Well…back to politics….damn, I know I call the repubs hypocrites a lot…because they are…and that is shown again with the hearings for the Education Secretary nominee, Miguel Cardona, who is currently the education commissioner of Conn and who was a classroom teacher and has kids in public school…but, nine of the senators who are not going to vote for him, voted for the completely unqualified Betsy DeVos whose only ties to education in any form was to fund efforts to wreck public school education here in Michigan and give lots of money to repub candidates. Gee, I wonder if this opposition is in any way related to the fact that Cardona is Hispanic and his parents came from Puerto Rico? I’m sure that’s part of it but I think a big part is that the repubs hate anyone who is an expert and actually know something about the department he is going to head and will make a difference for kids here in the US….after all, if Cardona could make the public schools here better, there would be little hope for expanding the for profit charter schools that seem to be the darling of the free enterprise folks…or all damn repubs. Why do the repubs hate our kids so much? Just a bunch of damn hypocrites….but we all know that….
February 25th
Well…damn, up at 4:04 today and my butt is dragging…only two more days and this will all be over and I can start to get my life back and maybe sleep with it..at least the blower on the furnace is still working and I think I can relax a little and know that it will keep going….I think my back is getting worse after all the leaning into the furnace yesterday and I’m not sure how it’s going to fare with all of the lifting that is coming Saturday….I am going to miss all of the channels I get on the antenna here but most of them are available on emby and with the monthly 1.6 terabyte cap on my new plan from comcast, I can leave that on most of the day and still never get to my data cap….but, who knows? Maybe it will be better out there…I only get channel 17 of the local channels here so maybe it will be better…at least there are no hills to block any one that I may get….I do have to make a run out to the house this morning to take the last bike and do some more cleaning but I need to be back here by 3 to see Man U play…and the rug deliveries are not happening til after I’m in the house so I don’t have to go out there tomorrow and that will give me time to prep more for the move….more later…
The more I’m there, the more I like my new house…
Well…after getting out to the house again today, and getting some cleaning done, the more I like my new house….the living room is much bigger than the one here so I think I may have to buy some more furniture….and I discovered why the fridge is in the dining room…it won’t fit in the kitchen and still be able to open the doors…I still have to see if putting it in the corner at an angle might work but I can live with it where it is for now….since the dining room is bigger than I remember, too…and I just noticed yesterday that all of the doors are new, too, to go along with all of the other new stuff….and the weird thing is that I have the temp set at 66 just like here but it feels warmer there….man, it feels good to hear the blower come on here…I think I’m going to like living there….there is not much grass in the yard but that is my specialty so it will look pretty good by the end of the summer…and I do have a great space for a garden that appears like it is in full sun…I do have a dead tree that needs to come down but I think I’ll hire that out since they will haul it away and get rid of the stump….will probably cost 500 bucks so I wonder if I should just buy a chainsaw and do it myself…or rent one…but it is really close to the power lines and with my luck, I’d take those down with it…we’ll see…
What a day…
well…man, have had a long hard day today and I am about ready to take a nap after not sleeping well again last night…did the grocery run this morning first thing and then loaded up the car and headed out to the new house to get some cleaning done and I did get the stove and floors cleaned so that was cool…but, I did discover that with this melt, I won’t be able to drive the truck into the back yard to unload it…did that with the Miata this morning and almost buried it in the mud so everything will have to go in the front door or will have to be unloaded there…the sidewalk is clear around the house so I guess some of the stuff can go around there…the worst thing that happened today is when I walked back in here it smelled like an electrical fire and the blower motor on the furnace wasn’t working…so, I called the people who normally service this 70 year old furnace and set up an appointment but I just couldn’t wait for it so I tore into it and found that a wire had broken on the motor and shorted against the frame…so I took the motor out since you can’t get to the wires with it installed, re-stripped the wires and re attached them…and the damn thing took right off and is still working…it was harder than it sounded with having to stick my head into the plenum to get at the damn thing…but, I saved my son a couple of hundred bucks…my back and shoulders are howling in pain, though, and it better get better before Sat…so now I need to relax a while before I get back to move prepping….whew…
February 24th
Well…damn, I’m exhausted this morning and got up way too early at 5:41….I guess I won’t get any good sleep until I get moved Saturday…I really am feeling my age the past few days and I don’t like it…it feels like I’m wearing out but I still have work to do…need to load the car up after the grocery run and take another bike to the new house and pick up the paperwork for the house that is being sent to me today…I did get the internet thing straightened out…I think…and that takes a load off so I can have a normal night when I get moved and I am going to need it….don’t hurt too much this morning and I should after moving all the heavy snow in front of the garage door yesterday….it sure felt nice to have some warm temps yesterday and it’s almost 40 outside right now and I hope it doesn’t get too warm and melt the back yard at the new house…I need it to stay frozen so I can get the truck into it…going to try to drive the Miata into it today…hope I don’t get it stuck…not much to do today…just the grocery run and then out to the new place to clean some more….more later…
I own a house…
