Virginia

So, Central Pa is heading into a warming trend, at least for the next few days.  When we cool off, and we will cool off, temps are not going to be as cool, with overnight lows down in the mid 40s (F).  As I look at the long range forecast though, it seems as though this year is going to be a repeat of the past few years in that the April showers that bring may flowers are going to be arriving in May... again.  It doesn't really matter when we get the spring rains, as long as we get them.  

And yesterday wasn't a bad day.  Much was done.  Dusting and cleaning up the Howie hair can take quite a bit of time.  He does shed a lot.  Sometimes, when you rub his back, his hair seems to just fountain off.  None of my boxes ever shed like this.  Howie's shedding is pervasive.  

Anyway, that was my yesterday.  Clean.  Do laundry.  Dinner was leftovers, so there was no cooking.

I did, however, take a bike ride that suffered from a computer glitch, and a rather weird one at that.  There's a ride in Corsica that I like.  It's stage 4 of a 6 stage ride that is, with all 6 stages, over 120 miles long.  Stage 4 is a moderate ride having some difficult, smaller hills.  Twelve minutes into stage 4, the small GPS window in the top right  corner of the screen accelerated into this super fast mode while the main screen flashed on and off.  This was the glitch.  When the flashing and the acceleration stopped, my ride had been changed.  I was now at the beginning of stage 2, a difficult ride, facing a 4 mile hill with an average grade of 6%.  Being a trooper, I continued to ride up that hill for another 28 minutes.  This is that hill.

And if you go to an open door or window and cup your hand around you ear and listen, you can hear the hypocritical screams of raging MAGA cultists.  While they had no problem gerrymandering Texas, and Missouri, and Ohio in an attempt to maintain their grip on power, they're having a horrible time accepting Virginia's decision to let the voters decide on whether to redistrict or not.  The voters said, "yeah, let's put the screws to that Orange shithole in the White House."  Texas, Missouri, and Ohio were gerrymanders by authoritarians, Virginia was done the democratic way.  Statistically speaking, had Orangie and his asswipes would have had a better advantage if they'd not decided to gerrymander.  Now they've shit in their pants, or, as in his case, shit in his diaper.

And Orangie extended the ceasefire with Iran yesterday because it was TACO Tuesday.  However, the Strait of Hormuz is still closed.  Iran is going to put the screws to us.  Where as Orangie failed at regime change, the Iranians are going to be successful.  Many polls have Orangie's approval rating at either 32% or 33%.  Main Stream Media may have it around 35%.  That's their attempt to put a psitive spin on it  Americans hate him.  That hatred is only going to grow as prices continue to climb.  In the end, the GOP is going to face the terrible truth at all their gerrymandering was a waste of time.

Ghislaine

 Well, the weekend is here.   Was everyone working for it?  I wasn't.  I never do.  Our weekend temps are supposed to be in the mid to upper 80s (F).  We've got a 55% chance of showers and thunderstorms today and a 95% chance tomorrow.  In fact, there are predictions that we might get as much as an inch of rain tomorrow.  If we do, that will keep my lawn green and mowable.  On Monday the temps start heading back into the 90s (F) and the threat of storms goes down. 

Yesterday was one a fairly productive day.  The downstairs was dusted and vacuumed   Both are essential because I'm dealing with a lot of Howie hair.  There was some dog hair with Gertie, Lily, and Biggie, but nothing like what I'm dealing with now.  I have 2 vacuums, an inexpensive one upstairs and an expensive Miele downstairs.  Well, it looks like I'm going to be dragging that inexpensive one up and down the staircase because Howie hair fills the bags in no time; Miele bags are expensive, the others are cheap.

I also got an 11.9 mile ride in yesterday on the hills of Corsica.  Even though I hate them, hills are good for my legs.  Here's my ride.

And the Department of Justice interview Ghislaine Maxwell yesterday; the second interview in 2 days.  They gave her temporary immunity in order for her to give them the answers they're looking for.  There's talk that Orangie wants to pardon her, a convicted sex trafficker in exchange for her telling the world he is not in the Epstein files but other people, Bill Clinton for one, are.  While this might satisfy many in his base, a large majority of Americans will see it as pure corruption.  Personally, I think Maxwell is much safer behind bars.  Let's be honest here, Orangie is not known for honoring his agreements, in fact, just the opposite is true.  Right now she's getting 3 square meals a day, a roof over her head, and her internet capable cellphone.  Outside, she is a walking, talking, and breathing threat.  Someone needs to tap her on her shoulder and remind her that it was under Orangie's last watch that her buddy Jeffy Epstein died under mysterious circumstances.  If she does get pardoned, she needs to make a beeline to a safe country where she can ask for asylum.  Sadly for her, there are not a lot of countries that are going to give her that option.

Intros & Narrators

 Our morning mid-week temps here in Central PA are still in the mid-60s (F).  Daily highs tomorrow will start climbing back up into the 90s (F).  That's find.  We are in summer, as season where nights are hot and days are hotter.  Friday's high temp should be in the mid-90s (F),but then the cool off begins as we head back down into the 80s (F).  The risk of afternoon and evening thunderstorms seems to be waning a bit.  These are the dog days of summer.

Yesterday was a day of massive accomplishments!

I talked to my friend Justin about the holly bush out front; he had just gotten off working the night shift and was in no condition to do any trimming.  So I pulled on my big boy britches and went out and trimmed the bush myself.  An hour later the bush was trimmed back to a normal sized and cleanup was complete.  That was in the  morning. 

In the afternoon I went for a 10.87 mile ride in Corsica, a ride with some decent hills.  During that 50+ minute ride I maintained an average heartrate of 128 beats per minute.  I was very pleased.

As some of you know I will, on occasion, listen to music when I write.  When I do so it's usually just one specific artist that manages to hit one specific note in the theme of the book.  This process is serendipitous.  While writing The Body Under Ice I listened to quite a bit of Spanish guitar music.  For The Body in the Tower it was Fallout Boy.  For The Body in 4/4 Time, what I'm calling a musical mystery, it seems as though I've settled on Bastille.  Here's a song called Intros & Narrators that might help you understand what I'm talking about.

No one should be surprised that Mikey Johnson shut down the House of Representatives a day early, his only other choice would have been to let Congress vote on releasing the Epstein files and that was a vote Republicans would have lost terribly.  A lot of people believe that Republicans are protecting a Pedophile, and they are, but most importantly they are protecting their slim hold on power.  Except for his personal polls, most polling shows his approval rating sitting in the very low 40s.  That number is going to keep on eroding.  Tariffs are kicking in and Americans are going to be paying more, much more for certain products.  And don't doubt that Americans will be paying the difference.  General Motors missed plan by $1 billion and Wall Street will put a stop to that loss very fast.

I saw some clips on Threads last evening where the Orange Anus was speaking at some meeting.  He was talking about cavities in the earth that had oil, and that we had drained, and that we had filled up again.  Total nonsense.  And I'm frightened that it is the likes of Pammy Jo Bondi, and Stevie Miller, and Noem the puppy killer who are actually running the country.  Having Orangie in charge is bad enough, but having losers like this acting as co-dictators is a recipe for total disaster.

Rebirth

 Well, we did have thunderstorms yesterday.  We even got rain, though there was no downpour at my house.  There was thunder and lightning, and a bit of wind, but otherwise the worst parts of the storm moved around me.  The temps dropped briefly afterwards, but then climbed back up into the upper 80s (F).  We have the same forecast for today.  

I did get a nice ride in yesterday in Corsica.  At present it's one of my favorite rides.  I rode 10.71 miles.  Today it's free weights and bands this morning, and then a ride down to the Lebanon VA for an appointment.  I have to schedule one of those dreadful colonoscopies, not because anything is wrong.  Nope, my doctor just recommended that I do it, and there's nothing wrong with being precautious.

I went to the movies last evening and it was... interesting.  The young man who sold me my ticket was, I think, more concerned with the fact that he was the only one at the concession stand selling tickets and a line was quickly growing behind me.  He'd called for help twice and no one seemed to be coming for help.

