W3GMS Thursday Night Roundtable

On this special Christmas edition of the W3GMS 985 Roundtable, host Greg, W3DIB, takes the helm for an informal, open-mic discussion on the W3GMS 146.985 MHz repeater, bringing together amateur radio operators from across the region and beyond via RF, EchoLink, and AllStar.

The roundtable kicks off with short-time and full-time check-ins, followed by relaxed, conversational mic-passing where stations share holiday greetings, personal stories, and what’s been happening in their shacks and lives. The evening’s discussion starter centers around winter weather preparedness—from snow removal strategies and generator readiness to favorite (and least favorite) parts of winter operating.

As always, the conversation drifts naturally into station projects, CW keys and bugs, Winter Field Day planning, family traditions, nostalgia, and the camaraderie that makes amateur radio special, especially during the holidays. With voices checking in from multiple states, the roundtable highlights the strength of the W3GMS community: friendly, inclusive, and always welcoming to newcomers.

Whether you’re listening live or catching up later, this episode captures the spirit of ham radio—connection, conversation, and community—on a Christmas night well spent on the air.

📡 Thursdays on the W3GMS Parksburg Repeater – 146.985 MHz

🎄 Holiday Edition

🎙️ Open discussion, all stations welcome

What is W3GMS Thursday Night Roundtable?

Every Thursday evening at 8pm the Crew of 146.985 W3GMS/R get together on air to host a weekly informal net with varying hosts and topics

Thank you.

For Tone's Welch, I'll receive. Use 94.8 hertz.

Take a look at the repeater website located at www.w3gmsrepeater.com.

Besides the roundtable, this repeater also hosts the 985 Workbench on Monday evenings at 8 p.m.

The Workbench focuses on answering technical questions as well as exploring topics related to setting up and operating your station.

Next Monday, the 29th, join myself for Monday night's Workbench.

Newcomers are very welcome and encouraged to check in.

If you can't stay long, feel free to call in during the short-time check-ins at the beginning of the roundtable.

Our discussions are informal, passing the mic around in the order in which the stations call in,

so I encourage you to know who checks in right after you.

So you'll be able to turn over the mic to that station when you're finished with your comments.

We usually begin with a question as a discussion starter.

You can answer that if you wish and comment about other subjects as well.

If you have any questions or suggestions about the roundtable, contact Phil, KC3CIB, or Jim, AF3Z.

Both are good on QRZ.com.

Be aware that on occasion the repeater experiences intermod interference.

Please make sure to run maximum power or be prepared to check in digitally through Echolink or All-Star.

We want to hear you.

To be able to use Echolink and All-Star on 985, you need to register with us.

Directions for doing so can be found on the repeater website at W3GMSrepeater.com.

Also, when the intermod is present, before starting your transmission, give a short call.

Something like, am I getting in okay?

Once I confirm that, feel free to then share your longer comments.

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Pause a few seconds before pressing the press-to-talk switch.

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So therefore, if you start speaking too quickly, it can lop off the first syllable or word of what you were saying.

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If you talk for more than three minutes without letting up on your mic button,

the repeater completely shuts down until you release your push-to-talk.

So every two to three minutes, release the mic button for just a moment, and then you can continue like this.

Tonight's question for discussion.

Let's see.

I didn't think of this ahead of time, but it looks like we might have some winter weather coming towards us this weekend.

So what are everybody's plans for dealing with winter weather this year?

Whether it's a snowblower or getting out the old shovel or whatever it is, let us know.

And if you don't want to mention, talk about that, feel free to talk about anything else as well.

So at this time, we will do the short-time check-in list, starting with the digital mode.

So all stations wishing to check in for the short-time list on Echolink or All Star, please call now.

This is W1RC. Good evening, Greg, from Marblehead, Massachusetts.

N4MRW, Matt, in Raleigh, North Carolina.

We will take RF stations. So any RF stations wishing to check in on the short time check-in list, please call now.

Okay, nothing heard. Sounds like it's going to be a short check-in list tonight.

So we'll turn it over to Mr. Mike up in Marblehead, Mass., and then down to Raleigh, North Carolina.

So over to W1RC. This is W3DIV on the Thursday Night Roundtable.

Good evening. This is W1RC from Marblehead, Massachusetts, where we have no such weather forecast in the foreseeable future.

And consequently, I will not comment on plans for implement weather.

We rarely get any bad weather here during the winter.

It's very nice.

Weather here is more like the mid-Atlantic states, not like we would expect up here in the northeast.

10 miles away inland, they're getting snow all over the place, and we get a little rain.

So it's kind of nice living here by the ocean in Marblehead, Mass.

Say good evening to everybody on the net. All the best for the holiday season.

And I'll turn it over to Raleigh, North Carolina.

It was in for MRW and the roundtable from W1RC.

And I won't be around too much because we got dinner coming up real soon, and I certainly don't want to miss that.

Well, whenever we do get it, it usually shuts the whole area down, especially any kind of ice because we don't have the equipment.

And unfortunately, whenever it does happen, I have a 50-50 chance I have to be in it.

I have to go to work.

The gated community, a.k.a. jail, never closes.

So, yeah, I usually have to go out in it or at least spend the day or night, depending on how you look at it, at the facility.

But luckily, I do have my own office, so I can hole up in there.

Actually, I was working today.

Someone had to run the show.

Someone had to man the store, so to speak.

So it was an interesting day.

People getting arrested on Christmas Day was, like, well, interesting, let's put it that way.

Other than that, not too much going on.

I'm getting ready to have dinner as well.

Family provision on my side is old SOS, military stuff, which is basically biscuits and gravy with sausage.

So getting ready to have that for dinner and call it a night.

So I'll send it back over to Greg, W3DIB in the group.

Here's N4MRW.

Excellent.

Wonderful comments all around.

Good to hear everybody in there.

It's right good to hear you up there in Marblehead, Mass.

Yeah, we haven't had too bad of weather down here.

We had a little bit of snow.

It's been cooler this year.

Definitely been a lot colder.

We did have a, I think, a five-inch falling the other week.

But then shortly thereafter, within a few days, it got back up to, like, in the 40s and 50s.

And we had rain.

And it went away as fast as it came.

And we had kind of like a dusting, maybe an inch or two on last Friday.

I think it, yeah, I think it was this past Friday that we had some.

So, yeah.

Very good to hear from you guys.

All right.

Let's turn us over to the long-term check-ins.

This will be for the full-time check-in list.

Starting off with Echo Lincoln All-Star.

So, all digital stations, anyone wishing to check in for the round table, please call now.

Digital modes only, please.

Echo A3, VEE Mobile on All-Star.

Whiskey 8, Charlie Romeo Whiskey, CR.

Echo A3, KZG.

Alpha, Foxtrot 3, Zulu.

Whiskey 3, Mike Foxtrot, Bravo.

I thought that was the digital side of it, but maybe I missed the analog RF side, Greg.

So, I hear some folks checking on analogs.

I will follow W3GMS.

Ditto.

I thought that was digital, too.

NA3CW.

Good evening, Greg.

It was, at one point.

This is KC300K.

So good.

We know the routine.

You guys made it easy.

I didn't even have to put out the call for analog stations.

It was like a natural, just where everybody, like a magical moment where everything seems to fall in line.

