Okay, comrades, the word of the day is foment, defined as instigate or stir up (an undesirable or violent sentiment or course of action). For example, “they accused him of fomenting political unrest.”

1861 a civil war began in the United States between the Northern states and the Southern states that lasted four years. 159 years later we appear to be on the brink of a civil war again. This time, not between states, but between individual’s and their particular political persuasion. Today, we have a president who appears to be endorsing civil unrest by tweeting “LIBERATE MINNESOTA” and then, “LIBERATE MICHIGAN” and then, “LIBERATE VIRGINIA, and save your great 2nd Amendment. It is under siege!” These tweets are directed to his followers in those three states who are defying the social distancing orders established by their governors as an effort to stop the spread of the coronavirus. On the news and in newspapers over the past two days, I have seen protestors slobbering at the mouth, carrying Nazi banners next to MAGA banners, and carrying automatic weapons on the steps of a capital building. According to some news outlets, while protesters in Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky and other states claim to speak for ordinary citizens, many are also supported by street-fighting rightwing groups like the Proud Boys, conservative armed militia groups, religious fundamentalists, anti-vaccination groups and other elements of the radical right. Remember the white nationalist and neo-nazi rally in Charlottseville, Virginia in August of 2017? In the words of Yogi the Bear…..I mean Berra, “It’s like deja vu all over again.”

As long as we are on the topic of morons, how about the conspiracy theorists now attacking Bill Gates declaring him the creator of the coronavirus so he can profit off of it. If you have been reading my blog, you might recall I mentioned Mr. Gates and his wife pledging $100 million from their Gates Foundation in March to help stop the spread of the coronavirus. They talked about the need for stay-at-home policies, expanded testing, and the development of a vaccine. They have now pledged an additional $150 million toward this effort while subtly being critical of tRump’s response to the virus in the United States. Did you also know that not only did he create the coronavirus, but he also wants to implant microchips in all of us so the government can surveil us? I believe these are the same folks who believe that birds are actually government-issued drones. And then on Wednesday, after he said it was ill-advised to pull out of the World Health Organization and he posted a thanks to healthcare workers his website was hammered with over 14,000 comments. One comment, “This virus is a big, big lie!” You can’t make this stuff up.

Speaking of the WHO, don’t forget tomorrow night’s big concert put together by Lady GaGa

One World: Together at Home

The big kahuna of home streams — organized by Lady Gaga and featuring Paul McCartney, Lizzo, Billie Eilish, John Legend, Stevie Wonder, Kacey Musgraves, Taylor Swift, Jennifer Lopez, Alicia Keys, Christine & the Queens, and more. It’s presented by the antipoverty group Global Citizen and the World Health Organization, and aims to raise coronavirus awareness and celebrate frontline workers. It streams 8 p.m. Saturday on Facebook and Instagram, and also airs on CBS, ABC, and NBC, cohosted by Stephen Colbert and Jimmies Kimmel and Fallon.

Stay home and watch it or be square. Ziggyman

Happy Thursday, the day after “hump day,” weekend just around the corner. Woo Hoo! Because we are up here “off the grid,” we don’t have high speed internet; no cell phone service; can’t do zoom video conferencing; can’t do skype doctoring; no Netflix, Disney, or any of the other streaming services for movies and TV shows. We do have satellite for our internet and that gets us by, as well as Dish Network for television. The current situation we are in has amplified the need for everyone in America to have access to the internet from home, not just for entertainment purposes, but for everyday essential living. I recently received a postcard from the Census Bureau with a passcode for doing my census return online. Their assumption is everyone can do the census questionnaire online. Business programs on television and investment publications are touting stocks and companies that are geared for doing virtual doctor visits through video conferencing for your medical needs. I have received several written communications during this pandemic from medicare, my healthcare provider, and my medical insurance company informing me to avoid going into the doctor’s office or a medical facility as much as possible during this coronavirus. “Feeling sick? Visit with an online doctor from the comfort of your home and get expert advice, a treatment plan and a prescription if needed.” Schools are closed, but are providing teaching lessons through the internet. That’s great, but the kid’s who live in my “neighborhood” are kind of “up the creek” without internet. Anyhooo, where I’m going with this is that I will be communicating with my senators and representatives that preparation for the next big event needs to include developing the infrastructure for reasonably high speed internet for every household in America. Yesterday I spoke of a new normal as we come out of this. The new normal is probably going to include more “work from home;” more video conferencing for medical and other personal needs; greater social interacting via technology than before the pandemic; less attendance at sporting events and concerts in person, but rather watching from your computer. There will undoubtedly be many displaced workers as we work to rebuild the country and economy, so I am proposing that we need a modern day Civilian Conservation Corp, similar to FDR’s New Deal CCC that followed The Great Depression. Rather than building trails and parks, the focus would be building a technological infrastructure for all Americans. Pretty grandiose, huh.

