A workbench repair and a cool oil filter wrench idea

| August 31, 2019

Last week I brought my old Poulan chainsaw back to life for a few dollars after giving away my newer one, but I ended up damaging my workbench while adjusting the carburetor jets. The saw was still in several pieces (without filter, the bar, chain or guard on) while making tune-up adjustments and I accidentally […]

Hurricane Dorian upgraded to Category 3, but Cat 4 is likely

| August 30, 2019

As Floridians and those in the northern Bahamas prepare for Dorian, the first major hurricane to directly hit Florida’s Atlantic coast since Andrew (a Cat 5) in 1992, those of us with a vested interest out-of-state will not be sleeping well this weekend. There isn’t much we can do besides check our insurance policies and […]

Tech Friday: Screen Time and Classical Conditioning

| August 30, 2019

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Mercedes Benz W123: The Greatest Car Ever Made? #TBT photos

| August 29, 2019

Have I mentioned that I enjoy driving my old Mercedes Benz 300d Turbodiesel? 😉 “On January 29, 1976, Mercedes unveiled a new midsize car to replace its long-serving W115 model. Known by its internal designation as the W123, the car’s sober good looks and size seemed like a logical evolutionary step over the outgoing model. […]

Well it is hurricane season – so time to think about #Dorian

| August 28, 2019

Florida declares a state of emergency to prepare for Hurricane Dorian https://t.co/z9sLuLmlxq — Rich Corbett 🇺🇸 (@RichC) August 28, 2019

So you want to be a aerospace engineer? Get inspired.

| August 28, 2019

Plugging up holes and dealing with irritated yellow jackets

| August 27, 2019

We have more bees and wasps appearing around our house this summer, on the other hand, we have always had nests in the woods but this year a few more have moved closer to the house. When preparing to stain the fence this year, I had to glue 3/8” dowels in the carpenter bees holes […]

The 22nd Annual Red Stewart Airfield Airshow for 2019 and our 52nd EAA284 Taildragger Fly-In and pancake breakfast

| August 26, 2019

Although our local EAA chapter’s EAA284.org Fly-In and Sunday’s pancake breakfast was questionable this year if there wasn’t an airshow on Saturday, the Stewarts were able to gather the pilots together for the Red Stewart Airfield 22nd Annual Airshow. The weekend is always well attended and appreciated by the community and those who enjoy aviation […]

Bringing my older Poulan chainsaw back to life

| August 25, 2019

Five years ago (2014), I was in the middle of cutting wood and my older lighter weight Poulan chainsaw wasn’t running right. I used some small fuel lines in a attempt to hurriedly fix it suspecting it was the ethanol in the fuel … but my quick fix was to no avail. Instead, I ordered […]

So love driving the “Old Girl”- my 1982 MB 300d Turbodiesel

| August 24, 2019

On Friday, with August temperatures abating a bit, I decided drive the “old girl,” as my best friend Jeff refers to my 1982 Mercedes Benz 300d Turbodiesel. It is not rare that I drive our “EMP car” since it was my daily driving for a couple years, but now I do it far less frequently […]

Tech Friday: Advice on passwords and security breaches

| August 23, 2019

Some excellent and “do-able” ways to maintain reasonable password security in this Lifehacker article: One of the best things about having a solid password is that you don’t have to change it. If it’s strong, unique, and hasn’t been compromised by an attacker, you gain no security benefits by modifying it according to some arbitrary timetable. […]

The 2006 Honda Pilot served us well for 14 years #TBT

| August 22, 2019

This is not the Throwback Thursday #TBT photo I would recommend using when listing a car for sale, but the 2006 Honda Pilot we said goodbye to this week did have a few minor battle scars (1, 2, 3) and occasionally a little something that needed to be cleaned off (salt above and sometimes LoveBugs). […]

Our 2006 Honda Pilot replacement – A 2010 Acura RDX

| August 21, 2019

We have always shuffled our “fleet” (as my son-in-law calls it) and strive to keep the loss through depreciation on vehicles to a tolerable level … while still driving reliable vehicles. Thankfully our current and recent vehicles have served us well and regularly hit the quarter million mile mark before we retire them. In my […]

Archive: Photo wrap-up of our 2019 summer week with Annalyn

| August 20, 2019

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Toxicodendron radicans, or better known as Poison Ivy

| August 19, 2019

Since there hasn’t been time to put together a summary post for our week with my little helper Annalyn, I’ll update the latest of many poison ivy encounters Brenda and I have had over the years. Brenda usually tangles with poison “something” yearly and I do my best to just avoid the evil plants until […]

Another Volkswagen in the family – Taylor’s 2019 VW Alltrack

| August 18, 2019

Taylor‘s new 2019 Volkswagen Alltrack – 8/15/2019 After a fantastic week with Annalyn here in Cincinnati, Brenda and I are in recovery mode.  I’ll need to spend a little time getting back to my emails and piled up work but I plan on archiving a few photos from the week (in a day or so). […]

A Great White Shark video always makes a good filler

| August 16, 2019

Hope you are enjoying the rest of the summer at the beach, perhaps at Cape Cod?  

