Lettuce

 A busy Friday morning is scheduled.  At 0745, the electrician will arrive (*have arrived, depending upon when you're reading this) to build a quote the dryer hookup on the 2nd floor.  At 1000, the insurance adjuster* will show up at my front door to look at the holes in my kitchen ceiling.  Using the Internet, I tried to get a rough estimate on the drywall expense.  I have a nice sized kitchen 9.5' x 15' (easily big enough for a table and chairs), so using the calculations I found on line the cost should run anywhere between $1000 - $2000.  Now, how's that for bad accuracy?

Even though we've been having freeze warnings for the past 3 days, night time temps have only bottomed out in the mid 30s.  That damages my dahlias, but doesn't quite kill them.

I received an email from Barnes & Noble yesterday informing me that they had (finally) accepted my W9.  So, what does this mean?  Starting in January,  those who don't like buying things from Amazon, or prefer their Nook to their Kindle, can buy my books.  They will be loaded in sequence, starting with The Body on the Lawn.  Why January?  Because the first couple were available at something called Kindle Unlimited, where you earn meager cents for every page read, rather than royalties from book sales.  

Here's a pic of Biggie sleeping on the sofa in the writing room.  I try and keep it covered with a muslin drop cloth because the pillows sewn into the back were not made to endure the constant weight of big dog paws.

And what about lettuce outlasting Liz Truss.  I cannot thing of anything more humiliating to the Tories than that comparison.  Even more embarrassing is to have a picture of lettuce beamed onto parliament.  Conservatives around the world are flummoxed.  For them, the solution to every economic problem is Tax Cuts to either corporations or to the wealthy.  Such dumbasses.  Trickle down always fails.

And for those keeping score, Lindsey Graham has lost another appeal to keep from testifying in the investigation into Trump's meddling in the Georgia elections.  Jeez, this guy loses more than Trump.

Finally, more and more I'm seeing that Republicans might hold onto the House.  Voters are buying into their propaganda about crime and the economy.  About crime?  This is a party that wants to be tough on crime yet refuses to do anything about gun control.  Nothing more than empty words.  Ad for the economy?  The entire world is reeling with inflation, not just the United States.  Nothing is going to change that.  Voters who believe the Republicans can solve that problem need to come back into the real world.  Things will probably get worse before they get better.  Well, this is life.  The best way to deal with it is vote Blue.  Save Democracy.  Save America.  Don't vote for lettuce.

Red State Mentaility

Well with Big Seig's help, I've been taking apart my weight bench - or at least that part which supports the barbell up in the air when you're doing bench presses.  That rack alone takes up 15 square feet - which may not seem like a lot, but believe me, it is.
In case you haven't been paying attention, the GOP is ready to ram their crazy, waste of a Tax Cut / Overhaul down the throats of Americans because... well, because they've been telling their base for years this will create more jobs.  This is what's going to start the big buck rolling into all the Idiot Jerk supporters, at least that's what those morons think.  Obviously, if they read Boomberg they'd realize this is a trillion dollar blunder.  They honestly believe that corporations are going to take these cuts and use them to create unnecessary jobs for unnecessary employees, who's employment will drop the productivity level these corporations want.  Keep in mind, no one has ever accused these people of being intelligent.  By the same token, these corporations are not going to suddenly give their employees a $1 an hour increase out of the kindness of their hearts - employees are already getting paid enough for the work they do, they don't need any more money, that would set a bad precedent.  Of course, those who want this piece of shit passed don't really care about America, they just want to prove they can pass legislation, even this turd.
And that Roy Moore cluster fuck down in Alabama?  It's getting crazier by the minute.  He's too cheap to pay for a recount might prove he lost by an even greater margin.  And losers like Alex Jones are adding to the hilarity of this mess.  Don't these people realize that a majority of Americans are looking at this circus, wanting to tell Moore and his crony losers to "just shut up!"  There are people who believe 20,000 out of state voters were bused in on yellow school buses.  That would be at least 800 buses.  You could probably see that many buses from space.  And wouldn't somebody at a polling station have called the local news media if even 5 school buses with out of state license plates pulled up and started unloading?  This is Red State Mentality at its... sharpest.  These are the same people who think these tax cuts are going to generate more jobs.  Oh... my.

Trump kneels to Mother Russia

Okay, so instead of putting in a half an hour on the bike this AM I decided to grab another hour and a half of sleep.  That's fine.  I'm still in the recovery stage from my surgery, it's not even been 3 weeks so I feel I'm entitled. 
And how about Flynn yesterday?  Great news for America, bad news for Team Idiot Jerk in the White House.  Did the Scumbag on the Hill tweet anything about it?  I do know that the pathological liar Sarah Huckabee-Two Tongues hissed some sort of curdled message... or did she?  I don't remember seeing or hearing of her foisting some deceit from her little podium.  Most of the Republican members of Congress seemed to turn their normal blind eye - but then the Senate was all goosey gandy because they managed to pass some sort of horrible tax bill, not that it means anything, and of course that didn't keep Mitch McTurtle from doing a crazy little Texas Two Step about how great the moment was for America's Wealthiest...
We all do need to give a round of applause to Team Mueller!  With his staid appearance, who ever would have thought that he'd be such a gifted vivisectionist?  For a second I thought that might not be the best word... since vivisection is done on living things and Team Idiot Jerk has been brain dead for... well who know how long?  But there is a some sort of a pulse there, so the heart is still beating, a rather bad heart, but it still is beating.
While the collusion hasn't been proven yet, thanks the to time lines we now have, we know that Trump was already down on one knee to Mother Russia long before he was sworn into office.  That man sure does love his Vlad, doesn't he?  The sooner we get that American Traitor out of office, the sooner we take control away from the Republicans, the better off our Democracy will be.  For this to be the Land of the Free, and the Home of the Brave, he need and his seed need to be dumped like so much other garbage.

