A couple of wins

The Red Sox beat the Guardians last night, winning the game 9-1.

Gray had a good outing, facing 24 hitters over 6 innings, giving up 1 run, walking 3 and striking out 7.

As for today, the game started at 1:30 and Suarez had the start.

He faced 25 batters ove 5 innings, giving up 4 runs, walking 2 and striking out 10.

The Red Sox won that game 9-4 and the won the series.

They are off tomorrow while they head back home to Boston where on Tuesday they will start a 3-game series against the Orioles.

⧫
At 12:30 this morning, when most normal human beings are either sound asleep, drunk at bar or working the midnight shift, Dementia Donny was on his computer telling us that he got a "30 out of 30" on a "high difficulty cognitive test":

As I've said before, he is referring to the Montreal Cognitive Assessment

This is a tool used to determine if the person taking it is experiencing mental decline or memory issues. My doctor gives me this assessment every year at the start of my annual physical because, well, I'm old.

Trust me people, it isn't that hard. A score of 30 does not indicate I am an extremely intelligent person, it indicates I understand the alphabet, I know what a horse looks like and I can tell you the day/date and the approximate time.

Actually, I might not be able to tell you the day or the date. Those are things people who need to be places need to know. I'm retired and for the most part, I have no need to be places. I do, however, know how to use my phones appointment calendar so when someone says, "Hey, let's go to lunch on Thursday!" I put it in my calendar and my phone reminds me when I need to leave.

Anyways, saying that completing the assessment means you are "extremely intelligent" is like saying that falling out of a tree means you know how to fly.

Very Stable Genius indeed...

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Here are some links:

• What kind of scumbag goes around stabbing horses.



• These people are coming here to Massachusetts...



• The headline makes it sound like the fan was a jerk but the story is far different.



• Key line in this headline: "Deputies Were Not Amused."

Another loss

They lost 4-3 last night and they are tied 1-1 in the 5^th inning this afternoon.

It's getting harder and harder to watch.

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Time for an old man rant...

When I was a little kid, we would walk to Norman's Pharmacy on Island Pond Rd. and for 15 or 20 cents, we would buy a Guillows "JetFire" Glider. If we were flush with cash, we would spend 50 cents and buy the rubber-band powered "SkyStreak".

I discovered today that Guillows is still in business.

I discovered today that Guillows charges $5.00 for the JetFire and $7.00 for the SkyStreak.

Are you shitting me!! These are cheap balsa wood airplanes with a lifespan of about 15 or 20 minutes.

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Here are a couple of links:

• My youngest and his wife heard it. They are calling it, "Big Boom 2026".



• Apparently the sea cucumber is immortal.



• The man loves his rallys...

They got their ass kicked

The Red Sox and Braves were tied 2-2 after 5 innings when the manager decided to put a guy named Coulombe in to pitch the 6^th. He proceeded to load the bases so the manager decided to take him out and put Weissert in.

I don't want to say Weisert had a bad outing but a media guy I don't normally like made me laugh when he said the following about Weissert:

So anyways, the Braves won 10-2.

The Red Sox are in Cleveland to take on the Guardians. First pitch is at 7:10 and Samaniego is the opener for Bello.

This is probably not going to go well.

So much for my medium hope...

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Here are some links:

• I'm betting he's throwing a major hissy-fit over this.



• Oh good.



• If you are a fan of Vanilla Ice, fear not. He is still performing at Trumps big party.



• Bezos big rocket blew up.

They WON!

The Red Sox shut out the Braves, beating them 8-0 last night.

Early pitched an excellent game, faceing 28 batters over 7 innings, walking 3, striking out 7 and giving up 0 runs.

But the big news was the batters. They combined for a total of 15 hits last night which meant they were moving the runners along the base path where they eventually stepped on home plate.

They were back at again this afternoon. The game started at 4:10 and Tolle had the start. As of now, it is the 3^rd inning and the score is 0-0.

I'm pleased to report that after last nights win, I have more than a little hope. I'd say I'm up to a medium hope.

Oh, and my youngest is at the game. He sent me this picture:

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I'm going to watch this game.

You can enjoy these links:

• Key line in this story: "Well, by a recently published estimate, about $2.9 billion per year, and that is for the climate-related surcharges alone." I did the math and that works out to almost $1,100 per year for each household in the state.



• Well this is certainly not a good thing. They kinda need him.



• I wonder if she'll qualify for that new 'Anti-Weaponization Fund" that Dementia Donny is setting up.



• Key line in this story: "...tens of millions of dollars in gold bars for work-related expenses."



• I can only imagine the defacement possibilities...

They lost, again...

The Red Sox took a 2-0 lead in the 1^st inning and held on to it until the 5^th but that was when the joy went out of my life and they ended up losing the game 7-6.

They are back at it again tonight.

Early has the start and first pitch was at 6:45. It is currently 0-0 in the 2^nd inning

Yes, I still have a little hope.

