The Cold, the Chili, and the Midterms.

The temp on my inside thermostat is 76 (F), outside the temp is 71 (F), go figure.  One forecast for this afternoon has our temp in the low 80s (F), while another has our high in mid 70s (F).  That's another go figure.  Next Wednesday, if the forecasters happen to be correct, our afternoon high will be 58 (F).  That'll be a chilly day.

And I did take off yesterday because of "the cold."  The plan was to sleep away the afternoon.  Well, that sort of happened.  I have a dog who thinks that whenever I'm home, it's play time.  You have no idea how many times we played fetch with his pink pig.  I am surprised that my sides are sore from coughing, or maybe they're sore from sneezing.  Anyway, the Sudafed is good at keeping my passage clear and the coughing/sneezing to a minimum.  After I finish this, I'm going to take one and then take a nap.

I'm scheduled to have lunch today with one of my editors.  Wish me luck.

My neighbors were arguing loudly about their car this morning.  They had 2, but 1 went into the shop about a month ago, so for her to have a car she needs to drive him almost an hour to work, and then pick him up when his shift is done.   Neither is happy about this.  Making the situation worse, occasionally someone will park a small, Chevy in front of their house.  She hates  this.  I don't think she understands that she doesn't own the street.  Several times she's parked so close to the Chevy it looked like their bumpers were touching, she's going to be a bitch about this.

And I made chili with vegetables from my garden!   Tasty!!

I understand Orangie's mad at the South Koreans because they're refusing to send troop to help us in Middle East.  This happens when you shit on allies.  Honestly, we always knew he wasn't the brightest bulb in the box, but saying he is dim doesn't quite drive home the point.  He is politically inept. 

So, a judge said the administration needs to provide him with a notice in writing at least 30 days before Orangie starts demolishing the Kennedy Center.  The problem with that is our loser in Chief is just going to ignore that, because that's what he always does.

Finally, I have to chuckle every time I hear Mikey Johnson, or someone else of his ilk, saying that if the Democrats get in power Impeachment will be the word of the day for the next 2 years.  He simply doesn't understand that at this point in time, 3/4 of the American people want more than impeachments.

Tomatoes!

Well, our temp is in the mid 60s and we have sunshine.  It's supposed to be a very nice day outside.  Isn't it a shame that I have to go to work?  According to the long range forecast, we're going to be stuck in this weather pattern for the next 3 weeks (at least).  This would be decent summer weather.  These middle of the road temps make things delightful.

Yesterday was a good one.  Many chores were completed, including a mowing of the lawn.  I prepped the wheelbarrow/planter for painting.  The garden was fertilized.  That's a first for me this year, using fertilizer.  Since everything is in containers, I decided that might not be a bad idea.  It has made quite a difference.  Last year the cucumber plant was scraggly, this year it's taking over the backyard.  

The only fly in the ointment was my neighbors.  Around 0130 they decided to play their stereo.  At first it was loud, then their addled brains realized that the volume might be a problem, and they turned it down a tad.  An hour later, they turned off the stereo.  I wouldn't be surprised if that side of the house was haunted, as my old neighbor Mike would occasionally get drunk and play his guitar very loudly for about 20 minutes in the middle of the night.  Oddly enough, the new neighbor's name is Mike, too, so he might be Mike 2.

As I said, my container garden is doing well.  Here's a pic of some of my Italian tomatoes.

In case you missed it, the Orange Anus revealed his Qatari gift plane yesterday, refurbished by hundreds of millions of tax payer dollars, I might add.  This was a personal gift to him from the Qataris, which means he's planning on taking it with him when he leaves the White House.  This got me to thinking about what happens if he not only gets impeached for a 3rd time, but there are enough votes to remove him from office?  Can the government put a lien on his assets as a way of compensating the country for all of the money he's stolen, like the tax payer dollars he's used to fix up this jet?  I don't know.  If we can, how about the government also slapping a lien on Donnie Jr's drone business, the one that borrowed $620 million from the DOJ?  And wouldn't it be great if once the Assholes are out of the picture the government started canceling all of those Starlink contracts?  Maybe we should follow Brazil's lead.

Drizzles

We have drizzles here in Central PA.  Our temp is going to be very static today, neither rising nor falling, but hovering at 65 (F).  That's not a bad temp for Spring.  Our skies are seriously clouded over and, as I said, we have drizzles.  If they'll develop into soaking rains is anybody's guess, though that possibility certainly exists.  At this time of year, rain is nice.

Much was accomplished yesterday.  Two more veggie plants were purchased and planted.  I'd been hoping to find an eggplant, that hope was smashed when I walked down row after row of seedlings and found mostly tomato and pepper plants.  I stood and counted, there were 17 zucchini plants and 9 cucumber plants.  Since I've already planted 6 tomato plants, I went with 1 green pepper and 1 cucumber.  I also bought a pink thing.  The idea is to surround the raised garden with flowering plants to make the veggie flowers interesting to all the flying insects, bees included, in my back yard.  Here's the pink thing, it's supposed to get about a foot wide.

Howie got a hold of one of the small, disposable plastic containers and brought it into the house where, using a slice of ham, I bribed him into giving it to me.  This morning I threw it away.  As I walked down the back steps, I told him "this is trash," and after throwing it into the recycle bin I turned to see my neighbors heading back into their house.  I did what I always do when I see them, I said a cheery "morning," and was ignored.  They had a loud argument either very late last night or very early this morning.  This is the new normal I got ever since they moved in.

