October 2010

Welcome to the Month of October! I did light stretches because of my pulled tooth.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 71 to 93 degrees, SE winds at 6 to 10 MPH, humidity around 43 percent, very cloudy skies with light sprinkles.
According to the National Weather Service: “Saturday: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly before 11am. Mostly sunny, with a high near 93. West northwest wind between 4 and 7 mph becoming calm. Saturday Night: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly cloudy, with a low around 68. West southwest wind between 5 and 11 mph.”
I’m not feeling very well, probably because of the codeine I’m taking for the pulled tooth, so this will be a short post.
I updated the Copper Mountain Mesa Website and sent out the Newsletter.
I went with my new neighbor Kelly to town and helped her do some shopping and showed her around our area. Kelly dropped me off back home around 9pm.
I wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Saturday 02- I still sick from yesterday.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 70 to 90 degrees, NWSE winds at 6 to 12 MPH, humidity around 55 percent, cumulonimbus clouds bringing a downpour and electric power loss at 7am.
According to the National Weather Service: “Sunday: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 89. Northwest wind at 10 mph becoming south. Sunday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms before 11pm. Partly cloudy, with a low around 63. Southwest wind between 5 and 13 mph, with gusts as high as 18 mph.”
At around 7am I was awoken by flashes of light and thunder. Still sick, I got up and went outside to check if there was anything I needed to move out of the rain that was pouring out of the sky. Flash bang, flash bang, right after another it was hitting close by. I figured that it had knocked out power to the whole area and was thinking of the poor volunteers down at the community center trying to cook and serve breakfast in the dark. I was told later by Joel Levy that there wasn’t any electric for six hours after the storm passed. I went back to bed until 1pm.
Kelly called and said she was sick too so it probably wasn’t due to the codeine I was taking for the pulled tooth but it sure didn’t make it feel any better either. Must have been something we ate somewhere in Yucca Valley.
I called some friends and family. Kula called to say hi which made me feel better.
I mostly laid in bed with a spinning head and an upset stomach until Kelly came by about 7pm with her Mac Pro laptop she needs to setup with Virgin Mobile 3G Wireless. It was a real pain to setup; had to uninstall it two times before I figured it out. So we are now connected with the Virgin website filling out forms and having problems with it accepting her phone number. We call Virgin and spent over an hour on the phone with them only to discover that we had been misdirected to their Canadian call center; Kelly asks the guy “How do we get to America” and I almost fell over laughing. He gave us the number and we placed the call but this time only to find that the call center had closed at 9pm: five minutes before!!!! So we wrapped it up for the night and will try tomorrow.
I watched season three episode #2 of “Fringe” The Box.
I haven’t eaten anything all day and I finally felt like I could keep something down, so I cooked up some oatmeal and ate it while I typed this entry.
I wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Sunday 03- I am still feeling sick and weak but much better then yesterday.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 68 to 89 degrees, WSE winds at 2 to 12 MPH, humidity around 47 percent, some scattered clouds.
According to the National Weather Service: “Monday: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after 11am. Partly sunny, with a high near 79. West northwest wind 5 to 8 mph becoming south southwest between 14 and 17 mph. Winds could gust as high as 24 mph. Monday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 53. Breezy, with a west southwest wind 20 to 23 mph decreasing to between 7 and 10 mph. Winds could gust as high as 32 mph.”
I stayed inside to rest and just mellow out until I felt better. Ron Dehart begin_of_the_skype_highlighting end_of_the_skype_highlighting told me that there was some flu going around and that must be what I have.
I got a call from a friend who is having trouble with a crazy person in our area. I called the crazy person and explained there are consequences of continuing on in the manner that they are and legal proceedings will begin if they do not stop immediately. I don’t think my friend will have that problem from this crazy person again.
Kelly called to say that she isn’t coming over because of sickness but will try to make it tomorrow so we can get her laptop connected to Virgin Mobile.
Ron called asking me if I’d help him send some email attachments to Linda his wife of pictures he took of this dog that wandered onto his property. He was only over for less than an hour and had put the dog inside his house; the dog wreaked havoc to the insides demolishing his curtains, knocking over his computer, and other items of importance.
I messed around on FaceBook for a long spell; haven’t been on there for about a month. I wanted to let folks know that I’m still around breathing air. I don’t especially like FaceBook but I found a lot of old friends from using it.
I haven’t eaten much all day and got really hungry about the time I started the journal. So I went in the kitchen and made myself something to eat; actually a lot of things to eat. I must be getting better :)
I wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Monday 04- I am still feeling a little sick but did my stretches and went for a mile run anyways.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 67 to 85 degrees, SSW winds at 6 to 23 MPH, humidity around 46 percent, mostly clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Tuesday: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after 11am. Partly sunny, with a high near 73. Northwest wind 6 to 8 mph becoming south southeast. Tuesday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after 11pm. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 50. South southwest wind between 8 and 11 mph becoming calm.”
