A busy week…………………………………………………….

As always, first the chronology:

5/17/20 – Sunday – Up early this morning and usual morning routine. Out and over to my son-in-laws to pick up his zero turn mower to bring over to the house. We were going to do a tune up on it but the kit they gave me at the dealership was not for this mower. Made a quick trip over to Lowes to see if we could scrounge the parts to no avail. Home and sharpened the blades. He took it for a ride and all was good. Julie and the kids came over and we all had lunch. Took the mower back to Mike’s house. Came home, put things away and came in for a nap. Up and a light dinner. Downstairs and cleaned up some things then set up my recording stuff which doesn’t seem to be working well. I suspect an impedance miss match. So did computer updates, upstairs to bed, Big Bang and sleep.

5/18/20 – Monday – Up at the usual time and usual morning routine. Downstairs and started cleaning up my room. Spent most of the day cleaning and organizing. Spent some time on the phone resolving the parts issue with Mike’s mower. Kathy had to run up and take Shelby to the orthodontist. Chatted with the guys on 2 meters. Research, bed, more research, some TV and sleep.

5/19/20 – Tuesday – Up at the usual time and usual morning routine. Got cleaned up and out to help Gary get a ladder down for the insurance company. Back to the house and picked up Kathy who just came back from taking Bella to the Veterinarians. Went into J-town to grocery shop and pick up prescriptions. Back home and lunch. Chores and a nap. Up and more chores then dinner. Downstairs to chat with the guys on 2 meters. Called my friend Jim in Pennsylvania to see how they are doing. Computer updates. Upstairs, chores, bed, Big Bang and sleep.

5/20/20 – Wednesday – Up at the usual time and usual morning routine. Downstairs to continue cleaning things up. Got my contesting computer up and running with all the software for things next month. Kathy was up and out early to watch the grand children. I made myself some grilled ham and cheese sandwiches for lunch. Kathy came home and I had a light snack for dinner. Back downstairs to chat with the guys on 2 meters. Then played radio. Bands were in pretty good shape tonight. Upstairs, chores, bed, Big Bang and sleep.

5/21/20 – Thursday – Up at the usual time and usual morning routine. Kathy was up and out early to watch the grand children again today. I stripped the bed and got a load of laundry going in the washer then out for some errands. Went to the Post Office and grocery store. Back home and continued the laundry and cleaned up the kitchen. Kathy called and brought Subway sandwichs for lunch. She and the grand kids showed up and we ate. Spent time with the grand kids this afternoon. Kathy took them back to their house and came home and we had dinner. Downstairs to chat with the guys on 2 meters. Upstairs to bed, Big Bang, computer updates and sleep.

5/22/20 – Friday – Up at the usual time and usual morning routine. Over to Gary’s to pick up an item he needs help soldering. Back to the house and out to do yard work. Got out about 10:30 and worked till 4:30 with about 45 minutes break for lunch. Came in and got cleaned up. Since the Nazi in Frankfort decided to allow us to go out and eat starting today, we went to Hometown Pizza for dinner. Definitely enjoyable to get out and sit down for a meal. Home and downstairs to chat with the guys on 2 meters. Then some research on my new NanoVNA I got in the mail today. Upstairs to bed, some reading, TV and sleep.

5/23/20 – Saturday – Up at the usual time and usual morning routine. Kathy went out shopping and I did some chores around the house. She came home and we had lunch. Then out to work on the garden. Worked on the pool then inside to clean up. Dinner, downstairs to chat with the guys on 2 meters but the weather discouraged us. Finished up some work in the shack and did computer updates. Upstairs to bed, Big Bang and sleep.

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Now the specifics:

I tried to get the parts to do the maintenance on my son-in-law’s zero turn mower.  Went to the dealership Monday a week ago.  They gave me a kit of all the stuff I needed.  So, Sunday we brought it over to do the work and the kit of parts was for the wrong mower.  So we did what we could and took it back over to Mike’s house.  Monday I called the dealership where I got the parts kit and explained the situation and they said they didn’t have the correct kit in stock but would order it and get back to me the end of the week.  That didn’t happen.  So, Monday I will call again and if I don’t get some satisfaction I”ll send a nasty email to the corporate offices and complain about the dealership and get the parts elsewhere.  I hate this kind of crap.

I got a hair up my butt this week and Sunday evening decided to setup my recording equipment.  The keyboard would not work through the mixer for some reason.  I need to work on that when I have time but for the time being I took the stuff down and put it away till I have more time.

Got a call from my friend Gary twice this week.  Monday he called to say an insurance inspector visited them and a ladder that was on a small deck in the back of the barn up to the roof had to be removed.  So, Mike (my HAM friend) and I went over Tuesday and took it down for him.  I have many question about this issue as the ladder has been there since I’ve know Gary.  He claims this is the first time an insurance inspector has come around.  Anyway, the ladder is down and Gary can get his insurance renewed.  On Thursday he called and was having problems seeing well enough to solder a connector on a cable.  So I picked that up from him Friday and got it done for him.

Some interesting happenings in the radio world next month.  Saturday June 6th will be the Kentucky QSO party and on Saturday the 20th will be the West Virginia QSO party as well as kids day.  Got my computer setup and loaded with all the contest software for these events.  Looking forward to playing radio a lot next month.  The radio bands have been good lately, I am hoping they will hold up for next month.

Got a lot of work done outside.  It’s been raining rather consistently since it was time to mow the lawn so it was rather thick when we did it this week.  But the humidity was relatively low for this area on Friday so it made it rather easy work.  And Saturday we got out to plant Kathy’s garden.  It’s been so long since we rototilled it that it needed to be done again.  But the plants are in the ground and we will see how things progress this year.

If you check the CDC website it looks like the COVID-19 is fading away.  Less and less tests are coming back positive.  I read through all the bullshit that is on the CDC website and it’s deep in statistics and very difficult to read.  But from my perspective they are now admitting that everyone over reacted and that less and less tests are coming back positive.  They have also discovered that up to 35% of people infect were asymptomatic.  I am glad things are working themselves back to normal here.  We are finally able to go out to eat again.  However, it seems that with all the rules the Nazi in Frankfort is laying out, some establishments are refusing to open.  I can’t blame them.  Since the CDC earlier this week admitted that it is extremely unlikely you are able to contract the COVID-19 from touching an infect surface, they are still requiring facilities to use disposable products.  But that isn’t consistent.  We went to our favorite pizza place and were given plastic utensils but regular plates.  A lot of this just doesn’t make sense.  Anyway, it’s good to see things improve and people are able to get back to work.

OK, that’s it for this week.  Hope everyone is in good health and safe.  Keep your sanity, things are getting better.  Bye for this week.  Blog again next week.