A busy but good week………………………………………………………..

As always, first the chronology:

4/28/24 – Sunday – Kathy did not have a good night last night.  Therefor, neither of us have had a good day today.  So, we didn’t go to church but went into Louisville to the Brown Theater for Chloe’s dance recital.  After that Mike took us to I Love Tacos for dinner.  Then home, a little dessert and otherwise the usual evening routine.

4/29/24 – Monday – Up a little late and missed the net this morning.  Breakfast then to the shack to make some CW contacts.  Bands were dead so got dressed and out to dig the stump out beside the concrete slab in back.  Finished that and put things away.  Then started work on the chipper.  Got the carburetor all cleaned up and new spark plug and it runs very well.  Ran it long enough to heat up the oil.  Then started it draining while I went inside for lunch.  Back and filled it with oil and ran it again for awhile.  Got the leaf blower down.  Pulled the spark plug but didn’t have a spare.  Ran to Auto Zone and got a couple.  Back and installed new plug then cleaned up the air filter.  Runs like a champ.  Put that up and got down the string trimmer.  Did the same to it and all is done for this year.  Inside and cleaned up mud I tracked in then shower and down to shack till dinner is ready.

4/30/24 – Tuesday – Up at the usual time and made the net.  Got cleaned up and out to the range.  Didn’t do too bad.  Home and picked up Kathy.  Then to the nursery to ask some questions.  Down to Taylorsville and had lunch at Hometown Pizza.  Stopped at Dairy  Queen for dessert.  Stopped at Country Mart for gas.  Got it for $2.25 a gallon.  Home and put the new transponder sticker on the truck for Riverlink.  Then inside.  Kathy went for a nap and I made some phone calls.  Then started cleaning guns.  Kathy went up to pick up the girls after school as Julie was in a meeting downtown.  I took a short nap.  Up and had a snack for dinner.  Otherwise, usual evening routine.

5/1/24 – Wednesday – Up at the usual time but didn’t get on the net.  Got cleaned up and went up to Brownsboro Road for a endocrinology doctor’s appointment.  Never got out of there till after 11AM.  Headed home and hit traffic through a construction zone.  Didn’t get home till after Noon.  Had a bite to eat and went out to do the yard work.  Kathy had already started.  Finished up around 4PM.  Inside to cool down then a shower.  Dinner then usual evening routine.

5/2/24 – Thursday – Up a little early today.  Breakfast, cleaned up and out for a hair cut.  Home and changed clothes and out on the motorcycle.  Rode the southern route and across 44 to the Dixie Highway.  In to Hooter’s on Preston Highway for lunch.  Up to the Watterson Expressway and it was jammed going toward Church Hill Downs so I turned around and headed the other way.  Got off at Taylorsville Road and headed home.  Got back around 1:30PM.  Let the dogs out and did some chores.  Then dressed down.  Kathy came home and I went for a nap.  I got up and she was sacked out so I did some more chores around the house.  Then dinner and usual evening routine.

5/3/24 – Friday – Up a little early today.  Kathy was off to take care of Grand Children.  I made the net.  Then cleaned up and into J-town to pick up a prescription and they gave me a pneumonia shot while I was there.  Then into ACE hardware.  They have a card area so I got Kathy a birthday card for Wednesday and a Mother’s Day card.  Then to Country Mart and picked up a couple six packs of Heinken 0.0.  Home and unloaded things and put the truck away.  Spent some time making phone calls then had lunch.  A short nap and up and down to the shack.  Did some computer work then did my Zoom class.  Did some domestic chores.  Kathy called and said she was on her way home and wanted to go out for Chinese tonight.  So I get dressed again so when she got home I was ready to go for Chinese.  Home and usual evening routine.

5/4/24 – Saturday – Up late.  Did my Saturday morning chores. Did some emails. Had lunch.  Kathy took off to get her toe nails all pretty and do some shopping.  I went to the shack and ordered some things.  Then tried getting some POTA stations but band conditions are very poor today.  Spent 2 hours and only got one station.  So, went upstairs for a nap.  Then did some reading till Kathy got home.  Helped her put away groceries.  Had dinner and usual evening routine.

---

Now the specifics:

Welcome to the 150th running of the Kentucky Derby. The race is over, I have no idea who won, I hope no poor animal died this year and I won’t be looking for who won. It’s all just a stage for all the “Look at Me” people to be seen. The average person can’t afford to attend. Oaks Day which was Friday before the Derby was suppose to be a day the average person could go to the track but that’s even gotten so expensive that the average person can’t go. So I’ll just stay at home and enjoy the peace and quiet.

On a lighter note, Chloe had her dance recital on Sunday this last week. Needless to say we are very proud of her. She did great. She is hoping for a bigger part in the Nutcracker this year. We’ve seen it several times but of course we’ll be there to cheer her on.

