Happy New Year! 2009 - did my stretches, ran a mile, rode my bike, and lifted weights.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 34 to 63, calms winds, humidity around 39 percent, clear skies. According to the National Weather Service “Friday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 63. Calm wind becoming south between 6 and 9 mph. Friday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 39. Southwest wind around 8 mph becoming northwest.”
I ate my oatmeal while I was online reading my email like I do every morning. Then I gathered up all the stuff I needed to patch the roof of the patio/shop and climbed up to spend an hour or so spreading Henrys roofing compound on the seams that were leaking and on me.
Went for my evening walk with the camera and took a few pics. When I got back I settled down to read the books I got at the library last week. “Genetics Demystified” second chapter told about the parts inside the cell and cell division. “Astronomy Café” has questions with answers the author accumulated from his website that readers have sent in over the years, and I read a bunch of them. I read two chapters in “Websites for Dummies” hoping to catch a few things I may not of known. And I started to read (again) “365 Starry Nights” by Chet Raymo, that will take a whole year to read.
Did my stretches and went for my nightly run. It was such a wonderful night and the Moon was setting that I took out my binoculars and watched it set behind the mountains to the west. Then I started looking for the Andromeda Galaxy when the phone in the house rang. I ran inside, grabbed the phone, and it was Seimi wanting to know where the Andromeda Galaxy was! I got back outside with the phone, found the pointer stars I use, and once my night vision came back, I was able to find it myself and direct him to where it was. I also asked him to look at the sword in the constellation Orion; he liked that!
Practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.
Friday 02 - did my stretches and ran two miles.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 39 to 63, winds SSW at 3 to 13 MPH, humidity around 36 percent, clear skies. According to the National Weather Service “Saturday: Partly sunny, with a high near 54. Northwest wind between 10 and 16 mph, with gusts as high as 21 mph. Saturday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 35. North wind between 10 and 17 mph, with gusts as high as 22 mph.”
I went up on the roof to try and fix my UHF antenna that has a loose connection. And then spent some time trying to direct it to the right spot where the transmitter is. Well I got the reception a little better on the TV. I think we’re one of the few areas in the country that isn’t going to get DTV reception and I hope I can still get parts for the UHF antenna.
Raymond and his brother Orville came by towing the trailer he just bought from Joel. He was interested in my “Faithful Truck” (the one with the blown transmission) the last time he was here. Well he decided to buy it and I sold it to him. He will be by Sunday to pick it up. He also asked if I’d come over to checkout is computer that doesn’t want to go online. So we drove over to his house and had a look-see. It’s an old Pentium II running Win98. I did a few things like checking the telephone cord, reseating the modem, and reinstalling the drivers to see if I could get it to connect but it kept coming up saying there wasn’t a dial tone. I think the modem is shot and told him to bring it by sometime and I’ll see if I can find a spare modem lying around.
Got back home and went on my evening walk. My brother Kevin called to yak a spell while I fixed and ate dinner. Then I went online to do a little webwork. When I was done with that I did a little reading in “Websites for Dummies” and the “Astronomy Café”.
Went outside with my binoculars to watch the Moon set and then did my stretches, practiced guitar, wrote to my journal, and posted it to the web. While I was online I ordered two solar charge controllers: one a 10amp and the other a 20amp, and called it a night.
Saturday 03 - did my stretches. Joel came by with my mail, a blueberry muffin, and the last installment on the computer I sold him. I ate the muffin later in the day. It was so tasty that I could of eaten the paper it was cooked in.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 35 to 53, winds NNW at 8 to 14 MPH, humidity around 58 percent, Stratus clouds coming in around noon time and staying well into the night. According to the National Weather Service “Sunday: Sunny, with a high near 48. North northwest wind between 13 and 17 mph, with gusts as high as 24 mph. Sunday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 29. Northwest wind between 9 and 11 mph.”
Oops, late again on getting out the Copper Mountain Mesa Website and the Newsletter, so I got cracking on that right away.
Stoney came by wanting to know if I wanted to go with him to town. I needed to buy some paint so I said okay. We stopped off at Rite Aid to get him some pills, and then on to Bar Lumber in Twentynine where we both bought some Henrys roofing paste and I got my paint. On our way back we dropped by Burger King for lunch, we had hamburgers and sat and jawed for a time.
When I got back home I started getting my “Faithful Truck” ready for tomorrow when I sign the pink slip over to Raymond and he’ll tow it away. I had to get it off the trailer jacks that had it suspended above the ground, inflate a tire and remove any personal articles of mine. Now it’s already for pick up.
With that out of the way I made a few calls to Family to yap at them. It was too cold and windy for an evening walk so I did some reading.
I watched this dog of a movie called “Wing Commander” (1999) that was a mix between two of my favorites: “Dos Boot” (1981) and “Battlestar Galactica” the old 70s TV series. If you seen Wing Commander you’d know what I mean. The actor who played the captain in Das Boot was even in the film.
Did my stretches and lifted weights. Too cold and windy for my nightly run. Practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.
Sunday 04 - did my stretches.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 29 to 50, winds NNW at 8 to 10 MPH, humidity around 40 percent, clear skies. According to the National Weather Service “Monday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 51. West northwest wind between 5 and 8 mph becoming calm. Monday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 35. West southwest wind between 5 and 7 mph.”
Oops again, forgot to update the calendar to January on the Copper Mountain Mesa Website, so I got cracking on that right away and got it done.
Raymond and Orville came by to get my “Faithful Truck” and tow it to their house and drop off his computer for me to fix. We pushed it out to the road, hooked chains to it, and Ray towed it off. I said goodbye to my little truck that really didn’t take me anywhere and gave me a lot of problems. I hope they have better luck with it than I did.
Kula called on her way to Cupertino Ca. to pick up her who lives in Long Island on the east coast and is out here visiting family and friends. She will be staying with Kula for a few days until she has to fly back home.
I drove the Gross Polluter, my $250 truck that’s taken me to Tucson twice, over to Stoney’s. Stoney was watching a western called “Come a Horseman” (1978) starring James Caan and Jane Fonda. I don’t care for Jane, but I did watch a little bit of it and what I saw looked like a good movie. I took a nice hot shower while I was there. It’s been fairly cold these last few days and I’ve been chilled to the bone and the hot shower felt mighty good.
Went for my evening walk, then read a bit, and talked to my Brother Kevin. Watched “60 Minutes” that had an interesting story on how scientists can read what you’re thinking by using an MRI scan. “24: Redemption” came on Fox so I watched Jack save a bunch of orphans from being forced to join an army of thugs that want to overthrow a small Africa nation.
