RichC | September 23, 2019
Carolyn (Aaron’s forever babysitter and family friend), Brenda, Delores (DadH‘s office manager) and my sister-in-law Chris. Hm … the word "finally" is a sensitive one for those wanting a baby verses those delaying having a family? Thankfully for my nephew Aaron (loyal Music Monday blog commenter) and his wife Lauren, the wait is over, […]
RichC | September 22, 2019
Made my favorite “good weather” drive this past week on I-40 through Tennessee and North Carolina (photo above) and visited my undeserved friends Mark and Dar Jones who recently moved to a new townhouse outside of Savannah, Georgia. What a comfortable place for both of them … offering “walk-ability” for Dar with her limited eyesight […]
RichC | September 21, 2019
While talking with my good friend Mark Jones about accurately drilling pin holes to mount a few glass shelves in a tight space, he gave me a great idea to use a piece of peg board to align all the holes accurately. Thanks Mark, a great tip! But in my case, I didn’t have a […]
RichC | September 17, 2019
After receiving for my learner’s permit (at age 16 in Ohio the 1970s), my family took a long summer vacation out west. One of the stops was to visit a long-time work friend of my dad’s who lived just outside of San Francisco in Los Altos. One of the cars he had was a bright […]
RichC | September 16, 2019
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RichC | September 7, 2019
After giving away my “newer” Poulan chainsaw to the hard worker we hired to stain our fence this summer … so he could clear our neighbors fence line and stain his fence too … I replaced it with a low cost Arborist climbing and limb cutting saw without paying attention to the month-plus delivery timeframe […]
RichC | September 4, 2019
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RichC | September 3, 2019
The approaching hurricane kept my attention this Labor Day weekend (writing this for Tuesday on Sunday) as there was really nothing I could do to prepare the condo in Delray Beach or our boat Encore (in the water) in preparation for the approaching storm. Likely when this posts, we will either have dodged a bullet […]
RichC | September 2, 2019
All too often lately I’m reminded that the memories I have as a boy growing up are seen as being from “the olden days.” An article in this past month’s WSJ highlighted the beloved Gordon Lightfoot, a Canadian folk singer and songwriter who’s work spans many decades. His music was enjoyed and listened to by […]
RichC | September 1, 2019
Well they don’t look like much yet, but I’ve been working on the corner mirrors for the Condo1718 master bathroom update. The mirror will be 15” by 38” and will have a 1/2” beveled edge – Brenda’s request ($$). The planned framing will be 3/4” Mosaic tiles that my wife will be trying for the […]
RichC | August 31, 2019
Last week I brought my old Poulan chainsaw back to life for a few dollars after giving away my newer one, but I ended up damaging my workbench while adjusting the carburetor jets. The saw was still in several pieces (without filter, the bar, chain or guard on) while making tune-up adjustments and I accidentally […]
RichC | August 28, 2019
RichC | August 27, 2019
We have more bees and wasps appearing around our house this summer, on the other hand, we have always had nests in the woods but this year a few more have moved closer to the house. When preparing to stain the fence this year, I had to glue 3/8” dowels in the carpenter bees holes […]
RichC | August 25, 2019
Five years ago (2014), I was in the middle of cutting wood and my older lighter weight Poulan chainsaw wasn’t running right. I used some small fuel lines in a attempt to hurriedly fix it suspecting it was the ethanol in the fuel … but my quick fix was to no avail. Instead, I ordered […]
RichC | August 24, 2019
On Friday, with August temperatures abating a bit, I decided drive the “old girl,” as my best friend Jeff refers to my 1982 Mercedes Benz 300d Turbodiesel. It is not rare that I drive our “EMP car” since it was my daily driving for a couple years, but now I do it far less frequently […]
RichC | August 22, 2019
This is not the Throwback Thursday #TBT photo I would recommend using when listing a car for sale, but the 2006 Honda Pilot we said goodbye to this week did have a few minor battle scars (1, 2, 3) and occasionally a little something that needed to be cleaned off (salt above and sometimes LoveBugs). […]
RichC | August 21, 2019
We have always shuffled our “fleet” (as my son-in-law calls it) and strive to keep the loss through depreciation on vehicles to a tolerable level … while still driving reliable vehicles. Thankfully our current and recent vehicles have served us well and regularly hit the quarter million mile mark before we retire them. In my […]
RichC | August 20, 2019
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RichC | August 18, 2019
Taylor’s new 2019 Volkswagen Alltrack – 8/15/2019 After a fantastic week with Annalyn here in Cincinnati, Brenda and I are in recovery mode. I’ll need to spend a little time getting back to my emails and piled up work but I plan on archiving a few photos from the week (in a day or so). […]
RichC | August 15, 2019
Has it really been over 15 years since I was commuting back and forth from NE Ohio in my 2003 Volkswagen TDI (and filling up with biodiesel or seeing my car image on other peoples’ blogs?) Yes it has been awhile. After posting about a friend’s new Volkswagen Atlas (Tim Hunter sent me a new […]
RichC | August 12, 2019
As hinted at last week, today is the day I want to wish my wonderful wife Brenda a Happy Birthday. We are looking forward to our slowly closing the chapter of “career” (no hurry yet) … and are starting to plan the new chapter called “retirement. Anxious? Who me? Although we may have changed a […]
RichC | August 8, 2019
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RichC | August 5, 2019
While Brenda and I wait for the new season of our favorite book-to-television Amazon Prime’s “Man In The High Castle” series, we (or should I really say “she”) got hooked on the popular binge watched series “Stranger Things.” It is amazing how our television habits have changed in this past decade? Gone are the weekend […]
RichC | August 3, 2019
A filler photo tidbit for today’s post, but this creative kitchen island idea from one of my sailing groups caught my eye. It “would” have worked in our kitchen … I’m just not sure I could have pulled it off without adding a mast! 🙂
RichC | August 1, 2019
CinciTDI GTG at our house August 20, 2008 – Throwback Thursday #TBT It has been a while since posting anything on Volkswagen or to the TDIClub forums; I’m likely I’m still sore over their “dieselgate” failure and the company giving up on diesel cars in North America. Still, I’m drawn to VWs and their excellent […]
RichC | July 30, 2019
The summer of 2019 around our house has meant more repairs and maintenance updates than usual. This means weekends have been busy with house projects and in also finding and hiring help to complete the updates that are too overwhelming for this one “aging” guy to handle on his own (although my 60th birthday celebrations […]
RichC | July 28, 2019
Who wants to go swimming? The Great White Shark can detect blood in the water up to 3 miles away! Just look at those expensive teeth. I watched several science programs regarding space and the Apollo 11 moon landing these past couple of weeks … and one the other night explaining the Big Bang theory […]
RichC | July 27, 2019
A lot of things needed to go right when NASA sent three astronauts rocketing towards the moon in July of 1969 … but one real close call happened after their safe return to earth. It seems, some of the iconic photographs were “almost lost to posterity,” explains Zeiss, the company that provided the lenses for […]
RichC | July 25, 2019
When talking about the wide spread damage in the Dayton area by a tornado earlier this year with the guys putting on our new gutters (Raspberry Pi cam picked up one of the guys’ legs and tweeted it to me) … I mentioned that I once did some tornado repairs in my hometown. I couldn’t […]
RichC | July 23, 2019
The weather has been super hot and humid so far this July over most of the eastern half of the country. It is pool and grilling weather to be sure … although when the pool water temperature is 90 degrees, it really doesn’t feel all that refreshing anymore. Since I was clearing off the porches […]
RichC | July 22, 2019
What would summer be without Jimmy Buffett music and cheeseburgers? How about remembering summer fun with Jimmy Buffett‘s Cheeseburger in Paradise song from back in 1978 with a relatively new personal connection twist? Besides me being a nearly life long listener, this past year or so I have another connection to Buffett as mentioned before. […]
RichC | July 21, 2019
I am calling today “embarrass your wife day,” as she admitted to the questionable decision to open a door with a hammer when I was out of town last week (although she hid the damage for a day). Now that a few days have passed, it is a bit easier to chuckle and admire the […]
RichC | July 19, 2019
Disturbing and “creepy” (as Katelyn messaged) … although I don’t mind looking a bit younger. 😉 Photoshop in the old days was fun to play around with, but nowadays, video and photo manipulation is beginning to frighten me. Taylor sent me this age-changing photo from our weekend at Put-In-Bay using FaceApp. Although there is […]
RichC | July 18, 2019
I’m archiving the last few photos from my iPhone from this past weekend updates to Condo master bathroom. I finished what I was able to do without an extra set of hands and will do the rest the next time Brenda is in Florida with me (it is hard to set a toilet with a […]
RichC | July 17, 2019
Finished up the vanities in the master bathroom at the condo this past weekend and all went well in putting in 5 new valves and 2 drains. I shocked even myself in that all “went as planned.” Unfortunately the struggle began when mounting the polymer rather than wood molding across the back to top off […]
RichC | July 15, 2019
My wife does not appreciate the common everyday American branded sinks, vanities or faucets … and wanted something a little more unique for the Condo master bathroom (sort of like the other bathroom update last year – see photo at bottom of post). I really didn’t think that much about it until realizing that not […]
RichC | July 11, 2019
For decades I drove the Cincinnati to Cleveland/Akron/Warren Ohio drive at 4AM each week, but in recent years business has changed and the drive is no longer a regular thing. Part of me misses that early morning trip, but the other part that remembers snowstorms, construction and traffic delays does not. This past week I […]
RichC | July 9, 2019
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RichC | July 7, 2019
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RichC | July 6, 2019
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RichC | July 5, 2019
So far the Fitbit Versa “watch” that I received for my birthday has been great … and I’m using it far more than expected. It has already encouraged me to be a little more active as I work hard to hit the 10,000 step goal each day. Thank you Katelyn and Drew! This past weekend […]
RichC | July 3, 2019
Our front door security camera picks up the strangest visitors #deer.
