Epstein

 Happy Sunday morning!  According to Accuweather, the outside temp is 77 (F).  How accurate is Accuweather?  Yesterday our temps were predicted to climb into the mid to upper 80s (F) - 87 (F) was the predicted high.  When I drove out of the parking lot of the great orange home improvement retailer I work for at 7:00 PM the temp was 93 (F).  While a 6 degree spread is not tremendous, for the past week Accuweather has been underestimating our daily highs.  I wonder if this has anything to do with staffing.

I did manage to set up a carpet measure yesterday, but otherwise work was truly boring.  I suspect today will be a repeat.  The skies are overcast and there is a threat of showers and thunderstorms, and it's humid, not the kind of weather that appeals to home improvement shoppers.  Even the dreaded words "flash floods" are in the forecast.  We've had floods in the area, but never any flash floods.  The Susquehanna River is 3/4 of a mile wide here in Harrisburg, when the river hits floods stage the distance from shore to shore is over a mile and the current is fast.  A number of years ago when ice damns up river broke and the river flooded I watched as a shed floated past me as I drove down Front Street in Lemoyne.

The new Superman movie started this past weekend and it's raking in the buckos.  One of the men who played Superman on TV, Dean Cain, says that it's Woke.  Old Deano was so typecast by that part he couldn't get a job afterwards, or perhaps his acting chops weren't that good.  Anyway, I saw this yesterday and it made me laugh.

And most main stream media is skirting the issue of Orangie and his pal Epstein, but social media is on fire with that subject.  It was the main topic at Turning Point USA, the faux Christian group that so heavily pushed for Orangie to get elected.  They want the truth, even though they're not at all prepared to deal with the fact that they've put a pedophile in the White House.  And Orangie, true to form, believed that all he had total control over his cult, that he could say "change the subject," and they would automatically change the subject.  But that ain't happening here, they're ignoring him.  His base believes the Epstein files will incriminate high ranking Democrats, they will prove that Hillary was running a child sex trafficking ring and they want that information made public.  Except... they're beginning to grasp the reality of that narrative being false, that it's Orangie who figures predominantly in  the Epstein files.  And, like moths being drawn to the proverbial flame, they can not stop from incinerating themselves.  Till this thing is done, there will be nothing left of the Republican Party.

What Not to Wear

 So, is today going to be funday Sunday?  Nah, at least not for me.  Temps outside are on the cool side, nestling down in the low 40s (F).  My heat kicked on, that's how chilly it is, and our high today might make it into the low 70s (F). I have to spend 8 hours at the store today, nothing else is planned.  The only good thing is that because I start early, I get to leave early.

I also get to sit at the silly Lead Table today attempting to get customers to sign up for a free home consultation on heating and air conditioning systems, window installations, bathroom remodels, you know the big ticket items most people are starting to avoid because of the economy.  I don't doubt that our garden center will be busy, but the rest of the store?  Probably not so much.  That's how it was yesterday, and Saturdays are our busiest day of the week.

Because I'd looked at the weather forecast before I went to work, I knew that temps were going to be falling so I wore a long sleeved shirt.  That was good because when I walked through the parking lot to get to my car the outside temps were sitting at 61 (F).  Isn't it nice that I, like most of us, know what to wear.  Sadly, there are buffoons around us who will never know what to wear, like the Orange Anus.  Here's a pic of him yesterday at Pope Francis' funeral where protocol says the appropriate attire is black.  Blue, and not a nice, dark Navy Blue.  Nope, he had to go bright so the world would pay attention to him.  Not only did he dress inappropriately, he also fiddle with his phone, popped a stick of gum into his mouth, and then took a little nap, all the while sitting in the front row for the entire world to see.

Can you hear me laughing at him?  I saw some joker saying surely his staff must have gotten the email regarding attire and had to shake my head.  Of course his people were told what was appropriate.  Wearing black, he would have blended in... somewhat, his Oompa Loompa orange face would have made him stand out, but barely.  He wanted every eye in the world to be on him, so he wore a blue suit and blue tie, and he looked like a fool.  He was called out during the homily, where the Pope was a man who wanted to build bridges, not walls, the reference being to Orangie's failed border wall.

I'm suspecting that his disdain for protocol will show up in his approval ratings this week as all of those Catholics who voted for him realize he sees them as nothing more than tools.

Christmas in October

 Well, it's Sunday.  I got up around 0515 because I was awake.  It was cool enough in the bedroom that I realized the time had come for me to pull out the rest of the blankets.  Outside, the temp was 49 (F) or almost 9.5 (C).  That's chilly.  Temps are predicted to get warmer, however, things have changed in the forecast.  Originally, it was supposed to stay warm for a few days.  Now, we appear to to be moving back into more seasonable, fall-like weather.  It is autumn, after all, and some people need a reason to drink their pumpkin spice lattes.

I worked yesterday, it was boring.  I did manage to get 2 measures for flooring installations.  That will keep management happy.  My goal was 2 for the week, I've sold 4.  I will probably sell less in the future because I've changed my availability.  There was time when you could be available for 28 hours a week and you'd only be scheduled for 20.  Not any more.  Now they schedule for every hour possible, and the only way to change that is to reduce the number of hours a week that you can work.  A further reduction is in my future.

And Christmas has arrived at the store... the first week of October.  Truthfully, they began the display all the way back in September.  Every year people ask me why, we have 3 months until Christmas?  Well, the ugly answer is the consumer, those people who desperately need Christmas.  Here's an example from last week.  We had a woman and her husband come into the store looking for a specific artificial Christmas tree.  That model was sold out online, however, we had several in the store.  They were, unfortunately, still stored on pallets in the overhead.  Even more unfortunate for us was her demand we get one down so she could buy one, so that's what we did.  We blocked off aisles, got a fork-lift and pulled down the pallet so she could satisfy her selfishness.  As for this display, it was difficult for me to take this picture because of customers buying trees, and wreathes, and... well you name it.  And yes, I take it on October 4, 2024.

The Orange Anus had a rally yesterday in Butler, PA, where supposedly and assassination attempt was made on his life.  Many people are beginning to wonder if it was an elaborate campaign event that cost the deaths of 2 Republicans.  Honestly, I don't think Republicans have a problem sacrificing one of  their own if they feel their new religion calls for it.  Elon Mus was there, too.  At one time I thought he might be intelligent, now I realize he's like Trump, a self-centered rich man who inherited most of his fortune.  His Karma is almost as bad as Trump's.  This is something his ego refuses to let him understand.  He and the woman who needed a specific tree have a lot of things in common.

Father's Day

 Well, here it is, Sunday, the day before the dome comes down on top of us.  One of the things that's interesting is that last week they were predicting temps as high as 100 (F), and now forecasters are saying they should be in the mid to upper 90s (F).  From the maps I've been seeing, most of the high heat is going to stay to the south and the deep south.  Yepper, Florida and Texas are going to be cooking again.

I did work yesterday.  They're hungry for leads and measures and  as an incentive, they're giving out $5 gift cards to Subway and Dunkin' Donuts for every one you get.  I got a measure, so I'm the proud own of a Dunkin' gift card.  Maybe I'll get another today.  That means I'll be able to get 3 free donuts.

The measure was for carpet.  The customers have dogs and cats, and so our conversation headed in that direction.  I told them that I'd had dogs, but was dogless now, at least until I returned from my trip.  Many people have been suggesting rescue dogs, they didn't.  While there are all sorts of good stories about Rescue dogs, you never know what you're getting and many have had years of possibly bad training, or no training, and it's difficult to fix that.  Puppies are best, so you can start from scratch.  

And they put put out Father's Day gifts for all the men in the building yesterday: a soft drink, a Slim Jim, and a small bag of nuts.  I got cashews.  I'd have rather had walnuts or peanuts.

And it is Sunday.  That means many phony Christians will go to Church and be told that it's okay to pass judgment on others for oh so many varied reasons.  Well, that's not quite right, they're going to be schooled in what is acceptable, the decision to pass judgement encouraged by their church leaders, perhaps because they believe it gets the closer to godliness.  I find it amusing that many of these Cracker Jack Crazies believe they're doing God's will when there's nothing in the Bible that tells them to do this.  It doesn't say much for God's strength if piddly human beings have to force his will upon others, does it.  Perhaps this is one of the reasons for the great De Churching.

  

Voting Republicans Straight to Hell

 And so here we are on another quiet Sunday morning, some people are sleeping late, not me, though I did laze around for a little bit longer.  The sun is shining bright in through my window.  Lily is sleeping on the bed.  The temps are predicted to rise up into the 60s (F) this afternoon.  We have 16 more days until Spring arrives.  And soon... the end of Daylight Saving Time.

Yesterday, work was slow.  Not that I wasn't busy, I did deal with the occasional customer.  I have flooring installation ($6,000) that should be going through today.  And I got 2 measures from customers who had I had talked to previously.  That does happen on occasion.  Sometimes people need to go home and sort things out, look at their finances and decide if they're going to spend the money.  So, I had 4 measures last week, beating expectations.

One of the things I learned from my visit to the eye doctor was that my corneas move.  Both of them. They move a little when I blink.  The result is that sometimes they will feel very dry, hence the drops.  I hate eye drops, and this is not a daily thing.  Sometimes I go months without them feeling dry and scratchy.

Stevie Nicks is coming to Hershey.  I'm not going.  She was good with Fleetwood Mac, however, I was not overly impressed with her solo career.  Out of curiosity, I did a search on her and was surprised to see that she's 75.  I didn't think she was that old.

And there was an interesting interview in the NYT with Isabella Rossellini this morning.  I follow her on Instagram and she is fascinating.  She turns out to be very interesting.  Besides acting occasionally, she lives on a farm and raises sheep.  We're the same age, and honestly, while I think I do quite a lot, working a sheep farm is not something I'd have any interest in doing.

