September 2010

Welcome to the Month of September- I did my stretches. Thought I give the hip a rest today.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 72 to 99 degrees, light breeze, humidity around 25 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Thursday: Sunny, with a high near 101. North northwest wind between 3 and 6 mph. Thursday Night: Clear, with a low around 69. Calm wind becoming west northwest between 4 and 7 mph.”
I spent around four hours working to mount the electric kit on my mountain bike. I awoke early and phone the guy who sold it to me to ask him about the missing washers. He called me back telling me to use a lock washer instead. I thought that was a great idea and went outside and found a lock washer that I had to pry open to make larger to fit around the hub axle. After some filing I got it to fit. I had to file down the slots on the fork where the hub slides in. There are no written plans that came with the kit. Here are some on this guy’s website but the instructions were very vague and the pictures were of low quality but it sure was better than nothing. I think the hardest part was getting the wires all sorted out and on one side of the bike. After some trial and error I had it all together and took the bike out for a test spin, cool! I drove right up the hill in front of my house with no effort at all. I rode it for over a mile before I took it back home and put the charger on it. I still have to work out what I’m going to do to secure all the lose wiring, but I’ll leave that for another day.
I did my studies: Latin and pre-algebra.
I read aloud from the textbook “Astronomy Today” about the fundamental forces: Gravity, electromagnetism, weak force, and strong force.
I watered my plants listening to Alex Filippenko’s Astro 10 lecture 16 “Comets and Solar-System Debris”.
I did some webwork to do and got it done around 10pm.
I went outside to do a little stargazing and listening to Astro 10 lecture 17 “Catastrophic Collisions”.
I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Thursday 02- I did my stretches and ran a mile.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 79 to 104 degrees, light breeze, humidity around 15 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Friday: Sunny and hot, with a high near 105. North northwest wind between 3 and 9 mph. Friday Night: Clear, with a low around 70. East southeast wind at 7 mph becoming west.”
I got a call from a local telling me that the stop sign at the intersection of Winters Road and Coyote Canyon was moved and they almost got hit by another car. I jumped in the Gross Polluter and headed down there and found that the sign had been moved about 50 feet and placed on Winters Road stopping traffic there. The sign was too heavy because of the cement base for me to lift alone (I would have done it but I remembered my hip). So I just turned the sign facing the right way and left a message for Road Board President Steve Tuttle explaining the situation.
I watered the plants and cleaned out the battery room moving more boxes to the trailer. I got dang packrats living in the battery room and found their nest. I’m going to have to clean all that up later on; hopefully they’ll get the idea and move out before I start cleaning.
I did my studies: Latin and pre-algebra. I have to admit that I’m in my study mode and it feels mighty good!
I read aloud from the textbook “Astronomy Today” about the interior of the Sun.
I went for my evening walk listening to Alex Filippenko’s Astro 10 lecture 18 “Extra Solar Planets”.
I read from the pre-algebra book. There are two books; this ones the text and the other is the workbook.
I went outside to do a little stargazing and listening to Astro 10 lecture 19 “Stars; Distant Suns”.
Joel went to town earlier to visit friends and on his way back he dropped by to bring me my mail but he forgot to pick it up. We had a good laugh over that and we sat in his car as he told me about his day. After he left I continued to stargaze.
I did my stretches and lifted dumbbells, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Friday 03- I did my stretches and ran a mile.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 80 to 107 degrees, light breeze, humidity around 12 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Saturday: Sunny, with a high near 104. North northwest wind between 3 and 9 mph. Saturday Night: Clear, with a low around 69. South wind 8 to 10 mph becoming west.”
I got another call from a local telling me that now both stop signs at the intersection of Winters Road and Coyote Canyon are missing. I placed a call to Steve Tuttle and left a message updating him on the situation. He called me later in the evening saying that he found one of the stop signs but the thieves made off with the other. We are not very happy about this.
I updated the Copper Mountain Mesa Website and sent out the Newsletter.
I did my studies: Latin and pre-algebra.
I read aloud from the textbook “Astronomy Today” more about the interior of our Sun.
I went for my evening walk listening to Alex Filippenko’s Astro 10 lecture 20 “Social Stars Binaries and Clusters”.
I watched “Transformers” (2007). Great movie, kept me entertained, plus I liked the sleazy actress who plays in it :)
I went outside to do a little stargazing (Specto Stellas) and listening to Astro 10 lecture 22 “How Stars Shine Cosmic Furnaces”. I’m almost halfway done with the lectures.
I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Saturday 04- I did my stretches.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 81 to 110 degrees, light breeze, humidity around 10 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Sunday: Sunny, with a high near 101. Breezy, with a west southwest wind 8 to 11 mph increasing to between 21 and 24 mph. Winds could gust as high as 34 mph. Sunday Night: Clear, with a low around 67. West wind 18 to 21 mph decreasing to between 8 and 11 mph. Winds could gust as high as 29 mph.”
I looked outside my bathroom window to check on the dove’s nest. The mother dove had left for the first time that I know of and there are two babies in the nest! I quickly got my camera, ran outside to get a picture to share with you. Next week the babies will probably be able to fly and this was the best chance to get the pic of them. Click on their image for a closer look-see!
