Lightning & Thunder This Morning!

It was cool! Couldn’t hardly see the lightning through the downpour that was going on; but it was there. Thunder too. Cool! Too bad it lasted only 10 minutes or so. I set my camera up but haven’t watched the video to see if I caught any or not. Would be cool if I did! (Oh yeah, I’d be a “Storm-Chaser” if I could.)

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Other than that it’s been a pretty “normal” morning around here. Just finished my breakfast and about to head out to check mail. Updated the MCARC site. (Finally!) Moving things around on my drives trying to get ready to “upgrade” to larger drives. (Only 2 2-TB drives but that’s larger than what I have in there now.)

Guy from the car dealer called about 1330 and said that he’d try to have my truck back to me this afternoon. That he’d call me again around 1600. BUT, It MAY not be until tomorrow. Thanks for calling, but, you could have just waited until later to call to say either it’s ready or I’d have to wait until tomorrow.

Not a whole lot going on and I’m bored as hell. All my usual chores are done and I’ve “puttered” around until I’m purely sick of puttering around. Still can’t really do anything outside cause it is still really wet out. I have some bucks but can’t think of anything I really want to buy.

Speaking of buying: last night I ordered SWMBO’s Christmas present and myself a new radio. Thought I’d give that JT-6188 Dual Band Radio a workout since it’s a “mere” $95 ($102.64 with tax and shipping). I figure I’ll set it up in the house and use it awhile before swapping it for the radio in the truck. If it works out I may be buying another; if it works. Reviews are pretty evenly split between “priceless” and “POS.”

So, I made one of the Cheesy Potato soups (with diced grilled Chicken added), but, SWMBO said “Broccoli sure would go good in that!” so I wound up making Cheesy Potato Broccoli Soup instead. (Oh, my it was tasty and filling!) Made donut shaped corn muffins to go with it. Added a big glass of grape juice. Good stuff!

Picked SWMBO up at the Ferry Landing. Didn’t rain a bit either direction. Cool! We be home and she’s enjoying some of the soup I made. Think I’ll watch an episode of Doctor Who and “play” with Linux before I hit the rack.

I Appear To Have Done It! Cool!

Got tired of Ubuntu Studio not booting into the GUI (which I like)(the GUI. Not that it wouldn’t boot into it. Anyway …) So I backed all my “data” up and just wiped it all and started over again from scratch with Linux Mint KDE. Once I downloaded the NVidia video driver and got my monitors set it it seems to be working fine.

Now to reinstall everything! Spent most of yesterday just doing that and really only got half my Thunderbird/Mail accounts done. And VMWare. Which appears to be working since I’m in Windows 7 VM to do this. So that’s cool.

Had a bit of a problem with sound but that seems to have worked itself out. But it was so much fun watching a movie with no sound! Not! Now I have to figure out why playing a movie from our NAS (in another room) is jerky. I’d hate to have to run a coax across a couple of rooms. Again.

Starting to like the Konsole window too; but I’ve always been a command line kind of guy. When I want to be. Apt-get is a pretty cool way to install stuff IF you know what you’re looking for.

Change of subject: It is damned wet outside. Our annual “river” across the back yard has finally started and getting deeper by the hour. You can actually hear the rain running downhill to where it finally goes across our yard. It is really squishy out there!

Dropped my truck off at the dealer’s so they can install some new “injectors.” They gave me a rental car for the day. Personally I hope they get it repaired quickly since I have to pick SWMBO up at the Ferry Landing at 1945 tonight. Hope I didn’t buy a “lemon.”

Well, it rained all the way when I went to pick SWMBO up. That rental car sucks. Way too low to the ground. Puts one right in the focus of the oncoming headlights. Hard to see around the vehicle in front of one. Miss my truck!

What A Nice Date!

Saturday “Date Night” with SWMBO was as enjoyable today as it always is. She took me to Red Lobster, and that was good, but her company is better. What can I say? Twenty-nine years this month and I’m still “in love” with her. And I like her too!

Not a whole lot going on around here. Really wet outside. Driving around is kind of a pain in the butt cause most WaRshingtonians forget how to drive when the roads get the slightest bit wet. So ya gotta keep your eyes open even more than usual.

