Archive: Enjoyable condo cleaning and NFL playoff football

Posted By on January 26, 2022

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Brenda and I stretched out a cooler than expected weekend in Florida to get the condo ready for our Canadian renters. It worked out nicely since we had enough AKE_TheGirls_Jan2022_msun to start in order to go to the beach and plenty of time over the weekend to clean things up AND watch some excellent NFL playoff football – wild games!

LeftoverArtworkCondo220122_mIt was difficult to part with granddaughter artwork … but I’ll archive it on the blog for posterity. Besides fixing a leaky toilet, I updated the WiFi and tested the speeds … as usual, downloads are fine, uploads a bit more challenging.

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How long can the U.S. keep bailing before the ship sinks?

Posted By on January 25, 2022

So … how’s the economy doing in 2022? Well, if you measure it based on the stock market or maybe finding a job (if you want to work) … then the façade looks ok.

EconomyStockMarket2022Dig a little deeper and you’ll find out that your paycheck doesn’t go that far … IF you can find what you are looking for on store shelves. The prices are high and going higher, rents are rising, real estate is way up, energy prices are through the roof … in part due to progressive Democrat’s war on fossil fuels … and big ticket items are even “bigger ticket items” … or in many cases aren’t even available due to chip shortages, pandemic related shipping delays and lack a of workers. Don’t even get me started public education costs, college tuition, insurance and health care … because what was pre-pandemic outrageous, is now unaffordable for the average American family. From the masks to shutdowns to mandates, the failures coming from central planners and politicians in Washington DC this last year are too numerous to list. I think all of us understand and know that sending out more checks (and now free Covid tests) is not the way to run an economy and a country.The Biden administration policies aren’t working and no matter how much they spend and how much propaganda is spinning it, big, inefficient government (an oxymoron) and socialism never works.

I read an economics article towards end of last year when searching for Milton Friedman quotes … and it concluded that the cure for our current government money printing, inflation and excessive spending will not be what “We the People” want to hear.

Inflation happens because someone benefits from it. To stop inflation, you have to stop providing those “rob Peter to pay Paul” benefits, meaning that Paul will be unhappy.

Music Monday: Michael Winslow – “Whole Lotta Love” and more

Posted By on January 24, 2022

This is not the usual kind of Music Monday. Michael Winslow and folk pop-musician Odd Nordstoga performed “Whole Lotta Love” on the Norwegian talk show back in 2011 (mp4)… although just recently saw it! A crazy talented “voice and microphone” artist.

For the photographic beauty and sheer magnificence #space

Posted By on January 23, 2022

SpiralGalaxyNGC976

Right-Click to download the full 2649 x 3288 Hubble photograph of spiral galaxy
NGC 976
. It’s located 150 million light-years away, in the constellation Aries.

Half-Staff days in 2022 and office crown molding, paint, etc

Posted By on January 22, 2022

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Archiving a couple office update photos after completing the crown molding, painting and “test” fitting of my new Samsung TV that Brenda bought me for Christmas. I also mounted the Yamaha soundbar on a couple special brackets so that the wires, etc remain behind the “skinny” television.

As for the crown molding after making the jig, it went smoothly … so obviously using a jig (actually it is a “fixture”) is the way to cut them … although this was a “penny wise, pound foolish” purchase on my part – bought very cheap Wayfair clearance crown molding material (never again – don’t be tempted).

Also … noticed the half-staff list of days arrived in my email box and since I regularly raise and lower the flag in front of our house, wanted to post it.

HalfStaffDays2022

Books: Downloaded “Unknown Valor” by Martha MacCallum

Posted By on January 21, 2022

UnknownValorBookJacketThe hefty book (1139 pages) that I tried to finish by the end of 2021 is finally done (halfway into January 2022) … so now in that same World War II Pacific vein, I’m starting Martha MacCallum’sUnknown Valor” this week. I remember hearing about it last year, but never added it to my to-read list at the time, but having it pop up on WSJ+ (and finishing “Shattered Sword”) sealed the deal.

Hopefully between tinkering in the workshop and finalizing the NFL season on TV, I’ll get through a a chapter an evening?

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Thursday Tidbits: Getting a broken key out of a lock

Posted By on January 20, 2022

Give this heated candle or wax stick a try if you ever break a key off in a lock.

Workshop Wednesday: Frame-making and a crown molding jig

Posted By on January 19, 2022

CrownMoldingJig220112For the lack of a better subject line, this will be called a Workshop Wednesday post … even though I’m rarely in the workshop on Wednesdays (it was last weekend).

Anyway, I was busy making a jig to help cut the “cheap” (and I mean “cheaply made”) crown molding that I purchased from Wayfair for my home office. I’ve never mastered cutting crown moldings and can still recall laughing about one situation for years with my father-in-law while we were working on his late son’s gorgeous new house overlooking Lake Chautauqua in Bemus Point, NY. This was pre-Internet website help and both of us struggled for hours to get the cuts right and still never really figured it out. Even a few years ago when updating the condo kitchen, I felt like I was doing that same thing again – a good laugh though. Crown moldings are obviously one of those skills that you lose or forget if you aren’t doing them everyday.

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Back to the “frame-making” part of this post. Since I framed the penguin painting back in 2019 for one granddaughter after our trip to the Newport Aquarium, I figured with a birthday coming up in February it was time to get last summers penguin art framed using my recycled printing galley tray wood for my second granddaughter.

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Once again, Christmas gifts we use everyday from the kids

Posted By on January 18, 2022

GenerousSoapDispenser220113Well done again Katelyn,Drew, Megan and Taylor. Thank you.

Of all the “too many” gifts this year, you guys have managed to “once again” come up with great gifts. The automated and “generous” (inside joke) liquid hand soap dispenser is perfect for our kitchen. Brenda and I use it multiple times each day REICoopWoolSocksand find ourselves (like we did the toaster oven) wondering how we ever lived without it. The soap dispenser … along with my new premium REI wool socks from Taylor … were excellent 2021 Christmas gifts.

Music Monday: Men at Work – “Down Under” from 1981

Posted By on January 17, 2022

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Desultory - des-uhl-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee

  1. lacking in consistency, constancy, or visible order, disconnected; fitful: desultory conversation.
  2. digressing from or unconnected with the main subject; random: a desultory remark.
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