Tag: weather

Saturday’s Theme Music

Full sunshine, full leaves. Leafy trees square up shadows across the back lawn, ripe with weeds. Bees visit the slumping dandelions. Sunshine jumps into the open spaces.

It’s a lazy morning for me and the cats. Done eating, they wash up and chat up birds, twisting heads to regard a squirrel’s noisy trespassing, resuming their grooming after the squirrel takes his business away. I tend a cup of coffee, sneaking hot sips past my lips, waiting for the caffeine’s magic to jump into the blood and brain.

It’s Saturday, May 21, 2022. Had blood tests done yesterday, routine matters to see what’s what, mentioned because I was asked to sign my name and date a document. The neurons were instantly amused; how long has it been since I was asked to do these things that were once daily routines?

Sunrise was sprung on us at 5:44 AM, I’m told. I didn’t witness it, staying in bed at that point to wrestle dreams. Sunset will come around at 8:31 PM. We had a cool morning, 50 F when the cats and I went out back, but sunshine was rapidly warming it. The weather masters say that the high will be 73 F. I will do yardwork, I decide, regarding the bushes and trees.

Later, inside, awaiting the caffeine’s arrival, I surfed the net and hummed a song. For some reason, the neurons had dumped “New York State of Mind” (1976) by Billy Joel into the morning mental music stream. “Surprise,” they shouted, when I recognize the song. “But why?” I asked them. “Why that song?”

One volunteered, “It’s a slow, bluesy, sleepy song about routine moments and found-again places.”

“So?”

The neurons shrugged. “It just feels like the morning.”

Impeccable logic.

Stay positive, test negative. The caffeine is pulling into the station. Brain cells are climbing aboard. Here we go. Cheers

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Thursday’s Theme Music

As the world turns, we clock the date and time, making it out to be May 19, 2022, Thursday. Hah. Cold spring weather has returned on us. 50 F, with a wind barking out of the mountain snow. Will only achieve 60 today. Although there’s sunshine out there, and the sun rise was at 5:46 this morning, thick towering clouds loom over the valley. They look like they plan to stay here until past sunset at 8:29 PM.

Fred provoked the neurons into playing today’s theme music. Fred is a NIP character. I’d just finished writing a section from his POV yesterday, and was walking, preparing to move on from the writing day. He still resided in me as I walked. Picking up on that, the neurons fed “Silent footsteps crowding me, sudden darkness, but I can see.” That’s Fred. The song, “No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature” by the Guess Who (1970) took over the morning mental music stream. It’s okay, though, because Fred is still on today’s writing menu.

Stay positive and test negative. Don’t get complacent. Telling myself as much as you. Here’s the music. No sugar in my coffee, thanks. Cheers

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Wednesday’s Theme Music

Basking in some weak sunshine on a chilly morning. 50 F out but you can’t prove that by me. The cats agree, it’s meh outside.

Today is Wednesday, 18 May 2022. Lethargic today. I need coffee to get up and get my coffee. I exercise almost every morning. Five out of seven is the weekly average. Early errands usually forestall the other days’ exercising. This morning, I did one and thought, should I do more? I did, later.

While it’s 50 now, we expect 75 before sunset is struck at 8:28 PM. The sunrise, a lightening of the gray, was at 5:47 this morning. I wasn’t there for it.

I don’t know where the song in my morning mental music stream came from. Originating in the 1970s by the glam rock band, the Tubes, “White Punks on Dope”. The song reminds me of songs that were played in “This is Spinal Tap”, the mockrockumentary. Don’t know why the neurons dragged the song up out of the subconscious basement. It seems like a strange twist even for them.

Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as or when needed, and so on. And vote. Vote for some positive change this year. Also vote to have someone bring me a cuppa coffee so I can become a white punk on caffeine. No?

Guess I’ll do it myself.

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Tuesday’s Theme Music

Yesterday was a gorgeous day locally, and today extends a promise that it came be the same. Today is May 17, 2022, a Tuesday, as it goes. The sun crowded into the valley at 5:48 AM. It was already in the mid fifties by then. Now it’s up to the low sixties, and we expect a high around 73 F. As I noted, it’s much like yesterday. Sunset should come at 8:27 PM.

We breakfasted out this morning, the first time we’ve eaten breakfast out locally since Feb. 2020. See, back in 2019, we participated in an auction to support exchange students with our sister city in Mexico. One of the things we successfully bid on was a gift card for one of our local favorite restaurants, Brothers. My wife has some anxiety that COVID-19 will surge back into the area as tourism kicks in and people become complacent, so we took advantage of the low local numbers to use our gift card. She had mushroom and onion omelet while I did the Mediterranean scramble with artichokes, dried tomatoes, feta cheese, kalamata olives, and spinach. It was a pleasant, relaxing, and welcome change to our routines of the past two years.

