Category: childhood

Sunday’s Theme Music

Well, I did my duty. I popped the time back. I initially screwed up, though, setting it back a thousand years because it was two in the morning, I was cat tired, and had been out bringing a cat in and looking at the moon when a BIG bear ambled through the neighbor’s yard. Suddenly, getting the cat into the house wasn’t a problem. By the time the bear’s sound registered and I looked and saw the bear, the cat had looked, seen the bear, told me, “See you,” and was back at the door, ready to go in. So my mind wasn’t all in on the attention needed to set time back. A few wrong buttons were pressed. No harm, though, I caught it as soon as I stepped out of the time booth and discovered I was outside because the house didn’t exist here back then. Back into the booth I went, hissing to myself, “Oh crap oh crap oh crap,” as I saw in my mind’s memory that I’d done centuries instead of hours. Thank Dogs I only pressed the one instead of the four or nine below.

A heck of a morning. How is your day going?

Today is November 6, 2022, a Sunday. It’s 36 F and sunny outside, a real treat of a fall morning. Rain is forecast for later, when the temperature is 51 F. Then the temp will drop and the rain will turn to snow, 8 – 14 inches in some places, but not mine. Sunrise bulldozed out the darkness at 6:50 AM and the day night shift will begin changover at sunset, 4:58 PM.

In my little morning tale, the part about setting the clock back was my imagination having fun. The bear and cat part were true. I went to the door to see if Papi wanted in. He was sitting there awaiting moment but was clearly interested in something going on out there. Asking him what he was looking at, I noticed the fantastic almost full moon, which was taken advantage of the clouds’ absence to spill light everywhere. Between that moonlight and the cold but fresh night air, I was entranced and went out onto the walk to take full advantage of it. That’s when the bear made their noises and picked up and slammed down a trash can. Fascinating as this was, I thought, oh my, is that the time? Papi and I went in as the bear headed on down the road. I think the bear was really showing off for my benefit, you know?

A 1972 EOL song is in the morning mental music stream. I first heard “10538” when I was sixteen years old. A crazy song, I wasn’t sure what it was about, doing some careful listening before some radio DJ finally illuminated that the song was about an escaped prisoner. My dream wasn’t about being a prisoner, yet this was the song that ended up invading my head when I was thinking about the dream this morning. The Neurons had to drill really deeply into the memory banks to find it.

Remain positive in your attitude and keep testing negative. If you do test negative, take appropriate measures. You know what that stuff is, right? Not like the whole COVID started yesterday. Not unless you’ve been time-traveling.

Here’s the tune. Got my coffee and going outside to enjoy some sunshine and liquid gold. Cheers

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Monday’s Theme Music

Spread the alarm. Monday has breached the walls. Save yerselves.

Dawn came in a bit before seven. Sunrise came after the way was cleared, arriving to clear blue skies at 7:42 this morning. The temperature has sprinted up to 45 degrees F and will go all the way to 62 F. The Cedar Creek fire is now in its third month but it’s 68% contained. We don’t smell the fire in our sector any longer but I’m sure others are still enduring it, and I feel for them. Sunset will be at 6:06 PM, so set your alarms. It’ll be October’s last.

We used to go trick or treating after dark when I was a child. In fact, that was one of Mom’s stipulations for when we could begin: “It’s not even dark yet.” These days, darkness is an enemy of the event. Most trick or treating is done in more controlled environments. Schools, stores, and malls have joined the Halloween proceedings. We didn’t buy any treats this year. We’ve bought in the past and generally ate it ourselves in the nights after the goblins and monsters’ cries have faded into November. So we don’t do that no more. Kind of miss it but also, c’est le vie.

