Tuesday, November 19, 2024

barn update

 The goat barn has a new and improved roof:


For comparison, the roof on April 4:


It took months to decide what to do with the barn. In June I set up my little screentent on the deck, and many hours of the day and night were spent there, remembering and pondering. With a chaise, a little table, and a big waterproof box for my art supplies, it was an excellent place to spend time with the herd while reading or markmaking. Moxie often joined me there; Della occasionally.


Some of the views from inside the screentent were a bit surreal:



And some of my markmaking documented the state of the barn itself:





All Summer, Betula spent a lot of time nearby: in his two favorite sunny spots during the heat of the day, and up on the barn deck with me in the evenings.



Hundreds of snapshots were taken from the screentent, even though the screen created an overall textured blur, as in the above picture of Bet and this one of Mox:


And if the camera insisted on focusing on the closest object, the resulting image of the same subject looked more like this:



My neighbor, AM, has undertaken the rebuild. He really didn't want this particular task - carpentry is not nearly as lucrative as some of his other skills - so I pursued several other possibilities before finally asking him if he would be willing to do it. He agreed, with the caveat that he would have to fit it between other jobs throughout Autumn, a few hours here and there. I'm happy with this, as I know we both want the barn to be button-up-able before Real Winter, should we have one this year.
(Side note: I rather think we will.)

One advantage of this piecemeal approach to the rebuild: it gives me time to make changes to details without slowing up the job. For example, I decided to replace the window on the East side with a double door. This East door has been built first - you can just see the top of it in the first picture - before installing doors across the front of the barn, to test the idea of making the division at a different point. In other words, instead of the original/traditional design of two half-doors each 3 feet high and 4 feet wide, there will be an upper door 2 feet high and 4 feet wide and a lower door 4 feet high and 4 feet wide. Also, the 2x4-foot top section will have a polycarbonate panel insert, to allow light in when the doors are completely closed. This last idea came from AM, who is really good at understanding the sort of thing that matters to me, and incorporating it in ways I had not thought of.

Here is a picture from the first morning after the roof was built. Waking up to the sight of that straight horizontal roofbeam again was quite a relief.


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Tuesday, November 12, 2024

soon

Words coming soon, I think.

Pretty soon.


Pretty sure.


~~~~~

Tuesday, November 5, 2024

buckle up

 

"Roman Republican denarius showing citizens voting. One toga-clad citizen drops his voting tablet in the ballot box, while behind him another voter receives his tablet from an attendant below. Voters crossed elevated walkways or 'pontes' above their fellow citizens in order to reach the ballot box, so all could see that they had voted without any last-minute intimidation or interference by others. 

To safeguard the integrity of elections, in 119 BC, the tribune Gaius Marius further narrowed the pons causeway leading to the ballot box, in order to prevent any non-voters from standing on the gangway and engaging in bribery or intimidation; literally, to ensure that there was 'no room' for interference."

from Gareth Harney, @OptimoPrincipi on twitter. His new book, Moneta: A History of Ancient Rome in Twelve Coins, is on my short list.

illustration: Denarius struck under the moneyer Publius Licinius Nerva in 112 BC, British Museum Collection

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