Tag: Oregon coast

Sunday’s Theme Music

Ashland, southern Oregon — May 24, 2026.

Home again, home again…

Papi was as pleased as he ever shows himself to be when we opened the back door and called his name. Standing, stretching, he paused to wash, then began to trot towards us, then stopped to stretch, and finally walked over, sat down, washed, and looked up: “Oh. Hi. Didn’t see you there.”

Good to see him.

56 degrees F here, roaring power lawn equipment has replaced the sounds of surf. There’s no beach to ponder, no waves to assess and admire, no fresh ocean air to breath, no ‘sea breeze’ to battle as I walk.

Bummer. It’ll be 85 and dry here…

One thing that struck us yesterday coming home was how empty the roads were. Motor homes were especially absent, but in general, it was light traffic to moderate traffic. Long stretches of secondary roads were driven where we met no other cars, followed no vehicles, and had nothing in our mirrors. It did not seem like the holiday traffic — or even the coastal traffic — we’ve encountered in previous years.

Gina, my younger sister, makes progress selling Mom’s possessions: $530 has been realized. The dining room table, chairs, hutch and sideboard are gone. Gina is wheeling and dealing. Someone shows interest, she reaches out, negotiates, shows them what else is available. More prospective buyers are coming by tomorrow. Vacuuming, sweeping, dusting, and polishing is underway. Our oldest sister is driving in from Georgia to help out this week.

Trump says the US is almost close to a peace deal with Iran. Let’s add it to the list of times he said the war was over, we won, or that a deal had been negotiated before.

Iran says that they’ll control the Strait of Hormuz and that their nuclear program isn’t being discussed. They’re proposing ‘fees’ instead of tolls or taxes to use the straits.

It’s the same kind of deals we often see on the local levels when our local government wants to raise money but knows that ‘taxes’ will cause a backlash. The answer: fees. We see it with airlines, too. Security fees, handling fees, administrative fees. Not charges, not taxes, not tolls — fees. I remember once reading that Texas had no taxes but they charged fees on everything.

Besides the Golden Age of Corruption, it’s the Golden Age of Fees.

The war costing our nation a small fortune, monetarily. We also killed many people, disrupted lives, and lost military members.

Economists note that the US has been adding to its national debt at the rate of $5,000,000,000 per day since October of 2025.

In an interest coincidence, October of 2025 is when Trump demolished the White House East Wing to begin building the Epstein ballroom under Operation Epic LOOK — SQUIRREL!

Coincidentally, Trump’s disapproval ratings continue to rise to record levels in polls.

Your Trump Quote of the Day:

Today’s music is by Night Ranger. The Neurons unlocked it when I was in bed this morning, remembering dreams and drifting in and out of sleep. During that fugue state, “When You Close Your Eyes” from the 1980s began playing in the morning mental music stream.

As I remembered the song, I also remembered this was one of the songs I heard while visiting Mom and family after returning from Japan on military duty. My youngest sister and I were together. The song came on the radio. She smiled wide and said, “I love this song.” *smile*

And I realized that’s why the song came into the morning mental music stream; that sister had been in my dream as a young person.

I hope this day is going well for you, and you enjoy a day of peace and grace. If you can’t have that, I hope you can at least have a good meal and some happy times.

Cheers

0

Saturday’s Theme Music

Newport, Oregon coast — Saturday, May 23, 2026.

Yes, mea culpa, I typed up yesterday’s theme music as Saturday instead of Friday. Blame it on the wind. Or blame it on a conversation I was having with my wife about Saturday. Saturday got stuck on the brain like bubblegum on my shoe.

Fog set in yesterday, and then some drizzling — but the wind let up! Today, blue sky is reflected in the water in stretches, making the ocean blue instead of bland rock gray. We have a new record for number of people on the beach at once: the previous record was eleven. Today, we see seventeen, and three dogs.

With the moon still waxing and just reaching a quarter, we’ve had very low tides. Yesterday’s was so low and so far out, I walked a couple hundred yards across beach that’s usually covered by water. Not that you can tell; it’s all sand.

