It’s Saturday, January 31, 2026. Almost time to close the books on 2026’s first month.

Colder air returned to Ashland as last night’s temps found the mid-thirties. We’re already close to our high now, 57 F. This remains a hell of a lot better than places like Pennsylvania, where my sister told me it was 9 degrees F during our text exchange.

It’s still a dry winter for us in Ashland. Mt. Ashland, our local ski resort, is closed due to a lack of snow. Even snow machines couldn’t create the needed conditions. That doesn’t spell good news for our local tourism, and that ripples out to employment and the economy.

Our local economy is already suffering with tourism and college enrollment down, utility prices up, and wheat exports cratered. Southern Oregon wheat farmers had a bad 2025 as fertilizer prices jumped and wheat prices fell. It can take years to recover from setbacks like these for farmers, and right now, the Trump solution is a handout. Long term solutions aren’t being addressed. It feels like we’re dying from a thousand cuts.

As American states dig out from Winter Storm Fern’s effects, I’m watching for the Trump Effect (TE). The TE is the combination of unforeseen circumstances brought on by short-sighted decisions and the Trump philosophy. Short-sighted decisions were witnessed when Trump unleashed Elon Musk and DOGE last year. Firing people and breaking systems, the Trump Administration then needed to rehire people to come back and fix things — or train people to replace them.

The Trump philosophy (TP) is about the Federal government’s cutback on services and assistance given to states. For example, the Mississippi Emergency Management Agent (MEMA) said the Trump administration announced the disaster assistance threshold for Mississippi was increased from $5.5 million to $22 million. That leaves a gap that MEMA doesn’t think it can cover.

As with everything — deep breath — we’ll see.

Trying to raise my spirits, Papi the ginger wonder and I played this morning, a game of chase with a laser pointer. Papi endured it for about 2.25 minutes but during that time, he was a wild thing. Watching him, Les Neurons popped “Gimme Dat Ding” by the Pipkins, a 1970 novelty song. It was perfect for Papi’s red dot pursuit — “Gimme dat! Gimme dat!”

Hope you have a comfortable day wherever you are, no matter the season, and that peace and grace come along with some props. Cheers