Like one of those things you see in a movie, and you're like, wow, did that just happen?

No, that's right.

It's a movie.

Perfect.

Let me go through the list again.

I think Mr. Mike and N4MRW both were short times.

I think they were one and done.

But I'll give an opportunity if they want to.

Yeah.

Either W1RC or N4MRW, do you want to be included in the longer, or did you want to just check in and check out?

Let's turn it over first to W1RC.

Yeah, very good, Greg.

Well, you can leave me in as a regular long-term check-in.

But if you call me and I don't return, that means that I'm feasting.

So I'm here, but I'm not.

Over.

Perfect.

And then N4MRW, were you one and done, or did you want to be included as well?

I'll be one and done, but I'll be on the side listening.

I'll be having dinner here shortly, and going to bed here soon after since I've got shift in the morning.

Perfect.

All right.

Well, then, we will say 7-3.

All right.

I put you on there, Mr. Mike, at the end.

And so far, we have WA3VEE Mobile, Ron.

We have WACRWCR.

We have W3KZG, Scott.

We have AF3Z, Jim.

W3MFB, Mike.

W3GMS, Joe.

I almost said the old call.

NA3CW, Chuck.

KC3OOK, Bill.

Are there any other stations that would like to check in?

Please call now.

Alpha Alpha 3 Lima Hotel

Alright we got Leon at the back of the bus

Perfect

I'll repeat the question in case anybody didn't hear it already

It's probably a question everybody is already sick of

Because of the little bit of snow we've already had

But what's everybody's plans for the inclement weather

And how to deal with it

Or what's your favorite part of it

Is there something you enjoy

Maybe it's skiing

Maybe it's going out and snowshoeing

Maybe it's not shoveling

I don't know

We'll turn it over to Ron

WA3VE Mobile

This is W3DIB Thursday Night Roundtable

W3DIB and the Thursday Night Christmas Edition 2025

Of the 985 Roundtable

All very good

This is going to be one and done for me as well

Even though I'm on the long term

I'll be listening

But I'll be RF and All-Star

So not sure if I'll be between the two modes

In the next turn

So anyway hope everybody had a good Christmas

And it was very peaceful and quiet

Deb is still recovering from a COVID bout

She was diagnosed with almost now a week and a half ago

So she should be back online tomorrow

Hopefully in time to have folks over over the weekend

Depending on the weather

So the question

I intend to be home for the weekend

So no plans to really go anywhere

I'll be working in the station

And also on the lab batch

And I will be thoroughly enjoying that

Being in a nice warm shack and lab pretty much

And hopefully a little bit of wood shop

So those are my plans for the nasty weather

And we've got a Smokin' Joe, Smokin' Jack

Two cycle snow blower

That's one to two inches

Doubt if I even need it

But the object is to try to get out there

As soon as the snow stops

Hopefully

To catch it before it actually starts to ice over

It's going to be a tricky proposition

So temperature is going to be the key thing here

For sure

Anyway folks

Again I want to wish everybody a Merry Christmas

For what's left of it

And we'll turn it over to CR

And I will be listening here Greg

But put me down for one and done

We'll say 7-3

Very good, Ron and Greg.

Thanks for taking the chair tonight.

Well, I looked at the weather this morning when I first got up,

and the forecast at that time, the heavy snow band was north of here,

up in northern New Jersey and New York City area, and I hope it stays there.

And if it doesn't, well, if it comes down this way, you know I want it to go to Urselton.

It'd miss me altogether.

But if it happens, I'll be snowplow mobile for about 15 or 20 minutes,

clean up the driveway, come back in where it's nice and warm.

Scott, your turn.

KC3, oh boy.

Scott, your turn.

Thanks, C.R.

W3KZG.

Thanks for doing the roundtable tonight, Greg.

It's good to hear you.

And I hope everybody had a good Christmas and a good meal and all that good stuff.

Mine was fine.

All is well, back home, ready to relax.

For snow, I don't really do much for it.

Shovel off the deck and shovel a walkway to my car and then usually drive away,

but I don't have anywhere to be for the next few days.

I am going to try to go to Quarryville tomorrow around lunchtime to see my grandfather.

So we'll see what that brings out.

Hopefully, I think I saw a coating to an inch.

So that ain't going to stop me.

My grandfather is 92 years old.

I want to go out there and take him.

He wanted a big cheesesteak, so I told him I'd bring him one.

And I guess if I make it to 92 years old, I'd want a big cheesesteak, too.

So I'm not going to disappoint him.

Jim, goes over to you.

I have three Zed.

This is W3KZ, Jay.

Thank you, Scott.

And, yeah, good to be here.

And, Greg, thank you very much for hosting.

And even being on the ball that you were doing it on Monday, too, I hadn't seen that yet.

If I'm in my normal mode, I will send you a reminder, too, but it doesn't sound like you need it.

And, anyway, good to have you on here tonight.

And also, Greg, Sunday my kids and significant grandkids and stuff are going to be going to Longwood.

So I'll be down your way.

It's supposed to be kind of rainy, so we'll see what happens with that.

Last time I was there, it was in the 20s, a few Monday nights ago.

It was really cold, so this time it will be a little warmer and damper, more damp.

So, anyway, that's that.

And, like Ron, right now, this week has been kind of nice for me.

My week's gotten quite busy lately.

But this week, except for my dishwashing on Tuesday morning and then today getting together with family,

my schedule has been nice and blank.

I shouldn't say that out loud.

So, yeah, I'm just going to hunker down with whatever weather we get.

And if it gets too white on the driveway, I'll scrape it off.

But last I heard, it wasn't going to be too much, but I haven't heard since last night sometime.

And I generally like the snow, and I don't get worried about it or anything generally.

And when I'm doing the dishwashing, I drive through at the Lancaster and no big deal.

So, anyway, there you go.

And last night, my son and I got together for dinner.

We've done that a couple years on Christmas Eve, and then he'll go with me to church for, like, 10 o'clock in the evening service.

And so we had it all lined up.

And as in other years, I was driving down to his house, and we were going to get pizza,

and he was picking up pizza on the way home from work.

Real fancy dinner.

And I was probably about three to five minutes from his house out of about 20 to 30 that it takes to get there.

And I got a call from him, and he asked me, strangely, are you at home?

And I said, are you at home?

I'm almost at your house.

And it turns out he drove to my house, and I drove to his house.

We hadn't communicated too well.

So then I turned around and came up here, and we did meet here for our pizza and stuff.

But that was funny.

Today, my grandkids got a little driveway-sized pickleball net,

and the ball and paddles, or whatever they call it, pickleball.

So for the first time in my life, I whacked a pickleball around a little bit.

And also, oh, I really got to tell you this one.

Last time we were all together, it wasn't too long ago.

I forget what the occasion was, if there was one.

It might have been Thanksgiving, but I think it was more recent than that.

My grandson's gotten pretty good at chess, and I haven't played chess in years.

And last time, it was like an LCD display, electronic device thing.

So it was just this flat thing with icons on it for the board.

He beat me pretty well in a game or two on that thing.

And I said today, I'll play you, but let's play with real chess pieces.

I like to see the 3D stuff.

You can't confuse a pawn with a king on a normal board.

And the queen is even different than the king.

