Corona Virus Karaoke

Day 53 of Kung Flu fighting.

Apparently it is a Friday. It feels like any other day at this point.

While strolling around the greater subdivision yesterday evening I stopped to talk to a fellow Cubs fan. He noticed my T-shirt and gave me the sooper  sekrit high sign. We stood ten feet apart and reminisced. I didn’t know the guy but it seems he grew up in the next town over from where I was born and raised. Small world indeed.

I cooked a thick ham slice in brown sugar and a little pineapple juice for dinner. For sides I made a pan of homemade mac&cheese and green bean casserole, and then I sautéed the pineapple chunks in the syrup. It was pretty good fare for a warm spring evening.

Since I am basically an antisocial jerk, this whole semi-quarantine has been a minor inconvenience. The wife, who needs to be perpetually on the go, is going crazy. Coupled with the fact that she can only see the grandgirls via FaceTime, she is not a happy girl. She is hunting the house for projects to keep busy and that means she is roping me into participating.

Mr. B asks a pertinent question. If the goal is to keep folks separated and at home, why oh why is public transportation still running?

Rain is slated for the next few days. As I watch the rapidly greening front yard I am reminded my mower died last fall. I did the last few cuttings borrowing my SIL’s mower. I need to figure a way to purchase a new machine.

Stay safe amigos.

Make Stem

I slept in this morning.

 It’s not like I have anywhere to go.

 A pretty dense fog blankets the neighborhood. A warm front is edging in today. I may wander out onto the patio and enjoy the sun today as temperatures move into the low sixties.

I’ve been binging through The Sopranos over the past few weeks. Nothing like being more than a decade behind popular culture. Today I plan on watching The Sand Pebbles, one of my favorite flicks ever. It is high on the list of movies you have to stop and watch if you discover it while scrolling through the remote. I am sure you have movies like that.

I need some more coffee and perhaps a little breakfast.

Have a great day and stay safe.

Quarantine Blog Day 8

Millions of parents realize little Johnny is just a jerk and it is not the teacher’s fault he doesn’t learn anything.

Righteous Outrage

Apparently it is just too much to ask for the dooshbag politicians to put politics aside for a moment and do what is right for the American people.

Nancy and Chuck are far more interested in making sure Orange Man Bad doesn’t get any credit for an emergency economic relief plan and want a “Democrat Plan” put forth. In case you don’t believe me and blame my inherent bias against rat bastard commie mofos Democrats for putting the onus on rat bastard commie mofos Democrats, even the NY Times and NBC say Democrats torpedoed the relief package in the Senate last night. So screw them all.

The Federal, State, and local governments have put millions out of work. They have prevented us from earning a living. Now politics as usual is preventing relief. Spit.

All you in the service and retail industries need to remember this Democrat perfidy come November. Government workers are sitting home watching Judge Judy with full pay and benefits while you are trying to dig change from your couch cushions to buy black market potatoes, rice, and toilet paper.

The politicians are fighting over who gets credit.

I’m trying very hard not to blaspheme and swear these days. Well too bad, fuck ‘em all.

6,673 times

I go from irritated at being stuck in the house to “getting it”. As a free American I chafe at the growing government heavy-handedness in these infectious times. I growl internally when my daughter insists she will get groceries and such for us. I shake my head as she leaves them on the porch. Then I mitigate my attitude with an understanding that I am almost 60, diabetic, and have had pneumonia 3 times in the last decade. She is looking out for me.

Boy, do I hate, hate, hate, hate being told what to do. My friends as far back as high school knew the one sure way to get me to do something was to tell me “I forbid you to”. Example:

Hey Joe want a beer? 
Nah, I better not.
I forbid you to have one
Gimme that sumbitch

I forbid you to throw this dead squirrel into that open window on that cop car.
Gimme that sumbitch

Like that. So my first instinct when I’m told “no” is to do it anyway. I’m not alone. I have found in my world travels this attitude is a core American trait.

So I’ll social distance. I won’t like it. It is also quite likely I will go to Walmart this afternoon because I can. I’m torn. I’m not seventeen anymore. In the end I’ll do the right thing.

Probably.

Now for the reason you really stopped by:

Lights of Cholula and Mt Popo at sunset December 2018

That is the active volcano Popocatepetl (17,802ft) on the left, taken during a business trip.

The old blog turned 15 today. Time to get that long-anticipated learners permit.

Have a great Sunday

Sweet citrus delight

My mom used to make this wonderful lemon cake. Is was moist and delicious and covered in a sweet and tart lemony glaze. It was the best lemon cake I have had and no other lemon cake I have tried even comes close.

Mom always made me this lemon cake for my birthday, even bringing one to my college residence. After I moved away I always missed the lemon cake on my birthday. I thought the recipe was gone when she passed away.

Until Thursday when my wife pulled out the eggs and flour and proceeded to bake my mom’s lemon cake for my Friday birthday. It was as good as I remember. I almost cried. It reminded me of my youth and my mom.

It seems my daughter and wife were going through mom’s recipe box at Christmas and when my wife spotted the faded card with the lemon cake recipe she knew she had to take it home and bake it for me.

The grandgirls came over yesterday and sang happy birthday from the end of the sidewalk. That sucked. The littlest one waved from her car seat as the oldest sang to me. Fricking Chinese. See what happens when you eat weird stuff?

I can’t say much positive about this latest, just completed trip around the sun. It started OK, but quickly went to seed after that. I give it a one star review.

Tomorrow marks fifteen years of this blog site. Rarely does a day go by without some words from me. That is good or bad depending on your point of view. Thanks to each of you who stop by. You are indeed one of the reasons I keep it up. That, and a compulsion to provide evidence for my future commitment hearing.

Stay safe. Stay away from people. Wash your hands. Pray for your neighbors. Pray for America.

So it goes

The Will

Doug Smith is on his deathbed and knows the end is near. His nurse, his wife, his daughter and 2 sons, are with him. He asks for 2 witnesses to be present and a camcorder be in place to record his last wishes.

When all is ready he begins to speak, “My son, Bernie, I want you to take the Mayfair houses. My daughter Sybil, you take the apartments over in the east end. Jamie, I want you to take the offices over in the City Centre. Sarah, my dear wife, please take all the residential buildings on the banks of the river.”

The nurse and witnesses are blown away as they did not realize his extensive holdings, and as Doug slips away, the nurse says, “Mrs. Smith, your husband must have been such a hard-working man to have accumulated all this property”.

The wife replies, “No, the jerk was talking his paper route.”

Dear Diary

Day whatever. Foggy. Severe weather a possibility. I’m sick of reading. Sick of watching TV. The wife has contracted a severe case of cabin fever. She is used to going somewhere, anywhere, every day. The grandgirls are home with their parents. Yes, like you, I am bored. If I had any money I would use this time to do some home improvement projects - painting etc. if the weather breaks, I might head out to start cleaning out the flower beds, picking up the estimated 6,543,218 sticks shed by the big willow over the winter.  I watched a rerun of a 40 year-old baseball game the other night. Ted Kosinski’s fevered rantings are starting to make sense. That is a joke. Is it nap time yet?

Day 6

At what cost?

We are destroying our economy to a point it may take years to recover. All bars and restaurants in Indiana were closed yesterday, throwing tens of thousands out of work. Uber and Lyft drivers are idled by travel restrictions. The mayor of my city has ordered all travel on city streets stopped outside of work, doctor, and food. In effect, Martial law.

This is tyranny. This is how your freedom dissipates like smoke.

But a Joe, there is a global pandemic. We are all in danger.

This disease has spread quickly through the world, starting in China. Authorities tell us it is deadly.

Is it?

There are 7.5 billion people on Earth. So far, in three months, 7,074 people have died. Total. Globally. In Indiana 24 people are diagnosed, one has died. This out of a population of 6.6 million. There have been about 180,000 cases diagnosed globally.

We have put tens of thousands onto the unemployment rolls. We have put many of our lowest income earners in a position to lose their cars, weeks from being homeless to protect what appears to be a fraction of a percent of the population.

I don’t want to seem cold-hearted. I’m one of the high risk targets of this virus.

If there isn’t a run on tinfoil yet, I’m going to fashion me a hat, because the facts don’t back up the fear, panic, hysteria, and outright government intrusion into our lives.

But Joe, without these precautions things could get way worse, I hear you say. If deaths increased a thousandfold, it is still a minuscule percentage.

Call me skeptical.

Cookin’ With Joe

You asked for my ham loaf recipe. Here goes:

3 lb ham loaf mix (I buy mine premixed at a small grocery in my hometown, but I believe it to be 1-3/4 lb ground ham +1-1/4 lb ground pork.)

3 eggs
1-1/8 C corn flakes crushed
1C milk

Add more cornflakes if it is too wet.

Mix well and form into loaf. Bake 350 for 1-1/2 hours. Baste ever 30 minutes with glaze.

I form mine into a loaf (usually 2) on a foil lined baking sheet  you can use a loaf pan if you prefer.

Glaze

1/4 C vinegar, 1/4 C boiling water,3/4 C brown sugar, 1teaspoon dried mustard. Boil all for 5 minutes. Keep warm and brush on meat every 1/2 hour

You can substitute 1C Ritz crackers or saltines for for the corn flakes. Start with 2 eggs and add another as necessary.

You can make smaller batches, adjust fillers as necessary.

By family tradition it is served with homemade Mac and cheese

Enjoy

And another thing

I don’t have enough Chapstick on hand to get through two or three weeks of semi-quarantine.

Now we have a problem.

I’m afraid of more than fear itself

I’m not sure how I feel about the Government demanding private businesses to close. Governors in neighboring states have forced restaurants and bars to close their doors. This pseudo marshal law will put hundreds of thousands out of work. If I were a waiter, a concessionaire, a hotel employee, any service worker, I would be pissed I’m at home, earning a fraction of my wages on unemployment, while idled state and federal employees are getting full pay.

Big box retailers are cutting their hours, perhaps under pressure from the authorities. Doesn’t that force more people to be at the store at the same time? If you cut your hours by 50% doesn’t that mean the theoretical number of people in the store doubles? And again, workers at groceries and Walmart are among the lowest paid.

Clearly our food supply cannot support people buying two or four weeks of supply, forget eight weeks. Empty shelves for almost a week are a testament to this. I’m not sure what the poorest among us or those who live in urban food deserts are supposed to do.

I can’t help feel we are committing economic suicide over this. The airlines almost did not recover from 9/11. Now millions of workers have been idled via government fiat. Many small businesses cannot sustain a month or two of lost sales.

A global economic depression is about to descend.

I sure don’t have answers. Maybe this will get the Chinese to quit eating bats and lizards and contracting weird diseases that spread around the world.  Perhaps these harsh steps are what we need to protect us from our selves.

I know I’m worried. We are barely holding on. My temp job at the big box has dried up. I worry prospective employers are going to put things on hold. The prospect of losing everything is starting to loom as a distinct possibility.

I take little solace in knowing many will be in the same position soon.

Yes, I’m scared.

Edit: I know you don’t read links.  You should read this one:

Read this

Sneaky Pete

Normally I like to fix a nice meal for Sunday dinner: Ham loaf*, pot roast, fried chicken, etc.. Last evening I was discussing the possibilities with the wife and she declared a serious jones for homemade potato soup and a BLT. OK. The only problem is the hoarders have scooped up all of the bread from the grocery aisles. So, ever the good soldier, I schlepped down to the local food emporium upon waking - yes, even before coffee - to see if there was an overnight bread delivery. Alas, a small shipment had arrived; 30 or 40 loaves were on hand. It wasn’t the wife’s preferred brand, but tough. I grabbed some extra ‘maters and another pound of bacon to replace the one I’ll use up this evening. I only grabbed a single loaf. You might need some. That’s all I needed.

I guess all of these food shortages and lack of loo paper are just a foreshadowing of life under Bernie Bro communism. But at least we will all be able to read. Spit.

We had snow all day yesterday, leaving the ground covered in a thin layer of white stuff. What a change from the spring-like weather we have been enjoying. Despair not, warm weather is heading back.

Two, is it a Doublemint commercial?

I’m ready for my closeup, Mr. DeMille

Here is an early evening rainbow (actually double rainbow) taken from the side street behind my house just a couple of weeks ago**. Go ahead and embiggin, should you desire. Before you ask, it is a baseball diamond.

Ha, I sneaked in some Sunday Pictures when you weren’t paying attention.

Enjoy your Sunday, and don’t hoard the toilet paper, it ain’t dysentery, as LSP reminds us.

* My preferred choice, but I can live with spud soup.
** March 8, 2020 for those of you who like exactitude.

Fish or cut bait

The oldest boy is head bartender at a popular watering hole in Denver. He said he had to resort to putting a fishing show on the TV yesterday. Who sits around getting mildly hammered while watching a guy pull in a large mouth bass? Not too many people according to his tip count yesterday.

We are all gonna die

All is well. While telling us not to panic the media and government are are whipping up panic and fear to levels I’ve not seen in my lifetime. Indianapolis has pretty much cancelled everything including school. Nationwide sporting events are on hiatus. Vacation spots are closed.

The economic ramifications are going to be severe and profound. 2008 and 2009 are going to look like fond memories.

The wife and I moseyed to the local Kroger last night for our regularly scheduled shopping trip. Holy cow. The shelves were stripped bare. No meat was available outside a stray package of chicken wings and some full racks of ribs. Very little produce was on hand. The canned goods stock consisted of mixed peas and carrots, proving no one likes that crap, and some garlic flavored green beans. There was no bread, no eggs, no butter. I saw a lady with two carts full of bottled water, at least ten cases total, perhaps more. Call me naive, but does anyone think basic services like electricity and water are threatened? Employees were rationing toilet paper. At 11:00 pm the check out lanes were all open and each had a line of carts at least ten deep.

I wish that preceding paragraph was hyperbole. It is truth.

Hoarding isn’t helpful.

I have a couple of promising job prospects. I am worried the quickly collapsing economy will affect these opportunities. I was slated to start soon on a seasonal gig at one of the big box chains. Who knows if that will come to pass.

Yeah, I’m worried. No I’m not panicking. Yet.

I do think we are facing a situation we haven’t seen since October of ‘29.

Boy, do I hope I’m wrong.

On a far more pleasant note, go over and wish My blog buddy Jean a very happy birthday.

Ramifications

I’m making no judgements. Just tossing out a few thoughts on the Coronavirus.

How much of the cancellation decisions are rooted less in prevention of the spread of disease and more in fear of the inevitable lawsuits filed by the leeching lawyer class if anyone attends a large event and gets sick. “They should have known, that’s why we are filing this massive class action suit”.

Colleges and universities are canceling classes. Does any really believe college kids are not going to socialize? Besides, how can they spend the next months in their dorm rooms without access to food or the library or labs? Besides “Partay!” . Who are we fooling?

