another great one is gone

I did not post nor read blogs this weekend. A mini-break as it were. It is with great sadness I discover this morning that Denny Wilson, The Grouchy Old Cripple, has passed on. GOC was the first blog I ever read, I don’t remember how I ended there or from what search. I started reading him every day. A year or so later when I started my blog he was very kind. He sent me a crippleanche early on, boosting my readership. I will miss reading his blog. The world is a little less enjoyable today. RIP.

A drunk pretending to be a poet

I stayed up and watched what might have been the worst football game I have ever seen. What garbage. If the Colts weren’t playing, I would have turned it off. 

Say, did you hear about the Italian chef who died? 

He pasta way.

Yeah, I’m tired and I have a lot of work to do. 

Tip of the fedora to Cappy who went back in time to 2006 to comment on a post about the worst President ever with a vote for Biden. 

Enjoy your Friday.

* the title is how a Rolling Stone editor described the Doors’ Morrison

Battling Biden, he learned to fight in a tough Puerto Rican gang called the Sharks

It was just a few weeks ago that President Biden leaped at the chance to take credit for reduced gas prices. And while they remained higher than we have seen in years, he only focused on the fact they were lower than the historic highs we saw back in the late spring/early summer. 

Since he brought down those prices — his claim — isn’t he therefore responsible for the recent hikes as well? 

Did you hear old Joe bragging on a hot mic in Florida yesterday that “you don’t fuck with a Biden”? I suppose that is true except for OPEC, Afghanistan Taliban, Russia, the Saudis, plagiarism checkers, Joe Manchin, Republicans, SCOTUS...

I bet Dr. Jill says “Oh, shut up Joe” about ten times a week. Biden reminds me of this old guy:

What a blowhard. 

deliberate disdain

As I stayed with my dad in his last days the TV was tuned 24/7 to the Grit channel. Westerns played loud and always as he dozed in his recliner. Interspersed at very frequent intervals were commercials for ambulance chasing lawyers and Medicare hustlers. 

The commercials starring Joe Namath especially irritated Dad. Every time Broadway Joe came on dad would mutter “ I hate that son of a bitch. I’m so tired of his commercial.”

I knock off work around five. My wife has taken the littlest granddaughter home to greet the oldest as she gets off the school bus. I pick up the toys that litter the family room and watch a couple of episodes of the old police drama Adam-12. Just like the western channel, the oldies channel is paid for with commercials from ambulance chasing lawyers and lots and lots of Medicare commercials from that son of a bitch Joe Namath. I understand why my dad hated his commercials so much. 

Just call to check your zip code my ass. 

Extreme navel gazing

It is a chilly 37F outside this morning.it is a far more comfortable 69F inside. I suspect I will have to break down and consider turning on the heat by the end of the week as daytime highs are expected in the mid-fifties. Coupled with nighttime’s in the thirties, the house will not retain enough warmth to keep the wife from complaining she’s cold. The crabapple is starting to drop a few leaves and the hard maple is starting to turn. Fall is upon us. I’m not ready. The holidays are not far off. 

I need to decide if I want to do another foot surgery or live with it. Unless I am on my feet for long periods  I can manage the low level pain. I do walk with a slight limp. I sometimes wonder if it is habit or necessity. I rarely have swelling anymore. Much depends on what shoes I wear. 

It isn’t the surgery that bothers me. That’s no big deal, even if the doc re-breaks or reconstructs my foot. It is the eight weeks of recovery. Long John Silvering it around with no weight on my foot at all has no appeal. Crawling up the stairs, crutches, scooters, one-legged showers, no driving,wholly dependent on my wife - that has me reconsidering. Even going to pee in the middle of the night becomes an ordeal as I navigate on crutches. A little limp doesn’t seem so bad. I know, boo hoo, boo hoo. 

Yes,I know my problems are small, my complaints large, my worries insignificant. Most people in the world face a life far, far more difficult than my little foot pain in suburbia. I am blessed beyond measure.

Have a great Tuesday. 

Mundane Monday Musings

I suppose I should post something. The ghost of Acidman is frowning at me. He admonished me to post something every day. 

Mom always told me if I could not say anything nice, I should not say anything at all.

I’ve pretty much ignored that advise. 

I’ve always ignored a lot of advise. 

You have to be sixteen most places to drive. Seventeen in most states to marry. You have to be 21 to buy a beer. All because minors cannot make adult decisions. Somehow we are letting pre-teens and teenagers decide they need hormone blockers and sex change surgery? 

I wish I could report a busy, exciting weekend. I cannot. I mowed the yard Saturday. Does that count? 

My actual dinner plate

I fixed beef and noodles and mashed potatoes for dinner last night. 

The Colts are a bad football team.

The Cubs are a bad baseball team. 

The youngest granddaughter makes me smile every day.

do the math

Today marks my youngest boys’ 29th birthday. He was playing Little League when I started this blog. I wish him the happiest of days. 

Longtime readers know what is next. I wish my oldest son / middle child a happy birthday tomorrow. Yes, the boys’ birthdays are a day apart. Their sister’s birthday was two weeks ago. 

The Christmas/New Years holidays have always been good at my house.

Did you see Biden calling out for a dead Congresswoman yesterday? Where are those “experts” who claimed Trump had mental issues and needed to be removed via a 25th Amendment process? Chirp, chirp. 

It was a cold night last night. Time to get the blankets out for the bed. I will resist turning on the heat as long as possible. Too many nights in the thirties will chill the house quickly though. 

How about some old Midwest classic rock today?

Have a Good Friday.

After School Special

One day a 12-year-old boy was walking down the street when a car pulled up beside him and the driver lowered a window.

“I’ll give you a large bag of M&Ms if you get in the car,” said the driver.

“No way! Get lost!” replied the boy.

“How about a bag of M&Ms and 10 dollars?” the driver asked.

“I said no way,” replied the boy.

“What about a bag of M&Ms and 50 dollars?” asked the driver.

“No, I’m not getting in the car,” answered the boy.

“Okay, I’ll give you a bag of M&Ms and 100 dollars,” the driver offered.

“No!” replied the boy. “What will it take to get you in the car?” asked the driver.

The boy replied: “Listen, Dad: You bought the Prius, live with it!”

Come to Vegas, leave with the Clap

The state of California is putting up billboards in Indiana inviting Hoosiers to come to California — to get abortions. 

