March 2011

Welcome to the Month of March! - I did my stretches, lifted dumbbells, and rode my bike.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 39 to 61 degrees, calm winds, humidity around 29 percent, mostly sunny skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Wednesday: Partly sunny, with a high near 67. Northwest wind around 6 mph becoming calm. Wednesday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 47. West wind between 3 and 8 mph.”
I didn’t have anywhere to go today, so after I gave Mac’s laptop a tune-up I did my studies! I'm really thinking that I should go back to college or something.
I studied my Latin flashcards. Then I read a chapter of pre-algebra on increasing and reducing fractions.
FedEx delivered three electronic books and I read the first chapter of “Electronics for Dummies”; I like the Dummies books because most times their concise; short and to the point.
I went for my evening walk listening to my Latin lectures.
I read aloud from the textbook “Astronomy Today” about interstellar dust and gas.
I started lesson 2 of “Building your first web page” and will complete the assignments tomorrow.
I watched “THX1138” (1971) Directed by George Lucas and starring Robert Duvall. This is another movie I saw when it first came out and is worth seeing again. It’s about an underground technological civilization where babies are conceived in tubes and people are forced to take drugs to suppress sexual desires. The story revolves around a man and a woman who stop taking these drugs.
I read a few chapters of “Spinward Fringe: Broadcast 1 and 2” by Randolph Lalonde.
I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web and called it a night.

Wednesday 02- I did my stretches.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 46 to 71 degrees, calm winds, humidity around 34 percent, cloudy skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Thursday: Sunny, with a high near 67. West wind between 3 and 8 mph. Thursday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 45. West northwest wind around 14 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph.”
I did about the same as I did yesterday with only a few interruptions.
I studied my Latin flashcards. Then I read part of a chapter of pre-algebra on multiplying fractions.
I read the second chapter of “Electronics for Dummies” about parallel and serial circuits.
I talked to Kelly for a long spell. She seems to be getting better from her flu thingy.
I read aloud from the textbook “Astronomy Today” about nebulae.
I finished lesson 2 of “Building your first web page” by completing the assignments.
I read a chapter of “Spinward Fringe: Broadcast 1 and 2” by Randolph Lalonde.
I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web and called it a night.

Thursday 03- I did my stretches, yoga, lifted weights, did the core trainer, punched the bag some, and rode my bike. I’ve had a problem with my right foot, kinda like a bone spur, for a few weeks now; very painful at times. So I’m trying to keep off it and not doing any running or long walks until I get some proper running/walking shoes.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 43to 70 degrees, WNW winds of 8 to 14 with gusts to 40 MPH, humidity around 32 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Friday: Sunny, with a high near 68. North wind between 11 and 15 mph, with gusts as high as 21 mph. Friday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 45. Northwest wind around 7 mph.”
I had a bunch of paperwork, letters, and an assortment of stuff to file or throw away that I should have done at the beginning of the year. I did this throughout the day and my desk looks clean for once.
I watered the plants and did some cleanup around the outside of the house.
I studied my Latin flashcards and listened to Latin lectures on my iPod all day.
I kinda kicked back the rest of the evening surfing the web and reading a few chapters of “Spinward Fringe: Broadcast 1 and 2” by Randolph Lalonde.
I wrote to my journal, posted it to the web and called it a night.

Friday 04- I did my stretches.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 43to 69 degrees, NW winds of 11 to 15 with gusts to 21 MPH, humidity around 24 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Saturday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 70. Northwest wind at 6 mph becoming southeast. Saturday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 51. Southwest wind between 3 and 8 mph.”
I spent a few hours over to Mac’s helping him with a few things and didn’t get back till just before sunset.
I again kinda kicked back the rest of the evening surfing the web and reading a few chapters of “Spinward Fringe: Broadcast 1 and 2” by Randolph Lalonde.
I wrote to my journal, posted it to the web and called it a night.

Saturday 05- I did my stretches, lifted weights, did the core trainer, punched the bag some, and rode my bike.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 47 to 71 degrees, nice breeze, humidity around 24 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Sunday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 73. Breezy, with a west wind 7 to 10 mph increasing to between 20 and 23 mph. Winds could gust as high as 32 mph. Sunday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 48. West southwest wind between 14 and 18 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph.”
I called family and friends throughout the day.
What I was planning to go out shopping but that fell through and I ended up messing with some solar panels and other stuff.
I read and finished “Spinward Fringe: Broadcast 1 and 2” by Randolph Lalonde, and then bought the next book in the series for my Kindle.
I watched another Dirty Harry movie called “Sudden Impact” (1983) Starring Clint Eastwood; great film!!!!
I wrote to my journal, posted it to the web and called it a night.

Sunday 06- I did my stretches, ran a mile, lifted weights, did the core trainer, and punched the bag some.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 46 to 72 degrees, WSW winds at 7 to 20 gusting to 30 MPH, humidity around 21 percent, hazy skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Monday: Areas of blowing dust after 10am. Sunny, with a high near 64. Windy, with a west wind between 22 and 32 mph, with gusts as high as 46 mph. Monday Night: Areas of blowing dust before 10pm. Mostly clear, with a low around 43. Windy, with a northwest wind 35 to 38 mph decreasing to between 22 and 25 mph. Winds could gust as high as 55 mph.”
Again I called family and friends throughout the day.
I listened to my Latin lectures while I worked around the house.
Ginger called me to say she has a lady coming down to her property to look at and possibly buy her metal horse corral fences, and wanted me to let her in and show her where they are; no problem. The lady, Kimberly, arrived with her helper Phil, her daughter Deirdre, and dog. Kimberly spent an almost hour there trying to decide if she wanted the fences because one was bent and both were not as high as she thought. In the meantime Deirdre, Phil, and I played fetch the ball with the dog. They drove all the way from Big Bear and were headed down to Desert Hot Springs to look at some more fences. They seemed like nice folks to me and Kimberly’s daughter was very bright for a 10 year old; I think kids are getting smarter these days or I’m just getting dumber with age.
I yapped at Kelly for a long spell.
I started reading “Spinward Fringe: Broadcast 3” by Randolph Lalonde. This is the next book in the Spinward Fringe series I’ve been reading.
I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web and called it a night.

Monday 07- I did my stretches, lifted weights, did the core trainer, and punched the bag some.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 42 to 67 degrees, NW winds at 22 to 30 gusting to over 50 MPH, humidity around 35 percent, hazy skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Tuesday: Sunny, with a high near 65. North northwest wind between 13 and 15 mph, with gusts as high as 21 mph. Tuesday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 44. Northwest wind between 5 and 9 mph.”
It was really dang windy today and it increased during the night blowing stuff not tied down into Arizona.
I studied the Latin flashcards, and pre-algebra: adding fractions.
I started reading “Beginning Electronics” chapter 3 about resistors.
I read lesson 2 of “Building Your First Web Page” and completed the quiz but still need to do the assignments.
I went for my evening walk and listened to my Latin lectures.
I read aloud from the textbook “Astronomy Today” about emission nebulae.
I yapped at Kelly for a long spell.

Tuesday 08- I did my stretches, ran a mile, lifted weights, did the core trainer, and punched the bag some. I read up on bone spurs and found that sometimes you can massage it and get temporary relief. So I tried standing on a gulf ball and rolling it back and forth over the sore tendons in the foot. It worked quite well and I been able to run!
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 43 to 66 degrees, NNW winds at 10 to 16 gusting to 23 MPH, humidity around 21 percent, mostly clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Wednesday: Sunny, with a high near 72. North northwest wind between 3 and 6 mph. Wednesday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 48. Calm wind becoming west southwest around 5 mph.”
I was informed that a very dear friend of mine is in ICU after a fall and I just don’t feel like posting right now.

Wednesday 09- I did my stretches.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 50 to 74 degrees, calm winds, humidity around 19 percent, mostly clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Thursday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 77. Calm wind becoming south between 5 and 8 mph. Thursday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 49. Breezy, with a west northwest wind 19 to 22 mph decreasing to between 11 and 14 mph. Winds could gust as high as 31 mph.”
It was such a fine morning I took my breakfast outside along with my netbook and sat out there enjoying the view of the snow covered mountains to the west and reading my emails. I even did some yard work too!
I got news that my friend is in stable condition at the local hospital and his wife is with him. I’m a little relieved but still worried.
UPS delivered a book I bought online called “The Practical Entomologist” by Rick Imes. It has all kinds of beautiful pictures and illustrations. The reason I got the book was that I was reading another book and it mentioned the word antomology and I wondered what that word meant. So I did a search and found it was misspelled and should have been entomology. I read the Wikipedia article about the study of insects and found it fascinating. So I ordered this book.
I watched the movie called “Space Cowboys” (2000) Starring Clint Eastwood, Tommy Lee Jones, and Donald Sutherland. and I thought it was a mighty fine watch!
I read a few chapters of “Spinward Fringe: Broadcast 3” by Randolph Lalonde.
I wrote to my journal, posted it to the web and called it a night.

Thursday 10- I did my stretches and ran a mile.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 49 to 77 degrees, calm winds but picking up later in the evening, humidity around 19 percent, mostly clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Thursday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 77. Calm wind becoming south between 5 and 8 mph. Thursday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 49. Breezy, with a west northwest wind 19 to 22 mph decreasing to between 11 and 14 mph. Winds could gust as high as 31 mph.”
At 1:30 I moseyed my way over to Mac’s to borrow his little car and drive Kelly down to her Doctor’s appointment in Palm Desert.
We stopped off at Staters and got some fried chicken and ate it at my house before I drove her home.
I read a few chapters of “Spinward Fringe: Broadcast 3” by Randolph Lalonde.
Major tsunami damage in N Japan after 8.9 quake! WOW this is a real bad quake! I watched a video of the tsunami rolling over the land carrying cars, houses, and other stuff! YIKES!
I wrote to my journal, posted it to the web and called it a night.

Friday 11- I did my stretches, yoga, ran a mile, lifted weights, core trainer, and punched the bag some.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 49 to 78 degrees, SW winds at 5 to 12 MPH, humidity around 20 percent, mostly clear skies.
I spent most of the day thinking/remembering/worrying about my friend whose wife took him home from the hospital’s ICU. So I really didn’t feel like posting today.

