August 2006

Tuesday 01- great day! Got up and jogged and rode my bike and did the weights, went for a walk later in the evening- dropped by Ron M’s place while biking and had a nice visit, he is having workers level his front yard- Scott called and is down at his place waiting for the inspector and fixing a few loose ends; it passed and Scott is one happy dude- did some potting of plants and worked around the yard- still trying to finish that Biology book I’ve been reading off and on now for the last 6 months, it has some of the worst words to pronounce I have ever run into and that includes Greek- Jeff R. called and he told me about a fungus that is invading the ocean called fireweed- Terry W. having troubles with a PC card modem on a laptop and we exchanged emails trying to solve the problem until late into the night- wrote column and sent it to newspaper.
Wednesday 02- did my exercises- went over to Andrew’s and worked on computer stuff most of the day- Jeff R. came by and I showed him the video that I took of the hail that came down last Wednesday- been doing my evening walks lately- Seimi called and he told me that he heard that they’re paving first 2 miles of Winters Road from Border, I hope to hell the money ain’t coming out of “our” road funds!
Thursday 03- cleaned up some around the house- Andrew came by and we went to town. While at Wal-Mart I picked up an USB 802.11g network adapter and I’ll try to setup a home network. Dropped by Copper Mountain College to check out what classes they had to offer, I’ll have to give this some real thought if I want to go back to college or not- called Stoney and he told me that the county is paying for the 2 miles of paving Winters Road, I feel better about it now. We can all thank Mike Mildren for applying for the funding a few years ago just before he retired from the county.
Friday 04- did my exercises- watered my friend’s plants- Joel came by and picked up my flat spare tire and will take it to Wal-Mart when he goes to work tonight and get it fixed- went down to have a look see if the county really is going to start paving Winters Road. Saw some heavy equipment there and pulled off to the side to take some pics. Got my dang truck stuck in the sand and had to dig out before I could take any photos- went for my evening walk- Joel dropped by before work and brought me dinner. Now that was nice.
Saturday 05- did my exercises- my hair was getting too long so I cut it myself and it looks terrible- got an email from my very good friend Kula that her Tabbie had passed on. Miss Tabbie was a good and loving fur folk and I feel so sad for Kula’s loss- worked on an electric 3-wheel bicycle that Ron D. gave me. It is in bad shape and needs a new battery and lots of oil and cleaning- got mad at my Toshiba laptop and reformatted the drive and reinstalled XP, the update hung on installing the “Windows Genuine Advantage” and now IE won’t work no matter what I tried. I only use IE for critical updates from MS anyways, so I will do a new install tomorrow (I just don’t like to have a system that is messed up) and just use Firefox browser.
Sunday 06- Joel brought my spare tire over this morning- did my morning stretches- reloaded the Toshiba laptop with XP and everything went well with the updates this time around- got bored hanging around the house and jumped in the truck and went to Scott’s but he wasn’t there- stopped over at Jeff R’s home and helped him repair a stove door- went over to Stuart’s to tell him that I have and email from Wessel for him, he wasn’t home but found him at Chuck’s- dropped over at Scott’s again and he was home this time and jawed for a while- worked in my rock garden while waiting for the sunset- talked to Stoney and he said that the 2 miles the county is paving is costing $194000.00- Andy Joe Lane finally picked up the letter I was holding for him- Terry W. email to tell me that the driver that I sent her for the pc card modem worked.
Monday 07- did my morning stretches- drove to town, while at Wal-Mart I talked to Ora about her husband Bill who has taken ill, and return the USB 802.11g network adapter which wasn’t compatible with my system and picked up another at “Mojave Techs” in 29, got gas and propane- watered my friend’s plants- moseyed on over and took some pics of the recycled asphalt road from Border Avenue “as far as the eye can see and then about 100 feet or so down Winters Road” says semi-retired Sunny Bishop. Sunny is one of the road crew and does this kind of work when he’s not renovating an old Plymouth of which he readily produced the pictures- went for my evening walk- called and jawed with Stoney who told me a story of when he drove a road roller. They don’t have brakes; you just put them in reverse to stop. Well the engine died going down hill towards a cliff and Stoney was franticly trying to get it started again before he and the machine met their demise. At the very last moment he got it started and was able to come to a safe stop- later that evening I talked over the phone with Jeff R. about triangles and the folks down in Joshua Tree while Jeff ate a whole large pizza.
