Jane Wells has been a reporter for CNBC (“Janie” as the late Mark Haines called her) that I’ve followed for years while watching business news channels (or should I have said, “is a ‘has-been’ reporter?” – hopefully a little humor that she would appreciate!). Anyway, I always smiled when watching her “quirky” stories and reporting […]
As is my December tradition, I’m including a digital copy of what once was our Corbett Christmas Letter but is now a just a “card” on my blog. Our year as a family was full of too many great times to include, but highlighted by a special event: a 40th Anniversary and trip planned by […]
Maps and history have always held my interest (as they do for my son Taylor too). Having grown up when schools glossed over most of American the history prior to Columbus in 1492 (or perhaps the Vikings) … it is interesting to learn a little bit more about the “approximately 20 million” Native Americans that […]
Last Saturday’s project was some overdue maintenance on what was a very nice day her in SW Ohio. The temps were warm at 77 degrees and the sky clear. I took the opportunity to start draining the oil in the BMW X5 35d with 195K miles in the morning, then drove the Mercedes 300d Turbodiesel […]
There was a leftover beach flyover video on my phone from our late September – early October Florida vacation so with a private family post creating registered only viewing and the first real cold weather of the season, this makes for an envious filler. I’m looking forward to warm weather and the beach again. Why […]
It’s simple: between the Federal Reserve spewing out more than $4 trillion in cheap money over the past year, and Congress signing off on “relief” packages totaling an unprecedented $3 trillion, there is too much money chasing too few goods. .. Inflation will only get hotter if Biden and congressional Democrats press ahead with even […]
While out mowing the lawn this week … I “think” I may have brought a spider in the house with me? In any case, it was on my shirt and I felt something crawling on my arm. After an instinctive swat and swipe of the hand, I notice it landed on my glass chair mat […]
After fixing “Arthur Avenue Pork Sausage and Pepper Heroes with Melty Mozzarella Cheese and Garlic Potato Wedges” … as the recipe card states on Sunday night, which was the last of our subscription meal for a while … my son Taylor called at 8PM after getting himself “in a pickle” (a perfect place for a Shakespearian […]
After helping Taylor move a few larger things over to his new condominium last weekend, he sent a photo of his still bare living room, but it is coming together. The TV is working so he could watch the 2022 losing Cincinnati Bengals (now 0-2) on Sunday afternoon. He has been slowing moving boxes of […]
Labor Day weekend was relatively busy with chores and stay-at-home chores. We have also noticed a coyote regularly making his round again (photos above). On Friday night we stopped to see Taylor’s new condominium in Walnut Hills (Cincinnati) and then had dinner at O’Bryon’s Bar and Grill. We ate outside up on the roof as […]
I enjoyed a very nice Father’s Day on “Saturday” yesterday with Taylor, Megan and their long time friend Meredith, who was “dog-sitting” her sister’s dog “Chase” (below). They enjoyed the nice weather around and in the pool while I busied myself with a few projects … one of which was adding the additional pipes to […]
Big storms ripped through our area on Monday night and left a mess of things in much of SW Ohio. Lots of tree damage and even a loss of power for 24+ hours in our neighborhood. I spent the lunch hour working with a couple of neighbors to clear our lane and yet still have […]
There are days we humans need to be reminded that we are small in relation to the universe, but unique (Genesis 1:27) and loved (John 3:16) in relation to God’s magnificent creation. TIDBITS: Voyager 1 continues into heading into our outer solar system as the space probe continues to communicate with the Deep Space Network […]
Brenda and I enjoyed our anniversary weekend staying around home, working in both the yard and for me painting on Sunday afternoon (Brenda helped out at a store short a pharmacist in Dayton). Slowly I’m making progress in painting the guest bedroom (pano photo below). Ceiling are done, walls have their first and second coat […]
I have put off buying diesel fuel for the Kubota mower and John Deere 330 as long as possible … but inevitably the reserve of 25 gallons stored in fuel jugs gets used up. It looks as if it is time to pay $$$ the inflated prices on fossil fuels — elections have consequences (pre-Russia invasion […]
Now that the desk and hardwood floors are complete, and floor finish has cured enough in my home office, it is time to tackle the trim painting, putting the closet and bookshelves back. Another project I’ve been contemplating is to revitalize my older well-worn corner computer desk. Having used it for a couple of decades […]
