Cater This

Well, we have a drizzler in store for us today here in Central PA.  Showers on an off with maybe a quick splash of sunlight.  Temps should only climb into the low 80s (F).  Since there is rain water involved, this means there will be no yard cleanup done today.  As I've said before, electric tools and rain simply don't go together.  Tomorrow we're supposed to have brilliant sunshine, so I'm beginning to anticipate.

I worked yesterday.  Even though business was slow, I did manage to make a decent little sale and sign up a measure.  This should keep management happy.  One thing that did happen yesterday was someone decided to get our little Halloween Homer buckets out of the overhead.  Customers have been asking when we were going to put them on sale for the past 3 weeks.  We have 2000 in stock.  Believe me when I tell you that they will be gone by sometime next week.

About a month and a half ago I went to my dentist to have my teeth cleaned.  The assistant cleaned the right side of my mouth, but told me I was going to have a 2nd appointment for the left side.  She said there were 2 tiny spots that they would clean on my next appointment.  The receptionist wasn't happy.  My dentist wanted both sides done at the same time.  They charged me $43, with my insurance covering the rest of the treatment. Yesterday I got a letter from Capital Blue Cross letting me know they weren't covering any of the expense, and the total due, after the cleaning would be $413.  My dental insurance is through MetLife, not Capital Blue Cross.  Later this morning I'm going to give my dentist a call.

And many on social media are talking about Orangie's escape from Turkey in a catering truck.

Evidently when Orangie left the NATO conference in Turkey he climbed aboard old Air Force One because the new grift plane from Qatar had zippo when it comes to security.  Well, the spineless wonder was terrified that Iran might still shoot his old plane out of the air, so after boarding, Orangie secretly made his way down to the catering deck where he climbed into a food cart and was lowered down to a waiting catering truck.  You simply cannot make this shit up.  Everyone else stayed on Air Force One: his staff, the reporters who travel with him, and the flight crew.  They were going to be sacrificed to the Iranians should a missile be fired.  He is a coward from Hell.

Also, the Freedom Games ended yesterday.  I know a lot of people are not going to know what I'm talking about, but Orangie, and his sycophants, came up with the idea of having high school athletes compete against each other for a $250,000 prize.  There was hardly any press regarding the games, probably because the candidate selection was... murky.  A huge majority of the students were white.  Quite a few were either homeschooled, or came from Christian schools.  Maine's representative student goes to school in California.  Oh, and everyone of them needed to be super MAGA.  Organizing and having these games cost the tax payers $13 million.  This is another example of how this administration is stealing from America.

Pilloried

So, we're having another serious thunderstorm as I type.  We've had some seriously gusty winds and now we have torrential rains.  While the gusts were strong, no more branches (or limbs) were torn from the maple trees behind my house.  Oh, and we also have a lot of thunder and lightning.  The forecast for the coming week is pretty much same old, same old.  Everyday there's the 50% + of having a thunderstorm.  Lucky us.

Of course, fearless Howie wants to go outside.  That ain't happening.

My poblano pepper plant has at lest 8 peppers on it, so now I have to find a pepper recipe.  If I can, I can always dry them.  That's one of the good reasons to have a dehydrator.  

Retail was slow yesterday, in fact retail was slow all of last week.  August is always a slow month because it's family vacation month.  I did manage to get another measure.  That's 3 for the past week.  Someone, somewhere should be happy.  However, that's not going to stop them from beginning Halloween.  We've already gotten a number of questions regarding our orange Halloween buckets.  They are very popular.  I can tell you that we have over 2000 in stock, but they're all in the overhead.  The Halloween setup will probably take place next week, at least for the big stuff.  Yesterday, on one of my laps, I discovered that we already have our not so distinguishable pillows out.

Rumors are swirling that the Orange Anus is going to declare victory in Iran because he's a low IQ president who's in way over his head.  This is because he's an idiot.  One of his many, and I do mean many, problems is that his tiny brain believes he can con his way out of situation, that he can win by lying.  He has always believed he can force capitulation by merely threatening.  He's done this with Iran and they have constantly punched back.  He has spent his entire life lying to himself, and has surrounded himself with liars who constantly feed him false praise.  Now, his incompetency has caught up with him and he's flailing.  They're saying that if the Democrats take both the House and the Senate during the midterms he will be impeached.  Many think he should be jailed.  Personally, I'd like to see him pilloried... literally.  That way the American people can walk by and shout obscenities at him and throw shit at him.  Oh, I'm sure one or two would throw a rotten egg or tomato, but I suspect manny would simply throw shit.

 

The Threads of Power

 The rains have past and, unfortunately, we didn't get much of a cooldown. The humidity has dropped, so I no longer feel as though I'm wearing a 2nd skin of sweat.  The heat, with daily highs in the low 90s (F) is supposed to stick with us for the next few days.  I work for the next 2 days.  This is fine since I work and wasn't planning on any yard cleanup.  

