Let’s See. What’s Going On Around Here.

Well, last week I found a brand new 6BTV Ham Radio Antenna on Craig’s List and the guy wanted $125 or it. These things sell new from $189 to $289 online.  So I sent off a message saying “I have $100 and can pick it up today.” A couple of days went by with no answer. Saw the same ad on Craig’s List a couple of days later so I sent off another e-mail saying “I have $100 and can pick it up today.” Got an e-mail back with “Come and get it.” So we met in Gorst, all the pieces were in the box, gave the guy the $100 and I came on back home. Cool.

Thursday my friend Adrian and I used his augur thingie and drilled a hole for a mounting pipe for the antenna. Got down about 2.5 feet and ran into a big rock; so I wound up digging the hole with my digger anyway. We hit that rock dead center like we had Rock Radar (Rockdar?). But I got it done, the pole driven in and cemented in place. Cool!

Funny story: As I was pulling out to go get the antenna, SWMBO was pulling in to the garage and motioned me to hang on a sec. She jumps out of her car and gives me a vanilla shake she’d stopped to get me. That was awfully sweet of her. So I was gone about 45 minutes or so and when I get back home and pull into the garage I turn my motor off. But I still hear a motor running. Got out of my truck and SWMBO’s car is running. So I goes into the house and asked “Schweetie, is your car still running for some reason?” She looks at me and asks “Is my car still running?”  She’d forgotten to turn her car off and hadn’t noticed it was still running because my truck was louder and it sat in the closed garage running for the entire 45 minutes I was gone.

Well, *I* thought it was funny.

We’ve been in the planning stages for our trip to the Grand Canyon, Monument Valley and the Family Reunion this Oct. In my research across the web I’ve noticed one thing: Hotel/Motel rooms are expensive!!  Anywhere from $80/night to $250/night depending on how close you wanted to actually be to wherever it is you want to visit. Damn! And we’re looking at 3 weeks of this! Double Damn!

So, we started looking at used RV’s on Craig’s List and other places. Most are WAY out of our league; we want to be able to do other things in our lives besides paying for an RV. Then SWMBO keeps sending me e-mails with camping tent/trailer outfits where *I* would prefer the full blown drive-it-down-the-road RV. Just not a giant one. Something in the 20-25 foot model would be just right for us. With a couple of mopeds.

So, today, Saturday, we went down and put a down payment on a used RV that was sitting at one of the dealerships in Bremerton. It’s a 1986 that is in really good condition mechanically; but, of course, needs some “cosmetic” things done to the inside. I climbed all over and under this thing before we decided to put the down on it. There was not a drop of oil hanging from the bottom of the engine or transmission and no droplets on the ground under it. And we know it’s been sitting in the same spot at least a week. Started right up and everything seemed to work right. Even the generator started right up.

Still, SWMBO wasn’t quite sold on it until I told her that *IF* we had “The Big One” and a tree fell on our house we’d at least have a place to stay. AND she could finally bring her (damned) cat (and the dog) along on any trips we made.

She went right in and signed up! Cool!

And, when we were talking about it at home later, I realized I don’t have to sleep under the truck for the Ham Field Day this summer! Too cool! I won’t have to buy another generator either! More cool!

We did figure that if this thing just becomes a big hassle or there is just too much to fix on it and we can’t afford it, we can always sell it for what we bought it for. At least, I’m fairly sure we can. Probably not right away but it will sell.

Anywho, that’s about all that’s going on around here. Everything else has been pretty much SSDD; the usual chores and usual club meetings and usual weather. Really windy and rainy last night and part of today but nothing “un”usual.

I’ve decided to talk to the doctor about my memory. SWMBO was talking about a friend of hers that has visited us many times and that I actually worked with way back when; and I could not bring a face to mind.

Probably time to have that checked out.

Sometimes I Really Hate This Damned State!

I applied for a HAM plate. Got letter back stating Application cannot be processed. Reason checked below. NOTHING checked.

So, called and spent 20 minutes waiting for customer service rep. What a misnomer! Girl asked for my name: gave it.

Wanted the EXACT date of the letter. I didn’t remember. She states that she CANNOT help me without the EXACT date of the letter. (In a really snide voice.)

Not happy with DOL’s “customer service.” Why the heck do we have a license number if you can’t find anything under it?

Thanks for NOT helping, Washington State Department of Licensing! Really appreciate it!

Assholes!

So. Wow. What’s Been Happening?

We survived what the News folks were calling “Snowmageddon” a couple of weeks ago. We got only 6 to 9 inches at our place; depending on where you measured. It was nice since I’ve gotten to the point of liking snow much more than the rain we usually get. Dog and I had some good walks once it melted down a bit. He had a lot of problems getting around when it was fresh cause he’s so small.

Then we survived “Icemageddon.” That happened a couple of days after “Snowmageddon.” Not as bad as the ice storm we had back in 1996; but bad enough. Lot’s of trees came down all over the region because of both; knocked power out for 150k or so for several days. Layer of ice over most everything.

We had one more day of hard snow then it all melted (except where it’s been piled up) and it’s supposed to be up around 54 degrees today. Got up to about that yesterday and it was nice enough to take the Kindle out on the deck and sit and read for awhile.

Not much else going on. Being “retired” is really boring. Oh, I still do my usual household chores and computer stuff and radio stuff and woodshop stuff and the end of the day seems to arrive suddenly most of the time. I think it’s the repetition. SSDD.

Speaking of radio stuff: was listening in to the sstv freq (14.233) and saw K7CZ (but not what he was transmitting). I usually look up the calls of the guys transmitting just to see where they’re transmitting from. Well, K7CZ turned out to be an old friend that ran the dBored BBS in San Diego when we lived in Escondido about 20 years ago. Cool! Damned great to get back in touch with you, Bill!

We used to do the RIME (Relay International Mail Exchange) e-mail network through dBored (dial up the bbs and upload/download your mail) and we still exchange e-mail (the internet kind) with some of the folks we met there. All this was DOS based on our brand new XT computer (256k RAM, twin floppies (no hd) and CGA graphics where you got a whole four colors whether you wanted them or not!).

I’ve slowed down a lot with checking into Facebook/Google+ for some reason. I keep meaning to update my posts here but don’t remember to do it until just before bedtime when I’m way too tired to make any sense.

Been reading a lot lately; I just love that Kindle. Thing that bothers me is that I’m “re-reading” books I know I’ve “re-read” before and they read like new books. I could always remember at least the main character and general plot lines of every book I’ve ever read; and now a lot of books, a lot of my favorite books, are “brand new.” It’s starting to bother me. Have I just let my brain get lazy or am I loosing my mind? I just don’t know.

SWMBO and I are trying to make up our minds about either making a lot of reservations at motels ($$$$) or just biting the bullet and getting a smaller RV/5th Wheel ($$$$) for our trip to the Grand Canyon and Hollie Reunion this year. I’d vote for the RV as I think it would be a bit easier than hauling a “trailer” around. Maybe a couple of scooters instead of hauling a small car behind? I just don’t know; but we have GOT to make up our minds soon!

Anyway, that’s it from the GNW.

Dang! Dang! Dang! Dang! Dang! Dang! Dang! Dang!

It’s not that I’ve been overly busy. I just haven’t felt like posting. Haven’t even felt like logging in to Facebook and getting involved there. Haven’t even answered many e-mails lately. Can hardly work up the gumption to curse Obama anymore. Not even much interested in watching my usual tv shows. Well, except for NCIS. I could be on my deathbed and would tell the thousands of crying, soon to be grieving folks to hold the noise down.

Was looking through my bookmarks and found that I’m a full fledged member of Google+. Damn. Forgot all about it. So I played around there for awhile. The only person I have on my “circles” is Will Wheaton. He can be interesting. Then I was reminded that I have a blog on “blogger” and should be updating it when I update this one. Easy enough to do with Windows Live Writer.

Spent a good part of yesterday helping my friend Adrian (up the hill from us) move dirt around in his driveway to make the drainage better. In the rain. All it cost him was 5 gallons of diesel. Hope what we did works! Damned near froze my fingers off though. It was cold out there!

Had a few high wind storms this past week. Really whipping things around. Most didn’t start until late at night and would be pretty well finished by morning. Still hasn’t been cold enough to snow around here. Then when it did get almost cold enough the rain went away. Everything is still soggy out there though.

Let’s see. What else has been going on? Hmmmm.

Still playing on the radio. Have made a few contacts. Been listening more than talking though. It’s about time! Built a small shelf to hold my radio above the tuner so I can have more room on my radio desk. That new (to me) AT-300 tuner is working great!