⧫
Dementia Donny doesn't care.

He doesn't care about midterms.

He doesn't care about our financial situation.

He doesn't care about members of the military who lost their lives..

He doesn't care about your pitiful existence.

He doesn't care about good relationships with our neighbors.

I wonder what he does care about...

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Key quote in this story: "I worry about making sure I’m making sure I’m doing what I can to help the team."

Dear Craig,

Allow me to point out at least four things you have done that did not help the team

1. You fired the majority of the scouting staff and brought in some consulting firm to provide you with the mathematical analysis to pick players.
2. You traded away Devers, a big hitter and semi-decent 3^rd baseman for 4 minor-league pitchers, none of whom are still with the team.
3. When every human with even a small amount of baseball knowledge was screaming at you to find a hitter to replace Bregman, you went and got two pitchers.
4. You fired the majority of the coaching staff and drove Jason Varitek out of the organization. Then you replaced them with the AAA coaching staff.

There are many other things that you said or did that did not help the team so please stop lying to us. We get enough lies from your boss, Sam Kennedy

Sincerely,
A Red Sox Fan

⧫
Here's a few links:

• Only the idiots of the Massachusetts legislature would make eastern standard time permenant when everyone else is making daylight savings time permanant.



• Is she saying that she will be the one who decides the constitutionality of a ballot? Because I'm pretty sure the State Supreme Court and the US Supreme Court have that job already.



• Oh good, he's threatening someone else now.

Looking for that silver lining

Looking at the league standings, there is one good thing I can say about the Red Sox - They aren't the Angels...

Unfortunately, they are in sole possession of last place in the ALEast:

Tonight they take on the team with the best record in Major League Baseball, the Atlanta Braves. Suarez has the start and first pitch is at 6:45pm.

I don't have much hope they will win.

Okay, maybe I have a little hope. I mean, what the hell. I'm a Red Sox fan from the 1960's. I'm used to them sucking.

⧫
No new news.

Ukraine and Russia are still blowing each other up.

Iran and the US are still blowing each other up.

Israel is still blowing everybody up.

It's just a blowing up fest.

⧫
This may be the perfect evening to move a tv out onto the porch and watch the Red Sox outdoors.

The again, maybe I'll just sit on my couch and watch the game.

I woke up at 4:00 this morning because of a bird sitting in a tree right outside one of the bedroom windows. It was a happy bird, singing a happy tune in a loud & happy voice and I was not happy.

I came very close to throwing something out the window at the tree.

I suspect I will not be staying awake for the entire game and I'd rather fall asleep on my couch than in a patio chair.

⧫
Here are some links:

• Don't forget, this is the guy who claimed to be the 'President of Peaace'. He is the inaugural winner of the soccer ball peace prize.



• I would like to know how many broken arms there were.



• You need a license to drive a car. You need a license to own a gun. Hell, you need a license to own a dog but they let any asshole be a parent.



• The media sure seems to like questioning everything the interim Red Sox manager does.

It's Memorial Day

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I live in New England. Specifically, I live in a small town in western/central Massachusetts.

For those of you that live in other regions of this planet, let me tell you about the weather in New England: The weather in New England either sucks or it's beautiful.

Allow me to explain:

14 days ago, we were wearing coats or heavy shirts.
10 days ago, we turned the heat off and opened the windows to let in some fresh air.
8 days ago, we put the air conditioners into our windows and turned them on.
5 days ago, we turned the air conditioners off but left the windows open.
3 days ago, we closed the windows.
Yesterday we turned the heat back on.
Today we turned the heat off and opened the windows.

I wonder what it's like to live in a location where you know, within a few degrees, what the temperature is going to be every day. Here, we have no idea if we need to wear gloves, hats and a coat or if we should be wearing shorts and a t-shirt.

As the famous quote goes, "If you don't like the weather in New England now, just wait a few minutes..."

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Did Dementia Donny win his war in Iran yet?

He says he has won the war in Iran.

Remember back in January when gasoline cost this much?

Dementia Donny says he doesn't care about gas prices.

Does Iran think the war is over?

No, Iran does not think the war is over. As a matter of fact, I'm betting that the current leadership in Iran doesn't even know who Trump is.

I wish I understood what his goal was. Personally, I think he's crazy as a loon and he has no goal. He's just doing whatever crazy shit pops into his plaque-laden brain.

⧫
All of the porch furniture and widgets are out and the back porch is completed.

At some point, I will be taking one of our small televisions out there and setting it up so I can watch baseball games out there when the weather is nice.

Nothing better than watching a ball game outdoors.

⧫
Here are some links:

• Key line in this story: "You look at the standings and somehow we’re still in it."



• That's really far away.



• The only thing worse than Pabst Blue Ribbon is warm Natty Light.



• Lighten up people, it's just water.

Despite the constant drizzle, the Red Sox and the Twins played baseball today.

First pitch was at 1:30 and the Twins took an early 1-0 lead.

