‘Crazy frog’ is a mondetext. A mondegreen is ‘a word or phrase that results from a mishearing especially of something recited or sung’. (h/t Merram-Webster). I figure that a mondetext would be a mishearing by an app when creating a text message, especially homophones. In this case, I was speaking into my phone, texting my sister when my wife behind me said, “It’s freezing fog outside.” The app turned that ino crazy frog. It’s our new household phrase for 2025.
Frida, January 17, 2025, has commenced in Ashlandia with crazy frog at 32 degrees F. A stagnant air advisory is in effect. When the fog burns off or moves away, it’ll be cloudy, sunny day that will make the thermometer sing at 46 F at its highest.
Alexa tells me that the Supreme Court ruled that TikTok is a goner. That’s business in ‘Merica.
Since mondegreens were introduced as a topic, The Neurons have awakened and put one of my favorites into the morning mental music stream. “Alive and Kicking” was released by Simple Minds in 1985. When it came out, my wife and I were out for a drive when it hit the radio. After a moment, she asks, “Are they singin, ‘I like the chicken’?” If you wanna check out other mondegreens, here’s a short list of some well-known mishearings.
Closing with hope that you have a strong day. Coffee and I have come together in a good way once again. Here’s the Simple Minds video. Sing along with it: “I like the chicken.” Cheers
The arrival board clicked; yes, Monday had arrived on schedule and was pulling into gate 8/14/2023.
It’s hot in Ashlandia, 84 F at 9:45, heading for 105 today. Cooled down to 70 during the night but it was a late cool down and the sun cracked the whip on the heat as soon as it showed up.
Spend a pleasant day yesterday away from Ashlandia, where the businesses are average and the tourists are good-looking. Went to Jacksonville, a thirty-five minute drive via highway and country roads. Bon voyage party for friends, who are moving to Spain. They’ve been planning it for years, and have lived a few months at a time in the past few years. Now they’re awaiting their visas and putting their stuff in storage, and doing the paperwork through a lawyer to ensure everything is properly accomplished regarding health insurance, etc.
We met them in 2005, just after moving to Ashland. The mechanism was the Y exercise class. My wife, who enjoys exercising, joined the Family Y and began attending that class every M-W-F, and met the woman, Linda. Coffee, lunches, shopping adventures, book clubs, and going out for dancing so followed. Linda and her hubby are terrifically social, friendly, happy people. They always had something going on, and they just started including us.
The Neurons ended up lifting good-bye songs from the grey matter on the drive home. Simple Minds carry the morning mental music stream with “Don’t You Forget About Me” from 1985.
Well, gonna go do yardwork before it gets too hot, than off to write. Shoot down a cuppa coffee first. Stay pos, be strong, remain sane. Here we go. Cheers
We got rock. And coffee. Day is looking good so far.
Spring is holding onto Ashlandia. Up to 54 F now on this Thursday, May 24, 2023, with the weather dregs insisting that the mid to upper 70s is possible today. Well, a blue sky has shown up. Sunshine is plentiful. Wind has stilled and smells less like winter. Maybe we’ll see those temps. Wonderful walking weather or working outside until it’s dark weather.
Still snow up on the crests around us. That doesn’t mean much. Between altitude, latitude, and longitude, they’re in a different micro-clime. Same if you drive up or down the road more than four miles.
I enjoy the long days of sunlight. Looking forward to and not looking forward to summer solstice. Exciting ’bout it because, hey, summer is here! Carries a load of popular memories and high expectations based on who I was and what used to happen in the summer. But as an established adult, summer arrival ushers in the shrinking of the daylight. The reversal begins. Not right away, but the days will grow shorter. Sunset will arrive a little earlier. Sunrise starts poking in a little later. Ah, c’est le vie.
So I have the patio door-rescreened. Everything is cleaned up, re-installed, looking good. I’m pleased. What mesmerizes me are the floof reactions. They cannot simply walk past the new screen and in through the cleaned frame et al. They must stop and in-teeennntttly sniff it all down. Not just once. Several times. The looks on their faces when they do. They become thoughtful. “What is this? What happened to the smells from the previous residents?”
Part of the reason the screen became so torn up and the area a little dirtier than approved is that I’d installed a cat door there. That’s removed now. But with something like the cat door, I had to pause to remember when it was bought and all the felines that graced it with their feet and fur as they passed through. So many different styles. The criminal type, carefully sneaking in, lifting one corner first, peering in, not making a sound. The blasters, charging through like they’re bursting through a defensive line. Oh, and the undecided, entering half way to stop and look around like they’re realizing, that’s not the door to Narnia. A small subset of the tail-placers existed, too, the cat which would enter or leave, but stop just on the other side, leaving their tail in the other side. Such sweeties and lovelies, all, and so missed with their unique personalities.
The Neurons brought up a 1983 song by Simple Minds, “Waterfront”. This was wholly due to Papi the ginger zing. He tapped on the slider for entrance. When he came in, I discovered him soaked. “Is it raining?” I asked. His reply was to sweep against my legs in a full circle, wetting my calves, and then head for a kibble bowl. So I went out to look. No rain. Must’ve been a sprinkler.
