Category: memories

Sunday’s Theme Music

It’s 36 degrees F, with rain and snow. Happy Mother’s Day.

Yes, it’s Sunday, May 8, 2022, the second Sunday of May, which makes it Mothers’ Day in the U.S. Moms across the country are receiving cards and gifts, and are being taken out to brunch, or being served breakfast in bed in the best traditions of the day. But, that’s not how it works for some. Many mothers endure hardship and still work on Mother’s Day. And some women are not mothers; they’re women who couldn’t or didn’t want to have children for millions of different personal and biological reasons. We do have the flipside rising, where men are being noted for being mothers, because that’s their family role. The world’s twists and curves grow complicated.

Anyway, I did my duty, wrote Mom a letter and sent her a card. No flowers or foods, as I used to send, as she started complaining about getting so many flowers, she was tired of them. And the foods became less appreciated or desired as she aged and her appetite and diet were reduced. I tried gift cards for a while and learned that she was re-gifted them to my sisters, who really don’t want or need them. So I’ve fallen back on the basics. I’ll call later today, because I know the MD returns, and that she’ll be busy and can’t talk now.

Today’s high temperature will be 46 F. A freeze warning is on for tonight. Sunrise today was a slow graying of the day that began at 5:58 this morning. Sunset is expected at 8:16 this evening.

“Kyrie” by Mr. Mister is circulating around the morning mental music stream. Once again, it came about as I was feeding the cats. For some reason, my neurons felt that the 1985 rock song was the ideal soundtrack for the moment. I believe it was because I was looking up and across at the mountains, wondering if that was snow decorating the pine tops. The wind was blowing and the neurons might have been reacting to the first line in “Kyrie”: “The wind blows hard against this mountainside.”

Stay positive, test negative, and so on and so forth as they say. Time for coffee and brekkie. Cheers

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Friday’s Theme Music

6:00 AM is when the sunlight began today, Friday, May 6, 2022. The rain has fallen away after a sequence of light showers throughout yesterday, but more is being projected for today. Our temperature is 61 F and the high will be about 67. Sunset will take place at 8:15 PM

Even with all this rain, our reservoir situation remains dire. Although Reed Reservoir, which directly serves Ashland, is 100% full, the remaining area reservoirs remain at about 20%. Not good. Water year precipitation is still lower than normal and lower than needed. 90 of the state remains in drought condition. The snowpack levels are erratic and uneven. Part of what will happen to the water levels depends on how hot it gets and how fast it gets hot. Fingers crossed.

I was cleaning out the cats’ food bowls in the sink. Tucker was impatiently telling me, “Hurry, I’m hungry,” by my feet. For some reason, the neurons thought that called for “The Fire Down Below” by Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band (1976) to be loaded into the morning mental music stream. They started with the lines, “Somewhere there’s somebody ain’t treating someone right.” The song is about prostitution. Don’t know what the neurons were trying to tell me here.

Stay positive and test negative, and so on. I’m off for my coffee. Cheers

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Tuesday’s Theme Music

Sunshine prevails today. Tuesday’s sky can be described as mostly sunny or mostly cloudy. Both seem correct. While sunshine washes over everything in the valley, large clouds brood like waiting bears, shadowing large swaths of land.

Yes, it’s May 3, 2022. Our high is gonna be 64 F, they say, about ten degrees higher than it is at the mo’. The sunrise cometh at 6:01AM. The other end of the daylight session ends at 8:13 PM. Tomorrow, the weather ‘they’ say, we’ll see 79 F.

After a series of dark, messy, and splashy dreams, the neurons summoned a Nine Inch Nails song. Released in 2006, “Every Day Is Exactly the Same”, some of the lyrics go, “Every day is exactly the same.” Which sometimes is how my life feels, outside of writing. Feeding cats and taking care of them, house and yard work, the eternally aggravating question of “What’s for dinner,” dressing and eating, reading news, doing errands, reading books. Yet, in many ways, that’s how it was when working and in the military, too. The world is built on bureaucracies and routines. Sometimes, though, that tedium gets me. It’s funny, but I know this song because one of the QA guys who worked for me when I managed a tech support group introduced it to me. He no longer worked for me by that time, but sent me an email after the song came out, telling me about it, and mentioning, “It reminded me of what you used to say.” I still laugh about that.

Stay positive — yeah, who am I to talk? Test negative, etc. Here we go, music and coffee. Cheers

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Saturday’s Theme Music

Raining again, as the song goes. It’s Saturday, April 30, 2022. The rain is light, the air is chill, the neighborhood is quiet, the children are still. It’s 51 F now but feels lower, thanks to the moisture hanging in the air and permeating everything. Low mists hid the top of the northern ridges’ pine-loaded top, imbuing the scene with a gothic air. All we need is a black castle. The valley’s high will be 59 F, they say, and I believe ’em. The sunshine so far seems as listless as me without my morning coffee. Arriving with a yawn at 6:08 this morning, it’ll depart our area at 8:09 PM, giving us almost fourteen hours of the sun’s presence today. Huzzah!

But wait! Sunshine has punched through! The temperature is now…51 F.

