Dio's WorkshopWelcome to my brain. It’s messy. It’s interesting. And it’s all connected if you stick around long enough. "Believe Nothing: no matter who said it, even if I have said it, except it agree with your own reason and common sense. Siddhartha Guatamo, the Buddha.
Short day today. Shop day building stuff, but not much to build. Rain out on all other counts.
and trying like hell to avoid the negative influences in my little world right now. Stopped at Da’s and his attitude is full on negative right now. Not just the shoulder pain and eyesight issues, but the news feeds feeding discontent and propaganda,,, And much of it counter to what people out here in the real world are seeing and feeling.
Like the Economy. Trumped was spouting about how good things are, but out here, its starting to feel more like Wiemar. Daily price increases in basics that can’t be put aside,
but by Dawg, the computers and cell phones sure are cheap (as long as they come loaded with bloatware and spying apps.)
and the news feeds are so confusing about whats going on,
Are we on the verge of WWIII? sure as shit feels like it, then suddenly, Iran and Israel are calling a ceasefire again,, AGAIN,,,
“No, you can’t have your little war, you haven’t finished the last one!” Pure distraction.
So whats to be distracted from? Why, the fact that the world economy is on the skids and sliding down the avalanche at speed. Can’t have the plebes worried now can we? Oh no, gotts to keep up the pretense that everything is just fine and these proxy wars and chest thumpings are nothing to worry about.
Who aren’t we hearing from currently? China? Russia? North Korea? Brazil? Even the Sauds are keeping a low profile,,, Qatar raised its head for these ‘crisis in MENA’, but I doubt they have as much influence as the House of Saud.
BRICS,,, think about it,,, And I will leave that right there as an exercise of the mind.
Avoiding the negative,,, ha! tryin’! Failing too.
I blame the weather,,,, Late Feb early March weather always gets me in a grey mood,,, Not enough kayaking of late (as in NONE) nor camping. That last is in the works. Brudda B Brudda J and I are planning a weekend in the woods with fire and cold and SILENCE around the 13th of March. 3day2night weekend. Winter camping before the buggies start coming out of hibernation. Fiscally, can’t really afford it, Spiritually, I can’t afford not to. I will be there.
and I’m also fiscally spent and emotionally bankrupt at this point. Lots goin’ on behind the scenes.
Ran across this and laughed out loud, Yah,,, we were not those to gloss over the obvious much.
Not much to add to the fray, Did NOT watch the SOTU address last night, though the stink about the Dems doing Dem-crap,,, Not surprised. I just wasn’t up to wading through the jargon and skewed perceptions, OF BOTH SIDES, to bother. Lets face it: this country is a hot mess right now, with Fraud and Corruption exposed to broad daylight and NO ONE IS BEING HUNG OR SHOT,,, Then, to cover asses, we are facing another war with someone that has enough problems of thier own, and all at the behest of Campaign contributors that shouldn’t be allowed to contribute in the first place, but, here we are,,, Fake and Ghey BOoChit and I has enough on mine and Da’s plate to keep me spent and drained for months/years to come
And I still have to make the donuts to pay the collectors (not that I am in collections, but the bills are still there,,,)
So, tonight, I turn up the tunes, pour a glass of something flammible, turn on the system and jam on some tunes,,, GenX meditation at its finest.
Its not supposed to be near as bad today as it was yesterday. That said, it is supposed to take all day to get better,,, so,
NO work today,,,
sigh,,
Whats a grumpy curmudgeon supposed to do?
Make bow strings. Thats what I did yesterday, fully intent on NOT LEAVING THE HOUSE since I leave the house, I spend money. I have some, but spending when income is NON-existent is silly. I’ll hold off on any runnin’ until I know I am offsetting any spending with earning.
BUT, I made bow strings yesterday. Been a few years and my first one was ‘Meh!’. What can I say: I’m a leetle rusty at this skill. Second one was spot on, only, not spot on,,, My loom needs remade. It ended up an inch shorter than what I was shooting for. It works, since I was trying to make a string an inch longer for this bow seeing I want to alter the Fistmael on it: the string to riser distance. Currently its at 7″ and I prefer around 6 1/2″ Lengthen the string just a touch and the fistmael ‘shrinks’. Sometimes you can do that by twisting or untwisting the string, but the factory string was dead straight, no twist at al: Makee new’un,,, (note ; fistmael is an anthropomorphic measurement. Its a closed fist with the thumb raised. the base of the fist on the riser with the thumb touching the string. I’ve become very used to using anthro measurements since I started building kayaks. It makes for a truly ‘personal fit’ in those.)
Today though, I remake my loom, so it doesn’t ‘give’ under the stresses of wrapping the serving material.
I also have some parts to pull off donor truck for the Buffalo. Not going to install them yet, but get them out where I can inspect them first. Cursory check, they seem fine, but I wanna look closer before I give the greenlight.
And no, nothing mission critical here,,, just details and whims. “I has it, use it” sort of thing.
Mostly, trying to keep myself from getting bored silly while stuck at home.
Like pulling the ergometer out and putting some “miles on” paddling, limbering up the lower back n hips, PT for stiff and uhggy shoulders. Thats limely gonna be a thing today: get ready for warmer weather soon.
Yup,,, just stay bizzy, keep’a’movin’, this too shall pass
Alright, Ya back? Dun’t care what your opininons of DOGE are: me personally, wish it had more impact than it has had. >BUT< this is PERFECT and a damned good example of something else I am seeing around the world of late.
PEOPLE TAKING THE POWER BACK
And not just in Government
All over the daggum place, even in religion,,,
“the Kingom is inside you”
And people are realizing that fact. Every ‘revolution’ goes through three stages. Service, Lead, Control. those three stages can be spread over generations, and that is exactly what happened in the Church. The first generations were very service oriented, and very repressed, but they kept growing. Growing enough to be a thorn in the side of all governments that oppressed them. Then, they came to be seen as leaders,,, And thats when Paul came onto scene. He wrote of Christ, but had never met the man, He wrote of the Kingdom, but failed the basic test. And he created a Religion founded on a mans sacrifice and THE MAN HIMSELF,,, reading the words, the parables, the tests applied to said man, I DO NOT THINK HE WOULD LOOK KINDLY ON BEING RAISED TO DIETY STATUS.
Just my opinion mind you, but is one that I am seeing GROWING.
But that third evolution,,, CONTROL,,,, It was in the third century that the CHURCH was born. And look at the level of growth and control it assumed for CENTURIES thereafter.
In my last post, I linked an article by EKO. Well, EKO also writes books, not just posts. In the book linked, he elaborates on this very thing.
Morgue continues to tear down the dogma of the church while further coming back to his beliefs, but changed.
Modern science is showing that CONSCIOUSNESS overrides MATTER. Think about that. ITs being proven that what we think is more real then the matter in your hand. Granted, ‘reality’ is a damned persistent illusion, as Einstein is purpoted to have said. (I believe he did.) But I have had instances where ‘manifestation’ happened, provable manifestations. I usually say ‘My gaurdian angel is watching over me’ at those times, and I those of you that have been around the shop are at least glancingly familiar with ‘Nudge’: heck, some of you have even said you have your own version,,,,
Anarchy; WITHOUT RULERS not without rules,,, there are rules, ones written into the very fabric of this ‘reality’ that are unbending, We call them natural laws (and they are starting to be shown as sorta flexible too, but I digress) but we also have this thing we call MORALS or if you prefer ETHICS. So long as a person is taught certain ethical behaviour, Self-Governance is EASY. In society, self-governance guides the whole. And in a society such as that, STRUCTURES, like government and courts and RULERS are completely unneccesary. Someone gets out of line, those nearest correct the instigator. that may be a fatal version of correction, but the corrections happens without ‘outside intervention’. The Kingdom is inside you. You are the ruler of your reality. So long as your frequency is inline with the IS, the CREATOR, the SOURCE, GOD if you will, then you are doing as you should.
yes, its a negative feedback loop. But any engineer will tell you, a machine with positive feedback will self destruct; its just a matter of time. I hear all the time (especially from the democratic aisle) that The Constitution is a negative contract: Yes, yes it is: BY DESIGN, written by Christians and Agnostics and Gnostics who LEARNED from history. It needs that negative feedback to self correct. Much like every swingin’ dick out here needs to have his peepee smacked a time or two before we figure out ‘thats not nice’.
But out society has become Positive Feedback. We CRAVE the dopamine rush of a JIT delivery systems. We adore the fact that ‘I’m hungry, lets order pizza” and have it delivered to our door in minutes.
WE’RE SPOILED
and lost sight of the Kingdom inside
But we’re finding it again.
We are seeing how hollow the ‘real world’ is, and that real world being built on lie upon lie, is showing major cracks in the facade, and you can see the rot in the foundations. Its obvious enough that even in places like IRAN, the foundations are failing and the people are rising to take back the power (and our government needs to get the fuck outta the way and let things work themselves out. LET THE PEOPLE DECIDE, stop being the Big Brother, World Cop asshole.)
Even here, The People are trying to take back the power, and yes, some of that is being perpetuated by the very structure of Government (but not the deepstate side,,, oh no,,,) That article Fred sent me,,, Let the people root out the diseased sections, reward them in some fashion, BE TRANSPARENT,
Which is all people like me have ever asked for. Be transparent, TELL THE TRUTH.
Wells, I got the valve seals all done yesterday, did a running valve lash adjustment, TWICE since while she was running I started hearing ticking from the opposite side I had just been through. My Bad on this note since she was cold and as the oil warmed up things started ‘working’ and loosening up. Live and learn.
And by the time I had everything back together, she was fully op temps, and
the video doesn’t do justice to what it looked like on this side of the digital realm.
I about threw in the towel at that point, but Brudda B said something that made me think a bit. “She just needs to burn off all the old shit,,,”
A’aight,,, I’ll give that a shot. So I closed shop, put up tools, cleared Buffalo out of the way, and went for Drinks for remote drinkin’ with Burfday boy,,,
She smoked like a train for a couple of miles. And when I pulled into the store lot, Cripes!!! I thought she had caught fire!!! Popped the hood, and looked, checked the oil level,(engine off) and did an eyeball underneath. I have an oil leak, and I would do something to isolate and fix that later in day. The smoke when I pulled in, was from oil blowing back on the exhaust, not from the tail pipe.
There is still some smoke from the tail pipe, but its much much much reduced,,, So I am going to give it a couple days of use and keep a damned close eye on that oil level in the meantime.
as for that oil Leak,,,, Dammit,,,,
I came home, and put a half ounce of dye into the mix. Sprayed down the areas already wet with oil, and let them dry. THEN, I fired her up,,, let that dye mix in good, Let her run at varied engine speeds for a couple of minutes,,, Idle, 2K,,, just above idle, back to 2 k, back to idle. Bust out the blacklight flashlight and found leak. Was thinking it was the cooler lines. NOPE. Front crank seal. The very same seal I replaced not so long ago. I can’t tell if its the lips or that it was sort of a loose fit in the cover.(I had used RTV around the seal because it was a little loose,,) I can’t really get the camera in there to look because of the harmonic balancer, and getting to it is quite the pain in the ass. BUT, I do know where it is. and that was the only thing I saw ‘Glowing’. Nothing on the cooler lines, or from the oil manifold or around the filter, nor the pan or covers. Just from that front seal. not bad, but its gonna ‘blow’ when running down the road and get everywhere, Just like it was doing already.
Plan doesn’t change for an oil leak. Keep an eye on level, watch tail pipe for output of blue stuff, and keep the oil leak wiped down until new seal arrives. I will go through the whole she-bang of pulling that balancer off, yet again,,, sigh,,,
BUT, if that blue smoke starts showing up again from the tailpipe,,,
She gets her ass parked and I drop the insurance on her (she tripled my insurance rate) until such time as I can get another engine to swap into her.
And I had a long heart to heart with her after I got loaded up and tipsy, walking the rolling deck of a storm tossed ship. I asked her to not be so damned determined to die, that she has a good home now, not one where she will be used and abused, nor left to rot in a field for 12 years again. Please please please stop this game of ‘not good enough’,,,,
Yes, I would park her for a time, but only so long as it takes to build the finances back up to purchase a new engine (or really good used one) BUT I WON’T GIVE UP ON HER like her last ‘family’ did. And even parked, she wouldn’t sit. I may not drive her (no insurance) but I would move her around and make sure things stayed running, not gelling up and rotting, or getting flat spots on the tires. And I wouldn’t do any more moving of tools around, other than the ones I need ‘at that time’. They are secure as heck right where they are.
Right now, the plan is ‘wait and see’ and get a new seal to replace the one there, IF things show good after a few days. She purrs, but if she is guzzling oil to burn,,,, Will see.
live learn laugh love LOAD.
(, ‘)
Wellzers,,, took her for a long drive today, and will say that she Ain’ta blowin’ nuthin’ out the tailpipe. (if she is, its so thin, I can’t see it from the mirror.)
But,,, I ain’t happy. 70 mile round trip, she was a quart down on the dipstick at end of trip. She is wet from front crank back all the way to the output shaft of the transmission. And I did see smoke at one traffic light when the wind was just right (off my rear) It was from what was being blown on the exhaust pipes (not IN the exhaust pipes) as it came from everywhere all at once,, not just that passenger rear corner.
She’s BETTER, but I don’t trust her right now. She’s getting parked until such time as I can fix that front crank seal. And with Oil running around $8/qt,,,, No,,,, Fuel is expensive enough without adding oil to the roadways (and likely ticking off anyone following me with an oily windsheild)
Finished up on Bloo, but thats a different post altogether, long story,,,
But started remote drinkin’ with Brudda B in celebration of his Burfday,,, (don’t know how old, don’t ask, but hes my younger brudda,,,) and between shots and texts, went out and started throwin’ stiks downrange,,, (note: I’m a little pie-eyed to boot,,, so accuracy is general,,,,)
Seriously though,,,, I’m hitting my target from 40 yards, the target being a crook branch break from that old RedOak that fell (the one that nearly took out my wind genny,, recall) and my target points are BURYING a full inch in that HARDWOOD. Target points!!!! this thing is FLAT, FAST, and BRUTAL. I had to get my fuller tongs to pull the arrows out of that wood.
I don’t know what you know about arrows and bows and what not, but thats IMPRESSIVE as hell to me. That tells me that a real broadhead from this dinky ass short bow is gonna do a full pass thru on a deer. Its ‘gonna leave a mark’ so long as I do my part in getting things lined up.
And the fact that I am about three sheets,(OK, maybe 4 1/2) to the wind,,,
32 arrows down range. 29 holes in that wood. And one ’round’ had three within 1″ of each other.
I pity the Bambi’s when I’m sober,,,
ALright,,, just wanted to share that.
FYI, if you are interested in that bow,,, I grabbed it from Zon NON-Affiliate link for some reason, so no, I don’t get a cut on this one. Still, A great little bow, one that could easily be packed on a trek and DO THE DEEDS as needed. 45# ain’t a weak bow in the woods. Combine it with some 500 spined arrows of your particular length and you are IN THERE.
Carry on,,,, more tomorrow when I can detail the events of Bloo,,,,
Instead, I share a quote with ya, then I’ll expand on my thinkin’
“A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.
Robert A. Heinlein” (emphasis mine)
I was reminiscing last night about a conversation with an employer-past: Buddy of my landlord, and I was working for him as a carpenter/site foreman under the table after the great separation from ‘reality’. (not a divorce as we weren’t married, and good thing too.) But I digress,,, We were hanging at his house, having a BBQ for all the peeps he kept bizzy in the world, and of course there were adult beverages involved,,, But he asked me how the hell I knew so damned much, and tried to tell me I was full of shit about the jobs I had had over the years “theres no way you had the time to do all those things,,,,“
Well, YES, yes there was, if you account for the fact that there were sections of my life where I was running 2 and 3 jobs back to back, day to day. A time where I was a 3rd shift short order cook at Ze Wafflehaus, (y’all know the place, but I don’t wanna tread on copyrights) AND opening manager for a corporate food chain in the same time frame. Or the time where I worked in a transmission shop as an R&R tech and was doing tattooing out of my living room at night. Or being a stock clerk at a major chain retailer, while building my Production company in the entertainment arenas. (which DID take off until I was sidelined by a greedy venue owner, and jumped ship to a National Touring company.) Or when I wrote a couple of books (in the side bar) while working as a welder/fabricator, sometimes spending entire nights at the keyboard, until the sun was on the rise and ‘time to make the donuts’ came on.
I’ve been all over the damned place. The only time I have ever held ONLY one job was in the middle/late 90’s when I was an ASE certified Drivability Tech. Engaged to be (re)Married and SERIOUS about it.
When that soured like spilled milk in the sun, I fell back to my mentality from 92 and “I’m gonna live by my rules, fuck the world” and started doing anything and everything that interested me, and would work shit jobs to keep the income flowing as I went off on tangents of interest.
Yes, I had the time. I MADE the time, at the expense of “Success” by societal standards.
And I regret it not at all.
My regrets are of the personal relationship nature, but I won’t go into details of that here, other than to say, “there are evil people in this world that do not like you to be happy”. My family knows of whom I speak.
I have memories. I have skills. I have STORIES i could tell you,,,,
I TOTALLY understood the emotions in that clip,,,, Things that I’ve done and seen that most average people refuse to believe because “theres no way you had the time to do all those things,,,,”
And only because they didn’t (make the time) That’s called “Jealousy” in the home town I grew up in,,,,
Be DIVERSE and thats the only “Diversity” I abide by. This Libtarded definition lowers the bar to sewage levels of ‘acceptance’ and does nothing to promote “Be a better version of yourself”. Note, I didn’t say ‘be a perfect version’,,,, because perfection is a direction, not the target. The target is to be a human that is capable and humble in that,,, I am not writing this to brag, just trying to put forth my thoughts on “where I came from”
and where I am going,,,,
I won’t ever retire,,, I know this. even if I hit that retirement age to collect on the socialists’ promise, I won’t quit working. I can’t. I don’t know how, and fear that I would fall through a crack and snuff out my existence if I stopped “Doing”. I may shift the direction to “just the fun stuff” but in my little world, “fun” usually looks a whole lot like “work” to some people. Building kayaks, or making bows, or rebuilding engines for shits and giggles to see “how much more can I squeeze outta this’un?” type stuff.
Much like this morning. I had three bows out in the yard, throwing arrows down range, methodically: three arrows from this bow, observe HOW I aimed this’un over that’un. What hold works best for which? etc etc,, Some people would call it boring, but I passed away 2 full hours and enjoyed myself completely.
And here in a few hours, I am going to be under the hood of Bloo, ‘working’ and having a daggum blast doing it. And when its all said and done, my day will have FLOWN by. Not the drudgery of ‘work’ that drags a day out to torturous levels.
I do what I want, and that ‘want’ is all over the daggum place, and my experiences are as well. And I scare some people by, not what I know, but the VOLUME of what I know, and DO,,,,
and that, Makes me proud and Humbles me at the same time. I don’t run my mouth ‘around town’, I just “DO” and the word gets out. (and I can’t tell you how many times I have blown up on a braggart with words to the gist of “Shut up and SHOW US, dont’ tell us”. ) I try to lead by example, IF you consider me leading anyone,,, I prefer to think I just ‘AM’, and live accordingly, at my whim and in whatever directions the MUSE takes me this week. (which has been back into electronic studies for some unfounded reason,,, I’m sure the MUSe will fill in the blanks on that when the time is right.)
LIVE
LEARN
LAUGH
LOVE
LOAD!!!
and be HUMAN, not some animal in the tresses of the plow.
It was the early part of the Tweens when the political divisions of the United States reached irreconcilable differences. Ted, a burnt out computer programmer, and Jim, a double amputee combat vet, reverse engineer the pentagons drone program and create a rebel air force. While traveling the country helping others defend what is left of the country, they run afoul a most evil woman intent on creating a serfdom within the country.
A beginner’s guide to going off grid. how to evaluate if you even want to make the attempt. written by the curmudgeonly author of this blog and his dog
Dio's Workshop 