My Desultory Blog

Posted By RichC on March 8, 2022

The final steps of finishing the rocking chair for my granddaughter are finally getting done. The canvas strips of material have been added with a little flexible adhesive in the center and epoxy on the ends. The canvas material should do a couple things, first prevent the painted rockers from wearing to bare wood and second prevent any damage to what ever it is rocking on (deck, patio, wood floor, etc). This idea was drawn from the old … and I mean OLD … antique wicker rocker we use on the back porch. It has been in my family since it was in my great grandparents house. Let’s hope this will offer similar wear and protection?

While working in the workshop, I finished up sanding and repainting the “less than durable” paint that I used on the high chair a few years back. Hopefully this time it will withstand the scrubbing required to keep it clean? 

And finally, I worked on another mitered frame … this time using the maple from my antique type galley trays (used on previous projects) and some walnut. I’m getting better, although my original homemade framing clamps needed to be glued a little more after cutting the corners for the walnut splines.

Category: Archive, Photography, Photos, Woodworking | No Comments »
Tags: canvas, chair, clamps, epoxy, frame, frames, high chair, projects, rocker, rocking chair, wicker, workshop

Posted By RichC on March 7, 2022

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Category: Music | No Comments »
Tags: 1970s, Eddie Cornelius, mp3, music monday, musicmonday, too late to turn back now, youtube

Posted By RichC on March 6, 2022

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Category: Personal, Photos | No Comments »
Tags: annalyn, birthday, decorations, drew, family, granddaughter, granddaughters, katelyn

Posted By RichC on March 5, 2022

What parent doesn’t enjoy seeing their adult children respected enough in their profession to be asked to comment?

Since I’m one that does keep an online scrapbook of sorts (this blog) … I’m archiving a recent article with Katelyn in Toledo Area Parent titled “Less Mealtime Stress with Responsive Feeding.”

Seems like a week to highlight kids, as I mentioned Taylor a couple days ago … but also noticed he’ll soon be able to get his Kane’s chicken “fix” when visiting his nieces up north! 😊  (spotted in the magazine)

Less Mealtime Stress with Responsive Feeding

In a world of instant access to information and parenting trends showcased on social media, award-winning author and international speaker, Melanie Potock, CCC-SLP, has released a research-backed book on a proven way to establish healthy eating habits and relationships with food and our children, Responsive Feeding: The Baby-First Guide to Stress-Free Weaning, Healthy Eating, and Mealtime Bonding. Melanie shares wisdom gained from over 20 years in speech language pathology and feeding therapy. Responsive feeding is a technique that took root in the 1990s and is recommended by organizations such as the American Association of Pediatrics (AAP) and the U.S. Department of Health.

Responsive feeding is baby-led and establishes a “dance,” as Melanie calls it, between listening to your baby communicating and meeting those needs in a loving way. This requires parents to be in tune with their baby’s hunger cues as well as identifying baby’s signals of satiety.

“Feeding trends come and go, but babies don’t change the way they communicate,” Potock writes. Reading these cues and responding to your child’s hunger in a timely manner allows them to send hunger signals without interruption and in their natural form. Responding to these signals helps to determine and nurture ways to help establish baby’s confidence that their basic needs will be met.

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Category: Archive, Blogs, Health, Misc, Personal, Tidbits | No Comments »
Tags: archive, article, dr katelyn oostra, feeding, katelyn, magazine, melanie potock, parenting, pediatrician, promedica, toledo

Posted By RichC on March 4, 2022

On Tuesday, I received my Apple Event invitation for March 8, 2022 where tech watchers expect to hear Apple announce a new low-cost 5G iPhone SE. The current SE is $399 and retains the Touch ID which as me wondering if the new iPhone SE will remain similar?

They are also expected to announce a updated iPad Air which could be a option for me someday … I use my iPad every day (but probably need to update my iPhone 7 plus before the iPad). Needless to say, I’ll be paying attention.

Apple announces March 8 event; low-cost 5G iPhone and new iPad expected

Apple on Tuesday sent out invitations to the media for an event on March 8, where it’s expected to announce a new low-cost iPhone model.

(more…)

Category: Apple, Cellphone, News, Tablet, Technology | No Comments »
Tags: announcement, apple, cnbc, event, ipad, iphone se, tech friday, techfriday

Posted By RichC on March 3, 2022

Admit it, you’re a bit envious of those who get to fly drones as a part of their job?

