Summer 3rd Quarter Journal 2021 July-September

 

JULY 2021

1 July 2021 Thursday

I was up early watering the front yard. The grass, what I have left of it, is nearly brittle from being dried out from the heat. I also cut up all the cardboard boxes on the side of the house to put in the recycling bin.

            I took Kyle Foote to the airport this morning at 9:30 for his Puerto Vallarta vacation. I am already missing him. The whole crew was over this morning. There were four Mexican men, Juan Trejo, David, Sylvester, and Angel and two teenagers, Mario Trejo and Gordo, and Bryan Deveraux working in the back yard today. The first thing they worked on was chain sawing the remaining stumps that were behind where my hot used to be. One was actually about 16 feet tall. They had to come down so the patio can be finished being laid with the tile.

I saved some of the stumps after they were cut into sections to sit on in the front and back yard gardens. The last of my old poplar stumps are gone except the one I use to set a bird house on, but it’s out of the way. No more poplar trees at  the House of the Barking Dogs.

            Angel and David used the left-over metal sheeting that once covered the hot tub to cover the east side beneath the new deck to keep leaves and crap from gathering beneath it. They also put a new latch on the north side gate so it’s easier to use the space by the garage as a storage area.

            Mike Romero came over to get his trailer ready for his trip to Cheyenne over the 4^th of July. He had a wasp nest in one of his compartments, but I had flying bug spray and we managed to get rid of them.

            David wanted to cook lunch on the grill, so I cleaned and scrubbed it really good. It hadn’t been used in years, just gathering leaves and dust under the veranda. I am giving it to Juan Trejo. Anyway, they fired up my old BBQ grill which in truth I was shocked that it was still working. I was shocked because that grill was 10 years old, and I might have used it 5 times in all those years, but it fired up like a champ...

Bryan cooked carnitas tacos while we rested in the shade of the globe willow. It was really pleasant beneath the tree, and I listened as they visited in Spanish and English. I think Angel was the only one who didn’t speak some English and I think Sylvester’s was limited but they knew more English than I did Spanish. I was surprised how much I did understand.

So, I guess I had my 4th of July BBQ early with hard working Mexican men following the American dream. It was a pleasant way to have some lunch. I even ate one taco. It was luscious.

The crew left at 4 and I took all the trash barrels out to the curb as tomorrow is trash day. I fed the pups chicken and gizzards and took them for a ride, then settled in for the evening. I finished reading David Rosenfelt's book Deck the Hounds until I went to bed at 11. Even though I usually never see Kyle after he goes downstairs, the house seemed emptier without him.

Cases of Covid19 are on the rise again because conservative Utahns are moronic and most of the infected are from the Delta Variant. Ninety percent of the cases are among the unvaccinated.

2 July 2021 Friday

Michael Romero left today at 11 for his trip to Cheyenne and Kyle Foote called from Mexico to see how the work was progressing. The final changes are being done for the patio and steps from the garage up to the patio. It’s more detail work with the border tiles having to be cut to fit. Only three people were working today because of the holiday weekend.

            I went out to the Day Riverside Library and checked out five books of David Rosenfelt’s Andy Carpenter mysteries. If I am going to be alone this long holiday I might as well curl at with some good reading material.

            In the news the Pride Center is being sued by three dissidents who were let go last year during the closure of the center during the Covid19 epidemic. They are all Lesbians and a straight woman. I wonder what they hope to achieve by strapping the already financially challenged center with a lawsuit, other than attacking Robert Moolman.

On a Face Book page I commented on a couple of anti-Gay male comments saying that they were homophobic. The real issue they have with Robert is that he’s not black and transgender and that he has the “privilege” of being born Gay, white, and male so how can he possibly be expected to lead the LGBTQA plus whatever community.

 

3 July 2021 Saturday

It’s the first day of being alone in a long time. There’s no workers here today and Mike Romero is in Wyoming and Kyle Foote is in Mexico. I didn’t hear from of them, so I guess they are fine. I could drop dead, and it would be a while before anyone finds me.

            The house seemed rather warm today. I am not sure why, but 85 degrees is a lot better than 100 which is what it was outside today.

My time today was divided in two parts; first working on my research on Second South and then finishing David Rosenfelt’s Open and Shut Case in the Andy Carpenter series. It was the first of the series and helped explain his origin story.

            Other than going to Del Taco for supper I didn’t do a damn thing else. Kimball Edwards sent me a text saying that it would probably be next week before we can get together again. I was pleased because he initiated the text so he must be thinking of me a bit.

 

4 July 2021 Sunday

I wrote on Face Book this morning “Props to the folks in Westpointe  on 17th North and Redwood. I didn't hear any fireworks go off last night. In the daytime I heard a few firecrackers but no fireworks. Boys have to have something go bang. I hope the prohibition continues.

The 25 years I have lived here it’s usually like a war zone here with blasting powder wafting through the street and windows being rattled. July is usually miserable for the pups because just as they recover from the 4th it starts back up all over again for the 24th. Damn Mormon Pioneers.”

            However, this evening the scofflaws set off rockets and bombs and anything they could blow up even though the Salt Lake Fire Marshal has declared fireworks illegal within the city. That is what is really wrong with America right now, so many selfish people with no sense of civic responsibility towards others.

 It was windy and this evening, with it looking like we might get a thunderstorm, but the thunderstorm didn’t roll in until late which added to the noise. Some field near here caught on fire from fireworks.

            Kyle Foote called me this afternoon  to wish me a Happy Independence Day. He said that he must have come during the rainy season because it had been raining much of the time there in Mexico and very humid but he’s having a good time going out to dinner and meeting people. He did ask that I take more detailed pictures of the patio to send him, so I emailed a bunch to him after taking the pups for a ride.

            The flies have come back vigorously again in the house. I swat them and they come back even more. It’s not like there’s one or two but dozens and big blue bottlenose flies which I know is not from my house being unclean but from coming in from outside. Ugh.

Well, I got kicked off Face Book again for seven days for fighting with homophobes who were criticizing the Utah Pride Center and indirectly Robert Moolman for being “a cis white man.”  I am so not a part of this generation of Trans Non-Binary whiners. I was reported for telling this person, who was bitching about the center only being for “cis white males, that he was ignorant and to another who was saying that the center only has had Gay men as executive directors, so I listed all the female directors the center had and said she was being homophobic. Unfortunately, most of the whiners were “non-binary” and Trans. I tell you that when I am back on Face Book, I am reporting every one of those bitches to Face book for the disparaging things said about Gay men.

Roy Zhang called me early this morning to discuss the lawsuit filed against the Pride Center by the five critics who were let go last year during the Pandemic, and I think that riled me up and so when Andy Dalrymple posted the law suit on the Utah Historical Society I responded to some asshole comments, and I thought with moderate responses but I guess they can dish it out but certainly can’ take it.

I wrote to Andy “I just got kicked off Face book for 3 days because responding to a comment by a trans, whining about being not accepted at the Pride Center and probably also from calling this one person homophobic and ignorant lol. Trans think they can call Gay men names with impunity though, protected by Face Book.

Andy wrote back “It is a vendetta to destroy the center and the community. They tried making their own center and nobody was interested. Ironic, I am considered an enemy to the “non-binary” because I fight for my gay rights, history and future.”

I responded “True. How are Non-Binary and Trans any different than the straight homophobes who wanted to harm us in the past?

Andy asked “What is your guess? Do you think UPC will prevail legally and / or continue? Our community has had rifts, but I'm not sure one so intent on destruction.”

I responded that I only support Robert Moolman, and he’s out of there in a couple of months. “There’s absolutely no reason for me to go back down there and the non-binary bitches will eat each other up and then play the victim and blame Gay men. They have no sense of community so why do they need a community center? And as a Gay man I don’t go where I am not wanted because I have too much Pride.”

Andy Dalrymple wrote, “The new director will be given an impossible task:  sustain the center and it's integrity, while making the mob happy. When I spoke to Rob at the Story Garden, it didn't sound like he had immediate plans to return to Africa, but how long can he stick around for this? Is there a way the community can show the board, staff and volunteers we stand with and support them?”

I answered, “I have sent messages of support but honestly I stop my donations in June when they wouldn’t mention Gay men in the Gay Pride webpage but did all the other letters.”

            Well, I can still see what others are posting, I just can’t post myself or make comments. I guess it will give me more time to work on my research or watch porn. LOL

 

5 July 2021 Monday

Jim Dabakis called me at noon, and I thought the call was to inform me that he was back and if I was home so he could come get Taco. I was surprised that he was still in Mexico and asked if I could keep him until August as that he was taking an immersion Spanish class and was in the middle of it. I said certainly that I loved Taco but he’s going to forget his papa. I know that wasn’t true and so did he.

I told him how I was kicked of Face Book for fighting with the enemies of the Utah Pride Center. He said he was proud of me and how brave I was to stand up against these malcontents.

He told me how a year ago the women suing the Center went to the McCarthy family who usually donate $50,000 to the center told them all types of lies and they didn’t donate that year and that the Center’s overall revenue was down 40 percent because of lack of donations and canceling the Pride Festival. He also said those laid off would have been getting $300 a week in additional unemployment from the stimulus money last year which is more than they would have been making at the center.

            Anyway, he said this was the first real political discussion he had for a month. LOL. We both agreed that those waiting at the border should all be given Green Cards and allowed in this country to work in all these service jobs that American won’t take.

            Kyle Foote sent me a video of his having dinner with this handsome Mexican man, but he sent it to actually show me the tile on the floor of the café that was the same pattern as the tile we picked out for the steps into the garage, so he was pleased with our choice.

            I went to Bountiful and bought a new vacuum cleaner for $50. They old one was wearing out and I needed one to really clean the front room furniture that had good suction.

            I spent the evening finishing reading “Collar,” an Andy Carpenter Mystery. It was rather good. I am really digging on how David Rosenfelt tells a tale.

 

6 July 2021 Tuesday

Sylvester Trejo and his son came over this morning to finishing cutting and laying tile while I worked on the research of the wild women of the west side of Salt Lake. It’s ironic that where the Greeks worship today on Third South and Third West, it used to be the property of the dissolute stepmother of George Q Cannon and had a house of ill fame located there in the 1880’s.

I noticed when I came into the house from watering, the place  was beginning to get a funky smell. So, I decided I had to really do some deep cleaning in the front room and the rest of the house. I vacuumed cushions, the chairs, dusted, cleaned the windows, and got down on my hands and knees and scrubbed the floors with bleach water.

Kyle Foote called in the afternoon and said that Mike Callahan, his former prison buddy from Lone Peak who now works for him, had picked up the check he wants me to deposit. When Mike came to the house, I was glad he offered to go with me because I didn’t know exactly how to go about it. Kyle said to go to Golden West Credit Union First, have the check endorsed, then go to Wells Fargo to get a cashier check and then go back to Golden west to deposit the cashier check. I guess it was so there wasn’t a six day hold on the check. It was for nearly $4500.

The only problem I had was that the tellers I dealt with at both places were new and didn’t understand what needed to be done so it was a bit frustrating but all’s well that ended well. I got to know Mike a little better. I didn’t ask what he did time for, but he was imprisoned 11 years. He was raised on a large farm in eastern Colorado. I bought him lunch at Burger King for chauffeuring me around and giving me moral support doing this task for Kyle.

When I returned to the house, Sylvester and his son Gordo were gone, and had finished cutting and laying the rest of the tile. The steps leading from the Garage to the patio look amazing.

In the evening I cooked baked chicken thighs for the pups but as usual they were awfully finicky. Oh well they will eat when hungry I suppose. It may be the heat also. I know I am not hungry much when it’s hot.

Kimball Edwards asked me to come over tomorrow evening so I did go to Mischievous and buy some massage oil. I want to give him a proper massage.

I watched a little news and I guess a hurricane is going to hit Florida. I could say God’s retribution for allowing Trump to live there, but I am not an idiot.

The Delta variant of the Corona Virus is in all fifty states and is 50 percent more easily contagious but many among the unvaccinated. Again, I’d say it’s God’s way to weed out the ignorant and hateful, except I am not an idiot, however anyone not getting vaccinated has some really challenging delusions that will probably lead to more spikes. Utah finally is up to 70 percent of people having at least 1 dose but only 50 percent having two. One dose is only 33 percent effective against the virus while fully vaccinated people have 88 percent immunity. I still wear my mask in stores, and it feels like I am the weirdo because the majority aren’t.

 

7 July 2021 Wednesday

Sylvester Trejo and some of his crew came over to prepare the patio for being grouted but other than watering the front yard I didn’t do much today except sit at the computer. Kyle Foote asked me to call him and when I did it went straight to voice mail and when I texted him, he never got back with me.

This evening I went over to Kimball Edwards apartment at 850 South Fourth West at 6:30 and he acted really pleased to see me. He went on a 3-hour bike ride just before I came over, so he had taken a shower as I arrived. After a few pleasantries we went into his bedroom where we stripped, and I gave him a long massage using the oil I had bought the other day. He gave me a little neck massage also where I was hurting but most of the time we just kissed and cuddle and held each other. I don’t think it’s going to be a passion love affair where he penetrates me as I think he’s mostly just into caressing and touching. To be truthful at my age I think that is enough. To hold a beautiful young man and be held by him what more could I ask for at my age?

            We talked also while in bed and he likes to wrap his long hairy legs around me. We are getting to know each other better. He just graduated from college last May. I believe in biology but is still working part time at the job he was doing while in school.

            He’s such a novice to Salt Lake City and hardly knows any of the places I talk about which may just be that he was raised in Utah County and went to Pleasant Grove High School. I told him how there used to be rest stops in Pleasant Grove along I-15 that were really cruisy back when I was in college at BYU. His parents had him late because they are about 60, which is ten years younger than I am now.

            Kimball confided in me that he does psychedelic drugs like mushrooms and smokes pot which I guess is not so unusual for Gays his age. Well not even his age because Troy Williams I heard does psychedelics. I should like to smoke some weed with him some day.

            Anyway, I stayed until 9 at night and thought I ought to leave to get home to the pups although I am sure that Kimball wouldn’t have minded me staying much longer as he didn’t have to work tomorrow.

            It was still 95 degrees out when I left and when I came home my neck was really painful, so I took some Tylenol which is the first time in over a year had I taken any pain medicine. I think the long hours bending over the keyboard pinched a nerve or something. I was pretty tired and went to bed shortly after that.

8 July 2021 Thursday

Not feeling well this morning kind of out of sorts. Maybe it’s the heat. I just worked on research on Second South really now Blocks 63 and 64.

Everything is so dry, and the bit of watering is just like survival mode and not thriving mode. So far, they say this is hottest Summer in Utah’s history, but I am grateful to have a home with Air Conditioning.

            I see that gas has jumped up again, to $3.69 a gallon and Covid19 cases are on the rise again in Utah mainly from the Delta variant among unvaccinated people. I should be more sympathetic towards them but it’s hard because so many of them are Trump Cultists.

9 July 2021 Friday

It’s too hot to do much but in the evening, I did clean out some of the flower beds and water the front yard. The grass in the back yard I think has mostly died from the heat and the lack of regular watering but between grass and drinking water it’s better to have it in a glass rather than on the grass. The new reality is that it’s going to get hotter and dryer here in Utah and the days of lush green yards in the summertime is a thing of the past.

            I bought two 24 packs of water today for the workers who are coming back on Monday to grout the tile and maybe put up the wooden fence beneath the veranda. They had to quit early today because of the heat working out on the tiles.

            Fifty years ago, I had a spiritual epiphany while staying at my grandma and Grandpa Johnson’s farm in Hart Camp Texas. That experience led me on a spiritual journey that eventually brought me to Salt Lake City, Utah of all places. I wonder if Kyle Foote is part of what I experienced that night or was I just delusionary over the loss of John Cunningham the previous summer? Real or not it was significant enough to change the projection of my life. Now I am spending my declining years in the land of Salt and Sage along another Jordan River that flows into a Dead Sea.

10 July 2021 Saturday

I went to Sutherlands to buy some fly catchers as the pests are out of control. The heat must have really driven them inside. Dozens and dozens and when I think I have eliminated the majority of them, back they come seemingly from nowhere. Ugh. I finished reading “Dachshund Through the Snow” and started “In the Bark of the Night.” Kind of dull in my life right now as I don’t see or visit with anyone but still, I am grateful for where I am.

11 July 2021 Sunday

Another long sizzling summer day and I didn’t leave the house but once to give the pups a ride and get a Dr. Pepper at McDonalds in the late afternoon. I drove down to Second South again and circle the block trying to imagine all the addresses of buildings and places long gone on Block 63.

What seemed really poignant to me is that nothing is left on Sixth West between Second and Third South which at one time was  such a vibrant place in the late 19^th Century with the Rio Grande Hotel and Saloon, The Denver House, The London News Bookstore, Café’s, Grocers, The Sullivan House and Saloon, and a meat market. So much drama packed into the that vacant space now.

            I finished reading The Bark in the Night before going to bed. I have been trying to cut out nuts and sunflower seeds as well as uncooked vegetables and fruit in preparation for the Wednesday procedure.

I heard the doorbell ringing at 10 today and it startles me. Who could possibly be at my door this time of night? Thoughts of mom and dad being kidnapped in Palmdale by teenage gangsters was in the back of my mine and I warily went down to open the door knowing I no longer have a screen door between me and the outside.

There was a summons server giving me a summons for Kyle Foote and I thought what the fuck was he doing it at this time of night? I told him Kyle wasn’t here, but he gave me the summons for him anyway. Now I know just a fraction of the fear it must be when the Gestapo comes at night when you are not fully awake.

12 July 2021 Monday

It was 103 degrees today and smoke from the wildfires in California are making the valley hazy. I was inside most of the day until I went out around 3, to get some food for the pups. The Build Team crew was here and got the patio completely grouted and the fencing beneath the veranda finished.

            Face Book lifted my suspension, so I was able to post why I hadn’t been on for the past 7 days, but between working on my research project and reading a new David Rosenfelt book that was most of my day.

            Mike Callahan from Build Team came by the drop off Kyle Foote’s car keys and we visited a bit. He said he really liked my house except for the turquoise door which is now my favorite LOL. He is looking for a house to buy but everything is so damn expensive. I said I’d never sell mine because where would I live that is cheap? The middle of Kansas?

Kyle called to say he was catching his flight home and at 7:30 this evening he came in, so I took the pups with me to go pick him up at the airport. He looked well, but tired. I then drove him up to North Salt Lake to retrieve his vehicle so he could have it in the morning.

            He was hungry for soup and ordered us both some egg drop soup from China Delight that he went to go get. So, Kyle is back, and he commented when I mentioned that Mike would like to buy the house after I die, and Kyle said that with all the work he’s putting into it that he would probably just live here too. I hope so but after I am gone it won’t matter to me any.

