Franklin Graham: Charlatan

We'll have sunshine today... for at least a bit.  Depending upon which weather forecaster you're turning to for information, afternoon highs will either be in the high 60s (F) or low 70s (F).  Of course, rain will be moving into the picture.  Isaias, by then a tropical depression with wind gusts of 38 mph, is supposed to start raining on us a little afternoon, though those winds will be arriving a bit earlier.  Oh, and the rain is supposed to hang around for 3-4 days.  Now, isn't that ducky.

Howie's been pulling the stuffing from his pink pig.  He doesn't seem to understand that I got the squeaker out before he could get a hold of it.  There's something about dogs and squeakers in toys, they like to run around with them in their mouths.  Because they're plastic, it's not good to chew them up and swallow them, so I get them out before they become fodder for his intestinal system.

Things were done yesterday.  Laundry.  I made chicken stew for dinner.  Oh, and when slicing an onion I nicked the forefinger on my left hand... and, of course I was in the kitchen and my bandaids are upstairs... and Howie kept trying to lick it and make it better.  It was an "oh, shit!" moment that lasted about 2 minutes.

And with all the anger and outrage about the Orange Anus deciding we were going to have a public execution, I began wonder if Frankie Graham had made a comment.

For those who don't know, Frankie's dad Billy was an advisor to 13 presidents.  Frankie's not been so lucky.  I've talked before about how I feel this gives him Daddy issues.  In fact, the only president who has given Frankie the time of day has been the Orange Anus.  In return for that, Frankie has thrown his support behind Orangie.  With so many religious leaders, bishops, pastors, ministers, rabbis, expressing outrage of the "execution" announcement, I wondered where Frankie stood on the matter.  Well, Frankie has stayed silent, that means he has no problems with it.  Frankie has always been a failed Christian seeking prominence.  He wants to be the supreme leader of Evangelicalism.  However, Frankie is a charlatan.  I knew this in the early days of Covid.  Frankie used his group Samaritan's Purse to set up a hospital in Central Park to help nurse all of the sick and dying in New York City.  Then Frankie announced that if you were gay, or lesbian, or trans... you could not help, you could not nurse, you could not care for all of those people who were suffering.  He passed judgement.  It was like a punch in my gut when I saw that, and the first words that went through my head were, "Jesus weeps, but not for him."

Kraft This

We're supposed to hit 86 (F) this afternoon.  That's possible since we're already at 66 (F).  Then, the downhill temp slide begins.  Tomorrow temps are supposed to hit 84 (F) and on Friday they'll barely make it into the 80s (F).  After that our daily highs will be hovering in the mid 70s (F) with overnight lows in the low to mid 50s (F). 

Today's entry started late because for the past 2 days I've been going through a head cold, sore throaty type thing.  I don't feel bad enough to throw my hands up in the air, shrieking "I'm sick," but the stuffy head and the post nasaly drip thing can get quite frustrating.  My sister had given me some Benadryl  about a year ago and while it's not supposed to act like a diuretic, I found myself peeing every  40 minutes, so even though it did stop the nasaly crap from running down the back of my throat, I only took it twice.  In case you haven't figured it out, this whole paragraph is my way of telling you I slept poorly last night.

I don't really have too much planned today because of the stuffy, sneezy, head coldy thing.

Howie's trip to the Vet was canceled.  Here's a thing I learned recently:  Labrador retriever ears are more  susceptible to ear infections than other dogs.  The solution:  instead of cleaning his ears every few months they need to be cleaned every week.

As most of you know, I heat my house with natural gas.  I think it's expensive.  Well, as things turn out, it's not going to be as expensive as home heating oil.  Here's a thing I learned:  home heating oil comes from the same crude oil as diesel fuel.  This means that the price of diesel fuel is going to correlate directly with the price of heating oil, or vice-versa, depending upon how you want to phrase it.  Today's cost is $5.28 a gallon, or about $1200 to fill up your heating oil tank.  Wowza!!  This is just another price Americans are going to have to pay on top of the $50 of $60 it takes to fill up your car's gas tank.

And there's no evidence that Orangie's war with Iran is going to end anytime soon.  While that's important to we home owners, keep in mind that these expenses mean nothing to the  billionaire sycophants surrounding the Orange Anus.  They simply don't care because their universes revolve solely around their own selfishness and greed.  To them, we are nothing.  

And what about the Ed Shereen major faux pas?  He thought he could cater to the billionaire Robert Kraft by staying on the fence.  Ed kicked Macklemore off the tour because of a pro-Palestine speech.  So, all of Ed's opening acts quit.  This morning, Ed's sound engineers quit.  This is not only Ed's problem, it's Bobby Kraft's, another one of those wannabe demi-gods.

The Saudis find Karma

We've got 62 (F) outside and once again, the temps are predicted to hit the low 80s (F).  We did manage to hit that 80(F).  We're going to be repeating yesterday's forecast today.  If those people who predict the weather are correct, our daily highs from now on should be sailing through the upper 70s (F).  That is until we get to Indian Summer.

