Tuesday’s Theme Music

Rain! Such a surprise on this July 27, 2021, Tuesday. Sun rise was at 5:59 AM. Rainfall was noticed at 6:40 AM. Didn’t last long, just a short shower, but still a delight. Clouds are keeping us cool. Leaves, street, and earth remains wet. Just 69 degrees F at the present. With these clouds, should only reach the high eighties today. Sunset will commence at 8:36 PM. We’re losing daylight, my friends.

After rising to check out the rain, I fed the cats. (Because they surrounded me, meowing, “Hey, while you’re up, I’m feelin’ a little peckish. Would you mind feedin’ a friend?”) Then back to bed for another hour or so. When I awoke, the two big bois, Tucker and Boo, had me bracketed in the bed. Fortunately, I was asleep atop the duvet. Rising was a matter of sitting up swiveling. Both gave me looks, then. “Where you going? Is it time to eat?”

From all that, a 1972 tune marched into my brain and refuses to leave. Thus, it must be shared. Here is Gallery with their hit, “Nice to be with You”. Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as needed, and get the vax, yeah? Yeah.

It’s coffee time. Cheers

Monday’s Theme Music

Monday already! Again! Seems like it was just Monday last week. As Steve Miller sang, “Time keeps on ticking, ticking, ticking, into the future.” Which, isn’t really what happens, but close enough. Speaking of, do the young understand what the elderly (ahem, like me, which we called established) know what is meant by a ticking clock?

Today is July 26, 2021, July’s final Monday. Not much significant for it in my life. Garbage day. Put the can out so it can be emptied tomorrow. Going to the library to pick up some books on hold. To the credit union for money. Store, for groceries. Coffee shop, for coffee. Sunrise was at just before 6 AM, 5:58 AM. Sunset will happen at 8:37 PM, whether it’s witnessed or not. Today’s weather calls for smoky air but clear skies, with a high of about 100.

Dreams are driving my theme music today. I dreamed of Dad for two nights in a row. The second prompted the Everclear song, “Father of Mine” (1998) to loop through me head. My father wasn’t a Deadbeat Dad. Mom had a lot of issues with him. He was in the military and overseas or in other states most of my young life. I was born in 1956; Mom and Dad divorced in 1961. His role was then reduced. He returned to my life in 1971, after returning from his assignment in Germany. Things were rough at home for me. Dad let me come live with him, which I did until graduating high school in 1974. Then I was gone. Dad remarried twice, and had one other long relationship. He has been a good father to all of those children. But, to me and my sisters, he was MIA. Now he’s trying to make up for it by calling. But it’s hard to rewire the past after sixty-five years.

There were good times. He taught me to play baseball. Gave me my first glove and bat. Bought me fishing gear and took me fishing. Gave me my first car, a forest green 1965 Mercury Comet sedan with a 289 V8. Helped me buy a car, a Porsche, a few years later. Introduced me to my wife through his best friend.

Here’s the music. Stay positive. Test negative. Wear a mask as needed. Get the vax. Cheers

Sunday’s Theme Music

Ah, sunsets have been lovely. Saturday’s came just after 8:30 PM, and Sunday’s will do the same. This Sunday sunrise was a few minutes before 6 AM arrived. Our weather pattern holds of cool nights and hot days. 100 today. No rain out here while storms strike the midwest and Arizona floods. That’s weather for you.

Went sailing last night. I was just along for the ride on a 85 foot schooner. Tail sails. I’ll write more about it another time. As required, though, Christopher Cross was brought to mind with “Sailing” from 1980. I mean, out there on deep water, away from traffic but still within sight of line, it’s a calming scene. During sunset. Ten knots. Strong, chilly winds. Full sails, heeling. Splashes once in a while. But sounds only from people chatting and laughing. There were twenty-two of us, including the crew of four. A mellow experience.

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

Friday’s Theme Music

Congratulations. Another Friday has arrived. Might mean something to you. The weekend is starting. A television show is coming on that you wanted to see. Friends arriving. And the date, July 23, 2021, might also mean something. An anniversary or birthday. For me, it’s but another day and date, another in the string.

