April 2007

Sunday 1- welcome to the month of April- did my stretches and ran 3 miles- my Brother called from the Renaissance Fair he went to. I could hear lots of people laughing and carrying on in the background and a baby that sounded like a squealing pig (must have been his cell phone reception)- I played around with my Brother's website for about an hour to see if I could change it into something more presentable instead of "Under Construction", still needs work- Dale from Landers called and we jawed for a while- called Tom and Aki to say hi- went for my evening walk- watched "60 Minutes on CBS and then "Nature" on PBS- read some more of the Ant book I've been reading for a while now- worked on the computer the rest of the night.
Monday 2- did my stretches and lifted weights- Stoney picked me up and we went over to Sue's trailer to try to fix the leaks again. Well to make a long story short: After 4 hours of of me squeezing onto tight spaces that would make a Yoga Master envious, the hose we used and I so painfully installed was not made for high pressure and it swelled up like a balloon and popped! Then Stoney tripped and fell flat on his face. So we called it a day. We went over to his house where I took off the clothes I was wearing and threw them in the washer and took a shower. We had leftover chili beans and a piece of pecan pie that Joel left in my mailbox that morning. I took my evening walk from Stoney's to my home- did my studies- watched "24" on FOX- play around with the computer, but I was really tired.
Tuesday 02- did my stretches, lifted weights, ran a mile, and rode my bike- Stoney dropped by to make sure we have the right hoses for Sue's trailer which we will replace tomorrow- worked on lessons 2 and 3 of my online course on forms- Seimi came by with a video called "Inconvenient Truth" by Al Gore, good movie! Took it back to him later in the day- a friend called and asked if I'd check on his dog, I did and the dog was fine- went for my evening walk- watched "NCIS" on CBS and then "Criminal Intent" on NBC- wrote column and sent it to the newspaper- worked on the computer the rest of the night.
Wednesday 04- did my stretches- I am ready to go over to Sue's trailer to fix her pipes and called Stoney but left a message. Called again at 12:15 and he answered saying that he changed his mind. I drove over to his house to say hi and to pickup some cookies I left there- Andrew called for my help moving a rug from inside his house- did my studies and finished the HP Forms online class- went for my evening walk- Joel came by with a Hawaiian dish- Andrew came over to download and print some forms- Jimmy dropped by for a jaw- watched "Bones" on FOX- messed around with computer the rest of the night downloading manuals for some old computers and calculators I have.
Thursday 05- did my stretches and ran a mile- visited Jimmy and his family over at Stoney's. They had brought their rabbit and hamsters for a few days stay while their home is fumigated. Jawed with them for a while then they left to go to Lee and Marcie's for Stoney's birthday; it was Jimmy's birthday too but he kept it to himself- did my studies- went for my evening walk- watched "CSI" and then "Shark" on CBS- surfed the web the rest of the night.
Friday 06- did my stretches and lifted weights- went on a walk through a hidden canyon with Ron D. and found some old Indian Petroglyphs. Dang if I forgotten to bring my camera- did the weekend update for the website and sent out the newsletter- went for my evening walk- did my studies- watched "Numbers" on CBS- fooled around on the computer.
Saturday 07- did my stretches and rode my bike- worked on the Toyota truck trying to put the back window in. After a while and after a few screwdriver slips into my hand causing bleeding, I gave up and will try another day. Called and made an appointment for Monday to have my windshield installed- my Brother Kevin called on his way to my Niece Cara's home where the family is having a birthday party for her. I got to yap with my Sister Paula and even got to speak with Cara for the first time ever! I wished her a happy 30th birthday! She is in IT doing database programming in the health care industry and learning Visual Basic- called and jawed with Mom and Dad. Dad had to take the phone over to the neighbors where Mom was visiting, but the static on the phone was really bad so I just did a short hello, how are you doing, and I love you- went for my evening walk- watched "Rosemary and Thyme" on PBS- did computer work and then some reading.
Sunday 08- did my stretches and lifted weights- Ron D. came by and we went for a walk- did some work on the truck until I hit and smashed my little finger with a hammer trying to pound out some dents- did my studies- did some system work on my old Dell 733 desktop computer- dropped over to Stoney's and jawed for a while- went for my evening walk- Harry, who I haven't heard from for years, called and said he and Moraine split up. He was telling me about an old 1996 Apple Powerbook that his son gave him when my phone went dead. I tried to call back but the number I had was out of service, and now I have no way of calling him back- watched "60 Minutes" on CBS- Mike from Hermosa called and we yapped for a time- Joel called and told me he wasn't feeling well and may need my help if it gets worse; I told him to just let me know if I'm needed- messed around with the computer the rest of the night.
Monday 09- did my stretches, lifted weights, ran a mile and rode my bike- Joel called to say he is feeling better- Ron D. called, we are going for a hike in the park tomorrow- did my studies- Jim from the mobile glass company arrives and replaces the broken windshield on the Toyota truck, I think it took him less than a half hour to take the old on out and glue the new one in- went for my evening walk- Stoney called to say he made it safe and sound- Andrew called but the phone kept dieing- watched "24" on FOX and then "Thank God You're Here" on NBC, I enjoyed it, very funny- did some reading and worked on the computer.
Tuesday 10- did my stretches, lifted weights, and ran a mile. I developed a stiff neck during the night and will try to just work it out- there is an RV sitting off to the lefthand side of Winters Road just down from my house and I haven't see anyone around it- Ron D. came by and didn't feel up to going to the park so we just went for a walk around here- John M. came by with a spare tire and the front grill to the Toyota- did my studies- watched "NCIS" on CBS- wrote my column and sent it to the newspaper.
Wednesday 11- did my stretches and ran three miles- Ron called and wanted to go to that secret hidden canyon and I remembered to bring my camera this time and took some nice pics. We must have spent about two hours roaming around checking out other different canyons that feed into it. Much fun!- did my studies. Started learning to program in Virtual Basic. The Quick Guide said it would only take a beginner like me thirty minutes to learn the basics; it took me two hours, I maybe over my head in this, I will just have to plod on through it- that RV is still on the road down from my house. Late last night there were two cars parked my it and it seemed that they were working on it, who knows?
Thursday 12- Andrew called to say it is really windy and a dust cloud has reduced visibility to about 100 feet. I just got up and didn't realize it was so bad until I looked outside and saw that my outhouse was no longer there! It had broken apart and was scattered all over my yard by the high wind. No running for me today, just did my stretches- worked on an old divers watch that I've had since the 70s and hasn't run for a couple of decades. Sprayed some WD40 into it and got it ticking but it runs fast, spent most of my time trying to slow it down, but I wasn't successful. I will have to look up watch repair on the web later on. I used to take this watch everywhere when I used to scuba dive- did my studies- the folks with the RV that is on the road by my house came by to say hi and that they were going to try to tow it up the hill. Three hours later I saw them chugging pass my house and it looked like they may make it but they petered out just shy of the top. And that's where it sits right now- watched "CSI" on CBS- did the weekend update on the website and sent out the newsletter- phone was working today and didn't die once!
Friday 13did my stretches, lifted weights, and ran a mile- messed around with my very old Compaq Contura 4/25 that I bought around 1995. It runs Windows 3.1 and some astronomy programs I installed- went for my evening walk- Joel brought over some really good pasta with spicy chicken in it- did my studies- Seime called and we talked about electric cars- surfed the web the rest of the night.
Saturday 14 did my stretches and ran a mile- messed around the house cleaning and stuff like that- Dale from Landers called and we jawed for a while about my column I wrote ( he actually buys the paper to read my column!)- called Mom and Dad- called my sister Shiela and had a short chat with her- went for my evening walk- watched "rosemary and Thyme" on PBS and then "Numbers" on CBS, it was a rerun and I broke my rule to not watch reruns, but I like the show- played around with some computer stuff and read some more of that Ant book that I need to get back to Ron D. so he can sell it on Ebay.
Sunday 15 did my stretches and that was about all I could do because the wind came up again and there were clouds and it got pretty cold, so I just messed around in the house with my old Compaq computer. I found a website where I could download IE 3.03 on 4 floppy disks, the Compaq doesn't have a CD ROM drive. I loaded it up and got connected to the Internet but it was so slow, it only has 4Meg of RAM memory, it was like watching grass grow- Jimmy called and he needed help getting a virus off his computer, spent an hour walking him through it, and we yapped about other stuff too- Stoney called to say hi- my Brother called for a quick hello- I watched "America at a Crossroads" on PBS- found Windows 95 on disks at Ebay, I've been looking for this a longtime for my older Dell laptop, and for $12 it was a good deal. I guess I may be crazy but I like working on those old computers- my German friend called and we chatted for a while. He is in Europe working and drinking beer and getting his life together.
Monday 16- it's raining!!! can't go on my run so I just did my stretches- Chuck came by with some groceries from the USDA- spent most of the afternoon getting insurance for the truck. Had to print, sign, scan, and then email the forms AAA emailed to me- Mike M. who bought property by me, needed to store some wood he had brought up here to build a cabin, I let him store it on my front lot- went for my evening walk- so sad to hear about the students who lost their lives at Virginia Tech by some crazed gunman. All that potential talent, their dreams and ambitions lost forever! And what this has done to their families. Such sorrow! Sad news like this makes me really sad and I seem to want to reach out and call close friends: called my friend Billie to say hi- called Audrey but she wasn't home- called Kula and left a message- called Stoney and jawed for a bit- called Terry W. and left a message- watched "America at a Crossroads" on PBS- messed around with the computer the rest of the night.
Tuesday 17- did my stretches, lifted weights and ran a mile- called up to make an appointment to get the Truck smogged and they told me to be there a 4pm- went over to Stoney's and took a shower while I was there so I'd be smelling nice for the party tonight at the Hi Desert star- went to the smog place and my truck didn't pass, dang now I'll have to do something about that- went to Walmart and got a few things- arrived at the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Hi Desert Star last Tuesday and met the nice folks who let me write my column for their newspaper. There was a really big crowd of interesting people that I got to jaw with. I took a number of pictures of the whole celebration and will post a few on my website. Plenty of food and drink, with my friend Rickey Tagle dishing it out- watched "Nova" and then "America at a Crossroads" on PBS- wrote my column and sent it to the newspaper- did my studies and worked on the computer the rest of the night, What a wonderful day! (except for my truck not passing smog)
Wednesday 18- it was really windy today so I just did my stretches and updated some software on my Dell 2350 desktop- called Verizon to straiten out a billing error on their part- watched "Secrets of the Dead" and then "America at a Crossroads" on PBS- did my studies.
