Tag: Iowa

Thirstdaz Theme Music

Today is Thirstda, August 28, 2025. We awoke to a pleasant 65 F. A cloud regatta keeps the sky from being blue and free. 96 F is expected today.

After dreaming about having a new kitten, I got up and faced a new challenge: remembering who was in the Partridge Family. The Patridge Family was an American pop singing group and television sitcom.

I owe this AM conundrum to an exchange during Mexican Train on Saturday night. Someone said something about getting happy. It was late. We were giddy by then. That’s when we have the most fun. Usually, we play off words and sing songs. Hilarity ensues. But in parallel, we’d been pursuing 1960s pop culture trivia. I asked our group, “Who sang, ‘Come On, Get Happy’?” None remembered the song, forcing me to sing it. None still remembered, so I played found a Youtube video of it. Now I pass it on to you.

Except, The Neurons were hijacked by The Go-Go’s, “Our Lips Are Sealed”. That video followed the other. I found the 1981 offering more interesting. I remember watching that video in some club on Okinawa, where I was assigned to Kadena Air Base from May of 81 through the end of 84.

My wife and I mentioned the Mexican Train game to multiple people. Many were familiar with it. One friend said she hated it but never explained why. She’s a very controlling individual who likes order, so I suspect the game’s chaos might annoy her. That’s just my suspicion and I really want to hear her explanation.

One thing that’s offered here in Ashland is lithium water. One can drink it straight out of the fountain at Lithia Park’s entrance. I mention this because we discussed the value of lithium in treating dementia last night. One individual said, “All we need to do is take a sip out of the fountain every day.” Another responded, “But that water tastes like wet farts.”

I read an excellent Mother Jones article today: The Brain Rot Cabinet. As the article points out, Trump’s cabinet are deeply invested in wild and unproven conspiracies. What’s important to Trump is that they share his values and are obedient lapdogs. They will do nothing good for the nation nor the world. Meanwhile, all those of us still anchored to reality can do is grit our teeth and resist.

Representative Ashley Hinson (Iowa, MAGA) got an earful when she tried convincing her constituents that the Big Beautiful Bill was wonderful, claiming it raised wages and improved the cost of living. We the People in Iowa weren’t having it. According to an article in The New Republic (via Yahoo), people shouted back objections.

“Higher wages?” shouted one woman incredulously. “For who? For you?”

“Cost of living is higher than it’s ever been,” another woman said.

“You are a fraud,” a constituent shouted at her at the time.

I only hope more wake up, stand up, shout back, fight back, and resist.

Coffee has made a controlled landing into my system once again. I hope peace and grace shadows you in all your endeavors today. Here we go, one more time. Cheers

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Frieda’s Wandering Political Thoughts

Hey, kids, it looks like the flu and other diseases are rising throughout the U.S. I think it should be named the Trump Flu. Could become part of the worst epidemic in history, cuz Trump is trying to shut down healthcare systems because of Woke! DEI! Democrats. Shooting the nation in the foot as he does, of course.

Without doing intense searching, we’re talking Texas, Iowa, Georgia, Oklahoma, Florida, Virginia, Ohio, Alabama, Tennessee, Arkansas, North Dakota, Missouri, and Kentucky.

Flu outbreak closes several North Texas schools for the week

Flu season hits hard, causing school closures and crowded ERs (Iowa)

Georgia school district closes all schools due to flu, norovirus outbreak

Flu is rising nationwide, CDC reports, with spikes in ER visits

Several Oklahoma school districts closed, move to virtual learning Friday due to sickness

Florida faces surge in severe flu, COVID-19, and RSV cases, concerning doctors

Multiple Southwest Virginia Schools closed due to flu outbreaks and lack of staff

Absences surge in Adams County schools as peak cold and flu season arrives (Ohio)

Decatur City Schools address rising flu cases (Alabama)

Flu and norovirus are going around: Here’s what you can do

School Districts dealing with significant absences due to illnesses

Flu cases in North Dakota continue to rise

Seven kids hospitalized, Louisville area schools see high absences amid rising flu cases

Going Public: Flu, RSV, Norovirus Drive School Closures in Southeast Missouri

This is happening just as the bird flu shit grows worse.

