May 23, 2024
Upstairs in the Western NY Farmhouse Barn’s workshop in 2013 In keeping with the occasional ThrowBack Thursday #TBT, the above was a pano photo of DadH’s workshop after he passed away. I mentioned to Brenda that I wondered how he was able to climb the stairs of the barn and work on such a large […]
Filed under: Memories, Personal, Photos, Social Media, TBT, Video by RichC | No Comments »
Tags: barn, bees, buttercups, dadh, family, farmhouse, flowers, momh, mp4, sister, TBT, workshop
November 18, 2021
Every once in a while a memory gets triggered … and it happened while looking in my closet for a fleece or sweater with the weather turning colder. The photo below is from Christmas in 1990 and it seemed apropos for today’s Throwback Thursday #TBT. For the record, it was taken in Jamestown, NY at […]
Filed under: Archive, Memories, Personal, Photos, TBT, Weather by RichC | No Comments »
Tags: 1990, christmas, dadh, family, jamestown, new york, sweater, TBT, throwback, thursday
February 4, 2021
I always stop in to visit with lifetime friends of Mom and Dad Howard, Ann and Hugh Woodcock when I’m close, but hesitate to even tell them I’m nearby “in the days of COVID19.” I really hate putting it off though, since one never knows how many days friends in their 90s have? The photo […]
Filed under: Archive, Personal, Photos, TBT by RichC | No Comments »
Tags: archive, coronavirus, covid19, dadh, family, friends, lynda, mark howard, TBT, throwback, woodcock
September 4, 2024
While at the National Museum of the Great Lakes in Toledo over the weekend with KDAE, I took a photo of a surprisingly comfortable leather chair that was on the SS Col. James M. Schoonmaker. The chair was “I think” original to the ship in 1911 and looked interesting enough to dig a little deeper […]
Filed under: Archive, Misc, Personal, Woodworking by RichC | No Comments »
Tags: chair, gold, leather, ring, wedding band
August 27, 2024
The “flowers photo” was not the purpose of this post, but because the tiny purple flowers looked so nice this past weekend, I took a photo (I should know the name or at least take the time to look it up … but I’m not). BUT the real reason was to archive the very messy […]
Filed under: Archive, Misc, Photos, Repairs by RichC | No Comments »
Tags: bame, de-rusting, painting, trailer, utility, wirebrushing
June 16, 2024
Today has me thinking of the two dads in my life (DadC and DadH) as well as the father of my two granddaughters, Drew. I thank them for being great mentors … by using the stern hand of guidance when it was required … with an abundance of self-discipline … and always being the provider […]
Filed under: Holiday, Personal by RichC | No Comments »
Tags: big joe, family, fathers day, pool
June 6, 2024
My Grandpa Bluhm made this workbench and gave it to me for Christmas back in 1966. His influence early-on likely influenced my interest in tinkering and woodworking (car restoration and rebuilding was probably mostly influenced by DadC). This past weekend I cleaned it up a bit and added a homemade light strip with a roll of […]
Filed under: Archive, Automotive, Memories, Personal, Photos, TBT, Tools by RichC | No Comments »
Tags: bluhm, capri, family, fishing, granddaughters, grandpa, knife, license plates, workbench, workshop
April 28, 2024
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Filed under: Archive, Art, History, Personal, Photos, Science by RichC | No Comments »
Tags: ancestry, ancestry.com, artwork, brenda, dna, ellerie, holmstrom, howard, mawhir
November 11, 2022
Although there are many who serve or served our country we can think about on this Veterans Day, I’ve opted to reflect on my late father-in-law, Frederick Howard, who navigated B-26 bombers over Europe in World War II. He was definitely part of the “Greatest Generation” and volunteered immediately when he came of age and […]
Filed under: Aviation, Holiday, Memories, Millitary, Personal, Photos, Social Media by RichC | No Comments »
Tags: air force, fred howard, greatest generation, jack collier, twitter, us air corp, veterans day, ww2, wwii