Yesterday was quite the solemn day.

Berkheimer's came to service my furnace around 0800.  The tech was training a new person.  He said he was supposed to do both the furnace and the central air.  I told him to just do the furnace, I'll have him back in the spring for the central air.  My brain thinks that the furnaced should be serviced prior to the heating season, and the central air prior to the cooling season.  I guess it doesn't really matter.  I shall have to work on being more flexible since have both units serviced at the same time will cost me less money.

The pain of 9/11 seemed stronger on this anniversary, perhaps because so much of what's happening today in the world seems to stem from that moment in our history.  

I did go to my local Giant supermarket for fresh fruit and bones for Howie.  While I was there, I bought him a new toy.  A pink pig.  He loves it.

I understand the Orange Anus gave a... "fiery," speech at the Pentagon yesterday, after he woke up from his nap.  I don't know if it was fiery or not, since I didn't see a single clip on social media other than those of him snoozing away.  By now most people know, except for his cultists, that every time he opens his mouth, the only thing that comes out is yada, yada, yada.  He is not now, nor will he ever, be considered a wise man.  One of the things not included in his yada, yada, yada was that the Saudis asked him to attack Yemen.  To be honest, I don't doubt they expected him to do what they wanted, after all, isn't that why they paid him $5+ billions of dollars?  Unfortunately for the Saudis, America has wasted so many bombs and missiles on Iran we don't have them to spare.  And the Houthis, from Yemen, have taken over a major Saudi pipeline. If the Saudis want the Houthis stopped, they're going to have to use their own army, and Orangie's war will expand.  Expect gas to get more expensive soon.  And what is Orangie planning on doing?  Play golf in Ireland.  So, what we're seeing might possibly be the beginning of Karma for the Saudi Royal Family, since they were the ones who funded 9/11.

Star Wars Zero Company

Crap, our overnight temp failed to drop below 70 (F) and that means we're going to be in for a hot day.  Will we hit 90 (F)?  Possibly.  Our afternoon will be skimming along in the upper 80s (F).  That's pretty much a given.  After today, temps are predicted to drop, though I don't know if this is something you can bet on.

Yesterday was sort of a meh day.  This doesn't mean I didn't get things done.  That is not the case.  Two loads of laundry, dishes cleaned, made the Vet appointment for Howie's ear.  the soonest they can fit me into their busy schedule is next Tuesday. That appointment might actually get canceled.  When I cleaned his ear this morning, it was obviously less inflamed than yesterday, so if Monday rolls around and it's looking normal I will cancel that appointment and save myself some money.

Patty MacNeil, a detective from Belfast, along with 2 day sergeants, Holmes and McAlister, have entered The Body in the Words.  Bally Seamus is too small a town to have it's own Detective so Patty's going to be making the commute.  She finds the binoculars on the table... curious.  Gee, I think I forgot to mention the binoculars.  Well, they're truly irrelevant to the plotline.  You should forget I mentioned them right this minute.

I've had my fill of Balder's Gate 3 for the time being, so I started a new game last evening.  Star Wars Zero Company is a tactical, turn based game that should keep me busy for 30 - 40 hours.  This was a needed change.  I'm back to shooting guns and throwing hand grenades, and there's no need to memorize 20 - 30 different spells and cantrips.  An interesting thing about the new Star Wars game is that no Jedi are involved, so there's no using the Force to fly through the air, or bend metal with your mind.

So, the Orange Anus spread his old lie about being at the Towers on 9/11 yesterday.  He was never at Ground Zero.  He spent those terrible hours watching the TV in his office, and later in the afternoon, after the towers had collapsed, bragged to a radio station that he now owned the tallest building in New York City.  He might be the best and most ultimate weapon the Democrats have against his evil regime.

And the tariff war with Canada is heating up.  Orangie's supporters need to chalk this up as another loss.  I don't doubt that behind the scenes his administration is frantic.  That this should happen so close to the midterms, and the GOP is going to stick with him.  They will be prosecuted.  

If trade war isn't enough, his war with Iran is heating up again.  Ships are being attacked.  The price of Brent Crude is over $100 a barrel.  Gasoline will soon be up to $4.50 a gallon.  Diesel will hit $6.00 a gallon.  Everything is going to get so expensive.  As the mood in America turns against the Republican party, their liars will keep on lying, but then all they've ever had are lies.

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The Ultimate Disloyalty

Our temp dropped down to 51 (F) overnight.  Good sleeping weather.  Today's high is supposed to, once again, be in either the high70s (F) or low 80s (F).  No rain is in the forecast.  Looking ahead, the only change is expected to be a slow decline in temperatures.

I worked yesterday.  Business was booming during the morning hours, however, the instant I punched in we began losing customers.  This meant that I got my steps in early.  Staffing was low, almost all part-timers; this is normal.  Some full timers worked 40 hours and got  8 holiday hours, most worked 32 hours with their holiday pay.  You want to give your full time associates a holiday off.  This helps with your payroll expense.  Food was also provided: pulled pork or chicken, and mac & cheese.  No beverages, no salty snacks like chips.  There were leftovers, so I brought home some pulled pork and mac & cheese.  Howie got most of the pork.