I’ve been trying to train Fat Cat to play without biting or scratching me. I came to the realization that you can’t use a “guilt trip” on a cat; a dog, yes, but a cat just doesn’t care and will turn it right around to use it on you.
Did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web. Download a astronomy lecture on molecules in space that I’ll listen to on tomorrows evening walk and called it a night.
Monday 05 - did my stretches, ran two miles, rode my bike, and lifted weights.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 30 to 50, winds NW/SW at 4 to 8 MPH, humidity around 33 percent, clear skies. According to the National Weather Service “Tuesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 55. North northwest wind between 7 and 9 mph. Tuesday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 37. Calm wind becoming west northwest around 5 mph.”
Did a few things around the house, called Jimmy to touch base, then went over to Stoney’s to charge a battery I had sitting around. The battery in the truck is always going dead when I go to start it in the morning, possibly the cold weather, and I want to see if this other battery will hold a charge. When I got there we put the battery on a charger and set it for twelve hours. Stoney wanted his garage door pulled up a notch so it wouldn’t keep hitting him in the head. So we both got down to working on it, me pulling the spring down while he slipped the hook into the chain. Now the door rises higher. I’m always complaining to him that he watches way too much TV, so he decided to get rid of the satellite and switch to regular TV. He said he was tired of having 200 channels with nothing but reruns.
I went for my evening walk without the astronomy lecture that I downloaded last night because the software that loads it onto the iPod said it was out of date, dang! And I didn’t have the time to download the update before it got dark. I’ll figure it out tonight.
Did a bunch of reading the rest of the night. The book on DNA is fascinating with all the little processes that go on in a cell to replicate into daughter cells. It just amazes me that these processes are going on in my body right now. One fact I learned that the DNA is bundled up so tightly on a protein core that if you unwound it would stretch out to six feet! If you could do that with every cell in your body the DNA would go to the Sun and back to Earth twenty or more times, yikes!
Did my stretches, lifted weights, and went for my nightly run at 34 degrees outside. Practiced my Guitar, wrote my column for the newspaper and sent it in, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.
Tuesday 06 - did my stretches and ran two miles.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 34 to 61, winds are calm, humidity around 34 percent, clear skies. According to the National Weather Service “Wednesday: Sunny, with a high near 61. Northwest wind around 5 mph becoming calm. Wednesday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 40. Calm wind.”
Did a few chores around the house, fired up the MacBook and reloaded the software on the iPod so I could listen to my lectures.
Went over to Stoney’s. I checked the charge on the battery I took over yesterday and it stayed at 12.56 Volts after it was off the charger for a while, that’s good! We moved and screwed in the TV antenna that had fallen. And while I was up on his roof I tarred where it was leaking onto his refrigerator during the last snowstorm. With all that done we had chicken alfredo that Stoney made from a box he got at WalMart. Roger Smith came by to help us eat it and we sat around to jaw for a while.
Went for my evening walk and listened to an astronomy lecture on Molecules in Space. It was about how molecules bind together in deep space usually around bits of dust like silicon that was blasted from novas or supernovas, or found in giant molecular clouds. They talked about detecting carbon monoxide by radio telescopes and how it is used to determine how much molecular hydrogen (h2) is present.
Did some reading and then watched “NCIS” on CBS about a guard that was stabbed to death at a women’s prison and McGee is taken hostage by the inmates. Read some more from the genetics book about base pairs, sequencing, genome mapping, and the human genome. I think I understood less than a third of it!
Did my stretches and lifted weights, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.
Wednesday 07 - did my stretches, ran a mile, rode my bike, and lifted weights. Just a beautiful day outside!
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 40 to 66, winds are calm, humidity around 30 percent, clear skies. According to the National Weather Service “Wednesday: Sunny, with a high near 61. Northwest wind around 5 mph becoming calm. Wednesday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 40. Calm wind.”
I decided to stay home today to get some work done. I watered my plants while I worked on the truck putting the new battery in. Did some file updates on the IBM laptop and uninstalled Office 2007 so that I can use it on the HP Mini Note. I’ve been doing everything on the HP Mini Note recently. The screen size at 10.2” is just right for surfing (webpages render just fine), the processor is fast enough to do what I need to get done, and because of the small form factor I can take it anywhere. It has become my main computer.
Went for my evening walk listening to the astronomy lecture on “Molecules in Space” again to get a better understanding of the process involved.
Read a chapter on mutations in the Genetics book , and a little astronomy too.
Joel came by with some lemon chicken that he cooked up at home. It was mighty good. Then I did some webwork for the rest of the night.
Did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal. Posted it to the web, and called it a night.
Thursday 08 - did my stretches and ran a mile. Another beautiful day outside!
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 40 to 66, winds are calm but picked up later in the evening, humidity around 34 percent, clear skies. According to the National Weather Service “Friday: Sunny, with a high near 58. North northwest wind between 15 and 20 mph, with gusts as high as 30 mph. Friday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 36. North northwest wind between 9 and 13 mph.”
I didn’t do much of anything today, just kind of messed around on the computers and setting up the camper for electric power, when I wasn’t outside enjoying the warmth of the Sun. I uninstalled Office 2007 on my old IBM laptop and installed it on the HP Mini Note.
Went for my evening walk re-listening to the astronomy lecture on “Molecules in Space”. In the very early universe free protons flew around at very high energies and temperatures hitting each other and sometimes bonding to form molecular hydrogen (two protons: H2) which would cool down. Once enough molecular hydrogen was created and cooling down the universe to several thousand degrees, the first stars, hundred times larger than the Sun, could form. These massive stars had a lifespan of a million years or so until they went supernova creating heavier elements and cooling down the universe to a point where stars wouldn’t ever be that massive again. At least that’s how I understood it.
Watched the nightly news to see how bad the economy is getting; don’t look none too good! Even WalMart isn’t doing too well, and Macys is shutting down underperforming stores.
Did some reading on the “Websites for Dummies”. Unfortunately you need to have Adobe Dreamweaver ($380) and Photoshop Elements ($140) to use the book. You can download them for a thirty day trial but it would take me that long to download on dialup, and I have to return the books to the library on the 13th of this month! I still read it to get a feeling for the programs and to glean any new info I could.
Called my friend Mike from Hermosa who is sending me his old DVDR so that I can use it to backup my data and also watch movies, too. He has fallen behind on his exercise and I gave him a pep talk trying to inspire him to go to the gym.
Did my stretches and lifted weights, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night
Friday 09 - did my stretches, ran a mile, rode my bike, and lifted weights. Windy outside!