The food section today contains a recipe I posted in 2011 from my previous blog. If you are looking for a nice comfort food and you’re out of meat in the refrig, make yourself a big pot of Ziggyman’s mac and cheese.

6 oz package of Cavatappi pasta
1 onion
2 cloves garlic minced
3 Tbsp butter 2 Tbsp flour
3 cups whole milk
1 cup cream
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon dry mustard
cayenne pepper to your taste (I used about 1/2 teaspoon)
Grated cheese (I used Trader Joe’s gruyere/cheddar mix, parmesan and a cheddar chili from Grocery Outlet) Use as much as your little heart desires.
Salt and pepper
Panko

Saute onion and garlic in butter. When soft, add the flour. Cook about a minute. Add milk and cream, nutmeg, mustard and cayenne pepper. Simmer until thickened, stirring often. While doing this, cook the pasta al dente. When sauce is thick, add your cheeses and salt and pepper. As you can see, I put my pasta and sauce in a heavy casserole. I grated more cheese on top and then covered it with some panko . Baked in the oven at 375 degrees for about 40 minutes. Deliciossso!

See, I made it through this post without talking about Donnie or any of his sycophants. I could have rambled about the staggering unemployment numbers posted this morning, or the senators who sold stock in companies that would be affected by the coronavirus just before the pandemic brought the country to a standstill, or stimulus checks being held up because they had to be printed with King Don’s signature, or Dr. Oz suggesting that school’s should reopen because “only2-3% more could die,” or the Paycheck Protection Program out of money already. I was being a good boy today. But ponder this, comrades,

Have a good evening! Ziggyman

Normally this would be Tax Day, but we aren’t experiencing normal right now. This got me to thinking about normalcy. We know what life is like right now during the pandemic, but what changes do you think we will see when we come out of this? I think the one thing people are really looking forward to is being able to eat and drink in the restaurants and bars as a social activity. It could be, however, that social distancing will continue in those venues until a vaccine is available or the warm weather has just killed all those nasty bugs. What about movie theaters? sporting events? concerts? visiting the dentist? Will Oregon keep allowing us to pump our own gas? so on and so on. Some Republican lawmakers across the nation, tRumpanzees, and Rush Limbaugh are pushing tRump for faster economic reopening, but it sounds like the business leaders are telling Donnie what health officials and governors have been telling him for weeks —- there would need to be guarantees of ramped up testing before people return to work. Despite what the crack Coronavirus team has been spouting, the latest figures I saw show that 0.6% of the population has been tested. This has been a major weakness in the mitigation response, and will need to be ramped up considerably in a recovery effort. Until we are at a point that people can be tested, we are not going to be opening the doors. Figures today show that Retail spending has fallen off a cliff. I guess this “Democratic hoax” is working, HeeHeeHee. Gonna be tough for King Don to tout about the economy when the economy is in the toilet AND there’s no toilet paper. It seems over the past few days he has become increasingly hostile toward reporters and anyone who doesn’t bow to the King, but I believe in karma, so unless you’re a tRumpanzee and one of his sycophants, get ready for a GOP. That would be a grand old party, not the Grand Old Party. It will be a beautiful day to party, the most beautiful day ever, no one will have seen a more beautiful day. The party will be grand really, really grand. I, Ziggyman, have the total authority and power to have a grand party if I want to. I’m no wannabe totalitarian. I can play just like Vlad, Kim, Xi, and that Hungarian fella Viktor. (I hope that sounded as rambling and articulate as our King Don).

Anyhoo, we had bought a couple of corned beefs back around St. Patrick’s Day and was planning on cooking them to serve at a party with friends. You know where this is going. Sorry friends. I had to cook one of them last night, as the pull date is approaching. Sure tasted good with those potatoes, carrots, onions, and cabbage. Will taste even better tomorrow night stacked between two slices of rye bread, topped with swiss cheese and sauerkraut. If we can get together for a party before May 15th, we still have one brisket left. Hey, maybe for that GOP!

Mountain folks probably know of Paul Keller, a longtime mountain resident and writer. Paul has started a monthly online publication titled “Beneath WyEast” and has just published the first issue. I have copied the first page so you can have that information to subscribe if you wish. I really enjoyed his first issue.