Speaking of Howie, he has an ear infection so I'm going to have to take him to the Vet.  I truly dislike taking him to the Vet because like any other retailer, they like to fill your shopping cart to the brim.  They will pump your pet full of what they have decided are now "standard" medications that in reality are completely unnecessary.  They get angry when you refuse "standard" meds since that takes revenue out of their bank account.

And I learned yesterday that these pretty white flowers growing along my fence Sweet Autumn Clematis and they are an aggressively invasive plant.  So this means trimming and pruning every fall.

And they're giving away free tickets to Orangie's midterm convention.  The MAGA brand has become so toxic no one wants to attend.  If you do decide to go and you want to stay on the cheap side rather than splurge, you can have your picture taken with JD Vance and it will only set your bank account back $25,000.  Since this is JD we're talking about, you might get a bit of a discount if you bring along a loveseat.

Evidently the official White House Labor Day video, one that wasn't AI slop celebrating the Orange Anus's fantasies, was of a pen being put together on an assembly line.  Not a single human being was in  the video.  Basically, they celebrated Labor Day by showing that machines do things better than people.

Rumors are swirling that Kegsbreath Hegseth's head may be on the chopping block.  This is not because he's doing a horrific job, rather the horrific job he's doing is making the Orange Anus look bad, and that is the ultimate form of disloyalty.

Sometmes

So we got down to 61 (F) overnight.  I did get out the red blanket.  Sleeping was fine.  According to those in charge of predicting the weather, today's temps will not be climbing out of the 70s (F).  That's fine.  I do enjoy the changing of the seasons.  Except for about 2.5 weeks of blistering heat, this summer hasn't been that bad here in Central PA temperature wise, however, we did get those storms.  As a customer said to me at work yesterday, "we've had some very unusual storms."  They've been large, for one thing, covering 3-4 counties with thunder and lightning at the same time.

I worked in the Paint department yesterday.  I like mixing paint.  I get to chat with a lot people about a host of different subjects.  I once had a young man hand me one of Jesus's business cards.  I told him he could keep it, that solicitation was not allowed in the store.  While he didn't raise his voice, he did tell me that I was "damned and would burn in hell for all eternity."  These people are rare.  Mostly, people chat about their paint projects.  Some of them are fascinating.  Yesterday I talked with 2 different customers who were paint brick, one was a fireplace, the other a cinderblock wall in her basement.; different types of brick, different types of applications.  It's fun to help people.

My front porch is large, around 7 feet by 10 feet.  Sometimes things walk on my front porch, sometimes birds, sometimes squirrels.  Sometimes Howie sees them and finds them fascinating.

And yesterday Orangie did the unimaginable.  He went from Orange to Brown.  Someone said that Natalie Harp told him he'd look younger as a brunette.  People are laughing, and sometimes they're just at a loss of words.

And the comedy team of Witkoff and Kushner met with Brownie's blow bro Vlad.  There's a clip of them showering him with praise.  One of the things Witkoff said was "years from now we'll look back on this and your story will be the greatest."  Yepper, an American said that to a war criminal.  Sometimes stupid people say stupid things.  Sometimes history looks back and says, "yep, that was the greatest piece of ass kissing ever recorded."

Howie's New Toy

When I got up this morning, our outside temp was 71 (F), so we didn't get to cool off last night, and there supposed to climb into the low 80s (F) by this afternoon.  Also, thunderstorms are again on the menu.  A look at the weather map shows storms already beginning to pop up out near Pittsburgh.  And, since the earth spins on an axis, they will be moving east.  The guys who make a living predicting the weather say they should be arriving early this afternoon.  

A lot of cleaning was done yesterday.  Focus on the kitchen floor.  I installed vinyl plank flooring in my kitchen.  Because 80 + pound dogs don't get a lot of traction on vinyl planks, I have area rugs.  Some get vacuumed, some get washed, and yesterday, one of them became Howie's most favorite new toy.  Believe me, he was not going to let that thing go without a decent sized treat.

I started to watch Telemacas (sp) on Netflix last evening.   Elizabeth McGovern is one of the stars, but only in the first episode, after that she disappears.  The show is based on an Anne Rice novel (?)  While I liked the book Interview With the Vampire (I hated the movie), I'm not a big Rice fan.  About 2/3 of the way through the 2nd episode I realized the show was missing something, like interesting characters.  So, I'll not be watching the remaining 3 1/3 episodes.

I see where Rick Scott, the Senator from Florida, is blaming Ronnie DeSantis for the state's serious decline in tourism.  As a reminder, Ronnie's the one who said Florida is where Woke goes to die.  Now we know he misspoke.  He actually mean to say "Florida, where Tourism goes to die."

