Crocodile Tears

 Well, yesterday turned out to rather fine weather wise.  Temps here in the heart of PA hit 71 (F).  I got a little yard work in, lots of loads of laundry, a little cleaning, and made shrimp lo mien for dinner - your usual Easter day agenda.  And in case you're wondering, no, I did not have an Easter bunny hunt for the dogs... they were too fast for me to catch.

Oh, and I got one of my jogs in.  I'm rather please to say I did a four minutes stretch where I was cruising along at 8.2 miles per hour. 

This morning I want to zip over to the store and pick-up my veggie plants for the season, as well as an area rug that's now at half price.  Having hardwood floors, I use a lot of area rugs, and every one was purchased after it had been marked down.  I guess this means you could classify my décor as cheap.

I'm also going to pick up my replacement phone this morning.  It will be nice to have a phone that actually charges again.

And as of yesterday, over 100 million Americans have been vaccinated.  One article said we were racing towards herd immunity.  With the number of variants croppy up, however, we may wind up having to get booster shots every year.  Since most understand that Covid is worse then influenza, this will be no problem for many.  For Republicans, however, it's another matter.  This means they will get sicker more often, and die more often, and weed themselves out of the gene pool faster then they believed possible.  No tears here.

And I saw that the number of Republicans believing the elections was stolen has dropped to around 50%.  This must gall the hell out of all those GOP congressmen who pushed the lie.  At the same time, however, I saw that around 72% of them feel voting should be made more difficult.  This is amusing since many of them are getting older, and many of them are refusing to get the vaccine.  I saw this in the Washington Post:

A party assured that it had a popular message and appealing candidates would seek to increase voter turnout. Instead, from Arizona to Georgia to Texas, GOP state lawmakers continue to push unnecessary new laws designed to suppress voter turnout.

This tells us that they are passing all this legislation because they know their unpopular.  They know they have to cheat to win elections.  Rather then learn to compromise, something our forefathers intended when they wrote the Constitution, they're simply going to try and say "screw you."  It's our job to teach them a lesson.  Oh, and prepare yourselves for their crocodile tears as they try and find another way to cheat behind your back.

Breaking News

 Sunday slow day... and I think not, though this is my Friday.  Take note all you who work a Monday through Friday work week, I celebrate because tomorrow you will go back to the drudge and I will have a lay-in.  Well, probably not a lay-in, since the temps are supposed hit the high 60's (F).  This is spring, and the lawn work beckons.  

I picked up some ranunculus and poppy tubers yesterday.  They're going to be an addition to the my bulb bed out front.  The poppies are orange.  I had planted some a long time ago, after I had first moved in, and the 2nd year they turned scarlet.  And yes, I know, that means more digging in the dirt.  More grass being overturned means less that I have to mow and more that I need to weed.   I guess the only thing left to say is that spring has sprung.

And speaking of spring, Spring Break is preparing to take its toll down in Florida.  Remember last year?  How all of those jubilant merrymakers started a wave of Covid?  Well, it's happening again this year.  Goody.  This one will take more Republican voters and once again they'll whine that the elections are rigged.  They are one stupid group of selfish people.  

One of the headlines trending on reddit yesterday was "Fox News has turned the GOP into a death cult."  Oh... my, can this be true?  Of course it is.  You see, Fox News has become the Anti-network.  The anger and hatred spun out by their highly paid Entertainers like Tucker Carlson turns everything into a target.  This is their desperate attempt to grow their ratings.  They have become the anti-vaccine channel, not by out right damning vaccinations, but by sowing extreme caution.  They repeat things like "you don't really know what's in the vaccine, and just what it's going to do to your body."  This is not how you grow your ratings, unless your target audience is the uneducated and easily influenced.  They simply don't understand that dead people can't turn on the TV. 

Loser #45

 And so we're off to a fresh week.  I work 2 days and have a weekend off, then I work 3 days and have another weekend off.  Then I begin what appears to be a weekly rotation, with 5 consecutive workdays between weekends.  That's fine with me.  How long it will last is anybody's guess.

I did use a personal day yesterday to celebrate my 2nd inoculation with the vaccine.  My side effects were not overblown, a mild headache, though I was tired for most of the day and napped on and off.  There's nothing wrong with that.  

During the past year, one of the things I've done which irritates me more then anything is put on weight.  Holy Shit Bags!  All that free food is too blame.  That put me into the bad habit of snacking at work.  When the food disappeared I started using the vending machines.  Well, that ends today.  I'm going to pull out my little scale and start counting calories again.  And now that The Body in the Loch is almost finished, I'll be able to put more time into riding and jogging.

The ornaments have begun to arrive for my All Season Tree.  Here's one of my dangly things:

Other things have been delivered that don't dangle, they just hang, no balls yet, but I'm sure I'll be ordering some soon.

And what about those cease and desist letters Loser #45 has sent ?   He doesn't want The GOP and the RNC using his name to raise funds.  Ouch!  Well, that's pretty damn selfish of him, isn't it?  Usually, even one term presidents have no problem with political parties using their name.  This is a way of validating their 4 years in office, of course they're not greedy like Loser #45.  I don't doubt for a second that his legal team is exploring ways in which these Conservative organizations can, for a small fee, just a tiny %, use his name.  Remember, Loser #45 will exploit any means possible for his own personal enrichment.

Tasty Greek

 Today is going to be chock full of stuff, time consuming stuff, and hopefully fun (mostly) stuff.  

At 10:15 this morning I'm scheduled to get my 2nd shot.  That means driving 38 miles back to my home town of Lebanon.  I don't mind.  The sooner a majority of us get vaccinated, the safer things will be... and maybe we'll be able to legitimately cut back on wearing masks, unlike Texas and Mississippi which uncontrollably and prematurely ejaculated their mandates.  