Baking with Biggie... and other things.

So, here it is, Thursday, and I get to take the bandage off of my surgical wound.  I slept without taking any of my meds, but took the Vicodin this AM because sitting down is a real bitch.  People think that stairs should be the problem, they're not, it's sitting down and then getting up - that's what hurts.  I'm also going to shave this AM - getting rid of that old, grizzled gray look. 
And I saw that Jeffey Sessions testified again yesterday, which is a very good thing.  The more he presents himself in public, the more he obviously lies and obfuscates the truth, the more people begin to realize he is an evil, little man.  He will never understand just how terrible he is because that would require him to question his own feelings of superiority - and he does believe himself to be quite superior.  Roy Moore is the same way, so special in his own eyes he fails to recognize his own contemptability.  America sees, however.  These people are so lost in their own failed belief systems they will never understand what is good and what is right.  They are total failures as human beings.
Oh, and the big Idiot Jerk in the White House is evidently supposed to meet with a lot of the little Idiot Jerks in the House to talk about their tax overhaul.  These people are so desperate to pass some form of legislation they stink worse than a two bit whore,  and what they're going to attempt to foist on Americans is being described as a dumpster fire.  Do they care?  Absolutely not!  They keep telling themselves they know what they're talking about, that their fiscal policies are great, in spite of the fact that they've always failed. 
Yesterday I also baked cookies, chocolate chip, from scratch... and I had help in the kitchen.  Big Seig.

What he really wanted to be was the official taster.  As you can tell from the picture, he's pretty much counter high, and he kept licking his chops every time I pulled a batch from the oven.  Did he get one?  Nah, chocolate's not good for dogs.  He did get treated to a couple of Gravy Bone dog biscuits as a reward for not standing up at the counter and eating them all in one fell swoop.

Cut this

Well, here it is.  The day of my surgery has finally arrived.  I need to be at the Lebanon VA Outpatient Surgical Unit at 0900, and by 1000 the scalpel should be at the ready.  They've slotted an hour and a half for the procedure - though it wouldn't surprise me if they're done a lot sooner.  Back when I had my consultation, my Dr had said he thought they'd operate in the afternoon - I prefer the earlier time.
And what's happening to me is so much nicer than what's happening to the GOP.  Bannon's calling on the Jews to rise up against the GOP establishment and Mitch McTurtle believes the women accusing Roy Moore... and another woman came forward today.  Watch out, they's be reaching for their clubs, and let's be honest, there's nothing wrong with a little Republican blood sport.  In the end, both sides will be bloody and beaten to an impotent pulp.
Oh, and the Idiot Jerk in the White House said something about making sure that the 'rich get a tax cut.'  Sorry,  they don't need a tax cut.  They're rich.  They sleep in clean sheets every night.  Someone else scrubs their toilets, and cooks their food, and most probably wipes their asses.  These are people who have an employee who helps them pick out their clothing and helps them get dressed in the morning, who most likely hand washes their delicate dainties.  These are people who have never washed a dish, or dusted, or vacuumed, and may be hard pressed to tell the difference between a broom and a mop.  They don't deserve a tax cut.  Yeah, that's the penalty for being rich, you have to pay more taxes than us poorer folk.  Tough Shit.

Failure of Megyn Kelly & Tax Cuts

So, I see Megyn Kelly has an interview coming up on Father's Day... ho, ho, ho, and lots of people are upset because her subject is none other than Alex Jones, performance artist and conspiracy theorist extraordinaire.  I don't see why they're upset, I mean, no one ever said she was astute, or smart, or intelligent.  Her interview with Putin was panned by everybody except, perhaps, the Idiot in the White House, because the questions she asked were mousy, intending to reveal absolutely nothing.  She gave him a stage on which he got to show America that he wasn't at all a dictator who had corrupted the Russian Constitution in order to stay in power for 17 years.  There were no questions about opposition party candidates disappearing, or being jailed, or even assassinated.  In fact, I was surprised she didn't try and get him to say, "don't worry, be happy," in English for a 2nd time.
And now she's going to do the same thing with Alex Jones.  While people don't expect her to eviscerate him, they would like to see him bleed a little truth... and that's never going to happen.  He's going to survive unscathed because no pointed questions will be asked.  She's not going to try and pin him down or pry open his phoniness.  That's not her game.  If you watch, you're going to see a cookies and milk interview and nothing more.  You see, for Megyn Kelly the truth isn't in the details, it never has been.  For her, truth comes in the size of her paycheck.
And then there was this interesting article about the failure of Tax Cuts.  One of the major planks of Conservative philosophy is that tax breaks grow the economy.  Trickle down, you know?  Except they never work... ever.  Companies and people don't reinvest, they bank the breaks and cuts and call it profit.  A large percentage goes into bonuses because it's considered revenue.  Of course, don't tell a conservative that, they'll call you a liar.  Conservatives love their tax cuts, of course, they also like Megyn Kelly, most likely for the same reason that Roger Ailes liked her.