Megan, Taylor and Gigi … and Tootsie to make it #TBT


May 25, 2023

It looks as if the dog Megan found a month or so ago … and tried to find its owner (it was probably abandoned) … has now found a new home with Taylor and Megan. They have named her Gigi. Since both Megan and Taylor have grown up with dogs, perhaps it is no surprise […]

It was hard to say goodbye to our wonderful dog Tootsie


November 14, 2015

Those who have lost a family dog probably know what the days are like shortly after a pet is gone. My daily routine is so engrained that I habitually look for our dog Tootsie at the door (I still think I see her peeking in sometimes) or to be at my side … usually waiting […]

Unfortunately I’ve had Tootsie’s age wrong all these years


October 5, 2015

  According to my records, we call October 5th Tootsie’s birthday … so Happy Birthday to “this man’s” best friend. It is possible to be off a few days when knowing a dogs birthday, but unfortunately I’ve had her age off for several years now – she is 17 (again)! Whoops … I added a […]

Happy Birthday to our aging pup – Tootsie is 17 today


October 6, 2014

It is shocking that our Australian Blue Heeler Cattle Dog is still hanging in there after 17 years of loyal companionship. Wow … that getting up there for this breed … or any dog. Our Tootsie is deaf (kind of like her owner) and  her eyesight is beginning to fail as well. Her hip displasia […]

Happy Birthday … our Tootsie is 15 years old


October 5, 2012

Sophie Tucker: This ‘Survivor Dog’ reminds me of Tootsie


October 6, 2010

While celebrating our dog Tootsie’s 13th birthday on Tuesday – she’s a teenager (born: 10/5/1997) – I caught the last few minutes of an Animal Planet program “Weird, True and Freaky – Lost and Found.” I remember mentioning the story on my blog about a cattledog that fell off of a sailboat and survived on a […]

Interesting. Tootsie’s breed is on the top 12 Mens’ dogs list


July 27, 2010

Although the article is from last year, my son noticed that our Australian Cattle Dog / Blue Heeler made the top 12 mens’ dogs list in Men’s Journal magazine (Below – Sept 4, 2009 p.56). There is certainly some accuracy to the characteristics, although I’m not sure how well our dog would do on a […]

Archive: Gigi, Creative Rainbow artwork and Ilia Malinin skating


March 26, 2024

As has become a routine, I’m archiving a couple family weekend photos. First, last week was Gigi’s rescue day (Taylor and Megan’s dog). It was in 2023 that they found her and after attempting to find the owner by posting signs etc … although they suspected she was abandoned after having puppies … adopted her […]

The coyotes in southwestern Ohio are healthy and active


February 13, 2021

We live in a fairly developed area and yet the variety of animals surviving amidst the traffic and people continues to amaze me. When we built in Liberty Township, Ohio in the mid-1990s you would have called our area “developing but rural.” Now, there is no question we are suburban and “in my opinion” … […]

We love having our photo albums on the Echo Show #TBT


January 21, 2021

Both Brenda and I enjoy the hundreds (if not thousands?) of photos from our albums and digital archives that I’ve uploaded to the the photo section of the Amazon Prime storage cloud. We likely enjoy it more since it sits on our kitchen countertop (great for Alexa Echo messages to Annalyn and Ellerie too). So […]

When is it time to say goodbye to family pets? #PumpyUmpy


February 15, 2020

While emailing my daughter this week about taking her “long living” bunny, Pumpy Umpy to the vet (injury and can’t move his leg), I mentioned that I eventually had to take Tootsie to the Butler County Humane Society as a way to prep for her eventual decision. I ended up seeing this “Keep in touch” […]

Archive: Once upon a time, I owned a Bobcat 743 #TBT


December 5, 2019

While searching for a photo of an accident when a helicopter landed in our backyard, I ran across a photo of one of the “tools” I miss the most: a Bobcat 743 purchased when we built our house back in 1995-96. I did the same thing with a more powerful tractor besides our John Deere […]

