Busy weekend coming up

We have a long weekend coming up, as the company where I work (NOT the company for whom I work) observes Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's birthday as a holiday.  I have to use one of my vacation days if I want to receive paid time off.

Even though I have to burn a vacation day, I am grateful for the extra day off as there is a ton of things I want to accomplish this weekend.

1) Tomorrow morning is the monthly VE Session that our club holds. According to Drew W2OU, our VE Liaison, in his last e-mail to the team, he announced that we have only one candidate who pre-registered. We do accept walk-ins, so that could very well increase.

2) I want to get on the air!  Dang it, I haven't had the chance to play radio in too long of a while.  The NAQP CW is this weekend and that's an easy exchange. Of course the weekend I'd like to rag chew, there's a major contest going on - that's always the way.  I suppose if I decide to not get involved with contest exchanges, there's always 30 Meters.

3) Sunday is our monthly day at the soup kitchen, That kind of eats up the whole afternoon.

4) Today, we have a big rain storm here in NJ  and temperatures are in the upper 50s. That should wash away all the snow from last week.  That will allow me to get the outdoor Christmas decorations taken down and stored in the basement.  That looks like a Monday chore. Of course after the storm pulls out, Arctic air will come rushing back in - so Monday will be frosty, but sunny and dry, hopefully.

5) I want to get the personal weather station that I got from Marianne for Christmas up and running!  I plan to use my military surplus masting for the purpose.  I have one piece already anchored in cement in a 5 gallon paint bucket.  I just need to drag that to a suitable place  (it only weighs about 70 pounds) and plop it down.  I think another mast section or two will get the unit to a suitable height for proper performance. This might also be a Monday project.

I cringe, because the line "The best laid plans of mice and men .............." come to mind whenever I make plans. I hope I can get most, if not all of this, done.

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!