Last evening on Fox Entertainment, Laura Ingraham was shrieking about how the midterms were going to be devastating for Republicans.  Republican pollsters shouldn't be predicting doom and gloom.  Basically, she was telling them to lie like she does.  Laura doesn't understand she gets paid very well to lie, while those pollsters and their families are dealing with the higher gas prices, and higher food prices.  And they definitely can't afford to fly down to Florida to watch turism woke die.

 

Natalie Harp

We have a very comfortable 71 (F) outside, the humidity is down, and the day is supposed to be nice.  No rain.  Yesterday?  We didn't have rain, however the high temp which supposed to be in the mid 80s (F) climbed into the low 90s (F) and the dew point was high.  We have a little over a month until Autumn arrives and I'm wondering when the days are going to begin cooling off.

I worked yesterday and foot traffic was light.  The other flooring specialist said, "damn, this is worse than Sunday."  I did have a $1200 sale go through, so that'll keep management happy.  Neither of us got a measure, though.  Last week our department was 9th out of 10 departments.  Sales are not good. In fact, sales for the store were not good.  Corporate is happy if you miss your plan by a little; sales plans are always budgeted higher than the actual forecast.  My store missed plan by more than a little.  Halloween sales will give us a boost, we just have to wait and see if the boost is slight, or substantial.

We've updated my workouts, adding in a few mobility exercises since I'm beginning to get a bit creaky; that comes with age.  In about 10 days I'm going to be putting Trainwell on pause for 3 months.  I did this before and things worked out well, though this time I'm thinking of ending the subscription sometime during the pause.  I'd cancel now, but I'm still sitting on the iffy fence.

For those who don't follow me on other social media platforms, Howie's birthday chicken came to an untimely demise.

Thanks to John Ossoff, America now knows about Natalie Harp and, thanks to social media, we now know that Natalie is Orangie's human binky.  For those who don't know, this is a binky.

And Ossoff hit a very tender nerve with his comment because Republican, after Republican, after Republican both attacked him and protected Ms. Harp.  So much so, many are now thinking that he tapped into a much bigger scandal than Orangie flying around with his diaper changer.  Does Harpy do more than just clean Orangie's 80 year-old anus?  Sorry, those thoughts are simply disgusting.  

Anyway there are those who believe that Orangie is following his blow bro Vlad's orders as he slowly destroys America.  I don't know if that's quite true.  I'm inclined to believe that Vlad simply said to Orangie  "You have a history of being a great businessman, so just be yourself."  Why do I think this?  Because Vlad has not only been giving Iran the coordinates for our military bases, he's also been shipping them weapons.  He doesn't need to give the Orange Anus any orders, since Orangie epitomizes failure and destruction.

Conniving Coward

Good Morning from Central PA.  Our outside temp is 71(F) and our afternoon high is expected to be in the low 80s (F).  We only have a 1% chance of rain today, which is nice because things need to be done.  Our next rainy day is not supposed to be until Sunday.  I have plans for Sunday, so that figures.

So, what did I do yesterday?  Not a lot.  Well, that's not completely true.  I did about half an hour of lawn cleanup pulling together branches that need to be run through the wood chipper.  I tried that little handheld chainsaw and it works well.  I'm going to try and get them chipped this afternoon.

My excitement for later this morning will be paying off my school tax.  After that I'll be paying off the credit card I used to purchase the lawn cleanup tools, chainsaws, wood chipper, etc.  I haven't paid interest in years, except for the car loan, and do not intend to start now.  

I'm also going to be pausing my trainer.  There are too many other things going on right now for me to focus properly, yard cleanup for one.  I don't want to pay for something that I'm not using, and I have been looking for reason to skip my training sessions.  I find my thoughts wandering, not absent mindedly, but usually towards one extremely sore subject.  

The chicken toy Howie got for his birthday?  Its lost a leg... er... drumstick.

The Washington Post has a 2+ minute clip on this morning's front page detailing how the Orange Anus swapped planes.  This is a good thing.  For the Washington Post, owned by Orangie supporter Jeff Bezos, to post this video is important because we are probably seeing the beginning of divorce proceedings.  The Wall Street Journal, owned by another Orangie supporter, Rupert Murdoch, yesterday said that Orangie is in a very "precarious position."  Other media outlets are calling him a Conniving Coward.  I don't doubt for a second that these betrayals of their tax break benefactor are one of the reasons Orangie decided all aircraft carriers need to go back to steam based catapults.  I don't doubt that this is also the reason he is once again attempting to put his name on the Kennedy Center.  As Mark Kelly said yesterday, Orangie should have stuck "to what he does best, ballrooms, bullshit, and bankruptcy."  

Speaking of aircraft carriers, the Abraham Lincoln is finally heading back to the states.  I feel so sorry for those sailors.  I was on an aircraft carrier in a warzone, and the longest we were on station was 15 days.  Believe me, that was stressful.  The sailors on the Abraham Lincoln have been at sea for over 250 days.  This shit is Hegseth's fault.  He will be tried for war crimes and I do not doubt he will cry like a little girl.

