One thing Trump has done is return the word 'retard' to its proper home.

when he called Tim Walz one.

At one point the term was used to describe a special needs person but like a lot of things in the English Language that seems to have changed over time.it warm and allow him to cook.

I remember an incident from back in the day when an engineer from some lofty place dropped out to become a fisherman in Alaska. He bought a boat and went to work on it to suit his needs.

He was installing an oil stove of sorts in it to keep warm and enable him to cook. He arrived at the boat one day with a bunch of hardware including a small pump, check valves, fittings, piping and other hardware to get the now installed stove up and running.

At the time practically every town had one or two harmless special needs people that had been mainstreamed and were just part of the woodwork. They were pretty much accepted,  looked after and protected by the townspeople.

As the engineer turned fisherman started sorting out his parts our special needs guy was wandering by and asked the fisherman what he was doing. He went into an explanation on how he planned to pump fuel to his new stove.

Our special needs citizen looked at him and said, "Gee, you must be awful smart to know how to do all of that. I would have put the tank on the roof and let the oil run down into the stove."

The engineer turned fisherman looked completely stunned like he'd been hit by lightning. He mumbled something about having to go to the store and left.

A couple of days later I saw the engineer working on the deck of his boat and asked how his stove install went and he replied it works like a charm and invited me aboard to check it out. It ran perfectly.

When I disembarked I turned and took a look. I was not surprised to see the stove fuel tank affixed to the top of the coach roof. I said nothing but thought to myself "Who's the retard?"

Some of the most intelligent people on the planet can be retards.

I saw this picture answering a post on social media and decided that it fit Tim Walz nicely. (Occasionally it fits me.)

 

To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY

I see where Ilhan Omar is having a few problems.

with her citizenship and maybe a few other minor things like fraud and/or theft.

One thing about this is the entire thing could have been avoided if she'd have simply represented her constituency without all the bull$hit, fanfare, drama and false outrage. 

She had to know that her paperwork had been fudged a little and that it would not take a whole lot to go through it with a fine screen and discover where something had been glossed over but she grew too overconfident and started getting herself into the limelight and pissing people off.

What's interesting to note is that if she continued to represent her constituency and quietly contribute she likely could have had a lifetime spot and a Congresswoman because her constituency of Somalia born people in MN would have continued sending her to Congress for the next umpteen decades.  

She also could have continued with whatever (alleged) fraud she was into and kept milking the system dry. 

Instead she chose to make a nuisance of herself and finally someone got tired of it and decided to do a little digging.

Most of the usual scam stories I have heard over the years are stories where the scam artists are doing something that is and likely will fly under the radar forever and a day if they hold course and speed and keep quiet about it. They always end with either 'Then they started getting greedy' or 'Then they started bragging about it'.

Getting greedy or telling anybody about a scam is a sure fire way of getting caught. When you start increasing your criminal activity where it becomes noticeable people start looking around trying to find out what's going on. 

When you tell someone what you are up to you run a very good chance that they will say something to someone else and then it becomes common knowledge fast. When that happens it's all over.

While I am no fan of Ilhan Omar whatsoever, I bet if she's followed the simple rules of crookedness and simply decided to fly under the radar she'd be sitting in Congress instead of waiting for whatever comes next.  

 

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Chain drive garage door openers.

tend to be noisy but they are solid. They are also the most reliable.

The quietest openers are screw driven and probably a little more expensive. They make sense for a family where the comings and goings spread over 24/7.

Still, I met a guy that bought one so it would not wake him up when the garage door opened and closed.

He lives alone.

What kind of badness is he talking about? If he is inside his home and he heard it it is an alarm because someone else has opened it and is either planning on entering or leaving his house.

I seriously doubt he is going to walk in his sleep into the garage and open the door and when he returns he's not going to be asleep either.

Go figure.

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There are times I piss myself off

like I just did a few minutes ago when I looked into my refrigerator to see what I am going to have for breakfast. 

Nothing outright jumped out at me and I got mildly annoyed becaause of that.