The lead changed a few times throughout the game but when it mattered, the score was 4-6 in favor of the Twins.

This means the Red Sox got swept and are now in sole possession of last place in the ALEast.

They are off tomorrow while they wait for the Braves to come into town.

⧫
Here are some links:

• Is anyone shocked by this? I'm not shocked by this.



• You gotta love the VFW guys.



• Man, I would think that Trump has got to be getting a little nervous. That's like the third or fourth time shots have been fired near him.



• How much of an asshole do you have to be to do something like this.

Two losses

The Red Sox scored 4 runs in the first inning last night and I was hopeful. But since the Red Sox don't want me to have hope, they decided to shit the bed and ended up losing 8-6 to the Twins.

So much for being tied for 3^rd place in the ALEast...

Today was no better. The opener, Morán, gave up 2 runs in the 1^st inning and Bello came in to give up 2 more runs over the next 5 innings. They ended up losing 4-2 to the Twins.

At least they didn't give me hope.

They are now tied with the Orioles for last place in the ALEast.

⧫
The farm has been planted.

She has peppers, squash, cucumbers and those nasty, evil tomato things.

I'm hoping the peppers do well because I like bell peppers. They are great in an omelette or fried up with some onions on a hamburger.

⧫
I started the sprinkler system schedule last night and I can already sense my water bill going up...

⧫
Here are some links:

• Mafia? Never heard of it. We're a social club. Ain't no one here like that...



• I bet a dollar that Trump caved on the nuclear issue and the Strait of Hormuz is going to become Iran's personal piggy bank.



• Key line in this story: "...the director was not on vacation."

Another lawn mowing...

I sometimes think my fertilizer guy might be doing too good of a job.

I have a fertilizer guy simply because I have no idea what chemicals to put down and when to put them down. I figured hiring some guy who knew what to do and when to do it would be a good idea. Also, he is a friend of one of my drinking buddies and he used to join us at the "after work" getherings. He talked me into it in a bar one night after several adult beverages

Turns out that knowing what to do and when to do it makes for a lawn that grows really, really fast.

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Over the course of my career, I worked under several easily-identified "management styles".

There is the "Set goals and let the people do the work" style where a manager says "We need to accomplish XYZ. How long will it take you to do that?" You tell them how long it will take, establish some benchmarks and the only thing they want from you during the duration of the project are progress updates and to let them know if they need to step in to help out. They do not tell you how to do your job and they do not micromanage the project. The only time they get involved is when the team of people working on the project need to be refocused. With very few exceptions, people work well in that environment. The exceptions are the screw-offs who spend all their "work" time messing around or surfing the internet for porn while everyone else is busting their ass.

There is the "I'm the boss and your going to do it my way" style where the manager says "We need to accomplish XYZ and this is how we're going to do it." They tell you what tools to use, how long it's going to take for you to do it and they are standing behind you telling you what to do every step of the way. They are micromanaging down to a level where the project team is merely an extra set of hands for the manager. Most people do not work well in that environment. The ones who work well in that environment are the ones that should have never been hired in the first place because they don't know what they are doing and they think they are accomplishing something.

There is the "Go do XYZ and don't bother me. I have important manger things to do" style where the manager fails to provide support for the team if it is skidding out of control and is about to slam into a deadline at 100mph. They are oblivious to the problem and when it happens, they blame a few members of the team for the missed deadlines. If the team is successful in meeting the deadlines, the manager take full credit for delivering the project on-time.

The absolute worst management style is "Chaos" where the manager identifies the goal and imposes a few guidelines. They then wait in the background until the project is underway and the team is focused. That is when they introduce some new requirements and impose new guidelines without changing the goal. They have introduced chaos into the system because they think it will help them identify which team members will rise to the top and perform at a high-level for them. I actually had a vice president once say to me, "You need to be able to thrive in ambiguity and adapt with agility" which is the dumbest line I think I've ever heard and I'm almost positive he was quoting it directly from some manager trade journal or maybe the latest self-help book.

Guess which management style Dementia Donny uses...

If you said chaos, you would be correct. If you said micromanager, you would be correct. If you said oblivious blamer, you would be correct.

I have no idea how anyone can show fealty to him, never mind work for him.

⧫
The Red Sox and Twins play at 7:10 this evening and Tolle has the start.

Since the Yankees lost to the Blue Jays last night, the Red Sox are no longer tied for third place in the ALEast.

For the record, my concern with the Red Sox pitching situation is that when Crochet returns from the IL, the Red Sox will send Tolle back down to Worcester and keep Bello.

Tolle has been great and Bello has been unstable as hell. Keeping Bello in the rotation would be a significant mistake on the part of the Red Sox.

Oh, and Story is out for 6-10 weeks. Also, it's looking like Anthony might not be back as quick as they hoped.

⧫
Here are some links:

• Key line in this story: "I cannot in good conscience ask him to face this fight alone..."
  She was never my favorite person but her decision has raised my respect level for her up a few notches.