So today we played, and the first time he claimed not thinking too much.

I said, that's okay.

I still beat you.

And then the second game, second time we played, it was one of those,

you just keep trying to defeat or take the pieces of the other guy.

And it ended up just like two kings, so it was a draw.

So I won one and a half games or whatever today.

He didn't win any.

So that was my big accomplish, beating my 10-year-old grandson.

All righty.

So, Mike, over to you.

And, yes, I thought we did very good at switching from the digital to the analog

at just the right moment.

W3MFB, AF3Z.

W3MFB, AF3Z and the group, W3MFB.

Howdy, howdy.

Merry Christmas, everybody.

Greg, thank you, thank you for hosting.

I was looking forward to it.

And I wanted to be here for that.

And, Jim, thanks for the memories.

I appreciate that about the chess.

My dad and I used to play chess all the time.

Not really professional, like Match Point or something like that, you know, with the letters

and the numbers on the board.

But we would play, and we had our little strategies, and he would be teaching me.

Ever since I was a little boy, I would play with him and his friends and whatnot.

Dad would always grab the pawn, you know, the two colored pawns, and he would take two, one in each hand,

and put them behind his back, switch them around a little bit, and then he would say,

pick, you know, pull his hands out in front of the board and say pick.

Whatever color I picked would be the, I would, I would have.

And then, then we would say who would go first.

That's basically why we did it.

Usually in the game, white always goes first for some reason, or the lighter shade goes

first.

But we did it that way to see who would go first.

And we always played.

So the last time I played chess with him, I think, the last time I remember vividly

anyway, is when I was getting allergy tested, skin tested for my allergies when I was 33

years old.

Past the time, why'd you get pricked?

You get a serum put on you and you get all this marker all over your arms or your back when

you're younger.

When you're an adult, you get them on your arms sometimes.

And they mark it with little spots and say what allergen they're going to put where.

And then they, they put the serum down on your arm and then prick you to bleed.

measure with a dial caliber or sorts.

How many millimeters wide the bump or rash is.

Anyway, during the past the time, Dad and I were playing chess during that whole time.

So that was the last memory.

So Jim, thank you.

Sorry.

Hey, it's Christmas.

I'm allowed to think about that.

But yeah, I had a good time this weekend.

This weekend we had Amanda made our Italian wedding soup last night.

We had a big pot rolling.

Actually we had two pots rolling on the stove.

So the house was like Florida inside.

It must have been like, I don't know, 60, 70% humidity.

Because the two lobster pots were going.

We made our Italian wedding soup.

We brought that up to Mom's last night.

And had soup and cookies.

Amanda and her made cookies.

Monday, I believe.

Yeah, Monday they made cookies.

Christmas cookies.

My dad's mom, Grandma Byer, she had a cookie that she used to make.

It's a shortbread.

And you push the dough into a spoon to make the shape, you know.

Like a teaspoon.

So you make two halves and in the middle goes jelly.

So they made them this year with some powdered sugar on the top.

So they were tasty.

Haven't had those in about a quarter century probably.

So that was fun.

A lot of nostalgia this year for Christmas.

And spent time with Mom and Jenny and Amanda at Mom's house for dinner.

And it was a good day, for sure.

From our sponsor, W3MFD.

Sorry for the long-winded old turkey buzzer here.

But, yes, no, yeah, you know, Greg, you're right.

The last time, I think down here in Cowan we had about seven and a half inches, give or take.

And it was wet on the bottom.

I remember one of the boys here, I don't know if it was John KFT, he was saying it was wet on the bottom.

And it was pretty, it wasn't heavy.

But when they ply you in, you know, it gets kind of heavy.

And you just kind of wait for it.

I just shovel.

I have one of those back saver shovels.

And if I can get away with pushing it, then I just push and I take my time.

I literally take my sweet time.

Not in a hurry.

Make sure I bundle up.

But you end up taking your top coat off anyway.

Usually you have a wool sweater underneath.

And a t-shirt underneath that so I can vent myself a little bit.

But wool, when it gets wet, you still stay warm.

Which is, which wouldn't happen if you were wearing cotton or acrylic or something of that nature.

So wool is your way to go.

But yeah, just shovel and take the time and be careful.

And, you know, just maybe someday I'll get a snowblower.

But not right now.

As long as I can do it, I'll do it.

Even if it's two feet deep, you know, just take your time.

Bring your cup of tea and you'll be fine.

Yeah, yeah, that's about it for me.

So I'll pass it over to Joe, W3GMS, in the group, W3MFB.

A little pause and see if any additional stations would like to bring in W3GMS.

And if you are listening, you don't necessarily have to wait until the first round is done before you can break in.

Just insert your call sign and the net control station will log you in.

So there you go.

Well, it's great to hear all the activity on this Christmas Day.

It kind of surprised me.

I didn't think we would have that many people around.

But I've noticed something.

The older you get, the more likely you will be at home.

So, you know, the young kids are seldom home.

But the older you get, being at home kind of feels good, feels right.

And good on your pickleball, Jim.

I've never played that.

I have a couple friends that are pickleball addicts.

One is Chuck W3FJJ down in Newark, Delaware.

He's been playing pickleball forever.

And so anyway, very good.

And everybody's sounding good.

Good to hear North Carolina in there tonight.

Hi, Matt.

Sorry you have to work tomorrow.

But that's what you got to do.

So what you got to do, you do.

Well, we had a nice Christmas morning here.

W3DIB and my daughter, Kim.

No call sign.

Maybe someday.

But no, no, no, no.

I don't think she'll ever get a license.

She sold too much of amateur radio being my daughter, growing up in an amateur radio home.

But anyway, Martha and I had them over for breakfast and then some socializing thereafter.

And we had a great time with them.

And after that, we're just kind of putzing around the house a little bit, doing a little this and that.

Martha's cat sitting for a friend that's out of the area right now.

So she was away for a while doing that, which is always a pleasure.

She always likes that sort of stuff.

And I knew my Christmas gift this year was going to be the Begali bug.

I had the Begali straight key.

She gave me that last Christmas.

And she knew I wanted the bug.

So she got me the bug.

And I guess next year will be the key or paddles.

But I'll tell you, I was just playing.

We just opened our gifts a short time ago.

And I was playing around with it.

And it's just a beautifully machined instrument.

That's what you call a Begali.

It's an instrument.

It's not a hunk of hardware.

It's an instrument.

And I'll be glad to get a cable attached to it.

Get the spacing and the speed and everything set up as I like it and use it.

I plan on bringing it to Winterfield Day along with the Begali straight key.

And I'll have my regular Bencher iambic keyer paddles.

So that's going to be good.

Let's see.

What else?

I'm not going to keep it too long because we have a big group.

But on, on, excellent, excellent day.

So over to you, Chuck.

NA3CW.

W3GMS.

And I will be here for round two.

Leave it a little pause.

W3GMS in the group.

NA3CW.

Wow.

Merry Christmas to all.

We had a quiet day here in Lake Wobegon, our hometown.

We're on Parksburg, actually.

Just had our son over.

He was visiting down from Connecticut.

He's going to be visiting a bunch of other people while he's down.

But he came here for dinner this afternoon.

He visited this evening and just left at 8 o'clock.

