Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 38 and 60 degrees, NW winds 8 to 19 MPH, humidity around 17 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Friday: Sunny, with a high near 69. West northwest wind between 13 and 16 mph becoming calm. Winds could gust as high as 24 mph. Friday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 44. West southwest wind between 11 and 18 mph, with gusts as high as 28 mph.”
I did some yard work and watered the plants. Then I messed around with my computers for a spell. The Windows 7 Ultimate product key that I bought off EBay a few months ago turned out to be bogus. I found out while doing an update. I had to reload the whole system from scratch and revert back to Windows 7 Starter. I should have known better, but I’m only out $11. I’m sure the culprit is long gone. I only fell for it because he told me he had left over product keys from his business that went belly up and needed to get rid of them. Oh well, live and learn!
I went for my evening walk listening to Astro 10: General Astronomy: The Moon, Mercury, and Venus.
I read aloud from the textbooks: “Astronomy Today" where I started the chapter on Mars; “The Cell: a Molecular Approach” more about the sequencing of Yeast Genomes.
I read a few more chapters in “Skeleton Coast” by Clive Cussler. It’s about an old freighter that had its guts torn out and replaced with a lot of high tech equipment, a reinforced hull to withstand enemy fire, a state of the art engine that’s powered by salt water and electromagnetic fields that can bring the 560 foot vessel up to 50 Nauts, and a high tech weapons system. All of this is hidden beneath the exterior of the rusty and ramshackle old freighter. They (the corporation made up of ex-military Special Forces) use this vessel called the Oregon for special operations when they are called upon by governments to do the dirty work that they can’t legally perform. Right now they are selling illegal arms to rebels in the Congo. The AK47s have hidden in them transmitters so the rebels can be traced to where they hide in the jungle. The rebels traded them for diamonds and are trying to get the diamonds back by force by attacking the Oregon.
I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.
Friday 02- I did my stretches and ran a mile.Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 44 and 67 degrees, S-SW winds 7 to 13 MPH, humidity around 33 percent, mostly clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Saturday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 74. West southwest wind between 5 and 9 mph. Saturday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 46. Breezy, with a west southwest wind 19 to 22 mph decreasing to between 8 and 11 mph. Winds could gust as high as 33 mph.”
One of the dove’s two eggs hatched last week but I didn’t know it because she kept the chick well hidden from me. The other egg looks to be a dud but the mother keeps sitting on it. I may remove it in a couple of days so she can be on her way. The chick really grew fast and I can guess that it’s because it got fed plenty well being the only one.
All through the day I‘ve been downloading updates to the netbook I had to reinstall Win7 on because of the phony Service Tag I purchased on EBay. On dialup it takes a very long time.
I went over to Mac’s to help him load his Harley onto his truck; I’m glad he has a ramp! Frank and Mary came by just as we got it stuck halfway up the ramp and Frank helped us get it the rest of the way up. I sat around and yakked for a spell and then I was on my way home with a big container of Mac’s homemade chili which was mighty good!
I went for my evening walk listening to Astro 10: General Astronomy: Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn.
I read aloud from the textbooks: “Astronomy Today" about orbital and physical properties of Mars; “The Cell: a Molecular Approach” about the sequencing of C. elegans, Drosophila, and Arabidopsis thaliana genomes; I actually know what they are now!
I read a few more chapters in “Skeleton Coast” by Clive Cussler. The owner of a biological research company and his assistant are kidnapped by a fanatical environmentalist group and are taken to a prison in the desert in Namibia and our heroes aboard the Oregon make their way down there to attempt a rescue. But as they near the coast port they get distracted by two small vessels; one is in pursuit and shooting at the other. The lead boat is sending out a mayday distress call by a woman. Our heroes sink the bad guy’s boat and rescue the woman’s; I would have done the same thing. The woman is searching for a lost ship from the 1890s that may contain a billion in diamonds. She and her crew have been asking fishermen in the area where they have lost nets and fishing gear in hopes that they were snagged on the sunken vessel, thus pinpointing where it is. Our heroes think that the two cases may be connected.
I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.
Saturday 03- I did my stretches.Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 46 and 68 degrees, W-SW winds 11 to 19 MPH, humidity around 24 percent, mostly clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Sunday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 69. Breezy, with a northwest wind 5 to 8 mph becoming southwest between 19 and 22 mph. Winds could gust as high as 33 mph. Sunday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers. Partly cloudy, with a low around 46. Breezy, with a west southwest wind 25 to 28 mph decreasing to between 14 and 17 mph. Winds could gust as high as 40 mph.”
I was up late last night after I got an email from Apple that the iPad 3g was up for preorder on their site. I’d like to get one because it can connect to At&T’s unlimited internet for $30. But I want to make sure I can use Skype to make calls on it and then get rid of my cell phone. I really need something faster than dialup so I can watch classes instead of just listening to them.
I did some chores around the house and updated the Copper Mountain Mesa Website and sent out the Newsletter. Then I called Frank and Mary who are up here for the weekend. They said come on over, so I left my netbook downloading updates and drove on over.
I was only going to visit for a short spell but Mary cooked up some hamburgers and beans. We sat around the table outside yakking until the wind started to pick up and went inside. We watched a movie called “Hit Man” (2007) that was hard to follow and wasn’t very good; my brother Kevin called me later in the night and said that he saw it and liked it and my opinion of him went down a few notches.
I got back home just before sunset and read more chapters in “Skeleton Coast” by Clive Cussler. Now our heroes find a scheme by a mad scientist who is trying to heat the ocean’s currents off the coast of Africa causing hurricanes to increase in size. They found out that this mad scientist is responsible for the kidnapping of the biological researcher and his assistant. Also the Congo rebels have been tipped off about the transmitters in the weapons they sold to them by a Congo government official who is on the rebel’s payroll. Are heroes have just parachuted into the prison where the researcher and his assistant are held captive, but unfortunately get caught in the process of rescuing them and will be shot at sunrise. Things don’t look too well for our heroes right now!
I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.
Sunday 04- I did my stretches, ran two miles, and lifted weights.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 45 and 67 degrees, SW winds 10 to 24 with gusts up to 40 MPH, humidity around 23 percent, hazy skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Monday: Areas of blowing dust after 11am. Mostly sunny, with a high near 63. Windy, with a west wind between 28 and 36 mph, with gusts as high as 55 mph. Monday Night: Areas of blowing dust before 11pm. Mostly clear, with a low around 40. Windy, with a west northwest wind between 26 and 31 mph, with gusts as high as 49 mph.”
The wind started blowing pretty hard so I stayed inside and called a few Friends and Family and jawed with them for a spell. Kula called and we had a nice little chat. The updates for my netbook are finally all done.
I went over to Stoney’s to check out the place to make sure everything was okay and took a nice hot shower while I was there.
I got back home when Ginger called asking me to feed Princess, so I went for my evening walk down to Ginger’s listening to Astro 10: General Astronomy: Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. I also listened to another one later in the evening called: Comets and Solar-System Debris.
When I got back Ginger called and asked me if I felt the earthquake. I told her that I was on my walk in the high winds and didn’t feel a thing. I went online and found that there was a 7.2 earthquake just over the border in Mexico, and another 5.1 by Seeley California in Imperial Valley just 30 minutes or so after the 7.2. Things are really shaking here in California!
