Consequences

There are no actions we can take as we journey through the whole life thing which aren't attended by consequences. Only rarely are consequences singularly positive or negative. Navigating actions and consequences is a lifelong learning process, and the skill we ultimately develop is an ability to foresee consequences based on previous experience and then execute a cost-benefit analysis to decide whether negative will outweigh positive and therefore whether we should essay the action we contemplate.

Being ape-lizards and somewhat less than omniscient, it's not uncommon for us to discover at a later date that our action carried unforeseen consequences. Some of those are good, some are bad. It's an ongoing journey of discovery. Which is a pretty good definition of life for the ape-lizard.

Some years ago, back in the early 2000's, my Mom and Dad decided to refurbish the old ranch house and turn it into their dream retirement domicile. At the time they lived in town. The ranch house became an available target for renovation following the death of my Grandma Helen.

So they embarked upon this journey, and hired a local contractor to do the work. I'm not entirely certain why they picked this particular contractor, for he was known far and wide for doing shit work.

At the end of the process Mom and Dad moved into a renovated ranch house which kinda-sorta looked marginally nice. That was a positive consequence. Under the paint and siding and shingles however, the work was shit. That was a negative consequence.

Some of the negative consequences have now been bequeathed to the next generation. It's just what it is. It's simply the reality of the ranch house, and living with the shit work is all part of the deal. It's neither good nor bad, it's just the way it is.

A few days ago Mom started having problems with the door knob on the back door, which as on many ranch houses in this neck of the woods is the de facto main entrance. The door knob had become loose over time and Mom was having trouble locking and unlocking it as well as opening and closing it.

This morning I picked up a new lock set for the door which features a fancy euro-lever rather than a knob. I think it'll be easier for Mom to manipulate.

When I took the old knob off it became apparent that the shitheel who installed the door gooned the job when he drilled out the opening for the lock set. He placed the hole too far inboard and then spent rather a long time applying a shit fix to make it kinda work. The shit fix finally collapsed, and so here we are.

I got the new lock set installed and working, but I'm going to have to go back and fix it right before long, because I had to make it work within the framework of the original shit job, adding my own shit work to the previous shit work.

As I noted, it's just what it is. Having to deal with the shit job is simply a negative consequence. The positive consequence -- and there is one -- is that I now have a challenge to accept and an opportunity to learn a new skill. The reality of the situation is that it's neither good nor bad. If I choose to whine and cry and suit up as a professional victim, then that's my own personal negative consequence, and not the fault of the shit contractor at all. If I accept the challenge and learn to do the ultimate repair correctly, that's a positive consequence owned entirely by me.

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Following yesterday's psychotic post where I twisted Browning's words into a snarled exposition on what might be charitably called a way of ape-lizard being, John Blackshoe commented that he hadn't realized that John Moses Browning had done poetry in addition to his other legendary work.

Of course I was referencing Robert Browning, which John knew quite well. His comment was quite amusing in a delightfully ironic way.

My first thought, however, was that John Moses executed his own brilliant brand of poetry in the perhaps more useful medium of steel.

Boy howdy! He did indeed.

Legend holds (and whackopaedia repeats) that John Moses died at his workbench in Liège, Belgium in 1926 while inventing his final poem, the Fabrique Nationale (FN) GP35. The design was finished by Dieudonne Saive, released for production in 1935, and became the world-renowned Browning Hi-Power.

I've owned many Hi-Powers and loved them all. The one I presently own is in .40 S&W, rather than the original 9x19/9mm Luger/9mm Parabellum.

At the end of the day I'd have to say that while Bobby Browning was a dab hand at wordsmithing, John Moses Browning was altogether a much more useful and successful poet.

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Today the weather conditions are quite warm and windy. Tomorrow it's forecast to be warmer and far less windy. If the prediction holds up, tomorrow could be a remarkably lovely day.

It was also February 1 this morning. Brexit happened last night. The year of 2020 is speeding by smartly.



The sunset was quite pretty this evening.

Monday is forecast to be sharply colder as a big winter weather system begins wending its way across the area. I'm all for that. I don't kike a lot of warm weather in winter, and that's what we've had since Christmas. So bring on the cold and snow I say!

Be well and embrace the blessings of liberty.