When you hit middle age you really only have two choices: you can get fat and lazy until you roll over and die, or you can can get off your ass and do something, like maybe ride a bike.
Bluntness
I've also been told I have little tact, so if this offends you simply ride on.
Well, we've got 28 (F) for a temp and partly cloudy skies. Occasionally the sun pops through, so if the snow is ever heavy enough we might to see a snowbow. Temps are on the rise, though, with a high this afternoon expected to be in the upper 30s (F) and tomorrow's high in the mid 40s (F). Sunday? According to forecasters, that will be another cold one. I suspect this will be an interesting winter.
My new piece of equipment arrived and I spent most of yesterday putting all the parts together. I'm almost finished. One of the things I found amusing was that when I purchased it, some of the complaints were that assembly took a few hours. Gimme a break, people. But then these complaints usually come from people who have never assembled anything. The only mistake I made was in moving my desk. I thought this would give me more space, well, I was proven wrong, so once assembly is complete, I'll be moving the it back. Here's a pic of what it looked like unpacked.
The game of the year awards were held last evening. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 ran away with the awards winning more than any game ever. I love this game, (spoiler) about a mother trying to keep her dead son alive in a painting during the Belle Epoque, and a father who wants to destroy the painting to let their son die. Sandfall Entertainment, which produced the game is an independent studio. Many of the people who worked on it have never worked on a video game before. The classical style music is original. The artwork is amazing.
And yesterday, the Republicans in Indiana told the Orange Anus to shut up. They voted against redistricting. His party knows that if they lose the midterms, he will be impeached a again, and this time America will get rid of not only him, but many of his minions. That's if he's still alive, rumors abound that he's going downhill fast.
For laughs, Kristi Noem walked out of Congressional hearing, exorcised perhaps by a priest and protestors chanting, "the power of Christ compels you!" I wonder if she has any sort of an inkling of what's in store for her, or is she just that stupid. Inkling might be too weak of a word. Just think, she may have spent all that time and money on plastic surgery just to have her face wrinkle to hell in a prison cell.
On this sunny Friday morning, the outside temp is sitting a comfy 64 (F). The forecast for today is: mostly sunny and our chance of precipitation is 1%, now, that's pretty damn low. We all know what that means, don't we? My first load of laundry is in the washer. The drying rack awaits.
Yesterday was pretty doggone good. I vacuumed up all the Howie hair upstairs, and there is a lot. Got lots of words written. A fairly decent upper body workout was done, 239 calories were burned off. Enough pulled pork was cooked to last for the next few days. And I did 20 minutes on walking pad. I like it. It is really a mini-treadmill, except it folds up. It will stay down in the writing room. Yesterday I set it up in front of the desk, on the area rug. That I didn't like, so I'm going to relocate it behind the desk onto the hardwood floor.
A BJ's Wholesale Club opened up about half a mile from where I work. It's one of those membership clubs that sell discounted products. Right now a promotion 1 years membership cost $15 and I'm thinking of joining, what with the cost of everything going up. My neighborhood Giant supermarket offers points for every dollar you spend, so $100 = .10 off a gallon of gas. However, they also offer promotional items where, for example, if you buy a 4 ounce bottle of Pom you get 40 points. There have been times when I've gotten up to a $1.00 off the price of a gallon of gasoline. That's nice. With food prices set to go through the roof, the points might be better than the discount card... that is unless my neighborhood Giant decides to change the way their point system works. The higher prices would let you rack up the points faster.
And prices are going up. I took this picture on Wednesday, the day the tariffs went into effect. The new "low" prices are now higher than the old "high" prices. Every aisle is filled with these price mark-ups.
And, speaking of the Orange Anus, did everyone get a chance to see him announce how the job numbers released by the Bureau of Labor and Statistics were wrong? He used a chart with a graph pointing upwards and said the numbers were great. Oh, and he said that they used numbers that hadn't been available before. Social media went wild since apparently someone gave him access to a large piece of poster board and a sharpie.
And finally, evidently Kristi Noem, aka Ice Barbie has a real cranky hair up her butt because of how she was physically portrayed on South Park. She's not complaining that in the episode she shot a puppy every 8 or 9 seconds, or about how ICE brutally kidnaps people, or about her violent recruitment video. In fact, she's saying they ignore those terrible things about her... they didn't. Nope, ICE Barbie's upset because after all of facial work she's had done, hair extensions, and cheek implants, they made fun of how she looks. And the Orange Anus put this loser in charge of Homeland Security.
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.
Well the forecasters were sort of right yesterday, we did have rain in the late afternoon, drizzles and showers throughout the evening. We have the same forecast for today, and tomorrow, and into the middle of next week. Will we get rain every day? I don't doubt it. Summers are not the same as they were. We did have a bit of a heat wave in early June, those used to occur in late July and August. Of course, we're still early into summer so things may change.
