Utility trailer wiring and Marshall Islands Atomic bomb testing

| September 3, 2024

Operation Crossroads Baker in 1946 Besides mowing the front lawn last Friday night (practically in the dark) and much of Saturday in the backyard, I did find time to replace the old cracked tires and rewire the “old” long ago broken lights on the Bame Utility trailer.  On a book reading side note, I’m on […]

Spent the weekend wire-brushing and painting the utility trailer

| August 27, 2024

The “flowers photo” was not the purpose of this post, but because the tiny purple flowers looked so nice this past weekend, I took a photo (I should know the name or at least take the time to look it up … but I’m not).  BUT the real reason was to archive the very messy […]

Why are these paint brushes are my favorites?

| August 3, 2022

It is likely that I’ve used and cleaned over 100 paint brushes in my lifetime … besides the throw-away bristle and foam versions. That said, I find myself gravitating to a couple favorites that I hang over the basement utility sink. These are of the softer full-bodied brushes that hold paint well, brush smooth and […]

Video tips on how to do a better job caulking

| July 31, 2022

As someone who is not fond of both painting and caulking, whenever there are professional tips that make those jobs easier, I listen (a better “dripless” caulking guns link too).

Art: “There is a different Winslow Homer for every age”

| July 6, 2022

Winslow Homer’s 1899 painting “The Gulf Stream” (“reworked in 1906’) is a much-celebrated work of art for a variety of reasons, but appeals to me due to the ocean scene and dismasted sailboat, as do his other Atlantic scene paintings. This one has seen renewed interest likely because of our current “turbulent times” … politically. […]

Weekend yard chores, painting and corner desk update photos

| June 7, 2022

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 […]

Archive: A leftover photo and priming Ellerie’s rocking chair

| March 1, 2022

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Tackled office painting and a minor winter weekend project

| January 11, 2022

The past weekend projects consisted mostly of trim painting and then roller painting the long and drawn out office update project. Part of it is due to other things getting prioritized … like Christmas and family … and some of it out of my dislike for painting. BUT, I finally “cut” or trim painted all […]

Office project patching update photos and banana bread #TBT

| September 16, 2021

Here are a few leftover project photos from the weekend for Throwback Thursday #TBT to add to the personal archive. Normally we make banana bread in the full-size Bosch oven when our bananas go soft and brown, but  I keep trying to get the convection baking setting correct on our toaster oven – not bad […]

Archive: Labor Day 2021 Iron Fence and Gate Painting

| September 7, 2021

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 […]

Old handsaws, rusting jack posts and a deck of cards #TBT

| December 24, 2020

Since I expect to be busy with our family on Christmas Eve Day, I’ll prepare a post for Throwback Thursday #TBT with a few old handsaws from my families past and asked the rhetorical question to myself: “Why do you keep old handsaws that you never use?” Actually I don’t recall really needing to use […]

Creatively painting tools and testing a new relay for the Packard

| November 21, 2020

Personally I don’t want my tools looking like this, but I do admire the effort and creative talent it takes to do this. It does remind me of my grandfather who always painted the handles of his tools bright red .. I still have a couple of them. Also the new relay arrived for the […]

Paintied the hinges and door hardware for the pool changing room

| September 19, 2020

It has taken me most of the second half of the summer, but I’m finally finishing the poolhouse changing room … more work than I thought. The damage done by Katelyn’s “late” pet rabbit Pumpy Umpy was significant enough to require lower drywall (greenboard) and all new casing and baseboard trim. Part of my slowdown […]

Paintings and memories: Do you own any priceless art?

| July 11, 2020

Since I recently completed the bookshelves project this past spring and repainted our Library/Music room, Brenda and I have been discussing what artwork to put back on the walls. We’ve collected or have been given quite a few painting and likely will rotate them … but probably won’t include my favorites – the ones with […]

