Archive: What was once hard work, is now much harder work

| May 21, 2022

It is likely an age thing, but once upon a time, I didn’t think twice about trenching and digging. Now, I’m tired out by lunchtime (this was a Saturday (5/21/2022) morning project) and I didn’t even finished the trench for drainage pipe (it is relatively soft after the heavy rain, but has a lot of […]

Problems with refrigerator water filters from Crystala

| October 3, 2019

Late in the spring of 2019,  I ordered three new refrigerator filters from an Amazon seller for Crystala replacement filters. I’ve opted for third party filters before and really didn’t think much about it … but as more vendors use Amazon Marketplace, consumers need to be more careful since their support isn’t what we might […]

Who really wants Northern Water Snakes in their pool?

| October 2, 2019

Although they are not venomous, the people I know  don’t like to go swimming with snakes … Northern Water Snakes in this case (I think – see screen grab below). After being away for a week, once again the local wildlife has decided to make our pool their home – it has been dry. I […]

Tech Friday: My Fitbit encourages exercise, including swimming

| July 5, 2019

So far the Fitbit Versa “watch” that I received for my birthday has been great … and I’m using it far more than expected. It has already encouraged me to be a little more active as I work hard to hit the 10,000 step goal each day. Thank you Katelyn and Drew! This past weekend […]

The yardwork theme continues with a sump pump to pool bypass

| June 18, 2019

With steady rains (and downpour storms) over the past week, the ground was soft enough for even this 60 year old guy to trench. I’ve been wanting to work on the “sump pump to pool” bypass ever since testing it with a temporary pipe to 2” roll up hose a few years ago. The water […]

BMW water injection and how it works to make +50 hp

| January 17, 2019

One of my favorite YouTube channels is Engineering Explained and in this video car guru and mechanical engineer Jason Fenske explains just how BMW used water injection to increase power at full throttle and high manifold pressures. Great stuff. And if this kind of "automotive engineering stuff" interests you and you like aviation like me, […]

Zoeller has become my go-to favorite for replacement pumps

| December 22, 2018

They are not the cheapest, but the cast iron US made Zoeller pumps are now my go-to for pumps when replacing our “way too many” pumps. They are definitely superior to the big box store brands. Although each time I need a new one, I inch up the line as to quality … this time […]

Do you boil water in a microwave? Take note …

| January 18, 2018

An old warning that has been passed around the Internet before, but because something similar happened to me with a Corning Corelle bowl last month, figure it was worth sharing. Boiling Water in a Microwave (also see Snopes) A 26-year old man decided to have a cup of coffee. He took a cup of water […]

Backpacking filtration hack for emergency water too

| January 10, 2018

Bits and pieces are still arriving from my Christmas shopping. Sometimes I forget that not every company/individual doing business online is shipping with the efficiency we become accustom to with Amazon and other big online retail sites. In any case, one of the gifts I assembled was an emergency kit that included survival items we […]

My slang name for a dirty drainage ditch – CRICK plus #video

| October 26, 2017

Yesterday I shared a "map" diagram with my daughter Katelyn and labeled a small drainage ditch we called the "crick" … also shared a disease story with her that she decided not to share with her friend. The name for that bit of water got me thinking about all the names we use for bodies […]

The BlueMax blue poly pipe continues to haunt #home #repairs

| August 2, 2017

  Once again we’re dealing with BlueMax pipe (polybutylene plumbing), this time thankfully it is not on our nickel or is due to a flooded basement. I notice water bubbling from the water meter pit in our yard yesterday and after Butler County came out to look at the meter, he knew right away it […]

Have you ever wondered what was inside a refrigerator filter?

| January 1, 2017

  January 1st is "replace the refrigerator filter" day in our house … and because they are so heavy (and expensive), curiosity had me wondering what exactly was inside of this solid plastic housing? (click images for larger) Buying the 3 pack of filters from Amazon ($30) was about the least expensive way to purchase […]

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).

So very true: Living Near Water Can Reduce Stress

| June 7, 2016

The other day in Mental Floss I read that a "Study Confirmed What We Already Knew: Living Near Water Can Reduce Stress." I can attest to this since we lived by the water when I was a boy. My parents had a home on the shores for Lake Erie with a 150 foot private beach […]

Escaping for a minute while writing lunchtime Python scripts

| February 25, 2016

The American Pi blog was due for an update (including on MyDesultoryBlog.com too!) and thought escaping for a minute to gaze into water and sky of the right color for this dreary February afternoon was a good idea. Why am I still in Cincinnati again?

Replacing a Volvo Penta raw water pump on our sailboat

| November 25, 2015

As mentioned last week, the Volvo raw water pump (840557) aboard Encore was beginning to drip. This usually indicate a little corrosion (cough, cough) and leakage around the seal closest to the impeller. Instead of sending the pump out to be re-built for $165, decided to purchase a new Johnson “direct replacement” (10-24707-01) pump ($350) […]

My favorite VW travel thermos needs to be replaced

| August 27, 2015

In 2008 the TDIClub gifted me a VW travel thermos and I’ve used it everyday since then. I use it primarily an insulated  water bottle, but it does did a great job with coffee too. It doesn’t sweat when things are cold and with just 2 ice cubes this little stainless steel Alfi Vacuum Bottle […]

How to idea – Cleaning hard water stains from porcelain

| January 31, 2015

The inexpensive miracle cleaner and kitchen staple known as vinegar has hundreds if not thousands of uses … but few of those uses are as helpful as cleaning and dissolving hard water calcium build up. I use a vinegar mix regularly for window washing, as a way to keep the shower and shower head free […]

Sleek and innovative gravity fed water saving faucet idea

| September 4, 2014

Here’s an idea that came from one of those “pagination” oriented list sites … which has become the bane of Internet reading; I’m talking about those sites with multiple pages of photos or news sites requiring a bunch of page clicks in order to read an article – in my opinion the practice needs a […]

Kickstarter Heatworks project inches closer to shipping

| June 11, 2014

Investors and pre-order buyers are still in the “wait” mode for the innovated water heater from Heatworks … but the CEO Jerry Callahan does a great job of keeping his Kickstarter investors informed. That said, I’m looking forward to installing the Model 1 later this summer and will be updating the blog on how it […]

Joined a Kickstarter project called HeatWorks

| February 8, 2014

Monitoring Kickstarter projects is a great way to see just what entrepreneurs and inventors are coming up with … and to rejuvenate pride in American Exceptionalism. The other day I saw a guys talking about Mobile Personal Theatre headphones  called Glyph on the business channel CNBC which was pretty neat. I’ve micro funded a few […]

Are Northern Water Snakes populations back to normal?

| August 18, 2013

A friend shared a video a YouTuber, Amy Siewe, collecting Northern Water Snakes a couple years ago and he asked me if we were concerned about snakes crawling aboard when we sailed on Lake Erie … my answer was “no, we never even though about it.” It is interesting to see the perception people have […]

A failed BlueMax water pipe and a basement full of water

| February 7, 2013

Well I probably shouldn’t say "a basement FULL of water," but when coming home from a week vacation and finding water covering the floor makes it feel like the basement was FULL of water! We stumbled in last night after a day of travel pretty much ready for bed, only to find "water, water, everywhere" […]

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