I ran into a very friendly big black dog while I was out walking yesterday. Muzzle grayed with age, his body went into a hyper frenzy of wagging, like we were favorite cousins encountering one another after decades away. I was in the street so I worried that he was a stray but his person came out and reassured me. The dog and I spent a few minutes together and then he went home with his person, back to his yard. After I resumed walking, the neurons unleased “Black Dog” by Led Zeppelin into my mental music stream, where it still resides this morning.

So, here’s the music, and there’s my coffee. Stay positive and test negative, you know? Right. Cheers

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Monday’s Theme Music

Another lovely sunrise, full of bravado and promise. Then clouds announced, “That’s enough,” and blanketed the sunshine. “Save some for later.”

Today is Monda, May 16, 2022. The sun’s entrance was made five hours and forty-nine minutes after midnight. Sunset will begin at 8:29 PM. Our valley’s temperature is 52, with breezes running warm and cool playing around us. A high of 69 F is possible, they say.

One of my cats lost their fight with cancer two months ago. As always, it was a gritty fight. I wrote about his passing at the time and I’m dealing with the soft sorrow of reminders and gaps. Well, one of those happened. The late Boo had a specific nesting spot in the backyard. He’d face the back door and do a loaf in the sun. Whenever I came to the door, he’d been watching and say hello. My other two cats, Tucker and Papi, have taken to resting in Boo’s old space. They began this the past few days. First Tucker did it two days in a row, and then Papi.

My mind said, WTF? It of course channeled Boo back into immediate thoughts. This morning, seeing Papi out in Boo’s spot, watching him watching me, hearing him give me a soft hello, the neurons called out “The Needle and the Damage Done” by Neil Young (1972). No, Boo didn’t pass from heroin and a needle. Neil’s raw introspection and simple melody is what I felt when considering Boo’s absence, for that’s what the song is about — “Gone, gone, the damage done” — whether it’s by drugs, cancer, or other diseases. So, for Boo.

Stay positive, test negative, etc. I gotta see a cat about some coffee. They’re onto me. Cheers

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Saturday’s Theme Music

It was bright and sunny for a period. I think it was from sunrise at 5:51 this morning until 8:45 AM, about twenty minutes ago. Negligent gray clouds have bullied in, shutting out the sunshine.

Hi. Today is Saturday, May 14, 2022. Hope you survived Friday the 13th okay. I had no issues. Pleasant weather rules today. A mild rain threat hangs in the air but the temperature is 53 F and we’ll probably see 70 before the sun shuffles around the corner and out of sight at 8:24 this evening.

I was people-watching this week as I waited for others to complete their tasks and purchases. While I tagged some as a potential serial killer (you know how it is when you’re bored), I saw loneliness in a few people’s face as they walked along on their business. I wondered if I was projecting something from myself. I can and do deny that, because I don’t feel lonely, but the neurons popped the 1982 song by the Motels, “Only the Lonely (Can Play)”, into the mental music stream, where it still plays this morning. The song reminds me of their other big hit, “Suddenly Last Summer” from 1983. Both songs give me pause to think when I hear them. A sort of mournfulness pervades the tunes.

Well, on to the coffee. Stay positive and test negative, stay aware, and avoid complacency. Here’s the music. Cheers

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Friday’s Theme Music

Ah, the air has a fresh smell today. Sunshine glints through cloud breaks enough to lift the flowers and spirits.

Today is Friday, May 13, 2022. I won’t bore you with the headlines. War and politics continue, murders abound, economic worries are riff, and then there’s sports and entertainment. Sunrise began officially at 5:52 this morning. We’re at 52 F and expect a high of 63 before sunset rolls up at 8:23 tonight.

As part of the morning rituals, I fed the cats. I’ve tried skipping this part, but they have ways, called claws and meows, to remind me. Opening a new box of kibble for their pleasure, I told them, “This is a brand-new box.”

Strains of Steve Wonder playing harmonica began. Soon the neurons had Sting singing “Brand New Day” in the morning mental music stream. The 1999 song is a good antidote for depression, hopelessness, weariness, and frustration. It goes well with coffee and threatening rain clouds.

Stay positive, keep bringing home those negative tests, pay attention and take care. Here’s the music. Cheers

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Thursday’s Theme Music

Upon looking out the window this morning, the neurons began singing, “And the sky is a hazy shade of winter.”

Welcome to May 12, 2022. Today is Thursday. Some folks are bracing for tomorrow: Friday the thirteenth. I’m not one of them. It’ll be another day of routines for moi.

