Happy Birthday Drew. I’m glad you are one of the happy ones!
RichC | December 13, 2025
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Archive: The 2025 Oostra Christmas tree was cut and is perfect
RichC | December 9, 2025
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Are you familiar with the slang: “67” or “clanker” in 2025?
RichC | November 15, 2025
You know that you are getting older when “your kids” send you slang “their kids” are using. Yikes! Well last week, Katelyn asked if I’ve ever heard the slang term “67” … just “six-seven” … not sixty-seven. It must be a “thing” since according to Dictionary.com it is their “Word of the year” for 2025. […]
Archive: An enjoyable couple of days with our granddaughters
RichC | October 22, 2025
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Archiving a couple leftover September 2025 family photos
RichC | September 30, 2025
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Just a leftover photo from Katelyn to her Mom #TBT
RichC | September 25, 2025
The year escapes me at the moment … although with a little searching on the blog I found it: October 2008 at Letchworth State Park, NY. This photo has been in my miscellaneous folder since August and while clearing it out wanted to archive a photo that made me smile for a ThrowBack Thursday #TBT. […]
It has been 10 years, but a father’s impact lasts a lifetime
RichC | August 17, 2025
The Little Critter book title reads … “Just Me and My Dad” (the photo above just a few years ago) … but as I mentioned a decade ago after DadC’s memorial service … he planted the wisdom of Proverb 22:6 in the way he lived his life. “Train up a child in the way he should go: and […]
Archive: School is starting, but a little more fun in Toledo
RichC | August 17, 2025
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Archive: Summer activities are great so long as the sun shines
RichC | July 15, 2025
Let’s start the archive of weekend photos with our immediate family selfies. Taylor, Megan and Gigi were over to cool off in the pool (before the strong storms hit on Saturday afternoon) while KDAE were up in Michigan for a extended weekend having summer vacation-ish fun. It would be difficult to find a much more […]
Archive: What did we do over the 4th of July weekend in 2025?
RichC | July 6, 2025
If you want to know what Brenda and I did to celebrate the 249th birthday of our country, my answer would be … not all that much. I ended up spraying our lawn for those sod webworms that has become a recent problem (the last 5 years) and then relaxed in the pool with my […]
Book: “Kent State: An American Tragedy” by Brian VanDeMark
RichC | July 2, 2025
A Kindle book on hold at the library arrived just as I finished the last book (checked out twice), so the timing for a summer read was perfect. Likely I’ll be slow in reading “Kent State: An American Tragedy” published in 2024 and written by Brian VanDeMark, but I will do my best. First off […]
Archive: Summer week with our granddaughters was a success!
RichC | June 22, 2025
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Our are granddaughters prepped for American Girl Doll camp
RichC | June 11, 2025
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Archive: A family visit and dance recital for our granddaughters
RichC | June 3, 2025
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Widow’s Peak – The desultory rabbit holes a blogger goes down
RichC | June 1, 2025
While Katelyn was home with her family over the Memorial Day weekend, she made a comment about Drew’s hairline while he was swimming in the pool; she used the term “Widow’s Peak“ and it stuck with me as something “desultory” enough for MDB. According to GrokAI (sketched an illustration too): A widow’s peak is a […]
Archive: Memorial Day early pool time with our granddaughters
RichC | May 28, 2025
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Hm, 2011 both does and doesn’t seem all that long ago? #TBT
RichC | May 22, 2025
A “Year(s) Ago On This Day” highlight (column right) had me looking at a May 2011 photo of our family. Katelyn’s NEOUCOM medical school graduation in 2011 made for a great memory for sure … but leaves me a little bit sad. Still, I’m so thankful all four parents were able to attend her graduation, […]
BirdBuddy app, birds and Katelyn’s birdfeeder birthday present
RichC | May 21, 2025
My daughter shared some photos from her new bird feeder birthday present, from Drew and the girls, and access last weekend through the BirdBuddy app. BTW, today is my brother’s birthday, Happy Birthday Ron! (poem below) The WiFi camera connected birdfeeder (see previous non-smar homemade birdfeeder) for the Oostra backyard which is full of “everything […]
Wishing my daughter Katelyn a very Happy 39th Birthday
RichC | May 14, 2025
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Archive: Birthday wishes and fun family singing audio
RichC | May 8, 2025
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Archive: Enjoyed beach time with the Oostra family last week
RichC | April 22, 2025
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Archive: What’s going on with our family?
RichC | April 3, 2025
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Archive: Our family had a busy extended MLKJr Day weekend
RichC | January 22, 2025
We saw way too many family photos being exchanged over the long MLK Jr. weekend, but I’m including a couple for the blog archive. First I’ll start with an interesting and as Katelyn called it, “blogworthy” techie kind of space selfie project photo. Both Katelyn and Drew are on top of today’s technology oriented projects. […]
A clean and very funny Silent Letter Day comedy #video
RichC | January 5, 2025
Before I add the humor (video below), I wanted to include a photo of the girls ice skating on their last day of Christmas break. It was so nice to have the extra time with “Mommy Katelyn” on Friday and doing something special (great smile and photo)! Spotted this on X.com and it made me […]
Goodbye 2024. Have a Happy and Healthy New Year 2025!