One of the things Republicans have whined and complained about for years was that Democrats managed to achieve their goals through activist judges.  Thinking this was they way to turn a very Centrist America conservative, they managed to stack the Court in their favor.  They forgot one big thing, however: that the vast number of decisions the Court reached when it was more Centrist appealed to a majority of people.  Of course, Conservatives never really think about people; they want one thing, to tell people how to live their lives.  As a result, there were shocked when, after the Court flipped on Roe v Wade, Americans started running to the ballot box.  In 3 conservative states Americans have voted to enshrine abortion rights in their state constitutions, and Conservatives, with their tiny minds are, themselves, flipping out.  They never understood that just being in charge is enough.  And they are never going to learn their lessons.  This court, by delaying Trump's immunity decision, is another example of Conservatives not understanding the American people.  Instead, they have given Americans just one more reason to go to the ballot box in November and vote Republicans straight to Hell.

Ironed

 Happy sunny Sunday morning!  We're a bit cool here in Central Pa, the temp was in the mid 20s (F), when Lily got me out of bed so she could go potty.  That was around 0520.  Me?  I thought, well, since I'm up, I might as well stay up, and started the coffee maker.  However, once I'd sat myself down in front of the computer and began checking headlines, I realized I could use a bit more shut-eye and went back to bed.

2 hours later.

I am really well rested.  Lily is snoozing on the bed.  There is no heating plate on my coffee maker, so the coffee doesn't cook, the pot is well insulated, so the coffee stayed hot.  Yes, it is a well insulated pot.

Yesterday work was... slow.  The snow was light and fluffy, and shoveled fast.  Customers were not completely non-existent, but we were slow.  Those customers in the store were asking "what's your deal for President's day?"  As usual, I gave them my standard reply.  "Deals are going to be in appliances.  We don't do sales in flooring."

One of my fellow associates did manage to ring up a $16,000 flooring installation, however (and it's a big however), the only way the customer could pay for it was to put it on 3 different credit cards.  I don't know about you, but I have a problem with people buying things they apparently can't afford.  Of course, not everybody thinks paying interest is a bad thing if it's the only way you can get what you want.

And I don't know about you, but it seems to me that there is a lot of irony smashing around in the Republican party.

Many Republicans look at Putin's dictatorship authoritarian government and think "wouldn't it be nice to have that here in America, except make it socially conservative."  This same group is also shouting angrily about Russia having nukes in space. One would think that they would be able to put one and one together and make two.  This is a good definition of Irony.  Another good example is their inability to understand that in a country as diverse as America, democracy works best, and that having an authoritarian leader, especially one who has his competitors and critics assassinated, simply wouldn't work here because... we're too diverse.  It works for Trump's blo bro Vlad because most of Russia is a Third World Country.  America is not.  There is great irony here, and conservatives don't seem to understand that if they continue down this path they will simply be ironed flat.

Royalty

It's Sunday morning, and even though the rain hasn't started, I can smell the change it in the air, you know what I'm talking about, that scent of Petrichor, that earthy smell filling the air when the first drops dash themselves to death upon stones and concrete.  Of course, if I'm smelling it we must already be under a bit of a drizzle.

And yes, it is going to rain today.  Heavy at times.  And we are under a snow watch for later this evening when the cold air descending from Canada overwhelms the moisture ridden air from the south.  Nothing to actually write home about; the ground temps are going to be too warm.

I saw that Ryan O'Neal died and made the mistake of reading his obit.  He made one good movie (Paper Moon), but everything else was pretty much he and his agent trying to cash in on his pretty boy looks.  You know there were problems in the family when he and one of his sons got arrested for drug possession.  

I am working today.  The rain will keep shoppers away.  Well, most of them at least.  Since I haven't work this past week, I've not experienced seeing the disappointment in the eyes of those potential customers when they're being told that "no, it's too late to have your carpet installed by Christmas."  Sometimes they get angry when they hear those words.  To me, it's like rain off of a duck's back.

I've started putting little videos of my books on TikTok.  Maybe one or two of those sex workers who friended me will buy one.

Here's a cute picture of Lily sitting on a pillow looking out the window.  This is what royalty looks like, in case you didn't know.

Will this be a foray in to fun filled politics?  The Orange Anus will be taking the stand again in NYC trying to save his business.  There will be an appeal when he loses most of his fictitious financial empire.  This is how he works.  His pricy legal team will attempt to litigate every one of the 91 charges against him to death.  Been there, seen it before, and it will happen again.  The more this happens, the angrier he's going to get, as every one of his lies gets torn away, like so many layers of his thin skin, until the only thing left will be the hulking skeleton of the Spawn of Satan.  

 

Loudly Boiling Over

 Welcome to Funday Sunday!  Is it going to be fun?  Heck if I know.  Lily went out for her morning pee in 30 (F) temps, so I suppose it steamed a bit.  Our afternoon temps are supposed to be in the mid to upper 40s (F), which is probably right for this time of year, we are, after all, less than a month away from winter.  One good thing to keep in mind is that immediately after our winter solstice the days begin to get longer.  

