July 2008 by Charles Brecheisen

WARNING: I live in the piney woods of E. Texas. We have lots of scorpions, snakes, bugs, etc. I like to work in the woods as I do not have a yard; and, I keep my shoes on the front porch. Rule #1: Every time I put on the shoes from the front porch, shake them out. Rule #2: Please obey Rule #1. This morning I put the shoes on without shaking them out. When I put my left show in, I felt something moving in the toe. Ripping my shoe off, out hopped a beautiful green tree frog. Nuff said! I will be checking and double checking, etc.

AMATEUR RADIO CALL SIGN: I applied for what is called a club "Vanity" call sign of NB5EQ and the FCC gave it to me on July 11 under "USS Altair Memorial Association" of which all the Altair shipmates are members. You can visit http://www.qrz.com and in the top upper left of the page you can type in NB5EQ where it says call sign and it will take you to the NB5EQ page. I will be adding more information soon and will soon be "on the air" for Navy and Memorial special events. This should generate lots of activity on our web site. I will have special NB5EQ cards and certificates printed soon.

INTERESTING SITE: Here is a neat and interesting site dealing only with Naval 'covers' or envelopes. Please visit the home page of http://www.navalcovermuseum.org/ Click on "Enter New Museum" and then click on "Main Collection" and then click on "#1 US Ships by Name." There is an A-Z list and if you click on "A" and scroll down to and click on Altair it will take you to a page with pictures of some USS Altair envelopes that were used. It's a neat site!

FINANCIAL: The beginning balance was $738.93 with no income and FCC expenses of $39.95 leaving a balance of $698.98.

ALTAIR NEWSLETTER: I have the newsletter about finished and should be in the mail in a matter of weeks. Please don't forget the Altair Plaque Ceremony and the Altair reunion coming up in October.

As usual, please do NOT reply to this email but use cmbaltairaks32@fastmail.us

Best Wishes to All........Charles