My Desultory Blog

Posted By RichC on September 1, 2020

Although we have "requested" Ohio absentee voting ballots before as a convenience or often for being away from the local polls, this is the first time ballots requests forms are just showing up in the mail. If it were any other "let’s try statewide vote by mail year or election," this might be worth sending out, but trying it just before a critical 2020 presidential election is a questionable idea. The election is two months away, we having even had debates yet and I can already see this is a recipe for disaster or coordinated election fraud by whoever chooses to go down the path. Third-world banana republics or Communist dictators have nothing on the USA in 2020. "May the craftiest cheater win." #sarcasm

My point is that if honest citizens receive three ballot requests (two of us live here now) and one is a leftover for our 31 year old son who hasn’t lived here since he went to college in 2008 (that’s 12 years ago) … then I suspect others who move around more frequently are seeing ballots show up too (and I didn’t even register our dog)? To make matters worse, after college, Taylor spent 3 years working and living in North Dakota and then five years ago moved back to Cincinnati … living in East Walnut Hills. If it were not for it being illegal, I’d love to test this to see just how thorough the checks are in determining who is actually mailing back the ballot? My assumption is that whoever has the absentee ballot request in their hands, and appropriate personal information, they could actually have ballots sent to their address and cast another vote?

How does a poll worker/vote counter handle multiple ballots or possible voter fraud?  If someone votes-by-mail "pretending" to be a different person, what happens IF the real voter requests a ballot at a different address or shows up at the local polls to vote?

Do poll workers deny that citizen a right to vote IF someone else sends a ballot in? Do they count all ballots, no ballots or even have the manpower to determine who casts the appropriate legal ballot (Voter ID laws have always made sense to me and make even more sense today.)

Category: Personal, Politics | No Comments »
Tags: absentee, ballot, election, fraud, ohio, vote by mail, voting

Posted By RichC on August 31, 2020

Brenda started to sing along to a song that was on in the intro or background of a movie or TV show were were watching a couple weeks ago (don’t recall the show). I looked over and asked, “How do you remember this song … it was before our time?”  She replied that she thought it was a song from the 1970’s … our era. I raised my eyebrows in question as to the timeframe … “no, I don’t think so.”

Now, I’ve heard and know the song “The Letter” but honestly could not name the group which “first” made it popular – The Box Tops in 1967. I also knew from the sound that it was vintage 1960s, but really didn’t know much about it without looking it up … which I quickly did in order to prove my wife was off-base (what a terrible husband). 🙂 She replied with the excuse that “I had an older sister and brother so likely heard them listening to it.” Well, that’s probably true … now if my nephew Aaron is reading, what are the chances your dad could sing this … or for that matter my “slightly older” buddy Mark Jones?

Category: Memories, Music | No Comments »
Tags: aaron, box tops, brenda, family, letter, memories, mp4, Music, music monday, musicmonday, the letter

Posted By RichC on August 29, 2020

On Friday afternoon I stopped in to talk with Rick Benhase, the guy looking at the Packard transmission for me. He is a truly old car nut and can’t seem to get rid of his “fleet” once he buys or fixes them. This applies to more than just cars, too (read below if you must know).

Unfortunately our small car repair talk lead to more of a connection than I expected. After mentioning a few other cars including the MGB, his eyes lit up and off we went into his storage warehouse. He started to show me “his” British car collection including a couple of his daily drivers, some on racks, some covered and some in various states of repair ..  and then admitted that he has too many but just can seem to part with them(according to him, he lost count at 60 cars and project cars .. plus nine more at home). Oh my … I don’t feel so bad having a couple extra cars.

One thing led to another and I “mistakenly mentioned woodworking” as a hobby. Off we went to an other section of his large warehouse housing older industrial woodworking machines, piles of plywood and stacks of hardwood; it seems prior to working on old cars, he was in the cabinet making business and built cabinets for Holiday Inn and others. It was raining and we walked around a few leaks (storms just peeled back a section of his flat roof) and told me the insurance quote came in at $400K for the roof this morning! I’m glad I don’t still own my flat roofed building in Cuyahoga Falls!

