RichC | December 22, 2020
With only a handful of meals out during this COVID19 year with my buddy Jeff this past year, I’ve learned to appreciate them even more than usual. We’ve been having lunch together each month or so as a way to stay connected for decades and for me adjusting to just emails and text messages is […]
RichC | December 15, 2020
It has been a challenging year to say the least with the Coronavirus still raging in the US and around the world. So many lives, businesses and plans have been forever changed. Brenda and I just feel blessed to be surviving the pandemic and able to function in a day to day matter. We hear […]
RichC | December 12, 2020
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RichC | December 10, 2020
Well, it happened again. The stainless steel heater element pipe in our Caldera Hot Tub has failed again (last time was 2013). There must be some electrolysis accelerating the corrosion unless the stainless steel tubing is just that poor of quality? On the other hand, like the repair guy commented, your hot tub is far […]
RichC | December 7, 2020
Recognition and remembrance for those of the Greatest Generation who were killed on December 7, 1941 are compelling reasons why Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day rings loud with me … but my remembering is also partially due out of respect for my parents. For them (and my late mother and father-in-law), the attack by Japan and […]
RichC | December 3, 2020
As a ‘still listed’ page owner according to my Zillow update emails of my parents house listing in Sidney, Ohio, I realized that it will not be long before those pages and photos disappear. I likely still have the original photos on a compact flash drive card (who can still read those), but probably won’t […]
RichC | December 2, 2020
December 2020 rolled in with a light white blanket of snow and colder weather to let us know that winter is probably here for a while. I can’t say that I’m looking forward to the temperature change, but I really don’t mind the hushed beauty of a “new-fallen snow” … as Clement Clarke Moore wrote […]
RichC | December 1, 2020
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RichC | November 26, 2020
Since I’m pre-writing this by a few days for Throwback Thursday #TBT, I realized just before post it that it will also be Thanksgiving on Thursday. Our family won’t be getting together as usual (same for a lot of families for a COVID19 resurgence), but ours was planned that way since we rotate holidays; Katelyn, […]
RichC | November 25, 2020
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RichC | November 17, 2020
This should have been one of the first things I did when assembling our six metal stools back when we remodeled our kitchen in 2017. I bought slides for the condo stools after remodeling since there were only two and on tile, but cheaped out with stick felts at home. They were never worth the […]
RichC | November 15, 2020
On one of my sailing groups, a Sailrite Ultrafeed LSZ-1 user complained that the speed controller pedal was hard to regulate. I’ve found that to be true as well. Another person made the comment that they used a piece of flexible tubing/hose that gives the pedal a little more tactile feel … so I tried […]
RichC | November 14, 2020
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RichC | November 12, 2020
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RichC | November 11, 2020
Tweak by tweak I’m staring to enjoy working on my dad’s Packard Hawk. For the past five years I’ve been unmotivated or shy about calling the car that was my dad’s and before that his uncle’s, mine, … but as the list of non-working repairs and fixes grows, I’m seeing a path to making it […]
RichC | November 4, 2020
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RichC | November 1, 2020
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RichC | October 27, 2020
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RichC | October 25, 2020
The office chair I’ve used for the passed couple decades has seen better days, but it is still my favorite. The sturdy build is better than most I’ve seen, the arm pivots up out of the way for desk-work and easily sliding up to type, write, read or clean around. The size fits me well […]
RichC | October 17, 2020
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RichC | October 11, 2020
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RichC | October 10, 2020
As a dad who has always kept up and archived the “goings-on” with Taylor and Katelyn on MyDesultoryBlog, I realized that grandchildren steal the limelight most of the time … that is just the way it is. But … that doesn’t mean life doesn’t keep moving along for adult children in the work-a-day world either. […]
RichC | October 8, 2020
While doing some the pool house garage cleaning and reorganizing over the past couple of weeks, a piece of the old shag carpeting I duct taped onto the old wooden ladder I acquired in the 1980s fell off. As usual, it triggered memories. First, the good times Brenda and I had with our sailboat Brenich, […]
RichC | October 7, 2020
The Sailrite LSZ-1 sewing machine cart is complete and turned out great. Everything worked as planned (a rarity for me) and didn’t have to purchase anything new. The wider oak material was sitting in my stock shelf, the edge banding for the fold out table stripped from the glass top of my recently disassembled printing […]
RichC | October 6, 2020
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RichC | October 4, 2020
In my goal to gain space in the poolhouse garage (a failure) and clearing out and cleaning the east-side wall, I shifted my attention to the beat-up bench top. Part of this was just clearing the workbench of junk, then reorganizing and cleaning each shelf. The boxes have been sort-of shuffled (drawers ignored), but I […]
RichC | October 3, 2020
As much as I love working in an organized space, for the life of me I have trouble keeping it that way. Also, I can’t get rid of things I use, might use or that are too good to sell or toss. The truth is that I have the packrat gene. My parents were not […]
RichC | October 2, 2020
With Twitter $TWTR stock rising this week and the election around the corner, I debated buying a PUT option, but instead decided I would feel more comfortable in a cash position than wondering what direction the stock will move next time. Years ago I unfortunately picked Twitter as my social network investment and for the […]
RichC | September 29, 2020
My mother’s birthday isn’t one that I mark with a blog post every year, but since I ran across this old photo of my mom in East Tawas Michigan, I set it aside (along with one from me in my new suede coat back in high school). I spotted the Kodachrome slide of Mom next […]
RichC | September 28, 2020
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RichC | September 26, 2020
If you have ever used a heavy portable sewing machine, you know what a pain it is to haul it out of storage and set it up to make a simple repair. I don’t know how many times I’ve grumbled when Brenda wants me to set it on my workbench … or worse, haul it […]
RichC | September 24, 2020
We had our first taste of cooler fall weather for 2020 last week as the hot 80+ degree days of August and early September gave way to pleasant mid-to-high 70s and cooler evenings dipping into the 40s. Brr, my body has not adjusted yet. As autumn approaches and the temperatures are more tolerable in the […]
RichC | September 22, 2020
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RichC | September 19, 2020
It has taken me most of the second half of the summer, but I’m finally finishing the poolhouse changing room … more work than I thought. The damage done by Katelyn’s “late” pet rabbit Pumpy Umpy was significant enough to require lower drywall (greenboard) and all new casing and baseboard trim. Part of my slowdown […]
RichC | September 18, 2020
After a recent update from Fitbit, my Versa watch is now tracking my SpO2 level when I sleep. Unsure what to make of it, I asked my doctor-daughter Katelyn what it means: “looks good, no sleep apnea.” (Fitbit devices measure this while sleeping, since they are usually the lowest) After a little reading on SpO2 […]
RichC | September 17, 2020
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RichC | September 15, 2020
It has been eleven years since we last purchased a few trees from my brother Ron’s retirement avocation – a nursery dedicated to NativeOhioPlants. He started planting trees years before so after he retired from the Air Force in 2018, it was a natural to make it a part time business. It’s not too big […]
RichC | September 9, 2020
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RichC | September 6, 2020
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RichC | September 3, 2020
I shared a question to a few of my automotive friends on a Twitter a few weeks ago … prior to my WordPress post disappeared due to a mysql crash (grrr!) … A question for #Millennials: What is this automotive “thing” and how does it work? So much of what we remember from our youth […]
RichC | September 1, 2020
Although we have "requested" Ohio absentee voting ballots before as a convenience or often for being away from the local polls, this is the first time ballots requests forms are just showing up in the mail. If it were any other "let’s try statewide vote by mail year or election," this might be worth sending […]
RichC | August 28, 2020
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RichC | August 27, 2020
Love this photo, although Katelyn and Taylor do look the same to me … well, add 10 years. I saw this photo from our Bermuda cruise in 2010 and thought, “I’m so glad we took as many trips as we did each year as a family!” The early years of traveling may have been on […]
