Category: Opinion

March 17, 2026 – Forgotten In Time

March 17, 2026 /

If you were listening yesterday, then you will know that my life is in limbo. What was supposed to be the final push and a move to the new house turned into more uncertainty. Because we are renting the new house, we certainly could have moved anyway however I made the call that we were not ready. Truth be told is that we were not.

A huge effort has been made, my shed, shop and garage are 100% ready. Most of the rooms that we live in are somewhere between zero and 75% ready. I am still selling things and 100% focused on getting ready. So, it is not all a bad thing that we didn’t just jump off of the cliff.

In my shed, there was a bucket. It was full of chain and garden stakes. This was all stuff left when we moved in or I picked up in the yard. I put the chain the bucket and it was shoved in the back of the shed. When it came to packing, I decided to take the steel over to the neighbors for scrap purposes. At the bottom of the bucket, but above all of this chain was these old advertisements.

One is a monthly mailer from a regional chain and the other is the weekly Sears advertisement from the Sunday paper. I had known that they were there there. It is one of those things that I saw once every couple of years. I don’t know why I never threw them out. I know that I have thought several times that they didn’t belong in the bucket, but I never did.

While packing, I finally got to the point that I was no longer going to store this trash. Before I threw it out, I decided that I would check the date for fun. The best that I can surmise is that this is from mid-September 2005. I know this because the coupon book below, the prices would run for a month. So, because it says that it is valid through October 9, it had to be September 6. They run their prices Tuesday through Monday.

I know what was happening in my life at that time. That was immediately following Labor Day. That particular Labor Day Sunday, we had returned from Hawaii because my brother had just gotten married. I picked up some kind of crud and I ended up spending three more days in bed following a week of vacation on Oahu and Maui. This was the beginning of life as I know it now. We had only lived in that house nine months and we had yet to learn that our first son would be delivered the following July.

I thought it would be interesting to see how time has changed. First of all, Sears no longer exists for all practical purposes. The one page that I thought would be illustrative was the electronics page. A 30″ ‘widescreen’ was $800 on sale! I have a slightly newer 32″ that I paid $12 for two years ago. New TVs of that size are $99 all day long, granted they are Toshiba but even those I see are going for $109 on Amazon.

The past was certainly the golden age of ammunition. I see that 12 gauge game loads are $3.29 a box. That very same load is $10.99 at Sportsman’s Warehouse. OK, that hurts but nowhere near the price of 38 special. I see that same box going for $35.99. If you are doing the math, that is over a four times price increase in twenty years. Things aren’t so bad if you are a 9mm shooter. The sale price of $5.99 is today $14.99.

That is comparing apples to apples, if I just want to compare cost, I can see CCI brass 9mm at $9.99 on sale. So that is less than double what it was. I will also admit that Sportsman’s Warehouse will never compete dollar for dollar against Bi-mart but it is a place that I can go locally and purchase the same brands and they have a website that I can reference prices. What is more lost in time is not the prices but what was on sale.

When is the last time you saw 25 Auto on sale? That is something I never paid any attention to in the first place. But what I will comment on is when was the last time I saw 38 special on sale. I have to say that it was probably pre-Obama 2012.

End Your Programming Routine: Times change, I get that. I still wish that there was a Sears and TVs were more than disposable item. Sure, image quality is better today but they certainly don’t function as well or last as long. If we are judging our society, the metric I would not pick is TV prices. A proliferation of TVs really has not helped our society become better. It has just helped us surrender to the tech giants. We have given our privacy, our data and with it a part of our souls.

March 12, 2026 – Buyer Beware

March 12, 2026 /

What we’ve got here is a genuine 1971 Thomasville dresser. Built in the USA and solid wood. Boy it is heavy too. Even with the drawers out, it was all I could do to lift this thing out of the basement. You may recognize this dresser from the post Tacticool Thursday post in 2020.

Like everything in my life, it has a story. My wife purchased this used somewhere. In that era it was probably Craigslist. But, I drove down with my nephew in the pickup to load this and a nightstand in the back. I remember that we paid $200 for it. It’s purpose was to go into the Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU). We were in between tenants and actually I was considering not renting at all. My wife wanted to setup the ADU as a guest house.