So after my hour long tour, he asked what business I was in … and after mentioning “printing” his 70 year old eyes lit up again. Before he started his first job in advertising, he worked running a letterpress for his uncle. Small world as we are both luddites who are attracted to work that leaves our hands caused, dirty or stained by grease or ink.

Back to the Packard discussion. His transmission guy has been off this week so he apologized for not being able to dig into it (no rush on my part). But since I had him as a captured audience, I asked him if there was anything else that he noticed that I should be looking and mentioned the new master cylinder that I have in order to fix the brakes.

We talked a bit more about brakes and thought it sounded reasonable wanting make sure the car could “stop” when needed. Ha!

So I’m planning to see if there are any conversion kits to switch from drum to disc for the Packard or if the Studebaker Hawk kits might fit? I’m planning to connect with Turner Brakes in Noblesville Indiana as they “might” make a bolt on upgrade kit that will double the braking power – convert the front brakes to disc brakes AND a dual rather than stock single master cylinder (photos above) I think I’ll at least look into that before re-doing my stock brakes?

Category: Automotive, Hobby, MGB, Packard | No Comments »
Tags: automotive, brakes, british, hobby, luddite, mgb, packard, printing, repairs, rick benhase, transmission, turner, woodworking

Posted By RichC on August 28, 2020

This content is restricted.

Category: Archive, Misc, Personal, Photos, Weather | No Comments »
Tags: annalyn, awning, ellerie, fort, hurricane laura, ipad, project, shade sail, sisters, wallpaper, weather

Posted By RichC on August 27, 2020

Love this photo, although Katelyn and Taylor do look the same to me … well, add 10 years.

I saw this photo from our Bermuda cruise in 2010 and thought, “I’m so glad we took as many trips as we did each year as a family!” The early years of traveling may have been on a bit tighter budget, but we made memories. The later years we splurged a bit more and did some cruising; thankfully no Coronavirus worries back then either.

Since I’m adding a Throwback Thursday memory with the kids and mentioned our earlier “tighter budget” hiking and camping, here’s one that sits on my desk 4009 feet on top of Hawksbill Mountain in North Carolina. Another favorite. (also just received a text message from my buddy Jeff who is heading back there later this month). 

Category: Archive, Memories, Personal, Photos, Travel | No Comments »
Tags: bermuda, coronavirus, covid19, family, hawksbill, jeffp, katelyn, mountian, taylor, TBT, throwback, thursday, Travel, trips, vacation

Posted By RichC on August 27, 2020

As the Gulf of Mexico coast of Louisiana and Texas prepare for Hurricane Laura (as well as areas well inland), we got a taste of the kind of rain that might also be headed our way as this tropical weather works its way north. A strong thunderstorm swept through our area on Wednesday night this week and was the first real wind and rain test for my shade sails. I really should have taken them down, but by the time I realized the storm was coming, the lightning was striking and sheets of rain were blasting pretty fierce. I did capture a bit of video from under the poolhouse garage porch which demonstrated that our new larger gutters and downspouts were no match for the heavy rain.

On a somewhat related note, this is the year we either have to re-caulk and repair OR replace our south facing Great Room windows that after 25 years of weather aren’t keeping the pelting rain from leaking into the walls or dripping on the sills. I’m partial to replace with fixed windows, but with this size opening, it is not an inexpensive decision.

Here’s a 30 second video clip of Wednesday nights thunderstorm and heavy rain.

Category: Personal, To-Do, Video, Weather | No Comments »
Tags: great room, hurricane, laura, leak, mp4, rain, repair, replace, shade sail, thunderstorm, tropical storm, video, weaather, windows

Posted By RichC on August 26, 2020

Just a filler video that I found eye-opening since my wife Brenda is a openwater, correction … shoreline swimmer. 😮

Category: Human Interest, Nature, Recreation, Video | No Comments »
Tags: mp4, ocean, orca, pod, swimming, video

Posted By RichC on August 25, 2020

To sum up the nomination process for the November 3rd 2020 presidential election in a short paragraph is foolhardy, but that doesn’t prevent me from opining on the week long telethons. I expected both parties to come out with their vision for America and to at least give the leader-to-be’s vision, plans and goals?

