Today I've been tied up in home maintenance. Our clothes dryer vent had gotten plugged up with lint, diminishing the efficiency of the dryer. That meant numerous trips to the roof and then crawling around tight places in the attic. My wife thinks I should hire others to do such things, but not only can I save money, I can reap the satisfaction reward of having fixed it myself.

I read this morning that oil prices are going up despite the abundance of supply and a slight decline in demand. For some reason, politicians in Washington can't quite seem to understand that the high cost of our elective war in Iraq and the balance of payment deficit resulting from our import of cheap consumer products are like bleeding though a major artery. The consequence is the steep decline in the value of the dollar, and while we claim the oil prices are climbing, the real situation is that the dollar is falling and can buy less. So, while many Americans can't afford to fill their tanks, oil is on sale for the rest of the world.

I know some would think I'm crazy, but I propose that the loss of hands-on experiential relationship with reality has made our leaders dumb and dumber. There are some things that fall in the category of "common" sense that they just don't get.

Today, I also worked on the Rustic Table Book, getting to the point of trial assembly of a natural edged walnut plank table. It is a variation of a simple 5 board bench technique. The photo of the table held together with clamps is shown above. It will be far more beautiful when the ends of the top are shaped and sanded, and the whole thing will come to life when the Danish oil finish is applied.