Green Ideas make me want to puke

 Dear Senator Tom Carper,

Read this preposterous position

You douchebag. Do you recognize that some people have a need to drive more than 500 miles at a time? You can put up tens of thousands of charging stations, but who wants to stop for an hour or two to recharge their vehicle just to drive from Indianapolis to Chicago and back? What if a family wants to drive to the beach for vacation? A twelve hour trip becomes a twenty hour trip each way because we would have to stop and charge our fucking car. Not everyone lives on the east coast you simp. Lots of us do not live in cities.

Where are we going to get the electricity to power all of these electric cars? Oh, yeah, from fossil fuels you ignorant leech on taxpayer money. If you ever had a real job, you would understand how things work, instead of living in a rainbow and unicorn world where life is powered by fairy farts and and birthday wishes. There isn't enough solar or windmill power available to power the grid.  And while we are at it, how much infrastructure upgrade and at what cost is it going to take to update the electric grid to power the tens of millions of cars? Maybe you should quit listening to mentally disturbed teenagers for your policy decisions.

Are you aware of the environmental damage done to mine for battery materials? 

I will not even get into the cost of electric vehicles.

Since you also probably believe we should stop eating meat to save the environment, where are we going to plant all of the vegetables needed to feed the country if all of the farm land is converted to wind and solar farms? Oh, and let us pray we don't have several days of cloudy weather in a row (most of winter in the midwest) or too much wind, (again most of the time in the midwest) if we are going to magically wish our way to a green new world. How do we get anywhere if we cannot charge our cars? Oh, I know, on non-existent public transportation. 

A lot of stupid crap is proposed in Washington, but this takes the cake.

I am trying really, really, hard not to swear these days, but stupid mofos like Tom Carper and most of the current Democrat party sure makes it hard not to: here is a hearty ScrewYou on a Friday.

Edited for my conscious 

Hold my beer and watch this

 Good morning, blog fans. It looks to be a good day, particularly since I have the day off. 

I really don’t want to be “that neighbor “, but if the people in the house next door continue to let their dog run lose to crap in my yard, bark at me in my own driveway, and be a general pain, I’m going to call animal control. 

Enough unpleasantness. How about you guess this week’s musical theme?

Yes, it is Southern  Rock weekend here at the old blog. 

I know. I’m excited about it too.why not give it a two-fear?

Since this is a two-fear on its own, I guess you get a triple play! Yay, you. Yay me.

Recap of the Big Speech

Me, me, me.

Blah, blah, tax and spend, tax and spend even more.

Blah, blah, you are all racist

Blah, blah, big government

Blah, blah look how tough I am

Blah, blah open borders

Blah blah

That is how it is done

Yesterday was about as close to a perfect weather day we get this time of year — pleasantly warm sans overwhelming humidity. It was a little windy, but you can’t have everything. 

The wife cut out early to get her hair done and then visit a friend. I was left to entertain the girls. We went to the park and then played outside until time for them to leave.

I then mowed the yard. Trimming and blowing complete, I retired to the patio and enjoyed a hard earned and well deserved hand rolled cigar. I had a diet root beer to cool my pallet. Really. Classic rock soothed my weary body as the fragrant smoke drifted away. 

Finished, I came in and fixed a skillet dinner of hamburger, onion, tomatoes and macaroni. I seasoned it up Italian style. The dishes fit right in the dishwasher. I plopped on the couch and doze-watched the Cubs fail to hit the ball in yet another loss.

So it goes.

Heavy Lifting Tuesday

Here is a question; given the Ninth and particularly the Tenth Amendments, how can Congress institute national police reform? Local policing over local laws is the definition of States’ prerogative, is it not?

The same certainty holds true with election laws. 

Please discuss. 

We should just make it eighties month

How about a Sunday double shock of eighties music? 

Well since I have control over content it doesn’t really matter does it?

That very well may be the question you are asking yourself right now.