A pair of large healthy howling coyotes are hanging around


November 13, 2019

For years in our increasingly populated (with people) Liberty Township, Ohio community has had a fair amount of wildlife roaming our neighborhoods. I’ve commented several times before and have never really been concerned when the critters are of the fox and smaller variety. Raccoons are still my least favorite, but those pesky chipmunks have recently […]

A final 3-day Labor Day 2019 weekend photos update


September 4, 2019

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Spent time chatting rather than finalizing the days work


February 2, 2019

One never knows who you will offend and who you will connect with when posting on an open social network, but Friday I had an enjoyable back and forth with Troy from Missouri. He is a like-minded political conservative, a patriot (a Navy veteran who served on the USS Stonewall Jackson) and seemed to also enjoy […]

Security LED floodlights from the hardware store discount bin


December 11, 2018

Who doesn’t fall for the “treasures” found in the hardware store discount bins? I’m always looking for a “good buy” when I’m walking through the hardware store … and such was the case in seeing this outdoor LED floodlight. The twin incandescent floodlights that were on the back of the pool house garage for security […]

What kind of rodent and varmint traps do you prefer?


October 7, 2018

Each year about this time, rodents and varmints are looking at our garage and house as a place to call home when the weather cools. So I’m usually trying to stay ahead of them by sealing up and keeping the garage doors closed more often (challenging when the weather is so nice). The bigger varmints […]

Happy Birthday Taylor – What a difference 4 years can make


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 […]

How many different kinds of critters?


October 8, 2017

While trying to keep the raccoons from “moving in” as the weather cools, I’ve been a little too successful recently. The past weeks score has been 2 raccoons, 2 opossums and a cat (second time for feral cat). This guy sure can jump! I was going to comment that we’ve seen an increase in number […]

More Power: Bigger batteries for the Rat Zapper mousetrap


September 25, 2017

Sort of laughing at myself after running out of smaller AA batteries for my Rat Zapper “electric zapping mousetrap.” Yes it would have been simpler to run to the store (or remember when I was out) to pick up “another” set of batteries for the trap, but then what fun is that? Instead Brenda was […]

Put out some baby powder to see what is sneaking around


June 17, 2017

The population of rodents and critters has risen in the years we’ve been living in Liberty Township, Ohio. We have either encroach on the critters … or more likely encroached on the predators of the critters. In either case, we have more and more of them in our yard and boldly closing in on the […]

Pop up reminder on my calendar that today was a birthday


October 5, 2016

Google calendar has automatically added a few important annual events to my calendar (my settings), but unfortunately it is not artificially intelligent enough to remove or delete. Today I was sent a reminder that we normally celebrate our late dog Tootie’s birthday on October 5th. She is missed and I often catch what I thought […]

How many times did our dog go in and out?


January 3, 2016

The long holiday weekend with decent weather gave me a chance to knock out a few chores. One was to clean and close up Tootsie‘s dog door. I realized that over her 17 year life that she was in and out of this Plexidor opening a couple dozen times a day … at least! It’s […]

Dad Howard would be pleased – reviving his old lawn trailer


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 – […]

The Rat Zapper: A better mousetrap, but a bit more expensive


July 14, 2015

It really works! The “new to me” Rat Zapper Classic RZC001 mousetrap did its job in our poolhouse/workshop last night. After baiting the little “garage gizmo” with a few nuggets of Tootsie’s dog food, it “caught” a first mouse in what I hope will be many. It’s an interesting gizmo in that converts 4-AA batteries […]

Spending Saturday afternoon with grandpa


April 19, 2015

My son Taylor was home from North Dakota for a few days and besides reconnecting with a bunch of his friends in revitalized urban Cincinnati, he spent Saturday afternoon with me in Sidney visiting with my dad. Grandpa gave Taylor the tour of his new “assisted living” senior home, Lane Park, and we has some […]

Those pesky geese are looking for a place to lay their eggs


April 7, 2015

It’s the time of year when our neighborhood ducks and geese look for a place to nest, while being pretty annoying … especially when depositing their “lovely droppings” all over the driveway, road and OUR ROOF. Who knows why our dog Tootsie thinks they are “dog treats,” but just like worms after a rain, she […]

Clearing snow again and again this February weekend


February 22, 2015

  As predicted, we pick up our share of snow in the Cincinnati area on Saturday. I was hoping to make it through the winter without having to put the chains and snowblower on the old John Deere, but realized Friday night that it was not to be. Thankfully all operated as it was suppose […]

A frequent question: What about an Australian Cattle Dog?


