Changing My Address

Because Louise and I travel quite a bit, sometimes for extended periods, we have had problems with getting our mail forwarded.  We either had to get the Post Office to do it (which they don't like to do) or we had to beg someone to go get our mail, put it in an envelope, and send it to us.

Just before our last major outing to South Texas in December, our box rent became due at the Post Office and we decided to use that as a reason to make a change.  Our son, Dan, had owned a UPS Store in Sapulpa several years ago and we knew that they rented out private mailboxes.  We went down to the local UPS Store in Sand Springs, paid them a little money, and had a new address!

Part of our logic was that they would forward our mail to us on demand and, in fact, they did this very well.  While we were in South Texas, all I had to do was send them an email and they would gather up all our mail, put it in an envelope, and forward it to us, all for a very nominal charge.  Another part of our decision was that Louise would be in Prattville (Sand Springs) frequently to see the grand kids so it wouldn't be an inconvenience to pick up the mail when we were in town.  This part of the deal is also working quite well.

What I didn't consider was the work required to notify all the people who exchange mail with us that we have a new address!  I have spent a considerable amount of time in this effort since December and I believe that I'm about through with it.  And its not just the initial change; several of the companies we have dealings with (insurance companies, doctors, etc) haven't been able to get the address right on the first try so we have to do it over.

The other day, I sat down to get caught up on QSL cards and realized that I had about 500 cards with the wrong address on them.  For you non-hams, a QSL card is used to confirm a radio contact between two amateur radio operators.  Recently, there have become many ways to confirm a radio contact electronically but a lot of people still prefer the cards.

At any rate, I used a few of my old cards by printing stickers with our new address information, but this was a pain in the rear!  So, yesterday I decided to have some new cards printed.  The first task was to find a picture for the front of the card.  Because of copyright laws, I decided that I wanted a picture which I had taken so I wouldn't have to worry about someone challenging my right to use it.

When Louise and I were in Louisiana in March, I had taken a picture of an owl which turned out pretty fair so I decided to use it.  In case you are wondering where I'm going with this,  its all an excuse to show you my new QSL card!

Louisiana's Lake Martin

Lake Martin is located about 15 miles east of Lafayette and is about 3 miles wide by 10 miles long. This little lake is filled with cypress trees and is teeming with wildlife, including many alligators and wading birds. We first became aware of it in 2004 when we hired a guide, Mr. Norbert LeBlanc, to take us on a tour of the lake. Mr. LeBlanc is quite a character and we had him take us on another tour of the lake in 2006 when Roy and Dianne Lovett were with us. Although we saw Mr. LeBlanc this year, we didn't go on one of his tours. 
Some pictures of the area and the wildlife follow.  First is a 'gator we saw lounging in the bar ditch across the road from the lake.  Next is an owl that Louise saw land in this tree.  I started walking toward it taking pictures and it never did fly!  We also saw numerous turtles sunning themselves on this warm spring morning.  The last shot shows some of the cypress trees in the swamp.  If you get a chance to go that way, this is an opportunity you should not pass up!