The Truth

 Can we get a nice 'hello' for Sunday morning?  Unlike many of you, I did not sleep in, though the dogs are still lazing away.  When I walked into the bedroom to pull open the drapes, I got one of their 'it's 6 AM on Sunday morning, why are you up so early' looks.  

My neighbor's 2 children and their families were here yesterday to help her pack up and clear things out, at least that's what I thought they were going to be doing.  I stayed out of their way.  I avoid intruding into the personal issues of others.  Dirty Dawg showed up to give her an estimate for emptying the house.  She's going to throw everything she doesn't want away.  Dirty Dawg is expensive, I used them to clean out my mom's things from the senior living facility.  In the end, they packed up the belongings she wants to keep and drove off.  Her plan is to sell the house as soon as possible, which means dirt cheap, and move into an assisted living facility near her daughter.  However, there are problems with the house.  Nothing was done in the form of upkeep.  Whereas I have a full basement, she has a partial basement, with half of it being no more than a crawl space, and both basements get water.  The future will be interesting.

My neighbor across the street did give me some good news yesterday regarding my elephant ear plant.  She grows them, too, though she keeps her in pots on the side of her patio.  She told me to just chop off the top in the fall.  They winter well in Central PA.  That's what she does, and her pots stay outside year-round. 

And I see that Rand Paul wants to repeal the Espionage Act now that his false god has been busted... or is in the process of being busted.  Does a day go by when he doesn't prove himself to be an asshole?  But then he so desperately wants the MAGA voters to like him and vote for him, so he'll do and say whatever it takes to earn their votes.

Yesterday, the Orange Anus brought doubled back on his claim that the documents found at Mar a Lago are part of a political witch hunt.  Oh, and they're also a hoax.  Witch hunts and hoaxes.  This was to be expected.  They are his 'go to' complaints.  His MAGA base eats those 2 words up with a spoon.  He also jibbereshed something about how they should always count on him to tell the Truth.  Yep, he said that.  Keep in mind, many members of his cult believe him to be 'brash.' They will tell you that he doesn't lie.  Every word popping out of his mouth is verifiable.  The Truth.  Of course, their definition of truth has nothing to do with honesty.

Super Bowl Sunday

 Well, it's Sunday... or perhaps I should say Super Bowl Sunday, and we're getting snow here in Central PA.  Not much, an inch is possible.  We've already woken up to find a dusting layered thinly on the cars and lawn.

My shift is short today, from 3 -7 PM, and since today is Super Bowl Sunday, the store will be fairly empty, except for those who despise football.  Let's be honest, if you like the game, even if your team isn't playing, you'll probably be watching since this is a great excuse to parteeeeee!  Me?  I'll be working, then feeding the dogs, and then... maybe working on the next book.  The Piper Mirage carrying Eli and Max has just landed at Mackinac Island Airport and they're about to meet Tag Porterman*.  This is what the cabin of a Piper Mirage looks like.  Comfy, eh?

And, speaking of Super Bowl Sunday, I saw where Rand Paul suggested that anti-vax truckers should blockade that esteemed game.  Okay, can we talk about being dumber than a box of rocks?  While getting some really great publicity, the anti-vax movement is not nearly as large as some might think.  This morning, when the police finally began arresting protestors they found 2 pick-up trucks and maybe a dozen protestors.  So, I think they should try and blockade the Super Bowl.  Yeah, more power to them!  Because a majority of Americans would not jump on board their bandwagon for ruining the Super Bowl.  Nope. They'd say "get the hell out of my face!"  Personally, I think they should lift all restrictions.  We're heading into 1 million Covid deaths in this country, and a majority of the last 400,000, or so, have been anti-vax Conservatives.  The antibodies you get from having it once only last for so long, which means they'll be getting it again, and again, and again.  Eventually, they'll all die off.  

* name is subject to change

Toast

 So, it's another chilly day outside, meaning the temperature is sitting at a cool 18 (F).  Things are supposed to warm up, though.  By this afternoon we're supposed to be in either the high 30's or the low 40's.  I'd prefer the latter since I have to clean up al those little frozen gifts the dogs have left for me in the yard.  Right now every poop, big or little, is frozen to the ground.

I don't really have a lot planned for today: a ride on the bike, working on the rewrite.  I've been spending a lot of time on the latter.  Changes always happen at this stage.  One thing that is constant is the word count increases.  Sentences, and even paragraphs, get added to the story in order to clarify certain points.  In the next chapter L'Oof Porte, an upscale restaurant in the Garden District, will be getting a face lift.

Bread was baked yesterday, here's a picture since John wanted to see it.  And what did I do with that bread?  Well, for dinner I made French Toast.  So, here's the bread.

And here's the toast.

It was scrumptious but had way too many calories.