And daughter and family have been here a couple of weeks ago because, as we heard, N4MRW is working.

So the gated community never closes.

So we're just kind of puttering around.

Good day.

Good day to putter.

No tech support calls.

And nothing demanding.

So snow.

The four-letter S word.

Last time we had snow, seven inches, I was not prepared, which just killed me.

I didn't have the tractor ready.

It still had the mower on it, mower deck.

So we got seven inches of snow.

I thought, this is going to be fun even getting the thing out of the shed and across the yard and out to the driveway.

So instead of doing it in the comfort of the garage, which is about 55 degrees, to put on the, to change the oil, do various lubrications and repairs, put on the wheel weights and chains, put on the snow blower, put on the cap.

I had to do a quickie, put on the wheel weights, chains, and blower, and get out there and get rid of that snow.

So yesterday was my prepare the tractor properly day.

So I did bring it into the garage and changed the oil and did lubrication of various things and repaired a broken spring on the blower so it will actually stop moving when I disengage it.

And put the cab on and tie-wrapped the left-right control for the motorized snow chute and put it back in the garage.

So it's ready.

And I went and bought 10 gallons of ethanol-free gas.

I have buckets of ice melt.

I have two kinds of shovels.

So, Lord willing, I am ready for snow.

So what we're going to get tomorrow would just be slop, which, of course, the tractor is not involved in, but we shall survive.

We're going over to Patty's mom's in the morning, hopefully getting back home before any untoward weather happens.

Our house is a bi-level, and the main living level is a second floor.

So to get into our house proper, you have to go upstairs, which means that no longer can we have Patty's mom over,

or my sisters.

Anybody that doesn't climb stairs can't visit me on the second floor.

So we either have to take them to the ham shack or go to them.

So that's what our choice is.

So we'll be going to her.

So nothing else hot on the presses, and that's probably a good thing.

Over to beautiful Oxford, KC3OOK.

How you doing, Mr. Bell?

This is NA3CW.

NA3CW, KC3OOK.

I'm doing great tonight, Chuck.

And Greg, thanks for taking the chair tonight.

It's good to hear everybody on here on this Christmas evening.

And the question, I'm pretty much as prepared as I'm going to be most of the time.

After a number of years on the farm, here at the house, it's pretty simple.

It's not a lot of strain, even when we have bad weather.

So I hoped to plow on the truck yesterday.

And now we just sit back and wait.

Last night, it did say three to five inches of snow for here in Oxford.

And this morning, it said a one-inch mix of snow and less than one-inch mix of snow and rain.

So I don't care if I hook it up ten times and don't have to use the plow this winter.

That's all good.

So that's about it here for the plans.

Had a very quiet Christmas day here.

Candy worked on Christmas.

She works at a nursing home.

And they alternate.

She had Thanksgiving off this year, so she works Christmas.

And so it was a real quiet day here just out in the shop.

However, it all changes tomorrow when one of her daughters and three granddaughters come for three days.

So peace and quiet will end sometime tomorrow.

So that's it for here.

I think I was called away.

I'm trying to get the fire started out here.

So I think Leon was the next.

I think I was going to go to the fire.

Okay.

Well, thank you, Bill.

KC-3-O-K.

This is AA-3-L-H.

Well, talk about this weather.

You know, when I was younger, you know, sledding.

We got this toboggan.

So I would like to say it like this.

Way up north where the air gets cold, there's a tale about a turkey that you've all been told.

Got a real famous turkey, all dressed up in red.

He spends a whole year working out on the sled.

Yeah.

You know, there was a time when you go ahead and take a sled and wax the bottom of it.

Pop up.

Warnish it and wax the bottom of it.

Because we live on top of this hill.

And you can fly off that hill.

Then when the kids all got older, then we went and tied it behind our jeep.

And, you know, you told people behind the jeep going out the road, people, you know, if it's how it is, you know, it should have a courtesy heater on it.

But on the icy roads, we go out with that sleigh out in the road.

And that, yeah, that was all right.

But that's the yesteryear.

The sleigh still sets in our basement.

That we don't use that anymore.

We have, as somebody said, gotten older.

But if we're going to get snow, there's a place called Urselton.

If they got 15 inches there, that would be all right with me.

We only got one inch or less.

That would suit me fine.

And snow isn't fun like it used to be.

I do not enjoy snow anymore like I did.

And I don't want snow on winter field day.

I want to have nice, nice dry way, real nice.

And it can be cold.

We can handle the cold.

Because there's fire and there's heat involved.

And there's this and that.

You know, it's okay to have cold.

But we have snow stuff.

That S-word, that four-letter bad swear word, is just not acceptable with me anymore.

All right.

Yes, I believe I heard that the curtain is on.

The W1RC out there might be out there.

We're going to try him.

If not, it goes back to Greg.

And thanks for picking me up, Greg.

All right.

W1RC, AA3LH.

Back to Greg.

AA3LH.

All right.

I think Mr. Mike is probably, I think he said he was moving on to dinner.

So, all righty.

Thanks, Leon.

Let's see here.

I'll do a couple quick comments on everything.

Excellent.

Let's see.

Ron, if you're still listening.

Yeah.

I hear you.

Snowblowers are great.

And definitely enjoy some warm time in the shack and the lab.

Kind of feel like winter is good for that, for doing things around the house inside that you need to get done.

Just kind of those things that when you're outside and out and about during the warmer months and the spring and the summer,

that don't always get done.

So, it's kind of nice to have those times in the, I don't know, to tend to things that you don't usually get to.

Let's see.

I have other notes here.

Oh, Scott.

That's awesome.

Just here you got your 92-year-old grandfather.

Definitely bring him a giant cheesesteak.

I don't know where you're going to go to get it, but there's definitely lots of places that have good cheesesteaks all around Pennsylvania.

Whether you're in the city or even out here where we are.

Not in the city.

Not in Philadelphia.

Let's see.

Jim.

Yeah, sounds like you've got some, had some fun.

Had a good holiday, a good Christmas with the grandkids and pickleball.

I have somebody that's been trying to get me into pickleball for a while and I've got to just go try it sometime.

And congrats on the 1.5 games of chess.

And yeah, Sunday if you're at Longwood.

And yeah, I don't know what time you're planning on coming through.

But if I'm around, they can make my way up there and come see us.

If you want to send me an email or I'll send you my phone number, you can send me a text message through email.

Yeah, I was out on Monday when it was in the 20s.

I was running around Kennet.

And the temperatures dropped.

I feel like it wasn't, it didn't start out that cold.

But boy, did it get that cold.

And I remember by the end, I didn't wear a big heavy winter sweatshirt.

I just went out with a thermal shirt and like a t-shirt on over top.

I remember by the end, I was like, I'm getting cold.

And I shouldn't be because I'm actually moving, working out, and running.

And then I looked and I saw, oh, the temperature dropped.

It dropped significantly.

Let's see.

Mike, MFB, you said you mentioned playing chess a lot with your dad.

And boy, that allergy skin test does not sound fun.

I had allergy tests.

They weren't quite as intense as that one.

They did stuff with the surface of my skin.

And then I had other testing done on my blood just recently.

And I found out that different foods that I'm sensitive to that I've had to cut out.

Yeah.

And definitely we enjoyed a good visit with W3GMS today.

