Tag: General

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I never would’ve thought…

The resin bed in the water softener could break down. But it can and then god only knows what you’re drinking if you drink the tap water.

The reverse osmosis unit had been off-line for about four or five days. I didn’t think about it too much because I thought the water softener itself was still working properly. Uh huh… Sometimes if I didn’t have bad luck I’d have no luck at all.

As it turns out I was wrong. The resin bed in the water softening system had deteriorated which actually explains why I felt like absolute shit for two or three days.

I was drinking the tapwater, thinking it might just have a little more salt than usual. It turns out it may have had something else too.

This probably explains why Jesse was a little loose in the rear end. I suspect both of us were trying real hard to throw off whatever else was included in the tapwater that we were drinking.

Saturday or Sunday I switched over to bottled water, not because I had any great insight, but because the tapwater came out looking murky at one point, then it was brown, later it was just cloudy. Let’s put it this way it looked like Detroit.

I thought the problem was the water company itself, and was all prepared to give them a piece of my mind on Tuesday after the Labor Day Holiday. Because the only time things seem to break anymore is over a holiday weekend!

Then I noticed that the hose water was clear. Meaning the problem had to be inside the house. I tried to bypass the water softener and found that the bypass valves were seized. So bottled water it was, I just hope Jesse didn’t acquire a taste for arrowhead.

The repair guy showed up as promised, when promised. He was prepared and went right to work.

He got the RO unit working again, then went down to the Water Softener itself. The bad news was the resin bed was shot to hell and was polluting the water more than helping. The good news was the system has a lifetime warranty so there was no additional charge to clean out the old resin and replace it.

An hour or two later and the system is once again operating.

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You know, you just can’t win.

MayaWiley 1200x1200.Yesterday on MSNBC’s “Deadline” civil rights attorney Maya Wiley said there was a direct line from some folks referring to Kamala Harris as a DEI hire to Project 2025.

I have to point out that Biden said I’m going to choose a black female for my Vice President.

He didn’t say, I’m going to choose the best person to be my Vice President. He made it about race and gender right from the start. In my book that’s pretty much the definition of a DEI hire.

Project 2025 (I have not read it entirely) appears to be a plan for the next president, (granted it’s skewed conservative and more likely than not, toward Trump and his base,) however it’s a plan for any President to use in their first 180 days in office.

The plan was put together by conservatives in an attempt to help chart a course correction for the country. Any President is welcome to use it. Just because the plan was written by conservatives doesn’t mean that it’s been delivered from the 7th circle of hell direct from Satans hand.

Notice I said a plan. Not a manifesto, not tablets from a mountain, not etched in stone, not the edicts of an emperor enforced under penalty of death. It’s a plan. Plans change, adapt, and are abandoned often once the plan meets reality. (Joe Biden’s 2nd term & Reelection campaign ring a bell?)

Ms Wiley claims that Project 2025 is going to dismantle all the civil rights laws.

I find that claim to be dubious. Although someone like her would say the same thing about my belief that special protection laws should be stricken from the books.

I believe if we lived under the premise that all Citizens are created equal, then by extension all laws apply equally to all Citizens, negating any necessity for special protections.

The law gets a whole lot simpler to obey and enforce if it’s consistent and has none or very few exceptions.

A thief is a thief subject to a penalty for theft regardless of skin color, gender, religion, or sexual orientation. For example: If you steal, and are caught you get 4 years in prison for each $1000 in value.

Simple, enforceable, and easily understood.

When I talk about exceptions I mean to penalties. I believe a Judge should have the ability to sentence a 14 year old first time offender to community service rather than prison or other  incarceration.

In other words I believe there should be the possibility for humanity and mercy not a totally mechanistic justice system. Which is why I believe Judges must be wise, know the law, and incorruptible. At the same time, laws should be few in number and easy to understand.

I digress.

I don’t know what Ms Wiley is talking about, as I said, I haven’t gotten that far into the document.

It’s available, you can download it. The writers of Project 2025 aren’t trying to hide it or be sneaky.

What I find interesting is this.

If there wasn’t a plan of some kind the left would be beating the right over the head about not having a plan. 

Because there is a plan, the left is pulling out all the stops to label the plan as something evil and some of the left is equating Project 2025 to Mein Kampf.

Thus far I haven’t seen evidence to corroborate this equivalence but I’ll keep looking.

Here is a link to The Heritage Foundation, authors of Project 2025

Here is a link to the Project 2025 document entitled Mandate for Leadership The Conservative Promise

Read it for yourself.

Here are links to Democracy Forward’s rebuttal to Project 2025’s Mandate for Leadership

Democracy Forward’s document is called The People’s Guide to Project 2025

Read that for yourself too.

Don’t believe the hyperbole from the talking heads… Or ME! I’m not the brightest bulb in the pack either. 

I beg you to read & research for yourself. Because these days it’s getting really hard to figure out what is true and who is telling the truth.

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Ugghh! I don’t want to do anything!

Between the poor air quality from the fires, the blazing heat, poor sleep, and my general crankiness I’m not motivated to do a dang thing!

The dog and I have been taking early morning walks because it’s cool even though the air quality is terrible. So at least his walk has been completed.

It’s the other stuff, the people stuff that I’m unmotivated to deal with.

I should go to the pharmacy, the grocery store, and the post office. But it’s 90° at 10:00 am and you can almost watch the mercury rising like the old Loony Tunes cartoons.

I’m thinking I’m going to say the heck with it for today. I got about 3 hours of sleep last night and all I want to do is lay on the couch and nap.

I don’t want to get in the habit of blowing off the day because I’m afraid I’ll be mistaken for Joe Biden. (Couldn’t resist…)

I’ve had a walk with the dog, a pot of coffee, breakfast, and I am literally nodding off while typing this.

Maybe I’ll wait until after dark to make the pharmacy and grocery store run. That way I can leave the pup outside without too much worry since the temps will be dropping, and I’m not walking around in a blast furnace.

This is from a guy who likes the heat, and has considered moving to Palm Springs. I think in this case it’s the altitude, coupled with smoky air that’s taking the wind out of my sails.

Sleeping is tough because I’ll have the house open and not smell smoke, when I go to bed and there’s a nice breeze, then the wind shifts a little and I wake up with my sinuses wadded up feeling like I’m suffocating.

That isn’t a happy way to wake up, because I’m panicked and it takes a while for me to drop off again. Running the A/C 24 hours a day might be my only option for the next few days.

Why don’t I do that all the time? Because normally we get these nice evening breezes that are really pleasant. Even if they’re a little warm some times of the year it’s easy to sleep.

Honestly, I don’t really like A/C, especially if you have to have it running all the time just to survive. I feel like it isolates you from the world.

That’s one of the things I like so much about living here. The house can be open at least during the day, most of the year. Even in Winter it’s not uncommon for the outside temps to be around 60°F so you can leave the sliders cracked open a bit for the fresh, albeit cool air. If it’s a sunny day, having the shades up, allows the sun to warm the house so the furnace is idle until nightfall.

It’s only in the deepest Winter that the house is closed all the time. Think maybe 2 to 2.5 months. It’s a nice way to live.

There are places in the Midwest and on the East Coast where the same kind of living is possible. Maybe there will be a few more bugs, but that’s what screens are for.

Yep, it’s nap time…

Getting harder to hold thoughts in my head…