13 July 2021 Tuesday

I couldn’t have anything but clear liquids today in preparation for my colonoscopy tomorrow. I also had to take 64 ounces of Gatorade mixed with MiraLAX, a cup full at a time. Surprisingly, I wasn’t all that hungry today either and didn’t feel any effect of low blood sugar. However, I mostly just read. I did go to the library to retrieve another David Rosenfelt crime novel as I had finished the last one Muzzled. I worked on my Second South research a bit also to pass the time.

The Build Team crew was over to finish up. The tile has been grouted and the fencing below the veranda now is almost complete. They built a gate beneath the stairs by the garage steps for a little storage area. I bought lots of water, drinks and push up popsicles for them on this extremely muggy and hot day.

            At least we aren’t burning up like the rest of the west is, at least yet. Because of the draught, firefighters here in Utah are worried about having enough water to fight fires here and the toll it would take on what water we even have.

            The Delta Corona virus is spiking across states where vaccination is low including here in Utah. We have jumped back up to around 600 new infections a day when it had been down to under 300. It’s now hitting younger adults and children.

I am in big trouble. I made the mistake about 2 weeks ago of sharing my breakfast sausage patty with Buster, now he comes to me every morning whimpering for his patty whether I am having one or not, so I have to cook him one and then I made the mistake of sharing my bacon with Taco and now I am having to cook him some breakfast bacon, so then the rest of the gang said what about us? Their doggie treats aren't good enough anymore. So, I am making scrambled eggs and pancakes now like a roadhouse grill cook when I just want my morning mocha hot chocolate coffee with mini marshmallows. I think they are getting spoiled

14 July 2021 Wednesday

I had to be up at 4 this morning to take the last of the 32 ounces of my prep mix because they wanted it done five hours before the processor which was at 9. I think I have been on the toilet since 8 last night but they want you cleaned out.

            At 7 I heard a bunch of noise and looked out into the back yard and saw that Sylvester and his son Gordo had the south gate open and was cleaning up all the debris and later I noticed they also took all the used lumber that had been stacked in the yard ever since the old hot tub was demolished. I was surprised but pleased to see it finally gone.

            At 8:30 Kyle Foote took me down to the Redwood Clinic and dropped me off at the Endoscopy clinic. I was sleepy so I didn’t mind napping as they were running nearly an hour late and I didn’t get the procedure done until after 10 but once I was put out, I didn’t know a thing until it was over. The physician came in to tell me that I looked good with no polyps and said I was good to go for 7 years which actually means this is my last one, as if I live to be 77 years old, I am not going to do it again. I posted on Face Book for my friends “everything was normal no polyps, Benewah balls, light bulbs, or gerbils.”

            Kyle came and retrieved me and since it was after 11:30 we stopped at China Delight because he was still hungry for Chinese Food, and I didn’t care because I hadn’t eaten for almost 24 hours. We also stopped for a drink and after coming home he went downstairs to rest. His voice was really raspy, and he thinks he might be getting another cold, stress will do that.

            After I ate, still feeling the effects of the anesthesia I fell asleep and slept for about three hours. I started stripping my bed before leaving this morning to do a load of wash as that I had an involuntary accident while I slept. It happens. So, I spent some of the afternoon finishing that up and cleaning the bedroom sweeping and mopping. It needed it as it was becoming borderline crazy dog person. No one was at the house today working so I think it’s all done for a while.

            I Woke up to feed the pups but fell back to sleep around 7 so I managed to go sleep in my nice new clean bed which after 4 pups join me it will not stay that way long.

15 July 2021 Thursday

Middle of July blues with it too hot to do much outside, and I have no desire to go anywhere. I did clean off the back deck where the pups had pooped and piddled, and I watered the back yard some. Not sure why I bother because the grass I think is toast, but I do want to keep the shrubs, trees, and flowers alive.

Maybe the Bible is right, and the world will end in fire at least here in the West although heard Europe is being flooded especially parts of Germany.

            I cooked a roast, sautéed a yellow squash from the garden, and had the first tomato this year. Kyle Foote came home feeling sick from a summer cold and ate very little so I guess the pups will have roast beef tomorrow.

            I don’t watch television anymore except for the news. It’s the same old, same old. We have another spike in Covid19 cases but mainly among the unvaccinated. Wildfires are burning up the West, while the East is being flooded. Billionaires are flying into space instead of helping the people of earth. Republicans are as hateful and stupid as ever, and a former general feared Trump was planning a military coup to stay in office.

            I went and read from Rosenfeld’s “Bury the Lead” and finished it before going to sleep.

16 July 2021 Friday

I went to the Mormon Genealogical Library for the first time in years. I wanted to look up a book of the 15^th Ward that encompassed blocks 63 and 64 to see if it contained any information on the early settlers of that area.

The library has really changed over the years and the downstairs main entrance had been totally revamped. One of the reasons I moved back to Salt Lake in 1985 was to have access to the library as I was so into family genealogy back then, not for temple ordinances, but just for the history of my people.

The new building had just been completed a few years prior to me coming back to Utah. When I lived here in the 1970’s the library was housed in the main church office building on North Temple.

            It didn’t seem like hot today, or I am just getting used to it, but it was actually pleasant to get out of the house and walk around a little in the city.

            I didn’t do much other than that. I worked on my research of the Mormons who resided along Second South from the mid-19^th Century from the time the Mormons first settled there until about 1880. I am doing the history of the area in twenty-year increments except the first section which is thirty years from 1850 to 1880.

Kyle Foote came in around 5:30 and I made him some chicken noodle soup. He said he thought his cold was breakup up.

            I started reading a new Rosenfelt’s Andy Carpenter book called  “Hounded” after having finished “Bury the Lead” last night.

17 July 2021 Saturday

I watered the front yard really well this morning and then fixed the pups and myself some breakfast. I worked on the pioneer portion of Second South until near noon when Kyle Foote asked if I wanted to go get something to drink which I did. He intimated that we would go out for dinner in the late afternoon, but I never saw him come up again which kind of disappointed me as I had held off eating thinking we would go out.

            It was really warm in the house this evening nearly 85 degrees, the warmest I have been inside in a long time, not sure why the house didn’t cool off. The house was full of flies again. I swat them and they just keep coming back.

            I read some more of “Hounded” before going to bed.

18 July 2021 Sunday

The heat pump was not keeping the house cool, so I went and changed out the filter. That didn’t help much so when Kyle Foote came home, he looked at the thermostat and that seemed fine, so he went and took the panels off the heat pump and that was the problem. The bristles on the coils were so plugged from dirt and grime that no air was really getting to the unit. We spent the evening hosing the unit and picking off the crap a little at a time as not to damage the fragile bristles. It did help a lot, and Kyle said he would buy some kind of cleaner to help remove the grime.

19 July 2021 Monday

I am kind of at a loss to what to think. I am shocked, worried, and disappointed. At ten this morning I received a summons for Kyle Foote by a sheriff to appear in criminal court on four counts of communication fraud and theft, second- and third-degree felonies. He has to appear in court August 9 at 10:30 in Tooele. He must appear for booking prior to that or failure the court may issue a warrant for arrest.

            I immediately sent him a text saying we had to talk so I can gage how serious this is and how it will affect me if he goes back to prison with debts under my name for his business. I am at a loss what to think right now. I know he’s had a lot of summonses for business expenses but noncriminal until now. I really, really thought I could trust him that going back to prison or jail was not an option for him after the time he spent there.

            Kyle came home and tried to explain what this is all about and I could tell he was scared, frustrated, and kind of stunned. He said it had to be from the one client he has in Tooele and that the charges were bogus as that he has a contract with this person and that he was being targeted because he has a prison record. He said he has a valid contractor license and that he will give it to his lawyer to see what the charges actually are.

He said that the document was a summons not a warrant for his arrest. Still, I was pretty anxious about it all, but not as stressed as Kyle was. He was so upset at one point I almost saw him tear up. However later in the evening when he came home from work, he seemed resigned, said he gave the papers to his lawyer and went about keeping his business afloat.

20 July 2021 Tuesday

Kyle Foote and two of his workers, Mike Callahan, and Bryan Devereaux, were at the house this morning. Mike was stripping the Build Team decals off of the Sonoma while Brandon took down the north side gate that had been there since 1997. Kyle is going to park the Build Team trailer up on the side pad we had poured for Mike Romero’s folks who would come down to visit in their airstream. It really never was used very much. There was a lot of Virginia Creeper vines that we had to cut down along the fence.

            If Kyle was worried about being served papers yesterday, he kept it to himself, and he kept himself busy. We did take a break to go to Maverick to get our Dr. Pepper fountain drinks.

            Around 5 this late afternoon Mike Romero called and said he’s back in Salt Lake for his doctor’s appointment with Dr. Stoneburner tomorrow. He said he came home, and his air conditioner was not working properly and inside his place was 91 degrees. I told him to come spend the night here, because of Coco especially, which he did. He said he has Whipple coming out on Thursday to look at it. It may me the same problem I had with mine with the air ducts being clogged.

            We visited in the evening, and he said he left the trailer in Cheyenne because he plans on going back in August as that the weather had been so nice east of the Rocky Mountains. He said it rained a lot of the time he was in Denver visiting his brother and most of the time the days were in the 80’s and at night in the 50’s compared to us in the 100’s during the day and in the 80’s at night.

            He said something disconcerting which made me worried about his health. He said that he really was glad for his appointment tomorrow because he has no energy and the tingling in his hands and legs were getting worse. He actually said the tips of his fingers were turning purple, so I wonder if he is getting enough oxygen. Michael rarely complains about his health so if he is doing so now, I think he’s worried. Well, he knows if they put him in the hospital, I will take care of Coco.

 I know Michael is feeling weak from him going up and down the stairs, as well as when I went out to his truck where he was retrieving his overnight back, I took it to carry and Mike said that it was heavy, and it wasn’t at all so that also made me worried that he has lost some of his strength.

            In the news Jeff Bezos spent billions for a ten-minute joy ride into space, justifying it by saying it was doing it for humanity and to save the planet while here the west is on fire, the east is drowning, and the Corona Delta variant is spiking among the unvaccinated.

            The 2020’s are not the best of times. Last year we were held hostage by the Corona Virus and this year by the heat dome sitting over the West making it nearly impossible to be outside any length of time.

21 July 2021 Wednesday

We had a brief shower here at Westpointe by the Jordan River. It cooled things off considerably. Kyle Foote had Bryan Devereaux and Mike Callahan over this morning to help dig up all the Russia Sage in my corner parking strip. It had to be all cut down first and so grateful for the help from the build team guys. What a chore. The lavender buds were in full bloom with swarms of bees. But I have plenty of other things with pollen that they can collect.

I pruned back my yucca plant that is about 25 years old because it had a lot of dead undergrowth from over the years. I also hauled all the stones I had bordering the sidewalk so I could use the rotor tiller to start breaking the soil up so it can be removed. I want to put wood chips down eventually to match the south and east parking strips. I loved my Russian Sage, but it got out of hand and I’m getting too old to keep trimming it.

It was much cooler in morning because of the light showers but it quickly heated back up when we quit at 3:30 in the afternoon for the day.

I rarely cook or bake anymore except for the pups. They like to eat every day. They are funny that way.

 I baked a chicken pot pie for supper because Mike Romero is staying here with Coco until his Air Conditioning gets fixed. He said it was 91 inside his townhouse. Sometimes I miss baking and at other times not so much. Just getting old I suppose.

Kyle had serviced my heat pump by cleaning all the coils that were plugged and now the house is nice and pleasant for all the pups who are sound asleep.

This afternoon, I was so tired from hauling stones and trimming Russian Sage that when I pulled my Honda FIT back into the garage, I was too tired to get out and thought I’d just close my eyes because it felt nice to sit. I fell asleep and Kyle rapped on my window to make sure I wasn’t dead lol.

Mike Romero went to Dr. Stoneburner today and came home from the doctors with bad news. He was diagnosed with full blown diabetes and his blood sugars were way off the charts. That is why he’s felt so lousy and had tingling in his hands and feet. He knew something was wrong as he was always really tired.

His A1c was sky high at 14.5 and his blood sugars measured 545! I never had mine that high even before I was started taking insulin. I had to show him how to test his blood by pricking his finger and assured him that there are plenty of things he can still eat and not focus on what he can’t. The Good News he caught it in time before having to take insulin. My bariatric surgery put my diabetes into remission. That’s the tradeoff for not eating much anymore.

22 July 2021 Thursday

Mike Romero went back to his place this morning to wait for the repairman to come and look at his A/C unit. Coco stayed at the house. I guess the compressor went out on his unit but $400 later his place is finally cooling down.

            Only Bryan Devereaux was over today so I went and worked tilling, digging, and hauling dirt. It was about 3 to 4 hours of manual labor before I took a break. That is about all my old body can do these days. We took a break and I fed him some Chicken Pot Pie before he went back to work, and I came out about 2 and worked some more until we found a place to stop. We finished all the strip on the Fernleaf side up to the Yucca plant. Tomorrow we will finish the Daleridge side. It was really starting to get too hot in the afternoon to work anymore.

            Kyle Foote came home, starving and wanted some Chinese Food from China Delight so I went with him and ordered a Sesame Chicken Rice Bowl, but I didn’t eat much of it too tired but saved it and will have it tomorrow.

            Kyle surprised me by saying that Juan Trejo was coming over tomorrow to knock out the kitchen door and replace it as well as do some reframing and put in a new doggie door. He thinks having a flap on the door will help eliminate the number of flies in the house. I hope so.

            Tonight, as I was working on my Second South research, I thought I heard rain out on the patio. Finally, about 8:30 tonight a good soaking summer storm blew in, almost torrential with sheets of water coming down. I kept the bedroom door wide open to smell the clean air. We surely needed it. We have been so parched this summer and think this is only the second good shower we have had this year.

The people camping out the Pioneer Day parade I bet are getting soaked. I have no idea why the parade is tomorrow instead of the 24^th. Gregory Allen Kulicke wrote and said, “Seems like the storm largely missed downtown, according to the radar weather I saw on Channel 2. Ron Johnson, who lives on West Temple near the ballpark wrote, “The fans were in the stands waiting for the Bee's baseball game to start. They were quickly soaked and ended up going back to their cars to head home.”

23 July 2021 Friday

The Build Team crew got here about 7 this morning to deconstruct the kitchen door, and frame in a new one that Kyle Foote bought that has a blind built into it. The old door frame was built to fit in the 5-foot opening that the original sliding door measured, and this door is three feet wide. They installed a new portal for a doggie door too.

Juan and his cousin and son did all the framing and just worked a half day as that technically this in a holiday and they wanted to do some family things. So, after 10 years I have a new kitchen door with a blind inside to keep the western heat out of the kitchen and a new doggie door with a flap. Only Lulu Belle and TJ are hesitant about using it. I really like having a smaller door and it should really help keep out the heat from the western sun.

            Bryan Devereaux was over early to work on the parking strip. I couldn’t help him because I had to stay with the pups locked up in the bedroom to keep them away from the workers in the kitchen. He was done before noon anyway and said that the rain last night really helped soften the ground and made it so much easier to dig up the roots and clean the area up. So that is all done now. No more Russia Sage to cut back each year all though it was pretty, and the bees absolutely loved it. Gone too are my Mexican primroses that were so pretty when they bloomed in the Spring however, I saved the Yucca plant that was in the middle of it all. The strip does look so much cleaner and when I put bark down it will be so much easier to keep tidy.

            At noon Michael Romero came over with the roll of ground cover wrap I had given him earlier in the year. He wasn’t going to use it and it should be just the right amount to finish the middle parking strip.

He said his power is out at his place. That lightning last night probably struck a transformer over in his area. Mike said he tested his blood sugar this morning and it was down to 140. Kyle Foote asked he wanted to go to lunch with us, and we ended up going to Chubby’s. Kyle treated us.

            I went with Mike to show him where he needs to go to have his blood drawn at the Redwood Clinic. We wanted to see if he could get his blood drawn today at the Redwood Clinic but for some reason the lab was closed but will be opened tomorrow. I have no idea why Mormons are celebrating Pioneer Day today instead of tomorrow.

When Michael Romero I came back to the house, I was surprised to see this older man walking towards me and I said “is that Kay Wiker” to him! God how many years has it been since I last saw him? It’s probably been around the time I last saw Fran.

I had him come into the house to visit and catch up. He was up from Palm Springs, California visiting his siblings who still live in Utah. When Kyle came up, I introduced him to Kay and told him I’ve known Kay from before he was born. I first met Kay in 1977 when he was 17 and came to work part time at the Huddle in the Union Building at the University of Utah while I was the manager there. He and I were working at the Special Event Center together in 1979 when Kyle was born.

Kyle said he was taking off for the weekend to go to Lava Hot Springs with some “friends.” I am sure friends he met on “Grinder” ha. I hope he has fun.

I showed Kay around the house, but since he had never been here before all the changes didn’t mean a whole lot to him. It was good to see him again and I think nostalgia on his part because Fran and I were part of his youth, coming out, and moving to California when he was about 21 years old. Now he’s 60 years old.

Michael Romero spent the night again as the power to his place is still out and has been since yesterday’s rainstorm. He called in the evening and asked if Coco and he could. He brought a salad over for his dinner and I ate the left-over sesame chicken, Kyle bought for me yesterday. Lulubelle helped me finish it.

Taco, Buster, and Maxx have no issues with going in and out the new flap on the doggie door, but Lulubelle and TJ are still hesitant and afraid of it. I made some banana nut bread with Splenda sweetener to see if Mike could eat that that but the small slices, I gave him spiked his levels.

We sat on the back porch in the rocking chairs like old men watching the sun go down in the west. We didn’t hear any fireworks or firecrackers, but some neighbor idiot was setting off some type of explosion that sounded like a cannon. The boom was loud and resonated throughout the neighborhood. Totally ridiculous and uncalled for and I suspect illegal.

24 July 2021 Saturday

This morning Jimmy Hamamoto texted me that he is in Salt Lake for a visit, and I agreed to meet with him and Chuck Whyte for lunch tomorrow. I really don’t have much to talk with Jimmy about anymore, and mainly he will do all the talking so being with Chuck I can kill two birds with one stone.

I was up way too early this morning and after Mike Romero left to go have his blood draw I went back to bed, and I actually fell back to sleep and slept until 11:30 when he came back to the house to retrieve Coco. He said his power had come back on, so things are back to Normal at his place.

            The only times I left the house today was to go get a drink at Exxon and to take the pups for a ride in the evening. Other than that, it was a fairly uneventful day. I cleaned the kitchen, moved the table around some, and pruned back some of the Hollyhocks that were withering. I finally did some watering as that I hadn’t since the last rainstorm we had. The ground was dry as could be. They say the Great Salt Lake is at its lowest level in recorded times due to the drought. It was 100 degrees again today.