Dearest Reader, 

Welcome to the first issue of Beneath Wy’East ! 

The purpose of this special online publication is to bring you insightful and entertaining articles each month about the people and the land that embraces us here on the west side of Mount Hood. 

Publisher Paul Keller has been a Mountain resident for almost 50 years. In 1974 he became editor of the Sandy Post newspaper. In the late 1970s, he served as the Mount Hood Correspondent for the Oregon Journal, Portland’s afternoon daily newspaper. In 1980, he founded and became the publisher of The Mountain, a successful and well-received monthly publication—the first and, so far, only paid/subscription journalistic voice on the Mountain—that served this area’s news and advertising needs for several years. 

Starting in 2014, the Sandy Post featured one of Paul’s essays each month. “I really enjoyed writing those pieces and sharing my work with the Sandy Post’s readers,” Keller says. When he recently stopped writing these essays for the Post, Keller realized, in the spirit of his original The Mountain monthly publication, he should start a small, free monthly online publication that would feature his essays and articles for our local Mountain area audience. 

If you would like to join our free electronic subscription list, please email Paul. paulroykeller@msn.com

Well, time to go downstairs and turn on the 5 o’clock fake news. Have a nice evening, my friends. SS, SH, SH (do you have it memorized yet?) Ziggyman

Note the date, it is not quite the middle of April. Wouldn’t think you would have to worry about forest fires this early in the season, but that is exactly what we need to be concerned with. The missus and I began our daily walk about noon and as we came to the end of the driveway to head out we noticed smoke rising across the road and up the hill from us. Jim, our neighbor and Hoodland Fire volunteer, came racing down the road and said that there was a fire up the hill at Chandler’s and he was going to the station to get the water tender. He said there were fire rigs coming and asked us to stay at the driveway and direct them up to the fire. Minutes later the chief and battalion chief came racing up the road, followed shortly by two other fire engines. Chandler, a logger, was doing some clearing on his property and had a large burn pile going. Evidently sparks from the burn blew into trees and in seconds we had a fire.The battalion chief from the fire department had been at Chandler’s this morning and issued a burn permit, so this was not an illegal burn. Talking to Chandler and his wife, Maria, it is scary how quickly this thing got out of control. It is easy to see from this incident how forest fires get started in the summer and fall from a few sparks, so listen to Smokey The Bear. It is now 5:00 pm and the fire personnel are just leaving the scene.

This weather and living up here where we do has certainly made it easier to be stuck at home during the tRumpVirus. I certainly feel for folks who live in apartments in the flatlands and are stuck indoors during this mess. Sending good thoughts to all my comrades as we weather this. It sounds like Oregon, Washington, and California are the poster child for how a mitigation process should work. I just read that the governor of South Dakota has not had a stay at home order, to the dismay of mayors and health officials, and is now home to one of the largest single coronavirus clusters anywhere in the United States. Smithfield, one of the larger pork processing plants in the US, located in Sioux Falls, had to shut down because 300 of their workers have come down with the virus. The mayor of the city has had to make voluntary recommendations in the absence of a statewide order, and has made requests to the governor for an order, which has fallen on deaf ears. More than 160 county and city leaders have signed a petition urging her to declare a statewide public health emergency. She thinks, however, that hydroxychloroquine is the answer and in a briefing yesterday boasted, “It’s an exciting day,” repeatedly talking about her conversations with Jared Kushner. Unbelievable!

I guess the United States is in headlines all over the globe tonight after the stable genius has made the decision to halt funding to the World Health Organization. Now, from what I have read, the WHO probably did not do a very good job early on as the virus was starting in Wuhan. tRump’s reason for this decision, however, I see as more of a deflection of blame for his dismal performance in the early stages of the pandemic. He has proven to be very good at deflection, but this may be the one time it doesn’t work.

Anyhoo, I’m glad Chandler, Maria and the kids are all safe tonight, although the kids probably liked all the excitement of them thar fire trucks.

Time to sign off. Keep smilin’ y’all. I just have to say one more time. STAY SAFE, STAY HEALTHY, STAY HOME! (hopefully not too much longer). Ziggyman from the living room.

