April 2009

Welcome to the Month of April! - did my stretches. Pretty darn windy to do anything else!
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 49 and 77 degrees, winds NW 10 to 18 MPH, humidity around 23 percent, clear skies. According to the National Weather Service “Thursday: Sunny, with a high near 80. Breezy, with a northwest wind 9 to 12 mph becoming west southwest between 23 and 26 mph. Winds could gust as high as 37 mph. Thursday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 53. Breezy, with a west northwest wind between 20 and 26 mph, with gusts as high as 37 mph.”
I had an appointment over at Marie’s to hookup a dialup connection for her. I got there about 1pm and found right off that her new Dell Laptop didn’t have a modem, dang! I spent an hour trying to setup a USB dialup modem that I have for my Dell Mini 9, but the modem’s drivers wouldn’t work on her Vista operating system for some reason; they were vista drivers and should have worked. I don’t use Vista but I have worked on other folks systems that have it. It is enough like Win XP but I have to hunt around for what I need. The nag screens that pop up really get on my nerves. I know there’s a way to turn them off but it is not my laptop or else I’d have done it. I showed her a few simple things being she is a newbie, so I didn’t waste my time by coming there even if I didn’t get her online. Her daughter who bought her the laptop will be getting her a USB modem from Dell and I’ll install it when it arrives. Two hours after arriving I was on my way back home.
I went over to Stoney’s for dinner. We needed to finish off the bean and rice dish he made last Friday. Well we made a dent in it anyways. He also made a salad of sorts by pouring bacon grease mixed with vinegar and sugar; I believe it’s called wilted lettuce. It was very good but I could hear my arteries hardening. The remote satellite TV in his kitchen wasn’t working and he wanted me to have a look-see. I spent an hour on that: reading the instructions, fooling around with the remote, and checking the connections. I finally figured it out, got it working, and watched an episode of “Myth Busters”.
When I got back home I did webwork most of the evening. Then I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Thursday 02 - did my stretches.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 53 and 81 degrees, winds W-SW 6 to 21 MPH, humidity around 22 percent, clear skies. According to the National Weather Service “Friday: Areas of blowing dust after 11am. Mostly sunny, with a high near 68. Windy, with a west northwest wind 29 to 32 mph increasing to between 37 and 40 mph. Winds could gust as high as 60 mph. Friday Night: Areas of blowing dust before 11pm. Mostly clear, with a low around 42. Windy, with a northwest wind 28 to 31 mph decreasing to between 15 and 18 mph. Winds could gust as high as 47 mph.”
At 12:30 I drove Stoney down to Palm Springs for a test his doctor wanted him to take. The medical center down there is huge with a maze of corridors, offices, and elevators and easy for us to get lost in, which we did. If it wasn’t that we ran into a maintenance man who gave us directions I think we’d been late for his appointment. We went into a small waiting room that was really claustrophobic with six chairs and ten patients. While Stoney filled out his paperwork I chatted with a lady, Dorothy Church, sitting across from us who lives in Landers not far from Copper Mountain Mesa. She volunteers at the Senior Center as a Sunshine girl who writes thank you cards and letters to folks that are ill.
The nurse said that the procedure would take a couple of hours and I should wait in the reception area and they’d call me on my cell when he was ready to be picked up. I got hungry and left to find food. I was told that the hospital had a cafeteria but I don’t like being around sick folks, so I left the hospital grounds and headed out into the community of Palm Springs. On one street I walked past a row of small shops and boutiques that were recently closed and out of business. It looked like a ghost town except for all the cars driving by on the four lane road. So sad! I spotted a Denny’s down a ways, walked in, and ordered a Grand Slam Breakfast. I asked the waiter how long this Denny’s has been here and he said over forty years or more. I believe I’ve been in this one back in the early seventies when my friends and I used to hike up to Tahquitz Falls, but that’s a story for another time.
I made it back to the medical center to find Dorothy sitting in the reception area and we jawed a little more. I had my portable computer with me and was able to get online through an open WIFI connection! Dorothy thought that was just amazing! I showed her my website, National Weather Service where we got tomorrow’s weather, and the USGS for recent earthquakes. She doesn’t use computers and was surprised at how easy it was done.
I went to check if Stoney was ready. An attendant let me into see him where he was lying sideways on a bed looking groggy but alert. The nurse said he’d be ready for transport in a few minutes, so I made my way down to his car and drove it around until I found the right ramp that led to where I picked him up. The attendant helped get him into the car and we where off on our way back home with one little stop at Stater Bros where I picked up a few things he and I both needed.
Too dang windy for an evening walk, so I just did a few things around the house and returned a few calls that were left on my answering machine.
After watching the evening news and talking to Kevin, I thought I’d watch “Bones” on Fox. I’ve haven’t watched it for a while because it was getting away from what it used to be, and becoming too focused on junk I really don’t care about. This episode was pretty good and I may go back to viewing it.
Did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Friday 03 - did my stretches. I was just ten minutes away from going on a run when the wind whipped up to 30 MPH!
