Friday 01- welcome to the month of June- did my stretches and ran two miles- finished reading “The Earth Dwellers” by Erich Hoyt. It is a book about the many varieties of ants (super organisms) and the Scientists who study them in the rain forest at the La Selva Biological Station in Costa Rica. Tells a story about Leaf Cutter ants and follows one Queen from birth, mating, and founding her own colony. Also covers other ants, their wars, keeping slaves, tending cattle and gardens. One of the scientists is E. O. Wilson who is the creator of the new field of Sociobiology. Cool Book well worth my time and I‘ll never look at ants like I did in the past ever again!- went for my evening walk- watched a movie I had laying around called “Underworld” that was given to me. It was about Vampires and Werewolves. Not the kind of movie I usually watch but I needed the distraction. Lots of action in this movie: blood, explosions, strange demons with wings, and very Gothic- did some website design and updates.
Saturday 02- did my stretches, ran a mile, lifted weights, and rode my bike. Was mighty hot today, around 100, and I could really feel it when running up and down the dirt roads. Out front of my house there is a hill of sorts that I start my run from. When I first started running some years back it was a real pain for me just to jog up the hill, I’d be gasping and wheezing halfway up, and now it ain’t nothing for me to run up that hill and continue on for a mile or more. It gives me time to contemplate new thoughts and ideas I have cooking in my brain and I actually look forward to my run. I’m at a place in my life where I can do much of what I want without much negative outside interferences and really feel at peace. I like my life- played around with the MacBook for a while taking the time to go over some commands my friend Mike showed me last week- went on over to Stoney's to move a dryer from his rental down to his place so that he can work on it.
Downloaded 422Meg of Wikipedia file that you can burn to CD and use it when you're off line. If you are interested you can get it at: www.wikipediaondvd.com/site.php and to burn an ISO to CD on a PC using Windows I use BurnCDCC that is really simple to use and is a free download at: www.terabyteunlimited.com/utilities.html and once you have Wikipedia on CD you just run it from the CD player. Worked great on my XP system and I will try it out on other systems later.
- called Mom and Dad. Dad was doing his chores so I just talked to Mom- went for my evening walk- fell asleep reading my Physics book- watched “Blade Runner” on PBS, I have watched it many times before and it holds some inner meaning for me, something to do with photographs and the memories from them that we cherish. If you’ve seen the movie you might know what I mean- I forgotten to mention yesterday that the Buffalo folk called to say the Buffy and Sally each had babies. I used to care for their buffalo before they moved to Lancaster. Scott will send me some pics of the baby buffaloes.
Sunday 03- did my stretches and was about to go for a run when my brother called and we spent the next hour yakking at each other. Well I needed to take a day off running anyways and it was starting to get hot outside, besides I have lots to do before me and Ron D. go to the Chuckwalla Fest- did my studies-
Drove on over to Ron’s and we took his truck to Pappy and Harriet’s in Pioneer Town. On the way we went through all the devastation that last July’s Sawtooth fire had caused: the hills stripped bare of all vegetation leaving charred Joshua trees and naked rocky vistas that were once lush with green life and folks homes, so sad. We walked through the restaurant to where we had our hands stamped leading to the area that had two stages set up, one big and a smaller stage for individual performers. 
Judy Van Ruggles picked a good banjo and belted out some great vocals. Steve and Darlene Lester played some very nice Bluegrass while these nice looking gals hula hooped. I was especially entranced with one with tie-dye dress and beads in her hair, reminded me of the 60’s, hooped with little effort right in front of me, I felt at home! Alice and Albert played on the small stage some original songs of theirs and they made it all worth it! (well them and the hula gal) The Chuckwalla fest use to be held at the Metaphysic Center in JT and I liked the wide openness of it all there better, but Pappy and Harriet’s has a distinct atmosphere all of it’s own and I had a mighty nice time there.-went for my evening walk- Mike from Hermosa called and we jawed for a few- watched “Mystery: Detective Inspector Jericho” on PBS- worked on the computer the rest of the night.
Monday 04- had a vivid dream last night where a young man was in the process of creating a world government and asked for my opinion. I told him that everyone should be sovereign unto themselves and that there shouldn’t be any political parties (I guess you couldn’t have any political parties if everyone is a sovereign). That way no group could control to benefit themselves. Well it was just a dream I’d thought I would share- did my stretches, lifted weights, and ran a mile- did my studies when Stoney called to say he baked some cookies and to come on over. I went on over at 3:30 and he had cooked up some macaroni and cheese for lunch too- went for my evening walk- watched “Six Days in June” that was about Israel’s six day war with the Arabic Nations- Joel just got back from his vacation to see his Father and Brother back east. He brought me by a meat and cheese burrito from Santana’s Mexican restaurant that I ate half and will eat the other half tomorrow.
Tuesday 05- very windy today so I just did my stretches- got into my tattered truck and drove to JT and stopped in at Stan and Jan’s Shop for a haircut. I haven’t had a professional haircut since I moved up here in 98, just did it myself or let Stoney with his shaky hands cut it. For once I thought I’d have it cut short for the summer and Stan was more than glad to accommodate me. Jan was occupied giving a perm to an older lady with what looked like a hundred curlers on her head, an older opinionated gentleman who seemed to be just visiting was seated by a window chair, and as Stan cut my hair they all talked about their health problems and about the sad shape this country’s healthcare system is in. Not wanting to be left out I threw in a few comments here and there. Stan finished me up and I don’t think I’ll need another haircut for at least a year. I paid him and left a tip and said my goodbyes. They are nice folks! I stopped by the Post Office to pickup a book that Aki had sent me on the Japanese American Interment camps setup in the 1940s here in the States: she was one of the interned. I recognized a lady who works at Circle K standing in line. I made small talk with her and found that she’s been working there for fourteen years. She was in line to tell the postal folks that somebody had run over her mailbox knocking it off the post and needs to have her mail delivered here. I then drove to Yucca where the winds were gusting up to at least the 50s blowing trash and sand and small people into the air. I actually got blown into WalMart when the electric doors opened. I was going to stop by over at the new motorcycle shop on the way back home but decided that it best just to get on home out of the high winds- went for my evening walk- wrote my column for the newspaper and sent it in- watched “Nova” on PBS about the Great Escape where Allied POW dug three tunnels to breakout of the German camp they were in during World War II.
Wednesday 06- really, really windy outside and the temp was down around 68 at 10am! Not your typical June in the High Desert. I did my stretches and ran a mile with a sweatshirt on. When I opened the gate to go for my run Stoney drove right by and didn’t even see me. I called him when I got back and he told me he lost a hubcap somewhere and was concentrated on finding that and not much else. He told me that they cost $117 each. I said in that case I’d do without and take the rest off and sell them!- drove over to Ron D. to fix a keyboard on his iMac and we sat around and jawed for a while about old books he has on Ebay for sell. Then I drove over to Andrew’s house that he is fixing up. He was busy laying on the plaster to the walls of a small room but stopped to take a break and yap with me. About that time Chuck and his son Joseph showed up and talked about the wild wind we been having. I shook hands to say goodbye when Joseph tried unsuccessfully to arm wrestle me, I told him don’t even try, while bending his arm back behind him. Hey he’s sixteen years old so give him a few years and he’d be able to take me, but for now, no way- did my studies and fell asleep again reading the physics book- went for my evening walk- called Joel to hear about his vacation: rainy, lots of humidity, and glad to be back home was what he told me- fooled around with the computer the rest of the night.
Thursday 07- did my stretches, lifted weights, and rode my bike- did the weekend update to the website CopperMountainMesa.com and sent out the newsletter- did my studies- signed up for two online classes from HP: Linux 201 and Beginning Programming. Both are free classes at: www.hp.com/go/onlineclasses I’ve been doing these classes at HP for a few years and find them pretty good introductory courses for beginners into the many different aspects of the computer field- went for my evening walk- watched half of “Full Metal Jacket” directed by Stanley Kubrick. I thought I recognized one of my favorite actors from “Law and Order Criminal Intent” and looked it up and sure enough it was a very young Vincent D'Onofrio who played Pvt. Pyle!- watched a rerun of “CSI” on CBS. I don’t usually watch reruns but this one I especially liked about the CSI Detective Michael Keppler who transferred from Trenton New Jersey to CSI Los Vegas- worked some more on the website adding some pictures and updated my “Bits Bytes and Bugs” column on it- Mike called and we yapped some on Mac vs. PC.
Friday 08- did my stretches, lifted weights, ran a mile, and rode my bike- I need to get into some kind of habit for doing housework! My place is in such a clutter: books left open laying about, computer gear in stages of repair litter any desk space I have, mail stacked up to be opened and read, and just add all the usual mess from everyday living. Sometimes I just get so involved in what I’m doing I forget simple housekeeping chores. I need to devise a system to tackle this mess and organize it. So I will take 15 to 20 minutes out of my busy day for cleaning. Today I swept the floor and took the carpet outside and shook out the dust. Tomorrow I will go through my mail and toss away the junk- did my studies. I am really excited about the Linux class and learning the Command Line Interface. Started downloading Fedora Core 5 Linux distribution, five ISO disks of 680 Megs each. I got three disks done so far. You can use other Linux distributions but this is what the class uses- dropped on over to Mac’s house and yapped with him for a bit. He is getting a new roof put on and was on his way to Applebee‘s to treat those who helped him with it- went for my evening walk- watched “Bones” on FOX and then “Numbers” on CBS- Mike called to say he has purchased a web cam, so now we will be able to communicate over iChat and see each other (I don’t know if this is such a good thing) but it will be fun checking it out.
Saturday 09- did my stretches- Ron D. called to say he had a small desk for me. I went over and yapped with him for a while, then I loaded my truck with the desk and a small sink that will do fine in my bathroom, I got home and tried to put the desk in my computer room (I call it that cause it’s full of computers, parts, and wires going everywhere). I had to move a cabinet out to move the desk in, and once I got it into the room I didn’t like it there. So I moved it into the bedroom after rearranging everything that was in the way, and there it will stay! I ended up with a bigger mess than when I started, so I had to clean that up- Andrew called to say hi- finished downloading all five disks of the Linux Fedora Core 5 and burned them to CD. I removed the 20Gig hard drive from My old Dell 733Mhz desktop and stuck in an 8Gig one and loaded the Linux onto that: took about an hour because I selected all the optional programs (I wasn’t sure what I may need in my classes). I watered my plants while I was doing the install. When it was all loaded and did the first boot it came up with a very clean GUI. I did this install of Linux for the online course I am taking from HP- called Mom and Dad and talked to them for a bit- went for my evening walk- did my studies- Mike called and we went on iChat to test out his new webcam with his Mac. Everything was going well: he could see me and I him, until I was making hideous faces and he tried to take a screen shot of me and we lost communications and called it a night- went online to get some work done the rest of what was left of the evening.
Sunday 10- did my stretches. My right leg has been talking to me for the past 3 days. I think it is my hamstring so I was easy on it yesterday and will do the same today- decided that my bed needs to go! It is a futon with a deep impression on the side where I sleep. It is like I’m being sucked down inside it and when I wakeup my back and shoulders hurt. So I ripped off the bedding and hauled it outside and replaced it with the one in the trailer that Seimi brought over from the Retreat and gave to me. It has stains. From what I don’t care to know. So I made a mixture of Pine-Sol and bleach and sprayed it down thoroughly. It is a single, the futon was a queen size, so I will have less room to toss and turn during the night, but my back should feel better- worked on Linda’s bicycle doing a tune-up, preparing it to go to Texas- my Brother called and we talked about what brothers talk about for almost an hour- went for my evening walk- surfed the web and then went outside to look at the stars with my telescope but a screw fell out of the mount and made it very unpleasant trying to sturdy the mount which kept wanting to fall to the ground. So I cut my viewing short but did catch Jupiter, which is still in Scorpio, and saw that the cloud like Milkyway is starting to rise up from the east! I need to work on that mount and have it ready for tomorrow night.