I got back home just before sunset and read more chapters in “Skeleton Coast” by Clive Cussler. Well our heroes just barely rescued their friends who were going to get shot at dawn and also rescued a leader of a movement to free his country of apartheid who just happened to be held in the desert prison waiting to be sentenced to death. They found the Researcher and his assistant but it turned out his assistant was in on the kidnapping and had shot the Researcher; he lived. Now our heroes find out the mad scientist is using the Congo rebels to blow up oil derricks off the coast of the Congo to create a massive oil spill that’ll evaporate into the air and be carried to the coast of Florida in a super hurricane that he created possibly killing thousands of Americans.
I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.
Monday 05- I did my stretches.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 40 and 60 degrees, SW winds 15 to 26 with gusts over 55 MPH, humidity around 47 percent, hazy dusty skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Tuesday: Sunny, with a high near 66. Northwest wind between 16 and 18 mph, with gusts as high as 26 mph. Tuesday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 43. North northwest wind between 11 and 16 mph, with gusts as high as 24 mph.”
I was getting ready for my doctor appointment when Ginger dropped by with a plate of Easter dinner that she made yesterday. We sat in her truck and chatted for a while. I told her that the book “Skeleton Coast” that she brought me was really good and thanked her for getting it.
I got to the doctor’s office at the appointed time and waited for half an hour until they called my name. It was no big deal, all I needed was a prescription for a refill and I was back out to the road less the $85 they charged me.
I went to Staters Bros to get some needed groceries, got gas, got my prescription filled at Star Pharmacy, went to the library and bought four books that they had on sale, and got myself back home around 4:30.
The wind was blowing hard all day and decided not to go for my evening walk but instead read “Skeleton Coast” by Clive Cussler through to the end of the book. Our heroes, with the help of the freedom fighters, made it just in time to stop the Congo rebels from dumping millions of tons of oil into the Atlantic only after an intense gun battle to retake the oil platforms. Then our heroes find out the rest of the plan that the mad scientist has cooked up; he has bought a tanker and filled it with a substance that heats the water by some biological method. He is using it to intensify that super hurricane that he wanted the oil vapors ride in from the oil fields the rebels had taken. So the Oregon is hot on his heels and catches him in the eye of the hurricane going in cycles warming the waters to intensify the storm. Our heroes fly in a helicopter in heavy seas and wind to land on the tanker in an attempt to blow up the bow of the ship so it will sink quickly when the Oregon’s two torpedoes hit. But the mad scientist finds and takes the detonator. One of our heroes goes back on the tanker and runs after him. The taker is starting to break up from the high waves and the mad scientist falls into a split in the deck that closes on him cutting him in half. Our hero on the tanker then detonates the charges on the bow, the torpedoes hit, and the ship sinks just as the helicopter pulls our hero off the stern. The hurricane drops down to a tropical storm and doesn’t cause any damage as it hit the coast of Florida. After a spell our heroes go back to the desert and find the old ship that was lost in the 1890s filled with diamonds. Our heroes give the diamonds to the leader of the freedom movement so he can save his country from its dictators, and all is well in the world again! The end!
I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.
Tuesday 06- I only did my stretches; I wasn’t feeling well today.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 42 and 63 degrees, NW winds 10 to 16 with MPH, humidity around 27 percent, mostly clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Wednesday: Sunny, with a high near 67. North northwest wind between 7 and 15 mph, with gusts as high as 21 mph. Wednesday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 46. North wind between 8 and 11 mph becoming calm.”
Kevin sent me a link to an astronomy blog written by Ethan Siegel that was very interesting but I have a problem with his no singularity theory, and that of inflation
Wikipedia Big Bang:
"On the other hand, inflation and baryogenesis remain somewhat more speculative features of current Big Bang models: they explain important features of the early universe, but could be replaced by alternative ideas without affecting the rest of the theory.[notes 6] Discovering the correct explanations for such phenomena are some of the remaining unsolved problems in physics."
Wikipedia Inflation:
"Since the standard FRW big-bang picture can be fixed to match observations by a certain amount of fine-tuning, Earman and Mosterin reckon that this type of fine tuning is no worse or no better as an explanation of experimental results than the tuning you need to match a scalar inflation model to the same data. This conclusion is not shared by mainstream cosmologists,[citation needed] who view the fine-tuning of many causally disconnected patches to almost, but not quite, the same temperature and curvature as something that requires a dynamical explanation. This reflects a difference in philosophy, limits on fine-tuning have long been used by practicing scientists as criteria for a good theory, but are not given a central role in standard philosophies of science."
The inflation model has always seemed to me like Ptolemy's model of a Earth centered universe, have a problem just add more epicycles! Ptolemy's model was even more exact than Copernicus's Heliocentric model at describing orbits until Kepler came along with the right model.
Ginger called asking me to feed Princess, so I went for my evening walk down to Ginger’s listening to Astro 10: General Astronomy: Catastrophic Collisions.
I read aloud from the textbooks: “Astronomy Today" more about Mar’s surface; “The Cell: a Molecular Approach” about the human genome.
I started a new book by Jack Higgins called “Cold Harbour” about WWII and secret base in Ireland that ferries agents back and forth into Nazi controlled France. Our heroes captured and use a German torpedo boat and a plane for this purpose. It’s a few months before D-day and need this lady agent to infiltrate a Nazi meeting in France at her aunt’s mansion to get info on the Atlantic Wall’s fortification. But she is killed in a plane crash and now it’s up to our heroes to convince her twin sister, who is a nurse in London, to impersonate her sister and retrieve the plans. I've never read any of Higgins's books so we'll see how it goes.
I did my stretches and lifted weights, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.
Wednesday 07- I did my stretches and ran two miles.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 44 and 68 degrees, NNE winds 8 to 10 with gusts over 55 MPH, humidity around 13 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Thursday: Sunny, with a high near 77. Northwest wind between 6 and 9 mph becoming calm. Thursday Night: Clear, with a low around 48. Calm wind becoming southwest between 8 and 11 mph”
I wrote my column for the newspaper and sent it in to them.
I drove down to feed Princess a carrot and when I arrived Ginger had her in a trailer to take her away to the other house nearby. I fed her a carrot and a lemon drop (she likes them) and said goodbye to her. She’ll be back sometime next month after the horse show Ginger is preparing her for.
I went online looking for a used telescope and I think I found an old Meade 8” with a German equatorial mount with an electric clock drive for a good price and I submitted my bid for it; if I win the bid, that’s cool, if I don’t, that’s cool also. It’s just like the one I used in college so I’ll be used to it. I had a lot of fun learning to work and use that telescope.
I went for my evening walk listening to Astro 10: General Astronomy: Extra-Solar Planets; Our Sun.
I read aloud from the textbooks: “Astronomy Today" about Mar’s atmosphere; “The Cell: a Molecular Approach” started chapter 5 about Replication, Maintenance, and Rearrangements of Genomic DNA. I only understand about one percent of all this now!
