Instead of my usual weekend post I figured I’d combine it with a post for “Black Friday”. My Christmas shopping, BTW, is complete – the only thing left is the usual (and fun) last-minute stocking stuffer shopping. So, rather than battle the crowds I will be doing a little work and a little house-cleaning. In the meantime:

Thanksgiving was a pretty low-key affair here at the Richard hacienda, just me and the twins enjoying a nice little dinner. I served it “buffet style”; the days of fancy dinners and elaborate place-settings are long over:

…but it served the purpose and now it’s on to the holiday season.

It’s because he does stuff like this that defines my love and respect for President Trump. He’s always putting the military and this country first. I’m really tired and, yes, now completely intolerant, of liberal, elitist morons who hate this man simply because he’s his own man, a businessman instead of a politician. Is he imperfect, brash, and full of himself? Of course. But he’s doing his job and trolls the mainstream media relentlessly. More importantly, he has singlehandedly taught Republicans how to push back against the liberals and the media elites who have been nothing more than bullies in using their positions and influence to personally destroy those who don’t follow their progressive / liberal / socialist / fascist agendas.

…BTW, how Trump ended up in Afghanistan without anyone knowing is truly a cool thing.

What’s really sad about the Trump presidency is that you have families and friendships being broken over it. To me, it’s completely unfathomable, albeit (knowing the mindset of liberals like I do) not surprising. Tell me, how many families or friendships do you know of that were broken by conservatives simply because someone else might have voted for Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton? On the other hand, tell me how many families have cut off contact, or people ending friendships simply because someone is a Trump supporter? I’ve lost one very cherished friendship and have had other friendships irreparably harmed simply because I’m an unabashed supporter of the President. And I’m not alone. It used to bother me, but I’ve come around to that I really don’t give a shit anymore.

…I mean, how shallow can someone be? If someone is willing to throw away something as precious as a friendship over something as insignificant (at least in the grand scheme of things) as politics, they can’t have been – I’m being brutally honest here – much of a friend to begin with. True friendship involves respecting the other person for who they are and what they believe – after all, it’s the differences and our own unique personalities that make friendships special. I take mine very seriously: there’s almost nothing I wouldn’t do for my closest friends (and they know who they are!), therefore, it’s personally abhorrent to me to think that others can treat such a cherished thing so carelessly and recklessly. Then again, it’s kinda impossible to keep talking when the other person isn’t interested and obviously has no respect for you or your opinions. When you’re dealing with folks like that, you’re better off just going your separate ways. Screw ’em.

OK, enough of the soapbox.

When the President talks about “fake news” and how corrupt, petty, and incompetent the mainstream media is, Newsweek serves as the poster child. And this is what happens when you’re the poster child.

And speaking of poster children, here is the poster child of “quid pro quos”.

I’m not much of a basketball fan, but the Boston Celtics have become a fun team to follow by distance.

Did you know there are 300,000 Canadian residents in Hong Kong? And yet, not one Canadian flag among the sea of US flags during the latest democracy protests. Under the likes of Justin Trudeau, Canada has become one of the biggest pussies on the world political stage.

…and speaking of pussies.

Looks like I won’t be visiting Chick-fil-A anytime soon. It’s not to denigrate local franchises, which have been known to go above and beyond for their communities, but I choose to where I spend my hard–earned money seriously, and to hear that Chick-fil-A is supporting organizations openly hostile to religious and conservatives causes to kowtow to LGBTQ activists (the biggest group of fascists in the country), well, I got me a new Popeyes up the road.

Dick-head. Makes you wonder what gets between the ears of these clowns. Why can’t you just play football and let your actions speak for themselves? But I guess putting the team over individual accomplishment is just so stifling. And what does this say about his upbringing? Wouldn’t this reflect poorly on his family or upbringing? But I guess that kind of thing doesn’t matter anymore.

The Washington Post should rename itself to the Baghdad Bob Daily.

The things I am most thankful for this year:

* Good health (although those 7 pounds need to come off after the holidays!)
* Living in the greatest country on earth with all the freedoms we take so granted
* Those who serve in our country’s armed forces and those have fought and died over the centuries to protect those cherished freedoms
* My wonderful wife and a great sister-in-law
* Wonderful friends and family (even if they’re far, far away)
* Still having a job
* A great President who puts our country and the welfare of Americans first!

I hope everyone has a happy and blessed Thanksgiving!

Again, lotsa space between posts. It’s just been hard with all the work going on and the extracurricular activities going on regarding the house. After we met with our financial advisor back in September we’ve been focusing on our finances and investments – that’s been a lot of work, requiring a lot of research, but I think we’ve gotten ourselves in a pretty good place: at least as good as we’ve ever been. We refinanced our house because it was such a good deal – not only did we reduce our monthly mortgage payment and our interest rate, but we can finally replace the 1999 Saturn with 180K miles on it that is running on fumes (literally!). And work has been pretty tough as of late: there have been layoffs and there’s a new sheriff in town I’m reporting to, so there has been all the usual extra work associated with that kind of upheaval.