I didn’t do much of anything until Kelly came by around 3pm so we could finish setting her computer up. She got a hold of Virgin Mobile and got everything straightened out with her credit card and the device was activated. She can now go online where she lives. I set her up with Google’s Gmail and Voice accounts and showed her how they work. She stayed around and I made pancakes and eggs for dinner; I missed out on pancake Sunday because I was sick. She left just before sunset.
I watched a strange movie called “Final Cut” (2004) starring Robin Williams. He is an editor of memories that are stored on a chip implant that records everything that happens in one’s life. He edits out the bad stuff and presents it to the family of the deceased to be played at the memorial. Spooky; I’m not sure I really like the movie or not.
I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Tuesday 05- I did my stretches, ran a mile, and lifted weights; feeling much better today!
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 54 to 70 degrees, W winds at 4 to 12 MPH, humidity around 37 percent, mostly clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Wednesday: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after 11am. Mostly sunny, with a high near 71. Calm wind becoming south between 8 and 11 mph. Wednesday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 50. West southwest wind between 6 and 13 mph, with gusts as high as 18 mph.”
I was watering the plants and cleaning up around the house when I heard booms going off. Seems like there is a lot going on over at the Marine Base with all kinds of explosions and winged craft flying around. They must be getting ready to be doing something somewhere.
I finally got back to my studies: Latin and pre-algebra.
I read aloud from the textbook “Astronomy Today” about color verses temperature of stars.
I went for my evening walk and took a few pictures: I’ll post one here.
I continued reading “The Light of Other Days” by Arthur C. Clarke. It better start getting more interesting soon (I’m over halfway done with it) or I’m going to put the book away, far away!
Started to write my column for the Hi-Desert Star.
I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Wednesday 06- I did my stretches, ran two miles, and lifted dumbbells.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 52 to 70 degrees, SW winds at 3 to 9 MPH, humidity around 41 percent, mostly clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Thursday: Sunny, with a high near 72. North northwest wind at 7 mph becoming southwest. Thursday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 51. West northwest wind between 3 and 7 mph.”
I wrote my column for the Hi-Desert Star and sent it in.
I only got around to my Latin flashcards because I got to many calls today on the telephone; seems like everyone wanted to yap and that’s okay with me (once in a while) since friends are more important (sometimes).
I also missed my evening walk, but hey I ran two miles today :)
Worked on some computers and did some webwork well into 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.
Poem: I walk through this foggy garden, through the rusted gates of woe, please carry on without, my fair maiden, as my body is broken and the flash droops upon my weary bones.

Thursday 07- I did my stretches.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 52 to 71 degrees, NW winds at 6 to 9 MPH, humidity around 38 percent, mostly clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Friday: Sunny, with a high near 78. Northwest wind around 6 mph becoming calm. Friday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 54. Calm wind becoming west northwest around 5 mph.”
I got restless and hopped on the Harley and headed down to the library in Joshua Tree. There book sale ended yesterday and they had all the paperbacks in storage in the back. I like to buy the paperbacks so I don’t have to worry about getting them back in time. So I went through a couple of boxes but felt it was a waste of time; there were over twenty boxes. I didn’t feel like going home yet so I rode on down to Home Depot to get an automatic electric timer for the fridge. I moseyed on down to WalMart and picked up a sleeping bag for use on the bike. Then picked up some fried chicken at Stater Bros and rode on back home.
I called Kelly and invited her over for dinner. We yakked for a spell. She said she needed to go to Rite Aid in Twentynine Palms and I said I’d go with her. We got ice cream cones there! I had a double chocolate brownie. We sat in the car eating them and outside watching this old guy with a big hat, and bunch of small American flags hanging from his back pack, dance around to old 60s songs played from a boom box strapped to his front; interesting.
Kelly then said she needed to go to WalMart we started to go but the battery was dead. I suggested walking inside Rite Aid for a spell and try it again. It worked and we were back on the road.
Got to WalMart; Kelly is the type who likes to stroll around comparing prices vs. run in get what you want and get the hell out type like me. So we were there for a long spell. Same thing at Stater Bros! I swear my IQ goes down 20-30 points by being around with this woman! I saw Ginger’s son Chris who works at Staters and chatted a bit about Ginger’s condition. A gal called Charlene who also works there came up to Kelly and me kidding us, she must have heard us jokingly complaining to each other. Charlene is a cheerful happy woman who just moved up to Yucca.
We shopped some more until one of the workers said they were closed! Yes we were the only customers in the store so we wrapped it up, got checked out, and drove on home. I didn’t step into the door of my house until 11:15PM.

