Today we relaxed in the morning, like all of the morning, then put on our walking shoes so we could go fetch the car without ruining our socks. I actually have a pair of slippahs but they are only for the beach and short walks so I need my shoes. Diane wears her slippahs all da time.

But, first, we had to have lunch because we relaxed so much that we kinda lost track of time. But, lunch was easy because when we went to the commissary the other day Diane tossed a large can of tuna in the cart. She also got relish and mayo so I made tuna sandwiches. They were really good. She let me get a small jar of sweet baby pickles, too, so I was able to get the little added kick that she doesn’t like. It was all good.

Oh! I just discovered that I kinda fibbed a little when I reported previously that I only had two photos of us walking around the Village. Turns out I did take more so here they are …

This is what I call the Hilton Lagoon. They call it something else. But, it’s located in front of the Hilton Rainbow tower so I renamed it.

Here’s Waikiki Beach and a sea of umbrellas that you can rent for $49.95 a day. Want a chair? That’s $35 a day. That’s Diamond Head in the back ground.

Diane found a new friend … and see! She’s got her slippahs on just like I said.

There are ponds throughout the village with lots of fish and this turtle doing some stretching exercises. He must of got a cramp chasing the fish.

Here’s some of the fish. I think many of them are destined for a trip to one of the many kitchens surround the area. That’s a guess, of course.

Diane bought me a new hat, too, but she won’t let me wear it in public.

Oh! And here’s another one from when I stabbed myself in the thumb while cooking.

Once we got ourselves prepared we jogged over to the Hale Koa parking garage, got the car, and drove to Aloha Stadium for the Swap Meet. Sadly, I failed to take a photo of all the vendors. I did, however, get one shot of a typical vendor setup on the way out.

Most of the vendors sell clothing, but there are an amazing array of different items. Look HERE to see more.

After leaving the stadium we mosied over to Pearlridge where our family was sequestered while waiting for base housing in 1986. Obviously it’s changed a bit over the years and, like most of the island, is filled with places to shop for anything you might want.

One of the reasons we went to the swap meet was to get towels and an umbrella for the beach. Found the towels, but no umbrella, so I searched for a nearby Walmart or Target to see if they had something. Target was closer so that’s where we went. We actually found a beach ‘thing’ you sit under that folds up small enough to fit in a suitcase. We’ll be happy to show it to you if they let us bring it home.

Back at the condo I cooked steak for supper. Didn’t want to get the new oven all messy so I just fried it in a pan with some onion and a lot of garlic salt.

While eating, we watched the end of the Dalles/49ers football game. I think that’s the one we watched. The 49ers won which we know made Jeannie very happy. I just did that to see if she’s watching. Jeannie is the organist for our church.

After the football game was over, Diane fiddled with the remote and discovered that “Hobbs & Shaw” had just started. We saw it a long time ago but couldn’t remember enough of it to keep us from watching it again. It’s a fun movie.

Then I gook a shower and we went to bed.

Diane shower’s, too, but only in the mornings.

Today we spent all morning in our room. I got up early, like normal, cooked a Jimmy Dean breakfast for myself, made a pot of coffee and just settled down for a bit until Diane woke up. We both slept well, finally. I was skeptical of how well I slept because my bed was pretty much destroyed this morning.

After Diane woke up we retired to the front porch to just watch the world go by for a while. We just weren’t in a hurry to go anywhere right away. We drank our coffee, watched the traffic, and read stuff. I also worked on the Day 3 post. I do them a day after the event because at the end of a day I’m not capable of doing more than making an outline of events. Seems to work best. You needed to know all that.

Today is an exception to that new rule. Our plan is to watch the remainder of the Chiefs and Jaguars game then we’re going to tour the local area to see what we can see. The reason, Diane said, is to save our energy for tomorrow when we’ll be walking all over Aloha Stadium at the swap meet.

I made salad for lunch. Stabbed my thumb and severed an artery. Almost bled out before Diane got it wrapped with a couple of bandaids. It hurt a little bit.

After the game we went down stairs and walked all over Hilton Hawaiian Village just looking at stuff and greeting to people. Many things were interesting but Diane didn’t want to buy anything before seeing what the swap meet has for us tomorrow. We suspect things will be a little less expensive.

