, like the ultra-conservative pundits.  They don't seem to mind if someone takes it on the chin as long as it's not their chin.  A lot of those mongering their utter contempt for the Republicans in the House are financially well enough off the shut down didn't hurt them.  Of course I never have been overly impressed by super critical pundits, whether they be on the far right or the far left.  I've always been of the opinion that if there were any real value behind what they were saying they'd be running for office, not sitting behind a microphone or in front of a keyboard.  You know?  Put your money where your mouth is, try and be something more then a bloated, armchair dictator.  Of course that will never happen, they might lose and one can't even begin to imagine how devastating such a thing would be to their egos.

Another point I find interesting is that three of those representatives who voted against the measure have let it be known, through various sources, they would like to run for a higher office, mainly the one which is oval.  Didn't anyone tell them their actions will haunt them in negative campaign ads?  Why would you mollify your base at the expense of the rest of the voting public? The numbers of the Tea Party are anything but vast.  Sarah Palin can talk about her 'rack' as often as she likes, maybe even flash it one or two times, she's still not going to turn enough moderates or independents up at the polls to elect a Republican president.  Cruz may have actually given himself the 'black spot' with his marathon talkathon.  Who did their little shindig help?  Chris Christie.  I hope he sent all of them flowers. 

Republicans - Proof of Evolution

There are a lot of people out there who believe Darwin hit the nail right on the head with his bit about evolution, but not every body is on board.  In this country (USA), there are a number who think he got it all wrong, mostly because of their religious beliefs.  Here, in this country, we call them Republicans.  They want to believe in Creationism, which is fine since we have freedom of religion.  I would also be willing to bet most of them know the difference between evolution and revolution, in the first change takes place over a period of time and in the second takes place practically overnight.  They are a rather amusing bunch since their own party is, in a painfully obvious way, is change.  That's right, Republicans are evolving.

There was evidently a Washington Post / ABC Poll released on Tuesday and the numbers must be frightening for a political group who want to call themselves the Grand Old Party... well, maybe Grand Old is right on the button.  It's a shame they can't go through a revolution and have the whole thing done with, but no, they are going to evolve in a very public manner.  There is the growing chasm between Chris Christie and Paul Rand, neither of whom seems aware of their loyal voters slipping off the edge and falling into the abyss below.  There are the pundits pulling at it this way and that, feeding ego and bank accounts rather then party politics.  They are the proverbial three legged stool and we can only sit back and watch as each leg tries to chop up the other two.  As my Grandma used to say, they got too many cooks in the kitchen.  Still, whether they want to admit it or not, the Republicans are evolving.  Now, all we have to do is wait and see if they turn into a Ferdinand or a Caliban.

Chris Christie - porker deluxe

Well, the Republican convention is in full swing and conservatives, both young and old and far right and not so far right, are celebrating.  I don't watch conventions.  Too much of the hoopla is geared specifically for swinging Independent voters and because of that you get very little substance.  I did have to laugh the other evening when I saw a clip of Ann and Mitt Romney and she said he buys his shirts at Costco and "just the last night was ironing his own shirt."  Seriously, Mitt is in the 'upper class' and if his friends thought he actually went to Costco they would smirk at him silently, well, maybe not so silently.  And the idea of him ironing a shirt?  His walk-in closet is probably the size of a modest ranch style home and no doubt at least one room is completely devoted to shirts.  Evidently Ann spoke again last evening as well as New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.  His name was bandied about quite a lot as a possible Vice President.  Conservatives love his no nonsense approach.  He does have one flaw though, and it's a big one.  Chris Christie is fat.

Porker deluxe

I would not be surprised if that was the main reason he was not asked to be Mitt's running mate.  One can only wonder how many medications he is on:  blood pressure, cholesterol, probably one of the anti-coagulants because humans this size are more likely to have a stroke or heart attack.  Doesn't he know there is surgery which can help solve his problem?  If he ever wants to posture on the world's stage he's going to have to slim down, a lot.  Paul Ryan needs to get him excited about P90x!

Wanna be P90x spokesman

Well, it's probably going to take more then P90x.  When you're as fat as Chris Christie you've spent a life time building rotten eating habits and have never really bothered to exercise and, at this point in his life, it's probably way too late to change.  Just think, if he were 200 pounds lighter he might have been Mitt Romney's Vice Presidential candidate.