Why not three?

Is there any tune more “eighties” icon than this:

Did you think I was kidding?

Our Eighties theme weekend continues:

I won’t lie. This is a canned post. I’m already at work when you read this. But since it was vacuumed packed it almost seems like it is fresh, right?

And I ran to vacation to show I got the beat

There is a deleted paragraph right where these words now appear. It was my normal trope about the weather. I’m already falling back into the old habits that made me take a hiatus earlier this year. Bleeping dreck.

I’m off work today. I think I may venture to the discount hair cut place this afternoon. 

I have the opening shifts all weekend. That is good, I get off early earlier that way. Shifts of 5-3 and 6-4 are not short workday, however. I have somehow injured my foot, so that is me limping around the big box pretending to want to help you.

I just remembered, now that it is Friday, that this was supposed to be eighties week here at the old blog. You all loved instrumental week so much I though I should continue the idea of musical theme weeks. . I said you liked it. Don’t argue with me. 

What the heck, let’s make it theme weekend:

I saw the Go Go’s back around the time of this Bandstand appearance live up at Purdue University. A quick search of the interwebz confirms it was in September of 1982. The Flock of Seagulls was the opening act. 

What? Oh, you know, the dude with the hair:

Have a great Friday.

Winter in spring

 Here are a couple of pictures the wife took of the 2-1/2 niches of heavy, wet snow we got Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. The dwarf crabapples branches are dragging almost to the ground from the weight. Even 5he Bradford pears on the right are drooping. Several houses in the neighborhood lost trees in the storm.

In Requiem

 I have known my friend Tony for a couple of decades. We met through our wives and kids. We shared a similar sense of humor. We coached some baseball teams together. Went to dinner with our wives occasionally. We played euchre. We watched the Super Bowl at each other’s house. We celebrated many New Years together.

We haven’t seen him as much since we moved. They still lived down the street in the old neighborhood. 

When we went on our second cruise back in 2015, Tony and his wife booked a cabin next to ours. It was going to be a blast. Two weeks before sailing he went for a routine heart scan. Red flags went up and he found himself in the hospital. Days later he had a quadruple bypass. No cruise for them. 

Tony’s heart continued to deteriorate. The damage was done. Ultimately, he ended up on the transplant list, tied to a big battery pack powering the artificial valves on the left side of his heart. But he never lost his positive outlook or his humor. 

Tony was my exact opposite politically. We never argued about politics. Tony was proof that people can amicably agree to disagree. And yes, I laughed when he sent me an “ Obama” birthday card. 

Tony had to have emergency surgery for a ruptured appendix last week. Complications set in. He never recovered. Tony went to join God Tuesday evening. 

He will be missed by his wife, his daughter, and step kids. He leaves a ton of friends behind. I consider myself one. I’m honored to be so. 

I’m pretty sure he has some angels cornered , grinning while he tells a silly joke. 

Quickly

 We got a few inches of snow last night. We should be contemplating cold beer and nice cigars on the patio, not freezing temps and fluffy snow. So it goes.

Filled up the car yesterday. Nearly ten bucks more than pre-Biden. Thanks Joe, you lying socialist mofo.

I’m off to work. I would say I hate this opening shift, but I dislike it no more than the closing shift or the mid-day shift. 

On the other hand I had a bowl of Froot Loops for breakfast, so there is that.

Edit:  If you are so inclined, prayers for my friend Tony and his family would be appreciated. He passed away last night after complications from surgery.  He will be missed by a lot of people.

But I would walk five hundred miles

Actually, it was 45 miles I walked this week at work, Wednesday through Sunday. I have no idea how much weight I lifted. I need today off. Thankfully, the schedule says I have it. 

