RichC | April 14, 2020
Once upon a time, families who only snail-mailed cards and letters would on special occasions, like Easter, dial their corded rotary phones and pay for an expensive long distance call in order to “Reach Out and Touch Someone” as the marketing jingle would advertise (a 1970s commercial below the break). I remembered many phone calls […]
RichC | April 12, 2020
Although Brenda and I have been regularly listening to pastors share audio messages on their podcasts or watching church services online during these trying Coronavirus days, we like many Christians, are finding it challenging to be thinking and planning for Easter? Nevertheless, the calendar indicates it is Easter Sunday 2020, so a proper “He is […]
RichC | April 11, 2020
The bookshelves have been on-again, off-again as the laborious painting and improved spring weather dictates my indoor verses outdoor activities. I did get a chance to finish the “art display area” in the center bookshelf section … and so far, so good. My plan was to create a little depth perception by bring the art […]
RichC | April 8, 2020
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RichC | April 5, 2020
Snipped an idea for the woodworking workshop that I’m planning to add to my table saw crosscut sled .. nothing complicated, but a way to use geometry in order to make the perfect 45 degree jig for cutting frames. It is a way to use perfect squares to accurately cut the 45 degree jig. Check […]
RichC | April 3, 2020
Above is a graphic sent by a friend, who knows of my long time Apple addiction … and it had me pondering the Steve Jobs vs Steve Wozniak struggle when trying to grow Apple Computer back in the early days (watch the Danny Boyle movie called Steve Jobs). One of the founders was an advocated […]
RichC | April 2, 2020
With “stay at home” orders issued for 3/4 of the U.S. population, my good friend Jeff Pitts has been obeying the directive and working from home. It is also giving him time to do those “I’ll get to it someday” chores like cleaning out a spare room and finally throwing stuff away. One of the […]
RichC | April 1, 2020
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RichC | March 29, 2020
This is a two-purpose post: A woodworking (sort of) bookshelves project archive update and shared information on a jig I made. First, the bookshelves and music room/ library painting coming along slowly. I’m bogged down with putty, sanding and painting after adding a strip light shield (wood to hide the LEDs that I’m planning to […]
RichC | March 22, 2020
We are definitely not the only ones praying a little bit more that usual nowadays while listening to those who are trying to help the country and world manage and get through the Coronavirus threat. I reluctantly worry about the elderly and less capable of fending for themselves especially if they have underlying health issue […]
RichC | March 21, 2020
The painting projects continue without a need to rush or complete anything quickly. Finished the ceiling paint, some patching and trim area and “might” paint the first coat of paint that Brenda has picked on Saturday – “Bermuda Sand” (which is more yellow than the pink sand color that comes to mind – see below). […]
RichC | March 20, 2020
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RichC | March 17, 2020
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RichC | March 5, 2020
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RichC | March 3, 2020
Let’s hope that accidents do not happen in threes? After just getting my quote in order to submit to the insurance company in order to repair our rear fence, our neighbor called to let me know that a generic white-box deliver truck (no license plate) hit our mailbox. Thankfully after looking at the damage, it […]
RichC | March 1, 2020
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RichC | February 27, 2020
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RichC | February 23, 2020
Everything seems to happen when we (or I) am out of town. From the power out and a flooded basement to accidents in our backyard (well for a couple I’ve been home). The latest happened when I was in Florida working on the boat and a sheriff deputy came knocking on the door at 5:30AM […]
RichC | February 22, 2020
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RichC | February 20, 2020
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RichC | February 19, 2020
Although I have not sought Katelyn’s approval to include her rounded “personal coffee table” or her pregnancy photo (cough, cough – one in the same) to MyDesultoryBlog, but I’m boldly going out on a limb by posting it. The longer I post daily, the more I find myself wanting to archive family milestones … as […]
RichC | February 18, 2020
Here’s a Twofer Tuesday archive from a couple weekend photos on my phone: First, I tried to use Brenda’s grandfather’s handmade, and well worn, antique miter box to cut a couple pieces of trim .. but ended up using my powered Hitachi sliding miter saw to clean up the cut instead (I did use his […]
RichC | February 17, 2020
Although watching NASCAR is not the highest priority on our list of things to do, it has been a long time mid-February favorite whether we were home, at the boat or visiting Brenda’s mom and dad years ago in Florida. This year we treated it as a Super Bowl kind of Sunday and were impressed […]
RichC | 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 […]
RichC | February 8, 2020
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RichC | February 2, 2020
I cannot imagine the anguish a parent faces when losing a child. ☹️ Our family has known the Estes as neighbors since we moved to Cincinnati. Our kids grew up with their kids. From playing in the neighborhood, to 12+ years of school together. As my son Taylor said to me when remembering Cody, “he […]
RichC | January 27, 2020
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RichC | January 23, 2020
It has taken years, but I’ve finally decided to move my woodworking bench dogs from the tool tray (see below). A bench dog is an accessory used on a woodworking workbench to allow clamping of wooden items while being worked or planed. Ever since building my work table and vices with bench dogs back in […]
RichC | January 20, 2020
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RichC | January 4, 2020
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RichC | December 27, 2019
Since I’m often asked what kind of fuel economy I’m getting on my slightly “tweaked” 2010 BMW X5 35d diesel SUV, here’s the yearly update from my log on Fuelly.com. Nothing to write home about, but then there have been far more local trips than the interstate driving a few years ago … besides, my […]
RichC | December 26, 2019
