More Than Just a Poet

Just a few weeks ago I dared predict that when my wife left to visit family over the holidays that I’d have loads of time and energy to commit to my project. Since that time, I’ve been flooded with unexpected demands on my time. Plumbing problems, heating problems, insurance problems, pool problems, and unexpected honey-do expectations, to say nothing about rain storms, cold, and high winds.

As I sit here sapped of energy but needing to post something, I decided to research the accuracy of a quote by poet Robert Burns that I vaguely recalled from my high school Literature class.

                 “The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry”

It described my situation and seemed the appropriate way to begin my post. Like so many things I attempt lately, I become too easily distracted, and while reading the best 150 Burns quotes, I was amazed how little our human frailties have changed since the 1790’s!

In my case he had an even better quote for my Plymouth project, though it better describes highway construction today:

                      “The best laid plans take 40 years to complete.”

Or another reality for those of us brazen enough to make predictions:

                       “There is no such uncertainty as a sure thing.”

Then there is one for the followers of my blog who faithfully log on expecting more progress on my part:

                      “Suspense is worse than disappointment.”

Yet another describes my less-than-precise method of engineering and fabrication…the Burns Hog-Weighing Method:

             “(1) Get a perfectly symmetrical plank and balance it across a sawhorse"             

               (2) Put the hog on one end of the plank.

             (3) Pile rocks on the other end until the plank is again perfectly balanced

               (4) Carefully guess the weight of the rocks.”

If that doesn’t work, just remember this:

“When matters are desperate, we must put on a desperate face.”

While I wasted time reading Burns, I could have routed and terminated a few console wires, but then I decided I might have more energy to work on the car if I eat lunch first. Maybe I’ll get a little more done in the remaining days of 2018…or maybe not. If not, Burns had something to say about year's end too, and in a couple of days we’ll be reminded:

“Should auld acquaintance be forgot,

                         And never brought to mind?

   Should auld acquaintance be forgot,

                        And auld lang syne!”

                              Chorus: 

                             For auld lang syne, my dear,

                             For auld lang syne.

                             We’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,

                              For auld lang syne.”

As for you, dear readers, I have only one comment about what you claim is my procrastination:

                “Critics! Those cutthroat bandits standing in the path of fame!”