Friday’s Theme Music
It’s a day of conflicting signals. Friday, February 6, 2026. Ashland began at 37 F at my house. Yesterday was gorgeous, dry as summer, warm as spring. Today has the southern sky hazy with a little gray with blue commanding the remaining vista. Highs will escalate into the mid to upper 60s.
Papi and I enjoyed sunshine in the back. He rolled around in warm grass while I cheered, declining his invitation to join him rolling around. Returning inside, I offered him some of my morning coffee, which he declined with a mild golden-eyed gaze.
I perused the news with a little edge of worry about what might have happened overnight or in the early hours. Yes, there was more bad news.
Trump posted an immature video on his social media account depicting former President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama as monkeys. After immediate and widespread criticism, the video was removed and a staffer was blamed.
Unfortunately, I think it undermines Trump’s assertions of being a unifier or peace president. Consistent, emerging patterns keep showing Trump as the opposite of peace and unity. His silence since matters as much as the initial posting, as a unifier would be out front, apologizing and taking responsibility.
Some probably theorize that Trump was trying to reinvigorate his base or that sharing the video was an effort to distract from the growing Epstein noise, or the less than impressive TrumpRx rollout. They may be correct, for all I know. Trump remains opaque and transparent.
The Neurons ended up feeding me “December” by Collective Soul in my morning mental music stream. I sang along, “Don’t scream aloud, don’t think aloud, turn your head, now baby, just spit me out.” A song written out of hope and frustration, it feels like a fitting song for today, after Trump disparaged the Obamas, who offered hope when they loved in the White House.
I hope Friday finds you safe and healthy. May peace and grace hold and carry you.
Cheers
Thursday’s Theme Music
Sunshine lit up the room today. It’s Thursday, February 5, 2026, in Ashland but the weather defies that date. Papi and I went out to the back patio and enjoyed sunshine.
“It feels balmy out,” Papi noticed.
“I agree,” I answered.
Oh, wait; reverse that. Papi agreed to me, or so I thought from how he threw himself down and rolled around, inviting a belly rub and purring.
62 F online, my home says it’s 69. White pulled-taffy clouds have a small footprint in the dominant blue sky. Highs might crest 70.
Talking with friends last night, we agreed, nice weather but worrisome for the coming summer’s water needs. Meanwhile, sis sent me photos of her glistening snowclad yard, pretty but 22 degrees.
I showed sis’s snow photo to my wife. “Yes, it’s pretty until it melts,” my wife offered. I agreed.
My wife mentioned that TrumpRx was launching tonight but didn’t think it would do well.
Trump certainly has a chaotic and checkered history that sets his efforts up for doubt. As for TrumpRx, we’ll see. Only time and facts will reveal the truth.
The Neurons pulled a strange song into the morning mental music stream. “Kings and Queens” by Aerosmith came out almost fifty years ago. I knew it from their album but I don’t think I’ve ever heard it on the radio. Yet, there I was, singing it to myself in the kitchen as I fulfilled Papi’s feeding needs.
I suspect the song came up because I’m serving Papi and thinking about recent political developments.
Onward into the day’s mettle with hopes that peace and grace find and carry us. See you on the other side of the coffee cup.
Cheers
Wednesday’s Wandering Political Thoughts
Once again, I read news that made me want to scream
Super Bowl LX will be this Sunday, February 8. The game will coronate either the Seattle Seahawks or the New England Patriots as the NFL’s champions.
Part of the annual spectacle is the halftime show, which expanded from marching bands in early years to a huge production with significant musical headliners. This year’s show is headlined by Bad Bunny and Green Day.
Bad Bunny is one of the current era’s hottest young entertainers. The Bad Bunny choice has agitated conservatives. Many decree Bad Bunny as a bad choice because they want an American, and they don’t like that he sometimes performs in Spanish.
I was floored. A Puerto Rican, Bad Bunny often performs in Spanish, because that’s a natural language in his area. I want to scream at them, “Don’t you understand that Puerto Rico is part of the United States? Bad Bunny is an American.”
Their ignorance is probably one reason Bad Bunny performs in Spanish.
Wednesday’s Theme Music
Dry but cold and sunny, Wednesday, February 4, 2026, has begun its 24-hour Ashland residency. 50 – 46 – 37 F are Ashland’s temperatures, given by Alexa, online, and home. Sunny, with blue skies and no clouds that Papi and I can see. A high of sixty-something is projected.
I’m thinking about beats today. Give me a beat, we got the beat, we were beat, they beat him down.
Every day — every hour — has its beats. Sometimes they come out sharp and clear. Today, they’re muted background noise for me.
Reading a novel for a bit doesn’t reveal the day’s beats. Nor does reading the news. Yet the beat goes on.