Monday 11- got a call from John M. (he’s my neighbor who sold me the “Gross Polluter” truck) telling me that Leo’s Auto Repair and Smog told him that it might be something simple and that Leo wasn’t busy and I should call and bring it down. I called Leo, and his wife answered (they are a family run business) said to have it here by 11:30. That gave me just enough time to put on my clothes, feed the fat cat, but no breakfast for me, and drive on over to Morongo Valley where they are located. Leo gave it a pretest and it failed and then did a diagnostic on it: this took an hour, so in the meantime I walked across the street to the hardware store where John M. works and passed the time jawing with him and flirting with the gals there. I returned to Leo’s after the hour and he had found that the catalytic converter was shot, bad compression on #2 cylinder, and bad sparkplug wires. Now I could replace the wires myself, but if he could repair it all today I’d just let him do it and be done with it (I’m that desperate). After getting a price for all the work, he said that he could have it done by five today, I said do it. I was sitting in the waiting room writing my Father’s Day cards when Master Mechanic Mark Garko came in for a break. He told me that he and his wife live over on Sunfair at the trailer camp just after you hit the dirt road going north; about three miles from my house. He said that he was a triathlete and has been doing it for some ten years or so, and went from 300 to 200 pounds in that period. I love to hear stories of folks who put forth great effort to overcome obstacles in their lives. His brother is also a triathlete, and was Mark’s inspiration, has done in total 36 thousand miles in the events he has participated in. Marks main complaint is there are no large pools in our area that have any decent hours that the public can use them, and I agreed with him. About that time Leo’s three kids came home from school all dressed in their pajamas! Strange I thought and their Mother then told me that it was “Pajama Day” at the Elementary School they attend. They also have “Suit and Tie Day” and “Tee-shirt Day”. All nice kids, but me being a bachelor and not use to being around kids, I decided to go and find the Post Office to mail my cards that I had finished writing and get something to eat. After I did all that (and had a greasy slice of pizza) I was treated to cartoons the kids were watching in the waiting room when I got back. 
Then I remembered that my friend Ron D. told me of a bird sanctuary near by, so I was off to find it. It is called “Big Morongo Canyon Preserve” and it was just down the road some and it is a fantastic, peaceful, and wonderful place to visit. I talked to a nurse that was seated at the main entrance to the trail enjoying the tranquility. She said that she stops here on her way from work in Palm Springs to her home in Yucca Valley to wind down. Did my stretches there and then walked down the “Marsh Trail” taking many pictures of all the bountiful trees and flowering plants. By the time I was done and walked back to Leo’s all the work was completed on my truck. I paid my bill and told Leo that he had a fine Family. We shook hands and I was on my way back home. I stopped off at KFC for some chicken Snackers (I was very hungry and that pizza didn’t set to well in my gut). I am just happy that I got my truck smogged and have found a mechanic that I can trust- did my studies- got caught up on some emails and other web stuff the rest of the night.Tuesday 12- did my stretches and ran a mile. My left leg is feeling a lot better- John M. dropped over to give me some back issues of Astronomy Magazine. He said that his refrigerator died, so I lent him a small one I’m not using and I also had a bunch of canned food I gave to him- Ron D. called to yap and I helped him get a cellphone from T-Mobile online (they don‘t like our addresses out here in the desert)- did my online classes- went for my evening walk- watched “Nova” on PBS about Amber and the insects that get entombed in the stuff for millions of years- caught Stoney as he was driving by from bingo and yapped with him about the Board meeting last Saturday and how they approved a sixty five thousand dollar grant from the County to refurbish the kitchen at the center- wrote my column (mostly about my journey to Morongo Valley) and sent it to the newspaper- I am all typed out tonight!
Wednesday 13- did my stretches, lifted weights, and ran a mile- did some work around the yard- canceled my dialup ISP because they’re moving all accounts over to PeoplePC as our new provider on the 21st at a cost of $10.99 a month. I am going to hunt around for a cheaper dialup provider that will work with Mac and Linux: PeoplePC doesn‘t- Hopped in my “Gross Polluter” (my truck) and headed down to the DMV to get it registered. Took me about an hour, it would have been less but I let a couple with a baby go ahead of me in line. I even got my new license plates! Then I drove over to Staters to pickup a few odds and ends. Stopped off at Stoney’s, he told me last night that he was cooking salmon cakes today and I didn’t want to miss out on that- got home and did my studies working on my online Linux class. It got a little confusing at first creating new users and giving them permissions, but I sorted it out later in the night- went for my evening walk-
I was enjoying the sunset when Andrew came by on his evening run and we sat around and yapped about women and commitment. I told him to beware, that some are like Antlions who dig a hole and await for you to stumble in, they then proceed to suck the life out of you and in the end eats your heart out. He laughed and said I should put it in my blog. The night had come so we did a little astronomy. I pointed out the star Arcturus (38 light years away) in the constellation Bootes. I then showed him how to find the star Spica (around 260 light years away) in Virgo, by following the handle of the Big Dipper: "follow the arc to Arcturus and speed on to Spica" was what my college Professor told us. And I show him how to find the path of the Ecliptic. Andrew knows that I’m not trying to show how smart I am, but that showing him some of the astronomy, what little I’m knowledgeable about, helps reinforce what I know and benefits both of us (I have so much to learn)
- went back inside to tackle more of that Linux class- Took the telescope out and trained it on Jupiter and its moons. The Milkyway is coming up from the east and the Teapot was in good view, so I checked out a few globular clusters too. It was really a nice night for the stars!
Thursday 14- did my stretches, ran a mile.
Found a dialup ISP to replace the one that’s moving over to PeoplePC. It is 550access.com it has two numbers to dial into: one in JT and one in 29Palms. Not the best connection at 46bps on my IBM laptop and you get only 150 hours a month for $5.50 which works out to about 5 hours a day and if you go over that your account is temporarily suspended until the end of the month. You can get their $8.95 that gives you 300 hours, but I’m frugal (cheap). Besides working on Windows it works with Mac and Linux too and that was my main concern, also you don’t need to use their dialer to connect like PeoplePC. Not as good as my last ISP but they are no more.
Worked on Linda D’s bike for three hours. The shifting mechanism was messed up and I had to take that all apart. I tested it out on the hill by my house and now it shifts into a gears! One more project out of the way. It got up to 110 degrees when I was riding her bike and was mighty exhausted and went inside to take a long nap- went for my evening walk.
Mac had called me up the other night to tell me that old man John who lives at the south end of Copper Moon road was found half eaten after dieing and laying outside for three days. I thought I’d wait for a confirmation from another source, which came today, before I posted it here. He had Hogs, Dogs, and chickens. I used to buy eggs from him when I first moved into the area. Nice fellow but a little eccentric (like the majority of us out here). He said he was one of the few survivors from the Battleship Arizona during the attack on Pearl Harbor. I will research this and write a story for the newspaper if things pan out! Anyways it was sad to hear of his demise.
Did my studies and then surfed the wed the rest of the night
Friday 15- did my stretches, lifted weights, and ran a mile.
Ron D. called to say he needs someone (me) to drive him to the chiropractor in Yucca at 2pm. His back is really hurting him and he finds it hard to even sit up. I told him no problem and I’d put Linda’s bike in the back of my truck and drive on over to his house and we’d take his truck to Yucca.
Jimmy called and we jawed about computers while he was driving his big rig down the 10 freeway. His friend Robert is still having problems with his computer that he has caused himself by not listening to our advise and going where no newbee should. Jimmy said he tried to call his Father, Stoney, earlier but the line was busy and was going to call him again at a rest stop on his next break.
