I guess there was a football game of some sort yesterday

because when I went it for a quick errand the stores were empty.

I am reasonably assuming it was the Superbowl because it is that time of year. 

Of course everyone and their cousin acts like it is the most important thing in the world but I think it is just a waste of time, effort and money. 

I do have to give the Patriots credit, though. They don't tolerate a whole lot of stupid from their players. If you embarrass the team you're gone.

It is early and in the background there is a DX net on the ham rig and sometimes you can hear Australia and the South Pacific as clear as a bell. It's not a good day for propagation, though.

We've had snow several days now. It's been in dribs and drabs and quite frankly, it just plain sucks. I've blown out the driveway several times just to kind of keep up with it.

Last night it warmed up and gave us a little rain but not enough to really eat a whole lot of snow. We're in kind of a freeze/thaw cycle and that's not a good thing.

For one thing, it creates ice dams on the eaves. They start when the gutters freeze up and things back up. When it thaws the resulting water works its way under the shingles and into the house.

I put ice guard under the shingles when I re-roofed a few years ago to prevent this but I still don't like to deal with ice dams.

I suppose I could find an Avro-Lancaster somewhere and have someone set it up in the Dam Buster configuration and bust the dams. On second thought, maybe 550 pounds of TNT is a little much. Maybe that's not a good idea.

I guess when the weather breaks I'll just put up a couple of heat wires and see what that will do. If I can keep the gutters fro freezing up I should be in pretty good shape. We'll see.

One of the things I hear on the rig as I write is that there is someone yakking away on a nearby frequency and it is bleeding over. It's kind of rude when you think of it. That net has been running for years and its well known. All the other guy has to do is go either up or down a single Khz and he'll not be irritating anyone.

It doesn't happen often but I recall the YLISSB net had to deal with a jerk a while back. There's always one rude person out there and the first thing he'll do is start bellyaching that he has his rights and the frequencies are there for public use.

He's legally right and everyone knows it but there is a thing called manners. The YLs have been there for decades. They are actually a medical service net although these days they're mostly social.

Still, every time there is some kind of disaster the YLs stand by to help where they can. For example, during Katrina the only communication open was ham radio.

The daily net, while social, is actually a drill when you think about it. Arguing with them over the frequency is nothing more than someone being a jerk. People like that deserve to have their coax pinned.

Yesterday I had a chat with a supermarket deli worker and he's pretty pissed off the way the government is headed. We both agree that both parties suck. We also believe that the government is too powerful and ought to be slapped down, and slapped down hard.

It is interesting how many of the younger working people think.   








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