When we returned from the library on Saturday, Christian and I decided to work on our ham radio project. We hauled one of our rectangular plastic tables up to the bonus room so we could spread out all the materials. We have two rectangular tables, a big circular one, and two small circular ones that we got at CostCo in Albany. We use them for projects, get-togethers and that sort of stuff. We actually got them for a potluck we had at our house. We thought they were too expensive at the time, but we are surely glad we got them because we have used them a lot. At any rate, we hauled the table upstairs along with a couple of chairs and organized all the capacitors, resistors, switches, and other radio parts into some little plastic bins we had sitting around. It was pretty amazing, because I think we have all the parts, even after the radio kit sat in the garage for several months. There might be one or two that we will have to order, but that is it.
After everthing was organized, we realized we had neither the right kind of solder nor the right kind of soldering iron. Christian and I hopped into the pickup and ran down to the Radio Shack in Fuquay-Varina where we picked them up. We followed the instructions and inserted all the resistors into the circuit board. We then realized that we did not have wire snips, so we decided to wait to start soldering until we pick them up. I hope Lorena has a chance to do that today. When we could not go any further, I got out the the study book I had purchased to go along with the project. It is titled The Electronics of Radio. It was written as a college freshman level introduction to radio electronics specifically for use with the NorCal 40A radio kit we are assembling. We have decided we will start the book as soon as we finish Explore Evolution in the next couple of days. After that, all of us want to try to get our General Class Radio License. I think it would be fun to learn Morse Code, too, even though that is not required.
Update: When I got in to work today, one of my buddies, David, told me he cooked up a lamb crown roast for Christmas dinner. He said it was absolutely excellent. He said the thing to do is talk to the butcher at the grocery store and get him to order one for the day you want to cook it. He said he would forward me the recipe he used, too. I think that would be an excellent thing for the kids to do for New Years Day dinner. What do you think kids?
Update II: Make sure you do not embarrass yourself by yelling “Happy New Year” too soon. Check this out.
We were just discussing the merits of folding card tables this morning! Funny to read your blog and have it confirmed. Sounds like you all have been keeping busy these past couple weeks. Looking forward to meeting up with you soon!
That is hilarious. We HIGHLY recommend the plastic ones from Costco. If you want to get them there, let us know and we will take you in. They probably have the same kind in other places, but that is the only place we have seen them. They are very well made and fairly cheap.
Sounds like much fun. I enjoy projects like that. Sounds like a science fair project in the making. We have a few airplane enthusiast in the family and in 7th grade Emma built a rubber-band powered wind up airplane with the coaching of an old cousin who has been designing and building airplanes since he was 7 years old. She whittled the propeller and everything. Actually, she built 3 pairs of wings, each longer than the other, and then tested the longer and shorter ones against her middle sized wing which was her control group, to see which would fly the plane the farthest. The wings were removeable. She kept very good notes and data for her experiments and took first place in a science fair. I am just blabbing on.
We buried my step father-in-law today. He has been married to my my husband’s mother just a little while shorter than John and I. He passed last Monday after a very short bout (2 weeks) with cancer. Well, actually, he was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer (do not smoke, kids)that had matastasized all over his body by the time they diagnosed him. We had enough time to say I love you and our good-byes, only a few days really, and then he was gone. His children from his previous marriage took care of all the arrangements. It was a very nice service. John and I are very tired. The girls are off to a Christmas tea party and the boys have their cousin over for the night. I am going to sit and watch the lights on the Christmas tree with my honey. and drink a cup of tea.
Thanks for the wonderful note Ruthie. We are very sorry for your loss. It must be especially hard for your mother-in-law to lose her husband during the holidays. Always feel free to “blab on”. We very much enjoy hearing about your wonderful family, your homeschool projects, and especially the great advise we have received. After reading about Emma, I have decided it would be great to get Christian and Kelly involved in a science fair. It sounds like she would be a great scientist. I work with scientist and many of them do not seem to take the structured, data-driven approach Emma pursued in the science fair.