Is abortion tourism a thing? 

No matter where you fall on the abortion spectrum, I would hope it is not something you would promote or encourage, rather it was a tough medical procedure taken after careful consideration. Somehow “Come to California, kill a Baby” is just unseemly. 

Butt Punt and other things

I am sure psychologists have written reams on why we feel better when our sports teams eek out a victory, even an ugly one. I am not going to delve into an internet search. I just don’t care that much. I doubt you do either. If you happen to be interested, Google it yourself. I am merely glad my sports team won. 

I watched the Colts game via a recording last evening. It is nearly impossible to avoid hearing the score, but it did not lesson my enjoyment of the game. The good news is if you watch the game on record, you can skip the commercials and the halftime show. Partial win for me.

This was the funniest thing in the NFL yesterday:

We had a great weekend. I outlined the plans in Saturday’s post. Now I need a bonus weekend to recover from my real weekend. 

Now it is time for Monday. Have a great day.

Like the proverbial beaver

We are heading off late this afternoon for a cruise. No, not on giant ship see the Caribbean kind, a boat cruise and concert on Lake a Freeman in north central Indiana.  This evening we will see venerable Hoosier rocker from the 70s and 80s Henry Lee Summer. You might remember we saw old Henry Lee last summer at a free concert in downtown Fishers, IN. I’m sure I posted about it. 

We have seen Henry Lee more times than we can count. He had a hit record in 1988 with I Wish I Had a Girl. Summer is probably one of the best entertainers I have ever seen on stage. Humor, energy, talent — he brings it all, even as he pushes 70. I expect a good time.

Tomorrow, I promised the wife I would go with her to the Atlanta Earth Festival. I always have a semi-good time walking around the booths and stalls. It is interesting when several thousand suburbanites decent on a small town of a few hundred. The vendors will far outnumber the residents. 

Have a great weekend. I plan on it.

no muskrats were harmed in creating this post

I had a strange dream about my great grandmother and my dad. I won’t relate it here, other people’s dreams are non-sensical. I have had weird dreams all week. That is unusual in itself as I usually do not dream or at least remember them if I do. Shrug. 

I’m up early this morning. Whatever. You don’t care about that either. In fact, based on my page views, you don’t care about much that I post these days. I suppose the blame falls upon me. Content is my purview. It certainly isn’t your problem. 

It is that life has become monotonous. Not in a boring way. I work, I read I watch TV. The small variety is blurred by the utter sameness. Sure, every day is different, but not individually distinctive. I’m not bored. It is just that so little of my current life is remarkable. 

I like my job. It has changed, post-pandemic. There are lots of on-line meetings, far less windshield time. Sometimes I miss the nights in new cities, different hotels, the sights along the highways. Then I think there is a lot to be said for being home every night. I have driven over a million miles. I have flown about one thousand flights. I’ve been to a hundred different airports. I’ve spent more nights than I can count in various hotels. 

Even that volume became monotonous over time. 

Frankly, I am boring. I am not bored, just boring. No wonder my blog is too. 

Actually, I have plenty I could rant about. The world has become such a corrupt, messed up place. I have become  the quintessential out of step “boomer”. Raging against the idiocy and head scratching millennial world is like Don Quixote and his windmills. For instance, if you fail to see why giving kids puberty-blockers while they still eagerly anticipate Santa on Christmas is wrong, then there is really no conversation possible between us. There is no point in preaching to the choir every day.

Maybe I should tell you about this dream I had about my great grandmother...

Hello Fall

Temps were in the low nineties yesterday. Today we are going to have highs in the sixties. Hello fall. Glancing across the cul-de-sac, the neighbors’ maple tree is suddenly showing signs of color in the upper foliage. 

I’m OK with it. 

It doesn’t matter if I am or not, Mother Nature does what she wants. Kind of like my wife does. 

The big question before me today is lunch. We have white bread. We have Kraft American slices. I have the ingredients for the only real grilled cheese. Maybe. I might do with PBJ. Decisions, decisions. 

Once I get lunch figured out, I will have to think about supper..

If wishes were horses we would all ride

 I’ve been to Mexico. I’m talking real Mexico, not just the tourist beaches. I’m talking of Reynosa, Monterrey, Puebla, Mexico City. I’ve seen how poor some people are, how difficult their lives. I’ve seen how people live in some parts of China. I’m told by people who have been there that’s parts of South America, India, and the Middle East are worse. I imagine life in parts of Africa is hard and miserable. 

I get it. I wish we could help them all. If I lived in those conditions I would do everything in my power to improve the lot of my family. 

It doesn’t make it right. 

The fact they are looking for a better life doesn’t mean we should open our borders. Before you tell me what a jerk I am, let me know how many homeless people you let move into your spare bedroom? How many immigrants have you housed in your garage? 

What is the difference? 

Immigration proponents argue that migrants actually commit fewer crimes than American Citizens. I posit that is false on the surface. Every single one committed a crime when they illegally crossed the border. That is 100%. 

I’ve said it before, crack down on the employers of illegal workers. Fine them out of business. Tax bank and wire transactions to Mexico. If any “migrant”  is caught committing a SECOND crime, even a traffic ticket, immediate deportation upon conviction. 

Anyone caught using a stolen SSN should be charged with fraud, just as an American citizen would be. The IRS could do this easily enough. Maybe some of those new 80000 new agents could get on creating that database.

Learn something today

 I know you don’t read links. 

You should read this one. READ THIS

I cannot argue a single point. 

I doubt you can either.

Easy fruit salad

 Happy Monday. I was up mucho early for a meeting with the Euros and Asians. Since things were arranged for their convenience, that meant the alarm was chirping at 3:30 am so I could blink awake and sip a bit of coffee prior to the 4:00 start. I will knock off early this afternoon in compensation this afternoon. 

The weekend was good, I hope yours was too. Friday night we watched the grandgirls while the daughter had a grown-up birthday dinner. Saturday we hung out at the pool, laughing and enjoying the company of great friends. Then came Sunday. I mowed the yard early. I put stuff in the attic and dragged down the fall/Halloween decorations as directed by the wife. Then I watched the absolutely horrid, pathetic, putrid, embarrassing performance by the Colts. I could have switched over and watched the Cubs, but they are pretty much just as awful. Did I say just how awful the Colts were? 

