My Desultory Blog

Posted By RichC on June 12, 2019

Just north of Cincinnati the sky was perfect for viewing the rise of Jupiter as the sky darkened about 9:30PM. The bright dot (photo below from my iPhone) rose in the SE sky and arched slowly until reaching its highest point due south at about 12:30AM and then moved lower well after I was in bed.

Viewing the night sky reminded me of spending cool evening in the backyard with my daughter Katelyn when she was younger. She took an interest in astronomy and even bought her own telescope when other teenager girls were shopping for purses, shoes and make-up (not that she did without).

As I was in and out of the house several times watching the bright and brilliant Jupiter and heading back in to warm up. I mentioned that this reminded me of stargazing with Katelyn to Brenda who said … “send her a message.”  I knew it was too late and that she would be in bed, but couldn’t resist emailing her in case she had a clear sky later this week and wanted to get her telescope out to show Drew and Annalyn. It is never to early to pique the interest of a 2 year old.

For those with a telescope, this is a great opportunity to view Jupiter’s “Great Red Spot” and maybe even see a couple of the large gas planets’ 79 known moons? 

The Great Red Spot may have existed since before 1665, but the present spot was first seen only after 1830 and well-studied only after a prominent apparition in 1879. The storm that people had seen in the 1600s may have been a different storm than the one we see today. A long gap separates its period of current study after 1830 from its seventeenth-century discovery; whether the original spot dissipated and reformed, whether it faded, or even if the observational record was simply poor, are all unknown.

(more…)

Category: Hobby, Memories, Personal, Photos, Science, Space | No Comments »
Tags: astronomy, great red spot, iphone, jupiter, katelyn, memories, planet, sky, solar system, stargazing, telescope, watching

Posted By RichC on June 11, 2019

We had a great 30th birthday party for Taylor and his friends on Saturday in the backyard … just as we have many times before. As a parent it is nice to know he has always enjoyed bringing friends to our house rather than going someplace else … and seemingly his friends are okay with it too? Either that means we don’t offend millennials all that much or they are mature and respectful friends (I’m sure it is the later).

Anyway, the day was long and the invite was open-ended as to his friends stopping by when they could. Brenda and I particularly enjoyed seeing both new and familiar faces – we couldn’t help but notice how “kids” who are now adults, have matured in their late 20’s and early 30’s. Some are married with children, others parents “to-be,” a few are newlyweds or engaged … and there are those who are single and still dating. Definitely a lot of change happens in the decade between age 25 and 35! (a compilation of photos and video below)

Brenda asked Taylor pick out his favorite party foods and the list included barbequing baby back ribs, Brenda’s macaroni salad and his late grandma Howard’s Key Lime Pie instead of a cake. It made Brenda smile when Taylor’s lifelong friend Mike (who left an hour for his dad’s birthday) asked “hopingly” if there was a piece of Key Lime Pie left for him … as he shared the memories of Brenda’s mom making it for the guys when they visited Taylor’s grandparent over spring break in Florida. Good memories.

Taylor included his girlfriend Megan’s parents this year and that gave us a chance to talk with them. We’ve known Denny and Dave Schneider since Katelyn and Megan were in figure skating together (Megan was younger), but Dave and I really never had the time to talk. Dave is a super interesting guy and regaled me with story after story from his MGB, to his football coaching years and the many interesting celebrities/bands he met working security at several venues in Cincinnati; it is strange that I remembered him as a much quieter guy?  Boy was I wrong! (And learning about Dave’s years of working security at Riverbend while Megan was a little tike, at least NOW I understand Megan’s connection to Jimmy Buffett – I’ll work at getting a couple of photos for my blog!)

Below is a compilation of photos from the day … from eating, to opening presents (including a bunch of “Get Lost” hiking/camping items from Schneider’s dog – hm?), to pool and Knockerball.  Taylor and Mike finished the night off with fireworks and lightning the bonfire (2 years in the making on my part). Those of us older than 30 passed on roasting marshmallows and the making S’mores … but it was interesting, nobody stay late like the old days. 🙂
 

Category: Archive, Personal, Photos, Video | No Comments »
Tags: 30th, birthday, bonfire, family, fireworks, friends, house, megan, mp4, party, Photos, schneider, stories, taylor, video

Posted By RichC on June 10, 2019

From 3 years old (photo) to 30 years old this year in 2019 … the years of watching Taylor grow up have zipped way too fast. I suspect every parent and grandparent has said that at one time or another?

Birthday “year” celebrations, become “decade” celebrations, and we no long even contemplate the candles on a cake or even the number of times I’ve blogged a Happy Birthday to him … but let me count and link them from the MyDesultoryBlog archive anyway:

2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016a, 2016b, 2017, 2018

This year both Taylor and I had big birthday milestones, he is ONLY 30 (wouldn’t that be nice) … whereas I turned 60 last month. Ugh.

EDIT: Miss a 2017 Taylor Birthday post!

We celebrated Taylor’s 30th at our house with a pool party this past weekend (photos and post still coming)… much like we have done many times before. I asked him … “Are you sure you want to have your friends here again?” Obviously he doesn’t have a problem coming home … and Brenda is always up for a party. A good time, great bonfire and wonderful adult son.

