The Same as it ever was

 We're in for another steamy day here in Central PA, though by steamy I actually mean warm. Upper 80s (F) is what they're forecasting.  Tomorrow, too, though tomorrow's high might be a record breaker.  They had predicted showers yesterday, but that never happened.  We had a lot of wind around 7ish last evening, but that's about it.

I cut a few branches out of my one river birch tree yesterday and was going to weed wack the outside of my fence, except the wacker battery wasn't charged.  Now it's charged, yesterday it was sitting on a shelf on my back porch.  Because I'm working today and tomorrow afternoon, the wacking will have to wait until Friday.  Rain is predicted to arrive in the area, but not until this weekend.

Are the extra hours at work effecting me?  Ehhh, not really.  I was, as my grandma would say, "nappy," yesterday, but I still managed to get in a 10 mile bike ride.  Oh, and I put the small window A/C unit in the exercise room.  That will keep the room from smelling like a locker room later on this summer.

I'm going to be making a Greek cheese pie with phyllo later on this morning, except I'm thinking of adding a layer of slice tomatoes.  I guess that would mean it isn't completely Greek.

The Body in Motion is now available for purchase!

An amusing thing about myself and how I prioritize my time, is that when I'm not working, I spend less time on my phone, and the lest time I spend with my phone, the frequency I'm looking at social media drops.  So, what happened yesterday?  Well, there was a special election in New York (?) in which one Democrat replaced another.  The Democrats said they would keep Mike Johnson from being fired by the far right, no doubt because he's realized Democracy depends upon compromise.  Trump was in court again.  There are a lot of bad pictures of him heading into the courthouse.  As usual, he spouts his standard whine whenever he gets a chance.  

Oh, here's biggy.  Hunter Biden's going to sue Fox.  Will that tabloid media group ever learn?  Absolutely not.  It's the same as it ever was.

The Body in Motion

Now available for Kindle and as a paperback on Amazon.  Next week the eBook will be available for the Nook at Barnes & Noble.  Do I stick it to Social Media?  Yes.

While being nominated for a Motion Award was not as prestigious as getting nominated for a Webby, Eli and Max were both delighted the little blog their associate Bobby Tussel had started for them was being recognized.  Now they had a reason for spending some time in New York City and had planned on sticking around after the ceremony to take in the sights and see a couple of shows.  Of course, those plans went all to hell after a body turns up and they find themselves in a social media maelstrom, as bloggers, vloggers, and YouTube influencers all try to get in on the action.  Everyone seems to be demanding a piece of the investigative pie, as they put together clues to solve the mystery of The Body in Motion.

Something's Coming

So here it is Thursday, and our weather forecasters are predicting a rainy, windy day.  Joy.  This is what we have to look forward to, until Sunday, when it will once again be party cloudy, though cold, with a high temperature sitting somewhere in the upper 50 s (F).

My lower back is a little cranky this morning.  That means I need to spend more time on the treadmill.

As someone who writes, I try to constantly upgrade my vocabulary in order to use words that younger readers can relate to.  It's nice to incorporate current slang words such as sick and dope, though I don't think sick is a popular as it once was.  This is how it goes with slang.  In one minute, and then out the next.  This is why there is a character in The Body in Motion, a pseudo influencer, who's concerned about his "riz."  It's also why... wait, what was that?  A little trembling coming from New York City?  It can't be another earthquake, they only have them once a century, and they just had one.  Hhhmm.  Then it must mean something big is approaching.  And I just got an email from Bobby Tussel!  He says something huge is on the fuckin' horizon! and he included this.  I wonder what it all means.

In other news, the Orange Anus struck out for the third time yesterday in his attempt to delay his porno / hush money trial.  I'm sure his brain is flip flopping inside his head.  The legal tactics he's always used to avoid legal prosecution are failing.  And, it is good.  He splutters more and more when he speaks, that, too, is delightful.  I did chortle when I saw that one of his attorney's arguments that his trial should be delayed because it was keeping him off the campaign trail.  Perhaps its because he's not going to be able to turn his approaching courtroom sessions into a profanity laden stump speech.  Not that he isn't going to try.  A funny thing people are noticing is that some of his posts to Truth Social appear to have been written by someone else, rather than the Moral Degenerate.  They know this because there are coherent sentences and no ALL CAPS shrieking.  Don't worry, there will be more attempts to stave of the eventual. And this is more than a one, or two bowl of popcorn event.  Maybe we should buy stock.  