John Lennon’s 70 Birthday! I did my stretches and yoga, ran a mile, and lifted weights.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 55 to 80 degrees, light breeze, humidity around 34 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Saturday: Sunny, with a high near 83. Northwest wind around 6 mph becoming calm. Saturday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 59. Calm wind becoming northwest between 4 and 7 mph.”
I updated the Copper Mountain Mesa Website and sent out the Newsletter.
Again it seems everyone called wanting to chat on the phone. I think I’m falling out of study mode because of this. Maybe I need a break and let everything sink in to my wee little brain.
I went for my evening walk just thinking about stuff; nothing in particular, just thinking.
I watched a new episode of “Caprica”; I’m really liking this show.
I t5hen 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. Short post tonight :)

Trip to Tucson Arizona! On Saturday morning I did my stretches, packed a bunch of stuff, loaded it on the Harley and headed out to Arizona at around 10am. I took Hwy 62 to Hwy177 which is a long and lonely ride just by itself; once you leave Twentynine Palms there are no gas stations until you hit Blythe on the Interstate10 and that is a long ways away. I filled up in Blythe and drove on down to the Phoenix bypass Hwy 85 to Gila Bend where I filled up again but not before I had to switch to reserve. The problem was that I’m new to Harleys and instead of going to reserve I switched it the wrong way to off. Oops! The bike came to a stop and I thought I was totally out of gas. I even put a call in to AAA to bring me gas and making a fool of myself trying to flag down cars. It took me a little time to figure out; I must have been thinking of my old Honda, but the Harley goes the opposite way; I canceled my call to AAA. After filling up with gas I then took I-8 to the I-10 and on to Tucson. I-8 is another long stretch of isolated road that I had pretty much to myself. I was hypnotized by the beauty of the desert as it flashed passed and wasn’t paying close attention to how fast I was going until I looked down at the speedometer and saw 105 MPH, YIKES, and I still had more throttle! The bike handles very nicely and seems to want to cruse at 85 MPH; my old Honda 750 you’d be holding on for dear life at 75 MPH. With the Harley that’s not a problem because it is very stable at those speeds and I felt comfortable doing them, but I did bring my speed back down to 85. I arrived in Tucson around sunset (423 miles), stopped to get gas and found out about another problem; the loud pipes. I was almost deaf and it felt like I was in a fish aquarium with all those bubbles. I fixed that later with earplugs I got from John and Audrey when I visited them. Sunday evening when Paula and Mark showed up we had fried chicken for dinner that me and Kevin picked up when he did his shopping. It was good to see all the folks and Mark and Crystal’s new baby and see how big Athena is getting; we got a picture of her on my bike with her daddy holding her. Anyways I stayed up late talking to the folks and went to bed around 1am only to awake Monday at 6:30, pack everything up on the bike and head back home at 7am; I wanted to leave early because I didn’t want the Sun in my face riding west in the evening. I took the same route back, only ate two bananas the whole trip, and arrived home at 3:15: what a first ride! I took a shower to wash off the road, made myself a big dinner, and watched a new episode of “Fringe”.
I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night. I think I’ll just kick back tomorrow and relax :)

Tuesday 12- I did my stretches, ran a mile, and lifted weights.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 65 to 90 degrees, light breeze, humidity around 23 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Wednesday: Sunny, with a high near 89. North northwest wind between 3 and 7 mph. Wednesday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 64. East wind around 5 mph becoming calm.”
I watered the plants that were very thirsty because of my trip to Tucson.
I did my studies: Latin and pre-algebra. I went through the flashcards for my Latin course. Found out how to find prime numbers in pre-algebra.
I read aloud from the textbook “Astronomy Today” about the color of stars and the Blackbody Curve.
I went for my evening walk thinking of what to write about in my column.
I got caught up on some webwork that lasted 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. Still recovering from the trip…

Wednesday 13- I did my stretches and yoga, ran a mile, and lifted dumbbells.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 67 to 91 degrees, light breeze, humidity around 17 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Thursday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 88. Northwest wind around 6 mph becoming calm. Thursday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 63. Southeast wind between 4 and 7 mph becoming calm.”
I wrote my column for the Hi-Desert Star newspaper and sent it in. I wrote this long rambling Thought of the week and I wonder if they’ll print it: Be unique! We were all born and started out that way! If, for whatever reasons you lost your uniqueness: be it parents, school, dealing with peer pressure, television, or work, get it back! Conformity is a trap! It will suck you dry of any creative energies and leave you barren on the shores of anonymity to be washed away and merge with the vast oceans of the unexceptional.
I did my studies: Latin and pre-algebra.
I read aloud from the textbook “Astronomy Today” about the spectra of stars.
