Challenges

 So, yesterday was warm and sunny, though I spent most of the day nursing a sick dog.  Today our temps are predicted to climb into the up 70s (F), that's way too warm for this time of year.  Seriously.  Those temps belong in late April, not halfway through March.  Luckily for us, they're predicted to drop back closer to normal.

And, as I said earlier, I spent yesterday nursing Lily.  For those who don't know, she's 10.5 years old, which makes her a senior boxer.  She's learning that at her age stairs are too difficult, meaning she's going to have to be sleeping downstairs on one of the sofas.  She doesn't like that at all.  I'd take her to the Vet but she won't get into the car, so I called my normal vet to see if they could recommend a mobile vet since she does have other senior issues.  They gave me Mid-State Veterinary Services; the soonest they will be able to see her in Tuesday.  Cost wise, it's just a tad more expensive than taking her to Good Hope, so when I get another dog, I may deal with them on a permanent basis.

Yesterday I sent a sample of my first book, The Body on the Lawn, up to my narrator so he might have an idea on the difficulties in turning it into an audiobook.  There frequent flashbacks and we're going to have to discuss how he's going to be recording them.  He says he can be very creative, I guess I'll find out just how creative he is.

I hope this doesn't cause any of you to lose your last meal.

We all know this is never going to happen because that would mean The Former Guy would stay in the United States.  You can bet that when things go south, he will fly away home to mother Russia, and and more and more things seem to be going south daily.  The head chopping at the RNC?  For him it's loyalty or death to your career, no matter how conservative you happen to be.  And I'm also advising Republicans to send the RNC as much as they can afford, since the Trump Crime Family is going to use those funds for their own designs.  As someone said, wait until the general election starts and all those Senators and Congressmen who get a healthy campaign donation from the RNC get nothing.  Tough beans.

And one more little bit of frivolity:  Ivanka has evidently dumped her old man's name, and all of her commenting and statements are signed Ivanka Kushner.  Ouch.  She's going to put as much distance between herself and that radioactive brand as possible.

The Thanksgiving Fight Club

Well, a happy Monday to each and everyone of you.  I get to work today.  Wow!  Now isn't that exciting? For a full six hours.  Those hours don't get me a lunch break, so around 1500 I'll take my standard break.  That's right.  I get breaks.  15 minutes at a shot.  In a 6 hour shift, I get 2 breaks.  Usually, I only take one twenty minute break. That's enough time to eat something and check through my emails.

I went down to York yesterday to have lunch with a friend.  Lots of fun.  We stopped by the Petco so I could look at what they had in stock for live plants.  disappointment reigned.  I'll probably end up driving down to That Fish Place, which is also now called That Pet Place.

Shortly after I post this, I'm going to see if I can fix my chair.  How nice if it works!  There's nothing like saving yourself a couple hundred dollar expense.

It's never too early to start thinking of the lyrics I'll be using for my next book.  Right now it's looking a lot like it'll be called The Body Under Ice, however, that's always subject to change.  Almost immediately this song popped into my head, you know, the land of the ice and snow.  Of course, it all depends upon what strikes my fancy when I start writing.  The Body on the Beach, about fossil hunters in Montana, made a big geographical shift to Colorado and became The Body in the Well.  This means upstate Michigan in the winter may end up shifting to Amsterdam in the winter, and I might end up calling the book Hans Brinker and his Murderous Silver Skates.

So, did everybody get a jolly laugh from Loser #45's whine that the January 6 committee is going after children?  I'm sure 40 year old Ivanka Danka's old man taught her quite well how to wield the knife in order to stab as deeply into the back as possible.  Children?  That's a laugh.  He has spawn.  Oh, and than there was the bit about Michael Cohen revealing Trump's dictum, 'if any of my kids go to jail, make sure it's Donny Jr, not Ivanka.'  Nice, eh?  I'm betting Thanksgivings for this family are a lot like Fight Club.

 

Deluge

Yesterday was dry, today it's going to be wet.  Isais has arrived in Central PA.  If this forecast holds true, Anne Marie in Philly will get around 2 inches, here in Harrisburg we should get about 4.  When you're talking about rain, 4 inches is a lot.

I tried to get the dogs to go out before the deluge arrives... Biggie doesn't like to get wet.  Because he's a good dog, eventually he will go out.  I keep a large towel waiting for just such occasions.  

My ride yesterday was in West Cork, Ireland, along the Atlantic coast in a place called Skibbereen.  It was very nice, but very hilly, and we know how much I love hills.

So far this year I've ridden 1490 miles, only 1010 more to hit my goal of 2500, and I'm actually ahead of where I'm supposed to be.

I saw where the Idiot Jerk called Birx pathetic because she refused to bear false witness about the pandemic.  Because it's now everywhere, people will get sick and die everywhere.  Where the virus goes, his poll numbers drop.  He will keep on lying about this, to do otherwise would make him culpable of so much death.  

Oh, and in case you didn't see, a little more information was released yesterday regarding the investigation into the Idiot Jerk's finances.  Bank and Insurance fraud... oooohhhh.  I always suspected there was more to this then just hooker payoffs.  And it's not just him.  There was an information drop about Ivanka Danka and her mealy mouthed husband, something about executives from Deutsche Bank and a property they had purchased.  The Idiot Jerk's family has gotten some serious loans from Deutsche Bank, just in case you didn't know.  Dear me, it looks like some serious rain is going to be falling on their parade.

Will the Real Ivanka Raise Her Hand?

Well, it's Friday and it one of my 'on again days.'  Yepper, I get to go be a Flooring Specialist for 8 hours.
Evidently one of my measures 'blew up' yesterday while I was off.  A customer had called a week ago... a woman, and requested info our having commercial carpet installed.  She didn't like the fact that we charged for our measure services (fee is deducted once you purchase) and hung up.  She called up on Sunday and set up the measure, didn't have the name of the carpet with her, so I keyed in a generic.  I told her to tell the measure services she was dealing with the store.  She didn't.  She got an expensive quote emailed to her which included all the measurements.  Her boss called and started shrieking at one of the Assistant Managers about 'price matching' and how they got less expensive quote from other installers.  In the end, someone decided to refund her (him) the measure fee.  That's right, this person wanted a free measure and got a free measure.  I was not there.  It was my day off.  I would have said "no."
More cases of Covid-19 have sprung up across the US.  Four more states have tested positive.  And the Idiot Jerk, at a town hall in PA, evidently admitted it might slow down the economy.  He also said something to the effect of "Americans are traveling so much, they're staying home and spending their money here."  So, his focus is on people spending money, not on people getting sick and possibly dying.  That's so... Republican.
One thing that is going to be hurt terribly by the virus is Mega-Churches.  Oh... dear.  You know, like evil Joel Osteen's church.  That's going to hurt his pocket book.  Poor Joel, what's he gonna do when the money stops rolling in?

And Joel's not the only one.  There  are a lot of them out there using their Rock / Broadway show appeal to sell phoniness, their main goal being the collection plate.  I can't see Joel visiting hospitals to comfort the sick, or visiting their house to give them moral support. Or Frankie Graham, for that matter.  For the life of me, I cannot even begin to imagine Frankie saying "Hey, I'm going to stop at hospital today and visit a bunch of Coronavirus patients."  Maybe Melanoma should go visit a hospital... or Ivanka Danka.  There was a time when politicians and their wives did that sort of thing, to help calm American's fears and worries.  Wouldn't that be a hoot, seeing either of them gussied up in their protective gear?

Can you spot her?  She's the fourth one from the left.  

More snow

Well, it's Saturday, March 2.  Some of you will not have to work today... I do.  But first, I'm going to have to go out and clean off my car because we got.... More Snow!

At least another four inches fell last night and there is more on the way.  Tomorrow night we may get a real dumping, and I'm not talking about the dictator wannabe in the White House.
And speaking of that moron, how about his defense of Kim Dumb Chunk in regards to Otto Warmbrier death?  Now the Idiot Jerk is shrieking "no, no, no, my words were misinterpreted..."  You hear bullshit, you call it bullshit.  Every time his loyalists jump in to salvage his addle patted nonsense they look imbecilic at best.  They will defend, almost to the death... or their own re-election, his every utterance.  Dumb fucks, is what they are.
And what about his stupid daughter... Ivankadanka?  Did she actually say "people don't want a minimum wage?"  This is a woman who pays a couple grand (lotsa $$$) for hair maintenance.  A week of minimum wage wouldn't even be a deposit on one of her pedicures.  She is the poster child for the stupid rich.  Remember Marie Antoinette?  This is the kind of thing she would have said.  Evidently Ivankadanka doesn't know that if she keeps this shit up her castle will get stormed by angry, older women in MAGA hats waving pitchforks.
Before the Idiot Jerk got himself elected on a technicality, the super rich kept their incompetence shuttered behind doors.  Now, it's on full public display, like that other Idiot Schultz from Starbucks.  Shit, every they open their mouths they make it quite apparent to everyone that their IQ's are dropping faster then the snow in Central Pennsylvania.