 

Millions of Voices

 The big storm has arrived.  Temps will stay between 45 (F) and 49(F) until further notice.  Rain will be steady, though, as they're not predicting, on and off, which doesn't really make sense, but then we are talking about the weather.  No matter which computer program you run the information through, there are always variations.  The European models tend to be more accurate than the American models, at least as far as hurricane prediction, though this is not a hurricane, just one damn big rain storm.

Work was boring yesterday.  Monday's usually are.  I had some sales.  One of my flooring customers is going to be coming in to purchase, but she didn't do it yesterday.  That's about a $5000 sale.  Management will be impressed.  I also did something this morning that I thought I'd never do, I opened up my hours just a wee bit.  I'm now available to work Wednesday and Thursday afternoons.  That doesn't mean they will schedule me, but it does give me a few more hours a week.  It is so quiet here at the house since Lily's gone, so this will help me to fill in those silent hours.

Another thing I did, was to send David, my narrator, an email putting off the audiobook until I get back from Greece.  There are things I should have done prior to publishing The Body Under Ice as an audiobook, one being to listen to other narrators in other audiobooks.  Simply hiring a narrator from an audition recording without educating yourself is not necessarily a mistake, but it does limit your options.  This doesn't mean I'm changing narrators.  Let's just say I'm opening up the field.  There are a million voices out there, who's to say I won't find one that I feel more defines the characters of Eli and Max. 

There are also other things I feel need to be prioritized, like getting The Body in Motion published, and, probably most important, start the actual writing process for The Body in History.  

And, sticking to my usual practice, here is an artwork tease.  I just love doing these.

And, of course, the Moral Degenerate came up with a $174 million bond to keep the New York Attorney General from taking his properties.  He's going to lose his appeal and someone's going to lose their money.  

His Truth Social stock collapsed yesterday after investors were told that it lost $58 million last year.  Since we all know he's a thief, we can only wonder how much of that loss went to paying his legal expenses.

The Trump campaign team is also hinting at there being campaign events in the approaching days.  That might not be true, but then they, like their soiled diaper of a master, are pathological liars.  Whispers abound that he is so utterly consumed by his approaching hush money/porno trial that his handlers have serious concerns about him making it through an event without sounding like a blithering idiot spouting out a nonsensical word salad.  Is it likely that as he trial date gets closer and closer he will become more unhinged?  Well, we can only hope.

Polls

 Rainy Tuesday has begun.  Temps are going to hover in the upper 40s (F) and low 50s (F) throughout the day, and we will have drizzle.  Yes, the soaking rains are upon us for the next 3 days.  The only bad thing is that all my bulbs are going to be growing like crazy, and I'm not going to doing any yardwork in the rain.

Work was, as expected, very slow yesterday.  How slow you might ask?  Well, I got in over 15,000 steps, which is a bit over 5 miles.  I was going to but some small things I still need to finish the kitchen completely, but I'll be honest, when quittin' time came, I definitely wanted to quit and go home.  

Cori gave me the cover art for The Body in History yesterday.  I can't wait to show it to you... but not today.  There is that long wait until the book is finally published, which will be, if things keep moving at their current pace, in mid April.  For those of you interested, the entire process from my writing down my first notes to  publication takes about a year.  There was a time when I felt they need to be on the market as soon as possible, those days are past.  Working with audiobooks is partly responsible.  Also research, I find I'm looking at so many different sources.  I'm growing more communicative with my editors, as well.  I find talking about how things are developing, and why things happen the way they did, a lot of fun.  

I cancelled my subscription to the New York Times this morning, mostly because of this:

For the past few days the New York Times has been reference a poll the commissioned to basically disparage Biden.  Luckily, more and more people are beginning to understand that polls are terribly inaccurate, not that there wasn't a time when they were much more dependable.  Now, however, there are some serious issues.  What the NYT needs to do is detail for the general public how the results they get are achieved.  Most people don't know that a certain percentage of their pollsters make are to landlines.  Who still has a landline?  Being a flooring specialist, I have to list the best form of communication for a customer and those with landlines that they use are all older and more conservative; this automatically skews the poll.  Pollsters need to hand dial, they can't use robocalls where they can pick up once a connection is made; the vast majority of people will not pick up an unknown caller.  That fact alone is enough to invalidate the poll.  Still, will see a poll and run around like their hair is on fire.

Heading Straight to Hell

 Well, our snow day has ended.  The sun came out, and though it did not sing to us, shone brightly down on the slush.  If it wasn't shoveled, it froze overnight.  Mine was shoveled.  Free Cardio.  The temps climbed into the 40s (F) and melting was well underway by the time night fell.  What's left of the storm will have to deal with today's sun.  Tonight, the temps are predicted to drop down into the teens again, and my back yard will turn into a skating rink.

Yesterday, as do most of my Tuesdays turned into a day any real productivity.  I'm working through Dave P's edit of The Body in Motion and got through 5 chapters, however besides shoveling snow, I didn't do anything physically challenging.  I'm going to have to change that today, after I finish my morning "run-arounds."

One of the things I want to do is stop at PetSmart and pick up some snails.  I had purchased a UV light for the big tank that has eliminated everything except the green algae; snails will take care of that problem.  I might pick up some fish, too.  Earlier this week, the last Greek statue I wanted arrived, that will put 3 in the tank.  Because they're all white marble, the algae shows brighter.  Here's a pic

And there was a special election yesterday in New York to replace George (that's not my real name) Santos.  A Democrat won, Tom Suozzi, and though polls said he only had a 1 point lead over his Republican rival, he ended up winning by 8 points.  Do Not Believe Polls. Their loss of Santos' vote, means that House Republicans only have a 2 vote majority.  Ouch.  Now, I'm going to take a second here and remind you that after Biden won the Whitehouse, Republicans boasted how they were going beat Democrats terribly in the next mid-term elections (the opposing party usually wins a number of seats in both the House and the Senate).  The mid-terms, however, proved them terribly wrong.  America chose Democrat over Republican in most races, and Democrats held the Senate.  And while Republicans did win the House of Representatives, it was only by a few votes.  And, true to form, instead of using their slim majority to push their agenda, they embarrassed themselves by fight among each other, taking an eternity to elect McCarthy as Speaker, and then voting him out of that position.  Rather than attempt to introduce and pass conservative legislation, they have focused almost totally on retaliation, because that's what Trump wanted them to do.  Yesterday's special election was considered a bellwether of what was to come, and they lost it by 8 points.  The Orange Anus is going to take them straight to Hell.  

Letting Go

 There's dense fog outside my window.  The temps are going to fine today, but no sun, and tomorrow?  When they're forecasting 100% chance of rain you know there's not going to be a break in the clouds.  And the rain?  It might be torrential at times.  This being said, it's also a Sunday, usually a slow day in retail, and I have to work.  Oh, Joy!

Yesterday, I went to the store and when I got home realized I'd not put a few things on my list, so I'll be heading out again this morning after I finish this entry.  One of the things I picked up yesterday was a piece of beef for London Broil.  Pricy! I've decided to start a holiday tradition where I'm going to be having London Broil on Christmas day.  

I spent some time sanding down the door frame from the dining room to the kitchen yesterday, now there's dust everywhere, so a decent cleaning will take place this morning as well.  And, speaking of the kitchen, I realized that the painting will soon be coming to an end, that leaves a bit of tiling to do, and then the floor.  The tiling is going to be easy, and I bought enough of the same tile so I don't need to concern myself with running out.  

The final draft for The Body in Motion might be finished this afternoon.  Then I'll need to print it off and read through it one more time.  I once worked with a man who wrote a non-fiction boon on autism.  He had an editor he was paying very handsomely, who kept wanting changes, on changes, on changes, at least that what this author told me.  Truthfully, there are some people who simply can not let things go, which I suspect was the case for this author.  After working on his manuscript for years, I suspect it wasn't a demanding editor he was dealing with, but rather the editing process had become a crutch upon which he leaned upon so much that he was just afraid to let go.  I don't have that problem.  I'm to interested in moving onto the next project.  

That big harrumph you heard last week was Bob when he found out Time had named Taylor Swift as it's person of the year.

And, since it's the weekend, things are bound to be politically slow.  The Orange Anus will probably hold some sort of mini-rally that he'll say was huuuge, really huuuge, because lying is second nature to him.  And no doubt he will bring up Taylor Swift and call her a 3rd rate entertainer who's been desperately trying to get him to perform at least one of her songs at his mini-rallies.

Creativity

 Well, it's Friday.  This is my 5th day off in a row, and I'm off tomorrow as well.  The 2 week are pretty much the same.  Christmas weekend I only work on that Saturday, and then again on Christmas Eve for 5 hours, after that my hours pick up.  

Weather wise, today's supposed to be partly cloudy with highs climbing into the low 50s (F).  I'm ready for the partly sunny, though honestly, sunny would be so much better.  The days are so short this time of year, a bright sunny day is an event to celebrate.