Almost through building my new computer. What I mean by “building” is reinstalling all the stuff I usually use with some exceptions. Installing all my flight sims, combat flight sims and 3D graphics programs that I want to learn to use. And my mail program and that’s about it. Oh, and VMWare player so I can load and play with other OS’.

Rebuilt my “old” computer and took everything off except for the stuff to convert my dvd’s to .avi files and Bitcomet; to download our favorite tv shows. It’s working better than when I had everything installed to do everything I did.

Did that make any sense?

Anywho, there is just not much going on around here at all. Dog and I still walk as much as we can during the day when it ain’t raining. Still getting housework done and dinners cooked. Still looking at all the “junk” I’ve collected and wondering what I can get rid of; that I won’t *need* later. You know how that works.

Man! What A Noisy Christmas!

But not until after the Grandkids got here after noon. And then it was mostly the youngest (Kylie) who just HAS to yell to be heard.

Anywho, our Christmas: I was up early but waited until SWMBO got up before opening my new computer. It’s an Acer Aspire M3970; has an Intel Core i3-2100 CPU @ 3.1 GHz and 6 Gig of RAM. Came with Windows 7 Home 64-bit. Been setting it up off and on all day.

So far, I’ve installed X-Plane 9 and Lock-On. Lock-on seems to look and work okay. X-Plane doesn’t run worth crap! Slow, jerky video. I just don’t think this Intel HD graphics built into the mb is any good. Still gonna have to buy a better video card to use my flight sims. Ah well. Not like it’s news or anything.

SWMBO seemed to like getting her Nook Color but has been too busy with the Grandkids to really play with it. She’ll get into it though.

Youngest Daughter and her kids came over for the day. Had a great time opening presents and having dinner. Lexi (11) and Rachel (9) even talked on the radio for the 2-meter rag chew at 1930. Cool! All of them seemed to enjoy the presents they got. They should! Grandma (SWMBO) went hog wild getting them iPod-Nano’s and WII’s and such!

Got to show Lexi Jupiter through the telescope also. She took a look, said “Cool” then went back in cause it was COLD outside! Wimp!

Not much else going on. SWMBO is keeping our youngest Grand-daughter, Kylie, for the night and they’re in the kitchen finding a snack before trying to get Kylie settled down for the night.

Oh yeah, We had a sudden gust of wind come up that blew a lot of things around outside and had a momentary glitch in the electricity. Rebooted my ham radio! Really. Turned it back on and it was like I just got it from the factory. Had to reprogram everything! Guess it’s time to buy a couple more ups units…

Maybe SWMBO will look for a book to download!

Turns out – I’m More Depressed Than Busy…

And I can’t figure out *why*. I will, but it may take some time. Ah well.

Not much going on around here. Getting ready for the Grandkids to come over for Christmas day. Gonna make a turkey for Christmas Dinner and open some presents and have some fun.

Got SWMBO a  Nook (and some accessories) for her present. I think she’ll like it being the reader that she is. She got me a new computer. Cool!

Started using the Kindle  that I had originally got for her last April for this Christmas. I like it! I’ve downloaded and read a dozen books already. Decided to “replace” any paperback books I have (that I will read again) with Kindle versions.

Got her a Nook mostly because it doesn’t require that the lights be on like the Kindle does. Doesn’t sound important; until we’re laying in bed reading after a long day and I finish reading but lay there awake cause the lights are still on *forever* until she’s through reading. At least now I can turn the lights off and she can still read if she so desires. Cool!

We’ve already spent WAY too much money for Christmas presents for my youngest daughter and her kids; with more being spent tomorrow. But, that’s what you have Grandkids for, ain’t it?

Wx has been too damned cold for me. Not wet; barely any rain at all. Just too cold. And yesterday was only the first day of winter. Seems like Winter most of the time around here to me. I have several “stages” of my definition of Winter. First stage is anything below 75 degrees; it’s still cold. Anything below about 65 or so; it’s damned cold. Below 55; I’m *really* damned cold. Anything below 45; I’M FUCKING FREEZING!!!!! Today it “warmed” up to 30 degrees. You don’t want to hear about it!

Been doing a small bit of woodworking mostly finishing things up around the house. Made a shelf for my radio desk to hold the radio on top and the new AT-300 tuner I got underneath it. Looks okay and really does free up some space on my desk.

Radio stuff has been going okay. I’ve worked South Korea several times the past couple of days and Argentina once; both on PSK31. I’ve started making more voice contacts and talked to a guy in Norman, Ok yesterday. Weekly nets have been going okay. Finally moved the 10-meter segment of my antenna around so the Tuesday evening 10-meter net comes in better. Now I can hear mostly everybody.