In light of the coming unrest and race riots in (your city here), I thought I would share some interesting facts.  

in 2020, police shot and killed 457 black suspects as compared to 241 white and 169 Hispanic suspects. That’s literally more than both of those minority categories combined. In 2017 the difference was even more stark. 457 black suspects were shot and killed, compared to 223 white and 179 Hispanic suspects. Source

Ok, I edited the quote. I switched “black” and “white” everywhere the words appear. In truth, police killed white suspects at nearly twice the rate of black suspects and more than black and Hispanic suspects combined. That is for sure not the narrative you see in today’s “everyone is racist” media. 

And so it began

Despite quotes to the contrary, history does not repeat. Yet we can learn valuable lessons from it. On this date*** 246 years ago this country was born in the midst of pain and blood as Americans stood up against all odds to the most powerful government on Earth in an act of defiance and yearning for freedom. 

We learned in school and by reciting that Paul Revere poem about the British marching on Lexington and Concord. What many don’t know was the Redcoats were going to confiscate guns. That is a history lesson the current administration refuses to recognize. *

So today marks the true birthday of the United States, not the one we celebrate that occurred a year later.

By the rude bridge that arched the flood,

   Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled,

Here once the embattled farmers stood

   And fired the shot heard round the world. Emerson

*not a threat, a statement of fact for any of you police state types. I don’t even own a gun, mine were lost hunting bears along the Blue River**

*** in the name of historical accuracy I should note the Battles of Lexington and Concord were on April 19th. Paul Revere and others launched forth with their warnings and to call out to the Minute Men on April 18th. When I started typing I was going to discuss this but my brain got sidetracked.

So exciting you will want to read it twice

Me and the doughboy fixed some orange rolls for breakfast this morning. I needed the sugar rush, my blood sugars were a low 78 when I got up. 

I close the store the next few nights. That is not my favorite shift at all. That is how things go in the wonderful world of retail. 

I got my second Covid shot yesterday. I am now set, the government tracking device is implanted and ready to transmit. Sarcasm aside, the vaccine may help, it may not. I get the flu shot every year too.  Now I just have to wait until next month and I can get my second shingles shot. Now that is a malady I hope to never suffer again. Have you ever taken a nasty punch or bat to the ribs?  I have, and that is exactly what my shingles felt like.

How about a deep cut from Indiana’s own this morning? He may be an ass, but I like this song. 

If you read this Freddie, I know you hate his music. This may be the first Mellencamp I have posted. Maybe. I don’t know. 

Have a great Friday, amigos.

Yup

 Billy-Bob and Bubba were sitting in the back of a trailer, drinking a beer and talking about life.

Billy-Bob said, “If I snuck over to your house while you were out fishing and had sex with your wife, and she got pregnant, would that make us kin?”

Bubba scratched his head for a bit and said, “I don’t think so…but it sure would make us even.”

Topical Tuesday

 It is a new day. Not a different day, just a new one. The birds are chirping with enthusiasm in the backyard. I can hear the heavier sounds of traffic on the nearby “numbered” street that fronts my backyard. There are many, many more cars and trucks than normal since traffic is detoured along this stretch due to a construction closure of the main artery. Getting in, and particularly getting out, of the neighborhood has become difficult. So it goes, I chose to move to the ‘burbs. 

The Cubs offensive woes continue. I’m pretty sure a group of random minor leaguers could likely match the anemic .147 batting average the team has posted. They won’t win many games with four hits and 10 strikeouts. When you average about one run a game, a bad inning by a starter or reliever spells certain doom. 

The team will be broken up soon anyway. The Rickets have discovered what Wrigley and the Tribune knew; there is no need to put a good product on the field, fans will watch and attend and buy the merchandise win or lose, so why spend the big bucks on star players?

I’m off work today. The lawn is finally dried out from the weekend rain. It is time to drag out the mower. After the lawn is done I need to spray some weed killer to knock down the dandelions that spread from the neighbors on either side. 

I have a long list of landscaping projects from the wife. Bushes need to be removed in front and replaced by something not overgrown and half dead. New mulch laid. She wants me to remove a couple of lilacs from near the patio. It seems my random days off work are going to be filled with work. 

