I survived Christmas……………………………………

As always, first the chronology:

12/20/20 – Sunday – Up at the usual time.  Kathy started early making cookies.  I played radio this morning.  Bands were great.  Had lunch and back down to do the blog.  Worked on trouble shooting the IC735.  Seems it has good output but the meter circuit has a problem.  Dinner, back down to play radio.  Computer updates and bed.

12/21/20 – Monday – Up a little late today, chores and out for a doctor’s appointment a little after lunch.  Home and had a snack.  More chores around the house.  Out to pickup a prescription and to Chubby Ray’s for dinner.  Home and played radio, computer updates.  Upstairs, dessert and bed.

12/22/20 – Tuesday – Up very early.  Apparently went to bed too early last night.  Kathy and I did our annual ritual of buying goodies at a local bakery called the Tea Cup and distributed them to places like the Post Office, Dentist Office and the place where they do Kathy’s hair and cut mine.  Kathy did some running around the rest of the day.  I did chores around the house catching up and played radio.  

12/23/20 – Wednesday – Up early and out for a hair cut.  Home and chores around the house.  Lunch and Kathy went for her hair appointment.  I took a nap.  Played radio till dinner then back for awhile.  Computer updates and upstairs for more chores then bed.

12/24/20 – Thursday – Up the usual time.  Chores around the house.  Finished up wrapping presents and put them under the tree.  Did some research into WSJT and updated a bunch of software.  Otherwise an uneventful day.

12/25/20 – Friday – Up at 5AM and out at 6:30AM to go over to Mike and Julie’s to watch the grand children open their gifts.  Had a big breakfast over there then home.  Had our Christmas and to bed for a nap.  Up and played radio till the tribe arrived here.  Had Christmas again then a Ziti dinner.  Everyone left, played radio and updated the computer.  

12/26/20 – Saturday – Up a little early today.  Did chores around the house.  Out around 11:30 AM and stopped at Cattleman’s Steakhouse for lunch.  Shopping at Lowes.  Home and more chores.  Played radio awhile then a nap.   Dinner and usual evening routine.  

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Now the particulars:

Yes, I made it through Christmas day without any explosion. We were up at 5AM and out the door at 6:30AM so Kathy could watch the grand children open their gifts. We had just gotten on the road and Julie texted that the kids were up and ready to open presents. If I were those kids and I was told I had to wait for Grandma, I would have slapped the stupid out of grandma when she got there. But they were patient and waited. Kathy had a good time taking pictures and telling them all what to do. I played with Cooper. When all the flurry of activity was over opening presents we all sat down to a big breakfast. Then Kathy and I came home. I was told after we got home it was time for us to have our Christmas so I obeyed and we went downstairs and opened out gifts. Not too much to open. I bought Kathy the Ipad she wanted about a month ago and she bought me a new motorcycle helmet I saw that was reasonable and had built in bluetooth. She unwrapped her stick vacuum that she picked out at Bed, Bath and Beyond. Got her a larger size battery for her outside tools that she has been complaining about. Got her a new cover for her Iphone. Then the usual gift certificates at the nail salon and hair salon. And that was about it. I got the coax I asked for and some socks I didn’t ask for. Also got the crimp tool I asked for. So, after that excitement I went upstairs to take a nap. Got up and helped get ready for the tribe to come over. They arrived and we had another go around of opening gifts. Then a nice Ziti dinner with the exception of the kids raising hell. I understand that one has a slight behavioural problem but they all need to have the shit slapped out of them a little. Very little discipline. I guess it can be excused since it was Christmas. They departed, I helped cleanup then down to the radio for awhile. Then bed.

I got a sensor and hub for my overhead door at the Morton building and installed that this week. Of course the door Kathy uses all the time at the house started issuing weird messages. I did some trouble shooting and determined the sensor is bad on the door. So we ordered a new one. I’ll replace that when it comes in and we should be able to check all the overhead doors at the house and the Morton building with our cell phones as well as open and close them with the cell phones. I know, I like gadgets.

I played radio a lot this week. Bands were good a couple days but I’ve been doing a lot of digital modes. On Christmas they had a contest of sorts to make 25 PSK contacts on December 25th. A lot of PSK activity on the bands so I took advantage and made some contacts. I like PSK as you talk keyboard to keyboard. FT8 the computers just talk to each other. I did make some phone contacts and I got a couple requests for QSL cards. I guess some people chasing counties.

Didn’t get to work on the broken radio too much. I did download some data sheets on the component I suspect is bad. The problem is that the radio works great, the meter just doesn’t work. The meter itself is OK so it must be the integrated circuit chip that drives it. I will pursue that more later.

I talked to my friend in Florida this week as his birthday was the 24th. Also chatted briefly with my friend Jim in PA. Texted with my friend and past co-worker Ron. They stayed out in Colorado this year with all the COVID crap. Ron’s wife Linda has some respiratory issues so I think they made a good decision. It must be hard for them since they just bought the house in Florida.

Next week I have a couple more calls to stay in touch with people.

We did have a little snow on Friday. Enough to make the ground white. It was sticking on the roads when we went up to Mike and Julie’s. They had even more snow than us. Not enough for the kids to go play in. By the time we got back to the house the roads were bare and it was starting to dissipate off the driveways.

I just didn’t have any interest in taking pictures this week. Kathy took enough for both of us. Perhaps I’ll post a couple next week.

That’s it for this week. Hope everyone had a nice Christmas and are safe and healthy. Have a safe and sane New Year’s day. Blog at you again next year.