Falling Back

Brrrr.  Our afternoon temps may be climbing into the 60s (F), but over night our temps can still drop down into the 40s (F).  This morning our outside temp was 37 (F).  At least that's the reading I got at 0548.  The high for today is again going to top off somewhere in the low 60s (F).  Tomorrow's high is supposed to be in the upper 60s (F).

And, the first frost has already glazed our windshields and brutalized our tomato plants, I am pleased to say that we are now in Indian Summer!  Now I know people assume that Indian Summer means temps in the mid to upper 70s (F), but that ain't how high they usually get.  Believe me, if our temps had been more normal, with daily highs in the low to mid 50s (F), an afternoon high of 66 (F) would be scorching hot.  This is how climate change happens.

I worked yesterday.  It was taco day, and in case you're wondering, that doesn't mean associates wore TACO costumes for Halloween.  The Orange Retailer I work for wants people to work safely.  To celebrate long stretches of days without an accident, foody perks are provided.  For 270 days without an accident, we get tacos.  I had taken a salad in to work, but since it was taco day, I decided to save it for today, especially since there's probably not going to be too much taco meat leftover.

Today is the end of Daylight Savings Time.  Since my body operates on a circadian rhythm and not a chronometer, I woke up at my normal time.  So much for getting an extra hour sleep.  Believe me, I can fall asleep at the drop of a hat, but that doesn't mean I can lollygag around in bed for an extra hour simply because we've lost an hour.  Today will run an hour longer for me, and will continue to do so until my circadian rhythm adjusts itself.

There are those out there who believe Republicans in both the House of Representatives and the Senate bow down to the Orange Anus because they are terrified of what his base could do to them in an election.  I am not one of those people.  Ever since Reagan, Republicans have dreamt of being the party of power.  Orangie's hold over his cultish base makes that fantasy a reality.  To those Republican Congressmen and Senators, he represents the power they have always craved.  They will ignore his corruption, his moral degeneracy, because if the cast a closely looking eye in Orangie's direction they will see more than warts on this toad of a human.  Even though they are not oblivious to is wanton destruction of Democracy, they will simply ignore it, to do otherwise would cause them to lose that thing they have coveted.

Chaos is Coming

 It's Friday.  It's going to be overcast most of the day, and temps may climb up into the mid 50s (F).  We have started a warming trend that should see our daily temps in the mid to upper 60s (F) by Monday, though thunderstorms are also in the forecast.  I honestly don't mind Spring weather.

For the record, I also like Daylight Savings Time.  Even though I'm a morning person, there are not a lot of things other than reading through the news, paying bills, and writing this blog done in the morning, so there's no need for an early sunrise.  However, there are things that are done in either the afternoon or evening, like dog walks, or working outside, when evening sunshine is appreciated.  If I had my druthers, we would stay in permanent Daylight Savings Time.

I got a nice upper body workout in before heading into to work to discover retail was very slow yesterday.  The store was barely making plan, however when I left last evening at 7 were were still around $60 thousand under, so there was no way were going to hit that goal. I did talk to an older woman (60 ish) about having vinyl sheet installed in the family bathroom.  She told me this long story of how she and her husband had installed a new medicine cabinet that came with "terrible" installation instructions, and even though they followed them thoroughly, the cabinet fell out of the wall and damaged their flooring. (sigh)  She wasn't happy that there's a charge to replace an existing toilet with a new one, and complained that one of our competitors didn't charge.  I politely told her that was nice, but we charge.  Then!  a customer walked by with a golden retriever on a leash and she complained.  I nodded, and smiled, and pointed out that we have dog treats at our desk, as does every other department; PetSmart is at the end of our parking lot and a lot of people will bring their dogs into the store.  She frowned and said, "I can see this flooring job isn't going to work with your store," as she stood up.  I apologized to her back as she walked away.  She evidently doesn't understand that the customer isn't always right.

As I go through the edits of The Body in History, I'm trying to decide just what should go on the back cover.  I'm leaning a lot towards this one of me in Greece.

There is a lot of tension right now on whether the Democrats should help fund the government for another 6 months.  Anger is high among Democrats and this seems to be the perfect time to punch the Orange Anus squarely in the face.  Chuck Schumer is getting horrific flack because he wants to pass the funding measure, saying shutting it down would give Orangie the option of deciding which departments stayed open and which ones were closed.  First of all, I think people need to understand that we are not dealing with Orangie at all.  Any sane person who listens to him speak for more than 2 minutes realizes much of his brain is missing spatial connection.  So, who is in charge?  Elonia?  He bought the presidency, so that's a very good possibility.  Putin?  He definitely has a lot of leverage.  Both of them, probably.  All Orangie wants to do is play golf and stay out of jail... oh, and continue his reality TV show:  Live... From the White House."  To be honest, I don't think it matters if the government is shut down or not; both Elonia and Putin want to set the stage for calling Martial Law.  Whether it's shut down on not, serious protests are on the horizon.  Giving the Republicans the opportunity to shut down Medicare would work against them, and though the GOP believes it's prepared for protests, they are totally in over their heads and have no idea what an angry America is going to do to their party.  In spite of all the anger at Schumer, it doesn't really make a difference, chaos is coming.

