Busy

We are working on minor updates to the house. That's what home ownership consists of - minor updates.

Today was the day I dismantled the baseboard sheet metal from one room and took it all down to my workshop. I spent a couple of hours sanding all the parts and then another hour applying the first coat of paint.

Tomorrow I will apply a second coat and once the parts cure, I'll reinstall them and then pick another room to tackle.

We have eight rooms and each room has at least 15 or 20 feet of baseboard. I figure it's going to take two days to do each room simply because of the amount of sanding and then waiting for the paint to cure

Hope I'm done before we need to turn the heat on...

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So anyways, I spent my entire day in the basement sanding and painting.

I did not surf the interwebs nor did I watch any news.

Basically my only communication with the outside world was my old FM radio tuned to the local oldies channel.

Here are some links:

• Key phrase in this story: "Pillow not included as my dog has taken to it."



• Seems like maybe Hunter Richard Gerstberger is a bit high strung.



• Australia: What doesn't try to kill ya, wipes out power for thousands of people.

Afternoon baseball

The Red Sox and the Orioles played their final game of their final series of this season.

The Red Sox managed to win todays game 5-3, winning the three of the four games and taking the series.

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I guess Florida got its ass kicked by hurricane "Ian" yesterday and into last night.

It came ashore on the gulf coast as a category four hurricane right around Fort Meyers and made it's way across the state. It is currently spinning over Titusville / Cocoa Beach as a tropical storm, getting ready to re-enter the water in the Atlantic before making its way up the coast. The current prediction is that it will make a second landfall in Georgia or South Carolina.

Here are two screen grabs from a aviation weather tool I use called "Windy". The first shows the storm making landfall on the gulf coast. The second shows it getting ready to re-enter to Atlantic.

Here's the thing: My friend Tommy has a house on the gulf coast near Fort Meyers and my wife's cousin has a house on the Atlantic coast in Cocoa Beach.

I'm hoping they still have their houses...

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So I started watching the remake of Quantum Leap and I can't quite say it sucks but right now I'm thinking I'll record one more episode before I say it sucks.

I really need to find something to entertain me. Hockey and Football are not available every night. I'm hoping the new season of Gold Rush starts soon.

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I'm going to heat up some leftover lasagna and find something to watch.

You can click on these:

• Here is some good advice from a life coach.



• This is either the dumbest idea ever or a brilliant marketing move.



• Nope.



• Only in Florida.



• Key phrase in this story: "It's not an ideal solution."



• They should have executed him when they had the chance.

Busy day

Today was lunch with the ROMEO's (Retired Old Men Eating Out).

I love having lunch with those guys. We are all old but in good shape. Well, three of us are in good shape. One of us has a bit of a digestive issue but he's got it under control and he watches what he eats. Although today he had onion rings so he may be suffering tonight.

So anyways, these guys are decent human beings who are all still very active. As a matter of fact, the oldest of us, Jim, said he had to go home and replace the rear brake lines on his truck. Keep in mind this is a 76 year old man who just said he was going to crawl under his truck and replace something that most of use probably couldn't find if we looked for it.

For the record, our lunches usually last about two hours because we don't just eat, we solve all of the worlds problems.

We'll be doing it again next month so if you have any problems you want solved, let me know and I'll bring it up with the gang.

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After that I spent some time over at my daughters house talking to a guy about roof replacement.

When she bought the house, she knew it needed a roof but was hoping to make it through the winter. It doesn't look like that's going to happen and she needs to replace it this year.

So now she needs to scrape up the cash to put on a roof.

Home ownership is a real blast, ain't it...

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Tonight's dinner consisted of tacos.

We love tacos.

Now I'm watching baseball.

Enjoy these few links:

• Someone needs to explain to me why this is news.



• You have no idea how badly I want a self-driving car.



• Oh Canada.
  Yes, I know that Insecure Load of Carrots would be a fantastic name for a 1960's girl band made up of redheads with confidence issues.



• Hey, sometimes a girl has to do what a girl has to do.

Two posts in one day

Like I said at 7:30 this morning, I forgot to click the post button last night. That means that technically speaking, you get two posts today.

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Today was not a great day and I didn't have a lot of time to do any surfing or newsing.

What little I did resulted in the following links:

• I heard someone use the term "Chuck Bucks" and I thought it was an excellent name.



• Key phrase in this story: "...speeds them to the Ukrainian front line with as little as a day of training."



• Australia: What doesn't try to kill ya, drives around on a beer cooler.



• Fashion: I don't get it.

Oops

I forgot to click the "Publish" button last night.

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The Red Sox have 10 games left to play this season and I suspect they'll be happy when those games are over with.

They lost to the Yankees last night, getting swept 4-0 in their four-game series.

They start a four-game series against the Orioles tonight and it would be nice if they didn't get swept again.

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So it's looking like Mac Jones sprained his ankle in yesterdays loss to the Ravens.

As I said to Pat, I've sprained an ankle, I've broken bones and I've dislocated joints. Of those three things, the sprain hurt the worst. It was also the hardest one to predict when it would heal.

Hopefully he's back in a week or two.

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I spent a few hours at my daughters changing an outlet from being switched to it's own circuit so it stayed powered all the time. That means I didn't spend a lot of time surfing the webs.

