Lancing Elon

Surprise!  Yesterday's high did not climb into the low 80s (F) as the forecast had been predicting.  While the temp scooted around 79 (F) for most of the afternoon, there was a wind.  Now, I'm not talking about the occasional breeze.  Nope.  We had winds from the west that did a good job of keeping the gnats at bay;  I only got 2 bites.

And I did spend a bit of time outside cutting up branches yesterday afternoon.  My neighbor across the street is letting me borrow a teeny, tiny Ceepuy chainsaw that's about 6 inches long.  Let me tell you, that sucker is great for cutting up cleaning the branches so I can shove them into my wood chipper.  Looking out the window from my writing desk, I can say with certainty that a dent was made in cleaning up my... well, cleanup.  I have some chores to run this morning, but I'll be out again this afternoon.  

I did postpone the ride I had scheduled for yesterday afternoon; too many other jobs are taking precedence.  I'm only planning on doing the short upper-body workout this morning.  I want to get this clean-up complete as soon as possible, and that means spending more time out back this afternoon.  I texted this to my trainer, who replied that I'm probably getting more exercise doing this than if I were doing my full routines.  I'm going to agree with him on this.

Everyday I'm harvesting more tomatoes.  Today I'm going to make a pasta tomato salad which, hopefully will cover meals for today, tomorrow, and Sunday.  Oh, and I'm also going to be making bread pudding.  Yum.  Yesterday's harvest.

I was not surprised when I read that Elonia  Musk is going to be trying to buy Republican wins during the midterms.  Like the Orange Anus, he has his fan boys who believe he's a genius.  Like so many other billionaires, he suffers from a god complex.  He believes he's wealthy enough to make people do whatever he wants.  In fact, he is really nothing more than a large, puss filled boil ready to burst.  Tesla stock is dropping because, after all of the promises he made, the company is still not profitable.  His Space X stock?  Buyers beware, that stock is crashing faster than one of his rockets.  Making things worse for him is that both Japan and China now have reusable rocket engines, something he had a monopoly on.  I suspect one of the driving forces behind his throwing so much money into the midterms is that he realizes that, when Democrats take back power, many of his government contracts are going to be canceled.  I don't doubt that some time soon, Elonia will lanced, and amazingly enough, the world will survive.

The Quagmire of Deceit

Our outside temp is 5 (F).  Tomorrow we're supposed to drop below Zero.  Friday and Saturday are stacking up to be the coldest days so far this year.  Next week temps are predicted to climb into the upper 20s (F), so break out the shorts and T-shirts.  No precipitation is predicted, at least nothing that's going to add inches to what's already on the ground.  One good thing is that we're now one third of the way through winter.  Isn't it nice that February is a short month?

I didn't bake or cook anything yesterday.  Dinner was a hamburger made in the air fryer.  That doesn't mean I didn't snack.  I did.  But then I also managed to complete a decent workout with the machine and dumbbells.  I also used a 15 pound kettlebell for upwards thrusts.  Believe me, that gets your heart pumping.  

The only thing Howie likes about the winter is the ice.  It's hard and crunchy, so instead of bringing a stick or a stone into the house, he brings in chunks of ice, like mini-icebergs.  Since they have all sorts of detritus in them, I switch them out with an ice cube from the freezer.  Like me, he has no problem chewing on ice.

While I was putting dishes in the dishwasher two days ago, I banged my thumb up, one of those freaky little things where the left corner of the nail snagged the rack.  What made this so freaky was that I keep my nails short, it's how I was raised.  This doesn't mean that if I see a man with long nails my opinion of him drops... much.  Suffice to say it hurt, and it bled, and I kept a bandage on it until last evening.  Howie has found this whole thing interesting.  This morning he's inclined to sniff my thumb, and on occasion has tried to lick it, and I'm hoping he's not developing some sort of carnivorous fascination for it.

Is this the face of a thumb eater?

A headline that made me chuckle was a report that Tesla is going to stop manufacturing their X and S vehicles, the cars that moved them into the mainstream.  Supposedly Elonia will be focusing on robotic vehicles.  My take is that sales have tanked so badly on these models its cheaper to stop production than take the hit.  Perhaps if Elonia didn't have a billionaire's baby brain things might have worked out better.

And big change of ICE.  Evidently, there's been an "all caps" directive telling them not to interact with agitators.  According to NBC, it took several people over an hour to come up with the exact wording, that's a good indicator of this administration's lack of intelligence.