Thursday 19- did my stretches, lifted weights, and ran a mile- Dana dropped over for a short chat- Ron D. came by with some homemade spaghetti sauce and he went with me on my evening walk, a little earlier than usual- drove the truck down to the post office to pickup the Windows 95 I ordered last week, on the way back saw two fire trucks putting out a fire that was in a trash truck on the corner of Border and Winters- messed around with my very old Compaq Contura 4/25 and tried to install the Windows 95, but there just ain't enough RAM I believe and it wouldn't install. So I ended up reinstalling Windows 3.1 again- watched "The Dead Sea" and then "America at a Crossroads" on PBS. but had gotten tired of watching it and turned off the TV for the night- did my studies.
Friday 20- did my stretches, lifted weights, and ran a mile- cloudy day with some drizzle- did my studies- updated website and sent out the newsletter- Joel came by with some pizza- Stoney drove up to say hi after driving 7 hours from San Francisco where he was visiting his family- went for my evening walk- watched "Earthday 2007" on ABC, it wasn't very good but they tried- visited the Apple Store online to checkout a MacBook- Joel called and asked me to take him to the PS airport sometime in May and then pick him up, I told him I would if it was after 10am, he said it would be later in the day, so I said ok.
Saturday 21- my Brother called and we jawed for over an hour (without my phone dieing)- did my stretches and ran a mile- went over to Stoney's to adjust his satellite dish that was out of whack because of the high winds lately- called Mom and Dad but they weren't home- called Tom and Aki and had a nice chat- called Dan A. and jawed with him till my phone died- found out that a part was bent that made my truck idle fast so now I can try to get it smogged again- talked to Mike from Hermosa about AppleCare.
Sunday 22 EARTHDAY!- did my stretches, lifted weights, and ran a mile- rode my bike over for a visit with Mike and Stevie V. and to take some pictures of their new baby goats. I spent around 2 hours there jawing and received the grand tour of their home. They have done a fantastic job landscaping the yard with fountains, bird feeders and ponds. They added a nice bay-view window made out of stone and old windows that is centered on a wood stove; looks like the entrance to an old mine shaft- Stoney called to say he made cookies but I already had pancakes and eggs and told him I'd be by tomorrow- called Mom and Dad and had a nice chat- went for my evening walk- watched "60 Minutes" on CBS and then "Nature" on PBS- did my studies and played online the rest of the night.
Monday 23- Andrew called and asked if I wanted to go down to the Water Canyon Coffee Shop today and checkout their WIFI network on our computers, I said yes, and he said he'd be here in an hour. I had to do my stretches, feed the cat, make and eat my breakfast, shave, and took a call from Ron D. and yapped at him, all in an hours time and got it done. while waiting for Andrew, Stoney dropped by for a chat; he's mad at BofA and just got back from there after giving them hell. Andrew shows up and I grab all my computer gear that I packed in my backpack and off we go. I brought my Nokia N800 Internet tablet to update it and show it off too! we arrived, got two coffees, mine decaf, and setup our computers on a table upstairs. Connecting to the WIFI was a snap and lots of bandwidth at a good speed. The N800 performed like a champ, but I am still getting used to its GUI and did a lot of fumbling around on the touch screen keyboard. I did get a few inquiring looks from some of the patrons who had their laptops at the table next to us. The N800 has a 4.5 inch screen, runs Linux, and uses Opera as its browser. YouTube was still a little shaky even with the new system update, but better than before. We spent a few hours there (easy to do when you're online). The cafe is a nice place, with good music, good folks, and an 80's atmosphere. I felt comfortable and will come here again!- when we got back to my house we jawed for a while and ate some KFC sandwich snacks that we picked up on our way home, and then Andrew joined me on my evening walk- did my studies- Mac called to tell me that Chuck doesn't want the VW van- Roger T. called and needed me to download a program for him- spent the rest of the night updating MySpace page that I've neglected for the past year.
Tuesday 24- did my stretches, lifted weights and ran a mile- was doing yard work when Stoney drove up after visiting Lee and Marcie. Lee is putting in another bathroom (their home already has 2). We yapped for a while about a neighbor who shot himself in the head 3 times and died a few days later just before someone found the body. Yikes! I didn't know him, but Stoney knew him some 30 years- FedEx came with the first half of my order- Ron D. came by and we went for an evening walk- Chris dropped by and jawed with me and Ron on his way to bingo- Stoney dropped me off some cookies he baked- did my studies- Roger T. came by to pickup a program I downloaded for him and he brought some sloppyjoe sandwiches he had leftover from the weekend- watched "Nova" and then "Frontline" on PBS- wrote my column and sent it to the newspaper.
Wednesday 25- did my stretches and ran a mile- had to wait around the house for the FedEx guy to deliver my new MacBook, so I worked in the yard and messed around with the truck- Finished my Geology book, that took a few months to do and I learned a thing or two about it too- FedEx finally arrives at 5PM, I really didn't think he'd make it today- the MacBook looks nice, white, Intel Core 2 Duo processor 2.0GHz. 60 Gig harddrive, leaving a small footprint on my desk, and everything boots up ok. First thing I do is go for the updates 677.7Megs of them (never had that big of an update with Windows). Everything is going fine so I left for a half hour to watch the news, but when I come back the Mac was in sleep mode, when I tried to wake it up it locked up and had to reboot loosing all that it had downloaded. I changed the power settings so it wouldn't do that again. After the updates were done I loaded up Firefox, Safari suck as a browser, got Foxmarks and synchronizes my bookmarks, and then added Adblocker Plus, now I am cooking! The WIFI works really good, better than my Toshiba laptop I think, the keyboard is white but I can hardly read the keys in low light, and the finger pad is not up to par with anything I am used to; no right click (you have to hit a key on the keyboard and click at the same time), no double taping (you have to click the clicker) it is, to me, like working with something out of the early 90s, but the system is dang fast and has a clean GUI. These are my first impressions of the MacBook. I am used to XP and navigate around that without thinking, but I will just have to get used to the Mac OSX to give it a fair evaluation. Now I have to switch over to my PC that I'm used to so I can get some work done tonight. Maybe tomorrow I'll try using the Mac to update all my blogs and other work.
Thursday 26- soon as I woke up I phoned the smog guy to set up an appointment, he said 10:30, I said fine- did my stretches and lifted weights- arrived early and they ran the test but it failed, but he did said that it was idling just fine (that was the reason it failed last time)- dropped by Stoney's and chatted with him and then I drove to the DMV and they gave me an extension of 60 days to get it smogged- last night after my post to this blog, I messed around with the touchpad settings on the MacBook and got it doing what I needed it to do: single and double tapping, right click tapping using two fingers, so now I am happy with that- the MacBook needed some more updates! 194.4 Megs more! Including a security update! I pity the poor fool who bought one of these if their only means of getting online is on dialup! Trying to setup the firewall but it blocked Firefox, my friend Mike from Hermosa said to allow networks, and I did and Firefox works but iChat don't, so I need to figure that out. When I did a hardware update on the MacBook it sounded like it was going to blow up. The fan really sounded like a jet aircraft going into overdrive! I even stepped away from it!- went for my evening walk- watched "CSI" on CBS- got iChat setup and talked to Mike on it for a while- went back to my PC to get my work done because I still need to iron out some kinks and setup the firewall on the MacBook correctly- did my studies.
Friday 27- did my stretches, ran a mile, lifted weights, and rode my bike- did update on the website and sent out the newsletter- went over to Ron D's home for a visit, he had some apples and oranges for me, and gave me 6 bags of cement he didn't need- went over to Stoney's for a taco lunch and jawed for some time- went for my evening walk- did my studies- watched "Bones" on FOX, and then "Numbers" on CBS (two of my favorite shows on the same night!- got Mike from Hermosa on iChat and he helped walk me through a few Apple navigational commands on the MacBook. Still had 100 Megs to download to update the system.
Saturday 28- did my stretches and ran a mile. On my run I stopped by a house on Borlin Pass and south of Presswood where they are remodeling an old rundown shack. They have 3 roll-offs sitting out front to store all the garbage that they're collecting on the property. I talked to the owner whose name is Al, and he told me that the house is going to be a rental. He has about 8 workers doing a new roof, stucco, and other odd jobs. I was hoping that he was going to move into it- did a bunch of cleaning inside my house because it was around 100 degrees outside and I ain't used to that yet- Dale called from Landers to critique my column like he does every week- did my studies- Joel stopped over for lunch- Stoney dropped off some of his famous chili on his way to potluck- Dan A. called to say hi and to ask my help in finding someone who could paint his home. I told him I'd call Seimi to see if he'd like to do it- called Mom and Dad- nothing on TV but reruns of the shows I like so I just messed around with the computers the rest of the night.
Sunday 29- did my stretches, lifted weights, and ran a mile- spent most of the day reviewing the songs that I wrote, listening to them and trying to see where I can improve. The MacBook has GarageBand that I can use to edit tracks (one of the excuses, I mean reasons I got it in the first place). I will have to learn how to use the program first!- had lunch over at Stoney's, finished off them tacos from last Friday. Stoney told me that he saw on TV that someone was saying that they had a good reason to carry a film camera with them along with a digital one, but he couldn't remember what that reason they gave was, and I couldn't think of one. If anyone knows, let me know- went for my evening walk- did my studies- watched "60 Minutes" an interview with former CIA Director George Tenant on CBS, then "Nature" that was about dogs on PBS- started to watch "Das Boot" that I have on DVD (seen it before when it was first released) when Andrew called and we chatted for a while about all kinds of things like we normally do late at night- decided to skip the movie tonight and work on my songs and the computer.
Monday 30- did my stretches, ran a mile, and rode my bike- Andrew came by on his run to chat and have a look see at my MacBook. We messed around with it for over an hour going to different websites like YouTube. He seemed to like it, but like me he is use to the Windows OS. I told him that I am learning the Mac OS without any bias towards which one is better: Mac or Microsoft, and he agreed- I did a little cleaning around the house and then sat down and started messing with GarageBand by putting one of my songs on it and trying to add my singing to it: didn't sound pretty. But I got to learn where most of the controls are- updated the calendar on the website for May- went for my evening walk- watch "Das Boot" on the Mac, I tried it first on my PC but it played in German, so I switched over to the Mac because it played in English last night when I watched it. One of the best movies of all time but it must be around 3 hours long. Goodbye to April, you been a productive but windy month!