Saturday 12- I did my stretches, ran a mile, core trainer, and punched the bag some. That punching bag is getting a lot of use lately.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 50 to 75 degrees, WNW winds at 8 to 16 MPH, humidity around 23 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Sunday: Sunny, with a high near 75. Northwest wind between 3 and 10 mph. Sunday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 52. West northwest wind between 8 and 11 mph.”
I was able to see my friend who just got out of the hospital. He is home and his wife is taking real good care of him. Everyone hopes he’ll turn the corner and feel better soon. I spent a little more than an hour or so by his bedside and I am mighty thankful for that!
I got back home and called family and friends.
I went for my evening walk listening to a Latin lecture.
Now that I can concentrate I was able to do a bunch of my studies-Electronics about potentiometers, Pre-Algebra about subtracting fractions, read aloud from “Astronomy Today” about Dust Clouds, “The Practical Entomologist” about the Phylogenetic tree of life forms.
I watched a new episode of “Fringe” about lighter than air people.
I read a few chapters of “Spinward Fringe: Broadcast 3” by Randolph Lalonde.
I did my exercises, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web and called it a night.

Sunday 13- I did my stretches, yoga, ran a mile, rode my bike, core trainer, lifted weights, and punched the bag a bunch.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 52 to 75 degrees, WNW winds at 6 to 14 MPH, humidity around 26 percent, mostly clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Monday: Sunny, with a high near 77. Northwest wind between 7 and 16 mph, with gusts as high as 21 mph. Monday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 51. Northwest wind between 10 and 17 mph, with gusts as high as 22 mph.”
At around 11am I called Linda Dehart to see when she would like me to bring over some cans of applesauce so that she can mix Ron’s medicine into it to make it easier for him to take. She said that she had just gotten Ron to sleep and she needed to rest and would call me later.
I did some work around the house watering plants, fixing this and that, and accidently scaring a dove on a next with two eggs while looking for nails to repair another place where doves can nest which was too exposed to the wind. A dove will pretend that it is hurt and flap around the ground to draw your attention away from its nest.
At 3:40PM Ron’s wife Linda called to tell me the bad news that my dear friend, my buddy for many years had passed away at 3:30PM. He went to sleep and had never woken up.
Ron and I spent many hours discussing and debating all kinds of subjects. He was the only one here who I felt comfortable talking with and knowledgeable on a wide range of subjects that we covered. I will miss that! I will also miss the inside jokes we’d play on each other. I’ll miss the stories we told each other about growing up; he was from the east coast and I from the west. We had so much in common and yet we were so different and all this made for a good friendship I’ll never forget and a friend I’ll deeply miss. What you left behind in our physical world are our memories of you and a well used empty chrysalis that has brought forth something bigger than the whole. When I think of you it will always bring me a smile because that is the kind of person you are and the kind of humor we both shared. Too bad we never got to eat that pizza with the extra anchovies!
I spent the rest of the day/night talking to Kelly. She was stunned by the news of Ron’s passing. She was a great help keeping my mind focused.
In between talking to Kelly I managed to go outside and take a picture of Ron’s last sunset; I’m sure going to miss that guy!
I did my stretches, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web and called it a night.

Monday 14- I did my stretches, yoga, core trainer, and punched the bag a bunch more.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 51 to 78 degrees, NW winds at 8 to 18 with gusts to 26 MPH, humidity around 24 percent, mostly cloudy skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Tuesday: Sunny, with a high near 80. Northwest wind between 9 and 15 mph, with gusts as high as 24 mph. Tuesday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 53. West northwest wind between 15 and 21 mph, with gusts as high as 33 mph.”
I went on over to Ron’s house to see him one last time. I wasn’t going to do this but for some reason I felt I had to. There were some of his friends there who have been keeping watch since he passed on yesterday. He laid there with a smile and some said that it looked like he was winking. I stayed a few moments and then went into the next room and about cried until friends said it was okay and gave me a hug; it was hard. I spent a spell reminiscing with others and then I left.
I went down to my mailbox and dang if it wasn’t full of packages for Kelly. Well she said to me she had a couple coming; there’s also a notice for one more at the post office. I dropped them all off at her house and she gave me a big hug.
I spent the rest of the evening thinking of Ron; it’s hard to lose someone special in your life.
Linda called around 11pm telling me she needed the internet early in the morning to take care of some of Ron’s business and if I’d come over early to help get it connected. I told her I’d come right over now and get her hooked up, which I did and made my way back home.
I wrote to my journal, posted it to the web and called it a night.

Tuesday 15- I did my stretches and ran two miles.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 53 to 79 degrees, NW winds at 10 to 18 with gusts to 35 MPH, humidity around 26 percent, mostly cloudy skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Wednesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 77. West wind between 8 and 10 mph. Wednesday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 54. West southwest wind between 9 and 16 mph, with gusts as high as 23 mph.”
Linda is having a little get together of Ron’s close friends at 4pm but wanted me to print out a PDF form for her before I came over. I spent the rest of the time before 4pm going through twelve years of photos on my computer and putting every picture of Ron and Linda in a folder to take over to her; it ended up being 280Megs, 234 pictures and one video.
I arrived at Ron and Linda’s and helped Linda break down the hospital bed and put it away outside. Terry Serrels, John Demers, Linda Sibio with her husband Blake, Seimi Shiba, Ruth Denison, and Piper Cort showed up a little later bringing food and friendship. We all sat and took turns telling our stories about Ron. Each story was like the changing scenery from a train window as it races its way through a mountain pass and onto farmlands, towns, and cities; a life that was complex but well lived. I could write of these stories here but I think it would be appropriate of me to keep them private to our little group who knew and loved Ron so very much.
I got home a little after 10pm and wrote to my journal, posted it to the web and called it a night.

Wednesday 16- I spent much time with Linda, Ron’s Widow, today and it was a very personal and private time for both of us.

Thursday 17- I did my stretches.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 48 to 62 degrees, WNW winds at 8 to 16 MPH, humidity around 36 percent, mostly overcast skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Friday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 71. West northwest wind at 7 mph becoming south. Friday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 46. West southwest wind around 9 mph.”
It was Kelly’s birthday and I took her to the Sizzler Restaurant for dinner where we proceeded to make pigs out of ourselves eating steaks and stuff from the salad bar. I had a lot of fun and I hope she did too. Happy Birthday Kelly!
I got home a little after 9:30pm and wrote to my journal, posted it to the web and called it a night.

Friday 18- I did my stretches and yoga.
To tell ya the truth I forgot what I did during the daytime hours :)
I spent some of the evening over at Linda’s house. We hiked to a secret canyon where Linda and Ron liked to spend much time together.

Saturday 19- I did my stretches, ran a mile, lifted weights, did the core trainer, punched the bag some, and rode my bike.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 45 to 59 degrees, SW winds at 7 to 17 MPH, humidity around 27 percent, mostly overcast skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Sunday: Mostly cloudy, with a high near 60. Breezy, with a calm wind becoming south between 21 and 24 mph. Winds could gust as high as 34 mph. Sunday Night: A 50 percent chance of rain. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 48. South southwest wind between 15 and 20 mph, with gusts as high as 26 mph.”
I updated the Copper Mountain Mesa Website and sent out the Newsletter; I even wrote a little story for Ron on the website.
Linda called to ask if I wouldn’t mind coming over for a spell. I moseyed on over at 5pm and brought some pictures that I took of the get-together we had last Wednesday night where we all gathered to remember Ron. Linda wanted to walk around the property and check things out and show me some desert lilies. Afterwards we called John to come over to help us hang a painting of an ocean scene that Linda bought at the Hospice Thrift room. We would go outside often to look for the fullest Moon in twenty years but the clouds kept it hidden from us until much later into the night.
I got home a little after 10:30pm and wrote to my journal, posted it to the web and called it a night.

Tuesday 22- I did my stretches, ran a mile, lifted weights, did the core trainer, punched the bag some, and rode my bike.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 38 to 59 degrees, SW winds at 10 to 12 MPH, humidity around 40 percent, mostly clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Wednesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 61. Calm wind becoming south between 17 and 20 mph. Winds could gust as high as 28 mph. Wednesday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 40. Breezy, with a west southwest wind 22 to 25 mph decreasing to between 14 and 17 mph. Winds could gust as high as 34 mph.”
I’ve been moping around the house these last few days and haven’t written in my journal since Saturday. I’ve been keeping up with my exercises but other than that I haven’t done much. It started to hit me on Sunday that I won’t be seeing my friend Ron ever again and I just need time to come to terms with that. I helped Linda get collect Ron’s clothes and take them down to the Hospice Thrift Shop in Joshua Tree and then we had lunch at this health food place; the food was actually not that bad. I guess this is all part of dealing with a friend’s passing. Linda found a friend who will be staying at her house and keeping an eye on things until she gets back this summer.
Earlier in the day a neighbor called to tell me that he was woken by two men outside his house going through his storage shed. He yelled out the window “Shoot them Tom, shoot them, shoot them Tom” and these would be thieves dropped everything and ran to their white truck and sped off down the road. My neighbor lives alone and there was no Tom! I thought that was some quick and smart thinking on his part.
I must have talked to Kelly for the better part of the evening or maybe I should say most of the night.
I wrote to my journal, posted it to the web and called it a night.

Wednesday 23- I did my stretches, did the core trainer, and punched the bag some.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 39 to 59 degrees, SW winds at 8 to 18 MPH, humidity around 34 percent, mostly clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Thursday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 61. West southwest wind between 14 and 18 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph. Thursday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 44. Southwest wind between 13 and 21 mph, with gusts as high as 29 mph.”
Mac came by to pick up some frozen chicken I got from the USDA food distribution that I didn’t have room for in the freezer and didn’t want to go bad. We sat for a spell and yapped and did a little target shooting with a 22.
I stopped off at Kelly’s to say hi and drop off her two packages that came in the mail. I also check on Stoney’s house on the way back home from Kelly’s.
At 5:30pm I arrived at Linda’s for a little going away party our little group planned. Terry, Piper, Linda and Blake, and Seimi all showed up to eat a fantastic dinner and say our goodbyes. I was put in charge of firing up the barbecue and later actually cooking the trout and these really gigantic Portobello mushrooms that tasted like porterhouse steak, yumm! Everyone brought something to add to the meal. Blake made this dessert the he used a blowtorch to melt the sugar that he sprinkled on top; that was mighty dang good, I think I had three servings of that. Piper did all the cutting of the salad and made rice and some other things like strawberry shortcake! We all had a wonderful time yapping about Ron and speculating on if Ron came back what kind of animal would he be; I think we all agreed he’d come back as a dog. It seemed to me that nobody wanted to leave and we all finally left at 11:30pm so that Linda could get some sleep for tomorrow’s journey back to Texas and her job as a teacher.
I wrote to my journal, posted it to the web and called it a night.

Thursday 24 was very private and personal day for our little group of friends here.

