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[Don Bowen <don.bowen AT earthlink.net>]

I spent from the end of October to the end of February mostly sitting 
around and walking only with crutches after leg surgery to straighten 
the leg.  During that time I played with the radio, spending time on the 
HF and 2M bands.  Before surgery I put some metal in the air.  I also 
started maintaining the local repeater and I am the net control for the 
Sunday night net.  We can be found in the Ozarks on 147.390+, no tone.  
I am an electronics engineer but with little RF experience so more 
things to learn.  I also spent the time and passed my Extra Class 
license plus becoming a VE.

I also spent time designing a house that we hope to build this summer if 
we can get builders to respond.  This is the Ozarks and there is always 
something more interesting to do than work.  We had three that bothered 
to come by and only one has bothered to send a bid.  We were told by the 
bank and others that builders are hungry but we have not seen it.  As 
part of that I was recently given enough Oak to build the stairs and 
some of the trim.  The builder that appears to want the job will more 
than likely get it.  It is a small county, the builder's wife is the 
nurse that prepped me for surgery and his mother in law was our 
grandson's third grade teacher.  His partner is the cousin of the friend 
who is giving me the Oak.

I also caught myself up on technology so researched the world of SBCs 
and thought up some projects but those will have to wait. Arduino, 
PIC-AXE, Raspberry-Pi, BeagleBone, oh my.

One of the more interesting things I looked into was 3D printing, I 
think that is a real game changer in many ways.  Prices are way down, 
some good ones under $1000.  Some are built with parts from the same 
printer.  Want a high capacity magazine?  Someone will have written a 
program for one and you can print all you want.  Why worry if wears out 
quickly because it is PVC, print more.

I have also been to the Bay area three times, Los Angles twice and 
Denver three times, over the last year dealing with family issues. I 
have a very good friend whom I would do anything for who is getting up 
in years and is ailing.  I suspect I will be making a few more trips 
before a final trip in the not too distant future.

Also our almost 3 year old grandson has a very rare form of cancer in 
his eye.  He is responding well to treatment but those treatments 
require my son to make trips to Sloan Kettering in New York.  They think 
there is only one more trip then the treatment will continue in Los Angles.

My sister in law fell and shattered her leg into her knee joint a couple 
of days before I went in for surgery.  She had severe injuries and 
required several surgeries.  She was about two or three weeks behind me 
in recovery and brags that she has one more screw than I do in her leg, 
I am missing a screw.  She was a heavy smoker until just a couple of 
years ago when she was diagnosed with COPD and that was a leading cause 
of the extent of the injury.  My doctor said that smoking is one of the 
worst things you can do for your bones especially if you are female.

Other than that it have been a slow winter and spring is reluctant to 
arrive.

--
Don Bowen           AD0BR
"A man must keep a little back shop where he can be himself without reserve. In 
solitude alone can he know true freedom."
-Michel De Montaigne 1588
http://www.braingarage.com/Dons/Travels/journal/Journal.html