August 2020

 

August 2020 

Saturday 01- 113/84F with heavy smoke. I did my stretches, core trainer, and worked out on the weight bench.

I did my yoga, exercised with the 15lbs dumbbells, setups, and took Cassie for an evening mile jog.

At midnight I did my stretches, worked out with the 15lbs dumbbells, setups, and went for a fast run up the hill and back with Cassie.

No studies today.

Sunday 02- 109/75F totally smokey. I did my stretches, core trainer, and worked out on the weight bench.

I did all my studies throughout the day, even the French lesson.

I talked to Kevin for a spell.

I took Cassie for an evening mile jog.

At midnight we went for a walk over to check on a neighbor’s house.

Monday 03- 109/76F very smokey. I did my stretches, core trainer, and worked out on the weight bench.

I heard that Judy and Denny were at their cabin and hopped on the eBike and rode on over for a short chat. They are doing well and getting things back together after some bad people in the area broke into their house. They know who it was because a neighbor followed the tire tracks to the house. A friend went over there and warned them that really bacd consequences will befall them if they steal from this area again.

UPS delivered my Harley carburetor brand new in the box.

I did yoga, exercised with the 15lbs dumbbells, setups, and took Cassie for an evening mile jog.

At midnight I did my stretches, worked out with the 15lbs dumbbells, setups, and went for a fast run up the hill and back with Cassie.

Tuesday 04- 106/76F windy and smokey. I did my stretches, core trainer, and worked out on the weight bench.

I called BFF Lary Carlock to wish him a Happy Birthday. We chatted for a short while because his daughter and others came down from up north to visit him. He will call me on my Birthday and we’ll have a longer jawing session.

I did yoga, exercised with the 15lbs dumbbells, setups, and took Cassie for an evening mile jog.

At midnight I did my stretches, worked out with the 15lbs dumbbells, setups, and went for a fast run up the hill and back with Cassie.

Wednesday 05- 103/69F windy and very smoky. I did my stretches and took the day off from most of my exercising because of the smoke in the air.

I did all my studies.

I took Cassie for a midnight run up the hill.

Thursday 06- 102/68F I did my stretches, core trainer and worked out on the weight bench. 

Took Kelly, my guest, to pick up medicine for her cat at her private post office in Twentynine Palms.

Jeff brought his Dell laptop over for me to fix. He has been hacked. I had him call his bank and other important sites and have his passwords changed... What I will do on his laptop is a clean install and set it back to factory specs since it's a new computer and he hasn't any pictures and documents on it. Otherwise, I would have had to try and get his data off first and then do a clean install.

Took Cassie for a mile jog at sunset. I exercised with the 10lbs weights and did situps.

Friday 07- 100/70F still a lot of smoke. I did my stretches, core trainer, and worked out on the weight bench.

Had to curtail my outside activities because of the smoke in the air, but I restringed my punching bag and hung it up. It’s been lying there waiting for me to do this for a few years. Now I have something to take my aggressions out on ;)

Oh, and I did my laundry.

Saturday 08- 103/74F hazy with smoke. It’s my Birthday, so I took the day off.

My BFF Larry Carlock called to sing Happy Birthday to me. So did a few other friends. I guess they’re getting back at me for singing Happy Birthday to them throughout the years. I spent a lot of time thanking the friends leaving birthday wishes on FaceBook.

Sunday 09- 107/75F smokey but not too bad. I did my stretches, core trainer, and worked out on the weight bench.

I finally decided that the pump to the pool was good enough to drill a hole into the tub. I’ve been reluctant to drill the hole until now.

I talked to Kevin for a spell.

I took Cassie for an evening walk.

Monday 10- 106/71F clear and hot. I did my stretches, core trainer, worked out on the weight bench, and punched the hell out of the punching bag.

Swept out the patio of all the dead debris it has collected over the years. I should make this a monthly chore... I’ll put it on my list.

Another thing I’ll add to my monthly list is cleaning the kitchen counter- it gets mighty dirty and I seem to forget to clean it. Maybe I should put this one on a weekly list? Okay, I’ll make up a weekly and monthly list and hang it somewheres so I can see it and check it off.