Speaking of yard cleanup, when I see how many of the tree limbs and branches have been cut down to size and chipped, I'm rather proud of myself.  There are a lot of people my age who would have looked at that job and deciding the work was too daunting.  They would have acted like my brother wanted me to act, and not pick up a chainsaw.  Life is full of challenges.  This doesn't mean there aren't things to difficult and tasks you shouldn't take on.  You need to use wise discretion.  Once you reach the level where you start repeating "that's too much," you have reached the highest point you will ever go.  From the moment you plateau there is just a short period of time before you begin taking the downhill path.

I got to meet our new store manager yesterday working in the tile aisle.  There a large effort underway to make the aisle look both presentable and shoppable.  Customers are a part of the problem.  They pick tiles or mosaics up, and instead of putting them back where they belong, they shove them onto any shelf or into any box.  A bigger part of the problem is that we have aisle associates who don't really want to work in the tile aisle.  One provides good customer service, but usually in other departments, and then we have one who's just a lazy slug, a conspiracy theorist who spends more time on his phone than anything else.

Time for the after breakfasts nap.

So, Iran says that the Strait of Hormuz will not open until the US corrects some bad behavior.  That won't happen until conservatives and Republicans are out of government.  That will be sooner than they think because they are constantly dismissing the anger that is growing in America.  They have been living in a delusional world ever since Reagan's landslide re-election.  Their mantra has become "all we have to do is get ourselves in power and we can remake the country."  The idea that being the party of selfishness and greed doesn't even occur to them, well, most of them.  They ignore the evil of this administration because the power they believes this president holds is the realization of their grand delusion.  They don't understand that they are grasping at the last threads of power, that the ropes binding their dreams of power are unraveling.  Well, maybe Bill Cassidy does.  Perhaps that's why his lips were trembling as he refused to look at the camera and tell the world he was voting for Todd Blanche.

Screwed For Life

Our afternoon high is supposed to be in the 90s (F).  Yesterday we almost hit that number, and then the rains came.  We had an hour of what you could call soaking rain.  Of course, they did little to alleviate the humidity.  Our dewpoint is at 70 and I do not doubt that number will go higher.

Yesterday was different.  My morning workout went well.  Everything was find until... they shut down my street in order to dig up a sewer line 5 house down on the left.  Because there are a number of houses between the dig site and the closure sign, a man with a green fluorescent vest was stationed out front.  Because Howie couldn't decide if he was a future friend, or a brightly colored threat, he was constantly going in and out.  About every 10 minutes he'd bark out "Friend or Foe."  As a result, nothing really got done. I did go to the supermarket, but unfortunately bought a frozen pizza which insure there was an hour of silence when he and I took a nap.

I work this afternoon, though not at the flooring desk.  I'll be in the paint department.  That's fine with me, in fact my hours might be increasing because one of the associates applied for promotion into lower management.  If she gets it, then someone is going to have to fill her hours.

Just in case I forgot, The Body in 4/4 Time is now available at Barnes & Noble.

When I hear someone like John Cornyn saying things like "there's nothing we can do to rein in the president," I get worried.  When I see the Senate confirming Orangie's personal attack attorney as the Attorney General for the United States, I get worried.  But then I see that a judge has paused construction on Orangie's ballroom and I feel a little relieved.  When I see that his approval rating is in the low 30s, I'm okay with that, states like Mississippi and Tennessee giving him approval ratings of 59% will always screw up the numbers.  These are states where white people are fighting a losing battle in when it comes to remaining the majority.  Time doesn't heal all wounds, but it is changing the color of American Voters.

Did Bill Cassidy vote for Todd Blanche under duress?  Watch the videos and decide for yourself.  If he did, then he put himself into that position.  That's the problem with crime families, all you have to do is accept their terms once and you're screwed for life.

Abusive Maxi Miller

Today is going to be nice, with a high in the low to mid 80s.  The sun is shining brightly and there is nary a cloud in the sky.  Weather like this needs to be taken advantage of, so I'll be out back with my chainsaw and chipper.

I got a nice upper body workout done yesterday morning before I went to work.  This was good.  Even though work was slow, I did manage to get 2 measures, one for a blind installation, and one for carpeting in a bedroom.  Two measures are good at this time of the year.  

Corporate made a rather foolish decision.  Someone thought that sending every specialist to an 8 hour training session in Baltimore was a great idea... everyone except the part-timers.  Knowing that over 100 specialty departments were going to be unstaffed, one would like to believe that part-timers would be used for coverage.  Nope.  Nobody is scheduled except the aisle associates.  I told our scheduler that I was thinking of punching in for a few hours this afternoon, and was rather nonchalantly told, "sure, if you want to."  And I actually did think I'd go in for 4 or 5 hours, until I realized today's weather was going to be great.  I got 2 measures yesterday, and I am not responsible for coverage.  I've also decided that I like 4 days off in a row.

I'm supposed to have a cardio session this afternoon.  Looks like that will be replaced with the lifting and the cutting of limbs and branches.  One of the interesting things is that Deutsche Bank new way back when that Orangie was involved in questionable banking practices, and evidently he bribed some members of the board to keep his accounts open.

Another thing I find interesting is the way the Max Miller abusive, child beater, restraining order story is playing out.  

To be honest, if all of these allegations had surfaced under a different president, I don't think this story would have gotten too much coverage, knowing how Republicans liked to sweep their dirt under the carpet.  But we've got Orangie in the White House, and he has endorsed Maxi Miller.  With both his ex-wife complaints and Stephani Grisham's restraining order, he looks like he's on his way to being labeled a serial abuser.  And all of this is happening, not only across the front pages of main stream media, but in deeply red, Central Ohia as well.  Ouch!  Maxi says he's not going to resign because... I suppose... because physical abuse is part of the Republican playbook?  I'm betting Maxi has some serious anger management issues when it comes to women, of course, that shouldn't be surprising.  He is a Republican, after all.

The Trump Crime Family

Wowza!  Did we get rain yesterday?  Drizzles and showers turned into torrential downpours.  We had ponding, laking, and a little flash flooding.  There was thunder and lightning, but no wind,  Believe  me, I've had enough 60 mile an hour winds to last me and my trees a lifetime.  Things are expected to dry out today, but then tomorrow we're going to have more rain.  The forecast do not bode well for yard cleanup this coming week since my big tools are all electric.

Yesterday was a very slow day, again, at the orange home improvement retailer I work for.  We do tend to be slow right now because August is vacation month.  Vacations are expensive this year; 3 days at the shore is going to cost more than a flooring installation.  When I sat down at the Flooring computer, I discovered all of my old quotes were gone.  This is a good thing.  There is a certain point in time, usually 4 weeks, when you know the customer is not going to purchase.  I've been told by our measurement services that time is actually 3 months.  I stop calling customers after a month.  At a certain point customer service ends and customer harassment begins.

Tomorrow, every specialist in my store, except for the part-timers, will be going to an 8 hour seminar down in Baltimore.  As far as I know, only 2 specialists said they were going to need a room, both are flooring associates.  Both thought this was great, they were each going to spend the night in a single room.  😂🤣😂 Yesterday I told the one I was working with that he was going to be in a double, possibly with someone he didn't know.  He did a little research and discovered I was right.  Both of these guys are... naive. 

And then this bit of news started breaking yesterday.

Whispers are saying that Jeanine Pirro dropped the reflecting pool vandalism charges because she wants to be fired, that she knows something bad is coming down and she and her box of wine will be much safer out of Orangie's orbit.

And the money laundering bit?  My understanding is that Orangie and his kin were selling excessively over-priced condos for cash... mostly Russian cash.  And  this is not the first time.  We're not just talking about Capital One.  Deutsche Bank also severed ties with Orangie's crime family in 2021.  They all know he's a crook.  Now we know why he wants he wants immunity from audits for not only himself, but his family, and his businesses.  He truly is a scourge upon America, a con man extraordinaire.  

So, is Mitch McConnell going to suddenly catch pneumonia and die tomorrow?

Tom Tomato

 The forecast was for rain overnight, I think we might have had a shower or two.  Our outside temp is 70 (F).  Again, the forecast is for us to get a few degrees warmer.  There's evidently a small coldish front moving through.  Rain is on the menu for today.  Showers with the occasional thunderstorm are going to limit my yard cleanup.  Originally, they were calling for sunny skies this morning, and while the cloud cover seems a bit thin, the rain is moving in at a fast clip from the west.  The drizzles should be starting in about an hour.

Why is the rain not good?  You may find it shocking, but both my chainsaw and my new wood chipper are electric.  Safety first.

In researching for The Body in the Words, I've learned that the Spanish do not say, "mi casa es su casa."  That's a Mexican phrase.

When I got to work yesterday, I stopped off to talk to Human Resources about my vacation.  I have some scheduled, but I need to take 7 more hours before my anniversary date on September 4.  If you don't use your vacation time, you lose your vacation time.  Mid-conversation, an associate from our service desk interrupted us.  Her hours have been cut and she wanted to see if there was some way she could make up that lost time by working as a cashier.  She got a smile and an, "I'll see what I can do."  After the associate left, I asked if this was happening a lot, part-timers coming in because they're now being scheduled shorter hours.  I was told, "all the time."  Most people work a part-time job, or a 2nd job because they need the money.  I feel bad for these people.  And like the cloud cover overhead, this economy is going to get worse before it gets better.

And here's my first tomato, freshly picked 2 minutes ago.

So I saw a clip of Rosie O'Donnell talking about who was actually to blame for the Orangie presidency.  I don't always agree with her, but sometimes Rosie does hit the nail on the head; this time I agree.  The cult of Orangie can be traced directly back to his stupid reality TV show, produced by Mark Burnett.  He is the one who created The Apprentice.  Burnett is the one put a failed businessman with 8 bankruptcies into American homes, selling Orangie to the American people as a the ultimate entrepreneur.  Of course, everything was a lie.  Reality TV is like the internet.  Remember?  Don't believe everything you see on the internet.  Yet millions of Americans believed the lie, and so the cult was born.  In return for creating this monster, Burnett was rewarded with an ambassadorship, so I guess he understands the art of the deal.

