A busy week……………………………………

As always, first the chronology:

6/13/21 – Sunday – Up at the usual time.  Kathy was out for Sunday School and church.  I went to church over here at the Lutheran church. Home and ate quick and over to the Kennedy’s to help setup the UHF repeater.  Finished that about 3 and home.  Did chores around the house then Kathy and I went out to Cattleman’s Roadhouse for dinner.  Usual evening routine.

6/14/21 – Monday – Up a little early with the dogs again.  Tried to get back for some sack time and it just couldn’t happen.  Had issues with the railing on the rear deck we had to resolve.  Kathy went shopping at Costco.  I did research  on putting an external controller on a Yaesu Fusion repeater.  Finished up the ICOM IC-735 and put it back together.  All worked well.  Had a great sauerkraut dinner.  Then to the shop to power wash some things for the pool.  Otherwise, usual evening routine.

6/15/21 – Tuesday – Up a little early.  Kathy had to go up to take Chloe to a doctor’s appointment.  I vacuumed the pool and got all the stuff out for the deck.  Kathy came home early afternoon and we had lunch.  She touched up the stain on the pool deck and I finished the bracket to support the scope on my test equipment cart.  Dinner and usual evening routine.

6/16/21 – Wednesday – Up early and out to have my blood drawn to check my thyroid medication.  Home and some chores and out on the motorcycle around 10AM.  Road down to the Blue Grass Parkway and over to route 65 and up to Shepardsville.  Stopped for lunch at Denny’s.  Then over 44 to the Dixie Highway, north to the Gene Snyder and around to Bardstown road.  Got off the Snyder and took the back way home.  Got home a little after 2PM.  Rode almost 140 miles.  In and cooled down.  Took a little nap.  Up and dinner.  Usual evening routine.

6/17/21 – Thursday – Up a little early with Kathy.  She was off to watch the grand children.  I spent the day in the kitchen doing computer work.  Put an order into Allelectronics for some parts.  Did the laundry and cleaned up the kitchen for Kathy.  She came home and we had dinner.  Usual evening routine.

6/18/21 – Friday – Up a little late today.  Cleaned up and out for some shopping at Lowes and Dollar General.  Got gas and made a stop at the bank.  Home and met Kathy back over at Cattleman’s Roadhouse in Shelbyville for lunch.  She went off to get her toes painted and went back home.  Took care of the dogs and tried to take a nap.  That didn’t happen.  Kathy invited the Rice family over for swimming so we had dinner here as well.  Otherwise usual evening routine.

6/19/21 – Saturday – Up a little late this morning.  Spent most of the day working on the Raspberry Pi repeater controller project.  Didn’t eat much for lunch as we went to Gasthaus for dinner with the Rice family.  A great meal.

 

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Now the specifics:

The week started off very well. We got the UHF repeater back from Bob Gillock and re-installed it on Sunday afternoon. Everything seems to be working great. It still has limitations because of the lack of antenna height and it doesn’t have all the whistles and bells a typical HAM repeater has so we need to work on those. But the difficult problems are taken care of and everyone seems to be happy.

Monday I started work on an external controller for the repeater so it would give us a beep at the end of a transmission and announce the time. That will be an ongoing effort. I’m trying to do it with a Raspberry Pi but don’t have all the technical issues worked out. That will take some time. I worked on that as much as time allowed this week. I will keep you posted on the progress.

I also buttoned up the IC-735 on Monday and everything works now. Had to calibrate the ‘S’ meter but everything else came back as it should have. So now I have a spare HF transceiver. Might do some portable work now. Like I have time for that.

This week we got aggressive at getting the pool open. They finished the staining last week so Monday evening we pressure washed the ladder and furniture and put it in the shop to dry. Kathy had to take Chloe to an appointment on Tuesday morning so I got busy with getting the pool open. I vacuumed the last little bit of stuff out of the bottom then got the stuff moved over from the shop.

Since Kathy wasn’t available to help I had to employ some unusual methods to get things done. Here is how I got the pool ladder from the shop over to the pool. I was expecting someone to stop along the road to take pictures. But it worked and I got the ladder in the pool and attached as it should be.

And here is what it looks like. Already for people to start enjoying it.

And here is the first official use of the pool for 2021. Neither Mike or I got in. Chloe was feeling a little unsure so I just snapped this picture quickly. Anyway, the solar cover is on and it should be nice to swim when anyone wants.

Wednesday I went up to get my blood drawn to test for my Thyroid medication. That was all good. After I got back from that and did some chores I jumped on the motorcycle and took off for awhile. Was gone for around 4 hours, put just short of 140 miles on the bike and stopped for lunch while I was out. Great ride.

Kathy was out early Thursday to watch the grand kids. So I was relegated to doggy patrol and domestic chores. I did some computer research and order some parts from Allelectronics. Got the laundry done, changed the bed clothes and cleaned up the kitchen. This week I’ll have two days, Tuesday and Wednesday to be on doggy patrol as the regular babysitter is going on vacation. But I think I’ll just tie them outside on Wednesday while I do yard work.

And Saturday evening Mike and I were treated to a fabulous dinner at the Gasthaus for Father’s Day. It’s a very good German restaurant here in Louisville. Very authentic food and even the wait staff is dressed in traditional apparel. I had the Bratwurst that comes with good German style sauerkraut and pan fried potatoes. Had a bowl of authentic German potato soup for an appetizer and finished it off with apple strudel for dessert with a great cup of coffee. A rare treat to be sure.

Had the pleasure of talking to several special people this week. Glad everyone is doing well. When I spoke to my friend Stan, he said he is planning on stopping here in the fall on his way back to Florida. We are looking forward to that.

Well that’s about it for this week. Hope this finds everyone safe and well. Please stay that way. I will blog at you again next week.