The store was busy yesterday morning and early afternoon, but around 3ish the crowd began to thin out.  I did get a measure, so that should keep mgmt. happy.  Sales were so, so in flooring.  Our appliance show room is hopping.  I always tell people that if you're going to need to buy a washer, or dryer, or refrigerator, this is the time of year to make your purchase.

I got over 7 hours sleep last night.  The same thing happened the night before.  Normally, I'm up a lot earlier.  All this sleep?  I hope it doesn't mean I'm coming down with something.  There's always the possibility I'm doing more than I used to do during the day and making myself super tired, though I haven't change my regime, so that's probably not the reason.  Maybe I'm just more tired than I used to be.

And, probably thanks to Climate Change and Global Warming, my yard is filled with winter roses.  I took this yesterday before work.

And, here in Central PA, there are a number of people talking about ousting Scott Perry from Congress.  A former newscaster for from the local NBC affiliate, Janelle Stelson, has already thrown her hat into the ring.  There's even talk of Republicans backing a Democratic candidate depending upon how Republican opposition to Perry looks.  Over and over again, you're hearing that he does not represent his constituents.  For those who don't know, Perry is a Trumper, and is still clinging to the election fraud lie.  The DOJ is in a fierce legal battle to access contents of his cellphone during the time leading up to January 6, and the days after, leading many to believe Perry is dirty.

And Trump was seriously booed in South Carolina yesterday when he attended The Palmetto (?) Bowl.  There are a number of videos out there of the long incident, and it was pointed out that his handlers are good when it comes to arranging for small crowds, however, once he gets out in the open, the hatred for him loudly boils over.

Cylindrical

 Sunday, the day of rest, and I did sleep in a for a bit.  The skies are over cast and the temperatures are hovering around 32 (F).  After today, things are going to begin warming up again.  We're hitting the mid 60's (F).  Tuesday will be a day for cleaning up the yard.

When they emptied out the house next door, they threw lots of detritus out of the 2nd story and 3rd story windows.  Papers and lite weight items blew all over the neighborhood, some finding a home behind my fence.  Things that I've picked up in my front yard so far:  personal letters, medical reports, and tax documents.  That and supermarket shopping bags, some of which are hung up in the branches of the trees surrounding my house like tiny ghosts waiting for a breeze to free them.

One of my Navy friends is turning 70 on the 25th.  His wife thought it would be nice if 70 of his friends could send him a birthday card.  I like the idea and put a note in my calendar to make sure I mailed one off in time.  Another of my friends thought it a good idea, too, however he asked her to send him a reminder on the 20th.  That's right, he wants a reminder.  (Heavy sigh).

So I got the letter from PP&L detailing the price increase.  Wowza!  In June of 2021 the rate dropped .6 per KWH, however in December of that year it started climbing, increasing by 3.5 per KWH, and then in January of 2023 it increased by another 2.2 KWH.  Someone, somewhere is making mucho moola.  This is why inflation is high.  Everybody's in it for the buck.

Wyoming is raising a stink because there's a group of people who want to actually set the age at which young people can get married.  The Republicans are up in arms.  You know those Cracker Jack Crazies are going to that's against their religion.  There's nothing in their bible which set the age of consent.  The fact that 2000 years ago many children didn't survive birth, and if they did, it was quite possible their mother might not doesn't occur to them.  Because of this, young girls were married off as soon as they could bear children.  See, in the Christian mind, even back then women were nothing more than breeders.

The Super Bowl's this evening.  Guess who isn't going to be watching.

Finally, another UFO was shot down over Canada.  We have a tad more information about this, since one of the Canadian spokespersons said the object was cylindrical.  That sort of rules out a balloon, unless, of course the Chinese shop for their balloons at their local supermarket where they come in all sorts of shapes and sizes.

No heart, no brains, no courage

 Well, it's Sunday morning and crap, they're predicting an extended period of snow flurries.  No accumulation.  There are several other storms making their way across the country, but from what I've been seeing, whatever snow they're bringing will be to our east, or to our west.  

OLT (On Line Taxes) sent me an email this morning reminding me that tax filing season is upon us.  I've used them for a number of years because they were free, and filed both my federal and state taxes.  This year, that's going to change.  That won't be happening this year.  They've dropped their AGI to $41K and, well I earn a bit more than that, so I may have to use Turbo-Tax, or a similar software.

I do work today.  With the football playoffs on TV, business is going to be slow.  That happened yesterday, when business was steady in the morning, but as the day wore on and the customers thinned out.  That will happen today as well.  

My first reader / editor, Patty gets her copy of The Body Under Ice today.

Saw this and had to chuckle.

