December 2009

Welcome to the Month of December! - I did my stretches, ran a mile, lifted weights, and rode my bike.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 41 and 64 degrees, slight breeze, humidity around 26 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Wednesday: Sunny, with a high near 65. Northwest wind around 5 mph becoming calm. Wednesday Night: Clear, with a low around 38. South southwest wind around 5 mph becoming calm.”
Ron Dehart and I went to the theater in Yucca Valley to see “2012”! Before the movie we stopped off at the music shop in Yucca Valley so I could pick up my Herco Gold nylon picks I had ordered a week ago, got gas for the Gross Polluter, and picked up our mail. “2012” had great visual effects of the ground swallowing building, cars, people, and about everything else, cool! You really have to suspend logic and reality to enjoy it and that’s what I did. I could go into all the errors I’ve found with the science but I’ll leave that for others to do. I didn’t cringe like I did when I watched “Armageddon”; probably the worst movie when it comes to getting the science right. I enjoyed “2012” and it kept me entertained and that’s what counts sometimes.
The Sun had already begun to set when we left the theater and I drove Ron home and then stopped over to Stoney’s. He had cooked up some beans with the bone from the Thanksgiving ham and we sat down to eat a couple of bowls of it. I helped him again with his online prescription drugs.
I watched “My Name is Earl” and “NCIS” which was a rerun. I decided to get an early start on the rest of the night so I wouldn’t stay up till 3am: 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 02- I did my stretches and ran two miles.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 38 and 59 degrees, slight breeze, humidity around 28 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Thursday: Sunny, with a high near 62. North northwest wind between 7 and 13 mph. Thursday Night: Clear, with a low around 33. North northwest wind around 6 mph.”
I spent the morning connecting up the woodstove. Now that it sits on the floor instead of the cinder blocks I had to cut a section of stove pipe to make it all fit. Then I did a little cleaning around the house that I’ve been putting off because of the work I did moving stuff around to lay the tile.
I went over to Stoney’s for a quick lunch and helped him with the online meds again. We couldn’t find one of the prescriptions online that had the same ingredients as the one that he got from Walgreens. I told him to call his daughter who is the head nurse at some hospital up north and ask her if it would be safe to use one that didn’t exactly match; she called later and said it was okay.
I got back home to go on my evening walk. The weather was quite pleasant all day and I had a nice walk.
I watched “My Name is Earl” and then did webwork the rest of 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- I did my stretches.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 33 and 56 degrees, slight breeze, humidity around 25 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Friday: Sunny, with a high near 54. North northwest wind around 6 mph. Friday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 33. Light and variable wind.”
I spent the day mostly cleaning up the joint putting stuff away, mopping the floor, sorting through stuff that I want to keep or throw away. I’m doing this now because everything is outside and the house is mostly empty now that the new tile floor is in and I don’t want the clutter that I had in there before.
Stoney called to ask me if I’d come on over and wait for delivery of his oxygen, which he needs for breathing, while he goes to his doctor in Yucca Valley. The oxygen guy arrived just as Stoney was leaving so I stayed until he had all the tanks filled.
I got back home and went for my evening walk. It looks to be getting cold tonight, there’s a freeze warning in our area, so I had a chance to test out the woodstove to see if my install of it wouldn’t burn down the house; it worked just fine! Read my astronomy textbook about Kepler’s three laws of planetary orbits. I then watched “My Name is Earl”, “Fastforward”, and then “Fringe”. I watched a little news and boy it looks that Tiger Woods is in some big trouble with his wife. Well at least it’s not another member of congress cheating on their spouse!
I did my stretches; practiced my guitar; wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Friday 04- I did my stretches. Last night I went outside at 2am to see just how cold it was and it was mighty cold indeed: 29 degrees!
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 23 and 51 degrees, slight breeze, humidity around 25 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Saturday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 59. Calm wind becoming southwest between 14 and 17 mph. Winds could gust as high as 25 mph. Saturday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 35. Southwest wind 15 to 18 mph decreasing to between 7 and 10 mph. Winds could gust as high as 28 mph.”
My neighbor Ginger called saying she’s coming over with her horse Princess to bring back the books and DVDs I lent her son Dakota. I did my exercises really fast, got dressed and went down the street to meet her. I brought a carrot for the horse and I showed Ginger my new tile floor; I’m mighty proud of that floor!
I decided that I better get things ready for the cold weather and possible rain or snow storms that may be coming next week so I watered the plants with some Miracle Grow, moved some plants into the shelter of my patio and cut a whole bunch of wood for my woodstove; I filled a whole wheelbarrow.
When I was done cutting wood I went back inside to find a message on my answering machine: My friend who lives down the street is in the hospital in Palm Springs. He had a massive brain hemorrhage and is on life support. They are waiting for all his family members to arrive before they disconnect the life support, dang! His wife left the message and was understandably traumatized and after I listened to the message my hand holding the phone was shaking. She wanted me to notify his friends here about the situation, and I did. I had to stop over to Stoney’s to tell him because his phone was busy. I called other folks, too. I will write more on this and his name later, but all those who need to know, now know.
I went on my evening walk thinking on the whole situation; who else I should to call, what I need to write about him in my column, his grieving family, and about how fragile and precious life is.
To take my mind off of this I made pancakes and eggs for dinner and watched “My Name is Earl”. Seimi called to say he went down to the hospital and filled me in on what had taken place; we talked for quite a long time. I called Judy Ruggles; she is a great help in making me forget the present. Then I updated the Copper Mountain Mesa Website and sent out the Newsletter.
I watched “Numb3rs” on CBS about a bank heist that had some of JB Cooper lost money in the bags of cash recovered.
I did my stretches; practiced my guitar; wrote to my journal; posted it to the web, and called it a night.
I only hope that a miracle somehow saves my dear Friend!

Saturday 05- I did my stretches, ran a mile, lifted weights, and rode my bike.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 29 and 51 degrees, W-SE winds of 7 to 18 MPH, humidity around 29 percent, partly cloudy skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Sunday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 53. South southwest wind between 6 and 16 mph, with gusts as high as 23 mph. Sunday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 40. Southwest wind between 18 and 21 mph, with gusts as high as 31 mph.”
I called Stoney up and he told me that Sherry had dropped by to tell him that our friend and neighbor Lee Hines had passed away on Friday evening at 5:45PM. The hospital didn’t disconnect the life support; Lee just went on his own with his Family close by. It’s such a sad day for our little community. I got cleaned up and made my way over for a visit to Lee’s wife Marcie and paid my respects. She was understandably very distraught over Lee’s passing. I told her if there was anything she needed that the community was there to help her. We sat and reminisced for a spell. There will be a memorial potluck held at 1pm next Saturday the 12th to celebrate Lee’s life. I promised to get the word out.