 

Zeus's Law

 The current temp is 71 (F).  If you're in Central PA, you can plan for an afternoon high in the mid to upper 80s (F).  There are storms in the forecast, too, but I'm thinking they'll not be nearly as severe as those that most recently swept through the area.  The day time highs have not been scorching us with 3 digits of Fahrenheit, and so we're not sitting on a hotplate waiting for a cold front to smash to pieces.  Once the cooler air passes through, we will still have daily highs in the low to mid 80s (F).  Most of the summer might not turn out to be so bad after all, at least not  in Central PA.

I spent a full shift in the flooring department yesterday and business was exceedingly slow.  Other departments were busy, but mine was not.  Traditionally, installations slow down during this time of year.  For me the most exciting thing was sending a rather heated email to our measurement services.  I set up a measure for a hardwood installation back in late May and the customer was measured in early June.  The quote came in at a cost much higher than the customer was expecting, so the quote was canceled.  On June 27, someone named Michelle noted that the sale was "lost because of price."  On July 25, someone named Judith from our measurement services reopened the quote. In addition to leaving a voice mail for the customer, she sent 2 texts and an email to this customer.  So, I emailed measurement services and asked at what point does customer service end and customer harassment begin?

My wood chipper arrived yesterday and will be assembled after this morning's workout.

I have an eggplant!  And there's more than one!!  I can see a pan of moussaka in my future.  

So, ticket sales for The Odyssey have grossed over $639.  This is unprecedented.  This is in 2 weeks.  In the US the film has an R rating and films rated R never, ever generate ticket sales of this magnitude.  Why?  I suspect Elonia Musk's Nazi tirade about a black Helen of Troy may have started things off.  Another factor is probably a fascination with ancient Greece.  So many of the words we use, no matter what language you speak, have Greek origins.  Democracy originated in Greece and all citizens, as Bob likes to say, "went out and cast a damn vote!"  The Odyssey is an anti-war movie and I do believe now, more than ever, many, many people around the world are simply fed up with war.  And I can't forget to mention that the film is, as many conservatives shriek, Woke.  Anne Hathaway claiming, "I've been sitting on an empty throne for 20 years!" hits the audience like a sucker punch.  And, of course, the movie is about Zeus's Law, where all strangers are welcome.  What happens when you break Zeus's Law?  Maybe you should ask Polyphemus. Is this why Zeus stayed Poseidon's hand?

Ticket This

 Today is going to be a repeat of yesterday with our high temp in the mid 80s (F).  We may get an isolated thunderstorm, however nothing like what we've dealt with over the past 2 weeks.  On the long range forecast our daytime highs are staying in the mid 80s (F).  Take warning, though, there is another heat dome moving across the country.  Right now that sucker looks to be skimming past us to the south, so though of you in the southern states prepare yourselves.  This summer is only halfway over.

And I worked yesterday.  I didn't get a measure, a lead or a credit card.  My sales for this week are dismal.  That's okay.  I'm part-time.  My value comes in that I can work in at least one other department:  paint.  For the next 2 Saturdays that's where I'll be spending my time.  Honestly, there are times when I prefer working in paint.  For one thing, the paint department is almost always steady.  When it comes to redecorating you home, paint a room a new color is a lot less expensive than installing new flooring.  As the economy continues to slide in the wrong direction, the paint department is going to become very important.

Someone commented on another blog that I was reading that they'd heard Universal Studios was buying tickets to The Odyssey to make sales look good.  Being the straightforward, no nonsense person I am, I called this falsehood a... well, a lie.  Unfortunately, a lot of MAGA cultists are repeating this same deceit.  These people simply refuse to believe that film with a black Helen of Troy and transgender man can make money.  They don't understand that a movie that is "woke," can be a box office hit.  They said the same thing for "The Hail Mary Project." This is a minority group of people terrified that they are losing the culture wars.  So, this is me sticking them in the eye.  Here's The Odyssey's ticket sales from Box Office Mojo.  That 47% increase for  Friday's sales means that not only are people going to see this movie, they're chatting it up among their friends.

Photoshop This

Well, the weather outside is crappy.  The temps is in the low 70s (F) and we have very light rain.  Showers and thundershowers are headed our way for later this morning and into this early afternoon.  This is not good yardwork weather.  Things will be improving during the evening hours.

I did get my upper body workout in yesterday.  I also worked yesterday.  It was a good day for flooring.  One of my fellow specialists sold a hardwood installation for $20,000.  That's nice.  Management is quite happy.  I have a $25,000 tile floor installation in a restaurant that is not going to go through.  The customer signed up for the free measure just to get the square footage, he'll have someone else install it for a lot less.  The tile he chose to get the quote is too thin to support the heavy traffic of a restaurant.  When I told him this, he said, "no problem, none of my employees are heavy," and laughed.  

Even though it's drizzly outside, I am going to try and get some yard cleanup done, though nothing with the chainsaw.  It's electric.  Water and electricity are not a good combination.  I suspect the rest of the week is going to be very busy.