After reading emails and the mail last night, The Neurons started playing “Money (That’s What I Want)” by The Flying Lizards (1979). Totally understandable. Almost every entity sending emails and missives in my direction are asking for money. Subscribe to this or that. Buy more of this. Get a new one of that, and replace that other. You need more! Donate to me — we need money to stay free. So, yeah, no surprise that Der Neurons brought up “Money (That’s What I Want)”. Les Neurons could have gone multiple directions with this. Could’ve just fired up Pink Floyd’s song, “Money.” “Money (That’s What I Want)” has been released as a Motown hit, a moneymaker by the Beatles, a cover by the Stones, and, of course, The Flying Lizards.

The Flying Lizards’ rendition is a twist against the others, throwing out a simple tune with a bald, straightforward delivery: “Give me money. That’s what I want.” They’re not truly singing it, just deadpan presenting it. That’s why it works so well for all these money requests that inundate my existence. Take Pfizer, for example. They were heroes, one of several, coming up with COVID-19 vaccines. Now they want money so shots will be over one hundred dollars each. Don’t worry, insurance will cover it. No insurance? Oh, no, that’s not good. But Prizer is a corporation. They exist to make money, right?

BTW, has anyone done a new cover of this song recently? Seems like it’s overdue.

Well, you know the routine. Holds even for Mondays, even on October’s final effort. Stay positive, test neggy, etc. Coffee is in the morning’s collection plate. I’m gonna help meself to some. That’s what I want.

Have a good one. Here’s the tune. Cheers

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Floofspeed

Floofspeed (floofinition) – A velocity achieved by animals when they seriously go after something, it’s never been successfully measured but has been estimated to be six billion times the speed of light.

In use: “When he dropped food on the floor, the dog was on it faster than floofspeed, no matter where it was dropped or where the dog was when it was dropped.”

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Tuesday’s Theme Music

Drizzle filled our skies all day yesterday, posturing it as an ideal day to stay in and read. We naturally hit the road for some shopping, as supplies had dwindled. Sure, we had coffee and many of the other essentials, but we lacked a few of our regularly required items conducive to be healthy, happy, and full.

Today, Tuesday, October 25, 2022, is cloudy but without precipitation. Sunrise brought in velvet fingers of light at about 7:35 in the morning. The sun will pull its influence at 6:14 in the evening. It’s currently 41 F but will jump to 13 C before we cross midnight. Rain is expected to start falling at ten PM and continue until 1 PM tomorrow. Dress right, you know? (Had to stop myself from putting in “Dress right, dress,” right? Ingrained stuff, right?)

I had “Cracklin’ Rose” by the Taylor lad playing in the morning mental music stream. The Neurons then replaced it with “Big Bad John” by Jimmy Dean, followed by “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown” by Jim Croce. “On a story-telling song kick,” I queried The Neurons. They pivoted to “We didn’t Start the Fire” by Billy Joel, riffing of my thoughts of turning on the fire because it’s a damp morning. Oh, those neurons crack me up.

They weren’t done yet. I was outside, sipping hot coffee on the cool porch, enjoying the sun’s silvery presence behind bruised clouds and the smell left behind by the rain, when The Neurons pulled up Duane and Gregg Allman with “In the Morning When I’m Real”. The song was part of their first band’s efforts, a group called The 31st of February. Now I knew the song ITMWIR but didn’t know the Allman boys were behind it. Didn’t sound like them as it lacked their guitar-sharp rock blues sound I place against their names. Wasn’t till the mid-seventies, when I was back at Mom’s house when she presented me with a box of stuff I’d left behind that I re-discovered the album and this song and realized it was the Allmann Brothers. I don’t know how I acquired the album. I suspect someone left it behind at my house but it’s one of those things which remains unknown, kind of like, have extraterrestrials visited Earth?

Keep on being positive and testing negative. Wear masks as needed to protect you and yours. You deserve it, don’t you? I have coffee, started drinking it when I ate a warm buttered blueberry scone. Why don’t you go get yourself something? I’ll wait here. I’m gonna go ahead and play the song, though, ‘kay? Here it is.

Cheers

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Tuesday’s Theme Music

Looks like autumn is making progress in the area. More trees are choosing to change their leaves, as is their right. Their trunk, their leaves, their colors.