We went out for a quick dinner then I helped the wife put out decorations on the porch as dusk started to settle. 

But hey, I read this morning President Biden says inflation is under control, the border is secure and the check is in the mail. I want some of whatever his speech writer is smoking. 

I am fighting off the yawns. Maybe I need some more coffee. 

Have a great Monday.

Relaxin’

 

Smoke the days’s last cigarette

Happy Friday. It has been a long week. Actually, it has lasted as long as every other week, it just seems like a longer week than normal. 

It is hilarious to see the reactions of Blue cities and states on the arrival of a few “migrants”, aka illegal immigrants. Southern states are facing an onslaught of 8,000/day and the Governor of Massachusetts is going nuts over a dozen or so dropped in Martha’s Vineyard. Does the leftist hypocrisy bring no shame? 

I got up early to compile numbers into spreadsheets for a meeting with top management in just a bit. 

In other news, nothing. How about I grab the old phone and post the next song in my queue?  Think of it as musical Russian Roulette.

Looks like we win today.

Have a great Friday.

Lemmings

Can someone, anyone, explain to me how we are going to get the power to charge all of these tens of thousands of new charges Biden is planning for all of the electric cars the lefty government types are forcing upon us? 

I see no plans at all to strengthen the grid to the extent we need to keep up with current demand as we shutter coal plants, let alone increasing demand exponentially.

If we cover the entire Midwest farm land with solar panels, where are we going to get our food?

To the surprise of no one who bought groceries, inflation rose again last month

Dense fog blankets the neighborhood as I nestle in the office recliner. I woke a little after four AM, and after tossing and turning I stumbled down to the kitchen, fired up the coffee maker, and started the day. I read work emails from overnight, personal emails (all junk), and the normal morning first reads. Those internet stops include a daily Bible verse, Dilbert, Kim DuToit, and a couple of news sites. Now I have turned to the old blog. 

I have a TV in the office. I rarely turn it on. About once every few weeks the granddaughter comes in while I’m at work and sits in the recliner and watches kids shows. This lasts about ten minutes before she is dragging in toys and begging to spin in my office chair. That said, I have the morning news playing quietly as I type. I will shut it off before I start the work day in earnest.

Warm weather is in the forecast for the weekend with the temps pushing 90F. We have been invited to go hang out at our friends’ pool on Saturday if the nice weather holds. Those same plans have been canceled due to weather the past few times we were invited. As autumn gains momentum this could’ve one of the last days relaxing around the pool with friends, beer, and nice cigars.

I may try to get in a little nap before the work day starts. I have an online monthly sales meeting this morning. The affair is a snoozer even when I have a whole night’s sleep. It will be a challenge this morning with just a few hours sleep. 

I hope you got a good night’s rest. The soporific tone of this post blog will work like a good melatonin supplement.

As I have often opined, you get what you pay for.

Today is my baby girl’s birthday. She may be thirty-something and a mom herself, but she will always be that little girl with pigtails in her hair to me. 

Update:  The queen is still dead. Can we back off the coverage a little?

I think this was my wife

 After their barn burned down,

Bob’s wife Sally called their insurance agent to file a claim and demand the amount the barn was insured for, $60,000.

“Hold on just a second there, that’s not the way it works. First, we’ll send out an adjuster to assess the damage, then we’ll provide you with a replacement barn, just like the original,” stated the agent.

After a lengthy pause, Sally replied,

“What! Well, if that’s the way it works, cancel the life insurance on my husband immediately.”

Lesson Learned

 One Saturday evening a teenage girl came downstairs for her date and she was wearing a see-through blouse and no bra.

Her grandmother, on seeing her dressed like that, threw a right old fit, telling her that she looked like a slut and not to dare to go out dressed like that!

The teenager told her grandmother:

“Loosen up Grams. These are modern times. You gotta let your rosebuds show!”

And with that, out she went and slammed the door behind her.

The next day, the teenager came down the stairs and was shocked to find her grandmother sitting in the living room with no top on.

The teenager was so embarrassed that she wanted to die.

She explained to her grandmother that she had friends coming over and that the way she was dressed was just not appropriate.

Her grandmother said:

“Loosen up, Sweetie. If you can show off your rosebuds, then I can display my hanging baskets.!”

Maybe underhanded slow pitch is the answer

I suppose there is something incongruous in penning a rant about baseball when I am eagerly anticipating the general start of the NFL season this afternoon. Football replaced baseball as the National Pastime long ago. I’m sure social scientists have mused on the topic somewhere, but the easy reason is football is much better suited for TV. Period. There is nothing baseball can do about it. That is what makes the recent spate of rule changes so senseless. 

In the past few years baseball has tinkered with everything from how managers manage the pitchers to extra inning rules. I’m sorry to tell you baseball, none of this will help. None of your efforts to speed up the game are going to draw in the millennials. Baseball is a slow game. You like it or you don’t. Golf isn’t constantly fidgeting with its rules. Soccer plays an hour with no scoring. Somehow people watch it. 

It was bad enough when they instituted a universal DH (spit). Then they added the stupid “ghost man” on second for extra inning games. They are eliminating the two leagues for all practical purposes (next year every team will play against each other regardless of league). Now we are enlarging bases, putting in a pitch clock, limiting pick off attempts, and designating where players must position themselves on defense.  If we are going to turn baseball into small “L” little league, why don’t we just increase offense like they do for beginners in baseball — get two strikes and we drag out the tee to make it easier to hit the ball. 

All these tweaks and changes are just driving off the die-hard fans who love the game. Want to fix baseball? Figure out how to keep teams from tanking in order to not pay players. Fans will watch competitive games. Twenty-five teams that are competitive is far more interesting than watching the same ten franchises win year after year.

Divide that TV revenue based on win percentage and you would see teams like the Royals, Reds, Pirates, and yes, the Cubs, start to try and win again. 

*yes I’m aware it is the anniversary of 9/11. I’ll never forget. I’ve said enough words over the two plus decades about it. I hope you don’t need me to remind you.

Random Ramblings

The Queen has died. May she Rest In Peace. I don’t know if she was a good person or not. Her progeny and descendants seem like a bunch of privileged dolts. As for the monarchy, I think we threw them out for good reason. But hey, if the Brits want a king or queen, what do I care? My taxes don’t support their lifestyle. All know is if I ever chance meet the King (or Pope), no one better expect me to kneel or bow or even mutter an insincere “Your Grace”. It won’t happen. Charles is just a man born into the lucky sperm club. 