And oil prices are dropping again this morning.  There was a TACO yesterday, and evidently a memo regarding the Strait of Hormuz.  I'd seen a while back that Orangie was looking for a way to get out of the war he started with Iran.  He wants to walk away and claim victory, in order for gas prices to go down.  He needs that to happen to in order for the Republicans to not totally lose out during the midterms.

Oh, and by the way, that little ballroom he wants to build?  It's now going to cost the tax payers $1 billion.  That's going to be a terrible burden for everyone young.  Their futures are going to be crippled because of the GOP.

Threatening Catholicism

Well, we had another cold one last night.  We had frost this morning.  Right now the temp is 33 (F).  That's almost cold.  We will be warming up.  Today's high should be in the mid 60s (F).  The forecast calls for one day in the mid 70s (F), but then temps drop back to what is considered normal for this time of year.  Lots of sunshine is also in the forecast.  I suspect this year will be like the last several in that April's showers will arrive in May.

Yesterday was fairly productive.  I cleaned, did laundry, and got in a nice bike ride in Norway.  Grocery shopping was done in the morning.  The Giant supermarket I use gives points that can be used to discount your gas purchases.  I now have almost 50 cents off a gallon.  By the time I have to fill up my tank, I'm hoping to have at least $1. off per gallon.  That should bring the price down, but it won't be close to where it was 3 months ago.

An odd thing did happen.  As I was changing the sheets on the bed, Howie stood up at the front bedroom window and started barking.  He will usually do this when there's a FedEx or UPS truck outside, though sometimes he'll do it when someone is walking their dog down the sidewalk.  Being curious, I looked out and saw the mailman standing in front of my neighbor's house.  They have a golden doodle who's sound more aggressive than he is.  The doodle was out and barking ferociously at the mailman.  Suddenly my nutsy neighbor walked out to the mailman to get the mail.  She was wearing very tight fitting yoga pants and top, I'm talking like skin tight, so I'm sure she was revealing quite a lot to the mailman.  My first thought was, "shit, she's hitting on the mailman."  I wonder, could any of you hear me laughing?

And what about the Orangie's administration threatening the Pope?

No one should be stunned, or even mildly surprised to hear this.  Wack job Hegseth is a Cracker Jack Crazy Evangelical, a broken sect of Christians that hates Catholics.  This another exampled of how vile this administration is.  And for those of you who don't know, there are approximately 69 million Catholics in this country.  When people say that Christianity is the number one religion in the world, that number includes hundreds of millions of Catholics.  

Also, for those who haven't realized it yet, the Ceasefire is not really a ceasefire.  You might want to consider it a pause for all parties to regroup.  The Strait of Hormuz is still closed.  Gas prices are not going to be coming down anytime soon.  

One of the main reasons for the breakdwon of this faux ceasefire is Netanyahu. Like Orangie's blow bro Vald, Bibi has erotic fantasies of expansionism, and he doesn't care how many souls he has to kill to bring his dreams to fruition.

Realistically

Looks like those Easter Sunday services are going to be a bit cool and drizzly.  This is fine.  For a majority of people in the world, this day has no significance. For me?  Well, since it's Sunday I have to work.  Otherwise this is just one more day of the week.  In a sad way, Holy days may be important for some people in that they are a holiday off work.  Holidays are nice.

I did work yesterday and one of my blind orders was sold, which means I made my sales goal for the week.  Unless I get a measure today, I'll miss that goal, as well as the lead, and credit card goal.  This is how it goes sometimes.  I did discover that someone inadvertently let my supervisor know she was being transferred before the store manager had a chance to talk to her.  I understand she was more than a little unhappy.  This move is a step back for her.  There's nothing wrong with ambition, but it needs to be anchored to what's realistically possible.  

The neighbors got loud again last night, so I got louder, for about an hour.  They too need to anchor themselves into reality.  One of the first things she said to me after they moved in was "we're loud."  I don't doubt they did truly believe they could be as loud as they wanted.  My hearing is not as good as it used to be, so normally I will wear a headset when playing a video game or watching TV.  When their TV is so loud I can hear it with my headphones on, they are too loud. 

And I do get to work today.  What joy.

Were this only true.

Rumors were abounding yesterday that the Orange Anus had been taken to the Walter Reed Hospital.  Sadly, they were just that, though oddly enough, he didn't fly down to Mar a Lago this weekend to go golfing again.  Realistically speaking, anticipation got the better of so many Americans.  

So what is Orangie doing this weekend?  Looking at his dismal approval ratings?  Let's be real here.  The odds of his team letting him know just how many Americans hate him are few and far between.  Remember the happy reels?  If they want to keep their jobs, they're going to all be doing their best to keep him happy, and to do that they're going to need to do something more than stop by MacDonald's for a Happy Meal.

In spite of what some main stream media outlets are implying, his war with Iran is not going well.  They were complaining at work yesterday about the price of gas.  By now, most people understand that price will continue to go up.  How high?  For most Americans it will be a deal breaker, the big question is how will billionaires handle a revolt.

The Price of Oil

 The temps outside are cool, sitting around 34 (F), but the sun is shining brightly over Central PA.  Our high today will be in the low 70s (F).  That's fine.  Not that it's going to last.  By Thursday our daily highs will be back to the mid to up 40s (F).  This is Spring after all, not summer.  

Sadly, there are those who confuse the two.  Our garden department did have customers yesterday and they were beginning make early purchases for what they call "curb appeal."  For me, curb appeal means mowing the lawn.  I don't need to put in cutesy plants that only live for the season.  There is a hedge between my neighbor's front yard and mine.  It is totally on their property.  They didn't trim it last year, and I'm betting it's a sure thing that they'll not do anything with it this year.  I told him he could borrow my hedge trimmer and the told me he already owned one, but that it was electric.  He complained that they have no exterior outlet.  I told him he could use one of mine and got a "thanks," that's means no thanks.  