RichC | January 1, 2025
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Archiving Chrstmas photos: Gigi, Santa, the Oostra family and Mickey Mouse from Disney on Ice in Toledo, Ohio
RichC | December 17, 2024
It is that time of year … time for Christmas photos … with children and pets? Well a “dog” in the case of Megan and Taylor, but our granddaughters in the case of Katelyn and Drew. In both cases these 2024 photos belong on in the My Desultory Blog archive. Here’s one of Gigi with […]
The Oostra’s new house has their first Christmas tree … and a little baseball podcast for ThrowBack Thursday #TBT
RichC | December 12, 2024
Today’s archive post will be quite the Throwback Thursday #TBT stretch … as the photos and Christmas tree subject matter are from last weekend … even though “The Longest Game” podcast forwarded by my daughter Katelyn is a baseball story from years ago (she knows I enjoy baseball). Let’s start with the baseball story from 1981 […]
Archive: Thanksgiving 2024 photos with our family
RichC | December 3, 2024
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Music Monday: “Life is A Highway” and a VW waterpump failure
RichC | November 25, 2024
Not that my daughter appreciated that her 2018 VW Tiguan left her stranded on the “highway” … but sometimes automotive breakdowns are a part of “life.” So it seemed somewhat appropriate to feature the catchy Tom Cochrane‘s “Life is A Highway” as today’s Music Monday song. Sorry about the water pump failure Katelyn! Tom Cochrane originally […]
Archive: More Autumn 2024 family photos and video
RichC | November 12, 2024
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Archive: Our family is enjoying the 2024 autumn weather
RichC | October 29, 2024
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Keeping track of my adult children and grandkids is a challenge
RichC | September 25, 2024
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Capsizing Trinka triggered a traumatic memory for Katelyn #TBT
RichC | September 5, 2024
Katelyn, my now 38 year old adult daughter, read yesterday’s wedding ring and capsized Trinka dinghy sailing memory and mentioned that I should have included her 7th grade “Time In A Bottle” artwork. She reminded me that it was a “traumatic” incident in her young life (although personally, I did feel that I had everything […]
Archive: Labor Day Weekend photos in Toledo with KDAE
RichC | September 4, 2024
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A fun family weekend in the pool before school starts this week
RichC | August 22, 2024
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Archive: Today is for highlighting my granddaughter Ellerie
RichC | July 27, 2024
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Archiving photos: Our family busy doing “family stuff”
RichC | June 27, 2024
Storm Clouds mid-June over Mankato MN After our enjoyable and busy week with our granddaughters, I wanted to archive a few photos that have been piling up in the “maybe” for the blog folder. Above are some of the storm clouds in Minnesota that caused flooding in the midwest in mid-June — ominous! For us, […]
Archive: The landscaping begins at KDAE’s beautiful new house
RichC | June 5, 2024
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Enjoyed the weekend with KDAE and a wonderful dance recital
RichC | May 22, 2024
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Happy Birthday to my daughter Katelyn … how the risk tolerances and priorities have changed!
RichC | May 14, 2024
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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 […]
Mashing together my thoughts on a few things automotive
RichC | April 21, 2024
The social group that I waste too much time in reading and replying to each week on X.com (a bunch of car enthusiasts and a few automotive journalists) posted a photo of a 1984 Chevrolet Celebrity Eurosport last week. It was exactly like the second company car I had when working for Portage Newspaper Supply Company […]
A Bald Eagle photo in Whitehouse, Ohio … and another 100,000 miles odometer photo from my daughter #TBT
RichC | April 4, 2024
Katelyn’s 100K text message (above left) from her 2018 Volkswagen Tiguan reminded me of the one she sent 17 years ago (above right) … back when she was driving her 2001 Volkswagen Jetta TDI. Where have all the years and miles gone (hence #TBT)? I’m so glad we have the technology to sporadically send messages […]
Archive: Gigi, Creative Rainbow artwork and Ilia Malinin skating
RichC | March 26, 2024
As has become a routine, I’m archiving a couple family weekend photos. First, last week was Gigi’s rescue day (Taylor and Megan’s dog). It was in 2023 that they found her and after attempting to find the owner by posting signs etc … although they suspected she was abandoned after having puppies … adopted her […]
A daughter changing her VW’s air filter makes me smile!
RichC | March 13, 2024
My daughter Katelyn’s driving habits are reminiscent of both her mom and dad — long commutes and a lot of driving. With those longer than normal commutes comes higher than normal miles on cars … and attention to maintenance. Being a smart owner of her 2018 Volkswagen Tiguan, she sees to it that her VW […]
Archive: Since recent family posts were private for most readers, here’s a very cool night “star” photo of KDAE’s new house
RichC | March 7, 2024
Thanks for the great night photo after the completion of your homebuilding project, Drew and Katelyn!
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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Archive: A few leftover Valentine’s Day photos to make me smile
RichC | February 15, 2024
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Family is busy enjoying the winter weather and MLKJr.
RichC | January 16, 2024
Although the temperatures around the US have taken a deep dive and have brought a cold and snowy winter to much of the country, our family is making the most of it. Taylor and Megan spent the long weekend skiing with some in her extended family in Utah and KDAE made the most of the […]
Archive: Some Christmas photos and KDAE finally moving in
RichC | December 13, 2023
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Taylor’s first VW and a CinciTDI Throwback Thursday #TBT
RichC | December 7, 2023
About a month ago, I stumbled across a photo that I think was used as a header for the CinciTDI website at some point after Katelyn and I sold our VW Jetta TDIs, but I had to smile noticing the Volkswagen in the header photo was once Taylor’s GTI. Very good memories for sure (and […]
Archive: A family Throwback Thursday #TBT filler post
RichC | November 30, 2023
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Archive: Leftover granddaughter photos from last weekend
RichC | November 14, 2023
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Archiving leftover family photos to close out October 2023
RichC | October 31, 2023
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Archive: A couple of Corn-Mazing granddaughters
RichC | October 25, 2023
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Archive: Our family together for Labor Day while Taylor was backpacking in Glacier National Park with a friend
RichC | September 6, 2023
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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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Archive: Summer vacation and hiking in Zion National Park
RichC | August 8, 2023
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Archive: The Oostras short summer 2023 vacation to Michigan
RichC | July 19, 2023
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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.