Tuesday’s Theme Music

Tuesday’s sun beats in the dawn with a hot flash at 5:37. We rise, another day older, deeper in debt. Well, some. Your condition may vary.

So has begun 6/29/2021, much like other days have begun. Let’s talk about the weather. Discuss world affairs. Lament politics. Recall game delights and heartbreaks. Let’s huddle by Zooms and perch in cubes, hunker in offices, rush to flights, beat the traffic, and drink to that. Let’s pursue the dream like smoke in a valley. Train for the impossible. Gird ourselves for the effort. Drink the Kool-aid and move on.

Sunset should bring its mercy at 8:51 PM. Temperatures today are lower. Some claim we will break triple digits. Others say, no that barrier is safe. Yesterday’s scorcher saw 113 to 118 around here. Then, strange salvation from a wildfire down south, the Lava Fire by Weed in California. Smoke drove in along I-5, cutting the solar influence, giving us an early respite. Flipside, air quality went from good and clear to moderate, start watching out.

I’ve been awakening with the melodic strains of Kansas, “Dust in the Wind”, occupying my brain’s whorls. Wonder each day, are dreams calling it out, conscious thoughts inviting the song to the party, something wired in my brain, or just serendipity? Maybe when I die, I’ll go to this great exchange, the Afterlife Market, where all your life mysteries can be seen and explained. You can know just what happened when that girl ignored you, you didn’t get that promotion, a cousin disappeared one quiet night after a party, or why Mom went mad. The truth is in there. You can learn everything you want at the Afterlife Market.

As with other mornings, “Dust in the Wind” gives way to other tunes. An old favorite has hurried in. I played it once before as my theme music. Think I’ll do it again today. Remember, stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as needed, can the vax when you can. Thanks.

Here’s Molly Hatchet with their 1979 offering, “Flirtin’ with Disaster”.

We’re flirtin’ with disaster, ya’ll know what I mean
And the way we run our lives it makes no sense to me
I don’t know about yourself or what you want to be, yeah
When we gamble with our time we choose our destiny

h/t to Genius.com

Cheers

June 29, 2021 0

Monday’s Theme Music

The annual rewind has begun. Not what’s happening, of course. More about revolutions and rotations. The essence, though, is that our daylight hours are beginning their seasonal wane.

Today is Monday, June 28, 2021. Sol’s golden beating began at 5:36 AM, a minute later than yesterday. By 7:45, the thermometer was climbing past 86 degrees F. We expected 110 in our southern Oregon valley today. We’ll get some relief tonight, after the sun moves on at 8:51 PM. The temperatures are expected to drop to 66 then.

I was in a work groove yesterday. Finished wall number three. On to number four this week, completing the great room saga, I mean, painting. Then it’ll be…other rooms.

While painting, I was writing in my head, going through plot lines and character arcs, imagining new scenes, re-thinking old ones, working my way toward a better ending. With this going on — writing in my head and painting the great room (and dealing with the heat) (yeah, okay, I turned on the A/C) — a song from 1970 entered the mental musical rotation stream. By King George, the song is called “Groove Me”. It’s a nice taste of R&B. I enjoyed the backstory of how this song came to be. King George worked in a factory a few feet from a young woman. They saw each other every day, but he was too shy to say anything. He finally wrote this song as a poem to give her. But he never saw her again.

Stay positive, test neggy, wear a mask when needed, and get the vax. Thanks. Here’s the music.

June 28, 2021 0

Sunday’s Theme Music

5:36 AM, 8:51 PM, sunrise, sunset, yesterday, today, tomorrow.

Heat is today’s word. Heat. Hot. Burning. The valley reached 102 degrees F yesterday. 110 is forecast for today. We’re not expected to drop below 100 for our highs until Friday, when we’ll only reach 99. During the night, the lows will be in the low to mid-seventies. Last night, it was 83 at 10 PM.

We went dancing last night, place Lake of the Woods. Meeting up with friends, we ate sandwiches and barbeque, drank beer, wine, and water, and danced to a band on the lake shore under the pines. Up in the mountains, comfortable temperatures in the high 80s cradled us.

While a friend and I checked out the water, we discovered a bottle in the water. Retrieved it to dispose of right. Sting and the rest of The Police serenaded me with “Message in A Bottle” from 1979 for a bit thereafter. I share it with you.

Test negative, stay positive, wear masks as needed, and get the vax. Cheers

June 27, 2021 0

Saturday’s Theme Music

A jay scatted about dawn at 5 AM. “You’re early,” he muttered at the window, covering his ears with pillows. His movement aroused the duty floof, who investigated him for signs of life, prodding his hand and tapping his nose.

