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Bob

Bob DeLoyd


Last Updated: 3/17/2009

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Gender: Male
Status: Single
Age: 58
Sign: Leo

City: JOSHUA TREE
State: California
Country: US
Signup Date: 8/10/2006

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Sunday, November 08, 2009 

Current mood:  cheerful
Category: Life
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.
10:26 AM 
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Saturday, November 07, 2009 

Current mood:  contemplative
Category: Life
Friday 06- I did my stretches and ran two miles.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 50 and 75 degrees, light breeze, humidity around 39 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Saturday: Sunny, with a high near 77. Light and variable wind. Saturday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 51. West wind between 3 and 6 mph.” 
I have been trying to call Stoney since last night but his line was always busy so I thought that he forgot to go offline on his computer again. I went over to tell him and found that his phone has the same problem that mine had. So I went back home and called Verizon to come on out to fix it. They said that someone would be out today.
Stoney picked me up at 1:30pm for a drive down to Yucca Valley to pay our last respects to Donna Myers who passed away last week. There were a number of folks who showed up from Montebello were her and Cal used to live before coming to retire here. There were two or three ex Fire Chiefs attending from the Montebello fire department where Donna and Cal used to work and lots of family and friends to say their goodbyes.
When I got back home I went for a long evening walk to reflect. As I was walking I came across a large tarantula. I remembered when I first moved here I found one by my house and coached him into a Styrofoam Cup and carried him away where I wouldn’t accidently step on him. This time I picked him up and let him walk on my hands; he’d go from one hand to the other as I move one in front of him. What a wonder! It made me think just how precious all life is and how much life is wasted; where some folks strive to be alive to see another sunset while others throw it away on the trivial; where one person can see the wonders in an ant hill while other’s walk past giving it no thought. I guess the passing of my friend and the recent shootings at Fort Hood were a maniac took the lives of twelve souls, has made me contemplate these opposites of reality. Maybe someday we will respect all life and become the caretakers of our little planet and all its creatures. And maybe we have to respect ourselves before we can.
I read some astronomy and did my stretches before “Numb3rs” came on CBS; about a hacker who hacked into illegal credit card websites. Then I practiced my guitar; wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.
Oh, and I finally got Win7 up and running on the HP Mini Note and used it to post this journal. It appears to me to be faster than Win XP and is really nice to work with!
8:48 AM 
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Friday, November 06, 2009 

Current mood:  amused
Category: Life
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.
10:01 AM 
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Thursday, November 05, 2009 

Current mood:  content
Category: Life
Wednesday 04- I did my stretches and rode my bike.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 56 and 79 degrees, light breeze, humidity around 22 percent, a few cirrus clouds over head .
According to the National Weather Service: “Thursday: Sunny, with a high near 80. Calm wind becoming south between 8 and 11 mph. Thursday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 52. South southwest wind between 3 and 7 mph.”
I got right to work on the tiles. First I had to move my bed and everything else over to where I had tiled yesterday and then I had to cut and roll up the rug then take it outside. I spent till 2pm laying tile down and everything seems to be coming together quite nicely. My lower back was sore so I took a short nap. Hopefully tomorrow if I don’t get distracted I’ll finish up the bedroom.
I went for my evening walk and watched “My Name is Earl” when I got back. When Earl was over I went to work on my 12” Dobsonian telescope and found that two of the 7.14mm set screws were missing and only one screw was hold the primary mirror on. I noticed last Saturday that the mirror wasn’t aligned right and was sitting off to the side when I show Biker Mike the telescope. Now I know what was messed up with the scope all this time. I do not believe that the set screws were mounted in the scope when I first received it two years ago. I’ll check to see if Home Depot has them or else I’ll have to go online to get them.
I did my stretches; practiced my guitar; wrote to my journal, posted it to the web and called it a night. I am very tired and think I’ll sleep well tonight!
8:19 AM 
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Wednesday, November 04, 2009 