March 2007

Thursday 01- welcome to the month of March 2007- did my stretches, lifted weights, rode my bike, and ran a mile, took blind dog with me- went over to Stoney’s for lunch (macaroni and cheese). Worked with him on his computer skills- Joel dropped off my mail- Andrew called to say that he saw a film crew filming some kind of race movie down on Lear and Poleline. There were two very expensive racecars and actors hanging about. He would have stopped to ask what the film was about but they didn’t look friendly, he said- went on my evening walk with blind dog-did my studies- started updating the website and sent out the newsletter.
Friday 02- cool and a bit windy so I just did my stretches and took blind dog for a walk- while reading my emails I opened one from my friend Agnes’s daughter Nancy that said Agnes had passed yesterday, she had took her nap and didn’t wakeup. I meet Agnes when I lived on a boat on a mooring in King Harbor back in the 70s. Agnes, her husband Jim, and their Newfoundland dog name Toby lived on a boat on V dock and I’d pass by their boat everyday on my way to my skip for the row out to my boat. Jim had passed on a few years after I’d met him and I’d stop by and visit Agnes to cheer her up every once and a while and we became very good friends. Agnes neighbors Joyce and Bill lived a few slips down were very good friends and also helped Agnes through that tuff time in her life. In winter of 1979 Agnes and Nancy went to Europe and traveled by rail. They inspired me to get off my butt and do the same that spring and I traveled around Europe for almost three months. After Europe Agnes went to live with Nancy and her Husband in Deer Park Washington. I bought Agnes’s Columbian M2 sailboat and lived on it for many a year with trips to Catalina Island and bumming around the South Bay. I made, I think, maybe three trips or more to Deer Park to visit Agnes and also had purchased property there. Agnes love to paint; she had many of her own work hanging on the walls of her mobile home and she had sent me a shirt with a seagull painted on it that I have never worn but keep covered up and in a safe place, I think I will take it out and frame it and hang it on my own wall. We kept in touch through the years. She was a very dear friend and I am really saddened by her passing- went over to Stoney’s just to get out of the house for a while and be around someone- went for a walk with blind dog- did my studies- watched “Frontline” on PBS about blogs and newspapers- worked on the computer updating the website and my own blog.
Saturday 3- got woken up at the ungodly hour of 9am by the Verizon phone tech here to fix my line. I told him what was wrong and he checked the house and said that wasn't the problem (I knew that already) and said it must be the amplifier to this circuit and told me that he'd call me when it was fixed- did my stretches, lifted weights, and walked the blind dog. I would have did a run but wanted to be around in case the phone tech guy called- Ron D. came by to chat and had a soup bone for the blind dog and split pea soup for me. Blind dog lost the bone and I hunted around the yard for 45 minutes but couldn't find it- called Tom and Aki, then Called Mom and Dad using cell phone- did my studies- went for my evening walk with blind dog- phone tech guy never called me back to say he'd fixed the phone and I've been off it all day so I decided to call Stoney and say hi and while I was talking to him the line went dead. I guess that is why the phone tech guy never called to say it was fixed-Mike called and we yapped for a while- did some work on the computer and some blogging.
Sunday 04- a little breezy and cool but I did my stretches and ran a mile with blind dog- called Joel to come over and we updated his website- my Brother called and left a message. I called him later in the day but he was busy placing vending machines for his business and will try to call me back tomorrow (my Brother is a real entrepreneur)- did my studies- went for my evening walk with blind dog- called and talked to Barb and Jerry for a while- watched "60 Minutes" on CBS- Stoney called to say that Scott, his grandson who is staying with him for a few days with his girlfriend, saw flashing red lights down by my house. I went outside to take a look see and it looked like it was up on Saturn street over by Judith's home so Stoney called her and she checked it out and it turns out to be her next door neighbor. We will find out more later what happen from Judith cause she went over there right after she got off the phone with Stoney- worked and surf the web the rest of the night.
Monday 05- really nice and warm day- did my stretches and ran two miles with blind dog- studied most of the day to finish my two online courses, now I can start on something new. So far my phone has been working ok, but the phone tech never called back to say if it was fixed- went for my evening walk- Andrew dropped by on his evening run to checkout blind dog- watched “24” on FOX- started writing my column for the newspaper.
Tuesday 06- really gorgeous sunny day- did my stretches, lifted weights, took blind dog on a mile run, and rode my bike- Stuart dropped by to include this in my column: On Saturday 10, there will be a GIANT YARD SALE at the Community Center’s Old Fire Station from Noon till dusk, everything must go to make room. Come on down and enjoy Chuck’s famous hotdogs while you rummage through the bargains galore! I put it in my column and sent it to the newspaper- did my studies- went for my evening walk with blind dog- Ron D. came over with some leftovers and we jawed for a while- watched “NCIS” on CBS- Chuck and Joey stopped by with a turkey dinner from Bingo. They told me of a stolen late model Lincoln Navigator that some thief stripped and abandoned in a field near his home- wrapped up some loose ends on the computer and read the rest of the night.
Wednesday 07- did my stretches- went to Yucca with Stoney and did some shopping at WalMart. Saw Ron, a friend of Kern's, but he didn't have much to say. He was dressed for combat, thou he ain't in no army- did my studies- went for my evening walk with blind dog- called Roger T. for a jaw- called Stoney and my phone died again, so I guess it wasn't fixed- watched a video "Mouse Hunt" and it made me laugh.
Thursday 08- did my stretches, lifted weights, ran a mile with blind dog, and rode my bike- checked my house batteries to see if they needed water- installed some hooks to hang coats on and a towel rack in the kitchen- Ron and Linda brought their dog over to visit blind dog. We took both dogs for a short walk on the desert trails that surround my home- went to Stoney’s for lunch (chef’s salad) and ordered some memory for our cameras and a 512 meg for Barb and Jerry’s computer- “CSI” was a rerun so I watched “The Rundown” staring the Rock- worked on website getting it ready for the weekend update and sent out the newsletter.
Friday 09- did my stretches and ran a mile with blind dog- updated the website- worked in the yard watering plants- did the laundry- Stoney called to say he baked peanut butter cookies and to come get some- Dana, my neighbor who lives with his wife to the northwest dropped by to say hi. I’ve only talked to him a few times and he seems like a real nice guy. He’s retired from driving cement trucks. I showed him my solar panels- did my studies and finish the astronomy book I’ve been reading- watched “Numbers” on CBS- did some computer stuff.
Saturday 10- did my stretches, weights, ran a mile with blind dog, and rode my bike- Ron D. came by with some bones for blind dog and needed me to print some PDF for him- started changing the clocks on my computers to daylight savings time- called Mom and Dad and yakked at them for a while- called Nancy to talk to her about her Mother (my dear friend) Agnes. She told me that they will be having the memorial for Agnes on the 17th of this month. Tried to help Nancy get her bookmarks restored after her son fixed her computer, but they were gone for good- went for my evening walk with BD- called my Brother and jawed with him about his business. Sounds like he is really getting things done- did my studies- just messed around with the computer the rest of the night.
Sunday 11- did my stretches and ran a mile with blind dog- worked in the yard- called Audrey and left a message- called Paula and we chatted for a while and she emailed everyone’s birthday- Dale from Landers called and we traded insults for a while- went for my evening walk with BD- did my studies- watched “60Minutes” on CBS- Mike from Hermosa called and we talked about electric cars- worked on the computer the rest of the night trying to get a movie to play.
Monday 12- did my stretches, lifted weights, ran a mile (blind dog didn’t want to go), and rode my bike- Linda D. call to ask if I’d help her hook up her entertainment center as a surprise for Ron. Ron told me that there are some folks who had donated some money for blind dog to get him looked at by a Vet. I thought that was very nice- worked on my “Trusty” scooter: a line that provides oil to the engine had broke and it was a tight fit getting it back on- did my studies- went for my evening walk with blind dog- watched “24” on FOX- worked on my column and other computer stuff- took out the telescope for the first time this year- did some stretches, lifted weights, and went to bed.
Tuesday 13- did my stretches, lifted weights, ran a mile (and again blind dog didn’t want to go), and rode my bike- did some cleaning up of my living room- wrote my column and sent it to the newspaper- did my studies Sam from UPS dropped off the 512meg memory for Barb and Jerry’s computer but not the two SD cards, they will be here tomorrow. Sam wanted to see the pictures I took on my trip to Tucson. His family is doing fine: his Wife is going to college taking nursing and his oldest Daughter is taking some high level music classes- went for my evening walk with blind dog- Joel called to say hi- called Seimi and had a chat with him- Chuck and Joey came by with some leftovers and was yapping at them when Stuart and Lee’s Daughter and Granddaughter stopped to see blind dog- Mike from Hermosa called to say he may have found a kennel that takes in German Shepherds, but the lady there said only as a last resort- watched “NCIS” on CBS- Stoney stopped by on his way back home from Bingo- lately I have been taking my telescope out. I haven’t done so this year because of the cold and the wind. Last night and again tonight I trained my scope on the constellation Cancer and the Beehive open cluster. Further to the east on the Ecliptic is Leo, a backwards question mark in the sky, where I found Saturn, tilted just enough to make a nice display of its rings- did some stretches, lifted weights, and went to bed.
Wednesday 14- Mike from Hermosa called me up late last night and gave me the number for a shelter in Fullerton that would take blind dog. I have to give it some thought, I think I’d prefer to have him in a private home than in a shelter. I just don’t know- did my stretches, lifted weights, ran a mile with blind dog, and rode my bike- John came by to ask if I needed anything from the store: bread. He told me that he was selling his Toyoda truck that was rolled and missing a windshield. I made him an offer, he checked with his wife and accepted, I wrote him out a check and he will drive it over tomorrow- Linda brought her new Apple MacBook over for me to drool over and install Firefox on it for her. I was going to setup her ISP but she forgot her password and user ID- Sam the UPS man came with the rest of my delivery- drove my “Trusty” scooter over to Stoney’s and put the SD 2 gigabyte drive in his Kodak camera. I went over shooting videos on his camera with him- went for my evening walk with blind dog- watched “Bones” on FOX- did my studies- worked on some computer stuff then did some stretches, lifted weights and went to bed.
