On the 1st, started sheeting outside of new addition with Paul, doing some more tweeking of framing.

On the 2nd, after doing some more sheeting with Paul, drove Kathy to SD, where she had epidural under sedation. Afterwards, she was pretty much out of it, and had difficulty walking, but we stopped in Ramona and had Rubio's new tacos, which were great.

On the 3rd, completed sheeting of new room addition, and started cooling new room with swamp cooler for first time. Found Norm's pool was emerald green after only 1 week, so started draining it again. Installed 21 tiles and tile pieces in back patio.

On the 4th, Paul and I removed the window separating the new addition to the living room. Then Jef completed next to last iteration of back patio tile job, leaving only about 20 pieces to cut and install. Started cleaning construction mess, and did some caulking and finishing up on screwing in T-111 panels on new construction.

On the 5th, Paul and I created a walkway thru the window that was removed the prior day. Kathy decided to cancel our trip to LA to visit dad for his birthday, as Holley had bronchitis, and Kathy was still not recovered from her epidural on the 2nd.

On the 6th, Jef completed tiling in the back yard. Holley and Kathy baked Jef a birthday cake, and he got some nice presents. Holley made some nice decorations.

On the 7th, Jef and Kathy completed grouting the tile in the backyard.

On the 10th, drove Kathy to SD to get her last in series of 3 epidurals. We had a late lunch at Boll Weevil, after purchasing fan, lights, wiring, and recepticals at Lowes for room addition.

On the 11th, started installing new electrical portion of room addition. Later that day, while trying to catch up at work, the power went out. Looking outside, palm trees were bent as a sandstorm blew in from the east. Power was out for about 6 hours, and I rushed to get building materials under shelter in anticipation of a deluge, but we only got a few drops -- deluge was in the mountains. Kathy cooked an exotic chicken dish on the bar-b-q outside. We had some rain while cooking, but the power came on near the end, and we wrapped it up inside.

On the 12th, after a pretty full day at BPT, transported 5 cacti to La Jolla from Borrego, one barrel weighing over 50 pounds. Lost 8 at poker at Hank Sr.'s place.

On the 13th, Elsa was dealing with Hurricane Ike. A tree fell on her house, and a long power outage (weeks?) commenced.

On the 14th, Paul and Jef did some blocks, but Paul stormed off the job. Jef did some catch-up at work and then did some electrical.

On the 15th, back to work.

On the 16th, there was a nice sunrise. Then another full day at work.

On the 17th, took a day off, which meant working hard on projects at home this day.

On the 18th, another grueling day at work. We visited the Gage's for a going away party, but found they weren't leaving for a couple of days, so scheduled another one at our place.

On the 19th, after work, meeting near Julian with accountant, and then shopping in SD, won 17 at poker.

On the 20th, washed Kathy's car, did some work on new room, and then hosted a going away dinner for Jill and Rusty. Stephan, their son, also showed up for the party. Kathy made some great ribs.

On the 21st, Stacey showed up. Jef did some more electrical work and Kathy cooked some nice fritatas for everybody. We all went to El Centro and Stacey picked out a new Scion, and traded in her old Escort ZX-2. We had dinner at Kristine's in Brawley. Stacey picked up her stuff in Borrego and drove back to SD.

On the 22nd, got Jeep back after repairs including replacing water pump, thermostat, new key assembly.

On the 23th, got Kathy's '64 Dodge Dart back from the shop, got XM installed better in her Nissan, but it stopped working.

On the 24th, drove to SD to see a lawyer. Had a great lunch at Harry's in UTC area. Did some shopping before returning to Borrego.

On the 25th, had a hugely busy day at work. Had about 5 instances where 2 calls came in at once, and one where 2 came in on the biz phone and 2 on my Cel at once! We had 3 new patients, a delivery at Norm's (delivery people were way late, and lost several times -- by the end of the day, Jef had to help them in unloading cargo), a guy coming to pick up Stacey's old pink slip (also a couple hours late!!!), and a call from Jill saying we sent her the wrong package!!!

On the 26th, after another mostly full day at work, packed up and drove to L.A. to visit dad and Leny.

