My Desultory Blog

Posted By RichC on September 6, 2022

Having a few extra “rainy” hours over the Labor Day weekend, I decided to tackle an office closet project that I’ve been pondering. The plan was to either build in a few permanent shelves with holes for wiring to primarily hold the electronic equipment feeding the TV or add a small shelf to replace the cardboard box everything is sitting on right now. It would also be a handy place for office supplies and to stack envelope boxes as well as reams of paper for the printer — I like to keep them out of sight but still not clutter up the closet as I’ve done in the past.

The recent plan was to use the cherry-finished shelves that I salvaged from one of the bookshelves we no longer need … and perhaps paint them?  I really hated the idea of slapping some latex paint on them and having heavy items stick and peel off the new paint (been there, done that) and I really didn’t want to go buy new oil or epoxy paint for “unseen” closet shelves. So instead I decided to make a rail frame out of some scrap pine and dado and keep the shelves as they are. The open sides will permit the wires to dangle through for the equipment and besides being two-toned, should do the job.  I’m hoping all my calculations will be correct and that I’ll have a simple shelf unit with zero dollars (and a lot of time) invested.

Also, the headlights on my 2010 BMW X5 35d have been bugging me, so used a little light-duty rubbing compound to take off the yellowed fog. Definitely could have used something a bit more aggressive (or replaced), but they look a little better than before.

Category: Automotive, BMW, Misc, Personal, Photos, Productivity, Woodworking | No Comments »
Tags: BMW, closet, fogged, headlights, office, polish, project, shelf, shelves, x5 35d

Posted By RichC on September 6, 2022

This content is restricted.

Category: Archive, Personal, Photos, Travel, Weather | No Comments »
Tags: annalyn, drew, ellerie, family, katelyn, michigan, ohio, oostra, sand dunes

Posted By RichC on September 5, 2022

Labor Day weekend was relatively busy with chores and stay-at-home chores. We have also noticed a coyote regularly making his round again (photos above).

On Friday night we stopped to see Taylor’s new condominium in Walnut Hills (Cincinnati) and then had dinner at O’Bryon’s Bar and Grill. We ate outside up on the roof as it was a nice evening (pre-rain), but for me, going to an Irish pub that is out of Fish and Chips was disappointing.

My projects started fine as I was “hoping” to work on getting my office back together with the closet shelves … but the bearing in the pool pump failed again and this distracted me and required taking it apart.

I ordered the same Century pool pump motor as last time from Amazon (the price is up considerably, but the promise of Wednesday delivery won me over) and will hope to get a little longer life out of it. They only warranty for 1-years … depressing. I’d like to take the old one to a motor rebuild shop to see if they can put new bearing in it as I’ve done before with printing equipment and our first A.O. Smith pool pump motor (now Chinese built Century brand), but assume labor cost to rebuild is going to be high too? Maybe I should try to rebuild myself???

While flipping off the pool pump breaker, I also noticed on or my French drain yard pumps was shorting out. After a diagnosis, it looks as if the Zoeller pump has failed and so I pulled out my new backup (2021) and replaced it. Don’t think I can rebuild this as the motor has completely frozen up … not just the float switch problem that I’m familiar with. Oh well … it is all part of home ownership.

Category: Archive, Misc, Personal, Photos, Shopping | No Comments »
Tags: amazon, chores, french drain, labor day, motor, o'bryon, order, pool, pump, sump, taylor, walnut hills, zoeller

Posted By RichC on September 4, 2022

Having recently read an article about Dr. Doom and “his pinnacle of influence” on August 17th, 1982, I’m adding Henry Kaufman’s book “The Day the Markets Roared” to my Amazon Kindle “want to read” list. Obviously since it is a look back on financial market history, it is not all that crucial that I read it immediately … but on the other hand, we are for the first time in a long time discussing run away inflation and the likelihood of a recession or two (back to back as in the 1980s).

All it all, it looks interesting and is a look back at what conditions were like when we got married, struggled to buy our first house and faced a lot of uncertainly with employment. Fond memories now … but not so fond when figuring out what to do day to day back then. Thankfully I knew very little about finance, markets, investing or economics in those day or would have panicked even more!