I did some electrical work in the bathroom connecting up a new wall plug. Took me more time finding all the tools and parts than it took to finish the job. 

I took Cassie for an evening mile jog, and then I did setups and worked out with the 10lbs weights.

The garbage truck is coming tomorrow, so I took out all the trash. I let my neighbors use it because I seldom fill it up myself and there is extra room. This time it was pretty full before I got my own stuff in.

I took Cassie for a midnight run up the hill, I exercised with the 15lbs dumbbells and did setups.

I completed all my studies for today.

Tuesday 11- 106/73F clear. I did my stretches, core trainer, worked out on the weight bench, and pounded on the punching bag.

I did some more work on the electrical wiring of the house trying to find out what is causing the drain on my batteries. I took a long soak in the tub afterwards.

I did all my studies for today.

I took a very long evening walk with Cassie.

I took my dog Cassie outside to watch the Perseids Meteor Shower. I’ve been watching the night skies for the past two months, now that the weather is nice and clear. There has been a celestial race going on between Jupiter and Saturn to see who gets to the Teapot (and asterism in Sagittarius) first. Jupiter is in the lead with Saturn right behind with Mars rising out of the eastern skies getting into the race rather late.

I saw some nice fireballs bright red in color and many fainter ones. The meteors were spaced about 5 to 10 minutes apart but there were times when they rained down minutes apart. It was a very pleasurable four hours watching the show the night sky put on for me and my dog. I'll be out there again tonight :)

Wednesday 12- 108/81F and muggy. I did my stretches, core trainer, worked out on the weight bench, and hit on the punching bag for a spell.

I did my yoga, worked out with the 10lbs dumbbells, and jogged a mile with Cassie. I took a long soak in the tub to cool down.

I took Cassie for a midnight run up the hill and then finished with a jog around the block. I worked out with the 15lbs dumbbells and did some situps. We sat outside for an hour or so watching for any more meteors, saw a few but not as many as yesterday.

I didn’t do any studying today because I wanted to write a story I have an idea for.

Thursday 13- 107/81F again muggy. I went to the post office in Twentynine Palms to pick up a package containing another ToughBook CF-30. I filled up my little Spark and then headed over to Stater Bros. to get some supplies and made a stop at Burger King for their 2 for 1 special. I ordered 2 Whoppers, one to give to my guest living in her trailer out back.

I took Cassie for a midnight jog around the block that I found out was a whole mile. I didn’t run up the hill like I started to do this month because of the mugginess of the weather. We sat outside for an hour or more but the sky was getting some clouds moving in.

Friday 14- 111/84F afternoon thunderstorm and downpour. I did my stretches, and a lite workout on the core trainer, and the weight bench, I hit on the punching bag for a short spell.

I was working on my Harley in the process of removing the gas tank when all hell broke loose with a torrent of rain and lightning and thunder. I had to shut all my electric down just in case lightning struck near.

The internet was really slow, almost at dialup speed, so I turned off the modem and decided to do my studies instead.

Took Cassie for a late evening mile jog around the block. The sky was clear when we got back and we sat outside for a long period of time watching the magnificent night skies.

Saturday 15- 112/85F with lots of humidity. I did my stretches, core trainer, worked out on the weight bench, and hit on the punching bag for a spell.

Found out the Hard Drive Caddys for my two Toughbook CF-18 I ordered were IDE and not SATA connections. I messaged the seller and his response was mostly too bad for you. He wanted to sell me the right ones for $30. I will give a bad review. Now I have to figure out a way to connect the two SATA drives up to IDE. I found a converter at Amazon and ordered it.

Sunday 16- 114/85F with humidity. I worked on my Harley out in the garage where it was 114 degrees. I finally got the gas tank off and found a mess of tangled wires. Whoever worked on this before must have been on some kinda hallucinogenic... plus she's been in storage for a few years and collected a lot of grunge. I have my work cut out for me but I'll get her done. I soaked in the tub for a long while to cool off.

