Here and There

I know that I have been well-trained by "my pets."  They cry, I wake up.  They walk across me, I wake up.  If the weather is nice, they go to the balcony door and I open it for them; when they come back inside, I close the door behind them.  Our first apartment in Boulder faced east, and since the east wall was 80% glass, the cats awoke with the sun.  That meant that I awoke then, also.  We've been in the new apartment 22 months; the windows face west and south, but the cats (and I) still get up at daybreak.
  My roommate, Beatrice, grew up with dogs, not cats.  She has always been a night owl, sleeping in until 10 a.m. or noon.  She moved in 21 months ago - and she is now an early riser - thanks to my cats.  Nedi has decided that "Auntie Bea" is his person.  He sings to her when he believes she should get up in the morning, and, should she close her bedroom and/or bathroom door, for any reason, she will receive an operatic comment.  I awoke at 6:05 this morning; Nedi went into Bea's room and sang her awake at 6:25.  I had already opened the balcony curtains and blinds, fed the cats, and cleaned the litter boxes.  Nedi, however, wanted Beatrice out in the living room, where she would praise, pet and scratch him.  She has learned that he is extremely persistent.  She is now an early riser, too.
   The last word I got from Chincoteague is that there were twelve foals on Assateague - but two of them have yet to be photographed.  Reports are that May's Grand Slam and Dream Catcher have foaled on the north end of the island, but no photos as yet.
   This Saturday is another planned March against 45 - this one is to raise awareness of, and support for the scientists who believe in the evidence of, Climate Change.  So far, the Marches in Denver have had pretty good weather - cold or warm - but the current forecast for this Saturday is for snow.
   In the years since Franklin Delano Roosevelt made his Fireside Chat radio broadcast regarding his "first hundred days in office" Presidents of the United States have been graded, fairly or not, on their individual achievements since then.  FDR had introduced and pushed through the New Deal, Social Security, and the WPA.  The circus peanut, so far, has signed a bunch of executive orders and is dismantling the Environmental Protection Agency.  More than 80% of appointed positions remain unfilled.  He hasn't held up his end of his campaign promises.  He reeks of lies and under-the-table payments.  He needs to be booted out the White House and Washington.
   In the Kentucky Derby, less than two weeks away, one of the thoroughbred racing prognosticators has said that the following horses make up his "Derby dozen favorites:"  Always Dreaming, Irish War Cry, Gunnevera, Classic Empire, McCraken, J Boys Echo, Hence, Practical Joke, Girvin, Gormley, Battalion Runner, and Irap.
   I hope the rest of your week is great!

The Man To Be Inaugurated

Well, we're a little over a week away from the Inauguration of the next President of the United States.  And I'm scared almost witless.  The Circus Peanut's choices of Cabinet members is a pretty open genuflection to his God - the Almighty Dollar.  He will strip America of it's honesty, remove any valuable item from it's boundaries, sell off interests in renewable energy, and make America into a caricature of a third-world country with no food, water, or economy left for "normal" population. Only the 1% will be able to survive - and, of course, he will be the very top-most, first, of those people.  
    He held a "press conference" yesterday in which he answered no questions, but patted a few people on their backs, and verbally trashed quite a few more.  He labeled an entire news network as being composed of only "fake news."  He puffed himself up like a bull frog - and was just about as huggable.
    He had a fit when unproved "salacious" material about him was spread - but he loved spreading unprovable rumors while he was both running for the office of President and since his election.  He crows that he had the largest number of supporters and votes in the history of our Presidency - but he lost the popular vote by nearly 3 million votes against him.  But his own narcissistic view of himself cannot allow him to admit it.
    I have to admit I found it hysterical that the unproved allegations against Trumplethinskin included his orgasmic joy from having women urinate on him.  That brought about website postings calling him the "Pee-OTUS"  - along with a joke about the difference between a chickpea and a lentil: he won't pay $1,000 for a lentil...
    The man's mindset is what frightens me....
     And then, today's interruption of the C-SPAN broadcast from the US House of Representatives that suddenly gave viewers 10 to 15 minutes of Russian News.....   
     The man does scare me.

The Newly Elected President

As with General Cornwallis and his men at Yorktown, Virginia at the end of America's Revolutionary War, we have seen "the world turned upside down."  I'm speaking of the unbelievable Presidential election win by the Republican Party candidate.  I fear to find Armageddon will arrive on 21 January 2017, the first full day of his Presidency.  The man still scares the beJesus out of me.
   My roommate and I have decided not to refer to this man by name.  We refer to him as either "the Circus Peanut" or "Trumplethinskin."  The first choice is because (a) he looks orange - don't know if it's a bad spray-tan, or a horrible reaction to a tanning bed or just outrageously poor make-up; (b) too many of them will make you ill; (c) they are pretty cheap; (d) they are not unique - you can buy them by the bag almost anywhere; and (e) his head carries a peanut-sized brain.  The second name, does, unfortunately, contain his surname, but we just can't help but feel that it's extremely accurate - he  most definitely does have a thin skin.  All of his Tweets indicate a person who has an astronomically huge ego, but is still very much an immature boy, who speaks before thinking, and thrives on planning revenge for any perceived personal snub.  Rumplestiltskin kept the maiden a captive in the tower to spin straw into gold to make him rich. Trumplethinskin believes that he can do anything he pleases to any female - all he has to do is pay them enough, or threaten them enough, to keep them quiet.
    This person has zero respect for anyone who disagrees with him, or who can get the better of him in any type of contest.  He is a sore loser, and a sore winner. Nothing satisfies him.  He won't listen to intelligence briefings before becoming the sworn-in, actual, legal President - he says he already knows that stuff and he doesn't believe what's being reported anyway.  "Let's have an arms race," he says.  Russia is the only country that has more nuclear devices than the United States has - what is he thinking?  Is that how he plans to bring new jobs to the country?  Is he going to try to have a draft for the Armed Services - and, if so, will his children and grandchildren be included?
   This person has no political background.  Yes, he has been a "businessman" for quite some time.  I can't call his businesses successful - he owes more than 90% of his much-touted wealth in investment and other business deals; he's declared bankruptcy multiple times to re-organize, or kill, businesses that are not turning a profit.  The man has broken the law and paid 'inconsequential' government fines for breaking the law, and he continues to do so.  (I say 'inconsequential' fines because he pays tiny fines in proportion to the illegally made monies.)
   His chosen Cabinet members, so far, also scare me.  They seem to represent people with great racial hatreds, with ties to the Ku Klux Klan, to white supremacists, to Neo-Nazis, and to armed militia groups.  He's still talking about a ban on Muslims and other religious beliefs.  It seems as if he's a little boy, poking an ant-hill with a stick, just to see how roiled he can make the entire colony....
   He truly frightens me.  He is trying to side-step Constitutional laws - seemingly because he doesn't believe they could possibly apply to himself.  He wants to run the United States of America, and run his own businesses as well, make deals with foreign countries, and have his sons and daughters help him decide what to do when, and with whom.  It is illegal, as the duly elected President of the United States, to do any of these things.  May the Gods above have mercy upon us Americans once President Obama leaves office.