Category: childhood

Thursday’s Theme Music

The weather witches (it is too a thing) whisper to me that we’ll be functioning between 30 and 38 degrees F outside, as Winting continues holding on to Ashlandia. The sun blended in at 7:06 AM, a little heat, a little light, then suddenly shafts of brilliant bright, gone before you blink. Clouds will be hanging about throughout the day, Thursday, Feb. 18, 2023. Sunset’s moment comes at 5:45 PM.

Had a relaxing meetup with friends for beers last night, just eight of us for about ninety minutes at a local brewery, Caldera. Good to see them and reflect on news, culture, and life. A quick five was spent remembering horses’ names from movies and television shows. Silver, Buttermilk, Scout, Ol’ Blue, Hidalgo, etc. News of Raquel Welch’s passing had made the news just before we met up, so there was extensive conversation about 1,000,000 Years B.C. from 1967, followed up by a Quest for Fire and Caveman.

Despite the cold temperatures, Papi insisted on braving the temps to prove himself. He was out and then back in ten minutes later, as that sunshine just didn’t cut the cold enough. Part of that experience had be telling him, “I’m going to close the door in three, two, one,” before he made the dash. The Neurons pulled out a song called “After Hours” and slotted it into the morning mental music stream. “After Hours” was released in 1969 but I didn’t know it until the mid-seventies. Stationed at Clark Air Base on a unaccompanied tour, I picked up a Velvet Underground tape, and this song was on it. The Neurons keyed on the words, “But if you close the door,” which is repeated often in the school. It’s a sweet, mellow song.

The wife has a Zoom coffee call in the other room. People who used to live in Ashlandia, who were attending the Y exercise class — you know the one, led by Mary for the last thirty-five years, right? — wanted to see their friends and share their news. K has been attending this Mon-Wed-Fri class since we moved here in 2005. It’s been the key to many social connections, including the book club which she started with five other class members. Membership has changed but they continue to meet once a month. K hosts in March, which means we’ll be doing a big clean.

Stay pos, and carpe diem. I’ll carpe some coffee first. Here’s the music. Cheers

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Monday’s Theme Music

I listened to Alexi’s report. My wife joined me. We were at the breakfast bar, where Alexa nests. “What she say?” my wife asked. I asked Alexa for the weather again.

She finished her report. My wife and I checked the windows. East, south, west. Alexa had said it was mostly sunny. “I don’t see any sunshine,” K said. So it wasn’t just me.

It’s Monday, Feb. 13, 2023. Not a speck of sun is visible past the battleship sky. 34 F out, we anticipate rain and clouds all day and a mid-40s high. Sunrise was at 7:11 this morning and sunset will come at 5:41 PM. Snow warnings are out for tomorrow.

Taxes were filed yesterday. Bedding washed. Smelling the fresh bedding as I climbed into bed summoned childhood experiences. Mom would tuck us in and say, “I washed your sheets today. Smell them. Don’t they smell fresh?” I would do as directed and smell the sheets, and agree, they smelled fresh, like sunshine and wind.

I watched Superbowl LVII, which makes me think, liver. That was Superbowl Liver. Just a weird brain tick. KC Chiefs won, and no serious injuries were reported, so far. K was pleased that KC won. She thinks Mahomes is a cutie pie. She didn’t watch because she didn’t want to jinx him.

From the Superbowl, via The Neurons, I have Huey Lewis and the News singing, “If This Is It” from 1984. The Chiefs lined up for a field goal to take the lead. Eleven seconds left. “This is it,” the announcer said on Fox. “Playing ‘If This Is It’ by Huey Lewis and the News’,” The Neurons said. And so it still plays in the morning mental music stream, and I pass it on to you. Not a bad theme song. It’s Monday – if this is it, fill in the blank.

Stay positive. Cats returned from their outdoor recon. They report that it’s cold and there’s no sunshine. “Tell that to Alexa,” I tell them. “She needs the input.” Reporting live from Ashlandia, here’s the music. Cheers

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Friday’s Wandering Thought

I called to make an appointment. Speaking with the agent, I heard her typing fast. Her keyboard’s clickety-clack sounded like a train going by, reminding me of all those moments of sitting in a car behind the red and white boom barrier, bells ringing, red lights flashing, waiting for a train to pass.

