ddj | My Desultory Blog

Returning to nautical flavored child safety gates for the stairs

RichC | April 15, 2018

Now that our granddaughter Annalyn is walking, our THREE (ugh!) hardwood staircases are serious safety hazards. We thought about the normal commercial gates, but Brenda mentioned she really liked the nautical sailing ones that I made for our kids when they were little tykes in Hudson, Ohio (a lame attempt at a reference to the […]

Category: Misc, Personal, Photos | No Comments »
Tags: annalyn, ddj, family, gate, house, hudson, little tykes, ohio, project, safety

Most Recent Posts

01/15/19: Appreciating a heated garage after the first big winter snow
With a “heavy snowfall” that amounted to about 10 inches before melting a bit, I was thankful to have put the snow blower on the tractor last week. It was about the wettest snow I’ve ever tried to blow and… »
01/14/19: Music Monday: And for something totally different from Annalyn
If there is one thing that will keep me blogging and archiving, it will be my granddaughter Annalyn; I can’t help myself in smiling and grinning when receiving a video of her singing “Baby Shark doo doo doo… »
01/13/19: Shrimp are small, yet regulations and tax incentives can be big
With incentives, South Dakota and Minnesota compete for tiny trū Shrimp and its promise of indoor shrimp farms. A company named trū Shrimp Co. had planned to break ground this spring in Luverne, Minn., on a $330… »
01/12/19: The wet, heavy snow might be too much for the John Deere?
The Raspberry Pi Cam photo automatically captured the backyard snow during a break in the falling snowflakes. The storm was well forecasted, so decided it was time to put the snowblower on the old John Deere 330 diesel… »
01/12/19: Politicians of all stripes love spending someone else’s money
There is one thing that is consistent in Washington DC … politicians and bureaucrats love spending other people’s money. It doesn’t matter whether they are a Democrats or a Republicans … socialists or… »
01/11/19: Tech Friday: The best TECH life-changers in the last couple years
The Amazon Echo in Kitchen/Great Room and the new Echo Dot 3rd Gen in my workshop Not a day goes by without Amazon’s Echo devices doing something for us in our home … and it is only a matter of time before “she”… »
01/10/19: Learning about the Packard Twelve leaves me curious #TBT
While reading a few interesting older blog posts at Consumer Guide, my Twitter friend Tom Appel (@Car_Guy_Tom) post got me thinking about the strange company that seemed to be trying to revitalize the Packard car brand.… »
01/09/19: Battery replaced in my aging iPhone7plus under Apple program
It was a somewhat frustrating end of year scrabble to get my iPhone 7 battery replaced under the Apple “program” after their throttling older iPhones was disclosed in 2017. My battery was still holding up, but who… »
01/09/19: To-Do and old photos from history – Machu Picchu from 1911
Photo from history website pulled from Reddit Machu Picchu, an ancient Inca settlement in Peru, wasn’t discovered by someone with a camera until 1911. American archeologist Hiram Bingham took the first known photo… »
01/08/19: How hot is too hot for a Late 2012 Apple iMac 3.4GHz Core i7?
No matter who you talk to, running the processor at water’s boiling point is too hot and not healthy for a computer chips. After replacing my iMac’s power supply board … and hard drive … I thought my problems… »
01/07/19: Music Monday: Starting with a change for 2019 – Kenny Chesney
After years of posting what I suspect are now considered “oldies” for Music Monday posts, I’ll at least start 2019 with a change. The Christmas season was a chance to listen to holiday music performed by a variety… »
01/06/19: Read between the lines–When will ElioMotors begin production?
Last year, the chit-chat from Paul Elio was that production of the Elio was scheduled for the end of 2019 … far longer than any reservation holder had anticipated. I’ve remained confident and have ignored the… »
01/05/19: Work, play, responsibility and aging: Finding the sweet spot
This “finding the sweet spot” post was started as I was closing my books on 2018 and winding down the year. The New Year’s Day mark was still a couple days away and while contemplating what 2019 would surprise me… »
01/04/19: Aviation progress is poised to take-off
Aviation has bogged in the last few decades, but with computer assisted quadrotors, private space ventures and renewed supersonic travel … perhaps the next couple decades with be inspirational? Supersonic jets may… »
01/03/19: Our Annalyn is amazing, altho I’m not surprised #video
I can’t help but show off our bright little Annalyn … of course, knowing just how smart her mom and dad are, that really shouldn’t surprise me. Still, it impressive watching her put on her own coat!… »
01/02/19: How does a rock solid dividend stock sound about now? $RPM
