The Oostra’s new house has their first Christmas tree … and a little baseball podcast for ThrowBack Thursday #TBT

| December 12, 2024

Today’s archive post will be quite the Throwback Thursday #TBT stretch … as the photos and Christmas tree subject matter are from last weekend … even though “The Longest Game” podcast forwarded by my daughter Katelyn is a baseball story from years ago (she knows I enjoy baseball). Let’s start with the baseball story from 1981 […]

Archive: Merry Christmas 2024 and a Google “add me” photo test

| December 6, 2024

The annual Corbett Christmas Letter has been reduced to the ubiquitous Christmas card printed by one of the many card producers (below). This year’s card was ordered  before our Thanksgiving famly get-together and unique Google “Add Me” AI feature used in the photo above on Drew’s new Pixel 9. Very impressive — hey, Apple, get […]

Archiving (clearing out) a few older leftover photos for #TBT

| December 5, 2024

It is the time of year to clean up my blog’s photo folder — a place where I save photos that I might want to archive on the blog. Usually there’s a reason they don’t get used, but before tossing them due to a new year, it is time to do some housecleaning. First up […]

Archive: Thanksgiving 2024 photos with our family

| December 3, 2024

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A beautiful photo of my granddaughters and their neighborhood

| November 30, 2024

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Archive: Megan, Taylor and Gigi out for a walk and Venus rising

| November 26, 2024

Nothing earth shattering, but looked up to see Venus rising on Sunday evening as I was taking out the garbage. It was beautiful in the SSW sky and far more than the iPhone photo … but it was worth posting anyway. Megan, Taylor and Gigi were out for walks on Sunday and shared a couple […]

Thoughts on owning second homes/condos and inflationary costs

| November 24, 2024

With all the expenses associated with owning a Florida condo these days (HOA monthly dues, large engineering related assessments, increases in insurance and real estate taxes, not to mention normal utilities and repairs) … I’m wondering if being an owner is worth it? Nevertheless, Brenda and I do enjoy the longer escapes these days as […]

Archive: Taylor talking with WKRC regarding Batavia Township

| November 14, 2024

After a great visit with Taylor in Florida last week for his planning conference, he’s right back into the hornet’s nest in trying to find the best way to navigate economic growth and housing development in his township. The battle lines are being drawn between fairly large housing developers and builders who are growth focused […]

Archive: More Autumn 2024 family photos and video

| November 12, 2024

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Archive: Bananas and our granddaughter broke her little toe

| November 5, 2024

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Archive: Our family is enjoying the 2024 autumn weather

| October 29, 2024

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The iPhone16, US Mobile auto top-off and bigger photos and video

| October 26, 2024

One of the biggest changes and needs now that our family of iPhones takes larger photos and video … and are now 5G capable … is the need for more data. I’m no longer satisfied with our “pooled” 6GB USMobile plan. I sort of knew this would be a problem, but for most of the […]

Woodworking Snippets: Bandsaw template tracker and Doweling

| October 20, 2024

There is probably a better way to archive tips and articles from online magazines these days (it was easier when I just cut it out of the monthly paper magazine), but until then, saving snippets and tidbits to my blog is what I’ll do, even though I have a few ideas saved in my MacBook […]

Woodworking: A couple tidbits worth saving for the workshop

| October 12, 2024

Snipping from my digital woodworking magazines definitely become a habit, although I’m not sure I’ll remember how to find them, even though they are archived on the blog (or keep myself from marking up the image with digital red marks)! 😊 Nevertheless, the one above might be useful IF I make the edge guide a […]

CBS VP Debate: Ohio Normal meets Minnesota Nice (opinion)

| October 3, 2024

Although I’ve never fancied myself a journalist or a writer, in today’s socially connected world, it is interesting to see news and opinion evolving closer to the people. Citizen journalism is really real, now that all of us can share our thoughts on a variety of subjects, not the least of which is politics.  An […]

Rainy weekend garage trailer project and iPhone macro photo

| October 1, 2024

Since it has been raining and because there was 1/2 cup of workbench top Zip Guard sealer left … and the Bame Utility Trailer was still in the garage … I decided to remove the cover in prep for raking leave and added the leftover sealer to the rail areas.  After removing the cover, I […]

Thanks Mom for everything. It’s your birthday and I miss you.

| September 29, 2024

It isn’t as if I think about missing my mom everyday, but when her birthday approaches, I definitely do. In that way we are a lot alike — remembering her missing her mom. Brenda and I often comment, “oh how my mother would love this or that” … usually when talking about preparing the table […]

Keeping track of my adult children and grandkids is a challenge

| September 25, 2024

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Taylor with a friend in Chicago and a cover for our utility trailer

| September 24, 2024

Taylor and his newlywed longtime friend, Mike, were in Chicago for the weekend and they sent me a few photos of their time together … sort of a post-wedding bachelor get together. I’d did check the Chicago Cubs – Nationals score (they lost), but it did look beautiful at Wrigley Field. I spent the weekend […]

