Goodbye 2024. Have a Happy and Healthy New Year 2025!
RichC | January 1, 2025
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Archive: Thanksgiving 2024 photos with our family
RichC | December 3, 2024
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Archive: More Autumn 2024 family photos and video
RichC | November 12, 2024
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Archive: Labor Day Weekend photos in Toledo with KDAE
RichC | September 4, 2024
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Music Monday: “Tin Cup Chalice” by Jimmy Buffett and memories
RichC | August 5, 2024
It would be nice “to go back to the islands” … well maybe going back in time to when we took a trip down A1A (Florida highway and Jimmy Buffett’s 1974 album title) and drove down to Key West. I sort of want to do it again, although I suspect Key West is no longer […]
Archive: Replaced Brenda’s older Apple Watch earlier this month
RichC | June 13, 2024
It is shocking to count the years since I gave Brenda her first Apple Watch for Christmas in 2015 — NINE … shocker! I would like to be able to say that it actually lasted that long, but not all that long after she started wearing it, the battery “bloated” in the charger and failed. […]
Happy Mother’s Day 2024 to Brenda, Katelyn and ALL Moms
RichC | May 12, 2024
While picking out a card for “the mother of my grown children” this year, I couldn’t help notice how inflation has impacted the price of greeting cards. Perhaps when I was in the business of putting ink on paper, the price per sheet as it were, I wasn’t really given too much thought to each […]
Why must reading publications be so difficult and archiving an old Soma/CVS.com fulfillment facility plan
RichC | May 11, 2024
As someone who has spent their career in printing and publishing, I should know this, but why do so many creative people and graphic designers make reading magazines and some newspapers so painfully difficult? The typography in some is ridiculous. I enjoy reading in the evening when my eyes are tired and the lighting is […]
No surprises after Brenda finally took her Ancestry DNA test
RichC | April 28, 2024
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Archive: KDAE February 2024 vacation to Florida Wrap-Up Part 2
RichC | March 6, 2024
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Archive: KDAE February 2024 vacation to Florida Wrap-Up Part 1
RichC | March 3, 2024
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Depressingly, Encore has been on-the-hard for 3 years?
RichC | February 27, 2024
Ever since Brenda’s shoulder, then spine and replacement hip … sailing for us has been a bit of a “let’s wait and see how her osteoporosis treatment goes.” That said, having Encore out of the water and stored for 3 years hasn’t been one of my better decisions. It is time for me to get […]
Sloothing a college friend, a shoe throwing incident and a seagull
RichC | February 11, 2024
While on vacation and walking the beach, Brenda threatened a bird with her sandal who was boldly getting a little to close to her while we were snacking on a granola bar. I laughed at her as the thought about ONE of the Christmas break trips to Florida with my college and a memory came […]
Better weather, eating less and more walking last month
RichC | February 3, 2024
While Brenda and I apprecated the warmer weather while in Florida last month, we really focused on walking more each day after working half days from the condo. Our steady daily beach walks and healthier eating will hopefully pay-off with the shedding of a few pounds and improving our long term health (Brenda’s hip replacement […]
And then there were 4: The NFL Playoffs continue this weekend
RichC | January 27, 2024
Brenda and I have been enjoying the NFL playoffs in late January from Florida this year and are looking forward to watching the final two games before Super Bowl LVIII on February 11, 2024. This weekend America will be watching the Detriot Lions vs the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC and the Kansas City […]
A Music and Movie Monday Merry Christmas to ALL!
RichC | December 25, 2023
Pre-posting a Christmas day blog update as I’m expecting to be busy with our family … and for the record … I am finally getting in the spirit and correct mood to celebrate Christ’s birthday. Since this is a Music Monday, it is appropriate to include the most popular Christmas song in America … BUT […]
Finding a Chrstmas Tree while Brenda shops with Taylor
RichC | December 9, 2023
This would be a great photo of Brenda and Taylor, but for being a blurry selfie (click to see larger). Oh well, I enjoyed seeing the two of them out for their annual mother and son Christmas shopping and evening dinner. I hope they were successful? While they were out, I did my annual the […]
A wedding and reception with Katie and Jason Kirklin
RichC | November 13, 2023
We attended and enjoyed the wedding for Taylor’s long time “birthday buddy” and grade school, high school and college friend Katie Gormas to Jason Kirklin in downtown Cincinnati this weekend. Beside a high traffic parking fiasco that almost made us late, the evening was very nice. Taylor and Megan arrived even a few minutes after us […]
What a life! A beautiful October morning in 2011 #TBT
RichC | November 2, 2023
An older video popped up on on of the cloud archive sites for one reason or another last month (don’t recall), and after quickly glancing at it, decided it was worth including for a Throwback Thursday #TBT. The short clip was Brenda driving to work in her 1998 Toyota Rav4 and was from 2011. It […]
Woodworking Ideas: Family heirloom Nesting Table example
RichC | September 17, 2023
Oostra House getting paint early in September 2023 While babysitting at my daughter’s house last week, a conversation with Brenda shifted to an heirloom “nesting table” woodworking project idea. Katelyn inherited the small tables made by her Jamestown, NY furniture making great grandfather Holmstrom and treasures them as much as Brenda and MomH did (photo […]
Music Monday: Jimmy Buffett passed away peacefully at age 76
RichC | September 4, 2023
Depressing for those of us who grew up in the Jimmy Buffett mindset and have enjoyed his music, concerts, ambitious lifestyle and attitude for our college and adult lives, but his passing on September 1, 2023 hit home. Unfortunately it is starting to feel like the norm (but 76 is way, WAY, too young)? I […]
Watch vintage comedy TV before bed and sleep better #TBT
RichC | August 31, 2023
Brenda and I have transitioned from “mostly news” in the late evening to watching a half-hour of vintage comedy on TV … at least before bed. The repetitive drumbeat of depressing, anger-inducing news is not very conducive for a good night’s sleep. One of the funny shows we enjoy is the late 1960’s sitcom “Get […]
Archive: Celebration of Life for Uncle Sonny and a stop on the way home in Perrysburg to sing Happy Birthday to Brenda
RichC | August 14, 2023
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“Let’s Ride!” Although this probably not the “kind of ride” the phrase was intended for … but Happy Birthday Brenda
RichC | August 12, 2023
Although by the time “we” get to these years, celebrating another birthday isn’t the same as it was when we were pinning tales on donkeys, wearing cone shaped hats and eating as much cake and ice cream as we wanted. I asked Brenda how she wanted to celebrate her birthday and it was more like […]
Hopefully Brenda will not see a bicycle covered in the garage
RichC | July 30, 2023
Brenda’s birthday is in August and after remembering her riding the small kids bike (a joke) and seeing that our granddaughters are both growing into bicycles, it seemed like a good idea to find something reasonably priced for her to ride with them (and me) — and kill two birds with one stone considering it […]
Archive: A great time in Perrysburg with our granddaughters
RichC | July 8, 2023
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Happy Father’s Day with a few leftover garage sale photos
RichC | June 18, 2023
It was an end of the week “Safety Town graduation” and garage sale for Katelyn, Brenda and the girls (and Saturday sale for Drew) as they “unloaded” some stuff before having to move it. They did well and on top of it was a great time to be together (from what I’ve heard). All in […]
A Music Monday Happy Anniversary with “Open Arms”
RichC | June 5, 2023
Once upon a time, I would have defaulted to “Happy Anniversary Baby” by The Little River Band … but as the idiom goes, “been there, done that“ in a 2014 post. So to wish Brenda a Happy Anniversary, this Music Monday I’ll zero in on the year we were married and opt for “Open Arms” by […]
Our six-year old granddaughter’s dance recital weekend
RichC | May 24, 2023
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What’s next and where do you want to retire? #TBT
RichC | May 18, 2023
Most people spend their lives going to school, focused on work and career, raising their family and after 6 decades or so can plan for the day they shift gears and retire. The question arises, what do you want to do and where do you want to live when you aren’t restricted by school and […]
Wishing a Happy Mother’s Day to Brenda and Katelyn … and Happy Birthday to my daughter too
RichC | May 14, 2023
Blooming love’s embrace,Mother’s heart, radiant grace,Forever cherished. While listening to a news program a couple of weeks ago, the morning hosts talked about receiving too many long, overly wordy interoffice emails and notes; I assume journalists can be longwinded? A Haiku challenge ensued. Haiku (俳句) is a type of short form poetry originally from Japan. […]
Angel Food Cake, Strawberries and Whipped Cream Leftovers
RichC | May 9, 2023
Although few of us getting older really want to spend too much time highlighting “yet another” birthday, last weekend was mine … so I celebrated by hauling 68 pounds of aluminum cans to the recycler (above). Since we were with KDAE the previous weekend … and Taylor stops in regularly (twice this past week) and […]
Tech Friday: How about a new iPhone14 for Mother’s Day?
