I Loath General Covens of Ineptitude; And The Inept Generally Run Paleo
How many Paleo Gurus have switched out an engine in a car? Or, did their own tuneups, even filing points in the distributor cap and re-gaping spark plugs?
How many know fuckall about how to remodel a house, do plumbing, electrical, basic carpentry, and wall finishing? I once added $350K of value to a house with a $125K investment, doing much of the stuff myself—managing sub-contractors like a penny pincher for the rest?
…I was disappointed that I didn’t get to be a Navy jet pilot when I wanted, instead tending to ships. But it worked out, and I love flying hang gliders. Was right in my realm. Turns out that the hands-on work required to get a steam plant operating continuously, 24/7 for ocean crossings, is real work.
But most people want to send their kids to college to be lawyers, or legalized drug dealers. Most people want their kids to be part of the parasite class, those feeding off the most productive. And even if they go into a trade, the most important thing is to be a member of a union.
Free agency is only wonderful for millionaire sports stars.
That’s my disassembled gas fireplace at The Cabin. Turns out the thermocouple is bad (pilot light won’t stay lit). Moreover, the piezoelectric starter has never worked and so I’m going to sort that too, today.
I have a Williams wall furnace as well, as backup. It has a bad thermostat (that was an easy troubleshoot once I got into the online manual). But I want to replace it with a WiFi thermostat. No, not Nest. My brother has one. It’s $150 overpriced. Honeywell has a model for $100. Problem is, even though this is a newer wall furnace with a fan and uses power to light rather than a pilot, it has only a red and white to the thermostat, like a microelectronic system (the gas fireplace), where the thermocouple supplies enough micro voltage—via heat and metallurgy—for the thermostat to operate.
I’ve had digital thermostats for years and all ran on batteries. But WiFi will drain those real quick, so it needs continuous power from the grid, via the transformer in the furnace. So, I have to route the C or G wire. I’ll probably run it out the back of the cabin, and then back in.
My point is that this is your environment. You can use division of labor all you like. I do too. The dishwasher would not drain out. I have a general understanding of how dishwashers work (a water pump is critical) but didn’t want to spend the time. $80 for an old appliance guy who knew exactly where to look first. We had to take the thing out, bail water, turn it over. It was a piece of glass stuck in the water-pump impeller. No parts required.
I’ll know next time.
Women have had a general dispensation for a long time against having to know this stuff or figure it out. Rightly so. They tend to the kids and the general living arrangements, while men hunt…even for appliance parts and online manuals so that they can understand how to rectify fucked up shit. If women want to do this, I have no prob with that. I’m happy to sit back and watch another episode of Game of Thrones.
Lots of men still do. Lots. Look at Home Depot and Lowes. They know a kind of admiration from their women no $500/hr lawyer—or PhD researcher, or guru—will ever know.
It’s qualitative.
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I have to agree completely on this one. First marriage I focused on career and lost her respect and ultimately the marriage. The second marriage I focused on the career, but was also Mr. Handyman around the house. I’m talking installing an above-ground pool with 1200 sq/ft of decking, replumbing the bathroom, etc., not changing a lightbulb. BIG difference in the way she “looks” at me……and you know what…..I feel a whole lot better about myself. Makes me feel like I “take care of things” that matter.
Ah, you feel the difference, dontcha, Gilnut.
Welcome to the land of generally competent men.
…That would be juxtaposed with the land of specialized “men.”
The very essential nature of a MAN is as a generalist.
Imo toilets are the best gateway to doing stuff yourself, they’re really pretty simple devices. I like being the guy at the office who can fix the toilet now instead of everyone having to wait for the plumber.
The Home Depot is only ten minutes away though due to the last fix I did had to change credit card numbers, the eastern european hackers got me.
Locks are easy, you can switch out door locks in ten minutes.