Papi has his beat, moving with private style, a cool and graceful study in orange fur. Bit jealous, watching his steady gaze as he sits, looks, washes.
It’s only February and already the news beat has been manic with news that has me gritting my teeth, bracing for worse. The Neurons have offered up a Foo Fighters tune to blanket the noise. “The Pretender” plays in the morning mental music stream, driving me forward a new, harder beat. The song reminds me, same ol’ story, waiting to see what happens, waiting to hear their defense, waiting for a change back to the nation I knew.
Sample Lyrics
What if I say I’m not like the others?
What if I say I’m not just another one of your plays?
You’re the pretender
What if I say I will never surrender?
The song fits my mood because I often ask of Trump, who are you to issue decrees like a pompous king? And I ask of the MAGAs, who are you that you believe where Trump leads, not just accepting, but supporting and encouraging it?
The morning circle is done. Hope peace and grace find you, me, all of us, and take us tightly through this day and into a better tomorrow.
Cheers
Tuesday’s Theme Music
Cold ruled Ashland last night. Temperatures fell into the high 20s in my zone but, guided by sunshine and clear skies, we’re pressing into the upper 60s today. It’s 57 F now.
It’s still a dry winter for us, and a concern because of the impact of the missing snow on the rest of the year. The NYTimes published an article quantifying the situation this week.
I’m late with my posting because early running around was required. My wife’s big do was on Sunday. Maybe things were rented and borrowed. We had to wash and clean it all and returned it today.
The do was a success, celebrating Mary Bergstrom’s fifty years as a exercise instructor with our Family Y. Mary is still going strong after all those years and remains beloved by her students. My wife was asked to organize it and did a great job, although it was intense at times and not without conflict, irritation, and frustration. It’s all done now, another memory to pull out.
Meanwhile, as I watch Trump’s grip on the United States flailing, as shown in approval polls, he joked about canceling the 2026 elections, and then mused about taking over elections in ‘some’ states. Those would be the states run by Democrats, blue states which challenge his assault on our norms, traditions, and laws.
Many, including me, immediately jumped up with notice that Trump is always insisting that he’s for state rights, the foundation for his moves to reduce the Federal government’s size and regulations. As always, Trump’s logic is conditional. He’s for something until it’s in his interests to be against it. In short, whatever most benefits Trump will be his political position.
Personally, I consider this another distraction tactic. He distracted from the Epstein files with ICE surges and military actions amid more threats to sue others. Meanwhile, he also tore down the White House East Wing, obsessed over Greenland, and whined against not being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. He also declared affordability was a hoax, but that inflation was ‘fixed’, like he’d darned a hole in a sock.
So now, here we go again, with Trump defiling something that works under the guise, “It’s broken and only he can fix it”. We hear this from him, yet he keeps breaking more things, making things worse for many of us. All I’ll say about it now.
For music today, The Neurons have me humming, “I Guess That’s Why They Call It the Blues”, as it plays in my morning mental music stream. The 1983 Elton John offering is a mellow reflection of love, living, remembering, and being, easily slotting into my state at the moment.
I hope that life brings you grace, peace, and good health today and every day. Cheers
To Continue
A Suite of Thoughts
“Shiny”
Pennies and nickels
Money we hold
Kept in jars
Doesn’t fold
Saved for
Rainy days
Other times
Dust collecting
As we add dimes
Quarters are coveted
Wash and wax
Till someone else
Counts the cash
“Going By”
Shadows dance
On mind walls
Coming alive
Hearing old songs
Whispering
Remember
When you see a smile
Ordering
Forget
When you freeze
For a while
Always there
Awakened
And dead
The people
You’ve met
The person
You’ve been
“Orientation”
Just like that
There I am
Slipping along
A spectrum
I don’t understand
Looking for footing
As I
Slide along
Grasping for pieces
Hoping to right
Wrongs
Smiling
Like everything’s ‘okay’
Looking for spaces
In places
Where I sit
Struggling
With something
To say
“Dwelling”
It’s just a moment
To explore the day
Lost in thought
Feeling old
Maybe gray
Hunting for a mood
That’s muddied
And sullen
Hoping answers
Might come
From sources
Hidden
I’ll sit a while
In this well of mine
Doing my business
Thinking
About time
“Reconsidering”
Framing comes
With a frozen
Snap
I blink again
Wondering
Where I’m at
How much time
Has passed me by
As I sit
Reflecting
Wondering why
Maybe it’s time to stand
And stretch
Get on with life
And off the bench
Still
The explosion landed
In silence
Revealing exactly where he was wrong
And right
In one burst of time
Moment
Thought
Leaving him to sit with
details
Monday’s Theme Music
February 2, 2026, in Ashland. Colder today, as a cold front moved in last night. The sky was glassy clear and the moon boomed with bright light as temperatures fell into the high 20s. We’re recovering now, with temps up to 41 already under sunny conditions. Another dry day, we’re on our way to highs in the upper 50s to low 60s.
