Tag: cats

Thursday’s Theme Music

Mood: Stockup

Ashlandianers have the giggles over the cooling temperatures. “It’s only going to be 99 degrees today,” we gushed to one another yesterday. “And it’s only going to be 97 tomorrow. Woo hoo!”

Yes, everything is relative. But after a week of record-setting triple digit heat, you can understand our happiness.

Today, Thursday, July 11, 2024, finds us at 71 F right now, with 97 coming over the horizon. Mild smokiness hazes the mountain’s pine shapes but there’s little graying of the blue sky. PurpleAir shows no unhealthy areas of air in our area, another woo hoo moment. Our largest near fire, Salt Creek, is about 90% lined, 16% contained. Mop up is going on in Division A and some parts of Division F. Division W is less tightly lined and they’re using dozers to work that. They’re contining to run 24 hour shifts and are making steady progress.

The Beer Fete for my retiring buddy went well last night. Twelve retired individuals – ten male, two female — two engineers, two botanists, a forensic microbiologist, a hazmat expert, two teachers, a metallurgist, a doctor, the professor emeritus, and me — were gathered. Yeah, we prefer small groups, thanks. The gang chose to sit indoors. Although the temperature had dropped into the mid 90s by then and we had shade, a vicious warm wind was snapping at us. A vote was taken and in we went to air-conditioned socializing. We mostly talked politics. A vote showed that President Biden should remain in the race, 10-2.

Despite yesterday’s lower temperature, cooling the house in the evening proved difficult. The heat was just hanging. I had doors and windows wide open. Papi and Tucker (pronounced Tuckah) both exclaimed, “To hell with this,” and went out to cool off in the Ashlandia serengeti which is my backyard.

For reasons known only to them (and they’re not sharing), The Neurons have “Sweet Freedom” by Michael McDonald (1986) playing in the morning mental music stream (Trademark sunbaked). So although I lack a ‘real’ reason for playing it on this warming morning, it’s an uplifting tune and I’m going with it.

Be positive and strong, lean forward, and Vote Blue. Coffee and I are doing our thing. Here’s the music. Cheers

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Flooflial

Flooflial (floofinition) – Relating to, befitting, or of an animal. Origins: From the flooftin, floofius.

In Use: “Many people must address their flooflial obligations when they’re planning vacations or hosting gatherings.”

In Use: “Paul Santell developed a flooflial routine, carrying food to feed strays, eventually feeding and saving thousands of cats.”

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Tuesday’s Theme Music

Mood: boisterous

Smoke has cleared out in a reprieve for Ashlandia. Temperatures, sadly, remain close to the ‘we’re living in a place that’s hotter than hell’ zone.

It’s Tuesday, July 9, 2024. Excessive heat warnings still dominate our local news and conversations. ‘Only’ reached over 104 F at my house yesterday. Yes, that was an improvement, but with the smoke and the nocturnal temp falling to ‘only’ 71, our house didn’t cool much overnight. Right now, it’s 74 at our place and it’s expected to reach 103 F and dip to 68 F tonight. Tomorrow, fingers crossed, temperatures will not enter the triple digit realm. We’ll stay cooler, in the upper 90s, until Saturday, when 100 F is predicted for a final burst before the temperatures fall into the low 90s for a period.

The high heat has moved authorities to declare an extreme heat danger emergency, curtailing outdoor activities such as cutting grass and using power tools which might ignite a fire.

It’s important to count my blessings, though. We’re not flooded out of our homes as midwesterners were in June. Nor are we without power as several millions are in Texas after Beryl’s visit. We’re not trapped by forest fires as in parts of California and Oregon, nor are we in the seriously hot levels of Las Vegas (new record of 119 F) or Palm Springs, California (new record of 124 F). Overall, too, my wife and I have food and shelter security, sanitary conditions, and a place to call home that affords us safety and privacy.

The cats are coping. We keep Tucker in. Long-haired, with thick stuff, he’s elderly and needs to be protected more. Young Papi is better at adjusting, it seems. I give both kibble water several times a day. They love it at night, when it finally cools, and the back door is left open. They just lie inside on the living room carpet, enjoying the cooler air as it comes in, admiring their backyard domain.

We’re still enduring being without AC. It is getting more difficult as the relentless heat plagues us. The AC part that was to have arrived yesterday will now arrive on July 12. Why? No reason given but with the weather around the nation, I can easily envision supply chain disruptions caused by flooding, heat, and fire.

