Still Cold 12° & Political Ranting

Political ranting at the end of the post. This is a LONG post. 

It's cold everywhere. My friend sent this yesterday from Southport NC. She found out late yesterday afternoon she had close call catching her house on fire. Her heater had stopped working a few days ago and was finally able to get someone to come out and look at it. Her house had cooled to 49° inside with no heat and freezing temps outside. Something that town is not use to.

A plastic junction box in her attic had melted. It connected to the air handler/return but her circuit breaker did not flip off to stop the current. Thus her heater quit working. I know I have one of those in the attic. Too cold today but with a high of 47° tomorrow I plan on getting up in my attic to look around.

Even though the forecasted high temps are much warmer than we have experienced, there has been so much freezing temps surrounding the house for weeks, the arctic air made that 31° feel like 11° and that is exactly the way it was yesterday. Those exact numbers. As you can see we were camped inside most of the time.

Luckily in the past five days Trump is doing so much that there is plenty of news to watch on tv, plus the updates on X. Things are happening much faster than I had expected but I am happy they are.

Ava was preventing Watson from chewing the florescent green REI bone by laying her head on top of it.

With it being 12° right before I started this post, Watson Ava and I were not outside to long. Luckily there is little to no wind, but it still feels brutal out there, even with a coat on.

Walter had been outside one time this morning and he let me know that was it. He wasn't going out with Watson and Ava .... Henry and Cletus aren't pictured because they were still sleeping in the bedroom on top of an old sleeping bag I pull out for them in this kind of weather.

Even with the wide range of temperatures and wild weather, wilder than he is use to ... he has remained in one piece whereas those two large Mexican pots I brought with me in May 2021 have not, they have broken apart just sitting where I put them. 

No surprise the ground is hard as a rock .. grass, dirt mud or snow.

The outdoor water bowl has a new chunk of ice this morning. 

I took that same bowl yesterday, turned it upside down so this could slide out. This morning that chunk of ice has remained the same size as yesterday. Henry has tried but unable to lift it with his jaws.

To the person that asked me how long do my dogs stay outside in cold weather ... "until they come back to the patio door on their own to be let inside, otherwise they NEVER come when I call them to come in earlier". 

It might melt tomorrow when the temps are supposed to get up to 47° but I doubt it.

If you remember on January 6th I looked out my window to see this. Her tree my yard. In Indiana I am responsible for cleanup since it's in my yard. I hate that law. 

That huge tree on the right side that looks like it has split ... the larger trunk on the right had broken almost in half so it was hanging. Yesterday a tree service shows up with a chipper and a tractor with claws to grip that large limb on the right that had broken off in one attempt. They cut off the part of the tree that was solid wood so they can sell that piece but fed everything else into their chipper ... the tree was gone in minutes.

When I saw him pull up I went out to see if he was taking care of all three trees. The one in her front yard and the two on the side ... with the one in my yard and the other next to her barn shed.

He was a friend of hers and was only taking care of the tree in front. Nice guy but when I mentioned I was hoping he was taking all three away because one was in my side yard ... "her tree my yard", he started to mention the state law before I interrupted him and said I know the state law.

Just the tone of his voice when he started telling me about the state law, pumped enough adrenaline into me that I walked back in the house grabbed my hat, coat and gloves. I stopped in the garage to get my wood saw, pruning saw and the large rake and decided I would take care of it myself. 

It went to this .... from the photo below.

Two problems ... it was really cold and by the time I stopped with the picture above this one ... I couldn't feel my fingers ... and what was left of that tree, those two limbs were buried in the ground. I needed to cut them off at ground level to move the tree. I decided I would wait for it to be warmer (Saturday afternoon?) before I finished.

At the rate the tree crew worked, it would have taken them less than 20 minutes to take this tree and the one back by that red shed, feed it into the chipper and be done with it. Plus two guys were raking up the loose stuff in her front yard after the tree was moved.