Speaking of routines, Sol rose at 5:53 this morning and will set at 8:22 this evening. Rain is forecast for the valley. We’ve squirmed up to the upper forties on the thermometer with aspirations for reaching the upper fifties. The cats continue expressing displeasure to me, demanding to know what I’ve done with the sun. Treats, petting, and food do not mollify them. “Give me sunshine!” they cry with Mel Gibson drama from Braveheart. The young ‘un, Papi, is especially dramatic in his performance.

In interesting news — to me, at least — one of our beer drinker friends reported on finding and naming a previously unknown onion variation, Allium Incomptum. The daughter of another beer drinking friend provided the drawing for the Bio One submission. Fun stuff.

For music, the neurons went through several old Paul Simon offerings but then kicked in with another tune after a convo with a cat. Papi was being disdainful of several things — just one of those moods at that point — so I said to him, “Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it.” Well, the neurons jumped right in with the chorus out of “Notion” by Kings of Leon from 2009: “So don’t knock it, don’t knock it, you’ve been here before.” After a bit, Papi gave in and ate, then galloped around and played, and was feted with catnip.

Stay positive, test negative, etc., etc. Coffee has been found again; lo, I am saved. Cheers

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Wednesday’s Theme Music

I let Papi out at 6:10 this morning. Sunrise had taken place fifteen minutes before, and sun and ‘ shadows stretched across the backyard. The ginger cat stalked a leaf. Pouncing on it, he batted it into eleven dimensions and then bolted across the yard. A tree was climbed halfway. Jumping down, he sat and gazed around him.

Hi. Today is Wednesday, May 11, 2022. Steadily creeping up, the temperature has gone from 37 F to 48. We expect to reach 60. No rain or snow in today’s forecast. The cool, rainy days has left all the plant life green and thriving. Sunset will come at 8:21 this evening.

With all this sunshine, the neurons have sunshine music playing in the morning mental music stream. The song is “The Sound of Sunshine” by Michael Franti and Spearhead. When I first heard it back in 2010 or 2011, I thought it was another Jack Johnson song, because the voice is similar, as in the guitar style and reggae mix. Than I sort of drifted to the opinion that it could be John Mayer, mostly due to voice and content. When I learned the truth, I was pleasantly surprised. It’s an energizing song, good for walking when you’re in sunshine, or you’re upbeat, drinking morning coffee as you plan to conquer the world.

Say positive, test negative, and so on. We know the routines. Hopefully, complacency won’t sabotage our efforts. Now, to the coffee, and the music. Cheers

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Tuesday’s Theme Music

Rain and snow finds us today. The snow isn’t down at our levels, but we can look out and see it up around five thousand feet on the trees and mountains surrounding the valley on three sides. Freeze warnings are in effect but the temperature doesn’t stray below 37 F in our locale and elevation. 54 F is the expected high. Sunshine has been sparring with the clouds since sunrise at 5:55 AM. Sometimes sunshine punches through, pushing us toward the impression that the weather is clearing. But the clouds regroup and roll back in with a new dark menace, delivering swaths of rain. Sunset, at 8:20, should be interesting. Yesterday’s was a pink infused study of clouds in eggplant and gray.

The fur bois are not pleased with this weather change. The old man, Tucker, only goes out when it’s sunny and warm these days. However, comma, if the young blade wants to go out, Tucker must go see why he wants out and what he’s doing. The ginger prince, aka Papi (aka Meep), goes in and out multiple times, trying to find weather accommodating to his needs. But no, this side is too rainy, that side is too windy. Rapid drumming on the door follows as he orders, “Let me back in!”

I have a Sweet song from 1978, “Love is Like Oxygen”, in the morning mental music stream, put there by the rascally neurons. I was in the kitchen, mumbling to myself and the cats, asking the furred ones, “Are you hungry?” They were answering, “Duh, where’s the food? Give me food.” My mumblings to self were about the promise and lure of coffee. During some part of my interaction with myself, I thought, “Coffee is like oxygen.”

Well, yeah, the neurons jumped on that. First, they tortured the song’s lyrics to fit my sentiment, changing love to coffee in the lyrics. Abandoning that, they just started playing the song, you know?

In an aside, when I first heard this song, I thought, that’s an interesting tune. But it didn’t overly move me or anything. I was startled to discover it was by Sweet because it seemed strikingly different from their previous stuff, like one of my faves from them, the over-the-top, “Ballroom Blitz”.

Test negative, stay positive, wear a mask as needs dictate, get more jabs when it makes sense for you, etc. Coffee is at hand. Here’s the tune. Cheers

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