I am happy to report that my broom-maker is on the mend and just before the snow/ice storm delivered some new inventory. I’ve got a couple events this year so he has a standing order to crank out polissoirs as his health allows.
But for now, everything is in stock. Ironically sales for everything has plummeted, about 40% in 2025 vs. the 2024 totals. Just as well as I am making almost zero on each 1-inch ploissoir sale. Good thing this is just a hobby at this point. Not complaining, who else can say they have a hobby that doesn’t cost them anything?
When I built the greenhouse last year I was determined to overbuild it. As the evidence indicates, I was wrong in my assumptions and execution of what I thought overbuilding was, The center laminated arch just snapped this week under the weight of the snow, sleet and frozen rain. A pretty substantial rebuild must occur before next winter, building bigger (and more) laminated arches. In addition to replacing the destroyed center arch I will build two more inside the greenhouse and one in the outer workspace on the far end of the structure. I’ll make them each 1-1/2″ x 3″ rather than 1-1/4″ x 2″. That calculates to a four-fold increased strength. I don’t know yet whether the plastic skin can be salvaged. Part of me was pleased to see the laminations remained intact, just the weight and the wind literally snapped the center arch.
Also, if I was so inclined and equipped, I could absolutely ice skate down the driveway. (I left my ice hockey days behind me many, many decades ago)
One thing I was very pleased about was the performance of my spiked-sole lumberjack boots. They made traipsing around the icy landscape a breeze. I was absolutely right to buy these a couple years ago. I was only expecting to use them when harvesting firewood on sloped ground, but they sure did the trick here.
UPDATE
The plowing crew finally came at 10.15 last night to dig us out. They brought three big machines. The first was a V-wedge icebreaker to bust everything up, the second was an 8-foot plow blade, the third was a 6-foot blade to make everything purdy. Was great to look out this morning and actually see the driveway, we can now get out after four days of being icebound. Free at last, free at last!
Probably like many of you, as I watch the paroxysm of manufactured “rage” throughout urban America I am almost continually running an OODA Loop especially when I leave Shangri-la and go out into the larger world. (OODA is the military acronym for Observe, Orient, Decide, and Act, a decision-making model for use in uncertain situations.) In the environment that is the USA 2026, OODA is in my mental background like a virus scan. Since many/most/all(?) of the “spontaneous” riots are conducted by trained out-of-state professionals provided by entities like Crowds on Demand, Inc. (a real LA-based rent-a-mob temp agency!), the need for OODA is an imperative. I for one am curious about the money trail for the rent-a-mobs.
But ruminations on OODA are just the gateway for this post. Almost all of us of a certain age have had our awareness formed, at least in part, by two classic dystopian novels we read in high school — 1984 (1949, George Orwell) and Brave New World (1932, Aldous Huxley). However, my favorite novel of this (or any other) genre and roughly contemporary to them, and one that I am unreservedly recommending to you, is the far less known 1945 C.S. Lewis That Hideous Strength. When reading THS I find many of the parallels to 2026 to be inescapable. It is almost a fictional recitation of the seduction Hannah Arendt described as “the banality of evil” but set in the campus and village of a small British university. It brings to mind the old quip, “The smaller the boat the meaner the rats.”
The understanding from this trilogy of dystopian fiction is IMHO foundational to being a modern grown-up. Not the full foundation, but still foundational. Read or reread them for a refresher course in the human condition and of the evil that men can do. And if you are unfamiliar with That Hideous Strength, pick it up and be edified. Every time I reread it I find myself saying, “Holy cow, that’s just like now!” Yes, it is a semi-fantasy, but the parallels are too powerful to ignore. It is not a fast read, not because it is turgid or difficult, but because you might just find yourself pausing by necessity to consider the implications of the tale for our modern, debauched world.
For extra credit when exploring the dysfunctional human condition take a stroll through The Minor Prophets of The Old Testament, Hosea through Malachi. Since the books do indeed chronicle accurately the nature of the human condition, like me you are likely to pause and reflect that the truths therein are as current as tomorrow’s headlines.
Since finishing the fourth floor of the barn fifteen years ago I’ve used that space for a lot of things; a meeting /presentation space for Groopshop, a video studio, a classroom, a Gragg chair workshop. With the demise of my teaching schedule here the function of the space has (d)evolved into primarily storage especially for extra workbenches and such. Over the years I’ve probably moved benches from the main floor to the fourth floor (and back) a dozen times or more, using my compound block-and-tackle hand hoist.
But here’s the part where the story gets very mysterious.
Somehow the benches gained weight over the years, and I was at the point where hoisting them by hand was problematic. What was once no big deal is now a very big deal. And, since in recent months I’ve been reorganizing and reducing the contents of the main floor, I was faced with the task of hoisting several benches up and out of the way.