Speaking of the neighbors, their son is a sophomore at Temple University.  He was home for spring break.  They took him back down to Philly this morning.  The whole family drives down, including the daughter who's in junior high.  This meant much screaming of obscenities, cursing and swearing, before they loaded everybody into the car.  I don't understand this.  I owned a car when I was a sophomore in college.

I slept on and off last night.  This is mostly because of the war the Orange Anus, at the behest of Benny Netanyahu, has initiated in the Middle East.  At one point I turned on the lights and pulled out my tablet to discover that Brent Crude Oil was up to $118 a barrel.  Ouch!   Will it go back down?  I'm thinking that might be a hard No.  You see Orangie, relying on Benny's deceit, believed this would be like Venezuela, what so many of the hookers in his life have called a Quickie.  However, only the MAGA cultists believe Orangie to be intelligent.  The rest of the world knows he's an idiot.  Right now it's selling at $96.08 a barrel.  That means gas prices are going to go up.

The fact that Iran now has a new Supreme Leader, the hard line son of the Khomeini our military just killed, does not bode well for oil prices to begin to drop anytime soon.

There are some who are thinking Orangie is going to pull a TACO in a few days and declare victory.  Someone needs to tell both he and Benny that Iran is not going to quickly forget what we've done to that country.  The fact that we bombed a girls school killing around 170 children is going to burn in their hearts for decades.  The damage that this loser in the White House has done is inestimable.  We have lost so many allies.  Believe me, when Iranian terrorist cells do something bad in this country, and they will do something bad, those allies are going sigh and say, "now, isn't that a shame."  The Republican party owns this shit.  They alone are responsible.  

The one small glimmer of light is that this turmoil in the middle east will cause Wall Street to shake and shudder and believe me, the one thing those billionaires who are so desperate to run the world hate is for Wall Street to be rattled.  When Wall Street clanks and clatters, they lose money... lots of money.

Valentine's Day

Today's high is predicted to be in the mid to upper 40s (F).  This is a good thing.  Our snow cover needs to begin melting away so I can clean up the yard.  Forecasts are saying daily highs in the upper 30s (F) to upper 40s (F) are supposed to be the norm for the next 2 weeks.  That doesn't mean another arctic bomb, or whatever they want to call it can't come swooping down from the far north.  If that does happen, the one thing you can count on is that it will be short lived.

Yesterday turned out to be this week's meh day.  I blame it on the neighbors who's fight woke me up in the morning.  After the ruckus was over, I should have gone back to bed, but didn't, and so I was draggy tired the rest of the day.  They, themselves, took a hiatus from scrapping for about 6 hours, however, they started up again mid-afternoon.  The loud spats lasted until around 6 PM, then quiet seemed to be restored.

This doesn't mean that things weren't done, though more things went undone than I would have liked.

I bought a copy of Beginner's Norwegian from Teach Yourself that comes with free audio, so I'm using that as well as Duolingo.  Yesterday, I only did the Duolingo.  Mostly because when the neighbor's fight, I try to hear what they're saying, not so much to be nosey, but to listen for any threats of physical violence.  That's a terrible thing to say, if that happens I'll call the police.

And today's Valentine's Day.  I also work.  This means they'll most likely have lots of candy out for the associates to consume.  Having a granger type personality, I will grange.  This is not Howie, but I can tell you he did get a valentine's bone this morning.

Orangie gave a low energy, campaign style speech at Fort Bragg yesterday.  Both his racism and dementia were visible when he said that the Abrams tank had been named for Stacey Abrams, the Georgia State Representative.  He waited for a laugh after that one and got silence.  He also told those troops present that they needed to vote for him because Democrats are liars, and cheaters, and... well, you should know his hatred routine by now.  His approval rating is at an all time low, 36%.  Don't worry, it's going to continue to drop.

Thomas Massie, the Republican pushing for the full release of the Epstein files posted a Thread saying that he's not suicidal.  He's also said that he has a copy of the full Epstein files.  I posted about that.  I'm sure he's already made several copies.  I'm wondering if today might not be a good Valentine's Day for the Republican party, because I'm not doubting that if something were to happen to Massie, all those files would suddenly be released.

Republicans Were the Party of Family Values

Baby, it's cold outside, though warmer than it was a week and a half ago, in fact, our current low of 26 (F) would have been considered super warm.  If the forecast holds, we will hit the mid 30s (F) today, and tomorrow the mid to upper 40s (F).  This coming Tuesday we should be cruising through the low 50s (F).  This is a good thing.  The snow and ice need to melt so I can clean up the yard.

Yesterday was fairly good.  I got a really nice ride in yesterday afternoon.  New Zealand.  I only rode for 7.5 miles, but the ride was filled with steep hills and low valleys, and when I say steep, I'm talking about a 10% grade.  According to Garmin, the ride is considered Extreme, and I'll admit to not doing the most difficult section, but the hills are good for the legs.

Now that I've watched this season's Fallout, I'm going to be canceling my Prime.  Maybe I'll sign up for HBO Max and watched Heated Rivalry.  Maybe not.  I'm slightly intrigued by the show, but suspect it's really has a not too compelling story wrapped around a lot of soft-core porn.

My neighbors were so quiet yesterday, the silence was almost surreal.  And then this morning a little after 4 AM they had a loud fight.  He's a mail sorter.  My cousin's husband worked for the US Postal service for a number of years once he retired for the Navy.  He told me every one starts off a a mail sorter, but that most people try and move out of that position as fast as possible to get better pay.  My neighbor never chose to move out of that position, so I guess that says something about him.