I went for my evening walk.
I read a few chapters of “The Light of Other Days” by Arthur C. Clarke.
I called my friend Mike from Hermosa and told him of my ride to Arizona.
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 14- I did my stretches, and ran two miles.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 68 to 90 degrees, light breeze, humidity around 22 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Friday: A 20 percent chance of showers before 11am. Mostly sunny, with a high near 87. Calm wind becoming south around 6 mph. Friday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 63. Southwest wind between 5 and 8 mph becoming calm.”
I just didn’t feel like doing much of anything so I got caught up on my emails, did some straightening up around the house, and basically just kicked back all day.
I went for my evening walk and took some pictures of some ant holes.
I watched the new episode of “Caprica”.
I was just settling in for the night when I got a call from Kelly saying her car won’t start and needs a jump so she can get down to Stater Bros. in Twentynine Palms before it closes to cash a Money Gram. Being the nice guy that I am, I drove over and gave her a jump. She asked if I wanted to come along, I said sure and threw the jumper cables into the back of her car and we were on our way. It’s funny but I never heard of a Money Gram before, but there was this red phone at the front of Staters that said Money Gram, I’ve been in that store a hundred times or more and never saw it. Anyways she got the dang thing cashed after yakking on that phone for ten minutes or so, and then it was shopping; like I said before she likes to take her time and gives me a tour of the store explaining what this is or how to use that. We finally got out of the store, put the groceries in the car, she turned the key and the dang battery was dead. A nice lady gave us a jump; good thing I brought the cables along. Now she wanted to eat but KFC was closed so she couldn’t get her chicken sandwich and had to settle for Burger King where we sat in the parking lot eating hamburgers with the car still on. I got back home at 11:30pm. At least this was more interesting than reading that darn Sci-Fi book I've been reading!
I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Friday 15- I did my stretches and yoga, ran a mile, and lifted weights.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 66 to 89 degrees, light breeze, humidity around 22 percent, mostly clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Saturday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 87. Calm wind becoming west southwest between 6 and 9 mph. Saturday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 61. South wind at 8 mph becoming west.”
I updated the Copper Mountain Mesa Website and sent out the Newsletter.
I called Kelly to see when she wanted me to come over to work on her car. She said anytime, so I went over there around 3pm. I disconnected the battery and started charging it and cleaning the battery connections. I noticed that one of the cells wasn’t bubbling and I knew what the problem was right there and then: dead cell. I told her that she needs to get a new battery. She bought the battery at WalMart and she still has some sort of warranty on it even though its two months over the two year warranty. Kelly now says she needs to go to Rite Aid to pick up some meds so we start her car with the charger and drive down to Twentynine Palms. As we parked I reminded her not to turn the dang car off as she almost did by habit. I sat in the car to keep an eye one it while she went inside. When she finally came out a half hour later she wanted to go to KFC to get her chicken sandwich and we decided that we’d go in halves on a twelve piece bucket of chicken. We had an eating frenzy as we drove back to her house. Barreling down the road ripping into the chicken with our teeth, leaving a trail of bones flung out each side window, grease on our face and fingers; a damn bloody mess it was! We finished off all twelve pieces before we got to her house, burp. We sat outside and yapped for a spell until after sunset and then I drove home.
I read a few 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.

Saturday 16- I did my stretches and yoga, ran a mile, and lifted weights.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 64 to 87 degrees, SE winds to 6 to 12 MPH with a few gusts here and there, humidity around 27 percent, mostly clear skies. Looks like we have some rain coming in early next week.
According to the National Weather Service: “Sunday: A slight chance of showers after 11am. Mostly sunny, with a high near 82. West wind at 9 mph becoming south. Chance of precipitation is 20%. Sunday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly cloudy, with a low around 57. South wind between 10 and 13 mph becoming light.”
I called Family and Friends early because I was going to our little community’s End of Summer Bash that started at 2pm. I got there a little late and started taking pictures of the band that was playing. The band’s name was Buddy and the Good Boys; I think but will clarify that later. It was a band that at the last minute got together because the band that was going to play got sick or something. I knew the drummer Milo from over at Chris Young’s house a few years ago when I was helping
Chris with his computer for the recording, but Milo didn’t remember me. There were quite a few folks showing up. Steve and Ray were busy barbecuing the hamburgers and hot dogs, Annelies was handling the tickets for the meals; I bought two cheese burgers and filled my plate with Chris Jonas’s famous macaroni salad. The band played many old songs and Marie Morrison was actually dancing around. I think the highlight of the whole evening was when Steve Tuttle got out there and hammered away at the drums in a very professional manner and did a very decent job on the old song “Wipe out” by the Ventures which surprised everyone! Great party!
