Tag: aging

Wednesday’s Theme Music — Spider webs

Ashland, southern Oregon — Wednesday, October 21, 2026.

We’re in the grip of a cool but sunny autumn day. 69 F at this point, they’re telling us our temperatures will climb to 75 today.

Despite cloud layers, I do believe it’s possible. We never got out of the sixties yesterday despite a forecast for a high in the mid 70s.

I had a blizzard of texts and phone calls this morning. Mom was responsible for eight of them. I spoke with her on the phone for 30 minutes. She wanted to vent about her situation at the nursing home, how other residents have family visiting her. Mom also complained about my sister, Gina, and her frustration with getting various supplies. A lot of it was just having an outlet, I think. I talked her down a bit, but it won’t last long. Frustrated, bitter, angry, lonely, she needs to spill it with someone.

I have “Spiderwebs” by No Doubt in my morning mental music stream again today. It started with thoughts about the web of phone calls, texts — and relationships.

Then there was the Vee incident.

This is Vee.

Vee is a friendly little feline visitor. In this photo, she’s sitting on our bathroom sink. She comes every day and often sleeps in our backyard. Despite this, we sincerely believe she has people. I think she lives in the nearby apartment building but has people who work and/or go to school. Vee usually shows about 9 AM and hangs around until about 8 PM. Some days, she shows later. Other days, she doesn’t show at all.

Vee is short for Visitor and is but one of her names. My wife observed that with those eye markings, Vee could also be called Cleo, short for Cleopatra. I also call her Bandit and Mooch. With her sweet nature, she responds to all of it.

The other day, though, Vee was visiting in our home office where my wife was busy on her laptop. My wife witnessed Vee watch a spider dash across the floor. We have a strict no-kill policy, so spiders aren’t unusual.

Well, Vee’s tail dropped and she took off. Later that day, she refused to re-enter the office. That went on for several days. She finally crept in, looking all around for signs of a spider. We figure she must have had some nasty spider episode that shaped her behavior.

Secondly, adding to my spider web thinking, is politically. We’re in a web of hate, corruption, and grift with Trump. Every day we hear Trump spinning more lies. Trump gets completely tangled up in them but lies about what he said, bullying and threatening anyone who reminded him of what he said.

With that stack in my head, “Spiderwebs” was put in the morning mental music stream.

Hope your day goes without any shitstorms and you eat well, sleep well, and live well in peace and joy.

Cheers

0

Tuesday’s Theme Music — These Days

Ashland, southern Oregon — Tuesday, October 20, 2026.

Last night felt wintry cold outside. Today sits at 66 F under clouds mixing it up with sunshine. The clouds are a chaotic shapes in blues, gray, whites. We expect a high of 75 for this autumn day in the valley.

Mom launched a new barrage of texts and phone calls at me last night. I’d just returned from my third BCG wash and was feeling this one. My energy level was plundered and I was nauseous. Had some burning urinating, and many sudden urges to pee that ended with weak, short trickles. Nuts. Price to pay to get better, of course, and preferable to the alternative.

But that left me ill-prepared for Mom. Just wasn’t up to it. She was texting and calling again about how much pain she’s in and how mad she is with Gina, going into the details of why she’s mad at the only one of her daughters willing to help and visit. Mom finished with the now classic, “If none of the three daughters who live near me want to take me to the doctors, then I don’t want to go.”

Mom has employed that line so many times over the last year, it sincerely *cringe* reminds me of Donald Trump declaring, “We already won the war. I can end it any time I want.” The repetition dilutes their claims’ impact.

I sent Mom a text and basically excused myself from participating due to how I felt, but sent a text to my sisters as well.

And this is life, isn’t it? Sometimes you want sunny skies and get pouring rain. And I shouldn’t complain. It hasn’t rained much in my life. Many, many others have endured much, much, much worse.

Thinking about my childhood much frequently. I attribute it to a combination of Dad’s death last year, Mom’s declining health, my own health matters, along with my wife’s, but also, to history.

Back in my youth, we lived under the threat of nuclear war with China (PRC) and the USSR (Soviet Union, Warsaw Pact). Then the Berlin wall fell. We were supposed to enjoy a peace dividend. That never really came. Much of our foreign policy approaches didn’t change much. Russia replaced the USSR as a major threat and the PRC was still out there.

