Let's face it ........ I suck

when it comes to using a straight key. I am so out of practice, that I was embarrassed how my fist sounded on Straight Key Night. I only made two QSOs, and for the second I switched to my Vibroplex Original. Can you imagine that? I sound better on a bug than I do on a straight key! How pathetic is that? 

I've dropped a long way off from my Novice days, which were completed entirely with a Nye Viking straight key.  I suppose given time, I could get my straight key fist sounding reasonably decent again, but if I'm going to go mechanical, I'll stick with my bug. My fist there may not be the best, either, but it's yards better than my straight key fist! 

As far as only two QSOs go on Straight Key Night, I took a break after the second QSO and came upstairs to get some iced tea. While I was in the kitchen, I saw a bright flash and heard a very loud rumble of thunder. I raced back down to the shack to shut down and disconnect the antennas. We had intermittent thunder and lightning for the next couple of hours. New Year's Eve thunder and lightning - wacky weather!

Tomorrow, Friday, we're supposed to get another Arctic blast and we're looking at a possible snow event next Monday into Tuesday. I'll have to make sure the outside Christmas decorations come in this weekend. We've already have had wind gusts exceeding 20 MPH, that have knocked a few things over. It won't be pleasant doing this in sub-freezing temps, but it will have to get done while the ground is not covered with snow.

On another note, that SpaceWeather Live app has been sending me all kinds of alerts. We're experiencing a lot of geomagnetic activity and just a few minutes ago, I received a notification concerning a large trans equatorial coronal hole that is directly facing the Earth. Looks for band conditions to be on the wild side for the next few days.

The QRP Fox hunts resume tonight on 80 Meters and the Foxes are "local" enough that i should be able to work both. For whatever reason, I slept terribly last night, kept waking up every few hours it seemed like. I may be sawing wood tonight by the time the Hunts begin at 9:00 PM local time.

Mom was right when she used to tell me, "Larry, don't get old." I always used to answer, "There's not much I can do about it." But boy howdy, was she ever right!

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!