May 2014

The rest of April into May:

Sunday 20- a little bit of this and that...

I did my stretches, yoga and took Cassie for a mile walk.

I worked on book between walks with Cassie.

Once Upon a Time S3 Episode 9 – Save Henry

Once Upon a Time S3 Episode 8 – Think Lovely Thoughts

Monday 21- a breezy hot day!

I did my stretches, lifted weights, yoga, took Cassie for a mile and a half run, core trainer, and punched the heavybag for three minutes. I listened to Astro 7B lecture.

I did my stretches, lifted 10lb dumbbells and we for our evening walk while I listened to the last lecture of Astro 7B.

I did my stretches, lifted 20lb dumbbells, and went for a night run with Cassie

Once Upon a Time S3 Episode 10 – The New Neverland

Tuesday 22- really windy!

I did my stretches, lifted weights, yoga, took Cassie for a short walk, core trainer, and punched the heavybag for three minutes.

Worked on book 4 most of the day between walking Cassie.

Wednesday 23- not as windy!

I did my stretches, lifted weights, yoga, took Cassie for a mile and a half run, core trainer, and punched the heavybag for three minutes.

I watered all the outside plants.

Took Cassie for a really nice walk and then she pays me back by eating a whole pack of hotdogs I had just opened to cook for our dinner and left on the counter to answer the phone; she is spending some alone time out in the kennel right now.

Thursday 24- very nice breezy spring day but unfortunately my allergies kicked in. I took an antihistamine and it made me drowsy and kept putting me to sleep while I tried to edit my book. I did manage to complete one chapter. The strange thing is Cassie slept all day too.

Elementary S2 E21 – The Man With the Twisted Lip

Friday 25- very very very windy!

I did my stretches, lifted weights, yoga, took Cassie for a mile and a half run, core trainer, and punched the heavybag for three minutes.

I worked on book 4 between walks with Cassie.

Saturday 26- a nice sunny breezy day.

I did my stretches, yoga and took Cassie for a walk.

I made my chili casserole surprise (surprise is if anyone eats it). About thirty pleasant desert folks showed up to share their food and swap tales of this wondrous land some would consider hot and barren but we think of it as home. Cal Myers brought his fruit tray. Kip Fjeld and Gloria Beetle came bearing Swedish chocolate balls and guacamole and chips. Mary and Chris Keval whipped up orange and key lime pies, strawberry jello, macaroni and cowboy casserole, cheese bread and four children (but we didn’t eat them). Dyan Carroll made two kinds of lasagna; one was veggie, garlic bread, stuffed tomatoes and chip and dip. Dorothy Jacobsen served up a Coca Cola cake and sweet potato salad. Yvonne Frances made a delicious salad. Chris Jonas brought his award winning world famous macaroni salad. And finally Tresa and Ken Sitz brought some homemade bread and bean salad that was mighty yummy! Shyonna and her Mom brought love and happiness.

April 27 through May 24

On April 30th my biological Father passed away on April 30 and I needed to make an urgent journey to Tucson to help take care of his affairs and say goodbye. I had met him and the whole family in December 2006. I will cherish what little time I had with him and my biological Mom who passed away a few years ago.

Cassie made the trip with me to Tucson and was a good puppy throughout it all.

I decided not to write about my time in Tucson except to say I was very busy and stressed. I arrived back at my desert home a few weeks later on Saturday May 17th to find a few plants of mine had died for lack of water; no big deal under the circumstances.

During the next week I decided to try and get things back to normal and reflect upon what transpired during my stay in Tucson. I did my exercises, walks and runs with Casie. I went to town a couple of times for supplies and had lunch at Carrols Restaurant with Sherry on Thursday 22nd.

***** Stuff I Wrote this Week******

Yes I'd love to change the world, to make a difference to an unknown future. To rise above the babble and rhetoric of politics, governments and religious fanaticism and yell out really loud, "STOP!"

We are children lost in a dream of fantasy for some or a nightmare to others. This has become our reality and we must change; we must reboot our thinking to change the world

Lovely the light that sparks the dawn, a new day starts as another ends. Such is life as we begin our day, leaving behind those who have slipped away. Oh the night brings sparkles to our eyes, the Moon with planets and stars way up high. Let’s not forget the lazy comet and swift meteors who dance upon dark heavenly skies, such a grand show put on for our sleepy minds. What shall we seek, where shall we stay, these are now questions that drift away, as we gaze out beyond the vastness of space, the universe our home, may we now be at peace.