No politicians were attacked or harmed in this Post.

Have a great Tuesday. 

Rounding up rowdy raccoons

Monday, Monday, as the Mamas and Pappas sang, it was all I hoped it would be. It is with promise we greet the new week. Then I look at the news and see this week is just another crappy page on the calendar. 

The *administration still has no clue on the border. 

What part of “shall not be infringed” is ambiguous? 

We are all racists. Except for that BLM exec who has leveraged her million dollar plus salary into some prime real estate a long way from those crime ridden neighborhoods she wants to “fix”. 

Indiana health officials are blaming our modest spike in Wuhan flu cases on anything and everything except inviting tens of thousands of basketball fans from around the country for the NCAA Men’s Tourney. 

I don’t look for racism under every rock,  but is there any doubt that Army Officer in Virginia was pulled over and pepper sprayed solely for driving while black? And for the record coppers, the dude cannot undue his seat belt nor open the door while holding his hands out of the car. And no, it is not unreasonable to ask why you are being pulled over without a gun being stuck in your face. This is not about officer safety, rather power. While I’m on that soapbox, the swat team isn’t needed to keep a restaurant closed in Burbank, either. 

I have the day off. I need it. I’m sore all over today. 

Charlie was installing a new door and found that one of the hinges was missing. He asked his wife Mary if she would go to Home Depot and pick up a hinge. Mary agreed to go. While she was waiting for the manager to finish serving a customer, her eye caught a beautiful bathroom faucet.

When the manager was finished, Mary asked him, “How much is that faucet?” The manager replied, “That’s a gold plated faucet and the price is $500.00. Mary exclaimed, “My goodness, that is a very expensive faucet. It’s certainly out of my price bracket.”

She then proceeded to describe the hinge that Charlie had sent her to buy. The manager said that he had them in stock and went into the storeroom to get one. From the storeroom the manager yelled. “Ma’am, do you wanna screw for the hinge. Mary paused for a moment and then shouted back,

“No, but I will for the faucet.”

That is why you read the whole post, my friends.

Have a great Monday, Monday

Analog dreams

I veered off the trail onto a game path, my lithe body small enough to fit between the maples and sassafras  as easily as the deer that wore down the undergrowth. It was hot. Small sweat ran down my back. There was unexpected rock in a small clearing. Sunlight played a yellow and green light as it sifted through the leaves. Birds chirped. I sat. A woodpecker beat a steady tattoo. I searched: there, high on that beech. Frogs and cicadas hummed a steady background. Gnats and mosquitoes buzzed in my ears. 

I sat motionless. I was far enough into the woods the sound of irreverent boys was lost. The church of nature soothed my soul. Giant sycamore leaves rustled in the small breeze. A something fell from the heights: a branch, or nut, or pine cone. By now even the squirrels ignored me. I idly and slowly brushed at the insects humming in my face and ears.

I saw small movement out of the corner of my right eye. A box turtle moved across the trail in halting minuscule steps. Slowly, slowly he inched along, aiming with precision towards a patch of nettles. Eventually he entered and disappeared without a trace. No bent stems in his wake. I wondered at that. 

I glanced right, the way I had come. To the left I sensed water, the rivulet that flowed through the camp. With a sigh I moved down the game path, straddled the stream and came back to the trail I had been on earlier. 

This time I did turn right. After a few hundred yards or so, I heard voices. An almost imperceptible frown touched briefly on my narrow 13 year old face.

Friday

 We round out our week of instrumental music with some great guitar work from the under appreciated Glen Campbell.

A two-fer. 

One of the greatest instrumentals of all time:

I left for a weekend-long canoe trip the day after I saw this the first time...

Bonus:

I can’t let instrumental week go by without this one,

Thursday Head Scratching

 Let me get this straight. MLB moved the all-star game out of Atlanta because of the “restrictive “ new voting laws passed by the Georgia legislature. 