Category: Archive, Memories, Personal, Photos | No Comments »
Tags: archive, birthday, celebrate, friends, home, house, party, pool, taylor

Posted By RichC on June 8, 2019

We are big proponents of using ceiling fans and “I” have always assumed the electricity cost in running them was minimal compared to running air conditioning and for the most part just leave them on all the time in the summer.

BUT … that’s not really the best idea according to an energy saving newsletter. Perhaps adding smart switches for each that turn fans on and off based on motion or if someone is in the room would be a good idea?

Ceiling fans can help you reduce your cooling costs because they allow you to set your A/C thermostat higher and still feel comfortable. The breeze increases the evaporation of moisture from your skin making you feel cooler than you would without it.

However, there’s a catch. Ceiling fans cool people, but they don’t lower the temperature in the room. So, you’ll waste money, not save, if you leave them on when no one is around. By the way, the same advice applies to portable fans, like standing floor fans. Turning off a ceiling fan when you leave a room instead of letting it run all the time can help you save from $3 to $7 a month, depending on fan speed. There’s always a little extra electricity involved in turning on the fan again when you need it. However, the amount used is minimal. It’s always better to turn off the fan when you’re not in the room.

Category: Energy, Financial | No Comments »
Tags: air conditioning, ani gif, anigif, bills, ceiling fan, cooling, electricity, energy, fans, gif, photo, savings

Posted By RichC on June 7, 2019

A pitfall in real-time GPS mapping services is that, although they “can” highlight road construction and closures, they are not always accurate or give appropriate advice for detours or “route arounds.” This was apparent on a 16 hour drive back from Florida (see comment) and more recently for a road closing leading to our development and house.

Last week, I attempted to warn and direct someone to ignore their GPS instructions for a scheduled evening appointment at our house, but by the time he plugged in our address, he forgot the instructions. Instead he spent 30 minutes rerouted … without my phone number … and eventually emailed a message that he would have to reschedule since it was so late.

I’ve done my part to report that the road was “open to our street” on Waze a couple times now, but the updates do not take even though I’ve driving the route with Waze “on” and “tracking” several times both on my BMW Avin Android unit and iPhone app. I suspect since their maps are pulled from Google Maps “with official road construction closures” that the Waze maps overrides whatever real-time update are fed from users???

Category: Automotive, BMW, Cellphone, Social Media, Software, Technology, Travel | No Comments »
Tags: android, app, BMW, detour, detours, google, GPS, iphone, maps, realtime, reporting, rerouting, tech friday, techfriday, tracking, update, waze, x5 35d

Posted By RichC on June 6, 2019

Who doesn’t enjoyed reminiscing and remembering fond memories from the past?  I know I do … and it is obvious the actor Rob Lowe does as well.

Last week the actor was in Sidney, Ohio before his one-man show at the Schuster Center in Dayton. His fondest for the Dayton area is fairly well know, but even I didn’t know he had a connection to Sidney … my parents home for almost 40 years and where I graduated high school? We ate at The Spot restaurant dozens of times … and even after listening to the many stories from my parents over the years, the fact Rob Lowe’s grandfather, Bob Hepler owned The Spot for 50 years, it never came up (history). 

A Teen Center in 1960 and a photo of Rob, Mika & Chad Lowe and grandfather Bob Hepler 1992

Huh, it seems strange considering all the interesting tidbits and newspaper clippings my mom would share with me over the years that she didn’t mention the Rob Lowe connection? (and now  my daughter Katelyn is the one finding and share interesting Sidney tidbits to share with me! HA!)    

SIDNEY – Actor Rob Lowe, who is known for roles in “St. Elmo’s Fire,” “The Outsiders,” “Parks and Recreation” and the “West Wing” among many others, visited Sidney on Friday.

Lowe is in Ohio for his show “Stories I Only Tell My Friends LIVE” and stopped by Sidney to explore childhood memories and eat at The Spot, a restaurant his grandfather Bob Hepler owned and operated for 50 years.

“It’s probably been 20 years (since I visited), but Sidney was my second home growing up as a kid,” Lowe said. “I grew up in Dayton, but my grandparents lived here. I spent almost half my life in Sidney so I like to come back and see the old house, see The Spot and look at the memories.”

His show, inspired by his memoirs “Stories I Only Tell My Friends” and “Love Life,” explores his four-decade career in Hollywood, fame, fatherhood and marriage. He performed on Thursday in Cleveland and has shows on Saturday at Cincinnati’s Aronoff Center and Sunday at Dayton’s Schuster Center.

(more…)

Category: Archive, History, Human Interest, Memories, Misc, Photos, Tidbits | No Comments »
Tags: bob hepler, dadc, History, hometown, katelyn, memories, momc, Photos, Restaurant, rob lowe, sidney daily news, sidney ohio, the spot, tidbits

Posted By RichC on June 5, 2019

Nasty bugger … thankfully I think I caught this guy (or any of his buddies) before sucking my blood.