The cancellation of large sporting events will have a huge effect on the economy. The NCAA Tournament alone brings millions to the communities. Hotels, bars, restaurants, airports, Uber, and taxis all will feel the pinch.

I keep seeing stories that a Trump cut research funding and the budget to the CDC. Any reporter who tells you that is incompetent, a liar, or an ignorant buffoon. Never read that source or watch that news organizations again. Congress controls the budget. Congress determines how and where money is spent. Period.

I’m not in a position to know what is right or wrong here. But there is a lot going on.

Joe has anger issues

No matter how long I stare, or how how severe the stern looks I give, the cursor refuses to type letters and words of bloggity entertainment. The dit dit dit dit dit dit ad infinitum blinking Morse Code is useless for content. I guess it is up to me to make the cursor dance like a organ grinder monkey. Curse you mocking cursor.

You have weather. I have weather. Unless you reside in central Indiana, my weather is useless to you.

Biden picked up most of the Donkey Delegates yesterday, making an ass out of himself with one of his Union Supporters. If you watched the video, you see Biden getting outraged anyone would question him, calling the guy an asshole at one point and threatening to “take it outside”. I thought the union guy was polite. Too bad, the young guy would have beaten pencil-neck Joe to a pulp.

It reminded me of the cowardly lion in the Wizard of Oz: “Put em up, put em up”.

I know had I talked like that to one of the USW workers who reported to me when I was a stupidvisor, I would have ended with a bloody nose. Good thing Biden has a cadre of Secret Service types to back up his big talk. Funny how the Union high-ups were boot-licking the Veep, pushing the rank and file out of the way.

Seems to me calling would-be voters liars and a-holes is not the best way to garner support. What do I know?

I still think Hilary will end up with the nomination.

Toosday Talking Points

It is a wet morning at the old homestead. Warm weather continues with temperatures in the fifties. I noticed the maple out front is not only filled with buds, but some are already breaking out into leaves. Shoots of tulips and lilies are bringing some welcome green to the winter brown. I see yard work in my future. That thought elicits a hearty “yeah!” and a sigh. I look forward to the warm days of spring and summer but not the massive work I need to do on the grounds of the estate.

The local news station is running a “facts not fear” campaign on the Coronaviris, then spent the first ten minutes of the newscast fear mongering.

The wife ate something that did not agree with her Sunday, probably the Tex Mex we had for dinner. I took over daycare duties for the grandgirls yesterday as a result. The oldest was peeved I couldn’t put her hair up the way mommy and grandma do for pre-school.  I combed it and stuck on a clip-on bow. She got over it.

This is my new favorite thing:

Stay dry and have a great Tuesday.

Stock up on supplies

I putting this blog under self-quarantine.

It is displaying symptoms of barely breathing, wheezing along, just a short time from needing life support.

I think it is the 12 Corona virus.

Grand Cayman 2019

In other words, I need a 12 pack of Coronas and a week at the beach. I’m certain that would cure everything. No, I would probably need more beer, and not Corona, either. And some rum. And some cigars. Yeah, that’s it.

Of course it ain’t gonna happen. But I can dream.

Be careful, I think what I have is contagious.

Ribs, Cards, Taco Shells

We went back to the old town of my birth yesterday. We stopped by to visit with my papa and then went to hang out with some friends. We enjoyed some excellent ribs at a pub / restaurant place the next county north and then headed back to their house for some euchre and laughs.  It was a good Saturday.

So far today I have changed the clocks to adapt to DST. Deleted 5,000 word rant about the idiocy of DST. I activated my new debit card. I swallowed my morning handful of pills and squirted ant-rejection steroids into my eyeballs.  I’ve managed so far today to drink almost a full mug of coffee, read up on the internet news, and type what you have read so far.

Now I just have to decide what to post for the Sunday Photos feature. I’m torn between some rainbow pictures I took Thursday or a vacation photo. What is your vote?

Looking down the promenade deck, Carnival Dream 2019

I’m just kidding. This is a blog dictatorship. You don’t get to vote. I like this picture. It is a cellphone pic and no fisheye or other distorting lense was used. If you never been on one, cruise ships are huge.

Like many of my favorite pictures, a sunset is involved. Thankfully, the horizon was clear of any Pirates. I understand they are in the Caribbean.

I have determined homemade tacos will be on the supper menus today. It is supposed to be warm and a little South of the Border flavor seems about right. What’s on your menu?

Have a great Sunday and thank you for stopping by.

the barking dog chronicles

The full moon is shining bright over the neighbor’s roof. It is still dark. Johnny Cash is singing in the background. I have classic country music playing on the little Echo spy device here in the office. 

I had a little acid reflux issue that drove me from bed early this morning. So it goes. I fought acid reflux for the better part of a decade, finally recovering about ten years ago. Now, not surprisingly, it is back. 

Yesterday was cold and raw with a North wind and spitting occasional snow. Today will be a little warmer and we are supposed to be back in the sixties Sunday. 

I think after it gets light I will go visit my grandson this morning. I haven’t been down to see him for a month or so. It’s been 2-1/2 years and I still cry every time I visit.

How about a little audio for your Saturday entertainment?

Have a great day.

its not even daylight and I need a nap

After a string of warm spring-like days, winter has made an appearance today. It is spitting snow and windy. I’m not worried. It is supposed to return to warmer weather tomorrow.

In the past week the baby granddaughter has gone from starting to crawl to pulling herself up to stuff. She is getting into everything. It is a full time job just herding her. She is obsessed with ripping my glasses from my face. She has destroyed a couple of the wife’s magazines. The little one finds all of this mischief hilarious. We are blessed with two of the happiest, good natured grandgirls ever.

Can we all agree NFL free agency needs to start now so the endless stories about “what will Tom Brady do”can just go away? Please?

I hope you have a great Friday.

Directions

The new family in the neighborhood overslept and their six-year-old daughter missed her school bus.

The father, though late for work himself, had to drive her. In a rush, he forgot his phone and since he didn't know how to get to school he asked if his daughter could direct him. She was excited to know the way.

They rode several blocks before she told him to turn the first time, several more before she indicated another turn. This went on for 20 minutes – but when they finally reached the school, it proved to be only a short distance from their home.

The father, much annoyed, asked his daughter why she’d led him around in such a circle.

The child explained, “That’s the way the school bus goes, Daddy.”

Up on Choctaw Ridge

I’m not feeling it today. What I am feeling is a pounding headache. I don’t care much about the Democrat Primaries, if I am honest.

How about a little music for this Wednesday? This tune was dancing in my head whenI woke up this morning:

Sing along, I won’t mind.

Sooper Toosday

Today is a big day politically. A bunch of states will hold primaries to help determine who will be our next President. The Trumpster will win for the GOPers and we shall see who prevails for the Donkey brand.

Once again I shall lament that out of 300 million choices it is sad this is the best we can find for the Chief Executive position. I will say that I do like Trump’s position on judges, immigration, and foreign policy ( for the most part). I wish he would reign in spending, but politicians love spending other people’s money.

I just realized I forgot to put in my entry for the big Publishers Clearinghouse drawing last month. Crap. I was sure I was going to be a millionaire. First I lose out on the big HGTV Dreamhouse, now this.  Maybe I will win the free cigar lounge/man cave makeover. Who knows?

Rinse and repeat

I woke at 4:30 blah, blah. Whatever.

It was an unseasonal warm day yesterday, with the high temperatures pushing 60F. Of course I am using Fahrenheit, 60 Celsius would be equivalent to an unbearable 140F. I admit I had to look that conversion up. I can do the conversion for metric/inch for length with little trouble. Kilograms/pounds I can do an estimate. Volume and speed I can do with an educated guess (100K=62 mph). Temperature has always eluded me beyond 70F is roughly 18C, I know the freeze and boiling points and -40 is the same in both Celsius and Fahrenheit. All other temperature conversions are impossible for me to calculate.

