Well since the last edition we have traveled back to colorado… spent a couple weeks in Oklahoma and then back. First up… I guess it has been pretty wet and muddy in Oklahoma… He didn’t have time to clean the car, just a spot for the yearly update tag..
Look close…
Well on the day back we had to leave early , needed to be back in Colorado by 5pm so we hit the road and headed out … wasn’t too bad up to Blackwell and the stop there to visit with Elmore but when we left there it got pretty thick…
It was this or worse all the way till about Russell , Kansas… then POOF it cleared up…
We missed the big storm (so far) they got about 17 inches of snow at the Colorado House a few days before we got back… fortunate the new snowblower worked fine, cleared the drive and the roads were clear so we got in ok…
Out east of the Springs we drive through a big new wind farm… and I had not been around much when they were having to get them ready… but as were passing a few I spot a big blue and white thing hanging from one… I wondered if they used the winch to get up and down so took the picture and found they were lowering tools and stuff… but them were some big bags of stuff…
The picture is a bit decieving in the size of the bags… but they looked big enough to be a basket for workers to ride in but on zoop they were just big tool bags…
And the back door hatch they came out of… again the pictures don’t really show how big things are. but up close that box thing on top could be a rather large garage …
It had been clearing and pretty nice here since we got back this week and they weather guys predicted a smallish storm through yesterday (Friday). We were supposed to get from 1 to 3 inches… well that turned out to be 6 to 9 inches and 30 mph winds… so we had some really nasty stuff here all Day Friday… I went out early and it was not bad then about 8am there were a few flakes… then all out snow then blow then snow… and living on Palmer Ridge we seem to get the worst of things here… just glad I didn’t need to get out… From the reports all the roads through here were blocked. accidents everywhere… guess people don’t slow down… just barrel ahead till they get caught..
20 car pileups on I-25, jackknifed semi on 105 and ? not sure but they said north 83 was blocked as well… We stayed in… but I figured that they would have the roads cleared and I could slip out today and make a winter Ham Fest up in Loveland, Co. and sure enough the streets in the area were horrible but in 3 miles or less I get to I-25 and it was wet but not nasty for about 10 miles then cleared up and by Castle Rock it was clear all the way… and the temps were good up north as well… just to show the differences… leaving the housing area… multiple cars with dents, crashes and way off the roads..
Then south of Castle Rock… the road it clear but the train moving more windmill parts is going south..
I got to Loveland a little before 10am and knew the fest would be over by noon so I had to make the round quick… stopped at several spots to talk to people that I know or needed to know…ha! It was a large gathering for most of the ham deals out here. likely everyone was tired of winter and needed to dump some stuff that had been collecting… dust?
I guess that all the real good stuff sold before I got there… I saw several guys carrying things out as I was headed in… but my review didn’t show much of real value… although on some things the prices seemed pretty good…
For those not into it… it is a Model 15 Teletype machine, the case is behind n the floor and it worked… he turned it on and all the parts worked… I have not need for anything that weights 50 to 100 lbs and makes more noise than the grandsons… I had a model a bit newer than this one back in 1978 and built the demod box to make it work on the radio… got it going once and decided it was way too much trouble… especially when it took two to carry it in and out…
I stuck around for the drawing… although I hadn’t bought any of the tickets…
At these things you an tell when you need to leave…most of the stuff is hauled out and everyone is just waiting to see if they won something…
I got home and since I left early the drive was still covered with the snow from Friday… I used the jeep to get out and back… so I had to pull the snowblower out and clear the drive… not too bad… last year the old one took 3 hours and lots of shoveling and this year the 6 to 9 inches in our drive was moved out in about 1 hour… and no shovels… well a little to clear the edges that you just can’t get that close to with the blower… glad I got up at 4 to get to Home Depot on BlackFriday and picked up that blower for 40% off…
So that has been the past week. nothing new or exciting other than lost of little radio projects, staying in where it is warm. and trying to find some project parts for the next go… mostly I had spent a few days getting some new software going on the radio hotspots and putting a few together and testing… oh and starting to sift through stuff in preparation for tax season…
WD0AJG