We stopped at the ice cream store and got one scoop each. Only cost $14. While sitting on convenient wall we greeted to passersby and engaged in some interesting conversations. The most interesting was a gentleman who noticed my Navy hat and stopped to talk. He had a Navy hat, also, but his was from the Naval Academy. Here’s what I learned from our conversation:

He lives in Issaquah, Washington, his is last name is Haslet, and he graduated from the academy in 1963. I think he said he quit the Navy in 1969. I failed to get his first name, but his daughter’s name is Adrianne Haslet-Davis. If you read the link you’ll learn that Adrianne is a professional ballroom dancer who lost a foot in the Boston Marathon bombing in 2015. She recovered, and she still dances, and she ran the Boston Marathon. Mr. Haslet told me that she ran two Boston Marathons since the article was written in 2016. A joy to talk with is Mr. Haslet, and our meeting is proof that we really do live in a small world. I wish I had taken a photo with Mr. Haslet, but I didn’t.

We did, however, manage to get a selfie near a big and complex Banyan Tree that resides in the middle of the Hilton Hawaiian Village.

That’s pretty much it for today.

Jerrie got up and made coffee in a pot just like the one we had in Las Vegas the last time we visited there. As a matter of fact, I’m pretty sure it was the very same coffee cooker, transported to Hawaii so I would have something familiar to work with. Yeah. I’m sure that’s true. Either that, or Hilton buys in bulk, populating all of their properties (of which there are many) with same furnishings and equipment world-wide so the only way you can tell you’re in a different time zone is to look out the window. Yup. It’s really that simple. Kinda like time travel.

When I look out the window here I see this to the north …

… and this to the north east …

I’d show you the view west, but that would require me to get closer to the railing. We’re on the 31st floor and it’s a little freaky getting near the edge. We have a partial ocean view but partial is plenty. We’ve seen the ocean before so it’s not a big deal. It’s more fun to watch the traffic on Ala Moana Blvd below us …

We ate some breakfast, rested a bit, then gathered ourselves for the long trip to get the car. Diane braved the trip, not making me go get the car and come back for her. My GPS indicates that the car is only 700 feet away, but it doesn’t count all the corners one must traverse to avoid buildings and such. But, walking to the front of the property from our room isn’t much less than that. Distances are deceiving. Walking together was the better choice.

Our destination was the Navy Commissary at Pearl Harbor so we could load up on food for the duration. More better than buying food in town. Here’s where we went …

We took Exit 15A , in case you were wondering.

Diane found a spot pretty close to the facility. There were lots of special slots closer to the front door, like Expectant Mother (she refused to park there) and lots of other spots for Flag Officers, CO Afloat, stuff like that, but nothing for Honorably Retired Senior Chiefs. So, we had to go searching. It was actually OK.

Once inside we went directly to the food court on the 2nd level. Diane got a turkey avacado sandwich and I got a very large bacon cheese burger. I didn’t get a picture of mine, but I had to catch Diane in the act of discovering how enormous her sandwich was …

She only managed to eat half of it, saving the other half for dinner (without bread).

After lunch we wandered around the Navy Exchange, remembering how it used to be when we lived here. Things have changed considerably. Things just aren’t as cheap as they used to be. We did buy a few things, however, then made our exit to the commissary right next door. That was a better shopping experience and we got enough food to keep us going for a while.

The trip back to the hotel was familiar because we stayed on Nimitz Drive most of the way. Really familiar territory even though it’s been 34 years since we left. Most of the changes are vertical, not horizontal. They don’t have a lot of choice about direction.

Diane pulled up in front of the main entrance and I commissioned a bellman to get all our food to our room. He got a couple of plastic bins and a luggage cart to make the trip while I took the car back to the parking lot. I took my time getting back to the room because I knew I’d just be in the way. My timing was pretty good. Even though I could have made it sooner Diane still commented “That was quick!”

For dinner Diane ate the rest of her sandwich as planned and I got to eat the rest of the rigatoni she didn’t eat for dinner on Day 1. It was really good. We had planned to go take a walk on the beach to end the day but it got dark quickly so we just stayed in and watched “Gnomeo & Juliet” on Disney Channel. Cute movie. No one died.

About 2030 we headed for bed.

It was another good day.

I’ve been missing in action for just a little less than one month. To me, in my old age, it was just mere minutes. But, in my defense, I’ve been pretty busy during those missing hours. Looking back, however, there’s lots of evidence supporting Diane’s firm belief that I’m a victim of dementia. I know that’s her belief because she points it out every time she quizzes me about something I was apparently supposed to remember. Regarding that, while in the midst of living through those events, and/or discussions it wasn’t made clear to me that it would be necessary to provide accurate answers about details.

Since I’m not much of a detail person I had to struggle through many awkward moments in an attempt to live up to expectations with accurate data. Because of that I did my best to fill my blanks with the best stuff I could make up in a hurry. I’ve done that so often that my reality is blurred with a lot of fake information. The longer I pretend, the more real it becomes.