Don’t be impressed, anyone who works in manufacturing can do those same metric/ imperial conversions.

Anyway, before you got me off on a metric tangent I was going to report I sat out on the patio in the late winter sun and enjoyed a nice cigar while listening to a Dan Carlin Hardcore History podcast. Life is good.

So here we are on Monday. March is coming in like a lamb and according to folk knowledge that does not bode well for the end of the month.

 March is big around here. My 15th blogoversary and my birthday are both in March. You should probably starting thinking about getting me some gifts.

waiting in a long gray line

The grandgirls spent the night last night. No matter I see them nearly every day, it is great when they come in the door. Both are the happiest girls. It is my sincere wish they have that same happiness and joy forever.

Yeah, I know, the teenaged girl is in the future.

We went to dinner at the oldest girl’s favorite restaurant. We had the worst service I have probably ever had, starting with the servers arguing who would take our table; not because of “us”, but because one had a ten top and the other didn’t want another table.

After getting our food our server never came back. We finally got another server to bring our check. Our server never came to collect the payment and after trying to get her attention ( she walked past the table glancing at the cash three times) we left the bills on the table with about $1.50 for the tip. If we had exact change I would have left it. I would have asked for a manager on the way out, but the five year old was ready to leave and the baby was already past bedtime. It shouldn’t take two hours to dine at the Spaghetti Factory. Not counting the wait for the table.

Anyway, here is something a little more pleasant for your Sunday Pictures feature:

This is the mighty Hudson looking north from West Point. Yes that West Point. We visited and had a tour during a sales meeting in October 2013. My only disappointment was we had limited time. While I saw Custer’s “grave”, I did not get to search for the burial site of my hero General George Thomas.

I hope you have a great Sunday.

more than meets the eye

The press is nearly gleeful over the Kung Flu virus. Nothing sells ads like a good threat of death and mayhem. As a bonus, they can blame the Trumpster.

Already the talking heads are blaming the losses in the stock market on the virus. You can almost see the hopefulness in their eyes because they know the economy is great and that bodes well for four more years of the Bad Orange Man.  Anything that hurts the economy is a good thing to the lefties.

What they are not telling you is that even with the latest drop in stock prices, the market is still at near record levels.

More importantly, they aren’t telling you that Wall Street is looking at Bernie’s increasing lead with a jaundiced eye. The more it looks like the avowed socialist might get the nomination, the smart people will start to move their money.

If you want to see the economy slow to a crawl, elect a guy who vows to take a big chunk of wealth from private citizens. Don’t worry, Bernie is at least honest. Your taxes are going up too.

a copy of a copy

I guess he didn’t care for his Christmas present.

This is my oldest boy, the middle child before he was a middle child. This is from 1991 and he was three.

I found a place locally who transfers old videotape to dvd. It was cheap.  I took two tapes over to see how they came out. The wife and I enjoyed watching the kids from nearly thirty years ago.

I might add that my wife was hot at 30 years old. I still think she is.

The actual quality of the product is better than what I have posted. This is a cell phone recording of the TV playing the DVD of the videotape. I guess that makes it a copy of a copy? Anyway I am pretty happy with the results. I have about 15 -18 more tapes to be transferred at some point.

Somewhere my a dad has old Super 8 film of me as a kid. Whether it is too old and brittle to copy is the question. I would enjoy seeing me as a snot-nosed kid.

Who wouldn’t?

A half finished post for Friday

I went to bed last night with post fodder organizing into coherent form in my brain pan. I woke some six hours later to nothing. I cannot  remember what  I was going to write about. The subject revolves around music, I know that. Perhaps my pre-sleep enthusiasm was inspired by the song playing softly as I drifted onto the arms of Morpheus. Who knows? Who cares?

Snowing free stuff

The maple in my front yard

Yesterday brought a small dose of winter and a perfect snowfall. The flakes were large and wet. Snow stuck to the trees and grass. The roads, driveway, and sidewalks remained clear.

We got all of the beauty and none of the shoveling.

I read an interesting article this morning. I can’t find it to put up a link, so you can do the research on your own. You don’t click links anyway. The crux of the article was the cost of Bernie’s programs will be something like $98 trillion. Let me write that out so you can grasp just how scary that is: 98,000,000,000,000.* For perspective, there are only 31,536,000 seconds in a year. If that doesn’t bring it home consider that the total assets of the American people -  income, cars, houses, savings - are estimated at $97 trillion.

So if we all just sign over everything we have and put our trust in Bernie’s version of collectivism, we still cannot pay for his wish list of free stuff. Venezuela is looking at Sanders and saying “what are you thinking?”.

Don’t underestimate the power of Free. Democrats are as tired of their party hacks as Republicans voters were of their own. Americans are tired of the corruption of our political class and a Trump and Bernie are viewed as outsiders. Don’t fool yourself, Sanders can win and those of us on the side of the good guys better be careful what we wish for in rooting for Bernie Sanders to get the nomination.





* Here is a post where I try to put the staggering amount of money or government spends into perspective. It is outdated now, but I still think it demonstrates the point.

Impressing the girls

An old guy was working out at the gym when he spotted a young hot blonde girl walking in.

He asked the trainer standing next to him, “What machine should I use to impress that girl over there?”

The trainer looked him up and down and said; “I would recommend the ATM in the lobby.”

just another post that will get me sent to camp

Is there any murderous Communist dictator that Bernie Sanders doesn’t admire? I mean look at the list - the USSR, Sandinistas, Castro, Venezuela.

A Chinese guy once told me the Mao Cultural Revolution was a good thing because it kept millions from starving*. Castro’s excesses were OK because more people could read, according to Sanders. I guess we should ignore that Cuba had one of the highest literacy rates in the Caribbean before Castro.

I keep forgetting Communism is so wonderful they had to build that wall in Berlin to keep the West Germans out of the Worker’s Paradise.


*absolutely 100% true story

idle Threats

It is a rainy Monday here at the homestead. The temperature is what we should expect in late February.

Yesterday was sunny and warm. I dragged the baby gates from the attic. The little one started crawling last week, so it is time to protect her from stuff like the stairway. For dinner I made a batch of Mac and cheese and some Barbecued chicken breasts.

Ho hum, ho hum.

I’ve always liked this tune

Hey, I could have given you The Carpenters Monday song...

A Big Man

Today we are coming back to the good old US of A for our much loved Sunday Pictures feature.

Today I present some pictures of the home of a famous American. This individual has songs in his honor, towns named for him, and even TV shows and movies about his life.

I took all of these in a January 2017

Give up? What if I told you this house was outside Defiance, MO?

Let’s play two

I see a clear blue sky with just a tinge of early morning pink out my blog room window. It is chilly, but the experts claim it will be a warm-for-February weekend. I may, should I get myself motivated, go for a walk this morning. For now we must all be content as I sip coffee, hunt and peck these letters and words, and listen to some CSN and Suite Judy Blue Eyes playing softly in the background.

Baseball, albeit Spring Training games, starts today. Coupled with the two dozen or so robins I spied resting in my crab apple trees a few days ago reminds me spring is not so far away.

The Governor of California has declared a doctor should be able to prescribe a house for homeless patients. I guess Governor Newsome believes a prescription pad is magic. If you write it down, it happens. Like most Democratic Politicians he has no concept that eventually someone has to pay for all that free stuff. Why not just declare everything is free; healthcare, college, housing, food, cars, phones, TV? Of course I’m not sure how houses will get built or food will be grown.

