Musk and the Nerdy Young Men

 Today's high temp is supposed to be in the low 40s (F), however, we are planning for a quick dip tomorrow.  Today we're supposed to have partly cloudy skies, tomorrow?  A mixed bag of precipitation including a little bit of snow flurries, and a little bit of ice, and a little bit of rain.  I'm off both today and tomorrow, so I'll get my shopping done today and then home-it tomorrow.

I did work yesterday.  I sold one of my installs and got a measure, otherwise it was very slow.  The aisles were empty.  To pass my times, I chatted with associates and got my laps in: over 12,000 steps.  My name was drawn for the Salesperson of the Month award.  The prize was a $25 gift card for the store.  I used it to get furnace filters and some seed starter kit.  I'm thinking of putting in a few tomato and pepper plants in my front yard along with the Dahlias, maybe create some sort of flowery, Veggie potpourri garden.

When I did get into work yesterday, I saw that they had put our DEI board back up... sort of.  All the information that had been there is once again posted.  However, the three words across the top, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, have been removed.  A majority of Americans don't realize how DEI works, however they are being fed a diet of racial hatred by a small group of white people who believe that unqualified  people of color are being put into positions of importance simply because of their skin color.  If that were the case, this country would be lurching backward guided solely by pandemonium and chaos and that is not happening.

Of course, the stock market didn't crash yesterday because the Orange Anus caved.  Reports coming in were that the crash on Wall Street was going to be brutal, a bloodbath some called it, and that scared the bejesus out of him.  Hearing him tell it, however, both Mexico and Canada caved.  We are oh, so lucky that president of Mexico, and the Prime Minister had the receipts to prove the agreements Orangie said he demanded had already been in place.  Even more amusing was the fact that the 10,000 troops along the Mexican boarder were already in place.  CNN talked about the Canadian deal, but I'm not aware of any other Main Stream Media outlet posting this information.  

And more and more Americans are hating that fact the Elonia is involved in dismantling the government.  People just do not want him and his bunch of young male henchies having access to their personal information.  And... just a quick question, am I the only one who noticed that Elonia's proteges are young, nerdy males?  The oldest is 24 and the youngest is, I believe 19.  Could it be that Elonia is revealing a certain preference for whom he wants to associate?  Is it because they think he's a god?  I mean, it does make one wonder, doesn't it?

President Sheinbaum

 Happy Black Friday!  So far, it's a bright and sunny day, however that's going top change as a cold front begins moving through the region.  This afternoon there will be showers and snow showers, or what they're calling a "wintry mix" across Central PA, and tomorrow's high will be much colder. As I've said before, this is the same playbook we've had over the past number of years.

Yesterday, Turkey Day, or, as some people call it, Thanksgiving was very quiet.  Just me and the pooch.  I had a nice call from my sister.  My brother was vigilantly silent.  He can't remember my birthday, so well wishes on the holiday would have been extraordinary.  

The coconut pie was delish, but then I tried something special when baking it by spreading chocolate across the pie crust before pouring in the coconut filling.  Voila, a Mounds Bar... almost.  The corn pudding was almost too sweet and very rich, a lot of that went into the freezer.  There was a problem with the bird, however.  I have a large electric roaster that I've used for years (too many, in fact).  After nestling the turkey onto holding rack and placing it in the roaster, I set the temp and walked away, expecting it to be cooked in about 4 hours.  That didn't happen.  The roaster got warm enough so you could smell the turkey, however it didn't get hot enough to cook it.  When I checked on it, I discovered this, muttered a few curse words, and cranked the heat up high, so instead of 4 hours, it took 6 and a half to be fully cooked.  Howie and I hard are first nibbles of turkey around 5 PM, not the anticipated 1:30 PM.  Still, all is fine with the world.  

This doesn't mean there wasn't excitement yesterday.  Mexico's president Claudia Sheinbaum, took Trump to the mat and embarrassed him world wide.

It began with the Orange Anus posting a lie about Mexico promising to shut down its border with the United States after he talked to President Sheinbaum on the phone.  She was having none of it, and went on record in a very public manner.  In case you haven't realized it yet, his lies are always going to make him look like the super authoritative president he thinks he is; they never touch upon the truth.  She claims they touch upon the borders in the conversation, but they were not a priority.  I believe her.  She says most of the conversation was about the tariffs, and, from various sources, it appears this 78 year-old loser was trying to shake her down... and she was having none of it.  One of the things she reportedly told him was that if he puts tariffs on Mexico, Mexico will retaliate and the United States will lose 400,000 jobs.  This did not go as Don the Con planned.  In a very polite, public way, told the Moral Degenerate to eat shit with a rubber spoon.  I suspect more world government leaders will follow President Sheinbaum's example, and in a very public, professional way, embarrass the Orange Anus.