Mike took us out to “I Love Taco’s” for dinner after the show. It was Chloe’s choice. Not a bad place. We thought we might have problems as our stomachs are not tolerating the hot spicy food lately but all was well.

Monday I finished up the annual maintenance of equipment here. Had to take the carburetor off the chipper and flush it out with cleaner. Re-assembled it, put it back on and the machine fired right off. So that was all good. I put new spark plugs in the string trimmer and the leaf blower. The trimmer is not running as it should so I think it’s a bad spark plug. I’ll change that again this week perhaps.

I dug the stump out where we cut down the little pine tree next to the house out back. I was planning to put the rest of the stone I got in that area but of course the boss decided she wants grass. I should know to keep my mouth shut and just do things. Life would be so much easier. So, I haven’t had good luck here with grass seed so we made a stop this week at the nursery and asked our friend Gina. She is very knowledgeable about that stuff. She recommended some special grass seed she had and told me how to do it. That will get done this week.

Tuesday I went to the range. Haven’t been there since October last year. Fired the Barretta and the XDS9. Didn’t do bad. But the arms got tired quickly. Guess I’m just getting old.

Picked up Kathy on my way home and took her to Hometown for lunch. Then used up some points from Country Mart at their gas station and got a dollar a gallon off. Here’s the story on that. We have been shopping at Country Mart on occasion and you get points for everything you buy. The last time I was in the girl checking me out told me I had a lot of points. I told her we didn’t really know how to redeem them. She explained so we had almost 15000 points and for 5000 points you could get a dollar off per gallon up to 25 gallons. So I tried it and it worked. I think I”ll be doing a lot more shopping there and taking advantage of the points program.

Wednesday I had an appointment with an endocrinologist. The appointment was at 10:30 but I left early to see if I could get in early. Well, needless to say they were backed up so I never got seen till almost 11. I finally got out of there and of course traffic was backed up in the area where they are doing some roadwork on 155. It wasn’t till after noon till I got home. A real waste of time.

So when I got home I had a quick lunch then out to finish up the yard work. Kathy had started it before I got home so that was good. It took till about 3:30 or 4 till it was all done. A little hot but not really a bad job.

Thursday I went for my hair cut. Then out on the motorcycle for a ride. Had planned on lunch at Hooter’s then hitting one of my favorite watering holes. Well, I got lunch then headed up to the Watterson Expressway and headed west. Got just past the airport exit and saw traffic was backed up in the area where you get off for Church Hill Downs. So, I made a ‘U” turn at the Expo Center exit and headed back the Watterson. Had enough hot riding on the interstates so I got off at Taylorsville road and just road that back through town and home. Road just a little under 100 miles. A good day but hot.

Kathy had to go take care of hauling Grand Kids around on Friday. The schools and banks are all closed here on Oaks Day. But they had to go for some preparation work to take an exam later this coming week. Of course Mike and Julie had to work so Kathy went up and took them. I took advantage and ran into J-town and picked up a prescription at Kroger. Then down to Taylorsville and picked up some cards at ACE Hardware (Yea, they have a card section) then to Country Mart for some Funny Beer. Came home and spent the rest of the day on the radio then doing my Zoom class.

Saturday was sort of a down day. I slept in and did my Saturday morning routine of filling pill containers, etc. Kathy went to get her toe nails painted so I went to the shack and tried to make some POTA contacts. The bands really sucked as they have most of the week so I gave up after a couple hours and went for a nap. I got up and did some reading till she got home. That was about it for the day.

I’ve been trying to keep up with my CW journey. Doing practicing when I can and making the Zoom classes. I think I’m about at the point where I’ve gotten all the knowledge I can from the Zoom classes. Now I just have to focus on practice. Making contacts. It’s a lot different than copying code from a computer. The computer stuff is easy to copy but when it’s on the air with noise and fading it’s more a challenge. I’ll keep you posted on that.

Well the biggest conundrum for the week was the doctor’s appointment. The family (Wife, Daughter and Son-in-Law) all thought that PCP was letting my TSH get too low. That all had to do with the thyroid medication I have to take. My PCP is keeping it very low with rather high doses of Levothyroxine. That puts my TSH down around .019. This Endocrinologist says that I have to be between 1 and 4. Anything less than that contributes to A-fib. He wants me to cut my Levothyroxine by 25 Mcg/month till my TSH is between 1 and 4. Of course that means I’ll start gaining the weight back that I’ve worked hard to get off and I’ll feel tired and unmotivated all the time. So, I did a search online and found two different articles that apply to a person with no thyroid gland. One says the target TSH is from detectable to .1. The other said .1 to .4. That of course is assuming that T3 and T4 are where they should be. So, if anyone has or knows of anyone that could help me with this I would greatly appreciate it. In any event, I sent a text off to my PCP and won’t do anything till he says it’s OK.

Well that’s the scoop from here. As always, hope this finds everyone safe and healthy. Stay that way and I”ll blog at you again next week.