Tuesday’s Theme Music — Clocks
Ashland, southern Oregon. Tuesday, September 8, 2026.
I hope everyone had a good weekend.
It’s warming here again. 54 F at my house this morning. Sunshine and the fronts, which could be the name of a rock band but isn’t, are expected to warm us into the high 80s today. While the sky is blue over our green and brown landscape, clouds varnish it with gray.
One of the things about holidays in the US are SALES! We used to be inundated with mailers and radio and television commercials about how the sales.
Well, I stream and don’t watch over the air or cable channels so I had none of those. Heard nothing on the radio about the sales this year. Nor were there flyers in the snail mail.
Never fear, they sales were shown in the mail inbox. I always have a huge collection of offers. Not the old Viagra stuff, no. This is the standard LOOK AT WHAT WE’RE SELLING AT GREAT PRICES STUFF. Lot of subscription offers. Last chances to REALLY SAVE was going to end LAST NIGHT.
The sales ended. I bought nothing. Some things don’t change. I’m sure I’ll have more chances in the future, despite their declaration that this was my LAST CHANCE. I just need to click through my mail, trashing all these GREAT OFFERS.
Meanwhile, I’m worrying about our fellow humans in Hawaii as another storm bears down on them.
Do we have a Salute Gate brewing? Trump failed to return the Marines’ salute when he left Marine One. Remember how conservatives raised a storm about President Obama saluting with a coffee cup? I’m sure this will be worse…not. Trump Double Standards are strictly enforced.
I love trackers and appreciate and respect the people that put them together for us.
I already regularly check the National Debt Clock, watching as the numbers spin and climb, showing exactly how much more debt we as a nation are in by the second.
Then there’s the IranWarClock. This displays how long the Trump Iran War — TIW for short — has been going, and how long it’s been since Trump said it would be over. Thanks to this site, I know that Trump has shifted the TIW’s timeline eight times, and that it has now been going on 192 days.
Now, Daily Kos has pointed me toward one developed by Watson School of International and Public Affairs at Brown University: the Iran War Energy Cost Tracker. This tells us how much the TIW is costing our nation to the second. It then helpfully shows how much more each American household is paying for energy thanks to the TIW.
Then there’s the Measles Outbreaks tracker to see what’s going on with measles in the US and around the world.
GasPricesLive is good to compare how much we’re paying for gasoline per gallon.
For more fun, you can go to the Trump Timer, which shows how many days until his second term ends.
It’s all just information. Facts and figures. History.
All this thinking about clocks, trackers, and time has The Neurons busy with rock songs about time in my morning mental music stream. Among these are “Time Won’t Let Me” by the Outsiders, “Clocks” by Coldplay, and “Time” by The Alan Parsons Project.
There are other songs — Cher, The Doors, Jim Croce, BB King, Chicago, the Rolling Stones, the Guess Who…it’s a long list.
But here we go, with “Clocks” by Coldplay and “Time Won’t Let Me” by The Outsiders.
May you have the time and will to do all you need and want to do.
Cheers
Monday’s Theme Music — Moon Man
Ashland, southern Oregon. Monday, September 7, 2026.
Our valley will warm back up today. It’s 52 F now but the high is supposed to be in the upper 70s. Sunshine and blue sky are all my vantage offers. Warmer tomorrow, in the low 80s, and low 90s by Wednesday.
It’s Labor Day in the US. Happy Labor Day! Labor Day used to mark the unofficial end of the summer and the start of the autumn and school year when I was growing up. As I moved to other areas, I discovered the school year starting in August as districts frontloaded the school calendar in anticipation of school closures for snow days.
This is one of those holidays Mom enjoyed as family. It usually meant a gathering and cookout. I feel fortunate to have such memories of enjoying life, delicious food, fun company.
For today, there is no cookout. We’re going to friends later for dinner and games. I go on with my normal routines.
Trump launched another part of Operation Epic LOOK — SQUIRREL! last weekend. He’s been making some outrageous claims by changing the names of places, generating AI images, and doing his pathetic little kicks dance. And Trump changed his hair style to some very ugly reviews. He’s even trying to fix the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool — again — crowing — again — how great it’ll be, which stirred a lot of mocking about him and his previous claims, and the amount of money Trump has spent trying to fix it.
With all that bad press happening, Trump went to the net and — quick. LOOK — SQUIRREL!
“THE MOON IS OURS”
Yes, that’s Donald Trump, current Oval Office occupant, highest elected position in the land, acting like a cartoon villain.
Just to prove how much of a fool he is, and keep us distracted, Trump also floated changing New Mexico’s name.
Trump Floats Renaming New Mexico as ‘New America,’ Prompting Pushback
I’m sure MAGAzens are chortling, “Look how Trump is owning the libs!” Meanwhile, they’re paying a lot more for food and gas. For example, gas prices on Labor Day 2024 were about $3.29 a gallon. Thanks to Trump, they’re at a record Labor Day high.
Fuel prices at record Labor Day high in US thanks to Iran War and refinery issues
The gas price per gallon US average is $4.14, 32 cents per gallon more than the previous record, set in 2012.
Affordability remains a crisis in the US, Trump’s war with Iran is dragging on — 191 days and counting — he hasn’t released the Epstein files…it’s a long list of failures and broken promises.
That’s the Trump legacy.
That’s the MAGA legacy.
In honor of Trump’s absurdity, my morning mental music stream is gushing with songs about the moon. So many are out there…”Dark Side of the Moon” punched in fast. But I ended up with “Man on the Moon” by R.E.M.
Sample Lyrics
Mott the Hoople and the Game of Life
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Andy Kaufman in the wrestling match
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Monopoly, twenty-one checkers, and chess
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Mister Fred Blassie in a breakfast mess
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Let’s play Twister, let’s play Risk
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
See you in Heaven if you make the list
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Now, Andy, did you hear about this one?
Tell me, are you locked in the punch?
Andy, are you goofing on Elvis?
Hey baby, are we losing touch?
If you believed they put a man on the moon
Man on the moon
If you believe there’s nothing up his sleeve
Then nothing is cool
The 1992 song was a tribute to comedian Andy Kaufman. It’s also about questioning truth, history, and reality, and losing track of these things. It’s a suitable song to reflect what we seem to be seeing from Trump and his long, very public decline.
As always, I wish the best for you and yours on this day as well as every other day.
Cheers
Saturday’s Theme Music – Talking
Saturday, August 29, 2026. Ashland, southern Oregon.
A chilly, cloudy morning. Rumors of rain are trickling around conversations. The sky is mostly blue, hazing toward white and gray as clouds collect. 58 F now, today’s high is expected to top out in the mid 70s.
I’m off to a late posting start because I instead wrote in the novel. Had been thinking about a series of scenes last night. Today, they were just there, so I sat and wrote three thousand words before I did anything except feed the cat.
Mom has responded to my texts about her house and accomplishments by first, thanking me. Her texts then devolved into complaints about how I’m her only child who will talk to her. Then she demanded that I come and visit her. She finished with complaints about the assisted living facility and staff and wished she ‘woke up dead’.
On to news, where it’s here we go again, on the hideous Trump merry-go-round.
A Salon headline kicked things off.
Pete Hegseth’s press crackdown smells like a coverup
Possible cover-ups are in line with the Trump and his administration’s standard functioning. Exhibits offered as evidence:
- The Epstein files
- White House ballroom
- The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool
- Hush money to Stormy Daniels
- USS Abraham Lincoln
Trump and his cabinet insist that everything is great, but they go through acrobatic gyrations whenever they’re challenged. Threats escalate fast on their end. They blame others and insult whomever questions them. They pull credentials, threaten to sue, bluster on social media, and give hostile interviews in which they insist they’re right and everyone else is wrong.
Meanwhile, Trump’s ideas of democracy, freedom, is fully on display. He clearly doesn’t think much of serving We the People. Just wants the power of the office. Nor does he care much about history, treaties, and laws.
