That’s all I wanted.
It’s a 40o morning, with drizzle. By the time Señor Piglet had gotten out of bed, I had a good fire going. When Sparky was done doing his dirty business outside, he came in wet and probably cold. He laid down on the dog bed between the couch and wood stove. He looked so cozy. It would be nice to have my coffee while my winsome pup lounges by my feet.
Nothing special, just Sparky screwing around in the yard.
Little piglet is enjoying the first fire of the season.
It’s not worth having a fire if the outside temperature is above 45o F outside. This morning, it was 44o and raining. It may warm up, but the rain makes it feel colder and I have to go out occasionally to check on the creek headwall. Also, the first burn has a smell as dust burns off of the stove, so it’s best to crack the patio door.
The inside temperature is 75o, so Sparky could flop anywhere in comfort. He likes the fire, and occasionally, like in the photo, does a half-wavelength tail wag. If Sparky ever learns to speak English, I’d like to ask him why. A floor wag can’t be comfortable.
Dog behaviorists say that dogs wag their tails to signal their emotional state to other members of the pack. Maybe, but why wag when nobody is around? A person, alone, doesn’t laugh or smile nearly as much if something funny happens.
My theory is that God made dogs automatically wag their tails when they are content to keep them aware of the good times. Dogs can’t count. They see one or none. If there is one food, then eat it. If there is one rabbit, then chase it. Dogs can’t count, so they can’t count their blessings.
People can choose to only acknowledge the dreary or irritating events in life. If a person gets out of the car at Aldi, and a stranger offers them a cart, that’s a minor blessing. The person can choose to see the stranger as too lazy to walk back to get their quarter, or as an unsolicited kindness. People can choose to count their blessings or harbor a grudge against the universe.
Dogs brains are not wired like that. I don’t know how they work. Maybe if Sparky hears thunder, he thinks, “yeah, this sucks, but my butt muscles are sore from all that tail wagging, so it’s been a pretty good day.”
Sparky is frightened of thunderstorms, so it was a rough night for me. Around 4 am, Sparky’s vigorous panting roused me from sleep. I am a deep sleeper, but once awake, don’t usually go back to sleep. It was murder trying to get moving.
Sparky just told me that he’s not afraid of thunderstorms, but gets very alert just in case I need his assistance. He says that’s why he always needs to piss during thunderstorms. Sparky says he doesn’t piss from fear, but since urine is an electrolyte. He wants to be less electrically conductive. I told him that with the transmission towers, we are shielded from lightning strikes, but he is skeptical.
Bugs Bunny taught me that “music soothes the savage beast”, so I played Ultra-Lounge Volume 17 to mask the sound of thunder. As Sparky patrolled the house, I learned that I needed more Les Baxter in my life. I got to work on that until Sparky eventually relaxed. I did go back to sleep for a bit, but Sparky has been sleeping, on and off, ever since.
When Sparky first moved in, his dream barks were the only indication that he could bark. It’s usually only when he’s napping, not when he’s down for the night. When he naps, Sparky is about 80% asleep, and retains some situational awareness. It’s hard to video him because he gets more alert if I get up or the TV volume is turned down.
When I brought Sparky home after my surgery, his dream barks were troubled and whimpery for a couple of days. I hate to see him suffer, but it is nice to know that he cares.
This Men for Kamala ad is ludicrous.
I don’t know what to make of it, so I annotated it for you.
NYT: Manufacturing isn’t coming back.
NYT: Manufacturing isn’t coming back.
Both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are vowing to engineer a manufacturing renaissance. Such promises evoke 1950s-era memories of strong communities full of ordinary Americans, many without college degrees, earning attractive pay and benefits for their hard work.
The author believes the US cannot get back to the fully functioning country we had in the 1950’s. That is a widely held opinion, so talking about this article is as good as any other.
Manufacturing bottomed out at around 10 percent of nonfarm workers by 2019. The numbers employed in manufacturing started to recover under President Biden and may continue to rebound.
The author shows her bias. If the bottom was in 2019, then it started to recover after that. Biden took office in 2021, so it wasn’t his policies that turned things around.
While women and immigrants helped offset the slowing growth of the native-born population, it hasn’t been enough: Two-thirds of respondents to a National Association of Manufacturing survey this past spring said that their biggest challenge was attracting and retaining employees.
Attracting and retaining employees is simple. Pay more and improve the working conditions.
Daily Mail: People faint at opera.
Its provocative scenes left theatre goers reeling, with 18 suffering with nausea and shock and requiring assistance over the first two performances. In three cases, a doctor even had to be called.
This report is surprising, because it’s assumed that audiences are more savvy or cynical now. Nobody was coerced or tricked into attending this opera. Decades ago, my nephew Brian and I attended a machine gun shoot in Knob Creek, Kentucky. When the “Commence Fire” command was given, the amount of firepower unleashed from the firing line was astounding. One might swoon if the title of the event wasn’t so clear. It was great fun.
After 8 hours of stump grinding, I’m knackered. It isn’t hard. The grinder does all the work, just sweeping back and forth, chewing up the wood. It’s the low-level attention that wears a guy down. At the end of each sweep, lower the wheel just a bit. Take too big of a bite, and the wheel chatters, the machine bucks and the clutch starts squealing.
Who we elect for president, seems to matter to the rest of the world.
Our dotard in chief, Joe Biden, is the president, but he doesn’t appear to be mentally competent. No one is certain who is making presidential decisions. Today, October 9th, 2024, North Korea has decided to cut road and rail links to South Korea.
A year into President Trump’s term, the North Korean leader and the South Korean leader shook hands at the demilitarized zone between the two countries.
The world degrades quickly with no American leadership.
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