August 2007

Fat Cat snoozing on a hot summer day! The "Gross Polluter" is in the background.
Wednesday 01- Welcome to the month of August (ya kind of crept up on me). Did my stretches, ran a mile including the hill in front of my house.
Went online to see if my ISP has been fixed but it wasn’t. Got an emailed from the ISP company saying they had added me to their servers and it would take a few hours. Well a few hours I waited and its still not working! I will try later on in the day.
Went over to Stoney’s for lunch. He made some noodles with hamburger and tomato sauce; kind of like spaghetti. It was mighty good, we ate a whole bunch of it and there is still some leftover for tomorrow. He made cookies too and I snuck so of them home with me! We watched two episodes of “Survivor Man” about: He was left on a mountain top at 6000 feet and had to survive for seven days in the cold and rain. He ate berries and built a fire using a camera lens; The next one was that he was left in the Georgia swamps for seven days and survived on rattle snake and a turtle he had caught.
Got home at 6pm and tried to go on the internet with my ISP, still no go. So I fired off an email to ISP company telling them it didn’t work. Andrew came by on his bike and we went for an evening walk. He told me of his weird day he had on Sunday about finding a young Rottweiler in the middle of the road and just by chance finding the home where the dog belongs, and pulling a police car that was stuck on Winters road in the dirt around 8:30pm. I said that the cop was probably on his way to the shooting over on Jack Rabbit Trail. He didn’t know about the shooting so I filled him in on the story that a woman shot a 62 year old man three times in the chest. The man wasn’t well liked in the neighborhood and had a history of hitting women and killing dogs.
Went back online trying to figure out what was wrong with my ISP. I keep getting an "Error 691: Access was denied because the user and/or password was invalid on domain". And I know I have the right username and password on my computer's Internet connections. I even tried using the wrong password and did a check to see if it showed up as a wrong password, and it did. So I am being denied access to their servers for some reason, but it recognized my realm name and user id and password. Well all this trouble shooting went late into the night and I wasn’t able to update the calendar on my website coppermountainmesa.com because I just ran out of time. I will do it tomorrow.

Thursday 02- did my stretches, ran a mile, and lifted weights. Another muggy day and there were clouds that looked like they’d be carrying rain came over head but not even a drop for us poor desert folks.
Late last night I checked my ISP to see if it had finally been fixed, and at 2am it had! So now I can start adding users and messing around more in the “Backroom” on my ISP site. I added five users today (including myself). I don’t want too many right now because I am still testing stuff and haven’t decided on the billing yet.
Went over to Stoney’s and ate some more of them noodles and made off with some cookies. Set his computer up with my ISP and canceled the old one that was giving us so much trouble with busy signals and lost connections.
Picked up my mail and then went to water my friend’s garden and called my Sister Shiela from there; talked for an hour until her telephone ran out of juice.
Went for my evening walk with Andrew and lent him Windows 98 to load on his laptop, so that he’d be able to load Windows 2000 without floppy disks.
Updated my website and it’s calendar for the month of August: that took most of the night. And did some testing on my ISP too.

Friday 03- did my stretches and rode my bike. The day was mostly sunny but the clouds moved on in later on in the day: got to 102 degrees and a little muggy.
Got back to working on Katherine’s Mother’s computer. Started downloading all the critical updates and it takes a lot of time downloading them on dialup. While I was doing that I was also working in my yard trimming my palm trees, reading my Sister Paula’s book, and reviewing a few songs I wrote. Here’s one called “Love will find a way home” I hope you like it. (It still needs a lot of work!)
Talked to Roger T. and he has a couple of new users or my ISP: one called and I will hook him up tomorrow, the other I created an account and Roger did the hookup. I still need to find a billing solution and PayPal is starting to look like the one. I am still testing the system and don’t want too many users yet, I just want to get it done right.
Went for my evening walk. Joel dropped by when I got back and brought me a 12” Subway sandwich! I ate half and will eat the rest tomorrow.
Continued my testing of the ISP and did some more research on PayPal and Google Checkout. Then watched “Numbers” on CBS another rerun but like I said before “I like the show”.
Went for a late night run up the hill in front of my home under the stars and the rising waning Moon cast enough light to illuminate the road.

Saturday 04- did my stretches, ran a mile, and lifted weights. Not as muggy as yesterday but a little hotter, around 105 degrees.
Continued to download the critical updates to Katherine’s Mother’s desktop computer. I am limited to when the sun is out shining down on my solar panels, and clouds; there were a few clouds moving overhead and everything slows down. Desktops take a lot more power than laptops; hell I could run my laptop all night with no problem, but a desktop sucks the juice from my batteries and I’m running my refrigerator at the same time trying to freeze it down cold to last into the next day. Clouds don’t help matters one bit. But I was able to download the updates for two and a half hours today.
Drove the “Gross Polluter” over to setup my ISP on Mac’s computer, and he is up and running. I welcomed him to the CMMConnect.com family (he laughed). Well I am trying to provide a service with the ISP and offer technical advice, not just make a little money. He has an old HP computer I need to reload the OS on when I get Katherine‘s done.
Made a quick stop at Stoney’s for lunch. He made a salad with some leftovers he had. I made off with more cookies.
Stopped to water my friend’s garden and made two calls: one to my friend Terry (my proofreader and friend); the other to my Mom and Dad. Dad and I had a long chat.
Andrew came by and we went on the evening walk. We talked about how strange but wonderful and precious life is. That the road we walk, the matter that makes up our bodies, the earth we live and everything else came from the core of old dying stars that ended in violent deaths, which blasted particles of matter into space, that became you and me and everything we see, many billions of years ago.
Watched “Masters of Science Fiction” on CBS. Reminded me of the old “Outer Limits”. I like the fact that Steven Hawking was the host!
All this business of creating a business has left me with little time to do my studies. I need to find a way to do the billing and finish this up and create some sort of routine for my business and fit it into my schedule so I can get back to my studying.

Sunday 05- Last night before I went to bed I did a run up the hill in front of my house.
Did my stretches and rode my bike. Not too hot, about 101 degrees with light clouds.
Finally finished the critical updates to Katherine’s Mom’s computer. I then reloaded Avast anti-virus and updated it, and did a disk cleanup and defrag on the hard drive. Called Kath and told her it was ready for pickup, which she will do tomorrow night.
My Brother Kevin called and we jawed for a while until it came time for me to take my evening walk. It was a little windy on the walk and it felt very nice!
The astronomy book hasn’t seen me for a few weeks, so I caught up on some reading that I meant to do, but haven‘t because of my business I‘m creating takes most of my time.
Nice and uneventful day! Ran up the hill again before I went to bed.

