My Desultory Blog

Posted By RichC on May 14, 2026

There are FOUR “happies” in front of “birthday” because Katelyn is now 40 … although it is hard to believe she is FORTY years young (Hm, I think “happies” is the plural for “happy?”)

Drew took her (and the girls) to Chicago to “Stars on Ice” for her birthday weekend. Across from their hotel happened to be the American Academy of Pediatrics — who knew!  It looked like a very nice place to stay and I know the girls enjoyed the pool … and the great weather to visit the city. 

The photos of the skating looked amazing as well and I detected a little “wish I were there” in our families group text thread from Megan. 😉 

After the skating they heading to Navy Pier and Cloud Gate … which triggered memories of the last time I was there with Katelyn 21 years ago  (in the early days of my blog – photo right). 

So Happy, Happy, Happy, Happy 40th Birthday Katelyn. I hope we are around for our granddaughters’ 40th birthday celebrations! 

Edit Add 5/14/2026: The signage that Drew and the girls displayed in front of their house was over the top … or should I say, “over the hill.” 😊 

Category: Archive, Personal, Photos | No Comments »
Tags: birthday, celebration, chicago, cloud gate, drew, family, granddaughters, katelyn, navy pier, nextfest, stars on ice, the chicago bean

Posted By RichC on May 13, 2026

We always have mourning doves (basically suburban pigeons, in my opinion) nesting around our house and sitting almost every evening on our roof, but not all that many geese do the same. This year it is not only on the roof, but on the chimney cap.

Strange enough, over the years there have been blue herons and hawks … and Great Horned Owls hooting down our chimney. There was even a time when a crazy woodpecker hammered on the metal chimney cap! 

Category: Environment, Nature, Photography, Photos, Video | No Comments »
Tags: birds, chimney, geese, goose, mp4, noise, roof

Posted By RichC on May 12, 2026

An apology is required as I may have been premature and somewhat defensive in voicing my frustration last week over my unrequested commentary submission to TheHustings. The editors instead decided to request a left-counter and add their center-column two cents in order to make it a weekend subject — well done.

So if you’re into a place for “civil media” discussion, perhaps give their website a look … or better yet … submit a comment? 

Category: Archive, News, Politics, Social Media | No Comments »
Tags: civil media, commentary, communisim, discussion, marxism, News, Politics, socialism, thehustings

Posted By RichC on May 11, 2026

Although Rolling Stones music has been included on MDB before, “Gimme Shelter” from 1969 hasn’t been highlighted appropriately for a Music Monday (it was included but YouTube restricted on the post “Thoughts of war, a nuclear exchange and our human condition.”) The song is ranked up there with some of the all time great music by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. It was rank as #13 on Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time (2021) and is considered the band’s best song by the magazine.

For me, it is up there with MY Rolling Stones “bad parenting song.” 😉

Gimme Shelter is the opening track from The Rolling Stones’ 1969 album Let It Bleed, written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. The song, known for its intense, apocalyptic tone, reflects the turbulent era of the late 1960s—marked by war, social unrest, and political violence. Its iconic guitar riff was inspired by Keith Richards seeing people scrambling for shelter during a sudden London storm. The track features powerful, haunting vocals by session singer Merry Clayton, whose performance—recorded in a single take while she was pregnant—became legendary. She famously screams, “Rape, murder! It’s just a shot away!” before the song’s chilling conclusion.

Category: Music, Video | No Comments »
Tags: gimme shelter, music monday, musicmonday, rolling stones, wikipedia, youtube

Posted By RichC on May 10, 2026

Although I’ve done some dirty jobs in my lifetime (collecting the dead carp around ponds at a commercial fishery comes to mind) … the recycling of deep cycle batteries as is demonstrated in this video in Pakistan would not be a favorite. Do you think there are there any particular health concerns??? 

Category: Automotive, How-To, Video | No Comments »
Tags: battery, mp4, pakistan, recycling, video

Posted By RichC on May 9, 2026

“Curiosity may have killed the cat” (see Oxford Language Club), but now I know just how slow a 20A – 110-120 VAC circuit is in charging an Electric Vehicle (our 2019 Tesla Model 3) vs a 50A – 220-240 VAC welding circuit. Yes .. there is a big difference. 

Left – 110VAC 10 hr 20 min VS Right – 220VAC 1 hr 45 min

While tinkering in the garage and deciding what to do with the “old” part after upgrading our older Tesla to “CSS ready” so that we could charge as places other than Tesla’s SuperCharger network; I decided to look “inside the box” before throwing it away. Very complex.

Category: Automotive, Idioms, Tesla, Tidbits | No Comments »
Tags: charging, circuit board, curiosity, ev, idiom, idioms, killed the cat, oxford language club, tesla model 3

Posted By RichC on May 8, 2026

As great computers get older, it’s a challenge to know when they need to be replaced – as it was when I replaced my G4. For me, on my tweaked Late2012 Intel-chipped 27” iMac, it was not being able to move beyond MacOS Catalina (2019) that was an issue. No longer could I run certain apps, upgrade software or access cloud services … and besides a couple web apps, it was no longer helpful in my day to day office life now that I have a MacBook Air M5.

So instead of giving up the HUGE amount of screen real estate on the 27” display AND the matching 27” Apple Cinema Display sitting next to it ($$$) … I opted to give Dortania’s OpenCore “boot loader” a try. It is a little more complex that just clicking install, but well worthwhile in order to be able to seamlessly run MacOS Sequoia 15.7.5 – 2024 (it on enables software upgrades as well as cloud software — and it even seems faster to me)?

Category: Apple, Computer, Software, Technology | No Comments »
Tags: catalina, dortania, imac, macos, opencore, sequoia, tech friday, techfriday, update, upgrade, wikipedia