Trump has now announced that he secured ‘majority US control’ of much of Venezuela’s oil reserves. This comes after Trump removed Venezuela’s president by force. We the People who pay attention to history remember how regions around the world evolved into dangerous and unstable regions because nations went in, established themselves as the de facto rulers, and then began plundering their national resources.
The United States has long moved toward away from these policies, pushing for democracy. Success is erratic because it’s a messy process, involving wealthy, power, and people. Additionally, the US continued to secretly use the military or CIA to kill. Trump, though, has escalated it, and is doing so blatantly, oblivious to how these policies affect world opinion of the US.
History has shown, these kind of moves often bite us in the ass. For evidence, just look how things have played out in Iran with US intervention.
Today’s theme music is “You Talk Too Much”. This was a hit for Joe Jones in the early 1960s. I was about five years old when I first started hearing it, I think. A popular song, it achieved a lot of air play. It was also song which Mom sang while doing things around the house. She would also sing it to my sisters and I when we were trying to ask her for something. Frankly, that was very irritating.
Sample Lyrics
You talk too much
You worry me to death
You talk too much
You even worry my pet
You just talk…
Talk too much
You talk about people
That you don’t know
You talk about people
Wherever you go
You just talk…
Talk too much
You talk about people
That you’ve never seen
You talk about people
You can make me scream
The Neurons plugged it into the morning mental music stream in honor of Donald Trump. He talks and texts, often before engaging any brain cells. This week after thinking he can change the name of Lake Ontario with the stroke of a pen, he went on to talk about changing the names of other places in like ways.
What Ding Dong Donnie doesn’t understand, either, is that by having the US flex its powers and just do things on whims, he encourages other strong-armed nations to do the same.
What’s funny, though, is how Ding Dong Donnie doesn’t see what he’s done to the world order. He thinks other nations are jealous of us. He was angry — and probably still is, as he is one who likes to indulge in deep sulking — when other nations refused to participant in his Trumped-up war on Iran. He didn’t understand and doesn’t see that he’s burned so many bridges which were carefully build through years of diplomacy, negotiations, and practices.
I correct myself: more than not understanding, Trump doesn’t care.
Trump’s legacy of ego and failures is stacking into one of the world’s ugliest historic periods. Meanwhile, I wish he would shut up. He’s become like a dog barking all night long without reason.
I wish you the best of the best days in every way which you and I can think of.
Cheers
That Kind of News
It’s the kind of news never wanted but always and never expected.
Dolly Parton, queen of country music and humanitarian hero, dead at 80
Never met her nor saw Dolly Parton live in concert. But she’s just ten years older than me and contributed song writing, singing, and acting to my life’s experiences. Dolly always seemed real and genuine — and you can make whatever joke comes to your mind — but I think the world is a better place with more people like Dolly Parton.
This one stings.
RIP forever, Dolly Parton.
Sunday’s Theme Music — Beginning
Sunday, August 23, 2026. Ashland, southern Oregon.
We’re again fortunate to have ‘good’ weather. Sunshine, blue skies, 74 F now, 90 F later. Some rain would be nice. Through today, we’re at 7% of normal precipitation for the year. Seven.
My wife and I greet each other many mornings with, “What’s the news? He dead yet?”
Then we laugh and say, “I know he’s not or you would have shouting the news.”
You know, this is the only person in our lifetime together — over fifty years — that we have ever said such things about. And we never specify who we’re talking about. That’s. Not. Needed.
Mom is complaining about her relationships with her daughters. “Three of them live nearby and none of them will take me to my appointments. Which will only HASTEN my death anyway.”
My sister’s daughter, May, is going to visit Mom tomorrow. We’re interested in the after-visit report. Mom helped raise May, and she and Mom had a great relationship until about four years ago. Then Mom became so angry and bitter, complaining about so many things, May declared, “I can’t do that any longer. It’s just too much.” Which is the case with my sisters and the rest of their children. Mom just became too much. I’d seen that trend developing and told Mom over and over through the last several years that all she does is complain and scold, that she’s always angry and bitter. Once she said that her partner, Frank, had just told her the same thing.