And the Washington Post has been using AI to research and probably write articles about Americans.  Even though I canceled my subscription, I usually scan the headlines.  This morning there was an article with a graphic about where the lazy people in America live.  It should come as no surprise that they live in Republican states.

Of course, yesterday the Orange Anus reversed the regulatory part of the clean air act. The Guardian said he did it to satisfy billionaire polluters.  I agree with The Guardian.  His plan is, no doubt, to make the richest people even richer.  Of course, he could have also done that to distract from the fact that Dr. Oz is also in the Epstein files.  Remember when Republicans used to call themselves the Party of Family Values?  For those of you who don't remember, that was their kick-off slogan when they started their culture wars.  Now it seems as if you can't get a job with Orangie's administration unless you got at least one visit in to Epstein's island.  Now Orangie is whining about the fact that no one is moving on from the files.  He doesn't like the fact that no one is listening to him.  Was he working with his best friend Jeffrey to traffic little girls and boys?  Every day the answer to that question becomes more and more likely yes.  The Epstein files are breaking apart the GOP.  If I were more religious, I'd say this is a sign from God that Judgement for the party of Family Values is eminent.

The Odd Neighbor

Here in Central PA we have a very chilly 7 (F)  outside.  This afternoon, we may hit a high of 18 (F)  Woo Hoo!  These temps are the reason why we are getting snow, while a number of states to our south will be getting Ice.  There!  I said it!  The Department of Justice wants weather forecasters to say "freezing rain" because ICE is getting such a terrible rap.  Awww.  As for how much snow we're going to be getting?  We are still in the MAJOR category with total accumulations between 10 and 18 inches.  I don't know about you, but when I see a spread that great I tend to think they're pulling these numbers out of their ass.

And, as you can seen, Blogger has fixed the Replies.  What was really screwy about that whole thing was that if I signed into Riding On through my phone, I could reply to comments, but not when I signed in with either my laptop or PC.  

There are four apartments in the blue house across the street, one of which is rented by a throuple.  One of the young men parks his pick-up truck in front of my house, so yesterday I told him that if we do get as much snow as they're predicting they will plow his truck in.  Plowed snow is difficult to shovel; with these cold temps it will turn to ice quickly.  I also tried to tell the wife of the loud neighbors next to me, and her response was... oddly rude.  As I started explaining about the snowplows, she cut me off, saying "You need to talk to Mike (her husband) about that.  You can't talk to me."  And with that she quickly went inside.  So, was she telling me I simply couldn't talk to her, or that I couldn't talk to her about the snowplows.  They park their 2 cars in front of their house.  If we get 18 inches of snow, they will be buried by the plows.  So it goes.

I work this afternoon.  The store will no doubt be busy with people buying snow shovels, salt, and snow blowers... oh, that's right, they want us to call them snow throwers because blowers might be construed as having sexual connotations.  This is what I use to take advantage of all of the free cardio.

There was a big walk out/shut down in Minneapolis yesterday.  Surprisingly, main stream media covered it... except for Fox Entertainment, and possibly what used to be CBS.  I suppose this is because while they believe that kowtowing to the administration will give them better access to the insanity, it's the reality of the terrible things going on which will get them the clicks.  You see, it will always boil down to revenue.  There is a growing contingent of Independent News Media out there and it's growing fast.  The only way for MSM to get those clicks is to compete and puff and fluff stories about Orangie just ain't makin' it.  For example, no one is buying tickets to the new Melanoma biography.  Perhaps if they had included some of bit about her sex work, tickets might have sold better.  Let's be honest, no one wants to sit through 2 hours watching an old Russian sex worker talking about everything except the one thing she was good at.  My understanding is that it cost Bezos $40 million to make, and it's going to cost him another $35 million in advertising.  Experts are saying that this piece of fluff propaganda might gross, let me repeat that, might gross $5 million worldwide.  Bezos should have known that everything Orangie, and Melanoma as well, touches dies.  Good for Jeff.

Stone Ice

 Well, yesterday was Black Friday and I didn't work.  The temps were cool, never getting out of the 30s (F).  Our outside temp was 29 (F) when I woke up, and I woke up late.  Again, the forecast is calling for a high in the low 40s (F), however, like yesterday, I doubt very much if we're going to hit that.  And, looking at the long range forecast, it does appear as though we're going to be doing a rerun of the early December weather we've had for the past 3 or 4 years.  Next week, we're supposed to have overnight lows in the teens.  This will be a recurring weather pattern if, as we approach the start of Winter, temps begin warming up.

Yesterday was fairly quiet around here.  The neighbors were loud for around 10 minutes, and then the volume of their TV dropped significantly.  This is fine.  I don't believe they will ever learn.  They don't seem that smart.  He's been sorting mail for the Post Office most of his life, so he's in a non-thinking job that pays well.  She can't work because she loves her marijuana too much, at least that's what she's told me.  Unless something drastic happens, I suspect they will be walking that same path for the rest of their lives.

I did go to my neighborhood Giant supermarket yesterday.  It was my only venture out of the house.  I have no need to go looking for Black Friday deals.

And in the afternoon, I got a nice long, slow ride done in San Remo.  That got the oxygen supply flowing to my brain pumping, and I came down wrote over 1000 words.  I'm working on a chapter called The Haddonfield Hop right now, the musical reference being the Hop, or a dance.  A long time ago, there used to be things called Sock Hops, where people would dance around in their stocking feet.  I'm probably one of the few people who still remember that.