EXCEPT — and here is the part where I get irked — their tracking updates showed the part to be not far from me, in fact, 300 miles away by car yesterday at 1 AM. Maybe the truck was involved in a traffic accident or robbery. Don’t know, but that swing from here today to four days away without amplifying information is difficult to swallow. Maybe I’ll just call a repair being.

EXCEPT — Just received an email saying that it’s in the next town and is out for delivery. Like, WTF, man, get your story straight. Hope it arrives soon, and that it fixes my issue. Fingers and toes all crossed and knock on wood.

Today’s music is by Lil Wayne. Called “Mrs. Officer”, it was released in 2008, but The Neurons heard it on the radio yesterday, and it’s just titallating the crap out of them. So it’s in my morning mental music stream (Trademark smokin’) at high volume today.

You familiar with this song? Quite crazy.

Yeah, doing a buck in the latest drop
I got stopped by a lady cop, haha
She got me thinking I can date a cop, haha
‘Cause her uniform fit her so tight
She read me my rights
She put me in her car, she cut off all the lights
She said I have the right to remain silent
Now I got her hollering, sounding like a siren
Talking ’bout (wee-ooh-wee-ooh-wee) yeah
(Wee-ooh-wee-ooh-wee) Yeah (wee-ooh-wee-ooh-wee) yeah
And I know she the law, and she know I’m the boss
And she know I get high above the law
And she know I’m raw, she know I’m from the streets
And all she want me to do is fuck the police
Talking ’bout (wee-ooh-wee-ooh-wee, wee-ooh-wee-ooh-wee)
Yeah (wee-ooh-wee-ooh-wee) yeah

h/t to AZlyrics.com

Stay positive, be strong, and Vote Blue in 2024. Coffee and I have done the tastebuds handshake and we’re off. Here’s the music. Cheers

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Mindfloofness

Mindfloofness (floofinition) – Practice of keeping awareness of what animals are doing, or their locations. Origins: circa 1430, Republica of Floofica.

In Use: “Leading the floofsitter around the house, Barb told her, ‘You need to exercise mindfloofness with this gang, because the dog will get a notion to do something, and then get the cats involved, and the next thing you know, it’s floofhem.'”

In Use: “Whenever the doorbell rang, Tessa needed to immediately have more mindfloofness, because both the cat and dog loved ambushing visitors in a secret little game which they seemed to play.”

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Saturday’s Theme Music

Mood: Jubifeinated

Today is Saturday, July 6, 2024. It’s 80 F outside and we’re expected to peak at 110 F. Well, some say it’ll just be 104 or 105. My house saw over 104 yesterday while a friend on the other end of town recorded 107 at their place. It’s already feeling hotter today because the temperature didn’t dip much below 70 today. A bright, vigorously hot sun is working with cooperative air to keep it viciously hot. The clouds have scurried away from this endeavor.

Triple digit highs are expected to continue visiting Ashlandia for the next three days but today is expected to be the most bakiest heat, although it’s by a degree and depends on where you’re at in town, and how much shade is offered by trees and mountains.

The cats are coping well with the heat. I give them kibble water — water with a few pieces of dry food in it — and they suck that up, keeping them hydrated. My wife and I are also coping well despite our AC being inop — or even the HVAC’s fan being available. It did reach a warm 86 in the house yesterday but fans blowing on our sweat and lots of water kept us cool.

Discussions about the weather yesterday inspired today’s theme music. We were talking about how it was hotter than yesterday but it won’t be as hot as tomorrow. The Neurons took license like that, twisting an old pop song. Suddenly I had them singing, “It’s hotter today than yesterday, but not as hot as tomorrow.” They were doing it to the music of “More Today Than Yesterday”, a 1969 song by the Spiral Staircase, which was now ringing through the morning mental music stream (Trademark dated).

I need to pause here because I didn’t know it was the Spiral Staircase performing. I didn’t know who it was. It often sounds like Stevie Wonder to me. I just learned today via Wikipedia.org that the vocalist, Pat Upton, was known for his unusually high voice. He passed away in 2016, 76 years old, so thanks for the music, Mr. Upton.

