

Science fiction, fantasy, mystery and what-not


Ashland, southern Oregon – Tuesday, October 13, 2026.
Gorgeous, full-throttled autumn day out there. All of nature is actively participating to give us the full fall experience of changing leaves, blue sky, and crisp morning air. We’re going to heat up to 70 today and expect a warming trend for the coming weekend.
Mom is still doing poorly. Mom complained that she was out of pads and feeling a lot of pain urinating, and several other issues. We discovered that she doesn’t tell the assisted living staff any of that, due to her sense of privacy. There are people who can help her with her issues, but she doesn’t tell them she’s having issues, so they don’t offer help.
My sister went over today with new pads and to check on Mom. Found her in the rec room with others. Gina reported that Mom is very lethargic. Mom’s room smelled like urine. Gina has been going back and forth with the assisted living director, Mom, and Mom’s doctors. Gina has also delved more deeply into Mom’s medical records on Mychart.
It’s a busy morning for us. Workmen were expected to arrive and fix the flashing around the bathroom skylight and a few other minor issues on the roof. They were expected between 9 and 10 but didn’t show.
Meanwhile, I’d scheduled the same time for a contractor to come by to inspect the fence and give us assessment about what needs done, if he’ll take the job, and all the details that go with it. He showed on time and that went well. The fence is in pretty good shape overall, with just three posts requiring replacement. He will do those repairs, power wash the fence, and then paint it.
After that, I called the roofers to see what was going on. The other job they were on took longer than planned. They just arrived at 12:30 to begin the work.
My doctor’s office called and told me the Cologuard results were in. My tests were positive, so they’re going to schedule me for some tests and surgery to see if I have colon or other kinds of cancer down there.
My wife is in a cranky mood. She has a nervous disposition and high anxiety and couldn’t sleep last night because of today’s appointments. So it’s one of those if it’s not one thing, it’s another kind of days so far. All in all, it’s still a better life than many others experience. I complain because that’s who I am.
Probably won’t be able to get out and write today, though, which is a bummer. That’s my escape from the insanity, my coping mechanism. I will write at home but it’s not quite the same. For one, I enjoy the coffee shop’s helter skelter energy. Two, when I write at home, my wife often interrupts. She will actually ask, “Can I interrupt you?” Yeah, I’m a curmudgeon of sorts. *smile*
Today’s music is “Where Is My Husband!” This is a 2025 song by Raye. It played on the radio yesterday morning as my wife and I did our food deliveries. I ‘adapted’ it to “Where Is My Congress?” The Neurons like that twist and kept it in the morning mental music stream.
I enjoy the song on its own, though. Here’s the sample lyrics for you.
Sample Lyrics
Baby (whoo-hoo), where the hell is my husband? (Whoo-hoo)
What is taking him so long (whoo-hoo) to find me?
Oh, baby, where the hell is my lover?
Getting down with another? (Whoo-hoo, yeah)
Tell him if you see him, baby, if you see him
Tell him, tell him he should holler
Why is this beautiful man waiting for me to get old?
Why he already testing my patience?
I only fear he’s taking time with other women that ain’t me
While I’ve been reviewing applications
Wait ’til I get my hands on him, I’ma tell him off too
For how long he kept mе waiting, anticipating
Praying to the Lord to give him to my loving arms
And despite my frustrations
He must need me (he must need me) completely (completely)
How my heart yearns for him
Is he far away (is he far away?), is he okay? (Is he okay?)
This man is testing me, uh-huh, uh-huh
Uh, help me, help me, help me, Lord
Of course, yesterday morning, I was singing, “Where the hell is my Congress!” Then I created other lyrics.
May this day find you healthy, peaceful, and ready to vote blue and take the nation back.
Thanks for visiting. Cheers
I was a young middle-aged man again. Several people who worked for me in the military and at IBM were working for me again. I was setting them up with some kind of project. Terry, Gil, and Lainie were at a round table. I stopped by to provide more instructions.
For some reason, I ended up asking Lainie if she knew her fours table because she had to use them for some task I was setting up. She was hesitant. Knowing she’s often hesitant because of self-doubt, I began quizzing her – what 7 * 4? She didn’t know, so I tried, what’s 3 * 4? She correctly but slowly responded, twelve, with a shy smile.