Today I mostly kicked back, called friends and family, and watered the plants. It’s kind of a lazy day for me. Besides it’s kind of hot outside.
I did step outside later in the day to adjust the brakes on the electric bike, but that didn’t take too long.
A lady named Kelly called to say she’ll be moving into the neighborhood over on Poleline Road next week. I welcomed her to our little community and we had a nice chat for about an hour.
I also took the day off from my studies to give my little brain a rest.
I did some webwork late into the night; mostly surfing around looking at this and that.
I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Sunday 05- I did my stretches and ran two miles.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 79 to 104 degrees, light breeze, humidity around 10 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Labor Day: Sunny, with a high near 97. North northwest wind between 5 and 8 mph. Monday Night: Clear, with a low around 65. South wind 8 to 11 mph becoming west.”
I cleaned up around the house especially in the bathroom where I threw away some old prescription drugs; the oldest was from 1996, yikes!
Seimi came by to look at my electric bike. We both drove it up and down the hill in front of my house. He was pretty impressed! Dang, I forgot to take some pictures. I don’t know how useful this bike conversion will be for me but I like experimenting with new gadgets especially if they will help me leave a smaller footprint on our planet. Hey, life is an experiment!
I also took another day off from my studies to give my tiny brain a rest. I did read a few chapters in two books from my college days on how to study. Plus I can’t get my mind off of Latin. I keep repeating in my mind sum, es, est, sumus, estis, sunt. Sum=I es=you are est=he is sumus=we estis=you are/y’all sunt=they (I typed this from memory)… First person, second person, third person, singular and plural, trying to get the English sentence structure down, stuff from English classes of long ago that I skimmed over but now find I need. Hey this is more exciting to me than watching television!
I went outside to do a little stargazing and listened to Astro 10 lecture 23 “The fate of our Sun”.
I did my stretches and lifted weights, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Labor Day - I did my stretches and ran two miles. I usually don’t run two miles on two consecutive days but I had pancakes for dinner last night and I made the mistake of using the syrup containing the High Fructose Corn Syrup; gave me a dang headache all night long. So I ran two miles to get it out of my body and will throw the contaminated syrup away.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 78 to 103 degrees, light breeze, humidity around 12 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Tuesday: Sunny, with a high near 97. West wind 6 to 15 mph becoming south southeast. Winds could gust as high as 21 mph. Tuesday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 68. Southwest wind between 10 and 17 mph, with gusts as high as 24 mph.”
After doing some computer work I took a ride on the electric bike over to Frank and Mary’s to see if they came up for the weekend.
On the way I met a gal named Mickey when her two dogs came out to investigate me as I drove by. She’s been living here for three years with her husband. They moved here from Redondo Beach, just like me, to get away from all the people!
I arrived at Frank and Mary’s but their son said that they had left yesterday. I was kind of bummed that I had missed them. Anyways the bike ran well over the hills to get there and back; must be over three miles. I got home and put it on charge. It took an hour and a half to top it off.
My Neighbor Joyce Ware called and we yakked for an hour.
I did my studies: Latin and pre-algebra.
I read aloud from the textbook “Astronomy Today” on the Sun’s chromospheres and corona.
Audrey called, I haven’t heard from her in a while, and it was mighty fine to chat with her.
I went for my evening walk listening to Alex Filippenko Astro 10 lecture 24 “Exploding Stars Celestial Fireworks”
I read for an hour of the two books on college study habits.
I went outside to do a little stargazing and listened to Astro 10 lecture 25 “The Corpses of Massive Stars”. I saw a few meteors streak across the sky.
I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Tuesday 07 - I did my stretches and yoga.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 76 to 98 degrees, SE winds at 6 15 MPH, humidity around 32 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Wednesday: Sunny, with a high near 90. Calm wind becoming south southwest between 12 and 15 mph. Winds could gust as high as 22 mph. Wednesday Night: Clear, with a low around 63. Breezy, with a southwest wind 19 to 22 mph becoming west 8 to 11 mph. Winds could gust as high as 32 mph.”
I wrote my column for the Hi-Desert Star Newspaper and sent it in.
I did my studies: Latin and pre-algebra. Latin has four ways of saying watching depending on 1st, 2nd, 3rd person and singular or plural, yikes! Working problems in pre-algebra I have a lot of eraser dust on the table when I’m done.
I read aloud from the textbook “Astronomy Today” on Sunspots. The reason that they appear dark is because they are cooler than the surrounding area: Sunspots= 4500 Kelvin Photosphere= 5800 Kelvin or 9980.33F; and I thought it was hot last week!
I went for my evening walk listening to Alex Filippenko Astro 10 lecture 26 “Hearts of Darkness”
Joel Levy came by with two donuts!
I read for an hour of the two books on college study habits.
I watched a new episode of “Warehouse 13” about an artifact helping a high school wrestling team.
I went outside to do a little stargazing and listened to Astro 10 lecture 27 “The Quest for Black Holes”. When I first went outside I found this old Suse Linux 8.2 book wedged in on the front gate. I don’t remember lending it out and if I did it would have been many years ago. I checked to see if one was in the house but it wasn’t, so this one must be mine. I hope nobody came into my home while I was on my walk, but I usually lock the door. This is a real mystery to me.