Current mood:  chipper
Category: Life
Tuesday 03- I did my stretches, ran a mile, and lifted weights.
If you read my post of yesterday you might have noticed that I had written the wrong date; it has now been corrected. Thanks Joan for bringing this mistake to my notice.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 54 and 78 degrees, light breeze, humidity around 22 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Wednesday: Sunny, with a high near 85. West wind 6 to 9 mph becoming east northeast.
Wednesday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 52. West southwest wind between 6 and 8 mph.” 
I went over to Mac’s house to help him bleed the brake lines on his tike. Unfortunately something was wrong with the solenoid and it wouldn’t pump up any pressure to bleed. He gave me half of a banana cream pie for helping out!
On my drive back home I noticed my neighbor Ginger working on her front gate and went over to assist her. She didn’t have the right tools for the job but I carry tools in the Gross Polluter and had the gate bolted up and working in no time.
I was just starting to lay more tiles down when Mat called saying he had made a solar panel and wanted me to drop by and have a look-see. What he did was connect two Uni-Solar flat roofing panels into a metal frame for mounting on a pole. I was mighty impressed!
I got back home and started laying tiles in the bedroom after moving everything around. It’s mighty hard to lay tile when you’re living in the place you’re tiling. I did almost half the bedroom and will move everything over to what I had finished tomorrow when it has dried. Then I tile the rest of it.
I went for my evening walk and then went over to Stoney’s to help him finish off the rice and beans. We watched “Dirty Jobs” on the Science Channel, about; mobile home demolition, working at a manikin factory, and working at a camel ranch which was very amusing! I now know more about camels than I ever wanted to know.
Back home again I watched “My Name is Earl” which always lifts my spirits. Then I had to choose between “NCIS”, “NOVA”, or the new series “V”. I chose “V” on ABC just to see if it was like the “V” that came out in 1984. It seems to run along the same story line but more sophisticated in its execution and special effects.
I did my stretches and went for a night run; fixed the string on my guitar and practiced for a spell; wrote my column for the newspaper and sent it in; wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night. 
7:04 AM 
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Tuesday, November 03, 2009 

Current mood:  frustrated
Category: Life
Monday 02- I did my stretches and ran two miles.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 52 and 78 degrees, light breeze, humidity around 22 percent, clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Tuesday: Sunny, with a high near 86. Calm wind becoming east southeast between 4 and 7 mph. Tuesday Night: Clear, with a low around 52. West wind around 6 mph.” 
I was wondering where my Windows 7 operating system was that I ordered from Amazon. Last week I called the post office in Twentynine Palms and they said that it was out for delivery and I told them that the post office doesn’t deliver at my street address. They said they’d keep an eye out for it. I called them again today before I did my exercises and when I came back from my run there was a message on my answering machine saying that the package was there and to come on down to get it. And that is just what I did. I drove the fifteen miles or so to Twentynine and picked it up.
On the way back home I stopped off at Stoney’s mailbox. His prescription from Canada was there and I dropped it off at his house. He invited me over for dinner and I said I’d be over at 4pm.
When I got home I spent the next hour installing Windows 7 on my HP Mini Note. Everything went well until I went to get the updates and that’s where I ran into dialup hell! Dialup was mighty slow today and sometimes it would just stop for no reason at all. After a few hours of this I was just able to complete about half of the updates. I was in the middle of downloading the Google Chrome browser when the connection just died losing what had already downloaded. I really need broadband out here!
I went over to Stoney’s for dinner. He cooked up his beans and rice dish that was mighty good!
I got back home and installed Microsoft Office 2007 and then Service pack 2 for Office. I was still trying to get things ready to take it online tonight to write my journal but the modem kept cutting out. “Castle” came on CBS and I decided to give up on the HP Mini Note for tonight and use the Dell Mini 9 netbook to write to my journal.
I did my stretches and lifted weights. I practiced my guitar and broke another string. Then I got out the Dell Mini 9 and went online. I have XP Pro running on it and I had thought that all the MS updates were done, but I found out differently; there was a 9Meg update that started to download. So now the dialup is really slow and it took me about an hour to get all the different places that I post my journal to load in the browser! This is what I call DIALUP HELL! Anyways if you are reading this then I was successful! Good night!
4:53 PM 
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Monday, November 02, 2009 

Current mood:  cheerful
Category: Life

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.
8:57 AM 
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Sunday, November 01, 2009 

