wELCOME to the gROW hOUSE

Plants ready to be de-fanned

First off, let me thank all of you who have served in the armed forces. You are awesome. Thank you for your enormous sacrifice. And a special shout out to our Mel, who served in the Navy reserves for something like ten years, our third generation, from the Mum's line (of course!)

Scenes from the Trim Table;

WOMAN: (in here mid-50s): Yeah, I hate jury duty. Last time I was called, I told them, "I'm a felon. I can't vote. Why would you want me to sit in judgement of someone else.

The three of us were silent. I did not know how to answer that. What's the etiquette? 

a) Ooh, you've hit the Big Time. My family has only petty criminals that served less than a year. 

b) Violent or non-violent? (as I grip my shears and adjust them to a good stabbing angle) 

c) I am an anarchist and I salute your vigor!

WOMAN: Well what happened to your foot?
MAN: (24 years old): I was shot.
WOMAN: What?
MAN: My cousin was all drunk and on meth. He was waving a round a sawed-off shotgun. I told him to chill. He said it wasn't loaded. Then it when off and he blasted my right foot and leg. His girlfriend drove me to the hospital. They shot me up and told me to come in the next day to have it amputated.
ME: Fucking hell dude!
MAN: After a few hours, I had resigned myself to losing my leg when a vet, who had overheard the conversation, came over and said "Fuck that." Go see these guys. He sent me to doctors who take care off wounded vets. They saved my foot. It still hurts like hell, so I use CBDs and THC, but I still have my foot.

In 2014, we had 10.54% of death from shootings. 

Great Britain - 0.23
Germany - 0.07
Mexico - 6.34

We have almost twice as many shooting deaths as Mexico! 

The only thing the NRA does is sell more guns. That is their only purpose. I have nieces and nephews (the Smith kids) who were traumatized and haunted by the fact that their friends lost siblings in the Sandy Hook shootings. I was there,when they had a tribute after Brendan's little league game, for one of those killed. End the madness, now!


Editor's Note:

This is also why you steer far away from people who do meth and get shit-faced with a sawed-off shotgun.

Turn It On Again

You're just another face that I know from the TV show
I have known you for so very long, I feel you like a friend
Can't you do anything for me, can I touch you for a while
Can I meet you another day and we will fly away

I can show you I can show you some of the people in my life
I can show you I can show you some of the people in my life
It's driving me mad it's just another way of passing the day
I, I get so lonely when she's not there

-Genesis, Turn It On Again

< Archer









For the first time since I moved to Denver, I have my own TV in my room. 

Best TV Shows I've been watching;

Game of Thrones
Even better than the books, much better paced and more focused.

12 Monkeys
Mind blowing stuff. Time travel is a bitch. And..., the character Jennifer Goines quoted Genesis' I Know What I Like in episode 5 of this season.

Orphan Black 
Call it Game of Clones. Tatiana Maslany plays many different characters and is awesome.

Archer
Inappropriate beyond belief for a cartoon. Sex, alcoholism, violence and spies. Fucking awesome.

American Dad
Just insane and hilarious. They skewer every stereotype, and they often sneak in at least one joke, per episode, that rings true as hell as social commentary.

Here Is No Why

10:52

And all the time that's passed me bye...
It hardly seems to matter now, not now
-Genesis, The Musical Box

I woke up at 6:30 and drove to work, only to see Joe standing out there, explaining there was no work today. Apparently the customer fucked up, so I was told. Poor Joe, it sucks to be the messenger. And our scheduler has jury duty, to add to the confusion. So I am home. Trying to sort through all my shit after 6 months of being transitory. And the car. And navigate through the thorn bush that is my finances. I'd rather be at work. At least I get paid.

But I don't see the calls making themselves, so here I go.

- - -

Congrats to the San Jose Sharks for making the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time ever in their 25 year history. They started the year I came home from Jamaica! My friend, Tamara, grew up in the bay area and went to games with her dad, so I am on the bandwagon!

I found the following meme on the Internet;

Well, I think this is the year. I am predicting that they win the Cup.

18:55

Calls were made, I cleaned my car and bought everything into my room, which now needs to be cleaned again. 

I'll be working Fri., Sat. and Sun. Monday off, maybe? I have no idea. I think I'll be working 7 days a week for a while after that. I'm okay with that. 

Politics and Idiocy in the Time of Powdery Mildew

I'm so sick of all the Hillary/Trump news. Hillary won't debate Bernie again because she'll get her ass kicked. Trump is like a puppy, begging Paul Ryan for his endorsement. Why can't we have an election in six weeks like Europe? That was heaven.

I heard the following things at work this week;

ME: What's your daughter's name?
WOMAN: Cartel Monet.
WOMAN 2: That's nice.
WOMAN: They told me it was a boy so I had all boys names picked out. Cartel was the only one that fit a girl.
Really? Did it really fit? You know that's a name for the mob and gangsters, right?

MAN: He's always saying, "Dude, I have like 12 toilets in my house. I can shit all day.
ME: Is there a reason why that would be desirable? 
I've shit all day, but it was like dysentery. It was not cool. It also caused a hernia.

I'm sure you heard about this flack against transgenders using the restroom they identify with.

“He says he’s going to withhold funding if schools do not follow the policy,” Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick of Texas said this month. “Well in Texas, he can keep his 30 pieces of silver. We will not yield to blackmail from the president of the United States.” -NY TIMES

He said this today after 11 states filed a suit against the government in protest of the new transgender bathroom law

Texas was joined by Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Utah, West Virginia and Wisconsin, plus Arizona's Department of Education and Maine's governor. -REUTERS

 Texas high schools are ranked 28th in the nation. Arizona is 30th, tied with Oklahoma. Alabama is 37th. Louisiana is 47th. Do these states honestly want to lose federal funding? The scary thing is that they'll just become even dumber. 