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 43 and 70 degrees, winds NW 18 to 37 MPH with gusts over 60, humidity around 21 percent, hazy skies. According to the National Weather Service “Saturday: Sunny, with a high near 64. North northwest wind between 9 and 18 mph, with gusts as high as 24 mph. Saturday Night: Clear, with a low around 40. West northwest wind between 3 and 7 Mph.”
Well the wind was really blowing and I decided to stay inside and finish doing my taxes. It took a couple of hours till all was done. I jumped into the Gross Polluter and drove down to the mailbox and sent them off. Now I’m rid of them for another year!
I stopped off at Stoney’s for lunch and this time we really did finish off them rice and beans. We sat around watching “Cash Cab” for a while. Stoney had this shack in back of his house that the winds of today dismantled and sent into the atmosphere. He said that it was alright because now he can see Roger’s house to see if he is home.
I got back and did some computer work for a while until the news came on. Talked to Kevin afterwards and then watched “Terminator: the Sarah Conner Chronicles” where it seems that most of the cast are getting killed off- I guess it’s the economy! “Numb3rs” came on CBS. It was a rerun that I hadn’t seen before because I missed it when the UHF transmitter went off the air one night last October.
I did my stretches, practiced my guitar after replacing a string that broke, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Saturday 04 - did my stretches, ran a mile, lifted weights, and rode my bike.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 40 and 66 degrees, winds NW 8 to 12, humidity around 18 percent, hazy skies from the wind. According to the National Weather Service “Sunday: Sunny, with a high near 72. Northwest wind at 9 mph becoming east northeast. Sunday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 46. East southeast wind at 7 mph becoming north northwest.”
I am going to make this post short because I’m very tired: I updated the Copper Mountain Mesa Website and sent out the Newsletter. Then I went outside to work in my yard watering plants and cutting fronds off the palm trees.
I called Family and Friends throughout the day trying to keep in touch. Then I went over to Stoney’s for some apple pie that he had baked.
I got back home too late to go on my evening walk, so I did some webwork until late into the evening. Then I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Sunday 05 - did my stretches.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 46 and 70 degrees, winds NW-E 3 to 7, humidity around 14 percent, hazy skies from the wind. According to the National Weather Service “Monday: Sunny, with a high near 76. Northwest wind 5 to 10 mph becoming east northeast. Monday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 47. South southeast wind 5 to 8 mph becoming west.”
I can’t say I did much of anything today except enjoy the nice weather and do a little reading. I did go over to my friend Mac’s house for a visit and came back with a sink for my camper.
After yakking with a few Family members, I watched “60 Minutes” on CBS about the closure of a cancer treatment center at a hospital in Nevada that made my eyes tear up. Most of these patients got a notice in the mail about the closure and now have nowhere to go to get chemotherapy. Very sad and hard to watch! Then I watched “Nature” on PBS about frogs that are dying off all over the world and the steps scientists are taking to save them from extinction. Another sad story that makes me mad at what we have done to the Earth. I then watched “House” for the very first time, it was a rerun, and thought it was very good but a little corny.
Did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Monday 06 - did my stretches, ran a mile, lifted weights, and rode my bike.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 47 and 79 degrees, winds NW-E 2 to 6, humidity around 12 percent, clear skies. According to the National Weather Service “Tuesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 78. Breezy, with a west southwest wind 5 to 8 mph becoming southwest between 21 and 24 mph. Winds could gust as high as 38 mph. Tuesday Night: A 20 percent chance of rain. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 48. Breezy, with a west southwest wind 19 to 22 mph decreasing to between 8 and 11 mph. Winds could gust as high as 36 mph.”
I was writing my column for the newspaper and planning to work on a desktop to sell to a friend, when Bob Vandenberg called to say he was dropping by. Cool! I don’t mind changing my schedule for an old friend! He was coming up from Indio where he’s been working on a new apartment complex installing the plumbing. It would take him about 45 minutes to make the drive and I did as much as I could to complete my column before his arrival. We yakked for around an hour or so. He would have stayed longer but he got a call from a fellow plumber needing the master key to the apartment.
As soon as Bob left I got a call from Marie Morrison telling me that the modem had arrived for her laptop, so I headed over to install the modem, get her online, setup an email account for her, and show her how to work the browser. She told me that she won $100 at Bingo last Tuesday night; lucky gal!
I then made a fast stop over at Stoney’s to take some pics of the four baby birds that hatched in his trailer. Unfortunately they were asleep and it is hard to make them out in the nest. I’ll try again later in the week to get a better shot of them. Stoney had baked a lemon pie which I sampled and sampled some more. It was mighty good!
I received a nice compliment about my newspaper column that was left on my answering machine from a Muffin Hill. I returned her call and we had a pleasant chat.
Went for my evening walk and then read some astronomy until the evening news came on. There was a large earthquake in Italy that had destroyed many medieval structures and also killing over a hundred folks while they slept in the night. Kevin called and we jawed for a spell. Then I watched “24” on Fox where Jack is falling ill from the virus and is restricted to the FBI Field Office, while these evil doers are going to launch missiles containing a deadly virus at New Jersey.
I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, finished my column and sent it to the newspaper, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Tuesday 07 - did my stretches and ran two miles. Looks like another storm will be rolling in tonight!
