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The Fixer archives

totally useless information

This stuff has a major advantage over most of what emits out of your boob tube. It is true. As far as I can tell, however, it is also useless. But I couldn’t just let it slip through my fingers without putting it somewhere. This is the place it landed.

Where did “Piss Poor” come from? Interesting history. They used to use urine to tan animal skins, so families used to all pee in a pot. And then once it was full it was taken and sold to the tannery… If you had to do this to survive, you […]

working conditions

What I want to do is putter in my shop, fixing things and making things using my head, my hands and my tools. I enjoy metal work, wood work and more, but mostly I enjoy inventing … creating solutions to problems … making life better in little ways … installing smiles on faces.

It is awkward, to say the least, to enjoy that when my shop is 26-degrees Fareinheit. My kerosene heater isn’t real cheap to operate nor is it ideal to be reducing the percentage of breatheable air in my workspace. But I was running it full-throttle just […]

newspaper editor

“A newspaper has three things to do. One is to amuse, another is to entertain and the rest is to mislead.” — Ernest Bevin – British Foreign Minister

This week’s Kuna/Melba news arrived containing an announcement seeking a new editor. Boy-oh-boy would I change a few things. It has degenerated into a school newspaper, celebrating the small percentage of kids who excel at playing the featured games of the season as if THOSE are the most interesting, important activities in our community.

People who build, help others, protect, inspire, teach, share … THESE are the things that develop […]

Matilda

While nobody is going to mistake me for a sculptor, even the best started somewhere. More significantly, after shoveling one of the only snowfalls of any consequence I can ever remember falling on the Treasure Valley, I couldn’t just leave the big pile of snow in our yard looking ugly.