Well…wow, lots of stuff to talk about on the foreign policy stage today and after the chaos of the past 4 years, we have a coherent policy taking shape that will start to restore our standing in the world. First, and something that went basically unnoticed when it was announced two weeks ago, the US is entering back into talks with Iran on their nuclear program that was discarded by the idiot trump and that lead to Iran advancing it’s uranium enrichment that has been stopped under the agreement negotiated by damn near all of the world that trump crapped all over…now, it’s going to be slow going since no one in the world trusts us anymore after the incompetence of trump and his cronies but at least diplomacy is back and is retaking it’s rightful place in foreign policy. Second, Joe has done what I have advocated for years…he is getting us out of Afghanistan in September after 20 long years of losing our soldiers to a war that has no reason for being other than to enrich defense companies…I know the hawks out there are wringing their hands about it but nothing we can do will change the outcome there…so let’s declare victory and go home. Third, and the coolest thing yet is the announcement of stiff sanctions on Russia, Putin, and his oligarch cronies for their interference in our elections and the hacking of most of the US government last year…and hey, let’s contrast that to the previous guy who had the same information from the intelligence agencies and didn’t do a damn thing since he just loved him some Putin. Joe even went farther than expected when he tied Paul Manafort to Konstantin Kilimnik and stated that Manafort gave information to Kilimnik who then gave it to Russia and it’s intelligence agencies to allow them to micro target our election and install the idiot trump….so, and I know we knew this before, there was collusion between the trump campaign and Russia that got trump elected…and no matter how many times trump chants “no collusion” the truth is the truth…and I hope these sanctions crash the Russian economy and stirs a revolt against the murderer Putin….it is so cool that we finally have someone with backbone as president who will look out for the country and not just himself…go Joe…
April 15th
Well…damn…it is not supposed to snow on the 15th of April…and this damn cold weather is going to last the rest of the month and, as I get older, the wait for spring gets more and more excruciating, like I don’t have the time to wait anymore….is it too much to ask to have some warmth for an old guy? At least my sleep is consistent…not good but consistent with waking up at 3:23 the past three days and then out of bed at 6:13…at least I’ve been good but, as time goes by, I wonder why? Yeah, I know, it’s better for my health but the nights are just so damn boring and my brain just won’t shut off any more and it should be relaxing with having my housing situation finally settled…oh, well….I did get some yard work done yesterday with getting the weed and feed on the lawn and I like the little spreader I bought…it only took three fillings to do my yard and I have a little of the 10K sq ft bag left to take care of the spots I may have missed….and it is cool that I was able to get the mower drive adjusted…I am looking forward to the next mowing if my damn calf will heal….and that is the other thing…being in constant pain and limping around here is starting to get old but I will admit it is a little better this morning with taking two ibuprofens yesterday and staying off the bike…I guess I’ll put the long clothes back on for a ride today and see if that will help my mood….not much to do today…I may take the day off working outside and do some cleaning in here…I do need to get the rest of the weeding done so I can plant my flowers if it ever warms up…have some really cool looking poppies that I can’t wait to see along with the rest of them…the color will look nice against the white of the house…and I’m sure it will make me smile….more later….
It gets worse for the repubs..
Well…damn, the repubs are looking dumber and dumber every day with their efforts across the country to suppress the votes of people they don’t want to vote…like everyone who won’t vote for them. But, I’m pretty sure they didn’t count on their reliable partners in business reacting as they have been…with over 300 more businesses pushing back on these un-American bills by condemning them in just the past day…and all of the big three automakers here in Michigan joining in and schooling them on why they are opposing them…that all people in the US have the right to vote without repub interference by the erection of barriers to any and all kinds of voting. Okay, sternly worded letters are all well and good, but what concrete steps are these businesses going to take to punish this crap? At the very least, they need to stop giving a dime to any repub…and I don’t care about the ones who sit there and whine that they had nothing to do with it…just by being repubs, they are supporting every damn law across this country and they shouldn’t get one thin dime…and all of that money should then go to dems who have proven over and over that making sure that everyone who is eligible can vote without repub interference…only then are these protestations actually doing something that the repubs will pay attention to. I guess this is a start but only a start to getting rid of every damn repub across this country…they have proven they hate this country and they need to go….
Got the mower drive fixed…
Well….after mowing the lawn on Monday and feeling like I was doing more work than my new self propelled mower, I got the owner’s manual out that my brother included and tried to see if there was any adjustments included to solve the problem…there wasn’t, so I did the next thing and just did a voice search for it and turned up a video on youtube that addressed exactly the same problem with exactly the same mower I have….so, even though I’ve been working on feeding the lawn and running errands all morning, I just had to try the fix that looked too simple to work…so, I went out and loosened the one nut that the guy showed on the video and moved the cable sheath less than a half inch to take some slack out of the cable, then started it up and tried it…damn, the thing moves now! The easiest adjustment I’ve ever made on a mower that transformed it back to like new…now, next week’s mowing is going to be a piece of cake…just hope my damn calf is healed up by then…it still hurts so much I’m limping and I’m sure it’s from my rubber garden shoes….darn…
April 14th
Well…that was day two of an all natural sleep and it was a little less restful than Monday night…but, it is how I remember my sleep for years so it’s nothing new…and I feel okay so I guess I can live with it…I do feel less sore today and I have been walking okay with my heel feeling better and my right calf not nearly as bad as it was after mowing Monday…so I’m going to hurt it again today with putting food on the lawn with my new spreader but that needs to be done before it rains tomorrow…or snows tomorrow which is possible with how cold it is going to be…I did get out for a bike ride yesterday after helping my brother move a car around for service and it wasn’t too bad even with the wind blowing almost 15….and it was good to get out since I’m probably taking today and tomorrow off since I don’t want to go out in half thermasuit anymore…I did have a surprise when I was mowing out front Monday…the woman I bought the house from pulled up with her husband and we had a nice chat…she just wanted to know that the house she grew up in was going to be taken care of and told me I already have the yard looking better than she could remember…that made me feel good….very nice people and I told her I love the house and will probably live here the rest of my life…and that made her happy…pretty cool…not much to do today…have to hit Aldi’s and depot for food and a plug for the new exhaust fan I’m going to help my son install Saturday back in GR and then need to do the lawn food…I do have to work on the mower since I think the drive belt is slipping some…it just doesn’t take off like it should and I think it’s probably from sitting for a couple of years without use…and I do need to get to know how the thing works so I can maintain it….more later….
Joe Manchin really is delusional…
Well….if you have been following the drama of trying to get anything passed in the senate with dem senator Joe Manchin preening and displaying his delusions for everyone to see, you have to think he must not read anything or hasn’t looked at the repub behavior over the past 20 years. First, he keeps talking an talking about finding “bipartisanship” with the repubs to get the infrastructure bill passed and he continues to look through the horseshit pile that the repubs have piled on this country looking for that elusive pony…one that doesn’t exist…damn, Joe, have you seen the repub votes for the recovery act? Yeah, there weren’t any and that was supported by 70% of the American people. the second thing is that ole Joe has bought into the repub idea that tax cuts create jobs when not one damn study of any tax cut over the past 40 years says it doesn’t…but that doesn’t stop Joe from parroting the repub talking points and holding up more legislation to try to give more tax cuts to the repubs…and that is complete bullshit…damn, Joe…read the study that just came out on the trump tax cuts…not one damn job was created and the only thing that happened was stock buybacks that transferred wealth to the 1%…so, Joe, read something for a change and stop listening to the liars on the right…it’s all they do…geez…
April 13th
Well…that was a little interesting…even with getting my check, I was still good last night and even skipped the sleep aids that have been helping me sleep and it wasn’t terrible…tossed and turned a lot and woke up about 5 times but stayed in bed until 6:13 and I’ll take that…and I’m not a sore as I expected after all the walking with mowing the lawn for the first time…my achilles were howling at me after I finished and I was limping most of the afternoon….so I think I need to get better shoes to mow with than the rubber slip ons I’ve been using…but the yard is starting to come together and I need to get out to Menard’s to get the spreader and weed and feed today…I can get 20K sq ft coverage for about 30 bucks and with the spreader costing 36 bucks I can get out for under 70 bucks….and I can get an 8ft aluminum step ladder for 79 bucks but I have to wait til Friday to get that when it will be warm enough to put the top down and stick it up in the air from the passenger’s seat….and that will be the process for getting the new garage door opener here, too…when I buy it next week…not much to do today….going to do the Meijer run this morning since it is near the bank where I need to deposit the check and I have some staples that I need to make pickled red onions to go with the pork shoulder I’m going to make in the instant pot later in the week….going to make some pork taco wraps and other stuff that will keep me fed for the next week or so….more later…