Got a meeting of the NMARES club at 1900 tonight. Finger foods for Christmas. I’m about ready to give up on this club; can’t really get anyone interested in actually *doing* anything. Then, at the last meeting, N7YGE reamed me out for encouraging one of our older members to experiment on his computer. Kept on about how “older” guys don’t want to have to figure anything out but to be able to click here, click there, and be doing whatever it was they wanted to do. Wouldn’t have been so bad if he’d just said it once; but he kept on for a couple of minutes. I was ready to walk out.

Anywho, guess I’ve been more depressed than busy these past couple of months and I don’t really know why. Part of it is some years between 15 Oct and Christmas is just plain out a bummer for me since our son, Patrick, died 20 years ago. Some if it is because I get up every morning and check out the job ads and there isn’t really anything I can do. Can’t handle those “young man” jobs anymore; I went out and tried to stack hay for a day for a buddy and damned near died! Sometimes it’s because of that damned Maid outfit SWMBO makes me wear when I do housework! Well, okay, that last part was a lie. She doesn’t *make* me wear anything.

But that’s about it for now. I’m going to make myself sit down and post at least every other day to continue to educate the non-American world about just how boring the everyday life of an everyday American can be. Especially if you’re getting “older” and semi-retired! And, who knows, maybe it’ll make me feel better.

Hollie Reunion: That Friday In A Nutshell.

To continue the reunion: Got up late (for me) Friday morning. Didn’t sleep very well Thursday night: Danged air conditioner kept turning on and off. Not used to any noise when I’m sleeping.

Aunt Betty fixed a nice breakfast and then it was off to visit with whoever else had showed up. I’ve never been hugged so much in my life! (Which was cool!) I re-met a bunch of people that I hadn’t seen in 50+ years and several of them mentioned they used to change my diapers when I was a baby. Too many names to remember…

About noon we had a BBQ at Cousin Claude’s cabin (Hi Marilyn!) and I ate way too many burgers. Lots of remembering going on among the family. It was nice.

That evening there was a gather at one of the other cabins; mostly the “older” folks sitting around gabbing and some picking and singing going on. Bobby (Hollie?) had a device that allowed him to accompany himself (He sounded better without it), Uncle Herman and Cousin James played and sang a bit and it was a lot of fun.

But I got tired of the noise (these folks are some of the loudest people I’ve ever met! Which I should have expected remembering Mom’s loudness.) and walked on down to the “younger” folks cabin (Cousin Claude’s). The “younger” crowd was around my age!

I don’t know what I was thinking! There was Marilyn (I sure hope I spelt her name right), Cousin’s Claude & Billie and a friend of Claude’s named Walt (who talks like Ozzie Osborn). With the five of us in the room there was four (4) different conversations going on each at the top of the respective person’s voice! It was LOUD!

But it was damned fun too! Each of them are as red-necked as I am! And it was really great to re-acquaint myself with Claude and Billie and get to know Marilyn & Walt. I really enjoyed hanging around with them. Stayed up way too late!

Still felt like a welcomed stranger at times though. Which I guess I’ll be until I’ve attended 20 or 30 reunions and gotten to know everybody.

Saturday, the actual reunion, in the next post.

Not much going on around here. “Babysat” a couple of the grandkids yesterday and that was a lot of fun. When it wasn’t being not-fun. Rainy weather has really kicked in here and it’s been raining (sometimes hard) off and on for the past couple of days. Not doing too much on the radio; mostly listening in on 12 & 15 meters. Doing my regular housework and cooking and such. Pretty SSDD if  you ask me!

Ok. I’m Back From The Family Reunion. Mostly Rested…

The Hollie Family Reunion was pretty cool!

Got up early and got ready for the Kitsap Airporter ride to Seatac. Arrived at the 76 Station in Gorst at 0715; in plenty of time. Airporter didn’t show up. Pulled out my ticket for their number, gave a call, and found out I was scheduled for the 7:55 PM shuttle. Damn! How in the HELL did that happen? Luckily SWMBO was still up and willing to drive me to Seatac Airport! (What a schweetie!!!)

Got to the Airport and it took me only about 10 minutes to get through the TSA Security check. Had plenty of time to sit around waiting for my 1155 flight. Walked around some. Bought a couple of cokes for the flight.