Yesterday was one of those, "well, I'm not going to get a lot done today," days, mostly because of my appointment at the VA clinic in Lebanon. I did have plans for when I left, however there were delays. My consultation started 20 minutes late and then we spent 15 minutes talking about my bloodwork. Then it was decided that I should have an EKG since it's been 8 years since I had the last one. Tomorrow, I'll go in and check out that report. I also had to sit through a detailed instruction on colonoscopy prep. Crap, two days before the procedure I need to stop eating everything I normally eat.
Anyway, I didn't get home until after 3:30 PM, so as far as I was concerned the day was pretty much a waste. Wait, that's not quite right, I did finish Intermezzo 2 in The Body in 4/4 Time. That's right, this book will have both chapters and intermezzos. There's even an Overture.
I did start growing another carrot. I planted the other one I'd started outside. Evidently that's what you're supposed to do when it starts growing roots.
And you have to admit that Orangie's failure to deal with Epstein is... remarkable. That moral degenerate is so desperate he's raised the tariffs on Brazilian exports to 50% in the hopes of getting people to talk about something else. Lucky for us tariffs and Tacos are synonymous. Previously such an announcement would have sent the Dow plummeting, but not anymore. Orangie is a now a broken record when it comes to tariffs.
Remember when Orangie said he was going to get rid FEMA? That money could best be served in giving himself and other billionaires a tax break. Well, it seems that Puppy Killer Kristi Noem waited 2 days to activate FEMA's Search and Rescue Team after the horrific flood in Texas. This is her way of telling those victims "you're on your own, baby!" Whether they understand it or not, this is what those Texans voted for, of course no one ever told those parents whose children were washed away that their lives had now become expendable. Surprise! in the eyes of billionaires, everyone who isn't one is expendable.
Outside we have clouds and drizzles and a lot of humidity. Our temps are sitting in the low 70s (F), so we're warmer than we have been, but the chance of storms is going to be hanging around until tomorrow at least.
Since I send out a number of books and my handwriting is terrible, I bought myself a label maker. Even though it was advertised as being able to print out mailing labels, the printer was incompatible with the Pirate Ship software I have started to use. So I returned it to Staples. As unfortunate luck would have it, the woman in front of me was attempting to return a package to Amazon without a QR code, or even an email with which the clerk could look up the return. She actually said to the clerk, "well... I thought you could do all of that." Knowing this was going to take time, I was moved to a different desk where my return went quite smoothly.
Otherwise, yesterday went quite well. I got a muscle building workout completed. I know it was muscle building because Garmin told me so.
Then, last evening I went to the movies, however on my way to the theater I had to stop and save a large turtle that was wanting to cross a busy road. When I drove past him and realized he was basically going to commit suicide, I put on my four way flashers and pulled to the side of the road. Waving my arms to move traffic into the center lane, I hurried back to him and picked him up. Big meaning he weighed about 5 pounds, his shell was over a foot long and about 8 inches wide. And as I lifted him off the macadam he eyed me and then hissed. He's the third turtle I've save since moving here, so I guess you could say we're rather turtly.
The movie I saw was The Life of Chuck. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Very different. It's based on a short story by Stephen King. It's the story of Chuck Krantz, a 39 year-old accountant who's dying of brain cancer. While there are some sad moments, you learn that Chuck's life had quite a lot of joy and happiness. What gave him the most joy? Maybe dancing. Believe me, seeing Tom Hiddleston dance is simply amazing.
And, of course, the question of the hour is are we going to have TACOs in the Middle East? Word is that Orangie's blow bro Vlad is furious about Orangie's possible intent to attack Iraq, Vlad's bestie in the Middle East. This is how Vlad learns that Orangie's loyalty only runs one way. It doesn't make a difference how hard Vlad worked to get Orangie elected, in the end Orangie will do what he believes will serve his own ego the best. The word is that if Orangie bombs Iraq than Tulsi Gabbard, one of the most powerful Russian assets in this administration will quit, and that would indicate a serious breakup between Orangie and Vlad. Only one thing is certain, everybody is talking about Orangie and that is the only thing he cares about.
On a lighter note, Noem, the puppy killer, was taken to a DC hospital yesterday. Evidently she had some sort of allergic reaction to a cosmetic procedure.
And so we move on into another week. This morning's temp outside was 59 (F) which is warm for this time of year. Yesterday afternoon high was in the upper 80s (F) and people, including associates, were walking in through our front doors complaining about the heat. We have a replay on tap for both today and tomorrow. That means lawn work on my day off. Good, I'm hoping to get some sun. I don't want to go to Greece pale as a fish's belly.
