The Hole

 Thursday has arrived.  Today and tomorrow, even though the temps have not been cold enough for a frost, are supposed to hit the mid to upper 70s (F).  Translation, Faux Indian Summer.  This is what's been happening over the past few years.  Next week, if the predictions are correct, the temps are supposed to drop into the upper 30s (F).  That's still not quite cold enough.  The sad truth is that after the first frost, our temps might climb into the upper 60s (F) and that would be our Indian Summer.

The plumbers were here yesterday.  $$$  I now have a water hookup for a washer on the 2nd floor.  There were 2 of them and they did not seem to be pressed for time, since they took over 2 hours for what is a rather simple job.  I made a mistake by telling them I could patch whatever holes they deemed necessary, and as a result, they cut a big hole with multiple pieces.

And, for those of you interested, the electrician was just here, the one whose last name sounds like he should be an action hero.  Well, I was slightly off in my prediction.  He was in his late 20s with no kids or grandkids.  There was, as Maddie pointed out, the inevitable butt crack.

As expected, this close to the midterms the Republicans are pumping all sorts of moola moola into negative campaign ads.  This is as certain as birth, death, and taxes, and it is all negative.  In fact, the 2 things Republicans are truly good at are (1) lying, and (2) negative advertising.  This time they are again leaning on their family values, i.e. banning books, attacking Trans people, and immigration, they want you to believe every immigrant coming to this country crosses the boarder carrying 14 pounds of fentanyl. 

Finally, the word on the street about Doug Mastriano is that he's a fucking fruit cake, pardon my language.  He already wants his followers to spend the last 40 days until the election by fasting and praying.  He's evidently one of those extremists who has no problem lying because... well, you know... he's doing it for God.  His zealotry has no problem with war as long as it's for God.  Be forewarned, he will not take his approaching loss lightly.  He will create a shit show the likes of which Pennsylvania voters have never seen before.

The Age of Empires is Past

 Holy Crap!  Did I sleep in late this morning!  That was not my intention.  I even went to bed early 10 PM, however, this morning when my alarm went off, I went back to bed.  Damn!  Not exactly what I wanted to happen.  Good thing I didn't have any early morning plans.

While the coffee was brewing, I check the mouse traps - nothing. so, the one I caught may have been going it solo.

And yesterday, since the little laptop was once again working, I added another 45 minutes to my walk through Pompeii.  Interesting point, for the first half of the 5-hour walk, the guide was popping in lots of subtitles regarding points of interest, now, however, as I approach the end of the walk, all he does is identify the houses by name which is disappointing.

I made strawberry French toast for breakfast.  It was rather tasty.

Evidently Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee in Florida is considering possibly appointing a Master to review the documents seized by the FBI.  While this Master may get to review certain documents that might have attorney / client privilege, it will have no bearing on those documents posing a national security risk.  As a delaying tactic by Trump, this is failing since it only covers his personal notes, papers, and letters, like his order from McDonalds, or the perfume drenched notes from Kim Dumb Shit from North Korea.

Ain't it great Mastriano can't seem to get a break?  A picture surfaced of him wearing a confederate uniform for a group shot of teachers at the Gettysburg War College.  As Adam Kinzinger pointed out, he's wearing the wrong uniform.  Pennsylvania was part of the Union Army, from the North.  So far Mastriano's team has not responded as to why he was wearing the uniform of traitors.

And finally, a bit about the 2 large authoritarian governments on this planet.  To put it mildly, Trouble is brewing for them.  Russian troops in Kazakhstan are refusing to return home - the don't want to be sent to the Ukraine.  And Chechnya? That country is arming itself because they don't Putin invading them next.  His 3-day work, which has been going on for over 6 months now, is going poorly, and the Russian people are starting to realize he fed them a lie.

And Xi, in China?  His zero tolerance for Covid is devastating that country's economy.  People can't build cars, or make phones, or cuckoo clocks when they're forced to stay home.  Someone needs to tell these losers that the age of empires is past.  Their only choice for survival is democracy. 

That's not how this works

 So, today is my 6th consecutive day of working.  Since I have a lot to say about my scheduling, this will the last time I work so many days in a row.  This week has been so out of sync.  My laundry schedule is off.  So is my cleaning schedule.  After today, I will have 3 days off.  I'll work Monday and then have another 4 days off.  That's a schedule I can live with.

While I've gotten well over 10,000 steps in each day, I haven't been on either the treadmill or the bike in over a week.  Another casualty of my schedule.  Damn.  

If the forecasters are correct, our temps are supposed to drop, with highs in the mid to upper 70s (F).  I can live with that, too.  Even though this has not been a hot summer, I will admit to looking forward to the crisp cool days of autumn.  The only bad thing is that days get shorter.  I do like long, sunny days.

My elephant ear plant is getting bigger.  What a disappointment that it took so long to start growing.  They bulbs do not winter, so I will have to check and see what'll happen if I dig it up in the fall.