Some are blessed... some ain't

So I see that the Idiot Jerk in the White House's breeder spawn (I vant it) Ivanka is as colossally stupid as her old man.  I wonder if the NRA promised her a copyright if she echoed their belief that teachers should be armed... of if perhaps they just offered to loan the Kushner family some greenbacks.  The only people in this country who don't want any form of gun control are those Crazy Conservatives and their Republican representatives.  These representatives, when it comes to a choice between your child's life and being funded by the NRA in order to get re-elected, are always going to take the money.  For them, staying in power is much more important then living children.  Even more amazing is that many of these Crazy Conservatives claim to be Social Conservatives, supposedly Christians through and through.  These fools don't understand that they've made the NRA's phony 2nd amendment claim much more important than the sanctity of human life.  There's going to be hot time in hell when they die.
And Congress goes back in session today... don't look for any noticeable change in the Republican gun control tactics.  Once your soul is sold... there's no getting back.
Speaking of souls, now I know many, many Social Conservatives have already signed that pact between themselves and the Idiot Jerk in the White House.  They love him.  They praise him.  Does anybody know if they actually bow their heads when he walks into the room?
My cycling shorts arrived yesterday.  Olive green.  They look like regular shorts.

The spandex lining (with the padding) is separate.  Now, I have to tell you, I'm not a spandex kind of guy... not in the least.  Back when I was in college, not only did I direct a couple of shows, I also did set design and chorus work.  One year they did "Once Upon a Mattress," a show I'm not too fond of, and, unfortunately ended up being cast in a bit part:  Sir Studley.  Go ahead and laugh.  Anyway, I had to wear tights... and hated them.  And comments... boy, did I get comments.  Things like "oh, I see you got the part because of your talent," to "don't you get tired of being typecast."  I'd never realized that such a blessing could be such an embarrassment.

The Hanged Man

Well, here it is Sunday, I hope everybody is having an exciting weekend so far.  Yesterday, being the first Saturday in December, was our Kid's Workshop at the store: 331 kids.  Have you any idea how much noise that many kids put out?  Little hammers hitting little nails!  And just 75 feet away!
The Idiot Jerk in the White House farted out some sort of nonsense yesterday... like, maybe Flynn was fired for lying to the FBI... which doesn't jive with what he said, way back then.  Of course, that doesn't matter for his supporters since they all suffer from long term memory loss, which means anything longer than two weeks ago has already been forgotten.  Besides, they could care less since they're all going to get a big tax cut!  They know the big bucks are soon going to start flowing into their bank accounts!  Their taxes will drop dramatically!  Why they know it'll be like paying nothing at all!  Right.  Because Corporations are going to use their tax cut to create more new jobs!  Right.  Even Breitbart knows this is bullshit.  Of course, because the article is so technical and doesn't fountain right wing hatred, most readers will never get past the 2nd paragraph.  Trickle down economics has always failed.  Reaganomics totally fell apart and George H. Bush had to raise corporate taxes and it will happen again now. 
As for the Idiot Jerk in the White House?  Like a bad Tarot reading, his cards keep getting flipped over revealing the ugly truth - lies, deceits, cover-ups - we're just waiting for the Hanging Man.  Everybody pretty much knows that the Idiot Jerk was giving orders to Kushner who was giving orders to Flynn.  The Idiot Jerk is a business man, who makes business decisions that are not based on his loyalty to his country, but rather to himself.  He alone decides what's a good decision, and he has no problem in lying because his self loyalty allows him to believe his own lies.  As a businessman he knows what's happening is bad, so he lies, and he talks about how great the stock market's doing.  Looking at his past, he has had no problem in declaring bankruptcy, in fact he's done it what?  Four times?  He's made that business decision and then walked away with no regrets.  It's water over the dam.  You can bet's he and his spawn already have a contingency plan in place for when Mueller turns over the Hanging Man.

He will make a business decision and move on... most likely to Europe.  I wouldn't be surprised if there was a really nice Dachau waiting for him in the outskirts of Moscow, from which he can hobnob with the Oligarchs and brag about how many trademarks he and Ivanka scored in China.

Mango / ginger smoothie

So part of the new regime with the new schedule is fitness.  Free Weights.  Cycling.  The good stuff.  That also includes improving my diet.  Before, with the need to have a fully flexible schedule, I rarely ate at the same time.  No more.  Dinner is always at the same time every day.  Not having to go to work until 10:30 means I can get a workout in, today it was free weights, followed by a mango / ginger smoothie.  I use white grape juice to sweeten it up.  Delicious.

And on the funny side, Nordstrom's stock went up after dumping Ivanka.  What a great indicator of how... pedestrian her taste actually is, not up to the caliber of women with taste.  Of course I've always suspected most of her brand was being bought by women who wanna be... Trump like.  Now I know that doesn't make sense, but there it is.  In fact, I find it interesting that more retailers are dumping the Ivanka brand.  Such a shame....  well, not really.  As I said, his is the funny side.