According to a poll by Fox Entertainment, 17% of the American people do not believe ICE is being aggressive enough. Since this is a pro Orangie propaganda network, that number has most likely been inflated, still that's a terrible amount of racists in this country.

And for someone who demands extreme loyalty, Orangie's discovery of how easy it is to lose those 2nd amendment people must really sting.  What's sad about this is that those people never realized that Republicans were saying they were pro guns just to get votes.  This party has a been a quagmire of deceit for quite some time.

   

The Storm

 Well, we had rain and it seems as if more rain is on the way... much more.  There is a storm transitioning up the eastern seaboard (nice of use of the word transition, eh?) that is apparently going to dump at least an inch more rain upon Central PA.  Temps will hover in the 40s (F).  Accuweather, however, seems to be on the fence with this one, since they're predicting only .20 of an inch of rain, yet they also saying that we should expect ponding in the roadways.  Every other weather report says the ponding is definitely going to happen.

I did work yesterday.  It was another meh day.  When I got to the flooring desk a rather pretentious couple was doing changes to their quote.  Big $$$.  Luckily for me they are not my customers, so all I had to do was sit there for a few moments and listen to them dictate exactly what they wanted to happen.  Let me append that sentence, she was dictating, he was on his phone.  I chuckled when I overheard him say that "he was setting the record straight."  I also chuckled when she said they would return to the store today so her father could pay for the install in order for them to take advantage of his military discount.  For that to happen, their quote needs to be in his name, which means it will have to be rebuilt, a rather time consuming process.  I'm so glad I don't work today.

And Howie is not big enough to get things off the kitchen counters, and I don't mean pulling things off with his paws.  I know this because he pulled a squeaker from his squirrel and, rather than walk it out and put it into the trash, I set it on the counter.  Not 2 minutes later I heard him crunch, crunch, crunching on plastic.  Now it's out in the trash.  This also means nothing can be on the counters that he might catch his interest.  Biggie once ate an entire loaf of bread once, and while Howie is not as high as Biggie, he is longer.  Here he is in the kitchen.

And, in case you missed it, China increased tariffs for the United States to 125%.  They're going to stir fry the American economy.  At the same time they're doing this, they are negotiating with the EU, cutting back on tariffs.  There is some serous deal making going on with electric cars.  I understand China has also stopped taking orders for certain Tesla models (S and X) in China, which will help with EU electric car deal.  China is the largest market for Tesla.  That sound you hear in the background is Elonia sobbing.

And will the market rise or fall today?  Well, that Chinese tariff increase is probably going to put a damper on things, even if this storm moving up the eastern seaboard doesn't isn't as rainy as predicted.  More and more people are pointing out that the Orange Anus's Art of the Deal pause in tariffs was in reality the Art of the Steal.  They're trying to find out how many Republican congressmen and senators bought stock at the low price before the pause was announced.  Unfortunately for them it dropped fast yesterday, so their greed probably wasn't as satiated as they were hoping.  Oh, and don't worry, I suspect that the markets are going to keep dropping.  Remember, he has 6 bankruptcies on his resume.

Here We Go

 Well, here we go!  There is a definite chill in the air.  Currently it's 39 (F) an today's high will not climb out of the 40s (F) and the overnight low will be hovering down around freezing.  Tomorrow is supposed to be worse, with the overnight low dropping down into the high 20s (F).  This is why you shouldn't plant you garden in April.

With my new work schedule, I'll be working most of the day on Sunday, so there's not much time for anything but meh.  The other days I'm schedule to only work 5 hours.  That's doable.  I have no problem working 22 hours a week, mostly because it isn't really like working.  For me, it's kind of a meet and greet social hour since I always manage to get into a conversation with customers.  

Because I was spending time at the flooring desk, I had zippo time for any sort of exercise, and when I got home I played Avowed.  While I do spend sometime on social media when I'm home, I don't spend a lot.  Mostly because it's a lot of the same stuff over and over again.  To be honest, I tend to spend more time on it when I'm working and there are no customers to talk to.

I bought some foamy tiles for the gym floor yesterday.  I'll spread them out when I finish this entry.  I'm debating if I want to buy another pack and surround the bike with them.  They're cushy under foot.

Here's a interesting bit:  You know how car manufacturers brand their cars with a very specific logo/symbol?  Honda has an H on the front, Ford says Ford, an Subaru has their oval starfield?  Walking to my car yesterday, I saw vehicle with a very odd brand, so I went to see what it was.  Lo and behold, it was a Tesla, however the owner had take black electrical tape and made an X across the T.  So, was he worried his car my be vandalize, or just upset that he owned a car from a company owned by a neo-Nazi?  They're expensive, so not everybody can run out and trade their in.

