Going Dental

 Short entry today because I have a dental appointment in an hour.  There's some leakage around a back filling making it sensitive to cold and hot... mostly cold.

Speaking of cold, the temp outside is a cold 24 (F).  Things are frozen.  Tomorrow we're supposed to get a combo of sleet and snow, maybe up to 3 inches.  If it's crappy when I get up, I might call off work.  Though, since I'm not scheduled until 1 PM, the roads will most likely be fine.  

Here's a pic of the new laundry room with the bar cart in place.  You'll notice it's on wheels.  I'm still going to be using the shelves for storage.  I'm going to be getting an area rug for in front of the washer / dryer.  That vinyl floor may look nice, but static electricity makes it a dust magnet.  I'm always wiping it up.

And, what about all those texts coming out?  The ones from Republicans to Mark Meadows telling him Trump should declare martial law in order for them to stay in power.  THIRTY FOUR  of them.  An indicator as to how stupid some of them are, is the fact that some of them didn't know the difference between martial and marshall, the latter not only being misspelled, but the wrong word.  These people are so craven for power they would have no problem destroying the United States.  These congressmen are still in the House and Senate, though mostly in the House, I believe.

The problem in America is that we have been far to politically benevolent.  Punishment for crimes is supposed to teach lessons, more often then not, our presidents have doled out pardons to offenders and always for political reasons.  Ollie North should still be sitting in jail.

The problem is that our newspapers and cable news networks try to be politically correct, softening the truth about lies, calling them falsehoods.  Being kinder and gentler when it comes to dealing with sedition is never going to work.

Newt Gingrich's Lament

 Well hello, Friday, my day off.  It's sunny here in Central PA, though cool, almost cold.  The temp when I first checked was a very chilly 25 (F).  There was frost on the car windows.  Winter is only 3 weeks away.  How cold will this year be?  It's anybody's guess.  Of course, the Climate Change nay sayers will call it hokum if the temps go really low.  They will never understand, mostly, I suspect because it's too complicated.

My little laundry room cart arrives today.  Truthfully, it's actually a bar cart.  Tall, almost 34 inches high, with a shelf made for bottles of booze detergents, dryer sheets, and sundry cleaning supplies.  It will have to be assembled; I don't mind.  My first load of the day (bed sheets) has just been moved from the washer to the dryer.  The washer uses between 12 and 14 gallons (roughly 48 litres), which is a big drop from the 25 + gallons my old washer used for each cycle.

Judge Aileen Cannon, the Trump appointee, got her comeuppance yesterday by the 11th Circuit when they said her ruling for a special master was shit.  Well, they didn't quite say it was shit, but their wording implied their total dismay with her for even making such a decision.  Could her impeachment be in the works?  There's a possibility.

Kanye, the dotard, has been kicked off of Twitter.  I haven't checked this morning to see how the Cracker Jack Crazies are taking it, but I suspect not too well.  You see, when their definition of freedom of speech means they can go hardline hate and incite violence without any repercussions.  I'm certain they're quite disappointed Elon has limits.

And Newt Gingrich has, as certain people say, the sadz.  He's lamenting... wait, that word's a bit weak, Newtie is whining that Joe Bide is far more successful than Republicans thought he'd be.  In an out turn of phrase, he compares Biden to both Eisenhower and Reagan. HOLY SHIT!  Newtie is upset because the tactics he developed to attack both Clinton and Obama are not working.  Biden is getting things accomplished, and he's doing so because Republicans are crossing the line.  Uncle Joe's agenda is popular with Americans, and when Republicans vote against it they look terrible.  Take yesterday, with the vote to avoid a rail strike Republicans did something good, but then they shit in their pants by voting to not give railroad workers sick pay.  They gave all of those MAGA railroad workers what they Republicans think they deserve: nothing.  And so Newt's lamenting.  He says they need to change their tactics, of course, that would mean they'd need to come up with an agenda to help the average American, not big business.  That ain't gonna happen any time soon.