July 17, 2022
Well … this is part 1 of the Canadian Rockies 40th Anniversary wrap-up (a pre-post was made last week) and since there are just WAY too many photos and memories to recall for just one post (the curse of multiple smartphones with cameras that also shoot motion GIFs and video). It was much simpler 34 […]
Filed under: Memories, Nature, Personal, Photos, Video by RichC | No Comments »
Tags: 40th anniversary, alberta, banff, beauty, canada, canadian rockies, canmore, family, fix-a-flat, lake louise, mountains, trip, vacation. mp4
June 5, 2022
A poor quality scan of our 1982 wedding with DadH, MomH, MomC and DadC Often a 40th Wedding Anniversary triggers a husband or wife to make the comment “thanks for putting up with me” or something to that effect. Although there is truth to it, spending the rest of your life with another person is […]
Filed under: Archive, Idioms, Memories, Personal, Photos, Raspberry Pi by RichC | No Comments »
Tags: 40th anniversary, anniversary, brenda, dadc, dadh, idiom, idioms, milestone, momc, momh, richc, wedding
March 20, 2022
Photo from February 2013 in Delray Beach while visiting Brenda’s parents For years … well decades really … we have been fortunate enough to escape winter in February or sometimes March or April and head to sunny or warmer climates for a week. Often it was to visit either Brenda’s or my parents who would […]
Filed under: Financial, Misc, Nature, Personal, Travel by RichC | No Comments »
Tags: ani gif, anigif, dolphins, family, florida, spring break, surfing, taxes, waves
February 10, 2022
In early February 2022, most of the U.S. received a heavy ice and snow storm. There were quite a few shared photos on the social networks and an animated GIF of a huge snowman triggered memories of our Hudson, Ohio winters in NE Ohio. Back then I had an old Ford 800 that I used […]
Filed under: Archive, Memories, Personal, Photos, TBT, Weather by RichC | No Comments »
Tags: ani gif, anigif, ben skinner, bobcat, bulldozer, david skinner, ford 800, gary gerber, hudson, ne ohio, nephews, ohio, snow, snowman, TBT, tractor, winter, youtube
February 18, 2021
A couple of weeks ago I shared a 1990s photo of Brenda’s dad with a close friend Hugh Woodcock and saw another one from 1997 to archive for a Throwback Thursday #TBT. Both MomH (2017) and DadH (2013) have passed away, but since Mrs. Woodcock (Ann) commented on my “snowy February stay-at-home” post, I figured […]
Filed under: Archive, Friends, Personal, Photos, TBT by RichC | No Comments »
Tags: alzheimer's, ann woodcock, archive, dadh, dementia, family, florida, friends, hugh woodcock, momh, TBT
January 14, 2021
While shuffling through a bunch of old scans and photos and uploading stuff to my Miami University .EDU Google Drive account for free cloud storage after downgrading my subscription to OneDrive (they refused to renew the 1TB of space at my previous 4-years of discounted service), I ran across the window sticker from my black […]
Filed under: Archive, Automotive, Memories, Misc, Personal, Photos, TBT by RichC | No Comments »
Tags: 4runner, cars, condo1718, dadh, family, great white whale, TBT, throwback, toyota
December 24, 2020
Since I expect to be busy with our family on Christmas Eve Day, I’ll prepare a post for Throwback Thursday #TBT with a few old handsaws from my families past and asked the rhetorical question to myself: “Why do you keep old handsaws that you never use?” Actually I don’t recall really needing to use […]
Filed under: Art, History, Human Interest, Personal, Photos, TBT, Woodworking by RichC | No Comments »
Tags: antique, basement, bluhm, dadc, dadh, distraction, family, handsaw, jack post, painting, playing cards, rustoleum, storage, TBT
February 13, 2020
Last week, a Jasper, Alberta family photo near a glacier for a ThrowBack Thursday #TBT post, had me sharing a few of my thoughts on climate change. I should have included another photo that had a few more from our family (especially since my sister-in-law, Lynda, just returned home from the Cleveland Clinic). The trip […]
