Thursday, March 17th, 2011
At 4:15AM the temperature was 61.5F under a clear sky and by 8:45AM it was 76.0F under a mostly cloudy sky.
Ron and Jan had tickets to the St. Patrick's Day lunch at the park ball room and could not attend. Ron came over and gave them to Joan. It was a nice gift. Today is Joan's birthday. We returned from the lunch at 12:30PM when the temperature was 83.0F under scattered cloud. The scattered cloud was mostly high cirrus. It was a sunny hot day. Just right for sitting out. The lunch was corned beef and sauer kraut in a bun, cole slaw and potatoe chips. It was excellent. We are not sure what the cake consisted of. Maybe ginger bread or something similar with a whipped cream topping and a few nuts within the cake. I managed to have two cakes. The girl across the table did not want hers. With all the food there is around here no one could loose weight if they tried. One can gain a few pounds just looking at a lot of it.
A W8 station called another station on 14023 kilohertz at 1245PM. This is the first signal we have heard we could easily copy. He gave the other station a 559 report so signals are not that good.
Josie phoned Gram to wish her a happy birthday about 2PM. They had a good chat. Josie is a party girl. When Gram said she had to go because a whole bunch had just showed up to wish her happy birthday Josie said she wished she could be here. She reminded Gram that their birthdays were the same month, March, so they should celebrate together. Maybe next year.
Bonnie made this cake and it was delicious
The wind was so bad we had to reel the awning in and Joan had to hold her balloon so I could get a photo.
This was the gang here to celebrate. Left to right: Bob, Liam the pooch, Joan, Karen, Van, John, Bonnie and Liz. The temperature was 87.0F under mostly cloudy skies. The mostly cloudy was high cirrus that did not block the sun. It was hot. The awning would have done little or nothing had we been able to keep it out so the party did not last as long as it should. There was no shade to be had.
Bonnie, Joan and Liz ready to cut the cake.
The old one ton dually did not throw much shade. Left to right: Van, Bob, Karen, John, Liz, Bonnie and Joan. It was a wonderful surprise for Joan and greatly appreciated. Thank you one and all.
It was not long and the old truck threw a little more shade to sit out in. At 3:15PM the temperature was 86.3F and the mostly cloudy was the high cirrus and did not restrict the amount of sunlight.
An aircraft flew around quite low a good part of the afternoon. I believe it was called an AWACS. I no longer remember what the letters stand for. One of those with the large flat radar dome mounted on top of the fuselage. They are used as air traffic control aircraft in order to control aircraft over a certain area I believe. All the high flying aircraft were leaving very long contrails all day.
Another contest of some description started at 3:15PM on 14023 kilohertz. The stations heard simply transmitted their call sign until answered and then they simply gave a quick signal report and disappeared. By 5:30PM it appeared the station they were working was J79M in the Caribbean; the Dominican Republic. It was rather unusual to learn the call of the station they were trying to work.
When we arrived home from the swimming pool, hot tub and checking the mail box the temperature was 76.0F. This was at 7:40PM and the mostly cloudy was high cirrus. We still had a good view of the stars, moon and aircraft.
At 9PM the temperature was 71.3F under a clear sky. We did not have a movie this evening. Joan spent the evening thanking everyone for their good birthday wishes. It is amazing how many remember her birthday. It was a big surprise and she enjoyed hearing from each and every one. Thanks ever so much. It was a fantastic day.