One of my friends, that just got his Ham Radio “ticket,” came over for awhile around noon so I could check out his little hand-held radio for him. Nice radio. Set it to our Repeater and programmed it in to memory channel 1 but decided that he needed to read the manual and play with the thing to really learn it. I could have programmed the whole thing; but he wouldn’t learn anything.

Pretty much SSDD after he left until SWMBO got home. She picked her car up from the repair place so she’s back to driving that. She liked the Prius GEICO rented for her and is thinking of getting a hybrid when it’s time to trade her car in. Cool.

Anyway, we walked the mall after eating and made our usual stop by Safeway on the way home. It’s time to just relax.

There Is Just No Way To Catch Up!

Been busy or had a headache these past few days. Couple of days ago the headache was a real pounder and I didn’t get anything done. Damned if it didn’t wake me a couple of times during the night. Missed the Extra Class class again too.

Working on the new NAS. Got all our movies, music, pictures, and most of the TV Shows copied to it. Even copied our electronic “library” (epub files) so those are centrally located now. Printer plugged in and works just fine. (For those times we actually print something. Not often but we occasionally do.) Got SWMBO all set up with a mapped drive to each of the main directories so all she has to do is click and watch. Once she figures out what she wants to watch, that is.

Been raining a lot the past few days also. I’ve been picking SWMBO up at the ferry landing around 1950 (she’s managed some overtime) and driving there and back has been “fun.” Way wet. Foggy a lot of time. But at least it isn’t as cold as it has been. Pretty much stuck inside though. Which sucks.

Been spending way too much time on Tumblr, G+, and Facebook and not getting the reading done that I want to do. I love reading. Miss it. There’s nothing like taking up a book and getting lost somewhere for a few hours. So I’ve started reading (for pleasure) again. It’s nice.

That being said; I think it’s time for a “Red Dwarf” marathon.

So the Dog and I took a tour of the back 40. Still wet. Couple of broken off tree branches that I need to pull down before they fall on somebody’s head in the next breeze. Otherwise not a lot of damage so far this winter. Except for that one tree (well, half tree) down. Cool!

Well, picked SWMBO up and we be home. Think I’ll pay some attention to her for awhile.

Cold Cold Cold Cold Cold

But, not as cold as it has been. Sorta. Does seem we’ve warmed up a bit so it can rain. Which it is. Raining. Again. Like to have froze my fat, old, ass off when I went to the bank this morning and spent some time outside reconfiguring my antenna guys when I got back. Which is all part of living in the “Northwest” I guess. Sucks.

Not a whole lot going on. Procrastinating about doing my studying for the Extra Class. Just don’t feel like it. Playing with the new NAS instead; trying to set it up so I can access it from anywhere and copying files to it. Our pictures and music mostly right now. What a pain in the ass this is turning out to be! Did everything in the “guide” to set up accounts at the ddns place and still it doesn’t work (from home). No good reviews of the “My-dlink” apps at the Play Store either.

And that’s pretty much it. That’s about all I’ve done all day. I don’t know if I was just being lazy, letting the Winter Weather get too me, Unmotivated & Uninterested, or just had the Blah’s all damn day. Accomplished a lot on the new NAS, got my usual chores done, roughed the Dog up some (He nipped my Left Elbow while we was playing “Hide The Hand!”), but really didn’t get a whole lot accomplished.

My bad.

A Whole Lot Of Nothing Going On!

Which pretty much included yesterday even though we actually traveled over 300 miles. In one day. For naught. Mostly.

Got my Lovely-Young-Bride of almost 30 years up early Friday, her birthday btw, and we were out of the house by 0700 to go for a “day trip” to the John Day Fossil Beds in Oregon. Didn’t quite make it. After driving for 5 hours (counting the quick stop for breakfast at a nice little restaurant along the highway) we were only in The Dalles. Looked like another 3 hours or so to get to the Fossil Beds, so we decided to head to the Washington Coast (maybe).

Crossed the river (on a bridge!) and took that highway on the North side of the Columbia River back to I-5. Nice ride! Pretty! And was nice to finally see that landscape up close instead of from across the river.

Got back to I-5 and headed north. Took the Kelso exit and got through Kelso when we saw a sign that said we still had 75 miles to go to get to the coast. Ugh! It’s was already 1500 and would be completely dark by the time we even got there!

So we turned around and headed home. Stopped at another roadside restaurant for dinner (GOOD chili burger!). Got home about 1900 and just settled in for the evening.