Of course, there is no holiday from the shit show in Washington.  I am serious.  Every single day some piece of ugly stupidity breaks.  We have a drunken frat-boy in charge of the military who said "kill them all," to make sure 2 individuals who survived an attack were killed.  This man has no clue as to what it means to be civilized.  The only thing he knows what to do is follow Orangie's orders in between shots of whiskey.  

And Orangie?  He's going to turn Venezuela in Vietnam part 2 just to satisfy the greed of big oil.

Prices are not going down.  In fact, the only thing in a continuous downward spiral is Orangie's approval rating.  So many are starting to say that the tide is turning, and it is.  Sadly, a turning tide is not going to make Orangie stop.  His ego refuses to understand.  His dementia lies to him constantly.  This will not stop until the GOP hits rock bottom, and then America is going to rise up and stomp the shit out of them.

West Point Tradition

 According to Accuweather, our current temp is 49 (F).  We have a lot of sunshine, but it's a bit cool for Memorial Day weekend celebrations.  There is a very minor threat of showers, but temp wise we're supposed to be staying on the cool side.  This afternoon, if we're lucky, we might hit the very low 70s (F), not that these temps are going to stop people from celebrating.  

My neighbors were celebrating for a bit, or at least I think she was.  At one point there music was turned up quite loud and I do believe she was dancing for a few minutes, or possibly doing jumping jacks because the vibration were shaking my floorboards.  When she (they) get loud, I counter by going louder.  While I don't know for certain, I suspect this pisses her off.  One of the first things she said to me after they moved in was "we're loud." a non too subtle warning if I must say so.  Shortly after my volume gets louder hers goes down.  If she got a pair of headphones or earbuds, she could play her music as loud as she wanted, but that would mean she'd need to learn to think, and I doubt if that will happen.

When I got to work yesterday things had already begun to slow down for the day.  We're not going to make plan for the week; the flooring department will.  I expect that this morning we'll be busy, but because the weather's nice, even if a bit cool, more people will be interested in in celebrating rather than spending their hard earned money.  

I took a screen shot of Orangie's bitcoin grift-off.  Can you imagine spending a million buckos on this uninspiring food?  

And the Orange Loser held a rally at West Point yesterday.  He was actually supposed to give a commencement speech, but... well, we have to be honest here, Orangie has absolutely no idea what a speech is.  Instead, he ran through his standard rally riffs.  He talked about trophy wives.  He said not one congratulatory word.  He did complain about Obama.  He bragged quite a bit, repeating his usually set of lies.  There are an abundance of videos out there of him looking like a complete ass.  One in which he is saluting the graduates, then he stops saluting, and then realizing he's the only one who's stop, once again salutes.  At the end of his ramble, he told the cadets he had to leave to take care of China and Russia and the laughed at him.  It surprised him; he turned to his right and asked "what's that?"  And then he left... early, without so much as a handshake.  Shaking every hand of the graduating class is tradition, but what's tradition to Orangie when he could be driving around in a golfcart?

One final note.  As far as I can tell, the only network to carry this embarrassment live was Fox Entertainment.  Other networks had short excerpts, and some were even critical.

Retail

 Well it's Sunday morning, the temp is in the mid 50s (F), and the day is predicted to be nice.  I have a 7 hour shift today, so I'm really too concerned about the weather.  Tomorrow is supposed to be a repeat of today and I only work the late afternoon shift, so I plan to get out my weed wacker.  Tuesday?  My first day off?  Rain is in the forecast.

The store did gangbusters in sails this last Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, but then sales began slacking off.  I suspect we made plan yesterday because of garden.  This past Wednesday in flooring?  Wow!  Sales were through the roof.  Over $31,000, however only about $6000 was in installations.  A large majority of that was in walk-in sales.  Customers were walking in and buying pallets of vinyl plank flooring.  This was so massively unusual, we flooring specialists put our collective heads together and decided this was the result of the tariffs beginning to show up.  Prices are going to go up, and while they might come down a little once this tariff tax is over, they're never going to come back down to where they are now.

The neighbors were loud again last evening, but only from 10:30 until 11:00, then the music was turned off.  Their kid is home from college, and I guess that Dad goes to bed at 11:00, and there's no consideration for the neighbor. They don't seem to understand I can be just as loud as they are.  This is how it goes.

And my purply bush is blooming again.

Orangie's blow bro Vlad gave a speech last evening, made everybody wait and hour, and then was pretty sour.   I suspect old Vlad is bigly mad.  Europe is uniting in way he never considered.  They talking massive sanctions, which is not what Vlad wants.  He thought his blow bro Orangie would save the day except it turns out Orangie has fumble fingers in his brain.  He ain't got no respect.  Orangie's approval rating is in the toilet, not only in America, but around the world.  Our allies of old ignore his buffoonery.  Sadly, the main stream media, desperate for access to his mental decline, is soft pedaling his dementia.  They're actually lying for him.  Here's an example:  The Washington Post had a headline this morning saying that Orangie's brokered peace deal between India and Pakistan was falling apart.  The funny thing about that peace deal was that both India and Pakistan said the Orangie was not involved, that they had negotiated among themselves.  And now that their peace deal is falling apart, Orangie looks bad because he tried to take credit for it.  Boo Hoo.

Thunderbolts (and Bob)

 Hello sunshine, my old friend... well, for today and tomorrow at least.  The rains are going will return on Friday and, if the long range forecast is correct, next week will be another wet one.  We have bourgeoning flora everywhere.  I will need to mow my lawn today, otherwise I will have a field.

