2020
What Goes Around
25/12/20 06:34
Man, that rain is coming down in sheets! It's Christmas day for chrissakes. Give it a break! Maybe I should be thankful that it's not snow. The winds are expected to pick up and with gusts closing in on 50 to 60 mph who knows what might happen. Worst case scenario, we lose our electricity and our Christmas chicken stays in the refrigerator. We have a generator and that is one appliance supported so we're good to go there. The stove? Not so much.
I actually find the sound of rain, coming down as it is in waves across the expanse of our rooftop, comforting. There is something to be said for staying out of the elements and staying safe and warm. Snug as a bug in a rug, as they say. It helps to have my good old friend, Lou Rawls, crooning away here in the background as only he can when it comes to singing Christmas music. "Joy to the world, the Lord has come!" Who doesn't love Lou Rawls?
As much as I love the holidays, there is one thing I do not like about the holidays. Everything stops dead in its tracks. Everything is closed on Christmas day so no stores are getting robbed, government is off except for the essential employees and we know they don't do much of anything even when they are working, our country is not at war unless you count the various skirmishes with the Taliban in remote shit holes like Afghanistan, and even talk radio has been muted with replays of old shows replacing the usual cacophony of voices arguing, ranting, cajoling, etc.
"Have yourself a merry little Christmas", sing it Lou! "Faithful friends who are near to us", don't stop now, Lou! Every once in a while the rain lets up, the wind seems less forceful, and I have to wonder if the weather reports might have fallen somehow fall short of the mark with their forecasts. Weather permitting, Nancy can take her usual walk on the beach, I can get my bike ride in, and Evan can hang out with his online friends doing whatever they do. Even on Christmas, it would be like any other day. I'm guessing that doesn't come to pass. "Good tidings to you and all your friends", damn he's good.
It was warm enough yesterday afternoon to be outside so after my bike ride I washed Evan's car by hand here in our driveway. I suppose he can wash his own car but he is not likely to do that so I'm happy to do what I can. Would he run it through a car wash? Maybe. When Nancy asks me why I'm doing it when Evan should be doing it himself, my response is simple and to the point. I enjoy doing it. It's that simple. And when I was done, I tucked his car away in the garage for the night. Men and their machines. Guilty as charged.
Evan knows me well enough to know by now that if I'm around and something needs cleaning, well, gall darn it, I'm going to get busy cleaning it. Isn't that what dads do? I'm all about restoring order where order has lost its way. I'm a man on a mission. Feets don't fail me now. Did I mention that I took things down out and about the yard where I thought they might become lethal projectiles were the winds to even come close today to approaching hurricane force velocity? I'm talking about bird feeders, outdoor thermometers, cheap shovels, and snow rakes. Well, snow "rake" anyway.
I told Nancy as we were going to bed for the night that we ought to crack the window a bit. It would likely tip me off during the night to any surge or adverse changes in the weather patterns. As much as I like the idea of going to bed and not worrying about a thing until I wake up, waking up to a house with no power and maybe even power that has been off for longer than I care to think about, is not ideal. It's always better to know sooner rather than later.
Nancy had a bee in her bonnet yesterday when she read somewhere that Ocasio-Cortez, the New York bartender turned congresswoman, received the vaccine for the dreaded Covid-19 virus. She went off the deep end with a seldom seen vehemence, "Why, of all people, should she be getting the vaccine before people who really need it?"
Part of her rage had to do with what we all know by now about the virus. That is to say, younger people survive it quite easily. I'm not sure how much of it had to do with her disdain for the useless pissant of a politician that we've all come to know as AOC. She's not even our Congresswoman for chrissakes.
Nancy seems particularly tickled with one of the presents she has for me so there's that. I wrapped Evan's present for his mom and placed it under the tree but asked that he write the obligatory, "To Mom, from Evan." I just don't know yet whether that request was a bridge too far or not. He has to be in just the right mood or it won't get done. Not that it matters, really. Nancy will open it and all will be good with the world.
I'm hoping his reluctance to put his name on it, if there is any reluctance, has little or nothing to do with the fact that he didn't have much of a hand in putting it all together. Maybe I went too far this time. Maybe I overplayed my hand. Left to his own devices, I fear that there would have been nothing under the tree from him for his mom so, that being the case, I was not likely to let the chips fall where they may. I can't feel bad about that, or can I? Maybe the fact that I'm writing about tells you all you need to know.
As I look over my shoulder and glance out the window, night has turned to day and I'm not seeing the wrath of Mother Nature one way or another. The trees are swaying a bit here and there but no more than usual. I'm thinking that I need to put my bird feeders back out so my little buddies can have a snack on this oh-so-special day. They've been hitting my feeders pretty hard as of late. I guess I would say that I'm happy to provide them with a meager level of sustenance during tough times. It's true. Winter can be a bitch in bird land.
We might get our chicken dinner in after all. We have two or three dishes we purchased from our local store which we'll happily throw in the mix as we sit down to a nice holiday meal. We have a nice beet salad, a brussel sprout concoction that is to die for we're told, and then we have a nice veggie chili which Evan seems to enjoy very much. I didn't know he prefers a Mexican shredded cheese to parmesan cheese when enjoying his chili so, now that I know that, I made sure we had plenty of the shredded cheese on hand. I'm almost embarrassed to say that we'll be having Stove Top dressing instead of something more elaborate that has been prepared from scratch.
We'll not be opening up any presents until Evan emerges from his bedroom. Oh, and even then, he'll need to be ready and willing to sit down and start opening presents. We're in no hurry really. The presents aren't going anywhere and most of the presents are for Evan so he can go about his day willy nilly as far as I'm concerned. And, as Da used to say, there is nobody chasing us. Nobody indeed. I'm now listening to some classical guitar music and it's lulling me back to sleep slowly but surely. It's beautiful, though. It's the kind of music that I would love to be able to play. Some day perhaps.
Fast forward now to the day after Christmas. Yep, that's how we roll around here. You know the drill by now. Our smoke detectors started blaring at around 4:45 am and it woke me right the fuck up. If someone had told me when we had this stupid system installed that we'd be wakened in the middle of the night on occasion I would have told them to fuck off. I'll stick with my usual array of battery operated detectors thank you very much. At least they start chirping when their batteries start to run low. I'm guessing that is one of maybe many reasons we get these damn false alarms in the middle of whenever.
Santa was good to everyone this year. We had so many presents to open that we found ourselves agreeing to having a second go of it after we all got tuckered out after opening the first raft of presents. I may have said, "Let's give it a rest and we'll open the remaining presents later in the day." I can't say that I recall ever opening up Christmas presents in shifts before so there's that. Nancy did most of the wrapping so kudos to her for bearing a disproportionate share of the work to put this all together. And to think that she spent not a nickel in local stores due to Covid-19. I think she feels badly about that.
I was happy for Evan because he got a lot of things that he can use. Everything really, from remote car starters to accessory hubs for his laptop. And the clothes. My god, the clothes. Nancy got her stick vacuum and I got my biking cap and a nice pair of sports earbuds. It always amazes me that when you're asked a week out from the Christmas holiday what you got for Christmas you are hard pressed to recall them all. Houston, we have a problem with conspicuous consumption! We'll see what can be donated and what can't when the time comes but for today we'll be thankful to the baby Jesus for what we have. Here's a hat tip to you, big guy!
We put the chicken in the oven around 3:30 before taking a quick ride around the block just to get out of the house for a breather before nightfall. Nightfall comes early this time of year. Unlike Thanksgiving, when I think I overcooked the turkey because I didn't use the thermometer early and often enough, I had it out early on this time around and it made a big difference when all was said and done. Tender is the night, baby cakes! The chicken was tender, succulent, and just perfect. I like the pop-up thermometers but you don't often find them in organic chickens. That's just a fact.
We had hoped Evan might join us in having chicken and all the various side dishes we took the trouble of preparing. So much so, in fact, that we inquired ahead of time just to make sure we'd be able to sit down as a family to a Christmas dinner. He's fickle that way so you want to know these things ahead of time. He agreed to the menu but opted at the last minute to have the rest of the vegetarian chili that we bought for him earlier in the week. It wasn't the end of the world, and it was far from being out of character for him, so we all went about the business of enjoying what we had in front of us. When all you have on hand is lemons, you make lemonade.
I was thinking that Nancy might make some of her anise cookies. Evan asked that she not make them so that was that. I don't know if he was afraid that if she made them that he might be tempted to eat more than his share or what. It's anybody's guess with that boy. He probably did us all a favor. None of us needs more cookies. Evan is pretty good about staying away from certain carbohydrates and that goes for most types of bread too. I just don't think he likes the way it makes him feel. He's not articulated as much but we have our suspicions.
Nancy put a call in to her mom in the early evening and Evan joined her in wishing Mrs G all the best on Christmas. I was busy washing dishes so only heard bits and pieces of the conversation. I like it when Evan has the chance to touch base with his grandmother. It happens so infrequently that they're always in catch-up mode when they do talk. It's always good for her to hear his voice and vice versa. They have a nice rapport and it's always a heartfelt and easy conversation. He spent a lot of time with his nana and da as a young boy so I guess you could say, without hesitation, that what goes around comes around.
I actually find the sound of rain, coming down as it is in waves across the expanse of our rooftop, comforting. There is something to be said for staying out of the elements and staying safe and warm. Snug as a bug in a rug, as they say. It helps to have my good old friend, Lou Rawls, crooning away here in the background as only he can when it comes to singing Christmas music. "Joy to the world, the Lord has come!" Who doesn't love Lou Rawls?
As much as I love the holidays, there is one thing I do not like about the holidays. Everything stops dead in its tracks. Everything is closed on Christmas day so no stores are getting robbed, government is off except for the essential employees and we know they don't do much of anything even when they are working, our country is not at war unless you count the various skirmishes with the Taliban in remote shit holes like Afghanistan, and even talk radio has been muted with replays of old shows replacing the usual cacophony of voices arguing, ranting, cajoling, etc.
"Have yourself a merry little Christmas", sing it Lou! "Faithful friends who are near to us", don't stop now, Lou! Every once in a while the rain lets up, the wind seems less forceful, and I have to wonder if the weather reports might have fallen somehow fall short of the mark with their forecasts. Weather permitting, Nancy can take her usual walk on the beach, I can get my bike ride in, and Evan can hang out with his online friends doing whatever they do. Even on Christmas, it would be like any other day. I'm guessing that doesn't come to pass. "Good tidings to you and all your friends", damn he's good.
It was warm enough yesterday afternoon to be outside so after my bike ride I washed Evan's car by hand here in our driveway. I suppose he can wash his own car but he is not likely to do that so I'm happy to do what I can. Would he run it through a car wash? Maybe. When Nancy asks me why I'm doing it when Evan should be doing it himself, my response is simple and to the point. I enjoy doing it. It's that simple. And when I was done, I tucked his car away in the garage for the night. Men and their machines. Guilty as charged.
Evan knows me well enough to know by now that if I'm around and something needs cleaning, well, gall darn it, I'm going to get busy cleaning it. Isn't that what dads do? I'm all about restoring order where order has lost its way. I'm a man on a mission. Feets don't fail me now. Did I mention that I took things down out and about the yard where I thought they might become lethal projectiles were the winds to even come close today to approaching hurricane force velocity? I'm talking about bird feeders, outdoor thermometers, cheap shovels, and snow rakes. Well, snow "rake" anyway.
I told Nancy as we were going to bed for the night that we ought to crack the window a bit. It would likely tip me off during the night to any surge or adverse changes in the weather patterns. As much as I like the idea of going to bed and not worrying about a thing until I wake up, waking up to a house with no power and maybe even power that has been off for longer than I care to think about, is not ideal. It's always better to know sooner rather than later.
Nancy had a bee in her bonnet yesterday when she read somewhere that Ocasio-Cortez, the New York bartender turned congresswoman, received the vaccine for the dreaded Covid-19 virus. She went off the deep end with a seldom seen vehemence, "Why, of all people, should she be getting the vaccine before people who really need it?"
Part of her rage had to do with what we all know by now about the virus. That is to say, younger people survive it quite easily. I'm not sure how much of it had to do with her disdain for the useless pissant of a politician that we've all come to know as AOC. She's not even our Congresswoman for chrissakes.
Nancy seems particularly tickled with one of the presents she has for me so there's that. I wrapped Evan's present for his mom and placed it under the tree but asked that he write the obligatory, "To Mom, from Evan." I just don't know yet whether that request was a bridge too far or not. He has to be in just the right mood or it won't get done. Not that it matters, really. Nancy will open it and all will be good with the world.
I'm hoping his reluctance to put his name on it, if there is any reluctance, has little or nothing to do with the fact that he didn't have much of a hand in putting it all together. Maybe I went too far this time. Maybe I overplayed my hand. Left to his own devices, I fear that there would have been nothing under the tree from him for his mom so, that being the case, I was not likely to let the chips fall where they may. I can't feel bad about that, or can I? Maybe the fact that I'm writing about tells you all you need to know.
As I look over my shoulder and glance out the window, night has turned to day and I'm not seeing the wrath of Mother Nature one way or another. The trees are swaying a bit here and there but no more than usual. I'm thinking that I need to put my bird feeders back out so my little buddies can have a snack on this oh-so-special day. They've been hitting my feeders pretty hard as of late. I guess I would say that I'm happy to provide them with a meager level of sustenance during tough times. It's true. Winter can be a bitch in bird land.
We might get our chicken dinner in after all. We have two or three dishes we purchased from our local store which we'll happily throw in the mix as we sit down to a nice holiday meal. We have a nice beet salad, a brussel sprout concoction that is to die for we're told, and then we have a nice veggie chili which Evan seems to enjoy very much. I didn't know he prefers a Mexican shredded cheese to parmesan cheese when enjoying his chili so, now that I know that, I made sure we had plenty of the shredded cheese on hand. I'm almost embarrassed to say that we'll be having Stove Top dressing instead of something more elaborate that has been prepared from scratch.
We'll not be opening up any presents until Evan emerges from his bedroom. Oh, and even then, he'll need to be ready and willing to sit down and start opening presents. We're in no hurry really. The presents aren't going anywhere and most of the presents are for Evan so he can go about his day willy nilly as far as I'm concerned. And, as Da used to say, there is nobody chasing us. Nobody indeed. I'm now listening to some classical guitar music and it's lulling me back to sleep slowly but surely. It's beautiful, though. It's the kind of music that I would love to be able to play. Some day perhaps.
Fast forward now to the day after Christmas. Yep, that's how we roll around here. You know the drill by now. Our smoke detectors started blaring at around 4:45 am and it woke me right the fuck up. If someone had told me when we had this stupid system installed that we'd be wakened in the middle of the night on occasion I would have told them to fuck off. I'll stick with my usual array of battery operated detectors thank you very much. At least they start chirping when their batteries start to run low. I'm guessing that is one of maybe many reasons we get these damn false alarms in the middle of whenever.
Santa was good to everyone this year. We had so many presents to open that we found ourselves agreeing to having a second go of it after we all got tuckered out after opening the first raft of presents. I may have said, "Let's give it a rest and we'll open the remaining presents later in the day." I can't say that I recall ever opening up Christmas presents in shifts before so there's that. Nancy did most of the wrapping so kudos to her for bearing a disproportionate share of the work to put this all together. And to think that she spent not a nickel in local stores due to Covid-19. I think she feels badly about that.
I was happy for Evan because he got a lot of things that he can use. Everything really, from remote car starters to accessory hubs for his laptop. And the clothes. My god, the clothes. Nancy got her stick vacuum and I got my biking cap and a nice pair of sports earbuds. It always amazes me that when you're asked a week out from the Christmas holiday what you got for Christmas you are hard pressed to recall them all. Houston, we have a problem with conspicuous consumption! We'll see what can be donated and what can't when the time comes but for today we'll be thankful to the baby Jesus for what we have. Here's a hat tip to you, big guy!
We put the chicken in the oven around 3:30 before taking a quick ride around the block just to get out of the house for a breather before nightfall. Nightfall comes early this time of year. Unlike Thanksgiving, when I think I overcooked the turkey because I didn't use the thermometer early and often enough, I had it out early on this time around and it made a big difference when all was said and done. Tender is the night, baby cakes! The chicken was tender, succulent, and just perfect. I like the pop-up thermometers but you don't often find them in organic chickens. That's just a fact.
We had hoped Evan might join us in having chicken and all the various side dishes we took the trouble of preparing. So much so, in fact, that we inquired ahead of time just to make sure we'd be able to sit down as a family to a Christmas dinner. He's fickle that way so you want to know these things ahead of time. He agreed to the menu but opted at the last minute to have the rest of the vegetarian chili that we bought for him earlier in the week. It wasn't the end of the world, and it was far from being out of character for him, so we all went about the business of enjoying what we had in front of us. When all you have on hand is lemons, you make lemonade.
I was thinking that Nancy might make some of her anise cookies. Evan asked that she not make them so that was that. I don't know if he was afraid that if she made them that he might be tempted to eat more than his share or what. It's anybody's guess with that boy. He probably did us all a favor. None of us needs more cookies. Evan is pretty good about staying away from certain carbohydrates and that goes for most types of bread too. I just don't think he likes the way it makes him feel. He's not articulated as much but we have our suspicions.
Nancy put a call in to her mom in the early evening and Evan joined her in wishing Mrs G all the best on Christmas. I was busy washing dishes so only heard bits and pieces of the conversation. I like it when Evan has the chance to touch base with his grandmother. It happens so infrequently that they're always in catch-up mode when they do talk. It's always good for her to hear his voice and vice versa. They have a nice rapport and it's always a heartfelt and easy conversation. He spent a lot of time with his nana and da as a young boy so I guess you could say, without hesitation, that what goes around comes around.
Giveth and Taketh Away
23/12/20 07:13
I'm happy for the kids, anyway. They'll have snow for Christmas, God willing, which has to count for something. For me, it's just one more thing I have move from one place to another. Maybe that's not the right view. And I have to say, moving things from one place to another has a certain appeal to the accountant in me.
You know, always in contemplation of the ledgers in our lives where things come and go. Some things add up and some things don't. Some things are within our control and some things clearly are not. But those that are within our control, I'm more than happy to tidy them up and put them in their proper place. That is what accountants do.
Nancy and I had a nice walk up to the end of our street and back last night after the snow stopped. The storm dropped a mercifully decent 9-10 inches behind over the course of a day and half. It was a light and fluffy snow, thankfully, since heavier wetter snows make for a heavier lift and, quite frankly, make for more of a chore in the long run.
I let one of my elderly and more immediate neighbors know early on today that I would not be swinging by to provide my usual snow removal services but that, in a pinch, I might be willing to lend a hand. It seems that even with moderate snowfalls, I now have more than enough to do in and around my own property without concerning myself about others and their needs. It's time to rein in my largesse and bring my Johnny-be-good tendencies to heel. As soon as I find the right words, I'll be letting her know about my longer term intentions.
The altar boy in me says that I am one mean mother fucker for clawing back the goodness that I have extended to my neighbor all these past years when I selflessly stepped into the fray to help out an old gal in need. If there is enough guilt on God's green earth to be meted out to pricks like me then I deserve all the demerits that are likely coming my way.
Her property is within earshot of our own and she will likely hear the drone of my snowblower for the remainder of the winter months and that will only serve to intensify my feelings of guilt. How many Hail Mary's will that cost me, Father?
Nancy enjoys these walks of ours to the end of the street and back that only ever occur after snowstorms. We trudge mightily as may or may not be the case, depending on whether the town has been by to plow, down to the end of the road where our road meets the main road that runs through the center of town.
If the sky is starlit and the night air pristine, tranquil, and really cold, all the better. If we have to walk more slowly, maybe even arm in arm due to the iciness of the road beneath our feet, that works too. If we say very little or nothing at all to each other for the duration of our stroll, it may mean that no words are necessary. Looking for meaning where there is none is, well, meaningless.
If it sounds like I'm meandering, you wouldn't be wrong. If it's bumping around in my head then you can be assured it will get put down on paper. Not sure why all of a sudden, after a pretty good run really of journal entries this year, that I'm coming up a little short as we approach Christmas time. Maybe I'm just running out of gas. Maybe I need to slap on some music by Motley Crue and stop listing to this bullshit holiday funeral music by Winter Hill entitled, "Winter Solstice."
Truth be told, I'm more of an Amy Winehouse listener than I am a Motley Crue listener. We'll put her in the queue. Maybe this winter solstice music will help to put me in the Christmas spirit. I'm doing pretty well all things considered but it will require a concerted effort on my part between now and Christmas Day to get me over the finish line. I don't know why I'm a dumpster fire during the Christmas season but I know myself well enough to know that I get bluer than blue so you better watch out, you better not shout.
Nancy has already started to wrap presents and put them beneath the tree. She wraps presents like nobody's business as you know. She's got the touch. Everything from picking out the right paper to choosing the right ribbons and boughs, she's got it all down.
I didn't give it much thought but when she told Evan last night that she shouldn't have put the presents under the tree just yet, it reminded me that there is a Santa and he doesn't show up until Christmas Eve so she's right about the presents showing up beforehand.
We're happy with the tree that we bought even though it's short or so by a good six inches. It has good sturdy branches and sheds very little. It also has a good appetite for the water that I supply to it each and every day in order to keep it looking vibrant and green as possible.
If I were to change anything about it, I might add a good sturdy top branch which would support a little something at the tip of the tree. It falls short in that department but we knew that when we bought it. We have things to put up there but maybe just not this year. Fucking A.
I think if it were up to me there might be diddly squat under the tree come Christmas time. Not because I can't afford to put things there, no sireee, Bob. It's that damn doldrums things again. Like I said, I have no idea where that comes from. How dangerous would it be to drag up the ghosts of Christmas past in order to find out? I'm not sure there are any ghosts of Christmas past so maybe we need to kill that idea in the crib.
I do have an idea for Nancy's present now that I think of it. I was a little worried that I might come up short there too. Maybe that was weighing on me. It wouldn't be the first time I've not bought her anything for Christmas. That tells you everything you need to know about the true spirit of Christmas. It has everything to do with giving and very little to do with receiving. But I'll be giving this year so all is well in the house of Johnny Blog. It makes me less blue just thinking about it.
Nancy has a hair across her tuchus this year when it comes to Christmas cards. Well, one card in particular, really. We get a card every year from one of my siblings who addresses the card to me and not to the "family." That annoys my little darling to no end. "What the hell are they thinking", she rants. Don't look at me, dearie. I don't get it either. Maybe they are working from a Christmas card list that needs a little updating. We've only been married forever so there's that.
And then there are the cards that, were they desserts, you'd be having seconds and maybe even thirds. Topping that list of senders is none other than, Debbie Rah-Rah. I mean, just WOW. Nancy's only complaint is that the creator of the card purchased by Debbie Rah-Rah added nothing to the backside of the card so she might see what else they have to offer. We're talking about creativity, or the flair for picking and choosing just the right this or that, up the wazoo here.
The card aside, Debbie Rah-Rah has it down in spades when it comes to finding just the right whatever when it comes to conveying the proper sentiment. That girl is GOOD! Whenever Nancy wants to put something in a frame, you know it's good. That is precisely what she wanted to do with Debbie Rah-Rah's card. The peace sign (ala 1960's) gracing the front of the card, interspersed as it was with little flowers and subdued sprinkles, took the cake. Where were you in 62'? Got it made in the shade! Well done, Debbie Rah-Rah!
I was happy to collaborate with Evan this year on Nancy's gift. We kicked a few ideas around and finally settled on something we think she'll like. I mean, like a lot. Without giving up too much, I will say that you never want to buy your little darlings something like a vacuum cleaner or some other god awful tool that they can use to perform household chores better than ever before. That said, she''s had this damn hankering for something that is, well, akin to a vacuum cleaner. It's been a non-stop fascination for her and that's no word of a lie. Do we need to look any further? Do we?
We have a lot of things for the Ev-man this Christmas. We have things that he needs and things that he likes. We even have things that we think he'll like but he's probably not expecting. He is somewhat accustomed to being the center of attention when it comes to the holidays so I don't think we'll embarrass him one way or another with our so-called generosity.
We have things for him and he has things for us so it's all good. My personal preference is that he not spend what little money he has on us so we worked with him to get it all straightened away. He's tickled with the gifts that he's chosen for his mom and dad so that's all that matters. God is good!
I was reading a book on guitar and music theory last night. Talk about abstract things, this book had it in spades. I tried, desperately I might add, to relate any of it to my last two weeks of picking up the guitar and doing with it what beginners do. It was all gobbledygook. What the hell was I thinking? Strumming a couple of chords is one thing. Playing major and minor scales might even be workable. Using Dorian mode with a pentatonic scale is something else altogether. I warned you.
I'm guessing that if I stick it out, this training of mine, it might well all come together some day. It's probably like anything else in life. The more you do it, the better you get at it. I do worry that I don't have enough structure around the learning process jumping in an out of books and filling the gaps with various lessons from YouTube as I do, but that's my preferred way to go about it. I also keep asking myself the question, why do they have to make this stuff so darn complicated? It's not brain surgery, or is it?
We'll pop over to see Mrs G at some point here soon. She and her buds in her independent living facility are still on lockdown but I think she can get out for a bit of family time if she so desires. The vaccines are out and about but she is not yet at the top of the list so she waits like everyone else. It makes perfect sense that she gets in line behind folks in nursing homes, front line doctors, and I'm not sure who else. Maybe the damn politicians. I don't know what we'd do without them. Actually, I do. We'd all be better off.
Christmas is two days out as I sit here today and I don't think Nancy has anything for her mom. She hasn't even mentioned anything so I'm not sure what she's thinking. We talked a while ago about getting a gift certificate for a car detailing schtick but we've done nothing about it. Here's my message to Nancy: That's your bag, baby. Git er done.
Maybe with all of this Covid stuff on the uptick, she's sticking her head in like a frightened turtle once again. I can see putting together a bag of chocolates, maybe some other candies, maybe a nice bottle of wine, and maybe even some flowers to cheer up her mom maybe a wee bit or more for the holidays. That's just me thinking out loud. All things that would require Nancy stepping inside a store or two to purchase said items. All things that will likely never be bought because Nancy is not up to assuming said risks. Not for her mother, not for herself, and maybe not even for me or the Ev man. Sad.
This is probably my last shot across the proverbial JohnnyBlog bow before Santa arrives so I'd rather not end on a down note. It's been a pretty good year so let's whoop it up for all the good things that have come about in 2020. It sounds strange to say here as we are in the year of Covid-19, but we need to be thankful for our collective good health and our relatively cheerful spirits as we head into the final week or so of the year. Huzzah for that!
Lastly, the benificence of our government in returning our tax dollars to us in the form of a Covid relief bailout is nothing if not nonsensical. But hey, it helps to pay the bills and that's a good thing. More is needed for those in dire straits so I applaud President Trump in getting Nancy and Chuck back to the table to consider coughing up more than the $600 currently under consideration.
Maybe Trump will have one more little surprise for us that has little to do with money and everything to do with who our 46th president is going to be by the time January 20th rolls around. Our great nation cannot, after all, abide by the shenanigans pulled off by the democrats as it relates to our elections. Not now, not ever.
Merry Christmas!
You know, always in contemplation of the ledgers in our lives where things come and go. Some things add up and some things don't. Some things are within our control and some things clearly are not. But those that are within our control, I'm more than happy to tidy them up and put them in their proper place. That is what accountants do.
Nancy and I had a nice walk up to the end of our street and back last night after the snow stopped. The storm dropped a mercifully decent 9-10 inches behind over the course of a day and half. It was a light and fluffy snow, thankfully, since heavier wetter snows make for a heavier lift and, quite frankly, make for more of a chore in the long run.
I let one of my elderly and more immediate neighbors know early on today that I would not be swinging by to provide my usual snow removal services but that, in a pinch, I might be willing to lend a hand. It seems that even with moderate snowfalls, I now have more than enough to do in and around my own property without concerning myself about others and their needs. It's time to rein in my largesse and bring my Johnny-be-good tendencies to heel. As soon as I find the right words, I'll be letting her know about my longer term intentions.
The altar boy in me says that I am one mean mother fucker for clawing back the goodness that I have extended to my neighbor all these past years when I selflessly stepped into the fray to help out an old gal in need. If there is enough guilt on God's green earth to be meted out to pricks like me then I deserve all the demerits that are likely coming my way.
Her property is within earshot of our own and she will likely hear the drone of my snowblower for the remainder of the winter months and that will only serve to intensify my feelings of guilt. How many Hail Mary's will that cost me, Father?
Nancy enjoys these walks of ours to the end of the street and back that only ever occur after snowstorms. We trudge mightily as may or may not be the case, depending on whether the town has been by to plow, down to the end of the road where our road meets the main road that runs through the center of town.
If the sky is starlit and the night air pristine, tranquil, and really cold, all the better. If we have to walk more slowly, maybe even arm in arm due to the iciness of the road beneath our feet, that works too. If we say very little or nothing at all to each other for the duration of our stroll, it may mean that no words are necessary. Looking for meaning where there is none is, well, meaningless.
If it sounds like I'm meandering, you wouldn't be wrong. If it's bumping around in my head then you can be assured it will get put down on paper. Not sure why all of a sudden, after a pretty good run really of journal entries this year, that I'm coming up a little short as we approach Christmas time. Maybe I'm just running out of gas. Maybe I need to slap on some music by Motley Crue and stop listing to this bullshit holiday funeral music by Winter Hill entitled, "Winter Solstice."
Truth be told, I'm more of an Amy Winehouse listener than I am a Motley Crue listener. We'll put her in the queue. Maybe this winter solstice music will help to put me in the Christmas spirit. I'm doing pretty well all things considered but it will require a concerted effort on my part between now and Christmas Day to get me over the finish line. I don't know why I'm a dumpster fire during the Christmas season but I know myself well enough to know that I get bluer than blue so you better watch out, you better not shout.
Nancy has already started to wrap presents and put them beneath the tree. She wraps presents like nobody's business as you know. She's got the touch. Everything from picking out the right paper to choosing the right ribbons and boughs, she's got it all down.
I didn't give it much thought but when she told Evan last night that she shouldn't have put the presents under the tree just yet, it reminded me that there is a Santa and he doesn't show up until Christmas Eve so she's right about the presents showing up beforehand.
We're happy with the tree that we bought even though it's short or so by a good six inches. It has good sturdy branches and sheds very little. It also has a good appetite for the water that I supply to it each and every day in order to keep it looking vibrant and green as possible.
If I were to change anything about it, I might add a good sturdy top branch which would support a little something at the tip of the tree. It falls short in that department but we knew that when we bought it. We have things to put up there but maybe just not this year. Fucking A.
I think if it were up to me there might be diddly squat under the tree come Christmas time. Not because I can't afford to put things there, no sireee, Bob. It's that damn doldrums things again. Like I said, I have no idea where that comes from. How dangerous would it be to drag up the ghosts of Christmas past in order to find out? I'm not sure there are any ghosts of Christmas past so maybe we need to kill that idea in the crib.
I do have an idea for Nancy's present now that I think of it. I was a little worried that I might come up short there too. Maybe that was weighing on me. It wouldn't be the first time I've not bought her anything for Christmas. That tells you everything you need to know about the true spirit of Christmas. It has everything to do with giving and very little to do with receiving. But I'll be giving this year so all is well in the house of Johnny Blog. It makes me less blue just thinking about it.
Nancy has a hair across her tuchus this year when it comes to Christmas cards. Well, one card in particular, really. We get a card every year from one of my siblings who addresses the card to me and not to the "family." That annoys my little darling to no end. "What the hell are they thinking", she rants. Don't look at me, dearie. I don't get it either. Maybe they are working from a Christmas card list that needs a little updating. We've only been married forever so there's that.
And then there are the cards that, were they desserts, you'd be having seconds and maybe even thirds. Topping that list of senders is none other than, Debbie Rah-Rah. I mean, just WOW. Nancy's only complaint is that the creator of the card purchased by Debbie Rah-Rah added nothing to the backside of the card so she might see what else they have to offer. We're talking about creativity, or the flair for picking and choosing just the right this or that, up the wazoo here.
The card aside, Debbie Rah-Rah has it down in spades when it comes to finding just the right whatever when it comes to conveying the proper sentiment. That girl is GOOD! Whenever Nancy wants to put something in a frame, you know it's good. That is precisely what she wanted to do with Debbie Rah-Rah's card. The peace sign (ala 1960's) gracing the front of the card, interspersed as it was with little flowers and subdued sprinkles, took the cake. Where were you in 62'? Got it made in the shade! Well done, Debbie Rah-Rah!
I was happy to collaborate with Evan this year on Nancy's gift. We kicked a few ideas around and finally settled on something we think she'll like. I mean, like a lot. Without giving up too much, I will say that you never want to buy your little darlings something like a vacuum cleaner or some other god awful tool that they can use to perform household chores better than ever before. That said, she''s had this damn hankering for something that is, well, akin to a vacuum cleaner. It's been a non-stop fascination for her and that's no word of a lie. Do we need to look any further? Do we?
We have a lot of things for the Ev-man this Christmas. We have things that he needs and things that he likes. We even have things that we think he'll like but he's probably not expecting. He is somewhat accustomed to being the center of attention when it comes to the holidays so I don't think we'll embarrass him one way or another with our so-called generosity.
We have things for him and he has things for us so it's all good. My personal preference is that he not spend what little money he has on us so we worked with him to get it all straightened away. He's tickled with the gifts that he's chosen for his mom and dad so that's all that matters. God is good!
I was reading a book on guitar and music theory last night. Talk about abstract things, this book had it in spades. I tried, desperately I might add, to relate any of it to my last two weeks of picking up the guitar and doing with it what beginners do. It was all gobbledygook. What the hell was I thinking? Strumming a couple of chords is one thing. Playing major and minor scales might even be workable. Using Dorian mode with a pentatonic scale is something else altogether. I warned you.
I'm guessing that if I stick it out, this training of mine, it might well all come together some day. It's probably like anything else in life. The more you do it, the better you get at it. I do worry that I don't have enough structure around the learning process jumping in an out of books and filling the gaps with various lessons from YouTube as I do, but that's my preferred way to go about it. I also keep asking myself the question, why do they have to make this stuff so darn complicated? It's not brain surgery, or is it?
We'll pop over to see Mrs G at some point here soon. She and her buds in her independent living facility are still on lockdown but I think she can get out for a bit of family time if she so desires. The vaccines are out and about but she is not yet at the top of the list so she waits like everyone else. It makes perfect sense that she gets in line behind folks in nursing homes, front line doctors, and I'm not sure who else. Maybe the damn politicians. I don't know what we'd do without them. Actually, I do. We'd all be better off.
Christmas is two days out as I sit here today and I don't think Nancy has anything for her mom. She hasn't even mentioned anything so I'm not sure what she's thinking. We talked a while ago about getting a gift certificate for a car detailing schtick but we've done nothing about it. Here's my message to Nancy: That's your bag, baby. Git er done.
Maybe with all of this Covid stuff on the uptick, she's sticking her head in like a frightened turtle once again. I can see putting together a bag of chocolates, maybe some other candies, maybe a nice bottle of wine, and maybe even some flowers to cheer up her mom maybe a wee bit or more for the holidays. That's just me thinking out loud. All things that would require Nancy stepping inside a store or two to purchase said items. All things that will likely never be bought because Nancy is not up to assuming said risks. Not for her mother, not for herself, and maybe not even for me or the Ev man. Sad.
This is probably my last shot across the proverbial JohnnyBlog bow before Santa arrives so I'd rather not end on a down note. It's been a pretty good year so let's whoop it up for all the good things that have come about in 2020. It sounds strange to say here as we are in the year of Covid-19, but we need to be thankful for our collective good health and our relatively cheerful spirits as we head into the final week or so of the year. Huzzah for that!
Lastly, the benificence of our government in returning our tax dollars to us in the form of a Covid relief bailout is nothing if not nonsensical. But hey, it helps to pay the bills and that's a good thing. More is needed for those in dire straits so I applaud President Trump in getting Nancy and Chuck back to the table to consider coughing up more than the $600 currently under consideration.
Maybe Trump will have one more little surprise for us that has little to do with money and everything to do with who our 46th president is going to be by the time January 20th rolls around. Our great nation cannot, after all, abide by the shenanigans pulled off by the democrats as it relates to our elections. Not now, not ever.
Merry Christmas!
As Luck Would Have It
16/12/20 07:15
Seriously, folks. Who doesn't believe in guardian angels? I can't remember when I first started asking for favors or a little help for this or that. Having gone to parochial school as a youth, I wasn't above asking for a bit of divine intervention in a pinch. It never became an obsession and I never thought for a minute that I was tapping into anything malevolent. We've all heard the stories about the Ouija boards and the favors asked of spirits not yet passed. This isn't that.
Much in the way that certain numbers seem to have some sway in my life, the same is true for certain spirits that I call upon from time to time. It's probably not much more than wishful thinking on my part, but the frequency with which my wishes are and have been granted suggest something more. I used to think that I had certain loved ones who had passed and who were looking down from above and who were quick with a wink and a nod but, when it came to granting favors, not so much.
We're not talking about wanting to change the trajectory of a major snow storms or wanting to have unimaginable wealth here. Asking for too much has not ever worked very well for me. Maybe I learned that early on and I am now hard pressed to even imagine what I might have wished for back in the day. It was likely folly at the time and I would more than likely consider it folly if I could remember what it was as I sit here today.
Knowing full well that they would never be there for me with the big asks, I've learned to make my own good fortune and that in itself has served me well. Going it alone has its own rewards as anyone who has learned from their own mistakes will tell you. Don't get me wrong. I'm grateful for the small stuff too. That's where my guardian angel or angels really shine. That's good because that is where I've really needed them to shine.
If I had to guess, and if we're going to use Jimmy Stewart and the "It's a Wonderful Life" movie as a backdrop, I can safely say that my angel or angels have definitely not gotten their wings. How else do I account for the splendor, or lack thereof, of their beneficence? Perhaps this says more about where I am on the spiritual continuum than it does about the level of heavenly largesse afforded to me however miniscule.
Like I said, I'm grateful for the smallest or most insignificant of favors granted. Do I think for a moment that if I do not show my appreciation with a tip of the hat or other that I will likely not find favor again anytime soon? That would take an especially small-minded angel or group of angels and I've not experienced that myself. They are there for me irrespective of any small demonstration of appreciation that I may or may not care to express.
Make no mistake about it. I'm all in when the time comes to ask for something. I know by now how it works. And then there are times like today when despite my not making a request I found what I was looking for against all odds. Some might consider what happened to me today to be, well, serendipitous. I wasn't expecting to find something yet I went looking for it nonetheless. Remarkably, I was able to find exactly what I was looking for even though the likelihood of my finding it was next to zero. There they are again with a wink and a nod.
Having forgotten to make a request should tell you something about the frequency with which I reach out to these heavenly grantors of all things frivolous. I wouldn't want to overstay my welcome or make a nuisance of myself. I also might well find that with more requests there might well be fewer deliveries for lack of a better term. This would invariably chip away at the myth and bring it all crashing back to earth. This is not a world I want to live in.
What if there really is no external force at play here? What if without me, they are nothing? What if without them, I am nothing? Even scarier, what if we're one in the same? Should I worry that even asking the question will displease them one way or another? How exactly would they express that displeasure? Maybe by granting fewer wishes?
Just so you know, there is no running dialogue between us. I never even ask the question "why" when my requests go unanswered. I just figure they have their reasons and those reasons may or may not have anything to do with me or my specific request. Knowing what I know about the parameters available to me in the miracle-making realm, I'm careful not to ask for that which I know they cannot, will not, and will probably never deliver. It's a face saving gesture on my part really. You never want to deliberately set yourself up for failure. Right?
I would entertain a change of tactics if I thought it would improve my chances of getting bigger and better asks. Wouldn't having the services of an angel with wings be better than having the services of an angel without wings? You betcha!
Maybe I should have considered this strategy sooner. I've been such a go-along-to-get-along kind of guy when it comes to this sort of thing that I've probably not been doing myself or my celestial partners any favors all these years by not pushing the envelope. We're both old dogs now hamstrung with the same old tired tricks we learned long ago. That's just a fact.
Much in the way that certain numbers seem to have some sway in my life, the same is true for certain spirits that I call upon from time to time. It's probably not much more than wishful thinking on my part, but the frequency with which my wishes are and have been granted suggest something more. I used to think that I had certain loved ones who had passed and who were looking down from above and who were quick with a wink and a nod but, when it came to granting favors, not so much.
We're not talking about wanting to change the trajectory of a major snow storms or wanting to have unimaginable wealth here. Asking for too much has not ever worked very well for me. Maybe I learned that early on and I am now hard pressed to even imagine what I might have wished for back in the day. It was likely folly at the time and I would more than likely consider it folly if I could remember what it was as I sit here today.
Knowing full well that they would never be there for me with the big asks, I've learned to make my own good fortune and that in itself has served me well. Going it alone has its own rewards as anyone who has learned from their own mistakes will tell you. Don't get me wrong. I'm grateful for the small stuff too. That's where my guardian angel or angels really shine. That's good because that is where I've really needed them to shine.
If I had to guess, and if we're going to use Jimmy Stewart and the "It's a Wonderful Life" movie as a backdrop, I can safely say that my angel or angels have definitely not gotten their wings. How else do I account for the splendor, or lack thereof, of their beneficence? Perhaps this says more about where I am on the spiritual continuum than it does about the level of heavenly largesse afforded to me however miniscule.
Like I said, I'm grateful for the smallest or most insignificant of favors granted. Do I think for a moment that if I do not show my appreciation with a tip of the hat or other that I will likely not find favor again anytime soon? That would take an especially small-minded angel or group of angels and I've not experienced that myself. They are there for me irrespective of any small demonstration of appreciation that I may or may not care to express.
Make no mistake about it. I'm all in when the time comes to ask for something. I know by now how it works. And then there are times like today when despite my not making a request I found what I was looking for against all odds. Some might consider what happened to me today to be, well, serendipitous. I wasn't expecting to find something yet I went looking for it nonetheless. Remarkably, I was able to find exactly what I was looking for even though the likelihood of my finding it was next to zero. There they are again with a wink and a nod.
Having forgotten to make a request should tell you something about the frequency with which I reach out to these heavenly grantors of all things frivolous. I wouldn't want to overstay my welcome or make a nuisance of myself. I also might well find that with more requests there might well be fewer deliveries for lack of a better term. This would invariably chip away at the myth and bring it all crashing back to earth. This is not a world I want to live in.
What if there really is no external force at play here? What if without me, they are nothing? What if without them, I am nothing? Even scarier, what if we're one in the same? Should I worry that even asking the question will displease them one way or another? How exactly would they express that displeasure? Maybe by granting fewer wishes?
Just so you know, there is no running dialogue between us. I never even ask the question "why" when my requests go unanswered. I just figure they have their reasons and those reasons may or may not have anything to do with me or my specific request. Knowing what I know about the parameters available to me in the miracle-making realm, I'm careful not to ask for that which I know they cannot, will not, and will probably never deliver. It's a face saving gesture on my part really. You never want to deliberately set yourself up for failure. Right?
I would entertain a change of tactics if I thought it would improve my chances of getting bigger and better asks. Wouldn't having the services of an angel with wings be better than having the services of an angel without wings? You betcha!
Maybe I should have considered this strategy sooner. I've been such a go-along-to-get-along kind of guy when it comes to this sort of thing that I've probably not been doing myself or my celestial partners any favors all these years by not pushing the envelope. We're both old dogs now hamstrung with the same old tired tricks we learned long ago. That's just a fact.
Saddle Up!
13/12/20 07:09
That Biden laptop drama seems to be coming back into play. The media ignored it during the presidential campaign. The story was censored on social media platforms like Twitter and FaceBook. No one on the left in a position of power was going to allow a pesky little story about money laundering and other crimes to get in the way of destroying their candidate, Joe Biden.
Joe was going to deliver the presidency to the left come hell or high water. With a stolen election almost in the bag as we sit here today on December 11th, 2020, it's now time to replace Sleepy Joe and bring in the left's real candidate, Kamala Harris. Mission "Trojan Horse" is coming down the final stretch. The only obstacle in their way now is Joe Biden. Enter the media with their balls-to-the-walls coverage of the Biden Family Crime Syndicate. Who knew?
You can't make this stuff up. It's almost as though Hollywood had a hand in writing the script. I think the left underestimated the resolve of the American people when they put this heist into motion. They probably thought they had packetized enough fraudulent ballots and related activity across the MidWestern states that nobody, and I mean nobody, would be able to make the case in the courts that there was a concerted effort by any one party to steal one of America's gems in the rough, the election of an American president.
I don't think the left envisioned any scenario whereby 18 to 20 States would take their collective case to the Supreme Court alleging that their constitutional rights were abridged by those MidWestern states where laws were changed willy nilly by judges and politicians but not by the parties ultimately empowered by the Constitution to make said changes.
It's important to keep in mind that Trump won the election if you were to count the votes tallied on election night. It was only in the early morning hours of the following day that it all changed in Joe Biden's favor.
We all know what happened. The left used the millions upon millions of mail-in ballots generated in those MidWestern states at the behest of democratic inner city politicians and the Covid-19 pandemic to produce a result that would effectively upend a Trump win at the ballot box. There are even stories of truckloads of ballots being transported across state lines to ensure a Biden win in the State of Pennsylvania. Nothing to see here. Move along.
Even now, some 5 weeks after Election Day, 75% of republicans polled believe the election was stolen. 30% of democrats believe that to be true. The question now is, assuming the Supreme Court takes up the challenge, what sort of remedy will they render? The various cases of fraud in each of the states involved are one thing. The big enchilada, the one that trumps all of the fraud cases, is the case now before the Supreme Court. It seems that there are eighteen to twenty states who might have a bone to pick with those states that were party to the fraud against our Constitution.
If Trump is not the ultimate beneficiary of the Supreme Court's collective wisdom, there are 75 million Trump supporters who will feel that their voices and votes have been decisively disenfranchised. A Biden victory would embolden the left and it would sanction and encourage chicanery in future elections. It might well have the net effect, after all is said and done, of ensuring that no republican will ever again be elected president.
(Update) Thanks for nothing, Supreme Court. They threw out the case brought by Texas and the other states. I think they said something about the fact that Texas had no "standing." In Texas lingo, that effectively means that Texas has no dog in the fight. It's going nowhere as far as the Supreme's are concerned. That is a bummer. It's a major bummer, dude. Where do we go from here, my fellow Trumpsters? Time is running out and hopes of a last minute hail Mary are dwindling by the minute. Is there anything that Trump and his legal beagles can pull out of their hats at this late hour?
There is some crockery in the Twitter-sphere about U.S. naval vessels offshore on both the east and west coasts of our country. It's the kind of stuff that you see with, sadly, some regularity on social media platforms like Twitter. But, if true, what the hell are we talking about here? Maybe in a best case scenario, we're looking at a ground invasion to take out the democrats who have sold out to the Chinese Communists. Most of the elites reside in coastal communities so the positioning of the warships makes sense.
What if someone on Trump's team or some group or other in the intelligence community has determined that the Chinese or some other foreign and hostile country had a hand in conspiring with the democrats to steal this election? You can't deny that Trump's "America First" policies have put our country at odds with the globalists. They would do next to anything, including stealing an election, to return to the days of Obama when America was back on her heels and happy to be bending a knee to the despots in hell holes across the planet.
Trump and his people would have to do whatever they could to protect our great nation in that case. Right? He couldn't sit by and let the likes of Joe Biden and the leftists in the democrat party take our country down with the help of the Chinese or other. Right? He would have to call in the heavy armor and maybe even impose some form of marital law in order to claw back what is rightfully ours as a nation. Right? I'm getting an adrenaline rush just thinking about it.
I'm just saying that I think there is something going on behind the scenes that may give we conservatives something to cheer about when all is said and done. None of it bodes well for the dems so that has me wondering if it isn't just wishful thinking on my part. It wouldn't be the first time I've gone down a fucking rabbit hole when it comes to politics.
And what about Bill Barr, Trump's attorney general. He's been missing for a while and, to a person, we're asking, where the hell is Bill Barr with everything going on? Is he directing a counter-coup from the bowels of the White House? Or, does he see the handwriting on the wall when it comes to Trump's re-election and he's writing his memoirs from a grassy knoll somewhere in the Blue Ridge Mountains? How does an Attorney General just disappear with all of this "stuff" going on in our nation?
We conservatives never did get our pound of flesh from all the Russia Russia Russia nonsense that the dems put Trump and our nation through in the early days of his presidency. How do you account for the fact that there is no accountability for someone or some group running a coup against a sitting president?
Where the hell is the Durham investigation anyway? Is there any doubt in anyone's mind that if Biden gets in that he won't shut that investigation down? It wouldn't surprise me at all to see Biden pardon his son, Hunter, for his ongoing crimes as a made member of the Biden Crime Family Syndicate.
I'm reminded of the olden days when Trump was running for president and a common refrain in any one of his many rallies was "LOCK HER UP" when the name of his opponent, Hillary Clinton, came up. You knew that when they failed to make the case against Hillary Clinton that the standards of law enforcement were irretrievably changed for the worse in our great nation.
The elites flaunt the law and escape unscathed while everyone else is held to a very different standard. We might as well live in Venezuela when it comes to the scales of justice. How do we even define "justice" anymore? Maybe the only justice we take is the justice we make. It's the Proud Boys taking on the goons from Antifa in the streets of our cities. It's our mothers and fathers protecting their storefronts with shotguns and baseball bats.
It's our cross-country truckers running headlong into barricades erected by the democratically controlled street mobs looking to incite and intimidate. It's our cadre of conservative journalists working through the night to expose the underbelly of the freaks on the left so we know who they are and where they're hiding. We're taking our country back with or without the help of Bill Barr. We're taking our country back with or without the help of America's Armed forces and intelligence agencies. We're taking it all back, folks! Saddle up!
Joe was going to deliver the presidency to the left come hell or high water. With a stolen election almost in the bag as we sit here today on December 11th, 2020, it's now time to replace Sleepy Joe and bring in the left's real candidate, Kamala Harris. Mission "Trojan Horse" is coming down the final stretch. The only obstacle in their way now is Joe Biden. Enter the media with their balls-to-the-walls coverage of the Biden Family Crime Syndicate. Who knew?
You can't make this stuff up. It's almost as though Hollywood had a hand in writing the script. I think the left underestimated the resolve of the American people when they put this heist into motion. They probably thought they had packetized enough fraudulent ballots and related activity across the MidWestern states that nobody, and I mean nobody, would be able to make the case in the courts that there was a concerted effort by any one party to steal one of America's gems in the rough, the election of an American president.
I don't think the left envisioned any scenario whereby 18 to 20 States would take their collective case to the Supreme Court alleging that their constitutional rights were abridged by those MidWestern states where laws were changed willy nilly by judges and politicians but not by the parties ultimately empowered by the Constitution to make said changes.
It's important to keep in mind that Trump won the election if you were to count the votes tallied on election night. It was only in the early morning hours of the following day that it all changed in Joe Biden's favor.
We all know what happened. The left used the millions upon millions of mail-in ballots generated in those MidWestern states at the behest of democratic inner city politicians and the Covid-19 pandemic to produce a result that would effectively upend a Trump win at the ballot box. There are even stories of truckloads of ballots being transported across state lines to ensure a Biden win in the State of Pennsylvania. Nothing to see here. Move along.
Even now, some 5 weeks after Election Day, 75% of republicans polled believe the election was stolen. 30% of democrats believe that to be true. The question now is, assuming the Supreme Court takes up the challenge, what sort of remedy will they render? The various cases of fraud in each of the states involved are one thing. The big enchilada, the one that trumps all of the fraud cases, is the case now before the Supreme Court. It seems that there are eighteen to twenty states who might have a bone to pick with those states that were party to the fraud against our Constitution.
If Trump is not the ultimate beneficiary of the Supreme Court's collective wisdom, there are 75 million Trump supporters who will feel that their voices and votes have been decisively disenfranchised. A Biden victory would embolden the left and it would sanction and encourage chicanery in future elections. It might well have the net effect, after all is said and done, of ensuring that no republican will ever again be elected president.
(Update) Thanks for nothing, Supreme Court. They threw out the case brought by Texas and the other states. I think they said something about the fact that Texas had no "standing." In Texas lingo, that effectively means that Texas has no dog in the fight. It's going nowhere as far as the Supreme's are concerned. That is a bummer. It's a major bummer, dude. Where do we go from here, my fellow Trumpsters? Time is running out and hopes of a last minute hail Mary are dwindling by the minute. Is there anything that Trump and his legal beagles can pull out of their hats at this late hour?
There is some crockery in the Twitter-sphere about U.S. naval vessels offshore on both the east and west coasts of our country. It's the kind of stuff that you see with, sadly, some regularity on social media platforms like Twitter. But, if true, what the hell are we talking about here? Maybe in a best case scenario, we're looking at a ground invasion to take out the democrats who have sold out to the Chinese Communists. Most of the elites reside in coastal communities so the positioning of the warships makes sense.
What if someone on Trump's team or some group or other in the intelligence community has determined that the Chinese or some other foreign and hostile country had a hand in conspiring with the democrats to steal this election? You can't deny that Trump's "America First" policies have put our country at odds with the globalists. They would do next to anything, including stealing an election, to return to the days of Obama when America was back on her heels and happy to be bending a knee to the despots in hell holes across the planet.
Trump and his people would have to do whatever they could to protect our great nation in that case. Right? He couldn't sit by and let the likes of Joe Biden and the leftists in the democrat party take our country down with the help of the Chinese or other. Right? He would have to call in the heavy armor and maybe even impose some form of marital law in order to claw back what is rightfully ours as a nation. Right? I'm getting an adrenaline rush just thinking about it.
I'm just saying that I think there is something going on behind the scenes that may give we conservatives something to cheer about when all is said and done. None of it bodes well for the dems so that has me wondering if it isn't just wishful thinking on my part. It wouldn't be the first time I've gone down a fucking rabbit hole when it comes to politics.
And what about Bill Barr, Trump's attorney general. He's been missing for a while and, to a person, we're asking, where the hell is Bill Barr with everything going on? Is he directing a counter-coup from the bowels of the White House? Or, does he see the handwriting on the wall when it comes to Trump's re-election and he's writing his memoirs from a grassy knoll somewhere in the Blue Ridge Mountains? How does an Attorney General just disappear with all of this "stuff" going on in our nation?
We conservatives never did get our pound of flesh from all the Russia Russia Russia nonsense that the dems put Trump and our nation through in the early days of his presidency. How do you account for the fact that there is no accountability for someone or some group running a coup against a sitting president?
Where the hell is the Durham investigation anyway? Is there any doubt in anyone's mind that if Biden gets in that he won't shut that investigation down? It wouldn't surprise me at all to see Biden pardon his son, Hunter, for his ongoing crimes as a made member of the Biden Crime Family Syndicate.
I'm reminded of the olden days when Trump was running for president and a common refrain in any one of his many rallies was "LOCK HER UP" when the name of his opponent, Hillary Clinton, came up. You knew that when they failed to make the case against Hillary Clinton that the standards of law enforcement were irretrievably changed for the worse in our great nation.
The elites flaunt the law and escape unscathed while everyone else is held to a very different standard. We might as well live in Venezuela when it comes to the scales of justice. How do we even define "justice" anymore? Maybe the only justice we take is the justice we make. It's the Proud Boys taking on the goons from Antifa in the streets of our cities. It's our mothers and fathers protecting their storefronts with shotguns and baseball bats.
It's our cross-country truckers running headlong into barricades erected by the democratically controlled street mobs looking to incite and intimidate. It's our cadre of conservative journalists working through the night to expose the underbelly of the freaks on the left so we know who they are and where they're hiding. We're taking our country back with or without the help of Bill Barr. We're taking our country back with or without the help of America's Armed forces and intelligence agencies. We're taking it all back, folks! Saddle up!
Stayin' Alive
10/12/20 07:10
Gotta start somewhere. right? I find that the longer I take to get started on a new page in this here journal the longer it takes me to get going. With each passing day I lose a little more steam and before long I'm gasping for air. Well, that might be a slight exaggeration. Anyway, putting my thoughts down on paper just becomes that much more difficult. I've had a good year so far so I can't complain too much.
I'm not sure there isn't much I haven't written about. So here we are, with Christmas and the year 2021 just around the corner, and I think wanting to end the year strong is as good an incentive as any to keep doing what I'm doing but with just a little more gusto for the next 23 days.
I'll deal with 2021 when it gets here. I have a nice collection of Christmas music to play while I write so that's a good thing. I'm listening to the Benedictines of Mary Queen of Apostles in case you're wondering what works and what doesn't. Well, for me anyway.
Nancy and I got off on a tangent before going off to sleep last night and I reminded her that filling your head with bad things before bedtime is never a good thing. No one likes to go to sleep with this or that unreconciled matter tumbling around in your brain.
Some people say that going off to sleep with a problem unsolved in your head can be a good thing. You leave the messy work of sorting out problems that your brain can't fix to the less cerebral parts of your brain that work just fine but not until you're fast asleep. Connecting the dots when you wake up is an altogether different art form.
On one hand, she was delighted to have a partner who is willing, but not always wanting, to listen to her tales of woe. I least want to listen to her problems just before bedtime so as not to relive her of her burdens only to carry them on my own shoulders into never-never land. That has never stopped her from saying what she wants to say so, short of pretending to be asleep when she goes off on her rants, I simply remind her that her sleeping hours will likely be more fruitful if she doesn't fill her head with these so-called negative thoughts before going off to sleep.
The fact that most of her issues these days are work-related tells us all we need to know. How she started off working two days a week and now works the better part of six days is a story for another day. Her job was meant to provide a bridge of sorts into retirement and instead has become that sucking sound south of the border that Ross Perot loved to whine about when he was running for president. Not a very good metaphor, I admit, but this journal entry is all about getting started so just try to work with me.
The morphing of her duties has been gradual and what she does day-to-day now is a far cry from what she was doing when she started her job. Maybe what I'm hearing night after night are growing pains. As hard as she works to get it all right, this is not what she signed up for. It was not a job that anyone expected her to take home with her night after night. Now that she's working from home in this pandemic world of ours, that might well be making matters worse rather than better.
We finally got the Ev man's car squared away so I feel good about that. The idiot lights on his dashboard have been popping up here and there over the last many months and I've been telling him to largely ignore them for lack of a better description. As I've said to him many a time, "I'll take it to the guy down the street and he'll pass the car for inspection when the time comes so that's all we need to care about." That all changed when one of his lights turned out to be related to the malfunctioning of his seat belts. That's a horse of an altogether different color.
I'm sanguine about a lot of things but, when it comes to putting the health and well being of my family members at risk, not so much. So when his SRS (Supplemental Restraint System) lights came on and stayed on I wanted no part of not doing the right thing. Besides, who puts their family members lives at risk just to save few bucks? Oh, and while you're under the hood, Mr. Mechanic man, can you take a look at these other things too?
I don't have a good sense of Evan's attachment to the vehicle that he drives other than to say that, if I had to guess, I think he would be lost without it. It's a good car and it's one that served our family well for many years before we handed it off to Evan. It's still solid as a rock but prone to the vicissitudes of old age as it approaches year ten. Ev took my comments about the risks associated with certain idiot lights in stride but may have run them through his own filters. Loosely translated, his take was probably as follows: Drive at your own risk.
Had I taken the time to consider, and I mean really consider, what having these lights on his dashboard as constant reminders that not all was well meant to him, I might have gotten things fixed sooner. Now that I've had everything fixed, I'm of the mind that Evan is maybe even more satisfied than I am. It's one, maybe more than one, less thing to have to worry about in a life where worry is a way of life. How could I have not seen that sooner? If I'm feeling better about it and it's not even a car that I drive then you can well imagine the relief he must be feeling. DOH!
My guitar lessons are going well. I think my fifteen minutes a day are getting the job done. My main focus has less to do with learning chords, and maybe more to do with learning certain fingering exercises. Exercises that are certain to toughen up my finger tips and give me a familiarity with the guitar that has heretofore not come into focus for me. I'd be lying if I didn't tell you that I've been strumming a few chords here and there if only to break up the monotony of my fingering exercises. You'd be surprised to know how many popular songs you can play with just two chords.
I think the key is to do it every day. I'll be picking up the guitar and doing my exercises as I am want to do. I don't have a preferred time of the day for doing that, as yet, but I think I'll get there in time. Just as I prefer to write in this here journal in or around 7 a.m., I will likely settle on a time for picking up the guitar. I need to do the same with my reading. That may be more difficult since some books are more enjoyable than others. That makes picking up a book every day more of a chore than not. Maybe I need to start reading better books.
It looks like the question of who will become the 46th president is now in the hands of the Supreme Court. I hope the Justices, to a person, have the intestinal fortitude to make their decisions regardless of the threats that face our nation from the "mob" should Donald J Trump emerge the victor.
He did, after all, win the election if you strip out all the invalid and illegal ballots cast in the early morning hours for his opponent, Sleepy Joe Biden. The Supremes need to send a message to the populace, and more specifically the dems, that election fraud will not be tolerated in our Republic.
We'll see if the conservative Justices are up to the task. We'll see if the threats from the left are enough to dissuade a Court from doing their duty to uphold the laws of our nation. Conservatives have the majority so they need to exercise the power that goes along with having that majority. If not now, when?
Three of the five conservatives are Trump picks but are, as yet, somewhat untested. The remaining two Justices have solid bona fides when it comes to supporting conservative causes. Do your fucking jobs is what I say! Uphold our Constitution! Save our Republic!
Is it just me or are the only people in Government coming down with Covid these days part of, or associated with, the Trump Administration? Even within the Senatorial ranks, the only Senators coming down with Covid are Republicans. For example, just as Trump's legal team, headed up by Giuliani, is coming down the home stretch with his esteemed team of legal beagles, Rudy comes down with Covid. Go figure.
I think the dems have effectively weaponized the virus, perhaps even in concert with the Chinese, and are using it to wreak havoc upon their unsuspecting opponents across the aisle in and around Washington, DC. Talk about conspiracy theories. This one is a doozy.
It makes the Russian Hoax bullshit pulled off by the democrats in Trump's first term look like child's play. If we're to believe everything we see and hear these days, the Chinese have infiltrated out government and our educational institutions at every level. Politicians are so easily bought. Sad.
It looks like Pfizer's vaccine will be approved for emergency use for Covid-19 here in the U.S today. It was approved for same earlier in the week in the UK. I thought Trump just signed an America First policy when it comes to vaccines produced by American suppliers?
Let the UK fund and develop their own damn vaccine. In other words, get in line. Speaking of getting in line, it will be curious to see how this gets rolled out and, maybe more importantly, who in our population of 330 million gets the vaccine first.
Anybody want to bet their next paycheck that the politicians will rolling up their sleeves behind the scenes to get their doses ahead of the general public? Yes, we need to circle back to better understand why republicans are coming down with this virus in appreciably greater numbers than are the democrats. It seems more likely than not that the democrats are getting their vaccines way ahead of schedule. How else do you explain this disparity?
Where exactly are the democrats getting their doses? It helps to have friends in high places so maybe we're talking about Dr Fauci here. He's a died-in-the-wool democrat so why not? Maybe Pfizer, whose leadership leans liberal, did the dems a solid and rolled the vaccine out early for their "friends" on the left. Nothing would surprise me.
Anyway, let's hope that whatever they provide to the general public in the coming months isn't first siphoned off by the politicians for their families and friends. Let's get it to the people who really need it.
I'm not sure there isn't much I haven't written about. So here we are, with Christmas and the year 2021 just around the corner, and I think wanting to end the year strong is as good an incentive as any to keep doing what I'm doing but with just a little more gusto for the next 23 days.
I'll deal with 2021 when it gets here. I have a nice collection of Christmas music to play while I write so that's a good thing. I'm listening to the Benedictines of Mary Queen of Apostles in case you're wondering what works and what doesn't. Well, for me anyway.
Nancy and I got off on a tangent before going off to sleep last night and I reminded her that filling your head with bad things before bedtime is never a good thing. No one likes to go to sleep with this or that unreconciled matter tumbling around in your brain.
Some people say that going off to sleep with a problem unsolved in your head can be a good thing. You leave the messy work of sorting out problems that your brain can't fix to the less cerebral parts of your brain that work just fine but not until you're fast asleep. Connecting the dots when you wake up is an altogether different art form.
On one hand, she was delighted to have a partner who is willing, but not always wanting, to listen to her tales of woe. I least want to listen to her problems just before bedtime so as not to relive her of her burdens only to carry them on my own shoulders into never-never land. That has never stopped her from saying what she wants to say so, short of pretending to be asleep when she goes off on her rants, I simply remind her that her sleeping hours will likely be more fruitful if she doesn't fill her head with these so-called negative thoughts before going off to sleep.
The fact that most of her issues these days are work-related tells us all we need to know. How she started off working two days a week and now works the better part of six days is a story for another day. Her job was meant to provide a bridge of sorts into retirement and instead has become that sucking sound south of the border that Ross Perot loved to whine about when he was running for president. Not a very good metaphor, I admit, but this journal entry is all about getting started so just try to work with me.
The morphing of her duties has been gradual and what she does day-to-day now is a far cry from what she was doing when she started her job. Maybe what I'm hearing night after night are growing pains. As hard as she works to get it all right, this is not what she signed up for. It was not a job that anyone expected her to take home with her night after night. Now that she's working from home in this pandemic world of ours, that might well be making matters worse rather than better.
We finally got the Ev man's car squared away so I feel good about that. The idiot lights on his dashboard have been popping up here and there over the last many months and I've been telling him to largely ignore them for lack of a better description. As I've said to him many a time, "I'll take it to the guy down the street and he'll pass the car for inspection when the time comes so that's all we need to care about." That all changed when one of his lights turned out to be related to the malfunctioning of his seat belts. That's a horse of an altogether different color.
I'm sanguine about a lot of things but, when it comes to putting the health and well being of my family members at risk, not so much. So when his SRS (Supplemental Restraint System) lights came on and stayed on I wanted no part of not doing the right thing. Besides, who puts their family members lives at risk just to save few bucks? Oh, and while you're under the hood, Mr. Mechanic man, can you take a look at these other things too?
I don't have a good sense of Evan's attachment to the vehicle that he drives other than to say that, if I had to guess, I think he would be lost without it. It's a good car and it's one that served our family well for many years before we handed it off to Evan. It's still solid as a rock but prone to the vicissitudes of old age as it approaches year ten. Ev took my comments about the risks associated with certain idiot lights in stride but may have run them through his own filters. Loosely translated, his take was probably as follows: Drive at your own risk.
Had I taken the time to consider, and I mean really consider, what having these lights on his dashboard as constant reminders that not all was well meant to him, I might have gotten things fixed sooner. Now that I've had everything fixed, I'm of the mind that Evan is maybe even more satisfied than I am. It's one, maybe more than one, less thing to have to worry about in a life where worry is a way of life. How could I have not seen that sooner? If I'm feeling better about it and it's not even a car that I drive then you can well imagine the relief he must be feeling. DOH!
My guitar lessons are going well. I think my fifteen minutes a day are getting the job done. My main focus has less to do with learning chords, and maybe more to do with learning certain fingering exercises. Exercises that are certain to toughen up my finger tips and give me a familiarity with the guitar that has heretofore not come into focus for me. I'd be lying if I didn't tell you that I've been strumming a few chords here and there if only to break up the monotony of my fingering exercises. You'd be surprised to know how many popular songs you can play with just two chords.
I think the key is to do it every day. I'll be picking up the guitar and doing my exercises as I am want to do. I don't have a preferred time of the day for doing that, as yet, but I think I'll get there in time. Just as I prefer to write in this here journal in or around 7 a.m., I will likely settle on a time for picking up the guitar. I need to do the same with my reading. That may be more difficult since some books are more enjoyable than others. That makes picking up a book every day more of a chore than not. Maybe I need to start reading better books.
It looks like the question of who will become the 46th president is now in the hands of the Supreme Court. I hope the Justices, to a person, have the intestinal fortitude to make their decisions regardless of the threats that face our nation from the "mob" should Donald J Trump emerge the victor.
He did, after all, win the election if you strip out all the invalid and illegal ballots cast in the early morning hours for his opponent, Sleepy Joe Biden. The Supremes need to send a message to the populace, and more specifically the dems, that election fraud will not be tolerated in our Republic.
We'll see if the conservative Justices are up to the task. We'll see if the threats from the left are enough to dissuade a Court from doing their duty to uphold the laws of our nation. Conservatives have the majority so they need to exercise the power that goes along with having that majority. If not now, when?
Three of the five conservatives are Trump picks but are, as yet, somewhat untested. The remaining two Justices have solid bona fides when it comes to supporting conservative causes. Do your fucking jobs is what I say! Uphold our Constitution! Save our Republic!
Is it just me or are the only people in Government coming down with Covid these days part of, or associated with, the Trump Administration? Even within the Senatorial ranks, the only Senators coming down with Covid are Republicans. For example, just as Trump's legal team, headed up by Giuliani, is coming down the home stretch with his esteemed team of legal beagles, Rudy comes down with Covid. Go figure.
I think the dems have effectively weaponized the virus, perhaps even in concert with the Chinese, and are using it to wreak havoc upon their unsuspecting opponents across the aisle in and around Washington, DC. Talk about conspiracy theories. This one is a doozy.
It makes the Russian Hoax bullshit pulled off by the democrats in Trump's first term look like child's play. If we're to believe everything we see and hear these days, the Chinese have infiltrated out government and our educational institutions at every level. Politicians are so easily bought. Sad.
It looks like Pfizer's vaccine will be approved for emergency use for Covid-19 here in the U.S today. It was approved for same earlier in the week in the UK. I thought Trump just signed an America First policy when it comes to vaccines produced by American suppliers?
Let the UK fund and develop their own damn vaccine. In other words, get in line. Speaking of getting in line, it will be curious to see how this gets rolled out and, maybe more importantly, who in our population of 330 million gets the vaccine first.
Anybody want to bet their next paycheck that the politicians will rolling up their sleeves behind the scenes to get their doses ahead of the general public? Yes, we need to circle back to better understand why republicans are coming down with this virus in appreciably greater numbers than are the democrats. It seems more likely than not that the democrats are getting their vaccines way ahead of schedule. How else do you explain this disparity?
Where exactly are the democrats getting their doses? It helps to have friends in high places so maybe we're talking about Dr Fauci here. He's a died-in-the-wool democrat so why not? Maybe Pfizer, whose leadership leans liberal, did the dems a solid and rolled the vaccine out early for their "friends" on the left. Nothing would surprise me.
Anyway, let's hope that whatever they provide to the general public in the coming months isn't first siphoned off by the politicians for their families and friends. Let's get it to the people who really need it.
Betcha by Golly, Wow
04/12/20 06:48
It's December 1st, folks. I don't think I have my winter head on quite right yet. I haven't even taken the snow blower out of the shed for chrissakes. There's stuff on the back deck that needs to get put way. I need to cover the air conditioner in the back room and I'm sure there are things that I haven't even thought about yet that may or may not require my attention. And then there is the eight hundred pound gorilla in the room. You now what I'm talking about. Christmas!
Will there be fewer things to buy because everyone is staying closer to home this year? You betcha. Not that we go out of our way to buy things for folks near and far because we don't. It probably wouldn't kill me to send a coffee cake or two here and there. Maybe one of those fruit baskets with the skewers of strawberries and pineapples sticking up all over the place. We have a lot of things for the Ev man so that's good. You can't lavish your loved ones with enough bling when the holidays roll around. Maybe we'll get him something practical this year. You know, like an electric car starter.
I need to get new tires for my car and I keep dragging my feet on getting that done. I just can't bring myself to do these things for whatever reason. There is a tire store close by that is having a two-for-one sale and I should be jumping all over that. What's this all about, Johnny Boy? I should probably replace the starter in the very same car but that too seems like a bridge too far. I can barely even contemplate getting my oil changed and, while that's not necessary short term, the time is coming sooner rather than later.
You know what they say about things that sound too good to be true. Thats how I feel about the tire deal. Nancy and I were out for coffee the other day and we pulled down a couple of secret Santa thingies off a tree-like structure they had place outside their place of business. Most of the requests were for clothing for residents of a nearby shelter but there were others that we found more interesting. I guess I have some shopping to do between now and December 14th. Maybe doing something for others will be easier than doing something for myself. We'll see.
I may have pushed myself too hard yesterday. Nancy let me know early on that she heard that we had some wild weather heading our way. I hadn't been paying too much attention to the weather but I still had a good mind to get a bike ride in regardless. Nancy's comments helped focus my attention on my task at hand and that was to get out the door and on the road before the door was effectively closed on that opportunity.
The rain started even before I rolled my bike out of the garage but it was coming down ever so gently so it didn't concern me one way or another. I don't mind riding in the rain as long as it isn't coming down cats and dogs. And there is nothing worse than not going biking because you think the rain is going to be a problem and then the rain stops or become otherwise inconsequential. So I gave it a go and things went from bad to worse in a hurry.
It wasn't just the rain that picked up in intensity. The winds were gusting and relentless along the ocean and with no trees to break the flow it was tough going. Would I have accepted a ride from someone had they pulled up aside me offering same? Probably not. Would I have contemplated pulling over and putting things on hold until weather conditions improved? Not likely. Did I consider for a moment calling Nancy and asking her to come pick me up? Nope. She was home and hard at work and I wasn't about to interrupt her work day just because I made the dumb ass decision to go for a bike ride in what was quickly shaping up to be a Nor'Easter.
I felt like it took me the rest of the day to recover after getting home, soaked and exhausted, but safe. Several times during my ride I had to stop pedaling so I could catch my breath. I sometimes gauge the success of my rides by how hard I work or maybe how easy a time I have it from beginning to end. Stopping and catching my breath more than a couple times is never a good sign. It was just one of those days. The weather most decidedly did not help.
The whole experience was fucking with my electrolytes or something because I couldn't find the right balance of anything once I got home. I ended up eating and drinking too much, eating too much of the wrong things, and looking for a reprieve beneath the covers on our bed while the storm continued to rage outside our bedroom window. It was the right place to be but the timing was all wrong. I was there for one reason and one reason alone. I was in full recovery mode and it was a reboot of my senses at a minimum. Sometimes that works and sometimes it doesn't.
There ain't a lick of snow on the ground at the moment so it's hard to imagine that before long I'll be out on the hustings clearing snow in and around our home. I think my machines are ready but I'll need to get them out and maybe run them for a bit just to be sure. I haven't even removed the things I need to remove in order to get my car in the garage for the winter so there's that. Evan dropped over last night and I reminded him that we'll stick to the plan that worked so well for us last winter if that's okay with him.
When there is a storm in the forecast, he'll stay the night here at our house and we'll put his car in the garage. That should save him the trouble of coordinating the moving of his car from the lower to the upper lot at his place as they plow one lot at a time. I also want to get his car into the shop for some long overdue maintenance items. The idiot lights are one thing, and maybe a good reminder for those who need it, but we know for a fact that we've not had much done in quite some time so I think it's time. I have a good mind to go back to the guy in Massachusetts that has done some nice work for us in the past.
They'll be rolling out the vaccines for the Covid thingy soon so that may be worth a second look. I think I'm less interested in the vaccine that involves my DNA because you never know where that might take you. Both the Moderna and the Pfizer vaccines involve your DNA one way or another so I'll want to avoid those. Unfortunately, they are probably going to be first to market so I'll be hanging around waiting for my shot while others are walking around feeling maybe safer than they should. If I still have to wear a mask even after my vaccination that will suck big time. I shouldn't have to. Right?
Stores will probably still require that I wear a mask inside their establishment so that's a problem. If I've been vaccinated I would think I might be given a pass on some of the more restrictive rules that seem to be out and about in our society. Maybe I can still contract and transmit the virus but not otherwise succumb to the illness that occasionally follows once you catch it. I just don't know. I would give most anything not to have to wear that damn mask. As for the sickness itself, I'm not one to run around with my hair on fire thinking that we're all going to die. It's just not me. If I get it, I get it. If I don't get it, that just dandy too.
Mrs G gave a holler last night and said that her independent living facility is tightening up restrictions due to the increasing numbers of infections in the community. We visited often during the summer months and we sat outside her door on her patio during our visitations. It worked pretty well actually. We weren't allowed to go inside her unit and that was a condition we were willing to abide by. Now the the colder weather is here, and with infections on the rise, no one is allowed to go inside her facility still and with the holidays coming up fast it's, well, bleak.
I think they're trying to discourage outsiders from taking the residents away from the facility and that is tantamount to a lockdown. Any and all classes for the residents have been cancelled for the time being so it's going to get worse for the residents before it gets better. Nancy and I are not sure what we'll be doing to squeeze in our visits now and that is likely to cause Nancy some consternation, forgetting for a moment if you will, the deleterious impact on her mother. It all seems so intractable.
I think everyone is just hanging tight until the vaccine arrives. Since that seems more or less imminent, maybe it's good policy. Maybe the management over at her place is to be lauded for their handling of everything during this pandemic which began earlier this year. I don't believe anyone in her specific facility ever came down with the virus and I'm not sure they even had a fatality in any of their buildings across the State of New Hampshire. That's pretty good. They continue to send little gifts to the residents reminding them as they do that they are in their thoughts and prayers during these difficult times. These so-called olive branches have not gone unnoticed.
Now that I've given up FOX, and politics in general (unless Trump overturns the election results), I seem to have a lot of time on my hands. Funny how that works. So, what ya doing with all of your extra time, Johnny Boy? Well, funny you should ask. I'm going to bed earlier than usual. I'm reading books that have more than 500 pages which is not at all usual for me. I'm taking up my guitar again after putting it aside for longer than I care to admit. I was a beginner when I dropped it and I'm still a beginner. That should tell you all you need to know about my level of dedication to the craft. Maybe it will be different this time. Right.
I'd forgotten how painful it can be toughening up your fingers to play the guitar. I use the word "play" advisedly here. I'm so out in left field with all of this that I took my bike ride yesterday while listening to Andre' Segovia, the savant who graced the world with his artistry on the classical guitar. If you can imagine it, you can do it. Right? The first lesson I turned to in YouTube gave me guidance on how to practice slowly but methodically maybe for the better part of two months at which time my fingers might be calloused enough to move to phase two of my lessons. I'm not wanting to be a strummer, per se, so today I'll be looking at fingering exercises. What will that make me? A picker? A plucker?
Just to be clear, I have no desire to be a Johnny Denver either. I won't be doing any coffee houses and you won't be buying tickets for my performance on Stub Hub. I won't be regaling family and friends with my talents on the guitar at birthday parties or social gatherings. You won't find me on street corners or in subway stations strumming my gee-tar for spare change and funny looks. I won't be that banjo player from the movie, Deliverance, although knocking off a reasonable version of Greensleeves in a pinch might be a suitable ambition. Like that book I just started, Napoleon, which is some 900 pages long, it's going to be a long road to hoe. You got that right, baby cakes.
Will there be fewer things to buy because everyone is staying closer to home this year? You betcha. Not that we go out of our way to buy things for folks near and far because we don't. It probably wouldn't kill me to send a coffee cake or two here and there. Maybe one of those fruit baskets with the skewers of strawberries and pineapples sticking up all over the place. We have a lot of things for the Ev man so that's good. You can't lavish your loved ones with enough bling when the holidays roll around. Maybe we'll get him something practical this year. You know, like an electric car starter.
I need to get new tires for my car and I keep dragging my feet on getting that done. I just can't bring myself to do these things for whatever reason. There is a tire store close by that is having a two-for-one sale and I should be jumping all over that. What's this all about, Johnny Boy? I should probably replace the starter in the very same car but that too seems like a bridge too far. I can barely even contemplate getting my oil changed and, while that's not necessary short term, the time is coming sooner rather than later.
You know what they say about things that sound too good to be true. Thats how I feel about the tire deal. Nancy and I were out for coffee the other day and we pulled down a couple of secret Santa thingies off a tree-like structure they had place outside their place of business. Most of the requests were for clothing for residents of a nearby shelter but there were others that we found more interesting. I guess I have some shopping to do between now and December 14th. Maybe doing something for others will be easier than doing something for myself. We'll see.
I may have pushed myself too hard yesterday. Nancy let me know early on that she heard that we had some wild weather heading our way. I hadn't been paying too much attention to the weather but I still had a good mind to get a bike ride in regardless. Nancy's comments helped focus my attention on my task at hand and that was to get out the door and on the road before the door was effectively closed on that opportunity.
The rain started even before I rolled my bike out of the garage but it was coming down ever so gently so it didn't concern me one way or another. I don't mind riding in the rain as long as it isn't coming down cats and dogs. And there is nothing worse than not going biking because you think the rain is going to be a problem and then the rain stops or become otherwise inconsequential. So I gave it a go and things went from bad to worse in a hurry.
It wasn't just the rain that picked up in intensity. The winds were gusting and relentless along the ocean and with no trees to break the flow it was tough going. Would I have accepted a ride from someone had they pulled up aside me offering same? Probably not. Would I have contemplated pulling over and putting things on hold until weather conditions improved? Not likely. Did I consider for a moment calling Nancy and asking her to come pick me up? Nope. She was home and hard at work and I wasn't about to interrupt her work day just because I made the dumb ass decision to go for a bike ride in what was quickly shaping up to be a Nor'Easter.
I felt like it took me the rest of the day to recover after getting home, soaked and exhausted, but safe. Several times during my ride I had to stop pedaling so I could catch my breath. I sometimes gauge the success of my rides by how hard I work or maybe how easy a time I have it from beginning to end. Stopping and catching my breath more than a couple times is never a good sign. It was just one of those days. The weather most decidedly did not help.
The whole experience was fucking with my electrolytes or something because I couldn't find the right balance of anything once I got home. I ended up eating and drinking too much, eating too much of the wrong things, and looking for a reprieve beneath the covers on our bed while the storm continued to rage outside our bedroom window. It was the right place to be but the timing was all wrong. I was there for one reason and one reason alone. I was in full recovery mode and it was a reboot of my senses at a minimum. Sometimes that works and sometimes it doesn't.
There ain't a lick of snow on the ground at the moment so it's hard to imagine that before long I'll be out on the hustings clearing snow in and around our home. I think my machines are ready but I'll need to get them out and maybe run them for a bit just to be sure. I haven't even removed the things I need to remove in order to get my car in the garage for the winter so there's that. Evan dropped over last night and I reminded him that we'll stick to the plan that worked so well for us last winter if that's okay with him.
When there is a storm in the forecast, he'll stay the night here at our house and we'll put his car in the garage. That should save him the trouble of coordinating the moving of his car from the lower to the upper lot at his place as they plow one lot at a time. I also want to get his car into the shop for some long overdue maintenance items. The idiot lights are one thing, and maybe a good reminder for those who need it, but we know for a fact that we've not had much done in quite some time so I think it's time. I have a good mind to go back to the guy in Massachusetts that has done some nice work for us in the past.
They'll be rolling out the vaccines for the Covid thingy soon so that may be worth a second look. I think I'm less interested in the vaccine that involves my DNA because you never know where that might take you. Both the Moderna and the Pfizer vaccines involve your DNA one way or another so I'll want to avoid those. Unfortunately, they are probably going to be first to market so I'll be hanging around waiting for my shot while others are walking around feeling maybe safer than they should. If I still have to wear a mask even after my vaccination that will suck big time. I shouldn't have to. Right?
Stores will probably still require that I wear a mask inside their establishment so that's a problem. If I've been vaccinated I would think I might be given a pass on some of the more restrictive rules that seem to be out and about in our society. Maybe I can still contract and transmit the virus but not otherwise succumb to the illness that occasionally follows once you catch it. I just don't know. I would give most anything not to have to wear that damn mask. As for the sickness itself, I'm not one to run around with my hair on fire thinking that we're all going to die. It's just not me. If I get it, I get it. If I don't get it, that just dandy too.
Mrs G gave a holler last night and said that her independent living facility is tightening up restrictions due to the increasing numbers of infections in the community. We visited often during the summer months and we sat outside her door on her patio during our visitations. It worked pretty well actually. We weren't allowed to go inside her unit and that was a condition we were willing to abide by. Now the the colder weather is here, and with infections on the rise, no one is allowed to go inside her facility still and with the holidays coming up fast it's, well, bleak.
I think they're trying to discourage outsiders from taking the residents away from the facility and that is tantamount to a lockdown. Any and all classes for the residents have been cancelled for the time being so it's going to get worse for the residents before it gets better. Nancy and I are not sure what we'll be doing to squeeze in our visits now and that is likely to cause Nancy some consternation, forgetting for a moment if you will, the deleterious impact on her mother. It all seems so intractable.
I think everyone is just hanging tight until the vaccine arrives. Since that seems more or less imminent, maybe it's good policy. Maybe the management over at her place is to be lauded for their handling of everything during this pandemic which began earlier this year. I don't believe anyone in her specific facility ever came down with the virus and I'm not sure they even had a fatality in any of their buildings across the State of New Hampshire. That's pretty good. They continue to send little gifts to the residents reminding them as they do that they are in their thoughts and prayers during these difficult times. These so-called olive branches have not gone unnoticed.
Now that I've given up FOX, and politics in general (unless Trump overturns the election results), I seem to have a lot of time on my hands. Funny how that works. So, what ya doing with all of your extra time, Johnny Boy? Well, funny you should ask. I'm going to bed earlier than usual. I'm reading books that have more than 500 pages which is not at all usual for me. I'm taking up my guitar again after putting it aside for longer than I care to admit. I was a beginner when I dropped it and I'm still a beginner. That should tell you all you need to know about my level of dedication to the craft. Maybe it will be different this time. Right.
I'd forgotten how painful it can be toughening up your fingers to play the guitar. I use the word "play" advisedly here. I'm so out in left field with all of this that I took my bike ride yesterday while listening to Andre' Segovia, the savant who graced the world with his artistry on the classical guitar. If you can imagine it, you can do it. Right? The first lesson I turned to in YouTube gave me guidance on how to practice slowly but methodically maybe for the better part of two months at which time my fingers might be calloused enough to move to phase two of my lessons. I'm not wanting to be a strummer, per se, so today I'll be looking at fingering exercises. What will that make me? A picker? A plucker?
Just to be clear, I have no desire to be a Johnny Denver either. I won't be doing any coffee houses and you won't be buying tickets for my performance on Stub Hub. I won't be regaling family and friends with my talents on the guitar at birthday parties or social gatherings. You won't find me on street corners or in subway stations strumming my gee-tar for spare change and funny looks. I won't be that banjo player from the movie, Deliverance, although knocking off a reasonable version of Greensleeves in a pinch might be a suitable ambition. Like that book I just started, Napoleon, which is some 900 pages long, it's going to be a long road to hoe. You got that right, baby cakes.
Thanksgiving and Then Some
29/11/20 07:12
We don't need a twenty pound turkey but that's what we have sitting in our refrigerator for Thanksgiving tomorrow. It's probably five to six pounds more than we need if not more. That's all they had at Trader Joe's so that's what I bought. I need to remind myself that when I'm reading stories about stores closing and cars and families lining up for miles and miles just to get food because of the pandemic that maybe having five to six more pounds more than I need isn't a bad thing.
We can thank the baby Jesus that it's not happening around here. That said, we need to keep in mind that it could happen here. I was sitting on our couch the other afternoon looking at a meager number of supplies that has been piled up on our deacons bench since March. I couldn't help but wonder how long what I did have would last if everything shuts down again. I will clearly need that extra five pounds of turkey and a hell of a lot more if I don't want to be standing in line waiting for government rations.
And then there are all of those families in need who wish they had a turkey in thier oven on Thanksgiving no less an extra five pounds of turkey. I don't know that we've done enough to pay anything forward as it is so there's that. Maybe we've just been too busy with our own lives to consider the plight of the people in need sitting right here in our own community. It wouldn't have killed us to make a donation or two and now it's probably too late. Bicycle Bob and our elderly neighbor, Betsi Lou, are on their own this Thanksgiving.
Evan says they have a couple of cases of covid-19 in his building over in Exeter. He takes the stairway up to his fourth floor flat and avoids taking the elevator when it looks like he might not be the only one along for the ride. We don't worry one way or another that he might bring the dreaded virus into our house when paying a visit nor do we want him worrying about doing just that. Nobody is worried about coming down with this virus in a day and time when and where therapeutics are readily available. I would be lying if I didn't say that it would be inconvenient. Well, maybe more than a little inconvenient.
I had high hopes that we might be able to bring a nice little something over to Mr G for the holiday. You know, something that she could share with her fellow residents if she was so inspired. We could drop it off at her doorstep since they are not allowing friends or family, outsiders really, into the actual units. The idea came to me when I was picking up a few things at Trader Joe's. I threw a nice tin of chocolate tipped Belgian cookies into my cart that I thought might tickle Mrs G's fancy and then some.
Mrs G was kind enough to send Nancy a copy of the Thanksgiving menu from the dining room of her independent living facility with the inscription, "wishing you could join me" or something to that effect. It was a high falutin menu to be sure and intentionally so. Mrs G is quick to remind us these days that most residents living in her facility needed to sell their homes before moving in. I'm not sure that's even close to the truth. That said, there's no doubt in my mind that the resident chef at her facility could deliver as advertised and more. Like I said, high falutin.
Nancy may have been of the mind that the goodwill basket I'd hoped to deliver was a good idea but she couldn't get there from here. "What else would we put in the basket", she inquired? Who will go to the store to buy all of these things? I knew instinctively where she was headed with her questions posed deliberately as they were. I could read between the lines. It's the same ole, same ole. Getting to the store to do all of this is a bridge too far. Well, Nancy getting to the store to buy all this is a bridge too far.
I could see maybe buying a bottle wine, a couple loaves of Scala bread, and maybe some candies to throw in the basket along with the Belgian cookies. I'm happy to help with all of this but you, my dear, have to carry the ball up the field and into the end zone. I'm sitting here some 24 hours after I started this new post and I have t say that we've made very little progress with that so-called gesture of goodwill.
In fact, most of the Belgian cookies, as of this morning anyway, have been consumed by me and the missus. Mrs G is just hours away from sitting down to her own meal compliments of the facility in which she resides. We might have made more of an effort but that's just me.
Nancy was up late last night making her pie and cranberry sauce so we'll be that much further ahead of the game starting out this morning. I'll be making a real effort to stay ahead of the dirty dishes so as not to be overwhelmed when the time comes to tidy up. Aside from the turkey which will be in the oven for several hours, I think our remaining dishes just need to be re-heated.
I'm feeling fairly energetic or at least up to the task that lays ahead of me on this holiday so that's good. As far as I can tell, this Thanksgiving isn't going to be much of a departure from past Thanksgivings if you discount the size of the turkey we'll be preparing.
I was happy to see the Supreme Court find for the religious groups in New York against the Governor who had placed really ridiculous restrictions on them ahead of the holidays. The parishioners were either not allowed to congregate or were only allowed to congregate in numbers so insignificant so as to make a mockery of the institution and the freedoms provided for same in our Constitution.
These mother fucking liberal and leftist governors who think they can rule with an iron fist just because we're in the midst of a pandemic need a bitch slap or two and that's precisely what the Supreme Court gave to that moron in the corner office in Albany, New York. Trump's latest addition to the Court, Amy Coney Barrett, joined the 5-4 majority in finding for the religious institutions. Thank God for Donald J. Trump! Without the Donald, there would be no Amy Cony Barrett (ACB.)
If there is a prologue to this Thanksgiving dinner saga, it is that our Thanksgiving dinner was a complete success. Well, almost. If we had to roll up our thoughts into a ball that is what you might come up with if pressed for an answer. You wouldn't even have to be polite or, god forbid, say it with a straight face. We could have all worked a little more on what we might say in response to the question, "what are we thankful for", but, that aside, it was all good. Truth be told, some things were better than others. Ain't that always the case?
As for my part in all of this, I might have taken the turkey out of the oven a little sooner. It was good, and not really too dry, but I checked the internal temperature when it came out of the oven and it was off-the-charts hot. I gotta get me one of those birds with the pop-up thermometer next time around. Nobody complained so that was good. I guess if you drown enough of anything in gravy and applesauce you would be hard pressed to say anything bad about the dish in front of you. Everyone loved the sweet corn from Trader Joes but left the LeSuer peas out of a can largely untouched.
Nancy's cranberry sauce was, in a word, weird. I can't put my finger on it. I also wasn't alone in my assessment as faces around the table scrunched and twisted with their first taste of her so-called-sauce. What did you do to this, little darlings? Or, maybe more to the point, what didn't you do to it? Is there an ingredient missing? Is there too much of one thing and not enough of another? It might have been the one side dish that after the first bite you just never revisited it again. We all laughed it off and went about gorging ourselves on other things as diners are want to do on Thanksgiving.
If we thought that ordering certain side dishes off a menu from one of our local restaurants was a good thing, we're thinking differently about that strategy this morning. You may recall that we ordered both mashed potatoes and dressing from a local restaurant called "Common Roots", and we had, yes we did, we had high hopes. The potatoes were excellent but, the dressing, not so much.
My spidey sense was up and running the minute I picked up the two dishes the day before Thanksgiving. The container of the dressing felt heavy, but not heavy enough. It's supposed to be sludgy, right? Sludgy is heavy, right? It was not heavy enough for my tastes and I was right to be concerned.
When I pulled back the foil covering the dressing, I wasn't sure if the chef forgot to add water, chicken broth, or maybe both. There were no instructions other than his telling me before I left the store that one container needed to be covered when heating and the other did not.
The "dressing", onceI had a chance to take a peek, looked to be a smattering of darkened and almost burnt bread crumbs with seasoning that could have passed for something you might have on Thanksgiving but that is where the similarities ended. The assessment around the table was unanimous; we're having StoveTop dressing next year.
The rolls were a bust. Nancy hollered at me from the kitchen as I lay in bed taking a rest from it all. "You know these are crescent rolls, right??? I bought the kind you see in a tube-like container in the supermarket which require baking at 375 degrees for 15 minutes. Nancy was having a difficult time separating the dough and then rolling them up in little crescents so I was happy to lend a hand. I think there was a little spatial dissonance thing going on there. Nancy threw them into the oven, set the timer, and walked away to sit at the computer.
One thing you never do when cooking rolls in the oven is set the timer and walk away. Those little puppies cooked way faster than anyone expected and I was able to rescue them just in time before they turned too dark to eat. There were enough other good things to eat so it didn't much matter that the rolls were maybe not for the weak of heart.
That didn't stop Evan from having one or two nor it did it stop Nancy from putting a couple on her plate even if she didn't finish them. Evan was quick to admit that he has his mother's DNA when it comes to setting the timer and walking away. I get it. I put none of them on my plate and didn't miss having a roll or two to go with my meal. Maybe the theme around bread products in general was a bust. Maybe if I had stuffed the dressing inside the turkey cavity before cooking the turkey and gone along my merry way we wouldn't be having this discussion today.
I hadn't planned on doing a deep dive into the Thanksgiving thing but you know what they say about the best laid plans. Suffice it to say that we did about as well as we expected to do given all the balls we were wanting to juggle. We're on now to the next holiday on the calendar and it's coming up quick as it usually does. We've noticed that a lot of Christmas trees are flying off the lots earlier than usual if we're to believe our eyes when, on the day before Thanksgiving, we see car after car on the highway carrying trees home for the holiday.
If I had to guess, I would say that people are wanting to bring on the cheer a little earlier than usual after having had our nation steeped in a pandemic coma for the better part of the year 2020 as it was. What better way to do that than to put up the annual Christmas tree complete with ornaments, lights, and tinsel. Put on a little 'Rudy the Red Nosed Reindeer' and we're off to the races. Now, all we need is a little snow to complete this Hallmark Holiday of ours.
We can thank the baby Jesus that it's not happening around here. That said, we need to keep in mind that it could happen here. I was sitting on our couch the other afternoon looking at a meager number of supplies that has been piled up on our deacons bench since March. I couldn't help but wonder how long what I did have would last if everything shuts down again. I will clearly need that extra five pounds of turkey and a hell of a lot more if I don't want to be standing in line waiting for government rations.
And then there are all of those families in need who wish they had a turkey in thier oven on Thanksgiving no less an extra five pounds of turkey. I don't know that we've done enough to pay anything forward as it is so there's that. Maybe we've just been too busy with our own lives to consider the plight of the people in need sitting right here in our own community. It wouldn't have killed us to make a donation or two and now it's probably too late. Bicycle Bob and our elderly neighbor, Betsi Lou, are on their own this Thanksgiving.
Evan says they have a couple of cases of covid-19 in his building over in Exeter. He takes the stairway up to his fourth floor flat and avoids taking the elevator when it looks like he might not be the only one along for the ride. We don't worry one way or another that he might bring the dreaded virus into our house when paying a visit nor do we want him worrying about doing just that. Nobody is worried about coming down with this virus in a day and time when and where therapeutics are readily available. I would be lying if I didn't say that it would be inconvenient. Well, maybe more than a little inconvenient.
I had high hopes that we might be able to bring a nice little something over to Mr G for the holiday. You know, something that she could share with her fellow residents if she was so inspired. We could drop it off at her doorstep since they are not allowing friends or family, outsiders really, into the actual units. The idea came to me when I was picking up a few things at Trader Joe's. I threw a nice tin of chocolate tipped Belgian cookies into my cart that I thought might tickle Mrs G's fancy and then some.
Mrs G was kind enough to send Nancy a copy of the Thanksgiving menu from the dining room of her independent living facility with the inscription, "wishing you could join me" or something to that effect. It was a high falutin menu to be sure and intentionally so. Mrs G is quick to remind us these days that most residents living in her facility needed to sell their homes before moving in. I'm not sure that's even close to the truth. That said, there's no doubt in my mind that the resident chef at her facility could deliver as advertised and more. Like I said, high falutin.
Nancy may have been of the mind that the goodwill basket I'd hoped to deliver was a good idea but she couldn't get there from here. "What else would we put in the basket", she inquired? Who will go to the store to buy all of these things? I knew instinctively where she was headed with her questions posed deliberately as they were. I could read between the lines. It's the same ole, same ole. Getting to the store to do all of this is a bridge too far. Well, Nancy getting to the store to buy all this is a bridge too far.
I could see maybe buying a bottle wine, a couple loaves of Scala bread, and maybe some candies to throw in the basket along with the Belgian cookies. I'm happy to help with all of this but you, my dear, have to carry the ball up the field and into the end zone. I'm sitting here some 24 hours after I started this new post and I have t say that we've made very little progress with that so-called gesture of goodwill.
In fact, most of the Belgian cookies, as of this morning anyway, have been consumed by me and the missus. Mrs G is just hours away from sitting down to her own meal compliments of the facility in which she resides. We might have made more of an effort but that's just me.
Nancy was up late last night making her pie and cranberry sauce so we'll be that much further ahead of the game starting out this morning. I'll be making a real effort to stay ahead of the dirty dishes so as not to be overwhelmed when the time comes to tidy up. Aside from the turkey which will be in the oven for several hours, I think our remaining dishes just need to be re-heated.
I'm feeling fairly energetic or at least up to the task that lays ahead of me on this holiday so that's good. As far as I can tell, this Thanksgiving isn't going to be much of a departure from past Thanksgivings if you discount the size of the turkey we'll be preparing.
I was happy to see the Supreme Court find for the religious groups in New York against the Governor who had placed really ridiculous restrictions on them ahead of the holidays. The parishioners were either not allowed to congregate or were only allowed to congregate in numbers so insignificant so as to make a mockery of the institution and the freedoms provided for same in our Constitution.
These mother fucking liberal and leftist governors who think they can rule with an iron fist just because we're in the midst of a pandemic need a bitch slap or two and that's precisely what the Supreme Court gave to that moron in the corner office in Albany, New York. Trump's latest addition to the Court, Amy Coney Barrett, joined the 5-4 majority in finding for the religious institutions. Thank God for Donald J. Trump! Without the Donald, there would be no Amy Cony Barrett (ACB.)
If there is a prologue to this Thanksgiving dinner saga, it is that our Thanksgiving dinner was a complete success. Well, almost. If we had to roll up our thoughts into a ball that is what you might come up with if pressed for an answer. You wouldn't even have to be polite or, god forbid, say it with a straight face. We could have all worked a little more on what we might say in response to the question, "what are we thankful for", but, that aside, it was all good. Truth be told, some things were better than others. Ain't that always the case?
As for my part in all of this, I might have taken the turkey out of the oven a little sooner. It was good, and not really too dry, but I checked the internal temperature when it came out of the oven and it was off-the-charts hot. I gotta get me one of those birds with the pop-up thermometer next time around. Nobody complained so that was good. I guess if you drown enough of anything in gravy and applesauce you would be hard pressed to say anything bad about the dish in front of you. Everyone loved the sweet corn from Trader Joes but left the LeSuer peas out of a can largely untouched.
Nancy's cranberry sauce was, in a word, weird. I can't put my finger on it. I also wasn't alone in my assessment as faces around the table scrunched and twisted with their first taste of her so-called-sauce. What did you do to this, little darlings? Or, maybe more to the point, what didn't you do to it? Is there an ingredient missing? Is there too much of one thing and not enough of another? It might have been the one side dish that after the first bite you just never revisited it again. We all laughed it off and went about gorging ourselves on other things as diners are want to do on Thanksgiving.
If we thought that ordering certain side dishes off a menu from one of our local restaurants was a good thing, we're thinking differently about that strategy this morning. You may recall that we ordered both mashed potatoes and dressing from a local restaurant called "Common Roots", and we had, yes we did, we had high hopes. The potatoes were excellent but, the dressing, not so much.
My spidey sense was up and running the minute I picked up the two dishes the day before Thanksgiving. The container of the dressing felt heavy, but not heavy enough. It's supposed to be sludgy, right? Sludgy is heavy, right? It was not heavy enough for my tastes and I was right to be concerned.
When I pulled back the foil covering the dressing, I wasn't sure if the chef forgot to add water, chicken broth, or maybe both. There were no instructions other than his telling me before I left the store that one container needed to be covered when heating and the other did not.
The "dressing", onceI had a chance to take a peek, looked to be a smattering of darkened and almost burnt bread crumbs with seasoning that could have passed for something you might have on Thanksgiving but that is where the similarities ended. The assessment around the table was unanimous; we're having StoveTop dressing next year.
The rolls were a bust. Nancy hollered at me from the kitchen as I lay in bed taking a rest from it all. "You know these are crescent rolls, right??? I bought the kind you see in a tube-like container in the supermarket which require baking at 375 degrees for 15 minutes. Nancy was having a difficult time separating the dough and then rolling them up in little crescents so I was happy to lend a hand. I think there was a little spatial dissonance thing going on there. Nancy threw them into the oven, set the timer, and walked away to sit at the computer.
One thing you never do when cooking rolls in the oven is set the timer and walk away. Those little puppies cooked way faster than anyone expected and I was able to rescue them just in time before they turned too dark to eat. There were enough other good things to eat so it didn't much matter that the rolls were maybe not for the weak of heart.
That didn't stop Evan from having one or two nor it did it stop Nancy from putting a couple on her plate even if she didn't finish them. Evan was quick to admit that he has his mother's DNA when it comes to setting the timer and walking away. I get it. I put none of them on my plate and didn't miss having a roll or two to go with my meal. Maybe the theme around bread products in general was a bust. Maybe if I had stuffed the dressing inside the turkey cavity before cooking the turkey and gone along my merry way we wouldn't be having this discussion today.
I hadn't planned on doing a deep dive into the Thanksgiving thing but you know what they say about the best laid plans. Suffice it to say that we did about as well as we expected to do given all the balls we were wanting to juggle. We're on now to the next holiday on the calendar and it's coming up quick as it usually does. We've noticed that a lot of Christmas trees are flying off the lots earlier than usual if we're to believe our eyes when, on the day before Thanksgiving, we see car after car on the highway carrying trees home for the holiday.
If I had to guess, I would say that people are wanting to bring on the cheer a little earlier than usual after having had our nation steeped in a pandemic coma for the better part of the year 2020 as it was. What better way to do that than to put up the annual Christmas tree complete with ornaments, lights, and tinsel. Put on a little 'Rudy the Red Nosed Reindeer' and we're off to the races. Now, all we need is a little snow to complete this Hallmark Holiday of ours.
Merriment No Less
22/11/20 07:16
The Covid business is ramping up again. I don't hear anyone referring to it as a second wave so there's that. It's around, folks. It's around. Maybe it's always been around and we just thought it was somehow on the wane when it really wasn't. We're hearing a lot about an uptick in cases but we hear very little about changes in the mortality rate.
If more people are getting it but we're having fewer hospitalizations and even fewer deaths, maybe it's not that big of a deal. Yet, the mask mandates keep popping up across the nation in state after state followed by curfews, etc.
I'm thinking I'll stick with my original strategy of going out next Monday to buy a turkey for our Thanksgiving dinner. Nancy suggested that there may be fewer birds available this year because no one is traveling for the holiday due to Covid and fewer and fewer people are having large groups sitting down to a meal.
I guess that means more turkeys will be flying off the shelves, pun intended, and there may not be any turkeys to buy for latecomers like me. I suppose we could have chicken instead. That wouldn't be the end of the world. Or, would it?
We could even have Thanksgiving later in the week or on the weekend. When you think about it, people are often eating leftovers for a good three to four days after Thanksgiving anyway. We were going to order mashed potatoes and stuffing from a local store so I hope we've not waited too long to do that.
Taking a couple of things off the list that we have to personally prepare is maybe not a bad idea. It will give us a different take on dishes that we have been accustomed to making on our own all these years although I'm not sure potatoes and stuffing were the best choices for this so-called new adventure of ours.
I think I heard that in the State of Pennsylvania government officials are imposing a mask mandate in homes where you have non-family members on the premises. These power hungry governors and officials are out of their fucking minds. Did I mention that masks will be required regardless of the usual social distancing rules in Pennsylvania?
That is to say, you can be 20 feet apart in your own home, and if you are not a family member, you are required to wear a mask. Maybe everyone is required to wear masks when non-family members are in the house. Maybe that's their way of telling the citizenry that they don't want you having non-family members over for the holiday. Bastards.
Did I mention that I no longer watch FOX? I've seen a decidedly turn to the left on that network over time so I think it's time to turn my attention elsewhere. It's funny how your bullshit meter starts ringing off the hook when you detect bias in the delivery of the talking heads on television.
It's a nuanced sort of thing but it comes at you fast, snarky, and somewhat pathetic in my humble opinion. Conservatives had a home of their own when FOX came along and not having to turn to CNN and other leftist stations for their news and opinion was a godsend. Maybe more importantly, FOX was unapologetic in their support for Trump. Now, not so much.
I'm not alone in leaving FOX. They've lost 50% of their viewership since the election. Some shows, like that fat fuck Cavuto who does their financial show, have lost more viewers than most. Tucker Carlson has probably shed the least. I like Tucker but he's always been more of a free wheeling libertarian than a hardcore conservative so we'll be tossing him out with the FOX trash. See ya!
He also didn't help himself when he went after Sidney Powell (attorney extraordinaire) for not sharing with his viewers what she has for evidence in her case against politicians and government officials in key battleground states across the Midwest. She's promised to release the "kraken" whatever the hell that is. Oh, and she says that it will be biblical. Who's on pins and needles besides me?
The only guy I still watch with any regularity is Lou Dobbs. I know, I know. That's FOX business but still FOX. Right? He has the grapefruits to call out the "radical dems" by name nightly which I love. Lou, unfortunately, has a somewhat standard but tedious line-up of guests each and every night.
I suppose it's a small price to pay to get all the news that's fit to "print." I could listen to Victor David Hanson all day long but I wish they would give him the time he needs to make his points. Why do they invite him on if they have no intention of letting him complete his thoughts? That's a rhetorical question.
It's hard to know what to think of the financial markets these days. It has to be surprising to anyone paying attention that the markets are at an all time high or damn near an all time high despite the volatility of the news cycle these days. I had to laugh when the news came out this past Monday that Pfizer had a vaccine that was going to be 95% effective.
The market spiked like nobody's business at the open but sold off during the day and ending the day with a small increase. Maybe what they say about investing is true. Buy the rumor, sell the news. I'm talking about the major indices here. Bitcoin, futures, and commodities are something altogether different. A horse of a different color if you will.
I feel bad for the buggers who sold their stocks or turned in their mutual funds for something more conservative when the markets plunged some 35% in March of 2020. We've seen a V-shaped recovery off the bottom which, if you hung on to your hat through it all, you emerged in one piece and you are now more than likely in positive territory as we close in on year end.
You ignored the voices in your head that were screaming SELL SELL SELL at the bottom back in March when it looked worse than bleak. One of our relatives likened it to the depression back in the thirties and there was no convincing her otherwise. This is what corrections do. They shake out the fair weather investors and restore equilibrium to the markets. If you lose your hat in the process, shame on you. Chalk it up to lessons learned.
How do you like them apples? What apples might you be referring to, Johnny boy? I be talking about Honey Crisps, of course. We can't seem to get enough of them. I'll be wondering about just how long we can expect to find them hereabouts or, more to the point, when the season for this particular type of apple is over.
I like them because they are sweet but not too sweet, tart but not too tart, and crisp but not too crisp. As for McIntosh apples and the like, you can have them. I've never liked McIntosh apples and could never understand their curb appeal (no pun intended.) There is nothing worse on God's green earth than mushy apples.
Is there such a thing as too crisp? Probably not. I don't know that I've ever been as taken with an apple like the Honey Crisp although I will admit to having had a love affair with Mutsu apples some years ago. And no, I will not be making an apple pie this Thanksgiving. Not because I don't like apple pie but rather because Nancy will be making her pumpkin pie.
The Mutsu's are good but it's a big apple and perhaps better suited to cooking than munching. It is a late apple as well, which I think we liked because it put us out in the orchards well into the Fall. Nobody likes picking apples when the weather is warm. You need a cool cloudless sky when you're climbing ladders and plucking apples from the trees. Am I wrong about that?
Nancy and I were out for a drive in and around Portsmouth last night just as it started to get dark. Portsmouth was unusually festive, the streets and stores were busy with shoppers, and the outside cafes were brimming with mask-less customers.
If all you read is the Boston Globe with their outlandish hysteria about Covid this and Covid that you might think that the scene we witnessed was something out of a fairy tale. Something out of a dream where there are no scourges of any kind, only lollipops and unicorns. It was heartening to be sure.
Whatever reservations people in Portsmouth had about the virus, they were throwing caution to the wind and getting on with their lives. They were wearing masks but that did seemingly little or nothing to dampen their spirit and enthusiasm for what is more affectionately referred to as living in the moment.
So much so, in fact, that Nancy said to me that she was thinking about taking a break from reading the Boston Globe. It certainly didn't hurt that many of the downtown stores had already put up their Christmas lights. The shimmering of city lights and the vitality of the crowds were a welcome backdrop to a plethora of otherwise bad news coming from sources like the Boston Globe and their ilk in the media about mutating viruses and an embattled economy.
It was good to see my darling smiling once again if only for mere moments.
If more people are getting it but we're having fewer hospitalizations and even fewer deaths, maybe it's not that big of a deal. Yet, the mask mandates keep popping up across the nation in state after state followed by curfews, etc.
I'm thinking I'll stick with my original strategy of going out next Monday to buy a turkey for our Thanksgiving dinner. Nancy suggested that there may be fewer birds available this year because no one is traveling for the holiday due to Covid and fewer and fewer people are having large groups sitting down to a meal.
I guess that means more turkeys will be flying off the shelves, pun intended, and there may not be any turkeys to buy for latecomers like me. I suppose we could have chicken instead. That wouldn't be the end of the world. Or, would it?
We could even have Thanksgiving later in the week or on the weekend. When you think about it, people are often eating leftovers for a good three to four days after Thanksgiving anyway. We were going to order mashed potatoes and stuffing from a local store so I hope we've not waited too long to do that.
Taking a couple of things off the list that we have to personally prepare is maybe not a bad idea. It will give us a different take on dishes that we have been accustomed to making on our own all these years although I'm not sure potatoes and stuffing were the best choices for this so-called new adventure of ours.
I think I heard that in the State of Pennsylvania government officials are imposing a mask mandate in homes where you have non-family members on the premises. These power hungry governors and officials are out of their fucking minds. Did I mention that masks will be required regardless of the usual social distancing rules in Pennsylvania?
That is to say, you can be 20 feet apart in your own home, and if you are not a family member, you are required to wear a mask. Maybe everyone is required to wear masks when non-family members are in the house. Maybe that's their way of telling the citizenry that they don't want you having non-family members over for the holiday. Bastards.
Did I mention that I no longer watch FOX? I've seen a decidedly turn to the left on that network over time so I think it's time to turn my attention elsewhere. It's funny how your bullshit meter starts ringing off the hook when you detect bias in the delivery of the talking heads on television.
It's a nuanced sort of thing but it comes at you fast, snarky, and somewhat pathetic in my humble opinion. Conservatives had a home of their own when FOX came along and not having to turn to CNN and other leftist stations for their news and opinion was a godsend. Maybe more importantly, FOX was unapologetic in their support for Trump. Now, not so much.
I'm not alone in leaving FOX. They've lost 50% of their viewership since the election. Some shows, like that fat fuck Cavuto who does their financial show, have lost more viewers than most. Tucker Carlson has probably shed the least. I like Tucker but he's always been more of a free wheeling libertarian than a hardcore conservative so we'll be tossing him out with the FOX trash. See ya!
He also didn't help himself when he went after Sidney Powell (attorney extraordinaire) for not sharing with his viewers what she has for evidence in her case against politicians and government officials in key battleground states across the Midwest. She's promised to release the "kraken" whatever the hell that is. Oh, and she says that it will be biblical. Who's on pins and needles besides me?
The only guy I still watch with any regularity is Lou Dobbs. I know, I know. That's FOX business but still FOX. Right? He has the grapefruits to call out the "radical dems" by name nightly which I love. Lou, unfortunately, has a somewhat standard but tedious line-up of guests each and every night.
I suppose it's a small price to pay to get all the news that's fit to "print." I could listen to Victor David Hanson all day long but I wish they would give him the time he needs to make his points. Why do they invite him on if they have no intention of letting him complete his thoughts? That's a rhetorical question.
It's hard to know what to think of the financial markets these days. It has to be surprising to anyone paying attention that the markets are at an all time high or damn near an all time high despite the volatility of the news cycle these days. I had to laugh when the news came out this past Monday that Pfizer had a vaccine that was going to be 95% effective.
The market spiked like nobody's business at the open but sold off during the day and ending the day with a small increase. Maybe what they say about investing is true. Buy the rumor, sell the news. I'm talking about the major indices here. Bitcoin, futures, and commodities are something altogether different. A horse of a different color if you will.
I feel bad for the buggers who sold their stocks or turned in their mutual funds for something more conservative when the markets plunged some 35% in March of 2020. We've seen a V-shaped recovery off the bottom which, if you hung on to your hat through it all, you emerged in one piece and you are now more than likely in positive territory as we close in on year end.
You ignored the voices in your head that were screaming SELL SELL SELL at the bottom back in March when it looked worse than bleak. One of our relatives likened it to the depression back in the thirties and there was no convincing her otherwise. This is what corrections do. They shake out the fair weather investors and restore equilibrium to the markets. If you lose your hat in the process, shame on you. Chalk it up to lessons learned.
How do you like them apples? What apples might you be referring to, Johnny boy? I be talking about Honey Crisps, of course. We can't seem to get enough of them. I'll be wondering about just how long we can expect to find them hereabouts or, more to the point, when the season for this particular type of apple is over.
I like them because they are sweet but not too sweet, tart but not too tart, and crisp but not too crisp. As for McIntosh apples and the like, you can have them. I've never liked McIntosh apples and could never understand their curb appeal (no pun intended.) There is nothing worse on God's green earth than mushy apples.
Is there such a thing as too crisp? Probably not. I don't know that I've ever been as taken with an apple like the Honey Crisp although I will admit to having had a love affair with Mutsu apples some years ago. And no, I will not be making an apple pie this Thanksgiving. Not because I don't like apple pie but rather because Nancy will be making her pumpkin pie.
The Mutsu's are good but it's a big apple and perhaps better suited to cooking than munching. It is a late apple as well, which I think we liked because it put us out in the orchards well into the Fall. Nobody likes picking apples when the weather is warm. You need a cool cloudless sky when you're climbing ladders and plucking apples from the trees. Am I wrong about that?
Nancy and I were out for a drive in and around Portsmouth last night just as it started to get dark. Portsmouth was unusually festive, the streets and stores were busy with shoppers, and the outside cafes were brimming with mask-less customers.
If all you read is the Boston Globe with their outlandish hysteria about Covid this and Covid that you might think that the scene we witnessed was something out of a fairy tale. Something out of a dream where there are no scourges of any kind, only lollipops and unicorns. It was heartening to be sure.
Whatever reservations people in Portsmouth had about the virus, they were throwing caution to the wind and getting on with their lives. They were wearing masks but that did seemingly little or nothing to dampen their spirit and enthusiasm for what is more affectionately referred to as living in the moment.
So much so, in fact, that Nancy said to me that she was thinking about taking a break from reading the Boston Globe. It certainly didn't hurt that many of the downtown stores had already put up their Christmas lights. The shimmering of city lights and the vitality of the crowds were a welcome backdrop to a plethora of otherwise bad news coming from sources like the Boston Globe and their ilk in the media about mutating viruses and an embattled economy.
It was good to see my darling smiling once again if only for mere moments.
For All The Marbles
18/11/20 06:14
What if, what if, what if Joe Biden didn't really win the election? What if he actually stole the election? Oh, he got the most votes all right. He got more votes than Obama if you can believe that. Sorry, folks. It just doesn't pass the smell test. What we're now hearing is that the software used in many states to tally the votes may well have been utilized to tip the scales in favor Biden and to disfavor Trump. They say this is the same voting software used by the CIA in years past to control elections in various third world hell holes around the globe.
It was rather odd that many states on the night of the election chose to stop counting ballots at the same time late in the evening on election night. This was done ostensibly to see just how many votes Biden needed so that one or more operators behind the scenes could step in with a software "fix" to make the appropriate allocations which would turn a Trump win into a Biden win. It was Joe Biden himself who made the comment in the days leading up to the election, and I paraphrase, "I don't need your votes now, I'll need them after I win." He didn't need the votes because the software was going to guarantee him a win!
Trump's legal team has the goods on the nefarious bullshit pulled off behind the scenes on election night. The perpetrators targeted several rust belt states whose government officials had, in some cases, accepted large bribes in order to have the Dominion software installed for use in their states. All Trump's people need now, and they seem confident that they have this in hand, is the evidence to prove their case. It is not clear to me on who they have to convince or what precisely they have to do to overturn the election results so we'll need to stay tuned.
If I were a betting man I would not bet against Trump and his team on this one. It seems to me that there are prison sentences awaiting those who played pivotal roles in this cauldron of corruption. The radical libs have overplayed their hand this time. They got greedy and they may not have realized that at the end of the day, when the numbers were tallied, a Biden win of such massive proportions was just not within the realm of possibility. Biden, in his own words uttered prior to election day, said something to the effect that his campaign was involved in the largest fraudulent effort ever to win an election. You can't make this stuff up.
Rudy Giuliani and Sydney Powell are the two attorney's working on Trump's behalf to get the Biden "win" overturned. I'd like to see someone like Alan Dershowitz or even Judge Starr get involved as well. This one is for all the marbles. We need patriots and all good Americans to step up to the plate to make sure that we do not allow shenanigans like this to play out in our great republic. I don't care what your party affiliation is, this is too important not to address right here, right now.
Will one for more people be thrown under the bus in order to redirect responsibility away from the democrat party when all is said and done? Who at Dominion Software was directly or indirectly involved in this usurpation of the American voter's will? What kind of money exchanged hands in order to guarantee a Biden win? Are their countries who have a vested interest in Trump's defeat who may have had a hand in perpetrating this seemingly institutionalized fraud?
What if Trump's people fail in their efforts to convince the appropriate parties that a fraud has been committed on the American people? They may, in fact, not find a sympathetic ear in the judiciary in order to plead their case. There are people at the highest levels in our government, maybe in both parties, and behind the scenes who may be too invested in a Biden win to turn back now. They may all prefer to turn a deaf ear to arguments made and perhaps even a blind eye to incontrovertible evidence laid out before them.
