Category: Uncategorized

The Smoke

It’s a new habit. Reaching the corner where my street meets Siskiyou, I look left.

Although there’s a soft, steady down slope, it’s a straight shot into downtown Ashland. I know that two miles away is the Ashland Springs Hotel’s yellow building. I can’t see it today. I can see the first traffic light, at Walker. That’s just under a mile away. With today’s smoke, the prevailing visibility is about a mile away, as it has been for the last three days.

Fires ring our valley, sending smoke into it. Most of the fires started on July 15 when lightning strikes lit the dry brush and trees.

Although it’s the third year that I’ve been forced to do this, I’m not used to wearing a mask to walk around. We used to do it in the military as part of our war games, during simulated attacks. They were never fun. Neither is this.

Thoughts about the fire’s causes are inevitable, as are hopes and worries for the other people driven from their homes by the fires, and fears for the animals, and concern for the land. Thoughts about the firefighters out there fighting the fires on our behalf arise, along with thoughts of thanks.

Containment is the word of the month, followed closely by conflagration. When will the fires be contained? The closest, the Hendrix Fire, isn’t that large, just one thousand plus acres. Nine miles away, it’s thirty percent contained, but it’s not the fire delivering most of this smoke. That’s an accumulation from all the fires to the north and west.

What’s striking is how the smoke changes Ashland’s character. Outdoor events are canceled, curtailed, or moved indoor, if possible. There are fewer hikers and walkers, because part of the Pacific Coast Trail is also closed. Cyclists, usually so common, are rarely seen. With the diminished visibility, we can’t see the mountains. Ashland could be a plain town, or one on the seashore.

You’d never know it, with this smoke.

 

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Tuesday’s Theme Music

I like Pearl Jam, and I like this song, “Alive”. Although released in 1991 and categorized as grunge, it’s a hard-rocking song (with softer moments) like the rock I grew up with in the late sixties and early seventies.

Now, it’s classic rock.

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Parking Lot Rant #49

You ever encounter a parking lot with such maddening shapes, narrow lanes and tight corners that people seem unable to turn the vehicles without going up over a curb? SF-SJ Bay Area parking lots seemed home to those lots. Bad as they were in California, some of the newer shopping centers’ parking lots in Medford, Oregon (I’m pointing the finger at you, Trader Joe’s) are terrible. Yet, we must suffer and accept, or we wouldn’t have the store.

 

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She Said

she said, Why did you do that? Don’t you know better?

and she said, No, I don’t feel any warmth for you, so I can’t.

and she said, Call me, and you said, I will.

and she said, You never called, and you said, nothing.

she said, You smell.

and she said, I could never be with someone like you.

and she said, I think you can do anything that you try to do.

and she said, I wish you would have said something.

she said, Stay away from me, I hate you right now.

and she said, Hi, it’s good to see you.

and she said, Let’s get together.

and she said, Good-bye.

 

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Aflooflitionist

Aflooflitionist (catfinition) – someone who campaigns for equal rights for and respectful treatment of cats, dogs, and other animals.

In use: “As an affirmed aflooflitionist, he stood against the Trump administration’s proposed changes to the Endangered Species Act.”

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Want

I just wanna have a good life

and want the same for others

I want the air to be clean and fresh

and the water, too

I don’t want animals abused

or people killed

for war, pleasure, or fun

 

I just wanna know that others

have the same freedom and rights as me

and the dying, when it’s done,

is graceful and dignified

I know all this is a pipe dream

from whatever stuff I smoke and drink

 

I just wanna be and let be

and live and let live

and other tropes like that

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Flooftourage

Flooftourage (catfinition) – a group, or clowder, of cats following a person.

In use: “Wherever he went – kitchen, office, bathroom, garage – the flooftourage was with him, as though his daily activities – making coffee, reading email, using the toilet, getting frozen berries from the freezer – were fresh amazements.”

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Flooftch

Flooftch (catfinition) – stretching out in repose with all limbs extended in a flat position, giving an appearance of being melted down and pooled on the ground, generally done when a cat is very relaxed, warm, or both.

In use: “With the temperature reaching over one hundred degrees for a third day, the cats all flootched and napped. It looked so comfortable that he threw himself on the bed under an air-conditioning vent and flooftched as well.”

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Deflooftarized Zone

Deflooftarized Zone (catfinition)- the areas of a house, typically including counters and tables, where cats are not permitted; the space between cats that they maintain to spy upon one another.

In use: “Establishing a triangle with their bodies as the angles, the ginger, tuxedo, and black cat with a white diamond watched one another. Only the mellow little black-pawed long-haired cat passed through the deflooftarized zone.”

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