Ashland, southern Oregon. Monday, August 24, 2026.
Damn hot today: 100 F, but it feels warmer. A red flag warning is in effect. We are expected to cool down again on Wednesday.
I’m off to a late start, courtesy of some animal fight at 2 AM. Woke us up. Went out, gathered our critter, who came in all puffy tailed, although he didn’t seem to be involved.
We decided to keep the cat in. That ignited his determination to go back out. Everything was done to convey that determination: beating on the door, meowing, beating on me. I finally succumbed after an hour and granted freedom. Then, though, I worried: was the cat safe? AAARGH!
I didn’t get up until after nine and had some calls scheduled which proved to be time sucks. Then, off to shower, dress, coffee and writing. Now I’m back home. Just finished lunch, finally posting the theme music.
Really, it’s my own fault for 1) having a cat and 2) for letting the cat worry and control me.
That led to “Wrapped Around Your Finger” in my morning mental music stream. This is a 1983 song by The Police. Charted around the world, so you may have heard it before.
My wife and I greet each other many mornings with, “What’s the news? He dead yet?”
Then we laugh and say, “I know he’s not or you would have shouting the news.”
You know, this is the only person in our lifetime together — over fifty years — that we have ever said such things about. And we never specify who we’re talking about. That’s. Not. Needed.
Mom is complaining about her relationships with her daughters. “Three of them live nearby and none of them will take me to my appointments. Which will only HASTEN my death anyway.”
My sister’s daughter, May, is going to visit Mom tomorrow. We’re interested in the after-visit report. Mom helped raise May, and she and Mom had a great relationship until about four years ago. Then Mom became so angry and bitter, complaining about so many things, May declared, “I can’t do that any longer. It’s just too much.” Which is the case with my sisters and the rest of their children. Mom just became too much. I’d seen that trend developing and told Mom over and over through the last several years that all she does is complain and scold, that she’s always angry and bitter. Once she said that her partner, Frank, had just told her the same thing.
Trump has big action happening in DC with the Freedom 250 Indycar Grand Prix. It’s all part of Operation Epic LOOK — SQUIRREL! He’s just trying to distract all he can from how crappy things are going. Lots of corporations are going along with him. Retail sales are down, reflecting people’s challenges with the increasing affordability of living in the US. But corporations overall are doing well, with energy and technology companies doing particularly well.
So, yes, many corporations are all in for Trump’s Operation Epic LOOK — SQUIRREL! distractions. Hey, they’re getting theirs! Make hay while the sun shines! So what if the wealth gap continues to widen, if personal bankruptices are increasing, rural hospitals are closing, measles outbreaks are increasing, and the extreme weather gets worse? Corporation execs and shareholders are making money. Later, when the situation changes, they’ll contritely reduce prices, announcing ‘we’re all in this together’.
No. We’re not. They make that clear. They’re only in it together with us if it’s going to affect their profits, and then, they’ll only act under duress.
Today’s music emerges from my dream. I didn’t hear it in the dream but as I went through the night’s third dream, I suddenly heard Karen Carpenter singing “We’ve Only Just Begun”.
That could be an apt song for now, as far as the title’s sentiment. We’re about to go through some heavy duty loads with Donald Trump. He tried staying in power when he lost his bid for re-election, encouraging his supporters to resist the bona bide election results, encouraging them to ignore the law, resulting in death and destruction while widening the trust gap and polarizing the electorate. This year, he’s been working on trying to undermine the system.
Here’s the irony: Trump is cheerleading the nation’s 250th anniversary while simultaneously undermining the system that we’ve developed and improved for 250 years, the system which actually delivered him victory — twice.
Yet, Trump keeps whining and complaining about stolen elections without evidence. Is cutting much of the federal government in order to shift loads to states because of states’ rights. Meanwhile, he’s working hard to hollow out the states’ role in the national elections, basically usurping it so he can mold it as head of the executive branch of the federal government. It’s such a naked, wanton, power grab.