Just knowing the broad outlines of what appears to be the theft of an election in progress, it would seem that the weight of the evidence would favor a judicial overview at a minimum. There isn't one of the 72 million Trump voters who think for a minute that this wasn't stolen from Trump knowing what they know about how things unfolded coast to coast.
There isn't one Trump voter who thinks that the importance of this misappropriation doesn't eclipse one or more of the several attempts to remove their candidate from office starting with the Russia hoax and ending perhaps with Trump's ridiculous impeachment. This is the big one. What the American people need now, and more importantly what they deserve, is complete transparency on what transpired during the tallying of the ballots in this election.
Don't expect to hear much of anything from the mainstream media or the various social media platforms on these open questions and more. They have effectively shut down discussion about anything but a Biden transition and the end of the Trump era. I guess I would say that it worked well when it came to exposing ( or not exposing) the Biden Crime family after they discovered Hunter Biden's laptop which was chock full of evidence tying he and his extended family to the Chinese Communists.
Since they chose not to share that information with the public, there was no expose'. Perhaps even more alarming, no one in any one of our several intelligence agencies even seemed to care that the Bidens' were compromised. Who was it that said, "power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely"?
There may be State legislatures and Justices sitting on the Supreme Court who will want to have a say before all is said and done. Electors will be chosen by the various state legislators on December 14th or thereabouts. I doubt very much that they will want to be complicit in the scheme being perpetrated by the democrats to elevate their candidate to the presidency. They have a higher standard of jurisprudence and propriety which hopefully transcends any tomfoolery tolerated by lesser statesmen.
There have been upsets in the past when it comes to presidential elections but, should this come to fruition in Trump's favor, it will be a massive shock to the political system the likes of which could prove to be tsunami-like. Just the thought of that many liberal heads exploding puts a smile on my face and a renewed spring in my step. Let the anarchists be anarchists, we'll squash them like the bugs that they are. There are lessons to be learned here on both sides of the aisle. Stealing elections will not be tolerated in our great Republic. Not today, not tomorrow, not ever.
On the other hand, what if this is nothing more than a conspiracy theory? What if this is just something that we Trump supporters want so badly that we're willing to suspend belief long enough that we're willing to allow ourselves to be convinced that this is something we can hang our collective hats on? Would pillars of the legal community the likes of Sydney Powell put their reputation on the line to go on national television to make these kinds of allegations if they didn't have the goods? Me thinks that would be preposterous at a minimum. Who does that? Certainly not Sydney.
There is another battle being played out on the political landscape as I sit here this morning wondering how this is all going to turn out. There are two senate seats yet to be decided in the 2020 election cycle. Should they be held in republican hands, the republicans will keep the majority in the Senate and our republic will not fall to the malevolent political forces on the left.
Should the republicans not prevail, all hell is likely to break loose. In fact, it will be a cold day in hell before the republicans win much of anything after the democrats pack the Supreme Court, add states to the Union which will give four more senate seats to the democrats, etc. They will have free rein to open our borders, to legalize any and all illegal aliens currently residing within our borders, to institutionalize criminal elements the likes of Antifa and BLM as the modern-day version of Hitlers brown shirts, to pass laws that will effectively accelerate the redistribution of wealth from the makers to the takers in our society, etc.. America, as we know it, will be fucking toast.
It was rather odd that many states on the night of the election chose to stop counting ballots at the same time late in the evening on election night. This was done ostensibly to see just how many votes Biden needed so that one or more operators behind the scenes could step in with a software "fix" to make the appropriate allocations which would turn a Trump win into a Biden win. It was Joe Biden himself who made the comment in the days leading up to the election, and I paraphrase, "I don't need your votes now, I'll need them after I win." He didn't need the votes because the software was going to guarantee him a win!
Trump's legal team has the goods on the nefarious bullshit pulled off behind the scenes on election night. The perpetrators targeted several rust belt states whose government officials had, in some cases, accepted large bribes in order to have the Dominion software installed for use in their states. All Trump's people need now, and they seem confident that they have this in hand, is the evidence to prove their case. It is not clear to me on who they have to convince or what precisely they have to do to overturn the election results so we'll need to stay tuned.
If I were a betting man I would not bet against Trump and his team on this one. It seems to me that there are prison sentences awaiting those who played pivotal roles in this cauldron of corruption. The radical libs have overplayed their hand this time. They got greedy and they may not have realized that at the end of the day, when the numbers were tallied, a Biden win of such massive proportions was just not within the realm of possibility. Biden, in his own words uttered prior to election day, said something to the effect that his campaign was involved in the largest fraudulent effort ever to win an election. You can't make this stuff up.
Rudy Giuliani and Sydney Powell are the two attorney's working on Trump's behalf to get the Biden "win" overturned. I'd like to see someone like Alan Dershowitz or even Judge Starr get involved as well. This one is for all the marbles. We need patriots and all good Americans to step up to the plate to make sure that we do not allow shenanigans like this to play out in our great republic. I don't care what your party affiliation is, this is too important not to address right here, right now.
Will one for more people be thrown under the bus in order to redirect responsibility away from the democrat party when all is said and done? Who at Dominion Software was directly or indirectly involved in this usurpation of the American voter's will? What kind of money exchanged hands in order to guarantee a Biden win? Are their countries who have a vested interest in Trump's defeat who may have had a hand in perpetrating this seemingly institutionalized fraud?
What if Trump's people fail in their efforts to convince the appropriate parties that a fraud has been committed on the American people? They may, in fact, not find a sympathetic ear in the judiciary in order to plead their case. There are people at the highest levels in our government, maybe in both parties, and behind the scenes who may be too invested in a Biden win to turn back now. They may all prefer to turn a deaf ear to arguments made and perhaps even a blind eye to incontrovertible evidence laid out before them.
Just knowing the broad outlines of what appears to be the theft of an election in progress, it would seem that the weight of the evidence would favor a judicial overview at a minimum. There isn't one of the 72 million Trump voters who think for a minute that this wasn't stolen from Trump knowing what they know about how things unfolded coast to coast.
There isn't one Trump voter who thinks that the importance of this misappropriation doesn't eclipse one or more of the several attempts to remove their candidate from office starting with the Russia hoax and ending perhaps with Trump's ridiculous impeachment. This is the big one. What the American people need now, and more importantly what they deserve, is complete transparency on what transpired during the tallying of the ballots in this election.
Don't expect to hear much of anything from the mainstream media or the various social media platforms on these open questions and more. They have effectively shut down discussion about anything but a Biden transition and the end of the Trump era. I guess I would say that it worked well when it came to exposing ( or not exposing) the Biden Crime family after they discovered Hunter Biden's laptop which was chock full of evidence tying he and his extended family to the Chinese Communists.
Since they chose not to share that information with the public, there was no expose'. Perhaps even more alarming, no one in any one of our several intelligence agencies even seemed to care that the Bidens' were compromised. Who was it that said, "power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely"?
There may be State legislatures and Justices sitting on the Supreme Court who will want to have a say before all is said and done. Electors will be chosen by the various state legislators on December 14th or thereabouts. I doubt very much that they will want to be complicit in the scheme being perpetrated by the democrats to elevate their candidate to the presidency. They have a higher standard of jurisprudence and propriety which hopefully transcends any tomfoolery tolerated by lesser statesmen.
There have been upsets in the past when it comes to presidential elections but, should this come to fruition in Trump's favor, it will be a massive shock to the political system the likes of which could prove to be tsunami-like. Just the thought of that many liberal heads exploding puts a smile on my face and a renewed spring in my step. Let the anarchists be anarchists, we'll squash them like the bugs that they are. There are lessons to be learned here on both sides of the aisle. Stealing elections will not be tolerated in our great Republic. Not today, not tomorrow, not ever.
On the other hand, what if this is nothing more than a conspiracy theory? What if this is just something that we Trump supporters want so badly that we're willing to suspend belief long enough that we're willing to allow ourselves to be convinced that this is something we can hang our collective hats on? Would pillars of the legal community the likes of Sydney Powell put their reputation on the line to go on national television to make these kinds of allegations if they didn't have the goods? Me thinks that would be preposterous at a minimum. Who does that? Certainly not Sydney.
There is another battle being played out on the political landscape as I sit here this morning wondering how this is all going to turn out. There are two senate seats yet to be decided in the 2020 election cycle. Should they be held in republican hands, the republicans will keep the majority in the Senate and our republic will not fall to the malevolent political forces on the left.
Should the republicans not prevail, all hell is likely to break loose. In fact, it will be a cold day in hell before the republicans win much of anything after the democrats pack the Supreme Court, add states to the Union which will give four more senate seats to the democrats, etc. They will have free rein to open our borders, to legalize any and all illegal aliens currently residing within our borders, to institutionalize criminal elements the likes of Antifa and BLM as the modern-day version of Hitlers brown shirts, to pass laws that will effectively accelerate the redistribution of wealth from the makers to the takers in our society, etc.. America, as we know it, will be fucking toast.
Lipstick on a Pig
14/11/20 07:04
I cannot for the life of me get my espresso machine to work properly. Maybe it's just getting a little long in the tooth. The part that annoys me is the part that I can see. Wisps of steam begin to appear in and around the cap shortly after the water starts to heat up. The wisps turn to something more akin to a whirling dervish in the blink of an eye. I'm not smart enough to know what, if any, difference it makes when all is said and done but my sneaking suspicion is that my cup of espresso has been marginalized. That is never a good thing.
I'm also learning a lot about how to "read" what comes out of the machine during the expressing of the actual espresso. The moment the first syrup-like drips appear in the bottom of the cup, and they more closely resemble blood or mud than anything else, it is a coagulation of caffeine at its finest until that very moment when the syrup thins and the transition to "watery" begins. The trick is removing your cup just before the changeover and just after you see the crema forming as a reddish-brown froth on top of your espresso.
If my machine is not doing what it should be doing due to faulty parts or whatever, I am going to need to find a replacement. I would replace the parts but I fear my machine is too old and the parts I think I need may no longer be available. I refuse to consider used parts since they too may be compromised and I will just be delaying the inevitable. Looking online this morning I see machines ranging in price from $29.99 to well over $1,000. Is there a sweet spot somewhere in there for a guy who doesn't need a Mercedes but probably wouldn't be happy with a Volkswagen?
Here we go again. Evan has a sore throat so he'll need to go get a Covid-19 test. We think he may have mentioned that he had a sore throat not realizing that one thing would lead to another so that is where we are at the moment. Nancy will schedule a test for him asap and we'll see where that goes. I'm sure it's nothing but that's just me. (Update-Covid test was negative.)
We can't be turning people's lives upside down every time they get a goddamn case of the sniffles. People in Evan's age group have a mortality rate of near-zero so that's another reason not to fret unnecessarily. But all of the gnashing of teeth is just too much. I swear to God, he has his mother's fretting gene. His anxiety over it all is just over the top. Did I mention we spent time with him a few days ago?
The weather hereabouts as of late has been unseasonably warm. I like warm but not too warm this time of year. It's a blazing 62 degrees at the hour of 8 something in the morning. It's probably not a bad day to do some work outside. Just a bit of last minute tidying up, really. I certainly won't need the extra layers when biking today so that's good. I've been trying to synch up my wardrobe with the changing weather as of late and I've been failing miserably. There is nothing worse than wearing one too many layers when you needed one or more fewer. I've had the gloves out too but not today.
It's hard to think about Thanksgiving on days like today but think about Thanksgiving we must. Mrs G mentioned that she might be getting together with a group of folks in her facility for dinner at her place so that's good. Gatherings of any kind are generally taboo during the era of Covid so that provides an adequate backdrop for those not wishing to participate due to health concerns, etc.
Crossing state lines to spend time with family members can be a risky proposition in and of itself according to the CDC. Here's my advice: Bring an extra box of Kleenex. We'll probably hunker down here at home with a nice turkey from Trader Joes. There's something to be said for tradition. We usually get a natural or organic turkey with all the fixings. We'll pop that sucker in the oven 9-ish for a dinner time of between 3 and 4 if all goes well. Nancy will make her grandmother's pumpkin pie recipe for dessert and all will be well with the world.
There will be no jello molds, boiled onions or, god forbid, fruit cake from days of old. We'll have Alice's Restaurant on the "record player" to set just the right tone and Nancy will be making her own version of cranberry sauce made with real cranberries. We can thank Sleepy Joe Biden for re-introducing the term "record player" back into the American lexicon just in time for the holidays. Will there even going to be a Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade this year?
I told Nancy that spending over $3 for a cup of regular coffee at Starbucks is a bridge too far. I was fine spending $2 and a little more but they recently raised the price to over $3 so I think I'm done with those bastards. Their specialty coffees are well over $5 and I am, truth be told, partial to their Flat White now and then. I don't know why I tolerate this but I've been sharing my coffee purchases with Nancy all these years so it's kinda like a two-for-one deal when we buy a beverage. That makes the astronomical price point more tolerable but just barely.
Don't get me wrong. I love their coffee so I won't be abandoning them altogether. Instead, I'll buy a bag of beans and make the coffee at home. Not the specialty ones but rather just the regular coffee of the day drinks. Their Thanksgiving Blend is all the current rage and I might want to grab a bag before it disappears and is replaced with their even more famous, Holiday Blend. Oh, and instead of buying a new espresso machine I broke down and ordered a replacement part off E-bay this morning to see if that doesn't fix the problem I'm having. It's worth a try.
I was telling Nancy that it cost me $45 to buy a bicycle tire yesterday. I'd forgotten how expensive bicycle tires can be. I know I sound very cost conscious today when talking about everything from Thanksgiving turkeys to garden variety coffee drinks but that's fairly far from the truth. I don't usually give a hoot.
Maybe when you start to pay attention to such things you get a wake-up call of sorts. But, when it comes to bicycle tires, I can spend less on car tires which is just bass ackwards. And why am I having to replace tires on a bicycle that I bought just eight months ago? What's up with that?
Do you ever have one of those days when you have little direction, little or no control or restraint when it comes to eating things that you know you'll regret eating, and little or no impetus to do those things like exercise that you know are good for you? That was yesterday for me. I knew it when it was happening and I was incapable of putting a stop to any of it.
I took a long nap hoping to snap out of my sugar induced malaise but woke up too late to enjoy much of anything left of the day which, not incidentally, was slipping away by the minute. It was a lesson about what not to do and how not to get off on the wrong foot on any given day of the week. Maybe more to the point, it was a lesson on what not to eat knowing full well what having too much or not enough of one thing or another can mean. When your momma tells you, everything in moderation, you best be listening.
As of this moment, there are 70 plus million people who voted for Trump and most of those people don't and won't accept the fact that Sleepy Joe Biden got more votes than Trump. Are there really 78 million people who voted to put a demented, cognitively impaired, a candidate who can't complete a full sentence even with the help of a teleprompter, and a candidate with an unnatural and even perverted affection for young children is on full display on the internet in pictures and on video, into the highest office of the land?
There is only one conclusion you can reach. That is, the democrats managed to steal the 2020 election. They hijacked the electoral process to gain power. That leads us to one more inescapable conclusion: Joe Biden will be now and forever more be an illegitimate president. We Trump supporters must resist and reject the Biden presidency with every fibre of our being. That is essentially what they did to Trump for four years so what's good for the goose is good for the gander. We will be a polarized citizenry and for good reason. We simply cannot abide this kind of treachery and treasonous behavior by any political party.
Where can we Trump supporters go now to get the skinny without all of the propaganda spewed by the leftists and their minions in the media? I stopped watching CNN a long time ago when it became clear from the day Trump came down the escalator that they were going to destroy him with their every last breath. I've watched fewer and fewer people on FOX over time and have now completely walked away after seeing their analysts turn their vitriol towards Trump and his supporters. There's always Newsmax and OANN, and of course there's Parler in the social media space that, if nothing else, will suffice as Twitter Lite.
Public spaces like Twitter and Facebook now shadow ban conservative voices so you might as well keep your comments to yourself since anything you have to say is going nowhere anyway. You might think that your comments are out there for your tens of thousands of followers to see but you would be wrong. You might as well be shouting into a fucking hole in the ground. Just look at the number of impressions that any one of your tweets gets and you'll know what I'm saying is true. It's not censorship in the truest sense of the word, but it's darn close.
I don't think anyone knows where this is all going over the next four years with Biden in office but I'm not hopeful. I prefer to think of it as a period of time where we simply have to resist and reject before we can restore sanity to the office of the presidency and, to a larger extent, to our country. Trump has exposed the left at every level in and out of government so we now know who and what we're dealing with. We know what corruption looks and smells like and we know it when we see it. Our bullshit meters have never been more finely tuned thanks to Trump's calling it out for what it is over the last four years.
Maybe I'll just keep a running list of the left's lunacy as I see it unfold over the next four years. Maybe that's the least I can do if for no other reason than to say after it's all over that I wasn't wrong in my assessment of what a Sleepy Joe Biden presidency would look like. Keep in mind that Sleepy Joe will probably not be the president for long so look for him to be replaced by the even more liberal and looney Vice President, Kamala Harris.
Joe is so demented, even now, that you know he isn't making any decisions that haven't been approved by the cadre of sinister forces that helped him to "win" the election. Don't expect to see much of him going forward. He's just not ready for prime time. Even in his heyday, Joe Biden was not ready for prime time. They didn't refer to him as one-percent Joe for nothing. That was all he could muster in his last two primary runs at the office of the presidency. His Vice President, Kamala Harris, never got more than two percent when she ran in the primaries. Just a couple of real losers.
We've tried to tell you all of this in the months leading up to the election but it seems no one was listening. His minions in the media will do their best when he does appear in public to put lipstick on the pig but it's still a pig at the end of the day. We'll no doubt constantly hear, "what he meant to say is…" and on and on it goes. And the gloating over Trump's loss at the polls, stolen as it was, by the left is likely to make looking at mainstream media even more nonsensical for the millions of us who know the truth. It remains to be seen if that "truth" will ever set us free.
I'm also learning a lot about how to "read" what comes out of the machine during the expressing of the actual espresso. The moment the first syrup-like drips appear in the bottom of the cup, and they more closely resemble blood or mud than anything else, it is a coagulation of caffeine at its finest until that very moment when the syrup thins and the transition to "watery" begins. The trick is removing your cup just before the changeover and just after you see the crema forming as a reddish-brown froth on top of your espresso.
If my machine is not doing what it should be doing due to faulty parts or whatever, I am going to need to find a replacement. I would replace the parts but I fear my machine is too old and the parts I think I need may no longer be available. I refuse to consider used parts since they too may be compromised and I will just be delaying the inevitable. Looking online this morning I see machines ranging in price from $29.99 to well over $1,000. Is there a sweet spot somewhere in there for a guy who doesn't need a Mercedes but probably wouldn't be happy with a Volkswagen?
Here we go again. Evan has a sore throat so he'll need to go get a Covid-19 test. We think he may have mentioned that he had a sore throat not realizing that one thing would lead to another so that is where we are at the moment. Nancy will schedule a test for him asap and we'll see where that goes. I'm sure it's nothing but that's just me. (Update-Covid test was negative.)
We can't be turning people's lives upside down every time they get a goddamn case of the sniffles. People in Evan's age group have a mortality rate of near-zero so that's another reason not to fret unnecessarily. But all of the gnashing of teeth is just too much. I swear to God, he has his mother's fretting gene. His anxiety over it all is just over the top. Did I mention we spent time with him a few days ago?
The weather hereabouts as of late has been unseasonably warm. I like warm but not too warm this time of year. It's a blazing 62 degrees at the hour of 8 something in the morning. It's probably not a bad day to do some work outside. Just a bit of last minute tidying up, really. I certainly won't need the extra layers when biking today so that's good. I've been trying to synch up my wardrobe with the changing weather as of late and I've been failing miserably. There is nothing worse than wearing one too many layers when you needed one or more fewer. I've had the gloves out too but not today.
It's hard to think about Thanksgiving on days like today but think about Thanksgiving we must. Mrs G mentioned that she might be getting together with a group of folks in her facility for dinner at her place so that's good. Gatherings of any kind are generally taboo during the era of Covid so that provides an adequate backdrop for those not wishing to participate due to health concerns, etc.
Crossing state lines to spend time with family members can be a risky proposition in and of itself according to the CDC. Here's my advice: Bring an extra box of Kleenex. We'll probably hunker down here at home with a nice turkey from Trader Joes. There's something to be said for tradition. We usually get a natural or organic turkey with all the fixings. We'll pop that sucker in the oven 9-ish for a dinner time of between 3 and 4 if all goes well. Nancy will make her grandmother's pumpkin pie recipe for dessert and all will be well with the world.
There will be no jello molds, boiled onions or, god forbid, fruit cake from days of old. We'll have Alice's Restaurant on the "record player" to set just the right tone and Nancy will be making her own version of cranberry sauce made with real cranberries. We can thank Sleepy Joe Biden for re-introducing the term "record player" back into the American lexicon just in time for the holidays. Will there even going to be a Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade this year?
I told Nancy that spending over $3 for a cup of regular coffee at Starbucks is a bridge too far. I was fine spending $2 and a little more but they recently raised the price to over $3 so I think I'm done with those bastards. Their specialty coffees are well over $5 and I am, truth be told, partial to their Flat White now and then. I don't know why I tolerate this but I've been sharing my coffee purchases with Nancy all these years so it's kinda like a two-for-one deal when we buy a beverage. That makes the astronomical price point more tolerable but just barely.
Don't get me wrong. I love their coffee so I won't be abandoning them altogether. Instead, I'll buy a bag of beans and make the coffee at home. Not the specialty ones but rather just the regular coffee of the day drinks. Their Thanksgiving Blend is all the current rage and I might want to grab a bag before it disappears and is replaced with their even more famous, Holiday Blend. Oh, and instead of buying a new espresso machine I broke down and ordered a replacement part off E-bay this morning to see if that doesn't fix the problem I'm having. It's worth a try.
I was telling Nancy that it cost me $45 to buy a bicycle tire yesterday. I'd forgotten how expensive bicycle tires can be. I know I sound very cost conscious today when talking about everything from Thanksgiving turkeys to garden variety coffee drinks but that's fairly far from the truth. I don't usually give a hoot.
Maybe when you start to pay attention to such things you get a wake-up call of sorts. But, when it comes to bicycle tires, I can spend less on car tires which is just bass ackwards. And why am I having to replace tires on a bicycle that I bought just eight months ago? What's up with that?
Do you ever have one of those days when you have little direction, little or no control or restraint when it comes to eating things that you know you'll regret eating, and little or no impetus to do those things like exercise that you know are good for you? That was yesterday for me. I knew it when it was happening and I was incapable of putting a stop to any of it.
I took a long nap hoping to snap out of my sugar induced malaise but woke up too late to enjoy much of anything left of the day which, not incidentally, was slipping away by the minute. It was a lesson about what not to do and how not to get off on the wrong foot on any given day of the week. Maybe more to the point, it was a lesson on what not to eat knowing full well what having too much or not enough of one thing or another can mean. When your momma tells you, everything in moderation, you best be listening.
As of this moment, there are 70 plus million people who voted for Trump and most of those people don't and won't accept the fact that Sleepy Joe Biden got more votes than Trump. Are there really 78 million people who voted to put a demented, cognitively impaired, a candidate who can't complete a full sentence even with the help of a teleprompter, and a candidate with an unnatural and even perverted affection for young children is on full display on the internet in pictures and on video, into the highest office of the land?
There is only one conclusion you can reach. That is, the democrats managed to steal the 2020 election. They hijacked the electoral process to gain power. That leads us to one more inescapable conclusion: Joe Biden will be now and forever more be an illegitimate president. We Trump supporters must resist and reject the Biden presidency with every fibre of our being. That is essentially what they did to Trump for four years so what's good for the goose is good for the gander. We will be a polarized citizenry and for good reason. We simply cannot abide this kind of treachery and treasonous behavior by any political party.
Where can we Trump supporters go now to get the skinny without all of the propaganda spewed by the leftists and their minions in the media? I stopped watching CNN a long time ago when it became clear from the day Trump came down the escalator that they were going to destroy him with their every last breath. I've watched fewer and fewer people on FOX over time and have now completely walked away after seeing their analysts turn their vitriol towards Trump and his supporters. There's always Newsmax and OANN, and of course there's Parler in the social media space that, if nothing else, will suffice as Twitter Lite.
Public spaces like Twitter and Facebook now shadow ban conservative voices so you might as well keep your comments to yourself since anything you have to say is going nowhere anyway. You might think that your comments are out there for your tens of thousands of followers to see but you would be wrong. You might as well be shouting into a fucking hole in the ground. Just look at the number of impressions that any one of your tweets gets and you'll know what I'm saying is true. It's not censorship in the truest sense of the word, but it's darn close.
I don't think anyone knows where this is all going over the next four years with Biden in office but I'm not hopeful. I prefer to think of it as a period of time where we simply have to resist and reject before we can restore sanity to the office of the presidency and, to a larger extent, to our country. Trump has exposed the left at every level in and out of government so we now know who and what we're dealing with. We know what corruption looks and smells like and we know it when we see it. Our bullshit meters have never been more finely tuned thanks to Trump's calling it out for what it is over the last four years.
Maybe I'll just keep a running list of the left's lunacy as I see it unfold over the next four years. Maybe that's the least I can do if for no other reason than to say after it's all over that I wasn't wrong in my assessment of what a Sleepy Joe Biden presidency would look like. Keep in mind that Sleepy Joe will probably not be the president for long so look for him to be replaced by the even more liberal and looney Vice President, Kamala Harris.
Joe is so demented, even now, that you know he isn't making any decisions that haven't been approved by the cadre of sinister forces that helped him to "win" the election. Don't expect to see much of him going forward. He's just not ready for prime time. Even in his heyday, Joe Biden was not ready for prime time. They didn't refer to him as one-percent Joe for nothing. That was all he could muster in his last two primary runs at the office of the presidency. His Vice President, Kamala Harris, never got more than two percent when she ran in the primaries. Just a couple of real losers.
We've tried to tell you all of this in the months leading up to the election but it seems no one was listening. His minions in the media will do their best when he does appear in public to put lipstick on the pig but it's still a pig at the end of the day. We'll no doubt constantly hear, "what he meant to say is…" and on and on it goes. And the gloating over Trump's loss at the polls, stolen as it was, by the left is likely to make looking at mainstream media even more nonsensical for the millions of us who know the truth. It remains to be seen if that "truth" will ever set us free.
Stealing the 2020 Election
06/11/20 07:25
Well, we've got ourselves a disputed election. Sleepy Joe has amassed some 80 million votes as of this morning which, amazingly, exceeds the number of votes Obama garnered in his historic election in 2008. Reports of electoral fraud are coming in fast and furious and this has all the hallmarks of a stolen election in progress. Some precincts in swing states like Wisconsin, which has already been called for Biden, have vote counts which are greater than 100 percent of the registered voter rolls.
Trump has been warning us for months that this ballot business would result in a massive fraud on the American public and, as usual, his remarks were prescient. Does Trump have the goods on these freaks trying to steal the presidency of the greatest country on the face of the earth? He's certainly been warming us about it long enough so I would hope that the answer to that question is an unequivocal "yes." What concerns me is that all I'm hearing about are the battles in court to gain access to watch the ballot counting process and nothing more.
What about the boatloads of ballots (130,000) showing up in the State of Wisconsin at 4 in the morning that show Biden wining all but 4,000 of the votes? What about the caches of ballots showing up at 4 in the morning in Wisconsin no down ballot candidates selected? Did I mention that all of these hijinks are occurring in blue swing states that Trump won in 2016 by, albeit, very small margins. All the red states announced the winning candidates the night of the election.
The blue states have continued to count ballots well beyond election day. In some states, like Pennsylvania, the damn signatures don't even have to match the signatures on record. I think the postmark date is no longer of importance in that State thanks to John Roberts of Supreme Court fame. This is the same toady that voted with the liberals to say that the Obamacare mandate was essentially a tax. That decision breathed life into a tenuous piece of legislation that failed to get even one republican vote.
Nobody minds losing an election in a fair process. That's how we Americans have rolled going back to 1776. There have been questionable decisions in the Supreme Court from time to time that have swung election one way or another. The close ones have always been difficult to take for the losing party. You can understand how that might leave a bad taste in one's mouth. But, we move on because that is who we are. I think it's different this time. There's just no right minded person who thinks that the likes of Sleepy Joe Biden, beset with dementia as he is, could get the number of votes that he allegedly did to "win" an election against Trump.
Trump amassed huge numbers of votes in minority populations across the country. Maybe even more than anyone in the last 70-80 years. The Republicans will keep the Senate and they picked up more seats in the House of Representatives than projected. It just makes no sense that you get this number of down ballot wins and the top of the ticket loses. If all is lost at the end of the day and Biden wins, the only good news is that we kept the Senate which will prevent these thieves from doing what they want to do when it comes to packing the court, adding States to the Union and senators to the senate, etc.
The problem now is, how do we come back from this as a Republic? We will have lost all faith and confidence in our institutions that have, thus far, protected us and our processes from chicanery the likes of which we're witnessing in this election. If the democrats can steal an election, if they can unseat a duly elected president in the dark of night, where do we go to get our integrity as a nation back? How do we have any confidence in the sanctity of the voting process? Why should any of us go to the polls to cast a vote when we know our votes are not going to matter? The founders of our nation must be rolling over in their fucking graves.
If I hear one more person say that every vote must be counted I think I'm going to throw up. I agree with Trump when he says that all legal votes must be counted. Those conjured up out of thin air must be tossed. We're three days out from the election and there are still 5 States or so that have yet to complete counting their ballots and declaring a winner. This is the first time in American history when the winner has not been decided on the night of the election or shortly thereafter. Well, there were a couple of elections that dragged on a bit longer but not for the reasons related to ballots and the counting of same.
You might even say, and there are those of us on the losing side at the moment who are saying, that the extra time allotted to the States still counting their ballots is giving the opposition time to manufacture as many votes as they need to win. Maybe it was Stalin who said, and I'm paraphrasing, it's not the number of people who vote, it's the people counting the votes that matter. It just leaves a terribly sickening taste in my mouth and I think the democrats have taken us down a very dark road with their treachery. In a nation guided by laws, this cannot stand.
This fight isn't over yet, my friends. Still a long way to go before the dust settles an we know who our next President is going to be. In the meantime, it looks like the republicans may hold the upper hand when it comes to races in the House of Representatives and in the Senate. This could be a game changer. If Biden does prevail, he'll be constrained in implementing his liberal policies by Houses in Congress held by the opposing party. That is a good thing. He may end up being President in name only which would be just fine with me.
Even Sleepy Joe's executive actions may get slapped around by a decidedly now more conservative Supreme Court. In case you were wondering why you were seeing and hearing so much angst on the part of the democrats during the Amy Cony Barrett hearings earlier this year, now you know. It isn't referred to the court of last resort for nothing.
We also have to keep in mind that it isn't necessarily the leftist leanings of the demented, and get more demented by the day, Joe Biden, that keep we conservatives up at night. It is the radical leftist forces of AOC, etc., that now believe it is their destiny to take the reins of power in our government after helping to tip the scales in Sleepy Joe's favor in the election. Liberal legislation takes us down one path. Communism takes us to an altogether different and predictable place.
It wouldn't surprise me at all to see Biden and his leftist buddies get back into bed with countries like Cuba and Iran, and maybe even Venezuela, again while holding at arms length or worse those relationships cultivated so brilliantly by the Trump administration.
He will, no doubt, bend the knee to those in his party who despise Israel and I expect him to fully restore funding to the Palestinians and other nasty fucks in cesspools around the globe. That is who they are. If these shit holes, as Trump calls them, aspire to anything it is the destruction of the United States as the preeminent power on the planet. Game. Set. Match.
Don't even get me started on what they probably have planned when it comes to Trump's trade policies. If they look to undo everything Trump put in place, that's a problem. Trump used tariffs with countries around the world as leverage in negotiating more favorable deals for our country. Before Trump came along, we as a nation essentially bent over backwards to benefit other less well-off nations and more often than not to our own detriment.
Trump understood well that our wholesale beneficence, unparalleled as it has been for decades, to countries around the world came at a cost. It cost jobs, opportunities to more fully compete in the global economy, and it seriously undermined many economic and political advantages we held as a global superpower. Prostrating ourselves on the world stage has never been a good look. Trump's America First policy came along just in time. What we really need is four more years of Trump. I'm just not sure that's in the cards.
Trump has been warning us for months that this ballot business would result in a massive fraud on the American public and, as usual, his remarks were prescient. Does Trump have the goods on these freaks trying to steal the presidency of the greatest country on the face of the earth? He's certainly been warming us about it long enough so I would hope that the answer to that question is an unequivocal "yes." What concerns me is that all I'm hearing about are the battles in court to gain access to watch the ballot counting process and nothing more.
What about the boatloads of ballots (130,000) showing up in the State of Wisconsin at 4 in the morning that show Biden wining all but 4,000 of the votes? What about the caches of ballots showing up at 4 in the morning in Wisconsin no down ballot candidates selected? Did I mention that all of these hijinks are occurring in blue swing states that Trump won in 2016 by, albeit, very small margins. All the red states announced the winning candidates the night of the election.
The blue states have continued to count ballots well beyond election day. In some states, like Pennsylvania, the damn signatures don't even have to match the signatures on record. I think the postmark date is no longer of importance in that State thanks to John Roberts of Supreme Court fame. This is the same toady that voted with the liberals to say that the Obamacare mandate was essentially a tax. That decision breathed life into a tenuous piece of legislation that failed to get even one republican vote.
Nobody minds losing an election in a fair process. That's how we Americans have rolled going back to 1776. There have been questionable decisions in the Supreme Court from time to time that have swung election one way or another. The close ones have always been difficult to take for the losing party. You can understand how that might leave a bad taste in one's mouth. But, we move on because that is who we are. I think it's different this time. There's just no right minded person who thinks that the likes of Sleepy Joe Biden, beset with dementia as he is, could get the number of votes that he allegedly did to "win" an election against Trump.
Trump amassed huge numbers of votes in minority populations across the country. Maybe even more than anyone in the last 70-80 years. The Republicans will keep the Senate and they picked up more seats in the House of Representatives than projected. It just makes no sense that you get this number of down ballot wins and the top of the ticket loses. If all is lost at the end of the day and Biden wins, the only good news is that we kept the Senate which will prevent these thieves from doing what they want to do when it comes to packing the court, adding States to the Union and senators to the senate, etc.
The problem now is, how do we come back from this as a Republic? We will have lost all faith and confidence in our institutions that have, thus far, protected us and our processes from chicanery the likes of which we're witnessing in this election. If the democrats can steal an election, if they can unseat a duly elected president in the dark of night, where do we go to get our integrity as a nation back? How do we have any confidence in the sanctity of the voting process? Why should any of us go to the polls to cast a vote when we know our votes are not going to matter? The founders of our nation must be rolling over in their fucking graves.
If I hear one more person say that every vote must be counted I think I'm going to throw up. I agree with Trump when he says that all legal votes must be counted. Those conjured up out of thin air must be tossed. We're three days out from the election and there are still 5 States or so that have yet to complete counting their ballots and declaring a winner. This is the first time in American history when the winner has not been decided on the night of the election or shortly thereafter. Well, there were a couple of elections that dragged on a bit longer but not for the reasons related to ballots and the counting of same.
You might even say, and there are those of us on the losing side at the moment who are saying, that the extra time allotted to the States still counting their ballots is giving the opposition time to manufacture as many votes as they need to win. Maybe it was Stalin who said, and I'm paraphrasing, it's not the number of people who vote, it's the people counting the votes that matter. It just leaves a terribly sickening taste in my mouth and I think the democrats have taken us down a very dark road with their treachery. In a nation guided by laws, this cannot stand.
This fight isn't over yet, my friends. Still a long way to go before the dust settles an we know who our next President is going to be. In the meantime, it looks like the republicans may hold the upper hand when it comes to races in the House of Representatives and in the Senate. This could be a game changer. If Biden does prevail, he'll be constrained in implementing his liberal policies by Houses in Congress held by the opposing party. That is a good thing. He may end up being President in name only which would be just fine with me.
Even Sleepy Joe's executive actions may get slapped around by a decidedly now more conservative Supreme Court. In case you were wondering why you were seeing and hearing so much angst on the part of the democrats during the Amy Cony Barrett hearings earlier this year, now you know. It isn't referred to the court of last resort for nothing.
We also have to keep in mind that it isn't necessarily the leftist leanings of the demented, and get more demented by the day, Joe Biden, that keep we conservatives up at night. It is the radical leftist forces of AOC, etc., that now believe it is their destiny to take the reins of power in our government after helping to tip the scales in Sleepy Joe's favor in the election. Liberal legislation takes us down one path. Communism takes us to an altogether different and predictable place.
It wouldn't surprise me at all to see Biden and his leftist buddies get back into bed with countries like Cuba and Iran, and maybe even Venezuela, again while holding at arms length or worse those relationships cultivated so brilliantly by the Trump administration.
He will, no doubt, bend the knee to those in his party who despise Israel and I expect him to fully restore funding to the Palestinians and other nasty fucks in cesspools around the globe. That is who they are. If these shit holes, as Trump calls them, aspire to anything it is the destruction of the United States as the preeminent power on the planet. Game. Set. Match.
Don't even get me started on what they probably have planned when it comes to Trump's trade policies. If they look to undo everything Trump put in place, that's a problem. Trump used tariffs with countries around the world as leverage in negotiating more favorable deals for our country. Before Trump came along, we as a nation essentially bent over backwards to benefit other less well-off nations and more often than not to our own detriment.
Trump understood well that our wholesale beneficence, unparalleled as it has been for decades, to countries around the world came at a cost. It cost jobs, opportunities to more fully compete in the global economy, and it seriously undermined many economic and political advantages we held as a global superpower. Prostrating ourselves on the world stage has never been a good look. Trump's America First policy came along just in time. What we really need is four more years of Trump. I'm just not sure that's in the cards.
Let's Do This
31/10/20 08:16
I told myself that I wasn't going to start writing in this here urinal, I mean journal, until after the election. How did that work out for you, Johnny boy? I need to channel my angst somewhere so this is a good a place as any. No matter which horse you're pulling for in this race, it's going to be pins and needles until it's all over. That's how tight it is according to the polls and the pollsters. You pick and choose the storylines and the heroes and heroines in this storyline at your peril. One thing you don't do is bet the farm on your preferred outcome.
The momentum seems to be with Trump so I'm pleased to hear that. If crowd size is any indication, Trump wins walking away. He may or may not need a straight flush to pull this out like he did in 2016 but time will tell. The dems always start with an advantage in the electoral college so it's an uphill climb for any republican to cross the finish line first.
There's a story out this morning that Kamala Harris was wooing a couple dozen followers yesterday and the first words out of her mouth were, "the first thing we're going to do is to repeal Trump's tax cuts." Her comments were met, or so the story goes, with raucous applause. You can't make this stuff up.
I have certain go-to people that I turn my attention to as we get closer to Election Day. One of those people is Newt Gingrich. He seems to think Trump is going to stun the world by winning some 320+ electoral votes. In fact, I neither read or listen to people, articles, or news reports that have Trump losing any of the States that he needs to win to pull this off. I know I'm sticking my head in the sand but I don't know how else to stay optimistic in such perilous times. The thought of Biden winning scares the hell out of me.
Evan had a bit of trouble getting his registration and absentee ballot off on the right foot. He mailed off all the right forms and then he gets a call at 7:30 at night from a town clerk of sorts telling him that they had his ballot but that he was not yet registered. It was comforting in a way to know that getting this voting thing down right is a science and not an art and that the town officials take it as seriously as they need to take it.
He did his best at the Town Hall but they weren't maybe as helpful as they could have been because it wasn't long before he showed up on our doorstep looking for birth certificates, etc. in order to complete the proper paper work. We got it all squared away and back he went. This time he got it done with a minimum of fuss and I think he felt good about making the effort and taking the time to get it right. I wouldn't have thought that voting would be a priority for him but I would have been wrong. His preferences were clear and he wanted to be on record as voting for same.
It was Evan's grandfather (Da) who told Evan many a time when he was growing up, "be a good citizen." I think voting qualifies as doing your duty as a citizen. Maybe it was Michael Savage, the irascible talk show guy out of San Fran Sicko, who sang Trump's praises during the 2016 presidential race and whose voice still rings loudly in Evan's memory banks. Maybe Evan didn't want to be the odd man out on Election Day having not cast a vote while the rest of us watched the tally go back and forth and getting more or less anxious with each passing hour and with each rust-belt state falling into one camp or another.
Maybe it's true what they say about this election being a referendum on Trump and it having very little to do with the democrat on the ballot opposing Trump. If that is, in fact, the contest then I don't know how Trump doesn't win it without so much as a fuss. He'll tell you himself, and he would be right, he's done more in 47 months than Biden has done in 47 years. All told, the two men have very different views on the future of America so there's that.
All of Trump's successes have been against headwinds like the Russian Hoax, the Deep State, the Ukraine Hoax, the Special Counsel investigating everything Trump and Russia, and at least two of the four years fighting against a Democrat Majority in the House of Representatives. A lesser man would have folded like a cheap suit long ago. There are a lot of constituencies out there whose core issues have been addressed by this president and in meaningful and important ways.
Evangelicals, Blacks, and Hispanics are amongst the groups who should be now going to the polls in greater numbers than ever before to support the president who supported them and who gave them a voice when voices on the other side have been hard to find.
The good citizens of blue states whose government officials have exerted a suffocating and controlling hold over their economies and populations during the Covid "crisis" have welcomed Trump with open arms for his "we need to open up our country" clarion call. All have a heartfelt appreciation for the president who made promises and kept promises. They tell you unapologetically, "he's fought for us for the last four years, and now we're fighting for him."
Who is this guy, Little Wayne, I asked Evan. He's some rapper who has come out to endorse President Trump or so the story goes. "That's Lil Wayne", Evan corrected me. I don't know that endorsements make much of a difference. I don't think one newspaper endorsed Trump four years ago and he still won. The opposite is true as well. The more the establishment freaks go on record as being against Trump the better his chances are that he'll prevail.
What's interesting this time around is that there are many democrats up and down the political food chain who, knowing full well what a Biden Administration might look like, have come out and endorsed President Trump. The fact that many of them are people of color is ringing alarm bells far and wide within the democrat party. Add to that the fact that Hispanics are voting for Trump in even larger numbers than in 2016 and you have yourself the equivalent of a 2020 political kill shot.
When I started this journal piece yesterday I was feeling the very angst you might have detected in my first two paragraphs above. I was putting maybe too much stock in the garbage that was being spewed by the media that was telling us that Trump was unlikely to win. I was ready to stop listening to everything and anything just to avoid hearing those predictions.
When I finally did tune in I turned on the television to see Trump at a rally in Butler, PA. There were a sea of people in attendance as far as the eye could see, maybe some 60,000 thousand strong. For comparison, even the Beatles never drew crowds this big when they played in Shea Stadium. What the hell is going on???
When is the last time you heard a chorus of any kind much less a chorus of that many people chanting as they were at Trump's rallies for the "politician", Donald J Trump, "We love you!" "We love you!" It is true that before he became president he was a bit of a cult figure in NY and environs where he had spots here and there in movies, hobnobbed with sports figures and rappers alike, and was pretty much the toast of the town. That all changed after he came down the elevator announcing as he did that he was running for president.
What didn't change, and has never changed, is the man himself. The fact that he has endured as much as he has while seeing to it that America stays on the straight and narrow has only endeared him more to the American people. He is as much or more of a cultural icon today than he ever was prior to taking up residence at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. I think it's also fair to say that no politician, current or past, embodies and represents the sheer toughness and spirit of the American people more than Donald J. Trump.
If and when he wins a second term, and it is looking more and more likely with each passing hour as we get closer to election day, he will have beaten the Establishment like the proverbial, and somewhat mythical, rented mule. If there is one thing Americans love and admire, it's a winner. When that winner is fighting for the American people, expect more love and admiration, not less.
It isn't just the four or five rallies that Trump is having in various states every day. There are pop-up car/truck/boat rallies across the country independent of the campaign with sometimes thousands of cars lining the highways and byways flying flags, hooting and hollering, and flashing their lights to show support for Trump. These are purely organic events arising out of random Facebook posts or some other social media platform. I thought these platforms were doing their utmost to help kill the Trump campaign in the cradle.
I saw a tweet last night suggesting that the Biden camp had already given up any hope of winning the race for the White House and they are now turning their attention to trying to help candidates down ballot. I will look to see just how dejected the talking heads are on television networks like CNN and CBS, etc., when I tune in to the Sunday talk shows this morning and that will give me a good indication of where the race is just 48 hours out from election day.
Martha Radditz usually has a pretty dour puss on the best of days so if she is looking like a dumpster fire then I'll know it's all over. The same is true for Jake Tapper on CNN. Now that I've seen some of the shows, I can tell you that he had on some moonbat from the Biden campaign talking about Biden winning Georgia and maybe Texas. They really have lost their minds.
If Donna Brazil and Juan Williams are looking and sounding like the angry loons that they are, it's probably a good bet that Biden is on the ropes. So much for my plans for a self-imposed media blackout. Well, tomorrow is election day. The calculus hasn't changed much in the last 24 hours. The Trump vote needs to show up at the polls tomorrow. If they do, we win. America wins.
The momentum seems to be with Trump so I'm pleased to hear that. If crowd size is any indication, Trump wins walking away. He may or may not need a straight flush to pull this out like he did in 2016 but time will tell. The dems always start with an advantage in the electoral college so it's an uphill climb for any republican to cross the finish line first.
There's a story out this morning that Kamala Harris was wooing a couple dozen followers yesterday and the first words out of her mouth were, "the first thing we're going to do is to repeal Trump's tax cuts." Her comments were met, or so the story goes, with raucous applause. You can't make this stuff up.
I have certain go-to people that I turn my attention to as we get closer to Election Day. One of those people is Newt Gingrich. He seems to think Trump is going to stun the world by winning some 320+ electoral votes. In fact, I neither read or listen to people, articles, or news reports that have Trump losing any of the States that he needs to win to pull this off. I know I'm sticking my head in the sand but I don't know how else to stay optimistic in such perilous times. The thought of Biden winning scares the hell out of me.
Evan had a bit of trouble getting his registration and absentee ballot off on the right foot. He mailed off all the right forms and then he gets a call at 7:30 at night from a town clerk of sorts telling him that they had his ballot but that he was not yet registered. It was comforting in a way to know that getting this voting thing down right is a science and not an art and that the town officials take it as seriously as they need to take it.
He did his best at the Town Hall but they weren't maybe as helpful as they could have been because it wasn't long before he showed up on our doorstep looking for birth certificates, etc. in order to complete the proper paper work. We got it all squared away and back he went. This time he got it done with a minimum of fuss and I think he felt good about making the effort and taking the time to get it right. I wouldn't have thought that voting would be a priority for him but I would have been wrong. His preferences were clear and he wanted to be on record as voting for same.
It was Evan's grandfather (Da) who told Evan many a time when he was growing up, "be a good citizen." I think voting qualifies as doing your duty as a citizen. Maybe it was Michael Savage, the irascible talk show guy out of San Fran Sicko, who sang Trump's praises during the 2016 presidential race and whose voice still rings loudly in Evan's memory banks. Maybe Evan didn't want to be the odd man out on Election Day having not cast a vote while the rest of us watched the tally go back and forth and getting more or less anxious with each passing hour and with each rust-belt state falling into one camp or another.
Maybe it's true what they say about this election being a referendum on Trump and it having very little to do with the democrat on the ballot opposing Trump. If that is, in fact, the contest then I don't know how Trump doesn't win it without so much as a fuss. He'll tell you himself, and he would be right, he's done more in 47 months than Biden has done in 47 years. All told, the two men have very different views on the future of America so there's that.
All of Trump's successes have been against headwinds like the Russian Hoax, the Deep State, the Ukraine Hoax, the Special Counsel investigating everything Trump and Russia, and at least two of the four years fighting against a Democrat Majority in the House of Representatives. A lesser man would have folded like a cheap suit long ago. There are a lot of constituencies out there whose core issues have been addressed by this president and in meaningful and important ways.
Evangelicals, Blacks, and Hispanics are amongst the groups who should be now going to the polls in greater numbers than ever before to support the president who supported them and who gave them a voice when voices on the other side have been hard to find.
The good citizens of blue states whose government officials have exerted a suffocating and controlling hold over their economies and populations during the Covid "crisis" have welcomed Trump with open arms for his "we need to open up our country" clarion call. All have a heartfelt appreciation for the president who made promises and kept promises. They tell you unapologetically, "he's fought for us for the last four years, and now we're fighting for him."
Who is this guy, Little Wayne, I asked Evan. He's some rapper who has come out to endorse President Trump or so the story goes. "That's Lil Wayne", Evan corrected me. I don't know that endorsements make much of a difference. I don't think one newspaper endorsed Trump four years ago and he still won. The opposite is true as well. The more the establishment freaks go on record as being against Trump the better his chances are that he'll prevail.
What's interesting this time around is that there are many democrats up and down the political food chain who, knowing full well what a Biden Administration might look like, have come out and endorsed President Trump. The fact that many of them are people of color is ringing alarm bells far and wide within the democrat party. Add to that the fact that Hispanics are voting for Trump in even larger numbers than in 2016 and you have yourself the equivalent of a 2020 political kill shot.
When I started this journal piece yesterday I was feeling the very angst you might have detected in my first two paragraphs above. I was putting maybe too much stock in the garbage that was being spewed by the media that was telling us that Trump was unlikely to win. I was ready to stop listening to everything and anything just to avoid hearing those predictions.
When I finally did tune in I turned on the television to see Trump at a rally in Butler, PA. There were a sea of people in attendance as far as the eye could see, maybe some 60,000 thousand strong. For comparison, even the Beatles never drew crowds this big when they played in Shea Stadium. What the hell is going on???
When is the last time you heard a chorus of any kind much less a chorus of that many people chanting as they were at Trump's rallies for the "politician", Donald J Trump, "We love you!" "We love you!" It is true that before he became president he was a bit of a cult figure in NY and environs where he had spots here and there in movies, hobnobbed with sports figures and rappers alike, and was pretty much the toast of the town. That all changed after he came down the elevator announcing as he did that he was running for president.
What didn't change, and has never changed, is the man himself. The fact that he has endured as much as he has while seeing to it that America stays on the straight and narrow has only endeared him more to the American people. He is as much or more of a cultural icon today than he ever was prior to taking up residence at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. I think it's also fair to say that no politician, current or past, embodies and represents the sheer toughness and spirit of the American people more than Donald J. Trump.
If and when he wins a second term, and it is looking more and more likely with each passing hour as we get closer to election day, he will have beaten the Establishment like the proverbial, and somewhat mythical, rented mule. If there is one thing Americans love and admire, it's a winner. When that winner is fighting for the American people, expect more love and admiration, not less.
It isn't just the four or five rallies that Trump is having in various states every day. There are pop-up car/truck/boat rallies across the country independent of the campaign with sometimes thousands of cars lining the highways and byways flying flags, hooting and hollering, and flashing their lights to show support for Trump. These are purely organic events arising out of random Facebook posts or some other social media platform. I thought these platforms were doing their utmost to help kill the Trump campaign in the cradle.
I saw a tweet last night suggesting that the Biden camp had already given up any hope of winning the race for the White House and they are now turning their attention to trying to help candidates down ballot. I will look to see just how dejected the talking heads are on television networks like CNN and CBS, etc., when I tune in to the Sunday talk shows this morning and that will give me a good indication of where the race is just 48 hours out from election day.
Martha Radditz usually has a pretty dour puss on the best of days so if she is looking like a dumpster fire then I'll know it's all over. The same is true for Jake Tapper on CNN. Now that I've seen some of the shows, I can tell you that he had on some moonbat from the Biden campaign talking about Biden winning Georgia and maybe Texas. They really have lost their minds.
If Donna Brazil and Juan Williams are looking and sounding like the angry loons that they are, it's probably a good bet that Biden is on the ropes. So much for my plans for a self-imposed media blackout. Well, tomorrow is election day. The calculus hasn't changed much in the last 24 hours. The Trump vote needs to show up at the polls tomorrow. If they do, we win. America wins.
Panic Porn
27/10/20 07:20
It was quite a night. The swearing-in of Amy Cony Barrett by Justice Clarence Thomas at the White House as an Associate Supreme Court Justice was the icing on the cake. This was a long time coming, folks. Conservatives now hold a 6-3 majority in the Supreme Court. There is one small caveat to that and that is that John Roberts is about as squishy a conservative as they come. He's voted with the libs far too often but he occasionally does the right thing.
His power to disrupt has now been diminished if not destroyed in total. Until and unless Barrett somehow proves herself to be unreliable, conservatives will hold sway over some of the more contentious legal issues of our time. Barrett has been affectionally referred to as Scalia's successor so we'll see how that works out. Her acceptance speech warmed the cockles of every conservative's heart when she reiterated that she will not be, and I paraphrase, legislating from the bench. Pitch perfect!
It was a bad day for the libs. It's been a bad week for the libs and it's only Monday. They are seething with anger at how easily the republicans moved Barrett through the Senate confirmation process. Barrett sailed through with 52 republican votes and no votes whatsoever from the democrats. Not a fucking one. Trump is holding three and four rallies a day and Sleepy Joe can barely get out of his basement. Anyone hoping for Biden/Harris win, and pinning those hopes on intentionally bad polling results, is probably starting to wake up to a new and disturbing reality.
That is to say, the 2020 Trump-Biden campaign is starting to look more like the Bush-Dukakis campaign of yesteryear. There are multiple paths to 270 for Trump and States that may have been in play for Biden are now likely out of reach thanks to Biden's comments in the debate regarding doing away with the fossil fuel industry. Pennsylvania is just one of several states that I think fall into that category. The laptop from hell is gaining traction by the day as well and recent polling shows that 51% of the public think that Joe Biden (the Big Guy) benefitted from the influence peddling scheme run by his son, Hunter (the bagman).
I was happy to have Nancy join me in watching the swearing-in celebration at the White House. She's not always interested in that sort of thing but I pressed her on the historic nature of the event and she came around albeit reluctantly. She may have focused more of the pageantry than the politics but that was fine too. We noticed that Barrett never shook Thomas's hand after the swearing in and thought that a bit odd. In retrospect, shaking hands is no longer acceptable in this the era of Covid-19. Of course. What were we thinking?
Tucker Carlson is having an ex-business associate of Hunter Biden on his show tonight at 8 on Fox. He plans on spilling the beans about the corruption of the Biden Family Crime Syndicate. This gentleman will have voice recordings of the Biden's and their shenanigans for the world to hear. This comes on the heels of Jill Biden's plea to disregard the tapes and have everyone pay attention to what really matters. The main street media and their brethren in the social media orbit have done their best to suppress the "laptop" story by outright censoring it. Nothing goes viral faster than something deliberately smothered by the main street media.
I fear that what we're seeing here is the old double standard where you have one set of rules for the republicans and another set of rules for the democrats. If a republican were accused of doing what the Bidens are accused of doing you would have the FBI breaking down doors in pre-dawn raids to arrest them and members of their family for god only knows what. If the candidate is Joe Biden, he's good to go. Nothing to see here, folks. Move along. I'm telling you people are sick and tired of this bullshit. Where the bloody fuck is Bill Barr (AG)???
And now we have to worry about the rules in several states where they plan to count ballots well beyond election night. In other words, keep counting until they have just enough votes to get their candidates over the finish line. Someone needs to step in and fix this. Either it's the State legislatures or it's the Supreme Court of the United States. Just get it done and do it before it's too late. The Supremes handed down just such a ruling in Wisconsin. No votes will be counted after election night. Period. Now do Pennsylvania.
I'm hearing that the dems are sending in the clowns here in New Hampshire. They're coming from all around to shore up the democrat vote and get their flawed and corrupt candidate, Sleepy Joe Biden, across the finish line. I don't have a good sense about how New Hampshire is going one way or another but these out-of-staters coming here tells me it's going to be a close one. Or, if there is a god, maybe not so close. And you know the dems are desperate when the best they can do is to send in that skinhead communist congresswoman from Massachusetts, Ayanna Pressley. There, I said it. She's just a real piece of work.
I keep going back and forth when it comes to returning to the gym. It seems like it would be a virtual hotbed of coronavirus germs where the very act of inhaling can kickstart the incubation and proliferation process. If there is a time of day where the people coming and going seems minimal, that might work out. I'm also not sure that I'll much care for the requirements as they are when it comes to wiping down and disinfecting the machines after I use them. I'm kind of a swipe it once and done kind of guy. I also have a real aversion to the hand soap they want us to use at every turn. I hate the smell of the stuff and I hate getting it on my hands. Bigly.
I'm trying to think a little bit about how I want this journal stuff to play out when it comes to the election. I don't want to be five paragraphs in going into Election Day and then have to announce the results of the election. If Biden wins I may not be in the mood to write anything for months. If Trump wins, I'll be there with bells on. Even on election night, and I remember well back in 2016, I think I listened to this or that not wanting to watch the gloating faces of the talking heads as they raised their champagne glasses in unison to celebrate Hillary's breaking the glass ceiling. I only turned on the television once it seemed that Trump was on a roll and more likely to win than not.
It seems that panic porn is making a comeback. The "we're all going to die" crowd is back on the scene whining and wishing for a robust return of the dreaded coronavirus. I'm talking largely about the democrats and their enablers in the media. They point to European countries that are reimposing lockdowns due to fears that their populations and economies may yet be overrun again due to deaths and hospitalizations. It just feels like a last minute push to see if the democrats and the media can't use this to make a difference at the margins when people go to vote on November 3rd.
The U.S. media has long hoped that these fears alone would prevent another four years of a Trump presidency. They've harped endlessly about Trump's role in delivering some 200,000+ deaths and fail to mention any of the Trump Administrations accomplishments which include the fast tracking of therapeutics and vaccines. While Biden is scaring the bejesus out of people with references of a "dark winter" and threats of national shut-downs and mask mandates, Trump rightly points to his own experience as a Covid-19 survivor as an example of how we survive the virus and move on with our lives.
I think most people have come to the conclusion that Trump is not to blame for the virus or the deaths caused by the virus. I think most people are buying into his upbeat and positive attitude about where we go from here when it comes to the economy, our pocketbooks, and hopes for the future. There are headwinds and challenges ahead but we are Americans and we're in it to win it. Third quarter GDP projections are out this morning and just in time for Trump to say once again, "I told you so." I think the annualized rate of 33% or so and this is the largest number maybe on record going way way back.
It will give The Donald yet one more thing to point to on the campaign trail as he holds rally after rally between now and next Tuesday. He can flash those record results on the big screen at his rallies in between clips of Biden painting a bleak and hopeless picture of what's to come should we re-elect Donald Trump. If nothing else, it seems like Biden is starting to believe all of the negativity that he's spewing so inartfully at his 15-person "rallies" where no clear messages are conveyed, no questions are answered, no real media is allowed, and then he is back to the basement where he awaits the apocalypse.
Forget what I said about the gym. I went yesterday after not visiting the gym for several months due to the Covid thing. It went pretty well. Every other machine was available and that provided the distancing recommended by the CDC or other. Masks were required when walking around the facility but not so if you were actually working out. There didn't seem to be any fewer people there than what one might otherwise expect in the days before Covid came along so that was reassuring. I definitely want to get there during the off hours if no other reason than to avoid the issues that go along with being in crowded spaces in the era of Covid.
Even Nancy is starting to let down her guard down a bit. Today, she's off to get her hair cut. It's not something that she has fancied precisely because of the virus and all of the vicious rumors circulating about it being airborne and everything else under the sun. When they tell you that the virus can retain its viability on surfaces for some 72 hours it tends to get your attention. And now we know, or we're starting to figure it out for ourselves, most of these rumors are just nonsense. So the sun will continue to come out, the moon will continue to rise and fall, and we'll all move on and move past this Covid thing. God willing.
I have to tell you, though. It felt good to be back at the gym. It felt good to be getting some exercise again. I feel the need to start using my muscles again because the rigors of a mean winter in the months ahead may demand it. Biking is good but I'm leaving several muscle groups in the lurch when biking is all I do. I kid myself when I think that just leaning into my handle bars while riding offers come kind of isotonic something that may or may not be better than nothing. I kid myself when I think that pumping my legs more ferociously mile in and mile out provides more than a rippling of anything much less the muscles in my legs.
Nancy will be going down to Massachusetts to do a little work for a friend in a day or two. That is also something she wouldn't even have considered doing just a month or two ago. I'm happy to see her getting out of the house. I'm still working on getting her to go to the market more often and without my assistance one way or another. Sometimes, I just have to settle for something as innocuous as her going to pick up a take-out order. Baby steps. I'm not sure how to explain the differences between us when it comes to the fear factor as a result of all things Covid.
Our filters are likely different because of the things we read, the people and things we choose to listen to, and the way we assemble the facts and figures in our noggins. I've often warned her about spending too much time reading publications like the New York Times and the Boston Globe. Their coverage about the virus is more likely than not to spend more time on the number of deaths and less time on the efforts to reduce hospitalizations and deaths resulting from the virus. That's just how they roll, folks. That's how they rolled before the virus and that is how they'll roll long after the virus is gone.
Lastly, I think I'm making some headway when it comes to Nancy and her fear of all things Covid. When I hear her yelling at the television as they spout nonsense about things that we already know to be untrue, I take a mental victory lap. When I see her reacting in a way to stories about the virus that was unthinkable for her just two months ago, it makes me think that if Nancy can have a change of heart and mind about this virus, then there is hope for the world. Nancy may not be a Karen, but it wasn't that long ago that I thought she may have started down that path. I no longer worry about her barking at the moon now. Thank the baby Jesus.
His power to disrupt has now been diminished if not destroyed in total. Until and unless Barrett somehow proves herself to be unreliable, conservatives will hold sway over some of the more contentious legal issues of our time. Barrett has been affectionally referred to as Scalia's successor so we'll see how that works out. Her acceptance speech warmed the cockles of every conservative's heart when she reiterated that she will not be, and I paraphrase, legislating from the bench. Pitch perfect!
It was a bad day for the libs. It's been a bad week for the libs and it's only Monday. They are seething with anger at how easily the republicans moved Barrett through the Senate confirmation process. Barrett sailed through with 52 republican votes and no votes whatsoever from the democrats. Not a fucking one. Trump is holding three and four rallies a day and Sleepy Joe can barely get out of his basement. Anyone hoping for Biden/Harris win, and pinning those hopes on intentionally bad polling results, is probably starting to wake up to a new and disturbing reality.
That is to say, the 2020 Trump-Biden campaign is starting to look more like the Bush-Dukakis campaign of yesteryear. There are multiple paths to 270 for Trump and States that may have been in play for Biden are now likely out of reach thanks to Biden's comments in the debate regarding doing away with the fossil fuel industry. Pennsylvania is just one of several states that I think fall into that category. The laptop from hell is gaining traction by the day as well and recent polling shows that 51% of the public think that Joe Biden (the Big Guy) benefitted from the influence peddling scheme run by his son, Hunter (the bagman).
I was happy to have Nancy join me in watching the swearing-in celebration at the White House. She's not always interested in that sort of thing but I pressed her on the historic nature of the event and she came around albeit reluctantly. She may have focused more of the pageantry than the politics but that was fine too. We noticed that Barrett never shook Thomas's hand after the swearing in and thought that a bit odd. In retrospect, shaking hands is no longer acceptable in this the era of Covid-19. Of course. What were we thinking?
Tucker Carlson is having an ex-business associate of Hunter Biden on his show tonight at 8 on Fox. He plans on spilling the beans about the corruption of the Biden Family Crime Syndicate. This gentleman will have voice recordings of the Biden's and their shenanigans for the world to hear. This comes on the heels of Jill Biden's plea to disregard the tapes and have everyone pay attention to what really matters. The main street media and their brethren in the social media orbit have done their best to suppress the "laptop" story by outright censoring it. Nothing goes viral faster than something deliberately smothered by the main street media.
I fear that what we're seeing here is the old double standard where you have one set of rules for the republicans and another set of rules for the democrats. If a republican were accused of doing what the Bidens are accused of doing you would have the FBI breaking down doors in pre-dawn raids to arrest them and members of their family for god only knows what. If the candidate is Joe Biden, he's good to go. Nothing to see here, folks. Move along. I'm telling you people are sick and tired of this bullshit. Where the bloody fuck is Bill Barr (AG)???
And now we have to worry about the rules in several states where they plan to count ballots well beyond election night. In other words, keep counting until they have just enough votes to get their candidates over the finish line. Someone needs to step in and fix this. Either it's the State legislatures or it's the Supreme Court of the United States. Just get it done and do it before it's too late. The Supremes handed down just such a ruling in Wisconsin. No votes will be counted after election night. Period. Now do Pennsylvania.
I'm hearing that the dems are sending in the clowns here in New Hampshire. They're coming from all around to shore up the democrat vote and get their flawed and corrupt candidate, Sleepy Joe Biden, across the finish line. I don't have a good sense about how New Hampshire is going one way or another but these out-of-staters coming here tells me it's going to be a close one. Or, if there is a god, maybe not so close. And you know the dems are desperate when the best they can do is to send in that skinhead communist congresswoman from Massachusetts, Ayanna Pressley. There, I said it. She's just a real piece of work.
I keep going back and forth when it comes to returning to the gym. It seems like it would be a virtual hotbed of coronavirus germs where the very act of inhaling can kickstart the incubation and proliferation process. If there is a time of day where the people coming and going seems minimal, that might work out. I'm also not sure that I'll much care for the requirements as they are when it comes to wiping down and disinfecting the machines after I use them. I'm kind of a swipe it once and done kind of guy. I also have a real aversion to the hand soap they want us to use at every turn. I hate the smell of the stuff and I hate getting it on my hands. Bigly.
I'm trying to think a little bit about how I want this journal stuff to play out when it comes to the election. I don't want to be five paragraphs in going into Election Day and then have to announce the results of the election. If Biden wins I may not be in the mood to write anything for months. If Trump wins, I'll be there with bells on. Even on election night, and I remember well back in 2016, I think I listened to this or that not wanting to watch the gloating faces of the talking heads as they raised their champagne glasses in unison to celebrate Hillary's breaking the glass ceiling. I only turned on the television once it seemed that Trump was on a roll and more likely to win than not.
It seems that panic porn is making a comeback. The "we're all going to die" crowd is back on the scene whining and wishing for a robust return of the dreaded coronavirus. I'm talking largely about the democrats and their enablers in the media. They point to European countries that are reimposing lockdowns due to fears that their populations and economies may yet be overrun again due to deaths and hospitalizations. It just feels like a last minute push to see if the democrats and the media can't use this to make a difference at the margins when people go to vote on November 3rd.
The U.S. media has long hoped that these fears alone would prevent another four years of a Trump presidency. They've harped endlessly about Trump's role in delivering some 200,000+ deaths and fail to mention any of the Trump Administrations accomplishments which include the fast tracking of therapeutics and vaccines. While Biden is scaring the bejesus out of people with references of a "dark winter" and threats of national shut-downs and mask mandates, Trump rightly points to his own experience as a Covid-19 survivor as an example of how we survive the virus and move on with our lives.
I think most people have come to the conclusion that Trump is not to blame for the virus or the deaths caused by the virus. I think most people are buying into his upbeat and positive attitude about where we go from here when it comes to the economy, our pocketbooks, and hopes for the future. There are headwinds and challenges ahead but we are Americans and we're in it to win it. Third quarter GDP projections are out this morning and just in time for Trump to say once again, "I told you so." I think the annualized rate of 33% or so and this is the largest number maybe on record going way way back.
It will give The Donald yet one more thing to point to on the campaign trail as he holds rally after rally between now and next Tuesday. He can flash those record results on the big screen at his rallies in between clips of Biden painting a bleak and hopeless picture of what's to come should we re-elect Donald Trump. If nothing else, it seems like Biden is starting to believe all of the negativity that he's spewing so inartfully at his 15-person "rallies" where no clear messages are conveyed, no questions are answered, no real media is allowed, and then he is back to the basement where he awaits the apocalypse.
Forget what I said about the gym. I went yesterday after not visiting the gym for several months due to the Covid thing. It went pretty well. Every other machine was available and that provided the distancing recommended by the CDC or other. Masks were required when walking around the facility but not so if you were actually working out. There didn't seem to be any fewer people there than what one might otherwise expect in the days before Covid came along so that was reassuring. I definitely want to get there during the off hours if no other reason than to avoid the issues that go along with being in crowded spaces in the era of Covid.
Even Nancy is starting to let down her guard down a bit. Today, she's off to get her hair cut. It's not something that she has fancied precisely because of the virus and all of the vicious rumors circulating about it being airborne and everything else under the sun. When they tell you that the virus can retain its viability on surfaces for some 72 hours it tends to get your attention. And now we know, or we're starting to figure it out for ourselves, most of these rumors are just nonsense. So the sun will continue to come out, the moon will continue to rise and fall, and we'll all move on and move past this Covid thing. God willing.
I have to tell you, though. It felt good to be back at the gym. It felt good to be getting some exercise again. I feel the need to start using my muscles again because the rigors of a mean winter in the months ahead may demand it. Biking is good but I'm leaving several muscle groups in the lurch when biking is all I do. I kid myself when I think that just leaning into my handle bars while riding offers come kind of isotonic something that may or may not be better than nothing. I kid myself when I think that pumping my legs more ferociously mile in and mile out provides more than a rippling of anything much less the muscles in my legs.
Nancy will be going down to Massachusetts to do a little work for a friend in a day or two. That is also something she wouldn't even have considered doing just a month or two ago. I'm happy to see her getting out of the house. I'm still working on getting her to go to the market more often and without my assistance one way or another. Sometimes, I just have to settle for something as innocuous as her going to pick up a take-out order. Baby steps. I'm not sure how to explain the differences between us when it comes to the fear factor as a result of all things Covid.
Our filters are likely different because of the things we read, the people and things we choose to listen to, and the way we assemble the facts and figures in our noggins. I've often warned her about spending too much time reading publications like the New York Times and the Boston Globe. Their coverage about the virus is more likely than not to spend more time on the number of deaths and less time on the efforts to reduce hospitalizations and deaths resulting from the virus. That's just how they roll, folks. That's how they rolled before the virus and that is how they'll roll long after the virus is gone.
Lastly, I think I'm making some headway when it comes to Nancy and her fear of all things Covid. When I hear her yelling at the television as they spout nonsense about things that we already know to be untrue, I take a mental victory lap. When I see her reacting in a way to stories about the virus that was unthinkable for her just two months ago, it makes me think that if Nancy can have a change of heart and mind about this virus, then there is hope for the world. Nancy may not be a Karen, but it wasn't that long ago that I thought she may have started down that path. I no longer worry about her barking at the moon now. Thank the baby Jesus.
Dragon Energy
22/10/20 07:15
Nothing ever happens to these bastards in government who commit crimes and just fucking walk away. Case in point: The Clintons. And now we have the Biden Family Crime Syndicate. You know, the "big guy" who is currently running for president. I put that in quotes because that is how Joe Biden is referred to in texts and e-mails on his son's laptop.
The laptop which, just incidentally, has been in the hands of the FBI for nearly a year now. You know, the laptop containing child porn, evidence of money laundering, and more than ample evidence of pay-to-play on the part of one Joe Biden.
The Durham Report is another example of where the FBI and DOJ have been conducting an investigation about an attempted coup of a president (Trump) for years now with no end game in sight. The agencies are hoping against hope that Biden will win the election and they can sweep this mother fucking investigation right down the drain. This is a travesty! Just when we thought that Bill Barr, Trump's AG was going to get it done, he is nowhere to be found. Where is he, by the way, on this Hunter Biden laptop issue? He's missing in action. That's where he is.
What do we have if we don't have a government that can police its own members? We have a bureaucracy that is out of control, that is what we have. We have a bureaucracy that we can no longer believe or have any faith and confidence in. It sends an altogether wrong message to the populace that we are sending representatives to Washington to do as they please, to do the bidding of their corrupt masters, and to give we their constituencies the collective middle finger if and when they damn well please. We might as well live in Venezuala.
Every time we start to feel good about the people that Trump has put in key positions in the government, we find ourselves looking here, there, and everywhere for them when corruption is alleged and they are, of course, nowhere to be found. Maybe the rumors of the dreaded Deep State are real. It was President Eisenhower back in the fifties who warned us about the "Military Industrial Complex", wasn't it? This is the cabal that operates behind the scenes and calls all the shots. I don't think you'll find them in the Constitution anywhere so don't bother looking.
Then again, the topsy turvy nature of our government ever since Trump became president might well be the end result of his exposing them all for the corrupt bastards that they are. Maybe his daughter, Ivanka, was correct when she said in a speech she months ago, "Washington hasn't changed Donald Trump, Donald Trump changed Washington." But there is still work to do so we cannot let down our guard. We have to get Trump re-elected and that responsibility rests with every god fearing American coast to coast.
What no one seems to have any sense of is that of all the votes cast to date, and there have been some 50 million through today just two weeks out from election day, in whose direction is all of this early energy directed? Polling is all over the place with mainstream polls indicating a Biden win by a margin perhaps better than that enjoyed by Hillary Clinton back in 2016. Then there are other indicators and other polls, which show a much tighter race.
Trump has a 52% approval rating according to Rasmussen and 53% of Americans say they are better off than they were four years ago. Forty six percent of blacks view Trump favorably and estimates have Trump winning somewhere between 15 and 20% of the black vote. Hispanics will vote for Trump by even wider margins maybe approaching 40% or so. With just these two or three stats as a backdrop, it's hard to believe that Trump isn't competitive if it's true what history tells us about the power of an incumbent president.
The dems continue to hang their hat on Trump's handling of the Covid crisis to deliver what they hope will be a Biden victory and, while Biden tells us that we have a dark winter ahead with even more deaths to come down the pike, Trump wants nothing more than to have get on with our lives knowing full well that vaccines and better therapies are just around the corner.
It's not scientific but I sometimes look at how the media responds to events held by Trump as an indicator of how he is or is not doing. In other words, if Jake Tapper on CNN is unhappy and snapping at the other talking heads on his CNN panels, then I know Trump has done something to lessen Biden's chances of winning this race. If his entire panel is all of a sudden looking downtrodden and despondent and maybe even getting a little misty eyed, then Trump has probably had a good night or day depending on the situation.
The second and last debate between Trump and Biden was a good example. The Biden-loving media moguls were crushed when at the end of the debate Trump got Biden to admit that he wanted to transition away from fossil fuels. Trump, smiling like the cat that swallowed the canary, said, "Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, I hope you're listening."
It was maybe the pivotal moment of the campaign where Biden, in the space of 10 seconds, showed his cards and in doing so effectively alienated states and voters whose livelihoods depend on fracking, etc., in order to support their families and a supply chain that ripples through the greater American economy.
It was a triumphant return to the debate stage for Donald J. Trump who, by all accounts, had not done well in the first debate. The second time around, he gave Biden time to answer questions from the moderator without interrupting him. Biden did reasonably well but started to fade maybe an hour into the debate and Trump was, by comparison, getting stronger and more deliberate in his attacks against the feeble minded and overly rehearsed Biden. Another incredulous moment in the debate came when Biden made the asinine comment that "nobody lost their doctor or their coverage when Obamacare was implemented." You can't make this stuff up.
I'm waking up this morning to see another video posted online of Biden where he was quoted yesterday while campaigning in Pennsylvania as follows: "We have put together the most extensive and inclusive VOTER FRAUD organization in the history of American politics." It's just astounding. Trump has been warning about the cheating and rigging of the 2020 election for months. He's been very clear. There is nothing that the democrats won't do to steal this election just together back into power. And now we have this quote from Biden.
Trump has been showing clips from and about Biden on a large screen monitor at his rallies as of late and I think it's very effective. When he shows film of Biden flip flopping on issues like fracking in Pennsylvania, people sit up and pay attention. To the extent the videos are repeatedly shown time and time again in clips on the internet, it reinforces his messaging and may make a difference on the margins come election day. If Trump's win is big enough, it will make it that much harder for the State that tallies the votes to steal the election.
I think we'll see a few things this coming week which will help keep the momentum going and will keep the news cycle focused squarely on Trump. Then, a week from this coming Tuesday, we have Election Day. Amy Cony Barrett will be sworn in by President Trump sometime this week after confirmation by the Senate tomorrow night; Third quarter results will be on the economy and they should reveal an economy decidedly on the comeback trail;
We should also have more information from Hunter's laptop that is even more damning than what we've seen to date about the Biden family crime syndicate; and, god willing, we'll hear more nonsense from Sleepy Joe that only confirms what we already know. He's bat shit crazy and has no business running for the highest office in the land.
Did I mention that there are some alleged diary excerpts from Joe Biden's daughter speaking to the fact that she would take showers with him as a child? This is not good. Not good by any measure. It's probably good that we're finding out all this stuff before rather than after the election. If Biden wins he would surely be ousted from the presidency in a New York minute and then we'd have that uber-liberal, Kamala Harris, sitting in the Oval Office for the duration of Biden's term. I guess that's been the plan all along. Fuck them and the trojan horse they came in on. Honestly.
The laptop which, just incidentally, has been in the hands of the FBI for nearly a year now. You know, the laptop containing child porn, evidence of money laundering, and more than ample evidence of pay-to-play on the part of one Joe Biden.
The Durham Report is another example of where the FBI and DOJ have been conducting an investigation about an attempted coup of a president (Trump) for years now with no end game in sight. The agencies are hoping against hope that Biden will win the election and they can sweep this mother fucking investigation right down the drain. This is a travesty! Just when we thought that Bill Barr, Trump's AG was going to get it done, he is nowhere to be found. Where is he, by the way, on this Hunter Biden laptop issue? He's missing in action. That's where he is.
What do we have if we don't have a government that can police its own members? We have a bureaucracy that is out of control, that is what we have. We have a bureaucracy that we can no longer believe or have any faith and confidence in. It sends an altogether wrong message to the populace that we are sending representatives to Washington to do as they please, to do the bidding of their corrupt masters, and to give we their constituencies the collective middle finger if and when they damn well please. We might as well live in Venezuala.
Every time we start to feel good about the people that Trump has put in key positions in the government, we find ourselves looking here, there, and everywhere for them when corruption is alleged and they are, of course, nowhere to be found. Maybe the rumors of the dreaded Deep State are real. It was President Eisenhower back in the fifties who warned us about the "Military Industrial Complex", wasn't it? This is the cabal that operates behind the scenes and calls all the shots. I don't think you'll find them in the Constitution anywhere so don't bother looking.
Then again, the topsy turvy nature of our government ever since Trump became president might well be the end result of his exposing them all for the corrupt bastards that they are. Maybe his daughter, Ivanka, was correct when she said in a speech she months ago, "Washington hasn't changed Donald Trump, Donald Trump changed Washington." But there is still work to do so we cannot let down our guard. We have to get Trump re-elected and that responsibility rests with every god fearing American coast to coast.
What no one seems to have any sense of is that of all the votes cast to date, and there have been some 50 million through today just two weeks out from election day, in whose direction is all of this early energy directed? Polling is all over the place with mainstream polls indicating a Biden win by a margin perhaps better than that enjoyed by Hillary Clinton back in 2016. Then there are other indicators and other polls, which show a much tighter race.
Trump has a 52% approval rating according to Rasmussen and 53% of Americans say they are better off than they were four years ago. Forty six percent of blacks view Trump favorably and estimates have Trump winning somewhere between 15 and 20% of the black vote. Hispanics will vote for Trump by even wider margins maybe approaching 40% or so. With just these two or three stats as a backdrop, it's hard to believe that Trump isn't competitive if it's true what history tells us about the power of an incumbent president.
The dems continue to hang their hat on Trump's handling of the Covid crisis to deliver what they hope will be a Biden victory and, while Biden tells us that we have a dark winter ahead with even more deaths to come down the pike, Trump wants nothing more than to have get on with our lives knowing full well that vaccines and better therapies are just around the corner.
It's not scientific but I sometimes look at how the media responds to events held by Trump as an indicator of how he is or is not doing. In other words, if Jake Tapper on CNN is unhappy and snapping at the other talking heads on his CNN panels, then I know Trump has done something to lessen Biden's chances of winning this race. If his entire panel is all of a sudden looking downtrodden and despondent and maybe even getting a little misty eyed, then Trump has probably had a good night or day depending on the situation.
The second and last debate between Trump and Biden was a good example. The Biden-loving media moguls were crushed when at the end of the debate Trump got Biden to admit that he wanted to transition away from fossil fuels. Trump, smiling like the cat that swallowed the canary, said, "Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, I hope you're listening."
It was maybe the pivotal moment of the campaign where Biden, in the space of 10 seconds, showed his cards and in doing so effectively alienated states and voters whose livelihoods depend on fracking, etc., in order to support their families and a supply chain that ripples through the greater American economy.
It was a triumphant return to the debate stage for Donald J. Trump who, by all accounts, had not done well in the first debate. The second time around, he gave Biden time to answer questions from the moderator without interrupting him. Biden did reasonably well but started to fade maybe an hour into the debate and Trump was, by comparison, getting stronger and more deliberate in his attacks against the feeble minded and overly rehearsed Biden. Another incredulous moment in the debate came when Biden made the asinine comment that "nobody lost their doctor or their coverage when Obamacare was implemented." You can't make this stuff up.
I'm waking up this morning to see another video posted online of Biden where he was quoted yesterday while campaigning in Pennsylvania as follows: "We have put together the most extensive and inclusive VOTER FRAUD organization in the history of American politics." It's just astounding. Trump has been warning about the cheating and rigging of the 2020 election for months. He's been very clear. There is nothing that the democrats won't do to steal this election just together back into power. And now we have this quote from Biden.
Trump has been showing clips from and about Biden on a large screen monitor at his rallies as of late and I think it's very effective. When he shows film of Biden flip flopping on issues like fracking in Pennsylvania, people sit up and pay attention. To the extent the videos are repeatedly shown time and time again in clips on the internet, it reinforces his messaging and may make a difference on the margins come election day. If Trump's win is big enough, it will make it that much harder for the State that tallies the votes to steal the election.
I think we'll see a few things this coming week which will help keep the momentum going and will keep the news cycle focused squarely on Trump. Then, a week from this coming Tuesday, we have Election Day. Amy Cony Barrett will be sworn in by President Trump sometime this week after confirmation by the Senate tomorrow night; Third quarter results will be on the economy and they should reveal an economy decidedly on the comeback trail;
We should also have more information from Hunter's laptop that is even more damning than what we've seen to date about the Biden family crime syndicate; and, god willing, we'll hear more nonsense from Sleepy Joe that only confirms what we already know. He's bat shit crazy and has no business running for the highest office in the land.
Did I mention that there are some alleged diary excerpts from Joe Biden's daughter speaking to the fact that she would take showers with him as a child? This is not good. Not good by any measure. It's probably good that we're finding out all this stuff before rather than after the election. If Biden wins he would surely be ousted from the presidency in a New York minute and then we'd have that uber-liberal, Kamala Harris, sitting in the Oval Office for the duration of Biden's term. I guess that's been the plan all along. Fuck them and the trojan horse they came in on. Honestly.
The Laptop From Hell
17/10/20 07:09
This Hunter Biden laptop thing could get interesting. Seems like the old man (Joe) was running a pay-for-play scheme facilitated by his son, Hunter, which involved countries like China, Ukraine, etc. These are countries that Joe was in "charge" of during his tenure as Vice President under one Barack Hussein Obama. It reminds me a lot of why people steered clear of voting for Hillary Clinton in 2016 aside from the fact that she was widely despised in and out of Washington. The stench of corruption was there then and it's back in spades with the Bidens.
It's odd to think that some people don't give a damn about this sort of thing when going into the polls to cast their vote. I don't know when integrity got thrown on to the trash heap of history when it comes to voting for our public officials but it should matter. I suppose it's possible that the Chinese or the Russians have a copy of the very same hard drive that is now in the possession of Rudy Giuliani. While Rudy is unlikely to share the porn portion of the hard drive with the greater public, I suspect that the Chinese have no such compunction should Biden spurn them one way or another if and when he is elected.
Word has it that there is evidence of criminality here, there, and everywhere on the hard drive. There may be underage stuff, photographic evidence of crack pipes and other illicit drugs, and e-mails and texts that support what is now believed to be an extensive web of corruption leading directly to Biden and maybe even Obama himself. As the evidence mounts as we sit here two weeks out from a general election, most of the main street media is ignoring this bombshell of a story or passing it off as a Russian disinformation campaign. The latter it is clearly not.
The media's panning of this story tells us one thing. That is, journalism as we know it, is dead. They are so in the tank for their candidate that there isn't anything, including shredding what little journalistic integrity they may have left, that they won't do. I've never understood this. What's in it for them? Will they be the first to get the scoops from the Biden people? I suppose this unholy alliance isn't anything new knowing what we know about the history of politics and the press.
Having an obvious bias for a candidate, as many networks do, who may be the most corrupt presidential candidate in the history of presidential runs, well at least since Hillary Clinton, does little to dissuade the rest of us of the notion that there isn't anything the media won't do or anything they won't overlook to get their candidate across the finish line. I'm proud of the people who didn't vote for Hillary in 2016 precisely because of her criminal ways and I'll be even more proud this time around if the American people can keep one Joseph Biden from winning the 2020 presidential election for the very same reason.
What are we to believe when it comes to the FBI's handling of this fiasco? I'm hearing that they've had possession of Biden's hard drive since last December. That was ten months ago! Let me see if I have this right. The FBI works hand-in-hand with Clinton and the DNC using a fabricated dossier written by a Russian spy to try to impeach a president (Trump) over the course of three years and, now with real evidence in hand that could and should result in indictments, the FBI looks the other way in a wink and a nod to Joe Biden and the Democrat party. Houston, I think we have a problem.
One solution, should Biden win and the republicans get back the House, is to file articles of impeachment. As tantalizing as that sounds, my preference would be to keep Biden out of the White House in the beginning. Mark Levine was on last night and he was sounding the alarm about certain constituencies that are on the wane for President Trump. He's reportedly losing support from seniors and suburban housewives according to Mr Levine. Do you suppose that's any coincidence knowing what we know about how much exposure that these groups have to the barrage of bullshit dished up daily by the main street media?
I hope I'm not being too myopic about all of this stuff. I have a tendency to see what I want to see, hear what I want to hear, and just ignore all the rest. That is to say, I turn off television stations that I know have a vitriolic hatred for everything Trump. I don't read articles that are critical of Trump in ways that I know are dishonest and meant to mislead. I do listen to progressive radio stations on occasion if only because I need to hear firsthand what they're thinking and doing to oppose everything Trump.
Just to be clear, I don't want to wake up on November 4th to see that Biden had won in a late night tallying of the results. I don't want to be that guy on my knees crying "noooooooooo!" I want this to be 2016 all over again. Our Republic is on the line. That is both worth protecting and worth celebrating. I want to hear about the lack of enthusiasm on the part of blacks and other minorities for the Biden/Harris ticket as a possible reason for the Trump win. Or, conversely, the over-the-top enthusiasm for the Trump ticket which all the pollsters missed save for one or two.
I want to see those rust belt states falling one by one into the Trump column with each passing hour on election night. I want to see the long faces of the CNN analysts as they proclaim Trump's "surprising" victory at the end of a long night. They've had four years to do their job (get rid of Trump) and it has come down to this one night in November 2020.
Their abject failure will be worn like veils at a funeral. I would like to be able to say that at the end of the day that it was Joe Biden himself who, failing to come clean on several issues, who was responsible for his loss. Not all the King's horses (media) or all the King's men could put this seriously flawed candidate back together again.
Certainly not after all we've come to learn about Joe since he won the nomination. As I mentioned before, this is not unlike 2016 when the democrats put an equally flawed candidate by the name of Hillary Clinton up for consideration. The American people decided then and there that she was a bridge too far and they may well do it again in 2020.
If Trump does not win then I guess I would say that it was not for a lack of trying. He's the guy out there on the stump talking to the American people sometimes holding more than one rally a day asking for their votes and telling the people what they need to know about Sleepy Joe before casting their votes.
We'll see how many of the networks on the Sunday talking head shows later this morning touch on the laptop issue. I don't know how they can avoid it but they tend to talk about the things they want to talk about to the exclusion of everything else. What is it going to take to get them to start reporting the news?
There can't possibly be a bigger story than Joe Biden selling America's foreign policy to China, Russia, etc., in order to enrich his family. He's referred to as the "big guy" in many of the texts and e-mails that have been released so far but everyone knows who the "big guy" is. We're also learning that the FBI had the laptop during the Trump impeachment hearings. Hearings that would have been deemed unnecessary since the Burisma hijinks in Ukraine had nothing to do with Trump and everything to do with the Bidens. Holy jumping Jesus!
I think I have this espresso thing figured out. I paid close attention to the spigot on my machine the other morning when making my espresso. I noticed that the coffee that flowed from the spigot began as a syrupy stream but quickly turned to a seemingly off-color watery mixture in the space of some 45 seconds. You may recall that I started to pay attention to the process since I was getting just a little curious as to why I wasn't getting what coffee aficionados lovingly refer to as the "crema" when brewing my espresso. Not only wasn't I getting the crema but I thought my espresso was tasting watered down and diluted.
So, I'm thinking that if I can leave the cup in place until the stream starts to turn watery and then remove it, I will have a more concentrated brew with the desired crema and taste that every espresso lover from the beginning of time has always sought. I'm ending up with something that looks and tastes more like a cuban coffee than an espresso but I'l leave the definitions to the baristas. My cup of brew now has a sludge-like consistency which is just fine with me. You can see the droplets of coffee literally coagulating as they fall grudgingly but lovingly into the cup. And the crema, well, that is just to die for.
I need to keep better track of the timeline for my tomato plants. It just seems astonishing to me that here we are in the latter part of October and I still have at least one tomato ripening on our kitchen table. Does that mean I can expect a harvest that lasts from maybe mid August to mid October? One reason I've never invested much time in growing things is because of, 1) how long it takes to grow the fruit or vegetables, and 2) how you're inundated with produce one minute and it's all gone the next. If anything, I'm more rather than less interested in repeating what has worked so well for me this year when it comes to growing tomatoes.
I haven't decided what I'll be using as a strategy this year when going to vote on November 3rd. Then again, I think I just gave it away. I'll be voting in person at the local elementary school. What I don't know is what time I'll want to make my way over there. I'm not interested in spending an inordinate time standing in line so there's that.
Then again, I'm thinking that Biden voters may well be voting by mail so if lines are long then I may be in good company. That is to say, I'll be bookended by MAGA minded citizens from the time I arrive until the time I go into the booth to cast my ballot. Will I give a thumbs up to the Trump sign holders or a thumbs down to the Biden sign holders? Maybe a wink? A tip of the hat? A nod?
Not sure if I've mentioned this but there are a lot more Biden signs around town this year than I ever recall for Hillary some four years ago. The dirty little secret is that all of Biden signs went up practically overnight. What I'm saying is that the signage was part and part of the democrat's strategy to demonstrate enthusiasm for their candidate when, in fact, the enthusiasm for their candidate is clearly in the doldrums. This is especially true when compared to the enthusiasm for Trump which is some 30 points higher conservatively speaking.
By comparison, the number of Trump signs are significantly less than four years ago. Here's the dirty little secret about the Trump signs or lack thereof. The God fearing Trump supporters are flying the American flags rather than putting signs on their lawns. Trump supporters just don't have to the time or the patience to endure the nonsense that comes along with being a Trump supporter. The leftists have shown time and time again that they will stop at nothing to destroy anything and anybody who supports the white supremacist loving President, Donald J. Trump.
Nancy and Evan will be voting via absentee ballot this year. Nancy has no interest in being exposed to the Coronavirus so she'll not be joining me in line at the school. That's fine. Evan has his own reasons for not wanting to vote in person so we'll respect his wishes. Mrs G mentioned that she planned to drop her ballot off at the front desk of her facility.
I suggested that she bring it to the ballot box herself. With everything we're hearing about ballot harvesting and the like, better to not tempt someone to dispose of her ballot if they know she is casting it for one or more republican candidates. Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS) is real. If we republicans had to put up with eight years of the Jihadist-in-Chief, Barack Hussein Obama, then the leftists can surely put up with another four years of Donald Trump.
It's odd to think that some people don't give a damn about this sort of thing when going into the polls to cast their vote. I don't know when integrity got thrown on to the trash heap of history when it comes to voting for our public officials but it should matter. I suppose it's possible that the Chinese or the Russians have a copy of the very same hard drive that is now in the possession of Rudy Giuliani. While Rudy is unlikely to share the porn portion of the hard drive with the greater public, I suspect that the Chinese have no such compunction should Biden spurn them one way or another if and when he is elected.
Word has it that there is evidence of criminality here, there, and everywhere on the hard drive. There may be underage stuff, photographic evidence of crack pipes and other illicit drugs, and e-mails and texts that support what is now believed to be an extensive web of corruption leading directly to Biden and maybe even Obama himself. As the evidence mounts as we sit here two weeks out from a general election, most of the main street media is ignoring this bombshell of a story or passing it off as a Russian disinformation campaign. The latter it is clearly not.
The media's panning of this story tells us one thing. That is, journalism as we know it, is dead. They are so in the tank for their candidate that there isn't anything, including shredding what little journalistic integrity they may have left, that they won't do. I've never understood this. What's in it for them? Will they be the first to get the scoops from the Biden people? I suppose this unholy alliance isn't anything new knowing what we know about the history of politics and the press.
Having an obvious bias for a candidate, as many networks do, who may be the most corrupt presidential candidate in the history of presidential runs, well at least since Hillary Clinton, does little to dissuade the rest of us of the notion that there isn't anything the media won't do or anything they won't overlook to get their candidate across the finish line. I'm proud of the people who didn't vote for Hillary in 2016 precisely because of her criminal ways and I'll be even more proud this time around if the American people can keep one Joseph Biden from winning the 2020 presidential election for the very same reason.
What are we to believe when it comes to the FBI's handling of this fiasco? I'm hearing that they've had possession of Biden's hard drive since last December. That was ten months ago! Let me see if I have this right. The FBI works hand-in-hand with Clinton and the DNC using a fabricated dossier written by a Russian spy to try to impeach a president (Trump) over the course of three years and, now with real evidence in hand that could and should result in indictments, the FBI looks the other way in a wink and a nod to Joe Biden and the Democrat party. Houston, I think we have a problem.
One solution, should Biden win and the republicans get back the House, is to file articles of impeachment. As tantalizing as that sounds, my preference would be to keep Biden out of the White House in the beginning. Mark Levine was on last night and he was sounding the alarm about certain constituencies that are on the wane for President Trump. He's reportedly losing support from seniors and suburban housewives according to Mr Levine. Do you suppose that's any coincidence knowing what we know about how much exposure that these groups have to the barrage of bullshit dished up daily by the main street media?
I hope I'm not being too myopic about all of this stuff. I have a tendency to see what I want to see, hear what I want to hear, and just ignore all the rest. That is to say, I turn off television stations that I know have a vitriolic hatred for everything Trump. I don't read articles that are critical of Trump in ways that I know are dishonest and meant to mislead. I do listen to progressive radio stations on occasion if only because I need to hear firsthand what they're thinking and doing to oppose everything Trump.
Just to be clear, I don't want to wake up on November 4th to see that Biden had won in a late night tallying of the results. I don't want to be that guy on my knees crying "noooooooooo!" I want this to be 2016 all over again. Our Republic is on the line. That is both worth protecting and worth celebrating. I want to hear about the lack of enthusiasm on the part of blacks and other minorities for the Biden/Harris ticket as a possible reason for the Trump win. Or, conversely, the over-the-top enthusiasm for the Trump ticket which all the pollsters missed save for one or two.
I want to see those rust belt states falling one by one into the Trump column with each passing hour on election night. I want to see the long faces of the CNN analysts as they proclaim Trump's "surprising" victory at the end of a long night. They've had four years to do their job (get rid of Trump) and it has come down to this one night in November 2020.
Their abject failure will be worn like veils at a funeral. I would like to be able to say that at the end of the day that it was Joe Biden himself who, failing to come clean on several issues, who was responsible for his loss. Not all the King's horses (media) or all the King's men could put this seriously flawed candidate back together again.
Certainly not after all we've come to learn about Joe since he won the nomination. As I mentioned before, this is not unlike 2016 when the democrats put an equally flawed candidate by the name of Hillary Clinton up for consideration. The American people decided then and there that she was a bridge too far and they may well do it again in 2020.
If Trump does not win then I guess I would say that it was not for a lack of trying. He's the guy out there on the stump talking to the American people sometimes holding more than one rally a day asking for their votes and telling the people what they need to know about Sleepy Joe before casting their votes.
We'll see how many of the networks on the Sunday talking head shows later this morning touch on the laptop issue. I don't know how they can avoid it but they tend to talk about the things they want to talk about to the exclusion of everything else. What is it going to take to get them to start reporting the news?
There can't possibly be a bigger story than Joe Biden selling America's foreign policy to China, Russia, etc., in order to enrich his family. He's referred to as the "big guy" in many of the texts and e-mails that have been released so far but everyone knows who the "big guy" is. We're also learning that the FBI had the laptop during the Trump impeachment hearings. Hearings that would have been deemed unnecessary since the Burisma hijinks in Ukraine had nothing to do with Trump and everything to do with the Bidens. Holy jumping Jesus!
I think I have this espresso thing figured out. I paid close attention to the spigot on my machine the other morning when making my espresso. I noticed that the coffee that flowed from the spigot began as a syrupy stream but quickly turned to a seemingly off-color watery mixture in the space of some 45 seconds. You may recall that I started to pay attention to the process since I was getting just a little curious as to why I wasn't getting what coffee aficionados lovingly refer to as the "crema" when brewing my espresso. Not only wasn't I getting the crema but I thought my espresso was tasting watered down and diluted.
So, I'm thinking that if I can leave the cup in place until the stream starts to turn watery and then remove it, I will have a more concentrated brew with the desired crema and taste that every espresso lover from the beginning of time has always sought. I'm ending up with something that looks and tastes more like a cuban coffee than an espresso but I'l leave the definitions to the baristas. My cup of brew now has a sludge-like consistency which is just fine with me. You can see the droplets of coffee literally coagulating as they fall grudgingly but lovingly into the cup. And the crema, well, that is just to die for.
I need to keep better track of the timeline for my tomato plants. It just seems astonishing to me that here we are in the latter part of October and I still have at least one tomato ripening on our kitchen table. Does that mean I can expect a harvest that lasts from maybe mid August to mid October? One reason I've never invested much time in growing things is because of, 1) how long it takes to grow the fruit or vegetables, and 2) how you're inundated with produce one minute and it's all gone the next. If anything, I'm more rather than less interested in repeating what has worked so well for me this year when it comes to growing tomatoes.
I haven't decided what I'll be using as a strategy this year when going to vote on November 3rd. Then again, I think I just gave it away. I'll be voting in person at the local elementary school. What I don't know is what time I'll want to make my way over there. I'm not interested in spending an inordinate time standing in line so there's that.
Then again, I'm thinking that Biden voters may well be voting by mail so if lines are long then I may be in good company. That is to say, I'll be bookended by MAGA minded citizens from the time I arrive until the time I go into the booth to cast my ballot. Will I give a thumbs up to the Trump sign holders or a thumbs down to the Biden sign holders? Maybe a wink? A tip of the hat? A nod?
Not sure if I've mentioned this but there are a lot more Biden signs around town this year than I ever recall for Hillary some four years ago. The dirty little secret is that all of Biden signs went up practically overnight. What I'm saying is that the signage was part and part of the democrat's strategy to demonstrate enthusiasm for their candidate when, in fact, the enthusiasm for their candidate is clearly in the doldrums. This is especially true when compared to the enthusiasm for Trump which is some 30 points higher conservatively speaking.
By comparison, the number of Trump signs are significantly less than four years ago. Here's the dirty little secret about the Trump signs or lack thereof. The God fearing Trump supporters are flying the American flags rather than putting signs on their lawns. Trump supporters just don't have to the time or the patience to endure the nonsense that comes along with being a Trump supporter. The leftists have shown time and time again that they will stop at nothing to destroy anything and anybody who supports the white supremacist loving President, Donald J. Trump.
Nancy and Evan will be voting via absentee ballot this year. Nancy has no interest in being exposed to the Coronavirus so she'll not be joining me in line at the school. That's fine. Evan has his own reasons for not wanting to vote in person so we'll respect his wishes. Mrs G mentioned that she planned to drop her ballot off at the front desk of her facility.
I suggested that she bring it to the ballot box herself. With everything we're hearing about ballot harvesting and the like, better to not tempt someone to dispose of her ballot if they know she is casting it for one or more republican candidates. Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS) is real. If we republicans had to put up with eight years of the Jihadist-in-Chief, Barack Hussein Obama, then the leftists can surely put up with another four years of Donald Trump.
La Mulita
13/10/20 07:30
Nancy and I stopped by our local coffee shop yesterday called La Mulita. My Spanish is a little rusty but I think that means, "The Mule." I was looking for a new bag of espresso and I thought they might just have what I was looking for on hand. I'd only been in there one other time and I have to admit to feeling a little guilty for not showing up more often to support the local business.
The owner is a cheerful sort who inquired about this and that while he packaged up my coffee. I didn't have to wait very long this morning for the "mule" to show up. I was three hot sips in when I felt his hooves on my backside. It was glorious!
I had a nice online chat with my brother from another mother yesterday late in the afternoon. We've been messaging each other as of late on everything from futures trading to the antics of democrats involved in the hearings of the latest Supreme Court nominee, Amy Cony Barrett. He shares my politics by and large so we don't have any disagreements that, at least in this day and age, have a way of driving a wedge between friend and foe alike. I don't always understand how people find the other side as acceptable as they do but I'm never intolerant about any of it. I wish I could say the same for the other side.
My chili turned out great yesterday in case you were wondering. I'm never sure how much to make but I tell myself that I can always freeze it if I make too much. I'm the only one eating it so I try to make a reasonably sized batch but that has never made much sense to me since it's a fairly involved process.
If I'm going to do it, and if I'm going to buy all the ingredients, then might as well go whole hog. It's a dish I never get tired of eating although it is seasonal and I can't even imagine having or wanting to make during the summer months. If I had yesterday's batch to do all over again, I might have chosen a kidney bean with a darker red complexion.
Oh, and just for the record, I am not a futures trader and neither is my brother from another mother. I leave that sort of thing to the professionals. I leave it to the people who know what they're doing when it comes to that sort of thing. In the fast and furious world of financial hijinks I'm more likely to be the tortoise rather than the hare and that suits my personality to a tee. I am not risk averse, per se, but I also don't have the nerves or the inclination to get into the trading pit with the carnival barkers where fortunes are won and, more often than not, lost.
I've been going round and round trying to figure out what works and what doesn't when it comes to using headphones, or earbuds, while taking my daily bike ride. Evan gave me some old over-the-ear clip on's that worked okay but they always seemed to be slipping out of my ear at the most inopportune times. Having to continually make adjustments was a distraction that I didn't and don't need while biking. Either Nancy or I finally stepped on the damn things and I wore them anyway convincing myself that having one ear that worked was better than having no ears working. It was a cluster.
Along comes Nancy telling me that Evan wants to get me a pair of ear buds for Christmas. I can't wait that long. Having to dilly with the broken buds I'm now wearing is simply a bridge too far. I was either going to bite the bullet and get what I wanted or suffer endlessly with the buds that I have on hand. Maybe wearing no buds at all would be the better choice. Nancy has always thought them to be an unnecessary and maybe even dangerous appliance given their capacity to block incoming noise from the outside world so there's that. She would not be unhappy to hear that I was wearing no buds at all.
I hadn't considered getting a less expensive pair to bridge the gap so was all ears when Nancy proposed same. These new puppies are not over-the-ear buds but rather inserts of sorts that have little clips that curl around the contour of your inner ear to prevent them from falling out. Now that I've worn them a couple of times I can tell you that they too require additional adjustments from time to time so I'm not out of the woods entirely. I'm also not used to having things inserted into my ears for prolonged periods of times so I'm not sure how that is going to play out. They're uncomfortable but maybe I'm just not used to them yet. We'll see.
I'm hearing a lot about 5G these days. Apple has now come out with a 5G capable phone so it may be time to start paying attention. I think the technology is still in its infancy so I don't feel the need to rush out and do anything to try and stay ahead of the curve. If it means having to replace much of my existing infrastructure then I might be even less open to adopting the technology. Truth be told, I never even considered updating to all things 4K when 1080p resolution seemed to suit me just fine. I think 4K has since been replaced with 8K so I guess I'm falling further and further behind with each passing cycle. Oh, well.
If it takes the likes of a Trump to stave off the left when it comes to winning elections then I have a question. What the hell are we conservatives going to do in 2024 when we don't have a Trump on the ballot? Who else do we have that can harness the kind of enthusiasm that we see night in and night out at his rallies across our great nation?
If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times. Why does Donald Trump, arguably the most successful president in his first term in the history of the presidency, have to work so hard against the worst candidate (Biden) in the history of presidential politics? And where the hell did all the leftists (Biden voters) come from all of a sudden if that's the case?
Even Hillary Clinton some four years back had more attendees at her so-called rallies than does Sleepy Joe Biden yet we're expected to believe that Joey is ahead in all the polls? If Biden pulls this one out it will render crowd size going forward as a nothing burger when it comes to predictive signage along the presidential pathway.
Looks like the Amy Cony Barrett hearings went so well that they are expected to fast track the rest of the process so everyone can start focusing again on the electoral prospects of Trump and the downstream candidates in the House and Senate. She's a darling of the right and probably the best nominee of any president to come along in a long time. She never tipped her hand as to how she might vote on matters such as the Affordable Care Act and other cases no matter what asinine questions the democrats put to her.
The hearings weren't as hostile as Kavanaugh's hearings but they were just as revealing when it comes to the democrats on the Judiciary Committee and their pathetic attempts to impugn the integrity of this beautiful, poised, intelligent, and sincere woman sitting before them. Be careful, you democrats, the world is watching!
How about that story dropping in the NY Post yesterday about Hunter Biden and Biden crime family? What did Joe know and when did he know it? Seems they have Hunter Biden's laptop that was chock full of pictures, e-mails, texts, etc exposing deep ties to the Chinese, Russians, and criminals in the Ukraine.
We have evidence now that Joe knew a lot more than he is letting on and he has essentially lied to the American public about just how involved he was, and probably is, in the influence peddling game which has enriched the greater Biden enterprise to the tune of a billion dollars or more.
The minute the story popped it was flagged and taken down by both Facebook and Twitter as a story that came from of a "hacked" source and one that couldn't be verified. The FBI and certain senators have some explaining to do since they had the information for weeks now but have done nothing with it. Doing nothing makes them complicit in the cover-up.
We're two weeks out from a presidential election and this might well qualify as an October surprise for Sleepy Joe and his campaign. Not sure how Joe plans to spin this but he has to be careful since he doesn't know what evidence the laptop contains.
Maybe the bigger story is social media's in-kind contribution to the Biden campaign but I don't think so. Neither Does Trump. And how is this for an in-kind contribution: Biden was on a 2-hour televised town hall with Stephy Stephanopolous last night and Stephy didn't ask one question about the laptop or its contents. Are you fucking kidding me? This is what passes for journalism these days?
The owner is a cheerful sort who inquired about this and that while he packaged up my coffee. I didn't have to wait very long this morning for the "mule" to show up. I was three hot sips in when I felt his hooves on my backside. It was glorious!
I had a nice online chat with my brother from another mother yesterday late in the afternoon. We've been messaging each other as of late on everything from futures trading to the antics of democrats involved in the hearings of the latest Supreme Court nominee, Amy Cony Barrett. He shares my politics by and large so we don't have any disagreements that, at least in this day and age, have a way of driving a wedge between friend and foe alike. I don't always understand how people find the other side as acceptable as they do but I'm never intolerant about any of it. I wish I could say the same for the other side.
My chili turned out great yesterday in case you were wondering. I'm never sure how much to make but I tell myself that I can always freeze it if I make too much. I'm the only one eating it so I try to make a reasonably sized batch but that has never made much sense to me since it's a fairly involved process.
If I'm going to do it, and if I'm going to buy all the ingredients, then might as well go whole hog. It's a dish I never get tired of eating although it is seasonal and I can't even imagine having or wanting to make during the summer months. If I had yesterday's batch to do all over again, I might have chosen a kidney bean with a darker red complexion.
Oh, and just for the record, I am not a futures trader and neither is my brother from another mother. I leave that sort of thing to the professionals. I leave it to the people who know what they're doing when it comes to that sort of thing. In the fast and furious world of financial hijinks I'm more likely to be the tortoise rather than the hare and that suits my personality to a tee. I am not risk averse, per se, but I also don't have the nerves or the inclination to get into the trading pit with the carnival barkers where fortunes are won and, more often than not, lost.
I've been going round and round trying to figure out what works and what doesn't when it comes to using headphones, or earbuds, while taking my daily bike ride. Evan gave me some old over-the-ear clip on's that worked okay but they always seemed to be slipping out of my ear at the most inopportune times. Having to continually make adjustments was a distraction that I didn't and don't need while biking. Either Nancy or I finally stepped on the damn things and I wore them anyway convincing myself that having one ear that worked was better than having no ears working. It was a cluster.
Along comes Nancy telling me that Evan wants to get me a pair of ear buds for Christmas. I can't wait that long. Having to dilly with the broken buds I'm now wearing is simply a bridge too far. I was either going to bite the bullet and get what I wanted or suffer endlessly with the buds that I have on hand. Maybe wearing no buds at all would be the better choice. Nancy has always thought them to be an unnecessary and maybe even dangerous appliance given their capacity to block incoming noise from the outside world so there's that. She would not be unhappy to hear that I was wearing no buds at all.
I hadn't considered getting a less expensive pair to bridge the gap so was all ears when Nancy proposed same. These new puppies are not over-the-ear buds but rather inserts of sorts that have little clips that curl around the contour of your inner ear to prevent them from falling out. Now that I've worn them a couple of times I can tell you that they too require additional adjustments from time to time so I'm not out of the woods entirely. I'm also not used to having things inserted into my ears for prolonged periods of times so I'm not sure how that is going to play out. They're uncomfortable but maybe I'm just not used to them yet. We'll see.
I'm hearing a lot about 5G these days. Apple has now come out with a 5G capable phone so it may be time to start paying attention. I think the technology is still in its infancy so I don't feel the need to rush out and do anything to try and stay ahead of the curve. If it means having to replace much of my existing infrastructure then I might be even less open to adopting the technology. Truth be told, I never even considered updating to all things 4K when 1080p resolution seemed to suit me just fine. I think 4K has since been replaced with 8K so I guess I'm falling further and further behind with each passing cycle. Oh, well.
If it takes the likes of a Trump to stave off the left when it comes to winning elections then I have a question. What the hell are we conservatives going to do in 2024 when we don't have a Trump on the ballot? Who else do we have that can harness the kind of enthusiasm that we see night in and night out at his rallies across our great nation?
If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times. Why does Donald Trump, arguably the most successful president in his first term in the history of the presidency, have to work so hard against the worst candidate (Biden) in the history of presidential politics? And where the hell did all the leftists (Biden voters) come from all of a sudden if that's the case?
Even Hillary Clinton some four years back had more attendees at her so-called rallies than does Sleepy Joe Biden yet we're expected to believe that Joey is ahead in all the polls? If Biden pulls this one out it will render crowd size going forward as a nothing burger when it comes to predictive signage along the presidential pathway.
Looks like the Amy Cony Barrett hearings went so well that they are expected to fast track the rest of the process so everyone can start focusing again on the electoral prospects of Trump and the downstream candidates in the House and Senate. She's a darling of the right and probably the best nominee of any president to come along in a long time. She never tipped her hand as to how she might vote on matters such as the Affordable Care Act and other cases no matter what asinine questions the democrats put to her.
The hearings weren't as hostile as Kavanaugh's hearings but they were just as revealing when it comes to the democrats on the Judiciary Committee and their pathetic attempts to impugn the integrity of this beautiful, poised, intelligent, and sincere woman sitting before them. Be careful, you democrats, the world is watching!
How about that story dropping in the NY Post yesterday about Hunter Biden and Biden crime family? What did Joe know and when did he know it? Seems they have Hunter Biden's laptop that was chock full of pictures, e-mails, texts, etc exposing deep ties to the Chinese, Russians, and criminals in the Ukraine.
We have evidence now that Joe knew a lot more than he is letting on and he has essentially lied to the American public about just how involved he was, and probably is, in the influence peddling game which has enriched the greater Biden enterprise to the tune of a billion dollars or more.
The minute the story popped it was flagged and taken down by both Facebook and Twitter as a story that came from of a "hacked" source and one that couldn't be verified. The FBI and certain senators have some explaining to do since they had the information for weeks now but have done nothing with it. Doing nothing makes them complicit in the cover-up.
We're two weeks out from a presidential election and this might well qualify as an October surprise for Sleepy Joe and his campaign. Not sure how Joe plans to spin this but he has to be careful since he doesn't know what evidence the laptop contains.
Maybe the bigger story is social media's in-kind contribution to the Biden campaign but I don't think so. Neither Does Trump. And how is this for an in-kind contribution: Biden was on a 2-hour televised town hall with Stephy Stephanopolous last night and Stephy didn't ask one question about the laptop or its contents. Are you fucking kidding me? This is what passes for journalism these days?
Humble Beginnings
09/10/20 07:19
I'm now becoming obsessed with getting good crema when preparing my morning espresso brew. Thus far, it's been non-existent. I look at pictures online of what it should look like and it's a real WTF moment for me. Are my coffee beans not fresh enough? Is my machine capable of producing this so-called crema? Am I not tamping down the grinds hard enough before inserting the grinds into the machine? How long is it going to take before I have this figured out?
Anyone see the Pence / Harris debate the other night? It was disturbing in so many ways. I'll cut to the chase. Pence exposed Harris as a woman who doesn't have the intellectual heft to hold a senatorial seat much less be in line of succession should Sleepy Joe Biden become unable to fulfill his constitutional duties. Pence, on the other hand, solidified his position in the field of candidates in line to succeed Trump or, god forbid, Biden four years from now. If you were an objective observer of the debate, there was only one logical conclusion to reach. Harris had her ass handed to her.
For those wondering why Biden put her on the ticket, and for those wondering why they haven't seen Harris on the stump since her selection some weeks ago, you now have your answer. She's a fucking zero. So this is what Biden had in mind when he committed to selecting a "woman of color" for his Vice Presidential pick? I doubt that he had a hand in the pick given his state of mental decline so that raises even more questions.
But the Biden campaign and their minions in the media are in full court press mode the morning after the debate doing their level best to change the narrative that Harris got destroyed by Pence. The problem is, you can't unsee her pathetic performance. Her grimaces, her scowls, the nastiness in her newly chiseled chin, all painting a portrait of a not-ready-for-prime-time player in the race for the White House.
She was undressed so thoroughly by Pence that her demeanor on stage went from being upbeat and hopeful to downtrodden and get-me-the-hell-off-this-stage in the space of forty-five minutes. At the start she was sitting straight up and leaning into the camera with fluttering eyes and her million dollar smile. She was ready with her one-liners and lies that she and her team had prepared well in advance of this scheduled affair. It wasn't long before she was slumping in her chair, her smile was all but gone, and with every rebuttal from Pence she withdrew even further into the inner sanctum of her own idiocy.
Conservatives across the country raised their steins to the heavens thankful that Pence showed up in Utah and decisively delivered the debate of a lifetime. It stood in stark contrast to the weirdly crazed debate between Trump and Biden just two weeks prior. It was just what the base needed to bring them back from the brink after the Trump debate. Maybe the expectations were too high for the Trump debate. Whatever the reason, Pence came through and passed the Vice Presidential test with flying colors. Good for him and good for the country!
Evan just stepped into the room and said "good morning." Yesterday was such a shit show from the start. I picked him up from Exeter Hospital around 7am. He ended up there for reasons unknown. Either he wasn't telling us the truth about what occurred in the hours leading up to his going to the hospital or he really doesn't remember. It was hard to tell if his condition was drug or alcohol induced or maybe something altogether different. He seems to be back on an even keel this morning though so that's good. Whether he is out of the woods yet is still unclear.
I have a good mind to make a nice batch of chili today. If it's Fall, it's time to make chili. Right? Nancy always insists that I tease out a vegetarian portion or two of chili while preparing the meal so she can stay on the straight and narrow when it comes to her so-called vegetarian regime. We're not talking vegan here so there's that. I used to like to make a bison chili but have steered away from that over time for whatever reason. Now, I use grass fed beef and if it's organic all the better. Not Nancy's cup of tea but it's darn nice when the cool weather takes hold hereabouts.
The whole teasing out process has just never set all that well with me. When I'm throwing ingredients into the pot left and right and quite often without abandon, it's unsettling to me to have to think about creating an alternate dish using every ingredient called for by the recipe but the beef itself. If I were throwing everything into the pot at the same time that would be one thing.
Browning the beef is like step four of a total of ten steps in the recipe that I have on hand so its awkward. So awkward, in fact, that I've chosen not to make chili on more occasions than not just to avoid the feelings that I get that can only described as, well, a culinary dissonance of sorts.
I think I have a solution. We bought some very nice veggie chili recently right here in town. It was top notch and perhaps just what the doctor ordered for our situation. I'll pick up a pint or so for Nancy's dining pleasure and I'll satisfy myself by cooking up a batch of chili without having to parse out a portion without the beef. I have a bit of food shopping to do this morning so I'll amend my shopping list accordingly. We're out of a few things so I'll be going to the store before breakfast which is never a good thing.
I had hoped to use any number of our home grown tomatoes in my chili this Fall but the timing just hasn't worked out. We've otherwise put them to good use in BLT's, grilled cheese and tomatoes sandwiches, on salads, etc. Believe it or not we still have a few tomatoes on the vine which have yet to show any blush of red so they are simply not yet ready for chili or anything else.
I keep thinking of that movie "Fried Green Tomatoes" which I've never seen but it does make me wonder if there isn't a recipe or two where green tomatoes might come in handy. Not sure what I'll do with them if a frost comes along and they've yet to ripen even a bit.
I'll have to see who's popping up on the talking head shows this morning before making a commitment to watch or just walk away. I'm getting a little tired of listening to all the pundits talk about Trump's poor polling numbers and how he doesn't stand a chance against Sleepy Joe in the election which is now just three weeks out. I'm just not buying it. Biden may be ahead int he polls but he is on the losing end of the enthusiasm gap which is where candidates live or die.
I've seen, at most, a handful of people assembled to for a Biden "rally" while Trump's crowds continue to amaze. The latest is a huge rally in the heart of California where the crowds showed up driving in trucks carrying Trump flags, on foot with their children and grandchildren, diverse in their racial and ethnic makeup, and I saw on flag bearing the caption, "Chinese for Trump." Another rally in downtown Miami Beach, Fla, reportedly had some 30,000 cars flying Trump flags and assorted other paraphenalia.
Not a weekend goes by when there isn't a boat or truck rally of Trump supporters clogging the waterways and highways. Nancy and I ran into one last weekend while biking along Ocean Boulevard here in town. There were car and truck horns blaring along the entire route in support of President Trump. I gave the obligatory thumbs up several times and I even threw in a fist pump or two for good measure. The Blexit (Blacks leaving the democrat party) movement is alive and well and swelling exponentially thanks to people like Candace Owen. The LGBTQ movement seems to be gaining inroads and acceptance in the larger community of Trump supporters as well.
There seems to be a concerted effort in the media and on most all social media platforms to control or remove any and all news related to Trump which may directly or indirectly prove beneficial to him. Twitter has even gone so far as to remove some of its more outspoken and pro-Trump voices lest they create a viral storm ahead of election day. I'm not a Facebook guy so I can't comment on what happens on that platform but I suspect the story is the same. They're all in bed with the libs so will happily run afoul of the first amendment or worst to do whatever it takes to get Sleepy Joe across the finish line.