We went to dinner with the youngest’ new girlfriend last night. At some point she mentioned she loves to mess with the boy’s hair (eww). My wife pointed out that I don’t like my hair touched and added “he doesn’t like to be touched at all”. The boy nodded. Fifteen minutes or so later, as we left the restaurant, the new girlfriend proceeded to hug me. I crossed my arms when she hugged my wife before she reached for me, but apparently the new girl is not fluent in body language. I guess she doesn’t listen either. 

The Biden Administration is trying to walk back the despicable characterization of half the country as semi-fascist and a threat to democracy, instead saying that applied only to election deniers. Except those Democrats that denied Bush won, or refused to certify Trump, or called Trump illegitimate, or never conceded the Georgia gubernatorial election....

The Buffalo Bills sure look very, very good.

I hope Bloggers’ spotty counting metrics were nonfunctional again yesterday. I hate to think only eleven of you read my post yesterday. That’s a 26% decrease over my normal fifteen readers. 

Probably you just want more Friday Music:

Me one, ants nothing

My wife gets that eyes glazed look whenever I talk about history. I am not surprised most of you do as well. It is OK. Numbers don’t lie, you like me to rant about politics. Unfortunately, that is one of my least favorite subjects these days. 

I am floored by the strangeness of the world, and I’m not just talking about the liberal’s vision of a perfect society. For instance I noticed a big black spot on the drive as I drug my garbage can to the curb Tuesday afternoon. “Is that oil?”, I wondered. 

Why no, as I got closer I saw it was a moving, undulating teeming herd of ants swarming along the expansion joint of the concrete. No big deal, says you. Well here is the flock of ants compared to my size tens. Three minutes later after a massive coating of bug juice, the mass was no longer swarming, nor moving at all. Take that. Later, I blew them away with the leaf blower. I win.

 

the setting

The shallow valley ran east to west. A road bisected it running north. Three farms were spread in the valley. The chateau  Hougoumont on the west, la Haye-Saint in the center at the foot of the gentle northern slope, right next to the road. To the east lie a scattering of farm buildings called Papelotte . A large elm stood at the top of the northern slope beside the road. The distance from Hougoumont to Papelotte was about 2.5 miles. The valley was around 3/4 mile wide.  By the end of the day, the valley would be filled with the equivalent population of Salt Lake City. 

Beside the road at the center of the southern ridge stood a white ramshackle inn called La Belle Alliance. (aside: I once stayed in a hotel of the same name in Tours, France. Not he same place). 

The southern slope led to a flat plateau. The northern escarpment  was more of a gentle ridge, an east-west track ran behind it. In the northern distance was a thick wood and a scattering of houses called Mont Saint-Jean. Just a bit further north, about a mile away, lie the village of Waterloo.

Part Two - The Cast: whenever I feel like it.

Stolen Shamelessly

We didn’t have a lot of money growing up. Most of my school clothes and supplies were hand-me-downs. My calculator was missing the multiplication button.

Times were hard.

No rights were trampled in the name of the State

The weekend has been a sorta rainy bust. The threat of rain canceled the pool party, but we did get together with our friends for some catfish and euchre. 

Yesterday I accompanied the wife to the mall in afternoon. She shopped, I walked around and sat on a bench listening to music on my ear buds. After a quick hamburger (I actually had a salad) we went to the movies. We saw Bullet Train. I will leave no review beyond one star out of five possible. Pay the ticket price at your own peril. The popcorn was good though.

Today? Who knows? I’m not the social director. More rain is predicted. Will we get it? Who knows, rain was forecasted hourly both Saturday and Sunday. It didn’t happen. I suppose we will clean house. It needs it. 

Welcome to my boring fascist life. 

How about some music?

Have a great Labor Day

firing up the way back machine.

I’ve often described I had a baby face and looked far younger than my years for decades. Only in the past few years do I look my age (perhaps even older). 

Sorry, gone. you should read here every day

Here is 14 year-old me in the fall of my freshman year in high school. I could have passed for a 10 year old. For some reason this is one of my favorite pictures of young me. Despite the assumed scowl, the real sarcastic me was about to erupt in wry humor. Trust me. I found much of life amusing in those years. 

My thick wavy hair didn’t lend itself to the styles of 1976, yet I am certain I was probably wearing bell bottoms of moderate flair. 

Since this was my freshman year, I can guess I was about 5’3 or so and weighed right at 100 lbs.. So no, I wasn’t a ninety-eight pound weakling. 

Had any girl spoken to me I would have turned six shades of red. 

I wasn’t one of the cool kids. I wasn’t a nerd/ loser either. I just was. 

this and that and the other thing

It is with a little reluctance that I step away from the rancor of politics today. I have a point I want to make about the current state of things, but I will hold off until next week. Today is the start of the Labor Day weekend. If the weather cooperates, a borderline proposition, we will head off for a pool day today. 

Since the chances of rain increase on the morrow, I think I will try to get the yard mowed this morning. At this point we have no other plans for the weekend. I might smoke some ribs, depending on the rain situation. I do have a very special post already canned and ready for Sunday. You won’t want to miss it. 

No, it is not the account of the Battle of Waterloo I considered. You are welcome.

I have a 3am conference call on the calendar for Monday. These things happen when you have global account responsibilities for customers. This one is pretty much German engineers talking to Chinese engineers so my contributions to the discussion will be nil. I may just skip it. We shall see.

That is the boring stuff of my life. I think I’ll catch up on last week’s House of Dragon before I fire up the lawnmower. 

Enjoy your Saturday.

straight out of the 1930s

Under a backdrop of menacing red lighting and US Marines the President gave a purely political speech where he threatened half of Americans that they better get with his leftist political program or else. The military component was far less than subtle. Just  like telling us we need F-15s if we are going to oppose him earlier this week.

He has labeled me a fascist. A threat to democracy. The irony is so deep. It wasn’t two minutes of hate, it was twenty. 

I thought Biden was going to unite the country? Instead he has denigrated 70 million Americans.

I won’t bother with the Brandon chant. It’s gone too far.

Fuck Joe Biden.