Did you miss me? Didn’t post yesterday for the first time since I started this thing. Spent a quiet Easter Sunday at home enjoying the sunshine, reading, and cooking. Normally we would be out at Jen and Bill’s with other family members for Easter dinner. Due to the current situation it was just the missus and me in our prison. We did have a nice dinner, though. Had some veal shanks in the freezer (sorry Cloie), and just happened to watch Giada on Food Network in the morning where she made an asparagus salad and a creamy polenta with spinach. We didn’t have all of the same ingredients she used, but used it as an inspiration to do our own thing. Quarantined Easter dinner at the Stout household: Osso Bucco, creamy polenta, and asparagus salad with feta cheese and hazelnuts.

Here is a photo of the cookies and cream cupcakes that Carol baked on Friday. Delicious!

I mentioned in Saturday’s post that there were some music specials Sunday and Monday on A&E network. Yesterday was Dolly Parton and Willie Nelson. If you missed the Willie Nelson special try to catch it on a repeat. It was fabulous! Lot’s of guest musicians playing by themselves and with Willie. He is 86 years old now, so you might want to see him before he joins John Prine up there. Tonight there are two more specials on A&E, Kenny Rogers and Merle Haggard. Since we are in the culture side of this post, I also just got a FB message that Peter Bowen, a Montana author whose books I read, died a couple of days ago after falling at his home in Livingston, MT. A weird thing is that just last night I was communicating with a former colleague about Carol and I being in Livingston to meet up with an artist, Amber Jean, to buy a bronze sculpture she did. We love Livingston and could live there if it weren’t for the wind. I think half of the population in the town is either an author, artist, movie star, or musician. Another weird thing is that the word “weird” does not follow the rule, “i” before “e” except after “c”.

Okay, we’ve been through the food section, arts and entertainment, can’t do sports because there are no sports at this time, so I guess we have to get to the politics section. I will assume that you read or heard on the news over the weekend the reports about the late response to the coronavirus from the White House. I wrote about it last week, but the political issue now becomes whether tRump will fire Dr. Fauci. Yesterday, while being interviewed, Dr. Fauci seemed to confirm that he and other health officials had recommended social-distancing a month before tRump announced the guidance. “We make a recommendation. Often, the recommendation is taken. Sometimes, it’s not,” Dr. Fauci said. Then last night tRump, obviously p____d off retweeted a message from a former California Republican candidate to #FireFauci. Of course, now today the White House is downplaying it and says that tRump has no intention of getting rid of Dr. Fauci, but we’ve heard those kinds of messages before and in time the person did end up being sacked. Right now the most credible person up on that campaign stage briefing is Fauci. The other doctor has become a sycophantic tool of tRump. “He’s been so attentive to the scientific literature and the details and the data. His ability to analyze and integrate data is a real benefit during our discussions.” – Dr. Deborah Birx 3/27/2020 (as she cleans off her mouth and nose, if y’all know what I mean). And then there is Dr. Fauci,

Hope you had a relaxing weekend so you can get back to the toil of this week. Oh, and if you do go out and are driving around, be careful and watch out for children who are out and about skipping school. STAY SAFE, STAY HEALTHY, STAY HOME. Ziggyman

Compadres, I was going to take a vacation from posting today, but thought that if I missed a day you’d quit following me. Soooooo, this will just be a quickie. Just finished watching At Home FarmAid hosted by Willie, Lukas and Micah Nelson. One hour special with performances by Dave Mathews, John Mellencamp, and Neil Young, done from their living rooms due to the situation we are now in. If you didn’t see it, watch for a repeat on AXS channel. Next two days on A&E Network biography specials of Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, Kenny Rogers, and one other musician, who at the moment I can’t recall.

We belong to a lot of wine clubs, but the one we have been a member of the longest is Cana’s Feast in Carlton, OR. Last night after fixing dinner and having one of their wines, I got this hair brained idea to post on their FB page for wine club members to share a photo of a meal they prepared accompanied by a Cana’s Feast wine. I had made a beef pot pie using some leftover pot roast and some of the beef brisket that Tracie had given us earlier. I posted a photo of our pot pie and the wine, with my challenge. They loved it.

Cana’s Feast Winery We love this! What a delicious pairing, Mike. Enjoy!!

 Like I said, short post today. Don’t go to church tomorrow. Stay home.

Stay Safe, Stay Healthy, Stay Home. Ziggyman

 

OMG! The Chosen One gets up this morning and tweets “HAPPY GOOD FRIDAY TO ALL!” This fake Christian, who trumpanzies link to Jesus, has absolutely no idea what this day is in the Christian world. It is not a day to celebrate and jump with joy, but probably the most somber day of the year for Christians, as it is the day that Jesus was crucified. Holy Moly comrades, we haven’t been nailed to the cross but we’re living in hell with this dumb-ass president. This was going to be a day that I just posted some nice, soothing, upbeat stuff, but when I saw this, I just couldn’t let it go. I have an idea for his evangelical followers — let’s nail him up and see if he reappears on Sunday. I know this picture is a repeat, but doesn’t it fit the occasion?

