Fauci Knows

 He always did.

Wade leaves it to the reader to draw conclusions. 

The case for 'escaped virus from the lab' is certainly more presuasiven the 'it came from the jungle.'  It has a couple of particular features that haven't been found in the wild, that can partricularly target humans.

Yes, Fauci knew they were doing 'gain of function  work' (making new, more virulent virii). It was the whole point of our funding.

We've been using cheap chinese labs to do our virus research. Not up to standards, and cutting corners.

He's covering his tuchus.

Don't believe me - here's the whole thing.

"Where The **** You Been?!" - Yen, The 'Grease Man', Ocean's 11

So, no, I really haven't been around much since June, just a couple of posts on the two blogs.

I was self-medicating over on Twitter.  Since it's Lent, that came to a stop.

Last year pretty much sucked.  If you follow Leelu's Place, you know I lost Baxter in February, and Benny in July. What you don't know is that I lost Griffin in November.

He had taken to going down about half the way on the stairs, and then leaping to the bottom. On his last try, he managed to cripple himself. We did the same kind of steriod treatment that we did for Benny.

In his attempts to get up, he bruised his shoulder badly.  When I finally discovered it, it was about the size of my hand. I managed to drain it, but it was, I think, sceptic. He passed away on November 27. I'd put him on the bed, and started to read. After a bit, I looked over, and he was gone.

That was the proverbial last straw for me. He had started to become more friendly since his teeth were pulled, coming up to me for scratches when I was sitting and reading or watching a movie. It felt like we were beginning to bond, and I was really looking forward to seeing that develop.

So, I started to mourn them all. I didn't realize that was what I was doing until just before my birthday. In the time between losing Grif and my realization, I pretty much did nothing, except self-medicate with Twitter. OK, my alcohol consumption ticked up a bit. And I put on a couple of extra pounds (about ten). I mostly blame the two full batches of Ike's eggnog for that. And the chocolate peanut butter bars. But mostly, the alcohol.

I'm pretty much back now. Doing Lent has helped a great deal. No meat, just fish, eggs, cheese and such. No Twitter. Read the Daily Readings (Epistle and Gospel for the daily Mass) from the USCCB.  Didn't make 'no drinking' past the first week, but I have cut down to less than what I was drinking before the Black Dog came for his stay. And my weight has been dropping. This I know from being weighed each on the many times I been to the doctors in the last couple of months.

(That is another post.)

Work has been done to the house. I finished bracing the joists, and tightened up  the rods to (hopefully) keep the wall from sagging any more. Lots of Romex has been pulled the back bedroom. The 220 V line to  my old third floor bedroom has been split into two 110 V lines, one for the old bedroom, and one for the closet.

The next trick is to get the beam between the living and dining rooms reinforced to correct the sag. After that, I want to make the place able to pass inspection for homeowner's insurance. That will, I'm pretty sure, reduce the mortgage payment. As I understand it, it has to pass the 'looks right' test from the outside, and have no active knob and tube electrical wiring.

(That is yet another post.)

Most importantly, I'm looking for a new (senior) dog.

Well, Hail!!

Found out from a co-worker yesterday that hail had hit Red Lion. Found this when I got home:

 The potato bed.

 Tomatoes.

 Lettuce, peppers, onions and garlic.

 Kitchen bed.

Kitchen bed and border beds.

 Lemon grass.

 Strawberries.

Tomatoes, again.

Judging from the damage to the local trees, the hail blew in from the north. This (I think), accounts for the lack of damage to the border beds and the strawberry pot, which were in the 'shadow' of the patio roof. The lettuce is pretty much shredded (read "dead"). The walkway by the kitchen bed smells like onion.  Given that the stalks and stems of the lemon grass, tomatoes, onions/garlic, peppers, and potatoes are still standing, I'm going to watch and see how the do in the next week or so. I will also be conferring with my local gardening informants about what to expect.

Took the dogs for a walk after I took the garden pics. The pictures will explain all of the green 'shrapnel' strewn about.

 More below the fold:

11/13/2015