March 2018

March 2018

By the way, if I missed mentioning this in my journal here and there; I take my doggies for a walk everyday and do the poop patrol every two or three days... just if ya wondered.

Thursday 01- windy and cold. 64° | 37°

I did my stretches, yoga, exercised with 20lbs dumbbells, and went for a mile jog.

Friday 02- windy 68° | 36°

I did my stretches, exercised with the 10lbs dumbbells, punched the heavybag, and jogged a good mile.

Saturday 03- very windy with scattered Clouds 63° | 43°

I did my stretches and messed around online and worked on my computers.

Sunday 04- Scattered Clouds 57° | 39°

I did my stretches and jogged a mile.

Tegan came by with her car wanting to know if I knew a good car mechanic. I told her I do all my own work on my vehicles, but I’ll take a fast look-see. I couldn’t see anything wrong under the hood, so I told her where my friends take their cars for repair in Yucca Valley. I found out she is a writer too :)

Monday 05- Scattered Clouds 61° | 41°

I did my stretches, yoga, exercised with the 20lbs, and jogged a good mile.

Tuesday 06- 69° | 41°

I did my stretches.

I went into Twentynine Palms to the post office to pick up another package. I went to Building Supply that use to be Bar Lumber. I had thought they had closed down, but I was told different, and I took two propane tanks down there to get them filled.

Wednesday 07- Scattered Clouds 66° | 39°

I did my stretches, yoga, I did the core trainer and weight bench for the first time since my fall, punched the heavybag, and went for a mile jog.

Thursday 08- 79° | 46°

I did my stretches and jogged a mile.

Been doing some writing and coming up with some ideas for a new book. I still have to edit Book 2 of “Upon Ashen Roads” and a few poems I haven’t completed.

Friday 09- Scattered Clouds 79° | 51°

I did my stretches, yoga, core trainer, weight bench, punched the heavybag, and went for a mile and a half jog.
I worked in the yard cleaning it up and doing a poop patrol. 

Saturday 10- Rain! 63° | 43°

I did my stretches.

I did more clean-up of the yard. I want to get rid of everything that doesn’t serve a purpose.  

Sunday 11- partly cloudy 69° | 51°

I did my stretches, exercised with the 20lbs dumbbells, and jogged a mile.

I went to the poetry reading at Space Cowboy Books. I read my poem I wrote just before getting in my car and driving there... when you get inspired you just have to stop everything and just do it whatever it is.

Monday 12- 77° | 50°

I did my stretches, yoga, core trainer, weight bench, jogged a good mile.

I went to Yucca Valley to LabCorp to have my blood tested. I also went to Stater Bros and WalMart to get supplies and a haircut.

I got home and the phone rang. It was a person at LabCorp telling me they have my results. I thought that was dang fast and told her I just had it done today. She double checked and found it was last years. I asked her what the results were from last years... my whatchamacallit was high at 69 and normal was 46. She told me she should have the new results by Wednesday and would give me a call.

Tuesday 13- Partly cloudy 78° | 57°
I did my stretches and jogged a mile and a half.

I cleared out all the pans, food containers, and other mess from under the kitchen counter. I will clean and wipe it down real good tomorrow.

Kelly’s kitten Running Cloud passed away this evening. He was 19 years old and a very brave and wonderful kitty.

I saw the first flowers this year.

Wednesday 14- a very windy day! 75° | 51°

I did my stretches.

I got my results for my blood test from LabCorp and my whatchamacallit was 46.1 down form a high of 69, so I am back to normal I guess. I have to go in for another test in one month.

I cleaned the kitchen counter shelves with bleach and Pinesol; took most of the day. I also removed the sink drain U-joint to get all the yucky stuff trapped there.

Thursday 15- rained early this morning. 64° | 45°

I did my stretches, and jogged a good mile.

