My Desultory Blog

Posted By RichC on October 31, 2017

Although I don’t think the Marlin company makes my .357 magnum Model 1894 lever action rifle anymore, I was finally able to scrounge the parts to repair it. I’ve had this beautiful short barreled saddle rifle since high school as it matched the caliber of my short barreled revolver. I have enjoyed it through most of the 1970-90s until some internal damage years ago (my son Taylor knows why –  cough, cough).  I’ve search for parts and inquired with a gunsmith to no avail … but recently found a few parts. I picked up the final screw last week from Brownells last weekend and voila, it is working again (still want to have a gunsmith or firearms expert look at it to be sure all works the way it should). It feels good to have one of my favorite “Politically Correct” rifles back in working order – “PC” for those unfamiliar with firearms basically means it is not a “black” or has that negative perception of something that looks military or like assault rifle. 

Category: Misc, Photos, Recreation | No Comments »
Tags: brownells, firearms, guns, marlin, model 1894, repair, rifle, shooting

Posted By RichC on October 30, 2017

One plant I can cultivate well is the Lonicera maackii … the invasive honeysuckle. They take no care and can withstand heavy pruning and replants themselves EVERYWHERE.

This year they are even more heavily berried than usual. Unfortunately they are both messy (very soft) and mildly poisonous! Still, they provide a decent hedgerow along our property line, which I don’t really mind.

(click for larger photos)

Category: Environment, Misc, Photos | 1 Comment »
Tags: autumn, berry, bush, honeysuckle, invasive, landscape, plant

Posted By RichC on October 29, 2017

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Category: Misc, Personal, Photos | No Comments »
Tags: annalyn, chores, downspouts, family, gutters, home, house, Photos

Posted By RichC on October 28, 2017

A rocking bunch of positive earning from tech companies push companies like Google, Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Netflix, Microsoft, Intel and even Twitter higher. Although some financial analysts are recycling the “irrational exuberance” term, the excellent quarterly financial numbers are actually a reason for a positive attitude. I’m still nervous as to all the unknown surprises lurking, but do see reasons to believe the economy can continue to improve.

My nervousness has to do with the unpredictability of some leaders (President Trump included) and the 3 carrier groups we now looming over North Korea … and knowing we are in one of the longest running market climbs in history — recessions happen on average every 7 years — knowing that, we are overdue for a market correction.

Nasdaq Chart Friday 10/27/2017

Still, a tax cut and “maybe” even tax reform seems likely if Republican don’t “snatch defeat from the jaws of victory” as seems par for the course. For now, a lot of us are keeping one foot in and one foot out of the market.

“A strong dose of computer and internet earnings woke tech stocks from a moribund week, sending the Nasdaq 100 Index to its best performance in eight years relative to the broader market and putting fears of a FANG rout to bed, at least for a day.

Google parent Alphabet Inc. jumped 6.1 percent as of 12:20 p.m. in New York, and Amazon.com Inc. surged 13 percent as bottom-line profits wiped out analyst forecasts. Microsoft Corp. joined the rally, climbing 7.3 percent as its sales and income breezed past the Wall Street consensus.”

Bloomberg LINK

Category: Financial, Technology | No Comments »
Tags: investing, nasdaq, stocks, tech, trading, wall street

Posted By RichC on October 27, 2017

The great thing about watching baseball is that it moves at a pace that makes reading a new book do-able while watching the game. Currently MLB World Series game 3 in Houston has the Astros leading the Dodgers 4 -1 in the 4th after they splitting the game 1 and 2 in LA. It has been a great series so far.

As for the latest book, I downloaded the Kindle version of Yaron Brook and Don Watkins newest book In Pursuit of Wealth: The Moral Case for Finance on the recommendation of Jonathan Hoenig last night in our conversation on Twitter. For those who appreciate Ayn Rand, you might enjoy this book and their writing.

