Putin's Puppet

And another sunny day is in store for us here in Central PA!  Once again our afternoon high is going to be in the mid 60s (F).  This is perfect autumn weather.  Leaves are slowly beginning to change color.  The air is not quite crisp yet.  We need to enjoy it while it lasts.

Yesterday retail was slow.  That doesn't mean I wasn't working.  There is a "store walk" with the regional vice president on Tuesday, so those associates not helping customers are tasked with making the store look like it's opening day.  I've been through these before, in fact I've experienced a "walk" by a corporate vice president, even having a small conversation with her.  The real issue is that every store manager within driving distance will show up for "the walk," as will every store manager in training, and anyone with aspirations of climbing up the corporate ladder.  This means there will be about 125 people meandering up and down the aisles.  These are the people who will whisper among themselves about the empty spots on shelves and overall store appearance.  There was a time when I cared, but now?  What the hay?  I'm not even scheduled to work on Tuesday.

Last night was my hometown's Halloween parade.  Usually there's an easy detour around it, however, that detour was closed because of road construction.  Normally it's a 16 minute drive from the store to my house.  Last night it took almost 45 minutes to get home.

A bit about the Lindsey Graham sex revelation that was not so much of a revelation.  Had it been about Josh Hawley?  That would have been an explosive revelation.  I don't know who  thought this news was going to shatter the voters in South Carolina, but most of the people down there are shrugging it off.  One of the sex workers was seventeen years old.  It's not like Lindsey corrupted some fresh faced school boy, the young man was a sex worker.  This news is not going to rock the midterm elections.

So, Orangie had another one of his rallies last evening, this one in Sioux City, Iowa.  He doesn't really speak any more, he rambles.  Once again, there were the hecklers.  He also glitched 3 times, twice making odd noises and once simply standing there with his mouth open.  Last week there was a video of him leaving the stage and walking past his car, heading towards a field.  His dementia is growing more and more apparent.  What we really need to start doing is asking loudly, just who's running the government?  Who's making the decisions?  I suspect he truly is Putin's puppet, with Vlad's orders coming through various sources, Witkoff, Miller, and Rubio, to name a few.  This administration's policy is clearly aimed at aligning us with Russia.  You can bet that this pleases Vlad to no end.

And evidently there are a lot of people in the Department of Defense who want Hegseth gone.  Tick, tock.  Tick, tock.

Trump Sells Out America

 Well, it's officially chilly here in Central PA.  When I woke up the temp was 51 (F), it's now down to 49 (F).  Temps normally rise as the day goes on, not drop.  Our high today is supposed to be in the mid 50s (F), so we'll have to wait and see how much of a bounce back we're going to get.  We are under a freeze warning for tonight.  This means that that the frost might be on the pumpkin.

Yesterday was kind of a meh day.  I was busy in the morning, mostly shopping.  I now have hamburger for the rest of the month.  I now get my meats at Karn's, they cost about the same as I'd pay at my local Giant supermarket, but are fresh.  That's become important to me, especially under this administration.

I did bake another loaf of bread, this one in the bread machine.  I didn't get the ratio of white flour to wheat flour right and since wheat flour doesn't rise as much as white flour, I ended up with what I'm calling a low flying loaf.  The bread tastes great, it's just very... compact.

A group of people filed a class-action suit against the orange retailer I work for a little over a year ago.  Their complaint was that during Covid associates weren't getting paid correctly for the breaks they were forced to take.  Their complaint must have been legit because I got a check for $19.10 yesterday.  As I said to a friend, it'll help; Brent crude hit $110 a barrel yesterday.

And, if there was any doubt, the Orange Anus signed an Executive Order last evening stopping all sanctions against Russia, saying it was in America's best interests.  He lies.  His decision has absolutely nothing to do with America's best interests.  His best interests are the ones that are at stake, and only his, no one else matters.  Remember that meeting he had with his blow bro Vlad in Alaska?  The one where after a private meeting with Vlad, everyone came  into the room looking distraught?  I suspect we're about to find out what it was that Vlad said to them.

Here are a couple of pics of Orangie that were taken at Mar a Lago yesterday.

This is the face of a man who's going to sell out America, and that act might not be enough to save his own skin.  

I asked myself why would he do something this terrible so close to the midterms?  This is a rather desperate move by his friend Vlad.  And, I'm thinking his blow bro Vlad knows how terrible the midterms are going to be.  Vlad's 5 year war with Ukraine is not going well.  The idea to slow down Starshield blew up in their faces, and now Elonia and Orangie are pointing fingers at each other.  Vlad is growing desperate.  Why else have his stooge Orangie betray America so close to an election?  So prep yourselves, desperate villains do desperate things.  

Death on a Bot Farm

Boy, did we have rain yesterday, steady throughout the day, sometimes torrential.  Not until I was heading home from work did the downpours end.  We had a bit of a breeze, but no wind.  The clouds will be hanging around today, and the temps are expected to rise.  We should have temps topping off in the low 80s (F) for the next 3 days.  Then the Autumn cool down is going to begin again.

As expected, sales were low yesterday because of the rain.  Football was televised throughout the afternoon.  Customers had many reasons for now going shopping.  As a result, I hit my step goal twice!  I walked many miles before leaving for the day.  This is a good thing.

I also purchased a white, food-safe bucket.  I ordered 25 pounds of wheat berries (yes, they call them berries, not grains) which will be arriving Wednesday and it needs to be stored.  The orange buckets we sell are not food-safe.  They are fine for the container garden, but that's about it.

One of the few inflatables in our Christmas display has developed a problem.  Something is wrong with his blower.  As a result, he's visibly vibrating, and, unfortunately, it looks like he's masturbating.

And in case you missed this little tidbit, apparently Ukraine destroyed 3 datacenters in Russia and all of a sudden disappearance of pro MAGA in the states and pro AfD accounts in Germany.  In fact, it appears as though many far right commentators on X, Threads, and Orangie's Truth Social were born and raised on a Bot Farm.  Here's a graphic courtesy of Tomas Zdechovsky.

Thanks to Ukraine, they died when those farms were blown apart and incinerated... and just before our midterms.  I understand that Truth Social has been hurt badly, and that a lot of the AI videos love sharing with Orangie are now gone.  Elonia's also pissed because now much of the hate traffic on Twitter, or which he likes to called X, but I think of as Zitter, is seriously down.  As many started pointing out yesterday afternoon, so much of this MAGA loyalty has been a scam.  For an added bit of hilarity, I understand that millions of incels who'd thought they'd found love on the internet are now crushed and heartbroken.  As is, I don't doubt, Orangie's blow bro Vlad.

Finally, some wacked out MAGA influencer, Nick Sortor, posted that he'd been told by a woman claiming to be an employee at the Lindner Center for Hope, that James Talarico had been receiving treatment there.  Both the hospital and Talarico's campaign called out this lie.  He was evidently at a Casey Musgrove concert.  It's safe to bet that legal proceedings will follow.

Russian Asset

Well, in case anyone is wondering, we have steady rain.  This happens when a tropical storm arrives on the scene.  What we're getting are soaking rains, nothing torrential.  They should continue, on and off, throughout most of the day.  No wind.  Not even the shadow of a breeze.  That's fine.  The storm is brining some late summer warmth up into Central PA.  Our afternoon high might even reach 80 (F) on Wednesday.

I also have wet dog.  My other dogs despised the rain.  Howie?  He just saunters around in it, sniffing at this bush, peeing on that one.  He has a thick coat so steady rains don't phase him.

I did work yesterday. Time was spent in both the paint department and at the flooring desk.  In flooring, we have a customer who wants us to let him pay for his install (over $6000) through our app so he can get American Airlines points.  It ain't gonna happen.  He's already talked to someone in our Atlanta offices and they told him, "it ain't gonna happen."  This happens occasionally, customers who feel they can tell us how our software systems are supposed to work.  Stores cannot rewrite code to give the customers what they wants, and what this gentleman wants is his American Airline points.  He's returning on Monday so we can "explore this issue."  Sorry, there's nothing to explore.

It seems as if more and more people are starting to believe that the sitting president of the United States is a Russian Asset.  

Honestly, why are so many people realizing this now?  This has been so obvious for years.  Has everybody forgotten how desperate he was during his first term to meet the dictator he idolizes?  Barely a day seemed to pass without him saying that he was hoping to meet with Vlad.  And when they did finally meet, Vlad gave him a white soccer ball... with a hidden microphone, which makes me wonder if ear buds might have come in a separate package.

So, is he Orange Anus a Russian Asset?  I don't doubt that he would prefer you to call him a business partner.  Does Vlad have dirt on 47? Possibly, though I think Orangie's problem is his extreme idolatry of the Russkie dictator.  While he says he likes Kim Jung Dumb, he simply adores Vlad, who is the ultimate CEO.  This is why he will do whatever he can to please the war criminal from Russia.  Strike a deal for diesel?  Consider it done.  Demand Zelensky step down?  Right away, sir.  Barely is the day in which we don't learn of more people in this administration who are wannabe Muscovites.  These stupid people have no idea what fire they are playing with.

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."

Desperate Measures

Another night of decent sleeping weather.  At 0730, our outside temp is 59 (F).  If the weather forecasters are correct, our high this afternoon should be around 80 (F).  That's warm, but not hot.  Believe me, things would feel a lot hotter if this were the middle of July.  Of course, that might only be how I perceive things.  I think this has to do with the angle with which the sun's race hit the earth, but my science is not good enough to define this as fact.

Yesterday was somewhat busy.  I mowed the grass and wacked the weeds.  Howie found a branch that's too heavy for him to bring into the house.  This is fine.  He's learning his limitations.  I was supposed to ride my bike, but used the mowing and the wacking as my cardio.   My trainer had no problem with this.  I'm of the belief that pushing around my mower and waving around my wacker provides better exercise than riding around in a cart playing 9 holes of golf.  There might be some health benefits in walking those 9 holes, but the cart?  Absolutely not.

This week is odd because I have 5 days off in a row.  While there are plenty of things to do with the house, I'm finding that I'm mostly uncomfortably whiling away the hours.  I am not used to sitting around.

I'm still waiting to see if the blog gets approved by Ad-Sense.  I've read that the process can take between 2 and 4 weeks.  If I get approved I might be able to buy an even better bottle of wine, if not?  Well, that's how life is.

When I saw the news of Dolly's death I had to cry for a bit.  

And then there's this turd: John Ratcliffe flew to Russia yesterday.  

He flew there on the quiet, dignitaries don't usually fly on military transports.  No one knew he was a passenger on a plane that flew from Washington, DC, to Latvia, and then Moscow.  People didn't putting things together until there were photos of an automobile with dignitary license plates speeding to the Kremlin.  So, why the big mystery?  Is Orangie getting new marching orders?  The internet is rife with suspicions that I will not repeat here.  My take is that things are not going according to plan.  Every attempt Orangie has made to help his blo bro Vlad have failed.  Orangie, himself, initiated another unjust war that is failing.  And here in the states, the anger against this administration is growing almost exponentially.  The people who thought they would be winning are losing mostly because their plans were based on assumptions.  The target audience for these people is not even close to being as large as they thought it was.  I suspect there is the likelihood of desperate measures that will fail. 

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.

The Body in 4/4 Time - the video

Good morning!  We have 67 (F) outside and fog for miles and miles.  The sun is attempt to shine through and I don't doubt that very soon it will.  We have a lot of humidity.  No showers are in our forecast, just higher temps.  By Thursday we should be able to cook an egg on the sidewalk, unless you have a dog named Howie who will eat that sucker up before it has a chance to sizzle.

Work was slow yesterday.  Our store did not make plan for last week.  The dreaded lead table was not set up.  Maybe they realized, as Treaders suggested, no one was really going to sign up for a $10,000 home improvement project just to get a hot dog.  I'll be interested in whether or not they decide to set it up for next weekend.  It's a holiday.  Historically, traffic is not heavy on the Fourth of July.  Too many people are having cook-outs and barbeques.  Besides, the temperature is going to be around 102 (F).  The only ones showing up are gong to be those believing we're going to be running special holiday sales.  We do run specials, but they tend to be at the end of fiscal months, fiscal quarters, and halves, and at year end.

So, I've been toying around with making a short video introducing The Body in 4/4 Time, and the results are... okay.  If I had spent more time, I might have been able to emphasize a downbeat, or played around with the subtitles, which are gone in the blink of an eye.  Still, the beat is there, though I guess for some the question will be "is this 4/4 time?"  After all, it is really all about the beat.

And Orangie's great Freedom America fair continues to fail.  This is like his failed military parade.  He so desperately wanted it to be like his Blo Bro Vlads, whose parade this year was extensively toned down because he was afraid the Ukraine would blow it up. Things are so bad in Russia, that this past week when Vlad addressed the Russian congress and told that that the country had difficult times ahead.  He's losing the war.  It turns out that the great authoritarian government he bragged about to the world was nothing more than propaganda.  All of those authoritarian conservatives, like Jim Jordan and the rest of his ilk who dreamt of creating an American version are now finding out that they fell in love with smoke and mirrors.  It seems as though the Ukraine has all of the cards, while Vlad doesn't even have enough talent to pull a rabbit out of a hat.

The US Supreme Court is set to release 8 decisions today. That's right.  Today we learn if Alito, and Thomas, and Roberts cement their positions as the worst, most despicable, anti-democracy members of the court in the history of this country.  I'm betting they do.

We're going to be cookin'

The skies are overcast here in Central PA.  We had a lot of drizzles yesterday, but nothing even coming close to a steady, soaking rain.  The  clouds are supposed to clear this afternoon.  Temps are supposed to begin warming up.  Boy, are they supposed to begin warming up.  By the end of this week our temps are going to be stinkin' hot.  When I looked at the long range forecast, I had to take a moment.  Trying to remember, I don't think I've ever seen a forecast with highs this... high.  We've already had a heat wave with temps grazing around the 100 (F).  These temps are going to be even hotter.

I got a decent workout in yesterday.  I also finished the first chapter of The Body in the Words.  Style-wise, more changes are going to be happening with this book.  

I also worked yesterday.  They've started doing what they call a "lead table" again.  Yesterday they were trying to bribe customers with a hot dog.  If they sign up to have someone talk to them about having a major home improvement done, they got a free hot dog.  Basically, you're wasting an hour of your time standing there talking to no one.  Still, someone in corporate thinks this is a good idea.

And for those wondering, here's our long range forecast.

And one of the things I find particularly sad is that conservatives, so desperate to force a conservative authoritarian government on America saw Russia as a good example of how they should do it.  And now Russia is falling apart.  Imagine, believing Putin's line of propaganda for 26 years only to find out that it was nothing more than horseshit.  What are conservatives going to now?  Why, fail of course.  They've always been failures as human beings, and now they're going to do it in a spectacular fashion on the world stage.

To end on an amusing note.  A lot of people are beginning to believe that Mitch McConnel has died and they're keeping a lid on that fact.  If it were made public, Andy Bashear, the governor of Kentucky, might replace him with a Democrat.  Ouch!

