September 2020
Tuesday 01- 107/82F hazy skies. I did a light workout: I did my stretches, core trainer, worked out on the weight bench, and punched on the heavybag.
I didn’t do much today. I could have started up my studies again. I haven’t done them in a week or two, maybe tomorrow I will. I have been working on a couple of new songs I made up working on the words and chords.
The Moon was too bright for me to go outside and gazed out at the universe.
Wednesday 02- 105/75F I did my stretches.
I drove over to visit my good friends Larry and Bonnie over in Landers.
I then drove to Home Depot to get some potting soil for the compost toilet.
Thursday 03- 110/84F and hazy. 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.
Friday 04- 111/79F a nice breeze to cool me off. I did my stretches, jogged a mile, core trainer, worked out on the weight bench, and punched on the heavybag.
I did all my studies except French... I am reconsidering learning it because I’ve tried and it seems to me if I ever had to learn it I’d have to go to France or Quebec and talk to those folks there.
I did yoga, exercised with the 10lbs dumbbells, and took Cassie for an evening mile jog.
Saturday 05- 112/81F hot! I did my stretches, core trainer, worked out on the weight bench, and punched on the heavybag.
I did my studies.
Took Cassie for an evening walk.
I took a picture of the Sunset this evening... lots of smoke to the west from the El Dorado fire near Yucaipa.
I just saw the Moonrise up in the eastern sky and Mars was right next to it, like Mars was riding atop the Moon across the heavens...
Sunday 06- 113/83F heavy with smoke from the El dorado fire finally made its horrid way to our little community that blocked out the sun and made my lungs hurt, nose run, and my eyes sore. You couldn’t see much over a mile it was so thick. I did my stretches
Monday 07- 115/82F with heavy smoke. I woke up to smoke-filled skies this morning. With all the riots, pandemics, hurricanes, heat-waves, and fires going on, I now believe the Mayan calendar was off by 8 years.
I did my stretches
Tuesday 08- 115/84F heavy with smoke. I did my stretches.
UPS delivered the new battery for my scooter and I put it in now something else is wrong and it will not start. I’ll have to recharge the new battery tomorrow.
Wednesday 09- 86/61F Can you believe it! Finally a break in the heat! Yay!
Wow! What a change in the weather! I got up this morning and the temp was 68 degrees and all the smoke that's been choking us had blown away... thank goodness because I don't know how much longer I could have taken being cooped up in the house not able to finish projects I had started before the heat spell that lasted for months. I was able to do my exercises in the heat if it was under 106F degrees but this heavy smoke stopped all that. The hottest days on record combined with the smoke made it seem like Hell himself/herself has risen out of the bowels of the Earth to invade our beautiful desert.
I did my stretches, core trainer, weight bench, and took Cassie for a mile jog. Feels good to get out of the house and jog in the fresh desert air again.
The new battery I put in the scooter was dead when I tried to start it this morning. I charged it up and tried starting the scooter but it wouldn’t go. Seems it’s not getting fuel to the carburetor. I wasn’t planning to spend any more time on this, so it’ll have to wait until some future date. I called my insurance company and told them to take it off my policy.
I worked on building a battery box with lithium batteries of six batteries of 12v 8ah. When I get it done I’ll have a 48ah 12v system in a battery container.
I did my evening exercises with the 10lbs dumbbells.
Linda and then Jeff came at the same time with their trash to put in my dumpster. Almost couldn’t get their trash all inside.
I did my nightly exercises with the 15lbs dumbbells.
Thursday 10- 91/63F. I did my stretches and took Cassie for a mile jog.
I did all my studies. I decided French would be just too difficult finding the time needed to study it would take away from my other projects.
The only local news around here is from a radio station and the Hi-desert Star newspaper of which I used to post my weekly column. Both are online now. I do go to Google News feed to glance over what's happening in the world so I stay informed but only a few articles I actually open. So, I'm not entirely ignorant of what's going on in the world. I like to pick what I find interesting and not to be spoon-fed my news :)
Friday 11- 94/66F hazy light smoke from the fires. I did heavy exercises today: I did my stretches, core trainer, weight bench, and hit on the heavybag.
Jimmy made a quick stop off at my home to say hi. He was up here signing papers to sell his house here. I hope this isn’t the last time I see my good friend.
I spent most of the day washing clothes and bedding.
