The Old Folks Home

[getaclue]

A childhood friend of mine is a HAM operator, and has been for many years now. He's the one that started the HAM radio club at the local university. He got a thank you letter from Richard Nixon for helping the White House communicate with Managua, in Nicaragua after they had a big earthquake in 1973, and normal communications were knocked out.

 

[Bunnylady]

Micro, your husband sounds a bit like mine. If he's interested in something, he wants me to be, too. We do have a lot of interests in common, so for the most part, I don't mind at all. The point at which I planted my feet and refused was when he bought the 49'er. For those who don't know, a 49'er is a tiny sailboat with an enormous amount of sail and homicidal tendencies. It takes a lot of skill and cat-like reflexes to sail - and two people. Before he bought it, I told him I was never, ever going to set foot on the thing. I am not quick and agile any more, I get motion sick in a swing, and calling what I do swimming is a joke. For a while, the kids went out with him, but eventually they got tired of the swimming lessons and righting practice. Reluctantly, he admitted what I had known all along - he was overmatched. Eventually he sold it to a young couple who drove here from Texas to pick it up (and got in a final dig about how lucky this guy was that his wife would sail with him). His current boat is a 17 foot Hobie catamaran. He's still in the process of learning how to handle it, but it's fast enough to be thrilling, stable enough to not try to kill you every couple of minutes, and designed to be raced by one person, but with room for more. I just might get on that one.

 

[bruceha2000]

How is retirement?

We are supposed to know that @Wisher1000's joy and happiness means she retired yesterday?? If so, congrats! Now get used to the concept of no set schedule and no idea at all what day of the week it is.

Every try hot water on frozen doors?

As long as you don't close them again when wet. And if talking cars, NEVER throw boiling water on the windows. Better to scrape, scrape, scrape that crack the window.

His current boat is a 17 foot Hobie catamaran. He's still in the process of learning how to handle it, but it's fast enough to be thrilling, stable enough to not try to kill you every couple of minutes, and designed to be raced by one person, but with room for more. I just might get on that one.

Yep, a Hobie catamaran can be sailed nearly flat if one wants to. No requirement to fly a hull and trapeze out to keep it from going over.

 

[microchick]

My thing is that I hate to be ignorant about something DH is interested in. I always like to be able to hold an intelligent conversation with him when he talks about stuff instead of responding with a duh. He does urge me to challenge myself with learning new things and we are so far away from emergency services that having a radio around when our cellphones barely work is probably a good thing and I need to learn to operate it just in case. The information is just so technical that it isn't even funny and his ability to retain it is far superior to my ability when it comes to technical data. My abilities lie more with arts and physical sciences.

Another cold day here again. The whole sum of 10 degrees outside.

 

[microchick]

Happy Retirement @Wisher1000!

You know what the definition of retirement is? 6 Saturdays followed by Sunday.

 

[bruceha2000]

How do you know it is Sunday with all those Saturdays?? I know it is Sunday if DW doesn't go to work. And the day after the day she doesn't go to work is Monday. Except when there are holidays, then I get ALL screwed up!

@microchick I believe they have removed the requirement to learn and key Morse code to get a ham license. That would be the hardest part for most people. And yep, if you are out in the sticks without reliable cell service and might need to contact someone, voice Ham would be a good thing. Of course even if you just learn how to use it I suspect people would be forgiving if you used it in an emergency without a license.

 

[CapricornFarm]

We are supposed to know that @Wisher1000's joy and happiness means she retired yesterday?? If so, congrats! Now get used to the concept of no set schedule and no idea at all what day of the week it is.


As long as you don't close them again when wet. And if talking cars, NEVER throw boiling water on the windows. Better to scrape, scrape, scrape that crack the window.


Yep, a Hobie catamaran can be sailed nearly flat if one wants to. No requirement to fly a hull and trapeze out to keep it from going over.

Vinegar also works on frozen stuff.

 

[chickadoodles]

I bought us a couple of cb radio's a few years ago on ebay one is a hand held with a weather radio and the other I got to put in the RV for trips if we needed it in places where our cell phones would not work.
I had one many years ago when I was caring for my elderly parents and it came in handy when we had bad storms and I had to evacuate my parents when the area flooded and roads were closed. I asked truck drivers which roads were open. They were very helpful!

Dh is looking at boats for the RV trips. He is torn between a 2 seater for fishing or a small pontoon which I want for fishing and a bit of luxury. I would like to have a couple of ice chest's and what ever with us.

 

[Bunnylady]

Yep, a Hobie catamaran can be sailed nearly flat if one wants to. No requirement to fly a hull and trapeze out to keep it from going over.

When Critter and I were in college, his older brother bought a Hobie 16. I had the exquisite pleasure of watching from the shore as they pitchpoled it - in February! Nobody died (not even of hypothermia) and I rode on it several times in the next several years - even out on the ocean. But I am not kidding when I say that you have to have a person on board the 49'er just to keep it from going over - when the sails were up, the slightest hint of a breeze would put it over on its side, even with the sails all the way out, and tied to the dock.

 

[bruceha2000]

I'm a bit clueless here. I know CB was big some years back. Is there much in the way of CB traffic anymore?

I looked at pictures of the 49er. Yep nothing stable about that boat, way over canvased and lacking in ballast. Definitely one for the young, strong and agile.