Now we find Donald Trump aiding Russia. Trump is shaping foreign policy based on his polling woes and fears that he’ll lose the upcoming elections.

Meanwhile, in our schools, children are shot and killed. Few do much about it except dissect what happened and put a spotlight on the killer, victims, and heroes. Then we move on to the next crisis du jour.

With Donald Trump orchestrating matters, there’s always a crisis. His solutions are often short-sighted. They frequently focus on symptoms. They rarely correlate to facts, truth, and history.

These are the days in which we now live.

With all that churning my thinking, The Neurons responded with a Queen song. “These Are the Days of Our Lives” was released in 1991, one of the last songs Freddie Mercury sang with the group before his death.

Searching for a suitable video today, I came up with one featuring Queen with George Michael and Lisa Stansfield.

Sample Lyrics

Sometimes I get to feeling
I was back in the old days long ago
When we were kids, when we were young
Things seemed so perfect, you know?

The days were endless, we were crazy, we were young
The sun was always shining, we just lived for fun

Sometimes it seems like lately
I just don’t know
The rest of my life’s been just a show

I hope the weather accommodates your mood, and your spirit carries you to happy times.

Cheers

1

Thursday’s Theme Music — Money

Ashland, southern Oregon — Thursday, October 15, 2026.

Ah, the 15th. Used to be one of our paydays in the military. Yea, money in the bank! I asked AI if people still get paid on the 15th. It says it does, because that’s how the modern payroll systems are structured. As a military retiree, I get paid once a month. Likewise, my SSA payment comes once a month. Just some morning mental flossing.

It’s warming up out there in our valley. 67 F now, it feels warmer. A high in the 80s is expected today and the overnight low will only dip into the low 50s. Blue sky provides a terrific background to the brightly colored trees, and sunshine dazzles on leaves right now, given the low angle of the sun.

No Mom news, which I call good news. Hope it means she’s painfree and comfortable.

Speaking of money — well, technically, I wrote about payday. Behind that is money, right? I read a WaPo article about Trump’s latest campaign thrust. Going to a deep red Arizona district, the article highlights how little Trump has to offer.

Your Trump Quote of the Day:

The radical authoritarian Donald Trump can’t talk about how great his economy is because it isn’t great. Under the radical, lawless Trump, who broke every campaign promise he ever made, we now have the highest national debt in the history of our great nation. If we had voted in Vice President Harris, we wouldn’t be paying Russia for diesel fuel in an attempt to lower prices from their current record highs and we wouldn’t be in a useless, pointless war in Iran.

Despite facts and history, Trump’s declarations still ring right with some MAGA. From the same article, one 72 year-old Trump supporter said, ““It’s not about MAGA. It’s about what’s best for our country, our freedom, our Constitution, our First and Second amendment.”

I would sure love to see him peppered with questions about Trump’s attacks on the press and freedom of speech. I would also like to hear this MAGAt explain how Trump is supporting our freedom and Constitution. What is he seeing and experiencing that makes this man believe Trump is good for either of those things?

I have the Pink Floyd song, “Money”, in my morning mental music stream. The song came out in 1973. I was a high school junior at the time. I vividly remember listening to it on AM radio as I drove with my friends, Kat and Sandy. We were in Kat’s parents’ car — a huge green Pontiac Bonneville, going through downtown Beckley, WV, on a fall day that’s a lot like today.

Sample Lyrics

Money
It’s a crime

Share it fairly, but don’t take a slice of my pie
Money
So they say
Is the root of all evil today

But if you ask for a rise
It’s no surprise that they’re giving none away
Away, away, away
Away, away, away

It’s funny in a bitterly angry way, but Trump is giving money away in an effort to bribe voters to keep Republicans in office. Yet, when it comes to increasing people’s wages, Trump says he’s for it. Yet the minimum wage remains at the same level as 2009, $7.25. As with everything Donald Trump declares, it’s put your money where your mouth is. For us, that means, a larger military, more monuments for Trump, his name on more buildings and airports — and higher prices for everyone else.

May your day be worry free and joyous. See you on the next one.

Cheers

1

Tuesday’s Theme Music — Where the Hell

Ashland, southern Oregon – Tuesday, October 13, 2026.

Gorgeous, full-throttled autumn day out there. All of nature is actively participating to give us the full fall experience of changing leaves, blue sky, and crisp morning air. We’re going to heat up to 70 today and expect a warming trend for the coming weekend.

