Trump Tormented

 Well, can we say "hello" to Friday?  The weather's a bit dismal.  We had rain yesterday, and rain is again in the forecast for today and tomorrow.  Central PA is sitting in the middle of a band of rain that stretches for hundreds of miles to the west and that band is moving eastward.  Like all stormy weather, it will pass.  

I worked for 5 hours yesterday.  Got one measure for a backsplash.  A young guy, I explained to him how expensive it was.  He called his wife to get her approval and she told him to go ahead.  Knowing that installing a backsplash isn't that difficult, I suggested that if the quote came back higher than they were expecting he could always do it himself.  He did not seem to excited about my suggestion. 

The 3rd editor has given his copy of The Body Under Ice back to me with his corrections.  He seems to think that I use semi-colons too often; they are necessary at times.

I zipped out in the drizzle this morning to snap another picture of my nectarine buds.  The peach tree is doesn't haven't as many, but then I cut it back severely last fall.  I'll be interested in seeing if the new growth is more vertical.

Of course, we're going to have to wait until next week for Trump to be indicted.  Until that happens, and even afterwards, his MAGA base is going to continue giving him money.  They have the same mindset as the people who continually send money to Joel Osteen, or any other quack Evangelical minister; blood suckers to the end.  Or I should say greenback suckers.  I used to feel sorry for those people who believe their donations are going to buy them a ticket to heaven, not so any more.  I wish someone with access to the information would find out just how much of the terrible credit card debt Americans have is due to these phony religious men who charge a fee for their prayers.  

Probably the only good thing about the delay in Trump's indictment is frenzied posts on Truth Social, which do get copied and pasted onto Twitter.  I find it rather joyful to see him tormented so.

Kansas tells Republicans to go to Hell

We're have a mini heatwave here in Central PA.  The temps, predicted to reach the mid 80s (F) yesterday, actually topped off in the 90s (F).  And I mowed my lawn.  There's not a lot of humidity, though, as my friend Tami likes to say, I was 'glowing' with a nice sheen of perspiration by the time I finished.  

Yesterday was busy.  Besides the mowing, I picked up Seig's gabapentin, stopped by the store to buy a container for mixing thin set, prepped the wall behind the stove for tiling, did laundry, wrote almost 1000 words (wow), and beat a boss in Elden Ring.

Today might be just as busy.  I'm going to see if I can squeeze a ride in on the bicycle later this afternoon.

My new clock will be arriving later this morning, or early afternoon.  I can't wait.  I didn't realize, until after the old one broke, how often I relied upon it.  The last one chimed on the half hour and hour, the new one does quarter hours, too.

I don't know if any of you are following the Fetterman / Oz race to replace that scumbag Pat Toomey in the Senate, but it is fascinating to see how easily a strong Democrat can dismantle his Republican opponent... use honesty.  This is why Republicans are scared shitless they're going to lose PA

And, of course, there were primaries yesterday in several states.  In some states, Trump back Republicans won, however, not one of them had a landslide win.  They won by getting 46% of the vote (Kari Lake in Arizona), or 41% (Tudor Dixon in Michigan).  Compare these wins to 100% of the vote (Mark Kelly in Arizona), and 100% of the vote (Gretchen Witmer in Michigan).  This is not the face Republicans want to show the American people, a party that is splintering with about half of their voters still loyal to Trump.

Perhaps the greatest indicator of the problems facing the Republicans comes from Kansas, a state where they believed everyone would jump on board the idea of amending their constitution to outlaw abortion.  A whopping 68% of the voters told the Republican party to go to Hell.  I saw one comment noting that Republicans evidently didn't spend enough time on their knees praying for victory.  The reality is that this party, for so many years, rather than try to read and understand Americans, was far too interested in saying "shut up!  We're in charge!"  This party is in serious trouble and, like the horse that runs back into the burning barn, they are going to push ahead.  To do otherwise would be to admit they were wrong.

 

How it's Sliced

 I can hardly believe my staycation begins tomorrow!  Wowee!  And just think!  We're practically halfway through June!  Next week summer will be official.  It's time to start rolling out the dog days of summer.  For me, staycations are already in the books, another 5 day one in July and a 6 day one in August.

For a Friday, yesterday was rather busy.  I set 3 people up for measures, one, unfortunately was for a kitchen backsplash.  We dislike those.  There is a set charge for 25 square feet, however the charge is not calculated on the actual coverage.  Nope. It's on the number of square feet of tile used for the installation.  A customer may only have 23 square feet in their backsplash, but because of cutting and waste 32 square foot mosaics may be needed.  So, the customer will be charged for an additional 7 square feet of tile at a much higher rate per square foot.  The only way to cut costs on this one is to do install it yourself.  Backsplashes are easy.  Watch a few YouTube videos and do it yourself.

I've been thinking of renewing my subscription to Rouvy.  While I like Tacx, all of their rides are in Western Europe.  Rouvy has rides in America.  There are also rides in Eastern Europe.  The only drawback with the Rouvy app was the HRM.  I needed to use both my Fenix 6 as well as the trainer for that info to be imported.  I will have to check and see if they have corrected the problem.  If they haven't, well I just stick with Western Europe.

And I have to say, that bread slicer I bought is simply amazing!  Love it!  The slices are clean cut all the way so there's no problem squeezing them into the toaster.

I saw where YouTube temporarily shut down that Republican lying sack of shit Ronnie Johnson for... well... lying.  Go figure.

And what about Florida?  Everyday it seems as though Ronnie DeSantis (yes, another damn Ronnie) sign some sort of hate legislation in his attempt to turn the state into  MAGA heaven on earth.  Me?  I say it's a shame is blotting out the sun in the sunshine state.  Still, if that's how they want to cut it, I say go ahead, slice yourself off from the rest of the country.  Ronnie wants to be president, and evidently he believes the only way to do that is to be an insurrectionist.

Torch This

 And a good, sleeping in late morning to you!  

Can you believe we're winding down April?  Crap, we just started it.  We did have another freeze warning last night, so I brought in my potted veggies.  There were scattered snow showers yesterday.  I missed all of them, but was told by many that some were quite heavy.  Next week?  The temps are supposed to hit the mid to upper 80's (F) for a couple of days, before dropping back down into the mid 70's (F).  

I have a Ukrainian customer who wants to retile most of her downstairs and put bamboo throughout her upstairs.  At first she brought her daughter in as a translator.  Yesterday, she brought her sister, who speaks English quite well.  The job is... expensive as hell, with the majority of the cost being in the labor.  Think mid $20's.  For tile, we normally charge $8 per square foot, but we are running a 'deal' right now.  I was told that she's going to talk it over with her husband, which I do believe is going to translate into "No."

As usual, laundry is on the chore list for today.  I also want to change the media in the tank.

The third reader is working his way through The Body in the Loch.  Word provides an 'Editor' so I think I'll use that for the next book, The Body in Repose.  I'm still in the note taking stage for characters.  There's a very good possibility those who read my books might get to meet a torch singer named Sheila Caine.  Now, ain't that a nice name?

And, speaking of torches, I saw Navalny has decided to end his hunger strike.  Oh, and the troops Vlad the Dumb was massing on Ukraine's boarder are being shipped elsewhere.  Translation:  Vlad the Dumb blinked.  Big Time.  Both Alexei's supporters and the EU seem to have torched his plans.  No matter how desperate tin foil dictators are for complete power, they are always going to fail.  Xi will learn this lesson, too.  As will the Republicans in this country.  Things will never stop changing.

Size matters

Well, here it is Monday - I get to go to work today - and then I'm off for 2 days. this is going to be a 32 hour work week for me so I don't care.  We're also supposed to be getting 3 - 6 inches of snow overnight.  That doesn't bother me either.
I had my 'bonus' meeting last evening.  The check was nice - not what I'm used to getting, but still it's money that I hadn't had before, however I did decide that it was probably my last.  I don't see any purpose in my going to the store for just an hour and a half every 6 months.
And yesterday I also had to deal with one of those customers who must have gotten a day pass from the asylum.  She had questions about tile.  Well, that's wrong, mostly she had observations.  Like are 12 inch tiles are not quite 12 inches, they're 11 3/4 inches.  We shouldn't claim that it's 12 x 12 when it wasn't.  Oh, and she had a tape measure.  That's right, she was measuring our tiles.  I informed her that sizing takes into account the fact that there will be grout, usually around 1/8" on all sides.  She didn't like that answer.
Then she asked where our 16 inch tiles were, stating "you say online that you carry 16" tiles."  We do, one style.  When I showed it to her she exclaimed "well, why wouldn't you carry more styles?  Just one style doesn't make sense!"  So.... I explained.  Contractors and customers prefer to work with square footage, it makes things much easier, not only with buying tile, but with arranging them on the wall or floor.  We sell 3", 4", 6", 9", 12", 18" and 24" tile because it's easier to calculate square feet.  A 16" tile is 1.77 square feet and that number complicates things.  She didn't like that answer either, and evidently she'd been in 2 other departments, asking the same type of questions, before she got to flooring.  Taking her tape measure, she left in a huff, no doubt planning an online expose' on how are signage is deceitful.  It isn't.  There's a reason.  You just need to think.