But my biggest area of focus these past several months has been on the backyard, finishing up plans that have been in place for literally years. I think it’s safe to say that there isn’t anyone in our neighborhood that can claim a backyard re-do like we have done this year. And we now have as nice a backyard as anyone with our amount of space could ever wish to have. Not only is it inviting, but it’s become a mini-resort in and of itself!

Don’t believe me?

Exhibit A is the backyard looking west towards the patio and the Tiki bar area prior to this year’s renovations:

..and here is what it looks like now. Quite the difference, huh?

The Carvestone surfacing we had done over the pool deck never ceases to amaze me – it looks so great! It’s so very Palm Springs retro you can almost picture Bing, Bob, and Frank tossing back Manhattans. It wasn’t our design; it just goes to show what a good collaboration with a creative consultant can accomplish. And then there’s the new fire pit.

We’ve been wanting to have a fire pit for many years. After all, Arizona winters being what they are perfect for having fires — we don’t get snow or much rain, and the nights are just cool enough to enjoy a nice fire. So I contacted the good folks at Hawkeye Landscaping and did a backyard walkabout with Daniel, who is responsible for collaborating on much what we’ve done. We exchanged a few ideas and we confirmed that the “middle area” between the small yard and the pool deck would be a perfect spot:

We tossed around a couple of ideas, and here is what we came up with – a unique and modern design. To which I added happy flamingo lights to the back cactus to match the ones on the front cactus. Together, it makes a truly intimate and inviting setting:

Oh brother, I can’t tell you how much work it was to move all that rock, lay the new pavers, and then find the right paint to match the blue/gray of the pool deck! But boy, it really came out nice.

…and at night the changes are especially lovely. This is the new view from the back patio:

So that’s what has been going on. I’ll be trying to get back to posting more often. We’ll see how it goes. I may also start trying to post a little more on my Twitter feed as well. But we’ll see how that goes as well.

Been a hellish two weeks. More to come.

Notice anything unusual about the performer(s) in this video? Absolutely awesome.

For my Goodboys friend Patrick (a.k.a, “Dog”), who to this day regrets not seeing Pink Floyd during their 1994 Division Bell tour, here is a decent alternative – just make sure you have the volume turned up high. This “Brit Floyd” band is very legit!

…and their version of “Sheep” totally rocks!

A weekending post as I prepare to leave this lovely fall weather in the Valley of the Sun for something altogether different in Massachusetts next week. But it’s all good — I get to drag my black leather jacket out of the closet!

This is what constitutes for the mainstream media these days. What a bunch of assholes. And they preach to us?

Forget about impeachment – this is what the 2020 election is gonna all be about. Say, how’s that 401K workin’ out for y’all lately?

Lots of folks associate Pink Floyd with long, dreamy psychedelia, but “Dogs” from their Animals is as brash and acerbic as any punk band could have conjured up in 1977. The lyrics speak for themselves:

You gotta be crazy, you gotta have a real need.
You gotta sleep on your toes, and when you’re on the street,
You gotta be able to pick out the easy meat with your eyes closed.
And then moving in silently, down wind and out of sight,
You gotta strike when the moment is right without thinking.

And after a while, you can work on points for style.
Like the club tie, and the firm handshake,
A certain look in the eye and an easy smile.
You have to be trusted by the people that you lie to,
So that when they turn their backs on you,
You’ll get the chance to put the knife in.

You gotta keep one eye looking over your shoulder.
You know it’s going to get harder, and harder, and harder as you
get older.
And in the end you’ll pack up and fly down south,
Hide your head in the sand,
Just another sad old man,
All alone and dying of cancer.

And when you loose control, you’ll reap the harvest you have sown.
And as the fear grows, the bad blood slows and turns to stone.
And it’s too late to lose the weight you used to need to throw
around.
So have a good drown, as you go down, all alone,
Dragged down by the stone.

I gotta admit that I’m a little bit confused.
Sometimes it seems to me as if I’m just being used.
Gotta stay awake, gotta try and shake off this creeping malaise.
If I don’t stand my own ground, how can I find my way out of this
maze?

Deaf, dumb, and blind, you just keep on pretending
That everyone’s expendable and no-one has a real friend.
And it seems to you the thing to do would be to isolate the winner
And everything’s done under the sun,
And you believe at heart, everyone’s a killer.

Who was born in a house full of pain.
Who was trained not to spit in the fan.
Who was told what to do by the man.
Who was broken by trained personnel.
Who was fitted with collar and chain.
Who was given a pat on the back.
Who was breaking away from the pack.
Who was only a stranger at home.
Who was ground down in the end.
Who was found dead on the phone.
Who was dragged down by the stone.

