On the Horn with Bee-Bee (barf alert)
08/03/21 07:04
I'm up early today so there's no reason I can't put a quiche in the oven before sitting down at this here computer. Nope, no reason whatsoever for not getting that started. I've got plenty of broccoli and feta cheese and that's all you need if you're to believe the minimalist cook books that seem to be all the rage these days. I'm making that up. Is there really anything like that in the book stores? I doubt it. But, the fewer the ingredients the better, is what I say.
I'm just waking up to these so-called egg concoctions you find in the store that contain no cholesterol. Just so you know, your body makes all the cholesterol that you need. So, less cholesterol from external sources would ostensibly work to our collective benefit. I've overlooked these egg beater blends until rather recently and finally got around to giving them a try. They are, in a word, indistinguishable from the real McCoy once out of the container so no worries there. Unlike egg whites, which look more like strained drool, these actually look like real eggs.
The first omelette I made with the fake eggs huffed and puffed in the oven at 350 degrees until it looked more like a soufflé than an omelet. I don't know that I welcomed or even expected the bloating but I thought I'd better stick a knife into the center of the beast just to see what I was dealing with. If the knife came out dry, it was ready to come out of the oven. If not, I might set the timer for another few minutes. Toward the end of the process, of course, you turn the oven on "broil" and top the quiche with cheese until it turns a bubbly brown.
Besides, who doesn't like to surprise their little darlings with a little something right out of the oven on a cold winter's morn? I can't help her when it comes to cinnamon rolls or biscuits since these are things that you'll not find in our cupboards. I may be able to find a piece of wheat or sourdough bread to toast if pressed but not much else. Who says you can't enjoy a guiltless breakfast? Can I interest you with a little dijon mustard just to spice things up a bit?
It's so funny. Last March around this time we were facing a nasty pandemic for months to come and they closed everything down to nip it in the bud before hospitals were overwhelmed, etc. Mortality projections were a pittance here in our state at the time and, still, shutting it all down became the hue and the cry of every establishment swamp creature from coast to coast. And now, a mere 12 months later, actual deaths are up tenfold from the original projections yet some states are actually doing way with any and all mandates to wear masks, do social distancing, etc.
I'm good with fewer restrictions now that we have what seem to be better therapeutics and more vaccines. Not everybody agrees that states should be dropping the mandates since we continue to see variants popping up here and here across the globe. Another thing I don't understand is the lockdowns. The science says that lockdowns don't work but certain European countries are still in lockdown mode in an alleged effort to keep the virus at bay. Some say it's nothing more than the heavy heel of government on their backsides so there's that.
I thought that we were two or three weeks out from that which our European counterparts were experiencing when it comes to the virus. That being the case, should we not be concerned about our own welfare when it comes to the migration of the virus variants to our shores? We ignored it all when it first appeared in the streets of Wuhan, China in February and March of 2020 and nobody thought for a minute that we Americans would experience what they were experiencing. I'm just saying that we seem to be getting little complacent when it comes to this virus. Maybe we're just learning to live with it?
Mrs G says her place now has an opening date. I find that to be little surprising because the virus hasn't gone anywhere. It's still around. People are still dying and most of those deaths are attributed to the elderly living in nursing homes, independent living facilities, etc. Maybe the good news for Mrs G and her fellow travelers is that they are for the most part now all vaccinated. I'm guessing they are turning a blind eye to any and all variants and the threat that they pose. Good for them. It's time to let their hair down maybe just a little.
I was telling the missus that we've been in the habit as of late of picking her mother up from said facility and taking her here and there since on-site visits were verboten. I think she's enjoyed getting out and about even if it has only been every week and even then we never traveled far. It's Starbucks one day and maybe Walgreens the next.
This is in stark contrast to our visits before the virus showed up in the early part of 2020. Then, we rarely went anywhere. Visitations were on-site and nobody minded one way or another if we went anywhere. Well, we never asked and Mrs G never expressed any opinion unsolicited or otherwise. Just between you and me, I think she might now prefer have a ride in and about town when we visit. That would be fine. I usually just sit in the back seat minding my own business whilst the missus and her mom carry on as they are wont to do.
