Tilley: My sailing hats are making a comeback for yard work

Posted By on June 9, 2026

Just like buying many pairs of boat shoes during my life, I’ve purchased and owned a number of sailing hats over the years too (and way to many caps to contemplate). In the early years I often cheapened out on both 2020 in the poolthe boat shoes and the sailing hats by purchasing a discounted or knockoff brands. For the most part, they were all fine (and I still wear a knock-off branded Tilley around the pool – photo 2020).

In recent years (decades), I’ve opted for Sperry branded shoes (multiple posts) and migrated back and forth between the wider all-around brim sailor’s hat for the sun protection, but in recent years have been just wearing caps … except the comfortable ventilated wide-brim hat that I use when cleaning the pool. But for the most part it is a ball cap when working around the yard or walking … and depending on the weather, I’ll either wear the heavier caps or when it is really hot, a lightweight thin breathable cap (super cheap as I recall). 

This brings me to my mistake in replacing a Tilley-branded Endurable T3 classic hat (left) that has seen better days with a new Tilley TWS1 Rain-repellent hat (right).

Old Tilley Endurable T3 classic New Tilley TWS1 Rainproof .

I replace it for a couple of reasons … primarily to test the lifetime warranty. The snaps were corroded. It has a couple holes and was “beyond floppy” but still comfortable. To test the lifetime warranty, I figure I’d go through the motions to see just how far gone a hat needed to be? First I sent them a photo and they came back, “no problem.” Put an X through the label and pick out the hat I wanted. They shipped me a new one for the cost of shipping … to which I added two 1776 American Flag premium caps for our country’s 250th celebration. 😊

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Music Monday: Gallery and “Nice to Be with You” from 1972

Posted By on June 8, 2026

Gallery 1972Do you remember the music group Gallery?

I can remember the song “Nice to Be with You” written by the band’s Jim Gold (see Jim Gold & Gallery), but did not remember the soft rock band or anything else they performed?

Nevertheless, while hearing it on SiriusXM it triggered my including it for Music Monday.
 

  Gallery
  “Nice to Be with You”
| 1972

Band Members

  • Jim Gold (born January 12, 1947, Detroit, Michigan) – lead vocals, guitar
  • Brent Anderson – backing vocals, guitar
  • Bill Nova – backing vocals, percussion
  • Cal Freeman (born June 26, 1942 – died October 29, 2018) – guitar
  • Paul Franklin (born May 31, 1954, Detroit, Michigan) – steel guitar
  • Dennis Kovarik – bass
  • Danny Brucato – drums
  • Fred DiCenso (born January 23, 1950 – died 2021) – guitar

Archive: Our granddaughters are ready for summer break

Posted By on June 7, 2026

This content is restricted.

Happy Anniversary Brenda. Yes, a day late, but I didn’t forget.

Posted By on June 6, 2026

Here’s to remembering our 44th (ugh!) wedding anniversary. By the way, I Mt. Rainier 2600604remembered June 5th just fine, but I am posting on it a day after a pre-prepared Tech Friday post. 😉

Rich and Brenda at KD's Wedding 2013

I still find it difficult to believe that we have been married for that many years? As previous generations have said, the years go by so fast. It is so true!

Taylor and Megan are off on an Alaskan cruise and they have been very excited to go. Taylor sent a photo as they flew into Seattle … what a beautiful view of a 14,410 ft snowcapped Mt. Rainier.  We are looking forward to hearing about it and seeing more photos.

As for us, we’re looking forward to our granddaughters dance recital and seeing the Oostras. We always have a good time with them … and wee might even check the progress on my brother Ron and Claire’s new house up on Lake Erie? I think summer is here.

Happy Anniversary, Brenda … with a couple of goofy photo booth memories from Katelyn and Drew’s wedding in 2013

Rich and Brenda at KD's Wedding 2013

Tech Friday: An old Chromebook, LinuxMint and ChromeFlex (plus MacBook Air, Claude.AI assistance and the Moom app)

Posted By on June 5, 2026

As usual, there are a couple of odds and ends photos left in MyCubby 2026’s May folder that I need to either toss or stick in a filler blog post. So today I’ll add them here.

Last month I toiled … and I mean toiled overtime … with Brenda’s older Samsung Pro Chromebook while attempting to convert some perfectly good Intel m3 hardware to a Linux OS. I knew it would need to be a lighter build and so tossed around a few versions … finally deciding on Linux Mint. BUT … I’m getting ahead of myself. 

After updating my MacBook Air M2 to the M5 in April in order to gain a bit more memory (too many tabs and spaces), I set up the M2 for Brenda … since her Chromebook is no longer getting updates from Google. That was too bad since she was very comfortable with the small touchscreen Chromebook (more on that in a minute). So that opened the door to play around with and “try” to get  Linux on the Samsung Pro. Frankly I recall that same struggle when she moved from a smaller non-touchscreen Samsung Chromebook that she had prior to that. 

Samsung Pro Chromebook Write Protect Screw

First, it wasn’t easy. There is a Write-Protect screw buried under the backside of the “copper” heatsink that is only accessible by removing the entire board and unscrewing all the screws holding down the heatsink. After that little metal screen washer and screw was removed, I added a little electrical tape just to be safe. Buttoned everything back up, installed the MrChromebox boot loader and then flashed a USB (actually microSD card) with Linux and rebooted the Samsung Pro. What a mess trying to get everything working … and a big problem with the Intel WiFi .. something has limited the range???

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Years ago my travel computer was an Apple Duo #TBT

Posted By on June 4, 2026

Recently I’ve been working on Brenda’s Samsung Pro notebook computer and hoping Linux can bring it back to life … since Google is no longer supporting older Chromebooks – more on that tomorrow. For now, it is fun to look at the old gear … and smile. 😊 

Apple Duo

After years now of using the oversized multitouch trackpad on Apple MacBook Air notebook computers, seeing my old Apple PowerBook Duo’s miniature pad makes me chuckle (see PowerBook Duo). There was a day when I thought the MacBook’s trackpad was way too big, but now looking at the Duo has me thinking the MacBook’s are just about right and the old laptops were way too small

MacBook Trackpad End of Life for Chromebook updates

Filler: FastScripts and Baby Rabbits are everywhere this year

Posted By on June 3, 2026

Wednesday morning rolled around and when glancing at MDB, it occurred to me that I forgot to add a daily “desultory” post last night. Truth be told, I was tinkering with scripting, automating some computer archiving and a new Red Sweater app called FastScripts … which I tried once before, but never got around to efficiently using.

Baby Rabbit

For now, here’s one of the cute baby rabbits that I almost ran over with the mower. Whew! 

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