I feel like I had no time to myself this week………………………………………………………..

As always, first the chronology:

02/11/24 – Sunday – Up at the usual time.  Cleaned up and out to church with Kathy.  Home and lunch.  Down to do the blog.  Out Gary’s for the afternoon get together.  Kathy went along.  We stopped at Logan’s Roadhouse on the way home for dinner.  Home, put the truck away and usual evening routine.

02/12/24 – Monday – Up a little late today.  Didn’t sleep well for various reasons.  Down and practiced some CW.  Cleaned up some things in the shack.  Up for lunch. Down to the shack and got my 7300 out and reprogrammed the CW memories for POTA on Wednesday.  Kept an eye on the weather.  Checked the batteries we have for the Dell Latitude Laptops we have (Kathy and I both have one of the same kind).  They all seem soft so I ordered a new one since I’ll be taking mine out to a walk-in park to do some POTA.  I don’t want to have to worry about charging it and I want it to run more than a couple hours.  Maybe 3 or 4 if possible.  Zoom class at 5PM.  Up for dinner after class.  Usual evening routine.

02/13/24 – Tuesday – Up very early today.  Up at 6AM and out by 7AM to get Kathy into downtown Louisville for an 8:15 doctor’s appointment.  Got out of there around 10:45.  Headed home and a stop at Cracker Barrel for a late breakfast early lunch.  A stop at Kroger to pickup a prescription.  Home and started loading the truck for my outing tomorrow.  Took a nap then up for a Zoom class at 3PM.  Had dinner then out to a HAM club meeting in Shelbyville.  Home, put the truck away.  Made final preparations for tomorrow then bed.

02/14/24 – Wednesday – Up a little early today.  Out at 9AM to meet my friend Dave up at Charlestown, IN State Park to do some POTA.  Finished up there around 1 PM.  Packed up and headed home.  Got home and unloaded things.  Put the truck away.  Started checking out equipment and recharging batteries.  Stopped for dinner.  Cleaned up and out for Ash Wednesday service at church.  Home and continued cleanup efforts otherwise usual evening routine.

02/15/24 – Thursday – Up a little early again today.  Kathy was already out to take Chloe to an appointment.  Then she was going to the VA hospital to do her volunteer work.  I finished cleaning up the stuff from POTA.  Tried to turn on the keyboard and nothing lit up.  It has been acting up but today it just quit completely.  I disassembled it to get into the electronics.  A lot of connectors to unplug.  I stopped at that point as I don’t want to be tired and try that.  Made some CW POTA contacts and did some FT-4.  Started taking the intermediate classes online with LICW.  Kathy came home and went to bed for a nap.  She got up and we had dinner.  Usual evening routine.

02/16/24 – Friday – Up a little early and made the “Over the Hill” net.  We got cleaned up and Kathy went after the grand kids.  I met them at Dairy Queen for lunch.  Kathy took the girls to get their hair done and Carter and I did a little shopping.  Home and Carter played games on his cell phone and I did some research on material to make the portable End Fed antenna go down to 80 meters.  Kathy came home with the girls and we took the kids up to the Yoki Buffet and met Mike and Julie up there.  They brought clothes for Shelby and we brought her back to stay the night.  Otherwise, usual evening routine.

02/17/24 – Saturday – Up at the usual time.  Cleaned up and breakfast.  My friend Nick came over today to continue the work on his switch for his ham radios.  Spent the day on that.  Took a break for lunch and still didn’t get it completed.  Nick left around 4PM.  I took a nap.  Then dinner and usual evening routine.

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Now the specifics:

Sunday Kathy went with me to Gary’s to keep Loretta occupied while we visited with Gary. That was a good thing on Kathy’s part as I think Loretta needs the company as well as Gary.

The beginning of the week I was spending a lot of time getting my gear checked out and programmed for the scheduled Parks On the Air event we had planned for Wednesday morning. Spent a good bit of time Monday and Tuesday getting batteries topped off and radios programmed.

Tuesday morning I got up very early to take Kathy into downtown Louisville for a doctor’s appointment. The weather was suppose to be bad last night into today and her appointment was for 8:15 right in the middle of rush hour. So I opted to take her rather than worry about her making it herself. She had some blood work done so she was not eating. Needless to say, after her appointment we headed straight to a Cracker Barrel for a late breakfast, early lunch. Made a stop at Kroger on the way home for me to pick up some medication. Got home and started loading up the truck with things for tomorrow.

Got up at the usual time Wednesday and headed out around 9AM for Charlestown, IN state park. We got up there shortly before 10AM. Dave and I chatted most of the way on 2 meters. We sat up, he did phone (SSB) and I did FT-8 (Digital Mode) till I got a dozen and a half contacts. Then I switched to my CW QRP rig and made one CW contact but Dave was bleeding all over me for some reason. So I gave up and shut down. It wasn’t the best of day but to get out, have some camaraderie and play with radios made it a good day. But I will be planning some solo trips in the near future.

Spent a good bit of time when I got home unloading things, recharging batteries and checking out equipment. Had to stop to get cleaned up and ready for Ash Wednesday church service. When we got back from there it was about time for bed.

Thursday Kathy was up and out early to take Chloe to an appointment then drop her off at school. Then she went up to the VA hospital and did her volunteer things. Back to the school to pick up the kids and take them home. That just about filled up her entire day.

I finished up packing the POTA stuff away. Went to play the keyboard and it was dead. It has been acting up so I assume whatever was acting poorly finally gave up the ghost. At least I have something positive to look for now.

Thursday I took a step forward and started my intermediate learning in my CW journey. I’m doing about 100% copy at 10 WPM and 90% at 13. Need to get up to perhaps 15 or better before I really feel comfortable. Much more to the journey than I had anticipated. But I’m glad to be doing it.

For whatever reason, the kids had off Friday this week and Monday next week. So Julie made appointments for the girls to have their hair done over here at the Blue Moon Salon where Kathy and I get our hair done. So, Kathy was up and out Friday morning to get the kids. I met them at Dairy Queen and we all had lunch. Then Kathy took the girls to get their hair done and Carter and I did some shopping. Got home and he played his phone while I did some research about getting the antenna I built to cover 80 meters. I ordered parts to get that done. Kathy finished up with the girls at the hair salon. We made arrangements to meet Mike and Julie at the Yoki Buffet for dinner. They took the twins with them and Shelby came to spend the night with us.

Saturday I spent the day with my friend NIck. He wanted to build a switch to switch a microphone and foot switch between his radios like mine. I just guided him and he did the work. Although it was very frustrating and rather boring for me. But he’s learning and I think he likes the work.

Well that was our week here. As always, hope this finds everyone safe and healthy. Stay that way and I’ll blog at you again next week.