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 40 to 59, NW winds at 9-15, humidity around 30 percent, clear skies. According to the National Weather Service “Saturday: Sunny, with a high near 58. Northwest wind between 9 and 13 mph, with gusts as high as 18 mph. Saturday Night: Clear, with a low around 37. Northwest wind between 8 and 11 mph.”
I got my exercises in just under the wire before the wind started blowing harder. So I stayed inside to work on a computer that I’m getting ready to send to my sister Shiela.
Joe from FEDEX delivered the DVD drive that Mike from Hermosa sent me. I hooked it up and it worked just fine. Now I’ll be able to burn backups to DVDs!
Last night I forgot to write about the earthquake that rattled San Bernardino and our area. Joel called me up a little after 8pm to ask if I felt it, I didn’t. Out here we are so use to bombings at the Marine Base that we ignore them, so I probably did the same for the quake. I turned on the TV and they said it was a 4.9 quake about ten miles deep just outside the city of San Bernardino. One lady caller said that she was watching the TV when it hit and the TV set rolled from one side of her room to the other. Joel said that the quake woke him up. Andrew sent me the picture above during the earthquake where he was knock over onto his couch.$nbsp Stoney called asking me about a computer problem and I thought it be better if I just went to his house and show him how to do it and take a shower while I’m there. He was baking three pumpkin pies when I arrived. He invited me over Sunday for a steak dinner. The wind was still blowing hard so I didn’t go on my evening walk.
Read a chapter in the Genetics book about cancer; not a very nice subject to study or think about, so I won’t write about it here.
Did my stretches and then watched “NUMB3RS” on CBS about a prison escape and one of the escapees was one Don put there a year ago after the guy and his girlfriend went on a killing spree. Don had to shoot to death the guy’s girlfriend when she came at Don and his fellow FBI agents in a car filled with explosives. So the escapee is after Don for revenge.
Practiced my guitar. Updated the Copper Mountain Mesa Website and sent out the Newsletter. Then I wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.
Saturday 10 - did my stretches.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 37 to 58, NW winds at 7-14, humidity around 27 percent, clear skies. According to the National Weather Service “Sunday: Sunny, with a high near 66. North northwest wind between 10 and 18 mph, with gusts as high as 28 mph. Sunday Night: Clear, with a low around 40. North northwest wind around 10 mph.”
Ron Dehart called to ask if I wanted to go see the movie “Grand Torino” and I said yes! We went to Yucca Valley to see it and as we drove up the parking lot was almost filled and there was a line of folks waiting to get their tickets.
The movie is about a tough minded, prejudice, old Korean War Veteran who is alienated from his family, and sees his neighborhood being taken over by Asians (Hmong mountain people). Even though there are a lot of bigoted remarks, more than any film I’ve ever seen, they were done in such a way that made you laugh and helped you understand where Kowalski (Eastwood’s character) was coming from. All through the film you’re waiting for Eastwood to take care of the bad guys by blowing them away Dirty Harry style. Kowalski finds that he has more in common with the Hmong than his own people. The acting was good and easy to overlook the amateurish of some of the young actors. The microphone boom was in a few scenes. But the film flowed, character development was good, and had me drawn in from the beginning. It made me laugh and my eyes tear up towards the end. This is a must see movie if you leave your political correctness and sensitivities at home where they belong.
We then went to the Sizzler for their Steak and Salad special at $9.99 and both of us walked out a little heavier. We stopped off at WalMart to pick up a printer for a friend and were on our way home.
I got home after dark, fed Fat Cat, read my mail, and then watched “Apocalypto” (2006). A great movie that I’d seen before but there was something about it that I feel relates to these hard times we live in, so I watched it again. And yes it’s all there; a society that has its self to the edge of extinction by greed, the ruining of their environment for the production of lime plaster to cover their temples, and rulers and the elite who create and use religion to stay in power which doesn’t take into consideration the needs or cares of the greater populace.
I did my stretches and lifted weights, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.
Sunday 11 - did my stretches and ran two miles.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 39 to 64, NW winds at 7-10, humidity around 23 percent, clear skies. According to the National Weather Service “Monday: Sunny, with a high near 66. North northwest wind between 11 and 18 mph, with gusts as high as 28 mph. Monday Night: Clear, with a low around 38. North northwest wind between 7 and 9 mph.”
I mostly called Friends and Family throughout the day to touch base and say howdy. Then I went over to Stoney’s for a steak dinner with him and Roger Smith. We had steak with mash potatoes and gravy, an apple salad that Roger brought over, and the pumpkin pie that Stoney baked a few days ago. We sat around and jawed for a while. Roger and I got in a heated discussion about the advancement of computer technology. I had lots of fun!
Got home to feed Fat Cat and watched “24” on Fox, all two hours of it! Is Jack going to save the world again? Or will he be indicted for the way he interrogates prisoners? We’ll find out tomorrow.
Did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.
Monday 12 - did my stretches, ran a mile, rode my bike, and lifted weights.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 38 to 66, NW winds at 4-10, humidity around 29 percent, clear skies. According to the National Weather Service “Tuesday: Sunny, with a high near 66. North northwest wind between 10 and 14 mph, with gusts as high as 21 mph. Tuesday Night: Clear, with a low around 41. Northwest wind between 9 and 11 mph.”
I started gathering information for a new business website that I am designing for R. Miller. He sent me a bunch of docs to read and incorporate into his site, and I answered some questions he had via email.
Hopi came by for a short visit and paid for her dialup.
I dropped by Stoney’s to say hi. He was watching Judge Judy, yuck! I think he will be getting satellite again in the near future.
Went for my evening walk as the wind started picking up. Still it was a beautiful day!
I digitized a few pictures of Iron Eyes Cody for Joel that he needs to send to a film production company in Canada. I put them on a thumb drive and Joel came to pick it up as I was outside watching the Sunset.
I watched “24” on Fox; another two hours of Jack saving the world. Now he has left the FBI who he was helping, and infiltrated the bad guys who are trying to hold the USA hostage with a device that breaks through the nation’s firewall and can take over control of airports, dams, and electrical power lines.
I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, and then wrote my column for the newspaper and sent it in. Wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.
Tuesday 13 - did my stretches.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 41 to 66, NW winds at 4-8, humidity around 29 percent, clear skies. According to the National Weather Service “Wednesday: Sunny, with a high near 68. North northwest wind between 10 and 16 mph, with gusts as high as 22 mph. Wednesday Night: Clear, with a low around 45. North northwest wind around 9 mph.”
I had to go to the post office in Joshua Tree so I decided to do all my shopping while I was there. My first stop was at the post office to pick up my solar controllers, I ordered two of them from Amazon.com.