I drove over to Stoney’s and we talked about Lee and how we will miss him and his crazy jokes he’d come up with. Stoney will be going to the memorial along with other folks I later called.
I got back home and went on my evening walk. I called and talked to family and friends during the day. It was cold and windy outside and I decided to watch “The Day After Tomorrow” like I do once a year on cold and windy nights. It helped take my mind off the events of the last few days.
I did my stretches; practiced my guitar; wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Sunday 06- I did my stretches and ran two miles; it was a cold breezy run!
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 32 and 53 degrees, NW-W winds of 9 to 22 MPH, humidity around 41 percent, partly cloudy skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Monday: Rain. High near 49. South southwest wind 8 to 11 mph increasing to between 18 and 21 mph. Winds could gust as high as 31 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. Monday Night: Rain. Low around 38. Breezy, with a south wind 26 to 29 mph becoming west 16 to 19 mph. Winds could gust as high as 43 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%.”
I didn’t sleep all that great on Friday night so it finally caught up with me last night when I went to bed at 2:30am and awoke at noon! Well that’s okay because I guess my body needed the sleep. I did a few things around the house and called a few friends.
I went over to Stoney’s where he and Roger were sitting in the warmth of the house yakking away. I joined in on the yakking for a spell until Stoney’s son Jimmy called. Roger and I decided to go on over to his house where he showed me an old Compaq Presario desktop computer running XP he was given from a friend. It doesn’t have a modem for dialup but he has one to stick in that doesn’t have any software drivers. I told him I’d go online and see if I could find them. I went back over to Stoney’s and yap with him for a while.
I got home just in time to watch “60 Minutes” that was about: a private school in Harland that is trying to send all its young students to college; and a NBA referee that betted on games that he was participating in until the mob came in wanting some of the action. I then did some webwork for a while.
I did my stretches; practiced my guitar; wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Pearl Harbor Day- I did my stretches, lifted weights, rode my bike and then it started to rain! The rain was coming down quite steadily all day until about 6pm when the wind started to blow real hard all night!
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 34 and 53 degrees, NW-W winds of 25 to 44 with gusts over 50 MPH, humidity around 60 percent, low stratus clouds blanketing the sky with lots of rain.
According to the National Weather Service: “Tuesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 45. West wind between 14 and 17 mph becoming light. Winds could gust as high as 24 mph. Tuesday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 32. West wind between 3 and 8 mph.”
I stayed inside because of the rain and started to get everything ready to do my Christmas cards. I lost my address book because of my house is in such a mess after putting in the new tile and had to do a search for the dang thing. I finally found a backup I did on the computer and put it altogether but then I discovered that Windows 7 doesn’t have a mail or address program! Who would of thunk! So I put it on another netbook that is running XP and all is good. I downloaded the Mozilla Thunderbird mail program for the Win 7 netbook. I tested Thunderbird out and it wanted to download all 967Megs of emails I have archived on my Gmail account; that will never do, so I set it to work offline until I can figure out a way to just download my inbox. All I was able to do on the cards so far was get the return address on the envelopes.
Because of the wind and rain I didn’t go for my evening walk. I watched “My Name is Earl” but towards the end the channel went out because of the high winds, damn!
I wrote my column for the newspaper and sent out the newsletter early because I wanted to let Lee Hines friends know that there will be a memorial potluck this Saturday at 1pm over at the community center.
I watched “Castle” on ABC but the dang reception kept cutting out but I was able to get the drift of what was going on.
Dang, I’m sitting here writing this at 1am and the house feels like it’s going to blow away! I hear lots of strange banging noises as the wind rips across my home.
I did my stretches; practiced my guitar; wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Tuesday 08- I did my stretches and ran two miles.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 24 and 45 degrees, NW-W winds of 4 to 9 MPH, humidity around 29 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Wednesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 50. North northwest wind between 6 and 8 mph. Wednesday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 33. Northwest wind around 6 mph.”
My neighbor Ginger called to say she has the new “Star Trek” movie from the library and asked if I wanted to borrow it! I jumped in the Gross Polluter and drove right over to pick it up. She said that I looked the type who would like it and I explained to her that I’m a Trekker but not a Trekkie as I don’t wear any costumes or speak Klingon; I just love Star Trek and have watched it since it first came out.
I went over to Stoney’s to see what he was up to and enjoy the warmth of his living room; it’s been mighty cold outside. We yakked about folks that we knew from the past that lived in our little community. Roger Smith also dropped by and added to the conversation.
I got a call from Marcie’s grandson Chris saying he couldn’t get online and if I’d come on over to help him. I found the problem; he was trying to hookup the Ethernet cable when we only have dialup out here! I then sat and chatted with Marcie about Lee’s abrupt passing away. I can only hope that I made her feel better.
I got home in time to go for my evening walk and then watched “My Name is Earl” which looks to be about done and starting to rerun the reruns, so when I’ve seen them all I just quit watching and get into something else like my reading and studies.
I watched the new “Star Trek” movie. Ron Dehart and I seen it at the movies when it first came out but it was worth watching again!
I did my stretches; practiced my guitar; wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Wednesday 09- I did my stretches, ran a mile, lifted weights, and rode my bike. It was sunny but cold outside.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 28 and 48 degrees, slight breeze, humidity around 34 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Thursday: A 30 percent chance of rain after 4pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 49. Light and variable wind. Thursday Night: A 30 percent chance of rain, mainly before 10pm. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 34. Light south southeast wind.”
I spent most of the morning writing Christmas cards, licking them shut, and sticking stamps onto them. I got my once a year practice of signing my autograph! I got them all done later in the night.
I went over to my friend who’s on vacation to check up on his house while he is away and all was well. Then I stopped over to Stoney’s to take a nice hot shower that warmed me to the core. It felt mighty fine! We watched “Cash Cab” which I like.
I was home for a while when my neighbor Ginger drove up to collect the “Star Trek” movie that she lent me. We sat in her car for a spell; me helping her plan her stable for her horses and how to go about doing her roof when she get the right materials.
I watched “My Name is Earl” then fired up the woodstove to heat a very cold house up and finished doing the Christmas cards.
I did my stretches; practiced my guitar; wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Thursday 10- I did my stretches and ran a mile.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 30 and 50 degrees, slight breeze, humidity around 34 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Friday: A 30 percent chance of rain, mainly before 10am. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 51. Calm wind becoming south southeast around 5 mph. Friday Night: A 20 percent chance of rain. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 40. South wind between 3 and 6 mph.”
I decided to go to town today and send out my Christmas cards, also to do a little shopping. I was just about to leave the house when Stoney call needing a postage stamp. I told him I had one and would stop by and even mail it for him. That’s when I couldn’t find my sunglasses; I had them on just before Stoney’s call. I looked everywhere but couldn’t find them.
I checked my mailbox on the way and the Windows 7 I ordered for My Dell Mini 9 from eBay was there. Cool! Now I’ll have something to do on what looks like a rainy weekend coming up. I went to WalMart to get some seed for the birds that hang out by my cement pond. I’ve been feeding them bread crumbs and thought seeds would be better for them. I also bought a weight scale and a food chopper thingy. I stopped off at Stater Bros to get some food supplies, and then over to Home Depot to see how much an electric tankless water heater would cost: about $130-900. I think the $130 will work just fine! Now I have to see if my generator will handle 1500 Watts.
I went right over to Stoney’s to share some fried chicken I bought at Staters. Stoney wanted to see the weight scale I got from WalMart so I opened the box, set the scale on the floor, looked down to see my weight, and saw my sunglasses I couldn’t find earlier dangling from my shirt collar! I went throughout the day with them just hanging there, duh!
I got back home in time to watch “My Name is Earl”. I was going to watch “Fastforward” but it was a rerun so I turned off the TV until “Fringe” came on. Some years ago someone had taken parts of the Mad Scientist’s brain that had to do with opening a portal. And now they wanted to connect them back up.
I did my stretches; practiced my guitar; wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Friday 11- I did my stretches, ran a mile, lifted weights, and rode my bike.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 36 and 54 degrees, slight breeze, humidity around 47 percent, clear skies. Where is that rain that was supposed to come in this evening?
According to the National Weather Service: “Saturday: A 30 percent chance of rain, mainly before 10am. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 56. South southwest wind between 6 and 15 mph, with gusts as high as 21 mph. Saturday Night: A 40 percent chance of rain, mainly before 4am. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 45. South southwest wind between 16 and 20 mph, with gusts as high as 28 mph.”
I did the update to the Copper Mountain Mesa Website and sent out the Newsletter. There was a problem about the time of the memorial tomorrow. Mary Helen told me it started at 1pm, Marcie told me it was at 2pm, so I split the difference and made it 1:30pm; I hope that works.
Stoney called to tell me that he is still having that ringing problem with his phone that we requested the phone company to fix last November. I went over to his house and called them up asking why it wasn’t fixed. The rep said “there will be a repair person out on the 16th of this month to fix it.” I told her that “he is a ninety year old man who needs his phone working and that they have failed to fix it on two different occasions.” She said “the last repair person couldn’t find the place and couldn’t contact Stoney to get directions or leave a message.” I told her “of course he couldn’t because his dang phone doesn’t work.” She said “you don’t have to yell at me!” I told her “I’m not yelling I am just upset that the phone company doesn’t give a damn about us folks out here. We have nothing but problems and your company doesn’t want to invest in any new equipment and just switches a faulty phone over to another failing switch.” We ended the call on that note and I called a number on a card that one of the repair guys left and left a message telling him of the problem and if he can make sure that whoever comes out on the 16th knows where Stoney lives. After all this I finally talked Stoney into getting a cell phone; we’ve been trying to convince him to do this for several years now. Now if I can convince him into getting an AAA towing card so he doesn’t have to change a tire when it gets flat or can get a tow if his car engine dies I’d feel mighty good.
Stoney had just baked four sweet potato pies! Two of them will go to the memorial tomorrow and two are for us to eat. I had a big slice of one and it was dang good!
I went for my evening walk and then watched “My Name is Earl”. When that was over I read a chapter in the astronomy textbook as I installed Windows 7 on my Dell Mini 9 netbook which took several hours to complete.
“Numb3rs” was a rerun so I didn’t watch it and instead did my stretches; practiced my guitar; wrote to my journal; posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Saturday 12- I did my stretches.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 43 and 56 degrees, slight breeze, humidity around 49 percent, cloudy skies; there was a rain here and there.
According to the National Weather Service: “Sunday: A 30 percent chance of rain, mainly before 10am. Cloudy, then gradually becoming mostly sunny, with a high near 56. West northwest wind between 17 and 21 mph, with gusts as high as 29 mph. Sunday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 37. West southwest wind around 7 mph.”
Stoney called to say that the repair guy came out this morning and fixed his phone! I guess that all my complaining to the phone company yesterday did some good after all!!!
I cooked up some sweet potatoes from my secret recipe and headed down to the memorial being held at the Community Center in honor of Lee Hines who passed away a week ago Friday. My God there must have been over a hundred folks showing up to pay their respects to Lee. His Family from all over the nation showed and so did many of his friends from our area and beyond. We were told that Bob Seeley couldn’t come because he had been taken to the hospital yesterday and we all wished him well. There was a Pastor who knew Lee for many years who led everyone in prayer. The Pastor’s son sang a song and then asked if anyone wanted to speak. Marcie’s son Paul got up and said how Lee guided him and changed his life, Seimi got up and gave a heartfelt speech but couldn’t finish it, Rose talked about getting Lee to go to bingo and how he would say “Rose can you see me now?” every time before bingo started and Rose ended her talk to us with “Lee can you see us now?”, Lee’s daughter told us about growing up with her father; many of us were moved to tears. Then the Pastor’s son led us in the song “Amazing Grace” that sounded pretty good with us all singing. The Pastor said a few more words, led us in another prayer, and then said it was time to eat. There was tons of food and all of it was mighty good; Lee would have loved it! I’m usually the last in line because I’m the one taking pictures but Sherry who was in the head of the line waved me over, gave me a plate and said I could get my food now and take the pictures later. So I got my plate filled, took it back to the table, and started taking pictures again. Lee’s son-in-law got to the memorial later after the food was being served because he had gotten lost. He got up in front with the mike and told us how many years ago Lee rode his motorbike like a rebel- being influenced by James Dean, how Lee helped him with his sign business, and always helping other folks out; tears started flowing again. We all sat around talking for a long spell and it was nearing five o’clock and folks were starting to leave. Lee’s family remained at the center after everyone else left. What a fantastic bunch of folks we have in our little community!
I got back home and watched “Lord of War” (2005) starring Nicolas Cage, about an illegal arms dealer who sells guns to third world countries and is good at it. This movie cries out at you to do something to stop this senseless killing, but just what I can do about it I do not know, yet. This movie makes you think and it is a must see!
I did my stretches and lifted weights; practiced my guitar; wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Sunday 13- I did my stretches and ran two miles.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 37 and 56 degrees, W winds 7-15 MPH , humidity around 37 percent, mostly clear skies with a few altostratus clouds drifting over once in a while.
According to the National Weather Service: “Monday: Sunny, with a high near 54. North northwest wind around 6 mph. Monday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 34. Light and variable wind. ”
I mostly talked to Family and Friends throughout the day. I got a call from Stevie saying that Bob Seeley was out of the hospital and is now at home which is really good news!
I installed MS office and download all the major updates which took quite a while on dialup. As it was updating I made a trip over to Stoney’s to tell him the good news about Seeley being back home. We called Sherry from there to let her know because yesterday she was upset upon hearing that he was in the hospital. I had a slice of sweet potato pie before I left.
I got back just before the Sun had set so I didn’t go for my evening walk. I watched “60 Minutes” on CBS about; growing body parts, an interview with the President, and something about the TV show “The Office” that I wasn’t really interested in so I turned off the TV.
I did a little webwork, did my stretches, and then went outside to watch the Geminid Meteor Shower until 2am in the morning. I counted two to three meteors a minute with a few Earthgrazers thrown in! It was a mighty spectacular show! The sky was dark and clear making the shower the best I’ve seen all year.
I practiced my guitar; wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night; I’m very tired!

Monday 14- I did my stretches, ran a mile, lifted weights, and rode my bike- it was very cold!
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 34 and 57 degrees, NNW winds 7 MPH , humidity around 42 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Tuesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 57. Calm wind becoming southeast around 5 mph. Tuesday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 40. Calm wind.”
I stayed inside doing computer maintenance on a few of my laptops. I did put up the bird feeder I bought a WalMart last week and the birds went crazy over it! Kind of made me feel good deep inside where there seemed to be a void that needed filled!
I went for a nice evening walk. I didn’t go on my usual route and it was a nice change for me.
Stoney picked me up at 6:30pm and we headed over to the community center for the Board meeting. Board members Mary Helen and Steve Tuttle, Katherine Quinn, Annelies Kuiper, and Rob Reese showed up. We talked about many things: what to do with the firehouse now that the county has left and gave us $3474.33 for what was owed us in back taxes that we paid for them on the property over the years, the budget, repair of a leak in the pool room, and members to be added to the Distinguish Member Plaque. Also we will be having our potluck on the 26th, but no Bingo on the 29th or Breakfast in January at the Center! Signup deadline for the Copperettes Christmas Dinner for needy families in our area is Dec. 22. Call Rob Reese to get a certificate at 362-4546. It was a very nice meeting and our first one on the new second Monday of the month schedule.
Stoney dropped me back off at home and I cooked up some potatoes and eggs for dinner. I read some of the astronomy textbook and then I did my stretches, lifted weights, and went for a night run. I watched “Castle” on ABC, it was a rerun but I watched it anyways. I 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 15- I did my stretches and ran two miles.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 40 and 58 degrees, calm winds, humidity around 33 percent, mostly clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Wednesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 62. Calm wind becoming east northeast around 5 mph. Wednesday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 40. West northwest wind between 6 and 9 mph.”
I went to bed around 4am after writing my column, journal, and then reading and commenting on other people’s blogs, and slept till 10:30am. Seems like half the day is already gone when I get up because the Sun sets so early. I will try to go to bed earlier tonight.
J (name withheld) bought a new Dell laptop and brought it over for me to setup for her and walk her through the new system. She doesn’t know that much about computers and has been using older laptops that I have somehow kept running with old parts I have around. Windows 7 will be a little bit of a learning curve for her but I believe that she can do it. I spent a few hours showing her the basics and set it up to go online. She left with the laptop but had to make a trip back because we forgot to put the power supply back in the box with the laptop.
The dang birds ate most of the seed in the feeder and it looks like I might have to get more seed next week. When J came over I showed her the feeder and it was almost full and by the time she left it was almost gone. J told me this is the birds feeding time. I guess my new little friends were mighty hungry.
I went for my evening walk taking the new path again that I went on yesterday. I got back and messed around with my laptop until “My Name is Earl” came on. I love the show but can’t wait till I’ve seen them all so I can start doing other projects I need to get done. I watched “NCIS”, “NCIS Los Angeles” (because I was bored), and then Jay Leno. I usually just tune in to watch his monologue but Christina Applegate was on the show and I think the world of her; watching her grow up as Kelly Bundy on “Married with Children”, becoming a movie star, surviving breast cancer and her charity work. That’s a hell of a lot of TV for me!
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 16- I did my stretches, ran a mile, lifted weights, and rode my bike.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 40 and 61 degrees, calm winds, humidity around 23 percent, mostly clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Thursday: Sunny, with a high near 63. North northwest wind between 9 and 11 mph. Thursday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 41. North northwest wind between 6 and 10 mph.”
Seimi came by with some Vista recovery disks sent to him from an Acer Computer Service Tech in India that he wanted me to load onto his netbook. Somehow Seimi got the language wrong when he setup his computer and it speaks Korean now. I loaded the recovery disk that immediately wiped out the OS and wouldn’t accept the next two disks that were part of the process, dang! It was suppose to be a quick install but for some reason the dang disks that were sent to him were corrupt. I kept trying to reload the disks but it just wasn’t going to happen. So now there isn’t an operating system on his laptop, bummer! I told him I was sorry but there was nothing I could do and to send the laptop back to wherever he bought it and tell them it’s malfunctioning and needs repair. For some reason I never trusted Acer products and now I have confirmation of my suspicions!
J (name withheld) came by with a big bag of seeds for my bird feeder that she bought today and gave it to me as a gift! That was mighty nice of her! Now those little birds can fatten themselves up for the winter; I never knew that these little critters could chow down that much food. She also said that she was able to download all the updates for her new Dell laptop by herself! I knew she could do it and I gave her a big hug!
I went over to Stoney’s to take a nice hot shower and feel human again. Roger Smith came by with a pot of ham and beans that he cooked up in his new crock pot. We ate them all up! We sat around yapping about how alienated we feel in our own country as Congress gives to the rich and takes from the poor; kind of like a reverse Robin Hood if you know what I mean.
The sun had already set when I got home but I decided to go for my evening walk anyways. I watched “My Name is Earl”; read a little from the astronomy textbook while I downloaded a 39Meg update of Avast anti-virus; on dialup it took two hours. I kind of nodded off for a bit and while my mind was drifting here and there I came up with the makings for a new song! I got up and grabbed the guitar and started the process of putting it all together. I called Judy Ruggles to tell her about it.
I did my stretches; practiced my guitar; wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Thursday 17- I did my stretches; just needed a rest today!
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 41 and 61 degrees, NW winds at 6 to 12 MPH, humidity around 29 percent, mostly clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Friday: Sunny, with a high near 63. Northwest wind between 10 and 15 mph, with gusts as high as 21 mph. Friday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 41. North northwest wind around 9 mph.”
I spent the better part of the morning trying to find drivers for the webcam, touchpad, and Bluetooth for the Dell Mini 9 that I installed Windows 7 on. I was only able to get the Win 7 driver for the touchpad and that was for a Dell Mini 12, but it worked! Actually I can do without the Bluetooth and the webcam but they would be nice to have working. I’ll try again some other day.
I drove the six miles down to my mailbox to collect my mail. I found an ant crawling on the seat of the truck and stuck her in an envelope. I then stopped over to Marcie’s house to upload the pictures I took of Lee’s Memorial but she wasn’t home. So I stopped by Stevie Villarreal’s to do the same with the pictures I took of her Thanksgiving Bash but she wasn’t home either, dang! Mat was there though and I yakked with him for a spell. I decided to go on over to Stoney’s but first I made a stop at my house to let the ant out of the envelope so she could go home. Now this may sound totally crazy but that’s what I did.
Over at Stoney’s I updated his Avast anti-virus and uploaded the pictures of Lee’s memorial so he could have a copy. Then we watched a show about White Sharks jumping out of the water to eat seals on the Discovery Channel. They weigh around one ton and to leap totally out of the water they need to be in deep water to start their run and gain speed. I lived on the moorings on a sailboat in Redondo Beach Marina for over twenty years. I used to row women out to my boat before the movie “Jaws” came out, after that I couldn’t get them on the rowboat and my sex life went down the drain; I don’t like sharks!!!
I got home and went for my evening walk and watched “My Name is Earl”. “Fastforward” and “Fringe” were reruns so I just did webwork the rest of the night. I did my stretches; practiced my guitar; wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Friday 18- I did my stretches, ran a mile, lifted weights, and rode my bike.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 41 and 64 degrees, NW winds at 6 to 10 MPH, humidity around 31 percent, mostly clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Saturday: Sunny, with a high near 66. North northwest wind around 9 mph. Saturday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 41. North northeast wind between 3 and 5 mph.”
I got an invite on MySpace from the Sun Runner Magazine to go down to their headquarters in Joshua Tree for their Christmas Open House. They also said that musical performers were welcome. So I thought that this might be the perfect time for me to make my first solo appearance playing and singing some of my original songs. I get really nervous when I have to sing in front of folks and kind of avoid it. But I have to start somewhere and get used to it and see how it goes. Also I wouldn’t know anybody there, which will make it really interesting! So I jumped in the Gross Polluter and headed on down.
I arrived at 1:30. There weren’t that many folks at first so I just played guitar without singing. I met photographer Bill Dahl and writer Cynthia Anderson and chatted with them for a spell. They lived in Santa Barbra and moved up to the Mesa here a few years ago. I was talking to Caryn, a nice lady, about how I do my stretches and she showed me a yoga position that I’ll add to my routine.
A guitarist called Randy showed up and was listening to me play. I told him that these were all my original songs and he asked me to sing a few. I told him my problem about singing in front of folks and he said “just think of them as heads of cabbages.” I said “how about a herd of cows.” He said that would be fine. So I sang my songs and Randy played and harmonized along. He thought my songs were pretty good, so I played some more of them. Then he played some Christmas songs. Before he did he told me that most of them have only three cords, so I played along. The folks there were also singing to them. We played for many hours as other guitarists showed up and played along. One kid called Brian played some nice lead guitar as I played the rhythm; I thought it sounded good! Mark and Joe arrived; Mark playing guitar; Joe playing the mandolin- both were mighty good and I mostly listened but did play along now and then. I was having so much fun that I forgot about the time and saw that it was nearing 7pm and was about to leave when Joe asked me if he could play my guitar. Hey no problem I said. God that guy can really pick a guitar; but he broke one of my strings! He offered to get me a new one but I said not to worry that I could fix it later. I said goodbye to my new found friends who helped me get past my phobia of singing in front of folks. I did mighty well and am mighty grateful to them!
I stopped to get a bean and cheese burrito at Santana’s and headed on over to Stoney’s to see how he was doing. He didn’t want to split the burrito with me because he had already eaten.
I got home around 9pm and called Judy Ruggles to tell her all about my big adventure. Then Ron Dehart called and I told him the same story. I am mighty proud of myself to have finally faced my phobia head on and have won!
I did my stretches; didn’t practice my guitar because of the broken string and my fingers were sore; 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. What a fine day it was!

Saturday 19- I did my stretches and ran two miles.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 41 and 62 degrees, light breeze, humidity around 33 percent, mostly clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Sunday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 64. West wind 5 to 8 mph becoming east. Sunday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 41. South southwest wind 5 to 7 mph becoming west northwest.”
I called a few Friends and Family throughout the day. Mostly I worked in the yard replanting some aloe vera that have overgrown in the pot they were in and it was getting a bit crowded in the pots.
Seimi came buy with a used Toshiba laptop he was given; he was able to return that Acer laptop, that was giving him so much trouble, back to WalMart. I turned it on and the first thing that popped up was that fake virus program that really is a virus unto its self. I told him the best thing to do was reload the operating system with a fresh install; he had the restore disks! About five people called me with computer problems while he was there, so that made him feel better about me working on his laptop after having that bad experience with his Acer laptop. After the new install I started to teach him how to navigate around the desktop and had him play solitaire for a while so he could get a handle of the touchpad; I have found that playing solitaire is the best way to have someone learn how to use a mouse or touchpad. The next time he brings it over I’ll put Service pack 3 on it and Avast anti-virus. I already had taken Norton off his system.
I went over to Stoney’s for a little visit and we watched “National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation” (1989) and it was good to see Stoney laughing at it.
I got back home and restrung my guitar and did a little practice; my fingers are still sore from yesterday’s guitar playing. Then I did some webwork for a spell. I did my stretches; wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Sunday 20- I did my stretches.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 41 and 60 degrees, light breeze, humidity around 32 percent, hazy skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Monday: Partly sunny, with a high near 62. Calm wind becoming southeast between 4 and 7 mph. Monday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 41. Southwest wind between 8 and 14 mph, with gusts as high as 18 mph.”
J (name withheld) called and asked if she could bring her Dell laptop over for me to finish setting it up. No problem. She brought me two old laptops she no longer needs. She had them in plastic shopping bags and the one I was carrying ripped as I tried to open the front door and the laptop fell hard on the cement, dang! I checked it out later and it didn’t work anymore, double dang. I uninstalled MacAfee anti-virus on her new laptop and then installed the newest versions of Avast anti-virus and Firefox that I downloaded the other day.
Then Seimi came by with his Toshiba laptop over so I could finish setting it up. He came with his dog Max who is 14 years old and has Alzheimer. We let him wonder around in the yard for a spell while I installed Service Packs 2 and 3, Internet Explorer 8, the newest versions of Avast anti-virus and Firefox, and sent him on his way.
I went on my evening walk and called Stoney who had called earlier to tell me that someone left a gift for me at his house and I’d never guess what it was. I had time to think about it and asked him if it was lemon cake. He said it was and asked if somebody told me. I told him no, but he didn’t believe me. Bill and Jan Bonner knows that I love lemon cake and I figured that they had Sherry deliver it; damn I good! When I arrived at his house he had nuked up some frozen dinners for us to eat. The lemon cake was sure mighty good! We watched the Science Channel program about sci-fi and physics for an hour or so.
I got home in time to watch “60 Minutes” about; a town that has fallen on really bad times, an Christian orthodox church in Turkey with a 99 percent Muslim population, Alex Baldwin, and Andy Rooney yakking something about Christmas shopping.
I spent the next few hours surfing the web and dreaming of the ultimate notebook computer I can’t afford. I did my stretches; practiced my guitar; wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Monday 21- I did my stretches, ran a mile, lifted weights, and rode my bike.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 41 and 61 degrees, light breeze, humidity around 36 percent, overcast skies all day long.
According to the National Weather Service: “Tuesday: A 20 percent chance of rain before 10am. Partly cloudy, with a high near 53. Windy, with a west northwest wind 14 to 17 mph increasing to between 33 and 36 mph. Winds could gust as high as 49 mph. Tuesday Night: Clear, with a low around 33. Windy, with a northwest wind between 23 and 32 mph, with gusts as high as 46 mph.”
I spent a few hours cleaning the kitchen that I’ve been neglecting for the past couple of weeks since I finished the floor tiles. No excuse, just didn’t feel like doing it. Now it’s clean and we’ll see how long it stays that way.
I went over to Stoney’s for some of that lemon cake and yakked with him for a spell. Then I went for my evening walk when I got back and watched “My Name is Earl”. I did my stretches and practiced my guitar.
I needed to write and send in my column for Saturday’s newspaper and wanted to write something about the new decade coming up and how crucial it is. They only allow me 300 words and I wanted to put so much more into it! I thought I’d share it with you:

Copper Mountain Mesa News
By Bob DeLoyd
12/26/09

Our little Community hopes you had a wonderful Christmas and wishes you a happy New Year!

Thought for the week: Some would like to forget the last decade; the sweet promise of a new millennium and a new beginning was ruined by the 09/11/01 attacks on our nation and brought us to war. Just like Pearl Harbor these images will forever be burned into our minds and culture. Then greed of a few brought us the Great Recession. And Global Warming has been an ongoing concern. The Earth right now is at a cusp, a point of transition, where what we do as a nation and as individuals in the next ten years is crucial to our survival. We begin this new decade next Friday, and I for one am trying to figure out what I can personally do to make the world a better place. Here are a few: forgive your imperfections and those of others, leave as small a footprint on our environment as possible so others may follow, try to set a good example. I have many faults but I, like you, have a little kernel in that thick scull that tells the rest of the body what to do: tell a truth or a lie, lay in bed or exercise, play video games or get an education, do the right thing or the wrong. No one else has that much power over you! As of right now there are close to seven billion citizens on this small planet of ours and hopefully each and every one will start using their little kernel to create a better world and a new beginning!

Call me with news at 760 362-5203. E-Mail me: CopperMountainMesa@hotmail.com or write to 874 Border A-9 JT, Ca. 92252

Tuesday 22- I did my stretches; cold, wet, and windy outside.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 33 and 51 degrees, winds of 21to 34 with gusts as high as 60 MPH, humidity around 41 percent, mostly clear skies later in the day with some rain in the early morning.
According to the National Weather Service: “Wednesday: Sunny, with a high near 49. North northwest wind between 18 and 21 mph, with gusts as high as 29 mph. Wednesday Night: Clear, with a low around 33. North northwest wind around 11 mph.”
Ginger invited me over for a Christmas Eve dinner and I thought that I’d better get down to Stater Bros and pick up something to share. I also needed to get something for this Saturday’s potluck. On the way to town I stopped to check on my friend’s property while he’s away on vacation; all was well. The wind was blowing so hard that the plastic window that I Mickey Moused on the driver’s side started to cave in on me while I was driving down the road. I had to stop and stick it back in before it lopped my head off. I stopped off at Stoney’s on the way back to deliver his mail that I picked up and take a nice hot shower. I also ate some more of that delicious lemon cake!
I got back home; it was too windy for an evening walk, so I messed around on one of my old laptops. I’m trying to decide if I want to put Win 3.1, Win95, or Win2000. It has Win 98SE on it now; I like playing around with the old OSs. Maybe I’ll start with DOS and work my way up.
Chris called to tell me that there isn’t going to be a potluck this Saturday. I had already put it in my newspaper column of last week that there would be a potluck, dang! It’d be nice if folks told me these things beforehand.
I watched “My Name is Earl” and then a rerun of “NCIS”. I practiced my guitar for a while until the Jay Leno show came on to catch his monologue and ended up watching the whole show. I then did my stretches and lifted weights; wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Wednesday 23- I did my stretches and ran two miles; it was a very cold and windy run!
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 31 and 51 degrees, NW winds of 12to16 MPH, humidity around 36 percent, mostly clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Thursday: Sunny, with a high near 53. North northwest wind between 10 and 13 mph. Thursday Night: Clear, with a low around 33. North northwest wind around 7 mph.”
The dang bird feeder fell out of the tree and spilled all the seeds on the ground that the squirrels quickly devoured. I refilled it and stuck it back up while the birds watched from afar. As soon as I left they pounced on it!
I decided to install Win 2000 on the old Toshiba Tecra 730XCDT. It has a whopping 2Gig hard drive, a Pentium MMX 150, and 48Megs of RAM! It took hours to install the OS and I let it finish while I went for my evening walk and then over to Stoney’s for dinner. We watched “Man Vs Food” on the Travel Channel; I just can’t believe how much food that guy can put away!
Win2000 had finally finished by the time I got back and then I installed the updates I have on CD for it; that took a few hours! I watched “My Name is Earl” and I think it was the last episode! It was one of the best sitcoms I’ve seen in a longtime, and it had a meaning to it too! I practice my guitar as the updates finally finished. I took the old Tecra online with the PCMCI 3 COM 56k modem and it surprised me. I used the K-Mellon web browser and it performed just fine for such an old machine that was built for Win95. I think I’ll ask J (Name withheld) if she would like it back now that it’s working better.
I watched the Jay Leno Show; did my stretches; wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Thursday 24- I did my stretches, ran a mile, lifted weights, and rode my bike; still dang cold and windy!
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 31 and 53 degrees, NW winds of 4 to11 MPH, humidity around 33 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Christmas Day: Sunny, with a high near 56. North northwest wind between 8 and 11 mph. Friday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 34. Northwest wind around 7 mph.”
I did a few chores around the house, put seed in the bird feeder, and went over to Stoney’s to take a shower so I’d be clean when I went to Ginger’s Christmas Eve party. I stopped back at my house to get dressed and then headed to my mailbox to collect any last Christmas cards that may have arrived; there were six of them!
I arrived at Ginger’s around 4pm. She was there with her daughter Lola, son Vincent, and daughter in-law with a nine month old baby that was pretty cute. Ginger made a bunch of deviled eggs and there were potato chips and dip which we all happily consumed as the dogs pleadingly sat waiting for a handout. Lola asked me if I brought my guitar, I hadn’t, and drove back home to get it. We got down to eating ham, baked potato with gravy that was mighty good! Ginger’s older son Chris showed up; he just gotten off work at Stater Bros in Yucca Valley. We both played guitar. After hearing one of my songs Chris said that his respect for me went up a couple of notches. I thought that was mighty kind of him. He plays pretty good himself. I am feeling much more comfortable playing in front of folks now. We watched some music videos for a spell. Chris was surprised that I liked Marilyn Manson. We watched a Stones concert and Chris asked me if I was as old as them. “My respect for you just went down a few notches” I kiddingly told him! I had a mighty fine time there with this nice family and it was nice of them to invite an “old guy” to join in on the fun.
I got back home around 9pm and did my stretches; practiced my guitar; wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Christmas Day- I did my stretches.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 30 and 53 degrees, NW winds of 4 to11 MPH, humidity around 33 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Saturday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 53. Calm wind. Saturday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 35. Light south southwest wind.”
I woke up late and just laid around for a spell calling Friends and Family. I went over to Stoney’s for Christmas dinner at 2pm. He cooked up a chicken casserole with cheese on top. I did my laundry while I was there and sat around jawing as we watched TV; there wasn’t anything exciting on and I left there about 6pm.
I got home and watched “Star Trek: the Wrath of Kahn” (1982); a gift I gotten last night from Ginger. I always tear up at the end when they’re about to send Spock’s body to the new planet created by the “Geneses Bomb” and Captain Kirk says that out of all the souls he ever came across in his vast travels Spock’s was the most human (or something like that). Then I watched “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” (2006).
I did my stretches; 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 26- I did my stretches and ran two miles.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 30 and 51 degrees, slight breeze, humidity around 34 percent, overcast skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Sunday: Partly sunny, with a high near 53. Calm wind becoming east around 5 mph. Sunday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 35. Light and variable wind.”
I went over to Stoney’s where his son Jimmy and wife Clarice, daughter Angela, nephew Ryan, and grandma Mary just arrived for a visit for the next couple of days. Jimmy was in the backyard taking apart an old shed that had blown down last spring so I decided to help him dismantle it. I told Angela to go get my camera and take a few pictures. We were lifting a large part of the shed when I tripped over some debris and fell right on my butt and twisted my leg that kind of hurt into the night. We got the shed all torn down and I told them I had to go to the community center just in case somebody showed up to our canceled potluck. I had written in my column a few weeks ago that we were having a potluck but had only found out last Tuesday that no one was going to be there with a key to get in so they had canceled it. Well I’d feel mighty sad if someone showed up and no one was there so the two kids and I went down and waited for 45min but nobody showed. It amazes me that the two kids found crazy things to do in those 45min we were there. We got back to watch some old Lee Van Cleef western called “Barquero” (1970) until dinner was ready; we had lasagna with a salad and for dessert there was Grandma Mary’s world famous pecan pie! Afterwards I showed Angela how to play some cords on the guitar and had her playing eight cords and strumming by the time we were done; I got my practice for the day! Then Stoney, Jimmy and I sat around jawing for a long spell.
I got home a little before ten and started watching “Castle” but it was a rerun and I watched “Frontline” instead; it was about the credit card system and how the banks come up with ways to add fees to get more money from consumers.
I did my stretches; wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Sunday 27- I did my stretches.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 28 and 49 degrees, slight breeze, humidity around 35 percent, overcast skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Monday: Partly sunny, with a high near 52. North northwest wind around 6 mph. Monday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 35. Northwest wind around 7 mph.”
The temp had gotten down to 47 degrees in the house overnight. I had slept in this morning because every time I got up it was just too dang cold and I’d scurried back to the warmth of my bed.
J (Name withheld) called up to pick up that old Toshiba 730xcdt laptop I had fixed up. I told her to come on over and pick it up. She came by while I was eating breakfast and I still needed to change the user ID and setup the dialup. J was mighty glad to get her computer back and I was mighty happy to do it for her.
I called Stoney and he said that Jimmy was already out in the backyard shooting at targets with his 22 rifle. So I grabbed my two 22 rifles and headed on over. The two kids were all worn out from yesterday; Angela had a headache and Ryan just wanted to watch TV. So it was just me and Jimmy out there shooting. We first set some pieces of iron as targets to shoot at. Then we found a old alarm bell that was thick and mounted it on the target area. We put a rock on top of the bell and said that you would need to shoot the rock off the bell without ringing it for it to count as a good hit. We’re so good that we always hit the rock first and never rang the bell. Then we found that it was a lot more fun just shooting the bell. We mounted rocks all along the target area and would shoot at them too. I loaded up Stoney’s 22 pistol and both Jimmy and I did pretty dang good at hitting the targets. Clarice came out to joined us and shot at the bell and rocks. We shot off a few hundred rounds or so and it was a lot of fun! After a while it had gotten to cold and overcast and we went inside and had dinner: ham, mashed potatoes, corn, and Granma Mary’s famous pecan pie. We all sat around and jawed for a spell and then it was time for me to leave.
I got home to watch “Jesse Stone: On Thin Ice” (2009). It was a rerun but I just like Tom Selleck’s character in the series. Then I did my stretches; practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Monday 28- I did my stretches.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 33 and 52 degrees, slight breeze, humidity around 38 percent, overcast skies again.
According to the National Weather Service: “Tuesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 55. Northwest wind around 6 mph. Tuesday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 36. West southwest wind between 3 and 8 mph."
I’m going to keep this post short because I woke up with a sore throat and don’t feel so good.
I wrote my column for the newspaper and sent it in late last night after I completed my journal.
I sorted through old pictures most of the day trying to find all pictures related to Jimmy’s visits out here. It took me a few hours but I found 351 images and put them on a thumb drive for him to pick up when he leaves tomorrow morning. He had lost all his pictures when his hard drive took a dump last spring. Then I took a long nap with the woodstove fired up; it felt nice. Then I awoke and did some webwork for a while.
I did my stretches; practiced my guitar; wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Tuesday 29- I did my stretches.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 35 and 57 degrees, slight breeze, humidity around 37 percent, mostly clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Wednesday: Partly sunny, with a high near 56. West wind between 6 and 13 mph, with gusts as high as 18 mph. Wednesday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 38. West wind around 8 mph."
I’m going to keep this post short again because of a sore throat and I don’t feel so good. My friend Kris on MySpace isn’t feeling all that great either and I hope she gets better, too!
I want to be well so I can go on my New Years Eve run that I’ve been doing the last few years (I’ll have to go back in my journal to see how many), so I just stayed inside today playing with my computers and staying warm. I think it’s great to end one year and bring in a new one running.
Jimmy and his family stopped by on their way back home to pick up that thumb drive that I put all the pictures I’ve taken of them throughout the years. They dropped off a pecan pie just for me, yum!
I went for a very short evening walk and watched the sunset. I was thinking of how many other people go outside to watch sunsets. I try to catch them every day. Watching a sunset kind of helps put things into perspective; living on a small planet circling the Sun.
That old girlfriend came into my dreams again last night. I told her that love is sometimes a sacrifice and to really love someone is being able to let them go. In my dream there were these ghostly white ethereal threads trailing over a long distance binding her to me; I cut them.
I watched “Nova: What Darwin Never Knew” that was very interesting to me.
I did my stretches and lifted weights; practiced my guitar; wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night. I hope I feel better tomorrow!

Wednesday 30- I did my stretches.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 37 and 57 degrees, SW winds at 14 MPH, humidity around 43 percent, mostly clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Thursday: Sunny, with a high near 57. North northwest wind around 7 mph. Thursday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 36. Northwest wind around 6 mph.”
I slept around ten hours last night! Wow that cold medicine (Tylenol Cold and Flu Severe) really knocked me out! I’m feeling better today but still want to lay low and keep warm.
I went over to Stoney’s to take a nice hot shower and feel human again. He was helping Jimmy yesterday move a refrigerator and had torn a chunk of flesh out of his forearm. He was trying to re-bandage it when I arrived. Stoney is on blood thinners and it’s hard to stop the bleeding. We’ll check on him tomorrow to see if it has stopped and if it hasn’t I’ll talk him into going to see his Doc.
I spent the rest of the day inside and reinstalling Win XP on one of my Dell Mini 9s; I might have a buyer for it! Dell doesn’t make them anymore and I checked the prices on EBay to see what they were worth. The price for them has actually gone up! They are dang good machines and very portable. I have Win 7 running on one of them.
I did my stretches; practiced my guitar; wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night. I’ll take some more of that Tylenol stuff just to make sure that cold goes away!

New Years Eve- I did my stretches and ran a mile.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 36 and 56 degrees, slight breeze, humidity around 35 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “New Year's Day: Mostly sunny, with a high near 60. Light north northwest wind. Friday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 37. West northwest wind between 6 and 8 mph.”
I’m feeling much better today. The cold I had seems to have gone away. Seimi came by for a spell to learn a little bit more of the computer. I was happy to show him.
I went over to Stoney’s and he says that the gash on his forearm isn’t bleeding as much as it was yesterday. I ate the rest of my lemon cake while we watched “How Do They Do It” on the Science Channel. They did a piece on how the National Weather Service predicts the weather. It was a very interesting show, kind of like “How It’s Made”.
I got back home and watched “My Name Is Earl”; one of the few I haven’t seen. Then I decided to watch a DVD movie I have called “Master and Commander: the far side of the world” (2003). I really love this film!
It was nearing midnight and I want to spend it running out of the old year and into the new. So I practiced my guitar, did my stretches, lifted weights, and headed outside into 37 degree weather and started my run up the hill in front of my home. There wasn’t any wind; the sky was clear and ablaze with the Blue Moon that lit my way. Orion was overhead and the star Sirius was to my south where exactly midnight fireworks were shooting into the sky and horns were honking. It was a beautiful run! I got back and read the last day of “365 Starry Nights” and begun the book over again by reading the first day (I been doing this and the midnight run for a few years now). Then I wrote my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

2009 was a strange year. I felt sad for all the folks who lost their jobs, homes, investments and income. I felt mad that the companies who caused this financial mess got bailed out by our government while the rest of us looked on in amazement.

This year I have accomplished a few goals that I had put forth last New Years and continued those from previous years: I’m still not doing tobacco or drinking coffee, but I’m still chewing the nicotine gum. I do my stretches every day, and lift weights, run, ride my bike almost every day. I practice my guitar every night. I go for a walk most every evening, and doing my almost nightly runs up the hill in front of my house. I have been eating better; stopped eating candy bars last year, and tried to stay away from donuts, cookies, (I won’t allow them in my house) and no soft drinks.
I still have dialup service that I started two years ago as a hobby and have still have 14 users.
The Goal that I am setting for 2010 are going to be different then the ones I had rolled over from previous years: this year I’m going to concentrate on playing my guitar and getting out there and playing them in public (I’ve already made a start of it).
Things that still hold my interest are: Astronomy (I still haven’t set up an outside observatory), physics, biology, history, meteorology, and Geology. Writing in my journal is helping me write better and I enjoy doing it.
Things that still don’t hold my interest are: Television ( I need to cut down a little more on the TV watching). I still get most my news online and not fed to me with commercials, Politics, and stories about troubled Celebrities.
I believe this new decade is at a point of transition, where what we do as a nation and as individuals in the next ten years is crucial to our survival. We now begin this new decade, and I for one am trying to figure out what I can personally do to make the world a better place.