            I read some from “Outfoxed” before falling asleep in my lazy boy surrounded by the hounds who were frightened by the neighbors setting off fireworks which was technically illegal to do in Salt Lake this year. There was a stabbing in the parking lot at the Smith’s in Glendale at the market that I often shop at. It’s a crazy world.

            It’s been 35 years now since I saw Billy Bikowski riding his Mountain Bike through Liberty Park on Pioneer Day 1986 and fell head over heels in love with that unattainable boy.

25 July 2021 Sunday

I had a nice visit with Chuck Whyte and Jimmy Hamamoto, who's visiting from Boston. Chuck and Jimmy have been friends from the late 1970s and Chuck and I have been friends for 35 years about the time I met John Reeves, who was Jimmy’s husband. I’ve known Jimmy since my KRCL and Sacred Faeries days from the late 1980s...

            I picked them up and we went to Rio Café on Fourth South, and I bought Chuck his lunch. I would have bought Jimmy’s also, but he went through the line before us and bought his own. As usual Jimmy rattled on about people and places we did not know or care about, but we just listened. It would be nice if he talked and reminiscent about things we could relate to, but that is not him. He’s an awful lot like Rich Butler in that way; a one side conversationalist but they are good people.

 After eating I drove them around to show Jimmy all the changes down on Second South and downtown. A huge high rise building complex is being built where the Radio City use to be on State Street. In fact, on the east side of street there is a row of huge high rises that are changing the sky-scrape of the city.

            My air conditioning in the Honda seemed to not be cooling while driving like it should and I was worried that I might have to have it looked at, but when I drove the pups around later in the evening it seemed to be fine. So not sure what that was all about.

It must be a Gay Pioneer Day because Friday Kay Wiker who worked for me in 1977 when he was 17 came by to see me. I hadn’t seen him in 30 years. I was the manager of the Huddle grill in the Union Building at the U of U back then before going to work for the Huntsman Arena in 1978 where Kay worked also. It was kind of a homecoming weekend of old timers.

While I was out, Kyle Foote called and said he was back from Lava Hot Springs where he spent the weekend with his new Chilean sex partner named Franco. Kyle loves his Latin boys. He wanted to know if I wanted to go to El Pollo Loco, but I said I had already eaten, but back at home we visited, and it sounds like he had a nice time.

He said he spent some time in Pocatello as Lava Hot Springs was super crowded because of the holiday. He said he even went horseback riding. I asked him if his butt was sore from riding, but I thought if it was, I am sure it was from him being ridden.

            I sent a message to Kimball Edwards the other day to say hi and that I was thinking of him and wanted to know if he would like to get together. He said sure and tonight, which surprised and pleased me.

            Kyle wanted to go get a Baskin Robbins chocolate shake and I went with him just for the company because I didn’t want anything. Even though Kyle would have paid for it I just can’t in good conscience spent $3.50 for a scoop of ice-cream when I can buy a quart for that.

            Any way it after 8 at night when we came back to the house and Kimball wanted me to come over at 9 so I took a quick shower before leaving. Kimball looked so cute and acted really happy to see me. I brought massage oil and after I got him naked, I gave him a really good massage. He has such a strong beautiful body that it’s just a pleasure to see him nude and able to caress him.

After the massage I began suckling his long cock and his balls and thighs. While I was rimming him, he masturbated and ejaculated. He was so sweet, and we just kissed and cuddle some more. I left about 10:30 after a wonderful interlude with a handsome tall man. He must be at least 6 feet 1 inches, may be more.

            Funny, 35 years ago I fell in love with a beautiful 25-year-old who didn’t appreciate my love for him at all, and now I have made love with a beautiful man who wants to hold me, touch me, and kiss me. I suppose it’s an old man’s dalliance on my part, but human affection and touch is essential no matter the age. Even Kyle wants him and I to embrace before he heads down to his Casita.

            He talked to me this evening about putting a master bath in the movie room and I just sat and listened. I have no idea how he would accomplish it, but I suppose if he wants to do it, what do I care?

            It was hot smoky for much of the day as the massive fires in California and Oregon are filling our valleys with smoke.

26 July 2021 Monday

Bryan Devereaux was over at 8 this morning and Kyle Foote came up and got me so I could help with finishing the corner parking strip. We laid down more weed barrier, but I had to go to Sutherlands to buy more because what I had wasn’t enough. When that was done, we took the Sonoma Truck over to Monroc Gravel on Beck Street to buy a load of mulch. We thought Kyle said a half cubic yard would be enough but when we began spreading it out, it was not nearly enough so we went back and bought a whole cubic yard which was more than enough. We finished it by 11 and that is what counts.

It was beginning to heat up also and got up to 101 degrees. The news said there’s been 18 one hundred degrees days so far, the year with 21 being the record. I bet we will break it. All the other days this summer has mostly been in the 90’s. I also heard that Salt Lake has the 11^th worst air in the air in the nation right now because of the smoke from the West Coast Fire and yesterday 8 people were killed down near Fillmore when a sandstorm blew across I-15 and cars crashed into one another going too fast.

            Bryan installed the new garage back door for the rest of the afternoon and I just rested as I was tuckered out.

            When Kyle came home, he was hungry because he hadn’t eaten all day and wanted to know if I had made anything for supper. I hadn’t but I had some beef sirloin tips frozen, so I threw together some egg noodles cooked up my squash and cooked the sirloin tips in the microwave, so we had a nice repast after all.

            I finished reading Outfoxed yesterday and began a new David Rosenfelt novel “Rescued.” All of his books have basically the same formula kind of like “Murder She Wrote” but I like his characters and his style of writing.

I don’t see how Salt Lakes housing market is sustainable. Five years ago, my house was assessed at $179,000 now its $100,000 more. How are people going to afford starter homes in the city? My house was taxed way above its value in 2015 when it was just $149,000.

Daniel Cureton wrote “If you make under $85k, you can’t,” and Russell Pack wrote, “It's not sustainable. Especially as our water supply dries up. People will migrate elsewhere, and house prices will fall.”

The news is full of people in hospital units, all tubed up saying, “I wish I would have been vaccinated.” I know this is a plea to get stupid people to take this serious but it’s hard to be sympathetic to ignorant people, mostly conservatives who think that the government shouldn’t tell people what to do. I guess I don’t have to wear a seat belt because government can’t make people do what they don’t want too; can’t legislate personal behavior? Oh, really try buying a car on Sunday. Utah’s Republicans are Trumpettes and just as plain ignorant

27 July 2021 Tuesday

I did a little yard work cleaning up the piles of dirt we dug out of the parking strip and put in the side yard. Didn’t have any one at the house today working, so I sat in the hot tub to see if it was still functioning, and it was. I just needed some more bromide tablets because the water was getting stale and stagnant.

I made some enchiladas, rice, and red beans for supper and later when I went out to water the front, I saw a law enforcement guy, with two repo men. Two of Kyle’s flatbed trailers were reposed which really upsets me, because I wonder what in the hell is going on with his company.

He wants to remodel the movie room and I said that I am concerned with him spending money on the house and he looked stressed and said he needs to keep his crew working so they don’t go elsewhere while his design team is doing projects.

            I am really anxious about where all this is going. I went through all these ten years ago and am really frightened that I don’t know what is going on.

28 July 2021 Wednesday

I had a horrible restless night. My mind kept playing over worse case scenarios about the financial troubles Kyle Foote has found himself in and worried how it would affect me. It almost felt like ten years ago when I found out that Kyle had been stealing my credit cards and racking me up with debt. I worried that this was just more déjà vu.

I tossed and turned and could not sleep so I finished reading the Andy Carpenter mystery until sheer exhaustion around 4:30 this morning I slept a little before getting up at 6:30.

            I texted Kyle and asked if we could talk and finally, he came up at 9:30 this morning and he was really freaking out with us having a conversation about what was going on. He was saying how he hates people caring about him and all types of emotional self-hatred talk but I said that doesn’t matter because I do care about him and love him, but I need to know what is going on.

I calmly explained my concerns, that I don’t know the status of his Tooele situation, and how it will impact me and the house. I said I worry about having major projects happening at the house that won’t be finished if he gets locked up again and any financial responsibilities I have in regard to his debts. I said my first concern is for the welfare of the pups, then him, then me.

            He was calmer and explained that he hadn’t gone to Tooele yet because it scares him having to report in, but even with the legal trouble he said it could take years before it was settled. He said he had his lawyers working on it showing that he had contracts with the guy who filed criminal suit against him.

He said that he needs to keep his construction guys business, that he has to pay for their labor whether they are working on other projects or not and the house gives them a reason to stay busy until other projects open up. He said he is just having them do the heavy projects he can’t do so that in the worst-case scenario he could finish the details.

All I said to Kyle was that I just needed to be included in the loop, so I know what is going on. He said he is reducing his expensive, gave up his storage unit on Center Street, sold some of his vehicles, and is going to give people gas vouchers and sell off more of his fleet by downsizing.

He probably over expanded too quickly as it was. He told me how much the cabinets and counter tops for the kitchen would be for the remodel and said doing a bathroom in the movie room would not be that expensive.

            I felt better after the we talked. Not knowing is worse than knowing and I just needed him to talk to me.

            I started reading another David Rosenfelt novel. I guess it’s a form of escapism for me and worked some on my research project. I went to the library and there was another Andy Carpenter book Dog Eats Dog novel on hold there for me. I went to Smiths to get some canned dog food, a drink at Exxon, but that was the only time I left the house. I didn’t even take the pups for a ride. I was just too tired.

            Sad news today, Rob Moolman resigned from the Utah Pride Center effective at once. Well, I stopped my contribution to that outfit once they started being homophobic, which is one of the underlying reasons for the attack on Rob Moolman. There are absolutely no reasons for me to go back there now. It’s been thirty years since I was first involved with the Utah Stonewall Center, and I hardly recognize what the Utah Pride Center has become.

29 July 2021 Thursday

July is quickly ending, and it can’t’ come too soon as hot as it has been. The breeze has cleared out much of the smoke in the valley and while Southern Utah is being flooded with monsoon rains, we haven’t gotten a drop here in Salt Lake. It wasn’t as hot today either only in the low 90s.I haven’t heard from anyone. I only see Kyle Foote when he comes home. I wonder how that will all play out.

Utah had over a 1000 Covid 19 cases today from the Delta variant. I know I should be more compassionate to those catching it, but it is hard when selfish, ignorant, and some just plain mean-spirited people are the ones getting sick and putting the health of children who can’t get vaccinated and others with immune compromised health issues at risk, not to mention the burden placed on Health Care Workers. And still the radical right is opposed to masking up again.

30 July 2021 Friday

About noon I went down to the City County Complex on 21^st South to go to the Recorders office to look up land transfers from the 19^th Century for Block 63. After some trial and errors, I managed to find what I wanted, that is the earliest owners of the eight lots of the block and especially a chain of title for the corner of Second South and Sixth West where the old In-Between once was located in the 1980s which was what had me interested in this project in the first place.

            When I left, I stopped at the Firehouse Hamburger joint in Glendale and a cheeseburger combo with onion rings. It really was too much for me to eat but I just felt like an old fashion hamburger.

            When Kyle Foote came up this evening, I fixed us some street tacos for our supper, and we visited for a while about traveling. It was really one of the few times we actually visited, just to be visiting.

We’re losing another bit of Salt Lake just for another apartment high rise. The Second East and Third South block is going to be torn down and I imagine all the little shops on the block will be gone as well. The site of the Tavernacle Bar, which used to be Aztec Copies, was where I had all my Beyond Stonewall materials printed for my Gay and Lesbian retreat in the late 1980s.

The complex is called Broadway Place and it used to have a lot of quirky antique shops, and the Vug, which was a “one-of-a-kind rocks, gems, fossils, minerals, gifts, and jewelry” shop. Michael Sander’s secondhand store was there but now has the People’s Coffee and other kind of trendy places. A 31-story high-rise will go in the spot which will make it the tallest building east of State Street.

31 July 2021 Saturday

Well, it’s the last of July and I just worked on sorting through the deeds I copied from the Recorders office yesterday and making sense of it. Kyle Foote wanted to go to El Loco Pollo for some lunch, so I went with him not that I care for the place anymore.

 I finished reading “Dog Instinct” this evening and ordered a few more of David Rosenfelt’s novels since I don’t watch television anymore. I tried watching a few episodes of Big Brother but actually could not watch how vapid the people on the show are. The Summer Olympics are going on in Japan, but I could not care less about any of it. My self-worth as an American is not based on how many medals the Americans achieve.

            I feel so isolated from my past life. I see no one besides Kyle and occasionally his workers. Kyle has big plans for reconfiguring the old movie room and while I don’t care, I worry whether it’s a project that will be started but not finished if his legal problems with his business sends him back to being incarcerated. I can’t think about that right now. There’s nothing more I can do for that man than I have already done.

            Lulubelle just won’t go through the new doggie door while everyone else has adapted. The flap frightens her, so she has been going in the house but while annoying, she is worth the annoyance.

            I guess the infrastructure bill finally got through Congress and the January 6^th Trump Insurrection investigation is going on in the House of Representatives. The Delta Corona Virus they say is now as contagious as the chickenpox and in Utah over 1200 new cases a day is overwhelming the health care system again. It’s hard to have any compassion for those who are sick and had put others at risk simply because they are ignorant Conservatives.

 

AUGUST 2021

1 August 2021 Sunday

The long hot July is over, and Lammas begins today. I had a dream last night that I went and saw Robert Moolman, hugged him, and thanked him for all he did and was sad that we weren’t going to see each other anymore. Perhaps it was my subconscious saying goodbye to the “Gay Past” and my involvement in any of this new “nonbinary” world.

            I needed to clean the front room because I have neglected it, so I vacuumed up the dead flies by the bay window. I have no idea why they accumulate there, threw out the area rug under the coffee table, and mopped the room really well. I cleaned the kitchen too but not as well as the front room.

            I made spaghetti for Sunday dinner and cooked up a squash from the garden. Kyle Foote and I went out to get a Dr. Pepper but that was about the only interaction we had. It was pleasant out as the temperature had cooled to the mid-80s due to the moisture in the air and I sat on the veranda and read from “Dog Eat Dog” for much of the day and inside the house, I read until it was time to go to bed.

My phone just sent a flash flood emergency alert saying not to go outside or drive. I never had one of those before, “thunder and lightning very, very frightening.” Rolling thunder is making the pups nervous.

            It later poured down, and people were posting pictures of flooded streets by their houses, but I don’t think we actually had any flash floods here in the city.

I actually enjoy August, one of my favorite months. It’s Lammas today one of the least appreciated Cross Quarter days, marking the feast of the first harvest. We are midway now between the first day of Summer and the first day of Autumn. Hope everyone is enjoying their garden's tomatoes and squashes.

 

2 August 2021 Monday

It showered for most of the morning, a good soaking rain. It’s what we needed for sure. It was much cooler today because of it. I finished reading Dog Eat Dog and I called the Warm Springs Vet to see if I could take Buster in tomorrow at 9:45 for his rabies shot and a checkup.

In the afternoon I went back down to the Recorders Office to look up the original owners of block 64 and while there Michael Romero called to ask if he could drop Coco off because he had an eye examination at America Best. He said he has a hard time seeing right now out of his glasses. I said certainly and that I would even take him to his appointment which I did over in Brickyard Plaza.

He thought his diabetes was affecting his vision and I said it sounds like he was getting cataracts. The optometrist confirmed that his vision had changed and that he has a cataract in his left eye. It cost him $700 for two pair of glasses and I told him he really should have cataract surgery since he’s on Medicare now. I know he’s worried about his vision as well as he should be.

            It was nearly six when we left and since he was hungry, I bought him dinner at Chubby’s where we split a plate of three Tostados. We came back to the house, and he stayed, and we visited until nearly 8. I think he realizes now he should not have been so cavalier with his health for all the years he never went to the doctors. I can tell his hearing is bad also but not nearly as bad as Bill Poore’s hearing because Bill’s basically deaf.

            I am grateful to the universe that so far, my health and senses seem to be intact. I notice my hands aging more than anything because I see them every day looking down at the keyboard. I’ve lost the skin elasticity and they are wrinkled like an old person. Well hell I am an old person.

            The rain cleared up in the afternoon and it turned out to be a pleasant day and I know the ground has soaked up every drop of moisture and none of it went to waste so it had not come down too much too soon, as it had in other parts of the city and state.

            I heard that Kathy Griffin the Comedian has lung cancer although she has never smoked. The renter eviction moratorium has expired so millions are under the threat of being homeless because Republican States haven’t released the billions that the federal government has allocated to help those affected by the pandemic.

            I don’t hear from anyone accept what I see posted on Face Book. With five dogs to care for I am not lonely, but I do miss visiting but not as much as I thought I would. How quickly one can adapt to a new reality. Old Gay activists don’t die we just fade to black.

 

3 August 2021 Tuesday

I took Buster down to the Warm Springs Vet clinic this morning for his rabies shots and a general examination. I also had his nails clipped and got some medicine to help with the water around his heart. The doctor pretty much said what I suspected that Buster is much older than what his adoption papers said. He’s probably 17 or 18 years old and while it was hard to hear the doctor say that Buster doesn’t have that many years left and he’s “on his way out” as he put it. Jim Dabakis had put some money on my account so even though the bill was $190, it didn’t cost me anything.

            I stopped by Mike Romero on the way home to pick up some meat that had had thawed the time his power was off and although he refroze it, he didn’t want to chance it so I will cook it up for the pups.

            I made a meat loaf this morning that Kyle Foote ate for his supper and besides doing a little grocery shopping for treats for me and the hounds, I didn’t leave the house today although it was pleasant and not a scorcher out. Kyle calls Salt Lake the new Phoenix.

            There was a news report how some greedy Utah landlords are raising rents by as much as $400 more a month knowing that there’s a housing shortage. Unbelievable how little people have regard for one another.

Utah’s hospitals are filling up again with the Delta variant infected anti vaccine idiots. I heard a phrase that describes how people are feeling towards these people “compassion fatigue.”

 

4 August 2021 Wednesday

One day seems like another with similar routines and nothing to really break up the monotony. My friends have all gone away into their own little spaces. I hear nothing from what family I have left, but then I don’t reach out to them either. Mike Romero is a medical mess but hopefully on the right track to do something about it and then I have no idea what is really going on with Kyle Foote or his business.

Bryan Devereaux came over today to get some of his tools he left here, and he looked at the sheet rock projects I want finished in the house around the kitchen door and taping and mudding the closet in the hall and the cabinet downstairs. I want them done because I worry that Kyle will have done something stupid to get himself in legal trouble again and I will have to finish those little projects.