Thursday 15- Mike from Hermosa called to tell me that Adele from the German Shepherd Rescue of Orange County will call to make arrangements to pickup blind dog. Adele called and I asked her many questions about her organization and was satisfied. She would be driving out from Orange County and would meet me at WalMart. I called Stoney for a ride down to WalMart and he said he would. I got blind dog ready for the trip, I was getting really sad and was having second thoughts, but I believe this is the best and that he’d get the best care. Stoney brought Roger S. who needed to go to town to get a VW part, I loaded blind dog into his van and we arrived at WalMart 30 minutes later. We were parked in front and as I opened the door blind dog jumped out and landed flat on the street twisting his leg and yelping. Everyone there at the store turned their heads in my direction and I had thought “my god he broke his leg” but he started limping on it and eventually was walking ok. Adele came up to me and said I must be Bob. We talked some and took pictures of me and blind dog. The German Shepherd Rescue of Orange County is a non-profit organization that has about 125 volunteers. When they first get a dog they drop it at the vet, sometimes spending thousands of dollars. They post the dog’s picture on the website and put the dog in a foster home (not in a cage) until it is adopted: which they have strict rules about. I said farewell to my little blind dog and it felt like I had lost a good friend- Stoney took me and Roger S. to get some lunch at a Chinese restaurant and then took us all home- at home I cleaned up everything of blind dog’s, took apart the shelter I made for him, filled all those holes he dug, and put away his collar and leash. I thought it best not to be reminded of him at the moment- John M. delivered the Toyoda truck and I drove it over to Stoney’s for him to have a “look see”, he said it was fixable- went for my evening walk and felt lonely cause I didn’t have my friend trailing behind me and made up my mind to call Adele and tell her that if they can’t find some one to adopt blind dog that I would have him back- Adele called me to say that blind dog was dropped off at the Vet and one of the gals there fell in love with him, that he will get all his shots and anything else he needs, even surgery for his vision. I told her about my feelings and she said that I will be his safety net if no one adopts him. His new name is Sully now and she emailed me some pictures she took. Adlele told me that she drove 267 miles today! Now that's what I call commitment- did my studies and worked on the computer the rest of the night. What a day!
Friday 16- did my stretches, lifted weights, ran a mile, and rode my bike- sent out newsletter- drove the “banged up” Toyoda over to Ron and Linda’s to show it off and help Linda move some heavy cement blocks into a kind of mosaic walkway- Stoney called to say that he thinks he can use parts of the old Suzuki, especially the front grill where the headlights are. He needs me to leave it over at his house for a few days and I will drive it over later on after I help Linda D. setup her ISP on the new MacBook- drove my Toyoda truck over to Stoney’s. We both checked out the damage to come up with a plan to fix it, I left it there and walked home for my evening walk- did my studies- Stoney came by with Judith who’s car broke down on Lear Ave. and we got some rope and towed it to her home- updated the website- check to see if they got blind dog on the German Shepherd website and they did you can click here: Sullivan, the name they gave blind dog to see him.You Might have to reload the page to make it appear- did my studies, lifted weights, surfed the web and went to bed.
Saturday 17- did my stretches- Stoney called and is going to town for a part for Judith’s VW and wanted to know if I wanted to go. On the way to town I spied a camper in someone’s backyard that was for sale, we’ll stop on our drive back. Went to Staters, got some gas, mailed our letters, then stopped at Desert Cycle to check on a fuel feeder for the Honda Sprees (Stoney wants to have one repaired for Angela when his son Jimmy’s family come out to visit) and found that it would be cheaper and easier to make them ourselves then hunt them down. On our way back we stopped and took down the phone number for the camper. I called them and went back down with the Toyoda and bought it. Slid the truck underneath and drove away, it is sitting in my driveway right now- got good news from Adele that a couple had adopted Sully (blind dog). Their dog who was also blind and adopted had died a while ago and they are going to be Sully’s new owners. That is good news indeed!- did my studies, surfed the web and went to bed.
Sunday 18- did my stretches, lifted weights, ran a mile, and rode my bike- moved old “faithful” truck that took a dump out of the way to make room for the camper and new truck. And it weren’t easy doing it by myself, took about 2 hours of backbreaking work- went over to Stoney’s to take a “real” shower and then watched him play Spider Solitaire. He was tired too from working on Judith’s VW- went for my evening walk- watched “Rolling Stones Circus” on PBS- did my studies- lifted weights, surfed the web. Put in-house repair on my Verizon account so I won’t have to worry about them charging me when they come out to fix this problem that’s not in my house line but theirs, Verizon has been out here two times for the same problem already and have said it was their problem but never fixed it and I don’t want them billing me by mistake @ $87.00 an hour!
Monday 19- did my stretches- Joel came by with my mail and some sweet rolls- Andrew calls about a computer problem, he knows I like them- Jerry came by to give me a ride to his house so I can upgrade his computer with the 512Meg of RAM that I ordered last week. It took only a few minutes to upgrade the RAM and less than an hour to install, update, and run Spybot anti-spyware program. Barbara made some Mexican something or other out of ground beef, mushroom soup, and diced jalapeno on a tortilla with cheese for lunch. It was mighty good!- dropped by Andrew’s to checkout computer problem- did my studies- went for my evening walk- Andrew came by for a chat. I showed him my new truck and camper. It was getting dark so I took out the telescope and watched the crescent Moon set behind the mountains and then turned it on Saturn. Andrew saw a meteor shoot across the lens of the scope. We also tracked a satellite as it cross the sky- watched “24” on FOX but I kept switching it over to ”Deal or No Deal” to see how a girl that was plucked from a hotdog stand was doing, she ended up winning $67,000! Then watched “Secrets of the Dead” on PBS- worked on the computer.
Tuesday 20- did my stretches, called Verizon, I got fed up with the line cutting out every few minutes. I got cutoff when I was telling my problem to a phone person. He called back and said he ran a test on my line and it was a problem with the inside line. I told him, how could that be since I’m calling from the outside box with the house line disconnected; but he insisted and I hung up. I called Stoney and he brought me over a brand new phone and I connected it to the outside box and called Verizon again and got a friendlier and reasonable person and was telling him the problem when it went dead again. He said he would put in the log that it went dead while he was talking to me when I was using the outside box with the house line disconnected. The repair person will be here Thursday- did my studies- John M. and I went to the DMV to register the truck- went for my evening walk- Seimi came over for the 50 lbs of dog food I have leftover- watched “Nova” on PBS- wrote my column and set it to the newspaper.
Wednesday 21- did my stretches and ran a mile- Andrew picked me up and we went over to Roger T.'s home to get a Windows XP disk to repair Andrew's laptop- installed the XP on my desktop to see if it was functioning, and it was- phone repair guy shows up and tries to fix it but it still cuts out. He will have some other repair folks replace some sort of amplifier tomorrow or the next day, until then my phone is worthless- Chuck dropped by for a chat- did my studies- watched "Bones" on CBS, then "Through Deaf Eyes" on PBS- worked on the computer the rest of the night.
Thursday 22- did my stretches, lifted weights, ran a mile, and rode my bike- cleaned out the camper and found where the 12 volt gets connected- did my studies- watched "Insomnia" on KCOP- worked on the computer- my phone line is still messed up.
Friday 23- did my stretches and ran a mile- called Martin from Verizon to tell him that my phone still isn’t working. He will have some tech guy come out and change something somewhere that sounds like a piece of equipment from a particle accelerator- dropped by Stoney’s to move his welding rig over to the old Suzuki he uses for parts and we’re going to take the front end off to put it on my Toyota- went for my evening walk- did my studies and worked on the computer the rest of the night- my longtime friend, Lenore, from long ago when I worked as a security guard at Harbor Cove called. We chatted for only a few minutes because my phone would keep dieing.
Saturday 24- did my stretches, lifted weights, ran a mile, and rode my bike- phone still not working- Ron D. called to say hi- did my studies- Dale from Landers called to jaw about my “Thought of the Week”- called my Mom and Dad- went for my evening walk and found that somebody had dumped a pile of garbage by a vacant cabin on the corner of Borland Pass and Presswood. I did a fast search through it to see if I could find anything with an address when I call in to report it. As I picked up a bag of “Ol'Roy” dog food from the heap, a big gray long tailed rat leaped out landing on my shoe which made me jump back and drop the bag. I decided to just poke around the debris of kitchen trash, and construction rubble, with a piece of iron rod that was laying about. I found an old wooden box, the hinges were worn and wobbled, an empty cavity where a lock’s mechanism had previously been. The wood was stained dark brown and a little warped, bigger than a cigar box, more like a jewelry case, I’d say. Inside I found old handkerchiefs, pressed flowers in wax paper, a clipping from some newspaper, a picture of a baby girl from the 40s or 50s, and a Wedding Certificate! The certificate was dated 1942, the Groom was 55 and the Bride was 39. I took the box home. I don’t believe that these are the folks that did the dumping. I think that it was dumped by somebody doing a renovation of a cabin they had just acquired and threw out the contents of the cabin along with the other rubble. I will report it to the police if my phone will let me- read some and worked on the computer the rest of the night.
Sunday 25- forgot to tell you about a couple I met yesterday when I was riding my bike. Their names were Abner and Anna Marie, they have a church down in El Monte and are looking to build a retreat for their church goers over on Mars and 5 acres down from Borland Pass. They seemed like nice folks and asked if there were any parcels of land around here for $2000, I told them not anymore and not for a long, long time- did my stretches and ran a mile- did a systems cleanup and defrag on my Toshiba laptop- removed the towing eyes from Toyota that John M. called me last night at 1:30 to tell me his son-in-law had left on the truck and needed back- Stoney called to tell me he made some cookies, so I rushed on over there. We checked out how we were going to install the front end from the Suzuki onto the Toyota and watched some “Gun Smoke” on TV- went for my evening walk- did my studies- watched “60 Minutes” on CBS- messed around with the computer.
Monday 26- did my stretches, lifted weights, ran a mile, and rode my bike- Ron D. came by to chat and played a little guitar too- did a system cleanup and defrac on my IBM laptop- Stoney called, he was over at Sue's fixing leaks on her trailer but I will go over with him on Wednesday to get at the hard to get to places for him. I drove over to Stoney's to pick up a tarp I had left off the Toyota when I went to get the camper. Stoney was plumb tucked out from all the work he's been doing lately and was sitting in his boxer shorts playing Spider solitaire on his computer while I hit the cookie jar- went for my evening walk- did my studies- watched "24" on FOX- Andrew called asking my help in relocating a baby snake that had wandered into his home while he was painting. Turned out not to be the poison kind and we set it free over on Borland Pass by an old abandoned cabin. I don't like killing critters for no reason(my Fat Cat doesn't hold my feelings toward critters that as I do) and Andrew feels the same as I- phone is still cutting out after two days of working without it dieing on me.