And Trump called out 'gutless' politicians who are too cowardly to tell people they've gotten a booster.  So, who's he gunning for?  DeSantis?  Rand Paul?  He said this on OAN, a Cracker Jack Crazy Conservative outlet.  He also said that the vaccines have saved tens of millions of lives.  That horrific sucking noise you're hearing?  That's the sound of Republicans being forced to pull their heads out of their asses.  Wow, I'll bet that hurts!

Opening the Box

 Well, it's Monday morning.  I work this afternoon.  Six full hours, though I get a break.  I made a chorizo and pepper dish yesterday, that will be my lunch.  

My department has not been busy.   We've had several customers, I ended the week with 3 measures, but this time of year flooring sales are always slow.  I don't mind.  Covid is moving through the store.  Three of our cashiers are out, as is one of our flooring specialists.  Interesting.  Because I'm part-time I wasn't around him that much.  He had been vaccinated back in early March.  Antibodies don't hang around forever, for those who don't know; this is the second go round for one of the cashiers.

Terrible storms out in the mid-west.  I feel bad for those people.  Many lost loved ones and even more lost everything they owned.  You can still be living and have your life wiped completely away.  What really irked me was Rand Paul, who has voted against hurricane relief multiple times, was so quick on the phone to Biden asking for help.  He is one selfish sack of shit.

On brighter side, I still have roses blooming... in December.  Took a pick of this cutie, a yellow climber, outside my front door.

We owe Gavin Newsome a big tip of the hat.  With his decision to use the same legislative tactics Texas legislators used to go after abortion providers for gun control in California, he has stuck his fingers into the eyes of those political hacks sitting on the Supreme Court. Yep, that's right, Amy Coney Boney, and Sammy Alito, and Clarence ( I want to be white) Thomas, as well as Beer Belly Kavanaugh, set a precedent when they allowed the Texas law to stand.  In California the target might well be gun manufacturers, in Ohio?  Perhaps Big Pharma... or maybe pharmacists, that would be sweet, wouldn't it?  Go after the guy who sold the pills your kid used to overdose? Yep, those selfishly conservative dolts on the Court have shown us the way.  And, since most of them are overly zealous in their Christian beliefs, believing they are doing God's will, I'm sure they will understand this is exactly what God wants.  Hey, some smart legislators may even decide to go after Evangelical Preachers. 

Waiting for the Snow

 Holy Crap! Yesterday Flooring & Décor was very, very steady.  That's a nice way of saying I was busier then all shit.  And last 4 hours I was by myself since no other Specialist had been scheduled.  Usually there is also an aisle associate to help but ours is working overnights to help prep for inventory.  Shifts like this prove that people with patience get good customer service, those who without either walk away or complain or both.  

They were forecasting snow for tonight and tomorrow, that's changed to a dash of snow and sleet with a decent splash of rain.  I was rather hoping for the snow.  We're a third of the way through winter and while we do get snows in March, the deep ones usually come in January and February.  Here's an old picture of Lilly in the snow.  This is what we want.

Rather than go for a run or a ride yesterday since I'd ridden 15 miles the day before, I went for a nice walk.  Unfortunately, I forgot to take of the GPS which is what measures your distance and you don't go very far walking on a treadmill.  

I saw where Rand Paul (yes, the one with the bad hair) was on Stephanopoulos yesterday singing that failed Republican ditty about voter fraud in the 2020 election.  Can you smell the sour craving of a wannabe president oozing from his black heart?  Someone should tell Rand the party is shrinking, not growing, as this bit from Penn Live shows.  Tampa is reporting thousands have changed their Republican affiliation.  This switch all over the country and was initiated by the January 6 riots, loyal Republicans disgusted with the direction of their party.  This is the dying base Rand wants to tap into.  Dumb Shit.

Rate this

 So, it was a sleep in morning after 4 days of work.  I also stayed up late last evening, watching "The Prom."  The music was nice.  There were quite a few comments about James Corden playing a gay character and I agree with them.  Don't hire an actor just to get a name on the marquee.  I like Meryl Streep, but again, they should have hired someone younger, but again the marquee won out.  The show may have played well on Broadway, on my large, flat screen TV I thought most of the two hours came across as... well, flat.  Be forewarned, Act II comes across as a Disneyfied sugar rush.

Of course, ever since the Idiot Jerk's failed coup attempt, we've been flooded with images, videos, and statistics.  One of the statistics I find most amusing is the one regarding his approval rating among Republicans, which is around 74%.  At first glance, that % seems rather high but then that first glance is seeing it out of context.  That figure represents his Republican base.  His overall approval rating across the country is 29%.  That is the % represents America, not the GOP.  The 74% of Republicans is, in reality, 29% of Americans.  The GOP is now and will always be a minority group because they are mostly white, and they are just not making enough babies.  