Around 1300 this afternoon, I'm supposed to participate in a Zoom meeting with some of Navy Buddies.  It's been over 4 decades since we talked.  There were 2 small reunions on the west coast a few years back which I didn't attend.  None of us who live on the East Coast made the trip.  However, you can Zoom from anywhere in the country.  

And then this evening I'm going to the movies.  Now, won't that be nice.  

Yesterday, after one of my running jogs, I cooked up a Greek dish, chicken, peppers, and other veggies.  The recipe was for 4 servings, wrong.  This is going to be lunch for the next couple of days since I ended up with around 8 servings.  Believe me, it is very, very tasty!

I saw an interesting thing regarding America's worst president ever, that being he was going to continue his faux run for 2024.  Dumb shit MAGA's are sending him cash.  Oh, of course, those donations are going to super PAC he started, but since it's a personal PAC he has access to the funds.  That means he can write himself checks.  Yep, he can pay himself a salary.   For him, this is free cash.  And I do believe it is Tax Exempt since it is not considered earnings.  He's going to milk this faux run for as long as he can.  This man has never demonstrated one whit of integrity in his entire life, why should he start now?

Shame

 So, this is how Tuesday starts:  I really felt like sleeping in this morning.  The temptation was great.  My bed was warm, the covers thick, and the dogs were snoring away - even after the alarm went off.  And I lay there for a full 8 minutes before rousing myself.  Just because I don' t have to go to work, doesn't mean I can squander away the day.  So, here I am, typing away.  The mug I bought in Breckinridge, filled with steaming coffee (and just a large dollop of whole milk) is sitting on my desk.  Oh, and downstairs Biggie is barking.  He wants to go out, not to relieve himself, but because he knows when I let he and Lily back in they are going to get biscuits.  Smart, eh?

 My left shoulder has started aching, not constantly, but occasionally.  At some point I will need to make an appointment to get it checked out.  This is the problem with aging, things do begin to break down.

Being the curious sort, I checked out Moderna to check on the efficacy: 2 years is what they're thinking.  This means my yearly flu shot is going to be joined with a bi-annual Covid inoculation, of course mutations and variants might change that.  In other words, if you want to survive in this changing world we will need to rely more and more on science, and if you're a Cracker Jack Crazy this is not good news.

And just in time for spring, the Foo Fighters have a brand new album.  The visuals in the first video are stark.  The song is great.  Rock and Roll will never die.  Now, sit back, turn up the volume on your speakers, and watch, and listen to Shame.

And Donald Trumps 2nd impeachment trial begins today.  There are going to be some witness, but mostly there will be visuals for both Congress and the World to see.  One of the rioters used shit to write on the walls of Congress.  I hope they show those words.  Even if they don't get enough Republican votes to convict, the Republicans lose.  The smart ones know they should vote yeah, cut their loses and start from scratch.  The dumb ones don't know this shame will be used against each and every one of them when they campaign for re-election.  If you can't drum them out of existence, shame them out.

The Quickie

 Just some fast words this morning... well, the words themselves aren't fast, I'm just putting them here in what might be record time.

I received a test yesterday from the VA asking if I wanted to sign up for a Covid vaccine.  I texted my response 'yes' a few seconds later.  That initiated a game of Text Tag, me against the machine.  I receive a texted time and date, I'd reply, and instead of a Congrats, I get another date and time texted to me.  The Congrats came about 40 minutes into this game.  I will be getting my first Covid vaccine shot this morning at 0930.  I work, of course, but was told Go Get The Shot!  I don't know which one I'm getting, but at this point I don't really care.

And what about Lou Dobbs getting his ass fired from Fox News?  What I saw was a statement that he will not be back on the air...  Son of a bitch.  And only one day after Fox got sued.  I wonder if Maria B's going to sing some little ditty on air about how Trump is a lying sack of shit from Hell, or if she's getting the ax too.  And Jeanne P's in the same sinking boat.  And you can't help but wonder how many other Dominion has on the target.  Perhaps a couple of Trump's kids.  Ouch.

Below the Squiggly Black Line

 Okay, so I'm sitting here waiting... anticipating the approaching snow storm.  The air is colder than the last time the weather forecasters got their prediction wrong, so maybe this time we'll have a resoundingly heavy accumulation.  They originally forecast the start time as 0300.  Well, that changed to 0500 and here it is 0630 with nary a flake to be seen.  Just got an Update:  1-3 inches today plus another 7-14 inches over night.  The dogs are waiting.

I am just below the squiggly black line

Yesterday was busy at the store.  Believe me when I tell you that myself and my fellow associates are wishing business would just slow down.  For us, this has been constant since the time of Covid began.  An associate from my International Paper days stopped in during the afternoon and asked if I'd gotten the vaccine yet.  When I told her I was on a waiting list, she frowned behind her mask.  "But you're an essential person!"  

I received a notice from the Cumberland County Board of elections in the mail notifying me that I needed to process an application if I wish to stay on a mail in ballot list.  Doing so will make my status permanent.  Consider it done.

And, as was to be expected, the Idiot Jerk's legal time has quit a week before his 2nd impeachment trial.  I guess that's not exactly true, I don't think any of us expected that, but I'm sure most of us were expecting something.  I understand that now some of those arrested during the Capitol Riot are now volunteering to testify.  This is definitely not what the GOP ordered, members of the Cracker Jack Crazy base telling Congress that they rioted because their failed president told them to do so.  Ouchy!

Even more amusing is that both McCarthy and McConnell (I don't believe for a second believe they are of true Irish stock) think they can get enough red voters to the polls in 2022 to take back both the House and the Senate.   They have no clue as to how much of a sucker punch in the gut January 6 was to the American voter.  No one said they were smart.