Category: Books, Social Media, Sports | 1 Comment »
Tags: astros, ayn rand, baseball, book, dodgers, don watkins, twitter, world series, yaron brook

Posted By RichC on October 27, 2017

Received an email from Elio Motors (yes they are still alive) with an opportunity that I’m hoping to take advantage of when (IF) I ever get to pick up my "all in" order. I do enjoy reading the updates and hope production begins next year as planned. The big concern for most of us is that the company will never enter the production phase … cheap fossil fuel sure makes this start-up company less attractive than it was when the idea was first floated.

Looking forward to my tour after reading last weeks update, but here’s skipping to the Questions & Answers:

Will I be able to pick up my Elio from the factory?

At this stage, our plan is to allow $1,000 All-In reservation holders to come down to the plant, take a tour of the facility, and head on down the road in their new Elio. The details are still being ironed out, but we think it’s going to be an awesome experience for our early adopters. Also, there have been some discussions out there about picking the vehicle up at the factory to save on the delivery fee. This is not true as there will be a delivery charge at the plant for this select group of $1000 all in reservation holders yet to be finalized.

Read the full post and more answered questions here.

Category: Automotive, Blogs | No Comments »
Tags: elio, elio motors, facility, louisiana, order, plant, tour, update

Posted By RichC on October 27, 2017

Just seeing Windows Defender "alerting" me to a backdoor threat on my Lenovo Yoga notebook computer is enough to make me move to a more expensive Apple MacBook Pro the next upgrade cycle. I knew about the Crap Cleaner (aka: CCleaner) vulnerability but had hoped a removal and upgrade by the software maker/distributor would have automatically removed the "backdoor." Obviously not.

So as a warning to others, be sure your virus scanning software finds and removes the Backdoor:Win32/Floxif program if you use CCleaner … and in particular use the ccsetup533.exe version.

Category: Computer, Software, Technology | No Comments »
Tags: backdoor, ccleaner, defender, tech friday, techfriday, virus, windows

Posted By RichC on October 26, 2017

Yesterday I shared a "map" diagram with my daughter Katelyn and labeled a small drainage ditch we called the "crick" … also shared a disease story with her that she decided not to share with her friend. The name for that bit of water got me thinking about all the names we use for bodies of water … and there are A LOT! (video below)

Category: Memories, Misc, Tidbits, Video | No Comments »
Tags: crick, howard farms, interesting, katelyn, lagoon, lake erie, map, water

Posted By RichC on October 25, 2017

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Category: Archive, Music, Obituary | No Comments »
Tags: death, fats domino, mp3, Music

Posted By RichC on October 25, 2017

My daughter Katelyn and I exchanged a few messages over the past couple of days that had me reminiscing and trying to remember names of a few kids when I was in grade school. It started visiting in Perrysburg last week watching Annalyn when Katelyn mentioned that a co-worker of hers and father went to my grade school and also may have lived close to our house on Lake Erie.

This morphed into "do you know … so-in-so, etc," so while racking my brain in trying to remember the last names of classmates and neighbors, I ended up glancing at the last few existing photo on Google Streetview of our old house (above) … which has since been torn down. Interestingly the old tax records archived on the county site had a few more OLDER photos below and the old "microfilm" tax parcel record had my dad listed as Donald rather than Ronald (above) It was also interesting seenig the previous owners Hazel and Clyde Venrick and reminded me of the old scale from the Venrick pharmacy that I currently have in our pool house! I guess I’m getting old when amusement comes from GOOD old memories?

Part of the conversation also had to do with where exactly where we lived compared to the family property that Katelyn knows …

My text with this Google map:

That La Fontaine Drive was a vacant lot when we were there. We built our forts on the back side of the dike that was on the “CRICK” (creek) behind that La Fountaine property (our house was over the “crick” and dike on Lagoon Drive).

Category: Archive, Memories, Personal, Photos, Tidbits | No Comments »
Tags: curtice, drugstore, home, jerusalem, katelyn, lagoon, lake erie, memories, pharmacy, scale