And the heat goes on!

Ok, did I actually say, "I wish it was summer"!  It has been too hot to fish, too hot to be outside, and way to hot inside my house.  I'm on week two of having a black eye, from getting a tree limb in the face at work.  The stitches came out on their own.  It still hurts.  Supposed to go back to the doctor this we so he can check it and make sure I don't have any complications.  I've been working for The Town of Stanton, since April this year. (2011) This started out as a part time/on call position, but right now, I'm working up to 37 hours a week.  We always take off at lunch on Friday.  I'm supervising 7 workers, and trying to keep all the equipment working.  Not easy!  Every time I turn around something breaks or quits, or just flat out won't do anything.  I have a good crew though, they have kept things moving along, even though we constantly run into some sort of obstacle.  We have been replacing the fence around the sewerage lagoon.  There were tree's up to 2 feet in diameter grown into the fence wire. Unfortunately, I can't keep the backhoe running long enough to get all of the stumps dug out. On the bright side we have plenty of work to keep us busy.  We have started clearing off overgrowth on some of the ditch banks around town.  Tree's and shrubs hanging over in the road. I don't know how long I can keep up this pace, my whole body hurts. I haven't had time to mow my yard, so I actually have to pay someone to cut it for me.  I have so much stuff I need to get done, and I am too tired to do any of it.  Maybe the weather will break and drop back down in the low 80s at least.  At least I'm getting a good tan out of the deal.

Mud and Flood

Well, I have had enough of the rain and mud for this spring, is it summer yet?  Last time I posted I was talking about going fishing.  I went with my wife, Stacey, up to Eva, TN, for our 3rd anniversary. We rented a nice cabin, just over looking the Tennessee River/Kentucky Lake.  The first day was awful, the boat motor wouldn't run.  The fishing was bad, the water was rough and muddy.  We went back to the cabin to enjoy our first night in this huge cabin, that was bigger than most hotel suites.  Satellite TV, phone, air conditioning, gas logs, two bedrooms, two baths, awesome real leather furniture.  Stacey was a little upset that there was no internet, but I told her we were roughing it.  The second day out, we found a boat motor, for a good price, and took it out, right off the bat I ran into a tree.  Scared the stew out of Stacey.  The water was really rough all day long, white capping.  About five PM, we were able to get out an fish for a while and caught some nice catfish. It rained the next morning with thunder storms, until about noon. The fishing still wasn't very good, but we managed to get out and try the motor out.  25 Horsepower is pretty big on my boat, just above idle speed and we really were moving. Once I got the trim adjusted it did really great!  Just enough to keep the nose out of the water.  We could make it to the Beaver Dam  Creek Marina and back in half the time it used to take us.  Too bad they were closed because of the high water, they have really good burgers.  Third day out and we didn't even bother putting the boat in the water, fish were biting like crazy right on the campground, which was completely flooded! All the way up to the road, there was flood water.  I caught a picnic table once and had to break my line to get it loose.  Stacey was fishing off of a picnic table that had a few inches of water, just at the base.  She was pulling Bluegill out of the water as fast as she could re-bait her hook.  I kept catching those little stripped bass.  I finally moved down to where she was fishing and my luck changed drastically.  We caught 50 in all in just a few hours.  We had to quit because we ran out of night crawlers.
This had to be the best trip we had even with the bad weather and flooding.  No sleeping on the ground, no wet clothes in the tent, shower right there waiting after a long day of fishing!  My wife always catches more fish than I do, but that's because I'm running the boat, of fishing her fishing line.  Oh, the minnows I bought two months ago are still in my fish tank in the bedroom.  Stacey thinks I'm keeping them as pets.  I'm just fattening them up for the Crappie!

Spring Fever

As I sit here, debating on whether to stir up something again, watching the rain, I keep wondering, is it almost spring yet?  Well, it certainly feels like it might be trying.  The buttercups are blooming, but I have seen them covered in snow, so that's no indication.  I am so ready for tee shirts, and grass cutting.  OK, my mind suddenly went blank, and all I can think about is fishing.  As much as I would love to stir up some controversy, I'm afraid that I can't think of anything important right now.  Sorry I bothered you.  Go back to what you were doing on Facebook.

To Err is Human?

To err, is human, what does that mean?  It means we all make mistakes, because we are human.  Ok, some of us are human, and some of us have Chimpanzee's in our family tree.  That is literal by the way.  Look it up.  This is about making mistakes and learning from them.  It is said that we learn more from our mistakes, than from our successes.  In fact it has been said so often, and by so many people, that it must be correct.  I must admit, that I myself have failed quite a few times.  I did learn from experience, that somethings are better replaced, than repaired; while other things can be repaired numerous times without loosing their integrity.  Classic cars, model trains, watches, even people.  It is amazing the number of vital organs a human can live without, or with only a partial organ.  Artificial limbs, joints, bones, brains...oh, wait...We haven't gotten quite that far yet.  Proper Medical Care should be available to all who need it, no matter what.  I said MEDICAL CARE, not INSURANCE!  We should do everything in our power to insure that every human being on this planet, is provided the absolute top of the line health care.  Again, not insurance, but care!  We have the technology to make people healthy, but we choose to allow only the privileged to actually be healthy.  Our Government allows poisonous chemicals to be sold in every store on ever corner, but we don't dare give people on Medicare dental care.  We allow them to buy insurance.  Insurance is for things that are unexpected. It is not for things which we know will happen!  You can't buy insurance for a lot of things.  (Thus the pre-existing condition clause)  If you live in a sub-standard dwelling, you can not buy insurance for it because it it high risk.  Well you could but if you had that kind of money you wouldn't be living in a sub-standard dwelling would you?  [ramble] Ok, back to my point.  Some things should be replaced instead of trying to fix them.  Medical, Dental, and Eye Care INSURANCE, should be replaced!  It should be replaced by HUMAN STANDARD CARE!  That's right, we are not pieces of human beings, we are whole human beings, the sum of all our parts.  If parts are missing they should be replaced by the best medical technology that we have to offer, at NO CHARGE!  Who pay's for this, you ask?  We all do.  Every single working person in the world.  I'm not just talking about the United States, I'm talking about GLOBAL Health Care.  Why do some suffer and die, with no food, or clean water, no shelter.  Not because they are lazy, or sick, or injured.  No, because they are poor!  They don't live in a place where you can make money sitting on your butt, writing computer games.  They live in a place where disease, and malnutrition are a daily way of life.  Some of these people live right here in the U.S. It's high time we stop trying to fix our mistakes, and try something new.  Health Care Reform is a joke.  Throw the whole system out and start over.  Better to try and fail several times, than to continue to patch up something that is falling down around our heads.  If we can grow a human ear on a rats back, we can grow new teeth in a toothless man.  If we can sent men to space to fix television satellites, then we can send a sick man to a doctor, who wants to help him, because it's the right thing to do.  Is entertainment more important, than the life of any man, woman or child.  If so we should euthanize the sick and injured like we do with stray dogs. Is your country poor from over population, then spay and neuter the population so they don't reproduce.    Drastic you say?  Yes, it is!  We are a race of beings created in the Image of God!  Let's start being a little more like God, and answer the prayers of the sick and infirmed.  Yes, we can.  We DO have the technology, we can rebuild the world.  We have to start somewhere.  For those of you who volunteer to help others, at the cost of your own safety, and lives, I salute you!  If we all felt that way, there would be no hunger, no sickness, no homeless, and no war.  The gift of Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness, should be the goal of all men.  And by men, I mean the human race!  This does not apply to those of you, who are still living in the stone age, but we will try to help you.  (When you grow a brain, or we figure out how to fix the one you have now)

You might be a Ham if...

You Might Be (and Probably Are)

an Amateur Radio Operator, If:

1. You have bought black electrical tape in ten packs.

2. You have stripped wire with your teeth.

3. You have told your child, "One day, all this will be yours," and he or she did not respond at all.

4. You would rather help another Ham friend to hook up new equipment, or to put up a new tower, than to mow your own lawn.