Unfortunately besides the, elect former-VP Joe Biden because he’s a nice guy … and because he is not Donald Trump, I’m not sure exactly what the Democrats have planned for the next 4-years? We hear non-stop about Climate Change, the Green New Deal, eliminating fossil fuels, more spending for infrastructure, police brutality, more dollars for education and some free stuff like college and healthcare … and of course amnesty for illegals and loan forgiveness for students with college debt … but I’m still not sure that has come from the nominee himself or even his VP pick Kamala Harris? On one day I hear Joe Biden say he wants money to be redirected from police, yet on another he claims he does not want to defund law enforcement? Hm?  Besides eliminating the Trump trade negotiation, disagreeing with the international successes, stricter border enforcement and enforcing current immigration laws, he as also talked about adding back regulations and rolling back the tax cuts  … how exactly would a Biden/Harris administration improve the US economy, unemployment and create jobs?

On the other hand, the majority of the Democratic National Convention was spent on bereding President Trump; personally I thought the nastiness coming from President Obama and the former first lady was unbecoming … especially commenting “He’s shown no interest in putting in the work.” Huh? I’ve never seen a President work so hard.

Prior to Monday night (8/24), I thought Gov Mike Huckabee summed it up …

… but then after night one of the Republican National Convention and listening to the positive unity from most of the speakers, I felt much more positive. From the impressive “Cotton to Congress” comments of South Carolina’s Sen Tim Scott to the emotional reflection from a Cuban refugee about the “greatness of America” … and reminder from Donald Trump Jr as to the accomplishments of his dad’s administration in an very toxic environment. A couple well received comments regarding the left’s stereotype of President Donald Trump as “racist” came from football great Hershel Walker:

It hurt my soul to hear the terrible names that people call President Trump. The worst one is racist. I take it as a personal insult that people think I would have a 37-year friendship with a racist.

People who think that don’t know what they’re talking about. Growing up in the Deep South I’ve seen racism up close. I know what it is, and it isn’t Donald Trump.

What hit home for me though was Army Ranger veteran Sean Parnell, a congressional candidate for PA’s 17th district. It struck a cord with me and it may for you as well – this is my America. I’m ready for night two.

Category: Audio, News, Politics, Video | No Comments »
Tags: biden, campaign, convention, democrats, election, mp3, mp4, presidential, Republicans, speeches, trump, voting

Posted By RichC on August 24, 2020

Oh how the simplest humor can trigger a music flashback, at least for me!

I’m not sure everyone’s brain operates like this, but the song Under Pressure from 1981/82 by Queen, and the late great David Bowie, is the first thing that came to mind when seeing the above image.

Feeling Under Pressure? Perhaps you are in a Hot Space this summer (did you see what I did with that link?) … like Death Valley which just hit 130 degrees. If so, perhaps you can relate to this week’s Music Monday song?

Category: Humor, Music, Video, Weather | No Comments »
Tags: david bowie, death valley, hot, Humor, joke, music monday, musicmonday, pressure, queen, record, temperature, under, youtube

Posted By RichC on August 23, 2020

Even though we have a few of those ultrasonic devices plugged into the walls, mice seem to find their way into the detached and attached garage then figure out how to squeeze there way into the house. I’d like to think I’m able to trap them before they find the kitchen, but who knows … although the absence of dropping is a good sign.

The purchase a Rat Zapper in 2015 as well as upgrades has made a difference. I move it between the basement and pool house garage so we have been able to keep these rodents to a minimum. I suspect our Red Tailed and Red Shouldered Hawks help keep the numbers down too. So far this year I’ve only fished a couple out of the pool skimmer baskets.

(more…)

Category: Advice, Gadget, Innovation, Misc, Nature, Tidbits, Tools | No Comments »
Tags: dremel, hawks, mice, modify, mouse, mousetrap, rat zapper, red shouldered, red tailed, repair