Stay Tuned

 Good morning world!  Here in Central PA we've got thick clouds overhead.  The humidity is even thicker.  Rain is on the way.  Our daily high will only be in the mid 70s (F)  One good thing about this weather is that I'll not have to water my raised garden.

Speaking of the garden, I've got lots of tomatoes on the vine and even tiny cucumber or two.  So far there are no peppers.  I will be disappointed if I don't get at least one Poblano.  The eggplant has lots of leaves, but so for no blooms.

My movie buddy Patty used to be a dental assistant, so she and I spent a lot of time texting after yesterday's dental fiasco.  It turns out that the dental work they billed me for is the work that's supposed to be done in November.  I paid for work the invoice lists as being done on quadrants 3 and 30 and those are on the left side of my mouth.  There was a serious communication breakdown.  Because this was their mistake my visit in November will be free.  If they try and charge me, I'm going to have to raise my voice.

Otherwise yesterday was fine.  I was in Bavaria for a nice, if hilly bike ride.  Then I putzed around for a bit before playing Balder's Gate 3.

Since the next book is taking place near the town of Ballymoney, County Antrim, in Northern Ireland, I thought it fitting that I should be listening to Irish folk music.  Right now, this is playing.  And no, there are no Irish dancers in the book... yet.  Maybe when they get to the Iris pub.

Of course, the American State Fair is off to a rocky start.  Honestly, who in their right mind would even think that anything done by the Orange Anus would be a success.  Ten states are not involved, and those that did send something?  Let's see... Alaska sent an area rug.  Illinois sent a small display about corn.  Basically they have a Ferris wheel, boring booths, and no funnel cakes.... Wait!  They're having a state fair with out funnel cakes?  Looking at the pictures reinforces the fact that everything Orangie touches dies.

And it appears that Orangie's blow bro Vlad is having a rough day in Russia.  His military is not happy with him because he took a large part of their air defense away from them so it could be used to protect those military targets the Ukraine keeps blowing up.  Their running low on gas thanks to Ukrainian drones.  Skyrocketing inflation is pissing off the people. And Vlad?  Any change in his plans would mean his calculations were wrong, that he made a horrible mistake. Will there be a coup?  Lots of whispers are swirling.  If there is, will Russia go through a civil war?  Stay tuned.

The Memorial Weekend Begins

So, here we are on Saturday morning, the first day of a three day weekend, a holiday weekend, and our outside temp is 49 (F), and we have a steady rain.  Folks, I don't want to be the bearer of bad news, but here in Central PA, it ain't gonna get much better.  Our high temp might be in the low 60s (F).  I'm not talking about a patch of rain, nor a swath of rain, I'm talking about an enormous sheet of rain covering almost the entire northeast of the country.  The skies are not going to start clearing up until sometime on Monday.   Tuesday's going to be nice.  That's a good thing.  I don't work on Tuesdays and I am definitely going to have to mow the lawn.

Yesterday was sort of busy.  I didn't cook anything special.  Dinner was ham salad.  That was the last of the Easter ham.  I did some grocery shopping.  I bought a ham hock so perhaps on Tuesday I'll make bean soup.  I have tons of dried beans, some wrinkly old potatoes, so I'll probably stop off at the supermarket on my way home from work tomorrow and pick up a carrot or two.  

I am scheduled to work this afternoon.  I'm not expecting it to be busy.  It is the holiday weekend.  Those who do show up will only be doing so because they're looking for the Memorial Day sales.  In the flooring department, we're doing a free install on specialty carpet.  Up until about 8 months ago, all of our carpet installs were free.  Then they began charging so could see an install charge on their quote, however, to offset this they lowered all of the carpet prices.  Then, 3 months ago, they repriced carpet according to density and... if you guessed that 70% of our carpets went up in price you'd be right.  And that increase was more than the amount they deducted to offset the install charge.  Remember, it's all about insuring that the customer pays as much as possible. It's all about greed.

And here's another picture of some of my roses.

What about Tulsi Gabbard quitting?  She's always been seen as a Russian asset, so I'm suspecting Putin has more important issues for her to attend.  I'm suspecting that perhaps her resignation was a mutual decision by both her and Orangie.  In his mind women are good for one thing, and one thing only, and diplomacy is not that one thing.  I also suspect that Orangie's blow bro Vlad is not too happy with Orangie's performance.  One of his main objectives, after all, was to insure that Ukraine capitulated.  Now that Ukraine is kicking Vlad's booty boy ass in so many Russian cities, it must be obvious to Vlad that Orangie is too untethered to be any use at all to him.  Even the real estate goons, Witkoff and Kushner seem to have disappeared form the negotiating stage, and both had some serious ties to Vlad.  I'm suspecting that Orangie's abysmal approval ratings have turned him into the biggest political anchor the world has ever seen.