I continued to read “Cold Harbour”. Our heroes found the twin sister of the agent who was killed in and air crash. But it turns out see wasn’t really killed in the crash but raped by Nazi soldiers when she dressed like a peasant to make the trip over to England. They only tell her twin after she declines to take the job of impersonating her in France at her aunt’s mansion to retrieve the German plans of the Atlantic Wall. After take her down to the basement where her twin is being held and she see the hideous state her sister is in she decides to go along with the deception and becomes an agent at Cold Harbour.
I forgot to mention yesterday that I watched “Nova: Hunting the Edge of Space: The Mystery of the Milky Way”. It was very interesting for me because it had a lot about telescopes old and new with a little bit of history thrown in. It is continued next Tuesday!
I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.
Thursday 08- I did my stretches, lifted weights, and rode my bike.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 48 and 75 degrees, NW winds 3 to 8 with gusts over 55 MPH, humidity around 11 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Friday: Sunny, with a high near 77. Northwest wind 5 to 13 mph becoming south. Friday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 48. Southwest wind 17 to 20 mph becoming west southwest 6 to 9 mph. Winds could gust as high as 26 mph.”
I was checking my email and got one from the library saying that the book I reserved has come in and is ready for pick up. I have to go to town anyways to sign papers at a bank, pick up a package at the post office, and get a new tire for the Gross Polluter, so I headed on down. I stopped at the gas station first; the Polluter was very thirsty. Got the book from the library, dropped off the tire at WalMart, went to the bank and signed the papers, picked up the new tire, and then stopped off at Stater Bros to get a few items I forgot the last time I was there.
I gotten back by 4pm and went for my evening walk listening to Astro 10: General Astronomy: Stars: Distant Suns.
I read aloud from the textbooks: “Astronomy Today" about Mar’s inner structure and its two moons; “The Cell: a Molecular Approach” about DNA Polymerases.
I’ll have to postpone reading “Cold Harbour” for a spell to read the new book I got from the library today called “U is for Undertow” (2009) by Sue Grafton. I am a big fan of her Kinsey Millhone mystery series and have read all of them beginning with “A is for Alibi”. All her books take place in the 1980s in the fictional town of Santa Teresa. In this book it starts with Kinsey sitting at her desk when a young man knocks on her office door. He tells her that a recent newspaper article has jarred his memory of a kidnapping of a young girl back in 1967 when he was six years old. He was playing alone at a friend’s house when he went off the property into a field with a lot of trees and saw two men digging a deep hole. They had a bundle on the ground next to them. He had asked what they were doing and they replied that they were digging for treasure. He believed this because they wore bandanas on their heads. Now he asks Kinsey to help him and she is hot on the trail. Since this is a rather new book I feel that I shouldn’t give too much of the story away and spoil it for anyone who wants to read it. I’ve recently found that I like to give a blow by blow summary of what I read, but only on older books. So I won’t be doing it on this one.
I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.
Friday 09- I did my stretches and ran two miles. Such a beautiful day outside!
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 47 and 81 degrees, SSW winds 6 to 16 MPH, humidity around 14 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Saturday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 74. Calm wind becoming south southwest between 13 and 16 mph. Winds could gust as high as 22 mph. Saturday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 46. West southwest wind 17 to 20 mph decreasing to between 8 and 11 mph. Winds could gust as high as 26 mph.”
I spent the rest of the afternoon updating the Copper Mountain Mesa Website and sent out the Newsletter. There was a lot of updating to do: the calendar, the stories, pictures of the kids at the Easter Egg Coloring Contest, and the CMMCA Newsletter that I forgotten about and put a link to the archived webpage on it.
I gotten back by 4pm and went for my evening walk listening to Astro 10: General Astronomy: Social Stars: Binaries and Clusters.
I read aloud from the textbooks: “Astronomy Today" finished the chapter on Mar and read the review; “The Cell: a Molecular Approach” about the Replication Fork; it amazes me that these tiny devices take apart a strand of DNA creating two strands of DNA. This goes on inside me at the molecular level as I type this.
I got a good start this evening reading “U is for Undertow” by Sue Grafton, and read it late into the night.
I did my stretches and lifted weights, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.
Saturday 10- I did my stretches, ran a mile, lifted weights, and rode my bike.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 46 and 77 degrees, SSW winds 10 to 14 MPH, humidity around 13 percent, somewhat clear skies with lenticular clouds flowing off the mountains to the west.
According to the National Weather Service: “Sunday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 74. West wind 6 to 9 mph becoming south between 18 and 21 mph. Winds could gust as high as 31 mph. Sunday Night: A 30 percent chance of rain after 11pm. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 48. Breezy, with a southwest wind between 14 and 22 mph, with gusts as high as 33 mph.”
I went over to Stoney’s after Roger Smith called and told me that the locks on the garage were missing. Everything looked like it was there and nothing I or Roger could see was missing, except the locks. We found new locks and put them on, but the mystery remains; who took the locks?
I called Family and Friends throughout the day. Seimi came by to collect a book he had lent me that I haven’t read yet, so he could give it to another friend of his to read. We chatted for a spell and he mentioned that Brother Michael (I’ve never met him but I can see his house from where I live) had been found dead in his home after many months without anybody seeing him. Only after a neighbor found his truck when the strong winds of two weeks ago had blown down some plywood that had sheltered his truck from view, and called the police. On the front of his house there are these large words painted in black: He Is Risen. When he first moved up here he handed out twenty dollar bills to some folks in our area, otherwise he kept to himself. I hope he finally found peace!
I went for my evening walk listening to Astro 10: General Astronomy: How Stars Shine: Cosmic Furnaces.
Bob Vandenberg called needing assistance with a very bad Trojan Virus called “Personal Security Virus” that is a fake anti-virus program. I spent an hour on the phone with him trying to get his pictures and docs off his system but his CD drive wouldn’t recognize the CD, dang! I had him go out to WalMart and pick up a USB thumb drive and we will try that tomorrow. I’ve played around with this fake ant-virus program many times in the past and the best thing to do is get your files off and do a clean install. I will try some new tricks I found first but it seems that there is always some remnants of this program lingering behind to restart again. So I found that a fresh install saves time and a lot of frustration; I will write about our efforts tomorrow.
I read aloud from the textbooks: “Astronomy Today" started the chapter on Jupiter; “The Cell: a Molecular Approach” about The Fidelity of Replication.
I spent the remainder of the evening reading “U is for Undertow” by Sue Grafton, and read it late into the night.
I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.
Sunday 11- I did my stretches.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 48 and 81 degrees, SSW winds 6 to 14 MPH, humidity around 17 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Monday: Showers likely, mainly before 11am. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 63. Breezy, with a southwest wind 13 to 16 mph increasing to between 25 and 28 mph. Winds could gust as high as 39 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. Monday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers before 11pm. Partly cloudy, with a low around 44. Breezy, with a west wind 23 to 26 mph decreasing to between 13 and 16 mph. Winds could gust as high as 38 mph.”
I decided that I’m just going to kick back today, rest and let my body catch up with me. I did go and finally figured out how to put the headlights on the Gross Polluter and got that done. Now I can drive it after dark and to town without the feeling that I’ll get pulled over and ticketed.