Protecting our rear asphalt driveway by sealing it before winter and finishing the Bame Utility Trailer refresh with Oostra Oak

| September 17, 2024

It has been a couple years since we added new thin layer of asphalt on top of the existing base layer and it was starting to show signs of cracking at the edges … nothing major, but weed roots are never good. So while it is dry and before winter this year, I decided it […]

The last garden tomatoes and a workshop bar clamp rack idea

| September 15, 2024

The summer growing season is over and I’m eating the last of the tomatoes that KDAE brought from NW Ohio. They were a real treat and “all for me” since I’m the only one in the family who loves and eats tomatoes. They were so much better than store bought. Also, I know I sort […]

Archive: Weekend photos, including a Barbie Birthday Party

| September 9, 2024

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Posting way too many woodworking magazine snippets lately

| September 8, 2024

If you’ve been checking in daily, you’re likely tired of seeing woodworking ideas, tidbits and magazine clipping? I’ll try to promise that this is the last of them in my “to archive on the blog” folder for a little while.  First, the Rockler sled is something I sort of already have … but still worth […]

Capsizing Trinka triggered a traumatic memory for Katelyn #TBT

| September 5, 2024

Katelyn, my now 38 year old adult daughter, read yesterday’s wedding ring and capsized Trinka dinghy sailing memory and mentioned that I should have included her 7th grade “Time In A Bottle” artwork. She reminded me that it was a “traumatic” incident in her young life (although personally, I did feel that I had everything […]

Since today’s morning post was “family” oriented, here’s a filler

| 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 […]

Archive: Labor Day Weekend photos in Toledo with KDAE

| September 4, 2024

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Leftover August 2024 images to clear out MyCubby folder

| August 31, 2024

The folder labelled “MyCubby” on my Microsoft OneDrive is a place I collect images, links, photos, etc that might be worth looking at again … or perhaps used on the blog. Each month I try to start fresh with a relatively empty space … so to prepare for September 2024, I’ll archive a couple items […]

Woodworking project plans: A Slant Leg Coffee Table

| August 30, 2024

In scanning through a couple of “foreign” woodworking magazines, there were a couple of ideas and even a set of plans (in metric) that I decided to snip and archive.  Loved the idea above for hanging cords, etc … similar to a commercial one that I use … and a more complicated Slant Leg Coffee […]

Spent the weekend wire-brushing and painting the utility trailer

| 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 […]

A fun family weekend in the pool before school starts this week

| August 22, 2024

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Archive: Once again, a few late summer weekend update photos

| August 13, 2024

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A 1973 Cadillac Coupe Deville photo from the summer of 1980

| August 8, 2024

After noticing a ThrowBack Thursday #TBT post in the “Year(s) Ago On This Date” blog column and recently stumbling across a old automotive photo that I didn’t remember of me with the 1973 Cadillac Coupe Deville … the one that was hit by a train, well pushed off the tracks by a slow moving train. […]

Archive: KDAE vacationing in Minnesota with the Howards

| July 31, 2024

The Oostras are vacationing back in Minnesota and enjoying time “stomping” around the areas near Minneapolis (and in Wayzata) where they spent a few years early of marriage. They initially spent some time with friends “in the city” then up with cousin Justin and Katie Howard and their family of five now at at their […]

Archive: Today is for highlighting my granddaughter Ellerie

| July 27, 2024

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My brother and neighbor enjoying their retirement perch fishing

| July 24, 2024

Since the earlier post this morning was “private” … for friends and family … it seemed like a good idea to archive another “texted to me” photo from last week. My brother Ron has been enjoyed trips up to “his” new property (our old property) and reconnecting with neighbors. He sent a photo out perch […]

Archive: A couple summer family photos from last weekend

| July 24, 2024

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Found two photos of my “rebuildable” 1977 Honda Civic #TBT

| July 18, 2024

There have been several times that I wish I had photos of the cars I’ve owned and now realize that very few actually exist or have been lost. I commented to my car friends about rebuilding the 289 cubic inch V-8 engine, derusting and repainting the 4-door family car that I learned to drive on […]

A couple interesting maps: Liberty Township development and severe weather map in Iowa looks like SW Ohio

| July 10, 2024

For those of us living in the Liberty Township, Ohio area for nearly 30 years now, the development map above  probably doesn’t come as a surprise. This once rural township is far more densely populated that it once was. With that growth comes challenges of keeping the heavy traffic and commercial growth from changing what […]

Archiving photos: Our family busy doing “family stuff”

| June 27, 2024

Storm Clouds mid-June over Mankato MN  After our enjoyable and busy week with our granddaughters, I wanted to archive a few photos that have been piling up in the “maybe” for the blog folder. Above are some of the storm clouds in Minnesota that caused flooding in the midwest in mid-June — ominous! For us, […]

Archive: Summertime with Oma and Bompa – 2024 edition

| June 25, 2024

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Archiving helpful photos for a sewing leather/heavy material

| June 16, 2024

Really I’m just saving a couple of helpful photos to use when it comes to sewing heavy material or perhaps leather with the Sailrite WorkerB upgrade. It might help when remembering how to adjust the Ultrafeed sewing machine  … although I do know this, but sew so infrequently that it is easy to forget.  Knot […]

