So I hadda let the woodstove burn out a bit so I could clean the ashes. I burned a fair bit of wood over the past two days.

I carefully saved a half-pea sized coal that was left. Just for practice.

Took the time to prepare, and used that coal  to get the kindling going and restart the fire I had laid…..It’s a process.

Tiny bits of tinder, scraped with a knife… almost fluff, gentle breaths,, a hint of smoke. Encouraging the nascent fire but not bullying it, easy breaths, easy. Don’t blow it out. A hint of flame…more smoke, .wait……a hint more, a breath more, and FIRE! Gently encourage that fire with tiny pieces of fuel, then slightly larger ones, then finger size pieces, then a real fire exists. Throw the rest of the logs over it and the woodstove is lit.

I have matches, lighters and, if need be, kerosene soaked sticks of wood to make my life easier in building a fire….but I do things the harder way sometimes just for practice. Might need that skill someday out in the wild. One never knows.

Plus it’s fun.

woke up to single digits….

Negative single digits…but it’s better (less bad, anyway) than the negative double digits we had yesterday.

Minus 9 (better than -11) F (neg 22 C) before the wind chill.

What with the wind it’s like -25F or so.

No sign yet of Fred the Outdoor Cat. Hope he’s hunkered down somewhere. His heated shelter hasn’t been used, but he has other places to sleep….

The only outside chore I got to do today is to take the garbage can to the end of the driveway.

Funny, innit, how these “Mostly Peaceful” protests are ignored by most of the media….I mean, this is an Approved Cause, so they see nothing wrong with it, and it doesn’t even get a mention of the Sunday News.

Thousands of protesters descend on the White House, damaging the security fence…it was bad enough that the staff was “relocated” for their safety. 

I’ll go 8:5 that no one is charged, or arrested for any of this. Not the participants nor the organizers. The DOJ won’t bother to investigate, nor will they use cell phone data nor facial recognition to identify these people for prosecution like they did the Jan 6th protesters…. . Everyone will walk away with no consequences.

Bet on it.

But

Do you post Heat Index numbers in the summer??

I mean, when it is 97 degrees F and 98% humidity in the Midwest, it FEELZ like a lot hotter. Lots hotter than 108 in Arizona…..But the temp is still 97F.

Same is true of wind chill. High winds and cold temps make it FEELZ a lot colder.

But please, I knw you wanna make it seem that you got it worse than everyone else, but give the real thermometer temp when you tell us how bad you got it.

Currently right here it is -10F with a 45  MPH wind. That equates to a Wind Chill (the current nomenclature is “Feelz Like”) temp of -44F, But the real temp is negative 10. I’ve been in negative 40 F Real Temps (and even colder) and -40F is MUCH colder than negative 10. Those that have been in Real Cold know what I am talking about.

Be truthful in your statements, Ferinstance, it is not negative 40 in any part of the United States south of Canada, Not by the thermometer, anyway.

Here is a Wind Chill calculator if you are interested.

We are currently negative 11 (f) here, (plus or minus 2 degrees, my thermometer often varies a bit from the official temp by about that much, both ways). ‘Twas kinda cold last night, what with the 40 Mph winds and the actual temps the wind chill was well past 20 below.

But the woodstove is refilled from last night, the house is a balmy 71, The bacon is sizzling and the potatoes are crisping. Breakfast soon.

I just won’t go outside if I can help it.

I just hope Fred the outside cat is OK, he wasn’t waiting for food in his heated shelter this morning.

So all of us “Conspiracy Theorists” are somewhat vindicated….at least when it come to Covid.

Anthony Fauci has admitted a bunch in congressional testimony.

We were right that it appeared that it was en engineered virus that was leaked from the Wuhan Lab.

We were right when we said that there was no science behind the “6 feet” separation distance.

We were right when we said that Trump made the correct call to restrict travel from China, even though he (Fauci) and the other “experts” (And Pelosi and many Dems) said it was the wrong call and was “racist”.

We were correct when we said that Fauci and others who worked under him did their best to silence other scientists and doctors who had differing opinions of treatment and protocols,

We were right that there was very little “science” in any of the responses to Covid, that it was, essentially, an engineered panic.

And that’s just what he has admitted to in the questions he’s been asked. What hasn’t he said, and what questions hasn’t he been asked?

I just heard a Talking Head on the Chicago CBS station use the word “Unprecedented” in describing a winter weather event.

In Chicago.

In January.

Seriously?

Yeah, so much for the belief that The Republic of Texas can secede from the United States. There will never be an independent Texas. No doubt Sam Houston and the defenders of the Alamo are rolling in their graves.

The Texas Supreme Court sided with the Texas Republican Party to squash any referendum on secession. 

So much for the belief that Texas could become an independent state again.

Apparently the RINOS in Texas are as bad as the RINOS elsewhere.

So I was asked to explain to someone yesterday what, exactly they are trying Donald Trump for in his supposed Fraud trial in New York. I couldn’t fully answer, as I am not really sure.

The claim, as I understand it, is that he somehow inflated the value of his holding and used that inflated value to get loans from lenders…Which is, as I see it, not a crime as the value of a property is somewhat fluid, depending on who you ask. In all of my business dealings (admittedly small change compared to the Trump empire….like maybe a rounding error at best) the lender has always done their own evaluation of the value of the property or holding that I wished a loan on, and they made their own determination as to what that value was and made loans based on THEIR determination. As far as  can determine, there were no loans for properties that Mr Trump did not own, so what, exactly is the fraud?

Also, I cannot find a victim even if fraud was somehow perpetrated. As far as I can determine, all of the loans were paid off and/or are not at this time in default.

So no crime and no victim and no damage. What, exactly, is on trial in New York?

Besides political ambition, I mean.

Anyone care to explain?

Gonna piss off some people here: I got roasted last time I brought this up. Now we see that I was not entirely wrong.

I have always maintained that these women at the Pedo Island were not entirely innocent….That they had to know what was going on and acquiesced to it, especially if they returned to the island after the first time….That any girl (or boy, for that matter) who went to the island a second or third time had to know what was going on and was a willing accomplice to it.

(Those who are gonna roast me for “blaming the victim” should read the article before doing so)

Here we have proof from at least one “victim”.

“Prince Andrew accuser Virginia Giuffre claims Jeffrey Epstein paid her $15,000 to have sex with the duke when she was 17-years-old.”

Funny, innit, how everyone assumes that all these girls are “victims” and “innocent children” ….”And yes, I think that the behavior of Epstein and the men (and, apparently, women) who visited his island to use these young kids is terrible and should be punished.) But some young girls are pretty mercenary at that age…..I am sure that those who returned a second time enjoyed the attention, the fun, the party atmosphere, and the attention (and apparently the money).

It doesn’t make it right, and it doesn’t excuse the adult attendees who used these children. But I strongly doubt that the “victims” (and their parents)were all “unwilling” and “innocent” .