It is likely an age thing, but once upon a time, I didn’t think twice about trenching and digging. Now, I’m tired out by lunchtime (this was a Saturday (5/21/2022) morning project) and I didn’t even finished the trench for drainage pipe (it is relatively soft after the heavy rain, but has a lot of […]
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Just archiving progress on the hardwood floors project before moving any furniture back in the guest bedroom (above left) and my home office (panorama photo below). I also wanted to save a photo of the can of Minwax branded wood finish, used and mixed to match our existing floor stain (great job by Schindler Hardwood […]
In keeping with personal home project updating, our hardwood flooring has been moving along this week. The guys are making a mess sanding … but doing their best to contain dust. We are hoping for a stain-match to our existing oak floors, but in any case, the guest bedroom and office are taking shape. Unfortunately […]
The “pain at the pump” is definitely real if you are buying fuel and if you have spend the last decade with gas and diesel at 40+% lower than we are seeing today. That said, in inflation-adjusted dollars, we are still off the highest per barrel prices that we have seen (chart below). Most oil […]
First the good: The rocking chair that I made for my granddaughter’s birthday worked out great. I’m happy with all the sizing and joinery … including the oak dowel peg construction. Now the bad: If I were to redo attaching the shutters to the Christmas dollhouse, I would not have used hotmelt glue to attach […]
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The final steps of finishing the rocking chair for my granddaughter are finally getting done. The canvas strips of material have been added with a little flexible adhesive in the center and epoxy on the ends. The canvas material should do a couple things, first prevent the painted rockers from wearing to bare wood and […]
I’m not an expert on how the events in Ukraine will impact the world, but I do pay close attention to geopolitical events, the financial markets and the economy … and can’t help but wonder how this will reshape our future. For the past year or so I’ve been grumbling about how the Biden administration’s […]
I used the word “customized” because besides getting the “rocker” for this chair from a set of plans … for safety sake … I’ve been tweaking the children’s rocking chair from collected ideas … and trial and error. Besides wanting to use dimensional lumber and running it through the planner for the frames, I’ve pulled […]
Over the years of playing (learning) Linux, setting up APIs and running webservers on a few Raspberry Pi computers, I’ve set up a Twitter “bot” in order to track them and keep them running. Last September 2021 Twitter launched an experiment of labels for these kinds of accounts that was voluntary. I run a “bot” […]
For a soon to tackle project in the woodworking workshop, I tinkered with my older plug cutter in order to hide the heads of a few drywall screws. For a test, I used contrasting wood just to see how much gap there was going to be – it looks as if it will work. To […]
Archiving a couple office update photos after completing the crown molding, painting and “test” fitting of my new Samsung TV that Brenda bought me for Christmas. I also mounted the Yamaha soundbar on a couple special brackets so that the wires, etc remain behind the “skinny” television. As for the crown molding after making the […]
It might not be a current movie (it’s 2011), but it was one neither Brenda or I watched over this past decade, but it was an excellent comedy. “The Big Year,” with Steve Martin, Owen Wilson and Jack Black (several others), was exactly what the “doctors” (Katelyn and Drew) ordered over our family Christmas. They […]
Happy New Year. Let’s hope 2022 will finally be the year that we can return to normal life after 2 years of struggling with COVID19 and the precautions and restrictions. One of my woodworking skill improvements for 2022 (maybe I’ll make it a New Year’s resolution?) is to improve my competence, speed and accuracy in […]
As usual, I was late in coming across a simple workshop miter guide for my table saw, although more recently something I needed for my small bandsaw. While working on a Christmas project for my granddaughter, I needed to cut a bunch of small pieces where I didn’t lose so much wood to the table […]
While posting to the blog yesterday, I noticed a “Year(s) Ago On This Day” post archiving the stamped concrete was being pour/stamped for our backporch – 14 years ago). And even more shocking is that we were building our house back in the winter and spring of 1996! (click on house photo below of Katelyn, […]