I did let me neighbor know that and she knew I wasn't happy when she pulled into her driveway while they were working in her front yard and I was sawing off limbs of this tree in my yard.

My thoughts while working ... if I am cold like this I would rather experience it in the high desert in Sierra Vista ... yes, I have always missed that place.

This is where I left the AT&T Fiber junction box the other day. Easy for them to get to. I doubt if they show up by Tuesday, the day I am supposed to call Scott Johnson here in the local AT&T repair shop. Right now I am not sure I will even bother calling them again if they don't show up. An option would be in warm weather, take out my tall ladder, grab the junction box and see if I can toss it up and over their main internet cable. Should be interesting.

Yesterday as I was taking the cut limbs back to the berm, I tried to see if the fallen limb from January 6th would move. It didn't budge. Not even a little. It too has one end of it buried in the ground but now its limbs are in my way and go to the back of the fence. That will be another project when the temperature gets warmer. I am beginning to think I need to splurge for a battery operated chainsaw. My other neighbor loves his over the gas chainsaw he has. 

This is the area I tossed the limbs I was cutting from the downed tree in the yard. I would love to burn all of that next spring before the leaves show up or maybe in February when it is warmer but I fear the fire would get out of control with that much dry brush and trees. Would I set the larger trees on fire plus the field behind it????

From this point forward I am going to ramble about politics and the last five days. 

So you are warned and you are welcome to stop reading at this point if that is a trigger point for you or the words "trump, illegals, aliens, DEI, woke, etc" bother you.

I admit I have watched and read the news with joy with what is happening. I guess I am not the only one since it was said this morning 55% approval rating for Trump nationwide. The rating has gone up 18.1% since he took the oath of office. BTW, having your hand on the Bible during the oath is NOT a requirement in the Constitution.

About what you would expect from CA, OR, WA and the NE. I remember reading when the Boston Mayor said they would not help ICE or play along with Trump's plans of finding illegals in their city ... I guess it doesn't matter what she said because ICE, with cameras showed exactly what they were doing in Boston yesterday and who they were grabbing, last night on Fox and on X yesterday.

The highlight of all the film was the man yelling that he was not going back to Haiti. He let it be known that he hated Trump for doing this and still had time to yell out a thank you to Obama and Biden for that they did for him as he resisted getting into the backseat of the ICE SUV. I have an idea no matter what he wants or says in front of the tv cameras he will find his ass in Haiti as soon as tonight. 

He was a convicted criminal.

These confirmation hearings are all theater. Nothing but showtime. All the nominees will be approved. The democrats that are saying NO are only doing this to show their voters they are/were trying their best to not approve Trump's nominations. In the end they will all be approved. Just this morning it was reported that Pete Hegseth has his 51 votes for approval. Even Mitch McConnell reversed his decision and voted "yes" for someone yesterday. 

The new Secret Service man in charge as of last night ... says up to 10 agents will be fired. 

Only one flag at government buildings worldwide, the American flag just as it should be. DEI is closed for good. No, you will not win in 2028 democrats because you are still in denial and ... you don't even have anyone strong enough to lead your party yet. You are already falling behind for 2028 so expect JD Vance to continue the current policies up through 2032. So I am pretty sure DEI is dead and where they are still trying to do it under different names, they will be found, closed and fired. 

Newscum said this morning he has NOT talked to Trump yet but WILL meet him on the tarmac when Trump arrives in LA later today. It will have to be later because he will be in Western NC before he heads west. IN FOUR DAYS FEMA under the new administration has taken people out of motels, tents, and cars and have put them in apartments for long term stays. Amazing what gets done when that woke crap Biden/Harris administration is OUT OF THE WAY !!!!!

Back to illegal aliens because that is what they are and were called that in 1866 when the 14th amendment was written .. 1866 right after the Civil War ... the term was used. Anyway on January 22nd a farmer said that if Trump deports all the "undocumented immigrants" (not the correct term) ... the US would be out of food in two days. Is that like the climate clowns saying the world was going to end in 12 years? The 12 years passed many years ago.

