In the middle of our other spring project, the timing was right to get our new pets, but that started the six-week clock for building them a place to live. Because, trust me, you do not want these critters living in your basement permanently. My son helped me start the […]
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Landscaping Project
This has been a busy spring. Thanks to warmer than average temperatures in February, we got a jump on our normal outdoor activities and started a couple of projects. The first was a little landscaping of the front yard, which involved giving the existing flower beds a facelift with the […]
Progress Report
It has certainly taken longer than I had planned, and it is still a ways from being complete, but I wanted to offer an update on the basement bar project. A big thank you to my wonderful wife who has allowed me the time to work on it. You can […]
That Time Of The Month
Thank goodness that’s over. The thirtieth day couldn’t come quickly enough for me. I think I say this every year, but this was by far the hardest month so far. We had so much stuff going on this month, just finding the time to write was enough of a challenge, […]
Projects Aplenty
Summer is always busy, but this month has seemed especially crazy with plenty of projects keeping me busy. Today we had our friend and concrete expert finish the patio we started two years ago by adding some steps to the face. Between that, adding the finishing touches to my daughter’s […]
Reading and Writing
I envy people who view reading a book as a way to kill an afternoon. It usually takes me months to read a book. Part of it is I just don’t read that fast, but mostly it’s a matter of finding the time to sit down and read. The time […]
I Bought A Cow
I challenge anyone to watch the documentary Food, Inc. and not be influenced to make at least a few changes in the way you eat. More than likely, you’ll change a lot. You’ll look at that half-pound chicken breast and wonder if the chicken was still able to walk, supporting […]
Mmmm… Beer
Rule #1 in home improvement projects: everything takes longer than you think it will. This past winter, I started building a bar in the basement. When the cold outside prevented me from doing anything else, progress was swift, and I was actually thinking I would be done with the whole […]
Stop Draggin’ My Car Around
Last year I wrote about the state of the electric car market, so I wanted to revisit the topic and provide an update. I’m still planning to buy an electric car one day, so this is something I have been following pretty closely for years now. I previously wrote about […]
President for a Day
I came across an interesting bit of trivia this week that I’m almost embarrassed to admit I had not heard before, but my guess is that residents of the western side of Missouri are more prone to have heard of Senator David Atchison than us easterners. Historians dispute the claim, […]
Ready, Set, Blog!
It is time once again for the Running of the Blogs! This is my fourth year participating, and it seems to get harder every year. The idea is to post something every day for 30 days. It’s harder than it sounds. Although it’s a lot easier than writing a novel […]
Garden 2.0
Last year’s garden was a big success, but it didn’t take us long to realize that it wasn’t big enough to produce all of the food we wanted. So we started this season by expanding it to twice the size. Our success with the garden last year has also led […]
More Sketchup
Last year I wrote about how I was learning to use Google Sketchup and that I was planning to use it for some home improvement projects. The first project is a basement bar that I have been planning ever since we moved into our house. I have found Sketchup to […]
Handy Storage For Christmas Lights
Looking for a good way to store your Christmas lights and don’t want to spend a lot of money? If you have any of the cardboard boxes that they use to ship Florida citrus, they are an excellent storage solution. Each box has three removable cardboard trays that will keep […]
Bye Bye Movable Type
It’s been a good run. I think I started using Movable Type as my blogging platform in 2003, but it was time for a change. Most importantly because Movable Type blogs have become spammer magnets. A month or so ago, after a particularly nasty spam storm, my hosting company suspended […]
Rooftop Antenna
I’ve not had much luck with antennas as part of my Home Theater PC build. Up until now, none of the models I’ve tried have worked very well. This latest one, a Channel Master 4228, did not fare well inside my attic, so I finally had to admit defeat and […]
Fifteen Albums That Don’t Suck
At the urging of a friend on Facebook, I am accepting the challenge to name fifteen albums that don’t suck. This isn’t as easy as it sounds, either. I was around and buying music when CDs first hit the market — you know, back when they were called “record stores?” […]
Google Sketchup
This has been on my todo list forever, and today I finally got around to it. I’ve been wanting to learn how to use Google Sketchup ever since it was released and they are now on version 7, so that should tell you how long I’ve been putting it off. […]
Magnetic Picture Gallery
What do you get when you cross a child’s door with a refrigerator? A door that any kid can use to show off his best work. This is a simple project you can do with your child (it takes less than an hour), and then eliminate the need for tape […]
How To Hide Your Gold
On one of my recent journeys down the Wikipedia rabbit hole — you know what I’m talking about, when you look up something in Wikipedia and one of the links on the page draws your attention, and you click on it, and then repeat until you are seventeen pages and […]
Electric Cars Still Coming
A year ago I wrote about the electric car from Zenn Motors that was on the verge of becoming a reality. A year later, it doesn’t appear to be any closer to real, unfortunately. I’m pretty bummed about that, but I can’t say I’m surprised. The promise of an electric […]
Here We Go Again
Welcome to the third annual Running of the Blogs! We’ve called it 30 Days of Blog in years past, but that title isn’t terrible catchy, so I thought we could use a new name for it. In fact, I might even register the domain name and turn it into a […]