5. You have grabbed the wrong end of a hot soldering iron.

6. You have gotten an RF burn from your own antenna.

7. You have given out RST reports while you were on the telephone.

8. When the microphones or visual aids at a meeting did not work, you rushed up to the front to fix them.

9. You have told the XYL, when she noticed a new rig in the shack, "Why, that has been there for years."

10. You have set your watch to UTC only.

11. You have had to patch your roof after an antenna project fell onto it.

12. You have put a GPS tracker in the XYL's car or on the riding mower, just so you could watch it on APRS.

13. You have tapped out "CQ" or "HI" on the car horn in Morse Code to another Ham.

14. Your teenager has refused to ride in your car because it looks like a porcupine.

15. You know the Latitude, Longitude, and Elevation of your home QTH.

16. You have gone into the local Radio Shack store, and the store clerk has asked you where something is and how it works.

17. You have answered the telephone with your call sign, and then finished the conversation with "73" and your call sign.

18. You have looked for antennas, radios, and Morse Code in movies and television shows.

19. When you look at anything made of wire or metal tubing, you wonder if it could be used as an antenna.

20. Your call sign is listed on one or more of your hats, T-shirts, or other garments.

21. You regularly carry one or more tools in your pockets at any given time.

22. When any kinds of batteries go on sale, you get really excited.

23. When you look at a barbecue grill, it creates ideas about ground plane antennas.

24. You have designated all your friends as Hams or Non-Hams.

25. You have referred to your Ham friends by their call sign suffixes instead of their real names.

26. You have intentionally confused Non-Hams by telling them that the only things you talk about on the air are pork products.

27. You have intentionally scared Non-Hams with the word "RADIATION"!

28. You have looked at telephone poles and power line towers as potential antenna supports.

29. You have thought you were still hearing CW, SSB, or SSTV tones, even when your Ham radio was off.

30. Your Go-Bag has more clothes in it than your dresser does.

31. You have a SKYWARN sticker on your back window.

32. Your significant other sits in the back seat, and your radios ride in the front.

33. Your neighbors wonder if you are a "Narc" (narcotics officer), a Spy, or a Federal Agent.

34. The cops pull you over because they want to see the inside of your car.

This one is actually being done by Tim Clark, KB4RPV:

35. Your cell-phone's ring tone is your Ham radio call sign, sent in Morse Code (seehttp://www.planetofnoise.com/midi/morse2mid.php).

Do I really have to do this?

Why would anyone in their right mind start blogging about anything.  Oh, key words, "right mind".  Somewhere on the internet, there is someone right now, doing this same thing and people are actually reading it.  Why?  Because, someone wants to know.  I have been asked numerous times to answer questions about topics, from Ham Radio, Computers, Cars, Plumbing, Electric, etc.  Is there a stamp on my head that says, "Search for information here."  Not that I mind being a repository of useless information, but at some point you ask yourself, "If I know so much, why am I not rich?"  Well, because everything I know is a random mix of actual hands on experience, and internet searches, and real classroom knowledge.  Putting it all together is like building a puzzle with no picture on the front.  You can't tell what it is until you put it all together.  Back to the point, why am I not rich, or at least well off?  I have no sense of business.  I am the worst organized person in the world.

Intelligence is overrated.  What matters is documentation.  If it isn't on paper it doesn't count.  Had I not quit school in the 12th grade, because I was bored, I would have gotten a diploma.  So ten years later I decided to go back and get it.  Now it isn't worth the paper it was printed on.  You need a degree from a place of higher learning in order to be taken seriously.  I have tons of certificates and diploma's, and achievements, from FEMA, the Department of The Military, The National Weather Service, The State of Tennessee...  Speaking of the State of Tennessee, I have a certification as a Children's Services Councilor.  I got it because I went to work as a maintenance man in a youth detention center.  So documentation means nothing either!

