Welcome to the month of September! I did my stretches, ran a mile, lifted weights, and rode my bike. There wasn’t any smoke in the air and it was only 95 degrees so I thought I’d take advantage of this reprieve and did my exercises.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 84 and 108 degrees, slight breeze, humidity around 29 percent, high cirrus clouds with a little smoke in the air from the fires in LA County.
According to the National Weather Service: “Wednesday: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after 11am. Partly sunny and hot, with a high near 101. Calm wind becoming southeast between 5 and 8 mph. Wednesday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms before 11pm. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 77. Southwest wind between 6 and 11 mph.”
I went through clothes sorting them, putting them in boxes, and took them out to storage in my trailer out back. This made a bunch of needed space in the house.
I didn’t feel like doing anything strenuous so I worked on one of my laptops that’s been acting up. The problem turned out to be Firefox was hanging up and making my system go real slow. I uninstalled it and the system ran fine. My guess was that for some reason Firefox had gotten corrupted- it works just fine on my other laptops. I will download it again and do a fresh install to see if that fixes the problem.
I went for my evening walk listening to two Astronomy Cast Podcasts: Questions Show: Imaging Extrasolar Planets, Infinite Universe, Inside a Black Hole, and Questions Show: Matter Balance, Jumping Light Speed and Black Hole Star Formation.
I called my neighbor Joyce Ware to see how she was doing and to touch base. Kevin called and we jawed for a spell. Then I called Joel Levy to chat.
I watched “Nova Science Now” about: how sleep helps you learn; earthquakes in the middle of the USA; and a geologist from South Korea who was crippled in a car accident, paralyzed from the neck down, and made the best of his situation to become an inspiration to all handicapped folks in Korea.
Then I decided to watch the news to see about these fires in LA County. One fire was called the “Station Fire” and it had burned almost 200 square miles, killed two Firefighters, and destroyed 62 homes!
I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, finished my column for the newspaper and sent it in, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.
Wednesday 02- did my stretches.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 82 and 102 degrees, slight breeze, humidity around 42 percent, no smoke from LA County fires but cumulonimbus clouds moved in around noon bringing with it lightning and thunder but no rain for us here in Copper Mountain Mesa.
According to the National Weather Service: “Thursday: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after 11am. Partly sunny and hot, with a high near 101. Calm wind becoming southeast between 6 and 9 mph. Thursday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms before 11pm. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 78. Southwest wind between 6 and 15 mph, with gusts as high as 21 mph.”
I spent a few hours cleaning the kitchen that sometimes goes forgotten and when things build up here and there I have to take action or else the ants may want to help.
I called Mac to see what he was up to and to tell him there’s a mighty big storm cloud headed our way; and it was was but veered towards the northeast and missed us completely. We jawed for a spell and the subject of CB radios came up. I told him that I had one I could setup quickly and he said he could do the same but he’d have to hunt around for all the parts. I got mine out and dusted it off, plugged in the antenna and power, and turned it on. I couldn’t pickup anyone broadcasting. I got out my walkie-talkie to see if the main unit would pick it up- it did. So I’m thinking that maybe nobody uses them anymore. I’m going to stop by at Mac’s tomorrow and bring the rig with me and test it out there.
I went for my evening walk; just a walk and no lectures. Then I did computer work 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.
Thursday 03- did my stretches.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 85 and 104 degrees, slight breeze, humidity around 47 percent, some smoke from LA County fires and cumulonimbus clouds moved in around noon again but this time bringing a little rain for us here in Copper Mountain Mesa.
According to the National Weather Service: “Friday: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after 11am. Mostly sunny and hot, with a high near 101. Calm wind becoming south southeast between 6 and 9 mph. Friday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms before 11pm. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 76. Southwest wind 17 to 20 mph decreasing to between 5 and 8 mph. Winds could gust as high as 28 mph.”
I went to my mailbox 6 miles down the road to see if my Mac OSX Snow Leopard had arrived; it did and I also picked up the EEEbuntu for my Asus EEE 701.
I stopped off at my neighbor Ginger’s house. They were putting in a fence along the front that runs on Winters Road. I must have stayed there for an hour or so chatting with her and her kids. Her mean little ferocious rat dog that growls at everyone bit me on the foot. It didn’t hurt none too much and I growled right back. Ginger says she does that until she gets to know you. I hope it soon because I don’t want to lose any toes!
When I got home and installed both OSs. I was in my element going back and forth between both MacBook and Netbook typing commands and doing a little tweaking here and there. I like what’s printed on the front of the Apple OSX disk: Made in California! Both machines were up and running in less than an hour.
I went over to Stoney’s for a spell and did some laundry and took a shower. It was nice to get out of the heat and humidity!
I went for my evening walk; just walking, no lectures. When I got back I installed Kstars Desktop Planetarium that I love on the Asus EEE, while I was watching a rerun on “Fringe” on FOX. It was the episode where a young woman spontaneously bursts into flames. It was a Twitter cast special with the cast twittering on the bottom of the screen and was kind of annoying and made it hard to follow the story even though I previously seen it.
I did my stretches, lifted weights, and went for a night run. I practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night!
Friday 04- did my stretches and ran a mile.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 87 and 102 degrees, swift breeze, humidity around 48 percent, still some smoke from LA County fires and a few altocumulus clouds.
According to the National Weather Service: “Saturday: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after 11am. Mostly sunny and hot, with a high near 99. Northwest wind at 11 mph becoming south southwest. Saturday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 72. West southwest wind between 8 and 17 mph, with gusts as high as 24 mph.”
Stoney went for a visit to his daughter Judy’s home up by San Francisco and her husband Denny is driving him back today. They were in Mojave when they called around 1pm asking me to go over to the house and turn on the swamp cooler so that the place would be cool when they got home. Denny also said that they would be going straight to the Sizzler when they arrived in town and if I’d care to meet them there at 4:30pm; sounds like a plan to me!