On the 27th, after a big breakfast, hiked about 4 miles and 800' vertical with Kathy. Later that day, had a combo birthday celebration for Jef, Kathy, and dad. Leny presented us with a strawberry shortcake birthday cake -- we all blew out the single candle. Played Scrabble that night, and Holley beat us all.

On the 28th, went on a hike with Kathy -- about 3 miles and 800' vertical. Bought a fan for office at a yard sale on the way. Left L.A., did some shopping in Temecula, and had a chinese dinner there with Kathy and Holley. Arrived in Borrego just after nightfall.

On the 29th, a busy day at work. Ordered a new camera, jewelry cleaning stuff for Kathy, and some other stuff on net.

On the 30th, completed another busy day at work.

On the 3rd, Jef started his training by working out with Kathy in the gym for over an hour.

On the 4th, we had a good sunset -- one of the first good ones of the summer.

On the 5th, We all got started before 7. Kathy made some nice fritatas, and our new helper, Paul, used up one bag of grout to complete 1/3 of front patio tile, Jef added a dozen or so tiles, completing the covered part of front patio. Then mortared in a brick boundary for the future backyard tile area outside the kitchen. Kathy's new treatment table arrived at BPT.

On the 6th, rain finally hit the valley with a few good showers. This reduced the amount of work Paul and Jef did on home improvements, but they did manage to level the new tile area in the backyard better than it was by using up some old mortar. Also, started on final run of tile in front.

On the 8th, Jef, Kathy and Holley drove to SD and did some whirlwind shopping after lunch at Ichiros, buying a new bed cover, tile stuff, some clothes, and general supplies. Jef and Craig lost at tennis, 3-6, 4-6, as Jef had to borrow inferior backup racquets from Craig and Sid. Jef lost 1 at poker, while Kathy had BBQ dinner with Holley and Jeanine.

On the 9th, Jef continued tiling in front, and later that day did his 3rd workout session with Kathy (about 2 hours).

On the 10th, Jef completed tiling front patio while Paul started removing grout, which was determined to be too light from front patio (after rain runoff had stained it... and Kathy said "Hey! That looks better. Let's get a darker grout." -- which they procured the previous day in SD). Jill dropped off a Dremel tool to help remove grout.

On the 11th, Jef started catching up on paperwork at BPT. He started draining pool when he wondered if there was a hive right next to it, and water was heavy with algae.

On the 12th, finished removing lighter-coloured grout from front patio with Paul, Kathy and Holley. Continued draining Norm's pool, did another workout with Kathy, and helped host dinner with Jill and Rusty.

On the 13th, grouted about 160 sq. ft. of front patio with Kathy on a muggy day. Then did some work at BPT.

On the 14th, completed grouting out front with Paul and Kathy.

On the 15th, drove to SD, got eyes examined (got RX), won at tennis with partner Craig, 7-5, 6-2 against Hank and Sid. Won about 18 at poker in Vista, where we played at Jeff C's new house, and got to see Papa Don, who was sidelined with chemo for prior 2 months.

On the 16th, helped Kathy seal grout, do some cleaning, and get front patio back in order.

On the 17th, packed up and Holley, Kathy & Jef drove to SD to stay in OB for a few days. We had bar-b-qued porterhouse that night, but had to scramble to find rocks for bbq (missing it's legs) -- which we put on deck, thinking it was cement, but after noting it burn into deck, found it was gray-painted wood.

On the 18th, took it easy all day, walked to town for lunch, settling on Bravo's. Holley and Kathy shopped for clothes. Holley and Kathy spent an hour at the beach before the sun set, but got cold, and had buried themselves in the sand for warmth by the time Jef got there at sunset. Kathy bbq'd some chicken that night.

On the 19th, after a slow start, we spent a few hours at the beach on a perfect day. Stacey arrived around 3pm, and Jef and Holley went boogey boarding. Kathy and Stacey did some beachcombing for shells. We all drove down to Seaport Village and had a nice dinner at the Pier Cafe. Then we drove to Santee and saw the last feature of the night, The Dark Night. Temperatures were pretty chilly when we left there at about 12:30 a.m. Kathy had slept thru nearly all of the film.

