I am up a little late and managed to sleep through the cat's carrying-ons

It is another day and I am overlooking the back yard which is actually in pretty good shape after the winter. Most likely when the bushes grow back in a doe will use the same spot to give birth to another fawn and the cycle begins again.

I tore out a hedge the other day and have filled in the resultant holes and seeded with grass. The hedge never looked all that good and was a pain in the neck to keep trimmed. It was easy to yank. I just bought 10 feet of cable and four cable clamps and made a choker.I shackled the choker to a long tow strap and yanked them out with my pickup.

The flower beds have a nice layer of mushroom manure on them and in a couple of weeks after things settle I'll plant marigolds and a few zinnias and then the magic will occur. I'm thinking of planting from seeds this year again. I did that a couple of years ago and had tree sized marigolds.

I suppose it will be time to start mowing in a couple of weeks but I'm going to put that off until I have to as once you start things go a  little crazy. The lawn looks pretty good, too.

The kid up the street is $10 richer now as he did a good job of weeding for a couple of hours. He's at the age where he wants to do things but is not quite old enough. His dad encourages this and I suppose in a few years when I get older he'll be an occasional helper at the Piccolo spread.

His kid sister is now about five and she's my sweetie. Every time she sees me she wants a hug. She's really a character and watching her dad deal with her is a trip. She'll go far because she has a grateful sort of flexibility. If she want's ice cream for dessert and winds up with a popsicle she is smart enough to know she's better off than with nothing.

I took my morning coffee in the driveway and watched the woman diagonally across the street send her three off to school. The oldest girl is a pretty good athlete and a while ago I taught her to do a volley ball serve. She got good fast and is likely to become a real looker in a few years. She has a pair of kid brothers and they're a few years younger. The youngest is the most energetic kid I have ever seen. He's a handful.

Funny how things tend to replace things as time goes on. The little girl directly across the street must be pushing thirty now and I remember keeping an eye on her when she was growing up. She's been out of the house for year.

I generally like what I see when I look around the neighborhood. I dryly told one of the neighbors that it's been almost 5 years since I've had to chase anyone off of my lawn with an M-1. He chuckled.

Today I have a little touch-up to do in the yard and ought to be done easily by noon and then maybe I'll take my PRC 320 out and go hill topping. I think the water tower will be a good place as it isn't a weekend and there are likely no events planned for that area in the park.

I'm next to the home rig now and getting ready to check in with Jda as I do most mornings. Jim up in Halifax is weak but the band should come up soon. Maybe he just has to turn his beam.

Last night there was a ham club meeting and I attended which is rare as I generally wind up at sea when the meetings are scheduled. I brought my PRC 320 along because the last time I made a meeting someone asked me to. I did and was mobbed..

Most of the guys never used a military rig before as most hams gravitate toward newer technology. On Field Day they generally simply drag their rigs outside and run off of generators and batteries.Most ham gear is not designed for hard field use.

Military gear is also bare bones and has none of the meters and do-dads that hams seem to like. For most hams it is a different world.

One of the officers asked me to give a presentation and I will but I'll have to check my schedule.  It means I'll have to drag all of the accessories out which will be fun as there are a lot of them I seldom use. I suppose I can give a pretty good class.

The cat is being a cat and that's all I have to say for today.



To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html