• Dementia Donny finally got control of the independent Federal Reserve Bank. I can't wait to see what kind of damage he does to the dollar.



• Craig "Heart Attack" Kimbrel may have thrown his last pitch.



• I don't think the name The Hammond Bears is as intimidating...



• If this passes, I will be happy.

First sweep of the year!

The Red Sox managed to win last night and that means they swept the Royals. It is their first sweep of the 2026 season.

Again, I did not stay awake long enough to see the end of the game but I did manage to see them score the winning runs in the 7^th inning. When I woke up this morning, I found that the Red Sox had won the game 4-3.

With the sweep of that series, the Red Sox have moved into a tie for third place in the ALEast.

They are off today to travel home to Boston. Tomorrow they will start a 3-game series against the Twins.

As for what I will watch this evening, NESN is carrying the Worcester Red Sox so I'll be able to fill my baseball needs.

⧫
Here are some links:

• So if I understand this correctly, if I can point to some incident where I was bein' repressed by the federal government, I can get money?



• Dementia Donny's fellow dictators are not happy that he is going after a fellow dictator.



• If you are wondering why the ebola outbreak is spreading, this is why.

First heat wave of 2026

Turns out we had an official heat wave. That means it was over 90° for three days in row. Actually, we had four days of 90°+ but I wasn't paying attention and I missed Sunday.

Today was the last day of high heat and things look cooler starting tomorrow. As a matter of fact, the next 5 days are all suppossed to be 70° or below.

My kind of temps.

⧫
Despite my falling asleep in the 7th inning and not being there to coach them along, the Red Sox managed to win last night.

They beat the Royals 7-1 even though Suarez only made it through 4⅓ innings. The bullpen saved the game and Whitlock got the win.

They play the third and final game tonight. First pitch is at 7:40 and Early has the start.

⧫
Here are some links:

• All of us should sue him over this.



• Apparently we can issue arrest warrants for foreigners.



• I never liked Sonnenfeld because he always came across as a pompous ass. But every once-in-awhile, he makes clear and sensible statements.



• I guess Dementia Donny failed in China.

Extra damned hot today

Damn, it was toasty today.

Yes, I put my air conditioners in. I'm not designed to deal with this kind of heat this early in the year.

I'm surprised the "reporters" on the local news stations didn't do the old "You could cook an egg on the [insert hot, flat surface here]" skit they used to do a few years ago.

Then again, eggs were a lot cheaper a few years ago...

⧫
When I look at the MLB standings to see how badly the Red Sox are doing, I never really look at the rest of the teams. I don't care where the Rangers or the Twins are in the standings.

Well, the Red Sox won last night so I wanted to how that affected them in the standings.

Then I decided to look at the entire standings.

When I looked at the total American League standings, I noticed something weird. Of the 15 teams in that league, only 4 of them have a winning record at or above .500.

By contrast, in the National League 10 of 15 teams have a winning record.

I'm not sure if the scheduling changed when the NL adopted the designated hitter rule and now the AL & NL are playing more games against each other or if there is a clear problem with the way the AL teams are built.

Whatever it is, it's weird.

⧫
As mentioned above, the Red Sox beat the Royals 3-1 last night.

Gray had a fantastic outing, facing 24 batters over 6 innings, giving up 1 earned run and 1 walk while striking out 9.

There is still a major problems with the offense. They left 9 runners on the bases last night, including Masataka who ran like a maniac to get himself a triple and then walked back into the dugout at the end of the inning when the next two batters struck out.

Thankfully, Gasper hit a single and then Contreras hit a 2-run homer to give the Red Sox a 2-0 lead in the 6^th inning.

Then, in the 7^th inning, Wong hit a double and then Soggard hit a single that moved Wong over to 3^rd base. Then Duran hit a sacrifice fly that sent Wong home, making it 3-1.

Game 2 in the series is tonight at 7:40. Suarez has the start and I'm hoping his hamstring doesn't act up on him.

⧫
Here are some links:

• Key line in this story: "While Trump has repeatedly threatened military action during the ceasefire without following through..."



• AI: Is there anything it can do?



• Attention home owners: If you add additional living space for additional people, you need to add additional utilities like maybe a sewer hookup.



• Things I wish I never learned about.

Damned hot

I did not look at my thermostat today because I was busy running errands and then mowing my lawn but I'm betting it went above 90°

And tomorrow is supposed to be even hotter.

I think I'm going to be glad I mowed my lawn today...

⧫
The Red Sox are in Kansas City Missouri to play game 1 of a 3-game series against the Royals

First pitch was at 7:10 and Gray has the start. It is currently 0-0 in the top of the 3^rd.

The Royals aren't having a great season but they are playing better than the Red Sox. All things considered, I'll be happy if the Red Sox win at least one of the three games.

⧫
The Steelers offered Aaron Rodgers a one year contract to come back and play football.