Tuesday 08- my birthday- did my exercises- Scott called from Lancaster and told me the buffalo got loose and spent all night looking for them but hasn’t found them yet. I hope that everything turns out ok for the critters and for my friend Scott- went and visited John M. and gave him some of my birthday cake (really brownies) and sat and jawed for a while- worked on getting my tools organized- called Dan A. who has his birthday to day also- did my evening- the air seems to have the smell of smoke, my eyes are watering from some fire far away and my allergy appears to be kicking in because of it.
Wednesday 09- Scott calls and says that he found the buffalo 15 miles away and had to walk them back to his ranch. He had only a few problems along the way especially with Sally who wanted to go the other direction. I so glad that Scott found them cause I was preparing to go there today and help out- did my exercises- fixed some electrical stuff around the house- called Ruth T. and wished her a happy birthday and she said it was on Aug. 2nd, I’ll have to change the website’s calendar- called Sayoko and wished her a happy birthday- finished my song LWFAW and I am happy with the wording and will start recording soon- went for my evening walk.
Thursday 10- did my morning stretches- while laying down on my side to fix a hole in the trailer that the squirrels use to get in and gobble up the food that I’ve stored there, I was bitten or stung by something on my right knee. It really hurt too! Since I don’t know what did this and it still seems to hurt hours later, I will check it out in the morning to see if I need any medical attention- watered my friend’s plants and picked up some building supplies- went for my evening walk- was talking to Jeff R. on the phone about the terrorists who were arrested in London today and the absents of airliners in the sky when we saw one then another coming across the sky. All of a sudden the second one’s lights went out! Maybe it was a military jet, cause I’d seen them do that on occasion.
Friday 11- the place I had been bitten seems to have gotten better and didn’t have to go into intensive care, so I did my exercises- call from Sue of the Hi Desert Star that they didn’t get my column, I told them that I sent it last Tuesday but I’ll resend it now- built some more shelves in the bedroom, and lay down a little piece of carpet under my desk in the front room- went for my evening walk- Mike called from Hermosa Beach to wish me a happy birthday, which was last Tuesday but he gets free weekend minutes on his cell phone.
Saturday 12- did my exercises- got an email from Sue of the Hi Desert Star that my first column I sent on Tuesday had ended up in her junk mail; I emailed her saying that “maybe I should write better stories”- called my Dad and Stepmother Aki (checking in)- called Kula and tried to cheer her up- cleaned the trailer outback and deciding what I should use it for- called and talked to Stoney for an hour about this and that and other stuff- rode my scooter over for a visit with Frank and Mary. Chuck showed up with some BBQ ribs and they were mighty good! Jerry and Barbara showed up with some pictures of a mysterious site they found in the surrounding mountains and we sat around and jawed about the community, Stuart was there and I reminded him about Wessel’s email I have for him, I really had a good time there- went for my evening walk.
Sunday 13- very early Sunday morning around 2 am just before I went to bed I sat outside to watched the Perseid meteor shower and seen a few nice meteors come streaking across the night sky- did my morning stretches- watered my friend’s garden- visited John M. and traded some stuff-went for my evening walk- called and jawed with Jeff R. about serendipity.