Considering all that I think perhaps that living in a fantasy world might not be all that bad. I’m so good at it that I’m seriously considering a run for Congress in 2024. Maybe I’ll go for President. There’s considerable proof that anyone can run for, and win, political office without understanding anything about what’s expected. Credentials? Who needs real ones when you can just make up what sounds good at the time. Education? Same thing. All you need is money. Lots of it.

Something that may, or may not, influences voters is that I’m not aligning with a particular party. I mean, c’mon. Why are they called parties, anyway? Doing that kind of defines the kind of activity one might expect of those who affiliate with them. Instead, I’m not affiliating with any organization that is defined as a party. I’m just running for office. There’s another thing that causes me to go “hmmm.” Why do candidates “run” for office? Why don’t they just calmly walk for an office at a brisk pace? How about “vying” for office? Or “competing”?

If anyone wants to help with my campaign all you need to do is write my name in for any position of any ballot anywhere. Don’t send money. I don’t want to feel like I’m obligated to do something for somebody.

This morning was pretty exciting at our house when I tripped over the dog and crashed into the door on Diane’s shoe closet. If I hadn’t been carrying a glass of water and my iPad I could have probably protected myself a little better but being burdened as I was I had to stop my forward momentum with my face and right shoulder. Doing that wasn’t a conscious act as it happened faster than little brain could considered an alternate outcome. So, from about 3 feet from the door I began my descent into the door.

The first contact with the door was made with the outer corner of my right eyebrow, then the frame of my glasses, then my right shoulder. The noise was loud enough to wake up everyone in the house, even in the basement. It was quite astounding.

The door stopped my forward progress making a descent to the floor inevitable. The first thing that happened was gravity took over and I dropped vertically to my knees while my face slid down the door. Then I automatically tipped back and to my right causing my right hand to hit the floor first, then my left, and I rolled onto my back, still holding half a glass of water.

There was a lot of scurrying and exclamation as people tried to discover what all the racket was. Gilligan arrived first, then Diane, then Jeff. Someone took the glass of water from my hands but I don’t know who wound up with the iPad. Then I just laid there waiting to discover what was going to hurt the most. Oddly, there was very little pain involved and nothing broke. After a short period of fending off attempts to get me off the floor, I was able to attain a vertical position on my own. Then we went to Diane’s other house so Jeff and I could work on installing a new garage door opener. I was allowed to participate with the understanding that I would not be allowed on a ladder.

As the day progressed pains in my shoulder, wrists, and knees manifested as a reminder that I probably should have turned on the light before venturing into the dark end where the dog waited.

Now I must limp to my bed and prepare for tomorrow’s chores. We have to finish the garage door opener, then Diane and I have to pack our suitcases. We’re going on a trip.

When I added the dino photos yesterday it was apparent that guessing what I was photographing doesn’t work well. My screen was dimmed to the point where I couldn’t see anything because the sun was so bright. A little fiddling with Settings revealed that I actually had the ability to brighten my screen display thereby allowing me to actually see what I was shooting. So, for Jasper, here’s a better one of he big guy, and a couple extra just for fun:

The photo with the red vehicle is the one we’re using. I took this to give a little perspective to the metal sculptures.

Along one of the streets Palm Springs is a very large lot that hosts a display of about 17 dinosaurs made out of metal. Knowing that there are some little people in our family who really like those things. So, this is for them, and for everyone else who find joy in these critters. All I have are photos for this. No narrative.

That’s it.

Today I got up at 0500 so I could excitedly anticipate our pending visit to Joshua Tree National Park. There are three entrances to the park from Highway 62 on the north side, and another on the south side from I-10. Since we wanted to see the village of Joshua Tree. Also, the Marine Base at 29 Palms was a place we wanted to go because we like to visit any military base we can. So, we drove west on I-10 then headed up Highway 62 to Joshua Tree where we stopped at an iHop for breakfast. After ordering our food it took almost an hour for them to produce our food, but we were talking the entire time and didn’t complain. Because of our good nature, the wait staff was pretty amazed that we didn’t throw a hissy-fit about the wait, but we were busy talking about “stuff” and didn’t really notice. For our good nature, they gave us the coffee for free. We thought that was quite nice even though we were more than happy to just go with the flow. It’s Sunday, after all, and everyone showed up at iHop for lunch after church. They were really busy.