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 48 and 79 degrees, winds S-SW 6 to 19, humidity around 15 percent, clear skies. According to the National Weather Service “Wednesday: A 20 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 64. Windy, with a west northwest wind 20 to 23 mph increasing to between 33 and 36 mph. Winds could gust as high as 49 mph. Wednesday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 45. Breezy, with a west northwest wind 21 to 24 mph decreasing to between 11 and 14 mph. Winds could gust as high as 31 mph.”
After watering some plants and doing a little yard work, I got to working on the desktop computer that I’m selling to my friend. It’s an old Hp Pavilion 4563z, Intel 433MZ Celeron processor, with 128MB of RAM. I couldn’t get the modem running on Win98, so I installed Win2000 which found it. The audio isn’t working and I’ll look for a driver for that later. I updated it to service pack 3, Installed Zone, Avast Anti-Virus, Firefox, and a few other programs. I got it online without any problems. It will be good to go tomorrow.
I went out to the camper to read the geology book and completed a few chapters in that. Then I went for my evening walk where the wind was kicking up some.
I watched the evening news, yakked with my brother Kevin until “NCIS” came on CBS where Abby is shanghaied by the FBI to work on a biological program. Then “Fringe” came on Fox about a small child that was found by a demolition crew sealed up in a hidden basement for some 70 years or so.
I did my stretches and lifted weights, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Wednesday 08 - did my stretches and a mile.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 45 and 63 degrees, winds NW-W 11 to 29, humidity around 25 percent, mostly clear skies. According to the National Weather Service “Thursday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 70. Northwest wind 7 to 15 mph becoming southwest. Winds could gust as high as 21 mph. Thursday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 47. West southwest wind between 18 and 21 mph becoming calm. Winds could gust as high as 29 mph.”
Got back to working on the old HP Pavilion and got it ready to go. I called Raymond and told him it was ready, he said come on by. I set it all up at his house and asked him for the Earthlink disk, but he wasn’t sure if that is the ISP he is using, great! They take monthly payments out of his checking but he isn’t sure it is them. I temporary put it on my ISP so he could see that it works. I showed him a few things about the Firefox browser’s tabs, had him turn the desktop off and on, and then I left telling him that when he finds out what ISP he is using to give me a call and I’d come over and set it up.
I got home just in time for Kath’s arrival with her Dell laptop she wants me to check out. She thinks she caught a virus, but wasn’t clear why she thought she did. She forgot to bring the power supply thinking that I had one, and the recovery disks I had asked her to bring but instead brought a box full of old CDs that are for Win98! Dang! I told her that I need them, but will try to do what I could before her batteries run low.
Stoney called to say he had baked two banana pies and I should come on by to try them. I did and they were mighty fine.
Got back home and went on my evening walk. Then I got caught up on my astronomy reading.
P called saying that a popup says she needs to upgrade her browser and ISP. I asked her if she was still able to play her online games and she said yes, so I told her to ignore the popups. She is running Win98SE and there aren’t any upgrades for her browsers, and since she is still able to play her games (Pogo) everything should be just fine. The ISP dialup she is using is mine and I know there is nothing wrong with that, except it is dialup!
I did some webwork late into the night, did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Thursday 09 - did my stretches, ran a mile, lifted weights, and rode my bike.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 47 and 72 degrees, winds NW-SW 8 to 13, humidity around 26 percent, mostly clear skies. According to the National Weather Service “Friday: A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after 11am. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 65. Light wind becoming southwest between 14 and 17 mph. Winds could gust as high as 24 mph. Friday Night: A chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 46. West northwest wind between 7 and 15 mph, with gusts as high as 21 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40%.”
I messed around installing a Win XP operating system that I got with my new Dell Mini 9 onto my old Dell 733r as an experiment to see if it would work. It did and found everything including my modem and sound card. Cool! It still asks to be registered, but it was only a test.
I went over to Stoney’s for some more banana pie that he baked yesterday. While I was there I took some more pics of the baby birds that are in a nest in Stoney’s trailer. There are four of them and they look pretty healthy.
Went for my evening walk taking pictures of the flowers around my home and on the trail I walk on. I don’t remember there being so many of them since I’ve moved up here in 1998.
I fell off the TV wagon and watched the news, “Malcolm in the Middle”, “California Gold” with Huell Howser, “Bones”, and then “Gray’s Anatomy”. I feel like that Winchell Donut commercial where the kids get sucked into the television set! I have other things to do than watch TV.
Wessel, my friend from Holland, called to tell me he is in town and we will meet up on Saturday for a visit.
I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, updated the calendar on the website, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Friday 10 - did my stretches and ran a mile.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 46 and 66 degrees, winds W-SW 8 to 18, humidity around 36 percent, cumulonimbus with thunderstorms and rain. According to the National Weather Service “Saturday: A 20 percent chance of showers before 11am. Mostly cloudy, then gradually becoming sunny, with a high near 66. West northwest wind between 11 and 21 mph, with gusts as high as 30 mph. Saturday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 48. West northwest wind 18 to 21 mph decreasing to between 9 and 12 mph. Winds could gust as high as 30 mph.”
I had just got done with my run and sitting down to eat my oatmeal when Joan called to tell me that she accidentally deleted the Firefox browser. She brought her laptop over for me to have a look-see. It was only minimized down to a very small square that she wasn’t used to. So that was a quick fix and now she knows! She also brought me a Sci-Fi book to read by Orson Scott Card called “Treason” that I’ll start reading tomorrow.
I was outside later cleaning out the Gross Polluter getting it ready for a small trip tomorrow when it started to rain! Cool! It wasn’t a whole lot but I think enough for the flowers to drink their fill. Lots of thunder and lightning in this storm!
I went over to Stoney’s for dinner. He made some macaroni with meat sauce and a salad made from lettuce from his garden. Roger Smith was also there telling about a rabbit hutch he found in his garden after leaving the gate open while he was away for a week. Then we all jawed about when we were in the military service. Stoney told us a story when he was being shipped over to the Philippines during WWII, and how he traveled down the Sacramento River on a paddlewheel to the Liberty Ship that would take him there. Once on the Liberty Ship someone told him to eat lots of bread to avoid seasickness and got two loafs in the mess and ate it all! Stoney was always asking his Sergeant for something to do on the long voyage, but there was nothing the Sergeant needed done. Later a notice went up on the bulletin board stating that if you didn’t keep your area clean you would be put on extra duty. So Stoney left his area in a mess, bed unmade and clothes lying around. He was put on extra duty painting Officer’s quarters. The Officer liked the painting job so much that he offered Stoney a drink and asked if he wouldn’t mind painting other Officer’s quarters. Well Stoney took him up on that and painted and drank his way over to the Philippines.
I got back home to feed Fat Cat and watched the evening news and then “Terminator: the Sarah Conner Chronicles” that was a mind blowing episode and the season finale. Now I can’t wait until next season to sort out what in hell happened!
Updated the Copper Mountain Mesa Website and sent out the Newsletter. Then I watched “Numb3rs” on CBS about an animal rights group that kills a biology professor.
Did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Saturday 11 - did my stretches and got everything together for the trip to Juniper hills.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 48 and 66 degrees, winds NW-W 7 to 19, humidity around 37 percent, few clouds. According to the National Weather Service “Sunday: Sunny, with a high near 76. North northwest wind between 5 and 9 mph. Sunday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 52. West northwest wind around 7 mph.”
I was going to go to the Easter Egg Coloring Party today to take some pictures, but my friend Wessel called a few days ago needing help retrieving a truck that broke down in Juniper Hills. I contacted Annelies Kuiper, who is going to be at the party, to write a story and take pictures for my newspaper column. So I was free to go help Wessel today.
I picked him up in Joshua Tree at 10am where he is staying at his friend Shaun Kruse’s storage yard. Juniper Hills is about a hundred miles away and the wind was gusting all the way there. We made one stop at Carl’s Jr. to eat; Wessel had a Western Bacon Burger and I had my favorite Super Star with extra mayo. We tried to have a chat on the way there but the Gross Polluter is so noisy from wind blowing through cracks here and there, and all the rattling of truck innards, that communicating was made nearly impossible. We arrived at our destination a little around 1pm and Wessel set to work on his truck while I walked around to take pictures until the Gross Polluter and I were needed to jump start the truck. We had the truck working in just forty-five minutes and took off down the road with me following Wessel incase he broke down. We stopped at the first gas station to fill up. Wessel wasn’t too sure about the truck starting again and neither was I and I told him to just keep the truck running. Normally you wouldn’t want to do this while getting gas! The dang gas station charged me twenty-five cents to use the head and I thought that kind of petty since we filled up both trucks there. We got back to Joshua Tree just before 5pm without any problems. I stayed for a little while to jaw with Wessel and Shaun. Shaun is the “wheeler dealer” type who has lots of deals going on at a time; he’s witty, a good person and funny too!
On my way back home I decided to make a quick stop over at Stoney’s for some of that macaroni he made yesterday. He was watching a Country-Western show with the lights dimmed while soaking his feet in this small electric foot hot tub. This made me laugh and I told him that all he needed now was aromatherapy candles to make it complete. I ate some banana pie, too!
When I finally got home and fed Fat Cat, I checked my messages and found one from my sister Audrey and called her back and we yapped for over an hour. Then I watched “Law and Order: Criminal Intent” where Goran has to go undercover in a drug ring to get his badge back. I think that “Criminal Intent” is the best of the “Law and Order” shows and wish NBC would stop messing around with this excellent show and be consistent in its airing!
Then I read a chapter in “Treason” by Orson Scott Card, did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Sunday 12 - did my stretches.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 52 and 77 degrees, winds NW-SW 7 to 10 MPH, humidity around 26 percent, few clouds. According to the National Weather Service “Monday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 81. Calm wind becoming south southwest between 7 and 10 mph. Monday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 55. West wind between 6 and 14 mph, with gusts as high as 21 mph.”
