Category: weather

Thursday’s Theme Music

We’ve slipped the surly bonds of one day and into the grasp of another. I shall call this one, Thursday the thirteenth of January, 2022. Having said it, the reality spreads like a virus, infecting everyone.

Sunrise, if you believe your mind and eyes, entered our sliver of being in Ashland at 7:38 AM. The sun will slip away and give us over to night at 5:02 PM. Mild winter weather still coddles us, 54 F now, at almost noon, with room for a few more degrees of warmth today. Syrupy white clouds mingle with gray, waiting to be stirred and spead over long blue legs.

“Photograph” by Def Leppard (1983) cropped into the morning mental music stream. My wife’s mother passed away Feb 18, 2018. A picture of the woman is in my office on top of a book club. Taken toward the end of her eighty-five years, intelligence and humor still rumbled in her blue eyes then, not so much in the last year of her life. Seeing the photograph brought out the song. So, why? Don’t know what the neurons are up to. I’m just the vessel.

Stay positive. Test negative, wear a mask as needed, and get the vax and boosts when you can. Have coffee if you sway that way. I do, and I will. Cheers

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Wednesday’s Theme Music

Welcome to Wednesday in the middle. Today is January 12, 2022. Not quite the middle of the month, still the beginning of a new year, but pushing toward the season’s middle, winter in this region. Sunrise took place at 7:38 AM. Sunset will commence at 5:01 PM. We’re already getting more daylight time, and my body, mind, and spirit are all loving it.

Temperatures continue to be moderate to warm. We hit 61 F yesterday in my neighborhood. It’s 44 now and we anticipate a high of 62 F. Fortunately, snow falls in the higher elevations periodically. The snow pack looks decent now. Fingers crossed that more snow is on the way. I understand that more snow is not what’s requested in other parts of the U.S.

The net informs me that it’s also Take the Stairs Day. No problem with me; I love taking the stairs (others accuse me of being obsessive about it), generally doing two at a time (yeah, show-off). I’m also one that doesn’t treat escalators as a leisure ride. Yes, I’m preening a bit here. What’s new?

Drinking my coffee this morning, I toasted the cat sitting at my feet. He’d been relentlessly shadowing me despite being fed. “Here’s to you,” I said. That opened the door for The Call to bring “Let the Day Begin” (1989) into the morning mental music stream.

So, here’s to the day, Wednesday in the middle. Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask, and get vaxes and boosters when ye can. I’m off for more coffee. Cheers

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Tuesday’s Theme Music

Dawn broke the darkness at 7:39 AM. Its light had been stealing in like a child sneaking up to take a cookie that they weren’t supposed to take. But it officially came at 7:39. The backside comes at straight up 5 PM.

Today is January 11, 2022. This will be the only day this year with that date. Make it a special day in honor of its uniqueness. Our temperatures remain warm, 40 F at dawn, 52 now, on our way to 58 to 60. A faded winter sky overlooks a fusion landscape of fall and spring, bare trees and new growth.

I have Steve Winwood’s 1988 song, “Don’t You Know What the Night Can Do?”, parading through the morning’s mental music stream, a reflection of a night of vivid dreams and contemplations about spectrums — the spectrum of time, life, and biology. How the night can change a mood is impressive. One can fall into sleep, awaken a zillion hours later and feel fantastic. Not what the night can do, per se: don’t you know what a good night of sleep can do?

In other news, scientists are using the idea of warm balls as a possible male contraceptive. There are some limits: “In the hotter tests of the experiment, however, the balls atrophied, and in some—depending on how much iron oxide was injected, and how hot the nuts got—showed “distinct black discolorations” and the testes were “severely damaged at 7 days.” If they were cooked above 113 degrees, the balls didn’t recover.” Imagine contraceptive underwear being offered for sale at Target as a holiday stocking stuffer.

Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask, and get the vax and boosters. Excuse me, I’m gonna refresh my coffee. Here’s the music, with a little Letterman and Schaffer. Cheers

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Monday’s Theme Music

Pitter, patter, the cats are at it, running halls like they own them. Greetings to people on the third rock from the sun. Today is Monday, January 10, 2021. The wind abates off and on but the cats remain displeased. Although the sun duly chugged into the sky at 7:39 AM, it did so without great warmth or enthusiasm. The cats don’t like that. “Give me some sunshine,” they meow at me. “Talk to the sun and clouds,” I answer. “I have no hand.”

The sun will hang around until 4:58 PM. The weather isn’t bad despite the cats’ sunshine complaint. Temperature is at 43 F and we expect it to climb to 54 F.

Later, that same day…

The morning was interrupted by phone calls and then it was off to deliver food for Food & Friends. Since the initial words were typed, the weather has improved. Blue has bled through the clouds. Sunshine’s yawn engulfs the valley. We’ve warmed to 54 and the wind has passed to gentle breezes. The cats, however, are indifferent to the changes; they are asleep.