You get what you vote for, or stupid is as stupid does

Liberal stupidity doesn’t stop in California, ultra blue Hawaii is also deep into the Climate Cult:

But critics say that, while ending the state’s dirtiest source of energy is ultimately a good move, doing so now is not. Renewable sources meant to replace coal energy are not yet online because of permitting delays, contract issues and pandemic-related supply-chain problems. So the state will instead burn costlier oil, which is only slightly less polluting than coal. 

If you are a believer that climate change is going to end because we shut down this coal plant, this is a great day for you,” said Democratic state Sen. Glenn Wakai, chair of the Committee on Economic Development, Tourism and Technology. “But if you pay an electricity bill, this is a disastrous day for you.” Source

Sure, we cannot replace that coal fired plant, but we did something. 

Sheesh.  

only Liberals can be this stupid

California voted earlier this week to ban the sale of gasoline powered vehicles by 2035.

The next day the State asked all residents to save power by setting thermostats to 78F and to avoid charging electric cars between 4-9pm because demand could cause a strain on the grid and possible brown outs and rotating power outages. 

Words fail me.

mind numbing boredom

A light rain fell as we ate our supper of biscuits and sausage gravy. After I cleaned the dishes I dragged the garbage bin to the curb. Heavy clouds darkened the northern sky. Thunder rumbled as I plopped on the couch to surf the channels. I have two hundred and fifty channels and there was nothing on. Later in the evening a heavy rain overflowed the gutters on the back of the house. The gutter is too small for that much steep roof. All it takes is money to fix the problem. Around nine my phone started its nightly routine — binging alerts of incoming work emails. The Chinese work day was in full swing for customers and manufacturing. The soft ping would continue intermittently all night long. A quick glance at the screen let me know if the email could wait until morning or needed a response now. I chose to answer one from Very Big Customer. No big deal, two minutes of time from a show I wasn’t really watching anyway. My Kindle was on the couch beside me, but I never turned it on. Rain fell. Time moved. The TV flickered it’s color images of flat people doing stuff. The wife sat next to me after hanging up laundry. A bowl of fresh popped popcorn appeared. I ate a little, not really hungry. I mumbled answers to trivia questions from the worst game show on TV. My phone dinged. Rain fell. I shuffled to the kitchen and poured out pills from various bottles and swallowed them in one handful. I turned off the late local news. I climbed the stairs. Thunder boomed. Rain still fell. I rolled into bed. My phoned dinged. The wife shut off the light. Another day done.

jerks everywhere

I like animals. I like dogs, I like cats. We had a menagerie of pets when I was a kid, including multiple dogs, cats, turtles, and a chipmunk. All at once.

My next statement will likely annoy some of my readers. Dogs do not belong in a restaurant. Period. They especially do not belong in the booth with you.

What is wrong with this man?

This was the scene that greeted us as we walked into a local deli for a late lunch yesterday. 

When the guy left he carried the dog in his arms like a baby. The whole thing was unnecessary. Just like the people who insist on taking their dogs to Lowes or Home Depot, it is nothing more than a narcissistic shout of “look at me”. 

I will go further, if you cannot face the pressure of going to a restaurant without your pseudo comfort animal I would suggest Door Dash was created just for you. 

I’m torn between just venting here or contacting the Board of Health. After all, it is not the business’s fault the patron is a jerk (he was hidden from the counter). 

If you are this guy, then I hold you in total disdain. But then I’m sure you don’t care what I, or anyone else thinks, you proven that by letting your dog slobber all over a table where the next people might sit to eat. 

Road Trip

It was a nice sunny late summer day yesterday so the wife and I climbed into the Grand Cherokee for a short road trip back to the old hometown. We went to the ice cream stand for tacos. The wife opted for a vanilla Coke while I washed down my food with a diet. Don’t question why the ice cream place has good tacos, they just do. 

We went past the vacant lot that housed my old elementary school. Nothing remains but the crumbling asphalt and gravel where the playground was.  None of that soft rubber matting you find in modern playgrounds. Kids in the sixties were tough, or perhaps we were just hurt far more because safety was never a consideration. 

We played on stuff like this

We didn’t just go around, but also in and out, banging on the center pole in a churning crash. Sure fingers and arms and legs were smashed. Somehow it was fun. So was the merry-go-round that threw us out like a centrifuge and metal slides that seared our flesh on a summer day. 

The wife went to the antique shop she wanted to visit, bought nothing, and we motored home the “scenic” route. It was scenic only in that it was twisty and less travelled than the other state highway we could have chosen. The vista was flat as you imagine Kansas to be (it’s not) and corn and beans and trees dotted with farm houses and occasional double-wide trailers filled the horizon.

As we came back into the north ‘burbs of the metro sprawl we stopped so the wife could window shop a little more then grabbed a bite of supper before arriving back at the homestead in time to watch pre-season football, a baseball game, and a cowboy movie in a display of simultaneous channel flipping remote control dexterity. The wife was upstairs doing whatever she does and missed the fun.

I suspect it was on purpose.

Vintage

Fortunate Son, indeed

Gomer Pyle served in the USMC from 1965 to 1969. 

How did he avoid serving even one tour in the ‘Nam?

Stuff I think

She is one of those dark-haired Alabama girls, a kind of stringy little girl, dark, and, if you look closely, feature by feature, you see that she is not pretty. But her face is so alive all the time time that afterward you would  swear she is pretty.

If you don’t read books by John D. McDonald you should. Not just the Travis McGee ones either.

But Travis is the best. You know he had this on the Busted Flush hi-fi:

If you aren’t appalled than you probably shouldn’t read here anymore

It was a preschool class at the public school. Four and five year-olds. The regular teacher was out, an approved substitute was brought in. 

That day the sub decided to bring in her own books. She ignored the teacher’s lesson plan for that day. Instead, this young lady decided it was good and appropriate to tell little kids about pronouns and transgenderism and that they weren’t boys nor girls but whatever they wanted to be. Then she pulled out the next book and showed explicit pictures of naked bodies and identified all of the body parts. 

To preschoolers. 

These people are sick. Their agenda is destructive. 

Now the teacher and principal and school are left to answer for the actions of one childish, evil twenty-something. 

I’m left wondering what happened to common sense in this world. 

Why stop at Student Loans?

My mortgage is high and consumes a huge chunk of my bi-weekly pay. What say Joe Biden sends me $10 grand to ease my pain? 

I took out the loan, but the rest of you should help me pay it.