Monday 14- did my exercises- started work on the eastside of the house for stucco by clearing debris away from the wall and nailing up chicken wire- Our little Community, because of the lack of street signs and addresses, can be a big place when you’re looking for a certain house. I was over at Frank and Mary’s last Saturday and a few of us folks were all sitting around jawing. Jerry and Barbara were also there, who are very interesting individuals and I asked them where they lived so I could mosey on over for a visit sometime. Jerry gave me an approximant location like: over yonder, pass a two-story house, and up by the mountain with a big dog name Bear out front. So around 5pm I got in my truck and started out in search of Jerry and Barbara’s house. After going down a couple of dead-end roads and traversing a few sandy washes where I almost got stuck, I think I found the house but no one was there, not even a big dog named Bear. So I dropped by Chuck’s to describe the house I found to him to see if it was the one. It was the right house and Jerry and Barbara would be here in half an hour for Chuck’s son Joseph’s birthday party and I was invited. Everyone started to arrive; Kerry and her daughter, Stoney, Stuart W., and of course Jerry and Barbara. BBQ sausage, cake and ice cream filled our plates. Joseph received many a gift, some which rolled around on the ground and hit ya in the ankle. I had a great time there! I’ll go searching these magnificent wandering roads of ours in my truck more often.
Tuesday 15- Andrew called and we Jawed for over an hour about business- did my exercises- placed a call to Jerry and Barbara and Jawed with him for well over an hour about mining and politics and about everything else. I will go for a visit tomorrow- got back to working on the stucco- went for my evening walk- sent column to the newspaper- worked on MadGravity website.
Wednesday 16-did my exercises- went on over to Jerry and Barbara’s home and we jawed for a while about mining in the local area. I took some pics of their prospecting equipment and then Jerry took me over to this mysterious site that I wrote about last Saturday and I took some pics of it too. This is giving me an idea for a new web page for the CopperMountainMesa.com website titled “Mining Copper Mountain” and do a little piece about the history of the mines in the area- dropped by Chuck’s on the way back and had some German Chocolate Cake, my favorite, and showed Joseph how to do a book report- watered my friend’s garden- went for my evening walk- Roger T. called to say hi- Brenda called about her computer ain’t working and I told her it wasn’t worth me tinkering with it again; it’s just too dang old- Andrew called and we collaborated on a web page we’re doing.
Thursday 17- did my morning stretches- called Scott to let him know the SCE was at his house today- Andrew called and we had a short chat- dropped off old Toshiba laptop over at Chuck's for his son Joseph to use- Stuart came by to read the email from Wessel I had for him- Jerry called and told me that it is alright to reveal what that mysterious place is that I’ve mentioned in previous posts. So here is a picture of it- I continued working on putting up chicken wire for the stucco- did my evening walk- updated Copper Mountain Mesa website- decided that it has been too dang long since I took out the old telescope. There were a few wisps of scattered clouds obscuring the southern portion of the sky around the “Tea Pot” but I was still able to view the area around Antares and just make out globular cluster M4. Saw a few nice meteors and a very small satellite on its lonesome journey across the sky. The bats were out, it was so quiet that you could hear them clicking in search for food, I saw one dive down and land on a tub I fill with water for the critters and heard it lapping a drink. I turned the scope on the northern part of the Milky Way and browsed the sky there for an hour- Mike L. called and we yapped about computers for a while.
Friday 18- did my exercises- hand washed my clothes and hung them out to dry- spent the day getting the east wall ready to stucco. Had to cut holes for a drain and water pipe. After I got that done I had a few hours left and decided to start putting on the stucco and got about a forth of that wall done. Now I’ll have to wait till tomorrow, let it dry and see what kind of job I did- called Stoney just to say howdy- got out the telescope and trained it on the area around the Tea Pot and was looking at globular clusters when Joel called and asked if I wanted anything from the store, I told him bread, and continued my star gazing. Joel arrived with my bread plus a hamburger and donuts! I like donuts- did some web collaboration with Andrew
Saturday 19- did my morning stretches- called and jawed with Mac for a while- completed more of the east wall and will do the last forth tomorrow- Scott came by and introduced me to Ivan who bought Scott’s place, seems like a nice guy. Scott came by later with Dion and they had a laugh when they saw me putting on the stucco- watered by friend’s garden- John M. called and needs a new power supply for his computer, I told him I’d look and see if I have one tomorrow- I am dog tired tonight from all that stuccoing I’ve been doing the last two days.
Sunday 20- did my morning stretches- John M. came by with his computer and a gallon of paint in trade for fixing it- finished the first coat of stucco on the east wall. After seeing how much resources it took I will have to go down to Bar Lumber tomorrow and get some more stucco, chicken wire, and staples- went for my evening walk- I am dang dog tired tonight.
Monday 21- did my exercises- got in my truck and headed over to Bar Lumber in 29 and picked up four 80 pound bags of stucco, 100 feet of 4-foot chicken wire, and staples- was just starting to put the chicken wire on when Andrew came by and I decided to call it a day since the temp outside was 110 degrees and I was getting real tired. We went over to his house where I picked up that power supply replacement for John M.’s computer and messed around with some web programming- went for my evening walk- Joseph called about a question he had on the floppy drive on the old laptop I am letting him use, and then we talked about cars- replaced power supply on John’s computer, fired it up all is well- cloudy night but took out the telescope and aimed it at Ursa Major and checked out Mizar and Alcor which are at the bend in the handle of the Big Dipper.
Tuesday 22- did light exercises because of the heat and humidity- John M. came by and picked up his computer- watered my friend’s garden- picked up some sand over at Scott’s- went for my evening walk- John M. calls to say the power supply is over heating and shuts down after 45 minutes. I bring him over another power supply and install it. The problem was that the fan had stopped working- ran into Jeff R. on way back and he said that he was in 29 earlier and that it rained and flooded HWY 62 over a foot- Andrew came by for a bit- wrote column for newspaper and sent it in.
Wednesday 23- did light exercises; again it’s a hot with a lot of moisture in the air- put up some more chicken wire on the north side wall and started the second coat of stucco on the east- called and jawed with Jerry for a while about all kinds of things that I can’t remember what it was I called him up for; maybe it was just to say howdy- Scott called to tell me about a problem he is having- watch my favorite TV program “Bones”, it was a rerun and I make it a habit not to watch something I already seen before, but then again it is my favorite- cloudy tonight but sat outside with my telescope anyways.
Thursday 24- Jerry called and we talked about that mysterious place. The police had called Jerry asking him some personal questions like the year he was born, I told Jerry “what do they want that for you ain’t the one buried up there”. Anyways we’ll see if the police are really interested enough to come check it out some day- did my morning stretches- went to town to git supplies, Wal-Mart, and Stater Brothers. I try to git my shopping done before the first of the month herd do theirs. I drove down Winters Road on my way to town and the county had shut down one lane and was out there spraying some oil or other on the whole two miles of paved road- got home and continued putting second coat of stucco on the east wall. I’ll tell ya that the second coat really stiffens it up and makes it rock solid- Joel L. arrived with pizza at 6pm and I showed him my stucco handiwork- went for my evening walk- worked on CopperMountainMesa.com website getting it ready for the weekend update- took the telescope out for an hour looking at the southern skies.
Friday 25-did my exercises- Linda D. called to say her and Ron are home- updated website- continued stuccoing and hanging chicken wire on the rest of the house. While hammering up the chicken wire I nailed my thumb pretty good; saw stars and then felt the pain, ouch! Ran into the house and put ice on it- picked up some more sand for the stucco at Scott's- went for my evening walk- Roger T. rang to say his new LCD monitor arrived from Dell- called and yapped at Stoney- after the sunset just above the horizon I saw the Waxing Crescent Moon- took out the telescope and focused on the northern skies tonight. Pleiades is starting to peek up in the east now.
Saturday 26- did my exercises- finished chicken wiring the north side of the house, and then I finished stuccoing the east side. While I was working Dale from Landers called so I plugged in my headphones to my portable phone and was able to work and talk to him at the same time. It actually made the work go by faster and we talked for 86 minutes- Stoney dropped me off some of his homemade chili beans on his way to potluck. I’ll mix them in with the rice I’ve made and it should last for about 3 days- went for my evening walk- Roger T. called looking for some old computer memory- watched the Moon set through the telescope and saw it slide behind the silhouette of trees on a mountain. Pretty awesome- my poor old tired body is really hurting today and I think I’ll take Sunday off and go visit some folks around here.