Today’s morning mental music stream resident is Jack Johnson with “Sitting, Waiting, Wishing” from 2005. It’s another cat-inspired choice. While I was doing morning business, the first floof and the floofs-in-waiting sounded off their impatience for morning wet food. Not enough that they have kibble. No, these furry gods also require wet food twice a day, along with royal treats.

Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as needed, and get thee the jabs when you can. Time for fresh coffee. Anyone with me? Cheers

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Sunday’s Theme Music

Sunny and windy, with a warming trend, is how I describe this Sunday, January 9, 2022. The sun kissed the sky, rousing it with rising light at 7:39 AM, and will flee the scene at 4:57 PM. We’re warming quicky, going from 31 at daybreak to 42 now, on our way to 54 degrees F as our high.

Today is the final day of our three-day-apple diet — I’ll write about it later. A request was just received and accepted to swap Food & Friends delivery days, so we’ll be out doing that tomorrow at ten.

Today’s theme song is “Radio Radio” by Elvis Costello from 1978. The song arrived in the morning mental music stream via Facebook comments. A younger cousin was joking about kids getting texts or emails about school cancellations because of snow. He said that he used to have to watch television, scanning the bottom scroll. I replied that we needed to crowd around the radio and listen in our day. As expected, Mom chimed in that back when she went to school in rural Iowa, there weren’t cancellations for the weather. Mom wins.

Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as needed, and get the vax and boosters when you can. Have a nice day while I have a nice hot cuppa coffee. Cheers

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Saturday’s Theme Music

“It’s gonna be a bright, bright, sunshiny day.” Already is. H/t to Johnny Nash for those words and the song they’re from, “I Can See Clearly Now”, from 1972. That’s my theme music today.

Today is Saturday, January 8, 2022. Man, the year is flying by. As this is the late Elvis Presley’s birthday, let’s pause for a moment to imagine an 86-year-old Elvis.

39 degrees F right now but we expect a high of 49 degrees and a low of 32. Not bad for a winter day in our valley.

On happy news, our zip code, 97520, has reached the 80% vaccination rate for our eligible people. Yea, us. On a less happy note, the zip codes around us are mostly mired around fifty to sixty percent, including the large city nearby, Medford. Of course, the Omicron variant has cases zooming to record levels.

Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as needed, and get the vax and booster when ye’ can. Hope you have a bright sunshiny day. I’m gonna go get a hot, hot, black cuppa coffee. Cheers

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Friday’s Theme Music

Dark day in the house despite the sun’s arrival at its appointed time of 7:40 AM. He’d been a little slow warming up for his shift. Most people didn’t know that inside the sun were maintainers on shifts ensuring the light and heat was properly maintained. The sun preferred that no one ever found out. They might start looking if the heat and shine start sputtering. Of course, there was one being called, “Sun”. Parry had never met him; his predecessor, a woman hired him. Maybe ‘the sun’ was another myth. Who knows the truth? The truth was, he was still a little hammered. Had gone out with a few from other shifts yesterday. Made a night of it, ha, ha. That was their favorite joke.

He’d had reason for going out and drinking. This was his anniversary. January 7, 2022. (Right? Wasn’t it? They’d argued the date for some time the previous night.) Been on the job for four hundred years. Enough for a pay bump. Six hundred more until retirement. He’d already begun planning that. Had picked out a star and was saving for a place. Was tired of living in the solar system. He’d spent his whole life there. Born on Pluto, then moved to Mercury. Followed Mum into solar management. Got a job locally. But, he would travel, go to other stars, after he retired. Maybe marry. If he met the right one. Only place he’d really been besides Pluto, Mercury, and the Sun, was the dark side of the moon. Was everything they’d said it would be. Yes, he had been on a few comets. But come on, who had not?

The sun was on course. Would set over Ashland at 4:55 PM. His shift ended a little later. He poured a cup of coffee and peeked into the little region of his responsibility. Chilly day down there. 43. Cloudy. Rainy. Would only reach 45. Not really bad for a winter day, as he understood all that, which was, not much. Weather was another’s purview. He was all about the shine.

With everything settled down, he turned on some music, shifting through dials until a tune he liked was struck, and began playing computer solitaire and wishing for new games. Like the sun couldn’t afford it.

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That just popped up, so I went with it. That out of the way, today’s theme music is by Jet, a 2003 song called “Are You Gonna Be My Girl”. Of course, I was singing it to a cat last night. A ginger boy. So, it was, are you gonna be my cat? He stared at me, like, what? The song stayed in the morning mental music stream. So, here we are.

Stay positive. Test negative. Wear a mask as needed. Get the jabs when you can. Coffee time for me. Cheers

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Thursday’s Theme Music

The results have been collected and tabulated. I am pleased to announce that today is Thursday, January 6, 2022. The sun came up in the east at 0740 and will set in the west at 1654. Our outside temperature by my home is 51 degrees F under partly cloudy skies and bright sunshine. Our expected high is 53 F. It’s a heat wave. One cat is out there loving it, washing himself in the backyard sunshine. The other two have gone back to bed.

