Robert Cramer's (bobbyc) Blog

Space Weather News for May 31, 2007http://spaceweather.com/BLUE MOON & JUPITER: According to folklore, tonight's full Moon over North America is a "Blue Moon" because it is the second full Moon in a calendar month.  If you go outside to look at the Blue Moon, you'll see it has a companion: Jupite...

I often get asked "How much does it cost to repair that?" Quite frankly, I don't know. I am a full-time, professional home inspector, and my Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice prevent me from working on properties that I have inspected, so I have no personal experience concerning how much i...

It's a fact: all real estate has problems, even brand new construction that has never been lived in. As a friend of mine likes to say, "The Trojan Horse was brand new, but someone should have inspected it." The information contained in your email report shall be considered unreliable beyond the d...

Primarily in the 1960s and 1970s, many electrical contractors used aluminum wiring instead of copper wiring as a way to save money and lower construction costs. However, a number of electrical fires have been attributed to aluminum wiring. Many building codes have been rewritten to not allow the ...

It is that time of the year again, when the farm is bustling with life. Every year since I have lived in this little slice of paradise, the barn swallows show up in the spring. Not only do the show up, but they keep growing in numbers each year, making nest out in the horse barn.  Busy each day e...

This post is dedicated to all those city folks out there.  On 05/26/07 I awoke to find the birth of an a-maize-ing plant, commonly referred to as corn. This is an update as to the growth over the past 4 days and some additional information concerning this a-maize-ing plant.  We have had some grea...

Day 2 - In the life of Mr. MaizeI am not going to be posting a picture everyday, but I just wanted to show the difference between day one and day two.  The corn plant more than doubled in size and at this rate, it will easily make the old farmers saying "knee high by the 4th of July".  I was once...

This post is dedicated to all those city folks out there.  On 05/26/07 I awoke to find the birth of an a-maize-ing plant, commonly referred to as corn.  That's right I said corn, but before we go any futher, I know I am going to get ask; what does corn have to do with real estate?  Right?  Well, ...

What makes a house a home? That is a great question and is probably different for everyone. A house is just a house, a home is what I make of it. A house is just a small part of what I consider to be a home.  A house is a place that I store my memories.  A home is a comfort zone for all of my bod...

On November 29, 2006 the St. Louis area was paralyzed by an awesome breath taking ice storm, yet it was the creepiest freakiest night of my life.  It all started about 7:00pm when the temperature was just right above freezing and the rain began to fall.  The wind was howling at 30 to 40 mph and t...