And had a great breakfast as usual.

And it was excellent.

We had a great time.

And let's see.

Yeah, the Bengali key.

That'll be cool to see at Winter Field Day.

I'll be excited.

Speaking of Winter Field Day, I know Joe would like to see snow.

But, yeah, I'm on the no snow camp.

I'd rather not have to shovel off paths to the equipment or get the generators clear, snow, or deal with all that fun stuff.

It can be cold.

Like you said, Leon.

It can be cold.

It can be freezing cold.

But as long as we have a good heater inside of one of the trailers, we'll be able to keep Bob and 2HM happy in a nice tropical internal environment inside the StarCraft or one of the trailers.

Chuck, I love how you phrased it.

You said the gated community doesn't close.

That's funny.

And, yeah, I hear it.

Seven inches of snow and having to work on the tractor in a freezing cold cramped shed.

That had to be tough.

So, yeah, it sounds like you're real prepared.

And you got everything going well this time.

And if you ever have done, you repaired the spring that stops the auger from spinning when disengaged.

So, I take copious notes here.

When I have a keyboard going, it's easy to do so.

Let's see.

Bill, yeah, enjoy your solace today.

I guess you said tomorrow it'll be your silence will end.

But enjoy the company.

Have a great time.

And, yeah, everybody that celebrates, happy holidays to everyone and Merry Christmas, whatever you celebrate to everybody.

And it was a good year this year for the holiday, definitely.

Let's see.

Are there any other stations that would like to check in for the tail end of round one before round two of the round table?

Please call now.

All right.

I think we have our round table for this evening.

If anybody does want to jump in, though, feel free, as Joe said, W3GMS, to just jump in at some point.

Give out your call.

And we will add you to the list and get you in the rotation.

So, with that, I think Ron said he was going to be one and done.

He said 73.

But you know what?

I will throw it back out to him.

And if he doesn't pick up CR, feel free to pick it up after him.

So, over to WA3VEE.

This is W3DIV on the Thursday night 985 round table.

Yeah, very good, Greg.

This is WA3VEE.

And I hope you and Kim especially, I forgot to mention, and I failed to say this the first time around,

but I hope you and Kim had a very nice Christmas there as well down at Longwood.

And I know you had a good time up at Joe and Martha's.

So, all very good.

Yeah, I am back in the car here.

I'm still an all-star.

I have the node here.

And finished with cat duty on this particular tour.

So, that's all very good.

Always very enjoyable for me.

It's very restful coming up here.

Chris's place is like dead quiet.

You can really almost hear your heartbeat.

So, it's a very, very restful thing up here.

And it's also a very nice ride and a very nice neighborhood.

So, that's all very good.

We're all ducked out with luminaria there last night as well.

And the traditional luminaria on Christmas Eve to light the path, basically.

So, all very good.

Not much else to offer here, Greg.

Good question, of course.

And, yeah, we'll just see what the weather is.

Just so varied with regard to the amounts.

Bill talking about three to five inches and one to two and the dusting.

And usually, we'll just have to wait and see, I guess.

So, with that, I'm going to turn it over to CR.

I will say 7.3 for sure this time because I will be going QRT once I get to the house.

I'm going to turn it over to the house.

So, CR, it's your turn.

And, again, I hope everybody enjoys the rest of the holiday and stay safe with the snow.

WHCRW and the group to take it.

WA3.

VEE Mobile and All Star.

Very good, Ron.

Well, I'm looking at the forecast right now as we speak.

And it says chance of precipitation 80%, snow and ice less than one inch.

So, I hope it's worse than that where we get zero.

But that's my take on it.

And W3KZG, I remembered this time.

Scott, your turn.

W3KZG.

8, CRW, W3KZG.

I know.

I get some tongue twisted on calls sometimes, too.

Especially when they're six digits long and they change.

So, not a big deal.

But, yep, that's pretty much all I had to add tonight.

So, I'll send it back over to Jim, AF3Z.

Everybody have a great weekend.

And if you're celebrating Christmas tomorrow, that as well.

So, 7-3, I'll make this my final.

W3KZG.

Over to you, Jim.

Alright.

Thank you, Scott.

And, Ron, when you were talking about the cat duty there.

One of the fun things for me today was spending some quality time with my grand dog, Black Lab.

Kona is her name.

K-O-N-A.

But now that I am dogless, I enjoy those times of visiting with grand dogs and stuff like that.

And she's a good one.

A couple notes here.

I actually took notes.

I forget who was mentioning cookie types.

But one of my favorites goes back to my father's mother.

My grandmother would make us a batch of apricot-filled cookies.

And you would get, like, a shirt box full of them.

You know, that was one of the standard cookie boxes of the day.

But they were very good.

And some other people have tried to make them for me over the years.

My wife did pretty well toward the end of her cookie baking.

But anyway, that was one of my favorites.

It was grandma's apricot-filled cookies.

And Joe and the Begali bug.

I would love to get my hands on that sometime as far as trying it.

I've often wondered.

And I've never tried any Begali keys, straight keys or anything.

But I'm sure they're made well.

I'd be curious what it feels like.

I've got a Vibroplex original.

I have it hooked up in parallel here with the straight keys.

So I can just switch back and forth at will.

But I was in on the straight keys Century Club's two-hour sprint on Tuesday evening.

And the one guy, K3WW, he said New Jersey, but he was from Pennsylvania.

Maybe he was just over there visiting or something.

I don't know if he's moved.

But he's a contester type person.

He was zipping along pretty good, so I used the bug.

But the bug and my brain were not on the same wavelength.

And I was kind of spastic on the bug.

But yeah, I'd love to feel what a good bug is like.

And on the snow, yeah, CR, the same thing you said.

I checked the forecast up here for Lancaster, and it was snow and ice less than an inch accumulation.

So that's not too bad.

And yesterday, it was up around 40 degrees or so.

In the afternoon, I went up and played a round of golf.

It probably ended up, instead of being 18 holes, it was probably about 20, 24 or something.

If I hit a real bad drive at the beginning of a hole, I'd try another one, and then I'd play both of those balls.

So some holes.

I even had three different balls going on one hole.

And I was the only person on the whole course.

Even the staff wasn't around.

I called to let them know I was playing, but the clubhouse and everything was closed up, so I had to play to myself.

That was a lot of fun.

And I had to take off a layer because I was starting to sweat while I was playing golf.

So it worked out pretty nicely yesterday.

So that is my list.

And, Mike, back to you one more time.

I saw something, I forget what it was that you had posted on YouTube.

But right now, I forget what it was.

My memory isn't too good.

Keep up the good work there.

W3MFB, AM3Z.

W3MFB.

Yeah, I just yelled down the stairs to Amanda.

She's downstairs.

And I said, Jim just mentioned apricot stuffed cookies.

And no lie, when we were eating Grandma Byers, it was grape jelly in the middle of those.

But we were eating those.

And I was like, yeah.

I said, I've had these with apricot before, and they're good.

And we were talking about apricot preserves and whatnot.

And after, you know, for Christmas dessert with Mom.

And so now Amanda was saying, she's like, oh, does he have the recipe?

So maybe if you have it, I'll have to get it from you.

And if not, then we were going to try it anyway.

But we'll have to wait a little while to get through all the cookies we have right now.

But yeah, no, that's good.

That's good.

Yeah, just going to have a nice, relaxing evening.

I like what Joe said.

You know, he's right.

Remember the last roundtable.

I said I don't really like traveling much anymore on the holidays.

I mean, it's nice to see folks and whatnot.

But yeah, just the up and down the turnpike over the last 30-some-odd years was strenuous on all of us in the car, of course.

In the end, I was the driver, so I didn't really mind too much.

And nothing better than cruising down the Jersey Turnpike in a 2002 Buick LeSabre.

Big boat of a car, V6.

And you're like riding on a cloud.

You hit a bump you don't even know.

And bench seats.

No bucket seats.

It was great.

My dad used to sit in the back on the way up whenever we'd go to Jersey.

And he would sit in the back and read the newspaper.

And my mom was in the front shotgun.

And both of them were giving me directions to whoever's house we were going to,

whether it be in Union City or Clifton or Jersey City or whatnot.

Because they grew up in Jersey City, so they knew it like the back of their hand.

And they were in my direction.

And they were in the back of their car.

In the power oil parking.

I don't really do much of that.

I mean, I can.

It's not that I can't.

It's easier in my little Subaru than it is with that Les Sabres.

But, yeah.

That was never fun.

But, yeah.

That's about it here.

So, I'll be done on this one.

And listening out.

I wish all of you a very Merry Christmas.

Happy New Year.

And it's great to have everybody.

We're very lucky and very blessed to have all our buddies and guys, gals, all our buddies here on 985.

So, thank you, Greg, for hosting again.

Good to hear you.

And so, I'll pass it over to Joe.

I almost said Jim.

Sorry.

Joe, W3GMS.

W3MFD.

They say, what's the old adage?

"Call me anything."

But, what is that about dinner?

There's some adage where, some little cliché.

"Call me anything, but don't call me late for dinner," or something like that.

Very good, Thorndale Mike.

"Good hearing you.

Best to you and Amanda."

And I hope her business is continuing to grow.

And there's a lot of work running a small business.

And I know you're very supportive of that.

So, that's excellent.

Let's see.

So, tomorrow, Lucas.

I think Luke really likes to be called Lucas.

Because in school and everything, his papers I see, they're assigned Lucas.

So, we may have to do a name swap or switch and call Luke Lucas.

Because I think that's what he really prefers.

But anyway, yesterday was a wonderful day.

I told a bunch of you, but Daniel was down from MIT and he was over and we worked in the lab all day.

He restored a 1940 console radio and he had some last minute things to do to it.

So, we had fun for about four or five hours, I guess, in the GMS laboratory.

And then Saturday night, with kind of a tradition with Martha and I, we take Lucas and we take Daniel, Martha and myself, up to the Capitol Grill in King of Prussia.

And that's a real, real fun get together.

Last year was the first year that we did it with Lucas there.

And Daniel and Lucas just had some wonderful, wonderful conversations.

So, we're looking forward to that again Saturday evening.

And then, I didn't expect Lucas to be over here tomorrow, but it turns out his dad can drop him off and pick him up.

Pick him up before the weather gets real bad and we should get a good amount of time working on something.

Probably continuing on the riser.

The riser is like a hasematonic curve.

You know, we think we're done, but we're really not done.

We're so close to being done.

But it's not done until it's done.

So, we're forging ahead on that.

And, let's see, anything else?

I don't think so.

Good hearing everybody comments.

I was like, everybody had a great, great Christmas.

And, Jim, I'll tell you what you need to do.

And, I'll let you know I bought a brand new operating desk for the family room.

So, all the boat anchor stuff and all my AM stuff and the audio stuff has all gone down into the museum.

So, I want to set up the new Kenwood TS-590 that I have SG.

We don't need this for CW, but I have a solid state mercury lux 1500 watt amplifier.

And, a speaker and a microphone and keys.

And, that's all that's going to be upstairs.

So, I'll get rid of all this clutter and these racks and all this stuff.

And, it'll be a very simplistic station.

And, this is going to be the main CW station.

Other than straight key, I'm going to go down to the museum and use my DX60 and the Drake 2B receiver for straight key night.

Looking forward to doing that.

And, Chuck, I hope Bob's on.

He probably will be.

And, last year I didn't even hear him.

I tuned around for him.

But, just so many stations.

And, I don't think I operate at 40.

I just stuck on the low end of 80 meters.

Greg, thank you for sitting in the captain's chair tonight.

It's a noble thing on Christmas.

And, I'm glad it worked out well.

Jim AF3Z was in the sandbox as an alternate if you couldn't do it.

But, great it worked out timing wise.

So, down to Parksburg.

NA3CW.

Good night all.

W3GMS.

Now clear.

Yeah, 73 Joe.

W3GMS.

The group NA3CW.

Well, good to hear everybody's Christmas stories such as they were.

Greg, I'm interested in your allergy study.

I've had the pin cushion test probably three times where they jab this sheet of little sample needles into your arm and then circle anything of interest.

I've had that happen three times over my life and each time it comes up inconclusive.

So, you had, sounds like a different procedure for seeing what your problem is and maybe you could drop me an email and kind of describe it.

what they were looking for, how they found it and where you had it done.

I have, I have a stuffy head, no comments required, but I have a stuffy runny nose 12 months a year, every day of the year, whether anything is in bloom or not.

And so there's obviously something going on that is not terribly obvious.

So I would be very interested in that.

And, I don't think we had any, we're trying to stay far away from Christmas baked goods as best we can.

We made a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting in honor of Josh's visit here.

And we made sure that he left with about 75% of the cake to make sure it got out of the house.

Because we're trying to lose weight and we're making some headway in that regard.

So, one cannot have your cake and not wear it too.

As far as the comment about the gated community, that's what Matt calls it.

The gated community that never closes.

He's had some interesting stories over the years of some people that tried to get out of the gated community only to find themselves just locked at the next level.

It's just locked at the next gate.

The building they're in is, well, shall we say, not easily escapable.

But once in a while somebody tries.

So, I guess that's all from here.

Again, good to hear from everybody.

Hope you have a remainder of your Christmas is a good one.

And over to Bill.

738 everybody.

KC3LOK.

NA3CW.

KC3CW.

KC3LOK.

Well, as I said, it was a quiet day here.

And I spent the day working on the rack cabinet.

I've got the switch panel.

It's all done.

I am going to take the knobs off and paint them.

And Scott was nice enough to give me a 28 inch rack cabinet.

And I took that apart.

I stopped the pins and the rails.

I was able to get it all back together.

And it turned it into a 9 inch rack cabinet.

And it just works perfectly for the size for my power supply.

And that fits in a 9 inch shelf with about a 16 inch on each side to spare.

So, it looks like it was made for it.

So, that's what's going on here.

And we'll see what the weather does.

The weather's going to be what the weather's going to be.

So, with that, I'll be listening out.

But I'll say Merry Christmas and good night to all.

The A8 3LH KC 3 O OK.

Thank you Bill.

Thanks so much.

This is A8 3LH.

I got to get rid of the car flare.

Oh my goodness.

I mean, my snowboard or my sled I guess.

I should say I got to put a 2 meter antenna on it.

A current scene heater.

And a battery and a radio.