August 6, 2014

I recently chimed on a forum question regarding dogs for sailboats and a member wanting input on an Australian Cattle Dog. Since we’ve had Tootsie for 16 years now (below), I felt qualified to offer an opinion … besides I wanted an excuse to archive her recent photo. Our “beast” has been a wonderful addition […]

Loafing … or living a dog’s life


June 24, 2014

Our dog Tootsie is content to sleep most of her day away on the cement floor rather than patrolling the property as she did years ago. I suppose having failing eyes, being deaf and nearly 16 earns her the perquisite of  spending hot summer days lazing on the cool garage floor? (she didn’t even wake […]

Opened the pool just in time for the ducks to enjoy


May 4, 2014

There was a day when Tootsie (now 15 years old) would not have approved of ducks in the swimming pool … but nowadays she doesn’t even put in the effort to bark, let alone give chase. How times have changed.

The winter that will not end adds another inch of snow


April 15, 2014

From weekend spring brush clearing to snow. It doesn’t look as if the 2013-1024 winter wants to leave? I was out feeding Tootsie this Tuesday morning in just a sweatshirt, and although it wasn’t necessarily springtime warm, it wasn’t really “wintery cold” either. The fresh overnight snow was wet enough for packing so it gave […]

Valentine’s Day and winter in the eastern half of the U.S.


February 15, 2014

  OK … enough already! Winter continues to blast most of us in the east and has been particularly brutal for those in the SE generally immune to heavyt ice and snow. Here in Cincinnati we’ve had our share of cold weather and a lot more snow than usual … and it has even been […]

Powering up a Yaesu FT-2900 on a dark and dreary night


October 31, 2013

This Halloween evening is indeed dark and dreary as the wind is whistling and blowing rain nearly sideways. The garage door was left open (by me) and has puddled to the point Tootsie’s cushions (bed) is damp … which makes the entire garage smell like wet dog. But that’s not the point of this evening […]

Sending Taylor off to North Dakota to start his first real job


September 20, 2013

Taylor left at about 6AM this Friday morning with a U-haul trailer full of belonging to start his new job and make his mark on the world. The drive to Williston, North Dakota will take him to his halfway point in Minneapolis tonight where he will meet-up and stay with his long time friend Alicia […]

Branch trimming the easy way – send Taylor up the tree!


July 30, 2013

I watched Taylor climbing pine trees in order to cut of a few dead branches and started to wonder if he was going to cut the ones below him … the ones he needed to climb back down. Besides the odds and end chores around the house and yard, we bought new tires for Brenda’s […]

Tech Friday: Protect your expensive phone for resale sake


January 11, 2013

Here’s a helpful “Tech Friday” post that is really just some smart advice – it has nothing to do with the photo of Tootsie above except that it was taken with the iPhone 5. Anyway, a client of mine regularly upgrades his high end phone (and now his iPad) every 2 years as permitted by […]

Birds often sit on our roof, but rarely Great Blue Herons


November 6, 2012

Our resident Great Blue Heron has decided to take up a new perch which irritates our dog Tootsie to no end. I’m not particularly happy with the dropping on the roof either, but having a large bird like this sitting on one’s roof does make for an impressive sight when driving up the driveway (unlike […]

Video: Australian Cattle Dogs


December 12, 2011

During a little channel surfing this weekend spotted an interesting and educational segment on Australian Cattle Dogs. It interested me because our 14 year old Tootsie is Blue Heeler and the comments were very characteristic of her breed. She is a good pet, but I can attest to the warning regarding “need for exercise” and […]

