The Eclipse

Can I get a big shout out for Eclipse Monday!  For the vast majority of this planet, today will be a day just like any other.  Here in Central Pennsylvania, it will go dark, at least for the most part.  We're not under the direct path of the moon's shadow, but we will get dusky.  Temps will be in the upper 60s (F).  Winds will be calm; that's right, they're not going to get excited about something that's happened millions of times.  

As you can probably tell, I'm not that excited by today's astronomical event... or, if you want, you can call it celestial.  You see, this is not my first rodeo.  There was another full eclipse of the sun when I was a child, about 8 or 9 years old, and people were just excited.  I was excited.  Back in the early 1960s there was another eclipse, though Central PA on caught the edge of that one.  My dad, who was working at the Good Samaritan Hospital in Lebanon, brought home some exposed X-ray film and cut it up into squares so we could watch the moon pass in front of the sun without burning off our corneas.  It was a big thing for me.  Today's eclipse?  Been there, done that.  What a shame for all of those eclipse watchers that we're most like going to have cloudy skies.  We will be dusky.

Yesterday work was slow.  I'm betting it's going to be slow again today because so many people are going to standing outside gawking at the sun as they try and blind themselves.

A long time ago there was a group I like named Travis.  They had a decent hit with a song called sing.  I bought the CD.  While they continued to make music, Sing was they're only big hit, and I thought they'd gone the way of most one hit wonder bands, until last evening.  The group has been putting out new music for years.  Here's their latest.  It rocks.

And, as expected, the approaching eclipse has brought the crazies out in full force, especially the Evangelical, Conservative crazies, like Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the rather dim governor of Arkansas.  How dim is Sarah?  Well, Sarah's believes that today's eclipse is the equivalent of "the sky is falling."  Yepper.  Catastrophic and Calamitous events will abound..  Things are going to be so bad, that Sarah's decreed a pre-emptive State of Emergency for Arkansas.  I actually began to read her decree and had to stop because I was laughing to much, I kept spitting out my morning coffee.  She had evidently decided that eclipses are Woke, and it is her job to prepare the people of Arkansas for the end of the world.  Honestly, there's stupid, and then there's Republican stupid.  Of course, there's always the remote possibility that Sarah knows something we don't.... nah. She's just dumb as a brick.

 

On the Menu

Good Morning!  The weather outside my window here in Central PA is nice, almost reaching the balmy stage.  That will happen later this afternoon when the temps reach their high in the mid 50s (F).  The same forecast is in store for tomorrow.  This winter has been moderate.  I've no problem with that.  We've also been rainier than usual, with more on the way.  

I'm going to try and burn tons of calories today since I ate so many yesterday.  My caloric intake always goes through the roof when I go out for breakfast.  We ate at Denny's.  Even the water has calories at Denny's.  Starting off the day with a 1200 calorie omelet always triggers the carb monster I usually manage to control.  The only good thing about the carb monster is that when he is finally back under control, my refrigerator and cupboards are clear of high calorie carbs.

They drywaller packed up his gear and left yesterday morning, so I'm fairly certain most of the heavy construction is finished in the house next door.  Well, except for the bathrooms.  I suspect that's going to be noisy.  And, of course, they're going to have to put new siding on the outside.  They haven't done anything with the roofs, either.  It is all rather interesting.

I made a little video yesterday about the character creation in The Body Under Ice.  It's now posted on my Instagram account, as well as my YouTube channel.

The State of the Union was last night.  As usual, I didn't watch.  While on certain occasions I will watch speeches, mostly I don't.  The State of the Union is one I rarely watch.  Notice, I'm writing out the name, State of the Union rather than using the acronym.  I've never been one of those people whose secret desire is to be trendy.

State of the Union speeches have two purposes, to show how well the president has done, and to allow him to present his plans, a menu of high caloric dishes, if you will, for the next year or so.  With the miniscule Republican majority in the House, very little will get accomplished, especially when you realize so many of them are complete brainless.  How brainless?  Well, they only get exercise when their pet balloons decide to take them for a walk.

Sarah Sanders (Huckabee) gave the Republican rebuttal.  I'm certain there are MAGA voters who cheered at the sight of a fat, white woman wearing white, no doubt an attempt to imply she's pure of heart, telling America that with Executive orders she banished CRT and racism from schools.  Honestly, when I saw her picture I thought a Chinese weather balloon was floating over Arkansas.

