Allan

what is the soul of a man

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I had a dream last night.  I parked my Kia Soul outside a store, left it running, went inside to do business, and went outside again to find it gone.  It was stolen.  I dreaded my Soul was gone.  Someone stole my Soul!  I woke up and remembered that I now have a Chrysler – my Soul was T-boned and is now scrapped for parts.  <sigh>

This month’s Bible study at my church is on the soul.  Do we have one?  Why or why not?  What is it?  Where is it?  Where does it come from?  Etc., etc.

I remember a story from long ago.  Two people were talking.  One person said to the other, “I sold my soul to the devil.  Now I regret it.”  The other person said, “No, you didn’t.  It wasn’t yours to sell.”

2010 Chrysler Town and Country

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I thought I’d post some pictures of the new (used) van.  It’s a Chrysler Town and Country Limited.  It replaces the Kia Soul.  I saw it online for $11,900 at K1Z Auto Sales.  I phoned the dealer.  A guy named Khalil told me about the vehicle and offered it for $11,000.  I went the next day, test drove it, and put down a down payment.  Floyd and I went back two days later to pick it up.  Khalil cleaned and serviced it during that time, replacing the windshield, changing the oil, cleaning the brake dust out, etc.  The service record on it is good.  It had a minor accident worth about $1200 a few years ago.  The previous owner changed the transaxle (transmission) fluid.  It had a door ding on the passenger side.  I got a PDR guy to take it out.  I’ve had the van for a few weeks now.  No problems so far.  I’m enjoying the vehicle.

More pictures on the server.  Chrysler Town & Country 2010

teardrop 1 electrical panel

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The electrical panel is now in.  It somewhat mimics the Sprite’s panel.  It includes a two-way radio (11- & 10-metre band SSB), a stereo with CD player, a solar charge controller with volt & amp display, a 120VAC GFCI plug (15 amperes), a 12VDC / USB plug, and four lighted, coloured switches (for the cooler, water pump, cabinetry lights, and galley lights).  All the electrical guts of the trailer will be directly behind that, accessible through the berth via a sliding panel.

It have started calling it teardrop 1 as it is the first one being built.  I thought of giving it a name but later thought otherwise.

how many trees?

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According to one study, it’ll take about 1.2-trillion trees to absorb enough carbon to completely neutralize and reverse the carbon-emissions greenhouse effect that is (apparently) going on around the world.  Deforestation in various places should be reversed; the land there isn’t good for much anyway except forest as they’ve been ranched to death.  People plant green grass in their front lawns; how about shrubs, fruit trees, shade trees?  Anyway, I thought it was interesting.

Carpeted in trees, the 2.82 million hectare Chiribiquete National Park in Colombia sucks CO2 from the atmosphere. (CNN)

older

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It used to be that everyone my age was older than me.  That is, until this accident.  Now I’m really slow, or have been since the crash.  Whiplash is an unforgiving thing.  If I should meet the guy who drove his van into my car, I’d kick him in the ass.  My back aches, and my neck is constantly stiff and sore.  The good news is that my headache is finally clearing up.  I go for physiotherapy twice a week.  It apparently will last about 90 days before it clears up.  I look forward to it.

replant, and plough no more

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The Guardian reports that we’re seriously boned unless we change our ways … now.

‘It’s a groundswell’: the farmers fighting to save the Earth’s soil

I planted native southern Alberta wildflowers near the house this spring instead of watering and expecting green grass to grow there.  It’s supposed to be conducive to the lives of birds, bees, butterflies, and or course beauty.

Yes, I bought a larger van, but you have to remember that the embodied energy needed to invest into a new vehicle is quite serious – the fuel equivalent to somewhere around 130,000km of driving.  I didn’t even get that far in seven years in the Kia Soul.

I plugged in my little electric foot scooter today.  It costs – and I don’t care if you don’t believe me – I’ve done the research and calculations – about $1.00 of electricity to go about 1000km on this.  Of course, I can’t carry lumber or a family or suitcases and cannot drive in winter.  But it serves its purpose.

And of course there’s my favourite – my bicycle.  But my physiotherapist is frowning on using it just yet.  The bonehead to T-boned my car made sure of that.

cleaning ourselves sick

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I don’t re-post many websites – only ones I think are somehow important – but I do believe this one is pretty important for our health.

Germ-Killing Brands Now Want to Sell You Germs

It seems, according to the article, that we’re cleaning ourselves sick.  I’ve always been a proponent of a more natural existence – for our physical health, mental health, spiritual health, and any other kind of health we’re supposed to be experiencing.

RRRRRR strong proponent

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I’m a strong proponent of this.

One Thing You Can Do: Fix It

I’ve been fixing stuff my entire life.  Why throw something out that is 95% alright when only 5% of it is broken?

My idea of Reduce, Reuse, Recycle continues on with the RRR theme –

  • Refurbish
  • Repair Renovate (so long as you’re not like those home reno people on TV who bash the hell out of perfectly good cabinetry with a sledge hammer and pitch it all into a Smithrite)
  • Redistribute
  • Respect
  • Repurpose

and many, many more.

complete crap

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This is amazing.  People are weird.  I switched from a plastic garbage bag in my home office space to a paper bag.  I don’t dump grease, spit, coffee, or any other liquid in it.  Never have.  But people feel compelled to carry plastic around with them anyway.  Aren’t there enough doo-doo bags out there?  You’d think that people would have wax coated paper by now.  “I don’t wanna cut down trees!”  Okay, then don’t.  Use recycled paper.  “Recycling’s not the answer!  Reducing is the answer!”  Okay, then get a smaller dog.  Besides, waxed paper can degrade, and so can poop.  Don’t like paraffin (fake wax from petrochemicals)?  Then walk quickly home with your poop.

Are Plastic Bag Bans Garbage?

The issue is that people don’t want to change their habits.  Back when I was a kid, my mother used a paper grocery bag for garbage with a couple of newspaper sheets at the bottom and stapled an old newspaper to the top of it when full.  Nothing leaked.  All good.