I'm going to watch some baseball while you enjoy these links:

• Does this mean he's now eligible for the draft?



• Well, I guess now we know how much Goofy Joe and Loopy Lizzy's student loan forgiveness program is going to cost us.

Bad day in Foxboro

Not only did the Patriots lose their home opener 37-26, Jones injured his ankle near the end of the game and it didn't look good. He hopped off the field, putting no weight on the ankle and clearly wincing with each movement.

Hopefully he won't miss any games but I won't be surprised if he does.

The Patriots turned the ball over way to many times and the Ravens were right where they needed to be to recover a fumble or intercept a poorly thrown pass.

So they are now 1-2 which is not one of their best starts.

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Speaking of not doing well, the Red Sox will take on the Yankees and hopefully avoid being swept.

The one thing they are doing is preventing Judge from hitting his 61^st home run of the season, tying Roger Maris.

This makes me happy because I liked Maris. My childhood consisted of admiring guys like Roger Maris, Mickey Mantle, Ted Williams, Bill Mazeroski, Roberto Clemente and Willie Mays.

I collected their baseball cards, tried to imitate their swings and generally thought of those guys as heroes.

I don't care about Judge. I'm sure he's a nice guy but he's no Roger Maris

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I'm going to make some pizza, watch the rest of the Packers/Buccaneers game and then watch the Red Sox/Yankees.

You can enjoy these if you want:

• Football teams need to do whatever it takes to win but not at the expense of the health of their players. Any team that fails to sideline a player who is wobbly on their feet after a hit should be fined millions of dollars.



• I don't like deer. They are nothing more than giant rodents.



• Great. Just freakin' great. First we got bird flu, then we got global warming, then we got the 'rona, now we got this.



• Man, they got world records for everything.



• Researchers: Contributing to the betterment of our society or a complete waste of perfectly good oxygen.



• Key entry from our favorite police log: 8:36 a.m. A woman called dispatch, said she was sick of white men and told them to 'bring your asses over here, I’m gonna kick them.' She then agreed to leave dispatch alone for the rest of the day.

Another loss

The Yankees have won the first three games of their four game series against the Red Sox but just barely. They won the first two games 4-3 and the third game 7-5.

I'm kind of hoping the Red Sox win tomorrow just to avoid being swept by the Yankees.

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I spent my morning painting a wall in The Vets old bedroom. She had one of those "accent walls" but now that she's moved out, we wanted all four walls to be the same. Fortunately we still had some of the paint left so it was simply a matter of masking the molding, removing the outlet plates and painting.

I'm also fortunate that is looks like one coat will do it because there isn't enough paint for a second coat.

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The Patriots home opener is tomorrow at 1:00 against the Ravens.

Both teams are currently 1-1 so it should be a good game.

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Here are some links you can visit if you want:

• I would say that we dodged a bullet.



• Whelp, I guess the third time is not a charm.



• Yea, that whole, "Everybody needs to buy an electric car!" thing might be about to bite us in the ass



• This is your brain. This is your brain on drugs.



• Seems to me that the manager of the Circle-K in Westminster, Colorado is a douchebag.



• Australia: What doesn't kill ya, dares you to get some toilet paper.

More pictures

For almost her entire life, The Small Dog has had a little lump on her right side. None of us thought much about it, including The Vet, because it didn't change, it wasn't hard and it didn't bother her.

When The Vet and The Small Dog moved into their new house, The Vet noticed that the lump was getting harder and The Dog seemed to be a little sensitive about it being touched. This was concerning to all of us.

The other day, The Vet called me from work, said her 4:00 appointment had cancelled and asked if I could bring The Dog in so she could take a biopsy. So I did.

Turns out it was a follicular cyst that had gotten infected. Not a big deal, The Vet shaved a patch of hair, lanced the cyst (think of it as a big zit) while The Dog was distracted by squeezy cheese on a stick.

Enjoy this picture of The Dogs butt and her zit:

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Psycho Vlad has decided that it would be a good idea for the occupied regions of Ukraine to hold a vote about becoming part of Russia. He's doing this because if they vote to join Russia, he can then claim that his war has been about rescuing the regions from the Ukrainians.

Funny thing about this vote is that it's not a vote like you and I think of a vote. It's a vote that I imagine is how they vote in North Korea.

It appears the vote is being conducted by armed Russian soldiers. According to a woman in this story, "You have to answer verbally and the soldier marks the answer on the sheet and keeps it."

That's not voting. I don't know what it is but I know it's not voting.

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I'm no longer worried about retiring.

I'm worried about surviving...

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The Red Sox lost in the 10^th inning last night but I didn't see it. I went to bed when the Yankees tied the game in the 8^th.

I'm going to watch some of tonight's game on Apple TV but I doubt I'll watch all of it. I hate the Apple TV crew almost as much as I hate the ESPN crew.

While I do that, you can do these:

• Hopefully the old saying, "Third time is a charm" holds true.



• Key entry from or favorite police log: "6:15 p.m. After being struck by a vehicle, a raccoon passed away and its raccoon friend seemed worked up."



• Did Goofy Joe just admit to being a pedophile?



• I call bullshit on Michael Jackson. I think he would look more like the Janice Joplin picture.



• All I have to say is it ain't Anchors Away...

It's a pictorial kind of day

We got a lot of rain this morning and I like it.

So does my lawn.

The left is September 2^nd and the right is today, September 22^nd.

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Here's another entry in the category - "I get the best SPAM"

I don't recall ever being gistered but now I'm re-gistered.

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I took my high-power shoulder cannon to the range the other day. This is the result:

That black circle is one inch and the target was 100 yards away from me.

That is basically hitting a golf ball over the distance of a football field.

Not bad for an old man.

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The Red Sox are in New York to play the Yankees and I will be watching that game. Since these Red Sox / Yankees games can go as long as 4 hours, I doubt I'll see all nine innings but I'll watch as much as I can.

You can visit these if you want:

• Florida Highway and the Coors Light Catastrophe would be a great name for a 1970's Jimmy Buffett song.



• This is why I stay out of New York City.



• Only in Florida.



• This is an interesting turn of events.



• This is a terrible idea.



• If you ever went to a Planet Fitness in Naugatuck, CT, there are probably pictures of you naked.

I hate being right

Back on September 10^th I said, "What worries me about this is what Putin will do next. He's kinda psycho and I won't be surprised if he decides to try out one of them little nukes he has."

On September 19^th I said, "At some point in the near future, Psycho Vlad is gonna pop and use whatever tools he has at his disposal to win this thing. That's when the madness starts."

Well, turns out I might have been right on both counts.

I hate being right about shit like this.
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The Red Sox won last night, beating the Reds 5-3.

Of course, the Reds aren't having the best season. As a matter of fact, their pitching staff set a MLB record for the most batters hit in a single season last night. By hitting three Red Sox batters, they reached that dubious 99 batters hit in a season record.

Hopefully the Red Sox win again tonight but it would be good if they won without the possibility of getting injured by a 100mph fastball...

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I made it through eight innings last night but that was because the game started at 6:40. Tonight's game also starts at 6:40 so maybe I'll make it through at least seven innings before I find myself asleep on my couch.

While I get some dinner and then settle in to watch baseball, you can check these out:

• Key phrase in this story: "...a custom four-tiered Lit’l Smokies cocktail cake."



• Ain't nothin' lower than a otter thief.



• No thanks...



• Key phrase in this story: "Visitors to a zoo in Virginia were treated to an unexpected view into nature..."



• Only in Florida.



• Get ready for gas prices to go up.



• I wonder what the Washington Monument ever do to him?



• I think just holding a sign stating he is against it would have been smarter. And a lot less painful..



• You want to know why I never became a cop? If I was a cop, I would have shot this ass-clown several times, saving all of us the cost of his incarceration and care. That's why I never became a cop.

Algorithms are amazing things

If you don't know what an algorithm is, allow me to enlighten you.

An algorithm is a set of rules used in computer programs that produce results based on basic math and/or simple "IF this THEN that ELSE that" statements. They are used to do everything from predicting what you will buy on Amazon to what you want to watch on Youtube or what will happen if you drop a bit of blue dye into a container of yellow fluid.

Some programs use algorithms to direct you to do certain things without you really knowing you are being directed. For instance, Google and Facebook both use data from you to "steer" you towards certain content such as ads for products you might be interested in or political content that aligns with you beliefs.

On the surface, no big deal until you begin to think about what else they could be used for.

There is a video platform called TikTok that is very, very popular. It consists of short videos created by the users of the platform, just like Youtube but with a time limit of several minutes. People love it. They scroll through thousands of videos and they are entertained by the silliness, educated by the intellect and touched by the light-hearted moments shared with them.

There is an algorithm that drives what videos you will see when you scroll through the offerings and there is a problem with that.

You see, TikTok was created by, and is controlled by, the Chinese government.

It is very easy to direct someone's thinking simply by bombarding them with things you want them to see. It's called propaganda and it works pretty well. For instance, if you want people to believe you won the presidential election even though you lost, all you have to do is say that you won as loudly and as often as you can. If you do it long enough, eventually people will begin to believe your lie. They will begin to believe what you say.

In the case of TikTok, the algorithm shows you videos based on where you live.

If you live in China, you get to directed to content that is designed to make you think acting like a good citizen, being productive and following the rules is good and it is what you should do.

If you live outside of China, you get directed to content that is designed to make you think being silly, being lazy and breaking the rules is what you should do.

If you live in the United States, not only do you get directed to the silly, rebellious content, you also get directed to content that is designed to kill you.
If you or your kids are into TikTok, you and your kids need to know about the algorithm. You need to know that China is trying to kill you.

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Brayan Bello has the mound for tonight's game and hopes are high. The kid has been pitching very well so my thinking is he will at least make a good showing.

As for the bullpen, I'm afraid I just don't have the same level of faith. Hopefully they don't implode...

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The Bruins announced today that they have offered, and he has accepted, a one-day contract to Zdeno Chára so that he can retire as a Bruin.

The guy has had a 25 year career, most of it with Boston. Hockey is a tough sport and 25 years of hits, checks, fights, falls and the wear-and-tear on his legs from skating, he pretty much deserves to retire. He also deserves to retire from Boston because because he spent 14 of those 25 years with the Bruins.

By the way, Bruins drop puck against the Rangers in one week. Their home opener is at 7:00 on 9/27 and I will be watching them. I will be flipping back and forth periodically to keep track of the Red Sox but the Bruins will be on the big screen and the Red Sox will be in the PiP corner.