Since part one of a couple of blog photo posts will be pubic and not include family, I’ll archive it first. I finished (hopefully) the NINE trailer loads of leaves I mulched and raked in the front yard this year. Oh for the pre-Global Warming and now Climate Change days of burning leaves rather than […]
Having Thanksgiving at my brother’s house with our family (minus Jaben who recently had COVID19) was one of those photo days that I should have packed my Lumix camera. The lighting was a bit dark and into window light for an older iPhone … and without a tripod was challenging. I propped it between some […]
Prior to 2017, I backed a ThingCharger Kickstarter project that was an excellent product. It was overpriced for what it did, but I ended up buying a couple extras for gifts (Brenda’s phone charging in photo at Katelyn and Drew’s house). In 2017, after the business failure, founder Seymour Segnit started a new company telling […]
Our driveway project is semi-wrapped up, but the landscaping company has yet to deliver our topsoil and river rock. The Creech’s rep did update me with a tentative date later this month, so we shall see if the weather holds them back again? I finally moved the construction cones a couple weeks ago and we […]
It may not be pretty, but hopefully the “fix” for the segment of driveway concrete that was poured when our driveway was replaced, without the proper pitch, will prevent puddling where the old and new concrete came together. We were not home to see the work, but after a cursory look (photos) on Wednesday morning, […]
A new upgraded motor is now offered by Sailrite for their line of portable sewing machines (called the WorkerB Power Pack). The lack of slow speed control has been one of the only issues that we have had sewing with the LSZ1. A few years ago I upgraded the Balance Wheel when working on the […]
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Our end of summer driveway project has left us irritated and a bit depressed. This isn’t our first concrete project, so we do know what to expect and what is possible. Our builder supervised our first driveway at this house (the finish looked good and there were no initial cracks, but after a decade it […]
It was a home maintenance project that has been done before, but I’m still not fond of wire-brushing and repainting railings, our iron fence or rear gate … but since there was time at home this past Labor Day weekend, the project was started and finally finished. Besides digging out the rock at the base […]
Who knew we would be having so much rain in late August? It has been a pain for the crew trying to finish our concrete driveway project … but the “big pours” should be done for now and “I hope” they will be back to address a puddling issue in the rear (something I mentioned […]
Who doesn’t know who Brian Wilson is or love his many decades of music … especially with The Beach Boys (even my kids played them on our amplified Echo and dance around a week or so ago)? 😊 I stumbled across his timeline on the BrianWilson.com which highlights each decade with photos and highlights. A […]
A delayed post updating the Category 4 Hurricane Ida that hit the coast of Louisiana just west of New Orleans packing winds nearing Cat 5 strength. The storm surge over 10 feet will test improvements made after Hurricane Katrina hit nearly the same area in 2005 .. in the first year of my daily blog […]
Now that I’m spending more time working from my home office than ever before, I’m shock that I didn’t improve the comfort in my south west corner office before this year? The mini split AC unit has made a world of difference in controlling the temperature … and started me thinking about growing up without […]
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Generally we (really just me) eat up the bananas before they go too soft or brown, but when they do, I make banana bread. Slowly but surely I’ve been tweaking my recipe (below) … usually adjusting the amount of bananas (and how soft) and the 1/2 – 3/4 cup of sugar part. This past week, […]
It is always interesting to see the handful of other 1958 Packard Hawks changing hands considering the one passed down to me was originally my father’s Uncle Ed’s car (bought new in Toledo), then DadC’s from 1973 until he passed away and became mine (Dad loved taking it to car shows). I’m still dragging my […]
In making this a Throwback Thursday #TBT post, it is interesting to look at a blog post from 2007 when we added our backporch and stamped concrete and as it is now while contemplating how to cut back our landscaping and trees. At one point we were thinking it was taking so long to mature […]
Weather and years (and abuse) has pretty much destroyed the gate, hinges and latches that I took off of the gate. I disassembled it in anticipation of our driveway project (I’m still waiting – they were delayed). The final disassemble and hauling to the back was on my weekend list, but I did not anticipate […]