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.

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.

Trump Embarrasses America... Again

Last night our temp dropped down to 61 (F).  That's good sleeping weather.  If the long range forecast sticks, which is very unlikely as there's a tropical storm in the Gulf of Mexico that looks to be heading north, our daily highs should be in the low 80s (F).  Our overnight temps should drop into the low 60s (F).  Again, I can live with this.

I worked yesterday.  Business was slow.  I almost made my sales goal, but not quite, but that's about it.  While not be super busy during the summer, we're usually steady. so selling installs and reaching our sales goals is not that big of a problem.  However, things are much more expensive now then they've every been.  We are offering promotions, however, 15% off a carpet installation is not a big enough incentive while other prices are constantly rising.  I'm lucky in that I can work in 2 different departments, 3 if you count appliances.  Many other part-time associates have only been trained to work in their home department.  While full-time associates might think they're safe, many retailers see lowered sales as a good reason to eliminate those positions, replacing them with one or 2 part-timers who don't need to get paid for an 8 hour shift.

And I did buy a chainsaw yesterday.  I bought the same model I used to own.  I don't know how much I'm going to use it this morning, since I'm scheduled to work this afternoon. Tomorrow?  Rain is expected.

Of course Howie is in stick heaven.

And here's a bit of a funny thing:  An Italian sculptor living in New York named Sergio Furnari took it upon himself to sculpt a statue of Charlie Kirk. He spent a lot of his own money thinking the statue would make millions.  Besides being ugly, no one wants it, in fact, Sergio is quite upset that he's being inundated with emails from people telling him that they're going to piss on it.  So tell me, would you... piss on it?

Finally, the Orange Anus made an ass out of himself again yesterday at the world cup.  Argentina learned about the Trump Curse.  When the Anus refused to leave the stage, the Australian announcer said, "we'll just edit him out."  The Spanish networks did just that.  A number of other foreign announcers noted how Orangie was "booed mercilessly," as he walked across the field to the stage.  And, of course, he refused to leave, even when they tried to escort him off and so he stood there by himself, embarrassing the hell out of the United States.

Howie and the Sheep

Well, we have 70 (F) outside and instead of Jimi Hendrix Purple Haze, we have yellow haze.  We are also under an air quality alert.  I feel bad for Gigi who's up north having to deal with an air quality that's a thousand times worse.  Our temps today are going to be in the upper 80s (F) to low 90s (F).  Things are supposed to begin cooling off tomorrow.  Showers and thunderstorms (again) are on their way.  Perhaps they'll wash a bit of the smoke residue down the drain.

Yesterday was not quite a meh day.  No exercise.  Thursday is a free day.  I worked on The Body in the Words in the afternoon, editing chapter's 3 and 4.  I would have liked for there to be a direct flight from Philly to Belfast, but there isn't.  This meant I needed to decide if my guys were going to drive the 2 hours from Dublin to BallySeamus, or take a puddle jumper.  I opted for the latter since it allowed me to keep important dialog in the Greetings chapter.

And yesterday morning I took Howie out to my brother's farm.  He got to meet Bruce, my brother's dog, saw some fall-down goats that stayed standing as he approached, and met a flock of sheep.  For some reason, the sheep develop a particular interest in him.  Howie, however, did not  find them fascinating.  Still, that didn't keep them from following us.

Of course, the Orange Anus held a poorly watched nationwide press conference last evening.  Both ABC and NBC refused to air him live, which he found infuriating.  CBS which started airing it, evidently cut away; they're learning that kissing his ass is costing them ratings, and that's losing them advertisers.  And Fox Entertainment?  This post on Threads tells it all.

That's right, Fox aired a disclaimer.  The last time they treated his lies as truth it cost them dearly.  This is Orangie beginning to sabotage the midterms because he knows the Republicans are going to lose badly. Out of desperation, he and the GOP are playing with fire.

More and more people, like Gavin Newsome, a very loud voice right now in American politics, are calling for him to be removed using the 25th amendment.  For that to work, however, his cabinet needs to vote for his approval and he's filled it with sycophants and henchies.  I don't see him finishing out his term.  The tide is turning so fast against him, he will run like the coward he is.

Testosterone

So, it's Thursday morning, our outside temp is 76 (F), and today is going to be another stinker.  Yesterday was a cooker.  Our high got up to 99 (F).  I don't check to see what the real feel is because in my  mind 99 (F) is hot enough.  Today we're under an air quality alert.  Now, isn't that... nice.  The cool down doesn't start until Saturday and, of course, the temperature drop will arrive with showers and possibly severe thunderstorms.  So, are we going to have a replay of the July 4th storms?