Then, during the movie, my friend Patty became irate because the little boy behind her kept kicking her seat.  She turned around and asked his mother to have him stop. His mother said he was moving to another seat, but 10 minutes later he was back.  And he talked because he's a little boy.  He commented in his little boy voice about what was happening on the screen.  He and his mother really should have moved to different seats.  Instead they stayed until my friend stood up and, with no filters, told them she was tired of him kicking her fucking seat.  They moved.

And what movie did I go see?  Jurassic World, Rebirth.  It was fine.  Entertaining.  There was also a lot of reworking of scenes from the original Jurassic World.  It wasn't all a rehash.  Raptors made an appearance, but only briefly, which was nice. They had become a too reliable predator.  T-Rex returned in a rather nice scene.  Probably the biggest surprise was Jonathan Bailey, who was last seen singing and dancing in Wicked.  He did a fine job at playing a nerdy dinosaur guy who is neither meek not mild.

And MAGA world is still flipping out about the Jeffrey Epstein lists disappearing.  I'm enjoying this.  The really big problem for Republicans is that for a very long time they promised the cultists blood, and now they want them to forget those promises.  Does Orangie's name permeate the list?  I don't doubt.  Another fly in the ointment is that it now appears that during a certain period of time Epstein was collaborating with the FBI in their investigation of insider trading on Wall Street, providing them with a lot of juicy information.  This means it's probably not only himself and other perverts that Orangie is protecting, or maybe I should say blackmailing... or maybe I should say extorting.  If this is the case, I wonder how much those billionaires are willing to pay for protection.  And you know, Orangie would love this kind of racket.

The 28%

 And so... the warmup begins.  Today weather forecasters are predicting that our temps will hit the mid to upper 30s (F).  That's nice.  For 3 sequential days next week, they're telling us that are temps will hit 50 (F).  I'm fine with that.  I have a lot of yardwork to do.  Many sticks to pick up, so Howie doesn't bring them into the house to barter.

Not only did I work yesterday, but I got a nice 7+ mile ride in.  Corsica again.  A long time ago, this was a 55 mile ride, but wisely, Tacx has done a re-ride, cutting it into smaller sections with updated footage.  I've ridden the older version and it's interesting to see how much things have changed in a few years.  

And I did work yesterday.  It was terribly slow.  There was a note for me concerning the sale I had on Monday regarding a balance due.  For some reason the customer is being charged and additional $500.  There was no explanation, however, they did want me to call the customer and to collect the $$$.  So, I sent the note back asking why this cost has suddenly gone up.  They also know that I won't be back to work until Sunday.  Honestly, I'm hoping the customer has a change of mind and cancels.  

Today the big aquarium gets a new filter.  It's in place, I've just got to do one more cleaning before I toss out the old one.  I'm looking forward to this.  Hopefully, the fish will appreciate it, too.

Needing to keep myself informed, I just glanced at the Dow, as in Dow Jones Industrial Average.  Not being a stock market person, I realize the necessity of trying to understand all aspects of America, Wall Street being one of them.  Yesterday Walmart took one to the chin.  There's been some sort of mini-rally in Hong Kong, though Futures are down.  The outlook is not perky because inflation data is going to be released and everyone knows that prices have gone up.  Nothing has gone down in price. The more expensive things are, the less people buy.  The last time I bought eggs they were $7.49 a dozen, that was on Valentine's Day.

There have been several Town Halls that have not gone well for Congressmen.  One down in Georgia with some guy named McCormick who won in a Red district by 60+ % turned into a shouting match.  Isn't it amusing that these cultists are all for cutting the size of the government as long as they aren't the ones losing their jobs.  From what I understand, a large part of the CDC is in Georgia and 1300 jobs were cut.  That's a lot of people who will have to look to the private sector for employment, and all at the same time.

Elonia was at CPAC wearing sunglasses.  It's also my understanding that if you're a Ketamine addict, you tend to frequently wear sunglasses because, not only do you pupils dilate, your eyes rove around trying to find something to focus on.  The words that came out of his mouth didn't make a lot of sense.  

