On the 1st, Jef suspected he had a cold, and that was confirmed over the next few days. Not a bad one, but the first in a long while. Jef, Holley, and Stacey drove to SD for their annual anniversary/birthday long weekend trip, and checked into the Hacienda in Old Town. After Stacey came by, we found the Bar-B-Q's there were out of propane, so we aborted cooking hamburgers at the hotel, and instead, had dinner at the hotel restaurant: Acapulco. It was only fair.

On the 2nd, after a late start, saw new new Indiana Jones movie (Crystal Skull), which was very good. Later that evening, Stacey came over with her grille, which we found was missing a critical piece, but by then the hotel had fixed its grilles, and Kathy cooked some awesome filet mignons, which we ate with sides from Acapulco Restaurant. We later went in the Jacuzzi. Holley showed us the view in the high point of the hotel, roughly 5 stories above the lobby.

On the 3rd, after Kathy and Jef opened their anniversary presents (a framed picture set from Jef and a bottle of Oops wine from Kathy), we went to Jef's credit union and got Kathy's car washed. While at carwash, we got the ball rolling on getting our tiles delivered. Then we saw another movie, Ironman, which was also excellent. When we returned to the hotel, we found a great band playing in parking lot below our hotel room: The Stilettos. That night, we got Holley's birthday cake at Baskin Robbins, brought it to Ichiros in Kearney Mesa, and had cake after sushi. Holley was also presented with an early present from all of us: an Ipod Nano.

On the 4th, we gave Holley her birthday card. We had cloudy weather, instead of the perfect weather we had for prior days. We did some shopping and had lunch at Anthony's in La Mesa before heading home. We noticed very few gas stations with gas under $4.40/gal!

On the 5th, the tile was delivered amid a hectic day at work. Jef started a diet, weight about 206 pounds.

On the 6th, Jef cleaned up Norm's house, in need of clean-up after the huge windstorm on the 5th had put a bunch of debris in the pool and on his driveway. Stayed in Borrego and helped Kathy with another long day, altho mostly recovered from a mild cold. Jef, Kathy and Holley had dinner at Carlees.

On the 12th, Jef cleaned up Norm's pool, and before leaving found his citrus irrigation was out, so gave it a temporary fix. After another long day at work, Kathy was raking front yard late into twilight. Dogs escaped when she went in for a drink. She kept working until hearing a commotion. Holley and Kathy went out to find out what happened, and we found Marley disabled and covered with cholla. Gypsy was bleeding with some deep gashes. Turns out that a coyote had its jaws around Gypsy's neck before Marley tackled it. Both went rolling in some cholla. The coyote ran off. Gypsy was placed inside while Marley's cholla was removed over about 10 minutes. Then Kathy shaved and treated Gypsy's wounds.

On the 13th, Kathy took Gypsy to vet after prior day coyote attack. After cancelling all of Kathy's appointment that day, Jef went on another marathon shopping day, lost at pickle ball 5 straight games with partner Sid against Craig and Ken. Lost 6 at poker.

On the 14th, assembled the pool that had arrived the prior day, locating it in Kathy's backyard.

On the 15th, did some tweaking of pool after it had been filled with water overnight.

On the 19th, Jef and Rusty cleaned the pool at Norm's. Rusty reinforced the panels on Norm's veranda.

On the 20th, took Holley to SD, where we hung out at Craig's. Jef lost every set at pickle ball. Afterwards, Jef went in pool, and completely submerged, which, later that week, probably led to an ear infection. Jef and Holley lost 13 at poker. Stacey was too wasted from a hard day's work to drop by.

On the 21st, Jef estimated an outside counter job, and checked out 3 houses. The Tubb Canyon house had no water, and one of the trees was dead. Later that evening, Kathy and Jef went to a Salsa dance clinic, where Jef demonstrated he still has 2 left feet. We had some carnitas and a few drinks before heading home.

On the 22nd, Kathy noticed many plants were suffering from lack of water during this heat wave (temps. about 114°F for the 4th day in a row). Jef cleaned the lower swamp cooler, replacing the pads.

On the 25th, Jef and Rusty laid out grid in preparation for laying tile in front patio.

On the 27th, Kathy was sick, so Jef cancelled all her appointments for that day, then drove to SD. He and Hank won at tennis, 7-5, 6-2, but lost 29 at poker.

On the 29th, Jef brought some water up to Tubb Canyon, but noticed olive tree may already be dead. Norm's pool is again getting infested with algae.

On the 30th, Jef and Kathy started another super busy week at BPT.

May started with very cool temperatures for a Borrego spring with highs in the mid-80s.