            I went to the library to pick up three more David Rosenfelt mysteries that I had ordered.

            In the evening I did watch a Netflix series called “Movies” which was about the making of blockbuster movies in the 1980’s. I watched four episodes on Back to the Future, Jurassic Park, Pretty Woman, and Ghost Busters. It was the first I’ve watched any television in weeks. Kyle recommended the show when he was visiting with me this evening.

            The Apocalypse seems to be on us as the West is burning up and the East Coast in being flooded and the Delta Variant is rapaciously devouring the unvaccinated. Conservatives are now lamenting their anti-masks policies and fears of the virus ravishing children who will be going back to school this month with many states including Utah saying schools cannot mandate masks.

Someone said that the Governor of Florida asked the state last year to sacrifice the elderly for the economy and now he’s asking they sacrifice the youth. Florida has the highest cases of the Delta Covid 19 in the nation. Utah’s daily infection is now back again in the high hundreds and even thousands. I won’t mourn them.

           

5 August 2021 Thursday

It was a hot August day 101 degrees but since I didn’t go out into it, I wasn’t suffering. I spent the first half of the day working on my research project and the second half reading “Dead Center” which I finished. When Kyle Foote came home, he told me of a site he is listing his surplus vehicles on to rent out and he was excited that he had so many hits. It made me wonder why he has so many vehicles unless he had reduced his staff considerably. The site is one way for him to make payments on the cars rather than turn them back into the bank.

I went with him to China Delight for our supper. I wasn’t all that hungry but ordered General Tso’s Chicken, but it was too spicy to eat, or I just wasn’t in the mood for it.

            My Swifter Mop that I just bought a couple of weeks ago broke which was disappointing as that I really like it for cleaning up after the pups. I hope it was just a fluke because I will buy another one. How that for an exciting life?

            Mayor Mendenhall held a news conference about homeless camps not being allowed to proliferate like they had on city streets but without real resources, like mental health and drug intervention as well as more shelters I don’t see much happening. It’s the 21^st Century where the divide between the haves and have nots grows even deeper.

            I may be the last generation where a middle-income person can afford to own a home on a teacher’s salary.

 

6 August 2021 Friday

I am in Face book jail again this time for 30 days expressing the opinion that Trump should be hung for treason for instigated the January 6 insurrection against Congress. Evidently, I violated their “community” standards. Oh well it will free up my time. I would drop Face book all together if it weren’t my only means of connecting with people these days. My first reaction was a withdrawal symptom so I must have been somewhat addicted. I can still see what others posts but cannot like or comment myself. It’s like going to a buffet where I am not allowed to eat.

            I woke up to smoke from the California wildfires smothering the Salt Lake Valley in a smoky smelly haze. It’s the worse I have ever experience and the winds are out of the west. The news says Salt Lake City today has the worse air quality in the world.

It amazes me how some people are so unaware of events around them. I am on a FB Rose Park community page where people were asking where all the smoke is coming from, like it’s local. Watch the news people.

            The air quality was so bad I just decided to stay indoors for most of the day but no substantial change from what I usually do.

Today was trash day so I put the bins on the curb and decided to cut back all my overgrown sunflowers in the front yard and put them in the yard waste bin.

            In the afternoon Kyle Foote needed me to take him to North Salt Lake to deliver the Rogue to some guy who is renting it for a few days through this Turo App. I also had to take him into Farmington to retrieve the Chevy Trax that one of his employees was using. I have no idea what is going on with his business and Kyle doesn’t volunteer anything to me.

            The rest of the day was spent reading another Rosenfelt novel. It was much cooler today in the low 80’s which is why the smoke is coming in from the west.

 

7 August 2021 Saturday

Right now, I could write the same thing every day and nothing would be different. My days have become so routine. I should just write “ditto” I research and write, then read from Rosenfelt novels and, in between, I eat and sleep.

I did have to pick Kyle Foote up at the airport. His latest enterprise is renting out his vehicles through this Turo app where they pay for the insurance and take a certain percentage of the fee so I guess I will be at various times picking him up and taking him back to wherever his vehicles are dropped off.

It was still a horrendously smoky day, but at least it’s not been in the 100’s. I did finish reading Play Dead, which I began yesterday. I am trying out a new mystery called “The Man Who Got Away” and the setting is at Brighton Beach, England in 1957. I am not sure that I like it because I haven’t related to any of the characters yet.

 

8 August 2021 Sunday

So much for having a routine day. I woke up at 1:30 this morning and couldn’t sleep any longer so I read a little from The Man who Got Away for about an hour before I was able to fall back to sleep and even then, I was up at 6:30.

I fixed me some coffee and the pups their sausage and was working at the computer when Kyle Foote came at 7:30 into my room all anxious saying I had to take him down to the airport to retrieve the Rogue because the guy who rented it through the Turo App had returned it early and left it in the airport parking garage. He was worried about how much the parking was charging so he wanted to go immediately which we did. After a small kerfuffle we found it and retrieved it as I only was driving through parking, I didn’t have to pay anything but fortunately it was only $10 to get the Rogue out.

Shortly after coming back to the house, I got a message from my cousin Terrie Williams that her sister Frances Ann had died. She died of a stroke she said, and she had just had one about two weeks ago. Frances was the oldest of all of us Williams’s cousins having been born in 1945. I did not know her all that well as she was out of high school and married when I was just a teen and of course Uncle Wallace’s family never lived close to the rest of us.

After Frances married, she and Eddie Griess lived in Huntington Beach for a while, not far from Mom and Dad. The last time I really spent any time with Frances was over 50 years ago when in the summer of 1969 I helped her drive back to Texas so she could visit Wallace and Mattie Lee and I was going to stay some with Grandma and Grandpa Johnson on the Farm. After I moved off to Utah our paths never crossed much again.

She and her family moved to Grants Pass in Oregon where she operated a little café. After Eddie died, she remarried but I don’t know if I ever knew to whom. My last interaction with her was with my Uncle R.L. wanting both of us to be his executor of his will with her being first.

Stephanie Williams tried calling me, so I called her back and we talked awhile about Frances and our families and how all us cousins are now orphaned with the World War II generation before us all gone.

After getting off the phone I called my sister Donna Jones to let her know that Frances has passed, and we visited some but not as much as I did with Stephanie. Donna is so much more inverted than either Stephanie or me and she probably knew less about Frances than I did. She did say that my nephew finally was hired and will work in a discount market starting Tuesday. It will be his first job ever and he’s 41 years old, the same as Kyle. In fact, they are only about two weeks apart.

In the afternoon I asked Kyle is he wanted to get a drink and he said actually he wanted me to go with him to Tooele to be booked in at the county jail. He procrastinated to the last possible minute but when he called the jail, he was informed that they didn’t do bookings until after 6 in the evening. I thought that was kind of weird so instead we went out to dinner, and we went to Denny’s on North Temple and Redwood Road only because it was close by, and we could sit down.

Denny’s was a real disappointment. It was understaffed which I get, but when we ordered from the menu, they were out of Kyle’s first and second choices. I finally was frustrated and said could you tell us what you do have? Kyle finally ordered his third choice and I just ordered onion rings, thinking why order what I really didn’t want.

I thought the onion rings, while crispy, were fried in oil that also tasted of fish, but Kyle said his chicken dish was fine. I paid for dinner and leaving a $5 tip in all it cost $30 for a not very pleasant experience except being with Kyle who I know is stressed and anxious about going in to be booked. I am too but don’t say anything.

Back at the house I contact Jim Dabakis about getting a copy of Taco’s rabies vaccination so I can take him in to get his nails clipped. They are getting really long. We just texted and he said he would try to get his house mate to try and find it but then I said I would just take him to the Dog Park, to the groomer there, where they have Taco’s rabies info on file. Jim didn’t mention at all as to when he was coming back home, and I didn’t ask.

I just read more in the afternoon, not wanting to do any more research on West Second South Street in the late Nineteenth Century. At 6 Kyle came up again and said he called the jail and they said he couldn’t come in until after 9 tonight! I thought that was strange and thought that was going to be a long drive at night. Little did I know that at 9, Kyle comes up again and said that they now said for him to be there at 11:45! Since he wanted me to go with him for moral support I had to stay up until we left at 10:30. I had him drive the FIT because there was no way I could drive that far at night as tired as I was, and my night vision truly isn’t what it used to be.

On the way out, Kyle finally told me what I had suspected that he had let go all his construction workers and I think he only kept a couple of people on his design team. That is why all these vehicles are at the house now and being used as rentals. He said that Bryan Devereaux is still using the Sonoma and will come over to finish the dry wall around the kitchen door, but I seriously doubt now that the kitchen and bedroom remodel will ever happen now, and I don’t really care.

I guess he even let Alicia Montoya go, so I am fairly sure his “Build Team” company is gone under and only has the design portion is left. I don’t know how it all fell apart and I didn’t ask but I suppose he expanded too fast, and the cost of material and labor was too much. I hope that was just it and not something more.

We arrived out in the west side of Tooele at 11:15 so we had a half hour wait and it seemed so surreal to be sitting in the dark far from my own bed waiting for Kyle to be booked on a criminal charge, which he claims is bogus that he had a contract with the people making the charge.

Finally, we found our way into the booking area, and I sat inside a fluorescent illuminated hall while officers took Kyle into the back behind locked doors. I was told he would only be gone about 15 minutes, but it was more like 45 and I was tired and cold and had to pee while waiting, so it really uncomfortable.

The hall felt refrigerated, and my hands were getting chilly. I could do nothing but wait and play Spider Solitaire on my cell phone as I sat isolated from any knowledge of what was going on. It was taking so much longer than what they said that I was worried that Kyle was being incarcerated.

At last, after 12:30 in the morning, he was released, and we could leave. Surprisingly, he did not seem dejected at all from the experience said the booking officers were nice. I did not inquire further as we drove back into the city.

 It was at 1:30 when we got home, and I went right to bed knowing that tomorrow Kyle’s arraignment is at 10:30 in the morning at the Tooele Court House and we would have to leave by 9. The charges against him are felonies which I am sure if convicted he will lose his contractor license at the very least,

 

9 August 2021 Monday

Kyle Foote and I left the house around 9 this morning to drive to Tooele for his arraignment in the courthouse there. I’ve been to Tooele in the past two days more than I have probably in the past five years. His hearing was at 10:30 and since we were there early, we stopped at 7-11 for him to get a bowl of cereal and milk and I had an apple fritter. At the courthouse everything was tight security with the same x-ray scan as at the airport for keys, wallets, and phones.

            I was not allowed to go inside the courtroom, so I just waited outside on a hard wooden bench. There was only one other person there, a gal with a DUI who looked like she had been around a lot. Kyle was only in there long enough to plead not guilty and have a lawyer appointed. I guess his next appearance isn’t until October and we won’t have to go back into Tooele because he said everything is done on Zoom. Welcome to the 21^st Century.

            Kyle seems so much more relaxed and less stressed now that he’s shut down all but his design part of his former business as he no longer is responsible for payrolls and insurance for so many people.

            I notice my tire pressure sensor light was on, but when I refilled the tire with air it didn’t go off so many just be a faulty sensor. That’s no big deal. I went to the library and checked out three more books, two of David Rosenfelt’s and one more of Constable Twitten mystery which I started reading in the afternoon.

            Leaving the library, I went over to check on Michael Romero and while his doors were open, except the locked screen doors, he didn’t answer. I figured he couldn’t hear the doorbell and he didn’t answer his phone, but he did call me later in the evening so he’s alive.

He has to go in Wednesday morning for a checkup and since he’s still having vision issues, I said I’d take him down then. If it’s hard for him to see he shouldn’t really be driving when so many people are driving recklessly. Six people were killed over the weekend from car crashes the most ever over a weekend.

            Kyle rented out the Rogue and Chevy Trax today at various times and locations where I had to go and pick him up from where he dropped them off. He had a glowing review from the guy who had rented the Rogue that we had to pick up Sunday morning, so he was pleased about that.

 

10 August 2021 Tuesday

I mowed the back yard finally this morning. The Rye grass survived but I think the Blue Grass is history. I haven’t had to mow basically all summer because of the heat and drought. I went with Kyle Foote several times today dropping off vehicles and picking him up. I also took Taco down to the Dog Park on North temple to get his nails clipped as I don’t know when Jim Dabakis is coming back to Utah. I cooked some beef tips in gravy with egg noodles for supper.

I finished reading “A Shot in the Dark” the first of the Constable Twitten series by Laura Trauss

 

11 August 2021 Wednesday

I had strange dreams last night actually nightmares that had little to do with anything in my subconscious. Mike Romero came over at 7:30 this morning so I could take him to his follow up checkup with Dr. Stoneburner at the Redwood Clinic. He said his vision has gotten so bad and he still hasn’t gotten his prescription for his new glasses yet.

I sat down there until 10:00 and looked at a lot of old people who were probably younger than me but who looked in terrible shape. I am so grateful that my health and mind is still good. Afterwards we went out to breakfast in North Salt Lake where we ordered a Greek Omelet to split because it came with hash browns and two pancakes that Mike couldn’t eat.

            Back at the house Kyle Foote was cleaning the Terrain and he talked to Mike about how the Turo app works and said that he also talked to Sutherlands on North Temple who said he could use their parking lot for a fee to park his vehicles for people to use.

            Mike said I had a small leak in my rear tire and that is why my dash light was coming on so Kyle to me to Discount Tires in Bountiful to have them look at it. I just dropped it off and went home with Kyle until later they contacted me and said the FIT was ready to be picked up. It was just a small wood screw causing the leak and they fixed it for no charge.

So, since we were up in Bountiful, we went to China Star and had Chinese. We just ordered one meal and split it. Well actually I just ate the hot and Sour Soup and egg roll, while he had the Orange Chicken and Rice.

            After that he left, and I left to go through the Car wash on Fifth South in Bountiful. My windshield was kind of buggy from going out to Tooele last Sunday at night.

            The rest of the day was rather anti-climactic in fact I went to bed rather early.

 

12 August 2021 Thursday

Strange vivid dreams again, not nightmares this time but vivid. I dreamed seeing Bruce Barton and Harmon again at some Gay event we were putting on and I was telling this young kid that you have to put up chairs before you can dance, meaning you have to do the work first before having the fun, but he acted like he didn’t understand. At another point I remember I was going to start calling my name by the aliases of “Cooter McWilliams” or “Hand job McWilliams”… weird.

            Yesterday I had a busy morning but today it was a busy late afternoon and evening. At 3:30 Kyle Foote needed me to go with him to have another key for the Terrain made because he only had the one and that was $130 which he paid for but using my account.

Then at 4:30 we had to go to Roy to pick up one of his trucks from his former worker David. Traffic was horrendous with road construction after Kaysville all through Layton and beyond. It was after 6 before dropping the GMC at the Lucky’s Parking lot and then we had to go back to Kaysville to retrieve the Chevy truck from Juan. Traffic wasn’t quite as bad only going that far and at that time of evening. I hate being stuck in rush hour traffic as it is but doing it twice shows how much I love Kyle.

 We were back in the city almost at 7:30 when at 8 we headed out to the airport to drop off the Terrain for a family that was flying in to Salt Lake. The airport pickup area was super busy tonight for some reason.

            It was after 8:30 when finally, we got all our running around done and I could just enjoy the rest of the night, but I was tired I guess so I went to bed a little after 9:30. The dense smoke has left the valley now, it’s just hazy but at least you can somewhat see the mountains and into the city.

 

13 August 2021 Friday

I went with Kyle Foote this morning to take his Chevy truck into Jerry Seiner’s for a recall fix and went with him again to Farmington for him to get a registration for the truck. I enjoy being with him so much, but I know I am living in a fool’s paradise. Nanci Griffith died today she was 68 and her music was part of my ill-fated romance with Billy Bikowski from so long ago. “Once in a Blue Moon” was a sad love song from that time for me as was Ferron’s “Ain’t Life a Brook.”

            It was another 100-degree day. I heard on Doug Fabrizio’s Radio West program how the eco-system for the Great Salt Lake is about to collapse due to the low level of water in it. If it does the migratory birds will go away as well as much of our snow and we will be having dust storms to choke the city.

            It’s like the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse have been released into the world. The Taliban is overrunning Afghanistan, America is infected with the Delta Variant of Covid19, fires and floods due to Climate Change. Still, Biden is President and not Trump so there is a measure of hope.

I filled the tank up of the FIT after doing all this running around with Kyle. I had a 20-cent discount at Smith’s, so I paid $3.68.

 

14 August 2021 Saturday

I’ve spent more time with Kyle Foote with his Turo Car rental business than I had ever in the past year with his Build Team Business.

            Early this morning at 8, I took Kyle down to Lucky’s parking lot to retrieve the Chevy Work truck so we could use it to haul construction debris left in the back yard and by the side of the garage. The old kitchen glass door and frame was in the back yard by the gate and the old garage back door was by the side of the house. I asked Kyle yesterday if we could clear it all out now that he has his trucks and he agreed. So off to the dump we went this morning. I noticed the Mountain Corridor highway is now extended all the way to California Street at 5400 West. It should make going out to Day Break a little easier than taking Bangerter.

            After going to the landfill, I went with him to a hand car wash place in North Salt Lake to clean his Chevy truck that was really dirty inside and out, caked with mud and dirt. Afterwards we came back to the house to detail the inside with soapy water and cleaning supplies. It took well into the late morning it was that dirty.

            Kyle then wanted to go somewhere to take pictures of the truck in a nicer setting to post on his Turo site. He sure knows how to promote. He, at first, wanted a canyon setting so I suggested Rotary Park up City Creek because it would be closer to home but when we drove there, the gate to the park was closed to motor vehicles so when we made the loop around the road at the top of Memory Grove, we ended at the Capitol grounds.

There we thought this location would be just as nice if not nicer. We drove around and found a nice spot on the east side near the statute of Massasoit. It was the nicest day we have had in a long time. You could actually see blue skies and it was just only hazy in the distance. It was in the 90’s but didn’t feel oppressive like when it’s in the 100’s.

            After taking pictures of the Chevy work truck, we went back down to the Lucky’s parking lot to retrieve the GMC Sierra and take it back up to the Capitol where Kyle took pictures of it to post. It’s amazing that we live in a world where you can take digital pictures on a phone and upload them immediately instead of using a camera and film that needed to be developed costing money and taking days to get back.

            As that it was after 1:30, I suggested some lunch and we first went to the Spaghetti Factory at Trolley Square but there was a 35-minute wait which we didn’t want to do. So, we drove down to the Gateway to see what was down there where we could eat. Kyle was in the mood for Italian and we saw a place called Medici that said it was a Neapolitan Pizza place, so we parked underground and went there to eat.