And finally, Orangie's approval ratings are tanking... badly.  Even Fox Entertainment is sounding the alarm.  Did they really think people were going to celebrate our fall into recession?  People hate Elonia, and by now, a large majority understand that old Orangie has no interest in running the government, and all of these decisions are being made by Musk.  The anger is already spreading to other billionaires.  That's fine with me.  For those who don't know, that 28% is the entirety of the Republican party.

Growing Evil

 The weekend has arrived, a time for rest and relaxation for those of you still enslaved to the working world.  Today's temps are predicted to be the same as yesterdays, as well as tomorrow's.  The chance of thunderstorms is declining, though we did have a whopper yesterday afternoon; buckets of rain fell with a dusting of thunder and lightening.

Yesterday was, for the most part slow and boring.  I did ride for 16 miles in Corsica.  I do like that ride; there are a number of medium sized hills that are somewhat challenging.  The entire ride is 58 miles long.  To complete that would be an accomplishment.

I'm working more hours this coming week then I've worked in quite some time. Two of the Specialists are going on vacation, as a result I've been scheduled to work for 29 hours.  Wowza!  I'm not really excited about it, in case you're wondering.

I bought a smoked herring to use as a prop in an upcoming video for my channel.  It's bigger than I thought it was going to be.  Also, for some reason I thought it was going to be dried.  It's really more like a big sardine in mustard sauce... a very big sardine.  I can't wait to find out how tasty it is.

I also signed up for French TV.  If you don't use it, you lose it, and that means listening to it being spoken as well.  The "learn French" will probably be an instant fail for most people since it provides subtitles.  Believe, subtitles in do way reflect what is actually being spoken, so I've turned them off as they would only be a distraction.

And the Orange Anus made a threat on Truth Social Friday night, something like, "if you come for me, I'm coming for you."  He's evidently pissed people off whit that comment.  I understand Jack Smith has filed a legal complaint because the angry, old man who's been crapping on people for most of his adult life can't deal with the fact that he's a loser.  In fact the number of ways he's a loser is growing almost exponentially.  While these indictments may endear him to his cult, a larger majority of Americans have had their fill of his horseshit, and it's only going to get worse for him.  Social Conservatives are in as terrible bind, and I find that delightful.  They desperately want to believe he was sent by God to give them what they have prayed for and now not a day goes by that Trump's evil becomes more profound.  You'd think that they would have realized that Evil works the same way God does, and will do and say anything in order to grow.

It is what it is

Well, I get to go back to work today.  Can you feel the excitement?  Are the words I'm typing more vibrant?  nah.  I'm entering a 5 day stretch before I have an actual vacation.  You know?  One of those things that lasts a full week.  It's actually necessary.  September 4th is my anniversary day and I need to use all vacation before then.  We're not allowed to carry it forward.

Of course, Isias swept over us yesterday.  Lots of steady rain, no downpours.  No wind, just some light breeziness.  Right now the temp is a comfortable 66 (F) outside.  We are in August, however, so it will warm up again.  Still, I'm hoping the worst of the heat is over.

There was a big explosion in Beirut yesterday.  I watched some of the videos.  Bad shit.  2700 tons of ammonium nitrate detonated, the same stuff Timothy McVeigh detonated in Oklahoma City in 1995, except he used a couple of barrels of the shit.  I'll admit to being a bit stunned when one official said the stuff had been sitting in that warehouse for years... unprotected.  For years.

People are talking about the Idiot Jerk's interview with Axios.  Like the Beirut explosion, there are snippets all over the place.  He evidently showed up with some graphs with fudged statistics, they made his administration's dealings with the pandemic look exemplary.   When the inaccuracies were pointed out, all he could do was splutter.  Oh, and as for the death toll so far, all he could say was "it is what it is."  Who says that about the loss of human life?  "It is what it is."  That's another way of saying "just deal with it."  Nothing's going to change what has already happened.  Nothing's going to slow down the deaths, so just accept it and move on.  In case you didn't know, this is how Republicans deal with Covid.

I saw where Kris Kobach lost the Republican primary in Kansas.  Evidently there was some real concern that this pro-Idiot Jerk henchie might win... and because he is a pro-Idiot Jerk henchie, the Republicans would lose another seat in the Senate.  Think about that.  Now is not the time to be a pro-Idiot Jerk.  In fact, now is not the time to be a Republican.