I did some webwork when I got home.
I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Sunday 17- I did my stretches.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 61 to 82 degrees, SSW winds to 6 to 16 MPH with a few gusts here and there, humidity around 33 percent, mostly clear skies. I can smell the rain coming!
According to the National Weather Service: “Monday: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 75. North northwest wind 5 to 7 mph becoming east. Monday Night: A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 55. East southeast wind between 5 and 8 mph becoming calm.”
I did a few chores around the house and called a few more Family and Friends throughout the day.
Joel called me to say he had charged up a battery and it held a charge, so I moseyed on down to his house with my voltmeter to check it out; it was good to go! That’s pretty cool because I had mentioned it only in my journal and I had two friends (Mac was the other) respond with batteries for Kelly. I took the battery over to her house, installed it, and tested it out by starting the motor and everything seemed to be working just fine. Kelly is very thankful to everyone who thought of her. Now all we need to find is a refrigerator for her.
I stopped to check on another friend’s house who is away on vacation. And then over to Stoney’s and started his truck and let it run for a spell. I took a shower while I was there and I feel almost human again.
I got back home and went on my evening walk.
I started writing my column for the newspaper trying to get an early start on it.
I watched a movie called “Gattaca” (1997) about a world where manipulation of genetics has created the perfect humans who are very smart, athletic, and never get ill. And if you were born naturally without any tampering society labeled you an "in-valid" which meant that you were discriminated against because not being perfect you were a liability and could not work at anything but menial jobs. A great flick!!!!
I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Monday 18- I did my stretches, ran a mile, and lifted weights.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 58 to 76 degrees, slight breeze, humidity around 45 percent, mostly clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Tuesday: Showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 73. North wind between 3 and 9 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%. Tuesday Night: A chance of showers and thunderstorms, then showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm after 11pm. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 55. East wind between 4 and 7 mph becoming calm. Chance of precipitation is 60%.”
I had a problem with my inside lights last night not being bright enough to read and figured it was oxidization at the battery connection. I checked today and it was pretty bad. So I cleaned it all up, and put water in all the batteries. Well one of the cells in the two batteries that run the inside lights was dead! That makes two dead cells I had to deal with this week; the other was on Kelly’s car. The battery needs to be replaced, but I am going to get the 12volt battery back I lent Ginger (she isn’t using it anymore) and hook it into the system tomorrow; hopefully it’s not dead too.
I went up on the roof and tarred places in the new patio roof where the water was coming in during the last rain.
I went on my evening walk taking pictures of ant holes when I came across a Tarantula minding his own business on his way to somewhere. I decided to distract him for a moment and had him pose for a few pics. I even let him crawl partway up my hand, cool! It started to sprinkle so I made my way back home but it never did rain. Maybe tomorrow it will.
I talked to Kelly tonight on the computer with Skype and she recited Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Raven” from memory all the way to the end! About all I could manage to recite was nevermore :) I should really get more into poetry, especially Poe.
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 19- I did my stretches and ran two miles.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 55 to 72 degrees, winds NNE at 10 to 15, humidity around 67 percent, mostly rain.
According to the National Weather Service: “Wednesday: Showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 69. Calm wind becoming east northeast around 5 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. Wednesday Night: A chance of showers and thunderstorms before 11pm, then a slight chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 50. Southwest wind between 4 and 7 mph becoming calm. Chance of precipitation is 30%.”
I was awoken around 5am by loud bursts of thunder and a lot of rain but went back to sleep. I was lucky that I did my run at 10:30am because it was a little sunny outside and took the chance to run my two miles; it rained ten minutes after I got back.
I went down to Ginger’s to collect my 12volt battery I had lent her and put it to charge on my system. Later at night I found that the battery was no good and had to revert back to the old ones which held more of a charge.
I found more leaks in the new patio and went back up on the roof and patched it; later after it rained hard there was only one dripping spot to get and I’ll patch that tomorrow.
I wrote my column for the Hi-Desert Star Newspaper and sent it in. Thought of the week: #2 Be creative. Be in awe of the universe and the life within. Never stop learning.
Kelly called and we chatted for a spell. She was waiting for FedEx to deliver a prescription for her medication. It finally came around 5:30pm and I went with her to Rite Aid to get it filled. We had to wait an hour for them to fill it so in the meantime we got gas for her car and did some shopping at Stater Bros. There was a mix up with her insurance and she only got half of what she needed and her Doc will straighten it out tomorrow. We got a bucket of KFC and headed down the Chicken Highway flinging bones and singing songs of things and times gone past: you can buy your chicken from Staters, or prepare and bring it from home, but when you cruise the Chicken Highway you must leave a trail of them bones!