And, speaking of Republicans, have you noticed that across the country Republican state legislatures are going from wack-job to extreme?  A party that desperately needs to be in total control is slowly falling out of popularity is doing what should have been expected.  Missouri passing a law that women cannot show their arms in their senate is just one example.  They are trying to masculate women, make they less female and more manly because bare arms, like long hair, are a temptation and must be hidden.  Every day these Republicans become more extreme.  For them, this is necessary, you see, the deity they created is not giving them what they want: total control.  They believe their deity must be angry.  The only way they can appease his anger, to get on his good side, is to prove their loyalty by becoming more extreme.  They don't understand that the more extreme they become, the more people see them as pariahs.

Fasten your seatbelts because these crazies are going to get even crazier.  By not succeeding, they believe they must be doing something terribly wrong.  The truth they will never understand is that they've steered their party into a cul-del-sac of decline where they will drive in endless circles for the rest of time.

About the Lies

 Sunday.  Hhhmm.  Sundays tend to be the only day of the week that I put in 8 hours at the store.  I don't mind.  Business heats up a little bit when we get the after church crowd.  Right now, almost all of our Halloween decorations are on clearance. Christmas decorations have been up for the last 2 weeks; lots of very expensive fake Christmas trees.  I, myself, don't decorate, though I do have my all season skinny tree.  If I do get into the mood, I could always through some Christmas balls on that.  Oh, yes, and that's right, when I was little we decorated our Christmas trees Christmas balls, and stars, and tinsel.  Here's an old, faded shot of what Christmas looked like in my house when I was a teenager.

That picture's from the house on 21st Street.  We moved there when I was 13.  The kids in the neighborhood I hung out with all had bikes, I didn't.  Hope upon hope, I wished for one for Christmas.  At that time, I was old enough to know there was no such thing as Santa, so one day I asked my dad if I was getting a bike for Christmas.  He shrugged and said "no."  Of course, I was terribly disappointed, but there really wasn't anything I could.  On Christmas morning, standing next the tree was a shiny, black road bike.  I was in heaven!  It was what I'd been praying for.  A few days later, my mom pulled me aside and chastised me.  She told me I should never have asked my dad if I was getting a bike, and that by doing so I had put him into a terrible spot.  He had been forced to lie to me.  I had made him feel guilty for having to lie and I was bad for having done that.  After 56 years, I still remember that day.  How screwed up her head must have been to feel the need to ruin what should have been a good moment.  

Trump had a rally in Texas yesterday where he spewed hatred.  I didn't bother to check for pictures of the crowd size, his group has been using smaller venues in order to make his crowds seem larger.  Smaller crowds do not mean smaller Cracker Jack Crazy turnout at the polls on November 8, keep that in mind.  As his rallies continue, his lies get worse.  Let's face it, nobody lies like Donald Trump, but then he has always embraced deceit as if it was his next of kin.  Another thing his rallies are embracing is the Q version of Christianity.  I don't know if any of you have seen this pic, but a number of Qs find it transcending.  What most of them don't realize, is that the face of Jesus is actually a pic of Charlie Manson.  So many of them will not understand how bad that lie is.

Follow the Money

 Another lazy Sunday has arrived.  Since I'm scheduled to work, however, I can't just laze around.  For about 7 hours I will be at the Flooring desk.   Sunday afternoons are usually slow.  Luckily, I'm not scheduled to work alone so conversation will help pass the time.  Most of the college kids who work the summer have gone back to school, meaning staffing is bad.  Payroll accounting dictates you don't begin to hire any replacements until they are gone.  Paying a seasoned associate and a trainee to do the same job is bad business.  Supposedly, they have hired an PM associate for flooring, but until I actually see someone, I'm going to bridle my anticipation.  Oh, and if anyone is wondering, the Haitian has moved on.  An interesting thing about him:  his last name was Jules, and one of the recurring characters in my books is a Frenchman named Jules Laurent, so when I was talking to him, I was having a conversation with Jules.

My high school graduating class had a mini reunion on Friday evening.  I didn't go.  I say mini because my class was 286 strong and only about 17 showed up.  Whomever is in charge is either not communicating well enough, or there's simply not enough interest.  I'm betting it's the interest.  While I wouldn't mind meeting up with some of my class members again, my life has moved on so much from high school.  There are not a lot of cherished memories, perhaps because I never truly fit in.  Not that I wasn't involved in a lot of extracurricular activities.  I was.  The Drama Club, the Spanish Club, the Bowling Club, the Astronomy Club, a member of the Yearbook Staff, I was one of those who wrote the cute, little captions that went with the pictures, and the blurbs that went besides every Senior's picture.  The activities were fun, but none were gamechangers for my life.

Today's picture comes from when I was in Paris.  Notre Dame, pre burn, of course.  What you can't see are the small group of young men who were standing to my right.  They were taking pictures, too, holding each other upside down.  You know, that's what you do when you're young and in Paris, hold your friend upside down so his feet are pointing up in the air and have your picture taken in front of Notre Dame.