Monday 06- what a nice and magnificent day! The temp never got much over 90 degrees with no humidity.
Roger T. called at 9am and woke me up so I could add George S. as a new user. Cool, I’ll wake up early for that. Did my stretches.
Andrew Called wanting to borrow the WIFI hookup so he could download a program. I left it in the mailbox outside my house for him to pickup.
Was running very low on supplies: food. Decided to drive the old “Gross Polluter” into town and get some. When I shop I am very efficient; that I know what I want and where in the store it is. Well Stater Brothers are in the process of changing everything around. I talked to a couple of employees who were stocking the shelves and asked them about it. They said I wasn’t the only one complaining about the change. I had to hunt for almost every item on my list. They just did a rearrange of the place not six months ago and their doing it again! I think there is a conspiracy in that they want to make you spend more time in the store buying stuff. I like Staters but they keep on messing me up on my “hit and run” method: where I get in, get what I want, and get out in less then 15 minutes.
Went for my evening walk. When I got back, Joel had left me some corn tortillas that he bought by mistake (maybe he went to Staters), he likes the flower ones.
Went for a run up my hill under a Moonless starry sky. Makes you really feel vibrant and alive. Was thinking while running about all the new lights in our neighborhood illuminating the night sky and washing out the stars. City folks bringing the city out here. You’d think folks would move out here to our desert to enjoy the dark skies, the quietness and serenity, and get away from all that city crap, but they bring it all with them! Burning precious petroleum to turn night into day and spoil it for folks like you and me who take pleasure in the simple rural life that we live.
Took out the telescope and just gazed at the stars of the Milky Way. What a wonderful life I have!

Tuesday 07- late last night I had a Sun Spider crawl over me! Yikes! I couldn’t find it at first and I laid back down to go to sleep and there it was, a big fat female on the wall by my pillow. I had an Astronomy magazine (September’s Issue) rolled up and used it to smash it really good. Bug juice sprayed all over my pillow and wall. I think I will bug bomb this place next week.
Did my stretches, ran a mile, and lifted weights. Another nice and pleasant day outside.
Was working on my column for the newspaper when Andrew came by with a Garter Snake in a bucket and we set it free under my trailer in the back of my property. I told him of the Sun Spider episode and it sent chills through his body (he hates spiders) and said that he killed one last night too.
Went back to my column when the FedEx truck showed up with a birthday package from Lynn and Dave. They sent me some detective books to read and I thought that was very nice of them.
Finished my column and sent it off to Terry my proofreader. Then Sam the UPS guy (and friend) showed up with a birthday package from Paula. He asked me what I thought was inside and I jokingly said that I hope it was cookies because I had eaten all the ones that I had pilfered from Stoney. Well guess what! They were chocolate chip cookies that Paula had baked just for me! YUM!
Went over to water my friend’s garden and called Shiela but she wasn’t home, then called Tom and Aki and yapped with them for a while. My friend Kula was also home and helped her with a computer problem.
Went for my evening walk.
Stoney came by after bingo with some ISP payments that Roger T. had collected. He told me that eleven folks showed up for bingo tonight. That isn’t even enough to pay the light bill.
Katherine finally came by to pickup her Mom’s computer I had fixed and joined my dialup ISP too! I think I’ll stop at ten users until I figure out the billing process I need to implement. Now I can start fixing Kath’s computer that needs a system install.
Went for a night run up the hill again, then I sent my column to the newspaper, wrote this blog post, and went to bed.

Wednesday 08- had a strange dream that I was on a train going through England. I was looking out the window as we passed an old dry dock by a harbor that had wrecks of ships scattered throughout. I remarked to another passenger that it looked like leftovers from WWII. I got up to walk to another compartment when all the windows in the coach started flickering and I discovered that they were TV screens. A lady who was in a bed in the next compartment was nursing a baby told me if I woke the baby it would die. Well I left very quietly but I heard the baby cry out. Another passenger (a fatherly figure) said not to worry about it, that was just the way things go sometimes. In a hurry I made my way to the back of the train where there was some glass doors which opened up to a street, and found myself standing outside a building that had been the train! There outside, were the Engineer and Porters smoking cigarettes and they asked me if I wanted one! At that time I was awoken from my dream by the phone ringing and picked it up to hear my friend Kula singing happy birthday to me. I can’t explain the dream but to say that I may have ate too many of my Sister Paula’s cookies yesterday.
Did my stretches, ran a mile, lifted weights, and rode my bike. It is another nice day, the air is clean, and it is my birthday!
Drove the “Gross Polluter” to my mailbox and collected what was there: a birthday card from my Sister Shiela!
Started work on Katherine’s computer and did a fresh install of XP only after the recovery didn’t work and backed up all her files.
Called Dan A. whose birthday is also today and wished him a good one.
Checked my email and had a bunch of birthday Ecards from: Lynn, Kula, Mike from Hermosa, and Karen. Got a special email from Terri from the German Shepard Rescue of Orange County of an update about Blind Dog: “Looks like he is really doing well, and has a wonderful life” she said, and that is good news indeed!
My Sister Sheila called to chat for a bit and to say happy birthday in person over the phone; that’s about as close to “in person” as you can get when you are 300 miles away. Then Mom and Dad called. I tried to get Dad to sing happy birthday to me but he declined due to “his bad singing voice” he said. Mom sang it with no problem at all and she sang it real nice!
Went for my evening walk. When I got back I got a call from Seimi who did sing happy birthday!
Picked up on my reading where I left off a few weeks ago, because of the business I am starting took most of my time. Read two chapters of “The Cosmic Connection” by Carl Sagan.
Went for a run up the hill again under the starry skies, and then took out the telescope and trained it into Sagittarius and the Lagoon nebula which is a big interstellar dust cloud some 4000 light years away. Then I was looking at Mizar in the constellation Ursa Major, when Mike from Hermosa called to sing happy birthday to me off key with some words of his own thrown in.
I had a wonderful birthday and it is good to know you have friends and family who care!

Thursday 09- did my stretches and ran a mile. Another nice day, not too hot, and not too humid.
Worked on Katherine’s computer, installing Service Pak 2 and downloaded all of the Window’s critical updates. Also installed Avast anti-virus, Ccleaner, Firefox, Spybot, and loaded her files and documents back on the computer. Just need to do a system clean and defrag and it’s good to go.
Read another two chapters of “Cosmic Connection”.
Went over to water my friend’s garden and use the phone. Called Terry in Virginia and my Sister Shiela. Yakked at both of them for a total of two hours.
Made it back home in time for my evening walk. Then watched a movie called “Spartan” 2004 staring Val Kilmer on KCOP TV about: A special Ops soldier goes on a hunt for the kidnapped daughter of the president. Dang good flick with a twist.
Updated the CopperMountainMesa.com website and sent out the newsletter. I thought I should put part of the column here so you wont miss the meteor shower this Sunday night:
Our little Community will be outside this Sunday night watching the “Great Perseids Meteor Shower” of 2007! What makes it great is that the Moon will be “new” and that means really dark skies. The meteors came from little specks of dust boiled off comet Swift-Tuttle’s tail that were first observed by the Chinese in 36 AD. They appear to streak down (Look to the northeast after 9pm) from the constellation Perseus to hit Earth’s atmosphere at 132,000 mph creating some magnificent bright trails across the heavens. The meteors will increase as the night grows older.
Went for another night run up the hill before I wrote my blog and went to bed.