This weeks leftovers: Laundry Room Update, Lift Pump Switch, Congressional Baseball Game and WyzeCam Pet detected

| June 15, 2024

While clearing a few photos off my iPhone 7 Plus due to limited storage space this week, I decided it might be nice to archive a few photos … so “leftovers” from the week sounded like a good idea for this post. First, Brenda wanted a few new hooks for mops and things in the […]

Archive: Replaced Brenda’s older Apple Watch earlier this month

| June 13, 2024

It is shocking to count the years since I gave Brenda her first Apple Watch for Christmas in 2015 — NINE … shocker! I would like to be able to say that it actually lasted that long, but not all that long after she started wearing it, the battery “bloated” in the charger and failed. […]

Happy Birthday Taylor … a day early

| June 9, 2024

Taylor and Megan for Birthday golfing at Beckett Ridge (he worked there when he was in college) The weather was cooler than normal for a June birthday get-together for a few of our 35 year old sons’ friends, their spouses and now young families. It wasn’t a formal party per se, but it was a […]

Treasures found prepping old workbench for my granddaughters

| 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 […]

Archive: The landscaping begins at KDAE’s beautiful new house

| June 5, 2024

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Another Ridgid battery tool: A small chainsaw for trimming

| June 2, 2024

This chainsaw has been on my tool wishlist for a while and when I mentioned to Brenda that it was $50 off over Memorial Day, she told me, you should get it. This small 12 inch Ridgid Chainsaw is not the “do everything” tool or even as robust as the bigger twin battery Makita, BUT […]

More “remnants of rural” are disappearing in Liberty Twp, OH

| May 30, 2024

Another reminder that Liberty Township, Ohio is becoming less rural and a bit more suburban as the years go by. Commercial development is creeping closer to our neighborhood as the barn has been torn down after the passing of our farmer (turned doghouse builder) during COVID. ☹️  I thought for a moment that a new […]

Enjoyed the weekend with KDAE and a wonderful dance recital

| May 22, 2024

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Saved May 2024 Thunderstorm over the house video for a filler

| May 21, 2024

See below … 😉 While we were under a Tornado warning earlier this month, I was outside in the backyard watching the storms to the north of our house (over the roof). There was A LOT of lightning, but surprisingly not all that much thunder?   AND since today is my brother’s birthday, Happy Birthday […]

Groundhogs and archiving a 1983 Mustang photos for #TBT

| May 16, 2024

I don’t recall how the subject came up, but Brenda and I were talking about our first and then second house in NE Ohio … the one I have some of my fondest memories in — the kids were about our grandchildren’s age. It was located on “Ground Hog Hill” in Hudson Township when we […]

Archive: Swing/Slide repair part and meet Mackenzie Lee Howard

| May 15, 2024

This archiving of leftover weekend photos is becoming a trend on My Desultory Blog and since it is a space for me to mark events and save photos, I suppose it will continue?  Last weekend while celebrating Mother’s Day (along with my birthday) … I started pool opening process. I’m not sure how many more […]

Happy Birthday to my daughter Katelyn … how the risk tolerances and priorities have changed!

| May 14, 2024

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Happy Mother’s Day 2024 to Brenda, Katelyn and ALL Moms

| May 12, 2024

While picking out a card for “the mother of my grown children” this year, I couldn’t help notice how inflation has impacted the price of greeting cards. Perhaps when I was in the business of putting ink on paper, the price per sheet as it were, I wasn’t really given too much thought to each […]

Archive: The Northern Lights were to beautiful not to include

| May 11, 2024

On Friday May 10, 2024, I started noticing the beautiful northern lights (aurora borealis) photos showing up on my X.com social media feed. They were so impressive that I told Brenda that we would need to go outside in the evening. While glancing at my skywatching info, I also notice that the International Space Station […]

Thanks all for reminding me that I’m another year older 🙃

| May 8, 2024

Late spring yard work and continued Kubota diagnosis and repairs continued over the weekend, but on the 7th, another year for me is in the books; can’t say I’m feeling all that different? But THANK YOU to my family and friends for wishing me a Happy Birthday … and some doing the traditional Howard family […]

A leftover Spring 2024 Vacation photo from Delray Beach, FL

| May 7, 2024

The sunsets across rural Ohio never really get old. I’ve driven home to Cincinnati this time of evening more times than I care to remember while coming home from NE Ohio … but those days are now behind me. This time it was returning from a spring vacation in April and I realized that there […]

No surprises after Brenda finally took her Ancestry DNA test

| April 28, 2024

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Zillow lists “Pending Sale” on the property where I grew up

| April 27, 2024

Towards the end of last year, I added a post titled “Semi-Depressing reminiscing about my childhood home” for Throwback Thursday #TBT in December 2023. A Zillow For Sale listing had me remembering good times AND a not so good photo that did not make me smile (see link). My childhood home on Lake Erie in […]

I have finally gone “Full Howard” (an inside family joke) #TBT

| April 18, 2024

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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