Trump is doing it because he’s a failure. His policies are failures, and people are awakening to this. His only way to get ahead, as always, is to lie, cheat, and steal.
So get ready: we’ve only just begun.
May your day begin with love and happiness and end on a high note.
Saturday, August 22, 2026. Ashland, southern Oregon.
Although the clouds have departed and sunshine spreads across a blue sky, today’s temperatures are cooler. 68 F now — feels like 70 something — 86 F will be our high.
Like many others, I’m reading about Trump, Natalie Harp, and Trump’s desperate efforts to win support. It’s unravelling for him.
2026 is becoming the year in which nothing goes right for Trump. Sure, he made a lot of money last year — $3B. But after bragging about how good the economy would be under him and proclaiming a golden age, Trump gets the honor of being the Oval Office resident as the national debt rockets past $40T and climbing.
Gas prices are up. Diesel prices are climbing. Beef prices are still up. Trump’s Iran war goes on. People still ask, what do the Epstein files reveal about Trump that Trump is dodging their release.
Trump also said, “This will last for at least 50 years and you’ll never have a leak. It’s very strong. You couldn’t — if you had a knife, I don’t want to give anybody ideas — if you had a knife you can’t even cut it.”
LOL.
“THE FACTS: Work is ongoing 15 weeks later. The pool was drained for a second time in mid-July to address returning algae blooms and issues with a new coating that was peeling. Trump’s estimates of the project’s cost have increased as work has progressed, to “less than $20 million.” Records show that more than $16 million worth of contracts have been awarded for the project so far.”
So why did Trump put his face on the pool, which many now call symbolic of his shambolic administration?
Maybe he didn’t.
It’s possible that Natalie Harp posted it on behalf of Trump, trying to coax a smile out of that dour old orange peel face. Because posting on social media on Trump’s behalf is part of Natalie Harp’s official duties.
Trump’s face on the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool isn’t likely to improve his tanking poll numbers. Trump knows that. So he pulled another trick out of Operation Epic LOOK — SQUIRREL!
Anyone with half a brain would know that Trump’s move would irritate ranchers and beef producers. Tragically, there’s not half a brain within all of the Trump administration put together.
This is so catastrophically funny. Trump imposed the beef tariffs. That, with the actions he took to cut out trading partners and his war with Iran, has raised prices. Now, desperately trying to do anything to improve his numbers, he’s actually going against his own tariffs and war.
Trump is basically warring with himself. Of course, with all of it, it’s always someone else’s fault.
Doesn’t matter who Trump tries to blame. He’s made a mess of the United States, and now he’s unraveling.
And all of it was predictable way back when he began his presidential campaign back in 2015. We knew he was a fraud, liar, and inept, a con who cheated his way to apparent success.
But there’s a sucker born every minute. Trump managed to con them into voting for him.
Thinking about Trump unravelling caused The Neurons to bring up one of my favorite unravelling songs. Weezer came out with “Undone” back in 1994. The song quickly became known as “Undone – The Sweater Song”.
Sample Lyrics
If you want to destroy my sweater Hold this thread as I walk away (As I walk away!) Watch me unravel I’ll soon be naked Lying on the floor, lying on the floor, I’ve come undone
Ashland, southern Oregon. Friday, August 21, 2026.
It’s a cool 75 F under cloudy skies right now. Looks like it could rain but rain is not in our forecast. Today’s high is expected to be 90, ten degrees lower than what we saw yesterday.
Mom is really down right now. She feels trapped and ignored, and that’s very understandable.
Mom texted me that her PCP told her she looks tired and old. Mom’s claim; don’t know if that’s what the doctor said. Mom also texted me, “I don’t want to see another birthday,” “Why won’t God let me die,” and “I don’t want a memorial service when I die. I don’t want anything.”
Mom, to me, always depended upon the structure of routines and schedules. Now her aging, medical issues, and medications has fractured her norms. She used to use cleaning as an outlet to stay on track, along with writing copious notes on her calendar about what was going on: children’s schedules and visits, appointments, bills due and paid, house and car maintenance. Those mechanisms are gone, too. She’s being told one to sleep, eat, and socialize, and she doesn’t like it. Additionally, she and her daughters who live closest to her have a huge emotional schism relating to their lives together and Mom’s choices.
Mom reacts to the gap with anger; the sisters react to Mom’s anger with more distance.
It’s like a self-fulfilling doom loop.
The closing for the sale of Mom’s house is next Tuesday at 5 PM. I texted Mom to ensure she was aware.
She didn’t respond.
Without real surprise, I see that Trump is encouraging the construction of AI and data centers. Backlash against AI/data centers is growing across the United States, creating an ideological trap for Donald Trump.
Part of this is that these types of sites take up land, water, and electricity, but nothing tangible that can be held in your hand emerges from it.
The other part of the trap is that the corporations often demand huge tax breaks and subsidies for the privilege of building there, and the locals are not usually consulted. That pisses them off, because nobody is listening to them. That was exactly the angry and emotional fodder Trump used as fuel to win their votes; he was speaking for them, ‘telling them like it is’.
Now, as others have done, Trump is ignoring them.
And it’s happening on the cusp of the midterm elections.
Those of us who understand who Trump is aren’t surprised. He used MAGA to achieve political power. Then he used that political power to enrich himself. Now he’s using it to further enrich the ultra-wealthy. There are no surprises there, if you’ve been paying attention.
Trump is breeding discontented supporters. They won’t vote for Democrats — “Never Democrats” is probably one of their most repeated mantras — but they won’t come out and vote for Trump, either.
All this thinking has The Neurons playing “Everybody Hurts” by R.E.M in my morning mental music stream. When people feel ignored, they hurt. Released in 1993, the song was written about and for teenagers and what they endure. I think it’s sensibilities are more universal than that.
Sample Lyrics
When your day is long And the night, the night is yours alone When you’re sure you’ve had enough Of this life, well hang on
Don’t let yourself go ‘Cause everybody cries Everybody hurts sometimes
Sometimes everything is wrong Now it’s time to sing along
When your day is night alone (hold on, hold on) If you feel like letting go (hold on) If you think you’ve had too much Of this life, well hang on
‘Cause everybody hurts Take comfort in your friends Everybody hurts
May you prosper today, enjoying peace, joy, and happiness. Hopefully, you won’t feel ignored or alone.
Ashland, southern Oregon. Thursday, August 20, 2026.
Buckle up: supposed to be hot today, 100F. High small puffy clouds dot the blue sky. The sun feels like someone turned it up to eleven. Although it’s only 71, the ‘feels like’ is 85 F.
Spent time this morning on Watch Duty reviewing the state of wildfires in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Nevada, and California. A depressing exercise.
Still waiting for Mom’s house to close. Gina, my sister who now oversee Mom’s finances, was complaining about how much Mom spent on Amazon on lipstick, diapers, clothes, shoe polish, and other things. Gina wanted me to tell Mom about how much money Gina thought Mom is wasting.
I said no. Not doing it. Bought Mom an Amazon gift card instead, to help her with these expenses. Mom doesn’t have much of a life these days, and now you’re pressing to nickel and dime her?
We’re into some deep WTF territory with Trump this week as he went on about flagpoles.
To be fair, his flagpole riff seemed a lot like his grass riff. He does love to declare himself an expert, knowing more than anyone, about many things.
Your Trump Quote of the Day:
Trump did pay $100K for these flagpoles last year. But then the servant of We the People could afford it, as he raked in $3B for his first year in office. 100K/3,000,000K = .003%
I label the flagpoles another cheap installment of Operation Epic LOOK — SQUIRREL! Trump bloviates about flagpoles as gas prices climb again. Diesel prices have jumped 15 cents to $5.47 per gallon, which adds to the cost of transporting just about everything.
But do please tell us more about the shape of your flagpole, Donald Trump.