Guess how long not having a renter lasted? About a month. Because it was already there and it was heavy as heck, it got left in the bedroom. That is when it changed from a used with no blemishes to missing hardware and finish. Eventually, we got a tenant that no longer wanted a dresser missing hardware and so I moved it into the basement (to die).

I used it to store things in. That was the whole Tacticool Thursday post that I wrote about. Fast forward to moving and we no longer have the luxury of inaction. I know… I will donate it. I was thinking that I would refinish it and sell it. If I donated it, maybe someone else would do the same thing.

Little did I know that donation centers have the right to pick and choose what they accept. I’ll be the first to admit that it is not in tip-top shape, missing hardware and finish and a hole in the back. I will also admit that it is not a fashionable piece. I would have almost killed to have this in my early days starting out. Aside from cosmetics, all the drawers operate as they should, it should have some value. After seeing multiple items for sale in the under $50 range for weeks on end, I determined that there really was no market for 1970s furniture, in better shape I might add.

My son and I took it to two different donation places and were soundly rejected. When we got home, my wife was not happy because I didn’t call before we went. I reluctantly agreed that I will cut it up and throw it away in a couple of days. Right now, our trash was full. I said in the meantime, I will post it for free.

Wouldn’t you know it, I hadn’t even finished posting it on Facebook Marketplace and someone asked for it off of Nextdoor. They also asked if I could deliver it. They were literally six blocks down the street. Of course, I said yes even though I had just taken it out of the pickup and hour earlier. My wife did not want me to do this, but I told her that delivering it was going to be way quicker than cutting it up and managing the trash.

It did not end the way that I had anticipated, I was expecting to donate it. But the fact that someone wanted it as is and was happy to get it was a good ending. This whole experience has got me to think about the whole lifecycle of stuff. I don’t think that we ever intended to put this dresser in the ADU to then take it out and store it in the basement. But, this thought line has happened a lot in the shop already.

Last October we went to an auction and there were some steals. An 8″, long bed joiner went for $150. I could have sold my 6″ joiner and made money on that deal. But, I simply did not have room in my shop for it so I passed. A deal is really only a deal when you can take advantage of it. Otherwise, I would say that it is more of a burden than a deal.

I see this all the time. People acquire things because they are cheap or free. Without a need, a place to store the items simply become accumulation. Then, more often then not it often becomes garbage when it is actually useful, it just didn’t end up at the right place to begin with.

Obviously, not everyone has the same consciousness about throwing things away. I know people that think the trash can is where things go when they are unwanted. On the other hand, I go out of my way to make things go to a better home, i.e. delivering the dresser. Maybe, I put too much effort into it but it is because I care.

End Your Programming Routine: I am convinced that this is a God moment. I was actually mad that I couldn’t donate the dresser and I had resolved to cut this piece up and throw it away. I couldn’t leave it, I didn’t want it and I couldn’t even give it away. I was heard trying to do the right thing and a solution appeared. The right solution.

January 21, 2026 – Selling Stuff Sucks

January 21, 2026 /

I know that I have threatened to sell things in the past. By all accounts, I should have gotten off the stick and got to work. But, in the process of moving, I came to the realization that there are things that I really don’t need to move, like this stack of canning jars. I don’t need to move them because I don’t really need them. With just two of us in the house, six dozen quart jars is plain overkill.

My wife has also been on me sell my lumber pile. That too I do not want to move, but I also don’t want to get rid of all of it either. Woodworking lumber can be very expensive and I literally have thousands of dollars worth of it that I am selling at 10% of its value. Nevertheless, I set about on my first, recent experience with selling items on-line.

You could probably label me as an old fogey. When I think online classifieds, I think Craigslist. But, all I hear is that Craigslist is dead. I don’t know, not only do I really not sell things, I don’t really buy things either. I set about putting an add in Craigslist, Nextdoor and gasp Facebook. I broke my personal ethos and made my first ever Facebook post (on Marketplace).

I am no rube, I know how to sell things. Marketing, pricing and potentially negotiation are all involved. I took a spin around the market to see what jars are going for. I also looked at new jars and I knew that I wanted to sell all of them as a lot. A dozen jars go for $15 at the store, I thought that I would sell the entire six for $40. That was a even amount that I wouldn’t have to make change for. Don’t even get me started about electronic money.