Even though we didn’t actually get to our destination I still had a great time. Great scenery. Open skies. SWMBO in the seat beside me! Even though my ass was sore from all that sitting it was still a really nice trip. I do enjoy being with her whatever we’re doing.

Today she didn’t have the Genealogy Library but spent some time at her favorite yarn shop outside Allyn. After, she took me to Arby’s for dinner and COSTCO for some stuff we need. Which included 4 5TB hard drives (@ $119 each) for the new NAS. After our usual Safeway stop we be back home.

Drives are already out of their holders and in the NAS and are being formatted as we speak. Raid 5 config should still give us 15 TB to play with. I’ll let y’all know how that goes.

Hope You Had A Great Thanksgiving!

I sure did. SWMBO, her son and his girlfriend, and even our Renter, all had some pretty good Turkey with all the fixins’. But mostly, for me, was just being home with SWMBO. Everything else was ‘extra.’

So dishes are all done and everything has been put away and I don’t have to worry about doing it all later. Cool!

Not much going on the past couple of days. Got home Tuesday evening from the Extra Class class to find a small tree had fallen across our “driveway.” Shit. I walked on down to the house and tried to get one of the chainsaw’s started, no joy (it’s only been 2 or 3 years since I ran them). Luckily, SWMBO’s son was able to just lift it out of the way and that took care of that.

And that’s really it from Western WaRshington. I feel like I’m trying to get a headache and may go lay down early tonight. Gotta get up early since SWMBO and I are going to head south and visit the John Day Fossil Beds. Hopefully.

It Just Looks Cold Out There!

Clouded over and supposed to start sprinkling this afternoon. Maybe light snow flurries tonight. Maybe. It’s a balmy 43 degrees out there but feels cold enough. With how into feelings we all are these days maybe I ought to demand that cold weather be banned for not living up to my feelings. Screw Facts. It ought to be different because I feel it should be different.

Maybe I need a “safe weather space.” Like Bermuda. Sidney would work too. (Anywhere but western Washington really. I hate this State!)

Took the Dog to the foo-foo place in town for a flea bath, haircut, and nail trim. That’ll cost $50 (well spent!) and be good for a month or so. Unless he gets out in the mud or something. Now I need to stop by the bank for some bucks to get him back.

Went out and moved about half the cement blocks that I stacked too close to the “driveway” to a little further away from the “driveway.” Was making it “iffy” to pull into the garage. I can’t see as close as I’d like to the front of that bigger truck I’m driving now. It has a rear-view camera (for when you’re backing) but really needs a front-bumper-view camera so you can tell when you’re getting close to things.

Decided to go the easy route for dinner tonight. TV Dinner. Yep, Old Guy Lazy.

It’s 1820 and, so far, no snow. Sprinkling. Dark as hell. No snow. We had about 8 inches of snow here about 6 or 7 years ago; but only “light” snows since. I think about 2 inches max. Plenty of rain though!

Trying to see what Windows programs I can run under Wine, and, so far, several things have worked. PIM, Picasa 3, a DVD ripper that works on some of the discs I have, and other things. Cool! Can’t get Windows Live Writer to work though. Which is a bummer. That’s almost the only program I keep Windows around for anymore.

Ah well, it’s getting late. SWMBO is home and fed and cursing her laptop so I ought to check that out. She’s having problems keeping her $100 Bluetooth keyboard & mouse working. (Which really does suck.)

I’ve About Given Up Hope For America

California college newspaper creating 'safe space' for minority students – and everything was going okay until some White guy suggested they put up “Black’s Only” signs on the doors to those “safe” spaces. I have a hard time believing “Minorities” are so pussified these days. And that they are promoting Racial Segregation because of Words.  “Sticks and stones may break my bones. But names will never hurt me” went out the window this past year or so.

Downloaded and watched the latest Doctor Who today. Clara Oswald died. Bummer. Sorry to see her go but she did kind of die of her own cockiness. Or did she? She did split herself into many copies to go back in time to save The Doctor so one of those may still be around. Still, I will miss her.

Not much else going on around here. Way too cold for me to get out much even if the Sun is shining. Still pretty wet out there too. So I pretty much stay inside and “play” once I get my chores done.

