Today’s Run: Rest Day
Christmas. 2010. What to get my husband. I Needed ideas and I needed them fast!
My husband has been an Amateur Radio enthusiast ever since we were in High School together. I remember when he passed his “ham” radio licence test the very first time. That was “back in the day” when you had to know all the book stuff but be able to key “CW” (Morse Code) also. He was so excited that even though we lived across town from each other and he could have just called me, he wrote me a letter telling me all about it. (I still have that letter somewhere. It was the very first letter he ever wrote me.) He has always wanted a tower with antennas on the top for his ham radio hobby. Seeing as we now had property consisting of two acres, I thought that this was a golden opportunity go get him his tower. On the sly, I casually asked him, “Just how much would it take to put up your tower?” “A couple hundred I suppose.” This was in October. Surely by December (Christmas) I could get a couple hundred dollars rounded up. I thought about how to do it and came up with what I thought was a brilliant plan. Our family members NEVER know what to get my husband for Christmas. He is one of those guys that has everything. I called people and asked if they had bought for my husband yet. To a person they said that they had no idea what to get him. I suggested pooling our money for his tower! They loved it!!! So, Christmas morning 2010 my husband opened up his “Tower” the funds he needed to put up the tower. By May of 2011 it was complete and he has been using ever since. It is a 60′ tower with three(?) different antennas on it, each serving a different purpose. He has enjoyed it and I am glad~until I mow the yard. Mowing around a 60′ tower, three sets of guy wires, the posts supporting the various wires that lead from the house to the tower, the concrete pads and a lot of other obstacles on our 2 acres of property make me sometimes yearn for the pre-tower days~days when I could make straight pass after straight pass~making nice even lines in the yard…oh well…he really likes his tower and it was the perfect gift. So, now on mowing days you will notice that I have logged two hours riding mower, one hour push mower. The riding mower is just plain old mowing, back and forth, nice straight lines. The push mower is going around our tower components, the wild plum tree thicket, the eight Crepe Myrtles, the five honey bee hives, the chickens and anything else I had been unable to reach with the riding mower. It is always nice to settle back when I am done and feel a sense of accomplishment. Ahhh! The yard looks good!