September 2016

September 2016

Thursday 01- 108 degrees

I did my stretches, yoga, and took Cassie for a one mile jog. I did try punching the heavy bag for a little bit but it hurts my right arm that I believe has tennis elbow or some such, so I’ll just discontinue boxing for the two weeks I am giving my right arm time to heal.

I swept the bedroom and bathroom floors.

I went over to Sherry’s house with Cassie to do a poop patrol and helpout.

I did my stretches, and went for my one mile evening jog with Cassie.

Friday 02- 104 degrees; nights are finally cooling down some at 71 degrees.

I did my stretches, yoga, and took Cassie for a one mile jog. We found a bunch of nails again on the road of Borland Pass. This is the fourth time in the past two months. I picked them all up.

Needing some fresh fruits I went to Stater Bros again. I found out this morning that Monday is Labor Day and wanted to beat the holiday crowds that usually show up.

I did my stretches, and went for my one mile evening jog with Cassie.

Saturday 03- 106 degrees.

I did my stretches, yoga, and took Cassie for a one mile jog.

I got a call from Sherry’s friend Kathy telling me that Sherry was taken to the hospital after Kathy called the paramedics when she found her in respiratory distress. Sherry told Kathy to have me pick up a bag of dog food and ten 25 pound bags of cat litter. Kathy also told me there was no rush, that there was already enough to last over a week and she would be feeding the dogs. I told her I’d pick some up on Wednesday and do the poop patrol and change the water for the dogs.

I did my stretches, and went for my one mile evening jog with Cassie.

Sunday 04- 101 degrees.

I did my stretches, weight bench without the weights... situps and leg curls, stuff like that, yoga, and took Cassie for a one mile jog.

I tried to call Sherry’s cell phone and it went right to message. Kathy told me later Sherry had turned it off because she had a very hard time talking on it.

I started writing a new book called “Upon Ashen Roads”; I do this when I am stressed.

I did my stretches, and went for my one mile evening jog with Cassie.

Monday 05- 96 degrees!

I did my stretches, weight bench... situps and leg curls, stuff like that, yoga, and took Cassie for a one mile jog.

I did my stretches, and went for my one mile evening jog with Cassie.

Tuesday 06- 95 to 69 degrees.

I did my stretches, weight bench... situps and leg curls, stuff like that, yoga, and took Cassie for a one mile jog.

On our jog we met a man driving by and he stopped to chat for a spell. His name is Brett and he is staying at the first house on Winters Rd about a mile east of me. Brett told me that the previous owner, John, had been in the hospital and passed a few months ago. Brett’s friend had bought the place, but he couldn’t take the heat and asked Brett to stay there and fix it up. I kinda knew something was up a six or so months ago when I drove by and saw two women cleaning out the place.

I did my stretches, and went for my one mile evening jog with Cassie.

Wednesday 07-

I did my stretches, yoga, and took Cassie for a one mile jog.

I went to Sherry’s house to take care of the dogs. I went out and bought 50LBS of dog food and nine bags of 25LBS each of cat litter (found out I was shorted one bag and went back and got a refund for it). I did the poop patrol, changed the water and fed the dogs.

Kathy called telling me that Sherry may not be coming back home for a long time. The hospital is going to move her to a skilled nursing home with rehab this Saturday. I will wait until they get her all settled in at the nursing home and then go down there for a visit.

Thursday 08-

I did my stretches, weight bench... situps and leg curls, stuff like that, yoga, and took Cassie for a one mile jog.

Medical canceled Kelly’s benefits because the paperwork she was supposed to fill out was never delivered. Her car is in the shop being fixed and she needed a ride to the Welfare office in Twentynine Palms. We stopped off afterwards to get falafels at Palm Kabob House on Adobe Rd. Very filling and tasted great!

Friday 09- 100 to 74 degrees.

I did my stretches, weight bench... situps and leg curls, stuff like that, yoga, and took Cassie for a one mile jog.  

Kathy called to give me an update on Sherry and it doesn’t look good, but we can only hope for the best and see if Sherry how she does in the skilled nursing home and rehab. Kathy said she wouldn’t be able to take care of Sherry’s critters for two weeks after the 21st. I told Kathy I’d come by every other day to feed the critters as she already had a friend who said the same. We will coordinate the days in the coming weeks.

I did my stretches, and went for my one mile evening jog with Cassie.

Saturday 10- 103 to 75 degrees.