And finally, I've been dealing with powdery mold on plants I've been trimming and de-fanning, which is depressing. I wear a mask, so I'm okay, but it's not cool that they sell it. As far as regulations have gone, they need to go much further. Maybe the new states to legalize will do a better job.

Over the Mountain

MADRE DE DIOS! I have had so many tech problems this week. 

But I'm back. I work in a laboratory. I spoon hash into plastic clam shells. I like the folks there. It's a fun place to work.

I miss you all. 

Thanks to all of you who have read my blogs for almost 10 years.

10 years? 9.5 to be exact.

I am starting to pay down my credit card debt. Bit by bit. Blow by blow. 

Matt Harvey is getting shellacked by the Nationals. The fact that his fielders can't catch a ball doesn't help. It's 9-1 and Harvey is pulled after 2 and 2/3rds. This is just ugly.

What I've Learned This Week

1.  Pepé Le Pew was a sexual predator. Mistaken identity with a cat does not excuse such behavior.

2. The Pink Panther cartoon character sold us all down the river in the name of insulation. 

3. Rocky betrayed Bullwinkle. Bullwinkle then stole Mr. Peabody's Wayback Machine and went back in time and slaughtered Rocky and his entire rat bastard family.

The Difference a Day Brings

Well spank my ass and call me Gwen! My prediction came through and the Capitals won 3 - 1 to force game 6. And Bartolo Colon hit the first homer of his 19 year career, and it was in the second deck. The Mets also moved into first place alone for the first time this season. And Harvey's fastball hit 97, so maybe he has really recovered from Tommy John Surgery. That would be great.

While we were trimming, the sirens blew for a tornado warning, so we got out of the warehouse and waited ten minutes in the main building, but nothing hit near us. I don't think any hit Denver, luckily. --- Nope, just checked The Denver Post. 

Okay. It's 21:14. I need to eat and then relax before bed. Back to the lab mañana at 7:45.

13 Days, Sun and Snow, Caps on the Brink, and a Bout of Gout.

Some people feel the rain. Others just get wet.     

Bob Marley

Today is my first day off in 13 days. I had a gout attack on Thursday night. It kind of came out of the blue, like it always does. It swelled up like a Ballpark frank in an hour. I took a lot naproxen and it calmed down. Smoking helped too (it's an anti-inflammatory.) I was able to get to work on Friday and then got a script for prednisone filled from my dr. in CT.

Last weekend saw snow. Tues thru Fri, were sunny and hit the 80s by the end of the week. Today is 46F and raining, a good soaking rain. Gray all day, which is very rare.

And at 17:00MST, the Washington Capitals take on the Pittsburgh Penguins. WAS is down 3 games to 1. But they have games 5 and 7 at home, if they can extend the series.

PREDICTION: WAS 3 PIT 1

Days in and Daze out

All is well. I'll work at Weed Science all week, which is fun. They are nice folks there. 

Today was 58F. Tomorrow will be 70F. It's like moving from movie set to movie set how quickly the weather changes here.

Turn and face the strange
Ch-ch-changes
-David Bowie

The Caps lost tonight and are down 2-1 in the series. Game 4 on Wed.

I am tired. My next day off is Sat., which will mean I'll have worked 13 days in a row. I'm a 47 year old bad ass. 

And don't you forget it.

Pot Luck

Mighty Hogweed is avenged.
Human bodies soon will know our anger.
Kill them with your Hogweed hairs
HERACLEUM MANTEGAZZIANI
Giant Hogweed lives!

-GENESIS

I walked out of the door to go to work at 7:15 and my car was covered in snow. It's May 1st. Did I move to the southern hemisphere and not remember it? The stars are still those I remember from the north. Every morning I either need sunglasses or the snow brush. It's a toss up. 

It's supposed to be 58 on Monday and 66 on Tues. Spring in Colorado - it's weather pot luck. 

Mañana will be my 9th straight day of work. I work 49 hours this week (week ends on Sunday,) so that's 9 hours of overtime. I am finally chipping away at my debt.

It's 3 am on Monday, but I came home from work and collapsed at about 20:30. Time has no meaning to me anymore. I sleep when I'm tired and do waking stuff when I am conscious. But things are good. My room is in the basement with tiny windows that only let me know if the sun is out or not, so I'm rather insulated. My housemate, Dino, is a nice guy, but after being social at work for 1/3 of the week, I like to be alone. For a year it was just me and my kitten, Dr. Wu. Now the good Doctor, who is no longer a baby and is a healthy 14 pounds, is in the loving care of Mum. That was a good call on my part because they get along famously. My life is far too psychotic to have a pet and they take care of each other. It makes me happy. Doctor Wu is an awesome cat and Mum is the best mom I ever had. Only one, actually.

Okay, I am far too schmaltzy at 3:29. But fuck it. Being grateful is the only pure emotion there is. I just yawned, so I think it's time to snag 3 more hours of sleep before I get ready for work. I go to Weed Science again mañana, where I pack 1 gram packages of hash all day. I like it there. The people are cool as hell and I just pop in my earphone (as only one ear functions) and listen to Rush, Genesis, Porcupine Tree, King Crimson, etc., and package my ass off. Or I chat with Rob, Tamara, Travis, Justin, Berry. etc. 

It could always be so much worse, like having your leg in a bear trap.