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Oh, dear me... the Idiot Jerk's approval rating is dropping... among Independent voters.  Now, isn't that a surprise.  And this was before he waved a piece of paper touting a 'secret' deal with Mexico.  People in Washington are whispering among themselves "what secret deal... what secret deal?"  In case you didn't know, his base believes him.  They're ecstatic.  This is better than the secret sauce used on your Big Mac!  Tasty!  They are on the verge of foaming at the mouth.  And the icing on the cake is the "nice" letter he got from Kim Dumb Shit... on their anniversary.  The only problem is that the Independents are saying "wait a minute, this guy's an asshole."  Believe me, this does not bode well for the Idiot Jerk in the White House.
Anyway, Don, one my other readers, received his copy of The Body in the Tower yesterday.  He has a degree in English and is the closest thing I have to an actual editor.  When I got his copy of the manuscript back there was red ink all over it.  He wrote things like 'vague,' and 'confusing,' and 'what happened to the yellow sock hat?'  Here is Don.

Don did not appreciate the way the narrative switches between  1st person and 3rd person.  Well, I fixed the 'vague,' and the 'confusing,' and answered the questions about 'the yellow sock hat,' and left the narrative switching as I had originally written it.
I'm off tomorrow and they're forecasting rain.   That's fine.  I don't mind as long as I don't have to go to work.  In 2.5 years my car will be paid off.  Then I'm going to go part-time.
And Biggie just gave me a purple, squeaky squirrel.

I was wrong! Sort of...

So, evidently the terms in the US / Mexico agreement had been agreed to by both countries weeks before the Idiot Jerk in the White House began shrieking about tariffs.  Fool on me for believing this Moral Degenerate had successfully managed to badger a foreign country into submission.  On the other hand, we all now know for certain this little shit charade was aimed directly at his racist base.  They squeal with delight every time he puts on one of these little dictator masquerades.  They will never understand his administration is nothing more than a two bit funhouse filled with cheap trickery, just like his life.
Anyway, it's Sunday.  I'm off.  I'm going to see "Rocketman" this evening.
Oh, and I have to mow my grass this afternoon - tomorrow it's supposed to be rainy.
Cori, the woman who does the artwork for my books, has lived on farms for most of her life.  She tells me my big, black snakey friend has probably been living here for some time.  My catching a glance of him on my back sidewalk was extremely rare.  That's fine with me.  I'm tired of having to put mousetraps out every fall.  This is how nature works, you know?
And my peaches are maturing:

There are only seven peaches on the tree, but I guess that's just fine for the first crop.  Here's a closeup of one:

The only problem is that they're small... about the size of large plums.  I thought it was a full size tree, but it's a dwarf so I guess this is about as good as it gets.

On the other hand, my nectarine tree has 17 nectarines.  It is not a dwarf, so will grow to between 15 and 20 feet in height.  This means I'll end up with baskets of nectarines.

Mexico caved

After today I have 2 more days off.  I'm excited even though weather forecasters are predicting Monday will be a washout.  Rain, you know?  More rain,  That means I will need to get the lawn mowed tomorrow.
So, the wife of one of my Navy buddies posted a list of the "10 best reads for the summer" on Facebook yesterday.  Good humoredly I asked her where my book (s) were.  Her response was to ask if I was going to read 'her book,' a 118 page volume of essays she'd published in 2016. which was only available in paperback format.  I had no problem buying her book, I can give to my friend Betsy as a Christmas present.  This morning I find a comment from her; she purchased the less expensive Kindle version rather than the paperback, which has the same cost as her book.  Cheap.  I replied by saying I was anticipating her "sparkling review."  Let me tell you, I was a bit irritated.  The fair thing for her to do would have been to pay the same $$ as I was paying.
And, in case you didn't see the headlines, Mexico caved to the Idiot Jerk in the White House.  They should have paid attention to China, learned from them, but they didn't.  What they have done is put themselves in the same position as the contractors who do work on the Idiot Jerk's properties.  Any time he wants he can claim they're not holding up their end of the bargain, and once again threaten them with taxes.  The probability factor of this happening is extremely high.  If they're not holding their breaths, they should be since it's just a matter of time.
Oh, and there's a new couple on the block:  Xi and Vlad.  They're getting quite cozy, going boating together and doing 'what not' in private.  This must be infuriating for the Idiot Jerk.  Chinese exports need to go somewhere, and Russia's just as good as the United States.  Oops!  Whether you want to understand this or not, the Idiot Jerk has in fact initiated World War III.  He's going to bloody the world's economy because he's stupid.  He is the end of the Republican Party.  The GOP has been setting up their downfall for years and their MAGA head base will follow them into oblivion.  Mitch McConnell's 'do nothing' legislature tactic is going to smash him into a bloody pulp.  You see, they never understood Karma, that 'what goes around comes around' because they never understood "I" and "me" and "my" are not the three most important words in the human language.  No one ever said Republicans were smart.