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I'm gonna watch some baseball.

You can do whatever you want.

• Trump wanted it his way until he didn't want it his way.



• I've always said that Springfield's motto should be, "Come back to Springfield. We weren't shooting at you!"



• Jebus Effin Cripes, what the hell is wrong with that man. It wasn't a concert or a first-run movie. It was a funeral. Who gives a shit where Biden sat.



• Key phrase in this story: "His name is Kevin."



• Apparently vegetarians are aggressive.



• Attention beer drinkers: Budweiser is naturally carbonated and doesn't put any CO₂ in their beer.

Is it over?

I hope this is the last update on the status of the queen:

Yes, the queen is still dead.

This has hopefully been the final update on the status of the queen.

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The Red Sox are in Cincinnati to take on the Reds tomorrow.

Yes, I will watch the game. What the hell else am I gonna watch.

As for tonight, I set my DVR to record episode one of the remake of Quantum Leap tonight. It was a show I enjoyed back in the late 80s but, back then, I could stay up past 10:00pm so I could watch shows like that. Now I have to DVR them because there is no way I'm staying up that late.

So anyways, if I like this version, I'll just DVR the series and watch it at my leisure.

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You can check these out if you want:

• Twenty years ago today, Dave Barry used his national column to introduce the world to National Talk Like A Pirate Day.



• At some point in the near future, Psycho Vlad is gonna pop and use whatever tools he has at his disposal to win this thing. That's when the madness starts...



• They have lawyers? I don't have lawyers, how did they get lawyers?



• Goofy Joe is at it again.



• Key phrase in this story: "In the snakes defense, he was just trying to reach the homeowner about their car’s extended warranty."



• What the hell is wrong with people...

My legs hurt

My phone has one of those "health tracking" things on it and I decided to see how far we walked yesterday at the Big-E.

Turns out we walked about 4¾ miles.

Not bad for an old guy.

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The Patriots beat the Steelers this afternoon 17-14.

It was a good game to watch with both teams pretty well matched. I thought the Steelers were going to overcome in the last few minutes but the Patriots managed to run the clock down and hold them off.

Their next game is the Ravens at 1:00 next Sunday.

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The Red Sox beat the Royals 13-3 this afternoon, giving them a series win.

They are off tomorrow to travel to Cincinnati for a quick two-game interleague series against the Reds. After that they head to New York to play a four-game series against the Yankees.

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Here's your update on the status of the queen:

Yes, the queen is still dead.

This has been your update on the status of the queen.

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Dinner tonight will be the world famous baked-stuffed shrimp casserole. Entertainment tonight will be America's Funniest Home Videos and whatever I can find on youtube.

Here are some links that you might enjoy:

• I'm thinking they might need to do something about their infrastructure before this happens again for the fourth or fifth time...



• During his arraignment, he'll be released on his own recognizance because keeping him in jail where he can't hurt someone is considered racist and cruel.



• Listen up people: If you are going to do something incredibly stupid, don't do it on facebook.



• If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.



• These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise...



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

It was a Large-Fifth-Letter kind of day

We spent the day wandering around the Eastern States Exhibition grounds, rubbing elbows with the hoi-polloi of New England and wondering if the supply-chain issues are affecting soap and deodorant availability.

I don't want to say it was crowded but the phrase, "Jesus Christ, there are a shitload of people here!" pretty much sums things up.

Thankfully I have the ability to usually find a place to sit that is off to the side, away from over-flowing trash barrels with dozens of angry yellow jackets while my wife and daughter wander through all of the "crafty" booths, looking at things that mean little or nothing to me.

My goals when visiting the fair is to wander through the state buildings and then go check out the livestock shows. Everything else is meh.

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Even though I was at the fair watching the Swifty Swine pigs races, eating bizzare fried foods, being amazed at the sheer volume of booths selling crappy products, watching 4H kids show off their livestock or waiting for my wife to pick out the perfect flannel shirt at Vermont Flannel, I still managed to find time to verify that the queen is still dead.

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The Red Sox released their backup catcher, Kevin Plawecki, right after they beat the Royals 2-1 last night.

He is a free agent at the end of the season, they already have two catchers and his production as a hitter wasn't all that good. To be honest with you, they kind of did him a favor because now his agent can get a jump on getting him signed with another team.

I also want to point out that just as the game started, my youngest sent me this picture:

At some point during the game, we had the following text exchange:

("A", the one with common sense and the ability to plan ahead, is his finacé.)

So anyways, the Red Sox started game two of their three-game series at 4:00 this afternoon and since I was busy trying hard to avoid stepping in any cow shit, I did not watch the beginning of the game. When I got home and turned it on, it was the fifth inning and the Red Sox were down 4-0

In the time it took me to type this, the game has entered to seventh inning and the score is now 8-0 in favor of the Royals.

Yes, I know that wins and losses no longer matter but they are still fun to watch. It's just that they are funner to watch when they are winning.

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I'm going to eat half of my giant cremé puff and probably fall asleep early.

Here are a couple of links for you to visit:

• Key phrase in this story: "...and a suitcase full of rotting meat."



• Whelp, you should probably stay away from Illinois.