I did my stretches and lifted dumbbells, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Wednesday 08 - I did my stretches, yoga, ran a mile, and lifted weights.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 71 to 92 degrees, SW winds at 6 to 20 MPH, humidity around 30 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Thursday: Sunny, with a high near 84. West wind around 6 mph becoming calm. Thursday Night: Clear, with a low around 60. West northwest wind between 8 and 11 mph.”
I awoke at the ungodly hour of 6am and couldn’t get back to sleep; probably the donuts that Joel brought me last night. So I got up fixed breakfast, did my exercises, and started my studies.
I did my studies: Latin and pre-algebra; more eraser dust on the table.
I read aloud from the textbook “Astronomy Today” more on Sunspots.
I had everything done by 11:30am and couldn’t keep my eyes open anymore so I went back to bed.
I was awoken at 12:30pm by Chris Jonas asking me if I got the book last night he left on the gate! I asked him where he got it and he said Earl gave it to him to give to me. Dang, that was almost seven years ago that I did a Linux install for Earl because he wanted to learn the OS. Well at least that’s one mystery solved!
I found some cassettes with some of my old songs I had written recorded on them. So I spent some of the day listening to them and seeing what I could salvage from the songs.
My neighbor Stevie called from Yucca asking me to check in on her husband Mike to see if he is alright; she have lost contact earlier and couldn’t reach him. I quickly drove over and found that Mike was just fine.
I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night. I’m going to bed early tonight!

Thursday 09- I did my stretches.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 62 to 87 degrees, NW winds at 4 to 12 MPH, humidity around 33 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Friday: Sunny, with a high near 87. West northwest wind between 4 and 7 mph becoming calm. Friday Night: Clear, with a low around 61. South southwest wind between 4 and 7 mph becoming calm.”
I rode my electric bike over to Ron’s house for a short visit (and to show off the bike).
I did my studies: Latin and pre-algebra; more eraser dust on the table but this time from Latin.
I read aloud from the textbook “Astronomy Today” about the Sun’s magnetism.
Now that it’s cooler outside I started work on the frame for the two 130Watt solar panels.
I went for my evening walk and listened to two Astro 10 lectures: #28 “The Milky Way and Other Galaxies” and #29 “The Dark Side of Matter”.
Andrew called saying he’s coming up from LA with a load of Kelly’s belongings to move into her house she is renting from him. He needs the keys to the house that I’m keeping for him and asked if I’d be home an hour or so from now, I said sure.
I watched a new episode of “Warehouse 13” about two bookends that cause a transfer of minds from one body to another.
I read from the two books on college study habits until Andrew showed up.
Andrew had a whole truck full of stuff and he gratefully accepted my offer to help him move it off the truck and into the house that Kelly is renting. That took up the better part of the night and I didn’t get back home until 12:30. We did see something cool when we first got to the house; it was a Black Widow fighting a Sun Spider and the Black Widow was winning!
I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Friday 10- I did my stretches, ran a mile, and lifted weights.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 69 to 89 degrees, light breeze, humidity around 28 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Saturday: Sunny, with a high near 91. West northwest wind 5 to 8 mph becoming southeast. Saturday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 65. West southwest wind between 7 and 9 mph.”
I updated the Copper Mountain Mesa Website and sent out the Newsletter.
I rode my electric bike over the hill and down a ways to welcome Kelly to Copper Mountain Mesa but she wasn’t home. So I went over to check on my friend’s house while he’s away on vacation and found everything okay. Then I went over to Stoney’s to wash his truck. It was kind of dirty and didn’t want Judy to see it in that way when she comes for her visit some time soon.
Andrew dropped by with lunch: a big sub sandwich, four jelly filled glazed donuts, and Pringles. Andrew only wanted one of the donuts and said that I could have the other three for later; they were gone in less than an hour (I’ll suffer tonight) after he left on his trip back to LA. I let Andrew ride my electric bike and he thought it was cool.
I did my studies: Latin and pre-algebra; I very much need to review the Latin I’ve learned so far this weekend. Oh, and those negative numbers in pre-algebra are giving me a headache!
I read aloud from the textbook “Astronomy Today” about the solar prominence and flares.
I went for my evening walk and listened to Astro 10 lecture: #30 “Expansion of the Universe”
I watched a newer episode of “Warehouse 13”; someone from Arties past is after him.
I read from the two books on college study habits.
I went outside to do a little stargazing and listen to Astro 10 lecture #32 “Quasars Cosmic Powerhouses”.
I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Saturday 11- I did my stretches, ran a mile, and lifted weights.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 69 to 94 degrees, light breeze, humidity around 18 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Sunday: Sunny, with a high near 95. Calm wind becoming southeast between 4 and 7 mph. Sunday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 67. South wind 5 to 11 mph becoming west.”
I didn’t do much of anything today except call friends and family. I worked on the new solar panel mount for my two 130Watt panels, and I also installed Windows 98 on a computer I am repairing to give away to someone who may not be able to afford one. Otherwise that‘s it for the day!
I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Sunday 12- I did my stretches and yoga.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 70 to 99 degrees, light breeze, humidity around 17 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Monday: Sunny, with a high near 95. Calm wind becoming south between 6 and 9 mph. Monday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 67. West southwest wind between 8 and 14 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph.”
