Pirro Wine

 Last night was great sleeping weather!  When I woke up this morning our outside temp was 58 (F).  Today's high is once again only supposed to climb into the low 80s (F)  No rain is in the forecast, or I should say we have a 1% chance of rain today, tomorrow, and a 4% chance on Wednesday.  Thursday it's up to 6%.  This means I will be watering my little garden, which is down to just tomatoes.

I did manage to get in an upper body workout yesterday before I headed off to work.  A small one.  I did something to my lower back about a week ago and it was in a really cranky mood for several days.  That has now passed.

A new Walking Pad was ordered, it will be arriving Tuesday.  Because it folds, I'll be keeping this piece of exercise equipment downstairs.  It will fit in quite nicely under the futon in the living room.  The thought had occurred to me that I might walk and play video games at the same time.  That might be interesting, especially in combat situations.

The increase for my car insurance came in the mail yesterday.  As expected, my rate did go up with the  new car.  A nice surprise was that the cost only went up by $13 a year, which is $1.08 a month.  Both the insurance agent and I were surprised.  I was expecting a much higher increase and evidently so was he.

And Jeanine Pirro is now the interim US attorney for DC.  This calls for a glass of wine or 10, depending on if you're happy or not.

For those who don't know, Jeanine is another Orange Anus pick who comes from Fox Entertainment; Rupert Murdoch must be pleased to no end with his ability to influence American politics.  Anyway, Jeanie's a wino, a conspiracy theorist whom Fox actually took off the air for a bit because of her insane views, and a wino.... oh, wait, I already said that.  Every Republican voted for her.  

The Unachievable

 Can you believe a another work week has arrived on our doorsteps?  And it's raining... well, that's not quite right, it's drizzling, but that will pass.  We do have a lot of humidity, the spongey kind that makes everything sticky.  I can do without it.  

Sales were down yesterday, but I did get two measures, one of which is a tile floor.  That is odd.  Here in central PA some people will tile the floor in their kitchen, but it's rare to have the entire first floor tiled, mostly because we do experience winter here and the temps can drop below freezing.  That makes for a cold floor that can easily drain your body heat away even through the thickest pair of socks.

One of the things you need to do when you write is create protagonist (s) that are interesting to the reading public.  Some authors do this by giving them little quirks: Hercule Poirot had his moustache, Adam Dahlgliesh wrote esoteric poetry.  My two guys, Eli and Max, like their wine, in fact they are quite often found with glass in hand.  This being said, I thought I'd do a little video about some affordable wines they might drink.  On occasion they ride their bicycles, but mostly they dink their wine.  As a side note, the music playing in the background is a song I wrote and recorded a long time ago.

And, of course, a new week means more political shenanigans by the Republicans.  Over the weekend, just in case some of you missed it, Marjorie Taylor Dumb Ass has now said that the House might want to slow down their impeachment proceedings against Biden even though he has done nothing impeachable.  Remember, their strategy has always been to be on the offense, even if they need to create fictional crimes. the proverbial dead horse.  The truth is that impeaching Biden for nothing would actually help Biden in his re-election campaign, while heaping additional hurt onto the GOP is beyond their ken.  Their sole intention is to try and make Biden look worse than Trump, a completely unachievable goal. Me?  I'm gleefully hoping they proceed.

Inside or Outside

I'm off today, which means this is my Sunday.  Yesterday, however, turned into my day of rest, at least after the cake and ice cream of Lily's party.

Add to that a nice bottle of Catawba recommended by Anne Marie. and my day transitioned into relaxed and casual... no bike ride.

I do believe this is how life is supposed to be.

Last evening I spent some time talking to my friend Betsy.  She found the Idiot Jerk's repeating some inane claim to being The Chosen One totally abhorrent.  This got me to wondering if, perhaps, he'd demonstrated his chosen status by walking on water at the G7.  Checking the news headlines this morning I saw that didn't happen.  He did, however, lie about China calling him to ask if trade talks could be restarted.  I suspect that with the 2020 election beginning to loom, the Idiot Jerk's lies will begin gyrating to what ever tune he hopes will satiate his base and their thirst for power.

As for today, my plans are simple:  clean the bathroom (it's actually fairly clean already, I tend to be rather neat), take the dogs for a walk, and go for a bike ride.  Now, whether the last one will be outside on the X6 or inside on the red Cannondale is up in the air.  Outside there's traffic and no music, inside there's safety and music.  I'll let you know tomorrow what my choice was.

Late Entry

Today's entry is a little late, not because I slept in or am concerned about Wall Street.  Rather, I was waiting for the new light.  Yep.  I bought a new light to go on top of the new wine cooler.  Sharp, huh?

UPS just dropped it off.  The leaf motif matches that of the table at the other end of the futon.  Sorry, I didn't take a picture of that.
Last evening I started watching "The Boys" on Amazon Prime.  It's about superheroes who are anything but good and the men (not boys) who are trying to bring them down.  I'm enjoying its dark, irreverent humor.
Oh, and in case you didn't know, Wall Street is having a difficult day.  This was to be expected with the Idiot Jerk in the White House.  The man has filed for 6 bankruptcies.  He knows nothing about business, but he sure knows how to spin a line of shit to make it sound like he does.  He caved yesterday on his next set of tariffs, putting them off until December so as not to impede Christmas shoppers.  He is such a loser.

Retirement - waiting for the fun to begin

Even though it will not be happening soon, I usually tell people that when I do retire I want to move to the south of France where I can drink wine and ride my bicycle.  My brother keeps asking me if I'm serious and I always reply 'yes.'  Of course, being a realist I understand those plans may never come to fruition.  I may end up spending my senior years in Central Pennsylvania, which is a world away from the south of France.  No matter where I am, I do plan on having an enjoyable time.  Quite often I tell people there are only two times in your life when you can be, for the most part, carefree.  The first happens when you're a child.  The second occurs when you leave the work force, which is why rarely does a day pass when I don't think about not having job responsibilities; when I don't think about all the things I can do that are not work related.

A number of years ago, the dental assistant who cleaned my teeth retired.  When I asked what her plans were she told me "I'm going to sit on my porch swing and read."  I felt really sad for her because there was so much more she could be doing.  For a lot of people, however, that is how they define retirement.  They feel they've put in their time.  This is true, but don't turn yourself into a fossil.  Why would you want to become a relic?  My Dad did that and died 6 years after he retired.  If your idea of bliss is sitting in a chair watching television you've kind of missed the point.  Retirement shouldn't be defined by the cessation of all activity, rather it should be considered a new direction in which to channel your energy.  Do something physical.  Use your muscles.  And don't complain.  Holy Shit, I am so tired of hearing seniors list their ailments as though they're merit badges they've earned by being old.  Working in a retail position where people need to wait to have paint mixed, I hear them daily.  You have no idea how many times I want to ask if they want cheese with that whine because I know every person they've talked to has heard about their problems.

Nice little area in the south of France

You can call me unsympathetic if your want, I don't care.  You see I believe the real problem for these people who just want to shut down, and those who change careers from one of working to one of complaining, is that none of them actually sit down and think about what retirement means.  All sorts of possibilities open up once you are no longer a permanent associate relying on a weekly paycheck.  Time becomes something you can spend on all those things you couldn't do for the past forty some years.  Get on a bicycle and ride it, even if your pedal is slow.  Write a novel, climb a mountain, learn to play the drums and have fun.  When I look at my future retirement I see all the chances in the world opening up and I may sell my house and move to the south of France where I can drink wine and ride my bicycle.