At a minimum you might think that Mrs G's facility might only grant access to people who have had their vaccinations. You know, just to be safe. Maybe they only want so many visitors on site at any given time to keep the community spread thing from getting a leg up. Again, maybe it doesn't matter since the residents have had their shots. We need more guidance from the CDC on what vaccinated people can and cannot do. That is slow in coming at the moment. There is so much they still don't know about this virus or maybe they're just not telling us. Bastards.
It's March and if there is even a hint of Spring in the offing I haven't seen it. The winds have been howling and the temperatures are still hovering in and around freezing. Not exactly the kind of weather that has one going outside to do outdoorsy things. I don't mind the cold and the wind when I'm out of doors this time of year but I'm usually starting to look forward to the warmer temperatures like everyone else living in North America. When that doesn't happen, I'm usually less happy and maybe even a little disappointed. Well, maybe a lot disappointed.
I was reading somewhere yesterday where the residents in a small town in California had voted on a measure that would prevent any gasoline stations from being built in their town. I suppose this goes hand-in-hand with certain automobile companies who after a date certain will no longer be building anything but electric vehicles.
It seems fairly drastic to me but knowing what I know about the moonbats in California maybe I shouldn't be surprised. I think this going green thing is something of a religion for the nuttier of the nuts and the fact that this is coming from California tells you all you need to know.
How liberal (nutty) are these fruitcake bastions, Johnny? Well, their laws are so liberal that Walgreens is closing any number of their pharmacies in San Fran-sicko area because laws on their books prevent businesses like Walgreens from taking action against shoplifters. Losses attributed to shoplifting, often times blatant and in full view of the helpless employees, have now rendered Walgreens and businesses like Walgreens unsustainable. #SAD.
The Ev man has his eye on a Mac mini. He's been a laptop guy for so long now that this presents a radical departure from his standard fare. I think he's coming around to the idea that having a bigger monitor and a little more juice for his gaming exploits trumps any concerns that he has about migrating to a less versatile device. He fancies Apple's new M1 chip and thinks that the price point for the new Mac mini with the M1 chip is right up his alley. It's a good an investment as any, I think, for a lad looking to upgrade his computing experience.
If they can move this pisser of a $1.9 B stimulus bill through the senate and on to Sleepy Joe's desk for his signature then Evan and millions of other Americans like Evan can satisfy their indulgences as they see fit. It's a travesty of a bill, really, and 90 some odd percent of it has nothing to do with Covid-19.
The bill rewards blue state governors and mayors who have run their states and cities into the ground and it penalizes red states that have done everything right from day one by taking money away from them. And the zillions being sent to hell holes across the globe, just don't get me going. It doesn't look, at least as of this morning, like the bill is going to get even one republican vote. It's a 50-50 Senate with the Vice President (Harris) waiting on the sidelines to cast her vote with the democrats to push this bloated POS of a bill over the finish line.
Forget not giving a State of the Union speech (As required by the Constitution.) Demented Joe Biden has still not held so much as a press conference. He has the record now of being the first president to not have a presser within x number of days of his inauguration. That number changes every day so we'll just leave it at x for the moment.
They're now saying that he will have one by month's end. That is three weeks out from today's date. If he's incapable of having a presser now because of his advanced dementia or whatever the fuck it is that has him drooling and in diapers, I'm not sure how an extra three weeks is going to help.
My guess is that it will be tightly scripted and managed to a tee behind the scenes before he ever steps up to the teleprompter. They might even get Hollywood involved in the coordination and staging of the event. Questions coming from the press will likely be known and answered long before he has a chance to repeat them from the rostrum. Technology is likely to play a part in the process but only those closest to Sleepy Joe will ever know the extent to which technology made his presentation possible. Think holograms.
He is just a complete fucking embarrassment. Who the hell is running the show in the White House? We're talking shadow presidents here, folks. They reported the other day that Kamala Harris, Biden's VP, was holding talks with the Prime Minister of Israel. You can just imagine how that went knowing as we do that Harris got a meager 2% in the presidential primaries before she dropped out. She's simply not ready for prime time. You heard that right.