 

Another Penthouse Model

I slept with a menagerie last night, 2 dogs, a duck and a T-Rex.  I have about 1/3 of the bed. the dogs had about 3/6 leaving the only 1/6 of a queen sized mattress for the duck and the T-Rex.  They're small.  They don't take up that much space.
On my learning Greek:  I'm thinking of adding Pimsleur to the mix.  The Rosetta Stone has issues mostly because Greek letters are written differently.  I've already bought a book to learn how to write them correctly since they have different sounds.  Example:  a 'v' in English, or French, or Spanish has a sound we recognize in the words valley, or volley, or victim.  In Greek it sounds like 'n,' as in Nancy, or new, or nasty.  Another one is 'p' which sounds like 'r', so pain actually sounds like rain, though the 'ai' diphthong sounds different.  It's not as confusing as it sounds, I just have to retrain my brain.
Texas started opening up yesterday, even though they had their highest infection rate on record.  Remember, for Republicans, this is not about human life at all, rather they are focused on the only thing which might get the Idiot Jerk re-elected... the economy.  And it's not going to work.  In fact, it's going to fail them miserably.  Some of their politicians already know this.
America as a whole wants to reopen very slowly, Americans want to be cautiously careful.  Because of this those little, fat, white men with gun protests are backfiring.  Sure, they may warm the cockles of the Idiot Jerk's dark, little heart but Independent Voters?  They're shaking their heads in disgust.  They are not about to fall in with a crowd of MAGA headed rabble rousers.
Oh, and there's a new Press Secretary lying to the press: Kayleigh McEnany.  One of the first things she said was that she wasn't going to lie (they still laughing about that one) before proceeding to lie.  In case you didn't see her, here she is... another bottle blond with a fake tan.  This is what the Idiot Jerk believes America wants to see in his spokesperson... a Penthouse model.

I'm sure both Kayleigh and he have a lot in common... and I don't just mean the tanning salon.   Though I'm sure it's not the same commonality he had with Sarah Huckabee (whatever her name was).  I'm sure his and Sarah's most creative moments came while they were pounding down Big Macs in the Oval office.

Rattle, rattle

Here it is, Sunday, my first day off of 3 in a row and I'm sure a lot of you are thinking I slept in... well, I didn't.  Too much to do.  Besides, sleeping in can turn into a bad habit.  So far I have paid some bills, am in the process of finishing up my first load of laundry, and spent an hour doing research.  Rattle snakes, you know?  Diamondbacks.  Did you know you will start to feel the symptoms of a rattlesnake bite almost immediately after being bitten?  I don't mean the pain of being bitten, but rather the symptoms of the venom.  Also, and this I found amazing, the venom does not travel through your blood stream.  Nope, it circulates through your lymphatic system.  This actually improves your chances of survival since it moves much slower than if it traveled through your blood stream.  It turns out I know someone who's been... snake bit.  One of the most fascinating things I've learned about Diamondbacks, in fact it's true with all rattlers, is that they don't always rattle before striking... that's a myth.  Sometimes they warn you... but not always.  That's right, you don't always get this:

And evidently Mike Fuckabee was so rattled by a CNN reported who basically claimed his daughter, Sarah Fuckabee Slanders, was a lying sack of shit.  The truth is both of these MAGA heads have sold their souls to the Idiot Jerk in the White House in order to get the power they so sinfully crave.
Speaking of the Idiot Jerk.  I suspect the internal GOP polls have him more than a little rattled.  They paint a bleak picture of what Americans think of the Moral Degenerate in the White House.  That picture's going to get worse because starting today India is putting tariffs on almonds and apples.  In case you didn't know, India is our largest importer of almonds and apples. You see, the Idiot Jerk thought India would cave... and they didn't.  How rattled is the Idiot Jerk?  He Tweeted out (I think it was a Tweet) some sort of nonsense yesterday about the stock market crashing if he doesn't get re-elected.  This guy's a moron.

