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
April 1st is usually a day reserved for lighthearted jokes (April Fools’ Day), but the mood is just not there this year … at least for me. Thankfully we are still operating Coronavirus-free as a family, but no doubt as this pandemic makes its way across the country and envelopes the world, someone in the […]
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 26, 2020
When I was growing up, I had a passbook savings account that was a teaching tool used by my parents to instill responsible money management. I deposited a small amount in it every few months or so when my mom would go to the bank and got my passbook stamped with an update as to […]
RichC | March 24, 2020
It has been good to be distracted with a painting and bookshelf project while "staying at home" these last few days. Unfortunately the COVID19 Coronavirus doesn’t look to be disappearing or dissipating as quickly as we were all hoping … so it looks as if we’ll be struggling to figure out how to not only […]
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
It is a Friday personal archive catchup for MyDesultoryBlog. One of the greatest things about living in today’s connected and technological time is that it is easy for today’s parents to share even minor milestones with grandparents. Between receiving daily text messages with photos, Alexa Echo voice messages and “hearing” my granddaughter’s voice (and what […]
RichC | March 19, 2020
Every once in a while MyDesultoryBlog’s “Year(s) Ago On This Day" script pops up something that shocks me. It is hard to believe we donated Brenda‘s 1998 Toyota Rav4 back in 2016? It does not seem that long … but "life moves pretty fast …" as the Ferris Bueller line goes. So I’ll repost one […]
RichC | March 17, 2020
With the Coronavirus news sending the entire world into chaos, about the only thing sane to do is to hunker down and ignore the mayhem. “Woulda, coulda, shoulda” doesn’t do much now … I’m just thankful to have mostly invested in sensible companies that hopefully will weather the storm. Only time will tell. So in […]
RichC | March 12, 2020
Question: How old do you have to be to identify this widely recognized sound from our automotive past? What is this sound? My first “real job” was as a Shell gas station attendant when I turned 16 years old (although cut lawns, did odd jobs and worked as “boy” labor for a commercial fishing […]
RichC | March 5, 2020
Guess who’s birthday it was yesterday? ==> Annalyn’s !!! It is hard to believe our granddaughter is 3 years old? She is growing up so fast. Brenda and I visited in Perrysburg a few days ago and semi-celebrated Annalyn’s birthday with a couple gifts, but yesterday also enjoyed singing Happy Birthday on Facetime. We watched […]
RichC | March 1, 2020
It is well past time for me to actually post and archive proud grandma and grandpa photos of our new granddaughter, Ellerie. Brenda and I had a smile filled day holding her and admiring what a great mom and dad that Katelyn and Drew are. While Brenda spent most of her time holding our newest […]
RichC | February 27, 2020
Six years ago, which seems like yesterday (considering everything that has happened), I recalled and blogged on my first journaling in 1977 noting that the focus was on planning my life around sailing – to quote George Bernard Shaw, “Youth is wasted on the young.” The reference was that the number of posts on MyDesultoryBlog […]
RichC | February 26, 2020
Old verse New Sperry Topsiders for 2020 Although I’ve needed a new pair of Sperry Topsiders for quite some time now, I was disappointed in that the shoe was not made the same as a previous version. I’ve had over a dozen boat shoes in my lifetime, but only the Sperry brand in recent years. […]
RichC | February 22, 2020
Thursday night (February 20, 2020 ) Drew and Katelyn knew it was time, so they packed up and took Annalyn over to Drew’s parents, which was the plan. They arrived at the hospital about 10:30 PM with very little time to spare and Katelyn immediately gave birth to an 8 lb 3 oz baby girl […]
RichC | February 20, 2020
Brenda and I are praying that all is well, but I suspect BO#2 is just a little too comfortable. Our Taylor came 2 weeks late, so a little bit after his due date does not surprise us. BabyOostra #2’s due date was yesterday and Katelyn “thinks” she is holding out for the weekend, but something […]
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 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” […]
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
It was a positive week for me with the highlight spending Wednesday evening with Katelyn and Drew and Thursday babysitting Annalyn in Perrysburg and spending the day with my granddaughter Annalyn. She is growing up so fast, but makes me truly feel loved. My big concern is whether I will have enough “love” leftover for […]
RichC | February 7, 2020
The week started with heartache. A funeral for our neighbors son. That was followed by my friend Jeff heading to be with his dad’s wife Thelma in Orlando after a fall. (his dad is 93 and she is 90). It looks as if Jeff with be soon trying to figure out their care and living […]
RichC | February 6, 2020
It has been a shockingly mild winter, at least in Cincinnati this year. Generally I don’t put the snow blower on the John Deere 330 tractor until it is needed, yet this year I prepared early … and may have frightened the snow away? Having a winter without much snow is not totally unheard of, […]
RichC | February 4, 2020
A week or so ago, I mentioned that my woodworking tools were often in the way when sticking out of the tool tray on my work table. It is nice not to have tools above the surface as I’m often rotating a larger project. So I added a little side “holster” for the bench dogs […]
RichC | January 30, 2020
Encore has battery power again, Alleluia! After fiddling around with dying and dead batteries on the boat for the past year, I finally broke down and yanked out the 3 deep cycle AGM 105 Amp Hour batteries. I did a little rewiring and strapped down 2 new DEKA-made batteries this past weekend ($253 ea). The […]
RichC | January 27, 2020
Last week I was exchanging jabs back and forth with my best friend Jeff (in photo on right) and realized it has been nearly 40 years since I took this photo. He was sitting in the kitchen of our Ada, Ohio apartment playing chess with one of my roommates, Jerry Moody (on left). The photo […]
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 21, 2020
Although mentioned in publications before (here’s an older article), I always smile when I see the Little Tikes Cozy Coupe in automotive stories. In part, because the car is not what people envision of when they read “World’s Best-Selling Car,” but also because the manufacturer, Little Tikes, was founded in Aurora, Ohio (where I worked […]
