Time for a rant:

The stock market had the worst week ever (Maybe, maybe not. Maybe it just seems like it was the worst week ever) thanks to the man who is tasked with seeing to it we have a strong and reliable economy.

The DJIA fell about 7½% just last week:

Oh, and it is down almost 13% since Trump took office on January 20^th.

Trump thinks the federal government should be run like a business. Well, here's a list I put together showing Looney Donalds business accomplishments.

Failed business ventures:

• Trump Taj Mahal
• Trump Plaza Hotel & Casino
• Plaza Hotel
• Trump Castle & Casino
• Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts
• Trump Entertainment Resorts
• Trump Airline
• Trump Steaks
• Trump University
• Trump Mortgage
• Trump Magazine
• GoTrump.com
• Trump The Game
• Trump Vodka

Completely insane things he has done that are probably going to become worthless:

• Trump Trading Cards may be a failure. They started out that $1,485 for a set and I can't find much info on their current value. Either way, I'm pretty sure Trump was never an astronaut, a cowboy or a rock musician. He also never dressed up as George Washington and crossed the Delaware in a rowboat.
• Trump Sneakers. Seriously? Who the hell buys gold sneakers for $400?

Things that are on the brink of failure:

• Trump Media & Technology Group (TruthSocial) was worth $92 per share in 2022 and is now worth $17 per share.
• Trump Crypto was worth $66 in January and is now worth $9 per unit.

Things that he has been successful at:

• Alienating the United States from the rest of the world.
• Pissing off our allies like Canada, Australia, Great Britain, Mexico, Denmark, etc...
• Crashing the stock market. Crashing it hard.
• Putting tens of thousands of people out of work.

One of my neighbors is a strong Trump supporter and he keeps telling me, "He knows what he is doing! Things will work out and we will all be okay!" but for some reason he can't tell me when things will be okay.

Will they be "okay" next week? Next month? Next year?

Or will things finally be okay in five years when we are one year removed from this nutcases term and the next president has had a chance to mend fences with our allies, restore confidence in our economy and put some fear back into our enemies?

I'm really hoping things will be okay soon and not five years from now. I'm not sure we can wait that long...

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My youngest informs me he will be at todays Red Sox game. Unfortunately, it looks like rain will also be at todays Red Sox game.

He seems pretty confident that the game will be played. He's a generally upbeat, positive kind of guy. Unlike his father who is pretty certain the game will be postponed or delayed until well after 7:00.

That's me, Mr. Optimism.

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I did a little research on how to best install the new spring on my brake/clutch assembly and I found a solution from someone I believe is a true genius.

The guy says, "Hook the spring on the tensioning idler and let it dangle. Tie a piece of very, very strong cord onto the other end of the spring. Run the cord through a hole in the frame that is just beyond the hole the spring is supposed to go into. Tie a loop in the cord that is large enough for your foot. Now put your foot into the loop and pull the spring up to the hole in the frame that it is supposed to go into. By using your foot to stretch the spring to the hole, you will have both hand free to fish the end of the spring through the hole it needs to go into."

I say he is a genius because this is a simple elegant solution to stretching a strong steel spring up to and into the hole. No fancy tools required. No additional helpers. Just a simple straight forward process.

I like things that are simple.

Once I have the new spring in place, I'll report back on how well, or how poorly, this solution worked for me.

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Here are today's links:

• I remember when NFL halftime shows consisted of college marching bands.



• Hormonal Hawk would be a great name for a character played by Bruce Willis in a 1980s rom-com.



• It's too bad no one taught her the value of money.



• Banana slugs: Do not mess with them.



• Vegans: Not the brightest people around.



• Attention ladies...

Not good

The following is a snapshot of the changes in my retirement account over the last year.

If each horizontal line represents $1.00, the path my retirement account over the last year took was:

• April - I'm only worth a dollar. I hope Biden doesn't do anything stupid...
• May - Wow! I'm worth $2.00. Biden didn't do anything stupid!
• June - Okay, I'm worth $2.50. That's good.
• July - I'm worth $3.00. Biden may have dementia but his people are keeping him in line.
• August - Nice. I'm almost worth $4.00. I guess investors aren't concerned about Harris running for president.
• September - Holding steady. Not bad considering the insanity going on with the presidential campaigns.
• October - Shit, back down to $3.00. Harris is acting like a socialist so the market is nervous.
• November - Trump wins! Investors are happy and I'm worth $5.00! This is great.
• December - Between Biden having mini-strokes and Trump spouting off about taking over Canada, I'm back down to $3.50.
• January - Trump is sworn in and everyone is happy that Goofy Joe is finally gone! I'm back up to $4.75!
• February - Wait. Trump really meant all those crazy things he said he was going to do? He's firing everybody in the federal government? Crap. I'm back down to $3.50..
• March - Did he really put 37% tariffs on Liechtenstein? What did Liechtenstein ever do to us? Shit, I'm back down to a dollar...