Tuesday 26- really windy so I just did my stretches- Stoney called to say he’s going to Bar Lumber in 29 to pickup tubing to fix the water pipes in Sue’s trailer and wanted to know if I wanted to go. I needed a 5 gallon tank of propane so I went along. After Bar we got cheeseburgers at Burger King- John M. came by with some items that Roger T. wants to buy and Roger came over and picked them up- did my studies- too cold and windy for an evening walk today- Chuck and Joseph dropped off some BBQ sausage and beans, mighty good stuff- watched “NCIS” on CBS- wrote column and sent it to the newspaper- phone is working good today!
Wednesday 28- not feeling well (something I ate) so I just did my stretches- called Stoney to see if we were going to Sue's to fix water pipes, but he couldn't get a hold of her so we'll do it tomorrow- just did my studies and went for my evening walk- watched "Bones" on FOX- surfed the web the rest of the night.
Thursday 29- did my stretches and ran a mile- Stoney called to go over to Sue’s trailer and we spent over 5 hours trying to fix leaks. We would fix one and then another would burst squirting a stream of water. We finally found one that we couldn’t get to easily and because it was getting late will have to continue it tomorrow and we hope that Sue will clean up some of the rubbish around where we have to work- went for my evening walk from Stoney’s after I took a shower there to remove some of the crud and threw my grimy work clothes in his washer- someone (Joel?) left a box of “Chips Ahoy” cookies in my mailbox- did my studies- Chuck and Joseph brought me by some bbq pork and chicken that they are preparing for Bingo dinner next week: it was mighty good- watched “CSI” on CBS- updated the website and sent out the newsletter.
Friday 30- did my stretches, lifted weights, ran a mile and rode my bike- Stoney came by to barrow my wet-vac for Sue to clean her trailer- Andrew came by(it was he who left the "Chips Ahoy" cookies in my mailbox yesterday) to get a DMV form printed off the web for Chuck, then Chuck shows up and we all sat around and jawed- started working on my taxes but couldn't finish them cause I'm missing one 1099-DIV- went for my evening walk and jawed with Biker Ron and his Mother- did my studies and finished the Meteorology textbook, last week I finished the Astronomy textbook. I am getting most of what I am studying out of the way for when I begin the programming course. I am still trying to decide which language to learn: C++, Java, C#, or Ruby- watched "Numbers" on CBS- Mike from Hermosa called but my phone died.
Saturday 31- did my stretches, ran a mile, lifted weights, and rode my bike- spent the afternoon finishing my taxes- on his way to potluck, Stoney dropped off a bowl of chili beans (which I immediately consumed)- went for my evening walk- called and yapped with my Mom and Dad- my Brother Kevin called (I still have a hard time believing that I really have a Brother, and four Sisters!) and while we were talking Andrew came by and I let Kevin talk to him, then Stoney drove up and Kevin got to talk to him too! Chuck pulled in for a fast chat then left. I was taking pictures of the sunset and Andrew came up with an idea for a shot of him holding the sun, but I like the pic of him trying to eat it, looks strange and it’s the one posted here- did my studies- watched “Rosemary and Thyme” on PBS- updated the calendar on the website- surfed the web for info on programming languages. Good bye to March! Ya have been very windy, and a little sad for me, but still a productive and out of the ordinary month.

February 2007

Thursday 01- Welcome to the month of February 2007- did my stretches and ran a mile- Andrew came over to do work on a website he is currently evaluating for a client, and I did a whole bunch of updates on my community website- Margaret, a friend of Kath, called asking about what ISP she should get- went for my evening walk and Andrew came along- watched “CSI” on CBS, they had a rerun and a new one and I watched both- spent the night like I usually do; working on the computer and reading.
Friday 02- did my stretches and ran 3 miles- sent out the newsletter- worked on editing and printing out December’s blog to send out to some friends. It has been a longtime since I used MS Word in that fashion and I still need some work in the placement of pictures and text- tried to work on Joel’s computer but it just sat there and beeped at me. Called him up and told him it to old to spend the money to fix and he came and picked it up- went for my evening walk- did my studies- started to learn programming in Basic but I’m not sure that’s the language that I want to learn. I think C++ is the one I need- watched “Numbers” on CBS and then some “South Park” on KHJ- the last few nights I’ve been recording “Love Will Find A Way Home” trying to get a better sound and fewer mistakes so I can replace the one I have up on the website- worked some on the computer.
Saturday 03- such a beautiful day- did my stretches, lifted weights, and ran a mile and a half- Joel called and asked me if I needed anything at the store and I did; margarine. But I remembered that I was checking out Trans Fats to see what the content was on the margarine I use, turns out it was 1.5g! I believe that’s just too dang much, so I told him to get me Butter instead- Stoney brought me pancakes, eggs, biscuit and gravy, from the community center’s breakfast and it was mighty good!- finished editing December’s Blog and printed it out and will mail to my friend- Joel arrives with margarine, not butter, and two hamburgers, oh well- went for my evening walk and stopped over at Biker Ron’s and jawed with him for a few and tried to make friends with his two Pit Bull dogs- my Mom called me up and we had a nice chat; how I miss her and the rest of the family- watched “Law and Order Criminal Intent” on NBC, then “South Park” on Fox- recorded another “Love Will Find A Way Home” I think this one is good enough to upload and replace the one on the website (just wish I was a better singer, but I try).
Sunday 04- Linda D. called to ask if I’d help her and Seimi move some broken slab blocks. I told her I would in an hour- did my stretches and ran a mile- drove my trusty scooter over to Linda’s and we took Seimi’s truck to get the blocks. I learned from Seimi that Sharon Weaver had passed on that morn. I used to date Sharon when I first came to these parts, but I journeyed a different road then she some six years ago. She was a great gal back then- went over to Stoney’s to jaw and git some cookies- started weeding out all the plants that died from the freeze; not much left but enough to start some new plantings- went for my evening walk- my Brother called and we yapped for an hour about brother stuff- turned on the TV to watch “60 Minutes” and some football game was on so I turned it back off- Joel came by needing to get online to renew his website that has expired two days ago, so I helped him out on that and also renewed another one that was due on the 27th- not ten minutes goes by when Joel calls and needs help on his computer (out of memory) so I walk him through it over the phone- started watching the “X-Men United” when Mac calls and we yap for a while but our phones keep loosing connection; I think the Government is tapping his lines cause he’s always sending the Prez letters and emails- caught the last part of the X-Men when the dam broke and they just made it to safety in some flying craft that looked like an SR71 Blackbird. Well talking to real folks is more important than some movie (unless it’s Star Trek)- about my studies; I decided to take the weekends off for now so I wont get too burned out on it- as I write this my phone line keeps dieing out, so maybe the Gov is tapping me instead of Mac (only kidding).
Monday 5- did my stretches, ran a mile, rode my bike, and lifted weights- Lee and Marcie stopped by and they had Hoss and Sandy with them. Hoss is just out of the hospital after a 3 month stay- work on my yard some- Joel dropped off my mail- scanned a bunch of old pics into my computer- went for my evening walk- did my studies- watched “24” on Fox- started writing my column and working on some web designs.
Tuesday 6- did my stretches and rode my bike- Seimi came by and we went over to a neighbor’s to replace a doorknob. There was some foam bedding that the owners wanted discarded and it looked like it would be a perfect fit for my bed; and it was- finished writing my column and sent it to the newspaper- worked in my yard and setup a place to compost all those dead plants from the freeze- went for my evening walk- went for hamburgers over at Linda’s- did my studies- watched “NCIS” on CBS, then “Law and Order Criminal Intent” on NBC- updated some files on the computer then surfed the web.
Wednesday 7- such a nice day- did my stretches, lifted weights, and ran a mile- scanned some more old pictures into the computer- did my studies- did my evening walk over to Stoney’s for dinner, he made a chefs salad, and I did some work on his computer setting up Gmail- watched “Bones” on Fox- Joel came by with some muffins from the Jelly Donut, told me of his day at the VA and the long drive back home on a congested Freeway because of a car accident. He was going nowhere so he pulled off at the next off ramp and went to a theater to watch some stupid movie, he said- did some reading and worked on the computer.
Thursday 08- did my stretches- went over to Stoney’s and finished working on his computer installing Mozllia Thunderbird mail client so he can email pictures from his desktop. I don’t like Outlook Express cause it’s just too dang flaky (proprietary) and hard to work with. And Hotmail won’t let you use a mail client if you haven’t got the paid service; so I dumped them both. Now Stoney has Thunderbird and Gmail, and maybe Firefox soon; he is still using IE6 and I haven’t downloaded IE7 for him yet cause he is just getting used to the computer again. I’d rather have him learn Firefox instead of IE7 if and when I need to download IE7 for his XP system because of crucial security updates. I have IE7 on my computers and find it ain’t worth a hog’s tit. We finished off the salad and I took home some cookies he baked- went for my evening walk- did my studies- watched “CSI” on CBS- sent out the newsletter and some computer work- last night I called the Buffalo Folk and talked to Anita. She said they are doing fine over there in Lancaster and the buffalo are happy.
Friday 09- did my stretches, ran a mile, lifted weights, and rode my bike- Frank and Mary came by for a fast chat- updated website and did some work around the house- went for my evening walk where I ran into John M. on the trail. We were walking through a field when I spied a small round object which turned out to be a graduation ring from Palm Springs of the year 1979; I will try to track down its owner. We arrived at John’s home when we saw a helicopter circling the house where Officer Garcia was ambushed a few months ago. There were at least five patrol cars driving into the driveway and Officers running around the yard. I had my camera and was able to video the helicopter from afar. This all happened about 4pm and continued seeing patrol cars and their lights until after 9pm- did my studies- Mac and his son Dennis came by with a plastic foot recliner (I think that is what it is) and some other stuff they’d thought I’d like which I can’t identify. I gave Dennis my old Polaroid digital camera that he can use on his computer- watched “Numbers” on CBS- worked on the computer and read for the rest of the night- very productive day for me.
Saturday 10- cloudy outside- did my stretches and ran a mile- did some yard work and sorting through stuff I need to get rid of- Dale from Landers calls and we yap for a while- Stoney dropped by heading over to the auction at the center and asked me if I wanted to go. Not too many folks there and not anything I’d want to buy, but Chuck was BBQing some hotdogs and they were good. Took a bunch of pics of the folks scavenging and poking through the odds and ends of donated rubble. A lot of it ended up on Steve’s truck to be taken to the dump- called my Mom and yapped for a while- went for my evening walk- Seimi called and we jawed for 88 minutes about electric cars and saving the world- watched “Law and Order Criminal Intent” on NBC- worked on the computer the rest of the night computing things, and sent a copy of the picture I took of the raid that happened yesterday to the newspaper.