Current mood:  calm
Category: Life

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!
7:39 AM 
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Saturday, October 31, 2009 

Current mood:  tired
Category: Life
Friday 30- I did my stretches and ran a mile.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 47 and 72 degrees, winds from the NE to NW at 4-8 MPH, humidity around 24 percent, mostly clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Saturday: Sunny, with a high near 78. West northwest wind between 4 and 7 mph becoming calm. Saturday Night: Clear, with a low around 52. North wind around 5 mph becoming calm.” 
I laid more floor tiles today. I mixed up too much thin set (the stuff that glues the tiles down) and ended up starting on the bedroom with the excess. I had to cut the rug from part of the bedroom to lay the tiles shoving part of the uncut rug under my bed. Now I’m wondering just where I’ll put my bed when it comes time to tile there. I worked on all this tile laying until almost sunset when I quit for the day, washed all the tools off, and went for my evening walk. All my muscles are sore again! I think I need another hot shower over at Stoney’s.
I did NOT watch the Nightly News tonight but I did watch “My Name is Earl”! Then I did some webwork until “Numb3rs” came on CBS; about bolts of plasma raining down from some craft and frying folks.
I did my stretches; practiced my guitar; updated the Copper Mountain Mesa Website and sent out the Newsletter; wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night. I’m dog dead tired!
7:35 AM 
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Friday, October 30, 2009 

Current mood:  amused
Category: Life
Thursday 29- I did my stretches and ran two miles.
Today’s Weather was: Temps of around 46 and 62 degrees, winds from the NNW at 4-16 MPH, humidity around 25 percent, mostly clear skies.
According to the National Weather Service: “Friday: Sunny, with a high near 71. Northwest wind between 6 and 8 mph. Friday Night: Clear, with a low around 47. North wind around 6 mph becoming calm.” 
I didn’t lay any tiles today and just rested my poor old tired body. I uploaded fifteen pictures of the End of Summer Bash that we had at our community center to the Copper Mountain Mesa Website.
Stoney needs me to add the 760 area code to his dialup number so he can get online. The double area code overlay went into effect yesterday and now we have to add it when we call our neighbors. I told him of my aches and pains and he said that I was welcomed to come over for a hot shower. Let me tell ya that hot water running on my sore muscles made me feel like a new man!
My front door would only open about a foot and I had to squeeze to get through after I laid the tiles in front of it yesterday. So I fixed that today by jacking up the door and resetting and tightening the bolts that hold it. Then I went for my evening walk just before the sunset. The winds started to pick up on my way back making it a cold and windy walk.
I watched the Nightly News again; just bad stuff, and I think it will be the last time for a while. I watched “My Name is Earl” to cheer me back up. “Fastforward” came on ABC; it’s starting to get drawn out. The best show tonight was this film on PBS called “Nowhere Now: The Ballad of Joshua Tree” about the independent musician folks in my area of the desert. I saw the show tonight and thought it was wonderful! I was at Chuckwalla Fest at Pappy and Harriet’s in Pioneer Town in 2007 which appeared in the show. I wrote an article about it in my column "Copper Mountain Mesa News" for the Hi Desert Star. The show makes me want to take my guitar down to the JT saloon and play some of the songs I wrote! Judy Ruggles has been trying to get me to go down there on Tuesday's open mic night and I just might take her up on it.
I did my stretches, practiced my guitar, wrote to my journal, posted it to the web, and called it a night.
Here's the column I wrote:
06/09/2007
Our little Community has heard from Scott Sorensen and his gal friend Anita that their buffalos Buffy and Sally each had babies last week. I used to care for their buffalo before they moved to Lancaster.
Cuckwalla2007Last Sunday Ron Dehart and I drove on over to the Chuckwalla Fest at 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 that I decided not to take any pictures. We walked through the restaurant where we had our hands stamped leading outside that held two stages, one big and a smaller stage for individual performers. Hula GalJudy 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 hula hooper in tie-dye green dress and beads in her hair, reminded me of the 60’s. She hooped with little effort right in front of me, I felt right 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.
Thought for the week: Imagine a Democracy where there aren’t any political parties and everyone was sovereign unto themselves. That way no group could control to the detriment of others.
8:31 AM 
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