I have about 60 pages of editing left before the final draft of The Body in Motion is complete.  That in itself is exciting, but I will also be excited to get it into the hands of those readers who note, and comment, and suggest changes.  Sharing in the creative process is so much fun.  I find that the reliance on other voices and other opinions is essential.  This is how life is, people working together for a common cause, even if it is something as simple of helping me prepare a manuscript for publication.  Too many people out there don't even try to be creative, perhaps because they're afraid of failing, or possibly it's because they're so accustomed to relying on the creativity of others.  Anyway, I saw quote from Kurt Vonnegut and thought it appropriate.

On the dismal side of things:  Hunter Biden has been indicted again.  By this point, I'm certain most will agree that Hunter is the black sheep of the Biden family.  Republicans love this.  They need a dead horse to kick around and Hunter seems to have spent most of his adult years obliging them.   

I sent this article from the Washington Post to my brother.  It's about the great de-churching going on in America, or as the author says, the serious attrition occurring withing the Christian Church.  Is Evangelicalism killing the church?  Look no farther than Mike Johnson for your answer.  Another good example is Ronnie DeSantis, who claims that if he had been alive during the time of Jesus he could have been an apostle.  American Christianity has never been so overtly vocal about it's selfishness, a direct link to Conservatives whose favorite pronoun has become My.  My money.  My taxes.  My religion.  My God.

Cutting 34 pages

Tuesday.  Again the weather is moderately warm.  The temp was 40 (F), when I left Lily out for her morning pee.  She's back on the bed now.  For those who don't know, 10 year-old dogs sleep quite a bit.  Not that I don't, bit some times it's in spurts.  Some nights I'll get over 7 hours of sleep, other nights just over 5 hours, and I don't take a lot of naps when my sleep is short.  Interesting.

Yesterday was soooo boring at the store.  I did manage to get 2 carpet measures, which should keep management happy.  There is some sort of contest going on where you get a ticket every time you get a measure, however, I don't have as many tickets as I do measures because not every manager gives them out.  Not that I'm concerned.  If I were full time, perhaps, but it isn't, and this week my hours are really short, only 16.  I work again until Sunday, which is fine with me.  

Just think, Christmas is less than 3 weeks away.  A few bones will make Lily a nice present.  Dogs are so easy when it comes to buying presents.  I stopped off at my local Giant supermarket last evening on the way home for a bottle of wine, and the woman behind the counter was using her phone to order presents for her daughter.  We had a nice discussion about how popular online shopping had become.  That's about the only way I shop now-a-days, but then I was never one who enjoyed shopping.  When I did shop, it was always for one specific item.  I hate browsing.  It has absolutely no appeal to me.  

I uploaded another video to YouTube since The Body In Motion is approaching completion.  It's about the editing process, and about the cuts all authors have to make when writing.  No matter how much those words may mean to you, sometimes they just have to go.

I understand Maddie's buying Liz Cheney's book.  I hope she enjoys it.  I disagree with a lot of her opinions, but Liz, but Liz is far more aware of the the evil the Orange Anus and the destruction his re-election would bring to the United States.  A day doesn't go by that he doesn't spew out exactly how he'd use his hatred of Democracy in an attempt to make himself a dictator.  The warning signs are there.  Let's hope that enough Americans see and understand them.

Page One

 A rainy day Monday is on the way... possibly.  We have a 56% chance of rain which will put a damper on things as yesterday was nice, cool and a bit breezy, but then we are in October when warm sunny days chill into the cooler, shorter days of autumn.  When I leave work, it's dark and will continue to be so for the next 5 months.

Yesterday was also busier than I expected at the store.  I sold a blind measure, which no doubt pleased managements.  I had a shutter lead that sold, which I'm sure made them happier then pigs in shit.  Mostly, however, I was bored.  

The first draft of The Body in Motion is complete, I finished it last week, and the first thing I did was throw much of the first 3 chapters.  I did that with The Body Under Ice, too.  When I start a new book, I know how it's going to end; that's the easy part.  Where it begins?  That's difficult.  I've learned that rather than struggle trying to find the focused beginning I just start writing and those things that turn out to be unnecessary get thrown out.  The last thing a writer wants to do is bog down the reader in the first few pages.

Here's an example:  the original title for chapter one was New York, New York, however the book is not about the city, so it's been changed to Cutthroat, which is interest since no one literally gets his throat cut.  So, how much of page one made it into the final draft?  You'll have to buy the book to find out.