Figured I would archive a couple leftover photos and an animated gif from a nice weekend working out in the yard. Since the concrete crew has not started the driveway project yet, I am continuing to clear brush and cut low branches (contemplating large concrete mixing trucks). Once again, the bonfire brush pile is starting […]
It has hard for me to imagine that there is anyone who doesn’t appreciate the music of Neil Diamond? He may not have been at the top of my 1970s music listening list, but when it comes to soft rock, there are few men who can match his vocal talent. A Twitter snippet of a […]
We had a great time celebrating Taylor’s 32nd birthday last night after work at Pepp and Dolores restaurant in Cincinnati thanks to Megan. Brenda and I enjoyed arriving a little early and sitting at the bar talking with the bartender while sipping some Italian wine. We ended up discussing menu since she wasn’t overly busy. […]
It was a “work around the yard” weekend for me and besides power washing the patios on Saturday, I cut down honeysuckles in preparation for the new concrete driveway project later this summer (if it is still scheduled and affordable )? Along with sawing trees and hauling limbs, I started the old dried out honeysuckle […]
General Electric‘s ($GE) first-quarter 2021 earnings were as they should be. Still, it wasn’t quite enough for investors. General Electric (ticker: GE) shares were down about 2.7% in premarket trading. S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average futures, for comparison, were both off about 0.1%. The company reported an adjusted profit of 3 cents a […]
You can take the boy out of school, but you can’t take school (and learning) out of the boy ( or older man at this point). Over the weekend, I was talking to Brenda about how I’ve been following the NASA feed (tweet below) and waiting for the helicopter to take flight on Mars. The […]
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The more I think about it, the “lamer” it appears to be talking about shoes … but truth be told, the Sperry Topsider reviews and shoe insole posts still are in the top ten when it comes to blog numbers. I’m posting a photo of my newly arrived clearance priced Vasque hiking boots and previous […]
After setting up my router for better, cleaner and easier woodworking dados last week, I started thinking about something better than using my table saw’s stock miter gauge for making “coping” style end cuts on the router table. Beside a $220 commercial Coping-Jig (left), there are hundreds of homemade plans on the Internet to do […]
The weather has been … well, wintery and I’ve been working on a self-designed prototype desktop bookshelf or bookstand with the thought of making a couple of them. Unfortunately desks … let alone books … are disappearing as a Future of Everything WSJ article mentioned this past year. The design is relatively simple in that […]
We received a surprise snowfall on Monday night this week and it caught most of us, including the weather people and snowplows off-guard. Brenda worked until close in Oxford, Ohio and it took her nearly an hour and a half to drive home .. no salt on the roads and very few snowplows were out. […]
My basement woodworking shop is a dust-making mess in our house, but there isn’t much I can do about it now other than to improve how I collect and filter and keep dust from gravitating into the furnaces cold air returns and upstairs. In our previous house in Hudson Ohio, I was fortunate to have […]
Now that the wiring in the basement is no longer laying on the floor in order to feed the kitchen television cable extender and ceiling repairs are finished up, I’ve been cleaning up and moving things back into the home theater and game room areas. With some fresh paint everything looks pretty good, so I […]
It is common when woodworking on a bench to use some kind of vise or clamp to hold down a work piece. For longer boards I’ve always used either a couple of clamps on each end or my home-built vise and square hardwood bench dogs. (below) BUT … I’ve envied woodworkers who have 3/4” holes […]
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A simple blog upgrade project that I’ve been contemplating for a while now was one of my 2021 New Year’s resolutions … so I’m worked on it this past week’s Music Monday post. I’m not sure how long the new button and player will remain unchanged since I seem to keep testing and tweaking it; […]
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For Throwback Thursday #TBT this week I’ll include a couple photos from 1998 or 1999. These Soma.com photos are items from my friend Jeff sent to me when cleaning out his apartment. He (and my wife Brenda) were hired to build out the first Dot-Com era online Pharmacy … or at least the fulfillment facility. […]
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