I could not believe the response that I got. The very first night, someone emailed me, so I assume that must have been a Craigslist hit. We arranged that she would come tomorrow and pick up the jars. Well, I waited and then I waited, no show. Her email actually had her phone number in it but I just stewed.

While I was waiting, I checked Facebook Messenger, I had eight other buyers. I was certain that I was going to complete the transaction that night so I responded to all the potentials that there was a sale in progress. When that person did not show up, I went back to all of those messages in chronological order. The first person only wanted the wide mouth jars, the second person wanted to offer $36, the third person offered $30. I said no to all of those people. The forth person responded immediately when I said I was in talks, they also asked if I had anything else. This was the one.

Not only was I a little overwhelmed by the number of offers and the amount of communication that was required but I was working around two different house showings that weekend. Then I got several offers off of Nextdoor. Now, I had to include that platform in the communication loop. This process spanned from Thursday into mid-Sunday afternoon. I won’t lie, I questioned whether this was actually worth the money. Throwing the jars away would be so much easier and then this would be over.

In the end, the jars went to the right person I feel like. They wanted them, they didn’t hassle me on price, in fact they said this was a good deal and so they recognized the value. They communicated and I am sure that they were going to use them. I think that is why it was worth my effort. It would have been easier and possibly cheaper to throw them away but that would also be wasteful.

I am going to have to go back and revamp my wood listing. I need to get all of the stuff cleared off the pile and take a few more pictures. Because I was under pressure from my wife to get it listed, I did the minimal amount of prep. In all of the house selling and jar selling chaos, I missed out on some timely communication with potential buyers. The wood is also priced to sell but it will be more than pocket money.

I also didn’t realize how much woodworking wood was out there for sale. When I did my initial research, I was seeing prices of $10 a board foot for Douglas Fir from lumber suppliers. But, I see it on Facebook Marketplace at $1 per board food. I priced mine at half of that but I may need to re-evaluate things now that I have a better feel for the market. I am still not giving it away, if I do it will be to my neighbor who will burn it. They have done a lot for me over the years and I don’t feel bad about that.

End Your Programming Routine: I have learned that I don’t get a lot of charge out of selling things online. It is why I have things I would like to get rid of but have not done it. The chairs I talked about a couple of years ago, shotgun barrels, things that all have value. I probably need to focus on one thing at a time and possibly one platform if I am going to be successful at this. I am happy that I am not bombarded with messages at the moment.

January 8, 2026 – Is An Inspection Necessary?

January 8, 2026 /

We are getting to the point in the process where it is starting to get real. There is an offer on our house and we are already renting the new house. The devil is in all of the details for financing but we need to decide what inspections that we want to have on the house. I personally feel like I am pretty knowledgeable in the process and I am more likely to be more nonchalant about things. This is not to mention that the house is less than ten years old.

In the picture below, you can see our new kitchen. It is both cluttered because we have nothing in the cupboards or drawers and sparse because what you see is what we have. It looks nice and this is the view that you get when you tour the house to decide if you want to proceed. It has stainless appliances, quartz counter tops, contemporary finishes and a nice island.

I want to make it clear that I am not nitpicking anything. I know exactly where the faults are in my house. I know where the exterior paint is spattered on the interior wall because I didn’t realize there was wet paint on the bucket when I roughly set the bucket down and it is hard to reach but can only be seen at a certain angle. I see the door trim that does not reach the floor (not my work). I do my best to try and make it at least good enough and I never intend on leaving things done incorrectly to the point it is detrimental to life or safety.

Because we are renting the house until we can close on the current house, we have spent six nights at the place spread out since early December. This is a highly educational process. I talked about the heating earlier in the week, now let’s look at the kitchen.

In the upper left, the backsplash spans the entire length of the counter. This prevents the range from being pushed all the way to the wall, where it belongs. It is not terribly noticeable nor is it problematic, it is just not how things should be done. Our future plans include installing a larger gas range so we will live with that until such time.