I did my stretches, weight bench... situps and leg curls, stuff like that, yoga, and took Cassie for a one mile jog.

Kathy called to tell me Sherry, my best friend up here in the desert, had passed away in her sleep around 2:30PM. I told her I will call her friends to let them know. I feel very very broken....

I did my stretches, and went for my one mile evening jog with Cassie.

I wrote a poem for Sherry and posted it to FaceBook: The dreaded news came much sooner, my shock unexpected, the die has been cast, phone calls to be made. The day drew weary, the sky has dimmed, there was so much to say, fond memories to share, of friends who we knew and places we’ve been, but not a word to be heard from the other side of darkness.

I took Cassie for a night run up the hill and back. This seemed to calm my mind along with the writing.

Sunday 11- 101 degrees.

I did my stretches, weight bench... situps and leg curls, stuff like that, yoga, and took Cassie for a one mile jog.

On our jog Cassie saw a white truck parked up at the top of the hill that looked like the county truck Sherry drove and Cassie dragged me over to it. Finding out it wasn’t Sherry’s Cassie laid down in the shade of it while I talked to the driver. His name was Jeff and lived down east of me. He’d stopped to get cell reception as he can’t from his property.

I did my stretches, and went for my one mile evening jog with Cassie.

Monday 12- 100 degrees.

I did my stretches, weight bench... situps and leg curls, stuff like that, yoga, and took Cassie for a one mile jog.

Worked around the yard throwing crap I don’t need into the dumpster.

I did my stretches, and went for my one mile evening jog with Cassie.

I put my phones to record messages only... just don’t feel like talking to anyone right now.

Tuesday 13- 110 degrees.

I did my stretches, weight bench... situps and leg curls, stuff like that, yoga, and took Cassie for a one mile jog.

I did my stretches, and went for my one mile evening jog with Cassie.

Wednesday 14- 104 degrees.

I did my stretches, weight bench... situps and leg curls, stuff like that, yoga, and took Cassie for a one mile jog.

I tinkered and got my Honda generator running again.

I did my stretches, and went for my one mile evening jog with Cassie.

Thursday 15- 96 degrees.

I did my stretches, weight bench... situps and leg curls, stuff like that, yoga, and took Cassie for a one mile jog, but had to cut it short because there was a black but more bluish in color Toyota Tacoma like Sherry’s personal truck parked across from our jogging path on Borland Pass; kinda freaked me out and Cassie was dragging me to it. I decided to walk Cassie back home in the opposite direction.

I did my stretches, and went for my one mile evening jog with Cassie.

Friday 16- 98 degrees.

I did my stretches and took Cassie for a short walk.

I had to go to town to get supplies.

I asked about AEDs (Automated Electronic Defibrillator) at WalMart, no one knew what I was talking about not even the assistant manager. One salesperson asked if it was the thing you stick in your thigh; an EpiPen. I explained what the were and the assistant manager said management would get back to me by phone with an answer. I thought it was strange that a store the size of WalMart wouldn’t have a AED.

Saturday 17- 100 degrees and Sunday 18- 103 degrees

I did my stretches and took Cassie for her morning and evening walks.

Monday 19- 101 degrees with lots of humidity.

I did my stretches and took Cassie for a mile jog.

I went to mail off birthday cards. On the way back I talked to David, Jeff, Mike, and Dawn about Sherry. Our little community flew the US flag at half staff today in remembrance to Sherry Rotruck and her volunteer work she did at the USDA food distribution and helping out local residents in need. I thought that was mighty nice of them and took a picture of the flag.

I went for an evening mile job with Cassie.

Tuesday 20- rained and drizzled all day long.

I did my stretches, yoga, and took Cassie for a one mile jog. It had just began drizzling when we started our jog.

I just got word that services for Sherry Rotruck will be held on Saturday October 15th at the Yucca Valley Community Center from 1 to 3pm in the Yucca Room.
Address: 57090 Twentynine Palms Highway, Yucca Valley, CA 92284
Please pass this on to all of Sherry's Friends

Wednesday 21- rained all day

I did my stretches. It stopped raining for a few hours and the ground was firm so me and Cassie went for a one mile jog. I heard the electricity has been out for several here and there beginning sometime yesterday when a power pole was struck by lightning somewheres in Landers and got a call earlier today telling me their electric is still out.
Well we needed the rain and there hasn't been any heavy showers that I know of.