Mom is still doing poorly. Mom complained that she was out of pads and feeling a lot of pain urinating, and several other issues. We discovered that she doesn’t tell the assisted living staff any of that, due to her sense of privacy. There are people who can help her with her issues, but she doesn’t tell them she’s having issues, so they don’t offer help.

My sister went over today with new pads and to check on Mom. Found her in the rec room with others. Gina reported that Mom is very lethargic. Mom’s room smelled like urine. Gina has been going back and forth with the assisted living director, Mom, and Mom’s doctors. Gina has also delved more deeply into Mom’s medical records on Mychart.

It’s a busy morning for us. Workmen were expected to arrive and fix the flashing around the bathroom skylight and a few other minor issues on the roof. They were expected between 9 and 10 but didn’t show.

Meanwhile, I’d scheduled the same time for a contractor to come by to inspect the fence and give us assessment about what needs done, if he’ll take the job, and all the details that go with it. He showed on time and that went well. The fence is in pretty good shape overall, with just three posts requiring replacement. He will do those repairs, power wash the fence, and then paint it.

After that, I called the roofers to see what was going on. The other job they were on took longer than planned. They just arrived at 12:30 to begin the work.

My doctor’s office called and told me the Cologuard results were in. My tests were positive, so they’re going to schedule me for some tests and surgery to see if I have colon or other kinds of cancer down there.

My wife is in a cranky mood. She has a nervous disposition and high anxiety and couldn’t sleep last night because of today’s appointments. So it’s one of those if it’s not one thing, it’s another kind of days so far. All in all, it’s still a better life than many others experience. I complain because that’s who I am.

Probably won’t be able to get out and write today, though, which is a bummer. That’s my escape from the insanity, my coping mechanism. I will write at home but it’s not quite the same. For one, I enjoy the coffee shop’s helter skelter energy. Two, when I write at home, my wife often interrupts. She will actually ask, “Can I interrupt you?” Yeah, I’m a curmudgeon of sorts. *smile*

Today’s music is “Where Is My Husband!” This is a 2025 song by Raye. It played on the radio yesterday morning as my wife and I did our food deliveries. I ‘adapted’ it to “Where Is My Congress?” The Neurons like that twist and kept it in the morning mental music stream.

I enjoy the song on its own, though. Here’s the sample lyrics for you.

Sample Lyrics

Baby (whoo-hoo), where the hell is my husband? (Whoo-hoo)
What is taking him so long (whoo-hoo) to find me?
Oh, baby, where the hell is my lover?
Getting down with another? (Whoo-hoo, yeah)
Tell him if you see him, baby, if you see him
Tell him, tell him he should holler

Why is this beautiful man waiting for me to get old?
Why he already testing my patience?
I only fear he’s taking time with other women that ain’t me
While I’ve been reviewing applications

Wait ’til I get my hands on him, I’ma tell him off too
For how long he kept mе waiting, anticipating
Praying to the Lord to give him to my loving arms
And despite my frustrations

He must need me (he must need me) completely (completely)
How my heart yearns for him
Is he far away (is he far away?), is he okay? (Is he okay?)
This man is testing me, uh-huh, uh-huh
Uh, help me, help me, help me, Lord

Of course, yesterday morning, I was singing, “Where the hell is my Congress!” Then I created other lyrics.

May this day find you healthy, peaceful, and ready to vote blue and take the nation back.

Thanks for visiting. Cheers

6

Sunday’s Theme Music — Bad Moon Rising

Sunday, October 11, 2026 — Ashland, southern Oregon.

The weather and foliage matched perfectly yesterday and feel right today. Many of us enthused about the crisp and cool autumn air. This was what we’d been looking for! Temperatures topped in the mid 70s yesterday and dropped to the low 30s last night. Right now finds us at 42 F. Though it’s quite sunny and the sky is clear and blue, today’s high is expected to close out in the mid 50s.

Mom reports a new decline. She’d in pretty good spirits this week. Today, she reported, “My pain upon urinating is worse than ever like it was when I first had the bladder infection and it is brown up upon the pads. And it smells rotten. And I feel physically ill.”

This blow came as my sisters and I have been working out what to get Mom for her upcoming 92 birthday at the end of this month.