In case anyone was wondering about Republican presidents and recessions:

I understand that Wall Street is crashing again.  The Orange Anus is doubling down on his tariffs because to do otherwise would be to admit he was wrong.  That will never happen.  He will go to his grave always blaming someone else.  It will always be the other guy's fault.  It's not his fault that the EU has chosen to set retaliatory tariffs, it's their fault because they didn't cave to his demands.  Every time they retaliate, it's a sucker punch to his ego.  It infuriates him.  They are laughing at his phony authoritarianism.  Orangie will initiate a "nuclear trade war," as billionaire Bill Ackman has said, rather than concede.

There will be 2 fronts in this war: international trade, and the Domestic Home Front.  Over 5 million people standing up to him in the Hands Off protests is not a one-off.  The next one will be so much larger.  Republicans are not used to dealing with their constituents pushing back, and because they love their jobs so much, it is they who will begin to cave.  So, we all need to hold on to our hats because Here We Go.

Kissing Conservative Prayers Goodbye

 Well, it's Thursday and it's raining.  A steady drizzle is soaking the ground.  Howie came in wearing his favorite Wet Dog cologne, though he's not soaked to the point of needing to have a good shake, though he is still wearing his muddy doggy boots.

Yesterday was a good day.  Not only did I get both aquariums cleaned, I got in a 9 mile bike ride and, most importantly, Howie and I took our first walk in Adams-Ricci park.  He got to meet 2 other dogs, a lab mix who he had a good sniff with, and a little hair thing with big ears that frightened him.  

The initial paragraphs are done on the next book, The Body in 4/4 time.  This one is going to be more mysterious, with an old house and a musical code.  Yep, you read that right.  At least one of the major clues will be musical.  For those of you who are interested, Bobby Tussel will try and play the piano, that is when he isn't guzzling beer from his very own micro-brewery Hunky Donkey Draft.

The Lebanon VA pharmacy is overnighting my Atorvastin, that's my cholesterol med.  We have this issue every year.  I have a prescription for 4 ninety day refills, however that was originally set up when my yearly appointment was in January.  Three years ago my appointment was moved to June.  The prescription was never updated.

President Mush had his first cabinet meeting yesterday and he let the Orange Anus get in a word edgewise.

According to Orangie, everyone in his cabinet is pleased to have Elonia take charge... and if they don't well that's too damn bad.  Sadly, we did learn something, that Elonia and his team had accidently shut down an Ebola prevention, but don't worry, when they realized what they had done, they started it up again.  Elonia then went onto say, "mistakes are going to be made," as if that's a valid excuse.

While my brother didn't say so out loud, I'm certain he believes that Orangie is going to turn America into a socially conservative country with a socially conservative authoritative government.  I'm certain this is what he and millions of other Christians have been praying for, however what they're getting is Elonia, a Nazi.  Being dumb, I don't think a lot of social conservatives understand that Nazis believe in an Arian Nation, nor do that understand that while some Arians might believe in God, they definitely don't believe in either Jesus or the Holy Spirit.  Ouch.  Even worse, many Americans see Elonia as a successful businessman.  Well, he's made one or two shrewd investments, but those companies he bought have all gone on to suffer.  Tesla's stock is crashing.  Everyday it drops.  And can we talk about Twitter?  Elonia paid $44 billion for the social media platform and it's now worth $9 billion.  His idea of free speech is Nazi propaganda.  He doesn't understand why corporations don't want their advertisements book cased by Nazi shriekings.  These flaws in Elonia's ego driven vision of himself will lead him to destroy everything he touches.  So, all of those Christians who voted for Orangie thinking they were going to get a socially conservative, albeit authoritarian government, can kiss their dreams goodbye.

Boogering with America

 Yesterday we had snow.  Today we have rain.  The clouds are supposed to be a passing thing, at least that's what forecasters are saying.  They're claiming that this afternoon a little sunlight is going to leak through before the winds arrive.  Yes, we're going to get windy.  And the temps are supposed to drop again.

Yesterday I got my butt on the treadmill again.  It's been a month.  I hit my step goal and reviewed the Greek language.  I also managed to get in a bit of ho-hum time, of course that's somewhat misleading.  I have Howie to entertain, and like a 4 year-old child he does need to be entertained.  He's a Labrador Retriever.   We play fetch at least 4 or 5 times a day, and I don't mean for few minutes.  Our fetch sessions run between 20 and 30 minutes.  I throw one of his toys and he retrieves.  He loves it.  