Cover this Up

Okay, so it's Saturday.  I work today.  I woke thinking I had the day off, however, as I turned off the alarm and looked at my calendar I realized I was wrong.  They're forecasting rain and showers tonight into to tomorrow afternoon.  Figures, doesn't it.... I don't work.
I understand the Idiot Jerk in the White House has sent a 'want ad' to quite a few sanitariums in the deep south.  He's looking for a white, pathological liar to take over for Sarah (she who speaks with forked tongue) Sanders Fuckleberry.  I wonder if Roy Moore's going to apply, just so he can wave the Ten Commandments as he lies.
I saw where a detective down in Tennessee, who's also a Crazy Christian, is having his cases reviewed.  You see, he preaches about hating the gays.  His name is Grayson Fritts.  He has his own Baptist Church, of course, and claims to be "just preaching the Bible;" make that selectively teaching the bits he's cherry picked, the one's he believes legitimize his hatred.  In case you're wondering, he preached something about "gays being worthy of death."  I suspect he needs to be institutionalized.
When I decided to start self-publishing I put a lot of thought into what I want for cover-art.  Many books today use either a photograph or a collage of photo images for cover-art, except for romance novels which rely on romantic images of long-haired men without shirts.  I didn't want that.  No pictures for me. I work with a woman (I used to be her boss at one time) who's very talented.  She runs her own cake decorating business.  Right now she's painting a mural for a school.  I asked her one day if she'd like to do the cover-art.  She gave me one of those "what the hell are you talking about" looks.  I explained that for The Body on the Lawn I wanted readers to see Carlotta Valdez walking to her death.  Cori suddenly smiled and said "yeah, I can do that."
With The Body in the Tower I said "how about bullet holes?"  We talked about what should be depicted inside them.  I suspect she would have liked to include something from the catacombs, but there's no light.  As Florien says "it is very black where we are going."  At one point she asked "do you want blood around the crashed bicycle?"  I said "no," but she did put in a crushed water bottle. It was her idea to have the background go from yellow to blood red.  I liked that.  Such a nice touch for a murder mystery, action thriller.
With all this being said, I'd like you to meet Cori, the artist behind the covers.

I told her I had already started work on The Body in the Well and she said "give me at least a year."  I think 8 months is more realistic.  And, in case you are wonder, both books are available at Amazon.

Size Matters

Happy Easter!  Happy Wester!  Happy Holiday!  I'm off work, now ain't that just Ducky Dandy!
I saw where hundreds of people were killed in injured in Sri Lanka by a joyous, monotheistic religious group as part of their celebration.  Things aren't so happy there.  Perhaps if leaders stopped inciting the masses, stopped promoting anger and hatred as a means of achieving power we wouldn't have these moments of explosive horror.  I'm dumbfounded that these devout extremists fail to see the irony of a supreme being, one who created the entire universe, needing to rely on puny human beings to achieve power here on earth.  Am I the only one who sees a problem with this?
And for those who haven't noticed, there's a lot of lashing going on in the Republican Party.  I suspect that's a bit of an understatement.  Romney is lashing out at the Idiot Jerk in the White House, using the word 'pervasive' in describing the deceit of the administration.  Romney doesn't understand that's a word most MAGA heads don't understand... too many syllables.  Of course, the Idiot Jerk returned the lashing.  And then Mike Huckabee (the sire of one of the most public liars in this administration), also lashed out at Romney.  He said something like "you could have been president...."  Mike lies as much as his spawn.  Mike's another one of those dingleberry brained individuals who totally don't understand the supreme being.  I think this is mostly because he has virtually no concept of size.  I do not doubt for a second that he believes an AA cup is bigger than an A cup.  If he has problems with this, how can he understand the size of the universe?  Is it any wonder he believes the supreme being is relying on him, puny, little Mikey, for control here on Earth.  Or, maybe it's just his ego...  Or maybe just his greed for power and control.  Here's a little chart Huck should peruse, not that this is going to really help him get a good grasp of the situation.

Those bongo brains in Sri Lanka who believe their shitty bombs achieved something have no clue as to the size of the universe.  To even try understanding that might make their brains, themselves, explode.  So, now you know.  Education is a weapon.  It breaks apart their myths.  Size matters!