We stopped on a dark desert road on our way to my house, turned off the car to watch the lightning over the mountains to the north. As storm grew closer the sky drew darker and the lightning brighter, louder. She left me at my house just before a big downpour and a big thunder cell moved over our area and she made it safely home beating the rain.
I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Wednesday 20- I did my stretches.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 57 to 79 degrees, calm winds, humidity around 48 percent, clouds here and there but no rain.
According to the National Weather Service: “Thursday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 72. West wind around 5 mph becoming calm. Thursday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 51. Southwest wind between 3 and 8 mph.”
Edward from my insurance company called just before 10am. He wanted to take pics of the Harley because I got theft coverage on it and they need proof of what it looks like I guess. Ed didn’t want to drive down our dirt roads and I told him to meet me at Border Ave and Winters Road so he wouldn’t have to get muddy. It was dang cold when I drove to meet Ed and I forgot my gloves. Some parts of Winters was flooded but passable and I had no problems negotiating the larger puddles. Ed took the pictures and we were both on our separate ways.
I got back home and ate breakfast and clean up the mess that the storm left last night.
I went for my evening walk taking pictures of clouds. There were some fantastic cloud formations just asking to be the subject of my camera.
Kelly is sick so I yapped at her for a long spell.
Then I did some webwork late into the night.
I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Thursday 21- I did my stretches and yoga, and ran two miles.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 54 to 75 degrees, calm winds, humidity around 56 percent, clouds here and there.
According to the National Weather Service: “Friday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 72. West wind around 5 mph becoming calm. Friday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 51. West wind between 5 and 9 mph.”
I cleaned up around the inside of the house but I have a lot to do to get the house ready before the cold weather comes. It seems not long ago we had temps over 100.
Jimmy called and we yapped for a spell. He was on a delivery hauling some big equipment to Arcadia where it was raining and the company who ordered it canceled because of the rain and he was on his way back to the yard when he called.
Kelly called to say the insurance company finally got things straightened out and I went with her to get her prescription filled. We had ice cream cones there while we waited. Then she had to get another Money Gram at Stater Bros so she did some shopping there too. We’re sick of chicken so we stopped off at Santana’s in Twentynine Palms to get some Mexican food for dinner. We both got mighty full and will probably regret it tomorrow morning. We sat on her car when we got to her house gazing out into the night at the Marine Base and imagined that the far off lights were San Francisco and the dark areas were the bay and ocean. I found a set of lights that looked like the Golden Gate Bridge. Kelly found a few sailboats and a cargo freighter; ah such fun!
I watched an episode of “Caprica” when I finally got home around 9pm.
I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Friday 22- I did my stretches, ran mile, and lifted dumbbells.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 52 to 71 degrees, winds out of the W at 4 to 12 MPH, humidity around 52 percent, mostly clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Saturday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 71. West northwest wind 5 to 8 mph becoming south southwest. Saturday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 53. West southwest wind between 5 and 13 mph.”
I updated the Copper Mountain Mesa Website and sent out the Newsletter.
My dear friend Joan came by with her laptop for me to fix. It turned out to be a minor problem that was easily taken care of.
I went to do my laundry over at Stoney’s. The water pressure was very low and I believe that the filter is stopped up; I had to run a hose that bypasses the filter to the washer to help fill the dang thing up.
I visited with Kelly and yakked at her for a spell. She told me she had gone through an episode. I was worried and asked her how bad was it. Well it was really bad; she ate all the dang donuts we bought the other day.
I went for my evening walk thinking about all those darn donuts I’ll be missing.
I watched two episodes of “Cosmos” # 9-The fate of Stars and #10-The Edge of Tomorrow. It was nice to get back into watching them!
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 23- did my stretches and yoga, ran two miles, and lifted weights.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 55 to 72 degrees, winds out of the SW at 3 to 10 MPH, humidity around 47 percent, mostly clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Sunday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 74. West southwest wind between 5 and 15 mph, with gusts as high as 21 mph. Sunday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 55. West southwest wind between 8 and 18 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph.”
I didn’t do a dang thing today except call a few Family and Friends. It was a very pleasant day so I just kicked back and enjoyed the nice weather.
Joel Levy came by with my mail and that was very kind of him.
I went for my evening walk.
I did some webwork until around 9pm.
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 24 and Monday 25- did my stretches.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 54 to 74 degrees, winds out of the NW at 17 to 25 with gusts up to 55 MPH, humidity around 45 percent, mostly clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Tuesday: Sunny, with a high near 71. North northwest wind between 9 and 14 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph. Tuesday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 47. Northwest wind between 7 and 9 mph.”