Friday 10- forgot to mention yesterday that while I was checking my credit card I found a charge from PeoplePC for $19.90 for service that I didn’t want (piss me off)! I called them right away and spent the next half an hour being transferred to this person and that person until they finally said they’d cancel my account and credit my card for the money. This is one reason I started my own dialup ISP and told them so!
Did my stretches and rode my bike. Today was a mirror image of the last three days.
Finished up on Katherine’s computer and loaded: Encarta 2004, OpenOffice 2.2, Works 4.5, Charlie, Adobe 8, and other software. Did a clean and defrag. Then called her to pick it up.
Went over to Stoney’s. He has some company over and I wanted to take some pictures of his Nephew Gene and his new wife. They are traveling all around the USA trying to visit every state. They leave tomorrow for Utah and parts in between.
Went for my evening walk and then watched “Apocalypto” (2006) staring: Rudy Youngblood, Dalia Hernández, and Directed by Mel Gibson. About: the Maya civilization is in a state of deterioration. The crops are failing, precious resources are being used to build temples, and sickness ravages their cities. Warriors are sent out to distant villages to capture young men so that priests can sacrifice them to please their gods and calm the unrest in their citizens. One young man escapes! Very dang good film!!!!
Just got done running up the hill in front of my house when Katherine came by to fetch her computer.

Saturday 11- did my stretches, lifted weights, and ran a mile. Seems to me that it’s getting hotter and a little bit more humid.
Got a call from a Rosemarie in Joshua Tree asking if the USDA food distribution was this Monday as it was reported in the newspaper. I told her that it is usually on the third Monday of the month unless there was a holiday and that the newspaper might have just carried it over from July, but that I’d check it out with Stoney who runs it up here and would call her back. Called Stoney and he was almost sure that it wasn’t. He called around but no one knew for sure, so he came by and we drove to the center to check. We couldn’t find anything to the contrary so I called Rosemarie to tell her that it wasn’t this Monday.
Another lady called from Flamingo Heights, who reads my column in the newspaper, to ask about what kind of beginner telescope she should purchase. I told her that a 4” Newtonian, or a 90mm refractor, with a 2” eye piece, an Altazimuth (up, down, and sideways) would be a good start for a beginner. An equatorial mount is a little tricky to use as a beginner because you have to align it with Polaris (right ascension), then find another star and dial in its known declination. Me, I want a 12” (or bigger) Newtonian with a 2” eye piece, and a equatorial mount!
Went over to Stoney’s for lunch. We had barbequed ribs, and rice with bacon gravy! All the meat and fat to last me for a whole week.
Watered my friend’s garden and called Mom and Dad. Then I called my Sister Paula but she was very busy cooking dinner and tending to her family to talk very long. I thanked her for the cookies she sent me for my birthday.
Went for my evening walk. Then reloaded Windows XP on my Toshiba laptop. I use it to experiment with new programs and such that it tends to get bloated with crap.
Watched “Masters of Science Fiction” but this episode stunk! And ain’t worth a review. It’s the one where an alien hit a helicopter in Iraq.
Went for a night run up the hill; it is becoming a nightly thing. Took out the telescope for a while. I’m getting ready for tomorrow nights meteor shower!

Sunday 12- Jimmy called me late last night telling me about his fishing trip he is going on today. He is leaving out of San Diego on a 75’ fishing boat for three days! He also said that he finished the guinea pig house is spent a lot of time planning. His Daughter Angela has won many 4H ribbons with the guinea pigs and her pet dog. I asked Jimmy to ask her if we could get bacon from a guinea pig, and she yelled back “NO”!
Did my stretches, lifted weights, and rode my bike. Nice day, just like yesterday, but with a few more clouds and a little more wind.
My Brother Kevin called and we yapped an hour or so about him putting his house on the market. He has been spending most his time these last two weeks getting it ready to show.
Downloaded Windows XP critical updates on the Toshiba laptop, and had to use dialup, which took about four hours and tied up the phone.
Joel came by with some French fries. He “just felt like making them”, he said.
Went for my evening walk. Then finished up on the Toshiba laptop upgrades and downloads: it’s running real fine!
Started my watch of the northeastern night skies for the meteor shower that will peak at around 2am this morning. Went for my run up the hill at 10:30pm and saw five meteors zipping across the sky. Right now it is 11:50pm so I am wrapping this post up and going outside to watch the shower. I’ll sit there with my Fat Cat curled up next to me as I scan the skies for meteors, and use my telescope to view the stars.

Monday 13- well last night I stayed up till 3am and saw many meteors zipping across the sky. There were a few big ones that glowed green as they disintegrated above me. I saw more meteors then I have ever seen on one night. While I was watching for meteors, I was also listening to an oldie but goodie AM station and had my telescope trained on the Andromeda Galaxy and followed it across the sky most of the night. Was pretty tired afterwards.
Did my stretches, ran a mile, and lifted weights. The temp rose to 110 degrees, and it was getting a little muggy with all the humidity.
Called Mac to tell him that I was done fixing the computers I was working on and to bring his over so I could begin repairs on it. It’s an old HP Pavilion 6730 given to him by a friend, who said it had a virus on it. I fired it up just to see if it would start. The OS is Win98SE that was missing a system file, but booted up anyways. While I was checking it out I came across the previous owner’s Tax returns, drivers license, and other personal data that should have been wiped off the system before giving it away. It’s a good thing for him that I am an honest desert folk and didn’t even read it, but did a format of the drive and reloaded Win98SE over the files. I will run a program called Eraser on the free hard drive space to make doubly sure it’s gone.
Went over to Stoney’s for dinner. He made some fantastic baked pork chops with rice and gravy made from the pork chops drippings. Man I can truthfully say they were the best I’ve ever had!
Went for my evening walk. I walked a little further than I usually do to burn off some of that dinner.
Wrote my column for the newspaper and sent it in, after my friend and proofreader Terry checked it out for mistakes.
Did another run up the hill before posting this blog and going to bed.

