If you look like your passport photo...

 

... you may not be well enough to travel.

It's an old joke; I'm an old guy.

Every ten years, you have to renew your passport.  This is that year for us.  In the olden days (like last time we renewed it), you took your old passport and two new passport photos to the Post Office and the local Postmaster looked it over and sent it off.  Now, you can renew online.  I looked over the process yesterday - today, we will work on them.  Including shooting new photos.

What's that?  No, we don't have any international travel planned; but sometimes an opportunity presents itself.  When we went to Acadia National Park a few years ago, while traveling in New York, we heard about a "Buskers Fair" in Kingston, Ontario, Canada - we decided to make a day trip into Canada to check it out.  It was the last time we used our passports, other than for ID when getting our Arizona drivers licenses.

We are intending some van trips this summer (nothing firm, since we have some "home commitments" at times), but no intended destinations, yet.  Someplace cooler.  Probably nowhere that we'd need a passport... but opportunities do come up.

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That was so much fun, we did it again!

Joan saw that Steph had a package in our mailbox.  I volunteered to go get it.  I rolled the pet stroller into the living room, Murph came over to it, I picked him up and put him in it.  He meowed when I zipped it up, then was quiet and content when we went out the door.  He laid down and looked around, taking it all in.  When I got to the mailboxes, I put the brake on and got a photo...

 

We took the long way home.  Once back in the living room, I unzipped the cover, rolled it back, and he hopped out.  No fuss.  I enjoyed the walk... seems to me that Murphy was good with the outing, too.

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Rising Prices!  :-0

This morning, I saw on the national news where Trump was asked about what the tariffs would do to the average consumer... his answer: "Instead of 30 dolls, your kid may only get 2 dolls and they'll cost a couple dollars more."

A absolutely condescending remark.  And not even close to the reality of it.  On the DJI Pocket 3 Group on Facebook, someone posted about the rising price for the Pocket 3 (my current favorite video camera).  It's more than "a couple dollars": the price two days ago was $519 US... the current price for the exact same thing is $799!  That's a $270 increase, due solely to the tariffs.  Raising the price by 50%!  It clearly shows who is going to be paying these tariffs: the US consumer.  

These cameras are made in China.  There is no facility to build them in the US.  It isn't China or the manufacturer who is paying: the price is passed on to the consumer.  The price in all other countries where the DJI Pocket 3 is sold didn't change; only in the US. 

This is just the beginning.  Does your family budget allow for this?  To spend 50% more and get nothing more for your money?  The kick in the guts to the economy is coming, and this can't be blamed on the previous administration (as Trump is currently saying with the downturn since he took office).

The President may have put the squeeze on Bezos to NOT list what portion of the price for an Amazon product is due to the tariffs.  Bezos folded, and won't list that "tariff tax" on Amazon products... you can't hide this from the typical American consumer.  A move in the Senate to rescind these tariffs resulted in a tie, and JD Vance cast the deciding vote to defeat it.

The excrement is coming in contact with the revolving blades.  And, the American consumer is going to get sprayed.