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A while back I proposed a welding project to Mrs. Groovy. I wanted to replace some dying shrubs around the house with concrete blocks and then weld some scrap metal country frogs to sit atop those concrete blocks.
Surprisingly, Mrs. Groovy didn’t veto the project and I received her blessing. (Sometimes her majesty takes pity on the peasantry.) So I proceeded to remove the dying shrubs and make the requisite number of concrete blocks. Here’s a picture of one of those concrete blocks.
Now it’s time to start welding the scrap metal country frogs that will sit atop our concrete blocks. Midjourney did an excellent job of visually representing what I hope to produce. Here’s its interpretation of a scrap metal country frog playing the banjo.
But I ran into a problem. The bison welding project did a number on our garage. By the time I was finished, a healthy layer of soot had attached itself to every square inch of surface space in our garage. It took me days to give it a proper cleaning.
Needless to say, I don’t want my country frog welding project to befoul my clean garage. But how do I stop that from happening? Cutting, welding, and polishing metal is an inherently dirty process.
Then it hit me. If I create a mobile welding tent, I’ll be able to confine the messiness of welding to a shielded workspace and spare my clean garage. So I went online and ordered four 6×8 welding blankets. I then constructed my mobile welding tent by combining some new lumber with some old lumber—and wheels—from the salvaged bison cart. Here are the results:
Is my mobile welding tent perfect? No. The space is a little cramped, and the wheels rarely go where I direct them to go without a fight. But the damn thing works. It keeps the soot confined. I’ll now be able to complete my country frog welding project without befouling my clean garage.
I brought up my latest adventure in welding because I think it’s a nice parable on life. I don’t have an elite mind or body. I’m as pedestrian as the next person. But whenever I try to do something, I usually get 80 to 85 percent of the way there. And on some occasions, I get 100 percent of the way there. The point is, whatever I focus on, and create the necessary atomic habits, I eventually improve. And this is the main reason why my post-40 life has been much better than my pre-40 life. Pre-40 years old, I was an idiot who complained. In order for me to be better, other people had to be better first. Post-40 years old, however, I’ve been an idiot who tries. I stopped worrying about others and just focused on getting a little better at something important. And the truly remarkable result of this flip in mindset was an unexpected discovery. It turns out, I didn’t need others to be better to improve my fortunes. The politicians and cultural elites of my post-40 life have been just as pathetic and venal as the politicians and cultural elites of my pre-40 life, if not more so. But by becoming a chronic trier, I was able to create an island of functionality within a sea of dysfunction.
Now a couple of questions: Am I a freak of nature? Or will just about anyone eventually improve his or her life the moment he or she stops being an idiot who complains and starts being an idiot who tries?
I say I’m hardly a freak of nature. I also say the real divide in this country isn’t between the haves and have-nots. The haves aren’t hoarding success. The real divide in this country is between the complainers and the triers.
Update on My Book
The Groovy Guide to Liberty is moving along a lot slower than I thought it would. That’s partly due to my editor. She’s a pain in the arse. She wants my prose and arguments to make sense and be free of partisan flapdoodle. The nerve! But it’s mainly due to my inadequacies. I thought I knew the meaning of liberty. But when it came to actually articulating that meaning, I was utterly flummoxed. It turns out that a guy who’s been reading and thinking about liberty for 40 years still had a lot to learn.
The good news is that I fought through my inadequacies, and I should have my opus on liberty done in February or March of next year. And since the completion of my opus is on the horizon, I’ve been trying my hand at cover design in Midjourney. Below are the two leading contenders. One’s a Mr. Groovy-inspired cover. The other is an Abraham Lincoln-inspired cover. Let me know which one you like better when you get a chance. Peace.
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