On the 2nd, after working half a day, drove to SD, experiencing the many wildflowers blooming from Shelter Valley, up Banner, and in Cuyamaca. Did some shopping, and then split at tennis with partner Craig against Hank and Sid, 6-7, 6-2. Lost 1 at poker. Meanwhile, Holley had a friend over and was screwing around:

On the 3rd, continued draining Norm's pool after it stopped, and fixed up their bikes, as they are planning to exercise now. Arranged to watch Herrlin's place.

On the 4th, Kathy cut my hair. We attended a house-warming party at the Gilloon's:

On the 5th, Holley went on a field trip to Balboa Park in San Diego to see an exhibit of Pompei and such:

On the 7th, Jef completed cleaning Norm's pool, and started filling it.

On the 8th, Jef and Kathy brought some foam noodles to skool for Holley's boat project.

On the 9th, Holley competed in boat race of boats students built this week. He team's boat failed to complete the course. Jef, Kathy, and Holley then drove to Yuma and checked into a Howard Johnson. Proceeded to take it easy, swim in pool, and hot tub. Had 2nd rate sushi at Ah-so's.

On the 10th, dropped Holley at Mall to see a movie and/or go shopping, while we went to Dome Valley to look around. Went on a little hike, and turned around after encountering a couple of mine shafts with bats near the entrance.

Later that day, we picked up Holley, and headed down to Algodones and did some shopping and had some dinner:

On the 11th, Jef, Kathy, and Holley returned from Yuma, after lunch at Red Lobster, and shopping at Walmart in Yuma.

On the 12th, Jef and Kathy went back to their grueling schedule.

On the 13th, Jef met electrician at Norm's, and determined previous repairman had glossed over fixing appliance, blaming it on electricity. He lied, and the problem IS in the appliance. On the way back, took a few pix of new Avery sculptures. Later that night, Kathy was scared of a big spider, which probably turned out to be a baby tarantula -- she squashed it:

ALBUM OF SCULTURES

On the 15th, our new TV failed to turn on, so we started process to get it repaired. Due to 2 cancellations this day, Kathy dragged me on a sunset hike up and down the Borrego Spur (about 4 miles, 800' vertical, 1.5 hours).

On the 16th, ordered about 3.5K worth of tile for home improvements at Weststar. Split at tennis, 2-6, 6-4. Won 15 at poker.

On the 17th, repairman picked up the new fancy TV that just broke after 6 months. Started (finally) cleaning up garage again!

On the 18th, continued cleaning garage. Kathy and Holley trimmed Marley and Desi. Temperatures soared well over 100 this weekend.

On the 19th, temperatures topped out over 110°F. A cooling trend started the next day.

The 21st saw significantly cooler temperatures.

On the 22nd, temperatures continued to cool, and we got a little rain in the valley; and snow was seen down below 7000'! Highs were just above 70 for the next few days.

On the 23rd, went to San Diego, experiencing a fair amount of rain, and detours due to accidents. Wound up going thru Barona. Did a lot of shopping, and no tennis, which was rained out. Then was big winner at poker, up 41. On way back, again had to stop and lock up office, as Kathy's key is still missing.

On the 24th, mostly took it easy, but stopped by to check out Dawn's irrigation system, and tweak John & Susan's.

On the 25th, Jef and Kathy went hiking up to the middle of 3rd grove in Palm Canyon, about 6 miles and 1000' elevatation gain/loss. Afterwards, Jef, Holley, and Kathy had dinner at Assagios at the airport.

On the 26th, Jef did some work at various places, but everyone generally took it easy this day. Kathy was sore all day from prior day's hike, but she did cooks some good spare ribs that night, accompanied by corn on the cob. Julie and sons drove to Mesquite this day.

On the 27th, while Jef and Kathy were working, Julie et. al. went to the Getty Museum.

On the 28th, while Jef was working, Julie et. al. went to stay in Ocean Beach.

On the 30th, Julie, Logan and Thor arrive on their way back to NM, after visiting cousin Joanne and dad and Leny. They had already gone on the Hoover Dam tour and visited the Getty Museum. We all had pizza that nite. Jef showed Logan and Thor the new statuary in town.

On the 31st, Julie et al went on a hike before heading back to NM. Jef modified the hike after the Jeep ran out of water, and they did a one-way of the Borrego Spur from the tennis club to Kendall's, where everyone had a drink -- mostly shakes before being rescued by Kathy. We rescued Jeep on the way back.

Not much time for April Fools pranks on the 1st with a busy schedule.

On the 2nd, after work, went to the skool's open house, and met a few of Holley's teachers.

On the 3rd, rushed over to Norm's and tried to salvage greening pool before leaving next morning for Mesquite and a long weekend attending Rich Tower's memorial with cousing Joanne.