Got the bike in the back of the “Gross Polluter” and was all ready to go over to Ron’s but the truck wouldn’t start! I tried a few things to get it started but to no avail and time was running short so I called Ron to pick me up from my house and then I’d drive. He came by and I got in the driver’s seat and off we went to Yucca. I decided to make only one stop on the way back from Yucca and that was to pickup my mail, I was initially going to stop off at the health food store but I was concerned for Ron’s back and his need to stay off it and just lay down. I dropped Ron off at his house and told him I was going to walk from there to my house that is about two miles away. He protested saying he would drive and that it was too hot (109 degrees), but I said that it was my evening walk and that I am use to walking in the heat. It turned out to be a very nice walk. I cut right through the desert and beat a straight path to my house. Walked by a few abandoned shacks, someone’s lost dreams, now inhabited by rodents, pidgins, and empty beer cans. Found a few automobiles tossed about the landscape; stripped cadavers. Like carcasses of some ancient beasts caught forever in time, frozen in their last death throws; laid naked before me exposed to the bright sun. When I got back home the phone was ringing and I rushed to unlock the door and answered it and heard Ron’s voice on the other end asking if I made it back ok.
I’ve tried to call Stoney for a few hours and just get a busy signal, so I decided to drive over there and see what’s up, but first I had to fix the truck which took half an hour to find a few nuts and wires that had come loose from our ruff roads out here. When I arrived I had to bang on the door hard to wake him up because he had the TV turned up all the way. Found out that he had gone online with his computer earlier in the day and forgot to turn it off. I asked him if he talked to Jimmy today and he said no. I told him he’d better call and let him know that he was ok.
I forgot that today was Friday and almost lost a bet with Stoney about that. I needed to get the weekend update done on the website and the newsletter sent out. And when I got all that done I still had my studies left to do, but only after I get my telescope out and sit on the bench out front with Fat Cat by my side and gaze into the night’s sky and just chill out for a while.
Saturday 16- did my stretches, lifted weights, and ran a mile.
Doing my Linux 201 course most of the day. Tried to install my HP LaserJet 1020 printer on Linux but the system couldn’t find any drivers, I then tried my other HP DeskJet f335 printer: same thing. So after an hour or so of trying I decided to move on to the next section of the course that had to deal with System Services, and search online for any Linux driver downloads for my printers later on tonight.
Dale from Landers called. He told me that they had an gas explosion at the Landers community center from a leak in the stove. He said everyone smelled the gas but a lady from Samoa, who decided to light one of the burners. There was no damage to the kitchen but the lady was blown back into the wall and suffered first and second degree burns to parts of her body. She is expected to recover nicely in a few weeks.
The last few days have been really hot so I’ve been dunking my Fat Cat in water to keep him cool. He don’t like it at first, I am really gentile with him being careful not to get water on his face, but after I dunk him he don’t seem to mind none and goes and lays down in the shade of the porch.
Called my Mom and Dad but they weren’t home, I will try again tomorrow. I then went for my evening walk and tried another trail more toward the northeast and the Marine Base. Got some nice pictures of the mountains over there.
Andrew wanted me to send him a picture I took of him and his dogs last September. I made the mistake of sending on dialup and it seemed to take forever for it to upload. Watched ”48 Hours Mystery (Murder On Lockhart Road)” on CBS that I first saw on Dec. 9, 2006 and has been updated this June, about a man, David Camm, accused of killing his family. At the time I first watched it back in 2006 I felt that he was not guilty. Now they have found the guy who really done the killings. David got a new trial but they still convicted him. It seems to me that this man is being railroaded for a crime he didn’t commit so that Prosecutors in the old court trial can save face. David has ten witnesses who saw him playing basketball or sitting on the sidelines at the time of the shootings. I usually don’t watch these sort of programs but this has caught my attention.
Messed around with the computer the rest of the night. Downloaded the Linux driver for my laser printer. Got caught up on my emails and other web stuff that I needed to update.
Sunday 17- did my stretches and ran a mile.
I put Linda’s bike in the back of the “Gross Polluter” and took it on over to Ron D’s home. His back is still aching but not as much as before. We yapped about the problems of the world for a while.
I learned that Bug Lady is living under a palm tree in Twenty Palms over by the DMV. She is well known around these parts digging up dead bugs so they can “live” in the sun and is very convincing when explaining why she does it. She use to “hang” with Timothy Leary (who’s ashes were sent into space) and I believe took too many chemicals. The Bug Lady makes life more interesting for us folks here in the high desert!
Called Mom and Dad to wish my Dad a Happy Father’s Day. I told him that I got the truck smogged and just need to get some headlights so I can drive at night.
Worked through two more lessons of my online courses and took the tests.
My Brother called and we jawed about blogging. I’ve been trying to talk him into doing his own and finally he put up his first post of his personal blog. He is not new to blogging; He started up our “Family” blog and has many posts to that, but I thought that a personal blog would help him out with his day to day contemplations and routines.
Went for my evening walk and had to hurry to get back and watch “60 Minutes” on CBS, about “The Mother Of All Heists” where more than $500 million was stolen from Iraq's treasury, and “A Pill To Forget?” which was pretty amazing to me. You have some kind of trauma, like being robbed, and you take a pill afterwards and it kind of helps you through it.
Took the telescope out to look at the crescent Moon and then watched “Mystery: Foyle’s War” on PBS about WWII, England, an American Airbase, and a murdered bar girl who sold rotgut whiskey. Pretty dang good!
Went back outside with the scope. I was looking at the Tea Pot in Sagittarius where just above the spout to the right is the center of our Galaxy 30,000 light years away. Now I used my imagination while I was looking at the Milky Way that runs north to south in two bright bands and a dark band in the middle, and saw our Galaxy in a way I never seen it before. The middle dark band is a disk made up of dust that hides the inner stars from us seen edge on, and the center resides in the dark bulge there. The two bright bands are the peripheral stars that lie on either side of the dark disk. It reminded me of pictures that I’ve observed of other galaxies seen edge on in astronomy books. Really cool!Monday 18- did my stretches, lifted weights, and rode my bike. As I was getting ready to take my bike for a spin Stoney came by with some groceries from the USDA food distribution. He told me that we almost didn’t get anything because somebody forgot to notify a change of address to send in the community’s request for food to the County. If it wasn’t for the kind USDA delivery guy who scrounged around inside his truck for any leftovers we wouldn’t have received what we got and eighty folks in our community would have gone without. Stoney invited me over for dinner and he baked some peanut butter cookies (my favorite).