********

Sunday 25- it’s getting hot; 97 degrees.

I did my stretches, lifted weights, yoga, took Cassie for a mile and a half run, core trainer, and punched the heavybag for two minutes.

Sherry stopped by to say howdy to me and Cassie. I showed her the new swamp cooler that I will be installing.

I worked hard most of the day removing my old swamp cooler and widening the hole for the new one.

I took Cassie for an evening walk.

Monday 26- it made it over the century mark at 103 degrees!

I did my stretches and took Cassie for a walk. It started getting hot early and I kept her inside most of the day where it was cooler.

I called a few Friends and Family before I started installing the new swamp cooler. What a pain the new cooler was to install. It is heavy and awkward to handle and I didn’t cut the opening large enough and had to put it down and enlarge the hole again. The temps were already over one hundred and I had to stop work several times to cool off. This was a two person job and there is only one of me so I had to improvise. I lifted it up step by step on boxes and chairs to get the cooler to a height I could manage. One time I almost had it in when the whole shaky stair thingy I had devised came tumbling down; skinned my knees too. It was 4pm before I finally got the darn thing to slide into the opening and called it a day. Tomorrow I shall hook it up and cool my little home down!

Tuesday 27- right under 100 degrees.

I did my stretches, lifted weights, took Cassie for a short walk, core trainer, and punched the heavybag for two minutes.

I was working on the new cooler when Sherry called needing help to bury her dog that had just passed away. I was in the car and on my way to her house in a few minutes.

Wednesday 28- cooled off a bit to 97 degrees with a gray sky.

I was so tired after the last few days that when I woke up at 9am I stayed in bed until about noon. Seems like all my muscles in my body hurt. I still did my stretches, lifted weights, took Cassie for a short walk, core trainer, and punched the heavybag for two minutes.

UPS left a package at my gate that has a Microsoft Surface RT inside I had ordered last Saturday at a big discount. I played around with this the rest of the day getting it updated to Windows 8.1 RT.

Thursday 29- still hanging around 97 degrees.

Kind of a kickback day; I did my stretches and took Cassie for short walks throughout the day. It’s just too hot for her to be out running or outside for long periods.

In the evening I drove my scooter to my mailbox on Lear Ave to collect a months worth of mail.

Friday 30- hotter today.

I did my stretches, lifted weights, took Cassie for a short walk, core trainer, and punched the heavybag for two minutes.

I found a way to update my Lumina 520 smartphone from Windows 8.0 to 8.1 by jumping through a bunch of Microsoft hoops and becoming a Developer for Apps at their website. I played around with this most of the day. I also took Cassie for her evening and night walks.

Saturday 31- another hot day, but nice and breezy in the evening hours.

I did my stretches, yoga and took Cassie for a walk.

I made a beef stew casserole with egg noodles for potluck. We had a great turnout with over thirty folks showing up. We celebrated Shyonna thirteenth birthday and song Happy Birthday to her as she blew out the candles.

***** Stuff I Wrote this Week******

I could really fall in love with a woman who can just be herself without all the baggage of what someone else believes a woman should be.

I get this feeling of freedom and belonging when I gaze into the night sky and recognize the vastness of it all and know I am home and not a stranger...

*****

April 2014

Tuesday 01- still a stiff breeze blowing with clouds and colder.

I did my stretches, lifted weights, yoga, took Cassie for a mile walk, core trainer, and punched the heavybag for three minutes.

Worked on editing the book.

Took Cassie for our evening walk where she saw her first Jackrabbit and it took all my strength to hold her back from chasing it.

I watched:

About A Boy Season 1 Episode 6 – About a Buble

Person of Interest S3 Episode 14 – Provenance

Raising Hope Season 1 Episode 6- Family Secrets

Once Upon a Time S1 E13 – Whatever Happened to Frederick

Wednesday 02- very cloudy and windy day!

I did my stretches, lifted weights, took Cassie for a mile walk, core trainer, and punched the heavybag for three minutes.

