I live partway up a hill that heads on to mountains. The street ends a few hundred feet beyond my house. That’s where the city ceases. South of the end in a few miles is where California’s border with Oregon rests. Distant barking, distant sirens, a distant small airplane, distant truck and car sounds, shape the city to my west and north.
It’s a robust 57 F outside. Today’s top end will be 77 F. Fires dot the rugged land east and south of us, feeding us a perpetual smoke diet. Smoke is worst to the west, suffocating towns like Grants Pass and Medford.
A blood red moon rode our night sky last night like some bad omen. Today’s sun is clearer than other recent days, more of a yellow cast to its brilliance. Sunrise is earlier, sunrise is later as the shifts brought up by our journey through the solar system are reinstated again, part of the annual journey. It’s Tuesday, August 29, 2023, in Ashlandia, where the children are polite, and the adults are political.
I don’t know what’s going on with Les Neurons this AM. They’ve switched on Donnie and Marie Osmond’s cover of “I’m Leaving It Up to You” 1974. That was the year I graduated HS and joined the military. Donnie & Marie are not part of my usual musical palette but that was one of the day’s ubiquitous songs in my region. The part which goes, “I’m leaving it all up to you. You decide, what you’re gonna do. Now do you want my love? Or are we through?” That’s how I remember it. Maybe The Neurons are feeling nostalgic for an earlier life period, when I was young and things were simpler. Who knows what those rascals are up to.
Coffee has been picked up, sniffed deeply, sampled for quality. Time to get on it. Stay pos, be strong, and remember, 42. Here’s the music. Cheers
We’ve traveled through the rotation again. Another Monday has come upon us.
It’s August 28, 2023, in Ashlandia, where the smoke rules and we submit. Will be a coolish day for us, 63 with haze now, in the mid eighties on the top end. I was hoping for an overnight miracle and some relief from the smoke. The air quality has improved a little but not enough to give us happy feet. The photo is off Ashland Street and Tolman, going northwest, late afternoon, ’bout 3/4 miles from my abode. Nasty at that time, it only got worse as night descended. No new fires, knock on head, but a cumulative effect of the half dozen burning within 100 miles of us. Turn on the air filter and close the doors and windows. Glad I can do that but it’s dispiriting to think of the many in town without that, homed and homeless.
The cats are none too pleased, and when the cats are upset, then you have trouble. Doing what we can to keep them safe and healthy although they have other opinions about it.
Well, you know with the former President’s latest trial date being set for him and his co-conspirators, Les Neurons have law and order on their minds. That culminated with one of their favorites songs, “Breaking the Law” by Judas Priest (1980) settling into the morning mental music stream (Trademark gossip). Here they are, performing at the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame.
Alright, coffee is on the way. Stay pos, be strong, and mind your step. Here’s the music. Cheers
It’s Sunday, August 27, 2023 in Ashlandia, where the beer and wine is above average. 65 F now, today’s forecast is for smoke and sunshine. Smokeshine? Sunsmoke? Don’t know. High will be 93 F.
Wedding stuff presently frequently preoccupies us. A nephew getting married, we’re down to a few weeks. I’m buying a suit, planning a haircut, making hotel, flight, and rental car reservations, talking to the floofs sitter. Wife has found her dress and is working on accessories. Thank dog we’re not in the wedding party.
Woke up with wet elbow syndrome today. Familiar with this? Tucker, my feline buddy, enjoys morning cuddling. He signifies this by getting up on the bed, finding a hand and tapping it with a claw until the hand is raised and offered for his use. Then he rubs his face against the hand and fingers, working it until I start participating. I guess today he couldn’t find a hand, but a bare elbow was discovered, so he engaged in it with his face until I woke up and felt the wet skin. Don’t know which part of the engagement actually brought me out of slumber, the rubbing, or the wet. I immediately began fulfilling the terms of the contracts (which I don’t remember signing) to scratch him. He threw himself down against me so that belly scratching could commence. A thick-furred booger head, his belly fur gets knotted and is often home to small sticks, leaves, etc. I work my way through the knots and remove all that stuff.
