December 18th

Well…I am getting really tired of and from this 5:03 bs that has been going on for the past couple of weeks….I did try to go back to sleep but that didn’t work so I’m going to be worn out later in the day…I’m not doing anything different so I can’t even guess what the problem is…oh, well….it’s sanding day today after spending the past couple of days putting filler on the kitchen window…going to put a drop cloth down since the new sander doesn’t vacuum up all of the dust from using it but it does pick up some of it so that is cool….and I do like that it can get into corners and edges better than my big sanders…I did order the shades last night and they should be here by tues or so and I’ll be able to put them up by the end of the week with painting scheduled for Wed…want to let it harden a bit before I start drilling through it….I did get a ride in yesterday and will again today but I’ve been having some pain in my hips and I think they could use a rest tomorrow so I may take the day off…..not much to do today…just the ride and sanding…and then cleaning up after should be enough for today….almost all the EPL matches have been cancelled due to covid so I’ll have to find something to take a nap to later….more later….

Stores sure don’t carry what they used to…

Well…I wonder if you’ve noticed that it appears that stores don’t carry the variety of stuff they used to? When I ran errands this morning, I hit Meijers for a couple of things that I needed and they don’t carry Keebler Zesta saltines anymore…I had this taste for them with some peanut butter and I think it’s been a year since I saw them…they are still available in other stores but I refuse to shop at walmart so I guess I’ll have to go without them…then I stopped at depot to look for some grey shades and they don’t carry them in the stores, either…you can order them online and get them shipped but you used to be able to just go out and buy things and they would be in stock…the same with the paint that I was going to pick up…they were out of the inexpensive Glidden that I used on my son’s house and won’t have that in stock until next week…is there a paint shortage, too? I know there have been supply chain disruptions but I couldn’t get anything that I went out for this morning…and that is a little weird…

That was scary….

Well….damn, just took me two hours to get my computer to restart and that was scary….it was acting up and very slow all morning and it usually fixes it when I shut it off and turn it back on…but this time it was stuck in boot mode and just showed a screen that said wait and had the little rotating thing…and then I took the battery out of it and unplugged it to see if it would do a hard reboot but that took three tries and then I still had to wait for a half hour until it started and got to the main screen…I even went so far as to dig out the old laptop that still kind of works and got that connected to my router so I do have an emergency backup if I need it…but damn, I don’t need this especially since I’ve had the falling out with computer geek son and I don’t think he would help…at least it’s working now and I can breathe again…whew…

Oh, oh…fox news,,

Well…as the lying propaganda network they are, fox news pushed and pushed the conspiracy theory that Dominion voting machines rigged their machines to give Joe Biden trump votes….which wasn’t true by the way….so Dominion sued fox news for 1.6 billion dollars for ruining their business…of course fox appealed and guess what happened? A Federal judge just yesterday said that the suit could go forward and that means discovery starts as soon as possible…and it will be the first time that this has happened to fox and it makes any communication fair game…like strategy sessions, w-mails, texts, and any other records that have anything to do with how this lie came to be pushed so hard by fox…and that puts all of the on-air personalities in the crosshairs, too, and they could be liable for criminal charges if it is found they broke the law…I can hardly contain my glee that these assholes who have done so much damage to this country may be held accountable by a private company and fox may even be liable for treble damages and that would put them in hock for 4.8 billion dollars…I sure hope they lose it…maybe then the cancer on this country that fox is can finally be cut out…geez…

December 17th

Well…darn, up at 6:03 today and feel like I didn’t sleep at all so I think it is going to be an easy day today…well…no…have to run an errand, ride the bike, and work on the window so I guess it won’t be as easy as I want….the wind was still howling all day yesterday but I didn’t have any branches come down so I won’t have them stored next to the garage all winter…..they started pouring the foundation for the new house across the street yesterday and I hope they frame it in over the winter…still not sure what kind of house it’s going to be…seems pretty small and it is butted right up against the house next to it so that’s a little weird…I think I need a day off of everything again since I’ve been on the bike every day for a couple of weeks and have been abusing my shoulders with all of the sanding…and my back hurts today and that is new….oh, well…should put fuel in the car today since I’m down to a half tank and that’s not good in the winter…the price is back under 3 bucks a gallon so it won’t hurt so much….I did get over 22K in my checking account this month and it looks like I’m on track to have 28K by the spring so I can buy another Miata and pay cash for it….if I can find one, that is…have looked and there is not much out there….not much to do today…need to get out of here in an hour or so to run errands then get to work around here….more later….

The window looks better…

Well…I think it was a good idea to take the worst window first as I start on the interior of the house…worked on it for over two hours today but I still have 2 or 3 more hours to do before it will be ready to paint….still have more filling to do after I sand it for the second time tomorrow and it is such a pain to try to sand latex paint since it just turns soft and peels instead of sanding smoothly…but, this will be the last time I’ll be painting so I guess I can live with it…the rest of the windows have much less repairs to be done so I think each one will take a day to prep and another to paint….going to look at shades at depot when I run errands tomorrow and will probably pick up a gallon of satin finish white paint so I can paint when it’s ready….it is kind of a pain having to re-do the half assed repairs that the previous owners had done to the place…and that will get worse when I start on the plaster in the kitchen…. and the trim that was just massacred…oh, well…don’t have much else to do…

Cognitive dissonance…

Well…I still shake my head when I hear stories about Biden’s visit to the storm damaged parts of the south that were hit by the tornadoes last week where his empathy and genuine caring for the people there, no matter what their political leaning are, was on display. Most of the people they interviewed were really surprised how much he just listened and gave out hugs to people who needed them…and how nice he was and it hit me how this bit of cognitive dissonance happened…most of these folks probably only watch fox news where Biden is portrayed as the devil incarnate, a socialist, communist who is trying his best to destroy this country…so when this nice, caring guy shows up to really help them, it doesn’t fit the propaganda they have been fed by fox and they can’t square reality with fox’s lies…so cognitive dissonance….I think we need to get better at getting the truth out but that is pretty difficult when all media is rooting for Joe’s failure…and the failure of the country just to have something they want to write about…how about the truth? Nope, won’t happen…geez…

December 16th

Well…darn, another 5;30 morning and I feel so darn worn out….but, the power stayed on even with the high winds out here…don’t think any branches even came down last night but it’s not light yet so I can’t be sure about that….had another day of only one meal and I’m not sure how much longer I can sustain that….I am going to make chicken and some roasted cauliflower for lunch today and I know that will only be about 400 calories so I think I’ll have to do two today…only had 800 cals yesterday and I know I’ll probably feel it later today….didn’t get much done yesterday but I am going to work on the window in the kitchen today…getting rid of the ugly shades and then sanding and filling all of the holes and cracks…will have to put newspaper up on the windows as temporary shades as I paint…I think the grey shades are going to look good in there and I can’t wait to see them up….not sure what color I’m going to paint the kitchen but I do know that it’s going to take a lot of work to get the plaster ready…think I’ll look at some you tube videos since I’ve never really worked with plaster before….not much to do today…just riding downstairs and then on to cooking and then the window….but I have an hour to read the news first and have some coffee….more later….

Preparing for a power outage…

Well…with the winds that are forecast for out here tonight and tomorrow…35mph steady and gusts up to 65, I am preparing for a power outage…have all of my spare batteries on the charger and will be charging the tablet and phone when they are done so I’ll still have internet when the power goes….may not be able to post here tomorrow if it does go off since I can’t use my phone to post…have even stationed flashlights around here so I only have to get through one room to get to one….really haven’t had any problems with the power out here in the 9 months I’ve been in my house so I’m hoping that it stays on and I don’t have to heat the house with the gas kitchen stove….had to do that at my apartment a few times and at least that will keep me from freezing my butt off….put everything away outside and finally brought my outside chair onto the porch and even put my tomato cages in the garage since the last big wind a couple of days ago rolled them all over the back yard….and it opened the top of my garbage tote which was kind of weird….don’t have any trash in it right now so I won’t have to pick anything up if it blows over…so, I’m ready as I can be….it’s a movie night tonight and I’m going to watch the new Ridley Scott movie called “The last duel” that has an 89% rating on rotten tomatoes…it’s a long one, though, at 2 1/2 hours and I’m not sure I’ll get through it tonight…

Don’t give Liz Cheney so much credit…

Well…boy, with all of the credit Liz Cheney is getting for her work on the Jan 6th committee, people are forgetting who she is and that this work is the only thing to like about her. Through her career, she has been one of the farthest right wing repubs there is…and she has made lots of racist comments and has attacked everything that our side has tried to do…so let’s take this whole act with a ton of salt…I appreciate the she and Kinzinger are the only repubs who think our democracy needs saving and she did just call out “gym” Jordan and McCarthy for being the spineless liars they are….but, it’s a veneer over her awfulness and when the committee work is over, she will go back to being the terrible person she is….I will thank her for this work, but that’s it….geez…