Tuesday 14- Andrew came by on his way to town and I asked him to pick me up some CDs if he came across any in his foraging through WalMart.
Did my stretches, ran a mile, lifted weights, and rode my bike. I was dang sweaty and decided to take a hose shower outside and was just going out the door carrying my towel and bag of shower stuff when I heard a woman's voice call out from my gate ,“can you help me”. Yikes! I was standing there practically nude with just the shower bag covering my privates in front of a pretty blond gal wanting directions to the community center. I said “just a second” and proceeded back into the house to put on shorts and a shirt and went out to help her. These kinds of things don't usually happen out here in the desert!
Worked on Mac's HP computer trying to find drivers for the modem and video. The HP site didn't have them (figures), so I had to search some other sites where I think I found a driver for the modem that will work. About that time Dale from Landers called and we jawed for a while. He just got back from Apple Valley where he is taking care of his Mom after she had knee surgery.
Went on over to water my friend's garden and made some calls to my Sister Shiela and a few other folks. Then I went for my evening walk and ran into Andrew, who was walking his two dogs. I thanked him for getting the CDs which he had left in the mailbox in front of my house.
Watched “Nova Now: Origins” on PBS, about: the beginnings of our planet and processes that lead to the proliferation of biologicals, some 3.4 billion years ago.
Stoney came by from bingo to tell me that he had quit running it and they'll have to find someone else take over. He was having too much trouble from a certain person, who is very disrupted and loud mouthed.
Took out the telescope for a little while. The sky wasn't very good for “Seeing” because there was a lot of turbulence in the atmosphere. So I went for my nightly run up the hill. I'm now saying “nightly run” because I've been doing it for over a week and it makes me feel great afterwards.

Wednesday 15- did my stretches, ran a mile, lifted weights, and rode my bike. Took another hose shower in the hopes of repeating yesterdays encounter, but no luck! Seems like it's hotter today about 107-110 degrees.
Went back to work on Mac's computer. Found a modem driver I thought would work, but when I went to connect to the internet the machine rebooted. Either it's a bad modem or the wrong driver. Found a audio driver and after many attempts got it working. Called Mac and asked if there was any chance of getting the restore disks, he said he was seeing the guy tomorrow and would ask. That would have save me a bunch of trouble if I had them to begin with.
Went over to Stoney's for lunch/dinner. He made up some chicken Alfrado, that was mighty good, and top it off with a big slice of water melon. Jimmy called while we were eating to tell us he was back from his fishing trip to Mexico. He said he caught three albacore and gave one to his friend who was suppose to go on the trip but his father fell ill, and had passed on the day after the trip began. That was mighty nice of Jimmy! He also told us that he read a story about the boat he was on. Seems like a few years ago it had hit a log in the ocean and was taking on water. A Navy Destroyer came to their rescue, bringing pumps and ferrying everyone by inflatable to the Destroyer, and then towing it back to a safe harbor. One guy who was rescued said he'd never step foot on a boat again, another said that he would have paid double if he knew he'd be rescued by raft, taken to a Navy Destroyer and be able to walk about the big ship.
Went for my evening walk. Then I finished reading “Cosmic Connection” by Carl Sagan, which took up most of the night.
Went for my nightly run before I settled down to write my blog.

Thursday 16- did my stretches, then got ready to go to town to get some supplies. I need to get over not wanting to leave my Desert Sanctuary, where I have almost everything I need, except people. People; I like most people, I have a hard time being around lots of people. I can take them one, two, three at a time, but not masses of people like what you'd get at WalMart. Crowds; I don't like crowds, I stay away from crowds. Some folks (not all) are just born missing something inside. A want, a need, but not a soul. The ability to know right from wrong. Compassion. These are replaced with greed, anger, and lies. Distrust of any honest offerings. They go throughout life collecting trinket of their status in society with no concern for the environment, regard for the feelings of others, and disturb the social fabric we all must live. We exist in a world of greed and consumerism that I prefer not to participate in. So I have to lighten up, put a smile on my face, and venture out into this realm of humanity once in a while, but quickly.
Got into the “Gross Polluter” and drove to the DMV where I had to submit a form for the truck call Form 256 “Statement of facts”, that they had sent me before I could get my registration certificate. So what kind of facts do they want? I just wrote about the circumstances that occurred when I purchased the truck which took up most of the page. I handed it to the clerk who read it and said, “all they want to know is if the bed of the truck has been altered”. Well why didn't they say that in the first place!
Drove to Barr Lumber to have my two propane tanks filled. Stopped at the BofA ATM and deposited some checks I had accumulated. Then went to Stater Brothers, got my supplies and drove on home.
Joel had collected my mail and left it with some cookies in my mailbox in front of my home. My real mailbox, where the I receive mail, is six miles farther down the road. The one in front is for folks to leave things for me, or me for them.
Mac called and said he got a disk for the HP computer I'm fixing for him. It was the owner's manual and not a recovery disk that I needed. I will just have to find the drivers myself and do the best I can.
Watered my friend's garden and called Terry, she lives in Virginia, and yapped with her for an hour and a half. Then I went for my evening walk.
Did the updates to the CopperMountainMesa.com website. Added Karen's Corner to the site. Karin is a neighbor who I think writes pretty darn good and she wanted to contribute to the site. Forgot to send out the newsletter, but I can do that in the morning.
Went for my nightly run and burned off what was left of the city that was hanging heavy on me.

Friday 17- did my stretches, ran a mile, and lifted weights. Got to around 107 degrees with a few clouds overhead; lots of humidity.
Decided to take the day off working on Mac's computer and work on my own stuff. Cleaned the kitchen, tidied up the place some. Tried to find a “good book” to read. Started a Detective book but it was too gruesome for my liking. Then tried a Scifi paperback that ended up being just too childish: a flying talking snake. So I ended up working on my old 300Mhz IBM laptop that has the flash IDE hard drive, putting add-ons on to Firefox. Really wasn't up to doing much today, due to the weather I guess.
Joel called. He wants me to move a refrigerator for him on Sunday. We have to move the one out of his house first, then pickup the new one and put it in his house. I told him that it would be better for me if we moved the old one out on Saturday, then on Sunday fetch the new one and put it in his house. It would save me from getting worn out, and I also told him that I'm getting too old to be lifting stuff like that, hell seems like everyone would have me lift stuff if I gave them the chance. Well no more of that, I have my own “stuff” to lift.
Went got my evening walk. Then watched “Numbers” on CBS, about: Larry come home from space. My favorite episode of the series! Later I went for my nightly run up the hill. Kind of felt lethargic all day till I went for that run.