The Future

 Well, it's Thursday, and I'm a little disappointed.  I work today, and for some reason I thought I had a short shift.  Well, wouldn't you know that while I was grabbing the milk from the fridge for my coffee, I glanced at my schedule (posted on the fridge door) and saw I'm at the store for a full, 8 hour shift.  Son of a bitch.  And here I had planned the entire day joyously running loads of laundry through my brand new washer and dryer.

They did arrive yesterday, in the rain, a bit earlier than I had expected.  There was supposed to be a call 1/2 hour before the delivery men / installers arrived.  That didn't happen.  They were here for about 50 minutes.  My ventless dryer kit arrived early, around 5:30 last evening.  I quickly attached that and ran my first load, towels, through washer and dryer.  

The front load washer uses a lot less water than my old washer.  It spins in both directions, clockwise and counter clockwise, and a load of laundry takes longer.  The dryer, with the sensor-dry, takes less time.  I have not downloaded the Wi-Fi settings yet, maybe later, before I go to work.  Here's a pic.  The shelves on the back wall are still going to be used for storage; I'm keeping some of the walk-in closet's functionality.

Yesterday, the Democrats quietly transition power to a younger generation.  This pleases me greatly.  Young and diverse, this is the future of America.  Say "hello" to Hakeem Jeffries, Kathrine Clark, and Pete Aguilar; not an old, white guy among them.

The taxes for the old Orange Anus arrived in Congress yesterday.  Will they be leaked.  I'd say there's a possibility, though not until after he's indicted.  

And, speaking of indictments, I've been hearing a lot of hush hush regarding those members of the House who had requested pardons from Trump, the idea being that no one requests a pardon unless they did something wrong.  The word is that certain names, Perry, Gohmert, Biggs, Brooks and Green, are very big blips on the insurrectionist's radar.  Gaetz requested one, too, but his seems to have been more geared towards his sexual proclivities than anything else.  This is important because the Republican majority in the House of Representatives is, shall we say, rather tenuous.

Winners and Losers

Wednesday, and I'm feeling better than yesterday morning.  The congestion was gone by noon.  I'm thinking perhaps it might have been the result of my drywall contractor sanding down the seams in the kitchen.  Since there is dust everywhere, I figure that most likely there was some in my lungs.

Painting in the new laundry room is finished, (except for a few minor touch-up spots on the trim).  The valances are hung.  My deliver is between 7 - 11 AM this morning.  Home Depot lets you track your appliances.  I was the 3rd delivery scheduled, so I'm figuring the washer and the dryer should be here by around 10 AM.  After reading the instruction books thoroughly, I'm hoping to have the first load in by around 1 PM.

The only thing which might slow things down is the rain.  There's a shitload coming up from the south.  Temps are supposed to stay in the high 40s (F) to mid 50s (F).  I'm fine with that.

And what about our American Men's Soccer Team?  We beat Iran!  One of the many reasons this is important is that soccer is not our most favorite sport.  Baseball and football tie for that honor.  Our soccer teams rarely get the time of day from sports enthusiasts, until they beat Iran.  In Europe and the Middle East, football (soccer) is King.  Their fans have been not to riot when the lose.  People have died.  Their teams are considered truly elite.  While we have exceptional players on our teams, none of them is a quarterback, or a tight end, or a receiver.  And we beat Iran.  Let that sink in.  Thank you Chris Pulisic and the entire American Men's Soccer team.

The Senate passed the Defense of Marriage Act yesterday.  This is a good win, but not a great one.  States that do not recognize same sex or interracial couples will have to recognize those marriages if they are performed in a state which allows same sex or interracial marriages.  Eleven Republicans helped pass this groundbreaking bill.  This is a finger in the eye of those Cracker Jack Crazies who desperately want to use their mythology to define America.

Elmer Stuart Rhoades lost yesterday.  As one commenter put it, this was more embarrassing then shooting himself in his own eye.  Guilty of sedition.  A loss for Elmer is a win for America.

And Markie Meadows was another loser yesterday.  The South Carolina Supreme Court has ordered him to testify in front of the Atlanta grand jury investigating Trump's interference in their 2020 General Election.

