ShopTalk Sunday: “Do”, Father’s Day, Construction Weather

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No particular topic this edition – pictures of me doing tree work and mowing the yard which ate up a block of six-hours Saturday wouldn’t matter much – and it won’t do your yard any better.

It occurred to me, however, that a word about “doing” might be useful.  Part of an early-morning conversation with son G2 was on point.  Because it was a riff on another call this weekend; one where a friend was seeking advice on “How to leave the Big City.”

My suggestion (to both) was to watch a Shi Heng Yi video (like this one) and spend a little time focusing on “the trip we’re on.”  Something I’ve been noticing lately is that as we age (both of us) there’s a tendency to over-think and under-do.

Doing is a function of Youth. Remember, when you were young?  I sure as hell can.  If I woke up – age 21, or so, and felt like going to L.A. and Disney Land, I’d arrange a few days off work as soon as possible and just go DO the adventure.

What I’ve noticed – and it’s a personal shortcoming, I suppose – is that as I rolled past 76, it was almost like there were “increasing headwinds or friction” coming from somewhere.  I still had the same quality of ideas; yeah, no problem there.  BUT I discovered I had slipped into “thinking about things” too much.  Think less, do more!

WD-40 doesn’t work on this kind of “friction” in life.  Neither, oddly, does alcohol; never a workable solvent for it.  The problem? Seems to be a matter of keeping the “idea channel open” and directly-connected to the “DO-ing channel.”

Hmm.

G2 called his morning, noticing me on the wireless security cameras (an alarm went off up in the PNW 1,800 miles away) as I was going out to write this morning’s column.  “What the hell are you doing at 4 o-clock on a Sunday morning going to work?”

Cue the parent:  “Being a high-output person is a fragile habit.  As soon as you cut yourself some slack “just this once“ you’re already on the slide to mediocrity.” 

I went on and explained to him that each of us is “What we think.”  All of us have a mental image of who we are.  Elaine, for example, when she was a young woman (1950s), admired the blonde starlets of Hollywood; Jane Mansfield, Marilyn Monroe, and you know the list.  Thing is, her “self-image” continues to express itself even in 2025 despite her next odometer reading will be 83. She still looks in concert with her self-image. Got it?  We move into the houses we build between the ears.

I didn’t realize the power of this “becoming what our self-image is” until I’d been in broadcasting 4-5 years. “George Ure” wasn’t a very good radio name.  So, I borrowed a friend’s last name and became “George Garrett” on the air.  Much easier to say, remember… But here’s the wild part:  I got to build the “George Garrett” personality from the ground up. I got to shop it. And then I “moved into it.”

I  don’t think I’ve ever explained this publicly, but “George Garrett, motor-cycle rider and pilot, rock n’ roll news director of KOL” (Seattle) back inc the day, was a self-designed persona.  Garrett was a professional composite, and I liberally borrowed “personality attributes” from organizations – and people – that I liked.

Folks like Byron MacGregor at CKLW, for example, were people worth learning from. So was B.R. my mentor and one Abby Goldman, who was one of my interns back-in-the-day.

But the self-imagery?  All distilled down to embodying the nom de plume of a Portland, Oregon field reporter for KISN:  Sherm – Man on the move – Meyer. Great reporter – and a phenomenal self-image.

Somewhere in here is a “Secret Shop Trick” to having the “life you’ve always dreamed about” – by simply changing your self-image and “rebranding yourself” every morning you get up.  Make up a “personality you want to move into” and suddenly, you will find many of the “mental blocks and marriers” we make-up for ourselves are magiocally removed.

Sometimes, I think about things like this when I’m out doing “This Old George”  episodes in the shop…

Father’s Day Shopping…

I bought my Father’s Day present this week (thanks, root canal, thanks drugs…).  Ten new 325-watt solar panels for $63 and change each.  Of course with tax and the lift gate truck, it drained just under one kilo-buck from the bank.  Still…

The hot weather is nearly here and the 180-watt panels from my 2008 build of “rack #2 are down to half-power now.  So, time for an update and these have a 25-year 80 percent output warranty.  (Odds of the company being around in 25 to acutally make good on any claims are near zero, but consumers have to play along…it’s our role in this monkey-circus.)

Since this could be a final year for the solar tax credits (we’ll see how the Big Beautiful Pork comes out), I figured with a 30 percent credit, 30-cents a watt with delivery is not a bad deal.  Keep an eye on the specials at SanTanColar.com as they have both new and used panels.  Remember, you’re buying “cost per watt over time” and tariff talk aside, solar is pretty cost-efficient.  (Calling yourself a “prepper” sounds more “green” that old cheapskate when you talk about it…)

Occasionally, someone will ask “How do you manage to live so well?”  Second secret of this morning (after retooling your self-image into someone you’d like to be when you grow up) is to either Make More or Spend Less.

Spending less (or increasing your Return On Spending (ROS) is much easier to figure.  You don’t have to pay income tax on money spending – only on the income.  So, if with solar, a garden, doing your own construction and yard work, and so on, you can make the equivalent of $600/month (priced yard maintenance, lately?) that’s like getting a (before-tax) $9,000 a year raise.

That’s because before you go writing checks to people, you first have to make money (and pay taxes on it).  Suddenly, $600 in monthly expenses becomes $750/month on the income side (adding 25% marginal tax rate filing jointly with good jobs).  And that rolls up to $9,000 a year pretax.

Which isn’t a big deal in Year One.  But do that (and stack it) for 20-years and put it into an inflation hedge?  Now you’re talking real money.

Personal Metrics Matter, Again

Which has what to do with Father’s Day?  Part of Self-Mastery is ruthlessly applying “no-bullshit metrics” to ourselves.

Best example of “being the change” was Pappy’s keeping track of every fish we ever caught.  See, we’d built an 8-foot plywood pram when I was a kid.  The whole bill of materials came in a bit over  $100 and a Montgomery-Wards Sea-King 3 HP outboard motor augmented oars nearly as long as the boat. (“Longer oars, fewer strokes for the same distance...” Pappy schooled).

From about sixth grade to the middle of high school, it was a Holy Mission of Father-Son to “catch the boat’s weight in fish” every year.  Which we managed about 3-years out of 5.

Not too hard, if you work the plan right. King Salmon, running in Elliott Bay, cost us a quart and a half of gas, a pound of herring for plug-cuts, and we’d be eating cheese sandwiches and coffee doing something else, anyway. So food didn’t figure, and the typical King was running 18-25 pounds each.  Into a Little Chief smoker after a day and a half in a teriyaki brine, and it was the absolute best smoked salmon – ever.

So this one summer, we were out at the old lumber company on Alki Avenue in Seattle (southwest side of Elliott Bay) and this guy wheels in a beautiful drop-dead to die for brand new fiberglass fishing boat with a big Johnson on it (no jokes, please).  “Damn, dad,,,why don’t we get one of those?”

“The owner’s a fool.  He will never catch the weight of that rig in a year andprobably not in five.”

And so, his advice? Buy “treats” and evolve your manly pleasures to things that won’t have a negative impact on your long-term net worth.

On Solar?  Pappy would be proud. I harvest a lot of power at lower cost.  (Just don’t mention the sailboat, the airplane, or the Porsches I’ve been through.  I’d argue fun ought to cost something.  He’d respond something like “How much did that second divorce cost you?”  Hmm…)

Construction Weather

Off on the PNW server farm builds, G2’s advice: “Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate.”

Wrong answer, of course.  Kid’s still learning to “think like a Ure” after all.

