If some of these balusters seem to be kind of leaning one way or another they are. The inserts are complete, but not yet screwed to the railings.
I don’t want them attached yet because tomorrow starts the painting phase, and since they’re different colors they’ll be easier to paint separately.
As I’ve said before I’m not a carpenter, but I’m learning. I do believe this might be the nicest job I’ve done, and I did it with scrounged lumber.
They say that Louis XIV had the inscription Ultima Ratio Regum cast into all the cannon of the French Army. It means "The Ultimate Argument of Kings," and that always struck me as one of the most honest and up-front things any ruler or would-be ruler ever said. "We can dress it up prettier than this, but when it comes down to the unvarnished truth this is what it's about: You'll do as I say or I'll send my goons to kill you."
I thought about that for a long time. If there's an ultimate argument, it seems only logical that there must be an ultimate answer. For years I thought the ultimate answer must be the bullets in my rifle, but it never seemed quite right. I've got bullets - he's got frigging Cannon Balls. I mean, if there were three hundred million rifles throwing bullets at him, then maybe. But we all know that's not going to happen. So if there's an ultimate answer to his ultimate argument, it sure as hell ain't bullets.
It finally came to me - and that's when I left the city, abandoned a goodly percentage of my goods, and gave all that was behind me a good, stiff Randian Shrug.
The ultimate answer to kings is not a bullet, but a belly laugh.
Little Bear 2009-2018
Do you suffer from a lonely, unfulfilled, angst-driven existence? Do you often wish you could do something meaningful with your life, like end death or war or taxes, or maybe just read a really good book?
Then you need to buy the following novels immediately!
"Freedom Outlaw. It’s not what you do; it’s how you do it. It’s an attitude — from which actions always follow. It’s a do-it-yourself occupation. And a lifetime vocation."
- Claire Wolfe, Backwoods Home Companion, 6-07-10
I owe my success to having listened respectfully to the very best advice, and then going away and doing the exact opposite.
- G. K. Chesterton
"If every Jewish and anti-Nazi family in Germany had owned a Mauser rifle and twenty rounds of ammunition and the will to use it, Adolf Hitler would be a little-known footnote to the history of the Weimar Republic."
- Aaron Zelman
"Authority should derive from the consent of the governed, not from the threat of force."
- Barbie
"Never underestimate the ability of shit to find a fan."
- F. Paul Wilson
"You can't make an omelet without breaking eggs." The sophistry of villains - Bah!
- Robert A. Heinlein, Double Star
“Truth is, I’m not specifically interested in an armed society. What I want is a free society.”
- George Potter
I never saw a wild thing sorry for itself
A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough without ever having felt sorry for itself.
- D. H. Lawrence
Aristippus passed Diogenes as he was washing lentils.
He said, “If you could but learn to flatter the king, you would not have to live on lentils.”
Diogenes said, “And if you could learn to live on lentils, you would not have to flatter the king.”
Sandy Hook was a Gun Free Zone. So was the Westroads Mall. And the Aurora Theater. And Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Should I go on? They were all Gun Free Zones. Why do the gungrabbers never mention this?
- Reality
“Political tags — such as royalist, communist, democrat, populist, fascist, liberal, conservative, and so forth — are never basic criteria. The human race divides politically into those who want people to be controlled and those who have no such desire. The former are idealists acting from highest motives for the greatest good of the greatest number. The latter are surly curmudgeons, suspicious and lacking in altruism. But they are more comfortable neighbors than the other sort.”
- Robert A. Heinlein
"Civilization is the process of setting man free from men."
- Ayn Rand
If ever a man should ask you
For your business or your name
Tell him to go and fuck himself
Tell his friends to do the same.
For a man who'd trade his liberty
For a safe and dreamless sleep
Doesn't deserve the both of them
And neither shall he keep.
- Frank Turner
Don't be afraid to try something big, just because you're an amateur. The Ark was built by amateurs. The Titanic was built by professionals.
- Anon
"Nothing scares a police officer more than the threat of being treated the way that they treat people every day."
- Anon
"Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everybody you meet."
- Gen. James Mattis
"Lust for power is the most flagrant of all the passions."
- Tacitus
"The man who knows what freedom means will find a way to be free."
- F.A. "Baldy" Harper
"The greatest discovery of any generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitude."
- William James
We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms -- to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way.
- Viktor Frankl
The free man will ask neither what his country can do for him nor what he can do for his country.
- Milton Friedman
“We must be free not because we claim freedom, but because we practice it.”
- William Faulkner
There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.
- Ernest Hemingway
"Everything the State says is a lie, and everything it has it has stolen."
- Friedrich Nietzsche
"The nine most terrifying words in the English language are 'I'm from the government, and I'm here to help.'"
- Ronald Reagan
The most dangerous creation of any society is the man who has nothing to lose.
- James A. Baldwin
"It is better to be a warrior in a garden than to be a gardener in a war."
- Anon
“I tried to live in such a way that, when dying, I would rather feel happy than scared.”
– Witold Pilecki
Few men desire liberty; most men wish only for a just master.
- Sallust
"Place your clothes and weapons where you can find them in the dark."
- Lazarus Long
Read, every day, something no one else is reading.
Think, every day, something no one else is thinking.
Do, every day, something no one else would be silly enough to do.
It is bad for the mind to continually be part of unanimity.
– Christopher Morley
Very nice, I’m impressed! Looking forward to seeing it all painted up.
Jack
Lookin’ good!
Railings for steps??
Don’t know what that means, Kentucky.
Are you going to create similar railings for the steps to/from your porch?
Oh! Sorry. There will eventually be a stairway railing, but probably much simpler.
That’s far more elaborate and (yes) cuter than anything that I had originally envisioned for your porch project. I see that you even have some useful afternoon shade.
Outstanding!
Very nice! And you’ve almost left it capable of being screened. You would probably need to cut off the outboard sides of the post caps, but other than that, everything seems to be inboard of the inner edge of the 2×6 perimeter band.
Very impressive, Joel! If you lived closer, I hire you. 🙂
Yes railings for steps, both sides. Ramps instead of steps still need railings. That is bee-yoot-i-full
and cute cute cute. You did a fantastic job.
Are the porch railings going to be fastened strongly enough to hold if an ageing desert hermit happens to fall against them some snowy, icy, rainy or just because day???
I’m glad Landlady twisted your arm; your porch has turned out quite nice.
I started to say something about a gate at the stairs to let LB out on the porch by himself. But then I remembered he would just go over the top of the railing if he was a mind to.
Yes. The originally planned porch would have been a big improvement in safety and practicality, but the full-size sittin’ porch comes at the perfect time to catch the evening breeze while the cabin interior slowly cools off.
If I can roof and properly floor it, then I can screen it. Then I can put up some lights, which right now would only draw bugs and drive me indoors. That’s a couple of years down the road, likely.
As for Little Bear, when he was younger he would have certainly behaved that way. Now he’s getting old and his big problem is that he doesn’t want to be outside alone. Also there’s not enough shade and with his coat the sun is dangerous for him.
Well, now he can get in the shade under the porch, a habit most rural dogs eventually adopt.
Yeah, but he could always shade up under the cabin, which he was happy enough to do when Ghost was around. Now that he’s the only dog he barely wants to go out at all except for physical essentials, and never by himself. Seriously he’ll just lay in the open and mope.
Attractive and inviting, in addition to cute. Well done, Joel!