Atomic Monster Cafe: It Must Be Wonderful...

...having friends in high places. Especially when they're just as morally bankrupt as you are.

Mark Twain said, "Diapers and politicians should be changed often, and for the same reason."

With the Biden Crime Family and their conspirators, that's true in spades.

It will drive you crazy if you dwell on it, this constant cavalcade of illegal, immoral behavior.

The politicians and media gaslight and bluster, the DOJ and FBI aid and abet.

Even the Secret Service is in on it; they can't figure out who had cocaine in the White House?

Please.

You'd like to think there could be a happy ending here somewhere, but it's hard to see how. The damage they've done to this country is immense.

With the current state of our electoral system it may not matter, but I can't wait for 2024.

In happier news, the Twins Report was decidedly upbeat last week:

Both boys are doing better. Their eye exams showed improvement; first time their parents received good news on that score.

And both boys are now bottle feeding; one of them is almost ready to make the transition from the hospital to home.

Very exciting!

Thank you for your continued prayers for my co-worker, his wife and their twin boys.

It has been a long and trying road, and they're not to the end of it yet - but it seems the finish line may finally be in sight.

We've had this dead tree marring the view in our backyard for a while now...

It's actually two trees together, and worse than the view is the danger factor; if they came down in a storm they could crash into our pool area.

So we got a quote on having them removed by a reputable outfit that was doing some work in our neighborhood.

These are dedicated arborists, and when you email them, you don't get a 2 or 3 line response.

No, they reply back with a doctoral dissertation on their mission and their heart for the work:

Dear Customer,

Thank you for your recent request for an estimate for your tree work needs. We appreciate your interest in our services and are excited to provide you with a quote that meets your needs and budget.

Our team of experienced and highly trained Arborists will be in touch with you soon to discuss your project in more detail and answer any questions you may have.

They will work with you to determine the best course of action for your specific needs and provide you with a detailed estimate.

If you have any questions or concerns in the meantime, please do not hesitate to contact your estimator, Boris*, directly at xxx-xxx-xxxx or via email at boris@happyarborlovers.com.*

They will be more than happy to assist you with any queries you may have.

At Happy Arbor Lovers*, we take pride in providing exceptional service and quality work.

Our team is dedicated to ensuring that you have a positive and stress-free experience from start to finish.

We value your business and look forward to the opportunity to work with you.

Thank you again for your interest in our services.

We will be in touch soon with your estimate and look forward to hearing from you.

Best regards,

Happy Arbor Lovers*

* not their real name

And good to their (many) word(s), they did send "Boris" out to have a look...young, earnest, professional, affable.

A few days later we got the news: $4,000 to take down the dead trees.

So we decided to call someone Karen had heard about - A Cut Above - and they, too, came out to have a look.

I'm embarrassed to tell you their quote, but let's just say if you subtracted it from the Happy Arbor Lovers quote, you'd have enough to finance a weekend at your favorite B&B on Lake Michigan...

...including dining out, a sunset boat tour, and shopping for souvenirs.

And with what you had left over after all that, you could probably put a pretty good dent in next month's mortgage payment.

Raul came out this week on the hottest day of the summer and took down both dead trees, solo, in about 2.5 hours.

I gave him an extra hundred bucks, just out of guilt.

Here' the view now:

Much nicer, and safer, too.

Thank you, A Cut Above!

Had a happy turn of events this weekend; #1 son and a couple of his sons came over and helped move my 1956 Philco V-handle into our bonus room:

Had to remove the bonus room door, and it's a tight angle there due to the stone turret by the doorway, but many hands made light work and we got it done.

You probably remember the big deal about these refrigerators is their unusual ability to open...

...from either side...a unique feature that's made them the holy grail of kitchen appliances for MCM aficionados.

However, this one does have a defrost problem with the freezer compartment. It keeps things plenty cold, but the door doesn't seal tightly - you can see there's no gasket around the door - so there's melting and dripping right at the door opening.

Gotta figure a way to solve that with insulation stripping or something.

Got this from History.com in my daily "this day in history" emails:

I've mentioned this previously, how we're living Orwell's 1984 and history is being rewritten to accommodate the current societal sickness.

Don't know about you, but I actually watched the Montreal Olympics on TV 47 years ago, and could have sworn it was Bruce Jenner who won the decathlon that year.

Who knew?

It was really Caitlyn in high heels and lipstick clinching the gold with her triumphant 1500 meters.

God help us.