On the way to Seattle to the 3d Battalion 4th Marines reunion - love to fly, but hate the hassle in today's world. Sunday will drive over (up ?) to Mt Rainier and breath some fresh clear mountain air again, it has been far to long since I have been in the mountains. Only wish I could take my bike and ride some trails in the north west. It will be good to see the guys again and relive many old memories , some good and some painful, at least we tried to make a difference. It is good to be a Marine. Semper Fi

Got rained out at the Sparta Field Day so I came home, put the radio equipment away, and cleaned up. Jeans and new tee shirt ruined from the rain jacket I borrowed, not color fast. Went to the MARA site in the late afternoon and had a good time, made 16 phone contacts. Need to get my CW speed up so I can work more in the mode. Made 3 rides this week even with the weather as hot as it is. Will try to get in 20 miles today and then maybe Yankee tomorrow, see how the knee feels. Rode to Rockford, hot and humid, 31 miles there and back. Should have brought Hammer gel, but the ice cream in Rockford was good - nice way to lose weight.

Chicago on Saturday so I better cut the grass (or hay field) today, only 46 degrees today but at least I won't sweat. Sent the radio to Icom last Monday, $58 to ship, probably will not hear from them for a while - it didn't arrive in Wasington until Friday. Need to get on the bike, but with 55 mile an hour weinds yesterday and cold with rain no rides this weekend. The feed end of my long wire antenna came down so I need to fix it also. Best get to work. 746 Pro and the T81 hand held (it broke also) repaired under warrenty - wonderful

Thursday - discovered that my 764PRO radio must have taken a static discharge last night in the storms. After a phone call to ICOM it is probably something more and should be covered under warranty - I hope. Saturday - Did a couple of hours of trail work at Egypt Valley then rode a lap, need to spend more time on the bike - tired. Today went out a 7:15 for a cold (41 degrees) ride, tired from yesterday but did manage 1:45 and 22 miles. Did a hard big ring up one of the hills on Butterworth. Rode along with some runner friends for a while so the average speed sucks. Oh well, needed to keep the heart rate down today anyway.

Took the cyclocross bike for a ride on Kent trail - only 16.7 miles - after finishing a design. Cool today, about 61 degrees when I started, nice for riding. Going to try and get my fat body back in riding shape so maky by form will come back and can doi the Iceman this fall. Better get in the trails soon. 2:30 checked into the OMISS net, conditions not good today so I didn't make any calls, net control was strong how ever.

13 April 2003 Tower went up day, thanks to Ray, N8LRF for doing the tower climbing and Phil, N8ITY for all his help and advise (not to mention pushing me to get a tower and beam). Except for not having the bolts for the top section, it went up in about an hour and a half. No complients from the neighbors yet. 27 April 2003 Ray, up the tower again, and Phil help me install the Mosley TA-33 jr, on the tower this morning. Only hitch was that the mast clamp was a bit tight (ok a lot) for the 1 1/4 pipe used for the mast. I need to get the pine trimed back a little as the reflector clips about 6 inchs of one branch. The bands are dead so can't tell if it works good or not. 28 April 2003 Listened to the Southern cross net today (14.226.5) hear better than the wire or the vertical. Took nephew Jordan to Cannonsburg for the mountain bike race - sunny and warm. I should have used sunscreen (bad, bad man). 29 April 2003 Worked today (for a change) so just played "lurker" on a couple of nets on 20 meters. May have time tomorrow to tranmitt, I hope.