Then I went to get gas at the Chevron station by HWY247 because all the other stations had long lines. They have a Subway sandwich shop with a foot long sandwich for $5 and I couldn’t pass that up. I had them load it down with everything they had! Then I went to the bank to make a deposit and headed over to WalMart to check if their automotive department sells and installs shocks, they do not. So, I bought a few items like cat food and vitamins that I needed. I walked on over to Stater Bros. market and tipped the guitar players outside. Usually there is only one, but now there are two of them competing for a place to setup and play and our change.
Everything was going great until I was trying to get pass an elderly woman in one of the aisles. She had her cart in the middle right next to a floor display rack. She was reading something from the shelf and I tried to get her attention. “Pardon me but could you move your basket so I can get by” I said. She paid no attention to me. She had only a few items in the basket but no personal belongings like a purse. I was in the process of moving her cart myself, when she grabbed it out of my hands and said, “How dare you touch my basket”. I told her politely that I had to move it so I could pass. “Well if you want to pass just go around”, she yelled. Well I pushed it out of my way while she said a few more mean words in my direction as I moved past her with my cart. I was getting upset and I looked her in the eye and I used the “B” word, it just slipped out, I am usually a very polite person. I felt bad afterwards using the “B” word at her, but if anyone deserved it, it was she. I think she was laying in wait for someone like me to catch in the trap she had set.
Stopped off at the JT Health Food Store, and they had my yeast! Said hi to Nancy who works the counter, and I was gladly on my way back home where I’ll be safe from craggy little old ladies!
Stopped off at Stoney’s to pick up some groceries he had for me from the USDA food distribution. He was tired so I didn’t stay long. He and Roger went to town earlier in the day to get parts for Roger’s VW.
I connected the solar controller to my panels and batteries, and all worked well. Then I went for my evening walk, made a few calls, and then watched “NCIS” on CBS about a woman who accuses Ducky of war crimes that happened many decades ago. Then I did some webwork until late into the night. I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.
Wednesday 14 - did my stretches.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 44 to 66, NNW winds at 3-8, humidity around 26 percent, clear skies. According to the National Weather Service “Thursday: Sunny, with a high near 69. North northwest wind between 6 and 9 mph. Thursday Night: Clear, with a low around 42. North northwest wind between 5 and 9 mph.”
I was about to go on my run when Mac came by for a visit. We were out front by the street yakking when a lady, Candy, drove up to tell us about a headless animal that was off to the side of the road a mile from us. Candy thought it might be a longhorn sheep that resides in the mountains in the National Park. We followed her to where it lay and sure enough, its head was gone, yikes! Someone had cut the head off and just dumped it there. When I got back home I called the sheriff‘s office and told the dispatcher all about it. She said they would send somebody out to check it out. I can’t think of what kind of person who could do such a hideous deed.
After all that excitement, I didn’t have time to go for my run, dang! I went inside to get some work done on the computer. I had a website to build and research to do. I got a call from Tom, a friend of George, who wants to get on my dialup service. I told him I’d get right to it and set him up.
Went over to Stoney’s to take another hot shower and yak at him. We were outside when Stoney saw the Animal Control vehicle drive by going in the opposite direction to where the dead animal was. I quickly jumped into the Gross Polluter, caught up with the truck, and showed the woman officer where it was. Officer Mary Fitzgerald, a good-looking blond, got out of the truck to approach me and the body. Mary said that it was a pigmy goat and not a longhorn sheep. I helped her pick it up and bag it, and then she was on her way.
I went back to Stoney’s, took my shower, and went back home to go on my evening walk.
The rest of the night I did a HTML online class that I’ve been putting off for a while and finished one lesson. I really need to review as much as I can to become current and remember things that I’ve forgotten about web design.
I did my stretches but I am going to lay off the weights for a while until a pain I have been having in my hand goes away. I was practicing guitar when Andrew called and we jawed for 108 minutes (per my phone), that’s a lot more talking than I’m used to. It was getting late, we said our goodbyes, and I wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.
Thursday 15 - did my stretches and ran two miles.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 42 to 66, NNW winds at 3-8, humidity around 27 percent, clear skies. According to the National Weather Service “Friday: Sunny, with a high near 69. North northwest wind between 7 and 9 mph. Friday Night: Clear, with a low around 43. Northwest wind around 8 mph.”
I did some chores around the house. Joel called having problems sending photos to that Canadian production company so I went over to help. After I uploaded his pics, I cruised by Lee and Marcie’s to show them how to setup and get pictures off their new camera. While I was there, I ate a bunch of munchies and Marcie cut me a big piece of pumpkin pie, yum! I was just stepping out the door when I noticed on the TV that a jet had crashed in the Hudson River in NYC and all the passengers survived! I watched the news later when I got home and they said that it was the experience and luck of the pilot and flight crew that everyone made it out safely.
I went for my evening walk and listened to the astronomy lecture again about molecules in space. Then I read some astronomy and a little in the genetics book until “CSI” on CBS came on. It was the last show that Grissom will be at CSI and I didn’t want to miss that! And it ended just as I wanted with Grissom down in the rain forest of Costa Rica where there are lots of bugs. He was walking with a GPS in hand, finding a hut where Sara was outside taking a picture of a monkey: very nice and touching ending. I know it is just a show, I watched it from its beginnings, and had a lot of time invested in it to see what would happen with Grissom and Sara. Now that I know, I can move onto other things besides watching CSI on Thursday nights.
I did my stretches and went for my not too nightly run. Practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.
Friday 16 - did my stretches and ran a mile.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 43 to 65, calm winds a, humidity around 30 percent, clear skies. According to the National Weather Service “Saturday: Sunny, with a high near 67. North northwest wind between 9 and 11 mph. Saturday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 42. Northwest wind around 7 mph.”
Messed around the house some putting a new shelve in the bedroom. Then I got to working on my antenna that has been acting up. I had a longer poll to put it on and had to extend the wiring up the mast to accommodate the longer poll. Most of the plastic on the cheap Radio Shack antenna had disintegrated and falling off, I had to jury rig that up so the dang thing would stay together. About that time, Ray shows up wanting me to do a search online for an auto part for a transmission. I said that if he helped me with the antenna that I could get it done and have time to do the search. Well we got it done in no time at all and I was able to find a few part houses online that he could call.
I went for my evening walk and then chatted with a few friends and watched the news that was mostly about that pilot who brought his plane down in the Hudson River. The guy is definitely a hero in my book. I continued watching TV when the news was over because KNBC TV was having their 60th anniversary and showed old clips of the past 60 years on TV that brought back old memories to me being I grew up in Southern California where they broadcast. Then I watched “NUMB3RS” on CBS about a bunch of bad guys who hijacked a tour bus and held the tourist for ransom.