Bird flu detected at Pennsylvania poultry farm

USDA Reported H5N1 Bird Flu Detections in Poultry

Bonus update: Federal employees report that Musk aides have taken over the OPM personnel database and computer systems.

Exclusive: Musk aides lock government workers out of computer systems at US agency, sources say

Doing the same with the Treasury pay systems. Looks like Musk is going to raid that data and enshittify that system. Suggested new word: Musktrash. It’s almost like enshittification but it’s done in the name of wanton greed and right-wing ideology.

Yes, it is a billionaire oligarchy takeover of the government. Too many fools voted for that Trump. Now Musk is moving in to make a grab on Trump’s behalf.

What can go wrong? Well, I’m sure we’ll see more FAFO stories emerging fast next week after more ICE raids, more executive orders, more flu news, higher inflation as his tariffs land, and another attempt by Trump’s government to cut off funding.

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Soonday Morning

Mood: Soontobe

It’s Soonday, December 9, 2024. We’re enjoying a clear sky loaded with sunshine and an outdoor tempy of 28 F. Frost has shadowy places airbushed with white influences. A dense fog warning is percolating while 49 F is being dangled in front of us as a high. Should say that it’s my local system calling out 28; in other parts of Ashlandia, sunshine has cleared the forests and mountains and 42 is already being experienced. A friend’s weather setup, available via Wunderground, has his temperature at 31 F. Dress appropriately.

Moving slow this morning. That’s why I’m calling this soon day. Soon, I’ll get up and do things. Soon I’ll leave and get my hair cut. Soon. Night fraught with dreams and restlessness are keeping the go pedal from getting engaged, even though coffee and I have said our hellos. One dream featured me as a young man with young friends and relatives, traveling to another place. Along the way, I stopped to visit with others. There, I rested in sunshine and told people of other people’s businesses failing, along with places such as airports not being built. It ended with me trying to pull a nuisance weed, which then bloomed, leaped out of the ground and ran away, freaking us out. Then we laughed.

This cold weather and clear sky put me into a whirlpool of childhood memories. Once, while going outside to play football with friends when I was almost a teenager, I was accosted by mom. “Put a heavier coat on, for God’s sake,” she said. “It’s winter outside.”

Wise me replied, “It’s not winter yet, Mom, until the solstice, December 22.”

She answered, “It’s winter when it’s cold and the snow starts falling to me.”

We were living in Penn Hills, a Pittsburgh, PA, suburb. Snow had been falling since before Thanksgiving. Therefore, it was winter.

I used to talk to her about her winters in Iowa. She loved those days, she said, because they would stay in the house, where it was cozy and warm, and play games, listen to the radio, talk, cook, and clean. Winter remains her favorite season for those reasons.

Those memories crystallized into two songs for me last night. Both are called “Our House”. They’re very different. The first was dropped into the morning mental music stream (Trademark frozen) when a television show featured it ysterday evening. This is the “Our House” by Crosy, Stills, Nash, and Young. My wife sang along with it; that stirred The Neurons up, and triggered that memory whirlpool. But a rebel group of Neurons countered with “Our House” by Madness. Two very different songs. The CSNY offering says, “Our house is a very very fine house. With two cats in the yard. Life used to be so hard. Now everything is easy cause of you.” Madness sings, “Father wears his Sunday best, Mother’s tired, she needs a rest, the kids are playing up downstairs. Sister’s sighing in her sleep. Brother’s got a date to keep, he can’t hang around.” The CSNY version is about a young couple’s domestic tranquility. Madness offers a portrait of hustle, growth, and noise.

Let’s get positive (sung to Olivia Newton-John’s “Let’s Get Physical) and move forward. 2025 is almost here. Here’s the music to help you along. Cheers

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Monday’s Theme Music

Mood: summerpositive

The cats and I agree, it’s a strong sun today, biting my skin with its heat, blinding my eyes (yes, what else would it be blinding — my ears?) with its light. Not supposed to be hot today, just 87 F, and it’s just 67 F now. This is Monday, Jun 24, 2024.