I went and turned on the swamp cooler and drove into Joshua Tree to get a haircut at Jan and Stan’s. I told Stan to cut it short like Gibbs on NCIS. I felt cooler after the haircut and won’t have to get another for six months or so; well maybe a year because he cut it so short. I had other miscellaneous errands to do that ate up the time.
I was just going into WalMart when I thought to call and check on their progress. They were just pulling into Stoney’s driveway when I called and a good thing too; Stoney had forgotten his keys and me and Roger had moved them for security reasons. So I told them where the keys were hidden and questioned them on why they decided to go to Stoney’s first instead of meeting me at the Sizzler. The answer was simple: they made good time on the trip. They even left a message telling me that they’d pick me up at my house for the ride to Yucca Valley, that I didn’t hear until I’ve gotten back later in the evening.
They arrived at the Sizzler at the appointed time. Stoney look very well and rested, much better than when he left. He has new glasses, too! Well we stuffed ourselves on the salad bar and sat around jawing about their trip and catching up on what’s been going on in the desert while they been gone.
They were following me on the way back home. We were on Aberdeen when a turquoise colored car that was in front of me made a right turn that turned into a u-turn that went right in front of me! I slammed on the breaks missing him by less than twenty feet; some folks just shouldn’t be behind a wheel of an automobile!
We arrived back at Stoney’s and I helped Denny move a table saw into the back of his truck. Then I went back to my house where I went for my evening walk.
I was updating the Copper Mountain Mesa Website and talking to Kevin at the same time. I got everything uploaded and sent out the Newsletter when I noticed that it was 10pm and “Numb3rs” was coming on and said goodbye to Kevin; we had chatted for over an hour!
I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.
Saturday 05- did my stretches.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 84 and 100 degrees, winds SSW at 8to 18 MPH, humidity around 42 percent, a few altocumulus clouds.
According to the National Weather Service: “Sunday: Mostly sunny and hot, with a high near 97. Calm wind becoming south between 10 and 13 mph. Sunday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 69. West southwest wind 17 to 20 mph decreasing to between 7 and 10 mph. Winds could gust as high as 26 mph.”
I mostly spent my time on the cell phone calling Family and Friends; they just don’t just talk for a little bit! I did a few chores around the house, and went for a visit to Stoney’s for a visit.
I was going to go for my evening walk but gusts from winds and some rain clouds rolled in and I decided not to. It didn’t rain but it sure looked like it!
I messed around online doing 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 06- did my stretches and ran two miles.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 74 and 98 degrees, winds W-SW at 3 to 14 MPH, humidity around 37 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Labor Day: Sunny and hot, with a high near 96. Calm wind becoming south southeast between 5 and 8 mph. Monday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 71. West southwest wind between 5 and 13 mph.”
Well it looks to be cooling down a little now. The air is crisp and without the smoke from the LA county fires. It was a beautiful day! Nice weather for walks, hikes, and bicycle rides. I spent some of the day outside watering my plants.
A neighbor, Ron Monastero, came to my home for an evening walk. We ended up over in front of Ron’s house when another neighbor, Adrian on his own evening walk, joined us. The Sun had set and dark silhouettes of birds against the graying sky winged their way overhead going home to roost. We talked as darkness closed in and stars emerged where they were previously hidden from the Sun’s glare. It ended up being a beautiful perfect day!
I made pancakes and eggs for dinner, yum!
I watched “Mystery: Inspector Lewis” on PBS. I found it hard to follow because of the British accents and it had so many twists and turns that the plot flew right over my head to crash and burn in a pile of smoldering wreckage. But they did catch the murderer in the end!
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.
Labor Day- did my stretches, lifted weights, and rode my bike.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 73 and 97 degrees, winds W-SW at 4 to 12 MPH, humidity around 35 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Tuesday: Sunny and hot, with a high near 97. Calm wind becoming southeast between 5 and 8 mph. Tuesday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 70. South southwest wind between 5 and 11 mph.”
Well it’s Labor Day and I decided not to do any! I kicked back mindlessly surfing the web, reading astronomy, and yakking on the phone. I went for my evening walk, too.
I watched three episodes of “Castle” on ABC. Two of them I saw before and one was new to me. I really like this show and just recognized that Richard Castle, Nathan Fillion, played Captain Malcolm 'Mal' Reynolds on my beloved “Firefly”!
I did my stretches and went for a night run, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.
Tuesday 08- did my stretches and ran a mile.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 74 and 95 degrees, winds S-SE at 3 to 10 MPH, humidity around 25 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Wednesday: Sunny and hot, with a high near 96. Calm wind becoming south southeast between 5 and 8 mph. Wednesday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 72. South wind 5 to 10 mph becoming west.”
I had the most amazing day! First I went with Mat to dig a hole. He had to pick up a pole to lie in the hole over at Don and Dave’s. I found out that this is where the buffalos Chief, Buffy, and Sally are being kept. These are the buffalos that I took care of over at my neighbor Scott’s house before he moved to Lancaster several years ago. Chief was distracted by a couple of new females over in the next pin and didn’t pay me much attention, so I went over where Sally was and she came right up to me and gave my hand a good licking- buffalos have sandpaper tongs! I was so happy to see them that I forgot to get my camera out of the truck. Now that I know where they are I will pay them a visit soon.
We stopped off at the liquor store by the DMV in Twentynine Palms to get hoagie sandwiches that were humungous- I only ate half and finished off the other half for dinner. Then on to the place to dig a four foot deep hole, stick the pole into it, and fill it with cement. The work was done and Mat showed me the old ice house in Twentynine that’s been there since the 20s and is an historical building. He introduced me to the ninety year old lady who runs the thrift store next door. I bet she has many stories about the old days of Twentynine Palms. Maybe one day I’ll stop by for a chat.
I got home a little after 5pm and read some astronomy and went for my evening walk. Then I sat outside waiting for the ISS and Shuttle flyby that would take place at 7:44pm and come out of the southwest with a magnitude of -3.1 which would rival Venus! I called Mac and Ron Dehart up to let them know. Kevin called just before they flew over. He wouldn’t see them from Tucson because of rain clouds. There they were in the sky right on time! It looked to me as if the Shuttle had departed the ISS and the separation grew as they came overhead. Wow what a sight! I had them in the telescope for a bit but decided to just use the binoculars. As I described the flyby to Kevin I thought to myself that there are bags of water just like me aboard enclosed in cylinders under pressure in orbit around our planet! The night wasn’t done yet! As I was looking out towards Cygnus in the Milky Way I saw seven satellites within an hour until the Moon popped up to wash away the stars. That was more than I’ve ever seen in one sitting. Some nights I only see one or maybe two, and sometimes not a one. This was a magical night for me!
The phone rang as I was putting everything away; it was Chris Wagner calling from Thailand to say hi. We yapped for some forty minutes getting up to date on events in our lives.
I did my stretches and lifted weights, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.
Wednesday 09- did my stretches.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 75 and 101 degrees, slight breeze, humidity around 31 percent, clear skies except for a few Cumulus humilis: "fair weather” clouds. Every time I have to write Cumulus Humilis it cracks me up it sound so funny!
According to the National Weather Service: “Thursday: Sunny and hot, with a high near 99. Calm wind becoming east between 4 and 7 mph.
Thursday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 74. North northwest wind between 5 and 9 mph.”
I needed to go to the post office in Joshua Tree to pick up the astronomy book I had ordered from Amazon and also mail out a birthday card. On the way back I picked up a gnarly bearded hitchhiker. He was walking to Landers for a job interview and was happy to get the ride. I don’t usually pick up hitchhikers but he looked harmless. His name was Tommy and lived in the area for over twenty years and had recently lost his wife, he said. I took him past my turnoff a few miles to Richie Road where he would have less of a walk and a better chance to get another ride to his destination. I’d take him all the way but the price of gas being $3.19 a gallon, I said, was just too much for me. He said he wouldn’t have a problem getting another ride because he is well known in Landers, and thanked me kindly for the ride. I wished him luck and made my way back down the road.
I stopped off at Mac’s so we could checkout the CB radios I had brought with me. We tried hunting for his antenna mount for his CB but it wasn’t to be found. We tested the two of mine and only the handheld one worked, dang! Our idea for setting up a CB communication between our homes isn’t going so well and we may have to rethink it a little.
I went on over to Stoney’s to drop his mail off that I collected for him yesterday. He was in the clock shop making a new bushing that a gear rides on. I guess they wear out after a hundred years or so. He quit and we went into the house and I stayed for a spell taking about his health; he had a heart fibrillation that the doctor down here missed and the doctor up by his daughter’s found right off and said that a first year med student would have found. I told him it’s time to find a new doctor in town and he agreed.
The astronomy book came with a CD and when I got back home loaded it up on the MacBook only to find that I needed to download six other programs: Realplayer, WMP9, Stuffit to expand WMP9, Live Math, and Chine to make the dang audio visual thing work. Found out that Chine only has downloads for Windows! Okay, I’ll load it all on my XP laptop tomorrow. The book is really impressive and goes into a lot more detail than my book I had for my astronomy class back in the late 80s. So now I have the book, the lectures from Professor Bloom at UC Berkeley that I’ve been listening to for some time now, and the audio visual! I’m all set to go! This is where I want to focus.
I went for my evening walk and then started reading a new book “Arctic Drift” that I bought for a buck at the library today. The Librarian almost didn’t sell it to me because she thought it was too new, but I told her that I got it off the for sale table of used books. She went to check it out and came back to say that it wasn’t in their system and sold it to me, cool!
I did my stretches and went for a night run. I practiced my guitar and broke a string as I was really getting into it; I’ll replace it tomorrow. I wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.
Thursday 10- did my stretches, lifted weights, and rode my bike.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 76 and 102 degrees, slight breeze, humidity around 29 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Friday: Mostly sunny and hot, with a high near 102. North northwest wind between 7 and 10 mph. Friday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 74. North northeast wind 5 to 7 mph becoming west southwest.”
I helped Mat out today. I went over to his house around noon after I stopped off at Ginger’s place just down the road a little. She had her son and his friend building a fence that will run along Winters Road; that’s the road on which I live. Mat was working on the door we’re going to hang in Twentynine Palms and we didn’t get out of there for over an hour. Then we had to pick up a friend of his that needed a ride to his classes at Copper Mountain Community College. His name was Michael and he is partially blind by an operation for sleep apnea that had gone very bad. Plus the Arabic doctor left the country soon afterwards! Michael plays the guitar and I had a nice little chat with him as we drove down the road.
Mat noticed that his back windshield was cracked by a rock that was thrown up from the trailer we were hauling. So we had to drive all the way down to Yucca Valley to setup an appointment to get it fixed. Back on our way to Twentynine we stopped at Home Depot to get some bolts to hang the door.
We finally arrived at our destination and had to straighten the building by rapping a chain around the top of it, hook it up to a wrench, and pull the building level. Then we cut boards that we screwed and bolted to hold it straight and centered. We finally got the door hung and a latch for a lock in place just after sunset. We then stopped to get dinner at Laura’s Café; a little place just off the main road that I first thought was someone’s home. We had onion rings and an assortment of chicken wings that were mighty good.
I got home just before 9pm to watch “Fringe” on Fox; a rerun that had Lenard Nemoy as Doctor William Bell.
I did my stretches. I fixed the string on my guitar I had broken last night; my friend Ron Dehart says that I play like a Neanderthal! And I practiced for a while, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.
Friday 11- did my stretches and ran a mile.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 78 and 104 degrees, slight breeze, humidity around 39 percent, some clouds.
According to the National Weather Service: “Saturday: Mostly sunny and hot, with a high near 100. North northwest wind between 5 and 10 mph. Saturday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 74. West southwest wind 18 to 21 mph decreasing to between 7 and 10 mph. Winds could gust as high as 29 mph.”