Word is going around that there's a mole in Mar a Lago, that someone told the FBI exactly what they needed to look for, and where they needed to look.  Personally, if I was going to steal classified documents from the Federal Government, I wouldn't hide them in a storage unit in my basement.  Of course, this might not occur to a man who's so used to having his ego do the thinking.

After yesterday's deposition, by his own definition Trump can now officially be called a Mob Boss.  Yep, that video clip of him saying that only Mob Bosses use the 5th amendment has been playing in sooooo many places.  And that duffer didn't just use it once.  Nope.  Over 400 times he said, "same as before."  For 4 hours, those are the only three words he said, "same as before."  This will never change.

Oh, and not surprisingly, Doug Mastriano, the Republican candidate for governor in Pennsylvania had his deposition with the January 6 committee, and a rather short deposition it was, indeed.  Fifteen minutes.  You see, the first thing out of Doug's legal team's mouths was, "we have some questions."  They were told, "that's not how this works."  To which Doug's lawyers replied, "but we have some questions."  The January 6 committee responded by saying, "that's not how this works, we ask the questions, you provide the answers."  At this point, Doug and his lawyers walked out of the deposition rather rapidly.  Do you think Doug has learned how things work?  No way.  He's a spineless MAGA.

Setting the Record Straight

 We had rain last night.  Now I won't have to water my little garden.  Right now, we have fog. thin without even the hint of a wisp.  I do get to work today.  That will be fine.  Last evening, I had the taddiest bit of a sore throat and wondered if I should use one of the Covid tests I got from the government.  I didn't.  This morning the soreness is gone.

There are mosquitos in the house again this year.  I think they fly in when I let the dogs out.  Last year I burned citronella candles to keep them at bay.  Honestly, I think any candle will work.  I will have to do a little research on that.  

For some time now I've been thinking that I need to set the record straight, not that it's crooked, or bent by any means.  Still, there is a bit of information I feel you should know.  I have 2 protagonists in my books:  Eli, who tells the story in first person, and his partner and companion in life, Max Sullivan.  I originally wanted to call Eli, Levi after my grandfather, but I just happen to know 2 other people with that name, so my main character became Eli.  As for Max Sullivan?  He's named after a ginger cat of mine who lived to be 21 years old.  He was always a bit of a smartass and never failed to let me know he was in charge of every situation.  So, I thought I share a picture of his best side, his butt.

And wasn't yesterday filled with several fun surprises?  The Department of Justice revealed that there is an official investigation into Donald Trump.  Evidently, a number of people have already interviewed / testified.  Of course, the ketchup is staining the walls of which ever suite of rooms he's staying in; he might still be in Washington, or perhaps he's returned to haunt his New Jersey golf club.  Oh, and his attorneys have filed some sort of bullshit about his being 'immune.'  Well, that won't fly far.  Isn't it nice to know that he's feeling desperate?  

Here in Pennsylvania, Dr. Oz is failing to close the gap between he and John Fetterman, no doubt because Fetterman turns out to be a genius when it comes to snarky attacks, like the one with Steve Van Zandt:

As for that far right extremist Doug Mastriano.  He's having issues mostly because he's already spit out so much negativity he thought was going to set the record straight burning his ass across almost every media outlet.  Pennsylvanians don't like him.  This is a good thing, a very good thing.

Nasty as Hell

 Well, hello Weekend.  While today maybe Saturday for a lot of you, today is my Sunday since I have to work tomorrow... and Monday.  But then I do have another weekend.  In fact, next week I will be working 4 (count 'em) days, though they will not all be 8-hour long days.  I am part-time, remember?

Yesterday turned out to be a bit of a slugfest for me.  I played the part of a slug.  I did clean the one aquarium, and I went to the store, and also put some work in on The Body Under Ice, but mostly I sat around waiting for The Elden Ring to load.  Holy Crap.  Hours and hours it took.  As with all games, there is a tutorial prolog to play through to teach you which buttons on the controller do what.  However, the second I exited the tutorial, I got my ass killed by a big knight with a big sword.  As for character, I'm playing as a male wretch, which means I get to run around wearing only a G-string.  Don't worry, at some point I will get a cape to make myself more dashing.

Temp wise, today's supposed to hit a high of 95 (F).  Global warning, you know?  

Flower wise?  My buds are finally beginning to bloom!

And we need to begin prepping now for the November elections, not so much because a majority of us will find them earthshattering.  Rather, we will need to deal with all the Q'anon crackpots like Doug Mastriano who will not take losing badly lightly.  They desperately want to adhere to the belief that Trump was sent by the deity they worship to make America socially conservative.  All deniers need to believe that they have the power, that they have been chosen to lead America down their crookedly righteous past.  To even consider otherwise would be to commit blasphemy.  Losing marks that authority as being weak, and that cannot be.  Understand this, these losers will be nasty as Hell.