House Republicans are back in session today, hopefully to stomp Jimmy Jordan's Mussolini dreams into the dirt.  The last I'd heard was that between 40 and 50 Republican congressmen were going to vote against him becoming Speaker of the House.  Can we talk about have ice water thrown on his little fascist boner?   For him, this is not only about being a Mini-Me dictator, it also has a lot to do with keeping him from being incarcerated for insurrection.  Jimmy knows that the only who has a "get out of Jail free" card is Trump.  I don't doubt he has read ahead and hates what happens when the page gets turned.

They Are Eating Their Own

Hello Friday!  It's difficult to believe the week has passed so quickly.  For the past few days the temps have climbed into the very summery lower 90s (F), though we've been spared the rain.  As if to balance things out, forecasters are again predicting rain in the form of frequent deluges.  They may begin this afternoon.  I have plans for a ride this afternoon, so I really don't care.

Yesterday was one of those days of accomplishments I'm happy with: a nice arm workout (55 minutes in total), a good cleaning for the big tank and medium cleaning for the smaller one, and a bit of a rewrite on the chapter called Leslie's Silence.  I do have another video on YouTube, but I'm thinking I will probably post those here on Tuesdays; set up some sort of routine.

Before it gets too hot today, hot for Lily that is, I'm going to take her for a walk.  We go everyday, but early since she is in her senior years.  

They put in a marble counter top in the house next door yesterday.  It is, like everything else in the house, gray.  Marble's fine if you remember to keep it sealed.  If you don't, because it's porous, there's a good possibility of it staining.  I had a customer once who asked if there was a way to get a red wine stain out of a marble counter top.  Rather than give her the bad news that the only way she'd be able to get it out was to cut it out, I sent her to the kitchen designers; let them be the bearers of the bad news.

An evidently the conspiracy theorists are attacking AMC theaters because of the Qanon film The Sound of Freedom.  That's right, they're spreading vicious rumors about delays in showtimes, and showings being cut short because of A/C problems, and what not.  Of course, none of this is true, but tell that to the Qanon crowd who will never let a little truth interfere with a good conspiracy theory.

And then yesterday, this happened.

Wack-job Hageman is the one who replaced Liz Cheney.  She has no clue that Christopher Wray is a true, blue blooded Republican, a Conservative in every sense of the word, while she, herself, is a card carrying member of the Cult of Trump.  Her main goal was not to use intelligent questions to find answers.  Nope!  Instead she spouted unproven conspiracy theories in an attempt to make him look bad.  I did enjoy the bit towards the end where he described her beliefs as insane.  

What made yesterday's hearing more striking was the fact that the Democrats lined up with the Conservative Wray to make the MAGA cult look truly incompetent.  This was another disastrously terrible hearing for Jim Jordan's committee.  As several conservative commentators noted:  They're eating their own.

Congratulations

 Well, we got more rain.  The temp outside on this cool Thursday morning is hovering around the 59 (F) mark.  A little reminder for those who missed it, we are in summer now.  While weather forecasters are saying our temps will climb up into the 80s (F), at present there are no predictions about us hitting the sweltering 90s (F).  Of course, I don't think I need to remind any of you that we are still young in the season.  Give it a few weeks.

Since today is supposed to be drizzly, showery and overcast, there will be no yardwork today.  Instead, the time will be dedicated to fun, inside activities, like the continuing saga of painting trim.

I'm nearing the 30,000 word mark on the next book.  My guys have ordered their bikes for the early morning chase through the alleys of New York City... oh... dear... I may have given something away.

And last evening I received this email.  I'm excited!  My royalties get paid to Findaway, which takes a %,  so there's no way I'm going to break the bank on this little endeavor.  However, I suspect I will spend a little more time promoting the audiobook than I do with the ebooks.  Promotion on Kindle can be very expensive and usually the only one satisfied with the returns is Amazon.

In politics, the House of Representatives censured Adam Schiff in retaliation for his honesty regarding the Orange Anus and his attempted coup.  What sorry gang of snotty nosed brats the Republicans have become in their attempt to deify Trump.  Evidently Kev McCarthy had to bang his gavel in an attempt to quell the chorus of Shame, Shame, Shame that members of the house were chanting.

And many news organizations that there was a big cat fight between White Trash Boebert and Fascist Bimbo Green over Boebert's attempted Impeachment Grand Stand.  Evidently Green called Bobo a bitch loud enough for quite a number of people to hear and repeat.  This part is on the verge of coming apart at the seams, and watch out when it rips open completely.  What Joy!