Yesterday was a busy day.  I had 2 old laptops, a Dell Inspiron 5700 with Windows 7 (don't laugh), and a Samsung gaming laptop with 2 hard drives and about 1000 GB.  I fired them both up to see if they worked.  After spending about an hour on the Dell, restarting with a soft boot, I found only a few old pictures indicating I must have transferred the important stuff before I stopped using it.  The Samsung?  That has over 500 GB of memory, some associate reviews from 2014 and 2015, 2 HDMI ports, 2 USB ports, and a Blue Ray disc player.  And then I remembered the reason I stopped using it was because the keys kept popping off.  Well, there's an easy fix for that.  This means I have 3 functioning laptops, plus the large gaming computer upstairs.  Does this make me geeky?

This morning, I'm taking Howie to my brother's farm.  This is part of the socialization process.  He'll get to meet my brother, his wife, and possibly some chickens, goats, and one or two pot bellied pigs.  Then we'll come home and he'll sleep for the rest of the day.

Here's a flash from the past.  As Biggie's arthritis worsened, I bout him a bed with a heated mattress thinking it might help.  He hated it and only slept on it for a total 15 minutes.

And, as just about everyone know, the Orange Anus is planning on throwing a rally this evening on national TV.  If he were going to tell Americans that he was turning over a new leaf and planning on actually putting Americans first, he might help his ratings... a small bit.  That ain't gonna happen.  His dementiated worst is going to be on display.  From what I understand, China is going to get blamed for rigging the 2020 elections.  Here's a little tidbit about China.  That country is now more popular in the world than the United States.  Of course, the rigged election is a lie.  No one wants to hear his lies, not when plums and nectarines are $4.99 a pound.  I've read that a number of Republicans are dHegsreading this evening's speech, knowing the Orange Anus is going to be driving another nail into the Republican coffin.

And Kegsbreath Hegseth wants to start shooting our soldiers up with testosterone to make sure they reach maximum lethality.  For those who don't know, the Nazi's did that in 1935.

At the Speed of Sound

 Once again we have a lot of humidity.   The temps are in the mid 70s (F).  Thunderstorms are on the menu for this afternoon.  They were on the  menu yesterday, and they served themselves up downpours, thunder, and the constant warning of "lightning has been detected in your area."  With all of the humidity, I suspect the same thing will happen this afternoon and evening.  Beginning Tuesday, we're supposed to start warming up again.

I had lunch with one of my editors yesterday.  We talked about the "new" grammatical changes that are now considered standard.  Besides the possessive 's being acceptable in names ending in s, Word now says you no longer need to double space after a period.  Since none of these changes are mandatory, I will ignore most of them.  We also talked about the next book.  He asked if Bobby Tussel was going to be going along with  Eli and Max to Northern Ireland.  People like Bobby, probably because he has zero filters and blurts out what everyone else is thinking.  

Howie's birthday will be on Sunday.  He'll be 23 months old.  Of course, there will be cake and ice cream.  It's funny watching him move from the puppy stage, where he thought I was the best chew toy around, to the pet me, pet me, pet me stage, where I'm better suited for petting him than being chewed on.

I have a long ride scheduled for this afternoon.  All I have to do is find a route that doesn't have a lot of hills.  My left knee can take the bendiness of pedaling, however, the serious bending of squats is a bit too much.

And evidently the Qatari gift jet, which was built in Seattle, did not have the security features installed for it to replace Air Force One.

I understand the price tag for the refitting has already topped $800 million.  Will the necessary security measures be installed?  I suspect the Orange Anus has always intended this to be nothing more than a flying castle used only for domestic flights.  I don't doubt that he has every intention of home porting it at Mar a Lago.  He and his lackies have no idea that Karma is coming at them at the speed of sound.

And evidently the US reserves of fuel are now on fumes.  The administration has been using them to keep the prices at the pumps artificially low.  With his war against Iran kicking back into high gear, expect your gass prices to be going up... fast.

I am a Rare Bird

So, it's Saturday.  Temps dropped a bit overnight.  Today's high will only be in the high 60s (F).  We do have sunshine, though, and there is more than a bit of a breeze blowing.  While temps will warm up this coming week, the high temps will barely be scratching the low 80s (F).  These temps are fine.  They could stay this way all summer.

Yesterday was fairly productive.  I spent some time summerizing the house, i.e. I washed and store blankets.  They will sit out the summer store in a tote until the Autumn weather arrives.  I did some house cleaning, as well.  And in the afternoon got in a 9 mile ride in Corsica, which is becoming one of my favorite rides.

I found out this morning that I'm a rare bird, so to speak.  I am one of 2.7 million service members (US Navy here) to serve in the Vietnam War Zone.  Of that 2.7 million, there are between 610,000 and 850,000 of us who are still alive.  And every day there are less of us.  But then this is how life is.  Time never stops.

Today, when I go into work, I'm going to have a talk with management.  On Thursday, one the specialists said he was going to lunch and was seen driving his car out of the parking lot.  When I took my break 2.5 hours later, he was trying to punch in at the time clock.  We are required to take a full half hour lunch break.  If we try to punch in early, the time clock buzzes and tells us how many minutes we need to wait before punching back in.  He got the buzz when he tried to punch back in, and the message he needed to wait one more minute.  This means that he left the property 2.5 hours earlier, came back, and then punched out for his lunch.  Why are people so damn stupid?