My HP G72 laptop has an Intel 4500HD video which does not have a driver for Windows 10 I found out. Now I know why Win 10 kept hanging on updating for the past year... I tried to reinstall Win7, but says it isn't genuine; which it is!
I have found this mess everyone's calling Windows 10 a complete failure for me and many others folks. After a lot of effort and time spent on the G72, I finally installed Linux Mint and it runs just fine and I don't have to "babysit" my computer when doing an update or bow down to Big Corporate Microsoft’s finagling. I have a few other machines running Win 10, but I kinda switched over to OSX, Mint, and Chrome without all the hoops and hassle Microsoft forces you to navigate.

Friday 16- 66° | 41°

I did my stretches, yoga, exercised with the 20lbs dumbbells, and jogged with the dogs for a good mile.

Saturday 17- windy and cold 62° | 42°

I did my stretches, yoga, and ran a good mile.

Kicking back taking it easy. I did my exercises earlier in the day... did some work around the house; stuff like that. Real windy and cold right now.

Sunday 18- 64° | 41°

I did my stretches, yoga, exercised with the 10lbs dumbbells, and jogged a good mile.
I cut a whole lot of firewood from old leftover 2x4s given to me many years ago when the county was tearing down old shacks in the neighborhood.

I did a load of laundry done an hung out to dry. Got another load in the tub soaking overnight. 

I did the poop patrol... I think I feed the dogs too much!

Monday 19- Scattered Clouds 68° | 39°

I did my stretches, yoga, exercised with the weight bench, punched the heavybag, and jogged a good mile.
I did another load of laundry...

I rode my bike over to Kjtel’s to visit and have a nice chat. Later she came to my home with her van and we worked on her driver’s side door window. The cable to the motor had gotten bound up and wouldn’t close the window all the way. Finally we, after some effort, had to cut the cable and then hold the window closed by tying a nylon line to secure it in place. I enjoyed our little quality time we had working on the van door.

Tuesday 20- Scattered Clouds 75° | 45°

I did my stretches, yoga, exercised with the 20lbs dumbbells and weight bench, punched the heavybag, and jogged a mile and a half.

Put some more clothes in the small washer to soak overnight.

Gathered up my taxes to send away to my sister Lynn’s husband Paul to do for me, but first I have to convert them all into PDFs. My scanner doesn’t work on Windows 10, so I had to get out my Windows 7 laptop. I had everything setup, but when I went to turn on the laptop Microsoft said my copy of Win 7 wasn’t genuine (I’m really disgusted with Microsoft)... had to jump through hoops again and finally got my copy approved. It got late and will update the program and drivers for the scanner tomorrow.

Wednesday 21- Scattered Clouds 75° | 51°

I did my stretches, yoga, exercised with the 20lbs dumbbells and weight bench, punched the heavybag, and jogged a good mile.

Too overcast today, so the clothes in the washer gets to soak another day.

I updated the program and drivers for the scanner and turned all my tax forms into PDFs to be sent off.

I used up a whole gallon of Henry White Roofing Sealant on the seams of the guest trailer. As I was on the ladder with the putty knife doing this, a few drops of rain fell on my head, but that’s all the rain we got. 

I did my stretches and Cassie and I ran up and back down the hill in front of my house.

Did some studies- listened to two astronomy podcasts and read some in the geology book about streams and erosions.

  

Thursday 22- high winds and rain 73° | 55°

I did my stretches.
I saw a skinny old woman at WalMart get lifted up into the dark cloudy skies and carried off to who knows where!

Friday 23- 75° | 51°

I did my stretches, yoga, exercised with the 20lbs dumbbells and weight bench, punched the heavybag, and jogged three miles.
It was sunny enough today to finish my laundry and hang them out to dry.

I am trying to get back into my studies after my bad fall and a few other setbacks, so I began reading from the geology textbook starting where I left off at chapter 16. I listened to three podcasts of Astronomy Cast. 