            I can’t remember the last time I ate at the Gateway and had been years since I even had been to the theater there. We ordered a pizza, a Caesar salad, and some garlic bread and it wasn’t busy when we first arrived but by the time our order was ready several families came in and the place was getting busier. I didn’t necessarily care for the pizza as I thought it was soggy and kind of bland but didn’t want to complain, because being out with Kyle was all I cared about anyway. It wasn’t bad but I don’t know if I would come back.

            When we went back to the house to retrieve the FIT so Kyle could drop the Sierra off at Lucky’s Parking Lot, we were finally done with errands for the day, and I took a nap.

            At 4:30 Kyle came and woke me to go pick up his Chevy Trax vehicle that was dropped off at Lucky’s. He wanted to also take it to the Capitol so he could photo it there in that nice setting. While he was taking pictures I went and sat on a bench, and it occurred to me how much this place has become home to me that so much is familiar to me and holds so many memories.

I also thought that few places had state capitols that you could just drive up to and take pictures like a photo shoot. There was a nice breeze while I sat beneath a shade tree, and I looked around and thought this is my most favorite day of all Summer 2021.

            Home again Kyle retreated downstairs, I fed the pups and decided to read a little and watch the last three episodes of Schmigadoon, the musical tribute that you could say parodied Musicals but did not make fun of them. I also watched two episodes of Brooklyn 99 that finally was back on after a year hiatus due to the Trump Virus epidemic last year.

            It was a truly busy day and I spent much of it with the person I love.

 

15 August 2021 Sunday

It was really smoky and hazy throughout the valley today and while there is a fire in Parley Canyon, the news said the smoke if from the California Fires. I couldn’t see the capitol from my house, which is only about 3 miles away.

Kyle Foote had me take him to the airport to retrieve the Chevy Trax vehicle this morning and later in the day I went with him to the car wash and up to the Capitol to take some pictures of it to post on his Turo site. It was not nearly a pretty day like it was yesterday.

            I made some Chili Verde today for supper and other than that nothing more to report. I guess my cousins Stephanie and Terrie Williams drove up to Oregon for Frances Anne’s funeral. Stephanie posted some beautiful pictures of the Rogue River up there.

            In the news, the Taliban had captured the capital of Afghanistan and the president had fled the country. After twenty years and all the money and equipment poured into that country, the men there weren’t willing to fight. The lesson learned is that the Middle East is a black hole and there’s nothing that America can gain from being there just because the oil industry wants to exploit their resources.

Although it is deplorable what will happen to the educated women in that country and those who collaborated with American troops, it is time for us to leave. I was 50 years old when we went into Afghanistan and now, I am 70 years old and although Al-Qaida was weakened, it was not destroyed, and the Taliban are back in power to impose their strict and repressive religious authoritarianism. But then American has no moral high ground here either after all we elected Donald Trump.

 

16 August 2021 Monday

Another day of taking Kyle Foote to either pick up or drop off his vehicles and another smoky day just not as bad as yesterday or as hot. I was a bit frustrated with Kyle during the last drop off out at the airport as when we arrived back at Lucky’s parking lot, he was directing me where to take him to his vehicle and talking about something else that I didn’t understand and I was sharp with him, saying I didn’t know what he was telling me like I am just supposed to know.

            I called Mike Romero this late afternoon to see how he’s doing. His glasses still haven’t come in, but he will call them tomorrow as it’s been ten days. I told him I would take him there when they do.

I mainly worked researching this man who once owned a Meat Market and Slaughterhouse on the corner of Third South and Sixth West for much of the morning. I realize that much of what I do is pure escapism. May be the past is a way of coping with the present and not having to deal with the future.

            All that is in the news is that Taliban capture of Kabul and the desperation of so many people there, who fear retaliation and new restrictions on their fleeting freedom they had for twenty years. Many are criticizing Biden for the calamity especially Republicans who have amnesia about Trump’s dealings with the Taliban when Trump agreed in 2020 to a ceasefire and pledged to facilitate the release of thousands of Taliban prisoners and withdraw American Troops by May 1, 2021. Trump campaigned on bringing the war to an end in both the 2016 and 2020 elections but somehow, it’s Biden’s fault for the chaos in Afghanistan and the people their refusal to fight for their own freedoms.

I sent Jim McMullin the following email “I haven’t heard from y’all in a while...hope all is well...seems like we are all masking up again with the Delta variant on the rampage... how has your summer been? Mine has been busy with projects around the house but I think it has stopped for a while...

It’s been too hot to spend much time in the yard and except for tearing the grass and Russia Sage out of my parking strips haven’t done a whole lot. The parking strips are now filled in with bark so no watering or mowing... my grass in the backyard I think is mostly dead from between all the construction debris over the summer, the heat, and the drought. I have only been watering about twice a week at the most and it doesn’t do much good as the ground is bone dry.

My vegetable garden is sad too as because of the heat and little water I haven’t got much produce from it at all this summer...

Mike Romero retired at the end of May, but Social Security screwed up and he hasn’t gotten a check yet and had to reapply.

He went to Wyoming and Colorado for about three weeks but came home not feeling well at all...I asked my doctor to take him as a patient and he said he would since I’ve had the same doctor for almost 30 years.

Come to find out he has full blown diabetes, and his blood sugars were off the chart...he’s changing his diet and taking medicine and so far, he is not on insulin... his vision is poor also as that he has a cataract in one of his eyes and can’t see to drive very well... he’s getting new glasses to help, and I’ve driven him around to his appointments...

My health is good as far as that goes...had a checkup and colonoscopy...all good ...the doc said I was good for 7 years...little does he know that at 77 I am not going to go through that again.

Kyle has had some major bumps in the road with his Build Team business... I think he tried to grow too fast in this strange economy...he’s laid off all his construction crew and has just kept the design portion of the business...

I stay busy doing my research every morning and reading ... I’ve read over a dozen books since the library has opened back up...I am hooked on David Rosenfelts' Andy Carpenter mystery books which all have a dog theme to them...he’s written 30 books, so I won’t run out of books to read... I don’t watch much television anymore since I curl up with a book in the evenings.

I’ve had Jim Dabakis pup Taco all summer since May...I have no idea when Jim is coming back but Taco is a sweetheart and has made himself part of the rest of the pack. They are all well as can be...I have Buster on some heart medicine...

I was sad to hear of Robert Moolman stepping down but not surprised. He always supported me in my endeavors and now I really don’t have any interest in returning to the Pride Center even to the Sack Lunch group or SAGE events.

Time to move on I suppose...Everything in its season.

I really don’t hear from anyone anymore...everyone is either holed up or traveling. Sounds like Charles and Richard have gypsy feet and can’t stay home.

I am certainly glad I retired when I did. I feel so bad for educators having to deal with trying to teach in this pandemic...I guess Kyle Daniels will start back this week...Alan Anderson sure has been the traveler too... not me...there’s no place like home...Kyle Foote even spent 10 days in Puerto Vallarta Mexico...he went by himself to get away from stress at work and break up with Danny Montoya

Well, I guess I have rambled on long enough...just wanted y'all to know I am still alive and hope y’all are staying well. Ben”

 

17 August 2021 Tuesday

I took Mike Romero to America Best to pick up his glasses this morning and later Kyle Foote needed me to retrieve the Chevy Truck from the airport and then he asked me to go with him to North Salt Lake to get gas and go through the car wash. I don’t think his company is generating revenue anymore as he had me buy gas and pay for the car wash. I also went with him to get the Terrain and take it through the car wash.

            I had him block out some time for tomorrow as I wouldn’t be available to help him as I am going out to see T J Otaka and Jim McMullin tomorrow at noon. It was extremely smoky today but this evening a storm front came through and we received some rain finally.

Earlier I had picked some huge zucchini from the garden but mostly everything is parched. It is not the summer for a garden. If it’s this way next year, this may be my last vegetable garden as there had been too much heat and not enough water.

            In the evening I was in the mood for something light and frivolous so re-watched much of Season 2 of “What We Do in the Shadows” until I fell asleep in the lazy boy surround by pups.

            Jim Dabakis sent pictures of two of his pups in Mexico, Pinkie and Rosie and just said to tell Taco he would see him soon but never said anything more definite. I also texted Kimball Edwards to see how he was doing, and he wrote back so I suppose he still likes me.

 

18 August 2021 Wednesday

It rained for most of the night and was raining when I left to go to Daybreak in South Jordan to go visit Jim McMullen and TJ Otaka. I took the Mountain View Corridor as that they have it open now from Thirteen South, but I made a mistake of getting there along 5400 West from I-80. The Street was heavily congested with semis and other big equipment trucks on a street that had been narrowed down to one lane due to construction.

It was a mess and took me nearly 20 minutes just to go 2 miles. When I finally was able to get on the highway it started to downpour and huge semis were hurling pass me, spraying me with water so it was hard to see. Once on the highway, I made good time and was only about 15 minutes late. It was raining the entire time but actually I was grateful for it, so wasn’t bothered by getting wet.

            I had a nice time visiting and Jim and TJ served a Pizza which was nice. Nothing was new with them as they still are hesitant to be out in crowds, so we discussed current events like the Covid Delta Spike, the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, and the new Transwoman “CEO” of the Pride Center and how the Trans takeover of the Gay community was complete now.

I am not alone in thinking that the Center will have nothing to offer homosexuals now that everything is geared no non-binary and gender issues instead of sexual orientation. Oh well we had our day.

            It thundered and lightning while I was down there, and we had a nice visited until I left at 3 o’clock to return to Salt Lake. I took Mountain View back but took the 2100 highway then over to I215 and it was pretty quick.

            I was home by 3:45 and began to bake chicken thighs for the pup’s supper, and I made a kettle of Chicken Noodle Soup as well as cooked a pot of pinto beans that I will have tomorrow. It’s that kind of weather with it down to 65 degrees.

The news said Salt Lake had about an inch and half of rain and boy did we need it, but the storm did nothing to clear the air of smoke from California wildfires. It was almost like driving in a fog coming back home on the freeway. Really strange to have rain mixed with smoke.

            At the house Kyle Foote and I set up the Money Market account so that he could put his Turo money into that to keep it separate from my savings and checking. I know he doesn’t want to use his own banking probably from overdrafts he owes.

            I watched Season 2 of Ted Lasso which had just four episodes so far and I watched an episode of Frankie and Grace of their Season 7. I’ve watched more television in the past week I think than I have all summer.

19 August 2021 Thursday

It was rainy and drizzling for much of the morning and afternoon. I spent much of the day helping Kyle Foote with his Turo business. We went and bought posts for the signs that will go up in the south parking lot of Sutherlands as well had some more keys made for his vehicles. I made a pot of pinto beans and corn bread for supper because it was that kind of day.

 

20 August 2021 Friday

I had Kyle Foote tell me what is going on with his finances after I received a statement from Lowes that there’s $20,000 owing on my account in my name with $1700 due a month. We had just returned from dropping the Terrain off at the airport and back at the house I learned how bad things are.

He’s delinquent in all his vehicles payments but they are his only source of income he hopes to generate to dig himself out of the mess he made for himself. He owes nearly $15,000 a month in debts accrued from his failed Build Team Business.

I just don’t know how he could get himself in such debt as he has nothing to show for it really. He has a grand scheme that he can generate enough income from this Turo Business, and I said I would try to help him get current with some of his vehicles, but I am not confident that he can pull this off.

            I am depressed for the both of us and I feel in some ways like 2011 again except that I don’t feel personally betrayed again. If Kyle goes back to prison, there’s nothing more I can do. What a mess but somehow one way or another it will work out. I will probably die in a couple of years anyway. At least I have my pups, I have a house, there’s food in the kitchen and I do make about $3300 a month between my pension and social security.

            Mike Romero dropped Coco off this morning so he could go get his oil changed in the truck. He’s heading up to Wyoming and then to Denver for about a month. I told him I would check in on his place occasionally.

 Kyle said the Terrain needed an oil change too, so we went to the Wal-Mart in Centerville and had that done and then I took him to lunch at China Star.

            There was $800 in the Money Market Account but after all the stuff he’s been buying for his business it’s down to $22 now.

 

21 August 2021 Saturday

Today was one of the nicest weather days we had all summer. It was only in the low 80’s with a breeze and smoke was mostly gone. The summer clouds were out and puffy. However, this evening a thunderstorm rolled across Northern Utah with some winds north of us, at 70 miles an hour. We had mostly thunder and lightning but not a lot of rain.

            The only Turo run we had to do today was for the Sierra Truck which we had to drop off at Lucky’s parking lot at 9 this morning and pick up at 6 this evening. I made some spaghetti for supper and cooked a Turkey Breast for the pups which they kind of ate. I also fed them the left-over Orange Chicken we brought home from China Star.

            I finished another David Rosenfelt book. I guess it’s a form of escapism as there is so much in the world, I have no control over.

I think I am having a mild bout of depression knowing that Kyle Foote won’t really be there for me in my old age. He’s fallen back into the old habit that got him sent to prison ten years ago by trying to be an entrepreneur and getting deeply in debt. I only hope he hasn’t done anything truly criminal like before that will incarcerate him again. Being so deeply in debt is a type of prison in of itself.

            I know I have a problem with being an enabler with those I love. Always trying to fix the broken. Well life will be over eventually and every one of my material possessions will disappear one way or another.

I am not a great writer but have tried to leave some bit of me behind in my essays for the Q Salt Lake and my chronicling the history of the old Gay Community in Salt Lake City. I say the old one, as that the new LGBTQ construct is nothing like what went before. I suppose nothing ever really is.

 

22 August 2021 Sunday

It was a smoky hazy day compared to yesterday. I cleaned off the back deck finally and hosed it down where the pups had been peeing on it rather than going down into the yard. I am checking out to see whether I qualify for a second mortgage on the house to pay the Lowe’s debt that Kyle Foot racked up. My credit is probably shot so not sure I can qualify. I made a turkey dinner for Kyle and me, but it wasn’t particularly good or maybe it’s just me. Don Everly one of the Everly Brothers died today at the age of 84. He was the music of my childhood. Here he comes, that’s Cathy’s Clown.

 

23 August 2021 Monday

I had to go with Kyle Foote this morning to the car wash in North Salt Lake to wash the Sierra truck before taking it to the airport. I was a little moody with Kyle this morning but was over it by noon when we went to get a Dr Pepper. I went grocery shopping for food for the pups and bought a lot of premade entrees for our supper. I have no interest in cooking any more except for the pups.

            I had to go back out to the airport at 1 in the afternoon to pick up the Rogue but that all we mainly had to do for Turo. Kyle had me check First America Money Market and he had over $500 in it so far, but that is piddling for what he owes.

Bryan Devereaux called about the Sonoma and said the clutch was going out on it, but he said he’d pay to have it fixed and asked to keep borrowing it as the deal to buy a truck of his own fell through. Kyle said he could use it until November but made a deal for him to come to the house to finish the sheet rocking in the kitchen and some other minor finishing work.

            I finished reading David Rosenfelt’s One Dog Night before going to bed.

            The Pfizer Covid19 vaccine was officially approved today so those who wouldn’t take it who said it was only emergency approve have no excuse now. There’s been 2,584 deaths in Utah since the state started keeping track last year and numbers of people infected are spiking due to the unvaccinated. The news reported that ‘new coronavirus cases leaped in Utah in the week ending Sunday, rising 23.1% as 7,270 cases were reported. The previous week had 5,906 new cases of the virus that causes COVID-19.”

 

24 August 2021 Tuesday

Well, I put myself $7,000 in debt on my line of credit and visa card to get Kyle Foote’s delinquent vehicles, insurance, and storage unit caught up. He came up this afternoon with a spread sheet to show me how much he needed, how much it would cost and how much income was projected from the Turo business. I hope he will make enough money from renting the vehicles to pay me back and keep from going down the rat hole again.

            He rented out the Chevy truck today and we took the Rogue into the Centerville Wal-Mart for an oil change and tire rotation this afternoon as it will go out tomorrow. We went to the Arctic Circle in Centerville for lunch while waiting and its peculiar how much I have lost my appetite. I ordered onion rings and an angus burger and couldn’t finish either. They also didn’t seem to have the same flavor either, but I am sure they did but I have change.

            Charlie Watts the drummer for the Rolling Stones for sixty years died at the age of 80 years. I just knew him as part of the Rolling Stones.

            The House of Representatives passed the Infrastructure Bill, but I haven’t really been following it closely. In a week, all American forces are supposed to be withdrawn from Afghanistan and 50,000 people have been flown out of the Kabul Airport so far. I have no sympathies for any Americans still left behind as they have chosen to put themselves and others at risk by not leaving sooner. I know I don’t know everyone’s individual situation but still, they knew the risks of being in that country. A trillion dollars and 20 years of American commitment is enough. I don’t know what more the Americans can do that wasn’t done by the British and Russians before us.

 

25 August 2021 Wednesday

It’s been one of those days. Looking at my email this morning, I had a notice that someone purchased a $500 gift card for Wal-Mart on Amazon using my account. The number to contact Amazon if this was fraud seemed off, because it was an 801-area code, so I looked up what the real Amazon Support number was and it was an 888-area code. I called that number and they said it was a “phishing scam,” so I sent them a copy of what was sent to me.

            Bryan Devereaux came over this morning at 7 to repair the kitchen sheet rock, tape, and mud. When we went to Sutherlands to get material as we were checking out my debit card was denied so I had to use the Visa. That freaked me out that the debit card was declined.

            Also, the Rogue had a flat tire so as Kyle and I were off to Discount Tires to have the tire repaired. Kyle called America First to find out why the debit card was declined. They thought one of my transactions yesterday, paying off Kyle’s bills, seemed suspicious but thankful the card was reinstated. It was just another aggravation I didn’t need.

Then to come out to find out the tire couldn’t be repaired, so we had to buy another new tire for $100. I also was denied the home equity loan from First America, which I thought I would anyway but had to try.

            Bryan Devereaux and Kyle worked on sheet rocking the kitchen door and moved the light switch to the right side of the door instead of the left. I treated them to lunch of El Pollo Loco, but I didn’t get anything but a drink. I wasn’t all that hungry. Bryan was done with most of it when he took off at 3:30 but is coming back tomorrow morning to finish up.

            I had to stay up to pick Kyle up after he dropped the Rogue off at Sutherlands at 9:30. It was supposed to be at 10 at night but glad it was a bit earlier. I finished reading David Rosenfelt’s “Who Let the Dog Out” and watched another episode of Ted Lasso and Frankie and Grace.

            It was a busy day with a lot of issues but so far it all worked out. It’s always something and I try not to stress too much over the financial mess. I can pay off the Lowe’s account using funds from my 401k I suppose if I have to do so. Kyle is on his own to dig himself out of the mess he made with Build Team. I can’t worry about that.