A mellow Tuesday morning has settled in the valley. The week is shaping up to be cooler. Rain is in the weekend forecast with high temperatures in the upper fifties. The air’s shimmer itself seems to have shifted at last, shaking off its summery flavors for autumnal accoutrements. Today, though, will be 80 F and it’s already 56. With that rich blue sky crowning trees becoming wealthy with golds, yellows, orange, and scarlets, it’ll be a fine day to take in the outside world.

Sunrise kicked off the daylight portion of October 18, 2022, aka as ‘today’, at 7:27 AM and will close out at 6:24 this evening.

My morning mental music stream is empty. Yeah, The Neutrons have let me down. Well, “Born to Be Wild” by Steppenwolf was in there. I’d decided to make coffee before sitting down to the ‘puter and started singing, “Got your coffee brewing, and then make your breakfast,” all to the tune of BTBW. So you need to know the song for it to make sense. But I’ve featured the rebellion anthem a few times already and didn’t want to repeat it. So what to do instead, Neurons?

Crickets.

“The Crickets,” The Neurons instantly shouted. “We know The Crickets.”

“Yes, I know,” I answered. “That wasn’t an invitation, guys.”

But they were off. Before I’d even begun my reply, they’d kicked “Peggy Sue” into the morning mental music stream.

While I know the song, I needed to look up the year it was released. Yep, 1957, when I was one. It was an AM pop familiar for a looonnng time. Don’t hear it much any longer unless you’re on a ‘golden oldie’ station, it seems.

Well, I have my coffee and ate my breakfast, so all that’s left is to enjoy the song. Be like a proton and stay positive. Test negative like an electron. Sorry, that’s all I got. I would blame a lack of coffee but I’ve had some. Must just be Bad Neurons.

Here’s The Crickets. Oh, yeah, and Buddy Holly. He got all the credit for the song, but if, as Paul Harvey used to say, you know the rest of the story…

Good day.

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Monday’s Theme Music

Monday sprang into action, moving with balletic grace, like River Tam going after reavers.

Yes, it’s Monday! October 10, 2022, for those checking schedules and appointments, the day of the week generally engraved with a moment to see what we have going on in the coming days. I take air travel for a thousand, Alex.

Pittsburgh’s fall finds another cool morning, 45 degrees F with broad and full sunshine. The morning has been building its structure since sunrise kissed the area at 7:26 AM. Temperatures will kick up into the 60s. No rain today. Planetary rotation will shut down daylight at 6:46 PM. Back at home, it’ll be 84 degrees and smokey.

Yesterday’s morning delivered a pleasant interlude. It’s my daily habit to take a cuppa hot joe onto the front porch in the early AM to breathe the air and admire the world. When I stepped out yesterday, a grazing doe across the street raised her head and greeted me. Two chipmunks and a squirrel dashed away, and a ground hog scurried for safety. I regretted interrupting their moments, but the deer returned to her business and the rest drifted back a short while later. Later, the squirrels and chipmunks had some kind of race going on in the backyard. Don’t know if they were the same characters that I saw in the morning, though.

Mom pulled The Neuron’s attention. She was talking about what music she’d like at her service after her demise. One of the songs is “I Call Your Name” by The Mamas and the Papas. She’s been having Alexa play it at least once a day, singing along with it. Naturally, The Neurons became enthralled with it. Mom and I talked about the song. We both remembered watching it on The Ed Sullivan Show. So The Neurons pushed it into my morning mental music stream, fitting, since it’s my last day here. That show episode is available on Youtube, so here it is.

Mom would have been in her early thirties back then, less than half of my current age.

Stay pos, test neg. Yes, I need coffee, how ’bout you? Mom’s home is a decaf zone. My BIL bought me this coffee when I was COVID isolating. I’m brewing the very last grounds today. Perfect timing, right?

