Another rather busy week……………………………………………………

As always, first the chronology:

4/23/23 – Sunday – Up at the usual time.  Did my exercises and got cleaned up for church.  Out to church with Kathy.  Home and lunch.  Down to the shack and did the blog.  Out for the afternoon get together at Gary’s.  Home, picked up Kathy and out to IHOP for dinner.  Home and usual evening routine.

4/24/23 – Monday – Up very early.  Cleaned up and out for PT at 8AM.  Stopped at Harbor Freight and Walmart on the way home for a couple things.  Got home around 10:30AM.  Had a snack then down to the shack to get some doctor appointment issues resolved and finish up getting my HAM Shack Hotline in service.  Lunch.  Then down to continue the cleanup process.  Characterized my EFHW and Vertical HF antennas.  Did some research online then up for dinner.  Usual evening routine.

4/25/23 – Tuesday – Up a little early today.  Out to PT at 9AM.  Home about 11.  Had a snack and another cup of coffee while I put fresh line on my spinning reel.  Lunch then out to do yard work.  Finished up around 2:30PM.  Inside and put things away.  A short nap then dinner.  Usual evening routine.

4/26/23 – Wednesday – Up a little early today.  Did my exercises, got cleaned up and out to see Kelsey at the pain management group.  It was a good appointment, got some issues addressed and I have no followup appointments so that’s a good thing.  She also clarified some things about PT and sent off a nice notice to them.  We’ll see how that goes.  Didn’t get home till almost noon and Kathy was already out shopping.  So I had lunch and played with the dogs a little bit then out for my blood draw for the things the doctor missed last week.  Home and chatted with Kathy.  A short nap.  Then cooked dinner and took care of some of the laundry.  Dinner and usual evening routine.

4/27/23 – Thursday – Up a little early again today.  Out for PT at 10:30.  Got there a little early so I went next door to Vision First and got an appointment for next week to get my eyes checked and probably get a good set of computer glasses.  After PT went to Taylorsville.  Stopped at Ace hardware for some things then to Country Mart for a few items.  Home and had lunch.  Down to the shack and squared off an appointment to get the motorcycle serviced.  Up for a short nap.  Dinner and usual evening routine.

4/28/23 – Friday – Up at the usual time.  Exercises and chores this morning.  Lunch then out to work on the end fed antenna that blew down.  No luck getting it back.  Ran the generator and did some other chores in the shop.  In and dinner.  Usual evening routine.

4/29/23 – Saturday – Up a little early today.  Shelby stayed over so we had to have a big breakfast.  I was tired so I went back to bed after breakfast and slept till almost Noon.  Did my exercises and Saturday morning chores.  Kathy had to take Shelby back home so I had a sandwich for lunch.  Played radio in the afternoon.  Worked a few bands I’ve been neglecting.  Gave some more thought to my antenna situation out front.  Up for dinner and usual evening routine.

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Now the specifics:

Wednesday was my busy day this week. In to see Kelsey, the PA at the Pain Management Center I go to. She felt things were progressing nicely and didn’t schedule any followup appointments. We clarified what she said in the script for my PT. Seems she didn’t put a time limit on it. But she said if I’m not happy, tell them and if they don’t change then go somewhere else. So I have an appointment Monday and we will discuss some things. It’s been almost 8 weeks and no notable improvement on the back.

Wednesday afternoon I went back for a blood draw. It seems the doctor didn’t include the test for my thyroid medication last week so I had to go again this week. The results came back and there is no change. I’m guessing I’ll get a call next week about dropping the dosage on my Levothyroxine again. I’m not real thrilled with that but I guess it’s for the better.

Tuesday we did the yard work. Only out 3 and 1/2 hours. Was an easy job this week.

To clarify, the ham shack hotline is a telephone line that is voice over internet. Any ham can apply for a number and it’s free of charge. You can only use it to call other hams. No outside access. Anyway, they changed some things and I had to reconfigure my equipment to conform to the changes they made. It’s all back up and doing well now.

Monday I did a test of my EFHW (End Fed Half Wave) antenna. I looked at it’s electrical characteristics on all the bands it is good for. Just to get a bench mark. Also for our friend Gary. I think he wants one. Not sure what he is going to use it for but he wants one. And he will badger people till he gets it. Even if he never uses it. That’s his game.

Finally got an appointment for my BMW to get it’s annual maintenance. Couldn’t get through to anyone at the place I use to go so a friend at church knew this guy that works on BMWs and I got in touch with him. I take it in Friday of next week.

I spent the better part of Saturday afternoon playing radio. Bands were not great but I got a contact with France on 17 meters with only 100 watts. Yea, that’s good. I need to do that more often.

Well that’s about all the excitement this week. As always, hope this finds everyone safe and healthy. Blog at you again next week.