Sunday 27-- did my stretches- Roger T. came by to look at my stucco job and picked up an outdoor telephone ringer I had no use for; he’s getting hard of hearing and needs it for when he goes outside- went over to Mac’s and helped him backup his files and place them on his new computer and picked up the one I lent him- went and visited Chuck and jawed with him, while his son Joseph practiced casting a fishing pole with a beer can hooked to it. One cast had the beer can land on the table where Chuck and me were sitting and we weren’t none happy about that. I guess that’s what kids do for fun out here in the desert- got home with my computer and Ron D. came over with some Thai food he had left over from breakfast at the monastery- Scott called and we yapped for a while- went for my evening walk- watched the Moon set over the mountains again through the telescope and then I trained it on Jupiter and saw four of its moons.
Monday 28- did my exercises- Stoney called to say that a car went off the road, and flipped over sometime yesterday, just west of me about a mile. I remembered seeing a police car drive by last night around 9pm. I grabbed my camera and headed over and took some pictures. Looks like the car traveled for about 100 feet when it left the road. I also heard that someone was taken to the hospital- continued to do my chicken wire and stuccoing when Jerry called and said a Rookie from the Sheriff’s Dept. came by his place to look at that grave in the hills, so Jerry took him to the site in his four-wheeler. The Rookie dug down 2 feet or so and took some pictures- John M. came by to see my stucco, he is thinking of doing it too, and brought over a TV amplifier so I can have better reception. Last time he came over was last Monday when I was over heated; he had told his wife that I looked flushed. He asked me how I was today, and I told him fine, and I was looking all around for my glove that I use when I stucco, he started to help search when I found it on my hand! He asked if I was sure I was alright; we had a good laugh- went for my evening walk- ate the rest of the Thai food mixed with rice I had made a few days ago- watch the Moon and then Jupiter with my telescope. The Moon is setting more to the SW every night. I like the crescent Moon because it reminds me of the Death Star in Star Wars. I put the telescope away and called it a night.
Tuesday 29- did my stretches- Mac called to say hi- Linda S. called to tell me that she would be completing a fabric she has been painting for a friend on Monday, and if I’d come over and photograph it then- still doing chicken wire and stuccoing, got the first coat done on the north side- went for my evening walk and noticed that there was smoke coming from a fire somewhere west in the mountains- Roger T. called and told me that there was a bad head on collision between two cars and another one crashed trying to avoid it. Roger said that HWY 62 was closed down and traffic was stopped while they medevaced the folks out by helicopter- wrote my column and sent it to the newspaper- too cloudy for the telescope and I’m just dang dog tired from all that stucco work, may have to take a day off from it and take care of other stuff I’ve been neglecting.
Wednesday 30- did my stretches and weights- cleaned up in the house and then cleared the west wall in preparation for the chicken wire and stucco. Did no stuccoing today- Andrew called and asked if I could send some files to him tonight- visited Stuart and chatted a few- dropped by John M.’s place with a bag of trash for his dumpster and saw his new haircut; he did it himself like I did but ended up with no hair, but the gals at his work say he looks younger, to me he looks like Mr. Clean- picked up some more sand from Scott’s- went for my evening walk- Watched TV “Bones”- sent Andrew his files- took out the telescope and tried to find the North American Nebula which is just east of Deneb in the constellation Cygnus. Like I said I tried; spent an hour looking and because Cygnus is at the Zenith I kinked my neck looking. I used my telescope, my binoculars and still couldn’t make it out. I found out later that it is best viewed with special filters, which don’t help none when you’re doing astronomy on a budget.
Thursday 31- did my exercises- Joel called to say hi- Mac came over for a visit and we jawed while I worked on the chicken wire and drilled a new hole in the wall for the propane. Finished putting the second coat of stucco on the north wall- went for my evening walk- took out the telescope for just a short time. There was some lightning coming from some clouds to the north and the bats were out looking for a late night snack. I am so dang dog tired from finishing that north wall I am going to take tomorrow off and just rest and enjoy the first day of a new month.