I heard from Bryan than Zane Baum is back in jail for some DUI’s. I wonder if Kyle will ever go back as well, leaving me in a financial mess. Oh well. One day I will be gone, and it all won’t matter I suppose. At least I am not fleeing Afghanistan with just a shopping bag to my name.

           

26 August 2021 Thursday

Kyle Foote had an early morning appointment with his lawyer and when he returned, he looked really stressed so I didn’t inquire, Bryan Devereaux was over again today mudding and sanding and replacing the old baseboards.

            Kyle spent most of the day downstairs until we went at noon to Arby’s to buy lunch for us and Bryan. It’s the least I can do but I have to remember that I am helping out Bryan also with loaning him the Sonoma until November because he would not be able to do his contractor jobs without it and Kyle is letting him use a lot of the tools for free so he’s helping us while we help him.

            Kyle this evening tried to show me a spread sheet of how many bookings he has for the vehicles and how much we should be clearing if all goes well and that is a big if.

            Thirteen American soldiers and dozens of Afghanistan people were killed in a suicide bombing outside the Kabul airport by an off shoot of Isis. President Biden is vowing revenge.

Republicans are such monsters; decrying Biden’s pull out when it was Trump who negotiated the deal with the Taliban last year. Republican governors are resisting mask mandates as the Delta Variant threatens to shut the economy down again. It’s almost like there’s a conspiracy to damage America as much as possible.

            Well, while I am stressed over the financial mess Kyle has gotten us into and things will be tight from now on, at least I am not on a ventilator or in Afghanistan.

            Tonight about 9, Kyle came up and asked if I had any money in the house and I said I didn’t as I had given him the last of the hundred dollars I had stored in the bedroom, but I said I did have a bunch of Susan B Anthony dollar coins still left so I gave him twenty of them. Not sure why he needed them, but he took them anyway. I have maybe 5 of them left out of the $75 worth given to me in 2015 when I retired from Washington Elementary.

            So many places I’ve lived and worked at no longer exists, the Juel Apartment, soon the LaFrance Apartment, Utah Title, Washington Elementary. One day it will be my turn. When this life is o‘er I’ll fly away.

 

27 August 2021 Friday

I checked my America First CU account this morning early and found that I just had 36 cents in checking. At least it wasn’t negative, so I transferred $500 into it as I had about $75 worth of pending transactions out. I still have $1100 in savings and $220 in the money market and hopefully I will get paid soon.

            Bryan Devereaux worked a half day at the house until noon. I went over to Mike Romero’s place this morning to check on his place. It all seemed fine except his ice maker was overflowing because the shut off valve was broken. So, I emptied all of the overflowing ice into the sink.

            I wonder if worse came to worse whether I could move in with Mike and rent out the house. Probably just a pipe dream.

            It was a really smoky day.

I finished reading K Team another David Rosenfelt Book and watched an episode of Ted Lasso and finished this year’s 4 episodes of Frankie and Grace.

            I know I have minor depression with the financial uncertainty that Kyle Foote has encumbered me with. It’s a worry that makes me anxious and fretting. I am back to watching every penny and in debt again.

I think that all my good works are behind me, and the future seems dim, not bright. All my friends are scattered and old. I don’t care a whit about being involved in the Trans Community. The Gay Community I knew and loved is becoming a distant memory. The only intellectual pursuits I have any more is discovering the antics of West Second South.

            A court struck down Florida’s Governor’s ban on mask mandates in schools there which hopefully will affect Texas also. A hurricane is heading towards Louisiana and that state is already overwhelmed with anti-vaxxers in hospitals. Here in Utah the death count is on the rise again. Now over 2600 people have died in the state since records were kept last year. Recently it’s been like 10 people a day are dying, all non-vaccinated. I have compassion fatigue for the willfully ignorant.

 

28 August 2021 Saturday

Bryan Deveraux, spelled without the e after the r, came over this morning and we had a talk while he worked sanding and finished putting up the baseboards in the hall and putting the hall cabinet back together. I got to visit a little with him while he worked, and he said that he has a 15-year-old son living with his ex-wife that is identifying with the non-binary community. He has autism and says that he didn’t identify with being masculine and had found a community of friends. So, I guess that is good.

When I was 15, I didn’t have a concept of “non-binary” as I just knew I wasn’t like other boys and was considered a “sissy” as I was slightly effeminate although I tried hard not to be. I think that is why I identified with the hippie movement because it allowed me to be freer and bohemian in how I dressed.

            I told Bryan that no matter what Kyle said, if he needed the use of the Sonoma longer than November, he certainly could use it past then. He also said if I’d buy the materials whatever help I might needed with the house he would help for free because he considered me ‘family.’  That was nice to hear.

            I went to the library since I had finished all the Rosenfelt novels I had checked out and I think most of what the public library carried. I checked out four mysteries, three which were from a series by Kylie Logan and the fourth A Murder in Old Bombay. I read that for most of the day about 50 pages, but I am not sure I will finish it as I don’t relate to any of the characters nor is the pace riveting. I guess I was spoiled by Rosenfelt, and I do like my “cozy” mysteries which I think the Logan series will be.

            Kyle Foote went with me to get gas at the Maverick on 13^th South as that is the cheapest, I’ve seen gas lately. I paid $3.62 a gallon and still it was nearly $30 for about eight gallons.

            In the afternoon I went to get into the hot tub and saw that the temperature was down to 85 degrees so it must have gone into sleep mode as it hadn’t been used for probably a month. I re-set it and a few hours later it was back to 104 degrees, so all was well.

            Kyle was gone with the Sierra truck for most of the afternoon and when he did come home this evening, at 7, he asked if I wanted to go get a pizza at Little Caesar’s on 7^th South. I was not hungry at all but said I would go because I knew I would have to buy it.

I don’t see how Kyle has any income coming in and I am sure all his checking accounts are in the negative. He ordered a cheese pizza and bread sticks and then we came back home, and he went down to the Casita to eat while I tried to watch some television as I wasn’t interested in my book. I watched a few episodes of The Simpsons which I haven’t in a while.

            It was pretty smoky in the valley today and doom and gloom are all that is in the news. Biden ordered a drone attack that killed two Isis leaders who participated in the attack on the Kabul airport. The Supreme Court voided the moratorium on eviction notices, a category Four Hurricane threatens New Orleans, and Jeffery Holland’s Devotional talk at BYU, saying that Mormons should use metaphorical “muskets” to defend Mormon doctrine against same sex marriage, is creating a stir.

 

29 August 2021 Sunday

I woke up at 3 in the morning concerned about what all this Turo Money, if any, coming into my money market account will do to my taxes whether it will be seen as income even though it certainly isn’t.

            I spent much of the day chauffeuring Kyle back and forth either to the Sutherland’s parking lot or to the airport. Smoke has filled the valley again with the mountains around us completely invisible.

            I started reading “Scent of Murder” having given up on Murder in Old Bombay. Other than that, I didn’t do much today except my regular routine of research in the morning.

            Actor Ed Asher died; he was 91 years old. Betty White is the last cast member left from Mary Tyler Moore and The Golden Girls. It seems strange that 1971 could be fifty years ago.

 

30 August 2021 Monday

I went down to the Salt Lake County Recorder’s Office to chain out the title to Lot 4 in Block 63 for the 1880s and 1890s. I wanted to understand when James Hegney acquired the property where the old Rio Grande Hotel was located. Other than spending some time with Kyle Foote with renting out the Chevy Truck and the Chevy Trax I didn’t do much outside.

I watched a few episodes of Brooklyn 99, Archer, Malcolm in the Middle, and a series called EVIL which is interesting but not sure I want to invest any energy into it. Read a little from the Scent of Murder also but not as intrigue as I was with the Rosenfelt blat books.

            Since it’s the 31^st in Afghanistan, all the American troops left Kabul today after evacuating over 100,000 people from the country. They say about 250 Americans were still left behind, but I have little sympathy for them as they knew the risks of being in a country being over ran by the Taliban and chose to stay for whatever reason in harm’s way.

            Here in the United States the entire city of New Orleans is without power after Hurricane Ida took out their power grid and it will be days if not weeks to get it back online.

Conservative Americans are sick and dying in droves from refusing to get vaccinated while others are taking medicine meant for animals. Stupidity has reached a new low or perhaps high among Trump supporters. My only empathy is for children and hospital workers and over worked morticians.

31 August 2021 Tuesday

So ends a long, hot, smoky and anxiety filled August. I usually enjoy August but not this year with it being too hot to work in the yard any or to enjoy my garden due to the drought. The only think that seemed to have thrived are the sunflowers. There was no abundance of tomatoes or squash this year which is just as well as I have had no one to give them to and to make zucchini bread for.

Kyle Foote’s Build Team business went bust and I am left with nearly $24,000 on my Lowe’s card that I still have to figure out how to deal with that. Kyle goes to court in October so I wonder how this Turo car rental business will play out. I have had some restless night worrying about the future but compared to the thousands of Afghanistan refugees, the Louisiana folks who lost everything in the Hurricane Ida, and the thousands of people who lost their homes due to the California fires my lot seems insignificant in comparison.

            I went down to the County Recorder’s office again to chain the eight lots on Block 63 before going with Kyle to retrieve the Rogue that had new tires placed on it. I know it takes money to make money, but it seems like so far all we have been doing is spending money and not really making any to pay off bills.

            I am not interested in the Scent of Murder book. I am on chapter 10, and nothing really has piqued my interest at all. I may just turn the setback in to the library. The Rosenfelt books were really engaging, and I could read them for hours.

            I did watch a new Hulu series called Murders Only within the Building that features Steve Martin and Martin Short. It’s kind of intriguing and Nathan Lane is also in it in a bit part.

            Well, the war in Afghanistan is over and the usual suspects either condemn him for how we withdrew or praised him for his courage to end the war rather than pass it on to someone else. America should not be the world’s policeman especially in Asia where the various cultures and ideologies are anathema to Western Liberalism.

 

SEPTEMBER

1 September 2021 Wednesday

This morning was hectic trying to get the Rogue and Chevy Trax washed and clean and out to the airport almost at the same time to drop off. It annoyed me however that we could have done all this last night instead of having to rush around and cut everything so close. It all turned out simply fine except we almost got sideswiped by some asshole speeding on the right side of us when we tried to make a right turn.

            In the afternoon, I finally went to my Vietnamese barber and had a haircut and beard trim. I really needed it as the hair in my ears were bugging me.

            Texas passed a vigilante law that any citizen could prosecute a woman seeking an abortion after six weeks.

 

2 September 2021 Thursday

When I was up this morning, I noticed the same vehicle that was here last night was still here, so someone spent the night with Kyle Foote. I thought I heard them using the hot tub when I went to bed last night.

This morning I went with Kyle to wash the Chevy Truck and then follow him to the airport to drop it off. That was the only Turo trip we took. I decided if Kyle is going to be using the hot tub it was time to drain and clean it which I did. It takes most of the day to drain and refill but the actual cleaning just means bailing out remaining water and wiping the sides down with bleach.

I finally called to make an appointment to have Lulubelle groomed but they were so booked that I can’t get her in until 8:30 on Monday the 13^th.

I didn’t look at my phone last night and this morning I saw that Kimball Edwards had texted me wanting to know if I wanted to come over, but I responded that I hadn’t seen his text in time. I had actually thought he had given up on me, but I guess not. So, we planned to get together this Sunday.

While I was watching television this evening, a severe thunderclap shook the entire house so the lightning strike must have been nearby. It scared the bejeezuz out of the Pups all except Buster who can sleep through anything. TJ was shaking like a leaf and since it kept thundering, I went to bed to cuddle with the Lulubelle and TJ who were affected the most by the thunder. I saw in the news earlier that it was raining hard at the State Capitol, but I don’t think we got a bit of rain here.

 

3 September 2021 Friday

All the vehicles are rented out now, I suppose for the Labor Day Weekend. I am with Kyle Foote more now than I ever was when he had his Build Team Business fiasco. I went  with him through the Quick Quack Car Wash and help him  vacuum and clean the vehicles. I transport him to drop off or pick up vehicles from the airport or down at Sutherlands. It’s like a part time job for me and I know there is no way he could do this without my help. I wonder how long it will last.

            We went to Taco Santos over on Ninth West and Tenth North for lunch. Kyle wanted to try their Taco Al Pastor because they serve them with pineapple the way he likes them.

Later I went to the library to turn in the Kylie Logan series. I didn’t much care for the first one so I knew the others wouldn’t interest me much. . I checked out four more books, two were Rosenfelt’s mysteries, and the other two were authors I hadn’t read before. I stated Savage Run a series by J.C. Box about a game warden in Wyoming. I read much of it for the rest of the evening until having to go out to the airport at 9:30 tonight so Kyle could drop off the Chevy Trax. The airport was supper crazy, people arriving and departing to get a start on the last summer holiday.

            An F1 tornado touched down in North Salt Lake and did some minor damage. The last one I recall that was hitting a populated area was back in 1999.

I heard from Garth Chamberlain who posted on Face Book that Renee Rinaldi died on August 31^st. She was 57 years old. She moved from Utah more than 20 years ago and I doubt whether anyone, but old timers, remember that she was once the executor director of the Utah Stonewall Center back in the mid-nineties and before that a member of Queer Nation.

 She and I once had a run in when she was a member and I disagreed with holding an action against Affirmation and she began poking her finger in my chest. When I asserted myself, the others gathered around her like I was the villain rather than her being so confrontational.

Later that night there was an QN action at the Bay dance Club and she was kicked out for being confrontational to the owners. She eventually mellowed but we never got along, and we  treaded lightly around each other once she knew my position in the community back then. I think she was a founding member of the Gay and Lesbian Chorus.

 

4 September 2021 Saturday

Kyle Foote managed to sell one of his computer’s monitors for $80 so we met the guy at the Smith’s Parking lot. All of the vehicles are rented out so didn’t have to deal with that today.

I finished reading Savage Run by CJ Box which I enjoyed and started on another “A is for Aunties,” but I am not connecting with it and probably won’t finish it. Kyle took the FIT this evening to meet some guy for coffee, a euphemism for hooking up.

 

5 September 2021 Sunday

I made six mini loaves of zucchini bread this morning. I was going to bring some over to Kimball Edwards, but I noticed that last night he left a message saying he was coming down with something and thought we ought to postpone. I was good with that. It was just nice enough that he had been thinking about me.

            My garage door remote is  not working so much and need a new battery. Kyle Foote said he had extra batteries, but they didn’t help any.

            My month-long Face Book suspension has been lifted this evening, but I am not anxious to really spend the time I once did on it. Only thing I really missed was wishing people happy birthdays and condolences. I also missed posting some historical information. Maybe I should leave it at that.

            I didn’t read any today just watched Harry Potter and the Secret Chamber and The Prisoner of Azkaban. It’s fun watching the kids grow up from the 11 years old they were in the Sorcerer’s Stone.

            When I went to bed, I noticed that Jim Dabakis is coming back tomorrow evening and said he’d pick up Taco on Tuesday. I’ve grown so attached to Taco that the news kind of made me sad especially since lately Taco has been showing me so much affection.

 

6 September 2021 Monday Labor Day

I woke up at 6:45 this morning, which was really unusual for me lately, and I am glad I did because I had to quickly get dressed and go with Kyle Foote to pick up the Rogue at 7. I had some weird dreams just before waking up that I was at a Gay Bar talking to Chuck Whyte and asked  if he remembered some of the other Gay Bars we used to go to and then driving back for some reason I found myself on a street called Hart and I started telling those with me that this is where my Grandparents farm use to be and how I spent my teen years walking on this dirt road where my grandparents once had a 160-acre farm. It was a strange nostalgic dream.

            It’s hard to remember what I do for the day, when so much is the same every day and time seems to be slipping away. I went with Kyle Foote when he sold some of his computer monitors, and with him to his storage unit in North Salt Lake after cleaning out his stuff in the garage.

            In the evening, I watched Goblet of Fire which is my least favorite Harry Potter movie as it’s so dark and doesn’t seem to have the enchantment the earlier one’s did.

            This was the last day of Taco’s Summer Vacation with me. His absence will be a glad lonesome as Grandma used to say.

 

7 September 2021 Tuesday

It’s hard to admit but I think I stopped caring about Kyle Foote today. This morning I was checking my America First Accounts and was not understanding some of the charges, so I went downstairs to ask him about them. Rather than try to explain them so I could understand them, he just instead was very belligerent saying he didn’t want to tell me four times and I said if it takes four times for me to understand then you need to tell me and he was adamant that he wouldn’t, so I said, I’ve done everything you ever wanted from me without question, and this is how you respond?

I left and was upset for the rest of the day with him, and he never apologized but tried to act like nothing was wrong when he needed me to go with him to help with the vehicles.

On top of that, Jim Dabakis came over to retrieve Taco and I was really sad to see the little guy leave but I know he will be back probably this weekend when Jim sees that he is lonesome for his pals. Besides, it won’t be long until Jim takes off again somewhere. He gave me three hundred dollars for taking care of Taco although I would have done it for free. I also shared with him about Kyle’s failed Build Team Business, and I am on the hook for the Lowe’s account for $20,000. Jim was so worried for me and said I needed to separate my funds from Kyle as soon as possible because of tax liabilities.

So, I was quite miserable today and didn’t eat much and didn’t offer to fix Kyle anything either. My feelings for him have changed and it scares me. I’ve loved him for so long and as the song says I built a world around him.

I am feeling rather lost and lonely now knowing that I really can’t depend on Kyle to look after me as I grow older, and I suspect I will be living alone eventually. Kyle has so many secrets and suspect his legal issues will catch up with him in October if not sooner. I’ve forgiven Kyle so much, but I cannot allow myself to be lost because of him.

I have too much honor to conceive of dishonor in anyone I love and when I learn the truth it breaks my heart. I am growing weary of this life.

Jim and I talked about how the Gay community we once knew is gone, and so are most of the people who knew me in my prime. All my family except for a few cousins and nephews and a niece is gone and I rarely hear from them. Strange I didn’t include my sister Donna Jones when I wrote that about my family. She is truly a stranger to me.

It’s a challenging time to be entering into old age alone and frightened of the future.

 

8 September 2021 Wednesday

This evening Kyle Foote and I had a heart-to-heart talk about finances. I know his world is collapsing around him and he thinks this Turo business is his last hope or perhaps his last scheme. He owes so much money from his failed businesses and I am on the hook for at least $2000 a month for how long he didn’t say. He has all these numbers on how much he can get income, but I don’t see how it will actually generate enough income to pay for itself as well help both him and me out of the mess he made.