Friday 25- I did my stretches.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 39 to 59 degrees, W winds at 6 to 18 MPH, humidity around 32 percent, mostly clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Saturday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 64. South southeast wind 6 to 9 mph becoming west. Saturday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 45. West southwest wind between 10 and 15 mph, with gusts as high as 21 mph.”
I went to my mailbox and then down to the post office in Joshua Tree to pick up a package, get my prescription filled, and get gas in the Harley. It was a nice drive even though it was a little windy. On my way back I stopped over at Linda’s to pick up some keys and a tape she left for Ruth Denison and then took it to Dhamma Dena Desert Vipassana Center where Ruth was waiting for it.
I messed around with the new toy I got myself for a spell setting it up and getting it updated. What was in the package was a first generation iPad 16Gig AT&T 3G that I saved over $300 on; they are making way for the new iPad2 and selling the old ones at a deep discount. Now when I travel I’ll be able to check my emails and write to my journal anywhere I can get a signal from AT&T.
Kelly called and wanted to go out to eat. I picked her up around 6pm and went to Denny’s in Twentynine Palms. We had a two for one coupon and got two double cheese burgers with fries. Dang we both got stuffed and couldn’t finish but half the burgers. On the way over to Denny’s we passed by the drive-in theater and decided to go there after we ate. The movie “Hall Pass” (2011) was playing. There was another movie playing before “Hall Pass” but it is not worth mentioning. We bought a big bucket of popcorn and a large Sprite. “Hall Pass” starred Christine Applegate; one my favorite actresses. It was a very juvenile movie but fun to watch because it had us laughing all the way through to the end. It was a great night and we both had a lot of fun. I dropped Kelly off and was backing up to leave when I ran over a large block of wood that my truck got stuck on. It took both of us to get it unstuck after some lifting and kicking.
I got home and had a message from Linda saying that she had made it all the way to El Paso Texas and is doing well. That is great news!
I talked to Kelly for a spell on Skype.
I wrote to my journal, posted it to the web and called it a night.

Saturday 26- I did my stretches, ran a mile, lifted weights, did the core trainer, punched the bag some, and rode my bike.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 43 to 62 degrees, W winds at 6 to 15 with gusts up to 23 MPH, humidity around 31 percent, mostly clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Sunday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 69. South southwest wind between 5 and 8 mph. Sunday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 49. West wind between 6 and 10 mph.”
I updated the Copper Mountain Mesa Website and sent out the Newsletter.
I took Kelly to Rite Aid to get her prescriptions filled.
Then I went to Potluck at the community center. We had almost 20 hungry folks showing up. I made my famous turkey stuffing and also some brown rice. There was more food than people could eat and I ended taking Kelly a plate home to her when I was done.
I got a call from Linda saying that she made it all the way to Austin Texas. That’s a whole lot of driving in two days. I called our little group of people and told them the news.
I talked to Kelly for a spell on Skype.
I wrote to my journal, posted it to the web and called it a night.

Sunday 27- I did my stretches. I pulled a muscle in my shoulder so I’m going to be laying off the weights for a few days or so. I called family and friends throughout the day. I watched an episode of “Castle” on my laptop. Got a call from Linda saying she lost her driver’s license which I found on my scanner- must have left it there when she needed a copy of it last week. I told her I’d be sending it to her tomorrow on a Next Day Delivery.

Monday 28- I did my stretches and ran a mile.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 51 to 73 degrees, W winds at 8 to 17 MPH, humidity around 22 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Tuesday: Sunny, with a high near 77. North northwest wind between 5 and 10 mph. Tuesday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 53. West northwest wind between 6 and 13 mph, with gusts as high as 18 mph.”
I called John to tell him I’d be late coming over because I had to go to the post office to mail off Linda’s license. John said that he had to cancel anyways since he had to take care of some business in town and had to get a money order at the post office and would mail Linda’s license for me.
I talked to Kelly for a spell on Skype for a spell.
I worked on my Latin and went for my evening walk listening to a Latin lecture.
I watched two new episodes of “Fringe”.
I wrote to my journal, posted it to the web and called it a night.

I’m changing the format of my journal. I think I only need to post maybe once or twice a week. I’ve been doing it every day for many years and spend much time on it that I could be doing other things that interest me. I am not going to do the weather anymore unless there’s a flood, storm, or some other calamity. Basically I want to write when I have something interesting to write about and concentrate on that. I may still keep a log of my daily exercises and studies, but the weather is out of the journal along with posting every day. I’m going to mess around with it until I find something comfortable I can live with.

Tuesday 29- I did my stretches and ran two miles. I forgot to mention yesterday that I got a call from Stevie Villarreal jokingly saying she had a bone to pick with me about stealing her doves. It seems that many of the doves that have been coming around her place for years are missing. She read in my journal that I been feeding doves. I assured her that I only feed about eight of them. I think she used the doves as an excuse to call and check to see how I’ve been; folks are like that out here. We went on to yap for almost an hour on this and that; it was a nice chat.

Wednesday 30- I did my stretches, ran a mile, and rode my bike. Linda called to tell me that her brother had passed on.

Thursday 31- I did my stretches and yoga, ran a mile, lifted weights, did the core trainer, punched the bag some, and rode my bike. I updated the Copper Mountain Mesa Website and sent out the Newsletter. I watched a couple of episodes of “Castle” online at ABC. I really like the program and may start watching it again.
Goodbye to March; you've been a very upsetting month for me and my friends.