RichC | August 27, 2020
As the Gulf of Mexico coast of Louisiana and Texas prepare for Hurricane Laura (as well as areas well inland), we got a taste of the kind of rain that might also be headed our way as this tropical weather works its way north. A strong thunderstorm swept through our area on Wednesday night this […]
RichC | August 22, 2020
This is probably something I should have expected after bringing my “boat-only” non-skid Sperry SeaRacer Sneakers home from the boat in June – excessive wear. I’ve been wearing these light-weight synthetic upper Sperry shoes for the better part of the last two months and they are quickly breaking down. Perhaps I’m so accustom to the […]
RichC | August 21, 2020
My dad’s 1958 Packard Hawk, mine for the last 5 years, has hardly been touched since it was flatbed delivered from Sidney, Ohio. I moved it once … and then covered it up with a battery tender after I noticed a pool of transmission fluid all over the floor. So on the 5th anniversary of […]
RichC | August 20, 2020
Let me get this out before someone tells me I’ve lost my mind: I love our current house and property in SW Ohio … as well as the community we live in just north of Cincinnati. Brenda and I could not be more blessed with our lives, our family and all that we have worked […]
RichC | August 19, 2020
Since I spent most of the weekend outside again doing chores and projects as the weather has been great … I spotted a couple of insects enjoying summer as well. The normal bugs don’t grab my attention, but the brightly colored and unusual ones are worthy of photos (still impressed with the camera on my […]
RichC | August 18, 2020
We are really enjoying the time we have to stay around home this summer amidst Coronavirus concerns … although Brenda has never stopped going to work … she works in an “essential business” – pharmacy. We certainly enjoyed having Katelyn, Drew, Annalyn and Ellerie to our house for a mini-vacation for several days earlier this […]
RichC | August 16, 2020
After doing a little research on different kinds of Clematis, I thought I had the perfect pick for the rear corner of the pool house garage where I often work outside the back door. Something that stayed green a bit longer in the year like Evergreen Clematis sounded perfect … but the “Plant Hardiness Zone […]
RichC | August 15, 2020
Since I’ve highlighted a couple other “functional” versions of the Mercedes Benz W123, here’s another owner conversion. (see ONE, TWO … and THREE just for the humor). I do find myself constantly needing (well “wanting” really) a pickup truck, but can usually put things in my Honda Odyssey “work vehicle” or hitch up the utility […]
RichC | August 12, 2020
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RichC | August 11, 2020
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RichC | August 9, 2020
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RichC | August 8, 2020
Although I’m looking high and low for some material to replace the clearance foam bead filled pool floaties I bought a few years ago, I continue to re-stitch and reinforce the old product with “Brenda’s” Sailrite Ultrafeed LS-1. The new stitching holds as long as the old fabric holds up, but sooner or later I’m […]
RichC | August 6, 2020
My friend Jeff has been part of my life since college and knows WAY too much about me … both good (which he conveniently forgets) and bad (which he’s remembers all too well). We’ve always have great times together, be it in Founders Hall dorm at ONU back in college or the many years after […]
RichC | August 4, 2020
The summer sun makes it too hot to work with the 10 x 12 foot south-facing garage door on the back of the detached outbuilding which is something I’ve struggled with for years. I’ve rigged up tarps, drop clothes and the like in order to cut the harsh sun, but let some light and breeze […]
RichC | August 1, 2020
My goodness, where have the years gone!?! I know that I’m not the only one who asks that question, but when it stares me in the face from 6700 blog post ago … it is a big reminder. I’ve noted in this post that 15 years ago Taylor and I headed up to see my […]
RichC | July 30, 2020
We are a product of our youth … and I’ll never forget The Mustache Gang. After seeing my son Taylor’s photo in his Cleveland Indians baseball cap (after shaving off his beard, but keeping his moustache), I had a flashback to the 1970s and remembered the Oakland A’s of my youth. They were the World […]
RichC | July 29, 2020
I can’t say that I’m surprised, but after my Fitbit Versa failed after 11 months (and was replaced under warranty “without” a new watchband), now after 13 months, the original watchband faiedl. Admittedly I’m not Mr. Gentle when wearing watches, but considering the Fitbit is designed as an athletic watch, I expected more. Besides the […]