• Key phrase in this story: "...they got into a cabinet that had a folded up American flag in it and they pooped on the American flag."



• This sounds like a terrible idea.



• Key phrase in this story: "experiment with friends".

Busy day today

I didn't have a lot of time to read the news but I can tell you that the queen is still dead.

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The Red Sox are taking on the Royals this evening. Wacha is on the mound with first pitch at 7:00.

Yes, I will be watching the game.

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Nope, still can't retire.

This is what happens when Goofy Joe throws a "The recession is over!" party.

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There are some links that you can check out:

• I think they are both lying.



• And this, my friends, is why you need to pay attention to your computer security.



• More proof that our society is filled with morons.



• Key phrase in this story: "He has military experience and may be highly paranoid."



• "Hey boss. I need to duck out a little early today. I got a chiropractor appointment that I can't miss.

It's amazing what a little water can do

On September 2^nd, I took a picture of my side yard showing how poorly my grass was doing.

After looking at that picture, I decided that I was going to water my lawn for 10 minutes any day without rain and I've been pretty good about doing that.

Here are the results so far:

The left is from September 2^nd and the right is from this afternoon, September 15^th.

Not bad considering it has only been 13 days.

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Time for dead horse beating:

Yes, the queen is still dead.

This has been your dead horse beating.

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No baseball tonight which means the Red Sox can't lose. It also means I need to find some entertainment.

While I do that, you can be entertained by these:

• DiSantis is a loud-mouthed arrogant prick (much like is cult-hero, Trump) but I can’t say I disagree with the statement, "States like Massachusetts, New York, and California will better facilitate the care of these individuals who they have invited into our country by incentivizing illegal immigration through their designation as 'sanctuary states' and support for the Biden Administration’s open border policies."



• Speaking of Trump, that ass-clown is trying to start a civil war.



• Key phrase in this story: "Imagine pairing the newest, most powerful Xbox console with the very first iteration of a TV."



• Key phrase in this story: "...if your vibrator of the month shipment is delayed, that may explain why."



• There is nothing I can say about this that will make it any weirder or funnier.

Does he have a clue?

Does he even know what his policies are doing? For that matter, does he even know what day it is?

This picture says it all...

That picture is from CNN. It shows Goofy Joe at his party to celebrate his “inflation reduction act” on the same day the DJIA collapses more than 1,200 points (more than 3%) because it turns out inflation is a lot worse than everyone thought.

He keep saying everything is great but everything keeps on sucking. He keeps finding new ways to spend my tax dollars on things that don't help me one bit. He keeps saying the economy is going great but the economists all tell me it is terrible.

I don't want Trump back in the White House but if this guy gets re-elected, we can expect a terrible rest of the decade because that is how long it's gonna take to clean up his mess.

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From my sources:

This was a hard plastic-shelled carrying case that had been pressurized with air, not a bomb. When opened, the cover released and struck the hand of the employee with enough force to cause some minor trauma and possibly a contusion.

A note was found inside the case that basically said Zuckerberg is bad and virtual reality is bad.

So in other words, this is the work of a deranged mental midget who doesn't like Facebook or Zuckerberg and thinks that terrorizing Northeastern will make things better.

More proof that we, as a society, are surrounded by idiots...

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Here's another entry in the "I get the best spam" category:

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I'm going to watch the final Yankees / Red Sox matchup of the season and hope the bullpen doesn't implode again.

While I do that, you can do these:

• Key phrase in this story: "...a loose goat terrorized a community for hours before being apprehended -- and promptly urinating on a deputy."



• We don’t pay cops enough...



• Why? Were the residents under age?



• Putin keeps trying to justify his attack on Ukraine. First it was Ukrainian “nazi’s”, now it’s US “bioweapon labs” and “monster soldiers”.



• Farts From New York To California would be a great name for a 1970s children's book.

Not much going on

The news has been kinda repetitive lately so rather than continuing to beat the dead horse (or maybe it's "dead queen"??), I'll leave you with a bunch of links:

• Australia: What doesn't try to kill ya, kills ya.



• I always thought that the Russian military was equal to the US military. Turns out I was wrong. Turns out they are getting their "modern" arms from third-world nations.



• I'm really liking the James Webb Space Telescope.



• Key phrase in this story: "...if you see it, you probably shouldn't play with it."



• My fat cells say things like, "Go ahead, have another Snickers!".



• Oh Canada.



• Most parents usually get a inflatable bounce-house or a pony for their kids birthday party.



• Another case of Drunks on Lawnmowers.



• France: They're all a little kinky.



• Key phrase in this story: "No damage to me but the can will need minor repairs."



• Apparently Chuck is an old codger.

Where is all this money coming from?

Goofy Joe announced he is re-upping his commitment to his alleged "cancer moon shot" initiative.

Look, I get it, cancer is bad. Trust me, I really, really get it. I spent an entire terrifying year taking my oldest child to chemotherapy treatments back in 2011 so I can think of nothing better to spend money on than defeating cancer but where the hell is he getting all this money?

He forgave billions in college loans, he is spending trillions on his so-called "infrastructure initiative", he is shipping millions over to Ukraine and the surrounding NATO countries in weapons and aid. Now all of a sudden he wants to invest trillions in beating cancer.