Oh wait, according to wannabe President Bloomberg, anyone can be a farmer. He says you just dig a hole, throw in a seed and water it. Apparently Mini Mike has never tried to grow a garden or houseplant, forget several hundred acres of corn.

That’s just it, Government is filled with people who never produced anything, built anything, grew anything — all telling us we are doing it all wrong.

Just think how many people could have been helped if Tom Steyr and Mikey Bloomberg took the more than $500,000,000 they have already spent on ads to get a chance at a $400,000 job. That is more than the annual budget of a medium sized city. Chew on that for awhile.

Ah, it is Saturday. Enough of that. Enjoy your weekend.

F-f-f-Friday

It is Friday. It is cold. It is sunny, so I can live with the cold.

I saw a sign at a nudist colony. It was clothed for the winter.

Stop it, you will repeat it and claim it for your own in the next three days. We both know it.

I am not aware of any plans for the weekend. The social director usually does not consult with me. I just slip on my shoes and coat and drive where directed.

That’s it. If you need more bloggy goodness you will just have to pursue the archives for those days when I had real content.

Have a great day.

Come fly with me

I’m alive. I have been busy. Sorry for lack of posting.

Yesterday I spent the day in Charlotte. Every time I type that line it cracks me up for reasons I do not care to explain. Anyway, long time readers may know that Charlotte, NC was a place I visited frequently in my past. From about 2007 to 2014 I went there about once a month. That equates to...a lot of visits. Most of the time I stayed in one particular area.

Fast forward to yesterday. I had a job interview in Charlotte. The company is actually located down the street from the place I used to stay!

I was back in travel mode at least for a day. I left home at 4:30 in the morning to get to the airport and pulled back in my garage right at 10:30. In the PM, mind you. It was a planes, trains, and automobiles day I have experienced more times than I can count.

While I was at the airport  I saw something that cracked me up:

The Dude is using a cooler for a rolling suitcase. I prefer to think I admire the utilitarian repurposing rather than the notion I am making fun of the guy, It might be that is all he had.

Edit: I have decided the cooler guy is a genius. Fly to a warm place. Buy beer and ice and now you are set for a week at the beach. Bam!

I pick myself up and get back in the race

Here we are ready to meet the day; Presidents Day in fact. No mail. I suspect the banks are closed, along with most government offices. No school, so the girls are home with their mommy today: no grandgirls to brighten up the house.

I got the garbage disposal installed with minimal effort and without a single utterance of a swear word. The only issue came when it was time to mount the beast. I didn’t have the strength to compress the rubber seal with one hand and turn the locking ring. I had to ask my son-in-law to stop by and help. Once he arrived it took less than five minutes to finish. When did I become so weak? In  any case there are no leaks so far. The only connection yet to be tested is the one from the dishwasher. Note: I did remember to knock out the dishwasher drain plug.

Boy don’t you feel better reading about that big adventure? Sheesh. I used to write about my travels. Now I bore you to tears with everyday home chores. This blog will hit its fifteen year anniversary in a couple of weeks. That is like 105 in dog years. It jumped the proverbial shark a decade ago. Entertaining content is wheezing along on life support.

We both — the blog and me — take encouragement from this sentiment.

Go forth and have a great Monday.

Kung Flu for you

i have been to China twice, spending a couple of weeks in total. Both times I was less than enthusiastic about the trip, especially the second time. Each time I was wrong, it was interesting and an enjoyable experience. The trip is long, and the food situation was different. Sadly, I still haven’t mastered chopsticks.

Anyway, I am offering up a twofer Sunday Pictures today:

Commie Housing on full display

This is the view from my hotel window of Changzhou, China taken on my second trip in November, 2017.

This a view of the Great Wall outside Beijing showing a stretch between guard towers. Right behind me was a place where the Mongols breached the wall. The entry stairs and hand rail are modern additions for safety. Guard duty on the wall would have been less than pleasant. This is from my first trip to China in June 2013.

Next week we shall return closer to home. 

Set ‘em up Joe

I can tell you right up front my writing will be interrupted this morning. My morning cup o’coffee is nearly drained and I know a refill is in order. I feel confident my composing skills will allow for a seamless pause you will never                 notice.

A few weeks ago I was complaining (hard to believe, eh wot?) that the Cubs are starting their own broadcasting network. Good news, my tiny little fiber optic cable provider has signed on and will offer the Marquee Network as part of regular programming. Yeah me.

Installation of a new garbage disposal is on tap for this weekend. The old one died some time ago and we have been avoiding that side of the sink for far too long. Luckily, it is not too hard to put in a new one, providing I get the same size unit. I know the plumbing gods are about to punish me for my hubris. If things go as normal, a connection will break, a pipe will be 1/4 inch too short, I will be missing something vital, the Lowe’s just down the street will not carry whatever I have to go back to get. That’s how things usually work.

I have no doubt it is my sunny positive attitude that draws in the readership.

I finished binge-watching the HBO miniseries Rome last weekend. I enjoyed it. It was fairly accurate historically. It has more gratuitous nudity than I can describe. I’m no prude, but some of the nakedness was just unnecessary. I’m not sure what I will start watching this morning. I guess we will both be surprised in a few minutes when I head downstairs to turn on the TV.

I’m not sure I am going to continue the Sunday Pictures feature. Does anyone find it interesting?

Enjoy your Saturday.

One

The band Three Dog Night sang that “One is the loneliest number”. I’m not sure if one is lonely,  but it is cold. One is precisely the Fahrenheit temperature as I write this morning, providing a wind chill “feels like” of minus nine. It is warmer inside my freezer than on my porch. That’s OK, I don’t plan on spending time in either frigid location.

My across the street neighbor texted me around eight o’clock last night to tell me there was a fox on my front porch. While I was out playing in the snow with my granddaughter yesterday I saw fox tracks coming from my porch and rounding to behind the house next door. Mr Fox must be running a regular route. The chipmunks are in some danger. I suspect it is the same red fox I have spotted a few times over the past couple of years.

Suburbia is teeming with wildlife.

Today is the Big Hallmark Holiday. I have a suitable card signed to present the wife. We shall brave the cold to have a modest dinner this evening to mark the occasion.

Since I’m a good host, I won’t bore you with my oft-repeated homage to the first date with my wife in a romantic tribute to St. Valentines Day. There is nothing worse than an old man endlessly repeating his stories.

The band Three Dog Night sang that “One is the loneliest number”. I’m not sure if one is lonely, but it is cold...

Help Me Rhonda

I am clearly out of step with the current political climate. I have no doubt I will find myself in a gulag /  re-education camp after the Bernie Bros bring us the joys and wonders of Communism.

Here is just another example of stuff I do not understand. A teacher at an Indiana suburban school has been suspended over a lesson in “this day in history “ because he/she showed a magazine cover marking that Mike Tyson was convicted of rape on that date.

I don’t recognize the problem. It was true, the facts are correct. More importantly, I am concerned any school would comment that stuff in the past isn’t relevant.

I am increasingly lost in this world where apparently no one is allowed to ever be offended, uncomfortable, or face actual truth. Can anyone tell me what the problem is and why is the teacher suspended, but some are calling for the teacher to be fired? I really am that clueless.

There is no marijuana in a pot pie

It appears we have a couple inches of snow on the ground. My neighbor cleaned my drive with his snow blower. I have great neighbors. Bitter cold will move in tonight with temperatures in the single digits. The cold and snow will pass quickly with normal to above normal temperatures by the weekend.