I have two more dove nests around my house. One of them is right next to my front door and has two eggs in it. I try not to go in and out that door too much so I won’t disturb the mother bird which flies away every time I go outside.
Bob Vandenberg called and said that he got his picture files off his infested computer with the USB thumb drive I told him to get at WalMart. So I instructed him on how to do a clean install that will get rid of that “Personal Security” Program that is a virus in and of its self. His computer booted up to the original factory setting and he got online and was good to go. He was going to take it down to the “Geek Squad” who said they’d fix it for $120. I thought my way of doing it was cheaper, faster, and you are sure you got it all. Bob is out the money he paid for a USB thumb drive which isn’t much these days.
I got an early start reading “U is for Undertow” by Sue Grafton, and read it late into the night and finished it. What a fantastic writer Grafton is! What a great book! She only gets better!
I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.
Monday 12- I did my stretches, ran a mile, lifted weights, and rode my bike.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 44 and 81 degrees, WSW winds 13 to 26 with gusts up to 48 MPH, humidity around 37 percent, altocumulus clouds here and there.
According to the National Weather Service: “Tuesday: Sunny, with a high near 69. North northwest wind between 7 and 15 mph, with gusts as high as 22 mph. Tuesday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 46. North wind between 3 and 9 mph.”
I did some more work on the Polluter’s headlights. One of the turn signals is cracked, I had to glue it and put it back on but it still doesn’t fit right. I’ll still have to do some adjustments to the frame it sits in so that it will fit properly, but not today; it’s very windy outside!
I read aloud from the textbooks: “Astronomy Today" Jupiter’s Orbital and Physical Properties, and its atmosphere; “The Cell: a Molecular Approach” Origins and the Initiation of Replication (hopefully a tiny bit of this will sink into my itty bitty brain).
I went for my evening walk listening to Astro 10: General Astronomy: How Stars Shine: The Fate of Our Sun.
I left for the community center for the board meeting and got there a little bit before 7pm; I was the only one in the audience. We all read over the agenda and minutes from the last meeting and they were approved. Mary Helen said bingo and the breakfasts will be closed for July and August. Breakfast had 44 adults and 7 children and brought in $288.50! Bingo had twenty-seven folks show up which is a recent record bringing in much needed money. The Thrift Room brought in $133 and $80 for the raffle steak knives that Patrick won. Annelies brainstormed and written a “Welcome to our Desert” flyer, that we all had suggestions to add. It was a fun meeting!
Seimi called and we talked for a long spell (80 minutes) about the chaos theory, astronomy, and stuff happening in our neighborhood; past and present.
I continued to read “Cold Harbour”. The twin sister of the agent is now in training to take over for her sister place to retrieve German plans of the Atlantic Wall. She is put taught how to fire a weapon, has to remember all the names and uniforms of the German armies, and is drilled on names of the servants at her aunt’s mansion in France, and is woken up in the middle of the night taken to a small room with a bright light focused on her and interrogated like she would by the Nazis. She passes their scrutiny and is about to be taken by a plane at night and smuggled into France. Also it seems that she has two of our heroes falling for her: the captain of the captured German fast boat and the undercover agent.
I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.
Tuesday 13- I did my stretches and ran two miles.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 44 and 67 degrees, NW winds 6 to 9 MPH, humidity around 24 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Wednesday: Sunny, with a high near 74. Calm wind becoming southeast between 4 and 7 mph. Wednesday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 49. South wind at 10 mph becoming northwest.”
I did some work around the house and outside, too. I was saddened to see that the dove’s eggs outside my front door had fallen out of the nest and laid broken on the ground. I guess it happened last night when some very high winds blew through our area.
I read aloud from the textbooks: “Astronomy Today" Jupiter’s atmospheric weather and cloud make up; “The Cell: a Molecular Approach” Telomeres and Telomerase: Replicating the ends of Chromosomes, yikes.
I went for my evening walk listening to Astro 10: General Astronomy: How Stars Shine: Exploding Stars: Celestial Fireworks.
I watched “ Nova: Hunting the Edge of Space: The Ever Expanding Universe”. I thought it was a very impressive with lots of information and history; they also got it right! Also the instructor Alex Filippenko of the Astro 10 podcasts I listen to on my walks was featured on the program!
I continued to read “Cold Harbour”. The twin sister is now on her way over to France by the Fast Boat to retrieve German plans of the Atlantic Wall. She is almost raped twice: by an agent that impersonates a German flyer at Cold Harbour that our heroes pull off her, and by a real German Officer when she gets to France; she pulls a gun on him. So I guess I’ll start calling her our heroine! In the mean time the High German Command thinks that the meeting for the Atlantic Wall is really a ruse to plot a plan to kill Hitler, and send word to this SS Officer in charge there to “beef up security at the mansion”.
I did my stretches and lifted weights, practiced my guitar, wrote my column for the newspaper and sent it in, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night. It would have been Stoney’s 90th birthday today.
Wednesday 14- I did my stretches, ran a mile, lifted weights, and rode my bike.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 49 and 72 degrees, calm winds, humidity around 21 percent, clear skies but hazy after 3pm.
According to the National Weather Service: “Thursday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 76. Northwest wind 5 to 10 mph becoming east. Thursday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 51. South wind 7 to 10 mph becoming west.”
Kath brought her laptop and a list of problems over the day before yesterday for a tune-up and I was working on the list when Seimi called and came by with his netbook so I could set it up on dialup. Then I had to show him how to get online. While I was at it I uninstalled Norton and installed Avast anti-virus. I also installed Firefox and told him to use that browser instead of IE.
On my way to Stoney’s I drove by my friend’s house to see if everything is okay while he’s on vacation. Once at Stoney’s I took some pictures of the rental property there and will email them to Jimmy (Stoney’s son). Roger walked up as I was leaving and we did a walkthrough on the insides; what a mess! There were windows broken, many cigarette burns on the rug, and it looked like the floor hasn’t been swept in a few years.
I went for my evening walk listening to Astro 10: General Astronomy: How Stars Shine: The Corpses of Massive Stars.
I read aloud from the textbooks: “Astronomy Today" Jupiter’s interior; “The Cell: a Molecular Approach” DNA Repair- Direct Reversal of DNA Damage.
I had to call Kath to clarify a few of the items on her list and I got back to work on her laptop for a spell.
I continued to read “Cold Harbour”. Our heroine arrives at her Aunt’s Chateau (I was calling it a mansion) and her Aunt finds out that our heroine is impersonating her twin sister, but her Aunt is fine with that. There is a nice looking German officer who is in charge of security and is sweet on her that she seems to fall for but tries to stay away from him. Then there is the one German Officer that tried to rape her and now is trying his best to find anything to discredit her and have her arrested.
I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.
Thursday 15- I did my stretches, ran two miles, and lifted weights.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 51 and 74 degrees, calm winds, humidity around 19 percent, hazy skies but cloudy after 4pm.
According to the National Weather Service: “Friday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 76. West northwest wind between 5 and 8 mph becoming calm. Friday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 50. West wind around 15 mph, with gusts as high as 21 mph.”
I worked on Kath’s laptop running a virus scan at boot up, a clean and compress, and defragged the drive.
I need to start working on the patio roof that will eventually be around the whole house covering it from the harsh sun of summer, so I went to Home Depot after stopping off at the library in Joshua Tree to return a book. Once at Home Depot I picked out some six 4’ by 8’ OSB plywood, twelve 8’ 2” by 4”, a box of ribbed nails, and an assortment of brackets and lag screws to hold it all together.
When I got home, Dana drove up and I showed him the repair I did on the headlights of the Gross Polluter; he said it looked okay to him. We stood around and jawed for a shot time as these big military transports practiced touch and go at the Marine Base.
I went for my evening walk listening to Astro 10: General Astronomy: Hearts of Darkness. Now we’re getting into the part of astronomy I like; Blackholes.
I read aloud from the textbooks: “Astronomy Today" Jupiter’s moons; “The Cell: a Molecular Approach” DNA Repair- Excision Repair.
I called Kath again but this time to give her a progress report.
Joel Levy sent me some pics and docs yesterday that he wants me to make a website out of. I worked on it for a few hours, got it altogether, went to logon to his site to upload it, but his password didn’t work, dang! I called him and he checked it out and we found that it was the correct password, but I still can’t get it to work; I’ll try a different FTP program tomorrow and see if that’ll work.
I continued to read “Cold Harbour”. Our heroes back in England find out that our heroine has been setup by the British Intelligent commander to give false info about a map of the D-Day invasion she accidently saw in his office. He arranges for a German double agent to notify the Nazis that she is an agent for the British, so they will interrogate her and get the false info. Our heroes are on their way by fast boat to France to rescue her while the British Intelligent commander tries to stop them.
I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.
Friday 16- I did my stretches and rode my bike.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 51 and 82 degrees, winds out of the west at 6 to 12 MPH, humidity around 17 percent, hazy skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Saturday: Sunny, with a high near 81. West northwest wind between 7 and 10 mph becoming calm. Saturday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 54. South southeast wind 6 to 10 mph becoming west.”
I worked on Kath’s laptop doing a few tweaks here and there and it’s all done and ready to be picked up.
Joel called the server site where he has his website and got the correct password and I was then able to upload the HTML; it is now up and running. I don’t mind doing these little projects for friends but I don’t like when there are problems like this where I spend a lot of my time trying to figure it out and it turns out to be someone else’s mistake.
I started working on the patio roof, cutting some of the pieces of wood; I still have to make some more measurements before I actually start construction. A little at a time gets it done!
I went for my evening walk listening to Astro 10: General Astronomy: The Quest for Black Holes.
I read aloud from the textbooks: “Astronomy Today" more on Jupiter’s moons; “The Cell: a Molecular Approach” DNA Repair: Error-Prone Repair, and Recombinational Repair, amazing!
I called Kath earlier today to pick up her laptop; she arrived at 6pm.
I thought I’d take the night off from reading and spent the time mindlessly surfing the web.
I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.
Saturday 17- I did my stretches, ran a mile, and lifted weights.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 54 and 81 degrees, calm winds, humidity around 17 percent, hazy skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Sunday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 83. Calm wind becoming south southeast between 12 and 15 mph. Winds could gust as high as 22 mph. Sunday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 57. Southwest wind between 7 and 16 mph, with gusts as high as 22 mph.”
I started working on the patio roof again. This time I got it all figured out and got most of the supports for it hammered in. Spent around three hours doing this and would have gotten more of it done except that I bought the wrong size lag bolts, dang! I’ll pick up the right ones Monday.
I called Family and Friends throughout the day.
I went for my evening walk listening to Astro 10: General Astronomy: The Milky Way and Other Galaxies.
I read aloud from the textbooks: “Astronomy Today" Jupiter’s moon Io; “The Cell: a Molecular Approach” Recombination between Homologous DNA Sequences.
I continued and finished reading “Cold Harbour”. The plot thickens and our heroine finds that she has been betrayed by British Intelligent and is told this the Good looking German Officer when she is caught stealing the plans for the Atlantic Wall defenses. He asks for the plans back and tells her twin sister was working for him and now he wants her to work for him or else he’ll do something ghastly to her Aunt; he doesn’t know she had already taken pictures of the plans. Our heroes arrive in France, one of them sneaks into the Chateau that is under heavy Security only killing three guards, and climb onto her balcony. She tells him she can’t leave because of her Aunt, so he says they’ll take the Aunt along. But the Aunt says she has a bad heart and only has a few months left and will stay. Our hero and heroine escapes by forcing the good looking German Officer at gunpoint to drive them to the coast where the Fast Boat is waiting. The German Officer pulls a gun from under the dash but before he can shoot anyone he is shot by our heroine in the back three times; he dies. They make it to the boat and cross back over to England but before they arrive they are fired on by that crazy British agent who poses as a German pilot flying a German plane. He kills almost everyone on board before he is blasted out of the sky. She and one of the heroes she likes, survive. They will have dinner at the Savoy and get lots of medals for producing the pictures of the Atlantic Wall’s defenses and save many lives on D-Day. The End.
I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.
Sunday 18- I did my stretches; rest day.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 57 and 83 degrees, SE winds at 2 to 10 MPH, humidity around 17 percent, hazy skies later in the day.
According to the National Weather Service: “Monday: Partly sunny, with a high near 79. Calm wind becoming south southwest between 12 and 15 mph. Winds could gust as high as 22 mph. Monday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 54. Southwest wind between 10 and 16 mph, with gusts as high as 23 mph.”
Yes it is a rest day for me! I just kicked back and tried to do absolutely nothing. I did some cleaning of my files getting rid of duplicates and old downloads that are not good any more. I called a few friends and some called me.
I had a few false starts on picking the next book to read; Terry Brooks “A Knight of the Word” but after a chapter I put it down. A longtime ago I read “The Sward of Shannara” series that he wrote, but his newer books just don’t do it for me. Then I read a chapter of “Point of Origin” by Patricia Cornwell. I like her style of writing but I wasn’t in the mood to read a grisly gruesome story. I started to read “The Golden Orange” (1990) by Joseph Wambaugh, and wow! This guy can sure tell a story! It’s about a police detective who after fifteen years on the job was injured and forced to retire, wife divorced him and left him with nothing, and then he turns to booze. He got a job as a ferry captain and was piloting drunk across the channel in Newport Harbor and decided to join the Christmas boat parade hijacking everyone on board; it’s in all the newspapers. He gets arrested, goes to trial, but the judge goes easy on him. He is on a downward spiral sitting in a local sleazy bar when a rich lady comes and sit next to him. She invites him to dinner at her yacht club at the marina. Things are starting to look up for our self-destructive detective, maybe.
I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.
Monday 19- I did my stretches.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 54 and 81 degrees, calm winds, humidity around 15 percent, mostly skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Tuesday: Areas of blowing dust after 11am. Mostly sunny, with a high near 78. Breezy, with a southwest wind 7 to 10 mph increasing to between 25 and 28 mph. Winds could gust as high as 41 mph. Tuesday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 46. Breezy, with a west southwest wind 25 to 28 mph decreasing to between 13 and 16 mph. Winds could gust as high as 39 mph.”