She's on the horn with Bee-Bee because Biden is incapable of holding the simplest of conversations due to his advanced senility. I'm guessing the Military Industrial Complex thinks that this is just fine. Better a dolt like Biden where they can do what they damn well please without worrying about having to report to a real Commander-in-Chief.
Has our beloved Republic ever been on thinner ice? I can't remember when if it has. Maybe during the Cuban Missile crisis back in the sixties. This would be the time to strike for despots around the world who have otherwise been held in check by our previous presidents whose faculties were not nearly as impaired as what we see in Biden today. As for the leaders of countries around the world who were so quick to ridicule and decry the policies of Donald J Trump, they are now largely silent knowing what they know about Biden. It's disgraceful.
One last thing here before I sign off. We watched the movie "Nomadland" last night with Francis McDormand. I really liked it. The missus, less so. McDormand was perfect for the role in every respect. It was a poignant story about a woman in the twilight of her years crisscrossing the MidWest while living out of her van and holding down one seasonal job after another. I don't think it was meant as an expose' on the underbelly of America where displaced elderly white people survive on the margins but that is what it was all about at its essence.
It would be a mistake to waste even a moment of pity on any one of the many characters in the movie. There is something to be said for choosing one's own lifestyle and leaving familiar faces and places behind but one thing you cannot escape is your past. The juxtaposition of serenity and sadness is ever-present as "Fern" crisscrosses the picturesque and awe inspiring expanse of the MidWest while traveling alone from one familiar campsite to another.
There is a constant but subdued tension throughout the movie that ebbs and flows as characters, some more familiar than others, come and go. Fern reminds those who ask that she is houseless and not homeless. Relationships along the way, ephemeral as they are, offer Fern a veneer of comfort and security but she is steadfast in asserting her independence despite the isolation and occasional desperation that goes hand-in-hand with her nomadic lifestyle.
One suspects that Fern might well have her old life back were it still there for the taking but, alas, it is not. She returns one last time towards the end of the movie to an empty shell of a factory town and her hollowed out home, which she was forced to abandon after the factory town closed its doors, offering memories but little else. The film, above all, is a tribute to the American spirit and its capacity to not only survive but endure in the face of adversity. It's about the choices we make and the choices that are sometimes made for us. This one is well worth your time.
I'm just waking up to these so-called egg concoctions you find in the store that contain no cholesterol. Just so you know, your body makes all the cholesterol that you need. So, less cholesterol from external sources would ostensibly work to our collective benefit. I've overlooked these egg beater blends until rather recently and finally got around to giving them a try. They are, in a word, indistinguishable from the real McCoy once out of the container so no worries there. Unlike egg whites, which look more like strained drool, these actually look like real eggs.
The first omelette I made with the fake eggs huffed and puffed in the oven at 350 degrees until it looked more like a soufflé than an omelet. I don't know that I welcomed or even expected the bloating but I thought I'd better stick a knife into the center of the beast just to see what I was dealing with. If the knife came out dry, it was ready to come out of the oven. If not, I might set the timer for another few minutes. Toward the end of the process, of course, you turn the oven on "broil" and top the quiche with cheese until it turns a bubbly brown.
Besides, who doesn't like to surprise their little darlings with a little something right out of the oven on a cold winter's morn? I can't help her when it comes to cinnamon rolls or biscuits since these are things that you'll not find in our cupboards. I may be able to find a piece of wheat or sourdough bread to toast if pressed but not much else. Who says you can't enjoy a guiltless breakfast? Can I interest you with a little dijon mustard just to spice things up a bit?
It's so funny. Last March around this time we were facing a nasty pandemic for months to come and they closed everything down to nip it in the bud before hospitals were overwhelmed, etc. Mortality projections were a pittance here in our state at the time and, still, shutting it all down became the hue and the cry of every establishment swamp creature from coast to coast. And now, a mere 12 months later, actual deaths are up tenfold from the original projections yet some states are actually doing way with any and all mandates to wear masks, do social distancing, etc.
