Tag: memories

Thursday’s Theme Music

Mood: Freshfree

Thursday has trundled in, soft of foot and full of grace, delivering smoke in our space, and pleasing night air on our face.

It’s Thursday, 8/8/24, or 24/8/8.

Our smoke has risen into the unhealthy zone. Don’t know which fire is our source. We have many to select from. None too close but valleys channel it in. It looks like crap out there. Can’t see the mountains for the smoke, and the blue sky has been squirted into smoggy tones. 65 F outside my house today, we’re expecting a thirty degree rise to the high. No wind is blowing, so a sort of still deadness rules. I expect zombies to start emerging from the smoke at any moment.

We’ve been spoiled by the peaches acquired at the growers market in the last two visits. Both times we returned with the sweetest, tastiest, most perfectly ripe peaches. Sooo juicy. The blackberries were found wanting. Plump and juicy, yes, but only one out of four is sweet. We’re of the school that blacberries should be sweet and not sour, and the sour blackberries aren’t sitting well on my tongue. Besides those fruits, we picked up green onions — my wife is a fiend for ’em — and greens. Good stuff: local and organic. Non-GMO.

I posted something about Gov Walz the other day. A right wing friend commented, “He put tampons in the boys room.” I reacted, oh, no! How terrible! How tragic! Must cost billions of dollars. Such a waste, such a waste.

Well, no, I didn’t write all that. I thought it. I wasn’t going to write it because the issue doesn’t deserve any oxygen. As Joey from Friends said, “It’s something a cow would say. It’s a moo point.”

My wife has an ongoing thing with spiders in the bath. I use the shower stall, so this doesn’t involve me, but whenever she heads to the tub, she must clear out several spiders. We don’t kill spiders and these are all of the daddy longlegs variations. She plugs up the drain with a cloth to keep them from climbing up through there and removes them by means of a rolled, stiff piece of paper. She calls this her spider catcher. It’s actually an old invoice for blinds. We pulled it out a month ago to see when we purchased our blinds. It hasn’t been refiled because it’s now my wife’s spider catcher. She gives me a summary — “There were three spiders in there. I don’t know they’re coming from. They seem to get stuck. Stupid spiders. I move them and they go right back in there.”

With freedom still my theme this week, The Neurons are channeling Bread’s 1971 song, “Mother Freedom” into the morning mental music stream (Trademark discounted). My older sister had this album so I knew the song. I met my wife later that year. Her sister had the album on 8-track and regularly played it. It’s tres fam. God song for freedom week, though.

Freedom, keep walkin’
Keep on your toesand don’t stop talkin’ ’bout
Freedom, get goin’
Lots to be learned and lots to be known ’bout
People gotta reach ’em
Sit ’em right down and then you gotta teach ’em ’bout
Freedom, gotta win it
Gotta put yourself smack dab in it

Hey tomorrow
Now don’t you go away
‘Cause freedom
Just might come your way

Freedom, keep tryin’
People stay alive and people keep dyin’ for
Freedom, so don’t lose it
Ya gotta understand ya just can’t abuse it
Freedom, get movin’
Never gonna stop till everybody’s groovin’ on
Love for – one another
Callin’ some friend and callin’ some brother

h/t to AZLyrics.com

Just 89 days until the elections. Stay fresh, be strong, and remain postive. Vote Blue. Coffee has found its way into a cup and on into my systems, so all systems are go. Here’s the music video. Cheers

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Friday’s Theme Music

Mood: amcoffeedident

Ah, Friday has arrived, for what it’s worth. It’s July 26, 2024. A tumultuous month is closing down. Our air quality is ‘moderate’ right now. From my standpoint, the sky’s blue is sketchy with gray but no smells are assaulting my nose and I’m not tearing up or sneezing, knock on wood, etc. 66 F now, it’ll be 89 F as our high.

Last night was cool, though, and fresh air came in. Windows and doors were opened. The temperature inside the house dropped to 70 F. Sweet. Everything was closed back up so we have a cool house throughout the day. With intense, direct sunshine, inside the house will reach 81 F. That’s liveable. Besides that, we’ll have a fan going on us in the office when we’re in there reading, chatting, and surfing the net.

It’s a much quieter morning today. We’re monitoring several fires. Two big ones are in California. Several large ones in Oregon, as well, but most of the large Oregon fires are on the eastern side of the Cascades. One fire by Chico in California was apparently started by a man. He’s been arrested for suspected arson. My wife, a pacifist, advocates hanging him as over 174,000 acres have burned, forcing over 3500 people to evacuate.

Some bad news from friends. One has his physician telling him that he’s two steps away from hospice. It was a warning to get his attention. Hope it does. A second has a dying floof-friend, one of those situations that bring out sighs of despair, sympathy, and empathy. Little can be done but to offer comfort. Third friend was taken away by EMTs. He was conscious when he left but we haven’t been able to get updates after several days, which just keeps the worries simmering.

Reflecting on shifts, changes, and news updates this week has encouraged The Neurons to bring “Bitter Sweet Sympathy” by the Verve into the morning mental music stream (Trademark scorched). I mean, as the 1997 song says, “‘Cause it’s a bitter sweet symphony that is life.”

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Wednesday’s Theme Music

Mood: Harrissified

It’s hump day in Ashlandia, which translates to Wednesday, July 24, 2024. Just seven days left in the month so finish up your Christmas shopping if you haven’t already done so.

Ah, smoke from the Diamond Lake complex continues to plague us. Our air quality is moderate now but a warning as been issued for our breathing, again. Temps won’t be bad. It’s cloudy and 70 F with beliefs that our high will stop at 95 F.

Well, I must say that I was against President Biden dropping out at this late stage in the race. I felt doing so would throw the Democratic Party into disarray and hand Trump a fractured nation victory. But my gosh, there was such a surge of hopeful energy when Joe stepped down and announced he was endorsing his Veep, Kamala Harris. It’s a startling metamorphosis. Suddenly we had someone younger. That meant that the one thing Trump had going for him in his campaign against Biden was gone.

I know the MAGAts won’t be moved from their Trump position. They’re living in a world where we can’t touch them with truth, logic, nor facts. So, they’re written off from the getgo. And there is a smaller number who hedge because Vice President Kamala Harris is female and not white. Some are trying on the meme that she’s too inexperienced, too. That reeks of such bullshit — especially when comparing her to the great mango hope — that those attacks fall flat every time.

Of course, the GOP under Trump has little substance. They’re all gimmicks and underhanded tactics. Who was surprised when they immediately tried the impeachment process on VP Harris? Not anyone familiar with the gang who can’t think straight. I sort of laughed yesterday while reading a NYTimes article. Yes, I know, it is the New Yawk Times and their diminishing brand of lame bothsiderism journalism, so I was dubious of the article. It was something something Trump is leaning toward populism again, their reasoning being that he chose Vance as his Veep, and Vance is anti-corporation. Huge guffaws all around. The guest essay also went on to talk about the lack of a party platform. Like, yeah, no shit, this is the new GOP Trump brand. They just shout, “Trump! He’s the second coming! Greeeaattt business man! Celebrity! Tells us like it is (just pay no attention to the lies)! Stolen election! Hillary! Lock her up!” Now, they also add, because of the shooting, “He’s been saved by God!” Then they get the vapors and swooonnnn.

Anyway, that GOP is in such disarray. The Dems, meanwhile, are surging strong brothers and sisters. They have a solid progressive. Sure, there are so weak spots. There usually will be. But. Those who want a female in the White House are energized. Those who didn’t want an old Biden are energized. Those shouting “Anyone but Trump!” are energized. And Vice President Harris has gone out there and put out a fiery, galvanizing speech. She’s a former prosecutor and attorney general. She knows how to think and articulate. Let’s go, Kamala.

It’s looking good, brothers and sisters, knock on wood, fingers tightly crossed, breath held.

Today’s music is a deliberate choice. Jerry Miller of Moby Grape passed away, so I pulled an old MG song, “Hey Grandma”, from sometime in the 1960s. MG’s brand of psychedlic pop rock spoke to my youthful sensibilities, starting that band name, Moby Grape. They really seemed like something special when I first heard them and will always have a special place in memory.