People should know Trump is saying these things and quit treating him like he’s stable or a genius. He’s a criminal, head of a criminal enterprise. They need to wake up to that but probably won’t until Trump steals them blind.
All these things — big and little — Trump does stack up into one large mess.
I ended up with “Little Things” by Bush in my morning mental music stream. Released in 1995, it was all about how little things add up to dwarf your sense of self and what is possible.
Sample Lyrics
The river is loaded, I’ve been there today Took it some questions, she does me again I’d die in your arms if you were dead too Here comes a lie, we will always be true
Going up when coming down Scratch away-way-way-way-way
It’s the little things that kill Tearin’ at my brain again Oh, the little things that kill The little things that kill
Bigger you give, bigger you get We’re boss at denial but best at forget The cupboard is empty, we really need food Summer is winter and you always knew
Going up when coming down Scratch away-way-way-way-way
It’s the little things that kill Tearin’ at my brains again Oh, the little things that kill Tearin’ at my brains again
Yeah, it’s the little things that kill. Trump — and more importantly, the masterminds behind him, Heritage Foundation and Project 2025 — knows this.
May you surmount the little things with peace and grace today and every day.
Ashland, southern Oregon. Wednesday, August 19, 2026.
August is moving on slow as molasses for me. I’m okay with that.
The claim is that it’ll be 96 F today. Forecasts yesterday said we’d hit 95 but we were four short of that. It’s 68 outside with high clouds clotting across the blue sky.
Our fingers are crossed that Mom’s house will finally close today. The buyers are using a grant to buy. The involved realtors say that the grant review and approval process has significantly slowed this year. It’s a federal program. A large part of me wonders if the Trump administration with its personnel cutbacks is responsible.
I’m not going to go into news and politics much on this post today. Writing a separate post on them.
I’m dedicating this instead to ZZ Top and Frank Beard. ZZ Top is an American rock band which had a heavy blues influence in its early years. They were a trio: Billy Gibbons, Dusty Hill, and Frank Beard. I started listening to them in high school. Saw them in concert a few times. Now only Billy Gibbons, lead vocalist, guitar, and song writer remains as Frank Beard, 77, joined Dusty Hill in that big gig in the otherworld.
I basically divide ZZ Top’s sound into two eras. In their early years was that blues sound. Multiple favorite songs hang with me from that period. For today, I’ll go with “La Grange” and “Jesus Left Chicago”.
The second period moved ZZ Top more into commercial mainstream pop. They became phenomenally successful. My preferred sound from that era was “Sharp Dressed Man”, which my wife and I liked to sing as ‘short, fat man’.
So here we go, into the morning mental music stream. May your day be blessed with happy memories of good music and good times, and optimism for our future.
Ashland, southern Oregon. Tuesday, August 18, 2026.
We’re back from the coast. Cool there — usually in the 60s. Yesterday made it to the 90s F after our return; we expect more of the same, with the temperature reaching the mid 90s today. Right now, still feels like the coast, minus that fresh air scent. 65 F but already feels like 71.
Mom’s house will close tomorrow. Maybe. I hope; the delays are ratcheting up everyone’s nerves. We’re on edge because if it doesn’t sell, here we go again. I also feel for the people waiting to buy. I imagine what they’re going through. Mom is sad about losing her home, and I understand that, but I’m looking at the flip side, of the people who thought, here is the answer we’ve been seeking.
Getting back into the normal groove. Making a list of things to do around the house. Must replace my wife’s lost phone. That’s job 1.
Meanwhile, though, get caught back up on the news. What is Trump up to now?
Having wrecked the White House east wing and paved over the historic Rose Garden, Trump is destroying the south lawn. Already looking bad due to his various ‘functions’ on it — which of course, he blames on vandals, now becoming one of his favorite old man words — he’s going to ‘fix it’.
I already cringe at the idea that Trump will try to fix something else. Look how he ‘fixed’ the Oval House, plastering gold all over. Recall how Trump fixed the economy: the number of the employed is falling, the national debt is rising, and the affordability crisis is spreading like an unchecked tumor.