Nowadays with Lyme Disease you can’t be to careful with letting ticks bite or burrow. I’m not sure our area is considered risky, but I don’t want to chance getting infected either (I thnk this guy is a male American Dog Tick).

This past weekend and each night this week have been busy for Brenda and me in getting our yard ready for a weekend with Taylor for his 30th birthday. We always seem to need a little shove in getting motivated; who knows, we might not even have opened the pool yet if it were not for Taylor wanted to have friends and family over. This year Brenda worked hard on weeding and thinning down her landscape mounds … and I moved 5 trailers full of mulch (10 yards!). The yard is finally looking like summer.

One of the more painful things this year was getting this little screwy piece of razor sharp and barbed metal out of my finger. Who knows where it came from, but I’m glad it was me and my finger rather than one of his friends.

Just a couple photos of the mulch after a hard week of work – we need to keep up with this and be sure to do it every year.

Category: Archive, Environment, Health, Nature, Personal, Photos | No Comments »
Tags: chores, disease, home, house, landscaping, lyme, mulch, ohio, Photos, tick, yard

Posted By RichC on June 5, 2019

We were obviously not alone in sheading tears over the lost of our favorite local restaurant Spinning Fork in Fairfiled, Ohio(we’ve eaten there since 1995)… but thankfully the family, recipes and history looks like it will be around a while longer, just not at the same location.

They have moved to a Hamilton Elks Golf Club location in Liberty Township, Ohio and look to be forgoing lunch for now and serving dinner — posted 4PM daily opening time — but might be working on adding some new employees according to a Facebook post … so we’ll wait and see … but for now we will definitely be checking them out for dinner.

Hm, since it is our anniversary is today, maybe Brenda would like to give the new location at 4444 Hamilton-Middletown Road in Liberty Township, OH a try tonight?

Category: Archive, Business, Food, Local | No Comments »
Tags: anniversary, elks, fairfield, favorite, favorites, forchetta, golf, liberty township, ohio, Restaurant, spinning fork

Posted By RichC on June 4, 2019

One of the long running medical debates in my family is my  use of a fairly expensive supplement called glucosamine. Ever since I injured my knee 15+ years ago and received what seemed like a miracle steroid injection – suffered for weeks — I’ve been more serious about taking better care of my joints. Aging and wear definitely takes a toll and after seeing an orthopedic surgeon, who reviewed my MRI, concluded that the only two treatments for my knees were: surgery to clean up the joint or a knee replacement. Personally I’d like to avoid the knife so now constantly looks for ways to take care of the joints I have (you should too).

What I “think” I have found for me is that avoiding excessive and repetitive weight loaded motion helps prevent swelling in the joints and that strengthening muscles supporting the knee helps; not abusing helps too. So keeping to that discipline and combined with light use of NSAIDs like Ibuprofen (Advil/Motrin/Aleve) to reduce pain and more importantly reduce inflammation after using my knees – I’ve been able to stay steroid injection free for over a decade.  

A few years ago, Drew my son-in-law, pointed me to the idea of Synvisc-One injections as a possible option.  Supposedly one injection can provide OA knee pain relief by cushioning and lubricating knees … that makes sense and gives me another option.

But I have not had to look into anything further yet which brings me to the debated supplements for joints. I consistently take glucosamine to which most medical studies do not conclude as a recommended treatment option. One of the larger studies from overseas indicated that the results seemed about 50/50, but that those taking it “claim” it helped them (I’m in that camp). It may be likely that other things I do are helping and that I’m giving credit to the glucosamine supplement? Whichever it is, I continue to take it daily and remembering the discomfort I felt, refuse to give up taking it … as do about 20% of adults in countries where it is available without a prescription! (shocking) 

Introduction
Glucosamine is a non-vitamin, non-mineral supplement widely used to relieve osteoarthritis and joint pain. Glucosamine is closely regulated in most European countries, where it is only sold with a prescription. However, in other countries such as the United States and Australia, it is a popular dietary supplement and approximately 20% of adults consume it daily.

The effectiveness of glucosamine in patients with osteoarthritis and joint pain continues to be debated. Emerging evidence from epidemiological studies suggests that glucosamine could have a role in preventing cardiovascular disease (CVD) and reducing mortality.

Which leads me to a March 14, 2019 The BMJ  7-year follow-up study from UK Biobank that look at participants taking glucosamine from 2006-2010 and Cardiovascular Disease risks. Although not conclusive without further long term testing, the findings are that those habitually taking glucosamine for osteoarthritis pain have a lower CVD risk. Looks like a win-win for me. HA!

Conclusions
Habitual use of glucosamine supplement to relieve osteoarthritis pain might also be related to lower risks of CVD events. Further clinical trials are needed to test this hypothesis.

LINK to BMJ.com study

Category: Advice, Health, Medical, Personal | No Comments »
Tags: biobank, bmj, cardiovascular, cvd, disease, glucosamine, ibuprofen, joints, knee, pain, thebmj, uk

Posted By RichC on June 3, 2019

This content is restricted.

Category: Music, Personal | No Comments »
Tags: 1982, anniversary, brenda, faithfully, journey, lyrics, mp3, music monday, musicmonday, richc, song