Saturday 24- 72° | 52°

I did my stretches, yoga, exercised with the 20lbs dumbbells and weight bench, punched the heavybag, and jogged a good mile with my dogs in tow.

I read from the geology textbook and finished chapter 16. I listened to two podcasts of Astronomy Cast.

Sunday 25- 68° | 48°

I did my stretches, yoga, exercised with the 20lbs dumbbells and weight bench, punched the heavybag, and jogged a good mile with my dogs in tow.
I read from the geology textbook and started chapter 17. I listened to two podcasts of Astronomy Cast.

A lost woman, Susan, drove into my driveway looking for directions. I helped her out with that and also looked at her car she said was making a bad bumping noise. It turned out one screw came loose on a skid plate next to her exhaust, but was secured by two others. I told her it wouldn’t case a problem until she could get the screw replaced later.

Monday 26- Scattered Clouds 64° | 45°

I did my stretches, yoga, exercised with the 20lbs dumbbells and weight bench, punched the heavybag, and jogged a good mile with Cassie; Barney didn’t want to come.

It was Kjtel’s Birthday and I went to her house and had a wonderful chat.
I read from the geology textbook and finished chapter 17. I listened to two podcasts of Astronomy Cast.

Tuesday 27- 68° | 48°

I did my stretches, yoga, exercised with the 20lbs dumbbells and weight bench, punched the heavybag, and jogged a good mile.
Kjtel called for me to come visit and meet her two friends who will be staying with her. Their names are Giovanni and Damon, both 24 years old and twins. Seems like good folks to me.

I read from the geology textbook starting chapter 18. I listened to two podcasts of Astronomy Cast.

Wednesday 28- 79° | 46°

I did my stretches, yoga, exercised with the 20lbs dumbbells and weight bench, punched the heavybag, and jogged a good mile with my dogs.

I read from the geology textbook and finished chapter 18. I listened to two more podcasts of Astronomy Cast.

Thursday 29- 84° | 51°

I did my stretches, yoga, exercised with the 20lbs dumbbells and weight bench, punched the heavybag, and jogged a good mile.

Post office Stater Bros.
I read from the geology textbook started chapter 19. I listened to two podcasts of Astronomy Cast, one I had to listen to because I fell asleep to it yesterday.

Friday 30- 88° | 55°

I did my stretches, yoga, exercised with the 20lbs dumbbells and weight bench, punched the heavybag, and jogged 2.5 miles with my dogs.

I finished chapter 19 of the geology book. I listened to two podcasts of Astronomy Cast.

Saturday 31- 88° | 57°

I did my stretches, yoga, exercised with the 20lbs, and jogged a good mile. 

We had a wonderful Easter Eve Potluck at our little community center Saturday evening with plenty of food to go around and lots to take home, too. There was David King’s baked ham and beans. Dyan and Dorothy’s chicken broccoli casserole and carrots hollandaise. Yvonne's pasta chicken salad and lemon cherry tarts. Kip Fjeld tasty strawberry pie. Mack cooked up some yummy pasta. And lastly, Chris VanNortrick presented us with two casseroles, banana bread, and cupcakes.

On a special note: Dorothy Jacobsen finally ate a chocolate carrot cake made by her loving daughter Dyan Carroll, from a recipe Dorothy read about 50 year ago. 

It was a mighty fine day indeed.

**************** Stuff I wrote this month ****************

Put a little more of yourself
into your day...

~RD

Without love there is hate and sorrow. Without hope there is only defeat.
~RD

I live in a destination, a beautiful area known as Joshua Tree. Now AirBnBs are popular, buying up property, changing the population and culture by pushing denizens of the desert out, changing it into their city. Big Box stores are trying to find a toehold in Joshua Tree, changing it so it isn’t special anymore... Once this happens Joshua Tree won’t be a destination, it will be like everywhere else and people will stop coming here for the unique “Roughing it” experience and solitude that they themselves seek from wherever large cities they came.
~RD

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