To quote a friend about COVID-19:

“The Covid data by Zip Code is, unfortunately what you might expect from Omicron.

Locals seem to be tired of following guidelines.  Hopefully this is primarily due to the unvaxed.

Ashland (Zip 97520) averaged 26/ week fir the first 4 weeks of December; last week it was 52; and this week thru 1/5 it is 125.

Mark’s estimate of peaking in 4 to 6 weeks may be correct; but how high will the peak be?”

Yes, the numbers are stunning. My wife and I went shopping this morning, in the store at 8 AM. Wearing N95 masks, we stopped at two stores. All were masked at the first although one woman wore her mask below her nose. (Really, WTF?) All were masked at the second initially but there was an unmasked jackass at the end. Which summarizes things in hard focus: while you do what you can, there will be jackasses screwing up the best of plans.

Listening to a 1975 Earth, Wind, and Fire song, “That’s the Way Of The World”, in my morning mental music stream. Song’s presence is directly attributable to a late afternoon walk yesterday. Sunset’s last vain rose was touching on the mountain’s white tops across the valley. A little drizzle had been falling but it was pleasant trekking in the 50 degree day. The ingredients spilled peace of mind into me. From there came this mellow song:

You will find (you will find)
Peace of mind (yeah, ha)
If you look way down
In your heart and soul
Ahh, don’t hesitate
‘Cause the world seems cold
Stay young at heart
Ahh, ’cause you’re never
Never old at heart (never, never, never, never, never, never)
Oh, yeah… yeah, ha

h/t to Genius.com

Stay positive, test negative, defend yourself against jackasses by wearing a mask as needed, and get the vax and boosters when you can. Here’s the music. Time for another cuppa coffee. Cheers

Earth, Wind & Fire (8/11) – Thats the way of the world – YouTube

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Wednesday’s Theme Music

If you think this Wednesday is for the birds, it may be because it’s National Bird Day in the U.S. It’s also January 5, 2022. We have about three hundred sixty days until the new year, so hang in there.

The temperature has settled on 39 degrees F. We’re on the way to a high of 46 but clouds again have reduced the sunshine to graylight. Looks like rain out there, so bundle up. Sunrise came on like a slow spread at 7:40 AM and the sun will steal away at 4:53 PM.

My local friends are all buttoned down against COVID-19. All are vaxxed and boosted but all said, “Why risk it?” My wife and I had already decided the same. Gonna be a long winter.

As this is National Bird Day, songs with birds mentioned are in the morning mental stream. We have your robins, blackbirds, snow bird, freebird, night bird, nightingale, dove, and eagle. We also have a Flock of Seagulls. But then the neurons came up with Elton John and “High Flying Bird” from 1973. The album was Don’t Shoot Me, I’m Only the Piano Player. Released in my high school junior year, I found that it dragged too much or the album felt sort of thin. But then, there were certain days, when events and words dumped my mood into the shitter, that this album was good to listen to as a salve for my teenage soul, a good counterweight to Dark Side of the Moon and Quadrophenia. Now the song is part of a pleasant trip back through my head to that place and those people, and the accoutrement wondering of what happened to different folks. Some stories have been told; others were swallowed by life.

Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as needed and distance, and get the vax and boosters when you can. Who’s up for coffee besides me? Here’s the music. Cheers

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Tuesday’s Theme Music

Rain is falling and the mountains peek coyly through the fog. The wheel has spun, landing on…click click click…Tuesday, January 4, 2022. Now you might think, of course, what day did you expect? But then you’re assuming that everything is just as you believe when actually — oh, never mind. Sunrise was a weak tea moment at 7:40 AM. We expect sunset at 4:52 PM. It’s currently 39 F but we expect to see 43 today.

The rain and warmer temperatures have chased the snow away from many areas. Down in town’s lower levels, there’s no evidence a snowstorm had struck. Up around my house and above my elevation (1800 feet), there’s still plenty of snow. The storm has moved on across the country, dumping its load, stalling traffic, canceling flights, pretty and vicious, as nature can be.

I have “Jessica” by the Allman Brothers Band from 1973 weaving its notes in the morning mental music stream. The Allman Brothers were a youthful favorite and I’ve never tired of them. Wore the needle and grooves out on some vinyl, broke a cassette tape, and found it on CD. The net lets me easily enjoy their music, along with all those other terrific, talented people that find and make music. Technology can be quite a cool thing.

Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as needed, and get the vax and boosters. Now I’m gonna sit back, sip coffee, and enjoy the song. This coffee is a potent dark brew, French roast. Its kick would make a shambler zombie fast. Which is just about what I need this AM.

Here’s the tune. Cheers

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