I got a nice band/dumbbell workout in yesterday.  I increased the weight on my bands to 50 lbs.  Nice.

My neighbor's son returned from college yesterday; he goes to Temple University in Philadelphia.  When the house was rehabbed, the contractor drywalled the attic, however there was only one electrical outlet and no heat.  Still, they decided it would make a great bedroom for him.  There was an additional problem in that the roof has a steep pitch which decreased the amount of actual living space; he's over 6 feet tall.  Last evening they moved his furniture down into an empty bedroom on the 2nd floor (1st floor for my European readers).  There was a lot of angry cursing, swearing, and bangings late into the early morning hours.  

And last evening, before I had to listen to my neighbors, I went to see Thunderbolts.  A while back I'd heard that Marvel Studios was going to be taking a much darker approach to their films after they realized they had a hit on their hands with Wandavision.  The mood is not darker, superheroes without the glitz.  The move was smart, dealing with suppression and repression.  These heroes are not super, they have problems which are prioritized, and at times, the movie is very dark.  I can see Florence Pugh getting a nomination, her performance is that good.

Of course, Prime Minister Carney from Canada had an uncomfortable sit down with the Orange Anus yesterday, he did not try and hide his distaste.  Surrounded by the press, Orange stayed true to form, at one point beginning to ramble about Obama building his library in Chicago and how badly it was going.  This as an almost 5 minute demonstration on how Orangie's mind wanders.  Wisely, Carney chose to give his public comments back at the Canadian embassy, rather than stand next to Orangie in some tackily gold drenched briefing room.

In other shades of this shit show, Scotty Bessent admitted that there were no negotiations going on with China on the tariffs.  Intermediaries for both countries are supposed to meet in Switzerland next week.  First it was 90 trade deals in 90 days, now it's 17 or 18 countries they are supposedly negotiating with, however they're keeping the names of those countries secret, which means Orangie is probably giving away the store to the Saudis and the Ruskies.

Finally, a bit of humor.  Linda McMahon, the Secretary of Education, who's far more ruthless than she is smart, sent a letter to Harvard University.  They edited it for her and posted their correction on social media.

The Fire Grows

 Because we're not in the park, and it certainly isn't the 4th of July, I'd have to say that this is just another Saturday, a day when I'm always scheduled to work.  Outside temps are in the upper 30s (F) with the probability of climbing into the low 50s (F).  Buds are popping out all over the place.  

Much was done yesterday!  The big aquarium was cleaned.  The cleanings are happening frequently in order to eliminate the black algae.  Salads were made for lunch and dinner today: a Greek cucumber salad for lunch and a bean salad for dinner.  This means today is going to be meatless.  I do them every now and then.  There are two boneless ribs in the little crockpot on their way to becoming pulled pork for tomorrow.

I also managed to get in 2 workouts, a 15 minute row in the morning and a good upper body dumbbell workout in the afternoon. 

Of course, there was more to the day than that.  I had to listen to my neighbors having a argument... that sounds better than saying they were fighting again,  If they go an entire week without screaming at each other at least once, I count it as a good week.  This has not been a good week.  He sorts mail for the post office in Lancaster, probably not one of the most secure jobs right now.

This is happening.

The image is old.  It was very popular a number of years back, and its popularity is surging.  AOC and Bernie Sanders held a rally in Denver, CO, and 34,000 people showed up.  The terrible truth for Conservatives is that it take more than being in charge, for them, that belief has been set in stone for decades.  "Shut up, we're in charge," was their creed.  Except for that to happen a large swath of the population needs to say, "okay."  That ain't happening.  Not at all.  And Republicans simply don't understand.  Harriet Hageman doesn't realize her constituent's are going to tar and feather her, and then run her out of town on a rail.  

AOC and Bernie Sanders are doing a 30 city townhall tour against the Oligarchs, NBC reported Friday's event in Las Vegas, The Guardian reported on yesterday's event in Denver.  CNN reported on the march 20 townhall in Las Vegas as well, but nothing about Denver.  There's a saying, "a day late, and a dollar short."  Is it any wonder more and more Americans are tuning out the MSM and turning to Social Media for their news?  Choose your news sources wisely.

And finally, Harold Lutnick, the billionaire Secretary of Commerce only fraudsters would complain if they didn't receive their Social Security check.  The blowback on Social Media was instantaneous.  These billionaires have no idea what kind of fire they are playing with.  People talk about the Orange Anus getting lava angry, this anger would make lava look like a popsicle.

The Fart of the Deal

 Our outside temp is 41 (F).  The forecasters are saying we're going that temp will climb into the low 70s (F), that's fine with me since I don't work today.  When I go to work tomorrow, it's going to be in the low 60s (F), that's fine with me, too, since I'll be working.  Looking ahead, our temps are going to be seesawing for the next week or so, up one day, down the next.  There's not a lot of rain in the forecast, but then April and May tend to be our wettest months.

Yesterday was more productive than your normal Tuesdays, the first day off after 3 days when I kind of zone on and off.  Everything but a workout.  I was pleased.

The finger's still sore, but it looks so much better today.  Normally I heal very fast, but this little nick was on the knuckle, and we all know how often we bend our fingers, especially if we are using a keyboard, or throwing tennis balls, or anyone of Howie's other toys.  He has a lot of energy, but than he also takes long naps.  

My neighbors are having had another loud disagreement this morning.  He's louder than she.  If I'm in the kitchen they're voices are clear and I can hear what the argument is about.  I give them their privacy.  There's nothing wrong with being 50 something first time home buyers, their problem is they bought the staging and not the house an are sorely disappointed.  He works, she doesn't, so all of the expenses are on his shoulders. 