What Biden fails to recognize is that the American Cancer Society, Susan G Komen For The Cure, Cancer Research Institute, etc... are all billion dollar charities that have been working on a cure for decades but they haven't found one yet. Oh sure, they've contributed to researchers who have found treatments for some cancers and, as a society, we are far better off than we were when my uncle Bob died from cancer back in the 1970s but cancer is still around and it's still bad.

No, those charities don't want to find a cure for cancer because if they did, they would cease to exist. Do you think those presidents/CEOs/CFOs want to be out of work? They don't want to be out of work and you can bet they are gonna let Goofy Joe know they don't want to be out of work.

But what I really want to say is, "Where the hell is he getting all the money for all these projects/initiatives/programs? How much is all of this going to cost me? How much is it going to cost my kids? Hell, how much is it going to cost my grandkids?"

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Guess who's no longer in a severe drought!

If this keeps trending this way, who knows, I just might have grass before the snow flies.

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In case you hadn't heard, the queen died.

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The Broncos are playing the Seahawks this evening but I'm not all that interested in either one of those teams. I'm going to have to find something else to entertain me.

While I figure out what to watch for entertainment this evening, you can visit these links:

• The flying penis blew it's head off.



• Best name for a future mission to Uranus: "Operation Butt Plug".



• Japan: They aren't like us.



• Only in Florida.



• Another "Friend of Vlad" has moved on to a better place.



• Also Only in Florida.

Hard to believe it's been 21 years

I called my wife and said, "Go home and get ready to pick the kids up. On your way home, stop at an ATM and withdraw the max."

The kids were sent home from school early (around noon) and I got home around 2:00.

The news was constant and we saw things none of us wanted to see.

For the next several weeks, we were all wondering when the next attack would come. Many patriotic songs were written and played on the radio. Changes were instituted at airports, train stations and bus stations. Large gatherings, such as baseball or football games, were held under the watchful eye of numerous police and national guardsmen.

It was certainly an interesting time and in the end, all that binladen accomplished was the deaths of tens of thousands of his countrymen as well as his own death. The story is he grabbed his wife and hid behind her as the troops entered his house. They shot him anyways.

The man was in idiot

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The Patriots lost but the Red Sox won.

The Dolphins beat up on the Patriots 20-7 this afternoon and it was not pretty.

Like I said yesterday, the offensive line isn't the best and Jones got sacked three times, one of which resulted in a fumble and a Dolphins touchdown.

Next week they will be in Pittsburgh to take on the Steelers and you can bet I will be texting my cousin(s). Hell, I might even give my uncle a call...

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As for the Red Sox, they managed to win again today, barely beating the Orioles 1-0.

Hill pitched a great five strong innings, striking out seven and allowing only two hits.

They are off tomorrow while they travel back to Boston where on Tuesday they will start a quick two-game series against the Yankees.

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I don't know if there will be any changes made to British, Bermudian or Canadian money but if Canada does decide to change the picture on its money, I vote for this:

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Here are todays links:

• The problem I have with you Joe is that you think "democracy" and "unity" are everyone agreeing with you and thinking like you and voting for your people. In this country, I am allowed to disagree with you and your policies. I am afforded the freedom to think the way I want to think



• Let me fix the headline on this story: "Burger King to invest $400million on people who can take pictures of fake hamburgers and french fries that actually look edible."



• Researchers: Contributing to the betterment of our society or a a complete waste of perfectly good oxygen.



• Only in Florida.



• Yes, the queen is still dead.



• More proof that there are a lot of insane people living among us.

Lazy day

My wife asked me to go with her and get jabbed with the new covid vaccine so yesterday, we went and got jabbed. I also opted to get a flu shot because I've had the flu and I'll do anything to avoid having it again.

Problem is the vaccines kinda wipe us out so today was a lazy day. We got the housework done but that was about it.

As for the other side effects, I got both shots in the same arm so I only had one sore arm. The soreness was gone by noon but last night it was nice to be able to sleep on one of my sides.

So that is done until they announce the next round in another year.

And you know what? I'll go get that one too. I'll go every year if they recommend it.

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The Red Sox lost their fourth game in a row last night when they got beat by the Orioles 3-2.

The Orioles are in contention for a wildcard slot since they are only four games behind the Mariners. If they keep winning, there is a very good chance they will overtake the Mariners and grab the third wildcard slot.

They are back at it again this afternoon with first pitch at 5:00pm.

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Time for a list of some things that are in my brain:

Trump is still ranting about how terrible it is that the DoJ carted off all the top secret documents he was keeping in his scrapbook at his rich-people day-care center.

The queen is still dead.

The Artemis 1 / SLS is still sitting on launch pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center.

The economy still sucks and no one is talking about what they can do to fix it.

Just another day in paradise...

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I'm going to watch some baseball and cook up a mess of pinwheel steaks.

While I do that, you can visit these links:

• What worries me about this is what Putin will do next. He's kinda psycho and I won't be surprised if he decides to try out one of them little nukes he has



• Oh sure. All of a sudden everyone wants a HIMARS.



• Just what we need. Another declaration of a viral emergency. What's next? The zombie apocalypse?



• No thanks, I'll pass.



• Key hashtag in this story: "#trucksdontfloat".



• Oh Canada.

The lawn is mowed

Well, what little of my yard that actually has grass on it has been mowed.