Stay positive — lord knows, I’m trying — be strong, and Vote Blue in 2024. Coffee has been swallowed; here’s the music. Cheers

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Tuesday’s Theme Music

Mood: digitized

Get up and look out windows, judging the air’s color. Doesn’t look too bad. Some tinges of smok. A window is cracked opened. The sniff test is employed. Doesn’t smell too bad. The air feels cold.

I go on out into the living area and office, interrogate Alexa and checking my weather station, and then go online and check weather and air quality. It’s 64, and the AQI is in the sixties, not too bad. Doors and windows are opened and complaining floofs are released.

It’s Tuesday, July 23, 2024. Today’s high will be 96 F, so we’re not too bad. It’s the triple digit stuff that really gets to you.

My wife departs to meet some friends at the Growers Market. Yeah, they don’t use an apostrophe. Sirens erupt. Systems are checked to see, where are they going? What’s going on? I printed out the evacuation checklist yesterday. You know, just in guess. It’s sitting here beside me. We always have basic bags ready but maybe we should prepare the whole shebang. Just in case. It’s hot and dry here. Lightning can strike and ignite something without warning. Something to consider.

Out in the news world, it’s no surprise that the Secret Service Director resigned. They were being hounded and the GOP was openly, sharply hostile. That’s their style.

A headline says, “World registers hottest day ever recorded on July 21”. Wasn’t that hot here in Ashlandia. We seem to be contrarians. The article goes on, “Last year saw four days in a row break the record, from July 3 through July 6, as climate change, driven by the burning of fossil fuels, drove extreme heat across the Northern Hemisphere.

Every month since June 2023 – 13 months in a row – has now ranked as the planet’s hottest since records began, compared with the corresponding month in previous years, Copernicus said.

Some scientists have suggested 2024 could outrank 2023 as the hottest year since records began, as climate change and the El Nino natural weather phenomenon — which ended in April — have pushed temperatures ever higher this year. 

I imagine Republicans pooh-poohing the news and laughing. In this visual, it’s my staunch BIL MAGAt representing them. “It’s the weather,” he says loudly, shrugging, gesturing with his hands. “It’s always changing. It gets hot, it gets cold, big deal. You liberals.”

Yeah, we liberals are worrying about nothing except the increase in record temperatures — high and lows — and the acceleration of extreme weather. We’re worried about increased flooding and wildfires turning the air dark with smoke. We’re worried about increasing extended droughts and melting glaciers.

Tsk. So silly of us.

The music occupying my morning mental music stream (Trademark iffy) owes its presence to my wife. She was online, surfing. “Oh, I like that,” she says.

I do my spousal duty. “What is it?”

“This tee shirt. It says, I am woman, watch me vote.”

“Yes, that’s good.”

The Neurons pounced. I am woman, hear me roar, in numbers too big to ignore, begins. “I Am Woman”. Helen Reddy. 1971. As I often do with celebrities I haven’t heard or seen in a while, I verify her life status. Died in 2020, 78 years old. No cause of death given.

This is life in the digital age.

The song took on its own life as a anthem of female empowerment back in that last century, when the U.S. was becoming a more progressive nation. I was present at a rally in Caifornia when the female protestors spontaneously sang it A capella. Powerful moment down on Market Street in SF.

The house is cool. Thermostat says it’s 76 F inside. Feels good. I go around closing windows, sealing in the cool air for the day.

Be strong, stay positive, and Vote Blue in 2024. Coffee has endorsed my systems. I’m ready to rock. Here’s the music. Cheers

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Sunday’s Theme Music

Mood: Sundaylax

It’s Sunday, July 21, 2024. Quiet rules the neighborhood. The cats and birds are all chilling. Haven’t seen any deer, cougars, foxes, or bears. I guess they’re off chilling somewhere, too.

Wildfire smoke crashed the scene yesterday. Gaining density, we were soon sitting in a yellow fog at 96 degrees F. The smoke carried out Air Quality clear up into the unhealthy zone, finishing just short of hazardous. The cats were forced in, the air purifying machine turned on, and the windows kept closed as sunlight fled and night swarmed in.