I'm good with fewer restrictions now that we have what seem to be better therapeutics and more vaccines. Not everybody agrees that states should be dropping the mandates since we continue to see variants popping up here and here across the globe. Another thing I don't understand is the lockdowns. The science says that lockdowns don't work but certain European countries are still in lockdown mode in an alleged effort to keep the virus at bay. Some say it's nothing more than the heavy heel of government on their backsides so there's that.
I thought that we were two or three weeks out from that which our European counterparts were experiencing when it comes to the virus. That being the case, should we not be concerned about our own welfare when it comes to the migration of the virus variants to our shores? We ignored it all when it first appeared in the streets of Wuhan, China in February and March of 2020 and nobody thought for a minute that we Americans would experience what they were experiencing. I'm just saying that we seem to be getting little complacent when it comes to this virus. Maybe we're just learning to live with it?
Mrs G says her place now has an opening date. I find that to be little surprising because the virus hasn't gone anywhere. It's still around. People are still dying and most of those deaths are attributed to the elderly living in nursing homes, independent living facilities, etc. Maybe the good news for Mrs G and her fellow travelers is that they are for the most part now all vaccinated. I'm guessing they are turning a blind eye to any and all variants and the threat that they pose. Good for them. It's time to let their hair down maybe just a little.
I was telling the missus that we've been in the habit as of late of picking her mother up from said facility and taking her here and there since on-site visits were verboten. I think she's enjoyed getting out and about even if it has only been every week and even then we never traveled far. It's Starbucks one day and maybe Walgreens the next.
This is in stark contrast to our visits before the virus showed up in the early part of 2020. Then, we rarely went anywhere. Visitations were on-site and nobody minded one way or another if we went anywhere. Well, we never asked and Mrs G never expressed any opinion unsolicited or otherwise. Just between you and me, I think she might now prefer have a ride in and about town when we visit. That would be fine. I usually just sit in the back seat minding my own business whilst the missus and her mom carry on as they are wont to do.
At a minimum you might think that Mrs G's facility might only grant access to people who have had their vaccinations. You know, just to be safe. Maybe they only want so many visitors on site at any given time to keep the community spread thing from getting a leg up. Again, maybe it doesn't matter since the residents have had their shots. We need more guidance from the CDC on what vaccinated people can and cannot do. That is slow in coming at the moment. There is so much they still don't know about this virus or maybe they're just not telling us. Bastards.
It's March and if there is even a hint of Spring in the offing I haven't seen it. The winds have been howling and the temperatures are still hovering in and around freezing. Not exactly the kind of weather that has one going outside to do outdoorsy things. I don't mind the cold and the wind when I'm out of doors this time of year but I'm usually starting to look forward to the warmer temperatures like everyone else living in North America. When that doesn't happen, I'm usually less happy and maybe even a little disappointed. Well, maybe a lot disappointed.
I was reading somewhere yesterday where the residents in a small town in California had voted on a measure that would prevent any gasoline stations from being built in their town. I suppose this goes hand-in-hand with certain automobile companies who after a date certain will no longer be building anything but electric vehicles.
It seems fairly drastic to me but knowing what I know about the moonbats in California maybe I shouldn't be surprised. I think this going green thing is something of a religion for the nuttier of the nuts and the fact that this is coming from California tells you all you need to know.
How liberal (nutty) are these fruitcake bastions, Johnny? Well, their laws are so liberal that Walgreens is closing any number of their pharmacies in San Fran-sicko area because laws on their books prevent businesses like Walgreens from taking action against shoplifters. Losses attributed to shoplifting, often times blatant and in full view of the helpless employees, have now rendered Walgreens and businesses like Walgreens unsustainable. #SAD.
The Ev man has his eye on a Mac mini. He's been a laptop guy for so long now that this presents a radical departure from his standard fare. I think he's coming around to the idea that having a bigger monitor and a little more juice for his gaming exploits trumps any concerns that he has about migrating to a less versatile device. He fancies Apple's new M1 chip and thinks that the price point for the new Mac mini with the M1 chip is right up his alley. It's a good an investment as any, I think, for a lad looking to upgrade his computing experience.