At some point in the coming days weeks I am going to clean up the sidebar links. Names will be deleted, a few added. I might even mess with the old template. Too many links are to old blogs that moved to other platforms long ago. Too bad, I miss most of those blog friends. It is change that has been coming for a while.

I hope you have that gift picked out for your sweetheart. The Big Hallmark Holiday for lovers is upon us Friday. We will be low-key this year. I will get a card for the wife and maybe a cheap bouquet.

I have always possessed a good vocabulary, even if I rarely demonstrate it around here, but for some reason I suck at Scrabble. It is the strategy part I guess. Thus it is no surprise the wife has trounced me in the online version of the game. She has defeated me probably fifty straight games. Only her stats don’t say so because I surrendered a game earlier in the week when I had nowhere to play and there were no letters left. I was down 150 points. Anyway, it seems she doesn’t get the win when I resign the game. Officially she did not defeat me. Bwahaha.

i opted out of coffee this morning and this is the result.

Winter is slated to finally arrive starting this afternoon. Rain, sleet, accumulating snow and single digit temperatures are all in the forecast. Until now we have had a remarkably mild winter. The only “shovel” snow was back in December. Since then we have had a dusting on a few occasions. Temperatures have hovered in the upper thirties on average. I am not complaining.

I have lots of other stuff I could complain about. I won’t. You are welcome.

So let’s see, we covered the weather. Complaints were covered. That leaves politics. Nah, I’m in a good mood.

Have a great hump day.

I see dumb people

In the wake of the Senate rejection of the impeachment charges against The Trumpster, some liberal pundits again brought up the old tripe about how the electoral college and the Senate in particular are “undemocratic”.

Let us cover this yet again: we do not have a democracy in the US Federal government, we have a representative republic. Write it 50 times until you understand basic political fact. In cursive on ruled paper.

One talking head went so far as to research the population of various states and proclaimed a majority really wanted the President booted based on the population of each state and senator’s vote. Of course the assumption was that every voter in say California or New York voted Democrat. We know that isn’t true. In fact, the whole so-called analysis was such a waste of time I feel cheated of those minutes of life I spent in reading the article.

Today I read an Article in The Atlantic spreading a similar nonsense. Simon Barnicle goes further, proving his education is sorely lacking and he should have taken high school civics instead of playing dungeons and dragons, because he surely lives in a fantasy world.

The author readily admits the Democrats are losing elections. His solution is to rig the system so Democrats can win. He wants to carve up Blue States so they get more representatives, more Senators, and more electoral votes. Problem solved. Until Republicans declare every county in Texas a new State. I’m surprised Barnicle Bill didn’t also advocate adding six or seven new judges to the SCOTUS, another liberal plan to get what they cannot pass legislatively.

His rational is that again, the Senate is not apportioned according to population, but rather each state gets two votes. Poor California has the same votes as Montana. All I can say is - Yes. That is how things were designed - exactly to prevent mob rule and despotic control by the larger States.

Apparently Mr. Barnicle Bill never learned that the country is called “ The United States, as in a group of independent  states joined together as a nation. The  US is not, and was not, intended to be a nation with a group of provincial  or administrative districts. The Senate was designed to represent the interest of the individual states, not the people. Unfortunately, that distinction was blurred by the idiotic and lamentable 17th Amendment.

I don’t know what passes for education among the journalist class, but history and civics is clearly not part of the curriculum. Maybe some of those folks who learned of the Federalist Papers for the first time during the impeachment fiasco should actually spend some time reading them.

Worse, the author of the Atlantic piece claims to be an attorney. I guess whatever law school he attended must not require a course in a Constitutional law. It is a good thing he writes, I wouldn’t want that hack representing me in court when he knows so very little about the foundation of our very Law of the Land.

Because you asked II

Cappy asks “Why is there cat?”.

Why is there air? Why do people vote Democrat? Why does the Commissioner want to keep screwing with the rules of Baseball? Why is Rap considered part of Rock and Roll? How does Kieth Richards look younger at 70 than he did at 40? Why does anyone give a fig about Britain’s Royal Family? Why is there such a thing as “meatless hamburgers”. Why hasn’t Lacy Chabert won an Oscar? 

In other words, there are a great many mysteries in this life. Cats are one of them.

Uncompliant asks “My question is: what are your thoughts on de-atomizing ourselves? Partly, that is a fancy way of asking how to find local clubs, meet-up groups, social/political events that we can attend/join to meet like-minided folks. ”.

Me, I started a blog. The rest, not so much. I practice politics as a spectator sport. 


If anyone has more questions, let me know in the comments

Because you asked

Ed Bonderenka asks “Why is the sky Blue?”.

Ed, I could give a long and complicated answer about atmospheric gases and the dispersal of light particles in the visible spectrum. Instead I will tell you the sky is blue from witnessing the evil men perpetuate here on Earth.

Jean asks “Do you have a favorite author? Who? Why?”

I have a tendency to binge read authors I like. In my teens I went on a Louis L’Amour binge, reading his entire catalog. I have reread all of his books several times. The same holds true for Stephen Coonts. As for my favorite authors, there is no better wordsmith ever than the late Patrick O’Brien. I have read the entire Aubrey/Maturin canon several times through, as well as many of his other novels.

For plain good storytelling, Bernard Cornwell is one of my favorites. Lately I have started reading the Travis McGee novels by the late John D. McDonald. 

More questions and answers coming in a future post.

Sunday Pictures

Yum goat

This is the cooking area at a popular goat restaurant in Monterrey, Mexico.  Surprisingly, goat tastes like chicken.

Not really, but it is similar to pork and not at all bad. I actually enjoyed it. This is from a business trip to Mexico in February 2019

Ask Hoosierboy

As I start typing away on the little iPad keyboard, it occurs to me I have nothing to say this morning. Of course lack of quality content has never stopped me before from rambling on, but somehow this morning I have a crisis of conscience. I don’t want to exacerbate my dwindling readership with inane and pointless ramblings.

But I already have, nes pas?

So instead of complaining, chatting about the weather, or rambling on about politics,I propose I cut it short today. I think I’ll turn over the old blog to you.

About a decade ago I occasionally offered up an “Ask Hoosierboy” feature. As such, go ahead and ask me anything in the comments and I will try my best to offer a response. Any topic is open: history, politics, business, literature, physics, music, personal stuff. Bring it on.  Now is your chance to ask me the stuff you have always wanted to know.

In the meantime here is a an oldie that may bring a smile to your Saturday morning:

Have a great day.

Things that leave me confused

I had a command performance at the unemployment office yesterday. Nothing says State Bureaucracy like forcing people who are making the equivalent of minimum wage* drive 60 miles round trip to turn in papers I could easily have emailed. As further proof our government is a lumbering monolith, I had a problem getting my pay this week. The only way to correct the problem is to fax — yes I said fax — my issue to the state office. You cannot email the papers. You cannot talk to someone in person. I was told repeatedly by multiple employees not to mail my documents. No one opens the mail. I can only use 1990s technology and fax my paperwork. SMH. Oh and the issue will be resolved in approximately six weeks.  I cannot until the Bernie Bros let those same folks run healthcare.

Anyway, while I was at the office I noticed a guy with a tattoo on the back of his right hand. It was the shift pattern of a five speed manual transmission.

Not the actual tattoo

It looked similar to this. I can only conclude the dude could not remember the shift pattern when his hand covered the shift knob on his 2003 Civic?

I’ve seen some strange tattoos, but this one was new to me.