Encouraging her, I then asked, what’s 4 * 4?
She wasn’t sure. Terry responded, 16.
I began going through the fours table with Lainie with the others sitting there. As we did, she made wrong guesses about the numbers, sometimes saying numbers that ended in three or five. I told her that the result would always be even, and that it would end in a 2-4-6-8 or zero. I then began taking her through the table and went from 1 * 4 to 200 * 4, pointing out the repetitive pattern in the results.
Everyone grew quiet, listening as I went through the times table. When I finished, Terry and others said, “I never knew that about the pattern.”
I replied, “There’s a pattern to everything. Always look for the pattern. If you can find that, many other things fall into place.”
Dream end
That’s especially true in this era, when extreme weather strikes more frequently, and el Nino is bringing in new changes to the patterns.
Donald Trump’s pattern under pressure and criticism is to become more belligerent and aggressive. He rails more; whines more; and attacks more. The midterms are coming up, and prices are not coming down. Trump, who once promised no new wars, instead finds the war he started with Iran dragging on. Trump has claimed it’s over, it’s almost over, or ‘we won’ numerous times before. Now, Trump is saying the war will “probably end after the mid-terms”.
Doubts about Trump are growing and persisting. Regardless of what polls say about the elections and a midterm blue wave or Donald Trump’s declining popularity, the tells of his decline among his base are visible. Rallies where Trump is appearing are weakly attended. Trump’s calls to support AI and data centers construction are met with silence.
After all that’s gone wrong and getting worse for Donald Trump, I was unsurprised that Trump’s DOJ raided Rep. Ilhan Omar’s home in Minnesota. Rep Omar has three things going against her in Trump’s eyes: she’s an intelligent woman, a refugee from Somalia, and an outspoken Trump critic.
I guess Trump sees Rep. Omar is a good test case for Trump’s increasing tactics of lawfare and weaponizing the government against his opponents. Trump’s previous efforts to prosecute political opponents, James Comey, Letitia James, and David Hearn, flopped in big, audacious ways.
But Trump has nothing else to offer. Trump already went after the press, trying to ban press organizations who tell the truth about his sparsely attended rallies, terrible and worsening economy, and the growing disaster that is now the Iran war. Trump also dislikes being reminded that he’s breaking promises and laws, and that he is not the all-powerful, all-knowing, always-right person he likes to pretend he is.
The press fought back, and the courts have sided with the press, so far. Precedence would point to a win for the press in all the courts. Freedom of the press is one of those things we used to pride ourselves on in the United States. Donald Trump arrived on the scene, though, and weaponized people’s distrust of the press to gain popularity.
Now, with his popularity waning, even Donald Trump’s MAGA base are walking away from him. Not because of the attacks on the press, or attacks on the sitting members of Congress, or using the government as a weapon to persecute and prosecute opponents. No.
MAGAzens are turning on Trump because he failed to release the Epstein files and he failed to lower prices. Now, thanks to Trump’s own failed policies, it’s too late for him to fix either.
Trump has tried badgering and bullying his way back to strength. He’s lied from the beginning and fed people’s hate and fear. Those aspects of his portfolio have grown old and thin.
Trump tried bribing We the People, attempting to buy popularity with various ‘dividends’. But Trump’s brand is so toxic, even that failed to gain Trump any props.
Trump tried to lower prices, drilling, making deals for oil and gas, temporarily suspending sanctions and tariffs. They, too, failed to win anyone back, as his efforts instead highlighted his hypocrisy.
Now Trump has returned to his most proven, effective tool, attacking immigrants and women. Doesn’t matter if the woman he’s attacking is a sitting member of Congress, legally elected to the office by We the People, and legally sworn in.
Trump has never cared for law or justice and won’t begin now. Donald Trump will just attack more, hoping to bully his way into popularity once again.
So, brace yourself. I don’t doubt that this is just a test case. Trump and his minions and advisors floated this raid on Rep. Omar to see how it floats with his base.
Trump doesn’t see that a growing number of people are weary of him and ready to turn the page.
Vote blue in November, so we can keep turning the page on Donald Trump.