Remembering an old friend:
It's been 15 years now since your passing and I still tell people of your magic screwdriver. We were working on Joice's old truck that was always falling apart and you'd fix. Well, something went wrong with the engine and it accelerated while you were working on it. "No problem," you said as you held up the magic screwdriver and stuck your head under the hood. It began to whine even louder to high-pitched complaining shriek that my dog Blackie ran off and I stepped back a few feet. I thought the engine was going to rattle itself apart or blow up. I had a quick idea come to my head and I reached into the driver's side and turned the key to off. I had kidded you about that screwdriver ever since... even now!
I miss you, Mr. Kern Watson.
Saturday 12- 97/67F smoky hazy. I did my stretches, core trainer, weight bench, and hit on the heavybag.
Sunday 13- 100/69F smoky hazy. I did my stretches.
I walked up the hill to meet my new neighbor. His name is Dave and seems to be a nice guy. Right now he’s living in a very nice trailer and moving things from his old residents down near LA to his desert property here in wonderful Copper Mountain Mesa.
Monday 14- 101/70F smoky hazy. Not feeling well. Must have been something I ate. I did a little work on the pool cover but that’s all I did.
Tuesday 15- 102/70F smoky skies. I did my stretches.
Wednesday 16- 103/70F heavy smoke!
I took Cassie for a short walk and just stayed inside.
Kjtel and Bodhi came back from their trip up north and dropped by to say howdy and tell me about their trip.
Thursday 17- 104/70F hazy smoke. I did my stretches.
Me and my guest, who has no means of transportation, went to town to get our blood work done at LabCorp. I weighed myself, 179 pounds while waiting for the nurse to draw my blood. I seemed to have lost some weight, I hope that’s a good thing. The nurse had two orders to draw blood, one from my Doctor and one from the Wellness Clinic. She said she would have to draw them twice for each order. I asked her if they had the same requests for what was to be tested. She said yes. I told her just to draw one order because they’ll both get the same report.
We then drove across the street to get our flu shots at a drive-thru flu clinic. Then it was on to Vons to do our shopping- I like Vons because there aren't that many people there wandering around getting in my way and crowding me. We were all done except to pick up her prescriptions at Rock’s that took almost a whole hour waiting outside in the hot smoky weather. Stopped off at Steak and Shake to get burgers, fries, and two Dr Peppers. We were gone for four hours and I was pooped but managed to take my poor Cassie for a walk before I collapsed on the bed.
Friday 18- 105/71F damn hot with heavy smoke. I did my stretches, core trainer, weight bench, 50 crunches, and beat on the heavybag.
Took Cassie in the car with me when I went to the mailbox. I need to get her comfortable riding in the car again, so when we go on vacation it won’t be much of a problem for her... and for me.
In the afternoon I worked out with the 10lb dumbbell and did 50 crunches.
In the evening I did my stretches, worked out with the 15lb dumbbells.
I took Cassie for a midnight mile run and did 50 more crunches.
At the end of the day, I had done two-hundred crunches because I saw a video when I woke up with Arnold saying you need to do two-hundred crunches a day. I think he meant all at once but I spaced them out at fifty four times a day.
Saturday 19- 102/69F smoky in the morning with light haze later on in the day. I did my stretches, core trainer, weight bench, 100 crunches, and beat on the heavybag.
In my evening workout, I exercised with the 10lb dumbbells and did 50 crunches.
I took Cassie for a light night mile run and did 50 crunches.
Sunday 20- 102/70F hazy. I did my stretches, core trainer, weight bench, 100 crunches, and beat on the heavybag.
I called my brother Kevin and we chatted for a spell.
I did my evening workout with the 10lbs dumbbells and did 50 crunches.
My guest barbecued pork and made some yummy hummus for dinner.
Dave, my new neighbor, dropped off his generator for safekeeping while he’s gone to Newport beach.
I took Cassie for a late-night mile run and did 50 more crunches. I like running at night... in the daytime, I seem to only jog but at night I run.
I went outside after our run like I’ve been doing almost every night this month when the sky was dark and clear. I watched Mars
Monday 21- 102/69F smoky hazy. I did my stretches, core trainer, weight bench, 100 crunches, and beat on the heavybag.
I did my evening workout with the 10lbs dumbbells and did 100 crunches.
Tuesday 22- 104/77F smoky. I did my stretches and a 100 crunches, I thought I’d lay off the heavy lifting of weight for a day.
In the evening I did 100 crunches.
I took Cassie for a mile night run and then came back to sit outside and watch the stars.
Wednesday 23- 99/68F smoky. I did my stretches, core trainer, weight bench, 100 crunches, and beat on the heavybag.
I did my evening workout with the 10lbs dumbbells and did 100 crunches.
Kjtel and Bodhi David
Thursday 24- 101/67F smoky. I did my stretches, core trainer, weight bench, 100 crunches, and beat on the heavybag.
I took my guest to Twentynine Palms to get our mail and also she had to take care of some business while we were there. We did some shopping at Stater Brothers and the 99 cent store. We drove through BurgerKing and got 2 burgers. I got a fish sandwich that was so yummy I want to get back there as soon as I can, and she got the chicken sandwich but after I let her taste my fish sandwich she wished she went for it instead.
I was kinda burned out from all the shopping and stuff that when we got back all I did was relax and enjoyed a movie on Netflix.
Friday 25- 97/66F still smoky. I just don’t do any jogging on smoky days. I did my stretches, core trainer, weight bench, 100 crunches, and beat on the heavybag.
I helped my new neighbor run a water line to tap into my water system which he can use until he gets his own water on his property.
I did my evening workout with the 10lbs dumbbells and did 100 crunches.
I did my late-night stretches and worked out with the 15lbs dumbbells.
Saturday 26- 99/66F hazy. I did my stretches, core trainer, weight bench, 100 crunches, and beat on the heavybag.
I did my evening workout with the 10lbs dumbbells and did 100 crunches.
I did my late-night stretches and worked out with the 15lbs dumbbells, and took Cassie for a mile run.
Sunday 27- 98/67F 100 very smoky. I did my stretches and crunches morning
Talked to Kula and then my Brother
100 crunches evening
Monday 28- 96/65F clear. I did my stretches, core trainer, weight bench, 225 crunches, and beat on the heavybag.
I did my evening workout with the 10lbs dumbbells and did 100 crunches.
I did my late-night stretches and worked out with the 15lbs dumbbells, and took Cassie for a mile run. I twisted my right ankle halfway through the run and had to continue to run the rest of the way home. I’ll not be doing any running or jogging for a few days. I can say that I did 325 crunches today!
Tuesday 29- 92/66F a little bit hazy. I kinda wonder when these forest fires are going to stop. I did my stretches, core trainer, weight bench, 100 crunches, and beat on the heavybag. Cassie and I went for a bike/run up to our new neighbor’s house to say hi. She really loves to run with me on the bike. After our visit, we then continued to ride for another mile.
I went to my appointment to get my pneumonia shot in Yucca Valley. On my way, I mailed off Tom Merrit’s late birthday card. His birthday was in January, so I guess you can say I’m late and at the same time really early. There was a nurse checking patients for the COVID flu before they could enter the building. I was in and out in about 20 minutes and happy to get out of there!
Went shopping afterwards, got a pizza and some fried chicken to eat while me and my guest watch the Presidential Debates tonight. The debate lasted 90 minutes but seemed like it’d never end. I’m really not all that political and I believe it was more of a yelling match than a debate; both men were really rude to one another. Who won the debate? It doesn’t matter because both sides will say their side won and use little bits and pieces as talking points in their election campaigns.
I did my evening workout with the 10lbs dumbbells and did 100 crunches.
Wednesday 30- 101/67F smoky hazy. I felt kinda sick from that pneumonia shot I had yesterday, so I kicked back and read most of the day. I did do my morning stretches and 200 crunches though.
Kjtel came by with Bodhi for a little visit.
*************** Poems for September 2020 **********
Looking at the past through photos capturing a moment in space and time makes me feel a kinda peace and reminiscence of the lives of those in the photo and their stories left unwritten, untold and have vanished into dust over these long years until I write something...
~RD
I would not consider any religion that didn’t take the notion of all creatures having souls and this is what gives us life versus lifeless inanimate objects like a stone or a toaster. My playful dog Cassie agrees.
~RD
Sometimes we walk alone upon this earth of ours and miss the companionship of our fellow homo sapiens. Reminiscing on their joys, antics, and laughter they brought in these times of our silent wanderings...
~RD
Your mind is connected to your tongue, so you are responsible for what comes out of your mouth and once spoken you have to live with the consequences 🙂
~RD
*************************