Trump and Hegseth are excited for their upcoming military execution by firing squad. Outside of them, Americans are checking their priority lists and problems and realizing that Donald Trump is completely out of touch with them.

People are concerned about Trump’s broken promises, the war in Iran, rising prices, AI, and high food, energy, and healthcare costs. Trump responded with more Operation Epic LOOK — SQUIRREL! antics.

Your Donald Trump Quote of the Day:

Call me an enemy, then, Trump, because I’ll continue to adhere to history and industry standards and refer to artificial intelligence, or AI.

At this point, reading the political news has me growling and shaking my head. I never expected much out of Trump, but he and his administration is an absolute trainwreck. More of Trump’s supporters are pulling away. I doubt it helped Trump’s cause when Trump told supporters at one recent rally, “It’s amazing. When you stand up here, it’s just like…the love. I could say the stupidest things and you’d clap. ‘Oh, I love you so—’ It’s true.”

We’ll see how those Donald Trump supporters feel when the midterm elections results come in next month. Trump said to make the upcoming elections about himself. He doesn’t know how much disapproval of him has grown, how many are turning away from him, and tuning out from him.

Between Mom and Trump, The Neurons put “Bad Moon Rising” in the morning mental music stream. This song by Clearance Clearwater Revival, aka CCR, was released in 1969. It’s about premonitions about bad things on the verge of happening.

Sample Lyrics:

I see the bad moon rising
I see trouble on the way
I see earthquakes and lightning
I see bad times today

Don’t go around tonight
Well, it’s bound to take your life
There’s a bad moon on the rise

I hear hurricanes a-blowing
I know the end is coming soon
I fear rivers overflowing
I hear the voice of rage and ruin

May this day bless you and yours with fresh air, good health, and good fortune.

Cheers

4

Sunday’s Theme Song — Promises

Ashland, southern Oregon. Sunday, October 4, 2026.

Supposed to be bright, sunny, and hot today, but clouds swamped three fourths of the sky, and sunshine struggled to be seen and felt. Never reached close to the 90 which was forecast, but it’s now 83 F.

Dreamed last night that I was in basic training. When I awoke and saw the date, I realized it was the anniversary of my first enlistment. October 4, 1974, I took my first oath. Twenty years later, I declared done.

I remember that first day. Rainy and overcast. Went in oh dark thirty. Was given a meal voucher for breakfast at a nearby local diner. Then had lunch at the same place with another voucher. We didn’t take off until late that afternoon.

That was my first time in an airplane, too. Flew from West Virginia, where I then lived, to San Antonio, Texas, via some other city.

It was a Friday, too. When we arrived at Lackland AFB, Texas, to begin basic training, we were informed there weren’t enough to make a full flight. We wouldn’t begin training until the following Tuesday, and spent the extended weekend in silence in our civies, waiting to begin.

Yes, welcome to the military. That’s how it was during my entire career: hurry up, then wait, then GO!

I spoke with Mom today. She called so I ended up chatting with her for an hour, just talking about life in the assisted living facility, Heritage Grove, Penn Hills. While I was speaking with her, my wife took a call on the home line and we learned that our friend, Larry, passed away at 3 AM this morning.

Larry was 96, and a military veteran. Obtaining a degree from Purdue via the GI Bill, he ended up as an engineer and an executive in the aerospace industry. After college, he lived and worked most of his life in the Los Angeles, California, area, moving up here to Ashland after retiring. He was married and adopted and raised two children and had two grandchildren. Although staunchly conservative and Republican, he was intelligent, trustworthy, and fun. I’ll miss him.

I read the NYT’s coverage of a 2026 Trump rally. They’re heavy with promise and rituals: attack the Democrats, maybe throw in a commie scare. Lie about multiple things. Donald Trump will use profanity — his fans love it when he uses profanity, because he’s telling it like it is, isn’t he? Trump sometimes claims prices are way down, which probably surprises anyone who regularly shops.

At many stops this year, Trump is begging people to support AI and data center construction. It’s the primary commercial construction now underway. He might claim the US already won against Iran, or he might threaten Iran with more bombing.

What is so sad is that after the many lies Donald Trump has made, and after all the promises that Donald Trump has broken, his brand of chaos, hatred, and bigotry still serve a portion of the Republican party.