While sifting through a few old .MP4 files, I found one of my first iPhone 5 test video clips from 2012 and it had a bit of footage of my Sonex airplane project (posted a few photos back then) that I was working on a year before selling it. It was shortly before I sold […]
RichC | December 24, 2019
For some reason, the full text of this post and photo of our 2019 family Christmas tree went missing … or maybe it didn’t post to the blog? Oh well, at least here’s the archived photo of our tree:
RichC | December 24, 2019
While putting the snowblower on the John Deere this past weekend, I notice the instruction/warranty booklet for our garage door opener hanging on the unlatch rope. I’ve unlatch dozens of times, repaired the door, the opener and sensors more times that I can count … yet have never removed the booklet. It just hangs and […]
RichC | December 17, 2019
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RichC | December 12, 2019
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RichC | December 12, 2019
My nephew Aaron and long time blog reader/commenter and his wife Lauren had a baby on December 8th and all are healthy (shower in September). Brenda and I are so happy for them, and although he nameless at birth, we were excited in finally hearing his name and couple family “names” too … both last […]
RichC | December 10, 2019
After posting a photo of a table saw crosscut sled a couple weeks ago, I finally decided to finish the one I had been planning. In part because I had some extra 1/2” white finished plywood (I didn’t want to use the heavier 3/4”) and in part because I needed to cut a bunch of […]
RichC | 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 […]
RichC | December 3, 2019
The more time I spend in the basement workshop, the more I enjoy having my coffee with me and “warm.” Usually I just use an insulated stainless steel coffee container, but lately I’ve gone back to a ceramic cup so it can easily go into the microwave for warming. When sidetracked by projects or working […]
RichC | December 2, 2019
Thanksgiving dinner with the Corbett, Oostra and Ankrom familes (click for high res) It is nice to have a few holiday rituals and for us, it is a Thanksgiving family feast with my brother and his family. Brenda, in particular, has now fully taken over the setting of a nice decorative table with all the […]
RichC | November 30, 2019
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RichC | November 27, 2019
When we remodeled our kitchen in the spring of 2017, I disconnected the 40 amp 220 volt electric range that we originally had in the island, and dropped the capped wires through the floor and ceiling of my basement workshop. My intention was to eventually “drop” a 220 volt line so I would have a […]
RichC | November 26, 2019
Most men I know can rattle off a few milestone moments in their life as they bumbled their way through being a child, then teenager and finally an “on-your-own” adult. One of the organizations that once helped young men learn responsibility and integrity (and hopefully still does) was the Boy Scouts. With good leadership, most […]
RichC | November 24, 2019
While I was suppose to be cleaning up and throwing away junk that has taken over some of my basement woodworking shop, as usual ended up sidetracked in making a few jigs for my upcoming projects AND reorganized a couple of cabinets that were buried under boxes and clutter on a back wall. I moved […]
RichC | November 21, 2019
Hello World! It is frightening to think that I’ve been using computers for FORTY years and have used and have seen the slow evolution in input devices clustered around a device called the Computer Mouse. So for ThrowBack Thursday #TBT this week, the above is a photo of the original “mouse” in 1964 by Douglas […]
RichC | November 19, 2019
I spent the weekend wasting time reorganizing, sorting and cleaning up my woodworking workshop this past weekend and realizing I have a few older “semi-collectable” tools that I really should comment on … or as Brenda says, write my notes down in a book while I can still remember things. Now as I mentioned to […]
RichC | November 16, 2019
Here’s a WIRED article that made me think … although it has a misleading title line, even if that is what caught my attention and started me reading it. When does user-friendliness, algorithms and anticipatory artificial intelligence that is designed to help us make decisions, end up becoming "I don’t need to think at all" […]
RichC | November 10, 2019
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RichC | 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 […]
RichC | November 8, 2019
We often use the term “Luddite” whenever we refer to people resisting new technology or mechanization. Recently a Wall Street Journal article detailed a timeline of changes as much of the world is faced with yet another wave of robotic automation and artificial intelligence (AI) changing career and taking over many of the jobs we […]
RichC | November 7, 2019
Although we have recently returned from a nice two week vacation (Part One, Two and Three) and finishing up projects at the condo, I was reminded when looking at a post from 5 years ago for Throwback Thursday #TBT, just how relaxed we were and how much we enjoyed our time together sailing Encore (it […]
RichC | November 3, 2019
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RichC | October 27, 2019
There were a few extra photos and some video of Brenda swimming on my iPhone from our Delray Beach, Florida vacation last week, so I’ll archive them and make a Vacation Part 3 post (Part 1 and Part 2). Nothing spectacular … but viewing the video and listening to the water and wave below is […]
RichC | October 26, 2019
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RichC | October 23, 2019
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RichC | October 10, 2019
Previously I mentioned that Katelyn and Drew brought me kicking and screaming (not really) into the Fitbit “wrist device” wearing age and world. I had given up wearing a watch decades ago when I started carrying a pager. Eventually I adopted the Nextel belt holstered cellphone, then pocket folding Samsung i500 PDA phone. The new […]
RichC | October 8, 2019
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RichC | September 26, 2019
For those who follow or check on MyDesultoryBlog.com regularly, you know my daily musings are split between posts on a variety of newsy and topical interest items … and personal goings-on and project updates. This week has been pretty much all personal with a recent trip to check on Encore and work on Condo1718 updates. […]
RichC | September 25, 2019
Following up on my weekend post and a few of the projects that I’m trying to complete (or get started) during my few days in Florida is the “somewhat new to me” upholstery project. It has bogged down my to-do list schedule, but I was able to get the master bathroom corner mirrors and glass […]