Look how Trump ‘fixed’ Iran, by bombing it to the point that the US’s munitions were seriously depleted. Look how Trump fixed the navy (exhibit number 1: USS Abraham Lincoln, or the USS Benford) and the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
Someone captured Heather Cox Richardson’s conclusions about our current state in a graphic.
As with everything else Trump, there is no evidence to his delusional claims. It’s just more Operation Epic LOOK — SQUIRREL!, more squirming to avoid the truth and facts, and more scheming to gain and keep wealth and power for himself.
As an aside, what’s the latest on Mitch McConnell? Back from the dead yet? How ’bout the Epstein files? Trump fulfill that promise yet?
After that thinking, the morning mental music stream occupant is by Four Non-Blondes. I was talking about this song the other night. The Neurons made a note. When I said to myself, coffee in hand, “Okay, let’s see what’s up,” the song “What’s Up” began playing.
It’s a good song for the times.
Sample Lyrics
And I try, oh, my God, do I try? I try all the time, in this institution And I pray, oh, my God, do I pray? I pray every single day for revolution
And so I cry sometimes when I’m lying in bed Just to get it all out, what’s in my head And I, I am feeling a little peculiar And so, I wake in the morning and I step outside And I take a deep breath and I get real high And I scream from the top of my lungs, “What’s going on?”
And I say, hey-ey-ey, hey-ey-ey I said, “Hey, what’s going on?” And I say, hey-ey-ey, hey-ey-ey I said, “Hey, a-what’s going on?”
Now off to write.
I hope your day is complete with peace, grace, good foods, and good weather.
Bandon, southern Oregon coast. It’s overcast here, chilly, a mere 60 F. A sea breeze takes the feel of that down a few degrees. Whatever the temperature, I love the fresh sea smell here.
We’re heading back home to see if Papi missed us. A wary orange boi, he’s always reserved in his opinions.
Sickening and repugnant how Trump dismisses We the People’s concerns. While the scope of deprivation and problems are still being vetted on the USS Abraham Lincoln, the fact that they’ve been awake on an extended deployment is not contested.
Your Trump Quote of the Day:
Let’s imagine Trump out there, serving for months at sea. Imagine how he’d be whining about his sacrifice. Imagine him having to go without McDonald’s, without golfing. Oh, the humanity. How we would be hearing about his suffering.
Likewise, Trump gives a rat’s ass about the rising gas prices. Oh, it was so important to Trump and the MAGAts back when Trump wasn’t in charge. Oh, how Trump eviscerated President Biden about the price of things.
“For you to pay a TINY little bit more for your gasoline, you’re doing it so that a very evil country cannot have a nuclear weapon. Remember that when you’re paying $4. I’ll never apologize.”
Trump is also threatening to ‘bomb the shit out of Oman‘. I file this under Operation Epic LOOK — SQUIRREL! Things are going badly for Trumpy and the MAGAts. They haven’t had a hit in months and there’s talk that the band is breaking up.
All of this is just more ordinary Trump posturing. Ordinary in the sense, Trump is always doing these things. But they’re deadly, with serious, long-lasting consequences.
Trump is never one to understand that, though. He’s absolutely shameless. For example, look how he used to talk about Epstein as a friend. Then Trump declared that he would release the Epstein files. Now Trump desperately wants us to forget the Epstein files.
Today’s music is “Ordinary World” by Duran Duran. The Neurons have it playing in my morning mental music stream in light of Trump’s recurring ‘ordinary’ reactions — ordinary in the sense that this is how he always does things. To the rest of us, Trump’s behavior is anything but ordinary. No, words like sick, mindless, and depraved is what usually comes to mind — at least to my mind.
Sample Lyrics
Papers in the roadside tell of suffering and greed Here today, forgot tomorrow Ooh, here besides the news of holy war and holy need Ours is just a little sorrowed talk
Have a great day of peace, grace, good health, and good fortune.
Michael Seidel, writer 