Trump has big action happening in DC with the Freedom 250 Indycar Grand Prix. It’s all part of Operation Epic LOOK — SQUIRREL! He’s just trying to distract all he can from how crappy things are going. Lots of corporations are going along with him. Retail sales are down, reflecting people’s challenges with the increasing affordability of living in the US. But corporations overall are doing well, with energy and technology companies doing particularly well.
So, yes, many corporations are all in for Trump’s Operation Epic LOOK — SQUIRREL! distractions. Hey, they’re getting theirs! Make hay while the sun shines! So what if the wealth gap continues to widen, if personal bankruptices are increasing, rural hospitals are closing, measles outbreaks are increasing, and the extreme weather gets worse? Corporation execs and shareholders are making money. Later, when the situation changes, they’ll contritely reduce prices, announcing ‘we’re all in this together’.
No. We’re not. They make that clear. They’re only in it together with us if it’s going to affect their profits, and then, they’ll only act under duress.
Today’s music emerges from my dream. I didn’t hear it in the dream but as I went through the night’s third dream, I suddenly heard Karen Carpenter singing “We’ve Only Just Begun”.
That could be an apt song for now, as far as the title’s sentiment. We’re about to go through some heavy duty loads with Donald Trump. He tried staying in power when he lost his bid for re-election, encouraging his supporters to resist the bona bide election results, encouraging them to ignore the law, resulting in death and destruction while widening the trust gap and polarizing the electorate. This year, he’s been working on trying to undermine the system.
Here’s the irony: Trump is cheerleading the nation’s 250th anniversary while simultaneously undermining the system that we’ve developed and improved for 250 years, the system which actually delivered him victory — twice.
Yet, Trump keeps whining and complaining about stolen elections without evidence. Is cutting much of the federal government in order to shift loads to states because of states’ rights. Meanwhile, he’s working hard to hollow out the states’ role in the national elections, basically usurping it so he can mold it as head of the executive branch of the federal government. It’s such a naked, wanton, power grab.
Trump is doing it because he’s a failure. His policies are failures, and people are awakening to this. His only way to get ahead, as always, is to lie, cheat, and steal.
So get ready: we’ve only just begun.
May your day begin with love and happiness and end on a high note.
Cheers
Wednesday’s Theme Music — Frank Beard
Ashland, southern Oregon. Wednesday, August 19, 2026.
August is moving on slow as molasses for me. I’m okay with that.
The claim is that it’ll be 96 F today. Forecasts yesterday said we’d hit 95 but we were four short of that. It’s 68 outside with high clouds clotting across the blue sky.
Our fingers are crossed that Mom’s house will finally close today. The buyers are using a grant to buy. The involved realtors say that the grant review and approval process has significantly slowed this year. It’s a federal program. A large part of me wonders if the Trump administration with its personnel cutbacks is responsible.
I’m not going to go into news and politics much on this post today. Writing a separate post on them.
I’m dedicating this instead to ZZ Top and Frank Beard. ZZ Top is an American rock band which had a heavy blues influence in its early years. They were a trio: Billy Gibbons, Dusty Hill, and Frank Beard. I started listening to them in high school. Saw them in concert a few times. Now only Billy Gibbons, lead vocalist, guitar, and song writer remains as Frank Beard, 77, joined Dusty Hill in that big gig in the otherworld.
I basically divide ZZ Top’s sound into two eras. In their early years was that blues sound. Multiple favorite songs hang with me from that period. For today, I’ll go with “La Grange” and “Jesus Left Chicago”.
The second period moved ZZ Top more into commercial mainstream pop. They became phenomenally successful. My preferred sound from that era was “Sharp Dressed Man”, which my wife and I liked to sing as ‘short, fat man’.
So here we go, into the morning mental music stream. May your day be blessed with happy memories of good music and good times, and optimism for our future.