Reviewing the weather, much of North and South Carolina received more snow today than we’ve received all winter. We’re not a ridiculously snowy place in Ashland but it usually snows enough to paint the world white for a few days. If I was a conspiracy guy, I’d suggest that some evil overlords are testing a weather machine, aiming to see how the southern U.S. copes with winter conditions.
Speaking of evil overlords…
Trump’s shifted position on his aggressive immigration Minnesota policy. Daily Kos had a good summary, Why Trump is finally waving a white flag in Minnesota. Daily Kos points out, Alex Pretti is the reason for Trump’s shift.
ICE agents killed Alex Pretti in January in Minnesota during an ICE raid. Recorded by Minnesotans on their phones, the official narrative of another ‘domestic terrorist’ didn’t fit — Alex Pretti was young, white, male, an employed VA nurse, who arrived with a legal gun. Stacking this on top of the other narratives of death and violence, such as Nicole Good’s shooting death, Trump’s logic was suddenly toppling, taking his approval ratings with it.
That, as Daily Kos documented, is why the situation is changed in Minnesota.
Personally, I think it’s a victory. More critically, it reinforces the power of showing up, getting involved, and being witness, along with using phones to record what’s happening.
I expect Trump will launch another Minnesota surge in a different location. Trump’s softening stance is a politic move, not a change in attitude. He remains a bully, employing intimidation in attempts to dominate.
Another example of that tactic rose today, as Trump threatened to sue the Grammys over a Noah Trevor joke making fun of Trump.
“Noah said, incorrectly, about me, that Donald Trump and Bill Clinton spent time on Epstein Island. Wrong. I can’t speak for Bill, but I have never been to Epstein Island, nor anywhere close, and until tonight’s false and defamatory statement, have never been accused of being there, not even by the Fake News Media,” said Trump. “Noah, a total loser, better get his facts straight, and get them straight fast. It looks like I’ll be sending my lawyers to sue this poor, pathetic, talentless, dope of an M.C., and suing him for plenty$.”
That bully, Trump, isn’t changing. We the People must remain alert to respond and stand up for our rights and each other, again, again, and again.
Reading over my shoulder, The Neurons were stirred to bring up a 1971 John Lennon, “Power to the People”. This is a cover made by Tom Morello, Bruce Springsteen, Ike Reilly, Al Di Meola, Rise Against on January 30, 2026, in Minnesota.
Power to the people
Power to the people
Power to the people
Power to the people
[Chorus]
Power to the people
Power to the people
Power to the people
Power to the people, right on
[Verse 1]
Say we want a revolution
We better get it on right away
Well, get ya on your feet
Into the street
As Morello put it in the video, “We’re going to go out and kick ass in a peaceful way.”
Rock on into 2026 with peace and grace and the certainty that truth and justice will find its way forward again. Cheers
Sunday’s Theme Music
February entered Ashland looking just like January’s little sibling. No snow or precipitation, blue sky mottled with slivers of nascent white clouds, 37 F but climbing quick under solid sunshine. We expect a high of 54 F today, not bad if you can get it, but we need snow.
Back east, that is not a problem as videos with one headline proclaiming, “Bomb cyclone explodes, dragging Arctic blast over US states”.
Sure is true where my family resides in Pennsylvania. Sis sent a flurry of photos of the snow still embracing her area. She asked if I was aware that Mike Seidel was on the air over on Fox Weather. I wasn’t aware, I answered, because I don’t watch Fox Weather or Fox News.
I do and did watch other news and was pleased that five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos is back home in Minneapolis with his father. His father sought asylum from Ecuador in the United States when the Border Patrol decided he was here illegally, shipping the father and son to a Texas detention center. Homeland Security, Border Patrol, and ICE all insist that they didn’t arrest or detain the five-year-old but didn’t give a term for what it was.
SNL gave us some laughter with a terrific skit about a diehard MAGA mom, but I wondered how much truth the humor harbored.
Another piece of SNL humor touched on the news cyclone around Trump in their cold open. They suggested the Minnesota ICE surge was to distract from the Epstein files being released, but then the Epstein files had to be released to distract from the ICE violence in Minnesota.
Papi the ginger floof again provided me with theme music. For whatever reasons, Papi came in from outside charged around the house, reversing directions and fishtailing like he drove a getaway car. Watching that as I laughed, The Neurons spun “I Get Around” by the Beach Boys in the morning mental music stream.
Hope this Sunday finds you with peace, grace, warmth, and safety as the second month of 2026 takes over. Cheers
Michael Seidel, writer 