Joy

 Good Morning People!  Outside, the temp is a comfortable 63 and the sun is supposed to shine all day.  We have the same forecast for tomorrow, too.  In fact, the forecast for the next 3 days is nice.  Tomorrow I'm going to wack weeds and mow grass. We're not supposed to get any rain again until Saturday, when we're supposed to get another drenching. 

I talked to my friend Justin about coming to trim back the holly bush I have out front.  Because he's 6 feet, 6 inches, he'll be able to cut back the top and I will not climb up on a ladder.  A word of advice to everyone out there, make sure you have at least one tall friend.

I drove down to Lebanon yesterday to go over my bloodwork with my new primary care physician, Dr. Rai, pronounced rye.  He's a very nice gent in in mid-40s.  That's a good thing.  I'm tired of having my doctors retire on me.  As for my bloodwork, I'd already looked at the results.  He asked if I wanted to continue with testing my PSA and I told him I didn't think it was necessary.  The big bugaboo was my blood sugar.  It's high... sort of... 138.  This has always been an issue.  I am not overly concerned.  It's a genetic thing.  My sister's is diabetic.  She laughed at that number, telling me, "that's low."  Since this is a "been there, done that," situation, I know how to get my sugar back to acceptable levels:  less grazing, more exercise.  What joy.

Besides the doctor's visit, yesterday was a necessary day away from news and social media.  I played video games and watched TV.  There is so much bad going on in the world right now, breaking away for a day was such a joy.

The oregano I have growing on the windowsill has teeny, tiny flowers.

And, of course, the shit show is continuing.  The fact that states are going to be activating their National Guard troops for this weekend should tell you they know that a very unpopular president is doing something vast numbers of people don't like.  Protests are planned throughout  the  country for  this  weekend.  Rain is predicted for the Washington DC area, so it's quite possible Mother Nature is going to rain on Orangie's parade.  

Are we heading into another Dark Ages?  Maybe a different variant of those old Dark Ages.  Too many Americans are rushing headfirst into selfishness and greed.  They have been taught that credit is the answer to being able to afford everything they want.  Inflation is going to be a ballbreaker.  Too many want an authoritarian government without understanding that for the vast majority, such a life would be totally unacceptable.  As I've said before, I feel we are approaching  an inflection point.  There may be a serious loss of life.  Will society collapse?  Certain aspects will struggle.  Mostly, however, it will be geographical here in the states, and those areas loving their Republican authoritarianism the most will also suffer the most.  They are simply not prepared.  For them, these Dark Ages will be black, and somehow that gives me joy.

A Plague of Locusts

 It's 42 (F) outside.  The early morning skies are somewhat overcast.  If the weather forecasters are correct, they will give way to partial sunshine and the temps will zoom up into the high 70s (F).  That would make for a really nice day, how sad that I have to work. 

Luckily I'll be sitting at the flooring desk, rather than outside loading mulch in people's cars.  And yes, mulch season has arrived.  That time of year when customers line up to buy bags of (mostly) organic material to spread around their flower beds in order to gain optimal curb appeal.  I can only remember using it one time, and that time it ended up getting spread far beyond the the flower beds by squirrels who can never remember just where it they've buried their nuts.

And for those of you who don't know, there is a plague of locusts coming our way... well, that's not precisely correct.  This summer, two groups of cicadas are going to be hatching.  From what they're saying, they being those who know about cicadas, the numbers will be in the billions.  Two different brood groups will be making their appearance at the same time.  There will, literally, be a plague of locusts.  This summer is going to be special... but not for everybody.  When I first heard about this insect event, I thought it was going to be all over since we have locusts here in Central PA.  Wrong.  It seems that most of this pseudo-religious event will be happening in none other than the Red conservatives states.  I honestly had to laugh when I saw which states are going to be effected the most.

And barely an hour goes by with out the Orange Anus  spitting out something vile on his Truth Social account.  Everybody does know what Truth Social is, don't they?  That Trump owned Social Media platform that went public, so people could invest in Donald?  Of course, it's failing because everything Trump touches dies.  Truth Social was supposed to earn him billions.  (Can you hear me laughing?)  The stock was way overpriced, initially at $70 a share, though the bottom fell out fairly fast and it's now trading at around $29 a share.  Ouch.  A lot of cultists are losing money.  Good.  Everything about this man is a lie.  The "Art of the Deal," was a lie.  Truth Social is anything but true.  The cultists will never understand.  For that to happen they would have to not only think, but reason as well.

Cough, Cough

 And here it is, Sunday morning.  After today, I'm going to have 3 consecutive days off as I move into my part-time status.  One thing that's going to change is the way I do laundry: all in one day.  That doesn't need to be the case anymore.  I can do a load one day, a load the next, and so on and so forth, if the mood strikes me.  Will I?  Nah,  I like getting it out of the way.