I talked to Kevin for a spell.

Around 10PM I took Cassie for a mile jog around the block. When we ended our jog I kicked back in my Star Chair (my new Zero Gravity Reclining Lounge Chair) to gaze at the stars. I saw several meteors, a couple of satellites. But right now I am observing Delta Cephei in the constellation Cepheus with my binoculars. It is a variable star with a period of 5.33-day rise and fall of brightness and is the star that gives its name to Cepheid Variables. After watching it for a few days I believe the star is at its lowest brightness. This is the type of variable star Edwin Hubble found in the Andromeda Galaxy in 1923 (called the Great Andromeda Nebula at the time and was thought to be inside the Milky Way) and this changed forever the way we view the universe. The Andromeda Galaxy is 2.5 million light-years away and the farthest object you can see with the naked eye.

I finished formatting and uploading my eBook “The Copper Mountain Mesa Series” all 626 pages of it to the Amazon Kindle site. The paperback one has been out for a few months now and it is one heavy book!

Monday 17- 114/89F clear skies. I did my stretches, core trainer, exercised on the weight bench, I punched on the punching bag for a short spell. Just too dang hot and humid to do anything else. I did some of my studies and sat outside around midnight to watch the night sky for around an hour or so as the clouds moved in. I was able to catch a glimpse of Delta Cephei and it appeared to be even dimmer than last night's observation. 

Tuesday 18- 110/84F I did my stretches, core trainer, exercised on the weight bench, I punched on the punching bag for a short spell. Just too dang hot and humid to do anything else.

Bonnie and Larry came by early to visit after going to the USDA food distribution to give me the food they didn’t want. Jeff came by with my USDA bag of goodies.

Battery failure of my ASM batteries. I’m guessing they got too hot. I switched them out with the 100AH lithium-ion battery. 

Lightning caused a fire in the JTNP around 1pm Tuesday and I took some pics of it as it first started and sent them to the Hi-Desert Star newspaper where they used them in their first post of the fire. It was called the Sunfair fire that ended up consuming 100 acres. I also received an email from the Star to use my name for my response to an unrelated story.

Wednesday 20- 111/83F with a few clouds. I did my stretches, core trainer, exercised on the weight bench, I punched on the punching bag for a short spell. Again it was just too dang hot and humid to do anything else. 

Thursday 20- 111/82F mostly hazy. I did my stretches, core trainer, exercised on the weight bench, I punched on the punching bag for a short spell. The weather was again too dang hot and humid but I did manage to go climb up the ladder to the roof and replace the little 10watt solar panel to my fan with a 20watt panel that arrived today. The tools I had to work with became almost too hot to handle but I managed to finish the job.

I figured out a way to change the ToughBook CF18 drive from IDE to SATA by using a converter I ordered that arrived today. Unfortunately with the converter added to the SSD drive wouldn’t fit in the caddy. I came up with an idea that I could shorten the SSD drive, so I took it apart to find the actual drive workings take up less than half of the enclosure. So I put everything back together and was able to load up Windows XP; success!

Cassie and I ran up the hill but walked down instead- it was still 97F at 11PM.

Friday 21- 104/82F mostly hazy and lots of humidity. I did my stretches. I thought I needed a few days of rest. I played with my computers.

Saturday 22- 103/81F hazy with a few clouds. I did a light workout today- I did my stretches, core trainer, exercised on the weight bench, I punched on the punching bag for a short spell.

I took Cassie for a short walk and sat outside and gazed out at the universe for a while.

Sunday 23- 108/80F  I did my stretches, core trainer, exercised on the weight bench, I punched on the punching bag for a spell.

I called and talked to a few friends; Larry Carlock, and yapped with my Kevin for a long spell.

I sat outside and gazed out at the universe for a while.

Monday 24- 110/85F I did my stretches.

I sat outside and gazed out at the universe for a while.

Tuesday 25- 110/80F I did a light workout today- I did my stretches, core trainer, exercised on the weight bench, I punched on the punching bag for a short spell.