Sol’s zingers jazzed the land at 5:36 AM. With sunrise officially arrived, the cats began their Saturday morning business. This June 26, 2021, saw them with a full slate of activities, including going out the pet door, coming in the pet door, and blocking the pet door so others could not go in and out.

Sol’s exit is anticipated at 8:51 PM. Should be a relief that most in the valley will want. Yesterday saw digital readouts tapped out at 99 degrees F. 103 is forecast for today.

As he processed through morning routines, his mental music app played a selection of tunes. Somewhere after shaving but before coffee, Stevie Ray Vaughn & Double Trouble began playing “Tightrope” from 1989.

We have been walkin’ the tightrope Trying to make it right
Walkin’ the tightrope every day and every night
Walkin’ the tightrope bring it all around
Walkin’ the tightrope from the lost to found
Walkin’ the tightrope stretched around the world
Walkin’ the tightrope save the boys and girls
Walkin’ the tightrope let’s make it right
Walkin’ the tightrope do it, do it tonight
Walkin the tightrope

h/t to Genius.com

Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as needed, and get the vax. Here’s the music.

June 26, 2021 2

Friday’s Theme Music

As the world kept turning, the sun came on, arriving in the valley at 5:36 AM, officially, because we had light well before that. I know because the cats were like, “Come on, it’s night, let’s do something.” So, I was up at 4:30, doing something with the cats. Yep, feeding and petting, talking to them, just like it was a more civilized time.

The turning world will spin the sun away at 8:51 PM. High temperatures of about 94 F are expected, which isn’t too bad. Long as it stays below 100, we don’t feel the need for the A/C. The temp inside sometimes reaches 83, but then we turn on a fan. We’re not big A/C fans.

“Boom, Like That” (2004) is passing through my brain this morning. Mark Knopfler’s song about Ray Kroc and McDonald’s came on in when my brain opened the door by thinking about fast food restaurants. Our town has two: Wendy’s and Taco Bell. I don’t eat regularly at either. I visited the Wendy’s last year for ice cream. But these places — fast food — and big box stores have had a smothering influence, the way that they sprang up, crushing the locals. Meanwhile, what they often pay employees has barely moved until social activism kicked up some political pressure. As Mark wrote and sings, “It’s dog eat dog, rat eat rat,” in his smooth, dry way.

Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as needed, and get the vax. We in Oregon are almost at the point where we won’t be required to have masks. Vaccinations are slooowwwllly closing in on 70%. That’s the state’s trigger for saying we’re good, following CDC guidance. Jackson County, where I reside, is way behind, at 52%. Ashland, though, is higher, in the lower sixties. Harder to get numbers for the town. Here’s the music. Cheers

June 25, 2021 0

Thursday’s Theme Music

Thursday, June 24, 2021, found the sun’s first fiery fingers combing through the valley at 5:36 AM, silencing the night life, stirring the more noisy, numerous day life. With more thunderstorms yesterday and some meager sprinkles, temperatures fell again. Sol is expected to lift the temperatures back into the low to mid-nineties in our region. Right now, it’s 78 F and mildly humid. Sunset is expected at 8:51 PM.

We have a vacation planned for next month. Our vacations generally rank well with us in experience, and hold up well with memory. Most memorable are the ones that go wrong. Like, for instance, that time that we were living on Okinawa. We took space available seats — Space A is the lingo — on a military aircraft to Hawaii. Had a wonderful time. Space A took us south to Guam on a C141. Dark as hell in there. Seats bolted to the floor, facing cargo pallets and an engine. Box lunches — chicken, sandwiches, candy bars — sustained us. We landed at Midway. The base commander opened the small exchange and showed us around.

Meanwhile, a typhoon (as we called them then — this was in 1983) was churning around the Pacific. We made it to Clark AB in the Philippines (now gone) only to be hurried north. We were trying for our home base of Kadena on Okinawa, but the typhoon’s plans interfered. We ended up in Yokota Air Base, Japan, where the typhoon hunted us down, forcing us to shelter in place. Finally, the storm reversed direction and swung south, freeing us to head home, ending a ten day adventure. Not quite National Lampoon’s Vacation, but a lot of fun. And memorable.

So today’s music is “Vacation” by the Go-Go’s (1982). Test negative, stay positive, wear a mask, and get the vax. Here’s the music. Cheers

June 24, 2021 3

Wednesday’s Theme Music

An afternoon of thunderstorms was Tuesday’s highlight. Rain fell sometimes. With all the thunder, you wonder, where is the lightning striking in this dry land? What part of the tinder is meeting its match? But it brought temperatures down into the eighties, though with a muggy overlay. Overnights fell even lower, forcing us to close windows against getting too cold. Aren’t we precious?

Hi. Today is Wednesday, June 23, 2021. Our ol’ friend Sol entered our valley like a child sneaking in past curfew, arriving at 5:35 AM (again – been several days of 5:35 AM sunrises). The child will sneak back out at 8:51 PM.

All that thunder and questions about lightning caused Eddie Floyd’s song, “Knock on Wood” (1966), to knock on my thoughts. Its fat sound spoke to my mood. Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as needed, get the vax, and enjoy the day. Here’s the music. Cheers

June 23, 2021 0

Tuesday’s Theme Music

The slide began on a Tuesday, June 22, 2021. Sunrise at 5:35 AM was one minute later than the previous day. This depressed Michael. He could see the tunnel forming that would lead inexorably to the coldest, shortest day, which meant the longest, darkest night.

Brewing coffee, he shook it off. Summer was here! At 9:00 AM, the local temperature was 78 degrees F. Thunderstorms and clouds offered some refuge from the heat. They’d only be 94 today before the Earth’s turn shifted them from the sun at 8:51 PM. The thunderstorms might bring wildfires, though. Fingers crossed…

He began humming “More Human Than Human”. Humming it until he began singing, soto vocce, “Yeah. Yeah.” The White Zombie song came out decades before. When? Yes, back when he retired from the military in 1995. He’d been amused hearing it. The song title is lifted from one of his favorite movies, “Blade Runner”, based on a favorite book, “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” He often thought of that slogan while slogging through corporate meetings in subsequent years. The start ups. Then Tyco. ISS. IBM. “More Human Than Human” encapsulated the misleading slant corporations bring to their marketing.

It was a depressing way to begin the day. Brewing more coffee, he turned to writing. Even if not a successful writing day (which was always iffy), writing was a distraction, his personal drug.

“Be positive,” he told himself. Test negative, his mind answered. Wear a mask when needed. Already got the vax. The state — his adopted state, Oregon — was almost at seventy percent.

Fingers crossed. It was becoming his personal slogan.

June 22, 2021 0

Monday’s Theme Music

76 degrees F at 8 AM. Will probably be a warm Monday.

June 21, 2021. This is it: our longest day. That’s the accepted norm. I like the long periods of daylight, so, sigh. Not looking forward to the shorter days of daylight. Sunshine initiated ‘the longest day’ with its faint streams at 5:35 AM. It’ll cease at 8:51 PM. Between those hours, high temperatures in the upper nineties will be enjoyed. It’s interesting that today’s sunrise is a minute later than the last two days, but sunset is later. Result of all these rotations, revolutions, and tilt in play, yeah? Fun to imagine us streaking through the solar system around Sol, along with our planet siblings, while the whole arrangements itself is whizzing through the galaxy and the galaxy is racing through the Universe.

“Summertime Blues” by Eddie Cochran occupies the AM mental music stream. The song was released when I was two but received a lot of airplay throughout my youth. Although the song is about the misery of a teenager with a summer job, I’ve always been enamored of that line, “There ain’t no cure for the summertime blues.” A gaggle of acts have covered the song, including The Who and Brian Seltzer, but I’m loyal to that original. It popped out of memory and into active thought as I finished painting yesterday and contemplated my next summer task. Wonder why. Heh.

Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as needed, and get the vax. Cheers

June 21, 2021 0

Sunday’s Theme Music

The time was 5:34 AM. Sunshine trickled over the hills and through whatever gaps the world offered, heralding the commencement of another day in Ashland, Oregon. Heat began its trickle a few hours later. Temperatures trickled into the seventies by the mid-morning and whispered about going into the mid-nineties.

It is Father’s Day in the U.S., June 20, 2021, a holiday officially recognized in 1972, a news moment that passed by my teenage head with little notice. I have no FD plans other than the standard Sunday through Saturday routines. Coffee, writing, some work around the house, maybe a short drive somewhere, perhaps more house painting before sunset is called at 8:50 PM. Dad is alive in Texas. I see him every few years. He calls me on my birthday and whenever he goes back into the hospital. He’s gone numerous times this year. Despite a young enthusiasm for Lucky Strikes and Camels, he didn’t see much of a hospital until he struck into his eighties. Now he’s a regular. I’ll call him later today. Did send a card. We’ll talk about cars and military service. It’s our common ground. He’s on his third marriage. This one has stuck, as they’ve gone past twenty years.

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers are in my mind with their 1981 song, “The Waiting”. “The waiting is the hardest part.” Yes, waiting to write is the hardest part for me, getting torn away from it by other requirements. No how life was planned. Didn’t have a plan, TBH. I was just winging that mutha.

Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as needed, and get a vax. We’re almost at sixty-nine percent in Oregon, edging toward seventy jab by jab. The waiting until then…well, you get it. Here’s the music. Cheers