Did some heavy cleanup of my kitchen and living room throwing useless stuff away and trying to organize my perpetual mess of a home. I start on one thing which leads to cleaning another, that makes me hunt around for something to clean it with. Took me about three hours but there is till more to do.
Went on over to Stoney’s and took my dirty clothes along to wash in his washer. I had to change his ISP (Internet Service Provider) like I did mine last Thursday. We had some trouble with his password at first but I was able to figure it out after a bunch of tries then I was able to login to his account and cancel it and get the new one up and running. I got to take home a bag full of cookies!
Watched the evening news and they had a sad story about Marines over in Iraq who found some orphans tied naked to their beds lying on the floor in their own excrement, some were near death from starvation. The caretaker of the orphanage had stockpiles of food and clothes that he was apparently selling on the black market. The caretaker and others who ran the facility vanished soon after our Marines arrived. So sad all this greed and inhumanity going on in the world! We must find a new better way for the earth and its people to live peacefully among each other and do away for the need for greed.
Went for my evening walk. When I got back I did some yard work and watered all the plants. Then I got the telescope out and spent the next few hours observing the Moon occult a minor star. While I was doing this I noticed that my neighbor Joyce, who lives half a mile away, had left her car lights on and phoned her to let her know.
Did my studies and played around online for the rest of the night.
Tuesday 19- did my stretches and ran a mile.
Went online and checked UPS for the delivery of Ron’s cellphone that I had ordered for him on last Tuesday. Well T-Mobile didn’t use the my shipping address and used my mailing address that is a PO Box and UPS doesn’t deliver to them. I made this very clear to T-Mobile several times to deliver it to my shipping address and have the emails to back it up. This is a common problem living out here in the desert or any rural area where we have mailboxes many miles from our home. I had to call UPS and straighten it all out and they will deliver it on Thursday. To late for Ron, he needed it by Wednesday, so I lent him my cellphone.
Did my studies. I have to return the Physics book to the library soon and I have decided to purchase it online so I can learn it at my own pace and not have to worry about library late fees. But before I do this I need to bone up on my algebra that I haven’t used since college in the late 80s.
Called John M. and we jawed for a while and he asked me if I’d like to barrow his telescope for a few weeks, of course I said yes! He brought it over and July’s issue of Astronomy, cool!
Went for my evening walk, then watched “Nova” on PBS called “Bone Diggers” where animals from another age fell into an Australian cave and paleontologists found fossils of an extinct lion, a Thylacoleo, and other large animals no longer roaming the earth.
Wrote my column for the newspaper; used my description of the Milky Way Galaxy that I posted here last Sunday and cleaned it up some.
An online friend named Carlos sent me a link: www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZJb6yFDKIw about “How Big is the Universe” that was really fun to watch and reminded me of something I wrote for the newspaper back in January 2005:
Thought for the week: As I sit here contemplating what to write in my column, the Earth revolves eastward at 1000 mph, and orbits our Sun at 18.55 miles per second, in turn the Sun is revolving about the galactic center of the Milky way Galaxy at about 150 miles per second and takes 225 million years to complete one revolution. All galaxies are rushing away from a common beginning some 15 billion years ago. This is all happening without spilling my coffee, Wow!
Wednesday 20- did my stretches, lifted weights, ran a mile.
Did my Linux 201 online lesson that covered RPM and YUM for managing and updating program packages, and TAR that extracts and stores archived tarfiles. I am still a little lost on that last one!
UPS who was supposed to deliver the cellphone on Thursday, delivered it today as I expected. The driver, a younger man, wasn’t Sam our usual driver and my friend, and he told me the Sam was on vacation when I told him that I emailed Sam and went to his MySpace and left a message for the change of address for this package. He laughed and said, “Sam has a MySpace page!” I told him that it’s something Sam’s wife put up for the family.
Called Stoney who was half asleep sitting in his Lazyboy recliner in the middle of watching an episode of “Gun Smoke” (he likes his westerns) and we jawed a bit about the community breakfasts.
Was working on some of my old laptops seeing which one I want to load the Basic programming language on when Barb and Jerry called to yap some. We talked about Chuck and his Son moving away out of state and his going away party that he forgot to tell us what day it was suppose to be on. I asked when Barb was going to make her world famous Mexican dish and Jerry said she’d make it the next time I come around for a visit.
Went for my evening walk and then watched “Secrets of the Dead: The Hunt for Nazi Scientists” on PBS about American and British in a race to find Nazi wonder weapons and the Scientists who developed them before the Soviets could get their hands on them.
Thursday 21- did my stretches, ran a mile, and rode my bike.
John M. came knocking on my door, he brought by a sun filter for his telescope that he lent me. I had to tell him about breaking off the finder scope and that I was very sorry about it. I also told him that I spent sometime on the internet looking for a replacement but that the scope is old and I haven’t been able to fine anything yet. He surprised me when he said not to worry about it and that he never used the finder scope anyways. I told him that didn’t matter and that I would find something of a replacement that will work and return it to him in the condition that it was lent to me. Now I’m afraid to use it, but I do want to check out that sun filter he brought over.
Was doing my studies when Stoney called to say he made some Chicken Alfredo and to come by for dinner at 3:30. I finished my studies on the computer and hopped into the “Gross Polluter” and arrived at his house in a cloud of dust. I let myself in and Stoney was back in the kitchen cooking, putting on the finishing touches to the meal. He baked a cake, the second one he said he’d ever done (the first he told me was a total disaster many years ago). It was a lemon cake too! My favorite! I think this is the best meal he had ever prepared. There was the Chicken Alfredo, corn, and garlic bread with melted cheese on it, very good! After we ate we went on the computer and I showed him a few things about editing pictures. I left with a bag of peanut butter cookies and some of that fine lemon cake! I didn’t need to eat for the rest of the day I was so full.
Went for my evening walk. There wasn’t anything worth watching on TV so I decided to do a little bit more studying and afterwards I played around surfing the web.
There are a few things I do that I don’t put in this blog because I’m in the habit of doing them every night. Sunsets, I love watching them! I practice playing my guitar and write new songs to play on it and have been doing this for years. I also do my nightly stretches and lift some dumb bells before I go to bed. And of course I go outside and gaze into our beautiful night sky at the stars, the planets and just contemplate it all.
Took out the telescope that John M. had lent me and I accidentally broke off the finder scope on it! YIKES! I’m very careful with equipment especially when it’s someone else’s property and am mighty upset about it. Was looking online for a replacement when Mike from Hermosa called to jaw for a while about this and that and other things of great importance.