When I found out about it, I had the following text conversation with my cousin out in Pittsburgh:

I'm beginning to suspect that the guys running the Steelers are as crazy as the guys running the Red Sox.

⧫
Here are some links:

• Looks like Dementia Donny is buying his cult's loyalty using our money.



• He's being played like a cheap violin. They aren't going to negotiate anything.



• Isn't this how the mob operates?

A win and a loss.

The Red Sox managed to hold off the Braves last night and win the game.

Tolle pitched a pretty good game, facing 28 batters over 8 inings, giving up 2 earned runs, walking 1 and striking out 3

In the 8^th inning, with 2 outs and the Braves up 2-1, Abreu smacked a line-drive double. Then, with 2 strikes against him, Contrares hit a 2-run home run. That made the score 3-2 in favor of the Red Sox.

In the 9^th inning, with the Red Sox up 3-2, Chapman, in very uncharacteristic fashion, managed to let the Braves load the bases with 2 outs. A Braves batter smacked a sharp grounder right back at Chapman and it hit him in the leg, knocking him down. Chapman scrambled to his feet, chased the ball down and flipped it to first for the final out of the game but man, it was close.

Very close...

"Close" as in it wasn't really clear that the ball beat the runner and the Braves might actually have a successful challenge of the out call.

But they didn't challenge and the Red Sox walked away with the win.

Why the Braves did not challenge the final out of the game is beyond me. A challenge of a close base-running call on the final out is a no-brainer because they had nothing to lose.

⧫
As for today's game, first pitch was at 1:35 and Bello had the start.

He kinda sucked.

Like a lot.

The game ended with the Braves beating the Red Sox 8-1.

During the offseason, Breslow went out and got a bunch of pitchers even though the Red Sox needed hitters. I understand his thinking and the pitching (with the exception of Bello) has been great. The problem is great pitching doesn't score runs.

Pitchers do not step on home plate, hitters step on home plate and there is no one on the Red Sox that I look at and think to myself, "Oh good, so-and-so is up. He's gonna hit the ball".

I'm thinking they might have fired the wrong guy...

⧫
And so it goes...

I checked the prices because I have two cars that are below half a tank and a 5 gallon gas can that is empty.

I'm gonna have to take out a loan...

⧫
Here are some links:

• The Ukrainian's are still responding to Psycho Vlad's "special military operation".



• Just another case of car-violence followed by knife-violence.



• If you are stupid enough to contaminate the french fries by putting them in your mouth before serving them, you deserve to go to jail.



• Miami is 175 miles from Cuba, Fort Lauderdale is 200 miles from Cuba and Mar-a-Lago is 250 miles from Cuba...

And another loss

It took them 10 innings to lose but lose they did. The Red Sox got beat 3-2 byt the Braves last night and I stayed up for the entire game.

It really looked like they had a chance but thanks to Carl Yastrzemski's grandson, Mike, the Braves pulled it off in the 10th inning.

The Red Sox have decided that Story has a bad groin so they put him on the IL for 10 days and called up Sogard.

I'm not entirely sure that is a bad thing because Story has been in a defensive slump for the last few weeks.

They are back at it again tonight with Tolle on the mound. First pitch was at 7:15. It is currently 1-0 Braves after 3 innings.

⧫
Our porch is semi-open.

By semi, I mean we have set up the large dining table and its chairs but have not taken out the side chairs and small tables. There is a load of pollen yet to come and it's a bitch to get off the exposed furniture. The dining table has a tablecloth that can be taken outside and shaken out.

No matter to me because I enjoy sitting at the big table with my laptop in front of me watching bad videos. I'm seriously considering getting a small television and hanging it on the wall so I can watch baseball out there.

⧫
Masslive has the Patriots winning 10 of their 17 games.

I disagree.

I have the patriots winning 12 of their 17 games.

Here are the MassLive predictions.

I think the Patriots will beat the Chief's and the Bronco's while MassLive has them losing. As a matter of fact, I think the Patriots, with their improved offensive line, will probably beat the Seahawks as well.

Then again, what the hell do I know.

⧫
If this keeps going the way it's going, I'm gonna have to start up my sprinklers...

I don't want to start up my sprinklers...

⧫
Here are some links:

• Get ready Foxboro, the soccer hooligans are coming your way.



• Add this to the list of things that are not newsworthy.



• Check your shrubbery.

They lost...

Once again, the Red Sox batters were unable to step on home plate and the Phillies won 3-1 last night.

It's getting more and more frustrating but as is always the case, I will continue to watch them play baseball.

Tonight they are in Atlanta to start a 3-game series against the Braves.

Early has the start and first pitch is at 7:15

By the way, the Braves have the best record in all of MLB so my hopes are not high for the Red Sox...

⧫
Here are some links:

• I'm not sure what they will accomplish by bringing charges against a 94 year old guy.



• Our society has gone to hell. People get upset at the dumbest shit.



