A very busy and exciting week……………………………..

As always, first the chronology:

2/6/22 – Sunday – Up at the usual time.  Cleaned up and out to Church with Kathy.  Home and a quick lunch.  Kathy then took the truck up to Mike and Julie’s to help Julie cart things over to Goodwill.  I did the blog then out and chipped the ice off the Chrysler.  Then over to Gary’s for the afternoon get together.  Home and waited for Kathy.  Then up to the Long Horn Steakhouse for dinner.  Home and usual evening routine.

2/7/22 – Monday – Up a little early this morning.  Cleaned up and out at 8:30 to be a the doctor’s office at 9AM.  Finished that up a little before 10 and headed home.  Got the model number off the lawn mower I inherited for Todd.  Did some research and downloaded manuals and orders some missing parts.  Found out what it need for maintenance.  Did the online stuff for the Colonoscopy I got scheduled today.  Waited for Kathy to get home.  She went to exercise then some shopping at Kroger.  She stopped at McDonald’s and picked up some lunch for us.  After we ate we headed over to Lowes for the things for the lawn mower and some other items Todd will need.  Home and worked on the lawn mower without success.  Inside and laid down for 45 minutes.  Up for dinner then usual evening routine.

2/8/22 – Tuesday – Up a little early this morning with dogs barking.  Cleaned up and spent the rest of the morning getting things settled on a uhaul trailer.  Had an early lunch then over to Shelbyville for a 1PM ENT doctor’s appointment.  Home and started some work on an experiment I’m doing.  But I got interrupted by a notice that our prescriptions were ready for pickup.  So, out again to Kroger’s in J-town to pick up the prescriptions.  Home and continued my work.  Kathy was out to the laundramat to do some heavy blankets then to give blood.  They rejected her.  I took a short nap, up and an early dinner.  Then out to a HAM club meeting.  Home and dessert and the usual evening routine.

2/9/22 – Wednesday – Up a little late this morning.  The dogs let me sleep in.  Got cleaned up and spent the morning reading about technical stuff.  Kathy was off to get her hair done so I skipped lunch.  Started working on connecting cables for my 9600 baud experiment.  Got a little tired so took an hour nap.  Then up and down to drop the truck off at the garage for oil change and routine maintenance.  Then over to Hometown for dinner.  Home and usual evening routine.

2/10/22 – Thursday – Up a little early this morning, cleaned up and out for my hair cut.  Gary had a doctor’s appointment so I didn’t have to run after him.  Home and started working on the TARPN project when Kathy got a text that the truck was done.  Went down and picked that up.  Home and the mail came with the carburetor I needed for the lawn mower.  Had lunch then out to the Morton building to find out it was the wrong carburetor.  Came in the house and called around and found one at a mower maintenance place over on Preston Highway.  Ran over there and picked it up.  Home and put things together.  Everything seemed good.  Then I turned the mower on it’s side to drain the oil and when I was done the thing was flooded again.  More work on that to follow.  Inside and had dinner.  Fixed some drawers then downstairs for the usual evening routine.

2/11/22 – Friday – Up a little early again.  My son-in-law Mike brought his car over to the service center so I went down and picked him up and brought him over to the house.  Had coffee and talked a lot.  Brought the things upstairs and put them in the garage that we are taking up to New York.  I left around 10:30 for a dentist appointment at 11AM.  Home and lunch.  To the shack to work on TARPN stuff.  A little nap then into J-town for ham testing.  Home and a late dinner.  Usual evening routine.

2/12/22 – Saturday – Up at the usual time.  Out to the shop to work on the lawn mower.  Finally figured it out and had it running by mid-afternoon.  Inside and a short nap.  Cleaned up and over to Mike and Julie’s for dinner, cake and ice cream to celebrate our friend Dee’s birthday.  Home and usual evening routine.

---

Now the specifics:

The best thing to happen this week was Todd finally closing on a house. He has been looking for about 2 years and with the great exodus from New York City, the property has skyrocketed in price and become very scarce. He finally found a place in Orange County in a little town called Johnson. It’s south of interstate 84 and a little south east of MIddletown, NY. He is a lot like his mother and is now worrying about everything. So, Kathy and I are going to load up a uhaul on Thursday this coming week and head up Friday. Lots of things he probably won’t want but he is going to get anyway. We will help him do whatever it is he needs done right away. Kathy will probably be doing a lot of painting. I’ll be doing plumbing and electrical work. Probably spend most of the week up there and come back the following weekend. I’ll keep you posted on that.

We will of course make it over to the Carmel area to visit with friends. If you are in the area we will probably be having dinner at the Eveready Diner on Tuesday evening.

Well, after 6 months I finally have my colonoscopy scheduled. I can’t believe I’ve had so much trouble. The bottom line is that since my doctor’s practice was absorbed by U of L, they refer you to U of L practices and for the most part they suck. Anyway, got an appointment with a group on this side of the city and was very pleased with the first interaction. Got everything resolved and lined up for next month. That will be another item off my to do list.

Went to a ham club meeting Tuesday. They invited me to give a presentation on Linux. Me and another guy Bill will do it. Bill is a unique guy. He doesn’t have a cell phone, doesn’t use anything that says Microsoft. Used to do some programming for TI and a bunch of other companies that I know are involved in DOD contracts. So, beside being super intelligent, he is in some really advanced technology. This should be a fun time.

Sunday when Kathy was hauling things to Goodwill for Julie, she picked up a good Husqvarna lawn mower that Mike no longer used. It hadn’t been started in several years so the first thing I did was drain the gas out of it and blow out the carburetor. I started it and it ran, then when I stopped it the gas poured out of the carburetor. Rather than mess with it I decided to order a new carburetor. Of course when it got here it was the wrong one. The actual housing was exactly the same but the choke on the original one was spring loaded to stay closed while the one on the new one was spring loaded to stay open. So I looked around here and found one at a mower repair shop. Ran over and picked it up, brought it home, put it on the mower and it did the exact same thing. Now, one would conclude at this point that it is not the carburetor. So I messed with it trying this that and the other thing with no luck in resolving the problem. I called my friend Patrick and he said it had to be a float problem. So, I took the original carburetor apart, blew out the float chamber and valve. Made sure everything was nice and clean and put it back on the mower. All problems resolved. So, apparently I didn’t do a good job at draining the gas tank. This week I will go to the auto parts store and get a small filter and put on the gas line before I deliver it to Todd. He will also get a spare carburetor with it.

It was a week for doctor’s appointments as I saw the ENT guy on Tuesday. My ears have been bothering me and originally he thought it was the tubes from my nose to my ears filling with fluid. I had trouble again so I went to see him and he dug a bunch of wax out of my ear. Never had these problems before. I guess now I’ll have to add a wax removal to my monthly chores list.

Still playing with TARPN. Really need to get some antennas put up to make this thing work. And I failed at sending 9600 baud. But I will keep at it.

Friday we had HAM testing in J-town. No one showed up to test so I just got to sit around with the guys for 45 minutes and chat.

Saturday evening we went over to Mike and Julie’s for our friend Dee’s birthday celebration. Had a nice dinner then cake and ice cream. I think Dee really appreciated it.

That’s it for this week. I will keep you informed about our progress in New York. As always, hope this finds everyone safe and healthy. Blog at you again next week.