Category: memories

Thursday’s Theme Music – Too Much

Ashland, Oregon — Thursday, April 16, 2026.

It’s fifty shades of spring green outside. How quickly the front yard tree went from being bare to full of green leaves. I was out there working on the yard the other day and noted how bare it was and wondered when its leaves would arrive. Then the leaves were full and green on it, as though they’d been delivered via Amazon. “Your leaves are on the way and will be delivered by 3:30 PM on Wednesday.”

It’s 46 now, up from 32 F, and expected to climb to 52 F. Thunderstorms are expected tomorrow.

In fifty shades of Trump, Republicans in Congress are sticking with their leader, refusing to hold him accountable for the war in Iran. Some have compared it to Operation Poseidon Archer under President Biden. It’s messy, but there was a difference in scope, costs, and intentions. Although President Biden’s operation lasted fifteen months, his administration notified Congress before military operations were ordered and carried out. Not so with Trump, who has been operating more unilaterally, limiting how much Congress is told, and sometimes not telling them until after the fact. President Biden’s operation was also well-defined in objectives and stayed in scope. Trump’s Iran war has been much broader and general, with no clear cut stated goals. While various reasons have been stated, Trump has also threatened to destroy Iran as a nation and attack civilian targets.

  • Operation Poseidon Archer cost about $400 million a day, with a total of $5 billion dollars for the first year of operations. Trump’s Iran war has spent $1 billion dollars per day on average, with an estimated expense of 35 to 51 billion dollar so far. Some experts believe that Trump’s Iran war could exceed one trillion dollars.
  • President Biden’s Yemen strikes had a relatively contained economic effect. Trump’s Iran war has caused gas prices to soar to $7 in some states while disrupting global air travel due to airspace closures.
  • Trump’s war has also affected the price of fertilizer for US farmers. The Strait of Hormuz closure has restricted access to components like sulfur, which is required to manufacture phosphate fertilizers in U.S. plants. Many small farmers are facing fertilizer costs which are 30 to 40 % higher than planned. The scale of the impact on increased cost for food and consumer goods will depend on how long Trump’s Iran war lasts.
  • Total deaths for President Biden’s Yemen operations were estimated at 106 to 337 lives. Trump’s Iran war has claimed an estimated five to ten thousand, so far. No US military members were killed in the Yemen operation, while Trump’s war cost fifteen US military members to date.

It all added up to too much. That was enough for Les Neurons to invite the Dave Matthews Band into the morning mental music stream with “Too Much” from 1996.

I eat too much
I drink too much
I want too much
Too much

Hey
Suck it up, suck it up
Suck it up, suck it up, suck it up, yeah
Suck it up, suck it up, suck it up
Suck it up, suck it up, suck it up baby

h/t to AZLyrics.com

Hope your day isn’t too much for you, and that all goes well.

Cheers

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Old Humor – Amazon Echo Silver

My sister and I were talking about how Mom sometimes talks to Alexa as if it’s a person. That reminded me of this old SNL skit. Hope you laugh as much as I did.

Cheers

8

Wednesday’s Theme Music – History

Ashland, Oregon — April 15, 2025.

A gray dawn in Ashland. Rain is expected throughout the day as clouds gather and temperatures drift from the low forties to the low fifties. Temperatures are expected to drop into the low thirties tomorrow morning. A frost warning is in effect.

Reason.com reminded us of Trump and the emptiness of his declarations and claims. This one was about the national debt. Ten years ago, Trump said he would eliminate the national debt. Oh, the cheers he got for that.

They asked him, how long would it take? “Fairly quickly,” Trump replied. When pressed for a more specific answer, Trump provided a shocking timeline. “Well, I would say over a period of eight years.”

Analysis showed that Trump was blowing wind. His plans to eliminate the national debt was diametrically opposed to his plans to lower taxes. Lower taxes won.

The national debt was 19 trillion dollars ten years ago. It’s now 39 trillion dollars. President Biden added to it, but Trump has done most of the damage.

Put this in their with the other claims he’s made. That’s he’s the peace president. A unifier. That he was going to replace Obamacare with a much better plan. That Mexico would pay for the wall. That he would lower prices from day one. That he would drain the swamp, eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse.

That he would release the Epstein files on day one.

Sickening how much he has lied and done to destroy the nation. More sickeningly, so many Republicans still cheer him on.

Also in the news, SOUTHCOM reported that they’d destroyed another boat and killed four more people.

It was the fourth attack in four days. No war; no court; no evidence. No judge, jury, ruling. Just Trump ordering the US military to kill untried civilians.

Today’s song comes from 1986. The Neurons had nothing to do with it. I read the news and remembered “Bullet the Blue Sky” by U2. Inspired by what Bono witnessed the US military doing in El Salvador and Nicaragua under Reagan. Much like now, when Trump is using military force in the name of Christianity, morality, democracy, and freedom to kill others. Sadly, this is an American tradition. Trump is just being overt, boastful, and brazen about it.