Out

Finally... it is Friday.  Sometime last evening I hit my hump minute.  It's all downhill from now until tomorrow when I leave work.
And for those who don't know... it's OUT.  The Mueller Report.  I'm talking about the Mueller Report, not Mikey Pence sashaying into the Oval Office in his Carmen Miranda drag.
In spite of being heavily redacted, so many sentences jump out and grab you by the hair on your chiny-chin-chin.  It's like Christmas at Easter.  Presents and candy eggs for everybody... well, not for the Idiot Jerk.  Billy Barr spent what? An hour defending his boss, and then Mitchy McTurtle spent some time defending Billy Barr because...  well, it seems Billy had been doing his damnedest to misrepresent the truth.
But the truth has come out.  Sarah Sanders is the Idiot Jerk's most prominent liar.  When one of her lies was specifically pointed out, she claimed it was a 'slip of the tongue.'  This is a woman who's father blames the LGBT community for the evils of society.  Maybe he should start looking at his daughter's mouth... and maybe grab a bar of soap.
My favorite sentence:  The Idiot Jerk saying "There goes my presidency!  I'm fucked!"  Now, is anybody really surprised something like that popped out of his mouth?  I started laughing out loud.  This fool has been fucked most of his life... and he is only finding out the truth now?  Shit, he's been listening to Sarah Sanders too much.
There are evidently 10 times when he actually, purposefully tried to obstruct justice... and failed, because his henchies either just dropped the ball... or ignored his orders.  The Idiot Jerk has surrounded himself with out and out incompetent sycophants.  Isn't this always the case?  Believe me, this is only going to get juicier and juicier because you know those redacted parts are going to start getting leaked.  The end of the Idiot Jerk's presidency is going to be outstandingly bad.
And finally, as I promised yesterday, here's a bit of the cover art for my next book.

Now, I know some are going to say "but it's only the title..." ah, but you should see the rest.  Those who have seen it have called it 'spectacular,' and 'stunning.'  The artist, herself, as said "this one is so much better than the first one."  I, of course, paid her.  When I asked if it was enough she said..." all I want is copy of the book!"   With the first one, the music I listened to most while in the creative process was Fallout Boy.  With this one it was definitely Imagine Dragons.  Little ditties like this pretty much sum up "The Body in the Tower."

Fine

Last night I went to our Holiday Party - it was okay.  They kept the same menu as last year:  some sort of beef with mushrooms and dried chicken Parmesan.  I won a door prize:  a $10 gift card to Subway (which I gave a way) and a bag of Butterfinger candy bits (which I gave away).  I don't table-hop like some do... just not my style.  The truth is I'm not a big party person and as I grow older I'm even less of one.  The large corporation I work for, just like every other large corporation, wants you to be best friends with your associates.  That will never happen.  The last thing I want to do is spend time with my friends talking about work.  I do not bring my work home with me.  I do not take work with me when I got out to the movies or to dinner.  My life is simple, I like it that way.  My life is fine just the way it is.
And evidently last night Christian Bale won a Golden Globe for playing Dick Cheney in "Vice."  I understand he thanked Satan... in his very fine British accent.

Inspiration comes in all forms and shapes, doesn't it?  

And today is Monday and I get to go to work.  I have off Tuesday and Wednesday which is nice.  For the next couple of weeks I'm only working 32 hours per week.  That's fine, too.

There is also an interesting clip floating around out there of Faux News' Chris Wallace calling out Sarah Sanders Something or Other for lying.

You know you've been caught lying when Faux News starts fact checking you.  This was fine with me.  She gets paid to lie.  She spoon feeds the Republican base their bias and their racism for big bucks.  I'm not saying she doesn't believe those lies.  I suspect there is an ugly crook in her heart and she's fine with that because she believes.  She doesn't understand that her grandchildren will mostly likely marry people with brown skin.

And this morning, before I ate my oatmeal, I sat on the sofa for a bit, Big Seig on my left and Lily on my right, and let me tell you those moments were very fine too.