Bombing Moscow

Yesterday the temp got up to 89 (F).  I consider that warm.  Today and tomorrow the forecasters are saying that our high temps are going to hit 98 (F).  That's hot.  That's mid July weather, not middle of the month of May weather.  Thursday a cooling trend is predicted to start with high temps for the rest of the week hovering in the mid to upper 70s (F).  Start prepping for the heat waves now.

I had lunch with my friend Betsy yesterday.  We always do Chinese buffet for the meal and Dairy Queen for the dessert.  This is our routine.  Conversation is always good.  Sometimes if revolves around age, since both of us are getting older; there ain't no stopping that.   She rents and I feel bad about that for her.  But then at some point, all of us seniors will end up paying some form of rent, either to a landlord or to a senior living facility.  American capitalism dictates that unless we are wealthy, we will always owe.  At least I will have a financial cushion when I sell my house.  That's something many will not have.

The thought had occurred to me to take the day off using the warm temps as an excuse, but I probably won't. It's not as though I have any plans to occupy my time.  So, I suppose I'll be punching for my normal Monday shift.

And here's a real old pic of me from high school.  While this isn't dated, I think it's from 1969, the year I graduated.  This was long before I could grow a moustache.  Don't those lapels rock!

One of the things that came up in my conversation with Betsy yesterday was, as you might expect, the Orange Anus.  She had a very dim view of our future, believing the Republicans are going to destroy everything.  I did my best to convince her otherwise, whether I was successful or not is anybody's guess.  It did brighten her day when I showed her the pics and videos of Moscow being hit by drones and missiles.  It's my understand that internet coverage was shut down in large swaths of the country.  A spokesperson for Orangei's blow bro Vlad shrieked that Ukraine had stooped to terrorism, and the world laughed at him.  Vlad's in a bit of a stinky mood.  He had to cut short his VE parade.  The Russia economy is in the shitter.  He's relying on North Korean solders to help on the battlefield.  And now Moscow being bombed.  I'm wondering how long it will be before he slips, trips, and falls out of a wndow.

And finally, the blasphemers gathered on the Washington Mall yesterday in an attempt to spread their heresy.  Like everything associated with the Orange Anus and his regime, the fools our going to fail badly.  Everything he touches dies.

Vlad's Teeny, Tiny Party

So, it's Sunday, a day of rest, and I'm going to work all day.  My rest days are Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday.  Hopefully the weather will be warmer on those days. That doesn't mean it's not going to get warm today.  This afternoon's temp is going to be in the low 70s (F).  Tomorrow, however, the daily highs are will start a run of afternoon highs in the upper 60s (F).  Believe me, those are not bad temps.  There are very few of us who want to jump into the hot, hot days of summer.

I have no workouts scheduled on Saturdays, so yesterday was a rather easy day for me.  I did do things in the morning.  This doesn't mean that anything was actually done.  Drizzle started in the morning and ended fall throughout Central PA until mid afternoon.  Eventually the sun came out, so when I left work everything was nice.

Retail was interesting.  I sold my tile floor job.  I got a measure.  Management should be happy.  I'm going to miss my sales goal for the week, but then sales are down.  Biggly.  How do I know?  I can see all of the sales figures for every flooring specialist in our district.  Of the over 25 flooring specialists, only a handful have positive numbers. That tile job I sold was for $902.  People are beginning to cheap it out.

Here's a pic of the purply flowers I bought.  They'll be planted tomorrow morning.

So, Orangie's blow bro Vlad threw a party for Victory Day and nobody came... well, that's not quite right.  There was a small crowd.  I believe the fact that there was a internet blackout over all of Moscow probably had something to do with that.  Also, the fact that there was a threat of a Ukrainian attack might have effected the turnout as well.  The North Koreans were there.  I didn't see an exact count, but it may have been that there were more North Koreans marching in the parade than Russians, perhaps because so many Russians have died in Putin's useless war.  He's becoming a very unpopular person in Russia, and this is good.

And the fallout continues to grow for Orangie's golden statue.  You know it's bad when is televangelist friend and crackpot Mark Burns is running around shrieking "it's not a golden calf!"  No, it isn't.  It's a 22 foot golden statue of Orangie swathed in a flowing robe, and he prayed over it and blessed it.  Mark Burns must not believe in the 2nd commandment.

Finally, Secretary of Transportation is getting a lot of grief because he and his family recorded a reality TV show of them traveling across the country.  Maybe if he were doing his job, a man wouldn't have been hit and killed by a Frontier plane taking off yesterday.  That's right, a man was hit by a plane.

The Serpent with the Golden Tongue

 Okay, so last night was a little cold.  This morning our temp was 41 (F).  Oddly enough, they were calling for a frost warning.  I didn't see the warning which ended a short time ago, but with overnight lows in the 40s (F) there's no way we're going to have frost.  Today we start warming up again.  By Wednesday we should be in the upper 70s(F), but only for a day.  Another cold front is expected to move through the region and daily highs will drop back into the upper 60s (F).

Retail was hopping in our garden department yesterday.  There was a bit of a breeze and the temps were in the mid 50s (F), but it was so very sunny.  Today's going to be a repeat.  My flooring customer called and said she had been called in to work and so she'd be showing up today to purchase.  I also received a call from one of my carpet installs, he, too, will be showing up today.  This means I should be processing 2 sales today.  Management will like that.