• I understand why they are doing it but I don't understand how they expect to regulate peoples opinions and ideas.



• As I said the other day, "These things aren't working out very well."



• More proof that there are stupid people everywhere.

They won!

The Red Sox managed to beat the Phillies 3-1 last night thanks to a 2-run home run by Rafaela.

Todays game is curently scheduled to start at 7:05 and as of 6:30, they have taken the tarp off the field.

⧫
Nothing of note happened today, which given the current state of our government is kinda weird.

I do think Dementia Donny is gonna be pissed when he finds out the Supreme Court ruled that the federal government could not stop abortion pills from being sent through the mail. But given that I'm pretty sure they could have sent that stuff through FedEX or UPS, I didn't understand what the big deal was about blocking it in the mail.

Also, Cuba says it has run out of oil and diesel so those people are kinda screwed. Without oil or diesel, they have no way to generate electricity. Without electricity, they have no hospitals, no refrigeration and no lights.

Welcome to the stone age...

⧫
Here are some links:

• Another one bites the dust.



• This is why we don't have tee times.

Another loss

At some point during last night's game, my son and I had the following exchange:

Yes, they lost. The Phillies beat them 2-1.

The problem wasn't pitching, it was the whole hitting and running and stepping on home plate thing that was the problem.

They'll go at it again this evening. Gray has the start and first pitch is at 6:45pm. Let's hope the batters become runners who turn into scorers.

⧫
Here are some links:

• This assclown murdered his wife and child because he didn't want to look bad. He should get the death penalty.



• He was met by vice president Han Zheng.



• I can only imagine what Christmas presents for kids will cost...



• These things aren't working out very well.



• Africa is getting ready to fall apart.

There will be baseball

The Phillies, with their interim manager, will play the Red Sox, with their interim manager, at 6:45 this evening.

Morán will be the opener and then Bellow will come in to hopefully go at least 5 innings.

I gotta be honest with you, the Phillies do not have a great record (19-22) but it's better than the Red Sox (17-23) so my hopes are not high that the Red Sox are going to win this series.

⧫
According to the weather dweebs, it's going to rain tomorrow, Thursday and Friday. When I looked at my lawn, I realized that if I didn't mow it today, I would probably regret it come Saturday.

So I mowed my lawn.

⧫
Here are some links:

• Another one bites the dust.



• I don't know if he's a drunk or not but he does act like an immature boob a lot of the time.



• Well, he's not going to be a problem anymore, is he...



• When cities set up speeding / red light cameras, this is what you get.

The Red Sox did not lose today

They didn't play baseball today so they did not lose today...

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Gas prices have not changed in the last week. Don't get me wrong, they still suck but at least they did not go up.

On the upside, the DJIA is up and no one knows why...

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We have begun the process of opening our back porch. This involved checking all the screen for damage and cleaning them.

This coming weekend we will uncover all the furniture, check it for damage and place it all in the strategic locations.

Once that is done, I will move my lazy but out there to surf the internets for news and funny stuff while watching the hummingbirds drink sugar water.

We like our porch.

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My daughter is doing some work on her house repairing / replacing a section of subfloor in a bathroom. After cutting out the piece of flooring, she went into the basement to take a good look at what she was dealing with. While doing this, she was texting me about things that she was seeing that she wanted my opinion about.

She sent me this and it made me laugh so I figured I would share it with you:

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Here are some links:

• He is in over his head.



• Somehow or another, this is going to cost me money.



• First there was Venezuela. Then there was Iran. Next up is Cuba.



• Get ready for some internet and television outages.

Happy Mothers Day

I hope all you mothers out there had an enjoyable day.

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The Red Sox managed to lose 4-1 to the Rays this afternoon and they are now back in last place in the ALEast.

I don't understand it. They should be hitting the ball and stepping on home plate more than any other team but they aren't.

They are off tomorrow and the Phillies will be in Boston on Tuesday to start a 3-game series.

Hopefully the Red Sox can win at least two of those games.

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The mulch-a-palooza is done and all the various shovels, barrows, trailers and tractors are back in their respective places.

Now if I can get my back, hands and legs back into their respective places, I'll be all set.

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Here are some links:

• Boy, that cease-fire that Donny Boy worked out sure is going well...



• Attention DA Quinn, let me fix your statement for you: "He clearly can’t control his violent tendencies and needs to be put to death to protect the public."



• Cops: We don't pay them enough.



• Baby, if you've ever wondered. Wondered whatever became of me.
  I'm living on the air in Cincinnati. Cincinnati, WKRP.



• It's only a firestorm because you keep harping on it. This is between him and his wife. No one else needs to be involved.

No baseball today

The Red Sox and Rays decided they didn't want to play baseball in the rain and I don't blame them. When I told my son that they might not be playing today, his reply was:

The game has been rescheduled to July 17^th.

That means I am spending my evening watching the SEC Softball Championship between Texas and Alabama.

