Miserable morning. I'm sniffling and hacking away. Called Norwood Terrace about Helens phone and getting her room changed. They could only help with the phone. Took a sudafed then went to the Hilton for a 10:30 meeting. The sudafed worked. When I left it was snowing like crazy but only sticking on the grass and trees. When I left the Hilton it was sunny and dry. What a surprise. Dinner was Briyani. I took some Roitussin PM to releive my running nose for sleeping this evening. This cold is terrible stuff.

My cold is not too bad today. Lots of sniffling but I slept well and have some congestion. I hope it doesn't get any worse than this. Will try building the antenna and a walkie talkie cable so I can try the Radio Shack Walkie Talkie as a greenhouse transmitter.
Dinner tonight was pasta from Trader joes.

Ordered the garden cart online from Northern Tool with free delivery to the store. This is the same one in the store but $20 cheaper. Did a grocery run to Krogers then we went out to the greenhouse and put the bird back up as well as the three letters that I took down to replace one board. Libbie touched up the paint on the letters. I was tired after this. Aunt Helen moved to Norwood Terrace today. Received a call from Anna at Watchung Ridge in the evening because Vicki went over there and chewed her out for dumping Aunt Helen into Norwood. Vicki needs to learn to settle down. She gets too hyper. Dinner was leftover ribs, chicken and broccoli.

I carried the pole up the hill which I previously marked and drilled. Put it in the 2 feet deep hole and pounded it in the ground another 8 inches with the sledge hammer. Finished the thing up by installing the racoon guard and snake guard from hardware cloth. This bird house is now ready for tenants. We enjoyed soup on the back porch while watching the Bluebirds claim houses. The microtrak came back amazingly. I hooked it up and tried it but was disappointed by perfromance. I still can't reach the aprs.fi server. I'm giving up on this and will go with the TT4 and a radio of some kind. Dinner was Manicotti that I picked up in Trader Joes. The Trader Joes trip was after going to Northern Tool to get welding rods to build an antenna. I also took a look at garden carts but the they were list price.

After getting up early and picking up a paper at 6:45 I got ready for painting. We went over to the greenhouse around noon and painted the sign front and back. I had to replace a board by ripping one of the sewing room shelfs in the shed. I set up the saw horses at the greenhouse and did the ripping then replaced the board. Painting went well. Returned later in the day to retrieve my rollers and the paint can. I left them in the sun to dry. We had Libbie's wonderful pizza for dinner. It keeps getting better.

I worked on the humidity piece of the one wire functions. The secret was to request the A/D conversions in a pass then come back in subsequent passes to retrieve the voltage values to calc the humidity. This is working quite well. In addition, I'm hitting the apsr.fi server pretty consistently now. Next step is to get the microtrak back and locate this thing over at the greenhouse. I may also try for some weather readins since I have an anenometer and direction indicator. Finished up the toilet in our bathroom. Had to return to Home Depot because the faucet was a compression type instead of a threaded screw on. Got the whole thing functining now with a new wax seal, new shutoff, all new inside the tank parts and new gasket and tank bolts. In the afternoon after the opera we went to Home Depot with the bluebird from the sign and matched paints. We bought Home Depot sample bottles. Also went to Target for Ribs with broccoli and shiraz wine for a very nice evening. Lib is getting better with her cold but I'm starting to get one. Oh well.

Today was AVSA day as well as toilet repair. Spent some time on the phone with Arlene at the new nursing home for Aunt Helen. Arlene approves of the place. I also made up a front page notice for the AVSA website mentioning that the convention deadline is quickly approaching. Did not have much luck with the humidity probe. I'll probably have to break out some of the functions separately. Libbie is sick today, no greenhouse for her. I went to Krogers and picked up a roasted chicken and potato salad. Also bought a mac and cheese for her. She put it on a plate but did not eat it. She said she'll reheat it tomorrow and eat it. I bought the toilet parts for our toilet today. IT's leaking at the wax seal. Thank goodness the plywood underlayment is solid. It did not rot from the water leak.

I went to the greenhouse today and finished up the last outlet conversion. This time it was the Hot Dawg in House 1. All plugs on Romex have been removed. This completes my fire safety repairs. Libbie did not go to the greenhouse. Nancy and Jennifer were there. I walked out with Nancy. She suggested to get Home Depot paint samples for outdoor paint for the Bluebird sign. Good idea. Dinner was New England Clam Chowder and a bean burger.

Libbie watched the ending of the Westminster show this morning instead of WRAL. We switched to GMA at 7. I went to the greenhouse and installed 2 more switches. I only have Hot Dawg 1 left to convert other than the last 2 houses. Tried the packet stuff some more diagnosing what happened. Text mode seems to have stopped. Libbie's cold has gotten much worse.