And finally, can we talk about Republican financing?  Everyone was stunned when the RRSC began pulling funds from Senate candidates.  Now we know they burned through... oh, let's just say $140 million to be kind.  They're accounting looks sketchy.  Some of them are eyeing Rick Scott, whose Health Care group was found guilty of Medicare fraud and fined millions.  Now, heading into the midterms, the Republicans are finding themselves desperate for cash and the only ones they can turn to are their MAGA base.  That's right, the same ones they've been bleeding dry for almost 6 years.  Unfortunately for the GOP, they're in competition for those $$$ with Trump.  Every other day he seems to be starting a new "Save My Ass" fund, and that's who the MAGA $$ are flowing to.  He's helping to kill their party.

Oh, and he's evidently going to be in Wilkes-Barre on September 3 to help Mastriano and Oz.  Wouldn't it be nice if he was indicted by then?

Senior Moments

 Well, can we say a cheery hello to Sunday morning?  I'm off today.  Personal day.  I'm using vacation up.  In another month and a half, I'm going to get my yearly chunk of vacation added to my account.  Yippee.

Weatherwise?  We might hit 99 (F) this afternoon.  This means we had a 2-day heat wave, which is more of a splash than anything else.  

I'm driving down to York to visit friends.  Lunch.  Inside, of course.  Often, we'll go to a Chinese buffet.  A lot of people have problems with buffets; I have no problem with them.

For a brief moment yesterday, I thought I was having a Senior Moment.  Usually, when I get off the treadmill, I hang my heart rate monitor on the shower head so I can rinse off the strap while I shower.  Yesterday, I didn't.  Shit.  And I thought, 'where in hell did I put that?'  And then I remembered.  I'd thrown it away because an updated one was being ordered.  In a way, I suppose, it was a senior moment, but not quite.  

Of course, you don't need to be a senior to have a senior moment.  Last week, one of our freight associates decided to make macaroni and cheese in the microwave.  These days you can make anything in a microwave, so no one saw anything wrong with him dumping everything in a bowl, add the water and popping it into the microwave.  His senior moment came when he set the timer: not thinking, he set the microwave to run on high for 30 minutes.  From what I've been told, (sadly no one took pictures) his 'mac & cheese' had burst into flame before someone else yanked open the microwave door.  When asked, he said he had no idea why he set the timer for so long.

I like the musical group Young the Giant.  Here's their latest, American Bollywood.  Whether people want to understand it or not, this is America.

The most disappointing thing this past week was finding out I needed to wait until October 21 for Steve Bannon to get sentenced.  Of course, there were some truly bright spots:  the Kansas City Star calling Josh Hawley the 'laughingstock of America.'  You can't mine gold this shiny!  Oh, and then there was the bit about Alan Dershowitz complaining that he's no longer getting invited to parties on Martha's Vineyard because he represented Trump in his 2nd (I believe it was his 2nd) impeachment hearing.  Cute.  Dershowitz defended a traitor because his own ego thought it would get him attention.  Well, Al, it sure has.

Traditionally Speaking

 Shall we give a hearty hello to a Slow Sunday?  Traffic here is always at a minimum on the Day of Rest.  Yep, that's what today is supposed to be, a day of rest; no work schedule to adhere to or chores to be done.  Growing up, Sundays were for quietude.  Twisted religiosity ruled in odd ways, like we could watch TV, but weren't allowed to go the movies.  It was okay to pay for cable, but not okay to sit in a movie theater.  I could never understand the logic that certain types of entertainment were bad for your soul.  I wonder if this is what people mean when they talk about traditional family values?  no movies on Sundays.

Once again here in Central Pa, the skies are overcast and there is a chance of rain.  I'm not scheduled to work until Thursday.  There was a time when I would call that a vacation, especially since it covers most of the week ahead.  Vacations are another part of our lives where traditions have changed.  Growing up, a summer vacation meant a visit to my grandparents who had moved to Allentown, PA for a week.  That week also included day trips to New York City.  It wasn't until I was in my mid-teens that my parents actually began planning and taking family vacations.  Time wise, this was in the mid-60s.  However, when I turned 16 those trips stopped because I could get a job without needing to get working papers.  Working papers, you may ask, what are they?  Well, they permitted an underage individual to get a job and earn money.  I got my first job when I was 14.  No allowance for me.  Nope.  I had to work and earn my spending money.  These were the traditional family values I grew up with.

Standard Application to work

Why am I writing about my past?  Because I truly get fed up with Conservatives shrieking about Traditional Family Values.  For those who haven't realized this yet, traditional family values are an ideal that conservatives subscribe to, an ideal they alone define as one which reinforces the family with certain values.  Most of us grew up with variations on what traditionalists fantasize about.  For example, we did gather around the kitchen table for dinner.  That gathering usually lasted 10 minutes.  There was no conversation about good or bad, just bits and pieces of neighborhood gossip.  This doesn't mean that my parents didn't try and model our family behavior after a scripted TV show, but none of us were actors, so none of us knew how to play the parts.  Families make their own traditions.  They do not follow a precise pattern or fit into a specific mold, and everybody creates their own values.  Children whose parents divorce have different values than those whose parents stay together; that's just one example.  The traditional family values ideal was broken long ago.  Conservatives will never understand that.

