Manual Competence

"The satisfactions of manifesting oneself concretely in the world through manual competence have been known to make a man quiet and easy. They seem to relieve him of the felt need to offer chattering interpretations of himself to vindicate his worth. He can simply point: the building stands, the car now runs, the lights are on. Boasting is what a boy does, because he has no real effect on the world. But the tradesman must reckon with the infallible judgment of reality, where one's failures or shortcomings cannot be interpreted away. His well-founded pride is far from the gratuitous "self-esteem" that educators would impart to students, as though by magic." ~Matthew B Crawford, "Shop Class as Soulcraft"

Nice Evening for a Drive...

I thought Thursday night was too nice to pass up for a drive so I took the LaSalle up to visit Mom...

Time? Yeah, he's got some...

A model of a 1949 Harley Panhead. Made by a guest of the State of Ohio in the North Central Correctional Complex in Marion. OH. A good friend of mine is also currently registered for a time in Marion and he arranged for this model to be made for me. It is made soley from brown paper grocery bags, a little corrugated cardboard and some elmer's glue. There is an unbelievable amount of time in this thing from a guy who has a good amount of that available right now.

Scrapyard Score!

Silly scrapper... He looked right at a perfectly good start for a sidecar frame and threw it in the scrap pile. I wonder if I am the only guy that spends the money he got selling scrap to bring different scrap home....

New Seat for the Goose!

Jane got me a Harper's LAPD solo saddle and luggage rack for the Goose this Christmas. Found my way out to the barn to get it on tonight. It's much comfier than the old two up...

Before:


After:





At some point I really need to tackle that damn sidecar...