Hmmm.
The solution? Buying and installing a Harbor Freight power winch. Their smallest 120v plug-in model was more than adequate. I bolted the winch unit to a 2×8 then lag-screwed the 2×8 into a number of the 2×6 rafters. The new system works perfectly and moving heavy things up and down to the barn attic is now a piece o’ cake.
After more than a month being out of commission, between family gatherings and what my dear old Dad would call “the epizootic,” as of yesterday I am back in full swing. Not quite full strength and speed, but that will come with ongoing activity.
I am now fully caught up with all my orders of polissoirs, waxes, and videos. Interestingly, for the first time in many years I got zero orders for Christmas gifts (the buyers always tell me). I’m looking forward to getting my PayPal annual statement, I am expecting that this past year I only sold half as many as the year before. Perhaps the market is saturated. Given that at this point it is just barely even a hobby I am fine with that. In looking backward, I noticed that the shipping/postage costs for my first order more than a decade ago was $2.97, padded mailer included. My latest per unit shipping cost is now approaching $8 for padded envelope and postage. Good thing it is not a growing enterprise on which I am pinning my retirement hopes!
At the moment my greatest concern is my supply. My broom maker has also been under the weather and unable to make any new inventory since the beginning of November. If this continues, I’ll soon be out of stock. Fortunately, I spoke to him this week and he is confident he can be back in his own shop in a week or so.
Wish him well. Perhaps now he will take me and his wife seriously when we implore him to train a successor.
After being out of the loop for the past three weeks I’m finally easing back into the world of donsbarn.com. My first stretch of being out of circulation was sublime as the clan gathered to celebrate the Incarnation. An extra special treat were the hours spent in my basement workshop with two of my little guys, repairing toys and explaining all the tools. That tradition will continue for the rest of my life.
The second interruption was pretty ridiculous as I’ve been fighting Fauci Flu for the past two weeks, including a bizarre visit to a clinic that refused to offer any pharmaceutical response strategy other than some piddly cough drops.
Anyway, I recently reflected on the fact that two of my most faithful blog correspondents, PM and PM, have nearly the exact same name and they are a great source of things for me to look at. This video came from that route and is immensely entertaining.
Looking forward to resuming a vigorous schedule of activities here in Shangri-la.
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulders: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be.But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God.You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus.He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David,and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”
And they said, “Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother’s name Mary?”
And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
I pray for you to have a blessed Christmas with loved ones and that you are celebrating the Incarnation, through whom we can be reconciled with The Creator.
I am the delighted recipient of Mrs. Barn’s foodie-ism. She loves cooking as much as I love puttering in the shop. One of the benefits of this relationship is that I come down the hill for lunch and supper every day and there is a wholesome real-live meal awaiting me. She makes all our butter, yoghurt (our breakfast of choice for many years) and ice cream from scratch, as she does with almost everything else we eat. No wonder my matchmaking sister told me 45 years ago, “I’ve got just the girl for you!”
In recent years as an attempt to reduce our carb and white flour/wheat intake she has been making sourdough bread from einkorn she grinds herself. Admittedly she parcels it out like I was a junkie, maybe a slice or two a week. When we went lower-carb years ago I gave up sodas and fruit drinks cold turkey with no problem, Same for wheat pasta and other starches as she has found excellent alternatives (I actually prefer quinoa to rice and pureed cauliflower is almost equal to mashed potatoes). But bread? That was way tougher as I had been eating a whole loaf of grocery store bread every week and still love it.
She has compiled a recipe repertoire that I think she should turn into a cookbook (especially the wheat-free treats and sugar-free desserts, but she doesn’t think anybody would be interested. Sigh.)
Anyway, this video made me think of all this. I found it fascinating, she found it old news.
Perhaps because I am lackadaisical about organizing my own living and working spaces I find presentations of exquisite spatial and functional organization to be compelling. This video included ideas I will file away for that “whenever” time that I no longer have the barn space at my fingertips.
Recently Li’l T got a small rasp and has been going to town carrying it around the house with the rasp and a scrap workpiece from Dada’s latest project. The time has come for Grandpa to think about lighting the torch to be passed to this little guy and his littler brother, Mighty M, who wants to be doing everything his big brother is doing. Littlest brother Wondrous W is only a month old so he is behind the curve for now, as is their cousin Dynamic D who is nine months old. Yeah, walking and talking are helpful in the process.
About 35 years ago I made a pair of half-scale but honest to goodness workbenches for my girls. To that end I recently took Mama’s workbench to live in Dada’s little workshop in the garage for Li’l T amd Mighty M to sue to their hearts content.
This new epoch makes tools a part of the equation for every Christmas and birthday from this point on. Whew.
Recent Comments