Oh, and the funniest thing I heard yesterday was a comment made by Rand Paul, that if the Senate finds the Idiot Jerk guilty, half of the House will walk out.  Sorry, but does he really see that as a threat?

So, will his head explode?

He being the Idiot in the White House.  You see, sometime today the House of Representatives is going to vote on the legislation that will repeal and replace the ACA.  They're doing it today because the Idiot made a campaign pledge to his Trumplodite hoards.  Just about everybody, including some of those voting, has pretty much said this bill is a legislative cluster f**kover for the American people.  Of course, the Idiot in the White House doesn't care about the American People.  He doesn't care about their opinions, or what they want, or what they feel they need.  Neither do a lot of Republicans.  The idea that some of their tax money might be helping someone pay for health care makes their blood boil.  We're talking about THEIR tax money, those cheap sacks of shit.
Unfortunately for some, their own political careers are at stake.  Constituents over and over again, all over the country, have been telling their representatives how much they hate this legislation.  The question of the hour is, will they listen to those whom they are supposed to represent, or to the Idiot in the White House, who really only wants to boast that he killed the ACA?  They also know how much he lies.
Many of those voting today were behind the Dump Trump campaign that failed.  Well, here's their chance.  Give him what he wants and probably kill their own political careers, or make his head explode.

Actually, I suspect, the better question might be:  are they going to be spineless and cave, or discover that they have actually grown a pair over night? 

And don't forget that dandy Randy Paul, who's trying to bolster his own conservative cred by cheering on the 'nay sayers.'  

In the end, it wouldn't surprise me if this kettle of worms gets pushed to one of the back burners where with the other GOP pots of shit where it can simmer for years.

Rand Paul, Curling away from reality

Well, a year and a half before the general election and it's already started.  First off there was Ted Cruz announcing that he was running for president.  When I heard that I thought, woah, that's embarrassing for the GOP since I'm sure they were really counting on the crackpot vote.  Then we got Rand Paul, you know, the plagiarist?  Maybe he doesn't understand that problem is going to come back and bite him in the nuts during primary season.  Can't you just hear one of his competitors saying during a debate "hey, is that you, or did someone else say that first?"

Actually, I don't think it makes much of a difference because I doubt very much if he's going to get the nomination, let alone be elected to the presidency.  Why?  The hair.  Do we really want a sitting President who has his hair permed?

It is a perm, isn't it?  Otherwise it would be just as curly on the sides.  Didn't anybody ever tell him it's not quite presidential?  Maybe it's supposed to make him look youthful.  It doesn't.  In fact all of those curls kind of remind me of Christopher Atkins in "The Blue Lagoon."  Could it possibly be that a very young age Rand Paul not only overdosed on that film, but may have, indeed, become obsessed with the hair?

Anyway, it doesn't really make much of a difference does it, since he isn't going to be elected.  Of course, we never know how things are going to curl, do we?  

Always a good laugh - CPAC

This year's CPAC ended yesterday and, as always, I did get a hearty chuckle out of listening to this conservative block party's speakers beat a dead horse.  You have to remember, those who attend are the diehards, those who wear the blinders, and those who have surrounded themselves with a bubble of denial.  They go to chew on the red meat thrown to them by the likes of Ted Cruz and Sarah Palin, not the slowly awakening awareness of Paul Ryan.  They don't understand Ted Cruz thinks the whole country is like Florida and by playing 'Stand your ground' he's going to go far.  He isn't, but that's beyond their ken.  They let that haus frau Sarah Palin, with her early 60's dated look, take the stage and ride another dead horse, Obamacare, even further into the ground.  Mitch McConnell took the stage brandishing a rifle.  A coonskin hat would have completed the parody, of course that's something the party loyalists will never understand.

Another Daniel Boone wanna-be

Every year CPAC holds a straw poll to vote for the most conservative, most Republican man they would like to see as president.  Notice I say man, not individual.  No woman has ever won.  Now tell me that doesn't sound sexist.  Anyway, this year Rand Paul won.  He won the straw poll last year, too.  If he wins it one more year you could say he's on a hot streak.  This is not a good thing for Rand.  Romney won it four times and failed in his bid for the presidency.  Rand's own father, Ron, won the same poll three times and his failed campaigns were pretty much the stuff jokes are made of.  If Rand does run, he will have to deal with the fact there are a lot of people out there who think of him as a word thief, thanks to his exploits in plagiarism.  Every word he speaks or puts out in print is going to be checked over and over again.  Most people in this country have a problem with those who steal.

Paul Ryan was the one voice which seemed to make any sense what so ever, of course he's been through the presidential campaign grind and is well aware of all the mistakes which were made.  He talks about a more inclusive umbrella in which the party diversifies it's constituents.  He's on the right track.  Of course, he was playing to the wrong crowd.  All this group wanted to do was gnaw on their bones of hate.  They are killing the GOP.