America's Sleeping Giant

 So, how do we start this new week?  With 38 (F) temps and a clear, sunny sky.  While I do like the fact that the sun now peeks its smiling face above the clouds earlier, I hate the fact that if I have to work until 7 PM I'm going to be driving home in the dark.  Last night, I realized just how black the night sky can be without a moon in the sky.  Sometimes I try and imagine what life must have been light 2000 years ago, when there were no streetlights, torches only burn for so long.  Oil lamps only provide so much light, and the smell of burning oil would have been everywhere.  I think we need to think about things like this more often.  

Yesterday was very boring at work.  I did get in over 10,000 steps.  That was nice.  When I opened the door, Howie galloped to me as fast as his little legs could carry him.  He surprised me.  I was gone for over 8 hours and he only left me 2 presents.  Not bad for an almost 11 week old puppy.  He no longer needs a very early morning potty break.  He also, less and less often, sees me as a walking chew toy, that is so nice.

I do get to work his afternoon, but only for 5 hours.  That makes me happy.  I only have one more 8 hour shift, a Sunday, to work through.  From then on my mornings will be free.  That makes me happy, too.  

One of the characters in The Body in History was named Fred.  His middle name is Chopin because his mother likes composers.  I never really gave him a last name until this morning.  His last name is now Fragkiada (a nice Greek name), and he will be called Frag instead of Fred.  As soon as I did the change, I knew it was a good one.

And in Philly:

Preparations are underway for another large Harris rally.  For those who don't know, it was up that staircase that Sylvester Stallone ran in a pivotal scene from the movie Rocky.  I've been there. I've climbed those stairs.  Do they lead to victory?  Many think so.  Will there be a massive crowd gathered there to listen to Kamala Harris?  Damn right.  Will most of Main Stream Media be carrying that speech?  I'd be willing to bet Bob's ass on it (thank for the use of your ass, Bob 😎😎😎).  Why?  Because in less than 100 days the Harris campaign has grown to be the Harris movement.  While the Orange Anus struggles to pull in a few thousand supporters, Harris draws 10s of thousands.  Will the rally in Philly top the 75,000 she drew in Washington?  Possibly.  As you can see from the picture, that area is massive.

There is a silent majority in America, and it's not conservatives.  America's sleeping giant has awakened.

Day Light Savings Time

 Can we all say hello to Saturday?  Right now it's dark outside, but tomorrow this time the sun will be popping his head above the horizon because Daylight Savings Time comes to an end this evening.  For morning people this is great.  For night people, not so much so.  There was actually an article in the NYT advising people what to do with their evenings now that they're going to be darker earlier.  I find that amusing since right now the sun is setting at 6:02 PM.  That means it's dark by 6:30 PM, so if your evening activities depend upon sunlight they've already been curtailed.

Lily's been favoring her back left paw.  That might be the onset of arthritis in her back hip, or possibly one her her boo boo paws.  She gets them now and then and usually they're here one day and gone the next.  I can tell you it doesn't stop her from bouncing around in the living room when she knows she's going for a walk.

Yesterday was rather odd.  It was the second day in a row in which I had plans in the morning.  Thursday it was breakfast with my brother, and yesterday I went and got vaccinated; flu and Covid.  I can't recall ever having the flu, and don't want it.  The same goes for Covid.  My brother told me he had it for the 3rd time last month.  One of these times he's going to get it and it's going to be serious.  Needless to say, both of my shoulders are sore this morning.

And I saw where Robert F. Kennedy Jr gave some sort speech yesterday as part of his campaign as an Independent candidate for president.  One of the things I find amusing is that Republicans thought he would syphon votes away from Biden.  Well, that's not happening.  In fact what we're seeing is the reverse, that it's Trump voters that are turning to Bobby Jr.  Anyway, as part of his speech he said that as president he would end the research of infectious diseases, like measles, and focus mainly on diabetes and cancer.  That's right, he said measles.  Perhaps he doesn't know that measles was one of the number causes of childhood mortality, of course we don't see a lot of it these days thanks to vaccinations.  But don't worry, it'll come roaring back if Bobby Jr gets elected. 

Tomorrow I will get up when my alarm goes off

 I slept in the morning but didn't.  Time slip.. change... the falling away from daylight savings and springing forward to a temporary loss.  That's what I thought this morning, looking at the alarm clock and thinking to myself that in the reality of 2 days ago it was only 0700.  This is what the new sleep-in costs.  There is always a bit of disorientation when we change times.  This year it's not worse, but is is more aggravating.  Tomorrow I will get up when my alarm clock goes off.

Yesterday was busy, but not nearly as bad as Saturday when our store's sales were 50% + over our budgeted plan.  We were comparing it to a mini-Black Friday.  I understand we have only so many lawn tractors coming in to sell - the result of the pandemic, also, I think a change in an approach to merchandising.  Holes on your shelves mean customers will buy option #2 and you'll still get a sale.

The Grammy's were last night... I'm not one who cares.

The Oscar nominations came out this morning.  I didn't see a lot of movies last year, so there isn't a lot of interest there.  I did Joe Jonas and his wife were announcing the nominations.  In the one picture I saw, he was wearing a gold suit which was rather interesting.

Sometime today I will disassemble the Winter Tree.  Spring is just around the corner, you know.  Then, after a good dusting, I will begin decorating the tree.

Now, I'm going to go make a very late breakfast.  There's much to do today.