Plane boarded and took off late, but arrived 15 minutes early. Flight was okay. Tried watching an episode of SG1 on my Superpad but it was way too noisy. Wound up spending $15 for a crappy lunch cause I was really hungry. Really enjoy flying though. Took a couple of pictures that I eventually got to send SWMBO and she now uses one of them for her desktop. Cool.

Arrived in Memphis early. Sat around smelling some of the best smelling BBQ I’ve smelt in awhile until we got to board the plane for Greenville. It was a much smaller jet than I flew to Memphis on. The take-off and landing almost reminded me of flying backseat in the Navy! Take-off G’s and landing G’s were so cool!

Uncle Herman (whom I hadn’t actually seen in 50+ years) picked me up at the Greenville airport. Took me to a casino on Lake Ferguson (I think) to pick up Aunt Betty (whom I’d never actually met) and we went from there to the Leroy Percy State Park down near Hollandale. The Greenville we drove through (after dark) didn’t look anything like the Greenville I remember as a kid; but it has been 40+ years since I was last there.

From there on it’s kind of a blur. I think I remember going to one of the cabins for a pre-reunion let’s-see-who’s-already-here gather; but I won’t swear to it as I was pretty tired. I do remember Uncle Herman and I sitting up late talking. Sure was great to see him.

Re-met my Cousin’s Kathy, Claude & Billie. We all used to hang together a lot when we were 7-9 years old and we all lived in the same area (Las Vegas mostly). Of course, we’ve all grown much taller, and older, but I still recognized each of them. Really really great getting back together with them.

And that’s it for now. I’ve caught a cold in the past couple of days and just don’t feel like doing anything. Too much concentration required right now! I’ll cover Friday and Saturday in the next post.

Getting Ready For My Trip To Mississippi!

Just wish SWMBO was going along. Ah well. She’d already made plans to go see her folks in Oregon, Ohio when this Family Reunion came up.

Not taking much in the way of clothes on the trip. My backpack will be mostly full of electronics! Radio & Charger. Phone & Charger. Superpad III & Charger. Video camera & Charger. And a *real* book, of course!

Not much else going on around here. Really SSDD. Am trying to build SWMBO a “light box” for her to transfer patterns from paper to fabric but it’s getting spendy. But I’d rather spend for things she’ll use than not.

The meeting of my Ham club went well last Thursday evening. Everybody there agreed we should do a booth at the next Belfair Bites and maybe a day in front of Safeway when the weather gets better (after winter). They even approved me doing a mailing!

Spend Friday and Saturday helping my daughter move across town. I’m getting too old for this stuff! We got it done though.

And that’s about it for now.

Well, Gee. Just Haven’t Felt Like Posting.

Not that I’m overly busy or anything. Just haven’t felt like posting.

Or, I should say, I’ve thought about posting the latest but haven’t been able to get off my fat Old Ass to actually do it! There’s a difference you know.

Let’s see: 11 Sept I got up early and drove to Shelton, WA to spend the day at the ARES (Amateur Radio Emergency Service) booth at the 9/11 Ceremonies. We put up an Amateur Radio booth and talked to anyone that stopped by about Amateur Radio. It was a nice hot day, lots of pretty girls in shorts and TONS of Police/Fire men with exhibits.

Last Saturday I drove to Silverdale to attend the North Kitsap Amateur Radio Club’s monthly meeting. Mostly just wanted to see how they do things and try to find out *why* they’re so active. How do they get their members to get out and do things?

Other than that: Just my normal weekly (friday) date with SWMBO to various places. Ate at the Casino over by Shelton again a couple of weeks ago.

Weather was pretty nice for about a week or more. High 70’s to low 80’s. Nice enough for me and the dog to take off all our clothes and walk through the forest. That’s nice weather!

Radio stuff has been kind of cool. Actually took part in the Salmon Run (what people in other states call a QSO Party) and worked several states voice. And on PSK31. Enjoyed the voice contacts so much I’ve been listening in more. Made voice contact with Arizona on 15-meters earlier today. (Unfortunately, I miss-read the chart and was “out of band”. Dang it! Was in the Extra airwaves instead of General. When will I learn to wear my glasses?!?) Oh, worked North Korea on PSK31! Very Cool!

Other than that just not much going on. Most days are SSDD. Laundry, dishes, cleaning up the house, watering the garden, etc, etc, etc, yadda, yadda, yadda.

Looking forward to the Family Reunion next week!