February 2011

Welcome to the Month of February- I did my stretches and yoga, ran a mile, lifted weights, did the core trainer, punched the bag some, and rode my bike.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 31 to 55 degrees, SW winds at 14 to 24 MPH, humidity around 32 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Wednesday: Sunny, with a high near 45. North northwest wind between 7 and 16 mph, with gusts as high as 24 mph. Wednesday Night: Clear, with a low around 27. North northwest wind around 10 mph.”
I gathered my trash to take over to Stoney’s dumpster and then dropped by Gerald’s to see when he was going to deliver Kelly’s fridge. He said that he’d run it over after 3pm when his wife got home, cool! I thought to ask him if he knew how to replace a head gasket on a Ford, I told him what kind, and he said he’d take a look.
I went over to Mac’s house to help him move some heavy equipment around. We sat around jawing for a long spell and I didn’t get back till 4pm. I stopped off at Kelly’s on my way home to let her know that Gerald would be coming over with her fridge, hopefully.
I finished the first of two novels in “Bipohl” (1984) by Frederik Pohl, called “The Age of the Pussyfoot” which was actually published in the late 196os. Very interesting his predictions for the 25th century; many are here now!
I did my stretches and lifted dumbbells, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Wednesday 02- I did my stretches.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 27 to 45 degrees, NNW winds at 7 to 22 MPH, humidity around 10 percent, very clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Thursday: Sunny, with a high near 50. North northwest wind between 5 and 9 mph. Thursday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 31. West northwest wind around 9 mph.”
Mac came by on his way to WalMart to drop off the laptop I had lent him. He asked me if I wanted to tag along and I said sure! We did our shopping and picked up some chicken at Staters and two cups of coffee at AM PM at the Arco gas station; I got the English Toffee Coffee which was pretty dang good! We got to my house to eat the chicken, drink our coffees and yakked for a long spell having a grand old time.
I talked with Kevin after Mac left. He is doing better now that he has his mind made up on which direction he will be taking.
I spent the rest of the evening talking to Kelly on Skype while sitting on the couch warmed by the wood stove typing out this blog and doing other little things that one does on cold nights as she did much the same. The temperature at 11:30 was 26 degrees when I went outside to get some more wood for the stove; burr!
I wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Thursday 03- I did my stretches and yoga, lifted weights, did the core trainer, punched the bag some.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 17 to 44 degrees, NNW winds at 5 to 9 MPH, humidity around 15 percent, very clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Friday: Sunny, with a high near 60. North northwest wind between 8 and 17 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph. Friday Night: Clear, with a low around 43. Northwest wind between 7 and 10 mph.”
I dropped by Mr. X’s house to see what’s up with the fridge for Kelly but he wasn’t there, so I told his wife I’d be back later; had to be real quiet because of the baby sleeping. I then went over to Mac’s to help him move some buckets of paint out of his truck and into the shed and helped him with his computer for a spell. I dropped back over to Mr. X’s and he said he’d have fridge to Kelly’s house tonight after he got his truck gas tank fixed; he called later to say he’d be delayed for a time because he had to go to Yucca for a heater.
Dana called and said he’d be over after 11am tomorrow to pick me up and have a look-see at Kelly’s car, cool!
I read a few chapters of the 2nd novel in “Bipohl” (1984) by Frederik Pohl.
I yakked at Kelly on Skype later in the night and she said that Mr. X never showed, dang!
I wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Friday 04- I did my stretches.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 43 to 65 degrees, NW winds at 7 to 10 MPH, humidity around 16 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Saturday: Sunny, with a high near 69. Northwest wind between 8 and 15 mph, with gusts as high as 21 mph. Saturday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 47. Northwest wind between 7 and 10 mph.”
Dana came over at 11am to pick me up and have a look-see at Kelly’s car; just as we suspected a blown head gasket and hopefully nothing else.
I went over to Mac’s to help him move a few more things and start working on the little car he said I could borrow if I wanted; it’d sure be helpful right about now! I tried to open the hood of the little car; Mac said to just pull the release and hit the hood. Well I did that until my hands hurt, spent a half an hour on it pounding away. I then sprayed WD40 into the latch area and it finally opened. I told Mac about my problems on opening the hood and he said that I was suppose to hit the hood on the side where it’s dented not the front; now he tells me, sucker!
I updated the Copper Mountain Mesa Website with Annelies column, did a few changes to reflect that she is now writing the column. I will have to think of a way to modify the website so she can update it herself, maybe not on the website but through a blog or something, like I said I got to do some heavy thinking on this. But I’m not going to leave Annelies, the website, the community, or some future writer who comes along high and dry without a way to update it before I make a clean break.
I read a few chapters of the 2nd novel in “Bipohl” (1984) by Frederik Pohl.
I yakked at Kelly on Skype for a short spell.
I wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Saturday 05- I did my stretches.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 44 to 69 degrees, NW warm winds at 8 to 15 MPH, humidity around 23 percent, somewhat cloudy skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Sunday: Sunny, with a high near 67. North northwest wind between 8 and 11 mph. Sunday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 44. Northwest wind between 5 and 7 mph.”
I called family and friends throughout the day.
I promised Kelly that I’d bring a computer desk over but I had to disassemble it first so I would be able to remove it from the trailer outback. I also had a stereo radio with a CD player to give to her. I drove over to her place and left the whole lot outside because she was sleeping.
I again went over to Mac’s but to work on the little car. When I arrived Mac was telling tales to one of the neighborhood kids. We couldn’t find the registration for the little car; we looked all over inside the car. There was something in the back of my mind but it didn’t surface until I got home and remembered that Mac had sent it to me last year sometime. I found it right away clipped to the wall where I keep stuff that needs to be acted upon. I might have to buy a new battery for the little car but it will well be worth it in the long run.
I yakked at Kelly on Skype for a very short spell.
I wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Sunday 06- I did my stretches and yoga, ran a mile, lifted weights, did the core trainer, punched the bag some, and rode my bike.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 44 to 67 degrees, calm winds, humidity around 26 percent, somewhat cloudy skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Monday: Sunny, with a high near 70. Calm wind. Monday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 48. West wind between 7 and 11 mph. ”
I was yakking at Kelly on Skype when she let her dogs outside and noticed that a refrigerator was sitting on the side of the house. She said that it must have been delivered when she heard a truck noise around 6 or 7am. Cool! It was finally there and I completed what I was doing and made my way over to her house to wrangle it inside and plug it in. Which we did, but it didn’t work. Kelly will plug it in after she goes to town with Ron tomorrow just in case it was transported on its side and needs to settle. While I was there I put together the computer desk, hooked up the stereo, and ran a hose to the water heater to the washing machine. I’m kinda bummed about the refrigerator but hopefully it will miraculously decide to work tomorrow.
When I got home I reloaded Windows XP on the Toshiba laptop I lent to Mac. Now all I have to do is the updates on it.
I read a few chapters of “Bipohl” (1984) by Frederik Pohl.
I did my stretches and lifted dumbbells, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Monday 07- I did my stretches. I think I sprained my back getting that dang refrigerator into Kelly’s house yesterday. So I’m going to lay off on doing any exercising for a few days until my back feels better; I got to remind myself that I’m not nineteen anymore.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 48 to 69 degrees, mostly calm winds, humidity around 23 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Tuesday: Sunny, with a high near 61. Breezy, with a north northwest wind between 22 and 26 mph, with gusts as high as 39 mph. Tuesday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 37. North northwest wind between 5 and 13 mph, with gusts as high as 18 mph.”
I moseyed on over to Mac’s and we went into town to get a battery for the little car at WalMart. We stopped off at Arco AM-PM to fill up gas can for the Gross Polluter and get some more English Toffee Coffee; my favorite now! I spent the rest of the day over at Mac’s working on little car getting the battery in. We sat in his front yard swapping tales of times gone past; his stories are much better than mine.
I finished reading “Bipohl” (1984) by Frederik Pohl.
I wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Tuesday 08- I did my stretches; back still hurts but getting better!
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 38 to 61 degrees, NW winds at 7 to 22 MPH, humidity around 16 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Wednesday: Sunny, with a high near 59. North northwest wind between 13 and 15 mph, with gusts as high as 22 mph. Wednesday Night: Clear, with a low around 36. North northwest wind around 14 mph.”
I stopped off at Stoney’s to get a roast that has been defrosting in the fridge for about week and took it over to Mac’s to let him cook it. I don’t know how to cook and Kelly was supposed to cook it but she’s been sick and I didn’t want it to spoil. Mac cooked the roast in this hot air cooking thingy with some potatoes. What came out when it was done wasn’t what I thought it’d be; it was none too good. Kelly was going to put carrots, onions, potatoes, and other vegetables in with the roast and cook it for many hours and that sounded mighty fine; Mac only had it in the cooker thingy for 45 minutes and it was tough and dry. Not what I or Mac expected, but we had fun!
I did some more updates to the Toshiba laptop. For some reason it wouldn’t download the critical updates automatically or manually until I downloaded service pack 3 using Firefox and installed it; I’m not too happy with Microsoft right now!
I yapped with Kelly about everything and nothing for almost 3 hours. She had quit smoking now for one month and I’m mighty proud of her! I have quit chewing the Nicorette gum and have been nicotine free for 6 months ever since my birthday in August 8th. Little by little step by step!!!
I wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Wednesday 09- I did my stretches; one more rest day and I’m back to it!
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 36 to 58 degrees, NNW winds at 7 to 14 MPH, humidity around 15 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Thursday: Sunny, with a high near 59. North northwest wind between 11 and 16 mph, with gusts as high as 23 mph. Thursday Night: Clear, with a low around 37. North northwest wind around 10 mph.”
I got a call from Dana telling me that a few days ago he saw two young women break into a house over yonder by Friendship and Winters Road. Dana gave them pursuit but they got away and he didn’t get a license plate number, dang! It’s a white truck they were driving; keep an eye out for these marauding mistresses so we can put them in jail or get them married off to the lonely old men who frequent these here parts.
Joel came by to pick up the computer for his friend.
Because my back has been hurting I decided to hang around the house today and do maintenance on all my laptops and computers. I had four of them running at once. I removed the SSD drive from one and replaced it with another that I installed Ubuntu Linux on; such fun!
I started reading a new book on the Kindle called “Origins (Spinward Fringe)” by Randolph Lalonde; looks to be a good read! The book starts off with Starfighters, laser cannons and rail guns firing at a heavily armed space port.
I wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Thursday 10- I did my stretches and yoga, ran, lifted weights, did the core trainer, punched the bag some, and rode my bike.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 34 to 57 degrees, NNW winds at 12 to 18 with gusts to 30 MPH, humidity around 18 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Friday: Sunny, with a high near 64. North northwest wind around 7 mph. Friday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 39. Northwest wind between 3 and 8 mph.”
I again played around with computers today; on the Asus 701 EEE PC netbook I downloaded and installed a Linux OS called Jolicloud and messed with that most of the day. I really need more time to get to know this new OS to see if I like it, so far it seems interesting. It tries to do most of the applications in the ‘Cloud’- that being Google Docs, reader and stuff like that.
Seimi came by for a short visit. I have him looking around for a refrigerator for Kelly.
I didn’t go for a walk because of the high winds.
I read a few chapters of “Origins (Spinward Fringe)” by Randolph Lalonde.
I wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Friday 11- I did my stretches and yoga, ran a mile, lifted weights, did the core trainer, punched the bag some, and rode my bike.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 38 to 61 degrees, light breeze, humidity around 13 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Saturday: Sunny, with a high near 69. Calm wind becoming east southeast around 5 mph. Saturday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 42. Light and variable wind.”
I worked on updating the Copper Mountain Mesa Website and sent out the Newsletter. I decided to write a small column on the website that I’ll do maybe once in a great while. I named it “Copper Mountain Mesa Renderings”. I spent most of the day tweaking the website around.
Johnny came by needing help lifting a humungous air tank over at Stoney’s into his truck. The dang thing was mighty heavy but we got it in and drove off.
I read a few chapters of “Origins (Spinward Fringe)” by Randolph Lalonde.
I wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Saturday 12- I did my stretches and yoga, lifted weights, and did the core trainer, punched the bag some.
I found out that my friend Sherry is in the hospital with pneumonia; I hear that there’s a lot of that going around. She should be out of there by Monday.
Ron called telling me he called up the Hospice Thrift Store in JT and found two refrigerators for sell. I called Kelly and we rushed down there and they had already sold one of them. We bought the other and paid an extra 20 to have it delivered to Kelly’s and hooked up and maybe take the other non-working one; I’m still recovering from wrangling that one which didn’t work into her house.
Mac dropped over to my house and we sat outside and watched the sunset and did a bunch of jawing of this and that and other stuff of great importance.
I called Family and Friends throughout the day.
I read “Origins (Spinward Fringe)” by Randolph Lalonde into the wee hours of the night.

Sunday 13- I did my stretches.
I dropped by Kelly’s to give her a Valentines gift and she gave me a Big hug that made me feel very good
I dropped by Mac’s house and helped him hookup a trailer to his truck. I was going to stay and eat some of the pork and potatoes he had in the crock pot but it wasn’t quite done and we weren’t going to take no chances with that!
Again, I read “Origins (Spinward Fringe)” by Randolph Lalonde into the wee hours of the night; like 3am! I thought I’d leave Kelly a message on Skype but she was also up and we yakked for another hour. I think I went to bed finally around 4:45am, and that’s mighty late for me!