I've almost reached level 80 on Expedition 33.  On my first play through, as soon as the Paintress was dispatched, I moved directly onto the endgame without even attempting some of the areas on the map, those that were far more difficult.  This time I'm effecting the challenge.  And even though the boss fights are extremely brutal, they're still a lot of fun.  I'm also learning so much more about the war between the writer's and the painters, and how it was the older daughter, Clea's jealousy and anger reached malevolent proportions.  Tonight I'm going to the Isle of Eyes.

Overnight, the Orange Anus said the Cuba was going to be next.  If you didn't expect this, you haven't been paying attention, or else you're not getting your information from the right sources.

In recent days leakers from the administration at first told us that Orangie wanted to be classified in the same group of powerful people as Alexander the Great, and Napoleon.  However, his mental deterioration has continued and we're now hearing the believes himself to be the most powerful man to ever have lived.  It's his ego, you know?  And with him talking with Putin so frequently, you know his blow Bro, Vlad, is encouraging his dementiated state.  There are some who think Vlad has extreme dirt on Orangie, I know, I used to think that.  However, more and more, as Orangie  attempts world domination, I'm think that he's being encouraged by Vlad, the serpent with the golden tongue.  Remember, in Orangie's mind Vlad is one of the greatest dictators in the world, andpraise from him is more than enough incentive to do the worst things in the world.

Blasphemy

Temps are warming up here in Central PA quite a bit.  By Thursday, we should be in the lower 90s (F).  I'm sorry, but we're still in April.  That's way too hot for this time of the year.  We will cool off a bit, with one forecasted day of temps in the mid 50s (F), but most days our afternoon highs will be in the upper 60s (F) to mid 70s (F).  I'm betting we start selling window A/C units like they're going out of style.

I did work yesterday.  Flooring was slow.  Our garden department was kicking.  I got my laps.  Our garden associates were sweating their little patooties off. I know this for a fact because on my trek through the store I saw a patootie lying on the floor in Aisle 55, next the the garden fertilizer, and it was definitely wearing what was left of an orange apron.  Here's a word to the wise, if you're shopping for curb appeal, looking for garden supplies, or feel the urge to peruse the petunias, do it on a weekday.  While there are those who still believe weekends were made for Michelob, there are many more who don't understand that visiting a home improvement garden center on a weekend means long lines and short tempers.

On the bright side, I did manage to sell 2 install measures.  

Otherwise yesterday was same old, same old, and might have been about as quiet a day as we get with this administration, and then this happened.  True, it is AI, but it gives you a good idea of what's going on in Orangie's head.

He posted this after attacking Pope Leo for being weak.  The truth is that Orangie knows that Pope Leo is a very popular religious leader, and Orangie, in his demented state, needs his cult to see him as a very popular religious leader.  Or maybe he felt he needed to do something to change the subject of Vik Orban's landslide loss to some other subject, something more authoritarian, something more blasphemous.  If that was his intention, he somewhat succeeded, at least in America.  People keep asking how can he be even more outrageous, well, they simply need to stop asking because he will undoubtedly find away.

And Vik Orban did lose badly in Hungary.  Tisza party needed a super majority of seats to take total control and then ended up with 138.  Orbie Baby lost so badly he had no choice but to concede.  Keep in mind Orbie still has allies in the government who will try to stall and hinder Hungary from moving to full Democracy.  But his loss was a sucker punch to Putin.  I'm betting Vlad is more than a little miffed.  His war with the Ukraine is now in it's 5th year and his budso Vik just got the shit kicked out of him in a general election.  

Fashion This

We have 65 (F) outside and light rain, in fact Howie got drizzled on because I didn't know the morning showers had started.  Thunderstorms are expected this afternoon.  Once the pass, we will have more seasonal temps with daily highs climbing into the mid to upper 50s (F).  Warmer days are on the way.

Yesterday was a good day.  In the morning, both my furnace and central air conditioner were serviced by Berkheimer HVAC.  This will now be a yearly occurrence.  Both units are fine.  The tech asked about bees since there were wood bees hovering around the front porch.  He's allergic.  I asked him if he had a pen with him, and he told me it was in his truck. I told him I get wood bees every year.  I spray, and then they're gone.  Howie was very good.  I used a tiny gate to keep him in the kitchen, and he just sits there and quietly watches.

I also got a 9.4 mile bike ride in on Achill Island, Ireland.  It was very nice.  I've ridden this route before, so I made it one of my favorites.  

Some time was also spent watching a Blender tutorial.  Blender is animation software that I can run on my laptop.  

And something truly odd is happening.  Back in January I went to check the mail and found a Wine Spectator magazine in my mailbox.  I can see by the label that someone must have signed me up for a subscription, since it expires in 12/26.  Yesterday I found a print copy of GQ in my mailbox.  At the top of the mailing label it says "Welcome to GQ."  If someone is gifting me subscriptions, they evidently don't know me to well.  While I will page through the Wine Spectator before putting it in the recycle bin, but GQ?  Fashion?  I don't even have enough curiosity to page through it once.

