This may be a long one………………………………………………

As always, first the chronology:

10/22/19 – Sunday – Up early and over to help Mike with his project. Had a late lunch over there then home. Chores and Mike Craycroft came over at 3PM. We played around with Linux for a couple hours and he left. I did some more chores then had a light dinner. Downstairs to do the blog and computer updates. Upstairs to bed, Big Bang and sleep.

10/23/19 – Monday – Up at usual time and usual morning routine. Loaded the dishwasher and started it. Then downstairs and started working on the WiFi shield for my arduino. Spent most of the day on that. Took a break for lunch and dinner. Still have a lot of questions and data collection to do. Chatted with the guys on 2 meters then computer updates. Upstairs to empty dishwasher and do other chores. Bed, TV and sleep.

10/24/19 – Tuesday – Up at the usual time and usual morning routine. Then downstairs to do some banking and schedule an appointment to get my truck in for a recall. Cleaned up and out on the motorcycle. First stop was Gary’s place to help with a computer issue. Then over to Shepardsville for lunch at one of my favorite diners in the area. Some more riding. Got home a little before 4PM and put over 100 mile on the bike. Put the bike away and cleaned up a little. Then dinner. Downstairs for computer updates, some research, and chat with the guys on 2 meters. Upstairs and cleaned up the kitchen. Bed, Big Bang and sleep.

10/25/19 – Wednesday – Up at the usual time and usual morning routine. Spent most of the day downstairs working on my ESP8266 project. Got an email from a guy in Kansas that is trying to work all counties. I called and we tried but my noise level was too high. We’ll try again Friday morning. Got cleaned up, picked up Gary and over to Bob Evans for dinner with the guys. Home and got gas in the truck on the way. Did some more computer work on the ESP8266 project while watching Big Bang on TV. Then sleep.

10/26/19 – Thursday – Up a little early. Usual morning routine. Changed the bed clothes and started the washer. Then out for my hair cut. Back home and started another load of wash. Then off to work at Dare to Care at noon. Took a break and went to the local hamburger joint for lunch. Back and loaded the frozen items then helped load people’s cars. Home by 4PM and tended to Bella. Had filled peppers for dinner. Downstairs to do computer updates and chat with the guys on 2 meters. Upstairs to bed and Big Bang, some more computer work and sleep.

10/27/19 – Friday – Up early to make a schedule with a HAM in Kansas. He is working for an award that he must contact someone via radio in every county in the US. I got him Spencer County, Kentucky. Rest of the day I worked on my WiFi shield with no luck. Still can’t get the thing to listen to me. Or perhaps I’m not talking it’s language. Had a bacon, egg and cheese sandwich for lunch that didn’t sit right. I suspect the bacon I used was in the refridgerator too long. Just snacked for Dinner. Noise levels were extremely high on 2 meters tonight so I didn’t chat long with the guys. Going to bed early and do some research on the computer. Watch a little TV and sleep.

10/28/19 – Saturday – Up early. Weather alert radio batteries went bad. Usual morning routine. Then out on the motorcycle for errands. Got a prescription at Kroger, new batteries at Battery and Bulbs Plus. Than a ride out to Shelbyville and over to Taylorsville. Picked up food at McDonald’s and took it home to share with Bella for lunch. Took a nap and chores around the house. Kathy came home around 5:30. Out to the Chinese restaurant and some shopping at Country Mart. Home and a few more chores. Bed, Big Bang, Computer updates/research and sleep.

---

Now the particulars:

The scoop on Todd as I know it.  Sometime ago it was noticed that Todd had an irregular EKG.  So, they put him through a lot of tests and other than finding out his heart was larger than most he was given a clean bill of health.  However, in the process of looking at things they discovered spots on his lungs and lymph nodes.  So, they did a pet scan and most recently this last week a biopsy.  They have it narrowed down to three things and are trying to rule out possibilities to figure out what to do.  In any event they are catching it early so it should not be a big issue.  We are all just waiting for the results of this past weeks test.  Sounds like he has a good bunch of doctors looking at things so it’s just a waiting game at this time.

The noise is getting worse here.  Seems to be the dryer it gets the worse the noise gets.  I guess I’ll have to go out and actually look for it now as I can’t use my VHF radio at all.

 

This is the closet project I have been helping my son in law with.  All the lighting is built in LEDs.  He has a lot of finish work to do and more to build over the top and some drawers to install.  Then he will stain it and I will come back and put the finishing touches on the electrical work.  The lights can be controlled individually and with a remote control.  Should be very nice when it’s all done.

Kathy made it home in one piece.  Said she had a great time at her nursing class reunion.  Then she went up to see Todd and take him for his test last week.  She got to have her new grand son for the day Thursday.  So she went up to Carmel and met with some of the ladies she worked with at PHC.  She left New York on Friday and stopped over at my cousin’s place in central Pennsylvania.  Then left early Saturday morning and got back home around 5:30PM.  A long trip but she had a good time.

The WiFi shield or ESP8266 is a device that allows me to talk over the internet with an Arduino microcomputer.  My overall goal is to put sensors on the garage doors so I can check with my smart phone if I remembered to close the doors.  And if not, be able to close or open them with my smart phone.  Anyway, the WiFi shields I ordered were not user friendly at all.  My final conclusion is they were made so long ago that didn’t have the firmware that would allow me to talk to them.  So, I bit the bullet and ordered a couple more expensive shields.  The new ones are $12 each.  But they have a lot of documentation with them and should not be as difficult to deal with.

Got an email from a guy on Wednesday from Kansas.  He is working on getting his “All Counties” award on HAM radio.  To get it you must contact all counties in the US on HAM radio.  Spencer County Kentucky was one of the remaining 14 he had to get.  So we gave it a try on Wednesday but I couldn’t hear him.  So we tried again early Friday and was successful.  Glad I could help the guy out.

Last but not least, I got to ride a lot this week.  Went for a long ride Tuesday then rode the bike to run some errands Saturday.  Put a total of a little over 150 mile on the bike.

OK, that’s probably more than you wanted to hear this week so I’ll stop here.  Hope all is well with everyone and hope you all have a good week to come.