As a palate cleanser, here's a pic of Howie.   See how he smiles.

And I guess the only artist who's still performing at Orangie's Freedom 250 concert is Vanilla Ice.  He posted some sort of rigmarole saying it was an honor.  This should not come as a surprise since he has already performed several times at Mar a Lago.  He also plagiarized the bassline in Under Pressure, a case that was settled out of court in which his record company was forced to pay Queen and David Bowie $4 million.  Being that his bona fides include crook and thief, I'm sure he will feel right at home  performing to cultists.

And yesterday was not a good day for Orangie.  He has to take his name off of the Kennedy Center.  A hold was put on his $1.8 billion slush fund.  And his $10 billion suit against the IRS was reopened because it has the stench of corruption.  Oh, and the White House released the report of his physical and everybody laughed.  The bruising on his hands is still being caused by his frequent shaking of hands.  He's still 6 feet, 3 inches tall, and still weighs in at 230 lbs.  This should surprise no one since he has always been bad with numbers.

The Reds Have It

Well, the heat is gone.  A front moved through the area and we've been left with cloudy skies and drizzles.  If you're in Central PA and had plans for a big Memorial Day weekend bash, they're going to be washed out.  the rain will be hanging around until Monday.  Temps will not climb into the 70s (F).  We have returned to sweatshirt and sweatpants weather.  I have no problem with this. The hot days of summer are going to be here soon enough.

And yesterday sort of fit into the pattern of the last few Wednesdays.  I did chores: laundry, dishes, and some yardwork, but mostly I did nothing.  I did spend a lot of time thinking, something I enjoy doing regularly.  Too many people don't think.  They don't like to ponder.  I do think that too many would rather subsist than participate.  They prefer a life filled with the doldrums, where the slightest breezy thought might make them consider something.  Thinking might actually be rapidly becoming a lost art.  The don't like news that upsets them, so what they do watch or read has been candied down into something less substantive than salt water taffy.  Me?  I'll take the peanut butter brittle any day.

I am scheduled to work today, but to celebrate the autumn-like weather, I've decided to stay home and fry up some latkes.  

I took this pic on Tuesday.  As you can see, all of my reds are... well red; the rose in the foreground and Howie in the background.  

Just because yesterday was a slow day doesn't mean that I spent the time scrolling endlessly through social media.  I did do some research on primary elections, and who can and who cannot vote.  In PA, we have a closed primary.  Democrats can only vote for Democrats, and Republicans can only vote for Republicans.  Those registered as Independents can't vote at all. This means that 1.4 million Pennsylvanians can't vote in the primary.

The same is true in Kentucky... somewhat.  Registration is cut off a month before the primary and you can't switch parties.  So, if you're registered as a Republican and you hate what's going on in Washington, you're still going to have to vote Republican.  The 11% who are registered as Independent or nonaffiliated could not vote for Massie.

And Georgia is different from both Pennsylvania and Kentucky.  

So, primary elections are not the bellwethers that some believe them to be.  For example, we'll need to wait until the midterm in Kentucky to see if those 45% who voted for Massie and the 11% who couldn't vote, will vote for Orangie's personal choice.  Primaries provide us with the candidates, they do not give us a hint as to who's going to win in the General Election.

Howie's got a new toy!

 Well, we got a warm day in store for us here n Central PA.  Our high this afternoon is predicted to cross that 80 (F) border.  Over the next few days, temps are expected to climb into the 90s (F).  That will mean good business on window A/C units.  I have a small one I put in my workout room since there is no working vent in that room (old, old house), so it may be installed tomorrow.

Yesterday was sort of a meh day.  I did chores, but only the essential ones, like loading the dishwasher.  Of course, there are those who might not classify that as an essential chore, letting the dishes pile up in the sink.  I had a friend named Jack who did that, waiting until all of his dishes were dirty before cleaning them.  That was until one evening, while several of us were gathered around the kitchen table chatting, a mouse ran out from the pile of dishes and dashed across his kitchen counter.  I do believe he was a bit mortified.  

Otherwise yesterday was quiet.  I did do 2 of my Norwegian lessons last evening.  I should put more time into it.

Oh, and Howie got a brand new toy yesterday.  It's a 2 foot long fuzzy ferret with squeakers at both ends.  He loves it so much he took it to bed last night.

And not only was Orangie's business trip to China a failure, something being noted by so very many news outlets, he's doubling down on his comment of not caring about American citizen's finances.  He's now saying it was a "perfect statement."  Because in his mind he never makes a mistake, he will never, ever admit his comment was terrible.  The CEO is always right.  I would not be surprised if the administration, at some point, doesn't begin blaming the media, saying that they misquoted him, even though it's on video.  

We will be a nation in decline as long as Republicans and conservatives are running the country.  They have proved time and time again that they simply do not know how to govern.  The policies that satisfy a few will affect a majority in so horribly on so many different levels.  And, proving that they have no souls, Republicans and conservatives could care less.