Man, those girls play a wicked game of softball. Not at all like the way we played in the company league I used to play in. Not a single one of those girls has a beer in their hand...

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The mulch-a-palooza was put on hold today because neither one of us wanted to spread mulch in the rain.

Will pick it back up tomorrow and hopefully finish it off.

I will say this - our front and side yards sure look really nice. All we have left to do is the backyard and we should have no problem finishing that off tomorrow

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Here are some links:

• I don't believe him. Psycho Vlad is a bigger scam artist than Dementia Donny.



• Attention Sarah "I can see Russia!" Palin: Hantavirus has a 41% fatality rate.



• Oh goody, higher gas prices.



• Get ready for a super El Niño.

So much for the streak

The Red Sox started off okay last night and the game was tied 3-3 though 5 innings. Then, in the 6^th inning, Bennett lost it and gave up a run so Tracy pulled him and put Weissert in. Weissert immediately gave up another run, giving the Rays a 5-3 lead.

In the end, the Red Sox lost 8-4 to the Rays.

They are back at it again tonight. Early has the start and first pitch is at 7:10.

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The local AHL hockey team, the Springfield Thunderbirds, has made it to the Atlantic Division finals. They will start the best-of-5 series this Tuesday in Scranton, PA when they take on the Penguins.

If they make it through the divisionals, they will play the best-of-7 Eastern Conference finals.

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Dementia Donny is very excited about the price of crude oil.

I don't know about you folks but I don't buy barrels of crude oil.

I buy gallons of refined gasoline.

Hey DonnyBoy, call me when a gallon of gasoline is back down to $2.89 per gallon

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Here are some links:

• I'm kinda hoping this is a felony.



• The short answer is, "Yes, you are being pricks" but the long answer really is, "Cities and towns should be able to zone the way they want to zone and the state should have no say in the matter."



• Here's 10 lawsuits looking for some lawyers.



• Key line in this story: "We told him that there is a place in this organization for him for as long as he wants it."

A sweep is always good

The Red Sox beat the Tigers 4-0 last night, winning all 3 games in their series.

It was Gray's first game back after a brief stint on the IL and I thought he did pretty well. He only gave up 4 hits but a lot of his success can also be attributed to some stellar defense.

So with that sweep, they are now tied with the Blue Jays for last place in the ALEast and only 1 game behind the Orioles.

They are back at home in Boston where tonight they start a 4-game series against the Rays. If you look at the standings abaove, you will notice that the Rays have been playing some pretty damned good baseball. I hope the Red Sox can continue their winning streak.

The new guy, Bennett, who pitched on May 1^st when we went to the game, has the start tonight. First pitch is at 7:10

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We spent this morning and afternoon doing our annual mulch-a-palooza.

This is after we had finished for the day. It's about half the pile that we started with and I moved it all using my ancient wheelbarrow & a snow shovel.

This year is easier than the previous years. This year we only got 5 cubic yards of mulch instead of the usual 8 yards and a lot of it went under the line of trees we have on the side of our house.

We'll be back at it again tomorrow but that will involve the tractor and trailer because we will be spreading it in the back gardens.

Oh, and after we called it a day of mulching, I decided that since I alredy stunk and was dirty, I would mow my lawn.

It's amazing what fertilizer does to grass. I mowed it last Monday and I had to mow it again today because it had grown quite a bit.

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I have to take some ibuprofen and then watch some baseball.

Here are some links:

• This story talks about UMass but I can assure you that Canvas is used by almost every college. My guess is if you went to, or worked at, a college at any point in the last 10 years, they got your information.



• I'm beginning to think he might be a little fragile.



• I guess Dementia Donny sent Little Marco to Rome to try and make nice with the Pope.



• He's doing a great job. Best job ever. Many people have told him that no one has done a better job than him.

Good win

The Red Sox beat the Tigers 10-3 last night and there were some fireworks in the game.

The Tiger's pitcher seemed to get a little upset that the Red Sox were hitting home runs off him. I guess he wanted to let the Red Sox know he was unhappy and the best way he could do that was to hit Story in the back with a 94mph fast ball.

For those of you that have never been hit by a baseball, I can tell you it hurts. A lot. And the few times I got hit, it was thrown by some kid who was probably topping out at about 60mph. I can't imagine what 94mph feels like.

So anyways, that resulted in both teams running out onto the field to hold an in-depth discussion about the incident. Fortunately, that was about as far as it got. No fists were thrown and both teams managed to get back into their dugouts without anything more than some bad words being exchanged.

The umpires decided that the pitcher was a bad boy so they ejected him from the game. This afternoon, MLB decided he needed a bit of punishment so they suspended him for six games and fined him some unknown amount.

They are back it again this evening. First pitch was at 6:40pm and it is currently 0-0 in the 2^nd inning. I'm assuming all the players will remain in their dugouts when they are not actually playing.

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Here are some links:

• If you ever wonder what a hero looks like, he looks like Kevin Trainor.



