Debate This

 So, yesterday was quiet and nappy.  The weather was nice, not hot, with a breeze and while I did get things done around the house, it was still a slow day.  My Tuesdays are usually like that; a time for me to decompress, so to speak, after spending hours at the flooring desk.  I may be part-time, but in the 3 consecutive days that I work I'm still putting in 20 + hours.  Not that I'm complaining, those hours do pay for my fun time, as well as cover the expense of everything I purchase online.

We have a little over a week left in August, which means we are halfway through summer.  All around Central PA the weather has been scorchingly hot, but not here.  We have had lots of storms that produced buckets of rain, but there was very little in the way of wind damage, and so far my lawn has stayed green and mowable.  This is the first time I can remember that happening.  

Lily's birthday cake was finished off yesterday.  I thought I might freeze the leftovers, but then decided against it.  Of course, it showed up again when I stepped on the scale this morning.  And I also baked a cauliflower and tomato quiche... or maybe you want to call it a torte, yesterday.  It is quite tasty, in fact I warmed up a slice for breakfast, and still have half of a pie (?) to go.

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Okay, so some time this morning India is hoping to land a module softly on the moon.  The Russkies tried it last week and their vehicles smashed into the surface, a reflection I don't doubt of the incompetence of the Putin administration.  The rest of the world needs to pay strict attention if India is successful, because another moon race will have begun.  

And there's a Republican debate tonight.  It will be interesting to see how it holds up in the ratings.  If it does halfway decently that's an indicator that Republicans are getting fed up with the Orange Anus, that there is interest in nominating someone other than looser and liar with 4 indictments.  I wouldn't be surprised if that's the case.  I'm suspecting that there are a number of centrist and independent leaning Republicans who realized that nominating the Spawn of Satan, Donald Trump, will put the final stake into the heart of the Republican party.

The Jolly Holiday

Here in Central PA, temps climbed into the low 90s (F) yesterday.  The forecast is the same for today.  And, whereas Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday had been very productive, yesterday turned out to be not so much.  I laid around, sometimes passing the hours by watching obscure YouTube videos.  What a waste of time.

Lily had her cake and ice cream.  Loved it.  Boxers are considered big dogs, not large dogs, except for Biggie whose weight puts him in the large category.  Being a nine-year-old big dog, Lily is now officially a senior citizen.  I've just started her on 150 mg of Carprofen to help whatever minor discomfort she might have.  Jumping off the bed can be an issue for her, depending on how she lands.  The stairs, not so much of one, yet.  And as she gets older, I will probably spoil her more than she already is.  Here's a pic of her bowl of cake and ice cream.

As I was leaving my local Giant supermarket yesterday, my sister called to ask if I had any skeletons in my closet.  Well, not that I know of, so I told her so, and she began to laugh.  It seems as though the police arrest a local man for buying body parts.  Now, when I mean local, I don't mean Harrisburg, I mean Enola, my town.  Son of a bitch!.  Local means 4 blocks away.  Damn!  He bought them from a woman who'd stolen them from the University of Alabama in order to sell them locally.  Holy Shit!  Local police are working in conjunction with the FBI.  

I saw where Lindsey Graham lost another appeal.  All of his appeals make him look just as guilty as if he'd simply gone and used the 5th amendment several hundred times.  Might now be a good time for us to start reaching for our canes and parasols? 

And, what about that Billy Barr memo?  Evidently both he and Mueller came to the conclusion that a sitting president couldn't be indicted and so what they released was heavily redacted.  It was sort of like "hey, we can't arrest him because he's president, so let's not tell America how much he relied on Russia to get elected, and how much he, and the Russians, obstructed this investigation."  I suspect that when the unredacted version is released, it will almost be like a jolly holiday with Mary.

Damage Control

 Today is Lily's Birthday!  Nine years old!  Like Biggie, who has arthritis in his hips, she too has started taking her time sitting down, so one of her presents this morning was 1/4 dose of his doggie nsaid.  Later this afternoon, the real celebrating will begin with cake and ice cream.  Vanilla all around.

And yesterday was another day of accomplishments!  Productivity.  Chores that need to be completed are getting done.  One that desperately needed to be started and finished was the trimming of my holly shrub out front.  I've been putting it off for so long mostly because I didn't want to stand on a ladder using the trimmer.  But... now it's fully trimmed, and there are 5 bags of trimmings sitting on my front porch.  Once a month the township does lawn waste pick-up, they will disappear then.

The shrub

Bet you'll never guess where I bought these bags!

I'm almost half-way through my five-hour walk of Pompeii. One of the many things I've learned: the town wasn't completely covered by the eruption, so after it was over survivors and looters went back and broke through the roofs.  They were evidently very polite, because after they'd gotten what they could, they'd paint "house dug" on the building so no one would waste their time looking for things that had already been taken.

And things have been quiet on the political scene.  Sort of.  That ass wipe Mitch McConnell did fart out something on how it looked as though the Republicans were not going to retake the Senate.  He's blaming it on unqualified candidates, you know, the ones Trump endorsed.  As for retiring, it seems as though that comment he'd made about not wanting to be Minority Leader was (no surprise here) a lie.  

Oh, and there is the possibility of a redacted section of the affidavit used for the search of Mar a Lago might be released.  Republicans want this.  They believe it will strengthen their hand.  Of course, they never thought the DOJ would release a list of the contents recovered.  I'm betting something will dribble out possibly by the end of next week, or the beginning of the following week and once again they will be running around doing damage control.

Vacation Entry #3

Ah, it's Friday, November 8.  For those of you who don't know, today's my birthday.  About 45 minutes ago I turned 67.  I find that number amazing.  Not because I've achieve it, rather, I have to admit I never really put much thought into getting old.  Now that it's happening it's kind of like... well... fuck.  I'd say "what do I do for an encore," but have chosen to save that line for when I turn 90.  A word of advice, if you have to get older, and most of us end up doing just that, it is a lot better to do so gracefully... and opinionated as hell.  I find a lot of joy in telling people what I think.
I rode 12.56 miles yesterday.  I was very pleased.  You see, the last time I rode that route it took a bit over 54 minutes.  Yesterday I did in just a tad over 48 minutes.  That's right, I knocked 6 minutes off my time.  The record is a bit over 24 minutes.  I will never hit that, but I would like to get my time down into the mid 30's.  We'll have to wait and see if I can knock another 11 or 12 minutes off my time.
And rather than buy a store bought cake from Giant like I usually do to celebrate a birthday, I baked one.  Most of us buy our cakes, and our cookies, and our pies; baking just takes too long.  Our palate has deteriorated to such a degree that when we taste store bought cake we say..."hhhmm, the icing is good."  While I did spread a light, peanut butter frosting on my cake, the real flavor buster was the cake itself.  Holy Crap!  I could not believe the flavor of that cake, all moist and deliciously golden.  Even the dogs liked it!
And yesterday, while I was letting the dogs out into the drizzle to do their business, I saw I had another rose.  On November, 7 my roses were still blooming!  I took a picture.

Now, wasn't that a pretty gift?
I saw where Michael Bloomberg is testing the waters for possible presidential run... without going debating one single person.  A word of advice to Michael: don't even think of sticking your toes into the water.  A run by you could well destroy the unity the Democrats have been building.  You're a businessman who thinks he can run the country the way he runs his business.  You're wrong.  We don't need another damn billionaire in the White House.