Sunday 11- saw two butterflies and a ladybug for the first time this year- did my stretches and ran 3 miles- read a few chapters of “The Earth Dwellers” which is a book about Ants and their behavior I’ve been reading for a few months now when I get a chance- it rained for 20 minutes, the drops were big but spaced far apart and the land soaked it all up 10 minutes afterwards leaving not a trace that the rain had happened at all- drove my trusty scooter over to Stoney’s where we messed around with our cameras and had hamburgers- went for my evening walk- watched “60 Minutes” on CBS- Mike from Hermosa called and jawed for an hour about computers- messed around and played with my computers.
Monday 12- did my stretches, lifted weights, and rode my bike- Stoney came by with groceries from the USDA- on my way over to Barb and Jerry’s to work on their computer I dropped by Mac’s house. I couldn’t stay long and dropped off an avocado I had. Chuck and his son were there and I asked him when he was going to pickup the VW bus I’m giving him; he said soon- worked on Barb and Jerry’s computer for over an hour or so. Got rid of Norton and loaded Avast anti-virus, Sygate firewall, and stopped some unwanted programs from running. Did a virus check on boot, and used CCleaner (crap cleaner) to cleanup the files. When I was done I showed Barb how to run Disk Cleaner and Disk Defragmenter and had her run them after I left- dropped by Stoney’s and had a salad and took home some cookies- went for my evening walk- Barb called and said she did what I asked and her computer is running better now- did my studies- watched “24” on FOX- got caught up on my emails and other computer stuff.
Tuesday 13- windy and cold this morning- did my stretches- wrote my column and sent it to the newspaper- Joel dropped off my mail- Chuck came by to say he will bring me a sample of his cooking from the bingo dinners later tonight so I may write about it in my column- while I was thinking of it I did a system clean and defrag on both laptops- did my studies- went for my evening walk- Chuck dropped off some Hawaiian chicken and some creamed vegetables that was really good (had to fight my cat for the chicken)- watched “NCIS” on CBS and then “Frontline” on PBS that was about the rights of reporters to protect the identity of their sources- really cold to night, cold enough to stoke up the old wood stove- worked on the computer and continued reading “The Earth Dwellers”.
Wednesday 14- still dang windy- did my stretches and lifted weights. I hope the wind dies down so I can run tomorrow- got an email from a gal named Sandra who wants to know more about solar and how I have my home setup for it. I wrote her back: "I am really glad you are interested in trying out and experimenting with solar! Most folks just don't seem to care and burn up what oil we have left and don't think of the consequences that it creates to our health and environment. I even have people laugh at my LED lights!!! They just don't get it." I then directed her to my solar website CopperMountainMesa.com/Solar1.html where I have it all written down- did my studies- went over to Stoney’s and did a system clean and a defrag on his Dell. He cooked up some chicken (glad my cat wasn’t there) with mash potatoes and gravy- went for my evening walk- watched “Bones” on Fox- worked on the computer and continued reading “The Earth Dwellers”.
Thursday 15- not very windy so I did my stretches, ran 3 miles, and lifted weights- Stoney is having some problems with his email and I went over to see what’s up. It was his new Gmail that wouldn’t work it just came up and said done. I tried my Gmail and it worked ok on his computer so I remembered that Google had just opened Gmail up to everybody and you don’t need an invite anymore, so everyone is getting Gmail now and it has overloaded their servers with the new accounts. I’ve been using Gmail for some years now and my account must be on many servers and wasn’t affected like new accounts- did my studies- went for my evening walk where I found a little puppy, about 4 months old, wandering through the desert. The dog is skin and bones from lack of food and also appears to be blind. My first thought was to walk away because I really don’t want a dog and I know Cat wouldn’t either, but I couldn’t do that, and I let him follow me home. I had to make sounds so he could follow, he kept running into bushes. I fed him, gave him water, and Cat gave him a swipe on the nose. I will call the animal shelter tomorrow- watched “CSI” on CBS- started updating the website and set out the newsletter.
Friday 16- gorgeous day, must have got up to 70 degrees- did my stretches and rode my bike- worked in the yard cutting the dead palms from the palm trees hoping they will survive- did my studies outside sitting on a bench, real nice to do it that way when the weather is nice- called Stoney but he was too busy to talk because he was working on a trailer of a relative of Chris’s from New Mexico whose hitch had broke and needed welding. Stoney told me later when I called him that he spent 3 hours working on it and did it for free cause they where kin to Chris- went for my evening walk and took the blind dog with me to give him a little exercise. He is really blind and had to make noises so he could follow me. I called the Humane Society down on Sunfair and they said that kennel was full up. I asked them when it had a space would they call me and they said they aren’t taking blind dogs, I told them I understand and gave me some info on other places I might try- watched “Numbers” on CBS- Mike from Hermosa called and we jawed for a little over an hour about Quantum Computers- worked on the computer the rest of the night.
Saturday 17- did my stretches and ran a half mile; my right knee has been bothering me again- tried to get online to read my emails but the phone kept disconnecting. I’ve been having problems with it now for two weeks but it had seemed to get better until now. I found out that Linda S. has been having the same troubles and she called Verizon today- my Mom called and we talked for a while about family, I still can’t believe it is true, but it is- Linda D. and her dog came by to look at the blind puppy. We went for a short walk around my property she agreed that it was truly blind. She was going to the store so I tagged along to get some puppy chow- my Brother called and despite being cut off by my phone we had a nice conversation. We would be talking and lose the connection and he’d called me back continuing where we left off. I tried the phone on a direct circuit from the outside box by disconnecting the house but it still cut out so at least I know it’s not my problem but Verizon’s- went for my evening walk and took the blind dog with me. While going out the gate I looked back to the house and saw Cat on the roof watching us. Cat is jealous and I’ve been letting him stay in the house and feeding him extra food trying to keep him content and away from blind dog and blind dog is learning to stay away from Cat too! I was doing my stretches outside and Cat came between me and blind dog to guard me and swiped at his nose. After a few occurrences of this he avoids Cat by sniffing the air for him first- watched “Law and Order Criminal Intent” on NBC and then “South Park” on KCAL.
Sunday 18- did my stretches, lifted weights, and rode my bike- Mac came by with breakfast from the Masons Lodge and it was a lot: two eggs, two sausages, two sausage patties, two slices of bacon, two pancakes, and two biscuits cut in half with gravy! Dennis played with blind dog while Mac jawed and I ate- the phone is still messed up but was able to get online for bit and check emails- Joel came by with my mail and donuts. I really believe I need to cut these and other fattening food out of my diet- called up Tom and Aki to say hi- went on my evening walk and took blind dog with me- really nice sunset and I had my camera and took a picture and posted it here, what do ya think?- did some reading and watched “60” Minutes on CBS, then “Nova” and “Prime Suspect” on PBS- messed with the computer the rest of the night.
Monday 19- rainy windy day- did my stretches- Seimi came by with an old mattress he thought I’d like; I’ll use it in the trailer. He also got a look at blind dog so he can give a good description of him if he runs into anyone looking for a lost dog- did my studies- Linda D. came by to take some pics of blind dog and told me that Ron was home from the retreat- made a doctor appointment for Friday- went for my evening walk with blind dog. He’s getting better at following me but still bumps into a few bushes but not as many- watched “24” on FOX- started writing column for the newspaper.
Tuesday 20- got awoken by DHL at the ungodly hour of 7am saying that they will deliver my package between 11am to noon. A package of what I do not know. It could be that Welch's Grape Jelly contest where I entered a code that I found on a jar of jam on their website and they said I won a lawn game set! Cool, now all I need is a lawn in the desert and that ain’t going to happen- did my stretches, lifted weights, rode my bike and ran a half mile- DHL never showed at the time they had specified (and never showed at all today) so I went over to Stoney’s at 1:30 and helped him replace a trailer ball from his van while we jawed about him cleaning out his tool rooms- did my studies- went for my evening walk with blind dog- Jerry and Barb call to say hi and ask how blind dog is- Ron D. came by with a bone for blind dog- watched “NCIS” on CBS, then “Law and Order Criminal Intent” on NBC- finished column and sent it to the newspaper.
Wednesday 21- Seimi brought over a leash for blind dog- did my stretches and ran a mile- fat cat swiped blind dog a real good one in the face, so I decided to separate them and worked most of the day moving 16 dead L16 batteries that weigh around 100 pounds out of the old dog run that needed much cleaning and a shelter built. I used to have a doghouse in it but I gave Andrew it for his dogs a few months ago, so I built a makeshift shelter that seems to full the order. I got everything finished but as soon as I put blind dog inside and shut the gate he found a way out! I put him back inside and watched to see how he did it. He had found a wide part in the wire fence that I quickly fixed. Pretty dang smart for a blind dog - DHL finally delivers my package and it was from that Welch's Grape Jelly contest I entered- did my studies and started two online classes: one on "Understanding Microsoft Windows Vista Business Edition", and another "Build your business identity "- watched “The Marines” and “The March of the Bonus Army” on PBS- worked on the computer the rest of the night.
Thursday 22- did my stretches, lifted weights, and ran a mile- Stoney called to asked for my help for a few minutes, so I went there and took a shower too. Now I’ll be clean when I see my Doctor tomorrow- did my studies- Dale from Landers called to give me a hard time and I returned as much- went for my evening walk with blind dog- Joel came by with a donation of two bags of puppy food and a Subway sandwich for me-watched “CSI” on CBS- worked on the computer replying to emails and stuff like that.
Friday 23- really windy with some clouds blowing by today but it didn’t rain. Took a few pics of the dust being blown into the sky and over into the mountains from the dry lake down there on Sunfair- did my stretches- Stoney arrived at 1:45 and drove me to town for my Doctors appointment. Afterwards we stopped at Santana’s Mexican restaurant and had a couple of beef burritos with lots of hot sauce and jalapenos. Before he drove me home we swung over to his house so I could show him how to edit some graphics on his computer- watched “Numbers” on CBS and then “South Park” on KCAL- worked on the computer.
Saturday 24- nice and sunny day- did my stretches and took blind dog with me when I ran a mile. He did really good following and not running into things- updated website- worked around the yard putting things away so blind dog won’t walk into them and cutting some more dead palms off my poor palm trees- on his way to potluck Stoney dropped off a bowl of his legendary chili- went for my evening walk with blind dog- called Mom and Dad- coming back from potluck Stoney had a plate of leftovers for me- did my studies- watched “Rosemary and Thyme” on PBS- Mike from Hermosa called and we yapped about this and that and computer stuff for 80 minutes- worked on the computer and read the rest of the night.