Filed under: Archive, Personal, Photos, TBT, Video by RichC | No Comments »
Tags: 40th, alberta, anniversary, athabasca, baniff, canadian rockies, dadh, family, glacier, howard, lake louise, momh, mp4, Photos, sound of music, TBT, throwback, thursday, video
November 9, 2019
When chatting about our recent vacation to Florida with a long time customer (friend) in Akron, Ohio, he asked why we picked Delray Beach, Florida as an area to buy a condo (I detected he is beginning to think about retiring). Although I realized that I really haven’t given much thought to how we ended […]
Filed under: Archive, Memories, Personal, Photos, Sailing by RichC | No Comments »
Tags: aerial, bathroom, brenda, brenich, condo1718, delray beach, encore, florida, History, kitchen, life, Memory, remodel, retirement, richc, sailing, update, VacationOct2019
September 23, 2019
Carolyn (Aaron’s forever babysitter and family friend), Brenda, Delores (DadH‘s office manager) and my sister-in-law Chris. Hm … the word "finally" is a sensitive one for those wanting a baby verses those delaying having a family? Thankfully for my nephew Aaron (loyal Music Monday blog commenter) and his wife Lauren, the wait is over, […]
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Tags: aaron, baby, baby shower, bemus point, family, lauren, new york, shower
April 18, 2019
It is Thursday before Easter and besides thinking about a Throwback Thursday post, it is also Maundy Thursday – the day in which Christian’s commemorate the Last Supper. It also reminds me of the times we would get together with our families on or around Easter. Sometimes it was with my parents and other times […]
Filed under: Holiday, Personal, Photos, TBT by RichC | No Comments »
Tags: aaron, bathroom, condo1718, dadh, delray beach, easter, family, florida, howard, jackie, jumbotron, justin, master, maundy, minneapolis, minnesota, momh, projects, spring break, TBT, throwback, thursday, twins, vacation
March 14, 2019
Throwback Thursday posts can be interesting, especially when archiving a couple of my old photos from the early 1990s and tidbit of information that is likely not saved any place else (the horse was named Gus). Here’s a little Howard family history (my wife’s side of the family): Brenda’s grandfather, Allen George Howard died young; […]
Filed under: Archive, History, Memories, Millitary, Personal, Photos, TBT by RichC | No Comments »
Tags: allen, ancestry, archive, brenda, brocton, dadh, family, History, howard, jamestown, katelyn, mabel, momh, new york, richc, taylor, TBT
January 31, 2019
In my workshop there is a spot on the wall behind dad’s small drill press and my router table for old tools. As mentioned before, I use Brenda’s dads’ dental tools regularly and have put a few of DadH’s woodworking tools on the wall – it is too bad I passed on the dental chair. […]
Filed under: Archive, History, Memories, Personal, Photos, Tools, Woodworking by RichC | No Comments »
Tags: ancestry, box, clamps, corbett, dadc, dadh, drillpress, grandfather, hirth, holmstrom, howard, legacy, shelf, toolbox, tools, wall, woodworking, workshop
January 30, 2019
In an old spinnaker (sail) from our Thistle, I finally hauled out our larger than usual Christmas tree this past week. It was then that I realized I had neglected to archive the “Great Christmas Tree Disaster of 2018” story from December. Hm, how could I have forgotten … likely for the same embarrassing reason […]
Filed under: Archive, Holiday, Memories, Misc, Personal, Photos by RichC | No Comments »
Tags: BMW, brenda, brick, bumper, christmas, christmas tree, disaster, family, Memory, richc, Sailing Friends, spinnaker, story, taylor, x5 35d
June 19, 2018
I generally do not read longer Facebook posts, but while scanning a few friends comments on Father’s Day remembering their dads, Kathy Pangborn (good friend and neighbor of my inlaws) reposted a story that had me remembering the different father-types that I knew. Neither my mother or father-in-laws’ or mother or fathers’ parents (my grandparents) […]