We sit back and play radio and enjoy going down the road.

With my wife driving.

My wife won't sit back there.

She thinks that's too dangerous.

But dress up and do that.

With a 2 meter in it.

I could be talking to you guys while we're out sledding.

That's a happy thought.

I don't have a whole lot more to say.

It's just the way it is.

The sled now doesn't get much use.

It wonders why it's there.

I was told I should sell it.

It's too much fun talking about the things that we could do with it.

So we'll just hang on to it.

At this point.

Too much to do.

But that's all we have.

I guess I'll say Merry Christmas again to everybody.

Y'all have a good Christmas.

A good godly Christmas.

Do it today or tomorrow.

Or whichever day you celebrate the birth of Christ.

Have a good Christmas day.

W1RC if you're still alive.

This is AA3OH.

If not it goes back to Greg.

Hey Greg thanks for picking me up.

AA3OH.

I think he fell asleep.

I left an extra long pause for the cause.

I figured if Mr. Mike wanted to come in from Marblehead.

We'd give him a chance.

So good to hear W1RC on here.

I think he fell asleep.

I left an extra long pause for the cause.

I figured if Mr. Mike wanted to come in from Marblehead, we'd give him a chance.

So, good to hear W1RC on here.

And, yeah, everybody had great comments.

Let me go back up here and look through.

Leon always pick you up if I hear you.

Are you kidding?

It's good to hear your voice.

Yeah, I think I hit on all of it.

Yeah, Jim, I've got to try out.

I don't want to find out if I like those apricot-filled cookies because I probably will.

Kim made what we affectionately call the thumbprint cookies with raspberry jam in the center.

Basically, it's kind of like a shortbread cookie.

And you just pressure it.

Make like a little flat ball and then push your thumb into it and then put the raspberry jam in it.

And those came out good this year.

She put me to work with the handheld mixer.

And that's one thing I can do.

I can actually mix together cookie batter or any kind of thing that needs to be mixed.

Because I like standing there running the mixer for a nice long time until it looks nice and consistent.

And then using a little silicon spatula to fold it in if there's any dry flour in the bottom.

And then continue to work it.

Sometimes I probably do it too much and I end up ruining the batter or the cookie dough, whatever we're making.

But this time it came out well.

And yeah, I like the name of the Black Lab, the dog Kona.

I like the Hawaiian coffee, which is also very delicious.

And let's see, Mike, I wrote down some notes on the 2000s Buick LeSabre.

Oh, that's funny.

Because when I was in high school, a friend of mine, his parents had a Buick Skylark.

And the one thing I remember about that car was just, one, how irresponsibly fast my friend in high school would drive it.

I'm surprised we didn't end up flat on the road somewhere.

Thank goodness we didn't.

But yeah, he would drive it.

I will say for a big car, I mean big for the time.

It wasn't like a 1970s Oldsmobile, but it was still big for like a late 90s, early 2000s car.

But man, with that car, it would go.

It was fast.

So I imagine the LeSabre probably had a pretty decent size engine as well and had a little bit of pickup.

And yeah, Joe, I'm going to make note of that.

Lucas, especially at Field Day.

I'm trying to print that into my brain.

Lucas, Lucas.

So to try and remember that.

And I hope you have a wonderful time with Daniel and Lucas up at Capital Grill.

That'll be a good time.

Let's see.

Chuck, I am working on an email to you.

I was typing as I was listening out.

And I'll get you some information.

Basically, long story short, I got the food sensitivity testing when I went to the Lyme literate healthcare professional or doctor that I found on palyme.org.

Which, if anybody ever gets bit by a tick or they're experiencing Lyme-like syndromes, I will.

I'm not going to be a commercial for it.

But palyme.org was a pretty good website.

And they have people that are advocates for getting you to a doctor that's very good about looking into tick-borne illnesses.

And I found one that was pretty good.

Dr. Mulders.

He's in Devon.

Up near Devon.

Near King of Prussia.

So, I will get an email out to you about that.

And, heck, I'll even show you what the results look like.

So, yeah.

I think that's all I've got.

It's good to hear from everybody.

It's good to talk to everybody and be back on.

I've got to be more active on 985.

I know I've been a bit scarce.

But things have definitely been crazy, to say the least, recently between a project at work.

We are in the enthralls the last couple of months of replacing the entire ticketing and membership system for Longwood Gardens.

And it's been, the incumbent system's been running for 15, close to 15 years.

So, it's always fun when you've been building integrations, reports, extracts, just things that go to different places and different systems.

And you have to keep all that stuff working so the guests don't know that you're switching out the system.

But yet, you have to get rid of the old and bring in the new.

And it's fun.

It's definitely keeping us on our toes.

Getting to write a lot of interesting code.

I'm even getting to dust off stuff that I haven't touched in years, like writing what's called Windows Comm C++ programming.

It literally goes back to the 90s.

I remember the first time I saw it was when I was a high school student working at my very first internship job.

And I never, if you had told me I'd be doing it into my 40s, I would have said you're crazy.

But, yeah, things hang on forever.

It's kind of fun to pull it together and make something work.

You see it's a piece of old software and make it work with new software.

And all I'll say is AI and ChatGPT, they can be very handy if you know what to ask it.

I don't trust what it gives me 100%.

And I always double check it.

And I always read what it did and try to understand what it did versus the newer generations of RC.

They'll ask it.

It blows up with an error.

They tell it the error.

It gives them a fix.

They try running that.

That blows up with another error.

They ask it again.

Then it runs.

No problems.

And that's where they stop.

So, anyway, I'll stop.

Let me get off my soapbox.

If there's anybody that would like to get on the tail end of this Thursday night Christmas edition of the 985 Roundtable, please call now.

Kilo Charlie 3 Luma Alpha Victor, Mike, before we count, just at the bottom of the hill.

Merry Christmas, everybody.

We're just hanging out.

Thank you very much.

We're clear.

Well, welcome.

Kilo Charlie 3 Alpha Victor, I believe it was.

And I think he said Merry Christmas.

So, Merry Christmas back to you as well.

And thanks for getting on the list.

We got you on the log here.

I think I had that right.

Is it KC3 Alpha Victor?

Lima Alpha Victor.

L-A-V is bottom of the hill.

Back to you.

Go ahead.

Thank you.

I'm glad I asked.

So, Kilo Charlie 3 Luma Alpha Victor.

Got it that time.

All right.

We got you added to the list.

And I don't know if you wanted to add any further comment or anything.

Sounded like you just wanted to check in.

But I'll give you one more chance.

If you wanted to add anything else, go for it.

Kilo Charlie 3 Luma Alpha Victor, W3DIB on the Thursday night roundtable.

I think we're good.

I just got in here at the tail end.

We've been pretty much catching up with these folks most all day.

Glad to hear everybody's still around.

And, uh, Leon, behave yourself.

I had...

We were bad enough.

Had to buy my old coal this year.

That's all I know.

Thanks again.

We're hanging out.

KC3 LAV.

We're clear.

Excellent.

Well, thanks for joining us.

Thanks for getting in.

All righty.

I will, uh, say the ending preamble.

Ha, ha, ha, ha.

Let's see here.

Thank you to all stations checking into the 985 roundtable.

And a big thank you to Joe W3GMS for the 985 repeater being available for the roundtable.