Cheers
Sunday’s Theme Music — Catch
Ashland, southern Oregon. Sunday, August 9, 2026.
Got chilly last night — low 60s — which felt awesome. Even now, it’s in the upper 60s and a cool breeze is swimming past. Sky is postcard blue; no smoke or clouds. Expected to be in the mid 90s as our highs.
Mom and sis, Gina, remain at war. I’m surprised it lasted this long. Gina usually tries for another pact. Perhaps, after all attempts have failed, she’s really given up on Mom. Mom, on her side, blames Gina; sees no fault on her end. Mom did ask when her house was closing, which won’t be until after August 14.
It was a night of deep sleep and wild dreams. We have some socializing happening today, so I’m not going to dwell on the news.
Today’s music is “Catch Us If You Can”. This is a Dave Clark 5 song that came out when I was 9, in 1965. I know it because my sister, two years older, was getting into music. She had a DC5 album, along with albums by Freddie and the Dreamers, and Herman’s Hermits. She played them a lot.
Why is the song in my morning mental music stream? I don’t know. The Neurons probably conjured some secret connections with my dreams, thinking, writing, memories, but they’re as revealing as the Sphinx on a hot day.
I hope that you have a satisfying and enjoyable day, and that maybe it has some socializing in it.
Off we go. Cheers
Thursday’s Theme Music — Billions & Trillions
Ashland, southern Oregon — Thursday, July 23, 2026.
Cooler today, although the sky is blue and the sun is brightly shining. 75 F now, we expect a high of 93 F.
The air was much better last night and today, as well. The East Evans Creek Fire is now 38% contained, and there were no flare ups despite yesterday’s strong winds and high heat.
Extraordinary how often things in the news are now measured in billions and trillions. They used to be eye-opening amounts. Now we see them daily in the news:
US House passes record $1.15trn defence bill to fund Iran war
US national debt hits record $39 trillion ($113,616 per person!) and $40 trillion could be right around the corner
Kansas City Chiefs Unveil First Renderings for $3 Billion Stadium Opening in 2031
Google hit with $1 billion in fines as EU braces for Trump battle
Trump made more than $2.2bn last year. Experts say this extraordinary haul is only part of the story
AMD to invest up to $5 billion in Anthropic as part of computing power deal
Meanwhile, down here in the trenches, life is still measured in dollars and cents as we struggle with affordability.
Current U.S. Beef Prices (July 2026)
As of the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics data (July 22, 2026), national average retail beef prices are up modestly from last month, with most cuts seeing gains of 0.6%–1.2%. National Average Retail Prices (per pound, USDA Choice cuts unless noted)
- Sirloin Steak (USDA Choice): $14.45/lb — ▲1.2% vs. June, ▲6.6% vs. last year
- Round Steak (USDA Choice): $9.84/lb — ▲0.6%, ▲13.3% year-over-year
- All Uncooked Beef Steaks: $12.88/lb — ▲0.6%, ▲8.5% YoY
- Chuck Roast (USDA Choice): $9.55/lb — ▼0.6% (but still ▲13.2% YoY)
- All Uncooked Ground Beef: $7.14/lb — ▲1.1%, ▲9.8% YoY
- Ground Beef (100% Beef): $6.83/lb — ▲1.2%, ▲9.1% YoY
- Ground Chuck (100% Beef): $6.98/lb — ▲3.8%, ▲10.1% YoY
Your Trump Quote of the Day:
Of course, Trump had already claimed 20 times that prices were coming down quickly, back in February of 2026.
The price of a pound of ground beef was $6.74 compared to $6.83.
That’s some more of that Trump math.
Same math Trump used to claim that the ballroom would cost US taxpayers nothing:
“It’s a private thing, yeah, I’ll do it, and we’ll probably have some donors or whatever, but it’s about $200 million. So, we’ve been planning it for a long time. They’ve wanted a ballroom at the White House for more than 150 years. But there’s never been a president that was good at ballroom. I’m really good.”
