A third of the year is now behind us. Wow. First of the month chores on the web site (backups, applying system updates, etc.) were completed last night after spending a few hours outdoors applying weed and feed on the lawn in anticipation of rain that is supposed to arrive overnight and tomorrow. I can’t believe I have mowed the lawn twice before the month of May. I think this is going to be a long, long mowing season and I’m not particularly thrilled about that.

The feed-line has been disconnected for most of the last week due to pop-up thunder, but yesterday I was on the air in the morning and worked Phill, C21TS on Nauru. We’ve worked once before on 17 meters (last summer), but this time it was on 20, and turned out to be the 100th unique entity worked so far in 2025. The rest of the morning was listening to ZS8W on 20 CW though I was never able to crack that pile.

The ARRL notified me that my 12M DXCC certificate is on the way. That will be added to my DXCC: MIXED, CW, DIGITAL, 20M, 15M, AND 10M wallpaper. Collecting all the paper isn’t cheap, but I’m hoping it will help insulate the walls of the shack come this winter!

Today will be another scratch day for radio as the feed-line is again disconnected. Only difference is this time I hope the thunderstorms arrive and bring an inch of rain with them. In addition to the weed & feed routine I did last night, the landscapers just completed a project in my backyard that removed a large chunk of garden and replaced it with newly sown grass that could use the extra moisture.

Happy May Day!