Not your Average Saloon Girl

It's Saturday, June 1.  Being the first Saturday of the month, we have our Kid's Workshop.  Because the weather is supposed to be nice, we are going to be swamped with kids, well over 300, who's parents fail to comprehend we are a warehouse home improvement store.  We block aisles and use lift equipment.  Many of our customers have long since passed through the 'parenting stage' and now see so many children as a nuisance.  Because the mothers and fathers of the 'over 300' don't understand this, chaos will reign.  I'm seriously thinking of requesting off the first Saturday of every month.
For those interested in purchasing a paperback copy of "The Body in the Tower," use this link:  it's in 'books' at Amazon.  It's 278 pages long, which is 41 pages longer than the first book.  And remember, reviews... reviews... reviews.  They are important.  I buy a lot from Amazon and I usually try and leave reviews.  Mostly their good.  Every now and then I buy something that's not quite up to snuff and I let them know.  Hopefully, your reviews will be good.
And regarding the new project:  my original notes called for a restaurant / diner, similar to Denny's.  Last evening, however, I realized that wasn't going to work.  The current day Rattler's Den (town name) needed something more, something with a little more pizzazz.  So while I was doing my cardio, I started thinking about saloons, something a little crusty, a little touristy, and, of course, something from my childhood popped into my head.

Anybody out there remember Miss Kitty?  She was not your average saloon girl.
Oh, and by the way, the Idiot Jerk has threatened Mexico with a tariff... because of the immigrants.  Humans have been migrating for thousands of years, but the white Republican party doesn't like migration, the flow of human beings from one location to the next.  They want to build walls.  Maybe, instead of doing that they should read a little chapter from the Old Testament called... Exodus.  I mean, they were brown people, too, in fact they looked a lot like Syrians, and Iraqis, and Saudis, and Iranians... but don't tell that to the Evangelicals.
Oh, and the administration also downgraded India out of 'favored nation' status in order to raise export prices to them.
In case you didn't realize it, the Idiot Jerk in the White House is a terrible businessman who's only good at selling lies about his business acumen. 

Oh... My

Well, it's Friday and there is no rain forecast which means there should be no tornado warnings and no flood warnings.  We did get some substantial downpours yesterday afternoon, but nothing pressing enough for us at the store to 'head to higher ground.'
My, aren't things ramping up in the Trade Wars?  Now, the Idiot Jerk in the White House wants to pop a 5% tariff on all goods coming in from Mexico because he hates them Spanish speaking brown people.  That's going to hurt, but then he likes hurting people. 
I saw Kim Dumb Shit purged people who he blamed for his failed summit with the Idiot Jerk... and for him the easiest way to purge is to execute.  I don't know if he fed anybody to the dogs, but I'd say that's a possibility.
Oh, and apparently the racist reason for the citizenship question on the next census is seeping to the surface:  gerrymandering.  That's right. White Supremacist Republicans are looking for a way that will make gerrymandering voting districts easier, they want to insure every white vote gets counted.  They see no value in Spanish speaking voters.
And Sean Hannity tried to excoriate the media last night.  The Idiot Jerk in the White House has been having a really bad couple of days and Sean is pissed off!  Actually, I think all Republicans are pissed!  Of course, they're going to blame the media rather than the Idiot Jerk in the White House.  From Mueller's refusal to exonerate the Idiot Jerk, to the Navy having to move the USS John McCain, to Tweets admitting the Russkies helped him get elected (since been deleted), the amount of shit coming out of the Idiot Jerk has surged to a level akin to diarrhea from hell.  And American Voters are looking at this and saying..."Hell, this guy's a real shit bag."
Anyway, still no news from KDP on when the paperback version of The Body in the Tower will be ready for purchase.  They say it can take up to 72 hours.  Patience is a virtue.  And don't forget those reviews.  They actually create a cascading effect, more reviews lead to higher sales which, hopefully, lead to higher sales.
Finally, a palette cleanser.  I have a white rose bush and in between the storms yesterday I took couple of pictures.

