Wasted Days and Commie Nights... How Capitalism Stymies Productivity In Modern Socities

We had another rainy, socked in day in Lovely Ouray last week.  It reminded me of coastal Oregon, except there was no horizontal sea fading into western fog.  Weather lemons to lemonade, we decided on a hike up into the clouds. If you can't beat Mother Nature, might as well join her. This disturbance is the first to drop into our Crevice from the north. Its salvo left a little white on Mount Abrams summit, reminding me that Goldie is not yet ready for the road south. Oh be still my butterflied stomach. 


I have a pile of lumber in the garage and a sketched "plan" on the breakfast bar. It's where I spread out and do my best work. At first brain-fart, I imagined Goldie's rear lounge being remodeled into something radical... playing with the idea of going Industrial Modern. Imagine, if you can, a wainscoting of corrugated galvanized roofing tin... silver, with mottled shine enough to resemble stainless steel. It would certainly brighten the room, not to mention allow for a contrasting dark laminate wood floor. I like dark floors, how they "anchor" a light bright room. Then I'd add a couple of lightweight Danish Modern recliners with dark leather cushions, a touch of texture and color with fabric blinds and valances, and top it all off with brushed nickel LED lighting fixtures. Voila. Not so fast oh headstrong ass...

Then I got to wondering... how doing that might split Goldie's personality down the middle. Poor girl, half Industrial Modern, half "brown shoe." I kinda felt sorry for her, came to my senses and decided to error on the side of continuity over split personality. Back to the drawing board... pass the eraser.

Home Depot. How much time have I lost wandering around in that understaffed wasteland of a billion alternatives? I always feel like Moses with his band of Israelites... looking for the Promised Land. We could do this, we could do that... what about this... what about that? There is such a thing as too many choices, you know. It's enough to make one eschew Capitalism. "Oh for the good ole days of post Revolutionary Russia... no fretting over choices because the State only makes one tractor, one plow... and they only come in one color. "No Pepsi—Coke!" 

Over the years... after no less than three house remodels and eight or so new construction design/builds... you would think I'd have learned my lessons—that is to never, ever go into a building supply Big Box without a firm plan and an itemized shopping list! It's like going to the grocery store when you're hungry, for crying out loud, you spend a fortune but don't get so much as one decent meal to show for it... just a huge assortment of snacks! I suppose I was counting on the Idea Fairy, to land on my shoulder... maybe whisper directions to The Promised Land in my ear. Dear God, I don't have forty years... I barely have forty days! 

In the end, I'm ashamed and half embarrassed to say, I ended up playing it safe. Yes, I "kissed my sister." Like some spec home builder out of the 80's, I'm going "white walls and beige carpet (gag)." Ok, maybe not that safe... but safer than I'd like, safer than Industrial Modern, for sure, and safer than I live my daily life here in The Crevice. I'm holding out for the disco mirror-ball, though, and a black light to shine on my Janis Joplin poster. I'm not giving over my entire manhood to beige... not yet.

Now let's go for a hike around Lovely Ouray on the Perimeter Trail... into mists of Oregonian clouds.

The sign tries to explain the Ourale House Brewery's "flexible" business hours policy... :)) Gotta love it.