If there are no shows to watch I'll happily just get out on the road and take a bike ride. Did I mention that I tapped into a bank of endorphins yesterday while out on a ride? It was like a wave of euphoria which just swept over my entire body and it was kind of nice to say the least. Where did that come from? I've never thought I ride hard enough or long enough to conjure up endorphins of any kind so yesterday was a surprise. As rare an occurrence as it is, I recognized it immediately and knew it would be with me for the balance of my ride and then some. You are always welcome, old friend. Come around anytime.
Did I mention that Nancy has taken up knitting? You know, that thing that involves needles, yarn, and I think they throw in an instruction manual for people who benefit from such things. It wasn't long before she was on YouTube looking for examples before she made her first ever slip knot. She asked for my help but I resisted with every fibre of my being. This is your journey, my darling. Learn from your own missteps and be better off for it. I'll be there with an occasional word of encouragement or praise depending on the situation but it's all you.
Just for the record, her first effort out of the gate is a wool neckie. She finally got the slip knot thingie squared away and just when she thought she was out of the woods she started to complain about having made a mis-stitch. It wasn't all that obvious to me and it wasn't a show stopper for her so I think she has the right attitude going in. I didn't tell her this but what she shared with me after maybe an hours worth of effort looked more like a pot holder than a neckie. It definitely had that "homemade" look to it which may or may not detract from its overall value. Well done, little darlings! That's me again with a word of encouragement.
Anyone see the Pence / Harris debate the other night? It was disturbing in so many ways. I'll cut to the chase. Pence exposed Harris as a woman who doesn't have the intellectual heft to hold a senatorial seat much less be in line of succession should Sleepy Joe Biden become unable to fulfill his constitutional duties. Pence, on the other hand, solidified his position in the field of candidates in line to succeed Trump or, god forbid, Biden four years from now. If you were an objective observer of the debate, there was only one logical conclusion to reach. Harris had her ass handed to her.
For those wondering why Biden put her on the ticket, and for those wondering why they haven't seen Harris on the stump since her selection some weeks ago, you now have your answer. She's a fucking zero. So this is what Biden had in mind when he committed to selecting a "woman of color" for his Vice Presidential pick? I doubt that he had a hand in the pick given his state of mental decline so that raises even more questions.
But the Biden campaign and their minions in the media are in full court press mode the morning after the debate doing their level best to change the narrative that Harris got destroyed by Pence. The problem is, you can't unsee her pathetic performance. Her grimaces, her scowls, the nastiness in her newly chiseled chin, all painting a portrait of a not-ready-for-prime-time player in the race for the White House.
She was undressed so thoroughly by Pence that her demeanor on stage went from being upbeat and hopeful to downtrodden and get-me-the-hell-off-this-stage in the space of forty-five minutes. At the start she was sitting straight up and leaning into the camera with fluttering eyes and her million dollar smile. She was ready with her one-liners and lies that she and her team had prepared well in advance of this scheduled affair. It wasn't long before she was slumping in her chair, her smile was all but gone, and with every rebuttal from Pence she withdrew even further into the inner sanctum of her own idiocy.
Conservatives across the country raised their steins to the heavens thankful that Pence showed up in Utah and decisively delivered the debate of a lifetime. It stood in stark contrast to the weirdly crazed debate between Trump and Biden just two weeks prior. It was just what the base needed to bring them back from the brink after the Trump debate. Maybe the expectations were too high for the Trump debate. Whatever the reason, Pence came through and passed the Vice Presidential test with flying colors. Good for him and good for the country!
Evan just stepped into the room and said "good morning." Yesterday was such a shit show from the start. I picked him up from Exeter Hospital around 7am. He ended up there for reasons unknown. Either he wasn't telling us the truth about what occurred in the hours leading up to his going to the hospital or he really doesn't remember. It was hard to tell if his condition was drug or alcohol induced or maybe something altogether different. He seems to be back on an even keel this morning though so that's good. Whether he is out of the woods yet is still unclear.
I have a good mind to make a nice batch of chili today. If it's Fall, it's time to make chili. Right? Nancy always insists that I tease out a vegetarian portion or two of chili while preparing the meal so she can stay on the straight and narrow when it comes to her so-called vegetarian regime. We're not talking vegan here so there's that. I used to like to make a bison chili but have steered away from that over time for whatever reason. Now, I use grass fed beef and if it's organic all the better. Not Nancy's cup of tea but it's darn nice when the cool weather takes hold hereabouts.
The whole teasing out process has just never set all that well with me. When I'm throwing ingredients into the pot left and right and quite often without abandon, it's unsettling to me to have to think about creating an alternate dish using every ingredient called for by the recipe but the beef itself. If I were throwing everything into the pot at the same time that would be one thing.
Browning the beef is like step four of a total of ten steps in the recipe that I have on hand so its awkward. So awkward, in fact, that I've chosen not to make chili on more occasions than not just to avoid the feelings that I get that can only described as, well, a culinary dissonance of sorts.
I think I have a solution. We bought some very nice veggie chili recently right here in town. It was top notch and perhaps just what the doctor ordered for our situation. I'll pick up a pint or so for Nancy's dining pleasure and I'll satisfy myself by cooking up a batch of chili without having to parse out a portion without the beef. I have a bit of food shopping to do this morning so I'll amend my shopping list accordingly. We're out of a few things so I'll be going to the store before breakfast which is never a good thing.
I had hoped to use any number of our home grown tomatoes in my chili this Fall but the timing just hasn't worked out. We've otherwise put them to good use in BLT's, grilled cheese and tomatoes sandwiches, on salads, etc. Believe it or not we still have a few tomatoes on the vine which have yet to show any blush of red so they are simply not yet ready for chili or anything else.
I keep thinking of that movie "Fried Green Tomatoes" which I've never seen but it does make me wonder if there isn't a recipe or two where green tomatoes might come in handy. Not sure what I'll do with them if a frost comes along and they've yet to ripen even a bit.
I'll have to see who's popping up on the talking head shows this morning before making a commitment to watch or just walk away. I'm getting a little tired of listening to all the pundits talk about Trump's poor polling numbers and how he doesn't stand a chance against Sleepy Joe in the election which is now just three weeks out. I'm just not buying it. Biden may be ahead int he polls but he is on the losing end of the enthusiasm gap which is where candidates live or die.
I've seen, at most, a handful of people assembled to for a Biden "rally" while Trump's crowds continue to amaze. The latest is a huge rally in the heart of California where the crowds showed up driving in trucks carrying Trump flags, on foot with their children and grandchildren, diverse in their racial and ethnic makeup, and I saw on flag bearing the caption, "Chinese for Trump." Another rally in downtown Miami Beach, Fla, reportedly had some 30,000 cars flying Trump flags and assorted other paraphenalia.
Not a weekend goes by when there isn't a boat or truck rally of Trump supporters clogging the waterways and highways. Nancy and I ran into one last weekend while biking along Ocean Boulevard here in town. There were car and truck horns blaring along the entire route in support of President Trump. I gave the obligatory thumbs up several times and I even threw in a fist pump or two for good measure. The Blexit (Blacks leaving the democrat party) movement is alive and well and swelling exponentially thanks to people like Candace Owen. The LGBTQ movement seems to be gaining inroads and acceptance in the larger community of Trump supporters as well.
There seems to be a concerted effort in the media and on most all social media platforms to control or remove any and all news related to Trump which may directly or indirectly prove beneficial to him. Twitter has even gone so far as to remove some of its more outspoken and pro-Trump voices lest they create a viral storm ahead of election day. I'm not a Facebook guy so I can't comment on what happens on that platform but I suspect the story is the same. They're all in bed with the libs so will happily run afoul of the first amendment or worst to do whatever it takes to get Sleepy Joe across the finish line.
If there are no shows to watch I'll happily just get out on the road and take a bike ride. Did I mention that I tapped into a bank of endorphins yesterday while out on a ride? It was like a wave of euphoria which just swept over my entire body and it was kind of nice to say the least. Where did that come from? I've never thought I ride hard enough or long enough to conjure up endorphins of any kind so yesterday was a surprise. As rare an occurrence as it is, I recognized it immediately and knew it would be with me for the balance of my ride and then some. You are always welcome, old friend. Come around anytime.
Did I mention that Nancy has taken up knitting? You know, that thing that involves needles, yarn, and I think they throw in an instruction manual for people who benefit from such things. It wasn't long before she was on YouTube looking for examples before she made her first ever slip knot. She asked for my help but I resisted with every fibre of my being. This is your journey, my darling. Learn from your own missteps and be better off for it. I'll be there with an occasional word of encouragement or praise depending on the situation but it's all you.
Just for the record, her first effort out of the gate is a wool neckie. She finally got the slip knot thingie squared away and just when she thought she was out of the woods she started to complain about having made a mis-stitch. It wasn't all that obvious to me and it wasn't a show stopper for her so I think she has the right attitude going in. I didn't tell her this but what she shared with me after maybe an hours worth of effort looked more like a pot holder than a neckie. It definitely had that "homemade" look to it which may or may not detract from its overall value. Well done, little darlings! That's me again with a word of encouragement.
Wash, Rinse, Repeat
05/10/20 06:56
It'll be time to spruce up the back deck here pretty soon. Time to put everything away until next Spring. The leaves are pretty much completely off the tree out near the shed and I'm just waiting now for the first frost to come along before tidying up the garden.
It has been a different kind of summer in that we've had the best garden ever, we've used our deck more than ever before, the local Finch population has disappeared to god only knows where, and the chipmunk population hereabouts, which was booming early on in the season, seems to have leveled off now that Fall has arrived.
We never did put our palm plant out on the deck. It seems to have found a spot to its liking just inside the door leading out to the back deck where it gets more than enough of everything it needs. Oh, and I think it's safe to say that we've probably used our clothesline more than we have in years past. I replaced one of the posts early on in the season with Evan's help so that gave me the chance to replace old lines which had become brittle over the years. They should have been replaced sooner truth be told.
I don't know if the finches are ever coming back but I'll leave the thistle feeder out just in case. We might have used the grill more often but I've never been a big grill guy so maybe that shouldn't surprise anyone. Like so many other things, I should plan to do a deep clean on the grill before it gets too cold out to do it. Getting started has been my biggest problem and that seems to be getting worse rather than better. The desire is there but I'm lacking the oomph. Gotta get back my oomph.
I think this is one of those mornings when I tell myself that putting something, anything, down on paper will lead to something better, something bolder, something more enduring. Memorable? Probably not so much. Interesting? Who the bloody hell knows? Nancy is still fast asleep. She has a busy day ahead of her with her stay-at-home schtick. That began as a part time job just to give her something to do. It has morphed into a more time consuming, more involved, and maybe more frustrating job which she never really signed up for. That is unfortunate.
When she starts to go off the rails after a long day with stories of incompetence and other misgivings I try to humor her but more often than not I just add fuel to the fire. It's like listening to a bad dream on steroids and I have neither the patience nor the interest in getting to the bottom of any of it. I know I should just be doing my part to be a good listener but I'll be damned if I'll let her transfer all of that negative emotion and energy to me without pushing back just a little bit.
Mrs G has some dental work scheduled for today so Nancy is expected to lend a hand in the transportation end of things. So she'll be off and I have a few chores to keep myself busy so that's pretty much the morning. I want to load up the car with things for the recycling center that have been accumulating here and there waiting for the bulky items receptacle to open up at the center. It's always a good feeling to get rid of things that no longer serve a useful purpose. They have a new process for dealing with fees for such things so I'll want to show up with a fistful of small denominations.
I''m looking forward to a couple of things in the next couple of weeks. The VP debate is on Wednesday night and the Senate hearings for Amy Cony Barrett begin next week. Both should be barn burners! President Trump arrived back at the White House last evening after spending three days or so at the hospital for treatment of the Coronavirus. The leftist media is up in arms that he didn't die a painful death of the virus that they allege that he referred to as a "hoax." Spoiler alert: He didn't refer to it as a hoax.
It was quite a moment when he returned to the White House only to walk up the long flight stairs unattended and, while standing there overlooking the West lawn, tore off his mask and saluted the servicemen who delivered him to his residence. The financial markets rallied and the American people cheered as their president returned home as a conquering hero of sorts. A man who survived the virus and lived to tell others not to let the virus dominate their lives. He is living proof of what science can deliver thanks to his administration's fast tracking and funding of therapeutics and vaccines.
It becomes clearer by the day that the only hoax perpetrated on the American public is the hoax perpetuated by the Main Street Media (MSM) that Trump is responsible for the Coronavirus and he is the one man responsible for the deaths of the now 209,000 people who didn't have to die. If only Trump had set a better example. If only Trump had done more to stop it all.
Polls show that the American public believe that Biden would do a better job dealing with the virus thing despite everything that Trump has done. If they can only make the election all about the virus and Trump's handling of same, surely they (MSM) can deliver a Biden victory on election day. If concerns about the economy become first and foremost in the minds of Americans when they walk into the polling booths on November 3rd then Trump should win hands down.
What I worry about is the impact of the media's role in the election process in our country. No sooner had Trump been elected in 2016 when the media started turning against he and his yet-to-be named administration. By all reports, the media has blanketed the country with negative coverage of this president day in and day out for four years. Since when is the role of the media to take sides with one political party to the detriment of the other? If Biden wins, the Media will take a victory lap the likes of which should shame each and every American.
The billions of dollars in free press that they have afforded the Biden campaign should be considered an in-kind contribution and the IRS should take notice. How else do you rein in the power of the cable news networks that deliberately fail to report anything of any negative consequence when it comes to Biden and they go out of their way to demonize one Donald J. Trump? Trump gets nominated for three Nobel Peace Prizes and it hardly gets any mention in the MSM. Biden enriches his family with sweetheart deals in China, Moscow, etc., and the media says nothing.
My bottom line is this: We cannot allow the Main Street Media to dictate who wins and who loses elections in our great country. If they are able to get Biden elected, there will be no turning back in the years ahead. They will double down, if that is at all possible, in their vitriol and their targeting of candidates whose policies and politics don't align with their own. That is to say, Republican party candidates will find themselves in an uphill battle in nationwide races against not only their opponents but against the MSM as well.
Meanwhile, Biden is stumping in South Florida where he once again made bizarre comments about young girls dancing and said something to a group of Haitians across town about delivering a coup de grace where Trump is concerned. He knows that means, "kill shot", right? He's just a dumb and demented old fuck.
It's worth reiterating, Biden will not survive for another four years given his current state of declining mental health. He is the Trojan horse that promises to deliver his vice president, Kamala Harris, into the presidency as the first female president in the history of our country. This is the same Kamala Harris that couldn't garner 2% in the polls in the presidential primary and who dropped out before the nation's first primary in Iowa. Let's hope VP Mike Pence drives this home in tonight's debate with Harris. Wake up, people!
No one really knows who the people are behind the Biden ruse and they may or may not come out from behind the curtain right away if and when he gets elected. We think we know who they are and what they represent but precisely which leftist or progressive group will emerge after Biden's supposed win is unclear. That is by design because the American people would crawl over broken glass to vote against them if they knew the truth. The litany of things that can and will go from bad to worse in our country under a Biden presidency is too numerous to mention. We need to kill this in the cradle.
It has been a different kind of summer in that we've had the best garden ever, we've used our deck more than ever before, the local Finch population has disappeared to god only knows where, and the chipmunk population hereabouts, which was booming early on in the season, seems to have leveled off now that Fall has arrived.
We never did put our palm plant out on the deck. It seems to have found a spot to its liking just inside the door leading out to the back deck where it gets more than enough of everything it needs. Oh, and I think it's safe to say that we've probably used our clothesline more than we have in years past. I replaced one of the posts early on in the season with Evan's help so that gave me the chance to replace old lines which had become brittle over the years. They should have been replaced sooner truth be told.
I don't know if the finches are ever coming back but I'll leave the thistle feeder out just in case. We might have used the grill more often but I've never been a big grill guy so maybe that shouldn't surprise anyone. Like so many other things, I should plan to do a deep clean on the grill before it gets too cold out to do it. Getting started has been my biggest problem and that seems to be getting worse rather than better. The desire is there but I'm lacking the oomph. Gotta get back my oomph.
I think this is one of those mornings when I tell myself that putting something, anything, down on paper will lead to something better, something bolder, something more enduring. Memorable? Probably not so much. Interesting? Who the bloody hell knows? Nancy is still fast asleep. She has a busy day ahead of her with her stay-at-home schtick. That began as a part time job just to give her something to do. It has morphed into a more time consuming, more involved, and maybe more frustrating job which she never really signed up for. That is unfortunate.
When she starts to go off the rails after a long day with stories of incompetence and other misgivings I try to humor her but more often than not I just add fuel to the fire. It's like listening to a bad dream on steroids and I have neither the patience nor the interest in getting to the bottom of any of it. I know I should just be doing my part to be a good listener but I'll be damned if I'll let her transfer all of that negative emotion and energy to me without pushing back just a little bit.
Mrs G has some dental work scheduled for today so Nancy is expected to lend a hand in the transportation end of things. So she'll be off and I have a few chores to keep myself busy so that's pretty much the morning. I want to load up the car with things for the recycling center that have been accumulating here and there waiting for the bulky items receptacle to open up at the center. It's always a good feeling to get rid of things that no longer serve a useful purpose. They have a new process for dealing with fees for such things so I'll want to show up with a fistful of small denominations.
I''m looking forward to a couple of things in the next couple of weeks. The VP debate is on Wednesday night and the Senate hearings for Amy Cony Barrett begin next week. Both should be barn burners! President Trump arrived back at the White House last evening after spending three days or so at the hospital for treatment of the Coronavirus. The leftist media is up in arms that he didn't die a painful death of the virus that they allege that he referred to as a "hoax." Spoiler alert: He didn't refer to it as a hoax.
It was quite a moment when he returned to the White House only to walk up the long flight stairs unattended and, while standing there overlooking the West lawn, tore off his mask and saluted the servicemen who delivered him to his residence. The financial markets rallied and the American people cheered as their president returned home as a conquering hero of sorts. A man who survived the virus and lived to tell others not to let the virus dominate their lives. He is living proof of what science can deliver thanks to his administration's fast tracking and funding of therapeutics and vaccines.
It becomes clearer by the day that the only hoax perpetrated on the American public is the hoax perpetuated by the Main Street Media (MSM) that Trump is responsible for the Coronavirus and he is the one man responsible for the deaths of the now 209,000 people who didn't have to die. If only Trump had set a better example. If only Trump had done more to stop it all.
Polls show that the American public believe that Biden would do a better job dealing with the virus thing despite everything that Trump has done. If they can only make the election all about the virus and Trump's handling of same, surely they (MSM) can deliver a Biden victory on election day. If concerns about the economy become first and foremost in the minds of Americans when they walk into the polling booths on November 3rd then Trump should win hands down.
What I worry about is the impact of the media's role in the election process in our country. No sooner had Trump been elected in 2016 when the media started turning against he and his yet-to-be named administration. By all reports, the media has blanketed the country with negative coverage of this president day in and day out for four years. Since when is the role of the media to take sides with one political party to the detriment of the other? If Biden wins, the Media will take a victory lap the likes of which should shame each and every American.
The billions of dollars in free press that they have afforded the Biden campaign should be considered an in-kind contribution and the IRS should take notice. How else do you rein in the power of the cable news networks that deliberately fail to report anything of any negative consequence when it comes to Biden and they go out of their way to demonize one Donald J. Trump? Trump gets nominated for three Nobel Peace Prizes and it hardly gets any mention in the MSM. Biden enriches his family with sweetheart deals in China, Moscow, etc., and the media says nothing.
My bottom line is this: We cannot allow the Main Street Media to dictate who wins and who loses elections in our great country. If they are able to get Biden elected, there will be no turning back in the years ahead. They will double down, if that is at all possible, in their vitriol and their targeting of candidates whose policies and politics don't align with their own. That is to say, Republican party candidates will find themselves in an uphill battle in nationwide races against not only their opponents but against the MSM as well.
Meanwhile, Biden is stumping in South Florida where he once again made bizarre comments about young girls dancing and said something to a group of Haitians across town about delivering a coup de grace where Trump is concerned. He knows that means, "kill shot", right? He's just a dumb and demented old fuck.
It's worth reiterating, Biden will not survive for another four years given his current state of declining mental health. He is the Trojan horse that promises to deliver his vice president, Kamala Harris, into the presidency as the first female president in the history of our country. This is the same Kamala Harris that couldn't garner 2% in the polls in the presidential primary and who dropped out before the nation's first primary in Iowa. Let's hope VP Mike Pence drives this home in tonight's debate with Harris. Wake up, people!
No one really knows who the people are behind the Biden ruse and they may or may not come out from behind the curtain right away if and when he gets elected. We think we know who they are and what they represent but precisely which leftist or progressive group will emerge after Biden's supposed win is unclear. That is by design because the American people would crawl over broken glass to vote against them if they knew the truth. The litany of things that can and will go from bad to worse in our country under a Biden presidency is too numerous to mention. We need to kill this in the cradle.
Taking Down the Deep State
01/10/20 07:12
I think Trump may have been influenced by reviewing tapes of previous Paul Ryan v Joe Biden debates before heading into the debate with Sleepy Joe Biden. He wasn't going to let Sleepy Joe get away with the same kind of bullshit that he got away with when debating Ryan. All I'm saying is that Trump arrived onstage with an attitude. You could see it in him before he even opened his mouth.
Biden looked and sounded weirdly programmed and he had this pasty appearance that made him look even older than his 77 years or so. He had this bad habit of calling Trump names throughout the debate using words like racist, fool, clown, etc. It was not a good look. His responses to questions and allegations posed by Trump were either non-existent or met with flat out denials. Anyone watching or paying any attention knows that the allegations thrown out by Trump were undeniably true.
The moderator asked Biden about rumors of Biden padding the Supreme Court if elected and Biden went off on some harangue and never answered the question. We'll take that as a "yes", Mr Vice President (That's me talking.) Trump complained during and after the debate that he ended up debating two people referring to the never-ending interruptions by the moderator, Chris Wallace.
Some people say that Trump did himself no favors by not letting Bidden answer questions before interrupting him. We never got to see the Biden who can't complete sentences, can't get his thoughts out, and is more likely than not to make a fool of himself given half a chance.
It was hard to say who was doing a better job of getting under their opponents skin. Trump came close to the edge more often than not but it had more to do with his interactions with the moderator than with Sleepy Joe. I guess the one adjective that comes to mind for me which best describes Biden's attitude towards Trump in the debate is "dismissive." Trump made the point time and time again that he "did more in 47 months than Biden did in 47 years." It's a compelling argument.
Evan gave me a call the other morning and said something about having left his car down in Massachusetts. I think I was only hearing every other word coming out of his mouth but one word that came through loud and clear was the word "shenanigans." I didn't ask what he meant by that and he didn't volunteer an explanation. It occurred to me that he might have forgotten precisely where he left the car and I had visions in my head about how we might go about trying to solve that problem. Memo to me: Don't jump the gun, Johnny.
He did say, because I asked, that he wasn't in any trouble. That didn't come as a surprise but it was good to hear him say the words nonetheless. And the other good news was that he knew precisely where he had left the car. When I drove him down to get it there wasn't a moments hesitation when it came time to take certain exits off the highway, certain lefts and rights, and there she be. His car was sitting in the parking lot of a local CVS just where he left it. All is well that ends well, I suppose.
I'm waking up this morning to hear that Trump and Melanie have the dreaded Covid-19. Maybe no one should be terribly surprised to hear this news. He's a very active president and he's surrounded by people day in and day out by people who have been exposed to this, that, and the other thing. And this virus knows no bounds so it's out there and until it isn't any longer all we can do is try to steer clear of it. If we get the darn thing, chances are pretty good that we'll survive unless there are co-morbidities at play and then all bets are off.
It comes at a weird time for the president and the nation. The general election is a month out and this will take Trump off the campaign trail for the next couple of weeks or more depending on how things progress. I don't know how this might play in the polls, and ultimately, in the voting booths once November 3rd rolls around. Will the remaining two presidential debates be cancelled? How will the president assure the nation day-to-day that he is not in failing health? Will he just end up being asymptomatic and not otherwise sidelined for the duration? All good questions.
I trust that his aides are working around the clock looking for a way to turn this so-called negative into a positive. Something that can help him gain a little more traction in the polls and maybe even get a sympathy vote of sorts that could nudge him over the finish line four weeks out. This could be very good for the president. They say he's behind in the polls so every little bit helps.
My advice to the president would be to continue to be as visible as possible. Let the nation know that he's doing well and standing strong against this invisible and malicious agent. That is something that the nation can rally around. It could be the president's own personal 911 moment but without the mound of rubble beneath his feet and a blowhorn at his lips. He's been in the hospital some 24 hours or so now and I've seen maybe one tweet from the president. It's not enough. How much of this is by design?
The initial reaction of Sleepy Joe's camp to the news of Trump's Covid-19 contraction might be one of celebration and elation. I would caution them not to pop the champagne prematurely. They also have to be careful not to lick their collective chops in public in a way that has them presiding over the ostensible demise of a president.
I think the attention of the nation is now focused on the health and well being of our Commander-in-Chief so Biden's people might as well pull their ads from the airwaves. As I sit here thinking about this I'm thinking there might be little divine intervention going on. Who was it that said, "never let a good crisis go to waste"?
Is it possible that all of this is the result of some greater conspiracy to infect the President and his people in order to throw the election to Joe Biden and his party of leftists? The President's handling of the Covid-19 crisis was the centerpiece of the democrats case against Trump going into October just one month out from the general election. That all changed with the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the nomination of Amy Cony Barrett to the Supreme Court.
What better way to bring it all back around to the virus than to bring that very virus to the doorstep of the man who has allegedly minimized it at every turn going back to March of 2020. I would disagree with that assessment but that is what Biden's people would have you believe. It would be a ruthless and daring strategy by the democrats to pull off a stunt of that magnitude. Did the Chinese government have a hand in this macabre plan? Nobody has more to gain than the Chinese but that seems a bridge too far.
But here we are just a day out from the President and his team flying off in a helicopter from the grounds of the White House bringing he and his team to Walter Reed Hospital where he is expected to receive various treatments for his infection. If I had a nickel for every time I've heard one or more of the president's people use the expression, "abundance of caution" over the last 24 hours I'd be a very rich man.
We can understand his people wanting to put a good face on a bad situation but we saw Trump walk to the helicopter appearing as he did to be in reasonably good health. Something isn't adding up here. Maybe what we're seeing is a takedown of the deep state in progress where the President is protected off sight while the minions of the deep state are rounded up and jailed or moved to Guantanamo for safekeeping. Is Durham's investigation in full takedown mode? We were told that we'd see nothing until after the election. Another ruse?
I read somewhere yesterday that Trump did not communicate with the Gang of Eight in Congress before he left the White House. That conversation would presumably lay the groundwork for any discussions about succession should certain events occur. Not having that discussion makes no sense if Trump's health and well being is imminently at risk. And there are no plans to have Pence take power in the event that Trump cannot carry out his duties so there's that. Does any of this make any sense to you? Of most concern may be the fact that he has stopped tweeting. Nothing. Notta. WTF!
This conspiracy business makes me feel a whole lot better about everything. It tells me that Trump isn't really sick so he won't be dying anytime soon. It tells me that I'm not altogether wrong about the forces of good that carry considerable sway when it comes to deciding who does and who doesn't preside as President of our great country. It tells me that we are of one mind about the dangers that a Joe Biden presidency represents and how critical it is that that he and his minions not take power in any way, shape, or manner. Our "checkmate" moment may not come until election day but come it will. I have no doubt.
Biden looked and sounded weirdly programmed and he had this pasty appearance that made him look even older than his 77 years or so. He had this bad habit of calling Trump names throughout the debate using words like racist, fool, clown, etc. It was not a good look. His responses to questions and allegations posed by Trump were either non-existent or met with flat out denials. Anyone watching or paying any attention knows that the allegations thrown out by Trump were undeniably true.
The moderator asked Biden about rumors of Biden padding the Supreme Court if elected and Biden went off on some harangue and never answered the question. We'll take that as a "yes", Mr Vice President (That's me talking.) Trump complained during and after the debate that he ended up debating two people referring to the never-ending interruptions by the moderator, Chris Wallace.
Some people say that Trump did himself no favors by not letting Bidden answer questions before interrupting him. We never got to see the Biden who can't complete sentences, can't get his thoughts out, and is more likely than not to make a fool of himself given half a chance.
It was hard to say who was doing a better job of getting under their opponents skin. Trump came close to the edge more often than not but it had more to do with his interactions with the moderator than with Sleepy Joe. I guess the one adjective that comes to mind for me which best describes Biden's attitude towards Trump in the debate is "dismissive." Trump made the point time and time again that he "did more in 47 months than Biden did in 47 years." It's a compelling argument.
Evan gave me a call the other morning and said something about having left his car down in Massachusetts. I think I was only hearing every other word coming out of his mouth but one word that came through loud and clear was the word "shenanigans." I didn't ask what he meant by that and he didn't volunteer an explanation. It occurred to me that he might have forgotten precisely where he left the car and I had visions in my head about how we might go about trying to solve that problem. Memo to me: Don't jump the gun, Johnny.
He did say, because I asked, that he wasn't in any trouble. That didn't come as a surprise but it was good to hear him say the words nonetheless. And the other good news was that he knew precisely where he had left the car. When I drove him down to get it there wasn't a moments hesitation when it came time to take certain exits off the highway, certain lefts and rights, and there she be. His car was sitting in the parking lot of a local CVS just where he left it. All is well that ends well, I suppose.
I'm waking up this morning to hear that Trump and Melanie have the dreaded Covid-19. Maybe no one should be terribly surprised to hear this news. He's a very active president and he's surrounded by people day in and day out by people who have been exposed to this, that, and the other thing. And this virus knows no bounds so it's out there and until it isn't any longer all we can do is try to steer clear of it. If we get the darn thing, chances are pretty good that we'll survive unless there are co-morbidities at play and then all bets are off.
It comes at a weird time for the president and the nation. The general election is a month out and this will take Trump off the campaign trail for the next couple of weeks or more depending on how things progress. I don't know how this might play in the polls, and ultimately, in the voting booths once November 3rd rolls around. Will the remaining two presidential debates be cancelled? How will the president assure the nation day-to-day that he is not in failing health? Will he just end up being asymptomatic and not otherwise sidelined for the duration? All good questions.
I trust that his aides are working around the clock looking for a way to turn this so-called negative into a positive. Something that can help him gain a little more traction in the polls and maybe even get a sympathy vote of sorts that could nudge him over the finish line four weeks out. This could be very good for the president. They say he's behind in the polls so every little bit helps.
My advice to the president would be to continue to be as visible as possible. Let the nation know that he's doing well and standing strong against this invisible and malicious agent. That is something that the nation can rally around. It could be the president's own personal 911 moment but without the mound of rubble beneath his feet and a blowhorn at his lips. He's been in the hospital some 24 hours or so now and I've seen maybe one tweet from the president. It's not enough. How much of this is by design?
The initial reaction of Sleepy Joe's camp to the news of Trump's Covid-19 contraction might be one of celebration and elation. I would caution them not to pop the champagne prematurely. They also have to be careful not to lick their collective chops in public in a way that has them presiding over the ostensible demise of a president.
I think the attention of the nation is now focused on the health and well being of our Commander-in-Chief so Biden's people might as well pull their ads from the airwaves. As I sit here thinking about this I'm thinking there might be little divine intervention going on. Who was it that said, "never let a good crisis go to waste"?
Is it possible that all of this is the result of some greater conspiracy to infect the President and his people in order to throw the election to Joe Biden and his party of leftists? The President's handling of the Covid-19 crisis was the centerpiece of the democrats case against Trump going into October just one month out from the general election. That all changed with the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the nomination of Amy Cony Barrett to the Supreme Court.
What better way to bring it all back around to the virus than to bring that very virus to the doorstep of the man who has allegedly minimized it at every turn going back to March of 2020. I would disagree with that assessment but that is what Biden's people would have you believe. It would be a ruthless and daring strategy by the democrats to pull off a stunt of that magnitude. Did the Chinese government have a hand in this macabre plan? Nobody has more to gain than the Chinese but that seems a bridge too far.
But here we are just a day out from the President and his team flying off in a helicopter from the grounds of the White House bringing he and his team to Walter Reed Hospital where he is expected to receive various treatments for his infection. If I had a nickel for every time I've heard one or more of the president's people use the expression, "abundance of caution" over the last 24 hours I'd be a very rich man.
We can understand his people wanting to put a good face on a bad situation but we saw Trump walk to the helicopter appearing as he did to be in reasonably good health. Something isn't adding up here. Maybe what we're seeing is a takedown of the deep state in progress where the President is protected off sight while the minions of the deep state are rounded up and jailed or moved to Guantanamo for safekeeping. Is Durham's investigation in full takedown mode? We were told that we'd see nothing until after the election. Another ruse?
I read somewhere yesterday that Trump did not communicate with the Gang of Eight in Congress before he left the White House. That conversation would presumably lay the groundwork for any discussions about succession should certain events occur. Not having that discussion makes no sense if Trump's health and well being is imminently at risk. And there are no plans to have Pence take power in the event that Trump cannot carry out his duties so there's that. Does any of this make any sense to you? Of most concern may be the fact that he has stopped tweeting. Nothing. Notta. WTF!
This conspiracy business makes me feel a whole lot better about everything. It tells me that Trump isn't really sick so he won't be dying anytime soon. It tells me that I'm not altogether wrong about the forces of good that carry considerable sway when it comes to deciding who does and who doesn't preside as President of our great country. It tells me that we are of one mind about the dangers that a Joe Biden presidency represents and how critical it is that that he and his minions not take power in any way, shape, or manner. Our "checkmate" moment may not come until election day but come it will. I have no doubt.
Singing Her Praises
26/09/20 06:57
Our two-week quarantine (wink/wink) is up this coming Sunday. The State of NH recommended it, but did not mandate it, after returning from our one-week vacation to Lake George, New York earlier this month. It was an outstanding question going into our vacation week and we had one hell of a time trying to decipher anything from our State's website. What do we do when we return after being out of state for five days? What version of "quarantine" do we subscribe to precisely?
As anyone who knows me knows, I love a loophole! If I had a big ole truck I would drive right the hell through that loophole and come out the other side with a shit-eating grin on my face. That's just me. Nancy's preference was to go to the other extreme and follow Governor Cuomo's rules of quarantining. You stay in the house; You have everything you need delivered; You touch nothing delivered for a minimum of 24 hours; You wear a mask in and out of doors; yada yada yada. She's drinking the koolaid out of a firehose these days and she's one of Hitler's long lost brownshirts as it relates to anyone with an opposing view. This is not the woman I married.
Maybe it's my meandering and unserious attitude about it all that is bringing her around. I've stopped enabling her when it comes to doing things that she would not otherwise do during this stupid pandemic. I've stopped buying her favorite yogurts when out on a shopping run. She wants yogurt, she can buy her own fucking yogurt. She asked me last night when we were outside Lowes if I might go and purchase the mums she had placed in her cart. Sorry, love. No can do. YOYO. That's short hand for you are on your own. So, in she went with me in tow. Mission accomplished.
I follow the rules too but the minute I leave any one of these establishments I'm ripping off that mask like a soggy old bandaid. Let's face it. When everyone is doing it (wearing masks) it's easier all around to just join in. Nobody wants to be the fool on the hill or the dunce sitting all alone in the corner of the classroom. It is true though. Nancy is much less of a Nazi these days about things than she used to be. I'm on her like white on rice when she goes on one or more of her little tirades when she sees something she considers "unsafe." Until you walk a mile in their shoes, don't be so critical. I'm killing it with the cliche's, don't you think?
Every relationship needs a moderating voice and I'm happy to step into the fray when and where others fear to do so. I'm also wanting to spare Evan the nonsense that his mother is dishing out and I think he appreciates hearing an alternative view on this whole pandemic thing. He's had a lifetime of coming down on one side or another when and where his parents and their politics or playbooks are concerned so maybe this time is no different. When we first returned he stayed with us for a couple of days until I think he felt comfortable enough to go back to his place. Someone had put the fear of god into him and I changed that up in a hurry. Not to worry, he's fine now.
I still can't get over how well our tomato plants did this summer. My Big Boys came through in a clinch and, man, those suckers are everywhere. They're big as baseballs and twice as juicy. Few things give me more pleasure these days than walking out to the garden in the early morning and walking amongst my tomato plants looking for one or more that might have developed a bit of a red blush over night. That's when you know they are ready to pick. I'm detaching them from their mooring with a counter clockwise twist of the wrist and while that seems to work I'm not altogether sure it's the proper way to remove a tomato from the vine.
So there they sit, ripening maybe for days, on our kitchen table. Nancy is a huge fan as well and she is just as surprised as I am when it comes to our good fortune when and where tomatoes are concerned. We seem to have just enough but not so many that we can't eat them before they develop bad spots, mold, etc. You can usually cut around the bad parts and make do with what you have left. Maybe we'll have BLT's today or maybe Nancy will have her favorite cheese and a sliced tomato to go along with it. A drizzle of balsamic vinegar never hurts and if the bacon we use in the BLT's comes in a vegan version all the better.
President Trump has been burning the candle at both ends as of late. I love watching his rallies streamed live by RSBN. His messaging is much the same in each of his rallies but there is so much going on these days that the only way I can keep up with what he's thinking, when he's not tweeting about this or that, is by watching his rallies.
The crowds are enormous and the enthusiasm of the attendees is off the charts which is probably why attendance for his rallies runs in the tens of thousands. Meanwhile, Sleepy Joe is calling a lid early on each day signaling to the press and the public that there will be no public events forthcoming. The contrast between the two camps is startling.
Trump had one event scheduled for the Rose Garden around 5pm yesterday and I wasn't about to miss it. He was nominating his pick for the Supreme Court to fill the vacancy created by the passing of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. His pick (Amy Cony Barrett) was telegraphed, or leaked, not sure which, about 24 hours prior to the event. There may have been a reason to do that but it seemed odd if nothing else. Why would he do that?
It was a great showing in the Garden! She's a beautiful young woman with decades ahead of her on the court assuming she gets through the process in the Senate. Did I mention that she's a solid conservative with a love of country and the Constitution? Those are her words, not mine. It doesn't hurt that she clerked for the now deceased, Justice Antonin Scalia.
The President has the radical dems over a barrel with this pick. What line of attack will they choose to try and derail her? They realize that if they go after her too hard that they will alienate even more suburban moms. Right? Maybe they learned something after the travesty of the Kavanaugh hearings where their outrageous attacks on a good man resulted in their losing several seats in the Senate.
Ms Barrett will likely be approved along party lines and she will be in place by the time the election rolls around. The jury is out as to which party will benefit more from her selection come November 3rd. Her being seated in time to ejudicate any disputes arising out of the election cannot but help assure a Trump win should it come to that.
This has to fire up the Evangelicals and Trump doesn't win without a majority of that constituency showing up to vote for him. He is, by far, the most pro-life president in generations and that has not gone unnoticed by every group including the Evangelicals. Who on the conservative side of the aisle isn't loving what a 6-3 conservative court might deliver for our nation? Did I mention that Trump and (Sleepy Joe) Biden are expected to debate two days from now? It should be a barn burner of a Sunday morning for the talking heads! I'll be there with bells on!
But I digress. Where the hell have the Finches gone? You now, those little yellow birds that have been coning to my thistle feeder for years. I was whining a bit just a month ago about how I was having to fill the feeder more than usual. I thought it might have something to do with the fact that the feeder need to be tidied up a bit so I did just that with the hopes that they might returning to their reliable source of some of the best thistle in town. Nothing but the best for my little friends! That's a but of an exaggeration but it's the truth.
The Finches are nowhere to be found. Not only are they not regular visitors to the thistle feeder, they are also not anywhere to be seen around my other bird feeders. I've seen a cat prowling around the hood as of late so maybe that has something to do with it. Maybe he's been more of a stalker than a prowler. Losing two species in the space of two weeks is a mind bender. The Hummingbirds have left for points south for the winter so there's that. Maybe the Finches went with them. I don't know. I'm grasping for straws here.
Tonight is the first of three debates between Trump and Sleepy Joe Biden. It's pins and needles time, folks. Grab your popcorn and find yourself a good spot where you can sit down and enjoy the fireworks. Expectations are seriously low, maybe too low, for Sleepy Joe in tonight's debate.
These things never go according to plan so that might mean that Biden comes out looking better than expected given the expectations going into the debate. He performed reasonably well against Bernie Sanders in the primary so that was a bit of a surprise. How does someone with advanced dementia survive a nationally televised debate in this day and age?
I'll let you in on a little secret. Donald Trump is no Bernie Sanders. Look for Trump to get under Sleepy Joe's skin time and time again until Sleepy Joe asks the moderator if he can use a lifeline to call his wife, Jill. Maybe he has Bernie and AOC on speed dial just in case. Keep in mind that Trump has the benefit of knowing everything there is to know about the Obama's and the Bidens when they occupied the White House in the previous administration.
Joe knows that Trump knows and that can't be a good feeling if your name is Joe Biden. Joe is also prone to fits of anger as demented patients often are so look for Trump to needle him maybe for no other reason that to get a rise out of him. Trump: This is not a man you want anywhere near the nuclear codes! Trump also has a long record of success in his first term so he can do a lot of comparing and contrasting.
Look for Joe to counter Trump's comments with lies and ballast of his own. I expect Trump to wear his opponent down over the scheduled 90-minute debate. As for the moderator, Chris Wallace, stay the hell out of the fight and let the two men hash it out between themselves. One thing we don't need is another Candy Crowley. As you recall, she fact checked Romney in the Romney/Obama debate and that threw the debate win to Obama. It changed the trajectory of the race and ensured an Obama win when all was said and done.
I want the people of our great country to take a good close look at the two men on the stage tonight and be honest with themselves about which man is up to the job of being president and which man is not up to the job. The fact that there are tens of millions of Americans who are planning to or who have already cast a vote for a man with early or even advanced dementia, should be alarming in and of itself.
Hating Trump is one thing. Installing a demented and likely senile old man as president of the greatest country on the face of the planet is something altogether different. That is Trump Derangment Syndrome (TDS) on steroids. Do the right thing.
As anyone who knows me knows, I love a loophole! If I had a big ole truck I would drive right the hell through that loophole and come out the other side with a shit-eating grin on my face. That's just me. Nancy's preference was to go to the other extreme and follow Governor Cuomo's rules of quarantining. You stay in the house; You have everything you need delivered; You touch nothing delivered for a minimum of 24 hours; You wear a mask in and out of doors; yada yada yada. She's drinking the koolaid out of a firehose these days and she's one of Hitler's long lost brownshirts as it relates to anyone with an opposing view. This is not the woman I married.
Maybe it's my meandering and unserious attitude about it all that is bringing her around. I've stopped enabling her when it comes to doing things that she would not otherwise do during this stupid pandemic. I've stopped buying her favorite yogurts when out on a shopping run. She wants yogurt, she can buy her own fucking yogurt. She asked me last night when we were outside Lowes if I might go and purchase the mums she had placed in her cart. Sorry, love. No can do. YOYO. That's short hand for you are on your own. So, in she went with me in tow. Mission accomplished.
I follow the rules too but the minute I leave any one of these establishments I'm ripping off that mask like a soggy old bandaid. Let's face it. When everyone is doing it (wearing masks) it's easier all around to just join in. Nobody wants to be the fool on the hill or the dunce sitting all alone in the corner of the classroom. It is true though. Nancy is much less of a Nazi these days about things than she used to be. I'm on her like white on rice when she goes on one or more of her little tirades when she sees something she considers "unsafe." Until you walk a mile in their shoes, don't be so critical. I'm killing it with the cliche's, don't you think?
Every relationship needs a moderating voice and I'm happy to step into the fray when and where others fear to do so. I'm also wanting to spare Evan the nonsense that his mother is dishing out and I think he appreciates hearing an alternative view on this whole pandemic thing. He's had a lifetime of coming down on one side or another when and where his parents and their politics or playbooks are concerned so maybe this time is no different. When we first returned he stayed with us for a couple of days until I think he felt comfortable enough to go back to his place. Someone had put the fear of god into him and I changed that up in a hurry. Not to worry, he's fine now.
I still can't get over how well our tomato plants did this summer. My Big Boys came through in a clinch and, man, those suckers are everywhere. They're big as baseballs and twice as juicy. Few things give me more pleasure these days than walking out to the garden in the early morning and walking amongst my tomato plants looking for one or more that might have developed a bit of a red blush over night. That's when you know they are ready to pick. I'm detaching them from their mooring with a counter clockwise twist of the wrist and while that seems to work I'm not altogether sure it's the proper way to remove a tomato from the vine.
So there they sit, ripening maybe for days, on our kitchen table. Nancy is a huge fan as well and she is just as surprised as I am when it comes to our good fortune when and where tomatoes are concerned. We seem to have just enough but not so many that we can't eat them before they develop bad spots, mold, etc. You can usually cut around the bad parts and make do with what you have left. Maybe we'll have BLT's today or maybe Nancy will have her favorite cheese and a sliced tomato to go along with it. A drizzle of balsamic vinegar never hurts and if the bacon we use in the BLT's comes in a vegan version all the better.
President Trump has been burning the candle at both ends as of late. I love watching his rallies streamed live by RSBN. His messaging is much the same in each of his rallies but there is so much going on these days that the only way I can keep up with what he's thinking, when he's not tweeting about this or that, is by watching his rallies.
The crowds are enormous and the enthusiasm of the attendees is off the charts which is probably why attendance for his rallies runs in the tens of thousands. Meanwhile, Sleepy Joe is calling a lid early on each day signaling to the press and the public that there will be no public events forthcoming. The contrast between the two camps is startling.
Trump had one event scheduled for the Rose Garden around 5pm yesterday and I wasn't about to miss it. He was nominating his pick for the Supreme Court to fill the vacancy created by the passing of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. His pick (Amy Cony Barrett) was telegraphed, or leaked, not sure which, about 24 hours prior to the event. There may have been a reason to do that but it seemed odd if nothing else. Why would he do that?
It was a great showing in the Garden! She's a beautiful young woman with decades ahead of her on the court assuming she gets through the process in the Senate. Did I mention that she's a solid conservative with a love of country and the Constitution? Those are her words, not mine. It doesn't hurt that she clerked for the now deceased, Justice Antonin Scalia.
The President has the radical dems over a barrel with this pick. What line of attack will they choose to try and derail her? They realize that if they go after her too hard that they will alienate even more suburban moms. Right? Maybe they learned something after the travesty of the Kavanaugh hearings where their outrageous attacks on a good man resulted in their losing several seats in the Senate.
Ms Barrett will likely be approved along party lines and she will be in place by the time the election rolls around. The jury is out as to which party will benefit more from her selection come November 3rd. Her being seated in time to ejudicate any disputes arising out of the election cannot but help assure a Trump win should it come to that.
This has to fire up the Evangelicals and Trump doesn't win without a majority of that constituency showing up to vote for him. He is, by far, the most pro-life president in generations and that has not gone unnoticed by every group including the Evangelicals. Who on the conservative side of the aisle isn't loving what a 6-3 conservative court might deliver for our nation? Did I mention that Trump and (Sleepy Joe) Biden are expected to debate two days from now? It should be a barn burner of a Sunday morning for the talking heads! I'll be there with bells on!
But I digress. Where the hell have the Finches gone? You now, those little yellow birds that have been coning to my thistle feeder for years. I was whining a bit just a month ago about how I was having to fill the feeder more than usual. I thought it might have something to do with the fact that the feeder need to be tidied up a bit so I did just that with the hopes that they might returning to their reliable source of some of the best thistle in town. Nothing but the best for my little friends! That's a but of an exaggeration but it's the truth.
The Finches are nowhere to be found. Not only are they not regular visitors to the thistle feeder, they are also not anywhere to be seen around my other bird feeders. I've seen a cat prowling around the hood as of late so maybe that has something to do with it. Maybe he's been more of a stalker than a prowler. Losing two species in the space of two weeks is a mind bender. The Hummingbirds have left for points south for the winter so there's that. Maybe the Finches went with them. I don't know. I'm grasping for straws here.
Tonight is the first of three debates between Trump and Sleepy Joe Biden. It's pins and needles time, folks. Grab your popcorn and find yourself a good spot where you can sit down and enjoy the fireworks. Expectations are seriously low, maybe too low, for Sleepy Joe in tonight's debate.
These things never go according to plan so that might mean that Biden comes out looking better than expected given the expectations going into the debate. He performed reasonably well against Bernie Sanders in the primary so that was a bit of a surprise. How does someone with advanced dementia survive a nationally televised debate in this day and age?
I'll let you in on a little secret. Donald Trump is no Bernie Sanders. Look for Trump to get under Sleepy Joe's skin time and time again until Sleepy Joe asks the moderator if he can use a lifeline to call his wife, Jill. Maybe he has Bernie and AOC on speed dial just in case. Keep in mind that Trump has the benefit of knowing everything there is to know about the Obama's and the Bidens when they occupied the White House in the previous administration.
Joe knows that Trump knows and that can't be a good feeling if your name is Joe Biden. Joe is also prone to fits of anger as demented patients often are so look for Trump to needle him maybe for no other reason that to get a rise out of him. Trump: This is not a man you want anywhere near the nuclear codes! Trump also has a long record of success in his first term so he can do a lot of comparing and contrasting.
Look for Joe to counter Trump's comments with lies and ballast of his own. I expect Trump to wear his opponent down over the scheduled 90-minute debate. As for the moderator, Chris Wallace, stay the hell out of the fight and let the two men hash it out between themselves. One thing we don't need is another Candy Crowley. As you recall, she fact checked Romney in the Romney/Obama debate and that threw the debate win to Obama. It changed the trajectory of the race and ensured an Obama win when all was said and done.
I want the people of our great country to take a good close look at the two men on the stage tonight and be honest with themselves about which man is up to the job of being president and which man is not up to the job. The fact that there are tens of millions of Americans who are planning to or who have already cast a vote for a man with early or even advanced dementia, should be alarming in and of itself.
Hating Trump is one thing. Installing a demented and likely senile old man as president of the greatest country on the face of the planet is something altogether different. That is Trump Derangment Syndrome (TDS) on steroids. Do the right thing.
Pick Your Poison
22/09/20 07:03
I think it's the first day of Fall today. It's getting colder in the house but not cold enough quite yet to have to turn on the heat. Wearing extra layers or staying more active should do the trick. I had a mind yesterday to start a fire in the wood stove just to take the chill out of the air. Isn't it a little early to be wearing extra layers? Evan has been over a bit lately and even he finds it to be a little cool in the house. There are days when it's warmer outside than it is in the house. So then we go around opening all the doors and windows? What the hey!
You know it's getting cooler when everyone in the house wants a hot coffee instead of the cold brew which has been such a mainstay during the summer months. Reaching into the freezer for a bag of ice cubes feels more like an out-of-body experience than not and something to avoid at all costs in retrospect. So I set about trying to replicate what we typically get at Starbucks when we feel like spending nearly $6 on a cup of coffee. I've gone down this road before but with mixed results. If the good Lord is willing and the creek don't rise, I'm going to get this right this time.
My espresso machine is up to the job so I just need to make sure I get the correct measurements of this and that along the way. My first try of the season, which was yesterday, produced two cups of espresso with a foam that was acceptable but just short of luxurious. I'm a long way away from delivering a cup with a nice head of foam and little heart or other smack dab in the middle of the foam. I should take a look at a video or two in YouTube just to refresh my memory of what the process looks like. I'm almost there but not quite.
The biggest problem with my first go-around was that the espresso was too strong. Well, too strong for Nancy anyway. She liked it because it resembled her favorite Starbucks drink (Flat White) but she found the espresso to be a bit too bitter for her tastes. The brew itself made her more than a little jittery. I do think it gave her the jolt that she needed to get through her afternoon but her cup was mostly full when I finally took it away. Today is another day and it looks to be cool enough where Nancy might welcome me taking another go at it. I'm game if she is.
We've got Evan's car sitting over at the shop getting inspected so he spent the night here at home. It's that pesky "engine light" again which always gives us fits and starts when the time comes to get the car inspected. It's been on for a while so we knew this was coming. We took it to our local shop where the owner finds a way to look the other way when these kinds of things happen but we sometimes have to jump through some hoops before we clear the final hurdle. The idea is to get the sticker without spending inordinate amounts of money for the sleuthing that goes along with getting to the bottom of things like errant "engine light" problems.
Evan asked me yesterday about what I thought Nancy might like for Christmas. This is coming from a fella who has to be reminded of holidays when they roll around and buying presents is never a priority one way or another. Where is this coming from? What is this all about? What is he up to? Not that I want to impugn his motives one way or another but it just seems odd. And then Nancy tells me that he was asking her the same thing about me. What did she think I might like for Christmas and would she mind pitching in with him on a present for me.
All I would say about any of this is that I don't want him spending what little money he has me or his mom. I would never say that to him and I would not for a minute have him feeling guilty or less of a man for following his heart. If all goes according to plan, he'll forget all about it by the time December arrives and we'll all have moved on to other things. Maybe I'll stick a few pesos in his top pocket mid-December or so so he has what he needs should he decide that he wants to buy his mom a little something to stick under the tree. If his mom does the same thing, maybe I'll find a little something with my name on it under tree as well.
I'm struck by all of the Biden/Harris signs sitting on people/s lawns all of a sudden here in town. I was telling Nancy yesterday that they seemed to have popped up overnight. They are all the same and it looks like someone went over the rolls of registered democrats in town and just put a sign on every lawn where the homeowner would allow it.
Can democrats, disaffected independents, and Republicans for Biden be serious about putting someone as frail and as demented as Joe Biden in the White House? Do they have a clue as to how and what the position of the presidency demands of the individual sitting in the corner office? Do they understand how dangerous it is to install a president who is not of sound mind and body? Has Trump made them lose their bloody minds?
In case the democrats haven't noticed, it's a dangerous world out there. We all know, of course, that the game plan calls for Joe to step down soon after the inauguration and for his Vice President to assume the presidency. It's the sleaziest shell game on the planet and everyone knows it but it's full steam ahead on all fronts for the democrat party. When and where the Democrat party is concerned, the ends always justify the means.
The pot of gold at the end of the rainbow for the hard core leftists is that Kamala Harris, Bidens VP selection, will ultimately take over the reins of government to oversee the installation of the socialist agenda of the freaks behind the curtain like Ocasia Cortez, Bernie Sanders, etc. They are proposing adding seats to the Supreme Court to counter the addition of Trump's pick in order to keep liberals in the majority, giving statehood status to Puerto Rico and Washington D.C. in order to add four democrat senators to the counter the current republicans majority, raising taxes, banning fracking, sidelining our carbon based economy, and that's just for starters.
When they tell us who and what they are, we need to believe them. This is real, my friends. They are all but convinced that Biden will win in November even if it means that the democrats have to steal the election. Several battleground states have already begun to bend and distort their rules to allow for more post-election interference that will roll back wins for Trump announced the night of the election. Boxes of ballots will turn up out of nowhere to put Sleep Joe over the top much to the delight of the shameless dems. Trump can't file lawsuits fast enough to stay ahead of the freight train of fraud that the democrats hope to use to steal this election.
Trump's raucous rallies continue here and there and mostly in battleground states which he won by small margins in 2016. They are all done in airport hangars but most seem to accommodate a good 10-15 thousand of his admiring fans. Mask wearing is encouraged but not mandatory. The rallies themselves are billed as "silent protests" in order to get around any state rules that require no more than a stated number of people in any gathering. Trump supporters scoff at the Orwellian rules that most states have imposed on their citizenry due to the virus and their out-and-out disdain is on display at every rally. Good for them is what I say.
The US tallied a good 200,000 dead as of yesterday as a result of the China virus which has been around since February or so of this year. It's not a good number but I'm of the mind that it could have been a lot worse had certain things not been done early on. I believe the mortality rate is perhaps lower than the seasonal flu and it kills mostly elderly people and especially elder populations with co-morbidities.
You can count the number of deaths as a result of the virus in people under 20 on one hand. Here in my town of some 5,000 residents, we've had a total of 22 cases. That number has been stagnant over the course of the summer months despite being a seaside town which draws thousands of out-of-towners during the summer months. Hysteria? What hysteria?
The Biden campaign has tried desperately to tag Trump and his campaign with responsibility for each and every death resulting from Covid-19. They were hoping to ride that puppy all the way to election day thinking that people would buy the bullshit that they were selling. In case they haven't been paying attention, Trump is the master of the 24-hour news cycle.
He can have them chasing new and exciting shiny objects until their focus on any one topic just evaporates. Filling the latest vacancy on the Supreme Court is just what the doctor ordered and that process is likely to consume everything under the sun including the news cycle right up through election day. Speaking of shiny objects, Trump is planning to announce his pick for the Supreme Court this coming Saturday at 5 PM from the White House.
I'm guessing it will be that Amy Cony Barrett woman but Trump is not one to follow conventional wisdom so it could be anybody. Will Chamberlain says that she's not only smart, she's scary smart. She is also a solid conservative so she has the leftists losing their shit over the very idea that someone like Barrett will replace their now deceased liberal icon, Ruthie Ginsburg. You know, the Notorious RBG.
Trump has promised that it will be a woman so there's that. In anticipation of a Barrett nomination, a good four days hence, the leftists are already assembling outside the Supreme Court building dressed in outfits worn by the handmaids in Margaret Atwood's dystopian novel, A Handmaid's Tale.
Did I mention that BLM and their Antifa buddies are now rioting across the country because the Grand Jury in Kentucky came back and largely ignored the lies and the MSM narratives created out of whole cloth for the last several months that black people are being hunted down and killed day in and day out. Time to lock them all up! Every fucking last one of them.
You know it's getting cooler when everyone in the house wants a hot coffee instead of the cold brew which has been such a mainstay during the summer months. Reaching into the freezer for a bag of ice cubes feels more like an out-of-body experience than not and something to avoid at all costs in retrospect. So I set about trying to replicate what we typically get at Starbucks when we feel like spending nearly $6 on a cup of coffee. I've gone down this road before but with mixed results. If the good Lord is willing and the creek don't rise, I'm going to get this right this time.
My espresso machine is up to the job so I just need to make sure I get the correct measurements of this and that along the way. My first try of the season, which was yesterday, produced two cups of espresso with a foam that was acceptable but just short of luxurious. I'm a long way away from delivering a cup with a nice head of foam and little heart or other smack dab in the middle of the foam. I should take a look at a video or two in YouTube just to refresh my memory of what the process looks like. I'm almost there but not quite.
The biggest problem with my first go-around was that the espresso was too strong. Well, too strong for Nancy anyway. She liked it because it resembled her favorite Starbucks drink (Flat White) but she found the espresso to be a bit too bitter for her tastes. The brew itself made her more than a little jittery. I do think it gave her the jolt that she needed to get through her afternoon but her cup was mostly full when I finally took it away. Today is another day and it looks to be cool enough where Nancy might welcome me taking another go at it. I'm game if she is.
We've got Evan's car sitting over at the shop getting inspected so he spent the night here at home. It's that pesky "engine light" again which always gives us fits and starts when the time comes to get the car inspected. It's been on for a while so we knew this was coming. We took it to our local shop where the owner finds a way to look the other way when these kinds of things happen but we sometimes have to jump through some hoops before we clear the final hurdle. The idea is to get the sticker without spending inordinate amounts of money for the sleuthing that goes along with getting to the bottom of things like errant "engine light" problems.
Evan asked me yesterday about what I thought Nancy might like for Christmas. This is coming from a fella who has to be reminded of holidays when they roll around and buying presents is never a priority one way or another. Where is this coming from? What is this all about? What is he up to? Not that I want to impugn his motives one way or another but it just seems odd. And then Nancy tells me that he was asking her the same thing about me. What did she think I might like for Christmas and would she mind pitching in with him on a present for me.
All I would say about any of this is that I don't want him spending what little money he has me or his mom. I would never say that to him and I would not for a minute have him feeling guilty or less of a man for following his heart. If all goes according to plan, he'll forget all about it by the time December arrives and we'll all have moved on to other things. Maybe I'll stick a few pesos in his top pocket mid-December or so so he has what he needs should he decide that he wants to buy his mom a little something to stick under the tree. If his mom does the same thing, maybe I'll find a little something with my name on it under tree as well.
I'm struck by all of the Biden/Harris signs sitting on people/s lawns all of a sudden here in town. I was telling Nancy yesterday that they seemed to have popped up overnight. They are all the same and it looks like someone went over the rolls of registered democrats in town and just put a sign on every lawn where the homeowner would allow it.
Can democrats, disaffected independents, and Republicans for Biden be serious about putting someone as frail and as demented as Joe Biden in the White House? Do they have a clue as to how and what the position of the presidency demands of the individual sitting in the corner office? Do they understand how dangerous it is to install a president who is not of sound mind and body? Has Trump made them lose their bloody minds?
In case the democrats haven't noticed, it's a dangerous world out there. We all know, of course, that the game plan calls for Joe to step down soon after the inauguration and for his Vice President to assume the presidency. It's the sleaziest shell game on the planet and everyone knows it but it's full steam ahead on all fronts for the democrat party. When and where the Democrat party is concerned, the ends always justify the means.
The pot of gold at the end of the rainbow for the hard core leftists is that Kamala Harris, Bidens VP selection, will ultimately take over the reins of government to oversee the installation of the socialist agenda of the freaks behind the curtain like Ocasia Cortez, Bernie Sanders, etc. They are proposing adding seats to the Supreme Court to counter the addition of Trump's pick in order to keep liberals in the majority, giving statehood status to Puerto Rico and Washington D.C. in order to add four democrat senators to the counter the current republicans majority, raising taxes, banning fracking, sidelining our carbon based economy, and that's just for starters.
When they tell us who and what they are, we need to believe them. This is real, my friends. They are all but convinced that Biden will win in November even if it means that the democrats have to steal the election. Several battleground states have already begun to bend and distort their rules to allow for more post-election interference that will roll back wins for Trump announced the night of the election. Boxes of ballots will turn up out of nowhere to put Sleep Joe over the top much to the delight of the shameless dems. Trump can't file lawsuits fast enough to stay ahead of the freight train of fraud that the democrats hope to use to steal this election.
Trump's raucous rallies continue here and there and mostly in battleground states which he won by small margins in 2016. They are all done in airport hangars but most seem to accommodate a good 10-15 thousand of his admiring fans. Mask wearing is encouraged but not mandatory. The rallies themselves are billed as "silent protests" in order to get around any state rules that require no more than a stated number of people in any gathering. Trump supporters scoff at the Orwellian rules that most states have imposed on their citizenry due to the virus and their out-and-out disdain is on display at every rally. Good for them is what I say.
The US tallied a good 200,000 dead as of yesterday as a result of the China virus which has been around since February or so of this year. It's not a good number but I'm of the mind that it could have been a lot worse had certain things not been done early on. I believe the mortality rate is perhaps lower than the seasonal flu and it kills mostly elderly people and especially elder populations with co-morbidities.
You can count the number of deaths as a result of the virus in people under 20 on one hand. Here in my town of some 5,000 residents, we've had a total of 22 cases. That number has been stagnant over the course of the summer months despite being a seaside town which draws thousands of out-of-towners during the summer months. Hysteria? What hysteria?
The Biden campaign has tried desperately to tag Trump and his campaign with responsibility for each and every death resulting from Covid-19. They were hoping to ride that puppy all the way to election day thinking that people would buy the bullshit that they were selling. In case they haven't been paying attention, Trump is the master of the 24-hour news cycle.
He can have them chasing new and exciting shiny objects until their focus on any one topic just evaporates. Filling the latest vacancy on the Supreme Court is just what the doctor ordered and that process is likely to consume everything under the sun including the news cycle right up through election day. Speaking of shiny objects, Trump is planning to announce his pick for the Supreme Court this coming Saturday at 5 PM from the White House.
I'm guessing it will be that Amy Cony Barrett woman but Trump is not one to follow conventional wisdom so it could be anybody. Will Chamberlain says that she's not only smart, she's scary smart. She is also a solid conservative so she has the leftists losing their shit over the very idea that someone like Barrett will replace their now deceased liberal icon, Ruthie Ginsburg. You know, the Notorious RBG.
Trump has promised that it will be a woman so there's that. In anticipation of a Barrett nomination, a good four days hence, the leftists are already assembling outside the Supreme Court building dressed in outfits worn by the handmaids in Margaret Atwood's dystopian novel, A Handmaid's Tale.
Did I mention that BLM and their Antifa buddies are now rioting across the country because the Grand Jury in Kentucky came back and largely ignored the lies and the MSM narratives created out of whole cloth for the last several months that black people are being hunted down and killed day in and day out. Time to lock them all up! Every fucking last one of them.
Elections Have Consequences
15/09/20 07:33
It's all in the rear view mirror now. I'm talking about our vacation to Lake George. I had hoped to do a better job of writing something every day in my journal but it did't quite work out. The one morning where I thought I might have a chance of getting something down on paper I found myself chatting with Evan instead. He was up early and he thinks that he may have my "get up early" gene. That wasn't exactly music to my ears since I had other plans but you set it all aside when your children appear on the scene.
And this business about getting something down on paper? Well, that's a bit of a misnomer. There is no paper. I'll type it all up about as fast as my fingers will allow. I ain't no typist so I'll not be setting any records. The weather up at the lake turned out to be better than expected if you discount the fact that two of the five days we were there were too windy to go boating. White caps roiled the bay the better part of the day and when that happens you know it's rough as the dickens out on the open water.
I'm guessing there were probably two to three foot swells and that makes for some rough riding if you are out and about on the lake. Rollie, Evan, and I went out one day and Ev took the wheel while we toured the usual spots. He's getting the names of the bays down pretty good despite not knowing the lake all that well since his visits there are infrequent at best.
Even I have trouble sometimes defining when and where the names of bays start and end. When we get north of Long Island, it's anyone's guess as to what the names of the islands and bays are. It gets even more nebulous as you enter the northernmost section of the lake that is generally defined as the "narrows."
We went to Sandy Bay early on during the five days that we spent on Assembly Point. The water was colder than I remembered it being during the early part of September. When Evan complains that the water is cold I'm taking his word for it. He swam off the dock on our first day there and he didn't dilly for even a minute before plunging feet first into the lake. It was the first and last time he did that during our time there.
The peeps paid a visit on Wednesday night and we ordered pizzas from SanSouci's. A good time was had by all. We knew that one or more of my peeps would be angling to walk away with any leftover pizza so we planned accordingly. That is to say, we informed the lot of them that any leftover pizza would be going into our refrigerator for Evan to eat later on in the evening. The pizza was terrific so I don't blame a one of them for looking to parlay the leftovers but you know what they say about possession being 99% of the law. The only thing left for me to do was to put my foot down.
It was good catching up with everyone seeing that this pandemic thing has kept most everyone sidelined for the last six months or so. It was good for everyone to see Evan again and I think it's been years since he's seen some of them and vice versa. I know that he enjoyed getting reacquainted with everyone as well although he was somewhat subdued in his outward enthusiasm. He's not much for small talk these days but I think he enjoyed being in the midst of a lively group where he probably couldn't have gotten in a word edgewise if he had wanted to. That suited him just fine.
We stayed at this very same house some years ago although I'd forgotten how big the house was over time. I couldn't recall how many bedrooms there were on the first floor so I just assumed that Evan would stay in the bedroom downstairs which is precisely where he stayed the last time we were there. I don't think I ever went down there the last time but made it a point to do that this time around. It was a bit damp so we got Evan to stay on the first floor in the second bedroom the last night we were there. He arrived at the house with a sinus infection of sorts so he probably had no business staying in the basement in retrospect.
I was happy for Nancy that she was finally getting a change of scenery after all these months. We all needed to get away but Nancy perhaps even more so. I could tell that she was letting her hair down and she was getting more relaxed within each passing day at the lake. She was less tense, less harried, more even keeled, and more herself if that makes any sense. You should have seen her soaking in the water and smiling a mile a minute in Sandy Bay after securing a spot in the Bay which was busier than expected given the post-Labor Day time frame.
Getting back on track after a nice vacation has not been easy. Part of me is still at the lake, or at least was at the lake, for a good couple of days after we arrived home. The very act of sitting down witting about all of this is hard. It's all about letting go and moving on. God only knows that there is a lot to say about this, that, and the other thing especially as we get closer to election day in November.
I'll be damned! Good ole RBG finally died. How many bouts of cancer can one person endure? Notorious RBG, my ass. I gather we'll be spared seeing those stupid pictures of her working out at the local gym now. Thank the baby Jesus for that. She's not even in the ground yet and the looney Dems are threatening a ground war against the republicans and society in general if Trump even thinks about replacing their now deceased liberal icon with a conservative. Thank god we elected a president with a pair.
He's already having his followers chanting at his rallies, "fill It!", in response to the now open seat on our lands highest court. And he's promised to fill it with a woman which I guess is neither here nor there aa far as I'm concerned. It removes the spectacle that the left will find one or more women to come forward alleging sexual improprieties ala Kavanaugh were the candidate to be a male. I've also never considered one's genitalia as being a factor in making decisions where competence is concerned so let's not make this an issue when it isn't and when it shouldn't be.
I do like the idea of changing the idealogical makeup of the Supreme Court. Going from 5-4 to 6-3 suits me just fine. We've seen far too many close calls and even some calls where our conservatives have gone squishy and come down on the side of the liberals. That has got to stop. Our culture is dominated by far left crazies these days and our court of last resort, the Supreme Court, is more often than not preventing this madness from insinuating itself even further into the bloodstream of our republic. We need more patriots and fewer anarchists. Now we just need the Senators on the republican side of the aisle to step up to the plate and confirm Trump's nominee. That is not a forgone conclusion by any stretch.
When I first saw the headline about Ginsburg dying in my Twitter newsfeed on Friday night I thought it was just another hopeful fool tweeting something out to see if he or she could get a few retweets or likes for kicks. It was sourced from a place that I was not totally familiar with so I wasn't getting my hopes up. I mentioned it to Nancy since she was on her iPad and I thought maybe she might have seen something as well. We agreed that we would wait for more sources to come in and come in they did. Like a flurry that turns into a squall, it was fast and furious if you were were paying attention to the flickering of the tweets from now more reliable sources.
Michael Moore, the stalwart democrat and documentary maker from Michigan who correctly called Trump's win in 2016 tweeted out, "Nooooooo." That tells you all you need to know about what RBG's passing means for Trump's prospects of winning the 2020 election come November 3rd. The math is still a bit fuzzy in terms of how Trump's team will play it between now and election day in order to get the biggest bang for the buck but Trump is already capitalizing on her passing by using it in his rallies and in his tweets. He tweeted out something to the effect that this is why he was elected (to make the difficult decisions.)
It's hard to believe but Biden took the day off after the announcement of RBG's passing. He took the day off with just weeks to go in the campaign? Are you fucking kidding me? On a day when he could have been and should have been rallying the liberals coast to coast against Trump's plans to replace RBG with a conservative on the Supreme Court? If there were ever a more fertile opportunity to pump a little enthusiasm into a flagging and stagnant campaign and candidate this was it. If you weren't waking up to the fact that Joe Biden is a very sick and demented man then you should be now. All the kings horses and all the kings men cannot now put poor Humpty Dumpty back up on the wall.
One has to wonder if this is not a prelude to Biden announcing a more serious malady of sorts that will make his attendance in the upcoming debate with Trump a non-starter. Putting a feeble person like Joe Biden in the ring with Trump is tantamount to elder abuse in this day and age. Trump is already taunting Biden in his rallies. "They'll give Joe a shot in the ass and he'll be good for two hours and then what happens to him?" "I want each of us to be subjected to a drug test before going into the debate!" I wouldn't be surprised if on the day of the debate we see the Vice Presidential candidate, Kamala Harris, step up to the podium instead of Sleepy Joe. Trump's team should prepare for this eventuality. Just thinking out loud here.
The only thing left for Trump to do is to have a cup on stage with him at his rallies. A cup that he can raise to his lips from time to time to signal his sipping of liberal tears. In case the libs need reminding, it was O-Bummer who stated clearly, "Elections have consequences" when asked why he was taking certain actions designed to disadvantage republicans. In other words, made himself perfectly clear. Fuck you and the horse you rode in on. This is my mandate and if I want to be a radicalized jihadist who sends pallets of cash to Iran then that is what I'll do.
So it shouldn't be any surprise that our country elected someone like Trump to restore the grace and dignity to our country after O'Bummer squandered it away to the point of jeopardizing the whole kit and caboodle. Trump is expected to name his nominee this week. The sooner, the better. Nancy Pelosi is threatening impeachment again. Anything to stop the freight train that is the republican party now steaming into the main station with a full head of electoral steam. If you liked Trump with a 5-4 conservative Supreme Court, which incidentally didn't always go his way, you are going to love four more years of Trump with a 6-3 conservative Supreme Court. Buckle Up!
And this business about getting something down on paper? Well, that's a bit of a misnomer. There is no paper. I'll type it all up about as fast as my fingers will allow. I ain't no typist so I'll not be setting any records. The weather up at the lake turned out to be better than expected if you discount the fact that two of the five days we were there were too windy to go boating. White caps roiled the bay the better part of the day and when that happens you know it's rough as the dickens out on the open water.
I'm guessing there were probably two to three foot swells and that makes for some rough riding if you are out and about on the lake. Rollie, Evan, and I went out one day and Ev took the wheel while we toured the usual spots. He's getting the names of the bays down pretty good despite not knowing the lake all that well since his visits there are infrequent at best.
Even I have trouble sometimes defining when and where the names of bays start and end. When we get north of Long Island, it's anyone's guess as to what the names of the islands and bays are. It gets even more nebulous as you enter the northernmost section of the lake that is generally defined as the "narrows."
We went to Sandy Bay early on during the five days that we spent on Assembly Point. The water was colder than I remembered it being during the early part of September. When Evan complains that the water is cold I'm taking his word for it. He swam off the dock on our first day there and he didn't dilly for even a minute before plunging feet first into the lake. It was the first and last time he did that during our time there.
The peeps paid a visit on Wednesday night and we ordered pizzas from SanSouci's. A good time was had by all. We knew that one or more of my peeps would be angling to walk away with any leftover pizza so we planned accordingly. That is to say, we informed the lot of them that any leftover pizza would be going into our refrigerator for Evan to eat later on in the evening. The pizza was terrific so I don't blame a one of them for looking to parlay the leftovers but you know what they say about possession being 99% of the law. The only thing left for me to do was to put my foot down.
It was good catching up with everyone seeing that this pandemic thing has kept most everyone sidelined for the last six months or so. It was good for everyone to see Evan again and I think it's been years since he's seen some of them and vice versa. I know that he enjoyed getting reacquainted with everyone as well although he was somewhat subdued in his outward enthusiasm. He's not much for small talk these days but I think he enjoyed being in the midst of a lively group where he probably couldn't have gotten in a word edgewise if he had wanted to. That suited him just fine.
We stayed at this very same house some years ago although I'd forgotten how big the house was over time. I couldn't recall how many bedrooms there were on the first floor so I just assumed that Evan would stay in the bedroom downstairs which is precisely where he stayed the last time we were there. I don't think I ever went down there the last time but made it a point to do that this time around. It was a bit damp so we got Evan to stay on the first floor in the second bedroom the last night we were there. He arrived at the house with a sinus infection of sorts so he probably had no business staying in the basement in retrospect.
I was happy for Nancy that she was finally getting a change of scenery after all these months. We all needed to get away but Nancy perhaps even more so. I could tell that she was letting her hair down and she was getting more relaxed within each passing day at the lake. She was less tense, less harried, more even keeled, and more herself if that makes any sense. You should have seen her soaking in the water and smiling a mile a minute in Sandy Bay after securing a spot in the Bay which was busier than expected given the post-Labor Day time frame.
Getting back on track after a nice vacation has not been easy. Part of me is still at the lake, or at least was at the lake, for a good couple of days after we arrived home. The very act of sitting down witting about all of this is hard. It's all about letting go and moving on. God only knows that there is a lot to say about this, that, and the other thing especially as we get closer to election day in November.
I'll be damned! Good ole RBG finally died. How many bouts of cancer can one person endure? Notorious RBG, my ass. I gather we'll be spared seeing those stupid pictures of her working out at the local gym now. Thank the baby Jesus for that. She's not even in the ground yet and the looney Dems are threatening a ground war against the republicans and society in general if Trump even thinks about replacing their now deceased liberal icon with a conservative. Thank god we elected a president with a pair.
He's already having his followers chanting at his rallies, "fill It!", in response to the now open seat on our lands highest court. And he's promised to fill it with a woman which I guess is neither here nor there aa far as I'm concerned. It removes the spectacle that the left will find one or more women to come forward alleging sexual improprieties ala Kavanaugh were the candidate to be a male. I've also never considered one's genitalia as being a factor in making decisions where competence is concerned so let's not make this an issue when it isn't and when it shouldn't be.
I do like the idea of changing the idealogical makeup of the Supreme Court. Going from 5-4 to 6-3 suits me just fine. We've seen far too many close calls and even some calls where our conservatives have gone squishy and come down on the side of the liberals. That has got to stop. Our culture is dominated by far left crazies these days and our court of last resort, the Supreme Court, is more often than not preventing this madness from insinuating itself even further into the bloodstream of our republic. We need more patriots and fewer anarchists. Now we just need the Senators on the republican side of the aisle to step up to the plate and confirm Trump's nominee. That is not a forgone conclusion by any stretch.
When I first saw the headline about Ginsburg dying in my Twitter newsfeed on Friday night I thought it was just another hopeful fool tweeting something out to see if he or she could get a few retweets or likes for kicks. It was sourced from a place that I was not totally familiar with so I wasn't getting my hopes up. I mentioned it to Nancy since she was on her iPad and I thought maybe she might have seen something as well. We agreed that we would wait for more sources to come in and come in they did. Like a flurry that turns into a squall, it was fast and furious if you were were paying attention to the flickering of the tweets from now more reliable sources.
Michael Moore, the stalwart democrat and documentary maker from Michigan who correctly called Trump's win in 2016 tweeted out, "Nooooooo." That tells you all you need to know about what RBG's passing means for Trump's prospects of winning the 2020 election come November 3rd. The math is still a bit fuzzy in terms of how Trump's team will play it between now and election day in order to get the biggest bang for the buck but Trump is already capitalizing on her passing by using it in his rallies and in his tweets. He tweeted out something to the effect that this is why he was elected (to make the difficult decisions.)
It's hard to believe but Biden took the day off after the announcement of RBG's passing. He took the day off with just weeks to go in the campaign? Are you fucking kidding me? On a day when he could have been and should have been rallying the liberals coast to coast against Trump's plans to replace RBG with a conservative on the Supreme Court? If there were ever a more fertile opportunity to pump a little enthusiasm into a flagging and stagnant campaign and candidate this was it. If you weren't waking up to the fact that Joe Biden is a very sick and demented man then you should be now. All the kings horses and all the kings men cannot now put poor Humpty Dumpty back up on the wall.
One has to wonder if this is not a prelude to Biden announcing a more serious malady of sorts that will make his attendance in the upcoming debate with Trump a non-starter. Putting a feeble person like Joe Biden in the ring with Trump is tantamount to elder abuse in this day and age. Trump is already taunting Biden in his rallies. "They'll give Joe a shot in the ass and he'll be good for two hours and then what happens to him?" "I want each of us to be subjected to a drug test before going into the debate!" I wouldn't be surprised if on the day of the debate we see the Vice Presidential candidate, Kamala Harris, step up to the podium instead of Sleepy Joe. Trump's team should prepare for this eventuality. Just thinking out loud here.
The only thing left for Trump to do is to have a cup on stage with him at his rallies. A cup that he can raise to his lips from time to time to signal his sipping of liberal tears. In case the libs need reminding, it was O-Bummer who stated clearly, "Elections have consequences" when asked why he was taking certain actions designed to disadvantage republicans. In other words, made himself perfectly clear. Fuck you and the horse you rode in on. This is my mandate and if I want to be a radicalized jihadist who sends pallets of cash to Iran then that is what I'll do.
So it shouldn't be any surprise that our country elected someone like Trump to restore the grace and dignity to our country after O'Bummer squandered it away to the point of jeopardizing the whole kit and caboodle. Trump is expected to name his nominee this week. The sooner, the better. Nancy Pelosi is threatening impeachment again. Anything to stop the freight train that is the republican party now steaming into the main station with a full head of electoral steam. If you liked Trump with a 5-4 conservative Supreme Court, which incidentally didn't always go his way, you are going to love four more years of Trump with a 6-3 conservative Supreme Court. Buckle Up!
The Sooner, The Better.
04/09/20 07:01
I've been using an app called Grammerly as of late to clean up some of the writing in this here blog. Me just being me isn't getting the job done so having someone or something look over my shoulder before pushing this stuff out isn't a bad idea. What I didn't realize is that my use or non-use of commas in my writing has been notoriously bad. And all this time I thought my biggest problem had to do with tenses but not so much. I'm happy to make the corrections so that things might flow better. To what end, I'm not sure. See what I did there?
As we he head into the long weekend around here Nancy is feeling relieved that she has some time off. Time to collect her wits and forget about her day-to-day responsibilities to her job, her family, and to herself. Just taking some things off the table should give her some relief and she's put everyone on notice that she'll not be available for a period of time. I do think that despite her protestations, that she is better off with things that give her a modicum of structure in her day-to-day existence.
There is something to be said for having something to do with your time when not doing something with your time leaves you in a constant state of flux. Nancy had a life filled with this and that before this coronavirus thing came along and now she still does all that stuff but she does it without leaving the house. She works from home; she shops from home; she takes her yoga and relaxation classes from home, and I do the things that she won't so she doesn't have to leave the house. I've been resisting the role of enabler but with limited success. I need to push back harder.
I do my best to see that she is not reading the wrong newspapers, listening to the wrong people on the radio, and not wallowing any more than is necessary in storylines that take her to dark places. It's more of a nudge here and there instead of blocking and tackling at every turn. I think I know what works and what doesn't after all these years so I think I have a leg up when it comes to lending a helping hand.
It may mean nothing more than making her an iced coffee on a hot afternoon, taking her for a ride along the ocean despite my preferences to go in a different direction altogether, urging her to go for a bike ride when she'd rather take a walk around the neighborhood, stopping to pick up a quart of her favorite soup on a rainy afternoon, walking out to the garden with her in the early morning to see how everything is progressing, or reminding her now and then that her son is no longer 12-years old. If he wants to have a drink then she should get off her high horse and ignore his desire to do the same.
I don't want to see her get too invested in all the activities that she thinks is required of her in order for us to get out of the house and on the road to our favorite vacation spot. Moms tend to pack too much and we dads just want to head out the door with a satchel full of underwear and mismatched socks. It will likely start weighing on Nancy in predictable ways sooner rather than later so I'll have to keep an eye out for that. As for me, I've resisted the urge to make a list and have started to put things I don't want to forget to bring in the back seat of the car. That's as good a strategy as any so that's my story and I'm sticking to it.
I've asked one of my peeps to see if there is an espresso machine in the house at the lake and I'm still waiting to hear back from him. I suppose I could make a cup of coffee some other way but why not have it the way I like it. In case you're wondering, that would be black and strong. Hot would be nice but it's not necessary. I could bring my own machine if I had to but free space in the car may be at a premium with the three of us packing our things to the gills. My machine is on the small side so taking it is not out of the question. I will find a spot for it if I have to.
I'm not hearing any overt worries or concerns about the weather although I think Nancy would prefer, if nothing else, to have a pleasant mix of warm and not so warm days and nights, and if necessary, a rainy day or two that sees us playing backgammon indoors and out of the elements. Here's hoping that we have a warm day or two that gives us a good excuse to spend our midday hours swimming and lounging in Sandy Bay. Just like days of old I guess I would say. Do you think that's asking too much?
We'll never have so many people over to the house so that we have to worry about social distancing, wearing masks, and that kind of thing. We'll exchange elbow bumps for hugs, and air hugs for handshakes, but I think we can dispense with the need for the N95 masks if we keep our distance from each other. As awkward as that may be at the outset, I expect we'll get in a groove in a New York minute and we'll all be wondering what all the fuss was about when all is said and done. I don't know how we do that effectively while boating but we all love challenges so let's just make sure we have a flotation device for everyone before we depart from the dock.
If this damn virus can sustain itself in the face of 30 mph winds and a UV index > 10 then I think we have bigger problems than any of us can imagine. These are the elemental challenges those little buggers will face when we're out and about on the lake without masks or any other type of PPE. We'll be throwing caution to the wind and enjoying every minute of it. Cough or clear your throat off the back of the boat if you have to but be quick about it. Social distancing rules will kick in should we decide to walk about on one or more of the local islands so be assured that we are not against adopting precautions when and where necessary.
The hummingbirds hereabouts will be making their way south soon and that will be one more telltale sign that the summer season is on the wane. Legend has it that they come back to the same area each and every year. I can neither confirm or deny that because I can't tell one hummingbird from another. All I know is that they come and go like clockwork each season. I keep their feeders cleaned and filled so they'll have no reason not to return.
They are fierce protectors of their food sources and that is a battle that plays out day in and day out during the summer months as they light on nearby branches and engage other hummingbirds in aerial gymnastics who dare to use the same feeder. How much of that is related to their mating rituals I just don't know. I do know that the birds disappear from time to time for days on end during the summer months and mating, nesting, and raising the next generation might well serve as an explanation for that activity or absence of same.
I think we're supposed to quarantine for 14 days when we return from our vacation spot. We had to go searching for that information so I'm not sure how well that is understood by the general public. That being the case, I'm likely to make up my own rules when we return. What Nancy and Evan do is their own business. But there are things that need to be done once we return and I'm just going to have to throw caution to the wind to get them done. If I don't tell anyone, no one will be the wiser. While I have no intention of becoming the legendary patient zero, I also have no desire to sit on the sidelines while my family fails to thrive.
I'm still waiting to see the science that says wearing masks and social distancing make a difference. When I see the throngs of protestors and rioters in hotspots like New York City and other environs without so much as a tick-up in the number of positive cases I have to wonder. Was it all a ruse to keep the lot of us inside and the economy closed down to make sure that Trump loses the election in November? It's looking more and more suspicious by the day.
But Stumblin' Joe Biden can't catch a break. He's not out of the basement for more than a day before he's saying something stupid or just downright gaffe-ish. He was reading a teleprompter the other day and he just kept right on reading when the prompter was telling him that he was at the end of a sentence. "End of sentence", he mumbled.
You could tell he caught himself mid-sentence but there was no turning back for Stumblin' Joe. How bout the time he was taking questions from the audience while attending a small gathering in a local church? A black woman steps up to the microphone and without hesitation says something about not wanting to read from the script they gave her to read. You can't make this stuff up.
The polls have snugged up in a lot of places. It was Biden's race to lose just three weeks back. That euphoria has now faded to black. Speaking of blacks, there are rumors going round about Trump winning a pretty good percentage of the minority vote come election day. Getting something in the low twenties would put a win out of reach for the Biden candidacy. That is also true for the Hispanic vote and maybe to a greater extent.
Axios published an article the other day about Trump probably winning in a landslide only to lose after all the mail-in ballots have been counted. The democrats are encouraging their voters to take the mail-in route to do just that. They want to throw it into a cocked hat where the military has to go in to physically extract Trump from the Oval Office after the Supreme Court or the state legislators find for Biden when every last ballot regardless of mail date gets tallied.
As long as the racial strife continues in the cities across our nation splashing scenes of burning buildings, looters crashing through store windows, BLM and Antifa types engaging our great men and women in law enforcement, there is likely to be a growing chorus of calls for more law and order and not less. There will be no defunding the police if Trump and his allies in police departments across the country have anything to say about it.
The American public agrees wholeheartedly with that sentiment after seeing months on end of the madness in their streets. The cancel culture and its toxic roots that have taken hold in our corporate and private institutions have to be torn asunder as it were and tossed on the ash heap of history. As my dear departed father used to say, "the sooner the better."
As we he head into the long weekend around here Nancy is feeling relieved that she has some time off. Time to collect her wits and forget about her day-to-day responsibilities to her job, her family, and to herself. Just taking some things off the table should give her some relief and she's put everyone on notice that she'll not be available for a period of time. I do think that despite her protestations, that she is better off with things that give her a modicum of structure in her day-to-day existence.
There is something to be said for having something to do with your time when not doing something with your time leaves you in a constant state of flux. Nancy had a life filled with this and that before this coronavirus thing came along and now she still does all that stuff but she does it without leaving the house. She works from home; she shops from home; she takes her yoga and relaxation classes from home, and I do the things that she won't so she doesn't have to leave the house. I've been resisting the role of enabler but with limited success. I need to push back harder.
I do my best to see that she is not reading the wrong newspapers, listening to the wrong people on the radio, and not wallowing any more than is necessary in storylines that take her to dark places. It's more of a nudge here and there instead of blocking and tackling at every turn. I think I know what works and what doesn't after all these years so I think I have a leg up when it comes to lending a helping hand.
It may mean nothing more than making her an iced coffee on a hot afternoon, taking her for a ride along the ocean despite my preferences to go in a different direction altogether, urging her to go for a bike ride when she'd rather take a walk around the neighborhood, stopping to pick up a quart of her favorite soup on a rainy afternoon, walking out to the garden with her in the early morning to see how everything is progressing, or reminding her now and then that her son is no longer 12-years old. If he wants to have a drink then she should get off her high horse and ignore his desire to do the same.
I don't want to see her get too invested in all the activities that she thinks is required of her in order for us to get out of the house and on the road to our favorite vacation spot. Moms tend to pack too much and we dads just want to head out the door with a satchel full of underwear and mismatched socks. It will likely start weighing on Nancy in predictable ways sooner rather than later so I'll have to keep an eye out for that. As for me, I've resisted the urge to make a list and have started to put things I don't want to forget to bring in the back seat of the car. That's as good a strategy as any so that's my story and I'm sticking to it.
I've asked one of my peeps to see if there is an espresso machine in the house at the lake and I'm still waiting to hear back from him. I suppose I could make a cup of coffee some other way but why not have it the way I like it. In case you're wondering, that would be black and strong. Hot would be nice but it's not necessary. I could bring my own machine if I had to but free space in the car may be at a premium with the three of us packing our things to the gills. My machine is on the small side so taking it is not out of the question. I will find a spot for it if I have to.
I'm not hearing any overt worries or concerns about the weather although I think Nancy would prefer, if nothing else, to have a pleasant mix of warm and not so warm days and nights, and if necessary, a rainy day or two that sees us playing backgammon indoors and out of the elements. Here's hoping that we have a warm day or two that gives us a good excuse to spend our midday hours swimming and lounging in Sandy Bay. Just like days of old I guess I would say. Do you think that's asking too much?
We'll never have so many people over to the house so that we have to worry about social distancing, wearing masks, and that kind of thing. We'll exchange elbow bumps for hugs, and air hugs for handshakes, but I think we can dispense with the need for the N95 masks if we keep our distance from each other. As awkward as that may be at the outset, I expect we'll get in a groove in a New York minute and we'll all be wondering what all the fuss was about when all is said and done. I don't know how we do that effectively while boating but we all love challenges so let's just make sure we have a flotation device for everyone before we depart from the dock.
If this damn virus can sustain itself in the face of 30 mph winds and a UV index > 10 then I think we have bigger problems than any of us can imagine. These are the elemental challenges those little buggers will face when we're out and about on the lake without masks or any other type of PPE. We'll be throwing caution to the wind and enjoying every minute of it. Cough or clear your throat off the back of the boat if you have to but be quick about it. Social distancing rules will kick in should we decide to walk about on one or more of the local islands so be assured that we are not against adopting precautions when and where necessary.
The hummingbirds hereabouts will be making their way south soon and that will be one more telltale sign that the summer season is on the wane. Legend has it that they come back to the same area each and every year. I can neither confirm or deny that because I can't tell one hummingbird from another. All I know is that they come and go like clockwork each season. I keep their feeders cleaned and filled so they'll have no reason not to return.
They are fierce protectors of their food sources and that is a battle that plays out day in and day out during the summer months as they light on nearby branches and engage other hummingbirds in aerial gymnastics who dare to use the same feeder. How much of that is related to their mating rituals I just don't know. I do know that the birds disappear from time to time for days on end during the summer months and mating, nesting, and raising the next generation might well serve as an explanation for that activity or absence of same.
I think we're supposed to quarantine for 14 days when we return from our vacation spot. We had to go searching for that information so I'm not sure how well that is understood by the general public. That being the case, I'm likely to make up my own rules when we return. What Nancy and Evan do is their own business. But there are things that need to be done once we return and I'm just going to have to throw caution to the wind to get them done. If I don't tell anyone, no one will be the wiser. While I have no intention of becoming the legendary patient zero, I also have no desire to sit on the sidelines while my family fails to thrive.
I'm still waiting to see the science that says wearing masks and social distancing make a difference. When I see the throngs of protestors and rioters in hotspots like New York City and other environs without so much as a tick-up in the number of positive cases I have to wonder. Was it all a ruse to keep the lot of us inside and the economy closed down to make sure that Trump loses the election in November? It's looking more and more suspicious by the day.
But Stumblin' Joe Biden can't catch a break. He's not out of the basement for more than a day before he's saying something stupid or just downright gaffe-ish. He was reading a teleprompter the other day and he just kept right on reading when the prompter was telling him that he was at the end of a sentence. "End of sentence", he mumbled.
You could tell he caught himself mid-sentence but there was no turning back for Stumblin' Joe. How bout the time he was taking questions from the audience while attending a small gathering in a local church? A black woman steps up to the microphone and without hesitation says something about not wanting to read from the script they gave her to read. You can't make this stuff up.
The polls have snugged up in a lot of places. It was Biden's race to lose just three weeks back. That euphoria has now faded to black. Speaking of blacks, there are rumors going round about Trump winning a pretty good percentage of the minority vote come election day. Getting something in the low twenties would put a win out of reach for the Biden candidacy. That is also true for the Hispanic vote and maybe to a greater extent.
Axios published an article the other day about Trump probably winning in a landslide only to lose after all the mail-in ballots have been counted. The democrats are encouraging their voters to take the mail-in route to do just that. They want to throw it into a cocked hat where the military has to go in to physically extract Trump from the Oval Office after the Supreme Court or the state legislators find for Biden when every last ballot regardless of mail date gets tallied.
As long as the racial strife continues in the cities across our nation splashing scenes of burning buildings, looters crashing through store windows, BLM and Antifa types engaging our great men and women in law enforcement, there is likely to be a growing chorus of calls for more law and order and not less. There will be no defunding the police if Trump and his allies in police departments across the country have anything to say about it.
The American public agrees wholeheartedly with that sentiment after seeing months on end of the madness in their streets. The cancel culture and its toxic roots that have taken hold in our corporate and private institutions have to be torn asunder as it were and tossed on the ash heap of history. As my dear departed father used to say, "the sooner the better."
Good Bye, August
30/08/20 07:16
Sure seems like September in August hereabouts. I'm talking about the weather mostly. I am not complaining. It hasn't been an unpleasant summer one way or another, but moving on is what we do here in New England. I will say that this summer has been one for the books when it comes to growing things in our garden.
I'm guessing it has something to do with the fertilizer that I used, but I am not complaining about the results. Our tomatoes are enormous, and there are plenty of them. There are so many that I decided to use YouTube to learn a little about just when and how to pick them off the vine. It seems I've been doing it all wrong all these past years.
They never did bring back parking along Ocean Boulevard this summer, so it has been, at least where biking is concerned, a summer of love. For those of those who don't know, that's the expression used by Mayor Durkin of Portland, Oregon, when asked about the anarchists setting up shop in downtown Portland.
Not once did Nancy and I take to the back roads to avoid the crowds when going off on our bikes. We also like the back roads when we're looking to avoid riding under cloudless skies but everything was just that much quicker once cars were no longer lining the Boulevard so, we just took the Boulevard.
Nancy had but one good sunflower plant that survived the summer growing season. It stands several feet tall, and it sprouted several lovely blossoms so she has enjoyed those immensely. The blooms attract so many creatures, from birds to bees, throughout the summer months, so I suppose it might have been nice to have more survive, but it is what it is. We spent many a morning standing just feet away from the blossoms watching the bees busy themselves with the collection of nectar and pollen.
If they knew we were there, they didn't show it, and they seemingly could have cared less. I'm no naturalist, so I don't know what kind of bees I was looking at, but they were smallish and fuzzy. Not the giant bumblebee variety is what I'm saying. I may have to go back to YouTube to get the lowdown.
Nancy and I downloaded an application called "Seek" for our iPhones, which helps to identify various species of plant and animal life. It's been a godsend when deciphering the various flowering plants from the weeds that sometimes try to pass as flowering plants so that we'll not be uprooting them. They're clever little bastards, they are.
Nancy's Moon Blooms and Morning Glory's have been a bit of a disappointment as well. Something or someone nicked the plants at the bottom, which killed one of her better plants in the garden, and the other has produced a few flowers but nothing like last year. Her Moon Flower plant that she grew in a pot on the deck has produced no flowers to speak of, and despite our efforts to move it in and out of the shade on the sunnier summer days, it has not rewarded us for our actions. I think I have the names of these plants down right.
Nancy can hardly contain herself when she sees a new blossom on any one of her many flowering plants. She cackles and fusses like a child with a new toy, and her delight, as brief as it is, knows no bounds. It is akin, I might like to say, to her finding a spot for a puzzle piece that has previously escaped her and now, with fewer places remaining on the board, she fits it snugly into place and announces to the world (or anyone within earshot), "got a piece"! Eureka moments all!
Evan has a crucial date on the calendar coming up in a couple of days. We've convinced him that wearing a tie to the event is a good thing, but he's drawn the line at wearing one of my jackets to go along with his outfit. He says he needs to feel comfortable. If he is more comfortable without a coat than with it, then who are we to try and convince him otherwise.
I was hoping that he might wear a red power tie, but he selected one with more muted colors, and that's fine. His khaki pants arrived from Amazon and he'll try them on when he comes to visit today. We'll know one way or another whether or not we need to go to Kohl's to make a last-minute purchase.
I need to get moving on, finding out precisely how we get an absentee ballot for Evan as well. He didn't say that he was unwilling to stand in line at the polls come November 3rd, but I'm guessing that he would prefer that he not have to do that. I'm half heartened to know that they make this process as brutal as possible since that tells me that it is less prone to fraud, and that is a good thing.
I might be less than enthused going about this whole absentee ballot business on Evan's behalf if I thought for a minute that he was going to vote for Joe Biden, so there's that. And you can color me damn delighted that he has not joined the ranks of Antifa or BLM, knowing all too well how susceptible the youth of today are and their propensity for latching on to radical and anti-American movements.
I wished she hadn't, but she did. Mrs. G inquired about our tomato crop this year when we were over to pay a visit. In her roundabout way, she was asking why we hadn't brought the tomatoes with us. That's fine. We got her some last year, so her expecting the same this year was not beyond the pale. For better or worse, we made the last- minute decision not to bring over any tomatoes.
While we have a few sitting on our kitchen table ripening, none looked presentable enough to gift to anyone. That may change between now and the next time we pay a visit, so we'll assess accordingly. As I sit here thinking about it, Mrs. G would have been just fine with tomatoes ripened or unripened. Who am I to suggest otherwise? Did I not think for a minute that she might be asking about them? Was she just being polite? I don't know her to be a tomato lover, but who isn't a sucker for something, anything, homegrown?
Nancy recently mentioned that she might like to have something that produces white noise. As a rule, I don't like sleeping with a noise of any kind, but we've had the fan running during the night throughout the summer, and I've come to prefer it to no noise at all. When she first mentioned it, I had visions of waterfall sounds, rainfall sounds, water lapping on the shore sounds, etc.
I think we're on the same page here, so I went ahead and ordered a device from Amazon that might just fill the bill. I'd like to surprise Nancy with it, but that's near impossible with all the e-mail follow-ups that Amazon sends prior to delivery. Oh, well.
We'll be paying a visit to the peeps in the Adirondacks soon, so that is something we're looking forward to. With any luck, Evan will be joining us. He may choose to bow out, but I think he might be more in need of a vacation than either Nancy or I. We won't need to quarantine after our arrival so that's good. We will have to quarantine after we return, so we'll see how that plays out.
We'll be staying in a private residence, so the standard rules that apply to folks staying in hotels will not apply to us. Nancy was understandably concerned about staying in a hotel in the era of Covid and I somewhat share her concerns. All things considered, we'll have little to fret about.
We made reservations to visit a local museum during our stay where they are featuring photographs of yesteryear in and around the Adirondacks. We won't be bumping around the Village of Lake George as we typically do precisely because of Covid. I don't know what they have in place for rules when it comes to out-of-towners but I'm likely to feel put out either way.
I'm also not a big believer in community spread so scoff at those who want the lot of us to saddle up in hazmat suits as a prophylaxis. Leave it to me to decide how much risk I want to assume when it comes to my health. So, we'll see what works for us and what doesn't when we get there.
I'll not be hugging the peeps, so that'll be weird. I'm hoping that my peeps haven't gone over to the dark side where masks are required around the clock and social distancing means phoning it in. I'm hoping they will pay a visit without having to wear personal protective equipment during the time we're together. Maybe we'll order a pizza to share from the local restaurant and we can sit outside on the patio at the house overlooking the lake.
I am just thinking out loud here since I want to get it straight in my head as to how things are going to work out. It's been a long haul for my peeps over these last many months as well so maybe we can all celebrate the relaxation of the rules now that we're out some six months from the beginning of this virus thingy.
I'm guessing it has something to do with the fertilizer that I used, but I am not complaining about the results. Our tomatoes are enormous, and there are plenty of them. There are so many that I decided to use YouTube to learn a little about just when and how to pick them off the vine. It seems I've been doing it all wrong all these past years.
They never did bring back parking along Ocean Boulevard this summer, so it has been, at least where biking is concerned, a summer of love. For those of those who don't know, that's the expression used by Mayor Durkin of Portland, Oregon, when asked about the anarchists setting up shop in downtown Portland.
Not once did Nancy and I take to the back roads to avoid the crowds when going off on our bikes. We also like the back roads when we're looking to avoid riding under cloudless skies but everything was just that much quicker once cars were no longer lining the Boulevard so, we just took the Boulevard.
Nancy had but one good sunflower plant that survived the summer growing season. It stands several feet tall, and it sprouted several lovely blossoms so she has enjoyed those immensely. The blooms attract so many creatures, from birds to bees, throughout the summer months, so I suppose it might have been nice to have more survive, but it is what it is. We spent many a morning standing just feet away from the blossoms watching the bees busy themselves with the collection of nectar and pollen.
If they knew we were there, they didn't show it, and they seemingly could have cared less. I'm no naturalist, so I don't know what kind of bees I was looking at, but they were smallish and fuzzy. Not the giant bumblebee variety is what I'm saying. I may have to go back to YouTube to get the lowdown.
Nancy and I downloaded an application called "Seek" for our iPhones, which helps to identify various species of plant and animal life. It's been a godsend when deciphering the various flowering plants from the weeds that sometimes try to pass as flowering plants so that we'll not be uprooting them. They're clever little bastards, they are.
Nancy's Moon Blooms and Morning Glory's have been a bit of a disappointment as well. Something or someone nicked the plants at the bottom, which killed one of her better plants in the garden, and the other has produced a few flowers but nothing like last year. Her Moon Flower plant that she grew in a pot on the deck has produced no flowers to speak of, and despite our efforts to move it in and out of the shade on the sunnier summer days, it has not rewarded us for our actions. I think I have the names of these plants down right.
Nancy can hardly contain herself when she sees a new blossom on any one of her many flowering plants. She cackles and fusses like a child with a new toy, and her delight, as brief as it is, knows no bounds. It is akin, I might like to say, to her finding a spot for a puzzle piece that has previously escaped her and now, with fewer places remaining on the board, she fits it snugly into place and announces to the world (or anyone within earshot), "got a piece"! Eureka moments all!
Evan has a crucial date on the calendar coming up in a couple of days. We've convinced him that wearing a tie to the event is a good thing, but he's drawn the line at wearing one of my jackets to go along with his outfit. He says he needs to feel comfortable. If he is more comfortable without a coat than with it, then who are we to try and convince him otherwise.
I was hoping that he might wear a red power tie, but he selected one with more muted colors, and that's fine. His khaki pants arrived from Amazon and he'll try them on when he comes to visit today. We'll know one way or another whether or not we need to go to Kohl's to make a last-minute purchase.
I need to get moving on, finding out precisely how we get an absentee ballot for Evan as well. He didn't say that he was unwilling to stand in line at the polls come November 3rd, but I'm guessing that he would prefer that he not have to do that. I'm half heartened to know that they make this process as brutal as possible since that tells me that it is less prone to fraud, and that is a good thing.
I might be less than enthused going about this whole absentee ballot business on Evan's behalf if I thought for a minute that he was going to vote for Joe Biden, so there's that. And you can color me damn delighted that he has not joined the ranks of Antifa or BLM, knowing all too well how susceptible the youth of today are and their propensity for latching on to radical and anti-American movements.
I wished she hadn't, but she did. Mrs. G inquired about our tomato crop this year when we were over to pay a visit. In her roundabout way, she was asking why we hadn't brought the tomatoes with us. That's fine. We got her some last year, so her expecting the same this year was not beyond the pale. For better or worse, we made the last- minute decision not to bring over any tomatoes.
While we have a few sitting on our kitchen table ripening, none looked presentable enough to gift to anyone. That may change between now and the next time we pay a visit, so we'll assess accordingly. As I sit here thinking about it, Mrs. G would have been just fine with tomatoes ripened or unripened. Who am I to suggest otherwise? Did I not think for a minute that she might be asking about them? Was she just being polite? I don't know her to be a tomato lover, but who isn't a sucker for something, anything, homegrown?
Nancy recently mentioned that she might like to have something that produces white noise. As a rule, I don't like sleeping with a noise of any kind, but we've had the fan running during the night throughout the summer, and I've come to prefer it to no noise at all. When she first mentioned it, I had visions of waterfall sounds, rainfall sounds, water lapping on the shore sounds, etc.
I think we're on the same page here, so I went ahead and ordered a device from Amazon that might just fill the bill. I'd like to surprise Nancy with it, but that's near impossible with all the e-mail follow-ups that Amazon sends prior to delivery. Oh, well.
We'll be paying a visit to the peeps in the Adirondacks soon, so that is something we're looking forward to. With any luck, Evan will be joining us. He may choose to bow out, but I think he might be more in need of a vacation than either Nancy or I. We won't need to quarantine after our arrival so that's good. We will have to quarantine after we return, so we'll see how that plays out.
We'll be staying in a private residence, so the standard rules that apply to folks staying in hotels will not apply to us. Nancy was understandably concerned about staying in a hotel in the era of Covid and I somewhat share her concerns. All things considered, we'll have little to fret about.
We made reservations to visit a local museum during our stay where they are featuring photographs of yesteryear in and around the Adirondacks. We won't be bumping around the Village of Lake George as we typically do precisely because of Covid. I don't know what they have in place for rules when it comes to out-of-towners but I'm likely to feel put out either way.
I'm also not a big believer in community spread so scoff at those who want the lot of us to saddle up in hazmat suits as a prophylaxis. Leave it to me to decide how much risk I want to assume when it comes to my health. So, we'll see what works for us and what doesn't when we get there.
I'll not be hugging the peeps, so that'll be weird. I'm hoping that my peeps haven't gone over to the dark side where masks are required around the clock and social distancing means phoning it in. I'm hoping they will pay a visit without having to wear personal protective equipment during the time we're together. Maybe we'll order a pizza to share from the local restaurant and we can sit outside on the patio at the house overlooking the lake.
I am just thinking out loud here since I want to get it straight in my head as to how things are going to work out. It's been a long haul for my peeps over these last many months as well so maybe we can all celebrate the relaxation of the rules now that we're out some six months from the beginning of this virus thingy.
Baby Steps
24/08/20 07:04
This month seems to be getting away from me when it comes to staying on top of my journal. What's that all about? It's true, I have been distracted by politics and everything else going on but what else is new. I watched not a second of the democrat's 4-day virtual convention. By all accounts, it was DARK. Maybe that says more about my sources, but the little snippets I've seen and heard seem to bear that out. It was four days of Orange Man Bad. You'd think the democrats might be interested in painting a brighter picture of what they have to offer compared to the last four years of our nation under Trump. Uh, no.
It's not just my take on all of this. Biden got no bump from their four-day hoo-hah. You might write that off to the fact that it was the first virtual convention ever in the history of presidential conventions. One other thing that Biden has made clear over the last several days is that he is for a national mask mandate and that he would shut down the country if the science warranted it. That alone should disqualify Biden from becoming president. The collateral damage of shutdowns is far worse than the shut downs themselves in terms of suicides, etc. That's just a fact.
So we'll see what Trump and his team have to work with this coming week. Oh, and did I mention that the democrats offered no plan for Biden's four-year stint? What does he stand for? What will he do? How long will he be in office before the Dems replace him with Kamala Harris? Just imagine, our first black woman president. I would be okay with that were she not such a left-wing nut job. She's a San Fran-sicko lib through and through, and Sleepy Joe is their trojan horse, but you won't hear that from their lips. I think the American people are on to this game of theirs and will vote with both feet come election day. It's a fraud!
Trump has a good line-up of speakers scheduled, and I expect we'll get a surprise speaker or two. He's already released his game plan for the next four years, so there's that. Most of this stuff will be going on later in the evening so I'll be catching the highlights the following day. Trump is behind in the national polls by more than a few points or, so the media will tell you.
It's deja vu all over again, eh? He's further ahead than he was in 2016 when he beat the pantsuit off of Hillary Clinton, so that's a good thing. You can't believe a damn thing they tell you when it comes to the polls. Still, it's better to fight like you're ten points behind.
Evan asked if I might lend a hand with the task of putting a shine on his place over in Exeter. Sure, happy to do that. I grabbed the usual cleaning supplies and got on the road. We've been after him lately to stay on top of things, but he's not particularly inclined to do that knowing what we know about how he keeps his place. He's a few clicks short of having the organizational skills to do what needs to be done, and he's brave enough to give a holler when he's feeling overwhelmed and unable to get the job done. This is the first time Evan has been open to having us lend a hand, so that's not bad. He's been living in Exeter for a bit better than a year now, so that should tell you something.
I'm such a whirlwind when it comes to this Maids-R-Us business. Evan had all he could do to stay out of my way, but he did manage to work with me to whip his refrigerator into shape, and he took out the trash while I ran the vacuum cleaner through his place. He moved furniture while I vacuumed under this and that, and we exchanged high fives when we had collectively rid his apartment of any obvious and not so obvious dust bunnies. Had we known what a dust bunny generator that rug of his would be when we bought it, we would have never made the purchase.
We loaded the dishwasher together and ran it on an extended cycle to make sure everything was not only cleaned but was spotless and ready to be put away. I wasn't leaving that place until we put every clean glass, plate, and piece of silverware away in their proper place. I sensed that Evan used his dishwasher, but he wasn't very good at taking things out of the dishwasher and putting them away. Why bother when you can just take them directly out of the dishwasher? Makes sense. Right?
Ev could probably do a better job throwing things away. He's not a hoarder, but he doesn't go the extra mile when this that or the other container is empty. That goes for items in his refrigerator, in his freezer, etc. We probably decreased the clutter in his refrigerator by 50% after throwing away empty containers and bottles of this, that, and the other thing that he just never uses anymore. There's that organizational thing again.
I should have been more insistent that he take over the vacuuming when I was doing my thing with the dust bunnies. He declined, but I think it would have done him good to see what a difference he can make by doing something as simple as running the vacuum cleaner through his place. It was a missed opportunity. I took some before and after video footage of his apartment which I always want to do whenever I get started on something big. Like a couple of realtors on a location shoot, we walked from room to room, from appliance to appliance, from sink to sink, with Evan in every frame pointing to the areas most worthy of mention. It was a good day.
Not to be outdone, I worked with Nancy to get over this irrational fear of hers that prevented her from going into stores over the last six months. Maybe "irrational" is the wrong word. And just to be clear, I'm talking about food shopping for the most part. I don't know what it is about the food store shopping that has Nancy with her knickers in a knot, but I do know that it cannot continue. We have to whittle away at these kinds of things so as not to let them control her life and our lives. Today, it's food shopping. Tomorrow, it could be something more substantial. Let's get this thing out of the way, and we can go from there. So, that's what we did.
See, that wasn't so bad. I do think that Nancy had forgotten how to go food shopping. The arrows on the floor at the beginning of every aisle, while put in place to direct traffic and to maximize social distancing in the era of Covid, provided real-time guidance. Nancy complied without so much as a fuss. She was happy to be routed truth be told and I was delighted to see her taking direction as well as she did. She was back on her proverbial bicycle pedaling away as she had never been away, and I couldn't have been any prouder. Had we done this sooner, we might have avoided the angst of it all but it's done now so that's that.
I should mention it, because it's an integral part of this story, that I had put my foot down about the shopping business. It had little to do with the food shopping, but I never told Nancy that. It had everything to do with helping her to move on with her life and to come out of the shadows as it were. I'm talking about being afraid of your own shadow and how that can be disabling and devastating if not favorably resolved. You might say that she was collateral damage in the fight against the virus. I was determined not to let her become a victim, so when the time came, we moved forward together. Baby steps.
Did I mention that Evan got electrocuted? He had just arrived here at our home the other day in the middle of a raging thunderstorm. Evan was standing in the garage speaking to his mom, and he was too close to the metal rails that act as a guide for our garage doors. I was on my way home after picking up a coffee, so I wasn't there, but Evan filled me in when he called me in the immediate aftermath of the event. I'm still not clear on what the scene in the garage looked like this all went down, but I think it may have happened so fast that if you blinked, you might have missed it.
Evan said he felt a jolt run through his body as he came into contact with the metal braces one the garage door. He didn't pass out; he didn't collapse; he didn't lose consciousness one way or the other. Any time your child gets electrocuted, and he lives to talk about, it it's a good day. There was no smell in the air of singed hair or scorched clothing.
I asked that he check the bottom of his feet to see if he could detect an entrance or exit point of the alleged jolt but there was nothing to see. One had to imagine that something got rewired in the process so we kept a close eye on him for the rest of his time at our house. He didn't seem to be any worse for wear and that's a good thing. Nancy's only comment was, "that boy can't catch a break."
We debated whether or not to bring the Ev man into one of the local convenient care facilities to have him checked out, but I thought that might be a bridge too far given that he seemed mostly unfazed by the event. I might have agreed to have him phone it in to see if they thought anything more was warranted but that never came up as an option. Long story short, we've moved on.
Last night was night number two of the RNC, and while not as wildly successful as night one, it was nonetheless a good night. When you get the speeches without all the fanfare and fuss that goes along with satisfying hordes of conventioneers, and that's where we are today amid the midst of this damn pandemic, things move along, and messages get delivered with greater clarity and dispatch. I'm not a big Melania Trump fan, but she did the Donald a solid by delivering a stellar heartfelt speech on behalf of her husband and her nation.
Melania gave mention to the pain that we as a nation have suffered due to the virus, and she asked that the looters and shooters plaguing our nation in democrat run cities stop doing what they're doing for the betterment of our country. The difference between the speeches delivered by Marxist Michelle Obama during the DNC and Melania Trump couldn't have been more different.
Ironically, it is the craziness in the streets in the democrat-run cities that have good god-fearing people coast to coast clearing the shelves in gun stores to better protect their property and their families better from the scourge of scum wreaking havoc in our inner cities. If that goes away, and peace and tranquility sets in, it could benefit Biden come November 3rd. To date, not one Democrat has denounced the criminal activity, and that is not lost on anyone paying even an iota of attention.
Good for Melania is what I say. And if it helps Trump get over the finish line in November, it may well be because of what she said and how she said it. It was a message of hope and that should resonate with every god fearing woman sitting in their suburban homes looking for answers and reassurance during these difficult times. They want reassurance that liberal fanatics will not be proselytizing to their children in the schools and that their children can sleep soundly at night without the fear of Marxists with megaphones rousing them from their dreams.
It's not just my take on all of this. Biden got no bump from their four-day hoo-hah. You might write that off to the fact that it was the first virtual convention ever in the history of presidential conventions. One other thing that Biden has made clear over the last several days is that he is for a national mask mandate and that he would shut down the country if the science warranted it. That alone should disqualify Biden from becoming president. The collateral damage of shutdowns is far worse than the shut downs themselves in terms of suicides, etc. That's just a fact.
So we'll see what Trump and his team have to work with this coming week. Oh, and did I mention that the democrats offered no plan for Biden's four-year stint? What does he stand for? What will he do? How long will he be in office before the Dems replace him with Kamala Harris? Just imagine, our first black woman president. I would be okay with that were she not such a left-wing nut job. She's a San Fran-sicko lib through and through, and Sleepy Joe is their trojan horse, but you won't hear that from their lips. I think the American people are on to this game of theirs and will vote with both feet come election day. It's a fraud!
Trump has a good line-up of speakers scheduled, and I expect we'll get a surprise speaker or two. He's already released his game plan for the next four years, so there's that. Most of this stuff will be going on later in the evening so I'll be catching the highlights the following day. Trump is behind in the national polls by more than a few points or, so the media will tell you.
It's deja vu all over again, eh? He's further ahead than he was in 2016 when he beat the pantsuit off of Hillary Clinton, so that's a good thing. You can't believe a damn thing they tell you when it comes to the polls. Still, it's better to fight like you're ten points behind.
Evan asked if I might lend a hand with the task of putting a shine on his place over in Exeter. Sure, happy to do that. I grabbed the usual cleaning supplies and got on the road. We've been after him lately to stay on top of things, but he's not particularly inclined to do that knowing what we know about how he keeps his place. He's a few clicks short of having the organizational skills to do what needs to be done, and he's brave enough to give a holler when he's feeling overwhelmed and unable to get the job done. This is the first time Evan has been open to having us lend a hand, so that's not bad. He's been living in Exeter for a bit better than a year now, so that should tell you something.
I'm such a whirlwind when it comes to this Maids-R-Us business. Evan had all he could do to stay out of my way, but he did manage to work with me to whip his refrigerator into shape, and he took out the trash while I ran the vacuum cleaner through his place. He moved furniture while I vacuumed under this and that, and we exchanged high fives when we had collectively rid his apartment of any obvious and not so obvious dust bunnies. Had we known what a dust bunny generator that rug of his would be when we bought it, we would have never made the purchase.
We loaded the dishwasher together and ran it on an extended cycle to make sure everything was not only cleaned but was spotless and ready to be put away. I wasn't leaving that place until we put every clean glass, plate, and piece of silverware away in their proper place. I sensed that Evan used his dishwasher, but he wasn't very good at taking things out of the dishwasher and putting them away. Why bother when you can just take them directly out of the dishwasher? Makes sense. Right?
Ev could probably do a better job throwing things away. He's not a hoarder, but he doesn't go the extra mile when this that or the other container is empty. That goes for items in his refrigerator, in his freezer, etc. We probably decreased the clutter in his refrigerator by 50% after throwing away empty containers and bottles of this, that, and the other thing that he just never uses anymore. There's that organizational thing again.
I should have been more insistent that he take over the vacuuming when I was doing my thing with the dust bunnies. He declined, but I think it would have done him good to see what a difference he can make by doing something as simple as running the vacuum cleaner through his place. It was a missed opportunity. I took some before and after video footage of his apartment which I always want to do whenever I get started on something big. Like a couple of realtors on a location shoot, we walked from room to room, from appliance to appliance, from sink to sink, with Evan in every frame pointing to the areas most worthy of mention. It was a good day.
Not to be outdone, I worked with Nancy to get over this irrational fear of hers that prevented her from going into stores over the last six months. Maybe "irrational" is the wrong word. And just to be clear, I'm talking about food shopping for the most part. I don't know what it is about the food store shopping that has Nancy with her knickers in a knot, but I do know that it cannot continue. We have to whittle away at these kinds of things so as not to let them control her life and our lives. Today, it's food shopping. Tomorrow, it could be something more substantial. Let's get this thing out of the way, and we can go from there. So, that's what we did.
See, that wasn't so bad. I do think that Nancy had forgotten how to go food shopping. The arrows on the floor at the beginning of every aisle, while put in place to direct traffic and to maximize social distancing in the era of Covid, provided real-time guidance. Nancy complied without so much as a fuss. She was happy to be routed truth be told and I was delighted to see her taking direction as well as she did. She was back on her proverbial bicycle pedaling away as she had never been away, and I couldn't have been any prouder. Had we done this sooner, we might have avoided the angst of it all but it's done now so that's that.
