[ADXA] situation normal…..

[Dennis Schaefer]

I haven’t been heard from much in awhile.  I really hated to miss the
annual meeting but I’m glad it went well and was well attended.  I’ll be at
the next one!

In August, my wife had a stroke, and spent some time in the hospital and
then rehab.  It was a  cycle of good news and bad news and worse news.
Once she got home and settled into a routine, things were much better and
she was improving.   The adrenaline I had been living on didn’t shut off
and I had some anxiety issues even though things had settled down.  To
compound the issue, the seasonal allergies I have every fall were worse
than usual.  Apparently, it happened to a lot of people.   I was short of
breath most of the time, and had trouble sleeping.  I had a sinus
infection, and nothing tasted good (even coffee!) so I didn’t want to eat.
Lack of sleep, oxygen, and nutrients quickly wore me down and I didn’t do
much.  I did manage to read a lot of Louis L’Amour books.

Between the two of us, we got by and took care of necessities but there was
no daily exercise routine and not much radio.  My doctor emphasized that I
needed to eat more whether I wanted to or not.   I took a lot of medicine
and drank gallons of tea.

I started feeling better about a week ago as the ragweed season started
winding down.  Now, two hard freeze nights in a row should have killed it
off.  I’m not back to normal, but things are better and I’ve gained back 3
or 4 pounds.

I had removed the radials from my 80 and 160M verticals in preparation for
bush hogging.  That was done yesterday, but I made the mistake of arranging
for him to also remove several trees that had died and fallen.  I don’t
know when he will do this - he lets me know the day before.  So - I will
have to be conservative in putting out elevated radials so they won’t get
pulled down by his equipment.  I hooked up one of the guy wire 80M
verticals today with a modified radial system and the SWR was about 4:1
with no real “sweet spot”.    I need to work on that, but that’s OK.

I worked ER4KAA on 30 for a new band counter, and have 9U1RU for new
counters on 30, 12, and 10M.  I need them on 40 and of course 80 and 160.

My Challenge goal for 2025 is 1700.  I have 1679 now but don’t bet against
me making 1700 even though time is getting short!

My issues are minor compared to others, but I just wanted to share this
continuation of my story.

73,
Dennis/RZ
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