Woodworking: Finished my Scrapwood Challenge project

| May 20, 2020

Several posts ago I mentioned that I was participating in the Makers Mob woodworking 6-week Scrapwood Challenge as part of the stay-at-home COVID19 orders. I can’t say that this project is anything great, but it did give me something to do in the evenings besides tweet political garbage or watch more outrage and debate from […]

The Library, Music Room, Bookshelves project in nearly finished

| April 30, 2020

Rather than close out the month of April 2020 with some depressing topic related to COVID19, I’ll post a photo for book lovers (right) and collectors along with a saved newspaper article clipped with a photo to highlight a future project (steps/ladder for the bookshelves) and the latest in the seemingly SLOW progress of putting […]

The Canary cam, another cardinal and a painted pry bar

| April 24, 2020

A couple weeks ago I mentioned that our brightly color cardinal enjoyed “looking at himself” in our window’s Canary cam – he was probably looking for a mate. Now that he’s found one … he seems to be avoid her; she is likely checking his usual haunts and asking “where is he?” I suspect there […]

Woodworking crosscut sled discussion and bookshelves update

| March 29, 2020

This is a two-purpose post: A woodworking (sort of) bookshelves project archive update and shared information on a jig I made. First, the bookshelves and music room/ library painting coming along slowly. I’m bogged down with putty, sanding and painting after adding a strip light shield (wood to hide the LEDs that I’m planning to […]

Monitoring the COVID19 while working on bookshelf project

| March 24, 2020

It has been good to be distracted with a painting and bookshelf project while "staying at home" these last few days. Unfortunately the COVID19 Coronavirus doesn’t look to be disappearing or dissipating as quickly as we were all hoping … so it looks as if we’ll be struggling to figure out how to not only […]

The “Stay-at-Home” plan for COVID19 will continue for a while

| March 22, 2020

We are definitely not the only ones praying a little bit more that usual nowadays while listening to those who are trying to help the country and world manage and get through the Coronavirus threat. I reluctantly worry about the elderly and less capable of fending for themselves especially if they have underlying health issue […]

The weekend (weekdays) bookshelves and painting project

| March 21, 2020

The painting projects continue without a need to rush or complete anything quickly. Finished the ceiling paint, some patching and trim area and “might” paint the first coat of paint that Brenda has picked on Saturday – “Bermuda Sand” (which is more yellow than the pink sand color that comes to mind – see below). […]

Just home projects while ignoring work and financial markets

| March 17, 2020

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Updates: Mudroom painting, steps treads and a coffee warmer

| December 3, 2019

The more time I spend in the basement workshop, the more I enjoy having my coffee with me and “warm.” Usually I just use an insulated stainless steel coffee container, but lately I’ve gone back to a ceramic cup so it can easily go into the microwave for warming. When sidetracked by projects or working […]

A final 3-day Labor Day 2019 weekend photos update

| September 4, 2019

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Plugging up holes and dealing with irritated yellow jackets

| August 27, 2019

We have more bees and wasps appearing around our house this summer, on the other hand, we have always had nests in the woods but this year a few more have moved closer to the house. When preparing to stain the fence this year, I had to glue 3/8” dowels in the carpenter bees holes […]

Falling back on fiberglass and autobody skills for house repairs

| July 30, 2019

The summer of 2019 around our house has meant more repairs and maintenance updates than usual. This means weekends have been busy with house projects and in also finding and hiring help to complete the updates that are too overwhelming for this one “aging” guy to handle on his own (although my 60th birthday celebrations […]

An old newspaper clipping and a great summer job #TBT

| July 25, 2019

When talking about the wide spread damage in the Dayton area by a tornado earlier this year with the guys putting on our new gutters (Raspberry Pi cam picked up one of the guys’ legs and tweeted it to me) …  I mentioned that I once did some tornado repairs in my hometown. I couldn’t […]

It has been HOT and an update on the New Gutters for the house

| July 23, 2019

The weather has been super hot and humid so far this July over most of the eastern half of the country. It is pool and grilling weather to be sure … although when the pool water temperature is 90 degrees, it really doesn’t feel all that refreshing anymore. Since I was clearing off the porches […]