Everyone of these losses makes Trump a bigger loser.  I don't know about you, but I'm just loving this shit.

Sing

 The temps outside are a cool 26 (F).  There was some snow in the forecast yesterday, but we're too far from the lakes for them to effect us.  Not so for Buffalo.  They've had 5 feet  (1.52 meters), with more on the way.  Of course the climate deniers will be pointing at this and ask how can be global warming when this happens.  Believe me, many have tried, there's no fixing stupid.

Yesterday was busy.  Just because I chose to sleep in doesn't mean I didn't get much accomplished.  I did.  

This afternoon, I have a Zoom call with my Navy buddies.  That should be interesting.  These calls have turned into an annual event.  It is interesting to see how age is effecting us.  Some are handling the years gracefully, others, unfortunately, are having difficulties.  By the same token, some of us have been more successful than others.  That alone is very interesting.  

Final prep work for painting the new laundry room will be finished by the time I sit down for in front of the camera.

So, I'm into the final chapter of The Body Under Ice, tentatively titled:  Karaoke.  Tell me, do you think somebody is going to sing?  While this picture has nothing to do with the book, I'm surprised no one has made this into a movie yet.

And Merrick Garland has assigned a Special Council to multiple Trump cases; he and his supporters are flipping out.  Badly.  The move was done to take away any implications that what is going to come, and it is going to come for those waiting in anticipation, is not politically motivated.  Jack Smith is now, and has always been registered as an Independent voter.  He has a reputation for bringing his investigations to a rapid conclusion.  He wins.  Knowing how meticulous Garland is, a man whom also wins, this decision was made some time ago.  I wouldn't doubt if Smith has already been hard at work.  Indictments are coming.  Notice I'm using the plural form.  I wouldn't be surprised if multiple people find themselves on the wrong end of the law.  And some of those other people are frightened.  The tenor of fear in their voices says so much (also notice, I didn't say sing, that's too bad of a pun).

Respect for Marriage

 Well, according to some people, we have passed the Hump day, Wednesday is now in the past.  I got up extra early this morning, not because I have big plans, rather both dogs decided they needed to go 'potty outside' at 10 minutes of 5.  So, this is getting written a lot earlier, as well.  Keep in mind that even though I am scheduled to work, at this hour I have absolutely no problem in going back to bed for a nice little early morning nap.

I finished painting the trim in the new laundry room yesterday.  The walls are next.  Knowing my penchant for bold colors, I'm, going to shock everyone by going with a pastel.  The room is small.  Painting the walls something shockingly deep would make the space smaller.  Eventually, I will bring that color out into the bathroom.  That won't happen until after I remove a sunflower boarder.  

I went to see Wakanda Forever, last evening.  It was good... though I thought a little too long.  Too much emoting over the death of Chadwick Boseman.  The film was very entertaining, though I had pretty ascertained before sitting down how the plot line needed to go.  I would not be remiss in saying Wakanda Forever is about life, and death, and the transitions we all go through after death, how the finality of won life leads to both anger and grief.  For those hating subtitles, be forewarned there are quite a few, however they are in different colors, depending upon the language being spoken.

Two things of importance yesterday:  the Republicans took control of the House by a slim margin.  Will they reflect upon the midterms and the red tsunami they were expecting and act accordingly, or will they squander their tiny advantage by being petty is up in the air right now.  I wouldn't be surprised if they end up being petty.  By now, that might be part of their DNA.

The second thing was the Respect for Marriage Act, which, with help of 12 Republican Senators, passed the filibuster hurdle in the Senate.  There will be a second, and final vote, that's almost certain to pass.  A majority of Americans have no problem with this, however, a number of Cracker Jack Crazies are flipping shit burgers over the idea that couples, black, white, and brown, whether male and male, female and female, or male and female will be able to legally decide how they want to share their lives.  This is probably the essence of Freedom of Religion, that your beliefs allow marriage between two individuals no matter what their genders.  Many Evangelicals hate this.  They want America to follow a Christian path that they dictate.  This is a freedom they despise.  It takes away their control.  Thinking minds make choices and they don't want anybody to think, just live a life of rote.  I believe the final vote might be as soon as tomorrow.  At that time, their choke hold on America will be weaker.  That is a very good thing.