How does one go about putting pieces of random information and certification to use?  Well, you pick out what is pertinent, and put it with what you know, and find a way to link the two together.   If you are like me it all amounts to squat!  There is one job I am qualified for and someone else has it.  One job I could actually do and enjoy it.  In this county, you have to wait for someone to die or retire, and then you have to wait on a change of politicians, to even consider applying for that job.  Yes, I burned some bridges, and that leaves me out on a limb, with a bundle of paper.

Do you wait for the right moment to present it's self, or do you try to insert yourself in a position that makes you useful.  I decided to become useful to someone, anyone.  Doing pro bono work for government agencies,  and people in leadership positions.  Oh, now they have found out that I am useful...  well alrighty then, my foot is in the door.  Let's find out if I can keep my foot in the door.  Time to start showing them what I can do.  

Snow Day!

Howdy Folks, well we got an itsy bit of snow here in Tennessee, and everybody was going nuts.  Why do people go to the store and buy bread and milk, when it snows.  I need some steaks, charcoal, and lots of lighter fluid, just in case I have to pour it in my kerosene heater.  I have all this camping equipment that only gets used in the spring and fall because it's too dang hot in the middle of summer.  Charcoal lighter is good for all sorts of things.  You know those tiki torches that folks use during the summer to keep mosquito's away, well if you need some light, you can fill them up with charcoal lighter and use them, with out the citronella smell.   Another good thing to have on hand if your power goes out and you don't have a gas cook top, is a small propane camp stove.
I have a one burner, and you can make coffee in the old percolator, or scramble some egg's if you get hungry.  Another good thing to keep on hand is a marine or gel cell battery,  in case you have to jump start your own car!
Make sure you keep it charged up though!  Keep some extra clothes in your car, just in case you get wet, and it's freezing outside.  If you have room keep an old blanket for emergencies.  Ya know, back to propane appliances, a propane lantern is great to have too, they give off a lot of light.  I like propane better than the old camp fuel type, because you can store the containers easier, and don't have to worry about spills.  I saw a device online the other day to refill those small propane bottles from a tank like you use for your grill.  If I find it again I'll post a link, but I bet you can Google it!  Around here power outages aren't just a random inconvenience, they are a fact of life.  I gotta have my coffee, so I keep those propane bottles on hand year round.  Just keep 'em in a dry place so the bottles don't rust, otherwise, you can get a leak, and there is a lot of gas in those things.  Oh, and get a cheap power inverter, you can power a laptop, or a radio, even small power tools from those things.  Wal-mart has them starting at about $40 and up.  A good one will cost close to a hundred bucks, but you can run a flat screen TV on it. Just make sure you have you engine running.  Mine has an automatic shut off, so you don't kill your battery.  You can get 'em to plug into a lighter socket, or clip right on to your battery terminals.    That's all I got fer ya tonight.  If ya want more emergency survival tips, comment on my post, or find me on Facebook.
later, Dwayne KD4KDF

Ramblings

Well, I finally broke down and did the stupidest thing ever!  I started a BLOG? Will anyone ever read this stuff? Who knows, but every now and then, I do come up with some idea's that even surprise me.  I am currently in the process of planning a meeting in February for our District ARES (Amateur Radio Emergency Services) group.  I am the District 1 Emergency Coordinator, which covers 6 counties in west Tennessee.  (Shelby, Haywood, Crockett, Lauderdale, Tipton, and Fayette) "What does that even mean", you ask?  Well I coordinate ham radio operators, who volunteer to provide communications support in the event of an emergency.  It's mostly about keeping up with a list of people who can drag out their equipment and get on the air, to provide communications, when nothing else is working.  Lets say for example a major earthquake, or an ice storm, where power, phone, and internet service are out of order.  If your family was trying to find out if you were alive, we would be the ones, relaying that information out to someone who had phone or internet capabilities, so that we could contact your family members, and tell them you were ok.

What else?  Well, stay tuned.  I have more.