I didn’t do a whole lot today, just resting from that long drive of yesterday. I did some yard work and watered the plants. My cacti that I had planted two years ago are starting to flower. I took some pics of them and maybe tomorrow I’ll post a couple of them here. Throughout the day I called Family and Friends to wish them a happy Easter. I read a little in the book “Treason”, and went for my evening walk. I was going to watch “60 Minutes” but there wasn’t anything I wanted to see on the show, so I went online to take care of some webwork. Then I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Monday 13 - did my stretches, ran a mile, lifted weights, and rode my bike.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 55 and 82 degrees, winds SW 7 to 12 MPH, humidity around 22 percent, clear skies. According to the National Weather Service “Tuesday: Areas of blowing dust after 11am. Mostly sunny, with a high near 75. Windy, with a calm wind becoming west southwest between 27 and 30 mph. Winds could gust as high as 46 mph. Tuesday Night: Areas of blowing dust. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 42. Windy, with a west wind 29 to 32 mph decreasing to between 17 and 20 mph. Winds could gust as high as 47 mph.”
It was Stoney’s 89th birthday and him and I went down to the Sizzler Restaurant to celebrate and ate at the salad bar. We both got filled to the gills (meaning we stuffed ourselves). Stoney’s doctor put him on a special diet when he saw him today, so it was his last eating splurge for a while. I think I’ll cut down on my eating too, I told him. Then we made a stop at WalMart to pick up a few things, and then on to home.
I went for a long evening walk to burn off some of what I ate. Watched the nightly news and thought it grand that the American Captain held hostage by Somali pirates was freed by Navy Seal sharpshooters after shooting three of the pirates remaining on the lifeboat in the head from a long distance.
I read a few chapters in “Treason” and then watched “24” on Fox, where Jack is falling deathly ill from a virus but was still able to direct a successful raid on the evil doers compound, thus saving the world. Unfortunately Tony, who helped blow up the compound, but now trading sides, along with a mercenary, made off with some of the virus.
I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote my column for the newspaper, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Tuesday 14 - did my stretches and ran two miles.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 42 and 72 degrees, winds W-SW 12 to 37 MPH with gusts to 55, humidity around 19 percent, altostratus clouds. According to the National Weather Service “Wednesday: Sunny, with a high near 57. Windy, with a west northwest wind between 22 and 31 mph, with gusts as high as 44 mph. Wednesday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 40. West northwest wind between 13 and 18 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph.”
The winds began to pick up after I completed my run and it’s been windy all day. I decided to complete some webwork on Ken’s and Robert’s websites that I’ve been too busy to do lately.
I called Wessel to wish him a safe trip to Kansas City tomorrow where he will be gathering old iron steam radiators to ship back to Holland.
Stoney baked another pie and invited me over to sample it. This time it was a mixed fruit pie that was mighty tasty. With each new pie Stoney bakes the pie crust gets even better and better! We sat and watched “Cash Cap” to try and answer the questions.
I got back home before sunset but it was just way too windy for an evening walk, so I read a chapter in “Treason”, watched the nightly news, “NCIS” on CBS, and then “Fringe” on Fox. The high winds actually knocked my antenna around to where I’m getting better reception!
I did my stretches and lifted weights, practiced my guitar until I broke a string, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Wednesday 15 - did my stretches. Too dang windy for a run!
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 42 and 54 degrees, winds NW-W 20 to 31 MPH with gusts to 50 or more, humidity around 20 percent, a few clouds here and there. According to the National Weather Service “Thursday: Sunny, with a high near 70. Breezy, with a north northwest wind between 14 and 24 mph, with gusts as high as 33 mph. Thursday Night: Clear, with a low around 46. Northwest wind between 8 and 10 mph.”
I did some webwork and then headed over to Mac’s house. He said he may have some extendable clip-on mirrors for my truck that I can use when I ever get the camper on, and that will be when the win dies down. After we searched his yard and found the mirrors we sat for a while yakking about motorcycles and such. Then I was on the road headed for Stoney’s to see what he was up to. I found him in the kitchen working on the clock he had purchased a few weeks ago. He said it had stopped because of all the grime that had accumulated throughout the years, and was cleaning it. I sat around for a spell watching him doing the repairs and made a run to the clock trailer for a part he needed. I took a picture of the baby birds in the nest; how they have grown. I’ll post them tomorrow when I have more time.
I got back home to do some more webwork. I got the Meta description and keywords and a site map, which should make it easier for search engines crawlers to pick up, all set up on Robert’s website and submitted it to Google; I did the same for Ken’s site yesterday. I stopped long enough to watch the evening news to see if the rest of the world was still there, and jawed with Kevin when he called. I then went back to my webwork and did this until late into the night.
I did my stretches, practiced my guitar on only five strings because I had forgotten to fix the string I broke yesterday and because it was getting late I didn’t have the time to do that. I wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Thursday 16 - did my stretches and lifted weights. Still too dang windy for a run!
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 46 and 68 degrees, winds NW 10 to 15 MPH, humidity around 24 percent, clear skies. According to the National Weather Service “Friday: Sunny, with a high near 77. North northwest wind between 10 and 15 mph, with gusts as high as 22 mph. Friday Night: Clear, with a low around 51. North wind 5 to 9 mph becoming west.”
I woke up mighty late today, so it was a scramble to get a few things done. After I did my exercises and had breakfast I drove down to the mailbox to see if I had gotten a package with a hard drive my brother Kevin sent so that I can extract the data of it for his daughter. It wasn’t there. I’ll try again another day.