They have moved the game to Denver. 

Colorado has stricter voting requirements than Georgia’s new ones. 

Look it up. Apparently MLB didn’t read Georgia’s law nor Colorado’s. Or even New York’s, where MLB is headquartered, since the Empire State also has stricter voting requirements than Georgia. 

Knee jerk actions. Jerk being the optimum word.

On to today’s instrumental selection:

Help!

I have a problem. Every day I go to the interwebs to find music to post for this Theme Week. Every day I get down into a rabbit warren  of classic rock videos. Steve Winwood leads to Chicago, leads to Yes, leads to Blind Faith, leads to Ten Years After, then I’m on Emerson, Lake, and Palmer, then CSN. Oh my, what a daily journey. I had forgotten CSN did a credible version of Dear Mr. Fantasy. How do you choose between Spencer Davis Group or Chicago doing I’m a Man? We won’t even get into where this selection led me this morning:

Voices carry

Yesterday was a gorgeous day, highs in the upper 70s and low humidity. I worked. 

I find myself up early this morning. You don’t care. I really do not either. 

We are continuing our instrumentals week with a little Santana from Woodstock.why not? Carlos and the boys were rocking some Latin beats. You don’t suppose any of those guys were high do you?

When Santana played at Woodstock, they were mostly unknown. Woodstock catapulted the act to fame. Soul Sacrifice became one of the highlights of the subsequent Woodstock movie and soundtrack. 

Participation Trophies for Everybody

I threw a small pork shoulder on the smoker yesterday. Nothing like eating pork to celebrate the most famous Jew. Some homemade macaroni salad, deviled eggs, and baked beans rounded out a fine Easter dinner for the wife and I. 

We had beautiful weather here at the homestead. I smoked the pork, I smoked a nice stogie, listened to some baseball, and did some yard work. A good day all around. It is forecasted for more nice weather today. I may try to get the porch, drive, and patio power washed this afternoon.

It is instrumental week here at the old blogeroo. Let us start out with a classic. I’ll take your suggestions for more entries in the comments. I’ll probably ignore them, but at least you will feel like part of the team. 

Have a good Monday.

Happy Easter

 

It is not about the bunny and the eggs

Woot, Hooray, Yay!

I have an entire weekend off work. The store is closed Sunday and I wrangled today off. Of course, I woke at 5:30 this morning. So it goes.  

We had dinner with some old friends last night we haven’t seen in what seems like forever. I’m sure the waiter was disgusted we hogged the table far too long, but that’s life. I was beat by the time we got home after working all day. 

Tonight we are going to hang out with a different couple for supper and euchre. 

The wife and I are regular social butterflies. 

I think I will watch a movie this morning. Then I may start some research for a long historical post that has been swirling in my brain pan. “May” is the key word there (that’s why highlighted it for those of you on the slow train). I’m not sure you guys care too much when I throw out my soporific history posts. Things are boring enough around here without me adding a bunch of dates and facts. I can see your eyes glaze over. 

I have my ways. 

On the other hand, I’m used to it. I get “that look” from wife all of the time. 

There you have it, a Saturday post. I hope you have a great day.

No April Fool Joke Here, Outside of the Weather

We are getting a dose of that Global Warming. April Fools hasn’t been this cold in almost 100 years. It may snow. It is snowing. Still, I don’t feel bad for those folks who planted flowers in that warm spell a week or so ago. Grandma always said never plant before Mother’s Day. 

Today is opening day. Not yesterday. Today. I am optimistic as possible with the Cubs firmly in a tie for first place. I’ll miss the game. Work. There will be more. 

Today is also Holy Thursday. I think this is the saddest day of Holy Week. I cannot imagine the strength Jesus brought to the Last Supper, knowing what lay before him. 

I’ve cinnamon rolls in the oven. The doughboy is unforgiving if you overbake.

Have a great day.