Since it was warm yesterday, people were buying portable air conditioning units for their windows. We sold quite a few. At least this year some people seem to be a bit more pro-active. rather than waiting until we're cooking away in the dog days of summer.
The new narrator is already working on the The Body on the Lawn. He's asked for a character breakdown, which is something I didn't get with the previous narrator. He's estimating this project should be completed in between 4 and 6 weeks. That's fine with me. For the last book, it took about a week and half; I'm in no rush. I'm fairly certain this book is going to be longer. Listening time for The Body Under Ice was 5 hours, I've been checking, that's short. Most audiobooks run about 8 hours. Does this mean the first narrator rushed to get the job finished? I'd say there is a likelihood of that being possible. For those who don't remember, here's the cover art. It's good deal right now if you want to buy the paperback.
Kristi Noem was no longer trending yesterday, well, at least she wasn't trendy to the extent she had been on Saturday. People are questing her judgement at including that story in her book; what audience was she actually trying to reach?
There was also a not so secret meeting between the Orange Anus and Ronnie DeSantis at Mar a Lago this weekend. Somehow I don't think they got together to share secret documents the way some people share recipes. But then, both of them so desperately want to be America's first dictator. That'll never happen.
Trump's election interference trial starts again today. Everyday is a surprise. I'm guessing that Sarah Sanders Huckabee is not one of the witnesses. You have to admit, that would be really funny, getting to see her pouty, angry face glaring from the witness box.
Sunday. Today's supposed to be warmer than yesterday, which topped off in the mid 50s (F), by many degrees. Over 30. That's right, our temps are predicted to climb up into the 80s (F) this afternoon. The same will be true for the next 2 days, as well. And after that, it looks as though are afternoon highs will be sailing through the mid 70s (F).
And, as expected, yesterday the home improvement retail world was oh, so slow. Blame the temps. Blame the wind. Blame the rain. Rain? We were only supposed to have spotty showers. Well, that was not the case. Forty-five minutes at a time, it rained. Steady. Soaking. We needed it. This morning we have fog warnings. It's not thick, and will probably burn off by the time I head into work.
My new narrator and I have been emailing each other and right off the bat the rapport is different then with the first narrator. This guy wants character descriptions. He's asking what I want Eli and Max to sound like, of course, they're middle-aged jocks so I have to decided in my head what a middle-aged jock sounds like and tell him. That's nice. It's also nice that when I tell him that even though The Body on the Lawn is a mystery, it's more about family than anything else, about parents and their relationships with their adult children. In fact, when I read through the manuscript prepping it for narration, I was surprised at how integral those sections of dialogue on adult children dealing with their parents to the outcome of the book, of Eli's father developing a sense of pride in a son he'd kept distant for most of his life.
And here is a picture of my dogs, because everyone is posting pictures of their dogs to protest Kristi Noem's shooting of a 14 month old puppy because it was untrainable at hunting, and she hated it.
Of course, social media went wild yesterday, with so many people posting pictures of their dogs. Is Kristi Noem heartless? Well, she's a Republican, I think that pretty much tells you everything that you need to know. The fact that she bragged about shooting her dog, as well as a goat, in her book tells you quite a bit about her mind set. This is not the first time Kristi's come across as being amoral. There was that incident when she gave her daughter preferential treatment so secure a position as a state real estate appraiser. Oh, and then there's her extra-marital affair with Corey Lewandowski, of course, that relationship is immoral not amoral, not that it makes any difference to Kristi. Oh, and she wants to be Trump's VP. Ain't that a joke?
My first load of laundry, sweat pants, is on spin dry in the new washer. Nothing really changes, except for the last digit of the year. Out with the 2 and in with the 3.
Nothing changes. Well, one thing did. Because my neighbor died, I didn't have to listen to him shrieking Woo Hoo! as he set of a firework every 3 - 4 minutes. Let me tell you, that gets annoying fast. The neighborhood was quiet last night.
There will be no traditional PA Dutch pork and sauerkraut today. I work. There is a pork loin in the crock pot just in case. Normally they provide some sort of meal for those working, but we have new assistant managers and so far they've been dropping the ball. This doesn't mean they're not going to order in pizza with ham and pineapple, I just want to be prepared.
And what's in store for 2023? Sunshine and shadows.
Luckily, many of us are going to be on the bright side of the light. Siding with Brian Tyler-Cohen, the Right side has already begun to implode. Their Super Nova will begin after they seat George Santos, because he's going to be arrested. Not only will fingers be pointed and threats will be made. And then the indictments will begin to fall. The MAGA cult will take to the streets in protest. The only thing missing, at first, will be Kristi Noem and her flamethrower. Don't worry, she and every other self-serving Republican in Congress will try and torch anything and everything connecting them to The Former Guy.