Saturday 18- did my stretches, ran a mile, lifted weights, and rode my bike. A little milder today because a little breeze is blowing but still hot and muggy.
Worked on Mac’s HP computer. Found and installed a video driver, a USB mass storage driver. Also installed AbiWord (a free word processor), Charlie (text to speech program), Spybot, and Avast anti-virus. System runs just fine except the modem that will have to be replaced; causes the system to reboot. Did a system clean and will do a defrag tomorrow if I get the time.
Joel came by and we went over to his house to remove the old refrigerator from his kitchen. All was going well until we found that his dolly’s wheels were flat, but managed to get it out of the house anyways.
Went over to water my friend’s garden and make some calls. Called up my friend Billie who lives in Redondo Beach. She is an old friend of mine from the time when I lived on a sailboat in King Harbor. She lived on an old leaky sailboat in a slip by the Redondo pier with her soul mate that we all called The Captain. The Captain was a very old goat and would never tell us his age, but the tales he told us about World War One when we’d gather at Carls Jr. everyday to jaw at each other would place him well into his nineties. At one time in her life Billie worked in the carnival as the snake lady. She still keeps a boa as a pet. When The Captain passed on many years ago and was cremated, Billie was devastated and wanted to scatter his remains at sea, but The Captain’s daughter, being spiteful towards Billie, keep urn in the trunk of her Mercedes and drove about with them for several years until Billie and she made peace. They took the ashes and cast them into the ocean off of the pier. The Captain would have been pleased.
Called Mom and Dad and yapped with them for a while. Mom is finally doing her exercises in the Family pool.
Called Tom and Aki to say hi and to catch up on their doing.
Went for my evening walk. Then just laid in bed for a while contemplating life until “Rosemary and Thyme: The Gongoozlers” came on PBS, a rerun I’d seen before, but I like the show. Then “Masters of Science Fiction: Jerry was a man” on ABC, about: A biologically engineered man who was designed to walk through mine fields, but survived and subsequently out lived his usefulness, was scheduled for termination to be made into puppy chow, but was saved by the second richest woman in the world. Based on a short story by Robert Heinlein (who wrote my favorite Sci-Fi book “Stranger in a Strange Land”).
Went for my nightly run, then called Mike from Hermosa Beach to yap with him. He is still doing his exercises!

Sunday 19- did my stretches and lifted weights. A real nice day! Not too hot: 103 degrees with a breeze of around 6mph coming out of the SW.
Went online and took care of some old emails that had been lingering in the inbox for a few days. Did some corrections to the website and a few tweaks.
Joel came by and we drove down to Joshua Tree to pickup his new refrigerator. The guys (father and son) Joel bought it from had moved here six weeks ago and were denizens of Northern California and came here by way of Oregon and some place back east they had lived. Being not use to our “hot” weather, saying they didn’t like it. I told them that they’d get use to the heat after a while, that there is a lot to explore and see around these parts. We finagled the refrigerator onto the truck and headed over to Santana’s for beef burritos to go. Got to Joel’s house, unloaded it with just a little bit of trouble going through the front door, and setup it up in the kitchen.
Got home, ate half of the burrito and then called Stoney to jaw for a while. Him and Chris just got back from the center filling and putting out the bags for tomorrow’s USDA food distribution. He told me that he doesn’t feel like going to potluck next week because of being a little frustrated with some of the goings on at the community center, but I’ll talk him into it.
My Brother Kevin called to yap about “the simple life” and how he yearns to downsize his lifestyle and the steps he is taking to accomplish this.
Called Jerry and Barbara to see how they were doing. Jerry and I talked about Johnny John who was 95 or so years old and had lived out on Copper Moon for many years selling eggs to the folks here. Some say he was a survivor of the sinking of the Arizona during Pearl Harbor. He raised hogs, chickens, and had no electricity or water (talk about the simple life). He did communicate using a CB radio, he had told me once when I went to purchase some eggs from him way back in 98. He had died a month or so ago and was found three days later half eaten by dogs. Jerry would go and visit him from time to time to jaw and check on his condition, telling me that towards the end Johnny John looked pretty bad. Jerry had a dream that Johnny John had died and was eaten by dogs before Johnny John had really died. A premonition that came true!
Went for my evening walk. Ate the other half of the burrito (taste real good with plain yogurt on it) and then messed around on my computer some. Found a book I purchased back in the late 80s that I’ve been meaning to read but never got around to it, called: “Coming of Age in the Milky Way” by Timothy Ferris. Read the first chapter and it looks to me to be a good read!
Went for my nightly run and then sat outside without the telescope for over an hour just gazing into the heavens, pondering it all.

Monday 20- Stoney came by on his way home from the USDA food distribution and dropped off a bag for me. He said they had seventy folks show up.
Did my stretches, ran a mile, and I was in the process of lifted weights when my dear friend Kula calls. She was on here way to Riverside for a meeting with Stater Brothers Supermarkets. We yapped for a while, and then I finished lifting weights.
Was just on my way outside to have a hose shower to wash off the sweat of my workout when Brenda (not the “blond” I was expecting: see Tuesday 14) came by with her sister’s old computer for me to fix. So old I found out later, that I don’t have a keyboard that works with it. She just dropped it off with no explanation and was about to drive off, but before she got too far I stopped her by asking “by the way what’s wrong with it”. “It asks for a CD when it starts up” she says. I will call her tomorrow to have her bring the keyboard. I really need to start charging for my repairs services!
Went over to Stoney’s to have some watermelon. He was working on an old domino clock that he had put away in the garage some forty years ago and was having trouble finding where two of the parts go. I took a look-see and couldn’t figure it out either. So I went online, did a search and found instructions for assembly. We spent the next two hours on it and still couldn’t get the parts to fit even with the instructions.
Went for my evening walk. Then started doing research for my column for the newspaper. I’m writing about the lunar eclipse and the Aurigid Meteor Shower. Finished it up late in the night and sent it to Terry my proofreader. Nice to have a friend like her who also proofreads!
Went for my nightly run. When I am running at night on the dirt road by my house and a car comes along, I get off the road and hide on the side over behind some greasewoods. You just don’t know what kind of folks come driving by at 11:30pm on a dark lonely night out in our area and I don’t want to find out. This time it was an old truck with a bad muffler, the radio blasting, comes rattling up the road. I always wonder what would go through their minds if they drove by and caught a glimpse of me in their headlights wearing my running shorts hiding off to side of the road in the middle of the desert.

Tuesday 21- did my stretches and rode my bike. It was nice clear day with the temp lingering around 104 degrees, but not much of a breeze.
Went back to work on my column and it’s the most technical one I think I’ve ever wrote about Astronomy. So I have to make sure it is concise but understandable and correct. Here it is in its final form that I sent to the newspaper:

Early on August 28th there will be a total Lunar Eclipse, that’s where the Earth casts its shadow on the surface of the Moon when it comes between the Moon and the Sun. So if you’re up late on the 27th, have plenty of coffee, can stay awake till totality on the 28th at 2:52am and watch until it ends at 4:22am, you’ll see the Moon turn a blood red.
Another late nighter will be the 2007 Aurigid Meteor Shower that peaks 4:36 a.m. on September 1st (look northeast, just to the left of the Pleiades). The debris was left by Comet Kiess, a long period comet that is believed to have made its last journey to our neighborhood around the time Mark Antony, Roman politician and Cleopatra's lover, was born: 83 BC. Long period comets make their way into our solar system after thousands of years on their slow orbit about our Sun, and their showers are hard to predict, so it may or may not happen. Their meteors are much older then short period comets like the Perseids, more robust and multicolored when they burn. If it happens there should be many colorful meteors streaking across the sky. You may want to catch this one because the next Aurigid Meteor Shower is 70 years from now.

I’m glad that I don’t have to write stuff like this every week, but once in a while is fine and it adds some novelty to my column. And here’s the thought of the week that came to me while I was writing the astronomy part:
Thought for the week: The more I learn the more aware I am of what little I seem to know.

Started the defrag on Mac’s computer and while it was running drove the “Gross Polluter” over to Stoney’s for some watermelon. He figured out where the two parts go on the domino clock and I wanted to see where they went. Got back home and the defrag was done, and read some more of the book “Coming of Age in the Milky Way”.
I went over to water my friend’s garden and called my Sister Paula. She is starting her college classes this Thursday and has a little anxiety about going back. She usually gets her books way before the semester starts so she can get a head start on them, but was unable to find which of the books she was suppose to get. I told her that she “thinks” way too much and that everything will be all right.
Went for my evening walk. Watched “Nova” on PBS about: Typhoid Mary. She was a carrier of typhoid, didn’t know it, wasn’t sick because of her hearty immune system, but spread the disease to others.
Talked to Chris on his way back from Bingo. He had Sue and Gail in his truck with him. Chris told me that there were seventeen folks that showed up, and that they had started a bingo committee to “write new rules” for the players to follow.
Went for my nightly run. Got the telescope out to watch the Moon set behind the mountains.

Wednesday 22- when I went outside to do my exercises there was a lot of smoke concealing the mountains and settling into a hazy veil on our mesa from the “Snow Fire” in the San Jacinto Mountains. I heard later that lightning on Tuesday started it. Did my stretches, ran a mile, and lifted weights.
Got on the Mac iBook and went online to check my emails. I guess I should start using it more. I told my friend Mike from Hermosa, who is a Mac fanatic, that I hardly use it. That upset him that I am wasting the laptop by not using it: because his is the older G4 Mac and mine has the newer Intel processor and more powerful. I’m a PC person at heart! Downloaded the new Google Earth that includes Google Sky. With Google Sky you can search for stars, planets, and deep sky objects. It also includes pictures taken by Hubble! I spent two hours absorbed in searching and zooming in on all parts of the celestial heavens. The iBook performed well.
Went to Stoney’s for lunch. He made a chef’s salad that was mighty good. He is still working on the domino clock trying to get the bugs out and almost has it working right except one little ball hangs up on an arm part. He’ll never quit till he gets it right or destroys it trying to fix it.
Continued reading “Coming of Age in the Milky Way” and finished a few chapters. It’s a history of how our current view of the universe evolved from the early concepts of science and mathematics. I’m up to Newton right now.
Went for my evening walk. Read some more then watched “Bones” on Fox. One I’d never seen before and I thought I’d seen them all. It was first shown on December 2006 when I went to see my Family in Tucson for the very first time (if you want to know more about my Family finding me go and checkout Thanksgiving 2006 and onward).
Went for my nightly run up the hill. No cars to hide from!
Decided that my old HTML Editor from 2000 is just way to out of date. I am very comfortable using it but so many new advances, and specifications in Markup Language have taken place, that it has to go. Downloaded NVU that is suppose to be current and it is also Opensource. I now need to learn its new format.

Thursday 23- did my stretches, lifted weights, and ran a mile. Seems like it is cooler today, about 101 degrees, with a little breeze and no smoke in the air. So I guess they have gotten the “Snow Fire” under control. Wonder why they named it the “Snow Fire”?
I’ve been thinking of the time when I was going to college and working as a security guard. I would be sitting in the office late at night where I worked at an apartment complex in Redondo Beach doing my homework and folks would drop by to chat. Sometimes they would share their personal problems and ask me for advice. One guy that came by was having financial problems with the business he owned and was in the process of losing everything, possibly going to jail, and on the verge of suicide. Plus his ex-wife was after him for alimony as well. He told me he had a large amount of money stashed away where she or anyone else couldn’t find it. I told him that there was a simple solution, just drop off the face of the earth and start anew in some other country. He smiled and said thanks and left. Two weeks later his yacht was found twenty miles west of Catalina Island in heavy seas, idling in gear, with nobody on board! The authorities surmised that he was on board with his girlfriend drinking when she fell overboard and that he had jumped in to save her and the boat idled away. I like to think he took my advice!
Read more of the book “Coming of Age in the Milky Way” most of the day and then went for my evening walk. Stopped by my neighbor, Biker Ron, to jaw with him for a while. He is remodeling his house and was hanging drywall when I dropped in. The sun was about to set so we went outside where he started yelling and cussing; he had forgotten about the gas he was siphoning from the tank of his truck into a five gallon gas can for his generator and the gas was flowing onto the ground. He disconnected the hose from the can and found that he had drained fifteen gallons from the truck into the earth. As he was in the cab checking his gas gauge I noticed that there was a big leak in the side of the can and told him so: more cussing. He grabbed it and took it to his generator that powers his house and pours it into the tank: still more cussing. I decided to leave.
Updated the website and sent out the newsletter. Went for my nightly run and called it a day.