Yesterday was rather busy at work... in the morning and early afternoon, and then the customers thinned out.  Evidently there was Penn State football on TV last evening.  Being an hour and 15 minutes south of the university, just about everybody in the area is a fan.  At one time, when I was growing up, they were one of the winningest teams in college sports.  I don't think they're so much now-a-days.  Too many controversies.  The god Paterno turned out to be much less than a demi-god.  One thing, and many of you may find this difficult to believe but traffic is always terrible when there's a home game, even this far south.  Before Covid, (cough, cough) this is what Beaver Stadium looked like, and yes, it is called Beaver Stadium.

There are at least 2 associates out with Covid at the store.  One of them called off for 2 days, and then came back to work before being diagnosed (cough, cough).  An anti-vaxxer Republican, if you had any doubts.  Nationally, the infection rate is declining, however, that's only the case when you look at the entire country, and those states with a high vaccination rate.  Those states, like Alaska, and Wyoming, and Texas, and other Red States, where the anti-vaxxers dominate, people are still dying.  Over 3000 a day, and mostly anti-vaxxing Republicans.  I was talking to a fellow associate yesterday pointed out that this was a lot like watching Judgment (Cough Cough).  And I had to agree, this is like watching Slow-Mo Judgement.

The Legacy

My Friday has arrived.  I'd say I'm ecstatic, but relieved is a more fitting description of how I'm feeling.  I had having split days off.  Starting Friday, the real one, however, I'm scheduled for split days off into December.  Son of a bitch!

And yesterday was an odd one at work.  I was the only Specialist scheduled.  Only one aisle associate was scheduled, so after he left at 2 PM, I was left by myself until my shift ended.  While not being retail appropriate, I was lucky because business was slow, most likely because the temps are dropping.  And it was windy.  Many, many of my leaves blew away yesterday.

And I mentioned to a fellow associate, a supporter of the human failure in the White House, how interesting it was that since he lost the election many Republican Governors were now mandating masks.  I am not alone at recognizing this.  The WP is one of several of the 'lamestream' media outlets reporting this.  Guess who looks bad?  Not the Blue states which have managed to somewhat control the virus.  Nope!  It's the Red states, the ones who's ICU's are filling up as I type.  For those how haven't realized it yet, the Idiot Jerk's legacy will be Covid 19 and his total refusal to deal with it.  His party doesn't understand the mantle they are cowering under will stain them for history. 

Michigan was hoot yesterday, wasn't it?  Two Republicans were refusing to certify the election results because... they love to believe in lies.  Not surprisingly, their decision was met with an onslaught of anger and outrage.  You see, the Idiot Jerk lost Michigan by 140 - 150 thousand votes.  No small margin there.  When he heard about it, he Tweeted some sort of celebratory nonsense, however shortly after his Tweet those 2 Republicans reversed their decision, making him look like a fool.  

The Idiot Jerk also had bad luck in Pennsylvania where a Federal Judge as his Court Jester Giuliani what reason they had for trying to disenfranchise the state's 6.8 million voters.  Evidently Giuliani jingled his bells, while doing a little song and dance,  As have been so many judges dealing with this spate of fraudulent charges by the Idiot Jerk, this judge was unimpressed.

 For those interested, my Christmas Cactus is once again preparing to bloom.

Red State Hate

If you've been paying any sort of attention you've seen that Mississippi is working on their own Christian Hate Bill - you know what I'm talking about, that if you claim to be a Christian it's okay to hate.  While they say this is because of the Supreme Court decision, let's be honest here.  The Red States have hated a lot of people for a very long time; ever since they lost the Civil War.  Now they don't hate everything.  They loved their Confederate Flag and a lot of them were really pissed when those to the north and west of them starting pointing out it was a Racist Emblem.  Of course, in some places they took the flag down... well, at least they moved them so they weren't so public, which means they didn't really come to terms with their racism, just popped it into a closet.
Now they're passing laws which let them use that old joke "it's a against my religion."  You know the joke I'm talking about?  Where someone would ask you to do something and you'd reply "nah, it's against my religion."  And, while they say it's just a protection for their deeply held Christian beliefs, it really is just a demonstration of hatred.  Don't think they'll stop at the LGBT community, either.  These laws let them target anyone they don't like.

And it's only the red states that hold so much hate, the ones controlled by the GOP.  But then it's a long known fact that the Republicans hate every one who doesn't kiss their ass.  And their prayers for a Republican President are being skewered by Trump, who might end up being the biggest loser they've ever nominated.  And he will get their nomination, other wise there will be rioting in the streets of Cleveland.

What's funny is that they put all this energy into hate and it gets them know where.  As a result, they're going to lose more and more.  Perhaps someone should have told them long ago that hate is a cancer, and it's eating them alive.