What's Going on in Iran?

That's a good question.

There isn't a lot of reliable information about the situation. The media is going wild and ushering in a new era of Yellow Journalism. They are publishing whatever they think will frighten the public and get the most clicks.

Trump has no idea what's going on and continues to make absurd proclamations. Hegseth uses briefings to play politics.

From what I can tell, Israel and the US are slowly dismantling Iran's ability to wage war. Israel, less squeamish than the US, has also been working on chopping off the head of the beast by eliminating Iran's leadership.

This could take a while and it's only been about three weeks. 

I would assume the ultimate objective is an Iranian government devoid of Islamic crazies that will cease to be a threat to the region and stop financing terrorist organization like Hezbollah and Hamas.

I don't see how that gets accomplished without a popular uprising.

The Stock Market is taking a beating due to rising oil and gas prices. Of course a higher than expected inflation report didn't help any. Overall the market is down about 5,000 points from its high in February. I'm personally down around $80,000 (ouch).

Right about now I see no end in sight but I suspect things will be settled by the summer one way or the other.

Trump's War

Trump's war continues. The Stock Market is in free fall, oil is over $100 a barrel which is driving gas prices through the roof.

Iran has blockaded the Strait of Hormuz, no big surprise there, but now appears to be willing to allow any but US and Israeli ships to go through.

We'll see how that works out and if it will alleviate the oil prices and stock market woes.

US and Israel Attack Iran

The US and Israel have launched air strikes against Iran. Iran has attacked US bases and neighboring Arab countries in retaliation.

The concern is that Iran continues its nuclear program and may be developing long range missiles.

Does this make any sense?

I honestly don't know. My initial reaction is that Trump is crazy. I can understand Netanyahu's concern because Israel will be within range of an Iranian nuclear capability long before the US is. 

But is this the right approach? Armed conflict should always be a last resort because so many things can go wrong. So, until proven otherwise, mark me as opposed to this attack.

My Basement Leak VII

 I really didn't expect this to become a marathon.

Anyway, we got most of the mess cleaned up and threw out a bunch of stuff that we probably should have thrown out years ago.

We managed to order some furniture. A large couch and chair for downstairs and a chair to fill the hole in the living room upstairs. They say 8-12 weeks because it's all custom.

With the second big snowstorm on the way the weather is really straining the water proofing that we had done. I really don't need that to fail on me.

So far I haven't heard either sump pump go on. Let's hope it stays that way.

<<To Be Continued>>

My Basement Leak VI

So we started running around looking for furniture. We hit the local furniture outlet and began to lean towards a sofa, two chairs near the steps and our recliner near the fireplace. 

Unfortunately, some detailed measurements showed us that two chairs weren't going to fit well so we fell back to a single chair.

We liked the furniture in the outlet but, since everything was custom ordered, it would take 8-12 weeks to get it. Given our success with timing on this project, we decided to look around.

We tried several furniture stores and found that pillow backs were the most common style and we really wanted a tight back.

We did some more measuring and decided that we would go back to the outlet for at least the couch and large chair. That was Super Bowl Sunday. We were going to go the next day. I moved the bookcase back into place; we moved the recliner to where it was going to be and finally removed all of the tarps and assorted debris.

We were ready to go.

That's when we heard a loud sound from the unfinished area of the basement. The water pipe leading to one of the outside spigots had burst and we had water pouring into the unfinished area of the basement which spread to the finished area.

It was a mess. We couldn't get the shutoff valve to turn and didn't remember where the master shut-off was. My two daughters were catching the water in storage bins and dumping it outside while I was calling Gold Medal and the water company.

The water company didn't answer and Gold Medal couldn't get someone to me to fix the pipe until Tuesday. In desperation we called the local police. They sent two officers. One of them located the master shut off and turned off the water.

Whew, so now we had no water until Tuesday and an absolute mess. My daughter had moved bookcase, piano and television equipment to the other side of the room to get is away from the water. We began cleaning up.

We're still cleaning up and we've got scuff marks from the piano all over our brand new flooring. 

My oldest daughter went out and bought water bottles so we could manually flush during the night. The next day she headed to Cleveland, my youngest daughter went to work and I decided to tackle the shut-off valve that wouldn't move.

I got it to move but it took a few tries until it appeared to be all the way shut and I didn't see any water dripping down. I decided I didn't trust it and called Gold Medal to see if I could get another shut-off valve in series with the one that was there. I figured I'd fix the pipe in the spring.

That they could do that Monday between 12 PM and 4 PM. That sounded good to me.

But 4 PM came and went. Then I got a call telling me that it would be closer to 6 PM.

Then 6 PM came and went. I called to make sure that someone was still coming and they assured me that he would be there around 7 PM.

At about 7:20 a familiar face showed up. It was Mr. Jones the same guy that had fixed the heating pipe leak and another problem that we had last year. He agreed with my assessment of the situation and a half hour later I had a second shut-off valve.