I drove the electric bike (I’ll have to find another name for it) over to see if Kelly was home, she was, and I welcomed her to our beautiful desert. We yakked for a spell. Kelly thought it was hot outside but it was only 95 at the time which is cool for me. I told her she’d get use to it and that cooler weather was near. She was living in the mountains at a higher elevation before she moved here.
I got back home and watered all the plants. I went to check on the dove chicks. There was only one left in the nest I could see as I approached it from around the corner. When it saw me it clumsily flew away on young untested wings. I’m glad they grew up before it got too cold.
I called friends and family that I didn’t get a hold of yesterday.
I watched “Star Trek” (2009) again :)
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.

Monday 13- I did my stretches and ran a mile.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 72 to 102 degrees, light breeze, humidity around 22 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Tuesday: Sunny, with a high near 94. West wind at 10 mph becoming south. Tuesday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 65. West southwest wind between 8 and 15 mph, with gusts as high as 21 mph.”
I got a call about the Harley Sportster I want to buy and had to go to town and arrange a few things. I also did some needed shopping at WalMart and Stater Bros.
I got a notice from Hulu.com that the beginning episodes of “Caprica” season 1 are now starting and I watched Pilot 1 and 2. This takes place 58 years before the events of Battlestar Galactica that begins with a gifted young girl and an avatar that’s a complete copy she created of herself; the concept intrigued me.
I rode the electric bike up to the community center for the board meeting. We didn’t have a quorum so the meeting began twenty minutes later than usual until another board member showed up. Mary Helen informed us that the month of July was over $400, about twice as much as it normally is. The SCE said the meter reading were correct. We tried to come up with some kind of explanation why this might be. It could have been due to someone accidentally leaving the air conditioner on, or due to one of the freezers malfunctioning. Mary Helen will have the SCE come out to do an audit of our usage. I suggested that we put a time meter on the air conditioner so that way it wouldn’t be left on by mistake. Bill will look into the cost of doing that. Forty seven adults and five children showed up for September’s breakfast; which is a good showing! And there were around twenty folks that came to play bingo last Tuesday! The board voted to not allow anymore IOUs for the Thrift Room because some folks forget to pay and we are not a collection agency. The membership committee mentioned that it needs to get things organized for October’s end of summer bash on the 30th. The meeting was well attended.
It was downhill most the way back to my house and I didn’t have to peddle once until I got to the bottom of my hill cool!
I watched two more episodes of “Caprica”.
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 14- I did my stretches and yoga, ran a mile, and lifted weights.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 70 to 100 degrees, light breeze, humidity around 26 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Wednesday: Sunny, with a high near 94. West wind between 5 and 8 mph becoming calm. Wednesday Night: Clear, with a low around 65. West southwest wind between 11 and 14 mph becoming light.”
I drove over to Kelly’s to see if she was okay but she didn’t answer the door. Andrew wanted me to check up on her because she’s new to the desert and she is renting this house from him. She called later and said she must have been asleep. Well at least now she has a cell phone and I don’t have to go over there, I can just call. I don’t like going to folk’s homes unannounced and told her so.
I did my studies: Latin and pre-algebra. I mostly did review of Latin with flashcards, and watched some videos for the pre-algebra at the Khan Academy. The videos are very helpful and I’m lucky to have found this site!
I read aloud from the textbook “Astronomy Today” about the Sun’s coronal holes and the solar wind.
I went for my evening walk listening to Astro 10 lecture #34 “Belly of the Beast”.
I watched season 1 episode 4 of “Caprica”; I really like this show. There won’t be another episode coming up for a week, so I can get more of my studies done.
I read for an hour from the two college study guides.
I went outside to do a little stargazing and listened to Astro 10 lecture #35 “Cosmology and the Dark Night Sky”. Chris dropped over on his way home from calling bingo at the community center. We sat in his truck for a spell yakking about yesterday’s board meeting he missed and other stuff.
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 15- I did my stretches, ran a mile, and lifted dumbbells.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 70 to 97 degrees, light breeze, humidity around 16 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Thursday: Sunny, with a high near 97. West northwest wind at 10 mph becoming east. Thursday Night: Clear, with a low around 64. South wind 8 to 11 mph becoming west.”
I wrote my column for the Hi-Desert Star newspaper and sent it in. I had a hard time coming up with a Thought of the Week. I really wanted to write about the vibes I got when I went to town on Monday. It seems like the economy isn’t getting any better, even though the government tries to put a good spin on it, you can feel despair in the folks that you pass on the streets. I hear it every day of some family losing their job, savings, home, car, and about everything else in that order. These are good folks that weren’t speculating in the housing market. They were working hard and paying down a mortgage; trying to live the American Dream. I wanted to write about them and how they have been reduced to poverty by a government that lives in another world than ours. A world that is run by big money; large corporations, labor unions, insurance companies, pharmaceuticals, health providers… Our representatives in government, the people we elect to watch out for our better interest, their votes are bought and sold by these special interests. And then when they retire from government they get cushy jobs at these very same companies that bought their vote, while I see the unemployed going through garbage cans in front of WalMart. I was against the bailout of their friends on Wall Street and many of the common folk agreed with me, but then again we don’t belong to their club, we don’t line their pockets with the green stuff, we can only vote for whom the powers that be bring fourth into the lime light on the national stage to offer false promises with hollow words: I am sick of it! I wanted to write all of this in my newspaper column, but due to space and the nature of my column I could not do this. All I could say was: Thought of the week: We all need to take a deep breath, roll up our sleeves, and help one another.
I did my studies: Latin and pre-algebra. Again I mostly did review of Latin with flashcards, and watched more videos for the pre-algebra at the Khan Academy.
I read aloud from the textbook “Astronomy Today” about the Sun’s neutrinos.
I went for my evening walk listening to Astro 10 lecture #36 “The Age of the Universe”.
I did webwork for the rest of the night with the exception that Kelly called to yak with me for about 45 minutes.
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.

Thursday 16- I did my stretches and yoga, ran a mile, and lifted weights.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 71 to 103 degrees, light breeze, humidity around 26 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Friday: Sunny, with a high near 97. Calm wind becoming south southeast between 6 and 9 mph. Friday Night: Clear, with a low around 62. South wind 5 to 13 mph becoming west northwest.”
After yesterday’s rant I think I’ll keep this simple today.
Oh and don’t forget that "Talk Like a Pirate Day" is on the 19th of this month!
I did my studies: Latin and pre-algebra.
I read aloud from the textbook “Astronomy Today”; chapter review.
I went for my evening walk listening to Astro 10 lecture #37 “The Geometry of the Universe”.
I watched an episode of “Warehouse 13”
I did a little stargazing listening to Astro 10 lecture #38 “Einstein's Biggest Blunder”
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.

Friday 17- I did my stretches, ran a mile, and lifted dumbbells.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 69 to 98 degrees, light breeze, humidity around 14 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Saturday: Sunny, with a high near 98. West northwest wind 5 to 8 mph becoming east northeast. Saturday Night: Clear, with a low around 63. South wind 6 to 13 mph becoming west.”
Aaarrr don’t ye forget that Sunday is "Talk Like a Pirate Day"!
I updated the Copper Mountain Mesa website and sent out the Newsletter.
My friend Mac and his wife are bringing over my Harley from Arizona today, so I had a lot to do! I called up my insurance company to get my policy activated. They sent me forms to sign over the internet to my email account. The forms were PDF and I used something called an electronic signature to sign them; pretty dang cool. Then I went outside to make room for the Harley where I can lock it up and keep it safe.
Mac arrived around sunset and we off loaded the bike from his truck. I took it for a short spin down the street and it felt mighty fine, mighty fine indeed! Tomorrow I’ll go ride it around some.
I spent the rest of the night yakking with friends. I’m really excited about the bike!
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.

Saturday 18- I did my stretches.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 69 to 102 degrees, light breeze, humidity around 10 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Talk Like a Pirate Day: Sunny, with a high near 100. Calm wind becoming south southeast between 5 and 8 mph. Sunday Night: Clear, with a low around 65. South wind 5 to 14 mph becoming west. Winds could gust as high as 20 mph.”
Aaarrr don’t ye forget that tomorrow is "Talk Like a Pirate Day"!
I mostly called friends and family (what I do every Saturday) and rode my Harley around up here; got it up past 65 MPH on a nice stretch of rode with power to spare. There are a few problems I’ll have to iron out but it’s basically a nice running bike.
I rode over to Mac’s and yapped with him for a spell and then moseyed over to Kelly’s house across the street where I met all her dogs and cats.
I did some webwork well into the night.
I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night; I’m tired!

Talk like a Pirate Day- I did my stretches.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 71 to 103 degrees, light breeze, humidity around 16 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Monday: Sunny, with a high near 97. Northwest wind at 8 mph becoming south southwest. Monday Night: Clear, with a low around 64. South wind 6 to 11 mph becoming west.”
Aaarrr today is "Talk Like a Pirate Day". Darn it, I mostly forgot to talk like one; I’ll do better next year I swear :)
I rode the Harley over to Mac’s house where I met his old time biker buddy Frank. Then Frank Poole showed up and we spent some time yakking about bikes. Mac needed help putting a BSA motor in a bike frame, so me and the two Franks went to work on that. Biker Frank decided that lifting it into the frame would be too hard for us old guys and pushed the motor onto its side and then slid the frame over it and bolted it down. Cool, it worked and it saved our backs. I’d never had thought of that!
Me and Frank Poole went over to his house before the whiskey drinkin started at Mac’s and I visited with him and Mary until they had to go back down to Los Angeles. Andrew showed up with his two dogs which made it all that more special. After Andrew left, Kelly came over and I introduced her to Frank and Mary.
I left Frank and Mary’s and cruised around on the bike some. I stopped over to Ron Dehart’s to show it off.
I got back home and started reading a book Ron gave me called “The Light of Other Days” by Arthur C. Clarke; looks like a good read!
I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night; fun day!

Monday 20- I did my stretches and yoga, ran a mile, and lifted weights.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 69 to 101 degrees, light breeze, humidity around 12 percent, clear skies. Just another beautiful day!
According to the National Weather Service: “Tuesday: Sunny, with a high near 95. Calm wind becoming south between 15 and 18 mph. Winds could gust as high as 25 mph. Tuesday Night: Clear, with a low around 61. Southwest wind between 7 and 17 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph.”
I needed to finish the frame to my two 130Watt solar panels and get them on the roof. I already had the wood cut and just had to drill the bolt holes and paint the wood. This took the better part of the afternoon to do.
Jimmy called as I was looking for a wood drill bit I misplaced and haven’t found yet. He’s having problems with his new refrigerator not going down to zero. I fired up the Harley so Jimmy would know that I had finally got it. :)
I got the bolt holes all drilled and two coats of paint on the wood frame parts. Now I’ll let them dry and go inside and do my studies: Latin and pre-algebra.
I read aloud from the textbook “Astronomy Today” new chapter about Dwarf Stars.
At 5:30 I put my tools, the wood frame parts, and the two solar panels on the roof. It took me about an hour to assemble it all. I didn’t hook the electrical up to it yet because the Sun was low in the sky and I need more light to test the hookup.
I went for my evening walk listening to Astro 10 lecture #40 “Echoes of the Big Bang”.
I read from the two how to study books until 9pm.
I sat outside with bright Jupiter and the brighter waxing gibbous Moon listening to Astro 10 lecture #41 “The Contents of the Universe”.
I read a couple of chapters from “The Light of Other Days” by Arthur C. Clarke.
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 21- I did my stretches, ran a mile, and lifted dumbbells.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 68 to 98 degrees, a little breezy, humidity around 14 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Wednesday: Sunny, with a high near 87. West wind between 6 and 10 mph. Wednesday Night: Clear, with a low around 59. West northwest wind 14 to 17 mph decreasing to between 6 and 9 mph. Winds could gust as high as 25 mph.”
I went up onto the roof to hook up all the electrical to the two 130Watt panels connecting them to the rest of the panels giving me a total of 756Watts going to the house’s AC inverter. I actually cooked lunch on the microwave! I did have to turn off the refrigerator when I used the microwave, but that’s cool. Afterwards the batteries charged right back up to 14.30VDC within a minute. The next project with the new solar panels is to tilt them at 32 degrees to the south; they sit flat for now.
I got a few emails from friends wanting to see the Harley I bought last week. So I promised to post a pic. It’s a 1992 883 and she is so sweet :)
While I had the bike out taking pictures I drove it down to Joel’s house so he could check it out. I even let him sit on it: lucky guy!
I did my studies: Latin and pre-algebra.
I read aloud from the textbook “Astronomy Today” about using parallax to find distances to other stars.
I went for my evening walk listening to Astro 10 lecture #42 “The First Few Minutes of the Universe”.
I read from the two “how to study books” until 9pm.
I sat outside listening to Astro 10 lecture #43 “In the Beginning” and #44 “The Ultimate Free Lunch”. Chris came by after calling Bingo and we sat in his truck jawing for a spell. He said that 19 folks showed up tonight!
I read a chapter from “The Light of Other Days” by Arthur C. Clarke.
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 22- I did my stretches and yoga, ran a mile, and lifted weights.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 65 to 90 degrees, winds from the NW at 8 to 16 MPH, humidity around 17 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Thursday: Sunny, with a high near 88. Northwest wind between 5 and 8 mph becoming calm. Thursday Night: Clear, with a low around 60. Calm wind becoming south around 5 mph.”
I wrote my column for the Hi-Desert Star and sent it into them.
I decided not to do my studies today and instead do a few chores around the house both inside and out. I got a lot of the little things done that I’ve been putting off and a few big ones, too!
I talked to my neighbor Ginger. She’s not feeling well of late. She asked me to take some pictures of her Air Stream trailer so she can sell it on Crag’s list. I rode the electric bike down to her property and took plenty of pictures of it.
I kind of just mellowed out for the rest of the 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.

Thursday 23- I did my stretches, ran a mile, and lifted dumbbells.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 64 to 91 degrees, slight breeze, humidity around 20 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Friday: Sunny, with a high near 92. West southwest wind around 6 mph becoming calm. Friday Night: Clear, with a low around 64. Calm wind becoming west northwest between 4 and 7 mph.”
I got up at the ungodly hour of 6:30 and couldn’t go back to sleep. So I got up, fixed breakfast, did my exercises, ate breakfast, jumped on the Harley and drove down to the DMV to get it registered. I got number 37 from the ticket thingy and filled out the form while I waited to be called. The call number light stayed at #27 for around 45 minutes. To pass the time I offered the guy next to me a stick of gum. He was there with his son and he said that he had two tickets would give me his ticket #31 if he could go up with his son, who was there on other business, and get he’s business done when they were called. I got into a conversation with the lady next to me. Her ticket was #51. I told her that if I get this guy’s ticket she could have mine. After a spell the guy son’s number was called and they both went to the window and when he was done he gave me his ticket, cool! I gave the lady next to me my ticket. My new ticket was called almost immediately and under fifteen minutes I was done and out the door. I saw the lady I gave my ticket to walking through the parking lot and to my surprise get on a Harley. I drove over to her and said, “Lookie at you”. We yakked a bit and I told her where she could get in touch with me and then I was on my way back home.
Stopped by at Kelly’s and chatted with her and Andrew for a long spell; Andrew out here working on his rental properties.
I did my studies: Latin and pre-algebra.
I read aloud from the textbook “Astronomy Today” about stellar motion; transverse and radial velocity.
I went for my evening walk listening to Astro 10 lectures #45 and #46 “A Multiverse The Search for Life” and “Interstellar Travel-End”. These two were the last of the lectures and I really enjoyed re-listening to Alex Filippenko who is a superior lecturer but a lousy joke teller :)
I watched episodes #5 and #6 of “Caprica”.
I read from the two “how to study books” until Andrew came over to use the internet to check his emails. When he was done we had a nice discussion on quantum physics and relativity, entanglement, the expansion of the universe, and such stuff like that.
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.

Friday 24- I did my stretches and yoga, ran a mile, and lifted weights.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 65 to 94 degrees, slight breeze, humidity around 11 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Saturday: Sunny, with a high near 98. North northwest wind between 6 and 8 mph. Saturday Night: Clear, with a low around 65. East northeast wind at 7 mph becoming west.”
I updated the Copper Mountain Mesa Website and sent out the Newsletter, while I watered all the plants in the yard.
Kelly called needing a ride to check her mailbox and I needed to ride the Harley. So I picked her up, checked her mail, and then headed on down the highway to Stater Bros in Twentynine; got the beast up to seventy five MPH just checking it out. We had lots of fun!
I did my studies: Latin and pre-algebra.
I read aloud from the textbook “Astronomy Today” about Luminosity-Absolute Brightness, Apparent Brightness, and also learned about the Inverse Square Law.
I went for my evening walk. Having finished all my astronomy lectures yesterday I just walked and reflected of life and stuff like that.
I watched episodes #7 and #8 of “Caprica” and one new episode of “Warehouse 13”.
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.

Saturday 25- I did my stretches.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 65 to 102 degrees, slight breeze, humidity around 13 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Sunday: Sunny, with a high near 101. Northwest wind at 7 mph becoming east northeast. Sunday Night: Clear, with a low around 68. Southeast wind around 7 mph becoming west southwest.”
I called family and friends like I always do on Saturdays. I cleaned up around the house a tiny wee bit. I’m mostly resting my body from a week’s worth of exercises.
Getting ready for potluck I cooked up some mac and cheese with some ham thrown in; tasted pretty dang good.
I called Kelly to see if she wanted to go but she wasn’t feeling up to it. Seven folks showed up including me. I talked with the folks there and we decided that because of the October BBQ, Thanksgiving, and Christmas we will not have a potluck until January of next year. Rose brought her peas and carrots, Marie cooked up German potatoes and biscuits, Tim produced a macaroni dish, and Chris made his famous macaroni salad.
I got back home to do some webwork and when that was done I watched episode #9 of “Caprica”.
I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Sunday 26- I did my stretches.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 71 to 104 degrees, slight breeze, humidity around 9 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Monday: Sunny, with a high near 101. West northwest wind around 5 mph becoming calm. Monday Night: Clear, with a low around 69. Southeast wind at 6 mph becoming west.”
I started the day by typing some Latin words into the Anki flashcard program and did a review. Then I did my pre-algebra studies. This chapter was on word problems; I hate word problems!
I read aloud from the textbook “Astronomy Today” about the Magnitude Scale. 6th magnitude is the limit of the human eye, the Sun is -26.7 magnitude, and the Hubble Space Telescope limit is at magnitude 30 (the lower the brightness the higher the number). “Absolute Magnitude is a star’s apparent magnitude when it is placed ten parsecs away from the observer.” Obviously Astronomers haven’t the ability yet to move stars around! :)
Dang hot outside! I stayed inside and called on family and friends that I missed yesterday.
NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft is now headed to comet Hartley 2 and a young scientist, Dr. Sebastien Besse, is blogging about it at The Daily Comet. As the little spacecraft that could nears Hartley 2 it takes images of the comet and Sebastien posts them on his blog. There are three images now posted one week apart; the latest was 09/20/2010. The spacecraft will rendezvous with the comet on November 4th and will be well worth watching The Daily Comet.
I went on my evening walk taking pictures of ant holes, why? Because I can! There’s lots of activity going on in them ant holes and it’s pretty cool to study them.
I watched the new episode of “Fringe”; I really love this show. And watched a short film called "Kirill" that was strange but interesting; a man from the future is trying to communicate with the present to stop an earth changing event.
I did my stretches, practiced my guitar and broke a string, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Monday 27- I did my stretches, ran a mile, and lifted dumbbells.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 74 to 103 degrees, slight breeze, humidity around 15 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Tuesday: Sunny, with a high near 100. Calm wind becoming south southeast between 6 and 9 mph. Tuesday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 70. Southwest wind between 6 and 10 mph.”
I started my day again by reviewing the Latin flashcards on the computer.
After my exercises I did my pre-algebra studies; I watched a few videos on exponents.
I read aloud from the textbook “Astronomy Today” more about star Magnitudes and how to convert apparent magnitude to absolute magnitude, without moving stars around :)
Kelly came by her laptop to use the internet and catch up on her emails and chat with friends.
I went on my evening walk.
I watched 9 webisodes of “ARK” (2009) starring Renee O'Connor from Xena. All 9 webisodes were each 4 to 5 minutes long with the last one being over 9 minutes. It was about a woman who wakes up inside a small sealed chamber after a nap on her couch. She finally breaks out of it and finds she is on some sort of spaceship with a young guy from 1959 who seems to have had the same thing happen to him. Very intriguing and I wish there were more of it. Well worth the watch!!!!
I finally got back to reading “The Light of Other Days” by Arthur C. Clarke. I don’t think I picked the book back up since last Wednesday and had to skim over a few pages back to remember what it was all about.
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 28- I did my stretches. Not feeling all that great, maybe because of the heat, so I’m just going to kick back today.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 76 to 101 degrees, slight breeze, humidity around 45 percent, cloudy skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Wednesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 97. Calm wind becoming south southeast around 6 mph. Wednesday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 70. East southeast wind at 7 mph becoming west southwest.”
I wrote my column for the Hi-Desert Star newspaper and sent it in; had a hard time coming up with something to write about, but in the end I got it done just like the other 555 columns I have written throughout the years.
All I have to do today is relax and wait for the FedEx guy to show up with a cheap telescope mount I bought off of eBay. He arrived at 5:30pm while I was watering the plants.
I surfed the web and answered emails that were stacking up. Called my friend Joan and yakked with her for a spell.
I went outside with the binoculars when it got dark and stayed out there till Moon rise.
I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Wednesday 29- I did my stretches and ran a mile. Still not feeling all that great again and now my tooth is hurting so I called and made a dentist appointment.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 73 to 95 degrees, not even a slight breeze, humidity around 45 percent, very cloudy skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Thursday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 94. Calm wind becoming southeast between 8 and 11 mph. Thursday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 72. Southwest wind between 10 and 13 mph becoming calm.”
Because of my toothache I decided to mess around updating my computers today. On one Dell Min 9 I reinstalled Win XP onto it along with Microsoft Office 2007 and all of the updates. When I go traveling it’s the Dell Mini 9 I always take along.
The day was hot and muggy and I stayed inside until evening when the Sun was going down. I watered the Palm trees and fed the birds. I was going over to close the gate and lock it when I saw a Mojave Green rattlesnake in the driveway not more than five feet away moving toward the bushes. The snake turned its head and hissed at me but I just stood my ground talking to it. Then I shut the gate as it moved on knowing I wasn’t a threat. Funny thing was that the small bunny and other critters that avoid me by running off were out in the open staying behind me when the snake was present. I thought that kind of trippy.
I watched a new episode of “Warehouse 13”; I think it was the season finale.
I read several chapters of “The Light of Other Days” by Arthur C. Clarke.
I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Thursday 30- I did my stretches. Today is my dentist appointment.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 73 to 94 degrees, high gusts from cumulonimbus clouds, humidity around 40 percent, very cloudy skies with light sprinkles.
According to the National Weather Service: “Friday: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly sunny, with a high near 93. Northwest wind at 11 mph becoming south southeast. Friday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly cloudy, with a low around 71. Southeast wind at 8 mph becoming west.”
I went over to Stoney’s to do my laundry, take a shower, and borrow his truck to go to the dentist. The reason I didn’t ride the Harley was it looked like it might rain and I really didn’t feel like driving it back home after having a tooth plucked out of my head especially on our bumpy dirt roads. After my shower I took the clothes out of the washer and put them in the dryer and drove to Twentynine Palms. I stopped off to do a little shopping at Stater Bros. to get the large bulky stuff that would be a pain to carry back home on my bike.
I arrived at the Office of Justin Polanco D.D.S. (760) 367-6755 a half hour early. Susan gave me a yearly update form to fill out while I waited. Dental assistant Carissa called my name and I followed her into the deep bowels of the dentist’s dominion where chairs with holding straps, rusty saws, pliers, and hammers await any poor fool who hadn’t taken care of their teeth; anyways that’s what goes through my mind. The reality is that it is very clean and efficiently run. Carissa took an X-ray of the bad tooth; she told me she has to have a broken tooth fixed herself tomorrow. Justin came in and shot my gums around my tooth with Novocain and joked around a little. He came back about ten minutes later and yanked the dang tooth right out of my head and I didn’t even feel a thing; Justin is really that good! He gave me a prescription for codeine, Susan took my check, and I said goodbye to all and was on my merry way to the drugstore.
At the drugstore I talked with a woman called Kelly whose son is doing a military tour in Afghanistan. She told me she has cancer and was going into the hospital next Wednesday; and here I’m whining about my tooth. We chatted for a spell and I wish her well on her operation.
I got back to Stoney’s, dropped off his truck, picked up my clothes from the dryer and headed home where I took one of those codeine pills because the Novocain was wearing off and the pain was getting unbearable.
A few friends called to say hi; seems like everyone wants to talk to ya when your mouth is half numb.
I got zoned out on the Codeine (what toothache?) and watched “Short Circuit” (1986). I watched it when it first came out I thought it was interesting with all the robots and computers, but now it is kind of dated. It was still fun to watch just to see how far we have progressed in the twenty-four years since the movie was made. Some of my online friends weren’t even born then; dang I’m getting old.
No exercises for me in the next couple of days until my gums heal where my tooth was. I practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.