Oh, wait. The sunshine is blocked again.

Rain is falling again.

The neurons have Bonnie Raitt singing and playing in the morning mental music stream, “Nick of Time” from 1989. This song is from an album by the same name. The album was part of my wife’s album rotation back in the 1990s and became ingrained into the neurons. I believe they brought it up today because of the weather. On rainy days like this, she’d declare, “Let’s put on some music and clean, and then we’ll just sit around and read books.” It worked.

Here’s the music. Now the neurons are singing the praises of coffee and suggesting that I go indulge in a cup. Have a better one. Cheers

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Friday’s Theme Music

The time was checked.

4:14 AM.

About two hours before sunrise.

I listened for noises and heard nothing. One cat was asleep by my head. My wife was asleep. I don’t know the other cat’s whereabouts. He’s still young and likes the night life. I blamed him for whatever noise I’d heard and settled back toward sleep mode, thinking about the dreams I’d been experiencing. Up top was the cow puzzle dream. The neurons began playing “The Midnight Special” by CCR.

Hi. Today is Friday, April 29, 2022. Looks like the perpetual battle between clouds and sunshine is entering another rain. The sun made a bold move, striding in at 6:09 AM, but the clouds have lined up some towering heavies to the northwest. Our temperature is 42 F, but it’s a damp one with the remains of yesterday’s watery hours lending its effect. We expect 65 F as our high before the sun leaves our stage at 8:08 PM.

Thinking about using “The Midnight Special” as today’s theme music, I searched and confirmed that I used it last year on May 10. In the post, I noted that my kidney stone had passed.

I decided to do something other than “The Midnight Special” as today’s theme song. The neurons responded with Shawn Mullins and “California”, a song my spouse actively dislikes. The song was never released as a single that I know but I’ve heard it periodically and enjoy its details about the people and their lives – driving a Trans Am, listening to Bob Dylan, etc., and also enjoy the guitar and organ play, as well as Shawn’s voice. There’s a Tom Petty vibe to Mullins’ music, especially “California”. So here we are.

Stay positive, and so on, for another day, or perhaps another month or year, or more. Coffee is speaking up in the other room. I’m going to go see what it wants. Cheers

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Thursday’s Theme Music

Neurons awoke me this morning with their BJ Thomas imitation of “Raindrops are falling on the roof.”

Yes, it’s Thursday, and it’s raining. Nada wrong with that; rain is needed here. Fingers crossed that it’ll mitigate the drought’s impact and the wildfire season. Yes, it’s a weird thing that we’re in a drought and it’s raining. It’s all about the water levels and earth’s moisture letels, I’m told.

Today is 4/28/2022. Sun drop will come at 8:07 PM. Clouds have won the day, smothering the sunshine with plush gray sheets. With the temperature now at 45 F, our high of 57 F isn’t far off. The sunrise, a thin mélange of gray light through the windows, was at 6:11 AM.

I’m in a funk today. It’s a regular thing. About every twenty-nine days I cycle into a dark place. I don’t stay there long, but I always need to be cognizant of when it’s come so I don’t act stupid, let angry emotions rule me, or walk away from things. Patience must be exercised as I wait to rise back out of it.

To help me, the neurons have dug up The Brothers Johnson playing “Get the Funk Out Ma Face” from 1976. I’m sure I learned this song from hearing it in the barracks when I was on an unaccompanied assignment to Clark AB in the Philippines. It’s stayed with me, a strong and defiant song.

Stay positive, test negative, and so on and so forth, as most of us have been trying to do. Coffee is now serenading my neurons, trying to lure me into the kitchen. I think it’s working. Have a better one.

Cheers

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Wednesday’s Theme Music

Sounds have come tapping. Cue “It’s Raining Again” by Supertramp.

Light rain sporadically spits down on this Wednesday, the 27th of April, 2022. The temperature is at 44 F and a high of 60 is possible, they say. They also said it wouldn’t rain today.

Sunset is expected at 8:06 PM while sunrise came and went at 6:12 AM.

I have guitarist Joe Walsh with “Rocky Mountain Way” from 1973 cranking it out in the morning mental music stream. This one came out during a dream. I’d been startled awake by a cat checking to see if I was alive (“No, I was just sleeping, damn it”). The dream featured mountains, as my dreams frequently do. When I thought about those, the neurons hit the play button. Out came Walsh.

I’ve always enjoyed the song, playing it too often and too loud in my youth. It was a regular staple in high school art class as well as my part of my vinyl rotation at home and on 8 tracks in the car. Never got to see Walsh live in concert, except when he was with the Eagles on the Hell Freezes Over tour in 1994. The way I wrote that, it sounds like he died, but he’s still alive. I just checked. At least, that’s what the net claims.

Stay positive, test negative, etc. Can’t believe a Republican called for Dr. Fauci to face a shooting squad and be executed. Further, that said Republican was cheered by other Republicans. That party has lost its ever-lovin’ collective mind.