As many expected, the Orange Anus signed an Executive Order attempting to limit voting by mail, even though he votes by mail.  The administration wants a list of all registered voters so they can decide who exactly is eligible to vote.  This morning the Washington Post said it's "probably unconstitutional."  They used the word probably because Orangie gave Bezos that super tax break.  Orangie said he will defund the states that don't give him every voter's name.  Hhhm, makes one wonder what he's going to do if the states stop paying the Federal Government taxes.  

In fact, Orangie had a very bad day yesterday.  His ballroom was canceled, at least until Congress votes to build it.  As the judge said, Orangie "is the caretaker, not the owner."  Another judge said Orangie can't defund NPR and PBS.  And more European countries have said that the United States fly over their airspace to bomb Iran.  This pissed him off royally.  No matter how much he shrieks, they are not going to kiss his ass.

Just one more bit.  Because there is some serious dissatisfaction in Russia over so many things, Putin has decided to start shutting down sections of the Internet.  He's also actively shutting down VPNs because apparently many Russians use them to get around his propaganda machine.  Someone should tell him that's only going to exacerbate the situation.

 

With Friends Like These

We had rain all day yesterday, that continued into the night.  The temps stayed rather warm, which is good.  Even though Spring is only 2 weeks away, we are still in winter,  That means temp swings can happen at a moment's notice.  I understand one is approaching us, but won't be here until next weekend.  This coming week our daily highs will be in the mid to upper 60s (f), and possibly, for a day or two, in the low 70s (F).  Now, isn't that fine?

And yesterday, because of the rain, turned into one of those nappy days.  I baked bread in the morning, got my haircut, and did some shopping, but then I whittled away the afternoon working on the edit and taking naps.  To me it seemed as though I took lots of naps, though a lot of The Body in 4:$ time got edited as well. 

Howie, who usually has no problem going out when it rains, wasn't too happy.  Most of my backyard was a shallow pond and while he doesn't mind getting rained on, he seems to developed a dislike to wading.  

I did get my haircut.  I was in the shop for about 7 minutes.  My stylist was not chatty, a good thing.  However, shortly after I sat down in the chair another customer entered and he was.  It took him and his stylist about 30 seconds to blow a simple hello into a full fledged BFF gossip session.  I laughed, even though I kept telling myself that he might be enjoying the only bit of socializing he gets.  What a shame that would be if it were true.

And Kristi Noem was... demoted yesterday.  

People are saying she was fired, and that brings a lot of joy to many Americans, but in all actuality this was a lateral move to another position the Orange Anus created just for her.  That's right, she's still on the payroll and you tax dollars are still paying for hair extensions.  Some are saying that she wasn't happy, yet I suppose it was either move to the new job or try experimenting with defenestration.  Her replacement, Markwayne Mullins isn't any better.  They share the same IQ and, like Noem, will have absolutely no problem following Stevie Miller's orders.

And here's a bit of breaking news:  it seems as though the Ruskies are providing Iran with the coordinates for our ships, and planes, and automobiles.  Well, maybe not the cars.  Troop locations, when Orangie and Kegbreath send in ground forces, will also be duly noted on Iranian maps.  If you weren't expecting this, then you certainly haven't been paying attention to world politics over the past decade or so.  Surprise, Russia and Iran are BFF!

Tiny Little Putin

We're above freezing and our high this afternoon is expected to be in the low 60s (F).  Tomorrow night another cool front is going to be moving through Central PA.  The original forecast had us receiving about 2 inches of snow.  That has now been changed to rain, with smattering of ice late Monday night into Tuesday morning.  After that, temps are going to zoom upwards.  There are actually a few days in which we're expecting to breach the 60 (F) barrier.

And yesterday was one of those, hhhmm, lets get this done sort of of days.  I set up the dehumidifier in the basement.  Thinking that my basement was rife with humidity, I set it up to run nonstop.  This morning, I reset it, taking it off nonstop and setting the humidity lever at 45%.  I also did some research online.  Most of my humidity problems will happen during the spring and summer, not the fall and winter.  This means the new dehumidifier will probably be sitting in standby mode until April or May.  That's fine.  

I also managed to get a little workout in using the new piece of gym equipment.  Tomorrow I'm going to activate Trainwell for another 3 months.  I need to.  I've gained weight.  My trainer and I will have to re-evaluate my workouts since I've changed my hours.  This means I will have to put the rowing machine back together.  I may rearrange the workout room while I'm at it, or maybe not.  

One of the things I did yesterday was back a chocolate olive oil cake... from scratch.  Most recipes are for vanilla or lemon flavored cakes but I was craving deep, dark chocolate, so that's what I made.  With a peanut butter drizzle frosting.  Yum.