If they can move this pisser of a $1.9 B stimulus bill through the senate and on to Sleepy Joe's desk for his signature then Evan and millions of other Americans like Evan can satisfy their indulgences as they see fit. It's a travesty of a bill, really, and 90 some odd percent of it has nothing to do with Covid-19.
The bill rewards blue state governors and mayors who have run their states and cities into the ground and it penalizes red states that have done everything right from day one by taking money away from them. And the zillions being sent to hell holes across the globe, just don't get me going. It doesn't look, at least as of this morning, like the bill is going to get even one republican vote. It's a 50-50 Senate with the Vice President (Harris) waiting on the sidelines to cast her vote with the democrats to push this bloated POS of a bill over the finish line.
Forget not giving a State of the Union speech (As required by the Constitution.) Demented Joe Biden has still not held so much as a press conference. He has the record now of being the first president to not have a presser within x number of days of his inauguration. That number changes every day so we'll just leave it at x for the moment.
They're now saying that he will have one by month's end. That is three weeks out from today's date. If he's incapable of having a presser now because of his advanced dementia or whatever the fuck it is that has him drooling and in diapers, I'm not sure how an extra three weeks is going to help.
My guess is that it will be tightly scripted and managed to a tee behind the scenes before he ever steps up to the teleprompter. They might even get Hollywood involved in the coordination and staging of the event. Questions coming from the press will likely be known and answered long before he has a chance to repeat them from the rostrum. Technology is likely to play a part in the process but only those closest to Sleepy Joe will ever know the extent to which technology made his presentation possible. Think holograms.
He is just a complete fucking embarrassment. Who the hell is running the show in the White House? We're talking shadow presidents here, folks. They reported the other day that Kamala Harris, Biden's VP, was holding talks with the Prime Minister of Israel. You can just imagine how that went knowing as we do that Harris got a meager 2% in the presidential primaries before she dropped out. She's simply not ready for prime time. You heard that right.
She's on the horn with Bee-Bee because Biden is incapable of holding the simplest of conversations due to his advanced senility. I'm guessing the Military Industrial Complex thinks that this is just fine. Better a dolt like Biden where they can do what they damn well please without worrying about having to report to a real Commander-in-Chief.
Has our beloved Republic ever been on thinner ice? I can't remember when if it has. Maybe during the Cuban Missile crisis back in the sixties. This would be the time to strike for despots around the world who have otherwise been held in check by our previous presidents whose faculties were not nearly as impaired as what we see in Biden today. As for the leaders of countries around the world who were so quick to ridicule and decry the policies of Donald J Trump, they are now largely silent knowing what they know about Biden. It's disgraceful.
One last thing here before I sign off. We watched the movie "Nomadland" last night with Francis McDormand. I really liked it. The missus, less so. McDormand was perfect for the role in every respect. It was a poignant story about a woman in the twilight of her years crisscrossing the MidWest while living out of her van and holding down one seasonal job after another. I don't think it was meant as an expose' on the underbelly of America where displaced elderly white people survive on the margins but that is what it was all about at its essence.
It would be a mistake to waste even a moment of pity on any one of the many characters in the movie. There is something to be said for choosing one's own lifestyle and leaving familiar faces and places behind but one thing you cannot escape is your past. The juxtaposition of serenity and sadness is ever-present as "Fern" crisscrosses the picturesque and awe inspiring expanse of the MidWest while traveling alone from one familiar campsite to another.
There is a constant but subdued tension throughout the movie that ebbs and flows as characters, some more familiar than others, come and go. Fern reminds those who ask that she is houseless and not homeless. Relationships along the way, ephemeral as they are, offer Fern a veneer of comfort and security but she is steadfast in asserting her independence despite the isolation and occasional desperation that goes hand-in-hand with her nomadic lifestyle.
One suspects that Fern might well have her old life back were it still there for the taking but, alas, it is not. She returns one last time towards the end of the movie to an empty shell of a factory town and her hollowed out home, which she was forced to abandon after the factory town closed its doors, offering memories but little else. The film, above all, is a tribute to the American spirit and its capacity to not only survive but endure in the face of adversity. It's about the choices we make and the choices that are sometimes made for us. This one is well worth your time.