We, as a nation, are about to become one of those "shithole third world countries" that Trump hates so much.

Not good. Not good at all...

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The Red Sox won their home opener today, beating the Cardinals 13-9.

Buehler got the start and in my humble opinion, he pitched okay. He faced 22 batters over 5 innings.

It was the batters that did great, taking an early lead and never giving it up.

Tomorrows game starts at 4:10.

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I decided to drag my thatching attachment around my lawn today. Things went well right up until I finished thatching the lawn and started picking up the crap using the lawn mower.

After two or three trips around the side yard, the tractor suddenly came to a standstill. The engine was running just fine and the blades were spinning just fine but the tractor refused to move.

I had to go into repair mode and since the tractor has a drive belt from that runs the length of the chassis, I had to drop the mower deck to get access to it.Normally I do that in my garage on the cement floor but this time I had to do it on the lawn.

I got the deck off and I started checking the belt. Turns out the belt was fine but I discovered the clutch return spring was broken. This spring causes the brake/clutch to return to the run position when you take your foot off it. Without the spring, the brake was released but the clutch never engaged.

I mickey-moused the broken spring into a crappy temporary fix and put it back in place. I was able to finish the lawn but more importantly, I was able to order a new replacement spring and it will be here on Monday.

Guess I know what I will be doing on Monday.

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Here are some links:

• Barefoot Dancing Incident sounds like a historical 1840's skirmsih between two American Indian tribes.



• Didn't Psycho Vlad tell Looney Donald that he would honor the cease fire?



• Remove what from where?



• Only in Florida.

And we're home

I did not lie when I said I was busy because I was very, very busy.

Last Sunday, we got on an Amtrak train and rode it all the way to Washington DC.

I know what you are saying. What you are saying is, "Why the hell would you take a train to Washington?"

We took the train because other than the commuter rail out in Boston, I had never been on a train before.

What I can say about that experience is, "Well, now I've been on a train and I no longer have any desire to go on a train again."

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As for Washington, it was 80° on Monday and Tuesday and the cherry blossoms were on full display.

We spent all of Monday visiting the monuments/memorials on the National Mall.

We also spent a lot of time checking out the various Smithsonian Museums.

Once we had our fill of the Mall, we headed out to Arlington Cemetary.

For the record, it was very, very hot and sunny in Washington. My head is burned. I probably should have worn a hat.

Also, the Mall and Arlington are huge. And by huge, I mean we walked more than a few miles. I have blisters on my feet from all the walking. I probably should get better shoes.

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On Tuesday, we spent the entire day at the National Zoo. Yes, we saw the pandas.

They also have other creatures there:

Yes, the zoo is huge. My blisters did not appreciate me walking another five or six miles.

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On Wednesday, we went back to the National Mall because when we tried to go to the Air and Space Museum and the Holocaust Musem on Monday, we discovered that both museums are so popular they require a pass. So I registered for the passes and we headed back.

I can understand why they require passes to those museums because man, they were packed.

Our passes to the Holocaust Museum said our visit time was 10:00am. When we got there at 10:00 am, there were several hundred other people who also had passes for 10:00 am.

No, I did not take any pictures at the Holocaust Museum. In my opinion it is a subject that needs to be seen in person and I strongly recommend you go see it.

After that we had an hour to kill before our 2:00pm visit to the Air and Space so we wondered into the Museum of Modern Art.

It was boring as hell and I didn 't understand any of it. I did send this picture to my musical youngest son:

At 2:00pm, we got into the very, very long line of people with 2:00pm passes to the Air and Space Museum.

Once we got in, I took two pictures.

The first picture is of the first airplane - The Wright Flyer:

The second picture is of the Apollo command module Columbia that took Buzz Aldrin, Neal Armstrong and Michael Collins to the moon:

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Okay, I think you are now up to date.

Yes, the Red Sox won this afternoon. I watched it on the train because I have NESN 360 and unlimited internet...

I still didn't have a lot of internet browsing time today so enjoy these few links. There will be more tomorrow:

• This kind of crap is the reason I avoid French food.
  (Yes, I've had snails. They're good.)



• Neither rain, nor snow, nor flock of turkeys will stay this courier from his rounds.



• Attention runners: You're eating your brain.



• Here's your Naked Guy In The News story.

Still busy.

And when I say "busy", I mean I'm not doing any internetting.

This will change soon.

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The Red Sox keep losing even though they should be winning.

This also will change soon.

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As for the Bruins, What can I say...

With only seven games left to play in the season, they are not going to overcome that deficit.

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Updates with links will be back soon.

Extra busy

No post yesterday or today.

Deal with it.