The Weber Genesis Grill is up and running at Refuge Farm, a triumph of proven American technology. Like the Zippo lighter and the Harely-Davidson motorcycle, it is a design for the ages.

It is the last capital improvement for Refuge Farm. The old grill, heaved over the railing, was one of those Charmglow pieces of crap that I bought in a box and spent a weekend assembling. It rusted, of course, but I should blame the pine tree that collapsed on it during the Snomaggedon event in 2010 for its demise. The impact Sprung the wheels, knocking one off, so that ever after it was canted at an awkward cooking angle, balanced on a rock from the garden.

I can’t blame the failure of the gas jet of that directly, but it never heated up again to specs. The Weber, by way of contrast, caries a 25 year guarantee on most parts.

I hope so- it is the last grill I intend to purchase, and there is a pristine conventional charcoal grill in the garage as backup.

Proven technology. I fired it up and got to 600 degrees indicated within a few minutes. I did a country grill meal, and we had a mound of fresh cucumbers and tomatoes and cauliflower picked fresh from Natasha’s garden. We are going to make pickles this year, and the harvest bounty is inspiration for the next growing season.

Sasha the Russian Princess brought two enormous caterpillars who had been feasting on tomatoes, Tatiana brought a dozen fresh cucumbers, Mattski brought his banjo and a fine evening was had by all.

We did not talk about the Zimmerman trial, thought the Prosecution rebuttal that I listened to on the way down had me seething right through the assembly of the grill.

I cannot tell if it is the exposure to what passes for the legal process, warts and all, that reveals the astonishing power of the State to crush the individual. Poor Trayvon, who will never have a chance to turn around his life. Poor George, who has lost his own: both of them unable to escape a rising sea of lawlessness and a middle class under extreme pressure.

Both of them are symbols of something drastically wrong, and something that has been going on a long time since the Genesis of the bad public policy that is destroying us.

The prosecutor told the jury that Z-Man had hatred in his heart. I have no idea how he got to that- Z-man did not testify, of course, on advice of counsel, and the upshot of the legal commentary on the radio was that the defense summation was flat. The roles of the two opposing sides seems to have been curiously reversed; the Prosecution relied on emotion, having few facts, and those apparently tainted. The Defense had all the evidence on their side, and had a calm, almost phlegmatic approach.

I only heard the rebuttal in real time, just as it was being spoken. There was real anger there, since there were no facts except for death. I think the jury will decide on the lessor charge on manslaughter, since a boy is dead.

For the record, I think the Z-Man got jumped and defended himself.

But for the gun, he might have got off with an ass-kicking, a broken nose and a concussion. But for the gun.

Funny. I have a shooting party arriving in a few minutes to exercise their Second Amendment rights on the range in the back pasture. In my wildest dreams, if this is what you told me American would be like in 2013, I never would have believed you.

What is the sound of grass, by the way? It was some of the weirder testimony I have ever heard. But at the Farm, I think I understand.

Copyright 2013 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com