UPS delivered DC charging unit for my Chromebook.

Finished editing chapter two on the Dolphin Queen.

I took Cassie for our evening walk.

I watched:

Raising Hope Season 1 Episodes 7-10 (what can I say, I like the show)

Thursday 03- still windy!

I did my stretches, lifted weights, yoga, took Cassie for a mile walk, core trainer, and punched the heavybag for three minutes.

I went to Home Depot and bought me a new swamp cooler to keep the house cooler for Cassie. I may be used to the heat, but I don’t think she’ll be at first. They asked me at the checkout if I needed any help getting it into my car. I kinda felt like saying, “I exercise everyday and lift weights.” Glad I didn’t mention that; it took me over half an hour to get the dang thing into my small car. It would have slid in easily if it wasn’t just one darn inch shorter on the sides. I made it home with the hatch tied down and the swamp cooler kinda stuck in there. It took me using using 2x4x6 pieces of lumber as levers to get it out of the back; it was wedged in there pretty good after the ride down our bumpy roads out here.

I took Cassie for our evening walk and then rested the rest of the night.

Friday 04- light cold breeze.

I did my stretches, lifted weights, yoga, took Cassie for a mile and a half run, core trainer, and punched the heavybag for three minutes.

I am still struggling with the editing of the book. It’s not so much that I gots to do it but there’s other things I needs to be doing now as well. (plus I’ve been watching way too much TV, something which I never do)

I did my stretches, lifted 10lb dumbbells and went for my evening walk with my Cassie.

Saturday 05- nice but windy day.

I did my stretches, lifted weights, yoga, took Cassie for a mile walk, core trainer, and punched the heavybag for three minutes.

I updated the Copper Mountain Mesa Website and sent out the Newsletter.

I got a call from Doug Dorney asking me if I got the pics he sent of him and me in the army. I picked them up on Thursday when I went to Home Depot and will post a few of them on FB.

I took Cassie for our evening walk.

I am up to chapter 7 on my editing.

*****

Sunday 06- nice pleasant day.

I did my stretches, yoga, took Cassie for a short walk.

We went to visit Bonnie and Larry at their little home in Landers. We watched a wonderful movie called “Big Fish” (2003) and my eyes were teared up almost throughout the whole movie. Bonnie made up these fantastic burritos and cake with marshmallow topping that you could heat a whole city block of it! Larry gave me this RV toilet which can come in handy at my place.   

Monday 07- it’s warming up, but still cool in the night.

I did my stretches, lifted weights, yoga, took Cassie for a mile and a half run, core trainer, and punched the heavybag for three minutes.

Between taking Cassie for her walks, I did my taxes. What a mess! I thought I’d have it all done and mailed out by 1pm, but I finally finished it all at 5pm.

Tuesday 08- a little overcast.

I did my stretches, lifted weights, yoga, took Cassie for a mile and a half run, core trainer, and punched the heavybag for three minutes.

I went down to Joshua Tree post office and mailed off my taxes. Since I was down that way I stopped of at WalMart to pick up a new belt because all my were chewed up over the years by dogs so I can’t blame those on her. One belt I had for forty years! I ended up buying a new blender because the one I have at home is starting to fail.

Cassie was happy to see me when I got home and I took her for a long walk.

I did some more work on my book.

Cassie is afraid of the dark and to break her of that I decided to take her on a long walk late on a very dark night around 11:30pm. We were about half a mile out from the house and everything was going well until we started to hear some large man running through the desert growing closer to us. This scaring the hell out of me and Cassie was barking up a storm. I knew he was large because of the pounding sound his boots made; if he wore any. I shined my flashlight in the direction of the heavy foot beats and a man’s deep voice said, “Just passing through.” Ha! just passing through and running blind over the desert and not following a trail! I turned Cassie right around and we beat feet back home and had my .38 revolver all loaded and ready. Cassie was spooked the rest of the night until we went to bed. So much for getting her used to walking late at night for a while.

Wednesday 09- getting a little hotter today.

I did my stretches, lifted weights, yoga, took Cassie for a mile and a half run, core trainer, and punched the heavybag for three minutes.

I decided to fill up the cement pond with water again. Cassie been drinking out of the gray water I use on plants and I don’t think that’s very healthy; besides she likes to stand and soak her feet in it. I’ll figure something out I can do about the snakes, but they’re a part of the desert and kill off the rats, mice and other small critters.

I watered most of the plants. I saw a nonpoisonous red racer snake today. I heard they can travel at speed close to 7 mph and grow to 6 feet in length. This one paid me no attention and slithered off into the underbrush.

I took Cassie for our evening walk and listened to lecture Astro 21; I found out there isn’t any 18 19 or 20 lectures.

Thursday 10- much hotter than yesterday.

I went to Sherry’s house and left Cassie there with her four dogs to play while we ate at the Roadhouse Cafe we had their hamburger and fries which was mighty yummy and filling. We then went to Stater Bros to pick up a few supplies.

When we finally got home from Sherry’s, Cassie was too dang tired to go for a walk and slept for a few hours. I did wake her up for a short walk around sunset.

I watched Elementary Season 2 Episode 20 – No Lack of Void

Friday 11- cooled off a bit.

I did my stretches, lifted weights, yoga, took Cassie for a mile run, core trainer, and punched the heavybag for three minutes.

Started editing my book again.

We went on our evening walk.

I worked all day Friday on editing my my book “The Dolphin Queen” till 4:30am in Saturday morning

Saturday 12- a little breezy and warm.

I did my stretches, lifted weights, yoga, took Cassie for a mile run, core trainer, and punched the heavybag for three minutes.

I updated the Copper Mountain Mesa Website and sent out the Newsletter.

I potted a few cactus and worked in the yard watering and cleaning.

Started up the Harley and scooter to keep the batteries full.

Then I spent a bunch of time saying hi to my Friends on FaceBook and calling folks on the phone.

Graduation from Boot Camp 68

Sunday 13- nice pleasant day.

I did my stretches, lifted weights, yoga, took Cassie for a mile and a half run, core trainer, and punched the heavybag for three minutes.

I fell asleep and woke around 4pm. Cassie was asleep next to me so I guess she was tired too. We kinda kicked back the rest of the day.

I watched:

About A Boy S1 E7 – About a Poker Night

Raising Hope S1 E16 – The Cultish Personality

Once Upon a Time S2 Episode 11 – The Outsider

Once Upon a Time S2 Episode 12 – In The Name Of The Brother

Once Upon a Time S2 Episode 13 – Tiny

Monday 14- a wonderful day!

I did my stretches, lifted weights, yoga, took Cassie for a mile and a half run, core trainer, and punched the heavybag for three minutes. I listened to Astro 7B lecture 22.

I was updating my journal while listening to a lecture series from Cambridge University my brother Kevin suggested for me called “Adaptation to Climate Change” by Professor Charles F Kennel; there are six lectures each about an hour and a half length. The first is about what we can expect from and a little back history of climate change. A word he mentioned, Anthropocene: meaning the evidence and extent humans have had on Earth’s ecosystems; I found this interesting.

Tom called asking me some computer questions.

I did my stretches, lifted 10lb dumbbells and we for our evening walk while I listened to Astro 7B lecture 23.

Linda H. came by to get her mail I collected for her while she was away.

There’s going to be a Total  Lunar Eclipse tonight: Total Eclipse begins Apr 15 at 12:08 AM: Maximum Eclipse Apr 15 at 12:46 AM Moon is closest to the center of the shadow. I’ll be outside here and there with my binoculars and telescope until after 1am or so. I’ll watch a few episodes of Once Upon a Time between times I go outside:

Once Upon a Time S2 Episode 15 – The Queen is Dead

Once Upon a Time S2 Episode 16 – The Miller’s Daughter

Once Upon a Time S2 Episode 17 – Welcome to Storybrooke

I did my stretches, lifted 20lb dumbbells, and went for a night walk with Cassie at full Maximum of the Lunar Eclipse.

I practiced on my guitar for a short spell.

Tuesday 15- a high to 85 and a low of 60 degrees.

I did my stretches, lifted weights, yoga, took Cassie for a mile run, core trainer, and punched the heavybag for three minutes listening to Astro 7B (The sequence of Astro 7B are all mixed up: there are two lecture 21, 22 and 23 that are all different. So for the remaining of the lectures I’ll just say that I listened to a lecture of Astro 7B)

While I dusted my bedroom I listen to lecture 2 “Adaptation to Climate Change”; What can we expect from climate change.