Read more sickening racist news. Blacks being targeted shot in Florida. Another black couple harrassed and handcuffed while touring their new home after a neighbor called the cops because he couldn’t believe that a Black could afford a house in HIS neighborhood. Ending after the builder came and confirmed that the couple had bought the house. THEN the cops uncuffed them. Then the neighbor flipped them the finger and yelled, “Fuck you” and retreated to his house. Really, WTF is wrong with people?
The Neurons have a battle of the bands happening in my morning mental music stream (Trademark problematic). First up is Alabama 3 with “Woke Up This Morning”, known as being the theme song for the defunct TV series, “The Sopranos”. That’s not a surprise; I posted it to someone’s page yesterday, and “woke up this morning with a wet elbow in the bed” crossed my mind as song lyrics, forcing The Neurons to reprise the song. The other bit of music is the Rolling Stones with “Under My Thumb”. Don’t know what brought that out. I was busy with the feeding routine for me and the cats (they’re fed first) when the song settled into the MMMS.
I think I’m going with Alabama 3 today. Just seems more fitting to my mood.
Coffee is ready. It’s pleasant out on the back patio, if you don’t mind a little smoke. Stay pos and be strong. Here we go. Cheers
Ashlandia, where people wear athletic gear except for five people in suits. It’s 68 F under a haze blanket with expectations of 91 degrees F. Today is Saturday, August 26, 2023, the last Saturday of August as it stands. The month sped by like excited electrons. We’re coming soon to the part of the time experience where the month changes once again. Coming up fast is the moment where the year changes once again.
Smoke? Yeah, it’s out there, a wall encircling the city, waiting to encroach. Folks I speak with are much like me, can we get some smoke-free time again? More than a few hours, more than a day? Long enough to start feeling better about existence and breathe some fresh air and get a few things done?
And there are whole areas where the summer has been worse for them. Imagine being in places in Canada where they’ve endured it all summer. Criminy.
The Neurons took up an odd route for today’s theme music. Opening blinds, doors, windows this AM, on alert for the perverting smoke, seeing that it’s somewhat clear — only unhealthy air today, woo-hoo! — I said to myself, I says, leave before the smoke comes in. Well, Der Neurons turned that into the Artic Monkeys song from 2006, “Leave Before the Lights Come On”, faster than you can say “Lock him up!” Never saw the video before today but it was another intriguing vid tale. Hope you watch it.
Now it’s time for the coffee race. Grab your cup. Ready – go! Stay pos and be strong. Here’s the music, and away we go. Cheers
Today is Friday, August 25, 2023, in Ashlandia, where the smoke is thick and the air is cool.
Had to take my car in and drop it off. 1. Great to have a break in routines and tedium. 2. Hated to have a break in my routines. 3. It felt early out there.
In the car shop were posters showing different aspects of cars and repairs — electrical, starter system, suspension, brakes, etc. I stood in front of them remembering fixing those things are different cars during my life. Not a love of doing it for me; I’m not mechanically minded. Too poor to pay someone to do it. But that honed that whole idea in me, fix me it myself. Modern cars are much different. And I have more money. Plus, the lack of facilities — the military provided us workshops and facilities to fix our cars — means I take my cars and drop them off for others to tend them. There aren’t any points and plugs to changed, no rotor. I only check fluids and air pressures in this generation of my life. It’s one of many things which have changed, and are still changing.
Had some chuckles over Donald Trump’s height and weight claims when he was booked in: 6’3 and 215 pounds. One person noted, that’s almost the same height and weight as Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow, and very close to other quarterbacks, such Tom Brady. Patrick Mahones, KC Chiefs QB, is an inch shorter but ten pounds heavier than DJT. Somehow, the weight looks very different on Trump. Must be the football padding and uniform…right? Right. What a vain, vain man and liar DJT shows himself to be. Make me hurt for his supporters who unflinchingly support and believe him — many claim. I wonder.
From that, it was an easy route for The Neurons to dial up a Three Dog Night song called “Liar” from 1971 and slot it into the morning mental music stream (Trademark surprising). No more to say about it. Most of the chorus is the group loudly singing, “Liar!”
For the record, it’s smoky out there, around here. 70 F now, we’ll clip the hear in the low nineties today. Stay pos and be cool. Hand me my coffee. Here we go. Cheers
Thursday, August 24, 2023. Ashlandia, where the crows are busy and the cats are wistful.
It’s like a different day out there. Sunny, good visibility, 68 F, light mountain breezes. The change chased me to the fire map to check on the fires’ statuses. Were they all miraculously put out overnight? No. Seems, after looking at the air quality map to see what the air is like, that we’re the beneficiary of some southeasterly wind. I’ll take it. With the cleared air and a different front moving in, today’s high will kick the mid nineties.
Didn’t watch the GOP debate last night. Just didn’t feel it in my bones. So I’m playing catch up, reading reports about what I missed. Except for DeSantis to a small degree — he held back more than I expected — they presented the impressions and delivered the expected comments. Nothing in any of the accounts I read this morning made me want to rethink who these candidates were.
Instead, I found myself more drawn in by two murder cases. Both killers were young women. One — 28 y.o. — killed a vocal coach by shoving them to the pavement and walking away; the other — 19, 18 when she killed — took her car up to 100 MPH and steered the vehicle into a building, killing her two passengers. The first will spend eight years in jail; the second was sentenced to fifteen years to life, eligible for parole in 15 years. Why my interest? Well, why did they do these things? What were they thinking? Anger played a role in both killings, although smoking marijuana was part of both stories. Both seemed to surrender control and acted out; these are the results. Very human and tragic. They received a lot of print and coverage. Maybe I just missed coverage of the others, but I searched for other young women who killed, and easily found three of the same age range and time period in other states in the news. Odd how the press clamps onto certain matters. Odd, perhaps, how they attracted my attention.
The Neurons have stuffed “Texarkana” by R.E.M (1991) into the morning mental music stream (Trademark fickle). Apparently, this was out of a dream sequence. My wife was mimicking Mick Jagger in the dream and I told her, “Don’t worry, I’ll catch you if you fall.” ‘Catch me if I fall’ is repeated in “Texarkana”. When I first listened to the album, I would like for “Catch Me If I Fall” as a song title. Texarkana? Whaaattt? Anyway, here we are.
Stay well, be strong and pos. My coffee-fueled day has begun; here we go. Let’s hear the music first. Cheers
The Nation featured a strong article about climate change and civilization collapse. The article, “We Are Witnessing the First Stage’s of Civilization’s Collapse”, is written by Michael T. Klare. They base their analysis and insights on Jared Diamond’s 2005 bestseller, Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed. Many, many people around the world, including US citizens, have firsthand experienced with a weather disaster or two in 2023. The article’s greater point is how so many leaders are willfully ignoring what’s happening, continuing with traditional methodology of energy and human activities as though all of this will go away. Mr. Klare points out that it’s not going away; it’s getting worse. The Canadian wildfires are a blazing example:
“The fires in Canada: As of August 2, months after they first erupted into flame, there were still 225 major uncontrolled wildfires and another 430 under some degree of control but still burning across the country. At one point, the figure was more than 1,000 fires! To date, they have burned some 32.4 million acres of Canadian woodland, or 50,625 square miles—an area the size of the state of Alabama. Such staggering fires, largely attributed to the effects of climate change, have destroyed hundreds of homes and other structures, while sending particle-laden smoke across Canadian and American cities—at one point turning New York’s skies orange. In the process, record amounts of carbon dioxide were dispatched into the atmosphere, only increasing the pace of global warming and its destructive impacts.”