"So if business comes back to the USA for that 15% tax that is offered won't that raise prices because labor cost will increase?" ... I don't know I told her ... Go ask Chrysler who is reopening their plants in Illinois and Indiana to build more cars/suvs. May the cost of increased labor is less than the taxes they will save by making the move. 

Many organizations are rewording their Organization name, job descriptions and job titles to get around Trumps executive orders. I think they may have underestimated some of their co-workers because in today's world of phone cameras their cheating can be posted world wide on social media.

For example ---- Minot Air Force Base is still doing DEI, but it's now called Organizational Culture Office.

In 2021 before I moved my neighbor at the time was retired Army and was working at Ft Huachuca as a contractor as a teacher for enlistees right out of bootcamp that had come there for their school and to be trained in their MOS. 

He told me once Biden implemented DEI into the military he was having to spend one full day per week in DEI training thus delaying the training his students were getting which would delay them in getting into the areas they were needed in active military position. At the time he said he didn't know how much longer he could put up with the DEI trying, the masks behind the plastic shields etc ....

He resigned from being that government contractor/teacher five months later.

More examples of changing DEI job descriptions or organization names. You can bet there is someone in the White House tracking all of this and those guilty will be closed and fired.

TVA is trying to circumvent the federal ban on DEI. Up until Jan 13th, Janet Brown was their Chief DEI Officer. 

Now, she's People and Culture VP.

TVA is trying to circumvent the federal ban on DEI. Up until Jan 13th, Janet Brown was their Chief DEI Officer. Now, she's People and Culture VP.

VA is trying to circumvent the federal ban on DEI. Up until Jan 13th, Janet Brown was their Chief DEI Officer. Now, she's ple and Cult

People all over the USA will point this out and post it on X for everyone to see .... needless to say a lot of scrambling and a lot of sleepless nights. 

Who would have ever guessed that Pensacola FL would have 10" of snow.  LOL

I think this shows just how much government control and regulations have been implemented over decades but more than ever the past 4 years of Biden's circus. Yesterday and in past days Trump has said he is going to get rid of the restrictions Biden placed on businesses so people can build and buy houses and be able to "live again".

This next photo is from this morning as the military is helping in Trump's "Mass Deportation Operation". Can you actually believe the Pentagon followed orders to help. I thought they were going to revolt against all the changes he was bringing. 

IMO many of these companies, government organizations and leaders don't have to hide anymore ... they don't have to go along with Biden's policies to save their ass ... because without any resistance these same people inside the federal government are coming forward in the media, backing what Trump is doing and saying they will do all they can to help him.

Sure there are those crying about it all ... but they needed to be "weeded out" anyway.

The other photos that went with this, three of them in fact, shows the line is extremely long. Believe me, that large cargo plane will be filled by the time it is airborne. As of midnight last night there had been over 1,000 illegal aliens captured and processed for deportation as per the head of ICE. 

Just 18 minutes ago House Republicans are discussing $2-3 TRILLION in spending cuts .... 

There is just too much stuff to talk about as things are happening constantly. So I will stop here. My final thoughts are ... when I read that many federal employees in different departments "threaten" to turn in their resignation letters if such and such is approved as their new director .... fine, don't let the door hit you in the ass.

I have been a federal employee before. I saw first hand how much waste there was in the government and something I fought internally as I worked. I was the financial manager for my department and more than a few times I had a manager tell me to take money from someones project to pay for someone that had not been assigned a job yet ... some times that was for over a year. Can you imagine coming to work, sitting at your desk with nothing to do for over a year. I remember those people. 

Or as my dad, who was NOT a federal employee, would say when asked "how many people work at xxxxx (a government facility) nearby ... about half. Truer words could not be spoken.

Downsizing is good in the government and so are the policies that Trump is implementing at a rapid rate.

It's going to be a good day here in "the tropics" of Southern Indiana.