I sis my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.
Saturday 17 - did my stretches. I kind of feel as if I ran out of energy, so I am going to take a day or more off and take it easy.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 42 to 64, calm winds, humidity around 34 percent, clear skies. According to the National Weather Service “Sunday: Sunny, with a high near 66. North northwest wind between 6 and 10 mph. Sunday Night: Clear, with a low around 42. Northwest wind around 9 mph.”
I just puttered around the house doing this, that, and other little things that add up after awhile to getting things done.
Updated the Copper Mountain Mesa Website and sent out the Newsletter.
I Talked to Family and Friends, too. Went for my evening walk and read a chapter in the genetics book.
I watched a movie called “The Pacifier” (2005) starring Vin Diesel as a Navy Seal who is assigned to guard a family with five kids while their mother is away helping to retrieve a key in a Swiss bank to her deceased scientist husband’s secret vault that’s hidden somewhere in the family’s home. I thought it was a funny and entertaining movie!
I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night after talking to Andrew for 58 minutes.
Sunday 18 - did my stretches.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 42 to 66, calm winds, humidity around 34 percent, clear skies. According to the National Weather Service “M.L.King Day: Sunny, with a high near 67. North northwest wind between 3 and 7 mph. Monday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 41. West southwest wind at 8 mph becoming north northwest.”
Orville, who is in his 80s, called wanting me to help him setup his new cell phone. I told him to come on over and I would do it for him. It took me over half an hour to get the dang thing setup right. Other than that, I didn’t do much of anything except call Family and Friends and go for an evening walk.
I went on over to Stoney’s for dinner. We had spaghetti with garlic bread and pumpkin pie, yum! We sat around yakking and watching “I Love Lucy” on Fox. I really think he’ll be getting Satellite TV again soon once he gets tired of “over the air broadcasts”.
I got back home and fed Fat Cat. I’ve been feeding him some canned beef that I got from the USDA Food Distribution, which he really enjoys eating and is all over me when I dish it out for him. I guess it’s better than the kangaroo rats that he catches.
I’m still feeling drained and tired for some reason and didn’t feel like reading, so I just mindlessly surfed the TV going from channel to channel without coming across anything to watch. I guess I’m in a little rut that I’ll have to climb out of and soon! Tomorrow I will run two miles and see if that works.
I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and will try to write my column for the newspaper before I call it a night.
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day- did my stretches and ran two miles. I feel better today!
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 43 to 67, calm winds, humidity around 36 percent, high (cirrus) clouds here and there. According to the National Weather Service “Tuesday: Partly sunny, with a high near 69. North northeast wind between 5 and 7 mph. Tuesday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 48. Light and variable wind.”
I wrote my column for the newspaper last night before I went to bed, so that’s out of the way. I got to work on a number of items I need to get done. I started off by watering all the plants. I got Ray’s computer broke down to where I can start work on it.
Answered an email from someone who is doing research on Harbor Cove Apartments where I used to work. Here is my reply: ”Hi Sammy
It was Goody Lyons and Guthrey who had the land lease at King Harbor
and built Harbor Cove, I believe. They had an argument, Goody ended
up with Harbor Cove and Guthrey got the King Harbor Marina. There was
a lifeguard station there when I used to surf the "Breakwater" in the early 60s. When I got out of the Army in 1969 I went down to surf and there was this Apartment building in front of the lifeguard station that they eventually tore down for the parking lot.
The 70s, Harbor Cove was very wild, lots of young people and lots of parties. Apartments had fake fireplaces.
My friend who had lived there for many years told me that they had recently changed the name Harbor Cove to something else.” I think I could write a book about that place!
Took my electric guitar apart to replace the 9volt battery but found that it didn’t have a 9volt battery to replace like my old Fender Mustang, dang! I thought that might have been the problem of why it was cutting out. I did find a loose wire and soldered it back on the post of the jack hole. I plugged it into my Pig Nose Amp but it was still cutting out. The problem was the 12volt adapter and I fixed that and was able to blast away on the guitar, probably doing damage to my and the cats ears. Then I went for my evening walk.
I went over to Stoney’s to help him finish off that spaghetti, but there still is a little left when we got done. He was in his shop trying to clean it up when I arrived. I helped a little by taking out the trash he accumulated from cleaning and I swept that place down with a broom. The only thing worth watching was the news and that was full of fluff; I think Stoney is getting even closer to getting satellite TV now.
My brother Kevin called to yap for a spell about his day. Then Robert called about the website I’m going to build for him. I walked him through a program that reduces pictures he sends me from 4Meg to 500K so I won’t be spending all my time downloading his pics on dialup; he had sent me about 40Megs of pics so far.
Watched “24” on Fox. Then I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.
Inauguration Day- did my stretches and ran two miles. Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 46 to 68, calm winds, humidity around 39 percent, high clouds. According to the National Weather Service “Wednesday: A 20 percent chance of rain after 10am. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 68. Calm wind becoming southeast between 7 and 10 mph. Wednesday Night: A 30 percent chance of rain, mainly after 10pm. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 47. South southwest wind between 5 and 7 mph.”
I went online to watch the inauguration but it had already taken place, dang, I’ll catch it on the nightly news. I did see that stocks were falling and watched the Dow go down 200 points, yikes! I called up my mutual fund and bought more shares in my S&P 500 fund; I always buy on sell-offs. Then I sat and watched it go down another 100 points! The Dow finally closed -332 points and that is what I bought it at; you get the price of the shares at closing time with a mutual fund. A whole lot of folks lost a whole lot of money along with some having their life savings wiped out in this market and a lot of folks are now unemployed because of it, and that makes me sad. This is starting to look like the beginnings of a depression and not a recession to me. Scary times for investors! Scary times for companies and their workers. Scary times indeed!
Ron Dehart and I went for steak and salad bar at the Sizzler Steak House. Ron was in a happy state of mind and it kind of made me forget the state of our economy. He drove up to my house with the stereo blasting old Motown songs of the early 60s, and we sang to them as we rolled on down the highway. Ron ate more than I did going for the salad bar twice to fill up his plate and I won’t even mention how much dessert he had or the contents of it he had thrown together. When we got back to his house, I installed a new printer on his Mac computer. We sat outside on his porch jawing until it got dark.
I watched the nightly news that was all about the Inauguration and just a brief mention of the stock market sell-off. Seems like they were more captivated with the style of dress that the First Lady was wearing than anything else. Only in America! After today the new President has his work cut out for him, and I wish him all the luck in the world, because we are all in this together now: Black, White, Brown, Yellow, and what other flavors of colors there are. We are now one, and we all have a stake in the welfare of our great nation and the folks who live in it.
Watched “Fringe” on Fox about, gosh it was silly, the killing of two top biologists with a giant germ (about a foot long) of the common cold.
Did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, and called it a night.
Wednesday 21 - did my stretches and ran two miles. It was mostly overcast but it wasn’t cold.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 46 to 67, calm winds, humidity around 36 percent, more high clouds. According to the National Weather Service “Thursday: A 50 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 65. Calm wind becoming west between 4 and 7 mph. Thursday Night: A 40 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 47. West southwest wind around 7 mph.”
I’m going to make this post short because I am tired. I did some work on the Gross Polluter and then puttered around the house some. Andrew called with a web design problem that I hope I helped him out with. Then I went on my evening walk and took my camera but there wasn’t anything I wanted to shoot.
Kula called while she was driving, until she became lost in Pico Riviera.
Got back home and did webwork the rest of the night. I need to look over all the docs and pics that Robert sent me for his website I building for him. Robert also registered a domain name today so I’ll be able to start getting it under construction and testing it when I get it ready.
I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night
Thursday 22 - did my stretches.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 53 to 65, calm winds, humidity around 47 percent, low stratus clouds with a few sprinkles. According to the National Weather Service “Friday: A 20 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 64. Calm wind becoming south southeast between 6 and 9 mph. Friday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers before 10pm. Partly cloudy, with a low around 45. South southwest wind between 6 and 9 mph becoming calm.”
Robert called and we had a nice long chat about his website. He spent some time explaining just what he does and what he wants the website to reflect.
I actually cleaned the interior of the Gross Polluter for the first time! Found this bottle of Turtle Wax that I didn’t know I had and sprayed it on the dusty dashboard and wow it cleaned it up like it was new. I cleaned the floor getting rid of all the trash that has been accumulating for the past two years. Okay, I am a slob!
Went for my evening walk and then over to Stoney’s. We finally polished off that leftover spaghetti from three days ago.
Watched “Bones” on Fox, two hours of it were on tonight. Something gone terribly wrong with the show and it is not the same show that I used to like. So I think I’ll just skip it for now on and do some reading or something else I like. I’ve been spending too much time watching the dang TV anyways. I just hope “Numb3rs” doesn’t change.
Did my stretches and went for a nightly run. The run made me feel better! Practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.
Friday 23 - did my stretches and ran a mile. My hand is feeling better and I think that tomorrow I’ll slowly start lifting weights again.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 45 to 64, calm winds, humidity around 65 percent, low stratus clouds with a few sprinkles here and there. According to the National Weather Service “Saturday: A 20 percent chance of showers. Partly cloudy, with a high near 63. Calm wind becoming south southeast between 5 and 8 mph. Saturday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 42. West southwest wind between 6 and 9 mph becoming calm.”
I worked most of the day on Robert’s website just getting a working template done and uploaded. I have a bunch of tweaks to work out; it loads fine in Firefox but not in Internet Explorer.
I went for my evening walk and took a few pictures on the clouds. It rained last night after I went to bed at 3am and I fell asleep listening to its patter on my shops tin roof. The weather looks like it’s going to be cloudy for a few days.
Read some astronomy and a chapter on viruses in the genetics book. It said that viruses aren’t actually alive, yikes!
Seimi called and we yapped about astronomy for a spell. He wanted to know where the Horse Head Nebula was and I told him it was just below the star Alnitak in Orion’s belt. I then went outside with the binoculars for a while. Venus was really bright in the west and Orion was high overhead, but the clouds kept getting in the way so I went on back inside.
I watched “Numb3rs” on CBS about “Ghost Brides” in China Town. Then I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.
Saturday 24 - did my stretches, ran a mile, and lifted weights.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 42 and pushing 70, calm winds, humidity around 65 percent, not a cloud in the sky. According to the National Weather Service “Sunday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 61. West wind between 7 and 17 mph, with gusts as high as 23 mph. Sunday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 42. West northwest wind between 9 and 13 mph.”
I updated the Copper Mountain Mesa Website and sent out the Newsletter.
I drove on over to Stoney’s to help him replace a Wind Turbine Ventilator that fell off his garage roof. When we finished that, I had to manhandle a 125-pound grinder and its stand out of a storage shack he has behind his house and move it by dolly into the garage. That took the wind out of my sails! I headed back to my home where I needed to get my own chores done.
I watered some of my plants and did a little cleanup of the yard. Seimi came by to show me some wood flooring tile that I was interested in doing my floors with. The tile has kind of lock edge that snaps together and is easy to work with, Seimi said. I’ll go down to Home Depot sometime in the future to check out the prices.
Jimmy, Stoney’s son, called to say that he and his family are coming up for a visit. They’re going to barbecue pork steaks for dinner tomorrow and I am invited, cool!
I went for my evening walk.
Called and yapped with Family and Friends for a few hours or more. Bob Vandenberg called to say he’s coming up next Saturday and bringing a camper he just got that I said he could store on my property. It will be good to see him again. Maybe I can talk him into going to the Sizzler Steak House again.
I spent the rest of the night doing webwork and mindlessly surfing the web. Then I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.
Sunday 25 - did my stretches. Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 40 and 59, winds for the west at 9 to 15 MPH, humidity around 55 percent, few clouds. According to the National Weather Service “Monday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 35. West northwest wind around 11 mph. Tuesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 53. North northwest wind between 13 and 20 mph, with gusts as high as 26 mph.”
Jimmy called up to say that he, his wife Clarice, daughter Angela, and Grandma Mary had arrived at Stoney’s earlier and are setting up targets to practice shooting and sighting in their 22 rifle, and that dinner will be at 5pm. I decided to beat feet over there with my own 22 rifle and a few other weapons and do a little practicing of my own. Jimmy, a 4-H rifle trainer, already had the cardboard target setup in front of a thick metal barrier when I arrived. We would be firing to the northwest where there wouldn’t be any neighbors for miles and we deemed it safe enough. 
Jimmy and I shot at the targets for a while sighting in our rifles. Angela, who never fired a weapon before, finally came out to fire her first shot, and with a little coaching from her dad, hit the target dead on! My old pump 22 rifle was jammed and after much tinkering Jimmy got it working by bumping the slide. My other newer 22 with the scope worked just fine, but the old pump rifle was more accurate and sat firmly in my arms with its wood stock than the plastic newer one.Clarice thought that she was only going to be a bystander but we got her to fire the 22 rifle and she did, and Angela also, shot better than us guys!