But The Neurons were busy by then, singing “Come in, get out of the rain.” The whole course of the song began seconds later and remain full-throated in the morning mental music stream experience. You know, when I first heard this song back in the day, I thought it was a new song from Tears for Fears. It has that beat. Could be right out of “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” to me.
Stay pos and you do you and I’ll do me. Been drinking the coffee, doing me. Off to do other me things now. Here’s the music. Cheers
And yea, verily, snow did come unto the valley, kissing all with fat white lips and leaving its imprint. But lo, clouds parted, and the sun did see the snow and said, let me shine on the scene, and thus most of the snow was melted away, although remnants remained as a mark of what hath transpired. Or something like that.
Today is Thursday, December 16, 2021. Yesterday was a snow battle arena here. Snowed and rained alternatively throughout the daylight hours with the temperature darting up to 35 and slinking down to 31 during the same period. Darkness would stretch hands over us and the lights would come on. Then the sun managed a mild breakthrough and sunlight dazzled us.
That’s down here. The story on the upper elevations, say over 3,000 feet, had a solid snow onslaught. A boon for the snowpack but a curse on the Interstate. Siskiyou Pass on I5 was closed, and the California side remains closed. Stopped cars and trucks snaked alongside the Interstate for miles. Online videos show harrowing scenes of sliding and spun-out vehicles. Onramps were blocked by emergency vehicles sending their blue, red, and amber marks into the night, signs, and orange pylons. Winter was here.
Now it’s 36 F. Sunny with bloated and uneasy clouds crowding in like shoppers on the last shopping day. A mix of rain and snow is expected with highs in the lows 40s. Daylight began at 7:33 AM and will cease at 4:40 PM.
A Peter Gabriel song featuring Kate Bush is hovering over the morning mental music stream. I’ve featured it before and am disinclined to dub it this day’s theme music. Fortunately, Simple Minds song was recalled. I told the cat — Papi, who keeps trying to believe that the weather is gonna improve at any second, but is then driven back in by the mean elements — “Come in, get out of the rain.” Also, come in, get out of the snow. And the cold. And the wind. Anyway, these exhortations triggered memory of the song, “Waterfront”.
Hope you enjoy it. Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as needed, and get the booster and vaccine jabs when you can. There’s a new variant in town, you know. We’re all watching to see what they’ll do.
I often start the day with a scan of the news provided by the nattering nabobs of negativism. Agnew coined the phrase. Remember it well because I heard it on the news and then Mrs Rubenstein discussed it in current events the next day.
Today is Thursday, or Thor’s Day, as we call it — don’t want to offend any Gods — October 7, 2021. Just a month until we set our clocks back in most of the U.S. Speaking of that, today’s sunrise percolated in with bright sunshine but little warmth at 7:14 AM. The sun’s presence will be stolen away from our valley by the forces of nature at 6:42 PM. A heady 38 F last night, prompting the cats to declare that they’re coming inside and staying. Good sleep was enjoyed all around. Up to 48 F now. Today’s high is a mild 66 F. Surprising me yesterday, we didn’t even break 60. I’m thinking that it’s time to break out my long pants and put away my shorts.
And, yes, today’s theme music was cat inspired. The three floofketeers were clamoring for their AM wet food. I was asking them, “Are you hungry? Want canned cat food?” Teasing them, you know. And they were responding, “Yes, damn it, will you feed us already?”
I then responded, “Love is all you need.” To which they replied, “Enough with the bull. Open the can, capisce?” By then, Simple Minds had flooded the morning mental music stream with “Sanctify Yourself” from 1986.
Control yourself, love is all you need Control yourself, in your eyes Sanctify yourself, sanctify Be apart of me, sanctify Sanctify yourself, sanctify Sanctify yourself, set yourself free
A fun video from a different era. Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as needed, and get the vax, yeah? I’m having coffee, as well. Here’s the music. Cheers
This one comes from NFL’s Thursday Night Football (Dallas Cowboys at Chicago Bears). They played the last part of a song as they went to commercial break. I sang along and then thought, what’s that song? It took me about twenty seconds to come up with song, “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” by Simple Minds (1985), a song from The Breakfast Club. Why were they using it on Fox TNF? Seems like a strange choice, but here we are.
Today’s song is one of many that suffered from mondegreens. ‘Alive and Kicking’ by Simple Minds came out in 1985. Stationed at Shaw AFB in SC after returning from Okinawa, I was assigned to the 1701 MOBSS.
I lived in Columbia, about twenty-nine miles away, and a straight shot down the highway. The MOB in our unit designation was short for mobility. We went on temporary duty to other locations regularly. Sometimes I drove to those locations, such as Eglin AFB in Florida. Between that and my daily commute between Columbia and Shaw, I listened to a bit of radio.
When the song came out, I swore they were sometimes singing, “I like the chicken.” Naturally, that’s what I walked around singing. Still do when I stream the song in my head.
Here they are. From 1985, Simple Minds with ‘Alive and Kicking’.
Michael Seidel, writer 