Welcome!

I suddenly have viewers on my neglected website. I suppose I’ll need to be more prudent in checking it:)

At this point I’m still not working on walking sticks, although they are never far from my thoughts. After being situated in Tennessee since December 2021, just now are we able to begin having our house built. Builders here in middle Tennessee are backlogged 6+ months, as home construction now takes 8-12 months rather than the traditional 5-6. Not only is the supply chain slow, construction workers are fewer and construction prices are much higher than pre-pandemic.

My Dad was a General Contractor, so I have an appreciation about what this means for the new home industry. A builder can only have so many houses under contruction at one time. When homes take twice as long to complete, each stage being stretched out, the builder still needs a base level of income. This inevitably leads to the builder needing to charge more for their work. The increase in material costs (for a cost-plus contract home) do not cover this need entirely because labor is close to 50% of a new home’s cost. The money gained from the sale of our Georgia home will barely cover the cost of a house half that size, even though we already own the land. I had anticipated, two years ago, that we could build larger than we are now and still have a bit left over. Not so.

I believe that the residential construction industry is going to shrink as a result of the new paradigm. I see no relief in sight to promise a return to what we had. My wife and I are resetting our expectations for retirement living, allowing for a continuation of the present situation. I fear that many Americans have rejected the ‘alabaster city on a hill’ perspective, buying into a perspective of general mediocrity with the mantra ‘You’ll have less and be happy’. Never have I seen the news media so negative, with narry a good or uplifting thing to say. Our children are often being taught that the founding of the United States was rooted in hipocracy and our government was designed to perpetuate unfair discrimination.

For myself, I believe that even through imperfect people the American ‘experiment’ of a representative republic has progressed upward to greater wealth, better health and more opportunity for our people. Look at some old photos of ordinary people and their situations in the early 1900’s to see the contrast. We have means to redress injustice other than taking to the streets and destroying, stealing or harming others. Basic healthcare is available to anyone, with remedies only dreamed of by our parents and grandparents. Employers are begging for workers.

What is needed of me, to spread good and justice? What can one person do? I’m not going to wax political, since I believe that real change begins with individual citizens and not politicians. I’m trying to be understanding and sympathetic to everyone in need or distress. It shouldn’t matter how it came about, except to prevent it from continuing. I do what I can, looking to do more while recognizing I can’t fix everthing. At the least, I don’t want to perpetuate hatred and injustice. Attitude counts for a lot in dealing with people.

I’ll try to blog more often, and not get so melodramatic. This isn’t meant to be a social or political platform. Next time I’ll post pictures of Creekhollow and some of my projects and techniques, and hopefully have some encouraging words. Bye for now,

Larry