Are you looking at top quality dividend stocks? RPM International is a buy and hold stock that has a track record of increasing cash dividends to shareholders that can’t be match by many companies. Today it was down… »
01/02/19: LSSU’s banished words and phrases from 2018
Each year since 1976 Lake Superior State University posts its list of “banished words.” Usually, we’ve all heard (or used!) the overused words and phrases — this year is no exception. I… »
01/01/19: Happy New Year – Make the most of each day this 2019
This year our our 2018 Christmas letter included a quote by the Dalai Lama and it reminds me that our time on earth is finite. Once a grain of sand has passed through the hour glass, it is gone … so make each day… »
12/31/18: Music Monday: Jumpin’ Jack Flash from FIFTY years ago!
It is hard to believe that the Rolling Stones have been making “noise” (as my dad would have said) for well over 50 years. Wow … that is sounding old … but I was still too young to listening to rock n roll music… »
12/30/18: If you have a workshop, you need a few medical instruments
Twice this past week I used medical instruments in my workshop. The first repair was to use a non-needled syringe to suck out some moisture in a pump switch … thanks Brenda, it was handy (although I have used them… »
12/29/18: Cheap and easy tight-spaces snoots for the central vac
A little central vacuum cleaner modification with a short snipped segment of polyethylene tubing did the trick for cleaning out some lint build-up in the laundry room. Brenda was having a difficult time with the normal… »
12/28/18: Tech Friday: Are Windows registry cleaners hokum?
Those of us who manage our own computers likely do our share of “desktop” cleaning and are regularly warned by our anti-virus software that we need to do more than prevent viruses and hackers from accessing our… »
12/27/18: You too can restore a cast iron skillet like Jon Peters
When Brenda and I were first married, we started off cooking with a cast iron skillet. It was “old school” even 36 years ago to be using our old Wagner cast iron (were made in Sidney, Ohio), but there was something… »
12/26/18: A limited Corbett–Oostra family Christmas photo recap for 2018
A few days, a few more pounds of cookies (and food) and way too many presents and good times to recap appropriately … so as the photos are fired back and forth between our smartphones, here are a few for the archives.… »
12/25/18: Christmas Morning 2018 Time-lapse
Every tech-loving guy needs a subject for a new gizmo … my son-in-law Drew is no exception. He set up his new GoPro-like camera (gift from Katelyn) to time-lapse our Christmas morning. His effort was a little bit… »
12/23/18: Added TimeMachineEditor to iMac after Mojave update & issues
After my recent issues with my overheating iMac, I’ve become a lot more fastidious about what software I keep running and tax the quad core 3.4 GHz i7 chip. Frankly I still don’t think the relatively light computing… »
12/22/18: Zoeller has become my go-to favorite for replacement pumps
They are not the cheapest, but the cast iron US made Zoeller pumps are now my go-to for pumps when replacing our “way too many” pumps. They are definitely superior to the big box store brands. Although each time I… »
12/21/18: Merry Christmas 2018–May you have peace, hope, joy and love.
Although my intent for MyDesultoryBlog was to be just an online version of a personal journal and place to post my day to day thoughts for posterity …the analytics and comments over the years makes it clear that… »
12/20/18: Waiting to put the new battery in the Mercedes 300D Turbodiesel
Who knew something as simple as ordering an Mann air filter ordered from Amazon would delay getting the Mercedes Benz 300D Turbodiesel back on the road? I order a new battery “online” with free delivery since it was… »
12/19/18: Investigating President Trump–a guide posted in Wired.com
On the political front, special council Robert Mueller has been digging into President Donald Trump’s campaign and practices since May of 2017 (officially: coordination between the Russian government and individuals… »
12/18/18: Fuelly.com fuel economy update: 2010 BMW X5 35d #diesel
Here’s a “near the end of the year” update on my 2010 BMW X5 35d with a few modifications. Quite a bit more power, but probably not much of a fuel economy improvement. Nevertheless, it is a heavy SUV and I do tend… »
12/17/18: Music Monday: Merry Christmas from the Family
How about a classic … Merry Christmas from the Family … first recorded by the “alternative country music” artist Robert Earl Keene in 1994 (below is a live version from 2006 still on YouTube). It… »
12/16/18: The AutoCraft Gold battery in the Mercedes 300D lasted 7 years
If you can get 7 years out of a car battery, that pretty good. I usually start watching them in my daily driver after 5 years, but this hefty 950 cold cranking amp AutoCraft Gold battery doesn’t have to work everyday… »
12/15/18: Christmas prep and my iMac is still recovering from surgery