Monday 14- I did my stretches and yoga, ran a mile, lifted weights, did the core trainer, punched the bag some, and rode my bike.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 45 to 70 degrees, light breeze, humidity around 19 percent, hazy skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Tuesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 68. Light and variable wind. Tuesday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 47. Southwest wind 8 to 11 mph increasing to between 17 and 20 mph. Winds could gust as high as 26 mph.”
Chris Jonas came by with my bag of groceries from the USDA food distribution.; sounds like he has a cold.
I’ve been worried about my brother Kevin and trying to reach since Thursday night; he was last seen on Friday morning. I got a call telling me he had a seizure and is in the hospital since Saturday night. I’ll have to stick around the house today to see if there are any new developments.
I read more of “Origins (Spinward Fringe)” by Randolph Lalonde; just started book 3. I don’t have a clue how many books are in this eBook.
I wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Tuesday 15- I did my stretches and ran two miles.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 46 to 66 degrees, light breeze, humidity around 29 percent, somewhat cloudy skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Wednesday: A 30 percent chance of rain after 10am. Partly sunny, with a high near 60. Windy, with a west southwest wind 13 to 16 mph increasing to between 28 and 31 mph. Winds could gust as high as 46 mph. Wednesday Night: A 20 percent chance of rain. Partly cloudy, with a low around 39. Breezy, with a west southwest wind 21 to 24 mph decreasing to between 10 and 13 mph. Winds could gust as high as 37 mph.”
Shiela called about Kevin and Paula wrote a nice but concerned email. The last I heard was that he may be getting out of the hospital later today or early tomorrow.
I did some work around the house and then moseyed on over to Mac’s for lunch/dinner. That boy can really cook! He made this chicken with hot peppers thingy in the Crockpot which was mighty delicious; the meat fell off the bones! Then we sat around swapping lies for a few hours- mighty fun time!
I loaded Kubuntu 10.10 onto a thumbdrive; made it bootable, and ran it on a few of my Netbooks. It even ran fine on my Toshiba Satellite M35x laptop, cool! I think I'll try Ubuntu on a thumbdrive next!
I read more of “Origins (Spinward Fringe)” by Randolph Lalonde. I got my EBook free at Amazon but you can get a free EBook here Smashwords.
I practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Wednesday 16- I did my stretches and yoga; too dang windy to do anything else.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 38 to 62 degrees, SW winds from 13 to 26 with gusts over 45 MPH, humidity around 48 percent, somewhat cloudy skies again.
According to the National Weather Service: “Thursday: Sunny, with a high near 54. West northwest wind 5 to 11 mph becoming south southwest. Thursday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 36. Southwest wind between 6 and 8 mph.”
Last night I had a weird vivid dream about diving into a swimming pool. The pool was at our community center that I just had purchased and was living at in a back room there. Folks weren’t supposed to use the pool but when they saw me jump in so did they. Now I really love to swim and I took springboard diving lessons at college but I don’t own the community center and there is no pool there. I only mention this here because it was so vivid.
I did a lot of yapping to folks who called me on the phone: Jimmy, George, Ron, Denny, Joel, and someone else. I had to make an emergency run over to Mac’s for a minute. And I talked to Kelly on Skype for long spells. I guess windy days make for good conversations.
I signed up for two HP online classes doing lessons in each: one for Windows 7 Tune-up and another for Intermediate HTML.
I read more of “Origins (Spinward Fringe)” by Randolph Lalonde.
I practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Thursday 17- I did my stretches and yoga, ran a mile, lifted weights, did the core trainer (actually did five sloppy chin-ups!), punched the bag some, and rode my bike.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 37 to 58 degrees, slight breeze, humidity around 26 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Friday: A 30 percent chance of rain after 4pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 59. Calm wind becoming south between 14 and 17 mph. Winds could gust as high as 24 mph. Friday Night: Rain, mainly after 10pm. Low around 44. South wind between 8 and 18 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%.”
My friend Kelly is really sick and she asked me to go to Rite Aid to pick up a prescription for her. I drove the Harley and arrived there at around 2pm. The pharmacist said that because of the flu epidemic they wouldn’t have it ready till after 5pm. Flu epidemic, yikes! Just the place I don’t want to be! I left there quickly and went down the road to Burger King to kill three hours. While I kicked back in a booth sipping my coffee a couple in their late 60s came in. Judging from all the camping gear they had on their van I figured correctly that they had been up to the Monument (Joshua Tree National Park). I started a conversation with them. They were from Pennsylvania and told me how they make their way down to these here parts once every four years or so. I told them that I live close by but before I moved out here that I lived on a boat in Redondo. They live on forty acres or so, have well water, and plenty of wood for their stove to keep them warm. They also have two grown sons that live on either side with their own families. We talked about solar panels and batteries. They have a 100watt panel on their van that barely keeps up with their needs. I told them they need the right batteries and that I use golf cart batteries and they serve me good. I never did ask them their names.
After talking with my new friends and drinking more coffee than I wanted; Burger King calls the blend “Seattle’s Best” but I’d call it old and musty, I went over to Stater’s to do some grocery shopping; I took my time because I still had an hour to kill. I can’t carry much on the bike so I have to be very selective on what I buy. I did get eight pieces of fried chicken to share with Kelly when I got back.
I got arrived to Rite Aid at 5pm and they told me it wasn’t ready yet, to sit and wait to be called when it’s done. There is an out cove with chairs, a TV, and an old crazy lady eating ice cream. She started coughing! She looked sick! I decided not to sit there and just stand as far away as I could from her. She’d look at me and cough some more! I moved farther away! I then heard coughing throughout the store! Lots of coughing! I wanted to get the hell out of there and after half an hour asked if Kelly’s prescription was filled yet. Finally after ten more minutes it was done, I signed for it and made my exit to the outside and freedom! If I get sick you’ll know the reason why!
I got to Kelly’s a little after 6pm, ate the chicken with her, she was mighty hungry, and gave the meds to her along with her mail I collected on the way back, got back on my Harley and made my way home at last.
I read more of “Origins (Spinward Fringe)” by Randolph Lalonde.
I wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Friday 18- I did my stretches.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 39 to 61 degrees, slight breeze but picked up to over 25 MPH in the evening, humidity around 48 percent, clear skies but then rain by evening just after the Sun went down.
According to the National Weather Service: “Saturday: Rain, mainly before 4pm. High near 55. Windy, with a south southwest wind 14 to 17 mph increasing to between 29 and 32 mph. Winds could gust as high as 45 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. Saturday Night: A 30 percent chance of rain, mainly after 10pm. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 35. Breezy, with a west southwest wind 19 to 22 mph decreasing to between 9 and 12 mph. Winds could gust as high as 31 mph.”
I updated the Copper Mountain Mesa Website and sent out the Newsletter.
I mostly kicked back reading this and that doing stuff that needed being done.
It started raining just after sunset really hard and I remembered to put this rain gauge that Mac gave me outside after the worse of it went by, dang. I am sure it will rain some more and fill that sucker up.
I did two more HP online lessons in Windows 7 Tune-up and Intermediate HTML.
I read more of “Origins (Spinward Fringe)” by Randolph Lalonde.
I did my stretches, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Saturday 19- I did my stretches and yoga, did the core trainer, and punched the bag some.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 35 to 50 degrees, SSW winds at 14 to 17 with gusts over 45 MPH, humidity around 59 percent, clear skies but then rain by evening almost a repeat of yesterday’s weather.
According to the National Weather Service: “Sunday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 52. Northwest wind between 6 and 16 mph, with gusts as high as 23 mph. Sunday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 31. West wind between 5 and 8 mph becoming calm.”
I mostly called family and friends; lazy day!
Sherry is getting out of the hospital today; she’s been in there for over a whole week now, so this is great news!
I did one HP online lessons of Windows 7 Tune-up and I did the last lesson in Intermediate HTML Class so I’m finished with that one; learned a little CSS in that class, cool.
I read more of “Origins (Spinward Fringe)” by Randolph Lalonde.
I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Sunday 20- I did my stretches.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 31 to 52 degrees, NW winds at 6 to 16 with MPH, humidity around 46 percent, mostly clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Washington's Birthday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 55. Calm wind becoming south between 4 and 7 mph. Monday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 34. South southwest wind between 5 and 8 mph becoming calm.”
My dear friend Ms. Kula called to chat with me. She and Tom should be moving into the beach house on the 1st of March!
I went over to Stoney’s to start his truck and let it run for a while to charge the battery, and also do my laundry. The dang truck’s battery was dead and I had to give it a jump with the Gross Polluter. After getting that done I went around back with my dirty clothes to use the washer but when I turned the corner water was spraying out of a crack in a pipe, dang! About that time Roger Smith came by in his VW and said he’d repair the pipe with a fitting he has. I told him I’d turn off the water after I was done with my washing. I had to call Denny anyways to talk to him about the registration on Stoney’s truck so I told him about the cracked water pipe. After all this I stuck my clothes in the dryer and went over to Mac’s to put the new RAM into his computer, but when I got there I realized that I left it at home and had to drive back to get it while Mac laughed at me, sucker! I was supposed to be at his house at 1:30pm and here it was already 3pm when I gotten back with the RAM. To make a long story short, I got the Ram in, updated his anti-virus, worked on two other laptops his sister recently sent him, ate to small burritos, and got myself back home by 6pm. I forgot to stop at Stoney’s to pick up my clothes out of the dryer; I’ll do that tomorrow.
Ate my pancake Sunday and called Kelly on Skype and talked with her until a little after 10PM.
I read and finished “Origins (Spinward Fringe)” by Randolph Lalonde. I would have to say that this is one of the best Sci-fi books I’ve read for a long spell!!!!!
I wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Monday 21- I did my stretches.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 34 to 56 degrees, light breeze but cold, humidity around 46 percent, mostly clear skies.
I went over to Stoney’s to get my clothes I left in the dryer that I forgot to pick up yesterday.
I completed two more lessons of Windows 7 Tune-up and only have one lesson to complete.
I did some webwork on the computer and then went on Skype to yap with Kelly. She found out that her package came in and was sitting in my mailbox. It was her electronic vapor cigarette stuff that she was running out of and needed it or she might be tempted to smoke the analog ones (regular cigarettes) Dang, it was already 9:30pm and cold outside but she talked me into going down and getting them for her; she can almost talk me into anything. So I bundled up in layers, put on my scarf and leather jacket, hopped on the Harley and drove the twelve miles round trip to my mailbox. She had a nice hot cup of coffee and a warm hug waiting for me when I arrived. We stood around and chatted for a spell.
When I got back home I went online and bought “Spinward Fringe: Broadcast 1 and 2” by Randolph Lalonde at Amazon for my Kindle. I fell asleep reading it around 1am and woke up around 7:30am to write to my journal, posted it to the web.

Tuesday 22- I did my stretches and yoga, ran a mile, lifted weights, did the core trainer, punched the bag some, and rode my bike.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 36 to 60 degrees, light breeze but cold, humidity around 44 percent, mostly clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Wednesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 58. West northwest wind between 4 and 7 mph becoming calm. Wednesday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 37. West southwest wind between 9 and 14 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph.”
I finished the HP class Windows 7 Tune-up by completing the last lesson.
I made my way over to Mac’s house at 2pm to work on his laptop and to eat some chicken he cooked up. I brought potatoes that we nuked. He uses this device called the Flavor Wave that actually takes all the flavor right out of the chicken; it did it to the roast we cooked in it too! The dang nuked potatoes tasted better. We had a good laugh out of that.
I got back home before sunset to feed the birds, mostly doves, and went for an evening walk.
I got caught up on some of my astronomy reading.
I yapped with Kelly for a spell on Skype. She was jawing about some ingredient that candy companies are putting into chocolate called PGPR (Polyglycerol polyricinoleate) and how it ain’t any good for you; nasty stuff! It doesn’t sound like something I’d want to put in my gut.
I read a few chapters of “Spinward Fringe: Broadcast 1 and 2” by Randolph.
I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web and called it a night.

Wednesday 23- I did my stretches and ran two miles.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 35 to 58 degrees, NW winds at 9 to 14 with gusts up to 23 MPH, humidity around 41 percent, mostly hazy skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Thursday: Partly sunny, with a high near 59. West southwest wind between 5 and 10 mph. Thursday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 39. West southwest wind between 9 and 16 mph, with gusts as high as 24 mph.”
I did some gardening and yard work and watered some of my aloe veras that grow in containers under the patio roof. I heard there was a good possibility of rain and snow coming Friday and lasting through Sunday night, so I didn’t do much watering.
I started another HP online class called “Building Your First Web Page” and completed the first lesson. I took this class twice or more before and like to do it every few years or so just to keep me in practice. Also after finishing the Intermediate HTML class a few days ago I felt I needed a refresher.
I studied my Latin (flashcards) and loaded the first 21audio lessons on my iPod and listened to them on my evening walk.
I dropped by Mac’s to drop off five cans of tomato sauce, and made a quick stop at Kelly’s to give her some emergency TP.
Gerald called wanting me to come by to show him what he can and cannot junk from Stoney’s yard. I made my way over there and spent half an hour going through stuff Jimmy and I had painted red for Gerald to remove and junk.
I got caught up on my astronomy reading in “365 Starry Nights”.
I read a few chapters of “Spinward Fringe: Broadcast 1 and 2” by Randolph.
I did my stretches and lifted dumbbells, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web and called it a night.