The window trim has a wonky corner. From my brief look at it, I would say that the wood is warped and not nailed well to a solid surface. These are the kind of things that potentially turn out to be devastating. A small cosmetic detail that is hiding a much larger problem. However, this is an exterior wall and I see no problems on the other side.

The tile on the far west side of the the kitchen has a different color grout along with some small gaps. I am not sure what is going on there, but I would be willing to bet that this is a DIY faux pas. Something was changed from what it was originally or it was estimated incorrectly or this was a retrofit application that just wasn’t quite right. This is a cosmetic issue that is barely noticeable unless you are taking pictures like I am doing.

Finally, I took a picture of the drawer slides. I have used many of these in my shop projects. But what I am pointing out is that using this style of slide versus ball bearing slides is an indicator of the quality of the cabinet. I suspect like all decisions, there was an economic component. My mind goes to why would you spend money on the counter tops and have inexpensive cabinets? At this point, it is what it is but it goes to today’s HGTV culture. It looks good from a distance but might not be what it seems.

I want to reiterate that I am not nitpicking but that a person cannot possibly make a value proposition with a 30 minute breeze through. I saw the first picture the first couple of times I was in the house. All of those things I can live with or modify over time if it gets to that point. What I think is the problem is most people cannot look at a drawer slide and determine the value of a kitchen. That speaks to the cost of a house being appropriate or potentially other more devious problems.

The value of an inspector is that in theory, they should be able to go straight to the soft and vulnerable spots. While doing that, other observations are made. But, that is it. It is then up to the uneducated buyer who couldn’t do their own inspection to translate observations into deficiencies to then ask from the seller. This is at least my analysis of why our first deal fell through. The buyer wanted things that were actually wrong from a code standpoint based on observations.

Despite the fact that I am very knowledgeable about things, I do believe that we are going to have a septic inspection. That is something that I cannot see myself and admittedly I am weak on this new technology installed in this house. It is not just a gravity fed tank but it has pumps and other things I have never seen.

End Your Programming Routine: We very well might have a whole home inspection, I need to do some looking first. I am not so arrogant as to believe that I couldn’t learn something from an inspection. I could miss things and this is a whole new area and climate that might have nuances that I am not familiar. But, I am pretty confident that this is an appropriate deal for the price. I am not expecting any real problems to be found.

January 7, 2026 – So Much Change, It Hasn’t Sunk In

January 7, 2026 /

Believe or not, my life has changed significantly this week from last week. In fact, it is so significant and so new, I haven’t really internalized it. No, I am not talking about moving to the beach again. That is certainly adds a dimension but that has not materially happened yet. I am talking about being an honest to goodness empty nester.

It is well known that we sent my youngest son off to college in September. My oldest son remained at home. In October, when we started talking about moving, I posed the situation to my older son. Stay in the area or move with use. Either way, it was more than likely that things were going to change drastically.

He has a full time job and is attending community college. We are moving about an hour to the west and while not ideal, we know people that commute for work purposes from the coast to the capitol city. Staying with us was possible but it would be much better to find some place closer to school and work. Still the option was his.

My son developed a plan to move in with our niece who was moving from the ADU to somewhere locally. Her decision was driven by work as well as having a child in grade school. That seemed like a good fit for both of them. But, the funny thing is that I felt like this was a step that was potentially too far, too fast for my son.

They got a ‘move-in special’. Get all the paperwork completed before the first of December and get two months free rent. My niece took until mid-December to get everything moved but my son kept coming home every night. It fact, it wasn’t until the weekend after Christmas that he finally got everything moved. That came after a lot of very strong prodding from Mom to finish what was started.

I don’t think he liked it but to his credit, he moved most of it without me having to help. That is to say that there was a whole bunch of stuff still left in the garage that was going with his car which is at another location then his apartment. But again, he took initiative the next weekend and moved half of that stuff. I speculate that once he mentally accepted the fact that he was moving, he finally got in gear.

Right now, we are only ten minutes apart. I have already gone over to do networking work because it is a skill I have that he does not. I would say that we have seen him half of the nights since he moved for dinner, but I don’t plan on it. If we have stuff to share, no problem. We have had several invites specifically for dinner. Remember that this was still the holiday period.