Well…it’s finally over, I own a house! Man, what a relief…went down there today…or I guess it would be up there since it is north of gr and finally got to see the house for the second time….and it is an 80 year old house that has been painted about 20 too many times inside by people who didn’t know about masking tape…so I will be using gallons of strip and acres of sand paper to try to get to the point where I can paint the kitchen and bedrooms…and who paints their bathroom royal blue? I still like the house a lot and I think I got a good deal with how big the yard is…..I did get the garage door shoveled out but will need to have a door company come out since both cables are broken and there is some other damage that I don’t want to fix….so I won’t be parking inside for a few weeks but that is okay…need to be careful with spending for a couple of months until I get my cash built back up since I need to buy a washer next week and that is 500 bucks…and I would guess the door will be 300 or so….and I need a lawn mower in a month or so and that is 400 bucks or so…and the heat registers need to be stripped and painted and there are a lot of them but that shouldn’t cost much and I’ll probably paint them black…all in all, I can’t wait to move in and stop the stress from the anticipation of the move….I do need to have everyone help me move the fridge out of the dining room and back into the kitchen but it’s pretty light so three of us should be able to do that sat….one more step to go…
February 23rd
Well…another 3:41 morning this morning and I think they are going to keep up until I get the move done and get my internet up and running at the new house…today is closing day and I need to be out at the title company by 9 for that and then straight out to the house to get the keys from my brother….and then start cleaning the place up and getting the snow removed from the garage door and checking out if the opener works…they haven’t been able to find the remote for the door so it looks like I’ll have to buy one….need to see if the door will open with the broken cable and if not, I’ll have to see if I can fix it…..already have the car packed with buckets, mops and cleaning products and need to put the carrier on for the first bike that I’m taking out today…I did get the leak in the toilet valve fixed here and that is a relief….didn’t want to leave that for my son to fix after he gets here in 3 weeks….I still have more staging to do here to make sure I don’t forget anything that is too big to fit in the Miata but that won’t be until I spend a few hours out at the house…it looks like a run a day until Saturday and I really hope it doesn’t thaw too much this week so I can still get the truck in the back yard….I wonder if the alley is paved or not…will probably get pretty muddy in the spring if it isn’t but the water should run down the hill to the street….more later….
Holy crap…this is big!
Well….wow, big news today that has to have the idiot trump shaking in his boots…the supreme court just ruled that prosecutors in New York can have the 8 years of tax returns that they subpoenaed related to a tax fraud case they are building against him….and in addition to the bank records they already have, trump is almost sure to lose everything and probably end up in jail since he has spent his entire life cheating on his taxes. Now, we won’t be able to see any of them until the trials start since they are being released under grand jury rules but they will come out…and then the entire world will know how much of a loser trump is….and I’m sure this is going to snare his criminal kids, too…couldn’t happen to a more deserving bunch…
February 22nd
Well….ick…up at 4:18 this morning and couldn’t shut my brain off to get back to sleep so this is going to be a long day…not too sore this morning even with moving a lot of stuff into the living room yesterday and getting it ready to move….and, for the first time in my life I feel like I’m losing my capacity to do the physical labor of moving…I guess I just feel old and the stress from getting all of this stuff done is wearing on me a lot…and this next week is going to be a sprint until I get moved Sat….I need to get out to get the down payment check from the bank this morning but I need to shovel the driveway first since it snowed last night…and then I need to pack the car since I am going straight out to the house after I close at 9 tomorrow morning….then lots of cleaning and moving for the rest of the week…and I need to shovel out the area in front of the garage at the new house so I can get my car in it if the door will work with the broken cable…..don’t want to leave it on the street and the bumps are too bad to get it in the back yard…..but right now I need more coffee and to wait for it to get light so I can shovel….and this time it’s warm enough that this is going to be pretty heavy snow so it may take quite a while so I don’t hurt myself and I can’t move….more later…
Nope, nope, and nope…
Well….don’t repubs ever get tired of stealing from the American taxpayer? Just this morning, a rep from Texas was on one of the morning shows, when Dana Bash asked him about the egregious price gouging that was going on with both the electricity and gas markets in his home state that have left hundreds of thousands of people with 10,000 dollar electric bills for one week…due to the unregulated power markets that are a feature of Texas….and this idiot had the gall to say that they don’t have to worry about these astronomical bills since FEMA is going to have money to pay them…and my response is nope, nope, and nope! These bills are all fake and don’t reflect any increased costs for any of the power companies but is the result of power companies buying laws that gift them the power to outright steal in the time of increased demand and there is no damn way that FEMA or taxpayers should be paying for what is just an accounting entry…and giving billions to the power company owners…hey, I have a better idea, why not just re-calculate the bills at the normal rate? These thieves should not be rewarded for rigging the system in their favor…now we all understand why Texas wanted to keep it’s power system separate from the national grid….so cheap power from the rest of the country couldn’t be sent to meet increased demand…and to keep the system rigged so a few get rich while the rest of the state pays…not one damn cent of FEMA money should go to these assholes….