Mr. Klare goes on to with information about the megadrought coating the United States, citing stats that show 99% of that region suffers drought, and it’s growing. Michael Klare cites flooding in China in 2023 and its resulting damages. The article was probably prepared for publication before Hawaii’s recent fiery mega-disaster and the first tropical storm in over eighty years to strike California.
This is an article worth reading for a problem that needs serious action. Unfortunately, political divisiveness and fervent capitalism will probably undermine any united, focused action to cope with these changes. We as a civilization are choosing to fail. Imagine that; imagine being a business who decides they don’t want to grow or make money, or a sports team who decides that losing is best. For that’s what we are, people and nations who are choosing to accept disaster and fail. The status quo will continue until we fade away, like the people of Bonita Pueblo, the Mayans, and the Viking settlements of Greenland.
Blue sky above my house, and clear sunshine bathing the area. But east is a smoky white wall curtailing the distance to the horizon; a gray west wall does the same. Smoky tentacles tease my nose. The walls close in, graying the blue sky.
This is Wednesday, August 23, 2023 in Ashlandia, where the pickleball courts are empty and the theater performances are cancelled – smoke for the outside venues, COVID-19 for other places. 60 F out now, a high of 86 F might be reached. Sadly, I noticed that it was dark before 8:30 last night. Yes, sunset has rolled back to 8 PM here. The long days of light are closing down already. School ramps up next week. Coincidence? Or dark conspiracy?
News: fires. Trump. Debate. Bridge collapse in India. BRICS. Rodgers and State Farm. SoCal and Baja recovering from Hilary. Grand Canyon flooding. India lands a craft on the moon. COVID cases rising. Celebrity stuff. Hoobastank.
Screech. Back up. Hoobastank?
Yes, they’re in the news for their video and song, “The Reason”. It was released almost twenty years ago. I knew the song so I watched the video, because I’d never seen it. It was an intriguing laugher. The Neurons have thrust it into the morning mental music stream (Trademark ancient). Who am I to argue with Les Neurons? No, I won’t argue with them, but I will try to placate them with coffee in the morning. They sometimes also like beer in the afternoon. They’re also very fond of watermelon.
Okay, let’s hitch this day up and get underway. Yeeha. Stay pos, be strong, and brush your teeth. Coffee is available in the kitchen. Here’s the ancient Hoobastank video. Have a better one. Cheers
I’m sitting in the house, staring at that air. Don’t need the air qual folks to know that’s hazardous stuff. Step out and you’re on a beach by a bonfire and a dull breeze is blowing the smoke into your face. We have fires to the south, north, west, and now east. Picked up one a few days ago. Whereas an easterly wind was delivering fresh breaths to us, now the wind from any direction carries smoke.
Fires to the south, in NorCal, are the most problematic, because that’s rough country. Power was cut to Crescent City, CA, out of worry, so they’re without over there on the coast. Up Highway 101 in Oregon, hotels and motels are full and price gouging is in full swing. Supply and demand.
And there go the trash people, picking up our refuse in this stuff. It’s early for them, so I think they’re hustling through it to get out of it.
Haven’t seen the sun yet. It’s light, so we know it’s out there. 59 F, it’s a chilly morning, post-night rain. No petrichor last night; just wet bonfire.
It’s Tuesday in Ashlandia, where the problems are real and the solutions are few. But that can be said for many places, yeah?
August 22, 2023. We as a people are gearing up for many things but that’s life, isn’t it? Gearing up. Getting ready. Preparing for the next big thing.
Smoke songs had Les Neurons by the throat this AM when I looked out and saw the situation. The morning mental music stream (Trademark iffy) boiled with smoke songs. Give it a second; hear any in your head? No “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes”? Or “Smoke on the Water”? “Smoke From a Distant Fire”? “Smoke Two Joints”?