I helped Mat out again today. On our way to the worksite we stopped to get some sandwiches over at the Indian Cove Market. The market has been there for about a year and I didn’t even know that it existed. The sandwich girl, I think Amy was her name, was very nice and made a fine sub. I talked to her and found that she is taking classes over at the college to become a nursing assistant.
We got to the worksite and strung some electric cables to the shed, filled in some concrete where it was missing from the entrance way, and cleaned up the surrounding area of the mess we made over the last two days. It got hot and muggy and I was ready to go home to rest when we finally got it all done around 5pm.
When I got home I just went and laid down in my bed for a little nap. Rested, I got up and went for my evening walk. I was still tired and mindlessly surf the web for a while. Then I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, updated the Copper Mountain Mesa Website and sent out the news letter, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.
Saturday 12- did my stretches, lifted weights, and rode my bike.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 79 and 105 degrees, slight breeze, humidity around 26 percent, some clouds.
According to the National Weather Service: “Sunday: Sunny, with a high near 95. Calm wind becoming south between 12 and 15 mph. Winds could gust as high as 22 mph. Sunday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 68. West southwest wind 17 to 20 mph decreasing to between 7 and 10 mph. Winds could gust as high as 28 mph.”
I mostly rested today after a grueling week of hard work. I called Friends and Family and messed around with my computers.
Kath called asking me to fix her computer and she brought it over a few hours later; I’ll give it a look-see tomorrow.
I went over to Stoney’s for dinner. He cooked up some beans and rice that was mighty good. We watched “Unforgiven” (1992) one of my favorite all time westerns starring Clint Eastwood, Morgan Freeman, and Gene Hackman. The movie was interrupted by many car commercials especially at the end; I won’t ever get interested in car commercials until they get rid of the internal combustion engine!
I got home around 9pm and sat out under the stars for a while. I saw two satellites cross paths in my binoculars! It was the second time that has ever happened. The first time was last Tuesday when I saw seven satellites in one hour.
I read a few chapters of “Arctic Drift” by Clive Cussler. Then I did my stretches and went for a night run, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.
Sunday 13- did my stretches.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 76 and 100 degrees, W-SW 3 to 18, humidity around 39 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Monday: Sunny, with a high near 91. Northwest wind 5 to 9 mph becoming south southwest. Monday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 64. West wind between 8 and 15 mph, with gusts as high as 21 mph.”
It was a kick back kind of day for me; hey it’s Sunday!
I worked on Kath’s laptop computer and found that it didn’t have the Service Pack for Vista on it. I installed that and a few other updates it needed. Her laptop seems to be working fine now. I also updated the anti-virus that was way behind in its updates. Tomorrow I’ll do some house cleaning and backup her files.
I went for my evening walk and then settled in for a night of reading “Arctic Drift” by Clive Cussler. Then I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.
Monday 14- did my stretches and ran two miles.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 71 and 94 degrees, W-SW 8 to 10, humidity around 32 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Tuesday: Sunny, with a high near 92. West northwest wind between 5 and 8 mph becoming calm. Tuesday Night: Clear, with a low around 67. Southwest wind between 5 and 8 mph becoming calm. ”
I worked on Kath’s laptop computer again today; it needed Service Pack for Vista downloaded and installed. I defraged of her hard drive and ran Windows Defender that didn’t find any problems. I still need to backup her documents.
Mat called needing me to drive one of his trucks down to the window repair shop and drop it off and he’d pick me up with his other truck and take me back home. I told him I’d have to call Stoney who was waiting for a UPS delivery and I’d promised to cover for him while he went to get some blood work done at the hospital. Stoney said that would be okay and I was able to help Mat out. Mat and I were just getting back from dropping his truck off and driving into Stoney’s driveway, when Stoney called on my cell phone to say he had gotten his UPS delivery. So I had Mat drive me home.
I started reading a few chapters of “Arctic Drift” by Clive Cussler. Then I went over to Stoney’s for dinner to finish off the beans and rice he cooked up on Saturday.
I continued reading “Arctic Drift” and finished it around 1am and then I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.
Tuesday 15- did my stretches, lifted weights, and rode my bike.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 70 and 96 degrees, light breeze, humidity around 37 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Wednesday: Sunny, with a high near 92. West northwest wind around 7 mph. Wednesday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 69. Southeast wind at 9 mph becoming west.”
I wrote my column for the newspaper and sent it to them. I spent about an hour trying to figure out how I was going to hookup my composting toilet in the bathroom; I still don’t have any idea where to put the exhaust pipe but I am a little closer to getting it done.
I finished up Kath’s laptop doing a few tweaks, installed Google browser, and backup her documents to a thumb drive. All done with it and she’ll pick it up tonight.
I’ve been using the Google Chrome browser for a week now since Firefox bogged down my system and Gmail would hardly load or hang when it did load. I tried a reinstall of Firefox without the addons on two of my Netbooks: a Dell Mini 9 and a HP Mini Note 1000- both have SSD (solid state drive) flash drives, and both have this problem. My other laptop that has a regular hard drive doesn’t have that trouble. So I think that the SSD may be the problem. But Google Chrome and IE 8 run Gmail just fine. I like Firefox very much because of the addons, but I must get my work done and it just ain’t doing it for me. There is one problem with Google Chrome and that is I get a popup form my system telling me that it’s upping my virtual memory because it is too low, and that never happened before with Firefox. Internet Explorer 8 is too dang slow, crashes a lot, and is mostly worthless, and that’s on all my computers so I try not to use it! I like Google Chrome except that it doesn’t have a Google Toolbar and you can’t get one for it; go figure!
I went over to Mac’s for dinner. He cooked up something in the crock pot that was excellent but I don’t really know what it was and was afraid to ask. We sat around and jawed about the thieves in our area.
I went for my evening walk and then started installing the software on my Dell Mini 9 that came with my astronomy book. After a few hours I was successful but unfortunately I have to run it on Internet Explorer, double dang! About that time Kath came over to collect her laptop, I showed her what I did, and she went away a happy customer.