Thursday 24- I did my stretches, lifted weights, did the core trainer, and punched the bag some.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 38 to 57 degrees, WSW winds at 5 to 12 MPH, humidity around 54 percent, mostly hazy skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Friday: Mostly cloudy, with a high near 58. Breezy, with a west southwest wind 8 to 11 mph increasing to between 19 and 22 mph. Winds could gust as high as 32 mph. Friday Night: Rain after 10pm. Low around 41. Windy, with a southwest wind between 24 and 31 mph, with gusts as high as 47 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%.”
My brother Kevin is out of the hospital and seems to be in good spirits and that makes me mighty happy.
Kelly been sick for about two weeks now and needed some supplies from town. I went over to Mac’s to borrow his wee little car and drive it to Staters in 29. I asked Mac if he wanted anything and he said no but wanted to tag along. He ended up buying $80 worth of stuff and we almost couldn’t get it all in the wee little car. We also went to Rite Aid to get Kelly’s prescriptions after she called us at Staters on the store’s phone. We got back to Mac’s and dropped him and his groceries off and then I made my way to Kelly’s where we ate some chicken inside the Gross Polluter (My truck).
I watched a few episodes of “Fringe” and then read a few chapters of “Spinward Fringe: Broadcast 1 and 2” by Randolph Lalonde.
I wrote to my journal, posted it to the web and called it a night.

Friday 25- I did my stretches, yoga, and rode my bike.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 39 to 56 degrees, SW winds at 8 to 24 with gusts up to 47 MPH, humidity around 46 percent, mostly sunny skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Saturday: Rain, mainly before 10am. Snow level 3000 feet lowering to 2400 feet in the afternoon . High near 46. Southwest wind 6 to 9 mph increasing to between 18 and 21 mph. Winds could gust as high as 29 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. Saturday Night: A 20 percent chance of snow. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 30. West northwest wind between 10 and 20 mph, with gusts as high as 26 mph.”
I worked around the house getting things together for the winter storm that’s supposedly coming tonight. I gave the doves a little extra feed and moved everything under cover of any rain.
I spent a lot of my time yakking to folks on the phone. Like I said a few weeks ago “windy days make for…”- well I forgot what I said a few weeks ago, dang!
I loaded up a newer version of Ubuntu on my Dell Mini 9. Now it’s running 10.10 for netbooks.
I read a few chapters of “Spinward Fringe: Broadcast 1 and 2” by Randolph Lalonde.
I watched a movie on Amazon Prime called “Syriana” (2005) Starring George Clooney and Matt Damon; about dealings of big oil companies, the CIA, and political manipulations of both the US and oil producing countries. The way the movie jumped around made it somewhat hard to follow, but still it was interesting.
I wrote to my journal, posted it to the web and called it a night.

Saturday 26- I did my stretches.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 31 to 51 degrees, SW winds at 6 to 14 with gusts up to 35 MPH, humidity around 57 percent, mostly cloudy skies; no rain, no snow.
According to the National Weather Service: “Sunday: Sunny, with a high near 53. West northwest wind between 7 and 10 mph. Sunday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 33. South southwest wind around 6 mph becoming calm.”
Well, we were all prepared for the bad winter storm that never materialized and we all had a good laugh over that. When I got to Potluck a little late I told them it was because of the snow drifts. We had over twenty folks showing up! And Annelies showed up to write about it in the newspaper column I used to write. So I know my column is in good hands and she has something to write about. Potluck turned out to be a nice little get together on a cold winter day- even without the predicted snow.
Being Saturday I called Family and Friends.
I put a bunch of wood in the stove and had the house mighty toasty when I got back from potluck.
I read a few chapters of “Spinward Fringe: Broadcast 1 and 2” by Randolph Lalonde.
I wrote to my journal, posted it to the web and called it a night.

Sunday 27- I did my stretches, yoga, and lifted dumbbells.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 33 to 57 degrees, WNW winds at 7 to 10 MPH, humidity around 36 percent, mostly sunny skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Monday: Sunny, with a high near 58. Calm wind becoming south southeast between 4 and 7 mph. Monday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 36. Southwest wind between 4 and 7 mph becoming calm.”
I yakked with some family and friends throughout the day.
I went over to Mac’s for lunch. He made his famous chili-mac that turned out mighty fine. I took two containers full of the stuff and dropped one off to Kelly on my way home. I also brought Mac’s laptop home with me to tune-up.
I watched the newest episode of “Fringe”. Walter grabs Peter as a child from the other side to save his life.
I then watched “Dirty Harry” (1971) starring Clint Eastwood. I’ve seen this a few times before but this was uncut and there were actual nude scenes I never saw before.
I wrote to my journal, posted it to the web and called it a night.

Monday 28- I did my stretches, yoga, lifted weights, did the core trainer, and punched the bag some.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 35 to 58 degrees, calm, humidity around 29 percent, mostly sunny skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Tuesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 64. Calm wind becoming southeast between 4 and 7 mph. Tuesday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 43. South southwest wind around 7 mph.”
I needed to pick up all them packages that Kelly had shipped to my mailbox and drove the Harley down them. One of the boxes was too dang big to fit and was left at the post office so I had to venture down yonder to JT and retrieve it. The line was small and I was out of there quick and decided to head over to Big 5 to buy some hang grip doohickeys I use for exercising; I broke the last one yesterday. Well maybe they had them cheaper at WalMart so I moseyed over there but found they weren’t the heavy duty kind and weak when squeezing them. I picked up some chewing gum for me a two chocolate bars for Kelly before heading over to Big 5 where I found what I wanted. At Big 5 they had all kinds of hand grip squeezers and I settled on one that had interchangeable weights: 30, 40, and 50lbs.
I stopped off at Mac’s first so he could measure the Harley for brackets to bolt a sissy bar onto. Then I went over to Kelly’s where I gave her all her darn packages and split one of the chocolate bars with her.
I got back home and called a few friends and then I watched “Soylent Green” (1973) Starring Charlton Heston, Edward G. Robinson and Leigh Taylor-Young. It takes place in 2022 in New York City where it is very hot because of the green house effect, people live in cars and sleep on stairwells, and there isn’t enough food to go around except for the very rich. I saw it when it first came out at the movies; well worth seeing again!
I read a few chapters of “Spinward Fringe: Broadcast 1 and 2” by Randolph Lalonde.
I wrote to my journal, posted it to the web and called it a night.

January 2011

New Year’s Day- I did my stretches.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 19 to 39 degrees, calm winds, humidity around 31 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Sunday: A 10 percent chance of snow after 4pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 45. Calm wind becoming south southeast between 4 and 7 mph. Sunday Night: Snow likely before 4am, then rain likely. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 31. West southwest wind between 3 and 7 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New snow accumulation of around an inch possible.”
I didn’t get to sleep last night until 6am in the morning and finally woke at 12:30pm. At 5:30am I went to brush my teeth, or what’s left of them, and no water came out of the spigot, dang the pipes must be froze! I went outside and saw that the temp was 19 degrees. I was able to turn the emergency valve off and back on a few times that somehow freed the ice in the pipes and I filled a few containers with water. Then I left the emergency valve in the off position.
It was dang cold outside; even at 1pm it was only 39 degrees which is usually our nighttime low at this time of year. I spent most of the day making phone calls to family and friends hoping them a happy new year, and I know a bunch of folks who can use a change of luck this year from all the hard times of the last couple of years. Hopefully this one will be better for everyone.
I watched two Stargate SG1episodes called “Children of the Gods” Part 1 and 2. This is the beginning of the series, I believe, and I seem to like it so far. Unfortunately Hulu will only be showing them until January 31, 2011 and there is ten years worth of episodes for me to watch in that amount of time which means that it ain’t going to happen unless I want to spend all my time watching these, and like I said it ain’t going to happen, dang.
I’ll probably stay up late again spending my time thinking things over; I have a lot to think and decide about.
I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Sunday 02- I did my stretches.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 23 to 40 degrees, calm winds, humidity around 37 percent, cloudy skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Monday: Rain and snow likely before 10am, then a chance of rain. Snow level rising to 3300 feet. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 46. North wind around 5 mph becoming calm. Chance of precipitation is 60%. Little or no snow accumulation expected. Monday Night: A 20 percent chance of rain before 10pm. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 30. North northwest wind around 7 mph.”
I didn’t do a hell of a lot today except call a few more friends.
I drove the Gross Polluter over to check on Stoney’s and another friend’s house for broken water pipes and stuff like that because of the cold weather we’ve been having.
It was suppose to snow today but didn’t, at least around here. At 6pm I talked to Sherry who lives in Yucca Valley. She said it was snowing on Hwy 62 on her way home from work. She called me back around 7pm to say it had started to snow at her house.
The Quadrantid Meteor Shower will be tomorrow night and into Tuesday morning. If there are not any clouds I may venture outside my warm domain to brave the cold of night and see if I can catch any of these zipping across the sky.
I read and finished “Deadly Sanctuary” by Sylvia Nobel. It was a very different book than what I’m used to reading but I’ll give it high marks!!!!
I did my stretches and lifted dumbbells, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Monday 03- I did my stretches and yoga, ran a mile, and lifted weights.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 29 to 42 degrees, calm winds, humidity around 56 percent, cloudy skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Tuesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 48. Northwest wind between 3 and 5 mph. Tuesday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 30. Northwest wind between 5 and 7 mph.”
Today is the closest that Earth will get to the Sun, Perihelion, at just 91.4 million miles!
Well it snowed here today just like the National Weather Service said it would! I was on my weight bench lifting some weights when I saw these white flakes fall near my face; there was about/almost 20 of these flakes but no more.
I went to my doctor to get a prescription; cost me $85 for the visit and now I’ll have to pay more to get it filled.
Kelly came by around 5:30pm and we went to 29 Palms and got a bucket of KFC fried chicken; we had a coupon! We also went to Rite Aid where she bought a bunch of candles. Then we stopped nearby to pick up her cell phone that she had lost a few weeks ago.
The Quadrantid Meteor Shower is tonight and I went outside at 9pm for half an hour but didn’t see any meteors. I will try again later in the night.
I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and will go back out into the night to hopefully see some of them Quadrantid meteors.

Tuesday 04- I did my stretches and yoga, ran a mile, and lifted weights; yes I did it all again today but this time I did them at 7am in the morning and there was frost on the ground, yikes!
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 28 to 46 degrees, calm winds, humidity around 53 percent, cloudy skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Wednesday: Sunny, with a high near 52. North northwest wind between 3 and 6 mph. Wednesday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 33. West northwest wind between 3 and 7 mph.”
I woke up at 5:30am and couldn’t go back to sleep, so I decided to get up, do my exercises, and have breakfast. It was dang cold outside at 28 degrees when I went for my run. After I had my breakfast and answered some emails I went back to sleep until 12noon.
I yakked at Kelly for a spell and then went and did some work around the house.
Ron Dehart called around 2pm asking if I wanted to go get pizza with him; he’s the only other person I know who likes anchovies on pizza besides me. He picked me up and went to Pizza Hut in 29 Palms. I haven’t had anchovies on my pizza since I quit drinking back in 1982! It still tastes mighty good :)
I wrote my column for the Hi-Desert Star Newspaper and sent it in.
I watched two episodes of “Stargate SG1” number 2 and 3 I think.
Oh yes I almost forgot to say that I was outside until 1am in the morning last night looking for Quadrantid meteors. All the time I spent out there I only saw 5 or 6 of them. But they were very different than others I have seen; they had a distinct round glowing head with a smoky long pale tail that was slow to move across the sky and lingered for a spell. I saw three of this kind. The others I saw moved and acted similar to other meteor showers I’ve seen. And yes it was mighty cold out there!
I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Thursday 06- I did my stretches and yoga, ran a mile, and lifted weights.
On Wednesday nothing spectacular happened. I did go out to dinner with Kelly and I didn’t get back home till 1am so it was too late for me to post.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 30 to 54 degrees, calm winds, humidity around 40 percent, clear then cloudy skies later in the day.
According to the National Weather Service: “Friday: Partly sunny, with a high near 56. Northwest wind between 3 and 6 mph. Friday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 35. Calm wind becoming west northwest between 4 and 7 mph.”
I mostly did webwork all daylong so I really don’t have much to write about.
I watched two episodes of “Stargate SG1” number 4 and 5. I want to know why every planet they go to everyone speaks English! Anyways it is fun to watch.
I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Friday 07- I did my stretches and yoga, ran two miles, and lifted weights.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 32 to 56 degrees, calm winds, humidity around 36 percent, clear then cloudy skies later in the day.
According to the National Weather Service: “Saturday: Sunny, with a high near 60. North northwest wind between 3 and 8 mph. Saturday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 37. North wind around 5 mph becoming south southwest.”
I went to town in Joshua Tree to pick up my prescription. I took the Harley. Wow, I walked into Star Pharmacy and I thought I have went into a video store by mistake; Rocky had the whole building remodeled and there is enough space now for folks to actually sit down! I then went to the library to see if they had any good books for sale, and they did; Tom Clancy’s “Without Remorse”. It’s 750 pages and should keep me occupied for a long spell if it’s any good.
I went for my evening walk and took my camera but there wasn’t anything that caught my eye.
I talked to Kelly for a while; she is still looking for a refrigerator and a dryer, and if ya know anyone who has one or the other that they don’t want any more let me know.
I did my stretches and lifted dumbbells, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Saturday 08- I did my stretches and yoga, ran two miles, and lifted weights.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 34 to 61 degrees, calm winds, humidity around 35 percent, mostly clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Sunday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 60. West northwest wind between 3 and 7 mph. Sunday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 33. West northwest wind between 10 and 13 mph.”
I called friends and family throughout the day. I had a heart to heart talk with my brother after he fell into a cactus patch on the way home from Eddie’s late last night. It took the fire department to fetch him out and a visit to the emergency room to tug most of the needles out of him.
I updated the Copper Mountain Mesa Website and sent out the Newsletter.
I went for my evening walk and took my camera took a couple of pictures.
I found out that they have the last five episodes of “Caprica” on Hulu.com and watched three of them. The Sci-Fi channel had canceled the show and I didn’t know about these last five being aired. I was watching number 3 when my internet connection died with only 3 minutes left- I hate when that happens! The connection was kinda flaky for a bit and I decided to try and watch the last 3 minutes tomorrow.
I read a few chapters of “Without Remorse” by Tom Clancy; looks to be good.
I did my stretches, went for a night run and lifted dumbbells, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Sunday 09- I did my stretches.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 33 to 60 degrees, calm winds, humidity around 43 percent, mostly clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Monday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 51. North northwest wind between 8 and 11 mph. Monday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 34. North northwest wind between 5 and 8 mph.”
Sunday is another kickback day. I’m just reading and doing little thi8ngs around the house.
Dropped by Stoney’s to do my laundry and take a nice hot shower; felt great!
I watched the last two episodes of “Caprica” on Hulu.com. I really love the series and am sad that they canceled season 2.
I read a few more chapters of “Without Remorse” by Tom Clancy.
I did my stretches, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Monday 10- I did my stretches.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 34 to 51 degrees, winds at 7 to 10 MPH, humidity around 34 percent, mostly clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Monday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 51. North northwest wind between 8 and 11 mph. Monday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 34. North northwest wind between 5 and 8 mph.”
I read chapters of “Without Remorse” by Tom Clancy throughout the day.
I went to our community’s board meeting: Meeting started at 7:10pm. Treasurer Mary Helen Tuttle was absent, probably a first, so there wasn’t a treasurer report. 39 adults and 7 children showed up for our breakfast on the 8th. Marcie Hines announced that the Treasure Room is having a $2 a bag sale on clothes for the next month or so. Membership Committee reports another 10 renewed memberships. USDA Food Distribution had 90 folks showing up; Chris said they’d been more except some didn’t get the word that it was on the 10th. Meeting ended at 7:31pm.
After the meeting I talked with Annelies Kuiper about taking over my newspaper column; something really hard for me to let go of. She said she’d think about it but she seemed really interested. I’ve written over 580 columns for the Hi-Desert Star Newspaper and I think it’s time for me to pass it along to someone else and time for me to begin a new project; like ride off into the sunset on the Harley :)
I talked with Kelly for over an hour; she is feeling better from a bad cold she had caught last week.
For some reason I haven’t been getting enough sleep the last few nights. I don’t know if it’s the weather changing or current events; like the whole Nation I was horrified with what went down in Arizona. Hopefully tonight I’ll get more than 4 hours sleep!
I did my stretches, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Tuesday 11- I did my stretches and yoga, ran a mile, and lifted weights.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 31 to 49 degrees, winds at NW 8 to 12 MPH, humidity around 29 percent, mostly cloudy skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Wednesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 58. North northwest wind between 6 and 11 mph. Wednesday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 36. West northwest wind between 3 and 8 mph.”
Around 3pm I went to Kelly’s house. We finally placed her poor cat, that’s been dead for a long spell, in a deep hole I dug in the backyard. We had a little ceremony for the little critter; Kelly put coins on the eyes, and I shoveled dirt covering the little kitty until the deed was done. Then we were off to Staters but first got gas and coffee at Arco in 29. We ate at our favorite Chinese place before we went shopping. After we got our supplies at Staters we hung around her house for a spell; I got home around 9pm.
I read a few chapters of “Without Remorse” by Tom Clancy.
I did my stretches and lifted dumbbells, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Wednesday 12- I did my stretches and yoga, and lifted weights.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 33 to 53 degrees, winds at NW 7 MPH, humidity around 25 percent, mostly sunny skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Thursday: Sunny, with a high near 63. North northwest wind between 3 and 5 mph. Thursday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 41. West northwest wind around 9 mph.”
I wrote my column for the Hi-Desert Star Newspaper and sent it in.
I had to go into Yucca Valley and get my IRA moved and setup at my bank. I’ll be fifty-nine and a half next month and will be able to start drawing on those funds.
I Stopped off at WalMart to checkout some mountain bikes looking for one I may buy; really didn’t see any I liked. I also went to Big 5 but they didn’t have any mountain bikes. I thought that was kinda weird. They did have a chin up bar and a device to hold a punching bag so I bought those.
I went over to Ron’s to say howdy and yak at him for a spell. He sold me one of his guitars that he didn’t need any more, cool!
I read a few more chapters of “Without Remorse” by Tom Clancy.
I did my stretches and lifted dumbbells, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Thursday 13- I did my stretches and yoga, and lifted weights.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 40 to 63 degrees, winds at NNW 3 to 9 MPH, humidity around 27 percent, mostly sunny skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Friday: Sunny, with a high near 65. North northwest wind around 9 mph. Friday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 41. Northwest wind between 7 and 9 mph.”
Kelly arrived at 12:20 to pick me up and go to see her doctor down in Palm Desert. While I was in the waiting room waiting I read a chapter of “Without Remorse” by Tom Clancy and yakked with some folks who were also waiting; I guess we are should be called waiters, those who wait on their friends in the waiting room. I ate a cheeseburger and had coffee and cookies. Kelly ate two hamburgers and a chicken sandwich; she must have been mighty hungry. We didn’t leave there until around 4pm.
On the way back we stopped by a Flying J gas station because I told Kelly I’ve never been to one before and also to pick up some transmission fluid. The Flying J has about anything you may need or think ya need!
On the uphill grade of Hwy 62 about six miles from Yucca Valley Kelly’s car, Chrisandra (she names her cars too), overheated and stopped running. Lots of steam came out as I lifted up the hood and we had to let it cool down some before I could even attempt to crack the cap. Fortunately Kelly had a gallon of water and we put that in but we still had to wait for a long spell before the car would start again. I believe there wasn’t that much water in the radiator and what was in there boiled off. Kelly said that the mechanic must have forgotten to fill it the last time she had it serviced. After an hour or more being stuck on the side of the hill we finally got Chrisandra started and drove to WalMart to get some antifreeze and let Chrisandra cool off for a spell while we went shopping. I bought my new mountain bike there! We bought chicken at Staters and talked to our friend Charlene who works there. Kelly and Charlene are going to plan a “girl’s night out” at a bar Charlene knows about.
Got to my house about 10pm and both of us were kinda burned out. We ate the chicken and drank coffee while doing a little stargazing. Kelly went home around 11:30pm. I’m dang tuckered out!
I practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Friday 14- I did my stretches and yoga, and lifted weights.
I spent the better part of the day assembling a chin up bar pull up and leg thingy; I’ll supply a picture so ya know what I’m talking about. I finished it just before Kelly arrived to go to town to get cat food. Her car wouldn’t restart so we took another and drove to Yucca and made it five minutes before the store closed. Then she needed to go to Vons, and then to WalMart where I waited in the car; women sure love to shop. Got back home around 9:30pm was able to get Kelly’s car started. I then read a few chapters of “Without Remorse” by Tom Clancy until really late.