Today's routine

Well, here it is Wednesday, my 2nd day off, (thanks to the personal day I took yesterday) and I'm loving it.  I got so much done yesterday, including 45 minutes on the elliptical - a nice way to burn off over 500 calories.
Today is supposed to be a bit warmer and a tad more humid.  That's fine.  I have central air.  I also want to get some yard work done - there is a tone of it, from the wacking of the week to the mowing of the grass.  In less than 3 weeks my vacation drops in and I"ll be able to start scheduling vacation days off again.
I saw where Twitter kicked off scumsucker, conspiracy theorist Alex Jones for one week.  This is just be beginning.  His lies and hate have been totally deleted from so many social websites.  He makes money off of his deceit so I'm all for letting him starve.  Supposedly there are crazy right wing websites clamoring for his content.  I doubt very much if they're going to be able to provide him with the same level of income he has now.  Looks like it might be beenie weenies for Alex.
And yesterday sometime, probably while I was mopping the kitchen floor, Sarah something or other, the voice of stupidity, admitted there actually might be a tape with the Idiot Jerk using the 'N-word.'  Someone needs to tell that honey the odds are heavily in favor of more than one tape in existence. 
And also, sometime yesterday, the idiot Jerk called Omarosa a dog.  Holy Shit.  Am I the only one who thinks this might a new show for the Lifetime Channel?  How about "Going to Hell in a Hand basket" for a title?  Or maybe a better one would be "Racist Republicans on Parade."  I'm sure with a little training Ivanka, Jarod, Melanoma, and Sarah, and Stevie Miller could all do some Busby Berkeley routine... with feathers!

If you stick with it, you'll even get a shot of Paul Manafort and Roger Stone ogling from back stage.
Oh, and speaking of Manafort, I saw where his defense did nothing.  No witnesses were called.  Evidently they had the courtroom sealed for 2 hours.  No one was allowed in.  When they opened the doors, Manafort's attorneys had rested their case.  Smart money is saying they didn't want anybody to watch him flip into somersault routine.  Either that, or they're expect the Idiot Jerk to swoop in wearing his red 'hammer and sickle' just in time to save the day.  That didn't happen.  Perhaps because the Idiot Jerk was too busy barking at Omarosa.

Stake Time

The sky is overcast, the clouds are a muddy grey and yellow.  There are storms north of here.  Not torrential downpours, heavy, but not the equivalent of a fire hose, rather these are the terminal pitter patter, pitter patter of soaking rain with no place left to soak.  And they're coming our way on this, the second day of my weekend.
Our scheduler is on vacation.  She get back on Monday and I will need to talk to her.  I schedule vacation days for myself so I don't have to work 40 hours each week.  She and I have an agreement giving her the ability to override those requests if she needs the hours.  Well, she's over riding all of them.  This week was approved for 32 hours, next week was approved for 32 hours, and the following week as well.  She has me scheduled to work 40 each week.  Full time for us is 30 hours.  If you work more they need to give your benefits.  If she can't make this work, I'll just have her change the total hours I can work per week to 32.  I don't need the money, so there's more at stake than that: I only want to work 32 hours per week.
And what about Sarah Huckabee Dumb Shit refusing to say the media is not the enemy of the people?  A lot of people believe she is just out and out lying, that she's just doing her job.  They are wrong.  She's an Evangelical Christian.  Because the Idiot Jerk in the White House is giving them everything they want (Sessions and his Christian Task Force) they think he is a gift from God.  They believe everything he says can be sourced to the Almighty.  If that doesn't scare the shit out of you, it should.  This is the reason our Founding Fathers decreed there be a separation of Church and State.  They do not now, nor will they ever understand the evil they do.  They are worse than a plague of locusts.  They will try and devour everything decent and good, leaving behind nothing but their empty Evangelical desolation.  Of course, they will fail, these groups always do.  You see, even though their appearance is that of a plague, they lie about their numbers the same way they lie about everything else.  They will get ugly when they see the truth.  Like a rabid rat in a cage, they will bite at anything, and in the end they will devour themselves.
Now wasn't that cheery? 
Vote Blue.  Every Blue vote is a stake in their hearts.  Every Blue vote slivers away a bit of their phoniness, whittles away at the ugliness of their lies.  Every Blue Vote Counts.

It's Stake Time!!