Kashing In

The phlebotomist who did my blood draw yesterday was good.  No hint of bruising what so ever.  This is a first.  Usually there's a red dot, followed by a blurry edged hint of black and blue.  I looked at my arm this morning and saw nothing.

My back's bothering me a bit.  The heating pad is already in place on my writing chair downstairs, and shortly the upstairs will be plugged in.  Not that I pulled anything, or the disc jelly as once again begun oozing, I'm certain it's the way I've been sleeping.  There are times when the dogs don't give me much space on the bed.

The new laundry room is coming along fine.  One of the original doors of the house separated the closet, back when it was a walk-in closet, from the bathroom.  That door is now gone.  I'm thinking of replacing it with a bifold door.  They're easy to install. 

I was told by one of the men working for the owner of the house next door that my neighbors were going to come down this week and clean it out.  That's not true.  I have texts from them.  In their minds, he bought that home 'as is,' with all the furniture inside.  

Here's a catchy song, whether any of the lyrics will make it into one of my books is up in the air right now, but I can definitely see one of my characters say "what me worry?"

So I see Elon is now saying he'll drop the charge for the blue check on Twitter to $8 per month, however he's hinting that anyone and everyone who subscribes will be certified, whether they're bots or not.

Ovcer 900,000 mail-in ballots have been received in PA, the vast majority being from registered Democrats.  This does not mean Republicans aren't voting for Shapiro and Fetterman, there's been a lot of ad space bought buy Republicans urging members of their party to vote Blue, mostly because Mastriano and Oz are such losers.

Lyndsey's going to have to testify - so says the Supreme Court.  I'll bet that brought him to tears.

And a lot of people are wondering... well, maybe not that many, if Kash will flip for cash, the Kash being Kash Patel.  Immunity!  That's as good as cash, ain't it.  You remember Kash, don't you?  The guy who said Trump could declassify documents simply by thinking it was so?  If this nugget of news is dropping now on major media outlets, you can bet there is a serious possibility it might be happening.  Can we talk about an October surprise?

 https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2022-elections/early-vote

The Badge

 So, the temps are supposed to climb into the mid 70s (F) today.  And no, this is not Indian Summer, for those who are so hotly anticipating that warm spell.  As I've said before, we haven't had one of those fall heat waves in quite a few years.

Yesterday was rather meh.  Some things were accomplished, others were not.  A little sanding and spackling in the soon to be new laundry room.  I did a little work on the window.  It's old and is one of the few windows in the house that has yet to be replaced.  I'm putting a decorative film on the bottom half, the upper window will get a valance.  We sell decorative films, but they're a bit too salty for my taste.  Rather than spend $35, I forked out $12 for one I found on Amazon.

And I do get to go into work today.  It will be interesting to see how many more changes have been done to the flooring department.

As some of you know, I've been trying to start selling my books through Barnes & Noble.  There has been a major problem with my W9.  No matter how many times I've submitted it, their customer service kept coming back and telling me that it wasn't signed.  Yesterday, one of their customer service reps finally specified that they required a hand written signature rather than a typed signature submitted on a PDF.  So, I duly sent them information on the legality of typed signatures on PDF files downloaded from the Federal Government.  Their response:  We require a handwritten signature.  As you might be able to tell, I'm a little miffed.

Yesterday I took a pic of my fall dahlias.  Here it is.

Did anybody watch the Warnock / Walker debate last evening?  I don't watch debates.  No patience.  I have seen a few clips from last nights head to head.  Walker flashing his badge is one of reasons I avoid debates,  Let me be perfectly honest, I laughed loudly.  Another clip I laughed at was when Ralph Reed, a hard right Cracker Jack Crazy from the 90s tried to give his opinion of Walker and the only thing reporters were asking about was that badge.  Ralph got more than a little frustrated.  That was funny as hell.