My Desultory Blog

Posted By RichC on May 30, 2021

Memorial Day was originally known as Decoration Day and was first observed on May 30th, 1868 to commemorate the sacrifice’s of Civil War soldiers. It was declared a General Order No. 11 by General John A. Logan on May 5, 1868.

The General Order stated:

“The 30th of May, 1868, is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers, or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village, and hamlet churchyard in the land. In this observance no form of ceremony is prescribed, but posts and comrades will in their own way arrange such fitting services and testimonials of respect as circumstances may permit.”

I heard a comment by this weekend by Taya Kyle, the wife of the American Sniper known as “The Legend.” Chris Kyle, who was killed in 2013 by a veteran suffering from PTSD:

“Remember those who paid the ultimate price in service of their country and enjoy Memorial Day by appreciating the life and the freedom they sacrificed to secure and preserve” (paraphrased).

Category: Books, History, Holiday, Millitary | No Comments »
Tags: American Sniper, chris kyle, civil war, decoration, kyle, Memorial Day, taya

Posted By RichC on May 29, 2021

A separate air conditioning unit has long been on my “want list” for my home office. I’ve contemplated adding a high efficiency minisplit inverter unit for years to better balance the southwest corner upstairs office in our house. It has never really been comfortable in the summer with multiple computers, printers and gadgets, especially in the afternoon.

So after hearing 2021 price increases were imminent as inflation rears its ugly head, I decided this year was right to bite the bullet and order and hopefully sellf-install a lower priced 10.50 HSPF heating and 22.8 SEER cooling Pioneer inverter heatpump minisplit. The home office remodel is long overdue, but now that I’m working from home nearly all the time, comfort is a priority.

I’m not sure when I’ll start the install, but when the pallet of components arrived last week, I opened things up to make sure there wasn’t any damage – it looks fine. Currently my weekends are a bit booked, but I am anxious to get routing the copper, drains and electrical lines. Hopefully I can plan the install so that I won’t have to disconnect or remove things when I do the full office remodel (some planning on my part). Stay tuned.

Category: Archive, Energy, Misc, Personal, Photos, Shopping | No Comments »
Tags: air conditioning, heating, home, hspf, inflation, inverter, minisplit, office, pioneer, project, remodel, seer

Posted By RichC on May 28, 2021

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Category: Archive, Personal, Photos, Travel, Video | No Comments »
Tags: annalyn, brenda, dance, drew, ellerie, family, granddaughters, katelyn, mp4, pool, recital, richc, splashing

Posted By RichC on May 27, 2021

When I come across an item that interest me in woodworking, I either try to write them down, take a photo or save the plans.

In this case the idem is a simple shop helper … a table saw push stick, of which I have many … BUT, I really like the simple curves and handle idea which mine do not have and probably could make a thin 1/4” one with a slightly thicker handle for those “close to the fence” push cuts?

Category: Tidbits, Tools, Woodworking | No Comments »
Tags: fixture, helper, ideas, jig, pushstick, table saw, tablesaw, woodworking, workshop

Posted By RichC on May 26, 2021

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Category: Archive, Misc, Personal, Photos, Sports, Video | No Comments »
Tags: annalyn, barb, birthday, brenda, caitlyn, carson, drew, ellerie, family, gnome, katelyn, mp4, mud hens, randy, richc, surprise, taylor, toledo

Posted By RichC on May 25, 2021

The final new “half-moon” window was installed on Monday this week with the proper wagon-wheel spokes (photo below) .. which coincides with this week’s  “Super Moon.” What makes this one somewhat unique is that there will also be a lunar eclipse where the earth shadows the moon. A total lunar eclipse completely blocks the moon, but a partial shadowed moon takes on a red tint that we refer to as blood moons. This time the eclipse coinciding with the closest approach to the Earth during it’s orbit (the moon’s orbit is not perfectly circular), so as to make the moon appear bigger and brighter. The close point in the orbit is called the “perigee” and is about 28,000 miles closer than the farthest point, which is called the “apogee.”

So if the sky is clear, be sure to be out looking at the nighttime sky for a partial lunar eclipse on May 26 … early in the morning like 5 – 6:30AM EST in the Ohio areas!

Category: Archive, Misc, Personal, Photos, Science, Space | No Comments »
Tags: bloodmoon, eclipse, gilkey, lunar, moon, space, supermoon, windows

Posted By RichC on May 25, 2021

This past weekend was a busy weekend and won’t likely let up for a little while – full schedule … and I’m not even really back to traveling for work!

It started with getting the mowing finished up on Friday night so that I could spend time on getting the initial pool cleaning and pump running. It is never a speedy process to get the dirt and worms out of the bottom of the pool. This year … as in the past few … we’ve lost a few more “aging” waterline tiles again. We no longer have replacements and will need to figure out what to do going forward. Nevertheless, the pump is running, I planted Brenda’s Mother’s Day rose bush from Taylor and washed the cars … including the Packard and covering it.

The weekend seems a bit shorter since Drew planned a Sunday surprise belated 35th birthday party for Katelyn! (photos and post archived shortly .. I’m still sifting through the photos … so Saturday photos only below)

A few more photos below the break while cleaning the cars … primarily the Packard Hawk with the hub caps still in the trunk. I need to replace the master cylinder, lines and decide how I’m going to fix the brakes: Do I replace stock, upgrade to disc (not as simple as it seems) or rebuild like I did for the Mercedes?

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Category: Archive, Automotive, Misc, Nature, Packard, Personal, Photos | No Comments »
Tags: backyard, cleaning, garter, hawk, opening, packard, Photos, pool, snakes, sweeping, toledo, washing

Posted By RichC on May 24, 2021

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Category: Music, Social Media | No Comments »
Tags: canadian, five man electric band, freaky, mp3, music monday, musicmonday, signs, staccatos, twitter

Posted By RichC on May 23, 2021

Category: Automotive, Humor, Video, Volkswagen | No Comments »
Tags: beetle, Humor, mp4, parking, street, towing, veedub, volkswagen

Posted By RichC on May 22, 2021

Audiobooks and eBooks are some of the perks that come with being a long time Wall Street Journal subscriber. This WSJ+ membership includes early pre-production copies and likely word-of-mouth publicity marketing associated with giving away free “controlled” copies of books. I say controlled because readers do not really own the books, but are granted the rights to read the books with an app.

Initially it was the BookShout app but a year or so ago the service switched to the Glose reader app. I don’t recall if BookShout offered the audiobooks, but that has been one nice feature in Glose – a few more audio titles are being offered.

This month I downloaded and started Paul Jankowski’s book “All Against All” in audio on Glose and found the events in the winter of 1933 and what some might concluded to be slightly biased comparison to western democracies today to be at least intriguing. Personally, I would prefer a “just the facts” approach to the in-depth study of history, but it is the author’s book, so he can come to whatever comparisons or conclusion he might like? For now, listening to the book is just another way of rounding out the variety of different political voices so as not to only hear one point of view.

A narrative history, cinematic in scope, of a process that was taking shape in the winter of 1933 as domestic passions around the world colluded to drive governments towards a war few of them wanted and none of them could control.

All Against All is the story of the season our world changed from postwar to prewar again. It is a book about the power of bad ideas—exploring why, during a single winter, between November 1932 and April 1933, so much went so wrong. Historian Paul Jankowski reveals that it was collective mentalities and popular beliefs that drove this crucial period that sent nations on the path to war, as much as any rational calculus called "national interest."

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Category: Books, History | No Comments »
Tags: 1933, all against all, audiobook, book, bookshout, glose, History, hitler, nazi, paul jankowski, wsj, ww2