I bought myself a new kitchen scale with a chargeable battery.  It coordinates with my countertop.  That wasn't planned.

So, the Orange Anus and his blow bro Vlad came up with some sort of phony ceasefire for the Ukraine, one in which  the country was shut off from all military and intelligence aid, and then the blow bro broke the ceasefire.  Orangie made a big announcement and then Vlad shot that to hell.  Nothing new here.

And word is that Orangie is planning trillions in tariffs against soooo many different countries, not just our main trading partners because... he's desperately trying to prove he's more skilled in bargaining than anyone else.  I think he should rename his book The Fart of the Deal.

Chuckie Schumer's been running the talk show circuit in his attempt to prove he didn't cave to the Orange Anus.  He's not winning many over to his argument.  Chuckie is past his expiration date.  He actually said that once the Republican's "dump that turd Trump, they can go back to being the Republican party of old."  Crap!  He's just like those brain dead Republicans who are trying to turn the country back to the 1950s.  He doesn't understand "that" Republican party is long gone, which is why he can't stop playing with those old time rules.

 

Decent into Dementia

 Saturday.  Temps are middlin' and we have wind.  We have a lot of wind, in fact we're under a wind warning.  This means that things blow around.  I've seen visual proof:  as I was letting Howie in, one of my neighbor's cardboard Coca Cola boxes blew over into my yard.  This happens frequently because, rather than put them in their garbage can, she simply throws them out the backdoor.  She does the same thing with bags of garbage.  Does she do this because she's lazy?  Possibly.  They also drop their beverage containers and soft drink cans outside their car instead of bringing them in the house and throwing them away.  That's means they blow around the neighborhood.  Maybe they don't know better, or, as I'm suspecting, they're just not that smart.

I do get to go to work today.  I look at it this way: it's an easy way to make spending money.  I also use those paychecks to pay for groceries, as well as cover my utility expenses.  

Howie chewed out the large rubber ball that was in his Wubba.  He's excited.  It squeaks loudly.  He will probably never touch the rest of that toy again.  This is how it goes.  

And I did spend yesterday working on the edits I have for The Body in History.  For those of you interested, this is what it looks like.  I'm actually working on 3 edits simultaneously, though you can only see one individual's name.  It's not as complicated as it looks since corrections and suggestions are highlighted in different colors.

Has everybody noticed how frequently the Orange Anus is managing to get his mug on TV?  While we're suffering though his little lie fests daily, like we did during Covid, there are way too many of them.  This is his ego, his need to make himself seem important.  There is absolutely no need for him to do this, however, if there is one smidgen of a shining spot, it's that his lies are so easily fact checked, something even some mainstream media platforms are beginning to do with the same frequency.  While we all know that his failing facilities tell him this saturation is good, especially since he believes his ratings are the best ratings known in the history of man, he is actually publicly detailing his decent into dementia.  Even though Republicans know these appearances endear him to his cult, I'm sure they also realized that very soon, he will be admitting how big of a traitor he is to both democracy and the United States.  They understand that he is too late to be edited, which is why they're moving as fast as they are before the bottom crashes out.  

Cheap Black

 The temps stayed cold yesterday and we had flurries on and off through out the day.  I kept getting notifications that the snow was going to be ending soon over and over.  We had zero accumulation.  Today the temps are supposed to climb into the low 40s (F).  The same is true for tomorrow.  After that, our temps are supposed to take a deep dive for the (cough, cough) inauguration.

Business is the store was very slow yesterday.  That doesn't mean I didn't talk to people, though all I really did was answer questions.  No one has any interest in opening up their house at this time of year, especially since it's cold so far.  If we start warming up, that might change.  We have had polar vortices during the past 2 years, just like the one we're having now, but they were earlier in the season.  After that warm temps returned.  I'm hoping that happens again this year.  

My neighbors started to get loud last evening, so I got loud and for around 4 or 5 minutes I was very loud.  Honestly, I don't know if it bothers them that much.  Maybe I'm using the same tactic everyone of their previous neighbors used.  One thing I have noticed is that when the husband is home, things are much quieter.  It's only when he's working that she gets loud.  I usually only watch TV one night a week, it's not something I need.  I never watch any of the trendy shows, I just don't find them interesting.  And since I don't have cable, the number of series I watch is limited.

Howie is this big at 5 and a half months, easily over 50 pounds... and still a very playful pup.

While at work yesterday, one of my associates came to me and asked if I was working Monday.  I am.  I work every Monday.  She then told me that I should wear black, you know, as if I were going to a funeral.  So I told her that I don't own anything black, well I do have a pair of patched, faded black jeans, but that's it.  Being an earth tones kind of person, I'm not into black clothing.  The only reason I have that one pair of jeans is because they were on sale at Community Aid for $4.99.  So, I suppose you could say I do wear cheap black.

Of course, the only reason she wants me to wear black is because it is inauguration day.  It's supposed to be one of the coldest inaugurations in decades.  Not that they'll be cold on that stage.  You can bet that the Orange Anus will be trying to blow so much hot air and smoke up America's ass things will be quite toasty.

Donate

 Holy Crap!  We got above freezing yesterday!  All the way up to 34 (F).  And, wonder of wonders, it's going to happen again today... and possibly tomorrow!.  Tuesday is going to be a different story.  