Sunday- I called Family and Friends and messed around the house. I invited Kelly over for pancake Sunday dinner and she arrived at 5pm. After dinner she needed to go down to Joshua Tree to get some cigarettes (she smokes but it don’t bother me) so we drove down and got some coffee too. I don’t usually drink coffee and only on special occasions at that; I get very talkative. Kelly is very talkative anyways and we sat outside under the Moon in my backyard gazing at the stars and yapping about this and that and other things of great importance until 3am in the morning. It’s nice having a woman in my life again as a friend who can just hang out together with me and jaw about stuff. Most woman folk I know around here aren’t interested in me or the stuff I’m into, and wouldn’t even consider sitting under the Moon until the wee hours of the night and just have an intelligent discussion; Kelly is a rare find.
Monday- I woke up late in the afternoon. The wind was gusting around 50 MPH so I couldn’t go for my run. Kelly called telling me her house is shaking apart because of the wind and asked if this high of wind was normal around here. I told her that her house has been standing for over forty some years and will probably still be standing after this wind is gone. She called me back later wanting to get some barbecued chicken but the coupon is out of date for the twelve piece bucket. So she called KFC to see if they had any specials but the employee didn’t know but said they only serve barbecued chicken during the summer months. I told Kelly we could get fried chicken at Staters and she said that we could also buy barbecue sauce there and mix it in a bowl with the chicken. She picked me up and I noticed a cooking pot with a wooden ladle in the backseat. Instead, we ended up eating at a Chinese takeout place in the shopping center of Stater Bros in Twentynine Palms. We had stopped by this place a few nights ago, but later in the night, and the food was old and sparse. This time was earlier and there was a line of people, mostly Marines, and the food was fresh and plentiful. They were serving very big portions at a reasonable price; we got stuffed. I believe that Kelly is a bad influence on me. We went back over to my house where we sat again under the Moon yakking away. This night we agreed that she would go home early so we both could get a good night’s sleep; she left at midnight.
I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Tuesday 26- did my stretches and yoga, ran a mile, and lifted weights.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 51 to 71 degrees, winds out of the NW at 6 to 14 with gusts up to 23 MPH, humidity around 35 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Wednesday: Sunny, with a high near 69. North northwest wind between 6 and 13 mph, with gusts as high as 18 mph. Wednesday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 46. North wind around 7 mph.”
I wrote my column for the Hi-Desert Star newspaper and sent it in.
Last week I bought a 17” HP laptop with Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit, Intel Core i3-370M Dual Core processor (2.40GHz, 3MB L3 Cache), 4GB DDR3 System Memory (1 Dimm), 512MB ATI Mobility Radeon, HD 5470 switchable graphics [HDMI, VGA], with a 320Gig hard drive; it was delivered today by FedEx. I felt I got a good deal on it and will use it mostly for watching videos and stuff. I spent most of the day removing garbage software and installing updates to it.
I went for my evening walk. The wind was blowing a bit when I went so I made it a short walk; besides I wanted to get back to my new laptop.
I must have talked to Kelly for over an hour today; she sure likes to yap a lot and I don’t mind.
I wanted to try a movie out on the 17” screen so I put in “U571” (2000) one of my favorite flicks. Sure beats watching it on the little Netbook screens! But I still like my little Netbook and went back to it when I wrote my journal tonight.
I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Wednesday 27- did my stretches, ran four miles, and lifted dumbbells.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 50 to 68 degrees, winds out of the NW at 6 to 10 MPH, humidity around 25 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Thursday: Sunny, with a high near 74. Calm wind becoming southeast between 7 and 10 mph. Thursday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 50. South southwest wind between 6 and 10 mph.”
I really needed to go for a long run to work out some frustrations and think about things. Four miles is a long run for me and I could have gone longer but I have many things to do today.
I went over to Kelly’s house to take a shower. Her dogs are finally getting use to me. One little rat dog of hers had kept barking every time I came over. Today I picked up that little shivering Taco Bell dog and held it tight until it stopped trembling and calmed down; no, I didn’t crush it to death. Now he won’t get off my lap and runs off the other dogs that get near me.
Got back home and cut a wheelbarrow full of wood for the woodstove, and watered all the poor neglected plants.
I did my studies: Latin and pre-algebra; flashcards for Latin, and a video for pre-algebra.
I read aloud from the textbook “Astronomy Today” about stellar sizes; direct and indirect measurements.
I went for my evening walk and took some pictures of ant holes.
I got caught up on my astronomy readings that I have been neglecting lately.
I read a few chapters of “The Light of Other Days” by Arthur C. Clarke.
Kelly asked if I wanted to go to WalMart, I said I’d go along for the ride, and she came by at 9:30pm to pick me up. While at WalMart I was approached by a woman who asked if I could give her $10 for dog food because she left her money in her other paints. I just couldn’t let no dog go hungry, so I went to the checkout with her and paid for it there and kept the receipt. I found some steel tipped boots in the shoe department that I wanted to wear while riding the Harley, they weren’t that expensive, and so I bought them. We got some coffee at the AMPM Mart at the Arco gas station and headed on back to my house were we watched Jurassic Park until 2:30AM.