I went outside for a while with my binoculars and was just sitting down when a car passed by and got a flat tire. I heard it flop, flop, flopping down the road. They just kept driving on it and I watched till they disappeared down the road. Then I trained my binoculars on the heavens above.
I did my stretches and went for a night run, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.
Wednesday 16- did my stretches and ran a mile.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 72 and 98 degrees, light breeze, humidity around 24 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Thursday: Sunny and hot, with a high near 96. Northwest wind around 6 mph becoming calm. Thursday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 70. Northeast wind at 9 mph becoming west southwest.”
I was running out of yogurt and had to make a run down to Stater Bros in Twentynine Palms. While I was there I stocked up on most everything else except perishables that would carry me through winter. I know it sounds weird getting ready for winter when it’s only September but I’ve been doing it for years. I think it has something to do when I got out of the Army during a recession in the early 70s and couldn’t find a job. I lived for a while in my 1957 Ford station wagon and was trying to go to college at the time. I remember sitting on the tailgate just before class with my stomach aching for want of food. My diet then consisted of eating peanut butter and crackers. I finally had to quit college and that really sucked. I hate to admit it but I panhandled to get money to eat! Those were some very hard times for me. It took a while and a few jobs in between but I did go back to college some 14 years later and graduated with honors. Funny thing is that I still eat peanut butter and crackers most every day!
I went for my evening walk and then went over to Stoney’s for some fried chicken and jawed with him for a spell.
I didn’t feel like doing much so I surfed the TV for something to watch; there was nothing really on that held my interest.
I did my stretches, lifted weights, and went for a night run, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.
Thursday 17- did my stretches; rest day!
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 75 and 100 degrees, light breeze, humidity around 22 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Friday: Sunny and hot, with a high near 97. Calm wind becoming east southeast between 6 and 9 mph. Friday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 71. Southeast wind 6 to 8 mph becoming west southwest.”
My friend Seimi came by so that I may have a look-see at his computer and find out why it wasn’t working right. It turned out to be a bad keyboard. Seimi is a newbie when it comes to computers and I showed him a few things like how to start a browser to get online and a little about editing a Word document and saving it. I even got him an email address and showed him how to send an email. He may be interested in one of my laptops so I showed him a few. Then Seimi helped me dig and cement a pole for my new gate into the ground. I still have to get fittings that hang the gate on the poles but that is for another day.
I went over to Stoney’s to help him finish off the last of the fried chicken, yum!
I went on my evening walk, talked to Kevin for an hour, then bided my time until “Fringe” season premier came on Fox. I still think that the “Mad Scientist” makes the show for me but I’m beginning to also like the other characters now. In my opinion it’s the best dang Scifi show on regular broadcast television.
I did my stretches and sat outside for a spell just looking at the night sky with my binoculars. Then I practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.
Friday 18- did my stretches and ran two miles.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 78 and 102 degrees, light breeze, humidity around 21 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Saturday: Sunny and hot, with a high near 99. West northwest wind at 8 mph becoming east. Saturday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 71. West southwest wind between 7 and 16 mph, with gusts as high as 22 mph.”
Seimi came by to help me put in the other fencepost for my front gate. He also had two of the four fittings we need to hang the fence. Well we had to take out the old wooden fence post out first which was a chore in and of its self. We used the same hole to put in the new metal pole and then cemented it in after getting it aligned just perfect. It was pretty hot outside so when we were done we sat in the shade with the overhead fan on, drank cold water, and jawed for a spell.
I did some webwork until it was time for my evening walk and continued it when I got back. I updated the Copper Mountain Mesa Website and sent out the Newsletter.
I watched a rerun of “Numb3rs” on CBS. It was the season finale where Anita gets kidnapped by a lunatic Manson type family. 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.
Saturday 19- did my stretches, lifted weights, and rode my bike.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 77 and 101 degrees, light breeze, humidity around 31 percent, A few clouds.
According to the National Weather Service: “Sunday: Sunny and hot, with a high near 99. West wind between 4 and 7 mph becoming calm. Sunday Night: Clear, with a low around 70. West wind around 8 mph.”
Ruth Denison called leaving a frantic message on my answering machine telling me that she had lost a document she worked on for a straight seven hours and needed me to come over to find it. I drove the Gross Polluter over to have a look-see but on the way I noticed that Ginger was on her property and stopped by for a chat. She now has the flush toilet working!
After I got to Ruth’s and did a little searching I was able to retrieve her document and she was mighty happy about that. I’ve been meaning to put a MS Works 9 on her laptop and decided this was the opportune time to do it. I found out that it needed Service Pak2 to install. I had Service Pak3 with me and installed that and Works and briefly showed her how to use it before she was called away to the monastery to give a lecture of some sort. I finished up and went on back home.
I got a call from a dear friend of mine, Terry Watson. She lives in Virginia after she left our area about five years ago. To my surprise she is in Joshua Tree visiting friends! We arranged for her, Joyce Ware, and I to have lunch this coming Tuesday at the Sizzler in Yucca Valley! It will be good to see my old friend!
Stoney called saying him and Roger Smith are about to eat some spaghetti he cooked and I’d better get my butt on over before it was all gone. It was mighty good! The best he ever made and there is still plenty left for dinner tomorrow. I had to leave early because I got a call from Ginger telling me her truck battery had died and needs a jump. I gave her a jump, she drove away with her kids, and I went home to take a short nap.
Seimi came by with the rest of the fitting for the front gate. We got it hung and working nicely! We then went into my house where I had to show him how to get online again. I am very grateful for his help on the front gate!