We fed the Missionaries tonight. SWMBO cooked so it was good. Fried Chicken, Steamed Cauliflower, Brussels Sprouts, and all-rotten potato’s. I sent the left overs home with them cause they don’t get a lot of “home cooked” meals when not eating at someone’s house.

I seem kind of disjointed tonight. This is not an orderly blog entry. Maybe my mind, what little is left, is just not on it like it should be. Not that my entries are ever paragon’s of Journalistic Brilliance anyway; but, damn.

I know. I spent too much time on Tumblr today! Yeah, that’s gotta be the problem.

Supposed to snow Monday night through Tuesday morning. Sure. And Obama will become a gun-totin’, Hot Dog eating, anti-Muslim Redneck in cowboy boots.

MCARC 2-meter Sunday Evening Chat Net went well. They said I was scratchy and dropping out so I may need to dry my antenna out or something. Of course, I could transmit 10 minutes from now and be perfectly fine. Radio is strange that way.

But don’t get me started.

Yeah. I Be In Windows Right Now

Couldn’t get Ubuntu Studio to correctly recognize my video camera. Kept breaking the video files trying to copy them to the hard drive. Don’t have any idea why. So I rebooted into Windows 7 and it seems to be working like it’s supposed to. Go figure.

Went over to a New Ham’s house (in Shelton) early and looked through a lot of “stuff” he inherited from somebody. Lots of coax and connectors and stuff like that. Told him to keep everything “just in case.” Then we talked a bit about how to make a “shack” and put up antenna’s and just Ham stuff for awhile.

He’s got an old Streamline travel trailer I wouldn’t mind owning. Needs a lot of external work; but  it’s waterproof and not too shabby inside. Would make a nice “Field Day” portable shack!

SWMBO took me to the Chinese food place in East Bremerton. I don’t know why I get the all-you-can-eat then eat only one serving. Every time.

Then we spent way too much money at Fred Meyer’s. She got herself some new snow/boots thingies. I got new socks! (I buy a shit load of socks every couple of years and wear them until they start to fall apart. Time to go down and just buy another 10 pair of jeans too. That happens every 10 years or so.)

Made our usual stop at Safeway on the way home. I just ripped her new Susan Boyle cd and added it to her music drive. Watching “The Thing” sorta.

I’m really getting antsy to get those four 4-TB drives and get this new NAS up and running. Found myself looking around for any old drives I have to put in it just to play with the darned thing. Found plenty; but all old IDE and that won’t work. Ah well. Nothing like having a new toy and not being able to play with it.

See y’all tomorrow!

It Kinda Bothers Me

Not that my Lovely-Young-Bride of almost 30 years has made us (over the years) both Winter & Summer Quilts. No, far from it. What bother’s me, what really yanks my chain, is that I live somewhere where we actually USE something called a “Summer” Quilt. This Old Southern California Man has a real problem reconciling those two words into one coherent thought; much less using them in one sentence. Summer Quilt. Damn!

Not too much has been happening around here since our wind storm a couple of days ago. Pretty much SSDD. Dog and I made a tour of the back-40 and found (as you can see in the picture above) that we’d lost part of one of the Alder’s. It broke pretty high up and looks dangerous to mess with so I’ll probably just leave it there until it’s dry enough to cut up.

Pretty cold and frosty out there this morning. Guess we ought to get used to that for the next couple of months. Supposed to be the chance of snow flurries next Tuesday. We’ll see. Personally, I’m expecting snow the first week of December this year. We’ll see about that also. (Wouldn’t be the first time I’ve been wrong about it. But I have been more right than wrong over the past several years.)

Really haven’t done much today; for some reason. Too cold, I think. Probably just another excuse to be lazy but that’s the way the Retirement Cookie Crumbles. At least the usual chores are done. Roughed the Dog up some cause he was feeling ignored. Got dinner started. (Slow roasted pork chop. Baked tater. Veggies.) Couple of other things around the house that I’ve been meaning to do; but nothing real strenuous or anything.

Well, at least I get to pick my lovely young bride up this evening. Supposed I ought to take the Dog along and get him out of the house for a few. Lucky Dog!

Just heard on the radio a report that in Bremerton, near the Warren Avenue Bridge, there is a naked male, pleasuring himself. All I can say is: Glad I quit drinking. SWMBO cringed when I mention that that guy was going to milk it for all it’s worth.