These are some of the stories I was preparing for you yesterday before I accidentally deleted the entire post, and yes I did prepare myself a second whiskey sour to sip as we prepared dinner. First, after a 3 week hiatus from being started up, we got in the Countryman and drove down off the mountain to restock on our vittles and pick up a wine delivery at FedEx. On Wednesday I found out that if we didn’t pick up the package by Thursday (yesterday), they would send it back to the winery. Wasn’t gonna let that happen, so off we went. The poor Countryman thought that I had died of the coronavirus since I hadn’t driven him for three weeks. Anyway, it felt good to get off the mountain for a couple of hours and get restocked.

So, I just read a republished article in the Atlantic titled “If Everyone Ate Beans Instead of Beef”. The premise was that a relatively small, single-food substitution such as substituting beans for beef, could be the most powerful change a person makes in terms of their lifetime environmental impact. Here is a link to the article, but it was a perfect segue to something I wanted to share with you. Beans, beans, the musical fruit ……… You know the rest. Anyway, I have really been on a bean kick over the past year. I had read an article in The New Yorker about a fella by the name of Steve Sando, the founder of Rancho Gordo Beans in California and then went on their website to check out their products. I noticed that they had a Bean Club in which you would get a shipment of different heirloom beans quarterly, but unfortunately the club was filled, so I had to get on a waiting list. The good news is after about a 4 month wait, I got an email letting me know there was an opening, so I immediately let them know “hell yeah, I’m in!” I have to tell you, you haven’t had good beans until you have had these heirlooms. During this pandemic crisis beans have become very popular and it has created overwhelming demand at RG, resulting in shipping delays of about two months. Luckily, I have a pretty good stash in the pantry. Where was I going with all this? To let you see the ‘musical fruit” dinner we had Wednesday night. See everything isn’t just about tRump.

As we drove down to do an essential activity yesterday, we noticed a number of cars parked on the highway near Wildwood Park, a BLM park that is shut down due to the present situation. Obviously, people were ignoring the closing and entering the park anyway. There were several posts on Facebook today from mountain folks critical of people ignoring the rules at this difficult time. This situation we are in raises some very difficult moral and ethical issues that we are all faced with. Why do I have to stay in my house? Who gets a ventilator and who doesn’t? Are us old folks just on our last legs anyhow, in the words of Bill O’Reilly? All of us have to recognize that our private actions have public consequences. Before we can get back to a more normal routine, and people can get back to work, and the economy can get juiced up, we are all going to have to make some sacrifices, and that includes social distancing and staying at home. Sooooo, be good and stay in the hood, and get ready to PARTY HARDY when the time is right.

It is Friday, so the weekend is finally here. Pour yourself a stiff drink and relax after toiling all week within the confines of your prison. And remember, we must begin to prepare for the battle ahead of us over the next few months. If we don’t, we will be overtaken by these morons and the next four years could be worse than this pandemic,

Stay Safe, Stay Healthy, Stay Home! Ziggyman

Okay friends. I started this post 45 minutes ago and had it really rolling. Unfortunately, I have been drinking a fairly large whiskey sour while writing (thanks for the inspiration, John and Marci) and somehow deleted all of the musing that I was writing after going back to check something on yesterday’s post. I really want to go mix another drink, start working on dinner, and not recreate the beautiful, really beautiful messages I was about to share with you this fine day. But before I have to leave you, I have a question. I read this morning that the Very Pathetic one was not going to let the good doctors, Fauci and Birx, take questions or speak at the daily campaign briefing. I did not watch it, so for those of you who sit on the edge of your seat awaiting the words of wisdom and bullshit from our supreme leader each day, was that the case? Were they on the stage and did they speak? I also just saw that the death toll from the coronavirus in the United States has exceeded 16,500 and we now have over 461,400 cases, with New York experiencing there largest single-day death toll yet. I know it’s hard to keep track of time, but I think we are in the second week of April and our stable genius told us in February that “Looks like by April, you know, in theory, when it gets a little warmer, it miraculously goes away.” I think we will probably start seeing a leveling out, with improvement over the next couple of months; but now from my readings, I’m getting concerned about September when kid’s start back in school, colleges reopen, and the entertainment venues reopen. I again want to send a shout out to all of the Americans on the front line helping us while we lounge in our homes eating, drinking, and who knows what else the rest of you are doing in the privacy of your domicile. Anyhoo, I want you to think about the following before you go to bed tonight, and pray for me, as I have not been showing loyalty to tRump and I would hate to have bad things done to me.