So, I guess everyone knows that the Orange Anus, in conjunction with Israel, has started a war with Iran.  This is not a good thing.  It's also the ultimate distraction from the Epstein files, especially after they realized questioning the Clintons was a non-starter.  You can only kick a dead horse so many times before the village idiots begin to lose interest.  That's one of the many things the GOP has never learned.  Keep in mind, Iran and Russia are Best Friends Forever.  It's my understanding that Iran supplies many of the drones to Russia for their war with the Ukraine.  Vlad thought his puppet Orangie would play by Vlad's rules, however Orangie doesn't want the Epstein files to come out because it would be catastrophic for the family business.  If you want to look for a source for all of the shit going down in the world, you need look no further than Vlad Putin, a failing dictator who no matter how grand he sees himself in his head, is really nothing more than a tiny little man, at least this is how history will portray him.

Spain

 Well, we were down near freezing again this morning.  The temps will warm up.  They did yesterday.  We reached a high of 55 (F).  Of course, I was working, but believe me, so many people came in and talked about the weather and the warm temps.  Their most common comment was "this is so... unnatural."  A week short of December and we're experience early to mid autumn temps.  Next week we're supposed to cool off.  I'll believe it when it happens.

During my workout yesterday morning, I kneed my weight bench and a 20 pound dumbbell fell on the floor.  Wowza!  It did make a loud noise.  I usually set my dumbbells on the floor when I'm not using them, yesterday, I didn't.  A lesson has been learned.

And I did work yesterday.  Right now I'm leading the department in sales.  I work a  shift today, however, the weather's not supposed to be too nice, so management will just have to be satisfied with what I have.

Every now and then, out of curiosity. I will check to see where my readers are located in the world.  I'm always impressed that there are people in Indonesia, and the Philippines who read what I write.  Thank you very much!  A number of people in England sit down and look at my blog.  France, too, and it's nice to see you number in the hundreds.  Germany?  Many, many thanks to my German readers!  You rock!  There is one country, however, that doesn't have a single reader, and that's Spain.  People of Spain I adore you!  I love your movies!  I love your TV series!   Right now I'm watching The Crystal Cuckoo! Catalonia is the greatest!  I wake up dreaming I'm in Barcelona! (do you think I'm getting my point across?)

And now for a poetry break.

And something with worsted gold sat among the natty leaves

And everyone was flipping out about the so-called peace plan Orangie's administration was trying to shove down Ukraine's throat because it gave his blow bro Vlad everything he wanted, that was until word broke that it was nothing more than Vlad's wish list.  As expected, Orangie's not happy.  Vlad's not happy.  It's my understanding that there's been some rearranging and now the Ukraine, the Europeans, and the US are sitting down in Geneva to start working on another peace plan.  It appears that Vlad's not sending anyone because he's an asshole.  

And Orangie flipped out again because his wannabe dictator authority is still being questioned.  What the GOP fails to understand is that every time he pulls carp like this it hurts him.  They still cling to that belief that a majority of quiet Americans love and adore Orangie, and that they will bow down to his every whim.  They are totally out of touch with America, and it's killing them off.

Wednesday

We have an almost balmy 57 (F) outside.  There's not a lot of sunshine and, if the forecast is correct, we're not going to see much today.  Our high is again predicted to be in the mid 70s (F), however that is supposed to be changing.  We've got a mini-heatwave moving into the region.  Tomorrow's highs are supposed to be in the low 80s (F)...  well, I did say it was a mini-heatwave.

Usually Tuesdays are slow for me, being that they are the first days off after working the weekend.  However, that wasn't the case yesterday since I had that nasally, sore throaty thing going on for the past week, and didn't work Saturday.  As a result I got more accomplished than I expected, including several loads of laundry, a nice dumbbell workout, words getting written, and New England Clam Chowder being made for dinner.

One of the things I've never been able to judge about myself is body temperature.  There have been times when I thought I was running a fever only to discover I was not, and at other times I've felt what I consider normal only to discover my temperature is hovering in the low 100s (F).  The only indicator I ever get that I was (past tense) running a fever is a cold sore or two.  Well, I have one.  That means at some point last week I had a fever.  Well, that's news to me.

Last night I watched the last episode of Wednesday.  This second season was much better than the first, which was much darker with a lot less humor.  This time around the entire Addams clan got involved and it was funny.  There were a lot of high points, including Thing's back story.  I don't think Tim Burton's been this creative in years.  I was glad for those who survived, and those that didn't?  Well, who's to say if their part in the story has truly died.

As we all should have expected, just about everyone in the world is talking about Epstein's birthday book.  Nothing is going to make this Republican nightmare go away any time soon.  I wonder if Orangie's saying that the birthday book is a "dead issue," might not be Karma busy giving us a little foreshadowing.  The fact that he has everyone in his administration lying, saying the signature is not his when he, himself, chose to sign everything simply Donald is ludicrous.  Back in 2003 he worked to set himself apart from all the other Donalds in the world by attaching The to his name.  He was The Donald.  His ego designed his signature and he used it everywhere.  His own ego is screwing him over.

And his blow bro Vlad flew drones over Poland last night and 5 countries from NATO scrambled to get jets into the air.  The drones were shot down.  Putin most likely decided to fly a test balloon to see what Europe reacted.  If this was a balloon, the answer he got was not at all satisfying.  A unified, angry Europe is not something he wants to deal with because NATO will end his war for him in no time flat.