For the last four weeks, my younger son has been home for Christmas break. He took a load of his stuff to college and I already packed most of his room. But the fact that he was home for Thanksgiving which was only two weeks between Christmas break made it seem like things were pretty normal. Even while my older son was moving out, I still had loads of dishes each day because he hasn’t quite got the idea of clean-up after use.

I haven’t completely counted my chickens yet. I mean, he is in college with strong talk of a Spring Break trip and internship over the summer. However, those have yet to finalize. For all I know, this is his last long term stint at home but I haven’t quite conceded yet. We just have to assume that nothing is set in stone until it is but that he might have a few more trips home in the next couple of years. Due to his independent streak, I have my doubts that there will be many more extended trips home.

We dropped him off at the airport in the early morning of Sunday, January 4. When we got home the house was quiet and I mean really quiet. No more smashing down the stairs or un-expected blender noises at midnight. I went upstairs and boxed up his remining items as it is a better bet that we will move than it is he is coming home in the near future.

It hit me like a linebacker, this is it. This is the moment that this property went from a high of seven last spring to two. No longer is there two people living in the backyard apartment that I have to watch and make sure the driveway is clear. I don’t have to plan for a main meal for four with a vegetarian variation or will anyone even eat at home. I know that when I lock the door for the night, I don’t have to check it three or four times a night before I go to bed. I don’t have to sleep with one eye open that somebody is leaving at two in the morning or wonder if should go to sleep at my normal bedtime. After years of gradual change, it is so abrupt. It is jarring, almost disturbing.

Once I finished his room, I went down to the basement again. I started looking at the stacks of empty, quart canning jars. I don’t need those things. Between my wife and I, pints are the most appropriate size. I still have 15 quarts of applesauce that I made from my tree, am I really going to eat all of that? Not without deliberate action.

My wife went to Costco last Saturday with my older son so he could get his first shopping trip in. We haven’t gotten out of there without a $600 tab since I was not working and doing all the cooking and shopping. I don’t know the financial bill but two packages of paper products, two flats of drinks and one miscellaneous box was shocking. I am used to spending hours unloading, rotating and facing the pantry items once she got home.

End Your Programming Routine: If you would have asked me in September if I was happy for some space from my kids, I would have said absolutely accepting natural progression. There was a lot of attitude and entitlement that I shipped off as well. But, I saw a lot of growth at the end of December from both of my boys. It was so much more pleasant than it has been in recent years. They actually made a point to spend family time rather than arguing about it. For a moment, it almost makes me nostalgic to go back to the way things were last week. For now, I am going to try and figure out what new normal is.

December 30, 2025 – 100 Years

December 30, 2025 /

I should have got to this a few weeks ago. It would have been closer to my Grandmother’s birthday. With all of the holidays and me being behind with everything, I just found the time. Normally, I wouldn’t publish a photo without permission, but I think that my grandmother would not mind. I suspect that if I ever made it that far, there wouldn’t be much for me to be worried about either.

I wasn’t born yesterday. In fact, I have fifty years of experience on me. While getting to 100 is something that most of us will never achieve, I kind of see it as bittersweet. My grandparents were married for a little over fifty years and then my Grandfather died suddenly in 1994. If you are doing that math, that is over thirty years of being a widow. For a short while, my Grandma had a friend who was a lifelong neighbor and also a widower. Unfortunately for her, he was in his mid 90s himself and died a few years ago.

Probably the saddest turn of events was that my Grandma was a twin. Approximately ten years ago, her sister and life long best friend developed dementia. While they lived at the same facility, the disease took her sister much earlier figuratively and then literally. I know it was hard for her, but this is not a sad sack story. It is just a realization that life can have unforeseen difficulties when you do something that very few people ever do.

I think one of the funnest stories about my Grandma is that my great grandfather did not like like my grandfather when they were dating because he drove too fast. But, she got the last laugh when they eloped in high school. Imagine that! My Grandfather was drafted for World War II and she followed him to basic training where she finished high school. Just in case it wasn’t clear, they eventually got over the fast driving.

After my grandfather’s service he had a burning desire to be a farmer. That was not the most lucrative career. After living in a tent and a converted chicken coop, my grandmother laid down the law when my dad was school age. They purchased their first house and had some stability with my grandfather starting to work a local specialty metals mill. When my dad got college age, both he and Grandma went to the local community college, graduating at the same time. She went to work as a medical assistant where she eventually worked with her sister until she retired.

