40 degrees F. Rainy and foggy. Snow still clings to the Earth. The sun is AWOL behind a gray cloud curtain. We’re on our way to a 47 degree high.
Good morning. Welcome to Monday, January 3, 2021.
Windstorm last night. Sounded like highspeed trains encircling us. One wind slapped the house side like Thor’s hammer. No apparent damages, though.
Sunrise: 7:40 AM. Sunset: 4:51 PM.
“Higher” by Creed (1999) is the morning mental music stream’s resident song. Ruminating about the night’s rations of dreams invited the song in. The song is about dreams, although I sometimes feels like a religious paean: “Can you take me higher? To a place where blind men see. Can you take me higher? To a place with golden streets.” It could be drugs, too, couldn’t it? But I thought I’d adopt it for this new year’s first Monday: can you take me higher? Keep climbing, you know?
Stay positive, test negative, wear masks and drink coffee as needed, and get the jabs. I’m off for my coffee now. You just sit and listen to the tune. Cheers
The results are in: it’s Sunday, Jan. 2, 2022. Got to recondition myself to put in the new year. Used to be quite a challenge when check writing was the norm.
Windy today. Warming up but inches of snow still bury all but the streets. 39 F right now, up from 25, on the way to 45 F. The 7:40 AM sunrise was a low watt affair, a lazy crawl of light over the valley’s shadows. Sunset is anticipated at 4:51 PM.
We’d planned a walk yesterday, as unoriginal as a ton of people also thought would be a great idea for the new year. Encountering friends, though, we were given warnings. People were falling; the footing was treacherous. An abort was called. Weather brought to mind a Phish song, “Seven Below” that I used to hear on the radio on the alt adult radio stations around 2002, 2003. For the record, Phish Food is my favorite Ben & Jerry’s ice cream flavor. Here’s the official description: “Chocolate Ice Cream with Gooey Marshmallow Swirls, Caramel Swirls & Fudge Fish”
Blue, splinter and grow New crystals of snow Seen several kinds Through seven below
Today is Saturday, January 1, 2022. It’s 28 degrees outside, up from 22. The snow remains under blue skies and bright sunshine. Today’s high will be 35 degrees F.
Sunrise was sharp and clear at 7:40 AM, with an assertive sun climbing over the mountains to dazzle the eye, highlighting the snow’s peaks, bluing the shadows. Sunset is due at 4:50 PM.
For reasons not transparent to me, The Killers song “Read My Mind” (2007) is manhandling the morning mental music stream. I think it’s simple word play association. I was thinking about the ‘good ol’ days’. That’s a line featured in the song.
The good old days, the honest man The restless heart, the Promised Land A subtle kiss that no one sees A broken wrist and a big trapeze Oh, well, I don’t mind if you don’t mind ‘Cause I don’t shine if you don’t shine Before you go, can you read my mind?
Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as needed, get the jabs when you can, and have a safe, healthy, happy, prosperous, mind-blowing, amazing 2022. I’m gonna start with a cuppa coffee. Just like in the old days. Cheers
It’s snowing again! That’s pretty unusual for us in Ashland. This whole situation is unusual. We generally don’t receive so much snow. When we do, we all remember it. And, usually when snow is received like this, the sun bursts out of cover and melts it all away. That the snow has lingered, that it’s snowed multiple days, that the temperatures are staying on the cold side, are all departures from the norm.
Today is Friday, the final day of 2021, December 31. The temperature is 33 degrees so the snow isn’t staying. Just landing on top of old stuff, covering the street, then melting away, even as more snow falls. I guess this is technically snow flurries or snow showers.
Sunrise was a gray affair at 7:40 AM. We’ll lose our graylight at 4:49 PM.
A 1980 Judas Priest song, “Living After Midnight”, is playing in the morning mental music stream. This was a gift from the cats. One decided to imitate Paul Revere’s midnight ride and gallop around the house. The other cats were instantly concerned about this energetic burst. Checking the time, I saw it was just after one AM. That triggered the line, “I took the city ’bout one a.m. Loaded. Loaded.” The lines were changed to reflect the moment: “I took the house ’bout one a.m. Meowing. Meowing. The weird thing about this song is it never sounds like Judas Priest to me. Seems too pop. But it’s a good song for New Year’s Eve, innit? Yes! Happy New Year’s. See you after midnight. See who’s still rocking besides the cats.
Stay positive, test negative. Wear a mask as needed, avoid cruise ships, and get the jabs and coffee when you can. I got my jabs. Now I’m gonna get my coffee. Cheers from the snowside.
Hello, sojourners, here we go, another Thursday, the final Thursday of December and 2021. That’s a lot to put on any day of the week, to be the last of its kind. Let’s hope Thursday endures.
It’s December 20 and 33 degrees F here in Ashland, up from the overnight low of 24. Snow…yes, we have some. Want some? Snow flurries expected today but so too is a high of 40. The sun popped in with an early morning show at 7:39 AM before yielding the sky to clouds. When we reach 4:48 PM, the world will turn away from the sun again, putting its reach beyond our horizons.
I’m singing along to “Coconut” by Harry Nillson as it plays in the morning mental music stream. The trigger was the breakfast oatmeal breakfast ritual where a last-minute ingredient was coconut. Coconut went quite well with the chopped figs and dates, cranberries, walnuts, sunflower, and pumpkin seeds already residing in there, along with brown sugar. The song is a fun novelty song about being sick, calling a doctor, and a lime and a coconut. Good singalong song as the lyrics are darn simple.
Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as needed, and the vax and boosters when you can. We still have 796 people requiring a shot to reach 80% in my zip code. It’s slowly trickling down as cases shoot up.
Here’s the music. Time for the coffee quest. Cheers
Not snowing. But snow in its piles and layers across lawns, trees, and just about everything but the street still dominates the mind’s intake.
Thirty degrees F. Soft grays infused with whites blanket the sky. Creamy blues enhance the edges above the snowed in evergreens and low mountains.
Today is December 29, 2021. Wednesday. Today, tomorrow, and the day after, and we’re done with 2021. Can stick it in the garage with the other years.
Sunrise crept in more like it was fog than it was sunshine at 7:39 AM. Sunset cometh at 4:47 PM. Sunset is slowly ratcheting back. Sunrise has hit a pause. More daylight is in the offering, if the clouds will let it in.
A 1972 Steely Dan song, “Dirty Work”, is floating on the morning mental music stream. Came into the stream last night as I cleaned the cats’ litter box, harvesting the potatoes. I don’t think much more needs said about that connection.
Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as needed, and get the vaccine and boosts when you can. Here’s the music. There’s my coffee. It’s like a moment of Zen. Cheers
Welcome to Tuesday, December 28, 2021. It’s 28 degrees F out there, so wear your warmest sandals.
Sunrise came at 7:39 AM, showing that the snow is still out there. Had fifteen inches on the ground yesterday. We shoveled off the walk and driveway and removed the snow wall the plow had kindly built for us. This morning, all was covered by a fresh two inches. Everything was closed, canceled, or shut yesterday in our little town — well, everything except grocery stores, hospitals, and emergency services. They all functioned. It’ll get up to 36 F today, so we might get some relief if the weather system can move on the clouds and let the sun in. After sunset at 4:46 PM, the temperature is expected to drop locally to 19 degrees F. Yes, that’s chilly for us.
These snow levels are not consistent across the area. We’re in a valley. Houses are on the valley floor and up the mountain slopes. My house sits at about 1800 feet. Some friends higher than me reported that they had two feet of snow. Others who are lower in the valley received two to three inches. Up the Interstate twenty minutes where the valley is broad and wide, a buddy reported he had two inches. Three thousand feet higher than me, down the road ten minutes, they received sixty inches.
Weirdly, I have a song by the Beatles in the morning mental music stream. “I Feel Fine” came out in 1964. I remember neighbor girls playing a 45 RPM record of the song on a little pink and white portable phonograph on their back patio but that was a few years later, probably in 1966. I guess that because, while I was young, we’d moved to a new neighborhood then, our fourth one in five years. A lot of moves, houses, and schools, but it helps organize and structure my memories, if you know what I mean. I suspect the song is housed in the stream because my wife and I were talking about The Beatles with friends last week. My wife confesses that she didn’t like the Beatles. Never thought them that great. Which, shrug, is fine, because tastes are different, as are choices and circumstances. That’s life, which is another song now playing in my head (covered by Frank Sinatra), but we’ll go into that another day. I think “I Feel Fine” is in my head because I like that opening bit of feedback they incorporated. I’ve gone with a live version of the song so that feedback note is missing (ironic, right), but I enjoy flashing back to these live performances of groups and the changes between now and then so sharpy etched. Guess it feeds my nostalgia.
Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as needed, and get the jabs and boosters as needed. Speaking of getting, I’m getting some coffee. Make it hot and black.
The royal clowder’s faces were grumpy. “I’m bored,” the first floof said. “This — ” He flicked a tail of disdain. ” — snow outside is ruining my day. There are no birds to watch, other cats to chat up, nor even squirrels to argue. I want sunshine!”
“I’m bored,” the second floof said as the third said, “I’m bored, entertain me.”
“Sorry, guys,” the man replied. “There is nothing I can do about it. Here’s some catnip and a couple stuffed mouses to bat around.” He walked off.
The floofs glared at his back. “I say that we replace him,” one said.
“Perhaps,” the second said. “Look how long we’ve had him, and he still doesn’t give us the food and treat that we demand.”
“Not to mention that he can’t do anything about the weather,” the first floof said.
“I’m bored,” the third floof said, and then assumed an attack position. “Wanna fight?”
Monday, December 27, 2021, 6:55 AM. Sunset was forty-five minutes away, but the light was strong. “Alexa, what’s the temperature?”
“The current temperature in Ashland is thirty degrees. Today’s high will be thirty degrees. Have a nice day, Michael.”
We have about fifteen inches of snow around the house. It snowed all Sunday, stopping at night, as if it was checking out of work. Snow fall resumed about 8 AM. I was checking on the temperature because I’d just let the ginger wonder, Papi (formerly known as Meep) onto the covered back patio. He walked the bare cement, judging the snow, then made two long leaps to some bushes where scant snow covered the ground. I thought he’d come back then, but no, he turned and made a mad dash along the fence and disappeared into the back bushes. Twenty minutes later, he returned, heading for the kibble.
For the record, sunset is at 4:45 PM. Snow is expected to continue throughout the day. For the record, I hope all are safe and warm.
I have an Eagles cover of “Please Come Home for Christmas” jing-jing-jingling in the morning mental music stream. Mellow cover, fine voice, came out in 1978, so it’s thick with memories.
Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as needed, and get the jabs when you can. Stay safe but have fun. They’re not mutually exclusive. Time for coffee for me, for being a good boy. At least, that’s what my cats tell me. Cheers
Michael Seidel, writer 