Sunday 25- did my stretches, lifted weights, rode my bike and ran a mile with blind dog- worked in the yard some- did my studies, because I missed doing them on Friday due to Doctors appointment (I usually take Saturday and Sunday off)- my Brother called and we jawed for over an hour- went for my evening walk with BD- Joel came by and brought dinner and I did a minor correction on his website- called Mac but the phone kept cutting out, so we made it short- watched “Nature” and then “Prime Suspect” on PBS- called Mike from Hermosa.
Monday 26- did my stretches, lifted weights, rode my bike and ran a mile with blind dog (same as yesterday)- did my studies- I’ve been checking out the Nokia N800 which is an Internet Tablet since they released it last January and I might dig into my savings a bit to purchase one (not that I can afford one, but I can save my pennies, nickels, and dimes. My lack of will power in this is due more of my addiction to high tech and my hermitism then anything else)- went over to Stoney’s and helped him on his computer and ate cookies- went for my evening walk with BD- watched “24” on FOX- started writing my column for the newspaper- oh yes, it was nice to hear that Helen Mirren, who I watch on the “Prime Suspect” show on PBS won an Oscar for best actress last night for her role portraying the Queen. I haven’t seen the movie but saw the ads for it on TV but didn’t know it was her till today when I read she won. A fine Actress indeed!
Tuesday 27- really windy with the dust clouds coming from the dry lake bed just like last Friday- did my stretches and took the blind dog for a walk- wrote my column and sent it to the newspaper, had to send it later in the evening because my phone kept dieing- yesterday and today Linda S. called and we discussed the blind puppy. She said she may be able to help me get a few jobs around here fixing folks computers and installing solar panels- fat cat is getting fatter now that I let him stay inside and feed him extra. He was getting kind of jealous over blind dog and I had to compensate him with food- went for my evening walk with blind dog and fat cat did something I never seen him do, he followed me and the dog far away from the protection of the fence and his sphere of influence, his territory, his realm: the backyard! I will keep him inside the house when I go for my walks for now on- Linda D. came by with some leftover food from where she is working- watched “NCIS” on CBS- did my studies and messed around with the computer but the phone still keeps going out.
Wednesday 28- still very windy and cold. It reminded me of that movie “Alien” when the spaceship Nostromo landed on that planet with high winds blowing dust and the crew went outside in spacesuits. I didn’t have a spacesuit so I just did my stretches and walked blind dog- worked on the website changing the calendar to March and a few minor small tweaks- John M. calls to ask my help moving a truck that a guy left in the middle of Friendship Road. The guy ODed on some drug or other and his girlfriend dragged him over to poor John’s house, where John called the paramedics. We tried to move the truck but we couldn’t get it into gear because you had to use a crowbar as a shifter. So we left it there and John called the gal at the hospital and said he’d watch it for them until they could get it moved. John said that the gal told him that they lived around here close by- I finally got fed up with the phone disconnecting all the time that I called Verizon to have them fix it, only to get an automated voice asking me what’s wrong and I telling it the problem and to schedule a technician to come out and fix it. One hour later that automated voice calls to say they had fixed the problem and asked me if the line was better to answer yes or no, when the line abruptly goes dead. I called and got a live person this time and they will send a tech out Saturday- FedEx delivered me a package- took blind dog for a walk- watched “Secrets of the Dead” On PBS about D Day invasion of Normandy- worked some on the computer- Farewell to February you been quite a windy Month!!

January 2007

Monday 01- Welcome to the month of January and the year 2007- did my stretches, ran a mile, lifted weights, and rode my bike- called some more folks to wish them a Happy New Year- was invited over to Mac’s home for some sushi and met Clint and his wife Cindy. The food and the conversation were enjoyable. I wondered why everyone had their shoes off. Mac said it’s a custom in his household to take your shoes off, I told him I was being polite to everyone keeping mine on- went for my evening walk- called Stoney and he told me that the USDA food distributing will be on the 8th of this month because of the King holiday and I need to correct it on my website- did some reading in history and started reading (again) “365 Starry Nights” by Chet Raymo, which will take me one whole year to read (just like last year)- started writing my column for the newspaper.
Tuesday 02- I was just going for my morning run when Bob Ascherin called to say he is bringing over an old newspaper article from the “Desert Journal” of Aug. 3, 1972 that he told me of a few weeks ago, which is about the Copper Mountain Lake earthquake; in response to a column I wrote last December. I lifted weights while I waited for him.
Bob, who turned 89 last November but looks 70, arrived with the article and I gave him the grand tour of my home. He told me a story how on Friday nights back in the seventies he dined on fish and chips at the Sunfair Inn which was operated by a mailman who lived in Yucca. On the wall was a sign “Dollars for Drops” a box with a slot underneath where one could donate money for the lake. Bob was a General Contractor back then, his painter, Glen Hall, also was a watchman at the lake, who was there when it drained all 60 million gallons and said it first sounded like elephants galloping in the water and then a loud gurgling noise. Bob has been hanging around our area since 62, moved out here in 65 from Lakewood Ca. and lives out yonder on Aberdeen Dr. After Bob departed I went for my morning run of 3 miles.
The newspaper he brought me has many pictures of the Copper Lake after the earthquake and a short article. I hope to gather more information, take a trip out to the once dreamed of lake of Copper Mountain, take some pictures of what it looks like now, and write a column about it. I just wonder what our Community would have been like if the park and lakes dream were realized.
-did some reading: Biology, and Meteorology- went for my evening walk- Ron and Linda called and we chatted for a few- Andrew called and we jawed for a while- wrote my column and sent it to the newspaper.
Wednesday 03- I was just going to do my stretches but it was such a glorious day I decided to run a mile, ride my bike, and lift weights- worked around the yard cleaning it up- did some reading on Geology, while my Toshiba laptop did a clean and defrag- went for my evening walk- Andrew dropped by on his run and we jawed a while- watched the new series “Wired” on PBS- Picked up reading “The Earth Dwellers” by Erich Hoyt, where I left off on it in early December.
Thursday 04- did my stretches and ran a mile- went over to Ron and Linda’s to help them setup a new ISP on their computer- went for my evening walk- called up my friends Agnes and her daughter Nancy who lives in Washington State to yak for a while- read some History- watched “CSI” on CBS, then a show on PBS about Seattle’s Monorail- emailed the newsletter.
Friday 05- very windy today- did my stretches- Ron and Linda called to tell me that the ISP was working just great- went over to Stoney’s and washed my clothes and took a hot shower. We had some leftover beans with rice from potluck- went for my evening walk(very cold and windy)- watched “Numbers” on CBS- downloaded Red hat Linux “Live” disk and then ran it, but it couldn’t find my WIFI, so it is quite useless to me- downloaded Puppy Linux and had the same problem finding my WIFI. Ubuntu and Suse Linux have no problem with my WIFI.
Saturday 06- did my stretches ran 3 miles and lifted weights- on my run I stopped to talk to Jeff Reed who was home and his mother and brother were also there. Then I stopped to talk to Biker Ron and his dogs- Seimi came over to view pics of my family in Tucson, and I gave him shoes that don’t fit me- Jimmy called to tell me that his ribs still hurt from crashing on the Honda 90- went for my evening walk, left knee hurts some because of the cold I think- called and yapped with Stoney as I tried to find Comet Mc Naught or C/2006 P1 with my telescope. The comet is low in the west southwest horizon at sunset and beneath and to the right of Venus. The sky was very mottled with suspended dust from our high winds and I couldn’t find the comet- read some Biology- watched “Rosemary and Thyme” on PBS- put some wood on the fire, worked on the computer, and did some more reading.
Sunday 07- it’s windy again and my right knee hurts, so I am taking the day off from exercising and resting and will see how the knee feels tomorrow- Ron D. came by with some really good bean soup and we jawed for a few- Dale from Landers called and we exchanged insults- for the rest of the day I worked on the computer and read a few chapters in the book “The Earth Dwellers”; it’s about ants and the folks who study them.
Monday 09- did my stretches and lifted weights. My knee still hurts some- went through last years bills and statements, putting them in order and tossing some in the trash- Stoney came by with some food from the USDA- read some Astronomy, History and Meteorology- went for my evening walk and stopped by at my neighbor Joyce’s but she wasn’t home- Andrew called and we jawed about computers and the CES show in Los Vegas and the new tech toys being announced- watched “American Experience” on PBS- started writing column for the newspaper.
Tuesday 10- woke up early and listened to a lecture on Biochemistry 1 from MIT online course on Biology- did my stretches and went for a walk- Andrew came by and we worked on his HP laptop trying to get his wireless working- Stoney called and told me this story and this is what I wrote about it and sent to the newspaper:
I heard talk that there was a home burglarize just up the street from my house Monday night around 8 or so, and that there was shots fired when the criminals were surprised buy the homeowner. I also heard that one of the thieves was shot as they tried to run over the homeowner and may have later been apprehended at a hospital in Palm Springs. Sorry if I’m so vague, I did see the red lights of a patrol car flashing that night, this is all secondhand info from a good friend and may be already reported in this newspaper.
-went for my evening walk with Andrew- read more of that Ant book- watched “Nova” on PBS and then “Criminal Intent” on CBS- wrote column and sent it to newspaper.
Wednesday 11- did my stretches and walked a mile; knee feeling lots better- Ron D. is going to town to do some errands and asked if I’d like to tag along; I said yes and did all my grocery shopping for the next two months- Annalice called to say she received the XP disks from Dell. She told me that the scan we did on the hard drive showed some unrecoverable sectors, so I told her to buy a new on before we install the new OS- watched “Science Investigators” on PBS and then caught up on some computer work and emails.
Thursday 11- did my stretches and ran half a mile- Stoney called and said he’s going to Wal-Mart to bay a camera and wanted me to come along and help him pick one. We look at several and Marsha (who works there and is a friend of mine) said the Kodak 703 with 7.1 MP, and 3X optical zoom lens was pretty good and it comes with a dock. Stoney bought it and also bought a HP Deskjet F335 all in one Printer, scanner, and copier for almost the cost of buying refills for his old printer. Very good price. Marsha said she also has one, I needed a scanner so I bought one too. Went back to Stoney’s after we had lunch at what used to be called the Silver Dollar Bar and we both had hot roast beef sandwiches. I set it all up for him and showed him how to use the printer and camera- nothing on TV tonight so I’ll do some reading- starting to get very windy and cold again tonight!