Fooling around with the Kodak Playsport Zx5 in camera mode


November 1, 2011

Kodak Playsport Zx5 macro focus testing (click for larger) While shooting some video with the Brenda’s Kodak Playsport Zx5 this past weekend I thought about the excellent autofocus camera on the new iPhone 4s and decided to test the macro focus on our my wife’s all-weather camcorder; if the lighting and distance is right, it […]

Sorry for not posting


May 12, 2011

Been sick the last couple of days. (old TootsieTootsie photo) Posted via email from RichC’s posterous

Hare raising day just doing backyard chores


July 3, 2010

I’m finish up a few backyard chores and am thinking about my daughter coming home for the weekend; she reminded my that her pet “rabbit” would be in tow. In thinking about this, I realized just how many rodents we have breeding in our yard this year. I don’t think we’ve ever had so many […]

Living with a large coyote or coywolf in the neighborhood


October 30, 2009

My apology for the lousy Palm Pre ‘enlarged’ photo of a large coyote who has been roaming our Liberty Township Ohio neighborhood.  It has been a source of concern for neighbors and pet owners  that we’ve had a few more coyotes than normal … and that this particular large male has decided to make his […]

Enjoying a fire on the back porch & the new Palm Pre


June 7, 2009

Enjoying a fire on the back porch and a some relaxation in the hot tub after a couple of graduation parties. Of course the highlight of my day was picking up the highly anticipated Palm Pre smartphone as a replacement to my Treo 700p. My first impression is WOW! … followed by a less enthusiastic […]

The vegetable garden is half planted and the flowers are blooming


May 22, 2009

I was able to get some of the vegetable garden planted this past week and fenced in order to protect the tender plants from the ravenous bunnies we have around our house. One would think that Tootsie, our Australian Blue Heeler could defend the property, but the rabbits seem to populate despite her efforts to […]

A sheep herding online video worth sharing


March 18, 2009

There is no way to get my ‘herding dog to do this, but I’m going to make her watch it anyway! 😉 Still, the online video is too cool to  not post while I stop for lunch today!

Not much ambition to speak of …


July 6, 2008

I’ve ‘wonderfully wasted’ the Fourth of July weekend relaxing around the house, although I did take the time to paint the kitchen and do a few repairs; nothing too strenuous I might add. Our dog Tootsie did the same, as the warm weather has turned her from a rambunctious ‘herding’ dog to a ‘backporch potato’ […]

How many Raccoons in a litter?


June 8, 2008

The challenge of removing raccoons from our attic continues as varmit number 5 has been trapped today. (click above ‘texturized’ image for real photo) I’ll continue to reset the trap, but wonder just how many babies are in this litter. There have been three babies so far, plus two adults. See earlier post. I’m beginning […]

Busy getting ready for Graduation


May 29, 2008

My son graduates high school on Saturday so we are busy prepping for open house and family. The raccoon is gone, one “dead” smelly baby has been dug out of the insulation in the garage and another was treed last night by Tootsie (probably will try and reenter the house again? All in all I […]

Raccoon troubles


May 27, 2008

Another year … and another family has figured out how to get into our house — an animal family that is. We’ve had birds in the attic and raccoons once before, but this guy has been a bit more challenging to trap. I’ve moved my live trap in different places around the roof line (where […]

Enjoying my last days with “The Mug”


January 20, 2008

Time is running out if you want to rescue “the Mug” since there are only a couple days left to place your bid on EBay. (donations to benefit RHM) Who will “win” the rights to my pouting sister-in-law’s favorite UDF coffee mug? This well seasoned UDF Mug has kept my coffee warm for couple months […]

My dog brought me a Father’s Day gift


June 17, 2007

First let me wish all the dads a Happy Father’s Day. Let’s just hope that all dads get the special gift I did from their pets. My pooch, Tootsie, decided to bring me another unique specie. She has brought home and rolled in most of the normal dead animals: rabbits, dead cats, raccoons, skunks, squirrels, […]

The “Stare Down” ends in tragedy


May 7, 2006

This weekend has been a beautiful one in southwestern Ohio — so nice that I didn’t do much more than check email once … no work, no blogging or surfing the net. I’ve forgotten what it was like living in the time BC. (Before Computers) So without any additional excuse, the post today will be […]

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