• If you use Microsoft Edge as your internet web browser, you should probably rethink that.



• I guess that since Psycho Vlad is losing in Ukraine, he's decided to realy piss off the European nations.

There was golf today

We played our usual 9 holes of golf this afternoon and it was, as always, a good time.

We aren't good at it and we'll never be invited to play professionally but we laugh a lot and solve all of the worlds problems.

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After golf I had some things to get done so that explains why this is both late and short.

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Here are a couple of links:

• Hey! The Beach Boy and his group of studio musicians will be performing at the Big E this year.



• You just gotta love dogs.

Abnormally dry?

I'm going to call bullshit on this

The ponds and rivers in my area are all pretty high. The small streams and creeks we have around here are also all running strong. The grasses are green and thick, the trees and bushes are all in full bloom and it rains at least 3 times a week.

How the hell can we be "abnormally dry"? What is considered normal?

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Dementia Donny's war is still going strong.

I'm thinking of writing a children's book. I'm gonna call it The Very Stable Genius and His Big Beautiful Better Than Anyone Else's War.

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Gas prices continue to go up:

Pretty soon no one will be able to afford to go anywhere and all those businesses that demanded people "return to the office" are going to find themselves short-staffed.

Oh, and it was announced yesterday that the United States National Debt has exceeded the United States Gross Domestic Product. For those of you that don't understand what that means, trust me, it's bad. It means that the US income is less that its debt.

He's killing the economy faster than any other president in history. Even the DJIA isn't sure what to make of his policies:

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Here are some links:

• Microplastic: Is there anything it can't do.



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



• Key headline about really stupid people: Six people were injured in an explosion outside a Pearland mobile home when high-octane fuel was added to a fire.



• Somehow or another, I just know this is going to end up costing me money.

Bad things

The Red Sox lost last night, getting beat 6-3 by the Astros.

Early did not have a good outing but then again, the batters did not have a good outing either.

This afternoon's game was no better but it took them 10 innings to lose instead of just the usual 9 innings.

The Astros beat them 3-1 in the 10th, winning the series and sending the Red Sox back into last place in the American League.

Suarez was pitching very well but when he finished the 4th inning, he left the game with some kind of hamstring issue.

It's getting harder and harder to watch them play baseball simply because there seems to be no reason for them to play as bad as they are. I will, of course, continue to watch them, I'll just yell louder and use many more very bad words.

Tomorrow they start a 3-game series in Detroit against the Tigers. First pitch is at 6:40 and Tolle is scheduled to start.

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Here are some links:

• Once again, Lizzy "Hold on a sec, I'm gonna get me, um, a beer" Warren proves that she is not as smart as she thinks she is.



• Every time he talks about his war in Iran, all I hear is John Blutarsky in Animal House saying, "Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!"



• New York City: It's not like it used to be.



• I'm beginning to think that maybe Psycho Vlad is losing his special military operation.

Nice win

Yesterday my son, his wife, my wife and myself all took our granddaughter to her very first Red Sox game.

The Red Sox gave her a nice little pin:

along with a small bag of dirt from the outfield and a bracelet proclaiming that she was a member of Red Sox Nation.

It was a good game to go to simply because it was a nice night and the Red Sox played some damned good baseball, beating the Astros 3-1.

My son had gotten a set of hearing protectors for his daughter (you can see one of them in the above picture) so she did not have to deal with the loudness of the park. As a matter of fact, she slept through a lot of the game. But when she was awake, she was fascinated by everything that was going on.

On our way to the game, we spotted a plane that was towing a sign. This is the sign:

Imagine being so upset about a game that you would be willing to spend hundreds or maybe thousands of dollars to tell the owner to do something that the owner will never do.

Some people have too much money...

As for today, things don't look as good for them. It is currently the 4^th inning and the score is 5-0 in favor of the Astros.

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While we were gone, The Very Stable Genius did not do anything stupi...

Wait.

Never mind.

Trump has announced that he is pulling 5,000 US troops out of Germany. This immediately sent the Europeans into a tizzy and Psycho Vlad into a happy dance.

Those troops have pretty much been the only thing keeping the Russians from mounting a takeover of most of eastern Europe.

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While were were in Boston, the Bruins decided it was time to go on vacation.

They lost the game to the Sabres 4-1, which means they lost the series 4-2.

As we are always known to say in Massachusetts when we are talking about our sportings teams, "Oh well, we'll get 'em next year!"

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Well, it happened. Gasoline has crossed the $4.00 threshold.

Fortunately for me and my wallet, my current automobile gets slightly more than 32 miles per gallon.

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Here are some links:

• I believe that "steal a jet ski while naked" should be an actual felony charge.



• I'm not a teacher so I don't know the situation but this seems like a severe over-reaction from old people that don't understand these new-fangled phone-puters.



• Remember when the US Navy was hunting pirates? Now they apparently are pirates.