Donald Trump, July, 2025
Back then, Trump was also bragging that the ballroom would cost $200M.
Trump administration quietly shifts $352m in federal funds for White House ballroom
That headline is from June of 2026.
All that has The Neurons playing “Billion Dollar Babies” in the morning mental music stream. The Alice Cooper song (and album of the same name) came out while I was in high school. My friend, Bob, was instantly enamored with both and used to spit out parts of choruses as we went from class to class, a period which I think lasted a week or two.
Alice Cooper was a cross-dressing rock star for a long period. Yet he’s expressed views against transgenders and supports Donald Trump. “(America) got so ‘woke’ with the Biden people, even they thought it was crazy. If a guy says to a coworker, ‘I like your new dress,’ that means he now gets fired? That’s crazy. It got so over the top that whoever ran against the Democrats was going to win. America got sick of the stupidness and all I can say is, in a shooting war, you don’t want a poodle; you want a pitbull.” Wikipedia
Because of this, I don’t often listen to Alice Cooper much any longer.
Hope your day brings fresh air and some good weather, good friends, and good times.
Cheers
Saturday’s Theme Music – Looking back
Ashland, southern Oregon — Saturday, July 4, 2026.
Today is Independence Day in the US, another bright day in my valley, destined to be 90 plus degrees F.
Fireworks aren’t permitted in Ashland. They are allowed in our county, so there’s a storm going on about buying fireworks right outside of city limits. People then come in and set them off.
I’m one of those against fireworks. We’re in the middle of a drought, and they terrorize animals and some people. Each year, I bring my cats in and ensure they’re in a safe place. Papi heads to the darkest and most secure space, the walk-in closet in our bedroom.
I understand that people like the colors and noises. We have other tech that can be subbed for this ancient technology. I know, though, that change is slow around traditions like these.
For me, Independence Day has a very special meaning. I met my wife just a short week before the holiday. I was fifteen and she was fourteen. My father, then in the Air Force, was stationed at DESC, just outside of Wright-Patterson AFB in Ohio. I went to live with him after some run-ins with my stepfather.
Dad and my future father-in-law were good friends. Dad worked for him part time years before when stationed at Wright-Pat, trying to make extra money. When Dad returned after assignments in Vietnam, Germany, Iceland, and Turkey, they renewed their friendship.
I met my FIL, Jim, in May that year, 1971, on a fishing/camping trip. Then I met his wife and daughters in June. That was just a short drop by, though. It was on July 4th that my wife and I ‘really’ met.
Dad had given me an old watch after he bought a new one. I wore that all the time. Back when I met her and my wife and I were getting to know one another on July 4th, she asked me about my birthday. As it happens, it’s on July 5th.
My wife asked if she could see my watch. Then she refused to return it. She waited until after the fireworks. She waited until midnight. Then she presented my watch as a gift and told me, “Happy birthday.”
I lost the watch a long time ago, but I cherish her and the memory.
Today’s song is “Tiny Dancer” by Elton John. For the last twenty plus years while living in Ashland, we go to a friend’s house along the parade route to watch our town’s 4th of July parade. It’s a brunch potluck. Our host used to be our neighbor across the street here; when her husband passed away over a dozen years ago, she moved into a small cottage behind her daughter’s house. It’s our daughter’s house where we and about fifty other people congregate and celebrate.
Our host, though, is Barb, the neighbor from across the street, a sweet and charming but small 96-year-old woman. Her husband told me that he met his wife when she was a teenager. She was studying dance, already in college, and he was at college and walking, when he saw her alone on the bridge, dancing, late on afternoon. He didn’t know who she was but he knew he wanted to know her. Since hearing that story, I often call Barb “Tiny Dancer”. And that’s why the song is in the morning mental music stream.
I have you have a wonderful day, whether you’re celebrating the holiday in the US or elsewhere, or just enjoying life in another nation. I hope it gives you memories that make you smile, and comes with memories about what happened before, and full of people who help make your life a better place.
Cheers