As I said to Pat, it looks like it's making a come back. After I mowed, I watered it for about 10 minutes.

I'm going to try and water every day that it doesn't rain for 10 minutes. I figure that where the grass is still alive, getting it wet will help it grow. It will also begin to show me the spots that are completely dead. In a week or two, I'll scratch those spots and put some seed down.

One of these days, I might just look into installing a sprinkler system. Until then, I'll just deal with a brown lawn every summer.

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Here are some links you can enjoy

• I'm going to be very curious to see if they identify the leaker.



• I know some asses that aren't very tame.



• I have no words to say about this.



• I can only imagine what my insurance agent would say about this.



• Other than that, I'm sure it was a lovely affair.



• Australia: What doesn't try to kill ya, throws poop on your ceiling.

They can't lose tonight

The Red Sox are off tonight so they can't possibly lose.

After getting swept by the Rays, they are on their way to Baltimore where tomorrow they start a three-game series against the Orioles.

Hopefully they do better against the Orioles than they did against the Rays.

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The NFL season kicks off this weekend and the Patriots are in Miami to start their season against the Dolphins at 1:00 on Sunday.

I'm assuming Belichick hasn't completely lost his mind and he will start Jones because in all honesty, their offensive line isn't all that good so they need their best QB in the pocket.

I actually have high hopes for the Patriots this season and I'm looking forward to Sunday.

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This afternoon, I went to the Vets house and showed her how to use her lawnmower. I showed her how to check the oil, how to put gas in it, how to start it and how to make it go.

I didn't do any of those things, I just showed her what she needed to do and she did it.

When I left her, she was happily mowing her lawn.

About 15 minutes after I left, I got the following text:

She is the proud and happy homeowner.

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While I figure out what I will do to entertain myself this evening, you can visit these links:

• I have a feeling that much like when Michael Jackson died, we will be hearing about this for the next two years.



• Smuggled Donkey Penises would be a fantastic name for a 1990s country/techno fusion band.



• Meet the new "Corn-bassador".



• If you would like to be entertained, this will entertain you.



• We don't pay cops enough.



• Only in Florida.

The rain actually helped

On the left is a picture I took on Friday. One the right is a picture I took this morning.

The grass is greener on the right because the sun was behind my in the morning but look closely and you will see that not only is it greener, there is more of it.

Who knows, maybe I'll have a lawn at some point.

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Time for baseball.

Here are some links:

• This sounds pretty bad to me.



• This is your brain. This is your brain on drugs.



• This woman has a huge pair of balls.



• No thanks, I'll stick with the whirly-blades version.

Let's try this again

Let me see if I can make up for my forgetfullness last night and offer you some enlightenment/entertainment this evening.

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I went to vote today and I have a piece of advice for you:

Never go to the high school to vote when the high school is letting out at 2:15. Also, don't go over at 7:00 in the morning when students are arriving or at 4:00 when after school activities are ending.

Go over at 10:00. That's the best time to go. All other times suck

It's not the students driving around that is the problem, it's the parents who are there to pick their kids up that are the problem.

Despite the fact these people possess enough knowledge to get a drivers license, almost none of them know how to read signs or follow directions.

This is what I get for not going over at 10:00 like I usually do.

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I had my quarterly meeting with my finance guy this morning and we came to the decision that if the Fed would simply do what they are doing and stop talking about it, the economy would be far better off. It's not that they are raising interest rates that is messing with the markets, it is that they are talking about raising interest rates that are messing with the markets.

For the record, I like my finance guy and he is not the reason I'll never be able to retire. As a matter of fact, he is the reason I will be able to retire when I am ready to retire.

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For what seems like the first time this year, we got a full day of rain today and I swear I heard my lawn breath a sigh of relief.

Here is a picture of my lawn breathing a sigh of relief:

Guess I should probably throw some seed down on the dead spots so hopefully I'll have a lawn next year.

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I'm going eat some dinner and the I'm going to watch some baseball.

You can do whatever you want.

If clicking links is what you want, here are some for you to click on:

• There was a time in this country when kidnapping was a capital offense. How was this guy able to do it twice? Why wasn't he executed after the first time?



• Remember when Trump got all fired up and started raging about election fraud in Georgia? Guess he was right...



• This is a good move. Now they just need to lock up Bogaerts and Devers for the rest of their playing days.



• Key entry from our favorite police log: "8:56 p.m. A young child who had just learned how to call 911 at daycare thought it would be humorous to test it out at home."



• What is it with scientists and cockroaches? Don't they have other insects that they can experiment with?



• Beaver Anal-Gland Whiskey? Who the hell thought that sounded like a good idea?



• Oh Canada.



• Key phrase in this story: "...she would only require $141."

Oops, I forgot.

I've been refinishing the modified shelf and then I watched the Red Sox lose to the Rays.

After that was dinner and now I'm sitting here at 8:30 realizing that I never posted an update.

Sorry about that.

Here are a couple of links:

• Whatta ya in for kid? I put soap on the grass.



• I've been around some people that produce just the opposite.

Holy Crap! Five in a row!

The Red Sox beat the Rangers last night and again this afternoon. Not only does this mean they swept the Rangers, it also means they have won five games in a row. Oh, and it means they have won seven of their last ten games.

They shipped Dalbec down to Worcester and called up Tristan Casas.