Then I got pissed off at myself because the whole refrigerator is full of edible food and I'm annoyed because I wasn't instantly inspired.

Then I opened my eyes and saw some leftover ham and some cheese and started to make an omelet which collapsed when I went to flip the empty side over the onions, ham and cheese side so I said the hell with it and scrambled the whole mess up and had a pretty good breakfast.

I have a refrigerator that people would kill me for a quarter of its contents and I'm complaining? That's just plain wrong.

It's an old saw but once in a while at times like this I ought to stop and think about the hungry kids overseas.

I'm ashamed of myself...or at least was. Now I'm grateful I have more than enough to eat.

To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY

If it only saves one child...

is a common gun control plea.

Good point. While we're at it lets outlaw swimming pools, 5 gallon buckets and other sources of childhood drowning. 

Cars kill children, too so let's outlaw automobiles and we can all walk because if we ride horses children can fall off of them, hit their heads and die.

In short how much are we willing to give up to save one child?

 

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It is Sunday and there is no mail

I think one of the things I can do is pass on some dopey little stuff that will make people's life a little easier.

On the USPS website look up 'Informed Delivery' and check it out. I have it and I check it every morning shortly after I turn on the coffee maker.

It lets me know what I am going to find in my mailbox that day. It's pretty good knowing what to expect that day.

They show pictures of the actual mail piece so you know what it is.

Check it out.

To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY

The Waffle House weather index.

The National Weather Service (NWS) does not officially use the Waffle House Index to forecast weather, but the federal emergency officials certainly do.

One of the things the feds do which actually makes sense is they pay attention to experienced local knowledge. Most likely because they have been embarrassed too many times over the years.

"Our scientists say..." announced the feds only to be made fools of by Farmer Joe's bunions or the local water witcher's trick knee. 

Actually regarding the North River the local (now gone) Coast Guard station used to tell people that local knowledge was the best source of information for people navigating the river. 

The Waffle House index seems to be a pretty good source of local weather information. They have a well earned reputation of toughing out bad weather and staying open. They also have a company index. 

Green, full operations. Yellow means limited operations and red means closed. Closed generally means the place has pretty much been destroyed and can't even provide shelter.

Closed ahead of time means that the storm is pretty much going to render the place heavily damaged. While like anything else that's not a guarantee that a storm is going to tear the place up it's a pretty good indicator of truly nasty weather.

Waffle House also has a pretty good humanitarian record of providing food and shelter during bad weather.

For all of the jokes, laughter, brawl videos etc. and the reputation of being a circus the place quietly shares a reputation for humanitarian service.

It's about as legitimate of a weather indicator as anything else the government provides.

I'd eat there if there was one nearer to home.

To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY

One rant Almost Joined coming right up.

I have seen an increase in "almost joineds'. as in ''I almost joined the (enter service here)"

Either you did or you didn't. 

If you signed enlistment papers and bilged out of MEPS you joined. You are NOT an almost joined. You enlisted. You stood up to the plate and signed the check payable for up to and including your life to the government. You joined. While you are certainly not a veteran, but you are NOT an almost joined because you joined. The government just chose not to cash your check.

Over the years I have seen any number of 'almost joineds' and they are a pain in the a$$. Almost joined in a pig's eye. Half of the AJs my age were in college protesting the Vietnam war and dodging the draft while in liberal colleges. Here so many years later they want to tell people they 'almost joined'.

I have no problem whatsoever with someone that says they opted for college or took advantage of another opportunity or something along these lines. That's all well and good. I can't say as I blame you. I very well might have gone down this route. 

If you considered the military but decided to do something else that's fine and dandy. 

Just spare us the 'Almost Joined' crap. Whatever you do don't say you almost joined to a service member to try and win approval. They may be polite about it but they will think you're a jerk that just outed himself. 

I've noticed that a lot of the AJs from the Vietnam era have started to disappear only to be replaced by AJs from out Middle East adventures. Life goes on.

Fact is I have a lot more respect for someone that was a draft dodger  and admits it than I do for any AJ.

To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY