RichC | April 20, 2019
It is great to see our kids squeezing in vacations and enjoying all the natural beauty our country has to offer. This past week, Katelyn, Drew and Annalyn visited “another” US National Park, this time Yosemite National Park in California. It looked like a great time! Click for a larger map and definitely click for […]
RichC | April 19, 2019
After a first cutting of the backyard, the flowering phlox and Redbud trees make even a cold and gloomy “Good Friday” worth taking a panorama photo. But let’s keep our focus on what Jesus did for us and the reason we refer today as “GOOD Friday” – I like what Rev Franklin Graham shared on […]
RichC | April 19, 2019
All who have been through computer and cellphone issues know what a headache little glitches can become. For me, ever since having my battery replaced on my iPhone 7-plus back in January, the front facing microphone has not worked. After a couple back and forth evening phone calls with Apple Support, we set up an […]
RichC | 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 […]
RichC | April 12, 2019
The “customer experience” (a marketing buzz-term nowadays) can make or break companies. Some do it right, others fall on their face early in their start-up cycle … and others like Ebay ($EBAY) and Paypal ($PYPL) have employees, customer service departments and management issues dragging their company down … yes, this is going to be a […]
RichC | April 9, 2019
There aren’t many things that makes a mom and dad prouder than realizing their parenting efforts have paid off. We are now regularly seeing our children as productive professional adults and realizing that our being positive examples, and prioritizing school and providing a college education, has paid off. Besides Katelyn and husband Drew being accomplished […]
RichC | April 3, 2019
Just marking time with our family’s goings-on. Taylor and Megan were invited down to vacation for a week with a friend who’s family owns a home in the Bahamas. I’m not sure many of us would turn that down? It looks like they are having a great time. In the meantime, Katelyn and Drew stretch […]
RichC | April 2, 2019
After a weekend trip to Encore in Florida, one would think that I would be totally rejuvenated? Unfortunately I’m feel further behind and less rested than when I left? Perhaps it is age or maybe just the long drive, but I’m tired and worn out. On the bright side, it was at least good to […]
RichC | March 30, 2019
While working on the “bird away boxes” last weekend, the spring weather warmed improved enough at least for a day in order to start a fiberglass column repair (needed for curing). The wind blew enough a few weeks ago to toss items around enough that a crack and a chunk of plastic was broken out […]
RichC | March 28, 2019
A John Cougar Mellencamp post a couple weeks ago had me remembering “my” small town of Sidney, Ohio and four of my high school friends from the late 1970s, hence the Throwback Thursday #TBT. I mentioned the Mellencamp Music Monday post to my friend Jeff a couple days later and the tie-in with Sidney (see […]
RichC | March 27, 2019
A couple of decades ago I suffered from Ménière disease (Ménière’s disease) and struggled to find treatment and relief from the miserably vertigo episodes. One does not understand how debilitating and miserable that this be, so much so that any potential treatment, regardless of the risk, seemed worth it at the time. In my case, […]
RichC | March 26, 2019
After mentioning a distraction in working on my weekend projects last week, here was the project that was first on the list … something to deter the robins. My “keep the birds away” boxes to replace my yearly plastic coffee cans … and two of them with funky wires (photo left – I’ll have to […]
RichC | March 25, 2019
Remembering Indiana Wants Me by Canada’s R Dean Taylor for Music Monday has more to do with me remembering “radio” when I was a boy. I’ve mentioned my interest and teenage hobby of shortwave radio and follow through of amateur radio (Ham) years later, but left out nighttime “clear channel” AM band radio listening. Considering […]
RichC | March 23, 2019
Although I’m fond of shopping online for convenience, selection and to compare prices … I’m becoming increasingly frustrated with accuracy in fulfillment of merchandise being shipped by “prime” but from an third party vendor. In a recent order, I not only received the wrong product, but also an obvious opened and returned product (the correct […]
RichC | March 22, 2019
There is isn’t anything wrong with my current 2014 Apple iPad, it is just getting older as far as technology goes, and is a little sluggish (or so it seems). It is still the single most used tech device that I have … and the reason I’ll likely replace it with another when the time […]
RichC | March 21, 2019
My friend Jeff Pitts has been my closest friend ever since our college years at Ohio Northern University (also the only guest blogger so far). Besides college, he was on my bachelor party trip, years and years of hiking and camping … including a great trip to the Canadian Rockies with my son Taylor, who has […]
RichC | March 19, 2019
Nothing like getting bogged down in wasting a weekend trying to repair a quartz clock that should just be replaced! I had the best of intentions on Saturday morning as I was up early and had my weekend project list ready to start. Initially I started to organize my workbench after ordering new bearings and […]
RichC | March 18, 2019
Here’s an Eric Carmen song (Make Me Lose Control – 1988) for Music Monday with a personal connection based on where we lived in the 1980s. Brenda and I were talking about my blog and the fact that I include music with the occasionally a memory that it triggers. She wondered if I included Eric […]
RichC | 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’s 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; […]
RichC | March 13, 2019
With a short video clip of Annalyn dancing on Saturday, I’m going to tie Monday’s music “story” and the birthday party post together, if possible … although if this were gears, they would not mesh! On our drive home from Perrysburg on Saturday, Brenda and I discussed just how much my mom would have enjoyed […]
RichC | March 12, 2019
We celebrated our granddaughter Annalyn’s second birthday with the family at Katelyn and Drew’s house in Perrysburg this past weekend. Like last year, her birthday made a great opportunity to get both the Corbett and Oostra families together at the same time … Katelyn could not have married into a better family as they are […]
RichC | March 11, 2019
Surprised even myself that I’ve not made a Music Monday post highlighting music from John Cougar Mellencamp since my parents square danced in the 1990s with his mother and father, Marilyn and Richard.
RichC | March 5, 2019
Where has this year, and the past TWO YEARS, gone? It seems like my granddaughter Annalyn just turned ONE, and now she is TWO already! We will be celebrating with the family in a few days, but sang her Happy Birthday with Alexa’s help on their Amazon Echo Monday morning (March 4th). She is indeed […]
RichC | March 3, 2019
But before the “six degrees of separation” reference (see below), how do you stack up to the WSJ survey of “workers benefiting from a strong U.S. labor market?” One thing that seems to remain consistent over the years is that an education benefits you when it comes to jobs and compensation in the long haul, […]
RichC | March 2, 2019
There are still exciting adventures ahead … but as someone who always has a plan, and dreams ambitiously, I’m detecting my life plans are changing … again. Dreams are good for the soul IMHO, so as long as ones asperations can be modified when life changes. A reality check needs to trigger flexibility in the […]
RichC | February 27, 2019
Since printing presses (and bindery equipment) is in my DNA, I can’t help but have a soft spot for this guy tweaking his equipment to spit out paper airplanes. Personally I would rather … and remember many-a-late nights … calculating $$$ as our sheet-fed offset presses mesmerizingly crank out piles of paper. 🙂
RichC | February 24, 2019
Brenda and I have been eating at The Spinning Fork Restaurant in Fairfield, Ohio since even before we moved to the Cincinnati area – was our favorite restaurant. Our family grew up enjoying their delicious food and personal warmth, something that I think only exists at locally owned establishments. We are hoping new owners will […]
RichC | February 21, 2019
With nearly all states offering concealed carry permit reciprocity with Ohio, I’m no longer going to renew my Florida CCW license. It seems like just a waste of money and bureaucratic duplication. Florida always did work well with an Ohio CCW, but there were a combination of states that I drove through between Ohio and […]
RichC | February 19, 2019
After working on both the condo guest bathroom and kitchen last year in Delray Beach, Florida, I’m hoping to work on the master bathroom when we vacation this year. Our renters have emailed just how pleased they are with the new updates and suspect they will rent again in 2020? At one time I planned […]
RichC | February 16, 2019
Another wonder day spent with the ones I love, and a little one who definitely returns the love; now that’s the way to enjoy a Valentine’s Day! Brenda and I headed to Katelyn and Drew’s in Perrysburg this past week and spent Valentine’s Day with Annalyn. I of course played the entire day, while Brenda, […]
RichC | February 14, 2019
It may be a quirky Valentine’s Day gift, but Brenda tossed our alarm clock of 36+ years into the trash a couple months ago saying, “I don’t trust it anymore.” I was relatively happy to see it go since the “honk, honk, honk” of the alarm was the most annoying alarm ever. Besides, I’ve been […]
RichC | February 11, 2019
There is probably a name for them, although I’m not sure what it is … but my nephew Aaron always seemed to me to be that guy who missed his era, particularly in music taste? Last week he commented that my “taxing wireless plans” blog post deserved Taxman by the Beatles to be included on Music […]
RichC | February 4, 2019
While chatting with my son Taylor over the weekend about the terrible news regarding the killing of a law enforcement officer in the county where he works (depressing), we discussed his career options again. His job is currently to his liking, but the challenge and opportunity for advancement and salary improvement is dependent on seniority […]
RichC | February 1, 2019
Ugh … still waiting for my results! One of my gifts for Christmas 2018 was an Ancestry.com DNA kit, so I quickly sent my sample in for genotyping … and from noting the delay, so did about a million others! I’m anxious to compare my results with Katelyn and Taylor (and my brother), but at […]
RichC | 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. […]
RichC | 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 […]
RichC | January 27, 2019
After finally removing my built-in radial arm saw from my workbench, I was able to rework the area attached to my workbench in order to fit my “somewhat new” 12” Hitachi Miter Saw. With this new sliding miter saw, I no longer have a need for bulky power tool duplication, and as a workshop accumulates […]
RichC | January 26, 2019
Oh do I miss seeing my little Annalyn, although we did have a FaceTime this week when Oma (Brenda) was up in Perrysburg babysitting before heading to the 2019 Geico U.S. Figure Skating Championships with Katelyn. They have enjoyed this before and know it is a great mother-daughter bonding time. For me, it is time […]
RichC | January 24, 2019
Today would have been my dad‘s 90th birthday. Here is something he would have enjoyed… With it being so cold this week, it was a good time to be working in the basement workshop in the evenings. Besides working on getting my Hitachi Miter Saw fitted to my workbench and dust collection for a new bookshelves […]
RichC | January 19, 2019
Brenda and I often reminisce with later-in-life retrospection as to our life vs work balance and decisions we made when having careers and a family. We have concluded, in hindsight of course, that it could not have been more perfect for us. Couples of every generation have their own struggles with finding that balance; we […]