Thursday 22- sunny 85 to 56 degrees and windy, lots of wind.

I did my stretches and Cassie and me went for a one mile jog.

Friday 23-

I did my stretches and Cassie and me went for a one mile jog.

It is cooler outside and I was able to work in the yard all day.

Saturday 24-

I did my stretches and Cassie and me went for a one mile jog.

I went to Potluck.

Sunday 25-

I did my stretches and Cassie and me went for a one mile jog.

I worked more in the yard

Me and Cassie went for an evening mile jog.

Monday 26-

I did my stretches and Cassie and me went for a one mile jog.

Yard moved trailer with only a few dents made along the way.

I went for an evening jog with Cassie and I twisted my right foot and limped back home. Now I can’t lift weights or jog! I think my right arm is slowly healing and getting stronger though.

Tuesday 27- 80 to 69 degrees... partly cloudy.

I did my stretches and took Cassie for a walk... right foot still hurts.

Kelly car is in the shop getting fixed and asked me for a ride to her Doctor’s appointment at 2:45pm in Rancho Mirage. I didn’t get back home until 8pm after shopping at WalMart.

Wednesday 28- 87 to 67 with some evening clouds.

I did my stretches and took Cassie for a walk. My foot still hurts but is feeling better than it did yesterday.

I did some more work out in the yard throwing stuff away. The cleanup is finally coming along quite nicely. While I was cleaning up the yard I was reinstalling Windows 7 on my HP laptop that didn’t like the new Win 10 special upgrade they just released.

Took cassie for an evening walk.

Thursday 29- 92 to 69 degrees.

I did my stretches, lifted light weights, yoga, took Cassie for a one mile jog, core trainer, and punched the heavybag for one minute. (trying to get back into lifting weights slowly as not to hurt my right arm as it heals)

I did my stretches, lifted 5lb dumbbells and went for my evening one mile jog with Cassie.

Friday 30- 91 to 71 degrees.

I did my stretches and took Cassie for a mile jog.

Kelly frantically call me to say Edison disconnected her landlord’s bootleg electric setup and now has no power. She called around and found a friend who happen to have a generator she could borrow. I drove her over there to pick it up. I also got a five gallon can of gas from my house and an extension cord to plug into her refrigerator until I can get a male to male cord and plug it into a wall socket and power the whole house.

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Gosh how I'm gonna miss Sherry... We've been friends since I moved up here. The past few years we would get together twice a month or more so Cassie could play with Barney, Willy and Abby while we went shopping and had linder (lunch and dinner) as Sherry would call it, usually at the Sizzler.
She would always stop by on Saturdays in her County Truck doing her rounds. She would give Cassie treats and we would talk for a spell. One Saturday in July when I was still taking my EMR class Sherry showed me her right leg was swollen. We had studied up on this in the class and told her to go see her doctor right away. She got a second opinion and finally saw her doctor who gave her Lasix to reduce the water she was retaining and she seem alright after that for a while.
Towards the end I took her to her doctor and the ER down at Desert Regional a couple of times when both legs were swollen; Kathy and Jan Bonner also took her on her many trips down the hill to her doctor and ER. All the ER did was stabilize her and send her back home which kinda pissed me off (there's more to that story). September 03rd Kathy found her in respiratory distress and called the paramedics. They finally admitted her to a hospital room at Desert Regional that evening. I took care of Sherry's critters when Kathy couldn't. Kathy also told me Sherry had turned off her cell phone because she couldn't talk and mostly slept and didn't want visitors. Later in the week, Wednesday it was, Kathy called telling me that Sherry may not be coming back home for a long time and the hospital is going to move her the a skilled nursing home on Saturday 10. I was thinking that once she had gotten settled in I'd go down there for a visit at the nursing home, but that dreadful call came at 3pm on Saturday 10th telling me Sherry had passed around 2:30PM...

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***** Stuff I Wrote this Month******

The dreaded news came much sooner, my shock unexpected, the die has been cast, phone calls to be made. The day drew weary, the sky has dimmed, there was so much to say, fond memories to share, of friends who we knew and places we’ve been, but not a word to be heard from the other side of darkness.

~RD

Art can be just a few lines drawn here and there, but it's really how our minds perceive them. If we just take our time to ponder and imagine, these little lines drawn on a piece of scrap, can tell us wondrous stories... and a peek into the mind of the artist.
~RD

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