RichC | June 30, 2019
After spending a few days on Put In Bay last weekend, I knew there were a few May Flies around (sold all my MayFly lures) … but had no idea there were this many! Katelyn sent me a shocking link with a few social media photos (and radar) from where we park our car. Ugh […]
RichC | June 29, 2019
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RichC | June 27, 2019
While cleaning out a few old files folders, I came across a couple Consolidated Printing and Publishing Co. building photos in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio that my insurance agent took and included glued onto a policy folder. They are likely from the late 1980s and are worth archiving and using for a Throwback Thursday #TBT post. […]
RichC | June 20, 2019
Although the Throwback Thursday #TBT memory of celebrating my late parent’s 50th wedding anniversary in 2007 leaves me bittersweet, I’m so thankful we had our time together (photo above and below the break is with them on Kelley’s Island in 2007). I’m not sure where the time disappeared … but I honestly thought that both […]
RichC | June 19, 2019
My son Taylor has a friend who runs a farm in the UK that he visited with back in 2015. Besides the bachelor pad in a barn with collectable British and Italian sports cars, he also grows and processes rapeseed oil for cooks and unique restaurants. The Duchess Oil brand is not available in the […]
RichC | June 17, 2019
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RichC | June 14, 2019
After the weekend bonfire for Taylor’s birthday party … without burning down the woods or catching any trees on fire … I told myself, “I’m never going to let the pile get that big again.” From now on the fires need to be of a “reasonably” safe size. Now, what that size is … I’m […]
RichC | June 14, 2019
With the colder weather and clear sky over Cincinnati late Thursday evening and Friday morning this week, I took my Lumix GX-8 camera and 100-300mm lens out in the backyard to see what I could photograph. Not much as expected from Jupiter, but I think I could make out a couple moons in the pixelated […]
RichC | June 13, 2019
We have so many cans (mostly Brenda’s Diet Pepsi, but plenty of my Diet Mountain Dew as well) is almost embarrassing how I take aluminum cans to a local recycling center. It is even more eye-opening to “see” just how much pop (soda) we buy and consume! How is it possible to drink this many […]
RichC | June 12, 2019
Just north of Cincinnati the sky was perfect for viewing the rise of Jupiter as the sky darkened about 9:30PM. The bright dot (photo below from my iPhone) rose in the SE sky and arched slowly until reaching its highest point due south at about 12:30AM and then moved lower well after I was in […]
RichC | June 11, 2019
We had a great 30th birthday party for Taylor and his friends on Saturday in the backyard … just as we have many times before. As a parent it is nice to know he has always enjoyed bringing friends to our house rather than going someplace else … and seemingly his friends are okay with […]
RichC | June 10, 2019
From 3 years old (photo) to 30 years old this year in 2019 … the years of watching Taylor grow up have zipped way too fast. I suspect every parent and grandparent has said that at one time or another? Birthday “year” celebrations, become “decade” celebrations, and we no long even contemplate the candles on […]
RichC | June 6, 2019
Who doesn’t enjoyed reminiscing and remembering fond memories from the past? I know I do … and it is obvious the actor Rob Lowe does as well. Last week the actor was in Sidney, Ohio before his one-man show at the Schuster Center in Dayton. His fondest for the Dayton area is fairly well know, […]
RichC | June 5, 2019
Nasty bugger … thankfully I think I caught this guy (or any of his buddies) before sucking my blood. Nowadays with Lyme Disease you can’t be to careful with letting ticks bite or burrow. I’m not sure our area is considered risky, but I don’t want to chance getting infected either (I thnk this guy […]
RichC | May 31, 2019
If you are using Apple’s Photos app, you’ve probably noticed the software attempts to identify faces of people (not just Apple either). This can be helpful for “you” to sift through photos, but also seems a bit nosy when the app also builds a pile of “facetile” photos on its own. Most people likely will […]
RichC | May 29, 2019
It is summer and what is more “summery” than being out in the sun and going to the beach … and thinking about “JAWS.” Yikes! Ever since the iconic “we’re going to need a bigger boat” Jaws movie came out in 1975, most people have been both fascinated and fearful of the Great White Shark. […]
RichC | May 25, 2019
It feels a late start to opening the “mudhole” … I mean “muddy” pool … this year as our trips to Florida have set me back on the usual spring chores. I think the earliest we have opened the pool as been March, but this year is about the latest that I can recall, although […]
RichC | May 21, 2019
An odd subject line to be sure, but several “Native Ohio trees” grown by my younger brother Ron were planted in the back of our property and they always makes me think of him. Today is his birthday and wanted to wish him a Happy Birthday. (photo from Raspberry Pi cam yesterday 5/20/2019 … reminds […]