Forgot to add yesterday that my Dad had called to talk for a spell.
Friday 22- did my stretches and ran a mile. It was over 100 degrees when I began running but it didn‘t seem to bother me any.
Did my studies: Linux 201- went online and took the quiz and went to the message board to see what problems other students are having, and maybe get some answers to some of mine.
Did the weekend update to the CopperMountainMesa.com website and sent out the newsletter.
Drove the six miles down to Border Avenue to collect my mail and listened to some physics lessons I had recorded for the iPod from the BBC’s “GCSE Bitesize” website. It is mainly a site for home schooled kids but a good starting point for us older folks who want just the basics. The site covers a whole lot of topics like History, Biology, and Chemistry. You can download the MP3s for free. I hope by listening to these I may absorb a little bit in my tiny brain.
I stopped off to water my friend’s garden while he is on vacation and started reading a book that I first read in the early 70s by Carl Sagan called “Cosmic Connection: An Extraterrestrial Perspective” while I was watering the plants. Another book I started reading is the one sent to me by Aki called “The Bamboo People” about Japanese Americans. These are the kind of books I read between doing other things when I have some free time. Spent about half an hour on both today. It’s kind of like doing a little bit at a time and you get it done eventually.
Went for my evening walk then watched “Bones” on Fox and then “Numbers” on CBS.
Thought I’d try something new tonight and that was take a little run up the hill and back down, it took all but 10 minutes, and was very refreshing. Running at night when it’s cooler under the summer stars is really pleasant.
I was thinking that someday I would like to travel to the southern hemisphere to see the Magellic Clouds; galaxies which orbit close to the Milky Way. I heard that everyone who has gazed upon them is “entrapped by their beauty“. And to see Alpha Centauri, the brightest star in the southern hemisphere, and closest star system: 4.3 light years away. That would be a nice trip indeed!
Saturday 23- did my stretches, lifted weights, and ran a mile. On my run I encountered a car coming down the dirt road towards me. I stopped at the side to let them pass, but the driver stopped to ask me if I am ok (as some drivers do out here in the desert). It turns out that he is a neighbor of Stoney’s I’ve never met but heard a lot about from Stoney. His name is Scott and he was on his way to sell a few guitars with his girlfriend. We jawed a bit about someone who lives out yonder that had ripped off his friend. I told him that if anyone came onto my property they’d be speaking to Jesus (the name I gave my shotgun) and bury them deep; I like to spread that around to get the word out, not that I would want to shoot anyone, just to keep the bad folks away. We said our goodbyes and I continued on my run. On the way back I heard someone calling my name. It was Scott calling from up the hill aways. Said his girlfriend used up all his gas and he needed some. I yelled back that he was the one driving! I told him to wait for ten minutes while I finished my run and that I’d deliver him some gas. I got back and collected a gallon of gas and drove the “Gross Polluter” on over to his car. I asked him where was his girlfriend? He had sent her walking through the desert to his neighbor’s to get some gas. He showed me a couple of guitars and let me play them. He also said the he was a singer in a band. Well he looked the part: wrap around sunglasses, styled haircut that looked like it was dyed a color of blond that was almost yellow. Lighting a cigarette, he said he had a 1959 Gibson guitar for sell for $1400 if I was interested. I told him I’m poor but rich in other ways. He took out his wallet to pay me some for the gas but I told him this is neighbor stuff and him being a neighbor I wouldn‘t accept it. Told him to drop by my home sometime for a jaw and I was on my way back home.
Did my studies and completed another lesson in my programming course. Continued reading the books I’ve started yesterday.
Called up Mom and Dad. It is Mom’s birthday today and most of the Family was there celebrating. So I got to talk to my two Sisters, Audrey and Shiela, and my Brother Kevin. Mom liked the card I sent her!
I also called Terry who use to be my neighbor and now lives in Virginia but she wasn’t home. Called my friend Scott who owns the Buffalo I use to care for before he moved to Lancaster. He says all three adult Buffalo are doing fine and the two male babies are up and running about. Talked to his girlfriend Anita who told me about the young stray female cat that is in heat and driving everyone crazy and nobody is getting any sleep. They can’t let her outside in fear that the male cats surrounding their home would get to her. They want to know when I’ll be coming over for a visit. I told them the condition of my truck and that it would be a while.
Went for my evening walk and then did some more reading. Watched “Daylight” staring Sylvester Stallone, about an explosion in the New Jersey Tunnel with people trapped and Stallone goes down there to rescue them. Lots of action and good special effects. I liked it. Around 11 PM I decided to go for another run up the hill and back like I did last night, felt good.
Sunday 24- Stoney called to see if I wanted to go to the hardware store with him. I told him if I don’t go I won’t spend any money and that I am trying to save some to fix the truck and go on a trip.
John M. my neighbor came by to pickup some more canned food that I collected for him. We yapped about astronomy: perihelion and aphelion (which is how close and far away the earth is from the Sun), and other stuff along them lines. After John left I did my stretches and ran a mile.
I turned on the laptop to check my emails and did another quiz for my programming class. I then spent the next hour downloading the next two classes. This new ISP dialup is very slow and I think that I will be looking for another that has a few more access numbers to Joshua Tree than only the one number this ISP has.
My Brother Kevin called to yap and we spent over an hour talking about girls, politics, girls, computers, and girls. When I go to visit him I will bring my mountain bike, he knows some good trails to go riding on. I told him that I want to start out on an easy trail since I don’t do any long and hard riding around here; I just go around the block, but our blocks are mighty big around here and there is a nice hill I have to go up next to my house.
My dear, dear friend Kula from Palos Verdes called to yap for a while and talk about Harbor Cove in Redondo Beach where we both lived, a friend who passed, and another friend who is in self-seclusion that we miss dearly.
Went for my evening walk and made pancakes when I got back: Pancake Sunday I call it. I do this almost every Sunday, kind of like a treat if I’ve been good and ate healthy during the week.
Watched “Mystery: Foyle’s War: Bad Blood” on PBS about a British secret biological-warfare experiment during WWII that gets out of hand and kills a woman and infects Foyle’s lady driver while they are investigating a stabbing murder of a war hero.
Worked on the MacBook and took it online to see if I could get Mike on the iChat but he wasn’t there. So I played around with the iTunes for a while. I find the design of the user interface of iTunes very difficult to use and not straightforward, intuitive and easy to manipulate as others I have worked with. Also, I don’t like the toolbar at the top for each program: when I click on the red x to close something I want it closed and not have to close it again at the toolbar. Plus it’s taking up monitor space. I don’t know why they have it this way. Maybe there is a way to auto-hide it like the bar at the bottom of the screen. So far I like Windows and Linux better.