I read a little astronomy and spent most of the night outside stargazing with my binoculars. I was mostly interested in the Constellation Cepheus and the surrounding stars. One star is Delta Cephei a variable star that has a constant change in brightness every five and a third days. This star lends its name to the class of Cepheid variables that were important in determining the size of our galaxy and the distance to the Andromeda Galaxy by Edwin Hubble in 1924 who found cepheids in that galaxy and ended the planetary nebula vs. island universe debate; before Hubble it was believed that these galaxies were where solar systems were being formed in our own Milky Way Galaxy and Hubble showed that the Andromeda Galaxy was two million light years away; I believe Astronomers have refined that to 2.4 million light years. I think I’ll keep an eye on Delta Cephei for the next few night!
I did my stretches and went for a night run, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.
Sunday 20- did my stretches.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 76 and 98 degrees, light breeze, humidity around 39 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Monday: Sunny and hot, with a high near 98. Calm wind becoming east between 5 and 8 mph. Monday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 69. Northeast wind around 6 mph becoming calm.”
I got in the Gross Polluter to make the drive down to the post office only to remember that it is Sunday! Oops! Sometimes I get my days mixed up. So I stopped off at Joel’s house to help him with a computer problem that I had promised to take care of last week. With that out of the way I went home and dismantled the old wooden gate that was replaced by my new gate. It looks pretty cool and a lot lighter than the old gate which gave me splinters when I opened it.
I went over to Stoney’s to dine on the leftover spaghetti with him and Roger. Got there at 4pm and stayed until 6pm jawing and swapping stories. Stoney told us a tale of when he was very young. He and his friends would steal watermelons from a farmer by the river. Onetime they were eating watermelon and one of his friends jokingly yelled out “here comes the farmer” and all the kids ran scared. Mad at finding out that it was all a joke, Stoney went back to retrieve his knife that he hastily left where they had been happily eating watermelon. The farmer came out to see what all the ruckus was about and caught Stoney unawares and gave chase with a shotgun. Stoney ran 70 miles an hour (his words) and kept running when he hit the river’s bank that dropped fifteen feet. He was still running in mid air until his feet hit the ground and then continued to run. Stoney says he gave up stealing watermelons from that time on. (Note: I may have written about this tale of Stoney’s before, but it seems he remembers more about what happened and adds to it every time Roger and I hear it)
I got back home to go on my evening walk. Then I did a little webwork until it got dark enough and went outside to do a little stargazing and keeping an eye on Delta Cephei to see if it will brighten; I made up my mind that it is at its low point in brightness because it looks faint compared to the other two stars that form a triangle with it. Kevin called and I explained what I was doing and gave him a short tour of the night’s sky.
I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.
Monday 21- did my stretches.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 74 and 97 degrees, light breeze, humidity around 21 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Tuesday: Sunny, with a high near 93. North wind between 6 and 10 mph. Tuesday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 62. North northwest wind around 9 mph.”
I went outside to finish the dismantling of the old front gate that I hadn’t completed yesterday. I removed every nail, nut and bolt, and staple and collected them in a small tin can. Then when I was done I went over the area with a magnet to be sure that I had them all; don’t want one showing up in my tire!
I went over to Stoney’s for the third day in a row to help him finish off the spaghetti. Old Roger had enough of it and didn’t come over. When we got done eating there was just enough for one more single meal that went into a small container that Stoney can eat later.
I got back home deciding to clean the Gross Polluter; it was so dirty that I had a hard time seeing the road when driving into the setting sun. I took the hose to it and cleaned out the interior. It still looks like a wreck but a clean one!
I went for my evening walk then did some reading of my astronomy book for a spell until it got dark outside. Then I sat looking at the Milky Way and Delta Cephei with my binoculars. Kevin called and we chatted while I was stargazing.
I watched “Castle” season premier about a dead man found in a tree. Then I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.
Welcome to Autumn!- did my stretches.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 70 and 94 degrees, light breeze, humidity around 18 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Wednesday: Sunny, with a high near 93. Calm wind becoming east between 7 and 10 Mph. Wednesday Night: Clear, with a low around 63. Northeast wind around 6 mph becoming calm.”
I jumped into the Gross Polluter and headed down to the Sizzler Restaurant in Yucca Valley to meet my friends Terry Watson and Joyce Ware. Before I got there I made a stop at Home Depot to get some parts for the compost toilet that I later found to be a size too big, dang!
I got to the Sizzler a little early but Joyce was already there and we walked to the front door to wait for Terry. Terry was already there and snuck up on us as I opened the door. We haven’t seen our neighbor Terry since she sold her home and left for Virginia in the autumn of 2005. We all had a round of hugs we were so happy to see each other again! We sat in the Sizzler for six hours swapping stories and catching up on our lives. Joyce gave us some tips on eating at the Sizzler; one was that if you got the salad bar you can also get a baked potato, which we did! I can’t tell you what we all talked about because we covered about everything under the Sun. Terry will be here until next Tuesday and I hope to get together with her before she leaves us again.
On my way back home I stopped off at Bingo and took some pictures for a column I'm going to write for the community center.
I got home after sunset so I didn’t go for my evening walk. I watched the season premiere of “NCIS” and “NCIS Los Angeles”. Afterwards I went outside to check on Delta Cephei and found that it had gotten less bright since last night!
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.
Wednesday 23- did my stretches and ran two miles.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 68 and 93 degrees, light breeze, humidity around 17 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Thursday: Sunny, with a high near 94. Calm wind becoming east northeast around 6 mph. Thursday Night: Clear, with a low around 64. South southwest wind around 6 mph becoming calm.”
I received my order from Amazon for a 32GB SaberTooth-Z 1.8-inch PATA ZIF SSD yesterday at the post office to replace my HP Mini Note 1000 8GB SSD drive. I spent most of the day installing the new drive. I had to take the keyboard off the HP by taking the two screws out of the battery compartment to access the drive and was very careful not to force any of the ZIF (Zero Insertion Force) connectors; they are very small and fragile. On the new drive the chips are on the opposite side than on the old drive so that the first time I tried to connect the ZIF ribbon it was too far to one side. I compared the two drives to find that the ZIF connector is offset and flipped the new drive over and it fit just fine. I put all the connectors back in, inserted the keyboard, screwed the two screws in, and replaced the battery. I turned on the netbook to see if the BIOS recognized the drive; it did! Then I installed XP and drivers. Other programs like Word 2007, browsers, anti-virus, and Windows updates took the better part of the day.
I went for my evening walk and then continued to update the HP Mini Note.
I got a call from Ruth Denison at 10pm saying that her printer doesn’t print and if I could help. Well I decided to just jump in the Gross Polluter and drive on over to have a look-see. For some reason her printer isn’t seeing the black ink cartridge or thinks it’s empty. I took it out, left the color cartridge in so it prints in green now, and told her to get a new black one. She gave me cookies and soup to take home. She’s very sweet!
As soon as I got home I took out my binoculars to check out Delta Cephei and had found that it is brighter tonight than yesterday when it was very dim.
Then I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.
Thursday 24- did my stretches, lifted weights, and rode my bike.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 70 and 98 degrees, light breeze, humidity around 17 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Friday: Sunny, with a high near 95. West northwest wind 5 to 8 mph becoming east. Friday Night: Clear, with a low around 64. Southeast wind around 8 mph becoming west.”
I hurt my thumb making it painful to type, so I’ll make this a short post!
I didn’t do much of anything except water my plants. I did more updates on the HP MiniNote, and then did a little reading of the textbook “Astronomy Today”.
My neighbor Joel came by with my mail and a Carl’s Jr. cheeseburger, yum!
Ron Dehart came over to go on an evening walk with me.
“Flash Forward” a new ABC TV series came on and I think it’s going to be a very decent show. Then I watched “Fringe” on FOX that I like very much. I still say that the Mad Scientist makes the show for me.
I did my stretches and went for a nightly run. I took out the binoculars when I got back and sat for a spell gazing into the depths of the Milky Way; Delta Cephei looks to be getting brighter but it’s hard for me to really judge. Then I practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.
Friday 25- did my stretches.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 69 and 96 degrees, light breeze, humidity around 21 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Saturday: Sunny and hot, with a high near 99. Calm wind becoming east northeast between 4 and 7 mph. Saturday Night: Clear, with a low around 67. Calm wind becoming west around 6 mph.”
Again I will make this post short because of my sore thumb which makes it painful to type.
Just before noon Terry Watson, Joyce Ware, and I drove down to Pizza Hut in Twentynine Palms. Terry is leaving to go back to Virginia next Tuesday and we wanted to be with her before she goes. I took my netbook with me so I could transfer the pictures from my camera I took of us onto a thumbdrive for her to take home. We stayed there at the Hut for over five hours yakking away the time. We all drove back to Joyce’s and yakked there for another hour!
I replied to a post about the Drake Equation from a fellow blogger. It make me reflect on how precious life is, to appreciate that I am alive and want to contribute in some way to its understanding, and wonder why the world is like it is with its wars, murders, and greed when we may be the only intelligent life there is. Maybe if we as a civilization came to realize this fact we wouldn’t destroy ourselves. There’s such a vast universe for us to investigate and explore which makes life worth living!
I watched the season premiere of “Numb3r’s” on CBS, and then did my stretches and went for a nightly run. I took out the binoculars when I got back and checked out Delta Cephei again; it’s definitely brighter tonight. Then I practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.
Saturday 26- did my stretches, lifted weights, and rode my bike.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 71 and 103 degrees, light breeze, humidity around 20 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Sunday: Sunny and hot, with a high near 103. North northwest wind between 3 and 9 mph. Sunday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 68. South southeast wind 8 to 10 mph becoming west.”
I caught the side of my thumbnail on the new gate a few days ago and it ripped into it, ouch! So again I will make this post short because of my sore thumb which makes it painful to type and play my guitar.
I called Family and Friends until it was time to go to potluck. We had pert near twenty hungry folks show up! Karen and Danna brought chicken parmesan that was to die for. Marie baked a carrot cake. Marcie made lasagna. Dorothy cooked up some chili relleno that wasn’t too spicy. Dyane made my favorite lemon truffle and a chicken casserole. Bob and Angela Rainstar visiting from Yucca Mesa brought some London broil. Tim Atzei made a delicious lemon poppy seed cake. Chris whipped up his famous macaroni salad. Rose had her peas and corn. And Bob Seeley’s fruit platter was mighty fine! Oh yes, I brought my barbecued beans. All the food was first-rate! (I’ll fix this up when I write it up in my news column)
On the way back home I stopped off at my neighbor Ginger’s and brought her and her kids some leftovers from potluck.
I went for my evening walk trying to work off all the food I had eaten. I read from the astronomy book “Astronomy Today” for a spell. Then I went outside with my binoculars and called a few friends as I stargazed. Delta Cephei looks about the same as it did last night so I think it may be at its peak.
I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.
Sunday 27- I got a call from Sue a little before 9am telling me that she has a flat tire. I don’t usually answer my calls until after 10am when I wake up but I forgot to turn off the ringer when I went to bed last night. I told her that I’d be down where she was waiting at a café to help. When I got there she was with her friend Mel and I drove them to where her truck was on the side of the road. The spare tire was flat and she didn’t have a jack; some folks just don’t have a clue! I had to drive fifteen miles to Stoney’s to inflate the tire with his compressor and then drive all the way back to her truck. The spare tire had a leak and I put some stop leak in it and told her to drive straight home; that was after I had to give her a jump to get the dang thing started. I then gave Mel a ride to his house and dropped him off. This took three hours before I got home. I told Sue to get an AAA card and not to call me again. It might sound a little harsh but she really has to get it together before she goes driving around without a decent spare tire and no tools to mount it.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 73 and 104 degrees, light breeze, humidity around 19 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Monday: Mostly sunny and hot, with a high near 99. Calm wind becoming south between 10 and 13 mph. Winds could gust as high as 20 mph. Monday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 69. West southwest wind 17 to 20 mph decreasing to between 8 and 11 mph. Winds could gust as high as 30 mph.”