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Groundhog Day’s Theme Music

A one and a two.

Today is Groundhog Day in ‘Merica, which makes it Feb 2. It’s 2023, and Thursday.

Bright sunshine warming the house and beaming the windows bolstered my spirits. Flipping to another piece of weather script, winds shout and moan like football fans when there’s an interception. Current temp is 47 F but it feels like 43, with the sun and air lifting us up to 53 F later, which will probably feel like something else. 7:23 AM witnessed the sun’s breakthrough moment over Ashlandia. It’ll be 5:27 PM when the Earth’s action takes our sunshine away.

The Neurons are singing “My Baby Loves Lovin'” in the morning mental music stream. The pop hit hit when I was feeding the cats their kibble and sang, “My kitties love kibble,” as they chowed through the morning offering.

Looking up this song was required. I had a scant idea that it was released probably around 1970 but no idea who released it. Fortunately I have access to this thing called the web. It managed to produce facts that the song was released in 1970 by a Brit band called White Plains. Disagreement surrounds the lead vocalist. Was it Tony Burrow? I didn’t know the man’s name, but there are claims that he was lead vocalist for five different bands who had one number one song each. I’d never heard of this before. Besides this song, there were “Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)” by Edison Lighthouse in 1970; “Gimme Dat Ding” (1970) by the Pipkins; “Beach Baby” by the First Class, another 1970 hit; and “United We Stand” by the Brotherhood of Man, 1970. However, some of Burrow’s claims about his participation is doubted and seems exaggerated. He might be the George Santos of 1970 pop.

Coffee has touched down at my side. One cat is hovering close, reporting back to Floof HQ about my activities. The other has braved the wind for a secret meeting. Stay positive. Here’s the hit. Cheers

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Friday’s Theme Music

Time to start the day and get underway. We’re at the port of Friday, January 20, 2023. Next destination: Friday evening. We’ll get there after the sun sets on Ashlandia, 5:10 PM.

“Ashlandia, where time is never the same.”

Sunrise at 7:36 AM found Ashlandia frost bound beneath full blue skies. Snow and ice still cap higher mountains and ridges, a winter photo delight against that blue. 25 degrees F says the local weather station while prognosticators tell us that a 48 degree F high is expected. That’s a little cold for Ashlandia’s winters. We usually see the thermo squeaking down to 30 before braking to a full stop, but we’ll live. We’ll complain, but we’ll live. Well, some, such as me, complain, but others just march along with it. The shelters are open for whoever needs them, and hot meals are being provided gratis in several locations. Crews have remained busy removing fallen trees from the month’s earlier windstorms. A drive around yesterday showed all were gone. No houses or buildings experienced major damage, so we’re thankful for that.

My wife remains in bed, affected by her RA and Raynaud’s. One of her fingers looks ghastly, white and waxen. She says it’s painful and stiff but doesn’t complain. She was planning to make me a cherry pie yesterday but I nixed that. We just had sugar pie instead. She skipped her exercise class this morning, which is never a good omen.

Mom’s list of issues continuous a daunting trend of increasing. Little seems to improve for her and pain shadows every decision and conversation. She soldiers on, a tough old broad, as she likes to self-reference, but she seems so tired from the constant fight to live.

With all the dreams I had last night, The Neurons packed the morning mental music stream with songs on dreaming. I ignored them. We lost David Crosby this week, another talented musician who brightened my life. The Byrds were on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1965, which was my childhood, playing “Mr Tambourine Man”. I was nine then. Though a little too mellow for my budding rock and roll tendencies, I admired their style and harmony and their songs stayed comfortably lodged in my mind. Formation of CSN and then CSN&Y was a positive addition to the folk-rock scene, where their harmonies and smart lyrics adjusted my budding teenage attitudes.

Got my coffee. French roast, which is my usual. Unsweetened and untouched by milk or cream, it offers a sharply bitter living on my tastebuds, with a friendly chocolatey overlay.

Stay positive. Sail on to new horizons. Here’s the music, in living color. Cheers

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Monday’s Theme Music

The moon’s visit moved beyond normal to sublime. Sometimes a clear night hosts a moon that lights the night and finds something more primal and hopeful in the mind. Last night’s moon was one of these, romantic and inspirational, a moon with light that whispers, “the impossible is possible.” No wonder a moon like that is spoken of in sentences about magic, fairies, and spaceships.

It’s January 16, 2023. It’s Monday. It’s 30 degrees F and sunny. It’s calm. It’s a new week’s start. Happy New Week! Have you made any New Week resolutions? I have. Of course I have. I don’t do NY ones, but I do daily, weekly, and monthly resolutions. You only fail if you give up trying, am I right? Some people place the week’s start on Sunday. I consider Saturday and Sunday neutral ground. The week begins on Monday and ends on Friday.

The sun pressed its presence into our valley at 7:37 this morning, coming around like it’s nobody’s business. Daylight will light us up until about 5:05 this evening. Then the sun will set and bring on dusk, followed by night. The cold front will keep our high from getting much above 42 F. Some say that rain is due but the clouds for that job haven’t checked in. Snow is visible in far fields on high mountains, appearing like cake frosting on the ridges’ pines and firs. It’s a tranquil blue-sky sight.

News continues emerging about President Biden and the classified documents found at his home and office. This turn pisses me off more than Trump’s classified doc scandal. I thought Joe Biden was responsible and this oversight, this sloppiness, is infuriating. I was in the Air Force for twenty years. With high secret clearances and active in special access programs, dealing with classified material, including stuff that was Top Secret with special qualifiers, including nuclear war plans, launch codes, attack plans, and intelligence materials, I was frequently the Top-Secret Control Officer, the unit security manager, and also often the OPSEC/COMSEC and COMPUSEC manager. I took it seriously. My peers, commanders, and those we supervised all took it very damn seriously. I was appointed as an investigator several times when processes failed or people violated the governing regs and laws. Trump’s conniving to keep some classified documents ‘as his own’ insulted our efforts to keep the nation safe by properly protecting such material. Joe Biden’s sloppiness — or worse, as the investigations are only under way — undermines our systems as well. President Biden has at least acknowledged that what has happened is bad, unlike Trump, who dances and shouts, trying to deflect blame and responsibility, squeaking out ridiculous justifications for what he did.

Okay, off the soap box. Today’s music is “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood”. I went with the Animals version of 1964. Besides being the version seared into my memory by radio play repetition, I’ve always liked Eric Burdon. I also enjoyed the band’s keyboard use and the gritty blues sound they brought to their performances. The Neurons decided on this song and put it in the morning mental music stream after conversations with the cats. They were asking for something and I didn’t understand what it was. The felines’ insistence was the final driver for Les Neurons. Listening to them, Eric Burdon’s voice just rose from the depths of memory to sing, “Oh Lord, please don’t let me be misunderstood.” And there we were.

Try to stay positive. I know it can be tough. I feel less than positive on many days. Right now, I’m positive that I would murder a cup of coffee so I’m heading to the kitchen for that black brew. I’m excited just thinking about it! Here’s the music. Hope your week takes you to new heights. Cheers

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Saturday’s Theme Music

Heavy winds powered us to Saturday, January 14, 2023. Winds began last night, a bit before midnight and have only given us small breaks. Still, they’re not hugely destructive in our area, except to our minds as we say, “Wind and rain again?” While rain is good in general, the cisterns are full so it’s just flowing away. Snow is needed. Snow, snow, snow up in the mountains. Fingers crossed that our snow needs are being met.

Sunrise was at 7:38 this morning, a dull light through a gray skein, glistening off a wet landscape. Temperature is 41 F. Sunset has moved back to 5:03 in the late afternoon, giving us a few more minutes of daylight, which is highly friggin’ welcomed. Gonna rain all day but the high temperature should kiss the low fifties. Meanwhile, across the country in Ashland, VA, sunrise was at 7:25 AM and sunset is 5:14 PM.

Thinking of all this, I acknowledge what a complainer I am. I like change and variation in my daily weather, but even if that happens too much, I’ll complain. Complaining is the nut of who I am, I think. Everyone must have a hobby. Complaining seems to be mine.

Papi, aka the Ginger Blade and the Little Prince, though he’s not that little any longer, matching Tucker in weight, height, and girth, is not a wind fan. Doesn’t stop that floof from demanding that he be let out. Not long before he begs to return back inside, and then, lo, insisting that no, outside is where he really wants to be. Once, he went out the back door on the patio, got a wind shove with all of its noise, trotted back in, and then turned around and went back out. Floofs. They can be sweet, endearing, and exasperating.

I was going to use “It’s Raining Again” by Supertramp, after The Neurons heard me say, “It’s raining again.” But I overruled them after reading of Robbie Bachman’s death. He was the drumming force behind Bachman-Turner Overdrive, or BTO. BTO’s music was part of the high school scene for me. “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet” from 1974 was almost our theme music when my wife and I were dating. She loved it when I sang “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet” to her when the song came on the radio. What can be said but we were in love? Another musician from my youth gone, another one to thank for their music and its impact on my life.

Time to get cracking. I’ve been sipping my coffee. The coffee fuel has reached The Neurons. They’re impatient to get to the writing part of the day. Stay positive and test negative, a hope that’s really beyond our control. Fingers crossed that when you do test positive, it’s as soft and fleeting as a spring zephyr. Here is BTO. Cheers

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Sunday’s Theme Music

We rose to a sky rich with sunshine. It’s Sunday, January 8, 2023. The sunshine is welcome. It’s in the forties here but the cats and wife agree, it feels colder than that. I was out at midnight last night, delivering used kitty litter to a trash can, and paused to check out the night. It smelled like winter to me, if you know what I mean. That sort of element has been missing for this winter except for a few days.

Sunrise finally moved off of 7:40 AM. At last we’ve begun moving toward an earlier sunrise, with the sun sneaking up on us a full minute earlier. Friggin’ rejoice. Sunset is all the way back to 4:56 this evening. By next week, it’ll be setting after 5 PM. I’m looking forward to a longer day. A cougar prowling the town after sunset reduces my willingness to go out there. I don’t think the big cat will attack me, but I really don’t need to test that theory.

Today’s song is by a group called Montrose. The name comes from Ronnie Montrose, the lead guitarist and band founder. Sammy Hagar was the lead singer. The song in the morning mental music stream is “I’ve Got the Fire”. Watching the video and listening, it’s interesting how much Sammy’s voice stayed the same through the decades. Anyway, the song came out in 1974. I didn’t know about it at the time. I entered the military in October of 1974 and the album was released a little later. When in basic, we had little outside contact. This was before the net, personal computers, and cell phones. For people to reach us, they had to contact the squadron office and leave a message. We weren’t permitted to hear radios or watch televisions. Riding in motorized vehicles were off limits until the final week. We had to earn the right to visit the base exchange after several weeks. Funny in retrospect, but we knew little going on outside of our unit. We were allowed to line up and use the pay phone to call home after three or four weeks, if you and your unit were making satisfactory progress.

Anyway, after finishing basic and listening to music again, I discovered the new Montrose album. Montrose was another band that my high school friends didn’t appreciate, except for Scott and Rick. The three of us were considered strange, but we had fun.

The song is in mind today because of ginger cat, Papi. It was pouring rain last night. The wind at one point growled like a large, angry giant, and then slammed the house’s side like it was really pissed off. Of course, Papi doesn’t care about that. Doesn’t care about cougars, either. Just, let me out!

I was going to use an audio only file, but I couldn’t resist this Midnight Special video. “Paper Money” leads off. “I Got the Fire” starts at 4:56 in if you want to cut to it.

I finally did after stern words and ignoring him was ignored. A while later, he banged on the door to get back in. Yeah, he was cold and soaked. I mentioned, “Come in to the heat. We got the fire.” Then I helped him dry off. Meanwhile, The Neurons started several fire songs. I foolishly let my mind wander into the pickets of music I’ve heard in my life, focusing on all the songs that mentioned fire. There are a lot. Somehow, The Neurons dug out this lesser known 1974 song. Voila, it’s our theme music for today.

Stay pos and test neg. I’m off for a cup of coffee, hear what I’m saying. Hope your Sunday trends in a positive way. Cheers

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Saturday’s Theme Music

“Overture! Hit the lights! This is it, the night of nights.” That’s the Bugs Bunny Show theme music. The show was my favorite Saturday morning show for several years. I have not seen it in decades and I don’t know if it’s still broadcast. I suspect it is.

Yes, it’s 2022’s final day. The song is over. Fog in the morning, issue a warning. Rain and fog are again the day’s ruling roosters. The sun tapped in at 7:39 AM, bringing up the light to see the fog. Temperature then was 41 F; it’s now 42 F, with a 50 degree high projected and rain. Sunset is 4:48 PM. Then into New Year’s Eve. We’ll be dining out with friends and then to a local hotel for dancing until Midnight. A local band, who are also friends, will provide the music. We will be masked although a friend reports health authorities find no COVID in our town’s wastewater. There is the flu surging around here, though. Restlessness and the desire to do something is pushing the evening agenda.

The last time we saw the new year in like this was back in 2019, I think. Our companions then were the same as the ones going out with us tonight. They packed it in about an hour before midnight. If you’ve seen one new year, you’ve seen them all, is this gang’s opinion. Sadly, though, the night marks the final night of the restaurant where we’re eating. They’re going out of business after twenty-five years. It’s Thai food and I’ve only eaten there three times since I’ve lived here. Two of those times was on New Year’s Eve.

A Boz Scaggs song called “Breakdown Dead Ahead” is in the morning mental music stream. Do Der Neurons know something that they’re trying to tell me with this 1980 musical choice? They always give me the feeling that they know more than they’re letting on to me. It sometimes feels like they’re deliberately withholding information to make me look or feel inept. I think I’m going to keep an eye on them. I just don’t feel like I can trust them, you know what I’m saying?

Coffee time. (And now The Neurons have substituted coffee time for hammer time and are playing that melody. They’re loony tunes up there in my head.) Stay pos, test negative, and enjoy the holiday as you can. Do you have big plans?

Till next year. Yes, it’s a law that the joke be put out there as often as humanly possible. At least, that’s what The Neurons are telling me. Cheers

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Tuesday’s Theme Music

Moderately hard winds moaned and grumbled through the neighborhood last night. Toward eleven, I was in the kitchen when I heard a noise. It sounded like the heater could be on but it was coming from the wrong direction, or that a faucet was running, but again, no faucets where the sound seemed to be. I walked around to localize the sound only to realize, it’s a hard rain drumming on the roof outside the vaulted ceiling in the great room. It’s so rare that we have heavy rain, I didn’t recognize its sound.

Wind and rain went on throughout the night. Nice to have rain but we need snow. I can’t believe that we’re at the end of 2022 and we still don’t have weather control. The mind reels with unintended consequences which we might be dealing with now if we did have it. Weather control was always one of my favorite science fiction ideas as a child, along with space travel, teleportation, exploring other planets, and ‘time travel’. We have none of that yet. Even flying cars have evaded us. I think it’s because extraterrestrials got in among us and have sabotaged our efforts because they don’t want us advancing, but that’s just me.

Doesn’t feel like winter outside, probably because there’s no snow and ice, not even any on the surrounding mountains. It’s all sunshine and blue sky today. The temperature is 48 F and the grass is as green as late spring. Our high temperature will be just three degrees higher, but still, this is December’s end in the northern lats. Where is the cold stuff of last week? To be fair, this is around our average high. Lows usually touch the lower thirties, though. We wouldn’t mind some of the cyclone bomb snow obliterating a lot of the U.S., although cyclone bomb sounds like a bath thing. If we had that weather control, maybe we could protect others and save ourselves from drought. Instead, we’re dithering with social media.

The sun’s influence arrived with a full blaze at 7:39, just two hours ago. Sun fall will begin about seven hours later from now, if I’m doing the math right, which is very iffy. I haven’t had any coffee.

Hearing that rain last night and thinking about how hard it was falling brought out a Dylan tune called “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall”. The song came out in 1963 but I didn’t get familiar with it until after “Tangled Up in Blue” came out in 1975. Dylan wasn’t played much on the AM radio which I listened to in the late sixties and early seventies. It wasn’t until Tangled came out and I was stationed in the Philippines that I went searching for more Dylan and discovered his earlier stuff. I was twenty then, and became engrossed with his lyrics and style, so I bought a few album, listening to them as I painted and drew when I was off duty and not partying or exercising. I deem “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” today’s theme music. Mentioning that, the state up north and east of us is worried about this rain, because it’s going to melt the snow, opening a can of problems with flooding.

It’s Tuesday, December 27, 2022. Go have yourself a ball. I’m going to have coffee. Here’s Dylan’s somber song. Cheers

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