On the 4th, drove to Mesquite with Kathy and Holley. We took the back roads, and had lunch in 29 Palms at Laura's Cafe, a supposedly mom and pop place, but the food wasn't that good (Kathy complained of a "Gut-bomb" burger). We noticed lots of wildflowers in this area and in various places along the way. We drove thru Amboy and didn't hit 15 until just before Primm NV. Holley and Jef rode the "Desperado" roller coaster there (still only $7 per person). We continued thru nasty rush hour traffic in Vegas and made it to Mesquite by 6pm, where we checked into the Falcon Ridge Hotel. Then, after doing a little shopping, we stopped by Joanne's and had some pizza there. We met Jef's cousin Janet for the first time in decades, and her husband Jim for the first time.

On the 5th, Holley took advantage of the Jacuzzi tub in the living room of our suite. Kathy and Jef took a 3.5 mile hike in the area, and found Dad and Leny in the hotel room when they got back. We all drove to Joanne's house and along with about 100 others remembered Richard, a really nice guy, who had passed away toward the end of the previous month. He obviously had a lot of friends, and there was a short, but very nice ceremony, followed by some great food and drink. Rich would have approved of a big party in his honor.

On the 6th, Leny and dad took off early, and drove to Barstow to spend the night. Jef, Kathy and Holley met Rich junior and his wife Kathy, Richard's best friend Gary, and cousin Joanne for a going away lunch at the Oasis golf resort, before heading south to San Diego. Kathy was still recovering from the "Gut-bomb" burger 2 days prior, and was not too happy when we hit bumper to bumper traffic for 10 miles just north of Barstow. We managed to make it to San Diego by late dusk. We had called Stacey to have her meet us at the hotel, but she had fallen asleep. She eventually came over and we went out to Nicos and brought back some food to the hotel room. Holley and Stacey were horsing around so much that the management came and told us to quiet down.

On the 7th, we walked along the beach a little after checking out of hotel. We then had lunch at the OB eatery closest to the pier before taking Kathy to see her doctor, doing some quick shopping, and driving back to Borrego.

On the 8th and 9th, continued working a full schedule at BPT. These days became progressively windier and colder.

On the 11th, completed the taxes and dropped them in mail. After a long day, had a short visit to Carmelitas with Holley and Kathy, brought back a couple of tacos and did the draw for the tournament. Fortuneately, Joanne and Harold had nearly completed the partitioning of players into divisions by the time I arrived.

On the 12th, started playing with Don W. We got a 7-2 lead, but lost to Jim S and Pete A 9-8. Jef ran out of gas. Later that day, Jef and Don lost a lead and got eliminated. Jef had figured out he hadn't had any breakfast or lunch, and was very fatigued playing in the warm weather. Kathy ran a ping pong tournament on the side. Jef did well until meeting Roz and Desert Bob at ping pong. Later that night, he experienced cramping, caused by dehydration, but eventually got the salt in his system. Kathy, Holley and Jef attended the banquet that night.

On the 13th, Kathy completed the ping pong tournament, awarding the entry fees to Desert Bob. Jef watched some of the finals. Later that day, Jef and Kathy hiked about an hour on the SW ridge of Coyote Mountain.

On the 14th, Jef and Kathy went back to work for another grueling week.

On the 15th, Holley had friends over.

On the 18th, Jef left for SD for a marathon shopping spree. Tennis was even with partner Craig against Hank and Sid: 4-6, 6-4, 2-3. Won 5 at poker.

On the 19th, mostly took it easy. The Hall's took us out to lunch at the Arches. Stopped by my house and noticed the Mexican Primroses going to town.

On the 20th, spent all day at home doing yardwork. Vaughn helped significantly, and we mainly concentrated on back yard. Kathy cooked some filet mignon that night.

On the 22nd, another long day at work.

On the 23rd, Jef and Kathy got back home just before dark (so not as long a day as normal). Jef took a pic of some wierd clouds after getting home:

On the 24th, Stacey came back home so she could accompany us to Desert Hot Springs the next day:

On the 25th, drove to Desert Hot Springs, and checked into the Miracle Springs Resort.

On the 26th, after Stacey, et. al., got burned hot-pooling it all day, Jef and Kathy hiked uphill into hills above Desert Hot Springs. They hiked about 3 miles, getting up to the top of a hill will a cross on it.

On the 27th, Stacey was too burned to go out hot-tubbing, so we left without going into jacuzzis (Jef went out for a short time, tho). We did some shopping, and had some vittles at Rubios in La Quinta before returning home. Stacey left for SD shortly after getting back to Borrego.

On the 29th, temperatures cooled back into the 80s from the 90s, but it was VERY windy at times. It also was an extremely hectic day at work with 3 patients coming in an hour or more early, and the answering machine filled with 4 new patients clamoring for space in Kathy's already full schedule. Jef finished final draft of ad to go in local phone book: