Halloween evening. Waiting for Trick or Treaters

| October 31, 2016

Just capturing a beautiful autumn sky as the Trick or Treat gang gets ready to make their rounds in the neighborhood this quiet Halloween night. Let’s hope I have enough candy as I’m giving out 5-bar packs tonight! (the last photo below I saw on TwitterBrenda said I couldn’t share it when "Baby […]

Music: A forgotten (by me) hit from the past – Rock Me Gently

| October 31, 2016

This content is restricted.

Weather wise, October weekends do not get much better

| October 30, 2016

What a great autumn weekend in Cincinnati. We had a gorgeous sky last night although the panorama photo mode on my "aging" iPhone 5s doesn’t do it justice.   Saturday was spend enjoying the outdoors as besides mowing the backyard, I "chipped away" at my wood pile by splitting and ended up cutting a few […]

National Geographic iconic Afghan Girl arrested in Pakistan

| October 29, 2016

Pakistani police have arrested National Geographic’s green-eyed “Afghan Girl” — whose striking picture became the symbol of the plight of refugees– for having a phony ID card.Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency conducted a raid Wednesday at a residence in the city of Peshawar, where Sharbat Gula was taken into custody. The FIA had gotten word about […]

What do you do when you mix up too much epoxy?

| October 28, 2016

Repair a shoe of course!  I’ve was frustrated with my carelessness when welding last year after burning a hole in my Keen shoes, but still wear them (albeit with a little more air conditioning than I would like). So after mixing a little more epoxy than needed for a repair, I dabbed a little bit […]

TechFriday: The new Apple MacBook Pro has been announced

| October 28, 2016

As Fernando Lamas would say (or Mark Howard – it’s on the back of my late brother-in-law grave marker) …  "it looks mahvelous!" (paraphrased). Unfortunately the Apple’s newest MacBook Pro has a price to match it’s looks and expected performance with the 13" model WITH the new TouchBar starting at $1799 and the big boy […]

Cubs dominate the Indians in game 2 – CHC 5 – CLE 1

| October 27, 2016

The World Series is likely the most watched fall classic by midwestern Major League Baseball fans in a long time as the Cleveland Indians and Chicago Cubs have now split their first two games at Progressive Field in Cleveland. It has been exciting to watch and cheer but ticket prices are shocking even those use […]

Archiving some quadcopter video footage from Wayzata, MN

| October 26, 2016

The  advancements in unmanned aviation continue to impress me as a new generation of pilots is flying by remote control rather than “stick and rudder,” “yoke and peddle” … but all can still fly by the “seat of their pants.”  I’m still unsure what to call these computer controlled devices nowadays … quadcopters, quadrotors  (what […]

Skimm-ing Ohio as the 2016 presidential election nears

| October 25, 2016

Looking at Ohio in the presidential election from theskimm.com distance: OHIO DON’T LIVE THERE, DON’T CARE. If you had to bet on who’d win in November, hang out in Ohio first. The state’s voted for the winner every year since 1964. WHAT DO I NEED TO KNOW? That if the US held up a mirror […]

Time to close the pool and beginning prepping for winter

| October 25, 2016

The weather this time of year can be very pleasant for chores outside, but morning and evening chill is definitely hinting that cold weather is around the corner. So it is time to start closing up the pool and prepping the outdoor living furniture for the nastiness of winter. I enjoyed the warmer afternoon in […]

Our 1982 Mercedes diesel can see (in fog) again …

| October 24, 2016

As mentioned a few posts ago, I finally found an amber fog light on ebay to replace the broken glass lens. I was disappointed in the cost, but very pleased with the quality of the lightly used Bosch part. Forgive the bug splats (needs to be cleaned) but when the weather is nice, this 1982 […]

Trying to keep a sense of humor about the upcoming election

| October 23, 2016

It has NOT been an enjoyable campaign season … a very long year and a half! Citizens of voting age in the United States (see Twiitter comment below) voluntarily head to the polls to decide who they want or more appropriately DON’T want as their president for the next 4 years. I doubt I’m alone […]

Election year burnout relief: The Cubs vs Indians World Series

| October 23, 2016

The Indians will host Games 1 and 2 as well as Games 6 and 7 (if necessary), as a result of the American League’s victory in the All-Star Game this past July. Games 3, 4 and 5 will be played at Wrigley Field. The official schedule for the 2016 World Series (all times Eastern): Game […]

Changing a cabin air filter in an older Honda Odyssey minivan

| October 22, 2016

My daughter took her "leased" Juke into the Nissan dealership in Minnesota for a $25 oil change and while it was in the service bay, the service department recommended she do a few additional maintenance items totaling $1200 … "but we can do it all today for a flat $1000" (don’t you just love it […]

Denial of Services impacting Internet access for much of the U.S.

| October 21, 2016

Twitter status above illustrating second attack shutting down services. The cyber threat continues … as  a second wave cripples some of the biggest domain names through Dyn (Manchester, NH), a company that provide DNS services for connecting domain names to IP addresses. Dyn said it had resolved one attack, which disrupted operations for about two […]

TechFriday: Tim Berners Lee — The Double Slash

| October 21, 2016

Given what Sir Tim did for all of us when he developed HTML and created the World Wide Web, he’s got a fair amount of credit in the bank. If he did have any major regrets about the web, we wouldn’t find it too difficult to forgive him, but his mea culpa relates to only […]

Creativity knows no bounds. Is Upcycling gaining momentum?

| October 20, 2016

How about hanging chairs on the walk (not so you can sweep the floors), but for added storage and clothes hanging space? You’ll probably not see me doing that, but you might catch me working on this kind of project … at least for my workshop or garage! (See newspip)

Congratulations 2016 MLB ALCS Champs: Cleveland Indians

| October 20, 2016

It was a great series for the Cleveland Indians and #believeland fans. After only a moment of doubt (last night), the team effort by the Indians made both the series against the Boston Red Sox (3-0) and the championship series against a power hitting bunch from Toronto … the BlueJays (4-1). Tuesday afternoon’s 4th win […]

Tech changes: Another free cloud storage service is gone

| October 19, 2016

Wouldn’t you know, about the time the Cubs find themselves inching closer to a World Series (drought since 1908), the Logmein FREE cloud storage component know as Cubby is being retired. I highlight "free" since paying PRO customers will continue to keep their storage. For me, Cubby has been a regular file exchange option, although […]

Ugly election, Middle East unrest, Economy – October surprise?

| October 18, 2016

Maybe it is just me being a little nervous, but there are a lot of potential triggers for panic. The craziest presidential election I’ve ever seen, a stock market that has risen longer than average between recessions (with tepid economic growth), unrest in the middle east (of course always on fire) and both the Chicago […]

What is with the cryptic Wikileaks 64-character messages?

| October 17, 2016

Rumors are swirling that something or someone has started triggering the Wikileaks "Deadman’s Switch," which has been put in place if something should happen to founder Julian Assange. Some suspect that a "state party" intentionally severing of his Internet link was more than just someone attempting to silence the release of more incriminating emails, which […]

More repairs and parts. The John Deere 330 diesel this time.

| October 17, 2016

Actually this repair is long, LONG overdue. A decade or so ago when I was heavy into running biodiesel, a sticky batch of fuel ended up in our John Deere. I really never hesitated to run about anything in this little Yanmar diesel engine, but the biodiesel was a mistake. The solvent nature of the […]

Everybody thinks they are an economist … including me!

| October 16, 2016

I love simplicity … so when tossing around political footballs, I generally join the team that at least "attempts" to simplify government and taxes. I’m not naïve enough to believe it will ever happen or even work well, but after filing personal (for friends and family), organizations and business taxes for years, it would sure […]

An old amber fog light for a Mercedes diesel is not inexpensive

| October 15, 2016

Ouch … the amber fog light in our 1982 Mercedes Benz 300D Turbodiesel shatter a couple weeks ago and I’ve been searching to find a Bosch replacement ever since. While looking on ebay, I was surprised not to be able to find a decent one for under $35 … that is a lot to spend […]

There are talented artists everywhere … look at this LogHog!

| October 14, 2016

Click image for the original

A little more music from Gregg Allman please …

| October 14, 2016

This content is restricted.

John Deere 330 Diesel 10K Generator project update

| October 13, 2016

After doing a little maintenance and replacing the front tires on the John Deere 330 last month, I finally finished the simple 10K generator setup and wired up a new longer power-to-house cable. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to come up with a mount that makes it easy enough from my wife to connect the generator […]

For the political type who still has a sense of humor

| October 12, 2016

  Pick your poison … a very scary Hillary Witch or a very angry orange TrumKin.

The Trump phenomena has now turned to full fledge panic

| October 11, 2016

The Republican establishment has moved a bit closer to full fledged panic after a video of their candidate for president was dug up from a "hot-mic" Donald Trump celebrity appearance 11 years ago. It offered an audio picture of what most knew about the man who swaggered his way through the Republican primaries. His vulgarity […]

Loving postseason baseball – Indians sweep 3 games

| October 10, 2016

Great to be a Cleveland Indians fan this postseason. They swept all 3 games (3-0) over Boston winning tonight’s game 4 -3. Go Tribe!

Sailing around the world for 8 years with 3 kids taught us to live without structure

| October 10, 2016

The Giffords are part of a growing, but little-known community of people called cruisers. (A 2011 survey placed the global total number of cruising boats at 10,000.)  “Cruising requires that you learn to live without structure. And some people are really afraid of that.” While many cruisers are couples or individuals who have given up […]

Renewable low cost hot water idea for a sailboat

| October 9, 2016

Archiving another project idea for living on the hook (someday) yet still having hot water for dishes, cleaning and SHOWERS (a freshwater shower is a luxury for most sailboats).

What was Hurricame Matthew coming ashore like?

| October 8, 2016

How does government best assist in job creation?

| October 7, 2016

What is the goal? More and better paying jobs, profits for companies and growing tax revenues to fund government services, entitlements and improved ability to pay down our nation’s debt. How do we accomplish this? There are two ways government helps to create jobs in the US. The current Democrats remain focused on #1, while […]

Watching Hurricane Matthew and Cleveland Indians

| October 7, 2016

Hurricane Matthew is blasting up Florida’s Atlantic coast at this early morning moment. I’ve been back and forth between baseball and the Weather Channel which spent much of the night broadcasting from all places, Fort Pierce, FL. I exchanged text messages at midnight with our friends riding out the storm there and will stay up […]

Curtains for Encore — Just call me Sailor Homemaker

| October 6, 2016

Let’s hope this “curtain call” (cough, cough) isn’t a precursor for Hurricane Matthew bearing down on Encore in Fort Pierce Florida? The subject line was more of a slip of the tongue regarding “curtains” when I really intended a twisted “Suzy Homemaker” innuendo — Sailor Homemaker (my attempts at sewing curtains). Failed joke aside, I […]

Hurricane Matthew projections are not good for Encore

| October 5, 2016

Perhaps I’m being a bit to self-focused in worrying about “just a sailboat” when millions of lives are going to be impacted by Hurricane Matthew? I think it is time for the final preparation … pray for safety for those in the path of this storm (and Encore). EDIT: A buddy of mine was asking […]

Pop up reminder on my calendar that today was a birthday

| October 5, 2016

Google calendar has automatically added a few important annual events to my calendar (my settings), but unfortunately it is not artificially intelligent enough to remove or delete. Today I was sent a reminder that we normally celebrate our late dog Tootie’s birthday on October 5th. She is missed and I often catch what I thought […]

Hurricanes Matthew prep a priority for Florida and Encore

| October 4, 2016

The Category 4 Hurricane Matthew is wreaking havoc on Haiti with 145 mph wind and up to 40 inches of rain, I’m keeping a close eye on new projections that put this powerful storm way too close to Encore.   Thankfully my good friend Mark called me last night and offered to add a couple of […]

Phone scams, Do-not-call lists and IRS fraud

| October 4, 2016

Mail fraud and phone scams are ongoing problems if you live in the U.S. unless you are lucky enough to exist under a rock. Throughout the years I’ve been targeted by shady hoodlums looking to make a quick buck using fraud and deceit as a way to access money or more information. Likely these criminals […]

Boat generator and securing cage project ready for Encore

| October 3, 2016

The generator "security cage" project for our sailboat Encore is ready to be installed. I’m not fond of making a few more holes in the deck, but it needs to be done. The final touches (minus adding Velcro) were taken care of this past weekend. That included softening the aluminum edges, adding shrink tubing to […]

Keeping a close eye on Hurricane Matthew – 10/02/2016 1

| October 2, 2016

Customer service, car covers, warranties and cheap wire

| October 2, 2016

This past week I’ve made a few frustrating online transactions and purchases. First, in dealing with NewEgg, I attempted to use a credit on my business account and decided to handled it on the phone with customer service rather than risk it online. I explained that I was using a "store credit" and wanted to […]

Saving the Sailrite “How to make a Dodger” video playlist

| October 1, 2016

Sailrite has years of on and off water How-To YouTube Videos

Jamaica prepares for the strongest Atlantic hurricane since 2007

| October 1, 2016

Hurricane Matthew grew into a powerful Category 5 storm late Friday building strength as it crossed the Caribbean Sea and heading north. Jamaica is preparing to get the brunt of a projected landfall on Monday but the first effects will be felt as early as Saturday. The U.S. National Hurricane Center has described Matthew as […]

Desultory - des-uhl-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee

  1. lacking in consistency, constancy, or visible order, disconnected; fitful: desultory conversation.
  2. digressing from or unconnected with the main subject; random: a desultory remark.
My Desultory Blog