So, if you happened to watch the Australian feed during the World Cup ceremony, you heard the announcer say of the Orange Anus, "they'll just edit him out."  Well, that is exactly what both Spain and FIFA did.

And guess who had his feeling hurt?  Guess who blew a shitty little gasket?  Orangie.  He was so furious that both Spain and FIFA made that moment about the winners and not him, his allies started photoshopping him into all sorts of pictures.  I suspect that this means he's entering into his omnipresent stage of dementia, when even though he wants you to believe he's everywhere, in reality he is nowhere.

We're also discovering that this administration has been lying about the number of casualties in Orangie's war with Iran.  Why am I not surprised?  Orangie needs all of his decisions to be seen as good, so all the bad get's swept under the carpet, or at least so he and his admin believe.  This is why they hate leakers.

Word also comes that Kegsbreath Hegseth now wants to "cloak" military expenses.  This either means that the grift is becoming obvious, or they're about to break the backs of the American taxpayer, or, and this is most likely, both are happening.  Or, and this might be true also, Keggie's makeup artist wants a raise.

Finally, Russ Vaught is leaving one of his positions.  He'll still be with the administration, but he'll no longer be in charge of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.  For those who missed it, he got his ass yelled at badly at a Congressional hearing.  Like all conservatives, he truly hates taking responsibility for his actions.  He'll still be working with Orangie, but this is a step in the right direction.

Trump Embarrasses America... Again

Last night our temp dropped down to 61 (F).  That's good sleeping weather.  If the long range forecast sticks, which is very unlikely as there's a tropical storm in the Gulf of Mexico that looks to be heading north, our daily highs should be in the low 80s (F).  Our overnight temps should drop into the low 60s (F).  Again, I can live with this.

I worked yesterday.  Business was slow.  I almost made my sales goal, but not quite, but that's about it.  While not be super busy during the summer, we're usually steady. so selling installs and reaching our sales goals is not that big of a problem.  However, things are much more expensive now then they've every been.  We are offering promotions, however, 15% off a carpet installation is not a big enough incentive while other prices are constantly rising.  I'm lucky in that I can work in 2 different departments, 3 if you count appliances.  Many other part-time associates have only been trained to work in their home department.  While full-time associates might think they're safe, many retailers see lowered sales as a good reason to eliminate those positions, replacing them with one or 2 part-timers who don't need to get paid for an 8 hour shift.

And I did buy a chainsaw yesterday.  I bought the same model I used to own.  I don't know how much I'm going to use it this morning, since I'm scheduled to work this afternoon. Tomorrow?  Rain is expected.

Of course Howie is in stick heaven.

And here's a bit of a funny thing:  An Italian sculptor living in New York named Sergio Furnari took it upon himself to sculpt a statue of Charlie Kirk. He spent a lot of his own money thinking the statue would make millions.  Besides being ugly, no one wants it, in fact, Sergio is quite upset that he's being inundated with emails from people telling him that they're going to piss on it.  So tell me, would you... piss on it?

Finally, the Orange Anus made an ass out of himself again yesterday at the world cup.  Argentina learned about the Trump Curse.  When the Anus refused to leave the stage, the Australian announcer said, "we'll just edit him out."  The Spanish networks did just that.  A number of other foreign announcers noted how Orangie was "booed mercilessly," as he walked across the field to the stage.  And, of course, he refused to leave, even when they tried to escort him off and so he stood there by himself, embarrassing the hell out of the United States.

Shimmering Scars

So, 69 (F) outside.  This afternoon our thermometers should be adding about another 30 degrees onto that.  I remember looking at the long range forecast last week and wishing that it would be nice if it was correct.  Sadly, the forecast was wrong and temps for this week will not be hovering in the mid 80s (F).  Since the rotation of the earth moves all weather to the east, here's a warning to all of those in Europe:  this heat's coming your way.

In dealing with the aching of my left knee, I find that I'm taking 200g of naproxen every other day, so I suspect I'm dealing with one of the aches and pains of growing older. 

Work was terribly boring yesterday.  The aisle associate who was scheduled, called and said that he'd be late and then never showed up.  He's a nice guy and this tends to be SOP for him.  This did, however, leave me by myself for my entire shift.  I was so bored!  Yesterday did start our VOA (Voice of the Associate) survey.  This is our chance to review the great orange retailer I work for.  Last year my old supervisor was lambasted so badly management knew she had to be replaced. The issues I have this year are with decisions that were made by corporate.  One of them was that a customer will set up a measure online, then come into the store to have the specialist do all of the work. We make changes and get the quote ready to sell, and then close the sale.  We used to get credit for that sale.  That no longer happens.  You do all the work and get no credit because the customer spent 2 minutes on their phone or at the home computer setting up a measure.

And just when  did we didn't know we needed one, Muse comes along and gives us a power ballad that breaks your heart.

