Clouds and the Government

It was windy and cold today, then a wall of clouds started moving in.  We decided to bail on riding, too windy, and hike.  The light was pretty good.  Towards the end, heading back to the house, the temperature dropped and it started to smell like rain.  Fortunately, we were home when it got here, about 15 minutes after.  It's good to hike, we need weight bearing.  We're both having dexascans soon to find out how bad things are.  I've had osteopenia for years, but it's been stable.  I am hoping for that.

So, out in the desert....  This is a happy prickly pear.  Most of them look like death, but this guy is hanging on.

The mountains looked lovely with the clouds.

Yesterday Dear Leader had a North Korean style cabinet meeting, where each member discussed what their department was working on, and then discussed the wonderfulness of 47.  I believe it was Puppy Killer Noem who congratulated him on keeping the hurricanes at bay this past season.  Rubio was in the midst of praising 47 for his peace efforts, sitting right next to 47, who went to sleep.  He slept a lot through the meeting.  He's got another giant bandage on his hand and makeup to cover up what's there.  The current theory is that he's receiving Leqembi (lecanemab) which is a medication for early Alzheimer's disease that works by lowering beta-amyloid in the brain to reduce cognitive and functional decline.  It's an intravenous infusion or subcutaneous injection, so that could be what's up with the hand.  I think they should give him more.

At the end of the love fest, 47 declared that all Somalians, and Ilhan Omar in particular, are garbage and he wants them out of the country.  Unfortunately for him, most of the Somali population in Minnesota are citizens.  Since when does a president call people garbage?  Must be projection.

Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau is in the NATO meeting, winning hearts and minds  Today he slammed European NATO allies for prioritizing their own defense industry over American arms suppliers, according to three NATO diplomats.  It's the first time in 20 years that the SecState did not attend. 

CEO of War Hegseth had a bad day.  The Inspector General reported that his use of Signal to discuss an upcoming raid did put soldiers' lives at risk.  Hegseth is still maintaining that it was a perfect call.  He has also thrown Rear Admiral Bradley who ordered the second strike on the burning boat, killing two men, under the bus.  Hegseth is maintaining he never gave the order to kill them all, contradicting earlier statements.  Hopefully, this will encourage people in the military to not accept illegal orders, no one will have their backs.

So, the wheels continue to come off this country.  We were great once, and now we're not. 

However, here is the raccoon who broke into a Virginia liquor store, broke a bunch of bottles of booze, got drunk and passed out in the restroom.

 

Sunset in the USA

We had another good sunset last night.  We were a little late getting out the door with the cell phone cameras, but it was still impressive.

I don't know how many of you are following the Ukraine/Witkoff/Putin/47 saga, but it's finally making its way out of the shadows.  PhilipsObrien has an excellent synopsis of much of the whole sordid tale.  Even better, he included a gift link to the Wall Street Journal article that brought the corruption out into the open.  Basically, it boils down to 47 is throwing Ukraine under the bus so that he and Putin can do deals and make money and screw the rest of the planet.  It's all on Europe now, no one else is coming to save them.

That's it, that's all I have to say.

 

One Holiday Over and High Crimes

Thanksgiving was successful.  The chicken was perfectly cooked, keeping the temperature a little bit lower on the grill was good.  We did forget to open the can of cranberry jelly, maybe next year.

This is our new tray to transport the chicken to the grill and back.  We got it at Home Goods, it's nice, heavy melamine.  It was funny, it wouldn't fit in the refrigerator sideways, we had to empty a shelf on the door and slide it in long ways.  It's very festive.

 Last night there was a pretty good sunset.

Today we did Christmas prep.  It was short and sweet.  The tiny Christmas tree is up, and we put wreaths on the security door.  They are also festive. 

This was on the front of the Washington Post today.  This, right here, is a war crime.  Our Secretary of Defense is a war criminal.  So is his chain of command that carried out the order.   There were two survivors in the water, and he ordered another strike to kill them.