Today’s music is by Incubus. The 2011 song, “Promises, Promises” did not come from reading the news. It came instead while listening to my mother talk about the inherent promises made — work hard, save your money, buy a house, raise a familiar — all that American dream debris, will bring you happy closure when you pass away. Mom relates that she and her gang of assisted living friends refer to their new home as jail — three hots and a cot.

I hope you live up to the promises you make, and that others fulfill the promises they make to you.

I also hope that promise and swear to Vote Blue in November, 2026.

Cheers

0

Saturday’s Theme Music — Don’t Look Back

Ashland, southern Oregon — Saturday, October 3, 2026.

A scorcher of a day is set up. Long stretches of thin white crossing the atmosphere’s bowl, but it’s mostly blue. Dropped to 80 now — a hot 80 — but it was over 90. More of the same is expected tomorrow.

Mom reports she’s feeling better. Played bingo at the assisted living facility and won five games. She seemed relaxed and — risking the chance of jinxing it — happier today.

Meanwhile, my WordPress still isn’t right, just a fly in my pinot noir. On the good news side, my next step in my cancer treatment, the BCG was moved up to this coming Monday. An impatient person, that pleases me. I’m a ‘let’s get this done’ sort of personality.

Reading political and other news, I told myself, don’t look back. Looking back causes me to grit my teeth with pain and anger over what’s happening with our nation, especially so as Donald Trump breaks promise after promises, rages about different things, and lies about almost everything. There’s a lot riding on the upcoming midterms.

Those thoughts encouraged The Neurons to introduce “Don’t Look Back in Anger” into the morning mental music stream. As I hummed the Oasis tune to myself this morning, I was surprised to see an article claiming that it was released 31 years ago. Why it seems like just yesterday!

Then again, it seems like just yesterday that I took my first driving test and got my license. It feels like just yesterday that I as going to the prom, and just yesterday that I was getting ready to play a football game.

Just yesterday seems so close and so far. Maybe I’m going on a long elliptical orbit around my existence. My memories will begin fading and the next thing I know — without knowing — is that I’m living my life all over again, following the orbit already established through agencies outside of my control.

Here’s the Oasis music. May your orbit take you into brighter, happier days and you smile often.

Cheers

3

Tuesday’s Theme Music – Masquerade

Ashland, southern Oregon. Tuesday, September 29, 2026.

Another lovely autumn day in the Pacific northwest corner of the United States — at least in my small valley. 65 F, with sunshine and blue skies, and a high of 75 F expected.

Spent some time reading sickening news of the Cornell 7. The truth is dribbling out. Right now, the university and those seven men appear despicable, part of the patriarchy and ol’ boys network which so many of us have come to despise. It reminded me and my wife of how Brock Turner got off.

Mom’s birthday is next month. She’ll be 92. My sisters and I are sharing ideas about what she needs and what we can buy her to show love and caring while filling needs and making her a little happier.

One of the other residents is an elderly blind man. Mom returned to find him in her room after lunch today. He’d taken all her clothes out of her closet and strewn them around the room, knocked things over, and made a big mess. Mom summoned the home’s director. She’s calling the blind man’s daughter.

While what happened to Mom is disturbing, I think about what the blind man might be enduring, and how this call can affect his daughter and her family and plans. It’s another of those things which just induces sighs.

Listening to Trump, it feels like we’re at a masquerade ball. Trump pretends we’re in a golden age while so many struggle to pay bills and personal bankruptcies are at a rate not seen since 2010. As the US military launches more attacks on Iran and Iran swings back, Trump at once pretends it’s ‘a conflict’ and simultaneously declares we’re at war.

Trump also masquerades as being indifferent about the war, referring to it as small potatoes. I’m sure that Iranian citizens will be pleased to hear that Trump thinks the bombing of their nation and the killing of their children and others is ‘small potatoes’. But that’s Trump — a monster trying to masquerade as a human.

Most distressingly, so many Republicans, too many citizens, too many in the media, and even too many Democrats treat what Trump and the Project 2025 contingency embedded in his administration as if it’s normal. Chief Justice Roberts in the Supreme Court bounces around the masquerade ball, fretting about what Trump is doing, then enabling him via unsigned shadow docket rulings for emergencies.

So today’s music is “This Masquerade”. George Benson had a hit with this half a century ago, a fact that makes me LAUGH OUT LOUD.

I hope this day gave you a number of reasons to laugh out loud and look back with joy.

Cheers

3

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