It’s 52 F today. 60 F is a possible high. But we’re heading south again, turning for home, Ashland. It’ll be 85 F there today. The catsitter reports that Papi is enjoying this stretch of sunshine, chillin’ in his favorite shady spaces, snoozing the day away yesterday. I look forward to seeing him but admit that I’m not overly enthusiastic about abandoning this life of leisure by the ocean. I am excited to get back to my writing routine, though. My wife tried to give space for me to write but it was erratic and problematic, if you get what I mean.

We will be stopping for breakfast for a final time at The Green Salmon. Looking forward to it!

Read this article this morning:

Court-ordered release of Trump ballroom donor deal sparks uproar

“Public Citizen sued for access to the funding contract for Trump’s $400 million White House ballroom and prevailed, resulting in the document’s release. The agreement between the White House, National Park Service, and Trust for the National Mall permits anonymous donations and omits the White House from conflict-of-interest reviews. Known donors include Amazon, Lockheed Martin, Google, and Palantir, all with significant federal contracts, and about $300 million has been raised privately to date.”

The usual suspects doing the usual grifting in the Golden Age of Corruption under Trump. Interesting to note that only $300 million has been raised to date to build the Epstein ballroom.

Trump’s Iran boondoggle has been going 84 days. Still waiting for another Operation Epic LOOK — SQUIRREL! release.

Your Trump Quote of the Day:

Sure, that’s why he did it. No, he’s not trying to buy loyalty from his base to use as a personal army. Nope. LOOK — SQUIRREL!

Today’s music is “Cake by the Ocean” by DNCE. This came about because we were eating dessert by the ocean last night. Not cake, but lemon bars. Not caring about the details, The Neurons turned on the song last night and it remains in the morning mental music stream today.

Swedes Mattman & Robin produced the song, which is how it ended up with this title. From Wikipedia: ‘The song’s title originated from Mattman & Robin’s repeatedly confusing the phrase “sex on the beach” for “cake by the ocean”.’

Hope your day is charmed with good weather, good food, good company, and good news.

Cheers

6

Friday’s Theme Music

Newport, Oregon — Saturday, May 22, 2026.

It’s 54 F with a high of 60 in sight. The waves are calmer, but the wind continues ransacking the beach. Nobody is down there right now. I did see four small figures walking it an hour ago…

We opened our laptops to see if Trump passed away or if the war was over. Big news is that some Republicans said no to Trump’s ballroom drone port military underground bunker funding request of a cool billion. Seems like its elections optics and not principles. Few are bothering to recall that Trump said it would be built with donations and cost just two hundred million and the American taxpayers would pay nothing.

One of those ‘standing up’ is Susan Collins, who exhibits the same moral fortitude as a feather on the wind. Yeah, I’ not impressed.

Trump’s response: attack those who said no, etc. Says, paraphrasing, ‘This is all according to the plan and we’ve been saying it all along.’ Sure; that’s why there’s no evidence online of that. Question: does he think us all that stupid, or is he that stupid?

He’ll probably steal, er, shift the money from somewhere else. That’s his MO. Screw the laws, constitution, all that.

It’s all part of the same game for him: launch a war, say it’s over, promise it will be over shortly, tell us that it’s not long compared to other wars, tell us it’s not a way. Just like his healthcare plan that never arrived. His promises to lower prices day one. Claim that he’ll ‘fix’ the Lincoln Reflecting Pool for 1.8 million which becomes over ten million.

Still waiting on the Epstein files.

My sister, Gina, is busy selling Mom’s household items and pushing to get the house sold. I admire her energy level and remain really thankful that she’s there to do these things.

Today’s music is by Damn Yankees. I don’t know why “High Enough” is in the morning mental music stream today. It could have to do with a dream, I suppose. The Neurons aren’t connecting the dots for me.

I hope your day goes well, and you go to bed satisfied with what’s transpired for you.

Time for Operation Epic Find Food.

Cheers

3

Thursday’s Theme Music

Newport, Oregon — Thursday, May 21, 2026.

Fog struck. The wind’s been strong the entire visit. Today, it felt like it shifted into a higher gear, cutting through our clothing with an icy edge. 52 F in the morning, the day’s high would be 58 F, but the wind would make it feel much colder.

We checked out early, heading north just a few miles, to Newport. Here we’ll stay two more nights. A new hotel, a new view, but it’s the same ocean and Oregon coast.

Meanwhile, we stopped at our favorite coastal eatery, The Green Salmon. It’s all vegan there. After a satisfying breakfast — “Only Murders in the Building” omelet for me — we fought the wind walking on the 804 trail for ten minutes. Retreating from nature, we went north to Depoe Bay to see if any whales were hanging around. Short answer: no.

Retracing our steps, we went back down Highway 101 to Nye Beach. A bookstore popular with us, Nye Beach Book House, was no longer a business. We stopped at a bakery and shared a large frosted cinnamon roll, hot out of the oven. Then, on to our Newport hotel, Hallmark and checked in. Once we were settled in, my wife napped. I went for a walk on the beach, one mile in each direction, battered by the wind in both directions. As long as I didn’t look at the buildings overlooking the beach, I could pretend that I was an exploring, the first to walk on this stretch of land. As it was entirely empty, it was entirely believable.

Is it any wonder that The Neurons are playing “Against the Wind” in the morning mental music stream? Well, it started in the morning but it played all day. The 1980 song was a hit for Bob Seger, who wrote and performed it. It’s about looking back and thinking about the choices made. Besides the wind, being alone on that beach made this song a good companion piece because of that connection about reflecting on life.

As far as the news goes, we went without knowing anything until about an hour ago. We’re just starting to reconnect with the world again. I see that Trump’s war has now been going 82 days — longer than the four to five weeks that he once claimed.

I see that the Epstein files still aren’t released and the price of gas here is still high, as it does across the nation.

It seems like Trump is counting on his ballroom to distract us as part of Operation Epic LOOK — SQUIRREL! Trump is now babbling about the ballroom’s roof as a drone base and snipers’ nests. Not sure why he thinks either are needed as part of Washington D.C. Maybe he’s planning to stay there, hunker down after he’s removed from the Oval Office.

I hope your day was as satisfying for you as my day was for me.

Cheers

2

Wednesday’s Theme Music

Florence, Oregon — Wednesday, May 20, 2026.

To clarify, we’re actually staying at Heceta Beach, 3 miles north of Florence. Heard from the catsitter. Papi has adjusted to her presence and her feeding him, and is basically acting just as if we’re there.

It’s 60 F now, on its way to 63 F. Here’s this morning beach photo.

We’ve had wonderful, fresh, tasty food everywhere we’ve eaten, and have only met nice folks. Hope to hell I’m not jinxing this by mentioning it.

Yesterday was a bad day for Mom and my sister Gina, Mom’s defacto caregiver. Mom had another UTI, was complaining of dizziness and headaches. Gina took her to urgent care. They said Mom’s UTI isn’t responding to antibiotics and needs something stronger and had Gina take her to a hospital, UPMC East. Well, that was an eight hour ordeal for them, with miscommunication between the two care facilities.

Mom was back into her room around midnight. Gina was shocked at its state; disorganized and messy. Very un-Mom. Mom denies her dizziness is a problem but Gina said she complained about it multiple times. XRays and CT Scans showed nothing.

Gina is also frustrating because the other sisters are ‘too busy’ to help with Mom. She ended up transferring Mom from car to wheelchair to bed, and back, etc, eighteen times yesterday.

Poor Mom. Poor Gina.

This is life.

Haven’t looked at the news this morning. Don’t want to disrupt the vacay vibe by doing that before I’ve had my daily wine and beer. I mean, coffee. Yeah, that’s what I meant.

I did see that Trump’s Iran War is not over. The price of gas is shocking here. Diesel prices are almost at $7 a gallon.

Trump mocked that as ‘peanuts’. He insists he’s a man on a mission to stop Iran from having nuclear weapons, no matter how much pain it cause US citizens and the world. Sure; we believe that. It’s all just part of Operation Epic LOOK — SQUIRREL!