Friday 12- it is snowing outside at 9am! I grabbed my camera, took some pics and video of the snow cover desert- Ed D. called to tell me that Delores Jefferson has recently passed on. I updated the newsletter and sent it out and also posted it on my website that she had passed. I had last talked to Delores back in December. I called Ruth T. to let her know. I may go down for the service on Sunday with her- did my stretches but too dang cold to do any other exercise- went to Stoney’s to help him with his new camera and load some software on his computer. We had meatloaf with mashed potatoes and gravy. It was very, very cold riding my “Trusty” scooter back home- Roger T. picked up some software I burned on CD for him and left some movies for me- Mac and then Joel called for computer help and resolved them over the phone- Linda S. and then Linda D. called about the community meeting tomorrow- my dear friend Terry Watson called and we jawed about this and that and other things for 164 minutes- did computer work the rest of the night.
Saturday 13- did my stretches, very cold outside so I just lifted weights- Carolynne Hansen called and told me that she was a dispatcher for the Fire Department back in the late 60s, early 70s and had some stories about the old lake and also from the area around these parts. We jawed for a while and since she had much information said she’d write up what she can remember and email it to me. Nice lady- I setup my new printer and printed a picture of Judith that she wanted that I took at potluck of her and her mother. Looks really decent- Mac brought back my old Toshiba laptop I had lent him when his was down- watched “Rosemary and Thyme” on PBS- tried to do another recording of “Love Will Find A Way Home” but I couldn’t get the recorder setup right and it sounded lousy, so I will try again tomorrow- forgot to tell ya all yesterday that when I went outside to use the outhouse that I had found snow inside of it and when I sat down to take care of business, the lid stuck to my butt it was so cold!
Sunday 14- still very cold this morning, 35 degrees at 10am, so I just did my stretches- Ruth Tuttle picked me up and we went to Delores Jefferson’s services at Mountain Valley Memorial Park and then to lunch held in her memory at the Joshua Tree Community Center- on the way home we saw a house fire on Ritchie Rd. and Giant Rock that was totally engulfed and burnt to the ground. My friend Dale who lives just a few yards away from the fire called and told me later that he saved the 89 year old lady that lived there. The lady is fine and the Church she belongs to is taking care of her- watched “24” on FOX- worked on my computer and started planning my column for next week.
Monday 15- 29 degrees with winds of 7-15 mph, so I only did my weights and stretches mostly inside- called Delores Jefferson’s son John and interviewed him about his Mother for my column. It was a very difficult and emotional interview to do, for him and for me, but we were both glad to do it- Stoney picked me up and took me to his home where we messed with his new camera, worked on the computer, and had stew with baked with dough on the top, very good- worked on my column most of the day and took a break to watch “24” on FOX and then continued to write and edit column- fished my column and sent it out to the newspaper.
Tuesday 16- got up to 40 degrees, no wind, so I ran a mile and lifted weights- almost all my plants are dead from the freeze. My Alavera plants that I blend in my breakfast drinks are froze, my Palm Trees look wasted, and all the flowered plants took a dump- worked on the computer some, found that I’d misspelled a last name in the column I wrote and had to correct it and resend to the newspaper- Linda D. called and asked me to come over to fix some problems on her computer. Was working diligently on her computer when I noticed that it was 4:25pm and I was suppose to meet Stoney outside my house to give him the picture I took of Judith and Juanita so he could give it to her at Bingo. Well I finished at 5:30 and Linda drove me down to the center to give them the pic and tell Stoney I’m sorry for not being there when I said I’d be- watched “NCIS” on CBS and then surfed the web.
Wednesday 17- cold and windy, temp in the 30s, did my stretches and lifted weights- did some cleanup inside and outside the house. Started pulling all those telephone numbers and addresses off envelopes and tiny bits of paper and putting them on my computer- did a clean and defrag on the old Toshiba laptop- went for my evening walk (finally)- watched “22nd Century” on PBS. It was about the wired brains and networking them together- worked on my blog and answered emails and helping my friend Kula figure out a way to transfer her address book to Gmail.
Thursday 18- I have never seen it this cold, lasting this long, since I’ve moved here in 1998. Well I really don’t want to run in the cold cause it hurts my right knee; seems that my hamstrings tighten up by the cold, so I just did my stretches today- loaded 2006 edition of Encyclopedia Britannica (3 gigs) onto my laptop. Lots of good stuff on it and don’t need to be online to use it- went to Stoney’s and had lunch, a salad, and messed around with his camera and installed Charlie on his computer- read some History; Alexander the Great and ancient Greece- watched “CSI” on CBS- worked on computer stuff.
Friday 19- cold, windy and cloudy day, so I just did my stretches- updated the website and sent out the newsletter- Annalice called to cancel our appointment for me to repair her computer, so now I have some time to kill- fixed Kula’s email problem by having her send me her address book in CSV form, but it arrived in WAB. So I just imported it into my Outlook Express and then logged into her account and imported it into Gmail- tried to get some files off my very old HP 200LX palmtop to no avail. I tried the IR between several devices and even put the PCMICA storage card from the HP into my laptops, nope ain’t going to happen. Will try and come up with something later- went for my evening walk- spent the rest of the night catching up on my reading (History, Astronomy, Geology, Meteorology, and Biology) and watched a online Biology class from Berkley.
Saturday 20- finally a decent day to go for a run; no wind and the temp was in the low 50s- I ran a mile, biked and lifted weights- Joel came by with my mail and we jawed for a while- Stoney called and asked when I was available to help Roger S. install an engine in his VW. I went to Roger’s at 12:30 and we finished putting the motor in around 2:00- called my Mom and had a nice chat- went for my evening walk- departed for Stoney’s where we had a spaghetti dinner with Roger- watched “Rosemary and Thyme” on PBS- Katherine brought over her computer to be repaired- spent the rest of the night computing and reading.
Sunday 21- winds up to 20mph, temp below 50 degrees, I just stayed inside and did my stretches- worked on Kath’s computer reinstalling her XP upgrade, then got it current with all the critical updates; took about 3hrs of my time- called some family up to say hi (to let them know I’m still around ;)- did my studies- watched the “Poseidon Adventure” on DVD on my laptop- loaded RealBasic C++ editor on my laptop and will start using and learning it.
Monday 22- still windy and cold; did my stretches and lifted weights- Joel dropped by with some donuts. I printed out instructions for his friends on how to change the settings for a new ISP and copied a dialer program to floppy for them- finished up on Kath’s computer and it’s ready for pickup- played around with an old laptop doing some tweaks on it- went for my evening walk- did my studies- watched “24” on fox- started writing my column.
Tuesday 23- cold but not windy so I ran 3 miles- did my studies- went for my evening walk- scrutinize the President’s State of the Union Address, then watched “NCIS” on PBS- finished writing my column and sent it to the newspaper.
Wednesday 24- real nice outside! Did my stretches, ran a mile, rode the bike, and lifted weights. When I was riding my bike a truck came up and bumped my rear tire, even though I was all the way to the side. I got off my bike and approached the driver, who looked surprised, and asked him what the f&%# he was doing! Turns out I looked like someone else who had swiped some of his property. He was very apologetic. I told him not to do it again- Joel came by for a chat- did some financial figuring and purchased a one year CD- went over to Stoney’s. Him, Roger, and I finished off the leftover spaghetti- went for my evening walk- did my studies and surfed the web.
Thursday 25- did my stretches and ran a mile- did some yard work and did some assessing of the damage that the cold did to my plants- Annalice picked me up to do an install of XP on her computer. It was the install from hell! I installed a new 80gig harddrive with no problem. Then I loaded the install XP CD, I thought, but it turned out that I grabbed the wrong CD! Annalice had found a Windows Millennium Edition “ME” install CD earlier (her computer is running Win 98) and had placed the CD (same color as the XP CD) by the computer in case I needed it; I didn’t, and had to go through with the ME install because XP wouldn’t load until ME was installed. Then while installing XP it came up and asked what partition to put it and if I wanted to delete the Windows folder. Well I thought it was the ME folder and deleted it, but it turned out to be the XP folder I was presently loading. Had to start all over again loading ME because XP went into a loop not finding the file. I will not tell you how long I worked on this simple install that should have only taken an hour. I will do installs at my home for now on- did my studies- watched “CSI” on CBS.
Friday 26- nice day, did my stretches, rode my bike and lifted weights- Stoney called and said he’s going to the store and if I’d like to come; we went to Staters- went for my evening walk- did my studies- updated the website and sent out the newsletter- downloaded Free Dos and will install it on my old Toshiba laptop.
Saturday 27- did my stretches- worked around the yard. Tried to hook up an old propane tank somebody had given me, but the valve leaked and I don’t think it was propane (smelled like acetylene) so I will discard it - called Family- called Annalice to see how her computer was running and tried to walk her through importing her address book; I will do it for her next time I go over- Linda D. called and we yapped for a while about composting our dead plants that had died from the frost- on his way to potluck Stoney came by with some of his homemade chili. He got to talk to my Sister Audrey while I dished myself some beans- went for my evening walk- did my studies- watched “Rosemary and Thyme” on PBS- fooled around with the computer the rest of the night.
Sunday 28- did my stretches and ran 3 miles- did my studies- went for my evening walk- Mike called from Hermosa Beach to say he is sick with the flu- watched “60 Minutes” on CBS, then “Nature” on PBS- Kath came by and picked up her computer I fixed- did some more of my studies.
Monday 29- my dear friend Agnes form Deer Park Washington called to say and that she was well- did my stretches, ran a mile, rode the bike, and lifted weights- started writing my column for the newspaper, finished it, and sent it to the newspaper- worked in the yard and cut some wood for the stove- dropped by Stoney’s for a visit (he baked cookies)- went for my evening walk- did my studies- Kath called and couldn’t get online; worked with her to until we solve the problem- watched “24” on CBS- Ron D. picked up all kinds of avocados from where he was staying in San Diego (because of the freeze they dropped out of the trees and they can’t sell them without the stem) and brought a truckload up here to give away to us desert folks- messed around with the computer and did some reading.
Tuesday 30- did my stretches and ran a mile- did my studies- Joel came by with his computer he wants me to backup and a Mexican casserole- Kath calls and asks me what type of monitor to buy- went for my evening walk- watched “CSI” on CBS- did some more reading and computer stuff.
Wednesday 31- did my stretches lifted weights- Seimi dropped by to lend me a book called “dancing in the dharma” by Sandy Boucher, we sat and jawed for a while- did some cleaning of the kitchen- went for my evening walk- did my studies- watched “Bones” on FOX- worked some on the computer. Good bye January! Ya have been a cold, windy, but productive month.