Category: weather

Thursday’s Theme Music

Thursday, June 24, 2021, found the sun’s first fiery fingers combing through the valley at 5:36 AM, silencing the night life, stirring the more noisy, numerous day life. With more thunderstorms yesterday and some meager sprinkles, temperatures fell again. Sol is expected to lift the temperatures back into the low to mid-nineties in our region. Right now, it’s 78 F and mildly humid. Sunset is expected at 8:51 PM.

We have a vacation planned for next month. Our vacations generally rank well with us in experience, and hold up well with memory. Most memorable are the ones that go wrong. Like, for instance, that time that we were living on Okinawa. We took space available seats — Space A is the lingo — on a military aircraft to Hawaii. Had a wonderful time. Space A took us south to Guam on a C141. Dark as hell in there. Seats bolted to the floor, facing cargo pallets and an engine. Box lunches — chicken, sandwiches, candy bars — sustained us. We landed at Midway. The base commander opened the small exchange and showed us around.

Meanwhile, a typhoon (as we called them then — this was in 1983) was churning around the Pacific. We made it to Clark AB in the Philippines (now gone) only to be hurried north. We were trying for our home base of Kadena on Okinawa, but the typhoon’s plans interfered. We ended up in Yokota Air Base, Japan, where the typhoon hunted us down, forcing us to shelter in place. Finally, the storm reversed direction and swung south, freeing us to head home, ending a ten day adventure. Not quite National Lampoon’s Vacation, but a lot of fun. And memorable.

So today’s music is “Vacation” by the Go-Go’s (1982). Test negative, stay positive, wear a mask, and get the vax. Here’s the music. Cheers

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Wednesday’s Theme Music

An afternoon of thunderstorms was Tuesday’s highlight. Rain fell sometimes. With all the thunder, you wonder, where is the lightning striking in this dry land? What part of the tinder is meeting its match? But it brought temperatures down into the eighties, though with a muggy overlay. Overnights fell even lower, forcing us to close windows against getting too cold. Aren’t we precious?

Hi. Today is Wednesday, June 23, 2021. Our ol’ friend Sol entered our valley like a child sneaking in past curfew, arriving at 5:35 AM (again – been several days of 5:35 AM sunrises). The child will sneak back out at 8:51 PM.

All that thunder and questions about lightning caused Eddie Floyd’s song, “Knock on Wood” (1966), to knock on my thoughts. Its fat sound spoke to my mood. Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as needed, get the vax, and enjoy the day. Here’s the music. Cheers

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Tuesday’s Theme Music

The slide began on a Tuesday, June 22, 2021. Sunrise at 5:35 AM was one minute later than the previous day. This depressed Michael. He could see the tunnel forming that would lead inexorably to the coldest, shortest day, which meant the longest, darkest night.

Brewing coffee, he shook it off. Summer was here! At 9:00 AM, the local temperature was 78 degrees F. Thunderstorms and clouds offered some refuge from the heat. They’d only be 94 today before the Earth’s turn shifted them from the sun at 8:51 PM. The thunderstorms might bring wildfires, though. Fingers crossed…

He began humming “More Human Than Human”. Humming it until he began singing, soto vocce, “Yeah. Yeah.” The White Zombie song came out decades before. When? Yes, back when he retired from the military in 1995. He’d been amused hearing it. The song title is lifted from one of his favorite movies, “Blade Runner”, based on a favorite book, “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” He often thought of that slogan while slogging through corporate meetings in subsequent years. The start ups. Then Tyco. ISS. IBM. “More Human Than Human” encapsulated the misleading slant corporations bring to their marketing.

It was a depressing way to begin the day. Brewing more coffee, he turned to writing. Even if not a successful writing day (which was always iffy), writing was a distraction, his personal drug.

“Be positive,” he told himself. Test negative, his mind answered. Wear a mask when needed. Already got the vax. The state — his adopted state, Oregon — was almost at seventy percent.

Fingers crossed. It was becoming his personal slogan.

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Monday’s Theme Music

76 degrees F at 8 AM. Will probably be a warm Monday.

June 21, 2021. This is it: our longest day. That’s the accepted norm. I like the long periods of daylight, so, sigh. Not looking forward to the shorter days of daylight. Sunshine initiated ‘the longest day’ with its faint streams at 5:35 AM. It’ll cease at 8:51 PM. Between those hours, high temperatures in the upper nineties will be enjoyed. It’s interesting that today’s sunrise is a minute later than the last two days, but sunset is later. Result of all these rotations, revolutions, and tilt in play, yeah? Fun to imagine us streaking through the solar system around Sol, along with our planet siblings, while the whole arrangements itself is whizzing through the galaxy and the galaxy is racing through the Universe.

“Summertime Blues” by Eddie Cochran occupies the AM mental music stream. The song was released when I was two but received a lot of airplay throughout my youth. Although the song is about the misery of a teenager with a summer job, I’ve always been enamored of that line, “There ain’t no cure for the summertime blues.” A gaggle of acts have covered the song, including The Who and Brian Seltzer, but I’m loyal to that original. It popped out of memory and into active thought as I finished painting yesterday and contemplated my next summer task. Wonder why. Heh.

Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as needed, and get the vax. Cheers

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Sunday’s Theme Music

The time was 5:34 AM. Sunshine trickled over the hills and through whatever gaps the world offered, heralding the commencement of another day in Ashland, Oregon. Heat began its trickle a few hours later. Temperatures trickled into the seventies by the mid-morning and whispered about going into the mid-nineties.

It is Father’s Day in the U.S., June 20, 2021, a holiday officially recognized in 1972, a news moment that passed by my teenage head with little notice. I have no FD plans other than the standard Sunday through Saturday routines. Coffee, writing, some work around the house, maybe a short drive somewhere, perhaps more house painting before sunset is called at 8:50 PM. Dad is alive in Texas. I see him every few years. He calls me on my birthday and whenever he goes back into the hospital. He’s gone numerous times this year. Despite a young enthusiasm for Lucky Strikes and Camels, he didn’t see much of a hospital until he struck into his eighties. Now he’s a regular. I’ll call him later today. Did send a card. We’ll talk about cars and military service. It’s our common ground. He’s on his third marriage. This one has stuck, as they’ve gone past twenty years.

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers are in my mind with their 1981 song, “The Waiting”. “The waiting is the hardest part.” Yes, waiting to write is the hardest part for me, getting torn away from it by other requirements. No how life was planned. Didn’t have a plan, TBH. I was just winging that mutha.

Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as needed, and get a vax. We’re almost at sixty-nine percent in Oregon, edging toward seventy jab by jab. The waiting until then…well, you get it. Here’s the music. Cheers

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Friday’s Theme Music

Sunshine crept through the valley at 5:34 AM, illuminating crags and ravines, dips and hills, shadows growing in its wake. Summer, the area whispered. Not yet, the area replied.

Today is Friday, June 18, 2021. Our area temperatures will flirt with the nineties until the world’s rotation pulls sunset to us at 8:50 PM. The cooling will commence, bottoming in the mid-fifties. The planet will continue its rotation and we’ll do it all okay.

Well, the planet and sun will do its routines, as will the moon and clouds, winds and tides, waters, lands, and animals. Humans will go, “Oh, wait, what day is this? Have I paid this bill? It’s so-and-so’s birthday. Did you see the news? How ’bout that funny new video. Did you hear what Allen Carson Letterman Leno Arsenio Stewart Conan said about Kennedy Johnson Nixon Ford Carter Reagan Bush Clinton Dubya Obama Trump Biden last night?” Outrage, mocking, and laughing will ensue. First kisses will take place. First steps. More deaths. More births. Billionaires and millionaires will line their pockets and others will starve and die, homeless.

And we’ll click. Smile for the phone. Stream some entertainment. Edge along memories and dance with hope.

Think I’ll listen to “Against the Wind” by Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band from 1980. “Seems like yesterday, but it was long ago.” Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask when needed. Get the vax. Here’s the music.

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Thursday’s Theme Music

Sunshine began a slow unveil of a cerulean sky at 5:34 AM. Edging onto the cusp of summer, temperatures in the mid-eighties will dominate our southern Oregon valley with the thermometer’s readouts dipping into the low fifties after the sun slides out of the area at 8:50 PM. Humidity is fading away. The heat grows dryer and more intense. Grasses veer browner. Wispier.

Today is June 17, 2021. It’s a Thursday, named after the pagan God of Thirst. Many still pay homage to Thursday’s roots by seeking thirst quenchers and libations in a mellow ritual called ‘Happy Hour’ after work on Thursday’s. Being a forward-looking dude, I did my genuflecting on Wednesday this week.