A manual transmission has been jokingly referred as a “millennial anti-theft device”. Perhaps the tattoo was just a permanent “lock code” or “password” for a former car thief.






* thank you taxpayers and former employers.

Round Two

Rumor has it the Democrats are going to open hearings and call Bolton to testify.

Get ready for Impeachmentpalooza II, especially if the Trumpster is again victorious come November.

I give 60% odds the Dems don’t even wait until the next term. Expect more articles by May.

What happens if Mitch pulls a Nasty Nancy and  just tears up the papers?

Whew

Boy did we dodge one when that POC Mittens Romney lost his run for President.

Should have known he was wobbly when he lost what could have been the most winnable election in decades.

How long until he can get voted out of office?

Diaper Diaries

If you think I’m going to go into a deep dive into politics and a SOTU you are going to be disappointed. The Democrats were needlessly classless. Seriously, refusing to clap for a Tuskegee Airman? Not happy about lower unemployment among minorities and women? Tearing up a copy of the speech? Enough on that.

We went from record highs in the sixties Monday to a prediction for snow this evening. I’m not complaining, it has been a most mild winter so far.

Without further detail, cross your fingers for luck. Should such pagan superstition be an anathema for you, a prayer on my behalf would be welcomed. Or both.

Have a great Wednesday.

Dear Iowa

You have plenty of corn. Give each caucus delegate a kernel. Have him or her place it in a jar that matches his candidate of choice. Add up the kernels in each jar. Write down the total.

Voila, caucus done.

Monday can just die for all I care

It is Monday. I enjoyed the Big Game last night.

Any further thoughts will involve crying, complaining, anger, frustration, whining, and abject depression.

I’m not going to subject you to that beyond telling anyone who thinks the Government can run things better should have to spend time at the whims of the bureaucracy.

Sunday Pictures

Grand Cayman April 2019

How about a break from winter today?

Happy Groundhog Day

Scenes from my youth

Snake Bob was tall and impossibly thin. He could be seen walking about town with a slow shuffle, his head swaying up and back, right and left atop his extraordinary long neck like a cobra following a Hindu snake charmer. Snake Bob carried a cloth bag over his shoulder. No one knew what was in it. Playground rumors alternatively speculated it was trash, bottles, the heads of the kids he had murdered. One thing was sure, every kid at the elementary school knew Snake Bob did unthinkable things to little  boys and we were stay away from him.

Some claimed Snake Bob lived under the Armstrong Street bridge. Others “knew” he lived out at the County Home. Chris said Snake Bob lived above the smoke shop on Clinton Street. Chris was always a know-it-all and he had been wrong so many times none of the gang gave his tale credence.

Snake Bob could be seen wandering about town. Today he was at the park. Tomorrow might find him  walking along the highway. I watched him slither his way into the library one summer day and too scared to follow him in, jumped back on my bike and pedaled home.

Those brave souls who had been close to Snake Bob told tales of strange muttering and hissing as he talked to himself as he travelled the streets of town. There was no Bogey Man in my hometown, Snake Bob was a real-life monster that fit the role.

He always wore a hat and dark colored sack coat, no matter the season.

Snake Bob disappeared from his walks about town some time in the early 1970s. Perhaps as I grew older he became less of a scary apparition and more just another old guy sitting in the park.

Bob Gunion passed away in 1972 at the County Home for the Indigent, where he had lived many years. Bob had only left his hometown once. In 1918 he went to France. There he saw such things that haunted him the remainder of his life. His few possessions included a picture of a young, not particularly pretty woman in turn of the century clothing, an old gold pocket watch, and the Medal of Honor.

I see the cold mist in the night

Good morning and happy February to you. A recording of a Yes concert is playing in the background as I hunt and peck out these letters on the trusty old iPad.

For the past month or two I have moved to newer model from the decrepit first generation tablet I was using. My son-in-law gave me a used iPad of more recent vintage. My family treats me far better than I deserve.

We have no plans for the day. Tomorrow evening we will watch some football. Did you know there was an NFL game tomorrow?

Yesterday I had a phone interview with a local company. The HR lady had checked my LinkedIn profile, she had my resume and application. Yet somehow she was surprised I had no experience selling her commodity. What a waste of time for both of us. We cut short a visit to the library with my granddaughter so I could spend four minutes with someone who didn’t bother doing the basics of preparation. I spent a little more than an hour preparing to discuss how I could help the company.

So it goes.

Have a great Saturday

meet the new boss

If we could harness snot as a power source, I am producing enough to keep a Prius running in the left lane holding up traffic. At least three big trees will have to be cut down to produce the necessary pulp to create tissues for my nose. Ordinary humans would be snuggled up in bed, shivering and holding on to their favorite stuffed animal, whimpering in misery. I am propped up in the recliner blogging.

You are welcome.

In other news the impeachmentpalooza May or may not wrap up today. Yawn. As the Clintonistas famously groused”Move On”. I feel bad for the next Democrat President. He won’t be able to wipe his arse without a subpoena and subsequent impeachment.

Just like a Horrid Harry’s trashing of the filibuster and the current use of the courts for nation-wide injunctions, the lefties are going to really hate the new rules should they get back in charge.

In other news, it is a Friday. Enjoy it.

Latest Super Bowl Odds

I usually go to bed around 11:30 or so. It is clear my bladder holds about 4-1/2 hours of liquid. So it goes. Normally I can go back to sleep, but not always. Today is one of those days. I couldn’t go back to the comforting arms of Morpheus. Probably because I think I’m getting sick.

I feel a cold coming on. My sinuses are dripping, my ears itch, and my throat is scratchy and sore. You would probably be standing at the doctor already, begging for relief. My superior superhero-like constitution allows me to laugh off disease and the common cold. It is like water on a duck’s back to me.

I once used the “duck’s back” colloquialism in a conversation with a colleague. He thought it was the silliest thing he had ever heard. He claimed I made it up. I blamed his ignorance of midwestern wisdom on his New York roots.

In the past few weeks I have been the target of a pretty sophisticated scam. A supposed Japanese company has asked me to be their agent in the US. It is a product I am qualified to represent. Several legitimate-looking documents have been forwarded. The first warning bells were that all conversation was via email. Who “hires” anyone without speaking to them? At no point was I asked to sign a contract or employment agreement. Second, at no time was I asked for my SSN or other info to send my stipend. I would not have provided it in any case. Finally, my first assignment was to collect an old invoice from a customer. I was told I would get a commission on the unpaid invoice if I could collect it.

Every alarm went off when the supposed customer said he would send me a check. Sorry, why not just wire the funds like most businesses do, especially when the recipient is overseas and the total is over a half million bucks? Sorry, this is not my first merry-go-round ride. That horse ain’t real. So far I’ve done nothing but email with these characters. I’m glad I got wise before I got into real trouble.

Apparently, this is a real scam that has gone around for a while. These guys were good, they had real letterhead listing the real principles of the company. The just made a mistake with the customer- no such business exists. I guess they didn’t count on a curious sort like me looking up the company. They had a fake voice mail set up, but the address was no good and the area code didn’t match the address.

That was a scam indeed. But I have another opportunity: there is this Nigerian lawyer who says I own part of an oil well..

Not only are you deplorable, you are a rube

Once again we see how the left thinks of us. If you aren’t on board with the Commies, you must be too stupid to breathe without instructions. Of course, the stereotype is furthered by assuming all dumb people speak with a southern accent.

i found what you are looking for

Let’s see, it is Tuesday

It is trash day. My can is by the curb, already emptied by the big blue truck.

Kobe. Enough already.

Why is it when Democrats vote en bloc it is solidarity and when a Republicans all vote the same it is partisanship? I’m asking for a friend.

I made m favorite meal Sunday. I am having those leftover beef and noodles for lunch today. I will not be deterred.

The Big Game is Sunday. I cannot get excited, even though I believe it will be a good game for once. I might be wrong. I was once before.

Tom Brady isn’t playing. Can we let it rest for at least a week?

Cloudy. Thirties. Rinse and repeat. It is hard to complain about our winter so far.

The baby is napping, but is restless.

I am increasingly becoming sure official review of plays on the field is damaging the game in every sport.  Officials are making more bad calls knowing the review process will sort it out. That is my opinion. Yours may vary. You will be wrong though.

So it goes

Monday. Another work week without work.

The grandgirls will arrive in a bit. The daily routine is comforting. Unfortunately I feel more like hiding in my office and feeling sorry for myself than playing with the kids today.

It’s OK, as soon as they get here and smile at me I will be better.

Impeachment round two begins. I bored with it. My ennui today extends to politics.

Even the weather conspires to bore me: cloudy, temps in the thirties — highs and lows — all week.

I did start watching the old HBO series Rome this weekend. Lots of gratuitous nudity, more than a little off historically, but entertaining as all get out. But I’m getting old, most of the nekkid boobies were just not necessary.

Sunday Pictures

Sunset on Waikiki 

Took this in May 2014 when we visited Hawaii to celebrate our 30 year anniversary. This picture was the background on my phone for a long time. And yes, I love  sunset and sunrise pictures. This will likely be the first of many Hawaii images I will feature in these pages.

just waiting for spring

Let’s get the usual pablum out of the way. I woke up early. It is raining. Things might turn to slushy snow. Maybe not. Life is good in many ways. It sucks beyond measure in others. There you have it.

I’m marking time until baseball season starts in earnest. Watching the Cubbies appears to be a little more difficult this year. The team has started their own network and games will be only available if you pay for the package. That is providing your cable company carries the network. I’m not sure mine will, and I can’t pay any more for TV at this point.

I thought about an MLBTV subscription, but surprise!, the Cubs are blacked out in central Indiana. Only “out of market” games are available. How 200 plus miles can be considered “local” I’m not sure. I guess I will listen to the games on radio. It is further evidence the team cares far more about money than the fans.

In the meantime I entered to current century and started playing Words with Friends with the wife. On the iPad. I lose every game. There is certainly a statement on our times when you think about two people sitting beside each other on the couch wordlessly playing a “board game” on an electric screen. That’s OK, for the most part my iPad is a very expensive deck of cards for playing solitaire.

And as a replacement for a five buck journal.

In the meantime, I am reading a collection of old Louis L’Amour short stories. I have a bunch of stuff I can watch on TV. Winter is a boring time.

Hey, if you get both Lyme disease and the Coronavirus, does that mean you are on the way to a beach party?

Impeachment immersion

You don’t come here for the politics. Maybe you do. I’m not sure why you come here, to be honest. In any case, you get whatever I feel like throwing up on the electronic page. Today that means some random thoughts on the impeachment circus.

I could best sum up the case for booting the President with the lyrics of a tune made famous by Peggy Lee: Is that all there is? Seriously, I’ve seen better cases made in high school debate class. Unless there is something I’m missing, Trump’s “crimes” fall far short of the Whiskey Ring or Tea Pot Dome scandals (or throwing Japanese Americans into Concentration Camps).

It remains clear that the vast majority of Washington politicians have no idea why so many Americans voted for Trump nor comprehend the disgust and skepticism we view the entire political process. Many of us have known Washington is a swamp of insincere, corrupt, self-centered, know-it-all, nanny state intellectually challenged mediocre jerk wads. I just never knew things were that bad.

I was right in my position this whole thing is nothing but an attempt to influence the 2020 election. The first hour plus of the House Manager presentation belies this fact. It was politics 101 with a Democrat Party slant. Senators don’t need (or shouldn’t) a primer on Impeachment basics and Constitutional theory. Sorry, I couldn’t stomach watching any more than that.

We are witnessing the end of the Republic as we know it. It isn’t obvious. The crack up will be slow and take decades, but everything will change. Does anyone think the next opposition President won’t be impeached the first time he fails to kowtow when Congress asks for papers, witnesses, or transcripts? If Executive Privilege equals Obstruction of Congress and grounds for impeachment, then every President including George Washington himself should have been sent packing before their term was up.

Repeating something countless times doesn’t make it true. Adam Schiff is doing his best to try and prove me wrong.

a pound of sausage, one third cup flour and 3-4 cups of milk

I made up some biscuits and sausage gravy for supper last night. Hearty and comforting, they were even better as breakfast leftovers this morning.

I won’t go full-in on political comments this morning. I do wonder about the whole hiding in the dark of night we are all gonna die worst thing ever rhetoric. The big stations didn’t break from regular scheduled programming in prime time to bring the festivities, so who cares when the impeachment muddles on? Those who are interested will find it.

After the hyper partisan commentary on NBC (could they at least try to hide their bias?) yesterday afternoon, it was finally reported that the afternoon schedule was designed because Chief Justice Roberts has oral arguments at the SCOTUS every morning this week. I guess it wasn’t Trump hiding in the dark of night after all.

If this stuff Trump is accused of is tantamount to the end of the US as we know it should Trump be left in office ( not my hyperbole) , I wonder what the Democrat machine would do if Trump did something like sic the IRS on his political enemies?...

Parting thought — if a political opponent might be involved in corruption in a foreign nation, is it wrong to ask that nation to investigate? If so wasn’t it wrong to investigate Trump and Russia in the Carter Page inquiry and Steele Dossier or Hillary in any number of scandals? I’m confused.

Way to stay classy Kansas basketball.

And you are there...

Impeachmentpalooza kicks off today. The opening acts portend to be boring, but you never know. As Ed Bondereka pointed out, the pundits keep reminding us this is a “political process”, but should it be?

The real truth is this is all show. Each Senator has his mind made up and expect all but the most secure seats to toe the party line. Witnesses, no witnesses, it does not matter. No opinion will be changed either way. It is all about trying to influence the coming elections. Can the Dems make Trump look so horrible that Bernie and the Cherokee Princess look good? Can Trump look more sleazy than Biden’s kids? Can the Republicans make the whole thing come off as a despicable coup against a sitting President?

It is all about bending he malleable middle right or left come November.

It was never about the Ukraine. It is about power and who has it.

Tough day

An attorney arrived home late, after a very tough day trying to get a stay of execution. His last minute plea for clemency to the governor had failed and he was feeling worn out and depressed.

As soon as he walked through the door at home, his wife started on him about, ‘What time of night to be getting home is this? Where have you been? Dinner is cold and I’m not reheating it.” And on and on and on.

Too shattered to play his usual role in this familiar ritual, he poured himself a shot of whiskey and headed off for a long hot soak in the bathtub, pursued by the predictable sarcastic remarks as he dragged himself up the stairs.

While he was in the bath, the phone rang. The wife answered and was told that her husband’s client, James Wright, had been granted a stay of execution after all. Wright would not be hanged tonight. Finally realizing what a terrible day he must have had, she decided to go upstairs and give him the good news.

As she opened the bathroom door, she was greeted by the sight of her husband, bent over naked, drying his legs and feet.

“They’re not hanging Wright tonight,” she said.

He whirled around and screamed, “FOR THE LOVE OF GOD WOMAN, DON’T YOU EVER STOP COMPLAINING?!”