On a solo drive through southern Indiana today. First stops: the Medora brick factory and the Medora covered bridge (longest in the US).

Work has begun on my next project: building a cabinet for a friend. It’s in trade for some of his grandpa’s tools. He already had the countertop so I’m building the carcass and attaching it.

I have a couple of friends who refuse to shop at Walmart because the Walton family have funded private school vouchers. These friends are both public school teachers and they do not want their money contributing to that effort.

This, of course, makes no sense, economically speaking. The Walton family wealth is well-established and long-lived. Walmart could close tomorrow and it wouldn’t touch the Walton family. Moreover, the refusal of two teachers to buy their groceries at Walmart doesn’t even budge the bottom line at that particular Walmart, let alone the corporation or the founding family.

With all of that said, I support such quixotic refusals. Despite making no real-world impact, they are good for the soul. It’s a miserly heart that looks at such acts with condescension and pity.

To be clear, some such refusals are made out of a foolish pursuit of purity. In such cases, the refusals become more puritan than quixotic.

But when the refusal can be made in pursuit of your own principles, with a proper disdain for “results”, then that refusal moves out of the realm of calculation and into a healthy exercise of your will against the powers that would subject you to their own purposes. We will never have full (or even much!) control over our lives or the environment in which we live. But if we can stake out a small piece of our lives where we refuse to do what is easy, we will have in that space refused to give our consent to destruction.

Before and after on the table and chairs refinishing project for my in-laws. I have one chair (not shown) I’m going to start over. Apart from that, I think I’m done.

Before:

After:

I mentioned recently that this apocalyptic humidity is wreaking havoc on the finish on the table and chairs I’m working on. The lovely and talented Rachel came up with a great solution: finish them in her parents’ garage, which is climate controlled. They agreed and the finish is looking better.

Like Ray Charles’ “Night time is the right time,” Waylon Jennings’ “Amanda” is a song made by its backup singers.

Paper ephemera in my copy of this Forster essay collection. Any ideas what 76/mvt means?

I’m feeling the itch to go on another southern Indiana day-long road trip. Some previous trips:

• July 2022 visit to Geode Grotto. Also visited Jug Rock and Hindostan Falls on the same day.
• I never properly documented this one, but I went on a long trip from New Harmony to Troy in August 2023. Pictures here and here. I wish I had documented it better at the time. It was a really good day. Apart from visiting New Harmony and Christ of the Ohio, I visited the grave of a gypsy queen in Evansville, explored a Catholic cemetery, drove the Ohio River Scenic Byway, and visited the Monte Cassino Shrine.
• Ancestor grave visiting in October 2023

I note with some disappointment that a few new businesses in my town are called Star City [etc]. When I was growing up, it seemed like every other business was Stone City [etc]. That was, of course, because of the local limestone industry. (We are, for good reason, the self-proclaimed Limestone Capital of the World.) The industry still exists but it is a shadow of its former self, for various reasons. Now businesses seem to be turning to the mascot of our high school for their naming. Is it a big deal? No, but it does represent a fading and forgetting.

This humidity we’re having. My in-laws want a polyurethane finish on their table and chairs. When I spray a coat on a chair it goes cloudy. (I’m doing this in my detached garage with no AC.) So I’ve brought a chair in to my nasty but climate controlled basement and will try it there. Fingers crossed