I did my stretches, lifted 10lb dumbbells and we for our evening walk while I listened to  lecture 3 “Adaptation to Climate Change”; why and how we will have to adapt.  

I read a little in my astronomy book and fell asleep.

I did my stretches, lifted 20lb dumbbells, and went for a night run with Cassie; she kept barking at our shadows.

I practiced my guitar for a spell.

I started reading where I left off on chapter three of “Physical Geology: Earth Revealed 6th edition”; features of the sea floor and continental shelves and slopes.

I watched:

Person of Interest S3 E20 – Death Benefit

About A Boy S1 E8 – About a Slopmaster

Once Upon a Time S2 E19 – Lacey

Wednesday 16- clouds here and there.

I did my stretches. Cassie wasn’t feeling very good and when I woke up she wasn’t there. She had eaten something, she eats everything, that made her sick. So today I just stayed around the house doing a little cleaning here and the keeping an eye on her and keeping her comfortable. She seemed to get better by the hour. I think it may have been some old oleander leaves that fell on the inside of the fence. She got up and wanted to go for a walk about 4pm and that was the improvement I was looking for. The rest of the day she seemed a little wobbly but okay.

Thursday 17- mostly cloudy.

I did my stretches and then went outside with my rake and cleared all the oleander leaves up. I might have to get rid of it or find a way to contain the leaves.

I went to the post office in Twentynine to pick up an old IBM R52 Thinkpad laptop I bought on eBay for $89. I found it when I was looking for memory for another laptop that I wanted to run XP on. The memory would have cost about the same as the Thinkpad. Besides I have lots of money invested in hardware and programs that won’t run on Win7 or 8.1 and I’m not really liking Win 8.1... I won’t do any banking or anything like such on the Thinkpad, but to tell the truth I have never gotten any malware on any computers I have owned; I never open suspicious emails, I never click on a popup even to close it, and I don’t go to play games at websites and I keep my antivirus up to date. The Thinkpad will be good for a couple of more years and then I’ll run Linux on it; probably Linx Mint.

Friday 18- cloudy with a brisk breeze.

I did my stretches, lifted weights, yoga, took Cassie for a mile run, core trainer, and punched the heavybag for three minutes listening to Astro 7B.

I updated the Copper Mountain Mesa Website and sent out the Newsletter.

I did my stretches, lifted 10lb dumbbells and we for our evening walk while I listened to  lecture 4 “”; why and how we will have to adapt.  

I played around with the Thinkpad getting it all tweaked up and secure for running online. I found out it had 2Gigs of RAM, Win XP Professional and MS Office Pro! I loaded up my Palm Desktop to it and synced my Palm Zire 71; can’t do that on the new Windows. I just like playing with the old stuff I guess.

I did my stretches, lifted 20lb dumbbells, and went for a night walk with Cassie.

I watched: Once Upon a Time S3 Episode 6 – Ariel

Once Upon a Time S3 Episode 5 – Good Form

I practiced my guitar.

I started editing book four of the series “Rainbow at the End of Tomorrow” called “Under Another Star”.

Boot Camp Fort Ord 1968 A41

Saturday 19- nice day.

I did my stretches and took Cassie for a walk.

I really got so engrossed into my editing, had the ringer turned off on the phone, and forgot to go visit Jimmy and Clarice who were down at their cabin for the day.

When I remembered it was around 4pm and was going to walk Cassie over to see them when  Charles and Jennifer who riding down the road with a shredded flat tire, no spare and almost out of gas stopped in front of my house. Their cell phone went dead when they stopped in front of my house and I lent them mine. They were calling Charles’s mother for help (I could hear his Ma screaming on the other end of the line and I was standing ten feet away! After they gave their Ma directions to where the pavement ends 4 miles from my house on Winters road because she didn’t want to drive on our dirt road, their car wouldn’t start. It was probably because they were parked on the hillside and the pump didn’t reach the gas in the tank. I gave them a gallon of gas and they had to push the car to level ground before it would start. Last I saw of them they were headed west and disappeared over the horizon and into the sunset.

I watched some movie or show on the computer but I can’t remember what it was.

*****