After we finished eating, we continued east to 29 Palms where we turned north on Adobe Rd for access to the MAGTFTC/MCAGCC, the largest Marine Base in the US. I don’t know what the acronym MAGTFTC/MCAGCC means so if you’re curious you’ll have to look it up. I can help a little because I’m pretty sure the MC stands for Marine Corps. Oh, never mind, I’ll tell you: MARINE AIR GROUND TASK FORCE TRAINING COMMAND and MARINE CORPS AIR GROUND COMBAT CENTER. I had to look it up.

We drove around on the base looking at the really nice base housing, comparing it to the base housing we lived in for many years. That was 33 years ago so things were bound to change. It was fun to check it out.

When we drove off the base we continued straight south into the State Park. The change in the landscape was amazing. The rock structures were fascinating. The Joshua trees turned into a forest that filled all the open space between huge piles of rocks that appeared to have been strewn haphazardly by a giant.

Instead of trying to explain it, I’ll just show you …

Regarding that last photo … the sun was incredibly bright and I was not able to see what the camera was looking at so it was pure luck that any of them had substance. This one, with a light apparently shining on Diane, caused her a bit of concern wondering what it means. Is it a warning? Is it protection? I have a good feeling about it like God’s shining his light on one of his special people. Or, it’s the Star Trek trying to beam her up, but they missed.

I think you get the idea. That last photo was taken at a location that overlooks the valley in which Palm Springs is snuggled. It’s right below Mt. San Jacinto, elevation 10,833 feet, the mountain on the right.

After viewing this, we went back to our abode. It was a really good day. We got another stamp in our National Parks Passport book.

Yesterday we took some time off because all this running around is very tiring and we’re pretty sure I caught COVID somewhere along the line. I think it was on Dinah Shore Blvd. I was really hard to tolerate. Well, not everyone thought I had COVID but it was unanimous that I was hard to tolerate. I admit it, OK, but it was some sort of California illness that made me that way. Even though I was in terrible shape I did my best to keep it to myself and went with Diane to a most amazing thrift store. It was called Collector’s Corner. Very unassuming on the outside but inside it was pretty amazing. It was a little like going to Nordstroms but with wider aisles. And, surprisingly, the prices were very reasonable. Mind boggling.

See what I mean? Amazing. The china cabinet in the first pic was on sale for $75. Neck ties and belts for $2, and silverware. I didn’t look at the prices because all I could think about was how excited Cliff would be to search through them.

The only thing we purchased was a $2 leather belt, oddly from Nordstroms, for Diane. Then we went ‘home’.

Once we regained the safety of our rented room we turned on the news and discovered that there was a Haboob lurking around the Salton Sea and it was slowly heading north, DIRECTLY AT US!

As we watched the news, the evening turned dark, and we experienced our first Haboob ever right off our deck.. That’s a dust storm blowing in quite hard. It was an interesting sight as it blew through the trees by our room, obscuring the swale beyond, and mountains beyond the swale. Normally they are very prominent throughout the day. It was very interesting. The only other time we’ve heard about Haboobs was from Julie when one filled her swimming pool in Phoenix. Because of that we always thought Haboobs only happened in Arizona.

So much for Haboobs …

Today we drove to Sunnylands which is located on Bob Hope Blvd. It’s also on Frank Sinatra Blvd, and a couple of other streets. Getting to our assigned vehicle required that we wipe the dust off the bannisters so Diane could use them. Then we discovered a dirty vehicle. I tried to capture it in a photo but it’s deceiving.

See? It was shiny all over just a few hours previously. Now we’ll have to find a car wash as soon as the dust goes away. Although the Haboob has pretty much gone away, there’s still lots of dust in the air.

See. There are mountains behind that haze of dust.

Braving the local freeways in a very dirty car wasn’t difficult because most of the other vehicles were also dirty. So, we wandered over to Sunnylands for the tours that Diane arranged for us. To avoid embarrassment, she parked as far from the venue entrance as she could.

Sunnylands is an enormous estate that was built in the middle of 900 acres of desert in Rancho Mirage. The 25,000 square foot single level home, surrounded by a private 9-hole golf course and 15 man ma,de lakes sites on 200 of those 900 acres. This link will tell you more than I can remember so you need to read it. What did stick in my mind is that all of the trees and plants on the estate were planted because there was literally nothing but sand when the builders started working on it. It took 3 years to complete and is well worth a look.

We took a little tram driven by Noah who was very knowledgeable about the estate. He drove us all the way around the property and gave us all the history. It was very interesting. You should go there.

These are the only palm trees on the estate.

This estate has been used as the west coast Camp David where many presidents came to relax over the years. All of them were pampered and fed as long as they sat at their assigned seat denoted by a card with their name on it.

This display of silver caught my eye because of the name cards …

Guess why …

That’s it for today.

I have no idea what’s going on tomorrow.