I don’t know if the wifi models have improved, but when I was looking 1-2 years ago, most were appallingly disappointing. I ended up with Ecobee, which was (maybe still is..?) the king of wifi thermostats. Nest and Honeywell at the time were beyond useless.
On the topic of being a good generalist… There is no excuse anymore. YouTube literally shows everything. Watch 2-3 videos, get the supplies you need, do the job. Case in point… I was quoted 50k to replace a subfloor in my house (long term water damage)… YouTube and $700 in tools later, I did the work myself for $4k in materials (and a fair bit of cursing). Even reinforced the joists to be on 12″ centers, previously at 24″ (2×6), which is legal, but not stiff enough for tile. Promptly tiled the kitchen after that with *drumroll* youtube as instruction.
That’s what I talking’ about, man!
You reminded me of the time in one remodel where I had already redone the kitchen tile myself in 12×12 travertine and was worried about rolling in the 48″ Thermador commercial gas range/stove/grill/griddle unit.
Old house on 24′ center 2×10 floor joists, but with 2×6 tongue & groove sub flooring.
So, what I did was to put in a bunch of 2×6 cross member joists, which was a fucking curse to do down in the crawlspace.
No cracks in the new tile.
My tractor was shutting down every time I mowed… Knew enough that it was electrical. Could’ve called Lowes, paid to have it towed, diagnosed, serviced. Googled it. It was shorting out somewhere? Searched, for 5 mins, found the wire, snipped, spliced, taped. Went to the hardware store, bought a new fuse, $ .45 put it in, hasn’t stopped since. Wife asked “How much is this gonna cost?” I told her. I was the hero that day.
“you took the words right out of my mouth.”
Me too, v.
I’ve had 2 or 3 complex issues on my X-5. Each and every one where covered by a YT that saved tons of time. I know I’ll eventually figure it out and I have or can get all tools and parts. But it’s great that so many people are so generous to do this and save countless hours.
Bringing home the bacon is one thing…
And i do my job.
My wife loves it when i fix the garbage disposal, toilets etc etc.
I remember loving history class in 9th grade and learning about ” the renaisance men” …..at age 47 i still havent forgotten and strive to be competent in EVERYTHING.
And I cook a little too :-)
Nice post!
I tend not to see these as gender issues – the task goes to the one who’s most capable or the one who doesn’t mind. He hates doing dishes, I don’t mind. I hate to vacuum, he doesn’t mind.
I don’t know how to remodel a house, but I know how to replace carburetor gaskets on a 1979 Chevy Monza.
My deceased father learned how to do “everything” on his own, then my brother and I picked up from there. I have one daughter who is a great handy women. Once installed wood flooring, the maple came from an old bowling alley. Bro ‘n me could do “anything,” rebuild engines, auto transmissions, plumb, repair appliances, etc. Yes, almost lost skills in this day of “Hire someone.”
Some years ago I lived in a shack in Colorado. A blizzard dumped three feet of wet snow on us and I lost power for a week. But I had a gas wall furnace, and the thermostat was powered by the gas pilot light. Like your stove, a thermocouple. Makes enough electricity to open the solenoid valve. My neighbors were all freezing or took to living at friends. I was toasty warm. And ran my computer off of my Jeep with an inverter.
When I was pricing a 3.5″ lift on my jeep I realized I could save $1500+ in labor if I decided to do it myself. Brought it to a friends (furniture finishing) shop; he’s got a bunch of tools since he works on his cars and bikes there. (No welding).
I learned a lot about how the vehicle works while replacing most of the suspension and many steering related components. I was a pretty nervous when I needed to take a 7/8ths inch drill bit to the knuckle to accommodate the new drag link. Huge bit through thick steel.
Save $1500, gain lifelong knowledge. I get tons of compliments on it, and people ask me all the time where I brought it to get the work done. People seem generally shocked that its possible for a non-mechanic person to modify his own car.
A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.
-Robert A. Heinlein
Thanks Alex.
I had considered adding that. Saw it first years ago.