I did ride my 19.28 mile Corsica route yesterday.  I even cut 18 seconds off my previous time.  Burned 612 calories.  To celebrate, I baked a loaf of banana bread.

Scrumptious

Well, I get to go back to work today... ho... hum.

Yesterday I drove down to That Fish Place.  After reading Jennifer's blog about the difficulties Greg was having setting up the school aquarium, I should have been better prepared for all of the holes on their shelves... and empty fish tanks.  They, too, were Essential, I was told "and everybody decided lockdown was a good time to start a new hobby."   As a result, my tank looks a bit sparse.  I only picked up 3 plants.  There had a tank with a small number of small Discus, but $50 a piece was a bit pricey.  I opted for 4 teeny, weeny Koi Angelfish, each about the size of a quarter.  Believe me, that's about all they had in freshwater fish.  

I also rode 19 miles up the coastline of Corsica yesterday.  My legs were a bit achy, but otherwise I was fine.  I'm doing the Trek Challenge again this year.  I need to ride 100 miles in July.  So far I've got 61 under my belt.  One guy taking part in the challenge has already ridden over 1300 miles... yeah, that's right, over 1300 miles.  And it's only July 9.  Can we talk obsessive / compulsive ?

Betsy DeVos has decided all children must go back to school this fall.  This is coming from a woman who's children have gone to prestigious private schools.  She is nothing more than a wealthy bitch.  A woman who believes her buckos in the bank make her an authority needs to be removed from power.  One thing the Idiot Jerk's administration had proven time and time again, most wealthy people are cold, ruthless, and dumb as bricks.

And, of course, there are Covid 19 spikes all over the place.  In Tulsa, for example.  Can you imagine that?  City officials are saying their spike is due to the protests and the rally, in that order.  For some reason, protests have not led to major spikes.  This is interesting, since there have been some very major protests.  However, in Tulsa they're claiming their spike was due to the protests first... and then the rally.  Republicans... always needing to blame somebody else.

For those who are interested, this is what the tank looks like so far.

More will be added.

Flushing Trump

I don't know why, but for some reason today seems like it should be Friday.

This is my last full week of 5 hour shifts.  I have one day next week... but then I only work 1 day next week.

I sent a blistering email to the VA yesterday.  I have borderline glaucoma.  I had an appointment scheduled for February 2020, however they canceled that back in September 2019.  They did offer me an alternative date 5 days after they called to cancel and I worked that day.  So I made a new appointment for 7/22 of this year... and the VA cancelled it, not because of Covid - 19, but because the Dr isn't going to be in the office.  So I called yesterday do reschedule and the soonest they can get me in is March of 2021, more than a year and a half after they canceled my original appointment... because the Dr wasn't going to be in the office this past February.

On the cycling scene, I rode one of the Corsica stages yesterday - 19.53 miles.  It took me an hour and 10 minutes.  My average speed was 16.4 miles per hour (there are some hills).  And my little leggies were sore.  And what music was playing through my Jabra ear buds for that trek?  You all holding onto your seats?

And you know how I talk about presidential moments, those things branding themselves into America's psyche which foretell either the success or failure of his bid for re-election.  Well, the Idiot Jerk had another failure with his little walk through Lafayette Park.  And then yesterday he had another when he and Melanoma visited a shrine for St Paul II.  The Archbishop of Washington denounced the visit, criticizing the Idiot Jerk for politicizing religion.  Defense Secretary Mark Esper threw more cold water on the Idiot Jerk when he told the press he had no idea the walk to St. John's was going to be turned into a political photo-op.  And now his minions are saying it was Billy Barr's idea.  Ouch!  Looks like Billy's getting an up close and personal look at bus tires.  Oh, shit! and it gets worse.  North Carolina has rejected the RNC's bid for a full convention... so they're moving it.

While the bad news is continuing to unfold for the Idiot Jerk, Joe Biden, looking very presidential, gave an emotionally powerful speech up in Philly yesterday.  

