Tag: rock

Wednesday’s Theme Music

Mood:

Good morning from Ashlandia, where comfy 65 degree F air brushes me from the open office windows. We called off fast last night and dropped into the low sixties, delivering a solid open-window sleep experience. Blue skies are again benevolently overseeing the morning. The hot side of things is expected to ‘only’ chug up to 95 F. Tomorrow, we go back up to 96. All of this is above average. My wife lamented this morning, “When will this heat end?”

I’ve been reading the news. Bad weather and its impact — let’s not talk about climate change, though! — the Republican National Convention, Judge Cannon’s ruling to dismiss Trump’s stolen documents case, and the unending wars dominate my news feed. I was amused to see the Teamsters aren’t indorsing anyone, they tell us. Yes, makes sense, because Republicans are so kindly inclined toward unions, right? Yes, that’s morning snark.

Judge Cannon’s delaying tactics and now outright dismissal, reinterpreting law and precedence, has drawn heavy legal scorn. The DOJ has approved pursuing an appeal. I’m really interested in how the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals will react. Last time they ruled on a Cannon ‘initiative’, they scolded her. Hope they take her to the woodshed this time.

Of course, on the Democratic side of the election process, the media has made it seem like President Biden is a dottering old fool. This takes place as Agenda 47 and the medieval Project 2025 are being scrutinized. My hope is that a silent majority is out there. Fully aware of the GOP’s assinine, reactionary positions and authoritarian leanings, this silent majority will ignore the press’s hand wringing and Clooney’s ill-advised advice and deliver a solid Democratic victory. Fingers crossed, right?

That has The Neurons channeling Patti Smith and “People Have the Power” (1988) into the morning mental music stream (Trademark hopeful). The Neurons started the song toward the end in my morning mental music stream, the part that goes, “The power to dream, to rule, to wrestle the world from fools.” That’s always been my dream, and will continue to be it. You may say I’m a dreamer but I know I’m not the only one.

Stay positive, be strong, lean forward, and Vote Blue in 2024. Coffee and I have struck up our daily morning exchange, and the world already seems like it might be getting better. Here’s the music. Cheers

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Tuesday’s Theme Music

Mood: Coffeebunctious

Good morning, good day, good afternoon, and good evening. Today is Tuesday, July 16, 2024. It’s now 81 F in Ashland, cloudy, a bit humid, stiff and dull with heat. Our high will be 99 F. Clouds like pleasure craft in the sea have come to the harbor of our sky.

We were coming back from running errands yesterday when the sky darkened. A large, swollen cloud mass blocked the sun, bringing up a wind. Rain veils hovered over the southern mountains’ trees. Could we get rain? my wife and I wondered.

Back home, we questioned Alexa. She assured us that rain wasn’t happening.

Then thunder steamrolled our street. Huh. A few minutes later came a lightning streak. More thunder. The power flickered and danced. Then soft rain pelted the hot ground, summoning petrichor from its depths. The temperature flew from the mid 90s to 86 F. Doors and windows were opened as the thin, light rain drizzled over us like light frosting and left. Thunder continued for another thirty minutes but that was the only band member there as lightning and precipitation hustled on. The temperature recovered to hit 90 but the evening cooled fast. The night was pleasantly chill, and a deep slumber was enjoyed.

One of the things that come with lightning in the west is worry about it striking the ground and igniting fires. Yes, that happened, quite a bit. Many were immediately found and outed. A few are still out there, watched and prioritized to be addressed by the proper government agencies.

The Neurons are feeding One Republic with “Counting Stars” from 2013 into the morning mental music stream (Trademark steamed). It was the line, “Lately, I’ve been, I’ve been losing sleep, dreaming about the things we could be,” which hooked The Neurons. I don’t blame them; I like the line as well. Then I sort of hooked onto later line myself: “Everything that kills me makes me feel alive.” As a person living with hypertension and medicating for it and dealing with edema, I make strenuous efforts to avoid sodium. My bod and sodium don’t get along and the less little bit each day triggers swelling and exasperation. Ah, life gives us each a unique burden to carry, unless you’re some kind of strangely fortunate one like TFG. It’s a uplifting song for me, nice beat, with some stirring lyrics aptly delivered.

Be strong, remain positive, and Vote Blue in 2024. Coffee and I have been sharing a pleasant morning. Hope you’ve been doing the same. Here’s the music video. Off we go. Cheers

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Monday’s Theme Music

Mood: gagging

Hi everyone, it’s Monday, July 15, 2024, in Ashlandia. It’s 71 F here. We expect a high of 97 F, about five degrees above our average for July. BUT yesterday was exected to top out at 96, 97, and we ended up with 102 at my house.

July 15 happens to be my little sister’s birthday, so happy b’day, little sis. Two years younger than me, she was the family baby until a couple other little sisters showed up six years later. Just found one on the doorstep in Wilkinsburg, PA, one year, and then another followed a few years later. I love all these little sisters. The oldest little sister is now a grandmother and one of her granddaughters is now in her teens. A common story but still freakin’ amazin’ to me, because time, circumstances, change, you know.

I think about her often. She’s Republican and her hubby is deep MAGA. Her boys are deeply progressive. It’s an interesting household.

Yes, I read the news today, oh boy. Judge Cannon took a dump on us. It’s just one GOP dump after another.

In this instance, an ex-prez took docs he wasn’t supposed to take and actively worked to hide them and stop them from being taken away from him. But gosh, that special counsel, Cannon says, not sure that’s legitimate. I feel like I’m listening to the Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland. Honestly, my faith in that case soured as soon as I learned who the judge was. I figured she’d wait until after the elections to dismiss it. But it’s a July surprise.

Move on, you say, move on. Yes, it’s going to take me a while. Between the Trump-loaded Roberts Court giving Trump cover and now the Trump appointee dismissing the case, my trust in the legal system has crashed through the floor and is mired somewhere in the Earth’s core. Using the Spinal Tap scale of 1 – 11, my confidence level in American justice is at minus 6,232,716.

“Hungry As A Wolf” by Duran Duran is percolating in the morning mental music stream (Trademark shaken). Not much surprise for the 1982 song, as I was hungry for both breakfast and justice. I took care of the former. Still hungering for the latter.

Ah, be strong, right? That’s what I tell myself. And stay positive. And have a sip of coffee, and maybe a longer, deeper swallow. Okay, here we go. Here’s the music. Cheers

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Saturday’s Theme Music

Mood: Weary

Not enough sleep last night. Tucker (pronounced Tuckah) matters. Just not eating enough. Aging, etc.

Also, dreams. Lot of weird freakin’ dreams.

A gray-blue sky covers us as smoke from a fire somewhere has made our valley its destination. 70 F now, weather forecasts paint us as hot — 100 F — dry, and dusty. This is Saturday, 7/13/2024.

The weather seers have revised our upcoming weather, so it’s gonna be hotter than we’d hoped. Not in triple digits, but just under it. We were all looking for a break.

The media is suddenly loud and big on Project 2025. Stories are leading across the mediascape about all the ways ultraconservatives under a Trump presidency want shove foundational changes to our freedom and rights, along with the way we do business. Their dream is of unshackled big business making obscene profits (as if current profit levels aren’t obscene) with no concern about the environment or planet, led by a ‘christian’ (as they define it) government, with an executive branch chasing vendettas

Out on the campaign trail, President Biden is striking back at critics who demand he step aside with fiery speeches and assertive attacks on Trump. On the GOP side, the media publish pieces with gentle chiding, even chuckling tones about Trump’s latest crazy rant in June about water and the New Green Deal.

“They put restrictors and they put them on in places like here where there’s so much water you don’t know what to do with it. You know, it’s called rain. It rains a lot in certain places. But, now their idea, you know, did you see the other day? They just, I opened it up and they closed it again. I opened it, they close it, washing machines to wash your dishes. There is a problem. They don’t want you to have any water. They want no water.”

That’s part of Trump’s statement. ‘I opened it, they close it, washing machines to wash your dishes. There is a problem. They don’t want you to have any water. They want no water.’

This is coherent, intelligent discourse about water-saving measures? Yet few call for Trump to step aside, pass the baton, or let young leadership step forward. Crazy.

Thinking about Trump and what he’s said and done since he’s come on the political scene back in 2016 inspired The Neurons. They rang up Paul Simon’s song “Still Crazy After All These Years” from 1975 and have it playing in my morning mental music stream (Trademark sedated).

Be positive, remain strong, and Vote Blue in 2024. I have an appointment with coffee I must get to. Here’s the music. 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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Thursday’s Theme Music

Mood: Stockup

Ashlandianers have the giggles over the cooling temperatures. “It’s only going to be 99 degrees today,” we gushed to one another yesterday. “And it’s only going to be 97 tomorrow. Woo hoo!”

Yes, everything is relative. But after a week of record-setting triple digit heat, you can understand our happiness.

Today, Thursday, July 11, 2024, finds us at 71 F right now, with 97 coming over the horizon. Mild smokiness hazes the mountain’s pine shapes but there’s little graying of the blue sky. PurpleAir shows no unhealthy areas of air in our area, another woo hoo moment. Our largest near fire, Salt Creek, is about 90% lined, 16% contained. Mop up is going on in Division A and some parts of Division F. Division W is less tightly lined and they’re using dozers to work that. They’re contining to run 24 hour shifts and are making steady progress.

