petebrunelli

This summer has been a wild one. The Rhode Island shoreline stayed comfortable and mostly dry while most of Southern New England got walloped with heat and heavy rains in July. That continued into August until the tropical storm carousel started dealing us hurricanes, tropical depressions, and hurricane leftovers. Add in the continues COVID restrictions, and rain-outs on the big holiday weekend, and it was a bit of Groundhog Day from the summer of 2020.

There were few travel opportunities in 2021, but my wife and I made a great road trip to see friends in eastern Michigan, and saw family on the way home. We arrived back in Rhode Island just in time to batten down the hatches before Hurricane Henri made landfall right in our backyard here. We dodged the worst of it with more winds off to the east and more rain off to the west. Still, tree damage, flooding, and 24-48hr power outages were common here. We also cheered the arrival of the big “summer back-breaker” Canadian cold front, which blew out the over-stayed summer funk and replaced it with an Autumn preview. For some reason it also brought a big mosquito hatch with it!

We had the chance to catch up with many friends and family, enjoying the change in the weather along with perfect ocean temperatures and great beachgoing opportunities. Those became priority events in my life. I know that I will have a long winter of ham radio and projects, but the opportunities to enjoy the company of friends is often fleeting. The weekend of September 11-12, 2021 was a great example. Normally I would have been packing my portable VHF contest rig and running my /Rover station in the ARRL September VHF contest. That didn’t happen. My wife and I were able to get together with several friends we haven’t seen in too long, and had three days of good food, good waves, and great company. With everything the past 18 months has deprived us of, it was easy to take a pass on a personal pursuit and enjoy some friends and family. This late-summer weather is a reminder of the long cold season ahead, where there will be great opportunities for radio adventures as well as sitting in my warm shack and exploring the airwaves.

I hope a reader of this post had a great summer (or winter in the southern side of the globe), and is likewise looking ahead to opportunities to come.