Grab that can of Raid

Thursday - not quite my hump day but heading in that direction. 
Yesterday morning I'd set the alarm for 0430... well, it went off and I went back to bed.  I had planned to continue getting up early, being a morning person, however, that might change.  I would need to get up real early to get a ride in on a work day, which doesn't really appeal to me.  So I will probably end up sleeping in an hour later and then not go to bed at 9 PM.  We'll have to see how this goes.  I just need to reallocate the time.
Evidently the Idiot Jerk's variation of a cluster fuck is still flopping around like a couple of ugly Russkies flopping around nekked in a Golden Shower.  His problem is that he lies so much he, himself can no longer remember what he said.  Sarah (I sold my soul to the Idiot Jerk to get this job) Sanders, was doing so much twisting and turning to avoid the truth she almost got whiplash.  It seems a reporter asked the Idiot Jerk if he believed the Russians were still meddling in our elections.  He responded by saying "no."  She asked a second time and his response was the same.  Now, however, Sarah ( I sold my soul to the Idiot Jerk to get this job) that his "no" actually meant "I'm not going to answer that question."  If that was the case, why didn't he just point his finger at a different reporter and say "next?"
If there is Russian interference in our Mid-terms... guess who's going to get blamed?  It sure as hell isn't going to be Hillary...  oh, wait, what I'm saying....  The Republicans always blame the Clintons.    Remember when the real estate bubble exploded and we had that big recession during W's days in the White House?  After running the country for almost 7 years... they blamed Clinton.  Their base believes this bullshit.  In fact, the Idiot Jerk's supporters are sticking with him.  Sort of like flies to shit, if you know what I mean.  Who stuck with the aforementioned 'W' during the worst recession in history?  His supporters.  The Republican base.  There were more of the back then. 
Anyway, bott the House and Senate are getting worried.  Their approval ratings are lower than those of the Idiot Jerk.  That, however, is not their main problem.  There are a lot of angry blue's out there who they will have to contend with, that's important.  More important, and more damning, is that they're doing a terrible job at controlling the Idiot Jerk.  The country doesn't really like it when one party is in this much control.  They like it better when the power is spread around.  The Idiot Jerk is too erratic, too ego driven, too narcissistic, in fact he is too 'everything that is bad for most people.'  That's what their problem is, and it's only going to get worse.  Those tariffs are starting to kick in.  Washers and dryers are getting more expensive.  Brazil is going to take over the soybean market...  This is just the beginning.  Kind of reminds me of that old scif fi movie "The beginning of the End."

The Idiot Jerk is buggy as hell.  Like a swarm of giant grasshoppers, his supporters devoured the popular vote, leaving only the bones of the Electoral College to come to power.  Like a swarm of locusts they are chowing down on everything we hold normal, sane, and democratic.  The time has come to grab that can of Raid.

Changes

A final note on the Sarah Huckabee Sanders bit:  discrimination is bad in any form, sadly, giving her a taste of her own medicine will do absolutely nothing to change her attitude.  In her mind she legitimatizes as well as epitomizes true American values.  She is white, she is Evangelical, and she is heterosexual.  Anyone not meeting this criteria is fairly worthless, a human without value.  She will grow old and bitter as the world around her changes.  She has focused too much on being a Believer and too little on being a Christian.
Yesterday was a busy day here.  I baked bread... again, this time using loaf pans.  It's delicious.
And I rearrange the cycling / weight room.  You see, I have 2 bicycles, the old X6 and My Syn (I do like that name), as well as 2 trainers, the Kinetic (nice color but relatively useless) and the Cycleops.  They took up a lot of space.  The X6?  I'm probably never going to ride it again.  So I bought some racking and hung it up down in the basement.  The Kinetic got stored up in the attic since it has electronics and the basement can get damp at times.  All of sudden the room got bigger.  The sport laptop was moved to the other side of the room and is now located below the TV.  My training videos will now be larger.  And there's more room for the weight bench.

I also ordered a climbing rose - something to put along the side of the porch as a replacement for the wisteria which got chopped out.  For years spring brought heavy purple blossoms to the wisteria.  No more.  This is how life goes sometimes.  Next spring I should have roses looking something like this:

Change does happen.  Some embrace the new, encourage growth, others, like Ms. Sanders, angrily fight against it.  Their fear has more to do with losing control than anything else, of not being able to judge.  For them, change is a cancer slowly eating away at their beliefs.  They don't understand how wrong they are. nor do they understand there is no stopping it.