We were running low on ammo so I drove back home to pick up more. Jimmy had a 20-gauge shotgun and we all got a chance to fire that. I had my 12-gauge Mossberg, a Beretta 32, and my S&W 38 that I never fired before, and we had a “blast” blowing away metal targets that we place down range. This was all very safe and we all observed the rules of safe shooting. Moreover, I must say that we are all dang fine sharpshooters!
We had an hour before dinner so I went back home to change clothes and feed the Fat Cat. I got back to Stoney’s just before we all sat down for dinner. Roger Smith was there too. We ate pork steaks; rice with vegetables, and for dessert, there was Grandma Mary’s famous pecan pie. After dinner, we sat and jawed well into the night, and I was the last to leave at a little after 9pm. It’s nice to have great friends like these and makes me feel kind of warm inside! Got home to feed Fat Cat again, who was waiting at the gate when I arrived, seems like he is always hungry. Did my stretches, practiced my guitar and broke another string, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night. What a wonderful day!
Monday 26 - very windy today so I only did my stretches and lifted weights.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 35 and 53, winds for the west at 12 to 20 MPH, humidity around 47 percent, altocumulus clouds here and there. According to the National Weather Service “Tuesday: Sunny, with a high near 52. North northwest wind between 13 and 18 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph. Tuesday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 33. Northwest wind between 8 and 10 mph.”
Checking my credit card statement I found that a fraudulent charge that was taken off last December was put back on! I called the card company and they told me that they had mistakenly given me double credits and that was why the $495 charge was back on. I told them that I never received such a credit. They said the check was recently mailed to me. So what you’re saying, I said, is that you had mistakenly given me double credits and that to correct the error you’re sending me a check for $495 that I can deposit into my checking account so that I can write a check to you to pay the $495 on my credit card account. She said that was correct. No wonder our economy is in such dire straits!
I spent an hour updating Ken’s website, and then spent some more time working on Robert’s website. Robert sent me so much data and pictures to sort through that it will be awhile before I can setup the other pages, but at least I got the main page up and working.
It was way too windy for my evening walk so I just tinkered around the house. Joel came by with my mail and guess what was there among the letters: a check from the credit card company for $495!
I watched “24” on Fox where airliners collide in the airspace around Washington DC. The Presidents husband is kidnapped, then shot up with a paralyzing drug so that his assistant can frame him for the murder of his son’s girlfriend and then hang him. And Jack is still out there trying to save the world!
Did my stretches, restrung and practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.
Tuesday 27 - windy but not like yesterday, still cold though, so I did my stretches and ran a mile.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 33 and 52, winds for the NNW at 8 to 10 MPH with gusts up to 25, humidity around 37 percent, clear skies. According to the National Weather Service “Wednesday: Sunny, with a high near 62. North northwest wind between 9 and 11 mph. Wednesday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 41. Northwest wind between 8 and 11 mph.”
I was online checking my email when I read one from my mutual fund. They said that they are closing their money market fund to new investors. I don’t know what’s up with that but I decided to withdraw my money from their money market fund, which isn’t FDIC insured, and move it into one at my bank that is.
I called up my bank and they said that wouldn’t be a problem. I asked them if I needed an appointment, and they said no, just come on down. So I gathered up all my forms that I needed and drove down to Yucca Valley. I arrived at the bank only to find that I needed an appointment and that I’d have to wait two hours for someone to help me! Well to say the least I was a little upset, and told them so. I decided to check a few other banks in the area.
I went to one nearby that had recently failed and been bought up by another bank. The bank was empty except for three tellers, one greeter, another one who did the transactions that I needed done, and me. No one else came in while I was there and it just didn’t feel right to me. I explained what I wanted done and they gave me the rates and info I needed. I told the nice lady that I’d like to check a few other banks out before I made my decision and left. I rather felt sad for them.
I walked down the street to Washington Mutual, another failed bank that’s been bought out. Well this bank was quite different from the last: The parking lot had cars there, people were coming and going, the employees looked happy, and they took care of me right away! I decided to have my funds transferred there. The young man who helped me with my transaction was nice and very efficient and I was out of there in half an hour.
So my bank missed out on the money I would have transferred to them by not being customer friendly to me. Hell they wouldn’t even let me use their restroom and told me the closest one was at Stater Brothers Market! I just may move my checking over to Washington Mutual.
Stoney had invited me over for dinner and I was just a little late but I called him earlier to tell him that I would be. We finished off the pork steaks, rice leftover from Sunday, and had some of Mary’s pecan pie, too! He had the satellite folks there earlier in the day to install the new Dish Network (I knew he couldn’t last on regular broadcast TV) and we watched our favorite show “Dirty Jobs” .
I watched “NCIS” on CBS and then decided to do some work on the web early trying to catch up. I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.
Wednesday 28 - Another cold windy morning, so I only did my stretches.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 36 and 61, winds for the NW at 4 to 16 MPH, humidity around 26 percent, clear skies. According to the National Weather Service “Thursday: Sunny, with a high near 61. North northwest wind between 13 and 18 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph. Thursday Night: Clear, with a low around 38. North northwest wind between 10 and 13 mph.”
My friend Kula called to chat for a spell. We just yap about this, that, and other stuff.
I did another update on Ken’s website putting another document with a link on the home page, and then I called Robert about his website that I needed a little clarification on before I totally get started on it. I did a little webwork and went for several short walks to clear my mind. Most of the day went like that: calling folks and thinking. I even went and sat in my camper for a while.
Went for my evening walk and called my brother Kevin when I got back. Kevin has this new camera and is very involved in learning it, and is taking 200-400 pictures a day. He is very excited about that, and I am glad that he has found something that interests him and keeps him occupied.
I did some more webwork until late into the night. Then I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.
Thursday 29 - did my stretches, ran a mile and lifted weights. It’s a little warmer and would have been a great day if it wasn’t so windy.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 38 and 63, winds for the NNW at 4 to 10 MPH, humidity around 26 percent, clear skies. According to the National Weather Service “Friday: Sunny, with a high near 67. North northwest wind between 6 and 9 mph. Friday Night: Clear, with a low around 41. Northwest wind between 3 and 8 mph.”
I did an update to an update on Ken’s website that he wanted done. Then I did a little more webwork on a few projects I’m currently involved in.