Stay positive, be strong, lean forward, and Vote Blue in 2024. Coffee and I have met this morning and begun our exchange. Here’s the music. It appears to be a lip syncing offering, as there aren’t any visible microphones and there are no wires leading to the electric guitars, among several clear clues. Cheers

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Friday’s Theme Music

Mood: Coffeeupped

Santana and Rob Thomas are performing “Smooth” in my mental music stream (Trademark classified) as I begin to write. Because it’s gonna be a hot one.

Yesterday, my tiny home weather station said it was 100.0 F at 3:38 PM. The temperature eked up to 101.9 from there, and then began sinking. We were down to 83 F by 9. Despite our home AC outage, we kept cool. Didn’t really heat up in the house until after 7 PM, when it went to 84. That’s cause we’d capture and stored cool AM air. Translation: we opened the doors and windows in the morning, got the house cold, and then close it up and turned on a few fans. It worked, knock on wood.

It’s 77 F now. The projections are that we’ll reach 107 F today. As with yesterday, we have a blue, cloudless sky. When I step into the sun’s heat, I can feel body parts became crisping.

BTW, this is Friday, July 5, 2024.

The breakfast buffet yesterday was delicious as memories of past years predicted it would be. But the parade itself was a little flatter. We were set up in a tree’s shadow along the route, and it was only 79 F at that point. But most participants seemed mildly invested. The parade itself petered out, rather than ended with a flourish. So, meh, a 6 on the parade scale that goes to 11.

“Smooth” has been scuttled. “Along Comes Mary” has replaced it in my morning mental music stream. Tucker, my large black and white floof inspired the song. I’d opened a can to feed Papi, who was quite eager for the moment, chirping and purring about it with big eyes and a tall tail, and wondered, where’s Tucker Cat. Well, he was coming at a casual gait, mumbling something about, “Food, at last,” as he came. So I sang, “Along comes Tucker,” and poof, The Neurons had an Association production going in my head. Song came out in 1966, when I was ten. Have you ever listened to these lyrics? Pay attention, cuz they’re fascinating.

Stay positive, be strong, lean forward, and Vote Blue in 2024. Coffee and I have already greeted each other in the traditional manner. Here’s the music. Cheers

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Negoflooate

Negoflooate (floofinition) – Conferring with an animal to settle a disagreement or resolve an issue.

In Use: “‘Look,’ Richard negoflooated with his floof, ‘Drink some of this slurry first, and I’ll let you go out into the yard, okay?'”

In Use: “Beginning to negoflooate with her dog, Sharon said, ‘What will it take to get you to stop barking like a mad dog? You want treats? Treats? Okay, then.’ The negoflooations ended with a floofpromise.”

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Tuesday’s Theme Music

Mood: recoffeefied

Tuesday, July 2, 2024, begins with a cool breeze talking to me as quiet coddles the area and black coffee takes my throat. It’s a peaceful and relaxed moment, diametrically opposed to the world exposed on the world wide web.

The cats are fed. They washed themselves and bedded down in outside locations for a while. It’s 70 F as I write but the expectation is for an 88 degrees F high. Sunshine is ruling without much challenge from clouds, and it’s a blue, unscathed sky.

My ankle is improving. Most striking to me is how it felt as I walked. Slightly off-balance and hitched to me, others often said, “You don’t seem to be limping.” Maybe they didn’t see it but I felt it. Yesterday was the first time that I felt like I walked using my usual stride.

Also, received my blood test results, and they all look good. Nothing worried my PCP, so nothing is worrying me.

I have been reading political news, especially concerning the qualified immunity bullshit being ladled on Donald Trump by the Roberts Supreme Court. If the GOP wins in 2024 and Trump is POTUS again, a lot of bad shit will probably go down in the U.S. I mean, much of it already began under his first efforts to undermine progress. Then the SCOTUS issued its Dobbs ruling and stripped women of their right to decide what to do when pregnant. Right wing states piled on. So, if the GOP wins, history will write that the Roberts Supreme Court was a noble instrument in guiding the United States to a benevolent theocracy ruled by a Christian white patriarchy.

But if the Democrats prevail, the Roberts Supreme Court will be called out as corrupt and misguided. Honestly, look at how these self-professed conservative originalists pulled immunity for the POTUS out of their asses. Where in the fucking U.S. Constitution does it say anything about the POTUS enjoying qualified immunity? Nor does it address abortion, but these right-wing miscreants are as hypocritical and unethical as anything ever seen in any nation in the last two hundred years. Yes, I have little faith in them.