On the 20th, after another late start, we checked out of hotel, drove to Newport Ave., where Kathy and Holley did some more shopping. Then on way to freeway, while Holley shopped for shoes, Jef got Kathy's hands-free earphone to work with her new cel phone. We had a 10 minute delay getting onto freeway due to rubber-neckers looking at geyser caused by blown fire hydrant, but we all made it back to Borrego before nightfall.

On the 22nd, drove to SD, lost at tennis with partner Craig against Hank and Sid, 4-6, 3-6. Lost 9 at poker.

On the 23rd, started tiling back patio -- completing emblem.

On the 24th, the giant load of building materials arrived. Helped unload them and direct where they were to be placed. Delivery took place at hottest part of the day, and took over an hour to offload.

On the 25th, started framing room addition with Paul.

On the 26th, drove Kathy to SD for an epidural, which turned out to be her most painful ever.

On the 28th, with Paul, completed short wall and installed 2 more windows in house addition.

On the 29th, with Paul, completed framing for new addition. Drove to SD for shopping. Split at pickle ball, 2-2 with partner Sid against Craig and Ken. Was big winner at poker, up 30.

On the 30th, showers hit the valley. Kathy and Holley went to Sally's and created some gourd art. Paul came over that night and fixed us a great chinese dinner.

On the 31st, Kathy and Holley did some more gourd art. No work could be done at house due to standing water in work area. Drove Paul over and he cooked us a multi-course fancy Chinese feast.

On the 1st, started tile job in Kathy's front patio.

On the 2nd, got up early, took pix of new sculptures at sunrise. Worked at Norm's for a couple of hours. At home, installed border around diamond centerpiece on Kathy's front patio.

On the 3rd, met with Jill and Rusty at the Arches, and had some tacos and drinks. Then stopped by their house on way home and continued drinking, getting into the Patron.

On the 4th, started installing tiling up to diamond centerpiece, installing about 25 sq. ft. Dropped by legion and had some good grub. Stopped by Julian's on way back, and after visiting her and her guest from L.A., Alexis, picked up giraffe sculpture, and walked it over to Kathy's front yard. Did major clean-up of front yard.

On the 5th, consumed the rest of the thinset, and installed another 40 sq. ft. of tiles on Kathy's front patio. Did major clean-up of back yard.

On the 6th, Stacey dropped by to visit for a few days. We all just took it easy this day, going in pool a few times. Kathy prepared a spread for guests (the Gage's, and Jill's sister from TX, Beverly) later in the afternoon. Kathy made some awesome potato salad.

On the 7th, back to the grind at BPT, continued working on tile job during the week, a little at a time.

On the 8th, found the tile saw Rusty had lent me, and started using it.

On the 11th, drove to SD, shopped, won at tennis with partner Hank against Craig and Sid: 6-0, 6-2, 6-1. Was big winner at poker, winning 10. Stacey and Oscar dropped off Holley at poker, and chaufeured her home.

On the 12th, took it moderately easy, just doing a little tile work.

On the 13th, took it easy, except for tile work.

On the 14th, back to work for another long week.

On the 15th, did some work at Norm's, and noticed a couple more installations on Borrego Springs Road. When arriving home, Holley surprised us with "Mexican Night", where we were served Mexican food, Mexican decorations, and Margaritas.

On the 18th, won at tennis with partner Sid against Jerry and Hank, despite Sid's many double faults! Lost about 12 at poker.

On the 21st, watered at the Chidesters.

On the 23rd, took Holley to SD and dropped her off at the airport. Holley, accidentally, took Jef's phone with her on the plane. Then Jef took Kathy to doctor in SD. We then had lunch at 94th Aerosquadron (it was great -- we had the buffet). Then we spent over $6K on windows, doors, and other building materials, at Lowe's, for our room addition.

On the 25th, left work, did some shopping, won at tennis, 7-5, 6-4 with partner Craig against Hank and Sid. Won 10 at poker.

On the 27th, looked at getting Norm's pool back in shape -- still algae and too acid. Continued working on tile in front patio at Kathy's. This day, tennis club member, Fred Wantland, died in his sleep. He was suffering from cancer, and hadn't played tennis for nearly a year. He was a tremendous guy with a quick wit, big heart, and great tennis player.