Well… as we watch repubs forcing their states to open across the US against the advice of the experts and every damn doctor other than Scott Atlas, we now have the repubs here in Michigan killing kids with their bullshit threatening of governor Whitmer that forced her to allow high school sports and schools to reopen with the the obvious effect…obvious to everyone but the stupid damn repubs that control the legislature….so now, we have the highest rate of new cases of the B 1.17 variant of the virus that is 20 times more infectious and causes serious cases in young people that could harm them for the rest of their lives…but the repubs still scream “freedumb” and want even more restrictions lifted as Whitmer pleads with people to keep up the mask wearing and to have them stay away from indoor dining or bars, etc. where the virus is known to spread. The repub head of the MHSAA (the Michigan High School Athletic Assoc.) has even come out and said that they are going to continue to hold tournaments and spring sports even with the wildfire spread of the virus in high school athletes. Look, I understand that people are getting restriction weary but this stupidity by Michigan repubs is going to make the year we have lived in isolation not worth a damn thing as they gleefully kill more and more of our friends an neighbors…and now they come after the children and feel no remorse at all…monsters, all of them….
April 10th
Well…I wonder if I need a haircut? If I listen to my dreams, I do…since that theme ran through them last night….and that was a little weird since I really don’t need one…yet…I may be edging up to only one night of cocktails per week with how I feel this morning and how late I’m running from not getting out of bed until 6:45….and I must not have slept too well with the covers no longer on the bed when I got up….I may just be getting too old to be able to take it anymore…I did get a nice ride in yesterday but my bike computer quit about 3 miles from here and something had severed the wire that goes to the trigger that is mounted to the front forks….must have run over something that kicked up into it…but, I was able to twist the wires back together and get it working again…looked all over for my soldering pen and couldn’t find it so it looks like I have to buy a new one…the old one didn’t work too well anyway….and I did get some grass seed down on the new fill that I put in on the entrance to the back yard with the dirt that I shoveled off the sidewalk near the steps that lead into the front porch…some of the seed that I put down in the first batch is starting to grow and slowly the huge bare spot that is the back yard is starting to green up so I will have a yard this year…but I need to get a spreader and some weed and feed so I can get the rest of the yard taken care of before the weeds take over….oh, and I did get some flower seeds yesterday that need to get planted around the house to get some color going but it is going to be cold for the next ten days or so and they won’t sprout so I have some time for prep work…not much to do today…I may get started on garden prep after the bike ride but it is going to rain all afternoon so I may just hunker down and work in here…or not…I still do need to take some time off and just live and today may be the day for it….more later…
Are we the last generation that will know two strokes?
Well…after using my new gas powered string trimmer with the edger head yesterday and listening to that little two stroke just screaming, the question struck me “are we the last generation that will know two strokes?” With the proliferation of electric yard tools and the tightening of pollution regs for all gas powered tools, I think we are….I know that if I said two stroke to any of my kids, they would look at me with a questioning stare, not having any idea what I’m talking about…and that is a shame. I think it was one of the things that bonded our generation…the knowledge of all things mechanical and knowing what anyone was talking about since we had a shared vocabulary and experiences…I guess that is the same as the shared experience my kids had about computers and gaming and what the previous generations had about horses and farming….but, damn…there is something about a screaming two stroke that is loud even through the earplugs I was wearing….and we’re probably the only ones who care….oh, well….
Not one repub….
Well…I’m sure you’ve heard of the saga of the mini trump repub Matt Gaetz who has been connected to child trafficking and using campaign funds to pay for women to travel with him all over the country…and his connection to the disgraced former Florida official who has been charged with 33 counts of various felonies, and who has flipped on Gaetz and is giving testimony to the FBI….and this is not the only instance of how sleazy Gaetz is….he has paraded around the House floor showing nude photos of women he has slept with to other repubs….and here’s the thing…not one damn repub has said a word against this child trafficker….not one damn repub has condemned his general sleaziness when all of them knew who he was…and that is the modern repub party folks, the party of family values is okay with one of their members having sex with underage girls, illegally using campaign funds to pay for it, and lying his ass off about the whole thing. I never want to hear another one of them try to lecture anyone on “family values” when this is perfectly acceptable to them…when is the last time you heard of a dem doing half of what is just peachy with repubs these days? I can’t wait for the perp walk of this mini trump who feels that the law doesn’t apply to him….just like the rest of them…
Not sure if I understand the British monarchy…
Well….with the passing of Prince Philip today, the thought entered my head that, even being a big anglophile, or a fan of England, I’m not sure if I understand the monarchy in these modern times….or any monarchy for that matter…it seems that more egalitarian models of governance are more suited to the times we live in. I do feel for the British royal family as I do for any family that loses it’s patriarch or any of the people who guided it for 70 years, cripes, that is even longer than I’ve been alive, but what is the purpose of the monarchy? Here I fall back on my firm belief that no one should be able to go through life held up to high esteem just because of an accident of birth…whether it is through a monarchy or through inheritance of wealth as happens here in the US…for example, all of the idiot trump’s kids, what makes these people of any more worth than you or me? Maybe with the royal family it is a lack of understanding on my part…but, with the almost daily scandals coming out of that small family, ….okay…nope, I don’t like the way this one is going…I’m not going to attack something I don’t understand…and that is not how this one started in my head…maybe I’ll have to think more before I comment more….