RichC | January 17, 2020
Back in the late 1980s when I was starting in the commercial printing and eventually ‘small time’ publishing business (Consolidated Printing and Publishing Co), I didn’t realize how far ahead of the game we were when focusing on the subscription model. Early on we were able to capitalize on few people in the printing industry […]
RichC | January 16, 2020
While soring through my office file cabinet to make room for more current folders, I ran across an old lease contract and photo from an “almost happened” business decision. It would have been a decision and a location move that may have changed our future and had ripple effects even for the lives of my […]
RichC | January 15, 2020
A year or so ago, I “was” planning to give the Amazon Key service a try by having shipments delivered to the condo in Florida when we are not there. So I purchase a smart lock and then realized that Amazon didn’t offer Key delivery services in Delray Beach. I sent it back as I […]
RichC | January 12, 2020
Being young, and someone who looked to be vying to be listed in this year’s Darwin Award, had me telling this worker, on a questionable set ladder, that he may not be as invincible to injury as he thinks? (he said to me, “oh, I’ve done this before”) We noticed a bit of water seeping […]
RichC | January 4, 2020
Our family’s 2019 Christmas celebration this year was over New Year’s eve and day, as is our rotation (currently we rotate every other year, but who knows what the future holds?) We were all able to schedule the time off together and enjoyed getting together to exchange presents. Brenda and I had a special treat […]
RichC | December 29, 2019
While looking forward to this week, I was reminded by a tweet, that my thought process has been too centered on self in anticipation of celebrating our family Christmas on New Year’s Day. I focused on finishing my Christmas woodworking project gifts (more later) and wrapping of presents. I’ve also been looking forward to picking […]
RichC | December 28, 2019
Instead of cleaning the workshop as I was planning, I ended up sidetracked. Nothing new about that. Since each time I pull the plywood box full of “short cuts and scraps” out from next to the miter saw, it is as if I’m dragging a 100 pound box with sandpaper on the bottom across the […]
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 23, 2019
Pre-posting this Music Monday post a bit early since Brenda’s sister and her family will be visiting on their way to Cleveland from Atlanta. We always look forward to seeing Ann and Gary with their two girls Jessica and Sarah; it give us a chance to catch up on their life (Brenda grills the girls […]
RichC | December 17, 2019
As has become tradition, our annual Christmas letter briefly summarizes our year and includes a quote, verse, lyric or statement. Usually, it is something that resonated with Brenda and triggered her to jot it down at some point during the year. This year it happened to be something from Winston Churchill (we watched Darkest Hour […]
RichC | December 16, 2019
December is here … and the snow arrived last night (snow 9 years ago), although it isn’t anything drastic, just peaceful and quiet. Actually the heavy snow surprised me considering Sunday afternoon was relatively pleasant and I was in the home theater watching Sunday Night Football (Bill beat the Steelers). When the game was over, […]
RichC | December 15, 2019
I’ve often questioned just how much data is being collected by Facebook, Google, Amazon, etc … but considering I’m a relatively light user of FB … getting push timely advertising is a bit creepy. I called my insurance company last week for a windshield repair/replacement for our 2010 BMW X5 35d and handled the entire […]
RichC | December 14, 2019
Don’t you just hate this! Earlier this week I was driving home through construction and traffic as I headed south from Columbus to Cincinnati on I-71 (road construction is not done yet!) and I heard a rock hit the windshield. It sounded pretty nasty, but after looking around carefully from the inside, all was fine […]
RichC | December 12, 2019
Although Drew’s birthday isn’t today, I’ll post this on Thursday so as to get double-duty out of a birthday greeting and make it a Throwback Thursday #TBT post (a 2007 photo). Back then, Brenda secretly plotted, along with Drew and a friend (Sam), to kidnap Katelyn for her 21st birthday … and then take her […]
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 11, 2019
Pocketknives have been part of my life since I was a 5 year old … yes, you heard that right, FIVE YEARS OLD. My grandfather gave me my first 1-inch semi-toy pocketknife when my family was still living on Spencer Street in Toledo – which means I was likely still only 4 (it was a […]
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 7, 2019
One of the most impactful photos for me on Pearl Harbor Day is one we took while watching the oil still rising to the surface from the USS Arizona while visiting the memorial. It was a solemn visit and moving time for us, decades after the surprise attack by Japan on December 7th 1945. As […]
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
With another outstanding year for Ohio State University football fans (currently undefeated for 2019), the #2 national ranking has brought out the Buckeye spirit in our family of fans. Megan is from an all Ohio State family and a graduate herself. Taylor (Miami University, OH) has always enjoyed OSU Football and is happy to cheer […]
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 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 14, 2019
I probably shouldn’t make a joke about my brother Ron going in for a surgical repair to his shoulder on Friday, but since he was the one joking with me about how he has felt like a “one and a half armed man” since summer, I continue the joke. Hopefully, he will “slice” (ouch!) right […]
RichC | November 12, 2019
Oh the crazy things we do in order to watch Monday Night Football. The remote I use in the Home Theater has been failing and finally would no longer work. Unlike years ago when you could walk up to a TV and change the channels, our new set-up require a remote control to change nearly […]
RichC | November 10, 2019
We had so much fun at Katelyn and Drew‘s on Saturday for the “gender reveal” of an addition to our family – A BABY GIRL and sister for Annalyn. They hosted a brunch in their newly remodeled kitchen and great room (first time for brothers and sister-in-laws to see it). Katelyn has become quite the […]
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 […]
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