I should mention it, because it's an integral part of this story, that I had put my foot down about the shopping business. It had little to do with the food shopping, but I never told Nancy that. It had everything to do with helping her to move on with her life and to come out of the shadows as it were. I'm talking about being afraid of your own shadow and how that can be disabling and devastating if not favorably resolved. You might say that she was collateral damage in the fight against the virus. I was determined not to let her become a victim, so when the time came, we moved forward together. Baby steps.
Did I mention that Evan got electrocuted? He had just arrived here at our home the other day in the middle of a raging thunderstorm. Evan was standing in the garage speaking to his mom, and he was too close to the metal rails that act as a guide for our garage doors. I was on my way home after picking up a coffee, so I wasn't there, but Evan filled me in when he called me in the immediate aftermath of the event. I'm still not clear on what the scene in the garage looked like this all went down, but I think it may have happened so fast that if you blinked, you might have missed it.
Evan said he felt a jolt run through his body as he came into contact with the metal braces one the garage door. He didn't pass out; he didn't collapse; he didn't lose consciousness one way or the other. Any time your child gets electrocuted, and he lives to talk about, it it's a good day. There was no smell in the air of singed hair or scorched clothing.
I asked that he check the bottom of his feet to see if he could detect an entrance or exit point of the alleged jolt but there was nothing to see. One had to imagine that something got rewired in the process so we kept a close eye on him for the rest of his time at our house. He didn't seem to be any worse for wear and that's a good thing. Nancy's only comment was, "that boy can't catch a break."
We debated whether or not to bring the Ev man into one of the local convenient care facilities to have him checked out, but I thought that might be a bridge too far given that he seemed mostly unfazed by the event. I might have agreed to have him phone it in to see if they thought anything more was warranted but that never came up as an option. Long story short, we've moved on.
Last night was night number two of the RNC, and while not as wildly successful as night one, it was nonetheless a good night. When you get the speeches without all the fanfare and fuss that goes along with satisfying hordes of conventioneers, and that's where we are today amid the midst of this damn pandemic, things move along, and messages get delivered with greater clarity and dispatch. I'm not a big Melania Trump fan, but she did the Donald a solid by delivering a stellar heartfelt speech on behalf of her husband and her nation.
Melania gave mention to the pain that we as a nation have suffered due to the virus, and she asked that the looters and shooters plaguing our nation in democrat run cities stop doing what they're doing for the betterment of our country. The difference between the speeches delivered by Marxist Michelle Obama during the DNC and Melania Trump couldn't have been more different.
Ironically, it is the craziness in the streets in the democrat-run cities that have good god-fearing people coast to coast clearing the shelves in gun stores to better protect their property and their families better from the scourge of scum wreaking havoc in our inner cities. If that goes away, and peace and tranquility sets in, it could benefit Biden come November 3rd. To date, not one Democrat has denounced the criminal activity, and that is not lost on anyone paying even an iota of attention.
Good for Melania is what I say. And if it helps Trump get over the finish line in November, it may well be because of what she said and how she said it. It was a message of hope and that should resonate with every god fearing woman sitting in their suburban homes looking for answers and reassurance during these difficult times. They want reassurance that liberal fanatics will not be proselytizing to their children in the schools and that their children can sleep soundly at night without the fear of Marxists with megaphones rousing them from their dreams.
Lying Dog Faced Pony Soldier
12/08/20 07:15
So, now it's Slow Joe and Phony Kamala. I think that is what Trump is calling this new duo after Biden's team announced their VP pick after a nationwide search. Right. Got it. You don't really think Slow Joe did any of the picking now, do you? There was one snapshot in circulation of Biden talking to Kamala Harris over Skype or something on a laptop and Joe was holding a cell phone in one hand that was actually upside down. As for the Jihadist-in-Chief Obama, he said something to the effect that Joe's pick was a good one. Right. Got it.
At the end of the day I think selling Kamala Harris as "black" isn't going to cut the mustard with the larger black populace within the democratic constituency. She isn't really black. Not in the African black sense of the word anyway. Her father is Jamaican and her mother is of Indian descent. I suppose you could say that she is a woman of color and that checks a lot of progressive boxes if nothing else. Oh, and she's a woman. Just ask Willie Brown. He can regale you with stories all day long about his time with Kamala. Kamala the woman.
Aside from those aforementioned attributes I don't know what she brings to the ticket. She garnered barely 2% of the vote in the primaries as a presidential candidate and she dropped out before risking what would have been a suffering and humiliating defeat of losing her own state. I think Tucker referred to this new ticket as "hollow" last night on his show on FOX and I think he got it right.
I think analysts on CNN were asking in a round about sort of way when Joe was going to step down so that Kamala could be the real candidate. If Slow Joe really is the Trojan Horse of 2020, this would be an even greater hoax than the Russian hoax perpetrated against the Trump campaign in 2016. Is it too soon to ask that a Special Counsel be assigned to this case?
This whole identity politics thing is really reprehensible if you ask me. Harris was selected as Joe's VP pick not because she was the most capable candidate. She was selected as his VP pick because she, like I said before, checks all the right boxes. She's a woman. Check. She's "black." Check. She's a progressive. Check. I thought you were supposed to be picking a person that could step in as president should something happen to the president? Kamala Harris is not that candidate. She would be a disaster for our country should that happen.
It was particularly irritating to listen to Slow Joe at the teleprompter yesterday in their first public appearance together where he told several bold faced lies about Trump and his accomplishments. Perhaps the most odious was the lie about what Trump said about "good people of both sides" in the Charlottesville hoax.
Biden knows it isn't what Trump said but he repeats it shamelessly in order to perpetuate the myth that Trump is a racist. Let's be clear about one thing. Without a good proportion of the black vote turning out for the Biden-Harris ticket, they are toast. What better way to turn out the black vote than to tell incendiary lies about the opposing candidate. This is what they do.
I'm banking on the fact that there are enough blacks that have awakened to the fact that the democrat party really is the original party of slavery and today's democrat party wants nothing more than to keep them on the plantation. Woke blacks are walking away in numbers never seen before.
The liberal women's groups have already put the media on notice that they will tolerate no dissent when it comes to their candidate, Kamala Harris. Maybe they think that Kamala Harris is their own version of the George Floyd. If anyone so much as thinks about kneeling on Kamala's neck for whatever reason, they will unleash the hounds of hell across a nation that is already reeling from racial unrest and strife. Trump's challenge will be to get the truth out to the nation about Kamala Harris and everything that she represents.
I would hope that we as a nation are beyond the point where we cast a vote for a person based on ethnicity, race, or gender. I can hope until the cows come home but that won't make it true. People go to the polls for a lot of different reasons and this was not lost on the founders of our great nation. They may have warned us from time to time about the populace not having the wherewithal to make the right decisions about the future of our country when stepping into the voting booth. They were right to be concerned.
Here is what I say: If you want open borders, there's a candidate on the ballot who agrees with you. If you want higher taxes, there's a candidate who will oblige you in spades should he be elected. If you want a candidate that supports BLM and Anitfa, look no further than the ticket of Biden-Harris. If you want to defund the police, Biden is your man.
If you're looking to have our nation kowtow to the China's of the world, your boy Biden has a history of bending over in order to curry favor and enhance his and his family's personal wealth. If the Green New Deal calls out to the naturalist in you, the party of AOC welcomes your vote.
If the traditions and cultures of Cuba and other communist regimes tugs on your socialist heartstrings, the party of Bernie Sanders will be there to take you to the polls on November 3rd to vote for the Biden-Harris ticket. Make sure they finish the job of abolishing the second amendment and killing fracking by voting for the Biden-Harris ticket!
I was telling Nancy yesterday that I thought there was a change in the air hereabouts. I think I noticed it yesterday when I was out for my bike ride. It's that change of seasons thing that I've alluded to before and it gets more noticeable by the day. The verdancy of mid summer here in New England is getting about as long in the tooth as it's going to get and the weather patterns along with the foliage are both now tipping ever so slightly towards Fall.
There's a delicious coolness in the air in mid-August that you don't find in the months of June and July. Certain species of trees are shedding their leaves, marsh grasses once lush now lay flattened and flushed of their color, and acorns and other nuts are a present danger for those of us riding our bikes willy nilly along the paved paths in and around our town.
We've had far too many cloudless days as of late so I welcome an overcast, breezy, and cool late-summer morning with open arms. I'll have to check the forecast and if I'm lucky I'll not have to water the garden. It's not a big deal but it's one less thing to think about today. We'll be paying Mrs G a visit later today so there's that. Nancy wants to go earlier in the afternoon presumably in order to avoid the wine and cheese crowd that assembles just a stone's throw away from Mrs G's patio every weekend afternoon around 4.
They are not a raucous group by and large but they are within earshot of our conversations and that may be reason enough to do everything we can to avoid them. Rumor and innuendo is the currency of the day in independent living arrangements, so the less they know or think they know about Mrs G and her personal matters, the better. God forbid they misconstrue something they think they hear and the next thing you know Mrs G is the talk of the town for all the wrong reasons.
I suppose we could take Mrs G for a ride instead but, as Nancy tells it, where would we go? How far would we go? Would we go for ice cream? Is there someplace that Mrs G would like to go? We just don't know because we've not asked. She often regales us of her visits here and there around town when the facility arranges for and provides transportation to and from her desired destinations. At a minimum we'll hope the rain holds off if that is what the weather holds in store for us.
Trump's brother died overnight so condolences go out to the President and his family. The headlines in newspapers like the Washington Compost have not been kind to him. Bastards. May Bezos and his minions suffer a thousand cuts for their cruel, disparaging, and unkind words just to please and placate their left-leaning, Antifa-loving, and BLM supporting subscribers. In what universe is is acceptable for someone on Twitter to tweet the following hashtag: #Wrongtrump? Fuck em all!
There will be a special place in hell reserved for these mothers. In the meantime, let's make sure we don't give the main street media in all their hellish forms the satisfaction of lending a successful assist to the likes of Biden and Harris. Hate must not be condoned in any way, shape, or form. Well, for those who wish to destroy our country maybe we make an exception. Indeed.
At the end of the day I think selling Kamala Harris as "black" isn't going to cut the mustard with the larger black populace within the democratic constituency. She isn't really black. Not in the African black sense of the word anyway. Her father is Jamaican and her mother is of Indian descent. I suppose you could say that she is a woman of color and that checks a lot of progressive boxes if nothing else. Oh, and she's a woman. Just ask Willie Brown. He can regale you with stories all day long about his time with Kamala. Kamala the woman.
Aside from those aforementioned attributes I don't know what she brings to the ticket. She garnered barely 2% of the vote in the primaries as a presidential candidate and she dropped out before risking what would have been a suffering and humiliating defeat of losing her own state. I think Tucker referred to this new ticket as "hollow" last night on his show on FOX and I think he got it right.
I think analysts on CNN were asking in a round about sort of way when Joe was going to step down so that Kamala could be the real candidate. If Slow Joe really is the Trojan Horse of 2020, this would be an even greater hoax than the Russian hoax perpetrated against the Trump campaign in 2016. Is it too soon to ask that a Special Counsel be assigned to this case?
This whole identity politics thing is really reprehensible if you ask me. Harris was selected as Joe's VP pick not because she was the most capable candidate. She was selected as his VP pick because she, like I said before, checks all the right boxes. She's a woman. Check. She's "black." Check. She's a progressive. Check. I thought you were supposed to be picking a person that could step in as president should something happen to the president? Kamala Harris is not that candidate. She would be a disaster for our country should that happen.
It was particularly irritating to listen to Slow Joe at the teleprompter yesterday in their first public appearance together where he told several bold faced lies about Trump and his accomplishments. Perhaps the most odious was the lie about what Trump said about "good people of both sides" in the Charlottesville hoax.
Biden knows it isn't what Trump said but he repeats it shamelessly in order to perpetuate the myth that Trump is a racist. Let's be clear about one thing. Without a good proportion of the black vote turning out for the Biden-Harris ticket, they are toast. What better way to turn out the black vote than to tell incendiary lies about the opposing candidate. This is what they do.
I'm banking on the fact that there are enough blacks that have awakened to the fact that the democrat party really is the original party of slavery and today's democrat party wants nothing more than to keep them on the plantation. Woke blacks are walking away in numbers never seen before.
The liberal women's groups have already put the media on notice that they will tolerate no dissent when it comes to their candidate, Kamala Harris. Maybe they think that Kamala Harris is their own version of the George Floyd. If anyone so much as thinks about kneeling on Kamala's neck for whatever reason, they will unleash the hounds of hell across a nation that is already reeling from racial unrest and strife. Trump's challenge will be to get the truth out to the nation about Kamala Harris and everything that she represents.
I would hope that we as a nation are beyond the point where we cast a vote for a person based on ethnicity, race, or gender. I can hope until the cows come home but that won't make it true. People go to the polls for a lot of different reasons and this was not lost on the founders of our great nation. They may have warned us from time to time about the populace not having the wherewithal to make the right decisions about the future of our country when stepping into the voting booth. They were right to be concerned.
Here is what I say: If you want open borders, there's a candidate on the ballot who agrees with you. If you want higher taxes, there's a candidate who will oblige you in spades should he be elected. If you want a candidate that supports BLM and Anitfa, look no further than the ticket of Biden-Harris. If you want to defund the police, Biden is your man.
If you're looking to have our nation kowtow to the China's of the world, your boy Biden has a history of bending over in order to curry favor and enhance his and his family's personal wealth. If the Green New Deal calls out to the naturalist in you, the party of AOC welcomes your vote.
If the traditions and cultures of Cuba and other communist regimes tugs on your socialist heartstrings, the party of Bernie Sanders will be there to take you to the polls on November 3rd to vote for the Biden-Harris ticket. Make sure they finish the job of abolishing the second amendment and killing fracking by voting for the Biden-Harris ticket!
I was telling Nancy yesterday that I thought there was a change in the air hereabouts. I think I noticed it yesterday when I was out for my bike ride. It's that change of seasons thing that I've alluded to before and it gets more noticeable by the day. The verdancy of mid summer here in New England is getting about as long in the tooth as it's going to get and the weather patterns along with the foliage are both now tipping ever so slightly towards Fall.
There's a delicious coolness in the air in mid-August that you don't find in the months of June and July. Certain species of trees are shedding their leaves, marsh grasses once lush now lay flattened and flushed of their color, and acorns and other nuts are a present danger for those of us riding our bikes willy nilly along the paved paths in and around our town.
We've had far too many cloudless days as of late so I welcome an overcast, breezy, and cool late-summer morning with open arms. I'll have to check the forecast and if I'm lucky I'll not have to water the garden. It's not a big deal but it's one less thing to think about today. We'll be paying Mrs G a visit later today so there's that. Nancy wants to go earlier in the afternoon presumably in order to avoid the wine and cheese crowd that assembles just a stone's throw away from Mrs G's patio every weekend afternoon around 4.
They are not a raucous group by and large but they are within earshot of our conversations and that may be reason enough to do everything we can to avoid them. Rumor and innuendo is the currency of the day in independent living arrangements, so the less they know or think they know about Mrs G and her personal matters, the better. God forbid they misconstrue something they think they hear and the next thing you know Mrs G is the talk of the town for all the wrong reasons.
I suppose we could take Mrs G for a ride instead but, as Nancy tells it, where would we go? How far would we go? Would we go for ice cream? Is there someplace that Mrs G would like to go? We just don't know because we've not asked. She often regales us of her visits here and there around town when the facility arranges for and provides transportation to and from her desired destinations. At a minimum we'll hope the rain holds off if that is what the weather holds in store for us.
Trump's brother died overnight so condolences go out to the President and his family. The headlines in newspapers like the Washington Compost have not been kind to him. Bastards. May Bezos and his minions suffer a thousand cuts for their cruel, disparaging, and unkind words just to please and placate their left-leaning, Antifa-loving, and BLM supporting subscribers. In what universe is is acceptable for someone on Twitter to tweet the following hashtag: #Wrongtrump? Fuck em all!
There will be a special place in hell reserved for these mothers. In the meantime, let's make sure we don't give the main street media in all their hellish forms the satisfaction of lending a successful assist to the likes of Biden and Harris. Hate must not be condoned in any way, shape, or form. Well, for those who wish to destroy our country maybe we make an exception. Indeed.
Orange Man Bad
07/08/20 07:25
I don't know where we're going with this morning, but if I don't get going, it won't be going anywhere. Man, August mornings have a very different vibe compared to July mornings. It's like the earth tilted on its axis overnight in an ever so slightly different direction away from the sun. I wonder if I'm the only one noticing this transformation or alignment of whatever it is that is now upon us. There is no turning back. Maybe I'll start a new book today.
I have a good mind to have someone come around this Fall to take up all the leaves that fall to the ground around our house. I usually make a project of it every Fall. Sometimes I wait until all the leaves have fallen to make a sweep, and other years, I'll do it in phases so as not to make a big job any bigger. You've seen those fellas with the lumbering trucks and something akin to a big vacuum cleaner hanging off the back of them. Right? They'll Hoover up the leaves in a fraction of the time it takes me to do it. It won't be nearly as satisfying, and I'll feel infinitely less accomplished, but the job will be one less task, so there's that.
I do occasionally look at these sorts of things as opportunities to get some exercise or to add to an already hopefully robust exercise regimen. That paradigm has shifted this year with the whole coronavirus thing. I've not been going to the gym, so I’m less tuned and toned when it comes to certain activities that require that I otherwise be up to snuff.
Biking is good for the heart (cardio), and it's pretty good for everything and anything to do with the leg muscles, but it's not the best when it comes to upper body strengthening and that sort of thing. That sort of thing comes in handy when it comes to things like raking leaves, clearing snow from the roof, shoveling, etc.
There is a home not too far from here whose owner has put up any number of political signs along a strip of the road in front of his house. One of those signs is a Trump sign, so I'm assuming that the signs for the other candidates are of similar political persuasion. The Trump sign is a more recent addition since I haven't noticed it before. I'm riding my bike by the house daily, so surely I would have seen it.
It doesn't surprise me that people don't have a Trump sign or sticker openly displayed these days since the crazies on the left are an intolerant bunch. They get so triggered by anything Trump or Trump related that they are willing to risk life, limb, reputation, and even their freedom to destroy the sign. Any overt support of a candidate the likes of Trump is a damnable offense and worthy of scorn at a minimum and complete obliteration at worse.
So I applaud this homeowner who may, unbeknownst to him, be placing his family and his premises at considerable risk when showing his support for our president. If he is aware of such things, his conviction for the candidates of his choice is even more admirable. So this is where it gets interesting.
The first time I passed his signs, I noticed that the Trump sign was laid flat on the ground while the other signs around it were still up. I turned around on my bike and went back and put the sign back up while giving the metal rods on the frame an extra push into the gravel to make sure it wouldn't easily get uprooted or blown over again.
It just so happened that their neighbor saw me turning around on my bike and walking over to the sign. The scene unfolded while they were going through the motions of backing their truck into their driveway. I'm quite sure that they slowed down just long enough to make sense of what it was that I was doing or not doing with their neighbor’s signs. I'm not altogether sure that they didn't think that I might have had a hand in taking it down, or maybe they thought I was putting it back up because I was trying to cover my tracks.
Maybe they had a hand in pulling it up by the stakes, but being the good neighbors they were, they may have simply laid it on the ground instead of laying waste to it. I think that is not the case since they have multiple American flags prominently displayed on their property, and no self-respecting leftist or anarchist would be that non-conforming. Part of me sits here this morning hoping that they thought better of me after the fact and better of their fellow man for taking the time to right a wrong when he sees one.
The following day I proceeded along my usual route once again while out for my ride. No sooner did I turn the corner and head up the hill when I saw the house on the right and the usual array of signs next to the road. Wouldn't you know it that the Trump sign was once again down on the ground while the other signs remained standing? So I was back to wondering who might have had a hand in taking the sign down once again. Why did they not take it away with them? Why did they not destroy it and leave it tattered by the side of the road?
I circled back and put the sign back up for the second day in a row. On the third day, I rode past the house. The Trump sign was just leaning ever so slightly, so I just kept on riding. Who knows what I'll find today, but I'll stand at the ready to do my duty should that opportunity present itself.
Oh, and there is just enough tree and bramble-like brush between the house that is set back from the road and the road itself so that the owner of the home can more than likely not see me doing whatever it is that I am doing with his signs. Unfortunately, that also gives cover to anyone that might want to take down the signs without being seen. How convenient.
I am a proud member of the silent majority who won't overtly demonstrate my support for Trump but will show up with bells on when the time comes to go to the polls this November. But it's not the man, although he does have some admirable and maybe even roguish qualities at times, it's his policies that have me squarely in his camp and in the camp of the party he represents.
Party's aside, there is still a lot of swamp that still needs draining in Washington, D.C. Has anyone of either party come close to even exposing these swamp creatures as Trump has? That is why we need the man in office for another four years. Eight would be better, but there is that pesky little thing called the Constitution.
The polls have been leaning in Biden's favor over the past few weeks, but who believes the polls? I saw one survey last night on FOX, where Trump was favored by two points in polling done on who would do a better job handling the economy. Are you fucking kidding me? Trump, who gave us the best economy in the history of the modern industrialized age? They realize that Biden is holed up in his basement in Delaware, where his handlers are panic-stricken that every time they let him open his mouth, he says something stupid or, to be kind, preposterous. Right?
The lefties are counting on reaping the benefits of Main Street Media's (MSM) long-standing war against Trump. After four years of constant negative press, they are hopeful that this will turn just enough voters against Trump to keep him from another four-year term. They are the propaganda arm of the democrat party, and they have delivered on their promises. Now, it's up to the voters. The democrats have no real candidate, and they offer nothing to the American public other than they will celebrate like it's 1999 when Orange-Man-Bad has been taken from the White House in handcuffs or worse.
Nancy and I visited Evan last night in Exeter at his home. It's been a good six months since we've been over to his place. We picked up burgers on the way there, and we enjoyed a lovely meal together. We also paid a visit to Mrs. G while in Exeter and brought her an excellent lobster roll that we picked up at Rye Harbor before heading over to see her. Had it not been for the fact that the day was getting long in the tooth and we were getting a bit tired, we might have offered to lend Evan a hand in tidying up his place.
We walked away with a bit of laundry to tend to, and she and I had the usual debate about doing his laundry at home or, because there was a lot to do, just take it to the laundromat and use one of their commercial machines to get it done. He was more than happy to tend to his laundry, but as usual, he has the best of intentions, but that is where it all ends. Sometimes I wish he were more open to our offers to help with these sorts of things, but, alas, he is not. You can only push so hard as parents, and then you're done. Take this to the bank: We'll never stop pushing.
I have a good mind to have someone come around this Fall to take up all the leaves that fall to the ground around our house. I usually make a project of it every Fall. Sometimes I wait until all the leaves have fallen to make a sweep, and other years, I'll do it in phases so as not to make a big job any bigger. You've seen those fellas with the lumbering trucks and something akin to a big vacuum cleaner hanging off the back of them. Right? They'll Hoover up the leaves in a fraction of the time it takes me to do it. It won't be nearly as satisfying, and I'll feel infinitely less accomplished, but the job will be one less task, so there's that.
I do occasionally look at these sorts of things as opportunities to get some exercise or to add to an already hopefully robust exercise regimen. That paradigm has shifted this year with the whole coronavirus thing. I've not been going to the gym, so I’m less tuned and toned when it comes to certain activities that require that I otherwise be up to snuff.
Biking is good for the heart (cardio), and it's pretty good for everything and anything to do with the leg muscles, but it's not the best when it comes to upper body strengthening and that sort of thing. That sort of thing comes in handy when it comes to things like raking leaves, clearing snow from the roof, shoveling, etc.
There is a home not too far from here whose owner has put up any number of political signs along a strip of the road in front of his house. One of those signs is a Trump sign, so I'm assuming that the signs for the other candidates are of similar political persuasion. The Trump sign is a more recent addition since I haven't noticed it before. I'm riding my bike by the house daily, so surely I would have seen it.
It doesn't surprise me that people don't have a Trump sign or sticker openly displayed these days since the crazies on the left are an intolerant bunch. They get so triggered by anything Trump or Trump related that they are willing to risk life, limb, reputation, and even their freedom to destroy the sign. Any overt support of a candidate the likes of Trump is a damnable offense and worthy of scorn at a minimum and complete obliteration at worse.
So I applaud this homeowner who may, unbeknownst to him, be placing his family and his premises at considerable risk when showing his support for our president. If he is aware of such things, his conviction for the candidates of his choice is even more admirable. So this is where it gets interesting.
The first time I passed his signs, I noticed that the Trump sign was laid flat on the ground while the other signs around it were still up. I turned around on my bike and went back and put the sign back up while giving the metal rods on the frame an extra push into the gravel to make sure it wouldn't easily get uprooted or blown over again.
It just so happened that their neighbor saw me turning around on my bike and walking over to the sign. The scene unfolded while they were going through the motions of backing their truck into their driveway. I'm quite sure that they slowed down just long enough to make sense of what it was that I was doing or not doing with their neighbor’s signs. I'm not altogether sure that they didn't think that I might have had a hand in taking it down, or maybe they thought I was putting it back up because I was trying to cover my tracks.
Maybe they had a hand in pulling it up by the stakes, but being the good neighbors they were, they may have simply laid it on the ground instead of laying waste to it. I think that is not the case since they have multiple American flags prominently displayed on their property, and no self-respecting leftist or anarchist would be that non-conforming. Part of me sits here this morning hoping that they thought better of me after the fact and better of their fellow man for taking the time to right a wrong when he sees one.
The following day I proceeded along my usual route once again while out for my ride. No sooner did I turn the corner and head up the hill when I saw the house on the right and the usual array of signs next to the road. Wouldn't you know it that the Trump sign was once again down on the ground while the other signs remained standing? So I was back to wondering who might have had a hand in taking the sign down once again. Why did they not take it away with them? Why did they not destroy it and leave it tattered by the side of the road?
I circled back and put the sign back up for the second day in a row. On the third day, I rode past the house. The Trump sign was just leaning ever so slightly, so I just kept on riding. Who knows what I'll find today, but I'll stand at the ready to do my duty should that opportunity present itself.
Oh, and there is just enough tree and bramble-like brush between the house that is set back from the road and the road itself so that the owner of the home can more than likely not see me doing whatever it is that I am doing with his signs. Unfortunately, that also gives cover to anyone that might want to take down the signs without being seen. How convenient.
I am a proud member of the silent majority who won't overtly demonstrate my support for Trump but will show up with bells on when the time comes to go to the polls this November. But it's not the man, although he does have some admirable and maybe even roguish qualities at times, it's his policies that have me squarely in his camp and in the camp of the party he represents.
Party's aside, there is still a lot of swamp that still needs draining in Washington, D.C. Has anyone of either party come close to even exposing these swamp creatures as Trump has? That is why we need the man in office for another four years. Eight would be better, but there is that pesky little thing called the Constitution.
The polls have been leaning in Biden's favor over the past few weeks, but who believes the polls? I saw one survey last night on FOX, where Trump was favored by two points in polling done on who would do a better job handling the economy. Are you fucking kidding me? Trump, who gave us the best economy in the history of the modern industrialized age? They realize that Biden is holed up in his basement in Delaware, where his handlers are panic-stricken that every time they let him open his mouth, he says something stupid or, to be kind, preposterous. Right?
The lefties are counting on reaping the benefits of Main Street Media's (MSM) long-standing war against Trump. After four years of constant negative press, they are hopeful that this will turn just enough voters against Trump to keep him from another four-year term. They are the propaganda arm of the democrat party, and they have delivered on their promises. Now, it's up to the voters. The democrats have no real candidate, and they offer nothing to the American public other than they will celebrate like it's 1999 when Orange-Man-Bad has been taken from the White House in handcuffs or worse.
Nancy and I visited Evan last night in Exeter at his home. It's been a good six months since we've been over to his place. We picked up burgers on the way there, and we enjoyed a lovely meal together. We also paid a visit to Mrs. G while in Exeter and brought her an excellent lobster roll that we picked up at Rye Harbor before heading over to see her. Had it not been for the fact that the day was getting long in the tooth and we were getting a bit tired, we might have offered to lend Evan a hand in tidying up his place.
We walked away with a bit of laundry to tend to, and she and I had the usual debate about doing his laundry at home or, because there was a lot to do, just take it to the laundromat and use one of their commercial machines to get it done. He was more than happy to tend to his laundry, but as usual, he has the best of intentions, but that is where it all ends. Sometimes I wish he were more open to our offers to help with these sorts of things, but, alas, he is not. You can only push so hard as parents, and then you're done. Take this to the bank: We'll never stop pushing.
Thistle While You Work
01/08/20 07:17
It's August, boys, and girls! Here's hoping that is all well with you and yours. I don't know who the hell I'm referring to here but there's probably somebody out there who could use some good wishes as it were. Just to keep me in a summertime mood I'm putting on a little Jimmy Buffet for a little background music while I plug away at this here journal. I've never been a Jimmy Buffet fan so not sure how much of it I can stomach but it's light and airy so maybe it will help me get up and out of my doldrums so I can finish this stuff.
You know what they say about writing. You need to just start and if you start then you'll be on your way. On your way where who knows. I don't have anything, in particular, to touch on so I'll have to conjure up some nonsense and see if that doesn't get the job done. Did I mention that I can't seem to find a damn tube for my bike tire? I've been to a handful of shops around town and they are plumb out of them. I've been kicking around Amazon thinking that I'd find a quick solution. Well, not so much.
You see, this coronavirus thing has created a lot of demand for bicycles since it is a good solo kind of thing that people can do without coming into contact with people who might make them sick and maybe even die. I recall walking into Walmart a month or so ago and looking at the bicycle section. I noticed that it was completely sold out of stock.
There wasn't a Schwinn on the floor. I know, I know. I'm dating myself. They still make Schwinn's. Right? I felt bad thinking of all the little boys and girls, not to mention their parents, who had their hearts set on taking up biking during the pandemic only to find that there wasn't a set of wheels available for sale on which to ride off into the sunset. I guess it's true what they say about life-sucking and then you die.
But I am not without skills and relevant experience when it comes to fixing up bikes. I've been patching my tubes and replacing my tires ever since I owned my very first bike. I was a real Ernie truth be told. It can be a messy job so it's just easier to buy new ones rather than trying to patch up the old ones until and unless buying new ones doesn't work for whatever reason. So I threw a couple of patches on the tube and I'm sitting here a day later looking at a tire and a tube that hasn’t gone flat sitting overnight so I'm thinking that I'm good to go.
Were it not for my visit to the dentist the other day I would be off and running, or biking, straight away this morning. I have instructions to take it easy for a couple of days before doing any exercise so I'm doing just that. All in all, I'm not in any pain so I'll not be taking the pain medication prescribed. I know some people take that stuff for kicks but not me. I would just as soon throw it in the trash as look at it. That said, having it on hand just in case has been comforting. I've been taking the other meds as prescribed although I've also had no use for the extra strength Ibuprofen. Those babies will likely be set aside for future emergencies.
I'm doing my best to be a good patient but sitting around without exercising doesn't cut the mustard. I don't do "nothing" well. I do want to make sure that I pass my follow-up test with flying colors so I'll be sticking to the prescribed regimen short of using the meds which I've already discussed. Considering the work done, I should have more pain or discomfort but that is not the case. I am a fucking marvel of modern science I am. That has to be the caffeine talking because I don't know that guy. Thank the baby Jesus that we're only talking one tooth here.
I'm a day further along now and today I get back in the saddle. I'm talking biking here. Did you think I was talking about horses? What am I? A fucking equestrian? Being slightly incapacitated after my procedure at the dentists I'm probably better off riding my bike than getting on a horse. Then again, I'm a little concerned about being too cautious.
You know what they say about changing up your routines. It's best to stay in the saddle, there's that damn equestrian reference again, and continuing to do what I've always done. For me, that means riding like the wind, riding like I haven't a care in the world, riding like I'm the only guy on the road, and riding like a man on a mission. It's an edgy proposition but there you have it.
Nancy made an interesting observation yesterday. She noticed that a lot of people had wood deliveries sitting in their driveways and she wondered aloud if those deliveries might have something to do with a potential resurgence of the coronavirus over the coming winter. "Maybe we should order some wood," she lamented wistfully.
We do have some wood but it's been sitting around for a few years so I don't know if it's good to go or not. It's one of those things I need to lookup. We have both electric and oil so I'm not too concerned about running into a problem if we do see a resurgence but more is always better.
It might be worth noting that the local bird population seems to be very active in and around our bird feeders these days. I don't think that's any indication of end times, but stocking up on calories ahead of what could be a nasty winter is a scenario that is, at a minimum, worthy of consideration. Then again, birds don't do that sort of thing. Right? They probably get while the getting is good and count their blessings that food is abundant. It's that whole living in the moment sort of thing. Good for them.
Why then, do you suppose the finches are emptying my thistle feeder faster than usual? Is it because they like the particular brand of thistle that I use to fill the feeder? Are there more finches than usual because I've been feeding them so well? Maybe they've been reproducing in record numbers because of the plentiful food supplies provided by yours truly. They are a pleasant species to have around to be sure. They could pass for parakeets if you didn't know better. Their plumage is pleasing to the eye and their little breasts plump with the color of the sun. If I was a finch, falling in love would not be a bridge too far.
Evan, Nancy, and I took a drive this afternoon looking for a farm stand where we might find some nice local corn and maybe a container or two of local blueberries. It seems there are more stands than one might expect given the number of places we drove by on the way to one place that I knew had what we were looking for. With grilling in mind, I also found some summer squash, zucchini, onions, and a couple of other niceties that I wasn't expecting but was pleased as punch to tuck into my basket.
When we arrived we were only the second party to enter the place and that put the joint at maximum capacity in the era of the coronavirus. Not having to rub elbows with other strangers was fine with me and I think it easily passed muster with the Missus. She's about as jittery as you can get about this whole thing so she was happy to see limits imposed on customers coming and going from the establishment. Since it was more of a large stall than a small store with a well-defined entrance and exit, all the better. Evan was smart to wait behind in the car while we did our shopping.
I have to believe that things were fairly well picked over given that we arrived late afternoon. The peaches remaining were small enough to cup in the palm of your hand; The tomatoes leftover were greenish and maybe picked a tad prematurely; There were no large squashes, the sort you stuff and bake, to be found; and the blueberries, although plentiful, are probably going to be bitter if the fact that there were so many available says anything at all about their quality. Is that a Woodpecker at my thistle feeder?
Explaining the unexplained is not my cup of tea. Nancy mentioned to me yesterday that the book she was reading on her iPad had duplicated pages and no matter which page she turned to it was always the same. Well, I'd never seen such a thing but I thought to myself that it's possible. I don't know about you but I need to see these things for myself. For one, it seems unlikely since I've never seen it before. I didn't doubt her but if she could show me then we could go from there. Maybe we need to transfer the book all over again. Maybe something got lost in the process when we first put the book on her iPad. Anything is possible.
What if she couldn't reproduce it? What if she couldn't prove to me that what she was saying was true? What if it turned out to be a figment of her imagination? Would I be polite and pass it off as nothing more than a miscue of sorts? Is there something more sinister and maybe even something more malevolent going on? I had the same book on my iPad so I took to turning various pages and page after page went as expected. There were no duplicates and no matter how many pages I tuned it was always the same. If I looked at her askance it was not intentional. It is not for me to question these things but sometimes you just have to wonder.
And then there is Evan's thing. You know, the thing. Sorry, I couldn't resist a Joe Biden-ism. Anyway, Evan comes out of his bedroom talking nonsense about his air conditioner. You know, the one we just had installed. He says that it was acting funny. It would turn off and on and then it would do some other things that suggested that it might just not be working correctly. We just bought the damn thing! So I asked, politely, of course, that he do his best to duplicate the issue and wee would take it from there.
Well, wouldn't you know it? He could not duplicate it. Nancy thought that maybe he rolled over on to the remote when he was half asleep and that seemed plausible but Evan indicated quite clearly that that was not the case. He promised to do a little more sleuthing and even with the extra effort he could not get it to do what he thought it was or was not doing earlier in the day.
That was a relief since I wasn't looking forward to having to return the unit to Home Depot. I didn't want Home Depot to become one of those stores where you always had to wonder whether or not what you were buying was of dubious quality. I could get to that place fairly quickly if this air conditioner turns out to be a dud.
So I don't know where I'm going with all of this other than to say shit happens sometimes. And, if what they say about tragedies happening in threes, and let me just say that Nancy's and Evan's oddball occurrences are not a tragedy by any stretch of the imagination, then there must be one more oddity coming down the pike. I'll be on the lookout.
You know what they say about writing. You need to just start and if you start then you'll be on your way. On your way where who knows. I don't have anything, in particular, to touch on so I'll have to conjure up some nonsense and see if that doesn't get the job done. Did I mention that I can't seem to find a damn tube for my bike tire? I've been to a handful of shops around town and they are plumb out of them. I've been kicking around Amazon thinking that I'd find a quick solution. Well, not so much.
You see, this coronavirus thing has created a lot of demand for bicycles since it is a good solo kind of thing that people can do without coming into contact with people who might make them sick and maybe even die. I recall walking into Walmart a month or so ago and looking at the bicycle section. I noticed that it was completely sold out of stock.
There wasn't a Schwinn on the floor. I know, I know. I'm dating myself. They still make Schwinn's. Right? I felt bad thinking of all the little boys and girls, not to mention their parents, who had their hearts set on taking up biking during the pandemic only to find that there wasn't a set of wheels available for sale on which to ride off into the sunset. I guess it's true what they say about life-sucking and then you die.
But I am not without skills and relevant experience when it comes to fixing up bikes. I've been patching my tubes and replacing my tires ever since I owned my very first bike. I was a real Ernie truth be told. It can be a messy job so it's just easier to buy new ones rather than trying to patch up the old ones until and unless buying new ones doesn't work for whatever reason. So I threw a couple of patches on the tube and I'm sitting here a day later looking at a tire and a tube that hasn’t gone flat sitting overnight so I'm thinking that I'm good to go.
Were it not for my visit to the dentist the other day I would be off and running, or biking, straight away this morning. I have instructions to take it easy for a couple of days before doing any exercise so I'm doing just that. All in all, I'm not in any pain so I'll not be taking the pain medication prescribed. I know some people take that stuff for kicks but not me. I would just as soon throw it in the trash as look at it. That said, having it on hand just in case has been comforting. I've been taking the other meds as prescribed although I've also had no use for the extra strength Ibuprofen. Those babies will likely be set aside for future emergencies.
I'm doing my best to be a good patient but sitting around without exercising doesn't cut the mustard. I don't do "nothing" well. I do want to make sure that I pass my follow-up test with flying colors so I'll be sticking to the prescribed regimen short of using the meds which I've already discussed. Considering the work done, I should have more pain or discomfort but that is not the case. I am a fucking marvel of modern science I am. That has to be the caffeine talking because I don't know that guy. Thank the baby Jesus that we're only talking one tooth here.
I'm a day further along now and today I get back in the saddle. I'm talking biking here. Did you think I was talking about horses? What am I? A fucking equestrian? Being slightly incapacitated after my procedure at the dentists I'm probably better off riding my bike than getting on a horse. Then again, I'm a little concerned about being too cautious.
You know what they say about changing up your routines. It's best to stay in the saddle, there's that damn equestrian reference again, and continuing to do what I've always done. For me, that means riding like the wind, riding like I haven't a care in the world, riding like I'm the only guy on the road, and riding like a man on a mission. It's an edgy proposition but there you have it.
Nancy made an interesting observation yesterday. She noticed that a lot of people had wood deliveries sitting in their driveways and she wondered aloud if those deliveries might have something to do with a potential resurgence of the coronavirus over the coming winter. "Maybe we should order some wood," she lamented wistfully.
We do have some wood but it's been sitting around for a few years so I don't know if it's good to go or not. It's one of those things I need to lookup. We have both electric and oil so I'm not too concerned about running into a problem if we do see a resurgence but more is always better.
It might be worth noting that the local bird population seems to be very active in and around our bird feeders these days. I don't think that's any indication of end times, but stocking up on calories ahead of what could be a nasty winter is a scenario that is, at a minimum, worthy of consideration. Then again, birds don't do that sort of thing. Right? They probably get while the getting is good and count their blessings that food is abundant. It's that whole living in the moment sort of thing. Good for them.
Why then, do you suppose the finches are emptying my thistle feeder faster than usual? Is it because they like the particular brand of thistle that I use to fill the feeder? Are there more finches than usual because I've been feeding them so well? Maybe they've been reproducing in record numbers because of the plentiful food supplies provided by yours truly. They are a pleasant species to have around to be sure. They could pass for parakeets if you didn't know better. Their plumage is pleasing to the eye and their little breasts plump with the color of the sun. If I was a finch, falling in love would not be a bridge too far.
Evan, Nancy, and I took a drive this afternoon looking for a farm stand where we might find some nice local corn and maybe a container or two of local blueberries. It seems there are more stands than one might expect given the number of places we drove by on the way to one place that I knew had what we were looking for. With grilling in mind, I also found some summer squash, zucchini, onions, and a couple of other niceties that I wasn't expecting but was pleased as punch to tuck into my basket.
When we arrived we were only the second party to enter the place and that put the joint at maximum capacity in the era of the coronavirus. Not having to rub elbows with other strangers was fine with me and I think it easily passed muster with the Missus. She's about as jittery as you can get about this whole thing so she was happy to see limits imposed on customers coming and going from the establishment. Since it was more of a large stall than a small store with a well-defined entrance and exit, all the better. Evan was smart to wait behind in the car while we did our shopping.
I have to believe that things were fairly well picked over given that we arrived late afternoon. The peaches remaining were small enough to cup in the palm of your hand; The tomatoes leftover were greenish and maybe picked a tad prematurely; There were no large squashes, the sort you stuff and bake, to be found; and the blueberries, although plentiful, are probably going to be bitter if the fact that there were so many available says anything at all about their quality. Is that a Woodpecker at my thistle feeder?
Explaining the unexplained is not my cup of tea. Nancy mentioned to me yesterday that the book she was reading on her iPad had duplicated pages and no matter which page she turned to it was always the same. Well, I'd never seen such a thing but I thought to myself that it's possible. I don't know about you but I need to see these things for myself. For one, it seems unlikely since I've never seen it before. I didn't doubt her but if she could show me then we could go from there. Maybe we need to transfer the book all over again. Maybe something got lost in the process when we first put the book on her iPad. Anything is possible.
What if she couldn't reproduce it? What if she couldn't prove to me that what she was saying was true? What if it turned out to be a figment of her imagination? Would I be polite and pass it off as nothing more than a miscue of sorts? Is there something more sinister and maybe even something more malevolent going on? I had the same book on my iPad so I took to turning various pages and page after page went as expected. There were no duplicates and no matter how many pages I tuned it was always the same. If I looked at her askance it was not intentional. It is not for me to question these things but sometimes you just have to wonder.
And then there is Evan's thing. You know, the thing. Sorry, I couldn't resist a Joe Biden-ism. Anyway, Evan comes out of his bedroom talking nonsense about his air conditioner. You know, the one we just had installed. He says that it was acting funny. It would turn off and on and then it would do some other things that suggested that it might just not be working correctly. We just bought the damn thing! So I asked, politely, of course, that he do his best to duplicate the issue and wee would take it from there.
Well, wouldn't you know it? He could not duplicate it. Nancy thought that maybe he rolled over on to the remote when he was half asleep and that seemed plausible but Evan indicated quite clearly that that was not the case. He promised to do a little more sleuthing and even with the extra effort he could not get it to do what he thought it was or was not doing earlier in the day.
That was a relief since I wasn't looking forward to having to return the unit to Home Depot. I didn't want Home Depot to become one of those stores where you always had to wonder whether or not what you were buying was of dubious quality. I could get to that place fairly quickly if this air conditioner turns out to be a dud.
So I don't know where I'm going with all of this other than to say shit happens sometimes. And, if what they say about tragedies happening in threes, and let me just say that Nancy's and Evan's oddball occurrences are not a tragedy by any stretch of the imagination, then there must be one more oddity coming down the pike. I'll be on the lookout.
Huzzah!
26/07/20 07:44
It really does look like we're going to have a bumper crop of tomatoes this year. Not sure if it has to do with better and more frequent waterings or maybe it has more to do with the bag of horse manure that I worked into the soil early on in the season. I can't believe how tall the plants are never mind how much fruit they may or may not be producing. And the fruit looks to be plentiful from my vantage point so it all bears watching and maybe even a little more watering here and there to make sure that we finish the season strong.
I have yet to designate a proper container to hold our delicious little friends until they turn into the rosy little red globes that we love to pop into our mouths until our cheeks reveal their contours. Until that happens, they will continue to roll around unconstrained on our kitchen counter top. I'll pluck them from their stems prematurely on occasion and let them ripen off the vine. I'm not sure which option, on the vine or off the vine, is the better of the two or which one produces the sweeter fruit so I may have to try both and see which one works best.
While I'm delighted that we had the work done in the basement to replace the insulation I'm now giving a little thought to what to do next. If moisture played a role in the diminishment of the quality of the existing insulation over time then I should be thinking about solving that moisture problem if there is such a thing. The first step will be to place a humidity gauge down there to make sure that we do in fact have a humidity problem. If true, the next step would be to look into getting a dehumidifier set up down there. Talk about having a dizzying number of options. There is a lot to consider.
The last thing I need in my life right now is a chore that has me going into our basement and emptying a water container every day. I'm not sure if that would even be required but I'll know more when I get my first humidity readings. Assuming there is a humidity issue, there is no good way to empty the water from a yet to be set up humidifier since we have no sump pump or alternate drainage so this may a question for the professionals. Doing nothing is seemingly not a good option either since I'm not wanting to see our recent investment go to hell in a hand basket for the want of a decent humidifier.
I was thinking about joining a phase three study for one of the coronavirus vaccines. Just for shits and giggles really. One of the studies is in the Boston area so that is probably a non-starter since I don't want to have to travel into the city to get what could be a placebo rather than the real McCoy. If I'm going to put myself out there as a guinea pig I suppose I want some assurance that it's worth the time and effort. That's not how these types of studies work, Johnny Boy. It's a crap shoot. I suppose I could just say that I'm advancing the study of science when it comes to inoculating the masses against this nasty virus. I really do need to find a study closer to home. That could be a challenge.
In the meantime, we wear our masks when we go into places and we keep our distance from other people. I don't have an issue with the mask thing and it's become something akin to second nature when I'm out and about. You just don't think of it. Where I differ from my better half is that she thinks if you're not wearing a mask you deserve every bit of ridicule and shame that the masses can throw at you.
If it's feces they're throwing then so be it. Let me cut to the chase. She's a mask nazi. There, I said it. She's bought into the hyperbole hook, line, and sinker. If I'm a moderating influence at all, you wouldn't know it from the vitriol coming out of her mouth when she sees someone violating the rules out in public.
Nancy won't go into a store where the employees aren't wearing masks. I could give a good god darn. I don't judge them one way or another and if that is what they choose to do then that's fine. I have my mask so I'm not likely to catch anything from them so who cares. Really, who cares?
And it may be true that some folks don't wear a mask because they haven't drank a sufficient amount of the Cool Aid served up by the main street media and their taskmasters in the democrat party. They've got fear playing on a loop 24-7 and it all goes away when people go to the polls to elect Joe Biden in November of this year. You just wait and see.
You can bet your bottom dollar that if a democrat president was coordinating and rolling out what Trump has been rolling out when it comes to putting together these efforts to create public-private partnerships etc. in order to solve this coronavirus issue that the media would singing his praises day in and day out. Instead, the public is fed a daily dose of hysteria in an effort to create the illusion that Trump is not only doing nothing but rather that he is slow rolling or stonewalling efforts to bring the full weight of the government to bear in order to protect the American public. Nothing could be further from the truth.
I don't hold the mask nazi thing against Nancy just so you know. I worry that she's getting her information from all the wrong places. When you get your information from places like the Boston Globe and the New York Times then you have to understand that they have an agenda when they write their stories.
They are not likely to write anything flattering or positive about Trump and, in fact, they are likely to skew stories to make Trump look bad. Like I said, they have an agenda. As hard as I try to tell Nancy to expand her horizons on subjects like the coronavirus by considering other sources, her inclination is not do that. I can only do so much.
Nancy's new puzzle arrived in the mail yesterday so she's a happy camper. The puzzle pieces have been removed from the box and are now laid out in a larger cardboard box in our garage in order to air out the pieces. It arrived in the mail stinking of high heaven with a pungent plastic smell that is unnatural at a minimum and unnervingly likely toxic to anyone within ten feet of breathing it in at worse.
It didn't help that the pieces, all 1,000 of them, were stored for safe keeping inside a hermetically sealed plastic bag. She should have known that opening the bag would unleash a stench of epic proportions and she could have taken the appropriate precautions. Holding the pieces at arms length isn't going to get the job done.
My darling really is at loose ends when she has no puzzle to work on. She's at a bit of a disadvantage now that we're in the midst of a pandemic because her usual sources for such puzzles are places that she just won't go into anymore. She won't take a chance that one or more of the puzzle pieces of the second hand puzzles that she used to delight in poring over now threaten to infect her with the coronavirus.
I tell her, in so many words, that she is being just a bit irrational but my comments fall on deaf ears. Knowing how important having a puzzle on hand is to her, I've even offered to go into these places to find a puzzle for her. She's having none of it. So the new puzzles come with their own problems scents and smells being front and center. The good news is that scents and smells go away. Maybe they don't really go away. Maybe you just get used to them so they all of a sudden seem less permeating, less caustic, and less annoying. Whichever the case, it's a familiar pattern by now so the drill is always the same. It's funny how that works.
In our visit over this past weekend with Mrs. G the topic of lobster rolls came up. We were telling her about our good luck down at Rye Harbor where we had the chance recently to pick up a couple of nice lobster rolls. It only dawned on us after the fact that Mrs G had somewhat recently expressed a fondness for lobster rolls and french fries. This harkens back to conversations we had with her during a time when visitors were not allowed at her facility due to concerns about the coronavirus.
The entire compound was essentially on lockdown. "If only I could leave this place for half a day, that's what I would have", we remember her lamenting. Her focus was primal and our charge for any upcoming visitation was clear: We would bring her a nice lobster roll and she would have it with or without the fries. Fries, after all, don't travel well and cold fries don't cut the mustard. I'm paraphrasing, of course.
In retrospect, we shouldn't have gone on and on about how good they were. You could see the blood draining from her face as she too recalled earlier conversations on this very topic. I don't think she thought us inconsiderate, or worse yet, mean, for reminiscing although she may have been a little curious as to why we hadn't remember those very same conversations and maybe the promises we made and now, failed to keep. We were probably caught up in the moment as it were and while we're never really at a loss of words during any of our meets and greets we have on occasion lost sight of things maybe we shouldn't have.
I'm back here the next morning the day after writing the above mentioned paragraphs trying to pick up where I left off. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. The music is different, the day is different, the mood is different, everything and nothing is the same. I'm thinking that writing about lobster salad betrays my white privilege and my sense of shame and entitlement is overwhelming.
None of that is true. It isn't true because I don't subscribe to any of it and nor should you. The only guilt I feel is the guilt I maybe feel for not remembering that Mrs G wanted a roll and we whiffed on it. Not intentionally, mind you. No siree, Bob.
I enjoyed watching a good bit of Bill Barr's testimony before Congress yesterday. Why Nadler, the corpulent chairman and the penultimate never Trumper, thought it was a good idea to have Barr appear before his committee I'll never know. It was largely predictable but the lunacy of the left was on full display as they attacked Barr time and time again for doing his job protecting federal courthouses and other institutions from attacks by far left groups like Antifa and other malignancies plaguing our democrat run cities.
These leftists represent the party that wants to assume power in the Fall by keeping the House, winning back the Senate, and installing one of their own, Joe Biden, as President. Why anyone in their right mind would want these people running our government is a question that every American needs to seriously consider before going to the polls when that day arrives.
Bill Barr asked a very important question of the democrat members of the Congress when he asked the question, "Why can't we just say, you know, the violence against federal courts has to stop? The response from the democrats seated in the gallery? Crickets. Fucking crickets.
The democrat members of Congress condone the violence. Make no mistake about it. They are actually hopeful, and someone even stated this in the hearing, that one or more of the "soldiers" hired to protect the federal courthouse from the rioters will be goaded into killing one or more of the rioters.
There is nothing they would like better than to recreate a Kent State scenario where the government will be seen as overplaying their hand resulting in the deaths of one or more "protestors." Every good cause in a revolution needs martyrs. While I would prefer to see tanks and napalm in response to the insurrection, I nonetheless applaud the troops for their restraint in battling the forces of evil night after night on the streets of Portland.
I have yet to designate a proper container to hold our delicious little friends until they turn into the rosy little red globes that we love to pop into our mouths until our cheeks reveal their contours. Until that happens, they will continue to roll around unconstrained on our kitchen counter top. I'll pluck them from their stems prematurely on occasion and let them ripen off the vine. I'm not sure which option, on the vine or off the vine, is the better of the two or which one produces the sweeter fruit so I may have to try both and see which one works best.
While I'm delighted that we had the work done in the basement to replace the insulation I'm now giving a little thought to what to do next. If moisture played a role in the diminishment of the quality of the existing insulation over time then I should be thinking about solving that moisture problem if there is such a thing. The first step will be to place a humidity gauge down there to make sure that we do in fact have a humidity problem. If true, the next step would be to look into getting a dehumidifier set up down there. Talk about having a dizzying number of options. There is a lot to consider.
The last thing I need in my life right now is a chore that has me going into our basement and emptying a water container every day. I'm not sure if that would even be required but I'll know more when I get my first humidity readings. Assuming there is a humidity issue, there is no good way to empty the water from a yet to be set up humidifier since we have no sump pump or alternate drainage so this may a question for the professionals. Doing nothing is seemingly not a good option either since I'm not wanting to see our recent investment go to hell in a hand basket for the want of a decent humidifier.
I was thinking about joining a phase three study for one of the coronavirus vaccines. Just for shits and giggles really. One of the studies is in the Boston area so that is probably a non-starter since I don't want to have to travel into the city to get what could be a placebo rather than the real McCoy. If I'm going to put myself out there as a guinea pig I suppose I want some assurance that it's worth the time and effort. That's not how these types of studies work, Johnny Boy. It's a crap shoot. I suppose I could just say that I'm advancing the study of science when it comes to inoculating the masses against this nasty virus. I really do need to find a study closer to home. That could be a challenge.
In the meantime, we wear our masks when we go into places and we keep our distance from other people. I don't have an issue with the mask thing and it's become something akin to second nature when I'm out and about. You just don't think of it. Where I differ from my better half is that she thinks if you're not wearing a mask you deserve every bit of ridicule and shame that the masses can throw at you.
If it's feces they're throwing then so be it. Let me cut to the chase. She's a mask nazi. There, I said it. She's bought into the hyperbole hook, line, and sinker. If I'm a moderating influence at all, you wouldn't know it from the vitriol coming out of her mouth when she sees someone violating the rules out in public.
Nancy won't go into a store where the employees aren't wearing masks. I could give a good god darn. I don't judge them one way or another and if that is what they choose to do then that's fine. I have my mask so I'm not likely to catch anything from them so who cares. Really, who cares?
And it may be true that some folks don't wear a mask because they haven't drank a sufficient amount of the Cool Aid served up by the main street media and their taskmasters in the democrat party. They've got fear playing on a loop 24-7 and it all goes away when people go to the polls to elect Joe Biden in November of this year. You just wait and see.
You can bet your bottom dollar that if a democrat president was coordinating and rolling out what Trump has been rolling out when it comes to putting together these efforts to create public-private partnerships etc. in order to solve this coronavirus issue that the media would singing his praises day in and day out. Instead, the public is fed a daily dose of hysteria in an effort to create the illusion that Trump is not only doing nothing but rather that he is slow rolling or stonewalling efforts to bring the full weight of the government to bear in order to protect the American public. Nothing could be further from the truth.
I don't hold the mask nazi thing against Nancy just so you know. I worry that she's getting her information from all the wrong places. When you get your information from places like the Boston Globe and the New York Times then you have to understand that they have an agenda when they write their stories.
They are not likely to write anything flattering or positive about Trump and, in fact, they are likely to skew stories to make Trump look bad. Like I said, they have an agenda. As hard as I try to tell Nancy to expand her horizons on subjects like the coronavirus by considering other sources, her inclination is not do that. I can only do so much.
Nancy's new puzzle arrived in the mail yesterday so she's a happy camper. The puzzle pieces have been removed from the box and are now laid out in a larger cardboard box in our garage in order to air out the pieces. It arrived in the mail stinking of high heaven with a pungent plastic smell that is unnatural at a minimum and unnervingly likely toxic to anyone within ten feet of breathing it in at worse.
It didn't help that the pieces, all 1,000 of them, were stored for safe keeping inside a hermetically sealed plastic bag. She should have known that opening the bag would unleash a stench of epic proportions and she could have taken the appropriate precautions. Holding the pieces at arms length isn't going to get the job done.
My darling really is at loose ends when she has no puzzle to work on. She's at a bit of a disadvantage now that we're in the midst of a pandemic because her usual sources for such puzzles are places that she just won't go into anymore. She won't take a chance that one or more of the puzzle pieces of the second hand puzzles that she used to delight in poring over now threaten to infect her with the coronavirus.
I tell her, in so many words, that she is being just a bit irrational but my comments fall on deaf ears. Knowing how important having a puzzle on hand is to her, I've even offered to go into these places to find a puzzle for her. She's having none of it. So the new puzzles come with their own problems scents and smells being front and center. The good news is that scents and smells go away. Maybe they don't really go away. Maybe you just get used to them so they all of a sudden seem less permeating, less caustic, and less annoying. Whichever the case, it's a familiar pattern by now so the drill is always the same. It's funny how that works.
In our visit over this past weekend with Mrs. G the topic of lobster rolls came up. We were telling her about our good luck down at Rye Harbor where we had the chance recently to pick up a couple of nice lobster rolls. It only dawned on us after the fact that Mrs G had somewhat recently expressed a fondness for lobster rolls and french fries. This harkens back to conversations we had with her during a time when visitors were not allowed at her facility due to concerns about the coronavirus.
The entire compound was essentially on lockdown. "If only I could leave this place for half a day, that's what I would have", we remember her lamenting. Her focus was primal and our charge for any upcoming visitation was clear: We would bring her a nice lobster roll and she would have it with or without the fries. Fries, after all, don't travel well and cold fries don't cut the mustard. I'm paraphrasing, of course.
In retrospect, we shouldn't have gone on and on about how good they were. You could see the blood draining from her face as she too recalled earlier conversations on this very topic. I don't think she thought us inconsiderate, or worse yet, mean, for reminiscing although she may have been a little curious as to why we hadn't remember those very same conversations and maybe the promises we made and now, failed to keep. We were probably caught up in the moment as it were and while we're never really at a loss of words during any of our meets and greets we have on occasion lost sight of things maybe we shouldn't have.
I'm back here the next morning the day after writing the above mentioned paragraphs trying to pick up where I left off. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. The music is different, the day is different, the mood is different, everything and nothing is the same. I'm thinking that writing about lobster salad betrays my white privilege and my sense of shame and entitlement is overwhelming.
None of that is true. It isn't true because I don't subscribe to any of it and nor should you. The only guilt I feel is the guilt I maybe feel for not remembering that Mrs G wanted a roll and we whiffed on it. Not intentionally, mind you. No siree, Bob.
I enjoyed watching a good bit of Bill Barr's testimony before Congress yesterday. Why Nadler, the corpulent chairman and the penultimate never Trumper, thought it was a good idea to have Barr appear before his committee I'll never know. It was largely predictable but the lunacy of the left was on full display as they attacked Barr time and time again for doing his job protecting federal courthouses and other institutions from attacks by far left groups like Antifa and other malignancies plaguing our democrat run cities.
These leftists represent the party that wants to assume power in the Fall by keeping the House, winning back the Senate, and installing one of their own, Joe Biden, as President. Why anyone in their right mind would want these people running our government is a question that every American needs to seriously consider before going to the polls when that day arrives.
Bill Barr asked a very important question of the democrat members of the Congress when he asked the question, "Why can't we just say, you know, the violence against federal courts has to stop? The response from the democrats seated in the gallery? Crickets. Fucking crickets.
The democrat members of Congress condone the violence. Make no mistake about it. They are actually hopeful, and someone even stated this in the hearing, that one or more of the "soldiers" hired to protect the federal courthouse from the rioters will be goaded into killing one or more of the rioters.
There is nothing they would like better than to recreate a Kent State scenario where the government will be seen as overplaying their hand resulting in the deaths of one or more "protestors." Every good cause in a revolution needs martyrs. While I would prefer to see tanks and napalm in response to the insurrection, I nonetheless applaud the troops for their restraint in battling the forces of evil night after night on the streets of Portland.
Who Doesn't Like Lobster?
20/07/20 06:43
Going to be a hot one today, boys and girls. The heat index is going to be up there. We'll have to get our bike rides in early today if we're going to escape the brunt of the heat. I suspect that after 10 or so it's really going to start to get hot as hell and downright unpleasant for those of us who find that sort of thing unpleasant.
It'll be a far cry from the cool breezes down by Rye Harbor last night when Nancy and I decided that there was nothing more important than grabbing a lobster roll from the vendor on site and enjoying those very same rolls while sitting by the rocks overlooking the harbor.
I didn't care how much they cost. I didn't care how long I was going to have to wait in line to get them. I didn't care that the sign at our parking spot said something about 30 minutes and we were likely to exceed that time limit. I didn't care that a family of five stood too close to me in line without a mask between them and they looked hungry. So much so, that I felt a little guilty for standing between them and their banquet of banquets. If only the line were to move a little faster we all might have been a little bit happier for it.
Nancy, being the Covid-19 whisperer that she is, stood several feet away and watched with horror as her husband (that would be me) braved the crowds and the viral strains of god only know what spewing from the mouths of children and their parents so that the two of us might escape uninfected to the picnic tables nearby which were only coincidentally unoccupied at the time of our arrival. Were it not for the fact that there was a lobster roll with her name on it just feet away from where I stood, she might well have insisted that we leave the premises.
Mother bear, who was coddling her brood in line directly behind me walked around me and entered the small shack where she picked up a paper menu from the bin. She was ostensibly checking prices and availability. No sooner did she return when the lot of them just up and walked away leaving their place in line to other interested parties. If they were looking for a meal on the cheap just to keep the kids happy, they came to the wrong place. Maybe lobster rolls are lost on children.
Although we're something of a stones throw away from the Harbor as the bird flies, we've not ever ordered anything to eat from one or more of the shacks that serve up such things at the Harbor. We're also not died-in- the-wool lobster fans so that might explain why we've not eaten down there. But it was dinnertime and we were both a little bit hungry so that was that.
I can tell you that it was worth the wait. For the price, the rolls were just right. There was just enough but not too much lobster and there was a smattering of mayonnaise that wet the lobster without mucking it up altogether. The rolls were toasted and they threw in a couple of bags of chips just for good measure.
Now that the insulation job has been completed I owe it to myself to go take a look-see as it were. It wasn't an inexpensive job so there is always that. You want to make sure that you feel good about that which you decided to do not on a lark but out of necessity. It's akin to having the shingles on your roof replaced after a number of years although having work done in the basement is largely out of sight and out of mind. You throw a dart at the dartboard when it comes to picking and choosing the contractors to do the job and I think that that too was a success.
The insulation guys brought a couple of things to my attention which helped explain a problem or two we were having with the heat in certain rooms in the last couple of years. The ductwork wasn't properly snugged up to the floor vents in those rooms resulting in weirdly cool temperatures compared to rooms throughout the rest of the house.
I may have put my hands over the vents at the time looking to see if there as any heat coming out of the register and while I may have felt some heat it was probably just warmth rising from the basement instead of heat coming directly from the furnace.
Thankfully, I had someone over working on a couple of other things so he attended to the vents and applied the necessary fix. This is not something the insulation contractors were there to fix so it was somewhat interesting and maybe somewhat serendipitous if that's the right word that someone was there to help out. Not just someone, but a person with the requisite skill set to do the job and do it right.
You have to respect people who bring their skills and knowledge to the workplace and who take pride in the work that they do. When I see that in young people, as I did in spades with the insulation contractors, it is indeed heartening.
I'm happy to hear that Trump is sending in Federal troops to Portland, Oregon, to help quell the riots and the mayhem brought to bear upon that city by the Antifa anarchists for 52 straight nights now. Neither the mayor nor the governor has even tried to stop the craziness and this is Trump's opportunity to step in to see if there isn't a solution of some kind. He is, after all, the law and order president despite the fact that many have thought he should have stepped in sooner than he did.
Since the local politicians never requested federal assistance, Trump is sending federal assets ostensibly to protect federal assets, courthouses, etc. The anarchists immediately redirected their efforts to setting the federal courthouse in Portland on fire.
It didn't matter to the anarchists that the building was housing the human assets sent by Trump. The Antifa crowd is on video night after night for the world to see where they are attacking the facade of the federal courthouse with fire extinguishers and anything that they feel will help breach the exterior of the building.
To the casual observer, the anarchists do not appear, at least physically, particularly menacing. They're seen running around the streets of Portland in helter skelter patterns armed with baseball bats and bicycle chains while wearing oddball outfits, carrying homemade shields, and most look somewhat malnourished and, perhaps not coincidentally, effeminate. There, I said it.
Were it not for their anarchical behavior it would be hard for anyone with half a brain to take them seriously. The only question remaining now is how to bring this nonsense to an end without resurrecting the harrowing memories of Tiananmen Square in the eyes of the American public.
It seems like Mr Hobbs has finished up with the tasks assigned him here at hime for the time being. He came highly recommended by my neighbor as a carpenter extraordinaire and he has lived up to that billing. He had a reliable sidekick who seemed to do most of the work while Mr Hobbs was off buying supplies and I'm not sure that that sidekick didn't qualify as a sub contractor. I was sure to give the two gentlemen their due following my inspection of the areas completed and I assured him that I would have him back to do some minor things in the coming months. Nancy got what she wanted done and I got what I wanted done so there's that.
It was just too hot to pay Mrs G a visit last weekend but it seems manageable today so we'll making a trip over to Exeter to do just that. This will be our second visit since they've relaxed their policies during this so-called pandemic and they are now allowing relatives and friends on the premises. We'll pull up a chair on the patio outside Mrs G's apartment while maintaining the appropriate social distancing. Masks appear optional at least as best we could tell the last time we visited. I'm not sure we saw many people wearing the damn things to begin with so we let ours slip to our laps as well.
People, especially the elderly, may be letting their guard down a little prematurely but even the elderly want to get on with their lives. Sometimes I'm reminded of the movie "Cocoon" when I'm visiting Mrs G's facility where everyone seems happy-go-lucky and without a care in the world. Well, that was true in the second half of the movie anyway after some sort of cataclysmic event which turned the lot of them into dreamy adolescents again.
It appears that most of the good folk at her facility view the masks and precautions as necessary but just not for them. Put them on the security people or the people working in the kitchen or maybe even on the delivery people but not the residents. They want to spend the precious time remaining they have on this earth living their lives unencumbered by such nonsense the likes of which we've seen during this pandemic. I'm talking about masks, quarantines, the absence of dining facilities and other niceties afforded to the residents, and the particularly abusive rules around the matters concerning human contact. Fuck the elbow bumps! We want hugs!
I'll be going for a haircut on Monday. It will be my first haircut since this pandemic began. I'm not a big haircut guy as haircuts go but sooner or later you need to just get it done. And there is no mistaking the fact that it feels good to get your ears lowered especially in the summer. The person that usually cuts my hair asked me for my contact information maybe back as far as February and well before this pandemic thing began. She asked for it in a low key sort of way and it suggested to me that she was looking to go out on her own but wanted to have an established clientele before leaving the workplace.
She reached out to me recently and indicated that she will not be going back to her workplace and has set up shop in a building adjacent to her home. She inquired as to whether or not I was interested in having her cut my hair. I'll admit that it feels a little weird but I have a pretty good comfort level with the stylist so Im going to run with that. She didn't say anything about how much she was going to charge, what or what not to wear when it comes to personal protection equipment, etc. All of that suits me just fine.
Too many rules and restrictions have a tendency to make me want to avoid getting involved rather than the other way around. We'll sort it out as we go along and that's okay with me. I'm not fearful one way or another about contracting the virus but I'm guessing my chances of not contracting it are better in her small shop (I'm assuming it's small) than the mill of a joint where she used to work where there are a half dozen stylists working on any given day. She can more easily schedule people to give herself time between cuts to spray down the equipment if that is what she intends to do. Wish me luck!
It'll be a far cry from the cool breezes down by Rye Harbor last night when Nancy and I decided that there was nothing more important than grabbing a lobster roll from the vendor on site and enjoying those very same rolls while sitting by the rocks overlooking the harbor.
I didn't care how much they cost. I didn't care how long I was going to have to wait in line to get them. I didn't care that the sign at our parking spot said something about 30 minutes and we were likely to exceed that time limit. I didn't care that a family of five stood too close to me in line without a mask between them and they looked hungry. So much so, that I felt a little guilty for standing between them and their banquet of banquets. If only the line were to move a little faster we all might have been a little bit happier for it.
Nancy, being the Covid-19 whisperer that she is, stood several feet away and watched with horror as her husband (that would be me) braved the crowds and the viral strains of god only know what spewing from the mouths of children and their parents so that the two of us might escape uninfected to the picnic tables nearby which were only coincidentally unoccupied at the time of our arrival. Were it not for the fact that there was a lobster roll with her name on it just feet away from where I stood, she might well have insisted that we leave the premises.
Mother bear, who was coddling her brood in line directly behind me walked around me and entered the small shack where she picked up a paper menu from the bin. She was ostensibly checking prices and availability. No sooner did she return when the lot of them just up and walked away leaving their place in line to other interested parties. If they were looking for a meal on the cheap just to keep the kids happy, they came to the wrong place. Maybe lobster rolls are lost on children.
Although we're something of a stones throw away from the Harbor as the bird flies, we've not ever ordered anything to eat from one or more of the shacks that serve up such things at the Harbor. We're also not died-in- the-wool lobster fans so that might explain why we've not eaten down there. But it was dinnertime and we were both a little bit hungry so that was that.
I can tell you that it was worth the wait. For the price, the rolls were just right. There was just enough but not too much lobster and there was a smattering of mayonnaise that wet the lobster without mucking it up altogether. The rolls were toasted and they threw in a couple of bags of chips just for good measure.
Now that the insulation job has been completed I owe it to myself to go take a look-see as it were. It wasn't an inexpensive job so there is always that. You want to make sure that you feel good about that which you decided to do not on a lark but out of necessity. It's akin to having the shingles on your roof replaced after a number of years although having work done in the basement is largely out of sight and out of mind. You throw a dart at the dartboard when it comes to picking and choosing the contractors to do the job and I think that that too was a success.
The insulation guys brought a couple of things to my attention which helped explain a problem or two we were having with the heat in certain rooms in the last couple of years. The ductwork wasn't properly snugged up to the floor vents in those rooms resulting in weirdly cool temperatures compared to rooms throughout the rest of the house.
I may have put my hands over the vents at the time looking to see if there as any heat coming out of the register and while I may have felt some heat it was probably just warmth rising from the basement instead of heat coming directly from the furnace.
Thankfully, I had someone over working on a couple of other things so he attended to the vents and applied the necessary fix. This is not something the insulation contractors were there to fix so it was somewhat interesting and maybe somewhat serendipitous if that's the right word that someone was there to help out. Not just someone, but a person with the requisite skill set to do the job and do it right.
You have to respect people who bring their skills and knowledge to the workplace and who take pride in the work that they do. When I see that in young people, as I did in spades with the insulation contractors, it is indeed heartening.
I'm happy to hear that Trump is sending in Federal troops to Portland, Oregon, to help quell the riots and the mayhem brought to bear upon that city by the Antifa anarchists for 52 straight nights now. Neither the mayor nor the governor has even tried to stop the craziness and this is Trump's opportunity to step in to see if there isn't a solution of some kind. He is, after all, the law and order president despite the fact that many have thought he should have stepped in sooner than he did.
Since the local politicians never requested federal assistance, Trump is sending federal assets ostensibly to protect federal assets, courthouses, etc. The anarchists immediately redirected their efforts to setting the federal courthouse in Portland on fire.
It didn't matter to the anarchists that the building was housing the human assets sent by Trump. The Antifa crowd is on video night after night for the world to see where they are attacking the facade of the federal courthouse with fire extinguishers and anything that they feel will help breach the exterior of the building.
To the casual observer, the anarchists do not appear, at least physically, particularly menacing. They're seen running around the streets of Portland in helter skelter patterns armed with baseball bats and bicycle chains while wearing oddball outfits, carrying homemade shields, and most look somewhat malnourished and, perhaps not coincidentally, effeminate. There, I said it.
Were it not for their anarchical behavior it would be hard for anyone with half a brain to take them seriously. The only question remaining now is how to bring this nonsense to an end without resurrecting the harrowing memories of Tiananmen Square in the eyes of the American public.
It seems like Mr Hobbs has finished up with the tasks assigned him here at hime for the time being. He came highly recommended by my neighbor as a carpenter extraordinaire and he has lived up to that billing. He had a reliable sidekick who seemed to do most of the work while Mr Hobbs was off buying supplies and I'm not sure that that sidekick didn't qualify as a sub contractor. I was sure to give the two gentlemen their due following my inspection of the areas completed and I assured him that I would have him back to do some minor things in the coming months. Nancy got what she wanted done and I got what I wanted done so there's that.
It was just too hot to pay Mrs G a visit last weekend but it seems manageable today so we'll making a trip over to Exeter to do just that. This will be our second visit since they've relaxed their policies during this so-called pandemic and they are now allowing relatives and friends on the premises. We'll pull up a chair on the patio outside Mrs G's apartment while maintaining the appropriate social distancing. Masks appear optional at least as best we could tell the last time we visited. I'm not sure we saw many people wearing the damn things to begin with so we let ours slip to our laps as well.
People, especially the elderly, may be letting their guard down a little prematurely but even the elderly want to get on with their lives. Sometimes I'm reminded of the movie "Cocoon" when I'm visiting Mrs G's facility where everyone seems happy-go-lucky and without a care in the world. Well, that was true in the second half of the movie anyway after some sort of cataclysmic event which turned the lot of them into dreamy adolescents again.
It appears that most of the good folk at her facility view the masks and precautions as necessary but just not for them. Put them on the security people or the people working in the kitchen or maybe even on the delivery people but not the residents. They want to spend the precious time remaining they have on this earth living their lives unencumbered by such nonsense the likes of which we've seen during this pandemic. I'm talking about masks, quarantines, the absence of dining facilities and other niceties afforded to the residents, and the particularly abusive rules around the matters concerning human contact. Fuck the elbow bumps! We want hugs!
I'll be going for a haircut on Monday. It will be my first haircut since this pandemic began. I'm not a big haircut guy as haircuts go but sooner or later you need to just get it done. And there is no mistaking the fact that it feels good to get your ears lowered especially in the summer. The person that usually cuts my hair asked me for my contact information maybe back as far as February and well before this pandemic thing began. She asked for it in a low key sort of way and it suggested to me that she was looking to go out on her own but wanted to have an established clientele before leaving the workplace.
She reached out to me recently and indicated that she will not be going back to her workplace and has set up shop in a building adjacent to her home. She inquired as to whether or not I was interested in having her cut my hair. I'll admit that it feels a little weird but I have a pretty good comfort level with the stylist so Im going to run with that. She didn't say anything about how much she was going to charge, what or what not to wear when it comes to personal protection equipment, etc. All of that suits me just fine.
Too many rules and restrictions have a tendency to make me want to avoid getting involved rather than the other way around. We'll sort it out as we go along and that's okay with me. I'm not fearful one way or another about contracting the virus but I'm guessing my chances of not contracting it are better in her small shop (I'm assuming it's small) than the mill of a joint where she used to work where there are a half dozen stylists working on any given day. She can more easily schedule people to give herself time between cuts to spray down the equipment if that is what she intends to do. Wish me luck!
Back In the Swing of Things
14/07/20 07:08
I'm heartened by a couple of polling things this morning that I'm seeing in the news. Trump has the support of roughly 90% of the evangelicals according to the polls. Biden's support in the black community, on the other hand, is softening. They say if Trump can get 15% of the black vote or so it is all over for the dems come November. You can see how fluid this thing is. If Trump can reinvigorate his support amongst suburban moms with his stand on getting schools back open in the Fall, all the better. Lots of moving parts.
I was thinking to myself yesterday while on my bike ride that the stock market is a win-win for Trump. If the market is doing well come November, it's party on with the republicans and President Trump. If the market is not doing well, is there anyone better than Trump to bring it around given his pro-business and anti-regulation policies? Besides, he's proven that he can deliver a hot economy and memories are short but they're not so short that people have forgotten what he is capable of doing when it comes to the economy.
Even Nancy agrees that Biden, his cognitive issues aside, has been in government for nearly 50 years and what has he to show for it other than a lot of nothing. I'm quick to remind her that personalities aside, and at the end of the day, you have to vote for the policies and not the person. It's easier than ever before to pick and choose those policies that suit you and your family to a tee and which ones don't. I guess some would say that is just one more indicator of just how polarized our politics have become.
I was trying to get Nancy to think a little bit about my proposal which has the two of us, and maybe the three of us, getting away for a couple of days this coming weekend. We have some people coming around to do some insulation work and it requires that we not be on the premises for a period of time so why not get away? Nancy is just not budging. I think she's open a day trip to a neighboring state but anything more than that is just a non-starter. When I tell her how good the trip might be for the Ev man she is usually more receptive but not this time. She's digging in her heels.
It has everything to do with this covid bullshit. It has her knickers in a bunch and I just don't see how we're going to fix that. She hasn't been in a store of any kind since this all began and not doing something for an extended period of time has both intended and unintended consequences. The unintended piece is what we're struggling with now that the virus thing is on the wane here in Southern New Hampshire. She is just not showing any inclination whatsoever to resume her normal life when it comes to doing things outside the house.
A local hospital in a nearby town discharged their last covid patient this past weekend and it made the local papers as a story of interest. So, when all of the national news is spewing its nonsense about how covid is on the rise along with deaths, incubations, etc., we have a hospital here that is saying loudly and clearly, no mas (Spanish for "no more.") And I'm thinking to myself, a hospital without even a single covid patient in a hospital that serves tens of thousands does not a pandemic make. In other words, how can we possibly be enduring the scourge of the century when this one local but sizable hospital hasn't a single covid patient?
Considering how emotionally and physically tethered I am to my dear wife in her time of need, I am feeling a little housebound and stifled in a lot of ways that don't particularly suit my nature. I either have to get her to change her ways or I need to make some personal adjustments on my own in order to survive. Before I make my wife out to be too overly closeted and downright dysfunctional, I should mention that she does get out and about but maybe just not enough for my tastes. It might even surprise you to know that she loves to go biking (without a mask) and will tolerate visiting her mom at her independent living facility just fine.
When and where she pushes the boundaries of her confinement is her prerogative so I'll not be too intrusive or insistent lest I want to sleep on the couch or otherwise be confined to my own personal "doghouse." I mentioned last night that I might just get away to New York this coming weekend to see family on my own and it was met with a collective shrug. I repeated myself just to make sure she hadn't already fallen asleep. The only response she could muster was, "why don't you take Evan with you?" In baseball parlance, her response was akin to a bunt rolling foul.
Nancy continues to work from home as well so bringing home the bacon gives her a well deserved sense of purpose. She hasn't shared this with her employers, but she has no intention of ever going back into the office. It's not as though she's worked extra hard at home to prove her mettle in order to perpetuate her at-home status because she is and has always been a solid "worker bee." Her worth has been well established and just between you and me, they are lucky to have her. It's a part time schtick with a part time wage but she's never wanted anything more than that. Well, not since she's started working part time anyway.
We're watching the show "Perry Mason" on television. We're three episodes in to what I think is probably a ten or more episode season. I was telling Nancy just this morning that one thing I like about watching programming from networks like HBO, Showtime, Sundance, etc., is that the shows really are quality shows. The writing is good, the characters and related performances are typically well done, and the look and feel of the shows are not short of the mark due to budgetary constraints. They are also more likely as well to have known actors with established careers and faithful followings. Perry Mason is one such show.
Where I part company with these networks is when their wokeness intrudes on my social sensibilities. I'm talking about the constant virtue signaling when it comes to everything from the plight of immigrants to the fanciful nonsense being pushed by the LGBTQ lobby. How the networks weave this bullshit into their plots is quite deceptive and unless your bullshit meter is up and running you quite likely find yourself accepting what they're selling without the usual response which would go something like this: What the fuck was that we just saw? No, I don't accept that what they're selling as "normal" these days. Aberrant, yes. Normal, no.
If I want to feel sorry for a Guatemalan immigrant crossing our country's border in the middle of the night then that's my prerogative. If I'm more inclined to think that what that represents is not a good thing for our country them I'm entitled to that point of view as well. Stop trying to make me feel guilty for believing that watching same sex actors on the screen with children in the same room is not a travesty and somehow a threat to their impressionable psyches. And don't tell me that the trans movement is a step in the right direction when it comes to forging new paths into the realm of human expression. It's sheer depravity.
I'll get off my soapbox now. I was telling Evan the other day that he should get a bone for his friend's dog to chew on when he's riding in his (Evan's) car. He's a pup and he's chewing on everything on sight when he's out for a ride. I'll probably need to buy the bone but I should hurry before he does some real damage. Today, he's chewing on some cardboard take-out packages and an unopened box of trash bags. Tomorrow it will be the leather seats. The ceiling light above the rear seat has been removed and god only knows what happened there. A mosquito just flitted across my computer screen. CLAP! Got em. Little bastard.
Nancy is going to drive me crazy with this insulation stuff. She's been after me the last few days wringing her hands about this and that as it relates to the company coming to replace insulation in our basement. She starts reading about the materials that they plan to use and she starts with the fretting already. The fretting turns to fear and her thinking becomes illogical and irrational. Do we need to notify our neighbors who may or may not be downwind of these chemicals once they start spraying, she asks. This online document says that we should leave our house for 24 hours and not the 4 hours recommended by the installers, she continues.
I'm buying some of the nuttiness but not all of it. I'm thinking that maybe we should cover the vents from the basement when they start and maybe make sure we close all the windows when we leave for however long we leave. I might like to take in a couple of my bird feeders that are close to the area where they might be working. Oh, and putting the bird bath away goes without saying. I can't have my little bird buddies drinking contaminated water. Who the hell knows. They might produce offspring with multiple heads or be short a body part or two necessary for flight, procreation, or god only knows what.
We got away for a few hours as recommended and I think it was a good thing in a couple of ways. One, we weren't around when the spraying took place, and 2, I got Nancy out of her comfort zone and back into the real world. Even she admitted that taking the ride we took and spending time in the stores we visited went a long way to restore her sense of equilibrium when it comes to getting beck to what we affectionately call "normal." Getting her into the stores was easier when I lured her in by singing the praises of the things she loves to peruse and then by talking up the things we've been meaning to buy but haven't because of the pandemic.
Not to belabor the point but we went into Home Depot to look at doorbells of all things, Lowes - to look at more doorbells (Lowes had a better selection), Starbucks - where we were allowed in to order while others stood in line outside on the sidewalk, Target - where Nancy went aisle by aisle looking at all the things she used to love to look at while in the store, and then I went into a small bakery in Newburyport to pick up a couple of cookies. We sat at the table just outside the bakery until we realized that the flow of traffic going in and out of the bakery put us at increased risk of contracting the virus due to our proximity to the traffic itself. The table at which we were seated was unoccupied for a reason. A very good reason indeed.
I was thinking to myself yesterday while on my bike ride that the stock market is a win-win for Trump. If the market is doing well come November, it's party on with the republicans and President Trump. If the market is not doing well, is there anyone better than Trump to bring it around given his pro-business and anti-regulation policies? Besides, he's proven that he can deliver a hot economy and memories are short but they're not so short that people have forgotten what he is capable of doing when it comes to the economy.
Even Nancy agrees that Biden, his cognitive issues aside, has been in government for nearly 50 years and what has he to show for it other than a lot of nothing. I'm quick to remind her that personalities aside, and at the end of the day, you have to vote for the policies and not the person. It's easier than ever before to pick and choose those policies that suit you and your family to a tee and which ones don't. I guess some would say that is just one more indicator of just how polarized our politics have become.
I was trying to get Nancy to think a little bit about my proposal which has the two of us, and maybe the three of us, getting away for a couple of days this coming weekend. We have some people coming around to do some insulation work and it requires that we not be on the premises for a period of time so why not get away? Nancy is just not budging. I think she's open a day trip to a neighboring state but anything more than that is just a non-starter. When I tell her how good the trip might be for the Ev man she is usually more receptive but not this time. She's digging in her heels.
It has everything to do with this covid bullshit. It has her knickers in a bunch and I just don't see how we're going to fix that. She hasn't been in a store of any kind since this all began and not doing something for an extended period of time has both intended and unintended consequences. The unintended piece is what we're struggling with now that the virus thing is on the wane here in Southern New Hampshire. She is just not showing any inclination whatsoever to resume her normal life when it comes to doing things outside the house.
A local hospital in a nearby town discharged their last covid patient this past weekend and it made the local papers as a story of interest. So, when all of the national news is spewing its nonsense about how covid is on the rise along with deaths, incubations, etc., we have a hospital here that is saying loudly and clearly, no mas (Spanish for "no more.") And I'm thinking to myself, a hospital without even a single covid patient in a hospital that serves tens of thousands does not a pandemic make. In other words, how can we possibly be enduring the scourge of the century when this one local but sizable hospital hasn't a single covid patient?
Considering how emotionally and physically tethered I am to my dear wife in her time of need, I am feeling a little housebound and stifled in a lot of ways that don't particularly suit my nature. I either have to get her to change her ways or I need to make some personal adjustments on my own in order to survive. Before I make my wife out to be too overly closeted and downright dysfunctional, I should mention that she does get out and about but maybe just not enough for my tastes. It might even surprise you to know that she loves to go biking (without a mask) and will tolerate visiting her mom at her independent living facility just fine.
When and where she pushes the boundaries of her confinement is her prerogative so I'll not be too intrusive or insistent lest I want to sleep on the couch or otherwise be confined to my own personal "doghouse." I mentioned last night that I might just get away to New York this coming weekend to see family on my own and it was met with a collective shrug. I repeated myself just to make sure she hadn't already fallen asleep. The only response she could muster was, "why don't you take Evan with you?" In baseball parlance, her response was akin to a bunt rolling foul.
Nancy continues to work from home as well so bringing home the bacon gives her a well deserved sense of purpose. She hasn't shared this with her employers, but she has no intention of ever going back into the office. It's not as though she's worked extra hard at home to prove her mettle in order to perpetuate her at-home status because she is and has always been a solid "worker bee." Her worth has been well established and just between you and me, they are lucky to have her. It's a part time schtick with a part time wage but she's never wanted anything more than that. Well, not since she's started working part time anyway.
We're watching the show "Perry Mason" on television. We're three episodes in to what I think is probably a ten or more episode season. I was telling Nancy just this morning that one thing I like about watching programming from networks like HBO, Showtime, Sundance, etc., is that the shows really are quality shows. The writing is good, the characters and related performances are typically well done, and the look and feel of the shows are not short of the mark due to budgetary constraints. They are also more likely as well to have known actors with established careers and faithful followings. Perry Mason is one such show.
Where I part company with these networks is when their wokeness intrudes on my social sensibilities. I'm talking about the constant virtue signaling when it comes to everything from the plight of immigrants to the fanciful nonsense being pushed by the LGBTQ lobby. How the networks weave this bullshit into their plots is quite deceptive and unless your bullshit meter is up and running you quite likely find yourself accepting what they're selling without the usual response which would go something like this: What the fuck was that we just saw? No, I don't accept that what they're selling as "normal" these days. Aberrant, yes. Normal, no.
If I want to feel sorry for a Guatemalan immigrant crossing our country's border in the middle of the night then that's my prerogative. If I'm more inclined to think that what that represents is not a good thing for our country them I'm entitled to that point of view as well. Stop trying to make me feel guilty for believing that watching same sex actors on the screen with children in the same room is not a travesty and somehow a threat to their impressionable psyches. And don't tell me that the trans movement is a step in the right direction when it comes to forging new paths into the realm of human expression. It's sheer depravity.
I'll get off my soapbox now. I was telling Evan the other day that he should get a bone for his friend's dog to chew on when he's riding in his (Evan's) car. He's a pup and he's chewing on everything on sight when he's out for a ride. I'll probably need to buy the bone but I should hurry before he does some real damage. Today, he's chewing on some cardboard take-out packages and an unopened box of trash bags. Tomorrow it will be the leather seats. The ceiling light above the rear seat has been removed and god only knows what happened there. A mosquito just flitted across my computer screen. CLAP! Got em. Little bastard.
Nancy is going to drive me crazy with this insulation stuff. She's been after me the last few days wringing her hands about this and that as it relates to the company coming to replace insulation in our basement. She starts reading about the materials that they plan to use and she starts with the fretting already. The fretting turns to fear and her thinking becomes illogical and irrational. Do we need to notify our neighbors who may or may not be downwind of these chemicals once they start spraying, she asks. This online document says that we should leave our house for 24 hours and not the 4 hours recommended by the installers, she continues.
I'm buying some of the nuttiness but not all of it. I'm thinking that maybe we should cover the vents from the basement when they start and maybe make sure we close all the windows when we leave for however long we leave. I might like to take in a couple of my bird feeders that are close to the area where they might be working. Oh, and putting the bird bath away goes without saying. I can't have my little bird buddies drinking contaminated water. Who the hell knows. They might produce offspring with multiple heads or be short a body part or two necessary for flight, procreation, or god only knows what.
We got away for a few hours as recommended and I think it was a good thing in a couple of ways. One, we weren't around when the spraying took place, and 2, I got Nancy out of her comfort zone and back into the real world. Even she admitted that taking the ride we took and spending time in the stores we visited went a long way to restore her sense of equilibrium when it comes to getting beck to what we affectionately call "normal." Getting her into the stores was easier when I lured her in by singing the praises of the things she loves to peruse and then by talking up the things we've been meaning to buy but haven't because of the pandemic.
Not to belabor the point but we went into Home Depot to look at doorbells of all things, Lowes - to look at more doorbells (Lowes had a better selection), Starbucks - where we were allowed in to order while others stood in line outside on the sidewalk, Target - where Nancy went aisle by aisle looking at all the things she used to love to look at while in the store, and then I went into a small bakery in Newburyport to pick up a couple of cookies. We sat at the table just outside the bakery until we realized that the flow of traffic going in and out of the bakery put us at increased risk of contracting the virus due to our proximity to the traffic itself. The table at which we were seated was unoccupied for a reason. A very good reason indeed.
Is it Something I Said?
10/07/20 05:49
I'm guessing I've become a casualty of the Twitter purge where they are looking to banish conservative voices like mine and thousands of others like me. I think they define "conservative" as non-woke and anti-Biden and maybe a few other things that don't pass the smell test in the year of our Lord 2020. Just retweeting something can get you in hot water with the fascists that work behind the curtains on social media platforms like Twitter and maybe even Facebook. I will admit that some of my tweets have been edgy and maybe even distasteful but is that any reason to suspend me for life?
I do like the news feed aspect of Twitter and being the news junkie that I am I think it's a hard pill to swallow to no longer have access to that feed. Where there's a will, there's a way is what I say. I just signed up using another name and now tread lightly with my comments so as to stay under the radar. I was following close to 5,000 people on Twitter before they gave me the boot so re-following the lot of them will be a tedious task indeed. I also signed on to Parler which is Twitter-like but it doesn't have the following that Twitter does although that is changing for the better.
One thing I've noticed about using Twitter is that after using the platform for a while I'm less likely to take the time to sit down and read a book, maybe read a lengthy article, or do anything that requires an attention span of a two-year old. Ordinarily, I would say that moving on was just a natural and logical next step in the scheme of things but I like to read so there is a sense of loss when I give it up for however long or for whatever reason. And I'm not crazy about the fact that Twitter has turned me into this new fangled kind of reader or maybe, more appropriately, a consumer of headlines and not much more.
When it comes to Twitter, most of the people I follow are conservatives. There aren't too many people occupying the middle these days so you are either a conservative or a liberal. I think conservatives are still conservatives but the liberals have become something else altogether so I'm not even sure what to call them anymore. Knowing how batshit crazy they've become, I'm just not wanting to listen to their voices for any reason. The vitriol coming out of their mouths is just nonsense and more often than not it's anti-American.
You can tell when Trump is on the right track when the "liberals" start foaming at the mouth or show other signs of sheer lunacy in response to something he's done or said. I think the libs felt that Hillary was going to carry on the Obama legacy when she became president and when that didn't happen they just lost their collective minds. And when Trump started undoing everything that Obama put in place with his pen and his phone the libs and their deep state counterparts decided that resisting Trump simply wasn't enough.
They were going to go to war and the war continues today. Trump is having a rally here in Portsmouth over the weekend and the libs are signing up behind the scenes for tickets to the rally but have no plans to show up. They want the headline "Trump Rally Draws Fewer and Fewer Followers During Covid-19 Scourge" splashed here, there, and everywhere the day after the rally.
The BLM crazies are looking to threaten and intimidate Trump supporters on their way into the venue as another strategy to suppress turnout. As for their man, Biden, there will be no rallies, no questions by the press, nothing that would expose his weaknesses and there are many. The more time Sleepy Joe spends in the basement, the better.
Oh, well. The rally got postponed due to weather concerns and the number of people who might end up waiting in the rain or worse. On a brighter note, Trump commuted Roger Stone's sentence last night. Roger was scheduled to go to jail for some four years starting next Tuesday and it was rumored that Trump might step in and do a commute thing on humanistic grounds.
The politicians are emptying the jails of rapists and murderers these days because of covid and, maybe to a lesser extent, to curry favor with the BLM crowd who want the jails closed for good. Trump supporters the likes of Roger Stone are a different story. They'e hoping at a minimum that Stone dies in prison. That would be a just sentence in their sick minds. That, they would relish and even celebrate.
I would say that to know Roger Stone is to love Roger Stone. The feds tried to get him to rat on Trump and telling lies to frame Trump would have been just fine if Stone were to "turn" on Trump. They underestimated the moral backbone of the man at the center of their plot and Stone would go to jail before he would fabricate this or that just to please the feds.
And Stone is a character, make no mistake about it. As a friend to the president, he's as loyal as they come. He'll continue his appeal to get his conviction overturned since the basis for everything they used to convict him, according to Stone himself, was found to be nonsensical and not worthy of leveling a charge much less having a jury of his peers convict him of same.
I tuned in to watch Anderson Cooper on CNN a little more than an hour after the commutation was announced and purposely turned off the sound. I wanted to see the anger splashing across his face as he pursed his lips, narrowed his glare, and clenched his teeth in reporting out that Roger Stone would not be going to prison thanks to the Presidents commutation. It was marvelous! If I could have only put it in a bottle and saved it for a time when I might savor it all over again I would have. I then turned to other stations like MSNBC that I never watch either and did the same with their nightly anchors. It was, in a word, delicious!
Am I triggered by the fact that DeBlasio and his cadre of far left losers, lunatics, and communists painted a BLM mural in front of Trump Towers in New York City? You bet I am. At the same time he has a call into the President requesting some $5 billion in aid to restore the city of New York that has been ripped apart over the last three months by the very same people that are now pushing those mops up and down the BLM letters while trying to stay inside the dotted lines so they can get it just right. Are they out of their fucking minds? That, of course, is a rhetorical question. Here's my assessment: No monies exchange hands while the BLM logo remains splashed across the road in front of Trump Towers.
Better yet, let's see how creative the Trump supporters can get while sorting out their options to remove the logo. A middle-of-the-night replacement by Trump supporters that turns the BLM logo into a MAGA logo would be nice. How hard would that be? It's about time we start to fight back. Let's take back our streets! Let's take back our government! Let's unleash the hounds of hell on these leftists bastards that make a mockery of our Republic.
If our founding fathers could only see that which is on open display coast to coast in these trying times. They might well have added a little P.S. to the Constitution to address those who would intentionally sully our Republic and have in hand any number of consequences so as to deter the forces at hand from ever wanting to go down that road in the first place. Pitchforks and platitudes will not get the job done when that day arrives. Maybe the ballot box is the place to settle these differences of ours as a nation. Maybe it's one of those elections where we get to vote on what we don't want rather than what we do want. Pick your poison!
Lastly, it didn't help with this whole Twitter thing that my iPad died just prior to my expulsion. I lost a lot of stuff I never backed up including contacts, screenshots, etc. Some of my peeps are probably wondering, what up? Where he be? As for my special peeps, fear not. I'm back in the saddle as of this morning and riding into the sunset with a smile. Yes, a bigly smile.
I do like the news feed aspect of Twitter and being the news junkie that I am I think it's a hard pill to swallow to no longer have access to that feed. Where there's a will, there's a way is what I say. I just signed up using another name and now tread lightly with my comments so as to stay under the radar. I was following close to 5,000 people on Twitter before they gave me the boot so re-following the lot of them will be a tedious task indeed. I also signed on to Parler which is Twitter-like but it doesn't have the following that Twitter does although that is changing for the better.
One thing I've noticed about using Twitter is that after using the platform for a while I'm less likely to take the time to sit down and read a book, maybe read a lengthy article, or do anything that requires an attention span of a two-year old. Ordinarily, I would say that moving on was just a natural and logical next step in the scheme of things but I like to read so there is a sense of loss when I give it up for however long or for whatever reason. And I'm not crazy about the fact that Twitter has turned me into this new fangled kind of reader or maybe, more appropriately, a consumer of headlines and not much more.
When it comes to Twitter, most of the people I follow are conservatives. There aren't too many people occupying the middle these days so you are either a conservative or a liberal. I think conservatives are still conservatives but the liberals have become something else altogether so I'm not even sure what to call them anymore. Knowing how batshit crazy they've become, I'm just not wanting to listen to their voices for any reason. The vitriol coming out of their mouths is just nonsense and more often than not it's anti-American.
You can tell when Trump is on the right track when the "liberals" start foaming at the mouth or show other signs of sheer lunacy in response to something he's done or said. I think the libs felt that Hillary was going to carry on the Obama legacy when she became president and when that didn't happen they just lost their collective minds. And when Trump started undoing everything that Obama put in place with his pen and his phone the libs and their deep state counterparts decided that resisting Trump simply wasn't enough.
They were going to go to war and the war continues today. Trump is having a rally here in Portsmouth over the weekend and the libs are signing up behind the scenes for tickets to the rally but have no plans to show up. They want the headline "Trump Rally Draws Fewer and Fewer Followers During Covid-19 Scourge" splashed here, there, and everywhere the day after the rally.
The BLM crazies are looking to threaten and intimidate Trump supporters on their way into the venue as another strategy to suppress turnout. As for their man, Biden, there will be no rallies, no questions by the press, nothing that would expose his weaknesses and there are many. The more time Sleepy Joe spends in the basement, the better.
Oh, well. The rally got postponed due to weather concerns and the number of people who might end up waiting in the rain or worse. On a brighter note, Trump commuted Roger Stone's sentence last night. Roger was scheduled to go to jail for some four years starting next Tuesday and it was rumored that Trump might step in and do a commute thing on humanistic grounds.
The politicians are emptying the jails of rapists and murderers these days because of covid and, maybe to a lesser extent, to curry favor with the BLM crowd who want the jails closed for good. Trump supporters the likes of Roger Stone are a different story. They'e hoping at a minimum that Stone dies in prison. That would be a just sentence in their sick minds. That, they would relish and even celebrate.
I would say that to know Roger Stone is to love Roger Stone. The feds tried to get him to rat on Trump and telling lies to frame Trump would have been just fine if Stone were to "turn" on Trump. They underestimated the moral backbone of the man at the center of their plot and Stone would go to jail before he would fabricate this or that just to please the feds.
And Stone is a character, make no mistake about it. As a friend to the president, he's as loyal as they come. He'll continue his appeal to get his conviction overturned since the basis for everything they used to convict him, according to Stone himself, was found to be nonsensical and not worthy of leveling a charge much less having a jury of his peers convict him of same.
I tuned in to watch Anderson Cooper on CNN a little more than an hour after the commutation was announced and purposely turned off the sound. I wanted to see the anger splashing across his face as he pursed his lips, narrowed his glare, and clenched his teeth in reporting out that Roger Stone would not be going to prison thanks to the Presidents commutation. It was marvelous! If I could have only put it in a bottle and saved it for a time when I might savor it all over again I would have. I then turned to other stations like MSNBC that I never watch either and did the same with their nightly anchors. It was, in a word, delicious!
Am I triggered by the fact that DeBlasio and his cadre of far left losers, lunatics, and communists painted a BLM mural in front of Trump Towers in New York City? You bet I am. At the same time he has a call into the President requesting some $5 billion in aid to restore the city of New York that has been ripped apart over the last three months by the very same people that are now pushing those mops up and down the BLM letters while trying to stay inside the dotted lines so they can get it just right. Are they out of their fucking minds? That, of course, is a rhetorical question. Here's my assessment: No monies exchange hands while the BLM logo remains splashed across the road in front of Trump Towers.
Better yet, let's see how creative the Trump supporters can get while sorting out their options to remove the logo. A middle-of-the-night replacement by Trump supporters that turns the BLM logo into a MAGA logo would be nice. How hard would that be? It's about time we start to fight back. Let's take back our streets! Let's take back our government! Let's unleash the hounds of hell on these leftists bastards that make a mockery of our Republic.
If our founding fathers could only see that which is on open display coast to coast in these trying times. They might well have added a little P.S. to the Constitution to address those who would intentionally sully our Republic and have in hand any number of consequences so as to deter the forces at hand from ever wanting to go down that road in the first place. Pitchforks and platitudes will not get the job done when that day arrives. Maybe the ballot box is the place to settle these differences of ours as a nation. Maybe it's one of those elections where we get to vote on what we don't want rather than what we do want. Pick your poison!
Lastly, it didn't help with this whole Twitter thing that my iPad died just prior to my expulsion. I lost a lot of stuff I never backed up including contacts, screenshots, etc. Some of my peeps are probably wondering, what up? Where he be? As for my special peeps, fear not. I'm back in the saddle as of this morning and riding into the sunset with a smile. Yes, a bigly smile.
Can't Make The Rally
05/07/20 07:13
I'm intrigued by Kanye West's announcement that he is running for president in 2020. I don't know what that means but I'm intrigued nonetheless. He's a known bud of Trump's and there are plenty of photos of the two of them in the Oval Office that attest to that very fact. I know Trump did Kanye West's wife a solid here and there when it comes to prison reform so Kanye may have something up his sleeve to return the favor.
What would he run as? Would he run as a democrat, a republican, or maybe even an independent? Is he trying to be the Ross Perot of the 2020 election season? In case you've forgotten, Perot's involvement got Bill Clinton elected. You know, the president who got impeached over various and sundry things including his involvement with one Monica Lewinsky.
Oh, if she had only gotten that damn blue dress dry cleaned. Can Kanye even get on the state's ballots this late in the game? Man, he would seriously siphon off the black vote from Biden if he did run. Biden's campaign would collapse. A delicious prospect for sure.
We were talking yesterday as a family how this summer thus far has been something of a train wreck in the neighborhood when it comes to neighbors who for some reason or other have felt the need to have nightly or maybe less frequent bonfires. You wait all winter for the opportunity to open your windows throughout the house to get some fresh air for a change and when you do the air turns noxious. It isn't every day or every night and we're not always either upwind or downwind from the fires but when they do come around they are unpleasant to say the least.
We're down the street or across the fields as it were depending on which fire you're talking about. We can probably see which one is which if we were to stick our heads out of the window but does it really matter? Their more immediate neighbors are probably in the thick of things when it really gets going and it makes you wonder if that isn't what they were trying to accomplish all along.
One family, I know for a fact, are renters and have lived in the house for some three years or more. They have a constant array one or more teenagers and some five to six vehicles that they park helter skelter around the house. They may have a hair across their arse for comments made or actions taken by homeowners adjacent to their property who have maybe complained about this or that? Let's just start a fire and smoke those mothers out is what I'm thinking they're thinking. But, that's just me.
The morning after has to be the worst of it. By the time the morning rolls around the once roaring fire or fires have been reduced to a smoldering heap and that produces not just an occasional whiff of smoke but a pervasive dank and dusky odor that is uniquely unpleasant. I've not felt the need to get on my high horse about all of this but I have to wonder if there isn't a solution one way or another. We'd hoped that the lack of rain hereabouts would have the town nixing fires of any kind but it's been kind of rainy so there's that. Maybe they'll run out of brush to burn. One can only hope.
And I'm learning a lot about hardwired fire alarms this summer. No, I don't think it has anything to do with the bonfires in the hood. The darn things go off at the most inopportune times and more often than not there doesn't seem to be any reason for it. What is it that I don't understand about hardwired fire alarms that if I knew I wouldn't be having this issue?
The wailing of the siren once it starts has me putting on my ear protectors so I can think straight while I try to find out which detector is causing all the fuss. Is a flashing red light a good sign or not? Is a solid red light a good sign or not? Why do certain detectors require a 9 volt battery while others require two AA's? I'm good with the chirps since I know what that means. That's an easy fix assuming I have the right batteries. Nancy seems to think we need to call the installers who put the alarm system in. I'm not so sure.
I'm thinking that if I can get my hands on a manual that might be the bees knees. The funny thing is that it happens so infrequently that I am not hard pressed to get to the bottom of it one way or another. Until that changes, I'm likely to pick up just enough in places like YouTube to make the alarms less frequent and less long in duration once they start.
In the meantime, I've ordered an extra set of ear protectors for Nancy. You would think she might teach me a thing or two since her grandfather was a fireman or so I'm told. That's probably a bit of a reach even for me since he's been gone for ages. Well, at least somebody is resting in peace.
Speaking of things that you can't unsee, did you see the video of the two protestors getting hit by a car in Seattle? The protesters were in the middle of the road doing what protestors do and this car comes driving down the highway doing what cars do and you can see the moment of impact when the protestors get thrown up in the air and then come tumbling down onto the pavement after the fact. One of the two women has died and the other is in the ICU and will more than likely succumb to her injuries.
Call me callous but I don't have a lot of sympathy for protestors who put themselves in harms way. I just don't. Do I feel bad that one has died and the other will probably die? You know, not so much. We're in war of attrition with these anarchists and there is no such thing as a war without casualties. Maybe our side is starting to fight back and that is a good thing.
It's hard to say whether or not the driver of the vehicle, a black man, even saw the two women in the middle of the road since he never slowed his vehicle as he neared the two women. Maybe he did see them and fearing for his own safety accelerated into their path. As a black man, he was more likely a kindred spirit given the whole BLM thing and one who they would have let pass without incident. Had the driver been a white man? Katy, bar the fucking door! It would have been George Floyd all over again. Or, was it Floyd George?
My new iPad Air (3rd generation) arrives today. I'll need to go pick up a case for it. I have a good mind to put a date on it as well. I'm not so sure that the last iPad I bought lasted as long as it should have. It probably outlasted any warranty it might have had so there isn't much chance in trying to go down that path.
I guess I would have expected more from an iPad Pro than having the damn thing just go south on me when I was least expecting it. I'll be running off to do a few errands today while Nancy works from home so that will work out. I don't think I much enjoy being home when she is on the phone working. It's the whole walking on eggshells thing.
I never did get back to the person who cuts my hair. She offered to have me come over to her studio for a trim now that were on the other side of this here pandemic thing. I think I'm just a little bit uncomfortable doing that so I'll be happy to wait until she's back in the saddle at her usual location in downtown Portsmouth.
I do want to give her a call to say just that, not the uncomfortable part for sure, but simply to say that I'll be there with bells on once she is back at work. I won't be using that particular phrase since I'm not really buddy buddy with her and it's not a rubicon that I'm interested in crossing any time soon. I'll keep it on the up and up. Nothing more, nothing less.
It was good firing up the grill here at home last night. It's the second or maybe third time this year we've used it so it was time. We had some marinated chicken and I cut up some mushrooms, zucchini's, red onions, and red peppers and threw them on the barbie as they say. Oh yes, can't forget the skewers.
I think I had six in total and there were just enough room on one side of the grill without having to use both burners. Once done, the chicken turned out to be just perfect. It was a bit crispy on the outside and perfectly tender and moist on the inside. Tender is the night as we like to say round these parts. It felt good to eat something other than restaurant take-out.
I have to give my brother from another mother a call sometime soon to offer my condolences on the passing of their long time pet dog, Prince. Given their druthers, I have to believe that they might have opted for giving him the needle sooner than they did but hindsight is always 20-20. Make no mistake about it. They loved that dog and that dog loved them.
Prince never failed to give us the gruff of his voice when we visited once or twice a year being the good guard dog that he was and he ruled the roost like nobody's business. He was a faithful to the family with whom he lived and they were equally faithful to him.
He had this particular habit during the Christmas holidays of tearing up the wrapping that folks left on the floor after opening up their presents. That's probably how I'll remember him. He was a good dog as dogs go. He will be sorely missed. I think if I had it to do all over again I would have brought him more treats.
I'm not even sure what that would be but I don't think dogs are overly particular when it comes to accepting food from family friends and relatives. It's not like dogs treats are hard to find if you're looking for that sort of thing. You can carry around in your pocket for chrissakes so it's probably inexcusable that I wasn't more generous back in the day. You live and you learn.
Evan stayed the night last night here at home. His car was in need of a little brake work so I dropped it off at the local shop where I'm hoping he can get the work done today. I thought it was just a little dirt that got in between the brake pad and the rotor and that it might work itself out but that was not the case.
The metal on metal sounds got worse with time and I was hoping that he wouldn't brake too hard thinking that would just make matters worse. I never told him that since I wasn't wanting him do anything that didn't otherwise come naturally while behind the wheel. Maybe he goes through a light that he wouldn't otherwise go through. You see where I'm going with this.
President Trump is coming to Portsmouth this weekend and I will not be in attendance. He's holding a rally in a hangar at the local airport as he did on many occasions in 2016. It's essentially a drive-by where he lands Air Force One, spends time giving a bit of stump speech, and climbs back aboard for his trip back to Washington, D.C.. Let me be clear. Were it not for Covid-19, I would be going.
The virus is still out there so I owe it to myself and Nancy and others in our circle of friends and acquaintances to exercise due diligence when considering such things. I just think that things will be far too tight for my tastes. Not that I'm worried about such things but things can go south in a hurry as we've all learned with this virus.
Nancy still isn't going out to this place or that place like she did before the virus came to town. It seems reflexive more than anything else now that things are opening up again. She's just not comfortable going out and I don't know when that is going to change. Well, going out isn't the problem quite frankly. It's more of a "going in" problem.
Maybe if she were less prickly about such matters I might have more of a comfort level in attending Trump's rally. I'm not laying my not going at her doorstep but her physical and emotional well being is at the center of my wheelhouse and that is as it should be I might add. If she has any qualms about my attending a rally where I might contract Covid then that is the end of any such conversation.
What would he run as? Would he run as a democrat, a republican, or maybe even an independent? Is he trying to be the Ross Perot of the 2020 election season? In case you've forgotten, Perot's involvement got Bill Clinton elected. You know, the president who got impeached over various and sundry things including his involvement with one Monica Lewinsky.
Oh, if she had only gotten that damn blue dress dry cleaned. Can Kanye even get on the state's ballots this late in the game? Man, he would seriously siphon off the black vote from Biden if he did run. Biden's campaign would collapse. A delicious prospect for sure.
We were talking yesterday as a family how this summer thus far has been something of a train wreck in the neighborhood when it comes to neighbors who for some reason or other have felt the need to have nightly or maybe less frequent bonfires. You wait all winter for the opportunity to open your windows throughout the house to get some fresh air for a change and when you do the air turns noxious. It isn't every day or every night and we're not always either upwind or downwind from the fires but when they do come around they are unpleasant to say the least.
We're down the street or across the fields as it were depending on which fire you're talking about. We can probably see which one is which if we were to stick our heads out of the window but does it really matter? Their more immediate neighbors are probably in the thick of things when it really gets going and it makes you wonder if that isn't what they were trying to accomplish all along.
One family, I know for a fact, are renters and have lived in the house for some three years or more. They have a constant array one or more teenagers and some five to six vehicles that they park helter skelter around the house. They may have a hair across their arse for comments made or actions taken by homeowners adjacent to their property who have maybe complained about this or that? Let's just start a fire and smoke those mothers out is what I'm thinking they're thinking. But, that's just me.
The morning after has to be the worst of it. By the time the morning rolls around the once roaring fire or fires have been reduced to a smoldering heap and that produces not just an occasional whiff of smoke but a pervasive dank and dusky odor that is uniquely unpleasant. I've not felt the need to get on my high horse about all of this but I have to wonder if there isn't a solution one way or another. We'd hoped that the lack of rain hereabouts would have the town nixing fires of any kind but it's been kind of rainy so there's that. Maybe they'll run out of brush to burn. One can only hope.
And I'm learning a lot about hardwired fire alarms this summer. No, I don't think it has anything to do with the bonfires in the hood. The darn things go off at the most inopportune times and more often than not there doesn't seem to be any reason for it. What is it that I don't understand about hardwired fire alarms that if I knew I wouldn't be having this issue?
The wailing of the siren once it starts has me putting on my ear protectors so I can think straight while I try to find out which detector is causing all the fuss. Is a flashing red light a good sign or not? Is a solid red light a good sign or not? Why do certain detectors require a 9 volt battery while others require two AA's? I'm good with the chirps since I know what that means. That's an easy fix assuming I have the right batteries. Nancy seems to think we need to call the installers who put the alarm system in. I'm not so sure.
I'm thinking that if I can get my hands on a manual that might be the bees knees. The funny thing is that it happens so infrequently that I am not hard pressed to get to the bottom of it one way or another. Until that changes, I'm likely to pick up just enough in places like YouTube to make the alarms less frequent and less long in duration once they start.
In the meantime, I've ordered an extra set of ear protectors for Nancy. You would think she might teach me a thing or two since her grandfather was a fireman or so I'm told. That's probably a bit of a reach even for me since he's been gone for ages. Well, at least somebody is resting in peace.
Speaking of things that you can't unsee, did you see the video of the two protestors getting hit by a car in Seattle? The protesters were in the middle of the road doing what protestors do and this car comes driving down the highway doing what cars do and you can see the moment of impact when the protestors get thrown up in the air and then come tumbling down onto the pavement after the fact. One of the two women has died and the other is in the ICU and will more than likely succumb to her injuries.
Call me callous but I don't have a lot of sympathy for protestors who put themselves in harms way. I just don't. Do I feel bad that one has died and the other will probably die? You know, not so much. We're in war of attrition with these anarchists and there is no such thing as a war without casualties. Maybe our side is starting to fight back and that is a good thing.
It's hard to say whether or not the driver of the vehicle, a black man, even saw the two women in the middle of the road since he never slowed his vehicle as he neared the two women. Maybe he did see them and fearing for his own safety accelerated into their path. As a black man, he was more likely a kindred spirit given the whole BLM thing and one who they would have let pass without incident. Had the driver been a white man? Katy, bar the fucking door! It would have been George Floyd all over again. Or, was it Floyd George?
My new iPad Air (3rd generation) arrives today. I'll need to go pick up a case for it. I have a good mind to put a date on it as well. I'm not so sure that the last iPad I bought lasted as long as it should have. It probably outlasted any warranty it might have had so there isn't much chance in trying to go down that path.
I guess I would have expected more from an iPad Pro than having the damn thing just go south on me when I was least expecting it. I'll be running off to do a few errands today while Nancy works from home so that will work out. I don't think I much enjoy being home when she is on the phone working. It's the whole walking on eggshells thing.
I never did get back to the person who cuts my hair. She offered to have me come over to her studio for a trim now that were on the other side of this here pandemic thing. I think I'm just a little bit uncomfortable doing that so I'll be happy to wait until she's back in the saddle at her usual location in downtown Portsmouth.
I do want to give her a call to say just that, not the uncomfortable part for sure, but simply to say that I'll be there with bells on once she is back at work. I won't be using that particular phrase since I'm not really buddy buddy with her and it's not a rubicon that I'm interested in crossing any time soon. I'll keep it on the up and up. Nothing more, nothing less.
It was good firing up the grill here at home last night. It's the second or maybe third time this year we've used it so it was time. We had some marinated chicken and I cut up some mushrooms, zucchini's, red onions, and red peppers and threw them on the barbie as they say. Oh yes, can't forget the skewers.
I think I had six in total and there were just enough room on one side of the grill without having to use both burners. Once done, the chicken turned out to be just perfect. It was a bit crispy on the outside and perfectly tender and moist on the inside. Tender is the night as we like to say round these parts. It felt good to eat something other than restaurant take-out.
I have to give my brother from another mother a call sometime soon to offer my condolences on the passing of their long time pet dog, Prince. Given their druthers, I have to believe that they might have opted for giving him the needle sooner than they did but hindsight is always 20-20. Make no mistake about it. They loved that dog and that dog loved them.
Prince never failed to give us the gruff of his voice when we visited once or twice a year being the good guard dog that he was and he ruled the roost like nobody's business. He was a faithful to the family with whom he lived and they were equally faithful to him.
He had this particular habit during the Christmas holidays of tearing up the wrapping that folks left on the floor after opening up their presents. That's probably how I'll remember him. He was a good dog as dogs go. He will be sorely missed. I think if I had it to do all over again I would have brought him more treats.
I'm not even sure what that would be but I don't think dogs are overly particular when it comes to accepting food from family friends and relatives. It's not like dogs treats are hard to find if you're looking for that sort of thing. You can carry around in your pocket for chrissakes so it's probably inexcusable that I wasn't more generous back in the day. You live and you learn.
Evan stayed the night last night here at home. His car was in need of a little brake work so I dropped it off at the local shop where I'm hoping he can get the work done today. I thought it was just a little dirt that got in between the brake pad and the rotor and that it might work itself out but that was not the case.
The metal on metal sounds got worse with time and I was hoping that he wouldn't brake too hard thinking that would just make matters worse. I never told him that since I wasn't wanting him do anything that didn't otherwise come naturally while behind the wheel. Maybe he goes through a light that he wouldn't otherwise go through. You see where I'm going with this.
President Trump is coming to Portsmouth this weekend and I will not be in attendance. He's holding a rally in a hangar at the local airport as he did on many occasions in 2016. It's essentially a drive-by where he lands Air Force One, spends time giving a bit of stump speech, and climbs back aboard for his trip back to Washington, D.C.. Let me be clear. Were it not for Covid-19, I would be going.
The virus is still out there so I owe it to myself and Nancy and others in our circle of friends and acquaintances to exercise due diligence when considering such things. I just think that things will be far too tight for my tastes. Not that I'm worried about such things but things can go south in a hurry as we've all learned with this virus.
Nancy still isn't going out to this place or that place like she did before the virus came to town. It seems reflexive more than anything else now that things are opening up again. She's just not comfortable going out and I don't know when that is going to change. Well, going out isn't the problem quite frankly. It's more of a "going in" problem.
Maybe if she were less prickly about such matters I might have more of a comfort level in attending Trump's rally. I'm not laying my not going at her doorstep but her physical and emotional well being is at the center of my wheelhouse and that is as it should be I might add. If she has any qualms about my attending a rally where I might contract Covid then that is the end of any such conversation.
Happy Birthday, America!
01/07/20 07:23
It's been bloody rainy these past few days here on the seacoast. Not so much so that I haven't been able to squeeze in a bike ride between showers so that's good. I have a slow leak in one of my tires so that needs to be fixed. I don't mind refilling the tire every day but I'm starting to mind. It's one of those things that is just unnecessary. I don't like doing unnecessary things. Did I mention that I rode 27 out of 30 days in the month of June?
