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A three-barrel rain collection system

Just finished installing a three-barrel rain catchment system for our backyard with a kit from BlueBarrel. It was a fun project. BlueBarrel is worth checking out if you’re looking for rain barrel options.

A bed frame made of two by four lumber for a tatami mat

I stepped away from posting (and woodworking) for a couple of months, but I’m back with a simple project. This is a barebones bed frame to hold a tatami mat, creating useful storage space underneath. Total lumber cost was $50. I made it in a day with hand tools, except for the screw assembly — I splurged and used a power drill for that!

A bed frame for a tatami mat under construction, showing the slats

After gutting my broken tube radio, I couldn’t bear to toss the tubes, so I made a little display for kicks. I was going to add utility (e.g., a pen holder or something), but decided to leave it and display it as “old tech art.”

Four vacuum tubes are displayed on a wooden block resting on a workbench.

I finally got around to gutting and cleaning up this old, broken German radio. Now it has a HomePod inside. I use the iMac next to it to hold an iPad, so now I have a fun setup in the shop for streaming music. The tube radio parts I removed are fascinating.

an old German tube radio on a shelf next to an old iMac with wood panel instead of a screen; above is a wall hanging with four license plates from places we have lived the inside parts of an old German tube radio

My wife shot this image of a golden eagle this morning using her iPhone while we were out near Gathland State Park in Maryland. I think it’s an impressive image given the equipment. The most impressive part was the proximity of the eagle, who couldn’t care less that we were so close.

Golden eagle in leafless trees.

The trend of using verbs as nouns greatly annoys me, e.g., compute, spend, build.

I switched to Fastmail’s macOS app when introduced a few months back, but I switched back to FMail3. It’s better in many ways, notably not an electron app, small size, and more features/benefits. See: Fmail3

North Point State Park, near Baltimore, yesterday morning. If you look closely, the Chesapeake Bay Bridge is in the far distance. Interesting place with remains of an amusement park from the early 1900s.

North point state park walkway with Chesapeake Bay Bridge in far distance