Yesterday I discovered I was making a big financial mistake.  I bought a high-efficiency, front load washer last year.  One of the settings is Quick Wash.  It only takes 25 minutes for a load of laundry.  However, and this is a big however, when you use Quick Wash, none of the sensors are used.  It doesn't measure the weight of the clothing.  As a result it just dumps a lot of water into the tub, not as much as my top loader did, but then that tub was bigger.  No matter how much clothing is being washed, it still dumps in gallons, and because the tub is smaller I'm washing a lot more loads of laundry.  And then yesterday I got my water bill.  All those quick loads added about $20 to my bill.  So, I'm back to doing normal loads.

And I did attempt a chicken souvlaki in the crock pot yesterday.  It was terrible.  I'm calling it a learning experience.

And of course, the entire world is laughing at this.

Honestly, it is still beyond me that this... extremely surreal press conference even took place.  I can't look at this without laughing.  This was like watching some terribly bad 80s sitcom without the laugh track.  I know that everyone in the world laughing at Orangie pissed him the hell off.  He had only one recourse, to put himself in charge of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.  This means we can say "hello," to month performances by Kid Rock and the Village Person...oh, and probably the occasional dramatic reading by Kevin Sorbo.

And, no doubt, sometime in between the kid picking a booger and his saying "you're not the president, you don't belong here," Orangie and Elonia etched out a deal for the Federal Government to buy $400,000,000 in armored Tesla cars.  So, I'm wondering why DOGE isn't on that wasteful bit of spending?   

Inflation went up.  Prepare yourselves, it's going to go higher.  Unemployment is going to go up.  All of those people Elonia is firing will need to find jobs in the private sector (can you hear me laughing?)  Who in their right mind believes that corporations are going to increase their payroll expense?  And all of these cuts in expenses?  They're not going to benefit you.  They're going to go to giving the !% another Tax Break.  I do believe we're at an inflection point.  

Elon's Loss (corrected from this morning).

 Monday - this is going to be an abbreviated work week; I'm scheduled for 2 days, Monday and Saturday.  Today I'll rack up 8 hours, Saturday I work 5 hours.  Today will be boring.  The only departments that will do any business on Friday will be Garden (marked down Holiday decorations) and hardware (that last minute drill for dad).  I did put in for 6 hours of vacation pay even though I've earned 4 hours of holiday pay.  Biggie's expenses are approaching.

The actual new owner of the house next door showed up yesterday for about 10 minutes.  He pulled his black Escalade in front, put on the four way flashers, and proceeded to follow his worker into the house.  He's probably in his mid 30's, had a large gold chain that swung away from his chest when he walked, and I was not impressed.  I suspect the new owner discovered just how much rubbish the previous owner left behind.  Buying a house 'as is' means you're getting it as it is.  It's not going to be cleaned out and ready for painting.  'As is' also means there was no way that house could pass a home inspection.  If a deal is too good to be true, it's almost always too good to be true.

Our new store manager arrives today.  In fact, she's probably already walking the aisles of the store.  Some of our newly promoted assistant managers may have problems.  They will have to go through a learning period.  They may have a rough time of it.  I have no problem with that.

A bit on Troll:  it is the most popular non-English film in Netflix history, people have watched over 128 million hours as of last week.  Could Mads have anything to do with that?  Some people like it, others don't, but overwhelmingly people are sympathizing with the troll.  Now, isn't that interesting?

 

For those who haven't been paying attention, Elon had a poll.  Should he stay as CEO of Twitter, or leave.  Elon lost.  Now the questions is will he actually resign.  He has been very quiet.  I'm suspecting he thought his bots would pull of a victory for him.  While this is the current sturm and drang on Twitter, some saying this chaos is what his backers want, I'm seeing elsewhere that they are very unhappy with the man / baby.  While they may have wanted him to move the direction of Twitter to the Right, they had not anticipated he would bring such mayhem.  For many, the total disorganization is unbelievable.  As for the poll?  Well, Elon, as with most billionaires, has very thin skin; he finds it almost impossible to admit he's wrong, that he made a mistake.  Tesla stock is tanking; other electric vehicle makers have less problems and are more reliable.  Investors are upset.  We shall have to wait and see if he publicly admits that he's a loser.  I'm betting he'll install a puppet CEO, so he can quietly, behind the scenes, continue to drive Twitter deep into the ground.