Category: Books, Financial, History | No Comments »
Tags: 1980s, amazon, bonds, Books, henry kaufman, History, investing, kindle, reading, stock market

Posted By RichC on September 3, 2022

Over the past several years, I’ve been reading stories about how pods of Orcasattack Great White Sharks. A Daily Mail article with photos and a short drone video segment this summer was particularly interesting. Would an 👉 orca eat a swimmer‘s 👈 liver or heart? 😨

At least seven great white shark carcasses have washed ashore in False Bay since 2017, with telltale teeth marks indicating they were savaged by orcas. Researchers say Great Whites that encounter killer whales will immediately abandon their usual hunting ground for up to a year

LINK

Category: Environment, Nature, Photos, Video | No Comments »
Tags: attack, daily mail, emoji, great white shark, html, mp4, orca, sharks, south africa, symbols, whales

Posted By RichC on September 2, 2022

We are looking forward to seeing Taylor’s new condominium in Cincinnati for the first time this weekend. He informed us that he “has the keys to the castle” a couple days early (negotiated current tenant move out date). We can’t wait.

It also came on the same day Katelyn and Drew forwarded a photo of our granddaughters hamming it up with Chick-Fil-A masks … worthy of the family archive.  (more…)

Category: Archive, Personal, Photos | No Comments »
Tags: castle, chick-fil-a, condominium, family, granddaughters, homeowner, keys, taylor

Posted By RichC on September 1, 2022

Some days I over-think things … today was one of those days.

Like a lot of people, we have had an Amazon Prime membership for a long time. It has its pluses and minus, but continues to provide value and has become a habit and part of our daily lives. We use Alexa and I use the Prime Shipping far more than for Brenda, but she likes the video streaming. Unfortunately the annual price continues to rise and it renews next month 10 days AFTER the $20 annual price increase goes through. Hm, what to do, what to do???

My first thought was to cancel prime in August 2022 and then “join” Prime in September before the 9/15/2022 price jump. Currently the annual is $119 and becomes $139. So before doing that, I decided to start a chat thinking maybe I can just pre-pay and renew early rather than cancel. The polite customer service chat agent (if I can trust them) mentioned that a note would be put on my account and that I could called 1-day before auto renew and that Amazon would honor the $119 renewal or issue me a credit.

Hm .. we shall see.

(more…)

Category: Business, Financial, Shopping, Technology | No Comments »
Tags: amazon, annual, membership, online, pennypinching, pennywise, prime, shipping, streaming, subscription

Posted By RichC on August 31, 2022

The largest of the Egyptian pyramids is the Great Pyramid of Giza., one of The Seven Wonders of the World.  It was the tomb of the Fourth Dynasty pharaoh Khufu and was build in the early 26th century BC. It stands 481 feet and is normally seen from a horizon view as in Wikipedia  (photo right) … not from directly above as the photo below.

Category: History, Photos, Tidbits, Travel | No Comments »
Tags: egypt, encycopedia, filler friday, giza, History, pyramid, wikipedia, wonders, world

Posted By RichC on August 30, 2022

Having recently ordered some Permethrin SFR 36.8% from DoMyOwn.com in order to hopefully prevent the sod webworm invasion that happened last year, I started a late August spraying this past weekend. Little did I know that the bearings in my aging 25 gallon sprayer were almost all failing (except for one – photo below).

I ordered 4 replacement bearings after wasting my Sunday afternoon running around locally and actually buying new wheels from Harbor Freight that were the wrong size. Grr.

After yet ANOTHER trip to Tractor Supply, I ended up ordering the correct 3/4” axle bearing on Amazon. We will see.

So for now, I sent a photo of my partially full sprayer “up on blocks” and commented to my southern born and bred friend Jeff that all I needed now was to put it in my front yard like a The Dukes of Hazzard’s General Lee. (southern humor).

Category: Advice, Environment, How-To, Humor, Misc, Nature, Photos | No Comments »
Tags: bearings, Humor, insects, lawn, repair, sod, sprayer, webworm

Posted By RichC on August 29, 2022

Neither photo is mine, but Brenda and I were both startled in hearing the sounds of owls coming from was seemed like inside the house.

After we slowly crept around inside our house, wondering where they were, we deciphered that the “hoots” were coming from the fireplace. "Hm, were they “in” the flue or just sitting on top?

After walking outside at dusk, there they were, Great Horned Owls perched up on top of the chimney cap … just like the woodpecker was in 2017. They were HUGE. And just as I thought about heading inside to get my camera, the pair spread their 4-foot wide or larger (did I mention they were HUGE!) wings and flew away. Amazing birds.

EDIT: Since “one” of them visited again and hooted on 9/13/2022 and I recorded him or her in front of the fireplace, below is the two-hoot segment:
 

Category: Audio, Environment, Misc, Nature, Personal | No Comments »
Tags: audio, birds, cap, chimney, great horned, hoot, house, huge, owl, wingspan