Welcome to Rick's Homepage

In Memory of Gretchen

Welcome to my site. I haven't really worked on this site like I had planned and hoped I would. I have recently added up top that I wanted to dedicate this site to my loving companion of almost 6 years. She left us too soon. She was always there for me and always happy to see me. Her unconditional love will never be forgotten.

I have many interests and thus have many hobbies. About three years ago I became interested in keeping saltwater fish, which quickly grew to an interest in keeping a "Reef Tank". For the past

couple of years I have been successful at keeping a reef tank. I am hoping to publish some pages that document that hobby.

Another hobby I got interested in is melting aluminum and then casting items with the molten metal. I have built the furnace to melt the aluminum, built the burner, bought the crucible, made the lifting tongs, etc. A lot of it is documented on the "My Melting Project" pages, go there to see this hobby.

I have always been interested in electronics. Part of the fun in my Reef Tank and that hobby is building what is needed. I have built my stands, plumbed everything, etc. In working out some of those problems I have found the need to learn more about electronics in order to automate some of the tasks. While messing with these projects it has increased my desire to learn more about electronics and why those things work the way they do. So in the upcoming months...as it gets colder outside, I'm hoping to learn more. I most likely won't learn as much as I would like, but hopefully I'll learn enough to make me happy.

My family and myself really enjoy going camping. For as long as I can remember my family has had a cabin that is located way back off the main road that goes into the local town. It is located in a pretty remote area and does not have electricity, running water, or sewer. We had neglected the buildings there over the last several years. In looking at them to see what needed to be done to bring them back to proper condition it was decided that all of the buildings needed to be torn down and replaced. The roofs had failed which allowed water and moisture and all the elements to get inside. As a result, the buildings had turned into a mess. The one building, which happened to be the main cabin was structurally in the best shape, but it was noted there was the presence of Black mold on the walls. Instead of taking the chance of getting sick by trying to clean up this building, we decided to build a brand new building. Part of this decision was also based on the fact that we wanted to make the main cabin bigger in size.

In the near future I plan to make a page dedicated to our cabin and the property located in that general area.

With all that is going on, check back and see where I'm at. Hopefully I've made some progress. You will be able to follow the links located on the left side of this page, although temporarily you may have to use your "back" button to return as I don't have links back to the homepage as of yet. Take a look and enjoy.

Rick

Feel free to send me a note of suggestions or encouragement. You can contact me at: