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Month: September 2014

If it ain’t one damn thing, it’s another: Part II

Roofing crew arrived at 7:30 sharp this morning. Never saw any group of people move so fast and with such coordination and obvious expertise. Freakin’ impressive! After they’d been here three hours I went outside and took pictures of their astounding progress. Then I came back in, figured I’d play with the dogs a bit, quit being jumpy from the noise and chaos, and try to get some actual writing done. Sat down on the floor to toss a nerf ball for Ava. Looked up. And … whoops. Scary whoops. The heavy, old-fashioned wooden beadboard ceiling in one room had…

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Ready to go, thanks to you

Ready to go, thanks to you! The section of roof originally constructed by government-employed chimpanzees has been turned back into something rooflike and is under wraps. The roofing materials were just delivered (to the top of the house, yet!). Tomorrow morning … things get serious. Meantime, I don’t think the dogs and I will be comfortable spending too much time directly under all that tonnage up there. Is this old roof structure really that strong? Nervous! But very, very excited, too. And looking forward to a leak-free NorthWET winter.

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Pack vs herd vs lone individuals

Yesterday Mike Vanderboegh re-printed a classic that I’d missed first time around even though it riffs on a classic of my own — asking that ever-pertinent question, “When is it time?”

Mike uses the sorry example of the Weimar German Reichsbanner to show how even the prepared can tragically fail to act when the day comes. The Reichsbanner were a military group sworn to protect the Weimar Republic against an anticipated Nazi coup. But when Hitler rose to power they did … nothing.

They were waiting for a signal from a leader. And for various reasons, they waited. And waited.

—–

This got me thinking about the differences in packs vs herds vs lone individuals.

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Adventures in pre-hermitting

First thing: Thank you for all the good words and scary stories after Friday’s out-of-the-blue tree fall. MamaLiberty’s tale of random mystery destruction definitely takes the prize, though Karen’s lightning-from-nowhere story also reminds me of Mother Nature’s notorious temper.

One reader, C, even made an extra little contribution to the roof fund. Its timing was lovely (“Take that, damned tree!”), and the fact that it came from somebody I know has very little to spare made it even more appreciated.

—–

I’m now looking at November 1 as the most likely date to commence a serious year of hermitude.

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Atlas Shrugged III: A guest review and commentary

The following review of AS-III + commentary on our own times is by faithful reader (and even more faithful Outlaw) Mac the Knife: —– I went and saw Atlas Shrugged – Who Is John Galt today. Thought you might like a few observations about the movie. I thought it was probably the best of the three. While they stray from the book in places they capture the essence of what Ayn Rand was saying. Kristoffer Polaha plays John Galt and he does a very good job. Probably not the image most people would expect John Galt to look like, but…

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Looking back: Project 31

I’ve linked recently to Ryochiji’s posts about his Serenity Valley cabin’s very, very — VERY — close call with a wildfire. Lots of other worthwhile stuff at his site, Laptop and a Rifle. Back in the winter of 2011, when his property was less developed than it is now, he vowed to spend 31 days there under a strict set of rules. He called his experiment Project 31 & despite the rigor of his terms, it was a success. Here are all his posts about it Very Joel-ish. Without the curmudgeonliness.

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Monkeywrench the antigunners

Opportunities for monkeywrenching have sadly diminished in this age of omni-surveillance and can’t-take-a-joke fearmongering. But all is not lost! John Richardson over at No Lawyers — Only Guns and Money, had an irresistible monkeywrench land right in his email box. And you, too, can take advantage of it without risk. (Until the antis figure out what’s happening, anyhow.) Go. Check it out. Cost some sanctimonious (and law-breaking) antigunners some of their government-earned cash. —– UPDATE — Looks like the monkeywrench was working well enough that they caught on. Per Mark in comments: “The link leads to a page that says…

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BOOM!orIf it ain’t one damned thing, it’s another.

So there I was this afternoon, waiting for BHM to come back online (seems that failed security update was a doozy), listening to the sound of roofers overhead. Scrape, scrape. Thud, thud. Bang, bang.

Then — suddenly — BOOOOOM! Absofreakinlootly sonic. What? What? What on earth have those guys done? But the sound seems to have come from the front of the house and they’re working on the back. They also go very, very silent very quickly.

I look out the front window and there are … wires. Not just wires. Big, thick cables hanging down.

I look further:

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