We had the water back on but we still had one hell of a mess to finish cleaning up.

As we worked out way through the unfinished half of the basement, we began filling up garbage bags. A lot of stuff had gotten drenched and was unsalvageable.

I ordered a wet vac from Amazon and my daughter borrowed one from someone in the school where she worked. As it turned out the wet vac wasn't really necessary as we mopped up the water with newspaper and towels. The towels we threw out. We then put a big tub of Damprid  to soak up the excess moisture.

I got some cheap towels from Amazon to tide us over until my wife goes get shopping for towels and I now have two wet vacs in my foyer, one in a box and the other on top of a container. I think I'll have my daughter return the one she borrowed with our sincere thanks. The other one I'm sending back to Amazon.

Thursday is garbage pickup so we shlepped two garbage cans full and about a dozen extra bags to the curb. The garbage gays emptied the cans but left the bags. Why not kick me while I'm down?

We refiled the two garbage cans and we're going to pile up the rest in the garage. We'll take them out a garbage can or two each garbage day until they're gone.

To help reorganize things I ordered six containers from Walmart. If you think that I'm going broke, you're right.

<<To Be Continued>>

Is Trump Dying?

 I doubt it. I see these online pundits making dire predictions due to a few bruises, he gets words confused occasionally or because not all of his doctor visits are made public.

I love it when youngish people talk about older people. I was at my vascular surgeon in December to check on how my repaired arteries are doing. I'm not exactly sure of how we got there but he said to me "80 is not for the fainthearted." OK, I'm 77 so I might have a few years to go. Here's the problem, everything starts to break down and some days are worse than others. 

I feel it. My reflexes are still very good but they're not what they were even 10 years ago. My balance is still good but steps are a challenge. I get bruises on my arms of varying sizes and intensities. I have trouble recalling things that I used to know. Google is my best friend because now I often have to look up things that I  always knew. I use a calculator for things I used to easily do in my head. I have trouble solving problems that I'm pretty sure would have been trivial for me 10 or 20 years ago. I have no patience for leaning new things. I can't sprint. My left knee and left hip hurt. My right knee complains occasionally. I can't lift my left arm because my left shoulder is shot.

So I'm not convinced that Trump is close to the end. Remember he's two years older than I am plus he's clearly overweight, and may be obese, while my BMI is in the 22.5 range.

Second Person Killed by ICE

A second person has been killed by ICE in Minneapolis. His name was Alex Pretti. He was 37 years old and worked as a nurse.

As with Irene Good the administration immediately put out a "agents feared for their lives" story and vilified Pretti. He was carrying a 9 mm handgun with extra clips but he hand a valid conceeled carry license. 

Video from the incident appears to contradict the administration story. Pretti was carrying a woman when he tried to help a woman. He never appears to draw his weapon.

He is knocked to the ground by ICE agents and then one agent appears to take Pretti's gun.

Only then is he shot and killed.

This is ridiculous. The agents involved need to be taken off duty until after a full investigation. These ICE are clearly out of control are also clearly lacking in anything remotely like standard police training.

My Basement Leak V

The Flooring Guys showed up bright and early on January 2nd and did a nice job installing the flooring. The lead installer left us with some advice to put cups under the piano. Oh goody, something else to do.

The baseboards were, as promised, primed white and it was pretty clear they couldn't stay that way. We hopped over to the flooring store top pay our outstanding bill and they gave us a lead on a painter.

I decide to call a Handyman I had talked to previously instead. I called him on Monday, January 5th and left a message. I got a call back the next day and we set up an appointment for him to look at what was involved that Wednesday, January 7th.

We decided to do the baseboard the same color and finish that we had done the chair railing and decided to do the railings in the same color but with a semi-gloss finish. 

The piano presented a problem. We decided that we could live with leaving the baseboard behind the piano white if necessary. I also discovered a telephone wire coming out of the wall near the fireplace. I had no memory of this and I'm debating if I should clip it off or just leave it behind the bookcase that's going back in that spot. I'm leaning toward just hiding it behind the bookcase.

I got some cups and a small jack for lifting the piano to put them under the wheels. We shall see if that ever happens.

The Handyman showed up and inspected the task. He didn't seem too concerned about moving the piano but we shall see. We agreed that I would supply the paint.

On Tuesday, January 13th, I found an estimate for $720 which seemed reasonable so I accepted the bid. The next day we went to Home Depot to pick up the paint. That night I got a call from the Handyman and we set up an appointment for January 20th to do the job.

Woohoo!!! That's tomorrow. Hopefully all goes well.

<<To Be Continued>>

Update: The paint job went very well. I made one mistake though. We have a closet under the stairs and I didn't realize they put baseboards in the closet. So we have the original primed white there. Oh well. On to furniture shopping!