Welcome to February…………………………………………………

As always, first the chronology:

01/26/25 – Sunday – Up around 8:30AM. Breakfast, cleaned up and out to church. Home and lunch. Down to do the blog then out to Gary’s for the afternoon get together. Home, picked up Kathy and over to Shelbyville to Cattleman’s Steakhouse for dinner. Home and usual evening routine.

01/27/25 – Monday – Up at 6AM and into work. Had Family court today. Opened the court room at 8AM. Manned the handicap entrance till 12:30. Home and lunch. Nap time. Up and replaced the battery in the sensor on the garage door at the house. Did the weekly garbage detail. Had dinner. Usual evening routine.

01/28/25 – Tuesday – Up at 8AM. Kathy was up and out to do a refresher class for her volunteer duties at the VA. I got cleaned up and replaced the battery in the bay door sensor at the Morton building. Then took the cover off the truck bed and got the stuff out of there that I was using for additional weight in the snow. Over to Shelbyville and Harbor Freight to look for some snap washers. Then to Arby’s for an early lunch. Put the truck through the car wash to get the salt off. Home and gas on the way. Put the truck away and inside. Tended to the dogs. Then did some of my Python course. Kathy came home and we took a nap. Dinner then usual evening routine.

01/29/25 – Wednesday – Up around 8:30AM. Did chores around the house. Had lunch and got cleaned up. Downstairs and did some Python. Then dressed and out to see Carter receive his scholarship at the AMVets in J-town. Out for dinner at Cracker Barrel afterward. Home and usual evening routine.

01/30/25 – Thursday – Up at 6AM and off to work. Worked the door at the Circuit Court Clerk’s office from 7:30AM to 4PM with an hour break for lunch. Didn’t sleep well last night so did some things around the house, had dinner and went to bed.

01/31/25 – Friday – Up at 6AM and into work. Opened the court room at 8AM. Court started at 8:30 AM and was over by 9AM. Home and did some chores then lunch. Back out and stopped at the Blue Moon to see when I could get my hair cut. She had someone in the chair and told me to wait a minute then cut my hair. Down to country mart for come groceries. Home and put them away. Kathy went into J-town and Krogers so I waited for her to come back and helped her unload the car and put things away. Had dinner then usual evening routine.

02/01/25 – Saturday – Up around 8:30 AM. Did my Saturday morning chores and some maintenance around the house. Had lunch then downstairs and got the Raspberry Pi Zero loaded with HamClock. Did some other chores and made some contacts. Had dinner, usual evening routine.

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Now the particulars:

The most amazing event this week was watching Carter get his Scholarship at the AMVets in J-town on Wednesday evening. They had to read the essay they had written for the Scholarship. I was blown away when I heard his. Here it is.

Volunteering at the VA has had an unexpected effect on many attributes of my
life. I was initially motivated to take the position because my dad himself is a veteran,
but I quickly found a new perspective. First and foremost, it introduced me to a web of
new work environments to explore. For a while, I used to tell everyone I knew that I
wanted to be a diagnostic radiologist, but after my experiences at the VA I feel that I
am able to view a bigger spectrum of healthcare jobs. From cardiology to oncology,
becoming well-versed in the hospital makes a large impact on what I centralize my
focus on. Engaging with veterans has also helped me learn a sense of intuition and
self-advocating that I previously did not have. Not only to ensure that the veterans
received the best treatment, but to guarantee that they were properly taken care of by
staff. Because a lot of things that happen in the hospital require quick thinking and
good problem-solving to solidify good standings.

Naturally, I was also advised to appreciate the life that I have. Not so much
from the staff, but from the veterans themselves. Listening to their stories as I
transported them was by far the best part of my day. But perhaps the most prevalent
part of all the stories I heard was to cherish your life, because it could all be taken
away in a second. “Imagine you have $86,400 that you receive every day. If someone
were to come by and take $60 of your payment, would you throw the rest away? It’s
the same principle with the time in your day. You have 86,400 seconds to live, but
many people will throw away the rest of their day after 60 seconds of a bad experience.
While you might get more tomorrow, you’ll never get the seconds back that you had
today.”

This was the last thing I heard from a veteran before I finished volunteering
this summer, and now I make sure to live with this mindset through everything I do.
Because in reality, time is precious. You don’t have time to waste when it comes to
living your best life. The relationships I’ve built along with the experiences I’ve had
have magnified new characteristics that I can now implement into my routine.
Regardless of how unexpected it is, a great change comes from volunteering.

Yep, my 15 year old (Soon to be 16) grandson wrote this. Of course it would be no surprise to me if he used AI to help him. But I still think it was amazing.

I guess everything else is sort of insignificant compared to the essay. But we had a few things going this week.

A Crock Pot that Kathy inherited from her mother had issues this week. She put a roast in it for dinner one day and it didn’t cook at all. I did some investigation and it appears to be a problem with the switch. I got some material this week to work on it so I’ll take it apart next week and see if I can do something with it. It is so old I can’t find any parts for it online. Time will tell.

I didn’t work much this week. Monday and Friday I worked a half day. Thursday was my usual all day.

But that’s about it for the week. As always, hope this finds you safe and healthy. Stay that way and I’ll blog at you again next week.