Friday 24- did my stretches, lifted weights, and rode my bike.
Jerry came by with some pictures of a ghost and one of him with a halo over his head. The ghost picture looks to me like an old lady with a hunched back holding a cane in her right hand and I found it more believable than Jerry having a halo! The pictures were taken with a Polaroid camera. Then we jawed about hot sauce. Jerry said that the hottest hot sauce is Dave’s Insanity Sauce. It was “band from the National Fiery Foods Show for being too hot”! We went online and watched folks (mostly college kids) on YouTube as they stuck a spoon full into their mouths. At first they seem fine but just a little flustered, then it really starts to take a hold of them, their eyes watered up and then a few moments later they are running around waving their hands and pouring water down their mouths. They usually end up puking their guts out. One kid in a college dorm did at least four spoon fulls and we both wondered if he survived! On the bottle there is this warning: “Use this product one drop at a time. Keep away from eyes, children and pets. Not for people with heart or respiratory problems.” Jerry and I had some great laughs watching them suffer!
Went over to Stoney’s for lunch. We had roasted chicken with baked potatoes and gravy. Again, I didn’t have to eat the rest of the day.
Drove the “Gross Polluter” over to water my friend’s garden and called my Sister Shiela. She is happy with her new working situation; she works at a school for disabled autistic kids. Is now supervised by a new teacher who is very understanding and has strict rules for caring for these kids which the old teacher Shiela worked under didn’t. That teacher lost her job because of that and striking one of the children.
Went for my evening walk. Then returned to my reading of “Coming of Age in the Milky Way” and got up to where Edwin Hubble found Cepheid variable stars in what was then called at that time the “Andromeda Nebula”. Hubble proved once and for all that the Andromeda Nebula was in fact full of stars, very far away, and not a new star forming out of nebular dust close by. Cepheid variables are used to judge great distances in astronomy, because of their cycle of brightness corresponds to its absolute magnitude everywhere in the universe. Thus, Hubble in one giant move expanded the known size of space and proving that Andromeda is actually a galaxy like the Milky Way.
Mike from Hermosa called to yap at me. He is still going to the gym for his workouts and is doing well. Then I went for my nightly run up the hill.

Saturday 25- Jimmy called late last night and we yapped about his neighbor who has a bunch of dogs and washes the dog poop through a drainage system that runs through Jimmy’s backyard. Jimmy don’t like that! It gets clogged on his side and he has to clear all the poop and dog hairs out when it clogs. He tried to ask the neighbor politely, but the neighbor got upset. Jimmy blocked up the drain so it wouldn’t come into his backyard and the neighbor cleared it by climbing over the fence, and then calling the city complaining that Jimmy’s backyard was contaminated and the police and city engineers came to pay Jimmy a visit. Jimmy tried to explain what was going on but the officials said it wasn’t their problem. I’m sure glad I don’t have any “next door” neighbors out here!
Did my stretches, ran half a mile, lifted weights, and rode my bike. Really a lot of humidity weighing heavy in the air with the temp up to 105 degrees and little or no wind.
Got up to Albert Einstein and his ideas, which lead to his theory of Relativity that revolutionized Physics, in “Coming of Age in the Milky Way”.

Got ready to go to potluck by cooking cheese and macaroni to bring. Went to pickup my mail and then stopped over at Roger’s to get the movie “300” and to take Ruth with me to potluck and save Roger the trip. Got to potluck and there were 15 or more hungry folks there. I took a lot of pics of everyone. Ate way too much food again (that makes two days in a row) and won’t have to eat for the rest of the day. I had brought Brenda’s computer that I couldn’t fix with me and told her that I don’t have a keyboard that works with it because it’s so old. She found one in the back room! So now I’ll have to lug the computer back home to fix it. Shook hands with everybody and said my good byes.
Went to my friend’s house (the one that I water the garden and make free long distance calls: he said I could) and called Mom and Dad. My friend is coming home this evening and I won’t get to use his phone to make free calls till he leaves again.
Went for my evening walk and then watched “Masters of Science Fiction: The Discarded” about: deformed folks who were sent away from earth on a spaceship. They roamed the solar system looking for a place to live; nobody wanted them. They were in obit around earth when an Ambassador came to say that they would all be welcomed back, and then matters start deteriorating for all aboard the ship after that.
Went for my nightly run and called it a night.

Sunday 26- late last night after a lot of thought (soul searching) I decided to purchase a Zhumell 12 Inch Dobsonian Reflector Telescope and devote more of my time to astronomy. One of the reasons I moved out here to the high desert ten years ago was the clear night skies and do some astronomy. Well things happened differently and I got sidetracked getting really involved with computers and building the house. Presently I am fairly competent with computers, the house is livable, and I’m not getting any younger. I feel that now is the time to invest some money in a larger telescope. The two small refractor telescopes I currently use just don’t do the job and I feel are holding me back. The new telescope will arrive in about two weeks time along with some new lenses that I ordered. I am very excited!
Did my stretches and lifted weights. My right knee is giving me some pain so I’ll not be doing any running for the next few day, but instead I’ll be riding my bike everyday to compensate. Today the sky had dark thundering clouds and we got a little rain from it, but not much. The temp never got over 98 degrees.
Seems like I spent most of the afternoon on the phone talking to friends and family. Mac called to say that he couldn’t get online with CMMConnect.com (my ISP). So I checked his login from my computer and went online: it worked. I told him it might be the lightning over in his area. While I was telling this to him his line went dead. He unaware of the lightning and had to turn off his loud stereo to hear the thunder and said he was going to disconnect the modem from the telephone line (like I taught him to do), which is a good thing if you don’t want to burnout your modem. I guess these are the types of calls I can expect to get by owning my own dialup service.
Ron D. called to say howdy and we jawed for a while. We decided to go to the movies next Tuesday to watch “Invasion”.
My Brother Kevin called and we talked about books and such for around an hour.
Did some more reading of “Coming of Age in the Milky Way”. I’m at the part where they discovered that the universe is expanding by measuring the Red Shifts from far away galaxies, and finding background radiation from the remnants of the Big Bang. The next section of the book is about time.
Went for my evening walk. Then watched “Mystery: The Inspector Lynley Mysteries: The Seed of Cunning”. It’s a rerun I’ve seen before, but I like the gal Barbara (played by Sharon Small).
Did some computer work. Went for a bike ride up the hill instead of my nightly run. Then called it a night.

Monday 27- did my stretches and rode my bike. Very nice today but a little on the muggy side with the temps in the high 90s and few clouds.
Called Mac to check if he got online ok after yesterday’s thunderstorm; he did. He also told me that it really rained hard over in his neck of the woods last night. He only lives two miles from me and I didn’t get any rain at all!
Worked on Brenda’s computer and found it had a few files missing in the system.ini and had trouble booting up. I fixed it by reloading the files and restoring a deleted program that shouldn’t have been. Called her to pick it up but nobody was home.
Cleaned out everything around the old VW bus so that the wreckers can come in and remove it whenever they decide to come by. I used it for storing cement and had to cart off five bags over to the battery room.
Read about Charles Darwin and his voyage on the Beagle to collect specimens and do naturalistic research. He came to the realization that things weren’t quite right with the then contemporary view of creationism. Darwin came up with his on theory of the “Origin of the Species” which he didn’t publish until many years after the voyage for fear that he would be ridiculed by the church; in “Coming of Age in the Milky Way”.
Went for my evening walk. Then watched “300” a move about three hundred Spartans who sacrificed their lives defending a pass leading to Sparta from a horde of conquering Persians and fought to their deaths. I thought it very good movie.
Went for a nightly bike ride. Mike called and we chatted about when we went to college back in the 80s. After we reminisced for a while I told him I needed to go and write by blog early so I’d be ready for the Lunar Eclipse at 2:52am this morning; the skies are clear. I will write about the Eclipse in tomorrow’s post.