Temperatures continue to be on the cool side of summer. Maybe those shorter days are getting reflected in the temp. Sunrise wasn’t until 5:55 AM today. Sunset will be at 8:39 PM. Could be that the wildfires are affecting our weather and cooling us. The Bootleg still roars away to the east. Winds have been favorable for us, keeping our skies clear. Hooray for us, sucks for others. Sigh.

My brain is entertaining me with a 1971 song. Mouth and MacNeal came out with “How Do You Do”, a Dutch duo, saw their simple song become an international hit. It’s easy to remember and sing. So feel free to do it.

Meanwhile, try to stay positive. Test negative. Wear a mask as needed. Get the vax. Please, if you haven’t. Cheers

Tuesday’s Theme Music

The sun also ‘rises’ and then it ‘sets’. That’s our perspective. From this perspective on Tuesday, July 20, 2021, that happens at 5:52 AM and 8:41 PM.

Wildfires continue. Heat continues. Drought. COVID-19. Politics. Climate change. Battles for social justice. Equality. Equal opportunity. Efforts to deny those continue unabated, too, usually under the flimsiest of logic.

I was up after midnight last night — not unusual. With the wife in bed and the cats usually hanging on the front porch or back patio, after midnight is when I get my alone time. Midnight is featured in many songs. Bunch traveled through my head. One took it by storm, though: “Living After Midnight” by Judas Priest, from waaayyy back in 1980. FORTY-ONE YEARS AGO. An OMG moment that made me laugh.

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

Monday’s Theme Music

Soft as the air, sunrise’s slow grace came upon our valley at 5:51 AM. Today is Monday, July 19, 2021. Heat is expected, but not too terrible. Seventy now, at nine AM, looking for 95 F before the sunset’s mellow withdrawal at 8:43 PM. More fires are burning in the Pacific Northwest. None too close to us, knock on wood. Bootleg continues burning, 300,000 acres, over a quarter contained. Tamarack down south has exploded. Favorable winds are keeping our air clean. Several small fires started locally but quick responses by people and fire departments contained them.

Walking yesterday, I channeled Flo Rida, “Good Feeling” (2011). I got those good feelings yesterday when I was walking. Often afraid to speak of them or write about them, lest I scare them away. I was high on a hill in the town’s southern end. Great view of some of the valley. Wineries. Brown hills. Mountain peaks. Air dirty yellow on the horizon, wildfire smoke.

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, sometimes I get a good feeling, yeah
I get a feeling that I never never never never had before, no no
I get a good feeling, yeah
Oh oh, sometimes I get a good feeling, yeah
I get a feeling that I never never never never had before, no no
I get a good feeling, yeah

h/t AZLyrics.com

And I got that feeling. Wonder, how now? Why? What drives these feelings, a sense of optimism, almost invicibility? A sense that change is coming. Where does it originate? Is it an amygdala gone mad?

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

Saturday’s Theme Music

5:49 AM, 8:44 PM. Those are today’s times for the sunshow on Saturday, 7/17/21. Rise comes first, with a lethargic unveiling. Set comes later, a gradual withdrawal. Between those times, the sun will work its heat on us. Not too bad today, upper eighties to lower nineties. Forecasts say get ready for a new rampup.

Although the Bootleg Fire and numerous others still burn, our southern Oregon’s valley air is clear and ‘safe’. Went up and down yesterday. Down in the evening, which helped make a summer concert a pleasant time. Listened to a regional band, East Main Street, play covers of the Eagles, Beatles, CSN&Y, Seals & Croft, CCR, etc. You get the feel, right? Had beer, wine, drinks, BBQ. Celebrated birthdays. Wondered how many were vaccinated. But we were outside.

Today’s music is a Nirvana song called “About A Girl” (1994). My mind brought it up to entertain and distract me as I ambled around town yesterday. Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as needed, and get the vax. Cheers

Friday’s Theme Music

Flooding in Europe. Wildfires all over the U.S. west. Record heat waves. Drought. COVID-19 cases spiking. It’s too much for a Friday. I’m going back to bed.