That’s it. Y’all have a nice one!

What A Wind Storm Yesterday!

It was really gusting! My antenna’s were really bouncing around. Power flickered enough (here) to reboot my computer. (Then I’d leave it off for an hour, no flicker, restart, flicker, reboot. Times 3 or so. Frustrating.) Lots of reports of trees down, trees down on power lines and burning, couple of reports of trees down in power lines on houses burning. Butt-ton of road closures (still closed this morning).

On the drive to the Extra Class class last night the power was out from Belfair through Gorst on out to the edge of Gig Harbor. (This is the point where regular people would  say: The Airport was dark. All the houses were dark. The businesses were dark. There were no lights out there at all! because “the power was out from Belfair through Gorst out to the edge of Gig Harbor” wouldn’t include any of that.)

And, of course, I’m siting in the drive-through line at MacDonald’s in Gig Harbor and I get a text from SWMBO asking if I can pick her up as her son was stuck under a house in Olympia. Nope. Sorry. Tuesday is class night. Luckily she got a ride from one of her friends and he stopped by on the way back to his workplace and let her in the house. It worked out.

Our drainage pipes in the back yard finally overflowed yesterday afternoon so I have a 2” deep “river” running across the yard. That’ll last a couple of days since all the water from uphill of us still has to find it’s way down here.

But, it seems we weathered another storm without any great problems here; and that’s good. Antenna’s appear to have survived intact. All the computer’s seem to work. Freezer continues to freeze. Caravan is still intact. House is still intact. SWMBO is safe.

Got an e-mail from Amazon.com that my new NAS is supposed to be delivered today. Which I’ll believe when I see it. If it is delivered, that’ll be a month earlier than they last said it would be delivered. Which would be cool. Still later than I was originally told it would be, but, lot’s better than waiting until mid-December. I’d give them better marks for effort if it actually gets here today.

Well, got an e-mail from Amazon saying they tried delivery. I don’t know why they didn’t actually deliver it cause I was here all morning except for going to check mail; and I didn’t see any UPS trucks on the road to the mailbox and back. Ah well. Got to pick it up at the Post Office in town at noon so whatever. It’s been opened and inspected and everything seems to be there. Now to buy the drives for it!

And that was pretty much my day. Not really exciting, huh? Just an Old Guy hanging around the house after getting his usual chores done.

Wet. Windy. Cold. Not Summer!

Not a whole lot going on. It is Wet, Windy, and Cold out there today. Made a trip to Safeway for some things (otherwise, why go?) and it was cold enough (34 degrees) to snow; but didn’t. Bummer. I’d rather see it snowing than raining any day. (That’s how long I’ve lived up here.)

Other than that just getting my usual chores done and waiting on the Insurance guy to come by and take a look at SWMBO’s car. Hope that goes well. Heard from SWMBO that the guy her son hit is claiming that he’s grievously injured. Sure, and my name’s Tinkerbell. Her son was moving a whopping 5 mph when he rear-ended the other car; I just don’t see how anyone can be “grievously” injured at 5 mph. But, that’s just me. Guess I worked too many accidents in my misspent youth.

And there is supposed to be another storm moving in with lots more wind. Oh, Joy. I have everything plugged in that can charge. Again. So far it’s just wet with occasional breezes.

And, I’m bored. If I didn’t have to be upstairs to watch for the Insurance guy I’d be downstairs (in the basement) straightening up and moving things around. Actually sick of sitting here in front of this computer right now. Thought about seeing how I could mess up the Raspberry Pi; but don’t even feel like doing that. All my chores are done. I’ve already kicked the Dog around some. Got dinner started and it’s only 1500. Sometimes being “retired” sucks. Not often, but sometimes.

Ah, the Insurance guy is here. It’s pouring down rain out there! Poor guy. He’s amazed at all the wire I’ve strung all over the place (antenna’s); especially the steel wire between the two tree’s on either side of the house. Hey, it all helps me to communicate!

Well, an hour later the GEICO guy is done. Estimated $3500 for repairs; of which we’re responsible for $500. Good thing Rent is coming due (from our Renter). Then it’ll take just over a week to get the repairs done; estimated. Of course, SWMBO’s Son will be paying us back. (That could take just short of forever.)