It’s demoralizing and depressing, but angers me as well, watching Trump tear down our norms and violate the laws, throw his name on everything, build monuments to himself. Meanwhile, measles outbreaks are on the rise, food and gas prices are climbing, and Trump is killing and destroying in our name. Our national debt grows but worse is what he’s done to our reputation and morals.

I hope your Wednesday is filled with peace and grace, and that we can garner the voice and political will to move us toward a better future, like the future we were once moving toward.

Cheers

2

Tuesday’s Theme Music — Dirty Deeds

Ashland, Oregon — Tuesday, April 14, 2026.

No rain today! Cloudy, blue sky is visible. 62 F is expected to be our high but it’s 46 F right now. Spring weather but more rain than we typically receive.

Trump’s body count continues to rise. As part of his project, Operation Look — Squirrel!, SOUTHCOM ordered more boaters killed. No court, no evidence, no trial; it’s the Trump Method.

I’m not surprised SOUTHCOM killed five more this week, bringing the total murders to 170. Trump Iran war, now seven weeks old, isn’t going well. Efforts to find peace and withdraw are going worse.

Then, his latest ploy in Operation Look — Squirrel!, to depict himself as Jesus while claiming it wasn’t a depiction and he was a doctor, went sideways fast, with the post quickly deleted.

This all comes on top of Melania Trump’s desperate efforts to project herself completely uninvolved with Ghislane or Epstein. Melania used the classic Trump defense, “Don’t believe the photographs and testimony, believe me, because I tell the truth.” While it works sometimes for Trump because he speaks the hate which MAGA and Evangelicals like, it didn’t work for Melania. She is experiencing historically low poll numbers for a first lady.

Instead of reassuring everyone, Melania also managed to remind everyone about the Epstein file. Dozy Donny has been trying to make it go away. After using it as a campaign tool by promising to release it all on day one, he’s complaining that people won’t forget it. Must have brought him a lot of joy *snark* when Melania held a conference to talk about it.

All that bad news was on top of rising gas prices in the US. High gas prices are not usually good for the economy, and the Trump economy was already not doing well, with the farmers and rural citizens who make up Trump’s base, doing especially poorly.

Well, things are blowing up for Trump, I thought this morning.

Boom *sorry*, The Neurons loaded the morning mental music stream with AC/DC and “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap”. The 1976 rocker is all about a man willing to do dirty deeds for a price. That pretty well summarizes Trump’s minions and suck ups for me.

Hope your day is free of murders and travesties against humanity, sickness or illness. In other ways, hope it’s a good day for you and yours.

Cheers

2

Sunday’s Theme Music

Ashland, Oregon — Sunday, April 12, 2026.

Another chilly spring dawn greeted us. Light rain fell yesterday and overnight. The front and its clouds keep the sun from warming us. Yesterday was mostly bleak, as if the sun felt too tired to heat up. It’s 49 now and the high will be 52 F.

And here we go again:

Trump threatens Strait of Hormuz blockade after US-Iran ceasefire talks end without agreement

Trump said he has “instructed our Navy to seek and interdict every vessel in International Waters that has paid a toll to Iran. No one who pays an illegal toll will have safe passage on the high seas.” Other nations would be involved in the blockade, he said, but did not name them.

Yes, other unnamed nations are involved, just like unnamed former presidents are cheering Trump on.

Just like that, Trump has decided the US Navy will be the police of the high seas, interdicting ships ‘who pays an illegal toll’. Funny sentiment coming from a person who loves announcing illegal tariffs.

Where the hell is Congress? Oh, that’s right — they’re on a break. Congress being on break while Trump grows increasingly unstable and belligerent is another sign of the nation’s misplaced priorities. It’s absolute nuts.

Trump also wants to paint the Eisenhower Executive Office Building with “magic paint”. Trump says unnamed experts endorse this plan. Meanwhile, real named experts say that it’s a bad idea.

There are several recurring Trump themes here. One, Trump thinks he knows better than experts. We’ve seen him proclaim that throughout his business career as he conned others and declared bankruptcy after bankruptcy. We’ve seen it, too, with tariffs and medicine, such as his suggested COVID-19 treatment ideas.

Trump’s other trend is mentioning people who can’t be named or don’t want to be named. People congratulating, calling him, thanking him, advising him. How many of them are real?

A third Trump trend we’re seeing is his dependence on “his feelings”.

Trump says war with Iran will end when ‘I feel it in my bones’

In 2025, Trump made similar comments about childhood vaccinations. “This is based on what I feel. The mumps, measles and — the three should be taken separately. And it seems to be that when you mix them, there could be a problem,” Trump said. “So, there’s no downside in taking them separately. In fact, they think it’s better. So let it be separate.”

Is it just my imagination or is this really nuts?

When ‘imagination’ crossed my mental threshold, The Neurons pounced like a red light in front of Papi. They quickly ran “Just My Imagination” by The Cranberries into the morning mental music stream.

