A grand euphoria grabbed me this morning and hasn't let up. I watched two flickers in the front yard poking up bugs for breakfast while I was sipping my morning coffee. All peaceful and quiet. And Blue Skies and Sunshine beamed over the homestead. Yes indeed, life is good and grand and everything is going my way. What a Wonderful World, as Louis Armstrong sings.

It doesn't get any better than this.

I've felt the same way for the last week. I've always got a list of projects that would be fun to do, and I've been able to work on all of them uninterruptedly.

Absolutely gorgeous day on the coast and I'm going for a walk on the beach, and later a nice hike in the coastal forest.

Then to my shop and work on my art projects.

Been rereading Gibbon, started about a month ago and been plodding along at a lackadaisical pace. Anyway, I came across this this morning and just had to make a post:


In the second year of the reign of Valentinian and Valens [365 AD], on the morning of the twenty-first day of July, the greatest part of the Roman world was shaken by a violent and destructive earthquake. [The Great Crete earthquake (so named) also generated a devastating tsunami]…………………

It was the fashion of the times to attribute every remarkable event to the particular will of the Deity; the alterations of nature were connected, by an invisible chain, with the moral and metaphysical opinions of the human mind; and the most sagacious divines could distinguish, according to the colour of their respective prejudices, that the establishment of heresy tended to produce an earthquake, or that of a deluge was the inevitable consequence of the progress of sin and error. Without presuming to discuss the truth of propriety of these lofty speculations, the historian may content himself with an observation, which seems to be justified by experience, that man has much more to fear from the passions of his fellow-creatures than from the convulsions of the elements.

- Edward Gibbon: The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

Lyrics:


Well, the moon is broken and the sky is cracked
Come on up to the house

The only things that you can see is all that you lack
Come on up to the house

All your crying don't do no good
Come on up to the house

Come down off the cross, we can use the wood
You gotta come on up to the house

Come on up to the house
Come on up to the house

The world is not my home
I'm just a-passing through

You got to come on up to the house
There's no light in the tunnel, no irons in the fire
Come on up to the house

And you're singing lead soprano in a junkman's choir
You got to come on up to the house

Does life seem nasty, brutish and short
Come on up to the house

The seas are stormy and you can't find no port
Got to come on up to the house, yeah

You gotta come on up to the house
Come…

I finished it rereading it a few months ago. Here's one of my favorite passages.

"The Narrow policy of preserving, without any foreign mixture, the pure blood of the ancient citizens, had checked the fortune, and hastened the ruin, of Athens and Sparta. The aspiring genius of Rome sacrificed vanity to ambition, and deemed it more prudent, as well as honorable, to adopt virtue and merit for her own wheresoever they were to be found, among slaves or strangers, enemies or barbarians."

it seems the diversity is the thing that ruined most cultures. the romans imported gladiators for enjoyment who after a few centuries changed it all.

Diversity wasn't really on Gibbon's mind in terms of who was to blame for the decline of Rome.

“As the happiness of a future life is the great object of religion, we may hear without surprise or scandal that the introduction, or at least the abuse, of Christianity had some influence on the decline and fall of the Roman empire. The clergy successfully preached the doctrines of patience and pusillanimity; the active virtues of society were discouraged; and the last remains of military spirit were buried in the cloister: a large portion of public and private wealth was consecrated to the specious demands of charity and devotion; and the soldiers’ pay was lavished on the useless multitudes of both sexes who could only plead the merits of abstinence and chastity. Faith, zeal, curiosity, and more Earthly passions of malice and ambition kindled the flame of theological discord; the church, and even the state, were distracted by religious factions, whose conflicts were sometimes bloody and always implacable; the attention of the emperors was diverted from camps to synods; the Roman world was oppressed by a new species of tyranny; and the persecuted sects became the secret enemies of their country.”

It's true, though, that he talks about how they had to start hiring a lot of foreign mercenaries to make up for all of the local boys becoming monks, and that bit them in the ass when the mercenaries periodically turned on them.

Would have been more the City of Rome than the Roman Empire if it weren't for the going out and conquering the neighbors thing though. Can't really avoid the diversity when empire building because of the pesky people that aren't you in various places you conquer.

Been enjoying my reread of Gibbon immensely. Also been viewing a "The Great Courses" CD, from the Library, on Impressionism. It is surprising, to me at least, very well done. May have to get a few more.

Spring has been very cool and the ground cold so I'll have to want a few more weeks before planting the garden. Seeds won't even germinate. Will add today a few more strawberry plants that I recently purchased.

Still able to reserve and check out books and CDs from the library in Oregon.

I returned my last library checkouts yesterday. Started viewing a CD series on US military history. Not badly done, starts at just before WWI.

Been working on a lot of projects in my shop. Art stuff. It's intricate and difficult and getting things just right and the way I want it is a real pain. And you need all sorts of strange tools and things to get it correct. But it is rewarding. Like growing a garden; which I haven't started yet because it is too Damn Cold.

Ars longa, vita brevis

I pulled the head of an ancient Ford Bronco last week and carted it over to the machine shop to have a valve job done and the place was locked up tight. So I called him up and told him I'd leave it for him if he was working but just didn't want to deal with people, and he told me to call him back in a couple of months. SO I leave yet another project half done and it's on to the next one.

Leaving stuff drives me crazy, but it's better than being dead so I'm good with it.

dead aint good.

pics of the bronco.

+1

Also Zeno I have an odd admiration for this. As I’m sure I stated before maybe when I grow up I can be you.

better to be me. i aint crabby.

October, November, December, January, February, March, April, and May showers bring June flowers

And you have/pack weapons. Bonus points.

I used to be a mechanic and did valve jobs. The shop had the equipment and doing the seats was easy and can be done with minimal tools. Which getting yourself is not difficult or expense. Doing the values of course takes a much more sophisticated and expensive piece of equipment. Take the heads to a different shop. Don't leave the heads with anyone - if they won't/can't get to it in a reasonable amount of time get them back. Put them in the house in the spare bedroom or on the dining room table - whichever is more convenient. You don't want them to rust or get exposed to a lot of moisture.

How old is the Bronco? I remember an old friend, now dead and gone to Valhalla, that had an older (1960"s vintage) International Scout. That was a cool machine. Some of the older Bronco were also very cool.

Dead ain't so bad. You can't goof up anymore and screw up your life. And the accommodations are excellent I hear, and the food is good, and the weather perfect, and you don't have to pay taxes.

Ok, need advice: Aside from procuring more of the same as seen below, what other whiskeys do I need to acquire for the upcoming Apocalypse?

It's a '67. It's a long story, but somebody gave it to me ~1980 and I gave it to my nephew ~1990. Now his daughter has it and I'm working on it.

Honestly, I'm more careful vetting machine shops than I am vetting doctors. The guy I want to take it to is the best. I've done valves myself when I was a kid. I've probably got one of those eggbeater grinders and some grinding compound somewhere. I've also got new exhaust valves since they seem to go out first. But if I wait for this guy he'll do it 10 times better and 100 times faster, so I'll wait.

If I get in a bind, I'll look for someone else, but I hate the process. I'll walk in, ask a couple of questions, look around, walk out. As I get older, my patience for fools with tools disappears. I used to figure I could be careful and work with anybody. Now I don't, I view trying as a waste of time. Maybe I'm getting ... crabby?

Good weather? You’re crazy it’s hotter than hades.

More single malt Scotch? No interest in American bourbon? I gave a response on the whisky thread. Wondering if you like peated or only non peated?