Heard the hacker group “Anonymous” declared war on ISIS. Hell, if they really wanted to do some good they’d declare war on Obama, find and release all his personal info that he had locked up before being elected President. Nice hearing some of the States telling Obama to pack sand on his immigration plans though. I feel kindlier towards my Ex- than I do Obama.

Anywho, that’s probably it for tonight. The rest of the evening will be spent listening to the (Ham) radio, puttering around the house, and chillin’. And waiting on the Tow for SWMBO’s car, of course.

Yep. Pretty Much Normal Around Here

Again. Well, it hasn’t been raining as much today as it has lately. Yesterday, now. Yesterday it rained a LOT. From the time I got up to almost bedtime last night it rained.

SWMBO took me for a perusal of St. Vinnie’s before taking me for a Whopper at Burger King over in Port Orchard. Actually, I took her to St. Vinnie’s cause I was looking for an old (but still working) Linksys router to play with. Want to try this HSMM-Mesh stuff one day.

Made our usual stop at Safeway on the way home. Got out of there fairly cheap, compared to what we usually spend, except I saw 3 movies that I just had to rent: San Andreas, Jurassic World, & Terminator Genesis. Guess what I’ll be doing the next couple of days.

Today, Sunday, was the most typical Sunday we’ve had in a whole week or so! My goodness. SWMBO made some great shrimp Alfredo stuff for dinner and we sat and watched “Jurassic World” together. (Not while eating though. Before that.) Now we’re just kind of chillin’.

San Andreas was okay. Having been SAR Aircrew “way back when” I know that an old Huey won’t do some of the things that “The Rock” made his do; but it was visually nice. And, having grown up in the San Fernando Valley, I sure do enjoy any movie where Los Angeles gets destroyed. I do. I just do. The movie was a mixture of ‘contrived” and hey, that was cool! And all the women had bouncy boobs.

Anywho, that’s pretty much it for tonight. Not only do I lead an extremely boring life, but I lead a pretty boring life too. Except for SWMBO!

Not A Happy Camper With Amazon

So, on 07 Nov I order that D-Link Systems ShareCenter and get an order confirmation with delivery date of 13 Nov. Not too shabby. Thursday, 12 Nov comes around and I go online to track the package. The green line thingie is almost all the way across the page and says it’ll be delivered by 2000 hrs Friday 13 Nov. Cool! Really looking forward to getting it.

Get up this morning and have an e-mail from Amazon saying that there’s been a “problem” and delivery won’t be until Mid to late December. What? According to the tracking website it was almost here. Did it just get up and walk off during the night? Did the UPS guy decide that he wanted it more than I? What kind of problem could come up with the thing on a truck and almost here (according to their tracking site)?

So, no, I am not a happy camper with Amazon right now. I keep hoping it’s just a Friday the 13th bad joke; but, somehow, I doubt it.

Not a whole lot going on. Still really raining out. Really raining out. At lest we haven’t gotten the high winds (yet) that were predicted. I’m thinking we’re going to get lowland snow the first part of December; but couldn’t tell you why I feel that way. Not that I have a whole lot of experience predicting weather anyway.

Oh, cool. Just got an e-mail from Amazon saying my review can’t be posted. Didn’t follow their “guidelines.” And their link to submit feedback seems to work only for things you’ve bought. Actually can’t find anyplace to review Amazon itself. Which figures. (And, yes, I’m old and maybe just can’t find it.)

AND I just got a text that SWMBO’s Son was in an accident (in her car) in Port Orchard. He rear-ended someone. Oh, Joy! He’s having it towed here though so at least I don’t have to get out in the rain and traffic to pick him up. (Suppose I ought to be grateful he wasn’t hurt.) Nope. Not angry. Getting angry wouldn’t accomplish anything but make for some bad feelings all around. Long as he pays for the repairs (and towing!) I’m cool. (Maybe this’ll force him to look for a higher paying job!)

Well, he got SWMBO’s car towed to the house. Front end is a bit banged up. It should still run but the electronic crash detector thingie won’t let it start until a mechanic resets it. That’s his problem.

Big Storm Moving In Tonight

Or, today, actually. Supposed to be a big one lasting for a couple of days. It’s not quite Noon and it’s already raining pretty good and the wind is starting to kick up a bit. Oh, Joy! Re-loosened the long wire dipole and my 144/70cm antenna is still guyed from the last wind we had, so I think I’m ready. Everything that can charge is charging just in case the power goes out. Generators are up and able to run.

