Now and Then

 Another late entry, not because I slept in, rather I rose and shone at the same hour, it's just that this morning I drove down to the Lebanon VA to get vaccinated, both Flu and Covid.  Some people have reactions, occasionally my arm has gotten sore, but normally my white cells do their job quietly.  That doesn't mean I'm not going to take a nap this afternoon.  

During my ride down I discovered that Lebanon is colder than Harrisburg by a few degrees.  When I left the temp outside was 31 (F), however, as I was driving down 934 between the cornfields waiting to be harvested in Lebanon Country, the temp was 29 (F).  There was actual frost on the fields, not just some glaze on my windshield.  That means that the frost is finally on the pumpkin.

What's on the chore menu for today?  Well, as if you needed to ask, painting the cabinet frames.  I also want to clean and paint the cabinet doors.  New, white hinges are arriving today to go with the white cabinets.  Once the doors are cleaned and primed I can rehang them on the freshly painted cabinets.

I'm also going to sign up for my dental insurance so I can get my teeth cleaned.  I don't really need any dental work done other than a good cleaning, but my dentist is picky about the insurance he takes.  And in case you were wondering, dental is the one thing that I know of that the VA doesn't cover.  Because of this, I've decided to alternate: one year I'll get insurance and have my teeth professionally cleaned, and then I'll skip a year.  

And for those of you who didn't get a chance to listen to the new Beatles song, here it is.  I warned my sister to grab her hanky.

And that daffy Mikey Johnson sent a budget to the Senate that was dead on arrival.  Either he's not a quick learner, or he and his hardline conservative buddies in the House will force a government shutdown in an attempt to force their agenda.  They don't seem to understand that at the polling booth that is going to hurt them more than it helps them, but then no one ever said Conservatives were smart.  Selfish?  Yes.  Smart?  No.  

There's also some sort of odd stuff flying around that he doesn't claim any income and that he doesn't appear to have a bank account.  Ouch.  If that's true, there's something seriously wrong since as a congressman, he needs to have an account in order to get paid.  No paper checks for Mikey.

 

Small is Better

 I received my 2nd Covid shot yesterday.  I asked the nurse, a nice woman with half her head shaved and tattoos down her arms, what I might expect as far as side effects.  "Soreness," she said.  "You may feel a little lethargic.  Maybe a slight headache."  I asked her when these side effects might develop, and she replied "oh, not until tomorrow."  My response:  "good, I'm going to the movies tonight."

And I did.  I went to see "Chaos Walking," a science fiction adventure staring Tom Holland and Daisey Ridley, with special guest stud Joe Jonas.  I enjoyed it thoroughly!  And at 20% occupancy, every show was selling out.  If you're a Tom Holland fan, you do get to most of his butt when he strips to go into a pond to hunt for dinner... you have to see it to believe it.

As for my side effects.  I have a slight headache, but mostly I'm tired.  I called off work, and when I finish this I'm going to go take a little nap with the dogs.

As for the Zoom call yesterday?  There were 17 of us.  One chose to shut down his camera so all we saw was his name.  Unfortunately, he tried to dominate the conversation.  Not a good thing.  We were part of a large division (OI) made up of air and surface radars, and EW (electronic something or other, not warfare).  The EW kept pretty much to themselves.  However, the person trying to dominate the call was from... the EW.  I suggested to a friend that maybe smaller meetings, rather then larger groups might work better.  See, sometimes smaller can be very, very good.

Winter Bud

 My plan was to sleep in this morning, since Tuesday and Wednesday are my weekend, of course the dogs, with their little bladders which filled over night, decided an override was necessary.  As a result, I'm sitting here with a cup of coffee typing this at the usual time.

Because today is Tuesday, it's also Ab day.  I really do need to begin burning off the calories I've been saving up for winter.. since it's here, or will be in 2 weeks.  And a nice ride on the bike as well, is planned.  Tis the season for slumping, if you know what I mean.  There's something about the shorter days which seems to compel one to do less.  If I'm not careful, I'll turn into a bear.

One thing that is nice, is my not having to do is take my temp and do my Health Check.  The UK started vaccinating, which I'm hoping is a good thing.  There was an interesting article in the NYT on how these vaccines need to be seen as firehoses, pointing out that they work better with smaller fires.  The Covid fire in the US is raging, because of Republicans, and it's going to take some time before those flames are doused.

And the newly conservative Supreme Court handed social conservatives a 'bite in the ass' loss yesterday.  They let stand a decision which permits transgender children to use the bathroom of their current gender, rather then force them into restrooms of their birth gender.  Ouchy!  Ouchy!  This is not what those Cracker Jack Crazies have been praying for, and for them you can can bet their dismay is unraveling.

And I want to finish putting the snowflakes on my all season tree today.  At first I just had them hanging there, and then I realized they were multi-layered paper and by pulling them apart I could make them 3 dimensional.  Wowy!  Of course, that means I need to sit down and unfold them in order to make them really pop.

Yesterday, as the dogs and I were returning from our morning walk, I saw something amazing.  One of my rose bushes had put out a winter bud.  The temps are too cold for it to survive, still, it is a rather nice sign about the good things to come.

Crazy is....

Well, here it is Wednesday, my 2nd day in a 5 day stretch.  Tomorrow is my hump day, it's also Inventory day for our store.  Tomorrow there will be food for all, so I won't have to take my lunch - unfortunately it's not the 'good' food, but rather the high sugar, high sodium, high fat foods which are better at filling you up rather than providing nutrition.  Still... they're free, so I will force myself to indulge and eat a donut or two... sometimes they bring tacos in... Yippee.
I saw where that the Customs and Border Protection Agency released a stat: over 76,000 illegal immigrants tried to to cross the border in February...   Now that sounds terrible until you read the article.  On the face, it seems as though they were all trying to sneak in, however, that number includes those who presented themselves at the border without the correct documentation.  This is the sort of tactic the Idiot Jerk in the White House uses to inflate his assets... except at tax time.
And, what about that kid testifying in Congress that his mom got her anti-vaxing info from Facebook?  Being able to have a baby doesn't make you intelligence, there are a lot of breeders in the world.  The only thing capable of challenging these crazier than hell beliefs is an outbreak of measles and there children start dying.  You see, thanks to vaccinations we haven't had serious outbreak in decades and as such, these morons don't know measles kills.  They will only learn from experience.
They're a lot like Republicans, aren't they?  Stupid to the bitter end.  Is it any wonder that viewpoints by the Liberals on the Left are now moving closer and closer to acceptably Centrist positions.  Don't believe me? Look what Brookings has discovered.  Since the midterms, the country has continued its leftward movement.  Conservatives, especially those loyal to the Idiot Jerk in the White House, are becoming more and more extreme.  Success for them is not an option.

Finally, more and more states are enacting laws which eliminate the Electoral College.  Since that seems to be the only way Conservatives can get a Moral Degenerate in the White House they will fight like hell to keep that from happening.  This is what happens when a party begins to die.