The Voting Rights Act

Here in Central Pa we had overcast skies yesterday and the occasional drizzle until around 4 PM, and then it started to rain, a soaker, as they like to call steady rain.  Today, forecasters are calling for on and off sunshine with our temps topping off in the the low 60s (F).  This means everything is going to grow.  That means I'm going to have to mow the lawn, probably tomorrow morning. Yeah!

And yesterday was productive!  All my veggies have been planted and fertilized.  Laundry was done.  Cleaning was done.  It was a good day.

Yesterday was also a good workout day.  While there's an exercised called a dumbbell thruster, there were no squats.  I'm going to go easy on the squats for a while.  My left knee is still a bit wonky and I don't want to do anything that might actually damage it.  

My aunt Lois died yesterday.  She was 91.  She was a very nice lady.  When I was born back in 1952, my dad's parents drove down to Florida because I was the first male grandson to be born.  Lois, who was 18, was with them.  What an adventure that must have been for her!  In today's America a lot of people will fly their families down to Disneyworld.  It's so commonplace, no one thinks about it.  But 73 years ago Florida would have been like traveling to a totally different country.

I snapped a picture of Howie on the the futon yesterday.  I've gotten a lot of comments about how big he's gotten.  Believe me when I tell you, I don't think of him as being big, he's just my little booby boy.

Of course, yesterday the Supreme Court smashed apart the Voting Rights Act because a majority of the judges, all white, believe that minority groups no longer need to have a unified voice.  The racist Sammy Alito wrote the majority opinion.  Sammy wants a white, Republican, authoritarian government running America.  Future generations are not going to see Sammy as a decent human being.  Quite the contrary.  They will look at his racist opinions and define him as what he truly is, a bigoted, phony Catholic.

And gas prices increased again yesterday.  Since I didn't go anywhere, I don't know how high they went locally, but from what I'm seeing online, 40 cents seems to be the standard increase.  This is how you lose elections, no matter how much you gerrymander, or how often Sammy Alito stomps his tiny racist feet.  Hint, hint, gas prices are not going to go down soon, not that Sammy has to worry about the price per gallon.  

Finally, Elonia Musk was in court yesterday.  He and Sam Altman are going head to head, legally, about Chat GP, I think, and Elonia's verbosity and bullshit got to be too much for the judge.  Yepper, the judge told him to basically shut up.  Elonia found that rather... disparaging.  Now, how nice is that?

Ballroom Dancing

Well, our temps are a nice, comfy 64 (F) outside.  We'll be getting warm again today, but our afternoon high is only supposed to be in the upper 70s (f).  That's an improvement over highs in the low 90s (F)... in mid April.  Sunday we will be cooling off and, if the long range forecast is correct, our temps will stay in the mid 60s (F) for at least a week.  As we head into May, things will be warming up again.

I worked yesterday.  It was boring.  Last week our store was making our sales plan every day.  This week?  Not so much.  At this point, management is no doubt hoping for a big weekend, but Sunday?  Well, the forecast is calling for rain.  Even though there are people who don't mind browsing through the garden department in the drizzles, many will not.  They will stay home.

On the bright side, I did have 2 sales:  a carpet installation, and a blind installation.  This means I will have met my sales goal for the week.  That's a plus.  The few other customers I've talked to had no interest in having flooring installed.  They were either "just looking," or "just starting the process."  Those 2 phrases are completely interchangeable and both mean "thanks, but no thanks."

Howie's dewclaw scratched me yesterday and it did draw blood.  I was sitting down in the living room and he and I were playing catch with his neon green bone, when he decided he wanted to jump on my lap.  I put my arm up to stop him because he's a little too big to be jumping on my lap, and that's when it happened.  t's not really as bad as it looks, though I did wear an long sleeve shirt to work.

So, Orangie was bragging about his ballroom again, or more specifically, about what's going to be built beneath it.  

Let's see, there's a state of the art medical center, a combat center, a drone proof military center, a bomb shelter, his personal MacDonald's... well, maybe not the MacDonald's.  Though he's said there's going to be top, top secret stuff there and in his mind a MacDonald's might be essential, but not necessarily top, top secret.  For those of you who don't know, minor versions of those things were already under the East Wing.  And while I don't mind being a spoil sport when it comes to Orangie, I'm wondering why he thought it necessary to tell the entire world.  Doesn't it seem as though he's setting up his new ballroom to be the number one target?  Especially since he spends most of his time at Mar a Lago?  Since this new construction is entirely backed by private contributions, think Zuckerberg, and Miriam Anderson, and Bezos, amongst others, one can only wonder what's in it for them.  Since most of them already have built rather formidable compounds, I'm betting they're not planning on staying there in case something bad happens.   Makes one wonder, doesn't it.

Finally, Russel Vought testified before Congress yesterday. This man is a soulless sack of shit brimming to the top with unbridled hatred of every he can't control.  He needs to go to jail for a very long time.