Saturday 15- I did my stretches and yoga, ran a mile, and lifted weights.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 41 to 68 degrees, calm, humidity around 29 percent, nice sunny skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “M.L.King Day: Sunny, with a high near 74. North northwest wind between 13 and 15 mph, with gusts as high as 21 mph. Monday Night: Clear, with a low around 48. Northwest wind between 7 and 10 mph.”
I called friends and family throughout the day to say hi, how are ya, and what ya been up to.
I went over to Kelly’s on the Harley. We had a nice walk and sat around yakking drinking coffee. I did drive down to her mailbox to get a package she was expecting and brought it back to her. It was this Electronic Smoking thingy (another thingy) that uses nicotine oil in different flavors and vaporizes it so there is no smoke, kinda cool. That way I won’t be smelling like cigarettes when I leave her house, Kelly’s health will be better, and its cat safe!
I then read a few chapters of “Without Remorse” by Tom Clancy until really late.
I wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Sunday 16- I did my stretches.
I called family and friends that I missed calling yesterday. I assembled another exercise thingy but this time I know the name, it’s called the Heavy Bag Stand. And it does exactly what it says; holds a heavy bag! It seemed to take forever to assemble because I’d be interrupted by phone calls, but I got it together before sunset. Now all I had to do was lift the 50lbs bag up to the hook which took me four tries to do it- maybe the bag weighs more than 50lbs, I’ll have to check on that. I gave it only a few punches because I was dang tired by the time I had it all put together. By the way the other exercise machine I assembled last Friday is called a Multifunction Core Trainer.
I then read a few chapters of “Without Remorse” by Tom Clancy until really late.
I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Monday 17- I did my stretches and yoga, ran a mile, lifted weights, did the core trainer, punched the bag some, and rode my new bike; dang I did it all!
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 48 to 80 degrees, warm NNW winds at 10 to 15 MPH, humidity around 33 percent, nice sunny skies again.
I started writing my column for the Hi-Desert Star but I’ll have to finish it tomorrow. Also wrote a goodbye letter to the newspaper and sent it to the Editor.
I went for my evening walk; what a magnificent day!
Audrey called and we had a nice chat but we didn’t talk our usual two hours and kept it down to 30minutes.
I read a bunch more chapters of “Without Remorse” by Tom Clancy until really late again.
I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Tuesday 18- I did my stretches and yoga, ran a mile, lifted weights, did the core trainer, punched the bag some, and rode my bike.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 45 to 73 degrees, warm NW winds at 4 to 8 MPH, humidity around 26 percent, nice sunny skies again.
According to the National Weather Service: “Wednesday: Sunny, with a high near 68. Northwest wind between 5 and 11 mph. Wednesday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 43. North northwest wind between 11 and 16 mph, with gusts as high as 23 mph.”
I finished my column for the Hi-Desert Star Newspaper and sent it in.
I worked a little on one of my Dell Mini 9s doing some tweaking of the Window services.
I stopped by Ron’s and he showed me a few yoga poses that I might incorporate into my routine.
I went over to Kelly’s around 5pm to take her to Rite Aid to get her prescriptions filled. We decided to wait over at Denny’s and have a hamburger while the pharmacist did their magic and put the tiny little pills in the plastic bottles. We got ice cream at Rite Aid before we left for home.
I read a chapter of “Without Remorse” by Tom Clancy; I only got about 150 out of 750 pages left to read!
I wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Wednesday 19 -Saturday 22
I'm still around! I've been helping a friend who had to go to the hospital and then the ER a few times and then they needed someone to keep an eye on them while they were at home; lots of driving and waiting is what I done. All came out okay :)

Sunday 23- I did my stretches and yoga, ran a mile, lifted weights, did the core trainer, punched the bag some, and rode my bike.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 40 to 60 degrees, warm NW winds at 6 to 12 MPH, humidity around 19 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Monday: Sunny, with a high near 66. North northwest wind between 8 and 11 mph. Monday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 41. Northwest wind around 7 mph.”
I called friends and family. I cleaned up around the house; there was lots of stuff to do after being away for a few days.
I finally finished “Without Remorse” by Tom Clancy; it was a dang good read!
Kelly called saying she needed to get a prescription filled that we had got from the ER the other night. I borrowed Ron’s truck, picked her up, picked up her pills, and got some chicken at Staters. I stayed at her house until 10pm yapping, eating, and having a nice time.
Took Ron’s truck back and ended jawing with Ron until 11:30pm.
I practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Monday 24- I did my stretches.
The weather was very nice.
I wrote my last column for the Hi-Desert Star and sent it in. This last column will be number 583 after eleven years of writing. Dang I think that’s enough!
I went over to Kelly’s had a cup of coffee with her and yakked for a long spell. Then I went home and watched some stupid movie on Hulu that’s not worth mentioning.

Tuesday 25- I did my stretches and yoga, ran a mile, lifted weights, did the core trainer, punched the bag some, and rode my bike.
The weather was again very nice.
I finally updated the Copper Mountain Mesa Website and sent out the Newsletter.
I need a used car and went spent my time searching online and I thought I found a good one. I called the owner and she said it was still for sale. She was busy tonight when I asked if I could come see it now, and I could come over on Wednesday. Unfortunately she had sold it when I called Wednesday morning, dang!
I watched a new episode of “Fringe” and then went to bed.


Wednesday 26- I did my stretches.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 47 to 66 degrees, NNW winds at 7 to 17 MPH, humidity around 24 percent, mostly clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Thursday...Mostly sunny. Highs 61 to 67. North wind around 10 mph.Thursday Night...Mostly clear. Lows 40 to 45. Northwest wind around 10 mph.”
I didn’t do much of anything today. I haven’t had a cup of coffee in two days and now have a headache from the withdrawals. I’m feeling kinda down because one year today Stoney had passed away. Also, there are things going on with other friends/family that I can’t write about here. So I’m in the dumps and probably have been for the past two weeks! It won’t last and I’ll get myself together and continue on. Hell I was so depressed today that I watched the movie “2012” to cheer me up :)
I practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Thursday 27- I did my stretches and yoga, ran a mile, lifted weights, did the core trainer, punched the bag some (not really sure what I’m doing here), and rode my bike.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 40 to 67 degrees, calm winds, humidity around 28 percent, mostly clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Friday: Sunny, with a high near 65. West northwest wind between 5 and 8 mph becoming calm. Friday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 40. East southeast wind at 5 mph becoming west southwest.”
I’m trying to get things back to kinda normal. I haven’t done my studies for some months now so I thought it’d be a good place to start.
I cleaned the kitchen because it was a mess from lack of concern on my part; hell I’m the only one here to clean it and mess it up. I also started cleaning the computer room later in the evening.
Jumped on the Harley and drove down to collect my mail. It seems like a waste to use the Harley just to get my mail but it is twelve miles round trip to my mailbox on a bumpy dirt road.
I did my studies: Latin (flashcards) and pre-algebra (Prime Factors).
I went for my evening walk.
I read aloud from the textbook “Astronomy Today” about determining stellar masses of binary stars through spectroscopic or visible means.
I had a chat with Kelly trying to help her find someone to fix her car so she can be independent again.
I started reading “Bipohl” (1984) by Frederik Pohl. It has two novels in one book.
I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Friday 28- I did my stretches and yoga, ran a mile, lifted weights, did the core trainer (only doing two and a half chin-ups but started out with one last week), punched the bag some, and rode my bike.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 40 to 72 degrees, calm winds, humidity around 31 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Saturday: Sunny, with a high near 68. West wind around 6 mph becoming calm. Saturday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 42. Southwest wind around 8 mph.”
That there handsome guy in the photo is me just in case ya didn't know what I looked liked :)
I watered the plants outside and did some gardening and cleanup around the yard.
I did my studies: Latin (flashcards) and pre-algebra (using Prime Factorization to find LCM and GCF).
I went for my evening walk but went on a different route than my usual; I think I’ll do that more often.
I read aloud from the textbook “Astronomy Today” about Mass and other Stellar Properties using the HR diagram.
I chatted with Kelly for over an hour about this and that and other stuff.
I updated the Copper Mountain Mesa Website and sent out the Newsletter. This was my last column for the Hi-Desert Star Newspaper and it was kinda sad but it was my decision to quit after eleven years. Hey maybe I’ll work on some of my songs and get them published!
I did my stretches and lifted dumbbells, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Saturday 29- I did my stretches.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 42 to 69 degrees, calm winds, humidity around 20 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Sunday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 61. Light wind becoming west southwest between 10 and 13 mph. Winds could gust as high as 18 mph. Sunday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 38. West wind between 7 and 11 mph.”
I called family and friends throughout the day like I try to do every Saturday. Things seem to be slowly getting back to kinda normal; maybe you have to work at normal I guess, at least I do.
I made my usual turkey stuffing (out of the box) and headed down to the community center for Pot Luck. We had almost 29 starving desert folks showing up to participate in the feast. Kris and Mary cooked up some mighty fine turkey tetrazzini and a chili corn casserole, Marie Morrison brought some tasty chicken and dinner rolls with butter, Ruth Maltron made a fruit salad, Rose brought her peas and corn, Marcie Hines delivered to us a meat and noodle casserole and jello ice cream that was mighty special, Steve Coulson and Kathleen out did everyone with the amount of food they carried in, and Chris Jonas made his award winning macaroni salad. Dang didn’t we all get stuffed!
At Pot Luck I heard that long time resident and friend Ruth Tuttle is in a continuing care facility in Yucca Valley after having a heart attack last Saturday. We all wish her a speedy recovery!
I watched the new episode of “Fringe”; I love this show. Then I watched the first episode of “The Dresden Files” not knowing what it was about. Has something to do with casting magic spells and witches, something I’m really not into.
Thought: If you can’t be true to yourself then neither should anyone else. (Needs work?)
I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Sunday 30- I did my stretches and yoga, ran a mile, lifted weights, did the core trainer, punched the bag some, and rode my bike. I did three good chin-ups! Little by little, bit by bit I’ll get it done :)
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 38 to 60 degrees, SW winds at 10 to 18 MPH, humidity around 32 percent, clear skies then cloudy in the evening.
According to the National Weather Service: “Monday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 60. North northwest wind between 18 and 20 mph, with gusts as high as 31 mph. Monday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 38. Northwest wind around 11 mph, with gusts as high as 18 mph”
I called a few friends throughout the day. Called Larry Carlock and yakked with him for a long spell.
I messed around with my computers uploading pictures and downloading updates and drivers. Printed out a document for Ron Dehart.
I went for my evening walk and took some pictures of the clouds moving into our area. It may rain tomorrow!
Mostly it was a lazy day for me after the exercises!
I read a few chapters of “Bipohl” (1984) by Frederik Pohl.
I did my stretches lifted dumbbells, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Monday 31- I did my stretches.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 37 to 60 degrees, SW winds at 18 to 31 MPH, humidity around 32 percent, clear skies then cloudy in the evening.
According to the National Weather Service: “Tuesday: Sunny, with a high near 55. Breezy, with a north northwest wind between 14 and 24 mph, with gusts as high as 39 mph. Tuesday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 32. North northwest wind between 13 and 21 mph, with gusts as high as 31 mph.”
I went over to Kelly’s to take her over to Ron’s house where he’ll take her down to Palm Desert for her doctor’s appointment; they didn’t get back till after 6pm.
I again messed around with my computers backing up files and doing updates on the Mac Book; 269Megs of updates and the dang screensaver hung up while it was in progress. I had to power it off and then on again and then start the install again but without downloading; everything went alright.
It was too dang windy for an evening walk.
I read a few more chapters of “Bipohl” (1984) by Frederik Pohl.
I did my stretches, broke a string on my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.
Goodbye to January; it seems like you went by in a flash!