Saturday’s Theme Music

“It’s gonna be a bright, bright, sunshiny day.” Already is. H/t to Johnny Nash for those words and the song they’re from, “I Can See Clearly Now”, from 1972. That’s my theme music today.

Today is Saturday, January 8, 2022. Man, the year is flying by. As this is the late Elvis Presley’s birthday, let’s pause for a moment to imagine an 86-year-old Elvis.

39 degrees F right now but we expect a high of 49 degrees and a low of 32. Not bad for a winter day in our valley.

On happy news, our zip code, 97520, has reached the 80% vaccination rate for our eligible people. Yea, us. On a less happy note, the zip codes around us are mostly mired around fifty to sixty percent, including the large city nearby, Medford. Of course, the Omicron variant has cases zooming to record levels.

Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as needed, and get the vax and booster when ye’ can. Hope you have a bright sunshiny day. I’m gonna go get a hot, hot, black cuppa coffee. Cheers

January 8, 2022 0

January 7, 2022 0

Floofchief

Floofchief (floofinition) – 1. Playful misbehavior or troublemaking by an animal, especially in a pet.

In use: “The big dog and little cat were full of floofchief, chasing and ambushing one another, but also chasing the children, and letting the children chase them.”

2. Cloth used to clean off an animal.

In use: “Sebastian was known to slobber and drool — he was a big old dog — so it wasn’t surprising that Sid carried a floofchief around to tend Sebastian whenever necessary.”

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January 7, 2022 4

January 7, 2022 0

Friday’s Theme Music

Dark day in the house despite the sun’s arrival at its appointed time of 7:40 AM. He’d been a little slow warming up for his shift. Most people didn’t know that inside the sun were maintainers on shifts ensuring the light and heat was properly maintained. The sun preferred that no one ever found out. They might start looking if the heat and shine start sputtering. Of course, there was one being called, “Sun”. Parry had never met him; his predecessor, a woman hired him. Maybe ‘the sun’ was another myth. Who knows the truth? The truth was, he was still a little hammered. Had gone out with a few from other shifts yesterday. Made a night of it, ha, ha. That was their favorite joke.

He’d had reason for going out and drinking. This was his anniversary. January 7, 2022. (Right? Wasn’t it? They’d argued the date for some time the previous night.) Been on the job for four hundred years. Enough for a pay bump. Six hundred more until retirement. He’d already begun planning that. Had picked out a star and was saving for a place. Was tired of living in the solar system. He’d spent his whole life there. Born on Pluto, then moved to Mercury. Followed Mum into solar management. Got a job locally. But, he would travel, go to other stars, after he retired. Maybe marry. If he met the right one. Only place he’d really been besides Pluto, Mercury, and the Sun, was the dark side of the moon. Was everything they’d said it would be. Yes, he had been on a few comets. But come on, who had not?

The sun was on course. Would set over Ashland at 4:55 PM. His shift ended a little later. He poured a cup of coffee and peeked into the little region of his responsibility. Chilly day down there. 43. Cloudy. Rainy. Would only reach 45. Not really bad for a winter day, as he understood all that, which was, not much. Weather was another’s purview. He was all about the shine.

With everything settled down, he turned on some music, shifting through dials until a tune he liked was struck, and began playing computer solitaire and wishing for new games. Like the sun couldn’t afford it.

###

That just popped up, so I went with it. That out of the way, today’s theme music is by Jet, a 2003 song called “Are You Gonna Be My Girl”. Of course, I was singing it to a cat last night. A ginger boy. So, it was, are you gonna be my cat? He stared at me, like, what? The song stayed in the morning mental music stream. So, here we are.

Stay positive. Test negative. Wear a mask as needed. Get the jabs when you can. Coffee time for me. Cheers

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January 6, 2022 2

January 6, 2022 1

Thursday’s Theme Music

The results have been collected and tabulated. I am pleased to announce that today is Thursday, January 6, 2022. The sun came up in the east at 0740 and will set in the west at 1654. Our outside temperature by my home is 51 degrees F under partly cloudy skies and bright sunshine. Our expected high is 53 F. It’s a heat wave. One cat is out there loving it, washing himself in the backyard sunshine. The other two have gone back to bed.

To quote a friend about COVID-19:

“The Covid data by Zip Code is, unfortunately what you might expect from Omicron.

Locals seem to be tired of following guidelines. Hopefully this is primarily due to the unvaxed.

Ashland (Zip 97520) averaged 26/ week fir the first 4 weeks of December; last week it was 52; and this week thru 1/5 it is 125.

Mark’s estimate of peaking in 4 to 6 weeks may be correct; but how high will the peak be?”

Yes, the numbers are stunning. My wife and I went shopping this morning, in the store at 8 AM. Wearing N95 masks, we stopped at two stores. All were masked at the first although one woman wore her mask below her nose. (Really, WTF?) All were masked at the second initially but there was an unmasked jackass at the end. Which summarizes things in hard focus: while you do what you can, there will be jackasses screwing up the best of plans.

Listening to a 1975 Earth, Wind, and Fire song, “That’s the Way Of The World”, in my morning mental music stream. Song’s presence is directly attributable to a late afternoon walk yesterday. Sunset’s last vain rose was touching on the mountain’s white tops across the valley. A little drizzle had been falling but it was pleasant trekking in the 50 degree day. The ingredients spilled peace of mind into me. From there came this mellow song:

You will find (you will find)
Peace of mind (yeah, ha)
If you look way down
In your heart and soul
Ahh, don’t hesitate
‘Cause the world seems cold
Stay young at heart
Ahh, ’cause you’re never
Never old at heart (never, never, never, never, never, never)
Oh, yeah… yeah, ha

h/t to Genius.com

Stay positive, test negative, defend yourself against jackasses by wearing a mask as needed, and get the vax and boosters when you can. Here’s the music. Time for another cuppa coffee. Cheers

Earth, Wind & Fire (8/11) – Thats the way of the world – YouTube