The neighborhood that Yosef and Rachel live in is an eclectic mix for sure. There are high end restaurants just down the street from tattoo parlors.

However, just around the corner from one expensive restaurant is the Bondage Emporium. And, it is just as the name suggests.

This men’s only establishment caters to those who like to wear suggestive black leather which displays their, well, special parts. And, to this end, it has a very strict dress code. In short, if you could wear it in a regular bar, you can’t wear it in the Bondage Emporium.

Plus, they have a weekly events calendar. Tuesdays are pool nights and Wednesdays are hump nights. (I’m not even going to go there.)

Well, it is safe to say that they don’t get many visitors off the street.

Since my daughter and son-in-law purchased a house that was 100 years old, Kathy and I decided to give them a new front door as a wedding gift. So, after the wedding, we took them to the local lumber yard to pick out a new front door and a storm door to go with it.

Once they had found the perfect door, the man at the counter directed them to a selection of storm doors. Since they had already decided on the swing for the main door, the salesman quickly pointed out a storm door with a complimentary swing. So, we purchased it.

The first requirement, was installing the door glass. I guess the manufacture was too lazy to install the glass so, we were required to do so.

No problem. Just install the 6 foot clipping retainer on either side of the window.

Problem!!! The clip doesn’t fit. After an hour, it was installed. Great!!!

Well, while the box for the storm door said that it was a right hand swing, when we started installing it, we discovered that it could be either. No problem, until we read the worthless instructions.

The directions were vague and the pictures were indecipherable. So, we were left guessing. This meant a trip to the lumber yard to look at the display.

Once we looked at the display, it all made sense. Unfortunately, each time we had a question, we needed to make a trip to the lumber yard. This, of course, took time and gas for each trip to the lumber yard.

Ultimately, we got the storm door installed but it took as much effort as it did for installing the outside door.

Once, while we were inspecting the display door, we saw another couple looking at these doors. I wanted to say, “NO!!!, don’t do it”, but I didn’t.

While the new door is installed, the next time I will look at a different brand.

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As a wedding gift for Yosef and Rachel, we gave them a new front door for their 100 year old house. Now, I had installed another door in their house and was pleased to find that the door opening was a standard size. And so, when I measured up the existing door and discovered that it was a 36″ door, I was very pleased. The new door should just drop right in.

Well, life isn’t that simple. When we pulled out the old door, we made a startling discovery; the old door was 7.5′ high while our replacement door was the standard 6.5′ high.

Rats!!! I needed to make up an additional foot some how. Since transoms fit the era, that seemed like the most logical choice. But the chance of finding a transom to fit that opening would be a one-in-a-million shot, so my next plan was to create a false transom.

The false transom would be framed just like a real transom. But, instead of glass, it would have lumber.

Fortunately, there was a store in the neighborhood that that sold used building materials. So, we decided to check it out.

When we walked in, we asked for a transom. Unfortunately, they didn’t have any. So, we decided to walk around the store and look for a substitute.

One item that caught our attention was a side window for a door. It was thermal pane and just the right dimensions. So, after a quick chat with one of the store clerks, the window was ours. YES!!!

And while I still had to build a frame to hold the glass, we at least had the filler that we needed. A day later and another trip to the lumber yard, the window was installed.

It still needs to have the trim installed, but at least it will with stand the weather.

When I arrived at my hotel in Cincinnati, I noticed that a van was parked at the entrance. Since I always park at the entrance while checking in, I didn’t think anything of it. But, the next day the van was still there.

My next thought was that the van belonged to the hotel manager. After all, it was a prime parking spot. But, unless the manager also lived there, it was not his/hers since the van never moved. In fact, I took this picture as I was checking out 5 days later.

So much for signs.

While driving down the interstate in Ohio, I noticed a lot of little lakes next to the road. Since the water table is so high in the area, I imagine that these lakes were dug to facilitate the road. But, for the owners of the land, they got a free personal lake out of the deal.

Now, while these mini lakes are only about the size of a foot ball field, that doesn’t seem to stop the owners from the big lake experience. Some of these ponds are equipped with a boat launch, picnic shelter, changing trailer, dock, floating raft and a speed boat.

Even more fascinating was watching them water ski on these lakes. Since they only have about 100 yards to work with, the driver of the boat is in a constant turn as is the skier. And, after the skier gets tired of turning in one direction, the boat does a quick figure 8.

Come winter, I imagine I will even see fishing shanties out on their ice.  I wonder if snow ski behind tractors?

The other night, I was lying on the bed watching the 10PM news. All of a sudden, the station changed to Seinfeld. As I reached over for the remote on the night stand, I noticed that it was no longer 10 PM but 12:30 AM!

It appears that I mysteriously lost 2.5 hours of time. Since I couldn’t explain what happened, I can only conclude that I must have been abducted by aliens! Either that or I fell asleep. 😉

100% Fat Free! That is what it said in big bold letters on the outside of a container of grapefruit juice.

How nice of the company to point that out to us. Of course, I wasn’t really expecting to find any fat in any grapefruit juice so I guess that the label was of no importance.

Then again, maybe they were trying to fool us in to thinking that the 100% referred to something else like 100% natural or 100% pure.  Well, what ever the intent of the label, I wasn’t inspired to buy any.

A man was found dead from multiple gun shot wounds in his Detroit suburb home. The police are treating his death as “suspicious”.

Suspicious!!??  Duh!! What was their first clue, the multiple gun shot wounds?  Did they initially think the cause of death was accidental?  Only in Detroit.

During my recent stay in Cincinnati, the restaurant in my hotel was Mexican. And, as near as I could tell, it was one of only a few sit down restaurants in the area.

While this place has only been open for a few months, the food was excellent and very reasonably priced. Plus, they had an extensive menu to choose from.

The meal started out with chips and salsa. The salsa was fresh and crisp and very tasty. And the chips were still warm. Excellent!!

When the entree arrived, I was even more impressed. The taste was beyond any thing that I had expected. Very authentic to say the least.

I visited this place several more times during my stay and each time it was as impressive as the first. I definitely recommend this place. The flavors, the decor and the prices, I give it 5 thumbs up.

The sign outside the Harper hospital in Detroit reads “reserved for expectant mothers.” Nice! Those expectant mothers don’t have to walk all of the way over from the parking ramp. But then I noticed that it was only for 15 minutes.

Wow! 15 minutes! I was impressed. They must have an express lane in the maternity ward. In and out service.

Get er done!