September 2018

September 2018

Saturday 01- Clear 99° | 71°
I did my stretches, core trainer, weight bench, punched the heavybag, and jogged a mile with Cassie.

Sunday 02- Clear 96° | 73°

I did my stretches, yoga, and went for a mile jog with Cassie.
I got the very bad news this evening that my dear friend Judy Jackson had passed away on Saturday at 4:30PM. I had talked to my friend Saturday evening about Judy and her hedgehog about the same time. I thought this kinda interesting how these things happen. My friend brought up the subject about these little monkeys being pets. I said I doubt you could bring them into California being it is illegal and how I believe my friend Judy had to travel outside of California to get her hedgehog. I will dearly miss my free spirited Friend Judy and wrote a poem for her.

Monday 03- Clear 95° | 76°

I did my stretches...

Tuesday 04- Clear 96° | 73°

I did my stretches, worked out the the 10 and 20 pound dumbbells, and went for a mile jog. 

I went to the Star Pharmacy in JT to get my prescription fill and then went to WalMart to get a few supplies like dog food.

Me and Cassie went to Kjtel’s house to watch a two part series about Mark Twain. 

Wednesday 05- Clear 99° | 70°

I did my stretches, yoga, and jogged a mile.

Worked around the house cleaning up some stuff.

Kjtel came by with Bodie and we all went for a nice walk.

Thursday 06- Clear 100° | 68°

I did my stretches, core trainer, exercised on the weight bench, pounded on the heavybag for a spell, and went for a mile jog.

I wait for two deliveries that came later in the day. One was a new iPad 6 with pen, and the other was a Secura 9100MC 1800W Portable Induction Cooktop Countertop Burner.

I found mouse dropping in my house, so there’s a mouse in the house, bummer. I am borrowing my trailer guest’s two cats for a while to catch the little bandit.

Friday 07- Clear 104° | 78°

I did my stretches and went for a mile jog.

I tested out the induction stove and it didn’t work with my square-wave inverter, just to make sure it wasn’t a bad unit I connected it to my generator and it worked really good! I will have to get a sine-wave inverter now because I want to run everything off of solar electric. Prices have come down on those pure sine-wave inverter and the high price is one reason I never bought one before until now.

I played my guitar for a spell... I need to keep this up.

Saturday 08- Clear 107° | 78°

I did my stretches. Not feeling well. I think my allergies are flaring up and my right knee hurts.

Cleaned out the pool of dead insects that seem to commit mass suicide there lately. 

Sunday 09- Clear 105° | 72°
I did my stretches, but still not feeling well.

I worked on my book getting a few chapters edited.

Called up Bonnie and Larry to wish them a happy anniversary.

Monday 10- Clear 102° | 72°
Still not feeling well and now my knee hurts, but I did my stretches.

 We're having Monday Night Football at our community center. All are welcome to come. This Monday there will be 2 games being played otherwise we start at 5pm for the rest of the season. There will be hotdogs, chips & Dips, popcorn... bring whatever snacks you want to share. We have a pool room setup with a pinball machine, new pool sticks, and a very nice dartboard with a wall full of holes behind.

Tuesday 11- Clear 100° | 70°

I feel about the same as I did yesterday. I did my stretches.

I think I’ll have to layoff jogging for a short spell until my knee feels better.

I called my brother Kevin to wish him a happy birthday.

Wednesday 12- Clear 100° | 73°
I did my stretches, core trainer, worked out on the weight bench, and punched the heavybag for a spell.

Thursday 13- Clear 98° | 64°
I did my stretches.

Game Night!

Friday 14- Clear 102° | 71°
I did my stretches, exercised with the 10 and 20 LBS dumbbells, core trainer, weight bench, punched the heavybag and went for a short jog and walk with Cassie.

Saturday 15- Clear 100° | 66°
I did my stretches.

Sunday 16- Clear 100° | 73°
I did my stretches.

Monday 17- Clear 100° | 69°
I did my stretches and took Cassie for a morning walk.

LabCorp WalMart haircut gas Stater Bros Subway CERT Meeting

Tuesday 18- Clear 98° | 66°

I did my stretches, core trainer, exercised with the 10 and 20 LBS dumbbells and on the weight bench, punched the heavybag, and jogged half a mile and walked the other half with Cassie.

Wednesday 19- Clear 97° | 66°

I did my stretches and went for a walk with Cassie.

I finished chapter 34 in the history book. 

Thursday 20- Clear 95 | 70°

I did my stretches.

I went to the community’s Family Game Night.

Friday 21- Clear 99 | 70°

I did my stretches, core trainer, exercised on the weight bench, punched the heavybag, and jogged a mile.

I did my laundry.

Saturday 22- Clear 98° | 70°

I did my stretches.

Sunday 23- Mostly sunny 99° | 73°

I did my stretches and jogged a mile with Cassie.

It’s Cassie’s Birthday... she is five years old today. She is my little princess <3 span="">

I took Cassie on her leash with me for a bike ride. Halfway into our ride she decided to go chase after a rabbit and I went the other way tumbling to the ground hard almost knocking the wind out of me. I scraped my right forearm, banged up my knee, and pulled a few muscles. I’ll probably be taking a rest for awhile before doing any exercises.

Monday 24 through Wednesday 26 

Down for the count and resting after yesterday’s fall.

Thursday 27- Clear 100° | 68°

I did my stretches and walked Cassie.

I went to Thursday Family Night at our community center. We sat around jawing and watching the football game... I didn’t know the Ram came back to LA!

Friday 28- Clear 99° | 70°

I did my stretches.

I went to Staters in Twentynine to get some supplies because I was running mighty low on them.

Saturday 29- Clear 93° | 75°

I did my stretches and took Cassie for a walk.

I went to potluck last Saturday. It was Chris’s birthday and we sang the Happy BirthDay song to her. I was handed a list at the end of potluck that was five pages long packed full of the most wonderfully delicious foods made by the most precious folks I know, so I’ll just narrow it down for ya: Chris baked cornbread and spicy meatballs, John Jacobsen squeezed some squash, Mack stirred some stir fry, Jeff slow cooked a sausage, Charles Lange and Cal Mayers brought their appetites and money, Yvonne Frances simmered almond green beans, Jennifer Decker shake up some snack mix, Dyan Carroll out did herself with Banana Split truffle- Kailua pork- corny macaroni- peach crisp- cauliflower with cheese, and snuck a banana bread loaf into my take home bag. Now that’s a thoughtful yummy surprise when I arrived home!

Sunday 30- Thunderstorms 93 | 73°

I did my stretches and jogged a mile with Cassie. I am feeling much better after the fall that knocked me out of commision for a week.

I hooked up the new sinewave inverter to see if it would power the Secura Portable Induction Cooktop Countertop Burner I bought earlier this month. It worked and I made my first cup of coffee on it. I disconnected the inverter and hooked the old one back up because I want to put in a fuse and a shutoff switch on it.

******************* September’s Poems ****************************

The heavens opened up
Tears of loss fell
A friend has rose
Beyond the veil
Beyond the reach of you and me
To be forever happy
In our memories
~RD

I believe we project our inner thoughts, cognitive and subliminal, with what we perceive is the norm according to our social beliefs and cultural upbringing upon the animate and inanimate: where some see a desert as a wasteland, others see a magnificent wilderness abundant with life. Where one sees an impoverished wretched individual, another sees a beautiful soul. We must become the gatekeeper of our thoughts: we are what we think we are and what we perceive others to be.
~RD

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August 2018

August 2018

Most days in August I have spent editing on my book. I walk my Cassie everyday sometimes more... the fires in in the nearby hills....  I have neglected whole bunches of stuff... like this blog of mine.

Wednesday 01- mostly cloudy 108° | 86°

I did my stretches, yoga, exercised with 10 and 20 lbs dumbbells, core trainer, weight bench, punched the heavybag, and jogged a mile. The pollutants in the air from the Idyllwild fire is making it hard to breathe. I think I’ll stop the heavy exercises until the air clears. 

I laid in the pool too long and got sunburned.

I fixed a few things around the house.

I went for an evening walk with Cassie, Kjtel, and Bodie her dog. We sat in her yard to watch a magnificent sunset I posted on FaceBook.

Thursday 02- lightning and thunder but little rain. 

I did my stretches.

My MacBook Air’s battery died or won’t charge... bummer, but as long as I leave it connected to AC it still runs. I’m going to look at getting a new battery for it.

Thursday's Game Night! Card games, chess, and I played 4 rounds of pool; we have new pool cues that are straight and true.

Friday 03- Clear 108° | 84°

I did my stretches.

Me and Cassie went over to Kjtel’s to watch the sunset and also watch episode 6 of New York a Documentary. 

I ordered a new battery for my MacBook Air and should arrive on the 8th

Saturday 04- Clear 109° | 84°

I did my stretches. Just too dang hot and still the particulates from the fire in Idyllwild permeate the air for the last week and a half making it hard to do my jogs and weights. 

Sunday 05- Clear 108° | 82°

I did my stretches and exercised inside with the 20lbs dumbbells.

Monday 06- Clear 109° | 77°

I did my stretches.

I gave Linda Harter a ride down to WalMart to get a battery for her turck and then I replaced it for her when we arrived at her house.

Tuesday 07- Clear 109° | 82°

I did my stretches, yoga, exercised with 10 and 20 lbs dumbbells, core trainer, weight bench, punched the heavybag, and jogged a mile.

Wednesday 08- mostly cloudy 105° | 82°

My Birthday!

I did my stretches and jogged a mile.

Was on FaceBook thanking all the nice friends who posted Happy Birthday to me.

The battery replacement for my MacBook Air was delivered and I took the old one out and put the new one in... no problem. Had it up and running in 20 minutes.

My guest who is staying in my guest trailer took me out to Applebees for my birthday... we got stuffed! I was embarrassed by the waitress and busboys singing Happy Happy Happy Birthday! 

My childhood friend Larry Carlock called to wish me a happy birthday and we yammer on about the crazy things we did when we were young. 20 minutes into the call I smelled heavy smoke. We finished the call an hour later and I went outside to see a heavy layer of ash and smoke from the Holy Fire inundating our area here.

Thursday 09- cloudy 100° | 84°

I did my stretches.

I went to game night at the community center... only three of us showed up.

Friday 10- Thunderstorms 102° | 71°

I did my stretches.

I replaced the hard drive in my 2010 MacBook with a 128GB SSD drive after backing it all up and copying the OS and other files to the SSD.

Saturday 11- Cloudy 104° | 82°

I did my stretches.

I messed around with my computers today and did some extensive rewriting and editing of my book.

Sunday 12- Clear 104° | 82°

I did my stretches.

I drove down to Yucca Valley to do some shopping before I was to be at Space Cowboy Books for the poetry reading. I read two poems and I totally flobbed it up... I need to work on my delivery. Still I had a great time with the wonderful poets there.

Monday 13- Thunderstorms 105° | 79°

I did my stretches, yoga, exercised with 10 and 20 lbs dumbbells, core trainer, weight bench, punched the heavybag, and jogged a mile.

Tuesday 14- Clear 105° | 79°

I did my stretches and jogged a mile.

Wednesday 15- Thunderstorms 102° | 80°

I did my stretches.

I drove my Chevy Spark down to Palm Springs (some 60 miles away) to get its 6 month service checkup. 

Thursday 16- Thunderstorms! it rained... more like a cloudburst. not too many did... it seemed to let loose in this one little area...

When I first saw the rain it was a white out and I ran to fetch the camera but by that time it had slowed up quite a bit...

I did my stretches.

I drove my truck instead of my car over to the community center for game night because I wasn’t sure if the roads were flooded or not. It seems that the only place that got any rain in our area was where my house is.

Friday 17- Clear 100° | 81°

I did my stretches, core trainer, and went for a mile jog.

Saturday 18- Clear 105° | 82°

I did my stretches, yoga, exercised with 10 and 20 lbs dumbbells, core trainer, weight bench, punched the heavybag, and jogged a mile.

Me and Cassie walked over to Kjtel’s to watch another episode of the documentary about New York. She made a big salad for us to eat.

