Not a bad week……………………………..

As always, first the chronology:

12/13/20 – Sunday – Up at the usual time, etc.  Did the blog.  Todd took Kathy’s car up to Mike and Julie’s early to visit and take Chloe to her field hockey game today.  I helped Kathy get things ready for the big dinner this evening and played radio.  The gang came over and we ate and ate and ate.  They played cards and I played radio.  Got our bags ready for the range tomorrow.  Computer updates and bed.

12/14/20 – Monday – Up and out with Todd to punch some holes in paper.  Had a good time at the range.  Home and had lunch.  Kathy and Todd went up to Julie’s so they could say goodbye to Todd.  I cleaned the guns.  They came home and we had dinner.  Todd watched some TV and I played radio and did computer updates.  Upstairs to bed.

12/15/20 – Tuesday – Socialized with Todd this morning while getting him ready to return to New York.  Departed for the airport around 11:30AM.  Got over there and dropped him off a couple minutes after noon.  Back to the house and sandwiches for lunch.  Tried playing radio but bands where dead.  So upstairs for a nap.  Up and dinner.  Downstairs for the usual evening routine.  Upstairs and some research, then sleep.

12/16/20 – Wednesday – Up a little early today and out to Mike and Julie’s.  Kathy was already up and gone to watch the kids but had a doctor’s appointment.  So I went up and watched Shelby for an hour or so.  The twins didn’t have anything for today.  Picked up food at McDonald’s on the way home for lunch and shared with Bella.  Did some ordering and joined AMSAT.  Then a nap till Kathy came home.  Had dinner.  Downstairs for the usual.  Up to bed and started reading a document I got with my AMSAT membership.  It is a beginner’s manual for satellite communications.  Then sleep.

12/17/20 – Thursday – Up at the usual time, Kathy was already out to watch the grand children.  Checked radio bands and they were dead.  Made some phone calls to schedule Generac maintenance.  Rechecked radio and made some PSK contacts.  Lunch.  Upgraded fldigi.  Played radio.  Configured a Raspberry Pi for dual monitors just to see if it would work.  Took a short nap.  Downstairs and played radio some more.  Kathy came home and we had dinner.  More radio.  Computer work.  Bed and sleep.

12/18/20 – Friday – Up a little late today.  Spent the morning helping Kathy finish up the Christmas letter.  Played radio and did research the rest of the day.  Went to Hometown Pizza for dinner.

12/19/20 – Saturday – Up at the usual time.  Kathy went out shopping.  I played radio all day.  Kathy came home a little after noon so I stopped to have lunch.  Julie came over to wrap presents this afternoon.  Had left over pizza for dinner.  Spent time downstairs after dinner then up to bed.

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Now the specifics:

Every time we all get together there is always pictures taken. This trip for Todd was no different. Julie got a neighbor’s daughter to take the pictures. She is taking photography in school. Should have gotten the name of the school. I don’t think it’s very good. Anyway, this is the picture of the whole family that was present. Me with a jackass stupid smile and the kids faces washed out because they are too close. I didn’t study photography but I think I could have done a better job.

Sunday Todd took Kathy’s car up to Mike and Julie’s to take Chloe to her field hockey game. Only one person is allowed to accompany the child so Todd was tagged. Later that evening everyone came to our house for dinner. Todd wanted a spiral ham so he got that and turkey with all the trimmings.

Monday Todd and I went up to the gun range. Still have to wear a mask while on the firing line which in my opinion is overkill. But we had a good time in spite of it. Todd and Kathy went back up to Mike and Julie’s so the grand kids could say goodbye to Uncle Todd.

Tuesday we took him to the airport around noon. He got back to New York early evening. A very good visit.

Kathy had a doctor’s appointment Wednesday so I got to watch the grand kids part of the morning. Chloe and Carter had a down day so I only had to deal with Shelby. Yea, I don’t know how the kids are getting much out of this NTI. Certainly they are missing the personal interaction between classmates and their teacher. But I guess it’s better than bringing the entire educational system to a stand still.

I spent some time this week playing with the Raspberry Pi. It has the capacity for two video outputs so I got a couple HDMI to VGA adapters and powered up some monitors. Sure enough, they both worked. So that is good information to have for future projects.

I also upgraded my digital software. I am now running FLDIGI .17. That is the newest and greatest.

Kathy got the Christmas letter done this week and got the Christmas cards sent. You can read it on the blog here in case you missed it. I posted it earlier this week.

Radio has been up and down like crazy this week. Some good times and some bad times. Been working mostly digital as that seems to work when nothing else does. When the bands get good I’ll go back to working phone. I enjoy chatting with people.

My son-in-law Mike has been busy as a one armed paper hanger. Starting Tuesday they will be giving hospital employees as well as veterans the COVID-19 vaccine. I think this is a good thing. According to the statistics, out of over a 1/4 million people that have gotten it, only 6 have had adverse reactions. One had reactions to other vaccines so I have no idea why he took this one. The others had the reaction within the specified time for monitoring and were treated and recovered without incident.

Well, that’s it for this week. As always, hope this finds everyone safe and healthy. Please stay that way for the upcoming holidays. Merry Christmas to everyone. Have a safe and sane holiday. Try to enjoy.

Bye for now.