            I made several loaves of meat loaf today to supper and to feed the pups and started cleaning out my refrigerator and actually wiping down the insides. It’s been a while since I had done ant house cleaning. This morning I thought the stove was going out as the electric spark that ignites the gas kept clicking on and it as a while before I could get it to stop.

I also cleaned out the cupboard of dishes, bowls, glasses, I don’t use anymore or doubt if I ever will. The days of entertaining big crowds are over, with everyone hunkering down where they are trying to stay safe. I need to go through so much more. It’s time to downsize big time.

I never thought I’d say this but maybe the house and yard are getting to be a bit much for me especially since I don’t have folks over to visit anymore.

I thought about what if I sold this place and moved to a place where it was cheaper to live? I thought about New Mexico and Alamogordo and also San Antonio, Texas because Texas doesn’t have a state income tax.

 

9 September 2021 Thursday

I had my dental appointment at Roseman Dental School this morning at 9 and I was there until 11:30 for a periodontal exam and cleaning. I have my next appointment in October the 13^th at 8:30 to have three cavities on my bottom front teeth filled.

            After coming home did some running around with Kyle Foote and spent much of the day trying to figure out how he can drop off and pick up people from the airport without being fined. The airport only allows certain car rental business to use the airport property. It’s a $500 fine, which I don’t understand, for providing a service by some small fry operation instead of a fleet. After all my Salt Lake taxes went to pay for a lot of that new airport. Oh well its always something so Kyle said he’d try to negotiate something.

This afternoon we finally showed me the budget of how much it costs monthly to keep all the vehicles payments currents and the monthly costs of doing business. So far Turo has been paying the bills but no profit, but I suppose that is something. He took out a business license for this new enterprise, but I don’t want to put my name on any of it.

            It was the hottest September 9^th on record here in Salt Lake and last year it was the coldest September 9^th on Record. In the news President Biden ordered any company doing business with the government or has over 100 employees must mandate a vaccination.

I am thinking of two people, Val Mansfield, and Rev Bruce Barton, who died on this day in 2015 and 2017. Two great Gay Activists who made Salt Lake City's "LGBTQ++++" community what it is today. They were openly Gay men when most people were still hiding in closets.

I had the privilege of being with them both in the 1987 March on Washington and sharing the honor of being a Dr. Kristen Ries Community Service recipient with them.

It seems like the old Gay community we helped create in Salt Lake City is just a memory now, for some of us old timers, and when we are gone, I hope the histories I have saved of their lives will remain but so much is being rewritten by revisionists as we don't fit the new narrative. Hopefully, future historians will be more honest than fashionable.

I now seem to not even recognize Salt Lake City anymore. Many of the places I lived, worked at, and played in are all gone. I guess that comes from living too long and among the phantoms of the past. But we were such warriors.

RIP old friends

 

10 September 2021 Friday

This morning I went with Kyle Foote down to Sutherlands to see about the Chevy Trax that was being rented out and there was a snafu with the mechanism that is supposed to unlock the vehicle. The only set of keys for the SUV was in the car so I sat and waited nearly 2 hours there while Kyle tried to figure out what was going on. He never did but we had AAA come out and open the locks. People who were renting the vehicle was very patient. So, I guess we will have to pay to have a second set of keys for the Chevy Trax if that happens ever again.

            From there we went down to 90^th South so Kyle could make a payment on one of the vehicles that said it had to be down by cash or money order. So, it was in the afternoon before finally was home again.

            I went grocery shopping after making a drop off at Deseret Industries of some clothes and kitchenware. It’s really time in my life to start uncluttering by getting rid of items I never use anymore.

 

11 September 2021 Saturday

Today of course was the twentieth commemoration of the Al Qaida attacks on America which changed the course of our history and gave rise to the oligarchy of Billionaires that rule America today by dividing us between Red States and Blue States.

            I was surprised that it was raining this morning and it was a nice shower until about noon when Kyle Foote and I went to get our Dr. Peppers.

            In the late afternoon I had a surprise visit from Roy Zang and his new Chinese husband. They were in the neighborhood as his mother is living in the retirement community over off of Redwood and Tenth North. Roy said he moved into a new place over on Third west and North Temple.

            We had a good visit talking about how we have no more use for the Utah Pride center as there is nothing there anymore for us nor is there an interest in preserving history at the center. Times change I suppose.

            After they left, I took Taco home to Jim Dabakis and gave the pups a nice long ride. The weather had cleared up and for the first time in months the air was clear enough to see the mountains without a smoky haze. Downtown was bustling with the Greek Festival going on as well as the Utah State Fair.

            I had fixed a beef stew this morning when it was cloudy, rainy and overcast but by the time I ate any the weather had cleared up and it was sunny. Not nearly as hot today only in the mid 80’s and actually it felt a little cool after the heat wave we had this summer. I suppose fall is on its way.

            I really should do some yard work but I’ve kind of lost all interest right now in the back yard as the grass is gone and weeds have replace it. The Sunflowers are abundant more than anything else in my garden. I need to get in there and tear all of my vegetable garden out that really didn’t produce much. I don’t know if I will put in another one next year if all we are going to do is have long extremely hot summers with drought conditions. It’s no fun being outside; especially if the air is as smoky as it was this summer from the fires raging in California.

            Kyle came up this evening to visit, which was unusual. Perhaps he’s lonesome too since he doesn’t have any interaction with anyone anymore except me and the tricks he has over once in a while.

I often realize how there’s a generation gap between Kyle and me over our concept of what a Gay Community is. Mine is shaped by the virulent homophobia that damaged my generation as well as the blame for the AIDS epidemic. He came to young adulthood during the time that Gays were making strives of being accepted. He never had to live entirely in fear except when he was in the military of being defined as a homosexual. Maybe I am wrong, but I know he has no concept of what building community in Salt Lake City meant to us in the 1980’s, especially in the heart of Mormondom.

            Later he wanted some chocolate ice cream, so we went to Smith’s, and he bought two half gallons of different kinds that were on sale for $5 for both. I ended the night watching Harry Potter and the Halfling Prince before calling it a night.

 

12 September 2021 Sunday

It was a busy day what with Alan Anderson wanting to come over in the late afternoon and some Turo pickups. Because Alan was going to be coming over, I decided to clean off the veranda from Buster’s messes and hose it all down to wash away where they peed. Since I was cleaning up, I decided I needed to mow the back yard. There’s not much grass there anymore as much as weeds but at least it’s groomed.

            I then spent much of the rest of the afternoon cleaning the house that needed it also. I Vacuumed up dead flies by the bay window and mopped the floor with bleach water. That took much of the afternoon, but it was needed. I was rather embarrassed when Roy Zang came by yesterday and the house was needing a scrubbing.

            Kyle Foote had me drop him off at the Utah State Fair where he met up with some of gay friends of his. Then I had a nice visit with Alan Anderson when he came by at 5:30. We went to Chubby’s for dinner while he was waiting for his hubby, Kyle Daniel, to arrive at the airport from Arkansas where he went to watch a football game.

While out at the restaurant, I saw Jon Michael also, who was in the parking lot getting a takeout order. Alan and I talked about how Build Team failed and that since it went out of business there wouldn’t be much more done at the house. I said I was fine with that.

I confided in him how much debt I am saddled with from Lowes. We talked about how our lives are changing and how each of us do not have any relatives in Utah to keep us here. Alan has his Kyle of course and I have mine if he doesn’t go back to prison. We also said how unconnected we feel with what is left of the Gay community. Time waits for no man.

 After dropping me back at the house, I realized he had forgotten the mini loaves of zucchini bread I had given him, so I called and said I’d meet him at the airport park and wait and bring them to him which I did.

It was a pleasant night out and so glad the smoke is finally gone, and you can see the mountains again. It was a nice night to be at the Utah Fair too I suppose but I am just as happy to be home.

 

13 September 2021 Monday

Besides helping Kyle Foote with the vehicles, I didn’t do much today except do some research and read. I finished Sudden Death by David Rosenfelt in the evening and made spaghetti and meatballs for dinner.

            Kyle put two new tires on the Sierra Truck and that was $360, and I had to go with him to take care of that. I dropped Lulubelle off at the grooming school at 8:30 this morning. As I was leaving, I noticed a black homeless guy who was sleeping on the parking strip who was masturbating beneath his blanket. Not an easy way to live.

            I heard on the news some guy with a rifle caused a panic among the children playing soccer at the Sports Fields north of us.

            Kyle and I had a real disagreement about a person’s right to carry a rifle into a sporting event that has children. He said they were probably overreacting, and I took offense at that saying how we teach school children to go into basically panic mood in school over lockdowns whenever there is ever a person with a weapon. These kids are conditioned to panic. No one, I mean no one, should be carrying a rifle at a sporting event. Leave your weapons in the damn car if you are too chicken shit not to go ‘out and about’ armed.

 

14 September 2021 Tuesday

This morning the Hewett Packer computer I have used for years finally had issues. It wouldn’t connect to the internet saying that I had no ethernet connection. Kyle Foote came up to look at it and he couldn’t see where it lost the Wi-Fi signal. The content on the hard drive was safe but I could no longer do any research using the internet.

            Kyle had a Lenovo computer that contained monitor left over from his business office that he brought up for me to use after hooking it up, so I had to spend time adding my printer and scanner back into it and transferring all my files to the new system.

I went with Kyle at noon to Walmart in Centerville to have the oil changed on the Sierra truck and later to the UPS store downtown Salt Lake to get a mailbox for a business address.

Mike Romero came in this evening around 6 from his long visit in Wyoming and Colorado. He said he thinks he’s got his diabetes under control but his cataracts have gotten worse so he will need that corrected.

 

15 September 2021 Wednesday

I was up really early this morning to take Kyle Foote to the airport at 6 to retrieve the Chevy Trax. I heard on the news that Governor Newsom won his recall measure in California.

In the evening I finished reading “Unleashed.” It’s the last of the David Rosenfelt’s Andy Carpenter series that the city library has in book form. There’s just one now I haven’t read in the entire series. That is “First Degree.” I’ve read 22 of his Andy Carpenter’s Series and two of his K-Team series. I have two of J. C Box’s mysteries to read so I guess I won’t be needing anything soon.

            I am trying to get used to the new computer. The Word Processor is a little different but at least it reads all my old files.

            I went with Kyle Foote to pay on his GMC Terrain. They want him to pay in cash, so we have to drive down to 90^th South. On the home, we stopped and had lunch at the Café Hacienda in the Lucky’s shopping center.

After taking a nap, Kyle had me go to Glen Keys to get a spare key made for the Chevy Trax. I must go with him as that he doesn’t have a bank account anymore, so I use my checking account and then transfer money from the Money Market account into my checking. The money in the Money Market all comes from Kyle’s Turo business and so far, all the money has gone back in maintaining the business in tires, oil changes, insurance, gasoline, and other incidentals that goes with setting up his business. Not a dime of it goes into my personal account for my use and some of it is supposed to go back to paying back the $7000 I lent him to make his vehicles current that were in arrears.

            So, I was tiffed when on the way home from Glen’s Key he snapped at me because I didn’t want to hear him say how he felt Encircle House the Mormon rival to the Pride Center had to be more progressive than he thought because one of their therapists identified as a non-binary polygamous individual using the pronouns “They and Them.”

 Encircle is still basically run by straight people who think they know what is best for Gay people and Trans. I said these conservative organizations think they are doing us a service by protecting Mormon youth from the very same conservative mindset which prescribes what is acceptable and what is not.

I snapped back at Kyle and said just because I don’t “get his point” as he says, doesn’t mean I don’t have a right to my own opinions, based on my experiences. He then said I guess we shouldn’t discuss with each other Gay issues. I thought he and I are from two different generations. I truly don’t want to be identified with the so called nonbinary genderless polygamous community that has usurped the concept of a Gay community of homosexuals.

            In the news 1 in 500 Americans have died from the Corona Virus. The GOP is the spreader of death.

16 September 2021 Thursday

All the vehicles went out today, so just the FIT is here for our use. Coming back from washing the Chevy Trax at Quick Quack, Jim Dabakis had just pulled up to bring Taco Bell over to the house for a play date. He said he was going to Greece on the 26^th so in ten days I will be taking care of the pooch again for him.

Mike Romero dropped Coco off this afternoon so he could go pay off his truck and camping trailer. When he came back to the house, we visited some. He said he looked up more information and YouTube videos on Alamogordo New Mexico and he really liked what he saw. I gave him the rest of the zucchini bread after he said that it didn’t raise his blood sugars up much.

I made a Chicken pot pie this afternoon that Kyle Foote said was the best I’ve made. I didn’t have any myself but just finished the enchilada I had from yesterday.

I started a new J C Box novel but only read a chapter as I ended up watching television this evening. I watched “Volcano” with Tommy Lee Jones which I hadn’t seen in years. The plot was cheesy, but the effects were really good, and it was fun to see some of the La Brea Tar Pit area and MacArthur Park. I then watched a really lame movie called 10 that was about Los Angeles being destroyed by a 10-point earthquake from fracking. Predictable heroes and villains and the special effects not all that riveting. Oh well. It was mindless diversion.

 

17 September 2021 Friday

It really was a do-nothing day. I took a long nap of about two hours in the afternoon and this evening I finished reading J C Box’s “Out of Season” which the first of his series on Joe Pickett. It was pretty riveting and a page turner.

            Mike Romero called and said that Randy Gile wanted us to come out to see them so I guess we will a week from this Saturday. Randy said that Kimberlee’s mom Gay Elder was diagnosed with lung cancer.

 

18 September 2021 Saturday

It rained for about an hour surprisingly good, but I wish it would have rained more as by 10 this morning it had stopped, and the skies cleared up. I took Taco home at 11:30 after doing some grocery shopping at Lucky’s.

I drove home by Second South and saw that the Citizens Investment Building was demolished probably last week. It was owned by Mrs. Dora B Topham, aka Belle London, as the entrance to the Stockade Salt Lake's Red-Light District. The building in the 2000's was the location of a Gay Bar called the Metro and later a restaurant Club Orbit. I took some photos last summer not knowing the building was soon to be a memory. More of Second South history is going into the dust bin. It was the Oasis for a while. Last of the Gay bars gone on Second South. The In-Between [Bricks or Club Sound] Backstreet [Axis], the Sun. My history is slowly being erased.

Mike Romero came over in the afternoon. He needed me to scan a document and email it for him. He said that his brother John and he are going to visit Alamogordo New Mexico over Christmas and wants me to babysit Coco. They are checking the place out for a place to retire too. My Mom’s aunt and uncle lived in Alamogordo and are buried there.

Kyle Foote had a “gentleman” caller sleep over last night and even fixed him French Toast downstairs for breakfast. The guy, I think, named Josh is from Elko Nevada and they must have gotten along because later in the day the kid came back, and they went for a hike together and I think spent the night again together.

I texted Kimball Edwards earlier in the late afternoon to see if he’d like to get together tonight. He did but it was late nearly 9:30 when he said he was home, if I still wanted to come over. I did.

Just as I arrived at Kimball’s apartment, my phone rang, and it was Kyle. He had just gotten home and a notice I was gone so he called to see if I was okay as I rarely go out at night by myself, and he was worried. I didn’t tell him where I was but that I was fine. It was good that he was concerned.

Kimball seems to really enjoy my company and is so affectionate. He enjoys kissing and caressing and that is what we mostly do. I get him naked to give him a massage and he’s so masculine, tall, almost at least six feet one. He said his birthday was September 8 and he just turned 25 years old. The age Billy Bikowski was in 1981 when I was so in love with him.

I spent two hours with Kimball and besides making out and being sexual we talked as we held each other. No matter how old I get, I love holding people close to me. In a lot of ways Kimball and I are compatible because we enjoy kissing and touching as much as anything and an orgasm isn’t all that necessary to the intimacy we feel. I know he enjoys me and wants to continue these interludes. I also know we will never be more than friends with benefits and that’s simply fine with me,

 

19 September 2021 Sunday

Today is my Grandpa Johnson’s 120^th birthday and I will always love that man. Kyle Foote’s gentleman caller from Elko stayed the night again but left to go home so I never met him. When Kyle and I went out to pick up the truck it was windy today and blew in dust or smoke or something that really obscured the panorama. It looked eerie.

            Except for going out with Kyle I really didn’t do much. I was tired from staying up so late with Kimball Edwards last night.

            I worked on cleaning up Jim Hegney’s life story and read for much of the day. I even finished off J.C. Box’s Trophy Hunt before going to bed.

            I was melancholy today anticipating changes in my life I guess spurred by the changes in the season. Kyle is too young to know what I am feeling about changes that are happening as I am growing older and feeling out of place. He thinks I can just invite people over or make new friends and all will be set right. He doesn’t understand that it’s not just me but the people I know have made changes in their lives too and while I know there are people who care about me, they have their own lives to live.

It fills me with melancholy, thinking about picking up and leaving my home in Utah after all these years, especially Salt Lake City but I feel in many ways Salt Lake City is leaving me behind.             I don’t want to stay but I also don’t want to go.

I know that Kyle would not go with me and the idea that he would take care of me as I decline is a fantasy. He can’t even take care of himself. He’s nearly hamstrung by depression by the financial mess he made of his life and probably of mine too. He absolutely needs me more than I need him but my love for him is still abiding. That is the one constant in my life and my pups.

 

20 September 2021 Monday

Maxx was barking like a crazed dog this morning, so when I went to shut him up, he ran into the backyard and began chasing a hen that was in the yard. TJ even joined in the excitement, so I locked the pups in the house. Kyle Foote and I put her in the front yard to get her out of danger form the pups. If Daisy was still alive the chicken would already be fricasseed. None of my neighbors have chickens that I know of, so I posted on West pointe community page about the stray chicken to see if anyone is missing one. I watched and the chicken left the front yard and slowly crossed the street over to the neighbors to the east. So why did the chicken cross the road? I didn’t think to ask.

I had to let Mike Romero know this morning that Coco’s appointment was at 8:30 because he had thought it was Wednesday, but he was able to get her in although he was late. Kyle Foote sold a speaker for $100 so we would have enough for car payments after paying $153 for his business license.         

After taking him to the airport for a car drop off, I went to the library to check out two more J C Box’ Joe Pickett novels and started reading Free Fire. It was just a regular day with going to Quick Quack to wash and clean the cars and dealing with rentals. I am glad that this hot, long summer is finally over. Today is the last full day of summer.

            I think about sometimes how my friends have drifted away like Richard Harmon and Charles Bigo, even T.J. Otaka and Jim McMillan in many ways, during this epidemic. I especially regret how Bill Poore and I left thing after Kyle Foote assaulted him last May with a plate of food. Even Danny Montoya is part of the past when last year he was so much a part of people being here.