RichC | May 5, 2023
Last month I switched my LTE iPhone 7-plus to USMobile, a budget-friendly wireless carrier, and have been satisfied with the trial. Since I will likely stay with the service after making the cumbersome switch from Mint Mobile, I started to think about switching Brenda’s iPhone7 — ugh! So after a little discussion with her about […]
KDAE were hiking in the Smokies as we returned from Florida
RichC | April 27, 2023
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Archive: A few Easter weekend family photos and video
RichC | April 11, 2023
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A few more family homebuilding photos and using rehab as an excuse to take a winter trip to Florida
RichC | February 15, 2023
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Music Monday: A Little “Just Keep Livin” reggae by Mishka and Brenda’s hip replacement surgery and physical therapy update
RichC | January 30, 2023
Generally, reggaeis not my thing, but this time of year it is easy for me to include something a little more tropical for Music Monday. So my music listening turns to either “No Shoes Radio” or Radio Margaritaville on SiriusXM. This week it was listening to Mishka Firth’s 2010 recording of “Just Keep Livin” as […]
Markdown and rawhtml on a Hugo static page server
RichC | January 26, 2023
Besides nursing duties and doctor visits with Brenda this past week, I’ve been working with a customer who would like to deploy a non-CMS website and completely forgot to post something on Thursday — making it up today. Although I’m partial to using an inexpensive Linux server with Apache and MySQL, he would like to […]
Amazed at the mobility improvement so soon after surgery
RichC | January 15, 2023
Brenda is making remarkable improvements (in my opinion) in her mobility after having expedited full hip replacement surgery on Monday afternoon at 4PM. As mentioned yesterday, she was released from the hospital on Wednesday night and after a semi-restful day on Thursday, began physical therapy on Friday. Katelyn came down from Perrysburg and was wonderful […]
A whirlwind medical week for Brenda (3 weeks of pain actually)
RichC | January 14, 2023
Prior to Christmas, Brenda was moving furniture around in our carpeted bedroom in order to clean behind our king size bed and headboard. She knew at the time it was too heavy, but continued to push and pull with her legs and hip. When I got home, I noticed the bed and nightstands were out […]
Saving family photos from our Corbett-Oostra Christmas 2022
RichC | December 29, 2022
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Archiving our early 2022 Christmas present: A New Rug
RichC | December 23, 2022
Brenda has struggled most of the year to find a replacement Oriental or Persian Rug for our Great Room after retiring our original rug to my office. In November, Katelyn connected her with “Donald,” the decorator she is using to help with their homebuilding, and after several Facetime calls finally decided on a VERY large […]
Homemade Croutons: My mother would have smiled
RichC | December 10, 2022
With inflation pushing grocery prices up, Brenda refuses to purchase store-bought croutons unless they are “on sale.” So since we had a quarter loaf of stale bread after our recent week away, I decided to cube and turn it into Rosemary, Italian seasoning, Garlic and Olive Oil croutons. After making them (bake 10 minutes at […]
Festivus … “the all-inclusive December gathering” #humor
RichC | December 1, 2022
With Thanksgiving behind us, I’m wondering if Brenda is adopting a new-to-us December holiday tradition? Perhaps or most likely not … but I do see something that looks like a Seinfeld-like “Festivus” pole in our foyer. For those familiar with the the long running television comedy Seinfeld, you will recall immediately the 1997 episode call […]
Thanksgiving 2022: “Out of the mouth of babes …”
RichC | November 24, 2022
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Our family together for Dave Schneider’s Celebration of Life
RichC | November 15, 2022
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What would October be without our fall trip to Florida?
RichC | October 9, 2022
Brenda and I have been fortunate to almost always taken an autumn trip to Florida. Years ago it was often to visit my parents who would go to Panama City Beach or take a trip with the kids. After Katelyn and Taylor were in college, it was often to visit Brenda’s parents and then to […]
Archiving a photo of our 1998 Toyota Rav4 for #TBT
RichC | October 6, 2022
The old Chrysler Town and Country Throwback Thursday #TBT post triggered my archiving of another old automotive photo of Brenda’s beloved 1998 Toyota Rav4. Having own that small ute with a surprisingly large interior for so many miles (265K) and so many years (18), it may be one of the best vehicles we have ever […]
A quick babysitting trip to Perrysburg and a check on Katelyn and Drew’s property and house building progress
RichC | August 27, 2022
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A Happy Birthday for Brenda … with her granddaughters
RichC | August 12, 2022
It has been a perfect summer week with Ellerie and Annalyn and all topped off with our family together to celebrate Brenda’s birthday. Katelyn and Drew are taking the girls to Kings Island today while we recuperate and I try to get a few things done that have piled up from phone calls, emails and […]
Summer storms continue, more COVID and Gilligan’s Island
RichC | August 6, 2022
Well if one has to stay at home … looking at our backyard “storm is coming” pool photo … and we aren’t to be out and about, there could be worse places to be isolating? The summer storms continued rolling thru this past week and and after testing positive the previous week, I thought a […]
And we have been COVID free these last two years. UGH!
RichC | August 1, 2022
Well it looks like COVID19’s BA.5 subvariant has found us … or we found it. Fortunately for us, we have been vaccinated and at least I have one of the boosters … so hopefully the more serious and severe illness seen by many can be avoided. As of my writing (over the weekend) the symptoms […]
Oostra lot clearing has begun, a KETO diet and Fitbit update
RichC | July 13, 2022
Instead of starting a rant on our nightmare return trip from the Canadian Rockies flying Air Canada … I’m going to let the stress dissipate for a while. It was painful travel. So instead I’ll archive a couple exciting photos from Katelyn and Drew as their builder has started clearing the trees from their lot […]
Wishing my son Taylor a very Happy 33rd Birthday
RichC | June 10, 2022
Taylor last weekend at the Cincinnati Zoo with Megan While typing the subject line of this post, I wondered at what “age” is respectful to NOT mention a number when sharing a Happy Birthday greeting? Hopefully not at 33 yet, since from memory those were the years I pretty much felt my best (pre Menieres!) […]
We hit a big milestone: Our 40th Wedding Anniversary
RichC | June 5, 2022
A poor quality scan of our 1982 wedding with DadH, MomH, MomC and DadC Often a 40th Wedding Anniversary triggers a husband or wife to make the comment “thanks for putting up with me” or something to that effect. Although there is truth to it, spending the rest of your life with another person is […]
Books: “Wealth, War and Wisdom” by Barton Biggs (2009) and a little “How Long will the Santa Mouse Decor Remain” humor
RichC | February 13, 2022
We’ve never been all that timely in getting Christmas decorations put away after the holidays, but this year we … and by “we” I mean Brenda … has been slower than usual. To be fair, most everything has been packed and put away, but there are a few stragglers still around our house. I’m not […]
Tech Friday: Keen 1963 portable phone insight Mansfield, OH
RichC | January 7, 2022
Here’s a look back to a Mansfield News Journal article and something a little different for a New Year’s Nostradamus-y Tech Friday post … also in using the word “keen” it reflects the Christmas present/hiking shoes I bought (well Katelyn actually ordered) for Brenda … along with a bed-desk for her “preferred” office. 
Desultory - des-uhl-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee
- lacking in consistency, constancy, or visible order, disconnected; fitful: desultory conversation.
- digressing from or unconnected with the main subject; random: a desultory remark.