Archive: Remodeling of the condo master bathroom continues

| May 19, 2019

Working on remodeling projects away from home a few days at a time really seems to stretch a project out (photo – flying home from Fort Lauderdale FLL last night – I was checking out the FULL anchorage at Lake Sylvia from the plane). Thankfully both Brenda and I have always enjoyed the hands-on projects. […]

West System epoxy repair to one of our many porch columns

| March 30, 2019

While working on the “bird away boxes” last weekend, the spring weather warmed improved enough at least for a day in order to start a fiberglass column repair (needed for curing). The wind blew enough a few weeks ago to toss items around enough that a crack and a chunk of plastic was broken out […]

Archive: A couple new updated condo kitchen photos

| May 2, 2018

The new Hitachi miter saw put to use on the condo kitchen crown molding … and a little paint finally being applied by Brenda. Wanted to get these couple new Ikea kitchen photos archived before they are lost.

Archiving a famous portrait (cough, cough) and #TBT photo

| March 1, 2018

I’m chuckling at the “famous portrait” subject line, but then again, how many people actually have a portrait of themselves painted by an artist? (might as well make this a ThrowBack Thursday #TBT post) My grandmother, Ruth Walker Bluhm, was an artist and painted a portrait of her first grandson in the 1960s. She was […]

Thoughts on converting water separator to a desiccant dryer

| December 9, 2017

In a discussion on a Facebook group that I belong to regarding using compressed air tools and moisture control, I shared my budget solution. It really doesn’t do anything to "dry" the air coming from the compressor, but the simple gravity "separator" likely help a little when using shop tools. My biggest issue is that […]

Nautical paintings from the 1940s and 1950s – Dawson & Bluhm

| October 22, 2017

Our family has a couple of artists (previous generations) and so we’ve inherited a few painting. I doubt any are valued anywhere close to the Montague Dawson (artist father Henry) "nautical" series of painting from the 1940s, but do remember how much I enjoyed one of the first paintings (same time frame) that my grandmother painted. […]

Painted heirloom wicker chairs on this Father’s Day weekend

| June 18, 2017

It is good day when projects get accomplished. Saturday was a sunny and dry for the painting of my GREAT grandparents’ two wicker chairs (unsure, but think they were from my Grandmother Ruth “Walker” Bluhm side). My Grandmother and Grandfather Bluhm used them for years on their Wright Avenue front porch in Toledo Ohio, then […]

Testing a new computer and Open Live Writer set-up

| November 19, 2016

This is only a test post … but of a painting I like. It depicts Oliver Hazard Perry, of "Don’t give up the ship" fame, and the September 10, 1813 Battle Of Lake Erie. If you are ever touring the islands of Lake Erie’s western basin, be sure to visit Put-in-Bay and Perry’s Victory and […]

Follow up: Finished painting and reassembly of the lawn trailer

| July 26, 2015

How old is this utility lawn and garden trailer? If you haven't been reading along, it's 40 years old. Of course close inspection would indicated that their was rust, but all in all, my father-in-law's old trailer came back to life nicely … and the green is much more in keeping with our old John […]

Dad Howard would be pleased – reviving his old lawn trailer

| July 26, 2015

One of the projects coming together this past weekend was the disassembly, wire-brushing the rust (a lot), and painting of my late father-in-law’s old red Jackson lawn trailer. As mentioned previously, it was about 40 years old, well used, and had quite a bit of rust. Nevertheless, it was well made with quality steel – […]

Paint the old Mercedes Benz with base and clear coat paints

| May 5, 2014

Sunday afternoon was a perfect time to take a couple of the Mercedes Benz repairs to the next step with AutomotiveTouchup.com paints. Although I’ve painted several cars back in the day we used enamel and lacquer single stage automotive paints, I’ve never used a base coat and clear coat. This was the perfect test. Rework […]

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

  1. lacking in consistency, constancy, or visible order, disconnected; fitful: desultory conversation.
  2. digressing from or unconnected with the main subject; random: a desultory remark.
My Desultory Blog