Tonight the bands are terrible.  I got home late from orchestra rehearsal and wanted to try to make a SKED with Jay AJ4AY in AL.  On the way home I had to stop at Steak N Shake for a Frisco melt.  It might be my last one for awhile because lent is upon us and according to Zulu time we are into Fat Tuesday!  I am thinking of eliminating meat from my diet during the time of lent.  That will be super hard to do.  When I sat down at the radio at 9:30 EST I couldn't hear Jay at all.  We will try again tomorrow.  He said he was told the band was dead and it sure seems so.  Oh, there are stations in QSO and some are super strong into my receiver but not many are on the air and all seemed to be deep in conversation.  I messed around a little away from the shack to get ready for bed and then decided to take one last chance.  I am glad I did because I heard AD5VC in Baton Rouge, LA and he was working SKCC for numbers.  Not rag chewing, so I got my chance to call him and I got a 559 RST.  He got a 589.  At the end he wished me a happy Mardi Gras and I told him I will be having king cake in the morning and wished him a good Fat Tuesday.  I need to start sending QSL cards. 

This morning I listened for a few minutes to see how things sounded on 40 meters.  Pretty rotten.  I didn't have a lot of time to listen so I flipped the power and headed off to work.  On the way in I stopped to pick up donuts my friend Jill got this morning for me.  It is Mardi Gras!  I also picked up a coffee and came to work.  The donuts are from a local place in plainfield called Al's Donuts.  Possibly the best donuts I have ever had.  When I got into work the king cake was already there.  It will be a sugar high all day.  Happy Fat Tuesday.  oo to my flying pig QRP friends.