October 5, 2017
One may have thought that the divided nation after the election and political chaos in putting together an administration that worked well together would have been the biggest challenge for the unconventional President Donald Trump when it comes to being POTUS, but after the last 30 days you would be wrong. The president has faced […]
Filed under: News, Politics by RichC | No Comments »
Tags: disaster, hurricanes, las vegas, opinion, president, shooting, tragedy, trump
August 16, 2017
Another photo (above) from my an envelope containing a few of my dad’s trips before meeting my mom … interesting to think about the history of stock car racing in Daytona Beach Florida. Back in the early 1950s the beach and A-1-A were used at the straightaways and a grandstand at the corner. What I […]
Filed under: Automotive, History, Photos by RichC | 1 Comment »
Tags: dadc, daytona beach, daytona500, florida, History, nascar, Photos, racing
August 15, 2017
A couple of days ago I mentioned the passing of my father two short years ago. A day later my brother reminded me that it had been two years and sense it surprised him too. The thought of my dad had me move a pile of papers I’ve had in my office; we cleared them […]
Filed under: Archive, History, Human Interest, Memories, Millitary, Personal, Photos by RichC | 4 Comments »
Tags: bootcamp, camp breckinridge, dadc, korea, korean war, poem, veterans
February 12, 2017
Posting a few leftover photos from my last trip to the boat. One is a waterproof fitting to bring the solar cable thru Encore‘s deck (eventually a new project) … and a couple more of an early morning sunrise at the dock at Harbortown Marina in Fort Pierce. Really the trip was a quick getaway […]
Filed under: Archive, Photos, Sailing by RichC | No Comments »
Tags: dar, encore, florida, friends, harbortown, jones, mark, sailboat, solar, sunrise
December 6, 2016
I headed down to Florida to check in on Encore this past weekend and enjoyed the sunshine but not necessarily the long drive for a short stay. Primarily the in-water project had to do with getting the dodger and bimini back on the boat and getting the deck cleaned up after the harsh summer and […]
Filed under: Diesel, Personal, Photos, Sailing by RichC | 2 Comments »
Tags: dar, encore, friends, jones, mark, sailboat, strainer, vetus, water pump
October 6, 2016
Let’s hope this “curtain call” (cough, cough) isn’t a precursor for Hurricane Matthew bearing down on Encore in Fort Pierce Florida? The subject line was more of a slip of the tongue regarding “curtains” when I really intended a twisted “Suzy Homemaker” innuendo — Sailor Homemaker (my attempts at sewing curtains). Failed joke aside, I […]
Filed under: Archive, Personal, Photos, Sailing by RichC | No Comments »
Tags: curtains, encore, fence, project, sailboat, sailrite, sewing, straight edge
March 30, 2016
According to posts on Twitter and tweets and shares among friends … today is #ManateeAppreciationDay. My interest in learning about Manatees goes back to the the late 1970s when a small group of us college guys in Ohio decided to join the "Save the Manatee" campaign. We selfishly used it as a rally to travel […]
Filed under: Nature, Sailing by RichC | No Comments »
Tags: encore, florida, manatee, sailboat
July 19, 2015
I “know better” than to wear shorts and non-leather shoes when welding … but with the shop temperatures in the 90’s I ignored the safety rules and ruined my pair of good Keen shoes. Thankfully, after burning through my sock (don’t normally even wear them) the hot slag didn’t seriously burn my toe, but did […]
Filed under: Automotive, Misc, Tools by RichC | No Comments »
Tags: aluminum, burns, honda, keen, odyssey, shoes, tig, toes, welding
May 1, 2015
Sharing and archiving a little left over video from our recent trip sailing on Encore with our son Taylor last week. He stretch out a week using some of his vacation time (wisely … more later) while coaxing Brenda and me to do the same for a few days. We had great spring weather (80s) […]
Filed under: Archive, Personal, Sailing, Video by RichC | 2 Comments »
Tags: corsair, encore, family, florida, sailboat, video, westerly, youtube
March 30, 2015
After the rain on Friday (above), the weather improve for a weekend finishing up a long drawn out engine work (plus a few other repairs) to Encore at the marina in Florida. The weather improved and was high 70s on Saturday and Sunday but with the north wind felt cooler in the shade. I wasn't […]
Filed under: Aviation, Sailing, Travel by RichC | No Comments »
Tags: airforce one, airport, encore, florida, fort pierce, obama
March 3, 2015
“Nothing that's worthwhile is ever easy” wrote Nicholas Sparks; that must be true since getting Encore's Volvo diesel back in shape is testing my patience and finances (but then we're talking about a boat, so that second part is a given). Thankfully I have a very experience diesel mechanic who keeps one boat here in […]
Filed under: Sailing by RichC | No Comments »
Tags: diesel, encore, engine, pkys, regulator, repair, sailboat, volvo
November 1, 2014
Slowly but sure I’m corralling my carry and travel computing gadgets and getting a handle on wasteful monthly expenses associated with keeping them connected. Those who have followed my blog from a technology perspective have probably detected my economizing while still “trying” to remain in current century computing. This year our grown children are on […]
Filed under: Advice, Cellphone, Computer, Productivity, Tablet, Technology by RichC | 1 Comment »
Tags: freedompop, ipad, iphone, speedtest, sprint, t-mobile, ting, wifi, wireless