That's fine with me

 Well, a happy Sunday morning to everybody out there.  I am starting 6 consecutive days away from work today.  If I were working fulltime, I'd call this a Staycation since I'm not going anywhere, however, since I'm a part-timer now, I'll just call it a a non-scheduled work week.  I'm scheduled again next Saturday, the same the Kid's Workshops restart.  Can you tell how excited I am?

The temps today are forecasted to reach the high 70s (F) to low 80s (F), so I'm betting I'll be turning on the window A/C units upstairs.  We might get a late afternoon thunderstorm, again, that's fine with me.  My outdoor plans as limited.  Tomorrow the temps are supposed to drop back into the mid 60s (F) for the rest of the week.  I can deal with that, too.

I'm thinking of extending the veranda by the side of the house.  That would be laborious, which means it's a good way to burn calories.  Burning calories is always good.

One of the things that I realized as I was moving files to the new computer was the number of pictures I have of Lily.  While I talk a lot about Biggie, the shots I have of her vastly outnumber the pics I have of him.  He was not happy, so I took this one as he shot me the stink eye while he brooded away on the futon. 

The French election is today.  Le Pen is close enough that she could swing an upset.  People will vote for her because they hate Macron and his mask and vaccine mandates.  The fact that Le Pen has some serious ties to Russia, and Trump's blow bro Vlad doesn't even cross their minds.  They aren't even considering that if she were to win, they might end up with some 'friendly' Russian troops stationed in France to 'help keep the peace.'  For them, the bright side is not having to worry about mask or vaccine mandates, and they are far worse than Russians in Paris.

We have the same problem in America; people not wanting to wear masks or get vaccinated.  That's fine with me.  We now know that unlike chicken pox or mumps, Covid has no lasting immunity.  Like the common cold, you will get it again, and again, and again.  I know of 3 people in my store who've had it twice, and for 2 of them the second time was worse than the first time they had it.  The one person who had milder symptoms the 2nd time had chosen to get vaccinated.  I'm getting my 2nd booster on Thursday, which is fine with me.  

Not the End of Days

 Well, say hello to a sunny and cold Sunday morning.  We're an hour later because of Daylight Saving time.  We lost an hour.  Personally, I think we should stop changing the clocks twice a year.  More sun later in the day works so much better for so many people.  Let's stop the change.

Weather wise, we ended up with about 4 inches of snow and a lot of gusty winds.  I have a lot of mini-drifts around the house, nothing worth taking a picture of though.  The temps today are suppose to climb into the very high 30's (F).  Tomorrow up into the high 50's (F).  By Thursday they're supposed to hit the 70's (F).  That's a little too warm for this time of the year.  Of course, no one's thinking about that.

So, I'm reading Lost in Space 2 and while there are lots of publicity photos and behind the scenes photos, there are also bits and pieces that are quite interesting:  Bill Mumy lived close enough to 20th Century Fox Studios he rode his bicycle to work.  Another fun fact: the change from the drama and scifi of the first season to the absurdity of the final season was initiated by CBS because the show aired at 7:30 PM on Wednesdays, which was 'family hour' and they didn't want anything too intense for the little kiddies.

The heating pad I bought for Biggie might work if he laid on it.  He doesn't.  In fact, he'll lay down beside it.  I'm planning on calling the Vet tomorrow and seeing about putting him on the Gabapentin.  

And one of the things that caught my eye was the fact that there are a number of Evangelical pastors attempting to link what is happening in the Ukraine to the End of Days.  Holy Shit. Literally!  A lot of the Cracker Jack Crazies are getting desperate.  Many of them believe God sent DOA Trump to give them 3 conservative Supreme Court justices in order to overturn Roe v Wade.  One can only wonder why He would do that if we're in the End of Days.  It wouldn't really make any difference, would it?  However, many of us know DOA Trump had nothing to do with those Supreme Court justices; it was all Mitch McConnell, which means they really got that wrong.  Keep in mind, this is a very desperate bunch of people.  They've been waiting 2200 years (give or take century or two) for the End of Days and it hasn't happened.  Desperate people will believe anything.  The truth is their extremism is only going to leave them with a flat tire.

Notes

 So, we were under a lot of weather warnings yesterday:  high wind, tornado, hail, heavy or torrential rains, flash flooding, and we got... a steady rain for about 45 minutes.  It was a bit breezy, but that's about it.  No garbage cans went rolling down the street.  One thing I will say is that we have had a lot of rain so far this summer.  Last year my river birch were losing leaves constantly, this year?  New growth on every branch.

I'm spending the afternoon down in York.  My friend Betsy's getting her copy of The Body in the Loch.

And it is Sunday, which is also the day the Internet slows down.  Not because of any religious reasons, mostly because people do need a day of rest.  This is the day when the blog always gets the least amount of hits.  Because of that, I've decided to share some notes with you.  This is roughly what the next 4 chapters of The Body in Repose is going to look like.

Have a good one.