The Orange Anus is planning on giving a nationwide speech on Thursday evening.  Actually, it's not a speech, it's a rally.  Purportedly he's going to tell America that they have proof that foreign countries intervened in the 2020 election.  He's also, supposedly, going to say that both Warnock and Ossoff lost won because of election fraud.  Because this man is terrified of the midterm elections, he will do anything to keep them from happening.  There was no election fraud.  He doesn't have the authority to remove senators.  But he will rile the hell up in his base of cultists.  Neither he, nor his cultists, can come close to comprehending that his little shit show lies only continue building the anger against both he and the Republican party.  He is long past the time when he could actually learn something.  The backlash against him will simply be horrendous.

AI Mitch

Our afternoon temps got up to 91 (F) yesterday, that's much warmer than predicted.  According to the thermometer our outside temp is 68 (F).  The forecast is the same as yesterday's with a high in the mid 80s (F).  Will that happen?  Probably not.  We have another mini heatwave coming our way.  Tomorrow's highs are supposed to be in the 90s (F), with Wednesday topping off in the low 100s (F).  I suspect this summer is going to be a real cooker.

Yesterday was, as expected, rather boring.  Sundays are usually a full shift for me at the giant, orange, home improvement retailer, but yesterday I was only scheduled for 6.5.  Business was slow.  Some customers wandered in looking for something specific, but there were very few browsers.  Those that did make their way back to the flooring department told me the same thing:  "I'm just starting the process."

I'm not going to the training session down in Maryland.  The store specialty associates are all going down on Tuesday, August 4, and my availability specifically says that I don't work on Tuesdays.

My Trainwell subscription is not  going to be renewed at the end of July.  I've found that the texts I get from my trainer are not as much of an incentive as they once were.  I have the routines down, so paying $550 for 3 months of "at a boy's" doesn't seem to be a wise expense.

So, so many people believe this picture of Mitch and his wife Elaine is AI generated.

Besides the fact that, if this is real, he's had some work down with fillers, people have zoomed in on the  newspaper he's holding and discovered the photo is from a football game in Florida and is dated in 2006.  I guess 20 years ago, Mitch wouldn't have had nearly as many wrinkles as he does today.

There was a laughable headline in the Washington Post about some Republicans are beginning to feel positive about the midterms, in spite of the war with Iran and the rising prices.  This means, I suspect, that the Washington Post is using the same AI generator as the Kentucky GOP.

The big problem with the Republican party is that they are truly living in a land of delusion.  Reality is being kept at an arm's length away... well, maybe they're keeping reality 2 arm's length away.  No matter what the difference, they are so out of touch with the world they are setting themselves up for a terrible fall.  The total collapse of their party is essential for America's survival.  They will sacrifice themselves upon the alter of stupidity simply because they cannot live in a world where they are not in charge.

 

Jubilation

 Well, it Sunday morning our outside temp is 69 (F) and by Tuesday we're going to be sweltering again.  The long range forecast originally had us sailing smoothly through the mid 80s (F) for the upcoming week, well, it looks like the weathermen got it wrong again.  Sadly, we're just heading into the hottest part of the summer.

Before I went to work yesterday, I got a nice little workout in, upper body, of course.  I got a text from my trainer asking if we wanted to start bringing back some light leg work. I'll have him add in some leg extensions, but no squats.  I think I've mentioned it here before, but I've always hated squats.

When I went in to work yesterday, I discovered someone in corporate decided a regional training class in improving sales was necessary.  I was told that everybody needs to go.  Not me.  I'm not driving down to Nottingham, Maryland, for a rah! rah! training class.  And corporate, in their ineptitude, gave me the perfect out.  You had to provide them with your birthday in order to complete the form.  They had a little calendar for the month and day, however, to give them the year you had to scroll, unfortunately, it only scrolled to 1956.  There were no years prior to that, so evidently the cutoff was 1956.  I was born in 1952. That's age discrimination.  Ouch!

And put on your party hats!  Lindsey Graham has died!  While he wasn't Cornpone, he was definitely a loser.

Truthfully, I almost did a jig when that headline flashed on my phone this early morning.  So many questions suddenly flashed through my head.  What in hell is the Republican Senate going to do now that they're 2 votes down?  How does this upset Alito's retirement plans?  What about Clarence Thomas?  He's 78 years old.  Usually NDAs die with their authors, so are all of those male escorts going to start talking?  

One person describe Graham as a pilot fish, one of those fishies who suck on to the belly of a shark so they can live off detritus.  His only loyalty was to that one person who could make him feel most powerful.  He was a gay man who sold out regularly to the Orange Anus.  To say Graham was a pathetic, spineless human being would be kind.  To be honest, I'm waiting for all of the "tell all" books to come out with titles like "I Diddled Lyndsey in the Shadow Docket."  This man deserves all the ridicule you can think up, and then some.

Processing Mitch

The thunderstorms predicted for yesterday turned out to be a smattering of showers, nothing else.  We have the same forecast for today, however, the odds of us getting rained on are much lower.  Right now, we have sunshine outside and a temp of 72 (F).  I do work this afternoon, so it doesn't make a difference to me if we get rain or not.

I do get to work for the next 3 days, though the hours are shorter than the normal.  I'm down to about 18 hours a week.  Next week it's only 16.5.  The only real problem with this is that I was hoping to pay off my car by November, now it looks as though I'm going to have car payments until January.  Once my school taxes are paid off in August, I shouldn't have anymore large payments until spring of next year when my real estate tax is due, so I'll have to see how much extra I can plop onto  the principle after that.