I got up at the ungodly hour of 8:30am so I could be down at the DMV at 10am to find out just what I needed to do to get the Gross Polluter registered after being totaled by the insurance company. I had the salvage certificate and all the paperwork on the truck with me when I arrived; the place was packed! But I had an appointment and was out of there in less than thirty minutes with more paperwork to fill out and a temporary permit till the end of May so I can get the truck smogged, and lights certified. I would suggest to anybody not to go to the DMV without an appointment!!!
After leaving the DMV I stopped off at Bar Lumber to get the right length lag bolts for my patio and also picked up some Snow Coat for the roof to keep it cool in the coming months. On the way back home I got some supplies at Stater Bros that I needed; bread, fruits, that sort of stuff.
I just walked in the house when Chris called saying he had my USDA groceries at his house, so I drove over to pick them up and we sat for a spell yapping. He told me that 101 folks showed up at the food distribution today and that’s a lot more than we’ve ever had; must be the hard times with folks running out of money as the government says things are getting better, yeah right.
I drilled and put in those lag bolts in the structure that will hold up the patio roof. It took about an hour or so but I was dang tired afterwards.
I went for my evening walk listening to Astro 10: General Astronomy: The Dark Side of Matter.
I read aloud from the textbooks: “Astronomy Today" Jupiter’s moons Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto; “The Cell: a Molecular Approach” Models of Homologous Recombination.
I read a few chapters of “The Golden Orange” (1990) by Joseph Wambaugh.
The rich lady invites our hero to Palm Springs where her deceased Dad had this mansion. He still doesn’t know why this woman likes him. They have sex. They go for a horseback ride through the desert. They get shot at. They think it is some kids target shooting but called the cops who took a written report. They drive back to Newport where she drops him off at his house. Later she calls him at the sleazy bar asking him to come to her house right away. He quickly arrives and she tells him that she saw an employee of her Dad’s friend, who now owns the desert mansion, hanging out across the street watching her house. She then goes on to tell him that her Dad was gay and gave the desert mansion to his lover and not to her. And that her Dad was found a year before in the surf with a gunshot wound in his head. The police said it was a suicide because he found out he had HIV. The plot thickens!
I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.
Tuesday 20- I did my stretches and ran two miles.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 46 and 56 degrees, SW winds at 9 to 30 with gusts to 50 MPH or more, humidity around 22 percent, hazy skies because of the high winds.
According to the National Weather Service: “Wednesday: Isolated showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 58. Breezy, with a west wind between 20 and 28 mph, with gusts as high as 41 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%. Wednesday Night: Isolated showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 43. Breezy, with a west wind 25 to 28 mph decreasing to between 7 and 10 mph. Winds could gust as high as 39 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%.”
I went outside to work on the patio roof after breakfast but the winds started blowing really hard and I had to abandon all work and head back inside. So I wrote my column for the newspaper and sent it in. Then I messed around online looking at telescopes I can’t afford.
Too dang windy for an evening walk!
I read aloud from the textbooks: “Astronomy Today" Chapter review of Jupiter; “The Cell: a Molecular Approach” DNA Rearrangements: Site-Specific Recombination.
I read a few more chapters of “The Golden Orange”. Our hero and the rich lady talk to the lawyer who handled her Dad’s estate and finds that it is worth hundreds of millions of dollars because of some property her Dad bought that she didn’t know about; a good motive for her Dad’s friend to want her dead because he would get it all if she died. Knowing this our hero tracks down this employee of her Dad’s friend the rich lady claims was stalking her home by checking out all the gay bars in Laguna. He finds him in a rundown beach house. The guy is frail, skin and bones, and is dying of AIDS. Obviously he is in no shape to be stalking the rich lady at her house. But he interrogates him anyways and finds that her Dad didn’t get AIDS from him but had given him AIDS, and also he is no friend or employee of her Dad’s friend but was fired by him after her Dad shot himself. He confronts her with this when he arrives back at Newport and she has a hard time believing it. They drink. They have sex. The next morning she takes our hero down to a yacht brokerage to test drive a sailboat. The broker shows them the fastest sailboat he has and the rich lady makes like she wants to buy it and the broker gives them the keys. Our hero can’t believe she did this, but is having the time of his life; he lost his old sloop in a bitter divorce and has missed it. They drink. They have sex. At this point in the book I don’t know if she is playing him or not.
I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.
Wednesday 21- I did my stretches and lifted weights; too windy to do anything else.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 46 and 56 degrees, W winds at 14 to 30 with gusts of 50 MPH or more, humidity around 28 percent, hazy skies because of the high winds.
According to the National Weather Service: “Thursday: Scattered showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 57. West wind 5 to 8 mph becoming east. Chance of precipitation is 30%. Thursday Night: Scattered showers, mainly before 11pm. Partly cloudy, with a low around 42. West northwest wind between 5 and 7 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%.”
I stayed inside today because of the wind and the chill. What happened to spring?
Too dang windy again for an evening walk!
I read “The Golden Orange” to the end! Well the rich lady was using our hero all along to get her inheritance that was locked up in a trust until her Dad’s lover/friend died. She got him really drunk and took him to Catalina Island where she got him on a dingy with her Dad’s friend alone at night to take our mighty drunk hero to back to shore from a yacht anchored in the bay. While on the dingy his friend and fellow police officer was wanting in the water in scuba gear and caused the dingy to hit something and the Dad’s friend fell overboard never to be seen again. The harbor patrol arrested our hero on drunk in public and he spent 45 days in jail and while he was there he sobered up and put to and to together. He confronted his friend with a gun once he was out of jail. He confessed that what our hero said was true but he didn’t kill the Dad’s friend, because the Dad’s friend was in cahoots with the two of them so that he could get some money off the selling of the property and move to the Riviera and that the rich lady would have her money because he would be declared dead. Our hero is really upset. The rich lady bought him the sailboat she and our hero had sailed on before she left for Mexico; be took it out to sea and set it on fire. The End. A VERY GOOD BOOK!!!
I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.
EarthDay- I did my stretches.Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 42 and 53 degrees, NW winds at 7 to 13 MPH, humidity around 44 percent, stratus clouds bringing a bit of rain with them.
According to the National Weather Service: “Friday: Sunny, with a high near 72. Northwest wind between 8 and 14 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph. Friday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 52. West northwest wind between 9 and 11 mph.”
I spent my EarthDay working on my patio roof. It was kind of hard getting all those plywood panels up by myself; must be getting older. I built this place all by myself and when you do that you have to get creative. I spent all day working on it, pounding nails, cutting wood, lifting panels and two by fours, but I got the vast majority of it done. While I was hammering the last of the nails on the roof it started to rain and I was rushed to get it done. When I came down the roof I took a miss-step and twisted my left foot and I think I sprained it. So I’ll stay off of it for the rest of the day and see how it feels tomorrow before I do any running.
Sometimes I think that evil is taking over the world when I see commercials put on by oil companies telling us how environmentally friendly they are. Also another thing is “EarthDay Sales” from cars and electronics to tie dye hair ties, which supposedly fulfill our hungry consumer desires! I just don’t think these companies get the point of EarthDay, or maybe it’s just me.I read aloud from the textbooks: “Astronomy Today" started chapter on Saturn; “The Cell: a Molecular Approach” Transposition via DNA Intermediates.