One needs to be elected in November.  The other needs to be flushed down the toilet

Przewalski on my ass

Well, it's supposed to be drizzly and rainy on and off today so we'll have to see how business pops in our Garden Center.  While we are still very busy, sales have dropped off a bit there mostly because we don't have the 'mulch pit' open.  The 'mulch pit' routes customers who have bought boupcoup bags of mulch down a drive where associates load the mulch into their vehicles.  If you're thinking those associates are brawny and shirtless young men you're wrong, most of them are middle-aged huffers and puffers.
Did you feel the earth shake yesterday?  It did.  Well, maybe rational people like you and I fail to feel it, but the Idiot Jerk's loyal base did.  The puppets at Fox News took the unprecedented step of warning the MAGA heads not to inject not to inject disinfectant into their veins.  I didn't hear if they also warned that ingesting Lysol could also bring about catastrophic, life threatening results; probably not since most of his base already make their favorite hootch with isopropyl alcohol.
I did watch the clip of Birx reaction to his suggestion of developing a way to project ultra-violet light through the skin and into the lungs.  Fascinating.  We rarely get to see an honest reaction in another human being forced to sit and listen to his egoistic stupidity.   You do know Americans tuned in to last night's briefing just to see him squirm and instead had their prayers answered.  The briefing was short and there was no question and answer session.  What a Blessing.
Not surprisingly, Georgia began opening up their economy yesterday with a dull thud.  No matter how much those white, conservative Americans protest, no matter how often they dance around on state capital steps waving their confederate flags and guns, a vast majority of Americans are concerned about the killer virus known as Covid - 19.  These protesters don't understand most Americans don't want to get sick, they don't want to see Granny die because they needed to have their nails done, or their hair cut, but then Conservatives have always been stupid.
Finally, I bought myself some new cycling shorts.  Nice ones.  A bit pricier that the Baleaf brand I usually buy.  Przewalskis. Very, very nice.  Comfortable.  I wore them yesterday for a ride in Corsica (courtesy of Tacx).  Baleaf has their logo around the waste band.  Not Przewalski.  Their logo is a bit lower, over the left buttock.  See it there, just above the padding.

I found it rather amusing to think that whenever I wear them I'm going to have Przewalski on my ass.

Those Crazy Gods of the Tour de France are at it again!

For years the Tour de France seemed to be peddling along just fine, except for those little things called doping scandals which circled around it like flies do shit.  I think because the Gods of the Tour, for the most part, had grown a little weary of the event.  To them doping was just stupidity on wheels, and maybe they thought it was 'one of those mortal things' and was really none of their business; the race was still rolling after all.  But then, sometime around the Floyd Landis bit, they seemed to begin to wake up.  Teams started cleaning up and perhaps the Gods realized that those mortal cyclists actually ride better when they're not all doped up.  Look what they did to Lance Armstrong, flicked him away like a bugger from their finger.  And today, on the 1st stage of the 100th Tour de France, those crazy Gods decided to have a little fun.  I mean, everything started off okay and the first two Acts went swell.  Then Act 3 arrive on a bus.

Is there a finger in that sign, somewhere?

Had I been that bus driver, I would have jumped out and looked up at the sign I'd hit and shouted "Holy Shit!"  Not this driver, he sat there and covered his face with his hands.  Oops.  Then they changed the finish line to the 3 kilometer mark which would have worked except this stage was to have a sprint ending.  Just past the 3 kilometer mark the road bends to the right.  Sherwin said it best,   "they can't end it there, there's a bend in the road, there's a bend in the road."  You do know, sprinters don't stop at the finish line, they're going fast so they tend to hit their brakes until after they've passed it, about where the road bends.  But then the bus was moved and the finish line returned to where it had once been.  But then one of the Gods stuck his finger down into the Peleton and gave it a little swirl and there was a crash and another one stuck a finger in Greipel's gears.  Couldn't you hear them laughing?  I could.  They said "we're going to make this the most interesting race ever!"  Of course, Cavendish wants to blame the crash on those mortal officials, he doesn't understand that those crazy Gods of the Tour de France are at it again.  They are alive and well, and, I think fully awake.