Yesterday afternoon I went for a nice ride along a canal in France.  The ride was very flat.  My trainer pointed out that I'm picking up my speed to get my heart rate up rather than climb hills.  I'm fine with this.

For those interested, the fictional events in The Body in the Words will be taking place in Ballyseamus, which is near Ballymena, which is a short 35 minute ride from Belfast International Airport.

Will wonders never cease!  It looks like I found Mitch!

So, a housing bill became law last night after the Orange Anus failed to veto the legislation.  He came out against it, said that it was stupid and claimed that his Save Act was much more important, yet he failed to stop it.  I'm thinking he didn't veto because someone told him that the bill was bipartisan and that Republicans needed so notch up some sort of win before the midterms.  It isn't going to work.  Gas prices are still going up for Americans, and with those higher prices, well, everything else is going to be getting more expensive.  At least here in the United States.  I understand that the EU has entered into negotiations with Iran since they shouldn't be processed by what our nut doodle is doing.

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Translations

Outside it's 67 (F) and misty, drizzly.  Inside, there is high humidity.  This is going to last through much of the day with an occasional shower popping up to make things damper than they already are.  Tomorrow we might get to see the sun.  I'm hoping so.  Then I can get out my "saw on a stick" and cut up the branch that was torn from a tree behind my house.

And yesterday was pretty meh here in Central PA.  I called the store to see if they had electricity; they didn't.  That meant the computers were still down, so I took a personal day.  I was told that they were very busy.  Translation:  we're not going to pay you to sit at your desk doing nothing, so we'll put you to work in another department, like garden, or electrical, or.... I'm sure you get the picture.  

Since my left knee is going through a wrinkly stage, my workout is now focused on my upper body.  I'll still be doing my rides, but they're going to be long and flat.  Translation:  I'll soon be looking at pecs and biceps in the mirror.

My brother and his wife got there electricity back last evening.  He sent me a long text this morning about a number of things.  One thing he mentioned was that he'd seen George Washington and that it was put out by Angel Studios.  He evidently thought Angel Studios was Christian.  So, I corrected him.  Angel Studios is owned by 2 Mormons, and while they do put out faith-based films, they also release a lot of films that are not faith-based.  In fact, Angel Studios has a reputation for being very diverse, two words conservatives simply despise.  My brother's response:  I'll have to research this.  Can you hear me laughing.

So, the Orange Anus tried to cheat a win for the American Men's Soccer Team and in doing so, did what he does best.  Easy translation:  He lost.  The American team lost.  And now the entire world is talking about the Trump Curse.  And the Belgium team that shellacked our ass?  They did the Trump jerkoff dance.

Graham Platner needs to drop out of Maine's senatorial race now.  Accepting the taint of an allegation makes us too much like Republicans.  

So, will Mitch McConnell admit that he's brain dead?  There's a good possibility, though don't rule out the Republican party trying to keep this a secret until early August when the need to have a Special Election will have past.  The GOP has no integrity.  No morals.  They cheat with the best. Translation:  They mirror their president to a T.

Aftermath

Outside we  have a humid 72 (F).  Today's forecast:  showers, occasionally steady rain, with the required thunderstorm thrown into the mix to spice things up.  We'll not be seeing the sun until sometime Wednesday or Thursday.  All this rain is going to make my grass grow.

I saw this morning that the storm did rip a medium sized branch from one of the maple trees outback.  I will my saw on a stick trimmer to cut it up on Wednesday or Thursday.  

According to Pennsylvania  Power and Light Company, some people are not expected to get power back until Wednesday, originally they were saying Tuesday around 11 PM.  I sent a text to my brother this  morning to see if they had power yet, the answer was "nope."  He sent me a text yesterday saying that 2 people had been killed by the store near where he lives.

When I got into work yesterday, I discovered that the store was running on our backup generator.  The registers and the phones were working, but all of the computers were down.  This meant that paint, appliances, and flooring, the specialty departments were down as well.  So, I was paid to walk around and answer simple questions.  We had a run on Ryobi battery powered fans and I kept asking myself if these people didn't realize that those batteries were going to need to be charged.  There was a line of people waiting to buy generators.  Most people went home empty handed because we only carry so many in stock.

Because none of the outlets in the store were working, backup generators are only for light and registers, the employee refrigerators and freezers started warming up.  The frozen food for the employees was thawing out, so they started grilling it and employees were allowed to take it home, so I came home with hot dogs, hamburgers, and chicken wings.  

I'm scheduled to work, however, I'll give the store a call.  If the power's still down, I'll take a personal day.  Here's a map of the area.  I'm in an orange area, meaning some people have no power, the store is near Shiremanstown, a very red area.

Of course, the soccer world is not pissed at the Orange Anus because he had the status of an American player who'd been red carded (eliminated from future play) changed.  This player can now play.  Basically the asshole did what he always does, cheated.  I'm betting this man has never had an honest thought  in his life.  He is morally bereft.  He shits on everything.  He always has.  He always will.  He has no idea that in the aftermath of his presidency, he and his spawn will be totally destroyed.

