My Desultory Blog

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.

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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

Posted By RichC on August 28, 2022

Neither Brenda or I have fully retired yet (although I loaf more than I should), but there is no reason THIS couldn’t be every day during retirement IF the weather was perfect all year around. I probably take more time off during the summer than I should and having the girls for a week in August 2022 has me struggling to get back to my daily routine. This week with warm and sunny weather, I used the weather and warm pool as an excuse to read Barron’s Magazine. Summer does not get much better than this … in fact, it got me daydreaming about doing this 12 months a year If we retired in the Caribbean or some other tropical location. I’m envisioning walking out onto a patio with a pool overlooking the “peace and tranquility” mentioned the other day. I’ve always been a dreamer.

Category: Misc, Personal, Photos, Recreation, Retirement | No Comments »
Tags: 2022, barrons, dreamer, dreaming, peace, pool, reading, relaxing, retirement, summer, tranquility

Posted By RichC on August 27, 2022

Along with Brenda sending me a couple of belated video clips from her phone from earlier this month with our granddaughters, I thought the one of Annalyn mowing with me was pretty special. She spent hours with me while Ellerie was taking her nap and thoroughly enjoyed driving the Kubota … thankfully missing the trees!

Category: Archive, Diesel, Personal, Video | No Comments »
Tags: bompa, granddaughter, kubota, lawn, mowing, mp4, yardwork

Posted By RichC on August 27, 2022

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Category: Archive, Personal, Photos | No Comments »
Tags: annalyn, bompa, brenda, building, ellerie, family, foundation, granddaughters, homebuilding, house, ohio, oma, oostra, perrysburg, richc, whitehouse

Posted By RichC on August 26, 2022

It was an ugly day on Wall Street as investors reacted to comments from Fed Chairman Jerome Powell who indicated “that the Federal Reserve must continue to raise rates” and “hold them at a higher level until they are confident inflation is under control.”

Some economists highlighted in Barron’s Magazine last week, have suggested that this time “inflation is sticky.” Alfonso Peccatiello noted that services and rents represent a growing portion of inflationary pressures. Vincent Deluard, says that “the current inflation is the result of three shortages; labor, energy and trust. These factors can’t be cured by a recession and are resulting in structurally higher inflation that investors — and central bankers — appreciate.” All in all, it is a gloomy sentiment as we try to exit the shortages and worldwide slowdown due to COVID19.

As for the positive news.

Taylor closed on the condo he looked at in July. I am excited for him. I was shocked when about 5 minutes after he sent me the photo after signing the closing document … a Zillow email arrived updating me that a property I had saved was sold (Taylor’s signing appointment was at 3:30PM and the Zillow email was at 3:59PM).

We are anxious to see the condo but will have to wait until the current tenant is out in September. No problem .. we’ll take him to Chili’s tonight and celebrate anyway. As he commented, old time memories when we first moved to Cincinnati.

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Category: Archive, Business, Financial, News, Personal, Photos | No Comments »
Tags: chairman, cincinnati, closed, economy, federal reserve, homeowner, investing, jerome powell, property, stock market, taylor

Posted By RichC on August 26, 2022

Another “too lazy to blog” Filler Friday post.  Instead I will fill this space with a photo that brings me peace and tranquility. Who wouldn’t mind hanging a hammock in the shade and pretending there wasn’t a care in the world (where is this?)?

Category: Blogs, Misc, Photos, Travel | No Comments »
Tags: beauty, colors, friday filler, ocean, peace, Photos, tranquility

Posted By RichC on August 25, 2022

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Category: Archive, Personal, Photos | No Comments »
Tags: annalyn, ellerie, family, granddaughters, katelyn, kindergarten, perrysburg, school