I have this thing for old computers. I have this old laptop, a Compaq Contura 4/25 laptop that I bought new in the early 90s, with 4MB of RAM and a 25MHz 486SL processor, running Win 3.1. I ran DoubleSpace which is a program runs under MSDOS Version 6.2 that compresses the files on the hard drive and it freed up over half of the drive. Then sorting through some old floppies I found an old version of Quicken that I loaded on the laptop and was surprised that the floppies still worked! I played around with Quicken for a while and then went online with Internet Explorer 3.something and surfed the web at an incredible rate of 9600-bps! It took forever for my website to load even though I had the pictures turned off in the settings; it was like watching paint dry! But it was a fun thing to do on a windy afternoon. I discovered that the battery still holds a charge, so maybe I’ll find some use for this old laptop yet
My dear friend Kula called me from Hawaii; lucky gal! She is over there to do some business for a company she is affiliated with. I told her that the next time they ask her to go there to say she needs to bring her assistant (me) along.
Stoney called to tell me about the birthday party for him and Bill Bonner he went to. Their birthdays fall on the same month and some friends take them out to lunch. He had a great time, he said.
I messed around with the old Compaq until I noticed that it was 11pm, so I quit and did my stretches.
I decided to replace all the strings on my guitar. They were all very old and frayed, and I am very cheap that I let them get that way. It sounds much better but the new strings need to be broken in before I get any good tone and action out of them.
I wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Friday 17 - did my stretches, ran a mile, lifted weights, and rode my bike.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 51 and 73 degrees, winds NW 6 to 10 MPH, humidity around 19 percent, clear skies. According to the National Weather Service “Saturday: Sunny, with a high near 83. North northwest wind around 8 mph. Saturday Night: Clear, with a low around 55. North northwest wind between 5 and 7 mph.”
I just sat down to eat my breakfast and read my email when Marie called telling me that her new Dell laptop died and if I could help. Told her to bring it on by and I’d have a look-see. She came by about 20 minutes later and it was an easy fix; the system just got hung up on shutdown and when it started back up it went into a recovery mode and all we had to do is finish the process. I told her that sometimes happens and just restart the computer. I’ve found that most problems can be solved by just restarting.
Ginger my new neighbor came by to drop off a post digger she had borrowed. She has been having troubles with somebody calling code enforcement everyday about her two horses. They are well taken care of and her son comes out to feed them every evening. She had been trying to build a shelter for them, but first of all some thieves made off with the materials she had bought. Then she bought more materials and constructed a shelter that had gotten blown down by the high winds we’ve been having lately. The horses she has were destined for the glue factory and she is trying her best to cope with the situation, but is at her wits end. She found a home for one of the horses and is going to move the other one sometime in the next couple of days. I told her that I’d help her build a shelter when she has it altogether. She is a nice and caring person and it’s too bad that someone is putting her through this, which she said almost borders on harassment.
I dropped by Stoney’s for dinner. We’re still eating the macaroni he made a while back, and there is still more left!
I got home and fed Fat Cat and went for my evening walk. Then I called Kevin to jaw for a spell before the nightly news came on.
Read a few more chapters in “Treason”, and then did my stretches and 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 18 - did my stretches and ran two miles.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 55 and 81 degrees, winds NW 4 to 8 MPH, humidity around 17 percent, clear skies. According to the National Weather Service “Sunday: Sunny, with a high near 86. North northwest wind between 6 and 11 mph. Sunday Night: Clear, with a low around 56. East wind at 6 mph becoming northwest.”
After breakfast I went right to work on putting the camper on the Gross Polluter. I first had to take the camper shell off, then the bed liner. Under the liner were all kinds of crud that I had to broom out and then take a hose to. The crud filled up a five gallon container! Once I got all that done, I jacked up the camper and maneuvered the truck underneath. I connected the inside turnbuckles and tighten them as I lowered the camper. Everything was connected except the back turnbuckles because I couldn’t find a place to connect them. I made a test drive over to Stoney’s and some pie and ice cream. The camper slid back a little and before I got back home I applied the brakes and it slid forward to where it is suppose to be. I found some chain to add to the turnbuckles and got them secure to the rear end. Then another test drive and the camper only slid backwards a little bit. When I go to town I’ll stop in at Auto Zone to see if I can find something better to hold the camper still and in place, but before I go to town I need to fix and put on the extended mirrors. This took all my day! My friend Sherry stopped by for a little chat and it was nice to see her! I called and yakked with Family and Friends throughout the day while working on the camper.
I needed a rest from all the hard work I did today, so I did a little webwork and surf the web till late into the evening. Then I did my stretches, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Sunday 19 - did my stretches and went for a walk.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 56 and 87 degrees, slight breeze, humidity around 18 percent, clear skies. According to the National Weather Service “Monday: Sunny, with a high near 90. North wind between 5 and 7 mph. Monday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 59. South southwest wind between 4 and 7 mph becoming calm.”
I went back to working on securing my camper to the Gross Polluter. Stoney called and said that he had some turnbuckles over in his garage, so I made my way over and worked on the camper there. I found what I needed and so far it’s looking good and secured to the truck. I also used his compressor to lift the air shocks up a little more to even out the truck. Then we had lunch; more macaroni and pie with ice cream.
I went for my evening walk and then read “Treason” until “60 Minutes” came on. I was mostly interested in the Cold Fusion segment. It seems that several laboratories have been working on it and had some success. Twenty years ago when it first announced nobody could duplicate the experiment and was relinquish to the realm of UFOs and Big Foot.
Kevin called and we yapped at each other for a spell. I went back to my reading until it got late. I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Monday 20 - did my stretches, ran a mile, lifted weights, and rode my bike.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 59 and 91 degrees, slight breeze, humidity around 16 percent, clear skies. According to the National Weather Service “Tuesday: Sunny, with a high near 93. Northwest wind at 10 mph becoming east southeast. Tuesday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 60. Southwest wind between 10 and 13 mph becoming light.”
I took the jacks off the camper, they must weigh around seventy pounds each, and then I cleaned the insides. When I opened the door to do the cleaning a bunch of these black moths come flying out, yikes! There must have been hundreds of them. After I shooed them away I was able to start my cleaning. I watered all my plants while I was doing this.
Stoney called to say he had baked three more pies, and wanted me to try them out. Hey, no problem! I was going to take a picture of the baby birds in the nest in Stoney’s trailer, but the nest was empty, they have flown the coop, I wish them well.
When I got home I went on my evening walk, watched the nightly news, and yapped with Kevin for a spell. I read “Treason” by Orson Scott Card and finished it after watching “24” on Fox. Then I did my stretches, 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 21 - did my stretches.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 60 and 93 degrees, slight breeze, humidity around 16 percent, a few high cirrus clouds. According to the National Weather Service “Wednesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 92. Calm wind becoming southwest between 10 and 13 mph. Winds could gust as high as 18 mph. Wednesday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 60. West northwest wind 14 to 17 mph decreasing to between 5 and 8 mph. Winds could gust as high as 24 mph.”
Since tomorrow is Earth Day, I am going to post this little story I wrote about the first Earth Day I attended in 1970 now:
I remember the first Earth Day way back in April 22, 1970. There was a rally held in a park next to the college I was attending at the time. The main speaker, a young well dressed bearded scholar, was lecturing us poor uninformed folk about how bad pollution and our way of living was destroying the world. After the rally I had some questions to ask this knowledgeable leader of the environmental movement. So I followed him out to his car and tried to ask my questions, but he said he was in a hurry and couldn’t spend the time with me. He then drove off leaving me in a cloud of black smoke billowing out from the tailpipe of his Mercedes diesel.
I learned a good number of lessons on that day. Practice what you preach. Even back in 1970, as it is today, it was hard to find anyone who does. And another lesson learned was “Experts” don’t know crap! You just got to keep an open mind and evaluate what knowledge you accumulate, because you’re responsible for what you do and how you live. Oh and by the way, the electrical in my home is powered by solar panels. I hope you had a wonderful Earth Day and actually did something to lower your carbon footprint. Every little bit helps!

I decided to test out and see how the Gross Polluter handled with the camper on it, so I drove it to Yucca Valley. I first checked my mailbox to see if Kevin’s hard drive arrived, but it hadn’t. Then got gas at yapped with a lady about her PT Cruiser, I thought it looked nice, but she said that she’d never buy another car from Chrysler again, and that ended the discussion. Stopped off at AutoZone to see if they had some extended mirrors, but they only have the crappy ones like the broken one I’m using now for thirty bucks. So I just bought some oil there. Went to WalMart and then Stater Bros to get some supplies, and then drove on home. The truck ran just fine with the camper on, but when I got home and parked I heard a hissing noise coming from my left rear tire, dang! I found the hole, plugged it, inflated it, and it was good to go.
I stopped off at Stoney’s to say howdy and pick up the USDA groceries that he had for me. We watched “Cash Cab” for a while trying to guess the answers.
Back home again, I went for my evening walk, called Kevin, and watched the nightly news. I started a new Sci-Fi book by Anne McCaffrey called “To Ride Pegasus” and read it until “Fringe” came on Fox. Then I did my stretches and lifted weights, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Earth Day! - did my stretches and lifted weights.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 60 and 90 degrees, NW-SW winds at 4 to 17 MPH, humidity around 20 percent, a few altostratus clouds. According to the National Weather Service “Thursday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 88. Breezy, with a light wind becoming southwest between 22 and 25 mph. Winds could gust as high as 38 mph. Thursday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 59. West wind 18 to 21 mph decreasing to between 9 and 12 mph. Winds could gust as high as 31 mph.”
Kath finally brought the power supply for her Dell Inspiron 1501 Laptop so I can start working on it. I think it’s been about a week since she first brought the laptop to me. When I boot up, the system says it doesn’t recognize the battery, but it charges it and I can run it on the battery, weird! I did some cleanup on it, updated the antivirus and anti-spyware, checked for driver upgrades but found none except for the BIOS. I hope updating the BIOS will clear the battery problem. I’ll download it tonight.
I worked on the battery room door, securing it to the frame and putting a latch for a lock on it. Sounds simple but it took a few hours to do. Then I cleaned up the shop area putting tools and other stuff away in their proper place.
Went on over to Stoney’s for a short visit. He got his kitchen clock working. I told him all he had to do is sleep on it and the fix for the clock would come.
Got back home and did some more work in the shop, watched the nightly news (nothing exciting there), chatted with Kevin, and watched “Secrets of the Dead” on PBS about the pirate Blackbeard’s grounding of his ship the Queen Ann’s Revenge, how it was discovered in 1996, and the recovery of its artifacts. Then I did some reading.
I did my stretches and practiced my guitar. Downloaded the BIOS update for Kath’s laptop, and yes it had the fix for the battery problem: “1. Fixed erroneous Bad Battery message during post.” I rebooted it after I ran the BIOS upgrade and the problem was gone! I wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Thursday 23 - did my stretches and ran a mile.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 59 and 87 degrees, SSW winds at 6 to 20 MPH, humidity around 22 percent, mostly clear. According to the National Weather Service “Friday: Areas of blowing dust after 11am. Mostly sunny, with a high near 82. Breezy, with a north northwest wind 5 to 8 mph becoming southwest between 26 and 29 mph. Winds could gust as high as 43 mph. Friday Night: Areas of blowing dust before 11pm. Partly cloudy, with a low around 52. Breezy, with a west wind 21 to 24 mph decreasing to between 11 and 14 mph. Winds could gust as high as 37 mph.”
I worked on Kath’s laptop doing a clean and defrag. Then I backed up all her documents to disk, called her and left a message for her to come and pick it up. Then I went back to doing my own stuff like working on the camper and cleaning the yard and my shop. Did this all day and then went for my evening walk. Read a few chapters of “To Ride Pegasus”.
My friend Kula called asking about cell phones that connect to the internet. She is thinking on getting a Samsung Rant. I told her I’d check it out for her. Kevin called and yapped with him for a spell. Then Ron Dehart called to say howdy and we yakked for a spell, too.
I went online to do some webwork until late. I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Friday 24 - did my stretches.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 52 and 81 degrees, NW-SW winds at 10 to 19 MPH, humidity around 23 percent, mostly clear. According to the National Weather Service “Saturday: Areas of blowing dust. Mostly sunny, with a high near 70. Breezy, with a west northwest wind between 17 and 24 mph, with gusts as high as 36 mph.
Saturday Night: Areas of blowing dust before 11pm. Mostly clear, with a low around 49. West northwest wind between 13 and 21 mph, with gusts as high as 30 mph.”
Now that the weather is nice these last few days, I’ve been really busy working outside on my property preparing it for the hot summer months ahead. While I was in the process of doing this Kath came to pick up her laptop. I sat her down to show her what I’d done, but if she comprehended I do not know.
I went on over to Stoney’s for lunch and to do my laundry. He made this kind of casserole that has beef stew on the bottom and biscuits with cheese on top. Was very filling!
Got back home and continued to work on the house. Watched the nightly news where they reported about a new strain of swine flu that is working its way up from Mexico. There is no vaccine for it yet and over sixty have died. The Mexican government has closed schools and other public places where people gather. Folks are wearing surgical masks down there already. Sounds scary to me!
I was replacing the batteries on an old HP LX200 PDA, but the dang thing wouldn’t power up. I had to dig out the manual to see if I could find a fix, and I did after a little reading. I did a cold start by pressing three certain keys at once, and it came on. But I loss what I didn’t have backed up on the flash card, dang it! This PDA I’ve had over sixteen years and I’m still surprised it is still running.
I watched “NUMB3RS” on CBS, and I think it was the best one ever. Then I did my stretches and 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 25- did my stretches. Another windy day.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 40 to 75, winds from the W-SW at 11 to 23 MPH, humidity around 25 percent, clear skies. According to the National Weather Service “Sunday: Sunny, with a high near 77. West northwest wind between 6 and 10 mph. Sunday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 51. West northwest wind between 8 and 15 mph, with gusts as high as 21 mph.”
I did about the same as I did yesterday, worked in my yard. While I was working I called Family and Friends. Then it was time to get ready for potluck.
I cooked up some baked beans and called Stoney to see if he was going, he was, and I asked him to pick me up so we could ride together to save gas (well mine anyways). We got to the center a little after 4pm and were surprised to see so many cars in the parking lot. I saw Rick Seeley’s golf cart, it’s been a while since he’s been to our potluck. We had over twenty hungry folks show up this time! There was lots of food. Dyane Carrol cooked a sea food lasagna we all enjoyed. We devoured Dorothy Jacobsen’s chili relleno casserole. Marcie Hines made a great meat lasagna. Lisa and Elizabeth Treas brought scalloped potatoes, marble cake, and a lemon and apple pie. Marie Morrison made some delicious brownies. Bob Seeley had his fruit platter. I was wondering out loud if Ruth Tuttle would show when I turned around and there she was with a tossed salad. We’re supposed to start at 4:30pm but the food looked so good that folks started getting in line at 4:15! What a great bunch of folks!
I got home and fed Fat Cat and watched “Harry Potter and the Secret Chamber”. This is one I’ve never seen before and I thought it was fantastic! Someday I like to read all the Harry Potter books.
I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.
I’m going to take a hiatus off from the internet, but I’ll keep writing to my journal and will post it when I go back online in a few days or so.