Celebrate This

Well, we're under a flood watch.  A very serious storm moved through the area late yesterday afternoon.  As I type, over 100,000 people in Central PA are without power.  White outs usually happen during blizzards.  We had one late yesterday afternoon, while I was working.  My phone was vibrating constantly with the warning:  "Lightning strikes in your area.  Lightning strikes in your area."  And there were booms just before the power went out.  Our registers kept working, but all over computers in the store were offline.  And this was before the white out.  I did walk front to take a picture.  This was before the porta-potties blew across the parking lot.

Retail was slow yesterday.  We might be busy today.  Storm damage will need to be cleaned up.  And more storms are on the way for this evening.  

Otherwise, the holiday was boring.  I was working in the paint department. It was busier than the flooring department.

And they had storms down in Washington, too.  Bad storms.  They evacuated the crowd that had gathered to watch the fireworks and listen to Orange rant and rave. Then they had to go through security again to get back in, so many just went home.  Because most of his cultists are... lacking in scientific knowledge, many blamed the Democrats for the storm.

As for his great fireworks display.  It's best describe as an image of the Ukraine bombing Moscow.  My, that is a lot of smoke, the only thing missing are the mirrors.

And, as expected, he fell asleep again.

Independence Day

Our outside temp is a balmy 79 (F)!  That's nice.  Even nicer is the fact that our high this afternoon is only going to be in the mid-90s (F).  Thunderstorms are also on tap for this evening.  I'm fine with that.

I do work this afternoon.  They're bringing in food.  Chicken.  This sort of means I'll be spending the afternoon grazing... but only sort of.  I'm scheduled to work in the paint department this afternoon.  I like working in paint.  Because it's a holiday, most of the customers coming in looking for deals will hit the store early; cookouts are planned for this afternoon.  

Yesterday afternoon I took a ride in the Netherlands.  Very flat.  For 10 miles.  My trainer was happy, so was I because my left knee was working fine.

Today we celebrate our independence, the day we officially separated ourselves from England.

Today we are also living with an old authoritarian president who believes the best way to win is to divide and conquer.  While that tactic is not outdated, it is totally incongruent with what is happening in the United States.  He would need to be seen as being successful by a majority of Americans for that tactic to work.  This man is an abject failure.  On a day when a majority of Americans are going to be celebrating their independence, he's going to be holding a political rally to support his tactic of divisiveness.  It's my understanding that the military is requiring personnel to attend dressed as civilians to make it look like there's a crowd.  I feel sorry for them.  This is not the way you create loyalty.  The only thing he is doing is notching up another failure, but then his entire life has been failure, after failure, after failure.  There is truth in saying that everything Donald Trump touches dies. 

Super Girl

Well, yesterday was a scorcher here in Central PA.  My upstairs would have been unbearable without the  air conditioning.  When I left the house to go to work at 1 PM, the outside temp was 100 (F).  When I took the on-ramp to 81 West, the temp had climbed a degree to 101 (F).  By the time I took the exit ramp to get to the store the temp outside my car was 102 (F).  And it got hotter.  The air conditioning was on in the store, however they dimmed the lights to offset the electrical expense.  As a result, there was no power to the machine we use to cut blinds.  C'est la vie.  When I drove my car out of the parking lot to go home, our outside temp was 104 (F).  That's hot.

Right now our outside temp is 81 (F).  The high this afternoon is expected to be cooler than yesterday.  We're only supposed to go up to 100 (F).

And work was slow yesterday.  I did get a measure, just before I left.  This doesn't mean we weren't going to be hitting our plan.  We were making buckos galore thanks to everybody coming in to buy a window A/C unit.

Even though today's going to be another scorcher, there are things that need to be done.  I have to go to the post office, buy groceries, and put gas in the car.  Hopefully, I'll get all of these chores done before the temps get too hot.  

I went to see Supergirl.  I thought it was decent.  It's doing okay at the box office, but not great, I suspect because audiences were expecting a variation of Superman.  You know? Fighting for truth, justice and the American way?  Kara, Clark Kent's cousin, was well into her teens when her parents sent her to Earth, unlike Clark who was sent as a baby.  Supergirl is not the "all American girl," though she does fight evil.

And the Fourth is upon us.  I work.  I'll be honest, I'm not happy.  Most people I see and talk to are not happy, unless they're a MAGA cultist, and they don't care how bad things are as long as they are in charge.  The Orange Anus justified insider trading on an interview and they shrugged away the corruption, they don't care, as long as they are in charge.  J.D. Vance laughed at the idea of Nixon resigning because of Watergate, saying it would never happen today.  The corruption runs so deep with this administration.  Anything and everything goes, as long as they can steel a buck.  What they don't understand is that voters are growing more and more angry.  They don't care because they're in charge.  They don't govern, but that's okay as long as they're in charge.  They are the worst possible human beings in the world, and they don't care, as long as they're in charge.