Madgravity

Tuesday 10- I did my stretches, lifted weights, and rode my bike.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 52 and 75 degrees, light breeze, humidity around 25 percent, clear skies but clouds moving in during night fall.
According to the National Weather Service: “Veterans Day: Partly sunny, with a high near 78. North northwest wind between 5 and 9 mph. Wednesday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 54. West southwest wind around 9 mph.”
I got a call from my friend Kula how is at O’Hare Airport in Chicago on her way to Idaho to see her mother. Kula always calls me from airports while she is waiting for a plane to take her to some exotic destination. Kula told me that she and Tom are thinking of purchasing a beach house in Redondo Beach! I said I’d help them move. The house would be overlooking the beach and ocean, cool!!!
I spent the day cutting tiles and gluing them down. Cut and glue, cut and glue for four hours and I’m still not done! I think I’m going to run out of tiles soon and have to go down to Home Depot to get a few more of them, but I’m going to hold out till I cut and lay down every bit and piece of tile I have.
Roger Smith cooked up some beans and ham hocks in a crock pot and invited me over to Stoney’s to help eat them. I didn’t know that Roger was such a fine cook! We sat around the table after we had our fill of beans and jawed about all the deceitful corrupt politicians that fill our government’s two houses.
I got back just in time to receive Patty’s failing computer she brought over. I already worked on it last month but it died again. This time I’ll just do a clean install of the operating system that I was trying to avoid last time. The dang computer is nine years old and I hope that the hard drive isn’t failing. I have a 30Gig drive I could put in but I don’t think that the BIOS is setup for that large of a drive. Also it is a white box computer and I really don’t think that I could find a BIOS update for it.
I watched “My Name is Earl”; I really like this show! Then I watched “NCIS” on CBS about a North Korean woman who was trained to be an assassin when she was just a child.
I did my stretches and went for a night run; practiced my guitar; wrote my column for the newspaper and sent it in; wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Monday 09- I did my stretches and ran two miles.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 50 and 74 degrees, light breeze, humidity around 27 percent, hazy skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Tuesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 77. Calm wind becoming southeast between 5 and 8 mph. Tuesday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 52. West southwest wind between 5 and 8 mph.”
Well I went to start cutting the tile for my floor but the tile cutter was too small for my tiles, dang! I went hunting for my glass cutter thinking that I could cut them with that. I hunted and hunted but it wasn’t to be found. I was sure it was in the same drawer where I had my tile saw. I called up Stoney and he had one and I went over to pick it up. He also microwaved a meals on wheels dinner for me; kind of bland but okay. I got back home and tried to cut with the glass cutter but it didn’t even leave a scratch. I wasted three whole hours looking for that glass cutter and going over to Stoney’s, double dang. What I did do was look at the tile cutter and decided if I removed one of its stops that I could fit the whole tile inside, cut one side, and then turn it around to do the other side. Okay, that worked and I started cutting tile and laying it down till way after sunset when I ran out of thin set (the glue that holds the tiles down).
I was beat and just wanted to chill out so I watched TV all night. First it was two episodes of “My Name is Earl”, two episodes of “Law and Order Criminal Intent”, and then “Castle” on ABC. I’ve been watching to dang much TV lately!
I did my stretches; practiced my guitar; wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Saturday 08- I did my stretches.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 49 and 72 degrees, light breeze, humidity around 29 percent, mostly clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Monday: Sunny, with a high near 75. Calm wind becoming southeast around 6 mph. Monday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 50. South southwest wind around 5 mph becoming calm.”
I had to make up for not laying down tiles yesterday and that’s mostly what I did today. I have only one full tile left to lie down and then it’s cutting time for the trim; I hope to start cutting tomorrow. I was surprised that my back wasn’t hurting this time after working with the tiles. Maybe my body is getting used to the abuse. I hope that after I finish this tiling project that I never have to lay any tile again!
I went for my evening walk before going over to Stoney’s where we finished off the beans and rice he made last week. We watched a show on lightning and hurricanes.
I’ve had my HP Mini Note online running updates for the last couple of days and they were finally done when I got home. So now Win7 is all updated and running fine.
I watched “60 Minutes” about computer espionage and how our nation’s power grid could be taken down by hackers. I skipped the next segment that was about some famous tennis star that used crack; I really didn’t find that news worthy. I then watched “Nature” that was about this snake called the Black Mamba whose bite is deadly to humans. It lives in a landlocked country of Swaziland wherehousewife Thea Litschka-Koen and her husband Clifton go out and rescue the Mambas. Thea started out helping her son with a school project about snakes and then learn to capture them. They now get calls from villagers to come and get these deadly snakes out of their homes and sugar fields. Watching them catch these venomous snakes is pretty frightening. They go into a bedroom looking for the snake, pin it down with these long poles with pinchers, then grab the back of its head and put it in a bag.
I did my stretches; practiced my guitar; wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Saturday 07- I did my stretches and lifted weights.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 50 and 74 degrees, light breeze, humidity around 28 percent, mostly clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Sunday: Sunny, with a high near 75. Calm wind becoming southeast between 4 and 7 mph. Sunday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 49. West wind around 5 mph becoming calm.”
I was just about to start tiling when Judy Ruggles called saying she bought a used car in Twentynine Palms and I told her to come out my way on her way back home for a visit. I have been in touch with her on MySpace for a few months. I wrote in my newspaper column back in June 2007 about the Chuckwalla Fest at Pappy and Harriet’s in Pioneer Town where she played her banjo. I’ve been trying to get up enough nerve to go down to the Joshua Tree Saloon on open mic night on Tuesday or on a Sunday and I wanted her to critique my songs which I wrote and my guitar playing to see if I was up to such an endeavor. I gave Judy directions on how to get here but told her that I’d meet her at Lear Ave so she wouldn’t get lost. The roads here are dirt and washboard and I kind of felt sorry that she had to drive her new car down these rickety roads of ours. I gave her the grand tour of my home showing her my solar panels and the work I’ve done with the tile. We yakked for a spell getting to know each other. Then I played a few of my songs for her. It’s very hard for me to play in the presents of people, something I’m just going to have to get used to, and I managed to get through a few songs with only a few mistakes. She said that she honestly liked them and encouraged me to get down to the saloon and play. I just have to make the leap which I hope to do in the next couple of weeks. Judy is an interesting person with lots of wonderful stories; I think we will become good friends.
I went for my evening walk and met Ginger and her son Vincent on the trail where they were taking an evening walk, too. We talked as we walked and ended up at an old abandoned house on top of a nearby hill. She had her killer dog with her that had bit me on the toe a few weeks ago, but the dog came right up to me and let me pet her, so I’m guessing that the killer dog likes me now or is scheming for a way to gain my confidence and then attack me unawares. We had a nice walk!
When I got back home it was already dark and I made a few calls to Family and Friends. Then I worked on the new Win7 operating system trying to figure it out, getting it updated, and making it run the way I want it to run. Then I did my stretches; practiced my guitar; wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Thursday 05- I did my stretches and ran two miles.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 52 and 78 degrees, light breeze, humidity around 23 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Friday: Sunny, with a high near 75. Northwest wind around 6 mph becoming calm. Friday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 50. West northwest wind between 5 and 7 mph.”
One of the first things I do after I exercise is eat my oatmeal while reading my email, but not today! My phone completely died. There was no dial tone, no nothing. I called up Verizon on my cell phone and they said they’d send someone out today, wow! I have been experiencing problems with the phone for a few days now like getting knocked offline and having to redial but nothing like this. Where I live in the desert the phone company doesn’t want to invest money in new equipment and has kind of written us off. This isn’t the first time that I had the same problem; it’s called a MOX switch. Usually the MOX goes out very slowly as time goes by. You can be talking to somebody and then “CLICK” you are not and it takes the MOX about a minute to reset. Martin from Verizon showed up a little after 1pm. I told him of previous times that the MOX had gone out and I believed that was the problem. He went to the main box that’s about a mile away and put me on a different MOX switch and returned at 2:45 to say my phone was working now. Because of the phone dropping the line I wasn’t able to get my Windows 7 updated and functioning on the HP Mini Note and have been using the Dell Mini 9 to post my journals. I started updating the Win 7after Martin left and got most of it completed, but I’m still using the Mini 9 to post my journal tonight. Tomorrow I hope to start using Win 7 on my posts.
Carolyn Rich called to ask if I could run by her cabin to see if the repair guy who is staying there working on it was around. She hasn’t been able to get in contact with him for a few days and wanted to know when he’d be finished. I drove the Gross Polluter over and sure enough he and his girlfriend were there; I think I interrupted them doing something. Their names were Jerry and Lana from Palm Desert, very nice folks. I let Jerry use my phone to talk to Carolyn since his phone didn’t work well up here.
I had to clear out everything in the computer room so I can start laying tiles down. That took the better part of the day to do because I had everything from other rooms I tiled stored in there; I’m running out of room! I think now is a good time to go through and pick out the stuff I need and get rid of the rest by putting some of it in storage or just throwing it away. I really need to keep the clutter down in the house and give me room to breathe.
I went for my evening walk and tonight I did watch the Nightly News to learn more about the killings at Fort Hood in Texas; such a sad tragedy! Then I watched “My Name is Earl” to take my mind off that. I watched “Fastforward” on ABC, then “Fringe” on Fox, and Jay Leno on NBC. I’ve been watching Way Too Much TV lately.
I did my stretches and lifted weights; practiced my guitar; wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Welcome to the Month of November! - I did my stretches. Well the change to Standard Time caught me off guard last night like it does every year. I was online writing my journal and checked the time on the computer and it said 1:30am, cool I could surf the web some more I thought and did so until 3:30am. Then I shut down my computer and was getting ready to go to bed when I noticed that my wall clock said 4:30am! Oops! I usually stay up late but not that late.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 52 and 74 degrees, light breeze, humidity around 22 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Monday: Sunny, with a high near 82. Calm wind becoming east around 6 mph. Monday Night: Clear, with a low around 50. West wind between 5 and 7 mph.”
Naomi and Brian came by for a visit with their two cute daughters, one six and the other is nine. They live and go to church in Yucca Valley and drop by now and then when making their rounds of our area spreading the gospel. They are mighty fine happy family and I don’t mind them coming by and am actually happy to talk to them.
My old friend Biker Mike from Hermosa Beach finally arrived on his Harley after going the wrong way down Winters Road; he made a left when he should have gone right. He hasn’t been here since 2000 when my home was just a shack and was amazed at what I have done with the house. We sat and jawed about computers and got caught up on our lives. I even played a little guitar for him. I took him for a walk in the desert before he had to leave. It was great to have him come over even though it was only for a short spell.
I called and talked to Family and Friends. I chatted with my childhood friend Larry Carlock reminiscing about some of the dumb things we done when we were young. And then went for my evening walk.
I watched “60 Minutes” on CBS about; Yakuza a Japanese mob getting liver transplants at the UCLA Medical Center without having to wait in line like the rest of us poor Americans, the H1N1 flu shot availability and safety, and movie pirating. “National Treasures” came on NBC so I started to watch it when I realized that I have it on DVD, so I watched it on my MacBook instead. Chris Young called in the middle of the movie and we yakked for an hour about solar power. Then I continued watching the rest of the movie.
I did my stretches; practiced my guitar; wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.

Saturday 31- I did my stretches.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 53 and 75 degrees, light breeze, humidity around 25 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Sunday: Sunny, with a high near 80. West northwest wind between 4 and 7 mph becoming calm. Sunday Night: Clear, with a low around 52. East northeast wind at 7 mph becoming west northwest.”
Stoney called me up to say that our neighbor and friend Donna Myers had passed away Friday night. I heard that she wasn’t well but I didn’t know that it was that serious. Last time I saw her was at last June’s potluck where she whipped up a wonderful tuna casserole. Donna was a fine lady and the community will miss her!
I took the day off from tiling my floor and just kicked back calling Friends and Family until I had to get ready for potluck. I cooked up some turkey stuffing with raisins. Stoney called again telling me that he had left his parking lights on overnight and his battery was dead and if I’d come on over and give him a jump, which I did.
There weren’t many folks at potluck this time but we didn’t mind. We figured that it was Halloween and they had places to be. We heard that Dyan Carrol was down with the flu; a good reason not to come. Marcie Hines made some mighty fine enchiladas. Marie Morrison brought a lemon cake that was mighty tasty. Chris Jonas spent all day cooking up his famous macaroni salad. Ruth Tuttle brought some cookies that her daughter baked. Bob Seeley had his fruit platter that is everyone’s favorite. And Rose Matich boiled up some yams that were fantastic. The mood was a little subdued because of the passing of our friend Donna Myers.
I watched “CSI” on KCOP, it was the one where Grissom left CSI and went to the jungles of South America where his beloved Sara who was camped out taking pictures of monkeys. I love that scene where Grissom is walking through the jungle, notices a bug on a leaf almost stops to examine it, but instead keeps walking on to Sara’s camp. For me that was the end of CSI and the best ever ending I’ve ever seen; brought tears to my eyes.
My friend Mike from Hermosa called to say that he’s riding his Harley up here tomorrow after leaving his group of bikers who will travel on to the tram in Palm Springs. I hope he doesn’t get lost like the last time he tried to come here for a visit. I waited in Joshua Tree for two hours until he called to tell me he went the wrong way and wasn’t coming. This time he will come directly to my house because I told him I ain’t going to wait for him in town again.
I did my stretches; practiced my guitar; wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.
Goodbye to October!