Taking Taylor out for his birthday in 2021

As someone who has enjoy everything aviation their entire life, I’m a bit jealous my son is now a licensed commercial drone pilot … just a I am watching those who get paid to play sports, make movies, race cars or to fish professionally. Of course they all usually have talents or have work hard towards the goal … and I did not. Anyway it was fun to congratulate Taylor and hear him share the update of his progress. As a dad, it is rewarding to know he has found a career path and job that rewarding, even in small ways.

Thinking back on starting a business, I “wish” I would have been a little bit more satisfied and looked at the positives of running my own company, rather than focused and stressing over employees, maintaining customers and on paying bills. I spent way to much time trying to grow the company and grumbling about all the roadblock out bureaucracy, than taking pride and being satisfied with what had already been achieved.

Again, congratulations Taylor … Brenda and I are so thankful you have a great job and share the positives with us.

Category: Aviation, Business, Education, Misc, Personal | No Comments »
Tags: achivement, aviation, career, drone, job, pilot, taylor

Posted By RichC on March 2, 2022

I’m not an expert on how the events in Ukraine will impact the world, but I do pay close attention to geopolitical events, the financial markets and the economy … and can’t help but wonder how this will reshape our future.

For the past year or so I’ve been grumbling about how the Biden administration’s “war on energy” is an inflation trigger. Partisans on the left will point to all the other factors contributing (pandemic ending, lack of workers, shipping bottlenecks, etc), but besides the excessive Federal Reserve money-printing and Congress throwing money around so freely,  the inflation trigger in my mind was the political left making a target of US oil companies, restricting exploration, new oil leases, fracking and stopping pipeline projects. After the November 2020 election, we went from energy independent and exporter to begging OPEC and Russia for oil under President Biden. The price predictably went up 40% causing everything shipped or dependent on energy to rise. The price – wage spiral begins just as the world attempts to reopen as the pandemic winds down (shocking to read “Low inflation. Will it continue?” from January 5, 2020 <= the answer is obviously no).

Now enter war. More uncertainty, debt funding to help Ukraine fight Russia, build up NATO and provide relief for potentially millions of refugees. This is certain to stymie growth worldwide and likely in the U.S. too. Still prices and wages are rising … even as growth slows. We now have almost all the ingredients for stagflation.  Inflation is one thing but we do have answers and ways to deal with it, stagflation is another … think of it as inflation’s evil twin.

I ran out of time on this post to go into my boring memories of 1970s inflation and stagflation (my original plan), but I did want to include a link to Megan Greene (Harvard Kennedy School) talking a little bit on a segment of Marketplace last week (left leaning for those thinking all my brainwashing is from right leaning news organizations). Listen to her if you have a few minutes.

Category: Energy, Financial | No Comments »
Tags: biden, economy, energy, europe, federal reserve, geopolitics, inflation, nato, oil, opec, russia, stagflation, ukraine, war

Posted By RichC on March 1, 2022

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Category: Archive, Misc, Personal, Photos, Woodworking | No Comments »
Tags: annalyn, drew, ellerie, family, granddaughter, granddaughters, katelyn, painting, Photos, priming, rocking chair, sanding, workshop

Posted By RichC on February 28, 2022

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Category: Music | No Comments »
Tags: christopher cross, mp3, music monday, musicmonday, yachtrock

Posted By RichC on February 27, 2022

My son Taylor is a history buff and turned me on to Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History podcasts. I particularly enjoyed Carlin’s long running Supernova in the East series and commented a couple times previously as it corresponded with quite a few books that I’ve read (and am still reading) detailing World War II and the build-up and war with Japan in the Pacific.

Last week I picked up Dan Carlin’s 2020 book, “The End Is Always Near: Humanity vs the Apocalypse, From the Bronze Age to Today” and immediately started reading. Because I’m in the middle of a couple other books, I’m not sure when I’ll get to it, but I might look for the audio version since I do enjoy listening to the author’s delivery (he reads it). After enjoying the foreword and moving on to the first chapter though, I’m pretty much hooked, so may keep going?

If you enjoyed Dan Carlin and “his” take on history, you should check it out.

Category: Books, History | No Comments »
Tags: audio, Books, dan carlin, History, podcast, reading, supernova, the end is always near, war