I say that as a person who had student loans, who has parent loans, and who has three kids with student loans. 

Asking the American taxpayers to pay off private debts, entered voluntarily, is wrong. 

In case you are clueless, the government ONLY gets money by forcefully taking it from taxpayers. 

Consider that and then feel free to try and convince me this “loan forgiveness “ is a good thing. Besides, where does Biden get the power to change the terms of a legally binding debt?

Intentions

 I had a righteous political rant queued in my head today. I have opted not to. 

Instead I suggest you hug your kids, tell your significant other you love them, and smile at your neighbors. 

We can go back to criticizing the idiocy of others tomorrow. 

The real story of LOST

 Abe and Esther are flying to Australia for a two-week vacation to celebrate their 40th anniversary.

Suddenly, over the public address system, the Captain announces,

“Ladies and Gentlemen, I am afraid I have some very bad news. Our engines have ceased functioning and we will attempt an emergency landing. “

“Luckily, I see an uncharted island below us and we should be able to land on the beach. However, the odds are that we may never be rescued and will have to live on the island for the rest of our lives!”

Thanks to the skill of the flight crew, the plane lands safely on the island.

An hour later Abe turns to his wife and asks,

“Esther, did we pay our $5,000 PBS pledge check yet?”

“No, sweetheart,” she responds.

Abe, still shaken from the crash landing, then asks,

“Esther, did we pay our American Express card yet?”

“Oh, no! I’m sorry. I forgot to send the check,” she says.

“One last thing, Esther. Did you remember to send checks for the Visa and MasterCard this month?” he asks.

“Oh, forgive me, Abie,” begged Esther.

“I didn’t send that one, either.”

Abe grabs her and gives her the biggest kiss in 40 years.

Esther pulls away and asks him,

“What was that for?”

Abe answers,

“They’ll find us!”

weekend Funny

The Democrats just passed an inflation bill that hires 87,000 new IRS agents and I just got audited.

I just received an audit on my tax return for 2021 back from the IRS. It puzzles me!!!
They are questioning how many dependents I claimed.
I guess it was because of my response to the question: "List all dependents?"
I replied: 12 million illegal immigrants; 3 million crack heads;
42 million unemployed people on food stamps,
2 million people in over 243 prisons;
Half of Mexico and 535 persons in the U.S. House and Senate."
1 useless President.
Evidently, this was NOT an acceptable answer.
I KEEP ASKING MYSELF, WHO DID I MISS?

True confession, this is a semi-rerun from 2013.

Baby, you'll come knocking on my front door

The weather has been beautiful this week. Slightly chilly in the mornings and warm and sunny n the afternoon without the excessive humidity we often have. I was sorely tempted to drag the laptop to the back patio to work yesterday afternoon. I didn’t. But I thought about it. 

I just threw some Doughboy orange rolls in the oven for a Friday breakfast treat. The granddaughter helped me put them in the pan. They are a little smashed, but that is OK. 

Have a great Friday

There is no shame.

Has anyone else noticed the media is now referring to the Inflation Reduction Act as the climate change and healthcare bill? 

Even the Democrat bootlickers in the media understand this spending boondoggle will do nothing to help inflation. They are trying to reset the perception and the expectations before the midterms. 

Humpin’ the hump

Liz Cheney lost in a big way in her re-election bid. Once again she is like a lot of politicians in that she thinks she represents Washington DC and not the people of her district. Sucks to be her. The bright side is she is the last vestige of the Bush Cheney cabal. Good riddance. If we could just make the Clintons go away forever...

Cheney likened herself to Abe Lincoln, pointing out he lost elections before becoming President. Liz, you are no Abraham Lincoln. Let me introduce you to another politician with illusions of the Presidency: Eugene Debs. How about William Jennings Bryan? Look, of you lose your primary by more than 30 points, I doubt that foretells a successful run for higher office. If the people who know you best reject you the rest of the country probably will not like you either. 

Remember, the press only likes a Republican if they serve as a useful dope. The media loved John McCain until he ran for President. 

Maybe Cheney can get a gig as the resident pretend conservative on The View. She will immediately double the collective IQ of the panel and her terminal TDS will not be a handicap.

45

 

Frustration

 A husband in his backyard is trying to fly a kite.

He throws the kite up in the air, the wind catches it for a few seconds, then it comes crashing back down to earth.

He tries this a few more times with no success.

All the while, his wife is watching from the kitchen window, Muttering to herself how men need to be told how to do everything.

She opens the window and yells to her husband,

‘You need a piece of tail.’

The man turns with a confused look on his face and says,

‘Make up your mind. Last night, you told me to go fly a kite.’

They were just a few years off back in ‘73

Whoa, this Monday came too quickly. We spent Saturday afternoon at a funeral (plus 2 hours driving time round trip) and yesterday it rained a good portion of the day. Somehow it turned into a wasted weekend. So it goes. 

I read a long opinion piece from an adherent to the global warming religion over the weekend. I won’t link because it was nonsense. The author’s premise was the recently passed inflation reduction act does not go far enough* to address climate change. Of course not, those kooks some people won’t be happy until we are living in caves eating berries. The author says the real climate change culprit is agriculture and the sooner we face it the better. The author opined that the sooner we are “forced off fossil fuels and meat, the better”. Meat is the problem and that over time we will get used to plant based food. 

I saw a movie about that once. It was called Soylent Green. 

That futuristic movie was set in 2022.

Do do dee do...

*what green energy programs have to do with inflation beyond contributing to the problem, I’m not sure. Welcome to our corrupt government.

conflicted

It is said that funerals are for the living. The one we attended yesterday was a case in point. My wife’s ex-brother-in-law passed away earlier this week. As the minister stated “there are a lot of mixed emotions here today”. I can say for my case I wasn’t there for the deceased and I can state irrevocably my wife wasn’t. We were there for her sister and niece.

It was good to see my wife’s family. As for the deceased, my mother told me not to speak ill of the dead. I guess I already have. He died with no family outside of an ex-wife who stayed married to him way too long and an estranged daughter who only reconnected after he got sick and had no one else to call. 

What abuses he piled on his family in the years before his divorce I am sure I only know the surface. 

But I knew his secrets. 

As I said, I was there for the living. 

I said a prayer for him. I’m not sure I meant it. For that I ask forgiveness.