Here’s the music. If you guessed that I’m now going for coffee, give yourself a gold star. Cheers

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Tuesday’s Theme Music

Typical Tuesday for late April. Sun and clouds are pugilistic about who will rule the sky. The clouds were here first, they said, pointing out that the sun didn’t get there until 6:14 AM. “That’s the point,” the sun replied. “I’m only going to be here until 8:04 today while you clouds are coming and going as you please. Shouldn’t I have the sky while I’m here.” They were still arguing when the seasons came in and started putting in their points.

It’s April 26, 2022. Just five more shopping days until May 1!

I have the song “Mother” by Danzig (1988) circling the morning mental music stream. I was watching the new season of “Russian Doll” on Netflix, and they used the song. Well, the neurons reacted by saying, “I haven’t heard this in so long,” and latching onto it like a kitten taking a nipple. So here I am.

The song was a protest to labeling music for content and made a big splash when it arrived. As many noted, the labels warning children that there was sex and violence, or drugs mentioned in the song, prompted more interest in the music. As many told me later, “I didn’t even know “She Bop” by Cyndi Lauper was about masturbation.” All of that was part of a larger anti-pornography movement. Now, of course, we have the web, which casts a whole different kind of shadow over the world.

Stay positive, test negative, follow the CDC advice, etc. Here’s the music. A cup of coffee is summoning me to the other room. Cheers

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Sunday’s Theme Music

Quiet day has come. Although it’s quiet right here right now (cue Jesus Jones and van Halen for the neurons – although the Jesus Jones song is “Right Here Right Now”, the van Halen song is always conflated because my late buddy Randy always knew “Right Now” but didn’t know “Right Here Right Now”, see?), news stories echo through the head. Several were about shootings or outrageous driving (and their results). This weekend also brought several tales about boats capsizing and people drowning. Was it always so crazy? some of the neurons ask.

It’s Sunday, April 24, 2022. Getting the calendar right requires a look down at the computer screen’s corner. Writing does that to me. Get deep into it, and then suddenly, I become confused about dates, time, food. I end up walking with Homer Simpson and Randy Newman singing “Left Foot, Right Foot” in my mind.

It’s forty now but the weather folks say that we’re heading to 71 F today. It’s a believable claim, when I peer at the cloudless blue sky. Sunshine is flashing off everything. Weather, though, can be deceptive, promising you, “Yeah, it’s warm and sunny out here,” then cutting off body parts with an icy knife when you step out to enjoy the invitation. Weather thinks humans are as dumb as the cats. The cats aren’t dumb about the weather, but they have short memories. Plus, whenever the weather isn’t to their liking, they blame me with stony gazes and tails curled up against their bodies.

I’ve always wondered how well that tail-curling really works to keep them warm. I bet some scientist has studied it. I’ll also bet that someday we’ll have genetic modifications that allow us to have tails, and there will be people walking around with tails hanging out. I’ll probably be dead by then, though, so I’ll need to haunt the planet until it happens.

Sunrise was at 6:16 AM. Sunset will be at 8:02 PM. Rain is expected later this week and the temperatures are gonna crash again. Get out and suck up some vitamin D while you can, if you’re in this area.

Turning to sports, the neurons have a firm hold on “Right Now” by van Halen from For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge, 1992, and are relentlessly playing it around snatches of “Right Here Right Now” in the morning mental music stream. I gotta get off this crazy thing.

Stay positive, etc. Just read of a COVID-19 outbreak from a prom, but everyone’s symptoms were mild or they were asymptomatic. You never know when a new variant will unleash though, do you?

I need coffee. Here’s the music. RIP Eddie. He and Valerie had such great hair. Cheers

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Friday’s Theme Music

Sunshine blazed into the valley at 6:19 AM, kicking out some of the chillier air and chasing the clouds and night away. It’s now 40 F, and the clouds have scurried back into view after recovering from Sol’s surprise. We’ll be ranging up to the upper fifties this AM before sunset at *drumroll* 8 PM this evening.

Mom is in surgery today, back in PA. She’ll be 86 this year, has emphysema and a pacemaker, and suffers a swollen foot because sixteen lymph nodes were removed a few years ago, along peripheral neuropathy. This surgery is to remove a large fatty deposit. She says it’s been bothering her for years and it’s gotten worse, so my thoughts circle toward her as the sun moves through the day and she goes through the process.

Today is Friday, April 22, 2022.

The neurons have “Manic Depression” by Jimi Hendrix (1967) swirling through the morning mental music stream. It’s a writing thing. A friend was celebrating his 90th birthday. His son is my friend and was an editor with one of the big publishing houses back at the century’s rollover. He suffered health issues and had to quit, and since has written one novel (that he hates) and is now trying to write again. He helps take care of his parents and their home, though, so that’s where his energy goes. He was speaking of his frustration while he was writing, trying to put it all together in something coherent, compelling, and worthy.

Out of that conversation, my neurons brought up the opening lines to “Manic Depression”:

Manic depression is searching my soul
I know what I want
But I just don’t know
How to go about getting it

Feeling, sweet feeling
Drops from my Fender’s fingers
Manic depression has a-captured my soul

h/t to AZLyrics.com

Stay positive, test neg., etc. I feel the need for caffeine. Here’s the music. Cheers

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