Memorial Day and the First Days of Summer

My three flags out for Memorial Day.

As I write this, it's a bright sunny morning, and it's 18C out (around 65F or so). It looks like Summer is already here -- the next few days it's supposed to reach 90 degrees F, which is hot for Seattle. Today it is supposed to be in the 70's F.

I decided to put a small flag on my mailbox this holiday.

Two weekends ago was the holiday that kicks off summer here in the U.S.: Memorial Day. Memorial Day is a three day weekend when many Americans go on short vacations.

Others have cookouts where they grill hamburgers or hot dogs. Here in Seattle people either go to the ocean, or they head east to Eastern Washington's drier, desert areas where sunshine is usually guaranteed.

What's a summer holiday without roasted hot dogs? I don't eat them all at once... I put them in the refrigerator and have them during the week. Good protein -- and they taste better than protein powder. :-)

The Memorial Day holiday started during our Civil War in the 1860's, when families of Union soldiers honored the Union dead by visiting their graves and placing flowers and flags on them. They called it Decoration Day.

The sun came out brightly when I took a ride on my bike early Memorial Day.

Years later the holiday became "Memorial Day", and when I was younger it was used to place flowers on the graves of the dead, whether veteran or not. Over the past few years it has become more veteran oriented, and although most Americans do not visit a cemetery during the holiday there are programs on TV and radio about the country's fallen soldiers.

The local river was clear and green the week after Memorial Day. During the weekend there were some brave swimmers -- the water is still a little on the cool side...

Here in Seattle the Memorial Day weekend weather is variable. Sometimes it's sunny, other years it's cloudy. Most Memorial Days are partly sunny at least.

Bright, bright morning sun a few days after Memorial Day, 2016.

FLOWERS OF THE FOREST

This Memorial Day I put out my flags, including some smaller flags on my mailbox and the nearby street sign. During Memorial Day afternoon I did some weed-whacking with my gas powered weed whacker.

I grilled some hot dogs the night before Memorial Day, and I played the tunes "Amazing Grace" and "Flowers Of The Forest" for the neighbors on the bagpipes.

What happens when nylon weed whacker blades hit enough Himalayan blackberry canes: the tips break. Luckily, the blades are easy to replace.

Flowers Of The Forest is probably the most beautiful bagpipe tune out there, and it is generally reserved for military funerals and such special occasions.

When I fired up the 'pipes to play, my chanter reed (the chanter is the pipe with finger-holes, the pipe that actually plays the tune) sputtered and wouldn't sound. I figured it had gotten loose. Instead, it was coated with bagpipe bag seasoning. Bagpipe seasoning is a thick liquid that makes the leather bag pliable, more airtight, and it also has antiseptic qualities. I had 'seasoned' the leather bag with seasoning I made up myself from various ingredients... And I had thought I'd drained it all out of the bag before playing. But I guess not.

A photo of me playing Flowers Of The Forest at a funeral in 2011 for an uncle who was a veteran. I was about 15-20 pounds heavier than I am now.

Luckily I play with a synthetic, plastic chanter reed, so the reed was easily cleaned off and I could go out to the neighbors' and play the tunes. If I had used a traditional cane reed, it would have been wrecked.

A few days after Memorial Day the clouds rolled in for a few days -- typical June weather here in Seattle can be variable. It usually clears up after the 4th of July.

RADIO SHACK POCKET RADIO FIXED -- HOPEFULLY

I seem to get a lot of readers who are MW DXers (Long Distance AM Radio listeners), who read my articles on various radios. As some may be aware, I have a Radio Shack Pocket Radio -- a radio which surprised me in its MW performance. It began to act up a bit, taking a long time to fire up -- the chip that makes it work is a software chip that needs a second to initialise. My radio was taking 15-20 seconds or so. I finally found the problem -- the battery holder was a little loose. Software DSP chips apparently need a steady source of power or they will either take a long, long time to initialise, or they won't initialise at all.

I tightened the battery clasp a bit, and will figure out a way to short it up, either with glue or soldered wire, or perhaps an extra spring added to the negative terminal.

My second Pocket Radio is on the left. Slight difference in the case and logo. I haven't take the back off to see if the insides are any different -- my guess is that they are the same. It works well. The old one still needs the battery clip worked on.

I also bought a second Pocket Radio at one of the few Radio Shack stores still remaining locally -- it was still just $14. It works excellently. It has a few cosmetic changes, but performs the same. I have it as a backup, because I take a Pocket Radio to work, and they store easily in my briefcase.

I haven't been DXing the MW band much -- conditions have been fair to blah this past year. I heard CKDO in Oshawa, Ontario a few nights back. I was tuning around on my Panasonic RF-B45 digital portable radio and there it was, playing oldies, audible underneath a radio station from Oregon (news-talk KGAL, Lebanon). Aside from that new catch, I have been hearing the same 300 stations every night. The RF-B45 is an excellent performer on MW. It was the last Panasonic radio made in Japan, and the last one actually made by Panasonic. There aren't many MW DX'ers who seem to use them.

As I post this, it's a couple weeks after I first put together this blog post.

Right now it's a bit cold out, maybe 7 degrees C. Our weather is supposed to warm up over the next few days, and hopefully so. 

Last night I heard of another tragedy that occurred in Orlando, Florida -- a family was vacationing at Disney World and their 2 year old boy was a victim of an alligator attack. My thoughts and prayers go out to that poor family.

Here's hoping everyone has a better end of June.

CC 6-15-2016