Although Brenda and I are making steady progress in getting things ready for Christmas, the iMac surgery mentioned yesterday did not go as smoothly as planned, but at least I do have backups to rebuild things from.… »
12/14/18: Tech Friday: What is all the 5G buzz about?
"Hey Rich, should I wait for a 5G phone … and by the way, what is 5G?" One of these days I’m just going to say, "I don’t know," but until then, I bump along pretending I know more than… »
12/13/18: Archive: Asclepias Syriaca (Common Milkweed) flowering date shift in response to climate change | Scientific Reports
While this article (PDF version) may not necessarily garner front page news, it is something I wanted to read and archive because it was researched and published by my nephew Aaron Howard. Well done. The consequences of… »
12/13/18: HowTo: Improving a plastic latch on the 2010 BMW X5 35d
The design of the storage lid and latch on my2010 BMW X5 35d SUV leave a lot to be desired and now that I have new NON-run flat tires, I’m actually using the space under the rear deck for the temporary tire … so… »
12/12/18: The "looks like new" temporary second-hand spare tire arrived
The final piece of converting our 2010 BMW X5 35d from run-flat tires to normal tires is now complete … a temporary spare. Unfortunately, I’ve lost much of my "under the rear floor" storage area… »
12/11/18: Security LED floodlights from the hardware store discount bin
Who doesn’t fall for the “treasures” found in the hardware store discount bins? I’m always looking for a “good buy” when I’m walking through the hardware store … and such was… »
12/10/18: Music Monday: Gordon Lightfoot singing Carefree Highway
Digging back into the archives to unpack a few outdoor Christmas decorations had me remembering my high school friend Charlie and when we were taking the ‘fiberpile’ out sailing in cold weather …when there… »
12/09/18: The converting fluorescent tubes to LED process slowly continues
One fluorescent fixture at a time … that’s how I’ve been updating the old tubes in two and four light panels to LEDs. Unfortunately I’m ending up with a mish-mash of inexpensive and unfortunately… »
12/08/18: Thinking about and planning another sewing project for 2019
Read up a little bit more on upholstery last weekend while in Florida while thinking about a couple possible projects. I’m not sure about tackling something as big as a couch and loveseat (slideshow below), but… »
12/07/18: Tech Friday – Finally fixed the slideshow plugin for WordPress
A couple years ago I added Simple Slideshow Manager to MyDesultoryBlog as a way to include a series of photos in a single post. Having "attempted" different approaches that fail in one OS, Browser or device… »
12/06/18: The 2010 BMW X5 35d has a new set of tires to start winter
The set of run flat tires on the 2010 BMW X5 35d were pushed about a long as I dare … since even my "risk tolerate" son said, "Dad, you really need to get those tires replaced before the snow." He… »
12/05/18: BMW 528i Rear Window Seal and Variable Timing Solenoid
My son Taylor has been putting off replacing the rear window seal on his 2008 BMW 528i for too long but before the snow starts again decided to come over after work to put it in. It was surprising that this task was… »
12/04/18: There are few good TV shows, but thankful for Last Man Standing
Now that my favorite TV comedy with Tim Allen is back on the air … I read a bit about Last Man Standing’s cancelation by ABC and how the show eventually made it’s way to FOX. I never did buy the "it… »
12/03/18: Archive: Just a little condo rental prep and Encore upkeep
Only one little piggy had a bad day down in Florida. It was unusual for me, but decided to wear the Sperry watershoes rather than leather boat shoes while working on Encore … basically just cleaning and getting her… »
12/02/18: The passing of our most qualified president – George H. W. Bush
Perhaps it is human nature to reflect on ones own personal shortcomings and selfish thoughts at the passing of another well remembered United States president? President George H.W. Bush (1924-2018) lived an amazing… »
12/01/18: Archive: Making templates and planning for future projects
During the last trip to the condo, we enjoyed the fruits of our 2018 labor – our recent kitchen and bath updates. As is the norm for us, we discussed future projects, like updating the master bathroom too, since… »
11/30/18: As grandparents, what would we do without smartphones?
Just when I thought my granddaughter Annalyn could not get any cuter, she decides to put stickers on Katelyn’s nose and then her own. The giggling and grins were just too much not to take screenshots of and… »

January 2019
S	M	T	W	T	F	S
« Dec
	1	2	3	4	5
6	7	8	9	10	11	12
13	14	15	16	17	18	19
20	21	22	23	24	25	26
27	28	29	30	31

January 2019

« Dec

Most Recent Posts

Desultory - des-uhl-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee

Search

Year(s) ago on this day

Archives

Categories

Most Used Tags

Contact

Meta