Getting ready to paint more of the house interior. Naturally, I’m singing AC/DC’s 1982 song, “For Those About to Paint (We Salute You)”. Oh, sorry, my brain informs me that I was misinformed about the title and subject matter. Never too old to get corrected on these matters.

Here’s the music. Don’t understand how I was wrong on those lyrics all these years. Maybe paint fumes were mesmerizing me. Stay positive, test negative, get the vax, and do as needed with the mask. To your health; cheers.

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Wednesday’s Theme Music

Sunrise greeted the valley at 5:34 AM on this Wednesday. Jays shouted about being the first to see it. A jay argument commenced about which jay shouted first. Weather will be more closely aligned to summer today. While it’s a cool 61 F now, forecasts and the sky’s demeanor point to temperatures in the mid 80s.

Today is Jun 16, 2021. Just a few days of spring remain. Also, you case you haven’t seen any ads on television or on the net, and haven’t gotten any emails about the subject, Father’s Day is coming up. Prepare accordingly. By the way, the sun will flee the valley as the world turns at 8:49 PM.

Our county of Jackson has met the threshold to be declared a moderate threat in COVID-19 terms. Cases and deaths are steadily declining. Still a max of six per table for inside dining at restaurants, but eight per table are allowed outside. Retail stores can go to 75% of capacity. Statewide, we’re at 68% of the pop being fully vaccinated. 70% is on the horizon.

“Land of Confusion” by Genesis (1986) boomed into my mental radio this AM. Not a surprising song for the day. Despite being dismissed in court, trump supporters continue to insist that trump won the election and that DJ will take office in August. No, there’s nothing in the Constitution that will cover this. Some 30% of Republicans believe this. DJT’s campaign is selling tickets to his inauguration event. The unreality is deep.

So, “Land of Confusion” works. Stay positive, test negative, get the vax, wear a mask as required, depending upon your vaccination status, city, state, and what you’re doing, and how many others in your party are vaccinated, whether anyone has recently tested positive for COVID-19, and what’s going on with breakthroughs. Here’s the tune. Cheers

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Tuesday’s Theme Music

Sunrise danced into our valley on tiny wings of light this morning at 5:33, heralding the start of Tuesday, June 15, 2021, with milky sunshine. Clouds and rain will cool the sun’s ardor today until backing out at 8:46 in the evening, letting us mark another day done.

I’m grooving to old ZZ Top this morning. Going through the head list of things that must be done, the activities my wife wants me to do, and what I’d really like to be doing called “Got Me Under Pressure” from 1983 out from the memory cloud, where it’s always hazy with a chance of fog. Stay positive, test negative, and get the vax. As for the mask, it’s really become murky in our zone. Stores say, “Masks required” on front-door signs, and will often mention that they must cover the mouth and nose. But there’s not enforcement. CDC and gov’t guidelines say, hey, if you’ve been fully vaxxed, the Gods are with you that you’ll probably be okay. But, beware of breakthroughs and variants. I still wear a mask shopping in stores and in public places like the library. That’s about the range of where I roam.

Here’s the music. Cheers

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Monday’s Theme Music

Clouds smothered the sunrise. Though we knew it was there and indeed, daylight emerged, clouds blemished the sun’s initial entrance at 5:34 AM. Indications are, we should get used to it. Charcoal etched clouds promised rain all Sunday. It didn’t come until night dropped. Saturday temperatures reached 80 F, Sunday, 76. Today the guess is mid sixties before sunset at 8:48 PM.

Today is Monday, June 14, 2021. With this unseasonable rain and cool temperatures, doubt that summer is almost on us is acceptable. We know summer is coming but this weather surprises us. We’ll take it, though. After winter’s mild snows, we’re starved for moisture to help allay the spreading drought’s impact.

Today’s song is pandemic and relationship driven. After being isolated together since March 2020 and married since August 1975, my wife and I sometimes have issues with one another. We often have issues. We get tired of our own routines; we tire of the other’s preferences and stances. In the midst of one of those, while discussing something inane – might have been a television show, might have been shopping – what shall we get, when shall we get it – lines from the 1983 Genesis song, “That’s All”, came into my head.

But why does it always seem to be
Me looking at you, you looking at me
It’s always the same, it’s just a shame, that’s all.

Stay positive, test negative, get the vax. Cheers

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