You're invited to use the repeater often.

That's a great way to show you appreciate the gift of 985 to the amateur radio community.

Finally, we hope to hear you again Monday evening at 8 p.m. during the 985 workbench.

I hope to hear you.

I'll be hosting.

This concludes tonight's roundtable.

Feel free to stick around and keep the conversation going.

Have a great night.

A great weekend.

And a Merry Christmas.

Happy Hanukkah.

And happy holidays.

And, uh, I'll probably talk to you before then.

But if we're not, if you're not on the, uh, workbench, have a happy new year.

This is W3DIB.

Now clear.

Greg, AF3Z.

Go for it, Jim.

Yeah, first of all, talking about old cars.

I did learn to drive in an old 98 around 1967.

The car wasn't a 67.

I, that's when I learned.

But that was a boat.

Um, Sunday, our ticket time reservations, whatever, are for 430, I believe.

And it'll be about seven of us.

Uh, my two grandkids.

Their parents.

Uh, well, maybe.

Yeah, I don't know.

Anyway, about seven of us.

Uh, and, uh, I'm not sure what all we're doing.

There is a good chance of some rain or something going on.

So I don't want to drag you out.

Uh, but, uh, you'd be certainly welcome to stop by or whatever.

But, uh, uh, with the grandkids and all that, their attention spans and all that.

I kind of limited.

But, uh, that's, that's what our plan is.

We're going to meet around, uh, well, around 430 to get in because that's what our ticket time is.

So that's the scoop on that.

Uh, seemed to me there was something else, but I don't know what.

Uh, so back to you, Greg.

Don't want to hold you here.

AF3's it.

No, not at all.

Um, excellent.

430 p.m.

I took notes.

I got it down.

And, uh, yeah, I'll shoot you my phone number if you want to text me when you get here.

And if it's, yeah, I mean, I don't mind walking up.

If we're home and I'm here, um, that's why I have umbrellas by the door.

I, I, since I work here and live here, I, I'm used to walking to work.

And I walk to work in all temperatures, all conditions.

The only thing I try to avoid is lightning.

In this time of year, that doesn't usually happen.

So I'm okay there.

So, yeah, I usually grab an umbrella, walk out the door.

And, you know, I got to say, it's been good to try and, uh, you know, just avoid driving up.

Because, I mean, it's, it's embarrassing to drive up.

It's not that far.

And, I don't know, it's good.

Gets me some extra steps.

Gets me up on my feet first thing in the morning.

It's a good way to wake up, especially when the cold hits you right out the door.

So, yeah, I'm, I will try to catch up with you if I, I think we're home on Sunday.

I'm pretty sure we're home running.

I'm struggling to keep track of my schedule right now.

It's running around 10 different places.

But, yeah, it would be cool.

It would be great to see you.

And, um, I hope you have a wonderful visit.

You know what?

I hope it doesn't rain.

I hope it doesn't rain at all and you get a beautiful visit and enjoy your time at the gardens.

Because it's always pretty.

I gotta remember to go up there because I forget sometimes.

You get caught up in the busy stuff of life.

And, um, there was a, I think it was the pastor at my nephew's church.

He did an analogy where he had kind of a glass jar and he was filling it with different things like, uh, big rocks and then smaller rocks and then sand.

And he basically showed kind of like, you fill it up with big rocks.

It's very hard to get the other stuff in if you let the sand get in first and, you know, the smaller stuff.

Um, basically hinting towards, like, the more important stuff is the finer grain stuff.

And sometimes the less important stuff are the big rocks.

But if you let all the less important stuff, like work and stuff that shouldn't necessarily take 100% priority in life,

it tends to take up all the space in the jar and then there's nothing left for anything else.

And I don't know why, but that really stuck with me.

And I try and keep that in my head when I'm going through things and try to keep track of what's important.

Anyway, sorry, Jim.

I'm keeping you now and I'm rambling.

Anyway, I hope to see you on Sunday, 4.30.

Got it written down.

Uh, AF3Z.

This is W3DIB.

Very good.

I'm trying to think of the guy's name.

That analogy, he wrote books on sort of time management kinds of stuff.

And, uh, he would do it.

He'd put in big rocks first.

And then add, you know, progressively smaller.

And, you know, doing it with a group, he'd say, you know, is this jar full?

Yeah, it's full.

And then you would pour something else in.

And the idea was if you get the big important things in there first, they fit.

But if you fill it with sand first, you're never going to get the big rocks in there.

It's amazing.

Well, I often cook oatmeal in the morning and I'll, you know, have the oatmeal in there.

And, uh, there's an awful lot of space between those flakes of oatmeal.

I use the good old-fashioned rolled oats.

And it's amazing how much liquid goes in because it looks like you've got the thing full.

But, no.

So, yeah, that is a neat analogy.

It really is.

All right.

I don't know.

I might have your, I'll have to look on my phone.

But if you want to zip your phone or your number over to me, I can give you a call.

Uh, I think we're shooting for arriving, you know, like in the parking lot for us or something like that.

Uh, but anyway, that's the scoop.

We will see.

Yeah, last time I was there, the 15th, I think that was a Monday.

And some friends of mine over near King of Pressure, we got together for a meal.

And most of them didn't want to come over to Longwood afterwards.

So, three of us, me and two, one couple, went over afterwards.

And, uh, yeah, it was in the 20s.

I think the high was in the 20s that day.

Uh, that day.

And, uh, I knew I was going to be back there again with my, I have the, you know, garden pass.

So, I get in there semi-frequently.

So, I wasn't worried about what we did.

And this other couple, the, uh, man of the couple seemed to be less resistant to the cold.

Least resistant.

So, we basically, uh, walked outside a little bit and then went through the old conservatory and took it outside.

Oh, no, we just bypassed one place where it was all jammed up.

And then went over to the new building over there or whatever you call that thing.

And then we, uh, headed back over and he was cold enough.

That was it.

But we had a good time.

It was fun.

All right.

Thanks, Greg.

Good to talk to you.

I do appreciate you showing up here tonight and being the host.

That was excellent.

And, uh, I should run into you.

Yeah, that'll still be December, won't it, on Monday.

Uh, that won't be, uh, January yet.

So, I'm still good.

I'll be around Monday night.

That should be.

73, Greg.

Uh, have a good evening there.

AF3's it.

And thank you because I knew I totally mixed it up.

You're absolutely right.

The rocks were the important things, the big things.

And shame on me for forgetting that.

But the, the, uh, the moral of the story did get through of make time for the important stuff.

Thank God that got through.

Sometimes my head's a little thick.

All right.

73, Jim.

And, yeah, I, I feel you.

I'm the same way.

It's like, wait a minute.

Will that be this year?

Uh, yeah, I guess it still is within December.

I'm, I'm there.

I'm there.

73, uh, Merry Christmas to you.

And, uh, hopefully catch you on Sunday.

Uh, W3DIB now clear.

Greg, I looked here.

I assume they're right, but I have a mobile and a home number listed here on my phone.

So, you don't have to send me stuff.

One of them's going to work.

Makes sense.

I already shot it over to you.

So, you can, you can compare and see if it matches the one you have.

Ha, ha, ha.

73.

Uh, W3DIB clear.

Thank you.

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