I did work yesterday and, as expected, we were slow.  I did cut a small section of carpet, 12 x 5, but that's about it.  I sold a carpet installation to a customer who had set up her measure on line.  Oh, and I talked to a customer about blinds.  He was not happy when he discovered how expensive it is to buy blinds for his house.  We do sell cheapo plastic ones, but they come in selective sizes and they can't be cut.  Curtains or drapes are much easier, and, unless you go with custom drapes, are far less expensive.

Of course, when I got home from work the Steelers were playing (they're a football team) and so my neighbor's TV was blaring, and he was shouting, and so this week, probably Tuesday evening, I'll watch something on my TV.  If their loud, I play mine at normal volume.  

I got a nice walk in on the treadmill yesterday before I left for work.  I may try to get small one in today, but I changed my schedule, so instead of going in at 2, I start working at 12.  Since I work on the new book every day, I'll have to get the rewrite done before I leave the house, which means zero time of exercise.

And I've got about 3 more week of editing before The Body in History is ready for my readers.  I snapped this pick yesterday and sent it to Christos.  The translation is The Little Steps.

I did make a donation to the Pasadena Humane Society because it's the right thing to do.  There are so many people in need out in Los Angeles, so if you can afford it, send a donation.  It doesn't need to be to the Humane Society; there are so many other charities working out there.  So many people have lost the basic necessities, and you know anyone involved with the Republican Party will send nothing, they'll do nothing.  

Some of the biggest lies have to do with the water pressure, there was none, hydrants were dry, however, the same thing happened in Gatlinburg in 2017.  With the Orange Anus as the president-elect, the truth is never going to come out.

Negotiation

 It's a sunny Saturday morning and it's cold outside.  Over the next week, the temps are only predicted to go above freezing twice... though that will probably change as the Arctic Blast moves north and east.  As far as the temps go, the forecast has already been moderated upward several times.  We are still supposed to get snow on Sunday night, so I brought the snow shovels up out of the basement.

I got some stuff yesterday, however the planned workout failed to materialize.  Was it the cold cloudiness of winter?  Well, temps were rather moderate, so nice that I took Howie for a walk.  He loved it.  The neighbors down the street have a German Short Haired pointer and he and his owner were out, so we stopped and chatted with them for a few minutes.  The dog was never socialized so he's very jumpy bouncy, more so than Howie, who wanted to say hi.  We didn't.  We were told that jumpy bouncy was difficult to control.  

I do get to go and work today.  I'm not excited.

The neighbors were loud again last night.  If they're loud again, I'll plug in my soundbar and give them a taste of their own medicine.

Howie's 5 months old today.  For the most part, he is housetrained doing most of his business outside.  Every now and then he slips up.  Interesting bit:  all I need to do is look at him and lower my voice when I discover the done deed and he knows he's been bad.  If this were a Dune movie, I guess I'd have the power of the voice.

I understand that Orangey is a little upset that he's still going to be sentenced for his election interference.  No jail time, but probably community service of some sort.  Picking up garbage along the roadside would be nice.  Don't doubt for a second that he will try and get out of it.  

So here's a funny thing.  Mikey Johnson was re-elected as Speaker of the House yesterday.  The far right hates him because they feel he's been compromised by negotiating with Democrats to get legislation passed.  For years these negotiations were quite common, until Newt Gingrich decided to form the Just Say No party.  Yesterday Newtie advised the hard liners that they needed to vote for Mikey which basically told them that it was okay to negotiate.  This doesn't mean that they are going to change how they operate.  What it does mean is that nothing on the Republican agenda will be accomplished because they have such a very slim majority, they are going to need Democratic votes to get bills passed, and that means negotiation.  These next few years are going to be Hell for Republicans.

For a Good Time

 So, here it is January 3 and forecasters are calling for some snow this afternoon, about an inch.  I don't mind.  Unless it's a wet snow, that will blow away in the slightest of breezes.  Sunday in to Monday, however, we might get as much as 4 inches.  If we get that much I'll probably take the day off at work.  I'm smart enough to realize that as I get older, my reflexes are slowing down.  I'd rather be safe and warm at home than stuck in a ditch alongside the road.  As for the snow?  That'll be nice.  Free cardio, but barely.  You need a good 8 or 9 inches of snow to really get the old ticker going as you shovel.

Yesterday was an odd day at work.  Customers streamed by the flooring desk regularly.  Sales, however, were scant.  I did manage to get a backsplash measure, and sold some flooring to customer.  That should keep management happy.  

The neighbors had another fight last evening.  This past summer she had complained to me how when he yells he can be "so hurtful."  You can call me cold if you like, but I had a problem with that.  Since I'd already heard them arguing loudly, I knew she could be just as hurtful as he was, so her playing the victim just wasn't going to work.  At some point, I don't doubt that they will move.  I think they will find that easier than doing any of the work the house needs done.

I would rather poke my eyes out than watch one of the far right news services, but last evening Matt Gaetz, who has his own show on OAN, premiered his new face.

I suppose he's trying to make himself more desirable to prepubescent girls, or maybe he's trying to make himself look like the 14 year-old boy he never was, since older pictures of him show he was on the homely side.

This afternoon the House of Representatives will be voting for their next leader.  Will Mike Johnson, the phony Christian who bows to the Orange Anus be re-elected?  Probably, but not on the first vote, maybe not on the second either.  Orangey needs a Speaker of the House in order to be certified, though most of us already know he is certifiable.  

Isn't it interesting that a growing number of Cultist are beginning to complain about Orangey?  No matter how often they were stupid and gullible to believe the Orange Anus, they did anyway.  Their Find Out stage, while it will be bad for all of us, is going to be horrific for them.  They will be wounded terribly bad, and what they deserve more than anything else is for us to rub salt into that wound, and we should try to have a good time while doing so.