This is a good thing simply because Casas is a pretty good player and Dalbec is falling apart. At least down in Worcester, he'll play more and be able to work on his swing. He used to hit home runs like they were nothing but now he can't seem to hit anything. He needs to figure out what the problem is and work on things. Hopefully the hitting coach in Worcester, Rich Gedman, can spot the problem and offer the appropriate fix(es).

After today's game, they hopped on a plane and headed to Florida where tomorrow they will start a three-game series against the Rays.

Again, I doubt they'll overcome the deficit to make it into the playoffs but I still like seeing them win.

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There was no work at the Vet's house today but there is work at my house.

Fourty+ years ago, my father-in-law made a nice shelf unit for his daughter, my soon-to-be wife. That piece migrated to our house when we got married and eventually became a storage unit for all of the kids toys and games as well as a TV stand.

During the time it served the kids, they were a little rough on it and maybe even a little mischievous. There were some stars carved into the top as well as some initials. It was also pretty banged up.

Well, my wife asked if I could take the top off it, shorten it a bit and then refinish it so she could use it in her office. Today was the start of that project.

It has three shelves: top, center and bottom. There is also a cubby that was formed by a riser between the top and the center shelves.

I cut the sides at the center shelf, removing the top shelf. I then removed the riser and filled the dado with a cutoff. Finally, I shortened the bottom shelf a bit.

Right now it sits in the basement while the glue dries on the strip in the dado. Tomorrow I will hand plane the filler strip along with the edges where I cut the sides to remove the top. Then I will sand everything to not only smooth the edges but to remove as much of the finish as possible.

After that it will be mixing stains to achieve the desired color. Since I probably won't be able to remove all of the existing finish, the mixing of the stain will be a little more difficult because I'll have match the existing color.

The final step will be to add a back to the now two-shelf unit. When it was three shelves with a a center riser, it was sturdy but now that the cubby and top shelf are gone, the back will prevent it from racking out of square.

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And now that dinner is done, the baseball game is over and the air conditioners have removed all the humidity from the house, I can relax and watch bad television.

Maybe I'll watch America's Funniest Videos. Maybe I'll see what I have for DVRs.

While I figure out what I'm doing, you can visit these:

• Key phrase in this story: "...he didn't want the child to be a disturbance while in the house."



• In my humble opinion, Josh Donaldson is an arrogant prick and probably deserves a little chin music every so often.



• Yea, but what do they smell like?



• Oh Canada.



• I have no comment about this.



• Get ready for internet outages.

Holy crap! Another win!

Even though I only made it to the 7th inning, I went to bed knowing that the Red Sox were winning the game.

They have no won two of the four games against the Rangers and if they win this afternoon, they will have won the series.

Speaking of this afternoon, the game started at 4:10. Right now, they are in the 5th inning and the score is 1-0 in favor of the Red Sox. They need more than one run to win this game but it's a start.

It would be nice if they win the series. Hell, it would be excellent if they win today & tomorrow and sweep the Ranger before heading down south to play the Rays.

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Today we rented a U-Haul van and moved all of the very large items from our house to the Vet's house.

Despite my advanced years, I can still haul stuff around and I'm perfectly capable of carrying large items up or down stairs. But the bottom line here is I am no longer 25. I am no longer 35. Hell, I'm no longer 45 or 55. My days of having a body that recovers from hard work are gone and right now, I'm lounging on my couch, popping ibuprofen like candy.

Boy, am I glad that's done.

On the upside, the Vet is happy. She has all of the large furniture items from here that she wanted and she has begun the process of putting them where she wants them. She is awaiting delivery of some items and when those arrive, she will have a nice comfortable home.

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Enjoy these links:

• The guy stole a Beechcraft King Air. That's a multi-million dollar plane. I guess if you're gonna go, go big.



• Another attempt. Another delay.



• Trump: The gift that keeps on giving.



• Seems to me that Goofy Joe should have learned something from Rodhams famous "deplorables" speech.



• At some point in the future, they are going to discover that this causes peoples brains to shrink or something like that.



• New Zealand: We aren't Australia but we're trying.

Holy Crap! They won again!

I went to bed in the 7th inning last night (man, that guy Otto with the Rangers is the slowest pitcher on the planet) with the Red Sox down 6-3. I woke up this morning to see they won 9-8.

This is a good thing that makes me happy. They are seven & a half games out of the wildcard and stand little or no chance of making the playoffs but I'll take all the wins they can scrape up.

First pitch tonight is at 7:00 and hopefully the Rangers pitcher is a bit quicker than the guy last night. Maybe I'll be able to watch all nine innings tonight.

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Today I mowed my dirt and weeds.

Maybe I should think about watering it...

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File this one under, "I get the best spam":

Actually, that one is more fraud than spam. They want me to call them so they can tell me, "If you give me your account number, we can refund the money."

If you get these, just delete them.

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Nope, still no retirement for me:

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Here are some links:

• I wonder what was in those folders. More importantly, I wonder where those documents are...



• Everybody needs to calm down.



• I am really enjoying the James Webb Space Telescope.



• You just know he spent a lot of time explaining to his wife how, "It seemed like a good idea."



• Only in Florida.
  (Actually, it's Georgia but the dingbats are from Florida and Georgia is kinda like "North Florida")