Tuesday 28- I stayed up really late last Monday night to see the Lunar Eclipse that started happening around 2am, went to totality at 2:52 and stayed a blood red till 4:22. As it began to darken it seemed to turn the color turquoise, which was then followed by the red. Just before it hit totality the wind came up, I could hear my neighbor’s horse whinny and dogs barking, where there was silence before. Sent chills up and down my spine. For the next 90 minutes the Moon looked like a red corpuscle hanging in the sky and the stars and the constellations came out that were previously hidden from its glare. I stayed out there till 5am with my telescope wondering what our ancient hunter-gatherer ancestors thought when the Moon was “swallowed up”. Would the elders send someone out to sit and watch the skies every night to warn the tribe of this phenomenon? Would this then be the beginnings of Astronomy?
Did my stretches; thought I’d take a break from all them exercises. Then I started writing my column for the newspaper.
Ron D. came by to pick me up, and we were off to the movies. I haven’t been to a theater in a mighty long while. We went to see “Invasion” a remake (21 Century style) of the “Body Snatchers” starring Nicole Kidman and…(well who cares who else; she has a mighty fine bod!). It was the last showing for this movie in Yucca Valley and we were the only ones watching, all the rest of the seats were empty. It was dang suspenseful and quick paced!
Got home after dark because we stopped off at Stater Brothers to get supplies: so I missed my evening walk (and my nightly run), but that’s ok because I need to give my legs a rest. Just used what was left of the night to finish my column and then sent it to the newspaper.

Wednesday 29- did my stretches and ran a mile. My right knee feels just fine now after a few days off. I think it’s my hamstring that got unstrung that was giving me the problem. All I can say about today’s weather is three words: hot, muggy, and miserable.
Jerry the wreaker came by with a big forklift and picked up that old VW van from my front yard. I put on my gloves to go out to help but he maneuvered it with such skill, like the fork lift was an extension of his body, lifting it up over my fence and placed it on his long trailer truck with such little effort that I wished I had got my camera and took some pics instead of my gloves. He saw my old diesel generator that has been sitting in my yard for two years and offered me $200 for it, and I accepted. He will be back sometime to pick it up.
Called T-Mobil rebate center and asked why I was denied (got the denial letter from them yesterday instead of a check). The rep looked it up and told me that it looked ok to him and would resubmit it. He told me that there must have been a “Glitch” in the system. “What if the glitch happens again?” I asked. He said there was nothing his company could do! Well I told him that there sure is something I can do, like call the Better Business Bureau and take them to court. I went online and did a search on T-Mobil rebate complaints and found many. It’s not about the money to me: it’s about being cheated!
Read about the discoveries of X-rays, the Herzsprung-Russell chart, and the beginnings of nuclear physics in “Coming of Age in the Milky Way”.
Went for my evening walk. Jimmy called up to ask how to get his fishing trip pictures off a CD from WalMart where he got them developed. I walked him through it and we got them in a folder on his desktop. He said he would email me a few pics to post on my blog and take to his Dad (Stoney).
Watched “Bones” on Fox. It was a rerun but I like the show. About: Booth shoots a clown, and Dr. Brennan tries to find out why a young college student was found inside a crocodile.
Then I went for my nightly ride on my bike. Did some computer work and called it a night.

Thursday 30- did my stretches and lifted weights. All I can say about today’s weather is four words: hot, muggy, cloudy, and miserable.
My patio is a mess with gobs of cat hair, dust, dead plants, spider webs, and other unidentifiable debris. So I decided to clean the whole mess up. Was interrupted a few times from this toil with calls from a few folks.
Stoney drove by with Lee and Seimi on their way to pickup a dishwasher from Lee’s rental and invited me over for lunch. We had meatloaf, mashed potatoes and gravy. Then I helped him unload the dishwasher from his van. Jerry the wreaker was near by loading some more junk cars onto his flatbed and we were jawing for a bit when his helper put a leg through a windshield and got cut up pretty bad. I got the first aid kit and plugged up the bleeding and wrapped a bandage around it.
Got back home and read about how physicist figured out how the stars are able to make heaver elements from fusion in their cores and by going nova and super nova, in “Coming of Age in the Milky Way”.
Went for my evening walk. Then I watched “CSI” on KCAL. It was one I missed when I went to Tucson. About: A guy who accidentally kills his wife and an old lady in the apartment across the way. And the Miniature Killer strikes again at a chicken processing plant, where they find a body floating in a tub of water used to kill chickens.
Went for my nightly bike ride (I think I’ll stick to the bike for now, instead of running at night).
Jimmy finally sent the pics of his fishing trip! I downloaded them and put them on my thumb drive to take over to Stoney’s computer. Updated the website coppermountainmesa.com and sent out the newsletter.
I forgot to mention that last Monday when I was watching the Lunar Eclipse that around 4:30am I saw the Zodiacal Lights to the east. It looked like the faint glow from the Sun coming up (Sunrise was at 6:16am that morning); in fact it is the Sun’s light reflecting off interplanetary dust particles that orbit in the Ecliptic and is best seen at this time of year. The glow extended about two hands high from the eastern horizon. I’ve never seen the Zodiacal Lights before. Cool!

Friday 31- Stoney is suppose to come by early to pick me up so I can help him move his tractor from Lee’s house to his so he can repair a blown head gasket on it; so I only did my stretches. Stoney called to say he is not feeling well because of the humidity and that we’ll move it another day.
All I can say about the weather is five words: hot, muggy, cloudy, miserable, and dreary.
Went over to Ron D. house to help him setup his cell phone. Then he asked me about setting up an Airport card on his iMac G4. We searched around online and found some reasonably priced cards and found instructions on how to install them. Seimi came by carrying a bag of frozen meat that “The Bug Lady” purchased and left outside to be “freed”, I guess. And Seimi rescued it to give to Ron before it went bad.
Dropped on over to Stoney’s to see how he was doing and ate some vanilla ice cream. It’s just this dang heat that’s getting him down.
Went for my evening walk. Then read about the history behind Quantum physics and the particles that make up matter, in “Coming of Age in the Milky Way”.
Watched “Numbers” a rerun I’d seen before; about a private jet that crashes in the hills after takeoff.
Went for my nightly bike ride. Did some computer work. And now I am on my way outside till 5am in the morning to try and catch the Aurigid Meteor Shower that peaks 4:36 a.m. I’ll write about the shower if it happens in tomorrow’s post. Right now it doesn’t look too promising because there are clouds and the Moon is at a waning Gibbous that may washout the night sky. We shall see!