My Desultory Blog

Posted By RichC on December 8, 2020

One of the irritations in using motion sensing security cameras (ani gif from previous post) at our house is that no matter how much I tweak the settings, they still detect motion and even declare “person detected” when it comes to movement. The biggest offender is slightly older Canary cam that I have set up inside a window. It is often visited by birds and bugs which triggers an alert … along with the blowing tree branches and occasionally bright sun interspersed by heavy clouds.

This time of year with temperatures near and below freezing, one would think insects would all be dormmate … you would be wrong. Most of the domestic bugs and spiders seem to know it is winter, but the invasive Asian Stink Bug is still showing up … although slower to move. I cleaned up most of the dead bugs when putting up our wreath, but low and behold a Brown Marmorated Stink Bug was still slowly crawling around. Hm, I don’t recall them even being around when I was a kid … now they are everywhere and all the time!

EDIT 12/9/2020: And with a warmer afternoon today .. even more bugs!

Brown marmorated stink bugs (BMSBs) are an invasive species from Asia that first arrived in Pennsylvania in 1996 and can now be found in much of the continental United States. Stink bugs earned their name from the defensive odor they release when disturbed or crushed. People most commonly encounter stink bugs in their homes during late summer and autumn as the temperatures outside begin to fall.

What do stink bugs look like?

Adult BMSBs are mottled greyish-brown in color and have six legs. Their body shape is a triangular shield and they are about ¾ of an inch long.

Where do stink bugs come from?

Stink bugs are a native of Asia and were accidentally introduced to the United States sometime in the late 1990s. Because there are no natural predators for stink bugs in the U.S., they have been able to spread rapidly to become a significant agricultural pest.

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Category: Environment, Misc, Nature, Technology, Video | No Comments »
Tags: ani gif, anigif, birds, bugs, canary, cardinal, gif, insects, mp4, security cam, stink bugs, wyze

Posted By RichC on December 7, 2020

Recognition and remembrance for those of the Greatest Generation who were killed on December 7, 1941 are compelling reasons why Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day rings loud with me … but my remembering is also partially due out of respect for my parents. For them (and my late mother and father-in-law), the attack by Japan and changed their life trajectory. In the case of Dad Howard (the right age), he enlisted and did his part in WWII as a B-26 navigator. He flew over 50 bombing missions in the European theatre. Throughout his life, his priority was to remember ALL days set aside to honor all who served in the military … even going to events alone when others didn’t have the same desire.

My parents both were old enough to remember the significance the attack on Pearl Harbor was for our country, but not quite old enough to serve (DadC was 12, MomC was 7). DadC then served in Korea in the 1950s and continued to be involved with fellow veterans his entire life. I can remember my dad driving older veterans from Sidney to the VA in Dayton, his involvement with the local VFW or the many activities with the American Legion. Probably most memorable for me was the Honor Trip to Washington DC as well as the monthly card games with the guys that he hosted. It brought a lot of aging veterans together who shared the common bond of serving their country … and teasing each other over nickels.

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Category: History, Memories, Millitary, Misc, Personal | No Comments »
Tags: american legion, dadc, dadh, family, message, pearl harbor, remembering, remembrance, veterans, video

Posted By RichC on December 6, 2020

Sometime the best part of keeping a daily blog is that provides a place to archive tidbits for future reference. The Sailing Uma “gear review” tagged YouTube clip on their channel has a fantastic installation video for the Cape Horn Wind Vane self-steering gear that I might need when taking apart ours for repair. Currently ours needs a new internal bushing and likely other parts.

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Category: Archive, Sailing, Tidbits, Video | No Comments »
Tags: cape horn, encore, installation, sailing, self-steering, uma, video, youtube

Posted By RichC on December 5, 2020

About a year ago I ordered two more bottles of Titebond III wood glue online (had great success using it for a fence repair), and on a whim I added a goofy looking Titebrush glue brush.

I honestly expected it to get boogered up with dried glue and that I would soon be back to using disposable popsicle sticks to push the glue around. That couldn’t be farther from the truth … as this silly little silicone tipped glue brush has been fantastic. It semi-paints whatever wood glue I use evenly across the surfaces and has a simple wedge end that can be used to “butter” smaller areas, etc. Best of all, it is easy to wash out while still half-wet … or even cleans better if allowed to dry (the dried glue just peels off in one clump).

This is one of those woodworking tools that I’ve waited too long to purchase and can comfortably recommend to others (no I’m not a paid endorser .. but open to trying new products to review – hint, hint).  You should add this Titebrush or a similar one (or perhaps Rockler Micro glue brush set) to your “want” list. I can’t think of a better Christmas stocking stuffer for a woodworker this year.

Category: Advice, Photos, Tools, Woodworking | No Comments »
Tags: brush, glue, spreader, titebond, titebrush, tools, wood, woodglue, woodshop, woodworking, workshop recommended

Posted By RichC on December 4, 2020

Although I only have one address accessible IP at the house, I can split it up via “Port Forwarding” on the cheap Cincinnati Bell router, rather than the home “mesh” network. After a little tweaking (ok, A LOT), I do have a work-around solution using a variety of ports to access different devices. For the most part, I really don’t use these small one-board Raspberry Pi computers for anything more than tinkering, but for me its the continuing education that come from tinkering around.

In the past, I used Python for a few small relay switching projects, but with the advent of the Amazon Echo gadgets (and price drops), it really doesn’t make much sense to program my own “Smart Home.”  Same for running Pianobar for Pandora (since 2006) as a way to get commercial free without a subscription and pump the music through my home stereo … but again, small Bluetooth connected amps and an Echo (and my SiriusXM subscription)… music to my taste is now covered.

As for webservers, I manage several for my business so really I have access to plenty of connected hardware so self-serving content on a Raspberry Pi is really just fun-and-games. I keep thinking eventually I’ll find a real purpose? But for now, I’ve temporarily stacked three of them in the basement near the Cincinnati Bell router and use one as the primary webserver running Apache (port 80) and as a network monitor (tweets me updates), the other as a static “image server” and the third for some experimenting … currently playing with Hugo the Static Site Generator SSG.

So far, the cheap 4-port USB plug sized power brick is running all three. I still have a Raspberry Pi Zero and old Raspberry Pi 2 (which I might have over-clocked and cooked?) If I’m going to do much more with these little single board computers, it will be time to build a little rack fort them.

Category: Computer, Gadget, Hobby, Raspberry Pi, Technology | No Comments »
Tags: apache, cincinnatibell, hugo, network, pandora, pianobar, port forwarding, power brick, python, raspberry pi, router, servers, siriusxm, ssg, tech friday, techfriday, tinkering, usb

Posted By RichC on December 3, 2020

As a ‘still listed’ page owner according to my Zillow update emails of my parents house listing in Sidney, Ohio, I realized that it will not be long before those pages and photos disappear. I likely still have the original photos on a compact flash drive card (who can still read those), but probably won’t be going back to them ever again. So I’ll do the next best thing and turn the slide show into a video .mp4 file from the listing page.

Besides archive it here on My Desultory Blog  … it will make for a good “5 years later” Throwback Thursday #TBT post. Unfortunately seeing the “empty house” photos leaves me a little melancholy … when my mom died, it was really never a “home” again.

Category: Archive, Memories, Personal, Photos, TBT, Video | No Comments »
Tags: archive, dadc, family, home, house, momc, mp4, parents, Photos, sidney ohio, slideshow, TBT, throwback, thursday, zillow

Posted By RichC on December 2, 2020

December 2020 rolled in with a light white blanket of snow and colder weather to let us know that winter is probably here for a while. I can’t say that I’m looking forward to the temperature change, but I really don’t mind the hushed beauty of a “new-fallen snow” … as Clement Clarke Moore wrote in his poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas” (poem below).

All was not without incident though … as there was another early morning accident on the Bethany Road. Thankfully no injuries, but 3 cars off the road … two on the opposite side and one behind our fence (no damage this time). The deputy sheriff and tow trucks were there with the hour. I took advantage of the early morning walk to haul back a couple broken “large” pine boughs and found myself more winded that I ever remember? I don’t want to admit it, but aging is not only a state of mind.

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Category: Misc, Personal, Photos, Weather | No Comments »
Tags: accident, age, ani gif, bethany road, christmas, clement clark moore, fence, poem, santa, snow, st. nicholas, state of mind, story, winter

Posted By RichC on December 1, 2020

This content is restricted.

Category: Archive, Holiday, Personal, Photos | No Comments »
Tags: annalyn, Art, christmas, decorations, drew, east walnut hills, ellerie, family, fireflies, katelyn, megan, museum, richc, soot, taylor, toledo, tree, woodstove, wreath, yayoi kusama

Posted By RichC on November 30, 2020

Today’s Music Monday song is due to the minor chastising from my friend Mark Jones last week. He’s been picking up a few old albums for his record collection and to play on his Crosley record player mentioned before … and because I wanted to wish him a Happy Birthday today. Happy Birthday, Mark! 

One of the album covers he sent a photo of was a Led Zeppelin IV album he found at an old record shop. I commented back that I definitely recognized it, but that I was not really a Led Zeppelin fan back in the day. Of course, he questioned how I could NOT be a fan … and threw the song “Stairway to Heaven” in my face. He has a good point … so I’ll include the YouTube video for him (and for me).

Category: Friends, Memories, Music | No Comments »
Tags: album, birthday, crosley, led zeppelin, mark jones, music monday, musicmonday, record, stairway to heaven, youtube

Posted By RichC on November 29, 2020

Don’t tell anyone, but while shopping for “my” Christmas gift from Brenda (below … and yes, she sent me out to get it). So … I added a Ridgid 18V USB charging attachment for my inconvenience. Ha! After returning home, I tried it out, but for the record, I didn’t open my actual gift. So far, so good … although I had thought my biggest Ridgid 9Ah battery would last a bit longer after charging only an iPhone and an iPad?

Believe it or not, I started with a full charge in the 9Ah lithium ion battery, but after charging both devices, I only had 50% left in the battery (my LED 9W light attachment I’ve used when “playing Trolls with Annalyn” last for over 24 hours). It is hard to believe that this USB charging device would drain the battery that fast… perhaps it isn’t all that efficient? I have found that the smaller “cheap” stick chargers I keep in my computer bag, or my “jump-starter battery booster pack,” last far longer at least connected to my iPhone (I’ve never tried them with an iPad).

Point being, I’m not sure I would recommend spending $21 on the USB device it. The GEN5X 18-volt Flexible Dual-Mode LED Work Light has yet to be tested. (after Christmas, perhaps?)

Category: Advice, Energy, Gadget, Tools | No Comments »
Tags: 18v, advice, attachment, charging, christmas, opinion, present, ridgid, tools, usb