I agree with Robert Hubbell’s assessment, that we — progressives, like the progressives who started the nation — will eventually prevail. He wrote, “My only hopeful comment is that the decision is so bad it will not stand. Like Dred Scott (enslaved people are not citizens and not entitled to judicial protections), Plessy v. Ferguson (upholding segregation), Koramatsu v US (upholding the Japanese internment camps), today’s decision will be overturned and remembered as a mark of shame on the Roberts Court.”. Then he opened his comments section for anyone to weigh in. There are some solid, re-affirming comments in there. Some uplifting, motivating comments. If you need a kick of positive energy, as I did, go to his site and read some. They’ll help.

Just as a final aside on that, I’ll mention that besides the three rulings that R. Hubbell listed, I’ll include the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization as a decision that will someday be overturned as wrong and another mark of shame on the Roberts Court. May that day come soon.

For today’s music, I’ve turned to the late Tom Petty. “I Won’t Back Down” came out in 1989, while I was stationed and living in Germany with the U.S. Air Force. I immediately took to the song and its declarations.

Well I know what’s right
I got just one life
In a world that keeps on pushin’ me around
But I’ll stand my ground
And I won’t back down

h/t to Genius.com

The song is filling my morning mental music stream (Trademark immune), and it’s a good thing.

Be positive, stay strong, and Vote Blue in 2024. Coffee has rehabilitated my brain, so here’s the music. Cheers

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Floobating

Floobating (floofinition) – Arguing with an animal even though you speak different languages. Origins: Internet, circa COVID-19 Pandemic.

In Use: “Jessie would raise her voice to make her point floofbating with Spanx but it wasI no damn use because the cat would just get even louder until Jess finally gave up.”

In Use: “Many dogs begin floobating and employing nonverbal language whenever their humans suggest showers or baths.”

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Sunday’s Theme Music

Mood: lokey

This is Sunday, June 30, 2024, and it’s begun as another chilly, comfortable morning. No smoke discolors the sky or assaults the nose. Sheer, lacy clouds sheet some sky aspects, and the temperature is holding in the mid sixties. A high of 86 F has been proposed, all of which fashions June’s final 2024 appearance as a comfortable summer Ashlandia day.

Warning’s are out, though. Gonna get hot next week. 90 on Tuesday, 96 Wednesday, 102 F on Thursday. Get ready. Summer is searing in.

The cats, in a weirdly unanimous decision, moved to the front yard to do their daily napping — I mean, sentry duty. Nothing has changed in the back but they decided that the front is the place to be. Like the back, the front has several traditional floof spots (which, by the way, isn’t related to the g spot). The prime space is just off the porch by the pillar, under a bush. The secondary space, which sees more action when it’s wet or cold, is on the porch’s other side, right of the door, by the cairn.

We like cairns and put one together one year yonks ago and have kept one ever since. Gets knocked over often, especially when the cats are napping by it. The eaves hang over that spot and it’s right against the house, so they’re protected from wind and wuthering there.

Their third place is catty-corner from the porch (see what I did there) about eight feet away from it, under another set of bushes. Tucker has the primary space covered, and Papi is in the teritiary spot.

While I was thinking about my dreams and doing the breakfast routines, train songs began playing in morning mental music stream (Trademark baking). First was Ozzy with “Crazy Train”, then Aerosmith with “Train Kept A-Rollin'”, followed by “Peace Train” by Yusuf. As I politely inquired of The Neurons, “WTF, why are train songs going through my head, I haven’t heard nor seen trains for days,” they began playing Train songs — “Soul Sister”, “Meet Virginia”, “Drops of Jupiter”, and then “If It’s Love”.

That brought a reflective nuance into the proceedings. Admittedly, coffee may have triggered that, for I was dropping the brew into my gullet by the mouthful by that point. I often hear “Soul Sister”, “Meet Virginia”, and “Drops of Jupiter” on the radio, but I don’t hear “If It’s Love”. Of course, I mainly heard that song when I was in the SF Bay area. Released in 2010, I was still travelin’ on business (TOB) in those days. My team was located in Mountain View and I was visiting them for three days every month, a face time bonding thing. Anyway, “If It’s Love” by Train is the theme song du jour. Admittedly, every time I think of its title, I now hear “Is This Love” by Whitesnake. I swear, my brain is all over the place today.

Stay positive, be brilliant, remain strong, and Vote Blue in 2024. Coffee service has ended, so move along. Here’s the music. Cheers

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