The Beer Fete for my retiring buddy went well last night. Twelve retired individuals – ten male, two female — two engineers, two botanists, a forensic microbiologist, a hazmat expert, two teachers, a metallurgist, a doctor, the professor emeritus, and me — were gathered. Yeah, we prefer small groups, thanks. The gang chose to sit indoors. Although the temperature had dropped into the mid 90s by then and we had shade, a vicious warm wind was snapping at us. A vote was taken and in we went to air-conditioned socializing. We mostly talked politics. A vote showed that President Biden should remain in the race, 10-2.

Despite yesterday’s lower temperature, cooling the house in the evening proved difficult. The heat was just hanging. I had doors and windows wide open. Papi and Tucker (pronounced Tuckah) both exclaimed, “To hell with this,” and went out to cool off in the Ashlandia serengeti which is my backyard.

For reasons known only to them (and they’re not sharing), The Neurons have “Sweet Freedom” by Michael McDonald (1986) playing in the morning mental music stream (Trademark sunbaked). So although I lack a ‘real’ reason for playing it on this warming morning, it’s an uplifting tune and I’m going with it.

Be positive and strong, lean forward, and Vote Blue. Coffee and I are doing our thing. Here’s the music. Cheers

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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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Tuesday’s Theme Music

Mood: boisterous

Smoke has cleared out in a reprieve for Ashlandia. Temperatures, sadly, remain close to the ‘we’re living in a place that’s hotter than hell’ zone.

It’s Tuesday, July 9, 2024. Excessive heat warnings still dominate our local news and conversations. ‘Only’ reached over 104 F at my house yesterday. Yes, that was an improvement, but with the smoke and the nocturnal temp falling to ‘only’ 71, our house didn’t cool much overnight. Right now, it’s 74 at our place and it’s expected to reach 103 F and dip to 68 F tonight. Tomorrow, fingers crossed, temperatures will not enter the triple digit realm. We’ll stay cooler, in the upper 90s, until Saturday, when 100 F is predicted for a final burst before the temperatures fall into the low 90s for a period.

The high heat has moved authorities to declare an extreme heat danger emergency, curtailing outdoor activities such as cutting grass and using power tools which might ignite a fire.

It’s important to count my blessings, though. We’re not flooded out of our homes as midwesterners were in June. Nor are we without power as several millions are in Texas after Beryl’s visit. We’re not trapped by forest fires as in parts of California and Oregon, nor are we in the seriously hot levels of Las Vegas (new record of 119 F) or Palm Springs, California (new record of 124 F). Overall, too, my wife and I have food and shelter security, sanitary conditions, and a place to call home that affords us safety and privacy.

The cats are coping. We keep Tucker in. Long-haired, with thick stuff, he’s elderly and needs to be protected more. Young Papi is better at adjusting, it seems. I give both kibble water several times a day. They love it at night, when it finally cools, and the back door is left open. They just lie inside on the living room carpet, enjoying the cooler air as it comes in, admiring their backyard domain.

We’re still enduring being without AC. It is getting more difficult as the relentless heat plagues us. The AC part that was to have arrived yesterday will now arrive on July 12. Why? No reason given but with the weather around the nation, I can easily envision supply chain disruptions caused by flooding, heat, and fire.

EXCEPT — and here is the part where I get irked — their tracking updates showed the part to be not far from me, in fact, 300 miles away by car yesterday at 1 AM. Maybe the truck was involved in a traffic accident or robbery. Don’t know, but that swing from here today to four days away without amplifying information is difficult to swallow. Maybe I’ll just call a repair being.

EXCEPT — Just received an email saying that it’s in the next town and is out for delivery. Like, WTF, man, get your story straight. Hope it arrives soon, and that it fixes my issue. Fingers and toes all crossed and knock on wood.

Today’s music is by Lil Wayne. Called “Mrs. Officer”, it was released in 2008, but The Neurons heard it on the radio yesterday, and it’s just titallating the crap out of them. So it’s in my morning mental music stream (Trademark smokin’) at high volume today.

You familiar with this song? Quite crazy.

Yeah, doing a buck in the latest drop
I got stopped by a lady cop, haha
She got me thinking I can date a cop, haha
‘Cause her uniform fit her so tight
She read me my rights
She put me in her car, she cut off all the lights
She said I have the right to remain silent
Now I got her hollering, sounding like a siren
Talking ’bout (wee-ooh-wee-ooh-wee) yeah
(Wee-ooh-wee-ooh-wee) Yeah (wee-ooh-wee-ooh-wee) yeah
And I know she the law, and she know I’m the boss
And she know I get high above the law
And she know I’m raw, she know I’m from the streets
And all she want me to do is fuck the police
Talking ’bout (wee-ooh-wee-ooh-wee, wee-ooh-wee-ooh-wee)
Yeah (wee-ooh-wee-ooh-wee) yeah

h/t to AZlyrics.com

Stay positive, be strong, and Vote Blue in 2024. Coffee and I have done the tastebuds handshake and we’re off. 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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