Monday 25- did my stretches and rode my bike. Went over to Stoney’s to get a spare tire for the “Gross Polluter” filled, but before we did that there was the Bull Riding Championships in Dallas Texas he was watching on TV. We saw Justin McBride score 262 points riding three bulls winning a record of seven rodeos this year. I like to watch bull riding but would never get on one. We had to put a new stem in and then filled the tire with air. Stoney found a bunch of electric drills and he let me have an old Sears Craftsman that was all shinny metal, not like the newer ones made out of plastic. I just need to find a chuck key for it. I have one of the plastic drills that I had bought in the 70’s and it still works great.
While I was on the road I decided to stop by Andrew’s and see what he was up to. His dog Guinness greeted me at the gate and has really grew up since I last saw him. We sat around and jawed for an hour or so about astronomy, computers, and exercising. We may be planning a hike somewhere soon.
I did some reading when I got home. Watered the plants, did some yard work and then went for my evening walk. In the middle of the walk I came upon what I believed to be an Antlion’s hole and I was contemplating that when I was surprised by a noise behind me. It was Andrew doing his run and it gave me quite a start. We walked the rest of the way to my house where we enjoyed a beautiful sunset and yakked some more. When it was getting dark I walked him back up the trail to Borland Pass where he continued his run.
Did a little more reading and went online later in the night to get some work done.
Tuesday 26- just did my stretches because I’m going to town today. Ordered a computer laptop part online and then jumped into the “Gross Polluter” and drove on down to Joshua Tree to return the two books I’d checked out last month: Sue Grafton and the Dummy Physics books. The nice clerk told me that I owed four dollars for them being overdue. “How could that be, I renewed them online and it said that I had till the thirtieth of this month” I said. “Well it might have been caused by the remodeling of the library. They gave everyone extra time because of it and there must have been a computer glitch. I with fix it so it shows this and you will not need to pay the fine” said the clerk. I looked around for Sue Grafton’s next novel but couldn’t fine it and the clerk ordered it and should be here in a few days. In the meantime I checked out Patricia Cornwell’s “At Risk” and an astronomy book “Deep Sky Objects” by David H. Levy. That should keep me going for a while. I got into some small talk with the clerk asking her about the new things done to the library. There are more new computers setup, the checkout counter has been moved to the back, and I couldn‘t fine where they had put the newspapers, they do have a place for the magazines but it‘s not very well setup with all of them packed together in a line on one small table; I liked the old way where they were separated on a shelve with each in their own little cubbyhole. She mentioned that the gal the runs the place is off on her honeymoon and that everyone is trying to help fill in while she is gone.
I then went over to the Health Food Store across the street to buy some yeast and say hi to Linda who runs the place and asked her when the resteraunt that she is starting next door will open. She said that when the county gets their act together it will be opened. Dropped over next door to the thrift shop to check if they had any old astronomy books for sell, but no luck: I collect old astronomy books for a hobby.
Went to Joshua Tree Music to ask about my Martin Guitar and what may be wrong with it. I was jawing with the owner (I asked his name but forgot it. I’m not good with names) told me he used to play with a 60’s band called “The Riders of the Puple Sage” which is a band I had listened to way back then. I asked him about a few guitars I was interested in and we messed around with a few of them that he played very well. I was a little embarrassed to play what I did in front of him but I managed. He even let me try a banjo out, I never held a banjo in my life. I will bring my Martin down and let him have a look at it. Very nice guy and it seems to me that he doesn’t do it for the money but for the love of the instrament. I thanked him for his time and went back to the library where I had my truck parked and was ready to drive on home when it wouldn’t start; I messed with the cables to the battery and got it going and was on my way.
Stopped off to water my friend’s garden and make some phone calls on his phone that has unlimited calling (that he said I could use all I want) and called Tom and Aki and yapped with them for a while. Aki is the one who sent me “The Bambo People: The Law and Japanese Americans” and we discussed it for a while. Aki was inturned in a consentration camp in Arizona in the 40’s. Called mike from Hermosa but he wasn’t home so I yapped with his Mom Beverly for a while.
Before I went for my evening walk John M. called to tell me that he got sick from the canned orange juice I gave him and was going to call his wife and ask her about it. I told him that I had just drank some yesterday and it seemed ok to me. When I got back from my walk I called him back because I was worried about what I done to his health. Turns out that he never had “canned” orange juice and was not use to the taste of it and that his wife told him that it was fine. I told him if it makes him sick just throw it away. He said that he was going to drink it anyways! All this worry over his never having drank canned orange juice before! Andrew came by about this time on his evening run and we sat and watched the sunset and jawed about old computers: The Sinclair ZX81 (I have two programming books for the ZX81) and the Tandy Model 100 laptop which is the first laptop ever built and one I still have in working condition. Before it got too dark I walked him up the trail to Borland Pass and he continued his run.
Chris Stopped by while I was waiting for Stoney to drive by on his way back from bingo. While we were talking Stoney drove right on by. I called him up and asked why didn’t he stop. He said that he saw that I had company and didn’t want to interrupt us.
Wrote my column for the newspaper and sent it in. When I finished my column Mike from Hermosa called and we jawed for a little while.
Wednesday 27- did my stretches and ran a mile. I was standing there by my gate all sweaty and tired having just gotten back from my run and a cute gal drove by and stopped asking for directions. I excused my appearance to her saying that I just was out running. She was a nurse on her way to see a patient and was lost. I didn’t know where the street was but I let here use my phone. She got her directions and got back in her car and was gone in a nanosecond. I only mention this because it isn’t everyday that I have a nice looking gal come into my home. Hell for that matter a bad looking one!
Dropped by Stoney’s to pickup the bread that he had bought me a few days ago and forgot to pickup yesterday when I was getting the tire fixed at his house.
Went right to work on my Linux course and spent a few hours reading, doing the exercises on the computer, and taking the tests. I finally finished the whole course and I am done and have that out of the way so now I can focus on the programming course.
Went for my evening walk. I was halfway through when I saw Andrew coming down the hill above me on his bike. I had my camera and took a picture of him while he peddled on pass me. 