The cats are pratically living in the backyard, slumbering beneath bushes or stretched out, floof-napping in green patches of lawn. They come in to visit me, get fed, and use the litter box, and then dash back out. Reminds me of being a young child in the summers, doing the same with Mom. Except I didn’t use a litter box. Not in those days.

I jest, of course! Spoke with Dad yesterday. He’s down. They — the omniscient they here is the medical staff — are pushing for the dialysis port, and he doesn’t want to go through with that. He seems fazed by the surgery and claims he doesn’t want to be a burden on people, as others would need to drive him to his appointments several times a week. I’m sure he will go through with the procedure but he needs to work himself up to it. I called him this morning to chat with him but reached his voice mail. I need to call Mom to catch her up on that news. Never did call her yesterday.

Terrible flooding in the midwest. Iowa was severely hit. Evacuations were ordered and bridges collapsed. I remember flying over the plains states decades ago. The floating and the heat dome are connected events. Hope the climate doesn’t get any worse or the nation and its citizens might start getting worried. Yeah, that’s snark, baby.

My spouse picked up a nice Charles Wysocki jigsaw puzzle at Ashlandia’s library of things yesterday. I thought we should have some on hand for more Internet outages. We began the puzzle last night, even though the net didn’t go out. Lovely little beach scene featuring an old house where a high school kite flying club meets. Kites lean against an old fence in the sand and a heart shaped balloon, tethered to the gate, floats above the scene, red against a cloudy blue and white backdrop. A few sailboats skim choppy waters in the background. I can almost smell that ocean.

Other than these matters and the standard form of our days of eating, cleaning, writing, reading, it’s quiet. I accept quiet. Still recuperating with my ankle issue.

Today’s music comes by way of Willy Nelson. I was reading about his show cancellations and the article reminded me of a gay cowboy song Willy sings. The Neurons immediately began a little rendition of the song, “Cowboys Are Frequently Fond of Each Other”, in the morning mental music stream (Trademark grazing). Although Willy’s version came out back when Brokeback Mountain was gaining Oscar attention, I picked up a later version done by Willy and Orville Peck. Hope you enjoy it.

Stay positive, be strong, lean forward, and Vote Blue in 2024. Also brace yourself for a busy news week. With more SCOTUS news forthcoming, the end of June sending up a cloud of dust as it sprints at us, and the debates and the weather, I’m sure there will be a lot to talk about, read about, and GRRRRR about.

Coffee has been sucked down. Here we. Cheers

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Just Get Over It

It’s another Trump moment.

Know Trump? I’m writing about Donald J., a guy who lost the popular vote in 2016 but won the Electoral College outcome, ending up as POTUS #45.

He’d been lying throughout his campaign and continued it during his term of office, demonstrating he had an exceedingly thin skin and was reality-warped. Like, take that whole thing about losing the popular vote. He claims he won it but cheating, you know, denied him the numbers.

And so it went for the next four years, until President Joe Biden decisively won the 2020 POTUS election, taking both the popular vote and Electoral College results. Trump had already been looking forward to losing and had declared that the election was rigged, and he’d been cheated of victory. Despite many challenges in court, no evidence showed up to support his claims. Yet, he and his misfit menagerie continue to push that claim and have convinced sufficient numbers of Republicans that he’s the nominee this year, even though he’s involved in four court cases for fraud, cheating, and lying, and was twice impeached.

Now he’s campaigning in Iowa. Perry, Iowa was the nation’s latest school shooting site, where a seventeen-year-old killed one child and injured four other children, and two adults. And what does Trump tell Iowa voters?

“It’s just horrible – so surprising to see it here. But we have to get over it. We have to move forward.” h/t to MSN.com.

Isn’t that something? This conman who refuses to surrender to facts about his election loss, who has declared that if he wins, his term will be about revenge and retribution, is telling these grieving people, “But we have to get over it.”

The shooting happened two days ago.

His election loss was over three years ago and has mired the nation in hate, scorn, and lies.

Trump, please take your own advice. Get over it. Move on, so the nation can as well. We don’t need the shit you’re selling.

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