Sometimes, I almost think this whole thing has been pre-ordained, so sit back and enjoy the entertainment.
Hello Friday! I'm sure there are some of you out there who are on the ready, set, go for a fun filled weekend. Or, maybe not. So many days are weekends for me now that I'm semi-retired. People ask when I'll stop working completely. My answer is always the same. I have no idea. At a certain age, we all realize we are all just waiting around for the inevitable, how you fill up those waiting hours says a lot about you. I know some who began morphing into sedentary slugs the second they punched out for the last time. I can tell you, that's not for me, at least not yet. Perhaps when I hit my 80s. So, I'd say I'll probably be working part-time until then.
We had some nice steady rain yesterday. Rain is good. Last year we had a very wet summer here and I suspected climate change might be turning us into a tropical rain forest. That still wouldn't surprise me. As was the case last year, there do seem to be a lot of mosquitos around. I guess it's time to get out the Citronella candles.
I'm planning on making a meatloaf and scalloped potatoes today. Notice I said scalloped rather than escalloped? Just call me rebel.
I snapped a picture of Biggie sleeping on the futon yesterday. Dogs. If I were to sleep like that, I'd wake up with such a crick in my neck.
Biden gave a prime time speech last evening on gun control. I didn't watch, knowing there would be plenty of time to afterwards to watch clips. Will anything happen in congress? Possibly, but I wouldn't be waiting in breathless anticipation, if I were you. Some of the radicalized Republicans call for his impeachment, which I found funny. Those yammering loudly were the usual suspects, the ones who tried to force an authoritarian government onto us back on January 6. The fact that Congress impeached their lying sack of shit president twice shoves a burning torch so far up their butts they'll be sitting crooked for the rest of their lives is something they will never forget.
Somehow Kristi Noem, the wacked out government from South Dakota popped up in my Twitter feed yesterday spouting some sort of bullshit about Biden, so I tweeted back, "caught you lying... again." Notice, I didn't point out she got in trouble for skirting the rules and regulations in order to get her daughter a job in real estate. She's evidently taking lessons from the Orange Anus. Anyway, there was no response, of course.
And finally, a bit about Susie Collins since she came up in yesterday's blog. This came from the Washington Post, and while the opinion doesn't shred her, the author does not make her look... well, smart. The fact that she has no problem working with Joe Manchin is a bit of a red flag. What stands out is that for all of her years in the Senate, Susie has always taken the safe, Republican side and back up that position with chatter about how she's done her 'homework.' Her standard excuse is "well, this is what he told me," especially regarding Brett Kavanaugh. I suspect she's hoping people will think she was duped. She wasn't. She thought voting for him was safe. The idea that RBG might pass and Amy Coney Boney might get pushed into the Supreme Court never occurred to her. Playing it safe backfired, badly. Now, there's no way she can fix her mistake and still be seen as Republican. Instead of taking a stand, she played it safe for so many years, and now she screwed.
The temps this morning were a brisk 48 (F), so I did what comes naturally, turned on the heat. There was a time when I would wait as long as possible. That stopped a few years back. Living in Central PA, where we have boodles of natural gas, and using that same fossil fuel to heat and cook with, my expenses are fairly... well, inexpensive, around $600 a year for cooking, hot water, and heating.
And, speaking of gas, the UK's having problems getting petrol to their stations. Truck (and or lorry, which ever you prefer) drivers are needed. This is partially, or mostly, a Brexit problem, depending upon whom your listening to or reading. Evidently many of the drivers were foreign nationals and they either went home, or don't have the correct paperwork, to continue driving.
China's having problems, too. Good for Xi. The country's still mostly dependent upon coal and there are problems getting it to the factories that need it... and... well, things are beginning to shut down. Of course, they're also experiencing this little credit issue with one of their largest companies defaulting on their $120 million loan payments. And Xi is not having an okay day. Maybe he should listen to a little AJR. Maybe he should set the bar a little lower and then maybe he'd be a lot less sad.
And in case no one has heard this yet, the Orange Anus and his racist MAGA Pac have fired Corey Lewandowski for groping and sexually harassing a woman in Vegas. Gee, he must have really believed that 'what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.' Of course, there are also the rumors running rampant on social media that ol' Corey has been coring Kristi Noem, governor of South Dakota. She's been denying everything, though now that Corey's freed up from his duties with the MAGA Pac he's going to have some extra time on his hands. Maybe Kristi needs some help with her re-election campaign. Or, maybe, if Kristi wants to feel way less sad, she should sing a little AJR.