I strongly suspect that this is why Admiral Holsey resigned. The law of the sea says anyone who has been sunk/shipwrecked is entitled to assistance. Once the boat was sunk, the Geneva convention says they have no capacity to fight. The killing of the two men holding onto flaming wreckage is a war crime, straight up murder.

Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is currently being held at the ICC in The Hague on charges of crimes against humanity for doing the EXACT SAME THING that Trump/Hegseth are doing now: Summarily executing alleged drug traffickers without due process.  

This must be why they're so upset about the Seditious Six reminding the military that they should not follow illegal orders. 

Today 47 made it clear that he is ready and willing to give Putin Crimea and all the current Russian occupied land in Ukraine.   Europe and Ukraine have not signed on for this.

Here is a tip for fractious family gatherings.

 

Other than this, I have nothing else to say.

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

We hope you have an excellent day, however you choose to spend it.  We, boring couple that we are, will be riding the bikes and later spatchcocking a chicken to cook on the grill.  Braver people than we also spatchcock turkeys.  They must have big scissors to get the back bone out, and a huge cooking surface.  

 

More Nature

Greetings mellow humans.  The rain has moved out of the area, today was bright sunshine, with slightly cold air.  We got out on the bikes wearing a chest bandana and vests.  We went earlier than I would have liked because there was another trip to Safeway (of course) to pickup a prescription.  While we were there we bought a chicken which Jim will spatchcock on Thanksgiving.  

This is a photo from the web of a prickly pear with cochineal scales.

This is our prickly pear after I tried to remove the material before I knew what it was.  See the red smear on the paddle?  It looked like it was bleeding.

This is the tooth brush I used.  More blood.
 

From the internet we learn the following.  Cochineal scales appear as white, cottony masses on prickly pear cactus and can be controlled by physical removal and insecticidal sprays. First, use a strong stream of water to dislodge the insects and their protective covering. Then, for more persistent pests, apply insecticidal soap or rubbing alcohol to the infected areas.  

Carmine red is a vivid, deep red color that has a purplish tint, used in pigments for paints, inks, and cosmetics. It is also a food dye known as E120, made from the crushed bodies of female cochineal insects that live on cacti.  The dye is in things like Fruit Loops, Skittles, and other weirdly red food products.

Too much nature!  I used the garden hose and was able to remove all of the white downy looking stuff.  I suspect this will be ongoing because it's difficult to get all of them.  They're not good for the plant, they're sap suckers, there are yellowed areas where they were living.

My canvases arrived.  Here we have the entry way wall.  The canvas is covering up a picture hanger and nail that was painted over and is now stuck to the wall forever.  I don't see it anymore, and am no longer bothered by it.

There was a sunset three days ago.  

 And finally, there is this.

 
Despite 47 continuing to insist grocery prices are down, eggs are $7.99 a dozen.  That's it!  That's all I have.

More Malfeasance and Stupid

While I went to the local dollar store, Jim boiled vinegar in the tea kettle, my stainless steel pot, and then boiled the bathroom sink aerators in vinegar.  I think I know how a pickle feels.  There are so many minerals in the water, that the aerators grow fuzzy green rings.  I'm guessing that's copper, but I don't know that.  Don't they look nice now, all shiny.

Welp, Rubio done got thrown under the 47 bus.  If this sentence makes no sense read my post from yesterday regarding the press conference held by Senator Rounds and more.  It's at the bottom of the post.

Here is an excellent substack from Philips Obrien which discusses what's happening.  It's not good.

From Tom Joseph: Rubio told Senators on a conf call that the 28 point Ukraine plan Trump was pumping was a Russian “wish list.” When Rubio realized he was exposing Trump, Vance & Witkoff as incompetent and worse, he reversed and said it was US authored with input from Russia and Ukraine. These people are completely over their head and corrupt. The only concession Putin should receive is being able to choose between receiving the needle or electric chair. 

Today 47 signed something that declares that "nursing is not a profession."  I wonder how all the Republican nurses are feeling about this.  It appears that the categories of work that were de-professionalized were the mandatory reporters of child abuse.  Thanks Maebeme for commenting last post.

Could I please leave the country now?