Another busy week but a lot of fun……………………………………..

As always, first the chronology:

8/5/21 – Sunday – Up at the usual time.  Kathy was out early for church in J-town.  I did chores around the house then out to church here.  Home and lunch.  Down to do the blog.  Upstairs to help Kathy prepare for the tribe coming tonight.  People showed up around 4 to 4:30.  I did burgers, brats and dogs on the grill.  Kathy had home made potato salad, corn on the cob and salad.  Julie, Mike and the grand kids where here as well as Julie’s friend Christine and our mutual friend Dee.  Had a good time.  Everyone was gone around 7:30PM.  Helped clean up then to bed.

8/6/21 – Monday – Up at the usual time.  Kathy and I went shopping in the morning.  Got back a little after noon. We had lunch then Kathy took a nap.  I went to the shack and did a blog entry on COVID and the vaccine.  Then finished up the trim on my long bow.  Kathy got up and we went out and serviced the pool, got vegetables out of the garden and I checked over the motorcycle.  Inside and dinner.  Usual evening routine.

8/7/21 – Tuesday – Up a little early for some reason today.  Got cleaned up and did some chores.  Then out on the motorcycle for the day.  Stopped at the bank to cash a check and a watering hole.  Home, dinner and usual evening routine.

8/8/21 – Wednesday – Up at the usual time.  Chores around the house and cleaned up.  Out to OPS supply with my bow to have it checked, pick up some arrows and a target.  Stopped at Country Mart on the way home for some sandwich ham and Macaroni Salad.  Home and lunch.  Did some research online.  Found out the place I was going to take a motorcycle ride to tomorrow is strictly mail order.  No store.  So I found another place in Florence, KY that I’ll go to tomorrow.  Took the target outside and did some shooting.  Had dinner and the usual evening routine.

8/9/21 – Thursday – Up at the usual time.  Kathy was up to watch the grand kids and then bring them over to the house.  I rode the motorcycle over to OPS supply to get an arm guard for when I’m using the longbow but they didn’t have any.  Then rode up to Florence, KY to The Dragon’s Hoard.  They have specialty items that work with the renaissance festivals.  Took a different way home as route 71 was backed up south bound.  So took 75 south to 64 and west.  Got home around 3:30PM.  Kids were still at the house so I spent time with them. Julie came over and picked up the kids.  Then did burgers, dogs and brats on the grill for dinner.  Usual evening routine.

8/10/21 – Friday – Up at the usual time.  Cleaned up and out for a doctor’s appointment.  Shopping on the way home.  Lunch then out to do the yard work.  Usual evening routine.

8/11/21 – Saturday – Up very early this morning.  Cleaned up and out to the Greater Louisville Ham Fest.  Got back home around 1:30.  Had lunch.  Kathy went for a pedicure.  I took a nap.  Up and dinner.  Usual evening routine.

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Now the specifics:

We decided to have our labor day celebration on Sunday since the kids would have had to be home early on Monday for school on Tuesday. And since Mike was working this weekend it made things a lot easier to do it Sunday. Mike, Julie and the grand kids were here. Julie’s friend Christine who she graduated from high school with and just moved to the area here from Alaska so we invited her. Dee was able to be out and about now so of course she joined us. We had lots of good food. Dee brought dessert and Kathy made a couple pies so everyone overate as usual. But a good time was had by all.

I finished up the longbow on Monday. I didn’t have any arrows so couldn’t try it out until Wednesday. I spent most of the morning over at OPS supply getting arrows and a target.

Here is what it looks like. I had to glue the piece of wood back on it where the hand grip is. Then I had to put new leather on in place of the old leather I scraped off. Then I trimmed it with green tape.

Here I am trying it out. I didn’t do good at all so I went back and reviewed some basics. I’m getting better. I got some composite arrows that they cut to the length of my draw. That’s the distance from the string to the front of the bow plus 2 inches. To be authentic and period accurate I need to find some wooden arrows. The trick is finding some that can be cut the correct length and re-tipped. I have some time for that.

I put a total of 354.5 miles on the motorcycle this week. The temperatures subsided and the humidity was low so Tuesday I took advantage of the weather and rode up to the bank to take care of some business. Then made a loop through Shelby County to Bullit County and up into Jefferson County where I stopped at one of my watering holes. A great day. Then Thursday I had planned to ride over to Princeton, IN to a store but after reading their reviews I learned that it was a mail order place and there was no store. So I did some research and decided on riding up to Florence, KY to a place called The Dragon’s Hoard. It’s a rather unique place that has all kinds of gothic, renaissance and biker type things. An interesting experience to say the least. Anyway, I got a couple items to start my costume for the renaissance fair next year.

Here’s what I have so far. I need to add vest, belt, braces, quiver, footwear and some sort of hat. I’ll be spending time in a lot of second hand stores the next couple months.

Went to the pain management doctor on Friday. Told him things had improved tremendously. He said that’s great and I wouldn’t need any more injections until it starts acting up again. So that was a good thing.

Friday afternoon we did the yard work. Not a bad job this time other than it was very wet. Had to do a lot by hand as I would have gotten the tractor stuck.

Saturday was the Greater Louisville Hamfest. I normally participate in the testing. They do HAM license tests between 8AM and noon. They usually run two shifts. One from 8AM to 10AM and the other from 10AM to noon. They were running short of people so they scheduled me for the 8AM to 10AM session and then I could carry over for as long as they needed me. But some clown just decided to pop in and help for the 8AM to 10AM session so I agreed to go look around and come back at 10AM. So I socialized with a bunch of people and went back at 10AM. The last guy there was finished about 11:05 but the VEC said we had to stay till 11:30 before we closed up. Well wouldn’t you know it, at 11:25 a guy came in to take the Extra exam. He worked on it till 12:15 and managed to miss more questions than he got correct. Really pissed us off. But, that’s part of volunteering. I still had a good time.

If you haven’t noticed, I did the blog entry on my thoughts about COVID and the vaccine. I got a couple replies but would love to hear more.

Well that’s it for this week. Hope this finds everyone safe and healthy. blog at you again next week.