Sunday 19- Clear 109° | 84°

I did my stretches and jogged a mile.

Monday 20- Clear 106° | 84°

I did my stretches.

I went to our local CERT meeting at the Sizzler in Yucca Valley tonight. We received our certificate for completing The Standard Emergency Management Course... The Boy Scouts received their CERT Certificates.

Tuesday 21- Clear 105° | 82°

I did my stretches and jogged a mile.

Wednesday 22- Clear 102° | 81°

I did my stretches.

I went down to the San Bernardino county building in Joshua Tree to get my fingerprints taken for my county CERT badge.

Thursday 23- Clear 102° | 75°

I did my stretches and jogged over a mile.

Friday 24- Clear 102° | 72°

I did my stretches and jogged a mile.

Saturday 25- Clear 100° | 73°

I did my stretches, exercised with 10 and 20 lbs dumbbells, core trainer, weight bench, punched the heavybag, and jogged a mile.

Saturday’s potluck was a 26 mile marathon of yummy delicious culinary delights. Substituting for Dyan was her Sister Elizabeth West jogging up with sticky chicken wings, a green bean casserole, and lemon custard pudding. Jeff narrowly missed the race with a carrot deluxe casserole. John Jacobsen made it to the 15 mile mark with his mac&cheese, followed closely by Mack with his tasty sausage pasta. Chris came bounding towards the finish line with her BQ beans, veggie stew and egg casserole. But it was Yvonne Frances who broke the ribbon crossing the finish line carrying her Zucchini with cheese Supreme Casserole. We all had a fun and wonderful time like we always do yammering and gulping down vast amounts of grub. 

Sunday 26- Clear 102° | 75°

I did my stretches, yoga, exercised with 10 and 20 lbs dumbbells, punched the heavybag, and jogged a mile.

Monday 27- Clear 102° | 73°

I did my stretches, yoga, and jogged a little over a little over a mile.

Tuesday 28- Clear 98° | 68°

I did my stretches, core trainer, weight bench, punched the heavybag, and jogged a mile.

Wednesday 29- Clear 100° | 73°

I did my stretches and jogged a mile with Cassie... it’s cooling down enough now to take Cassie with me on my morning jogs.

Thursday 30- Clear 102° | 71°

I did my stretches, yoga, and jogged a mile with Cassie.

I waited for UPS to deliver my new solar panels, the big brown truck came around 2-2:30. I checked all the panels for breakage and voltage... everything was fine.

Friday 31- Clear 102° | 73°

I did my stretches, exercised with the 10 and 20 pound dumbbells, and jogged a mile with Cassie.

I had a nice drive out to the far side of Landers to take photos of her property so she can put it up for sale.

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

You are the Basketball and Life is the Hoop... Take careful aim and Swish through it  ;) 

~RD

Ships that sail out through the night beyond the starry skies, 

unbeknownst what treasures lie, fate thy sorrows cries.

Hold fast and hard ye weary sailormen, hold tight against the storm,

your life depends on skill and chance, to reach thy limits bourn.

To hell with all ye hipicates, be done for evermore.

Be done with all the pettiness, start your journey’s quest

To sail and breathe in the lust for life, to be one with the sea

But beware thy sullen handmaiden gathering threads of time, temptations beyond our sated breath, will bring you down with scorn.

So cast your lines, be free my friend, be free to sail upon the seas

Life be quick, beyond your grasp, in the flowing tides of time.

~RD

I can hear an orchestra from words written like notes on a staff... I see melodies of color vibrate from mouths of poets... the whole universe lit with flames pirouetting through a bright forest of verse and song.

~RD

Doubt, will eventually haunt you

Hate, will track you down

Bigotry, comes a knockin

Conceit, is at the door

Jealousy, seeps up from within

Greed, is all encompassing

Deceit, follows you around

Turn your mind away these vile emotions 

Be done with those who seek worshipers to manipulate

Begin a new paradigm

Create a better you

Learn to love yourself and others

Live in the moment and be at peace my friend

The past belongs only to those who want to live there

The future belongs to those who plan

~RD

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