George came by with his and Tom’s February’s dialup payment. He also gave me an old HP desktop, minus CD and hard drive. When I get a chance I’ll put them in and fire it up to see what processor it has but I don’t expect much seeing that it had a label for Win 98 on it. While I was talking to George, a UPS truck drove up and had a package for me. I asked him about Sam our old driver who is out for a few months with a bad knee. He said that he hadn’t heard from Sam but thinks he might not be coming back, Dang! Sam is a good delivery person and a friend. I worked on a few of his and his sister in-law’s computers. I have Sam’s phone number and email address and I will get in touch.
The package was from my dear sister Shiela who saw it in a catalog she was browsing and thought it would be a nice gift for me. The gift was a 2009 astronomical calendar with lots of astronomy stuff that should hold my interest for a whole year! I gave her a call to say thank you!
I went over to Stoney’s to take a hot shower and yap at him. He had just gotten back from shopping at Food For Less, he usually goes to Stater Bros, and told me about the great deals they had. I asked him what he got and he said it was what he didn’t get. The store didn’t have some of the items on his shopping list and now he’ll have to go to Stater Bros tomorrow! I told him that I’ll stick with Stater Bros, besides I know where everything is there, if they’d stop moving it around, and I get out of there quick. We had some pecan pie and watched “How It’s Made” on his new satellite TV.
I went for my evening walk and then watched the nightly news. It is so depressing to see that so many folks are losing their jobs, homes, and what not, while the financial institutions that we bailed out received some 18 billion in bonuses! The trouble is that I knew this would happen once they got their greedy little hands on the bailout monies. I was against the bailout in the first place! The President even said it was shameful! I think I’ll have to stop watching the evening news for a while, because I believe that is what’s been getting me down these last few weeks. It upsets me! There’s nothing that I can do about the situation anyways. So why watch it and get depressed. I’ll go back to reading it on the internet like before.
I spent some time on mindless little things: played a few games of solitaire, and sat around thinking about stuff. One thing I thought interesting was that the Post Office is planning to go on a five-day workweek, something I’ve been saying for decades now.
Did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.
Friday 30 - did my stretches, ran two miles.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 40 and 63 degrees, winds for the NNW at 3 to 8 MPH, humidity around 28 percent, clear skies. According to the National Weather Service “Saturday: Sunny, with a high near 68. North northwest wind between 6 and 8 mph. Saturday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 43. Calm wind becoming west northwest between 6 and 9 mph.”
Spent a few hours getting my IBM laptop ready to send to my sister Shiela; getting all my files off, uninstalling programs she won’t need, installing programs she will need, and deleting my personal data. I was deleting Outlook when I realized that my address book was on it, but I have that all backed up to my PDA, thankfully! It’s still a fine computer and runs great and I will miss it dearly, but I do have enough laptops around here and I am giving it away freely; sometimes you just have to let go! I think my sister will get more use out of it than I would if I kept it.
I went for my evening walk and when I got back, I got a call from Stoney. He needs my help with his satellite TV’s remote. He had messed up the programming somehow and wasn’t getting any channels. He was on the phone to Dish Network for an hour or more trying to get help. It took me all of five minutes to figure it out. We watched “Six Days and Seven Nights” (1998) starring Harrison Ford and Anne Heche. It is one of those “feel good” movies that I love to watch. It’s about a young New York editor of a women’s magazine who goes on vacation with her fiancé to an island resort. Once there she finds she needs to go to a meeting and hires Ford to fly her there. Their personalities clash. Heche is a young high-class editor from a big city. Ford is an older kicked back pilot trying to live a simple life. They take off only to fly into a storm and crash land on a deserted island where there are pirates. A romance evolves.
I got back home and only watched a half-hour of the nightly news, I am trying to wean myself off the TV news habit. Then I got caught up on my reading; read a chapter in “Genetics Demystified” (which is still a mystery to me), and read a little astronomy.
Did my stretches and went on a nightly run (there wasn’t any wind) and watched the Moon set behind the mountains to the west as I ran down the hill in front of my house.
Practiced my guitar, updated the Copper Mountain Mesa Website and sent out the Newsletter. Wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.
Saturday 31 - did my stretches, rode my bike, and lifted weights.Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 43 and 70 degrees, calm winds, humidity around 26 percent, clear skies. According to the National Weather Service “Sunday: Sunny, with a high near 68. North northwest wind between 6 and 13 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph. Sunday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 43. North northwest wind around 8 mph.”
I called my folks early, I wouldn’t be able to call them later in the day because I have lots going on.
My good friend Bob Vandenberg arrived with his camper that he is going to store here for awhile. We got it off his truck and on wooden blocks that he brought. Then we went to lunch over at Stoney’s. Bob hasn’t met Stoney and I was happy to introduce my two good friends to each other. Stoney had barbecued beef ribs and we had potato salad with it. We sat around to jaw for a while.
When we got back to my house, Bob replaced my drainpipes to the kitchen sink with one that had a trap to keep the critters from getting inside. He must have scoped it out the last time he was here in November, because who drives around with a sink trap. Well he is a plumber! Plumbing is something I am not too knowledgeable about and somewhat shy away from it.
I made some stuffing with chicken for potluck, Bob and I arrived there at 4pm and I introduced Bob to everyone. We had quite a turnout- 21 folks showed up! We had newcomers William Treas and his wife Elizabeth and their two young sons Josue and baby William III. Elizabeth, who helps Marcy in the thrift room, and brought a wonderful zucchini cheese dish. Dorothy cooked up some fabulous Swedish meatballs. Dyan made to die for white chili. Chris Jonas made up his famous macaroni salad. Donna Myers brought a yummy taco bake. Ruth Tuttle came late with a big bowl of mac and cheese. Susan Bonani let us enjoy her black bean and corn salad. Marcy Hines made a tasty whip cream fruit salad. Bob Seeley had his fruit plate eaten all up. The big surprise to all of us was what Karen Van Noort made; it was stuff pears. Nobody could guess what the ingredients were, especially the white creamy part. The guesses ranged from cream cheese to sour cream, and turned out to be only mayonnaise! We all had a mighty fine time eating, jawing, and just hanging out. Everyone helped cleanup at the end, and my friend Bob was back on his way home to Temecula. I wouldn’t trade my life for anyone else’s because of all the wonderful folks I call my friends!
I had a nice talk with my brother Kevin about cameras and taking pictures. Then I watched “Pirates of the Caribbean; Dead Man’s Chest” (2006) starring Johnny Depp. Orlando Bloom, and Keira Knightley. What a great flick! The animations and special effect were mind blowing! It was quite long going for 151 minutes but kept my attention throughout the film. Captain Jack Sparrow manipulates his crew and friends to go after the chest that contains Davy Jones heart to free himself from being a slave in Davy Jones’s navy of dead souls that wander the seas.
I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night. Good bye to January a month with a lot of highs and lows for us all!