I told Der Neurons, “Don’t give me that stuff. I’m turning away from it.” Which started them on turning songs, like Pink Floyd, “On the Turning Away”. “No; that’s not what I meant,” I interjected. “I want clean air. Sunshine.” “Annie’s Song” began. “Closer. Think beach. Ocean. Water.” The Neurons came up with Jack Johnson, “Upside Down” (2006). I owe this to the line, “I wanna turn the whole thing upside down.” Noble sentiment, isn’t it? A world upside down for us would be a world where we’re working together as a species, caring for our planet, one another, and the animals, indivisible by borders, politics, wealth, religion, race, and gender. I always thought that’s what the US was aiming for, “One nation, indivisible.” Yeah, I left out the ‘under God’ aspect. I don’t put God into government.
Be strong and stay pos. Judging from my own balance today, it’s a challenge. Maybe coffee will help. One, two, three, what are fighting for? Oh, wait, wrong moment.
Hey, it’s flip day. Monday, August 27, 2023. Call it flip day. Happens to be a Monday, but it’s a day when you flip your energies from weekend mode – or time-off setting – to business mode or work setting. It’s a state of mind. For me, this day is about businesses being open so I can call and make appointments to get matters attended.
Nature is having its way with us on the west coast. Count among the issues, fires, thunderstorms with lightning strikes, tropical storm with heavy rain, and earthquakes. Asteroid strike and Godzilla are missing but they could show up at any minute.
Ashlandia, where the deer roam everywhere and bears and cougars are frequent visitors, is cool and humid now. After smoke in the morning and in and out of the day, a rainstorm squatted over us and dumped a solid wet load. Struck the temperature down from the eighties into the low seventies like the current GOP taking down the last fifty years of progress.
So, 66 here. Supposed to clip mid-eighties today. Hints of smoke playing with the sky’s color, blending with the clouds, and striking our olfactory nerves. Several hundred lightning strikes recorded in our region this weekend. A few started fires. Those are being attended. Can’t get an update. Net keeps dropping on us. Been out a dozen times in the last twenty-four. Probably the storms, right?
My assumption is that the storms are wonkifying the net connections. Funny how the ancient diagnostics built into this Windows-based system assumes otherwise. They’re about checking your connections. Plugging in an ethernet connection. Checking your adapter. Making sure you’re not in sleep mode or your wireless is turned off. Like, when was the last time that these were problems? In my purview, the problems are generally outside of my walls; it’s the net down, and typically due to weather or power outages somewhere.
To deal with the outages, I’m writing posts in Word with the hope that a connection will come and I can post them. If you’re reading this, that worked. Update to that: went to the coffee shop. They have a connection. So what’s up at my house? Something to pursue once I go home.
Would it surprise anyone to hear that Les Neurons are feeding the morning mental music stream (Trademark stormy) with music about weather? There’s “Stormy” by Classics IV, and that blues staple, “Stormy Monday”, along with songs that feature rain, like “Here Comes the Rain Again” by the Eurythmics, and that one by Guns ‘n Roses, “Sweet Child of Mine”, and its lines about a woman’s hair:
“Her hair reminds me of a warm safe place, where as a child I’d hide. And pray for the thunder and the rain to quietly pass me by.”
Then we had B.J. Thomas (“Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head”). CCR offered a few songs about rain. The Beatles had one. “Fire and Rain”, James Taylor, very appropriate. Elvis. GNR again with “November Rain.” Can we overlook Prince and “Purple Rain” or that ancient classic, “Singing in the Rain”? My Neurons didn’t. How ‘bout “Laughter in the Rain”, “It’s Raining Men”, and “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain”? That’s just a drop in the rain bucket. I’m sure your neurons are peppering your thoughts with more.
But in a quiet moment, as the clouds were contemplated and the humid cool air threw itself against my face, came Gordon Lightfoot with “Rainy Day People” (1975). Cuz there’s a line, there, “Rainy day people all know it hangs on a piece of mind.”
Okay, coffee has landed. Stay pos, be strong, and have a good flipday. Fingers crossed and positive thoughts for all the peoples of the world dealing with weather disasters. Here’s the music. Cheers
Michael Seidel, writer 