One of the greatest songs ever is “100 Years” by Five For Fighting. I have written enough and have a long enough track record, I see it in my work. I keep thinking about someday I am going to do this or that and then before I realize it, life has just flown by. Before I started writing on AltF4, I was journaling about once a week. I have been doing that for probably fifteen years.

When I read my original writings, I still have the same delimas and I have the same unfulfilled desires. Even the lyrics of the song ring true. We we are young, we want to be older, then we are concerned with our career and future. Before we know it, we are caught up in work and family until all of the sudden, we are in our twilight. I know that I am definitely into the same pattern, where I am so busy trying to get ahead that i am missing the present.

We actually had two parties for my Grandma. The first one was family only and the second one was pretty open. It is a good sign when a couple hundred people come to to your birthday party. I have been to a lot of social events and it isn’t that often that you get that many people to an old person’s event. That says a lot to the lot about the kind of life that she leads.

End Your Programming Routine: It’s kind of hard to get dedicated time at someone’s special day. It is always like that at birthdays and weddings. But, I recently I spent an hour on the couch reminiscing about her party certain life events that I had never heard about this previously. It was a good conversation and I didn’t want to leave her in the room alone when everyone went to another room. It was a good time and I wish many more but I realize that there probably won’t be too many more. Not only do I need to take my own advice about my own life but I need to make sure that I take advantage of this relationship while I still can.

December 9, 2025 – Milwaukee 12V Max

December 9, 2025 /

I needed another cordless tool-set like I needed a hole in head. I have an old Craftsman 14.4V drill, Makita 14.4V drill and Makita 18V drill and impact driver already. But, I wanted a second impact driver for one in the house and one in the shop. I thought that a smaller form factor would be the right approach rather than adding another 18V tool.

This actually all started several months earlier. I don’t like to admit this on multiple fronts but I started thinking that I wanted a power screwdriver. My wrist occasionally bothers me when I put together all of the boxed furniture my wife purchases. This has become especially true since I have been battling this neck injury. I did some research and there were a few, good options out there but the battery platforms were all lower voltage than the tools I had.

The Milwaukee brand screwdriver had high ratings and they offered a lot of other tools in the same battery platform. Once purchased, I had the green light to buy tools from a different line. Another benefit was that local hardware stores carry their tools and batteries. Of course, a lot of the above jibber jabber was written in early October before we decided to move. So throw that logic out the window.

What I mean to say is that there is an argument for owning both the 12V and 18V platforms. The smaller form factor of 12V tools are more compact and cheaper than their 18V cousins. It really doesn’t matter that they have less run time (my experience) and homeowners need one hole or is installing one shelf and not pounding screws all day long every day.

When I compare my 18V Makita to this new 12V Milwaukee setup, I really do feel as though the Makita is superior. They batteries run longer and hold charge for literally months without me touching them. That said, the Milwaukee has plenty of power for the around the house use when charged and ready to go. I have noticed a significantly faster, dormant discharge rate of the 12V batteries. I am still looking to quantify how much better in my long term ownership of these new tools. But what I can say is that every battery was fully charged when I put it away and a month later the batteries are showing half charge.

If you will recall, at one point I was considering becoming a contractor or something in the construction field. One reason I have multiple tools is to have them in different places at the same time. I could leave tools at the job site (securely of course) and still have enough resources at home to do the things that I need. It goes with a similar philosophy of having tools in the shop as well as in the home. Let us be honest, no homeowner really needs more than one battery operated drill unless it is special circumstances like building a deck with multiple helpers. The prudent thing would be to see if a tool could be borrowed. But, I am also kind of lazy and don’t like to run to the shop 100 times for everything that I need to do a job. Adding a second pair just shortens my trips to the basement instead.

One tool that I find I use a surprising amount is my corded multi-tool. This thing is amazing, especially for fine, finish type work like scribing or precision demolition. When trying to precision cut an 8′, T-111 panel it is a pain to try to manipulate a cord and be on the ladder at the same time. I would desperately like to get a cordless version but as handy as it is, I need a justification to spend $250. But, if I look at the Milwaukee 12V version, it is only $100. I think that I could probably justify that for almost any project. Yeah, it is not going to run all day but I already have a corded version that can do that. This would be to trim up one molding spot to slide a floor tile for a finish cut without moving furniture to get to the outlet.