He was a Vietnam vet. I appreciate his service. 

when Hell freezes

When gas was at its peak in June, Biden blamed greedy gas station owners. Not that gas prices have dropped slightly, I have no doubt a big thanks for not being so greedy message to be forthcoming.

I glad I’m a man and so is Lola

 This canned post was originally published Tuesday. I moved it to state my disgust with the modern American Stasi. I’m half afraid to publish anything political. Tell me I’m wrong.

If you have a Democrat for one of your Senators, you can rest comfortably knowing your Senator refuses to acknowledge that only females can get pregnant. Every Democrat senator voted that way Saturday. 

EVERY ONE.

These are the same people who are always telling us to follow the science. 

Sorry, if you tell me in the same breath that climate change is a direct threat to my existence and that a man can have a baby, I’d say I don’t believe anything you tell me.

Since it is Friday why not a little music to emphasize the point?

on the news

I think it is clear AG Garland thinks he got skipped for that SCOTUS gig and clearly blames Trump for not nominating him.

Partisan hack.

Posturing

Drug giant Eli Lilly has publicly castigated the State of Indiana for daring to follow the will of its voters and passing abortion legislation. I guess they want more baby killing. Of course the statement failed to mention the new law is not drastically different than what was the standard under Roe v Wade. It was all about sending signals to stockholders and a select group of women. No company wants protesters outside the gates, and let’s be honest, who is more likely to rant and shout and go into hysterics, pro abortion groups or anti? 

Mostly, the statement was just fluff. As indicated yesterday*, companies exist to make money. Period. There is no chance Lilly will pack up their HQ on Indy’s near south side and move off to high-tax Illinois or New Jersey no matter how welcoming those governors are, nor how free and easy it is to kill babies right up to the point of birth, as long as it is more business friendly right here in backward Hoosierdom. 

None. Ask Boeing and Cat why they left Illinois. 

Similarly, if Eli Lilly offered a nice wage and benefits package, few potential employees are going to refuse the job because they can only get an abortion prior to ten weeks in Indiana instead of 15 somewhere else. I am willing to bet that abortion falls far below the other considerations like community, property costs, commutes, and job satisfaction. 

Look, I get there are reasons not to move to the Midwest. No mountains or beaches and the crappy weather are just a few. I doubt abortion law is a deal breaker 99.999999999% of the time. 

* I know TL/DR

Once again into the breach

The new “lower inflation by spending” bill just passed will do anything but lower inflation. One of the core aspects of the bill is raising Corporate taxes. And that my friends, will go straight to higher prices for you and me and our neighbors. 

How is that says you? Because corporations do not pay taxes. Let me elaborate by actually quoting...myself. Here is an excerpt from a post I wrote way back in 2008:

Let us say you own a business. If it makes you more comfortable it can be a commune or a small company that makes environmentally-friendly organic tiny little vases that allows you to keep fresh flowers in your hair when you visit San Francisco. You decide that it costs you a certain amount to buy the raw materials. It costs you to hire workers. You need to pay for office and manufacturing space. You need to pay for advertising and marketing. Even 'green' packaging has a cost. Electricity and solar panels and wind power have to be purchased and maintained. . If you take all of the items I outlined and add them together you have COST. Hopefully you sell your little hippy vases for more than cost. You might want to actually make a little money yourself. This is called profit. It is not evil. The difference between selling price and cost is profit. The percentage of cost compared to selling price is called profit margin.

If it costs you ninety cents to make the vases and you sell it for $1.00 you have a ten percent profit margin. If it costs $0.93 to make the vases and you sell them for $1.00 you will have a 7% profit margin. If you sell 1,000 vases you will make $70. If you make $700,000 you will have sold 10,000,000 little hippy flower vases. Your profit margin is still 7%. Your profits increased 999,900%. Your margin remained the same. Did you gouge anyone? Did you have windfall profits? Should we now consider you evil Big Vase? I have probably lost you hippy liberal types here. Look up the profit margin of evil Big Oil after you are done here.

Back to your little, but growing hippy vase manufacturing company. You are cruising along making hot hippy chicks happy because they can put flowers in their hair when they go to San Francisco. Suddenly, you get a bill in the mail from the Government. You owe TAXES. These include payroll taxes, permit fees, waste fees, property taxes, warehouse taxes, income taxes, etc. etc. You divide the taxes you owe by the number of hippy vases you make and discover the taxes equal $0.10 for every vase you make. You are only making $0.07 per vase, so the extra ten cents means you will lose three cents for every hippy vase you sell after you pay the taxes. If you sell 10,000,000 vases you will lose $300,000! Your only recourse is to raise prices. To keep the same 7% profit you made last year (and you really wanted to make a little more to get that new hybrid car)your new price for hippy flower vases is now $1.07 each. Some hot hippy chicks are going to have to pay just a bit more to put fresh flowers in their hair when they go to San Francisco.

Are still with me here, my Liberal Friends? What happens if the Government raises taxes on your business again? That is right, you will have to raise your prices more (please tell me I do not have to go through the math again). Thus, raising taxes on businesses equals higher prices for the consumer -- even hot hippy chicks who just want to put flowers in their hair if they go to San Francisco.

Hey guess what? The business did not really pay the taxes to the Government. The initial .10 per vase was rolled into the selling price and subsequent tax increases were too! Businesses really do not pay taxes.

lefties cannot change their tyrannical nature

We now indeed live in a Banana Republic

This tinfoil hat gets a little warm in the midday sun

The Senate passed the massive tax hike and green energy bill over the weekend. I hope you feel good about dumping another $80 billion into the IRS, half of which will go to enhanced enforcement. We know from the last Democrat President what that probably means — going after conservatives and political enemies. Obama did it without consequences. 

On the other hand The Most Popular President Ever has screwed up everything else so why not the IRS. 

Maybe they are going to use all of those new agents to go collect taxes from the flood of illegals who are crossing the uncontrolled border and the employers who hire them? Sure, that will happen the day after People Magazine puts me on the cover of the world’s sexiest man issue.

The FBI has determined anyone who supports the 2nd Amendment, flies the Betsy Ross flag or has a “Don’t tread on me” sticker on their bumper is a potential right wing terrorist, so you judge who this administration views as people to investigate. I don’t think all that money and tens of thousands of rounds of ammo the IRS bought are going to be used to man the 1-800 tax help hotline. 