Worked some more on the packet temperatures. I seem to have lost all ability to send text. Violet group met here at 12:30. Sheila is doing a nice job trying to get control of this group. Jennifer is a pain in the ass - she would rather talk than listen and interrupt with stupid non relevant crap. It was a good meeting none the less. Watched some of the Westminster show tonight before going to bed around 10. Libbie has a bad cough. Dinner tonight was a Trader Joe's frozen chicken dinner over Lima Beans. Very good.

Did not go to the greenhouse today. Instead I worked on convention stuff and also tried some more on the packet software. I now have the humidity reading correctly. Yeah! Unfortunately the temperature probes are not doing their thing. I'm getting "185". Dinner tonight was Briyani.

Put some more time in on the packet system. I now have temperature in the stream. I'm using text mode which puts the headers onto the data simplifying things. Picked up a paper this morning but not many coupons or content. Dinner was Libbie's super pizza.

I got a good day in working on MARS. I built a cable for the radio and TT4 and was able to transmit out to the server in Finland on aprs.fi. Next step is to make the AVR read the temperature probes and put it in the telemetry stream. Listened to La Fille Du Regiment from the Met while doing the RF and computer work. The snow is very light and melting into the warmer afternoon.

Mailed the Microtrak back to VHS in Napa. Went from the Post Office to Home Depot for nails then to the greenhouse where I finished the new bench section. Mounted a pipe to support the flashing under the bench for the Hot Dawg in house 2 to stop hot air from coming up through the bench. ad an accident as the right angle drill hit my cheekbone as it ran away from my hands and locked up in run mode. It hurts. After lunch Libbie and I went to Walmart and bought tray tables. We also got some groceries and milk. At home I assembled the tray table holder as Libbie cleaned the front closet to make room for the tables. She took a load of stuff as well as the old bedframe to Goodwill. Dinner tonight was Curlys pulled pork barbecue, tomato base, on buns with the Broccoli we picked up in Walmart. It's nice broccoli. I worked on the TAVS ad and sent a letter to the MAAVS board to ask for entertainment sponsorship. We're supposed to have 2 to 4 inches of snow tonight. I'll believe it when I see it.

Went over to the greenhouse this morning for electrical work. Nancy and Libbie were busy on Orchids. I replaced the plugs on the shutter and the Modine. Finished it up in time for Libbie to turn the shutters and fan on for a humidity dump. I also worked on replacing a section of 6 foot wide bench but ran out of nails. Will get nails tomorrow. Dinner tonight was Briyani which was very good. This finishes the house 2 wiring. Still have a few outlets in house 1 before I get to the back houses.

Rounded up some tools and went to the greenhouse around 10 today. Libbie isn't feeling well but she's there. I replaced one more shutter plug and the plug on the house 2 overhead Modine. I still have the Fanjet plug in house 2 to replace. This one is tricky since a wall wart plugs into here for the solenoid on the cooling pads water supply. In the PM we went to Trader Joes for some essentials then Ace Hardware for a washer to cover the 3/4 inch hole so I can use a 1/2 inch romex clamp. It's terribly windy today. We returned at 5:30 to check all the plastic to make sure nothing was damaged on the cool cell coverings. I discovered I had inadvertently left the breaker off on the heaters for house 2, 3 and 4. I don't think it effected anything. Dinner was fresh pasta from TJ's with Marinara sauce. I hate winter, It's so cold out.

I went over the greenhouse and installed the guard screen on both sides of the fanjet. I used the new craftsman ratchet set to tighten the bolts. It looks pretty good. Jack came over and watched me drill the fanjet for the bolts and talked to me about the water heater. I took a look at the plumbing and decided the whole thing needs replacement. Libbie took off from PVD on time this morning but her 2:30 out of BWI didn't leave until 3:15. She said the BWI airport closed at 3 in anticipation of the storm. She was one of the last planes out of there. I met her at RDU at 4:20 instead of the 3:35 arrival time. I watched the flight online from home before deciding to head out. It was cold and rainy but she was glad to be home. We went out for dinner to La Cocina since it was Margarita night which is Mondays and Tuesdays. We had the standard Quesadilla and a Margarita.

It was a wonderful day in the neighborhood at Bluebird. Jennifer, Joy, JoAnn and Jack were all there as well as 2 violet customers who were bird people friends of Jennifer. I changed the plugs on 2 more shutters. Put switches in place of plugs but my label maker ran out of label tape. I went back later in the day and cut some wood pieces to start making the guard. I'll probably go back tomorrow and do another shutter then put the screen on. Libbie comes back tomorrow. We're supposed to get rain but further north it will be snow. Whether Libbie gets back on time tomorrow will be interesting. I spent lots of time in eMail conversations with Brenda and Kathy Lahti and also Libbie and a few others. Interesting world we live in. I ordered the connectors today so I could use the amp with the micro trak. I may order another microtrak with onboard radio and an amplifier. I deposited the rent check in the credit union today then used the money to pay the Schwab Visa bill.