Now, ain't that nice?  Their heady scent perfumes the air.

Puerto Rico's Illegal Immigrant Problem

I guess just about everybody knows about the Twitter tirade the Idiot Jerk in the White House went on yesterday, lambasting the Mayor of San Juan, saying she had poor leadership abilities.  If most people weren't aware of it then, they should certainly know now that Puerto Rico has an illegal immigrant problem.  I'm talking about the fact that those living there have brown skin (like those bad hombres from South of the Border), and speak Spanish (again like those bad hombres from South of the Border).  The Idiot Jerk in the White House has obviously lumped all people who have dark skin and speak Spanish into one group:  Immigrants.  The idea that Puerto Rico is a colony that is, in one way or another, been working towards statehood makes absolutely no sense to the Idiot Jerk.  Oh, and you have to remember that in 2016 they voted for Hillary, if that doesn't make them bad hombres nothing does.  I'd say this is the reason he's been a little lax when it comes to providing them with aid.  Let's be honest, it's not like their Houston, which voted for him.
This is sad, but I can practically hear him asking "where are all the White People at?  If they're a colony, shouldn't there be more White People?  If they're not White, then they've got to be there illegally.  Were they invaded by those bad hombres from South of the Border?"
No one ever said he was rational.  Besides, he's no doubt still fuming that "Little Marco" won the primary.  I'm surprised he has sent his Voter Fraud lackeys to investigate that loss.  Don't forget that "Little Marco" also has dark skin and speaks Spanish.  I wouldn't be surprised if he wasn't made to show his citizenship papers every time he voted in Congress.  Can't you hear the Idiot Jerk saying "hey, Little Marco, hold up your papers, prove you're not illegal."
Anyway, they are finally starting to step the aid relief, I suspect only because the Republicans are beginning to look really bad.  References are being tossed about regarding the Idiot Bush and Katrina.  Not that the Idiot Jerk supporters care.  I'm sure they're just as confused as the Idiot Jerk, believing that anyone and everyone who has dark skin and speaks Spanish must be an illegal.

Channeling Ethel

For a minute yesterday afternoon I thought I was channeling Ethel Merman because I had this overwhelming desire to start singing "everything's coming up roses! (a Grand Jury has been convened) and daffodils! (phone call transcripts published) Everything's coming up roses for you (and the Idiot Jerk looked like an Idiot Jerk) and for me!"  Of course I didn't because customers in the flooring department would have thought my senses had taken flight.  Still...  And from what I've heard the Idiot Jerk is seething with rage because... he's an Idiot Jerk.
About those transcripts, some people are saying they went a bit too far... sorry, everybody knows, or at least should know, that had the Idiot Jerk been holding phone call transcripts he'd have read cherry picked morsels at his rally's, and his supporters would have raised the roof!  He's desperately trying to pivot his supporter's attention back to the Clinton emails, a dead horse if ever there was one, without understanding that everyone with half a brain knows it's a dead horse.
"Let me, entertain you.. " sorry, Ethel keeps creeping into my consciousness and I don't want to break into song because I don't nearly have the range she had.  And then there's is that Grand Jury "and sunshine and Santa Claus," ... holy crap!  She's taking over me.  I can't hold her back.  Ladies and Gentleman!  here's Ethel!

The turbulence has started

Remember when I said it's going to be a bumpy flight?  Well, the turbulence has started, mostly with stupid shit, like crowd size.  But then you have to remember that DT is all about size.  The bigger the better.  And now there's the bit about the illegal voters.  He can not correlate facts.  In his mind, if he's won the presidency then logically he had to have the most popular votes (being popular is essential), and if he didn't, well than it had to have been illegals.
And it's going to get worse.
I can't even begin to imagine what things must be like behind backstage, and I'm purposely using the word backstage, because every time DT gets in front of the camera he's putting on a performance.  Like an actor with little talent, however, he only has 2 or three faces:  the grimace, the growl, and the guffaw.  Is it any wonder Kellyanne wore her circus outfit to the inauguration?  I mean, I wonder how many rings are going on simultaneously behind the closed doors.  And we haven't even got a glimpse of the side shows yet.

Today, from what I've read, the idiot is going to issue some sort of Executive Order about The Wall.  He likes grandiose schemes.  Size, remember?  The big wall?  The wall Mexico was supposed to pay for?  The Wall which is going to add to our national debt?  The Wall which is taxpayer funded?  But that's okay.  His fans are happy.  Until taxes have to be raised.  Then we'll hear a different story.