Slow Day, Sunday

 That's right, Sunday's are always slow with web traffic.  People sleep in.  There are other more important things to do than spend time in front of a monitor.  For me, well, it's just another day.  It's a work day, today.  And with the forecast, I'm not expecting the store to be super busy, moderately so is more likely going to be the case.  That forecast includes the skies being overcast, and passing shower and thundershowers.  Our high is supposed to hit 86 (F), though this coming week we should be hitting the mid to upper 90's.  

I spent a lot of time in the paint department yesterday because of a call off.  I like working there.

Once my subscription is up to Rouvy, I will most likely not renew.  It was nice to revisit the app, but there are too many flaws for my personal riding style to continue investing my money.  I have downloaded a number of videos and I'm wondering if I might be able to import them in the Tacx software.  Probably not.

And, since today is Sunday, and it's a slow day, I thought I'd post a picture of my cycling shoes.  Now, isn't this exciting!

I'm almost finished with chapter 4 in The Body in Repose and have over 9000 words.  Chapters are longer then before.  I'll have to do something about that.  If you've read any of my books, I like short chapters, little vignettes, or slices of what's happening in the moment.

Covid cases among the unvaccinated continue to rise.  This was to be expected.  Both the Moderna and the Pfizer seem to hold up well against the Delta variant.  Hospitalizations in Missouri continue to rise.  They're rising in every red state where the unvaccinated Republicans have chosen stupidity.  I understand there are 5 red states where Covid is running rampant.  I have no problem with that, either.  You pay your money, you make your choice.

 

Sit back and wait

 Well, here it is Sunday and Sunday's are slow days.  The temps are to begin their 90 degree (F) run, which means all ceiling fans are running upstairs as well as the Central Air.  This is what happens when you have a very old house with limited venting.

Yesterday was 'cake' day at work.  Not sheet cake or layer cake, rather cate was represented by the Little Debbie, Ding Dong, Hostess Twinkie processed cardboard-fiber cakes complete with hydrogenated, sugary oil substituting for a whipped cream filling.  This doesn't mean I didn't eat any, it's just a notice that I did wreck havoc on my digestive tract.

Yesterday was also the day I learned we no longer have to do the 'health check' before we punch in; no more annoying buzzing sound from the time clock if we skip that step.  I am so happy about that.

And an odd thing happened.  Around 0300 my watch buzzed, waking me up.  It was a notification telling me I had an alarm scheduled for 0500.  That's never happened before.  I think I'll turn of notifications, because I dismissed the notification and the alarm didn't go off.  This means I'm running a bit late, but only a bit.

I'm planning on doing a 10 mile ride this morning as a nice way to end the week.  Yep, that's right, my weeks end on Sunday.  Some religious beliefs have the week ending on Saturday,  Working in retail, Saturday and Sunday might as well be Tuesday and Wednesday.  Most people don't know there was a time in our not too distant past when weekends didn't exist for most of the workforce.  They are a relatively recent luxury.

If that thought wasn't enough to brighten up your day, I have eggplants.  Here's a pic of one.

Finally, I saw Loser #45 had his super-spreader event in Ohio.  Hello, Delta Variant, make yourself at home.  From what I've read, this variant is so contagious you only need to be in close proximity for a few minutes.  By September, it's supposed to be the dominant strain, which is why it's not only going to be the GOP who's holding super-spreader events.  What we really need to happen, is for as many unvaccinated people as possible to attend these things, and then just sit back and wait.

Breaking News

 Sunday slow day... and I think not, though this is my Friday.  Take note all you who work a Monday through Friday work week, I celebrate because tomorrow you will go back to the drudge and I will have a lay-in.  Well, probably not a lay-in, since the temps are supposed hit the high 60's (F).  This is spring, and the lawn work beckons.  

I picked up some ranunculus and poppy tubers yesterday.  They're going to be an addition to the my bulb bed out front.  The poppies are orange.  I had planted some a long time ago, after I had first moved in, and the 2nd year they turned scarlet.  And yes, I know, that means more digging in the dirt.  More grass being overturned means less that I have to mow and more that I need to weed.   I guess the only thing left to say is that spring has sprung.

And speaking of spring, Spring Break is preparing to take its toll down in Florida.  Remember last year?  How all of those jubilant merrymakers started a wave of Covid?  Well, it's happening again this year.  Goody.  This one will take more Republican voters and once again they'll whine that the elections are rigged.  They are one stupid group of selfish people.  

One of the headlines trending on reddit yesterday was "Fox News has turned the GOP into a death cult."  Oh... my, can this be true?  Of course it is.  You see, Fox News has become the Anti-network.  The anger and hatred spun out by their highly paid Entertainers like Tucker Carlson turns everything into a target.  This is their desperate attempt to grow their ratings.  They have become the anti-vaccine channel, not by out right damning vaccinations, but by sowing extreme caution.  They repeat things like "you don't really know what's in the vaccine, and just what it's going to do to your body."  This is not how you grow your ratings, unless your target audience is the uneducated and easily influenced.  They simply don't understand that dead people can't turn on the TV.