Anything

I just don’t feel like posting anything today.

I did anyway. 

Keep the Faith

Periodically Audible gives up free trials. You can grab a free “book on tape “ to listen on your device. This month I signed up yet again, so I got a free book. I chose Flight of the Intruder by Stephen Coonts. I have read the book many times. I believe that novel and its sequel The intruders are possibly the best military novels ever written, certainly near the top on any list. The tales of Jake Grafton entertained me on my quick day trip trip to Chicago his week.

I could have used my credit to purchase just about any new book out there. I certainly should have grabbed something I haven’t read multiple times already. But I didn’t and I am more than happy to ride the catapult with my old novel friends again. 

I finished off listening to the book while sitting on the patio doing nothing but watching the birds and bunnies and squirrels cavort in my backyard yesterday evening. When it was done I grabbed my kindle and re-downloaded The Intruders, even though I just reread it last fall. 

Maybe I’ll finish it, maybe not. It doesn’t matter. I am still in the middle of Barbara Tuchman’s The Proud Tower, her masterpiece detailing the pre-WWI years and the turn of the century. I also just scored a $2 deal of the day on a new Doc Ford novel. Life is good. There is always something to read.

just shut up already

Attention Global Climate Alarmists, you need to shut up for the next ten years. I don’t want to hear anymore about my refusal to get an electric car, chucking fossil fuels, or man made climate change. 

When it comes to changing climate we are pikers. Mother Nature controls the climate.

It normally takes around 2-3 years for sulfate aerosols from volcanoes to fall out of the stratosphere. But the water from the Jan. 15 eruption could take 5-10 years to fully dissipate.

’Nuff said.

 

Facepalm Thursday

I don’t know if it is hypocritical or not. I have been dabbling in social media with this blog for more than a decade and a half. But it is hobby. What I read on blogs I take with a grain of salt. That said, if you are getting your news and life advice from TikTok you are a blithering idiot. 

The pump was playing a warning when I filled up over the weekend that no matter what TikTok says, do not pour Coke in to your gas tank. Are people really that dumb? 

Would you believe me if I told you not to use Coke because it contains corn syrup. Sugar is where the energy is. Put sugar in your gas tank. Think what a Snickers or handful of Cap’n Crunch does to your kids’ energy level. A few sugar cubes will really boost your car.  

Do not put sugar in your gas tank. 

Did you TikTokers ever think that people will tell you anything? Some hucksters are very convincing. 

I watched a video this morning of a woke teacher trying to figure out what to do because one of her students decided their pronouns are rock and banana. Kudos to the kid. But why oh why is this teacher asking the genpop for advice? Didn’t anyone ever explain to her that people are basically stupid? 

Or should we point out the utter ignorance of the woman who asked on twitter if she should fear for her life to drive her car with New York plates through red states like Kentucky or Texas? How do these people even function? Do they make Granimals for adults? Do they drink their wine from sippy  cups? Do they have notes pinned to their jackets in case they get lost coming home from the store?

I’m willing to bet piercings and purple hair are in the picture. 

Too many people have become Bubble Boy — encased in a self-made bubble of social media but just as isolated as the boy inside his plastic container.

For goodness sake put down your phone, shut off the computer, close the iPad. Get a life. Do not get your news from Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or TikTok. Go talk to people. Go outside. 

After you read my blog each day. 

Senseless

Over the weekend a man was pulled over in a routine traffic stop. The stop turned instantly deadly. The suspect exited his car and shot the cop multiple times before he could even get out of his car. After a dangerous chase, the murderer was finally caught. The “alleged” perp has a long criminal history. He had previously vowed to kill law enforcement. 

I ask you, if the police had shot down the suspect, what would be the reaction from the perpetually  aggrieved crowd? I should add some vital information before you answer. The cop was white. The suspect was black. 

We all know there would be press conferences, possibly protests. Likely riots. Celebrities like LaBron James would tell us how oppressed he is. 

White cop shot — crickets. The prosecutor has filed murder charges. Where are the feds? Why aren’t there added hate crime charges? The suspect has a history of black nationalism posts. 

Just asking. 

So dumb

 A lion and his wife lived in a cave, and every day there was this fox who would come sit in front of the cave and start making fun of the lion and teasing him:

“You call yourself a king? You’re nothing but a p**sy who’s afraid of his own shadow. If you’re a real lion come out here and fight me! Oh, you think you’re so fierce, you sissy!”.

The lion’s wife would get so annoyed

“Why are you letting him get away with this? If you’re not gonna do something about this, I WILL!”,

And the lion would say

“Just ignore him, he’s a freaking fox, he’s not worth it, just let it go”.

One day, she felt that she couldn’t take it anymore, and decided to handle the situation by herself.

She came out of the cave and started running after the fox.

The fox ran and ran, but the lioness was close on his heel. He entered a pipe and got out on the other end.

When she tried to get in, she got stuck, so the fox came from behind and f**k*d her in the a**.

The lioness went back to the cave, angry and frustrated.

The lion looked at her and said:

“So… He took you to the pipe didn’t he..”

Strange Days

I sometimes wonder if the evil live AI controlling my iPhone possesses a sense of irony. I was listening to my music on shuffle while mowing yesterday. Barry Sadler’s homage to the military played:

Right after was a song with a message completely opposite:

It was well worth your subscription price to read the content around here the past few days, I wager.

You can just send me cash with Apple Pay

I slept in a bit this morning, it was well after seven when I stumbled down the stairs to make coffee. It looks like another nice day today. I will get the lawn cut and maybe do a little yard work. The flower bed that has tiger lilies is getting overwhelmed with weeds and stray mulberry shoots. I need to wade in and just cut it all down. 

I think before I do any of that I will go visit my grandson. It has been at least a month since I’ve gone. 

How about a little music for a Sunday?

The Doobie Brothers were the first big act I saw in concert. In fact, that show was one of the early dates with my wife. I think we saw a hem a second time a couple f years later. 

I always enjoy their music, except that yacht rock Michel McDonald stuff. 

Have a great Sunday.

No comment

 

Posted on a Saturday since it is moderately NSFW.

Of course I laughed. So did my wife, she sent it to me. No it is not a cartoon about her, she doesn’t have blond hair...

And now it is time for AnyMouse to launch a diatribe on sexism because nothing is ever a joke to the perpetually aggrieved leftists.