Can’t help but see myself in these lyrics – at my company you have to fend for yourself and be ready to stick the knife in when the corporate dick-heads emerge from the jungle beyond the perimeter. Of course, there’s some truly grunge guitar work by David Gilmour and some equally-fine keyboard work by Rick Wright that hearken back to several years earlier, but it is Roger Waters’ cynical lyrics carry the day. It’s a deep-track classic, not quite as sturdy and memorable as, say, “Sheep” is, but damned fine nonetheless. “Animals” is an album that, like fine wine, gets better over time. It really is one of the Floyd’s best.

Methinks President Trump knows a heckuva lot of what’s coming down the pike, but like the 4D chess player he is in a Chinese Checkers-playing town, he ain’t saying.

Hey Democrats, you want to know what a real quid pro quo is? This.

You know what’s so great about the 2nd amendment to the Constitution? It works when they try to take away your 1st amendment. Tracey and I will be planning on getting our concealed-carry permits once I get back from Massachusetts. I’m sooo ready!

Agree with Candace Owens’ tweet about protecting alleged “whistleblower” Eric Ciarmella’s identity at all cost!

There are some great “Jeffrey Epstein didn’t kill himself” memes out there – it just goes to show just how creative folks are (not to mention just how obsolete the mainstream media has become with its anti-Trump / LGBTQ-activist agendas. This one and this one are two of the better ones.

Been a little hectic around here between work and all kinds of stuff related to finances. Our financial advisor at Edelman Financials gave us a lot to think about given the number of years I have until retirement and we’ve finally been acting on it. It’s a lot of work, but in the long run it will put us in a much better place and ready for the next stage of our lives. There’s also been a lot of activity in the backyard with the installation of our new wood-burning firepit. Plenty of pics to come shortly!

Been reading Andrew Wareham’s “Innocents at War” series about British flyers in World War I. Those who would find books about the emergence of the airplane as a weapon will find this series riveting. And it’s not just about war, it’s about the whole social fabric and culture of British aristocracy unraveling with the changes unlimited war brings.

…I’m on Book 3 already, and am already looking forward to reading his next “Innocents No More” series of books that deal with air technology and World War II.

Promises to be an interesting offseason for the Boston Red Sox. I see them trading Mookie Betts for a suite of younger players to help put them in a good spot for years to come. One thing is for sure: no matter what happens, Manager Alex Cora will be on a very hot seat come the start of next year. If the Sox don’t break out of the gate hot he’ll be the first to go. Anyone who watched the team this year knows they underperformed, including the manager. Like the team, he slept-walked through the season and I can guarantee you John Henry noticed.

…no matter what happens I sure hope they keep Jackie Bradley, Jr. in CF. Sure he’s a streaky player, but you can’t beat what his defense means to the pitching staff.

Election Night 2019 was fairly interesting. Sure, the media will play up the fact that the Dems took control of both houses in Virginia, but the GOP has been weak there for years, polluted with too many establishment politicians. There’s opportunity for a rebirth there, but it will have to start with Trump taking the state in 2020 (something I believe he will do); this will convince a new, younger, and more vibrant generation of GOP activists taking the reins of power from n already-weak establishment.

…speaking of Virginia, you just knew Governor Ralphie “Blackface” Northam would, after spending months in hiding, would be all over CNN and MSNBC saying how Trump has been an embarrassment to the country. Democrats are just soooo predictable!

All things being equal, I still say to keep an eye on Connecticut in 202o; it’s my pick of a state primed to flip from blue to red.

You mean Eric Ciaramella? THAT Eric Ciaramella? Or the other Eric Ciaramella. I just want to make sure we’re talking about the right Eric Ciaramella.

…all the more interesting that Eric Ciarmella’s attorney announced the coup against President Donald Trump in a series of tweets starting in early 2017. Methinks Eric Ciarmella’s attorney is going to become very well known in the next few weeks.

Still haven’t watched any PGA TOUR golf this year, didn’t even know Tiger won a recent tournament. Don’t really care anymore. I let my Golf Digest and GOLF magazine subscriptions run out. I’ll still watch the Masters, of course, but all the professional golfers these days are just so spoiled and so boring to watch.

Why am I not surprised? Get the poor kid against his wacko, abusive mother and let him be a boy!

Why am I not surprised? There are no greater fascist totalitarians in the world than LGBTQ activists. You have to read the story to believe it. Coming to a town near you…

And yes, not only do I believe Jeffrey Epstein was murdered, but I firmly believe it was set up by the Clintons. After all, with “Her Shrillness” on the precipice of announcing her entry into the Democratic presidential race one can’t have loose lips sinking ships.