I would argue that for most homeowners, the 12V is more than adequate. I wouldn’t even recommend going to 18V just to get the extra benefits given the cost. I have been extremely impressed at these tools considering my last 12V experience was in the Ni-Cad battery days. This was when you needed the higher voltage tools just to have adequate power.

End Your Programming Routine: My son asked, why Milwaukee and not Makita? They also have an extensive 12V line. The real answer is that they had the screwdriver I wanted but he also doesn’t know that I have been a Milwaukee fan since before I owned the Makita cordless tools. I have a number of corded tools from them and I think they are equally good in their own right. It is hard to justify another battery platform unless there is a distinct advantage like dipping into another tool line that meets your needs.

November 11, 2025 – A War To End All Wars

November 11, 2025 /

Today is finally the day that you can thank someone who served in the armed forces and not Memorial day, which bugs me a lot. On the 11th month, 11th day, 11th hour the war to end all wars (WWI) was over.

I was looking for something that wasn’t going to bore you to tears by being hours long. However, I found it interesting that there were some discrepancies in the facts from the same source. If you watched both then you probably heard it.

End Your Programming Routine: I recently finished watching the Ken Burn’s mini-series “The War” about WWII. If you haven’t seen it, you should. It really brushes the sugar coating off of the American and allied victory. While most of the WWII and Korea veterans are gone, time has a way of dulling and mis-rembering things. Let us not forget how horrible war still is.

August 21, 2025 – Would You Do This?

August 21, 2025 /

Another reason that I got behind last week was something completely spontaneous. My wife learned from friends that there was couple walking across America and looking for an over night host in out town. I really didn’t give it two thoughts and considering we were later down the line then others, but it turns out that we were selected to host them overnight. Their names are Torin and Paige Rouse.

I didn’t know anything about them really until I started to look for some video to add to this post. Then, I found their website which had a lot more about motives and past. I am not sure that what they wrote really translates well so I will probably add a little based on the conversation that we had. Don’t be surprised if we end up on their social media as well (In fact, we already did).

Talk about a boon for the aspiring PCT hiker that I am. I got a chance to ask them gear questions from people that have literally spent two years walking in the last five. I asked about travel distance and pack weight as well; it was very informational to me. Plus, Torin has already completed some long (200 miles) hikes on the Colorado Trail. So, it is not just America’s sidewalks that they can discuss even though they are very closely related.

They arrived at our home approximately 5 PM on Sunday. They had come from the neighboring town about 11 miles away. When discussed, they said that was a pretty typical distance for them. They claim that walking longer than ten miles a day not only increased fatigue but also the risk of repetitive motion injury which they have suffered through the journey. Given that they are half my age, it doesn’t bode too well for my goal of being able to do 20 miles a day.

We talked about footwear and they didn’t seem to be too keen on anything in particular. That is the bravado of youth I guess. But they also said that they have not found any shoe that they liked or would recommend. That makes me feel a little better about my struggles to find the right shoe.

I also found it both refreshing and disturbing that they have not gotten completely comfortable with the forty plus pound packs. To me, that means I have done nothing wrong, but I also know that this will be a grin and bear it expedition. They also informed me that anything inflatable like my Nemo sleeping pad is bound to develop holes and recommended foam pads instead. It was their claim that thorns find their way everywhere. I am not doubting that but maybe because I am not going out for weeks at a time, I might not have the same experience.

I have developed a fondness for the water bladder. It allows me to drink without having to take my pack off. They had never used one but they said they had one that already had a hole in it. I am still going to use one, as you might remember I was planning on carrying a second one so that those one mile walks off the trail to a water source would only happen once.

It seems to me that their reasoning for the walk is more etherical and personal than the story that they tell online. The official line is to spread kindness throughout the United States. But, it was my personal conversation that opened more insight. It was Torin’s initial hike on the Colorado trail that cleared his mind from the world and he sought that as inspiration for life. It doesn’t hurt that their ethics orient toward a less material living.