Dawn brought relief. Temperatures wre huddling in the low sixties. Smoke mildly grays the blue sky but visibility is much better. I’ve cautiously opened a few windows. Doesn’t smell overly bad. I experience some eye tearing and itchy now and and again, then a dripping nose, and a bout of sneezing, but overall, it can be endured. All the weather sources are agreeing that we’ll touch the high eighties as our temperature’s ceiling. That’s a welcome change.

I don’t know where the smoke is originating. California has several going. Southern Oregon where I live is relatively fire free. East of the Cascades delivers a different story, as major fires are going in Oregon on that side, especially by the Idaho border. Hope all stay safe and the fires are soon contained.

“Danger Zone”, a song by Kenny Loggins and associated with the movie Top Gun is storming the morning mental music stream (Trademark threatened). I don’t know why The Neurons pulled the 1986 song from the mental archives for this morning. It doesn’t seem overtly dream related. Could be smoke & fire thinking, I guess. I don’t believe that it’s a political manifestation as I swerved away from politics this morning.

It’s a kind of strange video. 80s music, 80s clothing, 80s dancing. But they’re my people. LOL.

Have a better one. Be strong, stay positive, and Vote Blue in 2024. Here’s the music and there’s the coffee. Help yourself. Here we go. Cheers

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Friday’s Theme Music

Mood: sizzlin’

Greetings from Ashlandia, where the heat stays on. It’s Friday, July 12, 2024. July has been a flaming month. Formalling started on July 4th, when the thermometers were showing it’s over 100 F and has barely eased. For today, we’ll tap one degree below 100. It’s a pleasant morning now, though, 68 at my house after falling to 62 F. Tomorrow, we go back to 100 F. Sunday is expected to drop into the low 90s, kicking off a stretch where our highs will crest in the 90s and the lows overnight will find the mid to upper sixties.

Air looks pretty good. Blue cloudless sky looks particulate free, except over in the horizon’s northwestern sector. Probably from the Salt Creek fire. They’re making good progress on it with a lot of mopping up going on. They warned that we’d probably see greater smoke last night, as we did, because they started a fire inside the containment line to fight to fire to keep it from jumping the fire line.

Boy howdy, that cool night air was invigorating, friends. As the sun slipped away and the temperatures slithered down below 80, I slid open the bedroom slider and the cats and I reveled in it. I’ve been sleeping atop the duvet, not bothering with even a coverlet, but I awoke cold enough that I pulled a light blanket over me. Tucker (pronounced Tuckah) stayed with me most of the night but as I got up to open the slider’s screen door to let Papi in and out (and in and out, repeat), Tucker said, “Hey, I want to go out there, too.” The boy has been feeling the heat, and his age.

Well, read news last night that the Beastie Boys were suing some restaurant over use of their song, “Sabotage”, from 1991. As soon as The Neurons were informed, they pulled the song from their mental file cabinet (my brain still uses paper but they’re talking about going digital) and now it’s blasting in the morning mental music stream (Trademark melting). As with many songs I enjoy, I’d never seen the video for it. Seeing it today is like a smack in the face from a wayback machine. Great fun.

Stay positive and be strong, and Vote Blue in 2024, and return President Biden to the Oval Office. Coffee and I have come to terms and are getting along swell. Here’s the music video, directed by Spike Jonze. Hey ho, let’s go. Cheers

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DIY Fail

I’ve been working on my home HVAC system. The AC did not kick on when needed two weeks ago. Playing around with the system, the fan didn’t come on, the heat didn’t turn on, the air conditioner did not engage.

After tracing wiring and troubleshooting, I drew down on the stepdown transformer. The board wasn’t getting energy. The board’s fuse was intact, all circuit breakers and switches in the proper locations, etc., but the board’s diagnostic light was dark. I thought I’d accurately followed all the steps that led to the transformer but replacing it did nothing.

That leaves me at a circuit in the road. Call in a pro or keep at it myself. I’m reluctantly inclined to bring in a pro but my inner idiot (I2, also sometimes referred to as I squared) is saying, “No, mate, don’t give up, you got this.” That aligns with my overall philosophy that to succeed, failure must be risked and overcome.

My wife seems inclined to let me continue. Although we have high heat, she’s been using an electric fan and shrugging it off. That reminded me that we’ve existed without AC before. Both of us grew up in homes deprived of having AC. Early duty stations in the military included Randolph AFB, Texas, outside of San Antonio. I remember us enduring a string of days over 100 degrees F. Our military homes on Okinawa and our home in Germany also didn’t have AC.

So, you know, we can survive without the air conditioning if we’re prudent and thoughtful. It is a nicety we’d like to have but we don’t find it overly necessary. As far as fixing the AC, I’ll get with my wife and talk it over.

I think I’d be happy either way.

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Wednesday’s Theme Music

Mood: Downxiety

Ah, Wednesday arrives with some relief for us in Ashlandia. Dropped to 68 F last night and will only hop up to 100 F today, compared to the 102 seen yesterday. Whew, good. Happily, the air doesn’t have smoky discoloration to it and no scents sting my nostrils.

On the worrisome side, Tucker cat seems to be really feeling the heat, showing lethargy and a diminished appetite. He was a purr machine last night, though. Papi seems very robust, showing off a sprout of zoomies this morning with furious gallops back and forth between house doors front to back, then repeat.

My AC part has arrived and I’m heading up to the attic space to install it. I have this insanely demoralizing worry that it’s not going to fix it. Almost making me physically sick. Just gotta get up there and get ‘er done.

Going out with my beer friends tonight to specifically fete one of our members. He’s retiring for the third time as our local university’s biology chair. His first retirement took for about three weeks when the school rang him up and asked if he’d consider doing his former position on a contract basis. His replacement had been found and hired but changed their mind at the eleventh hour, leaving the university short. Same thing sort of happened on his second retirement, leaving us wondering, WTH is going on that people are backing away at the last moment? True, the organization was going through some turmoil and changing presidents and that sort of thing, and these were doing the pan years. My buddy has no additional insights to add about the situation. But he says this is it: third and done.

The Neurons are feeding “You Don’t Own Me” into the morning mental music stream (Trademark steaming). My wife shared a clip of a young person, Reid Wilson from Alabama, singing the song on AGT. It’s a terrific song and he belts it out. I’ve included a video for your entertainment. Reid begins singing around the 2:30 mark.

But the Lesley Gore original is today’s theme music so here’s a video of her performing the song.

Stay positive and be strong. Vote Blue in 2024. Coffee has done its thing and now I’ll go do mine. Here’s the music. Cheers

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Monday’s Theme Music

Mood: metcoffeetized

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

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Sunday’s Theme Music

Mood: Overbaked

“Heat Awareness Week” continues in Ashlandia today, where the temperature will reach 106 F. Yesterday, I saw 109 F at my house. My friend on the other end of town registered 110 F. Officially, I think the town ‘only’ registered 104 F. While we didn’t see 100 degrees on Friday until after 3:30 PM, 102 was stuck by 1:30, and it just kept on climbing.

It’s 80 F now, so already warming. Monday and Tuesday are also expected to surmount the triple digit level before plunging into the mid to high nineties next week. In a happy move, though, our lows tonight are dropping into the high sixties, giving us some nocturnal release.

I don’t understand why but The Neurons have Prince and The Revolution performing “When Doves Cry” from 1984 in the morning mental music stream (Trademark scorched). Perhaps it’s kismet; according to the wiki thingy, this song was #1 from July 7, 1984, holding that spot for five weeks. Today is Sunday, July 7, 2024, just a scant forty years ago to the day. Now a pause to recover from realizing that the song is that old.

I actually suspect that the song is in my head because of some passing thoughts from Friday. My wife and I had just left a bakery and were in the car, driving away. The blue sky reminded me of the Okinawa sky, as did the moment — leaving the bakery. I asked her if she remembered going to the American Bakery on Okinawa to buy dessert. She didn’t remember that. Part of the trigger for that memory, though, was that “Raspberry Beret” by Prince and The Revolution was playing on the radio, and that song came out in the mid 1980s, when I lived on Okinawa.

Stay positive, remain cool, be strong, and enjoy life. Coffee and I have exchanged greetings for the morning. Here’s the music video, and away we go. Cheers

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