Loud and Clear

Today is one of my days of rest - it just happens to be Sunday.  In retail, sometimes odd things happen.   Unfortunately, I didn't get the pedals on my bike changed.  This means no riding the roads today, rather free weights instead.  That's okay.  I'm also off Tuesday and Wednesday, I can go for a ride then since the weather is supposed to be nice.
My brother sent me a text inviting me to some sort of reunion today - my father's side of the family.  Notice was short, so I told him I already had plans... plans not to go.  Don't get me wrong, I like my cousins, but we are not close.  While my Dad (and Mom) moved to Lebanon, his brother and sister moved to Harrisburg.  They bought houses diagonally from each other, on the same street.  My cousins went to the same school, had the same neighborhood friends, and grew up together.  I lived in Lebanon and saw them usually once or twice a year.  When I moved to Harrisburg we made halfhearted attempts to get to know each other. They turned out to be rather futile.  This is how life is sometimes.
Oh, and the Idiot Jerk is going to the UK next month.  Remember when the plans were for him to get chauffeured around in a golden carriage, to meet the Queen?  Well, things have changed.  Now security is going to try their damnedest to keep him from seeing the massive protests planned.   The GOP is probably terrified he'll Tweet about how his meeting with Kim Jung Dumb was so much nicer.  It's the rapport thing, you know?  That affinity he feels towards dictators.  Oh, wait, he doesn't call them dictators.  The Idiot Jerk calls them Strong Leaders who were forced to do some 'bad things.'  Theresa May, in his book no doubt, is not a Strong Leader.  She struggles with the Brexit thing, trying to keep some sort of working relationship with the EU even as she tries to snub them.  As it is, he's only going to be in town for 'working day,' and then possibly a round of golf at his club in Scotland, (someone needs to play there).
Oh, and in case you didn't hear, Sarah Sanders Something or Other, was asked to leave a Virginia restaurant.  Conservatives are flipping out on social media.  They just got bitch slapped.  And they don't like it.  Of course, they opened this can of worms.  For some, political beliefs are just as strong as religion.  Discrimination is an equal opportunity street everybody walks down.  Not baking a cake for a gay couple because of religious beliefs is exactly the same as not serving Sarah Sanders Something or Other because because of deeply held political beliefs.  What that restaurant in Virginia did was say loud and clear, "no one is immune."  Whether they want to understand this or not is up to them, however this is exactly what the Supreme Court just told America.

Sprouting nuts

Well, it's Sunday and some of you are sleeping in - that seems to be what a lot of people usually do on Sundays.  Oh, sure, some will get up and go to Church, but attendance seems to be on the decline.  Me?  I did free weights.  An hour's worth.  My free weights are all done with dumbbells and focus on the upper body.  Cycling keeps the legs in shape.
Evidently there was some sort of media event last evening and Sarah Huckabee Sanders got roasted... and some Republicans are fuming.  This is the same party that for 8 years shrieked about Obama's citizenship.  If they can't take the heat they need to stay out of the kitchen.  Am I right?  And, of course, the Idiot Jerk was farting into a microphone out in Michigan totally ignoring his teleprompter.  Maybe if someone told him his fortune depended upon staying on message he might listen... Nope.  I suspect that only happens when he sees someone waving his Golden Shower video.
Anyway, I saw in the NYT how much of a numb nuts he is, especially in regard to the mid-term elections.  Why would he listen.  In his mind, addled as it is, his 2016 victory means he can do what ever he wants.  The polls were wrong then.  He believes they'll be wrong again.  Oh, and I'm sure he's also counting on his Russian friends to intervene should it look like he's losing the house.  If you think you've seen the worst of him already, just wait until the day after the mid-terms.  Don't be surprised if the shit explosion will be so terrible the walls of the White House will be leveled, which will mean a long decontamination period until we're able to rebuild.
On the bright side, tomorrow is always another day.  The temperature is supposed to be a little warmer.  Spring might finally be arriving... or maybe summer's going to smile his friendly face a bit early.  That's what happened last year.
All of the trees around the house have burst into bloom.  Tomorrow, I'll walk out to where I planted my walnuts to see if they've sprouted.  If they have I'll have to write an entry about how wonderful it is when your nuts sprout.

I'll be looking for this