Category: Information

Tuesday’s Theme Music – Hang On

Ashland, Oregon — Tuesday, April 7, 2026.

54 F right now under light clouds skirmishing with blue skies, we’re anticipating a high of 75 F.

It’s a whirlwind morning. Sis is picking up her car from its body shop repairs AND taking Mom to the doctors at the same time. It’s a high-wire act.

Meanwhile, sis has been assisting Mom and is now suggesting maybe Mom should live alone, maybe with help from Visiting Angels.

More critically, Trump is escalating his rhetoric against Iran. After practically vanishing for a few days, he emerged to bless the people of Iran while threatening to kill them. So sane. So smart.

How seriously do we take Trump and this threat — and what can we do. His whole approach to the war he started with Iran has been one of his patented crazy weaves.

Mock Paper Scissors brought us the highlights about Trump and what he’s said about his war. “We’ve won, we’re close to winning, it’s over, close to over, here’s a deadline — and another — and another — and another.” It’s like dealing with a drunk relative when you’re trying to tell them it’s not safe for them to drive.

Trump is loving it in the spotlight. Judging from their silence, Republicans seem to like it as well. They’re saying, “Yes, threatening to destroy another nation, basically for existing. That’s exactly what we Christians voted for in 2024.”

What is interesting as well is that Trump was losing ground with Evangelicals — until he attacked Iran. Now he’s gaining ground with them again. I cringe to think how happy they would be if he actually nuked Iran.

What was that Trump said about no more wars? What was that about being a unifier and peace president?

What was that Trump said about lowering prices? That was before he decided to start bombing Iran, which raised prices for air travel, food, and anything related to gas and oil.

What was that Trump said about bombing Iran in 2025 and obliterating their nuclear program?

We still wait for the full release of the Epstein files, too. How many times has that been promised?

Today’s music came from the thought I had upon reading several Trump posts, “Something has you going tonight.” I thought that because his crazy level seemed to be higher. Was he hopped up on sugar or off some secret meds they’re given him, or enduring a UTI?

Eavesdropping on me, The Neurons pulled that line out of an April Wine song, “I Like to Rock”. That began playing in my morning mental music stream. Then I had to sit back and think, what is that song?

My mind refused to cooperate, holding my thinking for ransom until I gave them coffee and a chocolate biscotti. Then they finally identified the song and band.

Hope peace and grace come our way, and lands on Trump without getting blown out of the sky, and helps him see reason. Fingers crossed, right, that he doesn’t escalate us into WWIII.

Cheers

4

Internetus Interruptus

Our Internet connection was down this weekend. Started Saturday and dragged through Sunday.

We use Ashland Home Net. Owned by the city, we want to support our city. The service has been reliable. Like everything, though, there can sometimes be outages.

The net went down Saturday afternoon. We gave it time to come back up. Didn’t. So — reboot system. Still no connectivity.

I called our service provider and left a message. It’s a small organization and they don’t have someone in the office at night and on weekends. But they check their messages and get back to you.

They did get back to us on Sunday. We were out. I had my cell phone with me. “Private number” it said. I ignored it. Later, I listened to the message, which was Ashland Home Net telling me that they couldn’t find a record of our account.

*grumble grumble*

When we were home after our Easter festivities with friends, I pulled our records to call Ashland Home Net and give them our account number. The folder had notes from previous issues and fixes. This included one from 2023: “Netgear router inadvertently reset (button on side — beware).” I had the Netgear instruction pamphlet attached to the folder.

Aha.

I pulled out the pamphlet, followed the instructions, and got us back online.

I also called Ashland Home Net and gave them our account number, just to close that loop. And they called back, apologized for not being able to find us, baffled by that side of it, confirming that we were online again and weren’t experiencing any more interruptus.

Normal online life resumed.

1

Monday’s Theme Music – Giddy

Ashland, Oregon — Monday, April 6, 2026.

Feeling giddy and upbeat today. Had a good Easter Sunday overall, marred only by some Internet Interruptus. Today is bright and sunny. 54, a few gangs of small clouds flutter through a blue sky. We expect a high in the upper 70s.

First, bad news: Jackson County declared a drought emergency. Not a surprise. We suffered a snow-drought during the winter. The snowpack we depend upon for our summer water supply didn’t reach 50% in many places. A hot, dry summer is anticipated.

Then I read USA Today online. They invited readers to grade Trump and his cabinet.

While there were some glowing A’s and middling C’s, there was also a deluge of brutally low marks that would cow the cockiest 12th grader. Of the more than 700 of you who sent in grades through March 31, just 28 of you gave Trump an A or a B. About 40 of you gave the president a C or a D, while more than 500 of you gave him an F. (The remaining assessments were nearly all lower than F.)

USA Today noted in another story that Trump blew off another of his campaign promises.

While running for reelection in 2024, he had said that his administration would help alleviate the costs of childcare and fund Medicaid and Medicare. Instead, Republicans have done the opposite by slashing Medicaid funding in the congressional budget. They have no plan to make childcare more affordable for their constituents.

Way to go, Trump voters. Prices are higher, the national debt is higher and growing, and we’re in a war that nobody except Trump and his staff want.

Today’s music is Papi-inspired. He was being frisky, zooming around the living room and down halls, galloping around the bedrooms. Then he came up to me and was suddenly all sweet and friendly.

That brought a song to The Neurons by Jet, “Are You Gonna Be My Girl?”

The version I was singing was, “Are you gonna be my cat?” from 2003. Papi seemed to agree with the sentiment, if his purrs are an indication. Now, though, the song is mired in my morning mental music stream.

Hope you have a strong Monday, one that gives the hope and energy to build a strong week and stack strong months.

Cheers

0

Exfloofutive Order

Exfloofutive Order (floofinition) – Directive issued by an animal, particularly a housepet, that manages how circumstances or a situation are expected to be handled. Origins: 1904. Although many Exfloofutive Orders pre-existed, the first recorded Exfloofutve Order was written and numbered under the heading, “Care and Feeding of Animals in the Urban Household”, establishing by Exfloofutive Order by Mittens that, “…all animals dwelling with humans in Dayton, Ohio, will be given proper care and shelter, including meals, treats, brushing, bedding, and water.”

In Use: “Charlie issues a single woof each day at dinner, which became known as Charlie’s Exfloofutive Dinner Order.”

In Use: “Before going on vacation, Natalie regarded a list titled “Exfloofutive Orders”, which delineated how and what her cats, dogs, and fish would be treated and fed, along with where — because some of them were very floofticular.”

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Saturday’s Theme Music

Ashland, Oregon — April 4, 2026.

Sunshine graces the valley again. 52 F, blues skies, spring. High in the upper 70s projected for our afternoon.

Yardwork and house chores are in my future. Looking forward to being out there and getting things done.

War continues in Iran. The quiet news cycle is about Trump thinking about more cabinet replacements as the war flounders in Iran. Two aircraft were shot down. We’re not sure why the A10 went down — yet — but the F15E Strike Eagle was shot down. Speculation swirls about what type of system took down the Eagle.

Personnelente had a comment on it in “The Price of Folly”: “Iran has shot down several US aircraft: at a minimum an A-10, and two F-15s. Russia is supplying advanced anti aircraft weapons to Iran even as Cadet Bone Spurs lowers sanctions on Russia and backs off helping Ukraine.”

Yes, Trump has baffled us by lowering sanctions on Russia, who supplies Iran with military equipment and advice, along with intelligence support. You gotta wonder…

Papi inspired The Neurons for today’s morning mental music stream. He’d come in from the sunshine and approached for…something. Papi isn’t really a communicator. But when I mentioned treats, he came to rest with an expectant gaze. As I got his treat, I sang out, “Gimme gimme good eating,” playing on a rock song from my youth. That’s Crazy Elephant with “Gimme Gimme Good Lovin'” from 1969.

Hope your day is full of good things for you. My future sees coffee.

Cheers

2

Thirteen

I follow and enjoy Ron, who writes imaginative and frequently humorous poetry.

Today, he had a great piece, “I’m with Elmo”. Its origins go back to Poets and Stories. They offered a challenge: take one of five famous quotes about April, and use it as inspiration.

Here is my piece, “Thirteen”.

2

Cooperating

I drove down Siskiyou Boulevard under bright sunshine. Traffic was light. We traveled at 30 MPH, just over the speed limit.

The blue Subaru in the left hand’s right turn signal began blinking. The driver started over. Realizing that my car occupied the space, they veered back into their lane.

I dropped back to give them turning space. Seeing that, they completed their turn, and gave a big wave of thanks out the window.

Laughing, I waved back and headed on toward the coffee shop. That simple exchange gave me a shot of happy energy.

Things go so much better when we cooperate and don’t turn everything into a competition.

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Friday’s Theme Music – Tariffs & Travel

Ashland, Oregon — Friday, April 3, 20226.

33 F when I got up but sunshine was clearing the mountains and trees, lighting up cloudless blue sky. Today’s high will be 71.

With no news from home about Mom, I turned to the net for updates on the world. The US economy added 178k jobs in March. It surprised economists, and it surprised me. Economists warned that the war in Iran could cause problems, because it’s driving up costs throughout the supply chain.

Higher gas prices in the US will also mean less discretionary funding, which could be especially troubling as the US heads into May and the first of the big US travel holidays. Air travel could be harder as airlines such as United cut back flights to deal with increased fuel costs.

The economic is taking another hit from a sharp rise in fertilizer prices, affecting farmers which were already struggling with tariffs, broken trade agreements, and weather issues. Those challenges could result in lower yields and higher food prices at the store.

Not satisfied with high gas, diesel, and oil prices, Donald Trump declared tariffs on prescriptions drugs. Not immediately effective, they come with an opportunity for companies to agree to build facilities in the US to avoid the tariffs.

Today’s song comes from Papi and I stepping out onto the back patio. The gingerboy was already out there, grooming and sunning. His satisfied demeanor invited me to join him. I was still thinking about my dreams at that point. As I lifted my face up to the sun, the opening lyrics of “Kashmir” entered the morning mental music stream: “Oh, let the sun beat down upon my face.”

Here’s to you and a hope that peace and grace find and carries you, today and every day.

Cheers

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