Was able to get some paper towels today, though.

Tomorrow I hope to find time to write about the weekend and share our Easter weekend church plans. Keep smilin’. Ziggyman

Just one more.

It was just too nice today to sit in front of a computer musing, so this will be a shorty.

January 22, 2020 “We have it totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China, and we have it under control. It’s going to be just fine.” — CNBC interview

February 10, 2020 “Looks like by April, you know, in theory, when it gets a little warmer, it miraculously goes away.” — New Hampshire rally

February 22, 2020 “The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA. … Stock Market starting to look very good to me!” —Twitter

February 27, 2020 “It’s going to disappear. One day, it’s like a miracle, it will disappear.”  News conference

March 9, 2020 “The Fake News Media and their partner, the Democrat Party, is doing everything within its semi-considerable power … to inflame the CoronaVirus situation.”  Twitter

March 10, 2020 “We’re prepared, and we’re doing a great job with it. And it will go away. Just stay calm. It will go away.” — Meeting with Republican senators

March 15, 2020 “This is a very contagious virus. It’s incredible. But it’s something that we have tremendous control over.” — News conference

March 17, 2020 “I felt it was a pandemic long before it was called a pandemic.” — News conference

Okay, there is a lot more shit from this tool’s mouth between March 17th and today, but I’m getting too tired to search it, so think about this

Now that the Bern has dropped out of the race remember to vote for JOE BYEDON

Okay, my gin is awaiting. Stay Healthy, Stay Safe, Stay Home (unless your golfing). Ziggyman

RIP John Prine 10-10-46 to 4-7-20

RIP Roger Emery (my son-in-laws father who also passed away yesterday) 3-7-46 to 4-7-20

Yesterday I wrote that the acting Navy Secretary, Thomas Modly, was pretty much a jerk and the result of his actions probably weren’t completely played out yet. Sure enough, I see he just resigned after being told last night by his boss that he needed to apologize to Captain Crozier for the remarks he made on Sunday to the 4,000 sailors on the USS Roosevelt. let’s see, last week he fires the ship’s commanding officer for sending a letter asking for support for the sailors on ship who have the coronavirus, with the numbers increasing daily. There is not a review done to investigate whether the captain violated the chain of command or any other unlawful behavior. As the captain is leaving the ship after being dismissed, sailors on the ship cheer for him and chant his name as an expression of appreciation. Sunday, the acting tool goes onboard and calls Crozier “stupid and naive” resulting in loud boo’s and other expressions of disagreement. The public is outraged, the families of the sailors are outraged, lawmakers (Dems) begin calling on Modly to resign or have his boss fire him. His boss tells him to apologize. Modly now begins to see that perhaps he is the naive and stupid one. He makes an apology last night and states, “let me be clear, I do not think Captain Brett Crozier is naive nor stupid, I think, and always believed him to be the opposite. We pick our carrier commanding officers with great care. Captain Crozier is smart and passionate. I apologize for any confusion this choice of words may have caused.” This morning the shtuff has begun to hit the fan. Officers are beginning to hear that the enlisted men and women are saying that they are not going to reenlist at the end of their enlistment. Lawmakers on the Democratic side of the aisle are ripping Modly a new one. Donnie says that he’s “going to get involved.” “You have two good people and they’re arguing, and I’m good — believe it or not —at settling arguments.” Later Thomas Modly resigns. Donnie probably told the Defense Secretary Mark Esper to get rid of Modly because the color of his hair competed with his and we just can’t have that.

OMG, the missus and I watched a movie loaned to us by our friends Tom and Tracie, idiocracy by Mike Judge. It is hysterically funny. It is a satire on the dumbing down of America, taking you to the year 2505, but sadly seems to be a documentary of what we look like today. I highly recommend you pop some popcorn, put on your jammies, grab a wine or beer and prepare to laugh your ass off.

Hooray, the sun is out. Totally blue sky and going to get warmer over the next couple of days. Get out and enjoy it while you can, but at a socially correct distance like we did. We started the day having to call for service on our pressure tank, as it has been acting goofy over the past few days. The good news is that the service tech’s from Steve’s Pumps were able to come today and they got the problem fixed at a very reasonable cost.

Keep smilin’. Ziggyman