All the many workers who had been around the house are gone now that Build Team is history and I know there will not be any more construction here. Things left unfinished are just walls that need painting, a new rug for the old movie room, and the sprinkler system. Actually, I have kind of lost interest in keeping up the house and yard, well at least for now.

Even though I spend more time with Kyle now as kind of his only assistant, I wonder how long that will last. His court hearings are scheduled for October and all the uncertainty that brings.

 

21 September 2021 Tuesday

We had two vehicles we had to wash and clean and then take to the airport. I get nervous every time we do because technically, we aren’t allowed, which seems strange to me. That is why Kyle Foote is negotiating with the airport and got himself a business license. We went into Centerville to the Wal-Mart there to buy a camping cooler and while there did come grocery shopping, mainly snacks.

            Back at the house I prepared a meat loaf with ground beef and pork, with carrots, green and red bell peppers. I decided to wait until tomorrow to bake them in the countertop oven. I’ve been seeing gas ovens for sale on Face Book’s Market Page and have decided I need to buy one to replace the old one that gave out last spring. The kitchen is not going to be remodeled now and if so, it will be so much more down the line. It’s not like I plan on going back to baking as much as I did but I need a functioning oven as well as a range.

            This evening I finished reading “Free Fire” about a crime committed in Yellowstone written by J C Box. It was over 350 pages but so riveting I couldn’t put it down except when Kyle needed my help.

 

22 September 2021 Wednesday

I contacted Tyler Ferguson about taking $23,000 out of my Retirement account. I sent him a message and said it was for home improvements but it’s to pay off the Lowe’s Credit Card debt. He said he’d get back with me but hasn’t so far. He’s probably busy.

            I baked five mini loaves of meat loaf this morning and when Mike Romero came over to retrieve Coco, I gave him one. He dropped her off while he went for an eye examination at the Moran clinic on 21^st South. Kyle Foote had some for our dinner.

I started reading Below Zero today and I am halfway through it. Kyle took the FIT to meet someone for coffee. I went to bed before he came home.

I've found another mystery series I am enjoying after reading all of David Rosenfelt's Andy Carpenter series. Author J C Box has a series about a Wyoming Game Warden named Joe Pickett which is fast paced, well plotted, and fun to read about Wyoming for a change instead of New Jersey. Both Janet Evanovich and Rosenfelt placed their protagonists in Trenton and Paterson, New Jersey.

Box had authored many books in the series so I will have a lot of reading for cool autumn nights. I finished Free Fire about a crime in in the part of Yellowstone that's in Idaho which was called the Dead Zone. It was over 350 pages and I read it in one day as it was so riveting.

 The Joe Pickett series needs to be read in order because the character ages with time unlike Stephanie Plum in the Evanovich series.

. I am not sad to see this long, hot, smoky, summer end. It was brutal on my trees, roses, and garden especially with the drought. I am here to welcome cooler weather but doubt if we will get much color as we have had no water and the trees will probably just turn brown and drop.

 

23 September 2021 Thursday

Kyle Foote said he found a place in Sandy that sold used appliances where we could buy an inexpensive gas range. We went down there about 3 in the afternoon, and I paid $240 for an oven but it was too heavy for us to lift into the back of the truck and there was only one gal there at the store so we have to return on Monday when there would be other men there to help lift it. Then Kyle said he’d ask Brian Devereux to help us on Monday get it into the house and the old one out.

            I made a dark chocolate cake today in two round pans. I guess I was in the mood to bake something. I had to bake each pan separately because the countertop range couldn’t fit two at a time. I also made a small batch of corn chowder from the cream corn I had left over from yesterday’s supper.

            I finished reading Dead Zone this evening before going to bed. I should take a break from reading and do some house cleaning. The floors really need mopping, and the house could use a dusting. I also should mow the front yard now that summer is over. I am not being lazy. I have just lost interest in keeping up the yard and house.

 

24 September 2021 Friday

Kyle Foote had an early morning pickup and drop off at the airport and then we went to the Hacienda Grill for some lunch to go. When we came back to the house Coco was here. I had forgotten that Mike Romero had an appointment with his dietician about managing his diabetes.

            Then Jim Dabakis called and said he was bringing Taco over. When he did, I had him come in for a visit. Come to find out, I guess I am going to have Taco as a houseguest until February. Jim is going to Greece for about two weeks, then to Mexico, then to Peru, then back to Mexico, and then to Rome and won’t be back to Utah until next year. I don’t mind at all.

            He also said that he had talked to Troy Williams who is still the head of Equality Utah, and he is getting the same grief from the Trans and nonbinary community as Robert Moolman did at the Pride Center for being a “privilege Gay White male.” He said he doesn’t know a Gay man over 40 who feels like they belong to the community any longer so it’s not just me.

            I told Jim how I feel like I want to move from Salt Lake City as it doesn’t feel much like home anymore. I don’t think he likes the idea of me moving away as my identity is so wrapped up with this city however he did say that it’s a lot cheaper to live in Mexico which got me to thinking.

            After he left, I went grocery shopping and when I returned, Darren Solomon was out front waiting for me. I invited him and he really looked haggard and shot. He’s only 54 years old but looks like a grizzly decrepit old man. He said that his partner Merle who he had been with ever since I’ve known Darren died a few months ago of pancreatic cancer and Darren lost his home in West Valley because Merle had taken a reverse mortgage on it. So, Darren is basically homeless but is staying at a friend’s cabin in Willard temporarily. However, the place doesn’t have a stove or heat.

Darren has no skills and is really unable to function in a society based on technology. He never really learned to use a computer and even has a hard time texting. On top of all that he has emphysema so he can hardly exert himself.

            What he really came over for was to see if I would rent him a room. That hit me like a brick wall. I can hardly have the patience to visit a few hours with Darren, let alone have him here constantly. He has no verbal skills, cannot carry on a conversation, nor has he ever been intellectually curious about anything, and I know that if he did live here, I would have to assume sole responsibility for his life, and he would shadow me everywhere like a lost puppy.

            I tried to be kind and say that it is not a good time for me to rent out anything with the house being worked on which is a small lie. I could not say “hell no,” because Darren with all his faults is a good soul but he has family here, two brothers, who he should be turning to for help. He actually should be on disability because he can’t work and on Medicaid because his health is so poor. I truly feel guilty for saying no, but for my own mental and physical health and welfare, I could not have him living here. He would be worse than Ben Anderson who at least could be amusing at times.

            Mike Romero came to pick up Coco while Darren was here and said that he might rent out his room. His Social Security still hasn’t come in. So, Darren left and followed Mike to his place to have a look. I knew it was a bad idea but couldn’t say anything while Darren was here.

            Later Mike called me to ask about Darren and I told him that it would be a big mistake even though he could use the income. Mike said that Darren wheezed and could hardly catch his breath climbing the stairs to the bedrooms. Mike said he didn’t want to rent to Darren afraid that he would come home and find him dead. I suppose that is a real possibility.

            I had suggested that Darren contact the state’s Senior Citizen office for advice and help but I know he doesn’t have the capability to do that. It’s really hard for me not to help but like with Bill Poore’s diminishing mental and physical health, I can only do so much. There’s no one looking after me, except Kyle, kind of, but for how long? It’s a curse sometimes to live long past our prime.

            The only good news today was that Tyler Ferguson called me back finally, and said he’d take care of the money I requested from my retirement account. He said that I would have to pay about $5000 in taxes for withdrawing it so it will be about $28,000 from my account. It will be wired to by checking account he said probably by next Friday and then I can pay off the Lowe’s Account and at least that debt will be paid.

            Kyle was gone for much of the afternoon and evening as he finally qualified to be an Uber Driver and was out driving people around.

            I just curled up with a new J C Box novel and read before going to bed with Taco and TJ tucked in with me in the Lazy Boy. What a day.

           

25 September 2021 Saturday

Coming back from washing the Rogue at Quick Quack in North Salt Lake, there was so much smoke in our neighborhood that I knew something must be on fire. When I checked to find out why on the Rose Park Community Face Book Page, I discovered that Diamond Lil’s, the old steakhouse on North Temple was on fire. It’s just next to the old Over Niter Motel that’s been completely razed. Prime real estate for sure. Diamond Lil’s was scheduled to be torn down on Monday, so I wonder if it was transients trying to stay warm, or an arsonist for insurance purposes.

            I went down with Kyle Foote to see what was left of the structure while the fire department had North Temple, in front of the place, closed down. But still had a good view of it from the side street near the KOA camp grounds.

            Later in the morning, I went over to Mike Romero with some spider killer insecticide as he said he had black widows in his garage. I sprayed for him then came home to change clothes.

I had worn a sweatshirt this morning as it had been cool outside, but I wanted to go to Walgreens in Woods Cross to get my Pfizer booster. I know I am not a nice person sometimes because this trailer trash mom was the only person in line ahead of me and then she told the counter clerk that she might as well get the flu vaccine while they weren’t busy for herself, her husband, and kid since it was free.

I wouldn’t have mind, but I had to stand in line while she filled out three forms, gabbed the whole time and then couldn’t remember the birthdays of her stepchildren, as if that was cute. So, I waited standing, nearly 15 minutes, before I was able to get to the counter to say I wanted a booster shot.

            Since I was following that family, and the pharmacy started getting busy with drive ups and people asking questions from the pharmacist, I had to sit and wait some more. Evidently the 12-year-old boy was reticent to get his shot and was screaming and crying and I could hear his parents trying to calm him down through the closed office door. So, I waited another 15 minutes for the boy to finally get his inoculation.

While I was sympathetic, I also was peeved at myself that I didn’t get in line before that woman so what took nearly 45 minutes probably would have taken less than 15. I was with the pharmacist less than five minutes getting my third vaccine. I told the man he had the patience of a Saint, and he appreciated my understanding. I said when I was in grade school getting our polio shots there were a lot of crying and screaming kids back then too.

            Anyway, after that little adventure I came home and stayed home for the rest of the day as that Kyle wanted to use the FIT to go out and be with some guys he surely met on Grindr. He sold the last of the truck tool boxes today so they are gone now, and the garage is emptier.

            I took a nap in the afternoon with the pups, watched some television in the evening and read from my J C Box novel until heading to bed. Kyle renewed his subscription to Apple TV, so I watched an episode of Ted Lasso.

            My sister Donna Jones called me this late afternoon. She really didn’t have much to say so we visited about the weather and the high rents and how I am contemplating a possible move from Salt Lake City. It was her grandson Kenny’s birthday yesterday and he turned 12. He is her only grandson.

 

26 September 2021 Sunday

It was kind of a quiet Sunday. I really should have cleaned the house, but I didn’t. My arm is rather sore from the booster shot yesterday and I think I was kind of lethargic because of it. I finished reading Force of Nature, which while very well plotted, was one of my least favorite of the Joe Pickett series because it was so military oriented. I had to go downtown at night to help Kyle Foote retrieve the Chevy Trax. I usually am not out at night, so it was interesting to see downtown all lit up.

            Back at the house, I watched “Into the Woods” on the Disney channel before heading to bed.

 I think how incredibly selfish are the anti-vaxxers who have overburdened the health care providers to the point of exhaustion by their callous ignorance... not only getting vaccinated has given me a measure of safety I hope to be one less burden to our heroic medical personal. I am disgusted with half of Americans who are incredibly unpatriotic during this time.

 

27 September 2021 Monday

This morning I scrubbed the kitchen cabinets really well and polished them as I thought since the kitchen isn’t going to be remodeled, I better take better care of what I have. I also finally mopped the floors really well.

Kyle Foote and I went down to Sandy, after 1 this afternoon, to pick up the range and oven I had bought last Friday as they had a guy there to help load it into the truck. Brian Devereux came over after 5 to help remove the old range and carry up the newer one. However, the coupler to hook the stove up to the gas line didn’t fix and after several trips late to Sutherlands, Kyle still could find one to fit so will have to do it tomorrow.

            I gave Brian a layer of Chocolate Cake that I had frozen and some dark chocolate icing to take home with him, for his help. He said that Zane Baum is out of jail on an ankle monitor but may either go back to prison or rehab for his DUI’s.

            Kyle has decided to let the work truck get repossessed because it’s not worth keeping, and the Chevy Trax has to be registered which probably will tomorrow.

 

28 September 2021 Tuesday

I went with Kyle Foote up to Farmington this morning for his 10 o’clock appointment to see why the Chevy Trax wasn’t able to be registered yesterday. Kyle thought it might have been an address mix up, but it was more than that. His former Insurance Agent had written the wrong VIN number on the policy, so it showed that the Chevy Trax had been uninsured since February. So, when it should have been something simply, it turned into a major SNAFU with Kyle having to call his new agent and get the correct VIN and show that it was covered. That was an hour dealing with DMV bureaucrats when Kyle had to be out at the airport at 11:30 to pick up the Terrain.

We ended up paying a $100 fine on top of the registration because their records showed the Chevy Trax had not been insured and Kyle didn’t have the time to get it corrected. What a mess.

            Kyle drove the truck like a mad man to be at the airport and I had to drive the truck back to Sutherland’s to wait for him. Then to come to find out, the wrong tags had been put on the Terrain, showing the registration expires this month when it doesn’t actually until January. Someone put the wrong tags on so that will have to be dealt with also.

            After that fiasco we went to the house, transferred the old Kenmore Stove from the Sierra to the GMC and drove out to the County dump to get rid of it. Goodbye old and faithful appliance. I cooked thousands of meals with it over the 25 years I had it. Silly I suppose to be sentimental over it.

From there we went to Standard Plumbing and got a new gas hose with the correct couplers and back at the house Kyle hooked the new range up. Afterwards I rearranged all the counter tops cleaned it all and even used goof -off to get rid of the old grease that had accumulated over the old stove on to the microwave above, even though that doesn’t work anymore either.

            I then went to Wasatch Springs Vet and bought some more heart pills for Buster as he had been out a couple of days and I can tell he’s been hacking more, and he needs them for sure. I was going to go to the Groomers and have TJ and Maxx’s nails trimmed but I was pretty tired by then. There’s always tomorrow.

            I started a new Box book called “Wolf Pack,” but it was kind of intense, so I put it down and this evening I finished watching The Deathly Hollows Part 2. It all seemed new to me, so I wonder if I had ever watched it at the movies when it was released.

            Kyle was gone this evening trying to make some money as an Uber Driver. He said something to me while we were driving around that he didn’t want me to tell people that he is an Uber Driver as that he’s kind of ashamed of it; like he had hit bottom. I told him he should be proud that he’s trying to earn money, but I think he’s really depressed that his dreams of being a construction company entrepreneur failed.

            Today is Billy Bikowski’s 60^th birthday. Why I should care anymore I am not certain, but I do. My three great loves are John Cunningham, Billy Bikowski, and Kyle Foote, maybe because they were not consummated, except I did have sex with Billy two or three times but never kissed him which is what I genuinely wanted. I never kissed any of them. I never even held John.

 

29 September 2021 Wednesday

I cooked breakfast for the pups on the new stove and I have to say it was pretty nice having all the burners working. Then I cleaned my bedroom finally. I changed the bedding, put clothes away, mopped the floor and organized the top of the chest of drawers which had become kind of a catch all.

At noon Kyle Foote and I went for our Dr. Pepper, and he wanted to go to Ross Dress for Less as he needed some new pair of pants as that the one’s he had were had been his work pants and had paint on them. He bought four and I bought a new frying pan and some bamboo cutting boards for the kitchen.

While out, Kyle said someone was selling a brand new, still in the box Microwave for $95 that were $200 at Lowes. He called the guy and the place to pick it up was just across from Orchard Elementary on Center Street. So, after taking Maxx down to have his nails trimmed and returning, Kyle and I drove out there to buy it.

            Kyle removed the old one that Rich Butler had installed for us back in 1996. The under carriage was pretty greasy after 25 years of being above the old Kenmore Range. These two appliances are all I needed to update my kitchen.

Today is Maxx’s birthday. I went through cleaning up the dog files and saw that he had a birthdate. He’s 10 years old now. It’s Dr. Kristen Ries’ birthday also today. She’s 82 years old.

            I read that Historian Will Bagley died yesterday at the age of 71. He wrote Mormon history mostly; notedly Blood of the Prophet about the Mountain Meadow Massacre ... RIP

I also saw that Tommy Kirk the actor while a youth played in a lot of Walt Disney movies until Disney found out that he was Gay died yesterday also at the age of 79. He was a boyhood crush for me when I had no idea why.

 

30 September 2021 Thursday

This morning Kyle asked me to go help wash the Chevy Trax and he was being an ass to me. He must have been under a lot of stress and was taking it out on me when I was just trying to be helpful. I was super hurt and pissed off and refused to talk to him  as I thought I don’t need to be talked down to and treated like an annoyance. He knew I was mad too and I suppose he knew better than to treat me so poorly since I am the only one who still cares for him and is willing to help him.

            Anyway, I had to drain and clean the hot tub because some chemical reaction left a film of grit on the surface where you sit, like sandpaper. After draining it I saw that it also needs a new filter, but I managed to wipe down and clean the inside and refilled it. I didn’t waste the water as I had it flow into the yard. I ordered a new filter from Amazon, and it came in the late afternoon.

            I took the toaster oven and other items to Deseret Industries and did a bit of shopping at the Glendale Smiths. I also took TJ down to the groomers to have his nails clipped.

            I stayed in my room for most of the afternoon organizing my research to avoid Kyle, but I could tell he was working in the kitchen to replace the microwave. I suppose it was his way of showing he was sorry after being such an ass to me this morning at the car wash. He needed my help lifting the microwave into place, and I relented and gave him a long hard embrace to let him know I loved him although I’m still upset.

            I noticed that the front door was left opened when we carried the microwave upstairs and Taco had opened the gate at the top of the stairs and went out. I was so worried that he had escaped, and I went looking for him calling his name. Thankfully, the imp came to me after calling him. One of my great fears is that something will happen to him while I am watching him for Jim Dabakis

            After installing the new microwave about the range, Kyle left to go make money at his Uber job which he thinks is humiliating. I would think it would be less humiliating than spending 8 years in prison for fraud.

            I checked the First America account and the $23,000 I had requested from my retirement account had been deposited. I wrote a check to Lowes for $23,736.90 which I think is the largest amount I have ever written. I could have done it over the internet, but I wanted a hard copy to show I paid it off. Hopefully, this will clean up one of the messes Kyle had gotten me into.

            As he was gone the rest of the evening, I decided to make some bread for the first time in well over a year or more. While the dough was rising, and then baking I read some more from “Wolf Pack.” I finished it before heading to bed at 9:30.

            So ends the month of September 2021 with all its ‘ups and downs’. I wonder if Kyle is super stressed as his court hearing in Tooele is looming in October.

            Covid19 deaths in Utah have reached 2,937 since keeping track and almost all this year have been those unvaccinated.