Today’s song is “Boys of Summer”. Written by Mike Campbell, a guitarist who played and wrote with Tom Petty, Petty turned the song down. Don Henley took it and had a hit in 1984.

The Neurons put it in the morning mental music stream because several times, I looked out at the beach and saw, “Nobody on the beach.” Recognizing the line from the song, I suppose Les Neurons thought I was trying to remember it.

I hope your day progresses in a satisfying way. I find that coffee helps, along with staying well hydrated with other fluids.

Off to begin Operation Epic Eat Breakfast.

Cheers

2

Tuesday’s Theme Music

Florence, Oregon coast — Tuesday, May 19, 2026.

Catsitter called to say all is well with Papi. He was sort of quizzical about his morning routine, looking around for us, not really ready to eat at first but then gave in and chowed down.

Yes, we’re still at the coast. Another day, another photo.

Temperature is 58 F for the record, not far off of the expected high of 63 F. Tide is out. It was waayyy low earlier this morning.

Other than thinking about Trump and growling about what he’s done so far, I’m not paying much attention to the news. Saw there was another shooting, along with the usual responses from the usual suspects.

It was striking to see how many police cars mobilized to the shooting site in San Diego. We could save so many lives and need far less resources like this if we’d take a sensible approach to gun ownership. Someday, someday, someday…

For music, The Neurons went with “Margaritaville.” This is a Jimmy Buffett song. The Neurons fed it to the morning mental music stream as I cruised the sand. The surf’s sound pounded my ears and the wave play was fantastic. Soooo refreshing. I had a cuppa coffee in my hand as I walked… Well, truth: I had a four shot Americano as I walked. Good stuff. *smile*

Hope you day goes as well as mine, and that our days together will grow brighter, better, and healthier.

The Pacific said to say, “Hello.’

Cheers

2

The Day

We hit the road at 10:10. Interstate 5 North. Good sunny travel weather, moderately heavy traffic.

A gas stop at Costco in Roseburg returned us to a full tank. Back onto I5 N for a few more miles, leaving it at Sutherlin, now going west through the mountains, to the coast. We entered Florence at 2 PM.

Neither of us had commented on the lack of RVs and travel trailers on the road. They’re usually good for slowing our progress to a snail’s stroll. The rule of the car is, don’t notice something good out loud, or you’ll jinx us.

Lunch was done at a Florence favorite, Traveler’s Cove. After a walk through town, we headed to our hotel. The Driftwood Shores Resort and Conference Center offers okay accommodations. We like it because you’re right on the Pacific Ocean and all the rooms face the beach. We were there for ocean, dude. It’s the waves.

I unpacked my clothes. Set up my toiletry. Arranged my shoes. Hung stuff up and put things into drawers. My wife sat and read her book while I was doing this. This is one of our major differences: I always unpack, like I’m living there. She leaves everything in her suitcase, pulling it out as needed.

We walked the beach, gritting our teeth against a stiff sea breeze. The sun was unblocked by anything, and the waves were strenuous, constantly pounding, noisy but soothing.

Back in the room, I opened a bottle of red wine, poured a glass and watched the waves until, finally, some piece of me whispered, “Let’s go see what’s happening on the Internet.”

So here I am, watching the waves, typing, reading, sipping wine.

The view from the room.

3

Fridaz Theme Music

And the sky is a hazy shade of summer. Good morning from Yachats on the Oregon coast, where it’s 56 F with a marine layer blending blues and grays with the sky and the Pacific. Sunshine has roared over the eastern mountains. We don’t know where today’s battle between weather elements will take us. Yesterday was sharply clear all day long with a sunset unfettered by a marine layer. Forecasts yesterday were teasing us with suggestions that today’s high would find 70 F. Now they’re saying that it isn’t going past 65 F…again.

Ocean splash booms are a familiar these days, but a coverlet of fresh silence stays on us. I’ve not heard a train, siren, helicopter, or aircraft in many sleeps. All are usual sidekicks to every mundane venture outside the house door where we live in semi-rural, semi-urban southern Oregon. Serenity now.

News was shut out like a bad smell yesterday. Too much sunshine and good vibes distracting us, at least for one fortunate day. I did see that a judge ruled that Abina Habba is not lawfully serving as a judge. His ruling is not being enforced to allow the usual appeals. Wouldn’t be surprised to hear later that the judge’s observations about procedures being flouted and requirements ignored is waved away like a gnat annoying a MAGA ear.

Today’s song is “White Wedding” by Billy Idol. It’s our friends’ 34th anniversary. He and she recounted courtship tales and followed up with wedding day memories. She related that they kicked off their fancy wedding duds and played volleyball in the sand. That was an appropriate homage to how they hooked up, by noticing one another on the volleyball court. Anyway, The Neurons, being the jerks they are, heard all this and summoned “White Wedding”. This is a fascinating acoustic version.

May grace and peace hold and keep you. I’m depending on coffee once again. Onward and upward, here we go. Cheers

2

Thirstdaz Theme Music

A gorgeous day of blue sky and blue ocean gave us a sunny good-morning today. 65 F that feels like 71. Skin-chilling sea breeze skips off the water and charges up over us. Today’s high is that 65. It was a short climb from the overnight low of 58 F. Narrow margins preside over this period of weather for the most part.

Thirstda morning, 10:30 AM, Yachats, Oregon, 8/21/2025

TACO revealed his cowardly side again. First, he’d demonstrated his authoritarian tendency by declaring that he was changing how we vote. Yeah, he’s smarter than the founders and everyone who has worked on the laws and mechanisms involved in the U.S. voting process since the nation was established. He also proved himself ignorant again of how the gubmint works — especially voting and states’ rights. Once again, all this has me shaking my head at all those voters who support him. Meanwhile, after pushback against his comments and ideas, TACO backed away fast from what he was saying. He realized he sounded like a fool. Trump no like looking like a fool, even though he does it so often, he’s become very adept at appearing the fool. Just another exasperating GRRRRRRR Trump Regime episode.

After reading that, it was out to walk to breakfast food. We were out there eating, having coffee, then walking. Food and drink were had at a place called The Green Salmon, one of our all-time favorite places. Delicious vegan food. I had plant-based sausage and Just Eggs sandwich on multigrain vegan bread with lettuce and tomato. Soooo gooood. Another had oat pancakes. No diary; no meats. All is plant-based, delicious, and amazing. Down where the rocky land holds on against the pounding waves, we watched one or more whales release flumes and show their backs. Funny how excited we get when we spot them.

Today’s song is “Renegades” by the X Ambassadors. This came about when one of our little vacationing tribe declared to a friendly coastal local that we were ambassadors from southern Oregon. Seizing the moment, The Neurons dialed up “Renegades” from 2015 into the morning mental music stream.

May the sun be your friend and peace and grace stay with you. Here I go again, on coffee wings. Cheers

2

Sunda’s Wandering Thoughts

I’m currently contemplating making arrangements for my wife and I to go the the Oregon coast for a break. You know the thinking: get away from it all. Take well-deserved time out from the usual routines. My injuries and medical matters curtailed many of our travel plans this year. Beyond that, the burden of caring for me, cleaning the house, and well, doin’ everything, was shoved onto her shoulders for several weeks. She held up well but she could use some downtime.

The thing is, it’s winter. Snow could come at any time. And we’d be driving through the mountains, often on winding two-lane highways. She no like. As a naturally anxious person, travel heightens her anxiety. Blend in additional risks like driving on snowy, icy weather, and she’s hanging over the edge.

In that way, she’s my polar opposite. I’m a calm and relaxed traveler and driver for most of the time, taking things as they come. When driving, I do get impatient with other drivers and vehicles. I allowed the impatience to take over when I was middle-aged. Now, I gently coax it back into its shell.

So I’m up in the air about what to do. Stay or go. Probably plan it and make reservations, and then buy the cancellation insurance in case the weather is too daunting.

6

Blog at WordPress.com.

Up ↑