I was just about to start cleaning my house in preparation for a visit tomorrow from Terry when Joan called needing help with her computer. Well most of my plans have been already wasted by helping Sue, so I said to Joan to bring computer over and I’d have a look-see. That took another hour or so and now it was after 2pm. I had promised Karen and Danna that I‘d come by for a short visit and made my way over there. They had rescued some desert turtles from a Los Angeles backyard and I wanted to take some pictures of them. They’re about 18 years old but are really small for their age. Danna told me that they were kept in a small space, weren’t fed properly, and were smaller when he rescued them. They are now doing well living and eating in Karen’s garden.
I went over to Stoney’s to take a shower and yakked with him for a spell. By that time the Sun was getting ready to set and I didn’t even start on my cleaning. So when I got home I did what I could to clean up the place until “60 Minutes” came on CBS; I wanted to watch the story of where all the money went from Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme.
I talked to Kevin for a spell; he has a new lady friend! Then I went outside with the binoculars to checkout Delta Cephei that now appears to be dimmer.
I did my stretches and went for a night run; practiced my guitar; wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night. Of course I’m still up reading and replying to some of my favorite blogs at Live Journal, checking out what’s happening on “Universe Today” and “Lifehacker”. I’m doing this until 3am when I start having trouble keeping my eyes open!
My thumb is better tonight…
Monday 28- did my stretches.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 73 and 101 degrees, NW-SW winds at 4 to 14 MPH, humidity around 21 percent, hazy skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Tuesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 92. Windy, with a west wind 6 to 9 mph increasing to between 33 and 36 mph. Winds could gust as high as 49 mph. Tuesday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 61. Windy, with a west southwest wind 31 to 34 mph decreasing to between 11 and 14 mph. Winds could gust as high as 48 mph.”
Yikes! I have Terry Watson coming over for a visit and I haven’t done much in the way of cleaning my cave!!! I don’t have very many people come to visit. I kind of get freaked out and get into the cleaning mode when I know folks will be coming around. The place is still in a mess from doing the walls and shelves in preparation for the tiles I’ll be laying down in a few weeks. I spent the whole day cleaning until she came over at 2pm. I gave her the grand tour of my home, then we went online to get her boarding pass printed and with that done we sat in the front patio for three hours yakking. I walked her to her car and gave her a big hug and she was gone. I’ll miss her much! Now I can go back to being the care free hermit that I am; leaving my clothes on the floor and dishes in the sink until my next visitor.
I went online to do some webwork and thought about what I was going to write in next Saturday’s column.
I did my stretches and went outside to checkout Delta Cephei that looks dimmer but it’s hard to tell with the Moon being past first quarter washing out the stars.
I watched “Castle” on ABC about two cases that the detectives have a bet on whose going to solve their case first, but it happens that the two cases are related.
I practiced my guitar; my thumb still hurts when I play so I only practiced a few songs. I wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.
Tuesday 29- did my stretches and ran two miles.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 70 and 97 degrees, SW winds at 7 to 18 with gusts up to 35 MPH, humidity around 21 percent, a few altocumulus clouds.
According to the National Weather Service: “Wednesday: Sunny, with a high near 80. Breezy, with a northwest wind between 20 and 25 mph, with gusts as high as 37 mph. Wednesday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 54. Northwest wind between 11 and 16 mph, with gusts as high as 24 mph.”
The wind was really howling when I went for my run this morning, so when I got back I just stayed inside writing out checks for bills to be sent out tomorrow and trying to figure out where to place the wiring in the bathroom before I commit to plastering the walls.
I went over to Mac’s for lunch at 3pm. He concocted some kind of vegetable stew that was plenty hot and I had a five alarm fire in my mouth! I brought my two binoculars over so he could figure out what kind he may buy. We sat for a long spell in his front yard looking at the countryside with them.
I stopped by Stoney’s on the way back and watched part of Cowboys and Indians movie with him.
It was too windy for my evening walk so I read “Astronomy Today” until “NCIS” came on. It’s one of my favorite shows! I read stories over at NCIS Drabble at Live Journal that people makeup based on the characters on NCIS. There is one very talented author, Ami-Ven, I especially like to read. I then watched “NCIS LA” but I can’t to get into the characters. It just seems to be written for thirteen year olds; if I was thirteen I’d probably like it.
I did my stretches and went for a night run; checked out Delta Cephei which appears brighter tonight; 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.
Wednesday 30- did my stretches.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 62 and 84 degrees, NW winds at 6 to 18 MPH, humidity around 28 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Thursday: Sunny, with a high near 79. North wind between 10 and 16 mph, with gusts as high as 23 mph. Thursday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 51. North northwest wind around 9 mph.”
At 1:30 pm I picked up Ron Dehart to go down to the theater in Yucca Valley to see “Surrogates” starring Bruce Willis as a detective who is in hot pursuit of a new weapon that when fired kills the surrogate and its operator. A surrogate is a perfect human looking robot that is controlled remotely by its human operator who lies in bed wired to a device that gives the operator the experience of being in the surrogate’s body and living their lives through the surrogate; kind of like the perfect couch potato! Ron and I both liked the movie and I think it’s a must see!
We stopped off at Radio Shack to pick up a UHF antenna to replace mine that’s completely unfixable. I asked the salesman if there were other cities that didn’t go digital with the DTV like the rest of the nation, and he said there were about 200 cities in California that didn’t. We went to WalMart first but they didn’t have one. WalMart is undergoing a complete remodel and we found it hard finding anything because nothing is where it used to be. The city of Yucca Valley won’t let WalMart build a Superstore so it’s expanding this location. My friend who used to work at WalMart said that they are spending well over two million for the remodel.
When I got home I went for my evening walk just as the wind picked up; it looks to me that cooler weather is on its way. I spent a few hours yakking with friends and doing some webwork.
I did my stretches and went for a night run; took out my binoculars to checkout Delta Cephei which is brighter tonight; practiced my guitar; wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.
Goodbye to the month of September which flew by to quickly!