I laid in bed letting my sprained foot relax and listened to Astro 10: General Astronomy: The Expansion of the Universe.
I started a new book by Terry Brooks called “Knight of the Word” (1998). It’s about magic and a young woman who has it, and a Knight of the Word who is losing his fight against feeders that are malevolence creatures who feed on the hopes of humans and try to take over the world by creating chaos and hopelessness. We’ll have to see if this book gets better- right now it hasn’t stirred me much.
I did my stretches (very carefully because of my foot), practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.
Friday 23- I did my stretches trying to stay off my strained foot. Maybe tomorrow I’ll go for a run, maybe not.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 52 and 73 degrees, NW winds at 6 to 22 MPH, humidity around 27 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Saturday: Sunny, with a high near 81. North northwest wind between 5 and 8 mph. Saturday Night: Clear, with a low around 56. West wind between 5 and 10 mph.”
I went to my friend’s house who is on vacation to see if everything is okay, then dropped by Stoney’s to do the same. It was windy so I spent most of the day inside messing with computers.
I read aloud from the textbooks: “Astronomy Today" Saturn’s Orbital and Physical Properties and Atmosphere; “The Cell: a Molecular Approach” Gene Amplification.
Again I laid in bed letting my sprained foot relax and listened to Astro 10: General Astronomy: Quasars: Cosmic Powerhouses.
I read a few chapters of “Knight of the Word”. The young woman who has magic is named Nest and is called upon by the head fairy to go to Seattle to save Knight of the Word who has lost his powers because he feels it is useless to use them to save the world and is trying to lead a normal life.
I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.
Saturday 24- I did my stretches and still trying to stay off my strained foot.Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 56 and 81 degrees, NW winds at 6 to 16 MPH, humidity around 17 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Sunday: Sunny, with a high near 84. West wind between 6 and 9 mph becoming calm. Sunday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 59. South wind 6 to 10 mph becoming west.”
I called up Family and Friends throughout the day.
Jimmy Stonebraker called me to say that he and his family are coming out on the weekend of the 29th of May and we’ll have Stoney’s Memorial on that Saturday. So I’m going to tell everyone that’s going to be held on the next Potluck!
I updated the Copper Mountain Mesa Website and sent out the Newsletter.
Today is Potluck and I cooked up my usual turkey stuffing with raisins and headed on down to the community center. There were a lot of kids running around screaming and laughing playing hide and go seek when I got there. The food was excellent and plenty of it: Elisabeth Treas brought a fantastic chili creamed cheese dish, Chris Jonas made up his famous macaroni salad, Marcy Hines made her wonderful enchiladas and also brought strawberry pie with ice cream, Marie Morrison cooked up some splendid macaroni and cheese, and Rose Matich brought her peas and corn. Bill Treas, Chris, and I sat around and jawed for nearly two hours after dinner was done; a good way to work off the calories!
I read a few chapters of “Knight of the Word”. Nest finds Knight of the Word (we’ll just call him Ross for now on) in Seattle working at a homeless shelter for batter women and their children. She warns Ross that he cannot quit being Knight of the Word and if he tries something bad will happen. There are demons already stalking around downtown and one of them lays claim to Ross. This book goes into a lot of detail describing what the landscape looks like, about each person’s looks and personality, and how demons attack and kill their victims. Its slow reading but it gave me nightmares last night.
I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.
Sunday 25- I did my stretches, ran a mile, and lifted weights; foot much better now but I can still feel it some.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 59 and 83 degrees, calm winds, humidity around 14 percent, clear skies. It was a very nice day outside!
According to the National Weather Service: “Monday: Sunny, with a high near 87. North northwest wind between 3 and 9 mph. Monday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 56. West southwest wind around 9 mph.”
After I went for this morning’s run I thought I’d give my sprained foot a rest. I did finish putting the last of the patio roof on, but that only took less than two hours. Mostly I kicked back doing a little webwork and surfing the web. Seimi came by for me to show him how to get online again. I can’t say I did much of anything else today.
I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.
Monday 26- I did my stretches, ran two miles, and lifted weights.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 56 and 86 degrees, light breeze, humidity around 16 percent, clear skies. It was a very nice day outside!
According to the National Weather Service: “Tuesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 85. Breezy, with a calm wind becoming southwest between 26 and 29 mph. Winds could gust as high as 44 mph. Tuesday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 55. Breezy, with a west southwest wind 25 to 28 mph decreasing to between 10 and 13 mph. Winds could gust as high as 41 mph.”
Another lazy day for me, I just didn’t feel like doing much of anything so I just spent the time messing with my old TRS Model 100. The M100 is one of the first laptops made way back in 1983. I downloaded some user manuals for it that I found online and spent much time going over those and getting reacquainted with the M100. Back in the day I used to program it in Basic and store them on cassette tape; it’s a very old machine!
I went for my evening walk and listened to Astro 10: General Astronomy: In the Belly of the Beast.
I read aloud from the textbooks: “Astronomy Today" Saturn’s interior and magnetosphere; “The Cell: a Molecular Approach” review of chapter 5.
I’ve been watching this dove egg that’s been abandoned in a nest just outside my door since yesterday seeing if the mother dove would come back. She hasn’t, so I brought the egg inside tonight and put it under an electric blanket. We’ll have to see if it survives and hatches; I don’t know what I’ll do if it does. Maybe something on dove parenting could be found online.
I read a few chapters of “Knight of the Word”. Nest is being chased by this demon that works at the women’s shelter where Ross works. An investigative reporter has been given anomalous letters of swindling going on at the shelter that implicates Ross (but we know he is being framed). And as I put the book down before writing this and getting ready to call it a night, the women’s shelter has burnt down to the ground.
I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.
Tuesday 27- I did my stretches.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 55 and 84 degrees, WSW winds 12-24 MPH, humidity around 16 percent, hazy skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Wednesday: Areas of blowing dust after 11am. Mostly sunny, with a high near 74. Windy, with a west southwest wind 20 to 23 mph increasing to between 29 and 32 mph. Winds could gust as high as 45 mph. Wednesday Night: Areas of blowing dust before 11pm. Mostly clear, with a low around 47. Windy, with a west northwest wind 30 to 33 mph decreasing to between 17 and 20 mph. Winds could gust as high as 46 mph.”
I spent morning working on another TRS Model 100 I have that has a bad keyboard. I soldered wires bypassing the breaks in the board. Now it works but when I press the space key it acts as a backspace key. I have more work to do on it I guess.
I went over to Stoney’s to do my laundry and listened to Astro 10: General Astronomy: Cosmology and the Dark Night Sky.
I read aloud from the textbooks: “Astronomy Today" Saturn’s rings; “The Cell: a Molecular Approach” started chapter 6: RNA Synthesis and Processing.