Filed under: Advice, Business, Education, Financial, Human Interest, Quotes, Social Media by RichC | No Comments »
Tags: advice, consolidated, cpp, dad, Education, facebook, fathers, fathers day, hands, printing, quotes, skills, story, thoughts, work
June 10, 2018
It is hard to believe that my son Taylor is 29 years old today!?!?!? It doesn’t seem possible that he has been pretty much living on his own now for third of his life? He has certainly made us proud at the way he has grown up and handled a difficult decade that faced him […]
Filed under: Archive, Personal, Photos, Video by RichC | No Comments »
Tags: birthday, bulldozer, dadh, farmhouse, jamestown, megan, north dakota, recessioin, taylor, tootsie, williston, youtube
March 29, 2018
After noticing once again my business email box pushing the limit on storage, I did the normal "sort by size" in order to delete old and unneeded larger emails with hefty attachments. This is a common practice for me as several times each month my servers automatically back-up databases and email a .ZIP archive and […]
Filed under: Memories, Personal, Photos, TBT by RichC | No Comments »
Tags: 2009, dadh, delray beach, florida, gmail, howard, katelyn, momh, TBT
September 27, 2017
Brenda‘s dad lectured her sister Ann a decade or so ago about constantly having a “woe is me” moment. To be fair, she has a needier personality than Brenda that has a tendency to share one negative thing after another. I remember listening to him on the phone in frustration asking, “Do you have your […]
Filed under: Friends, Human Interest, Humor, Misc, Personal, Photos by RichC | 1 Comment »
Tags: brenda, complaining, dadh, family, life, perspective, richc, squirrel, stress
May 31, 2017
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Filed under: Cellphone, Holiday, Personal, Photography, Photos, Tablet by RichC | No Comments »
Tags: annalyn, facetime, iphone5s, john deere, Memorial Day, panorama, yardwork
January 25, 2017
Memorials, funerals and burials can be emotionally draining and it is hard to know just how they impact each of us … but “to the person,” those that knew mom – grandma – Frances Ann Louise Howard (Holmstrom), were without question happy and celebrating. Fran and Christians who have placed their faith in Jesus, and […]
Filed under: Obituary, Personal, Photos, Video by RichC | No Comments »
Tags: burial, dadh, family, funeral, howard, jamestown, momh, new york, obit, Obituary
January 17, 2017
My mother-in-law passed away last week … or as my good friend Pastor Keith Thomas (groupbiblestudy.com) said, "graduated." The word choice is very fitting for Mom Howard considering she has been a lifelong Christian and loved studying and memorizing the Bible. She has been looking forward to "graduating" from this temporary life on earth to […]
Filed under: Faith, Obituary, Personal by RichC | 4 Comments »
Tags: brenda, family, frances howard, momh, obit, Obituary
June 25, 2016
In rounding out and connecting the dots in a couple previous posts, I’ll summarize with a short post and what happened. When reinstalling the brake caliper slides the other day on the BMW X5 35d, I snapped off my Craftsman branded hex socket when tightening down the slide. It was careless on my part as […]
Filed under: Automotive, BMW, Diesel, Shopping, Tools by RichC | No Comments »
Tags: amazon, BMW, brakes, diesel, parts, tools, x5 35d
July 26, 2015
One of the projects coming together this past weekend was the disassembly, wire-brushing the rust (a lot), and painting of my late father-in-law’s old red Jackson lawn trailer. As mentioned previously, it was about 40 years old, well used, and had quite a bit of rust. Nevertheless, it was well made with quality steel – […]
Filed under: Archive, Misc, Personal, Photos by RichC | No Comments »
Tags: dadh, john deere, lawn, painting, project, rust, tootsie, trailer
July 25, 2015
After spending a lifetime working on cars and 30 years dealing with printing press wash-up chemicals and hand scrubs, one would think I would know a little bit about cleaning my hands? Well I do know a “little bit” but still haven’t figured out how to clean dried paint off my hands (in particular Miracle […]