  1. Start work every hot day at the crack of dawn.  Even consider setting up lights.
  2. Set a “work stop temp.”  Mine is 83F.  Anything hotter and I’ve going inside for an “extended coffee hour” that has been known to last until the next day.
  3. Plan indoor projects that are in the A/C bubble.  Summer is when I get a lot of writing, electronics, computer, studio, hydroponic, and edjumacational projects done.  Inside and chilling.

Save the hydration for Miller Time.

For the Road?

About Father’s Day:   Dates back to 1910, when Sonora Smart Dodd, inspired by the establishment of Mother’s Day, proposed a day to recognize fathers in Spokane, Washington. Dodd, raised by her single father, wanted to honor his dedication. The first Father’s Day was June 19, 1910, and over decades, the holiday gained traction. It wasn’t until 1972 that President (Sliipery Dick) Nixon signed a proclamation making Father’s Day a national holiday, observed on the third Sunday of June.

Which gives me three weeks to extend the solar rack, for R&L to get the panels here, and for me to find enough cool mornings to get the wiring rigged up on the new ones.

Write when we’re not on Hell’s doorstep with weather,  Now, crank it up!

George@Ure.net

32 thoughts on “ShopTalk Sunday: “Do”, Father’s Day, Construction Weather”

  1. “Something I’ve been noticing lately is that as we age (both of us) there’s a tendency to over-think and under-do.”

    This is very true.

    I had an elderly aunt who would spend days thinking about doing something that would only take a few minutes to actually do!

    • I’ve done the same thing, usually when such things are particularly risky and/or dangerous.

    • Over-thinking activities has several benefits:
      -Economics- If you think through the ROI and potential liabilities, then plan the activity for minimum resources, you save money. As long as you are still thinking about it, you aren’t committing funds.
      -Safety- In many cases, thinking is much safer than doing. Thinking of ways to get someone else to do the dangerous and debilitating sh!t on the cheap is a favorite pastime of old folks. Travel is more dangerous for oldsters.
      -Elimination of time-wasting and impulse activities. Thinking is productivity. Hopping in the car on impulse and doing a weekend road trip usually isn’t.

  3. Structure and routine – the grind keeps us in the same trench. It’s like that for most everything.

    Think about newly weds expressing carnal desire all over the place. As the grind wears on that changes. Divorce lawyers know.

  5. Uh oh…

    NATO’s Proxy Ukraine Attacks all of Russia’s Strategic Bombers Igniting WWIII…

    MARTIN ARMSTRONG: Take note that the peace deal was on May 15th, right to the day. Now, on the ECM target of June 2nd, we have this tremendous expansion of the war, and this is aimed at taking down Russia, not to secure some BS unconditional ceasefire. NATO has just declared World War III.

    https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/world-news/war/natos-proxy-ukraine-attacks-all-of-russias-strategic-bombers-igniting-wwiii/

  6. Well, I must admit that when I first read this that I took it as a sign that the shit is about to hit the fan, and sure enough…

    G.A. STEWART: A funny thing happened on the way to this post; I stopped caring. I believe I might have used that line previously… But I think that I have reached my limit. This is going to be a long post, because I will be dialing it back to almost zero when I am finished here.

    https://theageofdesolation.com/nostradamus/2025/05/05/the-ghost-of-josiah/

    June 01, 2025

    NATO’s Proxy Ukraine Attacks all of Russia’s Strategic Bombers Igniting WWIII…

    https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/world-news/war/natos-proxy-ukraine-attacks-all-of-russias-strategic-bombers-igniting-wwiii/

      • from ukraine’s standpoint it’s how you fight one. it would be irrational for ukraine to not respond to russian aggression. just as it is irrational for iran to not pursue nukes.

        • doesn’t sound like you are in favor of peace.
          you ignore those who got ukraine to start that war and it wasn’t russia and it wasn’t the government of ukraine that WAS in power,,, a little coup and then we get the war the demons want ,,,some corrupt folks went there and gave them $ and arms to fight with

          here is mcstain being interviewed
          “We’re constantly told by Western mainstream media that the Ukraine war was “unprovoked”
          But then i see this footage from 2013 showing John McCain standing in Kyiv, proudly telling CNN that the US was there to help engineer a regime change.
          He even seemed thrilled that Victoria Nuland was right beside him, openly meddling in Ukraine’s internal affairs.”
          https://x.com/ricwe123/status/1929094336982946240

          seems some believe he was Xicuted I saw a video with his daughter saying, they cant kill him again
          at the 14 sec mark,, sorry about the pillow commercial at the start, you can cancel it after a couple of seconds
          https://ugetube.com/watch/meghan-mccain-admits-her-father-was-executed-says-you-can-039-t-kill-him-again_EZzVGWROcXilRvV.html

          strange that liddle lindsey was just over there with some other demonrats, just in time to get the liddle piano player wound back up,,,

          the thing about war,, it creates a lot of parentless children for the taking,,, easy pickins for the traffickers,, so I can why you like it

    • So, OK, we will let the studio audience figure out which East Texas couple was out in the rain with the air powered antenna launcher and drones putting up new tesrt antennas in the rain while the Cme was inbound? As I explained to my co-contestant: You can neither catch fix or put up a working antenna without rain. Lots of fucking rain…

      • Hey when the bands are crap, we go outside to improve antennas. Totally efficient ham radio time. Back in Wisconsin, if your antenna didn’t blow down last winter, it wasn’t big enough!

        Just think of what a clean signal you will have from those freshly washed antennas!

  8. If the bits and pieces of the Ukie drone attack which have been published are to be believed, then the attack was probably well underway before the latest peace initiative started. As to whether it is over remains to be seen. Apparently container-loads of drones made their way inside of periphery defenses. The Russkies are not the only outfit who are vulnerable to this sort of attack. Arrogance and over-reliance on doomsday weapon bluster is a weakness.

  9. dont worry about anything . explosions , war , financial destruction . nah the robots got it under control!! look after your dopamine back baby . ask marty he knows everything . you see the USD ask marty he fantasizes . down is up and up is down. wow that great euro marty . i know yah getting a bit on the side. cheeky fella , looks like a player !!

  10. has there been an increases in Microsoft malware attacks to damage old computers and prevent used of legacy software?

    AI Overview.

    Yes, there has been a noted increase in Microsoft-targeted malware attacks, particularlytargeting legacy systems and software to cause damage or prevent use of older applications.
    This is due to several factors, including the fact that many older systems are easier to exploit because of outdated security measures and unpatched vulnerabilities, and that they are often running legacy applications that are no longer supported by their vendors.

    Here’s a more detailed breakdown:

  12. Rules: 18 yr old just do it
    25 yr old think a little but just do it
    30 yr old spend some time thinking but do it anyway
    most of bounce has left the frame by now
    40 yr old spend more time thinking then slowly do
    50 yr old spend lots of time thinking and consider hiring an 18 yr
    old, if anything over two ladder steps hire kid!
    60 yr old first call the 18 yr old and get him to not think just do.
    anything after that just have the kid on speed dial
    last when in doubt spray Windex on the problem why cause that’s what seasoned citizens do?
    Your miles could vary!

      • Absolutely, right there with you. I will buy power tools to do any sized job. But there’s only one workman and one supervisor – I see ’em both in the mirror before dawn. Too easy in this world for crooks and their offspring to fake a phony injury and live on the sofa while bleeding you out financially. They simply don’t give a shit – so do even open the door to it.

        • That approach works until it involves climbing, or the power tools cost $400,000. Even buying used agricultural equipment, the cutting, raking ,rolling and transporting of the first roll of hay will set you back $350 -400K, with no real ROI for a small operation. Bet you aren’t harvesting pine trees yourself to sell, either. Row cropping equipment is astronomical. You have to be careful about who you let on your property, but subs are a necessity. Just use someone who has an established business, that you can hold accountable if an employee gets hurt.

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