Now to hunker down. I don’t know if it’ll be that bad. But it doesn’t hurt to be prepared. Copied a bunch of our movies to a thumb drive and can use the laptop to watch a movie if the power goes out and I get bored reading. Always have the Dog to kick around too. He don’t care if the power is out.

Not much has been going on around here these past couple of days. Veteran’s Day was like any other but without mail. MCARC 2-meter Wednesday Evening Chat Net went well; lot’s of Veteran’s in the club.

Tuesday night at the Extra Class class we finally moved into an area that I could (correctly!) answer some of the questions from a chapter we’re supposed to read this week. Cool!

Also put a small space heater out in the Caravan turned up just enough to keep the interior from freezing; if it comes to that. May cost us a couple of bucks a month to run but that’s better than having to repair/replace frozen water pipes. (Which were drained but I ain’t taking any chances. This is my first time winterizing a Caravan.)

Anyway, gonna post this early “just in case” the power does go out. It’s only gone out a couple of times these past 6-7 years; but it has during storms like we’re supposed to be getting tonight. During the big ice storm of 96 we went without power for 6 days (luckily we had a wood burner. Which we don’t have here.) Hopefully it won’t be that bad but the generators could help if it does.

Crap! WHERE Did The Weekend Go?

Was I that busy? Did I go to sleep last Friday and not wake up until this morning? Lazy?  (I’d vote for that last. Personally.)

Saturday last was a completely normal Saturday. As far as normal works around here. SWMBO did take me to our usual all-you-can-eat Chinese place in Port Orchard for our dinner. I think it was to try and get the taste of the other place out of our mouths. Whatever, it’s always nice being out with her. Made a stop by Wal-Mart for some things (almost bought a 55” TV) and our usual Safeway stop on the way home.

Sunday was another completely normal Sunday. MCARC 2-meter Sunday Evening Chat Net went well but my reception was crappy. They didn’t have any problems hearing me though.

Today? Today has been the usual. Did get off my fat, old, ass and sweep and swab the kitchen & dining room. Put some new light bulbs in the laundry room. (It’s Really Bright In There Now!) Kicked the Dog around some since I haven’t been able to take him out for a walk cause of the rain. I know he’s bored. (As am I.)

It’s been raining off and on all weekend. I got out and did some of the burning yesterday but had to quit because of the rain. I was getting too wet. But I did get about half of it done. Cool!

And that’s pretty much it. “Amazing Spaces” Marathon. (Addictive!)

My Friday

Got in the truck to make a trip to Taco Bell (lazy) and check mail on the way back. Cut a fart that drove me out of the truck. Waited another hour for it to clear before I could make the run.

Almost put me off my appetite.

Thursday? Already? Hell.

Made an early run to ACE Hardware for some more of those LED Bulbs and some 1/2” wood screws. Got the feeling to “straighten up” my “shack” and need the screws to remount my radio’s in different places.

Which I did even though you can’t tell from the picture. The 900 MHz radio (Left) was just sitting on the counter top. The 2-meter radio (orange light) was more towards the corner and kind of hard to get to. (Don’t know why I mounted it there in the first place.)  The Tuner, Power Supply, and my 857d stayed put (for now). Moved the upper monitor a bit more to the right and higher up so the laptop would be able to open more. Now to work on all those damned wires! Need to buy a couple more microphone hooks too.

Yep, all three radio’s stay on pretty much all the time and all are run by the power supply. Not worried about overloading it because I rarely (well, never) transmit on all three radio’s at once. If I had to I might begin to worry about it.

For a guy that doesn’t like talking on the phone, I sure have a lot of radios. Add the 2 handhelds and the 144/440 in the truck and I have a plethora of electronic communication apparatus.

Not much else going on. Got money when I made the ACE run to make a dump run; but I don’t really feel like it. Probably tomorrow. I really think that flu shot affected me more than I wanted it to. Just feeling blah. Don’t even feel like kicking the Dog around much so he’s off in a corner pouting about it.

So, it’s way later now. SWMBO is home and being fed. I’m watching raspberry Pi video’s on YouTube. (Or trying to. Slow connection tonight.) Think I’ll wrap this up.