Still a Chill

Some of the trees are beginning to bud but it is still pretty chilly here, going down into the 30s.   Oh well, I don't have any warm weather clothing ready anyway.   And I still have my winter weight to lose before I want to show even the littlest bit more body.

At the suggestion of a friend, I read Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Slayer and World War Z last week.   Not my usual reading choices, but kind of fun.  Now I am reading Guns, Germs and Steel.   It's kind of fun to let other people direct my reading list instead of having to find things on my own.   Sort of like taking a class.   A pretty odd class, but still fun.

I went on the air last week (the 40 meter band) with my second attempt at Morse Code.  I was a disaster.   Terrible terrible terrible.  I had a heavy hand and made countless errors.   I was nervous the whole time and can't say I took any joy out of my second attempt at ditty bopping.   And yet I survived, and even had a pitiful little conversation with a polite 82 year old man (who also had a pretty heavy hand, unless he was just mocking me!)   Still, I'm no less nervous than before.   I find myself thinking that I should just give up, but the idea makes me sad.  Learning Morse Code has taken on symbolic meaning for me, although I'm not sure exactly what it represents.   I only know that I have to force myself to do it, but I will be sad if I let myself quit.

Friday I went shooting with a couple of friends, my first time to shoot outdoors.   We shot 9mm and I didn't do well, but did better than I thought I would.   Saturday I took a search and rescue management class.  Then the Grands stayed overnight at my house.   Junk food, DVDs, playing school and building fairy houses.    We had a lot of fun.    But I am exhausted.  Next week I am going to a three-day FEMA seminar that I'm nervous I'll flunk.  But the sky is blue, the sun is shining, and I have nothing to complain about.      I've said it before and I'll say it again:  Life is Good.