I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night. I really crammed a whole bunch of stuff into this day.

Thursday 28- did my stretches and yoga, ran a mile, and lifted weights.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 41 to 73 degrees, calm winds, humidity around 12 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Friday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 79. Light wind becoming south between 10 and 13 mph. Friday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 52. South southwest wind between 8 and 13 mph.”
I drove my Harley down to the mailbox but the mailman wasn’t done stuffing the boxes so I took a short ride down Richie Road to HWY 247 and on the way back I stopped off at my friend Dale’s house to say howdy. He’s done a lot of work since I was last there: mounted solar Panels, got some L16 batteries, and some controllers and inverters. His dog Shadow of ten years died a year ago but he has a new dog now called Blondie. I said my goodbyes and collected my mail.
I did my studies: Latin and pre-algebra; did the workbook for Latin, and the workbook for pre-algebra.
I read aloud from the textbook “Astronomy Today” about the Hertzsprung Russell Diagram for stellar classification: OBAFGKM.
I went for my evening walk and took some pictures of the trail that leads to the south.
Andrew came by from LA and we sat around and chatted. We also watched “King Kong” (2005) but only watched until their ship reached Skull Island.
I did my stretches, started to practiced my guitar but broke a string I’ll replace tomorrow, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Friday 29- did my stretches and yoga, ran two miles, and lifted dumbbells.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 52 to 78 degrees, calm winds, humidity around 28 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Saturday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 65. West southwest wind between 10 and 16 mph, with gusts as high as 24 mph. Saturday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 47. West wind between 6 and 11 mph.”
I updated the Copper Mountain Mesa Website and sent out the Newsletter.
I did about the same stuff I did yesterday :)
I did my studies: Latin and pre-algebra; did the workbook for Latin, and the workbook for pre-algebra.
I read aloud from the textbook “Astronomy Today” more about the Hertzsprung Russell Diagram for stellar classification: the main sequence.
Joel came by with donuts and to say howdy.
I went for my evening walk taking more pictures.
Andrew came by on his way back to LA just to say goodbye. He couldn’t stay to watch the rest of “King Kong” (2006) so after he left I watched the rest of the movie. Such a grand film!!!!
I made a quick run over to Kelly’s house to say hi.
I did my stretches and went for a night run, forgot to replace the dang string today but I played the guitar anyways, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Saturday 30- did my stretches.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 54 to 71 degrees, winds from the WSW at 8 to 15 MPH, humidity around 33 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Sunday: Sunny, with a high near 68. Northwest wind between 5 and 7 mph. Sunday Night: Clear, with a low around 48. North northwest wind between 6 and 8 mph.”
I mostly called friends and family throughout the day; like I do on most Saturdays. Plus it’s my kickback day to rest up and be lazy :)
I watched a new episode of “Caprica”.
I read a few chapters of “The Light of Other Days” by Arthur C. Clarke. Okay, it’s starting to get better with lots of interesting ideas but I had to read most of the book to get to them; I only have a few pages left but got dang tired and decided put it down at 1am.
I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Sunday 31- did my stretches.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 50 to 71 degrees, light breeze, humidity around 35 percent, mostly clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Monday: Sunny, with a high near 78. North northwest wind between 6 and 8 mph. Monday Night: Clear, with a low around 53. North northwest wind around 7 mph.”
I got a call from Mac saying he has a table and chairs for Kelly so I ate breakfast and headed over there to pick them up. Well of course when I got over to Mac’s house we sat around jawing and swapping stories. His computer doesn’t work and I took it with me when I left. I dropped the chairs and tables off at Kelly’s and headed back home.
I got a few calls from friends that I returned. Kula called and I yakked at her for a spell. Judy and Denny called to wish me a happy Halloween and I called back but had to leave a message. Kelly called and I told her that I left the table and chairs outside her house; she hasn’t had much sleep lately and when I dropped them off I didn’t disturb her. Ginger called to say she is doing well and going to have surgery tomorrow to pluck out of her body whatever is causing her problems. She took her kids and a few others on trick or treat; probably to the rich areas of town :)
I made another trip to Mac’s to pick up the restore disks for the computer but this time took the Harley over instead of the Gross Polluter.
I did some webwork for a spell and then I read the last few chapters of “The Light of Other Days” by Arthur C. Clarke. Like I said the book finally picked up towards the end and it was well worth the wait.
I did my stretches, the guitar needs to be re-stringed before I will use it again, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.
Goodbye to October you’ve been a pretty decent month!