Whose idea was it to put on a little music at 7 in the morning by Eric Clapton and B.B. King? Talk to me about pride and joy, B.B. It's got a nice beat to it and it might take me places I never intended to go. Man, those riffs. I think I may have a blues gene that pops up every now and then. But at 7 in the morning? I'm in a smoke and music filled room throwing back whiskey's, loving the ladies with my eyes closed, and getting lost in my thoughts as the band plays their last set while the hour hand on the neon clock on the wall turns to three. Or, is it four?
Maybe the only good thing about three straight days of rain is that I don't need to water my tomato plants. I hung a blanket out on the line some three days ago and it's still there. It reminds me of when I was a little kid and my grandmother used to collect rainwater which she would use to wash her hair. I'm hoping that the gentle and sometimes not so gentle rains we've had will do for my blanket what they did for my nana's hair back in the day.
Back in the day before acid rain came in from the Midwest during the sixties and seventies and corroded everything in sight when it fell to the ground during rainstorms. We knew a lot less about science then than we do now and that's a good thing. I'm hopeful that the blanket, while it may not smell as sweet as I remember my nana's hair once I take it down off the line, it will no doubt be softer than the day I hung it out to dry.
The only hesitation I have now has more to do now with microorganisms that may have taken up residence in the wooly matting of the blanket while it hung there as it did for those three long and rainy days. I'm channelling the neuroticisms of my darling wife now and that is precisely what she'll be focusing on when I retrieve the blanket from the clothesline and carry it back into the house. She is no doubt already giving some thought as to how she might approach that very subject with me.
What would my grandmother say about such matters? "Johnny Boy, put that mother fucking blanket in the washing machine and do it now." That might have been B.B. King's grandmother but it wasn't mine. I might have benefited from learning a few more cuss words back in the day since they were in short supply on the playground of my parochial elementary school. "It's my fucking turn to play marbles now get the fuck out of my way." I can feel the ruler and the heavy hand of the mother superior coming down on the back of my knuckles now.
Will my morning be better or worse for sitting down at this desk and writing in this here journal? I think, for the most part, I always walk away after getting down a few paragraphs feeling better and maybe even accomplished whatever that means. It helps when I have something to focus on and that is not always the case. Not being able to get thoughts out is a problem too. If you let things bottle up too long without putting them down on paper that can be a recipe for disaster. Why am I so all over the place this morning?
My iPad died last night. I was watching something and it just went dark. Just like that. Poof! Not with a whimper, not with a bang, not with this, that, or the other thing. I've been able to revive bricked iPads before so I'll be trying to do that with this one. Thankfully, I have a back-up iPad. I did not have my bricked iPad backed up so that's not a good thing. Apps are easy to restore but some other things not so much. I'm definitely one of those "hope springs eternal" when it comes to Apple products so me thinks all is not lost. And what do they say about it being the darkest just before dawn. That's where we are. That's where I am.
Can you believe it's the fourth of July already? Nancy and I were out and about yesterday and man was it busy about town. The traffic was crazy and if I had to guess by the looks of things I would say the pandemic is over and we're on to bigger and better things. Sure, people are wearing their masks and doing the best they can with the social distancing thing but they are getting on with their lives. That's a good thing. You still can't hug your grandmother but that too shall pass if he or she doesn't pass first. Not to be too cynical but the elderly still have a steep climb here before they're out of the woods.
I think I need to work a little harder at getting Nancy out of the house and back into circulation. Just because she's working from home doesn't mean that she's back in the saddle after this coronavirus thing came around. I'm doing my best to point to stats that will reassure her but her newspaper of record is the Boston Globe and, less frequently, the New York Times. That being the case, she is likely to continue in her belief that we are all going to die unless Trump and his spawn is evicted from the White House and the presidency. Yes, little darlings, the number of active cases is up BUT THE NUMBER OF DEATHS ARE DOWN! Stop reading that claptrap from those rags you surround yourself with and start living for a change!
I've noticed too that Nancy is less willing to go out on a limb these days when it comes to experiencing the seamier side of life. She started a book yesterday but put it down after reading some things that she found, well, disturbing. Maybe it was something a little too graphic or something perhaps that offended her sensibilities. It's more than just having an aversion to something which most of us simply discard with the usual flip of the fingers off the shoulder. It's almost like she can't un-see something that she's laid her eyes on and be it cringeworthy or other she is unable to process it like you and I.
I'm a big fan of anything cold case and believe you me, I'm watching those shows alone these days. I also don't particularly like to watch television one way or another but if I do I don't prefer to watch it alone so those shows will go unwatched. Maybe Nancy thinks life is too short for such things. Maybe this is the Nancy that hides under the shed (yes, I mean the shed) when Evan shows up on the scene with blood spurting from an injury to his self. That's simply her modus operandi. When Evan got his finger caught up in our garage door as a little kid Nancy was nowhere to be found when the screaming started. Momma, where you be???
When the policeman showed up at our house accompanied by the ambulance staff, I had to explain that his mother was around the back of the house and he might want to give a shout out in that direction if he was looking for her input. So, I don't know if this pandemic thing has forced her further into her shell like a little turtle or what but I'm doing my best to bring her around. Where we end up is anyone's guess but if she doesn't budge much it won't be because I didn't try.
She made some progress yesterday when she walked around the perimeter of the store we visited in Dover and looked over the displays in their garden area. I did my business inside the store wearing my mask as I am prone to do and didn't feel compelled one way or another to rush that experience as it were. I was socially distanced from like minded people inside the establishment so it was all good. I bought some chili, some American Chop Suey, some of this and some of that. I even bought something for the grill. What is the Fourth of July if not an occasion to throw a few things on the barbie?
The suey thing was for Evan although we didn't discuss that with him nor would we since he had no plans to come over and we had no reason to expect him. But, if he does show up I want to have something in the fridge for him to eat. Do parents ever stop being parents? Sure enough, Nancy and I are lying in bed and shortly after 9pm we get a text from Ev: "Coming home tonight."
I was hoping to stay up long enough to hear Trump's speech from Mount Rushmore and Nancy was just wiling away the hours before going to sleep. I responded, "ok." That way he knows we're home and we're good with his coming to visit and to spend the night. I fell asleep after I heard Evan come through the door and long before Trump started his 4th of July speech at the base of Mount Rushmore.
I caught up with it in the morning and in true Trumpian style he took the leftist radicals raising hell coast to coast to task for trying to tear our country apart. If you were a patriot, his speech made you proud to be an American. Everyone else ended up clutching their pearls and hurling nasty missives at Orange Man Bad. If there is a god, this is not going to end well for the pearl clutchers come November of this year.
Nancy and I started off our fourth of July with a bike ride up and down the coast. It's still an easy ride with the "no parking" rules still in place along Ocean Boulevard from Kittery, Maine to the border town of Salisbury, Massachusetts. High tide had beachgoers and sunbathers scrunched up into the sliver of beach remaining along the coastline until they looked like one puzzle piece after another snugging up uncomfortably and then finally falling into place.
I suggested to Nancy that we take a slight detour on our return trip in order to avoid a deer carcass that was killed in a collision with a car two days prior and now lay bloated with bloodshot eyes in the tall grass along the roadside. If you weren't expecting it I can see how the very slight of the animal staring up at you with those glassy eyes as you passed it by might be a bit of a shock. If someone had only had the decency to close the animal's eyelids when they left it as they did that might have been the right thing to do.
It's almost as though whoever moved it the side of the road did so with the most macabre of intentions. I couldn't say for sure but the animal looked "posed" for lack of a better word. It was enough to scare the bejesus out of the kids and have the adults wretch with revulsion.
Not breathing in the putrid air at that very second was not an option. It was easy enough to avoid so avoid it we did. That took us down a slightly different path but that was fine. It neither shortened or extended anything so nothing was lost or gained. Nancy will lose not a moment of sleep for not having seen the poor creature and that suits me just fine.
Whose idea was it to put on a little music at 7 in the morning by Eric Clapton and B.B. King? Talk to me about pride and joy, B.B. It's got a nice beat to it and it might take me places I never intended to go. Man, those riffs. I think I may have a blues gene that pops up every now and then. But at 7 in the morning? I'm in a smoke and music filled room throwing back whiskey's, loving the ladies with my eyes closed, and getting lost in my thoughts as the band plays their last set while the hour hand on the neon clock on the wall turns to three. Or, is it four?
Maybe the only good thing about three straight days of rain is that I don't need to water my tomato plants. I hung a blanket out on the line some three days ago and it's still there. It reminds me of when I was a little kid and my grandmother used to collect rainwater which she would use to wash her hair. I'm hoping that the gentle and sometimes not so gentle rains we've had will do for my blanket what they did for my nana's hair back in the day.
Back in the day before acid rain came in from the Midwest during the sixties and seventies and corroded everything in sight when it fell to the ground during rainstorms. We knew a lot less about science then than we do now and that's a good thing. I'm hopeful that the blanket, while it may not smell as sweet as I remember my nana's hair once I take it down off the line, it will no doubt be softer than the day I hung it out to dry.
The only hesitation I have now has more to do now with microorganisms that may have taken up residence in the wooly matting of the blanket while it hung there as it did for those three long and rainy days. I'm channelling the neuroticisms of my darling wife now and that is precisely what she'll be focusing on when I retrieve the blanket from the clothesline and carry it back into the house. She is no doubt already giving some thought as to how she might approach that very subject with me.
What would my grandmother say about such matters? "Johnny Boy, put that mother fucking blanket in the washing machine and do it now." That might have been B.B. King's grandmother but it wasn't mine. I might have benefited from learning a few more cuss words back in the day since they were in short supply on the playground of my parochial elementary school. "It's my fucking turn to play marbles now get the fuck out of my way." I can feel the ruler and the heavy hand of the mother superior coming down on the back of my knuckles now.
Will my morning be better or worse for sitting down at this desk and writing in this here journal? I think, for the most part, I always walk away after getting down a few paragraphs feeling better and maybe even accomplished whatever that means. It helps when I have something to focus on and that is not always the case. Not being able to get thoughts out is a problem too. If you let things bottle up too long without putting them down on paper that can be a recipe for disaster. Why am I so all over the place this morning?
My iPad died last night. I was watching something and it just went dark. Just like that. Poof! Not with a whimper, not with a bang, not with this, that, or the other thing. I've been able to revive bricked iPads before so I'll be trying to do that with this one. Thankfully, I have a back-up iPad. I did not have my bricked iPad backed up so that's not a good thing. Apps are easy to restore but some other things not so much. I'm definitely one of those "hope springs eternal" when it comes to Apple products so me thinks all is not lost. And what do they say about it being the darkest just before dawn. That's where we are. That's where I am.
Can you believe it's the fourth of July already? Nancy and I were out and about yesterday and man was it busy about town. The traffic was crazy and if I had to guess by the looks of things I would say the pandemic is over and we're on to bigger and better things. Sure, people are wearing their masks and doing the best they can with the social distancing thing but they are getting on with their lives. That's a good thing. You still can't hug your grandmother but that too shall pass if he or she doesn't pass first. Not to be too cynical but the elderly still have a steep climb here before they're out of the woods.
I think I need to work a little harder at getting Nancy out of the house and back into circulation. Just because she's working from home doesn't mean that she's back in the saddle after this coronavirus thing came around. I'm doing my best to point to stats that will reassure her but her newspaper of record is the Boston Globe and, less frequently, the New York Times. That being the case, she is likely to continue in her belief that we are all going to die unless Trump and his spawn is evicted from the White House and the presidency. Yes, little darlings, the number of active cases is up BUT THE NUMBER OF DEATHS ARE DOWN! Stop reading that claptrap from those rags you surround yourself with and start living for a change!
I've noticed too that Nancy is less willing to go out on a limb these days when it comes to experiencing the seamier side of life. She started a book yesterday but put it down after reading some things that she found, well, disturbing. Maybe it was something a little too graphic or something perhaps that offended her sensibilities. It's more than just having an aversion to something which most of us simply discard with the usual flip of the fingers off the shoulder. It's almost like she can't un-see something that she's laid her eyes on and be it cringeworthy or other she is unable to process it like you and I.
I'm a big fan of anything cold case and believe you me, I'm watching those shows alone these days. I also don't particularly like to watch television one way or another but if I do I don't prefer to watch it alone so those shows will go unwatched. Maybe Nancy thinks life is too short for such things. Maybe this is the Nancy that hides under the shed (yes, I mean the shed) when Evan shows up on the scene with blood spurting from an injury to his self. That's simply her modus operandi. When Evan got his finger caught up in our garage door as a little kid Nancy was nowhere to be found when the screaming started. Momma, where you be???
When the policeman showed up at our house accompanied by the ambulance staff, I had to explain that his mother was around the back of the house and he might want to give a shout out in that direction if he was looking for her input. So, I don't know if this pandemic thing has forced her further into her shell like a little turtle or what but I'm doing my best to bring her around. Where we end up is anyone's guess but if she doesn't budge much it won't be because I didn't try.
She made some progress yesterday when she walked around the perimeter of the store we visited in Dover and looked over the displays in their garden area. I did my business inside the store wearing my mask as I am prone to do and didn't feel compelled one way or another to rush that experience as it were. I was socially distanced from like minded people inside the establishment so it was all good. I bought some chili, some American Chop Suey, some of this and some of that. I even bought something for the grill. What is the Fourth of July if not an occasion to throw a few things on the barbie?
The suey thing was for Evan although we didn't discuss that with him nor would we since he had no plans to come over and we had no reason to expect him. But, if he does show up I want to have something in the fridge for him to eat. Do parents ever stop being parents? Sure enough, Nancy and I are lying in bed and shortly after 9pm we get a text from Ev: "Coming home tonight."
I was hoping to stay up long enough to hear Trump's speech from Mount Rushmore and Nancy was just wiling away the hours before going to sleep. I responded, "ok." That way he knows we're home and we're good with his coming to visit and to spend the night. I fell asleep after I heard Evan come through the door and long before Trump started his 4th of July speech at the base of Mount Rushmore.
I caught up with it in the morning and in true Trumpian style he took the leftist radicals raising hell coast to coast to task for trying to tear our country apart. If you were a patriot, his speech made you proud to be an American. Everyone else ended up clutching their pearls and hurling nasty missives at Orange Man Bad. If there is a god, this is not going to end well for the pearl clutchers come November of this year.
Nancy and I started off our fourth of July with a bike ride up and down the coast. It's still an easy ride with the "no parking" rules still in place along Ocean Boulevard from Kittery, Maine to the border town of Salisbury, Massachusetts. High tide had beachgoers and sunbathers scrunched up into the sliver of beach remaining along the coastline until they looked like one puzzle piece after another snugging up uncomfortably and then finally falling into place.
I suggested to Nancy that we take a slight detour on our return trip in order to avoid a deer carcass that was killed in a collision with a car two days prior and now lay bloated with bloodshot eyes in the tall grass along the roadside. If you weren't expecting it I can see how the very slight of the animal staring up at you with those glassy eyes as you passed it by might be a bit of a shock. If someone had only had the decency to close the animal's eyelids when they left it as they did that might have been the right thing to do.
It's almost as though whoever moved it the side of the road did so with the most macabre of intentions. I couldn't say for sure but the animal looked "posed" for lack of a better word. It was enough to scare the bejesus out of the kids and have the adults wretch with revulsion.
Not breathing in the putrid air at that very second was not an option. It was easy enough to avoid so avoid it we did. That took us down a slightly different path but that was fine. It neither shortened or extended anything so nothing was lost or gained. Nancy will lose not a moment of sleep for not having seen the poor creature and that suits me just fine.
Law and Order
26/06/20 07:19
We finally got around to seeing Mrs G at her independent living facility yesterday. It was an odd arrangement in that she sat outdoors in a chair in the parking lot while Nancy and I were confined to our car some six feet away for the entire visit. It was expected but it still felt funny so there's that. Mrs G looked and sounded well and seemed to relish her daughter's company after not so much as setting eyes on her for some three months. It was equally good for mother and daughter I suspect even though neither is prone to exuberance over such things. Constraints notwithstanding, it was a good visit.
We had a bit of a visit with Evan as well while in Exeter and we met up with him at Hannaford's to do a little food shopping. As hard as I try to get him to put together a list of things he might like to buy at the store he never quite gets around to it. So we go aisle by aisle and he throws things into his cart not quite helter skelter but close.
He steers clear of sugary items and items that are by any definition just too "carby." I think he knows that they do not serve him well either short or long term and they are to be avoided at all cost. At one point, I said to him "I see a lot of snacks here but not too many meals." It was good advice in a roundabout way and it was not lost on him.
For having an "off" morning it seems as though I got a lot done yesterday. I won't say that every morning when I go back to bed after being up for a couple of hours ends up being an "off" morning but yesterday was just one of those days. So much so in fact that when I was out for my morning bike ride I didn't really want to be there.
I had no other place in mind but I didn't want to be riding my bike. Period. For a guy who rides as often as I do that is an unusual feeling to say the least. I couldn't wait for it to be over. There was no lingering anything once I was done and I went about the rest of my day as though I never had a worry. It was never particularly noteworthy but if there is a place for passing thoughts then this is it.
Nancy is up now and she's bee bopping here and there while brewing her tea and pruning her flowers on the back deck. She puts the timer on while her tea steeps and, once done, allows it to drive me to distraction before coming back into the house to turn it off. I don't think it's intentional but she knows I've never much cared for the sound it makes and maybe it irritates her and maybe it doesn't. She's not saying one way or another.
She'll take a bike ride with me this morning although we part ways quickly once we're out of the gate. I won't say that she doesn't ride with the wind at her back but she is certainly more of a leisurely rider than am I so riding together just never works for either of us. I'm more likely to take advantage of a downhill slope and will accelerate traffic permitting while Nancy is more likely to brake periodically in order to slow her descent and stay out of harms way. If I approach the descent riding behind her I will issue the warning "on your left, on your left", while passing her and picking up speed as I breeze by her in full beast mode. That is usually the last I see of her until I arrive back home.
I'm not given to procrastination by and large but I am not beyond dragging my feet when it comes to doing things that need to be done. Maybe I tend to live by the rule of thumb that the late Mr G used to articulate so well when he would say, "nobody is chasing you." I don't know if it warms the cockles of Nancy's heart to hear me us one of her long deceased father's favorite expressions or not but use it I do. Her dad was a very decent and good man by all accounts and keeping his memory alive if only in my own small way is the least I can do.
But, sometimes having someone chasing you can make you do things that need to be done sooner than you might otherwise do them. Since I have no external forces pushing or pulling me in any particular direction it's all in my head and traffic lights in that venue typically flash yellow most of the time rather than solid red or solid green. Proceed with caution, Johnny boy. Anyway, I finally got around to a few things yesterday that have been on my mind and now that they're done I'm feeling a sense of accomplishment and that's a good thing.
The garage is tidied so I have a place to wheel my bike in and out of without tripping over something; I replaced the screen in the door that leads into the basement; I called for an estimate on having some insulation replaced; and I put out something to keep the ants away. All in a days work I suppose. I have a good mind now to see if I can remove a kickstand from an older bike I have in the shed and put it on my new bike. That should be in my wheelhouse so just call me Mr sometimes I do and sometimes I don't know-It-All. I don't need no stinking YouTube to assist me and I won't be calling a friend for advice. No siree, Bob.
Speaking of feeling pretty good, I think Nancy is feeling pretty good about the way things are going with all the things she's planted. I'm talking flower boxes, front yard, her garden, and things that are otherwise popping up hereabouts which she has no recollection of either planting or expecting one way or another. Even those plants that now appear to be budding and may well be weeds have a certain curb appeal which means that they stay for the time being.
Nancy's sunflowers, planted as they were in the infancy of their little lives, were nipped in the bud early on by a foraging creature of one skulking type or another. Simply put, she is not happy as she prizes her sunflowers above all others in her little garden of lost treasures. I've put up a fence so her plants can extend their branches and tendrils in, out, and around the plastic mesh of the fence to their hearts content.
If she is unhappy about anything garden related as the season grows long in the tooth, it is that her lovely plants have run out of places to run and their little shoots start to turn onto each other and become an unruly halo of interlocking tendrils and buds that may or may not produce her long awaited moonflowers or other. One year I actually ran a rough hewn rope between the fence and the branch of a low hanging tree hoping that the tendrils of Nancy's climbing plant might find it to be a suitable stepping stone upwards and into the branches of the adjoining tree. Mother Nature had other ideas and settled the matter with an early frost so that was that.
I don't remember when I started to get interested in outcomes as ejudicated by the Supreme Court of our great land but if anything I'm more interested this year than ever before given how polarized our politics are here in the year of our Lord, 2020. I don't always understand the tangle of logic involved in the various cases but I invariably know which side I'm on when presented with the facts that I do understand. I also can't deny that the more invested the other side is in the cases under review the better the chances are that I will be jumping in with both feet to advocate for my side.
Overturning cases of lower courts dominated by liberals in liberal bastions the likes of the 9th Court of Appeals is a sub specialty/interest of mine. And when the Supremes give the lower courts the equivalent of a good spanking by overturning their rulings it is a good day indeed. There is nothing worse for our country than having bad case law on the books. If Trump has done anything good during the first fours years of his presidency it is both adding conservative jurists to the Supreme Court and sending cases to the Supreme Court where having a conservative majority almost ensures a just and proper outcome.
Trump has prevailed on a number of cases involving immigration and that is a good thing. Our borders are more secure today than ever before and people entering our country illegally have fewer options than ever before once they step foot onto American soil. This coming week we'll probably see the decisions of the final cases of the year as they drop one by one.
Which decisions if any will affect turnout in the Fall elections is hard to say but conservatives would be ill advised to stay at home seeing what we've seen of the lawlessness and turbulence in the streets of our cities in the last three weeks. Law and order must be the rule of the day. Our freedoms depend on it. Let's git er done.
We had a bit of a visit with Evan as well while in Exeter and we met up with him at Hannaford's to do a little food shopping. As hard as I try to get him to put together a list of things he might like to buy at the store he never quite gets around to it. So we go aisle by aisle and he throws things into his cart not quite helter skelter but close.
He steers clear of sugary items and items that are by any definition just too "carby." I think he knows that they do not serve him well either short or long term and they are to be avoided at all cost. At one point, I said to him "I see a lot of snacks here but not too many meals." It was good advice in a roundabout way and it was not lost on him.
For having an "off" morning it seems as though I got a lot done yesterday. I won't say that every morning when I go back to bed after being up for a couple of hours ends up being an "off" morning but yesterday was just one of those days. So much so in fact that when I was out for my morning bike ride I didn't really want to be there.
I had no other place in mind but I didn't want to be riding my bike. Period. For a guy who rides as often as I do that is an unusual feeling to say the least. I couldn't wait for it to be over. There was no lingering anything once I was done and I went about the rest of my day as though I never had a worry. It was never particularly noteworthy but if there is a place for passing thoughts then this is it.
Nancy is up now and she's bee bopping here and there while brewing her tea and pruning her flowers on the back deck. She puts the timer on while her tea steeps and, once done, allows it to drive me to distraction before coming back into the house to turn it off. I don't think it's intentional but she knows I've never much cared for the sound it makes and maybe it irritates her and maybe it doesn't. She's not saying one way or another.
She'll take a bike ride with me this morning although we part ways quickly once we're out of the gate. I won't say that she doesn't ride with the wind at her back but she is certainly more of a leisurely rider than am I so riding together just never works for either of us. I'm more likely to take advantage of a downhill slope and will accelerate traffic permitting while Nancy is more likely to brake periodically in order to slow her descent and stay out of harms way. If I approach the descent riding behind her I will issue the warning "on your left, on your left", while passing her and picking up speed as I breeze by her in full beast mode. That is usually the last I see of her until I arrive back home.
I'm not given to procrastination by and large but I am not beyond dragging my feet when it comes to doing things that need to be done. Maybe I tend to live by the rule of thumb that the late Mr G used to articulate so well when he would say, "nobody is chasing you." I don't know if it warms the cockles of Nancy's heart to hear me us one of her long deceased father's favorite expressions or not but use it I do. Her dad was a very decent and good man by all accounts and keeping his memory alive if only in my own small way is the least I can do.
But, sometimes having someone chasing you can make you do things that need to be done sooner than you might otherwise do them. Since I have no external forces pushing or pulling me in any particular direction it's all in my head and traffic lights in that venue typically flash yellow most of the time rather than solid red or solid green. Proceed with caution, Johnny boy. Anyway, I finally got around to a few things yesterday that have been on my mind and now that they're done I'm feeling a sense of accomplishment and that's a good thing.
The garage is tidied so I have a place to wheel my bike in and out of without tripping over something; I replaced the screen in the door that leads into the basement; I called for an estimate on having some insulation replaced; and I put out something to keep the ants away. All in a days work I suppose. I have a good mind now to see if I can remove a kickstand from an older bike I have in the shed and put it on my new bike. That should be in my wheelhouse so just call me Mr sometimes I do and sometimes I don't know-It-All. I don't need no stinking YouTube to assist me and I won't be calling a friend for advice. No siree, Bob.
Speaking of feeling pretty good, I think Nancy is feeling pretty good about the way things are going with all the things she's planted. I'm talking flower boxes, front yard, her garden, and things that are otherwise popping up hereabouts which she has no recollection of either planting or expecting one way or another. Even those plants that now appear to be budding and may well be weeds have a certain curb appeal which means that they stay for the time being.
Nancy's sunflowers, planted as they were in the infancy of their little lives, were nipped in the bud early on by a foraging creature of one skulking type or another. Simply put, she is not happy as she prizes her sunflowers above all others in her little garden of lost treasures. I've put up a fence so her plants can extend their branches and tendrils in, out, and around the plastic mesh of the fence to their hearts content.
If she is unhappy about anything garden related as the season grows long in the tooth, it is that her lovely plants have run out of places to run and their little shoots start to turn onto each other and become an unruly halo of interlocking tendrils and buds that may or may not produce her long awaited moonflowers or other. One year I actually ran a rough hewn rope between the fence and the branch of a low hanging tree hoping that the tendrils of Nancy's climbing plant might find it to be a suitable stepping stone upwards and into the branches of the adjoining tree. Mother Nature had other ideas and settled the matter with an early frost so that was that.
I don't remember when I started to get interested in outcomes as ejudicated by the Supreme Court of our great land but if anything I'm more interested this year than ever before given how polarized our politics are here in the year of our Lord, 2020. I don't always understand the tangle of logic involved in the various cases but I invariably know which side I'm on when presented with the facts that I do understand. I also can't deny that the more invested the other side is in the cases under review the better the chances are that I will be jumping in with both feet to advocate for my side.
Overturning cases of lower courts dominated by liberals in liberal bastions the likes of the 9th Court of Appeals is a sub specialty/interest of mine. And when the Supremes give the lower courts the equivalent of a good spanking by overturning their rulings it is a good day indeed. There is nothing worse for our country than having bad case law on the books. If Trump has done anything good during the first fours years of his presidency it is both adding conservative jurists to the Supreme Court and sending cases to the Supreme Court where having a conservative majority almost ensures a just and proper outcome.
Trump has prevailed on a number of cases involving immigration and that is a good thing. Our borders are more secure today than ever before and people entering our country illegally have fewer options than ever before once they step foot onto American soil. This coming week we'll probably see the decisions of the final cases of the year as they drop one by one.
Which decisions if any will affect turnout in the Fall elections is hard to say but conservatives would be ill advised to stay at home seeing what we've seen of the lawlessness and turbulence in the streets of our cities in the last three weeks. Law and order must be the rule of the day. Our freedoms depend on it. Let's git er done.
Birds of a Feather
17/06/20 07:56
I'm happy to have found just the right suet for my suet feeder and the birds that it attracts. I'm talking about woodpeckers mainly just so you know. Cowbirds tend to come by only occasionally and despite the fact that their bills don't seem to be particularly well suited to the holes in the mesh of the feeder they seem undeterred. I'm in constant fear that now that I've found a suet that the birds clearly prefer that it will become all the rage at the local Walmart and that I will find it more often than not out of stock due to its popularity with both the birds and the people who love to feed them.
I might like to mention that I have an outstanding suet feeder. Like everyone else I started out using one of those cage like feeders but quickly discovered that I was losing more suet to squirrels and other animals than I was to the birds that I was hoping to attract. I'm not even sure that I was looking to attract woodpeckers at the outset but I was definitely not wanting to feed the local squirrel population day in and day out. So I found this one feeder online that is just perfect in that the mesh is small enough to feed just the birds and the cage has a solid stainless steel construction so it is indestructible for all intents and purposes. Did I mention that it can accommodate two suet cakes? Perfect!
I sometimes no sooner refill the feeder than I have to start thinking about when it might require another replacement bar or two. I'm not sure when I started to notice this but woodpeckers will actually feed each other while at the feeder which is behavior I've not seen with other birds. I looked it up and it seems to be related to their mating ritual. It also seems somewhat commonplace given how often I see it so it makes me wonder. And how often do you see selfless acts in the wild unless maybe it is not all that selfless.
One of these days I'll sort out which is the female of the species and which is the male species and then, I suppose, it will be good to know which birds are mature and which have yet to reach full maturity. I'm not looking to go full Audubon here but something short of that might work out. Nancy said something about the fact that woodpeckers mate for life so I found that interesting. I've heard that that is also true of mourning doves and everything I've seen about those birds supports that widely held understanding.
So much so, that I feel a little sad for mourning doves when and where I notice that he or she has no apparent mate. Did it lose its mate to a predator? Perhaps it has yet to find a mate to its liking. That's a big decision so I suppose even in the bird kingdom those decisions are not made without considerable deliberation and review. I watched yesterday as a mourning dove (with no apparent mate in sight) took a few sips from our bird bath on the deck and then proceeded to plop down squarely in the center of bird bath where he languished contentedly with his body half submerged for the better part of fifteen minutes or so before flying off. He didn't seem to have a care in the world. Maybe birds have something to teach we humans about living in the moment.
I should like to get back to the gym but not sure just yet that it's going to work out. It's one less activity in my playbook and one that I would rather not scuttle given half a chance. Do I dare take a chance and pay a visit now that they are open again? I am not otherwise fearful of contracting the dreaded coronavirus so aside from the usual and now standard precautions I may just take the plunge. I've never been a gym rat if you get my drift but doing a little treadmill work and maybe a little work with the weights will help me become even more fit. I have to believe my biking has done wonders for my cardio so I think its time to work on other areas now that the gyms have reopened. There, I talked myself into it.
I was getting a little short on coffee at home so I popped my head into Starbucks the other day in downtown Portsmouth. No sooner had I walked into the store than a woman from behind the counter asked that I step back outside. I had read none of the signs and had largely ignored the various taped markings, arrows, and the like that had been laid out on the floor of the store in order to provide direction to the customers entering the store. Had I done so I would have understood that they were only allowing 5 people in the store at the same time which, by the way, was just ludicrous.
I waited my turn and reentered the site after about 5 minutes and proceeded to order a pound of coffee to go. I have to say, with the plastic shields, the masks, with the background noise of coffee machines grinding and whirring, placing my order with the person behind the counter was no easy task. It helps to see peoples lips moving even if you can't read them and that goes unnoticed in the course of a normal back and forth because it's just taken for granted that those cues are there for the taking. It's probably no different than the flailing of the arms in a conversation between two Italians where the arms tell the story and lips follow with a less instructive version of that which is being articulated. I know I'm working myself into a lather here so I'll just quit while I'm ahead.
I got the distinct impression that the entire cordoning off of certain sections of the Starbucks store, the flashing red and green lights, the taped arrows on the floors, walls and ceilings, was all about preserving the health of the employees and it had little to do with safety or concerns of the customers entering the store. I wondered if I were an employee of the store would I be willing or wanting to return to serving customers who might infect me at every turn. What kind of commitment would I expect from my employer before I would be willing to step behind the counter and take orders from a spitting, spewing, coughing, hacking, and breathing customer base? Maybe you couldn't pay me enough.
But I celebrate every store and every business that is now opening its doors because getting back to normal is just the elixir that the world needs now that we've turned the corner with this virus thing. Or, have we? You just don't know who to believe when it comes to getting the truth about where we are in the course of the pandemic. Are we moving out of phase one and into a period where the virus is less virulent given the summer temperatures? Have we moved directly from phase one to phase two without so much as a respite from the weariness of it all? My own community of some 5,000 residents has seen 14 (increased to 15 overnight) cases in total since it began and usually has anywhere from 1 to 4 cases on an ongoing basis. Don't know about related hospitalizations, intubations, deaths, etc. Just not a big deal.
I was delighted to see last night that the anarchists were unsuccessful in tearing down the statute of Andrew Jackson that sits in front of the White House. The anarchical soy boys and girls had attached ropes to the statute lilliputian style just before nightfall in Lafayette Square and the ropes had turned taut on both sides of the statute when the baton wielding officers arrived enforce. Every red blooded American watching that scene from the comfort of their living room had to be pulling for the forces of good who would stand up against these mobs looking to destroy our monuments and they were not disappointed.
I couldn't help but wonder if the tools the officers employed when dispersing the unruly crowds weren't somewhat out of date. There must be a more effective way of dispersing crowds than to push their lines back and away from the statute by standing man to man with batons in hand while raining down rubber projectiles on the more violent and unlawful amongst them. Why not just throw a fucking net over them like a school of fish? Tanks might be a little heavy handed but how about a sonic dog whistle that causes nose and ear bleeds?
These radicals were dressed to the nines complete with gas masks, bicycle helmets, and the dark arts garb right out computer games the likes of Dungeons and Dragons. It was hard to tell if the excesses seen in their outerwear were a result of their desire to remain anonymous or simply them exercising their choice of mob-wear over something more aesthetically pleasing to the eye like jeans and a tee shirt. It seemed hardly possible that Trump would allow these animals to take down a statute in such close proximity to the White House and that is precisely how it turned out. Put that down as a victory for the American people and a defeat for the forces of evil.
We'll be paying Mrs G a visit in a couple of days so that will be nice. Nancy hasn't seen her mom in some three months now since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic back in March. I think we wondered if we might ever get to see her at all with the pandemic raging as it was and with all the precautions put in place by her facility. Now that cases are trending up while deaths are trending down, and with no cases whatsoever having seen the light of day in her independent living facility, they've relaxed the rules just enough so we can pay a visit. We'll have to keep our distance and we'll have to wear masks but that seems reasonable under the circumstances. It's all good.
I might like to mention that I have an outstanding suet feeder. Like everyone else I started out using one of those cage like feeders but quickly discovered that I was losing more suet to squirrels and other animals than I was to the birds that I was hoping to attract. I'm not even sure that I was looking to attract woodpeckers at the outset but I was definitely not wanting to feed the local squirrel population day in and day out. So I found this one feeder online that is just perfect in that the mesh is small enough to feed just the birds and the cage has a solid stainless steel construction so it is indestructible for all intents and purposes. Did I mention that it can accommodate two suet cakes? Perfect!
I sometimes no sooner refill the feeder than I have to start thinking about when it might require another replacement bar or two. I'm not sure when I started to notice this but woodpeckers will actually feed each other while at the feeder which is behavior I've not seen with other birds. I looked it up and it seems to be related to their mating ritual. It also seems somewhat commonplace given how often I see it so it makes me wonder. And how often do you see selfless acts in the wild unless maybe it is not all that selfless.
One of these days I'll sort out which is the female of the species and which is the male species and then, I suppose, it will be good to know which birds are mature and which have yet to reach full maturity. I'm not looking to go full Audubon here but something short of that might work out. Nancy said something about the fact that woodpeckers mate for life so I found that interesting. I've heard that that is also true of mourning doves and everything I've seen about those birds supports that widely held understanding.
So much so, that I feel a little sad for mourning doves when and where I notice that he or she has no apparent mate. Did it lose its mate to a predator? Perhaps it has yet to find a mate to its liking. That's a big decision so I suppose even in the bird kingdom those decisions are not made without considerable deliberation and review. I watched yesterday as a mourning dove (with no apparent mate in sight) took a few sips from our bird bath on the deck and then proceeded to plop down squarely in the center of bird bath where he languished contentedly with his body half submerged for the better part of fifteen minutes or so before flying off. He didn't seem to have a care in the world. Maybe birds have something to teach we humans about living in the moment.
I should like to get back to the gym but not sure just yet that it's going to work out. It's one less activity in my playbook and one that I would rather not scuttle given half a chance. Do I dare take a chance and pay a visit now that they are open again? I am not otherwise fearful of contracting the dreaded coronavirus so aside from the usual and now standard precautions I may just take the plunge. I've never been a gym rat if you get my drift but doing a little treadmill work and maybe a little work with the weights will help me become even more fit. I have to believe my biking has done wonders for my cardio so I think its time to work on other areas now that the gyms have reopened. There, I talked myself into it.
I was getting a little short on coffee at home so I popped my head into Starbucks the other day in downtown Portsmouth. No sooner had I walked into the store than a woman from behind the counter asked that I step back outside. I had read none of the signs and had largely ignored the various taped markings, arrows, and the like that had been laid out on the floor of the store in order to provide direction to the customers entering the store. Had I done so I would have understood that they were only allowing 5 people in the store at the same time which, by the way, was just ludicrous.
I waited my turn and reentered the site after about 5 minutes and proceeded to order a pound of coffee to go. I have to say, with the plastic shields, the masks, with the background noise of coffee machines grinding and whirring, placing my order with the person behind the counter was no easy task. It helps to see peoples lips moving even if you can't read them and that goes unnoticed in the course of a normal back and forth because it's just taken for granted that those cues are there for the taking. It's probably no different than the flailing of the arms in a conversation between two Italians where the arms tell the story and lips follow with a less instructive version of that which is being articulated. I know I'm working myself into a lather here so I'll just quit while I'm ahead.
I got the distinct impression that the entire cordoning off of certain sections of the Starbucks store, the flashing red and green lights, the taped arrows on the floors, walls and ceilings, was all about preserving the health of the employees and it had little to do with safety or concerns of the customers entering the store. I wondered if I were an employee of the store would I be willing or wanting to return to serving customers who might infect me at every turn. What kind of commitment would I expect from my employer before I would be willing to step behind the counter and take orders from a spitting, spewing, coughing, hacking, and breathing customer base? Maybe you couldn't pay me enough.
But I celebrate every store and every business that is now opening its doors because getting back to normal is just the elixir that the world needs now that we've turned the corner with this virus thing. Or, have we? You just don't know who to believe when it comes to getting the truth about where we are in the course of the pandemic. Are we moving out of phase one and into a period where the virus is less virulent given the summer temperatures? Have we moved directly from phase one to phase two without so much as a respite from the weariness of it all? My own community of some 5,000 residents has seen 14 (increased to 15 overnight) cases in total since it began and usually has anywhere from 1 to 4 cases on an ongoing basis. Don't know about related hospitalizations, intubations, deaths, etc. Just not a big deal.
I was delighted to see last night that the anarchists were unsuccessful in tearing down the statute of Andrew Jackson that sits in front of the White House. The anarchical soy boys and girls had attached ropes to the statute lilliputian style just before nightfall in Lafayette Square and the ropes had turned taut on both sides of the statute when the baton wielding officers arrived enforce. Every red blooded American watching that scene from the comfort of their living room had to be pulling for the forces of good who would stand up against these mobs looking to destroy our monuments and they were not disappointed.
I couldn't help but wonder if the tools the officers employed when dispersing the unruly crowds weren't somewhat out of date. There must be a more effective way of dispersing crowds than to push their lines back and away from the statute by standing man to man with batons in hand while raining down rubber projectiles on the more violent and unlawful amongst them. Why not just throw a fucking net over them like a school of fish? Tanks might be a little heavy handed but how about a sonic dog whistle that causes nose and ear bleeds?
These radicals were dressed to the nines complete with gas masks, bicycle helmets, and the dark arts garb right out computer games the likes of Dungeons and Dragons. It was hard to tell if the excesses seen in their outerwear were a result of their desire to remain anonymous or simply them exercising their choice of mob-wear over something more aesthetically pleasing to the eye like jeans and a tee shirt. It seemed hardly possible that Trump would allow these animals to take down a statute in such close proximity to the White House and that is precisely how it turned out. Put that down as a victory for the American people and a defeat for the forces of evil.
We'll be paying Mrs G a visit in a couple of days so that will be nice. Nancy hasn't seen her mom in some three months now since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic back in March. I think we wondered if we might ever get to see her at all with the pandemic raging as it was and with all the precautions put in place by her facility. Now that cases are trending up while deaths are trending down, and with no cases whatsoever having seen the light of day in her independent living facility, they've relaxed the rules just enough so we can pay a visit. We'll have to keep our distance and we'll have to wear masks but that seems reasonable under the circumstances. It's all good.
More BLM Shenanigans
13/06/20 07:15
As usual, I have no idea where I'm going with this here journal this morning. I sit down, I take out my piece of paper, grab a pen, and then I just sit here. I sit here looking at the screen wondering what if anything is ever going to appear if I don't do something. More to the point, if I don't say something. Even more to the point, if I don't type something. It's not like I don't have anything to say. It's just that it's all so muddled in my head. If I could just sort it all out. If I could make sense of it. Maybe it's going nowhere. Who knows.
We have a 2020 census that we have to fill out. I suppose I could take a look at that. Nancy usually takes care of that so I think I'll leave that to her to do. I have an invite from a 23andMe to share some kind of something and she's distant enough so that I think I can just ignore her. Why would a third or fourth cousin have a need or interest in knowing about my DNA results? And what is this bullshit about me having 67% more Neanderthal than all of my relatives? Maybe I do protesteth too much. It's interesting stuff but I'm often confused about what it all means. The further out I go on the family tree the more confused I get.
We're watching this show on Netflix about Jeffrey Epstein. Not sure how we got onto that but we did. It's an interesting blend of genres if I do say so myself. It's sort of a mix between Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous and Investigation Discovery. His particular predilections or proclivities and the fastidiousness with which he approached his victims time and time again made for something of a bore of a show. It's the usual, wash, rinse, and repeat if I'm reading it right. That is to say, he procured his underage girls in a predictable fashion, exploited them in an equally predictable way, and that was his so-called modus operandi for years on end.
I'm not saying that he wasn't a creepy old fuck. Clearly, he was if you are wanting to make a judgement one way or another about his moral compass. And it wasn't legal because the girls were underage but maybe that was just Epstein flouting the law and enjoying the titillation that went along with it. For all the character witnesses that appeared on the show explaining how they wish they'd never meet Jeffrey Epstein, none came even close to defining Jeffrey Epstein the man. We know what he did but who was he really? They just couldn't put their finger on it no matter how hard they tried. Disappointing.
One thing that annoys me about this whole BLM business, aside from the fact that they are trying to sway an upcoming presidential election, is that they are doing their very best to tear away at the fabric of our country's history by tearing down or defacing statues across our nation. They began by attacking statues of icons hundreds of years old whose history involved slavery one way or another and their efforts now include those efforts of a sitting member of Congress who is wanting to pass legislation that will remove any and all artifacts of the confederacy from our national cemeteries. The Senator may not like that history but it is our history and we should all care about that for all the right reasons.
Maybe even more alarming is the fact that that no one on either side of the aisle in Washington is willing to stand up to this radical movement sweeping across our nation and just say "no." I expect as much from the democrats but not the republicans. When asked to comment on the pending legislation, one republican senator responded with, "this is not the hill we want to die on." Thanks a lot, you weak-kneed bastards. If you think they are not coming for you in the halls of Congress at the end of the day you'd better think again.
Make no mistake about it, Trump will veto the legislation if it ever gets to his desk. That may be the end game the republicans are playing going down the home stretch to November so let's see how this plays out before we get our knickers in a twist. In the meantime, can we find a few goddamn Americans with the stones to stand up and fight back against these marauding mobs who want to tear down our statues? How difficult can it be to form a perimeter around these helpless statues of our heroes like Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and their ilk while armed with AR-15's and sharpened farm implements?
I don't expect the police in these blue states to have the spine to do it. They're too busy taking a knee with the radicals and bowing to their lunacy. The mayors and the governors in these very same states endorse and encourage this malignancy by saying nothing or referring to areas taken over as zones of love or worse.
Were they right wing groups setting up encampments and tearing down statues in the heart of these blue states you can bet your bottom dollar said governors would be sending in the National Guard and declaring victory against everyone and everything even remotely resembling a "White Supremacist" uprising. Their irrational bellowing is always the same. If people have to die in the process, no price is too great to pay to rid ourselves of the White Supremacist!
Maybe it's not happening in red states so there is no need to protect any statues. I'll give them that. I'd like to use the "we'll give them just enough rope to hang themselves" expression but in this context that might be considered inflammatory or even racist. If BLM were to find my little gem of a word salad while doing word searches on the internet for anything critical of their quest, they would likely dispatch one of their hackers to tear down my journal.
I would sit down to update my journal one fine or not so fine morning only to find that it too had been defaced or destroyed in the name of the cause. Until then I'll not be gussying up my words or anything else just to please or placate BLM and their army of fools. Enough is enough.
Did I mention that we have our garden in? No thanks to me I might add. I'm the reluctant one who thinks it's a waste of time and not worth the energy we put into it. But I'm always down with having a few tomato plants if nothing else so that is where we're at this year. When I say nothing else, I'm talking veggies.
Nancy has her share of flowering plants which she has put in and which will likely occupy the better part of the area we have set aside in the garden once they start to flower. That's fine. I think last year her morning glories didn't produce many flowers so she was disappointed. We put a little bit of compost in this year so let's hope there is a more "glorious" end result.
There seem to be a lot of chipmunks around this year so we have that to contend with. They dig these little holes here and there throughout the yard and it's annoying if nothing else. I've never been a slave to our yard in the sense that everything has to be perfect but when and where we see an imbalance it is worth noting. This should also trigger an imbalance up and down the food chain if I'm not mistaken. Maybe it means that fewer survive the upcoming winter because food stocks are diminished due to the excessive foraging by the chipmunks.
The increase in their numbers may provide a surplus for raptors and other creatures who find their little chipmunk meat irresistible and there for the taking. It's low hung fruit as it were. Did I mention that our neighbor captures them and transports them by car out of the neighborhood and far enough away so that they could never find their way back even if they wanted to? Who does that?
Trump has a rally scheduled for the end of next week in Oklahoma. This will be his first rally since the pandemic broke out in March. They have issued some 800,000 tickets to the event and that has the Main Street Media (MSM) apoplectic and just out over their skis with anger. How dare he hold an event like that in the midst of a pandemic! The MSM knows full well that there is huge enthusiasm gap between the supporters of the two candidates and they also know that enthusiasm translates into votes at the ballot box.
They also know that they have boxed themselves in having said nothing about the pandemic when riots broke out coast to coast. They've also said nothing about social distancing and not a word about the protestors (anarchists) need to wear protective gear. They gleefully reported on the ensuing deaths, the burning buildings, the looting of the stores, and the unrest that was metastcizing in cities across our country. (MSM) If this is what our country looks like after four years of a Trump presidency who could possibly want to reelect him? And now they have their panties in a bunch when Trump wants to have a rally? That's not the way it works.
If only they (MSM) can keep the fires burning in the black communities long enough to get the democrats and their fellow anarchists to the ballot box on election day they might have a chance at beating Trump. All we need is one or more blacks killed at the hands of a white policeman and we're good to go. They are too blinded by their rage against Trump to realize that the longer the riots go on the more invested the rest of America becomes in seeing to it that we elect a law and order president come November. This is a message that Trump can refine on the stump and nobody does it better than Trump. Trump! Trump! Trump!
Evan phoned me while I was sitting in the dentists office yesterday. He informed me that the battery in his car had died and he was asking in a roundabout way whether or not it was ok to have someone "jump" his battery to get his car started. It was funny because I could see him getting the offer and I'm quite sure he didn't know what the devil the guy was talking about. So much so, in fact, that he decided to call a friend. You now, like on that television show, "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire." "For sure", I told him. "Just make sure that you drive it for a bit after it starts so you give the battery a good charge."
He gets very skittish about cars when he starts to have problems and it just adds to his existing insecurities when things like this happen. But solving problems that crop up from time to time that bolster his confidence is a good thing. When he puts the pieces together all by his lonesome it's all the better even if it does involve calling a friend to ask a question or two. I am curious as to how he made the connection between the cooler in the rear of the car that we loaned to him that he never unplugged and the sapping of the battery that then sat idle and juiceless beneath the hood unbeknownst to him until he turned the key in the ignition.
Now that I think of it, he was telling me later in the day when I gave him a call to see how he made out, that he couldn't open the car door so he had to remove the key from the FOB before he could even get into the car. Did he do a little research on YouTube before he figured that out? Maybe he called his friend who lives nearby and together they sorted it out. He'll be coming by in a couple of days and he will no doubt talk about the "ordeal" since it was a success story and we all know how he likes to regale us with his success stories. That's my way of saying that I'll be surprised if he doesn't mention it. Lessons learned!
We have a 2020 census that we have to fill out. I suppose I could take a look at that. Nancy usually takes care of that so I think I'll leave that to her to do. I have an invite from a 23andMe to share some kind of something and she's distant enough so that I think I can just ignore her. Why would a third or fourth cousin have a need or interest in knowing about my DNA results? And what is this bullshit about me having 67% more Neanderthal than all of my relatives? Maybe I do protesteth too much. It's interesting stuff but I'm often confused about what it all means. The further out I go on the family tree the more confused I get.
We're watching this show on Netflix about Jeffrey Epstein. Not sure how we got onto that but we did. It's an interesting blend of genres if I do say so myself. It's sort of a mix between Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous and Investigation Discovery. His particular predilections or proclivities and the fastidiousness with which he approached his victims time and time again made for something of a bore of a show. It's the usual, wash, rinse, and repeat if I'm reading it right. That is to say, he procured his underage girls in a predictable fashion, exploited them in an equally predictable way, and that was his so-called modus operandi for years on end.
I'm not saying that he wasn't a creepy old fuck. Clearly, he was if you are wanting to make a judgement one way or another about his moral compass. And it wasn't legal because the girls were underage but maybe that was just Epstein flouting the law and enjoying the titillation that went along with it. For all the character witnesses that appeared on the show explaining how they wish they'd never meet Jeffrey Epstein, none came even close to defining Jeffrey Epstein the man. We know what he did but who was he really? They just couldn't put their finger on it no matter how hard they tried. Disappointing.
One thing that annoys me about this whole BLM business, aside from the fact that they are trying to sway an upcoming presidential election, is that they are doing their very best to tear away at the fabric of our country's history by tearing down or defacing statues across our nation. They began by attacking statues of icons hundreds of years old whose history involved slavery one way or another and their efforts now include those efforts of a sitting member of Congress who is wanting to pass legislation that will remove any and all artifacts of the confederacy from our national cemeteries. The Senator may not like that history but it is our history and we should all care about that for all the right reasons.
Maybe even more alarming is the fact that that no one on either side of the aisle in Washington is willing to stand up to this radical movement sweeping across our nation and just say "no." I expect as much from the democrats but not the republicans. When asked to comment on the pending legislation, one republican senator responded with, "this is not the hill we want to die on." Thanks a lot, you weak-kneed bastards. If you think they are not coming for you in the halls of Congress at the end of the day you'd better think again.
Make no mistake about it, Trump will veto the legislation if it ever gets to his desk. That may be the end game the republicans are playing going down the home stretch to November so let's see how this plays out before we get our knickers in a twist. In the meantime, can we find a few goddamn Americans with the stones to stand up and fight back against these marauding mobs who want to tear down our statues? How difficult can it be to form a perimeter around these helpless statues of our heroes like Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and their ilk while armed with AR-15's and sharpened farm implements?
I don't expect the police in these blue states to have the spine to do it. They're too busy taking a knee with the radicals and bowing to their lunacy. The mayors and the governors in these very same states endorse and encourage this malignancy by saying nothing or referring to areas taken over as zones of love or worse.
Were they right wing groups setting up encampments and tearing down statues in the heart of these blue states you can bet your bottom dollar said governors would be sending in the National Guard and declaring victory against everyone and everything even remotely resembling a "White Supremacist" uprising. Their irrational bellowing is always the same. If people have to die in the process, no price is too great to pay to rid ourselves of the White Supremacist!
Maybe it's not happening in red states so there is no need to protect any statues. I'll give them that. I'd like to use the "we'll give them just enough rope to hang themselves" expression but in this context that might be considered inflammatory or even racist. If BLM were to find my little gem of a word salad while doing word searches on the internet for anything critical of their quest, they would likely dispatch one of their hackers to tear down my journal.
I would sit down to update my journal one fine or not so fine morning only to find that it too had been defaced or destroyed in the name of the cause. Until then I'll not be gussying up my words or anything else just to please or placate BLM and their army of fools. Enough is enough.
Did I mention that we have our garden in? No thanks to me I might add. I'm the reluctant one who thinks it's a waste of time and not worth the energy we put into it. But I'm always down with having a few tomato plants if nothing else so that is where we're at this year. When I say nothing else, I'm talking veggies.
Nancy has her share of flowering plants which she has put in and which will likely occupy the better part of the area we have set aside in the garden once they start to flower. That's fine. I think last year her morning glories didn't produce many flowers so she was disappointed. We put a little bit of compost in this year so let's hope there is a more "glorious" end result.
There seem to be a lot of chipmunks around this year so we have that to contend with. They dig these little holes here and there throughout the yard and it's annoying if nothing else. I've never been a slave to our yard in the sense that everything has to be perfect but when and where we see an imbalance it is worth noting. This should also trigger an imbalance up and down the food chain if I'm not mistaken. Maybe it means that fewer survive the upcoming winter because food stocks are diminished due to the excessive foraging by the chipmunks.
The increase in their numbers may provide a surplus for raptors and other creatures who find their little chipmunk meat irresistible and there for the taking. It's low hung fruit as it were. Did I mention that our neighbor captures them and transports them by car out of the neighborhood and far enough away so that they could never find their way back even if they wanted to? Who does that?
Trump has a rally scheduled for the end of next week in Oklahoma. This will be his first rally since the pandemic broke out in March. They have issued some 800,000 tickets to the event and that has the Main Street Media (MSM) apoplectic and just out over their skis with anger. How dare he hold an event like that in the midst of a pandemic! The MSM knows full well that there is huge enthusiasm gap between the supporters of the two candidates and they also know that enthusiasm translates into votes at the ballot box.
They also know that they have boxed themselves in having said nothing about the pandemic when riots broke out coast to coast. They've also said nothing about social distancing and not a word about the protestors (anarchists) need to wear protective gear. They gleefully reported on the ensuing deaths, the burning buildings, the looting of the stores, and the unrest that was metastcizing in cities across our country. (MSM) If this is what our country looks like after four years of a Trump presidency who could possibly want to reelect him? And now they have their panties in a bunch when Trump wants to have a rally? That's not the way it works.
If only they (MSM) can keep the fires burning in the black communities long enough to get the democrats and their fellow anarchists to the ballot box on election day they might have a chance at beating Trump. All we need is one or more blacks killed at the hands of a white policeman and we're good to go. They are too blinded by their rage against Trump to realize that the longer the riots go on the more invested the rest of America becomes in seeing to it that we elect a law and order president come November. This is a message that Trump can refine on the stump and nobody does it better than Trump. Trump! Trump! Trump!
Evan phoned me while I was sitting in the dentists office yesterday. He informed me that the battery in his car had died and he was asking in a roundabout way whether or not it was ok to have someone "jump" his battery to get his car started. It was funny because I could see him getting the offer and I'm quite sure he didn't know what the devil the guy was talking about. So much so, in fact, that he decided to call a friend. You now, like on that television show, "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire." "For sure", I told him. "Just make sure that you drive it for a bit after it starts so you give the battery a good charge."
He gets very skittish about cars when he starts to have problems and it just adds to his existing insecurities when things like this happen. But solving problems that crop up from time to time that bolster his confidence is a good thing. When he puts the pieces together all by his lonesome it's all the better even if it does involve calling a friend to ask a question or two. I am curious as to how he made the connection between the cooler in the rear of the car that we loaned to him that he never unplugged and the sapping of the battery that then sat idle and juiceless beneath the hood unbeknownst to him until he turned the key in the ignition.
Now that I think of it, he was telling me later in the day when I gave him a call to see how he made out, that he couldn't open the car door so he had to remove the key from the FOB before he could even get into the car. Did he do a little research on YouTube before he figured that out? Maybe he called his friend who lives nearby and together they sorted it out. He'll be coming by in a couple of days and he will no doubt talk about the "ordeal" since it was a success story and we all know how he likes to regale us with his success stories. That's my way of saying that I'll be surprised if he doesn't mention it. Lessons learned!
Napalm in the Morning
09/06/20 07:03
Not sure where I'm going this morning but I guess we'll see. I'm kind of in between and betwixt if you know what I mean. Not sure if I feel up to this, that, or even the other thing. I'm hungry but I'm not wanting to make anything before Nancy has a chance to join me. We almost got around to having lobster rolls last night but opted for salads from the Ohana Kitchen in Portsmouth instead. Maybe we'll have lobster rolls tonight instead.
I think we were just thinking that we paid $24 for a lobster roll the other night at a local restaurant and when all was said and done we wondered why we hadn't just bought a pound of lobster and made our own rolls. It would have been cheaper and maybe even better. All you need is smattering of mayonnaise, a spritz or two of lemon, and a nice lightly buttered and toasted hot dog roll to hold your lobster in place while you consume it one delightful bite at a time. I'm just not sure what we were thinking.
Evan and I ordered burgers which turned out to be pretty good. I'm not a big burger guy but I don't mind having one once in a while. The burgers came with a pretty good serving of fries in a separate container many of which I left for Evan to have later in the evening at his convenience. I think I prefer the skinny little shoestring fries that you see in fast food restaurants like McDonalds to the plumper kind we received which just kind of slump when you pick them up with your fingers. A few extra minutes in the fryer might have crisped them up nicely.
Evan's stay this time lasted the better part of a week and he might have stayed longer if he didn't have certain appointments to keep. I think he likes the predictability of meals, the change of scenery, and perhaps even the absence of responsibilities when he comes to visit. He never announces how long he intends to stay or what his long or short term plans are. He arrives on our doorstep with his backpack/laptop slung over his shoulder and heads for his room more often than not without saying so much as a word. That's Evan.
I felt bad for Evan this visit because we couldn't get his air conditioner to work. It wasn't so hot that he couldn't tolerate it but it would have been nice if we could have gotten that up and running. He doesn't like the windows open as a rule since his allergies can be unforgiving this time of the year is over exposed to the elements. If it became unbearable he could always head back to his place where he has central air conditioning but he stayed the course and finally left for home yesterday.
As for the air conditioning, Nancy saw something online about the installation of a central air conditioning unit with the offering of a fairly substantial rebate attached. She gave them a call and arranged for someone to pay us a visit and give us an estimate. I think that was her way of saying that this purchase makes sense and we're going to go ahead with it so get on board. It's just another example of getting around to doing something that we should have done a long time ago. The in-window air conditioners have worked over time throughout our house but we're moving on now. It's time.
As for the pandemic I think we're all just waiting around now to see if the rates of anything pandemic related spike in the wake of all the riots, protests, and everything George Floyd. Or, is it Floyd George? If they don't, it will be most revealing. It will tell us that this whole pandemic stay-at-home bullshit has been a major hoax. I think we already see that in some of the states that opened up early. Their infection and hospitalization rates have been muted at best. In fact, I think we're a couple of weeks away now from being able to go to a Trump rally. Fuck the pandemic and the horse it rode in on!
If Trump is out there on the hustings wooing his faithful followers and fan base then what will sleepy Joe do? If there was one thing about the pandemic that the democrats just loved it was that they got to see Trump sidelined. You couldn't have more than a handful of people in the same room at the same time or they would all die a horrible death from the dreaded Coronavirus or so they told us. It was so contagious that they couldn't make hand soap fast enough. States were competing with each other to get the necessary garb with which to protect their front line health workers and their patients from contracting this virus, the Wuhan virus. It was the end of civilization as we know it.
This is going to be a problem for Joe Biden. I don't know that he can do a rally. He's barely able to read from a script or a teleprompter without going off the rails. He has without a doubt some form of dementia that is evident in everything that he does and says. His handlers have their hands full with a man beset with some form of degenerative cognitive decline and with certain proclivities towards the underaged that are better not discussed in polite company. This man is going to be the defacto head of the democrat party going forward? And how would they replace him at this late stage now that he has won the nomination? How indeed.
I'll tell you one thing though. If these BLM radicals, or as these progressives as the liberals like to refer to them, keep pushing this "defund the police" bullshit the entire country is going to be up in arms and they will turn out in droves for Trump in the Fall. The riots as of late have so ravaged the liberal cities that their mayors have gone on bended knee to Trump seeking funds with which to rebuild their city infrastructure. The businesses impacted are picking up and leaving these lawless bastions at the collective chagrin of their mayors who are begging them not to leave. We're not talking about some podunk city out in the middle of nowhere. We're talking about Chicago, Milwaukee, etc. You heard that right.
I keep going back to the idea of these lunatics getting into power if Biden somehow wins the presidency in November. If these woke protestors and nut jobs associated with the democrat party get their way they will be forcing people, organizations, and politicians to take sides in this culture war that we find ourselves in. If you ain't woke, then you're a White Supremacist.
If you want know what they have in store for we "White Supremacists" then you need look no further than the violence they doled out on the streets of main street America during the riots in the wake of the George Floyd matter. Today, they want the police gone. Tomorrow, they'll be coming after you. Today, they run roughshod through the streets and back alleys of our major cities. Tomorrow, they'll be marching through downtown Smallville, USA, and you better have your shop windows boarded up and your local police department tucked away and out of sight.
If I didn't know any better I would say that what we're seeing is right out of the Al Sharpton playbook. You publicly shame individuals and organizations into admitting to their collective white guilt over oppressing people of color and then you make them apologize and prostrate themselves until they find themselves wishing that they had paid the reparations at the outset. In any other world that would be called blackmail or extortion. Sharpton has turned it into an art form and to we "white supremacists" it looks like every other form of race baiting that we've seen come out of the black community since the days of Jesse Jackson.
Maybe the end game for the so-called progressives and democrats is to gin up a tide wave of angst in the communities of color so that they will come out in large numbers come November to vote their candidates into office. The big prize, of course, is the Presidency so the end always justifies the means when and where getting into the Oval Office is concerned. It doesn't mean that we can't and won't fight back but they have the torches and the megaphones at the moment and that never ends well.
These types of anarchic uprisings in the aftermath of an unjustified killing of a black man at the hand of a white policeman often bring about change for better or worse. Were it simply a matter of finding justice for the black man and his family that would be one thing. Reform of certain practices like chokeholds and other types of restraints and may also be warranted. But painting policemen coast to coast with the same brush because of one or two bad apples here and there is a policy destined for failure. It is tantamount to an assault on the front lines of the men and women of the police forces across our nation who have dedicated their lives to protecting and serving we the people. They deserve our respect.
Maybe there is another end game, their real end game, that we're seeing play out in plain sight right now in a six square block area in the State of Oregon. It is a city of 750,000 that is under siege by a group of radical anarchists who have occupied the offices and buildings, essentially the seat of government, and have constructed a perimeter to protect their positions from external forces.
It wasn't good enough to simply defund or get rid of the police. What they intend to do with their newly occupied territory is as yet unclear. The fact that they think they can do what their doing without gaining the notice of governmental authorities tells you everything you need to know about just how woke or maybe even insane these insurgents are.
This could be Trump's "I love the smell of napalm in the morning" moment." He can be the guy sitting on the beachhead after a long night of routing out the terrorists and parading them through the streets of the city in leg irons. His supporters would quickly forgive him for the time spent in the bunker beneath the White House while the White House was under attack.
The Oregon citizenry may be annoyed at the uprooting of their heroes given their hard leftist leanings but most of America would be ecstatic that they have a President who is fighting to take back our streets, towns, and cities. Leave our goddamn statues alone, leave our flags and our institutions alone, and get the hell out of town. This is the Trump we put in office in 2016 and this is the Trump we need to step up. Now is a good a time as any. America needs you.
I think we were just thinking that we paid $24 for a lobster roll the other night at a local restaurant and when all was said and done we wondered why we hadn't just bought a pound of lobster and made our own rolls. It would have been cheaper and maybe even better. All you need is smattering of mayonnaise, a spritz or two of lemon, and a nice lightly buttered and toasted hot dog roll to hold your lobster in place while you consume it one delightful bite at a time. I'm just not sure what we were thinking.
Evan and I ordered burgers which turned out to be pretty good. I'm not a big burger guy but I don't mind having one once in a while. The burgers came with a pretty good serving of fries in a separate container many of which I left for Evan to have later in the evening at his convenience. I think I prefer the skinny little shoestring fries that you see in fast food restaurants like McDonalds to the plumper kind we received which just kind of slump when you pick them up with your fingers. A few extra minutes in the fryer might have crisped them up nicely.
Evan's stay this time lasted the better part of a week and he might have stayed longer if he didn't have certain appointments to keep. I think he likes the predictability of meals, the change of scenery, and perhaps even the absence of responsibilities when he comes to visit. He never announces how long he intends to stay or what his long or short term plans are. He arrives on our doorstep with his backpack/laptop slung over his shoulder and heads for his room more often than not without saying so much as a word. That's Evan.
I felt bad for Evan this visit because we couldn't get his air conditioner to work. It wasn't so hot that he couldn't tolerate it but it would have been nice if we could have gotten that up and running. He doesn't like the windows open as a rule since his allergies can be unforgiving this time of the year is over exposed to the elements. If it became unbearable he could always head back to his place where he has central air conditioning but he stayed the course and finally left for home yesterday.
As for the air conditioning, Nancy saw something online about the installation of a central air conditioning unit with the offering of a fairly substantial rebate attached. She gave them a call and arranged for someone to pay us a visit and give us an estimate. I think that was her way of saying that this purchase makes sense and we're going to go ahead with it so get on board. It's just another example of getting around to doing something that we should have done a long time ago. The in-window air conditioners have worked over time throughout our house but we're moving on now. It's time.
As for the pandemic I think we're all just waiting around now to see if the rates of anything pandemic related spike in the wake of all the riots, protests, and everything George Floyd. Or, is it Floyd George? If they don't, it will be most revealing. It will tell us that this whole pandemic stay-at-home bullshit has been a major hoax. I think we already see that in some of the states that opened up early. Their infection and hospitalization rates have been muted at best. In fact, I think we're a couple of weeks away now from being able to go to a Trump rally. Fuck the pandemic and the horse it rode in on!
If Trump is out there on the hustings wooing his faithful followers and fan base then what will sleepy Joe do? If there was one thing about the pandemic that the democrats just loved it was that they got to see Trump sidelined. You couldn't have more than a handful of people in the same room at the same time or they would all die a horrible death from the dreaded Coronavirus or so they told us. It was so contagious that they couldn't make hand soap fast enough. States were competing with each other to get the necessary garb with which to protect their front line health workers and their patients from contracting this virus, the Wuhan virus. It was the end of civilization as we know it.
This is going to be a problem for Joe Biden. I don't know that he can do a rally. He's barely able to read from a script or a teleprompter without going off the rails. He has without a doubt some form of dementia that is evident in everything that he does and says. His handlers have their hands full with a man beset with some form of degenerative cognitive decline and with certain proclivities towards the underaged that are better not discussed in polite company. This man is going to be the defacto head of the democrat party going forward? And how would they replace him at this late stage now that he has won the nomination? How indeed.
I'll tell you one thing though. If these BLM radicals, or as these progressives as the liberals like to refer to them, keep pushing this "defund the police" bullshit the entire country is going to be up in arms and they will turn out in droves for Trump in the Fall. The riots as of late have so ravaged the liberal cities that their mayors have gone on bended knee to Trump seeking funds with which to rebuild their city infrastructure. The businesses impacted are picking up and leaving these lawless bastions at the collective chagrin of their mayors who are begging them not to leave. We're not talking about some podunk city out in the middle of nowhere. We're talking about Chicago, Milwaukee, etc. You heard that right.
I keep going back to the idea of these lunatics getting into power if Biden somehow wins the presidency in November. If these woke protestors and nut jobs associated with the democrat party get their way they will be forcing people, organizations, and politicians to take sides in this culture war that we find ourselves in. If you ain't woke, then you're a White Supremacist.
If you want know what they have in store for we "White Supremacists" then you need look no further than the violence they doled out on the streets of main street America during the riots in the wake of the George Floyd matter. Today, they want the police gone. Tomorrow, they'll be coming after you. Today, they run roughshod through the streets and back alleys of our major cities. Tomorrow, they'll be marching through downtown Smallville, USA, and you better have your shop windows boarded up and your local police department tucked away and out of sight.
If I didn't know any better I would say that what we're seeing is right out of the Al Sharpton playbook. You publicly shame individuals and organizations into admitting to their collective white guilt over oppressing people of color and then you make them apologize and prostrate themselves until they find themselves wishing that they had paid the reparations at the outset. In any other world that would be called blackmail or extortion. Sharpton has turned it into an art form and to we "white supremacists" it looks like every other form of race baiting that we've seen come out of the black community since the days of Jesse Jackson.
Maybe the end game for the so-called progressives and democrats is to gin up a tide wave of angst in the communities of color so that they will come out in large numbers come November to vote their candidates into office. The big prize, of course, is the Presidency so the end always justifies the means when and where getting into the Oval Office is concerned. It doesn't mean that we can't and won't fight back but they have the torches and the megaphones at the moment and that never ends well.
These types of anarchic uprisings in the aftermath of an unjustified killing of a black man at the hand of a white policeman often bring about change for better or worse. Were it simply a matter of finding justice for the black man and his family that would be one thing. Reform of certain practices like chokeholds and other types of restraints and may also be warranted. But painting policemen coast to coast with the same brush because of one or two bad apples here and there is a policy destined for failure. It is tantamount to an assault on the front lines of the men and women of the police forces across our nation who have dedicated their lives to protecting and serving we the people. They deserve our respect.
Maybe there is another end game, their real end game, that we're seeing play out in plain sight right now in a six square block area in the State of Oregon. It is a city of 750,000 that is under siege by a group of radical anarchists who have occupied the offices and buildings, essentially the seat of government, and have constructed a perimeter to protect their positions from external forces.
It wasn't good enough to simply defund or get rid of the police. What they intend to do with their newly occupied territory is as yet unclear. The fact that they think they can do what their doing without gaining the notice of governmental authorities tells you everything you need to know about just how woke or maybe even insane these insurgents are.
This could be Trump's "I love the smell of napalm in the morning" moment." He can be the guy sitting on the beachhead after a long night of routing out the terrorists and parading them through the streets of the city in leg irons. His supporters would quickly forgive him for the time spent in the bunker beneath the White House while the White House was under attack.
The Oregon citizenry may be annoyed at the uprooting of their heroes given their hard leftist leanings but most of America would be ecstatic that they have a President who is fighting to take back our streets, towns, and cities. Leave our goddamn statues alone, leave our flags and our institutions alone, and get the hell out of town. This is the Trump we put in office in 2016 and this is the Trump we need to step up. Now is a good a time as any. America needs you.
Make America Great Again Again
03/06/20 07:06
It's going to be a busy day. I'll be tuning into the Senate hearings at 10am when Rod Rosenstein will be testifying about his involvement in the whole Trump and Russia collusion nonsense which we all now know was a sham. It was a deliberate attempt by the deep state actors, or Obama holdovers I like to say, to prevent Trump from getting into office in 2016 or to oust Trump from office if elected. His drubbing Hillary Clinton in 2016 was just a bridge too far so Obama's cronies thad to weaponize any number of governmental agencies to do what Hillary Clinton could not do on election night.
I have to take a trip to Trader Joe's too so I'd like to arrange to get there a little after eight. If the timing works out all right, and the rain doesn't start sooner than expected, I'll be on my bike at 9 so I can be back for the hearings at 10. A little later this afternoon, we're expecting a delivery which is basically dinner in a box. When Nancy read me the description of the meal that we ordered, it was mouth watering to say the least. The only justice I can do to that particular description would be to copy and paste it but I'm not going to do that here.
It's a dinner for four so Evan is over to enjoy the meal with us. Did I mention that they delivered our new refrigerator yesterday? She's a beauty! I've never been more excited about an appliance in my life. Nancy mention that she thought it was instructive that we purchased the unit that we did. She's talking about the fact that I said that I would never buy another Samsung refrigerator because of the problem that we had with the Samsung that they took away yesterday when they delivered the new refrigerator.
That is to say, frost and ice began to build up on the inside of the refrigerator against the back wall and it was wreaking havoc with the cooling mechanism. What I didn't realize was that the refrigerator was in decline due to age rather than some random mechanical failure. I just had no idea really about how long you could expect a refrigerator to last so gave zero thought to any of it until it was too late. Had I realized any of this sooner I might have gone looking for a replacement sooner. That would have saved us all a lot of angst.
The instructive part was that I had convinced myself that I would never buy another Samsung because of the cooling problem. Well, that went out the window when we found a Samsung unit that was just the bees knees. It was almost identical to our older refrigerator but 10 years newer so maybe they had worked out a few of the kinks in the intervening years. I guess you could say that there were a lot of things we liked about that old refrigerator and throwing the baby out with the bath water when buying a replacement did not mean we would not go with something other than a Samsung.
So there's that. Nancy said that she would never own a stainless steel refrigerator and now, with our new purchase, we are the proud new owners of a stainless steel refrigerator. Like I said, it's the bees knees stainless steel and all. It actually complements our other appliances and the overall look of our kitchen when all is said and done. The only regret we have at the moment is that we didn't keep the removable butter tray which is odd because we removed and kept all the other plastic tray inserts from the doors of the old unit.
And to have a refrigerator that works? It's priceless. When I think about how the old refrigerator just got worse and worse and how the cooling became less and less reliable it reminds me of the frog in the boiling water business. Before we knew it we were throwing a thermometer inside the refrigerator at night because we could tell the temperatures weren't what they should be but we couldn't rely on the gauges anymore. Things were cold but were they cold enough? Were things going bad because the temperatures were dropping by a degree a day with each passing day? And what is that god awful smell?
This rioting bullshit has gone too far. Have you seen the pictures of the soldiers taking a knee in sympathy with the protestors? It makes me fucking sick. And if it's true that the rioters and looters arrested in these democrat controlled cities across our country are being set free once collared and hauled in for processing then that is a colossal travesty of justice. Is there any doubt in anyone's mind that they turn right around and go back to doing what they were doing when they were arrested? What message are the democrat politicians sending to their god fearing business owning responsible citizenry? Here it is: Fuck you and the racist horse you rode in on.
The thought of these democrats running our country after winning the presidential election in the Fall is beyond the pale. Not one high profile democrat has raised their voice to say enough is enough. How many more policemen need to lose their lives trying to protect their citizenry? How many more businesses need to be gutted and destroyed at the hands of these anarchists? How many more cities across our great nation need to be roiled for yet another night with roving gangs that have hijacked an otherwise honorable and lawful protest? ? How many more law abiding citizens need to take up arms to protect themselves and their property from the criminals roving our streets?
I don't think President Trump wants to have the National Guard go into the major cities to help enforce the laws but if the elected politicians can't get the job done then they may force his hand. It has to break his heart to see the city that he grew up in, the city that is home to his crown jewel, Trump Towers, get torn down and destroyed at the hands of these roving criminal gangs. It must be even more painful for Trump to see the city's democrat mayor appeasing the criminal gangs and implicitly endorsing their criminal activity. Without law and order, there will be no city. It's a travesty beyond compare.
Barely a week or two ago you couldn't attend a church of your choice because of the pandemic that has taken some 100,000 lives on our country. Social distancing and masks were the order of the day and some states had begun to relax their rules in order to get our country open again. The blue states were less flexible in their approach and most extended their "stay at home" mandates in order to keep their citizens "safe." The red states, and many of which had very few cases of the virus within their borders, started getting back to normal slowly but surely. Time would tell which political party had the better argument.
After George Floyd died with the knee of the white policeman wedged into his carotid artery for a full eight horrendously painful seconds that all changed. You heard not a goddamn peep from these blue state governors and mayors about anything related to social distancing, masks, gatherings of more than whatever, etc. It was George Floyd and Black Lives Matter 24-7. Was there ever really a pandemic problem? Was it really nothing more than a ruse to destroy the economy and along with it Trump's chances at re-election? Are they really that desperate to take the reins of power again?
Knowing what we know now, but having suspected it all along, about the democrats and their utter disregard and even contempt for everything that American represents, is this a party that deserves the responsibility that goes along with ascending to the Presidency? Do they have the moral high ground or wherewithal with which to govern? Is there a compelling reason to want to see their policies enacted? Is the fervor of their constituency as seen in the riots that we are witnessing now a vision that we as a country are comfortable with longer term? I not only say "no", I say "hell no!"
So, where are we now one week out or so from the alleged murder of one George Floyd? Things have quieted down a little bit so that's good. There are fewer protests and the protests that they do have are less volatile with fewer people getting hurt on the streets of our cities especially after dark. The stock market rallied yesterday on news that our country actually gained jobs when the expected result was just the opposite. President Trump had a press conference in the Rose Garden at the White House to remind everyone that our country is getting on with things and the unemployment numbers were living proof of same.
The press no longer practiced social distancing in the Rose Garden and seats were set apart as they normally were before this pandemic began. I think the media was hard pressed to complain about that if they never raised their voices one way or another about the massive protests coast to coast where protestors, anarchists, and Black Lives Matter revelers stood shoulder to shoulder. But the President was buoyant and talkative and went on for about an hour mostly extemporaneously about the greatness of our country and how the rebound was on track. Reportedly, CNN was the only network not to carry Trump's speech.
Trump did say that our country is making great progress on the unemployment front without key cities that usually factor large in any such metrics being in the mix. That is to say, New York, California, and a number of other democratic bastions are not up and running to the extent that the red states are so that makes the figures being reported that much more amazing. Just think what it's going look like when everyone else is on board.
As for those people who had money in the stock market and who hadn't pulled it out when the market lost 35% of its value at the low just a few weeks ago, they have been richly rewarded by a largely V-shaped recovery. The S&P is just a percentage point or two off it's all time high and that is quite remarkable. None of the economists got it right. There was no depression and not even the hint of a recession now as we look back on it all. Trump gave us one of the strongest economies in the world before the pandemic and it looks like he's going to do it all over again. I've seen this idea for trump's logo floating around and I think it's perfect: Make America Great Again Again!
I can see Trump and his people yesterday giving high fives all around while standing back stage and discussing the unbelieveably great unemployment numbers before he stepped up to the podium in the Rose Garden at the White House. Protests? What protests? He took a well deserved victory lap in the Rose Garden and ended his day by visiting a swab making factory in northern Maine. While there he signed an executive order reversing an executive order by Obama that declared an expansive section of the North Atlantic off limits to the fisherman of Maine. It's a game changer, folks. This should put Maine in the red column come election day.
I have to take a trip to Trader Joe's too so I'd like to arrange to get there a little after eight. If the timing works out all right, and the rain doesn't start sooner than expected, I'll be on my bike at 9 so I can be back for the hearings at 10. A little later this afternoon, we're expecting a delivery which is basically dinner in a box. When Nancy read me the description of the meal that we ordered, it was mouth watering to say the least. The only justice I can do to that particular description would be to copy and paste it but I'm not going to do that here.
It's a dinner for four so Evan is over to enjoy the meal with us. Did I mention that they delivered our new refrigerator yesterday? She's a beauty! I've never been more excited about an appliance in my life. Nancy mention that she thought it was instructive that we purchased the unit that we did. She's talking about the fact that I said that I would never buy another Samsung refrigerator because of the problem that we had with the Samsung that they took away yesterday when they delivered the new refrigerator.
That is to say, frost and ice began to build up on the inside of the refrigerator against the back wall and it was wreaking havoc with the cooling mechanism. What I didn't realize was that the refrigerator was in decline due to age rather than some random mechanical failure. I just had no idea really about how long you could expect a refrigerator to last so gave zero thought to any of it until it was too late. Had I realized any of this sooner I might have gone looking for a replacement sooner. That would have saved us all a lot of angst.
The instructive part was that I had convinced myself that I would never buy another Samsung because of the cooling problem. Well, that went out the window when we found a Samsung unit that was just the bees knees. It was almost identical to our older refrigerator but 10 years newer so maybe they had worked out a few of the kinks in the intervening years. I guess you could say that there were a lot of things we liked about that old refrigerator and throwing the baby out with the bath water when buying a replacement did not mean we would not go with something other than a Samsung.
So there's that. Nancy said that she would never own a stainless steel refrigerator and now, with our new purchase, we are the proud new owners of a stainless steel refrigerator. Like I said, it's the bees knees stainless steel and all. It actually complements our other appliances and the overall look of our kitchen when all is said and done. The only regret we have at the moment is that we didn't keep the removable butter tray which is odd because we removed and kept all the other plastic tray inserts from the doors of the old unit.
And to have a refrigerator that works? It's priceless. When I think about how the old refrigerator just got worse and worse and how the cooling became less and less reliable it reminds me of the frog in the boiling water business. Before we knew it we were throwing a thermometer inside the refrigerator at night because we could tell the temperatures weren't what they should be but we couldn't rely on the gauges anymore. Things were cold but were they cold enough? Were things going bad because the temperatures were dropping by a degree a day with each passing day? And what is that god awful smell?
This rioting bullshit has gone too far. Have you seen the pictures of the soldiers taking a knee in sympathy with the protestors? It makes me fucking sick. And if it's true that the rioters and looters arrested in these democrat controlled cities across our country are being set free once collared and hauled in for processing then that is a colossal travesty of justice. Is there any doubt in anyone's mind that they turn right around and go back to doing what they were doing when they were arrested? What message are the democrat politicians sending to their god fearing business owning responsible citizenry? Here it is: Fuck you and the racist horse you rode in on.
The thought of these democrats running our country after winning the presidential election in the Fall is beyond the pale. Not one high profile democrat has raised their voice to say enough is enough. How many more policemen need to lose their lives trying to protect their citizenry? How many more businesses need to be gutted and destroyed at the hands of these anarchists? How many more cities across our great nation need to be roiled for yet another night with roving gangs that have hijacked an otherwise honorable and lawful protest? ? How many more law abiding citizens need to take up arms to protect themselves and their property from the criminals roving our streets?
I don't think President Trump wants to have the National Guard go into the major cities to help enforce the laws but if the elected politicians can't get the job done then they may force his hand. It has to break his heart to see the city that he grew up in, the city that is home to his crown jewel, Trump Towers, get torn down and destroyed at the hands of these roving criminal gangs. It must be even more painful for Trump to see the city's democrat mayor appeasing the criminal gangs and implicitly endorsing their criminal activity. Without law and order, there will be no city. It's a travesty beyond compare.
Barely a week or two ago you couldn't attend a church of your choice because of the pandemic that has taken some 100,000 lives on our country. Social distancing and masks were the order of the day and some states had begun to relax their rules in order to get our country open again. The blue states were less flexible in their approach and most extended their "stay at home" mandates in order to keep their citizens "safe." The red states, and many of which had very few cases of the virus within their borders, started getting back to normal slowly but surely. Time would tell which political party had the better argument.
After George Floyd died with the knee of the white policeman wedged into his carotid artery for a full eight horrendously painful seconds that all changed. You heard not a goddamn peep from these blue state governors and mayors about anything related to social distancing, masks, gatherings of more than whatever, etc. It was George Floyd and Black Lives Matter 24-7. Was there ever really a pandemic problem? Was it really nothing more than a ruse to destroy the economy and along with it Trump's chances at re-election? Are they really that desperate to take the reins of power again?
Knowing what we know now, but having suspected it all along, about the democrats and their utter disregard and even contempt for everything that American represents, is this a party that deserves the responsibility that goes along with ascending to the Presidency? Do they have the moral high ground or wherewithal with which to govern? Is there a compelling reason to want to see their policies enacted? Is the fervor of their constituency as seen in the riots that we are witnessing now a vision that we as a country are comfortable with longer term? I not only say "no", I say "hell no!"
So, where are we now one week out or so from the alleged murder of one George Floyd? Things have quieted down a little bit so that's good. There are fewer protests and the protests that they do have are less volatile with fewer people getting hurt on the streets of our cities especially after dark. The stock market rallied yesterday on news that our country actually gained jobs when the expected result was just the opposite. President Trump had a press conference in the Rose Garden at the White House to remind everyone that our country is getting on with things and the unemployment numbers were living proof of same.
The press no longer practiced social distancing in the Rose Garden and seats were set apart as they normally were before this pandemic began. I think the media was hard pressed to complain about that if they never raised their voices one way or another about the massive protests coast to coast where protestors, anarchists, and Black Lives Matter revelers stood shoulder to shoulder. But the President was buoyant and talkative and went on for about an hour mostly extemporaneously about the greatness of our country and how the rebound was on track. Reportedly, CNN was the only network not to carry Trump's speech.
Trump did say that our country is making great progress on the unemployment front without key cities that usually factor large in any such metrics being in the mix. That is to say, New York, California, and a number of other democratic bastions are not up and running to the extent that the red states are so that makes the figures being reported that much more amazing. Just think what it's going look like when everyone else is on board.
As for those people who had money in the stock market and who hadn't pulled it out when the market lost 35% of its value at the low just a few weeks ago, they have been richly rewarded by a largely V-shaped recovery. The S&P is just a percentage point or two off it's all time high and that is quite remarkable. None of the economists got it right. There was no depression and not even the hint of a recession now as we look back on it all. Trump gave us one of the strongest economies in the world before the pandemic and it looks like he's going to do it all over again. I've seen this idea for trump's logo floating around and I think it's perfect: Make America Great Again Again!
I can see Trump and his people yesterday giving high fives all around while standing back stage and discussing the unbelieveably great unemployment numbers before he stepped up to the podium in the Rose Garden at the White House. Protests? What protests? He took a well deserved victory lap in the Rose Garden and ended his day by visiting a swab making factory in northern Maine. While there he signed an executive order reversing an executive order by Obama that declared an expansive section of the North Atlantic off limits to the fisherman of Maine. It's a game changer, folks. This should put Maine in the red column come election day.
What Would General Patton Do?
30/05/20 07:13
I don't know if we'll ever know the full story behind the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis but it resulted in charges being brought against the policeman who held him down for an interminable amount of time which apparently led to his death by asphyxiation or other. It was all caught on video and man was it hard to watch. I'm still not sure I've watched it from beginning to end. But Mr Floyd's demise and the story behind it has been all but lost in the larger story of what happened in the wake of those fateful moments on the day he died.
Rioters took to the streets in our bluest cities coast to coast torching cars, burning down businesses, attacking policemen in their precincts, burning down those very same precincts, and just wreaking havoc as rioters are want to do. Politicians running those cities failed their citizens in every conceivable way when they allowed the rioters to destroy everything in sight without pushing back, without issuing directives, without calling in the National Guard to protect people and property from these so-called anarchists.
This was never about George Floyd. This was about appeasing your anarchist base and giving in to the lawlessness and hostilities that all of that represents. This was never about the death of a black man at the hands of a white policeman. It was about the feral nature of a constituency raging against the structural indecencies of a society that they never adopted as their own. It was almost as though everything was in the queue and ready to go before George Floyd every stepped into the path of the white policeman.
But the failures of the leftist leadership of those cities now scarred and left smoldering in the aftermath of three nights of rioting is both telling and reprehensible. Many of the businesses burned down or destroyed were black owned businesses that will never be rebuilt. The anarchists even attacked and attempted to burn down or destroy institutions like the CNN headquarters building in Atlanta whose headlines, chyrons, and personnel have supported and even given rise to their causes over time. It was all so indiscriminate.
Who were these renegades and social outcasts who took to the streets to inflict their carnage so willingly and wantonly? How is it that they were mobilized so quickly and what instructions did they carry with them when they went into the night with their bandana covered mouths and truncheons in hand? Many but not all were black. Some carried "Black Lives Matter" signs. Some carried "No justice, No Peace" signs. And then you had those people holding "I can't breathe" signs which were ostensibly the last words ever spoken by Floyd George before he expired.
The collective message of the anarchists when all was said and done was unclear. Efforts by roving newsmen to glean a message from the mouths of the marching anarchists were largely unsuccessful. My hope when all is said and done is that the good and well intentioned people living decent lives in these god forsaken places rise up and rid themselves of these politicians whose ugly ideology has now been bared for all to see. They unapologetically seek the destruction of a republic that we hard working and god loving Americans spent the better part of 200 plus years to build and perfect.
We're not there yet but we'll be damned if we're going to allow these ne'er-do-wells to tear it all down before we get a chance to build our perfect union as defined by our founding fathers. I heard someone say that they thought President Trump should Nationalize the Guard and have them stand at the ready across our great country to protect people and property as necessary. Otherwise, the Guard is directed State by State and this does little to project a united front that is all but necessary when waging and winning a war against a feral vein of anarchists. My advice to Trump: Do it and do it now! We're in a war we can't afford to lose.
I'm sitting here Sunday morning thinking that I'll not be watching the talking head shows this morning. I haven't looked to see who is going to appear on which shows but if it's nothing more than a line-up of stooges from the democrat party decrying the death and destruction of Americans over the weekends due to the very existence of Donald Trump then I think I'll take a pass.
If Trump's allies can find one or more of the networks to bring them on to talk about how this madness gets resolved then I might be interested in listening to what they have to say. I think most Americans are disgusted with what they've seen and heard about what's happening on the streets of our country over the last forty-eight hours and we need less finger pointing and more solutions. If Trump is the law and order president that he professes to be then I want to see him stepping up to the plate and sending the necessary assets military and otherwise to the areas in our country that need them. God only knows the democratic governors of these lawless cities aren't getting the job done.
Maybe it's the time I spend on Twitter reviewing and responding to tweets that has me all riled up. Nancy does no such thing and I wonder if she even knows anything about anything. If she does maybe she doesn't care. It's easy enough to disregard if it isn't in your face and it is not in our faces here in New Hampshire. Well, not in our back yard anyway. She goes about her merry way doing her puzzles, reading her newspapers, and occupying her time with her magazines and such but has seemingly little interest in what's happening on the streets in cities across our country. I can hear her sweet loving voice now, "Darling, shall we have dinner on the deck tonight?"
She's not seen what I've seen over the past forty-eight hours. I had to laugh. One looter was photographed coming out of Cheesecake Factory store carrying a cheesecake. Another video showed a stream of looters running in and out of a Nike store through a shattered street front window carrying armloads of merchandise. Some wore masks but most did not. I loved the video of the black officers arresting this heavyset middle aged female rioter who took a swing or two at the arresting officer before his partner stepped in and clocked her with a well executed roundhouse punch left leaving her out cold on the pavement like a sack of potatoes.
There was another video of an anarchist who had taken an AR-15 out of a burning patrol car and who was holding it indecisively when an undercover policemen came out of the blue and took the weapon from his arms before he was able to do any damage to himself or others. Was I alarmed or concerned when I saw police behind the wheels of their SUV's pushing their way into crowds without any apparent concern for their welfare? I was not. It may have been a disproportionate response to the madness of the crowds around them but nothing about this craziness in the streets has been proportionate. Nothing fucking whatsoever.
One store owner arrived on the scene where looters were milling around his store and maybe even trying to gain entrance. He calmly exited his vehicle, grabbed his shotgun from the back seat of his car, and approached his business while discharging his weapon in the direction of the looters. This is American decisiveness at its finest! And then there were the rioters who stood in front of the White House gates perhaps hoping to gain entrance and maybe even burn it to the ground. Did they realize Trump wasn't even there? But this wasn't about Trump. I don't think I saw one anti-Trump sign the entire evening. Not a one.
As if this whole pandemic thing wasn't enough to deal with we now have this rioting nonsense going on. But they're killing people out there so it's not nothing. Who is behind all of this? It's far too coordinated not to be funded and orchestrated by someone or some organization. I don't even think it's a matter of wanting justice for the death of Floyd George since the perpetrator in this crime is already under arrest. I think it's maybe a distraction of sorts or some kind of planned mayhem to throw a wrench into the upcoming elections. Or maybe it's just something that was planned but got way out of hand way too fast and with nowhere else to go they just keep forging ahead. Who the bloody hell knows.
Does anyone find it interesting that there are any number of Hollywood heavyweights that are paying the freight to bail out these anarchists? That makes them complicit in the crimes that have committed by these animals. One heartbreaking photo showed an innocent victim, perhaps a passerby or store owner, face down on the ground with his arms and legs jutting out at unnatural angles from his body and with blood streaming from his mouth onto the pavement. He was encircled by a crowd of ruthless anarchists looking down upon him from above with disgust and sheer hatred in their eyes. James Woods, the inimitable long time and well respected actor, put it best when he added the following caption to the photo: "Savages"
It makes sense now that Trump will be designating the Antifa organization as a domestic terror organization or something along those lines. What took him so long? And why not do the same with these Black Lives Matter asshats? They are effectively a criminal organization that, at least in this case, has hijacked a perfectly good and decent protest over the death of George Floyd at the hands of a white police officer and has turned it into something ugly and evil.
I'm seeing stories this morning about huge pallets of bricks being dropped in advance at sites throughout various cities across our country to be used ostensibly by the looters and rioters later in the evening. What the hell is going on in our country? There were tweets last night indicating that Trump was taken into the bunker at the White House as thousands of race rioters surrounded his residence. The rest of we Americans have no bunker and no place to run and hide if they come for us. The question I'll be asking is the question that I want Trump asking himself as he takes cover during this insurrection. That is, what would General George Patton do? Anything less just won't cut the mustard. That's all I got.
Rioters took to the streets in our bluest cities coast to coast torching cars, burning down businesses, attacking policemen in their precincts, burning down those very same precincts, and just wreaking havoc as rioters are want to do. Politicians running those cities failed their citizens in every conceivable way when they allowed the rioters to destroy everything in sight without pushing back, without issuing directives, without calling in the National Guard to protect people and property from these so-called anarchists.
This was never about George Floyd. This was about appeasing your anarchist base and giving in to the lawlessness and hostilities that all of that represents. This was never about the death of a black man at the hands of a white policeman. It was about the feral nature of a constituency raging against the structural indecencies of a society that they never adopted as their own. It was almost as though everything was in the queue and ready to go before George Floyd every stepped into the path of the white policeman.
But the failures of the leftist leadership of those cities now scarred and left smoldering in the aftermath of three nights of rioting is both telling and reprehensible. Many of the businesses burned down or destroyed were black owned businesses that will never be rebuilt. The anarchists even attacked and attempted to burn down or destroy institutions like the CNN headquarters building in Atlanta whose headlines, chyrons, and personnel have supported and even given rise to their causes over time. It was all so indiscriminate.
Who were these renegades and social outcasts who took to the streets to inflict their carnage so willingly and wantonly? How is it that they were mobilized so quickly and what instructions did they carry with them when they went into the night with their bandana covered mouths and truncheons in hand? Many but not all were black. Some carried "Black Lives Matter" signs. Some carried "No justice, No Peace" signs. And then you had those people holding "I can't breathe" signs which were ostensibly the last words ever spoken by Floyd George before he expired.
The collective message of the anarchists when all was said and done was unclear. Efforts by roving newsmen to glean a message from the mouths of the marching anarchists were largely unsuccessful. My hope when all is said and done is that the good and well intentioned people living decent lives in these god forsaken places rise up and rid themselves of these politicians whose ugly ideology has now been bared for all to see. They unapologetically seek the destruction of a republic that we hard working and god loving Americans spent the better part of 200 plus years to build and perfect.
We're not there yet but we'll be damned if we're going to allow these ne'er-do-wells to tear it all down before we get a chance to build our perfect union as defined by our founding fathers. I heard someone say that they thought President Trump should Nationalize the Guard and have them stand at the ready across our great country to protect people and property as necessary. Otherwise, the Guard is directed State by State and this does little to project a united front that is all but necessary when waging and winning a war against a feral vein of anarchists. My advice to Trump: Do it and do it now! We're in a war we can't afford to lose.
I'm sitting here Sunday morning thinking that I'll not be watching the talking head shows this morning. I haven't looked to see who is going to appear on which shows but if it's nothing more than a line-up of stooges from the democrat party decrying the death and destruction of Americans over the weekends due to the very existence of Donald Trump then I think I'll take a pass.
If Trump's allies can find one or more of the networks to bring them on to talk about how this madness gets resolved then I might be interested in listening to what they have to say. I think most Americans are disgusted with what they've seen and heard about what's happening on the streets of our country over the last forty-eight hours and we need less finger pointing and more solutions. If Trump is the law and order president that he professes to be then I want to see him stepping up to the plate and sending the necessary assets military and otherwise to the areas in our country that need them. God only knows the democratic governors of these lawless cities aren't getting the job done.
Maybe it's the time I spend on Twitter reviewing and responding to tweets that has me all riled up. Nancy does no such thing and I wonder if she even knows anything about anything. If she does maybe she doesn't care. It's easy enough to disregard if it isn't in your face and it is not in our faces here in New Hampshire. Well, not in our back yard anyway. She goes about her merry way doing her puzzles, reading her newspapers, and occupying her time with her magazines and such but has seemingly little interest in what's happening on the streets in cities across our country. I can hear her sweet loving voice now, "Darling, shall we have dinner on the deck tonight?"
She's not seen what I've seen over the past forty-eight hours. I had to laugh. One looter was photographed coming out of Cheesecake Factory store carrying a cheesecake. Another video showed a stream of looters running in and out of a Nike store through a shattered street front window carrying armloads of merchandise. Some wore masks but most did not. I loved the video of the black officers arresting this heavyset middle aged female rioter who took a swing or two at the arresting officer before his partner stepped in and clocked her with a well executed roundhouse punch left leaving her out cold on the pavement like a sack of potatoes.
There was another video of an anarchist who had taken an AR-15 out of a burning patrol car and who was holding it indecisively when an undercover policemen came out of the blue and took the weapon from his arms before he was able to do any damage to himself or others. Was I alarmed or concerned when I saw police behind the wheels of their SUV's pushing their way into crowds without any apparent concern for their welfare? I was not. It may have been a disproportionate response to the madness of the crowds around them but nothing about this craziness in the streets has been proportionate. Nothing fucking whatsoever.
One store owner arrived on the scene where looters were milling around his store and maybe even trying to gain entrance. He calmly exited his vehicle, grabbed his shotgun from the back seat of his car, and approached his business while discharging his weapon in the direction of the looters. This is American decisiveness at its finest! And then there were the rioters who stood in front of the White House gates perhaps hoping to gain entrance and maybe even burn it to the ground. Did they realize Trump wasn't even there? But this wasn't about Trump. I don't think I saw one anti-Trump sign the entire evening. Not a one.
As if this whole pandemic thing wasn't enough to deal with we now have this rioting nonsense going on. But they're killing people out there so it's not nothing. Who is behind all of this? It's far too coordinated not to be funded and orchestrated by someone or some organization. I don't even think it's a matter of wanting justice for the death of Floyd George since the perpetrator in this crime is already under arrest. I think it's maybe a distraction of sorts or some kind of planned mayhem to throw a wrench into the upcoming elections. Or maybe it's just something that was planned but got way out of hand way too fast and with nowhere else to go they just keep forging ahead. Who the bloody hell knows.
Does anyone find it interesting that there are any number of Hollywood heavyweights that are paying the freight to bail out these anarchists? That makes them complicit in the crimes that have committed by these animals. One heartbreaking photo showed an innocent victim, perhaps a passerby or store owner, face down on the ground with his arms and legs jutting out at unnatural angles from his body and with blood streaming from his mouth onto the pavement. He was encircled by a crowd of ruthless anarchists looking down upon him from above with disgust and sheer hatred in their eyes. James Woods, the inimitable long time and well respected actor, put it best when he added the following caption to the photo: "Savages"
It makes sense now that Trump will be designating the Antifa organization as a domestic terror organization or something along those lines. What took him so long? And why not do the same with these Black Lives Matter asshats? They are effectively a criminal organization that, at least in this case, has hijacked a perfectly good and decent protest over the death of George Floyd at the hands of a white police officer and has turned it into something ugly and evil.
I'm seeing stories this morning about huge pallets of bricks being dropped in advance at sites throughout various cities across our country to be used ostensibly by the looters and rioters later in the evening. What the hell is going on in our country? There were tweets last night indicating that Trump was taken into the bunker at the White House as thousands of race rioters surrounded his residence. The rest of we Americans have no bunker and no place to run and hide if they come for us. The question I'll be asking is the question that I want Trump asking himself as he takes cover during this insurrection. That is, what would General George Patton do? Anything less just won't cut the mustard. That's all I got.
Say A Little Prayer
28/05/20 06:32
Everything is so green all of a sudden. Funny how that works. We've got our flowers and we've got our tomato plants so it's high time we got them in the ground. I even have some fencing now so that should keep the munchers at bay should they try to get at the things we're putting in the ground. It's not an overly ambitious thing we're trying to do so I'm feeling good about the prospects of getting it done by the end of the week. Just sayin'.
I'm somewhat at a loss for words this morning. Maybe I need more coffee. Maybe I need a different kind of music. Maybe if I were more annoyed. I always do better when I'm venting about this or that but I'm not feeling that way at the moment yet here I am. I just need to get in a groove of sorts and then things will start to flow. I can always go back and change things up until I get it right. And this is going nowhere until I say it's ready to go.
This is the second time in as many months that Evan has come over with a gas tank that is running on empty. I wish he wouldn't do that. He has the money and the wherewithal to see that he isn't driving around on an empty tank so he has no excuse for doing it. I told him straight away, "Evan, put $5 in your tank if it's that low and I'll top it off when you come around." That's what dads do. Some roads between his house and here don't leave much room for a car to pull over so it's better to avoid that altogether if you can. It's just asking for trouble.
They are finally opening up the beaches here in town next week after being closed for several weeks due to the fear that social distancing on the beaches wasn't going to cut the mustard. Besides, the beaches were closed up and down the coast from Maine to Massachusetts since early March so leaving our beaches open here in New Hampshire would just exacerbate any problems directly or indirectly related to crowding, social distancing, community spread, and you name it in connection to the dreaded coronavirus.
But they run a tight ship here in town so don't expect to be able to run down to the beach with your beach towel and sun tan lotion to spend the day. There is limited to no parking along 1A and only 50% of the spots in the parking lots of the two local state parks will be available for the foreseeable future. You can't lie on the beach at all. You can run, walk, and I think you can even surf but there is no sitting or lying on the sand. If you are a little fella, or the sister of a little fella, it's best to leave your bucket and shovel back at the house. See what I did there?
With the exception of the two state park parking lots, the local constabulary is making it difficult for out-of-towners to come and enjoy the best that our beaches have to offer. From a purely selfish standpoint I'm good with those plans. Not that I'm a beachgoer who needs to avoid the coronavirus diseased transplants because I don't. What I'm wanting to avoid is the inevitable congestion and crowds that we typically see during the summer months and all that entails. It makes my bike rides less enjoyable as well and it increases the likelihood that I'll have a traffic related incident sooner rather than later.
That's my pitch anyway. Let's keep everything at arms length for a while. We've only ever had a total of eleven cases of Coronavirus in our small town of 5,000 people so we'll see whether or not the influx of foreigners flocking to our beaches if only for a stroll or to walk their animals after 7PM makes a difference. Is it wrong for we townies to want our beaches for our own pleasure? Is it wrong to want to make sure that we stay safe during this pandemic?
They say sunshine is the best disinfectant and I believe that to be true. I stopped wearing a mask while biking a long time ago with that very notion in mind. The brighter the sunshine, the hotter the day, the better and safer I feel when I'm out on my bike. Now that we're expecting less traffic and fewer tourists, at least in the near term, I'll be tripping the light fantastic when I'm out and about. If I don't have to take the back roads then all the better. Coronavirus aside, I think the summer is shaping up quite nicely thus far thank you very much.
I have so many things that I have for Evan to take home with him when he goes that I had to make a list. He'll probably take some but not all and that's fine. Sometimes he just takes what he can carry in order to avoid having make multiple trips. If he remembers, he'll bring his backpack and throw a few things in there alongside his laptop. I bought a nice container of beef stew and a frozen chicken pot pie from the local soup store that I think he'll like so they are there for the taking. The less planning he has to do when it comes to food purchase and preparation the better.
Nancy's work life is getting back to normal after a brief layoff due to the coronavirus blues. She was getting a little too used to the $600-a-week bonus from the Federal Government and she would be the first to admit that it was nice while it lasted. It had a certain entitlement feel to it that made me a bit queasy but it was what it was and now it's gone. You can see how people on welfare have a hard time weaning themselves off welfare and becoming productive citizens once again after being on the public dole forever and a day. It's like heroin. Catnip has you chasing it, heroin gets you hooked.
We're often critical and even unkind when referring to "those" types of people who would do such a thing. Why don't they get a job like everyone else? They certainly look like they can work. This is why our taxes are as high as they are so it isn't fair that we have to work and they get to sit around on their lazy asses all day. I need to get my head on straight about this stuff. We're talking about unemployment and not welfare. Does the fact that one is either longer or shorter in duration make it any less distasteful?
I didn't like what I was hearing from Nancy when she found out she was going to have to go back to work and her bogey of $600 was going the way of the platypus. We had a come to Jesus moment between us when she realized that she was becoming one of those people that we roundly criticize for feeding at the public trough. All I can say is that I'm thankful that the duration of the handout was short lived and, if nothing else, the extra money was put to good use. Any longer and it would have become a problem.
I guess we can get back to being critical of the bottom feeders now that we're off the public dole. I want to be careful here too because this ($600 bogey) was a payment in response to an anomalous event of sorts which impacted every conceivable cross section of the American public. You may notice that I made no reference to the one-time $1,200 payments that were paid out as part of the governments stimulus plan in response to our economy which imploded when our economy was shuttered. We're a long way from back to normal but we seem to be getting back on track and that's a good thing for everyone involved.
Have you seen that video out of Minneapolis where the cop knelt on the black guys neck until he died? It was nasty. What the hell was he thinking? Of course there need to be consequences for doing such a thing. Firing him doesn't get the job done. I guess the courts will decide what, if any, criminality was involved but time is of the essence. Trump has asked that his DOJ review the case so there's that. And what in god's name were the people who took to the streets pillaging and burning down stores in response to the "murder" thinking?
This could become another Ferguson, Missouri, situation for the president if he isn't careful. Remember his comments in the wake of the Michael Brown shooting, "there were good people on both sides"? No, he was not referring to white supremacists on one side and blacks on the other side. But the MSM would repeat that fallacy time and time again to make our president look and sound like a racist. This is what they do.
Those dirty bastards. You know the collective power of the MSM and the left would love a wedge issue to take them into the November election and this has all the earmarks of just that. Thankfully, Trump is in full and total control of the 24 hour news cycle so this is what I say to the MSM and their minions: Good luck with that. And how about that Space X launch? Our first rocket launch in ten years since the Shuttle program was scuttled by Obama. Our astronauts (do we even call them that anymore?) have been catching a ride to the Space Station orbiting Earth with the Russians over the intervening years and that's a wrap with this Space X thing.
We're going to the moon, Alice! I think that's where the Space X program is headed and maybe even Mars down the road. I like the fact that this is a private-public partnership between Elon Musk and his company and the US Government. Everything about this latest venture is Tesla-like and it's just slick and sassy as all get out. None of this clunky US issued governmental garbage sitting out there on the launch pad in Cape Canaveral, Florida. That old stuff looks like scrap metal compared to what we're seeing now from Elon Musk and his folks.
The rocket portion of the craft is designed to be refurbished after reaching orbit and returning to earth only to settle down on a launch pad in the middle of the ocean. It's all by design, folks. Not sure what they did with all the "old" shuttle technology. That seemed to work just fine and it was rather popular but at the end of the day it got scuttled. I guess there are winners and losers even in the U.S. Space program. Lest I forget, we're sending two American souls into space along with this new technology in today's launch. Let's say a little prayer for them and their families.
I'm somewhat at a loss for words this morning. Maybe I need more coffee. Maybe I need a different kind of music. Maybe if I were more annoyed. I always do better when I'm venting about this or that but I'm not feeling that way at the moment yet here I am. I just need to get in a groove of sorts and then things will start to flow. I can always go back and change things up until I get it right. And this is going nowhere until I say it's ready to go.
This is the second time in as many months that Evan has come over with a gas tank that is running on empty. I wish he wouldn't do that. He has the money and the wherewithal to see that he isn't driving around on an empty tank so he has no excuse for doing it. I told him straight away, "Evan, put $5 in your tank if it's that low and I'll top it off when you come around." That's what dads do. Some roads between his house and here don't leave much room for a car to pull over so it's better to avoid that altogether if you can. It's just asking for trouble.
They are finally opening up the beaches here in town next week after being closed for several weeks due to the fear that social distancing on the beaches wasn't going to cut the mustard. Besides, the beaches were closed up and down the coast from Maine to Massachusetts since early March so leaving our beaches open here in New Hampshire would just exacerbate any problems directly or indirectly related to crowding, social distancing, community spread, and you name it in connection to the dreaded coronavirus.
But they run a tight ship here in town so don't expect to be able to run down to the beach with your beach towel and sun tan lotion to spend the day. There is limited to no parking along 1A and only 50% of the spots in the parking lots of the two local state parks will be available for the foreseeable future. You can't lie on the beach at all. You can run, walk, and I think you can even surf but there is no sitting or lying on the sand. If you are a little fella, or the sister of a little fella, it's best to leave your bucket and shovel back at the house. See what I did there?
With the exception of the two state park parking lots, the local constabulary is making it difficult for out-of-towners to come and enjoy the best that our beaches have to offer. From a purely selfish standpoint I'm good with those plans. Not that I'm a beachgoer who needs to avoid the coronavirus diseased transplants because I don't. What I'm wanting to avoid is the inevitable congestion and crowds that we typically see during the summer months and all that entails. It makes my bike rides less enjoyable as well and it increases the likelihood that I'll have a traffic related incident sooner rather than later.
That's my pitch anyway. Let's keep everything at arms length for a while. We've only ever had a total of eleven cases of Coronavirus in our small town of 5,000 people so we'll see whether or not the influx of foreigners flocking to our beaches if only for a stroll or to walk their animals after 7PM makes a difference. Is it wrong for we townies to want our beaches for our own pleasure? Is it wrong to want to make sure that we stay safe during this pandemic?
They say sunshine is the best disinfectant and I believe that to be true. I stopped wearing a mask while biking a long time ago with that very notion in mind. The brighter the sunshine, the hotter the day, the better and safer I feel when I'm out on my bike. Now that we're expecting less traffic and fewer tourists, at least in the near term, I'll be tripping the light fantastic when I'm out and about. If I don't have to take the back roads then all the better. Coronavirus aside, I think the summer is shaping up quite nicely thus far thank you very much.
I have so many things that I have for Evan to take home with him when he goes that I had to make a list. He'll probably take some but not all and that's fine. Sometimes he just takes what he can carry in order to avoid having make multiple trips. If he remembers, he'll bring his backpack and throw a few things in there alongside his laptop. I bought a nice container of beef stew and a frozen chicken pot pie from the local soup store that I think he'll like so they are there for the taking. The less planning he has to do when it comes to food purchase and preparation the better.
Nancy's work life is getting back to normal after a brief layoff due to the coronavirus blues. She was getting a little too used to the $600-a-week bonus from the Federal Government and she would be the first to admit that it was nice while it lasted. It had a certain entitlement feel to it that made me a bit queasy but it was what it was and now it's gone. You can see how people on welfare have a hard time weaning themselves off welfare and becoming productive citizens once again after being on the public dole forever and a day. It's like heroin. Catnip has you chasing it, heroin gets you hooked.
We're often critical and even unkind when referring to "those" types of people who would do such a thing. Why don't they get a job like everyone else? They certainly look like they can work. This is why our taxes are as high as they are so it isn't fair that we have to work and they get to sit around on their lazy asses all day. I need to get my head on straight about this stuff. We're talking about unemployment and not welfare. Does the fact that one is either longer or shorter in duration make it any less distasteful?
I didn't like what I was hearing from Nancy when she found out she was going to have to go back to work and her bogey of $600 was going the way of the platypus. We had a come to Jesus moment between us when she realized that she was becoming one of those people that we roundly criticize for feeding at the public trough. All I can say is that I'm thankful that the duration of the handout was short lived and, if nothing else, the extra money was put to good use. Any longer and it would have become a problem.
I guess we can get back to being critical of the bottom feeders now that we're off the public dole. I want to be careful here too because this ($600 bogey) was a payment in response to an anomalous event of sorts which impacted every conceivable cross section of the American public. You may notice that I made no reference to the one-time $1,200 payments that were paid out as part of the governments stimulus plan in response to our economy which imploded when our economy was shuttered. We're a long way from back to normal but we seem to be getting back on track and that's a good thing for everyone involved.
Have you seen that video out of Minneapolis where the cop knelt on the black guys neck until he died? It was nasty. What the hell was he thinking? Of course there need to be consequences for doing such a thing. Firing him doesn't get the job done. I guess the courts will decide what, if any, criminality was involved but time is of the essence. Trump has asked that his DOJ review the case so there's that. And what in god's name were the people who took to the streets pillaging and burning down stores in response to the "murder" thinking?
This could become another Ferguson, Missouri, situation for the president if he isn't careful. Remember his comments in the wake of the Michael Brown shooting, "there were good people on both sides"? No, he was not referring to white supremacists on one side and blacks on the other side. But the MSM would repeat that fallacy time and time again to make our president look and sound like a racist. This is what they do.
Those dirty bastards. You know the collective power of the MSM and the left would love a wedge issue to take them into the November election and this has all the earmarks of just that. Thankfully, Trump is in full and total control of the 24 hour news cycle so this is what I say to the MSM and their minions: Good luck with that. And how about that Space X launch? Our first rocket launch in ten years since the Shuttle program was scuttled by Obama. Our astronauts (do we even call them that anymore?) have been catching a ride to the Space Station orbiting Earth with the Russians over the intervening years and that's a wrap with this Space X thing.
We're going to the moon, Alice! I think that's where the Space X program is headed and maybe even Mars down the road. I like the fact that this is a private-public partnership between Elon Musk and his company and the US Government. Everything about this latest venture is Tesla-like and it's just slick and sassy as all get out. None of this clunky US issued governmental garbage sitting out there on the launch pad in Cape Canaveral, Florida. That old stuff looks like scrap metal compared to what we're seeing now from Elon Musk and his folks.
The rocket portion of the craft is designed to be refurbished after reaching orbit and returning to earth only to settle down on a launch pad in the middle of the ocean. It's all by design, folks. Not sure what they did with all the "old" shuttle technology. That seemed to work just fine and it was rather popular but at the end of the day it got scuttled. I guess there are winners and losers even in the U.S. Space program. Lest I forget, we're sending two American souls into space along with this new technology in today's launch. Let's say a little prayer for them and their families.
Best of Times, Worst of Times
22/05/20 07:07
I think I'm coming around a little bit more day by day. I haven't been quite myself these last couple of days. I've been feeling more than my share of malaise and I've not been interested in doing much of anything around the house. Its amazing how quickly things start to unravel when you stop doing what you typically do day in and day out.
Dishes start to pile up; the refrigerator looks more sparsely stocked with each passing day; the bed goes unmade and dirty clothes lay scattered here and there throughout the house; trash runs stop altogether; mail goes unchecked; plants go unwatered; books go unread; bird feeders go empty; and the only reason I continue to drink coffee is to prevent waking up in the middle of the night with a cranking headache. I think I'm coming down with something.
But I had a good bike ride yesterday which was reassuring. I never know how well or how poorly I'm doing sometimes until I've had my bike ride. If I fail to complete my usual route then I know my foot dragging is real. I know my energy levels aren't what they can or should be. I know that I'm sicker or maybe better than I think I am. If I'm riding like the wind and pushing myself with a perverse pleasure then it's all good. That's where I think I am today. It's a good place so I'm happy to be here. Happy to be back.
Life seems to be getting back to normal here along the seacoast. The virus is still around but infection rates and hospitalization rates are down and seemingly manageable. The curve has been flattened. Mission accomplished. We were out about last night to do a little food shopping and to pick up a to-go pizza and salads from a spot we frequent in Hampton. It was a refreshingly cool early evening and most restaurants had modest to robust crowds seated at picnic tables set up beneath canopies so that restaurants could more easily comply with new regulations designed to deal with social distancing rules.
Aside from the face masks worn by the restaurant personnel, and of course the outside seating, it looked like any other early summer evening here in New England. These are hard times for restaurants since the usual rules don't apply during this pandemic. You just can't have people in close proximity where community spread gives free and easy passage to this virulent strain of the coronavirus. Now that we know how it spreads, who it threatens and who it doesn't threaten, we're all trying to work around it in our own way. As for the restaurants, I just don't know how many of then will be left standing at the end of the day.
We're doing our part to support them by ordering out as often as budgets and appetites permit. It certainly helps that we prefer to order out. More to the point perhaps is the fact that neither of us likes spending much time in the kitchen preparing this or that dish for you name the meal. Nancy has a few signature dishes that she likes to prepare but if they're prepared with any frequency whatsoever they become less signature and more standard. Standard is boring. Signature is sexy. I'm more of a "let's see what we have in the fridge and I'll see if I can't put a few things together to come up with something" kind of cook.
And then there are days when for the life of us we can't decide on what we want to order regardless of what offerings we have in front of us. You would think that with all the available restaurants, diner, and take-out windows in and around the surrounding towns that we might be able to get excited about one dish or another. Since eating nothing for dinner is seldom ever a reasonable option we might settle for a bowl of cereal or a couple pieces of toast. There is such a thing as having too many choices! And to think that there are people out there who have no choices and who go to bed hungry.
Nancy is between (jigsaw) puzzles now and she's annoying me a bit by asking what I think of this and that puzzle pattern as she flips through the online pages of the local puzzle store hoping to find a puzzle and a pattern to her liking. What the hell do I know about puzzles much less the patterns that make them more or less interesting? And then there are the puzzles that she starts out liking only to find them to be a grind after a while. Solving the puzzle then becomes secondary to finishing the puzzle for the sake of finishing the puzzle.
I can tell you that there is nothing more satisfying to Nancy than to find a puzzle that just works. Not all puzzles are created equal as they say. Even the puzzles that she thinks are going to go well sometimes don't. It's all about the picture or the pattern. At least that is what you tell yourself when you're contemplating which puzzle you might like to do next. It has to come together with just enough of a fuss to make it interesting but never frustrating. And finally, when she's found just the right piece you can hear pitched voice her three rooms away.
"Found a piece!", she declares loudly to anyone who may or may not be listening. It no doubt pleases the puzzle gods. It's definitely one of those it's not the destination but rather it's the journey kind of deals. Did I tell you that she makes me take a picture of her holding the puzzle once all is said and done? What we never know is how well or how poorly the puzzle is going to hold up when she tries to pick it up off the table. We have more than our share of photos of Nancy holding up a puzzle which has lost several of its pieces due to a fragility that never revealed itself during construction.
I don't know how but the Home Depot fucked up our order for our new refrigerator. We have a new delivery date now of June 2nd. Nancy knew right off that something wasn't right when she checked her credit card the day after we called in the purchase and she saw the usual charges but no charge for our purchase. Add to that the fact that we had received nothing via e-mail as promised and it was clear that something was amiss. We never did find out what happened despite asking that they call us back with an explanation. That's a problem. It has eroded or chipped away at what little goodwill I had for the handyman's box store.
We're just getting started on a three day holiday weekend and so far so good. The weather looks to be decent over the coming days and I'm hoping to get in some yard work and some other things around the house that have gone undone for a variety of reasons. It was an unusually warm day yesterday and while not oppressive it nonetheless had the effect of slowing us down while trying to escape and adjust to the warmer temperatures. Whatever plans we had went spiraling into the proverbial cocked hat of daily life and that was that.
For the first time maybe ever Nancy started her plants indoors this year. She has an assorted number of plants, all flowering plants I might add, starting to show their tender shoots coming up and out of the containers she fashioned out of newspapers, egg cartons, etc.. I think she's rather proud of what she's accomplished although she mentioned this very morning that she wishes that she had started sooner. I didn't say it but there is always next year. You take what you learn and you build on it time and time again. Such is the human experience. Well, maybe our experience anyway.
