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.”
Another Monday begins its stay, we can’t have it any other way. Sold in code, set in stone, Monday, Monday is how the day is known.
It’s also July 8, 2024. Over half the year gone, and what have we learned?
Today’s high is expected to be 108, about a forty degree climb from where we’re at right now. Yesterday topped off at 105 F at my homestead. So on the one hand, it reached only 105 F yesterday and the temperature began dropping, um, ‘rapidly’ at about six. It’s a relative thing, saying ‘rapidly’. I took it as a welcomed change but then saw an orange sunset painting the blinds. Hmmm, said The Neurons, we had a clear sky so why is the sunset now that color?
Particulates, of course. Wildfire smoke, of course. So the smoke cooled the air by blocking the sun with its pollution. But there’s a fire to worry about. A mixed bag, as they say.
This wildifre is known as the Salt Creek fire. One of three locally experienced fires over the past several dsay, the other two were contained and extinguished. Here’s an explaination about the situation out of the morning’s update on Salt Creek:
Fire activity naturally decreased last night when the sun went down and temperatures dropped. With this advantage, resources overnight were able to put in a mix of bulldozer and hand line constructed with tools along the entire northern portion, as well as the southwest border of the fire. The eastern and southeastern portion remain largely unlined and will be the focus of Monday’s day shift. Today, 321 personnel are assigned to the fire, including 12 20-person crews, nine engines, 10 water tenders, seven bulldozers, and six tree fallers. Snags, or hazard trees, are present throughout the fire and may fall unexpectedly. This, along with steep terrain and hot conditions are hazards for firefighters on the line today. Aircraft will be heavily used again today as soon as possible, including one Type 3, two Type 2 and three Type 1 helicopters that are exclusively assigned to this incident. Air tankers will be ordered again as needed.
The Salt Creek Fire was first reported Sunday afternoon just after 4 p.m. Both ODF Southwest Oregon District and Lake Creek Fire District initially responded. When firefighters arrived on scene, it was estimated to be 2-5 acres and growing quickly in the hot, dry and windy conditions.
Thanks to the ODF and the well-established system for fighting these fires, and the brave individuals doing it on our behalf.
The Neurons have “Man In A Box” by Alice in Chains from 1991 in the morning mental music stream (Trademark ashy). The song received a lot of play time on the stations which I listened to back then. I was back in the USA and living in the Mountain View/Sunnyvale area on the Peninsula between San Jose and San Francisco, CA. I remained in the military then, my final tour, doing space ops in the blue cube at Onizuka Air Station.
The song came to me last night. The temperature was still warm and I awoke drenched in sweat. The words, sweat box, spun up. Hence, the song.
Stay positive, be strong, and Vote Blue in 2024. Coffee and I have negotiated a settlement and I’m now sipping away. Here’s the music. Cheers
My wife asked in irritation, “Name some citrus fruits.”
My first thought was, huh? Second came, why? But we’ve been married almost fifty years, so I played the game. “Lemon, lime, orange, grapefruit, citron, kumquat, tangerine, tangelo…what are you looking for?”
“Is a peach a citrus fruit?”
“No.”
“Is a necterine a citrus fruit?”
I laughed. “No. Why are you asking this?”
“There was some story on the radio about how eating too much citrus fruit can be dangerous for you, and one of the people, the DJs, I guess, said, ‘Oh, no, I love eating peaches and nectarines. I’m in real trouble.’ And nobody called her on it! I wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt and thought maybe they’d changed their classification since I learned what a citrus fruit was when I was young. But, no, they haven’t changed it.”
She was shaking her head. “No wonder people are so stupid these days, if this is what they’re listening to.”
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
Flooferitus(floofinition)– An animal retired from professional life or special position but allowed to retain as an honorary title the rank of the last office/position held.
In Use: “Candy ruled the house until Morty arrived when Candy was older, but Candy remained the Queen Flooferitus until her final day.”
In Use: “Chester tried to shift T Rex into an flooferitus but T’s stony stare and throaty glare gave the youngster second thoughts.”
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
I’m 68 years old today. Well, if you believe the state’s official records, and Mom and Dad. Mom and Dad claim they were there. But you know, parents tell stories. Like Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, or that they walked ten miles through snow uphill to get to school every day. Who can believe them?
My phone and computer has been pinging with birthday wishes from friends around the world. That really makes my heart swell three times its normal size.
I’ve been looking forward to becoming sixty-eight. It’s because of cars. See, in 1968, when I was twelve, cars excited and interested me. At one point, I thought I’d become an adult and design cars. I drew them all the time. ’68 was the year I saw sporty performance Mustangs and Camaros, along with an actual XK-E Jaguar that someone parked in a neighbor’s driveway. So cool!
So 68 has a good feel for me. It’s exciting, full of energy and promise. I hope I can sustain that across 365 days, because I’m getting pretty excited about becoming 69. Wait till I tell you about it.
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.”
Michael Seidel, writer 