And speaking of size, there's a sizable number of Americans who want the Democrats to control Congress - they understand that's the only way to deal with the Idiot Jerk in the White House until he is legally removed from that position.  Of course this infuriates his base.  They don't care about democracy.  Nor do the care about America.  They only want to dictate.  The time has come to Take America back from the assholes.

Metal Clip Rage

Well, even though I'm no longer in management, I still have to deal with irate customers.  Last night I dealt with a couple who needed some tile moved.  First of all, She lied, saying she'd been trying to get assistance for 10 minutes.  Anytime people throw out a time it's almost always a lie - the '10 minutes' is supposed to make you feel guilty, it doesn't.  I wish people would learn this.  And then he said "I was thinking of going to Lowe's," and I ignored him.  There are stupid people who say this to be threatening.... give me a break!  Then they highlighted their stupidity when she laid the tiles out in a pattern of four on the floor and he said "those gray patterns don't repeat"....  I said nothing.  I didn't point out that they were looking at cheap, standard gray tiles and there would be no pattern.
And then there was the man who flew into a metal clip rage.  He wanted to buy clips to hold a mirror to a wall, and he wanted them to be metal.  He had just come from Hardware, where he'd been told that the type of clips he wanted were only sold in mirror hanging kits.  That is not what he wanted to hear.  In Decor we only carry fancy, plastic clips, noting as utilitarian as metal.  He waved his phone at me yelling "here, I'll show you what I want."

When I told him this yelled, "I don't want goddamn plastic."  So... he ran back over to Hardware and grabbed the kit, came back to Decor and, shaking it at me, yelled "I don't want the kit, I just want to buy the clips!" and threw it at me and stormed out of the store.  Now, to be honest, I could have torn open that $12 kit, given him the 4 clips and taken the hit if he'd have been even some what pleasant.  But the moment I showed him the clips carried in my department, he started yelling.  The truth is that he well have been able to buy what he wanted at our competition, or at Walmart, or KMart, or Target, or Khol's.  Instead of doing the smart thing, he chose to fly into his little metal clip rage and create a minor scene in which he looks bad.  This is how life is.

Trump's Bricks

I was going to write something yesterday since I'm on this great shift now... but then we had snow and I had to go out and shovel the sidewalk and the driveway.  This is how things go sometimes.
And now that I'm in a new department I'm going to have new stories to tell.  Like yesterday afternoon, this petite blonde woman came in looking for marble tiles.  I showed her where they were.  She said she was looking for a specific shade of parchment white, so said "since they're cut from a larger piece of marble, there's no guarantee you're going to get exactly the same shade."  She smiled and nodded.  I asked her if she needed any assistance and she smiled again, "nope, I'm fine."  About 15 minutes later I went back to check on her and she was gone.  However, she'd taken 11 box of marble tiles, opened them all up to check the color, and she did this by scattering them around on the floor.  55 Tiles.  She took 8 and left 47 for me to put away.  She did have a very white smile.
Anyway, yesterday afternoon, after she'd left, I was sitting at the flooring desk and suddenly there was a loud roar, like a sonic boom almost.  We do  have the Navy Supply Depot right beside us, and they do have an airstrip, so I chalked it up to a plane.  It wasn't until I clocked out that I check the news flashes on my phone and saw that the courts had ruled against DT's travel ban.

That's when I realized I hadn't heard a plane.  Nope.  I heard DT shitting the biggest, most painful brick in his life.  I suspect that sucker flew out of his ass.  And when I saw his ALL CAPS TWEET it became apparent that it hadn't been just one, but several.  That was the sound of bricks flying out of DT's ass.  Maybe we should take a moment and give thanks for that pain.  Was a lesson learned?  Absolutely... not.  But I do bet his B/P dosage just went up.