Welcome to November…………………………………….

As always, first the chronology:

11/1/20 – Sunday – Up at the usual time and usual morning routine.  Did the blog and got cleaned up.  Had lunch and over to Julie’s to do some things for her this afternoon.  Came home and unloaded the truck.  Over to Shelbyville to shop at Lowes.  Then to Cracker Barrel for dinner.  Home, put the truck away and installed the myQ in the garage.  Pulled out the wiring that won’t be used.  Down to my desk for computer work/updates.  Upstairs for dessert.  Bed, TV and sleep.

11/2/20 – Monday – Up at the usual time and usual morning routine.  Finished up the reading and review I needed to do for tomorrow.  Out for a dentist appointment at 1PM.  Kathy was up watching the grand kids today.  I grabbed a sandwich at subway and brought home for lunch.  Did some more things around the house then took a nap till Kathy came home.  Had dinner.  Chatted with the guys on 2 meters.  Finished packing my things for tomorrow.  To bed, a little TV and sleep.

11/3/20 – Tuesday – Up at 3:30AM and over to the polling place by 4:45.  Spent the day at the polls.  Uneventful.  Got out about 6:45 then to Hometown for dinner.  Home and unpacked things.  Dessert.  Bed, TV and sleep.

11/4/20 – Wednesday – Up a little late today and usual morning routine.  Kathy was already up and out to take grand kids to school.  I did some domestic chores around the house then some administrative stuff in my room.  Kathy came home and we had lunch.  Kathy went for a nap.  I got cleaned up and went over to get the truck.  Came back to the house and changed the water filter in the refrigerator.  Then to the bank for some business.  Over to Gary’s to drop off some hose clamps.  Home and a nap.  Up for dinner.  Chatted with the guys on 2 meters.  Computer updates.  Dessert, bed, some computer work and sleep.

11/5/20 – Thursday – Up at the usual time and usual morning routine.  Kathy was up and out early to go watch the grand children.  I cleaned up the kitchen and started the only laundry I had to do.  Then downstairs and played radio.  Set up the ALC for my AL811 amplifier and updated some fldigi macros.  Also did some cleanup.  Had lunch somewhere in between there.  Lit the barbeque grill, set the table and got things ready for dinner.  Kathy came home and we ate.  Downstairs to chat with the guys on 2 meters.  Then out to Kroger for some shopping and to pickup a prescription.  Home, put things away.  Bed, computer work, TV and sleep.

11/6/20 – Friday – Up at the usual time and usual morning routine.  Downstairs to play radio awhile.  Then Kathy and I went into J-town and made a stop then had lunch at Chubby Ray’s.  Made a couple more stops before going home.  I took the Vibe so I went over it when I got home and checked all the fluid levels, Etc.  Then inside and did some research on the computer.  Upstairs for dinner.  Chatted with the guys on 2 meters.  More computer work and played radio.  Upstairs to bed, TV and sleep.

11/7/20 – Saturday – Up a little late this morning and usual morning routine.  Outside to do yard work a little after 10AM.  Took a break around 1PM to grab a sandwich.  Worked till 3PM and came in.  Go cleaned up and rested.  Played radio till dinner time.  Then chatted with the guys on 2 meters.  Did some computer work in preparation for the contest next weekend.  To bed, TV and sleep.

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Now the specifics:

Welcome to November. Hard to believe it’s only a little over a month till Christmas. It really is true, the older you get the faster time flies. This will be rather short. I will publish a separate rant later.

I was working on the programming for a Raspberry Pi computer to monitor the garage doors and open and close them remotely with a smart phone. Julie had bought me a commercial device for my birthday this year but I declined the gift as I was already working on it. I also recalled looking at the price of these and it was several hundred dollars. So she wanted me to install the one she bought for me on her garage door. I did some research on the web and found they are significantly less than a hundred dollars to do two garage doors and the security is great. Much better option than suffering through building it myself. So, she order another one with additional sensor units as we both have 2 garage doors. I installed one door at her house, did one door at my house Sunday. She received the additional door sensors so I put one on our second door Thursday and will probably do the second one at her house next weekend. If you have ever been away from home and wondered if you closed the garage door or you wanted to open the garage door for a delivery, the Chamberlain myQ system works great and is very economical.

Last Wednesday I had a tooth that hurt a little in the afternoon and into the evening. Of course my dentist isn’t in on Thursday so I had to wait till Friday and got an appointment for this past Monday. He looked at it and confirmed it was the tooth he has been telling me needs removed for well over a year now. So I will be going to him in a couple weeks to have that removed.

I think everyone is aware that Tuesday was election day. Kathy and I worked the polls at the Spencer Christian Church. We were greeters which is a very simple job compared to most. We were responsible to screen everyone and only let those eligible to vote into the voting area. Had a few issues with voting registrations not making it through the system or the person was voting in the wrong county. Actually only turned a hand full of people away and they all understood. No one got nasty. I saw a lot of MAGA hats and Woman for Trump T-shirts. But of course Kentucky is a heavy Republican state so that was no surprise. But we had to keep an eye on them. You can’t discriminate against a person for what they wear but you can not allow campaigning within 100 feet of the polling place. One guy was sort of hanging out in the polling area with his MAGA hat waiting for his wife. I asked him to step outside and explained I didn’t want his presence to be miss-construed as campaigning. He complete understood and did as I asked. Needless to say I am not happy with the outcome so far. I will rant about that in a separate post.

Kathy and I did some running around on Friday. Hadn’t run the Vibe much as I keep it over at the Morton building and never think about it when I’m out. So Friday I ran it into J-town, then to Taylorsville and home. Checked it over for fluid and tire pressure. Everything was pretty much OK. Had to add some windshield fluid and put air in all the tires. Tried fixing the cigarette lighter socket that didn’t work but it is apparently the socket and I’m not replacing that. Beside, for some reason it has an inverter with a socket for 110vac so you can plug a house charger in there.

Friday we did yard work. Unbelievable to me that it’s the first of November and we are still mowing the yard. Anyway, I think we mulched more leaves than we mowed grass. But it looks all pretty and nice. Next step will be removing the mower deck and putting the snow plow on the front of the tractor. Then I’ll bring it over to the house and put it on a battery conditioner to keep the battery charged. I don’t put the snow chains on unless I have to use it. Last year I just drove it over, parked it, then took it back over in the spring.

Well that’s it for this week. Needless to say I haven’t had a good week. A lot of hoping and praying going on in this part of the country. As I said, I’ll address all that in another blog.

As always, hope this finds everyone safe and healthy. Stay that way. Blog at you again next week.