Slept a little late today. Got out for the paper but Paul called around 9 wanting violets and dish gardens. I called Lib who called Jennifer. I met Jennifer at the greenhouse. She had a customer and also packed up Paul's order. The greenhouse went down to 54 last night. I inspected the heating and found that Hot Dawg2 FanJet threw the fan belt. Fixed it and also installed the correct relay in Hot Dawg2. While down there I put a switch in the shutter line replacing one plug and also eliminated the extension cord for the inflation in house 1. I also put a cover on the generator relay box. Went to Home Depot and picked up the rest of the box extenders and switch covers to do the rest of the shutters, heaters, fan jets and stuff. Went back to the greenhouse at 5 and verified that everything was working then went home and wrote a series of articles for the MAAVS Memo. Lots to do. Still need to create some ads. Today is the super bowl but I never watch that. I'm not even interested in the commercials. I'll catch them tomorrow on the morning shows.

A little catch up this morning on my blog and life bits. Paid some bills for Helen and analyzed how I can pay Visa. I'm about $500 short but AVSA owes me lots of money. Am going to hook up the APRS in the car to see if I can reach aprs.fi. The car provides a good ground plane I hope.
Not true about the ground plane. Drove the rig to the greenhouse with the antenna on the roof. Could not see my packets on aprs.fi.
The greenhouse was doing great. Hot Dawg 2 was off, the load was being handled by Hot Dawg 1. It was 37 outside which was pretty cold. Left at 11:15 for the opera. Stopped by Northern Tool and got a wheel for my chair. It was the last one left. The opera was fantastic, Simon Boccanagra. Placido and James Morris were very good, the Verdi music carried the opera as usual. It was long, 4 hours worth. Stopped by a very crowded Trader Joe's on the way home to pick up something for dinner. For dinner I microwaved a Trader Joes Canneloni.

This morning I worked on the APRS transmitter. Although it's transmitting, I don't see the packets showing up on aprs.fi. I think the antenna leaves much to be desired. Need to try it in the car with a ground plane. I also have an amp for it but do not have a cable to connect the amp to the radio. I also discovered that Mars hangs up after a while.
Went to the greenhouse and played out in the driving rain, enlarging the ditch at the end of the pipe. The pipe seems to be filled with sludge. We need to do something different. Hooked up LOGE and all seems to be working. Dinner was chicken curry that Libbie left in the fridge this week. It was great.

Went to the greenhouse while Jennifer was there today. Put the hangers on the under the bench tube. Did not have a box extender for the shutter plug which I wanted to deal with today. Came back later in the afternoon and installed a shield on the fanbelt of Fanjet 2 and also a cover on the generator relay box but it's a little bit short. Need to cut an extender. The controller went out via priority mail to Maine this morning. Jennifer packaged it up for me. It cost 7.50 to send it priority. It should get to Maine Saturday or Monday but there's a major snowstorm expected to hit the MidAtlantic this weekend. DC is expected to get 20 to 30 inches of snow. Dinner was fried chicken from Krogers.

A beautiful day. I worked on cutting holes in the controller case them mounted everything inside. It works and looks great. Went to the greenhouse and measured for a shield on the fan belt since the belt is getting worn by the heat blowing on it like it was in house 1. I prepared the letter for an advertising plea for the affiliates. Dinner was fried chicken which I got in Krogers. Not bad taste but not good for you.
I watched the movie precious this afternoon. what an emotional trip!!!1 This was the best movie I have ever seen.

Because the roads may be icy we left at 5:40 for Libbie's 7:30 flight. The temps were above freezing so we did OK on our trip. It started raining later in the morning. Libbie's plane was on time all the way though she didn't call me to tell me this. Went to the greenhouse and met the UPS truck who had the convection tube. Installed the tube and punched the holes. It works much better with the larger tube - I seem to have more airflow. Now I need to rewire the thermostats to get back to the original configuration. Picked up my groceries today.

I was disappointed with my retirement payment. It was short $82 for the increase in healthcare premiums. This is bad news. I worked on the controller some more and got the keyboard working. Apparently I reassigned the keypad I/O. After rewriting the software and getting this working I found a short in the temperature line. Fixed this and it all works. Libbie packed for her trip tomorrow. We made another trip to the greenhouse today. While Libbie was out the Post Office truck came with the AVSA pins. I thought it was Libbie returning but I ended up missing the truck. Ran after it and caught up in the back of Buckingham. Got the pins!!!!