I got my 1400 dollar check…finally…
Well…finally, just got my 1400 dollar relief check in today’s mail and I want to have a cocktail to celebrate…but, it’s not a cocktail night so I guess that’s out….what a damn relief that I don’t have to work for another two weeks of wending my way through the government to try to get it…now the big decision is what do I do with it? I know I need a ladder and I would like a new garage door opener and that would take about 250 bucks of it and it would be so cool to just drive up to the door and hit a button instead of getting out of the car every time to lift it… and the new one comes with two remotes so I could have one for the car and one to put in the bike bag so I can put the bike away easily….and I do need to buy a spreader and weed and feed for the lawn and that will be about 70 bucks so that makes 320 bucks out of the 1400 gone….the other 600 dollar check paid for my washer already so that doesn’t have to come out of it…I really can’t think of anything else that I want right now so that will leave almost 1100 bucks to just sit there for emergencies and that is a good feeling…yee ha….
I think they miscalculated…
Well…how damn dumb do the repubs have to be to not have seen the backlash to the 300 voting suppression bills that have been introduced by them across the country? It’s not only dumb but it is wrong and business across this country are weighing in with actions that highlight their opposition to this attack on their customers…and you can see the rift with ole mitch mcconnell essentially saying to them to shut up about voting rights and just give money to us…an abrupt about face from the Citizens United decision where the repubs just loved the “speech” of corporations since it supported what the repubs wanted…but now, when these same companies are appalled with trying to take the vote away from their customers and making it known, ole mitch blatantly wants them to stop and is even thinking of new laws that will punish companies that don’t support the repubs…some kind of free speech, huh? The rift got even worse over the weekend when the heads of 100 of the largest US businesses and even the Chamber of Commerce had a conference call to try to figure out how to most effectively oppose these new Jim Crow laws…and one suggestion was to stop giving money to any repub who supports this voter suppression aimed at minorities and designed for the repubs to be able to cheat…if this new law in Georgia had been in effect for the 2020 election, the repubs could have “found” the 12,000 votes that would have given the state to the idiot trump and installed him as president when he lost the election. Make no mistake, the repubs in this country hate democracy and are going to do everything they can to ensure their continued rule even when they lose the vote….and we all have to oppose this crap at every turn…let’s hope business will be partners in these efforts…
April 12th
Well…damn, woke up pretty depressed for some reason…or for no reason, that’s how it works and I’m having a hard time doing anything right now…even tried something different this morning when I got up at 5:23…went back to bed to just lay there and that may have something to do with it…the weather may be contributing, too since it is going to be cold right through the end of April with highs no warmer than the low 50’s and that just sucks…don’t want to go back to long wind pants and gloves on the bike but it looks like I’ll have to…and that may put me back on planting the garden and the flowers since there may even be frost…and that’s depressing, too….being in constant pain is not helping, either, and I’m pretty sure I tore a muscle in my right forearm doing something since I can barely even pick up my coffee cup…it would be nice to know how I hurt it so I don’t do it again but all of the outside work is kind of a blur….not much to do today….I’ll have to wait til almost noon to get out on the bike so I can go in shorts so I’ll have to find something to do this morning…I think I’ll put the string trimmer head on the gas trimmer and I should run out to Menards to get some grass killer to spray under the fence so I don’t have to trim it every week and look at a small spreader for the lawn food that I need to get down soon…but I am still trying to not spend any money right now after burning 2500 bucks in the past month so that may wait…more later…