It’s a light song, with chill lyrics from a ‘saner’ time of 1999:

There was a game we used to play
We would hit the town on Friday night
Stay in bed until Sunday
We used to be so free
We were living for the love we had
Living not for reality

Hope you have a sane, safe Sunday, full of peace, grace, and joy.

Cheers

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Saturday’s Theme Music –

Ashland, Oregon – Saturday, April 11, 2026.

Another rainy day for the valley. Thunderstorms struck again yesterday but it was just a fifteen-minute visit. We’re seeing 54 F now and anticipate 58 as the high…

Nothing from Mom…more of the usual about Trump. Many headlines about the historic spaceflight. So many seem so hungry for it, like they needed some good news.

I read Paul Krugman’s post about the labor news. He speculates that we may have achieved a zero growth state. Since people aren’t immigrating into the country, there’s not more demand for jobs.

Makes you wonder. If population is flat and either sated with their purchases or too poor and working too hard to buy them because high gas, food, and healthcare prices are taxing their finances, who will buy new goods and services?

I was proud and pleased by how Boise, Idaho, responded to a ban on pride flags. Narrow-minded Idaho legislators specified what flags are allowed in their quest to limit freedom of speech and expression. They were particularly incensed that Boise had flown a gay pride flag for over ten years. Oh, the horror.

That couldn’t stand, so they passed a law against it, enforced with hefty fines.

Boise responded beautifully, by wrapping poles with gay pride flags.

On to a quiet day for me. Today’s music came from Papi walking around the room this morning. All of a sudden, he whirled and looked back.

I turned and looked as he stared, alert. The two of us went down the hall together. I don’t know what he saw or heard. After a moment of standing in the bedroom, Papi gave his face a little wash, turned and left, resuming his previous activity.

That was all enough for The Neurons to pull up some lyrics from the Oasis song, “D’you Know What I Mean?” and slot the song into the morning mental music stream.

Lyrics:

Step off the train all alone at dawn
Back into the hole where I was born
The sun in the sky never raised an eye to me
The blood on the trax and must be mine
The fool on the hill and I feel fine
Don’t look back cos you know what you might see

Look into the wall of my mind’s eye
I think I know, but I don’t know why
The questions are the answers you might need
Coming in a mess going out in style
I ain’t good-looking but I’m someone’s child
No-one can give me the air that’s mine to breathe

Yeah, don’t look back because you know what you might see…

Hope your day is filled with powerful energy that takes you in the right direction.

Cheers

1

The Net’s Take: This Week with Trump

Humor, facts, truth, history, reminders…and Melania.

History

The Art of the Deal

Pretty bad people…

Behold, TACO’s Arch

Ah, memories…

USA…not first for Trump…

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Thursday’s Theme Music — Gambling

Ashland, Oregon — April 9, 2026.

Springish today. After an evening of solid rain, clouds maintain a presence and sunshine is muted. 54 F is our temperature now, with the chance of more rain and a high in the mid 60s. Right now, if you walk out and the clouds are merged, it’s chilly. But when sunshine is freed, you feel the heat.

Late blogging/writing start. We ran errands this morning, looking for plants to fill gaps. Then, since we were out and around grocery stores, quick runs to pick up a few items.

There’s also been heavy texting with my sister about Mom. Mom asks when sister is selling Mom’s house and also talks about plans to move in there, leaving us wondering, what? D Day, when Mom said she is moving out of the assisted living facility, arrives soon. Everyone advises her not to, but she’s adamant about her intentions, even if she lacks plans.

Is the Iran War cease fire holding? The news cycle runs fast these days and I haven’t been at my computer for hours. All manner of disasters, attacks, and accusations may have happened in the four hours since I was last on the ‘puter.

Bad news is emerging out of the US Postal Service. They’re suspending FERS contributions due to a cash flow problem. But this stuff has been going on for a while. Rural areas have been suffering as the USPS closed rural post offices and satellite operations. Meanwhile, as the cost of a first-class stamp keeps rising. Now, thanks to Trump’s Iran War, the cost to ship things such as the mail are also rising.

This all puts more stress on our economic system and the most vulnerable of our society. Consider how many elderly and rural people depend on the postal service to receive medication and bills. They’re the ones who were most negatively impacted by several aspects of Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill and are the ones who will suffer most under his proposed 2027 budget.

It’ll be interesting to see how our political leaders respond. Polarized, Congress has been gridlocked and even routine budget seems like titanic challenges. Can a Trump -led government rise to the level of thinking and cooperation needed to address this problem or will we wait until it’s a crisis.

Today’s news and environment encouraged The Neurons to play “Living in the Past”. This Jethro Tull came out in 1969. It’s all about waiting to live in a more peaceful, relaxed time, so you can see how it plays in this period.

Hope you have a relaxed day, filled with peace and grace, and if not that, that you emerge safe and unscathed.

Cheers

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