Sometimes friends compliment me for being so helpful to others. How does that happen? Do I have radar to let me know when someone needs help? No… but a network of friends and friends-of-friends know that they can ask, and my answer almost always is, “sure… what can I do to help?” Last Saturday, my big mouth got me into trouble.
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It’s finished, on time and on budget, I finally have completed and installed “that big thing for my kitchen.”

I really am delighted with it, as is my spouse. This is what I have been working on for hours and hours and hours, filling in time when I needed to be at home in case my spouse needed me during the worst of his prolonged illness.

I have had a shop full of “man tools,” like a professional router, band saw, table saw, and much more. I finally put these tools plus a large dose of patience to work.

I built…
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Greetings, loyal blog followers.

With this post, I am taking a holiday break. Here in the good ol’ USA, July 4 is our Independence Day. No, it is not the “fourth of July holiday” — that expression always drives me nuts, like when I hear people wish each other, “Happy Fourth of July!”

Independence Day recognizes the date when we choose to celebrate that the United States of America declared her independence from Great Britain in 1776. I’ll let the patriotic bloggers get into the politics of it, but for the rest of us, it is a day of celebrating our nation’s independence and freedom.

By the way, this post is being posted on July 3. So “Happy Third of July, everyone!”

Now, back to the point… what will we be doing on this long holiday weekend, and what footwear will I be wearing, considering that the weather will be the typical HHH? (Hot, humid, hazy?)
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Slight delay in posting… things have been busy in the ol’ BHD household. My spouse, my work life, Harley repairs, rental house renovations, and my daily life in the community have kept me quite busy.

But life rolls on, sweetly on a Harley that feels new.
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Note: rare rant alert.

I was reading an article in the Sunday newspaper where the financial situation of a family of 5 were described in-depth, asserting that the middle class is in a downfall. The family lives in the Virginia suburbs of Washington, DC. They have a nice house, one car and one truck, and a $90,000 per year income between both adults. The kids, ages 8, 10, and 13 are enrolled in a good public school system.

One would think that on that income, they would be able to live comfortably. Perhaps not be able to buy all the latest toys, go out for entertainment often, or drive the latest snazzy yuppie-mobile, but they’re doing okay.

The story, however, revealed that this family claims that they are barely making ends meet and last month, were late or didn’t pay the bills for utilities such as electricity because they had to reallocate resources to buy a used car to replace one that died. Now their credit rating is taking a nosedive.

How can it be that they are in such a financial mess?
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I have a dear friend who lives in Hawaii. We have worked together professionally for more than 25 years. We share many passions and have about the same outlook on life. We have bonded closely with many shared interests.

Although we do not work together these days, we are in the same profession and belong to the same professional association. Last time we saw each other was at our Association’s annual conference last autumn. We played hookey for a few hours, went to a casual restaurant, and really caught up with each other’s lives.

However, there are differences. My friend is all about technology and social media. I am not. Recently, she sent me a message via a social media messaging platform. I didn’t see that message until a week later.

In it, she said…
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