I read and finished “Knight of the Word”. Ross has a dream (his dreams are magical and tell of a future that he can change) that he kills the head of the women’s shelter and Nest. Nest is trying to find out who the demon is that works at the shelter and attacked her. She finds that the demon is Ross’s girlfriend and goes to warn Ross who is under the demon’s spell. The investigative reporter finds out that the signatures on the embezzled checks were forged and were those of Ross’s girlfriend. Ross doesn’t know all this and goes to confront the head of the women’s center at a party. Ross’s girlfriend turns herself into the head of the women’s center (demons can do this) and meets Ross at the party and says that he (the head) did all these bad things to bring chaos to the homeless, and then throws Ross on the floor after slashing him, telling Ross he is a useless piece of garbage, warns Ross that he will kill him if he sees him again, and then leaves. It takes Ross sometime to recover and with the help of his walking stick that holds his magic. Nest arrives just in time to save the day as Ross sees the real head of the women’s shelter and is about to kill him. She tells him what she found out about his girlfriend and they depart to Ross’s apartment where he confronts his girlfriend who turns into a demon and jumps through the window to escape. But Nest is there waiting and turns into a wolf and attacks the demon giving Ross time to get outside to help. Ross uses his magical walking stick and kills the demon. The End!
I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote my column for the newspaper, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.
Wednesday 28- I did my stretches, ran a mile, lifted weights, and rode my bike- no wind yet!
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 55 and 77 degrees, WSW winds 14-26 with gusts up to 45 MPH, humidity around 20 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Thursday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 64. Windy, with a northwest wind between 24 and 34 mph, with gusts as high as 48 mph. Thursday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 47. Breezy, with a northwest wind between 20 and 28 mph, with gusts as high as 39 mph.”
I took some measurements of the patio that I decided to go ahead and do besides what I’ve done already. I went to town to collect some pre-algebra books I order that have arrived at the post office, but on the way there I stopped off at the library to purchase a few soft cover books that I’ll take home and read; it’s been almost five months that I haven’t watched commercial TV and I need something to fill the void. I’m actually getting more of the stuff I want to do done and don’t seem to miss the TV at all. The pre-algebra books are going to help me review what I have forgotten since college; I really need it to work out the problems in astronomy. Anyways, I got to Home Depot and got all the materials I hopefully need to complete my project.
I got home in time for my evening walk and listened to Astro 10: General Astronomy: The Age of the Universe. About 13.1 billion years give or take a few million.
I read aloud from the textbooks: “Astronomy Today" more about Saturn’s rings and their structure; “The Cell: a Molecular Approach” started chapter 6: Transcription in Prokaryotes.
I read the preface to both the pre-algebra and its workbook.
I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.
Thursday 29- I did my stretches, dang windy outside!
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 45 and 59 degrees, NW winds 22-36 with gusts up to 50 MPH 0r more, humidity around 27 percent, mostly clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Friday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 66. North northwest wind between 16 and 18 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph. Friday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 47. North northwest wind between 11 and 16 mph, with gusts as high as 23 mph.”
I started off the day by updating the Copper Mountain Mesa Website but I didn’t upload it yet because it’s only Thursday; I’ll do that tomorrow.
The wind blew all day long so I stayed inside. I really wanted to start working on the patio but not in this wind. So I messed around with my computers. I ran Puppy Linux on my Asus Netbook and it actually found my USRobotics USB modem! Puppy Linux is on a live CD and I tried to install it on the hard drive but the GRUB boot loader couldn’t find it or probably I’m doing something wrong. This is an older version of Puppy so I’m downloading a new release which will take forever on dialup.
Too dang windy to go for my evening walk so I stayed inside and listened to Astro 10: General Astronomy: The Geometry of the Universe, and Einstein's Biggest Blunder?
I read aloud from the textbooks: “Astronomy Today" more about Saturn’s moon Titan; “The Cell: a Molecular Approach” RNA Polymerase and Transcription.
I started a new book “Sheba” (1995) by Jack Higgins. It takes place in Nazi Germany in March 1939 as Hitler begins his plans to invade Poland on September1. He wants to send the Brits a message by blowing up the Suez Canal and assigns it to an Admiral to come up with an idea on how to accomplish this before the invasion begins. The Admiral and his aid come up with a plan to have a German base at a hidden archeological site call Shea in the Arabian Desert and use a sea plane to carry mines and high explosives to the Suez. They use Spanish SS officers to purchase a Catalina and start a business in Dahrein to carry out their sinister plan. Meanwhile there’s an American archeologist who uses his boat to smuggle in the Gulf of Aden. He is met by this lovely lady who wants to hire him to find her lost her lost husband.
I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.
Friday 30- I did my stretches and lifted weights; still dang windy outside!
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 46 and 64 degrees, NW winds 18-25 with gusts up to 40 MPH or more, humidity around 15 percent, mostly clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Saturday: Sunny, with a high near 75. West northwest wind between 10 and 17 mph, with gusts as high as 24 mph. Saturday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 51. West northwest wind between 11 and 17 mph, with gusts as high as 23 mph.”
I updated the Copper Mountain Mesa Website and sent out the Newsletter. While I was at it I updated Joel’s website, too. He dropped by a little later with my mail.
Ron Dehart came by with some pepperoni pizza for lunch! I showed him my progress on the patio roof and we sat inside because of the wind and ate and jawed.
The new Puppy Linux ISO finally got done downloading and I burned it to disk and install it on the hard drive of the Asus netbook without any problems.
Still too dang windy to go for my evening walk so I stayed inside and listened to Astro 10: General Astronomy: Echoes of the Big Bang.
I read aloud from the textbooks: “Astronomy Today" about Saturn’s other moons; “The Cell: a Molecular Approach” RNA Polymerase and Transcription.
I read a few chapters of “Sheba” (1995) by Jack Higgins. The American archeologist’s name is Kane (so it looks like he’s our hero in this book). The lovely lady name is Ruth. Kane’s girlfriend is named Marie. And there’s a greedy Greek called Skiros who owns a hotel in Dahrein. These seem to be the main characters. Anyways Kane goes around asking if anyone seen Ruth’s husband but nobody has not even Skiros. He takes a walk through the dark city at night and stops off to ask Marie and her accountant remembers him and says he went with a caravan of trucks to Shabwa which is located way out in the desert. Marie says that she has business with an American out that way and will fly them out there tomorrow. Kane tell Ruth of the news and that he’ll pick her up in the morning. Kane goes back to his boat to get some sleep only to be awoken and attacked by an assassin who dives into the water to get away after Kane kicks him in the gut. Morning comes and Kane, Ruth, Marie and her servant fly out to Shabwa, where after landing Kane is again attacked by two assassins killing them both (he’s a lucky guy). While Marie is doing business, Kane and Ruth take the plane and fly out over the desert to find Ruth’s husband. The plane runs out of gas and crashes. Three thieves on camels sneak up on them and kidnap Ruth. Left out in the desert alone Kane wonders when he’ll be rescued. Not too long later Marie and her servant drives up in a big truck telling Kane that the plane had been sabotaged by an assassin (there are a lot of them in the desert) and that she immediately took the truck to look for him. They catch up to the three thieves and shoot one dead and save Ruth. On their way back to Shabwa they come across one of the pillars of Sheba and follow it to the lost city. They find the city but are captured by assassins and held in a temple. Then the greedy Greek Skiros shows up and seems to be the head boss of the assassins. It does not look too good for our heroes!
I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.
Goodbye to the month of April! You've been a very windy month!
