Yep, Thumper ended up with a hole in his shoulder but I don't think immigrants were the cause of it. In other news, Nancy purchased this for $20 at a yard sale still in the box that no one could lift. Had to lever that puppy into the car. Took 3 hours to assemble. Now to get the right cut of meat to break it in with.
That's about 6.5 pounds worth of coinage identified so far from over 50 countries. My spreadsheet is up to 278 different coins as of this moment (I add daily).
Found out our fireplace insert isn't up to code and never was. Wonder how that slipped by during the house inspection. Guess they never entered the house or how else could they have missed it. Oh well, it will only cost us 8-9 thousand to set it right and prevent our house from burning down. Just sayin'.
No bad luck here. Up to nearly $50 in foreign currency so far from my $30 tray of coins. Starting to identify some Asian coins now with the Google search app. First up was a 5 Sen coin from Japan dated 1922. The dates were crazy to figure out on this coin that's only worth about 34 cents. The first items that come up in the search are usually from E-bay and priced outlandishly. One might think that one had found a treasure only to have those expectations dashed via reality. Just sayin'.
Still no cigarettes although the urge is still strong at times. Sometimes a doobie chases it away and other times it doesn't and that's when it sucks.
The time period pertaining to my cessation of smoking cigarettes has graduated from being described in "days" to "months". In 11 months the time descriptor will switch to years. That is all.
Meanwhile, I'm up to over 40 countries as I catalog the foreign coins. Over a pound and a quarter of them are in the database so far with at least several pounds to go. Fascinating stuff.
So done with cigarettes. Bought a box of coins and tokens for $30 at an estate sale today. About 8 pounds or so worth of them. I've started to go through them and am astonished at the variety of foreign coins I bought. Might have to start a spreadsheet on them as I look them up. Fascinating stuff. Entertaining for the $$ and I might even break even. Just sayin'.
Never saw his appeal, only his insufferable attitude of false superiority. This was decades before he hit the political grift. I mean, how many times can you go bankrupt and still be considered an astute businessman. Still. We hear folks proudly say that they will vote for this stupid fuck in 2024 and have to question our sanity. How in the great blue blazes can you vote for such a reprehensible human being? Nazis love him as do other racist and violent white males. If I'm in a crowd that consists of those folks I'm in the wrong fucking crowd. He said there were good people on both sides of that confrontation. That should be enough to eliminate him from serious consideration. Besides the fact that he's one dumb fuck and too stupid to know how fucking stupid he is (you know...the most dangerous kind of stupid). Whenever I begin to question my opinion of that degenerate serial grifter, I just remember the Nazis. I hate fucking Nazis. Just sayin'.
End of my 4th week without tobacco tomorrow.
Never much paid attention to women's basketball until I saw her go up against Steph Curry. Now I don't get to watch her games live but I do get the You Tube highlights and I'm seeing some 5 year old behavior coming from quite a few women who look to be adults. The flagrant fouls on Clark do not look good to this judgmental member of an older generation. Jealous anyone? Don't they realize that a rising tide floats all boats? Their income is going to increase due to increased interest in their sport. Don't turn off the fans you are beginning to see because of Caitlin Clark. Leave your bad behavior behind you. It's for your own good. Just sayin'.
26 days and counting. Damn I still want one.
So long that I'm starting to forget when I last had a cigarette. Good news on the political front for us fans of Democracy helps. Just sayin'.
Two weeks/14 days now and I'm still free of the evil weed. Cigarettes have reigned throughout my adult life but no more. My resting heart rate went down around 15-20 beats per minute and hangs in the low 70's to high 60's now despite several cups of coffee. It is a tangible health improvement that I am keeping front and center in my thoughts right now as I continue to fight the urge to smoke. I've also saved more than $100 in the last two weeks by not buying tobacco. Here's to the promise of a smoke free future.
Maybe this time I'll make it through and finally stop smoking. Cigarettes that is. Third day passed. It should get easier from here but I'm not expecting it to. That should do it for now.
Sometimes you pick up a stick and you can feel that it was made to smack someone with. That’s my gift. Just sayin’.
The rain is coming down fairly well today and we can expect an inch or so before it's over. Nice to see things returning to normal as far as our water situation goes. As far as the world goes it's not looking that good going into this year. Small wars that may escalate into larger wars. Climate Change. Fascism here in America. All things I can only comment on and try to inform others of their existence. I keep informed and rue major media for the damage they have done to America, twisting their narratives to please their viewers. Truth has no meaning and Fox News has been the worst at keeping viewers in their Right Wing Fascist Bubble. Daily outrage over nothing that fucking matters to the vast majority of Americans. That outrages me. Just sayin'.
Been working on a couple of pieces of Oak that I'm almost finished with. The top one was pretty much bark removal to reveal the swirling threads beneath. The second one was also mostly bark removal from the back part to reveal a moon-like surface. The part I'm showing is a cross section of the branch that this ball was growing on. There are around 100 rings visible meaning that this strange growth started around the 1920's.
I'm working on another piece of Oak that's also getting its bark removed. Unfortunately that piece was cut at the wrong time of the year for the bark to be easily removed (The two above were cut at the right time of the year for the bark to come off easily)(Bonus points for knowing what those cutting times are). This makes it a slow punishing process to expose the burl for viewing. I love these because once they're completed you can spend hours contemplating their complexity. The only problem used to be the amount of time I'd invest for a project that failed to launch and the only reason I worried about it was I had a limited amount of free time to invest in something that ended up being firewood. That reason is no longer valid so I'm enjoying rediscovering one of my favorite pass times. For me it's like meditation when I'm in the zone. Just sayin'.
Have I ever told you that I really dislike clowns? Dishonest painted faces covering whatever damage that particular human suffers from. They are basically faceless and that makes it hard to trust their behavior under any circumstances.
Stupid people chap my hide even more than clowns do. The amount of damage a stupid person with power can do is difficult to imagine but we're getting a good look at it now.
The Stupid MAGA Republican Clown Show is in town and America's bills are not getting paid because of it. Watching these pathetic losers doing their fearless leader's bidding would be hilarious if it wasn't so potentially damaging to some of our poorest citizens. Possibly the stupidest part of this train wreck is Trump saying/thinking that causing a government shutdown will stop the persecutions against him. Not so MAGA Don. Oh, and remember when MTG (the T actually stands for Taylor Trash) called Biden a liar after he said that certain Republicans wanted to cut Social Security? I'd say she owes Biden an apology but we know she'll never do the correct thing. Trailer Trash Women don't do correct.
In other news closer to home, I'd like to take this opportunity to share some sad news. Our two Blue Jay friends, Pete and Repete, have met a violent end due to one of our murderous cats. Thumper craves violence towards all living things that are substantially smaller than him and there's not much we can do about it. Nancy got a dove out of his mouth the other day though. The bird could still fly and it immediately made a beeline to the tallest Oak tree in the area. Hopefully it survived but from what our neighbors tell us, Thumper regularly climbs to the tops of those trees so I'm doubtful. We have a bell on him now but the lizards don't seem to hear it well enough or know whom it tolls for. Hopefully the surviving birds
Back to the other MAGA extravaganza, the Impeachment Inquiry. Not one piece of evidence do they fucking have. NOT ONE! This is The Stupid MAGA Republican Clown Show at it's best, dancing to their fearless leader's words. The fearless leader who's New York businesses have just been seized for his fantasy real estate games, one of his first grifts. How does it feel you sad excuse for a human being? Where's your daddy now? Sad. So sad. Just sayin'.