October 29, 2014
Since moving away from Sprint and finally down to two cellphones in the family …except for a couple of spare emergency “burner” phones (grin) –one with my overseas travel SIM and the other a Samsung Galaxy S2 total free wireless plan on Freedompop. The point is that we were able to travel comfortably with our […]
Filed under: Advice, Cellphone, Financial, Technology by RichC | 4 Comments »
Tags: budget, Cellphone, freedompop, hotspot, iphone, sprint, ting, wireless
July 7, 2014
First … my son Taylor took a few days away from work in Williston, North Dakota to going backpacking with a few guys in Glacier National Park – Montana. His weather was picture perfect and besides being out of shape for the long an challenging hikes, he had a fantastic time. I’m so glad he […]
Filed under: Personal, Photos, Sailing, Travel by RichC | 2 Comments »
Tags: brenda, encore, family, katelyn, rich, taylor, Zola
March 20, 2014
My son Taylor is back for a few days from North Dakota to visit friends (and mom and dad) and do a little shopping. That last part about shopping is my theory since I don’t think they have many JCrew stores or the like in Williston, although I could be wrong? Anyway it is nice […]
Filed under: Nature, Personal, Photos by RichC | No Comments »
Tags: birds, mophie, taylor
February 20, 2014
Those who are regular readers of My Desultory Blog realize that besides posting commentary on newsy items, be it tech, cars, aviation, politics or whatever, that I also include personal entries and photos relating to my family. This blog, now 4000 posts, is a continuation of a journal that I started in 1977 as a […]
Filed under: Blogs, Personal, Photos, Social Networking by RichC | 1 Comment »
Tags: blog, friends, frog, jeffp, jerry moody, journal, kevin, memories, Travel, trips
November 12, 2013
The excuse I made for putting the boat in the water this week was that I would purchase a new refrigerator and have it installed in the Howard family condo before our snowbird tenants arrive in January. Sounds like a simple enough plan, right? Not so this week. The buying was easy enough as I […]
Filed under: Misc, Personal by RichC | No Comments »
Tags: condo, condo1718, delray beach, florida, refrigerator
August 30, 2013
According to Scott McCartney who writes for the Wall Street Journal, rental car companies are keeping cars longer and accumulating more miles than in years past. The slow creep of their aging fleet is a result of the long recession and the improved quality of today’s vehicles (industry spokesmen say), but from a car renter’s […]
Filed under: Automotive, Computer, Travel by RichC | 2 Comments »
Tags: gifgrabber, rental cars, techfriday, Travel, wsj
April 28, 2013
We drove Brenda’s parents home to western New York last week and opening the farmhouse after a week or so of staying with us in Cincinnati. They were glad to finally get home from Florida. Brenda and I then hitched up the trailer and headed up to Columbus for Saturday. Our project was centered around […]
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Tags: columbus, drew, katelyn, minimoon, wedding
February 12, 2013
It’s not fun drying out our basement, but I am enjoying finding long lost photos. Here’s one of a canoe trip (one of many) taken during a 1977 spring trip to the Whitewater River in Indiana with Charlie “Kamakaze” Matthews. We spent our free time both canoeing and sailing when we were in high school […]
Filed under: Archive, Personal, Photos, Social Networking, Volkswagen by RichC | No Comments »
Tags: canoe, charlie matthews, volkswagen
November 14, 2012
I tuned out for a couple days since wifi is scarce at my in-laws farmhouse in western New York. Brenda and I made our annual pilgrimage to pack up her mom and dad and are bringing them to Cincinnati for Thanksgiving and then on their way to Florida for winter. They take the a slow […]
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Tags: brenda, dadh, family, holmstrom, howard, momh
September 10, 2012
Awww … even a Mr. Manatee baby can be cute. After being too busy to post something for today, I lazily pulled a couple photos from the weekend and figured at least one of the photos was cute enough to put on the blog (ok, both of them). The second photo (below) is of Katelyn […]
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Tags: drew, family, katelyn, manatee
January 19, 2012
My college friend Dallas on Marco Island BEFORE it was developed – 12/1978 Who doesn’t enjoy reminiscing a little bit about “the good ol’ days” after looking through a couple of old photos? Here are a few from a trip to Florida over Christmas break back in 1978 … whoa, we were young. This […]
Filed under: Archive, Personal, Photos by RichC | 2 Comments »
Tags: college, dallas guilford, florida, friend, marco island
November 18, 2011
Our old house and 5 acres of property on Stow Road in Hudson Ohio On my trip to NE Ohio this week I had both the chance to enjoy dinner with my daughter in Columbus (always a pleasure) and meeting with Mark Goloback, an old friend from when we lived in Hudson, Ohio. I recently […]
Filed under: Personal, Photos, Sailing, Social Networking, Volkswagen by RichC | No Comments »
Tags: charlie matthews, fatty goodlander, kamikaze, mark goloback
August 2, 2011
As if the financial news from our country and from around the world isn’t creating enough waves, tropical storm and hurricane watchers are forecasting Emily. This is the first named tropical storm of 2011 to target the islands of the Caribbean, Bahamas and possibly east coast of Florida. Hmm … did I prepare appropriately?