By the time I focused the camera and snapped the shot he was so far down the road he didn’t even see me or hear me yell his name. I got back to my house and saw the tracks of his bike by my gate so I knew he had stopped but left because I wasn’t there. Watched “Bear Island” on PBS about a guy who tracks bears, tranquilizes them, and puts radio transmitters around their necks to better understand what bears do in the wild so that we can save them. And he sometimes has to kill them if he is attacked performing this task. So my take on this is that they should just leave the poor bears alone! Stop cutting trees down in their habitat, and stop all hunting of them. What kind of sport is that when you lay in wait from behind a big rock with a rifle and shoot a bear from afar? I say let them use only bows and arrows, now that would be a sport! And how long do these tracking collars stay on the bear’s neck? We should put them around these naturalist’s necks until it falls off to see how they like it. That would be a worthwhile experiment!
Had an old IBM laptop sitting around that doesn’t work so I took it apart just for fun.
Replied to a few emails; one very nice and flattering email from Shannon. She and her husband live in Panorama Heights. She reads my blog and is interested in our little community and is asking a few questions about it. I love emails like Shannon‘s.
Thursday 28- did my stretches, lifted weights, and rode my bike. I’m kind of tired doing my online classes so I thought I’d take a break from the Programming course, I’ve done three and need to finish five more before August, and just kick back and do some reading today.
I got an email from Karen who lives near by asking me what kind of telescope I have: I have a Meade 90mm and a Celestron 80mm, both refractors. I want to get an 8" or larger reflector so I can do more and see more. I mostly use the telescopes when the moon isn't out and then I use them, depending on the weather, most every night. I mentioned earlier to Karen that I’d like to start an astronomy club up here and she also wanted to know what kind of experience one needs to join one. I told her none and that an astronomy club was to learn and share knowledge. I had tried to start one on my website back in 2001, but I took the link to it off after a few years because no one was interested. Here’s the old link: www.coppermountainmesa.com/astronomy.html I checked it out today and it was still there and the guest book still worked, it had only one comment and that was from me. The “Send Us Your Email Address” is an old address and if I decide to put the Astronomy Club page back up I’ll need to change that. I thing it would be nice to have some “Star Parties” in Copper Mountain Mesa. If anyone is interested email me at coppermountainmesa@hotmail.com and we’ll see what happens.
Went in the “Gross Polluter” to pickup my mail and then stopped off at my friend’s house to water their plants and to use their phone to call Terry who was my neighbor before she moved to Virginia and we talked of old times on the mesa for an hour and a half. We had a lot of catching up to do.
Went for my evening walk and kept a lookout for Andrew but I didn’t see him. Watched “CSI” on CBS, it was a rerun but I couldn’t remember the whole plot that had many twists and turns to it, so I watched it again.
The Moon is nearing full and has washed out the stars. I’ll have to wait till next week to do any star gazing.
Friday 29- did my stretches and ran a mile. Worked on the weekend update for the website and sent out the newsletter. While I was uploading the files to my server, Terry was also online and we chatted through emails. She wanted to know about the accident that happened on Thursday on highway 62 between an SUV and a pickup truck that had crossed the line into oncoming cars. The SUV had a family from the Marine Base in it, the mother died, the father and two small children were taken to a hospital. The driver of the truck survived and was also taken to a hospital. Sad for me to think of those two kids growing up without their mother.
Stoney called to say he is having trouble with his computer, so I drove on over in the “Gross Polluter” to see what the problem was. Did a few tweaks here and there and it seems to be ok now. I downloaded the XP security updates and sat around and we jawed about this that and other things of interest to us and Stoney was absentmindedly fidgeting around with the mouse, clicking open windows, and programs while we talked. I told him it’s no wonder that things go wrong and it always seems like someone else has been using the computer and causing these problems.
After doing some reading I went for my evening walk and ran into Andrew on the way back. We talked about him riding his bike right on by me and not seeing me on Thursday. The reason was that I was standing with the sun setting behind me and all he could see was glare from the sun if he looked in my direction. I walked him back up the trail to Borland Pass before it got dark.
Watched “Numbers” on CBS, it was a rerun I never saw yet; about a yacht that went missing on a round the world race.
Seimi called and we yapped for two hours about the folks we knew who lived here in our area and had passed on. All fine folks that we miss and will always remember.
The other night I had a dream about a old girlfriend I once loved (it wasn’t an erotic dream) about companionship and love. I guess I had something recent happen that had stirred up these feelings. I only mention this because the dream was really profound and left me feeling incomplete and yearning again for those emotions back in my life.
Saturday 30- did my stretches, lifted weights, and rode my bike. I decided that it was way past time to give my bike a tune-up and spent an hour cleaning and lubricating every gear and moving part I could find. Rides pretty nice now but the seat is all sun worn and needs to be replaced.
Continued reading “Deep Sky Objects” and found that I like the way David Levy writes about astronomy; with much passion and long earned experience. He has kept an “Observation Diary” for every night of viewing since 1961 of the stars, and other deep sky objects he has found. I wish I had done the same when I first got my 4” Tasco reflector about the same time Levy started his diary. I just might start one now.
Mike from Hermosa called to complain about some flash memory he had received that wasn’t what he ordered. As I was talking to Mike, Stoney came by on his way to Potluck and dropped off a bowl of his famous chili beans. I told him I may come by Potluck to take some pics of the folks there. I finished talking to Mike and also the chapter I was reading and then drove to the community center to take some pictures. Not a whole lot of folks where there like I had hope there would be, even less than last months Potluck. I’m feeling kind of sad that it has been dwindling down to just a handful of folks from what it had use to be. I had to leave early so I could call my Mom and Dad and water my friend’s garden.
Mom and Dad weren’t home so I called my Sister Paula and yapped with her for a while. She and her Husband Mark are going a way for a week to Sonora in Arizona. Called my friend Billie and jawed with her for a while. She lived on a boat in Redondo way back when I had my boat there. We use to drink blackberry brandy and howl at the moon. Now ah days we just howl when we say goodbye over the phone.
Went for my evening walk. Then I watched “Jesse Stone: Night Passage” I thought I had seen them all but this seems to be the first one in the series when he first came to Paradise Massachusetts from LA. After that I watched “Superman” 1978 on PBS halfway through . I never saw it before! They wore funny clothes in them days. The acting wasn’t very good except for Gene Hackman, and the special effects, weren’t. I decided to turnoff the TV and do some of my own important stuff I need to do.
I was outside doing my stretches under the full Moon. A warm swift breeze was blowing out of the northwest. I closed my eyes and imagined that I was on a small sailboat sailing into the wind. I would move the tiller to the left and the boat would start to heel over and tack to the right as the boom swung over to catch the wind in the mainsail. How I miss sailing in my old boat!
Goodbye to June you been a very nice month!