Was it that long ago? My BIODZL Volkswagen Jetta TDI #TBT

| August 15, 2019

Has it really been over 15 years since I was commuting back and forth from NE Ohio in my 2003 Volkswagen TDI (and filling up with biodiesel or seeing my car image on other peoples’ blogs?) Yes it has been awhile. After posting about a friend’s new Volkswagen Atlas (Tim Hunter sent me a new […]

Our new home Internet Mesh network is up and running

| August 14, 2019

Our current NetGear Nighthawk R7000 router has been exceptionally stable considering the issues I’ve had with cheaper routers and networked devices in the past. I’m pretty happy with it, but in order to get solid coverage, had to add a WiFi Range Extender to cover the detached garage and poolhouse (and yet still have weak […]

Ceiling fans: Direction, energy consumption, old vs new?

| August 13, 2019

Great energy use tip for those of use who heavily rely on ceiling fans: The direction a ceiling fan should turn can be confusing. Modern fans have a switch that enables them to blow the air either up or down. During the summer you want the fan to blow air straight down, so your ceiling […]

Happy Birthday Brenda, with a couple photos from the archives

| August 12, 2019

As hinted at last week, today is the day I want to wish my wonderful wife Brenda a Happy Birthday. We are looking forward to our slowly closing the chapter of “career” (no hurry yet) … and are starting to plan the new chapter called “retirement. Anxious? Who me? Although we may have changed a […]

Will the average American middle class family rent forever?

| August 11, 2019

As the cost of education, health care, cars, etc. goes up, it should be no surprise our financing habits change in order to pay for priorities like higher education … or luxuries like newer and more reliable cars. Paying for semi-essentials is significantly more expensive than in the past and we now extend paying for […]

Is a little consistency in Amazon delivery too much to ask?

| August 10, 2019

I’m becoming increasingly grouchy over paying for Amazon Prime (now $119/yr) and dealing with various shipping problems that have been popping up. This past year, I have have several shipping issues with Amazon reporting one thing and then delivering another. Usually a delay, in for the most part very impressive delivery speeds, isn’t a life-changer, […]

Tech Friday: Overcoming Paywalls with the help of Pocket

| August 9, 2019

Currently, I pay for a few subscriptions. Some pricey (Wall Street Journal, Barrons, etc) because I avidly read them. Others, like monthly magazines, I continue to pay for and rarely get around to reading, especially online only subscriptions. Several others, I occasionally receive a link or click on one from those annoying “reader apps” that […]

Where have the years gone? 11 years ago and now in 2019. #TBT

| August 8, 2019

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Personal thoughts on recent events in El Paso and Dayton, Ohio

| August 7, 2019

Way too often our citizens in cities and communities across the country suffer at the hands of criminals and most notably disturbed individuals in our society. The topic rises to the top of the political news when there is a mass-killing and the weapon is a semi-automatic firearm and the target are ordinary people living […]

If you need a workout, try #PumpSurfing

| August 6, 2019

One can only imagine (unless you have tried it), the kind of workout it would be to race past a sailing vessel on a surfboard with a pump-foil attachment? Impressive.

Nobody likes investing when there is blood in the stock market?

| August 5, 2019

Monday, August 5th, 2019 was not a good day to be long in the stock markets – WSJ update.  I think we are often too complacent with investing and fall victim to the “stay the course” and invest for long run mentality. It is easy to forget just how painful market drops can be.  Economist […]

Content by Netflix and Amazon and filming Hillbilly Elegy

| August 5, 2019

While Brenda and I wait for the new season of our favorite book-to-television Amazon Prime’s “Man In The High Castle” series, we (or should I really say “she”) got hooked on the popular binge watched series “Stranger Things.” It is amazing how our television habits have changed in this past decade? Gone are the weekend […]

Surfing done right on Sunday – The Long Ride #video

| August 4, 2019

Who doesn’t wish they could surf like this?

Our culture has accepted two huge lies … a Rick Warren #quote

| August 4, 2019

Rick Warren has one of the more fitting quotes for our current cultural divide: “Our culture has accepted two huge lies. The first is that if you disagree with someone’s lifestyle, you must fear or hate them. The second is that to love someone means you agree with everything they believe or do. Both are […]

Kitchen Ideas when you would rather be on a boat

| August 3, 2019

A filler photo tidbit for today’s post, but this creative kitchen island idea from one of my sailing groups caught my eye. It “would” have worked in our kitchen … I’m just not sure I could have pulled it off without adding a mast! 🙂

Tech Friday: How safe is data with cloud storage services?

| August 2, 2019

Even if you don’t regularly using cloud storage services (likely your smartphone is), most of us are at some point backing up data from our computers or using services online that store our data on major cloud storage companies.  I’ve personally had a growing concern over the race for quantum computing which eventually will make […]

Volkswagen is winning us back and easing bounteous warranty

| August 1, 2019

CinciTDI GTG at our house August 20, 2008 – Throwback Thursday #TBT It has been a while since posting anything on Volkswagen or to the TDIClub forums; I’m likely I’m still sore over their “dieselgate” failure and the company giving up on diesel cars in North America. Still, I’m drawn to VWs and their excellent […]

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