One thing I've never liked about these long weekends is that they create a dead spot in the 24/7 news cycle. Being the news and political junky that I am I find myself looking for razor blades lying around the house with which I might slit my fucking wrists. Anything to create a narrative that I can use to amuse myself until they stop recycling old news. I suppose I could read a book or tap into my Twitter news feed to get a fix. My veins are itching just thinking about it.
And then there is Joe Biden. He is likely to say something stupid or just completely asinine over the holiday weekend so that should go viral and that will give us all something to tweet about. Round and round and round we go. I've never liked the people he surrounds himself with and you know what they say: You are known by the company you keep. And when you consider that Joe is not the Joe of old then you can only look at his henchmen as puppeteers and not personal assistants. Were he to become president, god forbid, his actions and his deeds would not be his own but rather those of his men and women behind the curtain. That should scare the bloody hell out of every red blooded American.
Dishes start to pile up; the refrigerator looks more sparsely stocked with each passing day; the bed goes unmade and dirty clothes lay scattered here and there throughout the house; trash runs stop altogether; mail goes unchecked; plants go unwatered; books go unread; bird feeders go empty; and the only reason I continue to drink coffee is to prevent waking up in the middle of the night with a cranking headache. I think I'm coming down with something.
But I had a good bike ride yesterday which was reassuring. I never know how well or how poorly I'm doing sometimes until I've had my bike ride. If I fail to complete my usual route then I know my foot dragging is real. I know my energy levels aren't what they can or should be. I know that I'm sicker or maybe better than I think I am. If I'm riding like the wind and pushing myself with a perverse pleasure then it's all good. That's where I think I am today. It's a good place so I'm happy to be here. Happy to be back.
Life seems to be getting back to normal here along the seacoast. The virus is still around but infection rates and hospitalization rates are down and seemingly manageable. The curve has been flattened. Mission accomplished. We were out about last night to do a little food shopping and to pick up a to-go pizza and salads from a spot we frequent in Hampton. It was a refreshingly cool early evening and most restaurants had modest to robust crowds seated at picnic tables set up beneath canopies so that restaurants could more easily comply with new regulations designed to deal with social distancing rules.
Aside from the face masks worn by the restaurant personnel, and of course the outside seating, it looked like any other early summer evening here in New England. These are hard times for restaurants since the usual rules don't apply during this pandemic. You just can't have people in close proximity where community spread gives free and easy passage to this virulent strain of the coronavirus. Now that we know how it spreads, who it threatens and who it doesn't threaten, we're all trying to work around it in our own way. As for the restaurants, I just don't know how many of then will be left standing at the end of the day.
We're doing our part to support them by ordering out as often as budgets and appetites permit. It certainly helps that we prefer to order out. More to the point perhaps is the fact that neither of us likes spending much time in the kitchen preparing this or that dish for you name the meal. Nancy has a few signature dishes that she likes to prepare but if they're prepared with any frequency whatsoever they become less signature and more standard. Standard is boring. Signature is sexy. I'm more of a "let's see what we have in the fridge and I'll see if I can't put a few things together to come up with something" kind of cook.
And then there are days when for the life of us we can't decide on what we want to order regardless of what offerings we have in front of us. You would think that with all the available restaurants, diner, and take-out windows in and around the surrounding towns that we might be able to get excited about one dish or another. Since eating nothing for dinner is seldom ever a reasonable option we might settle for a bowl of cereal or a couple pieces of toast. There is such a thing as having too many choices! And to think that there are people out there who have no choices and who go to bed hungry.
Nancy is between (jigsaw) puzzles now and she's annoying me a bit by asking what I think of this and that puzzle pattern as she flips through the online pages of the local puzzle store hoping to find a puzzle and a pattern to her liking. What the hell do I know about puzzles much less the patterns that make them more or less interesting? And then there are the puzzles that she starts out liking only to find them to be a grind after a while. Solving the puzzle then becomes secondary to finishing the puzzle for the sake of finishing the puzzle.
I can tell you that there is nothing more satisfying to Nancy than to find a puzzle that just works. Not all puzzles are created equal as they say. Even the puzzles that she thinks are going to go well sometimes don't. It's all about the picture or the pattern. At least that is what you tell yourself when you're contemplating which puzzle you might like to do next. It has to come together with just enough of a fuss to make it interesting but never frustrating. And finally, when she's found just the right piece you can hear pitched voice her three rooms away.
"Found a piece!", she declares loudly to anyone who may or may not be listening. It no doubt pleases the puzzle gods. It's definitely one of those it's not the destination but rather it's the journey kind of deals. Did I tell you that she makes me take a picture of her holding the puzzle once all is said and done? What we never know is how well or how poorly the puzzle is going to hold up when she tries to pick it up off the table. We have more than our share of photos of Nancy holding up a puzzle which has lost several of its pieces due to a fragility that never revealed itself during construction.
I don't know how but the Home Depot fucked up our order for our new refrigerator. We have a new delivery date now of June 2nd. Nancy knew right off that something wasn't right when she checked her credit card the day after we called in the purchase and she saw the usual charges but no charge for our purchase. Add to that the fact that we had received nothing via e-mail as promised and it was clear that something was amiss. We never did find out what happened despite asking that they call us back with an explanation. That's a problem. It has eroded or chipped away at what little goodwill I had for the handyman's box store.
We're just getting started on a three day holiday weekend and so far so good. The weather looks to be decent over the coming days and I'm hoping to get in some yard work and some other things around the house that have gone undone for a variety of reasons. It was an unusually warm day yesterday and while not oppressive it nonetheless had the effect of slowing us down while trying to escape and adjust to the warmer temperatures. Whatever plans we had went spiraling into the proverbial cocked hat of daily life and that was that.
For the first time maybe ever Nancy started her plants indoors this year. She has an assorted number of plants, all flowering plants I might add, starting to show their tender shoots coming up and out of the containers she fashioned out of newspapers, egg cartons, etc.. I think she's rather proud of what she's accomplished although she mentioned this very morning that she wishes that she had started sooner. I didn't say it but there is always next year. You take what you learn and you build on it time and time again. Such is the human experience. Well, maybe our experience anyway.
One thing I've never liked about these long weekends is that they create a dead spot in the 24/7 news cycle. Being the news and political junky that I am I find myself looking for razor blades lying around the house with which I might slit my fucking wrists. Anything to create a narrative that I can use to amuse myself until they stop recycling old news. I suppose I could read a book or tap into my Twitter news feed to get a fix. My veins are itching just thinking about it.
And then there is Joe Biden. He is likely to say something stupid or just completely asinine over the holiday weekend so that should go viral and that will give us all something to tweet about. Round and round and round we go. I've never liked the people he surrounds himself with and you know what they say: You are known by the company you keep. And when you consider that Joe is not the Joe of old then you can only look at his henchmen as puppeteers and not personal assistants. Were he to become president, god forbid, his actions and his deeds would not be his own but rather those of his men and women behind the curtain. That should scare the bloody hell out of every red blooded American.
What About The Fingerprints?
17/05/20 07:10
Well, I guess it's time. Our refrigerator has been acting up lately and we've come to the conclusion that it needs to be replaced. So we went here and there looking for this deal or that deal and finally settled on one that I think we can live with. It certainly helped that the price kept coming down as we went along and when we finally reached the right price point we pulled the trigger. They will deliver the unit this coming Thursday.
Let me just say that I did not going down this path without a fight this time around. When the frost built up in the rear of the unit inside the refrigerator I pulled everything apart and defrosted the unit with the help of a hair dryer and a space heater before putting it all together again. Using YouTube to assist, I found the appropriate tutorials and got down to business. I was worried a little bit about the seal when I put it all back together again and that may have been my downfall. I gave it the old college try so I have no regrets. It's time to move on.
Ev called yesterday and said that he was coming home for a bit. I wonder sometimes if he just gets bored and looking for a change of scenery decides that spending time in his bedroom here at home does the trick for him. Then again, sometimes I think he just likes to get the hell out of Dodge as the saying goes. I've been doubling up on my purchases at the local grocery store so he doesn't have to go shopping and that may be part of the allure of coming home. We ordered out for dinner and topped it all off with a nice piece of key lime pie from Trader Joes before he left for home in the early evening.
Nancy and I both agreed that Evan looked good. That isn't always the case just so you know. Nobody knows better than his mother and I when he is doing well and when he isn't. Eating right is part of it and staying on top of his duties as a single man out and about on the town is another part of it. We wish he would bring his clothes home for his mom to wash but he never does. Maybe he is trying to impress us with just how independent he is but when he shows up looking occasionally disheveled or worse we are on to him. There is always something to work on when it comes to your children. Ain't that the truth?
I'm liking this red state blue state thing when it comes to states opening up or not opening up as we flatten the curve and get on with our lives. Red states are opening up left and right at a rate that allows their citizenry to get back to a semblance of what they left behind before this all began. Blue states have delayed opening up and in many cases have pushed their opening beyond what most people feel is reasonable or sane.
Most people, realizing that this coronavirus thing is not the 2020 version of the Bubonic plague despite the number of casualties to date and the number of "news" networks forecasting doom and gloom, want now to get on with their lives and that means opening up again and getting back to business. Governors of the blue states seem to be taking their marching orders from Nancy Pelosi and gang and seem to believe that the longer they stay shut down the better the chances are that President Trump will lose to Joe Biden in the Fall.
Trump has been very vocal about getting back to business to the point of sending out tweets with the admonishment to the blue state governors to "listen to the people and get back to business." The red states that have opened up have not seen spikes in deaths, hospitalizations, etc., as forecast by the Main Street Media. People are waking up to the contrast between the two visions being offered by our politicians and they are coming down on the side of staying safe while protecting those who need protection and letting everyone else get on with their lives. "Vaccine or no vaccine," according to Trump, "we're reopening."
That is to say, the virus hasn't turned out to be nearly as deadly as what the models all predicted and we simply can't shut down what was arguably the best economy in the world given what we now know about this so-called pandemic. Trump's case has been bolstered here and there with stories of Americans across our country who have opened up their shops in contravention of existing edicts by blue state governors that their businesses stay closed. Some have even been jailed which has effectively elevated them to the status of "folk hero" in the eyes of their countrymen.
For those not paying attention this is precisely what people voted against when they voted to support Donald Trump in 2016. It is precisely what they will be voting for in November 2020 when they go to the polls to elect a president for the next four years.
They want someone like Trump, someone who will stand up to the radical leftists when they do the things that radical leftists do. They want someone like Trump who isn't afraid to call out the radical leftists and their enablers in the Main Street Media. They need someone who will be a firewall against the craziness on the left and there is only one person on the face of the planet who fills that bill as I sit here today.
But I digress. I love Peet's coffee and have ordered it here and there through the years. In the last year or so I've been ordering a nice dark roast a pound at a time online and when selecting a grind I have been choosing "espresso." It is, as a matter of fact, my beverage of choice when having coffee these days so that's what I do. Imagine my surprise when I went to their website to order more coffee only to discover that they have the coffee that I like but they no longer offer the espresso grind as an option. When I called asking if it was an oversight of sorts on their website they assured me that it was not.
They are no longer offering the espresso grind due to the coronavirus pandemic and blah blah blah. I hung up before they finished their sentence. I know, I know. That's not very nice and Nancy hates it when she sees me doing it. I've had it up to here (Johnny holding his hand palm down just above his forehead) with excuses that people come up with because of this damn pandemic. I don't care if it is true. That doesn't mean that I have to like it. It doesn't mean that I can't express my anger and irritation when I'm feeling annoyed. I think I'm done with Peet's now. Fuck em. They made their beds, let them sleep in it.
It's not like there aren't a million other places to buy coffee, is it. And my coffee stocks are lasting longer these days because I'm making espresso day in and day out. That means I'm having to buy it less often which gives me more time between purchases to contemplate my next purchase and where it might it come from. We've sampled a lot of blends over the years by ordering online but none have really grabbed me if you know what I mean. So it really comes down to Starbucks and Peet's if I'm wanting a nice dark roast. Maybe I'll come around some day where Peet's is concerned. Until then, I guess I'm stuck with Starbucks. Life could be worse.
Nancy asked that I get the back deck squared away so she can get her seedlings out there and situated. More specifically, she needed a table on which to put all of her things and that task was squarely in my wheelhouse and my wheelhouse alone. But it's never that easy. It's always more than meets the eye.
It's the blue patio umbrella that needs to come out of the garage and inserted up through the middle of the table; it's the outdoor rug that needs to be taken out of the garage, inspected, cleaned if necessary, and laid down beneath the table; it's the four metal/fabric deck chairs that accompany the table that need to come out of the shed and placed at equally spaced intervals around the circular table; and it's the repositioning of the bird feeders on the deck so they are more aesthetically pleasing to the eye while still functioning as originally intended. Yes, darling. Whatever you want. You really think the deck needs staining?
It looks like rain this morning but it's not supposed to rain for a few days yet. I bought a couple of bags of compost for the garden so want to get that down before the next rain. Maybe I'll do that today in addition to the other things that I need to catch up on around the house. Our garden was largely unproductive last year and I attribute that to the absence of a good fertilizer. It's not a big garden but it's big enough to support a few of Nancy's favorite flowering plants and a handful of tomato plants. Let's see if that compost makes a difference.
Nancy wants to tidy up a little bit before the new refrigerator arrives this coming Thursday. I'm thinking that we need a game plan around moving the food that we now have in the refrigerator out of the old refrigerator and into the new refrigerator. The timing has to be just right. We can't start it when they get here with the new unit. That will be too late. They won't stand around while we're shuffling things in and out. If we know precisely when they plan to arrive then we can time everything to make sure that the cold things stay cold and the frozen things stay frozen. What did we do that last time around? Who remembers?
I assured Nancy that the delivery men will more than likely be wearing masks when they arrive as a precautionary measure in order to protect themselves from contracting the dreaded coronavirus. We should be wearing our masks as well when they arrive. We'll be sure to tip them handsomely while thanking them for their prompt and professional service. There shouldn't be any issues with getting the unit through the door since they are replacing a unit that may be fractionally larger than the one they are delivering.
Now that I think of it, I don't think Nancy has any plans to be here when they arrive. She does, however, have plans to wipe down everything in sight with Lysol or some similar disinfectant after they depart. I think that is a tad over the top but if it makes her feel better than I'm down with it. We'll never use all the disinfectant we purchased at the outset of this pandemic so use it liberally is what I say. Did I mention that our new refrigerator is stainless steel? It's basically the same manufacturer but a newer model and a new look. It didn't make any sense to replace a white refrigerator with another white refrigerator. But what about the fingerprints? What about the fingerprints?
Let me just say that I did not going down this path without a fight this time around. When the frost built up in the rear of the unit inside the refrigerator I pulled everything apart and defrosted the unit with the help of a hair dryer and a space heater before putting it all together again. Using YouTube to assist, I found the appropriate tutorials and got down to business. I was worried a little bit about the seal when I put it all back together again and that may have been my downfall. I gave it the old college try so I have no regrets. It's time to move on.
Ev called yesterday and said that he was coming home for a bit. I wonder sometimes if he just gets bored and looking for a change of scenery decides that spending time in his bedroom here at home does the trick for him. Then again, sometimes I think he just likes to get the hell out of Dodge as the saying goes. I've been doubling up on my purchases at the local grocery store so he doesn't have to go shopping and that may be part of the allure of coming home. We ordered out for dinner and topped it all off with a nice piece of key lime pie from Trader Joes before he left for home in the early evening.
Nancy and I both agreed that Evan looked good. That isn't always the case just so you know. Nobody knows better than his mother and I when he is doing well and when he isn't. Eating right is part of it and staying on top of his duties as a single man out and about on the town is another part of it. We wish he would bring his clothes home for his mom to wash but he never does. Maybe he is trying to impress us with just how independent he is but when he shows up looking occasionally disheveled or worse we are on to him. There is always something to work on when it comes to your children. Ain't that the truth?
I'm liking this red state blue state thing when it comes to states opening up or not opening up as we flatten the curve and get on with our lives. Red states are opening up left and right at a rate that allows their citizenry to get back to a semblance of what they left behind before this all began. Blue states have delayed opening up and in many cases have pushed their opening beyond what most people feel is reasonable or sane.
Most people, realizing that this coronavirus thing is not the 2020 version of the Bubonic plague despite the number of casualties to date and the number of "news" networks forecasting doom and gloom, want now to get on with their lives and that means opening up again and getting back to business. Governors of the blue states seem to be taking their marching orders from Nancy Pelosi and gang and seem to believe that the longer they stay shut down the better the chances are that President Trump will lose to Joe Biden in the Fall.
Trump has been very vocal about getting back to business to the point of sending out tweets with the admonishment to the blue state governors to "listen to the people and get back to business." The red states that have opened up have not seen spikes in deaths, hospitalizations, etc., as forecast by the Main Street Media. People are waking up to the contrast between the two visions being offered by our politicians and they are coming down on the side of staying safe while protecting those who need protection and letting everyone else get on with their lives. "Vaccine or no vaccine," according to Trump, "we're reopening."
That is to say, the virus hasn't turned out to be nearly as deadly as what the models all predicted and we simply can't shut down what was arguably the best economy in the world given what we now know about this so-called pandemic. Trump's case has been bolstered here and there with stories of Americans across our country who have opened up their shops in contravention of existing edicts by blue state governors that their businesses stay closed. Some have even been jailed which has effectively elevated them to the status of "folk hero" in the eyes of their countrymen.
For those not paying attention this is precisely what people voted against when they voted to support Donald Trump in 2016. It is precisely what they will be voting for in November 2020 when they go to the polls to elect a president for the next four years.
They want someone like Trump, someone who will stand up to the radical leftists when they do the things that radical leftists do. They want someone like Trump who isn't afraid to call out the radical leftists and their enablers in the Main Street Media. They need someone who will be a firewall against the craziness on the left and there is only one person on the face of the planet who fills that bill as I sit here today.
But I digress. I love Peet's coffee and have ordered it here and there through the years. In the last year or so I've been ordering a nice dark roast a pound at a time online and when selecting a grind I have been choosing "espresso." It is, as a matter of fact, my beverage of choice when having coffee these days so that's what I do. Imagine my surprise when I went to their website to order more coffee only to discover that they have the coffee that I like but they no longer offer the espresso grind as an option. When I called asking if it was an oversight of sorts on their website they assured me that it was not.
They are no longer offering the espresso grind due to the coronavirus pandemic and blah blah blah. I hung up before they finished their sentence. I know, I know. That's not very nice and Nancy hates it when she sees me doing it. I've had it up to here (Johnny holding his hand palm down just above his forehead) with excuses that people come up with because of this damn pandemic. I don't care if it is true. That doesn't mean that I have to like it. It doesn't mean that I can't express my anger and irritation when I'm feeling annoyed. I think I'm done with Peet's now. Fuck em. They made their beds, let them sleep in it.
It's not like there aren't a million other places to buy coffee, is it. And my coffee stocks are lasting longer these days because I'm making espresso day in and day out. That means I'm having to buy it less often which gives me more time between purchases to contemplate my next purchase and where it might it come from. We've sampled a lot of blends over the years by ordering online but none have really grabbed me if you know what I mean. So it really comes down to Starbucks and Peet's if I'm wanting a nice dark roast. Maybe I'll come around some day where Peet's is concerned. Until then, I guess I'm stuck with Starbucks. Life could be worse.
Nancy asked that I get the back deck squared away so she can get her seedlings out there and situated. More specifically, she needed a table on which to put all of her things and that task was squarely in my wheelhouse and my wheelhouse alone. But it's never that easy. It's always more than meets the eye.
It's the blue patio umbrella that needs to come out of the garage and inserted up through the middle of the table; it's the outdoor rug that needs to be taken out of the garage, inspected, cleaned if necessary, and laid down beneath the table; it's the four metal/fabric deck chairs that accompany the table that need to come out of the shed and placed at equally spaced intervals around the circular table; and it's the repositioning of the bird feeders on the deck so they are more aesthetically pleasing to the eye while still functioning as originally intended. Yes, darling. Whatever you want. You really think the deck needs staining?
It looks like rain this morning but it's not supposed to rain for a few days yet. I bought a couple of bags of compost for the garden so want to get that down before the next rain. Maybe I'll do that today in addition to the other things that I need to catch up on around the house. Our garden was largely unproductive last year and I attribute that to the absence of a good fertilizer. It's not a big garden but it's big enough to support a few of Nancy's favorite flowering plants and a handful of tomato plants. Let's see if that compost makes a difference.
Nancy wants to tidy up a little bit before the new refrigerator arrives this coming Thursday. I'm thinking that we need a game plan around moving the food that we now have in the refrigerator out of the old refrigerator and into the new refrigerator. The timing has to be just right. We can't start it when they get here with the new unit. That will be too late. They won't stand around while we're shuffling things in and out. If we know precisely when they plan to arrive then we can time everything to make sure that the cold things stay cold and the frozen things stay frozen. What did we do that last time around? Who remembers?
I assured Nancy that the delivery men will more than likely be wearing masks when they arrive as a precautionary measure in order to protect themselves from contracting the dreaded coronavirus. We should be wearing our masks as well when they arrive. We'll be sure to tip them handsomely while thanking them for their prompt and professional service. There shouldn't be any issues with getting the unit through the door since they are replacing a unit that may be fractionally larger than the one they are delivering.
Now that I think of it, I don't think Nancy has any plans to be here when they arrive. She does, however, have plans to wipe down everything in sight with Lysol or some similar disinfectant after they depart. I think that is a tad over the top but if it makes her feel better than I'm down with it. We'll never use all the disinfectant we purchased at the outset of this pandemic so use it liberally is what I say. Did I mention that our new refrigerator is stainless steel? It's basically the same manufacturer but a newer model and a new look. It didn't make any sense to replace a white refrigerator with another white refrigerator. But what about the fingerprints? What about the fingerprints?
Appreciate the Help, Dude
11/05/20 07:06
And a fine Mother's Day it was. Forget for a moment that Nancy was not able to see her own mother due to the coronavirus scourge. Sure, Nancy, Evan, and I popped over to bring her a few treats but we never got further than the guard station where we were forced to do a U-Turn after dropping off the bag for her mom with the attendant. Nancy, her sister Debbie, and her mom caught up later last evening on a three way call with well wishes all around.
Our only regret, if there was one, was that we didn't opt to pick up a cupcake or two to throw in the bag for her mom as we drove through the center of Exeter on the way to her facility. There is a cupcake business in town that runs a satellite operation out of a van and the van was parked in the center of Exeter just the other side of the bandstand heading up the hill towards Mrs G's independent living facility.
We rounded the corner near the bandstand, parked for a minute or two until Nancy decided that getting out of the car and making the purchase was more risk than she was wiling to assume. That was that. Nancy wasn't buying any cupcakes. I wasn't getting out of the car if she wasn't getting out of the car and Evan stayed largely silent as we all came to the inescapable conclusion that cupcakes were simply not in the cards.
As much as we thought Mrs G might enjoy the frosting and frivolity of what were probably the world's greatest cupcakes, it was not to be. She would never be the wiser because we had no intention of telling her what we had decided that we wouldn't bring. She would have to settle for the delicious organic strawberries that I had purchased earlier in the day at Trader Joes, an insulated and ornate cup that Nancy purchased online and one that we picked up curbside later that day, and I think that might be it. All of that angst about what to get for her mother and for what? Mission accomplished?
I was hoping for more of a fine dining take-out kind of experience for Nancy's Mother's Day experience but we deferred to the Ev man as we usually do so we settled for take-out from Buffalo Wild Wings in Portsmouth. I suppose we could have sold him on a more high falutin dish but time was running short to arrange for all of that by the time he arrived on the scene. And I have to say, getting take-out has been a nice alternative to dining in in any one or more of our favorite restaurants but I think the quality all around has not been up to snuff. That's a story for another day.
Evan was in good spirits and when he is in good spirits his mother and I are in good spirits. At one point in the afternoon, Nancy could be heard going from room to room singing this song or that song and seemingly feeling quite chipper as it were about life itself. There is no doubt that the caffeine helped but the main source of her inspiration came from having her son home for the holiday. I don't know that there was ever a question about his not being home for the holiday but until he shows up on our doorstep we're never quite sure.
You would think that after all these years I might have a better sense as to what Nancy might like for a present on any of the many holidays during the year Mother's Day aside. We watched a show later last evening after Evan left for home where the husbands in an Italian household all presented their lovely wives with necklaces while seated at a dinner gathering.
The women, one by one, held their long cascading hair to the side while seated allowing their husbands to place the necklaces around their necks. The camera panned in to capture their adoring smiles while their husbands returned to their seats at the table seemingly triumphant and satisfied that they had lived up to the unexpected and expected whims of their darling wives. It was a concocted scene to be sure but one whose sentiment wasn't lost on me.
Will the Casper pillow that I had ordered for Nancy's Mother's Day gift fill the bill in the same way? It was something that she has long wanted to order but for whatever reason has never taken the time to do so. Maybe it''s one of those things that you just don't buy for yourself. But there will be no sapphire pendants, no necklaces, no jewelry of any kind to celebrate this occassion. Truth be told, I wouldn't know where to begin if I had to buy a piece of jewelry for my darling wife. If I thought it might fetch me an adoring smile I might consider it. Until then, I'll be buying her things that she will never buy for herself.
I sliced up an orange yesterday to put out to see if it might attract hummingbirds given the sweetness and bright colors of the fresh fruit. I already have a couple of hummingbird feeders out so the birds are around and they've have been using the feeders periodically throughout the day. What I wasn't expecting to see were the Orioles that are now coming around to eat the halved oranges I have spiked out on our deck. They can't get enough of the oranges! I'll have to buy a few more when I do a little food shopping later in the day. What a treat!
I have to laugh. Nancy and her mom got into a discussion yesterday about Mrs G needing a chair to have on the deck outside her first floor unit at the independent living facility. I don't know if Mrs G said that she thought other residents might be annoyed by the fact that she was using a bench already in place in the common area outside her unit when they thought she shouldn't be taking up a seat on the bench that maybe a resident who didn't have a ground floor unit could better utilize.
In other words, Mrs G wants Nancy to pick her up a chair at the local Home Depot so she can place it out on her deck and use it instead of using the bench in the common area. I don't know if this is all in Mrs G's heads or maybe she's getting some weird vibes or stares from residents occupying the second and third floor units. As genteel and cultivated as her neighbors are, if there is something they don't care for they probably let you know straight away one way or another. And real or imagined, it doesn't matter. If this gives Mrs G peace of mind then a chair she shall have.
We have pair of cowbirds hanging around as of late. They've found my suet feeder and they have no compunction whatsoever about taking their share of what seems to be a very popular suet that I've settled on after convincing myself that some suets are better than other. In other words, birds can be discerning creatures too when it comes to their diets. I haven't watched the two species closely enough to know which is the dominant animal when it comes to occupying the limited real estate the feeder offers but I can say with certainty that the cowbirds are not shy about being as pesky as they need to be in order to get what they want.
I finally got around to sorting out everything I needed to replace one of the poles I needed for the clothesline. I wasn't expecting Evan to be around when all the fixing was going to take place but he was so I put him to work. I had him paint the new and existing poles a nice Cape Cod grey with a couple of coats until you could no longer see the grain of the wood beneath the paint. I think he likes to paint and he may have made a comment to that effect. Or, maybe he just said that it was "relaxing." He was a big help and I think he felt very good about lending a hand when, quite honestly, I don't think he had much else on his agenda.
His mom is constantly after me to have him help with things around the house especially when I have a designated job as it were. From start to finish the clothesline job probably took us a good two hours. I'm not always open to having a helping hand and many jobs quite frankly don't lend themselves to having more than one person attending to matters. And as any dad will tell you, or any mom for that matter, it's sometimes just easier to do it yourself than to try and get your kids to participate. By the time you get them to help you can have done the job twice over.
Evan dropped off some of his "stimulus" money for safekeeping with his mom when he was over to help me with the clothesline. Maybe he knows himself too well and knows that he would just be spending it willy nilly until it was gone and he wasn't wanting that to happen. He wanted to savor the windfall for as long as possible and having some set aside gave him that opportunity.
I think he can be frugal and judicious with his money when he wants to be and he has so little money to begin with that he often has no other choice. But the old axiom about money burning a hole in your pocket applies to the Ev man like anyone else so when he asks his mom to hold on to a little of his money she is happy to oblige. This will make you laugh. He no sooner handed her a good $500 and not ten minutes later he was turning around and asking her for $100 back. "I'll take that in twenties if you have it", he asked politely.
Our only regret, if there was one, was that we didn't opt to pick up a cupcake or two to throw in the bag for her mom as we drove through the center of Exeter on the way to her facility. There is a cupcake business in town that runs a satellite operation out of a van and the van was parked in the center of Exeter just the other side of the bandstand heading up the hill towards Mrs G's independent living facility.
We rounded the corner near the bandstand, parked for a minute or two until Nancy decided that getting out of the car and making the purchase was more risk than she was wiling to assume. That was that. Nancy wasn't buying any cupcakes. I wasn't getting out of the car if she wasn't getting out of the car and Evan stayed largely silent as we all came to the inescapable conclusion that cupcakes were simply not in the cards.
As much as we thought Mrs G might enjoy the frosting and frivolity of what were probably the world's greatest cupcakes, it was not to be. She would never be the wiser because we had no intention of telling her what we had decided that we wouldn't bring. She would have to settle for the delicious organic strawberries that I had purchased earlier in the day at Trader Joes, an insulated and ornate cup that Nancy purchased online and one that we picked up curbside later that day, and I think that might be it. All of that angst about what to get for her mother and for what? Mission accomplished?
I was hoping for more of a fine dining take-out kind of experience for Nancy's Mother's Day experience but we deferred to the Ev man as we usually do so we settled for take-out from Buffalo Wild Wings in Portsmouth. I suppose we could have sold him on a more high falutin dish but time was running short to arrange for all of that by the time he arrived on the scene. And I have to say, getting take-out has been a nice alternative to dining in in any one or more of our favorite restaurants but I think the quality all around has not been up to snuff. That's a story for another day.
Evan was in good spirits and when he is in good spirits his mother and I are in good spirits. At one point in the afternoon, Nancy could be heard going from room to room singing this song or that song and seemingly feeling quite chipper as it were about life itself. There is no doubt that the caffeine helped but the main source of her inspiration came from having her son home for the holiday. I don't know that there was ever a question about his not being home for the holiday but until he shows up on our doorstep we're never quite sure.
You would think that after all these years I might have a better sense as to what Nancy might like for a present on any of the many holidays during the year Mother's Day aside. We watched a show later last evening after Evan left for home where the husbands in an Italian household all presented their lovely wives with necklaces while seated at a dinner gathering.
The women, one by one, held their long cascading hair to the side while seated allowing their husbands to place the necklaces around their necks. The camera panned in to capture their adoring smiles while their husbands returned to their seats at the table seemingly triumphant and satisfied that they had lived up to the unexpected and expected whims of their darling wives. It was a concocted scene to be sure but one whose sentiment wasn't lost on me.
Will the Casper pillow that I had ordered for Nancy's Mother's Day gift fill the bill in the same way? It was something that she has long wanted to order but for whatever reason has never taken the time to do so. Maybe it''s one of those things that you just don't buy for yourself. But there will be no sapphire pendants, no necklaces, no jewelry of any kind to celebrate this occassion. Truth be told, I wouldn't know where to begin if I had to buy a piece of jewelry for my darling wife. If I thought it might fetch me an adoring smile I might consider it. Until then, I'll be buying her things that she will never buy for herself.
I sliced up an orange yesterday to put out to see if it might attract hummingbirds given the sweetness and bright colors of the fresh fruit. I already have a couple of hummingbird feeders out so the birds are around and they've have been using the feeders periodically throughout the day. What I wasn't expecting to see were the Orioles that are now coming around to eat the halved oranges I have spiked out on our deck. They can't get enough of the oranges! I'll have to buy a few more when I do a little food shopping later in the day. What a treat!
I have to laugh. Nancy and her mom got into a discussion yesterday about Mrs G needing a chair to have on the deck outside her first floor unit at the independent living facility. I don't know if Mrs G said that she thought other residents might be annoyed by the fact that she was using a bench already in place in the common area outside her unit when they thought she shouldn't be taking up a seat on the bench that maybe a resident who didn't have a ground floor unit could better utilize.
In other words, Mrs G wants Nancy to pick her up a chair at the local Home Depot so she can place it out on her deck and use it instead of using the bench in the common area. I don't know if this is all in Mrs G's heads or maybe she's getting some weird vibes or stares from residents occupying the second and third floor units. As genteel and cultivated as her neighbors are, if there is something they don't care for they probably let you know straight away one way or another. And real or imagined, it doesn't matter. If this gives Mrs G peace of mind then a chair she shall have.
We have pair of cowbirds hanging around as of late. They've found my suet feeder and they have no compunction whatsoever about taking their share of what seems to be a very popular suet that I've settled on after convincing myself that some suets are better than other. In other words, birds can be discerning creatures too when it comes to their diets. I haven't watched the two species closely enough to know which is the dominant animal when it comes to occupying the limited real estate the feeder offers but I can say with certainty that the cowbirds are not shy about being as pesky as they need to be in order to get what they want.
I finally got around to sorting out everything I needed to replace one of the poles I needed for the clothesline. I wasn't expecting Evan to be around when all the fixing was going to take place but he was so I put him to work. I had him paint the new and existing poles a nice Cape Cod grey with a couple of coats until you could no longer see the grain of the wood beneath the paint. I think he likes to paint and he may have made a comment to that effect. Or, maybe he just said that it was "relaxing." He was a big help and I think he felt very good about lending a hand when, quite honestly, I don't think he had much else on his agenda.
His mom is constantly after me to have him help with things around the house especially when I have a designated job as it were. From start to finish the clothesline job probably took us a good two hours. I'm not always open to having a helping hand and many jobs quite frankly don't lend themselves to having more than one person attending to matters. And as any dad will tell you, or any mom for that matter, it's sometimes just easier to do it yourself than to try and get your kids to participate. By the time you get them to help you can have done the job twice over.
Evan dropped off some of his "stimulus" money for safekeeping with his mom when he was over to help me with the clothesline. Maybe he knows himself too well and knows that he would just be spending it willy nilly until it was gone and he wasn't wanting that to happen. He wanted to savor the windfall for as long as possible and having some set aside gave him that opportunity.
I think he can be frugal and judicious with his money when he wants to be and he has so little money to begin with that he often has no other choice. But the old axiom about money burning a hole in your pocket applies to the Ev man like anyone else so when he asks his mom to hold on to a little of his money she is happy to oblige. This will make you laugh. He no sooner handed her a good $500 and not ten minutes later he was turning around and asking her for $100 back. "I'll take that in twenties if you have it", he asked politely.
Odd Man Out
06/05/20 07:02
Every time I read about Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg coming down with one thing or another I start to get a little, how do they say, a little tingle running down my leg. How terrific would that be if Trump were to get another Supreme Court pick in his first term? The left would lose their collective shit to be sure. How many bouts of cancer has she had as far as we know? Too many? Not enough? Please, God. I'm getting mean again. Make it stop!
It was so funny. Nancy and I were sitting around the other day and what appears fluttering and flittering as it did in our front room window but the first hummingbird of the season. It was right on schedule. I've been keeping track the last few years and they typically arrive around the 4th or 5th of May. I swear that the bird fluttered in place for two or three seconds while staring at me as I sat on the couch as if to say, get off your duff and put out the feeders, we're back. This is what they do uncanny as it is.
And if it's Springtime here in the hood, it's time that our neighbor Betsi's friend John arrives with his trailer in tow to spend the summer months at the end of the cul-de-sac. In the era of Covid-19, I can't say with any degree of certainty that he is a welcome sight. If anything, his idea of staying in quarantine and my idea of his staying in quarantine are two different things. He was out and about yesterday but staying socially distant so I suppose we should be thankful for that.
Maybe it's no different than the stay-at-home orders we are all subjected to here in the state of New Hampshire. We really aren't under lock and key as the wording might otherwise suggest. We are free to go about our business so stay-at-home may be a misnomer of sorts. Not wanting to appear anything but neighborly, I gave every indication that we welcomed him back with open arms but I left the door open at least subliminally for any suggestion that he may be asymptomatic or worse when it comes to the dreaded Covid-19.
But the hummingbird feeders are up, the lawn has been raked and the leaves deposited across the street, and I'm quite sure that I have no intention whatsoever of putting in a garden this year. I don't care how many meat packing plants they close or how many frozen food processing plants they take off line, I refuse to believe there are any problems in the food chain here in the United States. I even heard that Wendy's is taking burgers off the menu. Can that be true? Not a Wendy's guy, but what the hey.
Mother's Day is coming around so Nancy is not surprisingly in the what to do what to do stage when it comes to getting something for her mom. I gave her my usual response. Don't ask me, she's not my mother. That's me being mean again. Do I have any suggestions on what to get for her mom? I do not. Nancy may need to get a little more creative this year than in years past knowing as we do that her mom is under lock and key at her independent living facility during this so-called pandemic. Still, time is running short.
Nancy has wanted something for herself so I have an idea on what to get for her and I've placed the order so expect she will have it by the time Mother's Day arrives. I've decided that we'll order a nice take-out meal from a local restaurant and we've put Evan on notice should he wish to offer any suggestions on what to order. He may have a thought or two on which restaurant he prefers to order from and that would be fine too. Any and all suggestions are welcome.
It's probably a bridge too far to expect that Evan will get so much as a card for his mom so maybe I'll pick one up and he can pass it off as his own. He does write a nice note all things considered so he'll have something at least that, at a minimum, should warm the cockles of his mother's heart. While we're on the subject, what the heck is a cockle anyway? If there is a card to go along with the present we're plan to give to Nancy then he can sign that as well. Either way, Nancy will be pleased as punch to have our son on board for whatever we end up doing or not doing. She is and always has been easy to please.
Speaking of the Ev man, where is his stimulus check? It is nowhere to be found. Was he not on the right list? Maybe he'll be getting a check and maybe he won't. The bigger question when it comes to Evan is what he may or may not do with money once it arrives. We've asked if he has any plans for it and he clearly does not. Maybe he has plans but prefers not to divulge them to his parents. That would not surprise me at all.
It's a windfall for him all in all so he can do with it as he pleases. That said, I'd hate for him to wake up one day and find that his windfall has withered away to nothing and he has nothing to show for it. That's the parent in me talking. But he'll be coming by today to join Nancy for a phone conversation with a so-called provider so that's good. Maybe we can ask him again if he has any plans. If he's in one of his talkative moods that night be a good opening. If not, we'll let sleeping dogs lie.
I told Nancy yesterday that we should have a calendar for all of Ev's events aside from the calendar that she keeps for her yoga classes, etc.. Her life revolves around her calendar if I'm allowed to opine on such things. Teasing Evan's business out of any given day or week on her calendar may be hard for her to do. I'm quick to remind her that if she gets hit by a bus tomorrow and I have to unravel her calendar for important dates, especially when it comes to Evan, I might not be able to make sense of it all. Just sayin'.
Retail (non-essential) opens up this coming week here in New Hampshire so we'll see how that goes. We'll all be wearing masks and doing our level best to keep our distance from the next guy or gal when going about our business. It's become second nature to reach for my mask when going in and out of stores and restaurants but I look forward to the day when that is no longer necessary. It certainly helps that mostly everyone else is wearing one. No one likes to be the odd man out.
So now Mrs G tells us that management is starting to relax the coronavirus related restrictions at her independent living facility. They will no longer be knocking on resident's door to trumpet the arrival of their evening meals. Meals will be delivered each evening to the common area and can be picked up by the residents. Nancy confided in me that she thought the idea of residents poring over the to-go dinners in the common area in order to find their own individually labeled bags was somewhat repulsive not know what viruses or other nasty things they might leave behind on by pawing through the bags belonging to other residents.
I assured her that the font used to label each of the bags was sufficiently large such that the residents should be able to identify their own meals without touching meals belonging to other residents. Nancy wasn't buying it. The good news is that in all the of the testing they've done at the facility as of late, there hasn't been one positive case. That's pretty good and it goes a long way toward reassuring the residents that all the efforts by the management on behalf of the residents have not been in vain.
Being the natural skeptic that I am, is it possible that they are lying through their teeth just to provide a feel-good report to the petrified elderly population confined to their quarters day in and day out? I don't think so. It's kind of consistent with the number of cases here in New Hampshire which is to say that it's pretty low and compared to other hotspots in the nation it's a mere peehole in the snow. When you add the fact that they are relaxing restrictions you can be sure that they wouldn't be doing that if they found even a single positive case.
They're even talking about letting the residents get together with relatives in half hour time slots. That seems crazy to me knowing how vulnerable that population is but I have to assume they know what they're doing. Maybe they know something we don't. I also don't know what that meet and greet looks like so I shouldn't try to get ahead of it here. Suffice it to say that Mrs G liked the idea and it seemed to perk her up as she was giving Nancy the information over the phone. It was good to hear a little excitement in her voice for a change.
I told Nancy that if we're going to do this meet and greet thing that maybe we should get tested first. Did I mention that Mrs G asked that we arrange to bring her a lobster roll? She and Nancy went back and forth a bit on whether or not french fries would survive the trip and they decided that it was better to get no french fries at all than to get french fries that were no longer hot and crispy. But the testing thing? Nancy wasn't so sure. Would it matter if we tested negative one day only to contract the virus the next day and be none the wiser?
I'm on a bit of a roll here this morning. Just when I thought I was running out of things to say. It looks like a rainy and cold day here on the coast so I'll be staying close to home today. If all goes as planned I'll catch up with some reading before the day is over. I'm reading a book about drug companies and how they dumped opiates and other painkillers on communities in West Virginia resulting in untold number of deaths and other tragic societal ills. It's a very sad story, really, but one that involves heroes, villains, and an all too familiar backdrop involving families coast to coast in our great country. It is a story that needed to be told.
I sure hope we get word from Evan on what his thinking is when it comes to Mother's Day tomorrow. Did I mention that he has an arrival date for his stimulus check? He's pumped to say the least. I'm happy to see him get excited about something even if it's only to have a few extra dollars in his pocket. It's not called a "stimulus" payment for nothing. Right? Do you suppose there is more where that comes from? It's nice paying bills with someone else's money. Wait a minute! Those are my hard earned tax dollars!
It was so funny. Nancy and I were sitting around the other day and what appears fluttering and flittering as it did in our front room window but the first hummingbird of the season. It was right on schedule. I've been keeping track the last few years and they typically arrive around the 4th or 5th of May. I swear that the bird fluttered in place for two or three seconds while staring at me as I sat on the couch as if to say, get off your duff and put out the feeders, we're back. This is what they do uncanny as it is.
And if it's Springtime here in the hood, it's time that our neighbor Betsi's friend John arrives with his trailer in tow to spend the summer months at the end of the cul-de-sac. In the era of Covid-19, I can't say with any degree of certainty that he is a welcome sight. If anything, his idea of staying in quarantine and my idea of his staying in quarantine are two different things. He was out and about yesterday but staying socially distant so I suppose we should be thankful for that.
Maybe it's no different than the stay-at-home orders we are all subjected to here in the state of New Hampshire. We really aren't under lock and key as the wording might otherwise suggest. We are free to go about our business so stay-at-home may be a misnomer of sorts. Not wanting to appear anything but neighborly, I gave every indication that we welcomed him back with open arms but I left the door open at least subliminally for any suggestion that he may be asymptomatic or worse when it comes to the dreaded Covid-19.
But the hummingbird feeders are up, the lawn has been raked and the leaves deposited across the street, and I'm quite sure that I have no intention whatsoever of putting in a garden this year. I don't care how many meat packing plants they close or how many frozen food processing plants they take off line, I refuse to believe there are any problems in the food chain here in the United States. I even heard that Wendy's is taking burgers off the menu. Can that be true? Not a Wendy's guy, but what the hey.
Mother's Day is coming around so Nancy is not surprisingly in the what to do what to do stage when it comes to getting something for her mom. I gave her my usual response. Don't ask me, she's not my mother. That's me being mean again. Do I have any suggestions on what to get for her mom? I do not. Nancy may need to get a little more creative this year than in years past knowing as we do that her mom is under lock and key at her independent living facility during this so-called pandemic. Still, time is running short.
Nancy has wanted something for herself so I have an idea on what to get for her and I've placed the order so expect she will have it by the time Mother's Day arrives. I've decided that we'll order a nice take-out meal from a local restaurant and we've put Evan on notice should he wish to offer any suggestions on what to order. He may have a thought or two on which restaurant he prefers to order from and that would be fine too. Any and all suggestions are welcome.
It's probably a bridge too far to expect that Evan will get so much as a card for his mom so maybe I'll pick one up and he can pass it off as his own. He does write a nice note all things considered so he'll have something at least that, at a minimum, should warm the cockles of his mother's heart. While we're on the subject, what the heck is a cockle anyway? If there is a card to go along with the present we're plan to give to Nancy then he can sign that as well. Either way, Nancy will be pleased as punch to have our son on board for whatever we end up doing or not doing. She is and always has been easy to please.
Speaking of the Ev man, where is his stimulus check? It is nowhere to be found. Was he not on the right list? Maybe he'll be getting a check and maybe he won't. The bigger question when it comes to Evan is what he may or may not do with money once it arrives. We've asked if he has any plans for it and he clearly does not. Maybe he has plans but prefers not to divulge them to his parents. That would not surprise me at all.
It's a windfall for him all in all so he can do with it as he pleases. That said, I'd hate for him to wake up one day and find that his windfall has withered away to nothing and he has nothing to show for it. That's the parent in me talking. But he'll be coming by today to join Nancy for a phone conversation with a so-called provider so that's good. Maybe we can ask him again if he has any plans. If he's in one of his talkative moods that night be a good opening. If not, we'll let sleeping dogs lie.
I told Nancy yesterday that we should have a calendar for all of Ev's events aside from the calendar that she keeps for her yoga classes, etc.. Her life revolves around her calendar if I'm allowed to opine on such things. Teasing Evan's business out of any given day or week on her calendar may be hard for her to do. I'm quick to remind her that if she gets hit by a bus tomorrow and I have to unravel her calendar for important dates, especially when it comes to Evan, I might not be able to make sense of it all. Just sayin'.
Retail (non-essential) opens up this coming week here in New Hampshire so we'll see how that goes. We'll all be wearing masks and doing our level best to keep our distance from the next guy or gal when going about our business. It's become second nature to reach for my mask when going in and out of stores and restaurants but I look forward to the day when that is no longer necessary. It certainly helps that mostly everyone else is wearing one. No one likes to be the odd man out.
So now Mrs G tells us that management is starting to relax the coronavirus related restrictions at her independent living facility. They will no longer be knocking on resident's door to trumpet the arrival of their evening meals. Meals will be delivered each evening to the common area and can be picked up by the residents. Nancy confided in me that she thought the idea of residents poring over the to-go dinners in the common area in order to find their own individually labeled bags was somewhat repulsive not know what viruses or other nasty things they might leave behind on by pawing through the bags belonging to other residents.
I assured her that the font used to label each of the bags was sufficiently large such that the residents should be able to identify their own meals without touching meals belonging to other residents. Nancy wasn't buying it. The good news is that in all the of the testing they've done at the facility as of late, there hasn't been one positive case. That's pretty good and it goes a long way toward reassuring the residents that all the efforts by the management on behalf of the residents have not been in vain.
Being the natural skeptic that I am, is it possible that they are lying through their teeth just to provide a feel-good report to the petrified elderly population confined to their quarters day in and day out? I don't think so. It's kind of consistent with the number of cases here in New Hampshire which is to say that it's pretty low and compared to other hotspots in the nation it's a mere peehole in the snow. When you add the fact that they are relaxing restrictions you can be sure that they wouldn't be doing that if they found even a single positive case.
They're even talking about letting the residents get together with relatives in half hour time slots. That seems crazy to me knowing how vulnerable that population is but I have to assume they know what they're doing. Maybe they know something we don't. I also don't know what that meet and greet looks like so I shouldn't try to get ahead of it here. Suffice it to say that Mrs G liked the idea and it seemed to perk her up as she was giving Nancy the information over the phone. It was good to hear a little excitement in her voice for a change.
I told Nancy that if we're going to do this meet and greet thing that maybe we should get tested first. Did I mention that Mrs G asked that we arrange to bring her a lobster roll? She and Nancy went back and forth a bit on whether or not french fries would survive the trip and they decided that it was better to get no french fries at all than to get french fries that were no longer hot and crispy. But the testing thing? Nancy wasn't so sure. Would it matter if we tested negative one day only to contract the virus the next day and be none the wiser?
I'm on a bit of a roll here this morning. Just when I thought I was running out of things to say. It looks like a rainy and cold day here on the coast so I'll be staying close to home today. If all goes as planned I'll catch up with some reading before the day is over. I'm reading a book about drug companies and how they dumped opiates and other painkillers on communities in West Virginia resulting in untold number of deaths and other tragic societal ills. It's a very sad story, really, but one that involves heroes, villains, and an all too familiar backdrop involving families coast to coast in our great country. It is a story that needed to be told.
I sure hope we get word from Evan on what his thinking is when it comes to Mother's Day tomorrow. Did I mention that he has an arrival date for his stimulus check? He's pumped to say the least. I'm happy to see him get excited about something even if it's only to have a few extra dollars in his pocket. It's not called a "stimulus" payment for nothing. Right? Do you suppose there is more where that comes from? It's nice paying bills with someone else's money. Wait a minute! Those are my hard earned tax dollars!
Do It For Nancy
01/05/20 06:16
I'm sitting here in the 5 o'clock hour waiting for Joe Biden to be interviewed by Morning Joe on television. Not because I have any great interest in watching morning television because I simply don't. Nor do I have any interest in the idiocy that passes for morning television especially expressed by the host of the Morning Joe show. His politics are insanely anti-Trump and the politics of his guests, unsurprisingly, are simpatico with those of the shows host. Just a bunch of loons in my humble opinion.
But the demented Joe Biden? That's an interview you don't want to miss. Not because he's a compelling public figure because he is not. That said, he is the presumptive democrat nominee for the presidency in the year of the lord 2020. Yet, it has been alleged that he raped one of the women in his office some twenty years ago. This will be the first time he has addressed the charge in public. There may not be any DNA but there are corroborating witnesses that will attest to Biden's alleged deviancy on behalf of the victim, one Tara Reade.
For better or worse, Joe Biden has to address the charges in order to put them behind him as he heads down the final stretch into November. That's a tall order for a man who is clearly in cognitive decline bordering on dementia. It may well accrue to Biden's benefit that he can't remember what he had for breakfast this very morning much less what liberties he may or may not have taken with a woman in his office 20 plus years ago. You can bet your bottom dollar that good ole Morning Joe will do nothing to help his namesake, Sleepy Joe Biden, resurrect those moments however tawdry and delicious they may have been at the time.
There is no credible hue and cry by the left to have their party's nominee come clean but with each passing day there is yet another witness stepping forward with a tale to tell and it makes for a sloppy and choppy news cycle that is not helpful to the Biden campaign. It also doesn't help that we have all had a front seat to Biden's inarticulate and bumbling utterances over these past many months when trying to express himself. How does one convincingly acquit oneself when you can't find that your words and memories, mischievous or not, are at best a bloody blur?
Maybe he just denies it. That will require that he string together four words. A mere utterance when you consider the panoply of nouns and verbs that might have come tumbling out of his mouth in days of old. It will be a he said - she said. Maybe that will suffice in order to satisfy those supporters of his who have been waiting for him to say something, anything. It isn't credible knowing what we know about all the corroborating voices but it may be enough. This is the same man, mind you, that is on video time and time again snuggling up to, sniffing, and stroking prepubescent children in ways that will make your skin crawl.
Yep, the interview has now come and gone. Sleepy Joe has taken my advice and has issued a flat denial. Whether that holds up to the test of time is yet to be seen. I'm thinking that the loudest voices on the left looking for more are hoping against hope that this ordeal will see Biden leaving the race with another less damaged and more attractive candidate taking his place. After all, the goal is to defeat Trump and take back the reins of power in Washington. The loudest voices on the right should be careful what they wish for.
But I digress. I found a statistic on Covid-19 that I like and one that provides a nice comparison if you live in a particular state and want your state to return to normal. Here in New Hampshire, we have 5 deaths per 100,000 citizens. New York has 121 deaths per 100,000 citizens. New Hampshire will now allow all retail establishments to reopen by May 11th with certain guidelines that are designed to "keep people safe." That seems reasonable given the mortality rate of this virus and what we now know about which populations are at the greatest risk.
Citizens of states with similar death rates as NH are up in arms and have taken to the streets across the country to demonstrate against the heavy hand of government that would keep their states shut down a moment more than is necessary. It comes as no surprise to anyone that the states with the most restrictive policies are states with democrats in the corner office. They are giving the middle finger to Constitutional norms and they are wielding power that they do not otherwise possess in their role as governor of their state. This will not end well.
So it's a good thing that we're starting to get back to normal or whatever that passes for these days. I, for one, will be happy not to be wearing a mask again. I hate that fucking thing. I see people going about their business while not wearing one and I think to myself, what's up with that? I'm not so strident and dictatorial as to think that they need to put one on and I need to remind them of that fact but rather I'm wanting to know why they think it works for them one way or another not to wear one. I'm open to alternatives.
I have to admit that I have not been feeling all that great this past week or so. Not sure what that is or what it means. I have birthday cards I haven't opened, calls I haven't returned from a week ago or more, foods that used to interest me that I no longer long for, and piles of leaves in and around the yard that should have been cleaned up weeks ago.
I've even lost interest in my afternoon coffees if you can believe that. The only reason I'm drinking any coffee at all has more to do with not wanting the headache that goes along with missing my daily dose of caffeine.
If I go for a drive just to get out of the house in the late afternoon, it's only because Nancy wants to do that and not because I have the interest or the strength to push back. I know the lawn will need mowing sometime soon and I am dreading the day. Maybe I will return from the dead to do what needs to be done. Maybe not.
If this decline that I find myself in worsens I'm not sure how that will end up. How much of this is due to the disorder of the world around me at the moment is unknown. Is there something that I did before this coronavirus thing came along that I no longer do that has now become a trigger of bad things?
It's not a "stay in bed and pull the covers over your head" kind of malaise but I can see it going there. That is a very dark place to be sure. Sometimes you need to hit bottom before you can get your sea legs back and I'm floating around on a raft full of holes with sharks circling minute in and minute out.
Having little or no desire to have a proper meal is probably not helping. How much cereal for dinner is too much cereal for dinner? I do myself a favor and try to avoid putting sweet things on my cereal that will spike my sugars and maybe even bring lower lows.
I'm putting on some music that mirrors my mood. It's pure unadulterated melancholy but it strikes the right cord. I was hoping that I might have a better day today but I'm not sure now.
This was how yesterday started and we all know how that ended. It might surprise you to know that I'm getting my bike rides in in the midst of this somnambulistic slumber. Habits are hard to break so I pick myself up and get on with it. I'm not hoping that endorphins will bring me back from the brink so I ride without hope and without real commitment. Riding without a mask as I do tells you something about how careless I've become as of late.
Funny thing is that I usually don't write in this here journal when I'm not otherwise up to it. You'd think with everything I've said here that this would be one of those days so maybe there's something else going on. Something that can be fixed or easily remedied.
I'll try to put my finger on it so I can start to think more clearly, start to eat better, start to do the things that need to be done. I need to turn this clunker around on the highway of life and rejoin the world already in progress. Stop the merry-go-round just long enough for me to get a foothold, will ya? If not for me, do it for Nancy.
But the demented Joe Biden? That's an interview you don't want to miss. Not because he's a compelling public figure because he is not. That said, he is the presumptive democrat nominee for the presidency in the year of the lord 2020. Yet, it has been alleged that he raped one of the women in his office some twenty years ago. This will be the first time he has addressed the charge in public. There may not be any DNA but there are corroborating witnesses that will attest to Biden's alleged deviancy on behalf of the victim, one Tara Reade.
For better or worse, Joe Biden has to address the charges in order to put them behind him as he heads down the final stretch into November. That's a tall order for a man who is clearly in cognitive decline bordering on dementia. It may well accrue to Biden's benefit that he can't remember what he had for breakfast this very morning much less what liberties he may or may not have taken with a woman in his office 20 plus years ago. You can bet your bottom dollar that good ole Morning Joe will do nothing to help his namesake, Sleepy Joe Biden, resurrect those moments however tawdry and delicious they may have been at the time.
There is no credible hue and cry by the left to have their party's nominee come clean but with each passing day there is yet another witness stepping forward with a tale to tell and it makes for a sloppy and choppy news cycle that is not helpful to the Biden campaign. It also doesn't help that we have all had a front seat to Biden's inarticulate and bumbling utterances over these past many months when trying to express himself. How does one convincingly acquit oneself when you can't find that your words and memories, mischievous or not, are at best a bloody blur?
Maybe he just denies it. That will require that he string together four words. A mere utterance when you consider the panoply of nouns and verbs that might have come tumbling out of his mouth in days of old. It will be a he said - she said. Maybe that will suffice in order to satisfy those supporters of his who have been waiting for him to say something, anything. It isn't credible knowing what we know about all the corroborating voices but it may be enough. This is the same man, mind you, that is on video time and time again snuggling up to, sniffing, and stroking prepubescent children in ways that will make your skin crawl.
Yep, the interview has now come and gone. Sleepy Joe has taken my advice and has issued a flat denial. Whether that holds up to the test of time is yet to be seen. I'm thinking that the loudest voices on the left looking for more are hoping against hope that this ordeal will see Biden leaving the race with another less damaged and more attractive candidate taking his place. After all, the goal is to defeat Trump and take back the reins of power in Washington. The loudest voices on the right should be careful what they wish for.
But I digress. I found a statistic on Covid-19 that I like and one that provides a nice comparison if you live in a particular state and want your state to return to normal. Here in New Hampshire, we have 5 deaths per 100,000 citizens. New York has 121 deaths per 100,000 citizens. New Hampshire will now allow all retail establishments to reopen by May 11th with certain guidelines that are designed to "keep people safe." That seems reasonable given the mortality rate of this virus and what we now know about which populations are at the greatest risk.
Citizens of states with similar death rates as NH are up in arms and have taken to the streets across the country to demonstrate against the heavy hand of government that would keep their states shut down a moment more than is necessary. It comes as no surprise to anyone that the states with the most restrictive policies are states with democrats in the corner office. They are giving the middle finger to Constitutional norms and they are wielding power that they do not otherwise possess in their role as governor of their state. This will not end well.
So it's a good thing that we're starting to get back to normal or whatever that passes for these days. I, for one, will be happy not to be wearing a mask again. I hate that fucking thing. I see people going about their business while not wearing one and I think to myself, what's up with that? I'm not so strident and dictatorial as to think that they need to put one on and I need to remind them of that fact but rather I'm wanting to know why they think it works for them one way or another not to wear one. I'm open to alternatives.
I have to admit that I have not been feeling all that great this past week or so. Not sure what that is or what it means. I have birthday cards I haven't opened, calls I haven't returned from a week ago or more, foods that used to interest me that I no longer long for, and piles of leaves in and around the yard that should have been cleaned up weeks ago.
I've even lost interest in my afternoon coffees if you can believe that. The only reason I'm drinking any coffee at all has more to do with not wanting the headache that goes along with missing my daily dose of caffeine.
If I go for a drive just to get out of the house in the late afternoon, it's only because Nancy wants to do that and not because I have the interest or the strength to push back. I know the lawn will need mowing sometime soon and I am dreading the day. Maybe I will return from the dead to do what needs to be done. Maybe not.
If this decline that I find myself in worsens I'm not sure how that will end up. How much of this is due to the disorder of the world around me at the moment is unknown. Is there something that I did before this coronavirus thing came along that I no longer do that has now become a trigger of bad things?
It's not a "stay in bed and pull the covers over your head" kind of malaise but I can see it going there. That is a very dark place to be sure. Sometimes you need to hit bottom before you can get your sea legs back and I'm floating around on a raft full of holes with sharks circling minute in and minute out.
Having little or no desire to have a proper meal is probably not helping. How much cereal for dinner is too much cereal for dinner? I do myself a favor and try to avoid putting sweet things on my cereal that will spike my sugars and maybe even bring lower lows.
I'm putting on some music that mirrors my mood. It's pure unadulterated melancholy but it strikes the right cord. I was hoping that I might have a better day today but I'm not sure now.
This was how yesterday started and we all know how that ended. It might surprise you to know that I'm getting my bike rides in in the midst of this somnambulistic slumber. Habits are hard to break so I pick myself up and get on with it. I'm not hoping that endorphins will bring me back from the brink so I ride without hope and without real commitment. Riding without a mask as I do tells you something about how careless I've become as of late.
Funny thing is that I usually don't write in this here journal when I'm not otherwise up to it. You'd think with everything I've said here that this would be one of those days so maybe there's something else going on. Something that can be fixed or easily remedied.
I'll try to put my finger on it so I can start to think more clearly, start to eat better, start to do the things that need to be done. I need to turn this clunker around on the highway of life and rejoin the world already in progress. Stop the merry-go-round just long enough for me to get a foothold, will ya? If not for me, do it for Nancy.
A Light Touch
26/04/20 08:09
Hola, little babies. I think I'm in the mood for a little Jose' Feliciano this morning. A little "Light my Fire" will do nicely. It's a cool gray morning out there and I'm trying to bring a little sunshine around in the only way I know how. Wishful thinking may or may not get the job done but there you have it. What else you got, Johnny boy?
I've had a look at the schedule for talking heads this morning on television seeing as it's Sunday and all and there may be a show or two worth watching. Whether or not I'm willing to sacrifice getting my bike ride in before the roads get too congested is another story. I suppose I could record the two or three shows I'm interested in but I never seem to go back and watch them once I've recorded them. Sometimes you just know.
And, of course, everyone has an agenda that they want to spin given the opportunity so there's that. The left leaning hosts of the shows will try as they might to get the guests to spill the beans, say something that will cast doubt or maybe even support causes on the left. If they can get something on tape to go viral after the fact then all the better. We've seen this movie before and we know all too well how it ends. Maybe this time will be different. Right.
Doctor Deborah Birx seems to be on all the shows this morning so it will be more pandemic related stuff. She's pretty good on her feet so it might be interesting. They will try as they always do to get her to say things that support the narrative that we're all going to die and had Donald Trump acted sooner we might have a fighting chance. She's likely to stick to the facts and not give them what they want so they may look to attack her personally. Good luck with that.
All of this comes on the tail end of what may have been the last coronavirus update that the President and his people plan to provide to the American people. There was a kerfuffle of sorts this past Friday where Trump and his entourage came out and did their normal briefing but seemed to cut it short and took no questions before leaving the stage. There was something about Trump's people asking one or more of the reporters to change their seating. The reporters were less than obliging for whatever reason. That may have been the trigger.
Trump may be thinking that there is less and less value to these sessions and given the nonsense coming out of the mouths of the Press in attendance it might just be time to be done with it all. I would contend that they are trying to drive him from the briefings because he is getting far too much face time with the American people and that seems to be driving up his popularity by most accounts. If the press hacks can drive him off the stage that will surely enhance Sleepy Joe's prospects come November.
My suggestion is that he keep the briefings but change course with the content and concentrate on talking up the economy and what we need to get our country back on track. There is no better spokesperson for the economy than Trump. I heard one suggestion that he change his election slogan to "Make America Great Again, Again." I love it! He can keep up his ruffian ways in his interactions with the press because we also love a president who fights back when going face to face with a hostile media. Yes we do!
We haven't seen or heard from Evan for a few days so we're wondering what he's been up to. Mrs G mentioned last evening in a call that she had decided not to be tested for this covid-19 thing. This was after consulting with her children but making her own decision as she always does. "Why should I when I could turn around the next day and contract the disease somewhere," she replied. I think that makes perfect sense. Maybe we will give Evan a call tonight just to hear that he's doing okay. We can always leave a message.
Just when you thought your stimulus check wasn't going show up there it is. It feels weird having your government just drop money into your account. Kaboom! Well, it was more of a splash really. I guess it's good to have a few extra shekels around in times like this. There are a couple of things I've been thinking about which I won't go into here. I could have some fun with the money and go out and buy something totally unnecessary so I'll have to think about that a little more. Oh, and Evan hasn't received his money yet so mum is the word. Hide the party hats until then and we'll trip the lights fantastic when his money arrives.
I don't think he has any plans for his check either but that could change in an instant. You know how kids are these days. For all I know he'll go out and blow it on phone sex and medicinal marijuana. Only kidding. He won't need to provide an accounting to we as his parents. Those days are long gone. I know how it goes though. One day you wake up and the money is gone and you wonder where it all went. We should all be happy that he qualifies for a check even though you really never know until it shows up in your account. Tic Toc.
I've been dragging my feet in getting this post out so the subject matter spans a few days from start to finish. My birthday has come and gone. My twin sisters birthdays have come and gone. A lot of things have come and gone. Some, more memorable than others. My birthday, for example, was just an okay day.
Not because of anything anyone else did but rather because I was not my usual happy self from start to finish. It didn't help that Nancy made a strawberry shortcake to top it all off. I had to take a nap a little after 7 at night to blunt the sugar high that I get when I have that dessert. It was really good but not worth the agony that comes with every spoonful.
I think Nancy was happy knowing that she and I are the same age once again. Is this how birthdays in the future are going to be? At some point in your life you have to think that getting older is not worth remembering much less celebrating. I don't think that was my problem yesterday although something was clearly nagging at me.
I had the energy to get out for a ride so that was good. I read a chapter or two in my book so that was good. I enjoyed a great Tuna bowl from Ohana for dinner so that didn't hurt. It didn't matter at all that they ran out of avocados. I bought a couple of perfectly ripe avocados in the store next door and sliced them up to have in my salad. Evan joined us for the celebration and we picked him up one of his favorite subs at Jitto's on the way home so no complaints there.
I even kept an even temperament while we drove around for miles and miles looking for a Starbucks so I could redeem my free birthday beverage. I was so happy to finally find an open one that I could have kissed the barrister as they leaned out the take-out window to pass me my venti Flat White.
As much as I am loathe to do, I asked them for an extra cup for Nancy and they happily obliged. We both agreed that we would each take a few sips of foam off the top before giving her half of what was left. Once you start pouring your drink into another cup the foam starts to get lost in the mix and that doesn't work whatsoever.
Making cold brew at home is nice too but having someone else both brew and serve you a drink is better. It was the second Flat White that we've had at Starbucks since this coronavirus thing started some six weeks ago. It was nice for a change. And, let's face it, free is always better.
Did I mention that my car passed inspection? It's a twenty year old car and I typically have a moments hesitation when taking it for its annual inspection because I never know which of the dashboard lights glowing irreverently as they sometimes do will cause it to fail. My guy usually probes here and there under the hood before giving me the "all clear" and charges me a bit extra for the additional sleuthing required. Truth be told, it's nothing more than an elaborate kabuki dance. We all know how it ends.
If he needed to fix what really needed to be fixed, the repair would cost more than the car is worth. One thing I noticed this time around though is that I don't think he did the usual sleuthing. I don't think he took it for a ride and the only mention of anything he made was that I probably needed to replace the tires sometime soon.
I even had one more warning light on than usual when I took it in and he made no mention of that at all. I'm not complaining, mind you, but I think he took the path of least resistance because of the coronavirus thing. I can't prove that but it was definitely a light touch. Maybe next year will be different. Since he's asked me to invest in tires he may be even more reluctant to fail my car next year when I bring it in. See how this works?
In the meantime, I'm driving it back and forth to the local recycling center and on occasional jaunts to the supermarket. How much trouble can I get into?
I've had a look at the schedule for talking heads this morning on television seeing as it's Sunday and all and there may be a show or two worth watching. Whether or not I'm willing to sacrifice getting my bike ride in before the roads get too congested is another story. I suppose I could record the two or three shows I'm interested in but I never seem to go back and watch them once I've recorded them. Sometimes you just know.
And, of course, everyone has an agenda that they want to spin given the opportunity so there's that. The left leaning hosts of the shows will try as they might to get the guests to spill the beans, say something that will cast doubt or maybe even support causes on the left. If they can get something on tape to go viral after the fact then all the better. We've seen this movie before and we know all too well how it ends. Maybe this time will be different. Right.
Doctor Deborah Birx seems to be on all the shows this morning so it will be more pandemic related stuff. She's pretty good on her feet so it might be interesting. They will try as they always do to get her to say things that support the narrative that we're all going to die and had Donald Trump acted sooner we might have a fighting chance. She's likely to stick to the facts and not give them what they want so they may look to attack her personally. Good luck with that.
All of this comes on the tail end of what may have been the last coronavirus update that the President and his people plan to provide to the American people. There was a kerfuffle of sorts this past Friday where Trump and his entourage came out and did their normal briefing but seemed to cut it short and took no questions before leaving the stage. There was something about Trump's people asking one or more of the reporters to change their seating. The reporters were less than obliging for whatever reason. That may have been the trigger.
Trump may be thinking that there is less and less value to these sessions and given the nonsense coming out of the mouths of the Press in attendance it might just be time to be done with it all. I would contend that they are trying to drive him from the briefings because he is getting far too much face time with the American people and that seems to be driving up his popularity by most accounts. If the press hacks can drive him off the stage that will surely enhance Sleepy Joe's prospects come November.
My suggestion is that he keep the briefings but change course with the content and concentrate on talking up the economy and what we need to get our country back on track. There is no better spokesperson for the economy than Trump. I heard one suggestion that he change his election slogan to "Make America Great Again, Again." I love it! He can keep up his ruffian ways in his interactions with the press because we also love a president who fights back when going face to face with a hostile media. Yes we do!
We haven't seen or heard from Evan for a few days so we're wondering what he's been up to. Mrs G mentioned last evening in a call that she had decided not to be tested for this covid-19 thing. This was after consulting with her children but making her own decision as she always does. "Why should I when I could turn around the next day and contract the disease somewhere," she replied. I think that makes perfect sense. Maybe we will give Evan a call tonight just to hear that he's doing okay. We can always leave a message.
Just when you thought your stimulus check wasn't going show up there it is. It feels weird having your government just drop money into your account. Kaboom! Well, it was more of a splash really. I guess it's good to have a few extra shekels around in times like this. There are a couple of things I've been thinking about which I won't go into here. I could have some fun with the money and go out and buy something totally unnecessary so I'll have to think about that a little more. Oh, and Evan hasn't received his money yet so mum is the word. Hide the party hats until then and we'll trip the lights fantastic when his money arrives.
I don't think he has any plans for his check either but that could change in an instant. You know how kids are these days. For all I know he'll go out and blow it on phone sex and medicinal marijuana. Only kidding. He won't need to provide an accounting to we as his parents. Those days are long gone. I know how it goes though. One day you wake up and the money is gone and you wonder where it all went. We should all be happy that he qualifies for a check even though you really never know until it shows up in your account. Tic Toc.
I've been dragging my feet in getting this post out so the subject matter spans a few days from start to finish. My birthday has come and gone. My twin sisters birthdays have come and gone. A lot of things have come and gone. Some, more memorable than others. My birthday, for example, was just an okay day.
Not because of anything anyone else did but rather because I was not my usual happy self from start to finish. It didn't help that Nancy made a strawberry shortcake to top it all off. I had to take a nap a little after 7 at night to blunt the sugar high that I get when I have that dessert. It was really good but not worth the agony that comes with every spoonful.
I think Nancy was happy knowing that she and I are the same age once again. Is this how birthdays in the future are going to be? At some point in your life you have to think that getting older is not worth remembering much less celebrating. I don't think that was my problem yesterday although something was clearly nagging at me.
I had the energy to get out for a ride so that was good. I read a chapter or two in my book so that was good. I enjoyed a great Tuna bowl from Ohana for dinner so that didn't hurt. It didn't matter at all that they ran out of avocados. I bought a couple of perfectly ripe avocados in the store next door and sliced them up to have in my salad. Evan joined us for the celebration and we picked him up one of his favorite subs at Jitto's on the way home so no complaints there.
I even kept an even temperament while we drove around for miles and miles looking for a Starbucks so I could redeem my free birthday beverage. I was so happy to finally find an open one that I could have kissed the barrister as they leaned out the take-out window to pass me my venti Flat White.
As much as I am loathe to do, I asked them for an extra cup for Nancy and they happily obliged. We both agreed that we would each take a few sips of foam off the top before giving her half of what was left. Once you start pouring your drink into another cup the foam starts to get lost in the mix and that doesn't work whatsoever.
Making cold brew at home is nice too but having someone else both brew and serve you a drink is better. It was the second Flat White that we've had at Starbucks since this coronavirus thing started some six weeks ago. It was nice for a change. And, let's face it, free is always better.
Did I mention that my car passed inspection? It's a twenty year old car and I typically have a moments hesitation when taking it for its annual inspection because I never know which of the dashboard lights glowing irreverently as they sometimes do will cause it to fail. My guy usually probes here and there under the hood before giving me the "all clear" and charges me a bit extra for the additional sleuthing required. Truth be told, it's nothing more than an elaborate kabuki dance. We all know how it ends.
If he needed to fix what really needed to be fixed, the repair would cost more than the car is worth. One thing I noticed this time around though is that I don't think he did the usual sleuthing. I don't think he took it for a ride and the only mention of anything he made was that I probably needed to replace the tires sometime soon.
I even had one more warning light on than usual when I took it in and he made no mention of that at all. I'm not complaining, mind you, but I think he took the path of least resistance because of the coronavirus thing. I can't prove that but it was definitely a light touch. Maybe next year will be different. Since he's asked me to invest in tires he may be even more reluctant to fail my car next year when I bring it in. See how this works?
In the meantime, I'm driving it back and forth to the local recycling center and on occasional jaunts to the supermarket. How much trouble can I get into?
In for a Penny...
21/04/20 07:04
In for a penny, in for a pound, as they say. I'm all bluster when it comes to telling Nancy that it is her turn to take her life into her own hands and get into the store and buy her mother the things that make her mother happy. Mrs G doesn't ask for much so it shouldn't be that difficult. All she asks for is caramel flavored Nips and Scali bread. Truth be told, it's going to be a cold day in hell before Nancy gets the job done. I can get on my high horse day in and day out and it's not going to change a thing.
It's also true that I am hard pressed to go into the store for other items and if I am passing those very same items on the shelves while doing my shopping that I wouldn't think about putting them in my basket. Nancy wouldn't hold it against me if I didn't do just that but knowing what I know about how pleased she would be if I did do it typically results in my not giving it a second thought. I know, I know. This is getting very convoluted. Some of that is a function of the time of day and some of it is caffeine related.
Don't think for a moment that I don't see the smile on Mrs G's face when we tell her over the phone that we're dropping off a care package of Nips and Scali bread. She's not my mother, but it's a powerful motivator nonetheless. I think it gives Nancy pleasure as well to make the announcement so there is a chain of events that starts with the purchase of the goodies and lasts right up to the moment Nancy and I drop them off at the guard station at her facility. I can hear the guard man now. "What are you dropping off today, folks"?
Is more of everything better? How many boxes of Nips is too many boxes and how many loaves of bread is too many loaves? While we want Mrs G to have a sufficient stash of the things she enjoys during these difficult times, there is probably such a thing as too much.
Maybe not so with the boxes of candy, other than the fact that I feel a little self conscious clearing the store shelves of their stock and then stacking the boxes 2 and 3 boxes high on the conveyor belt at the checkout counter while people in line behind me give me a funny look, so I limited my most recent purchase to seven boxes. As for the Scali bread, I suggested to Nancy that she check with her mother to see just how many loaves she might have room for in her freezer. Yes, that should do the trick.
I'm not sure which parable is more appropriate under the circumstances but it's a toss-up between the parable of the loaves and fishes and parable about mana from Heaven. And then there is the wine from water business. We bought Mrs G a couple of bottles of wine maybe a month ago. She explicitly requested a certain kind of wine with a screw-on top at the time. I remember thinking to myself that maybe this isn't the best of the best that money can buy but I'm not the one drinking it so there's that.
Corkscrews might as well be sledgehammers when you reach certain age. You can't wield the damn things worth a hoot so what good are they? It's better to have something more manageable and if that means buying wine that may not be all that pleasing to the palate then so be it. You can get used to a lot of things when push comes to shove. And let's face it, after the requisite number of sips or slugs, you've moved on. Your online chess game is about to begin and your world is about as warm and fuzzy as it's ever been. It's all good.
But there hasn't been any discussion of topping off her wine stock so we're not sure where we're going with that. Has she not asked because she doesn't want us to know how much she's been drinking? I, for one, was surprised to hear from the outset that she was running low on wine and with the pandemic and all she was concerned about not having wine on hand. I've never seen the woman with so much as a glass of wine in her hand in all the time I've known her so something has gone, well in a word, sideways.
Nancy tells me that the pandemic is supposed to reach peak here in New Hampshire this week. She was talking to me yesterday as well about the obituaries in the Boston Globe and the pandemic related fatalities and I was a little curious to have a look at those same obituaries. I was wanting to see for myself that the victims were as reported mostly elderly, mostly infirm, mostly minorities with underlying conditions, and with very few exceptions indeed, very young. Having looked this morning, it was hard to tell one way or another.
There was something going on with testing at Mrs G's facility when we stopped by with our care package yesterday. They are, according to Mrs G, apparently testing all the employees and all the residents for antibodies or other evidence of the virus. It seems to me that they would have to do that day in and day out in order to keep the virus at bay and I think that doesn't work on a lot of different levels. People of every stripe are constantly coming and going from the facility and each and every one of them is potentially a vector of transmission.
We noticed a few children without masks running down the path and through the woods in the perimeter surrounding the facility when we arrived late in the afternoon. How is it that their parents would allow their children to get within pissing distance of the facility not knowing what or whom their potentially diseased but asymptomatic children might be infecting? The masked teenager standing guard at the guard post paid them scant attention but held us at bay with the usual inquiries. Suffice it to say, Nancy was not happy.
But, we've since moved on. Promises made, promises kept. Maybe next time we'll mix it up and get Mrs G a few boxes of chocolate parfait flavored Nips instead of the standard caramel flavored ones she seems to prefer. She mentioned last night during our phone call that the facility was asking if each of the residents might like to have a little something delivered directly to their doorstep. Her boyfriend, and I use that term advisedly, wanted nothing more than a Moes sub from a local sub shop. Another acquaintance asked for a bag of potting soil.
I don't know if Mrs G was bringing it up because she was looking for a few good ideas or maybe she was simply wanting to make the point that the management team at the facility was going out of their way and she wanted to share that with us. She had nothing in particular in mind and we had no suggestions for her so we left it that she would give it a little more thought and that was that. We mentioned that Evan was delighted to receive the card she sent him for Easter and she was pleased to get that feedback. Life goes on.
In Covid-19 related news, we have around 50 deaths thus far here in New Hampshire. Half of those deaths occurred in nursing homes which maybe shouldn't surprise anyone. This virus is not killing healthy people by and large so let's move on. Let's hope Governor Sununu declares the state open for business soon so we can all get back to doing what we were doing before this stay at home nonsense began. Short of a vaccine or miracle therapy, we'll be doing the social distancing thing for a while and we'll probably be wearing masks while out and about.
Lastly, we're keeping an eye out for our "relief" checks promised by the government. Fortunately, or unfortunately, they will probably just disappear into the swill of debits and credits that defines our bank account these days when they finally arrive. There will be no ticker tape parade, no hooting and hollering, and no proposing of toasts to celebrate the arrival of said funds. We should carve out a subsidy for a local food bank at a minimum so someone less fortunate can sit down to a square meal or two in a time of need. No further fanfare is required. No need to ask, what would Jesus do. It's done.
It's also true that I am hard pressed to go into the store for other items and if I am passing those very same items on the shelves while doing my shopping that I wouldn't think about putting them in my basket. Nancy wouldn't hold it against me if I didn't do just that but knowing what I know about how pleased she would be if I did do it typically results in my not giving it a second thought. I know, I know. This is getting very convoluted. Some of that is a function of the time of day and some of it is caffeine related.
Don't think for a moment that I don't see the smile on Mrs G's face when we tell her over the phone that we're dropping off a care package of Nips and Scali bread. She's not my mother, but it's a powerful motivator nonetheless. I think it gives Nancy pleasure as well to make the announcement so there is a chain of events that starts with the purchase of the goodies and lasts right up to the moment Nancy and I drop them off at the guard station at her facility. I can hear the guard man now. "What are you dropping off today, folks"?
Is more of everything better? How many boxes of Nips is too many boxes and how many loaves of bread is too many loaves? While we want Mrs G to have a sufficient stash of the things she enjoys during these difficult times, there is probably such a thing as too much.
Maybe not so with the boxes of candy, other than the fact that I feel a little self conscious clearing the store shelves of their stock and then stacking the boxes 2 and 3 boxes high on the conveyor belt at the checkout counter while people in line behind me give me a funny look, so I limited my most recent purchase to seven boxes. As for the Scali bread, I suggested to Nancy that she check with her mother to see just how many loaves she might have room for in her freezer. Yes, that should do the trick.
I'm not sure which parable is more appropriate under the circumstances but it's a toss-up between the parable of the loaves and fishes and parable about mana from Heaven. And then there is the wine from water business. We bought Mrs G a couple of bottles of wine maybe a month ago. She explicitly requested a certain kind of wine with a screw-on top at the time. I remember thinking to myself that maybe this isn't the best of the best that money can buy but I'm not the one drinking it so there's that.
Corkscrews might as well be sledgehammers when you reach certain age. You can't wield the damn things worth a hoot so what good are they? It's better to have something more manageable and if that means buying wine that may not be all that pleasing to the palate then so be it. You can get used to a lot of things when push comes to shove. And let's face it, after the requisite number of sips or slugs, you've moved on. Your online chess game is about to begin and your world is about as warm and fuzzy as it's ever been. It's all good.
But there hasn't been any discussion of topping off her wine stock so we're not sure where we're going with that. Has she not asked because she doesn't want us to know how much she's been drinking? I, for one, was surprised to hear from the outset that she was running low on wine and with the pandemic and all she was concerned about not having wine on hand. I've never seen the woman with so much as a glass of wine in her hand in all the time I've known her so something has gone, well in a word, sideways.
Nancy tells me that the pandemic is supposed to reach peak here in New Hampshire this week. She was talking to me yesterday as well about the obituaries in the Boston Globe and the pandemic related fatalities and I was a little curious to have a look at those same obituaries. I was wanting to see for myself that the victims were as reported mostly elderly, mostly infirm, mostly minorities with underlying conditions, and with very few exceptions indeed, very young. Having looked this morning, it was hard to tell one way or another.
There was something going on with testing at Mrs G's facility when we stopped by with our care package yesterday. They are, according to Mrs G, apparently testing all the employees and all the residents for antibodies or other evidence of the virus. It seems to me that they would have to do that day in and day out in order to keep the virus at bay and I think that doesn't work on a lot of different levels. People of every stripe are constantly coming and going from the facility and each and every one of them is potentially a vector of transmission.
We noticed a few children without masks running down the path and through the woods in the perimeter surrounding the facility when we arrived late in the afternoon. How is it that their parents would allow their children to get within pissing distance of the facility not knowing what or whom their potentially diseased but asymptomatic children might be infecting? The masked teenager standing guard at the guard post paid them scant attention but held us at bay with the usual inquiries. Suffice it to say, Nancy was not happy.
But, we've since moved on. Promises made, promises kept. Maybe next time we'll mix it up and get Mrs G a few boxes of chocolate parfait flavored Nips instead of the standard caramel flavored ones she seems to prefer. She mentioned last night during our phone call that the facility was asking if each of the residents might like to have a little something delivered directly to their doorstep. Her boyfriend, and I use that term advisedly, wanted nothing more than a Moes sub from a local sub shop. Another acquaintance asked for a bag of potting soil.
I don't know if Mrs G was bringing it up because she was looking for a few good ideas or maybe she was simply wanting to make the point that the management team at the facility was going out of their way and she wanted to share that with us. She had nothing in particular in mind and we had no suggestions for her so we left it that she would give it a little more thought and that was that. We mentioned that Evan was delighted to receive the card she sent him for Easter and she was pleased to get that feedback. Life goes on.
In Covid-19 related news, we have around 50 deaths thus far here in New Hampshire. Half of those deaths occurred in nursing homes which maybe shouldn't surprise anyone. This virus is not killing healthy people by and large so let's move on. Let's hope Governor Sununu declares the state open for business soon so we can all get back to doing what we were doing before this stay at home nonsense began. Short of a vaccine or miracle therapy, we'll be doing the social distancing thing for a while and we'll probably be wearing masks while out and about.
Lastly, we're keeping an eye out for our "relief" checks promised by the government. Fortunately, or unfortunately, they will probably just disappear into the swill of debits and credits that defines our bank account these days when they finally arrive. There will be no ticker tape parade, no hooting and hollering, and no proposing of toasts to celebrate the arrival of said funds. We should carve out a subsidy for a local food bank at a minimum so someone less fortunate can sit down to a square meal or two in a time of need. No further fanfare is required. No need to ask, what would Jesus do. It's done.
Sour Pusses
18/04/20 07:56
Maybe the rain will clear up and the sun will come out today. Hope springs eternal. For now, I'm just coming back from the store with a couple of breakfast sandwiches for the Ev man and me. Everyone is still fast asleep here at the early hour of 7:30 a.m. so if Evan gets up anytime soon he can choose between a sausage and cheese on a muffin or an egg and cheese on a muffin. He mentioned yesterday that he didn't care all that much for the sausage patties but I think he ate it all the same. I guess we'll see.
I, for one, don't like him getting up in the morning and having nothing in the house to eat. It's hard to say how he feels about that since he's never said one way or another but knowing what we know about his eating thing it can't be good. I might suggest to him that if he wants bacon on his egg and cheese sandwich that he microwave a couple pieces of bacon and throw it on for good measure. Is there anything better on a rainy early Spring morning than to have a nice hot egg and cheese on a muffin waiting for you when you wake up?
The store was surprisingly busy when I popped in around 7:20 this morning. They open at 7. Right? People were already lined up at the registers some two or three deep with baskets just really overflowing with what appeared to be groceries for a week or more. You were never more than a cart length's distance form the person either in front of you or behind you so the social distancing thing was easy to follow. I was happy to have but a couple of things in my basket but still kept my distance from the person checking out in front of me at the "12 items or less" register.
It was good to see the cashiers wearing the appropriate PPE's while ringing everyone up and out. We're talking gloves and masks although not all cashiers had them on. I saw one cashier at a competing store the other day wearing one of those plastic shields over her face. She wasn't taking any unnecessary chances with this coronavirus thing. For all anyone knew, she had elderly folks in her household and wanted to protect them by protecting herself. Smart girl. She deserves a raise.
I had a good mind to wander around a bit inside the store in case there was something else that I needed but for whatever reason I just wasn't remembering. Those days are over I'm afraid. You get what you need and you be quick about it. No fiddling, no diddling, and be on your way once you have what you went in for. Perusing is a risky business these days. Perusing in a crowded marketplace can be deadly. How is it that we're sixty years out from sending a man to the moon but we can't throw together a vaccine in the space of two years?
I do all the shopping so I'm the expendable one in our household. That's a fine how-do-you do. Spoiler alert: If I bring this coronavirus thing to our doorstep it's likely that my little darlings will get it too. With any luck, Evan won't be paying a visit that day.
I had planned to go get my car inspection thing squared away yesterday and Nancy was going to come along for the ride. When she figured out that the folks at the dealership might have step foot inside the car to maybe affix the inspection sticker to the windshield, she decided that that was a bridge too far. She was staying home and that was that. I wouldn't say that she is panic stricken over all of this but it's pretty close. We have mail sitting on our garage floor that's been there for the better part of a week so that should tell you something.
Can you imagine surviving this pandemic without cell phones, computers, etc.? I thank the baby Jesus every day that when I'm out making purchases that I can do it in a contact-less way by using Apple Pay on my iPhone. The facial recognition thing doesn't work well when I'm wearing a mask, and I have to take off my cotton gloves to punch in the passcode, but it's a small price to pay to stay safe. And I thank the baby Jesus once again for the internet so we have access to something other than the Main Street Media to inform us about this raging pandemic.
Now that President Trump has given the green light to states to open up again it's interesting to see who does what and who has plans to open up and when. Jacksonville, Florida, was the first to open up their beaches but it is limited to certain activities like running, walking, etc. Sunbathing is not allowed and social distancing will be enforced. God, it's a beautiful thing to see people doing things again that they were asked not to do for some four to six weeks just to keep everyone safe and to flatten the curve. We want our lives back!
I saw a tweet yesterday where Brit Hume said something to the effect that the whole reason for shutting everything down was so that we could flatten the curve. He went on to say that it was never about destroying the virus. Brit is correct. This virus is going to be with us for a while. It may even return in a more virulent form later in the year.
The democrats want a total capitulation when it comes to the U.S. and world economy and the only way they achieve that is if they keep everything shut down for months on end. That is the only way they can beat Trump and take back the White House in November. We're on to them. Thanks, Brit!
I was messaging with my peeps yesterday to find out who if anyone had received their $1,200 "relief" checks from the government. Some didn't qualify but those who did have received their checks so that's good. Distribution of the checks/monies has been iffy to say the least. You got a direct deposit if you met certain criteria and you will get a paper check signed off by the Donald himself if you meet other criteria. That's what they call getting a "leg-up" in a presidential year so good for Trump in seizing the opportunity.
The relief monies don't amount to much in the scheme of things but if it keeps the roof over a family''s head, if it keeps food on the table of a hungry child, if it keeps medicine in the cabinet an elderly person in need, if it's enough to fill a gas tank so a parent can drive to and from work to support their family, then it's a good thing. I'm hoping most people don't need the relief monies and that they can go out and spend the money on things they wouldn't otherwise buy in the middle of a pandemic. This is by and large the case with my peeps but for a lot of other people out there in pandemic land, that is probably not the case.
We gave Nancy's mom a call last evening. Her supply of Nips is reportedly long gone and she needs another infusion of Scali bread. She must be eating those Nips like candy. Oh, wait. They are candy. Didn't we bring her some 5 or 6 boxes not even a month ago? She said something about putting one of the two loaves of Scali bread we last brought her into the freezer for safe keeping. So much for that idea. I told Nancy that it's her turn to go into the stores for these items if she wants to keep her mom supplied with same. If I've said it once I've said it a thousand times. She needs some skin in the game. Fair is fair.
Mrs G couldn't be happier with the attention paid to she and her compatriots at the facility by the management team. She seems to think that they are compensating for the niceties that they can no longer provide due to the precautions being taken to keep the coronavirus out of the facility. Being confined to quarters as she is, she is keenly aware of the ebbs and flows of their offerings.
Most offerings now arrive on her doorstep and most of them are expected but some are certainly unexpected. Meals are dropped off daily and things like flowers and ice cream show up on a more intermittent basis. Either way, all are just ducky and much appreciated by the residents.
Nancy and I took a bit of a ride yesterday late in the afternoon and when we returned to the house maybe an hour later Evan had departed. We didn't bother to look for a note since he's not keen on leaving notes. We looked for clues to explain why he may have left when he did but found none.
We didn't have any expectations one way or another as to whether he was planning to stay longer but maybe he just felt like going home for a change of scenery. He left without taking his winter coat so that was strange but not a big deal. "You would think Evan might leave a note to tell us where he was going", I lamented. "Where did we go wrong?"
I, for one, don't like him getting up in the morning and having nothing in the house to eat. It's hard to say how he feels about that since he's never said one way or another but knowing what we know about his eating thing it can't be good. I might suggest to him that if he wants bacon on his egg and cheese sandwich that he microwave a couple pieces of bacon and throw it on for good measure. Is there anything better on a rainy early Spring morning than to have a nice hot egg and cheese on a muffin waiting for you when you wake up?
The store was surprisingly busy when I popped in around 7:20 this morning. They open at 7. Right? People were already lined up at the registers some two or three deep with baskets just really overflowing with what appeared to be groceries for a week or more. You were never more than a cart length's distance form the person either in front of you or behind you so the social distancing thing was easy to follow. I was happy to have but a couple of things in my basket but still kept my distance from the person checking out in front of me at the "12 items or less" register.
It was good to see the cashiers wearing the appropriate PPE's while ringing everyone up and out. We're talking gloves and masks although not all cashiers had them on. I saw one cashier at a competing store the other day wearing one of those plastic shields over her face. She wasn't taking any unnecessary chances with this coronavirus thing. For all anyone knew, she had elderly folks in her household and wanted to protect them by protecting herself. Smart girl. She deserves a raise.
I had a good mind to wander around a bit inside the store in case there was something else that I needed but for whatever reason I just wasn't remembering. Those days are over I'm afraid. You get what you need and you be quick about it. No fiddling, no diddling, and be on your way once you have what you went in for. Perusing is a risky business these days. Perusing in a crowded marketplace can be deadly. How is it that we're sixty years out from sending a man to the moon but we can't throw together a vaccine in the space of two years?
I do all the shopping so I'm the expendable one in our household. That's a fine how-do-you do. Spoiler alert: If I bring this coronavirus thing to our doorstep it's likely that my little darlings will get it too. With any luck, Evan won't be paying a visit that day.
I had planned to go get my car inspection thing squared away yesterday and Nancy was going to come along for the ride. When she figured out that the folks at the dealership might have step foot inside the car to maybe affix the inspection sticker to the windshield, she decided that that was a bridge too far. She was staying home and that was that. I wouldn't say that she is panic stricken over all of this but it's pretty close. We have mail sitting on our garage floor that's been there for the better part of a week so that should tell you something.
Can you imagine surviving this pandemic without cell phones, computers, etc.? I thank the baby Jesus every day that when I'm out making purchases that I can do it in a contact-less way by using Apple Pay on my iPhone. The facial recognition thing doesn't work well when I'm wearing a mask, and I have to take off my cotton gloves to punch in the passcode, but it's a small price to pay to stay safe. And I thank the baby Jesus once again for the internet so we have access to something other than the Main Street Media to inform us about this raging pandemic.
Now that President Trump has given the green light to states to open up again it's interesting to see who does what and who has plans to open up and when. Jacksonville, Florida, was the first to open up their beaches but it is limited to certain activities like running, walking, etc. Sunbathing is not allowed and social distancing will be enforced. God, it's a beautiful thing to see people doing things again that they were asked not to do for some four to six weeks just to keep everyone safe and to flatten the curve. We want our lives back!
I saw a tweet yesterday where Brit Hume said something to the effect that the whole reason for shutting everything down was so that we could flatten the curve. He went on to say that it was never about destroying the virus. Brit is correct. This virus is going to be with us for a while. It may even return in a more virulent form later in the year.
The democrats want a total capitulation when it comes to the U.S. and world economy and the only way they achieve that is if they keep everything shut down for months on end. That is the only way they can beat Trump and take back the White House in November. We're on to them. Thanks, Brit!
I was messaging with my peeps yesterday to find out who if anyone had received their $1,200 "relief" checks from the government. Some didn't qualify but those who did have received their checks so that's good. Distribution of the checks/monies has been iffy to say the least. You got a direct deposit if you met certain criteria and you will get a paper check signed off by the Donald himself if you meet other criteria. That's what they call getting a "leg-up" in a presidential year so good for Trump in seizing the opportunity.
The relief monies don't amount to much in the scheme of things but if it keeps the roof over a family''s head, if it keeps food on the table of a hungry child, if it keeps medicine in the cabinet an elderly person in need, if it's enough to fill a gas tank so a parent can drive to and from work to support their family, then it's a good thing. I'm hoping most people don't need the relief monies and that they can go out and spend the money on things they wouldn't otherwise buy in the middle of a pandemic. This is by and large the case with my peeps but for a lot of other people out there in pandemic land, that is probably not the case.
We gave Nancy's mom a call last evening. Her supply of Nips is reportedly long gone and she needs another infusion of Scali bread. She must be eating those Nips like candy. Oh, wait. They are candy. Didn't we bring her some 5 or 6 boxes not even a month ago? She said something about putting one of the two loaves of Scali bread we last brought her into the freezer for safe keeping. So much for that idea. I told Nancy that it's her turn to go into the stores for these items if she wants to keep her mom supplied with same. If I've said it once I've said it a thousand times. She needs some skin in the game. Fair is fair.
Mrs G couldn't be happier with the attention paid to she and her compatriots at the facility by the management team. She seems to think that they are compensating for the niceties that they can no longer provide due to the precautions being taken to keep the coronavirus out of the facility. Being confined to quarters as she is, she is keenly aware of the ebbs and flows of their offerings.
Most offerings now arrive on her doorstep and most of them are expected but some are certainly unexpected. Meals are dropped off daily and things like flowers and ice cream show up on a more intermittent basis. Either way, all are just ducky and much appreciated by the residents.
Nancy and I took a bit of a ride yesterday late in the afternoon and when we returned to the house maybe an hour later Evan had departed. We didn't bother to look for a note since he's not keen on leaving notes. We looked for clues to explain why he may have left when he did but found none.
We didn't have any expectations one way or another as to whether he was planning to stay longer but maybe he just felt like going home for a change of scenery. He left without taking his winter coat so that was strange but not a big deal. "You would think Evan might leave a note to tell us where he was going", I lamented. "Where did we go wrong?"
Opposing Forces
16/04/20 07:27
People are not taking this sitting on the sidelines stuff too well. Americans are used to working. In the name of protecting the citizenry from death by virus, many governors are shutting down everything in sight. Schools are closed. Non-essential Businesses are closed. Air travel has all but ground to a halt. You can't even get a haircut in most states.
Some governors are making it difficult for their citizenry to cross town or state lines to visit relatives or go to their vacation homes. Now facing fines and arrests at the slightest infractions, Americans are rising up and taking their country back.
Hundreds if not thousands of people took to the streets in their cars in Michigan yesterday to rebel against the liberal governor of that state who has taken liberties away from their citizens in ways that can only be described as alarming.
I'm reading today that shops here and there across the nation are threatening to open their doors for business regardless of shut down orders by state officials mandating that their doors remain closed. This is a form of commercial anarchy that we've not really seen before in our country.
It is perhaps the indomitable American spirit rearing up and rebelling against the heavy hand of big government bureaucrats who see this as an opportunity to create the ultimate nanny state. It is a state where the citizen relies solely on the government for their sustenance and solace day in and day out. Without the government, they are nothing.
The so-called nanny state government decides which shops stay open and which shops stay closed. The very food that you put on your family's table each night depends on the largesse of government. If you are one of the more fortunate ones, you now have the same rights as the illegal alien who waded across the Rio Grande river under the darkness of night to step foot onto the soil of our great nation.
Leftists across the country see an opening in the midst of this pandemic for a Venezuelan style takeover of our government. With each and every American citizen now confined to quarters as it were, their elected leaders in Washington can push for voting methods that take advantage of this opportunity that will ensure that they are able to steal any and all elections going forward using ballot harvesting, mail-in voting, etc.
In order to perpetuate this persistent vision of fear, death, and despair, the leftist media is now forecasting a second wave of this coronavirus which is allegedly even more virulent and more deadly than the first wave. Whatever it takes to keep the citizenry cowed and under the thumb of their big government oppressors, the media is there to do the heavy lifting required by their benefactors behind the curtains of big government. Opportunities like this only come once in every hundred years so the left is understandably emboldened.
Sky high unemployment rates and reports of millions of people now putting in claims to collect unemployment are reminiscent of headlines during the great depression of 1929. The small print that people almost never read hastens to add that it was government that shut down the businesses in order to halt the spread of a virus rather than a collapse of a business-based economy caused by internal or external events. Context is critical but quite often hard to find especially if you're only able to grab a headline here and there.
The other story that the media does not want you to hear is that this disease afflicts a lot of people but only kills a small percentage of that population who for all intents and purposes has a life expectancy of six months or less. Ethicists would argue and do argue that, comparitively speaking, there is far greater danger to the overall population when an economy is shut down due to the despair that sets in over issues such as joblessness, alcoholism, suicides, and sheer hopelessness. As President Trump is quick to remind us, you never want be in a place where the cure is worse than the disease.
The first wave of $1,200 relief checks have now gone out to the American public. The monies are intended to provide a lifeline to unemployed folks who need to pay their rent, pay their light and power bills, etc. The intended consequence, of course, is that these monies will be put promptly back into circulation in order to support those businesses that have been deemed for better or worse, "essential." The Federal Reserve cannot bail out our economy at large so this is at best a short term solution.
In many cases the relief Bill passed by Congress calls for additional funds to be paid out to the unemployed above and beyond what one might otherwise receive. In other words, the recipients of same are not only going to be getting more than they made while working, but it is also true that they will have little or no incentive to return to a job that paid a lesser amount prior to the pandemic. It is a windfall to be sure but one that is short lived by design.
President Trump will be announcing a plan in a little over an hour that will spell out in some detail just how our economy is going to reopen now that the peak period of this pandemic has largely come and gone in most states. How this dovetails with Governor Cuomo's plan for New York where he estimates that New York will not reopen for another 4 weeks is unclear. And then there is Governor DeWine of Ohio who plans to reopen around the first of May.
Maybe the plan will be industry specific. Maybe Trump's plan depends on the availability of testing and the number of cases in one or more geographic locations. Maybe it depends on the ability and availability of trackers to monitor and mobilize when a known case emerges on the scene. There are a dozen or so states that have very few cases at all. And then there are states, New York being one of them, where you have downstate and you have upstate. Downstate is a viral cesspool while upstate has very few cases indeed.
We might well see a pattern, if my suppositions above have any merit to them at all, where states with republican governors look to open up in the near term whereas governors from blue states will look to extend the shutdowns for an interminable number of weeks or months.
It is certainly not in the best interests of the governors in blue states to have President Trump take credit one way or another for getting things up and running again and they certainly don't want to give Trump enough time to kickstart and return to the booming economy we had before this pandemic came along. No, that would not serve them well with Joe Biden on the democrat ballot for President in November.
One thing you can take the bank. That is, regardless of the President's plan to get our nation back to work you will not hear a positive word about it from the Main Street Media. They have one goal and one goal only. That is, to get Trump out of the White House come November.
Whatever it takes, how ever long it takes, however many people they need to run over in the process, you can bet your bottom dollar that they are all in to get the job done. By the time election day rolls around in November, if you only ever pay attention to anything but the media, it will be "The Grapes Of Wrath" frame in and frame out. If Trump is successful in bringing our country and our economy back around to where we were just six weeks ago, he will enjoy a well deserved second four-year term as our President.
Some governors are making it difficult for their citizenry to cross town or state lines to visit relatives or go to their vacation homes. Now facing fines and arrests at the slightest infractions, Americans are rising up and taking their country back.
Hundreds if not thousands of people took to the streets in their cars in Michigan yesterday to rebel against the liberal governor of that state who has taken liberties away from their citizens in ways that can only be described as alarming.
I'm reading today that shops here and there across the nation are threatening to open their doors for business regardless of shut down orders by state officials mandating that their doors remain closed. This is a form of commercial anarchy that we've not really seen before in our country.
It is perhaps the indomitable American spirit rearing up and rebelling against the heavy hand of big government bureaucrats who see this as an opportunity to create the ultimate nanny state. It is a state where the citizen relies solely on the government for their sustenance and solace day in and day out. Without the government, they are nothing.
The so-called nanny state government decides which shops stay open and which shops stay closed. The very food that you put on your family's table each night depends on the largesse of government. If you are one of the more fortunate ones, you now have the same rights as the illegal alien who waded across the Rio Grande river under the darkness of night to step foot onto the soil of our great nation.
Leftists across the country see an opening in the midst of this pandemic for a Venezuelan style takeover of our government. With each and every American citizen now confined to quarters as it were, their elected leaders in Washington can push for voting methods that take advantage of this opportunity that will ensure that they are able to steal any and all elections going forward using ballot harvesting, mail-in voting, etc.
In order to perpetuate this persistent vision of fear, death, and despair, the leftist media is now forecasting a second wave of this coronavirus which is allegedly even more virulent and more deadly than the first wave. Whatever it takes to keep the citizenry cowed and under the thumb of their big government oppressors, the media is there to do the heavy lifting required by their benefactors behind the curtains of big government. Opportunities like this only come once in every hundred years so the left is understandably emboldened.
Sky high unemployment rates and reports of millions of people now putting in claims to collect unemployment are reminiscent of headlines during the great depression of 1929. The small print that people almost never read hastens to add that it was government that shut down the businesses in order to halt the spread of a virus rather than a collapse of a business-based economy caused by internal or external events. Context is critical but quite often hard to find especially if you're only able to grab a headline here and there.
The other story that the media does not want you to hear is that this disease afflicts a lot of people but only kills a small percentage of that population who for all intents and purposes has a life expectancy of six months or less. Ethicists would argue and do argue that, comparitively speaking, there is far greater danger to the overall population when an economy is shut down due to the despair that sets in over issues such as joblessness, alcoholism, suicides, and sheer hopelessness. As President Trump is quick to remind us, you never want be in a place where the cure is worse than the disease.
The first wave of $1,200 relief checks have now gone out to the American public. The monies are intended to provide a lifeline to unemployed folks who need to pay their rent, pay their light and power bills, etc. The intended consequence, of course, is that these monies will be put promptly back into circulation in order to support those businesses that have been deemed for better or worse, "essential." The Federal Reserve cannot bail out our economy at large so this is at best a short term solution.
In many cases the relief Bill passed by Congress calls for additional funds to be paid out to the unemployed above and beyond what one might otherwise receive. In other words, the recipients of same are not only going to be getting more than they made while working, but it is also true that they will have little or no incentive to return to a job that paid a lesser amount prior to the pandemic. It is a windfall to be sure but one that is short lived by design.
President Trump will be announcing a plan in a little over an hour that will spell out in some detail just how our economy is going to reopen now that the peak period of this pandemic has largely come and gone in most states. How this dovetails with Governor Cuomo's plan for New York where he estimates that New York will not reopen for another 4 weeks is unclear. And then there is Governor DeWine of Ohio who plans to reopen around the first of May.
Maybe the plan will be industry specific. Maybe Trump's plan depends on the availability of testing and the number of cases in one or more geographic locations. Maybe it depends on the ability and availability of trackers to monitor and mobilize when a known case emerges on the scene. There are a dozen or so states that have very few cases at all. And then there are states, New York being one of them, where you have downstate and you have upstate. Downstate is a viral cesspool while upstate has very few cases indeed.
We might well see a pattern, if my suppositions above have any merit to them at all, where states with republican governors look to open up in the near term whereas governors from blue states will look to extend the shutdowns for an interminable number of weeks or months.
It is certainly not in the best interests of the governors in blue states to have President Trump take credit one way or another for getting things up and running again and they certainly don't want to give Trump enough time to kickstart and return to the booming economy we had before this pandemic came along. No, that would not serve them well with Joe Biden on the democrat ballot for President in November.
One thing you can take the bank. That is, regardless of the President's plan to get our nation back to work you will not hear a positive word about it from the Main Street Media. They have one goal and one goal only. That is, to get Trump out of the White House come November.
Whatever it takes, how ever long it takes, however many people they need to run over in the process, you can bet your bottom dollar that they are all in to get the job done. By the time election day rolls around in November, if you only ever pay attention to anything but the media, it will be "The Grapes Of Wrath" frame in and frame out. If Trump is successful in bringing our country and our economy back around to where we were just six weeks ago, he will enjoy a well deserved second four-year term as our President.
Things I'll Never Understand
12/04/20 07:25
Were I a religious man I might be feeling a little more sentimental this morning about resurrections and the like given that today is Easter but I am not a religious man so I'm just feeling a little dull. How dull are you, Johnny? No, this is not that kind of post.
There is nothing in particular that I have in mind for today other than maybe taking my bike ride earlier in the day than I did yesterday. A parking ban went into effect along Ocean Boulevard the other day due to a continuation of this pandemic hysteria and when I rode yesterday probably mid day or so it was so busy that I had trouble crossing the road at one point. How busy was it, Johnny?
I completely understand. There is nothing like an Easter weekend to get folks out of their homes and on the road looking for a change of scenery. And there is nothing like a ride along the ocean to take your mind off the fact that we're in the middle of a fucking pandemic and you can't scratch your nose without wondering if you've infected yourself with the dreaded coronavirus.
Evan called a little past 10 in the morning yesterday and asked if I might go shopping with him. I didn't have the heart to say to him that it was the day before Easter and going food shopping was probably not something we wanted to do if we're trying to avoid crowds and maybe avoid contracted the coronavirus. So I saddled up and headed over to the Hannaford's in Exeter for better or worse. One way or another, we'd make this work.
One recurring nightmare I have when it comes to the Ev man is that he is sitting alone in his apartment without food or drink and without the wherewithal to see to it that he has one or both on hand. As such, I have a standing offer to take him food shopping and my recommendation to him is that we do this once a week because it is something that needs be done.
He's never taken me up on that offer but I never stop making the recommendation after every visit we make to the store. I thank the baby Jesus daily that he is more resourceful than we give him credit for although I think there are days and times when that may not be true.
I had visions of shoppers lining up outside the market waiting their turn to push their baskets into the store. I thought that since folks were not dining out on this Easter holiday because no restaurants were open during the pandemic that it would simply exacerbate the situation inside the stores and we would see even more people looking to do precisely what we were wanting to do. Thankfully, there were no lines and the store was not nearly as busy as I thought it might be. Maybe there is something to this Baby Jesus thing.
Evan said that he made a list but forgot it at home. I was dubious of that claim and he must have sensed it one way or another because he quickly followed up by giving mention to several of the items that he had on his list. He moved with great deliberation once inside the store and I was maybe more convinced than ever that he had made a list since he seemed to know what he wanted and where to find it. My only cajoling came when I urged him to buy more than one of this or one of that so he wouldn't run out things so quickly.
I think that I always think that he is more anxious than he really is when it comes to going food shopping or, maybe more to the point, being inside a store with all of those people. I don't even know where I get that idea truth be told. While he seemed a little hastier than usual in making his selections and moving through the store it probably wasn't any hastier than anyone else who wanted to get in and get the hell out as quickly as possible. And just one more hat tip to the Baby Jesus if I might? Thank you for putting us in a checkout line with no one waiting!
I did tell him that I was more than willing to wait my turn in line while he waited for me outside but he was having none of it. I may have even suggested that he head on home and I would drop by his place with his groceries. There wasn't much need for both of us to be there when one of us could do the job but he stayed and gave me a capable assist as we put all of our purchases on the conveyor belt to be rung in. Maybe he thought it was the least he could do.
Like the dutiful dad that I think I am most days, I brought an extra face mask with me for Evan to put on when we went shopping. I wasn't sure if he would wear it but I told him that he was more likely to stand out if he wasn't wearing a mask and that may have made the difference. He complained about the smell when he first put it on and then he asked if he had to cover his nose as well. What a nube! Of course you do, dude.
I was a little curious if he might actually embrace the incognito thing with the mask and all. If he ran into someone he knew from a previous life while in the store no one would be the wiser. He wouldn't have to explain to anyone what he's been doing with his life over the intervening years and I have no doubt that that would suit him just fine. Did I mention that he also wore the black cotton gloves that I brought with me as well for him to wear? You just can't be too careful these days.
It's good for we as his parents to know that he is mindful of his shortcomings when it comes to his health and that he is pragmatic at a minimum when it comes to protecting his own interests in that regard. If he had insisted that he not wear any of the protective things I brought for him then that would have been that. All we can do as his parents is to make our suggestions and piss and moan about it when he doesn't care to comply. You need to pick your battles carefully and, thankfully, we're all on the same page when it comes to surviving day-to-day during this pandemic.
I'm sitting here a day later now and Easter is squarely in the rear view mirror. The forecast today calls for a windy and rainy day so that's not good. Easter was about as low key as we've ever had here at home and that was just fine. Nancy kept busy with paperwork, some cleaning out in the garage which she was very proud of, and just a bit of yard work. Our neighbor, Betsi, dropped off some bulbs for Nancy which she promptly planted.
Evan did not come for a visit on Easter nor were we expecting him to. We had no meal planned and Nancy and I were just going to wing it when dinner time rolled around. I ended up having leftover pizza when all was said and done and I'm not sure what Nancy had. We took a drive around town later in the day and it was deathly quiet on the roadways from start to finish. Gas prices are now below $2 a gallon with the global glut ongoing so let's see if Trump can get OPEC to cut back on production. I'd rather pay a little more at the pump if it means we as a nation stay energy independent.
We're supposed to find out soon as to whether or not we get out of this stupid lockdown phase we as a nation find ourselves in. We need to get our economy restarted. Whether it's a phased in deal by region or type of business I don't care. It's getting tedious already. Some damn towns and cities are fining people up to $1000 (NYC) or less in other places for not following simple social distancing rules. Give me a fucking break. We don't need these liberal leftist mayors or governors exercising their Marxist tendencies at the expense of their citizenry for even one more minute than is necessary.
Nancy called her mom at Riverwoods last evening and they had a nice albeit short conversation about this, that, and the other thing. Mrs G was delighted that she had gotten together with a few of her buds at the facility which was a nice departure from the day-to-day isolation they're experiencing while staring down the threat of this pandemic.
It was good to hear that she was letting her hair down a little bit. Life is too short to begin with for the good folks at Riverwoods so it's best to take advantage of anything and everything that comes their way. Her greatest gift on this holiest of holy days, according to Mrs G, was that she heard from all of her children. I can't remember if she said anything about Debbie rah-rah, but it sounds like Bob's cat is on his last legs so that's not good. Mrs G was in exceptionally good spirits and it seemed like she was more engaging than usual. Nancy, not so much. Some things never change and some thing I'll never understand.
There is nothing in particular that I have in mind for today other than maybe taking my bike ride earlier in the day than I did yesterday. A parking ban went into effect along Ocean Boulevard the other day due to a continuation of this pandemic hysteria and when I rode yesterday probably mid day or so it was so busy that I had trouble crossing the road at one point. How busy was it, Johnny?
I completely understand. There is nothing like an Easter weekend to get folks out of their homes and on the road looking for a change of scenery. And there is nothing like a ride along the ocean to take your mind off the fact that we're in the middle of a fucking pandemic and you can't scratch your nose without wondering if you've infected yourself with the dreaded coronavirus.
Evan called a little past 10 in the morning yesterday and asked if I might go shopping with him. I didn't have the heart to say to him that it was the day before Easter and going food shopping was probably not something we wanted to do if we're trying to avoid crowds and maybe avoid contracted the coronavirus. So I saddled up and headed over to the Hannaford's in Exeter for better or worse. One way or another, we'd make this work.
One recurring nightmare I have when it comes to the Ev man is that he is sitting alone in his apartment without food or drink and without the wherewithal to see to it that he has one or both on hand. As such, I have a standing offer to take him food shopping and my recommendation to him is that we do this once a week because it is something that needs be done.
He's never taken me up on that offer but I never stop making the recommendation after every visit we make to the store. I thank the baby Jesus daily that he is more resourceful than we give him credit for although I think there are days and times when that may not be true.
I had visions of shoppers lining up outside the market waiting their turn to push their baskets into the store. I thought that since folks were not dining out on this Easter holiday because no restaurants were open during the pandemic that it would simply exacerbate the situation inside the stores and we would see even more people looking to do precisely what we were wanting to do. Thankfully, there were no lines and the store was not nearly as busy as I thought it might be. Maybe there is something to this Baby Jesus thing.
Evan said that he made a list but forgot it at home. I was dubious of that claim and he must have sensed it one way or another because he quickly followed up by giving mention to several of the items that he had on his list. He moved with great deliberation once inside the store and I was maybe more convinced than ever that he had made a list since he seemed to know what he wanted and where to find it. My only cajoling came when I urged him to buy more than one of this or one of that so he wouldn't run out things so quickly.
I think that I always think that he is more anxious than he really is when it comes to going food shopping or, maybe more to the point, being inside a store with all of those people. I don't even know where I get that idea truth be told. While he seemed a little hastier than usual in making his selections and moving through the store it probably wasn't any hastier than anyone else who wanted to get in and get the hell out as quickly as possible. And just one more hat tip to the Baby Jesus if I might? Thank you for putting us in a checkout line with no one waiting!
I did tell him that I was more than willing to wait my turn in line while he waited for me outside but he was having none of it. I may have even suggested that he head on home and I would drop by his place with his groceries. There wasn't much need for both of us to be there when one of us could do the job but he stayed and gave me a capable assist as we put all of our purchases on the conveyor belt to be rung in. Maybe he thought it was the least he could do.
Like the dutiful dad that I think I am most days, I brought an extra face mask with me for Evan to put on when we went shopping. I wasn't sure if he would wear it but I told him that he was more likely to stand out if he wasn't wearing a mask and that may have made the difference. He complained about the smell when he first put it on and then he asked if he had to cover his nose as well. What a nube! Of course you do, dude.
I was a little curious if he might actually embrace the incognito thing with the mask and all. If he ran into someone he knew from a previous life while in the store no one would be the wiser. He wouldn't have to explain to anyone what he's been doing with his life over the intervening years and I have no doubt that that would suit him just fine. Did I mention that he also wore the black cotton gloves that I brought with me as well for him to wear? You just can't be too careful these days.
It's good for we as his parents to know that he is mindful of his shortcomings when it comes to his health and that he is pragmatic at a minimum when it comes to protecting his own interests in that regard. If he had insisted that he not wear any of the protective things I brought for him then that would have been that. All we can do as his parents is to make our suggestions and piss and moan about it when he doesn't care to comply. You need to pick your battles carefully and, thankfully, we're all on the same page when it comes to surviving day-to-day during this pandemic.
I'm sitting here a day later now and Easter is squarely in the rear view mirror. The forecast today calls for a windy and rainy day so that's not good. Easter was about as low key as we've ever had here at home and that was just fine. Nancy kept busy with paperwork, some cleaning out in the garage which she was very proud of, and just a bit of yard work. Our neighbor, Betsi, dropped off some bulbs for Nancy which she promptly planted.
Evan did not come for a visit on Easter nor were we expecting him to. We had no meal planned and Nancy and I were just going to wing it when dinner time rolled around. I ended up having leftover pizza when all was said and done and I'm not sure what Nancy had. We took a drive around town later in the day and it was deathly quiet on the roadways from start to finish. Gas prices are now below $2 a gallon with the global glut ongoing so let's see if Trump can get OPEC to cut back on production. I'd rather pay a little more at the pump if it means we as a nation stay energy independent.
We're supposed to find out soon as to whether or not we get out of this stupid lockdown phase we as a nation find ourselves in. We need to get our economy restarted. Whether it's a phased in deal by region or type of business I don't care. It's getting tedious already. Some damn towns and cities are fining people up to $1000 (NYC) or less in other places for not following simple social distancing rules. Give me a fucking break. We don't need these liberal leftist mayors or governors exercising their Marxist tendencies at the expense of their citizenry for even one more minute than is necessary.
Nancy called her mom at Riverwoods last evening and they had a nice albeit short conversation about this, that, and the other thing. Mrs G was delighted that she had gotten together with a few of her buds at the facility which was a nice departure from the day-to-day isolation they're experiencing while staring down the threat of this pandemic.
It was good to hear that she was letting her hair down a little bit. Life is too short to begin with for the good folks at Riverwoods so it's best to take advantage of anything and everything that comes their way. Her greatest gift on this holiest of holy days, according to Mrs G, was that she heard from all of her children. I can't remember if she said anything about Debbie rah-rah, but it sounds like Bob's cat is on his last legs so that's not good. Mrs G was in exceptionally good spirits and it seemed like she was more engaging than usual. Nancy, not so much. Some things never change and some thing I'll never understand.
No Time to Celebrate
09/04/20 16:16
It's good to hear that Boris Johnson (PM of Britain) is out of the ICU and on the mend. His country is pulling for him during these difficult times as are we here in the US. Were it up to me I would suggest to Trump that he get Boris on the telly during his afternoon presser here in the United States. Whether or not Boris is up to it is another question but it would be something to see. Not sure how the Queen would feel about it either so let's press the pause button for now.
I know Trump said something in a recent presser about sending someone or something across the pond to help Boris in his fight against the Coronavirus. I thought it was a reference of sorts to the Hydroxycholoroquine drug that Trump has been touting. If this is true, and the drug was a godsend that may have saved Boris's life, would Boris admit as much to anyone asking that very question? Would answering that question in the affirmative give people false hope or would it help one or more of them gain a much needed leg up in their fight against this disease?
It's looking more and more like this virus may not live up to its reputation as the grim reaper of all viruses. Original projections had some 1-2 million Americans dying from the disease. As the days turned into weeks, those projections turned out to be overly ambitious. The revised projections had a more modest 100,000 to 200,000 Americans dying before all was said and done. Now, to quote one Gomer Pyle, SHAZAAAAM! Projections of fatalities have been lowered to some 60,000 deaths here in the US.
Maybe it was important that they scare the bejesus out of everyone in order to get them to stay home, practice social distancing, wear face masks, etc. Yep, telling us that we'd lose millions of our loved ones to the virus would surely get that done. Televising body bags being thrown into the back of refrigeration trucks is another graphic that might get your attention. Whatever it was, it worked. The graphical spikes of deaths that were previously ticking up day after day are now flattening out and heading downward as are all the other indices associated with the virus.
Maybe the therapies that they've developed along the way including the one touted by Trump have kept patients from reaching the ICU unit. It sure as hell has not been the vaccines since there aren't any as yet. I know it takes a long time to develop these vaccines and they will help when the virus circles back as seasonal viruses are want to do. Let me quote Joe Biden Here. "C'mon, man." We have to do better than that. We can't wait a 18 months to have a workable vaccine. What if this was a virus with a 95 parent infection rate and a 98 percent mortality rate? You get the picture.
It's probably good that this virus hit New York City first. If you're going to take a lesson from anything it should be one that alarms you, gets your attention, scares you, has people fleeing in outward directions from the epicenter of the problem, and leaves a disproportionate number of dead bodies in its wake. For those who think it won't come to their town, those stories and images out of NYC are a grim reminder that it might just come to their town. Then again, if you don't know anyone with the disease you might not care that much.
So, NYC has now experienced more deaths due to this virus than died on 9/11. We're not flying flags at half mast. We're not mourning as a nation in way that suggests we've lost the best and brightest of our generation. We're celebrating the fact that we think the spike in deaths is now behind us. We're celebrating that the stock market seems to have found a bottom after cascading some 35% from peak to trough. We're celebrating that as a nation we think we can restart our economy beginning May 1 after shutting everything down for a good 5 weeks or so.
All any of us want again is a good goddamn latte'. I'm old enough to remember when I used to order a latte' on my iPhone for pickup at Starbucks. Can I even do that anymore? Is Starbucks an "essential" business? All we want now is to be able to walk down the streets of our towns and cities coast to coast and not feel like lepers. We're afraid to touch our faces, afraid to touch the faces of the ones we love, afraid to hold hands with the ones we love, afraid to get too close to our aging relatives, and afraid to get within six feet of another human being.
I'm intrigued by the stats of this virus on the West Coast. They have a population that exceeds that of NYC by a factor of 4 but they have 560 deaths compared to 7,000 deaths in NYC. It's a real what-the-hell moment for epidemiologists. Some think that the virus has been on the West Coast for a much longer period of time establishing perhaps a certain "herd" immunity within the population. I think they just don't know. And you would think that it would decimate the ranks of the homeless in that state but there just isn't any evidence of it.
If and when they get the testing kits squared away and working correctly they may be able to figure it all out. I don't know that the goal is to test all 365 million Americans but some subset of that number may be appropriate and necessary if we're going to get people back to work. One strategy is to protect the most vulnerable and let everyone else get back to work. Not every town and every city qualifies as an epicenter so we may see waves of activity over time and we can prepare for that. One thing we cannot afford to do is to allow or nation not to get back to work.
We had a bit of a scare yesterday when Nancy mentioned that she wasn't feeling all that well. She spent the better part of the day propped up in bed with her magazines and her iPad and warned Evan and I to keep our distance. "How is my little Covid-19 baby feeling today", I chimed.
We even talked, while keeping our distance of course, about alternative sleeping arrangements should her symptoms persist or worsen in the coming hours. I inquired about thermometers and the like after I spotted a bit of perspiration on her brow. She pushed back gently but firmly pointing out that she was probably overdressed and maybe even overheated lying on a heating pad as she had for an extended period of time.
Her condition improved markedly throughout the course of the afternoon and by the time the 5 o'clock hour rolled around she was on a tele-conference with her little self-help group out of Exeter. She followed that up with a nice dish of ice cream and by the time 8 o'clock rolled around she had a spring in her step that was notably absent earlier in the day.
Her color was better, her appetite had returned, she was expressing interest in her list of to-do's for the following day, and she was now on a bit of a bender which may have had more to do with the sugar in the ice cream than anything else. "You feel like calling your mom tonight", I inquired? Her calls to her mother as of late have gone from once a day to maybe once every other day. I don't know how that sits with her mom but it is what its is so you go with it.
My calls to my peeps have fallen off as well. Not much changes from call to call so there's that. None of us is feeling particularly isolated or beset by these rules we're now being asked to follow. Some of us have dogs to walk so that helps. Some of us have large yards or places to walk with our spouses that are not heavily traveled so that helps. Some of us have jobs to keep us busy and then there are those of us who are thankful that we don't have jobs to go to because of the potential for exposure to the virus. All of us want this to end.
Evan's last words out of his mouth as he left home here last night was that he would be calling early on today to check in on his mom. That was before her call to her buds on the teleconference. That was before her dish of chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry ice cream. That was before she started to feel better and he never saw her out of bed by the time he left to go to his place.
There was some back and forth with Evan about mailbox keys and prescription drugs but that all worked itself out after I rifled his car in the dark and found his mailbox keys that he wasn't able to otherwise locate. Thanks, pops!
I think I saw my neighbor Betsi driving around town yesterday with a face mask on. I can't say for sure since it was raining and we were driving by each other in opposite directions so it could have been a case of mistaken identity. Betsi is a bit older so the face mask thing makes sense but while driving in her car? Who does that?
Did I miss a memo? Did I miss a CDC update? She wasn't taking her cues from me since I don't wear one while driving although she may have seen me put one on for sizing purposes while behind the wheel. Nonetheless, good to see that she is not taking any unnecessary chances with this virus thing going around.
Betsi has a friend by the name of John who comes up from Florida every springtime. He spends the summer living in his RV across the street from her house. It's a big badass RV and it is no doubt not only his home but his pride and joy. I don't know for sure but I think John was a long haul driver before he retired so I have no doubt that he hauls this behemoth he calls his home around town and to points north and south without so much as a second thought.
John is by all accounts a pleasant man with an unassuming demeanor and everyone and anyone who knows him knows that there isn't anything he wouldn't do for you in a pinch. That's just who he is.
We're all casting a suspicious eye on travelers coming in from out of town these days knowing what we know about the virus and just how infectious it is. John is traveling up from a State that has a fairly high incidence of the virus and people who fit his profile are typically required to check in when they arrive and then put themselves in self-quarantine for a period of not less than fourteen days.
John has given Betsi every assurance under the sun that he will follow the rules to the tee and she, in turn, has given us what we need so we can feel better about his returning to our neighborhood for the season. Whether or not he walks his terrier up and down our street instead of around in circles in the cul-de-sac will tell us a lot about just how seriously he takes his responsibility as a self-quarantine-er. We'll be watching.
I know Trump said something in a recent presser about sending someone or something across the pond to help Boris in his fight against the Coronavirus. I thought it was a reference of sorts to the Hydroxycholoroquine drug that Trump has been touting. If this is true, and the drug was a godsend that may have saved Boris's life, would Boris admit as much to anyone asking that very question? Would answering that question in the affirmative give people false hope or would it help one or more of them gain a much needed leg up in their fight against this disease?
It's looking more and more like this virus may not live up to its reputation as the grim reaper of all viruses. Original projections had some 1-2 million Americans dying from the disease. As the days turned into weeks, those projections turned out to be overly ambitious. The revised projections had a more modest 100,000 to 200,000 Americans dying before all was said and done. Now, to quote one Gomer Pyle, SHAZAAAAM! Projections of fatalities have been lowered to some 60,000 deaths here in the US.
Maybe it was important that they scare the bejesus out of everyone in order to get them to stay home, practice social distancing, wear face masks, etc. Yep, telling us that we'd lose millions of our loved ones to the virus would surely get that done. Televising body bags being thrown into the back of refrigeration trucks is another graphic that might get your attention. Whatever it was, it worked. The graphical spikes of deaths that were previously ticking up day after day are now flattening out and heading downward as are all the other indices associated with the virus.
Maybe the therapies that they've developed along the way including the one touted by Trump have kept patients from reaching the ICU unit. It sure as hell has not been the vaccines since there aren't any as yet. I know it takes a long time to develop these vaccines and they will help when the virus circles back as seasonal viruses are want to do. Let me quote Joe Biden Here. "C'mon, man." We have to do better than that. We can't wait a 18 months to have a workable vaccine. What if this was a virus with a 95 parent infection rate and a 98 percent mortality rate? You get the picture.
It's probably good that this virus hit New York City first. If you're going to take a lesson from anything it should be one that alarms you, gets your attention, scares you, has people fleeing in outward directions from the epicenter of the problem, and leaves a disproportionate number of dead bodies in its wake. For those who think it won't come to their town, those stories and images out of NYC are a grim reminder that it might just come to their town. Then again, if you don't know anyone with the disease you might not care that much.
So, NYC has now experienced more deaths due to this virus than died on 9/11. We're not flying flags at half mast. We're not mourning as a nation in way that suggests we've lost the best and brightest of our generation. We're celebrating the fact that we think the spike in deaths is now behind us. We're celebrating that the stock market seems to have found a bottom after cascading some 35% from peak to trough. We're celebrating that as a nation we think we can restart our economy beginning May 1 after shutting everything down for a good 5 weeks or so.
All any of us want again is a good goddamn latte'. I'm old enough to remember when I used to order a latte' on my iPhone for pickup at Starbucks. Can I even do that anymore? Is Starbucks an "essential" business? All we want now is to be able to walk down the streets of our towns and cities coast to coast and not feel like lepers. We're afraid to touch our faces, afraid to touch the faces of the ones we love, afraid to hold hands with the ones we love, afraid to get too close to our aging relatives, and afraid to get within six feet of another human being.
I'm intrigued by the stats of this virus on the West Coast. They have a population that exceeds that of NYC by a factor of 4 but they have 560 deaths compared to 7,000 deaths in NYC. It's a real what-the-hell moment for epidemiologists. Some think that the virus has been on the West Coast for a much longer period of time establishing perhaps a certain "herd" immunity within the population. I think they just don't know. And you would think that it would decimate the ranks of the homeless in that state but there just isn't any evidence of it.
If and when they get the testing kits squared away and working correctly they may be able to figure it all out. I don't know that the goal is to test all 365 million Americans but some subset of that number may be appropriate and necessary if we're going to get people back to work. One strategy is to protect the most vulnerable and let everyone else get back to work. Not every town and every city qualifies as an epicenter so we may see waves of activity over time and we can prepare for that. One thing we cannot afford to do is to allow or nation not to get back to work.
We had a bit of a scare yesterday when Nancy mentioned that she wasn't feeling all that well. She spent the better part of the day propped up in bed with her magazines and her iPad and warned Evan and I to keep our distance. "How is my little Covid-19 baby feeling today", I chimed.
We even talked, while keeping our distance of course, about alternative sleeping arrangements should her symptoms persist or worsen in the coming hours. I inquired about thermometers and the like after I spotted a bit of perspiration on her brow. She pushed back gently but firmly pointing out that she was probably overdressed and maybe even overheated lying on a heating pad as she had for an extended period of time.
Her condition improved markedly throughout the course of the afternoon and by the time the 5 o'clock hour rolled around she was on a tele-conference with her little self-help group out of Exeter. She followed that up with a nice dish of ice cream and by the time 8 o'clock rolled around she had a spring in her step that was notably absent earlier in the day.
Her color was better, her appetite had returned, she was expressing interest in her list of to-do's for the following day, and she was now on a bit of a bender which may have had more to do with the sugar in the ice cream than anything else. "You feel like calling your mom tonight", I inquired? Her calls to her mother as of late have gone from once a day to maybe once every other day. I don't know how that sits with her mom but it is what its is so you go with it.
My calls to my peeps have fallen off as well. Not much changes from call to call so there's that. None of us is feeling particularly isolated or beset by these rules we're now being asked to follow. Some of us have dogs to walk so that helps. Some of us have large yards or places to walk with our spouses that are not heavily traveled so that helps. Some of us have jobs to keep us busy and then there are those of us who are thankful that we don't have jobs to go to because of the potential for exposure to the virus. All of us want this to end.
Evan's last words out of his mouth as he left home here last night was that he would be calling early on today to check in on his mom. That was before her call to her buds on the teleconference. That was before her dish of chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry ice cream. That was before she started to feel better and he never saw her out of bed by the time he left to go to his place.
There was some back and forth with Evan about mailbox keys and prescription drugs but that all worked itself out after I rifled his car in the dark and found his mailbox keys that he wasn't able to otherwise locate. Thanks, pops!
I think I saw my neighbor Betsi driving around town yesterday with a face mask on. I can't say for sure since it was raining and we were driving by each other in opposite directions so it could have been a case of mistaken identity. Betsi is a bit older so the face mask thing makes sense but while driving in her car? Who does that?
Did I miss a memo? Did I miss a CDC update? She wasn't taking her cues from me since I don't wear one while driving although she may have seen me put one on for sizing purposes while behind the wheel. Nonetheless, good to see that she is not taking any unnecessary chances with this virus thing going around.
Betsi has a friend by the name of John who comes up from Florida every springtime. He spends the summer living in his RV across the street from her house. It's a big badass RV and it is no doubt not only his home but his pride and joy. I don't know for sure but I think John was a long haul driver before he retired so I have no doubt that he hauls this behemoth he calls his home around town and to points north and south without so much as a second thought.
John is by all accounts a pleasant man with an unassuming demeanor and everyone and anyone who knows him knows that there isn't anything he wouldn't do for you in a pinch. That's just who he is.
We're all casting a suspicious eye on travelers coming in from out of town these days knowing what we know about the virus and just how infectious it is. John is traveling up from a State that has a fairly high incidence of the virus and people who fit his profile are typically required to check in when they arrive and then put themselves in self-quarantine for a period of not less than fourteen days.
John has given Betsi every assurance under the sun that he will follow the rules to the tee and she, in turn, has given us what we need so we can feel better about his returning to our neighborhood for the season. Whether or not he walks his terrier up and down our street instead of around in circles in the cul-de-sac will tell us a lot about just how seriously he takes his responsibility as a self-quarantine-er. We'll be watching.
God Only Knows
08/04/20 07:47
I was hoping to get down a few thoughts in this journal yesterday morning but all of that went out the window when Evan called around 8am and said that he was coming over. As nice as it is to have him pay a visit it is sometimes distracting especially when I'm trying to concentrate on doing my own thing.
Your time is just not your time anymore when your children are around. If he were living here 24/7 that would be a different story. He's not so when he does stop by we usually drop everything we're doing and we give him our undivided attention. He didn't stay long but really just long enough to take me off track and away from writing in my journal.
I was thinking before I even got started yesterday that I wasn't sure I had a lot to say. That might account for the fact that it was close to eight o'clock in the morning before I was even getting started and that is late for me. I'm off to a late start this morning as well but it has more to do with the fact that I got up later than usual than anything else. I'm not sure I have a lot to say this morning either but I'm doing it so we'll see where its goes.
I had a really good bicycle ride yesterday and I think it felt good for a couple of reasons. I rode hard which is different from having a hard ride. I pushed myself because my energy levels were pretty good and I'm starting to throw caution to the wind when it comes to having a face covering to protect from airborne viruses and the like. You know what I'm talking about.
Pulling that damn neckie up around my mouth and nose every time I passed someone or saw someone in my rear view mirror was getting a bit old and it distracted from the enjoyment I look forward to when I take a ride. I knew when the warmer weather came around that I would find the neckie to be uncomfortable and maybe I was hoping that the worst would be behind us and I wouldn't have to worry about such things.
The worse is not yet behind us but the warmer weather is here so I'm not wearing anything that I can pull up around my mouth and nose and I'm not feeling particularly guilt or exposed about it. The only time I feel a little uncomfortable is when I'm riding behind someone. I don't like being downwind from anyone for obvious reasons but it's pretty breezy day in and day out near the ocean so I've convinced myself that keeping my distance or passing them in a hurry will do the trick.
What are the chances anyway that the rider in front of me has the coronavirus? I suppose it's possible if you consider the fact that some people with the virus are asymptomatic. And what are the chances that in the swirling vortex of the North Atlantic crosswinds that constitute offshore breezes this time of year that I'll be in the crosshairs of someone else's downwind spittle? That calculation goes out too many decimal points which is a good thing.
Maybe it was just the fact that I got to the point in my ride yesterday where I would ordinarily turn off to go home and I didn't turn off but rather just kept going. The sun was shining, temperatures were in the low sixties, I had rid myself of the heaver clothing that I usually wear during the winter months, and there was nothing needing my attention back at home so off I went.
I was wearing shorts for the first time this year too so maybe I rode a bit harder than usual just to stay warm since it was still cool even though temperatures were in the low sixties. Traffic was light along the Boulevard and I never once found myself having to steer clear of congested areas to ensure a proper social distancing if that is even possible while bike riding. I asked Nancy if she might like to come biking with me but she's not ready just yet. She's a fair weather rider to be sure. I'm sure it won't be long now.
There was a bit of discussion at the President's afternoon press conference yesterday about certain minorities being at greater risk when comes to the Coronavirus. They referenced African Americans as the group in question. They are not necessarily any more susceptible than other racial groups but they have much greater mortality rates due to co-morbidities like diabetes, etc. From an epidemiological point of view, outlier groups are not unusual.
In a presidential election year, where blacks are a key constituency of the democrat party, this is something that can and will be weaponized by the democrats and the Main Street Media. I can hear it now: Trump's decision to do this that or the other thing, or to not do this that or the other thing, was designed to kill as many blacks as possible to keep them from the polls.
Maybe what he's really trying to do, since he can't kill them all, is to keep those who have yet to get sick from the virus from going to the polls. After all, what self-respecting African American wants to risk their life just to cast a vote? You can see how insane this gets but nothing is beyond the pale when it comes to winning elections and getting power back into the hands of the democrats. The Republicans want the same things but for different reasons.
Who knows what voting in November looks like as we sit here today? The dems would prefer that we all cast our votes by mail. Trump is having none of it. He knows what a train wreck it would be and it's far worse than anyone can imagine if you consider the shenanigans that would likely take place just to ensure that they (Dems) don't lose. The boxes of ballots that would suddenly appear in close races, the boxes of ballots that would disappear in close races, the skullduggery that would result in the skewing of numbers in ways you can't even imagine.
Maybe it will look a little like the voting in Wisconsin last night where people stood in line waiting for their turn to vote while wearing masks and protective gear and while practicing social distancing. I'm not sure if they have voter ID in Wisconsin but we need that nationwide to ensure that only legal residents are allowed to vote.
All you need to know about the democrats is that they don't want voter ID laws because it "disenfranchises" lower income voters, etc. Bullshit. They know that without voter ID laws that they can ensure that illegal aliens get to cast their votes and sway elections to favor the democrat candidates. Forget the busloads of college students the democrats plan to bus across state and county lines to cast not one, not two, but god only knows how many votes to make sure the dems win every election they set their sights on.
I've been dragging my feet a bit when it comes to getting out in the yard to do a little bit of cleaning up after a long but largely uneventful winter so maybe today is the day. Nancy has a leg up on the process and she's raked any number of small piles of leaves which I'm supposed to take care of or way or another. I don't mind doing it but getting started is my problem. And it's not as though I have an otherwise busy itinerary these days locked down as we are here on the seacoast and across the nation. If the good lord's willing and the creek don't rise, I'll be there with bells on.
I still have a Christmas tree from last December in the yard that needs to go to the recycling center so there's that. I'd hoped that the local bird population hereabouts might find it to be a suitable refuge as the winter months dragged on and maybe it provided an occasional stopping off point but not much more. Now it lays on its side looking more sad than anything else and like everything else in the yard it will require a little muscle and a lot of effort on my part to do what needs to be done. That clothesline needs a fixin' too so that's on my short list.
I need a couple of things at Walmart too but I've been putting that off because I have less and less interest in going into stores these days given the Pandemic thingy. I wear gloves and a mask whenever I go into stores so I maybe I'm throwing a bit too much caution to the wind. It's hard to know just how much or how little to do knowing as little as they do about just how virulent this virus is. What precisely do I hang my hat on? Mortality rates? Infection rates? Co-morbidity factors? Regional and state death projections?
At the end of the day it is probably just easier to stay at home then try to sort it all out. So that is what we're doing. We're taking a ride in the car once a day just to get out of the house and for a much needed change of scenery. There was probably a time in the not too distant past when we would pass this or that restaurant along the way and we might entertain getting take-out for dinner. Those days are over and that makes me sad both for the restaurants trying to stay afloat and for Nancy and I who are always looking for outlets on this viral joyride we find ourselves on.
Nancy hasn't gone into a store since all of this began and she has relied on me to do all the shopping. Not that I mind but I wouldn't object if she offered to step off the curb once in a while to grab a take out order or pick up something that we need to shore up our stocks. It just ain't happenin'. Maybe if she were more accepting of certain responsibilites I might find myself being more flexible and open to doing things that I know she won't or doesn't like to do.
Shouldn't we be recalibrating our levels of caution and hysteria as this pandemic ebbs and flows? Indeed, we should. But if you don't pay attention to the news here and there how exactly do you do that? I take comfort in knowing that things are getting better, fewer people are getting infected, projections for this and that are dropping off precipitously, traffic on the roads seem to be picking up with each passing day, the stock market is ticking up, and Trump's daily press conferences are taking on a decidedly more positive tone.
Nancy is seeing and hearing none of this by choice although I pointed to the increased traffic yesterday on our afternoon ride which seemed to be of some consolation to her. I think she is still reading the horrors in the headlines in newspapers like The Boston Globe and the New York Times which love to point out what a terrible job Trump is doing and how the world is coming to an end under his tyrannical leadership during this pandemic. So much for taking your cues from the Main Street Media.
It's a new day and Evan is popping over a little after eight in the morning again. I don't like the looks of this. This is not normal. He has too much time on his hands these days and he doesn't know what to do with it. I'm delighted that he has someplace to go when he's feeling like getting out and about but there is a certain manic nature to his meanderings which never feels right to we as his parents and rarely ends well. He may be in need of money or just want something to eat. God only knows. I guess we'll find out.
Your time is just not your time anymore when your children are around. If he were living here 24/7 that would be a different story. He's not so when he does stop by we usually drop everything we're doing and we give him our undivided attention. He didn't stay long but really just long enough to take me off track and away from writing in my journal.
I was thinking before I even got started yesterday that I wasn't sure I had a lot to say. That might account for the fact that it was close to eight o'clock in the morning before I was even getting started and that is late for me. I'm off to a late start this morning as well but it has more to do with the fact that I got up later than usual than anything else. I'm not sure I have a lot to say this morning either but I'm doing it so we'll see where its goes.
I had a really good bicycle ride yesterday and I think it felt good for a couple of reasons. I rode hard which is different from having a hard ride. I pushed myself because my energy levels were pretty good and I'm starting to throw caution to the wind when it comes to having a face covering to protect from airborne viruses and the like. You know what I'm talking about.
Pulling that damn neckie up around my mouth and nose every time I passed someone or saw someone in my rear view mirror was getting a bit old and it distracted from the enjoyment I look forward to when I take a ride. I knew when the warmer weather came around that I would find the neckie to be uncomfortable and maybe I was hoping that the worst would be behind us and I wouldn't have to worry about such things.
The worse is not yet behind us but the warmer weather is here so I'm not wearing anything that I can pull up around my mouth and nose and I'm not feeling particularly guilt or exposed about it. The only time I feel a little uncomfortable is when I'm riding behind someone. I don't like being downwind from anyone for obvious reasons but it's pretty breezy day in and day out near the ocean so I've convinced myself that keeping my distance or passing them in a hurry will do the trick.
What are the chances anyway that the rider in front of me has the coronavirus? I suppose it's possible if you consider the fact that some people with the virus are asymptomatic. And what are the chances that in the swirling vortex of the North Atlantic crosswinds that constitute offshore breezes this time of year that I'll be in the crosshairs of someone else's downwind spittle? That calculation goes out too many decimal points which is a good thing.
Maybe it was just the fact that I got to the point in my ride yesterday where I would ordinarily turn off to go home and I didn't turn off but rather just kept going. The sun was shining, temperatures were in the low sixties, I had rid myself of the heaver clothing that I usually wear during the winter months, and there was nothing needing my attention back at home so off I went.
I was wearing shorts for the first time this year too so maybe I rode a bit harder than usual just to stay warm since it was still cool even though temperatures were in the low sixties. Traffic was light along the Boulevard and I never once found myself having to steer clear of congested areas to ensure a proper social distancing if that is even possible while bike riding. I asked Nancy if she might like to come biking with me but she's not ready just yet. She's a fair weather rider to be sure. I'm sure it won't be long now.
There was a bit of discussion at the President's afternoon press conference yesterday about certain minorities being at greater risk when comes to the Coronavirus. They referenced African Americans as the group in question. They are not necessarily any more susceptible than other racial groups but they have much greater mortality rates due to co-morbidities like diabetes, etc. From an epidemiological point of view, outlier groups are not unusual.
In a presidential election year, where blacks are a key constituency of the democrat party, this is something that can and will be weaponized by the democrats and the Main Street Media. I can hear it now: Trump's decision to do this that or the other thing, or to not do this that or the other thing, was designed to kill as many blacks as possible to keep them from the polls.
Maybe what he's really trying to do, since he can't kill them all, is to keep those who have yet to get sick from the virus from going to the polls. After all, what self-respecting African American wants to risk their life just to cast a vote? You can see how insane this gets but nothing is beyond the pale when it comes to winning elections and getting power back into the hands of the democrats. The Republicans want the same things but for different reasons.
Who knows what voting in November looks like as we sit here today? The dems would prefer that we all cast our votes by mail. Trump is having none of it. He knows what a train wreck it would be and it's far worse than anyone can imagine if you consider the shenanigans that would likely take place just to ensure that they (Dems) don't lose. The boxes of ballots that would suddenly appear in close races, the boxes of ballots that would disappear in close races, the skullduggery that would result in the skewing of numbers in ways you can't even imagine.
Maybe it will look a little like the voting in Wisconsin last night where people stood in line waiting for their turn to vote while wearing masks and protective gear and while practicing social distancing. I'm not sure if they have voter ID in Wisconsin but we need that nationwide to ensure that only legal residents are allowed to vote.
All you need to know about the democrats is that they don't want voter ID laws because it "disenfranchises" lower income voters, etc. Bullshit. They know that without voter ID laws that they can ensure that illegal aliens get to cast their votes and sway elections to favor the democrat candidates. Forget the busloads of college students the democrats plan to bus across state and county lines to cast not one, not two, but god only knows how many votes to make sure the dems win every election they set their sights on.
I've been dragging my feet a bit when it comes to getting out in the yard to do a little bit of cleaning up after a long but largely uneventful winter so maybe today is the day. Nancy has a leg up on the process and she's raked any number of small piles of leaves which I'm supposed to take care of or way or another. I don't mind doing it but getting started is my problem. And it's not as though I have an otherwise busy itinerary these days locked down as we are here on the seacoast and across the nation. If the good lord's willing and the creek don't rise, I'll be there with bells on.
I still have a Christmas tree from last December in the yard that needs to go to the recycling center so there's that. I'd hoped that the local bird population hereabouts might find it to be a suitable refuge as the winter months dragged on and maybe it provided an occasional stopping off point but not much more. Now it lays on its side looking more sad than anything else and like everything else in the yard it will require a little muscle and a lot of effort on my part to do what needs to be done. That clothesline needs a fixin' too so that's on my short list.
I need a couple of things at Walmart too but I've been putting that off because I have less and less interest in going into stores these days given the Pandemic thingy. I wear gloves and a mask whenever I go into stores so I maybe I'm throwing a bit too much caution to the wind. It's hard to know just how much or how little to do knowing as little as they do about just how virulent this virus is. What precisely do I hang my hat on? Mortality rates? Infection rates? Co-morbidity factors? Regional and state death projections?
At the end of the day it is probably just easier to stay at home then try to sort it all out. So that is what we're doing. We're taking a ride in the car once a day just to get out of the house and for a much needed change of scenery. There was probably a time in the not too distant past when we would pass this or that restaurant along the way and we might entertain getting take-out for dinner. Those days are over and that makes me sad both for the restaurants trying to stay afloat and for Nancy and I who are always looking for outlets on this viral joyride we find ourselves on.
Nancy hasn't gone into a store since all of this began and she has relied on me to do all the shopping. Not that I mind but I wouldn't object if she offered to step off the curb once in a while to grab a take out order or pick up something that we need to shore up our stocks. It just ain't happenin'. Maybe if she were more accepting of certain responsibilites I might find myself being more flexible and open to doing things that I know she won't or doesn't like to do.
Shouldn't we be recalibrating our levels of caution and hysteria as this pandemic ebbs and flows? Indeed, we should. But if you don't pay attention to the news here and there how exactly do you do that? I take comfort in knowing that things are getting better, fewer people are getting infected, projections for this and that are dropping off precipitously, traffic on the roads seem to be picking up with each passing day, the stock market is ticking up, and Trump's daily press conferences are taking on a decidedly more positive tone.
Nancy is seeing and hearing none of this by choice although I pointed to the increased traffic yesterday on our afternoon ride which seemed to be of some consolation to her. I think she is still reading the horrors in the headlines in newspapers like The Boston Globe and the New York Times which love to point out what a terrible job Trump is doing and how the world is coming to an end under his tyrannical leadership during this pandemic. So much for taking your cues from the Main Street Media.
It's a new day and Evan is popping over a little after eight in the morning again. I don't like the looks of this. This is not normal. He has too much time on his hands these days and he doesn't know what to do with it. I'm delighted that he has someplace to go when he's feeling like getting out and about but there is a certain manic nature to his meanderings which never feels right to we as his parents and rarely ends well. He may be in need of money or just want something to eat. God only knows. I guess we'll find out.
Light at the End of The Tunnel
06/04/20 07:15
I've been watching this Covid-19 graph I bookmarked for the State of New Hampshire over the last few days and it has been pretty consistent from day to day. The daily death counts for New Hampshire were projected to be at X by now and those numbers have simply not materialized. So when I say consistent, I mean consistently low. Projections across the board including projections for ICU beds, total capacity, etc., have not held up either.
The projection that has stuck in my head all along, which I thought was reasonable even in the midst of all this hysteria, was that New Hampshire would have 300 or so deaths in total by August 4th. The number of deaths they are now projecting by August 4th for the State of New Hampshire if a measly 32. Don't get me wrong. One death is one death too many. My name is not Joesph Stalin. What else do we need to reevaluate?
I was reading the Post Star (Upstate NY) newspaper online this morning and I noticed that Governor Cuomo is now allowing golf courses to reopen in the state of New York. With limitations and new guidelines, of course, but they are reopening. I'm not a golf guy but I have to imagine that the golfers are pretty darn excited about this news.
Pun intended, a real stroke of good luck for the golfing community. In New York of all places. The epicenter of the universe when it comes to deaths spiraling, at least as of last Friday, out of control due to Coronavirus.
Governor Cuomo has rolled back his projection for when the peak deaths might occur in New York City. Instead of the peak occurring at the end of the month of April he's now projecting that to come in the next 7 days or so.
I'm beginning to wonder if all of his whining and pissing and moaning for additional resources had more to do with setting up government field hospitals to accommodate the Coronavirus patients so that the public and private hospitals in NYC can get back to business once they clear their hallways of dead and dying Coronavirus patients.
I fully intend to send a tweet to the president later today to tell him not to agree in any way shape or form to Cuomo's request that he turn the USNS Comfort into a Covid-19 vessel. Cuomo would like nothing better than to have the Federal Government take full responsibility for each and every Covid-19 patient within the confines of the greater New York City area.
If Cuomo can't beg, borrow, or steal his away to a balanced budget then he certainly isn't beyond getting on bended knee to Trump to help him solve the problems he created by not preparing the hospitals for this kind of eventuality.
And what the hell is this? Last Friday, in his daily update to the country on the state of affairs relative to his State's battle with the virus and its impact on their hospitals and healthcare workers, Cuomo whined incessantly that he was going to run out of ventilators. Fast forward to today and, voila, he has enough ventilators. WTF?
And what is all this bullshit about this next week or two being akin to Pearl Harbor when it comes to this scourge? You really think this compares to 9/11? These are the Presidents men making these apocalyptic calls. The Surgeon General of the United States no less!
Are we not sufficiently inured at this stage of the game to seeing and hearing about the horror stories coming out of this scourge? Will increases in the counts we're already seeing day-to-day make any difference at all?
You could tell me that we'd be seeing 10,000 deaths per day and I'd likely say that as long as it doesn't happen to anyone I know I can probably live with that. At the same time, President Trump is saying that there is light at the end of the tunnel.
He's referring to the flattening of the curve which means that we'll spike, which explains the Pearl harbor business, and then it will all be downhill from there. In fact , the number of new hospitalizations is falling off the cliff. That is just undeniably as good as it gets when it comes to NYC's scourge.
As long as we continue to be good little boys and girls by practicing good mitigation techniques we can probably get back to business sooner rather than later. That works for me. For those who have been sticking their heads in the sand since this all started they will probably just pick up where they left off. For those of us who have been following things more closely, we'll be watching to see just how it all becomes disentangled at the end of the day.
There will be plenty of finger pointing when it's all over and that is to be expected. I will never stop wondering why in the world we could never come up with a more immediate solution to this problem. I have to believe that our understanding of the science that created this deadly freak of nature is sufficiently up to snuff where we can map its genome inside and out until the cows come home. And then there are those who might prefer that we not find a solution, at least not a quick one, and that would suit their collective political ambitions just fine.
That is a scary thought. But it was Rahm Emanuel, one of Obama's cronies, who once said, "Never let a crisis go to waste." And I have to say, I do take a certain amount of pleasure from seeing Trump at the podium doing pressers night after night where he takes all the naysayers to task for their ridiculous gotcha questions and utterly sinister prognostications on this that and the other thing. Trump is my crony so if he wants to take advantage of this crisis then I support him 100 percent. Just call me Johnny Hypocrite.
That e-mail that Nancy and I had planned to send along to our friend the pathologist no longer seems necessary. It's still sitting on my desktop here as a draft and the more I look at it the more I'm thinking it needs to either be scuttled, or at a minimum, toned down.
I'm even feeling that daily phone calls to friends and family can be reconsidered given the new projections about death counts, ICU bed requirements, etc. It'll be a while before we see the restaurants come back so we'll need to continue to factor that into our daily thought process.
Now that I think about it, should I be feeling even a little guilty about thinking nasty thoughts about out-of-staters while out on my bike ride yesterday. The traffic along Ocean Boulevard was heavy and not what I was expecting to see in the midst of a pandemic.
Are these people out of their fucking minds, I thought to myself? Why aren't the local police taking notice of these out-of-staters and doing what they can to protect the locals from this influx of potential vectors of transmission? I've got to get my head on straight.
It does make one curious though. Who are all of these people dying of this disease? There have been thousands who have died and you and I can't name a damn one of them? No one from Hollywood, you say? I know. I know. Tom Hanks had it but he did just fine. Who else?
Maybe a couple of high profile doctors and nurses on the front lines but I have to wonder why they didn't do a better job protecting themselves. Most have been nameless, maybe disproportionatley from the minority community, and maybe more than a few elderly people whose timely or untimely expirations came as a surprise to no one. From the baby Jesus's point of view, it was nothing more and nothing less than the usual low hanging fruit. Easy pickings as they say in the business.
The last thing I'm wanting to know as I sit here is whether or nor Chris Cuomo, the Governor's brother who has the disease, is taking the drug Hydroxychloroquine as part of his regimen to get through it all. Wouldn't it be rich if after criticizing and even ridiculing Trump for telling everyone and anyone who would listen that this longstanding malaria drug showed promise and that he would take it himself, Cuomo takes the drug that Trump touted and it saves his miserable life. He'd never admit it. He just wouldn't.
The projection that has stuck in my head all along, which I thought was reasonable even in the midst of all this hysteria, was that New Hampshire would have 300 or so deaths in total by August 4th. The number of deaths they are now projecting by August 4th for the State of New Hampshire if a measly 32. Don't get me wrong. One death is one death too many. My name is not Joesph Stalin. What else do we need to reevaluate?
I was reading the Post Star (Upstate NY) newspaper online this morning and I noticed that Governor Cuomo is now allowing golf courses to reopen in the state of New York. With limitations and new guidelines, of course, but they are reopening. I'm not a golf guy but I have to imagine that the golfers are pretty darn excited about this news.
Pun intended, a real stroke of good luck for the golfing community. In New York of all places. The epicenter of the universe when it comes to deaths spiraling, at least as of last Friday, out of control due to Coronavirus.
Governor Cuomo has rolled back his projection for when the peak deaths might occur in New York City. Instead of the peak occurring at the end of the month of April he's now projecting that to come in the next 7 days or so.
I'm beginning to wonder if all of his whining and pissing and moaning for additional resources had more to do with setting up government field hospitals to accommodate the Coronavirus patients so that the public and private hospitals in NYC can get back to business once they clear their hallways of dead and dying Coronavirus patients.
I fully intend to send a tweet to the president later today to tell him not to agree in any way shape or form to Cuomo's request that he turn the USNS Comfort into a Covid-19 vessel. Cuomo would like nothing better than to have the Federal Government take full responsibility for each and every Covid-19 patient within the confines of the greater New York City area.
If Cuomo can't beg, borrow, or steal his away to a balanced budget then he certainly isn't beyond getting on bended knee to Trump to help him solve the problems he created by not preparing the hospitals for this kind of eventuality.
And what the hell is this? Last Friday, in his daily update to the country on the state of affairs relative to his State's battle with the virus and its impact on their hospitals and healthcare workers, Cuomo whined incessantly that he was going to run out of ventilators. Fast forward to today and, voila, he has enough ventilators. WTF?
And what is all this bullshit about this next week or two being akin to Pearl Harbor when it comes to this scourge? You really think this compares to 9/11? These are the Presidents men making these apocalyptic calls. The Surgeon General of the United States no less!
Are we not sufficiently inured at this stage of the game to seeing and hearing about the horror stories coming out of this scourge? Will increases in the counts we're already seeing day-to-day make any difference at all?
You could tell me that we'd be seeing 10,000 deaths per day and I'd likely say that as long as it doesn't happen to anyone I know I can probably live with that. At the same time, President Trump is saying that there is light at the end of the tunnel.
He's referring to the flattening of the curve which means that we'll spike, which explains the Pearl harbor business, and then it will all be downhill from there. In fact , the number of new hospitalizations is falling off the cliff. That is just undeniably as good as it gets when it comes to NYC's scourge.
As long as we continue to be good little boys and girls by practicing good mitigation techniques we can probably get back to business sooner rather than later. That works for me. For those who have been sticking their heads in the sand since this all started they will probably just pick up where they left off. For those of us who have been following things more closely, we'll be watching to see just how it all becomes disentangled at the end of the day.
There will be plenty of finger pointing when it's all over and that is to be expected. I will never stop wondering why in the world we could never come up with a more immediate solution to this problem. I have to believe that our understanding of the science that created this deadly freak of nature is sufficiently up to snuff where we can map its genome inside and out until the cows come home. And then there are those who might prefer that we not find a solution, at least not a quick one, and that would suit their collective political ambitions just fine.
That is a scary thought. But it was Rahm Emanuel, one of Obama's cronies, who once said, "Never let a crisis go to waste." And I have to say, I do take a certain amount of pleasure from seeing Trump at the podium doing pressers night after night where he takes all the naysayers to task for their ridiculous gotcha questions and utterly sinister prognostications on this that and the other thing. Trump is my crony so if he wants to take advantage of this crisis then I support him 100 percent. Just call me Johnny Hypocrite.
That e-mail that Nancy and I had planned to send along to our friend the pathologist no longer seems necessary. It's still sitting on my desktop here as a draft and the more I look at it the more I'm thinking it needs to either be scuttled, or at a minimum, toned down.
I'm even feeling that daily phone calls to friends and family can be reconsidered given the new projections about death counts, ICU bed requirements, etc. It'll be a while before we see the restaurants come back so we'll need to continue to factor that into our daily thought process.
Now that I think about it, should I be feeling even a little guilty about thinking nasty thoughts about out-of-staters while out on my bike ride yesterday. The traffic along Ocean Boulevard was heavy and not what I was expecting to see in the midst of a pandemic.
Are these people out of their fucking minds, I thought to myself? Why aren't the local police taking notice of these out-of-staters and doing what they can to protect the locals from this influx of potential vectors of transmission? I've got to get my head on straight.
It does make one curious though. Who are all of these people dying of this disease? There have been thousands who have died and you and I can't name a damn one of them? No one from Hollywood, you say? I know. I know. Tom Hanks had it but he did just fine. Who else?
Maybe a couple of high profile doctors and nurses on the front lines but I have to wonder why they didn't do a better job protecting themselves. Most have been nameless, maybe disproportionatley from the minority community, and maybe more than a few elderly people whose timely or untimely expirations came as a surprise to no one. From the baby Jesus's point of view, it was nothing more and nothing less than the usual low hanging fruit. Easy pickings as they say in the business.
The last thing I'm wanting to know as I sit here is whether or nor Chris Cuomo, the Governor's brother who has the disease, is taking the drug Hydroxychloroquine as part of his regimen to get through it all. Wouldn't it be rich if after criticizing and even ridiculing Trump for telling everyone and anyone who would listen that this longstanding malaria drug showed promise and that he would take it himself, Cuomo takes the drug that Trump touted and it saves his miserable life. He'd never admit it. He just wouldn't.
Covid-19 Bunker Notebook
03/04/20 09:00
I bit the bullet and put my face mask on when I went food shopping this morning. It wasn't too bad but my glasses kept fogging up so I'll need to find a work-around for that. This should come as no surprise but I was not the only one in the market wearing a mask.
Some people struggled with pulling their scarves up around their face far enough to make a difference and I saw quite a few people wearing hooded coats with their hoods up. Not sure what they were trying to accomplish. That probably had more to do with hair stylists not being an essential business than anything else.
I felt like a privileged and protected shopper maybe even more than the others who had less effective masks and face coverings. When I passed by someone with a comparable mask or face covering I wanted to compliment them but thought better of it when they averted their eyes or just ignored me altogether as we passed by each other like ships in the night.
You didn't want to say anything because you knew if they were wearing a face mask that they were probably well aware of the dangers involved in the simple and uncomplicated act of exhaling. It didn't matter that the mask might filter out some of the exhaled droplets containing the coronavirus. If even one of the wayward droplets escaped and found a receptive mucous membrane within 10 to 20 feet then all bets were off.
Social niceties will have to wait until this pandemic dies out. Social distancing is in and social niceties are out. By then the masks will be a distant memory and we'll all go back to the mindless act of food shopping without so much as a passing interest in the garb worn by our fellow shoppers.
I wondered too whether or not if those people not wearing masks wished they had worn masks. I wondered if they felt more susceptible and consequently more panicked during the short time they spent in the store. It seemed to me that there wasn't one person in the store with or without a mask that didn't want to get in and out of that store as quickly as possible.
Mrs G mentioned last night that she left her unit in her independent living facility just long enough to go check her mail in the mailroom. In the course of her travels she encountered another resident. Mrs G didn't mention anything about pleasantries being exchanged but she did say that the woman gave her a wide berth as she passed her in the hallway. Wide enough you might say to allow her to pass without violating the social distancing rules we all live by these days.
Mrs G didn't use the word "leper" but she didn't have to. The whole experience left her feeling diseased and distressed and at a time when she might have otherwise expected a little more camraderie from a fellow traveler in her building. These are my words, not hers. The folks in that joint must be scared out of their bloody wits hearing what they hear and watching what they watch on the news coming out of the main street media these days.
Imagine being elderly and not having your wits about you to begin with and then adding this whole pandemic thing on top of your usual irrational concerns. It would be a bridge too far. It might even account for behaviors of people the likes of whom Mrs G ran into on her way to the mailroom. Mrs G thankfully does have her wits about her and I think maybe laughed it off at the end of the day.
That said, it sounds like it might have been the first time the whole social distancing thing became "real" for her. Her chickens have come home to roost as they say. I think my chickens came home to roost when I put on that mask yesterday before going into the store to do my food shopping.
The whole proximity thing is impossible to work out in the already narrow aisles of the supermarket so you hold your breath, quicken your pace, push your cart more deliberately, and beat a path past your fellow shopper as quickly as you can when you see them coming or when you find yourself aside someone poring over the same items you are interested in. They are without a doubt hoping that you move on and you're hoping much the same for them.
Speaking of paying close or rapt attention to the main street media, I'm tuned in to just about everything I can tune into these days. I like to be informed. Facts don't scare me. Not having the facts is more frightening. I take comfort in numbers especially when they break in the right direction for my state or county. For example, we have but 7 deaths so far here in New Hampshire as a result of this viral scourge. The state is not even close to full capacity when it comes to beds utilized by coronavirus patients or ICU beds engaged by same.
So far, so good. Projections are that my State will have some 300 deaths by the time it's all over and that seems reasonable by any standards especially when looking at other viral epidemics like the annual flu. I can live with that. I watch the daily press briefings by President Trump and his team and try to glean any messages nuanced or otherwise that might give me hope or, in a worst case scenario, pause. Will I need to buckle up or buckle down in the days ahead?
I need to be a little careful about crowing too much about how few cases we have and how much capacity we may or may not have even though the numbers are readily available. I've posted comments about rats jumping the proverbial ship as it relates to people with means moving up and out from viral hotspots like NYC. They are flocking to towns, cities, and localities with very few cases of the coronavirus hoping that they can escape being swept up in the horrors that befall those left behind.
My backyard is just such a getaway place so here's hoping we don't get an influx of infected travelers. Our neighboring state of Maine has closed down hotels, motels, and even AirBnB's in some places, to keep those very folks I'm concerned about out of their communities and perhaps more importantly away from their hospital waiting rooms and out of their ICU beds.
Communities that once welcomed out-of-staters with open arms are now telling them to stay away. I'm a little glib when I refer to these leftist strong armed tactics as more befitting of a Venezuelan republic than a democracy but I think a little muscle is just what the doctor ordered when it comes to keeping the proverbial rats from sinking the ship that we belovingly refer to as our own.
I tune into to Governor Cuomo's daily briefing for the State of New York that comes on the television around 11 every day. NYC is the epicenter of this nightmare we find ourselves in and they attribute their being the epicenter to the number of international travelers that move in and out of that city every day not to mention the density of their citizenry.
It is a little misleading to think that what they're experiencing in NYC is what the rest of the country can expect when the virus takes hold but there are also lessons to be learned if you live in a similarly urban city with similar densities, etc.
The bigger question for me is why the networks cover Cuomo at all. Is it their desire for ratings because they think people find Cuomo's constant drivel captivating? Does he implore them to provide the coverage so his whining for ventilators, gowns, masks, etc., message can be carried nationwide guaranteeing perhaps more bang for the buck? Maybe Cuomo thinks that he can shame President Trump into providing more of this and more of that from the national stockpiles than Trump might otherwise provide.
And then there are those, and I am one of them, who think that Cuomo is trying to raise his national profile because he thinks that his Democrat party will turn to him when making their nomination this summer for their candidate for the presidency. Cuomo will be their knight in shining armor who saves the day when Biden collapses coming down the final stretch over the course of the summer leading to election day in November.
If I've said it once I've said it a thousand times. Joe Biden can't remember what he had for breakfast. I wish the democrats would stop pretending that he is a viable candidate for the presidency. He just isn't. They don't have a candidate that can beat Trump and Cuomo is not going save their sorry asses when all is said and done. Trump has a war to win against the virus and an economy to jump start but when it's all over there isn't a person alive who can even come close to beating him.
I'm getting a little long winded here but I have a couple more things to say before calling it a wrap. We got take-out from Buffalo Wild Wings in Portsmouth last evening. Nancy and I took a drive a little after 5 with no particular destination in mind and ended up at BWW after considering other take-out places where we or Evan might find something suitable for dinner.
Evan chose not to join us for the ride but we suspected that he might weigh in one way or another when we offered to pick something up and that is precisely what happened. And, as is his custom, he called us in the car when we were on the way home with his usual question, "where are you guys"?
Nancy's taco's turned out to be a bit too spicy, Evan's boneless chicken wings were definitely too spicy for him, and my bacon cheeseburger was just right. I had too many french fries with my burger, Evan had too few, and Nancy couldn't get enough. From a nutritional standpoint, my meal eat at least was a handful of fat globules short of a coronary. I take little comfort in eating that sort of thing under normal circumstances but comforting it was in these trying times.
Evan seemed to enjoy his meal but I thought he had an odd reaction to the food he was eating. He typically likes spicier food so when he drank glassful after glassful of water to quench what must have been the spiciness of his boneless chicken wings I just thought it unusual. His brow was spotting up with perspiration by the time dinner was largely over and I made some offhanded Covid-19 joke and may have asked him if he minded if we took his temperature. Or, did I ask Nancy if she knew where we kept the thermometer?
As I sit here now wanting to wrap this up, I have to ask myself the question "did we hear him get up to use the bathroom last night?" He hasn't been up since I got up around 5am and that's a bit odd. You would think with all the water he drank that he might be up, well, frequently. Was he having an allergic reaction to something he was eating last evening and we didn't realize it? What other telltale indications did we miss or did he have that went unannounced? Do I knock on his door now? Let's just say that I will feel relieved when I hear him getting up and going about his usual morning routine. Until then, not so much.
Some people struggled with pulling their scarves up around their face far enough to make a difference and I saw quite a few people wearing hooded coats with their hoods up. Not sure what they were trying to accomplish. That probably had more to do with hair stylists not being an essential business than anything else.
I felt like a privileged and protected shopper maybe even more than the others who had less effective masks and face coverings. When I passed by someone with a comparable mask or face covering I wanted to compliment them but thought better of it when they averted their eyes or just ignored me altogether as we passed by each other like ships in the night.
You didn't want to say anything because you knew if they were wearing a face mask that they were probably well aware of the dangers involved in the simple and uncomplicated act of exhaling. It didn't matter that the mask might filter out some of the exhaled droplets containing the coronavirus. If even one of the wayward droplets escaped and found a receptive mucous membrane within 10 to 20 feet then all bets were off.
Social niceties will have to wait until this pandemic dies out. Social distancing is in and social niceties are out. By then the masks will be a distant memory and we'll all go back to the mindless act of food shopping without so much as a passing interest in the garb worn by our fellow shoppers.
I wondered too whether or not if those people not wearing masks wished they had worn masks. I wondered if they felt more susceptible and consequently more panicked during the short time they spent in the store. It seemed to me that there wasn't one person in the store with or without a mask that didn't want to get in and out of that store as quickly as possible.
Mrs G mentioned last night that she left her unit in her independent living facility just long enough to go check her mail in the mailroom. In the course of her travels she encountered another resident. Mrs G didn't mention anything about pleasantries being exchanged but she did say that the woman gave her a wide berth as she passed her in the hallway. Wide enough you might say to allow her to pass without violating the social distancing rules we all live by these days.
Mrs G didn't use the word "leper" but she didn't have to. The whole experience left her feeling diseased and distressed and at a time when she might have otherwise expected a little more camraderie from a fellow traveler in her building. These are my words, not hers. The folks in that joint must be scared out of their bloody wits hearing what they hear and watching what they watch on the news coming out of the main street media these days.
Imagine being elderly and not having your wits about you to begin with and then adding this whole pandemic thing on top of your usual irrational concerns. It would be a bridge too far. It might even account for behaviors of people the likes of whom Mrs G ran into on her way to the mailroom. Mrs G thankfully does have her wits about her and I think maybe laughed it off at the end of the day.
That said, it sounds like it might have been the first time the whole social distancing thing became "real" for her. Her chickens have come home to roost as they say. I think my chickens came home to roost when I put on that mask yesterday before going into the store to do my food shopping.
The whole proximity thing is impossible to work out in the already narrow aisles of the supermarket so you hold your breath, quicken your pace, push your cart more deliberately, and beat a path past your fellow shopper as quickly as you can when you see them coming or when you find yourself aside someone poring over the same items you are interested in. They are without a doubt hoping that you move on and you're hoping much the same for them.
Speaking of paying close or rapt attention to the main street media, I'm tuned in to just about everything I can tune into these days. I like to be informed. Facts don't scare me. Not having the facts is more frightening. I take comfort in numbers especially when they break in the right direction for my state or county. For example, we have but 7 deaths so far here in New Hampshire as a result of this viral scourge. The state is not even close to full capacity when it comes to beds utilized by coronavirus patients or ICU beds engaged by same.
So far, so good. Projections are that my State will have some 300 deaths by the time it's all over and that seems reasonable by any standards especially when looking at other viral epidemics like the annual flu. I can live with that. I watch the daily press briefings by President Trump and his team and try to glean any messages nuanced or otherwise that might give me hope or, in a worst case scenario, pause. Will I need to buckle up or buckle down in the days ahead?
I need to be a little careful about crowing too much about how few cases we have and how much capacity we may or may not have even though the numbers are readily available. I've posted comments about rats jumping the proverbial ship as it relates to people with means moving up and out from viral hotspots like NYC. They are flocking to towns, cities, and localities with very few cases of the coronavirus hoping that they can escape being swept up in the horrors that befall those left behind.
My backyard is just such a getaway place so here's hoping we don't get an influx of infected travelers. Our neighboring state of Maine has closed down hotels, motels, and even AirBnB's in some places, to keep those very folks I'm concerned about out of their communities and perhaps more importantly away from their hospital waiting rooms and out of their ICU beds.
Communities that once welcomed out-of-staters with open arms are now telling them to stay away. I'm a little glib when I refer to these leftist strong armed tactics as more befitting of a Venezuelan republic than a democracy but I think a little muscle is just what the doctor ordered when it comes to keeping the proverbial rats from sinking the ship that we belovingly refer to as our own.
I tune into to Governor Cuomo's daily briefing for the State of New York that comes on the television around 11 every day. NYC is the epicenter of this nightmare we find ourselves in and they attribute their being the epicenter to the number of international travelers that move in and out of that city every day not to mention the density of their citizenry.
It is a little misleading to think that what they're experiencing in NYC is what the rest of the country can expect when the virus takes hold but there are also lessons to be learned if you live in a similarly urban city with similar densities, etc.
The bigger question for me is why the networks cover Cuomo at all. Is it their desire for ratings because they think people find Cuomo's constant drivel captivating? Does he implore them to provide the coverage so his whining for ventilators, gowns, masks, etc., message can be carried nationwide guaranteeing perhaps more bang for the buck? Maybe Cuomo thinks that he can shame President Trump into providing more of this and more of that from the national stockpiles than Trump might otherwise provide.
And then there are those, and I am one of them, who think that Cuomo is trying to raise his national profile because he thinks that his Democrat party will turn to him when making their nomination this summer for their candidate for the presidency. Cuomo will be their knight in shining armor who saves the day when Biden collapses coming down the final stretch over the course of the summer leading to election day in November.
If I've said it once I've said it a thousand times. Joe Biden can't remember what he had for breakfast. I wish the democrats would stop pretending that he is a viable candidate for the presidency. He just isn't. They don't have a candidate that can beat Trump and Cuomo is not going save their sorry asses when all is said and done. Trump has a war to win against the virus and an economy to jump start but when it's all over there isn't a person alive who can even come close to beating him.
I'm getting a little long winded here but I have a couple more things to say before calling it a wrap. We got take-out from Buffalo Wild Wings in Portsmouth last evening. Nancy and I took a drive a little after 5 with no particular destination in mind and ended up at BWW after considering other take-out places where we or Evan might find something suitable for dinner.
Evan chose not to join us for the ride but we suspected that he might weigh in one way or another when we offered to pick something up and that is precisely what happened. And, as is his custom, he called us in the car when we were on the way home with his usual question, "where are you guys"?
Nancy's taco's turned out to be a bit too spicy, Evan's boneless chicken wings were definitely too spicy for him, and my bacon cheeseburger was just right. I had too many french fries with my burger, Evan had too few, and Nancy couldn't get enough. From a nutritional standpoint, my meal eat at least was a handful of fat globules short of a coronary. I take little comfort in eating that sort of thing under normal circumstances but comforting it was in these trying times.
Evan seemed to enjoy his meal but I thought he had an odd reaction to the food he was eating. He typically likes spicier food so when he drank glassful after glassful of water to quench what must have been the spiciness of his boneless chicken wings I just thought it unusual. His brow was spotting up with perspiration by the time dinner was largely over and I made some offhanded Covid-19 joke and may have asked him if he minded if we took his temperature. Or, did I ask Nancy if she knew where we kept the thermometer?
As I sit here now wanting to wrap this up, I have to ask myself the question "did we hear him get up to use the bathroom last night?" He hasn't been up since I got up around 5am and that's a bit odd. You would think with all the water he drank that he might be up, well, frequently. Was he having an allergic reaction to something he was eating last evening and we didn't realize it? What other telltale indications did we miss or did he have that went unannounced? Do I knock on his door now? Let's just say that I will feel relieved when I hear him getting up and going about his usual morning routine. Until then, not so much.
Looking for That Silver Lining
02/04/20 07:30
Good morning, world! Where are we this morning? How many more people have died of this coronavirus thing worldwide? Can you think of a worse way to start the fucking day? Where and who do we turn to for relief of any kind? You won't find it on the television. That's panic city 24-7. I'll probably tune into my usual radio talk shows at least at the start to see if I can gauge a tenor one way or the other as to what is going to drive the news cycle today.
Maybe I can lean on a pleasant distraction of some kind to get me through the day. I just don't know what that would be. I'd like to think that my darling wife might provide some comic relief but that is unlikely given that she thinks that the apocalypse is now upon us. She was in tears last night for no apparent reason although she made some reference to having read a disturbing account of this or that in one or more liberal rags she looks at every day.
"You've got to stop looking at that shit", I told her. They are all about telling you how the world is coming to an end and how Trump caused it all by not doing something soon enough when the rest of the world saw it coming and took what little measures that they thought we appropriate to save lives. I can't even go for a drive with Nancy these days without her insisting that we not listen to the news on the radio.
Like I said, we need a little more sunshine with our apocalypse. A shimmer of hope, a sliver of optimism, a silver lining on which to hang our hats, a bright light at the end of the tunnel. Maybe it's a drug that they haven't found yet, an old drug that is effective in combating this new virus, a toxic but effective cocktail that intubated patients can take intravenously, a politician who tells us that they've found a medication and there are enough doses to go around, or maybe just a priest with a promise of everlasting love from the big guy up there.
Just when you think that having each other is enough you find out that it isn't. What do you do then? You can't help someone be strong if they don't have it in them from the start. Maybe this is where I put on my Superman cape and swoop in with muscles bulging to rescue my damsel in distress. Do I have it in me to even start down that road? I need to fucking man-up and the time is now. Hoo-rah!
Lest I get too carried away with all of this self-analysis I have to admit that a lot of what were feeling might be due to Nancy now being home all the time. She no longer goes into work and I'm not accustomed to having her around all the time so I'm adjusting too. She is by her own admission a "worker bee" and does best when she has a treadmill to get on every day. A hamster cage might be a more appropriate description. When you take away the cage, the hamster becomes disoriented, disillusioned, and it just doesn't end well.
I noticed that Nancy slept in yesterday morning and she got out of bed later than usual. She warned me last night that she would likely do the same this morning as she had nothing in particular that would have her get out of bed any earlier. That is the very definition of depression. It's a rainy, damp, and very raw early Spring morning here on the seacoast so I would hope she is turning over, looking out the window by the bed into the misty murkiness, and just turning over and pulling the covers over her head for all the right reasons.
The latest from Mrs G over at Riverwoods is that they are discontinuing their once-a-month housekeeping services. What else did she tell us last night? Oh, right. They are also no longer providing transportation to the local supermarket for residents who want to do a little grocery shopping for items not available in the stores within the confines of the independent living facility. Like I said in an earlier post of mine: Her small world keeps getting smaller. We can't even drive by and wave to her from the roadway outside her first floor unit.
There are just too many stories about nursing homes and other facilities nationwide where the virus got in somehow and took its toll on the residents leaving death and destruction in its wake. There are only so many precautions that you can take but at the end of the day it only takes one instance of the virus taking hold to do the damage that it is want to do.
But Mrs G is surprisingly chipper in the face of it all although I can't be sure if the happy face we're hearing is for the benefit of her children while she suffers silently in abject terror of what this all may mean. Maybe more to the point, she has likely endured far worse more in her near ninety years so maybe we shouldn't be worried about her state of mind. I think what we're hearing is true and we should take what we can from those conversations the things that we want and need to hear that are in and of themselves reassuring and maybe even a little inspiring.
I told Nancy that there wasn't any reason why we couldn't do some shopping for her if necessary and we could just drop her groceries off at the entrance to the facility. We could but should we is the question. Is it worth putting our lives at risk so Mrs G can have her favorite bottle of wine or her favorite loaf of bread? Would she want to see us putting ourselves in harms way for these unnecessary niceties?
She did not seem to be too concerned as she discussed same so it left me wondering if she wasn't somehow missing the bigger picture. Living in confined quarters as she does, and no longer listening to the news of the day hour in and hour out, you can see how insulating yourself from the outside word can color your view of things. So much so, in fact, that reaching otherwise reasonable conclusions once armed with the facts is no longer possible.
You want that sort of isolation for your loved ones in a time of crisis but it cannot come at a cost to your own personal health and well being. There may be alternatives worth considering such as grocery delivery or ordering and picking without going into the store where every passerby is a potential vector of transmission. You don't know who is and who is not shedding the virus at any given moment so the very act of stepping off your front porch and into the fray can trigger a cornucopia of potentially dire and deadly consequences.
Maybe we'll take a drive today to points north where the incidence of the virus is less than were we to travel south to the state of Massachusetts. When the incidence of the virus is determined by the number of tests taken, maybe we're taking unnecessary risks when we assume what we assume. Maybe the state of Maine just tests fewer people or has fewer tests which would invariably produce fewer positive test results. Should we invite Evan? He might enjoy getting out of town as well.
Did I mention that yesterday was Evan's one-year anniversary at his place in Exeter? Nancy thinks that he was a little dissapointed that we didn't do more to celebrate the anniversary. Maybe she could have made a cake for the family. Maybe we could have bought him a little something. It isn't like Nancy not to think of that sort of thing so that should tell us something about her state of mind these days.
Nancy noticed something about Sirius radio and their offer of six weeks of free streaming to anyone interested. Well, that was just the bees knees as far as Evan was concerned. He signed on, signed up, and that boy was off and running. I maybe underestimated just how much he would have liked the streaming on his phone but got up to speed pretty quickly once I saw how he methodically and purposefully moved through the steps required to make it all happen. It's a reminder to all of us just how capable he is just when you think he isn't.
One little virus related story which I found interesting was about the two cruise ships sitting off the coast of Florida that Florida didn't want docking in Florida because they had Covid-19 patients aboard. Just how many they didn't know but it was one too many as far as the governor of Florida was concerned. He had enough on his hands to manage the crisis as it was not to mention the additional burden that the hospitals might face with god only knows how many patients from the boat walking assisted or unassisted into the emergency rooms in Southern Florida.
To make matters worse, many of the patients on board the cruise ships were American citizens so you would think they would be accommodated no matter what. You would be wrong. The governors allegiance ends at the states shores or so it seems and I would wholeheartedly agree with that position. When you have limited resources to begin with you do what you can for those in your immediate care and not a person more. Fuck em. If they want go on a cruise that's fine. Just don't expect any special treatment once you get off that gangplank assuming you're allowed to get off that gangplank.
The same goes for the illegal aliens who are pissing and moaning that they are not going to be getting one of the $1,200 checks that will be going out to every American citizen as a result of this pandemic in which we find ourselves mired. Fuck em. Trump was asked why that was the case at last night's presser by one of the leftist stooges in the press and he said something about putting "Americans" first. Goddamn right. That is precisely why we hired this man to be our president. If they didn't understand what he meant when he talked about "America First", they surely do now.
I do think cooler heads will prevail in the cruise ship situation. They will find a way to accommodate at a minimum the American citizens for better or worse. Trump was on the phone to DeSantis and they were trying to work it all out. When Trump gets involved things tend to work out for the better so when it comes to those ailing and not ailing aboard the cruise ships I say the following: Godspeed.
Maybe I can lean on a pleasant distraction of some kind to get me through the day. I just don't know what that would be. I'd like to think that my darling wife might provide some comic relief but that is unlikely given that she thinks that the apocalypse is now upon us. She was in tears last night for no apparent reason although she made some reference to having read a disturbing account of this or that in one or more liberal rags she looks at every day.
"You've got to stop looking at that shit", I told her. They are all about telling you how the world is coming to an end and how Trump caused it all by not doing something soon enough when the rest of the world saw it coming and took what little measures that they thought we appropriate to save lives. I can't even go for a drive with Nancy these days without her insisting that we not listen to the news on the radio.
Like I said, we need a little more sunshine with our apocalypse. A shimmer of hope, a sliver of optimism, a silver lining on which to hang our hats, a bright light at the end of the tunnel. Maybe it's a drug that they haven't found yet, an old drug that is effective in combating this new virus, a toxic but effective cocktail that intubated patients can take intravenously, a politician who tells us that they've found a medication and there are enough doses to go around, or maybe just a priest with a promise of everlasting love from the big guy up there.
Just when you think that having each other is enough you find out that it isn't. What do you do then? You can't help someone be strong if they don't have it in them from the start. Maybe this is where I put on my Superman cape and swoop in with muscles bulging to rescue my damsel in distress. Do I have it in me to even start down that road? I need to fucking man-up and the time is now. Hoo-rah!
Lest I get too carried away with all of this self-analysis I have to admit that a lot of what were feeling might be due to Nancy now being home all the time. She no longer goes into work and I'm not accustomed to having her around all the time so I'm adjusting too. She is by her own admission a "worker bee" and does best when she has a treadmill to get on every day. A hamster cage might be a more appropriate description. When you take away the cage, the hamster becomes disoriented, disillusioned, and it just doesn't end well.
I noticed that Nancy slept in yesterday morning and she got out of bed later than usual. She warned me last night that she would likely do the same this morning as she had nothing in particular that would have her get out of bed any earlier. That is the very definition of depression. It's a rainy, damp, and very raw early Spring morning here on the seacoast so I would hope she is turning over, looking out the window by the bed into the misty murkiness, and just turning over and pulling the covers over her head for all the right reasons.
The latest from Mrs G over at Riverwoods is that they are discontinuing their once-a-month housekeeping services. What else did she tell us last night? Oh, right. They are also no longer providing transportation to the local supermarket for residents who want to do a little grocery shopping for items not available in the stores within the confines of the independent living facility. Like I said in an earlier post of mine: Her small world keeps getting smaller. We can't even drive by and wave to her from the roadway outside her first floor unit.
There are just too many stories about nursing homes and other facilities nationwide where the virus got in somehow and took its toll on the residents leaving death and destruction in its wake. There are only so many precautions that you can take but at the end of the day it only takes one instance of the virus taking hold to do the damage that it is want to do.
But Mrs G is surprisingly chipper in the face of it all although I can't be sure if the happy face we're hearing is for the benefit of her children while she suffers silently in abject terror of what this all may mean. Maybe more to the point, she has likely endured far worse more in her near ninety years so maybe we shouldn't be worried about her state of mind. I think what we're hearing is true and we should take what we can from those conversations the things that we want and need to hear that are in and of themselves reassuring and maybe even a little inspiring.
I told Nancy that there wasn't any reason why we couldn't do some shopping for her if necessary and we could just drop her groceries off at the entrance to the facility. We could but should we is the question. Is it worth putting our lives at risk so Mrs G can have her favorite bottle of wine or her favorite loaf of bread? Would she want to see us putting ourselves in harms way for these unnecessary niceties?
She did not seem to be too concerned as she discussed same so it left me wondering if she wasn't somehow missing the bigger picture. Living in confined quarters as she does, and no longer listening to the news of the day hour in and hour out, you can see how insulating yourself from the outside word can color your view of things. So much so, in fact, that reaching otherwise reasonable conclusions once armed with the facts is no longer possible.
You want that sort of isolation for your loved ones in a time of crisis but it cannot come at a cost to your own personal health and well being. There may be alternatives worth considering such as grocery delivery or ordering and picking without going into the store where every passerby is a potential vector of transmission. You don't know who is and who is not shedding the virus at any given moment so the very act of stepping off your front porch and into the fray can trigger a cornucopia of potentially dire and deadly consequences.
Maybe we'll take a drive today to points north where the incidence of the virus is less than were we to travel south to the state of Massachusetts. When the incidence of the virus is determined by the number of tests taken, maybe we're taking unnecessary risks when we assume what we assume. Maybe the state of Maine just tests fewer people or has fewer tests which would invariably produce fewer positive test results. Should we invite Evan? He might enjoy getting out of town as well.
Did I mention that yesterday was Evan's one-year anniversary at his place in Exeter? Nancy thinks that he was a little dissapointed that we didn't do more to celebrate the anniversary. Maybe she could have made a cake for the family. Maybe we could have bought him a little something. It isn't like Nancy not to think of that sort of thing so that should tell us something about her state of mind these days.
Nancy noticed something about Sirius radio and their offer of six weeks of free streaming to anyone interested. Well, that was just the bees knees as far as Evan was concerned. He signed on, signed up, and that boy was off and running. I maybe underestimated just how much he would have liked the streaming on his phone but got up to speed pretty quickly once I saw how he methodically and purposefully moved through the steps required to make it all happen. It's a reminder to all of us just how capable he is just when you think he isn't.
One little virus related story which I found interesting was about the two cruise ships sitting off the coast of Florida that Florida didn't want docking in Florida because they had Covid-19 patients aboard. Just how many they didn't know but it was one too many as far as the governor of Florida was concerned. He had enough on his hands to manage the crisis as it was not to mention the additional burden that the hospitals might face with god only knows how many patients from the boat walking assisted or unassisted into the emergency rooms in Southern Florida.
To make matters worse, many of the patients on board the cruise ships were American citizens so you would think they would be accommodated no matter what. You would be wrong. The governors allegiance ends at the states shores or so it seems and I would wholeheartedly agree with that position. When you have limited resources to begin with you do what you can for those in your immediate care and not a person more. Fuck em. If they want go on a cruise that's fine. Just don't expect any special treatment once you get off that gangplank assuming you're allowed to get off that gangplank.
The same goes for the illegal aliens who are pissing and moaning that they are not going to be getting one of the $1,200 checks that will be going out to every American citizen as a result of this pandemic in which we find ourselves mired. Fuck em. Trump was asked why that was the case at last night's presser by one of the leftist stooges in the press and he said something about putting "Americans" first. Goddamn right. That is precisely why we hired this man to be our president. If they didn't understand what he meant when he talked about "America First", they surely do now.
I do think cooler heads will prevail in the cruise ship situation. They will find a way to accommodate at a minimum the American citizens for better or worse. Trump was on the phone to DeSantis and they were trying to work it all out. When Trump gets involved things tend to work out for the better so when it comes to those ailing and not ailing aboard the cruise ships I say the following: Godspeed.
Holding Down the Fort
31/03/20 07:06
I've been debating with myself over whether or not to wear a mask when I'm out and about. It's not a vanity thing really but rather getting used to the idea is where it all falls apart. In theory, I'm protecting myself against people who are coughing, sneezing, and hacking upwind from me where the particulates hang in the air just long enough so that I take them in with every breath I take. Is that even possible? Can I get the coronavirus that way? I think they just don't know.
I feel infinitely more vulnerable when I'm on my bike passing runners, bikers, etc where an infected person might pass along that infectious agent with every breath they expel. Is it windy enough that the germs might be carried away from me with a gust here or there? Or, will the wind suddenly change direction and put me in the direct path of the pathogen? I often hold my breath for untenable periods before and after I encounter others on the road and that carries its own dangers.
I'm wanting to go into the local Walmart today to buy a razor since I gave my razor, or should I say trimmer, to Evan the other day. He had a scruffy bit of hair growing on his chin and on his upper lip which I think he wasn't quite sure on how to rid himself of so I recommended using the trimmer I had on hand and it worked like a charm. I need to replace that now that I've given him my trimmer and Walmart carries them in stock.
Now that more and more people are staying at home due to the viral bullshit going round and round, I have to wonder if they might be out of stock. If everyone is home including the kids, and the barbers and hairstylists are offline until this thing blows over, then their stock of these trimmers might well be depleted. Do I go in early to avoid the crowds? Is it more crowded early on because everyone has the same idea as I do? Do I risk getting the virus because I want to be well shaven or trimmed up in all the obvious places?
I've been adjusting slowly but surely to having Nancy be home day in and day out and I think I'm slowly but surely getting around to doing what I always did before she spent two days of her week at work and away from home. Normalcy is good. You can take comfort in normalcy. But it's not the same, is it?
We do different things at different times and doing things for the benefit of each other when you haven't had to do that over time can be challenging. Not that you don't want to, mind you, but the laws of normal give and take have to be recalibrated and that's just the way it is. And none of us were prepared for this pandemic one way or another. We didn't have time to plan and we had even less time to think about what was coming. Now that it's here and knowing what we know about the pandemic getting worse before it gets better we're taking it day by day.
I think there are around 300 cases or so of people suffering from the coronavirus here in New Hampshire as of today. Three people have died and roughly 15% of the people testing positive end up being hospitalized. I'm guessing the hospitializations have a lot to do with the elderly and to a lesser extent certain underlying conditions. We hear nothing about the health or age profiles of those hospitalized and that is a failing in my mind. How are we supposed to take comfort in anything unless we have the facts about this dreadful disease?
This sort of thing always happens to the other guy. Right? Is there anyone in our household with an underlying condition that might qualify as a candidate for this virus? I don't think we want to know. If there was a home test I would likely take it so we could adjust this or that in what we do day in and day out. If positive, I would try to shake off and power through the aches and pains and I would only go to the hospital if my breathing became too labored. At some point I suppose you get a bit panicky so there's that.
My affairs are in order so I'm not concerned about my body sitting around in a refrigerated truck until I'm either interred or cremated. That's plan B just so you know. Nancy heard through the grapevine that the attorney's hereabouts were all busy these days and asked if knew why that might be the case. Doctors on the front lines in this battle are keeping them busy updating their wills and that is just a little frightening to say the least. Is that really necessary when we have a reported mortality rate around one percent for this disease?
President Trump spoke in no uncertain terms in yesterdays press conference. He made certain references to refrigerated trailer trucks backing up to Elmhurst hospital in New York City in order to accommodate the bodies of those who had died that day. If it was his intent to scare the hell out of everyone and to see to it that the populace stay inside and take the necessary precautions when out-of-doors he certainly did that in spades.
His people had the graphs and charts out showing that if the appropriate mitigation techniques were employed we might see between 100,000 and 200,000 deaths here in the United States. They hoped it didn't reach those levels but those numbers were in the realm of possibility.
I'm taking some comfort in the fact that we don't live in an urban jungle the likes of NYC and that our chances for survival are better here than there wherever that is. You have to start somewhere, right? You just can't wake up every day wondering if today is the day you are going to contract the virus and face a certain death when all is said and done.
I'm following the news more closely these days than I otherwise would not because I have a fascination with death but rather because it's like watching a train wreck. You can't take your eyes off it for a minute. Nancy wants no part of it. It's all music all the time for Nancy. Don't you want to hear Cuomo's press conference so you know what's going on in the epicenter of this raging disease? Don't you want to hear Dr Fauci's soothing message to the country? What are we to make of this wonder drug, Hydroxychloroquine? Don't you want to hear about how clinical trials are going? Nope, nope, and nope.
In Nancy's nightly conversation with her mom last evening Mrs G mentioned that she received a card from someone in the last day or two and it really helped to lift her spirits. The minute I heard her speak those words I knew precisely what she meant and I thought to myself that sending along cards here and there might be a nice idea in addition to the phone calls we're already making.
I'm not a big card guy but desperate times call for desperate measures. I also told Nancy we need to get on the stick and finish the e-mail to our pathologist friend that we've started but have yet to finish. There's not a moment to waste in the midst of this pandemic when she is in the thick of it all. Let's git er done.
Evan left the house here yesterday morning and told us that he would likely be back later in the day. He thought he might stop at his home in Exeter for a while just for a change of scenery and that was fine. As day turned into night and there was no sign or word from him Nancy began to fret. She doesn't like it when she doesn't hear from him especially when he knows we're wanting to hear from him and that is what we all discussed ahead of time. Where could he be at this late hour? Why hasn't he texted us? Should I call him? Should I text him?
"He's not 12 years-old anymore for chrissakes", I reminded her. So I was content to go to sleep without knowing where he was or what he might otherwise be up to. Not that it would give me any comfort to know that he was in close quarters with people who might be infected and that he might bring that on home to us the next time he visits.
But he texted me a little after 1am and woke me from a sound sleep and said he was coming home. I responded with an "ok" and I figured he was on his way. I imagined that the streets were silent at that hour of the morning and I hoped that he wasn't attracting the wrong kind of attention between there and here. Please god, don't let him get pulled over and detained for one reason or another. I stayed awake with one eye open until I heard the door in the kitchen closing and I heard his bed creak when he laid down for the night. Parents take comfort in sounds.
And this morning he tells me that he missed an appointment yesterday so there's that. He was quick to add that this is a day of celebration for him with it being one year since he moved into his own place and all. Not that we didn't think he wouldn't make it this far but we didn't think he would make in this far. Well, maybe a small part of us didn't think that way. Nonetheless, he's feeling good about it so we're feeling good about it. As to how precisely we'll celebrate I don't know. One thing I do know for sure. We should have bought him a card.
I feel infinitely more vulnerable when I'm on my bike passing runners, bikers, etc where an infected person might pass along that infectious agent with every breath they expel. Is it windy enough that the germs might be carried away from me with a gust here or there? Or, will the wind suddenly change direction and put me in the direct path of the pathogen? I often hold my breath for untenable periods before and after I encounter others on the road and that carries its own dangers.
I'm wanting to go into the local Walmart today to buy a razor since I gave my razor, or should I say trimmer, to Evan the other day. He had a scruffy bit of hair growing on his chin and on his upper lip which I think he wasn't quite sure on how to rid himself of so I recommended using the trimmer I had on hand and it worked like a charm. I need to replace that now that I've given him my trimmer and Walmart carries them in stock.
Now that more and more people are staying at home due to the viral bullshit going round and round, I have to wonder if they might be out of stock. If everyone is home including the kids, and the barbers and hairstylists are offline until this thing blows over, then their stock of these trimmers might well be depleted. Do I go in early to avoid the crowds? Is it more crowded early on because everyone has the same idea as I do? Do I risk getting the virus because I want to be well shaven or trimmed up in all the obvious places?
I've been adjusting slowly but surely to having Nancy be home day in and day out and I think I'm slowly but surely getting around to doing what I always did before she spent two days of her week at work and away from home. Normalcy is good. You can take comfort in normalcy. But it's not the same, is it?
We do different things at different times and doing things for the benefit of each other when you haven't had to do that over time can be challenging. Not that you don't want to, mind you, but the laws of normal give and take have to be recalibrated and that's just the way it is. And none of us were prepared for this pandemic one way or another. We didn't have time to plan and we had even less time to think about what was coming. Now that it's here and knowing what we know about the pandemic getting worse before it gets better we're taking it day by day.
I think there are around 300 cases or so of people suffering from the coronavirus here in New Hampshire as of today. Three people have died and roughly 15% of the people testing positive end up being hospitalized. I'm guessing the hospitializations have a lot to do with the elderly and to a lesser extent certain underlying conditions. We hear nothing about the health or age profiles of those hospitalized and that is a failing in my mind. How are we supposed to take comfort in anything unless we have the facts about this dreadful disease?
This sort of thing always happens to the other guy. Right? Is there anyone in our household with an underlying condition that might qualify as a candidate for this virus? I don't think we want to know. If there was a home test I would likely take it so we could adjust this or that in what we do day in and day out. If positive, I would try to shake off and power through the aches and pains and I would only go to the hospital if my breathing became too labored. At some point I suppose you get a bit panicky so there's that.
My affairs are in order so I'm not concerned about my body sitting around in a refrigerated truck until I'm either interred or cremated. That's plan B just so you know. Nancy heard through the grapevine that the attorney's hereabouts were all busy these days and asked if knew why that might be the case. Doctors on the front lines in this battle are keeping them busy updating their wills and that is just a little frightening to say the least. Is that really necessary when we have a reported mortality rate around one percent for this disease?
President Trump spoke in no uncertain terms in yesterdays press conference. He made certain references to refrigerated trailer trucks backing up to Elmhurst hospital in New York City in order to accommodate the bodies of those who had died that day. If it was his intent to scare the hell out of everyone and to see to it that the populace stay inside and take the necessary precautions when out-of-doors he certainly did that in spades.
His people had the graphs and charts out showing that if the appropriate mitigation techniques were employed we might see between 100,000 and 200,000 deaths here in the United States. They hoped it didn't reach those levels but those numbers were in the realm of possibility.
I'm taking some comfort in the fact that we don't live in an urban jungle the likes of NYC and that our chances for survival are better here than there wherever that is. You have to start somewhere, right? You just can't wake up every day wondering if today is the day you are going to contract the virus and face a certain death when all is said and done.
I'm following the news more closely these days than I otherwise would not because I have a fascination with death but rather because it's like watching a train wreck. You can't take your eyes off it for a minute. Nancy wants no part of it. It's all music all the time for Nancy. Don't you want to hear Cuomo's press conference so you know what's going on in the epicenter of this raging disease? Don't you want to hear Dr Fauci's soothing message to the country? What are we to make of this wonder drug, Hydroxychloroquine? Don't you want to hear about how clinical trials are going? Nope, nope, and nope.
In Nancy's nightly conversation with her mom last evening Mrs G mentioned that she received a card from someone in the last day or two and it really helped to lift her spirits. The minute I heard her speak those words I knew precisely what she meant and I thought to myself that sending along cards here and there might be a nice idea in addition to the phone calls we're already making.
I'm not a big card guy but desperate times call for desperate measures. I also told Nancy we need to get on the stick and finish the e-mail to our pathologist friend that we've started but have yet to finish. There's not a moment to waste in the midst of this pandemic when she is in the thick of it all. Let's git er done.
Evan left the house here yesterday morning and told us that he would likely be back later in the day. He thought he might stop at his home in Exeter for a while just for a change of scenery and that was fine. As day turned into night and there was no sign or word from him Nancy began to fret. She doesn't like it when she doesn't hear from him especially when he knows we're wanting to hear from him and that is what we all discussed ahead of time. Where could he be at this late hour? Why hasn't he texted us? Should I call him? Should I text him?
"He's not 12 years-old anymore for chrissakes", I reminded her. So I was content to go to sleep without knowing where he was or what he might otherwise be up to. Not that it would give me any comfort to know that he was in close quarters with people who might be infected and that he might bring that on home to us the next time he visits.
But he texted me a little after 1am and woke me from a sound sleep and said he was coming home. I responded with an "ok" and I figured he was on his way. I imagined that the streets were silent at that hour of the morning and I hoped that he wasn't attracting the wrong kind of attention between there and here. Please god, don't let him get pulled over and detained for one reason or another. I stayed awake with one eye open until I heard the door in the kitchen closing and I heard his bed creak when he laid down for the night. Parents take comfort in sounds.
And this morning he tells me that he missed an appointment yesterday so there's that. He was quick to add that this is a day of celebration for him with it being one year since he moved into his own place and all. Not that we didn't think he wouldn't make it this far but we didn't think he would make in this far. Well, maybe a small part of us didn't think that way. Nonetheless, he's feeling good about it so we're feeling good about it. As to how precisely we'll celebrate I don't know. One thing I do know for sure. We should have bought him a card.
Let Them Eat Cake
28/03/20 07:20
The beaches closed here in town last night at midnight. Not that it matters to me since I rarely go to the beach but all the same I can't recall ever having seen this happen before. The beaches were ordered closed for a month as part of a larger effort by the state to stem the tide of the raging Coronavirus. It was not a Shelter in Place order so I'll be getting out on my daily bicycle rides and enjoying the scenery along the way including scenery of the now closed and still pristine beaches.
The whole social distancing issue comes into play of course and the beaches attract large numbers of people this time of year (Spring) including dog walkers and ocean gawkers who mill about without concerning themselves with who or who not might be in close proximity to them.
I suspect that people have been a little more circumspect as of late on the issue of proximity not knowing how virulent the virus is or how easily it spreads. And then there are the choke points along the beach where people come and go from the parking lots.
I'm guessing that the people who will no longer be able to go to the beach will now be driving up and down Ocean Boulevard to see the beach even though walking on the beach is verboten. That will make for a busier Ocean Boulevard which is always a pain in the ass if you are on a bicycle making your way up and down the roadway. There was so much traffic yesterday that I took the backroads home after the first leg of my trip.
I wasn't worried so much about getting hit by a car but I was a little concerned about people passing by with their car windows open and maybe spitting, coughing, or hacking this that or the other thing out the window while I was astride them. I know. I know. You can't make this stuff up. But I'm a sensitive guy and I couldn't wait to elude the craziness of main street for the bucolic and hilly backroads of town before getting back home.
There was a story in the papers this morning about an elderly local couple who were resting comfortably at home and recovering nicely from the flu (coronavirus.) It occurred to me that they probably had access to Hydroxychloroquine in order to facilitate their recovery but that was, perhaps conveniently, not mentioned in the article.
This is the highly touted drug that has shown considerable promise in battling the coronavirus scourge and has been approved by the FDA for compassionate and off label use.
It is also thought to be effective as a prophylactic against contracting the virus and is probably used widely but quietly by the medical professionals fighting on the front lines of this disease. Whether or not you or I have access to this drug if and when the time comes is another story. This may well be one of those "who you know" deals where not knowing someone can kill you.
It would be perhaps irresponsible by the newspapers to highlight a drug that is available and effective but maybe in short supply and creating demand that cannot in the short term at least be satisfied. There may be other interested parties who want stories like this suppressed in order to save what limited quantities of the medication they do have for the protected classes in the community. Maybe you've heard the expression, "let them eat cake."
Class warfare aside, I'd like to know why this drug has not been used more widely and why even one more life has to be lost if it is half as effective as it is said to be. Both China and Italy have lost thousands of patients in this pandemic. If this drug has been around forever and a day and probably more available in China than here in the US then why have they not used it on the front lines in their battle against this scourge? What the fuck? What are they not telling us?
I have to laugh when I think of all the New Yorkers fleeing the city of New York like rats fleeing a sinking ship. These well-to-do pariahs make their way to their summer homes in upstate New York and other places where this virulent flu has yet to appear in any appreciable way.
The clerks in the stores and shops in these faraway places, not accustomed to seeing these familiar faces so early in the season, more than likely cast an uneasy glance their way knowing that they may well be asymptomatic carriers of the virus.
The local constabulary is waiting for them. Waiting to enforce the recommendations of the CDC and, with any luck, minimizing the community spread aspect of this deadly disease by making sure that these well heeled visitors obey the rules and stay put for prescribed 14 day period.
Once their symptoms begin to manifest themselves, and they will, they will show up in local emergency rooms and hospital wards absorbing what they can well ahead of any and all available services that would otherwise accrue to the benefit of the year-round residents.
Their chances of survival are significantly enhanced in a clinical setting where ICU's are not even close to capacity as yet and where ventilators are in steady supply for those in need. These are niceties not afforded to the mainstream New Yorker who is left behind in a city gone silent, who has likely lost his or her job, who lives in an overcrowded and subsidized flat in an East Side high rise in one of the city's four boroughs, and who now face an uncertain future.
These war torn and forlorn residents are looking down the barrel at an eighty percent infection rate or higher and an average 20 days on a ventilator before dying a miserable death from infection or, worse yet, a full and complete pulmonary collapse. The government has built a number of mobile hospitals in and around the four boroughs to accommodate the overflow of patients that are expected to show up as the disease peaks over the next couple of weeks.
Here in New Hampshire cases are on the increase and exponentially so. There have been three deaths to date putting the mortality rate at 1% give or take. I'm reading that the hospitalization rate is roughly 15% which doesn't seem too bad until you consider that the supply of hospital beds will quickly exceed demand as the infection rate increases.
The number of reported cases in my county alone now exceeds 100. It's only a matter of time before I or one or more of my family members cross paths with one of these "vectors of transmission." That's a euphemism of sorts for "rats."
We have a longtime friend and acquaintance who works at a local hospital as a pathologist. I told Nancy that we need to get an e-mail to her sooner rather than later wishing her and her family all the best during these difficult times. We don't know that she will be pressed into service on the floor and taken out of the relative comfort and safety of her laboratory but we think it's likely if things get really bad.
Hospitals coast to coast are clamoring for not only additional masks and gowns and all associated PPE's but any and all medical professionals retired and otherwise who might be willing to join the ranks of their brethren on the front lines of this pandemic. Good luck with that.
And now Trump has issued guidance that we as a nation will keep our current status for another month just to be safe. If we as a nation find ourselves on the downside of that flattening curve a month from now when we open our doors for business that would be preferable to going back to "normal" too soon.
Evan has been staying with us for the past couple of days. He's not articulated any particular fears one way or another when it comes to this pandemic but maybe the fact that he's wanting to stay on for a bit should tell us something.
We have been encouraging him to stay longer so we'll see what happens. We've taken rides around town the last couple of days just to get out of the house and I think Evan has enjoyed those as well. There is very little traffic and driving in and around Portsmouth has been more reminiscent of taking an early morning drive on a Sunday than anything else.
I picked up a couple of loaves of Scali bread for Mrs G yesterday in my trip to the store in Hampton. I don't know for a fact that it is THE Scali bread that Mrs G had in mind since she mentioned Market Basket when making the request. But Scali bread is Scali bread. Right?
I was hoping Nancy would pick up the ball and run with it when her mother put in the request but she was decidedly skittish about going into the stores at all so did not man-up in any appreciable way. But we'll plan to drop the bread along with a couple of bottles of wine and some candy nips over at Riverwood later today for pick-up by her mom.
I think we will be allowed to drive to the entrance of her building and someone will come out to the car to take the items from us. We will not be allowed to get out of the car and that is one of many precautions being taken these days in order to protect the residents of Riverwoods. I've said it before but I think it bears repeating. I don't think Nancy will be able to see her mom for maybe months to come and then some if this pandemic doesn't show signs of petering out one way or another.
Mrs G has been quite clear about matters. She said that if we think it's bad now just wait until they get their first case of the coronavirus on premises. I'm guessing that she and her fellow travelers would be confined to quarters for the foreseeable future without access to the many features that make her independent living facility so attractive.
I suppose it's a small price to pay in order to stay safe in this viral environment we live in these days. And if you have your Scali bread, your bottles of wine, and your candy nips, what else do you need? What else indeed.
The whole social distancing issue comes into play of course and the beaches attract large numbers of people this time of year (Spring) including dog walkers and ocean gawkers who mill about without concerning themselves with who or who not might be in close proximity to them.
I suspect that people have been a little more circumspect as of late on the issue of proximity not knowing how virulent the virus is or how easily it spreads. And then there are the choke points along the beach where people come and go from the parking lots.
I'm guessing that the people who will no longer be able to go to the beach will now be driving up and down Ocean Boulevard to see the beach even though walking on the beach is verboten. That will make for a busier Ocean Boulevard which is always a pain in the ass if you are on a bicycle making your way up and down the roadway. There was so much traffic yesterday that I took the backroads home after the first leg of my trip.
I wasn't worried so much about getting hit by a car but I was a little concerned about people passing by with their car windows open and maybe spitting, coughing, or hacking this that or the other thing out the window while I was astride them. I know. I know. You can't make this stuff up. But I'm a sensitive guy and I couldn't wait to elude the craziness of main street for the bucolic and hilly backroads of town before getting back home.
There was a story in the papers this morning about an elderly local couple who were resting comfortably at home and recovering nicely from the flu (coronavirus.) It occurred to me that they probably had access to Hydroxychloroquine in order to facilitate their recovery but that was, perhaps conveniently, not mentioned in the article.
This is the highly touted drug that has shown considerable promise in battling the coronavirus scourge and has been approved by the FDA for compassionate and off label use.
It is also thought to be effective as a prophylactic against contracting the virus and is probably used widely but quietly by the medical professionals fighting on the front lines of this disease. Whether or not you or I have access to this drug if and when the time comes is another story. This may well be one of those "who you know" deals where not knowing someone can kill you.
It would be perhaps irresponsible by the newspapers to highlight a drug that is available and effective but maybe in short supply and creating demand that cannot in the short term at least be satisfied. There may be other interested parties who want stories like this suppressed in order to save what limited quantities of the medication they do have for the protected classes in the community. Maybe you've heard the expression, "let them eat cake."
Class warfare aside, I'd like to know why this drug has not been used more widely and why even one more life has to be lost if it is half as effective as it is said to be. Both China and Italy have lost thousands of patients in this pandemic. If this drug has been around forever and a day and probably more available in China than here in the US then why have they not used it on the front lines in their battle against this scourge? What the fuck? What are they not telling us?
I have to laugh when I think of all the New Yorkers fleeing the city of New York like rats fleeing a sinking ship. These well-to-do pariahs make their way to their summer homes in upstate New York and other places where this virulent flu has yet to appear in any appreciable way.
The clerks in the stores and shops in these faraway places, not accustomed to seeing these familiar faces so early in the season, more than likely cast an uneasy glance their way knowing that they may well be asymptomatic carriers of the virus.
The local constabulary is waiting for them. Waiting to enforce the recommendations of the CDC and, with any luck, minimizing the community spread aspect of this deadly disease by making sure that these well heeled visitors obey the rules and stay put for prescribed 14 day period.
Once their symptoms begin to manifest themselves, and they will, they will show up in local emergency rooms and hospital wards absorbing what they can well ahead of any and all available services that would otherwise accrue to the benefit of the year-round residents.
Their chances of survival are significantly enhanced in a clinical setting where ICU's are not even close to capacity as yet and where ventilators are in steady supply for those in need. These are niceties not afforded to the mainstream New Yorker who is left behind in a city gone silent, who has likely lost his or her job, who lives in an overcrowded and subsidized flat in an East Side high rise in one of the city's four boroughs, and who now face an uncertain future.
These war torn and forlorn residents are looking down the barrel at an eighty percent infection rate or higher and an average 20 days on a ventilator before dying a miserable death from infection or, worse yet, a full and complete pulmonary collapse. The government has built a number of mobile hospitals in and around the four boroughs to accommodate the overflow of patients that are expected to show up as the disease peaks over the next couple of weeks.
Here in New Hampshire cases are on the increase and exponentially so. There have been three deaths to date putting the mortality rate at 1% give or take. I'm reading that the hospitalization rate is roughly 15% which doesn't seem too bad until you consider that the supply of hospital beds will quickly exceed demand as the infection rate increases.
The number of reported cases in my county alone now exceeds 100. It's only a matter of time before I or one or more of my family members cross paths with one of these "vectors of transmission." That's a euphemism of sorts for "rats."
We have a longtime friend and acquaintance who works at a local hospital as a pathologist. I told Nancy that we need to get an e-mail to her sooner rather than later wishing her and her family all the best during these difficult times. We don't know that she will be pressed into service on the floor and taken out of the relative comfort and safety of her laboratory but we think it's likely if things get really bad.
Hospitals coast to coast are clamoring for not only additional masks and gowns and all associated PPE's but any and all medical professionals retired and otherwise who might be willing to join the ranks of their brethren on the front lines of this pandemic. Good luck with that.
And now Trump has issued guidance that we as a nation will keep our current status for another month just to be safe. If we as a nation find ourselves on the downside of that flattening curve a month from now when we open our doors for business that would be preferable to going back to "normal" too soon.
Evan has been staying with us for the past couple of days. He's not articulated any particular fears one way or another when it comes to this pandemic but maybe the fact that he's wanting to stay on for a bit should tell us something.
We have been encouraging him to stay longer so we'll see what happens. We've taken rides around town the last couple of days just to get out of the house and I think Evan has enjoyed those as well. There is very little traffic and driving in and around Portsmouth has been more reminiscent of taking an early morning drive on a Sunday than anything else.
I picked up a couple of loaves of Scali bread for Mrs G yesterday in my trip to the store in Hampton. I don't know for a fact that it is THE Scali bread that Mrs G had in mind since she mentioned Market Basket when making the request. But Scali bread is Scali bread. Right?
I was hoping Nancy would pick up the ball and run with it when her mother put in the request but she was decidedly skittish about going into the stores at all so did not man-up in any appreciable way. But we'll plan to drop the bread along with a couple of bottles of wine and some candy nips over at Riverwood later today for pick-up by her mom.
I think we will be allowed to drive to the entrance of her building and someone will come out to the car to take the items from us. We will not be allowed to get out of the car and that is one of many precautions being taken these days in order to protect the residents of Riverwoods. I've said it before but I think it bears repeating. I don't think Nancy will be able to see her mom for maybe months to come and then some if this pandemic doesn't show signs of petering out one way or another.
Mrs G has been quite clear about matters. She said that if we think it's bad now just wait until they get their first case of the coronavirus on premises. I'm guessing that she and her fellow travelers would be confined to quarters for the foreseeable future without access to the many features that make her independent living facility so attractive.
I suppose it's a small price to pay in order to stay safe in this viral environment we live in these days. And if you have your Scali bread, your bottles of wine, and your candy nips, what else do you need? What else indeed.
Katy Bar the Door
25/03/20 07:53
I'm between and betwixt this morning. I was in something of a carb fueled fog yesterday and went to bed last night thinking that putting the day behind me was a good thing. Staying on the straight and narrow these days is important because you never know when you might come down with the coronavirus thing and you want to be ready. You will need every ounce of energy you can muster to fight it off and keep the scurrilous hounds of death from your doorstep.
I fully intend to embrace that mindset but will teeter here and there if I'm not careful about keeping my energy stores in check. That means eating right and staying away from all those foods that leave you wishing you hadn't gone there. My bike rides are something of a barometer of how well or how poorly I've been eating in the last 24 to 48 hours. Every mile tells a tale.
If I feel good and can put in the twenty miles that I am wanting to do these days then that means I've been eating well. Eating well for me is going easy on the carbs, staying away from the sugar, and keeping away from red meat and eating other forms of protein in moderation. Stepping foot into the markets where food shopping carries its own risks is another matter altogether.
Everything you hear about how long this virus exists on surfaces gives you pause when poring over fresh fruits and vegetables to the point where you're afraid to put anything in your basket anymore that someone may have touched one way or another in the last twenty-four hours. But I digress. I think I'm in a better place this morning after a good nights sleep and I feel like I can resume my usual strategies without any further slippage. Time will tell.
Nancy and I watched this show on television last night called "Devs." It was episode #1 so we approached it with a wait-and-see attitude meaning that watching episode two was contingent upon episode one passing muster. Stay with me on this. I'm as fickle as the next guy when it comes to liking or disliking shows and can and will readily discard them for any number of reasons. There are so many things to watch and so many networks to tap into that you can skip them at will without feeling an iota of regret.
I thought that the show had enough of a sci-fi vibe that Nancy would take to it in a pinch and maybe even enjoy it. When she starts to pull the covers over her eyes during certain scenes I know we're in trouble. Bringing her up to speed on scenes that she never watches because they are integral to the overall story line if you want to understand what's going on is not my idea of a good time. I simply ignore those requests of hers.
She complained about those and similar scenes because they were "anxiety provoking." What the hell does that mean? She says there is enough anxiety going around these days where she doesn't need more of it just before bedtime. Yes, the main character was suffocated with a plastic bag over his head in the first twenty minutes. Yes, his girlfriend was frantically trying to ascertain his whereabouts in the hours after he was suffocated. And yes, it didn't help when his killers showed her a video of her boyfriend setting himself on fire. It was all a ruse.
I think it's a forest and trees thing. There was more than enough sleight of hand in the storyline to suggest to me that you couldn't and shouldn't trust your eyes. Did he really die? Maybe. Was she really frantic? Possibly. But the show was sufficiently anxiety provoking for Nancy that I think she may not want to watch any more episodes. I'm always hoping that she won't go there too soon especially when I'm not on board with her reasons for not wanting to continue watching the show.
Whether she gives the show another chance, which she sometimes does, is an open question. I would prefer not to watch it alone since going solo while watching television is not my idea of a good time. I might rather poke myself in the eye with a sharp stick than sit down to watch a show by myself. That said, there was sufficient intrigue in the first episode of this show where I might well want to revisit it if for no other reason than to see how it all plays out. In the literary world, that means not skipping to the last page of the book to see how it ends. Who does that? Nancy does that.
Talking last night with Mrs G she said that she is not going to watch the news anymore. "It's too depressing' she lamented. Her small world keeps getting smaller. That's not necessarily discomforting for someone who is looking to stay safe and cordoned off from a viral world that threatens to kill her should she step off the proverbial curb and into the fray. She spoke warily of a fellow traveler on the premises of her independent facility who had come down with a sore throat and a nagging cough. Where have you been, dearie?
I'm inclined to agree with President Trump when he says that we as a nation have to get back to work. The timeline for doing that is a bit sketchy at the moment but Trump said that we might want take a closer look at that some three weeks out from today. The timing coincidentally comes around Easter and any and all references to the resurrection can and should be taken seriously. As a metaphor, it's a nice fit and it offers a glimmer of hope to a nation knuckled under coast to coast by a pandemic not of our own making.
Springtime is a time of rebirth so let's get up and running in those areas in our country where this virus has no presence and no victims. Keep their elderly and infirm safe and under quarantine where necessary but let everyone else go about their business. Provide prophylactic drugs when and where necessary and lets learn from the patients in New York who have not only survived using known and proven drug therapies but have prospered and have left the hospitals in record time and in record numbers.
We put the final touches on the paperwork that will provide a future roadmap for our son and his financial well being last evening and hope to sign off in the coming days. That is what responsible parent do at a time like this. Right? It's kind of overdue truth be told.
It was one thing or another as we were going about the business of discussing these matters with various professionals and it was only because one or more of them failed or flailed in various ways that we didn't get this done sooner. It was never because of who they were. It was because of what they did or didn't do before and after our preliminary discussions.
We'll make an effort today to pull together a few things that Mrs G has requested over the course of the last week. We have the nips she likes. We have the bottles of wine that she requested. As for the Scali bread Mrs G asked us to buy at Market Basket, I told Nancy that it's time she steps up to the plate and stops relying on me to do all of her shopping for her. She should have some skin in the game. She says that about Evan all the time so what's good for the goose is good for the gander.
Not sure what that portends when all is said and done but we'll box up whatever we have and will deliver to the Riverwood facility in the next day or so. They have a guidepost set up where we can drop things off for delivery to the residents. How long they'll hold her bread and wine in quarantine before making the delivery is another question. Let's hope it's all worth the wait.
I fully intend to embrace that mindset but will teeter here and there if I'm not careful about keeping my energy stores in check. That means eating right and staying away from all those foods that leave you wishing you hadn't gone there. My bike rides are something of a barometer of how well or how poorly I've been eating in the last 24 to 48 hours. Every mile tells a tale.
If I feel good and can put in the twenty miles that I am wanting to do these days then that means I've been eating well. Eating well for me is going easy on the carbs, staying away from the sugar, and keeping away from red meat and eating other forms of protein in moderation. Stepping foot into the markets where food shopping carries its own risks is another matter altogether.
Everything you hear about how long this virus exists on surfaces gives you pause when poring over fresh fruits and vegetables to the point where you're afraid to put anything in your basket anymore that someone may have touched one way or another in the last twenty-four hours. But I digress. I think I'm in a better place this morning after a good nights sleep and I feel like I can resume my usual strategies without any further slippage. Time will tell.
Nancy and I watched this show on television last night called "Devs." It was episode #1 so we approached it with a wait-and-see attitude meaning that watching episode two was contingent upon episode one passing muster. Stay with me on this. I'm as fickle as the next guy when it comes to liking or disliking shows and can and will readily discard them for any number of reasons. There are so many things to watch and so many networks to tap into that you can skip them at will without feeling an iota of regret.
I thought that the show had enough of a sci-fi vibe that Nancy would take to it in a pinch and maybe even enjoy it. When she starts to pull the covers over her eyes during certain scenes I know we're in trouble. Bringing her up to speed on scenes that she never watches because they are integral to the overall story line if you want to understand what's going on is not my idea of a good time. I simply ignore those requests of hers.
She complained about those and similar scenes because they were "anxiety provoking." What the hell does that mean? She says there is enough anxiety going around these days where she doesn't need more of it just before bedtime. Yes, the main character was suffocated with a plastic bag over his head in the first twenty minutes. Yes, his girlfriend was frantically trying to ascertain his whereabouts in the hours after he was suffocated. And yes, it didn't help when his killers showed her a video of her boyfriend setting himself on fire. It was all a ruse.
I think it's a forest and trees thing. There was more than enough sleight of hand in the storyline to suggest to me that you couldn't and shouldn't trust your eyes. Did he really die? Maybe. Was she really frantic? Possibly. But the show was sufficiently anxiety provoking for Nancy that I think she may not want to watch any more episodes. I'm always hoping that she won't go there too soon especially when I'm not on board with her reasons for not wanting to continue watching the show.
Whether she gives the show another chance, which she sometimes does, is an open question. I would prefer not to watch it alone since going solo while watching television is not my idea of a good time. I might rather poke myself in the eye with a sharp stick than sit down to watch a show by myself. That said, there was sufficient intrigue in the first episode of this show where I might well want to revisit it if for no other reason than to see how it all plays out. In the literary world, that means not skipping to the last page of the book to see how it ends. Who does that? Nancy does that.
Talking last night with Mrs G she said that she is not going to watch the news anymore. "It's too depressing' she lamented. Her small world keeps getting smaller. That's not necessarily discomforting for someone who is looking to stay safe and cordoned off from a viral world that threatens to kill her should she step off the proverbial curb and into the fray. She spoke warily of a fellow traveler on the premises of her independent facility who had come down with a sore throat and a nagging cough. Where have you been, dearie?
I'm inclined to agree with President Trump when he says that we as a nation have to get back to work. The timeline for doing that is a bit sketchy at the moment but Trump said that we might want take a closer look at that some three weeks out from today. The timing coincidentally comes around Easter and any and all references to the resurrection can and should be taken seriously. As a metaphor, it's a nice fit and it offers a glimmer of hope to a nation knuckled under coast to coast by a pandemic not of our own making.
Springtime is a time of rebirth so let's get up and running in those areas in our country where this virus has no presence and no victims. Keep their elderly and infirm safe and under quarantine where necessary but let everyone else go about their business. Provide prophylactic drugs when and where necessary and lets learn from the patients in New York who have not only survived using known and proven drug therapies but have prospered and have left the hospitals in record time and in record numbers.
We put the final touches on the paperwork that will provide a future roadmap for our son and his financial well being last evening and hope to sign off in the coming days. That is what responsible parent do at a time like this. Right? It's kind of overdue truth be told.
It was one thing or another as we were going about the business of discussing these matters with various professionals and it was only because one or more of them failed or flailed in various ways that we didn't get this done sooner. It was never because of who they were. It was because of what they did or didn't do before and after our preliminary discussions.
We'll make an effort today to pull together a few things that Mrs G has requested over the course of the last week. We have the nips she likes. We have the bottles of wine that she requested. As for the Scali bread Mrs G asked us to buy at Market Basket, I told Nancy that it's time she steps up to the plate and stops relying on me to do all of her shopping for her. She should have some skin in the game. She says that about Evan all the time so what's good for the goose is good for the gander.
Not sure what that portends when all is said and done but we'll box up whatever we have and will deliver to the Riverwood facility in the next day or so. They have a guidepost set up where we can drop things off for delivery to the residents. How long they'll hold her bread and wine in quarantine before making the delivery is another question. Let's hope it's all worth the wait.
Cancelling the Pandemic
24/03/20 07:16
I'm listening to my usual few minutes of liberal twaddle this morning on Sirius radio and it's over the top nonsense as usual. Maybe a little more hyperbolic than usual but nothing has been the same since Trump came down the escalator in 2015 to announce his run for the presidency. But I listen because I want to hear for myself just how triggered the left is on any given day because of what Trump has done, what Trump has said, and what and who Trump is according to the naysayers on the left.
It's hard to tell sometimes whether the increasing chorus of leftist twaddle is due to Trump's failures or, more often than not, Trump's successes. The latest outrage is Trump's presser about pivoting back to the economy after a week or two of shutting down our economy over a virus that, as it turns out, has a mortality rate not much different than that of the garden variety flu.
Governor Cuomo of New York said much the same thing earlier in the day and he was largely praised by the Main Street Media for his acumen and soulful vocabulary in dealing with the crisis in the State of New York. Trump, of course, was vilified and lambasted by the Main Street Media for his insensitivity and focusing not on the lives of Americans but the checkbooks of Americans.
The Democrats have an election to win in a few months so there is no time to waste. As a mouthpiece and a more than occasional appendage of the Democrat party, the press does their part to fashion narratives and perpetuate fake news in order to destroy the opposition. When it comes to managing this coronavirus crisis and the economy simultaneously, Trump says we can do both. We can do two things at once. Damn straight we can. We're Americans.
Trump has a newfound platform from which to communicate to the American people now that he has been sidelined by this virus business. He no longer holds rallies since gatherings of six people or more is considered dangerous to all in attendance. The same is true for the democrats but they couldn't fill a standard sized gymnasium if their lives depended on it. But the Coronavirus Task Force takes to the television screen each day with Trump taking the lead and he is, much to the dismay of the dems, classic Trump.
So much so, in fact, that some networks cut away after his preliminary remarks and those of the people who have joined him onstage for the presentation. Some networks, like CNN, disregard his briefing altogether as some political stunt and they turn their attention to their usual leftist twaddle. There's that word again. Maybe I'm beginning to feel a little triggered by their collective twaddle.
But Trump is nothing if not honest and forthright with the American people when he takes to the stage each day. As such, his ratings have been on the increase since he began giving the briefings and the leftists, thinking they had Trump on the ropes now that he's no longer able to hold rallies, have become apoplectic over it all. Just when they thought they had a leg up going into the final stretch leading to the elections in November, Trump pulls one out of the hat and has once again proven how and why he is such a formidable "politician."
Trump presided over one of the best economies in the world before this pandemic came to our shores and shuttering that very same economy over the last two to three weeks has throttled everything from the stock market to the stores on Main Street in our great country. Trump rightly sees this as an overreaction to a virus that is perhaps overrated in the final analysis. There are hotbeds of activity for sure in places you might expect in major population centers like NYC and California. As to the heartland and other environs, not so much.
Trump's take, if I might paraphrase, is that we should get our businesses back up and running when and where we can, get people back to work when and where we can, and start to use a little more intelligence and a lot less panic when making decisions about what we do next. Just between you and me, if I hear one more story about someone who died after contracting the virus because they were over the age of eighty and had three or more underlying conditions I think I'm just going to yawn.
We're still in this fourteen day window where we're closing it all down so Trump will render a final verdict after we're effectively outside of that window and not a day sooner. But he tipped his hand in last night's presser so I think the handwriting is on the wall. Why not put the people who have recovered from the virus back to work? We can still avoid getting together in large groups, we can still wash our hands moment in and moment out, and we can still do our best to protect those in our population who are at greatest risk.
I think it's more interesting when you factor in the therapies that Trump has pushed through the FDA and one's that they are even today starting to give to the more serious patients lying in hospital beds across the great city of New York. If that malaria drug works, that will be a "game changer." Those are Trump's words, not mine. And does he know something we don't about just how effective that drug might prove in the bigger picture? Me thinks he does.
Just for context, it's important to note that in places across the globe where malaria is commonplace and this so-called-drug is in use by a large percentage of the population, this virus is almost non-existent. If this is true, and it works as advertised at the end of the day, they can cancel any and all outstanding orders and requests for ventilators, face masks, MASH hospitals, and every retired medical specialist that has been dragged out of retirement and off the sidelines to assist in emergency rooms across the nation.
Between now and then there are a lot of folks hurting and businesses that can't last much longer without a cash infusion of sorts. Congress has been promising a package to bail us all out but there is too much partisanship at the moment to get that done or so it seems. Maybe turning the spigot of Amercian ingenuity back on will prove to be the elixir that will get us back on the right path. It can't hurt.
It's hard to tell sometimes whether the increasing chorus of leftist twaddle is due to Trump's failures or, more often than not, Trump's successes. The latest outrage is Trump's presser about pivoting back to the economy after a week or two of shutting down our economy over a virus that, as it turns out, has a mortality rate not much different than that of the garden variety flu.
Governor Cuomo of New York said much the same thing earlier in the day and he was largely praised by the Main Street Media for his acumen and soulful vocabulary in dealing with the crisis in the State of New York. Trump, of course, was vilified and lambasted by the Main Street Media for his insensitivity and focusing not on the lives of Americans but the checkbooks of Americans.
The Democrats have an election to win in a few months so there is no time to waste. As a mouthpiece and a more than occasional appendage of the Democrat party, the press does their part to fashion narratives and perpetuate fake news in order to destroy the opposition. When it comes to managing this coronavirus crisis and the economy simultaneously, Trump says we can do both. We can do two things at once. Damn straight we can. We're Americans.
Trump has a newfound platform from which to communicate to the American people now that he has been sidelined by this virus business. He no longer holds rallies since gatherings of six people or more is considered dangerous to all in attendance. The same is true for the democrats but they couldn't fill a standard sized gymnasium if their lives depended on it. But the Coronavirus Task Force takes to the television screen each day with Trump taking the lead and he is, much to the dismay of the dems, classic Trump.
So much so, in fact, that some networks cut away after his preliminary remarks and those of the people who have joined him onstage for the presentation. Some networks, like CNN, disregard his briefing altogether as some political stunt and they turn their attention to their usual leftist twaddle. There's that word again. Maybe I'm beginning to feel a little triggered by their collective twaddle.
But Trump is nothing if not honest and forthright with the American people when he takes to the stage each day. As such, his ratings have been on the increase since he began giving the briefings and the leftists, thinking they had Trump on the ropes now that he's no longer able to hold rallies, have become apoplectic over it all. Just when they thought they had a leg up going into the final stretch leading to the elections in November, Trump pulls one out of the hat and has once again proven how and why he is such a formidable "politician."
Trump presided over one of the best economies in the world before this pandemic came to our shores and shuttering that very same economy over the last two to three weeks has throttled everything from the stock market to the stores on Main Street in our great country. Trump rightly sees this as an overreaction to a virus that is perhaps overrated in the final analysis. There are hotbeds of activity for sure in places you might expect in major population centers like NYC and California. As to the heartland and other environs, not so much.
Trump's take, if I might paraphrase, is that we should get our businesses back up and running when and where we can, get people back to work when and where we can, and start to use a little more intelligence and a lot less panic when making decisions about what we do next. Just between you and me, if I hear one more story about someone who died after contracting the virus because they were over the age of eighty and had three or more underlying conditions I think I'm just going to yawn.
We're still in this fourteen day window where we're closing it all down so Trump will render a final verdict after we're effectively outside of that window and not a day sooner. But he tipped his hand in last night's presser so I think the handwriting is on the wall. Why not put the people who have recovered from the virus back to work? We can still avoid getting together in large groups, we can still wash our hands moment in and moment out, and we can still do our best to protect those in our population who are at greatest risk.
I think it's more interesting when you factor in the therapies that Trump has pushed through the FDA and one's that they are even today starting to give to the more serious patients lying in hospital beds across the great city of New York. If that malaria drug works, that will be a "game changer." Those are Trump's words, not mine. And does he know something we don't about just how effective that drug might prove in the bigger picture? Me thinks he does.
Just for context, it's important to note that in places across the globe where malaria is commonplace and this so-called-drug is in use by a large percentage of the population, this virus is almost non-existent. If this is true, and it works as advertised at the end of the day, they can cancel any and all outstanding orders and requests for ventilators, face masks, MASH hospitals, and every retired medical specialist that has been dragged out of retirement and off the sidelines to assist in emergency rooms across the nation.
Between now and then there are a lot of folks hurting and businesses that can't last much longer without a cash infusion of sorts. Congress has been promising a package to bail us all out but there is too much partisanship at the moment to get that done or so it seems. Maybe turning the spigot of Amercian ingenuity back on will prove to be the elixir that will get us back on the right path. It can't hurt.
Zero Deaths
22/03/20 06:48
NH has ten new cases of coronavirus overnight with zero deaths to date. Still doesn't feel like a pandemic to be honest. I guess until you see it on your doorstep or have someone close to you affected by it it just isn't a big deal. I'm still wearing my gloves out when I go food shopping so here's hoping that provides protection of some sort. I don't feel the need to don one of those N95 masks even though we have a few in stock here at the homestead.
There are calls far and wide for folks who have the masks to donate them to their local hospitals, etc. All of this hoarding at the outset of this thing has caught people and institutions alike short of the mark when it comes to having a good backlog of masks. Trump talked yesterday in his presser about how the masks are thrown away willy nilly when they maybe should be sanitized and put back into service instead. He's probably right.
I don't know how many masks we have precisely but I want to make sure that when the day comes when we need one or more that we have one or more to use. People using them in the stores is on the increase and I'm getting used to the idea that if and when the day comes to put one on when I am out and about that I will not feel like the odd man out one way or another.
Yesterday was the second day in a row that I took an extended ride on my bike and put in close to 19 miles. It's probably high time that I changed things up since I've been riding the same route day in and day out for what seems like forever. It's definitely a push and I have to wonder if there isn't an outer limit to what I can physically achieve on any given ride both in time and miles. For now, I'm pushing and adapting.
Evan paid a visit late yesterday afternoon. I think he was probably happy to have the company. He and I went and picked up a take-out meal at Wingz for dinner. Nancy stayed home but was delighted to have the chicken caesar wrap that she and I shared while Evan enjoyed his ten piece meal once we arrived back home. He likes them "hot" and with plenty of ranch dressing for dipping.
There were some preliminary discussions about getting burritos and maybe even a pepperoni pizza but we went with the Wingz and that was fine. The three of us got on the phone with Mrs G before he left to go home so I think she was happy to hear his voice. When he does get on the phone with her both his mom and I know that he is in a good place. When he goes for an extended period without eating I think he is not in a good place so we're always after him to stay on top of his food business. It's worrisome I tell you.
We're expecting a bit of snow in a couple of days so Evan may come back and spend the night before his visitation with Seacoast on Tuesday. I'm still picking up things for him at the supermarket while I'm there so that he doesn't have to and that is working out pretty well. He's just not the kind of guy who makes a list of what he wants even though I think that is precisely what he should be doing. I've even offered to make a list with him but we just never seem to get it done.
I think a lot about particulates in the air these days. They say that the virus is not an airborne virus but it is known to spread by people sneezing and coughing so they surmise that the droplets remains airborne for a period of time before dissipating. I think about that more often than not when riding my bike since I'm passing people who are riding, running, walking, etc. I tell myself that if they were sick that they wouldn't be out doing what they're doing and it's not worth worrying about.
All the same, I'm pulling my scarf up around my mouth and nose as best I can and holding my breath while passing folks on the roadway whenever possible so I don't inhale anything I shouldn't be inhaling. And then there are times when the absence of traffic allows me to give them a wide berth and we smile at one another from a safe distance if the mood allows. All of that exertion has to result in a respiratory whirlwind of sorts and not the kind of whirlwind that you want ride into without the proper protection.
And then there is the part of me that hopes that we here in the "Live Free or Die" state never find ourselves in mandatory stay at home setting because of this virus bullshit. Just when I'm breaking out of a years long biking routine into something that is more productive and all in all just healthier I don't need more restrictions coming down the pike.
I don't know if it's global warming or what but the winters have been milder and milder over time allowing me to get out on my bike with greater and greater frequency. You are always building on what you have in place or at least I am. You keep doing that until you can't. Let's hope our governor doesn't go there. Other states have gone there in various ways but maybe none so extreme as to outlaw those looking to get out of doors for a little exercise. At the end of the day, would I risk being arrested for doing what I love to do? Maybe.
Our next door neighbor came by with a homemade jambalaya and some homemade bread yesterday. Isn't she sweet. I was napping when she came by so Nancy navigated the drop off. I didn't ask but I hope she did what she needed to do to practice "social distancing" so as not to take any unnecessary risks.
Nancy is already fearful as the next gal when it comes to this dreadful virus so I trust she followed her instincts, hyperbolic as they are sometimes, when taking possession of Betsi's soup and bread. We don't see much of Betsi these days except in passing so it was nice of her to reach out with her neighborly offering. The bread was still warm when we applied a generous lathering of butter and jam. It made for the perfect mid afternoon snack.
There are calls far and wide for folks who have the masks to donate them to their local hospitals, etc. All of this hoarding at the outset of this thing has caught people and institutions alike short of the mark when it comes to having a good backlog of masks. Trump talked yesterday in his presser about how the masks are thrown away willy nilly when they maybe should be sanitized and put back into service instead. He's probably right.
I don't know how many masks we have precisely but I want to make sure that when the day comes when we need one or more that we have one or more to use. People using them in the stores is on the increase and I'm getting used to the idea that if and when the day comes to put one on when I am out and about that I will not feel like the odd man out one way or another.
Yesterday was the second day in a row that I took an extended ride on my bike and put in close to 19 miles. It's probably high time that I changed things up since I've been riding the same route day in and day out for what seems like forever. It's definitely a push and I have to wonder if there isn't an outer limit to what I can physically achieve on any given ride both in time and miles. For now, I'm pushing and adapting.
Evan paid a visit late yesterday afternoon. I think he was probably happy to have the company. He and I went and picked up a take-out meal at Wingz for dinner. Nancy stayed home but was delighted to have the chicken caesar wrap that she and I shared while Evan enjoyed his ten piece meal once we arrived back home. He likes them "hot" and with plenty of ranch dressing for dipping.
There were some preliminary discussions about getting burritos and maybe even a pepperoni pizza but we went with the Wingz and that was fine. The three of us got on the phone with Mrs G before he left to go home so I think she was happy to hear his voice. When he does get on the phone with her both his mom and I know that he is in a good place. When he goes for an extended period without eating I think he is not in a good place so we're always after him to stay on top of his food business. It's worrisome I tell you.
We're expecting a bit of snow in a couple of days so Evan may come back and spend the night before his visitation with Seacoast on Tuesday. I'm still picking up things for him at the supermarket while I'm there so that he doesn't have to and that is working out pretty well. He's just not the kind of guy who makes a list of what he wants even though I think that is precisely what he should be doing. I've even offered to make a list with him but we just never seem to get it done.
I think a lot about particulates in the air these days. They say that the virus is not an airborne virus but it is known to spread by people sneezing and coughing so they surmise that the droplets remains airborne for a period of time before dissipating. I think about that more often than not when riding my bike since I'm passing people who are riding, running, walking, etc. I tell myself that if they were sick that they wouldn't be out doing what they're doing and it's not worth worrying about.
All the same, I'm pulling my scarf up around my mouth and nose as best I can and holding my breath while passing folks on the roadway whenever possible so I don't inhale anything I shouldn't be inhaling. And then there are times when the absence of traffic allows me to give them a wide berth and we smile at one another from a safe distance if the mood allows. All of that exertion has to result in a respiratory whirlwind of sorts and not the kind of whirlwind that you want ride into without the proper protection.
And then there is the part of me that hopes that we here in the "Live Free or Die" state never find ourselves in mandatory stay at home setting because of this virus bullshit. Just when I'm breaking out of a years long biking routine into something that is more productive and all in all just healthier I don't need more restrictions coming down the pike.
I don't know if it's global warming or what but the winters have been milder and milder over time allowing me to get out on my bike with greater and greater frequency. You are always building on what you have in place or at least I am. You keep doing that until you can't. Let's hope our governor doesn't go there. Other states have gone there in various ways but maybe none so extreme as to outlaw those looking to get out of doors for a little exercise. At the end of the day, would I risk being arrested for doing what I love to do? Maybe.
Our next door neighbor came by with a homemade jambalaya and some homemade bread yesterday. Isn't she sweet. I was napping when she came by so Nancy navigated the drop off. I didn't ask but I hope she did what she needed to do to practice "social distancing" so as not to take any unnecessary risks.
Nancy is already fearful as the next gal when it comes to this dreadful virus so I trust she followed her instincts, hyperbolic as they are sometimes, when taking possession of Betsi's soup and bread. We don't see much of Betsi these days except in passing so it was nice of her to reach out with her neighborly offering. The bread was still warm when we applied a generous lathering of butter and jam. It made for the perfect mid afternoon snack.
NH - 55 Cases/Zero deaths
20/03/20 07:17
This whole coronavirus thing is getting tedious already. Practically everything is closed except those businesses that provide essential services like grocery stores, etc. I tweeted something last night about the fact that we're doing all of this in order to extend the shelf life of the elderly and infirm whose current shelf life is probably around 6 months. By the time we effectively kill off our economy these good folks would have died of natural causes anyway.
Like the next guy, I think it's important to do our part to help blunt this virus in its tracks by practicing social distancing, staying home and away from public places, and minimizing the amount of time we spend outside the house. Maybe we can prevent a spike in new cases and keep the hospitals and health care facilities from being runneth over by people needing ventilators when every available ventilator is already in use.
Plans are already in place to use the national stockpile of ventilators should it come to that. President Trump reported yesterday that the president of one of the nations largest cruise lines was ready to moor one or more of their ships off the coast of hotspots like New York, Los Angeles, and maybe even San Francisco in order to provide additional accommodation (hospital beds) if and when it becomes necessary. Car companies like Ford has offered to suspend the manufacture of vehicles so they can assist in the manufacturing of ventilators if needed.
There is a lot of talk about the ingenuity of the American people and the indomitable spirit we possess when it comes to fighting and defeating this virus. Vaccines are a ways off so that won't help anyone in the near term. There is some talk about certain anti-malaria drugs (Chloroquine?) that have shown tremendous promise in preliminary testing. Their use, however, has not been approved by the FDA as yet for patients battling the flu or, more specifically, this particular virus. Trump has the FDA moving quickly now to look at these so-called therapies and he wants them fast tracked if at all possible.
I say that before you put one more person on a ventilator you give them this goddamn drug and just see how things play out. What have you got to lose? There is no shortage at present of available patients that might qualify for this type of intervention so just do it. Get the protocols down and ramp up manufacture and distribution of the drug. Do it now. If this drug is as effective as they say it is, maybe we can dispense it to patients well before they show up on the doorsteps our emergency rooms and urgent care centers.
It's a little disheartening to hear stories about people getting preferential treatment when it comes to being tested and treated for this affliction. It seems that some people have more access than others due to their wealth, influence, or association with influential people. Maybe that shouldn't surprise anyone but the stories have to leave you with a burr in your saddle when it is your loved one lying on a gurney in a hospital hallway gasping for air without the aid of a ventilator while someone else is moved from the back of the line to the front of the line because of their connections.
Speaking of moral outrages, there is a story this morning in the papers about certain Senators in Washington who, having been briefed in advance about this virus hitting our shores, took the opportunity to sell their portfolios of stocks and investments. That won't sit well with the average investor who has seen their 401k's and other investments just devastated in the last week or two as the virus continues takes its toll on our economy. It just leaves a bad taste in your mouth. It's that burr in the saddle business all over again.
It's less concerning to me that they sold while others didn't have the same opportunity than what it says about their faith in our country's ability to not only weather a storm like this but to rebound and regain our footing when this is over. They are supposed to be the torchbearers and the cheerleaders for our country and not the fucking pall bearers that they now seem to be since we're looking at this in the rear view mirror. My message to their constituents is simple. Vote these mother fuckers out of office. Send them packing.
One question on everyone's mind is just how long this shutdown stuff if going to last. How long will it take for the number of newly reported cases to start to decline? Other countries peaked out after about 6 weeks I think so maybe that is what we're talking about. And what do we know about whether or not this will return with a vengeance in the fall like the Spanish Flu did in 1917? Did I mention that there is barely a mention of this virus in countries where their populations are inoculated against malaria? There's that chloroquine drug again. Maybe we'll know more in two to three weeks.
I'm glad to hear that Washington is looking at bailing out certain industries that have been hit the hardest hit during this crisis. I'm also pleased that they are considering sending checks to individuals and households to help tide them over in these difficult times. We don't need the money and we probably wouldn't qualify for it assuming they have a litmus test in place for doling out the payments. If the idea is to get the money into the hands of people who will spend it I think they can probably count us to be purchasing patriots first and foremost. Just sayin'.
I texted with one of my peeps in New York yesterday and she is working from home now. She lives in the boonies so she'll be safe assuming she doesn't contract the virus while food shopping or other. She said something about "three freezers" to me in a recent chat so maybe going to the store is an infrequent event in their household. Her hubby has a business that depends on the flow of well paying customers for his livelihood and with so many people now out of work he might welcome a government subsidy to help them through the tough times ahead.
I'm up in the middle of the night sometimes thinking about all of these things and wondering if we're ever going to get back to what passes for normal. Nancy will be joining her yoga class via video here at home this morning instead of attending an in-person class. That pretty much sums up our life these days. I'm biking as usual and I put in an extra long ride yesterday making up perhaps for the rainy day prior where I wasn't able to get out of the house. There was a lot of angst in every push of the pedal as you can well imagine. I wasn't alone out there.
We're doing our best to eat well during this crisis and I've been making salads for lunch that have been well, just outstanding. We're probably eating a little too much sugar these days but I'm staying on top of the fruits and vegetables and as far away from the carbohydrates and animal protein as best we can. I made local scallops, "mashed potatoes" using riced cauliflower, and steamed broccoli last night for dinner. I thought we might like to have a bit of swordfish but changed my mind at the last minute so went with the local scallops.
I'll put in a call to a couple more of my peeps today just to check in. The State of New York is under a State of Emergency so I want to get an update on how everyone is doing. The outrage of the day yesterday went to New York's governor who made the asinine comment, "if I can save one life this will all have been worth it." So, shutting down your entire economy to save one life is what you have in mind? It's just crazy. And I think it's going to get a lot crazier before it gets better. File that under "sad, but true."
Like the next guy, I think it's important to do our part to help blunt this virus in its tracks by practicing social distancing, staying home and away from public places, and minimizing the amount of time we spend outside the house. Maybe we can prevent a spike in new cases and keep the hospitals and health care facilities from being runneth over by people needing ventilators when every available ventilator is already in use.
Plans are already in place to use the national stockpile of ventilators should it come to that. President Trump reported yesterday that the president of one of the nations largest cruise lines was ready to moor one or more of their ships off the coast of hotspots like New York, Los Angeles, and maybe even San Francisco in order to provide additional accommodation (hospital beds) if and when it becomes necessary. Car companies like Ford has offered to suspend the manufacture of vehicles so they can assist in the manufacturing of ventilators if needed.
There is a lot of talk about the ingenuity of the American people and the indomitable spirit we possess when it comes to fighting and defeating this virus. Vaccines are a ways off so that won't help anyone in the near term. There is some talk about certain anti-malaria drugs (Chloroquine?) that have shown tremendous promise in preliminary testing. Their use, however, has not been approved by the FDA as yet for patients battling the flu or, more specifically, this particular virus. Trump has the FDA moving quickly now to look at these so-called therapies and he wants them fast tracked if at all possible.
I say that before you put one more person on a ventilator you give them this goddamn drug and just see how things play out. What have you got to lose? There is no shortage at present of available patients that might qualify for this type of intervention so just do it. Get the protocols down and ramp up manufacture and distribution of the drug. Do it now. If this drug is as effective as they say it is, maybe we can dispense it to patients well before they show up on the doorsteps our emergency rooms and urgent care centers.
It's a little disheartening to hear stories about people getting preferential treatment when it comes to being tested and treated for this affliction. It seems that some people have more access than others due to their wealth, influence, or association with influential people. Maybe that shouldn't surprise anyone but the stories have to leave you with a burr in your saddle when it is your loved one lying on a gurney in a hospital hallway gasping for air without the aid of a ventilator while someone else is moved from the back of the line to the front of the line because of their connections.
Speaking of moral outrages, there is a story this morning in the papers about certain Senators in Washington who, having been briefed in advance about this virus hitting our shores, took the opportunity to sell their portfolios of stocks and investments. That won't sit well with the average investor who has seen their 401k's and other investments just devastated in the last week or two as the virus continues takes its toll on our economy. It just leaves a bad taste in your mouth. It's that burr in the saddle business all over again.
It's less concerning to me that they sold while others didn't have the same opportunity than what it says about their faith in our country's ability to not only weather a storm like this but to rebound and regain our footing when this is over. They are supposed to be the torchbearers and the cheerleaders for our country and not the fucking pall bearers that they now seem to be since we're looking at this in the rear view mirror. My message to their constituents is simple. Vote these mother fuckers out of office. Send them packing.
One question on everyone's mind is just how long this shutdown stuff if going to last. How long will it take for the number of newly reported cases to start to decline? Other countries peaked out after about 6 weeks I think so maybe that is what we're talking about. And what do we know about whether or not this will return with a vengeance in the fall like the Spanish Flu did in 1917? Did I mention that there is barely a mention of this virus in countries where their populations are inoculated against malaria? There's that chloroquine drug again. Maybe we'll know more in two to three weeks.
I'm glad to hear that Washington is looking at bailing out certain industries that have been hit the hardest hit during this crisis. I'm also pleased that they are considering sending checks to individuals and households to help tide them over in these difficult times. We don't need the money and we probably wouldn't qualify for it assuming they have a litmus test in place for doling out the payments. If the idea is to get the money into the hands of people who will spend it I think they can probably count us to be purchasing patriots first and foremost. Just sayin'.
I texted with one of my peeps in New York yesterday and she is working from home now. She lives in the boonies so she'll be safe assuming she doesn't contract the virus while food shopping or other. She said something about "three freezers" to me in a recent chat so maybe going to the store is an infrequent event in their household. Her hubby has a business that depends on the flow of well paying customers for his livelihood and with so many people now out of work he might welcome a government subsidy to help them through the tough times ahead.
I'm up in the middle of the night sometimes thinking about all of these things and wondering if we're ever going to get back to what passes for normal. Nancy will be joining her yoga class via video here at home this morning instead of attending an in-person class. That pretty much sums up our life these days. I'm biking as usual and I put in an extra long ride yesterday making up perhaps for the rainy day prior where I wasn't able to get out of the house. There was a lot of angst in every push of the pedal as you can well imagine. I wasn't alone out there.
We're doing our best to eat well during this crisis and I've been making salads for lunch that have been well, just outstanding. We're probably eating a little too much sugar these days but I'm staying on top of the fruits and vegetables and as far away from the carbohydrates and animal protein as best we can. I made local scallops, "mashed potatoes" using riced cauliflower, and steamed broccoli last night for dinner. I thought we might like to have a bit of swordfish but changed my mind at the last minute so went with the local scallops.
I'll put in a call to a couple more of my peeps today just to check in. The State of New York is under a State of Emergency so I want to get an update on how everyone is doing. The outrage of the day yesterday went to New York's governor who made the asinine comment, "if I can save one life this will all have been worth it." So, shutting down your entire economy to save one life is what you have in mind? It's just crazy. And I think it's going to get a lot crazier before it gets better. File that under "sad, but true."
Staying Ahead of The Game
18/03/20 07:20
We're all going to die! Most of us are going to die? By the time this is coronavirus thing has run its course will we all know someone who died as a result of this virus? We just don't know. None of us do. The prognosticators and government officials keep referring to this model and that model each of which has a different prediction for how many people will get infected, how many people will survive, how many people won't.
It's the demographic breakdown that has us avoiding our grandparents like the plague. I honestly can't tell you when we might see Mrs G again. She's off limits. Her independent living facility is on lockdown. She can leave the facility but has been cautioned not to do so. Not that she might become infected but rather that she might bring the virus back into the facility and that could have dire consequences for the population at large hunkering down on the premises.
We called Mrs G last evening and used FaceTime (on our iPhones) for the first time ever to connect with her. Walking her through that experience was a challenge but we got it to work even if only for a short period of time.
She kept putting the phone up to her ear as one is want to do when talking on a telephone but that is not how FaceTime works. Putting it up to your ear guarantees that the person on the other end of the FaceTime call sees nothing but shadows or worse.
By the time we got her to hold the phone away from her face we finally caught a glimpse of each other and we all had a good laugh together before we started to experience problems with the audio. It might have had something to do with the fact that we tried to bring Debbie into the FaceTime call already in progress. It was an epic fail.
One or both us pressed the wrong buttons and everything was muted from there on in. It was a good start. Not at all inauspicious. Short of being there in person for her mother, FaceTime should be a nice alternative until this world of ours sorts itself out.
I don't know how I feel about our personal prospects. I do think having our wills and so forth up-to-date is a must so we've urged our attorney to get moving on our more recent requests. We're able to self quarantine for the most part and that should help minimize the prospects of any contact with the virus from external sources.
Our local market designated special shopping hours for folks over a certain age as a prophylactic against exposure to a potentially younger and more infectious and carefree generation. Asymptomatic as they may be, they can spread the virus to those with less than robust immune systems with sneeze, a cough, or something as innocent as a sniffle.
While being a vector of transmission may nothing more than a trifle to a younger person, it is tantamount to a death sentence for an older person susceptible to respiratory ailments and the like. Think Typhoid Mary if context is needed. She never had a sick day in her life but was unknowingly responsible for the death of millions. Falling into the age group that puts me at risk, I took advantage of the special hours at the market for the first time this morning.
Short of having visited an ailing aunt in a nursing home as a youngster, I don't think I've ever been around a more sickly and desperate population than I was at the store in the early hours of this very morning. Contracting the coronavirus was the least of their problems and may in fact be a blessing in disguise were they to become infected.
It was perhaps a glimpse into my own future sadly enough and I decided then and there that I was going to take my chances shopping with the twenty-somethings from here on out.
We've decided that getting take-out meals may not be worth the risk so we're not going to do that with any regularity. I was hoping that might provide some occasional relief from the garden variety fare we're having at home but it's time to reassess. For last night at least, we planned to have Nancy's lentil soup. It's one of my favorite dishes so that was good.
I think Nancy is going to want to get out for a drive at least once a day. Yesterday afternoon we drove into Portsmouth and most stores were closed with very little traffic thereabouts either by car or on foot. It was sad really. On a normal Tuesday afternoon you would have to circle the block more than once and even then you would be lucky to find a parking spot. Nancy thought it might be a good idea to stretch our legs so we parked near the bridge going into Maine and walked over the bridge and then back again.
We were concerned that we might have to walk by someone or someone might pass us by on the narrow walkway across the bridge walking at a faster pace perhaps and we would be in violation of the social distancing required to avoid coming into contact with the virus. We crossed the road a couple of times to avoid coming into contact with other walkers. Other times, we didn't have to avoid other walkers. They avoided us by walking in the street long enough until we were passed then resumed their walk on the walkway.
Being in proximity to others regardless of distance felt like we were taking unnecessary chances. Unnecessary because we could have walked down by the beach closer to home and avoided contact with others altogether. Walking across the bridge seemed like a good thing to do when we were there but we thought better of it as we weighed our options and evaluated our risk after the fact.
Business after business had notices posted on their doors and in their windows giving guidance to both their regular as well as their prospective customers as to why they were closed and when they expected to be open again. The duration of their closures varied but most seemed to be in a two to four week period. We didn't see any "until further notice" notices. I suspect many of the notices will be revisited and extended until there is some light, any light, at the end of this nightmare.
I'm beginning to wonder about Evan. I thought he just couldn't make it over the other night when we thought he might come by for a visit. He made some comment yesterday which gave me pause. He didn't articulate it exactly but what I thought I heard him infer was that he was probably not going to visit because either he didn't want to give us the virus if he had it or he didn't want to get it from us if we were asymptomatic carriers. We didn't press him. It was just good to hear his voice.
What we don't have the heart to tell him is that if we get this damn thing we'll be using his bedroom as a sanctuary for whomever gets the virus first. Not that he needs his bedroom for obvious reasons, but because he likes to come over to "chill" now and then when he feels the need to get away.
He may stay the night and he may not. That said, he's hinky enough to not want to use his bed again if he knows we slept his bed while making every effort to recuperate in-house. I told him long ago that our home is and always will be his home. I think that was comforting for him to hear. Let's hope no one gets sick.
Evan finally showed up last night and stayed a while but didn't stay for dinner. We had a number of items for him to take away and we packed a couple of shopping bags full of items that under normal circumstances he might well buy himself at the store.
I'm mindful these days that when I find myself at the store I need to buy for him as well whatever that means. He's unlikely to give me a shopping list as disorganized as he is about such matters but we know him well enough to know his likes and dislikes when it comes to food.
All we asked was that he leave nothing in his car once he arrived back at his place. Take everything up into your apartment with you even if you have to make two trips to do it. Times are hard with people losing their jobs and losing hope can make people do bad things. Don't give someone an opportunity to break into your car and take something from you that you otherwise need. Just don't do it. Be smart and be safe.
It's the demographic breakdown that has us avoiding our grandparents like the plague. I honestly can't tell you when we might see Mrs G again. She's off limits. Her independent living facility is on lockdown. She can leave the facility but has been cautioned not to do so. Not that she might become infected but rather that she might bring the virus back into the facility and that could have dire consequences for the population at large hunkering down on the premises.
We called Mrs G last evening and used FaceTime (on our iPhones) for the first time ever to connect with her. Walking her through that experience was a challenge but we got it to work even if only for a short period of time.
She kept putting the phone up to her ear as one is want to do when talking on a telephone but that is not how FaceTime works. Putting it up to your ear guarantees that the person on the other end of the FaceTime call sees nothing but shadows or worse.
By the time we got her to hold the phone away from her face we finally caught a glimpse of each other and we all had a good laugh together before we started to experience problems with the audio. It might have had something to do with the fact that we tried to bring Debbie into the FaceTime call already in progress. It was an epic fail.
One or both us pressed the wrong buttons and everything was muted from there on in. It was a good start. Not at all inauspicious. Short of being there in person for her mother, FaceTime should be a nice alternative until this world of ours sorts itself out.
I don't know how I feel about our personal prospects. I do think having our wills and so forth up-to-date is a must so we've urged our attorney to get moving on our more recent requests. We're able to self quarantine for the most part and that should help minimize the prospects of any contact with the virus from external sources.
Our local market designated special shopping hours for folks over a certain age as a prophylactic against exposure to a potentially younger and more infectious and carefree generation. Asymptomatic as they may be, they can spread the virus to those with less than robust immune systems with sneeze, a cough, or something as innocent as a sniffle.
While being a vector of transmission may nothing more than a trifle to a younger person, it is tantamount to a death sentence for an older person susceptible to respiratory ailments and the like. Think Typhoid Mary if context is needed. She never had a sick day in her life but was unknowingly responsible for the death of millions. Falling into the age group that puts me at risk, I took advantage of the special hours at the market for the first time this morning.
Short of having visited an ailing aunt in a nursing home as a youngster, I don't think I've ever been around a more sickly and desperate population than I was at the store in the early hours of this very morning. Contracting the coronavirus was the least of their problems and may in fact be a blessing in disguise were they to become infected.
It was perhaps a glimpse into my own future sadly enough and I decided then and there that I was going to take my chances shopping with the twenty-somethings from here on out.
We've decided that getting take-out meals may not be worth the risk so we're not going to do that with any regularity. I was hoping that might provide some occasional relief from the garden variety fare we're having at home but it's time to reassess. For last night at least, we planned to have Nancy's lentil soup. It's one of my favorite dishes so that was good.
I think Nancy is going to want to get out for a drive at least once a day. Yesterday afternoon we drove into Portsmouth and most stores were closed with very little traffic thereabouts either by car or on foot. It was sad really. On a normal Tuesday afternoon you would have to circle the block more than once and even then you would be lucky to find a parking spot. Nancy thought it might be a good idea to stretch our legs so we parked near the bridge going into Maine and walked over the bridge and then back again.
We were concerned that we might have to walk by someone or someone might pass us by on the narrow walkway across the bridge walking at a faster pace perhaps and we would be in violation of the social distancing required to avoid coming into contact with the virus. We crossed the road a couple of times to avoid coming into contact with other walkers. Other times, we didn't have to avoid other walkers. They avoided us by walking in the street long enough until we were passed then resumed their walk on the walkway.
Being in proximity to others regardless of distance felt like we were taking unnecessary chances. Unnecessary because we could have walked down by the beach closer to home and avoided contact with others altogether. Walking across the bridge seemed like a good thing to do when we were there but we thought better of it as we weighed our options and evaluated our risk after the fact.
Business after business had notices posted on their doors and in their windows giving guidance to both their regular as well as their prospective customers as to why they were closed and when they expected to be open again. The duration of their closures varied but most seemed to be in a two to four week period. We didn't see any "until further notice" notices. I suspect many of the notices will be revisited and extended until there is some light, any light, at the end of this nightmare.
I'm beginning to wonder about Evan. I thought he just couldn't make it over the other night when we thought he might come by for a visit. He made some comment yesterday which gave me pause. He didn't articulate it exactly but what I thought I heard him infer was that he was probably not going to visit because either he didn't want to give us the virus if he had it or he didn't want to get it from us if we were asymptomatic carriers. We didn't press him. It was just good to hear his voice.
What we don't have the heart to tell him is that if we get this damn thing we'll be using his bedroom as a sanctuary for whomever gets the virus first. Not that he needs his bedroom for obvious reasons, but because he likes to come over to "chill" now and then when he feels the need to get away.
He may stay the night and he may not. That said, he's hinky enough to not want to use his bed again if he knows we slept his bed while making every effort to recuperate in-house. I told him long ago that our home is and always will be his home. I think that was comforting for him to hear. Let's hope no one gets sick.
Evan finally showed up last night and stayed a while but didn't stay for dinner. We had a number of items for him to take away and we packed a couple of shopping bags full of items that under normal circumstances he might well buy himself at the store.
I'm mindful these days that when I find myself at the store I need to buy for him as well whatever that means. He's unlikely to give me a shopping list as disorganized as he is about such matters but we know him well enough to know his likes and dislikes when it comes to food.
All we asked was that he leave nothing in his car once he arrived back at his place. Take everything up into your apartment with you even if you have to make two trips to do it. Times are hard with people losing their jobs and losing hope can make people do bad things. Don't give someone an opportunity to break into your car and take something from you that you otherwise need. Just don't do it. Be smart and be safe.
Natural Selection
17/03/20 07:18
Maybe this is a situation where the remedy is worse than the disease. Closing businesses left and right, closing schools, closing down travel for all intents and purposes, closing this and closing that in order to reduce human contact in order to prevent the transmission and spread of this coronavirus may be a bridge too far.
For what, so we can see to it that the hospitals and health care workers aren't impacted? So they have enough ventilators for everybody that will need one? Deaths from the coronavirus will cull the population of the elderly and those with underlying conditions and maybe that's a good thing. There, I said it.
Call it natural selection if it makes you feel better. But we're taking all of these measures at the expense of one of the strongest economies in the world. I'm more concerned about the worker who will now go without a paycheck. When you go without a paycheck you are forced to make life and death decisions about how your money is spent day in and day out. You and your family might well have to forgo medical insurance and other so called "niceties" that were once a staple of the well heeled in our society. And, for the most part, well heeled we were.
I'm hearing about congressional bailouts for industries far and wide as a result of this scourge caused by the coronavirus. We need a net for the little guy too so I hope they'll keep that in mind. Mittens Romney is calling for government to provide a basic income of sorts to get people through this. Maybe that means everyone gets a check. For the little guy, this may mean keeping a roof over his head or food on his table. Secondarily, it will be somewhat stimulative in terms of the economy although probably short of what is really needed.
Congress has already passed a plan of sorts that will benefit smaller companies and their employees. Larger businesses, those with more than 50 employees, are expected to provide for their employees in various and sundry ways. Maybe that means allowing the employee to work from home. Maybe that means paying your employees even if they aren't working until we get through this.
Estimates of how long this is going to be with us vary and the latest time frame was provided by President Trump yesterday when he said that it could well last into July or August. Now we''re talking months when just yesterday or the day before we were talking about weeks. Businesses were announcing closures for two to three weeks and that didn't seem too bad. July or August seems catastrophic. The financial markets responded in kind dropping the Dow Jones Average by close to 3,000 points by the close of business.
In other words, it's going to get a lot worse before it gets better. People will die. People will lose their jobs. Some businesses will prosper while others will languish or just go away without the benefit of customers walking through their doors. We fully intend to do our part by ordering take-out from those restaurants we typically frequent.
That will effectively break up the monotony of staying behind closed doors for extended periods of time and it will give us a little variety in our diet. As for what food stocks we have on hand, we probably need to figure out a way to mix things up a bit. Get creative! Go Bold!
Did I mention that Nancy will now be working from home? It seems like a luxury to say the least given the size of the company that she works for but she asked and they agreed. It will effectively lessen her exposure to the outside world and hopefully reduce her overall chances of contracting this virus. To say that she is relieved is an understatement. I don't think I've ever seen her this jittery about anything before so every little thing we can do to change that up will be a good thing.
We've been calling around to family and friends just to check in and that has been strangely reassuring. Hearing their voices, listening to their concerns, and just knowing that we're not alone in all of this is helpful. One of my friends asked about getting together and I had to wonder what he knew if anything about the coronavirus madness we're now steeped in. "But Tim, what about social distancing", I asked. "How bout a rain check?"
I needed some thistle for my thistle feeder yesterday and I opted to go to a small Agway two towns removed rather than go to the local Walmart which is close by. My objective was to minimize my risks of contracting the virus by minimizing the number of contacts both human and otherwise in my travels from point A to point B. You hear stories about how long the virus lives on surfaces after being scuttled by his/her host and you don't dare touch anything without gloves on much less ignore the advice of the specialists when it comes to social distancing.
I'll share a little secret with you which may make you laugh. When I get hone from my outings to one or more of the local stores I take off my gloves and put them in the freezer. Take that, you mother fucking virus! It probably doesn't help that the rest of my clothing may be covered, indeed infested, with the virus just waiting for me to touch my clothing and then touch my face somewhere. Who says that fighting something you can't see can't be fun?
On the way back from Amway yesterday I stopped in to my local Hannaford's to pick up a few items for dinner. Their stocks of bottled water were decimated but I was able to pick up a couple of flats one or more of which I wanted to get to Evan. He asked me about the traffic in the store and I told him it seemed reasonably sane in so many words. He has his own anxieties the Coronavirus aside so I wanted to make sure that he didn't face that task with any more dread than is necessary.
He is a big consumer of bottled water and complains now and then when he has to drink his tap water because he says it tastes "crappy." I also bought him a large bottle of cold brew which he had at our house a few days back and he found it much to his liking. We'd hoped to see him later in the day but he didn't show up for whatever reason.
Lastly, I'm thinking that this journal business is helping me unwind my own feelings and anxieties when it comes to this changing wold that we all find ourselves in. I also told Nancy that taking a nightly walk down by the ocean should be a mainstay in our short list of outside acitvities. We've done that more recently and it helps in more ways than just getting a little extra exercise. My biking is already in full swing and that has been true throughout the winter months so that will continue in spades. I know you didn't ask, but I love my new bike. That's a story for another day.
For what, so we can see to it that the hospitals and health care workers aren't impacted? So they have enough ventilators for everybody that will need one? Deaths from the coronavirus will cull the population of the elderly and those with underlying conditions and maybe that's a good thing. There, I said it.
Call it natural selection if it makes you feel better. But we're taking all of these measures at the expense of one of the strongest economies in the world. I'm more concerned about the worker who will now go without a paycheck. When you go without a paycheck you are forced to make life and death decisions about how your money is spent day in and day out. You and your family might well have to forgo medical insurance and other so called "niceties" that were once a staple of the well heeled in our society. And, for the most part, well heeled we were.
I'm hearing about congressional bailouts for industries far and wide as a result of this scourge caused by the coronavirus. We need a net for the little guy too so I hope they'll keep that in mind. Mittens Romney is calling for government to provide a basic income of sorts to get people through this. Maybe that means everyone gets a check. For the little guy, this may mean keeping a roof over his head or food on his table. Secondarily, it will be somewhat stimulative in terms of the economy although probably short of what is really needed.
Congress has already passed a plan of sorts that will benefit smaller companies and their employees. Larger businesses, those with more than 50 employees, are expected to provide for their employees in various and sundry ways. Maybe that means allowing the employee to work from home. Maybe that means paying your employees even if they aren't working until we get through this.
Estimates of how long this is going to be with us vary and the latest time frame was provided by President Trump yesterday when he said that it could well last into July or August. Now we''re talking months when just yesterday or the day before we were talking about weeks. Businesses were announcing closures for two to three weeks and that didn't seem too bad. July or August seems catastrophic. The financial markets responded in kind dropping the Dow Jones Average by close to 3,000 points by the close of business.
In other words, it's going to get a lot worse before it gets better. People will die. People will lose their jobs. Some businesses will prosper while others will languish or just go away without the benefit of customers walking through their doors. We fully intend to do our part by ordering take-out from those restaurants we typically frequent.
That will effectively break up the monotony of staying behind closed doors for extended periods of time and it will give us a little variety in our diet. As for what food stocks we have on hand, we probably need to figure out a way to mix things up a bit. Get creative! Go Bold!
Did I mention that Nancy will now be working from home? It seems like a luxury to say the least given the size of the company that she works for but she asked and they agreed. It will effectively lessen her exposure to the outside world and hopefully reduce her overall chances of contracting this virus. To say that she is relieved is an understatement. I don't think I've ever seen her this jittery about anything before so every little thing we can do to change that up will be a good thing.
We've been calling around to family and friends just to check in and that has been strangely reassuring. Hearing their voices, listening to their concerns, and just knowing that we're not alone in all of this is helpful. One of my friends asked about getting together and I had to wonder what he knew if anything about the coronavirus madness we're now steeped in. "But Tim, what about social distancing", I asked. "How bout a rain check?"
I needed some thistle for my thistle feeder yesterday and I opted to go to a small Agway two towns removed rather than go to the local Walmart which is close by. My objective was to minimize my risks of contracting the virus by minimizing the number of contacts both human and otherwise in my travels from point A to point B. You hear stories about how long the virus lives on surfaces after being scuttled by his/her host and you don't dare touch anything without gloves on much less ignore the advice of the specialists when it comes to social distancing.
I'll share a little secret with you which may make you laugh. When I get hone from my outings to one or more of the local stores I take off my gloves and put them in the freezer. Take that, you mother fucking virus! It probably doesn't help that the rest of my clothing may be covered, indeed infested, with the virus just waiting for me to touch my clothing and then touch my face somewhere. Who says that fighting something you can't see can't be fun?
On the way back from Amway yesterday I stopped in to my local Hannaford's to pick up a few items for dinner. Their stocks of bottled water were decimated but I was able to pick up a couple of flats one or more of which I wanted to get to Evan. He asked me about the traffic in the store and I told him it seemed reasonably sane in so many words. He has his own anxieties the Coronavirus aside so I wanted to make sure that he didn't face that task with any more dread than is necessary.
He is a big consumer of bottled water and complains now and then when he has to drink his tap water because he says it tastes "crappy." I also bought him a large bottle of cold brew which he had at our house a few days back and he found it much to his liking. We'd hoped to see him later in the day but he didn't show up for whatever reason.
Lastly, I'm thinking that this journal business is helping me unwind my own feelings and anxieties when it comes to this changing wold that we all find ourselves in. I also told Nancy that taking a nightly walk down by the ocean should be a mainstay in our short list of outside acitvities. We've done that more recently and it helps in more ways than just getting a little extra exercise. My biking is already in full swing and that has been true throughout the winter months so that will continue in spades. I know you didn't ask, but I love my new bike. That's a story for another day.
Pandemic Blues
14/03/20 06:14
Wall Street plunged to all time lows a couple of days ago losing ten percent of its value due to concerns about the impact of the coronavirus on the economy. Maybe the messaging out of Washington was short of the mark leaving folks wondering where this is all going in both the short and long term. Meanwhile, for some godforsaken reason, people have been lining up at stores nationwide to stock up on toilet paper of all things. I can understand not wanting to run short but this seems like madness.
I was telling Nancy that we ought to want to get the virus so we can get over the anxiety of waiting for it to come along at a perhaps more inopportune moment. Let the damn thing ravage us as it is perhaps want to do and we'll emerge stronger and less fearful. That is to say, if the good Lord is willing and the creek don't rise. We're preparing as best we can knowing what we know and what we hear on the news and we can only hope that that is enough at the end of the day. Do we have enough resources to last a month if that is what is required of us?
I can only think of a handful of things I might like to add to our existing supplies and I may well go to Walmart this morning to make my selections. We had a chat with Mrs G yesterday and she indicated that Riverwood was limiting visits and declining visitors altogether from the states of New York and Massachusetts. That was yesterday. Today, they announced that no visitors will be allowed into any of their campuses. Come hell or high water, our nation is going to flatten that curve.
Mrs G had hoped to shore up her stocks of wine and a couple of other items but was otherwise not concerned about shortages and such. She mentioned that several of her friends had been approached by their families who wanted to take them from the facility post haste. There were others with similar offers who chose to tough it out in the place they now call home. Their main dining room is now closed and residents will have their meals delivered to a central area for pickup. Mrs G can come and go from the facility but why take the risk.
I think Riverwoods, like every other elder care community across the nation, is concerned about the virus getting into their communities and decimating their ranks in short order. It seems like a reasonable concern given what we know about just how virulent this coronavirus has proven to be in China, South Korea, and more recently, Italy. We've all seen the disturbing pictures on our television screens of hazmat suits, mass graves, near empty town squares, and panicked shoppers waiting in long lines with baskets teeming with everything under the sun.
President Trump stepped up to the podium in the Rose Garden at the White House yesterday surrounded by health care professionals and professionals from various organizations in a public display of public-private partnerships put together to fight this pandemic. By all accounts, it was the most impressive showing to date by anyone in Washington. At the end of the day you want to know that your government is doing everything possible to make a bad situation less bad.
If you watched President Trump's press conference on television you also saw the stock market ticker gain almost ten percent in value from the time the President stated to talk to the end of the press conference. As a point of reference, the market was down 28% from the peak before the 10% push during Trump's speech. Each of the attendees stepped up to the podium when called by the President and promised the American people that they were there to join the fight with all the resources at their disposal.
It is an "all hands on deck" approach and the American people are joining the fight. Our job as American citizens is to stay home as much as possible, stay out of public places as much as possible, practice social distancing, wash our hands at every turn, and follow the rules and regulations if and when the day comes when we think we've been infected with the virus. Most of us will survive this pandemic. If you have underling issues due to age, infirmity, or other you may want to get your affairs in order.
I walked into our local shopping market last evening after what must have been a very long day for the employees and management dealing with people trying to prepare for end times by buying everything in sight. Store shelves were surprisingly well stocked and for all intents and purposes it could have passed for an opening look rather than a closing look. Maybe it was me but despite appearances of being in a well oiled business model the joint felt and smelled like a poorly ventilated cauldron of stale body odor, nasty germs, and deadly viruses.
My imagination was working overtime. There probably wasn't an item within arms reach on shelves in any of the aisles that hadn't been touched, jostled, moved, and then maybe returned to the shelf for whatever reason. I'm no different from the next guy when it comes to picking the right apples, grapefruits, etc when it comes to pushing one or two aside to get just the right piece of fruit that you then place in your basket. How many infected hands touched these things before I moved them about with my gloved hands and just how long exactly does this virus live once marooned by its host? We just don't know and the people who do know aren't saying.
I steered clear of people looking feverish and tired, people coughing or showing other signs of respiratory distress, and I held my basket filled with purchases at arms length between myself and the person waiting behind me as a buffer zone while standing in the checkout line. I was too close to them and they were far too close to me for comfort. It made me wonder if they got the memo on social distancing or maybe they got the memo and just didn't care. Their disregard for such matters wasn't just callous, it was dangerous.
The very act of placing my purchases on the conveyor belt knowing full well that each and every of the thousands of items put there during the course of the day was put there by a potential patient zero gave me considerable pause. I viewed everyone around me as a potential carrier of the deadly virus and that was considerably and perhaps even irrationally disconcerting.
I can't help but feel bad for the parent or two who has to put up with the long lines, the constant exposure to germs far and wide forgetting the virus for a moment, just to put food on the table for their children. Now that schools are closing or holding classes online due to the pandemic in many states, it will only make matters worse for all involved. It means that more parents will be staying or working from home while attending to both their work and their children and the demands on everybody involved will increase exponentially. Expect a harried populace to look even more harried as time goes on.
I can't help but feel bad for the senior citizen who doesn't have the wherewithal physically or mentally or maybe even financially to survive the hustle and bustle that comes with long lines and impatient and panicky customers in these trying times. Who was it that said, "These are the times that try men's souls"? Who was it indeed. Stay safe and don't hug your children or grandchildren. They can kill you.
I was telling Nancy that we ought to want to get the virus so we can get over the anxiety of waiting for it to come along at a perhaps more inopportune moment. Let the damn thing ravage us as it is perhaps want to do and we'll emerge stronger and less fearful. That is to say, if the good Lord is willing and the creek don't rise. We're preparing as best we can knowing what we know and what we hear on the news and we can only hope that that is enough at the end of the day. Do we have enough resources to last a month if that is what is required of us?
I can only think of a handful of things I might like to add to our existing supplies and I may well go to Walmart this morning to make my selections. We had a chat with Mrs G yesterday and she indicated that Riverwood was limiting visits and declining visitors altogether from the states of New York and Massachusetts. That was yesterday. Today, they announced that no visitors will be allowed into any of their campuses. Come hell or high water, our nation is going to flatten that curve.
Mrs G had hoped to shore up her stocks of wine and a couple of other items but was otherwise not concerned about shortages and such. She mentioned that several of her friends had been approached by their families who wanted to take them from the facility post haste. There were others with similar offers who chose to tough it out in the place they now call home. Their main dining room is now closed and residents will have their meals delivered to a central area for pickup. Mrs G can come and go from the facility but why take the risk.
I think Riverwoods, like every other elder care community across the nation, is concerned about the virus getting into their communities and decimating their ranks in short order. It seems like a reasonable concern given what we know about just how virulent this coronavirus has proven to be in China, South Korea, and more recently, Italy. We've all seen the disturbing pictures on our television screens of hazmat suits, mass graves, near empty town squares, and panicked shoppers waiting in long lines with baskets teeming with everything under the sun.
President Trump stepped up to the podium in the Rose Garden at the White House yesterday surrounded by health care professionals and professionals from various organizations in a public display of public-private partnerships put together to fight this pandemic. By all accounts, it was the most impressive showing to date by anyone in Washington. At the end of the day you want to know that your government is doing everything possible to make a bad situation less bad.
If you watched President Trump's press conference on television you also saw the stock market ticker gain almost ten percent in value from the time the President stated to talk to the end of the press conference. As a point of reference, the market was down 28% from the peak before the 10% push during Trump's speech. Each of the attendees stepped up to the podium when called by the President and promised the American people that they were there to join the fight with all the resources at their disposal.
It is an "all hands on deck" approach and the American people are joining the fight. Our job as American citizens is to stay home as much as possible, stay out of public places as much as possible, practice social distancing, wash our hands at every turn, and follow the rules and regulations if and when the day comes when we think we've been infected with the virus. Most of us will survive this pandemic. If you have underling issues due to age, infirmity, or other you may want to get your affairs in order.
I walked into our local shopping market last evening after what must have been a very long day for the employees and management dealing with people trying to prepare for end times by buying everything in sight. Store shelves were surprisingly well stocked and for all intents and purposes it could have passed for an opening look rather than a closing look. Maybe it was me but despite appearances of being in a well oiled business model the joint felt and smelled like a poorly ventilated cauldron of stale body odor, nasty germs, and deadly viruses.
My imagination was working overtime. There probably wasn't an item within arms reach on shelves in any of the aisles that hadn't been touched, jostled, moved, and then maybe returned to the shelf for whatever reason. I'm no different from the next guy when it comes to picking the right apples, grapefruits, etc when it comes to pushing one or two aside to get just the right piece of fruit that you then place in your basket. How many infected hands touched these things before I moved them about with my gloved hands and just how long exactly does this virus live once marooned by its host? We just don't know and the people who do know aren't saying.
I steered clear of people looking feverish and tired, people coughing or showing other signs of respiratory distress, and I held my basket filled with purchases at arms length between myself and the person waiting behind me as a buffer zone while standing in the checkout line. I was too close to them and they were far too close to me for comfort. It made me wonder if they got the memo on social distancing or maybe they got the memo and just didn't care. Their disregard for such matters wasn't just callous, it was dangerous.
The very act of placing my purchases on the conveyor belt knowing full well that each and every of the thousands of items put there during the course of the day was put there by a potential patient zero gave me considerable pause. I viewed everyone around me as a potential carrier of the deadly virus and that was considerably and perhaps even irrationally disconcerting.
I can't help but feel bad for the parent or two who has to put up with the long lines, the constant exposure to germs far and wide forgetting the virus for a moment, just to put food on the table for their children. Now that schools are closing or holding classes online due to the pandemic in many states, it will only make matters worse for all involved. It means that more parents will be staying or working from home while attending to both their work and their children and the demands on everybody involved will increase exponentially. Expect a harried populace to look even more harried as time goes on.
I can't help but feel bad for the senior citizen who doesn't have the wherewithal physically or mentally or maybe even financially to survive the hustle and bustle that comes with long lines and impatient and panicky customers in these trying times. Who was it that said, "These are the times that try men's souls"? Who was it indeed. Stay safe and don't hug your children or grandchildren. They can kill you.
Going Viral
11/03/20 07:12
Cases of the coronavirus (Covid-19) are on the increase and deaths attributed to same are also on the increase. At last report there were in excess of a thousand infected in the U.S. with a mortality rate of around 2-3%. There is no question that there is more than a modicum of hysteria out there although I've not seen a lot of that in my recent trips to the local stores. You really don't know when you see someone pushing a cart around the store chock full of "stuff" whether that is their usual weekly shopping haul, or more insidiously, someone preparing to be locked down for an extended period of time.
I have a good mind to call my peeps to see how they're doing as this virus ramps up across the world. What preparations are they making in order to protect themselves and their families. Do they have underlying conditions that may make them more susceptible this virus? Is one or more of my peeps working in an environment where 50 or more employees are under one roof making the community spread aspect of the virus more likely? Coming in contact with the public has its own issues so how will that work for one of my peeps who does that day in and day out?
Schools are closing left and right and students will have to attend classes online in order to continue their pursuit of higher education. Massachusetts will not have their St. Patricks Day parade this year nor will Harvard and other universities ask that their students return from Spring break. It's hard to say what the economic impact of this lockdown is but it probably isn't pretty. If people aren't frequenting stores, if people aren't traveling by planes, trains, or automobiles, how do you reasonably sustain a system that relies on all of those things in order to fuel our economy?
For the presidential candidates, this could be interesting. The presumptive favorite of the leftists is one addled Joe Biden. He would be well served if he didn't hold any rallies from now until the general election in the Fall. His handlers would be most pleased that they didn't have to have him out on the stump where his dementia or early Alzheimers is there in spades for all the world to see. He can't even give a victory speech these days without his dentures coming loose making an already garbled and unintelligible speech that much more garbled and unintelligible.
Trump on the other hand would be handicapped by not having rallies where he is accustomed to having tens of thousands in attendance. It is a major recruiting tool for the president so his people need to figure this out and figure it out fast. It would come as no surprise were we to see a democrat governor or two shut down events where large numbers of people congregate just to see to it that Trump cannot work his magic to the detriment of his opponent.
With Sanders (The Bern) now on the ropes having lost any number of states to Joe Biden in the primaries, it is just a matter of time before Trump's opponent is the only one left standing in the way of Trump's victory in November. The other obstacle is the coronavirus. That is a potentially more dangerous minefield to navigate and will require a less sensational and more magnanimous Trump. If he has any shapeshifting skills, he best put them to work for the American public. They will expect no less.
Nancy suggested the other day that I not go to the gym for a while so that I can limit my exposure to the coronavirus. I think that's not a bad idea. That place is a petri dish of nastiness on a normal day without the overlay of the coronavirus so I'm good with taking a break. Besides, I have alternative means to get exercise which don't involve the gym and if push comes to shove I can always jump on the treadmill here at home. Not sure what Nancy plans to do about her various and sundry yoga classes and such. What's good for the goose is good for the gander?
And what, pray tell, does this mean for Mrs G? She is a captive audience in her little world and she is subject to the whims and particulars of whatever passes through their doors be they good or bad. As one of hundreds of residents in her complex, all are considered to be in that demographic where contraction of the virus would put them at extreme risk. There is a Nora virus going around at present in her building and environs and each of the residents is more or less confined to their units until it passes through.
Their dining room serves meals daily for the residents and they congregate in large numbers at the appointed hour each day in order to enjoy a lovely meal surrounded by friends and acquaintances. When they opt out for whatever reason they can have their meals delivered to a nearby pick-up spot. Something tells me that she may see the end of these dining collectives and that would be unfortunate. Socialization is a key to good mental health among the seniors living there so less socialization would not be a good thing. You can't help but wonder if and when visitors and visitations will be curtailed.
As for the primaries on the democratic side of the house, Bernie Sanders got spanked again last night in a mini Super Tuesday. He didn't even have the common decency to speak to his supporters at the end of the night. He hightailed it back to one of his many lakefront homes in Vermont and has no planned speaking engagements. He's a fucking Marxist so I'm happy to see him and his sicko Antifa followers take a lump or two. Our nation has soundly rejected what he was offering and residents of our great country marched to the polls and pulled the lever for his opponent to send that very message.
If I hear him say one more time about his damn "movement" I'm going to toss my cookies. I never could get my head around what his youthful followers thought they saw in him other than the "revolution" that he was promising. What is it about a fucking revolution that they find so appealing? I get a little anti-establishment, but revolution? The Brits threw these socialists out when they voted in Boris Johnson as PM last year. We Trump supporters voted with our feet when we rejected the establishment candidate, Hillary Clinton, and put one Donald J. Trump into office in 2016. Leftist ideology is a losing ideology. It needs to be exorcized like the cancer that it is.
Before I wrap this up let me just say this. If I hear one more person talk about "people of color" I think I'm going to lose my mind. I thought we stopped referring to people of color when we stopped referring to American Indians as "Redskins." I'm old enough to remember when whites were whites and blacks were blacks and not so-called "people of color." You had whites and you had blacks and you had everything in between and that was just the way it was.
Now you have people of color and what? There is no such thing as people of no color so where does that leave we white folk? Out in the fucking dark, that's where it leaves us. This is by design, my little darlings. We are the new underclass and we are helpless to stop it. When Ronald Reagan urged his fellow citizens to pull themselves up by their bootstraps he was talking about all Americans. Whatever happened to that America? What happened to our shining city on the hill?
I have a good mind to call my peeps to see how they're doing as this virus ramps up across the world. What preparations are they making in order to protect themselves and their families. Do they have underlying conditions that may make them more susceptible this virus? Is one or more of my peeps working in an environment where 50 or more employees are under one roof making the community spread aspect of the virus more likely? Coming in contact with the public has its own issues so how will that work for one of my peeps who does that day in and day out?
Schools are closing left and right and students will have to attend classes online in order to continue their pursuit of higher education. Massachusetts will not have their St. Patricks Day parade this year nor will Harvard and other universities ask that their students return from Spring break. It's hard to say what the economic impact of this lockdown is but it probably isn't pretty. If people aren't frequenting stores, if people aren't traveling by planes, trains, or automobiles, how do you reasonably sustain a system that relies on all of those things in order to fuel our economy?
For the presidential candidates, this could be interesting. The presumptive favorite of the leftists is one addled Joe Biden. He would be well served if he didn't hold any rallies from now until the general election in the Fall. His handlers would be most pleased that they didn't have to have him out on the stump where his dementia or early Alzheimers is there in spades for all the world to see. He can't even give a victory speech these days without his dentures coming loose making an already garbled and unintelligible speech that much more garbled and unintelligible.
Trump on the other hand would be handicapped by not having rallies where he is accustomed to having tens of thousands in attendance. It is a major recruiting tool for the president so his people need to figure this out and figure it out fast. It would come as no surprise were we to see a democrat governor or two shut down events where large numbers of people congregate just to see to it that Trump cannot work his magic to the detriment of his opponent.
With Sanders (The Bern) now on the ropes having lost any number of states to Joe Biden in the primaries, it is just a matter of time before Trump's opponent is the only one left standing in the way of Trump's victory in November. The other obstacle is the coronavirus. That is a potentially more dangerous minefield to navigate and will require a less sensational and more magnanimous Trump. If he has any shapeshifting skills, he best put them to work for the American public. They will expect no less.
Nancy suggested the other day that I not go to the gym for a while so that I can limit my exposure to the coronavirus. I think that's not a bad idea. That place is a petri dish of nastiness on a normal day without the overlay of the coronavirus so I'm good with taking a break. Besides, I have alternative means to get exercise which don't involve the gym and if push comes to shove I can always jump on the treadmill here at home. Not sure what Nancy plans to do about her various and sundry yoga classes and such. What's good for the goose is good for the gander?
And what, pray tell, does this mean for Mrs G? She is a captive audience in her little world and she is subject to the whims and particulars of whatever passes through their doors be they good or bad. As one of hundreds of residents in her complex, all are considered to be in that demographic where contraction of the virus would put them at extreme risk. There is a Nora virus going around at present in her building and environs and each of the residents is more or less confined to their units until it passes through.
Their dining room serves meals daily for the residents and they congregate in large numbers at the appointed hour each day in order to enjoy a lovely meal surrounded by friends and acquaintances. When they opt out for whatever reason they can have their meals delivered to a nearby pick-up spot. Something tells me that she may see the end of these dining collectives and that would be unfortunate. Socialization is a key to good mental health among the seniors living there so less socialization would not be a good thing. You can't help but wonder if and when visitors and visitations will be curtailed.
As for the primaries on the democratic side of the house, Bernie Sanders got spanked again last night in a mini Super Tuesday. He didn't even have the common decency to speak to his supporters at the end of the night. He hightailed it back to one of his many lakefront homes in Vermont and has no planned speaking engagements. He's a fucking Marxist so I'm happy to see him and his sicko Antifa followers take a lump or two. Our nation has soundly rejected what he was offering and residents of our great country marched to the polls and pulled the lever for his opponent to send that very message.
If I hear him say one more time about his damn "movement" I'm going to toss my cookies. I never could get my head around what his youthful followers thought they saw in him other than the "revolution" that he was promising. What is it about a fucking revolution that they find so appealing? I get a little anti-establishment, but revolution? The Brits threw these socialists out when they voted in Boris Johnson as PM last year. We Trump supporters voted with our feet when we rejected the establishment candidate, Hillary Clinton, and put one Donald J. Trump into office in 2016. Leftist ideology is a losing ideology. It needs to be exorcized like the cancer that it is.
Before I wrap this up let me just say this. If I hear one more person talk about "people of color" I think I'm going to lose my mind. I thought we stopped referring to people of color when we stopped referring to American Indians as "Redskins." I'm old enough to remember when whites were whites and blacks were blacks and not so-called "people of color." You had whites and you had blacks and you had everything in between and that was just the way it was.
Now you have people of color and what? There is no such thing as people of no color so where does that leave we white folk? Out in the fucking dark, that's where it leaves us. This is by design, my little darlings. We are the new underclass and we are helpless to stop it. When Ronald Reagan urged his fellow citizens to pull themselves up by their bootstraps he was talking about all Americans. Whatever happened to that America? What happened to our shining city on the hill?
Biden or Bust
07/03/20 06:58
It's hard to say where this coronavirus thing is going. It started ostensibly in Wuhan China and is now in most countries in the world. The mortality rate of the virus is slightly higher than that of the usual seasonal flu and it's especially dangerous for people with compromised immune systems like the elderly, etc. But the fear of this virus seems disproportionate to the harm it threatens. People die of viruses. The flu is a virus. People die of the flu. Let's move on.
Being in and around large crowds where the virus can easily spread between carriers and non-carriers is probably not something that one would want to do in this environment. Cruise ships are definitely off limits and airline travel to destinations far and wide have been canceled at least for the time being. The economic impact of these events cannot be understated. When people are afraid to leave their homes for fear of being infected with a deadly virus it is a problem.
If you are out shopping for face masks, hand sanitizers, toilet tissue, and other miscellaneous pharmaceuticals you are probably too late to the game. We've stocked up so no worries here on the home front. And then there is the media. Whipping up hysteria by providing daily body counts is what they love to do in the age of Trump. If it threatens his re-election in November of this year then they are all in. He is, as they like to say, an existential threat to the well being of our country and our country will not survive if he has another four years in office.
One of the tools in Trump's re-election toolbox is his ability to attract tens of thousands of his followers to his rallies which are then televised far and wide. If those rallies are no longer feasible due to the inadvisability of people congregating in large open spaces then that will be a problem. Trump is dismissive when it comes to such issues and says as much when asked the question in public settings. That may have more to do with allaying the fears of the public about such things. Just between you and me, I think his messaging could use a tweak or two.
Nancy and I took a drive to a nearby town early yesterday afternoon where we thought we might like to have a nice lunch. We'd not been to this particular restaurant before although we'd read or heard good things about it so thought it seemed like a good time to pay a visit.
It was a garden variety diner with garden variety selections as we discovered when we sat down a little after 1 in the afternoon. The ambiance was appropriately cheesy. Management had made an effort to usher in the advent of St. Patricks day by stringing Christmas lights throughout the establishment. Leftover green tinsel from holidays past had been fashioned into shamrocks and hung from the artwork on the walls. By all accounts, it was a good crowd for a payday Friday afternoon.
Our waitress was pleasant and cheerful and probably young enough to think that this was just a job that did nothing more than put food on her table, clothes on her back, and a roof over her head. It was hard to imagine that she thought it was much more than that but time has a way of moving on and leaving you behind doing something you never planned to do so I guess only time will tell.
One thing I've always liked about eating in diners is that the fare is typically inexpensive, predictable, and standardized. Ordering a bowl of chili in a backwater town in New Hampshire should be no different than ordering the same dish in sunny downtown Pasadena, California.
It's been a while since I've eaten in a diner so maybe I've forgotten but one thing I wouldn't and shouldn't expect is that the food served would look and taste like it came from a can. Such was the case with the cup of chili and the side of coleslaw that I ordered with my sandwich yesterday.
My turkey club sandwich, on the other hand, was nicely toasted, the turkey recently roasted, and the bacon neither too crispy nor too rubbery. Lest you think I ordered more than I could consume in any one sitting, the plan was to have but half a sandwich if that and take the other half to go. All in all it was good to get out of the house for a while, have a bite to eat, grab a flat white at Starbuck's, and call it a day. We have no plans, as you can well imagine, to return to that particular restaurant.
Not to get too long winded here but what the hell is going on with Joe Biden? This cognitive decline issue is hard to watch and social media isn't helping to keep it under wraps. What we once thought to be considered mere gaffes are now seen for what they are. Which is to say, a man in near collapse when it comes to his cognitive abilities. To say that his condition is deteriorating is probably an understatement. Are the democrats that desperate that they would put a man on the world stage with his obvious age-related issues? What the hell are they thinking?
Bernie Sanders must be thinking that he's died and gone to heaven as he and everyone else watches Joe Biden just withering on the vine. In Joe's mind I'm sure he's thinking nothing of the sort and he may well be under the mistaken impression that the people around him are singing his praises when they are in fact secretly hoping against hope that he can hang on long enough to take back the White House for his party in November.
Everyone around Joe Biden, including his family and his supporters, should be ashamed of themselves for what they are doing to this man. He belongs in a home, not on the world stage making his case demented as it is that he should be the next president of the United States. The ads against Joe Biden throughout the summer and fall months, should he win his party's nomination, will be brutal and there are no shortage of videos and pictures which are readily available which speak to Biden's ongoing and worsening problems.
Being in and around large crowds where the virus can easily spread between carriers and non-carriers is probably not something that one would want to do in this environment. Cruise ships are definitely off limits and airline travel to destinations far and wide have been canceled at least for the time being. The economic impact of these events cannot be understated. When people are afraid to leave their homes for fear of being infected with a deadly virus it is a problem.
If you are out shopping for face masks, hand sanitizers, toilet tissue, and other miscellaneous pharmaceuticals you are probably too late to the game. We've stocked up so no worries here on the home front. And then there is the media. Whipping up hysteria by providing daily body counts is what they love to do in the age of Trump. If it threatens his re-election in November of this year then they are all in. He is, as they like to say, an existential threat to the well being of our country and our country will not survive if he has another four years in office.
One of the tools in Trump's re-election toolbox is his ability to attract tens of thousands of his followers to his rallies which are then televised far and wide. If those rallies are no longer feasible due to the inadvisability of people congregating in large open spaces then that will be a problem. Trump is dismissive when it comes to such issues and says as much when asked the question in public settings. That may have more to do with allaying the fears of the public about such things. Just between you and me, I think his messaging could use a tweak or two.
Nancy and I took a drive to a nearby town early yesterday afternoon where we thought we might like to have a nice lunch. We'd not been to this particular restaurant before although we'd read or heard good things about it so thought it seemed like a good time to pay a visit.
It was a garden variety diner with garden variety selections as we discovered when we sat down a little after 1 in the afternoon. The ambiance was appropriately cheesy. Management had made an effort to usher in the advent of St. Patricks day by stringing Christmas lights throughout the establishment. Leftover green tinsel from holidays past had been fashioned into shamrocks and hung from the artwork on the walls. By all accounts, it was a good crowd for a payday Friday afternoon.
Our waitress was pleasant and cheerful and probably young enough to think that this was just a job that did nothing more than put food on her table, clothes on her back, and a roof over her head. It was hard to imagine that she thought it was much more than that but time has a way of moving on and leaving you behind doing something you never planned to do so I guess only time will tell.
One thing I've always liked about eating in diners is that the fare is typically inexpensive, predictable, and standardized. Ordering a bowl of chili in a backwater town in New Hampshire should be no different than ordering the same dish in sunny downtown Pasadena, California.
It's been a while since I've eaten in a diner so maybe I've forgotten but one thing I wouldn't and shouldn't expect is that the food served would look and taste like it came from a can. Such was the case with the cup of chili and the side of coleslaw that I ordered with my sandwich yesterday.
My turkey club sandwich, on the other hand, was nicely toasted, the turkey recently roasted, and the bacon neither too crispy nor too rubbery. Lest you think I ordered more than I could consume in any one sitting, the plan was to have but half a sandwich if that and take the other half to go. All in all it was good to get out of the house for a while, have a bite to eat, grab a flat white at Starbuck's, and call it a day. We have no plans, as you can well imagine, to return to that particular restaurant.
Not to get too long winded here but what the hell is going on with Joe Biden? This cognitive decline issue is hard to watch and social media isn't helping to keep it under wraps. What we once thought to be considered mere gaffes are now seen for what they are. Which is to say, a man in near collapse when it comes to his cognitive abilities. To say that his condition is deteriorating is probably an understatement. Are the democrats that desperate that they would put a man on the world stage with his obvious age-related issues? What the hell are they thinking?
Bernie Sanders must be thinking that he's died and gone to heaven as he and everyone else watches Joe Biden just withering on the vine. In Joe's mind I'm sure he's thinking nothing of the sort and he may well be under the mistaken impression that the people around him are singing his praises when they are in fact secretly hoping against hope that he can hang on long enough to take back the White House for his party in November.
Everyone around Joe Biden, including his family and his supporters, should be ashamed of themselves for what they are doing to this man. He belongs in a home, not on the world stage making his case demented as it is that he should be the next president of the United States. The ads against Joe Biden throughout the summer and fall months, should he win his party's nomination, will be brutal and there are no shortage of videos and pictures which are readily available which speak to Biden's ongoing and worsening problems.
Super Tuesday Eve
01/03/20 07:05
We stopped in to see Mrs G yesterday afternoon for our usual Saturday visit. We gave her a call when we were about 15 minutes out just to let her know we were on our way. We called her on her cell phone since we want her to use her iPhone as often as possible. Repetition is the best teacher or so they say.
She didn't pick up the first go round and it went to voice mail. We gave it another try and that too went to voice mail. We then called on her land line and she picked it up with a chuckle in her voice saying something to the effect that she didn't know how to answer her iPhone. "Not to worry, we'll go over it when we get there", Nancy assured her.
After our arrival we practiced calling her and having her call us while sitting next to her on the couch and Nancy showed her how to turn on the speaker when taking a call so she can listen to calls without having the phone up to her ear. So far, so good. Hello? Hello? Hello? Can you hear me?
Mrs G mentioned that the good folks in her building were somewhat concerned about the coronavirus thing and that makes perfect sense. Not because of any personal experience, mind you, but rather due to the round the clock coverage in the media of casualties around the globe and rumors of pandemics, shortages, and the like. Populations at the greatest risk are the elderly and more specifically the elderly with compromised immune systems. The "elderly" part, at least, defines her community to a tee so it's no surprise that they are on high alert.
The first recorded death of a patient with the deadly coronavirus in the U.S. occurred yesterday in the U.S. on the West Coast and was reported by President Trump and his entourage of scientists at a 1:30 press conference. I think there are only 50 or so known cases here at present but that may have a lot to do with the fact that there has been virtually no mass testing for reasons unknown.
I think that is about to change so buckle up girls and boys. I'm seeing photos of long lines of shoppers waiting with their carts in places like Costco on the West coast so we have that too.
You know things are bad when I have to plan my bike riding around scheduled press conferences so I can stay on top of this thing. That was easy to do in the month of February since we had almost no snow the entire month. There were only a couple of riding days where temperatures were in the twenties so that worked out well too.
My rides are that much more enjoyable these days not only because of the snowless conditions but because of the fact that I can tune into my favorite shows be they radio or television on Sirius Radio with my now unlimited data plan through Sprint.
Nancy isn't happy that I ride with earbuds in so I do my best to conceal that fact when I go riding if she is around to see me before I leave. I don't know how to explain to her that earbuds these days do not block out external sounds and I can hear and sense things around me while riding just fine.
So I've been tuning in to radio talk shows both conservative and progressive while riding and I occasionally listen to music. My winter gear keeps the ear buds in place but I'll need to get some over the ear type of thing come Spring.
I sometimes got into a mindless rhythm while riding before I started listening to music on my rides and I was easily startled by other cyclists coming up on me from the rear or perhaps a dog barking out an open car window as it passed within arms reach. I guess I was in what they refer to as the "zone" and it was a pleasant place to be for the most part. But daydreaming while biking can be dangerous so I think having something to listen to helps keep me in the present as it were.
It should be an interesting day today with tomorrow being Super Tuesday (14 states voting) and all. Did I mention that Butt Edge Edge dropped out yesterday? It seems that the establishment is trying to whittle down the field so that the establishment candidate, Sleepy Joe Biden, can gather enough delegates between now and the convention in Milwaukee so that he can steal the nomination from Crazy Bernie on the second ballot with the help of the superdelegates. The Bernie Bros are not going to go silently into the night if that happens.
Evan spent the night here last night for no particular reason. I think he just likes to get away from time to time and we're an inexpensive and convenient way to do just that. Not sure what his agenda is today or what meetings he may or may not have with the good folks at Seacoast. I should think a little bit about grabbing a few more things at the store just to stay ahead of everything that needs to be done in the event that this coronavirus thing comes to my neighborhood. I'll be making a list and checking it twice.
She didn't pick up the first go round and it went to voice mail. We gave it another try and that too went to voice mail. We then called on her land line and she picked it up with a chuckle in her voice saying something to the effect that she didn't know how to answer her iPhone. "Not to worry, we'll go over it when we get there", Nancy assured her.
After our arrival we practiced calling her and having her call us while sitting next to her on the couch and Nancy showed her how to turn on the speaker when taking a call so she can listen to calls without having the phone up to her ear. So far, so good. Hello? Hello? Hello? Can you hear me?
Mrs G mentioned that the good folks in her building were somewhat concerned about the coronavirus thing and that makes perfect sense. Not because of any personal experience, mind you, but rather due to the round the clock coverage in the media of casualties around the globe and rumors of pandemics, shortages, and the like. Populations at the greatest risk are the elderly and more specifically the elderly with compromised immune systems. The "elderly" part, at least, defines her community to a tee so it's no surprise that they are on high alert.
The first recorded death of a patient with the deadly coronavirus in the U.S. occurred yesterday in the U.S. on the West Coast and was reported by President Trump and his entourage of scientists at a 1:30 press conference. I think there are only 50 or so known cases here at present but that may have a lot to do with the fact that there has been virtually no mass testing for reasons unknown.
I think that is about to change so buckle up girls and boys. I'm seeing photos of long lines of shoppers waiting with their carts in places like Costco on the West coast so we have that too.
You know things are bad when I have to plan my bike riding around scheduled press conferences so I can stay on top of this thing. That was easy to do in the month of February since we had almost no snow the entire month. There were only a couple of riding days where temperatures were in the twenties so that worked out well too.
My rides are that much more enjoyable these days not only because of the snowless conditions but because of the fact that I can tune into my favorite shows be they radio or television on Sirius Radio with my now unlimited data plan through Sprint.
Nancy isn't happy that I ride with earbuds in so I do my best to conceal that fact when I go riding if she is around to see me before I leave. I don't know how to explain to her that earbuds these days do not block out external sounds and I can hear and sense things around me while riding just fine.
So I've been tuning in to radio talk shows both conservative and progressive while riding and I occasionally listen to music. My winter gear keeps the ear buds in place but I'll need to get some over the ear type of thing come Spring.
I sometimes got into a mindless rhythm while riding before I started listening to music on my rides and I was easily startled by other cyclists coming up on me from the rear or perhaps a dog barking out an open car window as it passed within arms reach. I guess I was in what they refer to as the "zone" and it was a pleasant place to be for the most part. But daydreaming while biking can be dangerous so I think having something to listen to helps keep me in the present as it were.
It should be an interesting day today with tomorrow being Super Tuesday (14 states voting) and all. Did I mention that Butt Edge Edge dropped out yesterday? It seems that the establishment is trying to whittle down the field so that the establishment candidate, Sleepy Joe Biden, can gather enough delegates between now and the convention in Milwaukee so that he can steal the nomination from Crazy Bernie on the second ballot with the help of the superdelegates. The Bernie Bros are not going to go silently into the night if that happens.
Evan spent the night here last night for no particular reason. I think he just likes to get away from time to time and we're an inexpensive and convenient way to do just that. Not sure what his agenda is today or what meetings he may or may not have with the good folks at Seacoast. I should think a little bit about grabbing a few more things at the store just to stay ahead of everything that needs to be done in the event that this coronavirus thing comes to my neighborhood. I'll be making a list and checking it twice.
It's All Hands On Deck!
28/02/20 07:01
This coronavirus thing is something else. We have but a handful of cases here in the U.S. but I'm starting to hear the expression "community transmission" more and more. I think that means that once it gets into your community it spreads like wild fire. It reportedly has a mortality rate of 2-3% but who believes the Chinese when it comes to anything? They've been inflating their records in the financial markets for years.
Both China and South Korea are stacking up corpses like cordwood these days and there doesn't seem be any end to the crisis as cases are on the increase in countries around the world. The contagion has now spread to financial markets around the globe and here in our country we saw an 1,100+ point drop in the Dow just yesterday. I think that is the largest one day drop in terms of points (not %) in the history of the stock market. It's probably not a bad time to sit this one out if you still can.
The stock market rout is likely to continue for a while until sanity is restored and calmer heads prevail. Is it possible to see another 10% drop from where we are today? If we're to believe what we're hearing about the disruptions in the global supply chain then I would say that the answer to that question is an emphatic "yes." In the meantime, there will no end to the drip drip drip of dreadful stories of death and despair and that will do nothing to ameliorate the fears of the common man.
We've bought a few extra things just in case. Nancy went shopping for pharmacy related items so we'll have plenty of cough medicine, hand soap, etc. If and when panic sets in you want to make sure you're not one of hundreds or more standing in line for hours on end hoping to get the very last of something that may not be available by the time you get to make your selections. If and when we're forced to stay at home for an extended period of time we want to have some of the basic necessities at our fingertips.
If and maybe even when things go sideways, we'll be eating a lot of soup and peanut butter. Nancy said something about buying another freezer but I'm thinking that won't be necessary. Our experience with freezers is that when things go in there they are out of sight and out of mind. In other words, you just forget what you have and sooner or later you have to go in and just start throwing things away.
President Trump was on television the other night surrounded by health professionals talking about the coronavirus. If it was his intention to calm fears and calm financial markets he failed miserably. It's just not his strong suit. He's not a big science guy as one might have guessed from listening to him talk over time about things like climate change, etc.
He is an absolute master when it comes to holding pressers so taking questions from the press went about as well as you might expect. He just seems to be uncomfortable in his own skin when talking about the coronavirus itself and that came through in spades when discussing our country's prospects for surviving it longer term. He didn't offer a dire picture nor did he paint too rosy a picture which I suppose was good. But his whole demeanor and tone was somewhat dismissive and that was not well received by either the financial community or the general community at large.
I do hope that he has not surrounded himself with a bunch of science sycophants who are unwilling or simply not wanting to tell him the truth about this potential pandemic coming down the pike. That would be a disservice to all Americans. President Trump did not appoint a czar which is what one might have expected under the circumstances but rather he assigned the task of leading the charge to Vice President Pence. Pence is a good man and will do a good job.
We're now hearing that all communications or updates on the virus have to go through the Vice President's office. Messaging is critical so that may not be a bad thing. You simply can't have your people offering differing or opposing views day after day in the press on this subject. We are in an election year so the other side of the aisle has weighed in with their criticisms albeit in a measured way.
The democrats do not want to be seen as obstructionists at a time when we as Americans all need to be pulling in the same direction. It seems the Main Street Media (MSM) has not yet received that memo so continue as they have since Trump came down the escalator three years ago to rip him a new one at every turn.
They are overdue for a comeuppance of sorts although I'm not certain where that might come from. Trump winning a second term might well do the trick since they (MSM) have spent the last four years aiding and abetting the democrats to obstruct Trump's presidency in every way possible. They have failed miserably and his re-election, if successful, will be yet one more example where Trump wins the day. He did warn us that we would get tired of winning and he was right.
Lastly, the South Carolina primary is on tap for today and Sleepy Joe Biden is expected to come in first place with Bernie Sanders coming in perhaps a distant second place. On the republican side of the ballot, SC is not having a primary this year since Trump is the runaway favorite as the sitting president and there wasn't a need to entertain any challengers. I think he took the state by a considerable margin in 2016. Not having a republican primary saves money and coalesces all of the energy around one candidate for the election in November.
Trump held a rally in South Carolina last night on the eve of today's primary. He is if nothing else a troll of epic proportions. Nobody trolls their opponents better than Trump. He asked the crowd who he thought might be the stronger opponent between sleepy Joe Biden and Crazy Bernie and then proceeded to instruct his wildly enthusiastic followers in attendance to go out and vote for Bernie in the primary today. That could have a material impact on the outcome and trajectory of the race and could result in sleepy Joe dropping out. Trump would clearly prefer to run against a declared socialist so that's the game plan for now.
Both China and South Korea are stacking up corpses like cordwood these days and there doesn't seem be any end to the crisis as cases are on the increase in countries around the world. The contagion has now spread to financial markets around the globe and here in our country we saw an 1,100+ point drop in the Dow just yesterday. I think that is the largest one day drop in terms of points (not %) in the history of the stock market. It's probably not a bad time to sit this one out if you still can.
The stock market rout is likely to continue for a while until sanity is restored and calmer heads prevail. Is it possible to see another 10% drop from where we are today? If we're to believe what we're hearing about the disruptions in the global supply chain then I would say that the answer to that question is an emphatic "yes." In the meantime, there will no end to the drip drip drip of dreadful stories of death and despair and that will do nothing to ameliorate the fears of the common man.
We've bought a few extra things just in case. Nancy went shopping for pharmacy related items so we'll have plenty of cough medicine, hand soap, etc. If and when panic sets in you want to make sure you're not one of hundreds or more standing in line for hours on end hoping to get the very last of something that may not be available by the time you get to make your selections. If and when we're forced to stay at home for an extended period of time we want to have some of the basic necessities at our fingertips.
If and maybe even when things go sideways, we'll be eating a lot of soup and peanut butter. Nancy said something about buying another freezer but I'm thinking that won't be necessary. Our experience with freezers is that when things go in there they are out of sight and out of mind. In other words, you just forget what you have and sooner or later you have to go in and just start throwing things away.
President Trump was on television the other night surrounded by health professionals talking about the coronavirus. If it was his intention to calm fears and calm financial markets he failed miserably. It's just not his strong suit. He's not a big science guy as one might have guessed from listening to him talk over time about things like climate change, etc.
He is an absolute master when it comes to holding pressers so taking questions from the press went about as well as you might expect. He just seems to be uncomfortable in his own skin when talking about the coronavirus itself and that came through in spades when discussing our country's prospects for surviving it longer term. He didn't offer a dire picture nor did he paint too rosy a picture which I suppose was good. But his whole demeanor and tone was somewhat dismissive and that was not well received by either the financial community or the general community at large.
I do hope that he has not surrounded himself with a bunch of science sycophants who are unwilling or simply not wanting to tell him the truth about this potential pandemic coming down the pike. That would be a disservice to all Americans. President Trump did not appoint a czar which is what one might have expected under the circumstances but rather he assigned the task of leading the charge to Vice President Pence. Pence is a good man and will do a good job.
We're now hearing that all communications or updates on the virus have to go through the Vice President's office. Messaging is critical so that may not be a bad thing. You simply can't have your people offering differing or opposing views day after day in the press on this subject. We are in an election year so the other side of the aisle has weighed in with their criticisms albeit in a measured way.
The democrats do not want to be seen as obstructionists at a time when we as Americans all need to be pulling in the same direction. It seems the Main Street Media (MSM) has not yet received that memo so continue as they have since Trump came down the escalator three years ago to rip him a new one at every turn.
They are overdue for a comeuppance of sorts although I'm not certain where that might come from. Trump winning a second term might well do the trick since they (MSM) have spent the last four years aiding and abetting the democrats to obstruct Trump's presidency in every way possible. They have failed miserably and his re-election, if successful, will be yet one more example where Trump wins the day. He did warn us that we would get tired of winning and he was right.
Lastly, the South Carolina primary is on tap for today and Sleepy Joe Biden is expected to come in first place with Bernie Sanders coming in perhaps a distant second place. On the republican side of the ballot, SC is not having a primary this year since Trump is the runaway favorite as the sitting president and there wasn't a need to entertain any challengers. I think he took the state by a considerable margin in 2016. Not having a republican primary saves money and coalesces all of the energy around one candidate for the election in November.
Trump held a rally in South Carolina last night on the eve of today's primary. He is if nothing else a troll of epic proportions. Nobody trolls their opponents better than Trump. He asked the crowd who he thought might be the stronger opponent between sleepy Joe Biden and Crazy Bernie and then proceeded to instruct his wildly enthusiastic followers in attendance to go out and vote for Bernie in the primary today. That could have a material impact on the outcome and trajectory of the race and could result in sleepy Joe dropping out. Trump would clearly prefer to run against a declared socialist so that's the game plan for now.
Socialists and Sons of Ragnar
23/02/20 06:36
Looks like Bernie Sanders is getting up a head of steam in these here early primaries and caucuses. I look at that crusty old fuck and I see a nasty and irascible old curmudgeon spewing out his hatred for everything American and I can't for the life of me understand his appeal to whatever they call the younger generation these days.
I looked long and hard at his supporters as they stood behind him on the stage like clapping seals after winning the Nevada caucuses last night and I was hard pressed not only to not see any people of color but I don't think there were any people there over the age of 25. If there is such a thing as a modern day version of the brown shirts that protected Hitler as he rose to power they certainly passed the first qualifying round given their fervor and blindness to the communistic fervor he espouses. And he is always so fucking angry!
There isn't much a firewall out there that will stop him from getting a plurality of the delegates much less a majority by the time the convention rolls around. If the super delegates steal it away from him on the second ballot they and the party they represent will most certainly lose the whole ball of wax for the democrats in November.
Bernie's followers, or brown shirt wannabes, will either stay home come November or they will vote for Trump to defeat whomever it is that the democrats nominate in his place. This is kind of a replay of 2016 truth be told. Trump has said time and time again that our country will never be a socialist country. We Trump supporters and everyday Americans damn well better step up this coming November or the rising tide of the Sanders movement warts and all may well bring communism to our collective doorsteps.
But we're just getting started. I am happy to see that other socialist and fake indian, Elizabeth Warren, get barely 10% of the vote out of Nevada. That means she gets squat for delegates not having garnered the minimum of 15% in order to qualify. My guess is that she is staying in the race in the event that Bernie's recently implanted stents somehow fail and he falls by the wayside which would provide a potential opening for her as the only remaining socialist on the stage. Biden is barely hanging on with a second place finish after placing 4th and fifth in the preceding two contests.
Video emerged yesterday of Biden stating that his son was Attorney General of the United States. He was no such thing. The dude has dementia if not early stage Alzheimers and this is but the latest in what has been a litany of gaffs and mistruths. People no longer need to try to understand why Barack Hussein Obama has not endorsed him by now. He was a reasonably good Vice President but that was then. This is now. It's over, Joe. It's time to go home.
If Butt Boy gets any more traction beyond what he has now I will raise my ire accordingly. Until then, it is sufficient to say that this country is not ready for a gay president. The coastal elites may welcome it but the heartland will cough up a hairball before they agree to cast their ballots so that two consenting males can carry on as they please within the halls of the venerable institution that we fondly refer to as the People's House (White House.)
We might even long for the day when the sordid tales of Lewinsky's blue dress were the talk of the town. Thankfully, it will probably never come to that. And thanks again to the good and god fearing folk of the Heartland and beyond across our great nation for putting upon the necessary guardrails. So I'll be tuning in to the main street media this morning to watch with abject delight as the leftists in the media twist themselves into pretzels in an attempt to come up with a solution to their "Bernie" problem.
Were it not for the fact that Trump will beat Sanders like a rented mule in the general election this Fall they might well embrace Bernie's socialistic tendencies. As it stands now, Bernie's ascendency threatens all the down ballot races and the democrats will more than likely lose not only the presidency but the House and they will assuredly not regain the Senate. Maybe for that reason alone they will take up the "never Bernie" mantle and use it as a cudgel to craft narrative after narrative until they destroy him.
Ads are already going up on billboards and other venues across the nation depicting Sanders as a far left socialist who heartily embraces ludicrous programs like the Green New Deal and other programs that threaten to destroy a vibrant and expanding economy in our great country. In his bewildered rage he is accosting the sensibilities of everyday Americans in his lust for power.
To put it simply, this is not going end well for he and his faithful but misdirected followers. Will they take to the streets with their Antifa masks and tiki torches and try to burn it all down? That is entirely possible. We need to be prepared for that eventuality.
Did I mention that Evan stopped by yesterday? His phone finally died. Or, to be clear, his screen went black and between the two of us we could not resusitate it. It is an iPhone 6 and has been surviving on borrowed time ever since the screen splintered some time ago. It never seemed to bother him much so we left it at that. He did have an iPhone 11 for a period of time which we gave him for his birthday and which he lost along the way somewhere. That is always painful.
But his iPhone 6 was not dead. I could hear it making noises and I could do other things limited as they were but it was, for all intents and purposes, unusable. I plugged it in to the computer and it wouldn't even show up in iTunes. There are certain screen commands required on the phone to, 1) have it appear in iTunes, 2) get past the password requirements, and 3) to have it become a trusted device so I could back it up when if and when it did show up in iTunes.
I fiddled with it long enough to find out when and where on the blackened screen I had to press the appropriate numbers and commands in order for it to show up in iTunes. He needed a new phone so we ordered that from Apple. The plan is to restore the phone from the backup I created by fiddling as I did with the screen commands until the device showed up in iTunes so I could back up the phone. So far, so good. And yes, I told his mom, Evan has some skin in the game. He will pay for the phone in good time, or should I say, over time.
He and I headed over to Starbucks for a late afternoon coffee while his mom went off to a Yoga class. It's a sunny and warm day here on the coast and Evan was looking forward to his favorite beverage and I mine. He ordered an iced Flat White while I had a tall hot Flat White. Evan seemed a little restless today so I worried that the caffeine might add to his restlessness but he seems none the worse for wear.
Did I mention that we stopped and grabbed him a nice caesar salad to go before heading home? And, being the lucky ducks that we are, Nancy promised to stop by the Mexican restaurant in Kittery on the way home to grab dinner to bring home. So much take-out so little time. It's all good.
I looked long and hard at his supporters as they stood behind him on the stage like clapping seals after winning the Nevada caucuses last night and I was hard pressed not only to not see any people of color but I don't think there were any people there over the age of 25. If there is such a thing as a modern day version of the brown shirts that protected Hitler as he rose to power they certainly passed the first qualifying round given their fervor and blindness to the communistic fervor he espouses. And he is always so fucking angry!
There isn't much a firewall out there that will stop him from getting a plurality of the delegates much less a majority by the time the convention rolls around. If the super delegates steal it away from him on the second ballot they and the party they represent will most certainly lose the whole ball of wax for the democrats in November.
Bernie's followers, or brown shirt wannabes, will either stay home come November or they will vote for Trump to defeat whomever it is that the democrats nominate in his place. This is kind of a replay of 2016 truth be told. Trump has said time and time again that our country will never be a socialist country. We Trump supporters and everyday Americans damn well better step up this coming November or the rising tide of the Sanders movement warts and all may well bring communism to our collective doorsteps.
But we're just getting started. I am happy to see that other socialist and fake indian, Elizabeth Warren, get barely 10% of the vote out of Nevada. That means she gets squat for delegates not having garnered the minimum of 15% in order to qualify. My guess is that she is staying in the race in the event that Bernie's recently implanted stents somehow fail and he falls by the wayside which would provide a potential opening for her as the only remaining socialist on the stage. Biden is barely hanging on with a second place finish after placing 4th and fifth in the preceding two contests.
Video emerged yesterday of Biden stating that his son was Attorney General of the United States. He was no such thing. The dude has dementia if not early stage Alzheimers and this is but the latest in what has been a litany of gaffs and mistruths. People no longer need to try to understand why Barack Hussein Obama has not endorsed him by now. He was a reasonably good Vice President but that was then. This is now. It's over, Joe. It's time to go home.
If Butt Boy gets any more traction beyond what he has now I will raise my ire accordingly. Until then, it is sufficient to say that this country is not ready for a gay president. The coastal elites may welcome it but the heartland will cough up a hairball before they agree to cast their ballots so that two consenting males can carry on as they please within the halls of the venerable institution that we fondly refer to as the People's House (White House.)
We might even long for the day when the sordid tales of Lewinsky's blue dress were the talk of the town. Thankfully, it will probably never come to that. And thanks again to the good and god fearing folk of the Heartland and beyond across our great nation for putting upon the necessary guardrails. So I'll be tuning in to the main street media this morning to watch with abject delight as the leftists in the media twist themselves into pretzels in an attempt to come up with a solution to their "Bernie" problem.
Were it not for the fact that Trump will beat Sanders like a rented mule in the general election this Fall they might well embrace Bernie's socialistic tendencies. As it stands now, Bernie's ascendency threatens all the down ballot races and the democrats will more than likely lose not only the presidency but the House and they will assuredly not regain the Senate. Maybe for that reason alone they will take up the "never Bernie" mantle and use it as a cudgel to craft narrative after narrative until they destroy him.
Ads are already going up on billboards and other venues across the nation depicting Sanders as a far left socialist who heartily embraces ludicrous programs like the Green New Deal and other programs that threaten to destroy a vibrant and expanding economy in our great country. In his bewildered rage he is accosting the sensibilities of everyday Americans in his lust for power.
To put it simply, this is not going end well for he and his faithful but misdirected followers. Will they take to the streets with their Antifa masks and tiki torches and try to burn it all down? That is entirely possible. We need to be prepared for that eventuality.
Did I mention that Evan stopped by yesterday? His phone finally died. Or, to be clear, his screen went black and between the two of us we could not resusitate it. It is an iPhone 6 and has been surviving on borrowed time ever since the screen splintered some time ago. It never seemed to bother him much so we left it at that. He did have an iPhone 11 for a period of time which we gave him for his birthday and which he lost along the way somewhere. That is always painful.
But his iPhone 6 was not dead. I could hear it making noises and I could do other things limited as they were but it was, for all intents and purposes, unusable. I plugged it in to the computer and it wouldn't even show up in iTunes. There are certain screen commands required on the phone to, 1) have it appear in iTunes, 2) get past the password requirements, and 3) to have it become a trusted device so I could back it up when if and when it did show up in iTunes.
I fiddled with it long enough to find out when and where on the blackened screen I had to press the appropriate numbers and commands in order for it to show up in iTunes. He needed a new phone so we ordered that from Apple. The plan is to restore the phone from the backup I created by fiddling as I did with the screen commands until the device showed up in iTunes so I could back up the phone. So far, so good. And yes, I told his mom, Evan has some skin in the game. He will pay for the phone in good time, or should I say, over time.
He and I headed over to Starbucks for a late afternoon coffee while his mom went off to a Yoga class. It's a sunny and warm day here on the coast and Evan was looking forward to his favorite beverage and I mine. He ordered an iced Flat White while I had a tall hot Flat White. Evan seemed a little restless today so I worried that the caffeine might add to his restlessness but he seems none the worse for wear.
Did I mention that we stopped and grabbed him a nice caesar salad to go before heading home? And, being the lucky ducks that we are, Nancy promised to stop by the Mexican restaurant in Kittery on the way home to grab dinner to bring home. So much take-out so little time. It's all good.
See How That Works?
18/02/20 06:59
When I'm Starbucks these days I'm ordering up a flat white. When at home, I have my espresso machine running hot. I've been trying to steer clear of dairy products for no particular reason but you can't have a flat white without the white. I suppose without the white it's nothing more than an espresso. I have a sneaky suspicion that the flat white has a bit of sweetener in it as well which I would also prefer to avoid but I tell myself that the sweeter is in the milk so if I'm having the milk the sweeter is unavoidable.
Maybe it's honey instead of refined sugar. More delusion. But the espresso at home business has taken as it were and it seems to be here to stay at least for a while. I don't do the steamed milk thing so it's black as coal and I'm kinda liking it. Like I said, for now.
I prepped a couple of salads at home for lunch yesterday after Nancy and I took a nice walk down on Ocean Boulevard. We haven't done that for a while so I was feeling it in my legs after the first hour. We started at Wallis Sands Beach and ended up on the first leg at the entrance to Odiorne State Park where we turned around.
It was a beautiful sunny day with temperate offshore breezes along the ocean and you could just make out with the squint of an eye the outlines of what appeared to be a colony of seals lounging offshore on the rocky outcroppings up and safely away from predators cruising the shallows.
I often resort to keeping a list of ingredients when it comes to preparing salads. There is nothing worse than making a salad then coming to realize that you forgot one or more key ingredients. Sometimes, it's just a spice. Or, maybe you had a jar of marinated sliced mushrooms that would have been just perfect as an addon but because it was not front and center when you opened your fridge it went unnoticed and unused.
My list is at least ten ingredients long and never seems to get any shorter with the passing of time. Beets, croutons, chic peas, shaved carrots, and red onions are at the top of the list and all bring a necessary color, texture, taste, or flavor to an otherwise bland 4-inch raised bed of shaved lettuce. Red cabbage is a delight as well as is as occasional serving of sliced avocado which we just happened to have on hand yesterday and which we throughly enjoyed.
Lastly, a dash or two of everyday spice and a prolonged drizzle of balsamic vinaigrette laced vertically and horizontally across the top of everything goes a long way toward enhancing the already robust and deliciousness of the salad. Did I mention I like to add green or black olives and blue cheese crumbles to the ensemble as well? You hear a lot about poke salads these days. I'm not sure that my salads are much different in kind or in substance from these newfangled dishes known as pokes (pronounced po-kays.)
Did I mention that while Evan was over we ordered a couple of pizzas from a new pizza joint here in Portsmouth. Knowing what we now about Evan not liking the carbs when eating lots of crust we ordered their cauliflower pizza crust pizza and it was quite good. Evan thought that it was a little less appealing the day after but for the moment at least it filled the bill.
I also ordered a caesar salad for him and he really enjoyed that as we knew he would. Oh, and for a topping I ordered meatballs. It was an all around terrific meal and we're pleased as punch to have yet one more place to add to our go-to list when it comes to eating at or ordering from restaurants hereabouts.
My neighbor asked if I might take care of her driveway when she is away for a week or two in March. I could have made up some kind of nonsense excuse to get out of agreeing to her request but decided against that. Besides, we've had crazy little snow this season so what makes me think that we're going to get slammed the week that she is away on vacation? And what about precedents?
Is this going to turn into a recurring request for years to come but I just don't know it yet? It will certainly be easier for her to ask in years to come if I agree now and it will be harder for me to say "no" given that I'm saying "yes" this year. It's best not to overthink these things and just go with the flow.
It's not the end of the world and I'm doing a favor for someone that I'm pleased to be doing a favor for. I would hasten to add that they clear the area of snow around the mailboxes for the residents on our street and that is helpful to everyone. I guess that task falls to me as well when they're away. So be it.
She asked if Nancy and I might like to attend a meeting with our local congressman on issues related to medicare, social security, etc. I politely declined albeit a day or two beyond the assigned date on the calendar. Nancy mentioned that we had an e-mail from our neighbor but she did not tell me that it was time sensitive. It's just as well.
The congressman in question voted to impeach my president and I would have expressed my unhappiness with that particular decision in no uncertain terms. In fact, I will be actively looking to replace this piece of shit in November. There, I said it.
I'm glad we're working out the details with Evan when it comes to using our Apple devices to transfer money to him when possible. He was telling me that he was at a gas station recently putting three dollars worth of gas in his car and how that didn't get him very far. Duh! With the Apple Pay feature and with gas stations now accepting Apple Pay we send him money and he can use it to put gas in his car in a pinch.
One of the nicer features these days when it comes to using our hand held devices is having the ability to send and receive money. It's done by simply sending a text to the intended recipient. My initial transfer to him was $10. I wanted to make sure that he felt comfortable using his phone and the Apple Pay feature of the phone to make purchases before sending him more money.
He used it (Apple Pay) first at Starbucks. He informed me after the fact that when he went to use it he was required to put in his passcode before it would allow him to use Apple Pay to pay the vendor. I guess I knew that since that is how Nancy's phone works. They both have older phones so the facial ID feature that just kicks in when I go to use my phone is nonexistent on their phones.
He commented as well that the good folks at Starbuck were pleasant indeed and probably kind enough to offer him guidance when he first presented his phone for his first Apple Pay purchase. He is more likely than not to avoid such interactions these days so I'm delighted his experience was a positive one. Day by day.
And what about that Cusinart Keurig machine I gave to him? You know, the one that I used a handful of times and decided that it didn't make a cup of coffee that was strong enough for my tastes so was promptly sidelined and tucked away. Evan is new to the coffee scene but seems to be keen now to this new world that he's discovered. Most of his beverages have been iced but he can end up with an iced beverage with the Keurig machine with the addition of a few ice cubes and a dash of milk.
I was a it flummoxed when he told me that he couldn't get the machine to work after bringing it over to his apartment. Nancy was almost insistent that we dust it off and give it a whirl beforehand so Evan could see how to work the machine before he just took it away with him. I was thinking that it would be easy peasy so resisted doing a demo.
Besides, you know Evan rarely sits still for demos and seems to have little patience for them if you must know the truth. I urged him to do a little trouble shooting to see if he couldn't get it going and I was a little surprised that he didn't jump on that with a little more gusto. But he sent us a video yesterday of a cup filling up from his new machine and Nancy and I gave each other a fist bump to celebrate. Well done!
Maybe it's honey instead of refined sugar. More delusion. But the espresso at home business has taken as it were and it seems to be here to stay at least for a while. I don't do the steamed milk thing so it's black as coal and I'm kinda liking it. Like I said, for now.
I prepped a couple of salads at home for lunch yesterday after Nancy and I took a nice walk down on Ocean Boulevard. We haven't done that for a while so I was feeling it in my legs after the first hour. We started at Wallis Sands Beach and ended up on the first leg at the entrance to Odiorne State Park where we turned around.
It was a beautiful sunny day with temperate offshore breezes along the ocean and you could just make out with the squint of an eye the outlines of what appeared to be a colony of seals lounging offshore on the rocky outcroppings up and safely away from predators cruising the shallows.
I often resort to keeping a list of ingredients when it comes to preparing salads. There is nothing worse than making a salad then coming to realize that you forgot one or more key ingredients. Sometimes, it's just a spice. Or, maybe you had a jar of marinated sliced mushrooms that would have been just perfect as an addon but because it was not front and center when you opened your fridge it went unnoticed and unused.
My list is at least ten ingredients long and never seems to get any shorter with the passing of time. Beets, croutons, chic peas, shaved carrots, and red onions are at the top of the list and all bring a necessary color, texture, taste, or flavor to an otherwise bland 4-inch raised bed of shaved lettuce. Red cabbage is a delight as well as is as occasional serving of sliced avocado which we just happened to have on hand yesterday and which we throughly enjoyed.
Lastly, a dash or two of everyday spice and a prolonged drizzle of balsamic vinaigrette laced vertically and horizontally across the top of everything goes a long way toward enhancing the already robust and deliciousness of the salad. Did I mention I like to add green or black olives and blue cheese crumbles to the ensemble as well? You hear a lot about poke salads these days. I'm not sure that my salads are much different in kind or in substance from these newfangled dishes known as pokes (pronounced po-kays.)
Did I mention that while Evan was over we ordered a couple of pizzas from a new pizza joint here in Portsmouth. Knowing what we now about Evan not liking the carbs when eating lots of crust we ordered their cauliflower pizza crust pizza and it was quite good. Evan thought that it was a little less appealing the day after but for the moment at least it filled the bill.
I also ordered a caesar salad for him and he really enjoyed that as we knew he would. Oh, and for a topping I ordered meatballs. It was an all around terrific meal and we're pleased as punch to have yet one more place to add to our go-to list when it comes to eating at or ordering from restaurants hereabouts.
My neighbor asked if I might take care of her driveway when she is away for a week or two in March. I could have made up some kind of nonsense excuse to get out of agreeing to her request but decided against that. Besides, we've had crazy little snow this season so what makes me think that we're going to get slammed the week that she is away on vacation? And what about precedents?
Is this going to turn into a recurring request for years to come but I just don't know it yet? It will certainly be easier for her to ask in years to come if I agree now and it will be harder for me to say "no" given that I'm saying "yes" this year. It's best not to overthink these things and just go with the flow.
It's not the end of the world and I'm doing a favor for someone that I'm pleased to be doing a favor for. I would hasten to add that they clear the area of snow around the mailboxes for the residents on our street and that is helpful to everyone. I guess that task falls to me as well when they're away. So be it.
She asked if Nancy and I might like to attend a meeting with our local congressman on issues related to medicare, social security, etc. I politely declined albeit a day or two beyond the assigned date on the calendar. Nancy mentioned that we had an e-mail from our neighbor but she did not tell me that it was time sensitive. It's just as well.
The congressman in question voted to impeach my president and I would have expressed my unhappiness with that particular decision in no uncertain terms. In fact, I will be actively looking to replace this piece of shit in November. There, I said it.
I'm glad we're working out the details with Evan when it comes to using our Apple devices to transfer money to him when possible. He was telling me that he was at a gas station recently putting three dollars worth of gas in his car and how that didn't get him very far. Duh! With the Apple Pay feature and with gas stations now accepting Apple Pay we send him money and he can use it to put gas in his car in a pinch.
One of the nicer features these days when it comes to using our hand held devices is having the ability to send and receive money. It's done by simply sending a text to the intended recipient. My initial transfer to him was $10. I wanted to make sure that he felt comfortable using his phone and the Apple Pay feature of the phone to make purchases before sending him more money.
He used it (Apple Pay) first at Starbucks. He informed me after the fact that when he went to use it he was required to put in his passcode before it would allow him to use Apple Pay to pay the vendor. I guess I knew that since that is how Nancy's phone works. They both have older phones so the facial ID feature that just kicks in when I go to use my phone is nonexistent on their phones.
He commented as well that the good folks at Starbuck were pleasant indeed and probably kind enough to offer him guidance when he first presented his phone for his first Apple Pay purchase. He is more likely than not to avoid such interactions these days so I'm delighted his experience was a positive one. Day by day.
And what about that Cusinart Keurig machine I gave to him? You know, the one that I used a handful of times and decided that it didn't make a cup of coffee that was strong enough for my tastes so was promptly sidelined and tucked away. Evan is new to the coffee scene but seems to be keen now to this new world that he's discovered. Most of his beverages have been iced but he can end up with an iced beverage with the Keurig machine with the addition of a few ice cubes and a dash of milk.
I was a it flummoxed when he told me that he couldn't get the machine to work after bringing it over to his apartment. Nancy was almost insistent that we dust it off and give it a whirl beforehand so Evan could see how to work the machine before he just took it away with him. I was thinking that it would be easy peasy so resisted doing a demo.
Besides, you know Evan rarely sits still for demos and seems to have little patience for them if you must know the truth. I urged him to do a little trouble shooting to see if he couldn't get it going and I was a little surprised that he didn't jump on that with a little more gusto. But he sent us a video yesterday of a cup filling up from his new machine and Nancy and I gave each other a fist bump to celebrate. Well done!
No Virus is a Good Virus.
16/02/20 07:06
So now, with all of this coronavirus stuff going on, Nancy doesn't want to go into any stores where she might come into contact with the virus. She insists that I go in alone not realizing or not wanting to know or understand that if I get infected that she too will be infected sooner rather than later. It's hard to know what to make of this new global scourge other than to say that it started ostensibly in China and has apparently now found its way around the world in short order. There may be as many as 12 cases here in the U.S. and maybe one known death associated with the virus. I'm not scared. Not in the least. No siree, Bob.
Nancy says that we should go out and buy "plague" food. By that she means sufficient food stores to hold us over if there is a run on the stores hereabouts and the shelves are emptied leaving little to nothing for those of us looking to add to their meager and perhaps even declining or decimated food stocks.
Millions of Chinese are under lock and key this very day in the larger cities throughout China while officials try to manage an unmanageable crisis. So what in god's name makes us think that this yet to be labeled "pandemic" won't reach our shores and bring with it the kind of pandemonium that results from such a crisis? Make no mistake about it. I'm making a shopping list and I'm checking it twice.
I'll discuss with Nancy what we should buy and how much of this and that we should purchase. How much is too much? What are we likely to grow tired of if we are forced to eat it day in and day out? And while there may not be a run on the stores it makes total sense that the very act of going out to the stores might well expose us to the deadly virus so we might as well head this baby off at the pass and get while the getting is good.
I used to think that having a few extra cans of food around the house might come in handy in the event of this or that coming along. After a period of time I've found that those cans of food have outlived their usefulness and disposing of them becomes a pain in the ass. That's probably not the right attitude. It's better to have them than not? And then there is Evan's glycogen thing to consider.
It probably wouldn't be a bad idea to do a little research before I go headlong into this chore I've been assigned. Better that then going up and down the supermarket aisles without a plan, I suppose. Do you think that our government is deliberately downplaying this coronavirus business so as not to alarm the populace? I think that's entirely possible. It's even more possible if I'm really wanting to be cynical that during a presidential election year there is no one in the administration who would deliberately throw the election into a cocked hat by raising the red flag and panicking the populace.
I've not seen one person in my travels wearing a mask so I think I feel good about that. They say that a mask doesn't prevent you from getting infected but it does minimize the infections you can spread by sneezing, coughing, etc. I heard a U.S. senator say the other day that he thought this particular virus came out of a bio lab somewhere in China despite initial reports that it had passed from animal to human in one or more of the open markets in China where bat soup, snake meat, etc are served up as delicacies to a questionably discerning public.
It's unlikely that we'll ever know the god's honest truth but the Chinese government cannot be trusted to tell the truth and they are not allowing in heath experts from the West to isolate and identify the virus so you can draw your own conclusions. All airline traffic in and out of these cities in China have been shut down until further notice. Cruise ships with infected passengers sit idle off shores around the world no longer welcome in ports that once enjoyed the commerce they brought. In isolation, these stories are not in and of themselves a cause for concern. Right. I think I need a bigger freezer.
Evan gave us a call late in the morning on Saturday and said he was coming over to visit and maybe even spend the night. Nancy and I stayed on course with our plans to visit Mrs G later in the day and extended an offer to have Evan join us which he politely declined. We discussed dinner and we planned to stop and pick up burritos on the way home.
Mrs G was in good spirits despite her latest complaints having to do with mobility issues mostly but she was not letting any of it it slow her down. I worked with her to update a few of her chess apps on her iPad and Nancy stood over her shoulder while the two of them discussed iPhone issues.
I keep telling Nancy that when she calls her mom that she should be calling her on her iPhone so she can become more familiar with how it works. Remembering to do that can be a challenge and more often than not Nancy forgets to do just that. One thing we arranged to do was to turn up the volume on her iPhone so she could hear it from her bedroom when it rings.
"Just carry it with you when you go in and out of your other rooms, Mrs G", I said. It may be a bridge too far but we'll see. She never used her Virgin Mobile flip phone very much so not sure why we think she would use her new iPhone any more frequently. And finally, I talked Nancy into going into Starbucks after a long day of working with Dr Rosman down in Massachusetts.
Having a hot caffeinated beverage for the long ride home was just what the doctor ordered. I advised her to get our favorite drink as of late, a flat white. She put aside her fears of contracting a virus long enough to get a nice coffee for the ride home. Good stuff!
Nancy says that we should go out and buy "plague" food. By that she means sufficient food stores to hold us over if there is a run on the stores hereabouts and the shelves are emptied leaving little to nothing for those of us looking to add to their meager and perhaps even declining or decimated food stocks.
Millions of Chinese are under lock and key this very day in the larger cities throughout China while officials try to manage an unmanageable crisis. So what in god's name makes us think that this yet to be labeled "pandemic" won't reach our shores and bring with it the kind of pandemonium that results from such a crisis? Make no mistake about it. I'm making a shopping list and I'm checking it twice.
I'll discuss with Nancy what we should buy and how much of this and that we should purchase. How much is too much? What are we likely to grow tired of if we are forced to eat it day in and day out? And while there may not be a run on the stores it makes total sense that the very act of going out to the stores might well expose us to the deadly virus so we might as well head this baby off at the pass and get while the getting is good.
I used to think that having a few extra cans of food around the house might come in handy in the event of this or that coming along. After a period of time I've found that those cans of food have outlived their usefulness and disposing of them becomes a pain in the ass. That's probably not the right attitude. It's better to have them than not? And then there is Evan's glycogen thing to consider.
It probably wouldn't be a bad idea to do a little research before I go headlong into this chore I've been assigned. Better that then going up and down the supermarket aisles without a plan, I suppose. Do you think that our government is deliberately downplaying this coronavirus business so as not to alarm the populace? I think that's entirely possible. It's even more possible if I'm really wanting to be cynical that during a presidential election year there is no one in the administration who would deliberately throw the election into a cocked hat by raising the red flag and panicking the populace.
I've not seen one person in my travels wearing a mask so I think I feel good about that. They say that a mask doesn't prevent you from getting infected but it does minimize the infections you can spread by sneezing, coughing, etc. I heard a U.S. senator say the other day that he thought this particular virus came out of a bio lab somewhere in China despite initial reports that it had passed from animal to human in one or more of the open markets in China where bat soup, snake meat, etc are served up as delicacies to a questionably discerning public.
It's unlikely that we'll ever know the god's honest truth but the Chinese government cannot be trusted to tell the truth and they are not allowing in heath experts from the West to isolate and identify the virus so you can draw your own conclusions. All airline traffic in and out of these cities in China have been shut down until further notice. Cruise ships with infected passengers sit idle off shores around the world no longer welcome in ports that once enjoyed the commerce they brought. In isolation, these stories are not in and of themselves a cause for concern. Right. I think I need a bigger freezer.
Evan gave us a call late in the morning on Saturday and said he was coming over to visit and maybe even spend the night. Nancy and I stayed on course with our plans to visit Mrs G later in the day and extended an offer to have Evan join us which he politely declined. We discussed dinner and we planned to stop and pick up burritos on the way home.
Mrs G was in good spirits despite her latest complaints having to do with mobility issues mostly but she was not letting any of it it slow her down. I worked with her to update a few of her chess apps on her iPad and Nancy stood over her shoulder while the two of them discussed iPhone issues.
I keep telling Nancy that when she calls her mom that she should be calling her on her iPhone so she can become more familiar with how it works. Remembering to do that can be a challenge and more often than not Nancy forgets to do just that. One thing we arranged to do was to turn up the volume on her iPhone so she could hear it from her bedroom when it rings.
"Just carry it with you when you go in and out of your other rooms, Mrs G", I said. It may be a bridge too far but we'll see. She never used her Virgin Mobile flip phone very much so not sure why we think she would use her new iPhone any more frequently. And finally, I talked Nancy into going into Starbucks after a long day of working with Dr Rosman down in Massachusetts.
Having a hot caffeinated beverage for the long ride home was just what the doctor ordered. I advised her to get our favorite drink as of late, a flat white. She put aside her fears of contracting a virus long enough to get a nice coffee for the ride home. Good stuff!
A Cold Start to 2020
15/02/20 07:25
It's a cold 5 degrees hereabouts and it's not like to get a lot warmer if the forecast holds true. I've been pushing the envelope with my bike rides as of late and yesterday despite the fact that temperatures plunged into the 20's I was making my way down and back on Ocean Boulevard oblivious to it all and hell bent on ignoring it to the best of my ability.
I knew it was cold but after thirty minutes into the ride I could also feel the perspiration wicking up on my back and welcomed it as a sign of things working as they should. I don't have much company on the Boulevard on days like this but make a yeoman's effort to return a waving hand or a nod of the head should that occur. That's just the way it is.
And yes, I've been away for a good long time in this here journal of mine. Not sure this signals a comeback of any real significance but back I am for as long as it lasts. I drove into Portsmouth in the last few days to buy Nancy a little gift from her favorite choclatier for Valentine's Day. She's partial to the raspberry flavored malted milk balls so I braved the crowds and took my place in line after pulling a pre-wrapped package from the shelves. It wasn't that busy given the time of day and time of week but it's a small shop with barely standing room for more than a handful of people at a time.
There may have been a time in our decades long relationship when chocolates were secondary to something of greater consequence but those days have come and gone. Truth be told, some of these holidays in past years have come and gone without fanfare or gifts of any kind. It was just another day. Maybe there was a holiday when I bought something for her and received nothing in return or vice versa. Who remembers?
Besides, shouldn't every day be Valentine's Day when you're in love? And who says that my actions should be dictated one way or another by specific dates on the calendar? Maybe they should serve at best as reminders that there are things we ought to be mindful of and things that we ought to celebrate. Yes. that the ticket.
I thought a nice card to accompany the chocolates might be in order to so I took the path of least resistance and went into the local Walmart looking for just such a card. Surely, with the extensive space they allocated to cards and the like I could find something that would work. To say most of everything I looked at was cheesy would be an understatement.
Worse than that was the price point of the cards. They wanted a good $5 or $6 for the cards and that was more than I could bear. Nancy would derive zero pleasure out of a card that cost that much and she would no sooner pull the card from the envelope before looking on the back side of the card to see how much I paid for it.
I don't know why I bother going into Walmart for such things when I know that I'm probably not going to find anything to my liking. I told myself that if I were to visit Trader Joes in the coming days that I would more than likely find something to my liking and that is precisely what happened. Did I mention that their cards are a fraction of what they cost at Walmart?
I discussed that with Nancy after the fact and we were both left scratching our heads as to how they can make a profit selling cards as inexpensively as they do. But TJ's is our go-to place for cards for the most part and I could have saved myself some trouble and time by going their first instead of Walmarts. Live and learn.
We'll have to be in touch with Evan before heading over to Exeter later today to see Mrs G to see if he wants us to bring him a burrito from Mad Pork in North Hampton. They opened recently and we gave them a try and found their food to be quite good. Very good, actually. We brought Evan a dish or two last week from Mad Pork and he was surprised at how good it was. Not that he was expecting it to be bad but he's a bit of a burrito aficionado and has pretty high standards when it comes to most things Mexican.
I bought some of their home made salsa and have been using it on everything from sweet potatoes to black beans and hummus. I had another jar of salsa from somewhere else that had a smokey aftertaste which I didn't care for at all so I welcomed the Mad Pork version. and Yes, I know, Mad Pork sounds more BBQ-ish than Mexican but there you have it.
I don't know where to start with the political stuff. I'm a Trumpster from the word GO so I should probably start there. Do I think his chances are pretty good to win a second term? Yes, I do. That may be me wearing my rose-colored glasses but when you look at the field of democrats running against him that seems to be the most logical conclusion. I would hasten to add that we only have two states weighing in so far in the "primary" process and only four percent of the delegates needed to win the democratic nomination have been awarded.
"People of color" ( I hate that expression) have yet to have their say is what you hear from the flagging campaign of Joe Biden. He and his people hope to do better when results come in from Nevada and South Carolina in the coming weeks. New Hampshire and Iowa are "too white" and not at all representative of today's democrat party is the most common refrain you hear from the Biden campaign.
Elizabeth "Pocahantas" Warren placed fourth or so in both Iowa and New Hampshire and did not place first, second, or third in any contested town or city in the New Hampshire primary. That is an incredibly poor showing considering the fact that she is one of two senators from the state of Massachusetts which sits squarely on New Hampshires southern border.
Leading the pack is the indomitable Bernie Sanders, the longtime irascible senator from the state of Vermont. Let's be clear. The guy is a communist. He's garnering anywhere from 25 to 30% of the vote in the primaries thus far and when you have as many people running as are currently running on the democrat side of the ledger it doesn't take much to "win."
He has by far the most faithful followers and they would follow that mother fucker right off the edge of the cliff given half a chance. With the exception of Joe Biden who most closely resembles what most people think of as a "centrist", all other candidates fall into the "progressive" camp when it comes to policies that they plan to implement if elected.
That is where our country is headed if Bernie or Biden beats Trump in November. Then again, Bloomberg may want to have something to say about that since he is elbowing Biden, and possibly Bernie, out of the race with his billions of dollars in personal wealth and his willingness to spend every last penny if that is what it takes to get rid of Trump.
The new left, politically speaking, is typically rabid in their contempt for individuals that are successful to the extent that Bloomberg has been and sees it as success gained at the expense of the working man who is left to his own devices to feed his family on a pitiful and meager salary at the end of the day. Their socialist tendencies ala Bernie Sanders has the working class taking over the means of production and that would not bode well for our capitalist economy. As Trump tells us time and time again, "our country will never become a socialist county." I hope he's right.
I knew it was cold but after thirty minutes into the ride I could also feel the perspiration wicking up on my back and welcomed it as a sign of things working as they should. I don't have much company on the Boulevard on days like this but make a yeoman's effort to return a waving hand or a nod of the head should that occur. That's just the way it is.
And yes, I've been away for a good long time in this here journal of mine. Not sure this signals a comeback of any real significance but back I am for as long as it lasts. I drove into Portsmouth in the last few days to buy Nancy a little gift from her favorite choclatier for Valentine's Day. She's partial to the raspberry flavored malted milk balls so I braved the crowds and took my place in line after pulling a pre-wrapped package from the shelves. It wasn't that busy given the time of day and time of week but it's a small shop with barely standing room for more than a handful of people at a time.
There may have been a time in our decades long relationship when chocolates were secondary to something of greater consequence but those days have come and gone. Truth be told, some of these holidays in past years have come and gone without fanfare or gifts of any kind. It was just another day. Maybe there was a holiday when I bought something for her and received nothing in return or vice versa. Who remembers?
Besides, shouldn't every day be Valentine's Day when you're in love? And who says that my actions should be dictated one way or another by specific dates on the calendar? Maybe they should serve at best as reminders that there are things we ought to be mindful of and things that we ought to celebrate. Yes. that the ticket.
I thought a nice card to accompany the chocolates might be in order to so I took the path of least resistance and went into the local Walmart looking for just such a card. Surely, with the extensive space they allocated to cards and the like I could find something that would work. To say most of everything I looked at was cheesy would be an understatement.
Worse than that was the price point of the cards. They wanted a good $5 or $6 for the cards and that was more than I could bear. Nancy would derive zero pleasure out of a card that cost that much and she would no sooner pull the card from the envelope before looking on the back side of the card to see how much I paid for it.
I don't know why I bother going into Walmart for such things when I know that I'm probably not going to find anything to my liking. I told myself that if I were to visit Trader Joes in the coming days that I would more than likely find something to my liking and that is precisely what happened. Did I mention that their cards are a fraction of what they cost at Walmart?
I discussed that with Nancy after the fact and we were both left scratching our heads as to how they can make a profit selling cards as inexpensively as they do. But TJ's is our go-to place for cards for the most part and I could have saved myself some trouble and time by going their first instead of Walmarts. Live and learn.
We'll have to be in touch with Evan before heading over to Exeter later today to see Mrs G to see if he wants us to bring him a burrito from Mad Pork in North Hampton. They opened recently and we gave them a try and found their food to be quite good. Very good, actually. We brought Evan a dish or two last week from Mad Pork and he was surprised at how good it was. Not that he was expecting it to be bad but he's a bit of a burrito aficionado and has pretty high standards when it comes to most things Mexican.
I bought some of their home made salsa and have been using it on everything from sweet potatoes to black beans and hummus. I had another jar of salsa from somewhere else that had a smokey aftertaste which I didn't care for at all so I welcomed the Mad Pork version. and Yes, I know, Mad Pork sounds more BBQ-ish than Mexican but there you have it.
I don't know where to start with the political stuff. I'm a Trumpster from the word GO so I should probably start there. Do I think his chances are pretty good to win a second term? Yes, I do. That may be me wearing my rose-colored glasses but when you look at the field of democrats running against him that seems to be the most logical conclusion. I would hasten to add that we only have two states weighing in so far in the "primary" process and only four percent of the delegates needed to win the democratic nomination have been awarded.
"People of color" ( I hate that expression) have yet to have their say is what you hear from the flagging campaign of Joe Biden. He and his people hope to do better when results come in from Nevada and South Carolina in the coming weeks. New Hampshire and Iowa are "too white" and not at all representative of today's democrat party is the most common refrain you hear from the Biden campaign.
Elizabeth "Pocahantas" Warren placed fourth or so in both Iowa and New Hampshire and did not place first, second, or third in any contested town or city in the New Hampshire primary. That is an incredibly poor showing considering the fact that she is one of two senators from the state of Massachusetts which sits squarely on New Hampshires southern border.
Leading the pack is the indomitable Bernie Sanders, the longtime irascible senator from the state of Vermont. Let's be clear. The guy is a communist. He's garnering anywhere from 25 to 30% of the vote in the primaries thus far and when you have as many people running as are currently running on the democrat side of the ledger it doesn't take much to "win."
He has by far the most faithful followers and they would follow that mother fucker right off the edge of the cliff given half a chance. With the exception of Joe Biden who most closely resembles what most people think of as a "centrist", all other candidates fall into the "progressive" camp when it comes to policies that they plan to implement if elected.
That is where our country is headed if Bernie or Biden beats Trump in November. Then again, Bloomberg may want to have something to say about that since he is elbowing Biden, and possibly Bernie, out of the race with his billions of dollars in personal wealth and his willingness to spend every last penny if that is what it takes to get rid of Trump.
The new left, politically speaking, is typically rabid in their contempt for individuals that are successful to the extent that Bloomberg has been and sees it as success gained at the expense of the working man who is left to his own devices to feed his family on a pitiful and meager salary at the end of the day. Their socialist tendencies ala Bernie Sanders has the working class taking over the means of production and that would not bode well for our capitalist economy. As Trump tells us time and time again, "our country will never become a socialist county." I hope he's right.