Another hectic week for me……………………………………….

As always, first the chronology:

02/18/24 – Sunday – Up a little late this morning.  Got ready and out to church.  Kathy stayed home with an upset stomach.  Home and had lunch.  Down to do the blog.  Out to Gary’s for the afternoon get together.  Home and put the truck away.  Kathy didn’t feel like going out so we order Chinese and I went to pick it up.  Home and ate.  Downstairs and the usual evening routine.

02/19/24 – Monday – Up a little early today and made the “Over the Hill” net.  Then down to send a couple emails.  Worked on re-learning some things about Audacity then edited the church service from yesterday with an introduction and closing.  Kathy was up and out for a doctor’s appointment and to get some tests done.  She went shopping after that and didn’t get home till almost 1PM.  I stopped and had lunch.  Got the edited stuff out on my server and sent emails to everyone to check it out.  Tried out my little camp table and chair with my QRP radio setup.  Then upstairs to get cleaned up and ready to go out for our anniversary dinner at Jeff Ruby in downtown Louisville. Home and usual evening routine.

2/20/24 – Tuesday – Up at what is now the usual time to make the “Over the Hill” net.  Dressed and out to get the truck.  Ordered flowers for Kathy from the driveway.  Rode over to Shelbyville and ran the truck through the car wash over there.  Still had time to kill till the flowers were ready so went shopping at Harbor Freight.  Then over and picked up the flowers.  Home and gave Kathy the flowers and had lunch.  Did things around the shack during the afternoon.  Had dinner and usual evening routine.

2/21/24 – Wednesday – Up at the usual time and made the “Over the Hill” net.  Cleaned up and out for a dentist appointment.  Then to Greenwell Propane to find out some particulars about a $199 bill for not using any propane.  Home and since it is our anniversary I took Kathy to the Lighthouse Diner for lunch.  Home and some chores.  Downstairs and Mike got his TARPN node up and I saw it so I started some configuration to accommodate that.  Then out to church for soup and Lenten service.  Home and usual evening routine.

2/22/24 – Thursday – Up a little early today.  Got cleaned up and dressed before breakfast.  Made the “Over the Hill” net briefly then out to get my hair cut.  Got gas in the Vibe on my way home then took the truck down and got it gassed up.  Put the bed cover back on then inside.  Had another cup of coffee and cleaned up the kitchen.  My kit came for the coil to lengthen my 40 meter antenna to 80 meters.  Downstairs and practiced some code.  A little after noon we get a big thunder storm so I went upstairs and had lunch and settled the dogs down.  Cleaned up the kitchen from lunch then took the dogs to the bedroom for a little nap.  Up and down for my 3PM Zoom Class.  Kathy came home and took a nap.  I heard her up so I went up and we had dinner.  Usual evening routine.

2/23/24 – Friday – Up at the usual time and made the “Over the Hill” net.  Down to the shack, returned some emails, practiced my CW and made a CW contact on air.  Updated the router software and did some clean up of TARPN config files.  Up for lunch.  Out to the shop.  Took the tractor over.  Got the portable generator out and started it.  Then took the plow blade off the tractor and put the mower deck back on.  Put that back in it’s summer place.  Took the battery conditioner off Kathy’s mower and checked it over.  Brought the portable generator inside and did some sweeping.  Put the deer feeder back up over the storage area since Kathy didn’t see the need to use it.  Inside and started some wash.  Took a short nap then dinner.  Usual evening routine.

2/24/24 – Saturday – Up at the usual time (for Saturday).  Down and practice CW.  Continued getting my stuff together for POTA this weekend.  Up for lunch Chores around the house.  A nap, then dinner.  Usual evening routine.

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Now the specifics:

For some reason, Kathy woke up Sunday morning last week with an upset stomach. She didn’t feel like going to church and I was sure it was just an excuse, but later in the day when it was time to go out for our usual Sunday evening dinner, she said she was still not feeling that well. I guess she wasn’t kidding. It seemed to go away Monday and by Monday evening she was in good shape.

Spent time on Monday re-learning Audacity. That’s a program the allows you to manipulate sound files. The Pastor at church wanted to cut the beginning of the service and end of the service and just let the part from the beginning of the readings to after the sermon. So I did that and added a tag at the beginning and end. Everyone liked it but the Pastor only wants to do it on special days like Christmas, Easter, Etc. So, that’s the scoop on that.

Well, it was our anniversary last Wednesday. Kathy wanted to go out some place special so we agreed on Jeff Ruby, one of the finest restaurants in Louisville if not the finest. But we couldn’t get reservations on Wednesday so we decided to go Monday evening.

So here we are. All dressed up and having a grand time. That little dish in front of us was a gift from the restaurant in celebration of our anniversary.

We had a $100 gift certificate that Mike and Julie got us for Christmas. Add to that $125 out of my bank account and $50 in cash for a tip. You’d think they could have given us something nicer. lol

Then Tuesday I used the excuse I was going to get the truck washed and I got Kathy flowers.

And there are her flowers. And of course I couldn’t expect her to cook on our anniversary since we had dinner covered with soup at church before the Lenten service, so I took her to the diner for lunch. I’m such a good guy. Not sure what I got out of it other than she was happy. I guess that’s what counts.

Wednesday I went to the dentist for my routine cleaning. Everything was good so that was nice.

Then I went to talk to the people at Greenwell Propane. I got a statement from them that said since I didn’t use enough propane they were going to charge us $199 for keeping the account. It seems that last year the family owned business was bought out by some outfit in Illinois. So now I have to figure out what, if anything, I can do about this crap. I don’t want to be paying $199 for not buying enough propane. It’s always something.

Thursday was Kathy’s volunteer stint at the VA. I did some domestic chores, then practiced my CW and did some work in the shack. A little after 12PM we had a big crack of thunder. Scared the dogs so I spent the rest of the afternoon trying to calm them down. I did manage to get a little nap in.

I’m not sure what happened to me on Friday. I got very energetic. Took the lawn tractor over to the shop, took the plow blade off and put the mower deck on it. Put the deer feeder back up over the storage area since Kathy never got around to getting corn for it. I got her mower off the battery tender and I ran the portable generator. I was very tired by the end of Friday.

Saturday I got all my stuff loaded in the truck and got it ready for POTA. That was about the most exciting thing Saturday.

My friend Mike got his TARPN node working to some degree. I had to update all my configuration files to reflect that he was online. He still has many issues. I’m not sure what they are but we’ll work on them this coming week.

Doing Zoom classes. Had a clown join in one of the classes and he is a real idiot. He wrote a book on CW and thinks his shit comes out in hermetically sealed plastic bags. This is the second week he was there so I just closed the Zoom session and I’ll find another class to attend.

Well, that is the story for this week. As always, hope this finds everyone safe and healthy. Stay that way and I’ll blog at you again next week.