Filed under: Misc, Personal, Photos by RichC | No Comments »
Tags: brenda, chriss, dadh, family, paint, project, repair, trailer, utility
July 24, 2015
Brenda and her sister Chris spent last weekend together at the family Farmhouse in western New York. They sorted through what was left from their mom and dad’s lifetime of “stuff” separating into garage sale, trash pick-up, donations and items they might still want. The later “group” grew far too large, in my opinion. Some […]
Filed under: Personal, Photos, Video by RichC | No Comments »
Tags: brenda, chair, chris, dadh, dental, dentist, dentistry, family, farmhouse, jamestown, momh
April 30, 2015
Since I’ve been negotiating these past couple of weeks in selling my mother-in-law’s farmhouse and property, it seemed appropriate to post a Throw Back Thursday (#TBT) photo of Dad Howard in his gardening attire. We are close to having a signed contract and are entering the inspections phase along with financing approval and wondering […]
Filed under: Archive, Personal, Photos, TBT by RichC | 2 Comments »
Tags: ann, chris, dadh, easter, family, farmhouse, gerber, jamestown, ny, skinner, TBT
June 23, 2014
Chris (my “hard working” sister-in-law) and I spent a few more days in Jamestown, New York and stretched out a weekend to work on my in-law’s beloved “Farmhouse.” It looks like we are finally making headway in getting it ready to show … ready or not it will be on the market. I hope whoever […]
Filed under: Archive, For Sale, Personal, Photos by RichC | 2 Comments »
Tags: dadh, family, farmhouse, jamestown, maps, momh, ny, real estate
June 14, 2013
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Filed under: Music, Personal, Photos by RichC | 1 Comment »
Tags: chris, family, momh, mp3, skinner
June 12, 2013
My sister-in-law shared some of her cellphone video with me last week at the funeral and I enjoy remembering Brenda’s dad working in the garden at the farmhouse. This one is a few year old, but he was doing what he enjoyed. Great clip Chris!
Filed under: Archive, Personal, Video by RichC | No Comments »
Tags: dad h, farmhouse, garden, jamestown, ny
June 2, 2013
Some of us are fortunate to have wise men in our lives … someone that mentors and shapes us … someone who is an example for patterning our day to day lives. I was fortunate to have one of these wise men, that being my wife’s father, Dr. Frederick A. Howard – August 24, 1925 […]
Filed under: Archive, Music, Obituary, Personal by RichC | 1 Comment »
Tags: brenda, dadh, death, eastern gate, family, fred howard, funeral, Obituary
August 24, 2012
Brenda‘s sister, Chris Skinner, escorted her father, Fred Howard, on an Honor Flight this week and visited “his” WWII memorial in Washington DC. Having had a chance to take my dad with a group of veterans in 2010 gives me insight as to what a special trip this was for them. We are getting together […]
Filed under: Millitary, Personal, Video-TV by RichC | No Comments »
Tags: father, flight, honor, Washington DC, ww2, wwii
April 25, 2011
The 2011 BMW 335d was voted the “Diesel Car of the Year” at the New York International Auto Show by readers of “The Diesel Driver” … following up the positive comment from others in prior years … like MotorTrend saying that the “BMW 335d is the best car I’ve driven in a very long time.” […]
Filed under: Automotive, BMW, Diesel by RichC | 1 Comment »
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September 17, 2010
We are all getting older and inevitably our human bodies give way to age. Some are blessed with good health for 70 or 80 years, but eventually become dependent on others. Learning to adjust is not something most are quick to accept. The days of our years are three score years and ten; and if […]
Filed under: Faith, Personal, Photos, Video by RichC | 1 Comment »
Tags: barn, dadh, family, garage, howard, jamestown, milk, momh, mp4, new york, rehab, snake