Linda Joan passed last September

UPS delivered my batteries I ordered and a few items were missing. I called Amazon and they will take care of it.

The trash truck didn’t pick up my trash. Maybe they were full and will get mine tomorrow.

Did a mile midnight jog with Cassie and then sat outside and gazed out at the universe for a while.

Wednesday 26- 110/78F with a hot wind blowing out of the southwest. I did heavy exercises today. I did my stretches, core trainer, exercised on the weight bench, I punched on the punching bag for a short spell and jogged a mile without Cassie; just too hot for her paws.

I waited all day but the trash truck didn’t show. I will call them tomorrow to complain.

I found that most of the batteries didn’t have a charge when I checked them with my voltmeter.......

I did my stretches, worked out with the 10lb dumbbells, and took Cassie for an evening mile jog. 

I did my stretches, worked out with the 15lbs dumbbells, and took Cassie for a midnight mile jog. I run up the hill as fast as I can and then jog the rest of the way. This makes a total of 3 miles I jogged today. I sat outside and gazed out at the universe for a while.

Thursday 27- 108/77F clear. I did light exercises today. I did my stretches, core trainer, exercised on the weight bench, I punched on the punching bag for a short spell and jogged a mile without Cassie; just too hot for her paws.

I went to Yucca Valley with my guest tagging along to pick meds and do some shopping for supplies.

I took Cassie for a night run but I was so burned out from going to town we only made it to the top of the hill and back. I sat outside and gazed out at the universe for a while.

Friday 28- 107/77F with a nice breeze blowing out of the SW. I did light exercises today. I did my stretches, core trainer, exercised on the weight bench, I punched on the punching bag for a short spell and jogged a mile without Cassie; just too hot for her paws.

I worked around the house doing the little things that take bunches of time.

I restrung my guitar- sounds a lot nicer and easy on my fingers with the new Ernie Ball Super Slinky strings.

I took Cassie for a night’s mile jog and then sat outside and gazed out at the universe for a while.

Saturday 29- 104/72F I did heavy exercises today. I did my stretches, core trainer, exercised on the weight bench, I punched on the punching bag for a short spell and jogged a mile.

I talked to my Sis Lynn for over an hour about things and times gone past.

I did my afternoon exercises with the 10lbs dumbbells, situps, and went for a mile jog with Cassie.

I worked out with the 15lbs dumbbells and took Cassie for a fast run up the hill and then jogged the rest of the mile.

Finally, I saw a brightening of delta Cephei after weeks of watching the night sky for it to change in brightness. 

Sunday 30- 102/74F. I did my stretches. Rest day :)

I talked to Kevin for a spell.
I took Cassie out for a short walk, and we sat outside watching the stars until they were washed out by the Moon.

Monday 31- 102/78F. I did a heavy workout: I did my stretches, jogged a mile, core trainer worked out on the weight bench, and punched on the heavybag. It feels good to have the heavybag all fixed and ready to take my frustrations out on.

I did my afternoon exercises with the 10lbs dumbbells and took Cassie for a mile jog.

I did my nightly exercises with the 15lbs dumbbells and ran up the hill as fast as I could and then jogged the rest of the mile with Cassie. I don’t know how she can be overweight with all the running and jogging we do. Maybe I should give her smaller portions when I feed her.

I sat outside and gazed out at the universe for a while. The Moon is so bright it washes out the stars, tomorrow it will be full.

************** Poems for August 2020 *****************

Take pause my friend, move beyond the rhetoric of the day, beyond this veil of promised dreams built upon lies by those who try to persuade and deceive us. Resist the urge to be a follower of what’s popular at the time, become independent, evolve to live in the moment, and become your own person. Do not live in the delusion of others.

~RD

Pull and drag, rip and tear your way out of that chrysalis you’ve created sheltering your inner self from the outside world. There’s no need to be afraid anymore...

~RD

I edited this from July to make it more meaningful:

We make our own roads... some are two-legged highways leading off to faraway places while others are jammed freeways going in circles...

~RD

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