There were other hints at motives for the trip. They told me that they lived in a van for a couple of years. Because they were living in a van, they felt it was the next logical step to get rid of that as well. Part of me envies the freedom and I wish that this hadn’t been so spur of the moment because I would have loved to interview them on my podcast. Unfortunately I really didn’t think about it until I was writing this.

End Your Programming Routines: This is not something that I would have ever done. In fact, I didn’t have much to do with it other than saying OK but I am glad that I did. I also am glad that I didn’t know anything about them until they left because I feel like my experience would have been more guarded and biased. While I appreciate their neutral vibe at an intellectual level, I think in their position it is the best and safest policy relying totally on strangers.

August 13, 2025 – I Know That You Love These…

August 13, 2025 /

Look and what do you see? Yes, the ammo can, but what is on it? It is a sticky note of course. I put that note on the can in 1996. And while it is not like I open it every day or even every couple of months, it is still firmly attached almost like the day I did it. I can’t say if a new note would stick as well, but I guess what impresses me is that I do periodically get into the can. I would never have guessed that an impromptu label stuck on an ammo can would still be holding on strong.

The can started off in my life in 1990. Obviously it is surplus. I am thinking that I paid $5 for it at a local farm store. But, it got used as a dry box for rafting. I had multiple trips like a five day Willamette River float and a five day John Day float where it held my wallet, camera, book and playing cards and anything else I didn’t want wet.

As my Boy Scouting days wound down, it found a new use as a place to put my limited shooting and hunting stuff. There were things like lens cleaning cloths, I had an old 22lr scope in there that kept falling off my rifle and a special dowel that was the diameter of a 9mm. I had purchased a 40 S&W and some reloaded ammo that the bullet got stuck on my second shot. Talk about disappointed, I had to hammer that bullet out and it should have been a warning of things to come with that pistol.

1996 was my senior year in college. I had no money and so I stuck that sticky note on the can as a label. It is not like I really needed a label, I only had one ammo can and that was it. But, when I purchased some more ammo cans, the label inspired me. I put other sticky notes on my new cans to denote their contents. They did not last as long, not because they fell off but that I used my thermal label maker to replace the sticky notes when I re-organized the contents.

Originally, I was thinking that I would put an inventory on each note so that I knew what I had in each can. But then, common sense got the better of me and I figured that if I just filled them up, that would be good enough. It was going to be too much hassle trying to keep track each time I took something out and put something in. Then, I reorganized again and changed the purpose of the cans. Good idea that I didn’t invest too much in the sticky notes.

A word on ammo cans if you please. Ammo cans are fantastic pieces of equipment. They are waterproof and nearly indestructible. Accessories are made to organize them for small part storage. The are stackable, in fact they are meant to be stacked and stable. My only knock on ammo cans is that they are heavy, hence nearly indestructible.

The can I am showing in the picture is 30 caliber can making it significantly smaller than the more typical 50 caliber can. If I had no cans and wanted to get in the ammo can storage game, I would opt for the 50 caliber rather than the 30 caliber can. It is much more flexible in what it can hold. This is why I only have one 30 caliber can and why it keeps getting refined in what I put in it. The third most common size is 20mm and these things are big.

The aftermarket has figured out that ammo cans are useful as well. Now there is all manner of plastic cans made, particularly by a company called MTM. I use some of their products for different applications, mostly in reloading. But, there is also new, replica ammo cans made theoretically to military specification. I don’t have any but funny enough, they are always cheaper than a surplus can.

I am not the only one that thinks ammo cans are really cool. Check out this GMRS radio that is completely housed in an ammo can. This is the frequency that you pay $25 for a license. This guy makes what appears to be the ultimate tactical speaker out of ammo cans. You can even find instructions on how to make your own blue tooth ammo can speakers.

End Your Programming Routine: I know that this post was all about the label and how impressed I was with the longevity of it. I couldn’t help but throw in on some of the interesting applications of ammo cans. It goes to show that when there is a surplus of something, some people will figure out how to do something useful and possibly enterprising with them. The point is, a sticky note makes a low cost and durable label if you need one in a pinch. I am showing the time tested results.