Here’s the music. Have a fine one. Cheers

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Sunday’s Wandering Thought

He remembers teachers and things they taught him in school. It was eight grade when Mr. Dakin, a gym teacher, said, “A team is only as strong as its weakest parts, so you need to fix the weakest parts to become better. It’s the same with your body.”

That same year, a sociology teacher, Mrs. Rubenstein, said, “A nation is only as strong as its weakest people. That’s why we should take care of our weakest people. That will make us stronger as a nation.”

He hadn’t thought of those things in years but being back in the area and driving past the place where the school used to be, resurrected those memories, along with others.

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Thursday’s Theme Music

We’re rocking October’s first week of ’22 in the Steel City. Yesterday delivered a gorgeous day of 70 and a mildly cloudy sky. Will today to the same?

A bright sunshine unveiled clear skies and a calendar-worthy autumn dawn at 7:22 this morning. Sunset will be at 6:53 PM. Meanwhile, it’s 47 degrees F with a high of 19 degrees C in the forecast. Among the trees’ greenery, leaves are shimmering with reds, blazing with yellows, stirring in gold and orange. Today is Thursday, October 6, 2022.

Animal activies have waned in the yard since autumn throttled summer and declare its intentions. One deer in the past three days. Chipmunks are busy, the red squirrel and gray squirrels aren’t seen as much, and the ground hog only made one appearance. More birds are active and present. I wonder if this is part of their staging to head south.

I’m suffering computer constipation problems. Things don’t want to load. Small messages in the corner announce things like “Waiting for google analytics” as the little thing at the top spins like a clothes dryer drum with a heavy, wet load. Tedious beginning to the day. Haven’t had my morning cuppa coffee so my brain cries out, “Alas, alas, why me, cruel world, why me?”

Musically, The Neurons loaded “Movin’ On” by Bad Company from 1974 onto the pathways. Sis and I were driving around on errands yesterday. Familiars from my past ferreted their way into the moment. Like, hey, I know this road. So-and-so lived up there. This street looks familiar. Oh, yeah, and there’s where that guy jumped John. Well, we were driving from town to town, and although The Neurons also loaded a few other songs in response to the memory cycle, “Movin’ On” won the morning mental music loop.

Now I must get coffee, ‘kay? Stay pos and so on, ‘kay? Here’s the tune. Close your eyes and relive the seventies for a mo’.

Cheers

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Tuesday’s Theme Music

Sunlight highlighted a ridge of blue clouds in the eastern sky at 7:20 AM in Pittsburgh. Looks like another day of sun and clouds and temperatures in the mid 40s F to low sixties F. Autumn is taking a firmer hold as leaves acquiesce their green and yield to becoming other things. They’re good with going with the flow. Sunset arrives at 6:56 PM. Yes, we’ve broken the 7 PM barrier.

The shrinking daylight portion seems accelerated during my Pittsburgh time. Less than three weeks ago, I’d rise, go to windows, open blinds, and see the day beginning as the sun crested the east. Now, I wait for a few minutes before enough light announces that sunrise is coming.

I was out with Mom and a sister yesterday, escorting Mom to PCP and MRI appointments, and picking up ointment at a store. As she drove, my sister kept talking about road signs, particularly a large ROAD CLOSED sign sitting in some grass, surrounded by trees, on a road that no longer exists, which we used to take as a shortcut. Next thing I know, The Neurons have snuck “The Sign” by Ace of Base (1993) into the mental music stream. It’s a frothy song, a little techno, simple lyrics and an easy beat, which hooks minds with its simplicity. When I first heard the song, I thought I already knew it. Like many songs I feature here as theme music, I’d never seen the video before.

Short post today. Stay positive, test negative, get your boosters. Coffee and breakfast are calling. Have a better one. Cheers

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Wednesday’s Wandering Thought

Mom has lived in many cities, states, houses, and apartments. He’s now in his mid-sixties. She’s almost ninety. There’s been many changes, but she still has the same salt and pepper shakers that they used when he was a little boy.

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