April 9th
Well…that was a little weird…went to bed early since the servers my son is renting for his media went down for the second time last night and I was really bored without it…but, I didn’t get to sleep until after midnight so I guess getting up at 6:37 is not that good….better than getting 5 hours but not much since I did wake up a few times….but, I feel okay this morning with 5 days in a row of being good and I’m not sure if I’m going to do 6…I might but I might make tonight a reward for taking better care of myself…we’ll see….the grass seed I planted in the yard is starting to sprout so it looks like I may have a yard this spring….I may have to get another bag of seed to cover the bald spots I missed but that’s only 8 bucks and worth it…there is so much work yet to do outside that I think I’ll be working on it for the next month…have to get started on garden plot prep along with getting flower seed planted around the house so I’ll have a little color when they grow…I think I may have to buy more of them and some more veggie seeds since the leftovers from last year aren’t going to be enough…but, the weather is going to be cold for the next two weeks or so and that gives me some time to plan….not much to do today…I do need to run out and get my Mega tickets and try to get some items that they were out of at aldi’s and it is still raining so I can’t get out on the bike anyway….so the ride will be in the afternoon and I hope it stays warm enough that I can still get out in shorts for the next two weeks….more later….
Playing with the toys…
Well…after I got a nice bike ride in today and got back here pretty sweaty, I decided to get the rest of my walks edged before the rain so I got out the gas powered string trimmer with the edger attachment on it and got to work…it started after just a little fiddling with it…and it only took about 10 minutes to edge the remaining 75 feet of walk and it was pretty cool to hear that two stroke just winding out and screaming….can’t wait to put the string trimmer head on it and try that out with it’s string that is almost the size of a pencil…it should hold up to trimming around the fences better than the thin stuff on my electric trimmer….and I’m edging up to using the mower to clean up the yard with the bag on it but I need to go out and get some gas for it first…..always fun to use new toys…but I do need a push broom to clean up after myself when I use the toys….maybe next week…
It’s on you, Manchin…
Well…as conversation continues on what to do about the filibuster to get this country going again, we have the biggest obstacle to moving America’s agenda, Joe Manchin, going on and on that the filibuster can be preserved and get the laws passed that are needed to repair the economy and protect voting rights…and he thinks he can get the 60 votes necessary in the senate by bringing along 10 repubs to vote for Joe Biden’s agenda. Now, I should just laugh at the prospect that any repub senator, let alone ten, will vote for anything that benefits the American people…they have shown over the past decade that they don’t give a damn about anyone but the rich way too many times and Manchin must be the most delusional senator in DC if he believes that he can convince any repub to go against mcconnell and the hordes of trumpists who would howl to the heavens if any of them voted for anything the dems want. I wonder how long it will take for Manchin and Sinema to have reality smack them in the face and for them to finally realize that the American people are more important than any senate rule that allows the minority to block needed infrastructure spending or relief…not sure if they are bright enough to realize that they are playing into the repubs hands with this delusional belief in bipartisanship…and I wonder if they care….
April 8th
Well…that was about normal with only getting up once and then out of bed for good at 6:23…and I had some dreams last night with people in it that I haven’t seen in years….and it included floods and swamped bulldozers and FEMA….yep, that was a weird one….but I was good for the 4th day in arow so I feel pretty good today…should be more sore than I am with getting the first double in yesterday but I think that may be coming tomorrow…that’s the normal pattern…it was such a nice day here yesterday that I cleaned 5 of the 11 windows so I could open them without the dirt that was in the bottom of them blowing into the house…and there is such good ventilation with just 5 open that I think this is going to be a livable house even without AC this summer…and it was petty quiet all day with very little of the bump, bump, boom music that has been plagueing me lately…something I’ll need to get used to in the future but I’m not there yet….I think I’m going to take down all of the curtains in here today since they scream old lady and I think it looks better without them, just leaving the mini blinds…I did like the way that the curtains blew in the breeze yesterday….it reminded me of our house when I was a kid where we had something like chenille curtains that did the same thing…weirdly comforting….not much to do today…need to get a ride in early before the rain comes in later this morning and then I’m going to work on the house interior and just start to plan the painting project…if it doesn’t rain much, I may just fire up the gas string trimmer and do some edging….more later…
Just a thought…
Well…with the Derek Chauvin trial still going on for his killing of George Floyd last year by kneeling on his neck for almost 9 minutes, a thought hit me today about how screwed up our legal system is that this trial has gone on for almost two weeks…let’s think about a hypothetical for just a minute…what if we replace George Floyd with a german shepard and Chauvin kneeled on it’s neck for 9 minutes in the view of witnesses? Right now Chauvin would be in in prison for a count of felony animal abuse and it would have been an easy open and shut case. So, why is it so hard to see that Chauvin kneeling on George Floyd’s neck for 9 minutes that killed him isn’t at least manslaughter? Especially since he had George handcuffed and lying on the ground and posed no threat to the Chauvin? I’m afraid our legal system is too far gone to be saved if this creep is let off from the murder charges…and I fear for Minnesota if that is the outcome…I don’t advocate for violent protests at all, but damn…this is as open and shut as a case gets…and it is highlighting there really is a different legal system for white people in this country…and that is just wrong…