Today is July 16, 2021. Bad news sometimes seems overwhelming. Dark stories past those headline blares paint scenes of death, destruction, and despair. Unless you’re wealthy. Then it’s woo-hoo, life is grand.

Daylight hours seems to be drawing down fast. Maybe it feels like that because of dark news. Sunrise was at 5:49 AM. Less than fifteen hours later will come sunset, 8:45 PM. Temperatures are at least down. Feels chilly with temperatures in the mid sixties this morning. The sky is clear, though, and we’ll probably see 90 F again this afternoon. Although forecast to have a high of 84 yesterday, we saw 93.

I’m always disappointed when Alexa is wrong about the weather. She’s never apologetic about it. Never mentions getting it wrong.

Today’s song is by 311. “Amber” (2001) is about the color of someone’s energy. My energy had been high. Then came irrigation drip problems disrupting my plans, requiring digging to learn what has gone wrong. While doing that, the song came unbidden to mind. So, here we are.

Stay positive — you know, as I do (hah!) — test negative, wear a mask, and get the vax. Here’s the music. I’m going to go get my coffee. It won’t necessarily lift my spirits but will inure me against feeling so damn down. Cheers

Thursday’s Theme Music

Remembering and reflecting upon dreams whilst I shaved, my brain sang, “Look What They’ve Done to My Song, Ma” by Melanie Safka (1970). Interesting way to start the morning.

Thursday, July 15, 1970, has arrived. Day rise began at 5:48 AM. Night fall will begin with sunset at 8:46 PM. Cooler temperatures are carrying the weather today. Just gonna be 86 degrees F tonight. Feels more like an early autumn day than summer. Air smells fresh although wildfire smoke rims the valley along the peaks and ridges. The Bootleg Fire still rages a hundred miles away, adding to its total of 330 square miles of destruction. Authorities report it’s 7% contained. Full containment isn’t expected until October.

COVID-19 numbers are rising everywhere in the U.S.. Independence Day gatherings coupled with vaccination hesitancy, complacency, people not wearing masks, and the D variant’s growing presence is bringing the virus back in a significant way. Mitigating the virus’s impact remains a stout hurdle for the world.

Musically, I shifted from Melanie to 10cc and “I’m Not In Love” (1975). This wasn’t about love for me, but the thinking, as I washed and thought about plans, “This is a phase I’m going through.” That kicked up the song’s line, “It’s just a silly phase I’m going through. And just because, I call you up, don’t get me wrong, don’t think you got it made.” That led to a chuckle and a worry about my own complacency, although this was about writing complacency. When it’s going well, I can be complacent, which then turns into a setback. Gotta keep pressing.

Stay pos, test neg, wear a mask as needed, and get the vax. Here’s the music. Cheers

Wednesday’s Theme Music

“And the beat goes on. Drums keep pounding a rhythm to the brain. La di da da dee.”

Welcome to this version of Wednesday. It’s July 14, 2021, the only time it’ll ever be this day and date. The future is now.

Sol’s first rays struck at 5:47 AM. Sunset will be at 8:46 PM. Temperatures are cooler today, 90 degrees. That’s good news for fighting and containing the Bootleg Fire. 100 miles to the east, it has burned through over 212000 acres. Although now eight days old, it’s zero contained and has burned down transmission lines, disrupting power to California while filling the area’s air with smoke.

It’s not the only worrying fire. Just the biggest and most fierce. Meanwhile, COVID-19 case numbers are rising again. Only sporadic evidence but I suspect the ABC gang — anything but COVID believers — happily embraced no masks and no vaccines as variants turn up. Perfect storm of ignorance and mutation, giving new life to COVID-19. The stories keep coming out about those people, like the 23-year-old emergency room news who died of it. A denier to the end, she was never vaccinated. Her parents have tested positive for COVID-19 as well. Sad situation. Worse because it could have been averted.

Well, get the vax, wear a mask as needed, stay positive, and test negative. Here’s some Midnight Oil from 1990 with “Blue Sky Mine”. Cheers

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