Filed under: Weather by RichC | 1 Comment »
Tags: emily, hurricane, storm, tropical
May 18, 2011
Brenda and I made a multipurpose trip to Florida to enjoy a little sailing with our soon graduate from medical school daughter Katelyn and two of her graduating friends Laura and Ashley; we also planned to do a little work on our boat Encore (projects and maintenance will never end). Besides the personal recreation, we […]
Filed under: Personal, Photos, Sailing, Travel by RichC | 3 Comments »
Tags: encore, family, florida, friends, love bugs, sailing
March 13, 2011
It was a slow trip driving back from Florida this past weekend especially through Atlanta; it took an hour just to inch the miles it took to get through downtown (photo left). With the unrest in the middle east and recent revolt in Libya, the prices at the pump were up significantly. Besides seeing $5.29 […]
Filed under: Personal, Sailing by RichC | No Comments »
Tags: encore, florida, sailing
February 6, 2011
It feels good to be home from our quick trip to Florida and to be watching Superbowl 45 this Sunday evening, but even better to see the Bengals and Browns archrival behind 11 points in the first half. The Packers are looking solid as they have outplayed the Steelers on both sides of the ball […]
Filed under: Sports, Video, Volkswagen by RichC | 2 Comments »
Tags: nfl, packers, steelers, superbowl
December 9, 2010
Encore – and UK built 1986 well equipped 36’ Westerly Corsair CC I’ve been offline and a bit out of kilter the last couple of days … I could say I was busy Christmas shopping, but then what I’m doing sort of stretches any Christmas present budget that I’m aware of? I headed to sunny […]
Filed under: Personal, Photos, Sailing by RichC | 2 Comments »
Tags: encore, florida, sailing, weather
February 27, 2010
The older I get, the less embarrassed I seem to be about publicly posting an old photo or two … or even sharing juvenile nicknames. So for posterity, figured I would archive a couple items … and leave the door open to teasing from my kids. Moi, Charlie (Kamakaze), Rob (Oxford) and Greg (Wheels) in […]
Filed under: Archive, Personal, Photos by RichC | 1 Comment »
Tags: archive, friends, high school, ohio, sidney
November 30, 2007
It is sort of a tradition in our family to add a few odds and ends to the Christmas tree — this year we’ll add some ‘cotton’ I picked up on my way back through Alabama on this past week’s trip. I’ll also include two quick photos as I spent a morning in Destin and […]
Filed under: Holiday, Misc, Personal, Photos, Travel by RichC | No Comments »
Tags: beach, christmas, cotton, decoration, destin, florida, fort walton, Photos, tree
February 6, 2007
Here in the mid-west we’ve been cold for about a week and there is little sign that winter is abating. (photo above is a black and white from my Palm Treo 700p smartphone) The snow has started in earnest and has curtailed my trip from Cincinnati to Cleveland this week. Notwithstanding, technology is keeping me […]
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August 29, 2006
After beginning to move Atlantis toward the assembly building this morning at 10am, NASA officials have changed their mind due to tropical storm Ernesto’s westernly path. They are now returning the Shuttle Atlantis to Launch Pad 39B. By around 8 p.m. EDT tonight the move back to the pad should be complete and and “mission […]
Filed under: Space by RichC | No Comments »
Tags: nasa, shuttle, space
February 8, 2006
Steve Fossett took off in an experimental plane today at 7:20 a.m. on an 80-hour flight. He hopes to set a nonstop distance record in the GlobalFlyer aircraft sponsored by Richard Branson’s Virgin Atlantic Airways. Steve Fossett, is a 61 year old excentric millionaire who has “ballooned” (pun intended) his way to fame in a […]
Filed under: Aviation by RichC | No Comments »
Tags: flying, fossett, global flyer
January 29, 2006
Saturday morning, January 27, 1986, the Space Shuttle Challenger and seven astronauts prepared for a cold morning ride into space at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida; they didn’t launch. Those of us patiently waiting on Cocoa Beach, including yours truly, were disappointed when we heard the word of the postponed flight. Chilled to the […]
Filed under: Archive, History, Human Interest, Memories, Space by RichC | 4 Comments »
Tags: challenger, memories, nasa, richc, shuttle, space, story